Klingon Hearts 11 Controlled - Limitations of the Mind

by Tracy Sobieski

  This one is NC-17. Unfortunately, I don't believe I can post a PG-13 version of this without losing something important. Sorry.

  Once again, Star Trek belongs to Paramount. However, the original characters are mine and so is the story.

  I guess I should include a warning with this one. If you are troubled by certain things in fanfic, highlight the paragraph below that lies between the brackets with your mouse to read the warning.

  [This is Kyle and Melanie's story. Melanie was raped when she was at the Academy. The couple have to come to terms with this before they can be together. If this type of thing bothers you, please don't read further. It's an emotional story that explores painful territory.

  Tessa had a miscarriage in Exposed. There is a continuation of that in this story as well. ]

  Klingon Hearts and Beyond

  Controlled--Limitations of the Mind

  by: Tracy L. Sobieski

  He'd done it. Soon, everything would be as it was supposed to be. It was just a matter of time.

  Time. He hated that word. It was too small, too ordinary for it's purpose. In one short moment, time had ruined his life. And become his obsession.

  It wasn't fair that once he'd set things right no one would know. It wasn't fair that they wouldn't continue to suffer as he had. It wasn't fair that even he wouldn't remember.

  Admiral Jackson Gellis reverently picked up the picture that sat on the table next to his bed. It had been taken on their wedding day. She looked so beautiful. So alive. They'd barely had any time together.

  He held the picture to his chest and watched the surveillance screen in front of him. The dark-haired young woman let out another scream of agony. Her back arched off the bed as the child within her was torn from her body by his design.

  Soon. It would all be right very soon.

  *****

  The Paris Estate was a large sprawling complex. More house than anyone could possibly need. Three stories. Fifteen bedrooms. Two kitchens. Private gardens and beach. Even a guest house.

  It was there Kyle Riker was headed. Melanie had been using the small separate home for the last three weeks as a make-shift office while she was counseling his sister-in-law, K'Leena.

  Harsh lines etched his handsome features as he walked slowly down the path from the main house. He'd never been in this type of situation with a woman before. Melanie was frightened of him. He could sense it every single time they were together. She hid it well, too. If he hadn't inherited some of his mother's empathic abilities, he doubted he would have realized it. And she would never have told him.

  Kyle leaned against the open door jamb and crossed his arms in front of himself. He watched Melanie silently for a few moments, his forehead drawing into a frown. She sat on the sofa in the living room, furiously tapping away at the computer terminal on the coffee table before her.

  "You can come in, Kyle," she told him with a smile, not looking up from the screen. "I'm almost done."

  He strode in, closing the door softly behind him and sat down on one of the bar stools by the kitchen counter that adjoined the living room. "I just wanted to check on you," he told her. "You looked a little stressed before."

  She paused a moment before turning to face him, her expression troubled. "Yeah, I guess my session with K'Leena got to me more than usual."

  "You okay?" he asked, concerned.

  "Sure, I just needed to write it down, to help me organize my thoughts."

  "Is K'Leena all right?"

  "I can't discuss a patient with you, Kyle," she chided gently.

  "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I wasn't thinking."

  She viewed him thoughtfully for a moment. "You could help me though."

  "How?"

  "Tell me about your brother."

  "Lucas?" Kyle asked, surprised. "What do you want to know?"

  "I'm just trying to figure him out," she said, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "I've known you and Lucas for more than a year now, and I've never seen him like this. He's almost irrational, Kyle."

  He laughed. "With K'Leena? It doesn't surprise me."

  "What do you mean?"

  He shrugged. "Just that K'Leena has the ability to get to him like no one else. She can make him lose control in the blink of an eye."

  "Control is important to him?"

  "Yeah," Kyle smirked. "You could say that."

  "How important?"

  He looked at her sharply, his obsidian black eyes missing nothing.

  "What do you think? My brother is the strongest telepath I've ever known. His mental abilities are off the scale."

  Kyle paused and stood up to pace across the room.

  "I remember when I was about ten or eleven, Lucas was having a really hard time with it. In most telepathic races, the true scope of the persons gifts aren't visible until puberty. The hormonal changes trigger it. Up until then, Lucas was only able to use telepathy with Mom, and of course K'Leena."

  "K'Leena?"

  "Sure, didn't you know? They've been connected telepathically since they were three years old."

  "No, I had no idea," she replied, slightly stunned.

  "Anyway," Kyle continued. "When Lucas began to mature, the telepathy increased dramatically. I remember him pacing around our room in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because of all the stray thoughts and emotions on the ship. It got so bad Dr. Bashir began using a cortical monitor to suppress certain brain activity so Lucas could get some rest."

