By Felicia Ferguson
Rating: PG-13
Feedback: I'd love to hear from you.
Author's Note: Hopefully, I'm keeping everyone interested in the next chapter. I promise we'll get to Romulus (and pick up the pace) soon.
Then
4/?
Ten Forward was packed. But with it being the last night before they reached the Romulan Neutral Zone, Riker couldn't blame his new crew for wanted to blow off a little steam. If the thoroughness of M'Ret's briefing was any indication, none of them would be getting free time until the negotiations were completed.
I was beginning to wonder if you two would ever take a break, Deanna thought as the doors slid open and she felt Riker walk into the room. I ordered you some food and the three of us already started. He nodded to a few people as he scanned the room for Deanna. He already knew where she was, could pinpoint her with his eyes blindfolded thanks to their bond, but there was no need to flaunt the fact in front of a roomful of subordinates.
M'Ret is a perfectionist. And we're only breaking for dinner. We're regrouping in an hour. Aloud he said, "My apologies for the late arrival," as he squeezed Deanna's shoulder, smiling at the other two officers. He took the vacant seat next to his wife, across from the doctor and, looking down at the plate, sent an appreciative thanks to Deanna. Roast beef, thinly sliced and drenched in gravy, and mashed potatoes. I thought you might want something that would last through the night.
Harper shook his head. "Understandable, Captain, no apologies needed."
Riker held up a forestalling hand as a waiter sat a cup of coffee on the table. "Will, please. We're off duty."
"Not him," the chief engineer remarked, nodding to her husband. "Doctor's are never off duty."
Harper chuckled. "Well, I might at least have a chance with this posting. This is the first time I've had another doctor to work with -- even if he is in his final year at Starfleet Medical. This new residency program is an interesting concept."
"I think that was Beverly's doing," Deanna stated raising her glass of Utta Berry juice, the blue liquid swirled and tickled her senses as the tart relative of the human blueberry slid down her throat. "She would always complain that Starfleet didn't fully prepare its doctors for the rigors of life on a starship."
"That's right," the doctor replied, taking a sip of his own drink. "I'd forgotten that you both served with Dr. Crusher on the Enterprise."
Before anyone could begin to respond, Harper's comm badge beeped. "Sickbay to Dr. Harper."
The doctor tapped the badge and, heaving a put-upon sigh at the sound of the resident doctor's voice, answered, "Go ahead, Dr. Vigal."
"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but there's something in the lab you might want to take a look at. I think we've isolated a strain of Wastellian Fever."
Vaden sent her husband a questioning glance, but he only closed his eyes and shook his head with hopelessness. "I'll be right there." He ended the call, sparing an apologetic glance for his wife before turning his attention to the captain. "It's nothing. I promise. One of the side-effects of having a medical degree fresh out of school: you find diseases everywhere you look. Nonetheless, I'm going to go check it out. My apologies, Captain, Counselor. Vaden I'll see you later."
"Not unless I see you first," she shot back cheekily.
Harper's eyes lit with mischievous intent; however he swallowed the words on his tongue. They might be off-duty, but some things were just not proper to say in front of a commanding officer. With a nod to Riker and Troi, he turned and headed for Sickbay.
"M'Ret to Captain Riker." Will's own comm badge beeped. He smiled at his two remaining dinner partners and murmured, "I guess that's my cue to get back to work." He tapped his badge and replied, "I'll meet you back in the Observation Lounge. Riker out." He glanced from Deanna to Lash as he said, "I hate to break up a party, but duty calls. I'll see you later tonight, Deanna. Lash, it was a pleasure."
The engineer nodded and replied, "I hope we can do this again soon, minus the interruptions." The women watched for a moment as their captain left Ten Forward, then chuckled helplessly.
Lash raised her glass and used it to gesture to the door which had closed on the departing figure of Riker. "Since I've been married for ten years, can I give a newlywed some advice?"
Troi raised her glass in an answering salute. "By all means."
"If you're planning on having a quiet dinner alone -- or even with friends -- hide the comm badge."
"Too true," Deanna replied with a sigh. "If today has been a glimpse into my future as the wife of a captain, I think I want to go back to being his girlfriend!" Lash joined Troi in good-natured laugh of feminine commiseration. When they regrouped, Deanna continued, "Speaking of being married. How is it that you've been married for so long and you don't have any children?"
"By choice, actually." The engineer set her drink down, sobering to the topic. "This is actually our first posting together since we've been married. We're both 'fleet brats. His parents were scientists and my mother was in command. My father was Bajoran and he stayed at home. My mother human; they met when she was visiting Bajor as part of a diplomatic team.
"Our parents were never stationed together for any stretch of time so we were both shipped back and forth for visits. Having lived that life as children and with both of us dedicated to our careers, we decided we didn't want to put our children through that." Lash took a sip of her drink, a small smile flitting across her lips. Deanna felt the woman's faded hopes. It was not a decision that was made lightly. "We're fulfilled in other ways. My engines on previous ships always acted like toddlers so why put myself through hell twice?" The light joke and a bright smile banished the questions of 'what if' from her mind. "Are you and the captain planning on having kids?"
