Beverly was frustrated and confused. In addition to her friend being missing, it seemed as though she no longer had any staff in her Sickbay! She glanced around the empty facility and picked up a tricorder.Might as well make sure I'm alright before going back to Jean-Luc. The tricorder emitted a beep to let her know it was done. She began to scan her results.
"Blood pressure...normal. Blood sugars...normal. White blood count...normal...Red count...normal...heart function...normal...liver...normal...hormone level..." she paused and stared at the tricorder. "That can't be right."
She reached for a different tricorder and began another scan. When that was complete, she scrolled through the results staring her in the face. "Oh." Beverly smiled and placed the tricorder in her pocket. She turned to leave Sickbay, but was stopped by a large flash of light appearing in the doorway. The flash was accompanied by a strong wind. Beverly held onto one of the biobeds as the light swirled around the room and the wind tried to pull her into it. When the light disappeared, she fell onto the floor. She grabbed her tricorder out of her pocket and scanned herself. She smiled, and then called for Geordi to come to Sickbay.
Predictably, Geordi and his staff could find no evidence of the flash of light. Sighing, Beverly headed for the Bridge and her husband. She fingered the tricorder in her pocket and smiled, wondering what Jean-Luc would think when she told him.
Wesley was busy fiddling with the controls on the monitor in front of him, Jean-Luc was hunched over him, with his hand resting on the young man's back. Wesley bangs his hand on the desk.
"I'm sorry, Dad...I think I lost Mom." A Lump rose in Wesley's throat as he turned to look at his step-father. There were tears in the corner of Jean-Luc's eyes and Wesley could tell it was taking every ounce of strength he had not to cry.
Jean-Luc squeezed Wesley's shoulder. "It can't be. Wesley...there has to be another way." A tear fell from his eye and rolled its way down his cheek. "Please, Son. I can't...I need..." He removed his hand from Wesley's shoulder and adjusted his top. "There must be something we haven't thought of."
Beverly ran towards Engineering. If she was right, she needs to be back at the exact place she was when the first burst of light happened. She dashed into Engineering and headed straight towards the fading light. She caressed her abdomen before leaping straight into the light...
...and she tumbled out straight into Jean-Luc's arms.
Jean-Luc kisses her soundly in front of everyone present in Engineering before holding her at arms length and looking her over. "Beverly. Are you...are you alright?"
Beverly smiled up at her husband, her captain. Should she tell him now? No, better wait. "Yes, Jean-Luc. I'm fine. Is everyone..." Jean-Luc smiled and kissed her again.
"We're all fine...now."
Beverly paced around the living area. After the events with Wesley's warp bubble, she refused to allow anyone except for Doctor Selar to perform her examination, trusting the Vulcan doctor not to reveal all the results. Doctor Selar agreed to keep some of her findings out of the report that would be presented to the Captain. Beverly knew that Jean-Luc didn't always read her reports, but she was sure he would read the one pertaining to her. Beverly agreed with Selar to report for another exam once she spoke with Jean-Luc. That was three weeks ago.
Fortunately, travelling through the bubble didn't seem to affect the foetus, but Beverly was not willing to think of it as a baby yet. She knew she was getting older and knew about the complications that a woman of her age could face. She and Jean-Luc had agreed to remove the birth control implant as soon as they returned to the ship, but she hadn't believed that she would become pregnant so quickly. She assumed it would have taken several months for her body to begin to produce the necessary hormones...but nature surprised her. She was now seven weeks pregnant. She hadn't suffered morning sickness (thankfully!) with Wesley, and it looked like this pregnancy would be similar. She had been having some odd cravings for food lately, but Jean-Luc brushed it off as Beverly being Beverly. He was used to her odd suggestions for meals and just accepted her choices. Beverly was sure Jean-Luc had no idea.
She knew she needed to tell him, and she wanted to tell him before Wesley, but she also wanted Wesley to know before he went off to the academy. Beverly wanted to be sure that Wesley was ok with the thought of her and Jean-Luc having a baby. She knew how much Wesley had looked to Jean-Luc as a father and she still deeply regretted not marrying Jean-Luc all those years ago when she had the chance. While Jean-Luc had been an influence on Wesley's life and had seen him as often as he could with his schedule, she knew it would be quite different with this child. This child would have both a mother and a father around all of the time from its birth...much different from Wesley's life. But still...Wesley had asked if they would be giving him a younger sibling. Beverly smiled remembering that morning.
Beverly continued to pace. She was seven weeks along, so nearly two months. That means she would have at least six months before she would have to consider maternity leave. She knew Sickbay would be in good hands with Selar, but did she only want to take maternity leave, or did she want to resign completely and focus on raising her and Jean-Luc's baby? It had been hard raising Wesley while she was still in her final years of residency and she had always wished that the situation had been different to afford her more time. And of course, Jack had been very little help with Wesley, only seeming to want to be around for the fun parts and none of the hard parts. In fact, Jack had even missed Wesley's birth! It had been Jean-Luc who had come to the hospital by way of apologizing for Jack's absence and it had been Jean-Luc who had been the first person other than Beverly and the medical staff to hold Wesley. She knew he would make an excellent father.
In fact, she was pretty sure he would take paternity leave alongside her. They could stay on the ship of course, but they also could return to La Barre. Beverly let her mind wander as she pictured her and Jean-Luc placing their baby in the Picard family crib – a crib that, according to Marie, had been used for every Picard baby going back several centuries! Their son – for Beverly was sure she would be having a boy – would learn to take his first steps among the vines, and who knows? Maybe one day he would be in charge of the vineyard to allow his cousin Rene the chance to explore the stars.
Or maybe their son would be an explorer like Jean-Luc and yearn for the stars. Perhaps he, like Wesley and his father, would be fascinated by the stars and want to explore every corner of the galaxy as captain of his own vessel...or he might want to become an archaeologist, Jean-Luc's other passion. Not discounting her own interests, maybe her son would want to follow her into medicine. Or perhaps...perhaps he would forge his own life completely unrelated to his parent's lives. Beverly vowed not to push their son into any one career, as she often worried she and Jean-Luc had pushed Wesley into Starfleet.