This story was originally written in the context of a discussion on 
alt.sex.fetish.startrek about why there weren't more stories about 
Geordi LaForge.  Hence the title.

	All 1014 people on the _Enterprise_, including the 
characters in this story, belong to Paramount.  This story contains 
consensual, heterosexual, interspecies sex between adults.  If you 
are under 18 (or the equivalent for your species), reading this story 
will make your face break out.

	This is a rush job, so I'm not going to get into elaborate 
scene-setting; suffice it to say that an away team consisting of 
Riker, LaForge, Worf and Ro has beamed down to a Class M 
planet, where they have separated into two groups.  LaForge and 
Ro are exploring a cave.  The rock surrounding the cave contains 
large quantities of micostracode [MIneral Conveniently Obstructing 
Sensors, TRansporters And COmmunications for Dramatic Effect].  
The stardate is 46134.5.

A Single Candle


	The ground trembled beneath their feet and a great roaring 
sound came from overhead and behind them.
	"Run!" shouted Geordi LaForge, slapping Ro Laren on the 
shoulder.  She ran, looking over her shoulder to see what was 
happening.  The cave seemed to be collapsing.  She ran as fast 
as she could, stumbling once and nearly falling.  She ran into a 
stone wall, striking it first with her flashlight, which shattered.  The 
air was thick with dust.  She pulled her headband down to cover 
her nose and mouth.  The rumbling stopped.  It was very dark.
	"I can't see a thing," said Ro, her voice tense.
	"That's no surprise," replied LaForge.  "There's very little 
radiation in the visible spectrum present.  The only source of 
visible light is a small opening at the top of the rockslide where we 
came in, but it's not direct light--that point is already well inside the 
tunnel.  There's enough other radiation around that I can see, 
though not very well.  We're in a chamber about four meters deep 
and three meters wide, with solid rock on all sides except the way 
we came in, which is nearly blocked by the rockslide."
	"Can we dig our way out?"  There was a long pause while 
he assessed the situation.  The whine of his tricorder was 
somehow comforting.
	"Not very easily.  At the top of the slide, there's a block of 
stone the size of a shuttlecraft.  If we start messing around with it, 
it's liable to fall our way.  If we try to use our phasers on it, it's likely 
to split, and again, we could get big chunks of rock falling on us.  
The chamber isn't large enough for us to get to a safe distance.  
The best thing will be to just sit tight until a rescue party can bring 
some antigravs down from the ship.  I'll climb up to the opening 
and see whether I can send a signal through it."
	Ro moved along the wall of the cave, feeling it, trying to 
orient herself.  Suddenly, she heard the sound of rocks sliding.
	"Geordi?" she called out.  There was a tight feeling in her 
stomach.  What if something happened to him and she was 
trapped here alone in the dark?  What if the noise hadn't been 
made by Geordi at all?  What if someone or something else was 
here?  Her thoughts did not include any conscious awareness that 
she had used a rather familiar form of address for an ensign 
speaking to her ship's chief engineer.  LaForge was aware of this, 
even aware that he liked the sound of his name in her voice, 
though most of his attention was focused on the task at hand, 
finding a reasonably safe path up the rockslide.
	"It's all right, I just slipped a little.  I'm going to put my 
tricorder on top of the rockslide, in the opening, so that the signal 
will reach into the tunnel, with luck even out of the tunnel.  I can 
use it to relay the signal from our comm badges.  If we're lucky, we 
may be able to contact the other members of the away team or 
even communicate with the _Enterprise_."
	"Be careful," she said, feeling that it was a stupid thing to 
say.  She felt that her hands were sweating and becoming coated 
with dust from the wall of the cave.  The stone was cool and 
surprisingly smooth.  For all she could see, the cavern might have 
been vast, but she felt as though it were even smaller than Geordi 
said, as though there were no space around her but what she 
could move her arms through.  She felt trapped.  It seemed to her 
that she'd spent a great deal of her life feeling trapped and she 
didn't much like it.  Well, at any rate, this time it was merely literal.  
The dust, at least, had settled quickly--she was able to remove the 
headband from her face and breathe freely.
	LaForge carefully ascended the rock pile.  He was quite 
frightened, frightened of the possibility of falling and being injured 
or possibly killed, or losing his VISOR, frightened also of triggering 
a rockslide which could injure or kill Ensign Ro, for whom he felt 
responsible--no, it was more than that, though she'd never know it.  
At the same time, though, he was enjoying the mental challenge of 
estimating the relative stability of various parts of the slide and the 
physical effort of climbing.  Finally, holding on to a ridge in the 
cave wall and balancing carefully on one foot, he was able to 
position the tricorder on top of the great slab of stone.  Ro heard 
the click of his comm badge.
