Chapter Text
Chapter Five
The message was simple, “We’ve gone home. Leave us alone.” There was no signature, but Wesley knew the captain and his mother were gone, and they were not headed for the Enterprise.
Commander Riker had called back a few minutes after Picard had left the dorm room and Wesley had not been surprised to hear Deanna crying in the background as he and the commander talked. They all hurt, they all had screwed up and that had to be made right, except none of them expected the couple to leave the planet.
Going back to the comm system, this time in the hotel suite, he called back to the Enterprise. Commander Riker greeted him from the captain’s ready room, “Wes, that was quick.”
“They’re gone, I never found them. They left a message saying they were going home.”
“Home? They haven’t contacted the ship.”
“Right now, I doubt they see the Enterprise as home. They have two full days left on leave with another six weeks worth available. They could be anywhere before we even have a chance to start tracking them.”
“Besides the Enterprise, where do they consider home?” He addressed the question to Wesley and someone sitting across the desk from him.
Deanna moved in front of the screen for the first time. Her eyes were red from crying and her hands shook as she leaned over Riker’s shoulder to see Wesley. “The captain considers France with his brother as home, while your mother thinks of Caldos IV and your grandmother as home.”
Riker thought it over for a moment, “I bet they head to Earth. We are scheduled to reach McKinley in 12 hours and the crew has a 24-hour leave; Troi and I will meet you in Paris, at the shuttle port at 10:00 and we will go out together. I will also contact headquarters to see if they have requested their leave or reported heading somewhere other than Earth.”
Wesley sat in the suite long after the connection was cut. He was dreading facing the two people he cared the most about.
###
While Beverly rushed to pack, Picard had secured transport to Earth and contacted his sister-in-law, Marie, about their arrival. They then ran to catch their ride home, contacting Admiral Quinn in route, who gladly agreed to grant the officers the rest of their leave time.
Their arrival at the Picard Vineyard was all they had hoped. Marie and Robert, Jean-Luc’s brother, had met them at the door, despite the late hour, with a lot of questions and open arms. Picard watched Marie’s natural warmth and the house’s security wash over Beverly and relax her, while he explained their sudden appearance to Robert and asked for his help to conceal their whereabouts. His family was all too happy to help them hide for a while, especially since they planned to stay at the vineyard. Expecting the nightmare to reappear despite all this, Picard was surprised to wake to the sound of Beverly’s laughter and the morning sun.
Their bedroom opened to a balcony that overlooked the patio and it was from those open doors Picard could hear Marie and Beverly talking. Climbing out of bed, he went to the railing to look down at the two women, who sat eating breakfast and talking like old friends. This brought a smile to Picard’s lips. Glancing around, he saw his brother and nephew, Rene, working at another table on a wooden model. Rene glanced up to see his uncle and waved, before calling to the women.
Beverly looked up at the balcony and waved, “Sleeping beauty arises.”
“Come up here and say that again, Doctor.”
“Not on your life. Hurry up; I want to see your famous vineyard.” Rene ran up to Beverly’s side to join the conversation.
“Uncle, can I help you show Aunt Beverly around?”
“Aunt Beverly, I like the sound of that. Rene, you are the official tour guide for this place, so you get to show both of us around as soon as I eat breakfast.”
Rene met him with a hug at the patio doors several minutes later. Beverly watched Jean-Luc greet the boy, seeing none of the old discomfort he had around children. She listened to the two joke and tease Robert, while Marie delivered breakfast to Jean-Luc. Things were so much clearer now, she thought. She was beating the nightmare and the world was coming back into focus, all except her son and best friend’s betrayal.
On the trip to Earth, they had discussed how to handle explanations. The decision was made to present themselves to his family as what they were: old friends, crew mates, and lovers. One of Robert’s first questions the night before had been about their relationship. Beverly had felt no fear about what Jean-Luc would say. It was the answer to Marie’s question that caught Beverly by surprise.
“So, this is the famed Doctor Crusher. About time you brought her here, Jean-Luc. Now, when is the wedding?”
Jean-Luc laughed, “Don’t rush things Marie. She hasn’t officially agreed to marry me yet.”
Beverly, who was seated next to him on a love seat, looked up at Jean-Luc in surprise, “What?”
Smiling mysteriously, Picard said, “All in good time, m’amour.”
She now watched Jean-Luc answer question after question from his nephew. She was watching her dreams come true before her eyes, while she did the one thing she never thought she would do - put all of her trust in one person.
###
Deanna Troi, Will Riker, and Wesley Crusher beamed on to the front lawn of the Picard Vineyard at exactly 11:00 to be greeted by Robert Picard. They were all in civilian clothes, not feeling much like Star Fleet officers. None had slept the night before for thinking about the conversation facing them.
Riker moved ahead as they approached the older man, who stood studying them from behind the yard’s gate, “Monsieur Picard?”
“Oui, may I help you?”
“I’m Commander William Riker, the first officer of the Enterprise; this is Commander Deanna Troi, ship’s counselor; and Cadet Wesley Crusher, a former member of the Enterprise. Sir, we are looking for Captain Picard. Is he here?”
