"Jean Luc, are you sure?" The question is superfluous (we're going regardless), but still I want to be positive.

"Yes," he smiles, rolls his eyes, and capitulates for the third time, or is it the fourth? "I'm sure."

"And we're not going to be too much of an inconvenience?"

"Beverly!"

"Okay, Okay," I hold my hands up in surrender. "I won't ask again," I nudge his shoulder, earning kiss on my cheek.

He takes my hand, tightly entwining our fingers. "They're family. And," he glances to his right. "They're excited to spend more time with Wesley and the little ones – you know Marie. Also," He beams. "I don't think Renee's showed Wes off to enough of his friends…"

Wesley smirks, but hangs his head at the admission, "Oh no," he wipes his eyes to conceal his embarrassment. "Those kids are convinced that I'm some sort of hero… And I don't know enough French to convince the otherwise!"

Jean Luc removes the hand covering Wesley's eyes and now-burning cheeks, "You are, Wesley." His voice laced with a tone of utter seriousness tinged with unimaginable thankfulness. "You saved all of us."

/

"Look at them," I look over to my left. Wesley's fallen asleep with Saoirse in his lap. I don't think I've ever seen two people more deeply asleep; a red alert in the shuttle wouldn't even dare to wake them. His arm is wrapped protectively around her growing body, cradling her, warming her. Her precious tiny hand insinuates itself lightly over his heart; her little face is almost completely obscured - light coming in the windows of the shuttle has been blocked out by swaths of delicate auburn ringlets.

"She looks so much like you, Beverly," He whispers softly, continuing our adoration of these children whom we've been blessed with.
"No way," I turn my head to kiss the underside of his jaw. "She looks like you."

He shakes his head, "Oh no. Look at those curls!"

"Well," I concede with a grin. "The curls and the hair colour are mine; they're all Howard…" A stray ringlet dangling in front of my eyes reminds me of that very fact. "But her eyes," I turn his gaze to mine, admiring the emerald-grey irises that no matter how many times I look into, always seem new. "Her eyes, her face – she's you." I breathe, "And she's beautiful."

"And what about," Jean Luc turns his attention to the sleeping bundle propped against his chest. "This one?"

"Well this one," I lightly allow myself to run my fingers through Aaron's growing mousy-brown hair. "This little one is going to be a spitting image of Wesley. Handsome, tall- "

"That's for sure," He laughs. "How many centimeters has he grown in the last two weeks?"

I roll my eyes and stifle a laugh, "Goodness, Jean Luc, I don't even want to hazard a guess! It'll just remind me how quickly he's growing up!"

His tone is melancholy almost, "Not too fast, I hope."

"What's wrong?" I rivet his gaze to again meet mine.

"Nothing…"

"Jean Luc," I whisper. "Talk to me."

"We could have… I could have lost all of this," His voice cracks as his eyes scan first the sleeping baby, then Wesley and Saoirse, before he turns back to me as mist laces those beautiful green eyes. Yes, I think. We came close – too close.

"We could have," I kiss him again to remind myself that he's here. "But, we didn't."

He nods, "Thank goodness."

For a few moments, we let ourselves revel in the peaceful silence. Our children are safe, no one's being held hostage, and we're not fighting for our lives, or running from the authorities. Jean Luc isn't in jail, or worse… We're here. Together.

I feel a slight rumble and a hint of laughter coming from the warm constitution next to me. "What?" I chime, leaning in as if he has a secret for me.

"Wesley, he…" He trails off.

"Wesley, what?"

He looks away from Wes' and Saoirse's direction. A grin as big as the Cheshire cat's has lit up his whole face; he's beaming. "Wesley, he…he calls me 'Dad' now."

His smile is infectious, "Yes," I whisper, looking at Wesley's sleeping form. I have to stifle a giggle at how much of a child he looks like. I have to keep reminding myself that he's in his 20s now. But, it's moments like these where he's holding his baby sister and drooling onto his shoulder where I can keep alive the naive notion that he is indeed just our little boy. "He asked me…"

"What?" He utters in anticipation.

I look back at him, "He asked me if you were okay with it- he asked me if you minded him calling you 'Dad'."

He shakes his head, his smile having no intention of going anywhere. "I told you once before, Beverly, that I always wished that Wesley was… well," He looks almost bashful. "And now that he is, I'm so proud. I'm so honoured that he would think of me as his father. But you don't think…"

"Think what?"

His smile fades slightly as his demeanor grows serious, "Think that he just calls me that because of what happened with Jack?"

I straighten my back, altering my posture and strengthening my voice. "Wesley calls you that because that's how he feels. He's always felt that way, Jean Luc – " I reach up and cradle his cheek in my palm. "Wesley has always loved you, even if he couldn't always express it like he does now, and even if you couldn't always openly reciprocate." I drop my shoulders, "In all honesty, Jean Luc, Wesley always thought of you that way." Smiling at the memory, "He looked up to you so much when he was a little boy. Jack was never around and I think you remember what it was like when he was…" I wipe a stray tear from his cheek as he summarily foments old memories. "So, no, Jean Luc. This isn't anything new; to Wesley, you'll always be his father regardless of where the other half of his DNA came from."

Thank again guys for reading this and participating in the story! Reading reviews from you brightens my day and I so look forward to them :)

Mels: thanks a million! I hope they were tears of joy, though! God knows we've had enough angst in this story!

Martin D: I hope you're alright! I'm glad, though, that this story was able to keep your mind off of whatever was going on. Again, so grateful for your kind words. Thank you very much.

Linds: As always - very grateful for your input and I love hearing from you.

To anyone else who I didn't name: Thank you guys and keep your input coming! Much, much, much appreciated!