NEW: Picard in the Garden (TNG, P/m, NR-ish 2/2)
ASCEM Noone
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 11:44:52 -0800 (PST)
From:
ASCEM Noone <ascem...@yahoo.com>
Subject:
NEW: Picard in the Garden (TNG, P/m, NR-ish 2/2)
To:
as...@earthlink.net
Title: Picard in the Garden
Author: Ascem Noone
Series: TNG
Part: 2/2
Rating: NR-ish
Codes: Picard/Jesus
Summary: Wesley gives Picard a trip back in time to Jerusalem. Picard
meets Jesus and they have sex.
Picard in the Garden
Ascem Noone
2/2
"Oh, yes." Jesus was calming down rapidly. "The miracles, raising
Lazarus, all of it."
"Tell me how you do it?" Picard's curiosity got the better of his
courtesy.
Jesus sighed heavily and Picard could have kicked himself for his
insensitivity. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm used to people asking me for proof, but
sometimes it gets to me."
Jean-Luc frowned sympathetically. "That must happen a lot. People
asking you for things?"
Jesus' mobile features grew bewildered. "I didn't want them to do
that. I was trying to show them how easy it is, how they could do it
too if they wanted, but instead they look at me as a kind of a..."
"God?" Jean-Luc ventured.
Jesus gave him a wistful smile. "Sometimes I feel like I went about
things all wrong."
"Take this cup away from me, indeed," Jean-Luc murmured.
"I beg your pardon?"
"In the New Testament it says you asked God to have the whole thing
taken away from you."
"What is the New Testament?"
"Oh, that's right. It hasn't been written yet. The New Testament.
It's an addition to your scriptures."
"An addition!"
"Just a little one," Jean-Luc equivocated. "And many people don't
believe you actually said and did the things attributed to you."
Jesus still looked poleaxed.
"It never becomes part of Hebrew canon," Jean-Luc tried to reassure
him.
"An addition?" They were silent for quite some time, then a dazed,
disbelieving grin spread across Jesus' face. He started to laugh,
muttering something Jean-Luc didn't understand though it was clearly
an oath or imprecation of some sort.
Jean-Luc smiled. This was truly surreal. "Some of your followers
write about these events. They describe your prayers when you're
alone in this garden."
"But if they aren't here, how do they know what I prayed for?"
Picard paused. "Good point. I guess they just assumed you would want
to..." He paused again, wondering just how delicate he needed to be
about Jesus' impending death and resurrection, "...avoid this,
somehow."
"Not at all. I don't look forward to it, but I know it has to be
done."
"But why?"
Jesus shrugged pragmatically. "To show that it's really possible.
But it has to be spectacular. I have to do it where everyone can see
me."
Jean-Luc was staring, but he couldn't help himself. "So you really
take away the sins of the world?"
"Is that what they'll say about me?"
Picard's expression became dubious. "I'm surprised you don't know. I
beg your pardon, but I was under the impression that you were
omniscient."
The look Jesus gave him made Picard feel very stupid. Now it was his
turn to shrug. "Well, what they said for a long time is that you and
you alone forgive sin on God's behalf."
Jesus shook his head. "I don't, really. All I ever did was hold the
truth of human innocence. Human sinlessness. The rest? It's just
stories they tell. They *will* tell," he corrected himself, still
sounding slightly shocked.
"But the... stories say nothing about your being a telepath."
"No one knows. Unlike you, we don't have a concept for it that
doesn't involve demoncraft or magic. It was just easier not to use it
publicly. But since you aren't afraid of it..."
"But Jesus, why this? Why you?" Picard had been in the presence of
greatness before, and he recognized it when he saw it. He'd also been
called upon to save humanity on occasion, and he knew all about
sacrificing the things one held dear, but this was excessive by any
standard.
Jesus' smile was understanding. "I know how this must look from your
perspective."
"I find the whole thing quite horrifying." Jean-Luc admitted. He
pulled Jesus' head back onto his shoulder. 'The lord and savior Jesus
Christ,' he thought with heaviest irony. 'You poor man.'
