Disclaimer: Star Trek is the property of Paramount. I own nothing.

Author's note: Telepathic communication is shown using *.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jean-Luc reluctantly decided that if he was going to move Deanna, he needed to do it now as his legs were starting to go to sleep. He tightened his arms around her and began to shift their weight forwards, towards the edge of the sofa, intending to move her to the bedroom. Deanna stirred in her sleep, moving closer to him and Jean-Luc realised that he was not going to be able to get up without moving her to another position, which would almost certainly wake her. Shrugging, he decided that numb legs was a small price to pay for holding a beautiful woman in his arms anyway. Particularly since she had agreed to throw her lot in with him, despite the problems it was likely to cause her. He might get some criticism for sleeping with a member of his crew but since she was not on the command team, his career was not at risk, whereas Deanna's might be. There would be people who would say that she was having sex with him in order to further her career and would suggest that that was how she'd got promoted in the past, despite the fact that he had never sat on any of her Promotion Boards. Deanna was already a full commander and might not want the increase in administrative responsibilities that would come with any further promotion but he didn't want their relationship to stop her if she did. He would have to see what could be done to prevent or at least limit any damage. Jean-Luc rested his cheek against Deanna's and started thinking about who owed him favours.

Telna followed Lwaxana as she walked through the shopping area of Starbase 93 at breakneck speed. Lwaxana had her shields fully up and was refusing to answer Telna's queries but it was clear that something was wrong. One minute she'd been flirting outrageously with the captain of their passenger ship, the next she'd gone into full ambassador mode, using her credentials to disembark first and commandeering the nearest lift. Lwaxana was always flamboyant but she would never normally use her ambassadorial status to get priority for private matters. The only thing Telna could imagine that would cause such a breach of protocol was concern for her daughter. Lwaxana had said that she would contact Deanna when they arrived, clearly something had happened during that contact to make Lwaxana worried. Telna stopped thinking and concentrated on breathing as Lwaxana increased speed again, hurtling down corridors at a reckless speed, simply assuming that everyone would get out of her way.
A few minutes later they arrived at the hotel where Deanna was staying. Lwaxana ignored the receptionist and went straight to the lift, telling the lift their destination straight away, without checking that the rest of her party were on board. Telna used the brief turbolift journey to get her breath back, impressed and slightly envious that Lwaxana who was only five years her junior was only slightly out of breath. The lift stopped on the correct floor and they followed the hotel's guide lights to Deanna's door. Once there, Telna was surprised to see Lwaxana press the door chime rather than simply announce their presence telepathically. A male voice said,

'Enter.'

Telna followed Lwaxana and Mr Homm into the room.

Deanna stirred at the sound of the chime but didn't wake. A few seconds later, Jean-Luc looked up into Lwaxana's worried face, realising with some surprise that she had come in quietly, not calling out theatrically, as she normally would have done. Deanna stirred again and Lwaxana asked anxiously,

'Is she all right?'

'I'm not sure,' replied Jean-Luc, 'She said that her neurotransmitters overloaded for a few seconds. I wanted to take her to Sickbay but she wanted to wait for you.'

The sound of their voices woke Deanna and she looked round, bewildered,

'Mother?'

'I'm here, Deanna.'

Lwaxana sat down on the sofa and began to stroke Deanna's hair. Deanna rubbed her eyes and tried to collect her thoughts but her brain seemed to be operating through a blanket of exhaustion. Blearily she thought,

*Beverley's going to be furious with me. *

'Why is Beverley going to be furious with you?' asked Lwaxana.

Deanna looked blankly at her mother, who said,

'Deanna, your shields are down. You projected that so clearly that I expect Telna and Mister Homm heard it too.'

'I didn't,' said Telna quietly, but noticed Mr Homm's soundless nod with interest. Members of the Fifth House always had strong gifts and it seemed that Deanna was no exception. Mr Homm was not a family member but Deanna clearly could communicate telepathically with him, which should have been impossible. It looked as though her trip was going to be even more interesting than she'd thought.

'I think you should go to Sickbay,' said Jean-Luc, concerned.

Deanna grimaced,

'I'm sure I'll be all right if I get some more rest.'

*I don't want to. *

'Deanna, Jean-Luc's right; a neurotransmitter overload normally needs medical treatment,' said Lwaxana.

'Fine,' said Deanna, shortly. She knew that they were right but she'd been looking forward to exploring Starbase 93, which had some of the best leisure facilities outside of sector zero.

She pushed herself away from Jean-Luc and stood up, only to find her knees shaking. Jean-Luc noticed her starting to wobble and said,

'Sit down. I'll contact the ship and have you beamed to Sickbay.'

Deanna sat down and let her mind go blank as Jean-Luc took his communicator out of his pocket and started talking.

Beverley was just finishing handing over to Selar when her communicator chirped and she heard Data's voice saying,

'Bridge to Doctor Crusher.'

'Crusher here.'

'Counsellor Troi is in need of medical attention. She is being beamed to Sickbay now.'

