Title: Parterre, Season four, Chapter Seven: "First Contact"

Rating: M (R)

Codes: C, T

Feedback: Any type is welcome, even flames. Criticism is especially appreciated though :) You can leave feedback via the websites indicated below, send a direct e-mail via my profile, go to Parterre's homepage (as linked to in my profile) or simply use fanfiction's easy and quick review feature :)

Author's Note:I'm not really sure what to say [blushes sorry it took so long to update? For those of you who remember this story and are hopefully still interested in it, I really am very sorry for taking two years to post the next chapter. It's probably some kind of record [lol I can't make any promises regarding chapter 8, so keep an eye out ;)

I hope ya'll enjoy!

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Chapter Seven: "First Contact"

Hands glided over her skin, testing, teasing, nails scratched lightly over goosebumps and hidden bones and muscles. Her stomach was taut, rippling with fear and anticipation and coated with a light sheen of sweat. She began to tremble when the hands lovingly caressed her breasts, thumbs rubbing her nipples, making her moan in pleasure then cry out when they pinched.

A distant, distorted, voice whispered to her and words that didn't make sense had no problem arousing her further. Her legs parted of their own accord and she quickly closed them, the fear overruling her anticipation. "Let me have you…" the voice whispered clearly, and on cue the hands slid down her stomach, briefly teasing her belly-button before tickling the soft curls on her mound, gently asking to be admitted. "Let me love you…"

Something warm and wet licked her lips and was followed by a soft, sensual kiss. She opened her mouth to return it, groaning as the tongue slipped inside, dancing with her own so erotically that she parted her legs without further thought. Fingers slipped down, cool against her moist heat. She moaned against the mouth devouring her, grinded her hips against the teasing fingers, wanting, needing more.

Her knees were trembling but she didn't dare to move, her body straining to feel each touch and tease of the slender digits as they explored her intimately. Then suddenly they moved into her possessively, making her back arch as she screamed with the unexpected pleasure. The pressure against her mouth disappeared even as it increased within her. She bucked her hips against the fingers, throbbing and contracting around them and opened her eyes to see her lover.

She caught a glimpse of strong features and hazel eyes before the fingers curled inside her, making her toss her head back and moan, giving voice to the intense pleasure. She forced herself to look again and stared into Jean-Luc's cold eyes. The fingers inside her moved quicker and harder, matching the beats of her heart. She moaned and twisted and clenched and called out his name.

The fingers fell away and she screamed in desolation. Nails scratched sharply up the inside of her thigh, the pain causing her to tear her eyes away from Jean-Luc's and meet those of…

"Deanna!" With her heart beating angrily in her throat Beverly Crusher tried to keep her eyes on Troi, her mind reeling in a desperate attempt to figure out what just happened. Only after a crazy second did she notice that she couldn't see anything. Her body was clammy with sweat and there was a familiar heat between her legs. With a groan she pushed herself up. "Computer, lights." Her office slowly took form around her. "Yep, you're really keeping it together Bev," she congratulated herself, jumping when her commbadge chirped.

The Captain's voice came in short, clipped words through the channel. "Doctor, prepare a basic medical team for beam-down to Malcor three."

A new surge of adrenaline rushed through her veins. "Aye sir." Without missing a beat she forced stray locks of hair behind her ears, stretched her body and grabbed her medkit off her desk. They'd finally found Riker, thank god! On her way to the transporter room she contacted nurse Ntook. Jean-Luc's voice had been strained, too strained. Riker wasn't going to be in good health.

"Here are the test results Doctor."

Beverly Crusher glanced up from her monitor and smiled at the young Asian woman standing at the other side of her desk. "Thank you Alyssa," she said and took the padd the nurse was holding out to her. Quickly she saved the document she'd been working on and headed for the post-operation cabin with the padd in her hand and nurse Ogawa on her heels.

