Busted

'I was devastated after you broke up with me. That's why I tried to avoid you as long as I could.'

Denise was sitting on the edge of Christopher's bed, staring blankly at her hands. They had released him from the hospital two days before, and now he wanted to hear what had happened to her after the USS Enterprise left the planet. She wasn't happy about the idea at first, but didn't resist in the end, and went way back before the Nero incident. The admiral was listening to her every word, watching her lips moving as she was talking.

'All the days and evenings and nights we spent together,' she started and trailed off immediately, looking for the right description of the situation. 'You know, it was hard to forget them. I loved you, I still do, but for a while I was blaming myself for the break-up.' Again, she stopped, sipping with a faint smile on her lips. 'I was stupid, believing in finding a way to get you back.'

Finally Christopher was able to tear away his gaze from her, looking out of the window instead. There were so many things he wanted to tell her and another thousand that he wanted to do, but he just couldn't get himself to open his mouth.

'And then,' Denise went on, her voice trembling, 'I found out you had made sure I stayed on Earth during the so-called rescue mission of Vulcan. I was left behind, alone, knowing you were out there and in danger. I wasn't angry at you anymore. How the hell could I have been? I mean, you told me something like "if I die, I want you to know" before you left. I simply couldn't believe it, I couldn't process it properly, since I didn't even want to think about losing you in the first place,' she finished with a sigh.

'What about Dylan?' he asked after a short pause and, when Denise gave him a questioning look, he went on. 'When did you two get back together?'

'He asked me out about two or three weeks after we had broken up,' she replied calmly, running a hand through her hair. 'I thought it can help me forget you. Going out with someone else, maybe falling in love with him again... At the beginning I believed I was wrong, but it turned out quite nicely.'

Silence fell on the room, and its awkwardness made Christopher shiver. Ever since she had visited him in the hospital for the first time, he had been thinking about the months they had spent together, and the fact he missed her more than anything else in the world. And now there she was, sitting so close to him.

Maybe there was a way to take back all the words, all the lies he had told her, but he couldn't think of any at the moment. She was dating someone else and was trying hard to forget him. It would have been too selfish from him to remind her of her old feelings, to ask her to dig out all of them out again, so they could have a fresh start.

Denise took a deep breath as she stood up and was now pacing back and forth in the room. 'I think my mother knows everything. About us, I mean,' she said, suddenly stopping and turning towards him. 'When the distress call came, Dad was in the Laurentian system, so we were alone here. She... I don't know, she made a couple of suspicious comments.'

'I know,' Christopher replied. When the woman gave him an angry look, he defensively raised his hands. 'She visited me a day after you. We had quite an interesting conversation about it.'

Jeremy had to go back to the academy, but Martha wanted to stay for another few minutes. Her expression didn't give away her intentions, so the moment she closed the door and asked the question she was eager to hear the answer for, Christopher found himself taken aback.

'What did you screw up this time?' she asked seriously, standing at the leg of the bed with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

'Excuse me?' the admiral asked slowly.

Shaking her head, Martha started to talk. 'Since you're my husband's best friend, I met a couple of your girlfriends in the past, and I really would like to know what did you do this time? After the Enterprise came back, and Dr. McCoy was performing a surgery on you, Denise was... I don't even know what word I could use, because she was extremely worried about you. She was going on and on about how rude she had been the last time you'd talked.'

The admiral was still shocked, wondering whether he was hallucinating. 'How do you know about us?' he asked after he had realized it was happening for real. His best friend's wife had just found out he had been dating their daughter. 'She told you?'

'Oh, Christopher,' Martha started with a nonchalant wave of her hand, 'she's my daughter; I know when she's in love. And like I said, I know you. Plus I saw the look in your eyes whenever you looked at her. I know you loved her, too,' she added with a smile.

'I still do,' Christopher corrected her.

'Then why is she dating Dylan again?' Surprisingly, she didn't look angry, only a bit upset because of the fact her daughter was dating that doctor. 'I know he's around her age, they were together before, he's a nice guy, a doctor and many other things, but I don't think she loves him.'

Christopher let out a heavy sigh and shrugged. 'It's complicated,' was all he said in response.

'Of course it is, but you should try, because she's still in love with you. Trust me.'

'Does Jeremy know all this?'

'No,' she replied immediately with a smile. 'Not until you two tell him yourselves.' And with that, she fled out of the room.

'You were right,' said Denise, after he had finished the story. 'It's complicated. That's why it doesn't matter anymore how we feel. You don't want to risk anything, so you chose not to be with me, and I accept that.'

Christopher opened his mouth to object, but quickly closed it. He had left out the part about him still loving her for a good reason, there was no way he would destroy everything with his own needs. She was happy, or at least she was trying to be: a normal life, a normal boyfriend and, of course, no more hiding. She deserved it.