“I’m sorry; he sent word yesterday he was not going to be able to stop by at the end of his vacation.”
Troi stepped up closer, “Are you sure? It is imperative we find him and the woman he is traveling with.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.”
The three visitors glanced at each other in confusions, they had been positive Picard and Crusher would run here. Troi smiled at the older man, “Well, we’re sorry we disturbed you. If you do hear from Captain Picard, would you tell him we need to see him?”
Saying goodbye, the trio turned to leave, but Troi stopped. Looking back at Robert Picard, she said, “And could you tell him he was right and the problem was being fixed. He’ll understand.” At Robert’s nod, she turned back to Riker, grasping his hand as he called for the return transport. Robert saw the woman’s head turn during transport toward the hill Jean-Luc and Beverly had been sitting on earlier. Looking up the hill as well, he saw the couple had moved and were not in sight.
###
Beverly and Jean-Luc watched the scene at the gate from their seats under an ancient oak tree overlooking the vineyard and house. Beverly sat between Picard’s legs, leaning back in his arms. Rene hung from a branch over their heads.
“We have visitors,” the boy said, jumping down to stand next to Picard’s shoulder. “It is the people you told father to expect?”
“Oui. Your father will handle them.”
“Why don’t you want to see them, aren’t they your friends?”
“They were - they are, but we had an argument and need a break from them.”
“I thought you said they were officers. Why aren’t they in uniform?”
Beverly was the first to turn away, looking back at Rene, “They are on leave like your uncle and I.” She had watched Troi step up to Robert in an attempt to read emotions he was hiding thanks to a trick Jean-Luc had taught him. Jean-Luc had explained the events of the past weeks to Robert in private, away from Marie and Beverly, but she knew he had prepared his brother to face the empath. The three would leave believing Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard were hiding off the planet.
Jean-Luc watched the scene another few seconds before moving to stand, “Let’s put some distance between us and them.” He helped Beverly stand and headed down the other side of the hill, out of view of the house and its guests.
“Why do you need to put distance between us and them?”
“The woman will be able to sense us, if we stay on the hill. The further away we are, the harder it will be for her to tell if we are on the property, which we don’t want her to know.”
Rene gave a mental shrug to the answer and ran ahead of the couple to the lake they were approaching. Jean-Luc and Beverly walked arm and arm around the lake only far enough to turn on to the dock that extended out into the lake. Rene turned for a second to watch them walk to the dock’s end and wrap their arms around each other, just like his parents did. His father had told him once he loved his wife so much that to just hold her was a blessing of pleasure. Uncle and Aunt Beverly must love each other just as much, he thought, turning back toward the woods at the lake’s edge, glad to know his uncle was not alone in space.
Jean-Luc pulled Beverly around to face him, once they reached the end of the dock, and wrapped his arms around her. She released a small sigh as she laid her head on his shoulder, allowing him to bury his face in her hair. This place held many memories for him of his mother and father and time spent with his school friends and his brother. Not all were good, but they came together to form a blanket of stability and warmth that he would always associate with home - and now with Beverly. The Enterprise meant a lot to him, but it was this place and this woman that would always be his anchor in the storm. They made him the man he was and gave him the strength to take to the stars, while the Enterprise made him only a captain and provided the means to reach the stars.
By now, his crew would know he and Beverly were taking another six weeks off with no notice. They would be scrambling to prepare for their absence and Will would have already contacted Admiral Quinn seeking more information. He would find none, not even a record of the trip to France. The trail would end with him and Beverly disembarking the transport in New York, and then the couple would just vanish.
Jean-Luc had personally deactivated their comm badges so they could not be traced through the communication system. He had also arranged for them to have fake identification cards with credit accounts so they could travel and shop without leaving a trail. Even if the Enterprise came into orbit of Earth, something headquarters would frown on, its sensors would not be able to pick out two human individuals from the millions living on the planet.
They were well hidden and would stay that way until they decided otherwise. Although Picard expected Riker and Troi to try at least once more to find them before the Enterprise was force to leave the sector on her next mission.
###
Beverly wasn’t sure exactly what it was about Jean-Luc’s home that made her feel so safe, but that night she found herself relaxed for the first time in many years. She loved the Enterprise, almost as much as Jean-Luc did, but she was never completely able to let her guard down for fear of emergencies and injuries. She never knew what the next mission would bring and if someone she cared for was going to die in her sick bay. For the first time in seven years, her fears were not needed because the only person she was worried about lay next to her facing nothing more dangerous than walking down a flight of stairs.
That lack of fear carried over into her dreams. Curled under the protective arm of Jean-Luc, Beverly slept, her mind creating dreams of love, fun, and safety for the first time in six weeks. She woke to sunlight steaming in the balcony doors, the smell of fresh coffee, and the sound of Jean-Luc singing in the bathroom. Laughing at his obvious pleasure, she tip-toed into small room and found him in the shower singing an old Earth opera. His excuse of lacking talent was now a moot point and she knew of several plays she wanted him to play the lead role in, requiring him to sing.