  Kyle grew silent as he remembered his brother's pain. The pacing. The headaches. The sheer torture he'd endured. And the anger. It had radiated from his brother in waves. Anger at being different. Anger at the inability to control his gifts. Anger at their mother for being the source. Anger at their father for not understanding.

  "That must have been hard on him," Melanie said softly, wondering if perhaps Lucas needed a counselor more than K'Leena. "How did he ever get it under control?"

  "Lucas went to Betazed for almost six months. They had people who could help him. Mom could only do so much, she's just an empath."

  Lxwanna Troi had come to the Enterprise and taken Lucas home with her. He'd lived with his grandmother for more than six months, learning how to control and use his gifts from her and others of her race that could help him.

  "How is it that Lucas is a full telepath?" Melanie interrupted his thoughts.

  "It has something to do with hybrid genetics," Kyle told her. "Recessive traits can become dominant in hybrid children. It's kinda like how K'Leena is really half-Klingon as far as her genetic make up."

  "So, he learned to live with the telepathy on your mother's home planet?"

  "He learned to do more than live with it. He learned to control it and use it, but it came at a heavy price," Kyle sighed.

  "What do you mean?"

  Kyle briefly wondered just how much of an ass kicking he was going to get from his brother for this. It was not something Lucas liked *anyone* to know, much less a therapist. Lucas avoided them like the plague. Even though he probably needed one more than most, Kyle thought grimly.

  "When he came back," Kyle began softly, "he wasn't the same person that left. He was so quiet and controlled. And intense. There was a darkness about him that was almost frightening. A dangerous quality that hadn't been there before."

  "The man he is now," she realized.

  "Yeah, but he was only fifteen at the time. Kinda young to be so old, you know what I mean? The only time he was able to relax and really let go was when he was with K'Leena. They were inseparable."

  "So I've heard." A small grin played at the
corners of her mouth.

  "But K'Leena had the tendency to get into more than her fair share of trouble. Lucas was forever covering for her. It drove him nuts. K'Leena was more than a little wild, Melanie, she was downright reckless at times. Lucas felt it was his responsibility to look after her, even back then. She was rebelling against Tom on an almost daily basis. He was as overprotective as a father could be, and she hated it. Lucas was the buffer between them on more than one occasion."

  "This isn't a new thing now that they are married? He's been this way with her forever."

  "Pretty much," Kyle conceded.

  Melanie found it fascinating that K'Leena would even consider marrying Lucas if she had such a problem with her father and his over protectiveness.

  "It's an awfully archaic way of thinking for a man in this day and age? Don't you think?" she asked in a neutral tone.

  She shouldn't do this. Melanie knew full well that most men still considered it their place to protect and provide for a woman. It was an ingrained instinct with the male of most species. Humans were no different, no matter how enlightened people claimed to be. Still, she wanted to know where Kyle stood on this. Why it was so important to her was something she didn't really want to think about, but it was.

  Kyle looked at her, slightly amused.

  "Maybe, but I doubt you can stop someone like Lucas from being that way," he told her with a small smile. "Or my father, or Tom, or Mike, or Robbie...or me."

  The quiet conviction in his voice raised goose bumps on her skin.

  "Why's that?" she asked on a breathless whisper.

  "Because it's just how we are," he stated firmly. "Lucas and I grew up watching our father do everything in his power to keep our mother safe. Always behind the scenes, mind you, but always there just the same. He turned down two captaincies to remain with her, even when they weren't a couple. What kind of message do you think that sends to a young man?"

  "I see your point," she admitted. "But K'Leena is a capable woman. Lucas should realize that."

  Kyle almost snorted. "In the last year, she's been almost killed in a shuttle accident, attacked, kidnapped, beaten, not to mention getting pregnant and having a baby.... Do you honestly think Lucas is being out of line by worrying about her? If she was my wife, I think I might be a little irrational about all this too."

  Melanie rested her chin on the tops of her knees. Well, she certainly understood the dynamics of Lucas and K'Leena's relationship a little better. What she could do about it, however, was an entirely different matter.

  "Do you think your brother would consent to counseling?" she asked Kyle.

  "Lucas would do anything for K'Leena," he told her without hesitation. "But don't expect him to consent for himself. He'll fight you every step of the way if he thinks you're trying to shrink *his* head."

  *****

  Sunlight streamed into the bright, spacious library of the Paris Estate as K'Leena strolled in. Her father's love of the sea could be almost felt in this room. With its huge picture windows overlooking the ocean and its pale blues and greens along with the whitewashed wood, you could almost convince yourself the sand was under your feet. She was somewhat surprised he wasn't there with Lucas, it was his favorite room in the house.

