AN: I hope you enjoy! This is just a story for fun. It can be read alone, of course, but it's better in the series.
I don't own anything from Star Trek.
I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know.
111
"I don't know how to thank you," Beverly said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Oh—you don't have to thank me," Deanna said. "Although—I'd like a chance to spend more time with my honorary nephews. Both of them."
"I promise," Beverly said. "You can bring Thad. Your brother even…" She hesitated, forgetting the boy's name.
"Veta," Deanna offered.
Beverly smiled and nodded.
"Veta. Bring them both for a play date. Jack and Elnor will both love it."
Deanna smiled.
"It's a date," she said. "But first, I get the chance to really get to know this little one."
Elnor was asleep. He'd recently had a very good feeding with Laris, and he'd fallen asleep with a tummy full of milk. As Beverly passed him over to Deanna, he shifted a little, but never fully woke. He settled in Deanna's arms as she held him close to her.
"Now, you have the numbers for the replicator to produce a substitute for Laris's milk?"
"I programmed them last night, when you called," Deanna said.
"He's better about taking a bottle than he used to be, but if he won't eat anything at all…"
"I'll get in touch with both of you," Deanna assured her. "Beverly—don't worry about Elnor. My mother is at my house with Veta. Between all of us and the boys, Elnor is going to have a wonderful day. You focus on Jack. That's what this is all about, after all, isn't it?"
Beverly smiled. Her chest ached with appreciation at the understanding from her best friend. An apology played on her tongue—an apology for disappearing like she had—but she'd apologized before, and to keep doing so was only to open old wounds that were doing their best to heal.
She was forgiven, whether or not she always believed that she deserved it.
"Thank you, Deanna. Really. We all love you."
Deanna laughed quietly.
"And I love you all," she assured Beverly. "Besides—I might be a little selfish. It's been a while since I had a baby all to myself!"
"Then, I hope that Elnor gives you the best day ever," Beverly said.
Deanna leaned her face and nuzzled the sleeping Romulan.
"He already is," she said. "Let us get going. You've got important things to do today."
Beverly said goodbye, and she watched as Deanna dematerialized with Elnor. Within seconds, she would be safe at her home, and she would be doting on Elnor with her family.
As for Beverly, she still had a little time before she had to truly start her day. She made her way back to the bedroom where her husband and wife were sleeping in the bed—Jean-Luc having slept most of the night, and Laris catching a quick nap after Elnor's last feeding.
Beverly crawled into the bed and slipped between the two of them, a practice that she'd had since the three of them had married—not very long ago—in a Romulan trust bond. She drew in a deep breath and let it out with a contented sigh, happy to simply feel the bodies of her two beloved partners on either side of her for just a moment.
"Did he fuss?" Laris asked quietly.
"No," Beverly assured her.
Laris raised up, giving up any performance of being asleep. Beverly rolled to face her. She smiled.
"What?" Laris asked.
"Nothing," Beverly said. "Only—you're beautiful."
Laris smiled and turned her face, burying it in the pillow for a moment. Beverly knew that, if the light were better, she would find Laris blushing, a green tinge spreading across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.
"I love you," Beverly said. "And I love the way you love my son."
"Our son," Laris said, turning her face back toward Beverly.
"Our son," Beverly said.
Beverly reached a hand out and purposefully rubbed the point of Laris's ear with affection and intention. If there were time, she would be suggesting something more than the pillow talk in which they were currently engaged, and Laris knew that.
"Later," Laris said, confirming Beverly's suspicion that she knew exactly what was on Beverly's mind—what was, now, clearly on both of their minds. Of course, the fact that both of them were expecting had certainly done its part at increasing the sexual interests of both of them—at least when parenting allowed them time and energy to indulge in such things. "For now, I have a date with our son."
111
"Out of bed with you, then, sleepy head!" Laris said. She was still tying her robe on when she came into Jack's room and opened the curtains. She heard him rustling about under his covers, waking. She smiled to herself. "It's time to greet the day."
"You gotta be gentle, Mama," Jack offered from the Jack-sized lump under his blanket.
