Someone was playing Bajoran music on the com system in the officer's
lounge. Riker grimmaced at the meloncholy tune as he shoved the chicken
to the side of his plate. He should be hungry he told himself. He had
skipped lunch to go talk to Deanna and here it was dinner and he still
had no appetite. The scraping of the chair being pulled along the floor
alerted him to another presence beside him.

	"You didn't tell her." Worf's comment was as much a statement as
a question. His thick brows were knitted together in silent accusation
as he settled himself in the seat.

	"I told her." Riker dug his hand into his forehead as he relived
his conversation with Deanna in her office. "At least... I think I told
her."

	Worf turned away for a moment, then his frown deepened. Slowly,
delierately he placed the menu on the table. His voice ridiculed Riker,
"You don't know?"

	"I told her. I told her." Riker tossed a quick swallow of ale
down his throat. It didn't help much. He couldn't even taste the dark
brew.

	"What did she say?"

	"Well," Riker hesitated. He didn't know how to describe his talk
with Deanna. She hadn't really said anything he realized. "I don't
know."

	"Commander," Worf shook his head as he gave an audible snort,
"your reputation with women is undeserved."

	Riker let his head fall between his hands.  He gripped his hair
as if he might tear it out, "I'm not usually so...so..."

	"So outmanuevered?"

	Looking up Riker squinted up at the Klingon. "That isn't what I
was going to say."

	"She has you where she wants you."

	"How would you know?" Riker popped a piece of chicken in his
mouth even though he couldn't taste it.

	"She is a psychiatrist. She enjoys toying with her men before
she sets her hook."

	Riker assumed the Klingon was teasing him but with Worf it was
hard to tell. "You're joking, right?"

	"Klingons don't joke. She wants to make sure you are sincere in
your interest in her, so she will play hard to get."

	Riker bit his lip as he turned away from Worf,  "I kissed her."

	"It sounds like you did well."

	Riker glanced to the left and right verifying no one was close
enough to eavesdrop, before admitting, "She pushed me away and said -
Yuck."

	"Yuck?" Worf's left eyebrow rose and the side of his mouth curled
up.

	Hanging his head in his hands Riker continued his confession.
"She said she had never kissed me before with a beard."

	"She never objected to my facial hair," Worf said. He took another
bite of meat and slowly chewed as if lost in thought.

	"Thanks for sharing that Worf." Riker took his mug in his hand,
held it in mid-air and then said, "She's kissed me before with my beard.
Several times."

	"She does not mind the beard," Worf said. He pointed a finger at
Riker's chest.  "She is testing you."

	"Really?" Riker asked.

	"Yes. She wants to see what you will do."

	Shaking his head Riker said, "I'm not shaving my beard off."

	"Your beard represents a path you took that led away from her.
You must shave it off."

	Riker pulled at his beard, unaware of his subconcious action.
"Why?"

	"You must show her you are sincere in your feelings for her.
That you will sacrifice something that you care a great deal about for
her."

	"You didn't have to shave your beard off for her," Riker insisted.
"I'm not either."

	"That was different." Worf sipped his prune juice. Looking entirely
to self satisfied for Will's taste he said, "I never ran out on her."

	***

	Riker was still fuming over his visit to Deanna's office after
he left Worf. Stepping inside his cabin he tore off his uniform top.
Yuck, she had kissed him and said yuck. She didn't feel the same way
about him, that was obvious. Actually he should have known as much. All
those years they were together, not one time did she ever even hint that
she would want to get back together. And it wasn't like she wasn't
looking around either. There had been the occasional romp with someone
off the ship. There had been Thomas Riker and of course, Worf. He had
dismissed Thomas Riker as proof of how she still wanted him. Ther were
duplicates after all. Obviously that assumption had been wrong. He'd
blown it. She would never forgive him for the Risa fiasco.

	"Troi to Riker."

	He grabbed his shirt which had fallen inside out, thrusting his
hand inside the collar. All he found was more material.

	"Troi to Riker."

	Through the material he could feel the hard surface of the
communicator badge where it remained attached to the breast of his
uniform top. Once more he struggled with the garment, but the more he
attempted to locate the badge, the more buried in material it became.
Finally he brought the shirt close to his mouth and yelled, "Riker
here."

	"Will? Are you all right? You sound funny."

	"Just a minute, Deanna." Stopping for a quick breath he forced
himself to turn the uniform inside out. He unclasp the badge and held it
in his hand near his mouth. "Sorry. What's up?"

	"I wanted to say hello."

	He stared at the badge. Hello? She was using a Starfleet com
badge to say hello? As if she were on a family vid link. "Hi," he said,
feeling like a fool. He hoped no one would bother listening to this
official Starfleet communication which, like all official communications
was being recorded by the ship's computer.

	"I am sorry if I hurt your feelings today."

	"No." He sat down on a chair. "I understood."

	"You did?"

	"Sure." He waited for her to continue.

	"Have you had dinner yet?" she asked.

	"No," he lied. Then he remembered he had sat down to dinner in
ten forward, but he hadn't actually eaten he reminded himself.

	"Would you like to come over here for some dinner?" She waited
only a beat before adding, "just the two of us."

	"Sure."

	"We could try that kiss again if you like."

	Riker smiled - he'd like all right. "Be right over. I just have
to take a shower first."

	"Well, I thought you might want to join me in a bubble bath..."

	"Sure," he cringed when his voice cracked. She was laughing at
him, he could tell. Well, what the hell. She could laugh all she wanted.
A bubble bath. In the nude. Of course they would be nude. You always
took bubble baths in the nude, right? Things were looking up. And then
after the bubble bath...or maybe during the bubble bath...he could
collect that kiss. Yes, Riker, he told himself, you haven't lost your
touch after all.