<USS Avalon> "Friends with Benefits"

Friends with Benefitsby Lt. Sussanna Jameson and Lt. Simon Matthews 


Their spot. Funny how it had come to be known as that in her own mind. Anna 
smiled as she slipped into the booth in the corner of Ten Forward. It was the 
least popular, it didn't sport the most stunning view, nor was it particularly 
well placed to attract the waiters' attention, but that was why she liked it. 
Out of the way.

After waving vigorously at a passing server, she managed to order two cups of 
coffee: her usual mocachino with extra cream and his, black with no sugar. And 
then she waited.

"Hey," Simon said, sliding up to the table. "Sorry I'm late. I was trying to 
think up a witty excuse on the way, but couldn't, so I'll have to rely on the 
truth. I was reading the economy reports from back home. Dull as the day is 
long. And the days are getting longer, aren't they?" He slipped into the booth 
and offered Sussanna his most charming smile. "I heard this was actually 
Marksbury's booth. Or at least that she's here at night with some guy anymore."

"Well isn't that just the sweetest thing," Anna said with a hint of sarcasm. 
She needed to use something to hide the stabbing pain in her chest so she 
glowered at the waiter as he brought their drinks. "These had better not be 
cold like last time."

Looking a bit afronted, the waiter left the drinks on the table and departed 
without a word. "Ooh, and the Cat is back. What's a matter?" Simon asked, 
pulling his drink towards him. "Did that waiter push you down in the fourth 
grade, or what?"

Stabbing violently at the creamy topping of her drink, she managed to sploosh 
some of it over the table. "Bloody hell!" Sighing, she sat back. "Just not 
having a good day."

Handing her the napkin to clean up the mess, Simon bit back another retort. His 
deep brown eyes, instead, changed to compassion. "Tell me."

Dabbing ineffectually at the puddle of coffee, Anna blew out a long breath. 
"Just this stupid biddy at work, she keeps fucking up the medicine quatities I 
ask for. Christ Almighty, I almost killed someone with a knee scrape because 
she couldn't get it right."

"Ah, the monkies there to keep us entertained. Makes life interesting, don't 
you think?" Grabbing another napkin, he helped her to clean up the mess. "What 
is it really? Forester? The shitty service for him?"

"Shitty? Why do you think it was shitty? I mean I was kind of hurt that Liss 
didn't use the speech we'd worked on together, but it wasn't all that shitty, 
was it?" She looked at him, searching his face, trying to find something, some 
confirmation that they'd done it right.

He blinked, "Liss? Since when you getting all personal with the Almighty 
Marksbury?"

"Uh..." She stuttered a little, knowing that Simon really didn't like 
Elissabeth. "J-just talking to her, that's all. She's helping me with my 
Chinese. Well she was until recently since I appear to no longer be flavour of 
the month." A little bitterness crept into her voice.

"Flavour of the month, eh? And here I thought she was just an uppity bitch who 
thinks she's better than everyone else," he laughed. "So, she sleeps around 
too. Nice to know that about your commanding officer."

Anna coloured instantly and tried to bury herself in the padded seat. "Let's 
talk about something else, okay? The ice queen isn't exactly my favourite topic 
right now." Biting the inside of her mouth, she grasped at straws. "So, you've 
had a boring day then?" Wow, Anna, you sound so fucking dull even to me.

"Boring doesn't even begin to describe it. There is absolutely nothing to do 
while we're parked at this Starbase. All I've done is watched Hollander and 
Eckstein bicker with each other until I just wanna tell them to get a room and 
get rid of the tension." Taking a sip of his coffee, he eyed the girl across 
from him. "When are you going to tell me what's really bothering you, hon?" All 
flippance aside, Simon really did like Anna. He probably wouldn't have even 
talked to her if she hadn't stopped him in a turbo-lift one day and let him 
have it over what a stuck up snot he was and how it wouldn't hurt him to come 
back to reality and associate with the little people. Considering those were 
the things he hated about Marksbury, he talked to her. And they'd been getting 
closer ever since. Enough that he looked forward to seeing Anna when they met.

The breath she finally blew out was verging on tornedo level. "Liss." Trying to 
force her words past the lump in her throat, she said, "I don't know what I did 
wrong, I really don't. God I wish I did because then I could fix it. I 
could..." She felt so stupid as one tear started to trace down her cheek. 
"John's dead and I put so much effort into that eulogy and then she just 
refused to use it. In front of all those people she blatantly ignored what we'd 
planned. It was like my friendship with him meant nothing to her, like she knew 
him best, better than I ever could." Her tears were coming thicker and faster 
now, she was powerless to stop them and it made her feel so weak.

