I edited/rewrote a good portion of chapter one, so I'd recommend that those who read it earlier go back a reread it.

Serenity examined the brain activity the next morning, relieved to find everything as it was. Taking a fortifying breath, she flipped the switched and prepared to meet the android once more.

She looked around with some surprise to find she wasn't where she had been last time. This time she stood in a large room with tall windows looking out to the stars. Judging by the furniture, she'd guess this was a bar. There were several other people in the room, though they all seemed oblivious to her presence at the moment.

She relaxed slightly when her eyes fell on Data, standing by one of the windows, mirroring her surprise.

"You have returned." He observed out loud, almost like a question. He wore the same uniform as yesterday, she noted.

"I said I would. You didn't believe me?"

His head tilted in contemplation.

"I have found that dreams are rarely predictable." Then he offered a slight almost-smile that seemed to soften his features. "I had hoped you would return."

"Happy to make your dreams come true," she laughed. Her eyes widened as he chuckled as well. Even after yesterday it took her by surprise with how natural it seemed to come to him.

"May I assume you are not Starfleet?" he interrupted her thoughts. "Given your lack of uniform and the comments you have made about this being your personal ship, that seems a logical deduction."

She snorted derisively in reply. "Definitely not Starfleet."

Data's brows drew down in a frown as he watched her walk over to him. "Why such animosity towards Starfleet?"

"Oh, it's not just Starfleet," she explained, waving her hand in the air flippantly as she gazed out at the starry expanse. "I have an issue with the Federation in general. And they with me."

His frown deepened. "Explain."

"Well, I am a very vocal and active member of a new political movement, speaking out against the Prime Directive."

"But the Prime Directive is the foundation of the Federation and Starfleet."

"Exactly. So they are none too thrilled with us stirring things up. Not that they'll actually really doanything about it."

"I do not understand. The Prime Directive is there to protect the Federation as well as the other peoples we discover."

"That's a naive outlook, no offense." He looked a little offended all the same. She tried to enlighten him. "Sure, there are times when the Prime Directive does what it's suppose to, when it helps and protects and keeps us from manipulating people. But it is too rigid, too inflexible. It does not allow for variables.

"For example, if a star is about to explode and destroy an entire populated planet, the Prime Directive says to leave them alone and watch them die. To me, that is morally repugnant. It's like seeing someone dying in the street and knowing you can save them but choosing not to.

"Sometimes inaction is just as evil as committing a crime itself," she ranted, her arms moving animatedly as she talked. "People who stand passively by while a murder is being committed are later frequently accused of being accomplices, yet we do not apply that same morality on a universal scale. It's wrong, and it needs to change."

Realizing she'd been preaching, she coughed, rubbing the back of her neck, and apologized. "Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now." Looking over at him, she was surprised to discover him still listening intently. "You know, when I go off like that, most people just tell me to shut up."

He nodded sagely at this, which amused her. "Yes, I have experience with that as well. I have been told on frequent occasions that I...babble."

"You too, huh?" He nodded, and she snorted unattractively. "A pair of babbling brooks are we. Ah well, I've sidetracked us long enough. Let's implement that plan we came up with yesterday."

Over the next several days she and her team managed to uncover a surprising amount of information on building a positronic brain and an android in general. Serenity found herself intensely curious as to why Data would have all this information, but then, since he was an android, perhaps that was a silly question to ask. Doubtless he knew a great deal about how his own brain and body operated.

Still, the level of detail he had, as though he had experience building one himself, was astounding: trial and error records, notes that seemed to come for personal failed attempts. Could it be possible he had built another? There were those rumors of another android existing. Were they true? Had he built another of his kind?

Serenity scrubbed her hand over her face in frustration. All this speculation was fruitless. She needed to focus on actual physical progress. She and her team had done a great deal of talking and planning, but had made very little real progress so far. Tomorrow they would reach Omicron Theta, and then the real work could begin.

She'd been greatly relieved when Data had shown her how to find the entrance to Dr. Soong's hidden lab. Her hands ached to touch the treasures she'd find there: decades of lost research, schematics, molds, plans, who knew what else. With that sort of material at her fingertips, they'd be able to make huge leaps forward in their rebuilding in no time.

Serenity walked into the holodeck, wondering where Data's dreams would set them this time. Each time she'd been here it had been something new. Once she'd even found herself at 22 Baker Street, which had led to an amusing conversation.

"Where on Earth is this? This doesn't look like any starship I've ever seen," Serenity had observed, in awe of the old-fashioned, clutter-filled room in which they stood. "And for once you aren't in your Starfleet uniform," she laughed wryly at the android, garbed in a posh looking robe and slacks with a pipe clutched in one hand. "I didn't know you smoked."

