The Newsgroup Would Like To Recomend . . .
Combined Series
Title: LESSONS IN LOVE
Author: Cait N. (AliCat@netdot.com)
Series: TNG/VOY
Codes: Crusher/Wildman
Rating: PG
Archive: Sure, what the heck!
Note: Part of the Femme Fuh-q Fest - http://www.oocities.org/femme_fuhq_fest/
Disclaimer: Paramount owns the characters, I just take 'em out for a spin every once in a while.
Summary: While a cadet at the Academy, Samantha Wildman gets tutoring from Dr. Beverly
Crusher, and falls in love along the way.
LESSONS IN LOVE
by Cait
Sunlight sparkled off the waters of San Francisco Bay. Seagulls soared and dived, their antics
causing several passers-by to smile. Samantha Wildman wandered along, impervious to the
beauty around her. He thoughts were turned inward, dwelling upon her classes at the Academy.
Her last year. Just three short months and she'd be graduating, heading off on some posting to
who-knew-where. And she was scared to death. Scared of being on her own, scared of failing, of
disappointing her parents and her co-workers - scared of everything.
Her watch beeped at her, and she looked at the time. "Shit!" she said under her breath. She'd
have to practically run to make it to her study group on time.
Her feet flew over the ground as she crossed the Academy campus. The immaculately
manicured lawns with their bright flowerbeds, were a perfect foil to the light grey buildings. All
that flew by in a blur as Samantha sprinted on her way to the library.
It was a half-buried tree root that tripped her up and sent her sprawling face first in the dirt. She
took a second to get her breath, pushing up and spitting dirt out of her mouth. There in front of
her face was a pile of sun-yellow begonias - smashed flat. Oh man, this was not good.
She sat back on her heels, contemplating the poor, bedraggled flowers and wondering how she
was going to fix them.
"You'd better try to fix them before Boothby happens by."
Startled, Samantha looked up to find the source of the voice. Shading her eyes against the
afternoon sun, she found herself staring at one of the most striking women she'd even seen. The
woman smiled and crouched down beside her. Up close, Sam was lost in laughing blue eyes
flecked with green. They reminded her of the Aegean Sea at sunset -- a sight she didn't think
could ever be duplicated.
"It's not that bad," the woman said, starting to repack the soil around the flowers. Evidently she
mistook Sam's silence as fright.
The young cadet shook her head in an attempt to clear it, and started helping arrange the flowers
back in some semblance of order. "I just...I got tripped up by a root," she explained.
"That happens to more people than you'd think. I've seen my share of sprained and broken
ankles because of it." The woman brushed her hands off and offered one to Sam. "I'm sorry, I'm
Beverly Crusher. And you are?"
"Sam, Samantha Wildman." Sam took her hand and shook it lightly. She had soft hands, this
amazing woman.
"Nice to meet you, Samantha." She stood up and waited while Sam did the same. "I was about
to get a cup of tea and a muffin, if you'd like to join me."
Sam was about to say yes, when she remembered her study group. "I'd love to, but I'm already
late for my study group," she said with honest regret. "Maybe I'll see you around." She turned
and started walking away.
"The cafe is in that direction, mind if I walk with you?" Beverly called out as she jogged up
alongside Sam.
"No, I don't mind," Sam said smiling.
"What study group are you going to?"
Sam sighed. "It's for Terran Anatomy."
"Ah," Beverly said in understanding. "Professor Grimke?"
"Yes. And if I don't pass this class I won't be graduating this June." Sam's face was a picture of
dejection.
"Well, if you need any extra help I could probably clear an hour or two a week to help you," said
Beverly casually.
"Really? You think you could help me pass the class?" Sam wasn't about to turn down free help.
Especially if it meant spending more time with the woman at her side.
Beverly laughed. "I should hope so."
Sam didn't get what seemed to her to be a joke. "Are you an instructor?"
"Not exactly," Beverly replied with a slight shake of her head. "I'm chief of Starfleet Medical."
"Oh." There was a lot of meaning packed in that one word.
"Don't let the position of authority scare you. I was once a cadet like yourself, struggling to pass
the same classes." She smiled, trying to put the young woman back at ease. "I went to the
medical academy - eight years of torture."
Sam grinned. "It was that bad?"
Beverly laughed again. "If you only knew the half of it."
They reached the steps to the library. "So, should I contact you about the studying?"
Beverly tilted her head, going over her schedule in her mind. "How are Fridays at 1500? I know
most of the cadets like having their Friday afternoons free, but that's the only day I'm not in
meetings or at the teaching college in town."
Sam would have to give up an hour of her volunteering at the xenoscience lab, but she thought it
would be worth it. "That would be great."
"It's a deal then. Do you know where that old wooden bridge is? The one with the small stream
that cuts through the corner of campus?"
Sam knew the one. "Yes."
"We'll meet there. It'll be better than being cooped up indoors." Beverly started off down the
street. "I'll see you then, Samantha Wildman."
"Yes, ma'am, I'll be there." With a spring in her step, Sam went up the stairs into the library.
The next two months flew by in a blur. Each Friday they would meet down by the little wooden
bridge, and Beverly would help Sam go over the week's work. She'd point out key terms, explain
concepts more in-depth than what the professor had done, and help her study for tests.
