Data watched Leo as she slept. She lay curled against him, head nestled in his shoulder, one hand resting across his waist and the other gathered in a loose fist against her mouth as if she were keeping an important secret. He'd seen her like this many times and had known each time that she was absolutely secure with him, deeply asleep with no concerns for the world outside their connection. He, too, had felt secure and certain of their connection even at the most difficult of times. Until this moment, however, he'd never felt such inner… warmth. Yes, that was the word. A warmth that had nothing to do with physiological temperature and everything to do with who it was that projected it. Data could not imagine anyone else engendering this warmth. This feeling.
He moved his hand from where it had been tangled in Leo's hair (more warmth, soft, physical), carefully, so he wouldn't wake her, extended his fingers separately away from her. Away. Apart. Not just separately, but apart from where it seemed they might have belonged for a very long time, if only he'd been able to feel it. As he'd recognized belonging as a condition and not an emotion, he now recognized an aspect of "apart" as a realization not possible without emotion. He wondered what other realizations might come to him outside of the security of their quarters. The question troubled him. If this single emotion, love (as if it were 'single'… he knew now it was bundled with endless feelings he couldn't begin to identify) could occupy him, distract him so completely, how fragmented might his awareness be in the presence of worry, doubt, fear? All of the emotions that he had seen his crewmates and friends wrestle with for so long. Humans seemed to maintain a balance that allowed them to conduct their duties and manage their personal and professional lives in efficiently separate fashion, so he knew such a thing was possible. He would consult Counselor Troi for assistance in navigating the same learning process to achieve the skills that his human friends had long ago taken for granted. As a counselor, and more importantly as a friend, Deanna would help him assimilate the new awareness that would bring him another step closer to his aspirations of humanity. An additional surge of emotion overtook him as he realized that this awareness might have come to him much later, perhaps never, had he not met someone who elicited its urgency.
Leo made a small sound in her sleep and wound herself closer against Data. This, too, had happened often in their time together, but this time, for the first time, it made him smile. There was a near-childlike vulnerability, a craving for physical security that manifested itself only when Leo was sleeping. Though many of her personal defenses were abandoned in his company, some were so deeply guarded that she herself was unaware of them. He'd long been aware of this need and had been attentive to it as best he was able to be. Finally Data was able to feel tenderness toward the woman in his arms, and it was compounded by his gratitude for the ability to appreciate it. Finally, an equal and congruous reaction was possible. Finally, analogs were rendered obsolete, and he was able to be grateful for it. Finally he understood the relationship between "finally" and "forever", between commitment and love. Between faith and belief.
"Mmph… what?" Leo slurred drowsily as she rolled her head back to meet Data's gaze. She'd felt it even before her eyes struggled open.
He pressed his lips to her temple, at last feeling (rather than simply understanding) the significance of the affectionate expression.
"It is nothing. I am merely contemplating eternity. Go back to sleep."
"'kay…" She was gone before the soft echo died.
"I would love no other but you, Leora Eileen," Data whispered, not wanting to wake her again but needing to hear the words aloud.