This particular piece was in response to a scenario request I received. It went something like this:

**Deanna and Will after a fancy dinner party, they return to Will's quarters for a night cap. When its time to leave, a good night kiss is bit too long and Will says "Deanna, stay with me..." I'm not sure what happens then.'**


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"Stay with me"
QDestinyy@aol.com
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"So then the Bolian ambassador leans right over the table and grabs the Nausicaan by the throat!" Will Riker grinned as he imparted the latest installment of what had already become Enterprise ship-wide gossip. His eyes touched on Counselor Troi for silent confirmation.

"We thought they were going to kill each other," Deanna affirmed with amusement.

A table of friends laughed boisterously, their voices heard throughout the Ten-Forward lounge. A bi-annual officer's gala was had reached full swing, and the ever-popular gathering-space was filled to capacity with Enterprise crew.

"Wait a second, this is supposed to be *funny*?" Doctor Crusher sat forward in her chair, ignoring the noise around them, "what happened to the Bolian? He couldn't have been half the Nausicaan's size!"

"At the time, we were worried about the same thing," Troi nodded, "believe me, no one was laughing. Will got up and put himself between Garx and Zared--"

Chief Engineer, Geordi LaForge whistled low. "Taking your life in your hands there, Commander."

"I thought they'd -all- gone crazy," placing both her hands on the table, Deanna grinned, "but Garx just sat there for a few seconds, and then he started laughing!"

"Needless to say, our Bolian delegate was less than amused," added Riker. "I had to clamp my hand down on his shoulder to keep him in his seat, but I think he got the hint."

"He was so angry he'd started to turn green," Troi smirked.

"Why is it that Commander Riker always ends up with the -fun- assignments?" Another officer -- a female lieutenant from astrometrics snickered, "I wish I could have been there to see it!"

"Seniority, Gayle," Riker laughed with her, "the higher up in the Starfleet food chain you are, the more angry Nausicaans you get to deal with...."

"Really?" Troi huffed, "then what's -my- excuse??"

The group shared another laugh as Gayle drew in a breath. "Well -- not that I enjoy crashing such a great story," she grinned, "but if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I promised someone one last dance before the end of the party..." Rising from her chair with a flourish, she made her way across the room to a waiting companion.

Deanna looked after her. "She seems much happier, of late..."

"I think they're engaged," Beverly Crusher chimed in, "last I heard..."

"Engaged?" asked Riker, "how long as she been on board again?"

Setting his drink down, LaForge paused for thought. "Two years last month, I think."

"Two years...." Will shook his head, "God, where does the time go..."

"I'm not sure," said Crusher, "but if you figure it out, let me know so I can get back some of what was stolen from -me- along the way."

"I hear that," Deanna sighed, "and speaking of time..."

"It is getting late," Riker concurred.

"I think I'll call it a night as well." Crusher rose from her chair with the rest of the group. "This was fun, it's too bad we only do it twice a year."

"Well, maybe I can speak to the Captain about having it once a week," Will grinned, "we could get a permanent band in here..."

"You'd just want to be part of it," Deanna poked him gently in the ribs.

"Hey--" Riker's hands spread wide, "even a Starfleet Commander's gotta have goals."

"Yes, but I've -heard- you play. I see enough patients with severe emotional distress as it is," she teased him lightly and then ducked out of reach before he could make good on his visible threat to tickle the life out of her.

"Ouch!" Geordi laughed aloud and then grinned at Will, "I think that's game, set, match, Commander..."

"This game hasn't even *started* yet," Riker smirked, "I believe the score is 1-love."

Deanna rolled her eyes. "How very droll of you, Commander," she took hold of Crusher's arm and lead the other woman toward the door. "Goodnight everyone!"

"G'night Counselor, Doctor..." LaForge smiled back at them, following slowly. "You coming Commander?" He turned and threw over his shoulder.

"In a bit..." Will remained where he stood. Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he watched them leave.

