You're my guilty pleasure

It was another sunny January Sunday in San Francisco, so the weather was perfect for a little barbecue party before the NFL game. Every Sunday a small group gathered to watch it and the location always changed. This time, the host was the Mercer family. Usually it wasn't a problem for him because Jeremy Mercer had been his best friend since the academy, but lately he had noticed something, and he could only hope he was wrong. And he wished she wouldn't be there that day - she, Denise Mercer.

But, of course, he had no such luck. She was there as always, helping her mother with the food in the kitchen, while her father entertained the guests in the garden. Every once in a while Denise showed up to help her father and joined the conversation about the upcoming game, before disappearing in the house again. Once Jeremy started to talk about how proud he was of her: it was her last year at the academy and she studied astral anthropology to become a forensic anthropologist at Starfleet. Of course, he found her enthusiasm about skeletons a bit weird, but that was her dream so he didn't say anything.

Then the food was ready and Christopher found himself sitting at the table with Denise opposite of him. Soon, his suspicion seemed to be proved. The way she talked to him, how she smiled, laughed, looked at him, or the way her foot 'accidentally' bumped into his under the table - she was flirting with him. He tried to act like he had no idea what she was doing, but every single time it became harder not to react. The others didn't seem to notice it and he was honestly grateful for that.

"I'll be back in a minute," Martha announced with a smile when the phone in the house went off and she stood up. Everyone watched her through the huge glass door: at first, she listened with a neutral expression then a huge smile spread across her face. She literally ran back to the others. "My niece is in labor!" she yelled happily, looking at her husband. "We have to go to the hospital. Now," she added with a serious expression and rushed back to the house without a word.

Jeremy stood up as well, giving an apologizing look to their guests. "I think the party is over for today," he said. Everyone nodded but they were already chatting about the good news and old memories. "Denise, would you-"

"Don't worry, dad, I'll take care of everything," she interrupted him with a smile. "I'll let them out and clean up the mess." Jeremy quickly hugged her and said thanks then rushed after his wife.

A good half an hour had passed before the guests finally decided to go home so they would catch the beginning of the game. The young Mercer girl apologized for the changes in the original plan like it was her fault, and started to clean up the mess in the kitchen after they had left. Christopher stood in the kitchen's door, watching Denise as she tried to put a bowl on an upper shelf. "Need some help?" he asked kindly with a smile, taking a step closer.

"Jesus!" she said with a small squeak as she quickly turned around. "I thought everyone has left," she added in a bit calmer tone.

Slowly shaking his head, he walked over to her and put the bowl on the shelf. "Unlike the others I think it would be pretty rude to leave you here alone to take care of," he started, and looked around in the messy kitchen, "this."

"Oh, it's fine," she replied with a shrug, smiling reassuringly at him. He could tell she wanted him to leave and actually he perfectly understood her. She had been flirting with him for a while now, trying to get his attention but he never responded to these attempts. And now, they were standing in the kitchen, alone, and neither of them broke eye contact. He should have talked to her about this; tell her that she has to stop but he couldn't do it. They stood like that for a few minutes without moving even an inch.

And then everything happened so quickly, he didn't even have time to process it. She slid her arms around his neck, gently pulled his head down a bit, and the next thing he felt was how her warm lips crushed onto his. The kiss was slow and soft, like she was hesitating whether he would welcome it or not. But he did. He hated to admit it, but he loved her closeness and all he wanted was to feel her fragile body against his. Putting his hands on her back, he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss by every second.

It wasn't right. His brain tried to signal him to stop, but his instincts took control over his body. The next thing he knew she was backing to the other side of the kitchen. He held her tightly as she wrapped her legs around his waist so he could lift her up onto the counter. "You don't want to do it right here and right now, do you?" he asked when he pulled away for a second to breathe.

"Why not?" she replied with a wicked smile on her lips, slowly kissing his neck.

Sure, why not? The way she was kissing his neck, how she run her hand through his hair, how her fingertips could stimulate his body with only one touch... He wanted her, right there, right then. But her parents, his best friends could be back anytime. What would they say if they caught them? He was acting like those men in midlife crisis who buy a sports car and start to date women in their twenties just because they realized they are getting old. He didn't feel like listening to long lectures about this. "We have to stop," he stated as he took a step back and ran a hand through his hair.

She gave him a confused look. "Why? I thought you wanted it, too," she said, replaying the events that had happened a few minutes before to see if she had misunderstood him.

