Beverly placed her utensils on her empty plate and sat back with a sigh. She watched as her dinner companion pushed his food around his own plate, his mind clearly light years away. "More wine?"

Jean-Luc's fork stilled and he glanced up. "No, thank you," he replied. His hazel eyes met hers, but tonight they lacked their usual spark of vitality that so often held her spellbound. Evidently the day's events were still affecting him deeply.

From long experience she knew better than to directly ask what was weighing him down. The captain was a past master at deflecting interest in his feelings. But that didn't mean she couldn't make a few observations of her own.

"It's been quite a day," she noted, trying to nudge some sort of conversation into life. "After all, it's not often you encounter a whole new life form. Especially one that seems to have evolved to spend its entire life in deep space."

He nodded, animation returning to his face and rendering his angular features singularly handsome. "Yes, it's quite extraordinary," he agreed, his deep voice colored with wonder. "Just imagine what kind of physiology it must have developed to adapt to life in zero gravity, the propulsive system necessary to travel between the stars."

"Not to mention how beings that largely consist of plasma energy manage to reproduce…" She smiled. "I have to admit I've never performed a C-section with a phaser before."

His eyes filled with sorrow at her words. "To think we killed that remarkable creature –"

"In self defense," she reminded him swiftly, cutting across his words.

He shook his head. "Nevertheless. Between the Malcorians and now this…" His voice trailed off in a low sigh. "I handled neither situation with sufficient skill."

The regretful expression on Jean-Luc's face tore at Beverly's heart. He was always very hard on himself, and she hated to see him so disheartened as a result of events that were beyond his control. Especially when she knew that in both cases he referred to he'd done everything exactly by the book. But there was no point in arguing with him, either, so she tried a different tack. "At least with our help Junior survived, and found others of his kind," she pointed out.

She saw him wince at her use of the crew's nickname for the baby, but then allow himself to relax as he responded to the teasing twinkle in her eyes. "Yes."

"He really just let go of the ship and swam away?"

Jean-Luc nodded.

Her lips curved upward as she imagined the scene. "With no thank you, I suppose, no final wave goodbye?"

"Not even a backward glance," he said wryly.

Beverly shook her head in mock despair. "That's children for you."

They shared a smile, and Beverly silently congratulated herself for successfully pulling her companion out of his malaise.

This has been nice. I wish we could do it more often.

Jean-Luc had thoughtfully invited her to dinner the night Wesley had left for the Academy, and they'd shared a quiet meal in his quarters that had brought to an unexpectedly enjoyable end what had otherwise been a painfully melancholy day.

A short time later she tried to return the favor – half expecting he would refuse – but to her delight he'd readily agreed to join her. Unfortunately, disruptions to their respective schedules had led to one or other of them having to cancel every night for the past week. Just when she was beginning to despair that it was never going to happen, they'd managed to carve out time for an early meal tonight.

Jean-Luc folded his napkin and set it on the table with a small sigh. "Well, I'm afraid I need to be going. I must finish reviewing the Zoftonian bylaws before the meeting tomorrow morning." He rose. "Thank you for dinner, Beverly."

Beverly rose as well, trying to hide her disappointment that their time together was coming to an end so early in the evening. "You're welcome," she replied, walking him to the door.

They paused together just before reaching it, turning to catch and hold each other's eyes, and for an instant Beverly wondered if Jean-Luc might be as reluctant to leave as she was for him to go.

"I'd like to do this again," she added, finally giving voice to her earlier thoughts.

Jean-Luc smiled with unexpected warmth, sending a glow of pleasure radiating through her. "So would I."

"But it's been so difficult to coordinate our schedules…"

He nodded. "I know."

Beverly set her jaw. She was determined to surmount the difficulty. For a long time now she'd been hoping for the chance to spend more time with Jean-Luc out of uniform and she wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip away.

She considered swiftly. The problem with dinner was always the timing, coming as it did at the end of a day's worth of accumulated meetings, interruptions and crises. But what about the start of the day…when there were far fewer constraints? "Well, then, what about breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" He hesitated. "To be honest, I rarely take the time for it."

She shot him a look. "As your doctor I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Pressing on, "You must have something to get you going in the morning, Jean-Luc. I seem to recall that when you stayed over with Jack and me you at least had a cup of tea."

She was smiling now, hopeful. This could actually work. "I think I can still manage to replicate a cup of Earl Grey."

"Fine. I'll see you in the morning. Would 0630 suit you?"

"Perfectly."

"Until tomorrow, then." He took a step forward to activate the door mechanism, then paused on the threshold and looked back, smiling with a gentleness that seemed wholly out of place in a starship captain and yet, she knew, was part of what made him so very special. "Goodnight, Beverly."

"Goodnight." Her voice was a whisper as she watched him depart.

As the door closed Beverly turned and drifted back to the table. Her lips quirked upward as she reviewed the night's proceedings in her mind, feeling better about life than she had for a long time. Tonight had shown that she and Jean-Luc had grown comfortable in each other's company, and that she was learning to temper the longing that being in his presence inevitably evoked. Moreover, what had begun as simply a nice meal and engaging conversation had yielded a promise of more regular interactions to come.

Yes. It had been an altogether satisfying evening.

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