A/N: Sorry for the wait, we've both been busy with life in general. Thanks again to DataLady91 for helping me to co-author this. She did this chapter all herself, so props go to her for writing this.

Per the usual, neither DataLady91 nor myself own any of the copyrights to Star Trek:TNG, its characters, etc.


As the doors to his sister's quarters whooshed open, Aden sorely wished they were one single door he could slam. That was one drawback of living on a starship - no doors to slam when you were angry. However, he did have the next best thing at his disposal. On his way to Fred's bedroom, he grabbed a throw pillow off the couch, and the second he set foot in the bedroom, he chucked it at her, nailing her clean in the head. "Wake up, Miss Priss," he ordered, not bothering to keep the irritation out of his voice. "I've got a bone to pick with you."

Rubbing the back of her head where the pillow had hit, Fred glared at the pointy-eared beanpole standing before her, hands on his hips like he was Peter freaking Pan. "Aden, what do you want? Can't you see I want to be alone?"

"And what? You expect me to just slink back out with my tail between my legs and leave you here pouting over your boyfriend?"

"Shut up!" Fred rolled over and shot Aden a filthy look. "He is not my boyfriend!"

"But you wish he was."

"Don't you have anything better to do than pick on me?"

"Loaded question, there, sis," Aden warned, taking a step toward Fred with his hands still planted on his hips. "No, I came here to talk some sense into your titanium-plated head. Yeah, I know I'm the last person to talk sense into anyone, but I'm only gonna say this once, so listen up. Quit taking yourself so seriously! You keep on acting like some wimpy little girl around Data; that's not who you are! Be yourself, Fred-o. Don't worry about looking like a loser in front of him. Believe me, now that's he's practically human, he's gonna have plenty of stupid moments himself. And besides..." A slightly teasing grin pulled at the corners of Aden's mouth. "I think he likes you, too."

Fred's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. If that wasn't a kick in the teeth. "You think Data likes me? How do you know that?"

Aden rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. You should've seen the look on his face when you ran out of Ten Forward. He looked like he wanted to give you a hug, and I've never seen him hug anybody. Besides, it'd explain why he high-tailed it out of my 'Playboy Planet' program."

"'Playboy Planet?'" Fred all but shouted, jumping off her bed. "You tried to make him shack up with some bleach-blonde whore in bunny ears and a fluffy tail?" Furious, she snatched her own pillow off the bed and tore into Aden, walloping him on every word. "Stupid-" WHACK! - "green-blooded-" WHACK! - "pointy-eared-" WHACK! - "mutant-" WHACK! - "horndog!" WHACK! "What were you thinking! Don't tell me; I already know. That's all you ever think about. Pig!" Fred spat the last word, glaring daggers at her brother.

Wiseguy that he was, Aden snorted like a pig just to tick her off. "Oink oink - OW!" he yelled as Fred clobbered him with the pillow yet again. "You gonna keep hitting me with that pillow?"

"You're lucky I didn't take a phaser to your primary brain, Aden Alistair," Fred said, relishing Aden's pained grimace and the instinctive crossing of his legs. Typical man.

"All right, sis, you win," Aden said, surrendering. "I won't pull anything like that again. And if you want to talk to Data, he should be in his quarters. Said he needed to take a shower after experiencing my program."

Fred didn't need telling twice. She was out the door faster than a scared jackrabbit, without even so much as a thank-you. Aden chuckled to himself and flopped down on Fred's bed. "Jeez. Either she's burning to talk to him or she really wants to see what he looks like shirtless."


A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed that , all credit for this chapter goes to DataLady91. Please remember to review, a simple "Keep up the good work" or "You could use more work on [insert suggestion here]" etc. will do. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is ALWAYS welcomed, blatant disrespect and insults are unwarranted and will be reported.