Laris swallowed back her amusement.
Today was Jack's day. Today, Jack was the baby—something he hadn't been for Beverly in some time, and something that he hadn't ever been for all of them at once. That had been his argument—he'd never been the baby. Elnor was currently the baby, and there were two babies to come. And Jack, well…he would never be the baby.
This realization had followed finding Laris sorting some things for the nursery the afternoon before—things for the babies.
Jack had had a meltdown of such epic proportions that it had prompted all of them to think of some way to help him over what was clearly a very big feeling for him. And, so, the plan had been devised that they would let Elnor spend the day with his aunt Deanna, and Jack would have his day to be the baby, all by himself.
Laris made her way over to the bed. She considered playfully pulling back the covers and wrestling Jack from the bed, roughhousing with him a little like she sometimes did for his amusement, but she decided against it. Instead, she pulled the cover back and eased into the little twin bed beside him.
Jack moved to let her into the tight space and, then, he pulled the blanket up over both their heads. Face to face on the pillow, underneath the blanket, Laris could smell the scent of his morning breath and that little lingering hint of "baby" that she had always felt that she could somehow smell on Jack.
It always softened her, almost immediately.
"You're in my bed," he whispered to her.
"I am," she said.
"We're sharin' secrets under here," he said. "Because we're Romulans…and Romulans share secrets in secret places like under here."
"We must be careful about secrets in our home, Jack," Laris said.
"I know," Jack said. "That's why they're not real secrets. Just pretend ones."
"I like pretend secrets," Laris said.
"Me too," Jack said.
"Some real ones are OK, too, but we must never hurt each other with our secrets. Secrets are only for good. Would you like me to share one with you? A good one?" Laris asked. He hummed and scooted closer to her, his small body against hers, now, and his face very close to hers. "You know how much I love you, Jack, but there's more to it than that. You are a very special and important baby to me, because you were the first baby to choose me."
"Elnor's your baby," Jack said. "He's your baby first. He's first."
"Elnor was here before you," Laris said. "But—there's something special that you and I have that I'll never, ever have with another baby. You chose me. You didn't have to have me as your mama. You wanted me."
"And you want me?" Jack asked.
"I want you," Laris confirmed.
"You pick me, too?" Jack asked.
"Every day," Laris confirmed. "Forever and ever. Now—will you keep my secret?"
"I like this secret," Jack said.
"So, you'll keep it?" Laris asked.
"It's a Romulan secret," Jack said. Laris laughed quietly in response.
"It's a Romulan secret," she said. "Now—come along. We can't hide under the covers forever. What do you say that you help me make some fhajata dough, and we'll bake it with cinnamon and some of the sweet icing you like? Hmmm? What do you say to that, my little warrior?"
Jack sat up, taking the cover off of both of them as he did so.
"It sounds like a breakfast of a Romulan warrior!" He said, bounding out of bed and half-jumping over Laris, clearing her by some mercy before he came crashing to the floor in his bedroom. "I'm OK!" He announced, bounding up to his feet.
Laris, for her part, got out of the bed much more gingerly.
"Fine, then," Laris said. "Help me to straighten your room—because Romulan warriors value order—and we'll go and make some breakfast. And, then, later, I believe you have a date with your papa."
111
"No—you can have this one, Papa," Jack said. "Just—here—you can have this one, OK?"
Jean-Luc accepted the ship that was thrust into his hand. He gave back the one he'd picked up from the selection on the floor. He pulled the small, plastic space station over to where could reach it better without having to crawl along the floor in the same way that Jack did.
"Are we on a mission, Admiral?" Jean-Luc asked, never quite sure exactly how to play ships with his son, but always doing his best when he had the time and opportunity.
"I'm a captain," Jack said. "I'm not an admiral. I'm a captain of this ship—my favorite ship."
"The Enterprise E," Jean-Luc confirmed. "She's a wonderful ship, Captain."
"This isn't my first Enterprise E," Jack said. "It's my favorite, but it isn't my first."
