A/N: Well this is my first time posting a TNG or P/C story and I must admit it has me a little nervous…okay VERY nervous. I haven't read a lot of TNG or P/C fics but the ones I have are amazing and slightly intimidating. Right now I'm also working on a few other P/C stories, which I may post at some point.

Anyway, I got this idea when SyFy was playing Generations. I found myself getting progressively more pissed off the longer I watched. Not that it was a bad movie; it left my little P/C aching for more. The one thing that really stood out and bothered me was when Picard transported to the Klingon sister's ship so they would return Geordi. Call me delusional but I would have liked a little P/C interaction…but alas, there was not. So this story popped into my head.

Now that my author's note is practically as long as my little one-shot, I will leave it to you. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Star Trek: The Next Generation…if I did, rest assured, things between the Enterprise's captain and CMO would be very, very different. No copyright infringement is intended. However, the first line is borrowed directly from the movie, which also does not belong to me.

I Know

"Have Doctor Crusher meet me in the Transporter Room Three."

She immediately bristled when she heard his cold words. Her offense to the statement didn't stem from the fact that he wanted her there. It was because he didn't have the decency to call her himself. After all the years, after all their talks, after everything they'd been through together, he didn't want to be the one to call her.

Even though she thought she knew his reasons behind it and even though she thought she could hear the contained regrets in his voice, her temper barely contained itself under her skin. Grabbing her medkit from its shelf, she quickly inspected the contents then asked Nurse Ogawa to follow her to the transporter room. She was already out the door by the time her communicator chirped with Worf's relayed message.

No one questioned how she already knew her presence was required in the transporter room. And no one knew that her new habit in the last few days had been listening to the audio from the Bridge. She'd found herself doing it more and more ever since she heard the news of Robert and Rene. Ever since then she'd had a desperate need to hear his voice so that she could be confident she wasn't losing him.

But it wasn't working. The voice she now heard was as foreign to her as his words, his actions, his face. And she knew why. She knew the exact feeling all to well.

His world had ended with two lives lost. She recognized it without him having to say a word to her. And even though every fiber of her being wanted to go to him, she wouldn't. She would wait, as she always did.

After Troi did her counseling and after he finished beating his bloody way through all the missions he needed to conquer, she would be there. Just like all the times before. She would be the silent, understanding ghost who picked up the pieces and put them back where they belonged…like he was some distorted Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. As fucked up as it was, it was the role she gladly accepted as long as he offered it.

It had been like that for years. And it wasn't about to change now just because she was in love with him. Just because she was ready to accept and acknowledge that she was in love with him.

'What shitty timing,' she had thought.

The realization had washed over her as icily as the water had when Data pushed her overboard all those days before. It stung through her and momentarily froze the blood in her veins. But instead of it materializing into a flight of fear, something remarkable happened. The bitter sting of apprehension stopped and a warmth spread through her.

It was a warmth so similar to the one she'd once felt with Jack. Only this was stronger. Much, much stronger. It embedded itself in her stomach and flickered at the most inopportune times like when he smiled at her or looked at her or when his shoulder accidentally brushed against hers or their fingers clumsily met.

'Damn you,' she thought. 'Damn you for going on this suicide mission before I had a chance to tell you.'

Getting to the transporter room had taken way too long. By the time she stepped into the room there were too few seconds and too many people. When he walked the doors a few short moments after her arrival, she couldn't bring herself to look at him. So she stared forward and waited anxiously for him to disappear in front of her.

It took all she had in her to not react to the situation. It took all she had and more to stand still. She had a job to do and so did he, even if every piece of her being hated it. As she took her position in front of the console, he turned around on the transporter pad. Their eyes met. For a fleeting second blue and gray spoke.

'I love you,' warm blue said, unable to inhibit the swirling emotions any longer.

'I know,' the emotional gray responded immediately with a sparkle of a smile.

The deep blue flickered with relief then countered adamantly with, 'Come back alive.'

'I will,' came the response, unwavering in conviction.

She looked away for a brief moment, needing to clear away her tears. When she lifted her head, the transport sequence had already begun. She searched for his eyes, managing to catch them once more.

'I love you,' declared gray, begging she saw before he glittered away.

'I know.'

Her response was succinct, if not entirely original but that didn't matter. The important thing was they both knew it to be the truth. And they both knew it to be a promise of what was to come.