During the next two weeks, Aria worked mostly on her two big projects. She went to dinner with Tom a few times but continued to feel nothing but friendship for him. It really started to frustrate him that she really wasn’t moving forward with the relationship. Every four days or so, she would meet with the Captain about the Enterprise’s anniversary and she would return every time feeling as if she had been on a date, they even had dinner one evening. In addition to that, she was working even harder on Picard’s birthday party with Riker. They both thought Picard had no clue what was going on, but they were not willing to put anything past their commanding officer.
During that time, the Enterprise stopped at Tomolis for supplies and a day of shore leave. Aria was able to get a few hours off to find a present for the Captain. She hoped that it wasn’t too much for her to give him a gift but it was so perfect for him, an early edition of Macbeth. She had noticed that he did not a copy on his bookshelves and it was in such beautiful condition, leather bound and gold leafed. Aria thought of how many hands had touched it and eyes read the words of the Bard.
The day of Picard’s birthday started out as normal as any other, except Aria was more nervous than any of her auditions. She hoped everyone was going to enjoy themselves, especially the Captain. Riker’s job was to get Picard to Ten Forward by nineteen-thirty hours. Five minutes after they were supposed to arrive, Aria was becoming a nervous wreck. Two minutes later, Riker and Picard entered the room as all the invited guests yelled “surprise”. The Captain looked really shocked and pleased once he realized what had just happened. When the room settled down, the some music began to play and the lights dimmed a bit. Ten Forward was buzzing with invited guests, which was mostly department heads and bridge crew. Aria realized that she was one of the lowest ranked people in the room. It didn’t bother her much, but this was a fairly intimate event and she hadn’t been on board three weeks.
Picard worked the room, saying hello and making small talk with his guests. An hour after his arrival, he finally made it over to Aria who was sitting at the bar by herself looking over her work as she sipped on her drink.
“I take it, you are responsible for all of this?” he asked.
“Not completely, sir. Commander Riker helped. I hope you are pleased.”
Quietly he said to her, “Yes, I am Aria. I’m just a bit surprised and that rarely happens.”
“I’m glad, Sir and happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” he said as he gently touched her arm. It sent tingled up and down her spine but she hoped that she was getting better as hiding it from him.
“Oh, here. I hope you don’t mind,” she said as she handed him his present, modestly wrapped in natural fiber paper.
Picard looked a bit puzzled but began to carefully unwrap his gift.
“Aria, thank you. How did you know?” he said with appreciation.
“Sir, it’s my job to know these things, that and I snuck a peek at your bookcases,” she said with a shy smile.
“You are good and this is very thoughtful. Thank you again.” He touched her arm, lower than usual.
“You’re welcome, Sir. If you would excuse me, Sir, there are a few things that I have to attend to.” Aria left him to check on the cake. She was grateful for the excuse to leave. The Captain seemed very happy with her gift, but Aria was beginning to feeling uncomfortable with their growing closeness and knew she had to get away before she did something she would regret later.