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By KH


©1994 KH
Star Trek and it's characters are trademarks of Paramount 
Pictures. This story is for entertainment purposes only 
and is not meant to infringe on Paramount's copyrights.

 *    *    *

	"Ready to beam down, sir?" asked Ensign MacDonald.
	"Ready," Captain Jean-Luc Picard said. The Farragut  
had taken him and the entire crew of the ill-fated 
Enterprise- D back to Earth. Picard was being beamed 
directly to his home in France. He had informed Marie 
that he was coming and she said that it was  fine. 
	Picard heard "Energizing" from the young ensign and 
the familiar blue swirl of colors swallowed him up and 
spat him back out only about 20 meters from the door. He 
walked slowly toward it and prepared himself for what he 
expected to be an extremely emoti onal reunion. When he 
got to the door, there was a hand-written note posted on 
it. 
	It read, "Jean-Luc, I'm sorry I couldn't be with you 
now but I had to attend an important conference in New 
York and won't be back for 5 days. The house is yours for 
your stay and I hope you can remain there until I return. 
Love, Marie"
	Jean-Luc was disappointed at this news. He didn't 
want to face this alone. But he grasped the doorknob with 
his hand and hesitated only a moment before turning it 
and pushing the door open it. 
	He stepped inside and when his eyes got adjusted to 
the light he looked around. A tear came to his eye when 
he saw the picture hanging up on a wall to the left of 
him. It was a family picture of himself, Rene, Marie and 
Robert. He quickly turned away not  wanting to remember 
it. He walked into the living room and dropped his bags 
on the couch. He then sat down in a chair and closed his 
eyes. 
	The darkness the surrounded him comforted him and 
when a swirl of colors danced in front of him, he began 
to relax. After what had happened, he needed a break. He 
tried to remember the goodtimes, when he spent every day 
with Robert.
	The swirl of colors he saw slowly changed into a 
recognizable image. Picard gasped when he saw who it was. 
	"Q?" he whispered the question to no one in 
particular. He opened his eyes and with a bright flash of 
light his old enemy was standing in front of him. This 
time wearing civilian clothes. "What are you doing here?"
	Q looked surprised. After thinking about the 
question he responded. "I told you I would be checking up 
on you. Here I am! I admit however that I was a little 
surprised at this extremely unattractive place you've 
chosen to spend your vacations in."
	"This house has been in my family for generations!" 
Picard defended his favorite building.
	"It could at least use a new paint job, or new 
fabric for the sofa." Q changed both with a snap of his 
fingers. He then looked at Picard and when he saw the 
look that was given to him, Q quickly changed everything 
back. "Now, tell me. What are you doing here?"
	"You don't know?"
	"Tell me anyway."
	Picard sighed. Q was always like this, there was no 
getting around it. "The Enterprise  crashed defending the 
lives of an entire planet."
	"What were you doing?"
	"The same thing. I was on the surface of a planet 
trying to stop a mad-man from destroying a star."
	"Why would he want to do something like that."
	Picard started to answer but paused when he 
remembered. "The Nexus." Picard sat there. Thinking about 
the Nexus. It was exactly has Guinan had told him. Joy, 
happiness, pure bliss. He snapped himself out of his 
reverie and listened to Q.
	"Ah, the Nexus."
	"You've heard of it?"
	"Of coarse! Legend had it that a Q created the 
thing!" 
	Picard was surprised. "A Q would do something like 
that? Give joy to thousands of people."
	"I don't know what he was thinking." 
	Picard wasn't surprised by this. It was typical Q 
logic.
	Q continued, "You still haven't answered my 
question. Why are you here?" He said, gesturing to the 
house.
	"Family matters."
	"Oh, do tell!"
	"My brother and his son died in a fire. They lived 
here."
	"Ah, Robert and Rene." There was a bright flash of 
light and they both appeared in a room that Picard 
immediately recognized has Robert's. "Nice place!" Q 
commented.
	Picard suddenly remembered to breath again and he 
looked around. There were pictures everywhere. What he 
saw was startling, every picture had Picard in it. All 
except one. It was a picture of Robert and Marie. But all 
the rest were with Jean-Luc. He pick ed up one in 
particular. Q just observed silently.
	The picture was Jean-Luc and Robert has children. He 
remembered the photo too. It was the day their father 
first let them pick grapes from the vineyard. It was one 
if the favorite days of his life. There was a flash of 
light and it was gone. "Where did y ou take it?" Jean-Luc 
demanded of Q.
	"It's downstairs in your bags! Here, let's try 
Rene's room." Just has soon as he said it, they were 
there. Picard saw many pictures here too. A lot of them 
were only of Jean-Luc. 
	He also saw an open diary. He couldn't resist the 
urge to read it. 

	Father says that Uncle may be coming to visit soon. 
I can't wait! Mother says not to hold my breath, but I 
have been for the past 3 years.  I hope he takes us to 
San Francisco this time. He promised to take me to see 
Starfleet Academy on the next visit.  

I hope I get to be a great Starship captain just like 
him. 

	Picard finally saw. Rene considered him a hero and 
they had only met a few times. Now he was more joyless 
than ever. 
	Q saw the look on his face and it gave him an idea. 
"The Nexus," he said. "I could take you there."
	Picard seriously considered it but shook his head. 
"No. I can't. I would leave too many things behind. I 
would never come back. 
	"Yes, you would. I would make sure of it. I could 
let you in for a few days and yank you back out."
	Picard's features brightened. It would be his last 
chance to see them. And now, there was no reason to leave 
right away. He had to do it. "All right, but you can't 
leave me there!"
	"I won't," Q promised. "Good-bye Jean-Luc, see you 
when we next meet."
	Picard closed his eyes and opened them to a familiar 
scene that he had only seen once before. A large 
beautiful Christmas tree and smiling children opening 
their presents. When there was a knock on the door, 
Picard silently thanked Q and went to open it.