The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [27]
Deanna said nothing, her eyes still closed against the water, soaking in Will’s reassuring presence in her mind as she soaked up the heat.
Imzadi …
“Deanna? Did you say something?”
“Just a second, Will,” she said finally, her eyes opening. She couldn’t see past the steam.
“I can come back—”
“No, it’s all right,” she said, turning off the shower. “Hand me my robe, would you?”
Hesitation again. He was wondering if she was sending him a signal. And part of her, she realized, was wondering the same thing. Her history with Will was long and passionate on numerous levels, and always seemed just on the verge of reigniting, especially during times of personal crisis.
You really should know better, Deanna, she admonished herself. Try to remember you’re a counselor.
She heard him fumbling for the robe near the entrance to the bathroom. “That’s quite a head of steam you have going in there,” he commented.
“Helped me to relax,” she said, reaching through the steam. “You should try it sometime.” She could see him now, a silhouette in the mist, which of course meant that he, in turn, could see her.
He handed her the robe. “It seems to be having the opposite effect on me,” he admitted. “But I think you knew that.”
She froze. Of course, she thought. Will wasn’t empathic, but he also wasn’t likely to forget that she was, and he knew perfectly well that she could read him like a book, emotionally.
Nudity wasn’t an issue to most Betazoids. But realizing that Will had seen through her, Deanna suddenly felt naked. Exposed. She quickly wrapped her robe around herself. “I’m sorry, Will. That was … that was unfair of me. And stupid.”
The fog was lifting. She could see his face now. He was smiling at her. Not mischievously, but affectionately. “Why? Because you feel that if we gave in to our impulses, it would be for the wrong reasons, and at the worst possible time?”
“Isn’t that how you feel?”
“That’s a rhetorical question, Deanna. You know how I feel.”
“Then why do we do this to ourselves?”
“Honestly? Because I think when you get past our suppressed mutual lust, we actually care about each other too much to risk making this choice just because we’re suddenly afraid it may be our last chance. But either way, it’s not something either of us should feel sorry about.”
Deanna smiled crookedly and looked up at him. “Are you after my job?”
“God, no. Who would want it?”
Will let out a satisfying “Oof!” as Deanna punched him in the stomach, after which she reached for a towel and wrapped it around her head as she walked past him into the living area. “So what does bring you to my quarters at this late hour, Commander?”
Will made a show of holding his abdomen as he staggered after her. “Some news that I thought might brighten your evening,” he gasped dramatically, then sobered, grinning in that way he had that came more from his eyes than any other part of his face. “I just found out how Vaughn expects to get to Darona.”
Chapter Six
G UL L EMEC ASCENDED the turboshaft of Sentok Nor, the Cardassian-engineered space station that glittered in the sky above Betazed. Unlike the majority of Nor -class stations, Sentok had not been designed as a facility for refining space-borne materials. The Dominion’s war with the Federation had led to new uses for the massive assemblage of steel and composites. Instead of miners, Sentok Nor’s habitat ring housed Cardassian soldiers and engineers, while its central core was outfitted as the system’s primary Jem’Hadar breeding facility. The station’s cargo holds stored war matériel and captive Betazoids brought up from the planet, as well as the lab complex for the experimental work that played such a big part in the Dominion’s decision to target Betazed for annexation in the first place. And its graceful pylons—only three of which had been completed so
far—served as docking ports for Dominion and Cardassian