	"LaForge to Riker.  Can you hear me?  LaForge to 
_Enterprise_.  Can anybody out there here this?"  There was no 
answer.  The signal wasn't reaching the mouth of the tunnel.  
They'd have to wait until somebody came far enough into the 
tunnel to pick it up.  For now, there was nothing to do but climb 
back down.  He proceeded to do so, explaining the situation to Ro 
as he went.  Climbing down was harder than climbing up, since he 
couldn't see where he was going very well, but he remembered 
fairly accurately the path he had taken.  Twice his left foot slipped 
and triggered small slides--the second time he was close enough 
to Ro to hear her draw her breath in sharply--but both times he 
was able to hang on and find another foothold.  Finally he stood in 
the soft dust at the bottom of the cave.
	"I've set the tricorder to broadcast a distress signal and to 
signal us if it detects any life signs on the other side of the 
rockslide," he said.  "For now, I guess all we have to do is wait."  
He tried to sound upbeat.  He did think they'd be rescued 
eventually, and probably soon.  The captain certainly wouldn't just 
go off and leave them.  If Riker and Worf weren't hurt or trapped 
themselves--something he didn't know and preferred not to think 
about--they'd be busy organizing search parties.  If they couldn't, 
Data would.  And after all, it must be pretty obvious that they were 
trapped in a cave somewhere in this general area.
	For the time being, they were safe.  The air circulation 
through the opening in the slide seemed to be adequate.  The 
slide appeared stable, as long as there was no seismic activity, 
and based on the sensor scans that didn't seem likely.  Water 
would become a problem eventually but not for some hours, 
though he'd certainly be happier if he weren't sweating.
	The problem was, he wasn't alone.  He was trapped in this 
cave with a very attractive woman, someone he would have felt 
awkward to be trapped with for a two-deck ride in a turbolift.  He 
probably ought to say something to her--he felt uncomfortable 
sitting there in silence--but there really was no more business to 
discuss and he didn't know what else to say.
	"Geordi, where are you?"  Ro was a little startled by the 
sound of her own voice.  This time, too, she realized that 
"Commander" would have been the proper thing to say.  She 
didn't like the word.  Picard had said, when he had thought she 
was dead, that she'd probably be a lieutenant commander herself 
by now if it weren't for that disaster on Garon II.  Really, she was 
happy not to be.
	"I'm right over here."  He should probably go over where 
she could touch him.  The idea made his palms sweat.  He looked 
over at her, a pattern of heat emission against the wall.  "Come on, 
Geordi, it's not any harder than climbing that pile of rocks," he said 
to himself.  He sat down close beside her, placing his hand on her 
shoulder, feeling her jump a little at his touch.  "I'm right here."
	His touch felt almost as good to her as it had that time 
when he'd been the only one on the ship she *could* touch.  She 
turned toward him and reached out to him, wondering whether she 
was getting too far out of line.  She felt the smooth fabric of his 
uniform.  The surface she touched was fairly flat, so it must be his 
chest.  She could smell him, too.  He smelled good, especially 
after the cold stone smell of the cave.  He was wearing a cologne 
she liked, but she liked the smell of his body, too.  That was 
important, since like all Bajorans she had a keen sense of smell 
and disliked being around people who smelled bad to her.  
Admiral Kennelly, for instance.  Being trapped in a cave with him 
would have been a disaster.
	She leaned toward him so that she could smell him better, 
then backed off.  He'd feel the increased pressure of her hand on 
his chest.  Hell, he could see her, however she might look through 
that thing of his.  She kept forgetting that.
	What to do?  Here they were, the two of them, stuck for who 
knew how long with nothing but themselves and a couple of 
phasers and the tricorder somewhere up there in the darkness on 
some big slab of rock she'd never even seen.  They couldn't 
exactly play cards.  She didn't feel like just sitting here leaning 
against this cave wall for hours if there was a pleasanter 
alternative.  
	"Go for it, girl," she told herself.
	"Listen, I hope I'm not getting out of line here, but we might 
be here for hours--we could try to get a little more...comfortable."  
She turned to face him and moved her hand across his chest until 
she hit his comm badge, then up and around to the back of his 
neck.  He wasn't pulling away.  No, his hands were touching her 
shoulders, sliding around to her back, his arms were supporting 
her.  She turned her face toward where she knew his face must 
be.  She felt his warm, soft lips touch her own.
	LaForge was more than a little startled by her advance.  
