Chapter 9

Commander William T. Riker sat in his quarters going over Dr. Crusher and Vicki Ann's
reports on the crew physicals. Beverly often mentioned Vicki Ann in her report, saying
things such as, 'Dr. Troi and I feel' and 'Dr. Troi's results were.' Every time he read her
name, he cringed. She was furious with him. He would be lucky if she ever forgave him.
The worst part of it was if he and Deanna would make their relationship permanent, the
animosity between him and Vicki An would no doubt cause problems between him and
Deanna and Deanna and Vicki Ann. But, he had made his bed and now he had to lie in it.

The doorbell rang. "Come in," Riker said, getting up from his desk.

The doors opened and Julian Bashir entered.

"Hello, Julian."

Julian skipped the niceties and went straight for the throat. "What the hell did you think
you were doing by telling Vicki Ann that you loved her?" he screamed at Riker.

Riker was shocked by this usually soft-spoken man's outburst. Riker turned from Julian to
collect his thoughts and then turned to face him again. "I had a feeling his would happen."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I didn't have a choice!"

"No one was holding a phaser to your head!"

"Oh, yeah? Deanna threatened to break up with me if I didn't."

"She did?"

"Yes."

"Did it not occur to either of you that this would hurt her even more than finding out that
you saw her as Deanna?"

"Of course we did!"

Julian shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this just doesn't make any sense to me. Why would
you tell her something that isn't important now that would hurt her?"

"Because Deanna felt that Vicki Ann had a right to know."

"Even though it would hurt her?"

"Even though it would hurt her," Riker replied.

"Do you still love her?"

"No, of course not." Riker thought about it. "Well, not in that way. We're just friends
now."

Julian scoffed at Riker's reply. "You know, that's what she said."

"Really?"

"Really. And I don't believe either of you."

"Well, I'm sorry that you don't, but it's true."

Julian sighed. "Put yourself in my place. If Deanna had just ended a torrid love affair and
was still close friends with that person and they both said they didn't love each other
anymore, would you believe them?"

"To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn't. But, Julian, is there anything I can do to make
you believe me?"

"Not really."

"Okay, Julian. My turn to ask a question. Do you realize how much you're hurting her? Even
though I haven't seen her since our talk, I know how much she cares for you and I can
imaging how much this is hurting her."

"I don't know if I can believe that. If she still loves you, then why would she care about
me breaking up with her?"

"Dammit, Julian! She doesn't love me that way! For crying out loud, I am dating her sister!
I could be her brother-in-law! I don't love her that way and she doesn't love me that way!
She loves you!"

"How do you know that she loves me?"

"By the look in her eyes when she looks at you. I told her that the other night in the
Holodeck. I told her that I could tell that she loved you because when she looked at you,
she looked the same way she had when we were together.she's in love with you! I told her
not to miss this chance or she would regret it for the rest of her life."

"Like you did with Deanna?"

"Yes."

Julian shook his head. "I can't believe how stupid I've been. She must hate me right now.
What do I do now?" he said, sitting down on a chair.
"Flowers usually work good in situations like this. Specifically, red roses."

Vicki Ann returned the volley from her holographic opponent. She wiped some sweat from
her brow and then prepared for the next one. No matter how hard she tried though, she
barely returned each one. She couldn't concentrate because her mind kept wondering to
her fight with Julian. Her opponent returned the volley. Vicki Ann swung her arm to return
it and she snapped her wrist too hard. "Ouch!" She had sprained her wrist. "Computer, end
program." She supported her wrist with her other hand and began the walk to sickbay.

Beverly Crusher looked up from her desk and saw Vicki Ann enter sickbay, cradling her right
wrist.

Vicki Ann nodded to Beverly and said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

Beverly got up anyway. "How did you do it this time?"

"Playing racquetball. I swung too hard."

"Julian getting too good for you?"

Vicki Ann made a face. "I wasn't playing with Julian."

Beverly nodded. "Oh, I see. Have a fight with Julian?"

"Boy, is that an understatement. And I had an even worse on with Will."

"What happened with Will?"

"To make a long story short, he told me that when we were together, he did love me. He
let me convince him that he didn't so he wouldn't be tied down so that he could pursue a
relationship with Deanna."

"Wow, what did you say?"

"I called him names, insulted him, told him he was no longer my friend and that I didn't
want to see him except on the bridge."

"Whoa. What happened with Julian?"

"He got jealous and told me that I still loved Will and therefore couldn't love him. And then
he told me that I had to choose between him and Will. Even though I had already told Will
that I didn't want to be friends with him, I told Julian that he couldn't control me by telling
me who to be friends with. He said if I couldn't choose, I couldn't commit to him and so he
left."

"You're just lucky in love, aren't you?"

Vicki Ann nodded. "Yeah, and did you notice, I usually wind up getting injured?"

Vicki Ann walked into her quarters. The viewer on her desk was up, indicating that she had
a message. "Computer play message." Riker's face appeared on the screen. Vicki Ann
crossed her arms across her chest and said, "This ought to be good."

Riker smiled. "I know I'm probably the last person you want to hear from, but I thought I'd
try anyway. I wanted to apologize, yet again. I know that nothing I can do can erase the
pain I put you through. I understand completely if you still want absolutely nothing to do
with me. I just wanted you to know that up until the other day, you were my best friend. I
will have only the memories to keep me from losing my mind without you. Before you shut
this off, one last time, this one's for you, Doc." He took out his trombone and began to
play 'Come On and Smile, Doc.' When he finished, he said, "That's all. End of message."

