Midnight Foray

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Star Trek or its characters. Nor do I make anything financially off of this.

Author’s Note: This is a bit of an idea for the night after Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard were saved from the planet Kespritt where devices had been implanted in their brainstems to retrieve critical information. They were able to share thoughts, memories and much more across the connection of the devices but upon rescue, they could not have them removed until the next day. This is a “what if” story where Beverly actually decided to interrupt Picard from the “dreams” she mentioned in the episode “Attached”. The story is also in response to a drabble request by my friend auronlu.

Midnight Foray

The door chime rang through the silent quarters. A figure rustled sleepily in bed, covers moving slightly. After a pause, the chime rang again but this time the figure slid to the edge of the bed and grabbed a robe off a nearby chair. Grumbling about who was bothering him so late without calling him first, Jean-Luc Picard wandered to his doorway where he tapped the panel to open it. Doctor Beverly Crusher stood in his doorway; a robe of her own wrapped around her frame and flushed cheeks.

“What is it Beverly?” he asked, still not fully awake.

“You mean you don’t know yet?” she said, perking a finely curved eyebrow.

“How can I when I was asleep?” he said with a yawn.

“Never mind, I’ll be going back to my quarters,” she said as she began to turn.

Crusher did not get far as she felt Picard take hold of her arm. He seemed fully awake now and appeared like he wanted to know what the purpose was of her visit.

“Come inside,” he said. “I’ll make some tea for us.”

“I don’t know if that is a good idea, Jean-Luc,” Crusher said as he led her inside.

“Why not?” he said with his usual flair then paused as he got to the replicator. “Oh. I did not realize you could still see my thoughts while I slept.”

“Quite vividly, too,” she said, shifting her eyes away from his gaze.

“I apologize if any of them are… offensive to you,” Picard said.

“No, not at all,” Crusher said as he stepped up to her and put his hands on her arms. Damn, this is so unnerving and embarrassing. It felt as real as this. “It is just that… I wanted to thank you.”

He blinked in surprise at her, “For what?”

“A good time; though, I did not know when you would stop so I hoped to interrupt you,” she said quickly then spun around and stepped back toward the door before he could respond. “Goodnight, Jean-Luc.”

Picard only stood dumbfounded for a moment before realization dawned on him and the thoughts held back from Crusher finally were released. With a chuckle and snicker, he headed back to his bed hoping that any other thoughts he sent Crusher’s way would bring another visit of hers that would cause her to stay.