"Alright," he said, standing. "Let's go." Reaching down to grab Anna's hand, he 
pulled her to her feet.

"Er..." Allowing herself to be pulled to her feet, she stumbled after him. 
"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere non-public for you to break down on me," Simon said quietly, pulling 
her out the door. "You haven't told me all the story and you're already crying. 
And I know you enough to know you see crying as a bad thing and that if you're 
gonna be stuck doin' it, you want to do it in private." He continued rambling 
on to her up the turbo-lift until they were safely inside his quarters. Nothing 
was really messy, but Simon had a tremendous amount of books stacked everywhere.

Anna blushed and gaped around her. She'd never been in his rooms, they'd never 
really taken the friendship further than coffee in Ten Forward and a brief chat 
when they accidentally met in the hallway or something. Glancing at the titles 
of the books, she smiled a little to see a few of her favourites, including... 
"Dracula!" she chirped.

"Mm-hmm," he responded absently. "Read it? Most people haven't." He palmed 
through a bunch of others to pull out another. "This is my favourite, though." 
He handed her 'The War of the Worlds'.

Flicking through it briefly, she grinned. "God, I remember Gramps playing me 
the old radio programme when I was little." Laughing for the first time that 
day, she read a few lines. "This brings back memories. He used to sit me on his 
knee; he had this old gramaphone, like seriously ancient, an original. He'd put 
on a record of the programme and we'd listen to it for hours."

"Holy shit, no way!" Retrieving the book back from her, he added it to the pile 
which teetered precariously. "Yeah, I got a little of everything. But anyway," 
Simon said, placing his hands on Anna's shoulders from behind her, "tell me 
what's wrong." Anna was a tall girl, but he was still taller and that somehow 
pleased him.

His touch sent unexpected tingles up her spine. She had a sudden urge to shrug 
him off but that was counter-balanced by an equally powerful urge to sink back 
down into him. So she simply stayed where she was. What she was about to tell 
him would destroy everything sweet between them anyway. "I slept with Lissi."

Resting his chin against the side of Anna's head, Simon could smell the gel she 
used in her hair. A faint coconut scent. What he had meant as a sweet gesture 
somehow suddenly had him thinking in other directions. "Aw, poor bunny," he 
said with sympathy, using one of Anna's commonly used phrases. "What in the 
world did you do to deserve that? Start a war in a previous life?"

A giggle bubbled up from deep in her belly. Soon she was laughing so hard that 
tears were pouring down her face and she was leaning against Simon for support. 
Turning to face him, she leaned her head on his shoulder as the fit subsided. 
"Thanks sweetness, I needed that."

"Anytime, you know." His arms slid around her waist, pulling her just a little 
closer. But not pushing. Just in case. "But really. What happened? I didn't 
think, I mean, we all had it figured out that her and Monroe were playin' 
around behind closed doors, it was obvious. But what happened with you, hon?"

Following his lead, she curled her arms around his neck, leaning in just a 
little further, reveling in the comfortable physical contact. Comfortable? If 
that's the case, why has your pulse rate just skipped up a notch? Ignoring her 
reaction to him, she explained her night with Lissi, how it had been to comfort 
her, that Anna knew that it had meant nothing to Liss. It still hurt, even 
stood there with one of her closest friends holding her tightly.

"I told you she was a bitch, Cat. Why did you want to have anything to do with 
her from the start? It was obvious from the get go."

Resting her head on one of her arms, she shrugged. "I don't know, she's just so 
bloody beautiful and charming and mysterious. And then she was all weak and my 
mothering instinct kicked in I guess."

He swallowed, feeling a little less comfortable holding her like that. Simon 
unwrapped his arms from Anna and kissed the side of her head. "Well, we all 
make mistakes. It's nothing to dwell on. Is that all that's bothering you?"

The sudden change shocked her. Stepping back in embarrassment, she shook her 
head. "Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Innocent confusion clouded his face.

"I don't know. You stopped. I... I didn't mean to make you stop." Now this was 
getting just down right weird. Why had it crushed her so thoroughly when he'd 
moved away?

Grinning at her, Simon barked out a slight laugh. "So my little spitfire likes 
to cuddle? Who woulda thunk it? Did you learn that from Liss?" He was teasing 
her, hoping to make light of the situation and show her it really wasn't a big 
issue. Then stepping up to her, Simon bent down to look in her eyes. "I moved 
cause I had this sudden urge to kiss you and I was afraid if I did, you'd 
emasculate me or something."