Not that he'd ever known her to be anything other than direct, to be 
sure.  But having beautiful women throw themselves at him was 
not part of his everyday experience.  Was this what it was like to be 
Captain Picard?  Well, he'd always prided himself on his ability to 
handle unexpected situations.  He drew his knees up behind her 
back and gently caressed her face with his right hand.  He ran his 
fingers over her earring.
	She kissed him softly at first, exploring his invisible mouth 
with her lips and the tip of her tongue.  Her left hand moved up 
behind his head, feeling the unfamiliar texture of his hair, very soft.  
Her right arm lay over his shoulders.  She pulled herself closer to 
him.  He felt her breasts against his chest.  He tightened his own 
arm around her back and moved his free hand down along her 
side to her hip, feeling her kisses grow more intense as he did so.  
He thrust his tongue into her mouth.  His hand traced the firm, 
delightful curve of her rear end.  He thought about what she would 
feel like without the uniform.  He slid his hand slowly up, pushing 
her gently away from him so that he could cup her breast in his 
hand, could reach the little slit at the center of her collar, could 
gently unzip her jacket.  She sat up and let him slip it off over her 
shoulders.  Then she unzipped his.  They laid the two jackets on 
the dusty floor of the cave.  She laid her headband with them for 
good measure.  They kissed again, kneeling, facing each other, 
their bodies pressed together, hers with two bulges up high and 
his with one down low.
	Ro pulled Geordi's top out of his pants and over his head, 
enjoying the feel of the smooth fabric in her hands.  She dropped it 
somewhere in the general vicinity of their jackets.  She ran her 
fingers down his chest, feeling his muscles and ribs.  His skin was 
smooth, hairless, not at all like Will Riker's.  When she reached 
fabric again, she slid her thumbs under it and pulled down, feeling 
it catch briefly, releasing it, continuing until she reached his knees.  
He sat down and busied himself with his boots.  He laid his pants 
beside their jackets.  Then he reached out to her.   It was like 
peeling some luscious fruit.  He added her clothing to what, if there 
had been enough light for either of them to see colors, would have 
been a fine patchwork of red, yellow, and black against the pale 
dust of the cave floor.  He laid her down on top of it.  There was a 
sudden clicking sound as her shoulder came into contact with her 
comm badge.  They both laughed.  She pushed it out of the way.  
She felt a gentle touch on her left nipple.  It was wet.  His mouth.  
She reached down and stroked his soft hair.  
	She tasted of salt and cave dust.  He sucked and nuzzled, 
licked, drew in his breath across the wet surface of her breast.  He 
eased his arm under her neck.  She pulled her hair free.  Now his 
fingers were stroking her breast, while his mouth found hers.  She 
ran her short fingernails down his back.  When he broke the kiss, 
she said,
	"I don't think there's anyone I'd rather be trapped in a cave 
with."
	"Laren, I'm sure glad you were wrong about us being 
dead."
	He nibbled her nose, running his tongue over each of the 
ridges at its top.  She moaned softly in response.  He kissed her 
forehead.  She put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him, 
guiding him gently as he rolled over onto his back.  She knelt 
astride him and bent to kiss him, lowering her body onto his.  He 
stroked her back.  A little on the thin side, perhaps, but beautiful.  
Now she slid down him, turning her head to drag her hair slowly 
over the skin of his chest.  His only thought of rescue was a fervent 
hope that it not come too soon.  She teased him with her hair and 
with little kisses on his stomach and thighs.  For some reason, he 
suddenly thought of a time, not long after she'd come on board the 
_Enterprise_, when he'd told Guinan that if he ever found himself 
on an away team with Ensign Ro, he wouldn't turn his back on her.  
Well, he wasn't exactly turning his back on her right now, but 
things had certainly worked out much better than he had expected.  
He laughed softly to himself.
	"Am I tickling you?"
	"No, no, that feels wonderful."
	"How about this?"  She ran her tongue along the underside 
of his shaft and took the tip in her mouth, tasting his sweat and that 
other salty fluid.  She stretched out, her breasts against his legs.  
He reached up and took off the VISOR, giving himself over totally 
to the sense of touch.  She lay now with her head on his belly, 
sucking him, tracing patterns on his thigh with her hand.  She 
seemed to have removed her earring.  Her ear was a warm curve 
against his belly.  Her tongue was warm and soft and wet like 
some sea creature.  LaForge sighed.  When he didn't have a lover, 
which was usually, he always tried to tell himself he wasn't 
missing that much.  To  be sure, he enjoyed his life and its many 
pleasures.  The look on Worf's face last week when he laid that 
straight flush on the table, for instance.  But this was even better.