The results displayed on the padd were promising and she was relieved that the long hours of meticulous surgery had paid off. Commander Riker would be as good as new in a matter of days. The trauma he had sustained during his undercover mission on Malcor had been extensive, and aggravated by the beating he took at the capital's medical facility. Thank the gods they hadn't been thirty seconds later.

She halted next to the observation window and watched the commander's prone body. It shouldn't have surprised her to find Deanna there. Whenever the first officer was hurt Deanna was there to watch over him and vice versa.

Deanna's long, black hair lay in neat curls across her back and her lilac outfit outlined her curves seamlessly. "She's been with him since he came out of surgery." Alyssa clarified from behind her, a hint of curiosity in her bright voice. "I tried to tell her that he needed to rest, but she was very insistent."

"She can be very stubborn." Beverly acknowledged with a barely hidden chuckle and stubbornly refused not to acknowledge the relationship between her two friends. "He is very important to her, and she to him." The nurse looked surprised and Beverly grew uncomfortable under the too inquisitive eyes watching her. "Something wrong?"

Alyssa looked into the post-op cabin and glanced back at her. "I just thought you…never mind."

"What?" She searched the nurse's dark eyes for an answer, but the young woman just shook her head and smiled secretively.

"It's nothing Doctor, just my mind playing tricks with me." Alyssa paused and Beverly could swear she was trying not to giggle. "I have to check on a project. You should talk to her." A little confused Crusher watched her assistant leave. She shrugged her shoulders and entered the cabin.

"How is he?"

Beverly stopped in her tracks. "How did you know it was me?" Troi turned to look at her, and tapped a finger against her temple. "Oh." She hurried to the other side of the bed and forced her attentions on the prone body of her patient. Why was it that she kept forgetting Deanna could sense her feelings?

"How is he?"

Looking up she admitted to herself how desirable the raven-headed woman was. Expressive black eyes drew her into a world of openness and allure. Why did Troi have this kind of power over her? "He'll be fine in a couple of days." Deanna relaxed visibly and reached to brush a wayward lock of hair away from Riker's face. Beverly felt a surge of jealousy at the intimate gesture. "We repaired the internal damage and took care of most of his bruises. He'll need to gain strength, but then he'll be as good as new."

"Thank you." She accepted Troi's heartfelt gratitude with a smile she didn't feel. Her emotions were a mess whenever she thought about Deanna, and now… exactly what was going on between the counselor and the first officer? There was a definite attraction between the two, and affection that went far beyond friendship, everybody on the ship had witnessed it. Even Jean-Luc, and that said something. Perceptive as he was, matters of love were never his strong point. In any case, Deanna insisted she and Riker were just friends, so why was she feeling jealousy at seeing the two together?

She sighed. Once again her attention had drifted away from work. "I'll be in my office."

"We are just friends." Deanna remarked out of nowhere, stopping her from walking out the door. How was the counselor able to react to her thoughts so specifically? She couldn't recall that happening before. "What Will and I shared, back on Betazed, will always be important to me and to him. But those feelings have passed."

Beverly didn't know how to respond. She believed Deanna, but the uncertainty remained. What if Riker fell back in love with her? Why was she even concerned about that? This was driving her crazy!

Frustrated she looked at Deanna, ready to end this madness, but concern washed over her when she saw the counselor's stricken features. "Dea? What's wrong?"

Troi shook her head, sending black curls whispering across pale skin and forced a smile. "I'm fine, it was just a fluke." She didn't buy it for a second.

"What kind of fluke?"

"My empathy," Deanna answered, still obviously distracted, "it sort of spiked."

Without hesitation Beverly crossed the room and drew a tricorder out of her pocket to run a quick check on her friend. "How do you mean?"

"It's nothing. Occasionally my empathic abilities change a little. Some times I pick up less emotions than usual, other times more."

"Well," she dropped the tricorder back in her pocket and let her eyes wander over the younger woman's shapely form, looking for any physical signs of trouble, "you seem to be in perfect health. Are you picking up on more emotions now?"