The moment they'd disappeared from view, Riker turned toward the diminishing crowd and surveyed the lounge. The party was almost over and there were only a few people left in the wake of another successful event.

Smiling to himself, Riker strolled across the room and was about to lift an item from the floor when the doors to Ten-Forward hissed aside. He looked up in surprise.

"I thought you were done for the night?" his question hung on a smile.

"I was," Deanna shrugged, tipping her head so that the light of the lounge caught her hair and made it shine. "But, then I realized why you were staying."

"Why's that?" asked Riker, innocently.

"Oh please, Will," she smirked, "you're going to play something."

He smiled. "Maybe I was. So..?"

"So," Troi dipped her head and grinned at him, "I want to listen."

"You?" he laughed, "Weren't you the one who just warned me of the severe emotional trauma my playing might cause?"

Propping herself on a stool next to the bar, Deanna casually flipped her hair. "Oh-- just shut up and play something, will you?"

"So demanding..." Riker grumbled without a hint of sincerity, "Okay, but just remember, you asked..."

Climbing onto the stage, Will joined the other band members who'd been about to call their song the last of the set. With a knowing nod and a smile, he picked up a trombone and loosened the slide with liberal effort. His next glance settled on Deanna.

"I'd ask if there were any requests," his baritone voice flooded the room over the microphone, "but I have a feeling I already know the answer."

The sound of quiet laughter came back to him as he cleared his throat. Eyes back on Troi, Will finally exhaled. "Nightbird?"

She nodded gamely.

"Nightbird it is!" He lifted the horn and placed the mouthpiece to his lips.

Folding her hands serenely in her lap, Deanna sat near the bar and watched him play. Her look was one of encouragement, though he felt certain she knew as well as he did -- he'd never make it through the final stanza.

As the dreaded notes drew nearer, Riker's mind began to wander. His thoughts flowed glibly out of focus while he resigned himself to the inevitable.

What he didn't realize, was that in the moments between his silent contemplation and the fluid focus of his thoughts, the song had come to a lilting close.

He was lowering the trombone from his mouth, sliding it slowly to rest while the scattered sound of applause filled the lounge. And then it hit him. He'd made it through Nightbird!

It was the first time ever; the first time in sixteen years that he'd been able to play through the ending without pause. And the damndest thing was -- he hadn't even been concentrating on making it work, he'd been thinking of nothing at all.

"Well, I'll be--" Riker shook his head and grinned, watching as Deanna approached the stage and stood before him with arms akimbo.

"You did it!" she beamed.

"I did it!" Lifting her high off her feet, Will took hold of Deanna's waist with one arm and her hand with the other. He spun them both around and then dipped her low to the stage-floor.

Head back, eyes wide, she gasped in surprise and then blushed when the sound of a cat-call whistled after them.

Riker righted their posture and chuckled. The crew of the Enterprise was well aware of the fact that he and Deanna were apt to play around now and then. It was ship-wide knowledge, and a game which some of the other officers placed bets on -- much to the eternal dismay of Counselor Troi. Riker thought it was fun, and he loved to tease Deanna with it every chance he got.

"You must have made me play that song a hundred times..." he scowled good-naturedly. Deanna cleared her throat and met his frown with a smirk "And I didn't get it!" he went on.

"Well," she wrinkled her nose, "you get it now."

"I do," he concurred, "but you could have said something!"

"Would it have helped?" she pinned him with a glare of feigned reproach.

"Probably not," he admitted slyly, hopping down from the stage and standing opposite her on the dance floor.

"Music may well be a sensual experience for you Commander," Deanna smiled, "but that doesn't mean there isn't some measure of mental discipline in there as well."

"Who knew you could merge the two?" Riker's blatant innuendo preceded Troi's tolerant glare, but he laughed in response. Linking their arms, he leaned casually against her shoulder. "Shall I walk the lady back to her quarters?"

"You may," said Deanna, "if you promise to be good."

Riker beamed and raised both his eyebrows. "Good?" he smirked, "I'm always *good*!"

