on the Betazoid sky. Its orange, blue and yellow hues
radiated off of the small waterfall as it cascaded
down the side of the cliffs—casting brilliant pearl
like shadows across a small body of water.

Both watched in silence and were marveled at the brilliant

sight before them, as they lay on the blanket that they had

spread across the green lush grass of the jungle.

He sat with his legs stretched straightforward and both hands behind
his back supporting his upper torso, "Deanna?" he
finally said in a whisper never taking his eyes off of
the objects his eyes had just targeted.

"Hmmm?" she responded quietly. She was sitting with
her legs drawn up and her chin resting securely on her
knees as the motion of the waterfall had an almost
hypnotizing effect upon her senses.

"Look over there." Will whispered. His finger pointed
towards something to the left of him in a wide opened
lush green area of the jungle.

Slowly removing her gaze from the waterfall. She
followed the tip of his finger with her eyes and came
upon the sight of a small herd of Betazoidian Brahman
that was nurturing and feeding its young. The male
animal was very masculine looking, with its rich dark
chocolate colored fur. It stood with its head held
high magnificently stout and proud, unmoving it turned its
huge neck from side to side attempting to sense and target

any threats of danger. It stood ever so protectively over
the younger Brahman and it’s mother. The young bovine was

content and eagerly excepted the food its mother was gently
offering.

"What is that she’s feeding him?" Riker asked, full
of wonderment; never before had he noticed such a
sight in the jungle.

"It’s an edible Betazed insect called Tara-supt. I
would say that the younger bovine is male. The
parents are preparing him for mating."

"Mating? It’s just a baby."

"I know." She giggled slightly. "You see the male
Brahman consume it to eventually attract a female.
After so many years of digesting the insect it will
eventually affect the mating Brahmans vocal cords.
When the little one is older he will command a female
and she in return will respond to the sound of his
voice. They then will become mates for the duration
of their lives."

"You amaze me." He stated with a mischievous grin.

"How so?"

"Oh the fact that you not only are an extraordinary
Counselor. You’re also quite insightful on the fundamentals
of zoology."

"Shhhhh." She scolded him, deciding to ignore his
gibe. "You’ll disturb them." referring to the family of

Brahman.

He raised his hands up in silent surrender.

"The Brahman’s voice is one of the first things the
female will notice about him." She continued.

"When we entered the Briar Patch—remember that first
day in the library. What did you notice first?"

His question made her look at him. She slowly turned
her head towards him so that now her cheek was resting
upon her knees. "Noticed first? About
you?"

"Yeah. What was it about me that made you start to
flirt with me?"

"I didn’t flirt." she rebuffed in mock laughter.

"Okay…let’s just say you didn’t flirt." He stated
without argument. "Allow me to rephrase the question.
What was it that you first noticed about me that day
that allowed me to understand that you
were...interested?"

"Well…you simply commanded and I quote. 'Take a look
at this.' Unquote."

He noticed the playful banter in her voice and the
sparkle of light in her ebony eyes as she slowly moved
towards him. "So…" she continued as her body came
slowly closer to his. Finally resting her lips atop of his
she whispered, "I did." The kiss was soft and sweet
and lingering. He closed his eyes and responded to
the softness of her lips. Slowly the kiss ended and Deanna

backed away from his face slowly. "I simply responded to

the command in your voice." She added coyly.

"I see." He said with a slight nod of his head. "Just
like the female Betazodian animal over there."

Deanna had shifted herself and was now resting with
her head on his lap. Looking up at him she smiled;
her lips still glistened from their earlier kiss. "I
had to obey my Commanding officer didn’t I?"

"I was referring to the computer screen that day. We
were there to do research on the Ba’ku, and the duck
blind mission remember?" He reminded her with a lopsided grin.

"And we ended up doing research on each other."

"But unlike our little friends over there we
fortunately had to strip ourselves of our clothing."

"I remember that." She raised her arm and with her
hand moved the stubborn hair that always found it’s
way across his forehead. God’s when she did that,
every memory, every erotic thought he had experienced,
dreamed of, or participated in suddenly flashed before
his eyes filling his mind. The sight of her naked
body under his, the expression on her face and in her eyes
during climax—the lust----the passion, all of this in an
instant flooded his mind.

"When you play with my hair, you know what that does to
me don’t you?" he asked quietly looking down at her as
she rested her head on his lap. He asked the question
knowing she already knew the answer.

She could feel his now growing erection against the
back of her head. She looked up at him and smiled. "I
think so…..My pillow is getting a little hard." She
said referring to his growing member. She moved
her head slightly so that the back of her head caused
more friction to the sensitive area.

Raising an eyebrow with his lips slightly curled up on
one side; he adjusted himself slightly, "A little?"
He laughed nervously, his federation blue eyes
twinkled. "You’re making it worse you realize that
don’t you?"

She responded with a slight giggle, knowing the effect
she had on him.

Looking down at her God’s she was beautiful—his eyes
quickly scanned across her body, her breast and her
perfect waist…. She was smiling up at him her eyes
seductive, beautiful dark pools of midnight seas…and they were
inviting him in. He loved her. He knew that with
certainty now, he suddenly realized that he always had;

from the first day he saw her.