Jean-Luc deliberately tried to think serene and happy
thoughts, knowing Jesus would sense them. He felt very solicitous of
Jesus' feelings, and he wished he could offer a more concrete
expression of his concern and affection. Almost absently he pressed
his lips against Jesus' forehead, enjoying the silky skin against his
mouth and breathing in the sweet smell of his rough-
textured hair.
"Mm." Jesus pulled back a little and smiled appreciatively into
Picard's eyes before settling more closely against his side.
Encouraged by the fact that Jesus didn't seem to mind his gestures of
consolation, Jean-Luc cautiously offered further comfort, gently
stroking the side of his face and holding him even more securely. He
was gratified to feel Jesus relax bonelessly against him, and he
enjoyed the feel of his sturdy carpenter's
body. Idly, he wondered what it would be like to kiss his mouth,and
just like that Jesus lifted his head up so their lips were close
together.
Jean-Luc shifted his grip so he could look into Jesus' face. The
messiah was fairly dark compared to most of the other people he'd seen
today. He had Afro-Semitic features that reminded Jean-Luc of
Tashfamichael, the physicist from Eritrea who'd recently come on
board. Fiercely proud of his heritage, he very politely but firmly
corrected his Captain when Jean-Luc made the
mistake of assuming he was Ethiopian. Like Tashfamichael, Jesus was
tall and mahogany, with wiry muscles and large, dark eyes. From the
way his body moved beneath his robes, he was probably very well-built.
He was, Picard realized with remote surprise, an astonishingly
handsome man.
Jean-Luc found himself enjoying that sensual charge that always
precedes serious arousal. He tried to damp it down. This was Jesus,
after all.
"I don't mind." Jesus gave him that crinkly, happy smile that
Jean-Luc would have followed anywhere. "In fact, I think I'd like
it."
For a few seconds Picard was petrified. "I don't know what is
acceptable," he confessed.
"Everything. The body is not real, Jean-Luc."
"I don't understand what you mean."
Jesus frowned. "I mean it's my last night on earth. Friends I've
known all my life are afraid to come out and keep me company. I'm
going to die horribly, rise from the dead, and apparently be fought
over for more centuries than it could possibly be worth. Would you
want to believe in any of that? Or even think about it
for longer than you had to?"
Jean-Luc was again overcome by disbelief. He knew he was Captain of
the Enterprise. In a few hours he was going back to his ship where
there were rational explanations for miracles; logical solutions to
problems. "Must it be this way?"
"I can't let that matter. I've been reminding myself all night that
this is not about what happens to my body." He smiled at Jean-Luc's
pained expression. "This is about showing people how easy it can be
to transcend the need for redemption. Please tell
me you can see that."
Jean-Luc could see everything, though he wasn't sure he liked any of
it. Wesley might be watching. This might be an elaborate trick of
Q's. There might be some as-yet-unaddressed ethical component he was
violating. There were many real concerns, and many reasons to avoid
the direction they were heading, but there
was one wonderful reason to say yes: Jesus needed him.
Difficult though it was, Jean-Luc gave up trying to analyze the
various angles of this dilemma. He let his guard down and simply
trusted himself to do what was right, and the relief of it was
exquisite. He stopped feeling afraid.
"Let's do this," he murmured. He leaned close, nuzzling at Jesus'
cheek before gently kissing his mouth. One hand came up to cup his
face as the other one pulled him close. To his delight, Jesus kissed
beautifully, melting against Picard's body as his
mouth opened wide. After a few minutes Jean-Luc reached under Jesus'
robe and ran a hand up his muscular thigh. He tried to keep his touch
soft and comforting, but Jesus moaned deep in his throat
and opened his legs wider, giving Jean-Luc access.
'My word,' Picard thought. 'I am making love to a God.' It was
actually a little disappointing. No doves, no flashes of light, no
sublime moments--at least, none more sublime than usual.
"Stop it." Jesus broke off the kiss to stare at him somberly.
"Please don't make me do tricks for you. Let's just be two men alone
together in a garden."
