Geordi and Will have a nice talk... Geordi LaForge casually strode into Ten-Forward. As he approached the bar, he saw Commander Will Riker sitting at a table nearby-and to Geordi's surprise, he was alone. These days, the engineer rarely saw the two of them apart. He deduced that either something was wrong in paradise... Or the counselor simply wasn't off her shift yet, and Will was waiting for her.
LaForge chuckled to himself. He decided to walk over to his c.o. and keep him company in the meantime. "Hey, Will. What's on your mind?"
There was a pause as the superior officer took a sip of the liquid from his glass. Then in mid-thought, Geordi added, "Wait. Let me guess...Deanna, right?"
Riker laughed. "How'd you know?"
"It's kind of a given," he said with a smile, "Almost everytime I see you, I see her. You guys are inseperable."
Will took another drink and nodded. "Things must be getting pretty serious," he said with a raised eye-brow. "Indeed," Riker said solemly. "As a matter of fact," he began, lowering his voice a bit, "I'm thinking of asking her to marry me."
Geordi folded his arms, "Now that doesn't surprise me. What took you so long, Will?"
He shook his head and sighed. "A lot of things, Mr. LaForge. I just got lucky, that's all."
Leaning back in his chair, Geordi grinned. "I'll say. What's it been? Eleven years?"
"No, no. More like twenty. Deanna and I knew each other before the Enterprise, remember?"
The chief's eyes went wide from shock, "Twenty years?! You have been wasting time." He gave him a look to be reckoned with. "Hey, I can still beat you at poker."
LaForge took the opportunity to change to subject, "Can Deanna?"
"What? Beat me at poker? Nah. There are some things that she's better at than I am...but I'm not at liberty to say what." The two laughed.
After a moment, Geordi was all seriousness. He stuck out a congradulating hand, which Riker took. "Well, then," he said, "let me be the first to wish you luck. I seriously doubt you'll need it though."
"I hope you're right, Geordi. Otherwise, I'm going to look really stupid."
"Why do you say that?"
Will ran a hand over his face, and looked up at his friend, "Because...I'm going to propose at the officer's dinner tonight. Everyone will be there...including her mother."
At this announcement, LaForge gapped, "What?! Lwaxana Troi's coming?"
"Yep." He shook his head, "The captain's not going to like this...you know how he feels about Deanna's mother." "Small price to pay for the greatest gift of a lifetime."
Geordi stared at him in disbelief, "Boy, when you do something you don't go in half measures, do you?"
Smiling happily, Will said, "Not this time around, my friend. Not this time."

END