But his mouth went dry from more than the weather when she approached him finally. Sweat darkened the front of her uniform tank, creating a vee, causing the material to cling to the inner rise of her breasts. He looked away, before she could catch him leering. As she drew near, he could smell her sweat, mingled with soap and shampoo and the light fragrance she wore.
She stood in front of him, hypospray in hand. Wordlessly, he obliged her, turning so she could administer the analgesic. "Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"
"Probably not." His voice was hoarse. She rummaged in the medkit, coming out with a bone knitter. "Should we not fix your wrist first, Doctor?"
"No." She nodded, a rueful grin lifting her lips. "I'll only be tempted to use it in that case. And I shouldn't." She stepped into him again, her thigh brushing his as she ran the knitter over his collar bone. He closed his eyes, With him sitting and her standing, her chest was far too accessible.
She felt him tense. "Does that hurt? It shouldn't..."
No, that didn't hurt. But something else was going to be painful in a few moments. He shifted, but that only emphasized her leg's contact with his. He opened his eyes to see the freckles that scattered over her chest and arms. He felt sweat rolling down his spine.
A few more moments passed. "There." She said, tentatively prodding the area with her fingers. "Better?"
Not trusting his voice, he nodded.
"Remember, this isn't the same as in sickbay. All I did was close the break, it's not as strong a repair as if I had a real regenerator."
He tried to focus on her words, but she was tugging at his shirt now, gingerly pulling it up from his trousers, lifting it above his injured ribs. He could not stifle a groan when her fingers touched his side.
"Do you need more analgesic?" She looked at him, her face level with his as she bent to inspect the injury.
"Ah... no." he rasped. "It's just... the heat."
She raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. She had to adjust their positions to properly get to the area with her left hand. She stood between his legs.
His torture was complete.
Her freckled shoulder taunted his mouth. His teeth practically itched with need. He closed his eyes again, trying to concentrate on anything else. The stifling hot air seemed to press around them like a sentient being. When the hum of the instrument ended, he felt her fingers brushing across his ribs. He could not stop the shudder that ran through him.
"Jean-Luc?" He opened his eyes. Her fathomless blue eyes searched his, "Are you-" she broke off, reading the smoldering in his gaze. Her lips parted, she might have whispered, "Oh" as his look stirred something deep within her.
She had placed her hand on his thigh when she turned to face him. He discreetly lifted it, clearing his voice. "Shall I see to your wrist now?"
The tables were turned. She finally saw the naked longing and relief in his face when he looked at her.
Oh.
"Um, yes. Thank you." Suddenly she was as parched as the sand and dusty grey-brown rock surrounding them. For long seconds she stood, just looking at him. Then she broke out of her trance, pulling away with a pang of regret.
She loaded a hypospray and handed it to him; Moved closer and tipped her head, baring her neck. Thankfully the voices of the others broke through, because he might have set his lips where the medication was supposed to be administered.
Her expression softened, he had not realized how painful her injury was, she had disregarded herself while treating the others.
Taking a deep breath, she returned to the medkit. She brought him a two piece splint, and a roll of elastic tape bandage. All their technology, and field trauma care had not evolved past this since the twentieth century.
"We can't knit the bones here, the wrist is too delicate, they have to be lined up perfectly and we don't have the equipment." She explained to him, her voice husky. "If you'll just wrap it, that will keep it until the Enterprise arrives."
He nodded. "Here," He motioned, rising. "Sit."
She exchanged places with him, holding her right arm out. He stepped forward, his knee bumping hers. Their positions put his chest at her eye level. Sweat had moulded the soft knit tank top to his torso. His muscles were well defined, testament to his discipline in his personal life.
His fingers on hers, his hand cradling hers, despite the injury, started a quiver somewhere under her diaphragm.
She placed the splint, then held it with her left hand so he could start the wrap. His overwhelming male scent surrounded her. Sweat and soap and... Jean-Luc. She studiously watched him wrap, his careful fingers mesmerizing her. Their fingers brushed when he had enough wrapped, before she could pull hers away. Then he cradled her right arm, just above the wrist, steadying it while he finished. She actually felt the backs of her knees sweat when he absently stroked his thumb on the soft flesh of her inner arm.
"All right?" She realized he'd spoken.
"Um..." She found she had to wet her lips. "Yes. You paid attention in class." Her eyes were still glued to his hands, his fingers... her thoughts straying to where else those fingers would be careful and competent.
He had not let go of her arm, his thumb still traced back and forth. She never knew that was an erotic zone for her. The air seemed to roll in waves all around them, the white dwarf radiating the last of it's life.
They remained there, dumbly, for what seemed ages until Data brought them two bottles of water from the emergency rations. Beverly expected Jean-Luc to spring apart from her, caught in the act. He did not. In fact, he accepted his water from Data with thanks, then sat next to her.
Close enough that his arm rubbed against hers. Close enough she felt the bunched muscles of his biceps clearly. Close enough to melt her in ways the searing heat could not.
She distracted herself by looking over to where Will and Deanna were. Despite the heat, they too sat very closely. Will leaned back against the bottom of the shuttle, Deanna sitting more upright, but with her hand on Will's thigh. Their connection was clear.
Maybe it was some property of the white dwarf. Some energy or radiation it was throwing off as a last gasp before it's death... No, those two had been pulling away and pushing together since she'd known them. Twin moons in elliptical orbit, sometimes taking the wide path, but always coming back to each other.
