"Don't Sit Under the Palmetto Tree"
Author: Cait N.
caitn at mindspring dot com
Series: TNG
Pairing: Barclay/Lefler
Rating: NC-17
Cait's Endless Trek
http://www.asstr.org/~CaitN
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Reading. Playing checkers with the computer. Tinkering
down in Engineering. Searching for the lost city of
Atlantis on the holodeck.  Starfleet systems diagonistic
engineer Reginald Barclay would rather have been doing any
of those things that trying to enjoy his first night of
shore leave on Starbase 227.

It was Counselor Troi's fault. She'd insisted that he
needed some time off the ship, just like everyone else, and
that too much solitude wasn't good for anyone, even some as
introverted as he was. She bulldozed him into a promise to
meet her at the Sunset Cafe at 7pm.  So, here he was,
wearing his best off-duty clothes and trying not bolt for
the nearest transporter.

He was humming to himself when he noticed a familiar face.
Ensign Robin Lefler had just entered the cafe and was
looking around like she was searching for someone. He
noticed the way her pale blue dress accented her chest,
then berated himself for having such thoughts about a
fellow crewman. Sure, he'd had similar thoughts about
Deanna, but that was different, sort of. Reg took another
drink of his shirley temple.

Robin must have noticed him because the next thing he knew
she was sitting on the stool next to him.  "Hello Lt.
Barclay."

"Heh... hello." Reg toyed with the straw in his drink,
trying to think of something witty to say.  

Robin looked around the small cafe again.  "I don't mean
to bother you, but have you seen Counselor Troi? I was
supposed to meet her here at 7pm."

"You? You were supposed to meet her here tonight? But I
thought that she told *me* to meet her here.  At 7pm."

Robin wrinkled her brow in confusion.  "That's strange."

Just then the bartender approached them.  "Hey," he said,
addressing Reg.  "You by any chance Reginald Barclay?"

"Yes..."

"I got this for ya." He handed him a PADD.

Reg read it, his eyes getting wide.

Robin tried to curb her curiosity. No small feat.

"I can't believe it," Reg said, placing the PADD down on
the bar.  

"Well?" Robin prompted when no more information was
forthcoming.

"It seems Counselor Troi has 'set us up'."

"Set us up? Like on a pseudo blind date?" Robin asked for
clarification.

"Something like that.  She says that we're both shy and
introverted and spending time together is 'Counselor's
orders'.  Her exact words."  He looked down at his drink,
at the bar, at his hands -- anywhere except Robin's face.
He knew he must be ten shades of red, but other than
running away like scared little boy, he didn't know what
else to do.

"Well... um..." 

Reg chanced a glance up into Robin's face.  Her cheeks
were a lovely shade of pink and she looked just as
flustered as he was!  Maybe Counselor Troi had been on to
something.

"I... um, we could get something to eat... since we're
already together... I mean --"

"That would be nice," Robin interrupted, probably to save
him further embarrassment.  She looked around. "I'm sure
the food here is nice, but would you mind if we walked
around and tried to find some place else?"

"No, no I wouldn't mind."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Robin replied sliding off the
stool and waiting for Reg to settle his tab.

"Please, call me Reg."

"Okay, Reg," she said with a smile.  

They walked along the strip of shops, bars and vendor
carts in silence.  It wasn't exactly a strained silence --
they were both used to spending a lot of time alone, and
could appreciate each other being lost in their own
thoughts.

They settled on a small restaurant called Feagin's Folly,
and sat at a corner table.  Conversation was stilted at
first, but they gradually became more at ease with each
other.  Robin ordered an Andorian wine with her meal. Reg,
normally not a drinker, decided to throw caution to the
wind and have a glass himself.  He almost choked on his
first sip of the sweet light green liquid, but tried not to
let it show.  

When the waiter tried to top off his glass, Reg declined,
opting to have water for the rest of his meal.  Robin, on
the other hand, was sucking the wine down like it was
candy.  

Reg toyed with his dessert, wanting to ask Robin a
question but not sure how to go about it. All through
dinner they'd shared stories of growing up, struggling
through the Academy, and even some of what they hoped for
the future.  It was that newfound camaraderie that gave Reg
the courage to ask, "Are you still friends with Wesley
Crusher?"

