The Drop-In

Stardate 46199.99

(Friday, 14 March 2369, 23:59 hours, ship's time)

U.S.S. Enterprise

"Okay, Amanda, truth time: how'd you like your first social event on the Enterprise?" I asked the exchange student who had arrived a few days earlier for an exploratory internship before starting Starfleet Academy in the fall.

The blonde girl – why were all my female friends blonde, anyway? – offered a bright smile. "I wasn't expecting board games to be so popular. I mean, you're surrounded by some of the most cutting-edge technology in the Federation." She hesitated for a beat then tacked on, "Not that Flight Pass isn't one of my favorites."

"Couldn't tell by the way you trounced us all," I said amiably. "It's good for the boys to lose from time to time. Keeps them humble."

"And the girls?"

"Well, we're always full of dignity and grace. Can't you tell?"

We both laughed.

"So, you don't ever have access to the more… contemporary… features of the ship?"

"Oh, no. We do. There was one time a few years ago, where we actually managed to wrangle use of the astrometrics lab to play zero-gravity laser tag, and you should ask Josh about the time he got busted for hacking a training simulation holo-program so we could play Battleship with 'real' starships."

"You're kidding!" Amanda's face telegraphed her disbelief.

I gave her my best would-I-lie expression. "You met the boy. What do you think?" Her grin and nod were all the answer I needed. "Most of us have alternative education plans for at least part of our studies, as well." I continued. "Sort of like what you're doing with Dr. Crusher? Josh is working with the engineering crew instead of doing regular physics. Dana's biology class has her doing work in hydroponics…"

"And you, Zoe?"

"Oh, me… I'm finishing a biology credit in the aquatics lab," I said after a pause that was just a little too long. "And I'm working with the Protocol and JAG officers on the ship in lieu of my last semester of high school." We entered the turbo-lift and I requested Deck Eight, while she asked for Deck Eleven.

"And you live with Commander Data, right? Is he your sponsor or your guardian?"

I stared at her, confused. Had she really not been told about me and the ship's second officer? "Neither," I said. "we're…" but I faltered, not sure how to label my relationship with Data for someone who wasn't quite part of the Enterprise family. Saying we were lovers seemed tacky. Calling him my partner felt pretentious, even if it was accurate, and while we used words like 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' between ourselves, those terms were beginning to feel too limited, at least to me.

"She's trying to find a polite way to tell you that she and the android are living in delicious sin," came a voice that was both smarmy and vaguely familiar. In a sort of reverse Cheshire Cat effect, a body formed around the last echo of the words.

A body dressed in an admiral's uniform.

"You!" I breathed, staring at the rather unconventional drop-in.

"Close," he said. "But wrong letter. It's Q, actually."

"Q?" Amanda asked. "Q who?"

"Q him," I said. "And he's not someone you should get to know."

"Who, me?" His eyes were dancing. I knew he was playing with us.

"Yes, Q. You. I've heard the stories."

"Now, now," he admonished me, going so far as to wag a finger in my face. "Do you believe everything you hear?" He lowered his voice, asking almost seductively, "Have I ever actually harmed you?"

"Well, no. But you did 'vanish' the entire senior staff of the ship the last time you were here."

"Did I?" he asked. "Oh, yes! I did! I wanted those dullards who run this ship to take themselves a little less seriously."

Data had told me what had really gone on in Q's version of Sherwood Forest, and I'd heard more of the details from Counselor Troi and Doctor Crusher since then. "I think you just wanted to see Captain Picard in tights."

I expected him to glower or loom or something else that beings like him generally did when interacting with people they consider to be beneath them. Instead, he clapped his hands together in childlike glee. "Too right!"

Q seemed about to say something else, but there were no words, only his eyes locked on mine, and suddenly I could feel him, sense him, a dark, roiling power that tickled the edges of my perception. It reminded me of the way the kids in an ancient horror novel had described meeting the multidimensional creature they just called It, except there was no malevolence, just… energy. Energy that seemed constrained by the most fragile of forces.

I should have been terrified, but he was just so irritating, I forgot to feel fear.

