Beverly took in a deep breath, savoring the moment. Being comfortable and warm was a condition she quite enjoyed. Smelling a hint of moist soil in the air, along with some type of breakfast pastry, she rolled over, and stretched out. Feeling the soreness of her muscles, she remembered how tense she had been. The soreness felt good, particularly given that she hadn't had a decent night of rest in over a month.

How did I end up in this bed? Raising her head from the pillow and looking around, Beverly found herself in the middle of a big old fashioned bed. Opposite the bed was an antique looking armoire, a closed door and her duty boots. She stared at her boots for a moment, musing about how they could have gotten there when they had been on her feet.

She leaned backward against the fluffy pillows, pulling the soft sheets back up to her chin. She turned to her head to the right, and recognized the two bags sitting beside another closed door as the same ones she had brought aboard the Enterprise with her. How did those get here too?

Beverly's brain began to answer her questions and she realized that the last thing she remembered was watching the firelight in Jean-Luc's arms.

She pulled her knees up toward her chest as she rose into a sitting position as well, and felt a smile pull at her mouth as she realized she was still in her uniform. I must have fallen asleep, and Jean-Luc put me in bed, Beverly thought, as her sense of confusion was replaced by chagrin.

Beverly got up and stretched, then began picking through her bags for what she needed, and discovered the door closest to her bags led to a bathroom.

A short time later, cleaned up for the day and dressed in civilian clothes, Beverly decided it was time to find some breakfast. Allowing the smell of food to guide her, she wandered down the stairs. It was then she felt like it was normal for her to be standing there on the bottommost stair, watching Jean-Luc finish setting the table for breakfast. She smiled to herself, and walked around the corner.

Tugging on her shirt sleeve, Beverly's voice was quiet, yet cheerful. "Good morning, Jean-Luc."

He turned with a smile toward her, delighted to have her with him. He remembered how much he loved having her there to share each day with.

"Good morning, Beverly," he quickly replied, savoring her presence.

"Have you been up long?" Beverly asked, as she crossed over to the table, smiling.

"Not long. I trust you slept well?"

Beverly nodded, "did I fall asleep watching the firelight?"

As she sat down, Beverly took sight of a single, long stemmed red rose across her plate. She picked it up, smiling, and breathed in it's distinctive scent.

Pouring a cup of coffee for each of them, he set the carafe on the table and sat down next to her, "I take it you haven't had much time off lately."

"I guess I was tired. I didn't really think about it." She sighed and looked toward him apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep like that, Jean-Luc."

"You're forgiven," he smiled broadly, adding, "the last few weeks have taken their toll on me as well."

She held up the flower with a grin, "Thank you, it's beautiful."

He gave her a short nod and smiled back.

Sipping her coffee, she eyed two packages next to the covered basket of warm croissants. As Beverly began wondering about them, her stomach reminded her of her priorities with a growl. She picked up a croissant first, then asked, "What are those?"

"I have no idea. They were sent to the ship yesterday, so I had them forwarded down here along with your bags. I forgot about them until this morning."

She studied the two oblong packages as she munched her croissant. They were both rectangular, and about the same size. The one addressed to her was thinner than Jean-Luc's was. They were both labeled with proper Starfleet titles and duty locations, including the fact that she was back aboard the Enterprise. Who knew I was coming back? Admiral Brooks and I talked about it two nights ago, just before I talked to Worf, and the documentation always takes a few days to route through the proper channels.

"Do you know who sent them?" Beverly asked warily.

"What is it, Beverly?" Jean-Luc studied her face, then looked back toward the packages.

"It's addressed to me on the Enterprise, not Starfleet Medical." She stopped for a moment, and her voice became more somber. "Jean-Luc, Admiral Brooks gave me permission to transfer back to the ship two evenings ago. It probably won't be official for a few more days."

He replied in a playful tone, hoping to defuse her sudden concern, "I don't have a stow-away aboard, do I?"

She shook her head, swallowing the mouthful of croissant before adding, "No. Nothing like that." She gave him a smile, but wasn't able to completely disguise her worry. "Seriously, if I Starfleet is still working on my orders, how could someone else know where to address my packages?"

"Perhaps someone who doesn't know you left the ship in the first place?" he ventured. "I've never seen you manage this long with a package before your curiosity gets to you. Open it up." He gestured toward the package with his hand as he finished his bite of croissant.

"What about you?" The impishness was back in her voice again.

"I'll open mine at the same time." He was wiping his hands off on his napkin and reaching for his package as well.

