Disclaimer: Star Trek: The Next Generation, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and all the canon characters belong to CBS/Paramount. The rest is mine.


Stormy Weather

Stardate 43936.50

(Thursday, 8 December 2366, 19:47 hours, ship's time)

In the end, I wore basic black to the concert in honor of Ambassador Sarek, nothing terribly fancy, just a fairly simple dress and matching heels and really subtle jewelry – a fine gold chain I'd been given the previous Christmas, and matching drop earrings. I still felt a bit shaky, and more than a little bit nervous about not having anyone to talk to, but Data arranged for me to sit with Geordi, who asked after my health in that totally easy-going way he did almost everything.

"I'm better," I told him. "Not a hundred per cent, but better."

He grinned. "Glad to hear it. Data was worried about you. We all were."

I chose not to question him about whether or not Data could worry. Instead I focused on the other part of his statement. "Um, exactly who does 'we all' include?"

"Me, Wes, Commander Riker, Captain Picard – did you really throw up on his boots?"

I blushed. "I did." I said. "I really did. But I swear I didn't mean to."

He was laughing when he said, "Oh, I'm sure you didn't."

"The captain was surprisingly cool about it. At least, he didn't yell. He actually apologized to me for being in the way."

"Yeah," Geordi said. "That sounds like him. Completely gracious unless forced to be otherwise."

"Is that why he has such a great reputation as a diplomat, himself?"

"You seem pretty well-informed for a girl who, I'm told, has no real interest in Starfleet."

"I have no interest in applying to the academy," I corrected him. Unlike nearly everyone else I knew, I didn't give that word an audible capital. "And anyone who knows me would agree I'm not a uniforms-and-orders kind of girl. That doesn't mean I don't respect what you all – you, Data, my mother, Captain Picard – what you all do."

"That's fair," he agreed. "So, why study up on the captain's diplomatic expertise."

"Would you believe I'm planning a career in espionage?" I teased.

"I might," he teased back. "But really…?"

I shrugged. "Starfleet may not hold much interest for me, but history and politics do. Especially the politics. It's theater on a universal scale, and while there are people who have a script in mind, the reality is that when you factor in free will anything can happen. It's…it's improvisational theater, except every single person is both a player and spectator."

His laughter morphed into something else. "Do you talk about this stuff with your friends?"

"Sometimes," I said. "With T'vek I do."

"With Data?"

I could feel my eyes widening. "With Data? No. We pretty much exclusively talk about music."

"You should share your other interests with him."

I gave Geordi a confused look. "Um, why?"

"Trust me, Zoe. You just should."

I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but the musicians walked in, then. Data came in last, and caught my eye for a moment before addressing himself to Sarek's wife, Perrin. The music was good, but there was a lack of cohesion among the players that kept me from losing myself in the harmonies. As far as I can tell, no one else seemed to notice.

The quartet didn't actually play a full suite. Rather, they played selections from several works that had been composed for a string ensemble. About forty-five minutes into the program, there was a brief intermission, during which Geordi left our seats for a moment. When he returned, Data was with him. "Commander LaForge suggested I introduce you to our guests," he said.

"Is that allowed?" I asked. "I mean, I'm just some kid."

"We will debate that terminology at another time," Data said, and I could tell he meant it. "Please accompany me." He didn't give me a choice, so, even though I was feeling a bit shaky, I left my chair and followed him down the steps to the front row of the auditorium, where the Ambassador and his wife were greeting many of the other audience members.

I was expecting him to introduce me as the daughter of one of his colleagues. Instead, he gently inserted himself into the conversation, and, once he had their attention, said, "Ambassador Sarek, Lady Perrin, I would like you to meet Zoe Harris. She is my student in music theory and advanced mathematics, and will be taking over the cello position in our quartet after this concert."

Vulcans, I knew, didn't touch other people as a rule, and I vaguely remembered being shown only formal greetings. Thankfully, Lady Perrin was both human and incredibly perceptive. She made a point of greeting me before her husband did, offering her hand, and, once I'd met it with my own, she whispered, "You only have to be polite." In a normal, surprisingly warm, voice she said, "It's nice to meet you Zoe. I've heard that the educational opportunities on starships are rich and robust."