	He felt Laren's body move against his.  Now her mouth had 
moved to his torso, while her breasts, surprisingly full considering 
how thin she was, surrounded his penis.  Then her nipples traced 
their parallel courses up his abdomen.  He felt her legs come up 
beside his hips, felt a brush of hair, then her hand, guiding him into 
a much warmer, wetter tunnel than this one in which they lay.
	Ro let out a soft moan.  It was good to feel a man inside her 
again.  The night with Will, when they'd lost their memories and 
she'd assumed they were lovers, had been wonderful, but that had 
been it since she'd been on the _Enterprise_, and the dry spell 
before that had been pretty long, too.  Jaros II wasn't exactly Risa.  
She rocked back and forth, feeling the firmness of his shaft, the 
grip of her own muscles around it, and farther within her that 
vague, mysterious softness.  She slid up and down, taking him into 
her again and again, hungry for him.  Finally she lay down on him, 
stretching out her legs along his legs, thrusting with her hips as he 
moved under her.  It was almost as though it were she who was 
penetrating his body.  They were one and yet two, plunging into 
each other, taking pleasure and giving it.  She called out in a low 
voice, soft Bajoran words he didn't understand.  He tightened his 
arms around her so hard that her breasts hurt, but she didn't care.  
She wanted to go over the edge, but she also wanted this to go on 
forever.  She felt his body stiffen beneath hers as he came, 
uttering a series of long, low groans and then her name.  They 
kissed.  She lay draped over him like a blanket, feeling him warm 
and soft within her, feeling the fluids run out of her over him, 
dripping down to the cave floor or their uniforms or whatever was 
down there.
	Now it was his turn to roll her over onto her back.  He 
kissed her breasts, taking her hard little nipples gently between his 
teeth.  With his tongue, he traced a slow line down the center of 
her abdomen.  He could feel the dust and sand clinging to the wet 
parts of his body.  He wondered what it looked like.  He reached 
her hair.  Her scent was strong and inviting.  He slid one hand 
between her thighs and felt them close warm and firm around it.  
Kneeling, he slid in the other hand.  She resisted him as he 
pressed her legs apart.  For a moment, he hesitated.  Did she not 
want this?  Well, he decided, if she didn't she was going to have to 
say so.  He overcame her resistance, forcing her slim thighs wide 
apart.  There was no sound from her except a sigh.  He moved his 
face in slowly, smelling her scent and his own.  His nose touched 
wet hair.  He reached out with his tongue, exploring the warm folds 
of this exotic flower, thrusting his tongue deep inside and drinking 
her nectar as though he were a hummingbird.  She wrapped her 
legs around his head, noticing for the first time that he was no 
longer wearing the VISOR.  She tipped her pelvis up, thrusting her 
open, dripping vulva against his face.
	"Geordi, I want your fingers," she whispered down into the 
darkness.  He wiped the dust off on his hair, as best he could, and 
slipped two of them into her.  She spread her legs as wide as she 
could, wanting nothing but to be open to him.  He spread her lips 
with the fingers of his other hand, covering her slick wetness with 
little flickers of his tongue, moving his fingers in and out.  Suddenly 
he felt her close around his hand and heard her cry out, a loud, 
inarticulate cry which echoed in the cave.  Her whole body shook.  
He left his fingers there until the tremors had subsided.  Then he 
moved up to lie beside her and took her in his arms.  She curled 
against him, her head on his shoulder.  Neither one said a word.
	LaForge's arm was just beginning to go to sleep when 
there was a beep from the tricorder at the top of the rock pile.  
Then, from somewhere under them, a voice,
	"Riker to LaForge.  Geordi, can you hear me?"
	The two of them sat up, fumbling in the pile of clothes for 
their comm badges.  Ro found hers just as Riker's voice came from 
it.  She touched the cool metal.
	"Ro here.  We're ok.  We're trapped behind a rockslide."
	"I think I can see it now.  We'll have you out of there soon."
	There were flurries of activity on both sides of the rock pile.  
On the one side, rocks were cleared away.  On the other, clothing 
was shaken out and pulled on.  LaForge replaced his VISOR, Ro 
her earring.  They were waiting, smiling, when the rescue team 
finally cleared a passageway through the rubble.
	
	As they emerged into daylight, everyone but LaForge 
blinking and squinting, Riker turned to look at the rescuees.  They 
were a sight.  Their jackets were open.  Ro's headband lay around 
her neck.  Excusable, under the circumstances.  Her hair was a 
mess.  The light and slightly bluish dust from the cave adhered to 
both of them in liberal quantities.  It clung to their skin (particularly 
noticeable on Geordi) and hair and formed irregular patches on 
their uniforms.  Some of those patches, it seemed to him, looked 
like handprints.