Deanna sat on the couch of the captain's quarters and accepted the glass of wine he handed her. "That was a lovely dinner," she complimented.
Picard smiled wryly. "Yes, I can replicate a meal with the best of them."
She smirked and sipped her wine. It was, like the food, replicated, but still pleasing.
After a moment of comfortable silence, Picard sighed quietly and said, "Deanna... I want to explain why I asked you to come here tonight."
"It wasn't my stellar company?" Deanna teased lightly with a warm smile.
Picard ran a hand over his head with a rueful noise and glanced at her almost shyly - something she never would have imagined seeing.
"I'm sorry. Go ahead." Waiting expectantly, Deanna continued to enjoy the wine. It was true that ever since Ventax II, Picard had been looking at her out of the corner of his eye. It's not the first time he's considered her, but the last time was two years ago, and Beverly hadn't been on the ship at that point. Now the redheaded doctor was back, yet he was still looking at her again.
Clearing his throat, Picard slowly explained, "The situation on Ventax II, with the woman impersonating Ardra." A pause, a mouthful of wine to wash over his palate. "There was a moment that I wondered if she really was who she said she was. If she really did have magical powers."
Deanna's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Oh?"
"She came into my quarters one night, tried to seduce me." He huffed a breath of laughter. "When I denied her advances, she informed me that she could be anyone I wished." He trailed off into silence, staring moodily into his wine.
Deanna picked up the obvious conclusion to his thought and stated quietly, "And she transformed into me. That's why you thought she really did have powers - because you wanted it to be me."
A beat of silence, and then Picard cleared his throat loudly, emotional walls rapidly coming back into place. "I'm sorry, Counselor, this is extremely inappro-"
Deanna brought one finger up to rest across his lips, cutting off his words. "Captain," she started, then paused, correcting herself, "Jean-Luc." Looking into his eyes and his emotions for a long moment, she finally leaned forward, sliding her finger from his lips to kiss him gently.
And after another moment of hesitation and fighting with himself, he began to kiss her back.