'Acknowledged,' said Beverley, all thoughts of an evening at the theatre vanishing from her mind.

Deanna materialised on one of the bio beds and Beverley hurried to her side, saying,

'Computer, adjust settings on bio bed one for Commander Deanna Troi.'

The readings on the bio bed showed no physical injury but Deanna's blood pressure was low and she looked pale and exhausted.

'Deanna, what happened?'

'I had a neurotransmitter overload. I'm fine but Jean-Luc and my mother insisted that I come to Sickbay.'

Beverley started putting the neural scanner in place, saying,

'How did it happen?'

'My mother contacted me telepathically whilst Jean-Luc and I were empathically linked.'

'And that caused the overload?'

'Yes.'

'Hmm. Lie completely still please.'

Deanna lay quietly whilst Beverley took a series of brain scans. Beverley removed the neural scanner, saying,

'I need to analyse these results but it was definitely a neural overload of some sort. I'm going to take some blood so I can see how depleted your gnaea levels are.'

Gnaea was a specialised enzyme used by the Betazoid brain in emergencies to prevent damage and dampen overloads. It was stored in a small duct at the base of the skull positioned so that enzyme-laden blood would reach the brain quickly.
Deanna grimaced, if her gnaea levels were low she would have to have a synthetic replacement, which not only made her feel nauseous but required careful monitoring, so she would have to remain in Sickbay. Beverley was about to take the scans into her office when the doors to Sickbay opened and Jean-Luc, Lwaxana, Mr Homm and a woman Beverley didn't recognise came in. Lwaxana immediately pounced on Beverley, saying,

'Is Deanna going to be all right?'

'Yes though she may need to stay in Sickbay for a couple of days.'

'That's such a shame. I was so looking forward to going shopping with her. You positively must have some new clothes, Deanna. There are some fabulous styles around at the moment.'

'We can go shopping when I'm better, Mother.'

'Good. When will Deanna be discharged from Sickbay, Doctor?'

'I won't know until I've analysed her test results. What was your perception of what happened?'

'I contacted Deanna to let her know that we'd arrived. She didn't respond at first and then she asked me, quite emphatically, to end the telepathic contact.'

'And you didn't feel any adverse affects?'

'No. At first I thought that I'd just interrupted her during sex but then I realised that she would just have asked me to contact her later if that was all it was, so I began to wonder if something was wrong.'

'Jean-Luc?'

Jean-Luc squirmed but forced himself to answer, knowing that Beverley was asking for medical reasons, not out of prurient curiosity,

'Deanna and I were kissing when she suddenly pushed me away and collapsed on the sofa. I felt the empathic link break and Deanna was clearly incapacitated. I got her some water and a couple of minutes later, she was able to speak again and explain what had happened.'

'Deanna was unable to speak?'

'Just for a couple of minutes, yes. It's why I insisted that she come to Sickbay.'

'Good. And how do you feel, Jean-Luc?'

'Fine.'

'But you felt the empathic link break?'

'Yes.'

Beverley turned to Deanna and said,

'Is that normal?'

'I don't know. I've never had to break a link abruptly like that before.'

'I'm sorry, Deanna,' said Lwaxana, 'but I never expected you to be in bed with Jean-Luc when I was about to arrive.'

'Lwaxana, you're a day early. Believe me, we would never have started making love if we'd known that you might interrupt us.'

Jean-Luc's response was heartfelt and Beverley had to suppress a snigger, she could imagine nothing that Jean-Luc would hate more than being interrupted by Lwaxana.

'Oh yes, I forgot. Captain Eiger, such a dear, sweet man, was determined to show off and insisted on seeing how much time he could shave off the trip.'

'He did well to cut a whole day off the trip from Betazed, I wonder how many regulations he broke?' said Jean-Luc thoughtfully.

'Really, Jean-Luc, what does that matter?' said Lwaxana dismissively.

Beverley intervened before Jean-Luc could reply,

'Jean-Luc you need to have a brain scan too.'

'I hardly think that's necessary, Doctor, I'm fine.'

'I'll be the judge of that, Captain. Doctor Selar, please would you do full blood work-ups for both Deanna and Jean-Luc.'

'Yes, Doctor Crusher.'

Beverley glared at Jean-Luc until he reluctantly climbed on to one of the other bio beds, muttering under his breath in French as he did so. Selar collected the blood samples and disappeared into the lab whilst Beverley assembled the neural scanner over Jean-Luc's head.

A few minutes later, Beverley went into her office and started analysing the scans.

Jean-Luc stared at the ceiling and tried to suppress his mounting irritation as he waited for Beverley to come back. He was practically psi nil so the idea that his brain had been affected by the abrupt ending of his link with Deanna was ridiculous. Beverley was just being over-cautious again. Or she was punishing him for something, letting Deanna get hurt probably. At least Lwaxana had left. Deanna had convinced her to go and have dinner. She would come back later but at least Sickbay was quiet for now. He sat up hopefully as Beverley came out of her office and stood between the two bio beds. He had a moment to register that she was upset before she said,

'Would one of you like to explain what's going on?'

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