Hi everyone, sorry for the wait. I decided not bother with Insurrection. This story is set a few days before Will and Deanna's wedding.

And PLEASE REVIEW! Whether you like it or not, i wanna hear it!

I own nothing but Charlotte... both of them.

"I'm so excited for Deanna."

Charlotte and Geordie were walking down the corridor, towards Charlotte's quarters.

"I must admit, I never really expected something like this to happen. They were always really good friends, but it never went further than that."

"Well, D didn't tell me much but from what I gathered, she and Commander Riker got pretty close during that thing with the Baku."

Geordie grinned. "I was fortunate enough to take him out for a drink, and from what he says, it was more than pretty close."

They reached the door and Charlotte keyed in her code. "Thanks for walking me. I'll just get the spanner."

Geordie waited at the door. "What did you use it for?" he called.

"A secret project," came her voice from the other room. "And don't ask any more questions, cuz I'm not telling you any more." She reappeared spanner-less and began rifling through the PADDs of various shapes and sizes on her coffee table.

"Not even if I order you to?" Geordie teased.

She pouted. "You wouldn't pull rank on a friend, would you?" She growled at not finding anything on the table and peered under the couch. "Where is that- Oh, there it is." She pulled out the spanner triumphantly and chucked it in Geordie's direction. "One Hyperspanner for you, sir."

Geordie deftly caught it. "Thanks." He frowned at the sudden change on her face. "What's wrong?"

She sniffed the air, mirroring his frown. "Can you smell something?"

He sniffed too. "Not really… actually, yes, I do smell something. What is it?"

Charlotte turned towards her bedroom. "It smells like… smoke. Yes, it's definitely smoke."

"Where's it coming from? And why hasn't the ship put it out yet?"

"I don't-"

A tinny but familiar voice wafted through the air. "30 seconds to self-destruct."

Charlotte went pale. "Oh, no." Turning on her heel, she leapt through the doorway into her bedroom and into… nothing. Geordie stared. Where she had disappeared, something glittered in the air like ripples in a small pool. He could see tendrils of smoke appearing from this pool, as if from thin air. Changing the settings on his implants revealed more baffling finds. He tapped his badge dazedly. "LaForge to Captain Picard."

"Yes, Geordie?"

"You better come down here, sir."

Charlotte dropped to the ground, coughing. She had already established that C2 wasn't here- the rooms were completely empty. If the self-destruct was on, everyone would've left the ship, right? Somehow, she wasn't so sure.

"Computer, locate Charlotte Hope."

"Lieutenant Charlotte Hope is in Sickbay. 20 seconds to self-destruct."

Sickbay! Charlotte screwed her eyes shut; knowing the only way would be to use her powers. Slowly, her body began to change until it was nothing more than a fine mist floating in the air. In this form, thought and direction was difficult, but thankfully she'd drunk enough Kava juice that morning to help herself along.

She could go faster this way, passing fallen rubble without having to climb over it. In no time at all she had reached sickbay. Rematerializing, she spied a figure on the floor between two bio-beds.

"Charlotte!" she hissed, shaking her double's helpless form. "Wake up, girl. Come on, we need to get out of here!"

C2 groaned and immediately began to cough. She clutched the object she was holding tighter and tried to curl into a ball.

Charlotte dragged her up to a sitting position, as the computer warned them "10 seconds to self-destruct."

"We've got to hurry." Charlotte grabbed a hypospray from the discarded bench and injected it into C2's neck, hopping it was a stimulant and not a sedative. C2's eyes popped open, and she coughed again. "What's-"

"Never mind- you have to change now. Quickly! We have to get out of here."

C2 nodded and her skin became translucent. Soon, both of them were nothing but mist. They flew through the ship at top speed and slipped under the door. The ship was shaking more now, and once they materialized, Charlotte pushed C2 towards the corner of the room…

The ship exploded.

As Captain Picard entered the room with Worf, Geordie was thrown back by a muffled explosion that threw bits and pieces of something into the room and made a terrific wind. When he opened his eyes again, he looked up at Picard and Worf from his new position on the floor to find them staring at the corner of the room. He followed their gaze and his jaw dropped. There, on the floor, surrounded by bits of bulkhead and other mysterious objects, was Charlotte… and Charlotte.