"It is part of the costume. It adds to the overall ambiance and character," Data explained patiently, almost to the point of sounding condescending. Serenity rolled her eyes. Who knew an android could put on airs?

"Uh-huh, and who are you suppose to be?"

He seemed affronted that she even had to ask. "Why, Sherlock Holmes of course. It's elementary, my dear Doctor."

That derailed her. "You read Sherlock Holmes?" she asked incredulously.

"I have read every one of Sir Conan Doyle's stories, including all of those about Sherlock Holmes. I have always been fascinated with the logical and insightful manner with which he solved the mysteries before him. I have frequently attempted to emulated him in my own mystery-solving endeavors."

She laughed. "Why? Surely with your positronic brain, you could out think Sherlock any day. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's one of my favorite characters. But still, I would hardly think he can compete with an android."

"I have always endeavoured to be more human, and I have found that Mr. Holmes had a particularly unique way of observing the world that often made him aware of things no one else was. While my brain can process information faster than Mr. Holmes, I find I often overlook things, particularly when dealing with people, that could greatly benefit me in understanding them."

It had been an insightful conversation, to say the least. His endeavour to become more human was fascinating. She'd read about it in articles from those who'd spoken to him, but to hear about it, see it, first hand, was something else.

Focusing back on the present, she examined the brain, as was her routine by now, and proceeded to flip the switch.

There was no needing to seek out Data this time. She found herself standing in that ship's bar - Ten Forward she believed he called it - right beside him. He seemed oblivious to her presence however, as he watched something across the room intently. She could not decipher the emotions she was seeing on his face, so she followed his gaze to see what had so captivated him. Across the room, serving customers a little stiffly, was a young woman. There was something...off about the way she moved; something not quite human.

Overcome with curiosity, she whispered quietly (for to raise her voice now seemed somehow inappropriate), "Who is she?"

For a long time he did not respond, and she was beginning to doubt he would when his equally quiet answer stunned her.

"My daughter."

She looked up at him sharply. Surely she'd misheard. But now she could read his face, and she knew there was no mistake. She'd seen that look before, on one of her friends at the university. Her stomach felt full of rocks as she asked gently, "What happened to her?"

Before he could answer, the dream changed, and she stood in a room with a tall circular machine in the middle. Surrounded by it, stood the girl, looking up at her father. Yet Data still stood beside Serenity as well, and she suddenly got the distinct feeling she was watching a memory instead of a dream.

This was something very private. She had no business seeing this. Feeling intensely uncomfortable, she made to leave, despite the fact that Data seemed hardly aware of her presence. But just as she turned to go, something caught her attention. Looking back, she gazed at the past Data and the current Data, trying to understand what she was seeing. There was something viscerally different about the two.

"Lal, I am unable to correct the system failure," the past-Data informed the girl quietly.

"I know," Lal replied.

"We must say goodbye now." Serenity felt her throat closing up as she watched the scene play out before her eyes.

"I feel..."

"What do you feel, Lal?"

"I love you, Father," Data's daughter informed him. The past-Data seemed to struggle for an answer to this.

"I wish I could feel it with you," he finally settled on. And there. There was the difference between the two Datas. For the Data standing next to Lal could not reciprocate the girl's feelings. But as Serenity looked up into the face of the man standing next to her, she could see clearly that he did. Golden tears trailed down his cheeks as he mourned, so late, for the child he'd lost years before.

Something had changed in Data since that time. Emotions he had once been incapable of, he now seemed to feel quite strongly. She ached to comfort him, android though he may be. Whatever he was didn't matter; he was clearly hurting, and she searched desperately for something to help.

Mortified, Serenity realized she was about ready to weep right alongside him. This was so far out of her comfort zone she couldn't understand how she'd gotten here. She'd always been horrible about dealing with her own feelings, much less someone else's.

"I...I don't know if this will help," she whispered softly, past the lump in her throat, "but a friend of mine in college lost her baby too. She told me that even if their time together had been short, it had changed her life and she'd never regret it."

Even as she said it, she knew it fell flat - sad platitudes that never helped anyone. All the same, Data finally looked down at her and nodded gratefully.

"Thank you. It is true. She will always be a part of me. She showed me the world in ways I could have never seen it through my own eyes."

Fortifying herself, she reached out tentatively for his hand. He looked down at the contact in surprise, but did not pull away. Rather, he wrapped his hand around hers and held it fast. He seemed uncertain and suddenly self-conscious, something she never thought to see from an android, so she encouraged him gently.

