Another mothball from my hard drive on this sunday eve...

I've got a few of these from eons past. I'll dole them out in measures since
most of them are fluff. I have a few somewhat violent ones as well, some
dealing with Deanna. None are 'angsty' per se, but disturbing might be a
good word. All of them are short (being little more than back-forth
character work) The jury's still out on whether I'll distribute those or
not. I'll think about it.

The happy kind seem to be better received, as a general rule. Oh, and please
don't post these anywhere else -- I prefer not to have these incomplete
little asides floating around cyberspace on my behalf. Thanks!

This one's pretty tame.

Character Workshop #3 (or)
"Identically Reckless Passion"
QDestinyy@aol.com


"How are you feeling?" she asked. He turned.

"You take my breath away " His eyes devoured her where
she stood.

"Besides that.." She giggled softly, her heart dancing with
emotion.

"There's nothing besides that." He came for her and pulled her
into his arms, kissing her breathless.

"Will," she whispered. But he drew his lips across her neck and
reached his hands into her hair, lifting it backwards while he
followed a trail towards her sensitive ear. "Will " This time
she gasped his name on a sharp exhale. He'd found her earlobe
with his tongue; teased it gently. "Will, we're late " She
finally managed, moaning with pleasure when his hands slipped
down along the contours of her body; snug with his.

"The others can wait." He coaxed her mouth open with his lips.
Then rejoiced in her when she kissed him back with identically
reckless passion.

They stood together, breathing quickly. "And this can't?" She
felt the new-stubble of his growing beard tickle the edge of her
face when he smiled.

"What do you think?"

"I think " she murmured, kissing him again. "I'm starting to
remember why we thought our relationship might affect our
professional performance on this ship " Her eyes fell shut, but
he drew away from her. Her body shivered at the sudden loss
of intimate contact.

She felt his shift in emotion and reopened her gaze. "Will?"

He didn't respond, but his eyes were glued to hers. She
understood.

"I didn't mean it that way," she sighed. "Truly.."

"But we've both been thinking it. Haven't we?" One hand
clenched and unclenched at his side. "We've both been
wondering when 'the magic' would end haven't we?" His blue
eyes turned to steel.

"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "But that doesn't mean it *has*
to end."

"Deanna, since we left the Briar Patch, I've been so... so... " He
trailed off in frustration.

"I know." She came forward, placing her hand on his arm and
then drawing even closer when he helplessly reached for her,
folding her body against his chest. He shut his eyes with a
soulful sigh.

"They said it would be over by now, the effects of the planet.."

"And you fell in love with me on the Ba'Ku home world?" She
asked, linking her hands behind his neck.

He shook his head. "I fell in love with you the day I was born.
But I had to wait twenty-three years to meet you." The tease
was back in his voice and his heart was filled with emotion. She
bathed in it, hungrily. The reality of her heritage demanded that
his presence in her mind would always be far more arousing for
the empath than even his physical touch on her, as wonderful as
the latter might be.

"Then why do we care about the effects of some silly patch of
space?" Her voice was soft. She tipped her head and kissed his
neck, tracing the outline of his Adam's apple with the tip of her
tongue.

He groaned needfully. "I missed you. God, I missed you." He
whispered, turning their bodies so that he was able to look in her
eyes. He took a step backwards. "Twelve years aboard this ship
and I never even allowed myself to realize how incredible it
could be if I'd just walked into your office and asked you to take
me back.."

His rueful smile prompted an answering one from Deanna as
well. "That easy, was it?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "We did try before, once or
twice, didn't we?"

"Once or twice." She confirmed.

"But we always went back to 'just friends'." His gaze grew
thoughtful. "The one thing we always agreed upon was that it
would be easier. Easier than being hurt again. Easier for both of
us if we were going to be serving together.."

"And it was, wasn't it?" She asked him the question out loud, as
much as she'd asked it of herself. Perhaps it was the Counselor
in her, always searching for some elusive, spiritual truth.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. I guess so."

Will turned from her and walked slowly towards one of the
windows in her cabin. He stood in front of it and stared through
the transparent surface. "I've been out here, in space, for a long
time now."

"We both have," she returned, coming up behind him and placing
her arms around his waist. She lay the side of her head against
his back.

"Deanna " He whispered softly, still regarding the universe
through the portal before him. His voice took on an
uncharacteristically apprehensive tone when he continued,
"When you touch me like this I can't breathe. I can't think "

His admission coupled with the emotion she felt from him,
caused the Counselor to drop her hands and step back. He
turned when she did.

"No." Will shook his head, reaching towards her so that he was
able to touch a length of shiny dark hair near her face. "I don't
want you to let go. And that's the problem. That's always been
the problem." His eyes entreated her understanding. "It's not
only my career, it's the fact that I could make a hundred, a
thousand commitments to you for the rest of my life. I could
mean every one of them and I still wouldn't be able to promise
you that one or both of us might not someday end up--"

"Dead?" She finished for him, her serious gaze a mirror of his
own.

"Or something worse. Something we can't even imagine right
now." Riker glanced out into the room beyond her.

"And do you think that if that were to happen, and our
relationship had not progressed -- do you believe it wouldn't
hurt as much?" She tipped her head.

He stared at her mutely. "I don't know!" His voice was harsh.
His body spun around and he slammed his fist against the
thin sheet of transparent aluminum which separated her cabin
from the vacuum beyond. It didn't budge.