"Yes, ma'am. We like our school system the way we like our coffee," I quipped automatically, and then covered my mouth with my hand. "I'm so sorry," I said. "Sometimes I have no filter."

I saw her look sharply at her husband, but he seemed unbothered by my comment, and she allowed herself to laugh. "I suppose I did set you up for that. Perhaps I could observe a few classes, if time permits?" She glanced to Data for his approval.

"I would be happy to arrange it," he said.

Sarek turned away from the brief conversation he had been having with the Captain and one of his aides on Perrin's other side, and when he faced me it was like being stared down by some prehistoric, preternatural life-force, at least for a second or two. Then the feeling was gone as suddenly as it had come. "It is gratifying to know that young people still maintain interest in the arts," he said to me, inclining his head.

"Yes, sir," I agreed, matching his sketch of a bow with my own. "It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor is mine," he said, as if by rote, and then something softened in those dark, dark eyes. "My son was a competent pianist in his youth. Even if you find that your career path leads you away from music, you must never give it up entirely. The arts enrich us so."

I'm pretty sure I was not the only person both shocked and perplexed by that exchange, but before I could even answer, the softness and warmth had vanished, Data had met Geordi's eyes over my head, and Geordi was quietly escorting me back to our seats. "Did I do something wrong?" I asked the engineer as the lights flashed, signaling the end of intermission.

"I don't think that was you," he said. "I think there's something else going on."

Somehow, his words felt ominous. Even so, I heard Data ask Lady Perrin if there was a violinist whose style she preferred, and when he returned to the stage, my attention was absorbed by the music. His solo, at least, was technically flawless. He met my eyes while he was playing, and held them during one of the legato passages he'd played for me during one of our Saturday sessions.

There was supposed to be a short reception after the concert, but Ambassador Sarek and Lady Perrin excused themselves early, claiming fatigue – I think when you get to be two hundred years old, people are required to just accept it when you say you're tired – so the after-gathering was moved to Ten-Forward. Data invited me to join him at the party, but as I'd been feeling less-than-stellar at the start of the evening, and was beginning to feel woozy, I asked if he'd mind taking me home instead.

"Not that I don't love your company," I added, since bailing on him felt a bit rude. "Any other night, I'd give my eye teeth to hang out with the movers and shakers," I teased. I glanced sidelong at him, and teased, "I'm kind of a lousy date, but I really do appreciate that you went out of your way so I could be here."

"I am sorry that you are feeling unwell. Please wait one moment while I inform the captain that I will be late to the party." He said the last four words with no sense of irony whatsoever. "I will be back to escort you home."

I took a seat in the front row, waiting as he asked. It felt like forever, but in reality he returned in less than a minute. "I feel bad for pulling you away from the party," I said. "It's your night."

Data made the same face he did in math class when I was balking at solving a problem he knew I understood, the look that meant any argument I made would be futile. "We agreed that I would escort you to and from this event."

"No, you and my mother agreed to that," I snapped, and was immediately contrite when I saw shock flicker across his face. At least, it looked like shock. "I'm sorry," I said immediately. "I didn't mean – I must be more tired than I thought."

"Indeed," he said in a tone that almost made it seem like my rudeness had stung him, a little. "Perhaps we should be on our way."

I nodded, but it didn't seem enough, so I echoed Data's words back to him. "Perhaps we should."

The walk back to my quarters was made in silence, and when the door opened, he didn't even step inside to make sure my mother was home to meet me. I hadn't been that rude, really, but I wasn't typically anything but polite with him, and he'd certainly never been anything but kind to me. Before the door slid shut behind me, I turned around. "Data, wait."

"Zoe?" He made my name into something weighted with expectation.

"I'm really sorry I snapped at you. I'm still mastering that whole think-before-you-speak thing. It was… it was really nice of you to arrange for me to come to the concert, and I really liked what you did with your solo. Thank you… for everything."

