The BLTS Archive - Infinity and Eternity
The Life & Times of Jack Crusher I
by Whoa Nellie (whoa_nellie40@hotmail.com)

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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.

--- 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 ---

continued in The Life & Times of Jack Crusher II 'Natural Selection'