Little Secret
by Astra <astraplain@yahoo.com 

She could feel his eyes on her, watching her every 
move. Slowly she sat forward, drawing her blue 
medical coat closer, shrouding herself against his 
piercing gaze.  

Beside her, Data was still droning on about 
something.  She'd lost the thread of his report as 
soon as it had become clear that there was nothing of 
medical concern.  Warp engine modifications were 
never her field of interest - even when she wasn't so 
very distracted.  

The eyes were still watching her and she shifted 
uneasily in her seat.  This earned her a curious gaze 
from Data, but it didn't slow his narrative.  She 
felt like screaming, *Shut up!*

Now there were two pairs of eyes watching her. *Oh 
good one Bev, now you've got ole "I sense something" 
Troi staring too.*  She felt the heat of 
embarrassment slowly burning patches of red on her 
face.  Having an empath for a friend had it's 
drawbacks.

Trying hard to calm herself before anyone else 
noticed her discomfort, Beverly started visualizing 
the choreography for her new play.  At long last, 
Data finished his monologue and Captain Picard 
dismissed them.  Before anyone could intercept her, 
Beverly hurried from the room and into the nearest 
turbolift.


Jean-Luc Picard paced the length of his cabin and 
pondered. He had had a mystery on his hands - a real 
one, and he hadn't needed Dixon Hill to solve it.  
After all, solving this mystery was easy.  It was 
what had he had to do now that was hard.

He surveyed the table again.  It was perfect down to 
the embroidered napkins and the tiny silver fruit 
cups.  Candles illuminated the crystal stemware and 
threw starlight patterns on the china.  An 
extravagant spray of flowers on the sideboard scented 
the air.

He'd been planning this night for a several weeks 
now, ever since he'd convinced himself that his 
suspicions were correct. Beverly had been avoiding 
him lately and it was time for her to admit the 
truth.

The door chime interrupted his pacing, and Jean-Luc 
ran a hand over his face before instructing his guest 
to enter.

Beverly stood in the doorway, back lighted for a 
moment by the bright lights in the hall.  Then the 
door slid closed and the candlelight softened her 
beautiful features.

She was wearing her uniform and lab coat - as he knew 
she would be.  She gladly returned his kiss, but 
slipped away before he could embrace her.

"Jean-Luc, this is lovely.  What's the occasion?"

He moved behind her, sliding his arms around her 
shoulders and gently pulling her back against his 
chest.  She instantly caught his arms and held them, 
preventing his from touching her below the shoulders.  
This was the only way she'd allowed him to hold her 
for the last three weeks.  He looked down and 
frowned.  Her lab coat was bigger.

He murmured in her ear.  "I think we have something 
to celebrate."

She looked back over her shoulder at him.  "Really?  
What?"

He gently turned her around to face him.  "I thought 
you'd like to tell me."

She averted her eyes, refusing to meet his gaze.  "I 
don't know what you mean."

"Then perhaps we're just celebrating being together.  
Come, let's eat before it gets cold."

He held her chair for her as she sat, then proceeded 
to serve her.  Beverly ate heartily, enjoying the 
food and the company. Jean-Luc deliberately kept the 
conversation light, building up his courage for the 
confrontation to come.

At last they were finished with their meal.  Jean-Luc 
insisted on cleaning up the dishes by himself, and 
sent Beverly towards the couch to rest and relax.  
Five minutes later he had finished clearing away the 
meal.  Carefully he carried a tray with a teapot and 
cups to the living area and placed it on the table.

Beverly accepted the cup he offered her and shifted 
her legs to give him more room on the sofa.  They 
sipped the steaming tea in silence for several 
minutes.  Finally, Jean-Luc couldn't take it any 
more.

"Beverly, I have to ask you something."  He cleared 
his throat.  Suddenly it was very tight.  "But first, 
it there something you need to tell me?  Something I 
should know.  That I need to know?"

Beverly's throat went dry.  She'd known that he 
suspected - and how could he not.  All those mornings 
she'd missed their breakfast together, her refusing 
to sleep with him since that one wild, passionate, 
reckless night.  True, it was too frenzied to be what 
either of them had envisioned as their first night 
together as lovers, but neither one had been 
disappointed.  And, of course, there was that damned 
lab coat.  She'd even had to replicate the next 
larger size to try and hide her surprise.  It had had 
all made sense at the time, seemed so perfect.  But 
now...