It wasn't typical for him to take time to process simple statements, but in this case, he seemed to be choosing his own response very carefully. "You are welcome, Zoe," he began, but he must've noticed the dual hints of disappointment and hopefulness on my face, because he added, "I am gratified that you enjoyed the performance. I believe, however, that it is my obligation, now, to advise you to 'get some rest.' I will not expect to see you in class in the morning, but I would not wish you to miss your theory tutorial. Our duet still needs work, and it is not the sort of homework you can 'catch up on' at home."

"No," I agreed, favoring him with a soft smile. "It's really not. Goodnight, Data."

"Goodnight, Zoe."

As he turned away, I saw something else flicker across his face – concern, maybe? Or confusion. He was probably trying to figure out why my mood had been so erratic. I know I was.

(=A=)

Stardate 43936.86

(Thursday, 8 December 2366, 22:53 hours, ship's time)

After Data left, I went to my room to change into pajamas, and then I returned to the living room to get a cup of tea. My mother had left a note on the comm-system: she'd be off duty at midnight.

There were other comm messages, as well, from Dana, Josh, and even Wesley. T'vek, not to be outdone, had left three separate messages, but I wasn't sure I had the energy to listen to all of them. I started with the messages from the boys, which turned out to be short, sweet notes telling me they were sorry for not calling sooner, and were glad that I was feeling better. Wes's message also had a post-script offering me help catching up in math or chemistry, if I needed it.

I listened to the first message from Tev, but he sounded odd on the recording, and the video made him look broody and angry, and it creeped me out a little. Dana, I actually called back, because I hadn't talked to my best friend since the weekend. "Hey, stranger," I greeted her smiling face. "Miss me?"

"Oh, Zoe, you have no idea. I'd forgotten what it was like to be the only girl in Data's math class. Josh was nice for the first day, and then he started getting weird, and T'vek and Wes have been really…surly."

"Surly?" I asked, both amused and delighted by the word. "Really? 'Surly?'" Dana's mother was a writer, and my friend had picked up her mother's eclectic vocabulary. It was one of the reasons we got along so well.

"It's an appropriate description," she said. "T'vek actually came to class wearing black sun-glasses like the ones you have."

I rolled my eyes, "They probably are the ones I have. I haven't been able to find them since we got back from Serenity Five. I thought I'd left them there."

"He stole them?" she was justifiably shocked by the idea.

"No, I probably just left them somewhere and he picked them up." He'd done so before, with books, my padd, a sweatshirt. He often teased me that I should never become a fugitive because my trail of left-behind belongings would lead the cops right to me.

"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense." There was a pause, and her tone softened, "So, how are you, Zoe? Really?"

"Better," I said, just as I had to Commander LaForge earlier that night. "Still kind of 'off,' but no more fever, and my head is mostly clear. I get tired pretty easily though."

"Will you be in class tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "Not 'til Monday. I only got to attend the concert tonight because Wes's mom said I could, and because all I had to do was sit there, and be quiet." I didn't tell her about meeting the ambassador and his wife. "I even skipped the after-party, because I was feeling a little spinny."

"I didn't think T'vek had been invited to that concert," Dana said.

"He wasn't. Data came over to explain, in person, why I couldn't be part of the quartet, and I asked him if I could at least come listen. He invited me to go as his guest, and Mom agreed that he could escort me to and from. He was really nice about it actually. He even made sure I had someone I knew sitting next to me."

"Oh, that's really sweet."

"Yeah," I agreed, smiling mostly to myself. "It kind of was. Except I ruined it by snapping it him."

"You didn't!"

"Oh, no, I did. It was so weird, like I had no control over my tongue. Suddenly I was just really annoyed with him, but then, as soon as I said and I saw his face, all I wanted to do was make him smile."

"Data doesn't smile, Zoe."

"Yes, he does. Not often, and not, you know, big smiles. But I've seen him, sometimes when we're playing music together, or this one time when we were –." I stopped short. I'd been about to tell my friend that Data had smiled when he and I were having tea, but for some reason, I didn't really want to share that information. I wanted that experience just for me. "Anyway, he does smile, and it's very sweet, when it happens."

