Chapter 12

The Next Day

Paris, France 6 am

Jack rolled out of bed and got showered and dressed without much thought. The second day of hearings lay ahead of him, but his nervousness had ebbed somewhat. Once he'd had some coffee, he was actually starting to feel optimistic. That is until his door chimed, and he found he had a visitor. And it wasn't normal for this person to visit him. Not at all.

"Chancellor...to what do I owe this unexpected visit?"

The elegant Andorian walked quickly past Jack, without a word. He turned sharply in the middle of Jack's living room. "New events, Mr. Crusher. Your assistant Alison. She resigned her commission this morning," Makon said slowly. The tone was accusatory and laced with suspicion, as though Makon really believed that Jack had put her up to it.

"What? I had no idea. Why?"

Makon pulled a datapad out and handed it to Jack. "She cited her loyalty to you as the reason for her resignation..."

Jack read the screen with growing anger. "Alison quit because she refused to question me? I'm being called to testify? You've got to be kidding!"

"Have I ever told a joke in your presence, Vice-Chancellor?"

"What is this about Makon? A political move? Are you forcing me out?"

"A source tells us you may have evidence about Picard's whereabouts."

"A source. Really? Then why not just ask me? Why the big show? Dragging my friends and family from all over the galaxy?" Jack suddenly threw the datapad to the floor. "This is not right!"

Makon retrieved the datapad from the floor and moved toward the door. "Your testimony is required, Vice-Chancellor. Under oath."

"This is a goddamn setup!" Jack shouted. "What if I resign my appointment?"

Makon hesitated in the doorway. "Surely, you won't run away from your responsibility to this Federation, Mr. Crusher. At least... not until we have heard the truth, directly from your mouth."

Later that morning across town in a hotel...

"That replicator is useless, absolutely useless!"

Chancellor Makon was unmoved. "Despite your displeasure with the accommodations, your testimony will be required. If I am to convince the Council that the threat to our galaxy is real..."

The tall man lounged across a couch, yawning with apparent boredom. He was dressed in civilian clothes that didn't fit him, as though he were ignorant of his own age and size. If he was to be believed, he was far from ignorant-although to look at him would make one wonder.

"Find Picard...he'll let you know what's going on." The man swung his long legs onto the floor. He was wearing mismatched boots to go with his pants that were too tight around the thighs. His bare chest was visible beneath a feminine looking white kimono, which was wrapped carelessly around him, as though he had not been expecting the interruption.

Chancellor Makon leveled his antennae at the man. "Q...once again, you are required to testify so that I can convince the rest of the Council to find Picard. You see, presently, almost no one of any importance cares that Picard is missing."

"And you?" Q adjusted his kimono and lounged back against the couch again. "Are you one of those important people, Chancellor?"

Makon pointed at Q. "You told us Picard was the key to stopping our galaxy from destruction."

Q shrugged. "Maybe he is. Maybe he's not."

"Can Picard help us nor not?"

"I'm sure Jean-Luc would have all the answers if he was here. At least, he would think so."

"But-"

Q stood up suddenly, now seeing eye to eye with the tall Andorian. "I will testify, Makon, if that's what it takes for your lowly Federation Council to see that their very existence is at risk. And you needn't worry about my motivations. After all, I'm mortal now, and you can be assured that I don't want to die any more than you do."

Starfleet Headquarters Annex, Paris, France

His voice sounded nervous to his own ears. It had been a while since she had graced his presence. "Hey... thanks for coming. I know you'll be back to testify later, but...I wanted to see you."

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you, Jack. At least that's what Talbot told me." Beverly stood in the doorway of a darkened conference room.

"I know... but...Walker's awake. It's great news," said Jack, walking toward her. He looked notably disheveled, and not himself. Now overly cautious with everyone, Beverly took a step backwards.

"I know...Selar called me. We should be back in San Francisco with our friend, Jack! Not here digging through the past."

Jack's eyes shone with tears as he reached out for her hand. "I've missed you so much."

She backed away. "We're not doing this again, Jack."

"Doing what?" He reached out to trace his fingers down her cheek, but she grabbed his hand and moved her head away.

"What the hell? Did you forget what happened last time we saw each other?"

"We had great sex?"

She brought her hand to her forehead. "I told you, and I thought we had agreed...it's not good for us to be alone together."

He moved in placing his hand under her chin. "Bev...what if this is all we have now?"

She shook her head. "No. It's not all we have. Jack, something happened to us when we were infected...something that we can't explain, and something that has stayed with us. We're connected."

Jack put his hands on top of his head, obviously emotional. Something else was going on with him, she could tell.

"So then, let's just let things happen. Can't we do that?"

"No. Besides, I'm with Felix now. You know that."

He grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her. She didn't push him away, at least at first. Her mouth was warm against his, and she encircled him with her arms, pulling him closer. He began to unzip her uniform when she pushed him away. "No," she said softly. "I can't do this anymore, I told you. It's not good for either of us, and I'm with Felix now."

