ICE CREAM

By Gueniver

Rating: T for mature subject matter in a clinical setting. (i.e. facts of life)

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fan fiction. Paramount owns Star Trek blah, blah, blah I made n profit blah, blah, blah playing nice blah, blah, blah.

Foreword: Challenge fic was to find someone for Christine to tell the facts of life to.

Feedback sought, please oh please.

She sighed in an over dramatic way. "This is boring. I don't want to read this anymore. It's gross."

Christine looked at her again and shook her head, just as frustrated. "It's not gross, it's natural. You need to know this."

"No I don't. I'm never going to do any of this stuff."

Christine Chapel picked up another data chit and examined it ruefully. Well we can always review the last one.' The view screen darkened for a moment as she exchanged the chits. A color diagram of female reproductive organs appeared. The title read 'Menses The human reproductive cycle. Section 4

of 5".

"Mens's? Menzes?" A peal of laughter "They spelled mens wrong! That is sooo

funny!"

"For the third time it's not 'mens'. It ' s menses. It's about your menstrual cycle, remember? Every human woman has a cycle, even you."

"Nu-uh. I do not. I don't have anything but this stupid computer and these stupid classes about a bunch of stupid things that I'll never, ever need!" She petulantly folded her arms and glared at Christine.

This power struggle was getting ridiculous. Christine had volunteered to help because - well first and foremost it was her job as Head Nurse. But if she was honest with herself she didn't trust anyone else to do it.

A friendly face should deliver something like this.

It was hard, naturally. Uncomfortable, she had expected it to be a bit uncomfortable. But why she did she have to be so stubborn?

"The menstrual cycle is normal, honey. It's something that happens to all of us women."

"Even you?" her eyes got wide.

"Yes, even me."

She leaned in close and whispered, "Does it hurt?"

Christine smiled and patted her arm, "No. No it doesn't hurt." She quickly recalled the scans they had taken just two days ago; normal human cycle, 28 days no problems. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Good. Cause I won't do it if it hurts."

Christine chuckled about that. She decided that she wouldn't even try to explain that menstruation was not a voluntary function you attended. She tried again to get her back on track. "And the menstrual cycle is part of the?"

Roll of the eyes, "Re-pro-duct-ive cycle."

"That's right, very good." Christine felt terrible. It was like training a pet very good, here's your treat, next bit of information.

Chris wished for the hundredth time today that there was a way to just make it happen, just pour the information into her brain. "That's just the beginning." Christine quickly popped the last data chit in. "Next comes-"

"Augh! The gross part."

The gross part was labeled 'Intercourse - Human Reproductive Cycle. Section 5 of 5. It showed both a cutaway diagram of male and female bodies and a rather lifelike image of a nude male and female. Small words with long lines lead to various body parts. Pubic hair, Penis, Vulva. Reading it was easy for Christine. She was a nurse and this was basic biology. Explaining it as part of the ''birds and bees' was a bit uncomfortable, but she could do it.

"This is the man's body." She touched the screen on the cutaway image. "Do you remember how we talked about the man's body?" She turned to try to make eye contact.

A hand over her eyes she shyly replied, "Yeah."

"And this is the woman's body." She touched the screen again. "And when men and women are ready to have sex."

"Ew!"

"C'mon now, you might need to know this someday." She pleaded.

It was agonizing for Christine. Why was she pleading? She didn't want to do this. She wished she had asked someone else to do this.

In a terribly immature way Christine really thought it just plain wasn't fair.

"No, I don't ever want to let a man do that to me. That's just gross."

Christine sighed. She didn't want to argue the merits of sex. She just wanted to get through this infernal biology lesson. Christine put on a brave face. "Let's just finish this last section and then we'll go get something for lunch. Okay?"

Heavy sigh, she rested her head on her hand and replied in an overly bored tone, "Oo-kay, whatever."

"When a man and a woman want to have sex their bodies both change slightly." She keyed the next frame. "See how the man's penis gets bigger? And the woman's body changes too as she become sexually stimulated."

Christine suddenly wanted a drink of water. Her mouth was getting dry. "Her breasts swell slightly. Blood flows to the labia and makes them more sensitive." She keyed the next frame. The pair was fully engaged.

The cross section image with its lines and labels was scientific, sterile and a bit disturbing. But the color picture of the pair locked in sexual bliss was fascinating to coin a very Vulcan phrase. The expressions that the animator gave the pair certainly indicated that the activity was pleasurable.

"Christine?" shining eyes met hers.

"Yes, honey."

"Do I have to do that?"

Christine looked into the sad dark eyes with understanding. "Oh no, sweetie. No." She reached out and took her hand reassuringly. "No you don't ever have to do that if you don't want to. It's your body. No one can force you to do that. But you might want to, someday. That's why we have to talk about it."

Dark lashes blinked away bright tears. "No, I don't think so." She shook her head emphasizing her choice. She was trying not to cry. Her chin twitched a bit.

Christine's heart clenched. She moved to pull her hand back, but the grip was too hard.

A soft husky whisper "Chris?" She squeezed her hand as she said it.

Christine looked up into dark brown velvet and for a moment she was falling.

When she said her name like that it was almost as if she was back.

Back to her normal self.

All her memories, all her feelings, everything back to the way it was before Nomad had wiped her mind clean.

"Yes Ny?"

She leaned down and kissed Christine's hand. "I won't ever want to do that."

Then she smiled brightly, mischievously.

She still held Christine's hand but now it was playful. "So can we just skip over this part? Please?" And she released Christine's hand. "I'm hungry."

Christine smiled sadly and shut down the terminal.

"Okay, but after lunch we're taking up where we left off." She warned and rose from her seat.

Uhura was already going out the door with a distinctly juvenile bounce.

"I want ice cream."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Your love is better than ice cream
better than anything else that I've tried
and your love is better than ice cream
everyone here know how to fight

and it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way down to the place
where we started from

Your love is better than chocolate
better than anything else that I've tried
oh love is better than chocolate
everyone here knows how to cry

it's a long way down
it's a long way down
it's a long way down to the place
where we started from...

- Sarah Mclaughlin