Several days later, Data and Tasha arrived at sick bay together. He had asked her to accompany him to hear the test results and she had agreed after asking twice if he was sure. She was fully recovered now, back to her usual springy self, and she matched him step for long-legged step.
Since the abortion, they'd spent more nights together than apart. Tasha had helped him produce the sperm sample that Dr. Crusher requested from him, to their mutual delight. Now all that was left was to wait for her assessment.
He had confessed his nerves to her as they lay in bed together the night before.
"I do not know what I should want, or if I even have the right to want things one way or the other. It seems to me a strange and needless complication to my existence, but somehow I feel drawn to the possibility. I do not know that I would want to have children if I were able, or if it would be right for me to do so, but having the choice presented and then taken from me would be difficult to bear." He lay on his back, his bare white chest peeking from under the sheet. He stared at the ceiling, pensive as he spoke.
Tasha lay on her side, all her limbs curled inward, facing him. "You sound like me," she said, her eyes shining in the dark. He turned to her, confused. She continued, shaking her head as she explained. "Not all humans know right away whether they want children or not. Everyone who considers it asks themselves in one way or another if they're good enough, or if they have the right. It's normal to feel this way." She rubbed his shoulder with her last sentence, reassuring him.
He turned back to looking at the ceiling. "I see," he said, pausing. "It is strange to encounter a choice about myself that my programming does not prepare me for. It is good to know that I am not the only one to struggle with this dilemma."
She eventually slid into a fitful sleep, but he lay awake with his thoughts all night long.
Now she squeezed his hand in the turbolift as the door opened before them. He turned his head slightly, nodding to acknowledge her, but he didn't smile. All his attention was focused on what would come next.
Dr. Crusher met them at the door, quickly ushering the pair into a private room with a wallscreen. Data perched slightly at the edge of the offered seat, leaning forward, already at attention. Tasha slid into the seat next to him, placing a comforting hand on his knee. Dr. Crusher sat facing them.
"I've run several tests and looked at the structure of the DNA in your semen," she said, pressing a button on the console in front of her. The screen on the wall displayed a complex DNA sequence. Data's eyes moved rapidly as he took in the information. "The DNA is human, but it has clearly been modified."
Tasha leaned in, looking back and forth from the screen to Data's face, watching as he took in the information. "How can you tell that it's been modified?" she asked, turning to look at Dr. Crusher.
"Natural DNA is messy, and isn't necessarily optimized to code for the phenotypes we see. Nothing is in any particular order, and you might have a string several million base pairs long that could have been much shorter and still coded for the same phenotype. Data's DNA has a lot of these same human DNA strings, but certain genes are incredibly optimized, particularly the ones that code for appearance traits. For example, eye color. Data's DNA codes specifically for yellow irises. It's an unusual trait in humanoids, but not unheard of. However, if you look at natural humanoid DNA coding for yellow irises, you'll find massive strings in multiple chromosomes that all work in tandem to produce a yellow eye. In Data's DNA, the yellow eye string is in one location on a single chromosome and contains less than 3 percent as many base pairs as any of the other 'yellow iris' codes. Similarly, skin color, hair color, height, and other physical traits that Data possesses are rewritten onto this DNA."
Data's eyes were still flicking back and forth, taking in the information on the screen, but he listened carefully as Dr. Crusher explained. He was seeing the clues that had led her to those conclusions as she spoke. When he finished, he sat back, his mind reeling. Dr. Crusher continued on.
"As you saw, Data, there's nothing in your DNA that would prevent you from fathering a child. I can say without a doubt now that the inviability of the embryo was a natural occurrence, not specifically related to your biology," she said, looking at them both. Tasha smiled at Data, rubbing his forearm supportively. He relaxed visibly, letting his shoulders drop. Dr. Crusher continued. "Obviously this DNA doesn't run your body systems, but any child that you produced would be similar to you physically. It's my guess that Dr. Soong used his own DNA as the base template for yours and edited in your physical traits."
Data considered this, nodding. "Yes, that is a reasonable assumption," he replied.
Tasha was smiling. "Dr. Soong wanted you to be able to have the choice, Data. He didn't program you to prefer one way or the other, but left the decision solely to you!" Data raised his eyebrows, clearly delighted. Dr. Crusher glanced at Tasha and they shared a quick grin.
Tasha's smile faltered after Dr. Crusher looked away. She was happy for Data, incredibly so. However, she didn't know how this revelation would impact their relationship. Things between them had remained undefined, casual. What if Data wanted a family? Her experience with the abortion had only solidified her choice to not have children. If she was at odds with Data, would they have to immediately split? Her thoughts raced and she lost the thread of the discussion between Dr. Crusher and Data.
She looked at Data and thought back to Deanna's advice from a few days before. She would just have to talk to him about it. She took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on the present.
They parted ways after leaving sick bay together. Data was scheduled to help Wesley with recalibration in the sensor room, and Tasha went back to her quarters alone, consumed with her thoughts.
Data and Wesley worked together in companionable silence, speaking only every now and then to share information or ask for assistance. Calibration was a long and laborious process, and making sure every step was completed correctly was vital to the ship's safety. It was their last task before shore leave on the tropical paradise planet Endraglan, and both were completely absorbed in the work.
