From: bevpicrd@aol.com (BevPicrd)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: New TNG: "AfterYou" P/C, no sex...yet :-D
Date: 29 Sep 1996 00:51:32 -0400


This is my first posting to the creative groups, but not my only story.
Let me know if you like it, and I will brush them up and post more. This
is not graphic--- merely suggestive of things to come. : )

Legal jargon to keep from being sued by Paramount? Nah-- if they are
threatened by my little story, then their writers are worse off than we
thought!


"After You"--- a little trip into the mind of Jean-Luc Picard, to the great amusement of Will Riker


Will Riker smiled to himself and tried very hard to not let his amusement show. He stood on the transporter pad next to his captain, watching him out of the corner of his eye as the form of Dr. Beverly Crusher disappeared around the corner into the corridor.

He and Captain Jean-Luc Picard had just been on a diplomatic mission to Benore Seven, which was experiencing an outbreak of the Caillebotte Plague. Will had accompanied the captain on the mission, since Dr. Crusher was busy tending to patients beamed from the surface. But she had been anxious to hear the news of their meeting, and had personally come to greet them and perform their quarantine field release.Riker was smiling because of Picard's reaction to Dr. Crusher. He'd suspected for a long time that Picard was particularly fond of a certain part of the good doctor's anatomy, but hadn't confirmed it until now, and it amused him immensely.

Will was somewhat of an expert on the male reaction to the female anatomy, and had earned quite a reputation for accuracy in guessing where men's weaknesses lay, so to speak. In fact, he'd collected more than a few barroom credits  from unsuspecting drinking buddies that way. Most men were easy, he'd found. Breasts. They mostly loved breasts. And hell, who was he kidding? He was a breast man, himself. It hadn't been Deanna's brains that had made him stop dead in his tracks when he met her on Betazed so many years ago-- it was those *breasts.* Damn! They still
made his mouth water. Then there were the leg men. Will laughed to himself every time he remembered Worf's reaction to K'Elar crossing her long, muscular legs. He could have sworn he heard the big Klingon growl under his breath at the
sight.

And there were the other, minor groups-- the hair guys, the feet weirdoes, the ones who would drool at the sight of long nails, like Geordi. And then there was Picard. The always honorable, always genteel Picard. It had taken Will a long time to confirm it, but he was sure of it now. He'd begun to suspect it a couple of weeks after the Kes-Prytt fiasco.
They'd left the observation lounge after a senior staff meeting, and Picard had been particularly attentive to Beverly and Deanna.

"After you, ladies," he'd said politely.

Will hadn't thought anything of it, but turned back to say something to Picard and caught his longing look. When he saw Will looking at him, Picard had bent down, pretending that his boot needed to be brushed off. Wiping off one's boot on a spotlessly sealed starship? Yeah, right. Riker had hidden his amusement and asked Picard his question, then headed to Ten Forward, where Guinan had tried to uncover the source of his Cheshire Cat grin. For once, she hadn't been successful.

The next time he noticed Picard's interest was on the holodeck. Deanna had expressed an interest in the exploration of glacial caves, and had somehow miraculously talked Beverly into joining her. Since he had grown up exploring glaciers in his native Alaska, they had recruited Will as their guide, and then asked Picard to join them as a fourth.

Will managed to not react when Picard had managed to be tied to the line after Beverly, but had nearly lost his cover during an ascent climb. Beverly was just above them, wearing tight leggings and a ski jacket that came to her waist. She was slowly climbing, digging the ice prongs in the toes of her boots into the sheer ice face. Suddenly, she'd lost a toe hold and slipped. Instinctively, she rammed her toes into the ice just above Picard's head and held on for dear life.

Picard, knowing her fear of heights, climbed up and began to comfort her. Placing his arm around her shoulders and holding onto the rope, he spoke softly, reminding her that this was a holodeck program, and that she could stop at any point. Slowly, she'd regained her composure and was ready to climb. Picard maintained his position as Beverly began to climb, ascending little by little out of the circle of Picard's arm. Will had looked up just as Beverly's backside was just even with Picard's face. The captain swallowed hard and licked his lips nervously, then turned to look out at the cavern. When Beverly was a good ten feet above Picard, Will finally had to remind the captain to climb.

But today had been the clincher. They'd transported onto the pad and seen Beverly waiting, tricorder in hand, to scan them. Will felt the familiar tingle subside, and waited as Beverly scanned the captain, all the while asking questions about the plans that had been made to deal with the plague. Standard Starfleet ho-hum.

The interesting part came a few minutes later when they were ready to leave the transporter room. Picard, as always, politely motioned for the doctor to go first. "After you, Doctor," he'd smiled.

Beverly had descended the steps, and then it happened. She dropped her tricorder. Picard's eyes had already been following her, but when she bent to pick up the tricorder, they went wide. The tight-fitting Starfleet uniforms left little to the imagination, and there it was in all its glory-- the object of the captain's fascination. He'd frozen in his tracks as Beverly quickly scooped up the tool and headed out.

Now, she was disappearing around the corner, and still he was standing unmoving on the pad, blinking and swallowing as he tried to calm himself. Will stood with him, trying to act as if there was nothing unusual happening, when Beverly's head popped around the corner. She looked puzzled.

"What's with you two? We've got a meeting." She looked at Picard with a slightly irritated expression. "And it's *your* meeting, Jean-Luc! Let's go!" She shook her head and then disappeared again.

Picard coughed in an embarrassed way and turned to his first officer, looking him squarely in the eye.

"No bets will be laid, Commander. Is that clear?"

Riker tried to match the captain's seriousness, but it was no use. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Yes *sir,* Captain!"  he said with a salute.

Picard rolled his eyes, knowing that this would not be the last time that Will Riker would use this little tidbit to have a little fun at his commanding officer's expense.

He didn't have long to wait.

As they reached the door, Will motioned with his hand and gallantly said with a smile, "After *you,* Captain!"