Title: Noël
Fandom: Star Trek: Picard
Pairing: Jean-Luc Picard/Beverly Crusher
Rating: G
Length: 568 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: This fic was inspired by the word gluggaveður and San Diego Comic Con giving me feels. I also included a prompt from a personal project I’ve been working on.
Summary: Some time after saving the universe (again), the former crew of the Enterprise find themselves at Château Picard for a festive celebration.



Twinkling lights and the sounds of music and laughter were abundant through the French mansion. Beverly found herself observing quietly from a spot by a window. Outside, snow was falling at a slowly increasing rate.

“Mind if I join you?” came a baritone voice.

Beverly smiled up at the arrival of Picard. He was holding two mugs of what she could only assume was tea.

“Not at all,” Beverly replied, moving over on the bench seat a little to make room.

Picard handed Beverly one of the mugs as he sat down beside her. She took it graciously and got a whiff of the scent. It was the same herbal blend she'd programmed into the replicator on the Enterprise. Beverly took a sip and closed her eyes in appreciation.

“I do hope I remembered the blend correctly,” said Picard sheepishly, “It’s been awhile and my memory isn't quite what it used to be.”

“It’s perfect Jean-Luc.”

He gave her a smile and Beverly found herself struck by her admiration of the man. It wasn’t the first time over the years that this had hit her, but after learning how close Picard had come to dying, Beverly found herself cursing her past mistakes.

She had always loved Jean-Luc. His accidental admission while they were telepathically linked on Kesprytt had thrown her. Beverly had always baulked in the face of such quick changes, especially when it came to romantic endeavours. Still, she had regretted leaving that night, and after a while, she figured Picard had moved on.

“It seems a white Christmas won’t be an issue,” Picard remarked.

Breaking from her thoughts, Beverly looked outside the window. The landscape was covered with at least a foot of snow, with more flakes still falling.

“It definitely won’t be,” Beverly laughed, “Glad we’re in here and not outside.”

Picard nodded, a wistful look coming over his face.

“Years ago, when I was in the Nexus, I was here, at Christmas,” Picard told Beverly, “I had a family. It really did show my deepest hope.”

Picard stopped then and put his cup of tea down.

“But this here?” he continued, gesturing to their friends and their families, “This is all the family I could ever want.”

Beverly smiled. She felt the same way about the Enterprise crew. They had been through so much together.

“Q told me to accept love and let go of the past.”

“Oh?” Beverly asked, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

“I tried, but some things are just too deeply entrenched to ever let go,” he sighed.

Beverly froze. In her mind, she flashed back to that awful night after Kesprytt. She had thought about that night far more over the last twenty years than she’d liked to admit.

“I don’t presume to know your feelings,” Picard said, “but I know that I want to spend the little time I have left with you and only you.”

She couldn’t form a response in words, so Beverly did what she had longed to do since she’d met that alien double of Picard.

She leaned in and kissed him. Softly, but with enough intent that he would have no doubt as to where she stood.

“I never told you before,” Beverly confessed after she pulled away, “But I do love you. I never stopped.”

“That makes two of us then,” Picard answered, then responded with a kiss of his own.