Disclaimer—yet again I write the words that state that these are not my characters. Paramount owns All TNG characters in this story. I simply write the original story lines and other characters.
Two Worlds Become One
Three years ago--
At one time Will Riker never could have imagined the events that he had witnessed. And yet, here he sat wondering how he could have missed what was in front of him. All the years he had wasted, trying to figure out what was missing from his life. For years now he had exactly what he thought he had wanted. He was the First Officer on the Flagship after all. In time he knew he could be her Captain. He currently served under one of the living legends of the fleet and had worked with two more even greater legends. For thirteen years now he had been on the Enterprise. He had his life just the way he would have wanted, or at least what he thought he had wanted. But that was before he had stepped foot toward the turbolift on the bridge of his beloved ship immediately after reporting to Captain Picard, that lifetime ago.
She was serenely standing in front of him. When the Captain had introduced him, he had to steady himself from having a very strong reaction. The man had noticed anyway. They admitted to knowing each other, but that was it. The Captain had left it at that. But as the lift doors closed on them, he heard her melodic voice in his mind for the first time in over two years. It was at that moment he began to wonder about what could have beens.
The two of them rekindled the friendship within weeks of being together. For years they remained so, growing as close as friends could ever hope to be. It wasn't until she began to date Worf that he really found himself troubled by not knowing what might still be. For all the courage and bravery he found in himself during command, he never could manage to muster the courage to simply let her know he still found her to be the most perfect creature in the universe.
It took him yet another three years to begin to allow himself to try to let his true feelings show. Truthfully it took almost losing her during the liberation of Betazed. Even then he never managed to totally admit it even to himself. A few months later, they found themselves in the briar patch. It was during that mission he began to really come to his senses. The whole time they were separated he could not wait to see her again. He even did what he never thought he would, just to please her; he let her shave off the beard he had worn for almost a decade.
A month had passed since they left the briar patch. Now he knew why he felt that he was missing something. She had been so close, yet she wasn't truly where he needed her to be. He had noticed a spring in his step he couldn't attribute to the metaphasic radiation he had been exposed to. Tedious activities became joyful and the end of every shift brought new explorations. It had been the most wonderful sensation the first time they allowed themselves to become lovers again. Sex with Deanna was just not comparable to anything in his memory. An empath does not need to learn what a lover finds pleasing. Lying in bed the last few nights had been the most restful he had in years. There was a comfort and fit to feeling her brush his mind as they fell asleep curled in each other's arms. The morning was just as exquisite; waking to find her snuggled up to him made him smile. Which why he was thinking this whole line of thought.
She did not have any patients this morning and also had the day off from bridge duty, so he left her to sleep while he went to work. After he showered he returned to take a final look at the sleeping figure. Kissing her on the forehead he thought as clearly as he could, I love you my Imzadi.
A very sleepy mind voice answered him as she shifted to lie almost diagonally on the bed. I love you too.
A rather perky Jean Luc Picard smiled at Will when he entered the bridge. "Good morning Number One. You look very well rested." They exchanged normal morning pleasantries including everything they were to accomplish for the day, which was mostly paperwork involving the last of reports on the Ba'Ku. About an hour passed when the Captain leaned over and in a teasing voice asked Will a question. "So, when are you going to ask her to marry you?"
The forward question left Will somewhat stunned. The Captain had never been a man to hedge around the subject but this was more than normal for him. The idea had not actually occurred to him yet. He wasn't thinking that far ahead. Will also wondered how he had found out. On duty they had kept the same professional relationship they always had. So either he listened more to the rumor mill than Will gave him credit for or Beverly had told him. Deanna had probably told her the next morning. Instead of merely gaping at the man he chose to be rather vague, yet fairly honest. "I hadn't really thought about it a lot sir and how did you know?"
"Oh please, Will" the man held an amused smile. "At this point we all have been wondering when the two of you would quit pretending not to care. Were I a betting man even I would have lost. I have been waiting for this for almost as long as I have known the both of you. Not to mention the way the two of you couldn't stop holding hands when we left the Briar Patch. That place left a mark on all of us, and you were one of the luckiest." There was a wistful expression on his face. "So tell me when's the wedding, because, if you don't ask her soon, I will hold the first shotgun wedding in Starfleet. Will it is about damned time the two of you made this entire romance formal. Thirteen years of serving together and it took being radiated to get the two of you to see the light of day."
"I get the point sir," since he started it, I am going to finish it, "but isn't this the pot calling the kettle black?"
"I don't know what you are talking about."
Smiling Will leaned back in his chair, "When you figure it out, I will announce the wedding date." Will could see that the Captain actually did get the point, but since he and Beverly had been playing the same game as he and Deanna had for even longer Will thought that he might be an Admiral himself before the two of them managed to do anything about it.
"Touché, Number One. I stand chastised." As he finished the reason for the comment entered the bridge. "Speak of the devil."