The corner of her mouth twitched up into a cocky grin. "Now would I do 
something like that?" Tapping him playfully on the arm, she said, "Anyway, 
you're just getting turned on by the thought of me and Liss getting it on."

Quickly catching his mouth with her own, she pulled back before it became a 
full kiss. "Something like that?"

Laughing a bit as she nipped playfully at his mouth, Simon admitted, "Can't say 
it didn't cross my mind. I may not like her, but I'm not blind." Then, looking 
into her eyes for a moment, he asked, "You okay with this?"

All silliness suddenly dissipated and she stepped into him. "Don't know. Kiss 
me and we'll find out."

Slowly, Simon lowered his mouth to hers, taking time to savour kissing his 
friend. Or maybe more? he wondered. Sweet at first, then just a little more 
agressive towards the end, Simon lifted his head and touched noses with Anna. 
"How 'bout now?"

Rising up, she slipped past his nose and kissed him a little more deeply, her 
tongue flicking out for a fraction of a second to play along the edge of his 
lips. "Okay maybe, but not what you'd call comfortable," she said when she 
finally pulled away. "Excited, nervous, horny as hell, but definitely not 
comfortable."

Breathing quicker, Simon felt a grin curling up the corner of his mouth. "If 
you're gonna use me, hon, can we make it a threesome?" Before she could answer, 
he dipped his head and kissed her vigorously.

Giggling as she pulled back, she shook her head. "Nah, she's not what you'd 
call 'experienced' in bed. Doesn't know how to..." Cocking her head to one 
side, she shrugged. "To please a woman, if you know what I mean."

"Mmm, guess I'll have to make sure I don't get put on that list." Kissing her 
once more and pulling her closely, taking their desire to a new level, Simon 
broke the kiss and asked over her lips, "We're just friends, right? I mean, aw 
hell," he said, kissing her again.

"Friends," she said through the kiss, "is just fine with me." Pulling at the 
bottom edge of his top, she tried to guide him to the sofa or any other 
available horizontal surface.

"You really do want it, don't you?" Grabbing her hand, Simon led her to his 
bedroom. "We're gonna take our time and you are gonna be one happy bunny in the 
morning. I promise."

"Promises, promises." A deep throaty chuckle escaped her lips as she gave him 
an appraising look. "You talk big, now you've got to prove you're up to your 
words."

---------------------------------

A satisfied, sleepy sigh left his lips as Simon turned over and snuggled into 
Anna. He awoke and kissed her on the neck to wake her up, her still wonderfully 
naked body pressed against his. She had an amazing body. "Hey sleepy, you gotta 
work today."

"Mmm." She rolled into him, feeling his silky smooth skin against hers. "Don't 
wanna."

Kissing her forehead gently, he asked, "Feeling any better?"

Slowly, she opened one eye. "Much." Snuggling closer to into him, she decided 
she wanted to spend the rest of the day there. Sighing, she rolled away from 
him and glared at the chronometer on his wall. "Wish I could stay longer."

"Well then I won't rub it in that I have the day off. Especially considering I 
kept you up most the night," he grinned. "I gotta know one thing though, tell 
me that was better than Marksbury, even if you lie to me."

A deep, throaty, exhausted laugh rumbled out of her. "Sweetness, there's just 
no comparison. You're miles ahead." A shadow of a thought clouded her eyes. 
"Can I come back? After work?"

"Finally! Better than she is at something!" Laughing with her, he added, "Of 
course. If you explain that look you just gave me."

"I thought..." She shrugged and rolled away, looking at the wall. "I thought 
you'd treat me the way Lissi did. I thought I'd ruined things with you too."

"What did she do to you, hon?"

"She got cold, stopped talking to me." Again Anna shrugged. "Fuck this, I hate 
feeling like a fool. She played me, got a good fuck and then chased the next 
pair of trousers that looked her way."

"Well, she's a heartless bitch. Anyone with eyes can see it." He ran his hands 
through her hair. "I didn't realise how long your hair was when it's not all 
glued down. But don't let Marksbury get to you. Besides, if she hadn't fucked 
you over, this may not have happened and I really enjoyed it."

Grinning, Anna glanced back at Simon. "Me too." She rose to her feet, her hips 
swaying slightly as she began gathering her clothes, ready for the day. Popping 
her head back into the bedroom, she said, "See you tonight?"

"Looking forward to it."

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