Part 11
Jean-Luc shifted slightly, pulling her against his chest, draping one arm around her waist so that his hand rested protectively over her stomach.
Kissing the sensitive spot behind her ear, he asked a question that he had thought of earlier before being delightfully sidetracked.
"How did you find out?"
Sated and on the brink of sleep, Beverly mumbled a question of her own.
"Find out what?"
"About the baby. We only made love a week ago. You aren't having morning sickness already are you?"
With a muffled, unintelligible sound, Beverly turned in his arms, snuffling a bit as she sought a comfortable position -- and one where his chest hair didn't tickle her nose.
"No..."
"No what?" he asked with a chuckle, almost missing what she said next.
"...accident."
Fear rushed through him, roughening his voice as he fired questions at her. "Accident? What accident? Beverly, were you injured?"
When his arms tightened around her, she groaned and came fully awake. She broke his hold with effort and pulled back to look at him, demanding, "What is the matter with you?"
Stunned by her querulous tone, he sat up, running a hand over his head. "You said you had an accident! I'm not supposed to be concerned about that?"
Missing his warmth -- and confused by his words -- Beverly sat up as well, wrapping the sheet around her. "Let's start over, Jean-Luc," she said patiently, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Who said anything about an accident?"
"You just did!" he barked, making her jump. Taking a deep breath, he went on. "I asked you how you found out about the baby so soon, if you were having morning sickness. You said no, then something about an accident..." His hand trembled as he reached out to touch her hair. "Gods, Beverly, I can't bear the idea of you being injured."
Understanding his fear, she still had to smother a laugh as she leaned in to kiss him. "I love you, Jean-Luc, but there are a few things you need to learn about me. For one thing, just because I answer you, that doesn't mean I know I'm talking to you -- especially when I'm tired. All that effort I put into learning to curb my tongue is totally wasted when I'm only half conscious."
"But you said 'accident'."
Beverly shook her head at his one track mind, but she was glad to see he had relaxed considerably. "And you should only listen to me when I speak in complete sentences. Had I been actively participating in your conversation, I would have said that I found out not because of an accident but by accident."
Her attitude had calmed him as much as her words. If she could tease him, then he knew there was truly nothing to worry about. "Oh, well that certainly clears things up," he said in mock satisfaction as he laid down.
Blocking the pillow as she swung it, he caught her wrist and pulled her to him for a kiss. Drawing back to look at her, he asked solemnly, "If I phrase the question properly, will you answer me in complete sentences?"
Pretending to consider the request, she finally nodded her agreement.
"Doctor Crusher," he said in his best Captain's voice, "for the record, will you describe how you came to discover your current... condition?"
Beverly made a show of fluffing the pillows before settling herself against them and tucking the pale blue sheet around her. All her busy work couldn't keep a faint blush from coloring her cheeks. She knew precisely how foolish this was going to sound.
"Captain, sir," she said, mocking his own tone, "I was in my office yesterday --"
"Yesterday?" he broke in. "You've known since yesterday?"
She pretended to glare at him. "If you're going to interrupt me at every sentence, we're going to be here all night."
It was his turn to look askance at her.
"All right," she conceded, "we're going to be here all night anyway, but if you'll let me answer the question, we could move on to other things." Shaking her head, she added teasingly, "I never dreamed you would be so chatty in bed."
He was tempted to forego the answer in favor of the promise in her clear blue eyes, but he was a patient man who knew that restraint could have its own rewards. Shifting onto his side, he propped his head on his hand and indicated for her to continue.
"As I was saying, I was in my office ignoring the work piled on my desk and trying to wear out the power cell on a tricorder instead." She saw his puzzlement and explained. "You know -- open, close; power up, power down. Anyway, Deanna came in wanting to know what was wrong. I put her off with a promise to talk later and went back to what I was doing. Since tormenting a tricorder it isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds, I popped out the scanner."
She paused, looking down to where he was idly running a finger up and down her arm. "Do you want to hear this or not?"
With a sheepish grin, he placed an apologetic kiss on her bare shoulder and took his hand back.
"Where was I? Oh, yes. I had my feet up on my desk so I started with them because they were out there. I was working my way up my legs when I wondered if maybe I ought to check my head -- to see if I had any functioning brain cells left."
He smiled at the outlandish direction the recitation had taken. "Were you in some doubt about the state of your brain?"
Her eyebrow arched in silent censure. He had interrupted yet again, and worse he, a mere captain, had dared to question her expert medical 'diagnosis'.
"I was in my office entertaining myself with tricorder readings, my love," she pointed out, "instead of being in here entertaining myself with you. Yes, professionally speaking, my cognitive processes could be described as highly suspect."
"Even though I had decided that I need to have my head examined, I took the long route, running the scanner up my body but not looking at the readouts. Just as I got to my neck, Sickbay filled up with everybody involved in that ridiculous holodeck incident." She shook her head, still bewildered by the fact that alleged adults could get worked up to the extent of coming to blows over a simple game of Paresis Squares.
"In all the chaos, I had forgotten about my own scans until I ran across them while I was clearing out the tricorder. I checked to see if there was anything worth adding to my file... and found a completely unanticipated reading." She fell silent, the shock of her discovery shimmering through her once more.
He saw the shadow in her eyes and thought he knew the cause. "How did you feel when you saw it?"
"Stunned," she replied quietly. "I wasn't expecting a negative result. I wasn't thinking about it at all."
"And once the shock wore off?"
A tiny smile appeared, lighting her face with an ethereal glow. "Joy... absolute joy. It was almost exactly the same way I felt when I found out about Wesley."