Her frown was a mixture of sympathy and confusion. "Okay, if you say so, Zoe. Look the annoyance-thing? It's probably just that you're still not feeling perfectly well," she said. "Was he angry? Oh, wait, it's Commander Data, of course he wasn't."

"You underestimate him," I said softly. "I think he feels more than he admits to, but that's a whole other topic, and not one for comm." I faked a yawn, which led to a second, real one. "I should go," I said. "I was tired before I got home. If you have time, stop by after classes tomorrow? Bring Annette if you want."

She smiled at me. "I like that plan. See you tomorrow, Zoe. Feel better."

I really wanted to crawl into bed and go right to sleep after I finished chatting with Dana, but I needed to at least respond to T'vek. I sent a text message: Got your messages. Super tired. Going to bed. Talk tomorrow? Love Zoe.

I'd already changed, so I recycled my empty mug, and want to wash my face and brush my teeth. It wasn't quite midnight, but I went to bed anyway, and as far as I know I was asleep before Mom got home.

(=A=)

Stardate 43937.59

(Friday, 9 December 2366, 05:19 hours, ship's time)

Early – very early - Friday morning, I woke to the sound of our door-chime being activated over and over. My mother, as she often did on the mornings after a late shift, had apparently enabled soundproofing in her bedroom, so I got up and padded to the door, forgetting that I was only wearing a baggy t-shirt and underwear. "Who is it?" I called in a less-than-cheery voice.

"T'vek. Zoe, please let me in."

I asked the computer for the time and learned it was just past five. "Geez, Tev, what are you doing here this early?" I asked him through the still closed door.

"I couldn't sleep. Please, Zoe, I have to see you!"

I'd never seen T'vek act in such a fashion, and I wondered if his odd behavior was related to the surliness Dana had described. I thought about sending him away – I was not in any mood for company – but I was afraid he'd make a scene. "Fine, enter, but keep it quiet because Mom's still sleeping." I squinched my eyes shut. "And so am I, I think."

My boyfriend walked into the room with a swagger that would have been seriously impressive any other time. "You didn't return my calls last night."

"It was late and I was tired," I said. "Still sick, remember?" Boys could be incredibly dense sometimes. "I sent you a note."

"You weren't too sick to go out with Commander Data. You're never too busy when he beckons. I know," he said, "that you spent the night with him last week." He was loud enough that even with soundproofing I was worried my mother would hear.

"Come with me," I said, dragging him to my bedroom. I knew it was a bad idea, but it was better than waking my mom. I waited for the door to close then sat on my bed. I'd read somewhere that you were supposed to stay standing if you wanted to give the illusion of power, but there's something to be said for being comfortable and non-threatening, as well. "I don't know what is wrong with you, Stevek Mairaj," I said, using his full name, "but this new jealousy thing you're doing is really unattractive."

"I'm only jealous because you give me reason to be."

"When? When have I given you reason? When Geordi and Wes called me to go to Data's quarters, I asked if you wanted to come."

"But you spent the night with – "

"First of all, the very notion of that is absurd, Tev. I was with Data for three or four hours that night, that's all. We drank tea and talked about music and art, and then we played darts. My mother even came to meet me in his quarters. And even if I was interested in Data in any way other than as a friend and fellow musician - which I'm not – do you honestly think he'd return the feelings? You know, with those emotions he keeps telling everyone he doesn't have? I'm fifteen years old, T'vek. He's an officer." I hesitated then added, "Try using the head on top of your shoulders instead of the one between your legs for a moment."

T'vek stood in front of me, his jaw working, his fingers curling into tight fists and then uncurling again. His eyes were darker than I'd ever seen them, and when I looked into them, just for a moment, I felt that same old power that I'd felt when meeting Ambassador Sarek the night before. "But you went to the concert with him," he said softly.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I did. As his student. And for the record, I sat with Commander LaForge, barely talked to Data all night, and said no when he invited me to attend the after-party, not that it's any of your business." I wanted to remind him that we'd been making out pretty intensely on this very bed not that long ago. I wanted to remind him (again) that I'd sent him a note. I did neither of those things. Gran had once told me that when you're trying to make a deal, the person who speaks first is the loser. We were dealing for the future of our relationship, and I had no intention of losing. Instead, I channeled her patience, shut my mouth, and waited.