"Of course." By this time Jean-Luc was willing to do anything Jesus
asked. His rational mind was accusing him of rank insanity, but he'd
promised his heart he'd be true to the moment, and it was a vow he
intended to keep.
He stood up shakily, laid his cloak on the ground, then
slipped out of his robe and ceremoniously shook it out on top of the
heavier garment.
Jesus accepted the gesture with a nod that could only be called regal.
He slipped out of his own robes and laid them over Jean-Luc's.
The moon was setting, but there was enough light for Picard to see
that he'd been right about his estimation of Jesus' beauty. The man
was a god. Jean-Luc smiled to himself. Of course.
He knelt down on the layers of fabric. The ground hurt his
seventy-something knees, but he ignored it, focusing instead on the
beautiful erect penis in front of him. Perfect, like everything else
there was to Jesus, and standing straight out from his body.
'Oh, yes,' Picard thought, 'Oh yes.' The air was chill
against his skin, but he was warm, so warm, and the moment was all.
Jean-Luc leaned forward and grinned suddenly; circumcised, of course.
He took the tip into his mouth, feeling such gratitude, such... his
mind quested for the right word, bounced away from the
term 'blessing,' then came back to it because no other word fit quite
as well. This was a holy moment, and he felt a kind of grace at being
allowed to do this for a man who would mean so much to so many.
Picard had no use for religion whatsoever, but to meet One who would
change the world, to have the privilege of comforting
him, to receive the miracle of being allowed to stroke him and nuzzle
him this way. To bring him pleasure and assuage his isolation during
these, his last few hours on earth... Picard couldn't help himself.
He knelt at the feet of the Savior of the World and worshipped him as
he'd never worshipped anyone else in his life.
'I'm going to go back home and lock myself into my quarters and weep
until no more tears come,' he thought. 'But now is not the time for
sadness.'
He pulled Jesus down on top of him as he spread his legs wide.
Jesus smiled at him. "I won't hurt you?"
"No," Jean-Luc answered. Of course it would hurt, but he wanted Jesus
to have this.
Jesus looked at him wisely. "Are you telling me another lie, Picard?"
Jean-Luc had no defenses. "Please let me give you this."
And so it was done like humans do it, and it hurt, and it was good,
and it was flesh against flesh, and in its own frail, mortal fashion
it was perfect.
And when they were done they rested against each other on the hard,
lumpy ground.
"This is how I want to remember my human days," Jesus sighed.
Picard said nothing, simply held him closer. They dozed as best they
could on the skimpy pallet of their clothes. The early morning air
was chill on their skin, but neither made any move to get up, wanting
to stretch out the moment as long as possible.
Eventually they heard loud, Roman voices, and rising sounds of
protest.
Jesus lifted his head and looked at Jean-Luc. "You'd better go now."
Jean-Luc tightened his arms for one last desperate embrace. "I don't
want to leave you."
"Stop, Jean-Luc." Jesus frowned. "You made me happy."
Jean-Luc understood what he meant. Having lightened his burden,
Jean-Luc of all people could not now oppress Jesus with demands that
couldn't be fulfilled.
So he kissed him and stood up. They dressed in silence, but Jean-Luc
willed himself to feel lighthearted and peaceful. He would do this
for this wonderful man, holding at bay any last bits of sadness or
fear. He didn't bother to question how it was that
Jesus, who he didn't actually believe in, had become, over the last
hour or so, such a figure of veneration. He understood now, how
others could perceive him as lord and savior. It could not be readily
explained, but it was obvious that Jesus embodied even more
than was claimed of him. And yet this Avatar wanted nothing else than
to hold fast to his humanity. Picard was used to the finely ironic,
but this broke his heart.
'Enough of that,' he reprimanded himself as they stood waiting in the
near-complete darkness.
He turned to Jesus with a real smile. "Heard any good jokes lately?"
For a few seconds Jesus' gratitude blazed like glory. "Did you hear
the one about the centurion and the Galilean dancing girl?"
Jean-Luc never got to hear the punchline. The disturbance at the gate
was getting louder and figures were beginning to move towards them.