The red head smiled at seeing her Captain's expression. It was a rare thing to see Jean Luc smile that way. Generally he was so reserved that he seemed to have a perpetual frown on his face, on duty anyway. There had been plenty of times recently that she found his attention wandering towards more than a good mood causing him to smile. She still had trouble dealing with the mark Anij left on him. He had fallen rather hard for her. He was still even thinking about her from time to time. That did not however interrupt their normal life together, and if Beverly were to think about it she would find herself feeling more than a little jealous of the woman. Instead she had focused on the day-to-day parts of their relationship, hoping somewhere in the back of her mind that one day he would try something. Years ago it had been her to push away. Now she was finding herself actually wanting to go past the hurt of losing Jack. She truly only loved Jean Luc now, and he wasn't paying attention. "Should I leave? I have a feeling I am interrupting something."
"No Doctor, we were just discussing the long term effects of metaphasic radiation and how people have been acting rather strange since then. You are welcome to stay if you like." Riker was trying to be as tactful as he could.
"Thanks Commander, no. I simply came up here to extend an invitation to the Captain for a recital tonight. It's a Brahms concerto; Lieutenant Alvero and Data are the violinists, with Commander Rosaro on flute and Alyssa Ogawa on piano. It's at 21:00, so there would be plenty of time to have a leisurely dinner."
Her voice was neutral but Will noticed the suggestive posture the Doctor probably wasn't even aware of. "Why don't I go see how Geordi is doing with those repairs." He left as quietly as he could, not wanting to disturb them.
"I would love to." Beverly smiled at the Captain's reply and left without more than an acknowledgement.
"I swear Imzadi, the two of them had better do something about their feelings for each other. If they don't they will both pine away from longing in the next few years." Will had been telling his beloved what had transpired on the bridge.
"Dearest, do you realize what you just said? Believe it or not it was almost word for word what Beverly told me the Captain said about you. We spent almost fifteen years hiding from our love; the two of them have been doing it for even longer. I doubt that any death by anguish is forthcoming. You on the other hand might just find yourself on the receiving end of a court martial if you don't quit teasing the Captain.
"I promise, I'll watch myself." The trademark impish grin marked his face as he bent to kiss his Imzadi.
Chapter 1-- Admission
Two months after the marriage of Will Riker and Deanna Troi
Jean Luc Picard hated to admit something. He was lonely. Repairs had been finished from when they nearly destroyed the ship to stop Shinzon. Now the Enterprise was back on patrol, and he wasn't at home any more. Marty had been an excellent first officer, but he wasn't his Number One. They worked well together, but there wasn't the camaraderie he had with Will. He and Will had clicked the day they had met.
The more he thought about the way he felt the more he realized that he simply did not want to give up what he had. Data should be sitting in Marty's chair. He had come to grips with most everything else but he still couldn't bring himself to forget the man who was the one he wanted to call number one, now that Will had grown up and left home.
The other thing he couldn't put to rest was the absence of a certain red headed doctor. Not having Beverly in his life every day was truly disturbing him. Her eyes had a way of penetrating his mood and bringing him out of the deepest melancholy. He never had a day where she hadn't been able to be there for him.
"Captain, is something wrong?" Lieutenant Commander Alana Buckley, Deanna's handpicked successor, asked quietly from her chair.
"Just thinking Alana." She was uncannily like Deanna in her ability to peg him. She was ¾ human and ¼ Betazoid, one of the children of a friend to both Deanna's parents and Commander Vaughn. Deanna had actually started talking with her over a year ago. Apparently the counselor wanted to make sure he had been taken care of. She wasn't as strong of an empath as Deanna but her telepathic skills were actually a little stronger, she could, if she really tried, read the surface thoughts of a non-telepath. That was something Deanna usually couldn't do.
He tried to change the subject. "What can you tell me about who we are to be dealing with? I know we are meeting with some of the leaders of the Cardassian government, but I don't know which ones."
"Nice try, but I get the hint. No bugging the Captain when he is thinking. So I'll play. The mission is actually fairly simple. We are to meet with the commander of the provisional military to coordinate relief efforts. Most of what has been done so far has been administered by DS9. But they have been trying to deal with the last of the hassles caused by the whole schism of their religious population. At the moment, they have their hands full. The Titan actually should be the one handling this, it's part of their patrol route, but they are still tied up with negotiations on Romulus. The man's name is Gul Legan. I haven't been able to find out much about him except that he is the one responsible for asking for us to replace the Titan. It seems that your reputation has once again preceded you." Her smile was warm and pleasant.
