Ball of Yarn
p_co07@yahoo.com



  "Yay or Nay, Commander?" Picard’s  voice startled
him as he suddenly  snapped out of his daydream.
Looking around he noticed all eyes were on him waiting
for a response.
   "Sir?"  
  "Your vote, Commander."
  "Yay, Sir." He whispered.
    With a quick nod of his head, Picard  solemnly
stated, "Very well then. All information that has been
voiced in this room will remain classified. You are
not to discuss what has  been disclosed in today’s
meeting. That is a direct order. This meeting is
closed."

Everyone in the room rose from their chairs to leave.
Riker began to rise out of his chair only to find
himself  standing face to face with Deanna Troi. He
nervously swallowed.
    "Thank you for that vote!" She said in a
sarcastic tone.  Flipping her hair, she stomped out of
the ready room.

"Oh great,"   he thought, "not only do I not have a
clue as to what just happened, of all things, Deanna’s
definitely upset with me. There’s no way that I can
even defend myself. Hell, I don’t even know what I
did.   What did I vote on?  What did I just agree to?
For all I know, the Federation could be preparing  an
all out blood bath war, and my clueless concurrence,
just declared it. It seemed as though I heard most of
the meeting, except the last few minutes of it.  Last
thing I remember was looking  across the table. I saw
those eyes,  those beautiful ebony eyes.  Suddenly my
brain  became Klingon gagh, and I couldn’t concentrate
anymore. When I get lost in those eyes,  the seconds
seem to turn into minutes. The minutes soon turn into
hours. How much of the meeting did I miss?  Just what
the hell did I vote on?  Whatever  it was, it didn’t
make Deanna happy. Riker, damn it. You’ve got to get a
hold of yourself. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in.
Breath out."

    Slowly walking out of the ready room, Riker made
his way to Ten Forward.  Standing in the turbo lift,
his thoughts drifted back to what had gotten him into
this mess in the first place, her.  He could not stop
thinking about her. She was the first thing, and also
the last thing he wanted on his mind.  Somehow he had
to focus; he had to stop this.  It was affecting his
performance as a Starfleet officer. It was affecting
his performance as a person.
   Deanna had changed; she was no longer the young
girl he once knew on Betazed. She had been his lover,
but that was a long time ago, and he had gotten over
that, hadn’t he?  She had always been his favorite
person to spend time with. She was different. She
wasn’t as *stiff * as she used to be.  He’d never
really seen this side of her before. She was totally
confidant. She knew exactly what her abilities and
limitations were.   She had learned to relax more. It
was as if she knew exactly what she was, why she was,
and how she was. She had learned to totally accept
herself as being who she was.  Not only did he enjoy
talking to her,  she was just  *fun* to be with. He
had discovered a whole new side of her.  He was also
discovering that he was falling, hopelessly in love
with her all over again.

     The doors to Ten Forward hissed open.   Riker
looked about the room. His usual table was empty.   He
noticed Beverly  and Deanna sitting  together.  He
acknowledged their presence with a slight nod, after
receiving what he considered a cold shoulder. He
rubbed his brow, and let out a slow breath. He decided
it was safer just to keep on walking. He might of just
screwed up the whole universe with that damn vote, but
he wasn’t blind. He could definitely see that he
wasn’t wanted.  After getting a drink from the bar, he
headed for his table against the far wall.

   "Now who’s being evil?"
   "What?"  Deanna asked almost laughing.
   "Deanna, look at him. He’s walking around like his
favorite pet just died."
   Glancing quickly over at Will (who was sitting
now) , she sipped  her hot chocolate. Turning  her
head back towards  Beverly, she snickered , " He does
look rather pathetic doesn’t he?"

  "What you did to him  in the ready room." Beverly
said.  Then slowly   leaning forward , she smiled
while whispering,  "Although it was rather brilliant,
I might add."  Sitting straight up in her seat, she
continued, " He honestly thinks ...  Deanna, when he
finds out, he’s going to be.."
  "I’m  certainly not afraid of Will Riker." Deanna
laughed.  "He is the one who always told me that I
should develop my sense of humor.  He exercises his
humor the majority of the time  at my mother’s
expense.  Last year when she was going through the
‘phase’,  he made jokes about that for days."

  "Are you going to  tell him?"
  "Are you kidding?" She said laughing in disbelief.
"It’s like you said, "when he finds out", and both of
us knows he will …eventually."
  "You have to promise me front row seats for this
one."

  "Beverly, he didn’t have a clue as to what we were
voting on.  There’s a part of Will Riker  that is too
proud to ask anyone. I’m pretty certain he will try to
charm his way for information as to what he actually
consented to.   He will never reveal to anyone, that
he was floating around in his own little universe
during  the last five minutes of the meeting. He
blindly voiced his ballot; instead of just admitting
to the fact that his brain was in the alpha quadrant."
   Beverly agreed, saying , "He also knows we are
under orders not to discuss what was said in there.
Not even to one another. Which is going to make it
more difficult for him to discover what he cast a vote
on."

" I know.  Perfect, isn’t it?"  Deanna said, looking
over her shoulder at Will, who looked now more
pathetic than he did when he first came in.

   "Do you feel the least bit repentant for setting
him up like this?"

  " He does look moderately miserable, doesn’t he?
Perhaps I should tell him the truth." Deanna stated in
a sympathetic tone. 
  "I will tell him the truth."  Deanna declared.
"That would be the  proper thing to do."   Pausing,
she turned and  glanced toward Will one more time. "On
his sixty-third  birthday." Adding just as quickly as
she turned back around.

"Why Deanna Troi, you are  a mischievous  little
kitten aren’t you?"  Beverly said with a devilish
grin.  Deanna returned Beverly’s  grin with one of
her own.

   " I should warn you." Beverly said cautiously,
nodding  slightly, trying to  conceal  the fact that
the  First Officer, was now standing directly behind
Deanna.  "When your   *ball of yarn*   finds out that
the only thing  we voted on was an  *early lunch* 
he’s going to come unwound."

The End. (Maybe J)