“You know Jean-Luc, I now have the proof I need to blackmail you,” she said as he finished the song with a flourish.
“Since you can usually talk me into anything, I don’t know what you would use it for,” he called, laughing.
Opening the shower door, Beverly dropped her gown and stepped under the water with him. “Yes, but you have resisted my plays for years. Now that I have heard you sing, you have no choice but to perform.”
“You would blackmail me for one of your plays?”
“I would blackmail you for at least three of my plays, one of course being ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ which I have been putting off because I could not find a Petruchio to match my Katharina.”
“Great, not only do I have to tame a shrew in real life, I have to do it in fantasy now as well.”
With a mock cry of fury to Jean-Luc’s laughter, Beverly grabbed for him as he leapt from the shower, eluding her before he slammed the door. “See you down stairs love.”
Joining the family minutes later in the kitchen, Beverly was immediately swept up in the discussion of plans for the day. The four adults worked together preparing breakfast for them all and lunch for Rene to take to school, and the men to take as they went to work on the foundation of a warehouse for the vineyard. Their easy banter was stalled by a knock on the front door.
Robert stood to go answer it, “Who would be here at this early hour?”
Marie, glancing at Jean-Luc’s and Beverly’s shared uneasiness, stopped her husband. “Let me answer. If it is one of the officers again, let me see what I can get out of them.”
She peeked out the window next to the door to see a Star Fleet commander looking around the yard. Opening the door, she offered up her politest smile, “Commander, may I help you?”
Riker turned at the female voice and smiled, “I’m sorry to disturb so early. You are Madam Picard?”
“Oui, and you are?”
“William Riker, first officer of the Enterprise. Is Jean-Luc in?”
Making a show of surprise and confusion, Marie moved to completely block the door so the commander could not see past her, yet her companions could still hear. “I’m sorry, my brother-in-law is not here. He canceled his plans to stop by for a visit a couple of days ago. I thought he was due back on the Enterprise by now.”
“Yes, he would be, except he took some more leave time and did not leave a way to locate him. We are getting ready to leave orbit and I need to talk to him before we do. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?”
“I’m sorry. This is all news to me. Didn’t you come here yesterday, with two other people?”
“Yes, I talked to your husband. We only found out late yesterday of Captain Picard’s extended leave. Yesterday, we were just hoping to spend some time with him, today, I need him for ship business. The only information he left was he was going home. Is there somewhere else he might go?”
“I’m sorry Commander, I can’t help you. Maybe his traveling companion can help you. He had originally told us he was bringing a friend with him from Vulcan, but did not give us a name. Do you know who he was traveling with?”
“Yes, he went with our chief medical officer to visit her son.” Pausing, he gave Marie a look of worry, “Actually, Doctor Crusher is a big part of what I need to talk to Jean-Luc about. She came back from Vulcan acting strangely. We were hoping he could help us.” Marie simply gave him a negative shake of her head. “Well, I guess we will just have to get by. If you talk to the captain, would you tell him I need to speak to him? It is very important.”
“Certainly, Commander. Bonjour.”
“Bonjour Madam.”
Marie stepped quickly back through the door and closed it, leaving Riker standing on the steps. Peaking through the window again, she watched him walk back out of the gate and transport away. Turning, she found Jean-Luc leaning against the kitchen door frame hugging Beverly to him, whose head was laid on his shoulder, hidden, while she cried. The express on his face told Marie he was not happy. “You heard it all?”
“Yes. He thought he could trip you up with concern over Beverly since you apparently knew nothing about her. I’m not sure which is worse, going behind our backs or trying to use us against each other.”
Two hours later, Picard received word from Admiral Quinn’s office the Enterprise had left the sector, heading to Deep Space 5 for a three-week mission. He stood at the library window watching Beverly work in the garden with little enthusiasm for the job. She had not stopped crying since Riker left and had said little, not leaving Picard's side until he suggested she work in the garden while he waited for word from Quinn. When she glanced up at the window, he nodded so she would know the Enterprise was gone and she was safe again. They had hurt her for the last time, he swore.
In the following three weeks, a pattern developed where Beverly and Jean-Luc became part of the household and not mere guests. Marie and Beverly became fast friends, discussing everything from motherhood to politics, while Jean-Luc picked up his relationship with his brother where they had left it several years earlier. The two couples worked at strengthening the vineyard, the family, and their relationships.
During that time, only three communiqués came for Jean-Luc and Beverly. Two were from the Enterprise, from Troi and Riker, which Jean-Luc deleted without reading. The third came from Admiral Quinn requesting the couple’s help in dealing with a minor crisis in a small system some 24 hours from Earth, in the opposite direction of the Enterprise. Since there was no chance of his senior officers hearing of the mission until after it was over, Jean-Luc agreed to handle the diplomatic mission with Beverly as his assistant. In four days times, they were back at the Picard Vineyard.