Why did Deanna seem so reluctant to tell her what she was experiencing? Maybe it was because she wasn't empathic herself, or maybe she mistook translation difficulties for hesitation, Crusher couldn't be sure. "Yes, or no. I'm not sure." The wide eyes watching her filled with just a hint of distress and she suddenly felt wholly inadequate to help her friend. So instead of prodding the counselor for a clearer answer she waited and kept a close eye on any physical signs of distress. "It's gone now." Beverly held her eyes for a long second, certain that there was something Deanna wasn't telling her. "I'm sensing more than I'm used to, but…"

"But what?"

"I'm only sensing you more clearly."

Confused Beverly stared at her friend, absently combing her fingers through her hair. "What does that mean?"

"It doesn't have to mean anything." Their eyes locked and suddenly Crusher knew with complete clarity that Deanna was lying. "It doesn't have to mean anything." Troi repeated and turned back to face the commander.

Without hesitated Beverly stepped forward until she was standing closely behind the empath, she reached out to put her hand on Deanna's shoulder but was stopped by an invisible force. Dejectedly she pulled back. "What could it mean?" She asked instead.

Deanna sighed audibly. "Normally," she began softly, "Betazoids form links with those around them. They allow us to read others more clearly, and identify them more easily." She paused and wrapped her slender fingers around Riker's hand. "Some bonds are fleeting. They last only as long as a conversation and then dissolve. Other links are stronger, like those formed between friends, and others stronger still. Bonds between family members for instance, are unbreakable, they will always exist."

"What does that have to do with…us?" Beverly was all too aware of the fragile environment around them. The air was pressing down on her, almost as if it was trying to stop her from breathing. Low in her stomach an uneasy feeling was festering.

Troi ducked her head, but didn't turn around. "We're good friends and as such there's a link between us. It doesn't affect you at all, but it makes it easier for me to sense how you are feeling. But now the link has gotten a little stronger."

"What would cause that?"

The silence lengthened and thickened, tearing the Doctor between waiting and leaving. With each second that passed, she dreaded the answer more. Riker twitched and checking his readings again provided a welcome distraction. All was stable, the drug-induced coma would allow him a few more uninterrupted hours of healing.

Finally Deanna softly broke the quietness and shocked Beverly so thoroughly with her answer, that she almost dropped her tricorder. "Sex."

"W-what?!" It was only by reflex that she caught the diagnostic device.

Their eyes met across the room, Deanna's calm and confused and if her own emotions were any indication, hers were about to pop out of her head. Her heart raced, bouncing around in her chest and throat. "This change," the empath spoke slowly, flexing perfectly manicured fingers, "I've only ever felt it with people I've been… intimate with."

"But… we-I, you…" She halted her objections and forced herself to take a deep breath. "We didn't… I mean we've never…"

"Had sex," Deanna finished for her. "I know."

"Then how?" She couldn't look away from Troi's dark gaze. "I mean, I would've remembered," she added nervously.

A flash of amusement crossed her friend's features. "I should hope so."

Crushed wanted to scream. Her nerves were fried, this dance that had been going on between them had kept her up night after night and what little sleep she got was filled with dreams so intense they seemed real. And while she was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown, Deanna seemed quite amused with the whole situation!

Whatever she might have said in response, was however cut off by the sudden chirp of a commbadge. "Picard to Troi."

The counselor reached for her pin without looking away. "Yes Captain?"

"Could you meet me in my ready room, we need to discuss our new guest."

"I'm on my way." Beverly watched her friend stand up and check the first officer over before heading for the door. At the last moment Troi half-turned and looked at her apologetically. "I don't know how it happened Beverly, I'm sorry."

Deanna disappeared and the doors closed before she had as much as opened her mouth. With some relief Crushed turned back to her patient, shaking her head. "I'm going crazy," she confided to the unconscious Riker. "I need a shrink." Unfortunately, the resident shrink was the last person she could talk to.

Tbc…

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You may have noticed… still no Beta :( So if anyone's offering… A good kick in the butt might help me to stay on schedule with this story g I'd sure appreciate the help :)