Star Struck 8

A few months had passed. Everything was status quo. The Enterprise had been called for diplomatic meetings on Wika 3, and they had gone very smoothly (it was a surprise, since very little was known about the Wikans, but it turned out bald heads were believed to be a sign of wisdom and fairness on Wika.) Picard refused to give in to his feelings, and Melisandre had pushed hers out of the way as well.

Melisandre, Data, and Geordi were in the observation lounge, playing a game of Rummy. Data was researching old Earth card games, and insisted on playing each one. Luckily, Rummy was still played in the 24th century, so unlike Spit, Full Moon, Old Maid, and Widower, he didn't have to teach the others how to play. They were halfway through the fourth hand (Data smearing the others, as usual), when they were paged.

"Engineering to LaForge."

"Geordi here."

"Barclay here, sir. I think something's gone funny in the routing of the life support on Decks five through nine. Could you come down and take a look? Oh, and maybe Data could too?"

"We're on our way. LaForge out." He stood up. "Sorry to rain on the party, 'Lise, but we gotta go. We'll be back as soon as we can."

"No worries!" she said cheerfully. "It won't take long to sort it out, I'm sure."

They left. She sat down and waited.

Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Picard had gotten a communication from Admiral Nechayev. She sent over information regarding Romulan activity near the Neutral Zone, and since the Enterprise was near, she wanted him to be prepared for any surprises. He told Worf, at Communications, to patch in the information to the Observation Lounge, so he could study it. He entered, and balked upon noticing the familiar auburn head in front of him. He approached her.

"Melisandre. I did not expect to find you here."

She leapt out of her chair, startled. "Sir!"

"At ease," he said stiffly. His brain was yelling at him to relax.

"I'm sorry, sir. Do you need the room? I could go out…" she said, hesitantly.

"No!" he said earnestly, and then, to cover, he added quickly, "Stay, you'll know all this later in any case."

He sat down, motioned toward the chair beside him, where she promptly sat, and activated the screen. He went through the material in depth – she was too distracted to take in much. She didn't know it, but he was distracted as well.

Afterwards, while he was making notes about the information, she stood at the window and gazed at the stars zipping past.

"Lovely, aren't they?" she suddenly heard a voice directly behind her.

She jumped slightly, as she hadn't heard him approach. "Yes…" she sighed.

"I can think of something lovelier," he said quietly. "She's here with me." She turned her head slowly, and met his eyes. They gazed into her own. She didn't know what to say, and said so. "There is no need to say anything," he said, still very quietly, and reached over and touched her cheek gently. "To me, your very thoughts mean more than the universe itself."

They stood silently for a while, just looking at each other. Then, Melisandre turned her head back to the stars. "Sir," she whispered, "do you really think this of me?"

He smiled at her warmly. "I do." He put his arms around her, and held her to him, his head over her shoulder, both looking out at the stars together. He rested his chin on the top of her head, and sighed.

She turned her head back to look at him, and felt a thrill go up her spine as she noticed his eyes, a darker grey than usual, gaze deeply into hers. She felt her body move closer to his without her conscious bidding.

"'Lise," he breathed, and stroked her hair gently.

She looked up at him, and responded, "Captain," in a voice just as enraptured.

"Jean-Luc," he corrected her in an almost inaudible whisper, and bent down. She had barely a second to react before she realised he had brought his lips to hers and was softly kissing her. She nearly collapsed, and held on to him tighter, which in turn prompted him to kiss her more passionately. After a moment to gather what was left of her wits, she responded. They lost themselves in one another's embrace.

And that was when Data and Geordi walked back in.

Geordi's mouth fell open. He turned away from the couple, who were obviously unaware of his presence, and silently withdrew. Data, however, had no such tact. "Excuse me, sir, are we bothering you?"

Jean-Luc and Melisandre jerked apart, much to her dismay. She had been quite wrapped up in his kiss and had not wanted to leave his arms. "Mr. Data!" he cried, not sure what to do with himself. Feeling his face turn an uncomfortable shade of red, he turned back to the window. She touched his shoulder gently, and he rewrapped her in his arms, but Data still stood there. Melisandre turned her head to him, despite the red staining her cheeks, and whispered "Data, we're sort of... busy."

He opened his mouth to reply, but she made a shooing gesture with her hands, and he finished with an "Oh!" and promptly left.

Unfortunately, the moment had passed. They faced each other, blushing and stammering.

"I—"

"We—"

"It was—"

"I wish—"

She suddenly laughed, and the tension broke. She found herself once again in his arms being kissed.

The next morning, she felt like walking on air. She met Deanna on her way to the Bridge and flashed her a smile that would have continued off her face if it could. Deanna stopped and put her hands on her hips.

"Alright. Spill. What's going on?"

Melisandre continued smiling. "I had such a lovely evening last night..." she said dreamily.

Deanna tapped her foot. "Well?"

