"Well what did you do about it when you were on your vacation on Risa?" I scold.

"Ouch!"

"Hold still! Jean Luc I'm not going to do it correctly if you keep squirming!"

"Well it hurts!" He sounds like a petulant little boy as he continues, "When I was on Risa I just put some special oil on it. I can't remember what it was."

"Ok, you big baby, we're all finished."

There are some areas of Jean Luc's life that I thought by now he would be used to dealing with – his bald head is one of them. I, however, was wrong when I came inside and saw him holding an icepack on it. Apparently if there aren't beaches around, Jean Luc seems to think that the possibility of sunburn is negligible.

"Luckily, mister, we have the convenience of dermal regenerators. Do you know how much agony you'd be in if we were living back 250 years ago?"

"No," he grumbles, "but I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Well, let's just say you'd be in much more pain and your complaining would take on a greater frequency."

I put my med kit back in the hall cabinet and look at my horribly cute husband. He has puppy dog eyes and I can't help but imagine a little boy sitting in that seat right there after he's had his first skinned knee and giving me the same face.

"The good news is," I continue, "is that we got most of the bulbs planted so your pain was not in vain." And with that I kiss his head. "All better?"

I should have seen it coming; just as I started to pull away, he catches my arm and pulls me back, "Yes, but I can think of something that would make it even better." He stands, only a little taller than myself, and leans in to kiss me.

"Oh no!" I laugh as I put my left hand between us, "You know better than to start that now! You know that if you start that, Jean Luc, we'll never make it to the farmers market!"

"No, no," He's putting on those doe eyes again, "I'll be quick. I promise!"

I move away again, but he's too fast and before I know it he's cradling me in his arms, "Jean Luc Picard! You are being extremely naughty. You and I both know that we're going to want 3 rounds of 'quick' and this is the first farmers market of the summer."

I can feel his warm kisses on the back of my neck come to a halt, and then he surrenders, "ok. You're right."

I turn in his arms and kiss him soundly, "Later. And that's one promise you know that I'll keep."

/

I've never been to what Hope calls a 'farmer's market'. But when she explained what it was, I knew that I had to go. Apparently, farmers and vendors from all over the valley come and set up small tents and stands and sell their goods. She said there's everything from fresh produce, homemade cheeses, to beer from local microbreweries, and even a selection of meats and eggs from locally raised animals.

"So," I begin as I turn to my husband, "are you driving?" That is really my way of saying, 'you're driving.'

He's got that look in his eyes, "no. You are."

"No. I'll kill us." I really don't want to drive. Driving a hover car was bad enough and then I didn't have to worry about driving off road or crashing into anything.

"No, you won't. I'll teach you. You're going to have to start driving it next week when you start working anyhow."

I sag my shoulders in defeat. "You're right."

"You'll do fine, Beverly." He kisses my cheek before handing me the keys and opening the passenger seat door.

"Alright," I settle into the drivers seat. "It's been so long since I drove. Walk me through it again."

"Alright, well you know the basics: the wheel, the brakes and the 'gas' pedal." He says as he points at each of them.

"Right," I look down at the brake and the 'gas' pedal, memorizing them with my feet.

"Alright so what you are going to want to do first is adjust your mirrors. See the two little controls on the door?"

"These two?"

He looks over, "yes, exactly. Adjust those so that both mirrors show you the sides of the car. Now, what you want to remember is that you don't want to be looking directly at the sides of the car, but you just want to be able to see the faint outline."

I adjust the mirrors to Jean Luc's specifications. "Alright."

"Alright, now adjust the rear view mirror so that you can see behind you."

With a small turn of my wrist, I'm able to adjust the simple mirror, "is that it?"

"That's it. Now, put the key in the ignition and turn on the car."

The car rumbles to life with a familiar hum. "Alright, now, you don't have to worry about backing out because our driveway is large enough, so just turn the wheel and bring us full circle."

Maneuvering the car is easier than I thought it would be. It's an almost sensual experience to feel the wheels ground against the pavement. Our driveway is long and sonorous and I'm grateful for the bit of practice before I reach the open road.

"Where did Hope say the market was again?"

"The center of town near the courthouse."

"Do you know how to get there?"

"I think I remember the route from yesterday."

We drive in a comfortable silence, admiring the beauty that surrounds us. We live about twenty minutes outside of the town center and the route to get there is relatively simple.

The town square is busy, but we're able to find a parking spot with relative ease.

"Jean Luc, how do you park the car?"

"Right, so see that spot up there?"

"Yes."

"Turn the car as though you're going to take a turn and then slowly ease between the two cars on either side. But go very slowly and don't worry about taking your time."

I feel abnormally proud of myself as I turn off the ignition. I turn to my husband with a smug grin, "I did it!"

"I didn't doubt you for a second." He pecks me on the cheek before exiting the car.

I love how full of energy the town is today. It's a warmer day than we've seen since we got here, but it's lovely as a cool breeze sweeps in and plays with the red and gold strands of my hair. I reach for my husband's hand as we begin our exploration.

Hope was right: there certainly is a bevy of things to see and buy. We're not used to using money. With Starfleet, you're given credits. With those credits, you're able to replicate or buy almost anything. However, now that we're civilians, we're using paper money. It's funny that even after all these hundreds and hundreds of years, we're still using paper currency. People in the past always imagined that by this stage we'd all be embedded with microchips and when we wanted to purchase something, we'd jut be scanned by big computers. But, from what I can tell other than starships and more aggressive technology, life is pretty much the same.

The first stall that we stop is a large tent with tables and tables adorned with rows and rows of beautiful, fresh vegetables. I love all the colours of the peppers, the fresh lettuces, the zucchinis, baby tomatoes, beets..!

