New Year Blues.
She was bustling; a word that she used in her head to describe herself when she fell into this condition. Plates clanged and water ran. Soap bubbles drifted lazily away as she scrubbed the countertop. Pillows fluffed, table cleared and leftovers thrown into the recycler. Wisps of hair framed her face as strands found their way out of her seashell clip. Her list of available chores was quickly waning away. She purposely stretched it out to avoid the inevitable inactivity.
Her dinner guests had left an hour ago. Deanna, Will and little Kestra had come; as well as Geordi, and Worf. It had been wonderful. But it made her miss the old days aboard the Enterprise. Those days could never be recaptured. The excitement and familiarity, the workouts with Troi, meetings with senior staff, ten-forward with Guinan, breakfasts with…
"Computer play music file: 17." She said to the walls of her quarters. Music flowed from the hidden sound system and Beverly finally consigned herself to sitting down. A light beat preceded a young man's voice:
…
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone
They Paved Paradise and put up a Parking Lot…
She ordered the room lights off and the multi-colored lights of her astro-filimented Christmas tree cast a chipper glow across the room. She curled into her overstuffed chair, tucked her legs underneath herself and gazed at it. Tomorrow she would take it down. It was a silly tradition to put it up at all but her Nana always had so it had become a necessity.
Somewhere her chronometer beeped 23:30. Another half hour and the universe would turn over to yet another new year. They passed like the wind through the willow anymore.
Seeing everyone had settled a weight onto her chest. That weight brought forth by nostalgia and thoughts that can't be reconciled by any present action.
…
Don't it always seem to go that you
Don't know what you got till it's gone…
Her thoughts focused on a memory and she let her mind re-live it.
They sat at the bar in Ten-forward. A lot of crew members had gathered to count down the New Year together. Deanna and Will had been caught under mistletoe and everyone cheered as they obliged their chants to kiss. Beverly gazed at them, seeing the unspoken things being communicated between the two. She wished them to hear it as well as she did. She looked over at her companion and caught him also looking at Will and Deanna.
"You suppose they'll figure it out?" she asked.
He smiled and nodded, "One day."
A few minutes later the whole room took up a chorus.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!"
They both joined in.
"Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!!"
Jean-luc leaned in by her ear, "Look up, Beverly"
She glanced at the ceiling to see a sprig of mistletoe hanging from a rafter. They smiled. After a second of hesitation he leaned in and…
The lights of the tree blurred as lights tend to do when being looked at through watering eyes. She didn't want to cry but there seemed nothing else to do. So she let a couple tears fall and a couple more when she heard the chronometer beep at 24:00.
"…happy new year…" she whispered to a man far away.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…