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Chapter Twelve

Jean-Luc forced himself to adopt a calm and relaxed demeanour as he walked towards Beverley's quarters for breakfast. Inside, he was feeling extremely nervous. Even though Deanna had told him that Beverley was not angry about their Friendly Fire agreement, Jean Luc found it hard to believe that Beverley wasn't furious with him. He'd slept with her best friend and then not told her about it. Gritting his teeth and reminding himself that cowardice was not an acceptable character trait in an officer, Jean-Luc walked towards Beverley's door, prepared to stop instantly if she had re-programmed her door. The door opened and he stepped inside.
Beverley was stood by the replicator and, as Jean-Luc walked in, she said,

'Good morning, Jean-Luc. The usual?'

'Good morning, Beverley. Yes, please.'

'Crusher breakfast B3.'

The replicator hummed and Jean-Luc automatically went over and helped Beverley carry their breakfast to the table. As always, he carried the coffee and fruit juice, whilst Beverley brought over the croissants and jam. They sat down and Jean-Luc busied himself with pouring coffee and spreading jam on his croissant, waiting for the interrogation to begin. He didn't have long to wait. He'd no sooner taken a bite of his croissant, when Beverley said,

'So, was the sex good?'

Narrowly avoiding choking, Jean-Luc swallowed his mouthful before saying repressively,

'You know I never discuss my sex life with you.'

'So it was disappointing?'

'No, of…dammit Beverley! I am not going to tell you what having sex with Deanna was like.'

'Judging by other men's reactions, it must be amazing. I gather she uses her empathy to enhance the experience.'

Seeing Jean-Luc glaring at her, Beverley continued,

'Deanna told me about it. She said she found it hard to imagine what sex would be like without her empathic senses. We were comparing experiences, that's all.'

Seeing the look of horror on Jean-Luc's face, Beverley innocently continued,

'Deanna's very open about sex. I'm not sure whether that's because of growing up on Betazed or her mother's influence. What do you think?'

'Betazoid culture is very open about sexual relationships. Given that they're nearly all telepaths, they'd have to be, don't you think?'

'True, but a lot of other cultures are very open about sex. I can think of several human cultures, Ephedra for example, where it's considered completely normal to discuss sex openly, so I don't understand why you're so uptight about it, Jean-Luc.'

'I am not uptight about sex! It's just that I was brought up to believe that sex was only discussed by anyone other than the people involved if you needed information or if there was a problem.'

'Well, how about some information? Deanna is only half human and physically she's more Betazoid than human. I can recommend some texts, if you'd like?'

'No, thank you.'

'But Jean-Luc, Deanna is significantly different to human women.'

'I know, Doctor. I have no need of any information, thank you.'

Beverley looked at Jean-Luc, who was looking seriously annoyed, and replaying the last few sentences in her mind, suddenly realised what he meant,

'Jean-Luc, you've already read some texts, haven't you?'

Blushing furiously, Jean-Luc replied,

'Well, of course I did. I'm not some ignorant xenophobe, you know.'

'Of course not, Jean-Luc,' said Beverley peaceably, delighted to have got as much information from him as she had. She knew that she would have to wait for a few days before interrogating him again or he would close up, so she changed the subject, asking him about their new mission.

Three days later

Deanna walked along the corridor towards her quarters, nodding and smiling at the occasional person she passed. Senior officers quarters were fairly quiet at this time of day as most of the other officers had lunch in the galley or in Ten Forward, but Deanna found it useful to have her lunch alone. She could weaken her shields and, if necessary, centre herself, ready for the afternoon's counselling session. She sensed Reg Barclay ahead of her but when she turned the corner, only his feet could be seen, sticking out of an access panel, so she was able to walk quietly past him, without stopping to chat. Years of counselling Reg had made her quite fond of him but it was always necessary to keep him at arms length because he remained infatuated with her. She had hoped that time would dim her charms, but he still yearned for her, like a lovesick puppy, even though Deanna had made it clear that she wasn't interested.
Deanna was within twenty feet of her quarters when she sensed Will Riker coming towards her. She considered speeding up to avoid meeting him but told herself not to be childish. Ever since he'd found out about her Friendly Fire agreement with Jean-Luc, Will had been like a bear with a sore head, alternating between jealousy, anger and self-pity. Deanna had been spending as little time as possible in his company, hoping that he would calm down. Putting on her most serene expression and reinforcing her shields, Deanna carried on walking. A few seconds later, Will came round the corner, walking quickly. Even through her shields, Deanna felt his emotions change the instant he saw her, becoming bleak and angry. Forcing herself to keep walking, she said,

'Hello, Will. Off to lunch in Ten Forward?'