He silently wished that this moment would last forever.

He began to lower his head to kiss her, "I love you."
he whispered softly into her lips. He hadn’t meant
to say the words to her in this way, but they were on
the tip of his tongue and they simply fell off.

A look of sudden surprise immediately flashed in her
eyes as she broke from the kiss, and silently stared

wide-eyed at him. "What…what did you say?" she asked
quietly. Not really sure she had heard him, knowing
she had heard him, yet wanting to hear the words again
if only just to dissolve her own unbelief.

"I said….." he began softly, having the full intention
of voicing his love for her and relaying his desire
for the two of them to be together as a couple. He had
already begun he might as well follow through with the
plan. He swallowed hard before he began his next
sentence. "I said…" he repeated nervously. "I love
you."

She reached up and placed both arms around his neck,
lowering his head down to hers. "Say it again." She
whispered into his lips.

He realized that he liked the tone of her voice as she

requested he echo his previous words. "I love you."

He repeated the words against her lips. He
liked the sound of those words also, and inwardly
smiled. He drew her body closer to his and pulled her
in for a deeper kiss. He rolled both of them over
onto the top of the blanket and deepened his kiss.
Slowly they began to remove each other's clothing as
both of their bodies began to automatically respond to
one another.

Riker and Troi heard the ringing sound of the muk-tuk
flowering plant as the gentle moist air of the jungle
made the glistening, wind chime plants sway to and fro in the
breeze.

Riker rolled off of her and sighed, totally enjoying
the aftermath of their lovemaking. He lay there
silently looking up at the beautiful Betazed sky and
let out a long breath.

She rolled over and snuggled tightly up against his
body resting her head on his shoulder. He wrapped both
arms around her small frame. There were no
words—there were none to be said in this moment.

"Counselor Troi." Will broke the silence and, acknowledged
her professionally as if it were their first meeting
of the day.

She grinned at the tone of his voice. "Commander Riker."

Was her response, returning the gesture in kind.

"I said…I love you."

Deanna looked up at him for a moment dumbfounded and
wide eyed. She re-positioned herself by propping herself
up on her elbow.

"Ahh yes." she finally said as if she were thinking of
something else, running a lazy finger across his chest
hair. "You did say that didn’t you?"

"Yes, I did several times…. At your request as I
recall."

She said nothing just looked at him with a twitch of
her nose.

"Are you going to respond?"

"Do I have to?"

He looked at her in total confusion.
"Deanna, I just told you that I loved you…. It’s hard
to believe that you don’t have a response."

"Well, just like the Betazoidian female Bovine…. I
suppose I do have to respond to the commands of the
male, don’t I?"

"Deanna?" Riker couldn’t believe this. "I tell you
I love you and you’re comparing it to an Angus mating
ritual?"

"I don’t know…" he continued. "Maybe…I’m expecting too
much from you. Maybe I didn’t tell you properly or in
the correct manner…. To be honest." He swallowed hard.
"I hadn’t planned on telling you this way; I wanted
it to be more romantic…. Perhaps over a candlelit dinner with wine.

But it just came out; I couldn’t stop it…. I had to tell you."

She listened in silence.

"I’m just so afraid of messing this up, of messing us
up…. Maybe I just did."

"It seems as though I’ve been a starship commander

for so long… I’ve forgotten how to be a man in love."

"Will?"

"Yeah?" he spoke to the sky, not really wanting to
look at her face, feeling like a fool for even
bringing the subject up….afraid that he had just
scared her off. He inhaled and exhaled, waiting for
her to speak.

"You’ve spoken those same words to me before."

He shot her a look immediately recognizing the pain in
her voice. Now he sat straight up. "I know, and I
screwed that up Deanna. I did that. I was too damn
proud and too scared of commitments. I chose my
career over you."

"Worst mistake of my pathetic life." he sounded almost
angry with himself.

"It wasn’t you, or anything you did…it was me." he
added quickly.

Their eyes met and held in silence knowing that they
had both experienced tremendous pain and heartache
from their previous relationship, although neither one
of them really wanted to talk about that now.

He grabbed a planarian lily blossom uprooting it and
tossed it to the side in frustration. "We need to get
back to your mother’s house...it will be dark soon."
Riker said wanting desperately to change the subject.
He then noticed how the wild Bovine had run off into
the midst of the jungle.

She kissed him. Gods she loved him. She loved his
sense of humor. His ingenuous charm, his evasion of
conversations that were far too personal for him to
face. She loved his honesty when he did face those
demons in his life. She loved his joy as well as his
pain. After a time of silence, she stated the words
that had for so many years filled her with fear. She
had avoided saying them to anyone for years. She
swallowed hard and found the courage within herself.
"I love you too, Will." She stated softly.

There were tears in her eyes when he said, "This
Brahman thing really does work doesn’t it?" He kissed
her smothering her response, and then he gently took
her in his arms and made love to her… and together
they reached new heavens that they had never dreamed
of reaching.

One world, one universe, one body and one mind.

All of it was here in the Jalara jungle, full of exotic
flowers, lush greenery, and gentle creatures all
combined exhibiting, like their love for one another.

All of it being a pure simple breath taking beauty.



THE END