"It's been several years since the war, why do they need us now?" Granted, he could have waited until the staff meeting at the end of the day to ask the question, but it did have the effect of keeping his mind off of Beverly, and kept certain counselors from being nosy. The Captain found himself beginning to give in to her way of working. She was every bit a mother hen as Deanna was, but luckily she did not have the advantage of spending fifteen years sitting in that chair. Right now he could still manage to keep control of a conversation and hide a bit from her. Of the new staff he had, Alana was the one he had taken to the fastest. It would take longer, but he hoped he would eventually have a similar fit to his staff, and he would be home once more
"Actually, it is the religious schism on Bajor which led them to send for us. According to command, the internal struggles on Bajor have left some of the Cardassian rebuild high and dry. What they want us to do, is sort out what DS9 missed during the reorganization on the planet. DS9 wanted either Titan or us before the Cardassians even poked their nose in. Commander Vaughn specifically asked for Captain Riker and Counselor Troi to deal with the religious leaders on Bajor. He wanted you to deal with the Cardassians. Since the Counselor is needed on Romulus, the brief I read left the choice of who to send to the planet yours. From all indications, what they are wanting is an arbitrator to help find a middle ground. They have several texts that now contradict one another. The problem is what they need isn't help from the Federation, they need theologians. It will come down to which one has had the most prophecies fulfilled.
"Again there's a problem. On pure numbers, the least popular texts are the most accurate."
"It sounds like I just found the person to deal with the situation." Picard leaned back.
"Me sir? I only know what I read. I am not qualified to make decisions on sacred texts."
"By admitting that you become qualified. Let's see. If I remember correctly you have a second degree, anthropology, correct?"
"Yes sir. But my concentration was in Betazoid and Earth religions. Other than part of one semester, I never studied Bajoran culture."
"But, you have the background to begin. You know how to do the research, and if you share the passion for this sort of thing that I have, I know that once you get started, you won't want to quit." After all the years he had been in the Fleet he had managed to maintain his love of archaeology. He just never could get the time to indulge.
"You're right sir. I just don't want to let you down. Deanna left some awfully big shoes to fill."
"A friend of mine once told me that if you were left with too big of shoes to fill, clean out the closet and start over." Jack Crusher had told him that many years ago, just after he had married Beverly.
Damn, and I thought I had managed to get out of that trap. I don't know how to deal with this one. At the moment, I do have a mission to lead. My own life goes on hold until it is over.
"Thank you sir. I appreciate the vote of confidence. Now are you sure you are ok? You still seem distracted"
"Maybe I will tell you later. Right now, just let me think."
Beverly Crusher usually spent her Friday nights at her terminal. Until she managed to get her own papers ready for publication she spent the time gathering notes, catching up on journals and reading her mail. So far she had managed to keep up the promises to write everyone. She had sincerely meant those when she left, but she knew people, eventually it would stop. But for now she reveled in telling her friends everything she had going on in her life at the moment.
Her problem this evening was that she was lonely. She had been going through some of her baggage that had finally caught up with her. In the clothing had been the dress she had worn when Keiko and Miles O'Brien had married. It made her think of Data. He had so wanted to learn to dance for the wedding that he had enlisted her to teach him. She recalled how stiff he was and even though he was technically flawless in his moves how it had lacked something. She wiped a stray tear from her eye as she continued to unpack. Next she found the sailor's hat from when Worf was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Again she felt tears well up as she remembered Data pushing her into the water. She had been angry with him at the time, and she never did get a chance to apologize. What was even sadder was what happened to Jean Luc at the same time. During the ceremony he learned that his brother and nephew were both killed in a fire. So many happy and sad memories tied to the same events.
What I wouldn't give to snuggle into Jean Luc's arms with a hot tea, and just think. Remember both the happy and sad times. Most of all just be in his arms. I miss his scent, his voice, his eyes. Face it Beverly Howard Crusher you just miss him. Yes you are still grieving for a friend who shouldn't of had to die, but you are mainly missing a bald headed man with strong arms and a very sexy voice. Deanna would tell me to find a way to just drag him into my bed and be done with it. Not that that is such a bad idea, and now that he isn't my CO … Beverly let the fantasy continue for a few more moments before she began to chastise herself again. That's real smart Beverly. Remember, you don't do long distance relationships anymore. Just get over it. Vowing not to think about him anymore that evening she went to bed.
Gentle hands found the hollow of her back, while lips sought purchase to hers. Two bodies fell to the sand, seeking each other; he lifted the tail of her shirt high enough to expose her breast. With a hunger and patience only he could have he began to explore her body. Lips caressed every crook of her torso while hands ran up and down her entire body in feathery soft touches.
In turn she raked her nails down his back as he found he more sensitive areas. She found that he had a very sensitive spot near they base of his neck, which she continued to kiss as her hand found its goal. Groans of pleasure escaped both of their lips as the came back to looking each other in the eyes. She gasp as he entered her, but within moments they were one, not just in body, but in soul.
Beverly wasn't sure what time it was. But the memory of the dream she had been having left her disconcerted. The caresses from the man of her dreams still clung to her and for just a moment, she thought she smelled him. Knowing she would only get the memories out of her head by taking a very long shower she rose from the twisted sheets.
An hour later she emerged, sated both emotionally and physically. Earlier that evening she had put off writing a letter to Jean Luc. She had been having trouble keeping it just friends. Now she knew she couldn't.
I am either going to be happier after this than I have been since Jack died or I am going to crash and burn.