He couldn't understand the perversity that made him point out the dark side of what they should be sharing as a joyous occasion. "But you and Jack were happily married. You and I weren't even speaking."
"I know," she whispered. "I went through that, too. I wanted to run straight to your ready room... then I remembered."
"Were you angry with me?"
"I wanted to be..."
Her voice trailed off, and he wondered if and how she would finish the sentence.
"Mostly I was afraid."
"Afraid?" The answer surprised him. He had fully expected her redheaded temper to take the lead. He couldn't imagine what would be able to frighten her enough to overwhelm her anger. "Afraid of what, cherie?"
Abruptly, she rolled onto her side away from him. Her voice was thick as she said, "I was afraid that you wouldn't want me or the baby... or worse that you would want the baby and not me. I couldn't stand the thought --"
"Beverly, don't." He gently turned her back to look at him, brushing aside her hair so that he could see her face. "The reality of you is far more than I ever dreamed of. I'm so desperately sorry that I hurt you."
The tears she had managed to keep at bay earlier now filled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him.
Holding her close, he murmured in her ear, "Never, ever be afraid that I don't want you, Beverly. I will always want you, will always need you as a friend, as a companion, as a lover."
Her sobs shook them both as the emotions she had been suppressing for the last week finally overwhelmed her. He rocked her gently; soothing her with words of love that he had waited a lifetime to say, even as he cried his own tears of anguish and relief.
When she cried herself out, Jean-Luc dried away the last damp traces and long into the night he simply watched her sleep.
*****
Looking across the breakfast table, Jean-Luc was reminded of a similar scene, one set in a castle in a mythical kingdom.
It pleased him to know that her hair was once again tousled because of his hands, that the slight swelling of her lips had been caused by his kisses. He loved the way his robe -- a half size too large for her -- kept trying to slip off first one shoulder then the other. He wanted to feel this way forever.
"Beverly, there's something I want to ask you."
Looking up from her plate, she was surprised to see hesitation shadowing his face. Her heart skipped a beat as she wondered if he was now having second thoughts about all the changes that had occurred since last night.
He saw her uncertainty and held out his hand, giving her fingers a reassuring squeeze once they were wrapped in his.
"You don't have to feel obligated to say yes immediately -- or even to say yes at all. I only hope that you will give it serious consideration."
She smiled softly at his rushed speech, thinking that he sounded rather like all the people who had been convinced that Queen Beverly was going to turn them into toads.
"I think I can promise that."
She waited, but he remained silent. "Jean-Luc..." she prompted.
"Yes?" he said eagerly, hardly daring to believe that she would have an answer for him so quickly.
"What is it that I am supposed to be considering so seriously?"
Reddening far beyond the tips of his ears, he wondered why all his diplomatic skills had abandoned him at such a crucial moment, leaving him an inarticulate mess.
"I... uh... would... that is..."
Without releasing his hand, she rose from her chair and rounded the table to kiss him soundly. The action startled him, but after a moment, he relaxed into it, pulling her onto his lap.
Beverly murmured against his lips, "Keep your eyes closed and ask the question."
Drawing back, his beautiful hazel eyes opened to see her watching him as he replied, "No, I want to look at you." He reached up to smooth her hair, tucking a flaming lock behind her ear. "Beverly, will you marry me? I'm not asking because of the baby, honestly. I'm doing it because I love you, and I want to be your husband. I'll understand if you would rather wait..." he faltered. "Or not marry me at all..."
Beverly silenced him once more with kiss, then said, "I love you, Jean-Luc, and the only thing I want more than to be the mother of your child is to be your wife."
In a flash, he had scooped her up in his arms and was on his feet whirling around as his triumphant laughter filled the room -- a room that only the day before had felt so lonely and empty.
"Jean-Luc, stop!" she pleaded.
Collapsing on the sofa, he was startled when she buried her face in the curve of his neck. A moment later he realized her breathing was shallow and gasping. Taking her shoulders, he pushed gently, trying to look into her face. He caught only a glimpse and was appalled to see that there was a faint greenish tint to her skin.
"Beverly, what is it?"
Her only reply was a moan as she pressed closer to him. She mumbled something that sounded like 'rub my back' -- which he did in hopes that she would soon be able to tell him what was wrong.
Her breathing slowly returned to normal and when she sat up, her skin had gone from unhealthy green to embarrassed pink.
"Morning sickness?" It was the only guess he had, and he was going to keep using it until it was the right answer... which it wasn't this time either.
"Motion sickness," she confessed sheepishly, passing a shaky hand through her hair. "Spinning around like that makes me violently ill, pregnant or not. It's my fatal flaw -- think you can live with it?"
"I'm not sure," he answered with a twinkle in his eye. "I think it's asking quite a lot of me just to deal with your temper. This seems to go above and beyond the call of duty."
"How difficult can it be?" Beverly demanded in the same teasing tone. "Just don't spin me around, and there's no problem. So, do you still want to marry me?"
"My beautiful Beverly." His hands framed her face as his own grew somber. "The only time I ever hated Jack was the day he married you. I wanted so desperately to be in his place... to be the man you loved..."
"You are the man I love," she vowed, holding him close, "the man I will love for the rest of my life."
"I want our marriage to bring us closer together. I want to know that I will always be able to talk to you about anything, that I won't have to hide my feelings anymore."
Beverly kissed him, loving him more for his idealized view of marriage. She knew how he felt because she had been just as starry eyed when she married Jack.
~tbc~