The silence stretched between us like wire, growing tauter and tauter. I closed my eyes for what seemed like fifteen minutes but was probably more like one.

Finally, T'vek spoke. "I'm an ass," he said.

"Sometimes, yeah, you are," I agreed, in as light a tone as I was capable of using.

"I just missed you. I've missed you all week. And when I tried to visit the other night, and I ran into him…"

"Data was on his way here to tell me personally why I couldn't play with the quartet. He gave us half an hour because he suspected I would benefit from your company. I skipped a dose of pain meds while you were here, and by the time he came back my head was throbbing, and I felt like the room was spinning. He only even let me go to the concert as a guest as some kind of consolation prize. It wasn't like it was a date."

Something seemed to pass out of him, at that point. His body relaxed into his more familiar posture and his eyes softened into the dark-but-somehow-glowing color they usually were. "Can I sit?" he asked.

"Sure." I rearranged myself on my bed so I was seated cross-legged, leaning against my pillows, but under the covers. He sat at the foot end of my bed, on top of the covers, his back against the bulkhead wall. "There's really nothing to be jealous of," I said gently.

"Yeah," he said. "I know that. I don't know what's wrong with me. I woke up this morning feeling so angry at you and I didn't know why."

"Does this have anything to do with wearing sunglasses in class the other day?"

"Maybe?" he said. "I'm not sure why I did that either. It seemed like a good idea…"

"Why didn't you tell me you had my sunglasses, anyway?"

His cheeks colored. "I liked that I had something that belongs to you," he admitted.

I laughed softly. "Tev, don't you know? You already have my heart."

"You mean it?"

"You know I do," I said.

"Well… good…. Yeah, that's good. because my parents said I could go with you to your father's wedding." He smiled, then, the wonderful roguish smile I loved so much. "Only two weeks 'til we leave."

"Yeah," I said. "So, how about we try to go that long without fighting?" I added, "I should warn you now, though, Data wants me to keep working on a duet with him. He suggested playing a recital. He'll probably have to coordinate with Seth, but, it will mean extra practice." I waited for an outburst, or even a comment; when I got none, I said, "You could probably come listen to us practice sometimes, if you wanted."

"I probably won't," he said. "I mean, I love you, and I love that music gets you so juiced, but…I think watching you practice would be… distracting."

I smiled. "Distracting, hmm? In a good way?"

"Oh, yes. In a very good way."

"Hold that thought," I said. "I kind of like it, and I kind of love you, but I'm still not completely well, and I really need to rest today, and most of the weekend, so you need to scoot before my mother knows you're here and I need to go to sleep. Come to dinner, maybe, on Saturday night?"

"Deal," he said. He slid off the end of my bed, and came to where I was propped up. "I love you, too, Zoe. I'm never too much of an ass to realize how awesome you are."

"Well," I teased. "Rarely."

"Zoe…"

"Hmm?" I was all innocence.

He leaned over me and kissed me, lingering just long enough to show me how much he meant it. "See you Saturday." He slipped out of my room and out of our quarters, which auto-locked behind him. I've always thought my mother must have known he'd come, but she never said anything, and I never asked.

(=A=)

Stardate 43939.14

(Friday, 9 December 2366, 18:56 hours, ship's time)

I spent the rest of the morning napping, then spent the afternoon with Dana and Annette. Annette explained that she and Wes had talked out their issues, and then, blushing, she confessed, "He's a really good kisser."

Dana and I exchanged looks with each other. "That's nice to know, I guess," Dana said.

"No offense, Annette," I added, "but the thought of kissing Wesley, is sort of like thinking about kissing my brother. You know, if I had one."

She laughed. "That's fine with me. I'm just glad we're moving forward." She added, "He said there'd been weird issues cropping up all over the ship – he got in a fight with Commander LaForge the other day, and his mother slapped him last night."

