Inventions
by Astra <astraplain@yahoo.com 

"Go ahead, Jean-Luc, just say it.  My son is a slob."

"Beverly, I never..."  He trailed off, intensely 
aware of her arms as they folded into the classic 
try-to-worm-your-way-out-of-this-one pose.  She'd 
been doing that a lot today.

"Just admit it, Captain.  You're sorry you 
volunteered for this and right now you'd rather be 
reading a good book."

Actually, Jean-Luc Picard would rather be doing 
almost *anything* other than helping Beverly clean 
out her storage closet, but, he'd never admit that to 
her.  He had a physical coming up soon and he wanted 
to live through it.  Taking the safe way out, he 
nodded and tried to look contrite.

Beverly didn't even notice.  Something had caught her 
eye and she bent down to retrieve it.   Wresting it 
free at last, she stood and examined the object.  It 
was a white cube, 20 centimeters on a side, with a 
slot one of its faces, and touch controls on an 
adjacent side.  Beverly estimated that the slot was 
12 centimeters long and 3 wide.  There was no text on 
the controls to explain their use.

"What is it?"  Jean-Luc asked as he joined her.

"I have no idea.  Another one of Wes's leftover 
inventions I suppose."   Carelessly, Beverly turned 
and tossed the object towards a pile of rubbish in 
the corner.

"No, don't!"  Jean-Luc was a fraction of a second too 
late to stop her action.  He flinched as the object 
struck the pile and clattered to the floor.  

Beverly looked at him, one eyebrow raised in 
amusement.  "Is there a problem?"

Jean-Luc eyed the object for several seconds before 
turning to his lover.  He placed his hands gently on 
her shoulders, drawing her nearer, until their noses 
were practically touching.  "Beverly, this invention 
of your son's.  The one you just threw..." He nearly 
shuddered as he spoke. "...you don't have any idea 
what it does?"

"None.  I told you that Jean-Luc.  What's the 
matter?"

Breaking contact, Jean-Luc paced across the room.  
"Beverly, this mystery object, was this, or was this 
not invented by the same young man who commandeered 
Engineering during the Tsiolkovsky virus outbreak.  
The same person who let nanites loose on my ship; 
who..."

Beverly sighed, interrupting Jean-Luc's tirade.  "I 
see your point."  She eyed the object with sudden 
distrust.  Wesley had had more than his fair share of 
failed inventions.  And more than one of them had 
produced unexpected results - like small explosions 
and warp bubbles.  "So what do you suggest we do with 
it?"

"Jettisoning it out into space comes to mind."  
Picard muttered.  

"Jean-Luc!"  Beverly watched him squirm for a moment 
before relenting.  "You keep forgetting I have 
'mother hearing'  And with Wes, I had lots of 
practice using it.  Anyway, do you really think it's 
safe to beam that thing out into space?"

"If we use wide disperse, yes.  You're sure you don't 
mind?"

Beverly shrugged.  "We've lived without the thing 
this long, I can't imagine we'll miss it."

*****

"You enjoyed that entirely too much, Jean-Luc."  

Picard surveyed the tidy closet.  "I wouldn't say 
that Beverly.  But it does look better."

Beverly favored him with one of her I'm-being-
tolerant smiles. "I was referring to Wes's invention.  
You absolutely loved beaming that thing into deep 
space."

He grinned back.  "Using maximum dispersion was the 
part I liked."  He stepped back to allow her to key 
in the closet's lockcode. Walking back towards their 
quarters he announced.  "Now that the storage closet 
has been tamed, I want that surprise you promised."

"Surprise.  I don't remember....."  She broke off, 
unable to keep from laughing at his pout.  "Oh, 
*that* surprise."  She threw her arms around him and 
kissed him deeply.  For a few seconds, Jean-Luc 
didn't even remember that they were standing in the 
middle of a corridor.

Breaking away, Beverly smiled wickedly.  "The 
surprise is...we're helping Deanna clean her storage 
closet next week."  She wrapped her arms around him 
and breathed in his ear.  "Won't that be fun?"

He almost said yes.

*****

<<8 months later>>

Picard stood at the head of the conference table 
waiting impatiently for the last of his senior 
officers to arrive.  After a long minute, Beverly and 
Deanna hurried in, their hair and uniforms 
immaculate.  It wasn't apparent by looking at either 
of them that the captain's summons had interrupted 
their morning exercise routine.

Waiting just long enough for the women to take their 
seats, Picard started.  "I've just had a coded 
message from Admiral Harris at Starbase 427.  Our 
current assignment has been postponed.  We're to 
rendezvous with the _Bradley_ in 6 hours and take on 
2 Federation negotiators.  Then we'll proceed to the 
Ruvic System where we will host negotiations for a 
newly discovered alien artifact."

"What kind of artifact?"  Geordi wanted to know.

"Unknown.  Admiral Harris sent me the preliminary 
analysis but I haven't had a chance to review it yet.  
We'll reconvene in 5 hours 30 minutes and I'll give 
you a full briefing.  In the meantime, please advise 
your staffs that shoreleave will be delayed until the 
completion of this mission.  Dismissed."

Beverly waited for the others to leave before 
approaching the captain.  "This won't interfere with 
our plans for the evening?" she asked.  Running one 
finger down his chest she added, "Will it?"

Jean-Luc smiled.  He just *hated* when she purred 
like that. It was sooo distracting.  "No, no, I don't 
plan to let anything interfere with our plans."  To 
seal his promise, he kissed her, taking her breath 
away.