It's silly really, I have a medical degree and I'm confused as to how you purchase vegetables in this setting. I tap the woman standing next to me, "excuse me?"

"Yes, Dearie?" She looks up and smiles at me. This is still something that I have to get used to – being smiled at. I'm constantly struck at how different this life is from the one that I just left. It's as if I'm experiencing culture shock.

"Uh I feel rather foolish asking this, but how do you go about purchasing the produce here?"

"You must not be from around here!"

"No," I blush, "actually we're new in town."

"Well," she softly touches my arm, "welcome. We're glad to have ya! So, Ted, he's the man that owns the stand." She cranes her neck, "Ted!"

Ted is a tall older man, "Hi Bea! Did you see the tomatoes? I think we have a prize winning bunch this years. Luckily the tomato bugs have been good to us and they've stayed away."

"I know Ted, I have a bunch of them right here!" She holds us a bag replete with the reddest tomatoes I've ever seen, "This is, what did you say your name was dear?"

"Uh, Beverly."

"This is Beverly, Ted. She's new in town – is that your husband?"

Jean Luc warmly extends his hand, "Jean Luc."

"Good to meet you." Bea replies as she shakes his hand.

"Well Ted, these two are looking for some nice vegetables, why don't you tell them what's good here."

"Certainly. It's nice to meet you both. Well, since it's mid summer, you're going to get lucky. Everything here is really fresh and this year we have a really great crop. We've even been lucky; even the Ferengi squashes are coming in quite nicely. What are you two in the market for?"

For the next twenty minutes Jean Luc and Ted have a discussion about which are the best vegetables for making a summer ratatouille. We choose enough for a large salad and meals for the rest of the week.

"Well, John, if you're in the market for a nice piece of meat, go on down to Sam's Cuts three stalls down. He raises and slaughters his own cattle. They're raised in really good conditions and they're fed a mix of Bajoran and Human feed, which gives the meat a great, unique flavour. The chicken is great too and if you cook it right it comes apart like butter."

"Thank you, Ted, it was nice chatting with you."

"You too, John, Beverly. Come by next week and welcome to Yakima!" Ted's attention is pulled away the instant that we leave.

We catch up with Bea who introduces us to Laura, Sam's wife. "Laura, this is John Luke and Beverly Picard. They're new in town. In fact, you know what? Beverly is the new doctor that Hope hired!"

"Really!" Laura is a tall woman. She's extremely fit, a testament to her work as a farmer, "well it's so nice to meet you two! Beverly, I think you'll being seeing a lot of us. I have two girls and nearly every winter they come down with the worst cold. Hope's always so great at seeing them right away. I'm so glad she's getting help, though! Poor thing she works like a dog. Now, how can I help you two?"

"Well," Jean Luc begins, "it's been a while since Beverly and I have had a proper steak and we were told that you had the best cuts!"

"Oh I bet Ted told you that! Well, it's the truth. We have a good herd and we keep them disease free and very happy. I assume Ted told you all about our combined feed."

"Yes," he replies, "interesting concept. How did you come up with the idea to mix the feed? Bajoran cattle are so different."

"Well, it's interesting actually. Bajoran cattle require a higher fat content in their diet. Inherently their physiology is quite a bit different than human cattle. They require close to something we call omega fatty acids, but the chain branching is a little different. However, we found when human cattle were given the same food, their immunity was boosted and they seemed to have a more vibrant coat. We haven't yet identified the cause, but all we know is that giving them a bit of Bajoran feed enhances the amino acid content of the food and the bulk of the cattle themselves. We can't give full Bajoran feed, though, because it's not high enough in Arginine so we mix them. But, you are going to love the flavour. Now how were you planning on cooking the meat?"

Jean Luc looks over at me, "we actually hadn't thought of that. We're just getting used to our kitchen, so something that can 'take a little bit of abuse' if you know what I'm getting at."

"Of course, I'll give you a top eye cut. It's not too high in fat and it's great for roasting and cutting into nice big juicy pieces. I think you'll really like it. What you're going to want to do is let the meat come to room temperature before you cook it. So, just leave it out on the counter for about a half hour before you plan to cook it. Set the oven to about 240 Celsius. Once it warms up, put the meat in for about ten minutes. Then reduce to about 190 and let it bake for about an hour. The important thing is when you take it out is to rest it. Don't cut it right away or you'll lose the juice."

"Thank you. We'll do that. We also wanted to buy some breasts of chicken for meals later this week."

Laura turned around, and rummaged in the cooling containers, placing our order in a plastic bag. "Alright, here you go. I threw in about six chicken breasts. Put 'em in the freezer unit when you get home and just thaw 'em out when you want to cook them."

"Thank you Laura."

"My pleasure, John and Beverly. You are a wonderful couple and we're so happy to welcome you to Yakima. Come back and tell me how you enjoyed the meat and maybe we can get you experimenting with some more adventurous cuts once you get settled!"

"Yes, thank you Laura. Give our best to your husband."

"I will. You two take care now!"

We saunter through the market, picking up fresh bread, smelling flowers, and choosing the perfect cheese to go with the wine that Robert sent us.

"I can't get over how warm people are here, I don't think I'm used to it yet."

I laugh, is Jean Luc synthesizing silosilane? "I was thinking the same thing."

He stops and turns to me, "I'm happy here, Beverly. I don't know if I believe in a higher power, but I can't help thinking that my life is too perfect right now for there not to be one."

"Oh, Jean Luc." I walk into him and grab his arm, pulling him close to me. "I love you." And right there in the center of a busy market, my husband Jean Luc Picard kisses me soundly and I can't help but also be convinced that there is a very benevolent power in the universe.