Work Text:
It was an ungodly hour in the morning when someone can knocking on the door to Deanna Troi’s quarters on the Enterprise. Deanna moaned in frustration as she woke up.
“Who is it!” She called.
“It’s Lieutenant Barclay” said Barclay’s voice.
Deanna looked at the time and then groaned as she put on her robe and answered the door.
“Reginald” she said sternly “we have talked about boundaries, it is not appropriate to wake me up at 0400. I feel your emotions and I understand how difficult it is for you to wait and how desperately urgent your need for resolution to your emotions feels to you, but you have to start respecting my right to not be on the clock 24/7. I have a life of my own!”.
“I just can’t help it!” Barclay loudly complained, struggling to control his volume “when I have something to get off my chest, I go crazy from thinking about it and I need to talk about it immediately. I need you to get them to let me resume my duties!”
“I can’t do that” Deanna said firmly “until I am sure you are in a mental state to do so. Would you really want me to let you resume your duties if I think you’re going to get in trouble again? It wouldn’t be fair to you or to the rest of the crew”.
“But I need to” Barclay said “I need my routine back”.
“I know routine is very important to you” Deanna said “so you can understand how I and other crew members feel when you disrupt our routines. I understand your feelings more so than most do, I know you mean no harm, but even I feel unsafe when you don’t respect my personal boundaries. It drains me and disrupts my ability to work effectively and cuts into my relaxation time. This type of behaviour is why you’re on medical leave now, the crew feel harassed when you bring your concerns to them during times when they are otherwise occupied”.
“Commander Le Forge wasn’t busy when got in trouble for following him to Ten Forward after work” Barclay protested.
“But he was off the clock and trying to decompress” Deanna said “just like you need to decompress in between things. He would have been happy to have a friendly drink with you but you were arguing with him about work, surely you can understand how he felt harassed”.
“I couldn’t wait” Barclay said “I needed resolution so I wouldn’t go crazy waiting for my concerns to be heard”.
“ I understand that waiting to have your needs addressed is harder for you than it is for some” Deanna said “and I want to be here for you when you need it but I can’t be available all the time. Perhaps some of the other crew members with training in counselling can help you when I’m not available”.
“But you’re the only counsellor who has ever understood me” Barclay protested.
“Then how about this” Deanna said “we can set up a mutual journal in the computer system, you can write down your concerns as they come to you so that you don’t have to keep ruminating on them and I can set aside a regular time to look at it and respond. If this works we can do the same for you and other crew members. I know it will still be hard for you to wait but everyone needs to wait sometimes”.
“Then can I go back to work?” Barclay asked.
“Let’s give it a little time” Deanna said “if we can make this work and you respect my boundaries, and do not engage in any other inappropriate behaviours, for two weeks, we can look at letting you resume your duties”.
“Okay” Barclay said, somewhat reluctantly “I can try that”.
“Good” Deanna said, gently pushing Barclay out the door “now let me go back to sleep”.