AN: Here we are, another chapter here. We'll be meeting family soon. They'll be likely somewhat (a lot) OOC because I'm going to be creating them mostly from scratch. As always, I ask for suspension of disbelief in the name of just enjoying this for entertainment purposes. LOL

I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!

111

"So, you're all set to go," Jean-Luc mused.

Wesley had his few things packed, and he was waiting with Jean-Luc in the living room of the small apartment they were all assigned by Starfleet to call "home" until the end of R and R. He would be transporting out of the apartment to a nearby transportation travel pad that would allow him to transport the longer distance to the Caldos colony.

"Yes, sir," Wesley said. The smile on his face said that he was glad of the trip to his Nana's house.

"You're certain you don't wish to join us in France?" Jean-Luc asked. "You are welcome. I don't want you to feel that we've excluded you in any way."

"No, sir," Wesley said. "I mean—I don't feel excluded. I'd like to go to the Caldos colony. I hope you and Mom don't feel like I should have decided to go to France…"

"No—I didn't mean to make you feel guilty," Jean-Luc said, laughing quietly to himself. "Go—enjoy your time with your…do you call her Nana?"

"Most of the time," Wesley said, shrugging his shoulders. "I tried to call her Granny for a while, but…"

"Yes, well," Jean-Luc said when Wesley let the subject drop. For what felt like a long moment, they stood there in silence. Luckily, the silence wasn't awkward. Instead, it simply felt comfortable. Neither had anything to say, and they reached a lull where neither felt the need to fill the silence with anything of absolutely no consequence.

Finally, Jean-Luc spoke as he sensed their time drawing to a close. Beverly was out on a walk, getting some fresh air, enjoying some silence, and clearing her mind. Soon, though, she would be back, and it would be time to see Wesley on his way.

"Wesley—I would appreciate it very much if you were to not mention anything to your nana about the marriage or the baby," Jean-Luc said. "I don't ask you that to make you feel like I'm limiting what you can say, but rather because…well…I sense that it might mean a great deal to your mother to have the opportunity to share the news herself."

Wesley smiled softly at him and nodded his head thoughtfully.

"I understand, Jean-Luc," he said, testing out the name on his tongue. Jean-Luc had insisted that Wesley call him by name in personal settings. It wouldn't do for them to be sharing the same living space and for Wesley to be consistently referring to Jean-Luc as "Captain Picard." The name sounded just as Jean-Luc imagined it would, like something that was still ill-fitting to Wesley. He would, with time, grow into it. "The baby's going to keep growing, and I don't imagine Mom's going to have to do much to tell Nana about it, but I won't say anything. You know, though, that Nana's going to scold me after you get there, and she sees that I kept a secret from her."

Jean-Luc laughed quietly. He hadn't yet met Beverly's grandmother, just as Beverly didn't yet know his family, but he was looking forward to getting to know her—even though it made him feel nervous, deep down, that he might, somehow, meet her disapproval. Jean-Luc only knew what Beverly had told him about the woman, but he imagined her to be much like Beverly.

"You have my word that, should you keep this little family confidence so that your mother can enjoy the excitement of sharing the news, I will be there to defend your choice to do so to your grandmother," Jean-Luc said. "And, then, should we both be scolded or punished for the secrecy, at least there will be some truth to the old adage that misery enjoys company."

Wesley laughed at that, and his cheeks colored pink. Jean-Luc thought he straightened up a bit and squared his shoulders slightly more than they had been. He clearly liked the idea of sharing a confidence with Jean-Luc, and he liked the idea of a future of comradery, especially as they united under the very important banner of making Beverly happy.

Beverly came through the door not long after Jean-Luc closed his mouth from speaking. He shared a quick, knowing glance with Wesley, and he saw the boy tense and smile with the excitement of a secret. Jean-Luc winked at him quickly, and turned his attention to greeting his wife.

Beverly brought with her the smell of the outside—the scent of a walk in real sunshine and fresh air that differed from that of a walk on the holodeck.

She kissed Jean-Luc when he reached out for her and requested it, and she protested something about sweat, though sweat had never bothered Jean-Luc, and he reminded her of that quickly.

"Your son has been waiting for you so that he can leave for Caldos," Jean-Luc offered.

Beverly, of course, knew that Wesley was leaving, but it looked as though it struck her to find the time actually upon them and to see him standing, his bag by his side, waiting for the final thing he needed before he could leave—a kiss from his mother and her blessing.

