T.B.C

[Worf's quarters]

WORF: 

Enter. 


SERGEY: 

Are we disturbing you? 


WORF: 

No. No. I thought you were going to your quarters to sleep. 


HELENA: 

We just came by to tuck you in. 


WORF: 

Please. When I heard you were on the visitors' list, 

I was not sure I wanted you to come. 

I am glad you are here. 


HELENA: 

We had to come. 


SERGEY: 

Our boy was in Trouble. 

After we read your letter about the discommendation from the Klingons —

HELENA: 

We don't exactly understand it all. 


SERGEY: 

We don't have to. 

We know what kind of Man you are. 


HELENA: 

Whatever you did, we know it was for a good reason. 


WORF: 

I must bear my dishonour alone. 


SERGEY: 

That is Not True. 


HELENA: 

I'm sorry if this is too human of us but, whenever you are suffering, you must remember we are with you. 


SERGEY: 

And that we're proud of you, 

and that we love you. 


HELENA: 

You're Our Son.

[Chez Picard]

(Picard is making inroads into a bottle of the family produce when Robert comes in with flowers for the house) 
ROBERT: Careful. You're not used to drinking the real thing. This synthehol never leaves you out of control, is that so? 
PICARD: That's so. 
ROBERT: This will. (pours himself the last dregs) Now there is something I'd like to see. 
PICARD: What's that? 
ROBERT: The gallant Captain out of control. Mind if I ask you a question? What the devil happened to you up there? 
PICARD: Is this brotherly concern? 
ROBERT: No. Curiosity. What did they do to you? 
PICARD: You know what happened. 
ROBERT: Not precisely. I gather you were hurt. Humiliated. I always thought you needed a little humiliation. Or was it humility? Either would do. (Jean-Luc storms out of the house)

[Garden]

ROBERT: Why do you walk away? That isn't your style. 
PICARD: I'm tired of fighting with you, Robert. 
ROBERT: Tired? 
PICARD: That's right. 
ROBERT: Yes. Tired of the Enterprise now too? The great Captain Picard of Starfleet falls to Earth, ready to plunge into the water with Louis. That isn't the brother that I remember. Still, I suppose it must have seemed like the ideal situation, hmm? Local boy makes good. Returns home after twenty years to a hero's welcome. 
PICARD: I'm not a hero. 
ROBERT: Of course you are. Admit it. You'd never settle for less than that and you never will. 
PICARD: That's not true. 
ROBERT: Cancel the parade? In your favour? 


PICARD: 

No! I never sought that rubbish. 


ROBERT: 

Never sought? 

Never sought President of The School, Valedictorian, Athletic Hero 

with your arms raised in Victory..? 


PICARD: 

Valedictorian? 

Arms raised in victory? 

Were you so jealous? 


ROBERT: 

Yes, damn it. I was always so jealous, 

I had a right to be. 


PICARD: 

Right? 


ROBERT: 

I was always Your Brother,

 watching you receive the cheers, 

watching you break every rule 

Our Father made and get away with it. 


PICARD: 

Why didn't you break a few rules? 


ROBERT: 

Because I was The Elder Brother, 

The Responsible One. 

It was My Job to look after you. 


PICARD: 

Look after me? You? 

You were a bully. 


ROBERT: 

Sometimes. Maybe. 

Sometimes I even enjoyed bullying you. 

PICARD: 

All right. Try it now. 


ROBERT: 

Did you come back, Jean-Luc? 

Did you come back because you wanted me to look after you again? 


PICARD: 

Damn you! 


And he punches his brother, sending him flying over some barrels into the vineyard proper. 

There they fight in the muddy irrigation ditches, through the vines until they finally fall back laughing

PICARD: 

You were asking for it, you know.

 
ROBERT: 

Yes, but you needed it. 

You have been terribly hard on yourself. 


PICARD: 

You don't know, Robert. 

You don't know. 

They took everything I was. 

They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them. 

I should have been able to stop them! 

I tried. I tried so hard, 

but I wasn't strong enough —

I wasn't good enough. 

I should have been able to stop them. 

I should! I should! 


ROBERT: 

So — My Brother… 

is a Human being, after all. 

This is going to be with you a long time, Jean-Luc. A long time. 

You have to learn to live with it. 

You have a simple choice now : 

Live with it Below The Sea 

with Louis, or 

Above The Clouds 

with The Enterprise. 


PICARD: 

You know, I think you were right after all. 

I think I did come back 

so that you could help me. 


ROBERT: 

You know what? 

I still don't like you, Jean-Luc.

[Chez Picard]

(There's mud, and muddy boots, on the carpet, and drunken voices singing 'Aupres de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon' dum, dum, dum. Marie enters from outside) 


MARIE: 

What in The World?!

What happened here..???

ROBERT: 

Ah 
—

PICARD: 

It's entirely my fault, Marie. 


ROBERT: 

Yes, I fell down, 

then he fell and then….

PICARD: 

…we both fell down. 


ROBERT: 

We both fell down. 


PICARD: 

Together. 


ROBERT: 

We both fell down together. 


MARIE: 

Have you two been fighting?!

ROBERT: 

Fighting? 

No, certainly not. 


MARIE: 

Shame on you both. 

What would Your Father say 

if he saw you like this? 


PICARD: 

…..He'd probably send us both to bed 

without our supper. 


MARIE: 

Well, perhaps it's just as well you got it out of your systems. 


PICARD: 

Perhaps it was, Marie. Perhaps it was. 

I'll contact Louis and cancel the meeting with the Board of Governors. 

It's time that I was going. 


MARIE: 

Already, Jean-Luc? 


PICARD: 

The ship will be ready to leave orbit soon, and I belong on board. If I should ever doubt that again, I know where to come.