For several minutes after Jean-Luc had agreed to marry her, Deanna was unable to focus on anything except the joy resonating between them, building and building until all she felt was the euphoria of perfect happiness. Sitting this close to Jean-Luc, Deanna could feel his emotions as clearly as her own so she could tell that he was feeling the same soaring love and joy. Eventually, their emotions settled into a deep contentment and she was able to think again. Knowing that it was probably completely irrelevant, Deanna still found herself asking,
'Why were you amused after I proposed?'
'Because I was going to ask you to marry me tomorrow. I had it all planned.'
Deanna chuckled but said,
'Did it bother you? Me pre-empting you?'
'No. My plans simply involved a romantic dinner and asking you if you wanted to wear my mother's engagement ring. We can still have the romantic dinner tomorrow and I can show you Maman's ring now, if you like?'
'Yes, I'd like that.'
Deanna knew from their counselling sessions that anything connected to his mother was very precious to Jean-Luc so she was deeply touched that he would offer her his mother's ring.
Jean-Luc went to his bedside cabinet and opened the drawer, taking out a ring box and handing it to Deanna. Deanna opened it to see a lovely, delicate ring made of gold. It had tiny sapphires embedded in the ring forming three small flowers.
'It's beautiful, Jean-Luc.'
'Try it on.'
Deanna took the ring out and slid it on her left ring finger, knowing that was where an Earth born human would wear it. The ring was too big so she took it off again, saying,
'We'll have to get it altered.'
'I'm sure Geordi can do it for us.'
'Good.'
Deanna smiled mischievously, saying,
'There are some perfectly hideous arm braces that men of the Fifth House traditionally used to wear. I can ask Mother to send them if you'd like.'
'I'd rather not... unless it will cause problems for you if I don't?'
'No, no one's worn them for over two hundred years. Though I wouldn't put it past Mother to suggest it.'
'She does enjoy teasing me,' said Jean-Luc ruefully, remembering the various occasions in the past when Lwaxana had made him deeply uncomfortable with her playful mischief.
'She does. Just check with me if she suggests you have to do something because it's traditional.'
'I will... do you want to get married on Betazed then?'
'Yes... do you mind?'
Deanna could tell that something was bothering Jean-Luc so she continued,
'Is it the nudity?'
'No... or not really... I mean, I'm sure I'll feel some self-consciousness but that's not it...'
Deanna waited patiently as Jean-Luc sorted through his feelings trying to work out what dismayed him about a wedding on Betazed. She felt his sudden relaxation as he smiled and said,
'I don't want to wait.'
'You don't want to wait?'
'I don't want to wait for months to marry you because we have to wait until the Tellarite ambassador can attend because he's a close personal friend of your mother and is only on Betazed two weeks a year.'
'I don't really want to wait for months either but...'
'But?'
Deanna sighed, feeling embarrassed,
'Because I'm a daughter of the Fifth House our marriage won't be legal if it doesn't take place on Betazed.'
Jean-Luc controlled his disbelief, reminding himself of something that she never mentioned; Deanna was effectively a princess. Her family were incredibly wealthy and influential and had been for well over a thousand years. Material wealth may have disappeared from society as an influencing factor but the accumulated effects of generations of power took a long time to dissipate. The Fifth House had been part of the ruling council of Betazed when it was a rigid matriarchal system, with all inheritance going through the female line so it was hardly surprising that daughters' marriages would need to be public and witnessed by other members of the ruling council. In theory Betazed was fully egalitarian now but some of the old traditions still remained and the ruling council was still dominated by members of the ancient Houses, albeit with just as many men as women nowadays. Thinking of men and marriage brought back an old memory and Jean-Luc asked,
'What about Wyatt Miller? That marriage was supposed to take place on board the Enterprise.'
'That was deliberate. I didn't realise until much later but Mother deliberately planned it that way so that the marriage could be annulled if I wanted it to be. She had intended to simply refuse because she could tell that Wyatt's father was only interested in the power and prestige they would gain from the marriage but after she met Wyatt she changed her mind. Wyatt knew nothing about his parents' machinations and simply wanted to help people. Mother thought he might suit me so brought him to me and presented it as a fait accompli to see what I would do.'
'And would you have gone through with the marriage?'
'I think so. I was feeling very cynical about love at that time and Wyatt was a doctor, caring, intelligent and good looking. I would have married him because it would have been easy and because I wasn't very good at saying no to my mother in those days.'
