Chapter Text
(Chaltok IV--A month after the Frontier Day Massacre)
She didn’t need to turn around. She could sense his presence as soon as he walked into the bar. A small smile played across her lips as she picked up the glass of juice she was drinking and took a small sip. He had come. She always knew he would.
“Is this seat taken?” The voice was unmistakable in its deep gravelly tone. It made her look up and meet his grey eyes with her green orbs.
“I’m waiting for a gentleman. He’s French,” she said, her smile widening as he pulled her up into his arms and kissed her firmly on her lips. “Oh,” she said when he pulled his lips away, “Hello to you too.”
“Sorry I’m late,” Jean-Luc said, helping her sit again.
“Oh,” she adjusted her chair a bit under her and watched as Jean-Luc sat, “Not too late, I suppose.” She raised her hand to summon a waiter and leaned in to talk to the man as he came to the table, “He’ll have a Saurian Brandy, and I’ll have another glass of grape juice.”
“Grape juice, Laris?” Jean-Luc asked, surprised she wasn’t enjoying a glass of wine or something harder.
Laris nodded. “So? How’d everything go?”
“Oh, you don’t want to hear about any of that. Everything is fine. It turns out Beverly had my son shortly after we parted. He’s a fine young man. You’d love him.”
“A son?” Laris asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s….,” she took the last sip of her grape juice as the waiter brought their drink order.
Jean-Luc nodded, taking a drink of his brandy. “She did a fine job raising him.”
“How do you feel about having a son, Jean-Luc?” Laris observed him and paid attention to Jean-Luc’s mannerisms as he told her how he felt when Jack had revealed that he was Beverly’s son. How he didn’t want to speculate, and how Will Riker had known immediately that Jack was Jean-Luc’s. How heartbroken he was that Beverly had hidden his son from him. How he came to love him, and accept him as his son.
“He’s at Starfleet Medical right now, for psychological evaluation,” Jean-Luc told her. “Beverly insisted he’d be alright and basically told me to go back to my life.” He picked up his brandy and took another drink. That wasn’t entirely the truth.
“Does she know about me?”
Jean-Luc put his glass down, turning it slowly on the table before shaking his head.
Laris looked down at her juice, “I see.”
Jean-Luc looked up, watching her play with her glass now, “I’ve missed you,” he reached for her hand, entwining their fingers, their wedding rings catching the light of the bar. “It’s dead and buried between Beverly and I, Laris.”
Laris looked at their hands, then looked up and met Jean-Luc’s eyes, noticing sadness in them at his words about the relationship he once had with Beverly. “And your son?”
“Well…I would hope to have a relationship with him. I am his father after all,” Jean-Luc said.
“We can decorate a room for him at the Chateau for when he visits,” Laris said. She looked down and then met Jean-Luc’s eyes, “We’ll need to prepare two rooms, I suppose.”
“Oh, I imagine Beverly won’t come to the Chateau and will let Jack come alone,” Jean-Luc said quickly, taking another drink of his brandy.
“I don’t mean for her, Jean-Luc.” Laris pulled her hand away and reached into her bag she had beside her. She handed him two holo-images. “I mean for them.”
Jean-Luc looked down at the images in his hand, then up at Laris, then back down again. His face registered surprise. “Laris? Is it true?”
Laris nodded. “You’re going to be a papa, again.”
“Two?” Jean-Luc was looking at one of the images, tracing the outlines of the figures on it.
“Romulan births often come in twos,” Laris said.
“Laris—this is—wonderful!” he got up and went to her, lifting her up and spinning her around as best as he could. He put her back down and kissed her hard again. When he’d pulled his lips from hers he was smiling and returned to his seat. “Twins!”
Laris smiled, “Yes, Jean-Luc. Twins.”
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(FLASHBACK Starfleet Officers Quarters San Francisco-- A week after the Frontier Day Massacre)
“I don’t even know why we thought this could work, Jean-Luc. Sure, the sex has been great but we can’t get along!” Beverly said, climbing out of the shower after a very rough bout of lovemaking.
Jean-Luc climbed out next, taking the towel Beverly handed him as she wrapped her own around her frame, “Maybe we could just have more sex than conversations,” he teased, trying to kiss her again.
Beverly shook her head, “I need more than that, Jean-Luc!” She turned to face the mirror as Jean-Luc wrapped the towel around himself. She reached to wipe the mirror, meeting Jean-Luc’s eyes with her sapphire blue depths. “You need to go back to your life, Jean-Luc. Jack and I will be fine. We’ve done fine without you for this long.”