"Believe me, I want it. I really do, but we can't do this," he started seriously, keeping an eye on her. She was still sitting on the counter with the same confused expression. "Jeremy is my best friend and I just can't sleep with his daughter," he explained in a short sentence. There were other reasons as well like he was a lot older than her, she was a cadet at the academy, in a few months he was supposed to go on a five years mission with the brand new USS Enterprise, and so on.

"You can't or you don't want to?" she demanded as she slid off the counter.

Instinctively, he took a step back and let out an irritated sigh. "Denise…" he started but didn't finish the sentence. It was a huge mistake because now he couldn't control himself the way he had done before.

"I'm serious. Because if you don't want it, tell me. I'm a big girl, I can handle it," she continued quietly.

"Look, I want you, but it wouldn't be right." That was all he could say.

After a short pause, Denise spoke up, her voice full with hope. "And if we didn't tell it anyone?" she asked. He looked at her, thinking about the idea. A secret affair? Would it be worth it?

"-so let him sleep." The voice was deep and definitely belonged to a male.

"Alright, thanks." The answer was really quiet but it probably came from a female. The voice was familiar but he didn't know who it belonged to.

He was still very sleepy and had an awful headache. Where he was, what had happened exactly; he had no idea. He couldn't even get himself to open his eyes or move because he was too tired. Someone left the room - according to the conversation it must have been the male - and the other one stepped to the left side of the bed. Then he heard a scratching sound as the person pulled a chair closer and sat down.

She took his hand.

The person was definitely a female because her hand was so small and soft. Lacing her fingers with his, she rested her other hand on the left side of his face. Her touch felt more than familiar. His brain instantly recognized it and sent a well-known sensation through his body. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly, slowly opening his eyes.

"First of all, hi," she replied with a warm smile. "I just wanted to know if you were alright."

"It's up to what you call alright," he replied dryly.

Her smile faded and she pulled away her hand after sliding it down along his neck. "Do you want me to call the doctor?" she asked seriously.

"No," he replied quickly. Then he stopped, looking at her with an unreadable expression. "Are you still angry at me?" he asked, talking about the day he had ended their relationship. She shook her head but the look in her eyes told him something else. She wasn't angry - she was sad. She possibly missed him, just like he missed her. Their relationship had been something… he didn't even know how to describe it. She was his guilty pleasure, someone he should have stayed away from. But they had had fun and that had been all that mattered back then.

Denise took a deep breath. "That was the worst night of my life but… I understood and accepted your reasons. I'm not saying I was - or I am - happy about that but I had no choice but to accept it."

That night, after they had met her father in the bar, she met him in his apartment. She was happy until she saw the look on his face. Then her smile disappeared and she stayed in the living room's door, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. He told her everything, all the reasons why he wanted to end the relationship. It was already hard to fight himself not to change his mind and when he saw how much he hurt her, it became even more difficult. She didn't shout, she didn't cry. She only wanted to know if that really was what he wanted. And he lied, so she said goodbye and left. They barely talked after that.

"I'm glad to hear you're okay," he said with a small smile. "Ehm… I really don't want to throw you out or anything but I'm really tired and I was dreaming about that Sunday when you came in," he went on, a mischievous smile almost appearing on his lips. In the last few months he had tried not to think about her that way but now, that she was sitting beside his bed, he wanted to see the rest of the dream.

Her eyes widened a bit. "You mean when we…"

"Yeah," Christopher replied quickly. "And I woke up when you came up with the idea of keeping it a secret," he added as an explanation.

"Ouch. Right before the fun part, huh?" she asked with a quiet laugh, the same wicked smile from that day slowly growing on her lips.

"You're telling me? I can only hope when I fall asleep again, my brain doesn't skip the kitchen part to get to the-"

"Oh, please, enough," she interrupted him. "I was there. I still can't stay on the first floor of the house without thinking about what happened there," she admitted and stood up. "I'll come back in a few days, okay?" she asked and he nodded. After slightly squeezing his hand for the last time, she turned around and left the room.

He smiled to himself, wondering why he was so happy about her short visit. In no time, he drifted off to sleep, continuing the dream where he left it off last time.

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews! Seriously. I'm happy to see there are other people who like Pike. (He's not as cool as Scotty but still…) So after I saw a few of you put this story on their alert list - even though it was supposed to be a one-shot - I wrote another chapter. That's what you get if you study too much. Now that I mention it, I'm off to study and sleep. Exam on Thursday XD

I'll post another chapters later, I think. So, what do you think?

Sweet Executioner