'I'm very glad that it didn't happen,' said Jean-Luc fervently.
Deanna smiled tenderly, saying,
'So am I.'
They both paused for a minute, thinking about Wyatt Miller and wondering if he was still alive and whether or not he'd made any progress in finding a cure for the plague that had killed almost all of the Tarellians.
Jean-Luc thought about what Deanna said, trying to find a solution. After a few minutes he said,
'Would your mother object if we got married twice?'
'Twice? Why?'
'I was thinking that we could take advantage of Admiral Nechayev being on board and have a small shipboard wedding with just our closest friends, and your mother if she can get here, and then have a huge wedding on Betazed whenever it can be arranged.'
'She might. Why the hurry though?'
'Because once Admiral Nechayev disembarks it becomes much harder for us to be married on board the Enterprise.'
'You want to be married on board?'
Deanna could tell that Jean-Luc really wanted them to be married on the Enterprise but was puzzled by how strongly he felt. Jean-Luc paused to get his thoughts straight then said,
'It's our home, it's where we live, where we work and where we socialise. It's the place that I associate with us. When I think of you, I don't think of Betazed, I think of your office, Sickbay, the Bridge and our quarters.'
Deanna nodded, understanding. Thoughtfully, she said,
'Yes, at the moment virtually all of our joint memories centre on the Enterprise and our life in Starfleet.'
Jean-Luc waited patiently as Deanna thought about it. After a few minutes, she said,
'I don't feel the same way but that's probably because I've always known that my marriage would take place on Betazed. But a chance to celebrate with our closest friends would be lovely. I'll see what Mother thinks.'
'Thank you. Are you going to contact her tonight?'
'I could do. Why?'
'Because Beverly's going to guess what's going on about five minutes after she sees either of us and we really should tell your mother first.'
'You really think Beverly's going to guess that quickly?'
'Ma belle, you're glowing with happiness and I seem to be smiling a lot; it wouldn't really surprise me if she guessed within seconds.'
Deanna looked at Jean-Luc, who was smiling broadly, and then looked at herself in the mirror. Jean-Luc was right; anyone who knew them well would know immediately that they had good news. Going over to the communications panel, she asked to be connected to her mother.


Twenty minutes later, they were sitting back on the sofa, both feeling slightly overwhelmed. Lwaxana hadn't been difficult or overbearing, she had simply been wildly happy and had started planning the wedding on Betazed immediately. Jean-Luc had been concerned that Lwaxana would veto the idea of a small ceremony on the ship, but once she had checked that Jean-Luc knew that they had to get married on Betazed for the marriage to be legal there, Lwaxana had casually given permission, clearly viewing it as trivial and irrelevant. She had also checked that both Deanna and Jean-Luc understood that the ceremony on Betazed would be both traditional and very big.
'I'm sorry,' she'd said, 'but there's really no way round it. With my ambassadorial status and you being heir to the Fifth House, Deanna, everyone who's anyone will want to be there and it will have to be the full traditional service. You do understand, don't you, Jean-Luc, Deanna?'
'We understand,' said Deanna.
Jean-Luc had nodded resignedly. It sounded absolutely hideous but it was only one day and, in his experience, you could tolerate pretty much any amount of nonsense for one day. And at least he wouldn't have to wear his dress uniform. Smiling wryly, he made a mental note to increase his exercise regime. He couldn't do anything about his age but he could make sure that there was no flab on display.
'Will you come to our shipboard wedding, Mother?'
'Of course, darling. Did you say Alynna was going to officiate?'
'Yes, and Bill's here too.'
'How simply marvellous, I haven't seen Bill for ages. I'll make travel plans immediately. Where's the nearest starbase to your location?'
'Starbase Eighty-one. I'll get Commander Data to contact you tomorrow to arrange the rendezvous,' said Jean-Luc.
'Thank you, Jean-Luc. I'll get started on the guest list for the wedding on Betazed. Let me know who you want included on the list. Caio.'
With a smile, Lwaxana disconnected.
'So tomorrow we tell everyone?' Deanna's question was more of a statement but Jean-Luc nodded anyway, saying,
'Starting with Beverly.'


Author's note: I didn't include Deanna's intended marriage to Will because she was so angry with her mother that she was going to reject her Betazoid heritage (as per the book Imzadi). Also, I don't think that Jean-Luc would know that Deanna and Will had been engaged so wouldn't know to ask.