Robin stopped in mid sentence.  "Yes, we're still friends.
And friends is all we ever were," she added, placing her
hand over Reg's.

"Oh." He wished he could think of something brilliant to
say. Anything.  "Want to go for a walk?" Oh yeah, that was
brilliant.

"Sure."  

Reg took care of the tab, insisting that it was his treat,
and followed Robin out to the fairly crowded plaza area. 
He wanted to do more than just walk, perhaps take in a
concert or see the traveling exhibition of Bajoran art, but
he wasn't sure of Robin was into any of that.

They were passing by a huge building that set apart from
the others they'd encountered.

"Oh, let's go in," Robin said, grabbing Reg's hand and
urging him inside.  The heat was the first thing to assault
him and then came the smell.  He looked around.  Plants and
flowers of every shape and size filled the enclosure.

"It's the arboretum and hothouse," Robin said, turning and
looking all around her, the hem of her dress dancing just
above her knees. "I read about it when I learned we were
stopping over here but I didn't imagine it would be this
wonderful."

She darted from plant to plant, reading the information on
them that was placed on a small placard nearby.

Reg watched her in fascination, taking joy just in
watching the expression on her face as she smelled flowers
and gingerly touched leaves.  He'd never noticed how pretty
she was before -- maybe because they were in a setting
other than work.

She ran up to him and took his hand again. "Come on,
there's stairs to the upper level," She said, stopping at
the base of the spiral staircase long enough to slip off
her heels. She padded quickly up the stairs, Reg following
behind and admiring the shapely rear in front of him.

The upstairs was devoted to the larger plants, even
housing a tree or two in some areas.  A couple of chairs
and a bench had been placed next to one wall for those who
wanted to sit and just look rather than wander around.

Reg took advantage of the bench, sitting down and leaning
back, watching Robin again.  She danced around the room,
flitting from plant to plant, much as she had downstairs.  

Her hiccup caught him, and her, off guard.  "Oops," she
said with a giggle, stopping and putting a hand over her
mouth.  "I think I had a little too much wine at dinner. I
normally don't have more than a couple glasses a year."

"But you needed courage to be on a date with me tonight?"
Reg asked, hoping that her answer would be no, but
expecting it to be yes.

"No," she said, her hands on her hips.  "I was just caught
up in the wonderful company and lost track of how many
glasses I had." 

Reg could feel his face turning red.  "Oh."

"Hey, Reg, do you know what this is?" Robin asked, picking
up on his discomfort and deciding to change the subject.
She placed her hand on the trunk of the tree beside her. 
"It's a palmetto tree.  These things get to be up to forty
feet in height you know.  She looked pensively up at the
green fronds.  "Hey, give me a hand, pretty please.  I have
an idea."

Reg got up and walked over to her.  He wasn't sure what he
was supposed to give her a hand with, but she hiked her
skirt up around her thighs and indicated that she wanted a
lift up.
He bent over and braced his hands on his knees.  A grunt
when Robin first hoisted herself up on his back was his
only show that he wasn't in as good a shape as he thought
he was.

She jumped off, happily brandishing two large palm fronds.
"I probably shouldn't have taken them off, but I needed
them." 

"For what?" Reg asked, intrigued.

"For something," Robin replied impishly.  "You go back and
sit down on the bench and close your eyes.  Better yet,
cover them with your hand. And don't look until I tell you
to. And no peeking!"

Reg did as instructed, wondering what surprise she had for
him next.  This date was definitely turning out better than
he'd ever hoped for.

"I heard this rumor while I was in the Academy," he could
hear Robin saying. "Of course, I take all rumors with a
grain of salt, but this one stuck with me for some reason."
There was a slight rustle of something.  "I don't even know
what's gotten into me tonight.  It has to be the wine. Or
it could just be that the wild woman inside of me is tired
of taking a back seat to the shy, conservative side.  Any
case... you can look now."

Reg opened his eyes... then blinked... then blinked again.
Robin was standing a few feet in front of him, as naked as
the day she was born, as far as he could tell.  She held a
palm frond in each hand, one covering her chest and the
other covering her crotch.  Reg gulped.

"We don't have any music, but pretend," Robin said in a
sultry voice that sent unstoppable shivers down Reg's spine.