Beverly was certain he was placating her, but she wasn't about to complain.

"It hasn't bothered you at all? How can you sit here and not wonder what's inside, and who it's from?" She couldn't understand how Jean-Luc could overlook a mystery package, but she was too curious about the contents to ask him more about it.

They both opened up the boxes, and looked inside.

Beverly reached in the box, pulled out the new holopadd and started tabbing through without much thought. Hearing the rustle of paper, Beverly looked up and saw Jean-Luc had handfuls of old fashioned photographs-- an idiosyncrasy of his that she had come to appreciate-- looking at each one in turn, and carefully putting them on the table in small, organized piles. "Deanna & Will's wedding?"

He nodded and reached for the coffee pot, pouring each of them another cup.

She put the holopadd down, and activated the 3D mode, so the pictures would appear just above the padd on the table. She leaned over to see the last picture Jean-Luc had set down, and moved through the picture index to the next one, figuring they were mostly the same pictures in the same order.

Laughing and reminiscing together, Beverly declared that Starfleet had designed that dress uniform with ruffles down the front specifically to make her feel like she had been coated in rows of whipped cream.

Jean-Luc reminded her of the prior uniforms that looked more like a Victorian-era frock, then gave her a wicked smile. "I think you enjoyed seeing me standing there in the nude in front of several hundred high profile guests."

"It was better than the dress uniform," she quipped, with an equally wicked grin of her own.

They finished their favorite morning meal, then put away the rest of the breakfast dishes. Beverly picked up her holopadd, and scrolled through the images of the ceremonies when she noticed a detail she'd overlooked before. Jean-Luc never took his eyes off of me during both weddings.

Beverly turned off the PADD, and glanced back at the table, where she saw the red rose. She picked up the flower, and sniffed it again, I love you too, she allowed her mind to rest a moment. She looked up, noticing Jean-Luc's distracted gaze as well.

"What are you thinking about?" Beverly asked quietly.

"I was thinking about something you said to me last night, and the conversation we had just before Wes arrived at Will and Deanna's wedding in Alaska."

She turned toward him, now standing by the two chairs, with the carafe of coffee and their cups. "That's cryptic," she bantered back, curious.

"At the wedding, you told me that you needed a change in your life, that you had seen enough of wars and making do practicing medicine in less than ideal conditions, which was why you were taking the job at Starfleet Medical." He said tentatively as he settled into a chair. He didn't want to push her too much, however, Beverly was still something of a mystery to him from time to time. "Then last night, you said that you had resolved a lot of old feelings on Kevratas, and that you felt you were free to be yourself again, without the requirement of constant diversion to occupy your time."

She reached out and took his hand, smiling, as she sat down beside him.

"What are you asking?" She asked, finding her voice more cautious than she wanted it to be as they both sat down.

Jean-Luc looked down and took her hand. "I know you Beverly. You don't make rash decisions. You think things through thoroughly before you commit to something. Yet, in the last few months, you seem to have changed your mind a number of times."

"Isn't it a woman's prerogative to change her mind?" She asked with a coy smile as she met his gaze again.

"Indeed."

Beverly hesitated for a moment, deciding how best to phrase her question. Finally she decided there was no other way than to be candid about it. "Jean-Luc," she started, being careful to keep her voice level and calm despite the apprehension now swirling within her. "Why didn't you tell me what you thought about me taking over as Surgeon General at Starfleet Medical?"

He replied without hesitation, "I would have been denying you the opportunity to advance your career." He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and looked down at their hands again. "Dr. Fandau sent me the written offer at the same time he sent it to you. I knew from the way it was written that he had discussed it with you at length some time prior to that." He looked at her, watching for something to indicate what was going on inside, "Data and Geordi also mentioned to me that you had talked to each of them about it, so I presumed you would bring it up with me as well. Then, as time went by, and you still said nothing, I felt betrayed."

The weight of guilt and remorse swept over her like a heavy shroud, as she looked down, first at her feet, then at their hands. She realized how deeply she had hurt him, albeit unintentionally.

"I never meant to hurt you by not telling you about Yerbi's offer, Jean-Luc... when I left Starfleet Medical to come back to the Enterprise years ago, I always believed I'd go back later on." Sadness filled her eyes at the memories flooded back to her. "That year without Wesley was one of the hardest of my life. I might have helped cure a disease which had killed millions, but I missed watching my son grow up. Coming back to the Enterprise was just something knew I needed to do back then." Beverly shifted her weight, and tucked her legs up underneath her as she pulled on her shirt sleeve, "When Yerbi made me the offer, I thought maybe it would be good, at least in the beginning. I told myself Wesley would always know where to find me whenever he came back." Her voice came out sounding more wistful than she felt as she shook her head. "Now I know that Wesley never had anything to do with it. I was still hiding behind my child, even after all this time."