~/~

Their short trip to the turbo lift was made in silence, and Riker allowed himself the hint of a smile when Deanna yawned expansively. It was late, and they'd all be up early in the morning. He'd been trying not to think about that.

"Oh my," she apologized, holding her hand to her lips, "I think I'm about to fall over."

"You should have gone back with the others," he reproached her half-seriously, then called for deck eight. They both had quarters on deck eight, and conveniently, the two cabins were directly adjacent.

"And miss you making it all the way through Nightbird?" Deanna shook her head, awarding him a brilliant smile, "not in a million!"

"I guess that -was- pretty great, wasn't it?" he sighed and glanced past her at the wall. A look of nostalgia crossed his features. "I never thought I'd live to see the day..."

The truth was, he was proud of himself. Damn proud, and with good reason as far as he was concerned. It wasn't every day that a person was granted the opportunity to achieve one of their lifelong objectives. And making it all the way through Nightbird definitely qualified as a lifelong objective for Will Riker. It was one of only three lifelong objectives that he'd ever laid claim to. One down, he mused to himself, two to go...

"I'm proud of you," Deanna seemed to read his mind. That, of course, was a practical impossibility. More likely she was echoing his sentiment, because she knew how much the accomplishment had meant for him. "You worked very hard for that moment." The turbo lift came to a complete stop and the door swished wide open.

"Thanks," he echoed her smile and followed her slowly from the lift. Rounding yet another corner, they arrived at the last two doorways in the corridor and there they stopped; directly before the entry to his quarters.

This was always the moment that seemed ever so slightly awkward between them. For as long as Will could remember, their standing outside of the doorway -- either near her quarters or right here by his -- had been a source of uncertainty. There was forever an instant -- one moment in time -- where the attraction between them would pulse, and it became anyone's best guess whether he'd give in to impulse and break their unwritten agreement. Seize her, pull her hard against his body and kiss the breath from her soul. Or more probably -- as he'd managed over and over again throughout the years -- whether he would lean forward and kiss her chastely goodnight, leaving their universe to spin onward as it had for so long.

Deanna knew of that moment. She felt it as he did, but neither of them ever spoke of it. As they never spoke of a great deal else pertaining to the bond between them. There was only their friendship in the light of day, and they held it as sacred above all else.

"So," Riker shook his head ruefully, noting the look in Troi's eyes that said she knew exactly what was really on his mind. "If I keep that other promise about 'being good'," he smiled gamely, "would you like to come in for a bit? I think I just stocked up on cocoa..."

She grinned at him, "Oh, don't tempt me!" Staring back at him in silence, Deanna finally sighed. "I think maybe I should call it a night--" she yawned without meaning to, but it served to punctuate her point.

"Yeah," Riker's absent nod was as practiced as the moment they were living. He knew what would happen. What had always happened between them. They'd call it a night. And that was probably a good thing. Because he didn't know what he would do if things were different this time. If she said...

"Congratulations Will," her hand lifted and brushed against his cheek.

Catching her fingers, he stilled their motion and found that he was captured by the play of the light in her very dark eyes. "I'm glad you were there tonight," his own voice was low.

"Me too," she whispered.

They stayed that was for several seconds. Drawing something intangible from the moment. But then he placed his hand on his doorframe, smiling down at her. "I'll see you tomorrow... Counselor."

"Goodnight, Will," she reclaimed her hand and flattened her palm against his chest.

"Goodnight, Deanna," he leaned toward her -- as he so often did when they said their goodnights -- placing a chaste kiss on the edge of her cheek.

Brushing his lips over the soft skin near her ear, he found himself lingering for an instant longer than he should have. Deanna's breath caught audibly in her throat, he felt her tense, and he pulled back barely far enough to breathe. Their eyes met and held. He felt her breath mix with his, drew in her presence with a grateful need-filled gulp -- and then he was kissing her. More suddenly than either of them could have imagined, he was devouring her mouth with the full force of a passion that bordered on desperate.