Breaking away reluctantly, Beverly licked her lips.  
"Mmmm. Good.  I've got a few *ideas* about how to 
spend our evening together."  She started towards the 
door, throwing, "And all day to think up more." over 
her shoulder as she breezed out of the room.

Jean-Luc couldn't help the little shiver of 
anticipation that ran up his spine.

*****

"Dr Crusher report to the captain's Ready Room 
immediately." Beverly mimicked Jean-Luc's urgent 
summons as she rode the turbolift to the bridge.  
Arriving at her destination, she exited the lift, 
nodded once in the direction of Will, Data and the 
other bridge crew and tapped the Ready Room door 
chime.

"Come."  came the command from beyond the closed 
doors and Beverly's lips curled into a smile.  The 
doors opened to allow her passage and she entered his 
domain.  Timing her movement across the room 
carefully, she was sure the door was shut before 
saying. "Your wish is my command, sir."

She'd just fed him one of his favorite straight-lines 
but one look at his expression told her it wasn't 
playtime.  Drawing herself up to her fullest height, 
she became the efficient officer. "Reporting as 
ordered, Captain."

His eyes held hers betraying a real worry, bordering 
on fear. She rounded the desk immediately.  "Jean-
Luc, what is it?"

He just pointed, allowing her a moment to identify 
the object pictured on his computer screen.  "It's 
back."

Beverly leaned in closer to the screen studying the 
object hard.  It couldn't be.  But there it was.  The 
object pictured was Wesley's invention.  It was 
battered and dirty, but there was no mistaking it.  
It was the same cube with a single slot on top and 
control panel on an adjacent side.

"How?"

"The object was found partially imbedded in an 
asteroid by a Sraafian pirate.  They're offering it 
for sale to the highest bidder as 'an ancient 
artifact of unknown origin and purpose'.  Top 
Federation scientists are conjecturing that it is a 
transmuter of some kind, possibly even an portable 
replicator."

"I thought you beamed that thing into space on wide 
disperse?"

"I did.  But remember, about a week later we had that 
unfortunate Thalian chocolate mousse incident.  
Geordi had to overhaul the entire transporter 
platform in that room."

Beverly nodded, her eyes taking a slightly far away 
look as she remembered exactly what she'd done with 
her share of that chocolate.

"Beverly?"

"Yes, Choc....ah, Captain?"

"Is there anything - any logs, notes, anything that 
might give us a clue to what this thing is before 
it's brought aboard my ship again?"

She hesitated.  "I've never pried into my son's 
private logs, Jean-Luc.  It wouldn't be right for me 
to read them.  And you shouldn't either."  With a 
smile she added.  "And I wouldn't let Geordi, Troi or 
Riker near them."

"Would you object to Data reading them?"       

She didn't even have to consider it.  "Not at all.  
Yes, he'd be the best one."

"Then I will inform Data of the situation."  Rising, 
he turned to her and placed his arms around her.  "As 
for you.  I have a sudden craving for chocolate 
mousse with supper.  Think you can find any?"

She leaned forward and licked his lips.  "I think I 
could *whip* something up."

*****

<<Three days later>>

The door to her cabin slid apart to allow Jean-Luc 
Picard a grand entrance.  He clutched a bottle of 
wine in one hand and a very familiar container of 
chocolate mousse in the other.  He was smiling one of 
those rare, dazzling smiles that made Beverly's heart 
stop.

"I take it we're celebrating."  She asked, taking in 
the sight of him in *that* outfit.    

He lay the items on the nearest flat surface and took 
her in his arms.  "We're celebrating."

"Then it worked?  The negotiators were satisfied?"  
She kissed him once on the lips, then again on his 
bare chest.

"Satisfied, they were thrilled."  He kissed her 
again, this time on her neck.  

"Thank you, Mr Data."  She slipped out of his arms 
and picked up the items he'd brought.  "Ummm, the 
real stuff tonight,"  She said, looking at the wine 
bottle.

He came up behind her, caressing her bare shoulders.  
"Nothing but the best for the mother of our prodigal 
genius."

She poured them both some wine, then turned and 
handed him his goblet.  Raising hers in a toast she 
said, "To genius, in all its forms."

He returned the toast and took a sip of wine.  
Setting aside the glass, he kissed Beverly in that 
little diamond of exposed flesh created by the drape 
of her halter dress.  He caressed her bare back 
remembering just why he'd bought her that dress in 
the first place.

Picking up the container of chocolate, he took her 
hand and led her towards the bedroom.  Beverly 
followed willingly, but a small frown marked her 
face.  She sat down on the edge of the bed and drew 
him down to sit beside her.

"Jean-Luc, I know you didn't tell them who invented 
that thing, and I appreciate that.  But do you think 
they'll ever figure it out?"  

Jean-Luc looked into Beverly's eyes.  "Don't worry, 
Beverly, with the modifications Data made, even 
Wesley wouldn't be able to tell it's original 
purpose."  He kissed her nose.  "Your reputation is 
safe mi'lady.  No one else will ever know your genius 
son managed to reinvent the toaster."

She smiled, turning quickly and pressing him down to 
the bed. Taking the container of chocolate mousse, 
she opened it and dipped her finger into the warm, 
smooth dessert.  Letting him lick her finger clean, 
she sighed.

"It's a pity in a way.  I can think of all kinds of 
uses for a portable self-powered toaster right here 
in this room."  She dipped her now clean finger into 
the chocolate again. "Have I ever told you about the 
special pleasure-enhancing properties of toasted 
Denebian wafer cakes?"

Beneath her, Jean-Luc shivered at the thought.
*******************

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