You know who I am. No introductions necessary.

And you know who I am. That saves time, I guess.

Heh. Time is of the essence. So they say. At least, it used to be for me.

Not now. Not any more. We've got the rest of my life. But we need to sort things out now. Learn to live together.

No. You're the one who gets to live. I'm along for the ride.

Whether I like it or not. I'm not sure if I do. You know how I feel about that.

Nobody knows better. And vice versa.

What do we have to discuss? You can see into my head, and I can see into yours. It's all open. Everything.

So to speak. But there's still a lot that needs to be said. There's a lot that we have to work out.

I suppose there would be no point in apologizing to you.

For what?

Getting us into this damn mess in the first place.

As much as I'd like to think that you should apologize, I don't. I'd have done the same thing. You couldn't have known that that polaric field would hit us like a ton of bricks.

Still...it was too damn risky. Should have made sure we did the test in clear space.

Yeah. More fool you for not thinking of every little thing that could have gone wrong.

Heh. Right. That makes two fools in one head.

Now, that part is your fault.

Which? The fools or the overcrowding?

The fools. You made me what I was.

Wish I could've given you a better starting point.

I managed. My preparation for this was absolute crap, but I picked it up from you as I went.

Glad I could help.

Me too. 'S okay. Not like you'd ever expected this to happen.

I'm sorry.

For which part now? Not the accident.

For...for making you give up so much.

It wasn't your decision.

No, but I was the cause.

So much of what, anyway? None of it was mine. Not really.

Some of it was. Playing with Porthos, learning to read with Hoshi, flying Jon's plane. That was all yours. I hadn't done any of that, except the playing with Porthos part.

Me, as you. A stand-in, a place-keeper. An echo of the real thing. Just for a little while.

You made that life, those things, so they were yours. It's not as if they should have been mine. I wasn't there. Wish I could have been.

All yours now. Yours and mine. Oh, and don't forget the really fun parts. Jon pulling back the curtain in Sickbay, and suddenly everything showing itself to me clear as day. Arguing with him, saying anything I could think of, trying to convince him that keeping me was better than keeping you. Losing the battle with Phlox. Everybody walking on eggshells around me. Not knowing what was mine and what was yours. You know the rest.

Heh. You're bitter, then.

Yeah. And a little dazed from it all, I guess.

Can't say that I blame you.

The worst part of it...

Go ahead.

The worst part of it was after the Captain explained to me what that orange stuff was sticking to the ship. You never got to see that, did you?

No, never. It was completely gone by the time I woke up. I saw the pictures in the logs though.

It was dark and dismal, like a thunderstorm. Every time I looked out a window, there was more and more of it, and the more there was, the closer I was to death. It was like being slowly walled up in your own tomb alive, brick by brick. Orange death coming at me, at all of us, no matter where I looked. Heh…very Poe. And after the ship was free, after Phlox and the Captain turned me down, I still knew that no matter what, I wouldn't make it out alive. Yeah. That was the most fun.

Yeah.

I thought I was OK up until the end. Turns out I wasn't. But I'll get over it. Time will help. We Tuckers always bounce back, right?

Your memories hurt like hell sometimes. Hope that makes you feel a little better.

Somewhat. Ultimately, it's not in my interests to put you through my hell, but my excuse for now is that you really deserve to know what happened. And, since you have to share yours with me now, I figure I should return the favor. That's real.

Thanks. I mean it.

I know. Watch out, though.

For what?

Jon and Phlox.

What? What now?

No. Not like that. The ones in my memories. They were doing what they thought was right. I knew that, but I couldn't really understand it enough to make sense of things at the time. I really hated them sometimes, but I'm not sure if I should have. I'm still working on that one. You have to do your best to keep that in mind.

Damn good of you to be able to see it that way. I don't know if I could.

I do. For the obvious reasons.

Yeah. I guess you would.

You should have seen them. Phlox was a great dad. I guess he's had a lot of practice.

Three kids, I think.

Yep. He treated me like one of his own. I loved him for that. You'll like those memories.

What about Jon?

...He was the Captain to me. Even up to the end, because by the time I started remembering that you and he were friends, I knew that it could never be that way for him and me. You're not going to like those memories as much.

I think I know why, but tell me anyway.

Even when I was little, I knew that something was wrong. I could tell it from the look in his eyes, the way he looked at me as if he was seeing a ghost. After he told me what was going on, he dealt with me straight. That was hard. See, I felt like you, like he had been my big brother for over ten years, and here he was telling me that he would kill me to save a guy whose life I'd taken, whose desk I'd messed with...who was much more able to save the world than I'd ever be.

Ah.

Yeah.

That explains the uniform.

What do you mean?

I know what you know, remember? He saw you…

He saw me as a thing. I guess he had to. I existed to save you, and nothing else. He wouldn't have to be a murderer. He wasn't.

And so, the plain gray jumpsuit.

I couldn't be you.

No. You were you, not me. I had to win that fight to give you that.

Thank you.

Was it right?

Huh?

...What they did to you.

Heh. Well, I don't see you complaining.

Damn you. That's not what I meant.

I know. Sorry. I can't make that call. Neither of us can.

You lost too much.

You lost, too.

Just a few days. Almost my life. You went the whole hog.

I don't really know what I lost. Maybe just those little bits, a few days. The rest was all yours. Only after could I figure out what's me and what's you. And it's mostly you.

Clear as mud, then.

Yeah.

Well, now you know. And like it or not, the rest of my life, we're sharing it all.

Being there. The next best thing to being there.

You're a smartass, by the way.

Yeah. Something else to watch out for. But that's your fault, too.

We don't know if you would have been able to live a normal life anyway. Phlox doesn't think so, but nobody's really sure if it would have worked.

Yeah. I argued so hard for that. I wanted to live so much. But that's done now.

Do I have to tell you how sorry I am again?

I don't think so, since I'm not going to let you take the blame in the first place.

I'd like to resolve that. We can't go on like this.

That's fair. Me too. I think I know you well enough to know you wouldn't have wanted this.

You're right. And whether I would have is moot now anyway.

So, don't think I blame you. That wouldn't be logical.

You sound like T'Pol.

Damn Vulcans. Intruding on conversations that have nothing to do with them.

That seems to happen a lot.

Like we should talk. You know what I'm talking about. The first time you gave her pecan pie...

I remember. I'm glad she stayed.

Me too. She was the only one who treated me like...me, not like you or like a thing.

So, are we OK?

Yeah, we're good.

Can we shake on that?

Heh. Sounds good to me. If you shake your own hand I'm gonna smack you.

Uh...can you actually do that?

Well, no...the worst I can do is give you one helluva headache.

OK. I'll behave.

Me too.