Vicki Ann shook her head. "Yeah, I still hate you. For making me forgive you."

Commander Riker sat at the bar in Ten-Forward talking to Lieutenant Cann from
Astrophysics. She had mentioned to someone that she played the saxophone and he'd
asked her about it. They were talking about their favorite kinds of jazz when Riker looked
up and saw Vicki Ann enter Ten-Forward, looking straight at him. He couldn't tell by her
expression whether she was still mad or not. She motioned to a table. Riker turned to Lt.
Cann and said, "Excuse me a moment." He went over to the table and sat down across
from Vicki Ann.

"How stupid do you think I am? Did you really think that message would make me forgive
you? Well, it worked."

Riker sighed. "I guess it was pretty stupid. Well, at least I tried." It hit him. "What did you
say?"

"It worked."

"It did? That's wonderful. Deanna will be thrilled. Have you heard from Julian?"

"No, and I don't know if I want to."

"Why?"

"He tried to control me Will. He tried to make me choose between you and him."

"But you had already said that you didn't wan to be friends with me anymore."

"I know. He didn't know that. Besides, it's the principle of the thing."

"Oh. I'm sure he didn't mean it though. He was just reacting to what was thrown at him.
As Deanna would say, his defense mechanisms kicked in. Just think about it Vicki Ann.
That man really loves you."

"I know he does, Will. That's what makes this so hard."

Vicki Ann entered her quarters. She planned to go straight to bed. She was exhausted.
She sat down on her bed and fell back. Her hand touched something sharp. "Computer,
increase light level by 20%." The lights came up around her. She looked over and saw a
dozen blood-red roses on her pillow. She picked up the card. It said, Vicki Ann,

"I have a confession to make and hopefully it will explain why I reacted so strongly to the
situation with Commander Riker. You've been an angel in my life since the day I met you.
And from that day, I loved you. At first, you were a friend and I loved you as that. I
valued your friendship tremendously and thanked God that you had been brought into my
life. As time went on, I began to develop feelings for you. You were involved with someone
at the time, so all I did was flirt with you in our correspondence. So, therefore, our
evening in Ten Forward only brought out those feelings that I already had for you, but
didn't realize I had. I guess it's a fault of mine, but when I fall in love, I fall hard, and
therefore, I was hurt by what you said. I also spoke to Commander Riker and I understand
your relationship with him. I am very sorry that I got jealous and I was wrong to tell you
what to do. It's just that I love you so much and I was scared to death of losing you. I
hope that you can forgive me and we can start over.
Love,
Julian"

Tears began to stream down Vicki Ann's face. "Oh, Julian."

The doors opened and he entered. "You called?"

Vicki Ann sat up and looked at him. "You sneak."

"It worked, didn't it?"

She smiled. "Yes, it did."

Julian kissed her tears away and then moved toward her mouth. They kissed each other as
passionately as the night they'd had too much to drink. They fell back onto the bed.

Vicki Ann pulled away quickly. "I have to put the flowers in water."

"Later," Julian replied.

"Later," Vicki Ann echoed.

One week later, Vicki Ann stood in the transporter room, saying goodbye to Julian. "You're
stopping by next month, on your way home, right?" Julian asked her.

Vicki Ann nodded. "I've had to postpone the visit so many time that my mother, Alacia and
Michael are ready to kill me. I'll shorten my visit to Betazed so that I can spend more time
with you. As soon as I tell my mother why I'm shortening my visit, she'll send me on the
next ship to DS9!"

Julian laughed. "Just make sure you tell her that we are not getting married."

"Oh, yeah? If I tell her that, she'll kidnap you, drug you, and force you to marry me!"

"Tell her that my religion requires me to wait a least ten years of courtship before getting
married."

"What religion? Ten years!"

Julian shrugged. "It will keep her from bothering us about it."

"She won't believe that!"

"Okay, five years then."

"Julian!"

"Okay, let's change the subject. At a speed of warp five, how long will it take you to
reach DS9 from Betazed?"

"Okay, let's see. . . . .I have no clue! Do I look like Data?"

"No, you're much more attractive than Data."

"Thank you. Now, are you going to kiss me goodbye, or are we going to stand here all day
and make small talk?"

Julian smiled. "I was waiting for you." He leaned forward and kissed her.

"See you next month," Vicki Ann said as they parted. She quickly embraced Julian and
whispered in his ear, "I'll miss you."

Julian replied, "Me, too." He stepped up onto the platform.

Vicki Ann nodded to the transporter chief and said, "Energize."

Julian waved as he faded away.

Vicki Ann smiled at the chief and walked out the door.

A man watched Vicki Ann walk back to her quarters. He smiled to himself. You really are a
clever devil, aren't you? It will only be a matter of time before Victorianna and her little
friends are no longer a problem. He rubbed his hands together earnestly. Patience, Q.
Don't get too anxious, or you might mess things up. Besides, there is the matter of your
alternate. He must be taken care of first, otherwise, your plans for Victorianna are
worthless. He could no longer stop the prophecy and he couldn't kill her, but he could
definitely break her. Yes, indeed. Once you're finished with her, she'll shatter like a
porcelain doll.

A few weeks later, after everything was in place, a man with dark, wavy hair smiled and
told his companion, "You will be beamed to Commander Troi's quarters where you will
kidnap her and alert us when you have her. Then you will be beamed back here."

The dark haired man's companion scratched his beard and then looked up at the other
man. "You promise that she won't be harmed?"

The other man smiled. "Of course I do, Tom."

Tom nodded. "And what is your name again?"

"Q. My name is Q."