Taking the whole of her slim body in the circle of his arms, Riker spun them both around. He slid her back against the smooth inner-wall of his quarters and sculpted the edge of her figure with intimate familiarity.

Deanna's small hands reached upward, tangling her fingers in his hair. The feeling of her body, warm and soft against him; the sound of her breath and the rhythm of her heartbeat made him giddy, and he trapped her easily beneath him, pressed against the cool titanium bulkhead.

But most incredible of all, was the fact that she hadn't pulled away; hadn't reminded him of their promise to keep their relationship professional. She hadn't even stopped him when he'd thrust his leg between hers, sealing the gap between their bodies with the heat of needful pressure.

When they finally broke for air, they were gasping as though they'd been under water for hours. And Riker looked down at her, lost in the darkest pair of eyes he'd ever seen.

"Stay..." he whispered harshly, begging her compliance in shattering their previous agreement. "Stay with me tonight..."

Deanna caught her breath in increments, staring back at him while her heart beat raced in time with his.

"I can't." she answered quietly. So quietly he'd barely heard her. Except that he had. "Will, I'm sorry..." she dropped her head, and for a moment, the features of her beautiful face were covered by a tumble of ebony curls.

The irony -- was that she *was* sorry. He could feel that much was true. He could feel it as he felt her, more and more often of late. Riker swallowed his breath; the burning ache he felt to take her here and now, consequences be damned. He knew that she would let him. All he had to do was...

Will closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, backing slowly away from her with the same motion.

"You're right," he shook his head, "I'm the one who should apologize."

"No..." Deanna's fingers traced the edge of his cheek with uncensored affection, and the look in her eyes was unmistakably grateful. Grateful that he hadn't done what he'd been thinking of. "We were both in that place just now. It's just, that isn't where we should have been. Not yet."

Again he took her hand and stilled its movement on his face; again he closed his eyes and squeezed her fingers.

"When, Deanna?" he finally asked, "when is it going to be right for us?"

"I don't know," she shook her head sadly, eyes large and fixed on his. "I don't even know that there will be an answer to that."

He stared at her in silence. Until he saw that she was trembling, and then he looked away. "I guess," he exhaled ruefully, "I managed to forget that promise about 'being good', just now didn't I?"

Deanna acknowledged his humor with a crooked smile and a tip of her head, "No, Imzadi."

Slipping carefully from between him and the wall, she seemed to float through his still-open doorway, "you were right about that part." Her hand hovered tentatively over the door-plate. "You were always good." and she tapped it once, closing it for him. For both of them. That was the last he heard of her voice, for the rest of the night.

~/~

"--Number one?" The voice of Will's captain jostled his thoughts from the far-away place he'd been floating in.

"What?" Riker lifted his gaze and met the older man's somewhat bemused expression.

"Are you with us?" asked Picard.

"Yes sir," Will shook his head and cleared his throat, "I'm sorry. I think zoned out for a minute."

"Indeed," The captain sighed audibly. Leaning forward in the chair which crowned the bridge of the Enterprise, the older man finally stood. He glanced for the briefest of instants at Counselor Troi and then set his eyes on the view-port without further comment.

Deanna was staring thoughtfully at her hands. Though she glanced up and met her Captain's expression, it seemed obvious that she was grateful for the opportunity to look away again.

"Alpha shift will be over in fewer than forty minutes," Picard mused aloud as though he were speaking to himself. His comment carried forth onto the bridge, but required no response. "Number one," he glanced at Riker, "Counselor," then at Troi, "Lieutenant," then back at the officer on the con, "why don't the three of you go and get some rest. It seems that party last night took a great deal out of everyone."

Though Riker and Troi exchanged a furtive glance, neither spoke. Will cleared his throat and simply nodded, turning perfunctorily toward the ramp without objection. The very lack of protest in his gait, he knew, spoke volumes on it's own. But the fact remained -- he *was* exhausted. He hadn't slept at all the night before, and hadn't seemed able to focus throughout his shift.

