Chapter 18: The Crystal

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. This is for fun. Enjoy and stay ethical.

Fenix finished her last day of studying with Data as she walked back to her room. Her mind preoccupied by tomorrow's practical exams. She reached the room and got some tea while she waited for Lore. She sat on the bed, staring into nothing while her mind ran a million miles per hour. She sprawled out on the bed and stared at the ceiling; she didn't notice Lore entering the room. "Fenix?" He asked. "Oh, Lore. Hey..." She greeted. "What's wrong? You seem distracted." He asked as he sat on the bed next to her. "Tomorrow's the day I do my practical exams and I'm worried. Data reassured me I'll pass with flying colours, and I know he's not the type to lie to me just to calm me down. It's just, it's been intense this week. SO much information for my brain to soak up. I know logically, it's useless to worry but emotions are never logical, are they?" She ranted. "I understand your conflict very well, but Data's right. It wouldn't make sense for you not to pass. But I could say anything to ease your worries but none of it will actually do anything." He stated. Then he ordered, "Sit up, and face that way." She did as she was told with a scowl. She sat hunched facing away from Lore. He reached for her hair brush and began brushing her hair. She eyes closed instantly upon feeling a tingling sensation. "Lore, that feels really good." she softly thanked him. "I know you enjoyed hair play, and how relaxed you became when I did this back home when I cut your hair. Just relax." he ordered.

After a while, he used his long fingers instead of the brush. He massaged her scalp, and played with her hair for about an hour. She turned around to face Lore and hugged him as he embraced her back; holding her in his arms. "Lore. I never thought I'd ever fall in love, hell, or even be attracted to anyone. I thought there was something really wrong with me. Turns out, I just didn't meet the right person. It feels like... I was born to love you, and maybe that's why I was put in the future." She spoke softly, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He closed his eyes feeling that tug in his chest and poured his heart out, "Then my life has meaning; I was constructed for you, Fenix." He massaged her head as he held her in embrace. She slowly pulled back and kissed him tenderly. He leaned back into the bed, with her on top of him at first, he then rolled her to be on top of her.

Lore kept kissing Fenix, wanting her to stop thinking about tomorrow's exams and of Data, he knew she will be acing them. The last thing she needed was to obsess over something she's good at, it will only make it more detrimental to her in the long run. She felt his hardened manhood pressing up against her thigh and pulled away from his kiss to blurted, "I'm sorry, Lore. I'm too chicken shit to go further than topless make-outs and you jerking me off. I promise to do more, eventually. I just can't... yet." Lore smiled at her innocence and stated, "I don't have hormones or procreational needs that interfere with my desires. I love you; I feel pleasure, I want you to feel pleasure with me, the intimacy we share is sacred. I want to make love to you because it's the highest form of physical connection between people and I bet it would feel incredible. You would be my first, only and last person I want to share that with... Don't worry about pleasuring me, I get plenty from what we've been doing. I sometimes get carried away because I know I could do so... much... more." and resumed kissing her senseless. Her mind was spinning with pleasure from feeling connected to Lore.

"This is captain Picard. Commander Data, Lore and Fenix to the bridge immediately!" Lore growled in annoyance, stopped kissing Fenix and both jumped off the bed and headed straight for the bridge. Data joined them on their way there. All of them wondering what's going on. When they reached the bridge, the three of them saw the crystalline entity. Fenix and Lore simultaneously both blurted, "Oh shit..." She squeezed Lore's hand, urging him not to communicate with it, no matter what. "Code red, raise shields! Lore! Fenix! If you know ANYTHING more about the crystal, now would be the most opportune moment!" Piccard ordered. Fenix looked intently at the crystal; Lore noticed how she stared at it as if in a trance. Then she spoke, "Captain, we need to lower the shields. It wants to scan me. Just me." "What!? Preposterous! We'll be completely defenceless!" He raised his concern. "I can hear it... It won't harm us. I give you my word. But you need to lower the shields now or it will tear this ship apart." Fenix monotonously answered. Lore's eyes widened, surprised as he stared at her. Picard was torn as what to do, but he had no other choice at this point, "Lower the shields." Everyone looked at him in disbelief but did as they were told without question. As soon as the shields lowered, a beam of light shone through the glass and onto Fenix. She stood still; trance-like. Once the crystal entity was finished, it drifted away disappearing into darkness.

The bridge became eerie silent. Data and Lore stared at Fenix as they tried to assess what had happened and why she was able to understand the crystal entity. Captain Picard asked in a quiet voice, "Fenix... how?" She held onto Lore's hand tightly, knowing her answer wouldn't suffice but she answered regardless, "I don't know how I could understand it. It was like it was talking directly into my mind. And not in any words, it was more of a feeling. I swear, I don't know anything about the crystal, this was just weird. Captain, may I return to my quarters with Lore since I have nothing else to contribute. This whole thing totally wigged me out." Picard sighed and complied, "Yes... I suppose you may." Fenix thanked the captain and swiftly walked out of the bridge with Lore. Counsellor Troi added, "She was telling the truth. She was just as shocked as we were if not more." Data spoke up, "Dr. Crusher confirmed that she is human with unexplainable strength, speed and hyper-accelerated regeneration. What if our technologies are not able to comprehend what she might really be? If she is something else, I believe she does not know it herself either." Picard understood what Data was implying, "I see what you mean, Mr. Data. But she IS as far as we know, human. And we shall treat her as such. The last thing she needs is having more experiments done on her. The injustice she endured sickens me knowing that the federation was responsible for such vile acts." Data reassured, "I will not stand for her to be experimented on either, it is a challenge to be different from everyone else as it is. And difference sometimes scares people. I understand that very well."