She fidgeted, tapping her fingers on her knee.

Jean-Luc reached out and put his hand on top of hers.

She looked down at his hand, finding strength in his touch, and continued. "I knew our friendship had faded." Beverly stopped, gathering her words, "But... I wanted you to tell me not to leave." Frustration filled her voice, "You didn't oppose my decision, you didn't try to talk me out of it, nothing. You accepted everything I did. Then when you congratulated me and told me I'd made the best choice..." Beverly stopped again, then added quietly, "this doesn't sound rational, does it?" She was shaking her head, knowing she'd been letting everything tumble out of her mouth again, but without regret. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and willed them not to fall.

"Beverly, it would have been selfish of me to ask you to stay on the Enterprise, which is, in part, why I couldn't do it. The distance between us became an insurmountable barrier and once you left, I was constantly reminded of how empty my life was without you there to share it with". He looked back up at her, his face filled with despair as his voice softened, "You seemed so much happier having made your decision to further your career, to leave. I thought I'd be hurting you by asking you to stay, or by telling you how I felt ... well, I did that on Kevratas." His voice caught for just a second, his eyes filled with a longing she had never seen before. "I think we forget that love comes with risks and rewards. The risks were all I could think about; the danger of losing the last part of our friendship, however strained, was too much for me to bear. I couldn't ask you to stay when I had nothing to offer you. What I didn't know then, was how much I was giving up and how empty the Enterprise would become once you were gone."

Beverly shifted her legs in front of her, sliding closer to him, "I never expected you to tell me how you felt about me; that surprised me." She paused for moment again as they met each other's gaze, "Then when we were aboard the Annabelle Lee, every time you walked into a room, or I saw you in the corridor, I knew it wasn't possible for us to go back to how we used to be."

She stopped for a minute to gather her words as Jean-Luc broke their gaze.

"Jean-Luc?"

He looked up at her, his eyes a mix of longing and resignation.

"I'm glad that you told me how you feel. Hearing that..." Matching his gaze, she continued, "I love you." She smiled, seeing her words dissipate the despair in his eyes as he returned her smile.

"Beverly, there's something I need to ask you." Jean-Luc began, his nervousness showing through in his eyes.

"Okay." Beverly said, her voice filled with intrigue.

"You didn't get involved with anyone, at least that I was aware of, until after Wesley left for Starfleet Academy. While I know that he is an adult, he will also always be your son and your first priority," he paused for a moment, gathering his words. "Please understand that I have no intent to cause harm, rather, I want to avoid the outcome at all costs. Is Wesley going to have a problem with the two of us?"

I suppose I should have seen this coming, she thought to herself, as she felt a smile forming on her lips. "No; Wesley encouraged me to start dating again when he was about ten. From the first time that he brought up the conversation, his reasoning never wavered: he didn't want me to be alone, and he reminded me that his father wouldn't have wanted that for me either. Granted, it took him until he was about fifteen to be comfortable with it in both theory and reality." She smiled at the memory, "Wesley's always been aware that you and I... he's never been anything but happy, and I can't imagine that changing."

They leaned forward, their foreheads touching, as their lips to faintly brushed together. Beverly could feel the heat of Jean-Luc's breath against her face as they both searched each other's eyes. A wave of desire crashed over her as Jean-Luc's lips met hers, firmly and longingly. Without thinking, Beverly moved her hand up to the back of Jean-Luc's neck, and felt his hand slide by her ear and into her hair, as they pulled each other closer. Beverly felt warm; she could feel her entire body throbbing. She found herself wrapping her arms around Jean-Luc's shoulders as she stood up, her mind racing yet unable to think, her body wanting more of Jean-Luc almost as much as she wanted to give more of herself to him. They drew closer still, their lips still delicately touching before parting again; neither wanting to push the other too far to fast, but both of them wanting more. She felt Jean-Luc's other hand against her back, and melted into him as she closed her eyes & tilted her head just slightly. An instant later, she felt Jean-Luc do the same as their fleeting, light kisses deepened into more lengthy, passion-filled ones. They moved closer together with each kiss until she couldn't tell where she began and he ended, and more importantly, it didn't matter.