Author's Note: The first line of dialogue is from the episode by Allison Hock.


"You are still Jean-Luc Picard," Beverly said quietly but firmly, her heart aching with sympathy for the man standing before her. "What do you think you should do?"

Jean-Luc exhaled a heavy sigh, his gaze still fixed on the stars beyond the viewport of his ready room. Finally he turned towards her. The look on his too-young face was as solemn, as stoic, as if he were facing a firing squad. "Very well. I'll ask Commander Riker to assume command."

Beverly nodded and suppressed a sigh of her own. In a way she'd almost hoped he'd fight her on it – give her an excuse to relieve him of duty so he wouldn't have to make the painful call himself. No one should have to make a decision like that.

But at the same time she'd known that he wouldn't. Jean-Luc would never take the coward's way out.

And there was now no question in her mind that the boyish Jean-Luc Picard standing before her retained all of his mental faculties and sense of responsibility intact. For the time being, at least.

"Just until we get this mess sorted out," he added forcefully, the sound of the high and reedy tenor voice – so different from his normal mellifluent baritone – still jarring to her ears.

She nodded again. "Only until we get you and the others back to normal," she agreed. As far as she was concerned that moment couldn't come soon enough. And if that's how I'm feeling, just imagine how he feels…

She shuddered. All those decades of experience, all of that accumulated wisdom, trapped inside a body younger than her own son. It didn't help that he was so cute, either – she kept having to clench her fists at her sides to quell the urge to reach out and ruffle his thick blond hair – yet also possessed of a solemn dignity that seemed wholly out of place in someone so young.

But of course he wasn't young. He just looked it.

So young.

Even assuming there was no regression of his mental condition to match, what did Jean-Luc's new pre-pubescent physical state mean for his future on the ship, for his future in general? If his own bridge officers could barely take him seriously, what chance did he have with the rest of the crew? And even if Starfleet were to allow it, it would be impossible for him to remain at the helm when the Romulans, the Klingons – enemies and allies alike – would laugh themselves silly at the sight of an adolescent boy commanding the Federation flagship. His entire career would have to be placed on hold, at least until he grew another few inches. And his voice broke.

Beverly felt a mischievous smile curving her lips and fought to quash it. This was no time to tease him. Just because she could see the funny side to what had happened didn't mean that he would. And that was understandable enough. For what had begun as a curious, bizarre but still vaguely amusing event had rapidly progressed into a situation whose repercussions could change peoples lives forever. Not the least Jean-Luc's. And her own.

For what would this mean for their personal relationship? Perhaps their friendship could continue somehow if he were to remain on the ship. She could get used to the change, eventually, and surely he would too. But what if he decided to leave? What if he went back to Earth, or elsewhere? Would the bond they had been so carefully nurturing between them fragment with time and distance as he found new friends closer to his own physical age?

And what of her long term hopes for their relationship? Try as she might to ignore them, enjoying their increasingly close yet safely platonic association just the way it was now, she knew that deep down she continued to harbor occasional thoughts – fantasies – of the two of them together…

Talk about robbing the cradle, she mused sardonically. Any thoughts of romance were out the window as long as he remained this way.

I swear to you, Jean-Luc, she thought with a sudden, fierce resolve, I will find a way to get you back to normal.

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