Chapter Two: The First of the Spirits

That night, Picard searched his room all over with a candle before putting it on the table.

"Spirits." He scoffed. He'd obviously been stressed as he got into bed and blew out his candle. "Humbug!"

Picard then went to sleep without undressing.

()()()()()

As Picard slept, a young Vulcan male walked up. His hair was black, and he was dressed in what the Vulcans of the 23rd century would call casual. He starred at the fireplace, and the fire came on. He then rang the bell on the clock, which read two o'clock, but Picard continued sleeping.

"Hm." The Vulcan mused. He rang the bell again, and Picard got up.

"Oh, what?" Picard asked.

"Well it's about time." The Vulcan said. "We haven't got all night, you know."

"Who... Who are you?" Picard asked in surprise.

"I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past." The Vulcan said. "You can call me Spock for short."

"I would think someone like you would look a little older." Picard observed.

"Well Jean-Luc, if men were aged by kindness, you'd be no older than a new-born child." Spock retorted calmly.

"Kindness is of little use in this world." Jean-Luc said as he prepared to go back to sleep.

"You didn't always think so." Spock said. "Come on, Jean-Luc, it's time to go."

"Then go." Picard said agitatedly when Spock walked to a window, and opened it.

"Spock!" Picard called out in alarm. "What are you doing?!"

"We're going to visit your past." Spock explained.

"I'm not going out there." Picard countered. "I'll fall."

"Take my hand, and you'll be lifted." Spock said, as Picard apprehensively took Spock's hand, and they were flying above Paris in an instant, having a wild ride.

()()()()()

They stopped at a small shop.

"Spock, I think I know this place." Picard mused. "Yes! It's old Hikaru Sulu's! I couldn't have worked for a kinder man."

Inside the shop, Sulu, alive again, was dancing with his husband and several others.

"Why it's old Sulu himself!" Picard exclaimed. "And all of my very dearest friends!"

Picard then turned to a shy boy who looked very slim.

"And that shy boy in the corner, that's me." Picard remarked.

"Yes." Spock said. "Before you became a miserable miser consumed by greed."

"Well nobody's perfect." Picard defended before looking at a red haired girl with green eyes. "There she is. There's lovely Beverly."

()()()()()

Beverly walked up to the younger Jean-Luc.

"Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked. "Jean-Luc."

"Yes, Beverly?" Jean-Luc asked nervously as Beverly pulled him under the mistletoe.

"My eyes are closed, my lips are puckered, and I'm standing under the mistletoe." Beverly said.

"You're also standing on my foot." Jean-Luc pointed out before Beverly chuckled, and they began dancing with everybody as Malcolm smiled. The dance ended with Beverly kissing Jean-Luc's cheek, and his mind went to mush.

()()()()()

"Oh, I remember how much I was in love with her." Picard said nostalgically when there was a sudden wind, and the entire area became darkened.

"In ten years' time, you learned to love something else." Spock said as Picard looked around and found himself in a very familiar place.

"It's my counting house!" Picard said in surprise.

"Yes." Spock said. "You had just formed your partnership with Dukat. Your business was new, but your ways were set."

"Oh, please!" Picard said as he suddenly remembered the day. "Spare me the rest!"

"You have to drain the cup to the dregs for this trip to do good." Spock said. "Recall how you drove love from your heart and replaced it with the worship of money."

()()()()()

"Nine-thousand four-hundred and forty two." Jean-Luc said as he put a coin on top of a large pile from several foreclosures and debt payments. "Nine-thou-"

"Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked from behind the pile of coins.

"Yes, what is it?" Jean-Luc asked.

"For years I've had the honeymoon cottage Jean-Luc." Beverly said. "I've been waiting for you to keep your promise to marry me. Now I must know; have you made your decision?"

"I have!" Jean-Luc said finally as he pulled out the mortgage paper of the cottage. "Your last payment on the cottage was an hour late! I'm foreclosing the mortgage!"

()()()()()

Picard watched Beverly burst into tears and walk away.

Go after her you young fool! Picard called out angrily at his past self.

"You loved your money more than that precious girl, and you lost her forever." Spock reminded him as a look of anger crossed Beverly's face as she closed the door, causing the pile of gold to crash down on the table.

"Please spirit." Picard moaned. "I can no longer bare these memories. Take me home."

"Remember Jean-Luc." Spock said as the scene, and Spock, was beginning to fade away. "You fashioned these memories yourself..."


Wow. Talk about a dumb choice, huh?