Disclaimer: I own nothing Star Trek: TNG. I do own Latika Sarin.
Meanwhile, while Data was searching advice from his best friend, Latika was searching for advice from her newfound friend. Since she arrived on the Enterprise, Latika had become very close to Guinan. She began to see her as a mother figure in some way, since she had lost her mother at a very young age. So she wandered into the bar and sat down on one of the stools. There were a few people in the back, but she paid no attention to them. Guinan walked up to her smiling, but it ran away when she saw the look on Latika's face. Guinan leaned over the bar and picked up Latika's face with her hand.
"Aw darling, now what's with this face? Tell me what's wrong."
"Oh Guinan, it's just Data…" she sighed.
"Data? What did he do?" she asked as she put her hands on her hips, "I'll kill him if he did anything to you, you know that right?" she turned and got Latika a cup of her favorite green tea. She placed the steaming cup in front of her as Latika took a small sip from it. "Now, tell me what happened."
Latika relayed the night's events to Guinan as she drank the rest of her tea. "…And then I came here to talk to you. So, Guinan, what should I do? Should I just accept his answer? Please, Guinan, I don't know what to do. I've never felt this way before" she said as she watched Guinan refill her cup of tea.
"Well, I think that you should tell him how you feel. And if he doesn't feel that way, then at least you got it off your chest. Okay? And if he does love you, then I wish you the best. Not to put any pressure on you, but you two are just so cute together," Guinan chuckled as she gave her the cup of tea. "Well, it looks like you're going to get your chance," She said as she motioned to the door. Latika looked over to see Data and Geordi walk through the door. As the door closed, Data and Latika locked eyes. Neither of them could move. Eventually, Geordi pushed Data to the bar while Guinan stood Latika up and fixed her sari. Geordi then went and shooed the other people out of the room and they sat at a far table, but just close enough so they could hear. Latika was the first to speak. She tried to look at him, but she was so nervous that she just looked down.
"Data, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for putting you in that situation earlier. I shouldn't have done that to you. It wasn't right. But I just wanted to tell you that I do love you. And that won't change no matter what happens." She was so nervous that her hands were shaking. She tried to stop them by clasping them together, but to no avail. Then she saw Data's hands come up and hold her hands. She stopped shaking. Latika looked up to see Data looking down at her. He gave her a small smile before he spoke.
"Latika, please do not apologize. I want to tell you that I do love you with all my heart. I always have as well. I merely did not know what it was. I do not care if people tell me I do not have emotions. But I do have them for you. I love you, Latika." He then leaned down to her, lifting her chin up slightly, and kissed her on her lips. She returned it as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He returned her embrace as he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to him. He loved how she felt to him, warm and loving. And she loved how he felt to her, cold but refreshing and loving as well. They stood in this position for a moment, simply because Data didn't really know what to do now. Eventually, Latika pulled away from him and stared into his eyes and smiled. He smiled back, quite please about how the night had rolled out.
As he stared at her, Latika began to laugh. He got very confused by her action, so he turned to Geordi and Guinan for help. But they started laughing too. This made him even more confused, so he turned back to Latika.
"Please tell me, Latika. What is so humorous?"
He waited until she could catch her breath before she could speak, "Data, love," she said with another laugh, "when we kissed, some of my bindi rubbed off on your forehead!" the three of them began to laugh even harder while Data looked into the mirror behind the bar. He saw a small red smudge in between his eyebrows. When Latika had first started staying in his quarters, Spot had destroyed her charmed bindi, so she went back to wearing the traditional red powder. He looked back at Latika, who was still laughing. She licked her finger and rubbed the remnants of her bindi off his forehead, like a mother would to her child. He was still confused as to why her bindi rubbing off on him was so funny, but he smiled anyway. He loved to see her laugh, because he also loved the sound of her laugh. It was light and bubbly, and he thought it was very pleasing.
Eventually, the three of them stopped laughing. Latika grabbed his hand and their fingers intertwined as she looked up at him smiling. "I think we should head back, Data. Don't forget that I have to meet the captain formally tomorrow with his "panel." And I need my beauty rest." They then walked over to where Guinan and Geordi were sitting and said their goodnights. Latika bowed to each of them. The newly announced couple then left the bar, hand in hand.
After the doors closed, Guinan and Geordi looked at each other with accomplished looks on their faces.
"We did a good thing today, Geordi. I think we should reward ourselves," Guinan said with a smile as she went to the bar to retrieve drinks for the two of them. She gave Geordi his before she sat back down.
"Yeah," Geordi agreed, "I'm glad to see Data so happy. I don't think I've ever seen him that way. He's just so… at peace when Latika's around him. I kind of feel bad that I won't be the one having to look after him anymore," he said with a sigh.
"Latika will take good care of him," Guinan commented, "But you're still Data's best friend. Don't think you're getting replaced. You're not. He will still look to you for advice and more. Especially now that he has Latika. He has no idea how to act."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Geordi said with a smile.
"Now, let's have a toast," Guinan said as she cleared her throat, "To Geordi and me, for playing unofficial matchmaker, and having it work out perfectly!" They both laughed as they clinked their glasses and drank to their toast.