Beverly walked over and took Wesley into her arms. He wrapped her in a tight hug, but Jean-Luc was certain that Beverly's hug was much more suffocating than the one that her son offered her. Jean-Luc tried not to listen to the few words that she said to Wesley as she hugged him—declarations of love, more than anything—but he focused on them again when she pulled out of the hug and touched her son's face.

"You're going straight to Caldos," she said.

"I am," he said. "I'm not even going to talk to anyone at the station, Mom, I'm transporting directly there."

"Nana is going to meet you," Beverly said. "I sent a message to her earlier, and she confirmed. As soon as you transport into Caldos, she'll be there. If you need anything, though, you know to ask. Everyone in the colony will help."

"Mom—I'll be fine," Wesley offered.

"I know you will," Beverly said. Her expression, however, said she wasn't so certain that she believed that.

Jean-Luc had been reading the book that Will had given him—he hadn't shown it to Beverly yet, though she might have seen it if she'd been among his things at all—any time when Beverly was otherwise occupied and he felt it necessary to fill some solitary time.

The book was full of insights from other fathers-to-be, and Jean-Luc had learned that nearly any behavior that was unexpected, over-the-top, or otherwise surprising was probably owing to a flood of hormones that mothers in gestation must contend with regularly.

He reminded himself of that as he watched Beverly's face and saw the sadness she seemed to feel over something as simple as sending her nearly-grown son to spend some time with his great grandmother.

Jean-Luc also saw the expression on Wesley's face. He understood it without the need of any book. He was a boy on the cusp of manhood. For most of his life, his mother had been everything to him, and he respected her greatly for every single sacrifice that she'd made for him. He respected her, he loved her, and he wanted to make her happy at all times. On the other hand, he was beginning to crave independence from her, and he was ready to leave her, at least for a little while, to enjoy her own happiness while he explored life, just a little, at a distance from her.

Jean-Luc stepped in and caught Beverly by the shoulders. He affectionately worked her muscles beneath his fingertips.

"Wesley is a fine ensign, and he'll soon be attending classes at the Academy and possibly taking on assignments beyond even the bridge of the Enterprise. I'm certain that he'll do fine on his travels to the Caldos colony, and he'll send a message as soon as he's safe with his Nana."

"Yes, sir," Wesley said, beaming a little at being rescued. Jean-Luc smiled at him from his position behind Beverly. "I'll send a message the moment I'm settled."

"See that you do," Jean-Luc said.

"We'll be here until tomorrow morning," Beverly offered.

"I know, Mom," Wesley assured her.

"You can still send messages to us in France," she said. "And you're welcome to come, if you change your mind."

"I know, Mom," Wesley said.

"Perhaps—it would be a good idea to establish the rule that we will send you a message every other day," Jean-Luc said. "Just to let you know how things are going with our vacation. In return, it would be polite for you to do the same. One or two lines should suffice, unless there's simply more to say."

"Sure," Wesley assured them both. "And I'll see you both in a week, right? I'll come to meet you."

"Yes, a week from tomorrow," Beverly offered. "We'll send more information about the time when we're a little more certain about when we'll be leaving."

"You needn't worry," Jean-Luc said. "If you're unable to meet us, for any reason, we'll be able to find the Howard residence."

"Have fun in France," Wesley said. "Take care of my little sister."

Jean-Luc laughed, the mention of the baby bringing butterflies to his stomach that he rarely mentioned to anyone. Beverly's cheeks reddened slightly. She smiled and nodded, reaching out for her son once more.

"If you need anything, you let us know," she said, while hugging him. "And you listen to Nana, and you help her, Wesley. Don't make her wait on you hand and foot. OK? You help her and be polite…and…"

"Beverly," Jean-Luc interrupted, keeping his voice soft. "I believe that Wesley will be on his best behavior. However, we have to let him go or he'll be at risk of arriving quite late for the time that you set with your Nana, and she'll be waiting for him for a while."

Beverly nodded.

"You're right. I'm sorry. Wes—come here. I love you. Be careful."

Beverly gave Wesley one more hug. This one was a bit more purposeful and less clingy than the earlier ones, and she pulled herself off of him before kissing his cheek. He told her he loved her, as well, and gave her the final words that he was holding onto—mostly wishes that everything would be wonderful in France.

Jean-Luc picked up Wesley's bag and offered it to him, shaking his hand before he released him to head toward the transporter.

"Take care of Mom," Wesley said to Jean-Luc.

