The 'other Charlotte's' POV. Standard disclaimer, please r/r.


When you're stuck in a universe where the love of your life is dead and you're in the wrong job, you know there can be very little sunshine left in the world.

C2 was finding this particularly true today. First of all, her replicator had given her herbal tea instead of coffee and she had had to reprogram it. The she got lost and found herself in Engineering for the umpteenth time that week.

As she back-tracked and finally asked the computer for directions, she went over her schedule in her head. They were charting a small nebula in the Hikari system, and later taking an inventory. Ugh, how she hated inventories. After work there was her session with Councillor Manx, which she really didn't want to go to. And then… she sighed. Her date with Ensign Leroy. Now he was someone she wouldn't want to get cosy with. She had been either not paying attention or delirious when she accepted his offer, which she was definitely cancelling. Which would leave her evening free. Which would probably mean a visit from Charlie.

She sighed again. Her double was always pooping thru to 'use the computer' or 'borrow this tool' or else it was 'I was just in the neighbourhood and thought I'd duck in'. It was an old joke that had long gone flat, but C2 laughed anyway, to give the impression of being happy. Which she wasn't. Which of course Charlie knew, but could do nothing about.

It wasn't that she hated Charlie. She didn't even dislike her. It was just that, no matter how she tried to smother the feeling, she was jealous. Insanely so. Which Charlie also knew. So the relationship between the girls was fragile, with Charlie carefully choosing her words and C2 always holding herself in (except for the few occasions when C2 would join Charlie in her own world for a therapeutic pillow fight).

As she entered her section, C2 noticed two female officers look at her, stop talking, and return to their consoles, where they threw glances at her when they thought she wasn't looking. This was not new. C2 knew that people talked about her behind her back. Well, they talked about Charlie, who they thought she was. She heard a few of the rumours going around. They said that she was drowning her sorrows about Data with work; that she was secluding herself and becoming antisocial. That her heart was broken beyond repair and that was why she refused to date. The latest was about her recent well-being, spread by those who had not been told of the cause of her visit to sickbay that fateful night. Some said that she had become sick and nearly died of heartbreak. Others said it was a suicide attempt for the same reason.

C2 laughed at such romantic nonsense, but it a way they were right about the dating. She had turned down nearly every offer made to her and cancelled the rest at the last minute. It just didn't seem right to date a man when she was in love with another- even if he was in another world and there was very little chance of seeing him again. Unconsciously, she was also reluctant to date because no man on the ship could hope to measure up to an android.

But it wasn't just dating, either; it was relationships in general. C2 was living in the future, and everyone on the ship was a stranger, including those she thought she knew. And her time was so taken up with work, study and Charlie that she had no time for friends. Well, maybe excluding Geordie. But things between her and Geordie had gotten awkward lately. She was quickly finding that relationships with humans were much more complex than with androids. It was unexpected, but like the workload and the people, she was getting used to it.

C2 sat down at her console, apologised to Lt. Finch for being late again, and started the work assigned. I'm definitely cancelling that date later…