"The Captain and I spent the evening together in the Observation Lounge..."

"And?" Deanna had felt things and she thought she was imagining them. If they were true – well, that would be a very good thing for both parties involved.

Melisandre leaned close and whispered conspiratorially, "He kissed me."

Deanna did a little dance in her brain. Suppressing the "YES!" that she wanted to yell, she grinned and whispered back, "And how was it?"

Melisandre closed her eyes. "Wow."

"Who would have thought? Picard, the dashing starship captain, sweeping the love of his life – an officer from Engineering – off her feet." Deanna giggled. Melisandre grinned – sometimes girlfriends were terribly fun.

Melisandre was pacing her quarters, worried. All during the Staff Meeting Jean-Luc did not even meet her eyes. He paid no attention to her at all while she spent an entire shift on the bridge, most of it alone, poring over binary sheets and writing programs. She greeted him when he passed by her station, and got only a distant nod. And after last night! She had felt her hold on reality slip when he kissed her – and now, nothing. Not a sausage.

She bent down and picked up a book that had fallen off the table, and replaced it. Her hands shook – she knocked a coffee cup over and spilled its contents. She replicated a dust cloth, wiped the table clean, replaced the book. Then, she put on some light music, sat down on the sofa, and sighed. She stared at the cover of the enormous Shakespeare volume, lying on the sofa seat next to hers, and when the door signal rang she fell off the chair.

"Coming!" She scrambled to her feet, and opened the door.

In front of her was Jean-Luc. "'Lise. May I come in?"

She moved aside dumbly. He walked in and surveyed her quarters with interest, as he had never visited her before. With a smile he turned to her, and moved to take her into his arms. She took a hesitant step back.

"Sir?"

"My dearest," he said, softly as ever. He again tried to embrace her, but she withdrew, terribly confused.

"Sir, I don't know what to think," she faltered, seeing his eyes so warmly set on hers. "After last night... and your behaviour to me all day..."

He suddenly realised what he had done. "Oh, 'Lise!" he cried. "I did not mean to make you feel rejected, for that is the last thing you are. I just... I haven't the faintest idea how to break this to the crew, and—"

She narrowed her eyes. "How to break this to the crew, sure, but when Geordi and Data happen to walk in on us? Geordi I'm not worried about, but Data is endlessly untactful and naive and by now I'm sure most of the ship knows."

She watched, surprised, as this registered in his brain and he promptly dropped onto the chair behind him. "You mean... everyone knows about my...feelings towards you..." he trailed off.

She realised how hard it would be for him to accept this. She sat down next to him and took one of his hands in both of hers. She paused, took a deep breath, and said, "I know this is hard, sir—"

"Jean-Luc. Please," he said.

"J-J-Jean-Luc... sir! I can't call you that, sir, it feels like insubordination!" He had quite effectively succeeded in drawing her away from the subject she was trying to bring up.

"It is not insubordination if it's you." He moved towards her for the third time, embraced her, and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "My lovely 'Lise..." She looked up from his feet to meet his eyes, and their lips met. She put her hand to his neck and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him and holding her close. She felt warm, loved, safe.

He ended the kiss and rested his cheek against hers. "I guess the cat's out of the bag."

"Yes, sir." She snuggled closer, and he smiled.

"Then, why don't we make it official and go over to Ten Forward for a drink?" He got up and offered her his arm.

She took it and laid her head on his shoulder. "I would be delighted."

They made their way, hand in hand (despite the looks and whispers that followed them and the red cheeks they bore), to Ten Forward, ordered drinks, and chose a quiet table in the corner. Melisandre nestled snugly in the crook of his arm, and they leaned into each other. Reaching up to touch his cheek, she asked him, "And why won't you tell me how your day was?"

He smiled down at her over his teacup. "Uneventful – that is, until now". He bent down and brushed a kiss on her head. "And yours?"

"I think it was missing a great deal of a certain Captain," she said, mischievously and with a sparkle in her eye.

He gently raised her chin and kissed her. "Better?"

"Much." She kissed him back.

From then on, Melisandre and Jean-Luc were official. He would stop by her station whenever he passed and would smile at her, kiss her hand, or just give some small sign of affection. Every time he passed her face would light up and he would wonder how he never realised how lovely she was. Of course, that was all in his head, she wasn't anything more than vaguely pretty, but to him she was the most beautiful of all.

The rest of the bridge crew were relieved that they weren't a particularly exhibitionist couple. They were quiet and never were all over each other during duty hours. Things went on as usual on the bridge in particular and on the Enterprise in general, except suddenly Jean-Luc would appear more often at Ten Forward, usually with Melisandre in tow, but not necessarily. He would occasionally come to the more exciting chess matches (usually Will or Data playing), and cheer with the crowd. He grew to be a bit more social – not much, but just enough to have everyone be more comfortable around him.