A/N- This takes place right after First Contact, during the clean-up. Not everything came out the way I wanted it to, but I'm sure you won't mind :)
Also, most of my stories have been light, fluffy things, so it was a challenge to write something this deep. Please tell me if the characters are too OCC.
Disclaimer- I don't own Star Trek (I have a copy, tho) or any of it's characters. Believe me, if i did the borg queen would have died in very diff circumstances. Most likely at my own hands.
Charlotte entered Ten-Forward and made a bee-line for Deanna Troi. The Betazoid smiled a tired smile and invited her to sit down.
"What can I do for you, Charlotte?"
Charlotte sighed. "Deanna, I haven't spoken to you lately because I know you've been busy, and I know it can't be easy to take on everyone's trauma, but now I need to talk to you about Data."
"I know." Deanna pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to suppress a headache. "I've been expecting you to. Unfortunately, I know very little and can tell you even less. Why don't you tell me what brought you here, first?"
"Ok." Charlotte rested her head on one hand. "When we're cleaning up the mess that the Borg left, he's very tense and doesn't talk much. In fact, he never talks much lately. I know there's something wrong but he hardly speaks to me. And he almost flinches when I touch him. I'm worried, Deanna. Can't you tell me anything?"
"Well," Deanna began slowly, weighing her words carefully. "Something did happen on the ship, something that hurt him deeply. He's traumatised and very unwilling to reveal anything."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"I don't know. He has some bad memories, and being an android, they're not going to fade. He may never truly recover from what's happened to him."
"Isn't there anything else you can tell me?"
"I'm sorry; that would be breaking doctor-patient confidentiality."
Charlotte leaned forward and fixed her eyes on her friend. "Listen, Deanna, I know you only want the best for Data but this is important. I love him, and I want to help him in any way I can. And if there's any chance of that, I need to know what happened."
Deanna bit her lip. "I don't know anything else, except…" She broke off and shook her head. "I can't."
"Deanna-"
"You don't understand- breaking confidentiality with Data is one thing, but the information I have relates to someone else as well. It's out of the question."
"You don't have to tell me what happened to the Captain, just what pertains to Data."
Deanna stared. "You know about Captain Picard?"
"He was assimilated into the collective, D. He's the only other person you can be talking about."
"So you understand that I can't tell you-"
"Deanna, just tell me something that has to do with Data. If you don't know, then speculate. I'm his girlfriend. If you can't trust me, who can you trust?"
Deanna studied her, then let out a sigh of resignation. "Alright. But I could get in big trouble for this." She leaned forward and dropped her voice. "The Captain mentioned a queen- a sort of Borg leader, where all the minds in the collective were linked. He said she was, in essence, the collective. In one session, Data mentioned a 'she', but when I questioned him he refused to talk. I don't think something happened to him; I think it was someone. Someone who hurt him so badly that it scarred him, probably for life."
Charlotte pursed her lips. "And is there nothing we can do?"
"Nothing but offering an ear for him."
She buried her face in her hands. "I would kill her if she wasn't already dead." She looked up suddenly. "She is dead, isn't she?"
"I believe so."
They sat in silence for a while, and Guinen sent over some drinks. Charlotte looked at her Kava juice and snorted. "A lot of help you've been."
"Excuse me?" Deanna was staring at her like she'd gone crazy.
Charlotte took a sip and set it down, embarrassed. "Nothing, Councillor. I was just thinking… what emotions is Data giving off?"
"Anger, fear, guilt, grief- if it's negative, he's feeling it. I have many patients at the moment, but none give off such strong emotions, including Captain Picard, although he comes pretty close sometimes. The last time I felt anything this, it was from Lore."
Charlotte shivered, remembering Data's unstable and violent brother. "Maybe… maybe if I had been here, on the ship-"
"I don't think so, Charlotte. There's nothing you could've done, not the way Captain Picard tells it." Deanna rose. "I have to go. I have another session soon. It was good catching up with you."
As Deanna left, Charlotte put her head down on the table, but it rose again when she felt another presence by her side.
"Now that looks a lot like despair," commented Guinen, not waiting for the invitation to sit down. "It also looks like you need a bit of help."
"Oh Guinen, what am I going to do?" Charlotte asked gloomily, not expecting an answer. "Data won't talk to anyone even though he needs to get it out. How can I help him?"
"Be there."
"And?"
"Just that. Make yourself available; make sure he knows that you want to listen. That's the only thing you can do. Leave the rest up to him."
"Thanks." Charlotte got up and downed the rest of her juice. "I'm sure I could've fought her with this stuff…"
A/N- That last comment was put in because in my original story, Charlotte was on the ship and fighting the borg, and eventually having a face-off with the queen herself. But then i realized that an engineer wouldn't be put with the security detail, and dropped the whole first chapter, much as i hated to do it. But... if you want a battle, just tell me and I'll post the deleted chapters.