Chapter 4

She started her work in the lab early that morning trying hard not to think about the night before. His warm breath in her ear, his strong hands touching her skin, his skilled ways of sending chills down her spine, his gentleness as he took her in places she hadn't been taken before, his sweet understanding when he realized he'd gone where no man had gone before. She tried very hard to not think about those things and tried even harder not to think about the fact that it would never happen again.

As she worked Duncan came in at his usual time for his shift, cup of coffee in his hand. "Soooo...any interesting notes from the Captain?"

Her heart jumped against her chest as the thought flashed that Duncan had known, but she quickly pushed the thought away. He couldn't possibly know...right? "Actually, he did have an idea. Doctor Phlox has a collection of fungi growing in his med-bay. There is one from Suri III that seems very promising. Its energy output yield is over five times greater than anything we have in our collection, plus it has some sort of trans-dimensional properties. I'm going to talk to the doctor later today to see if we can get a sample to experiment with."

XXX

Later in the day Jon was in sickbay for his follow-up exam on his foot. "Looks like your toe is healing nicely. We don't need the bone knitter anymore, but you will still need to stay off of it for another two days while the fracture finishes healing on its own."

"What about the flex cast? Can I take that off too?

"Only for thirty minutes every six hours. You still need to keep the toe immobile as much as possible."

Just then Ensign Greene walked in as Jon tried his best to ignore her presence and continued talking to Phlox. "I heard that massaging the area helps the injury heal faster."

"Hmm. I never read any research on that theory. Where did you hear about this?"

"Uh...A friend told me." He glanced up at Greene and slightly blushed then quickly looked back at his toe trying not to think about her.

"And did it feel better when the area was massaged?"

Jon almost choked on his own breath as he thought of the unintended innuendo and coughed. "Excuse me. Yes, my foot did feel better." Among other things. He kept that last part to himself.

"Ah well. If it felt better than you should continue to do it." The second unknown innuendo left him desperate to leave sickbay as quickly as possible.

He grabbed for his crutches and slid off the bio-bed. "Thanks Doc. See you tomorrow." As he hobbled past Greene he tipped his head. "Ensign."

She tipped in response. "Captain. Glad to hear you're feeling better." He almost lost his balance when she said that, but quickly regained himself.

"Ah! Ensign. What can I do for you?" Phlox asked in his usual upbeat manner.

"I heard you have some fungi from Suri III and I wanted to see if you can spare a sample for my research."

"Actually I do have enough to spare. Where did you hear about my fungi collection?"

"A friend told me." That was the last thing Jon heard as the doors slid shut behind him.

Phlox gave Greene samples of his fungus. When she left he smiled and shook his head. "Ah. Young love." The electricity in the room between his Captain and the Ensign didn't go unnoticed by the doctor and judging by the pair's reactions to his very intended innuendos, he knew the spark of the flame had already been struck. The doctor was, if nothing else, discreet with these matters and knew how to keep things to himself.

XXX

It was getting near the end of Crystal's shift when she saw a message pop up on her personal monitor. It hadn't come through the usual channels and there were so many twists and turns in the data stream, it made it impossible to track its source, but Crystal didn't need to trace it to know who the message came from.

Can't stop thinking about you. Please come to my quarters when you can. Make sure no one sees you. Roses.

She smiled at the signature and quickly deleted the message then deleted the back-up file to make sure it couldn't be recovered. Of course nothing in the technology world is ever really deleted, but there was really no reason for anyone to search her computer that hard to recover the message.

She showed up at the Captain's quarters. When she entered the room it was dark except for a single candle burning on the other side of the room. She felt strong, muscular arms snake their way around her waist from behind and a husky voice whispering in her ear.

"I know I said we can't do this again, but I can't get you off of my mind." A light kiss on the nape of her neck sent shivers down her spine. "I need you Crystal Greene. I need you like I need oxygen."

She felt his hardness pressing against her buttocks and arched her back into it. "I can't stop thinking about you either." His hands slid up to her breast cupping and caressing them as she moaned.

They both collapsed onto the bed, their bodies glistening with the sweat of their love making. He rolled to his side and pulled her to him, spooning her. "Stay the night." He stated in more of a demand than a question. She snuggled into him and within minutes they were asleep. In the morning, he woke her to his light touches and love making then she made a quick escape from his quarters before shift change.

A message popped on her computer.

Last night was amazing. This morning was even better. Roses.