She shifted suddenly and was caught in the seductive 
trap of his gaze.  Before she could stop herself she 
was saying, "It's all your fault."

She didn't expect his quiet, contrite, "I know."

And then, to her utter amazement, and slight 
embarrassment, he was on his knees before her, taking 
her hands into his.

"Will you marry me?"

"What?"

He looked into her eyes and said it again, slowly.  
"Beverly Crusher, will you marry me?"

To his total surprise, she laughed.  And she kept 
laughing. His expression ran the gamut from surprised 
to confused to annoyed and finally settled on miffed, 
which only made her laugh even harder.  He stood up, 
and nearly walked away when she caught his hand.

"Don't be mad, Jean-Luc. I'm sorry."  She wiped away 
a mirthful tear and tried not to smile.  "You caught 
me by surprise." She patted the sofa cushion beside 
her.  "Please sit."

He sat, but perched on the edge as if ready to flee.  
"I don't understand what you find so funny about 
this?"

"Nothing, really.  It's just that it took us so long 
to make the leap and finally sleep together that I 
didn't expect you to want to rush into a marriage."

"I hadn't planned on it either."  He gestured vaguely 
in the direction of her midsection.  "But it seems 
that nature had other plans."

Beverly, following his gesture, looked down at 
herself, then up at him.  She was really confused.  
"Jean-Luc, what are you talking about?"

"When we... were together that night.  We didn't... 
that is..I didn't....Beverly, we didn't take any 
precautions."  The expression on his face was one of 
pure anguish.

The light bulb finally went on in Beverly's head and 
she was struck speechless.  After sputtering a few 
times, she managed to say, "Jean-Luc, you mean... you 
thought... "  She took a deep breath and blurted out, 
"You think I'm pregnant?"

Now Jean-Luc was confused.  "Well aren't you?"

"No."  She shook her head, "Whatever gave you that 
idea?"

"You did.  You kept missing our breakfasts.  You're 
always wearing that coat  And it's bigger.  You 
haven't let me touch you in weeks."  He looked at her 
reproachfully, "You've been avoiding me."  Then 
another thought struck him.  "What do you mean this 
is my fault?"

Beverly caressed Jean-Luc's face, letting her fingers 
trace the line of his jaw, then trail down to his 
neck and chest. "Jean-Luc, do you remember when we 
were discussing our fantasies of the perfect romantic 
interlude?  When I told you I wanted to be with a 
handsome man who would literally carry me off to the 
bedroom and make passionate love to me?"

"Yes."

"And do you remember what you said?"

"Beverly, I was half asleep."

"I know, but you said that you wanted a beautiful 
woman to do the same to you."

Picard was lost.  "What does this have to do with you 
being pregnant?"

"Nothing, my dear Captain, because I'm not pregnant."  
She smiled, then stood and slipped off her coat.  
Even through the fabric of her uniform, Picard could 
tell something was different. 

"This is my little secret Jean-Luc."

And with no warning, she gathered Jean-Luc Picard 
into her arms and lifted him up.

"Beverly, what are you doing?"

"Sweeping you off your feet my dear.  Just like I've 
been training to do.  I've been working out in the 
gym for weeks to be able to do this.  Now stop 
struggling and enjoy it."

"And that's why you've been wearing that coat all the 
time, and avoiding me?"

"Mmmhhmmmm.  So you wouldn't notice how much stronger 
I am.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise."

He relaxed into her arms.  "I could get to like 
this."

She kissed him, then started walking towards the 
bedroom.  "If you like this part, you'll love the 
rest."

He returned her kiss.  "I know I will."  He managed a 
mock frown as she dropped him unceremoniously on the 
bed.  He watched her slip out of her uniform.  She 
was definitely bigger on top, and her arms were 
nicely toned.  "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"

She threw a sock at him, then climbed onto the bed 
completely naked, and started removing his clothes.  
Her smile was positively wicked as she breathed in 
his ear.  "I'm sure.  But we could do something to 
change that."

And they spent the rest of the night working hard to 
accomplish their new goal.

:::end:::