Disclaimer: It's not mine. Never has been and if it was...well, let's not think about that---that's just scary. Need I say more.

Rated PG

p_co07@yahoo.com

Some things . . .

William T. Riker slammed the deck of cards on the felt table with more force than he intended and half turned as Deanna Troi gave an audible start.

“What are you doing here?” he asked dryly, gathering up a handful of the gold and silver poker chips. She had left the poker game with Worf. Beverly, Data, the Captain and Geordi had all said their farewells, Worf stood and waited for Deanna, who politely excused herself and followed Worf out the door. This had made the second time today that she had done that to him, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

“I’m sorry.” Deanna apologized. “You got a minute?”

Riker rolled his eyes; “Sure thing, Counselor.” With irritability he slammed the handful of poker chips on the table. “You forget something?”

“We need to talk.”

“So talk.” He shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“About what you said to Worf tonight---Will I think . . .” She began.

He let out a short deceitful laugh, cutting her off in mid-sentence. Straightening his shoulders, he stood, his voice taking on a formal tone, “’So that some things never happen’, that’s what I said. I was talking about Worf and I becoming bitter enemies, Deanna.”

“Were you?” She asked, her eyes fixed upon his, the expression on her face never wavering, awaiting his answer; when she got none, she repeated. “Were you?” she asked, and then added, “Remember who you’re talking to, Will.”

Gods he hated when she did that, it was that certain expression on her face that made him want to truly strangle her. Damn her. Why did she have to be an empath? Why did she have to know everything, and why did she make him voice everything he knew? She was the one and only woman that could make him face his deep dark demons, the only woman that could reach beyond the cobwebs of his mind and soul and allow him to reveal things he thought he had long ago been healed of, only to find out that he hadn’t really been healed at all.

Instead of answering; he asked instead, “Shouldn’t you be with Worf?”

“No.” she answered simply. She stood there and waited for him to answer her original question.

“The captain was pretty lucky at the tables tonight.” He offered, attempting to change the subject.

“He was.”

“Considering it was his first time playing, he did fairly well.” He said with a bright smile, but it didn’t work, she wasn’t about to be detoured from her original question.

“He did.”

There she stood, silently waiting for his answer, “How did you know?” He finally asked, not able to hide the weariness of his voice.

“Worf told me.”

“Ah. . .good old’ Worf.” He shook his head and smiled to himself, pivoted and began to pick up the poker chips off of the table, neatly stacking them in the felt lined box.

“I’m going to make love to you tonight.” She informed him coolly.

Riker’s head snapped towards her, and looked at her through squinted eyes. His throat went dry, and he swallowed hard, he struggled to find his voice. “What?” he finally managed it was more like a squeak, clearing his throat he tried again. “What did you say?”

“I said---I plan on making love to you tonight.” She repeated, a little bit more clearly. Her dark eyes sparkled against the fluorescent light of the room.

“I thought that’s what you said.” He frowned. Did she have any idea of what she was doing to him?

“And how does that sit with you?”

Riker looked at her oddly, and then his curiosity got the better of him, “Okay I’ll bite.” He said. “What are you up to, Deanna?”

“Do you honestly think I’m teasing?” She asked, clearly surprised.

It felt as if a thousand butterflies had been let loose in his stomach. This woman wasn’t joking, she was serious . . . dead serious.

“How does that sit with you Commander?” she repeated the question once again, slowly approaching him.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” He asked with a wry expression.

“Quite certain.”

Okay he thought one night stand; he could do it. He could wake up tomorrow and let her go, who in the hell was he kidding, he couldn’t let her go, never in a million years. If he ever got her back, he’d fight tooth and nail to keep her. Let her say there will be a tomorrow, he prayed silently to himself, please don’t let this be a one night stand. Suddenly he felt confused, excited and frightened all at the same time. He had never cared so deeply for a woman or felt so much.

“And then what?” he asked, he had to ask.

She held out her hand, palm up and offered it to him.

He looked down at her hand and then again at her, his heart racing, his pulse throbbing. He slowly placed his hand in hers, and she entwined their fingers together. “And then . . .” she said, closing her smaller fingers around his larger ones. “We begin forever, just you and me.”

She stood in front of him now; he stood staring down into her eyes as if searching for a truth. “What about Worf?”

“So that some things never happen.” She used his words against him. Words that he had just told Worf only hours before. Deanna Troi had understood his true meaning.

“As in you and Worf?”

“Something like that.” She smiled, and he couldn’t help but notice the devilish grin that spread across her face.

She gave a small squeal as he abruptly pulled her towards him, and kissed her, gently at first and then with an increasing fierceness, she put her arms around him, and returned the kiss in the same fashion.

When the kiss finally broke, he looked down at her and admitted, “I was jealous.”

“I felt that.” She smiled, “Behind that façade of yours, was a jealous little boy.”

“That’s where your wrong, Counselor.” he teased with a twisted smile, he rocked his hips and she felt his midsection rub against her. “Does that feel like a little boy to you?”

“You’re a scoundrel, Will Riker.” She batted his arm, pretending to be shocked although after knowing Will Riker for over ten years she was fast becoming shockproof and he knew it.

“Yeah, and you’re a shameless she-devil.” He laughed, planting a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

“So you still love me?”

Desire once again glittered into his eyes and he swept her into his arms and headed towards the bedroom. His eyes’ never leaving hers, on his face was the look of a man in love.

THE END