Entering the lift, Will stood there while Deanna and lieutenant Giles filed in behind him. The three of them turned, face forward, as the door slid shut on the bridge.

"Deck eight," Riker called.

"Deck thirteen," Giles smiled briefly at Will. "So, I heard you play last night, Commander, that was really great."

Somewhat energized by the compliment, Riker glanced up and nodded, "Thanks," he looked away again and examined the play of the pulsing light in the lift as each floor ticked by.

"I guess we could all use the rest though," The lieutenant went on, "it went pretty late." He turned to Troi, "How late were you there, Counselor? I don't remember seeing you leave?"

"Oh," smiling demurely, Deanna's shoulders rose and fell, "later than I should have been." She shared a laugh with Giles, having successfully avoided his question, and Riker threw a quick look in her direction.

Troi didn't look back however, either ignorant of, or pointedly ignoring his attention. Will guessed the latter.

When deck thirteen appeared and the door to the lift slid open, Giles stepped outside and nodded his goodbye. The lift door closed behind him, and suddenly Riker and Troi were alone.

This time it was Riker's turn to yawn. Placing his hand over his mouth, he shook his head and grinned at the imposition. "That'll teach me to have more than one Alluvian coffee before bed." He looked down at Troi, and this time she didn't avoid his gaze.

"Couldn't sleep last night?" she asked innocently.

"No," he admitted. <Not after the way you kissed me...>, Riker quelled his disquiet thoughts and consciously exhaled, "not very well."

Deanna nodded as though to herself. "Me neither."

"Remind me not to sign up for Alpha shift after next year's party," he smiled at her and watched her return the compliment.

"Only if you'll do the same for me," she quipped, "I never thought this shift would end!"

"Well, it's over now."

"Yes," she stared quietly at the doorway for a time, until their deck arrived and a familiar corridor revealed itself through the open lift.

"So... you have any plans?" He asked her as she marched with purpose through the corridor. It seemed to him that she was walking a lot faster than she needed to be. "Besides going after a new world record for making it from the turbo lift to the end of the hall?"

Stopping dead in her tracks, Deanna rounded on him, and for an instant, he was certain she was livid. Her dark eyes, already pitch as midnight, seemed to glimmer with emotion.

"Sorry, lame joke?" he spread his hands apologetically, pausing while she appeared to consider his remark.

Sighing loudly, Deanna simply shook her head and started her journey once more. Riker fell into step with her, and before either of them knew it, they were standing at the entrance to her quarters.

When she keyed in her access code and stepped through the doorway, Riker thought for a moment that she would disappear without comment. But just when the door was about to close, Deanna turned on her heel standing silent in the arch.

"Would you come in for a moment?" her question when it came, hung awkwardly in the space between them. But Riker saw no reason to refuse.

"Yeah," he nodded amicably, "sure," and walked from his own door, several steps through hers. She let the entrance close and he was standing well within her quarters when he finally turned.

Deanna was watching him, arms crossed over her chest. She wore her hair half-up, as she so often did for her shifts on the bridge, but it forced the errant curls away from her face so that when she looked at him, he felt a captive in her gaze.

"Deanna--" he began, "what I said last night, when I asked you when--"

She lifted her hand. Shaking her head, Deanna sighed and silenced him with the look in her eyes.

"I want to ask -you- something, Will," the sound of her voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Whatever she wanted to know, it was going to be serious.

"Okay."

"When you kissed me last night," Dark eyes explored the features of his face, "what were you thinking?"

"What was I--?" he shook his head, "what do you mean?"

"I mean just what I said. What were you thinking? What was going through your mind?"

"I-- I don't know. I was-- nothing. I guess." He stammered.

"Nothing?" She placed her hands on her hips and scrutinized him thoroughly. When he made no further comment, he heard her exhale. He knew in that instant that he had said the wrong thing; that he had disappointed her somehow. But he was damned if he knew what he should have said. "Do you know what I was thinking?" she asked.

"No," he shook his head encouragingly, hoping she would go on.