Sometimes she'd even bring a picnic basket filled with bread and cheese, or some other sort of
snack, and some wine, and after the lesson they'd sit on the bank of the stream and talk. Sam
learned about Beverly's experiences when she was a cadet at the Academy, the latest escapades
of her son, Wesley, and her recent posting aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Sam was in awe of the vivacious woman, thinking that she'd never known anyone more exciting,
or lovelier. She caught herself wondering what Beverly's red hair would look like spread out
against a stark white pillow, her blue eyes awash with passion, darkening to a stormy, sea green. It
was those times, that she'd start to blush, and hope that the doctor didn't notice. Only once
before had she ever fantasized about another woman, and it had been when she was in high
school. She'd developed a crush on their next door neighbor, a single woman in her
mid-twenties who worked as a bartender. She'd never told anyone about it, least of all the
neighbor, and when Sam and her parents moved, she'd never seen the woman again.
Sam didn't consider herself a prude - well, okay, maybe a bit of one, but not as much as some
girls she knew. She'd been an only child, and sheltered in some ways, but her parents had also
allowed her a good bit of freedom growing up. She'd dated in high school, and indulged in the
familiar teenage ritual of petting, but had shied away from letting things go too far. She'd
entered Starfleet Academy a virgin, both proud yet ashamed of it. She heard the sexual bragging
from her roommate, and some of her friends, but was reluctant to make up stories just to "fit in."
Thus it was, with much trepidation, that Samantha Wildman set about to lose her vaulted
virginity.
She'd chosen her target carefully, a studious-looking boy named Gavin, who some of her friends
had tagged "the Geek." Sam thought he was scholarly, not geeky. He had obtained permission to
live off-campus - his mother was dying from cancer, a strain that medical science hadn't found a
cure for yet. Sam started out by sitting next to him at meals, finding out what interested him,
and asking him questions about it. They went to an Academy concert, the opera, and just out
walking a few times. Finally, he invited her home with him.
After an awkward dinner with his mom and younger sister, they'd gone into his room to listen to
music. Thirty minutes later, Sam's clothes were spread haphazardly around the room, and Gavin
was fumbling to get his pants off. The sex was hasty, unfulfilling (at least for Sam), and not at
all what she'd built up in her mind. But at least she was no longer a virgin. Slowly, her
relationship with Gavin had fizzled out, much to her relief. She'd concentrated on her studies
from that point on, only dating casually and very occasionally. No one had really interested her
-until now.
It took Sam nearly 10 weeks of studying with Beverly to work up the courage to make a move.
They were sitting under a gazebo in Golden Gate Park, a soft, spring rain pattering against the
roof, when Sam leaned forward and placed her lips against Beverly's.
The shocked doctor was taken aback at first, but then kissed Sam back. When she realized what
she was doing, she broke off the kiss, shaking her head. "No, Sam."
"But why?" Sam asked. "I know you weren't turned off by it - you kissed me back."
"It's wrong for all the obvious reasons. Discounting the age difference, you're a cadet and I'm
Chief of Starfleet Medical. The scandal that would cause could cost us both our positions."
"We could be discreet..."
Beverly was shaking her head again. "Sam, I know you're attracted to me, I can't help but know
after that kiss, but I just can't."
"Why not?" Sam was perilously close to tears.
Beverly's smile was sweet and wistful. "Because I'm in love with someone. Oh, I tried to tell
myself that it was just infatuation, and it would pass. In fact, I took this position at Starfleet
Medical to put some distance between us, hoping that I'd forget about him. But I can't. The
distance has only made me love him more." Beverly took Sam's hand between her own and
looked into her blue-grey eyes. "I'm leaving, Sam. I'm going back to the Enterprise. "
"When?" Sam choked out.
"My shuttle leaves the morning of the 22nd."
"Graduation day."
"Yes. " Beverly leaned forward and kissed her gently on the cheek. "I've loved our time
together, and I'll never forget you, I hope you know that." She gathered up her bag, and walked
away, the raindrops glistening in her hair like dew on a spider's web.
Sam watched her go, imprinting that memory into her brain as tears coursed silently down her
cheeks.
"Marcus Tomlinson, Ensign, Stellar Sciences. Trovak, Ensign, Security." The announcer
continued calling out the names in alphabetical order, giving their rank and specialization
afterward. Sam stood on the stage next to her classmates, amazed that the day she'd dreamed
about for so long had finally arrived.
"Samantha Wildman, Ensign, Xenobiology."
Sam took a deep breath and crossed the stage, stood still while the smiling dignitary pinned her
pip on her collar, and then crossed to stand with the crowd of those who'd already been frocked.
Her eyes scanned the crowd, seeing the smiling faces of her mom and dad, and smiled back at
them.
A figure standing in the back of the room caused her wandering eyes to stop and backtrack.
Beverly smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up sign, pride and love shining in her eyes. Sam
smiled back at her and gave a slight wave.
*I'll never forget you, either.* Sam managed to hold back the tears.
A pain lanced through her foot as someone stepped on it.
"Oh! Sorry!" the offender whispered in apology.
Sam winced in pain, but managed to smile at the guy next to her. He did look awfully contrite.
"No harm done," she replied.
"I'll be glad when all this pomp and nonsense is over and they give us our assignments. I hope
I'm assigned to a space station. Planetside would be too dull, I think." He held out his hand.
"And your name is?"
"Samantha Wildman," she said, taking his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Samantha Wildman. I'm Ktarian, by the way, name's Greskrendtregk."
Sam looked where Beverly had been standing, nothing but an empty space now. She turned
back to the young man. "Care to get something to eat when all this is over?"
THE END
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