Robin started moving her feet, slowly, in a fashion that
reminded Reg of old Earth hula dancers. Her body dipped and
swayed to some imaginary orchestra, and Reg stared,
transfixed.  He didn't think he could look away even if
he'd wanted to.  A naked woman, well practically naked, was
dancing in front of him. For just him. And she wasn't a
holodeck character and he hadn't had to pay her, either.

As she danced, she got closer and closer to him. Her hair
was loose around her shoulders and her eyes sparkled in the
hothouse lights.  Reg didn't know what to say or do. He
fidgeted on the hard bench, well aware that other things
were beginning to be hard, too.

Robin stopped directly in front of him, not more than six
inches away.  Slowly, starting right into his eyes, she
lowered her hands and let the palm fronds drop to the floor.

She took Reg's breath away.

"Don't tell me," she said, moving his hands from his lap
and starting to slowly unfasten his pants, "that you've
never wanted to do something outrageous. Something so out
of the ordinary that no one would believe you if you told
them about it."

"Robin... uh."

She sought out his iron hard cock and freed it from his
pants.  "Are you going to tell me that you're not turned
on?  That you don't want me."  Her hands caressed the
length of him.

"I...I think you're drunk," Reg said.

Robin shook her head.  "I may be feeling a little giddy,
but I know exactly what I'm doing.  I'm doing just what
I've secretly thought about doing for weeks now."

Reg was stunned.  This intelligent, sexy woman wanted him?
It was almost too good to be true.  He was too honest with
himself to deny that she turned him on, that he wanted her
almost as much as it seemed she wanted him.  Just once in
his life, he determined, he was going to be the man he'd
always wanted to be.

He reached out tentatively and touched her smallish
breasts.  Her nipples stiffened at his touch and Robin
moaned.  "I need you, Reg."

She put her knees up on either side of his lap,
positioning herself above him.  He stuck out his tongue and
licked a nipple.  She shuddered, and reached down to
position him at her opening.

Reg closed his eyes in bliss as he slid into her, her
liquid warmth engulfing him completely. He held her around
the waist, as she started to move up and down in his lap. 
He planted kisses on her breasts and shoulders, not caring
that anyone could walk in and discover them at any moment. 

Robin bent her head forward, her hair falling around Reg
like a silky curtain.  "Mmmmmmmmm," she moaned.  

Reg knew that he wouldn't last much longer.  It had been
too long for him, and the night, the woman and the
atmosphere just heightened the whole experience.  "Robin...
ungh!" he grunted as his orgasm overtook him.  He felt
himself pumping into her and was dimly aware of her gasps
of surprise and pleasure.

For a brief second he felt like a clod, coming so soon and
not prolonging her pleasure.  Then he took in her ragged
breathing, the continued small contractions of her body
around his and realized that she must have finished just
after he did. 

Robin grasped Reg's face in her hands and gave him a long,
passionate kiss. "You are incredible," she whispered. 

Perhaps he wasn't such a clod after all.

As his heartbeat and breathing slowed, he became aware of
other sounds -- of something that sounded like distant
cheering.  "Do you hear that?"

Robin raised her head and listened.  "Yes, it sounds
like..." her sentence trailed off as a look of horror
filled her face.  "Oh no!"

Reg tried to twist around to see what had caused her
reaction.  It was then he noticed the wall behind them --
it was glass. It was facing the busy thoroughfare outside.
People had stopped and were staring upward, clapping,
cheering and whistling. At them.

Robin scrambled off Reg's lap and ran to where she'd
stashed her clothing.  Reg quickly got up, refastening his
pants and getting as far away from the window as possible.  

In a few moments, shoes in hand, Robin joined him.  Her
face was red, but because of their recent escapade or from
mortification Reg couldn't tell.

"Do... do you think?" he questioned.

"With the bright lights in here and the dim lighting
outside, uh huh," Robin answered.  She looked up at Reg,
tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't," Reg said, wiping at her tears with his fingers. 
"Please don't apologize for what just happened.  It's the
best thing to happen to me in a very long time."  

Robin smiled softly at him and kissed his fingers. "I
don't think I can face that crowd," she admitted.  "My
bravery only goes so far."

"I don't think I could face them either," he admitted.

Robin looked around. "Do you think there's a back way out
of here?"

"I don't know," Reg said, taking her hand firmly in his
and heading for the stairs, "but if not, we'll make one!"

~ The End... for now ~



