Three Little Words

(Continuity Note: This story runs concurrently with the end of chapter 12 (Dissonance) and the beginning of chapter 13 (Endurance) of Crush II: Ostinato.)

Stardate 44843.56

(Saturday, 4 November 2367, 21:37 hours, ship's time)

"I require advice."

The words were spoken in the same mild tone Data used for most conversations, but to Geordi La Forge they were the most daunting three words he could imagine.

What kind of credibility do I have, he thought, when it comes to advising an android? Best friend, or not? But they were best friends, which meant he was obligated to set aside the tools he'd been using and lead the other officer into the tiny room off main engineering that served as his office, so they could speak privately.

It also meant he was obligated to ask, "What about?"

"When Zoe returned to my quarters earlier this evening, she was wearing my uniform jacket."

Geordi vaguely remembered seeing the girl – young woman – in Starfleet colors, but it hadn't really registered at the time. "I think she might have mentioned something about waking up to find it spread over her like a blanket and being cold while she waited for me to get to you."

"Ah. But then, why did she not simply increase the ambient temperature of the room?"

"I don't know, Data. Maybe because they're your quarters, and she didn't want to mess with your precise settings? Maybe because she wasn't temperature-cold."

"How can feeling cold not be related to temperature?"

Geordi took a deep breath and reminded himself to be patient. For all his friend's intellect and knowledge – both programmed and acquired – when it came to interpersonal relations, the android was often closer to a human five-year-old than the adult he appeared to be.

"I meant that it might not have been a reaction to the temperature of the room, Data. She might have felt cold because she was afraid, or in shock, or because her blood sugar was low."

"She had not eaten since before her initial arrival for her lesson," Data confirmed. "But then, why did she refer me to you when I mentioned that the sight of her in my jacket was aesthetically pleasing?"

"Data!" Geordi used his friend's name the same way the captain sometimes did, to express frustration. He'd even explained that specific inflection to the android once. He saw the other's eyes widen slightly, and repeated in a calmer tone, "Data, did you really comment on how she looked?"

"Yes, Geordi. Is it not appropriate to pay compliments to one's friends?"

"Well, yes, Data, but…when a man comments on the way a woman looks in his clothes… actually, when a woman is comfortable enough to wear a man's clothes, it usually implies a level of intimacy that – "

The android interrupted him. "But Zoe and I are intimate, Geordi."

The engineer closed his eyes behind his VISOR, more out of reflex than anything else. I do not think that word means what you think it means, he thought. But what he said was. "It implies physical intimacy, Data. It usually means the people in question are…" he hesitated, not sure how to end that sentence, not sure if he should.

"Sexually intimate?" Data asked. "Zoe and I have not yet reached that point in our relationship."

"That's good to know, I guess," Geordi hedged. Sometimes Data had no concept of where candid discussion ended and TMI began. "Wait… not yet?"

"I believe that if we continue our association, we will eventually reach that point."

"She's sixteen, Data."

"I am well aware of Zoe's age, as well as my status as her tutor, and my position aboard the Enterprise. I am also aware that while Zoe has reached the standard legal age of consent for humans in the Federation, she is very young. Coupled with the fact that I lack extensive experience with intimate relationships, I believe it is safe to assume that we will not be reaching that point for quite some time."

Geordi sat down heavily on the desk in his office. "I didn't even know you'd been considering it."

"In truth, I had not. In fact, when I promised her mother that we would not take that step before Zoe turned eighteen -"

Geordi cut him off, "You did what?!"

Data's yellow eyes blinked twice. "I promised Commander Harris that I would not allow my relationship with her daughter to include sexual intimacy before Zoe's eighteenth birthday. Zoe was extremely angry with me when she found out."

"I don't blame her."

"Was it wrong of me to make such a promise?"

"That depends; did you talk to Zoe about it first?"