Deanna exhaled slowly and took a step towards him. "Our
careers are important to both of us, Will. It isn't only you.
We've both forged a life for ourselves on the Enterprise. We've
managed to set up a safe and happy relationship. There's a lot to
consider. I know."

"It's not my career." He shook his head bitterly. "It used to be,
maybe, back in the beginning." He felt her hand trace the outline
of his spine from behind and he sighed. "Deanna, I'm forty-two
years old. I gave up trying to beat Kirk's record a long time
ago."

"That's not what I meant," she answered simply.

"I know what you meant. And *you* know that we aren't the
same two people we were twelve years ago." He turned where
he stood.

Suddenly, the tiny distance which had separated their bodies only
a moment earlier seemed infinitely smaller. They stood
face to face.

"Whatever else we may have done with our relationship, Dee,
you've become the best friend I've ever had. I don't want to
wreck that. Your friendship means more to me now than
anything. I don't want to jeopardize your trust. And I won't
allow myself to be the reason you're hurt again. Especially the
way I let myself hurt you the last time."

Her eyes reflected the sorrow of another lifetime's pain for only
an instant, and then she returned to the present, sighing softly
before she spoke.

"So you think we should take this more slowly?" He felt the
column of emotion as it rose within her. "You feel we should go
back to being -- friends."

"What I think," Will whispered. "is making me wish I didn't
know how to be logical." He lowered his gaze and then raised it
once more. "What I feel," he admitted with a short sound of
frustration. "is that I've never wanted you more than I want you
right now."

She felt it too. It was impossible for her not to share in his
feelings this way. And what Will felt right now was so powerful,
she was almost uncertain where his own emotions left off and
hers began.

When she hadn't spoken for a time, Riker did instead. "Deanna,
I won't hold it against you if you think we should keep things as
they were. I know that we've both been thinking about it,"

"Say it, Will." She interrupted, taking a step towards him.

He continued as though oblivious to her comment. "and it
would really be okay--"

"Say what you're thinking."

"It's not as though we haven't been here before, right?" He sighed,
still following an earlier train of thought, unwilling to
acknowledge her demand as yet. She knew he'd heard
her well.

"Say what you're feeling." Deanna pressed on, undaunted.

She took another step, this one forcing her body nearly flush
with his and he froze in an instant, his hands rigid at his sides for
barely a breath before the dam was shattered; the last of his logic
gone.

Without another word, he caught her in his arms and crushed her
body to him, whispering fervently into her hair, "I want us to
take this chance. I want to do this. I want to be with you
again."

This time, she wrapped her arms around him, drinking in his
presence like too much fine wine. "I want that too." Her voice
was soft, but firm.

He took a step away from her then. Their eyes locked, and
though the tension between them seemed almost tangible, for an
eternal span of moments, neither spoke.

Then she smiled at him. All of a sudden, though neither of them
knew the words to speak, he felt her laughter in his heart. A
fraction of a moment later, he heard it aloud. It tickled the edge
of his consciousness and made him dizzy with her presence.

Will found himself smiling back, grinning down at her while her
hand stole to her mouth; the slight form of her body shaking with
helpless, tumbling giggles.

It was a release. He knew it and so did she, and yet they found
themselves powerless to prevent it from occurring. Not that
they had tried, even so.

"Twelve years.." He whispered in awe, shaking his head.

"Twelve years.." She echoed with a solemn nod of her own. "It
isn't how much time we have, Will. Or don't have. It's what we
do with it that counts. I mean, isn't that what you tried to teach
me all those years ago on Betazed? When I told you how
hopelessly arrogant you were?" She cocked her head with a wry
smile and he reached out to touch her face with the back of his
fingertips.

"Yeah." He smiled nostalgically. "When I wasn't trying to get
you into bed.."

She opened her mouth in mock indignation, but he silenced her
by leaning forward and kissing her parted lips.

"So, how are you feeling right now, Counselor?" he asked.

For a time, she regarded him mutely, but then he saw her
smile grow wide and knew that she had a game in mind. He
grinned, perplexed at first, but definitely intrigued..

"You take my breath away " Her eyes devoured him where
he stood.

He remembered that line.

"Besides that.." He chuckled softly, his heart racing with
emotion.

"There's nothing besides that." She came for him then, and
pulled him into her arms, kissing him sensually.

"Imzadi," he whispered. But she drew her lips across his neck
and reached her hands inside the folds of his dress shirt,
caressing him gently. "Deanna " This time he growled her
name on a sharp exhale. She'd pushed the edges of his shirt
apart and replaced the touch of her fingers with the touch of her
lips on the heat of his skin. "They're going to kill us. You know
how late we are." He finally managed, moaning with pleasure
when her hands slid lower, down along his body, claiming a far
more intimate prize.

"The others can wait." She smiled against his skin and then
lifted her head, coaxing his mouth open with her lips. "Don't
you think?"

Will drew her face between his palms and caressed the edge of
her cheek gently with his thumb, drowning in the depths of a pair
of luminous, onyx eyes.

"Forever." He finally answered her, pulling her head towards
him as though she were made of a precious jewel.

She kissed him. And he kissed her. And together they shared
another lifetime -- of identically reckless passion.

--END--

(I told you it was tame ;-)