All Good Things__ - Michael Jan Friedman [28]
“As a physician,” she said softly, “it’s often my job to give people unpleasant news… to tell them that they need surgery or that they can’t have children… or that they might be facing a very difficult illness…”
Before the doctor could finish, something seemed to catch in her throat. She looked away from him, her eyes bright. The captain moved to her, touched by her concern.
“You said yourself it’s only a possibility,” he reminded her. “Only one among many.”
“But you’ve been to the future,” she countered. “You know it’s going to happen.” He smiled as best he could. “I prefer to think of the future as something that is not written in stone. Beverly, a lot of things can happen in twenty,five years.”
He wasn’t sure how she would respond to that. The last thing he expected was that she would lean forward and kiss him on the lips. And yet, that is the very thing she did.
What’s more, he kissed her back. And it was not like another kiss they had shared, several months earlier, after they had been linked mind-to-mind on the planet Kesprit. This time, it lingered.
And when it was over, Beverly looked into his eyes meaningfully. He could smell her perfume, subtle though it was. He had never realized how… provoc-ative it could be. “You’re right,” she said. “A lot of things can happen.” Before Picard could ask for an explanation, she turned and leftmand this time he made no effort to stop her. As his ready-room door closed behind her, he contemplated what had just happened.
Was this the beginning of a new stage in their relationship? Or just a fleeting emotion, born of Beverly’s concern for him?
Only Time would tell.
Remembering the glass of milk she’d brought him, he went back to his desk, picked it up, and took a sip. It was just as soothing, just as calming as the doctor had suggested.
Then, replacing the glass on his desk, he moved to the couch and stretched out. He could hear his joints creak with gratitude.
Beverly was right. He was exhausted. Closing his eyes, the captain assured himself that it would be only a short nap,.. in which he would no doubt revisit the kiss he had just shared, searching for its meaning. But then, there were less pleasant things to dream about, weren’t there?
As he began to drift off, he thought he heard a voice. But that was ridiculous. He was alone in here ….
“Sir? Wake up, sir.”
There was no denying the summons now. Opening his eyes, Picard looked for the source of it—and saw that La Forge was standing over him. There was some sort of light source behind him, making it difficult to get a good look at the man.
“Yes,” he murmured. “Yes… what is it? Have we reached the Neutral Zone yet?”
La Forge scrutinized him with his artificial eyes. “The… Neutral Zone, Captain?”
That’s when Picard sat up and looked around—and realized that he was back in Data’s library. Back in the future.
And the light source behind La Forge was just a window through which they were receiving the late-afternoon light. Picard rubbed his eyes.
“Sorry,” he said. “I was… in the past again.” Sitting up, he gathered his senses. “What’s going on?”
The younger man smiled sympathetically. “Data’s arranged for us to run some tests on you in the biometrics lab. We’re ready to go if you are.”
Picard shook his head, remembering what he’d learned. “No… no, we don’t have time for that. We have to get to the Neutral Zone.” La Forge’s forehead wrinkled. “Why’s that, sir?” The older man tried to concentrate. “In the other two time periods, Starfleet reported a… urn, some kind of… spatial anomaly in the… in the Devron sys-tem!” Exultant, he smacked his fist into the palm of his other hand. “That’s it. The Devron system in the Neutral Zone.” La Forge sighed. “Sir…”
But Picard wouldn’t let him go on. He was going strong now, and he didn’t dare pause or he might lose his train of thought.
“If the anomaly was in the past… it might be here, too. We need to go find out if…”
The other man looked at him askance.