"What was she like? Tell me about her."

His eyes shown with gratitude, and he proceeded to tell her all about his daughter's short but vibrant existence.

It wasn't until Serenity was leaving hours later, that she realized this must have been the source of all the information they'd found. They'd been digging up the research he'd done to make his child. She felt momentarily guilty for dredging it all up for him, but shook it off. They were doing all this for his sake in the first place.

The next day they arrived at Omicron Theta. The planet was still sadly desolate from the attack of the crystalline entity even all these decades later. Armed, just to be safe, Serenity, Sherri, Alba, and Daniels all beamed down to the surface. Thanks to the information Data had provided her, Serenity knew exactly where to go.

Climbing along the rocky crevice where Data had first been discovered, she felt around for the entrance. Several moments later she declared success with a loud "a-ha!" that drew her team towards her.

"It's just in here. Come on!" she shouted eagerly, making her way into the hidden, underground lair like a kid at Christmas.

"Have I ever mentioned how sporty I'm not," Alba called after Serenity, huffing a little. "My shapely hourglass figure is a gift." She ran a hand through her mess of dark, curly hair, sighing. "I think my lungs are going to explode."

"If you stop complaining you'll conserve more oxygen," Serenity tossed over her shoulder, not slowing down in the least.

"If I stop complaining you'll know I've lost the will to live," Alba shot back, full lips twisting into a smirk. "We're talking lying down in the street, walking into traffic- oh holy shit look at this place."

Serenity already was, brown eyes the size of saucers as she took in the lab that had been as much a dream to her as Santa's workshop was to small children. Here was where one of the greatest minds - arguable thegreatest mind - in cybernetics had built his crowning achievement, his Mona Lisa, his Sistine Chapel. Here Doctor Noonien Soong had carefully and meticulously crafted the android she now knew as Commander Data. She briefly had a ridiculous urge to remove her shoes. This was like walking on holy ground.

"Enough hero worship, Doc," Alba cut into her thoughts, irreverently. "Didn't we come here for an actual purpose?"

Serenity sighed longsufferingly. "Oh very well, interrupt one of the most momentous moments of my life with your drab practicality." Which was rich coming from her, since it was usually the other way around.

Sherri shook her head. "I swear, the pair of you could talk for hours about nothing. I'm going to take a look around and see what I can find."

Serenity waved her off and turned to Daniels, who leaned casually against the door frame, almost completely filling it, as if waiting to be noticed.

"Alright, Daniels, let's see if we can find those molds. They should be around here somewhere."

"Yeah Daniels," the medic grinned widely. "For science."

Serenity shot her a look. "Yeah, what else would it be for?"

Alba's wide blue eyes danced wickedly and she gave her boss a knowing smirk. "Rampant fangirlism?"

Serenity chose to ignore this statement, turning instead to pull open drawers and cabinets, looking for anything useful. Finding a conspicuous button on the wall, her finger was drawn to it like a magnet. No matter how many times she'd regretted it, she'd never been good at overcoming the urge to press all buttons, sniff all mixtures, and put just about everything in her mouth. It really was a dangerous preoccupation.

This time, however, she was rewarded for her curiousity. The wall retracted, revealing a set of shelves displaying exactly what she'd been looking for. Her eyes ran quickly over the molds, and she was about to turn to Daniels and instruct him to carry them back, when her eyes caught on something and she did a double take. Really, Dr. Soong? Adding a couple inches aren't we?Men and their egos.

"Someone should tell this guy it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean," Alba commented, peering over Serenity's shoulder, her eyebrows waggling dramatically. Serenity choked on a laugh, suddenly having a far too clear picture of what lay under the Commander's Starfleet uniform. Was it just her or did the room feel a little hot?

"Erm...right, let's um...get this back to the ship and get started. Daniels?"

He raised an eyebrow at her expression but for once, wisely kept his mouth shut. "On it, Boss."

Alba, on the other hand, had no brain-to-mouth filter. "You're totally thinking of android wang, aren't you?"

Serenity gagged, then quickly recovered. "Oh, you know me, the only good wang is a robot wang."

"Boss, you're taking the whole 'battery operated boyfriend' thing to a whole new level." The medic frowned mock-seriously, lips twitching.

"For the love of all that is holy, shut up!" Their Bajoran companion called from the other room. Daniels looked as though he agreed emphatically.

"Right, sorry, dialing it back for the young, virgin ears," Serenity snarked. Daniels shot her a look and she made a face back at him. Grumbling, he hefted the vast array of molds into his arms and transported back to the ship.

"Any luck, Sherri?" Serenity asked, turning the corner into the adjacent room.