Whereas she and Jean-Luc... she sighed into the shimmering heat. Felt his infinitely hotter warmth against her. Her wrist throbbed as the analgesic started to wear off. She knew Will's shoulder, Deanna's head, and Jean-Luc's collarbone and ribs would be aching. She hoped the Enterprise was not too far out...
Giving voice to her thoughts, Jean-Luc said, "They should have received our distress call by now."
"I hope so." Her voice was weary, her pounding head reminding her she had lost consciousness for a time. "You don't think they'll be caught in the... whatever it was... we encountered in the debris field?" It had not even occurred to her before now.
"If they follow procedure-and Worf will-they will come to us first. They knew what we were investigating when we sent the distress beacon." He amazed her, reaching his hand up to push a loose lock of hair off her sweaty cheek.
"I thought I'd lost you." His voice quiet, but rife with feeling, he looked at her. "I had a very bad moment when I could not get to you, and did not know if you were breathing." His fingers had lingered after tucking her hair behind her ear. His thumb now feathered her lips.
She was lost for words, lost in the hazel storm of his eyes.
"I know you said you didn't want this..." His glance followed his thumb, to her lips.
She reached up her left hand, capturing his. "I didn't say I didn't want it." She whispered, anguish clear.. "I said maybe we should be afraid."
To her horror, she felt tears building in her eyes. They had danced around each other, ignored what had happened after that. She never meant she didn't want it, but once she understood how he had interpreted her answer, once she knew how badly she had hurt him, she did not know how to go back and fix it.
His eyes came back up to meet hers. Astonishment and hope warred on his features, tempered with caution. He couldn't stand it if she was toying with him. Leading him on... teasing him... again... he admitted. He felt like she had led him on and then thrown him into the vacuum of space to suffocate when she had walked away from him.
"Afraid of what?" He finally asked aloud the question that haunted him since.
"Afraid of what happens if we give in to this. Afraid of the strength of it... " She could not explain what she felt; the enormity of the fear within her that once she gave herself to him, once she took him to herself, she would never be able to stand without him again. That together they were exponentially so much more than what they were individually-and once they became that, they would not survive apart. She had never admitted they already were.
"I cannot imagine being afraid of anything more than I was afraid I had lost you just an hour ago." His voice was uncharacteristically hoarse. "To have lost you without ever being able to love you..."
Fire hotter than any dying star burned in her at his words, at the look of longing in his eyes. She could have lost him just as easily. Every day of their lives was a risk, just one they became accustomed to. She acknowledged part of her would die now if she lost him.
She still could not find the right words, all she could do was repeat, "I never said I didn't want it..." Her hand let go of his, raised to his face, traced his cheekbone. Her fingers stopped on his lips.
And then he did the one thing that astonished her beyond any other. He kissed her. In front of Data, Deanna and Will. In the shadow of a wrecked shuttle, on a planet that might have been the understudy for hell, he kissed her.
It started out gentle, questing... But once she got over her shock, she moved into him, met him, opened to him...
Deanna did not need to open her eyes to know what was finally going right between her Captain and her best friend. Her hand on Will's thigh squeezed gently. He glanced down at her, and saw the beatific smile on her lips. She sent him just a glimpse of the sizzle of emotion going on in the shade next to them and he looked over. A huge grin lit his features. Not one for voyeurism, he settled his arm around Deanna's shoulder, and closed his eyes. Now was a great time for an old fashioned siesta while they waited for the Enterprise.
Data had been dutifully and efficiently gathering together the emergency supplies that had been strewn over the inside of the shuttle. While his calculations had the Enterprise making contact within the next two hours, they needed to be prepared for a longer wait. He was bringing an additional supply of water to the shaded area where his crewmates rested.
As he came out of the cargo bay door, he noted the silence. As he rounded the corner, he saw Commander Riker and Counsellor Troi with smiles on their faces, and their eyes closed. He looked over to where the Captain and the Doctor were seated, and raised an eyebrow. He had always noted a certain extra tension between the two officers, but upon inquiry, had learned of their long history and shared past. Now though, the tension between them made much more sense. He quietly placed the water down next to the shuttle, and retreated back within. He was sure there were more supplies he could gather.
The Captain and the Doctor finally separated slightly, the low oxygen was not conducive to extended kissing. Jean-Luc's hands had wandered from her hair, to her throat, to her arms... one of his hands rested now on her ribcage, just below her breast, restless on the soft knit tank top.
Her right arm had found it's way over his shoulder, her elbow resting, her arm supporting the injured wrist, the non-injured fingers finding and playing with the close cropped hair that fringed his scalp. Her left hand rested against his heart, her palm burning, branding him.
Catching his breath, he said so very softly, "You didn't mean you didn't want this?"
She leaned her forehead against his, each slick with sweat, closing her eyes. "No. I definitely didn't mean I did not want this."
It took a few moments for a muffled chirp to make it's way to their awareness. Eyes widened simultaneously when they recognized it. Pulling gently away from the Doctor, the Captain fumbled for his jacket, reaching for his communicator. A tap, then, "Enterprise to Captain Picard..." in Worf's low rumble.
"Picard here, Mr. Worf. It's good to hear from you." His eyes met the Doctor's, full of promises of things to come. "Five to beam up."
A shimmer of icy blue captured them, whisking them away from the white heat.