'Yes,' replied Will, curtly.

Deanna ignored his tone and went to walk past him but Will side stepped to block her,

'Deanna, we need to talk.'

'What about?'

'About us.'

'There is no 'us', Will.'

'That's not true! You know how I feel about you.'

'Do I, Will? Do you? Because you only seem to love me when I'm in a relationship with someone else. The minute I'm available, you aren't interested.'

'It's not like that!'

'Isn't it? So, what is it like? I'm available now, so if you love me, why aren't you trying to get us back together?'

'You're not available, you're screwing the Captain!'

'Jean-Luc and I have a Friendly Fire agreement which, as you know, is immediately negated if one of you starts a relationship.'

'Yeah. Right. So how does him fondling you in his Ready Room fit in with that?'

'We forgot ourselves for a moment. That was the first time Jean-Luc touched me since we came back from Ydea.'

'Sure. And I'm the Romulan Emperor. I never thought you'd lie to me, Deanna.'

'I'm not. But I've got a question for you, Will: what gives you the right to ask me about my relationships? You've made it abundantly clear that you don't want to have a relationship with me but as soon as I'm seeing anyone else, you act as though you own me. Our relationship ended the day you stood me up on Risa and didn't even have the guts to send me a message so you can stop behaving like a spoilt baby and stay out of my life!'

Deanna's anger shocked Will for a moment but the anger and jealousy he was feeling made him lash out,

'Not going to Risa was the best decision of my life! If I'd gone I might have found out too late what you're like.'

'Really? And what am I like?'

'An over-sexed slut with a taste for her co-workers! Who's going to be next, Deanna? Geordi? Or how about Data? He wouldn't get tired or bored.'

'At least he'd give me more emotional support than you do. You're so afraid of commitment that you'd rather have a string of one night stands than even try to have a relationship.'

'You fucking bitch!'

Will barged past Deanna and stormed off. White-faced, Deanna ran into her quarters, locking the door behind her.

Neither of them noticed Reg Barclay, standing dumbfounded in the middle of the corridor. Reg had finished his diagnostic on the power conduit and started to pack up, when he had heard Counsellor Troi and Commander Riker starting to argue. He had crept nervously round the corner and had stayed fixed to the spot as the argument washed over him. Now he didn't know what to do. He wanted to go and comfort Counsellor Troi but even he knew that he couldn't, he wasn't her boyfriend or even a close friend. And he longed to go after Commander Riker and tell him what a foul-mouthed swine he was. But how could he? Commander Riker would just ignore him or put him on report. Perhaps he could just go up to Commander Riker and hit him. But that would be striking a senior officer which was a court-martial offence. Reg was still standing there, trying to decide what to do, when his data padd signalled an incoming message. The message was from Counsellor Troi, cancelling his counselling session because she was feeling ill. Shocked, Reg made a decision.

In Sickbay, Beverley had just finished talking to Deanna, who had told her that she was feeling nauseous and was going to go to bed, when Reg Barclay walked in. Sighing inwardly, she said,

'Hello, Reg. What can I do for you?'

'I…um…I wanted to talk to you about Counsellor Troi.'

'What about Counsellor Troi?'

'She's… she's cancelled my counselling session today.'

'Yes. She's not feeling well.'

'I know…I mean…I know that's what she said b…but it's not true.'

'What do you mean, it's not true?' asked Beverley, sharply.

'I was working on a p…power conduit near Counsellor Troi's quarters and I heard them arguing.'

'Who?'

'C…Counsellor Troi and C…Commander Riker.'

Beverley led Reg into her office,

'Sit down and tell me all about it.'

'W..well…'

Reg explained what had happened and saw Beverley's face flush with anger,

'That hypocritical son of a bitch! He called Deanna a slut, after all the women he's slept with!'

'I…I…know. B…but what can we do?'

'You can't do anything, Reg, but I can. You leave it to me.'

'B…but…'

'Reg, promise me you won't go after Commander Riker. I will deal with him.'

Reg looked at the floor but when Beverley insisted, he reluctantly promised.

Beverley sent Reg back to work and sat in her office, trying to decide what to do. Technically, a personal argument between Deanna and Will was none of her business but she was fed up with Will behaving like an idiot. He needed to be taught a lesson and she knew exactly how to do it.

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