"I kind of snipped at Data yesterday," I confessed. "And then T'vek came over at oh-dark-thirty this morning all stormy and jealous. I talked him down, but for a few minutes it was kind of scary."

"Scary? Or sexy?" Dana teased.

"Yes," I answered, and then we moved on to other subjects.

After my friends had gone, I went back to bed to read some more, and then I actually looked at my homework from the week. I knew I had extra time, but I also knew the longer I waited to start, the less likely I'd be to actually complete it all before the holidays. Lit, history, and chemistry weren't so bad. Biology was easy, and so was English Composition and Comprehension (which really wasn't English, it was Federation Standard, but since Standard was based on English, the name had stuck), but then I got to the homework for Data's class, and looking at it, I wondered if maybe he had been affected by whatever moodiness was going around.

I checked with my mother to make sure it was okay, and then contacted my tutor via text message, requesting that he comm me when he had a free moment.

His response came in less than half an hour. "Zoe," he greeted. "How are you feeling?"

I was pretty sure the question was out of politeness rather than actual interest, but I answered anyway. "Almost normal," I said. "Well, normal for me."

"That is good to hear," he replied, and then asked, "How may I help you?"

"Are we still scheduled for theory tomorrow?"

"If you are well enough; are you?"

"I will be. I was wondering if we could maybe alter the schedule a little bit?"

"In what way?"

"I was looking at the assignments from your class," I said. "I understand this stuff when you explain it, but when I read it from the text it doesn't make sense. Would you mind walking me through it? If it's not too much of an imposition?"

"It is no imposition," he confirmed. "I will see you at ten hundred hours."

"One more thing?" I began. "Could we maybe meet here, this time? Mom doesn't think I'm really well enough to go traipsing around the ship."

"That would be acceptable."

"Thanks, Data. You're stellar."

"You are welcome, Zoe. Data out."

That accomplished, I returned to my bed again, bringing my padd with me, so I could start working on the composition we'd been asked to write. I was still working when my mother came home from her duty shift. "Hey, kiddo."

"Hey, mom."

"You look like you're feeling pretty well today."

"Yeah," I said. "I am. How 'bout if I order dinner tonight, since you took care of me all week?"

"Nope," she said. "Tonight's still my turn. Unless there's another reason for a sudden burst of helpfulness?"

"Well," I said. "I kind of invited T'vek to join us tomorrow, and I wanted to make sure you were cool with it."

She sat on my bed, and ruffled my already-messy hair. "I am," she said. "Completely cool with it."

"Super," I said, and smiled.

"Dinner in twenty minutes," she told me, getting up. "Any requests?"

"Lobster tails drenched in butter, a Caesar salad, and a baked potato with sour cream and chives?" I suggested.

"Replace the lobster tails with grilled salmon and you have a deal," she said, grinning.

"Oh…if you insist."

She was humming softly when she left my room, and the good mood lasted until I went to bed.

I knew my flu had nothing to do with everyone's moodiness, but it seemed like when I got better, all the interpersonal storm clouds cleared up, as well. Of course, it might also have been that the negotiations with the Legarans had been making all the officers tense, so when they were completed successfully, and Ambassador Sarek and Lady Perrin had gone home, everyone could finally relax.

I shrugged to myself as I thought of all that, then decided the best thing to do was to read some more about wizards and magic and stuff until I fell asleep. As I drifted off, I idly wondered if I could convince the computer to respond to words like lumnos and nox in order to turn the lights in my room on and off. I'd have to ask Data about that. His reaction would be priceless.


Notes: Yes, it's true, Zoe's reading the Harry Potter series. No, that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story, it just seems like a series she and her friends would enjoy. Literature didn't end with Shakespeare or Dickens, after all. I have no idea what, if any, language Federation Standard actually is. For my purposes it's a more unified hybrid of British and American English. But I suppose there's every possibility it's an engineered language like Esperanto. Oh, and yes, this is during the actual "Sarek" episode, but I took a few liberties with the length of the concert. (Revised 4/22/16 for typos, timeline correction, and minor dialogue changes/enhancements.)