"I recall," Jean-Luc said, moving into a more comfortable sitting position. His participation in the game need only be limited. Jack was happy to have him there, moving ships about from time to time. It was mostly his presence that mattered to his son.
It was his presence that he most wanted to offer him. There was time to be made up for, after all. Jack would be five before they knew it. He had only just turned four when Laris had found Beverly and, somehow, convinced her to come to the Château. Not only had Beverly agreed to come to the Château, but she'd introduced Jean-Luc to the son that he hadn't known he had, and she'd finally come clean about why she'd disappeared from his life.
They had talked about it, and forgiveness had been granted for a great many things that happened in the course of a life and a relationship, but that didn't mean that Jean-Luc didn't sometimes get the sad, hollow feeling in his stomach that he had so much to make up for—he had missed so much.
Now, he just wanted to be present. He wanted to truly have his family—even if, once upon a time, he would have never believed that such a thing would ever even enter his mind.
"I recall that you had a ship just like this," Jean-Luc said.
"A long time ago," Jack said.
Jean-Luc didn't point out that it really hadn't been all that long ago. He supposed that, to Jack, time probably moved a great deal more slowly than it did for everyone else. The perception of time, after all, was relative to the amount of time that one had experienced already.
"And I recall that Elnor broke your ship, when first you met him," Jean-Luc said.
"I forgived him, though," Jack said, still playing with his ships and opening and closing the hangar doors on the little plastic space station.
"You forgave him," Jean-Luc corrected gently.
"I did. I forgave him," Jack said. "It was an accident, because he's just a baby."
"Do you remember who gave you that ship?" Jean-Luc asked.
"Mama," Jack said, matter-of-factly. Jean-Luc laughed to himself.
"Well, now, perhaps it was your mama who promised you the ship, but she was hardly the one to give you the ship. It didn't originally belong to her, after all. It was me who gave you the ship. Don't you remember that?"
"Mama said I could have it," Jack said.
"But I gave it to you," Jean-Luc said. Jack stared him down. "Never mind," Jean-Luc said. "It doesn't matter anyway. The point is—the day that I gave you that ship, was one of the most important days of my life, Jack. It was one of the best days of my life. That was the day I became your papa…and it was one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me."
"I know," Jack said sincerely, still playing with his toys.
Jean-Luc laughed to himself.
"I love you, Jack," Jean-Luc said.
"I love you, Papa," Jack said. "But—it's Captain Jack, OK?"
Jean-Luc laughed again.
"Certainly, Captain. My apologies. What are my orders?"
111
"I don't fit," Jack said.
"Just relax," Beverly said. "I've got you. There—you see? You fit perfectly. You'll always fit right here, Jack…in my arms."
Jack drew in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh that was almost laughable for a child his age. Of course, Beverly reminded herself often that the worries and concerns of little ones like Jack and Elnor—though small in comparison to some of the ones that Beverly and her partners dealt with from time to time—were still the big worries in their little lives.
As Jack relaxed into her, fully, she was also reminded of how small he still was. Her heart swelled as she thought about how much he was still her baby, and a lump formed in her throat as she realized, too, how very quickly he was really growing up.
At least, she thought, he was growing into someone that made her proud. Jack was a good boy. He wasn't perfect—nobody was—but he had a good heart, and that was the most that she could truly ask of him. It was, perhaps, the greatest thing he could have to offer the world. All the rest was truly secondary.
"You will always fit in my arms," Beverly said. "When you were a baby, I had to rock you every time you needed to sleep. You wouldn't go to sleep without it—not even if you were exhausted. You would cry until I rocked you. Sometimes, I would just walk around, and I would rock you from side to side as I walked, moving dramatically enough to make you go to sleep."
"Would I sleep then?" Jack asked.
"You would," Beverly confirmed.
"I wouldn't cry no more?"
"You wouldn't cry anymore," Beverly confirmed.
"Elnor cries a lot," Jack said. "But that's because he's still a baby."
"That's true," Beverly said. "And the new babies will cry, too."
"I won't, because I'm a big boy. I won't cry…well…not much, I won't."