  K'Leena had gone looking for her husband as soon as she'd gotten Michael down for his nap. She had very specific plans for how she wanted to spend this short reprieve from motherhood. Unfortunately, her husband didn't seem very interested.

  "It's been three weeks," she reminded him, placing her arms around his neck and gently nipping at his jaw line with her teeth. "The Doc said I'm fine."

  "You still tire easily." Lucas stepped away from her. Away from temptation.

  K'Leena growled softly, closing the distance between them with a few determined steps. Her hands came to rest on his shoulders, in an effort to keep him from retreating yet again.

  "That's just from the nursing. It's normal." Okay, so she was stretching the truth a little. The Doctor did tell her to rest a little more often, but she was trying. And she did feel a lot better.

  "But, if you want to come with me." She grinned saucily at him. "I'll go lie down."

  Well, that did it. All the blood in his body rushed to his groin. He almost groaned. She stepped closer to him, running her hands over his upper arms and leaning up to capture his mouth with hers.

  "Come on," she breathed heatedly against his lips. "Michael is sleeping. We have at least an hour."

  "No." Lucas shook his head, trying to clear it. "I don't think...."

  One small hand slipped lower to cup him. She chuckled softly at the hiss of pain he drew in when she encounter his hard, throbbing erection. "Good. You think too much lately."

  Lucas pulled her hand away and grasped both of them behind her back, thinking to stop the torment. Unfortunately, all it did was bring her body in full contact with his. Desire shot through him like lightening, electrifying him. Still, he resisted. "It's too soon, 'Leena."

  K'Leena licked the hollow at the base of his throat. Then, she began to move.

  Lucas groaned. The cords in his neck stood out with the tension in his body. He put his hands on her hips to stop the slow, sensual grind she had going against him. It was a mistake. Just touching her nearly caused his resolve to crack. His fingers tightened, digging into the soft flesh of her bottom. She shuddered and wound her arms around his neck, drawing his mouth to hers. When he kissed her with gentle restraint, K'Leena growled angrily.

  "I'm not made of glass!" she hissed. "I won't break!"

  Kahless, she couldn't take anymore of his coddling! He was going to drive her completely insane if he kept this up!

  "I still think we should wait...."

  "For what?!" She tore herself away from him and flung her arms out in frustration. "Michael will be an adult before you make love to me again at this rate!"

  "'Leena, please...."

  "Fine! I won't beg for it, Lucas. When and if you decide you want to be my husband again, you know where to find me. Until then, stay the hell out of my way!"

  Lucas watched her retreating figure with a frown. Dammit! He was sick to death of fighting with her. She was the most unreasonable person he knew.

  "No," the denial floated down the stairs behind her. "That would be you."

  *****

  Sherise sat quietly on one of the large rocks that served as a retaining wall for the enormous formal gardens on the estate. She watched the waves crashing into the private beach, smoothing the sand further as each one came closer to the rocks. Robbie was like those waves, she thought grimly. He came crashing through your life, wearing you down, smoothing away the rough edges that got in his path by the sheer force of his existence. She wondered if he had any idea of the power he had over people. If he knew what a force of nature he was.

  In one month's time, he had completely rocked her world. Made her his mate, and the mother of his unborn child. Nothing would ever be the same again. How the hell could this happen in the twenty-fourth century? The Neanderthal was taking over her life like he had the right to! Who the hell did he think....

  "Hello."

  Sherise startled at the interruption, turning her head sharply. She'd been so lost in thought she hasn't heard anyone approaching.

  "Am I disturbing you?" B'Elanna asked with an apologetic smile.

  "No," Sherise gave a small laugh at her own jumpiness. "Not at all, Mrs. Paris," she greeted Robbie's mother.

  B'Elanna frowned. "Please, call me B'Elanna. Lucas does."

  "Lucas is your son-in-law," Sherise reminded the other woman.

  "And you are my daughter-in-law. According to Klingon law and tradition at any rate."

  Now, Sherise frowned. She was still more than a little angry that Robbie hadn't been upfront with her about that.

  "I don't believe in that, Mrs...B'Elanna."

  The older woman nodded, taking a seat on the rock next to her. "I tried to tell myself that too," B'Elanna revealed with a self-depre
ciating smirk. "A long time ago."

  Considering it was Robbie's mother that was of Klingon heritage, her revelation was quite surprising. Commander B'Elanna Torres-Paris was the current Federation Ambassador to Kronos.

  "You did?"

  "Yes." She didn't elaborate. Sherise smiled again. It was certainly apparent where Robbie got his stubbornness from.

  "I always assumed Robbie took after his father," Sherise commented, offhandedly. "I don't know why, but I did."

  B'Elanna's eyes twinkled. "And now that opinion has changed?"