Jesus turned to him. "Please go now. They're going to take a lot of
people to jail, not just me, and the story of how you disappeared into
thin air is best left for another time."
Picard knew Jesus was right. In a short time he would be back on his
ship, and Jesus...
Picard sighed. 'Be brave,' he ordered himself. He forced a smile and
said the one thing a lonely deity would most want to hear: "I love
you, Jesus."
Jesus squared his shoulders. Through the trees the
authoritative bark of the Roman guards was almost upon them,
punctuated by the shouted protests of his followers.
"Goodbye, Jean-Luc," Jesus said. He turned to face what was left of
his life on earth.
Picard walked a little ways away but he couldn't quite bring himself
to leave altogether. He hid behind a rock and listened as the angry
confrontation swelled to its crescendo.
It pained him to hear Jesus' voice, steady and reassuring, restoring
peace. His eyes filled with tears. "I love you," he whispered. "Be
loved, Jesus. Be loved, be loved, be loved."
When all was quiet again he wept himself into a kind of
stupor, squatting at the base of the rock and hugging his cloak around
his body. He was colder now than he'd been when they were naked, but
the discomfort helped make the whole thing believable for him.
Incredible enough that he had a part in this. Unbelievable that it
touched him so deeply and was so quickly over. Horrifying to discover
that genteel 24th century reason could not counteract the sudden,
blazing commitment he felt towards Jesus the man and Jesus the
soon-to-be deity.
Like most of the followers whose names would not be mentioned in any
text, his role would never be known. Jean-Luc preferred it that way.
He would not touch history, and he wished vainly that history had not
touched him.
But such was not to be. Distasteful though it was to the irreligious
vogue of his time, he believed in Jesus' divinity and loved him for
it. He thought of what his acquaintances would say when his devotion
to an ancient deity became evident, since he certainly did not intend
to hide it. He thought about how his brother might laugh at him if he
were still alive, and how Beverly would shake her head and tell Deanna
who would assume his sudden epiphany was some delayed reaction to
grief and gently try to talk him out of it.
He looked at the truth and decided not to be afraid.
"I love him," Picard shrugged. "Let come what may."
He turned and walked out of the garden, headed towards home.
End
Interested in the ASCEM(L) Round Robin? There's still time!
Write to eres...@cyberg8t.com and ask to be put on the list!!
Posting to ASCEM is easy--just send your messages to as...@earthlink.net
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the mirror list--and for all other
list-related inquiries, write to asc...@aol.com
John Marks
Re: [ASCEML] NEW: Picard in the Garden (TNG, P/m, NR-ish 2/2)
Date:
Wed, 13 Jan 1999 19:26:32 -0700
From:
"John Marks" <ilov...@usa.net>
To:
<as...@earthlink.net>
that was pretty offencive.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Interested in the ASCEM(L) Round Robin? There's still time!
Write to eres...@cyberg8t.com and ask to be put on the list!!
Posting to ASCEM is easy: send your messages to <as...@earthlink.net>
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the mirror list, contact anne <asc...@aol.com>
To subscribe to the ONElist version of ASCEML, go to
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/ASCEML
Greywolf
Re: [ASCEML] Re: NEW: Picard in the Garden (TNG, P/m, NR-ish
2/2)
Date:
Thu, 14 Jan 1999 00:56:48 -0800
From:
Greywolf <grey...@snowcrest.net>
To:
as...@earthlink.net
References:
1
John Marks wrote:
> that was pretty offencive.
Ye've the right to yer opinion, laddie, it's a big old Trekiverse. But
me, I thought it was bloody marvelous.
Greywolf the Wanderer, sort of a weird mishmosh of Zen Wiccan Shamanist
Deadhead ;-)>
Janie
Re: ASCEML - NEW: Picard in the Garden (TNG, P/m, NR-ish 2/2)
Date:
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 22:06:05 -0000
From:
"Janie" <ja...@jmangham.freeserve.co.uk>
To:
<as...@earthlink.net>
> "........but this broke his heart."
>
Mine too. I for one found this extremely touching, despite the controversial
nature. It was a damn fine piece of writing too.
Thankyou