2379 was not shaping up to be a good year in certain regards for Captain Jean Luc Picard. In some good news, Riker and Troi were now married, with Riker now finally accepting his own command it almost felt like Picard was a father watching his children leave the nest.
On the other hand, the Enterprise E was in such a state, repairs were estimated to have her out of service for far longer then the captain felt was acceptable. Some of the higher ups were already considering decommissioning her, after all they reasoned, there were plenty of letters left in the alphabet.
Then there was the death of Data. Something Picard didn't want to dwell on right now. His almost newly minted first officer had made the ultimate sacrifice, saving both Picard, and the Enterprise and her crew.
Of course this did mean Picard now how to select both a new first officer as well as a second officer. Worf was by far the most suitable candidate, which was something Picard would have almost scoffed at back in their first year of working together. That would mean selecting a new head of security and chief tactical officer.
It was something of a command level headache, the prudent thing would be to just move every officer up by one post, but who would take over as counsellor since Troi had jumped ship with her new husband? Still, at least that meant Picard would never have to meet Troi's mother again.
Very unlikely he'd meet her again. After all the galaxy wasn't a small place. What was it Captain Sisko had done to make sure Q never bothered him again? No, no, on second thoughts, that would have just created a major diplomatic incident. Or she would have turned out to be into that.
A headache like this required medical attention. He pressed the intercom on his desk in his quarters.
"Picard to Doctor Crusher, could you report to my quarters with your tricorder?"
"On my way," came the reply of his chief medical officer and long time friend. He could still recall the day he first met her as she and her husband Jack Crusher had beamed up to their ship and he'd greeted them both on the transporter pad. She still looked as beautiful as ever, and Picard wondered what her secret might be there. Or was that just his eyes and heart and mind playing tricks on another?
The door chime broke his train of thought.
"Come," he beckoned and Beverly breezed through the doors with the same air of casual ease she'd had for years, tricorder at the ready, medical kit strung over her shoulder.
"Jean Luc, what is it?" as she stood opposite him at his desk.
"It's my head, Bev, looking over all these reports have left with with a throbbing pain."
"Well, let's just hope it's not the Ferengi again," Beverly joked as he started her scans, moving a little closer to the captain to get a better result. "Well, we can rule them out, this looks like a tension headache. I can easily sort that out." With that Bevs hands started to rub around the base of Picards neck, moving upwards to his skull and back down.
"What? No hypo spray?"
"We don't always need drugs to solve all our problems, Jean Luc, sometimes all that is needed is the gentle touch," she cooed as she continued the massage. "Besides, the last time I wound up using the medicine meant for this, it was on Will and it had a side effect that..."
"Yes?"
"Well, it meant he and Deanna were up all night and they both came in to sickbay rather sore the next day."
"Merde! Are you sure no one had been messing with the replicator?"
"It wasn't replicated, it was in storage, something we'd traded after that Borg attack."
"Had it gone off?"
"No, it came from Risa."
"Ah, that might explain a thing or two." A thought entered Picard's mind. "Do we still have any left?"
"Quite a bit, quite a bit."
"Any repeats of Wills performance?"
"Not that I'm aware of, not officially that is." Picard looked at his medical officer in dismay.
"You haven't?"
"Well it certainly beats waiting around for another man, or a ghost in a candle. Besides, if you are thinking of using it, you don't need it."
"What makes you say that?"
"I can see your bulge from here, Jean Luc."
"What?" Picard looked down, then without thinking, moved his hand to inspect the bulge that had formed below. "I had no idea that had happened. I do apologise."
"Oh don't be so formal," Bev smiled sweetly, still applying her patented massage. "There's a reason for that actually."
"Oh?"
"I've just been helping deliver a baby."
"I don't see how that has any bearing on my midship going full mast."
"The mother was an Orion, you know how crazy their pheromones can be at the best of times. Imagine what they do when they're popping out a new born."
"Mon Dieu!" Picard exclaimed. "You mean, you caught the horn from the mother, and passed it on to me? Does this mean we'll have to quarantine the ship? Work on a cure for horniness like that water intoxication virus? Again?"
"No, no need, the effect is quite temporary and can only really be passed on by touch. Besides," she worked her hands further down his back before she pushed him gently towards his desk. He didn't resist. "It also makes you realise some things."
"Such as?" Picard was breathless, he could hear his own pulse starting to race, his artificial heart didn't do much to help regulate adrenaline either but he could feel himself getting harder with each passing second.
"It has been far, far too long since I've had a man in my life, felt his touch, his breath, shared my lips with his," she whispered heavily into his ear, still massaging his back, reaching further down to his rear. "Far too long, and all this time, there's been you, right here, feeling the same about me as I do you."
"Bev, we've been through this," he tried to protest, but his heart wasn't in it.
"We've been through this when I wasn't ready to move on," she leaned down to the side of his face, and whispered a little louder. "I am now."
Picard was feeling something of a crisis of conscious, as her commanding officer, there were certain rules had to enforce and obey, fraternisation was meant to be frowned upon after all. But Will Riker and Deanna Troi had tied the knot and both were serving on the same ship now. Sometimes you just had to say fuck the rules, and god knows, Picard wanted to fuck Bev.
"Bev, stand up," he said forcefully. Beverly almost timidly obeyed, backing away a little as the captain rose to his feet, erection still clearly battling to free itself from his uniform. He locked eyes with her, his face was almost it's usual stone cold demeanour, but had a third party been present, they might have noticed the glint of dangerous mischief in Picard's eyes.