"No, not really. It looks as though nearly anything of value was packed up and moved. Dr. Soong must have taken all his notes with him when he fled," Sherri sighed in frustration, tugging at her traditional earring absently.

"Blast. Well, alright then. Let's head back and take a look at what we've got."

What they got, as it turned out, wasn't nearly as much as Serenity had hoped. Even with all they'd recovered from Data's memories, they were sadly lacking big chunks of information that would be needed to return the android to all his former glory.

Feeling disappointed, Serenity made her way to the holodeck. This time she found herself in private quarters. On the walls were several paintings of all varieties and a stack of additional paintings leaned against a corner. There was a sparse scattering of cat toys on the floor, though no feline was anywhere to be seen. In one of the connecting rooms was a bed which looked distinctly firm and uncomfortable and was made up meticulously with crisp hospital corners.

The room on the other side housed a large wrap-around console/desk that was mostly bare but for a select few items of assumedly sentimental value, including a boxed array of impressive looking medals. On a shelf, Serenity was surprised to see an assortment of honest-to-goodness leather bound books. Skimming over the titles, she was intrigued to see complete collections of Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, and numerous other tomes valued by literary high-brows. And leaning casually against the bookcase was a violin that appeared both well-used and well-cared for.

This room, she felt certain, belonged to a kindred spirit. What she wouldn't give to meet it's owner. Did this room belong to one of Data's friends on the Enterprise? The Captain perhaps. She'd heard stories of Picard, and this room seemed to fit the picture they had painted of him: educated, cultured, well-rounded.

Feeling a presence behind her, she turned to find Data at her side, watching her with a somewhat guarded expression. Remembering what had happened yesterday, she wondered if he now felt uncomfortable with how much of himself he had shared before. She certainly wouldn't blame him if he did. If she'd poured out so much of her heart to someone in a moment of vulnerability as he had, she wasn't sure she'd be able to look them in the eye the next day.

The silence seemed to drag on, hanging thick in the room, so Serenity finally broke with the first thing to come to mind.

"So, whose quarters are these?" It was only after she said it that she realized this might be another private memory he did not wish to share. To her relief, his expression seemed to relax a little.

"These are my quarters aboard the Enterprise." She started, surprised. She felt such a connection to the owner of the room; she was a bit ashamed that she hadn't even considered it was his. Oblivious to her chagrin, he continued, "Or were. I suppose they have been reassigned by now."

Why did the thought of that depress her? It seemed wrong that these quarters weren't etched permanently in time, which was a strange thing to think. Life moved on. She'd always made a point to not let herself get hung up on sentimentality. Too much in her life was in constant flux for that. And yet she felt this absurd attachment to rooms she'd never been in of a man she barely knew. She was drawn back to the present as Data spoke once more.

"I wanted to ask, how long have I been...gone?" he asked reluctantly. Shifting, Serenity gnawed on her lip a moment before answering.

"Almost two years, I think. I don't remember exactly, but it's been about that long since Starfleet announced your...demise." Her eyes darted to the side. "Who'd have guessed you'd really just been peacefully dreaming these last couple years away," she joked weakly. He seemed startled at how long it had been. She couldn't imagine learning you'd lost two years of your life was easy, even for an android.

"You went down to Omicron Theta today, did you not?" he asked, changing the subject and gesturing for her to join him on the sofa. She sat beside him, wondering idly what the pair of them looked like, sitting there. Old friends? Awkward acquaintances? It felt like in the few days since she'd met him that they'd shared a lifetime, and yet he was still little more than a stranger to her.

"Yeah. Thanks to your help, we had no trouble finding it."

He nodded, pleased. "And did you find everything you were looking for."

Serenity let out a huff and sunk back into the couch, twisting and tugging at an errant curl. "No such luck. We managed to find the molds, which is good. At least we can guarantee you'll look like you..." she trailed off, blushing for a moment as she remember just what he looked like. His head titled curiously, and she caught herself before he made her explain. "But that was about it. We could find none of Dr. Soong's research, none of his notes, experiments, nothing."

She sank further down in the cushions, petulantly, taking her lip between her teeth once more. Data's lip twitched, and his eyebrow quirked, and she had the distinct impression that he was laughing at her. She glared venomously at him, which did nothing to dissuade him. His expression smoothed as an idea came to him. He seemed to struggle to make a decision for a fraction of a moment, before opening his mouth.

"Perhaps I can remedy that. I believe I know where you can find all of Dr. Soong's notes."

Serenity sat, straightened and leaned forward eagerly, her eyes gleaming.

"Really?"

That smile tugged at his lips again. "Really."

R&R Please!