'Anyway,' Denise spoke up in a happier tone with a wide smile on her lips. 'How's physiotherapy going? Dylan told me to ask you if I'm interested.'

'It's good,' he replied, happily changing the topic to something less personal. 'According to my physiotherapist I'll be perfectly healthy in about a week.'

Denise's eyes widened in surprise. 'Wow, that's fast. But I'm glad to hear that. You know what? Once you're fine, I'll take you out and we'll celebrate it.' As soon as she had finished the sentence, the young woman realized what she had just said. It sounded like a date. 'I mean, I'll organize a little party somewhere,' she quickly corrected herself.

'Yeah, I thought you wanted to say something like that,' he told her quietly. 'It wouldn't be wise to go anywhere together and alone.'

'Well, I'm here with you and we're alone,' she informed him.

'And it's already awkward enough, Denise.' The woman raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. 'Oh, come on. Don't act like you haven't noticed,' he said angrily. 'We can't even talk to each other anymore. You're still hurt, and I'm still struggling to stay away from you, but we still try to act like that was fine.'

Denise was taken aback from the admiral's sudden outburst, since it came out of nowhere. But, at the same time, she knew he was right. She was still hurt, and even if she was dating Dylan, all she wanted was Christopher. Now that he was talking honestly, Denise decided to do the same.

'You know what? Fine, let's be honest from now on. I love you; I've already told you that like half an hour ago. I tried to get over you, but I couldn't. And for your information, I'm only seeing Dylan because I'm stupid enough to believe it's enough to forget my feelings for you. And do you know what is it called that we are doing right now? Torture and masochism.'

'I think it would be the best if you just left.'

'What?'

It was hard. He was fighting himself, and didn't want to say this, but he had no other choice. 'I don't want you to be here,' he said. 'I love you, and I really want you back, but it's not enough. We can't be together, it's... absurd.'

'Absurd, my ass. This is bullshit, you're simply afraid of what others would say. Why the do you have to be so fucking stubborn?' she shouted hysterically. 'If you change your mind, I'll give Dylan a call and break up with him right away. Just remember that, okay? Because I want you, and I really need you.' She didn't wait for his answer, simply grabbed her handbag and left the house without saying anything else.

Christopher knew she was right, and he also knew he was stubborn and afraid. Maybe, if they told Jeremy the truth so they wouldn't have to hide anymore, he would get back together with her. Yes, that was the only way he was willing to let his emotions win over his rationality again.

It was an average Wednesday evening. Christopher was at home, writing reports because someone had forgot to tell him that the deadline had been changed, so he only had one night to finish all of them. Well, normally it wouldn't have been a problem and it would have been an average evening, but this time Denise was there with him. She was talking on her phone in the living room while he was trying to concentrate on the report. It was hard, because he heard the girl's voice from outside and it filled his ears like music.

A few minutes later the door slowly opened and Denise waltzed in, quickly occupying the small empty area on the desk. She sat there with crossed legs, wearing a short skirt with stilettos - if something, then this definitely distracted him from his job for good. Looking up, he met her dark blue eyes. 'I have to go,' she said simply.

'You do?' he asked, moving his chair so he was sitting in front of her. Actually she told him she would stay until next morning and now she was telling him she had to go. He wasn't happy about it. Oh no, he was far from that. In the last three weeks he became a bit possessive and selfish when it came to Denise. For some reason - good reason - he wanted her to be by his side, to be close to him.

'Lisa called me and she's currently panicking about the exam. She called a couple of guys from the class and we're going to study at her place tonight.'

'Shouldn't you... I don't know... sleep and relax?'

'We'll write the exam tomorrow afternoon. I'll sleep in the morning. And, by the way, I wouldn't sleep much if I stayed here, either,' she pointed out with a devilish smirk on her lips.

'True,' he nodded in agreement. 'But you would be relaxed.'

'You got me here,' she replied with a small chuckle as she relocated herself so she was now sitting in his lap. 'I still have an hour to get there. If you really want to, you can help me relax now,' she whispered into his ear, slowly kissing his jaw and neck.

'Well, if that's the case, I think I can give these reports a break,' he added with a smile, running his hands up on her back before gently grabbing her neck and pulling her back a little bit so he could kiss her. She didn't resist - she let him do whatever he wanted.

A/N: OMG, it's been like forever, since I last updated any of my fanfictions. Let alone writing in English, since I've been concentrating on my original, Hungarian stories. But anyway, I reread all of them, rewatched Star Trek XI, and finally decided to write another (quite short and lame) chapter.

If I get feedback from you, I might go on with it :)

Sweet Executioner