Title: Infinity and Eternity
Author: Whoa Nellie ([email protected])
Rating: G
Author's
Notes: The vignettes of Jack Crusher's
life were inspired by a series of monthly challenges on the trekbbs board. The theme for this challenge was 'Wish' and
was originally posted to the fanfiction forum at Trekbbs on January 12,
2006.
As
always: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have a lot more fun playing
with them.
Feedback
is always appreciated.
Whoa
Nellie's Romance Star Trek Fan Fiction Stories
http://whoanellie.fortunecity.com
To
see a world in a grain of sand
and
a heaven in a wildflower,
Hold
infinity in the palm of your hand
and
eternity in an hour.
--from Auguries of Innocence--William
Blake
Beverly had been such a beautiful
bride. She didn't need any opulent gown
or glittering jewels, she was breathtaking in her own right. Those long, lithe legs, her dancer's body
and that incredible, fiery red hair were the stuff of men's dreams. That hair wasn't the only thing fiery about
her, she was passionate about more facets of life than could be recounted. He had been completely captivated by her
from the moment they'd been introduced.
After what felt like the longest courtship in history, she was finally
his and he'd planned their entire future together in those long moments that it
had taken her to walk down the aisle to him.
So far, their lives together had been a dream come true with the promise
of so much more to come after.
Serving together, watching Wesley grow up
together would provide the foundation of their shared life and shared
memories. Making the usual childhood
mistakes, they'd see him through them together and years later laugh fondly about
some of the more outrageous antics. The
good times and the bad, nothing would ever be too much for them to get through
as long as they had each other. They
would grow old together, he could picture them sitting on the front porch of a
simple but picturesque house on Earth.
He would retire an Admiral but she'd insist that he keep an office at
Starfleet Command mostly to keep him out from underfoot. She would, of course, be head of Starfleet
Medical--that brilliant mind of hers as sharp as ever. He imagined what she might look like at that
age and in his mind she would always be the most beautiful woman in the
universe--and her hair would still be a vibrant red. They would sit on that front porch in the evenings and watch the
sun go down; some nights they'd stay out there and count the stars as they
appeared, one by one. Bickering like
all old, married couples, trading barbs and retorts while they walked through
their twilight together, sarcasm and wisecracked retorts belying the years of
deep, undying affection that they shared.
Their anniversaries would be celebrated with the friends they'd made
over the years; their lives would be filled with love, laughter and music.
A lifetime of unlived memories flashed
before Jack's eyes followed by regrets, the regret that he would never get to
live the life he had planned out with Beverly and a sharper pang of regret that
he couldn't share those dreams of their life together with her now. There wasn't even time to say goodbye to her
in a message; such a small thing but with all of the experiences that he would
never have, his only wish in that instant was to be able to tell Beverly
goodbye. Then his world exploded.
"Weep
for the lives your wishes never led."-- Wystan Hugh Auden