"The discussion with Emily Harris was during Zoe's time away from the Enterprise," Data explained. "At the time, I assumed it was a safe promise to make because our relationship had not yet begun to shift from platonic friendship to one of a more romantic nature. However, since Zoe's return, there has been a definite change in the tenor of our… relationship."

"A… change?"

"Yes. Since the day when Zoe spoke of her experience on Starbase 12, we have been becoming more physically intimate. We have been exchanging kisses." Geordi gave him a look, and the android amended, "Chaste kisses. With two exceptions."

"Oh?"

"The first was when Zoe kissed me believing it was the best way to release the data solid inside Lore's tongue-stud."

"A not-chaste kiss?" he asked, even though he wasn't certain he wanted to know.

"It was not done for entirely romantic reasons, but it was also… Zoe would call it a 'real' kiss."

"And your ethics program didn't have a problem with that?"

"No faults were found," came the quiet affirmation. "However, she did run from the room in tears, and while she was not crying when she left earlier this evening, it was the second time she has left abruptly after a 'real' kiss."

"You kissed her?"

"Technically, she initiated this kiss, as well, though I did not stop her, and we continued to…" Again, Data responded to his facial expression. "This is more than you wish to know."

"Yeah… Look, Data. I don't know what the limits of your promise were, but… if Zoe found out about it."

"She is aware. When our… activities began to intensify, I told her we must stop, and explained why."

Geordi couldn't help but chuckle. "I bet she was pretty mad at you."

"She was, and I do not understand why you find it humorous that the woman I care for has fled from my presence after kissing me… twice."

"I'm not really laughing at you, Data," Geordi said. "I'm laughing at the absurdity of me attempting to advise you about – wait - what did you say?"

"I said that I did not understand why you find it humorous that a woman I care for –"

"No, you didn't," Geordi said. "You didn't say 'a' woman. You said 'the' woman."

The android's eyes widened in something akin to surprise or alarm. Possibly both. Then they began to flicker back and forth as he accessed… something.

"You are correct," he said softly, a hint of wonderment coloring his words.

"I think we'd better do that external system diagnostic on you sooner rather than later," Geordi advised. "I'm a little concerned that Lore's data solid may have done real damage to your programming."

He expected Data to agree, which the android did.

What he did not expect was his friend's too-honest question, made more so by the lack of emotional overtone.

"Why do you assume that the fact that Zoe is… significant… to me means that something must be wrong?"

Geordi didn't have an answer for that one.

He wished he had.

(=A=)

Roughly twenty-four hours later, Geordi removed the optical cable from the port on Data's head and slid his friend's hair back into place.

"As far as I can tell," the engineer said as he coiled the cable and stowed it in a drawer, "it's as if that data solid had never been inserted in the first place."

"I concur," Data said. "Thank you, Geordi." He got up, apparently heading to the bridge a bit early.

"Data, wait…"

"Geordi?" the android's expression was expectant.

"Are you alright? You seem a little… down."

"I assure you, my stature has not changed."

Sometimes Geordi wondered if Data misunderstood colloquialisms on purpose, just to goad people. "I meant, you seem kind of subdued."

"Do I?" his friend asked. "Perhaps that is because Zoe has asked for a 'break,' and I am uncertain how to handle it."

"She said that? She asked for a break?" He was shaking his head. This was not good.

"She explained that everything that occurred yesterday, in combination with several events from the past year, have made her realize that she hasn't been truly handling her emotions, merely suppressing them."

"That actually makes sense, Data. I mean, two assaults, almost losing her mother – twice – everything that happened yesterday, including having to basically kill you."

"I was not dead, merely deactivated," the android pointed out.

"You know that, and I know that, but from Zoe's point of view, I'm betting the distinction's not so clear. Plus, she's probably reeling from knowing she could do that to you."

His friend's eyes narrowed into what passed for a skeptical peering expression. "Have you been speaking with Zoe behind my back?"