"Does he know about us?"

"There is no us, Jack," she nearly exploded. "And you sure as hell are not going to tell him anything!"

"He's going to be heartbroken eventually, Bev. It happens to all of us when it comes to you..."

She thought about hitting him but simply pointed in his face. "I've made so many mistakes in the last several years, Jack. And the best you can do is throw it in my face? Screw you." She whirled and strode to the door when he called after her.

"They want me to testify about Jean-Luc. I figured I would tell you before you found out later."

She halted but didn't turn around. "I could ask you, Jack...I could ask you what you know about his disappearance, but if you knew anything you would have already told me. Right?"

"Right," he nearly whispered. He took a deep breath before uttering his next words. "Well..maybe you'll be happy to know I'm leaving Earth."

She turned to give him the side-eye. "Huh?"

"I'm taking command of the Excelsior in a few days. I've resigned as Federation Vice-Chancellor, effective tomorrow."

She looked at him with wide eyes, clearly stunned. "How...how long-"

"I just made the call and accepted Admiral Nechayev's invitation this morning-"

"What? What?" The panic was finally sinking in. She'd submitted her application, but it hadn't been accepted yet. She still had time to withdraw it. Clearly, Jack had no idea she was even a candidate for CMO on board a ship he was now commanding, he was so focused on escaping Earth. She covered her mouth with her hand, suddenly feeling very lightheaded and nauseous. "I have to go," she said quickly and ran from the room.

Eighteen months ago...

Beverly Howard unlocked the door of her San Francisco apartment and stepped inside. It was early winter, and the sunlight that usually caressed her large picture window had already departed for the evening. It had been a long day, culminating in her request to take a temporary leave from Starfleet. She and her superiors had eventually agreed to allow her to work as a consultant studying the biological history of the viral entities, which had been first encountered in the Caribbean. The understanding was that she would return to full medical duty once her study was complete. Despite her quasi obsession with the entities, she wasn't excited. Instead, she felt exhausted.

Walking into her darkened living room, she flopped down on the sofa. She hadn't expected anyone else to be there, and nearly screamed when she heard his voice.

"Hello," came the smooth baritone from out of nowhere.

She spun around, almost jumping over the couch. In fact, he was there, sitting quietly on a chair next to the window.

"What the f-...Jean-Luc, what are you doing in my house?"

He smoothed his hand along the tabletop. "I came to say goodbye." He turned to look at her in the dim light. "And to watch the sunset."

She sat back down slowly, still watching him over the top of the couch. "I haven't seen you in three months," she said flatly, trying very hard to keep the hurt out of her voice.

He got up from his chair and walked over to her. "You made very clear that you didn't want to see me anymore," he said, sitting down next to her. "And I understand why."

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wiped them away angrily. "Do you?"

He nodded. "I did what I felt I had to do, Beverly. Perhaps it was the wrong decision." He reached for her hand, but she snatched it away.

"You tried to erase your own son, our son from history," she whispered.

He shook his head slightly. "I tried to change history, Beverly, and I failed. If I had succeeded, Wesley would have still existed as Jack's son."

She grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose. "But he wouldn't have been the same, and he wouldn't have been ours. Why did you do it? To punish me?"

"Perhaps to a degree. But more than anything, I wanted to erase our physical relationship, so that the Q would not have fixated on Wesley, or me. Remember, the Q initially wanted to abduct Wesley, not me."

She moved her face close to his. "I appreciate that in your own warped way you believed you were doing the right thing, but for the record, it wasn't the right thing. And if you came to try and convince me of this somehow-"

He grabbed both of her hands and brought them to his lips, kissing them softly as he watched her. Her breath caught in her throat and she leaned in to kiss him. She pulled back after a few moments to look at him. "Damn you," she whispered. "Did you really come to say goodbye?"

He nodded, kissing her again, more insistently this time. He moved his right hand over the small of her back and deepened their kiss. She gasped and pulled back to look into his eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Away," he murmured. He reached out and ran the side of his hand from her neck, down to her breasts. "I have missed your body so much," he declared quietly. "But if you want me to leave now, I will."

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you, Jean-Luc."

"I'm not asking you to," he said. "I'm only asking to share this space with you for one last time."

She licked the tears from her lips and watched him with both suspicion and longing for his companionship that had never gone away. She moved the hair from her eyes. "After all we've been through, that's all you have to offer me?"

"Yes."

She rose up on her knees, leaning over him, grasping his face in her hands as she kissed him again. Pushing her weight against him, she moved her hand up his inner thigh as he groaned into her mouth. He lifted her up and onto his lap and they let out a mutual sigh as they began to undress each other. "Please," Beverly whispered, not caring whether she embarrassed herself or not. "Please don't ever forget me."

"I could never."