Beverly laughed quietly as Jean-Luc pulled her into his side and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around him.

"I will make it my greatest purpose," Jean-Luc assured him.

When Wesley had transported out, Jean-Luc and Beverly stood there for a moment in the living room of the little apartment. Jean-Luc turned his body so that he was facing Beverly, and she sank into him with a contented sigh. She hugged against him, and he only pulled away enough to kiss her face, and then her lips, before pulling her back into a hug.

"It's just the two of us," he said.

"The three of us," Beverly said with a laugh. Jean-Luc felt slightly struck by her clarification, and he laughed, too.

"You're right," he said. "You must forgive me. I'm still trying to…well…not accept, but…"

"It's OK, Jean-Luc, Beverly said. "It takes time for everything to be really real. It's OK if it's not quite there yet."

For a moment longer, Jean-Luc simply enjoyed the opportunity to hold her. They had nothing pressing to do. There was no mission. There were no duty shifts. There was nobody calling either of them to solve problems or handle emergencies. Tomorrow, in the morning, they would go to France, but there was nothing pressing to do at the moment.

"Imagine if we'd married so many years ago," Jean-Luc mused. "When I first knew that I loved you. We might have been assigned housing like this more permanently."

"Only until we were each assigned to some position," Beverly said.

"We wouldn't have wasted so much time," Jean-Luc said.

"What matters now is the future, Jean-Luc, not the past," Beverly said. There wasn't any scolding in her tone. After the silence settled between them for a few moments, she pulled away from him just enough so that she could make eye contact with him. He smiled at her. "What if your brother doesn't approve of me, Jean-Luc? What if he doesn't approve of the fact that I made you settle down and…trapped you with a baby?"

Jean-Luc could tell, from her expression, that she was mostly teasing him. Still, he knew that she was probably every bit as nervous as he was about all that lie ahead of them.

He rested his hand on the swell of her belly.

"My brother, his wife, and my nephew will all adore you, Beverly, because they will have no other choice. You are simply too wonderful for them to choose to do otherwise. As for trapping me? If that's what you think happened, then I'm so very glad for it. I might have been a fool, otherwise, and I might have wasted the rest of our lives."

Beverly smiled at him, holding his eyes with her own. She moved his hand, pressing her fingers against his.

Jean-Luc's heart nearly stopped in his chest at the gentle nudging against his palm, like something tapping. He saw Beverly's eyes widen, and then her smile grew broader.

"You felt it!" She said, her eyebrows raised and her tone of voice raised with them. "You felt it, Jean-Luc! Don't try to lie!"

"I would do nothing of the sort," Jean-Luc said. The tapping repeated, and he smiled. An inexplicable shiver ran through his body. "I'm not certain, at all, of what I've felt, though."

"The baby," Beverly said. "You're feeling the baby, Jean-Luc! She's kicking."

Jean-Luc couldn't help but smile at her. If he didn't feel excited about it, because the rhythm his heart had decided upon left no room for him to pretend that he wasn't at least a little thrilled to feel the movement beneath Beverly's skin, he would have felt excited simply to experience Beverly's excitement.

"It would seem that…you're right," Jean-Luc offered. "I do feel something. I think I do, at least."

"You do, Jean-Luc," Beverly assured him. She smiled and teased him. "She's saying hello to her Papa."

Jean-Luc found that he had to force himself to swallow. He kissed Beverly, and patted the spot where the movement had been.

"And Papa says hello, as well," he said. "Tell me, Beverly, how does she feel about—Papa suggesting a shower with Mama? And then, perhaps, we go out for a nice dinner?"

"I think she'd like most of that," Beverly said.

"Only most? Where do you think she would disapprove?"

"How about—we take a shower, and then we stay home for a nice dinner?" Beverly asked.

"You don't want to go out?"

"We're going to meet family tomorrow," she said. "We won't be alone again for weeks, Jean-Luc. I'd like to have you all to myself for tonight, if that's OK with you."

"It sounds wonderful to me," Jean-Luc said. "Though—you've already pointed out that we're hardly alone."

Beverly laughed.

"Then, I guess we'll just have to settle for a very small, and very private, family night. Just the three of us. What do you think, Papa?"

Jean-Luc kissed her again before pulling away to tug her toward the small bathroom where they would probably get much of their evening's entertainment from simply trying to fit into the shower together.

"I can't think of a better way to spend the night, Beverly," Jean-Luc assured her, meaning every word.