The BLTS Archive- Jewelry and Bleeding Hearts: The Time of Your Life
by Trexphile (trxphile@cox.net)

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ARCHIVE: Yes to ASC.  If you'd like this one, please ask me first.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This started out as an answer to zoinky's Valentine
challenge many moons ago, then morphed into something else.  The fifth
and final part is not yet written, but after much angsting on my part,
I decided to go ahead and post the four parts that are finished.  I've
attempted to write each part in a different style, utilizing varying
POVs and tenses.

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns all.  Song lyric acknowledgments will be
included in the final post.

June 2000

---
But just look at us holding on
We're still together, still going strong

You're still the one I run to, the one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
You're still the one that I love, the only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss goodnight
---

My beloved Beverly:

It's late -- the old clock downstairs has just struck two.  If you
knew right now that I was not asleep beside you, you would chastise me
quite firmly, and I'm sure I would deserve it.  I'm an old man and
today was rather exhausting, but I just can't surrender to sleep right
now.  If I did, I would miss the sight before me now -- you, lying
there, so beautiful as you dream.

Did I tell you today that I love you?  That I adore and worship you? 
That there is nothing in this universe more precious and moving and
fulfilling than seeing your face every morning when I awaken?  If I
didn't say it to you today, allow me to say it now with this old pen
and paper.

I love you.

Today was wonderful, wasn't it?  They were all here to share this day
with us.  To have us all together again -- it was as if the twelve
years since I left Starfleet had never passed.

Data cried, did you see?  Geordi never stopped smiling, even when his
youngest spit up all over his dress uniform.  Deanna was glowing in
her pre-maternal radiance.  Worf was actually relaxed, although I
think that was due more to the wine than the occasion.  And after it
was all over, Will clapped me on the back and said "Glad to see you
finally came through, Sir."

I don't think any of them thought this day would ever come to pass. 
And I must admit, my love -- there have been times during the past
fifteen years that I wondered the same.  Those years when you were
away, captaining your own ship -- those times were the hardest.  We
both said a lot of things then, hurt each other unnecessarily.  And I
was the one most at fault.  You tell me now that you've forgotten all
those angry words and weeks of silence, and for that I cherish you
even more.

We made it.  We're still here.  Still together.  And today when I
watched you walk toward me, so beautiful and serene, coming to take my
hand in yours and pledge your eternal love...  I am now the happiest
of all men.

Who would have thought that I would be a newlywed at eighty-five?  At
my age, most men have already experienced thirty, forty, fifty years
of marriage.  I may envy them the time they've had, but I don't regret
the choices that you and I have made -- those that kept us apart for
so many years.

It was not yet our time, you see.  I know that you realize it too.  We
needed time to work through our mutual doubts and fears so that we
could finally give ourselves completely.  The past fifteen years
haven't always been easy but today has affirmed for me that the step
we took in Santa Marta was the right one, the timely one.

Beverly -- I overheard you tonight talking with Deanna.  You joked
that you were probably the oldest bride to ever walk an aisle and you
laughed together, but I could hear the uneasiness behind your words. 
My love, when I look at you, I see everything I've ever wanted in this
life.  My own abilities of expression are too inept, so I will let
another's words say what I feel.


        Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks     Within
his bending sickle's compass come;      Love alters not with his brief
hours and weeks,        But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
        If this be error and upon me proved,    I never writ, nor no
man every loved.


I will love you, Beverly, until my time is done.

Jean-Luc

---
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable but in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life
---

The End