Geordi raised both his hands in front of him, palms out, as if he could ward off the very idea. "Uh-uh, not even close. I just… I know how I felt the first time I ever had to do that to you, and I've got years' worth of Starfleet and cybernetics training. Zoe had nothing but her own force of will and strength of character."

"Then, you do not believe her request implies a permanent ceasing of our relationship?"

Geordi hesitated. On the one hand, he was pretty certain that, even as young as she was, Zoe Harris was honest enough to tell Data if their relationship was actually terminated. On the other hand, his own experience with women was hardly extensive, and he wasn't entirely fond of giving false hope. On yet another hand (and he was grateful those hands were metaphoric, at this point), he wasn't sure exactly what Data and Zoe's relationship actually was, so it was hard to judge what it might not be.

Finally, he offered. "I think you need to give her time and let her come to you. Don't avoid her in the halls, or anything, but don't seek her out unless there's a real reason."

"She asked for essentially that. She also withdrew herself from my advanced mathematics tutorial and asked for a hiatus from music lessons and quartet rehearsals."

"Well, if you two are kissing, and even if you weren't, after yesterday… yeah… she really can't be your student anymore."

"But you believe this is a temporary situation?"

"I'm pretty sure Zoe would have made it clear if it wasn't."

"Will you do me a favor?"

"I'm not putting that damned chip back in your head, Data."

"No," he said. "Zoe left her cello in my quarters. Even if we are not meeting to play music together, she will wish to practice. Would you return it to her?"

Geordi narrowed his focus to the heat patterns of his friend. Warm patches were lit up in parts of his brain where, before Zoe, there had been little activity. He couldn't deny that the two of them seemed to be good for each other.

"You're asking me to check up on her," he stated.

"Perhaps," Data agreed. "Geordi… please?" He'd never heard Data ask for anything personal before, not like that.

"Tell you what, you two are in that play together – "

"Romeo and Juliet, yes – "

"Romeo and Juliet. If she hasn't ended her 'break' by the end of the cast party next Sunday, I'll swing by on Monday morning. I'm guessing she won't be in class?"

"It is extremely unlikely."

"Yeah. I guess it would be."

"Geordi, she will wonder why it is you bringing her cello. Perhaps you can… create another reason?"

Data didn't ask him to lie. Data wouldn't do that. But damn, he could manipulate with the best of them when he chose to.

"I never gave her the flitter lessons I promised for her birthday."

"That was many months ago."

"I know. She knows, too… and she'll probably want to take the test as close to her next birthday as possible."

"I agree."

"Alright. But I'm only doing it because if you're this broody, she's probably feeling down, as well."

"Of course, Geordi."

"Data, there's something I need to ask you, though… if Zoe does want to terminate your friendship, will you be able to cope with that? Will deleting a subroutine be enough?" He was referring to what his friend had done after Jenna had dumped him the year before.

"I do not know," came the android's honest response. "I do not know how I will cope, as there is no single subroutine that governs my responses to Zoe."

"I'm not sure I understand, Data."

"I have incorporated responses to her throughout my programming."

Geordi's eyebrows lifted over the top of his VISOR, but all he said was, "I'll drop in on her next Monday, and I'll let you know how she's doing."

"Thank you, Geordi," the android responded. "I am due on the bridge. I will see you tomorrow."

"G'night, Data," he called. But once his friend was safely out of engineering, Geordi let out a long, low whistle. If he didn't know better, he'd say his positronic pal was in love. Maybe he is, in a way, he thought. Maybe this is what android infatuation looks like. And maybe he'd better try to get to know Zoe Harris a little better. He had a feeling she was going to be around for a while.

He also had a feeling that those three little words were going to get quite a workout over the next few years… I require advice… Even inside his head, he heard them in Data's trademark inflection.

Maybe he should take a xeno-psychology enrichment course.

Note: Revised 10 March 2018. As so often happens, this is not quite the one-shot I set out to write, but it's the one that wanted to be written. Takes place during/between chapters 12 &13 of Crush II: Ostinato.