"It's OK to cry sometimes," Beverly said. "We all cry sometimes."
"Even Papa?" Jack asked.
"Even Papa," Beverly said. "And it's OK."
"I don't cry a lot because I'm a big boy," Jack said again, he yawned dramatically. The rocking still had an effect on him, clearly.
"But, today, you're our baby," Beverly said. "What do you say I call Papa in here to help us go to the bedroom, and we can take a nap together like we did when you were a baby?"
"Is Papa gonna take a nap?"
"I'm sure he will," Beverly said.
"And Mama, too?"
Beverly smiled. There were people who asked them, often, how exactly their marriage worked. Those who came from species and cultures where marriages like theirs weren't the norm always had questions. Most of them were innocent and well-meant, and none of them minded explaining, at least to some degree, what others wanted to know.
But, every now and again, someone made the kind of remark that stung, even if none of them ever admitted it—some statement about not understanding, always made in such a way that it felt like a judgment and a dismissal of their love.
And, yet, Beverly could never help but be amazed at how very easy the whole thing had been for Jack to understand. He'd never questioned it, really—not a single aspect of it. Other people didn't always understand how he could have three parents, or how he could truly love all of them, but Jack had no problem with the idea.
Love was easy for children to understand, perhaps, whereas adults sometimes seemed to struggle some with the concept.
Beverly was happy for Jack, because he would always have an abundance of love in return for all the love that he gave.
"I'm certain Mama will join us," Beverly said. "Jean-Luc?" She called out. "Jean-Luc…could you come in here? I could use just a little help. Our baby is…a little heavier than he used to be."
111
Settled into the "big bed," as Jack called their bed, with Jack and Jean-Luc on one side and Laris hugged against her back, Beverly felt practically heavy with the desire to sleep surrounded by the love and safety that she felt. She didn't have to worry about Elnor. She knew he was in good hands. She knew that her whole family was safe. Jack was happy, and she was enjoying babying him as much as he was enjoying being on the receiving end of things.
It really took very little, she realized, to feel that all was truly right with the world.
"There, now—don't you have enough room on the pillow?" Jean-Luc asked, moving to situate their son.
Jack was practically draped across him, his head on Jean-Luc's chest.
"Here, Baby," Beverly said, lifting up enough to try to help them. "You can move back a bit toward Mommy, and you'll have room to put your head on the pillow. You'll be more comfortable."
"Elnor always sleeps on Papa when we nap in the big bed," Jack said. "I never get to sleep on Papa."
Beverly made eye contact with Jean-Luc across their son. There was a hint of a frown on his features. Her heart ached. She knew that, for Jack and Jean-Luc, there were a lot of moments that neither would ever get back. Jack hadn't enjoyed the same moments with his father that Elnor, for instance, was able to enjoy, or that the babies to come would have. Jean-Luc, likewise, had missed all those moments with Jack.
Beverly was sorry, now, for decisions that she'd made, but she'd made the best decisions she could with the information that she'd had at the time. Jean-Luc forgave her, but sometimes she was still working on forgiving herself.
"You shall stay just as you are," Jean-Luc said, rubbing Jack's back. "As long as you are comfortable, and as long as you want to be there, you shall sleep just like that. And, Jack—any time that you wish to sleep with your head upon my chest, you only need to tell me. Papa will help to arrange things, no matter who else is napping with us."
"Even if it's the baby?" Jack asked.
"No matter which baby it may be," Jean-Luc said. "After all, Jack…you will always be my baby, too."
"Even when I'm all grown up and big?" Jack asked.
"Even then," Beverly offered.
"Forever and always," Laris said, lifting herself slightly. Beverly felt the pressure of Laris leaning on her, and she smiled at the welcomed feeling of her presence.
"You shall always be everyone's baby, and the space that each of us holds in our heart for you, Jack, will always belong to you, and you alone," Jean-Luc offered.
"I don't know," Jack said. "That sounds pretty important."
All of them laughed. Nobody could help it.
"Very important," Jean-Luc said. "Nobody else could do it, but you're the perfect one for the job."