“So that’s it? I rescued both you and our son and now I can go? I’ve done my duty?” Jean-Luc said.
Beverly looked down at her hands resting on the sink, then looked up. She bit her lower lip and nodded. “Just go, Jean-Luc.”
“What if I don’t?” He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck in that intimate spot just below her ear.
“Mmm,” Beverly moaned, then moved away from him, walking out of the bathroom in her towel. “Why would you want to stay with someone you can’t get along with, Jean-Luc,” she said as he leaned on the sink and looked at his reflection.
She was right. There was misery between them before. They fought all the time, except when they were having sex, sleeping or working—but even then she defied him in ways she never would have done if they weren’t having sex. “I’ll leave in the morning, then,” he said as he walked out of the room and went to the drawer to get a pair of pants.
Beverly nodded, “I think that’s for the best, Jean-Luc.” She was already dressed in a silk nightgown that made Jean-Luc already want to remove from her and ravage her body again. “Stop looking at me like that, Jean-Luc. We’re never having sex with each other again.” She tossed him a pillow, “You should sleep on the couch.”
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Chaltok IV–
The amber light of Chaltok IV's twin suns filtered through the gauze curtains of the house Laris had rented, casting everything in a warm, honeyed glow.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Jean-Luc asked, his voice still rough with emotion as his arm draped lazily over Laris's slightly rounded belly. They were both still catching their breath, skin warm and flushed from making love. The sheets were tangled around their legs, and he could feel her heartbeat gradually slowing against his chest.
Laris sighed, a sound caught somewhere between affection and exasperation. "For the fourth time, I'm fine, Jean-Luc. And so are our veoth." She emphasized the Romulan word for children deliberately, knowing how much it meant to him that she'd chosen to use her native language for something so precious.
The pregnancy was still early—barely showing except for the subtle curve that only he would notice—but Jean-Luc's protective instincts had kicked into overdrive the moment she'd told him.
"Because, if you —" Jean-Luc began, his brow furrowing with that particular worry line she'd come to know so well.
Laris practically growled at him, a low, throaty sound that made his pulse quicken even as she turned over in his arms. Her kiss was deep and passionate, effectively silencing his concerns. When she finally pulled her lips away from his, they were both breathing harder again.
"Stop worrying," she commanded, her green eyes flashing with a mixture of love and warning. "I've been taking care of myself for forty-seven years, Jean-Luc."
Jean-Luc's expression softened, and he traced the line of her cheek with his thumb. “I just... I never thought I'd have this chance again. To be a father. To build something like this with someone I love."
The vulnerability in his voice made her heart ache. She knew about his regrets—the paths not taken, the family he'd never had. She pressed a gentle kiss to his palm. "You'll be a wonderful father. But first, you need to let me finish this job without hovering."
Jean-Luc nodded sheepishly. "Alright. You're right, of course."
"I have two more days of work here," Laris continued, settling back against his chest, "and then we can head back to Earth." She glanced down as Number One, as if summoned by their conversation, leaped onto the bed with practiced grace. The pit bull settled himself near their feet with a contented sigh, his warm weight a familiar comfort. "I imagine he'll be anxious to chase squirrels in the vineyard again."
Jean-Luc chuckled, remembering how the dog had terrorized the local wildlife at the Chateau. "But I've only just gotten here," Jean-Luc protested, though he was already fighting off a yawn. The long journey from Earth, combined with the emotional intensity of their reunion, was catching up with him. "I thought we would stay longer. Maybe I could help with the final —"
Laris was tracing lazy patterns on his chest, her touch both soothing and distracting. She could feel her own tiredness beginning to overtake her—the pregnancy made her more tired than usual, though she'd die before admitting that to Jean-Luc. "I've been here for months, Jean-Luc," she said, unable to suppress her own yawn. "I'm ready to go home, to be honest. Ready to sleep in our own bed, cook real food in our kitchen, sit by the fire and watch you pretend to read while you actually just stare at me."
He laughed softly at that last part, because she wasn't wrong. "You make it sound like I'm some lovesick teenager."
"Aren't you?" she teased, but her voice was growing drowsy.
Jean-Luc kissed the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. "Alright. We'll go home then. Though I reserve the right to continue staring at you shamelessly once we're there."
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Laris murmured, snuggling deeper into his embrace.
Outside, the twin suns were setting, painting the sky in shades of purple and gold. But inside their small sanctuary, Jean-Luc and Laris fell asleep as they always did—content and happy in one another's arms, with Number One keeping watch at their feet and the promise of home waiting just a few days away.