Instead she echoed his response in a voice which was only slightly ironic. "No," her gamine frown turned up at the edges.

"Deanna, I don't understand--"

"I think we should both get some rest, Will." She spoke quietly and turned to look out of one of her windows. "You should go."

Go? She thought he should go? But she was the one who'd invited him in here. She was the one who was asking him questions, and now all of a sudden she wanted him to... "Go?" he asked the question aloud, feeling it tumble awkwardly from his lips. "Did I do something--?"

"No," coming back around, Troi lifted her gaze and found his, "I'm just very tired. That's all. I'm sorry if I've confused you, or this seems a confrontation. Really, it wasn't."

He stared at her. Because it wasn't the sound of her voice that had changed, so much as it was something ... else. Something he knew, but couldn't place. Riker frowned.

"I'm sorry," she smiled at him. Only he'd never felt uncomfortable with one of her smiles before.

"Okay, I guess I'll ... see you later, then." Backing out toward her doorway, he stopped when it opened for him. He couldn't think of a single logical reason why he shouldn't do just as she asked. It was only that... "Deanna--" he turned and found her eyes still on him, still watching him from whatever dark place she'd fallen into.

Quite suddenly it clicked. As suddenly as Nightbird. Nightbird...

Will Riker drew a careful breath and stepped away from the arch of her entrance, back into the suite. The hallway disappeared behind him and he slowly exhaled.

Deanna looked about to protest his reversal. She tipped her head in a way he was intimately familiar with, but she was never able to speak.

"I was thinking," he began before she could, "please God, don't let her take this moment back." His eyes found hers and she shifted where she stood.

The look in her expression had changed yet again.

"I was thinking, why hasn't she pulled away? And maybe she knows that I can't do this anymore. That I want... I need..."

Deanna's utter silence was somehow loud enough to interject.

"I was thinking," he continued, walking slowly toward her, "maybe she wants this as much as I do. Maybe this time, we can make it work."

Deanna stopped him with her hand when he was only a few feet away. Her eyes were large and dark and filled with question.

"Maybe this time," he captured the hand she held him at bay with and covered it with his larger palm, "we won't have to stand outside that door and wonder how we're going to keep from--"

Kissing him, Deanna launched herself forward and wrapped her slender arms around his neck. She said nothing. Nothing at all, but the pressure of her mouth on the pulse in his neck was hot and sweet ... and addictive. He drew his hands along her spine, and when she shivered...

"I was thinking," her whisper came soft as velvet near his ear, forcing his eyes shut for the pure pleasure of it. "--that I was in a lot of trouble."

"Why?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Because I'd made a silly vow. A long time ago. A promise which, technically, would override the promise we made later, on this ship."

Where the latter was concerned, Will knew exactly which promise she was referring to. The one that kept them at arm's length, together only as friends. But as to the other...

"What promise was that?" his voice broke when she slid her body languorously away from his.

"I vowed that on the day you made it all the way through Nightbird," a hint of color crept into her cheeks but she kept her eyes on his, "I would ask you to marry me."

Riker stared at her. He looked down in stunned silence for a long time; until then the edge of his smile transformed into a brilliant grin.

"Really?" he asked, capturing her hand and toying idly with her fingers. "Is that a proposal, Counselor?"

"Maybe," she offered him a coy look. "It depends..."

"This isn't going to involve an encore, is it?" Riker lifted their joined hands and caught her fingers between both of his palms. His smile widened. "Because you know I charge extra for--"

"A private performance," Deanna confirmed, closing the distance between them. She stood less than a millimeter away and drew her palm along the front of his torso. "Stay..." she whispered, eyes lifting to his, "Stay with me tonight..."

Riker needed no further encouragement. He pulled her hard against his chest and drew their mouths within a breath. "Only," he growled, "if you promise to be good."

"Good?" Deanna grinned and laid her lips on top of his. "Shame on you, Commander," she kissed him sensually, causing his eyes to close and his arms to search for any way to bring her body closer to his. "I'm always good..."

=/end/=