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“It’s good that you’re going home tomorrow…” Deanna looked across to Jean-Luc as she sat in his quarters with him.
“You think so?” Picard asked.
“Yes.” Deanna smiled. She felt him thinking something then…And, watched him seem to shy away, to turn his face. “It’s quite natural…” She assured him.
“What is exactly?” Jean-Luc tried to ask neutrally.
“To want to assure yourself that there is still some love and warmth out there in this Universe.” Deanna responded.
“But how can I do that when I don’t want anyone encroaching on my…space… again.” He had hesitated because he was reluctant to use the word space when he was a starship Captain.
“But you want to find some warmth and love precisely because you want to prove to yourself that you won’t be…” she paused, trying to look at him and find the right word.
“Raped..?” He replied unattached to the word.
“… again… So, ok, it wasn’t a sexual thing… But it was intimate. You know you were invaded, and I know you were…” Deanna continued.
“That’s what the Borg are all about…” Jean-Luc answered. “That, and perfection.”
“And though I know you might think it odd for us to talk about it, sex is an intimate thing, and a thing that can make a person feel safe and loved… So, don’t apologise for what just crossed your mind, Jean-Luc.” Deanna told him. “Especially not you, after what you’re having to live with… Lesser things can drive a person to crave the same kind of assurances.”
“Are we talking about you now, Deanna..?” Picard asked, uncertain.
“If I’m honest, yes.” Deanna replied.
“Is Will the cause or the cure..?” Picard queried tentatively, not entirely comfortable with his own question.
“Again, truthfully, I don’t know… But it would be nice to not be alone.” Deanna admitted.
“Well, I don’t think I’ll be asleep anytime soon… So, as long as are comfortable with sharing my living room, you are welcome to…” Jean-Luc told her.
Deanna got up, and went to sit next to Jean-Luc. “Is this ok?” She asked, as she sat down – Aware that he could still having sense-memory of entrapment. Again, then, she felt the same wave of emotion and impulse from him as earlier. “Thank you.” She looked at him. “It’s okay… I promise you…”
That night, they didn’t separate when Jean-Luc crawled into bed. Neither of them were sure that they should allow themselves to stay together, but they did. Just in each other’s embrace, until they turned to one another, each regarding the other, and Deanna carefully draped her arm over his hips, her hand gently at his back.
At that moment, Deanna and Jean-Luc kissed, here, in his bed… and, continued to kiss.
As he came up against her thigh, Jean-Luc was embarrassed, but Deanna stroked his face with her fingers, and smiled. “It’s okay…” And she deepened their kisses, moving even closer to Jean-Luc.
After a while, pausing to look at each other again, Deanna peeled Jean-Luc’s trousers off of him, unfastening them, and lowering them over his hipbones and thighs.
He wriggled out of them from there, and discarded them, and then, let Deanna do the same with his underwear, which he got rid of again. Every step they were taking was very cautious, slow; an amazing release, a shared much needed moment in time somehow. Jean-Luc caressed Deanna’s shoulders, taking down her uniform-jumpsuit over those shoulders, stroking the skin there, and her neck, with a kind brush of the back of his fingers…
And, Deanna disrobed, too.
After that, their love-making continued; hushed; in awe, savouring the strength that grew now between them.
Deanna shifted to lay beneath him, but lovingly, still kept assuring contact, holding Jean-Luc safe, yet refraining from intrusive grip… Her fingertips danced across his skin, breathed softly across his back… Her lips kissed his lips, and with each careful thrust into her, each dip that brought his torso toward hers, her breasts met his chest, and sweetness filtered through to each of them…
Jean-Luc kissed Deanna’s lips with gentle gratitude and kindness… When he moved within her, he made sure she went with him, and he kept eye contact the whole time so that they could share the journey… As he felt her tighten around him, and her arms keep him sheltered, it was all with a touch so light, and yet so touching, that he did not feel afraid… He found his reassurance.
And so did Deanna.
In the morning, Jean-Luc would be visiting his family in France, but, for now, Picard and Troi were here, together.
The End..?
8.9.06