The door slid open and Commander Riker walked in. He was no sensor specialist. He had only the basic sensor knowledge that all Starfleet graduates learned, but he was a busybody when there was nothing to do. "How can I help?" he asked, swinging his arms up in front of him to clasp his hands together. Data and Wesley smiled at each other knowingly, both aware of his tendency to poke around when he was bored.
"Here," Wesley said, pointing to the empty seat between them. "You can actuate the stabilizing couplers, then we'll finish much faster," he said.
Riker nodded. "Stabilizing couplers," he said to himself as he sat down. He dragged out the words, looking at the wall of blinking modules and thinking back to his Signals and Sensors course at the academy. He quickly caught onto the task. Even though it wasn't his specialty, he was still more than knowledgeable enough to complete the task.
After a few minutes, he had established his rhythm. He smiled at Data and nudged him with his elbow. "Hey. Heard you've got a girlfriend," he said, trying and failing to speak quietly. Wesley's head turned immediately. His mouth opened into a look of shock and delight.
"Data! Really? That's great news! Who is she?" he asked, his voice charged with excitement. If Data could get a girlfriend, there was hope for him yet.
Data stopped his calibration, lowering his arms to the desk. He turned to Riker, looking mildly annoyed. Riker held up his palms, the universal "sorry" gesture, and grinned angelically.
"I do not know if she would consider herself my girlfriend," he said, turning to Wesley. "We spend time together."
Riker raised an eyebrow. He was about to say that's not what he had heard, but thought better of it. He wished he could send Wesley away to another room so he could grill Data for details in private, but the calibration was vital. He was surprised to hear that their relationship was still on a casual basis.
Wesley beat him to the punch. "Do you want her to be your girlfriend, Data?" he asked, his expression confused. Riker leaned back, beaming at Wesley for asking.
Data looked from Riker's face back to Wesley before answering. "Yes, I do."
"So why don't you just ask her?" Wesley responded. Riker looked at Wesley, his grin growing.
"My thoughts exactly, Data," he said, swiveling his chair around to face the android. Both humans were looking at him expectantly.
"Perhaps I will," he said, then pointedly turned away from both of them and began working on his sector again.
Later, when the work was complete, Data invited Tasha to his quarters. She sat heavily on his couch, sighing and trying to think of the best way to begin the conversation. Data, picking up on her body language, sat across from her, concerned. "Is there something wrong?" he asked her, frowning. This is not how he had expected the conversation to begin. She gritted her teeth, feeling a rush of guilt. This should have been a celebratory moment for him. She was happy for him, over the moon, but she couldn't bear to be stuck wondering.
"Data," she started, leaning back and away from him, trying to calm herself. "What are we?" She immediately grimaced for phrasing her question so poorly, but better words wouldn't come to her.
Data blinked, palms down on the tops of his thighs. He sat up straighter, frowning. "What do you mean? We are a human and an android," he answered, fully aware that his response had little to do with the question she had asked, but unable to do any better. Her question was indecipherable.
"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I'm trying my best, but this is… difficult for me. I mean, what is our relationship? What do you want from being with me?" she clarified, still struggling to make her meaning clear. She felt as though she was humiliating herself. She'd had more than her fair share of flings, one night affairs, and casual hookups, but she'd never had to define a relationship before. It had never felt necessary, or like something she wanted. She knew she would receive no judgment from Data, but that didn't stop her from sounding like a fool in her own mind.
Data was still perplexed. "I want to spend time with you. To get to know you better. Is that not what you want?" he asked, trying to make sense of her questions.
"Yes, that's what I want too, Data," she said, finally relaxing enough to smile. "I just… today, with Dr. Crusher…" she trailed off, looking away, her smile fading. Data leaned forward, prompting her to continue. She met his eyes. "I know that I'm never going to want children. The abortion only strengthened my decision. I don't want to hold you back if that's something you want," she said. Now that she had finally made it to the point, the words gushed out of her. She was relieved when she had finished talking.
Data lifted his chin slightly, considering her words. "You would break up with me and allow me to pursue fatherhood with someone else?" he asked, his expression neutral. Tasha's chest tightened. She clenched her fists on top of her thighs, but she nodded.
"Yes, of course I would," she answered honestly. "Data, I… I've never been so close to another person. I only want you to be happy. If being with me would keep you from happiness, I couldn't bear it." She couldn't look at him now.
Data took a few moments before responding. Now it was his turn to be coy. He had explained to her before, briefly, that emotions like happiness were out of his grasp, but this conversation seemed an inappropriate time to revisit the idea. Perhaps the feeling he had when they were together was happiness. He certainly preferred her company over anyone else's, but he had no benchmark to compare against.
He thought of the human children he had met in his twenty-five years. Most of them were learning how to be human, just like him. He was in no position to be in charge of the upbringing of a child, and he wasn't sure he even wanted to be.
He looked at Tasha, his expression dead serious. He saw her jaw set as if in anticipation of a blow. He wanted her to be happy, and to be near that happiness. Perhaps his mind would change in the future, but right now he couldn't imagine ever wanting anything other than her. He reached for her hands and held them. They were cold, not quite trembling, but definitely unsteady.
He met her gaze. "I am pleased that I am capable of reproduction, but I do not think I will choose to pursue it. To tell the truth, I am relieved that you feel the same. I do not wish to be parted from you for any reason," he said. He stood and crossed the divide between them, sitting next to her. She fell into his arms and they kissed, holding each other close.
"Oh, Data…" she said. "I only want to be with you."