"Well," Deanna replied with a slight shrug, "we haven't talked about it, but it remains a possibility. We got through the period you're talking about while we were on the Enterprise. We weren't even together until a few years ago. Now with Will being a captain, I think we've got a little more leeway when it comes to being stationed together. So the issue of custody of the children shouldn't be an issue."
***
Later that evening, Deanna and Will sat at opposite ends of the couch in the living area of their quarters. Deanna glanced idly around the room, trying to summon more interest in the crew profiles on her data padd. It had taken the better part of the day, but everything was now in its place. Will's trombone stood in one corner of the room, the polished brass gleaming under the dimmed lights.
Will looked up from his mission data padd just as her attention returned to her own padd. "So what did you think of Lemoor? Will he hesitate when the time comes?"
"No," Deanna replied with a slight shake of her head, "he has made his choice to serve Starfleet and is fixed in his decision. He will do what needs to be done." She paused for a moment, remembering their meeting. "The dynamic with him might take a little time, though. Did you know that he has devoted his life to Starfleet, foregoing marriage and family?"
Eyebrows raised in surprise, Will said, "Sounds like someone else we know."
She pursed her lips as she considered his statement. "True, but I don't think Captain Picard consciously made that choice."
"What makes you certain that Lemoor did?" he asked, doubt tingeing his words.
Deanna sat up a little straighter and tucked one leg under the other as she warmed to the topic. "During our meeting when I asked him about his decision, I sensed that he wasn't completely satisfied with it. It was as if he had given up something highly personal in order to do so. I don't think he's petty enough to hold a grudge, but one can never tell with Andorians what they might or might not resent."
Riker nodded, knowing she was better suited to analyzing his crew than he, and returned his attention to the mission data. After a moment of contemplative quiet, he paused in his review of the notes and paged back, surprised by the information.
"With Shinzon and the old guard gone, it looks as if the Empire's worlds may be smelling blood in the water. According to recent intell reports, there are several worlds that are rumored to be arming themselves in preparation for staging a freedom fight."
Deanna's eyebrows raised as she looked at him over her data padd. "I'm surprised the Tal Shiar hasn't silenced those rumors."
"There may not be enough officers to cover the entire area." It was a good and bad thought. Good because it meant the Empire was ripe for change and potentially peace. But bad in that should the other worlds succeed in their own struggles for freedom, they would eliminate a known variable. And all good negotiators understood that the enemy one knew was much better than the enemy one did not.
At length, Will set aside the data padd and scrubbed his hands over his face. Stifling a yawn, he glanced over at Deanna, still engrossed her own data padd. "I enjoyed dinner," he stated rhetorically. "Harper and Lash are good people."
Deanna looked up and smiled into the tired eyes of her husband. Reading his need for a distraction, she, too, laid aside her padd and her raised her bare feet to his lap. He returned the smile, tracing a long line from her heel to the tip of her big toe then alternated trailing his thumbs down her instep. The circular motion lulled her mind, opening it to his tender ministrations.
"Lash is one of Utopia Planetia's top engineers," Deanna answered as she watched the movement of his hands against her foot. "It's good that she's finally gotten billeted to a starship. Beverly had nothing but good things to say about Michael when I talked to her last."
Will pressed her instep for several seconds then released it and repeated the motion; Deanna's breathy moan skated across his nerves coiling them tight. "Oh, how does she like Starfleet Medical?" he asked, his tone nonchalant.
"I think she misses being onboard a ship." Deanna paused having completely forgotten her thought as Will applied steady pressure to her Achilles tendon.
"I imagine so. I would think it would be hard to be stationed planetside after so many years in space. There's something about the earth not moving under your feet."
Will released that foot, allowing her to collect her thoughts before he began to massage the other one. "We received a message from your father."
A few years ago, such a sentence would have made him cringe. Now, he just smiled and waited for her to continue. "It seems he and Kate Pulaski have gotten back together. By luck, she was stationed on the starbase he was contracted to build."
Amusement tinged his blue eyes. "'By luck?'"
Deanna smiled broadly. "Well," she hedged, "she might have pulled a few strings." She sobered a moment later and relaxed into Will's hands as they slowly rotated her ankle. "I was sorry that he wasn't able to make it to the wedding on Earth. I think he would have enjoyed catching up with everyone."
Will nodded, a twinge of disappointment flitted through him. "He had just gotten Starfleet's orders for the refit of Starbase 23. At least our delay allowed him to get time in on those repairs so he could come to the joining ceremony on Betazed."
Deanna snorted at the memory. "And I apologized to him -- profusely -- for mother's behavior."
"Oh, he enjoyed it. And don't let him convince you otherwise. Such a fuss always strokes a man's ego."
Deanna's dark eyes gleamed as a sly smile slipped over her lips. "Is that what you want stroked tonight?"
Hearing the sudden deepening of her voice, the throaty breaths that escaped on her exhales, feeling the sensuous touch of her mind to his, Will raised her foot to his lips, kissing her instep. "Maybe later," he whispered. The moist heat of his tongue a moment later thrilled her senses, elevating her heart rate as it traveled up to circle her big toe. But it was the promise of an even more thrilling night gleaming in his eyes that sent a shiver of delight over her body. Later couldn't come soon enough.
***
…to be continued…