Lore and Fenix made it back to their room. She was feeling unease and confusion as she spoke, "Lore... what am I?" He looked at her with kindness in his eyes as he answered, "You're human..." Fenix sighed knowing that this question was going to be unanswered, "My entire life, I've been labelled as 'human'. Last time I checked; my abilities don't fit under the category of 'human'. I've been experimented on countless times, that's when I learned how immortal I was. It was agony every step of the way. They found nothing... 'human'. Conclusion was always 'human'. What human can keep regenerating entire limbs!? Or communicate with the crystalline entity!?" Tears welled in her eyes as she expressed her frustration. Lore saw aguish fill her purple eyes and tried to answer, "I'm able to communicate with the crystal, but not like you. And I KNOW you're not an android. You can rule that out. Besides, it shouldn't matter what you are." She let her tears fall down her cheeks, feeling frustrated. Lore pulled her into an embrace and she calmed herself before speaking, "This whole episode just... it's a reminder how much I don't fit in anywhere. I don't fit in with humanoids... but I'm not perfect as an android... I hate feeling like this... Feeling so lost especially when people look at me like I'm a freak. I guess I kind of am... but I just feel like such an outcast." Lore held her tight, reassuring her she has his full support. "Fenix, I've told you this before and I'll say it again, it doesn't matter to me what you are. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I love you, always have and always will. For now, you're an extraordinary human. And... I don't really fit in anywhere either. I have your back and I know Data does, too. Why do you want to be labelled? You hate labels." She pulled back and wiped her tears away as she spoke, "You're right, doesn't matter what I am. I've always been an outcast outsmarting everyone anyways. You got the whole, badass-drummer-mandroid thing going on and you're totally bangin'. I should rock this, superhuman-metalhead-guitarist thing... Might as well own it, right?" She gave Lore a smile and continued, "Well, that took my mind off of tomorrow's exams... Now I think I want to go to 10-forward and get shit-faced." Lore chuckled and confirmed, "You've always had done as you pleased since I met you, you're usually more headstrong. You need to become yourself; Fenix, that would challenge me without fear." She answered, "Yup, you're right. I'm a bit of a firecracker at times I suppose. Anyways, I really think anyone who's immortal should be allowed to drink at any age, I've been drinking since I was nine." They laughed and left for 10-forward.

"Oh, hell yeah! I didn't know it was karaoke night! That's dope!" Fenix's feeling better as the night went on. Guinan pretended she had no idea what Lore and Fenix were up to. She knew Fenix was immortal and knew how living a long time can affect someone. For the time being, Guinan wanted Fenix to enjoy being a kid since she had a long road ahead... at least she had someone with her to join her never-ending journey. If that meant letting Lore buy a copious amount of alcohol for Fenix to drink her problems away to have fun, so be it. She'll learn to cope better as the time goes to experience life.

A few hours later, the pair started wind down with Fenix ordering a bowl of sticky rice and some green tea. Lore stated, "I see you got the 'drunk munch'. Whenever you get drunk, you crave that combo." Fenix answered, "Well, whenever dad let me drink, I'd have rice and tea because my mom's Japanese and she always had rice on hand. My dad's not Japanese, he's Irish... heavy-duty mechanic. He played guitar, I got along with him but I couldn't get along with mom... strict Asian mom, ya know? I was never good enough. 'Why can't you do anything right? Why do you act like a boy? Why must you take after your father? Stop cussing like a mechanic! If you keep this up, I'll disown you! You are a disgrace to the family'." She mocked. "Bitch..." She cussed under her breath. Oh, Fenix... my troubled, tragic Fenix. If I could take away all your pain, I would do it in a heartbeat. Lore thought back to his counselling session with Deanna before speaking, "I think your mother had high expectations from you since she knew you were extremely intelligent. She didn't know how to raise a feisty genius. If you weren't extraordinary, she would've had an easier time, but you're not average. You're so much more. Whatever her reasoning, you can't control her actions, just your own." She looked at Lore while resting her head on her arms and thought about what he had just said. "You're right. The only thing I can do is deal with it. I couldn't control how she acts but I could control how I take things. I can't keep pushing this on the back burner. Do you know why I like drinking? Or why I created Celestial Snow...? I liked drugs. I enjoyed drugs because they made me feel good even for like five minutes. Whether it was 'I'm a freak of nature' or 'I'm the family disappointment'... at least drugs and alcohol would momentarily give me temporary solace. But that's exactly what it is... it's temporary and those emotions come back to haunt you ten-fold. I need to grow the fuck up and deal with shit like an adult." Lore tucked a stray hair away from her face behind her delicate ear as he listened. "Lore, seeing you improve and move on with your issues has been a very important life lesson for me. I need to do the same. I still like alcohol; I love how it tastes, I'm still gonna drink, I'll just need to learn to cope with my turmoil. I have to admit, the medicated state of mind is overrated anyways, you're not missing out on anything. Thank you for making me realize that." she sincerely thanked as she touched his hand. Lore smiled and deviously replied, "You know, if you wanted to feel good, I could always make you... feel... good." as he quirked an eyebrow suggestively. Before she could retort, he pulled her in for a 'feel good' kiss. She finished the kiss and retorted, "Yeah, that's exactly what I need; get addicted to sex. 'Drugs? No thanks, I like the natural high I get from having an orgasm' Right..." She rolled her eyes as she joked. Then Lore remarked cheekily, "Can't be a sex addict when you're still a virgin, my dear." and winked at her, it was her turn for their cheeky banter, "Lore... Smooth as peanut butter." and both laughed.