The power was gone in an instant, and he became a study in artless ease "So you're the girl who's captured the tin man's heart. Didn't know Mr. Data had it in him. You might be worthy of my attention after all… Zuey, isn't it?"

"It's Zoe," I corrected.

"Mmm. So it is." The turbo-lift came to a halt at bridge level, having completely bypassed either of the decks Amanda and I had requested. "Here's my stop. Do send my regards to your digital darling." He paused, then turned his focus to my companion, who had been silently watching our entire exchange. "I believe I'll be seeing you later."

And then he was gone in a flash of blue light, and the turbo-lift doors hadn't even opened.

"Who was – what was – that?"

"That was Q," I said, unhelpfully.

"That much, I got. But… he knew you."

"We met once, briefly. He's some super-powerful alien, or something… I've never been entirely clear on what, or where he's from. Only that he has a 'thing' for this ship, in general, and Captain Picard, specifically." I shared the sum of my paltry knowledge about the so-not-an-Admiral.

"Maybe I should ask Dr. Crusher," Amanda murmured.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Probably a good idea." I told the computer to return to our original destinations, but since we were now going up instead of down, my stop would come first.

"Zoe?" Amanda asked just as the doors were opening on my deck. "Why do you think he wants to see me?"

I shrugged. "No idea. But if you're worried tell Commander Riker or Dr. Crusher. They won't let anything happen to you." I took a beat and lightened my tone. "I hope you come hang out with us again some time. The people on this ship are, for the most part, pretty cool, but even super-geniuses like you can use friends your own age."

She laughed, as I'd hoped she would. "I'm not all that," she protested. "Mostly, science just comes easily for me."

I had the feeling there was more to what she said than I was really hearing, but it was late, and Q's little visit had thrown me for a bit of a loop. I stepped out of the 'lift and was on my way home before the doors slid shut behind me.

Spot came to greet me when I entered the quarters I'd shared with Data for nearly a year, her meows a piteous sound in the dim space. "Where's Daddy?" I asked her. Referring to my partner as the cat's 'father' was something I did partly to tease him, but he really did dote on the creature.

Meeeeooooowwww, came Spot's oh-so-helpful reply.

"Yes, I know he's not here," I said. I knew we weren't really having a conversation, but she liked to hear our voices, and speaking out loud made the space feel less lonely. The cat jumped onto Data's console, where I saw a message indicator flickering on the monitor. I sat in my boyfriend's chair and activated the playback.

- Zoe, I have been called to the bridge, but I should be home by zero-two-hundred hours. Be advised, Q is aboard-ship; please be cautious.

I laughed at the earnest warning I'd been given. "Way ahead of you, my love," I muttered to his image on the screen. I deleted the message, refilled Spot's water dish, and moved into the bedroom to change for bed. I wasn't tired enough to sleep, but I wasn't in the mood for a video, either. Instead, I read until Data returned on the dot of two.

"Hi, honey; you're home!" I called one of his favorite lines from the bedroom when I heard the door open and close.

"Zoe, you are awake!" It always amused me when he was surprised by my nocturnal tendencies. He came directly to the bedroom, bent to kiss me, then began shedding his uniform while we talked. "You know I do not expect you to 'wait up' for me."

"Wasn't tired," I explained. "Book was good. How did Q know you and I were a couple?" I asked the question with as much nonchalance as I could muster.

His fingers froze at the fastening to his trousers. "You had an encounter with Q?"

"He hijacked the turbo-lift when Amanda and I were on our way home; she's really nice, by the way. Bright, like Wes, but not as socially awkward." I wasn't generally given to appraising my friends, but I knew that Amanda was being evaluated for the Academy, even as she was evaluating Starfleet. "Anyway, he said to send his regards to my 'digital darling' – that's you, of course – and mentioned that he'd see Amanda later."

"'Digital darling?' Hmh." Trust him to fixate on the wrong piece of information.

"I think he likes alliteration," I offered. "Do you know why he'd be interested in Amanda?"

If I hadn't been looking for a reaction, I wouldn't have noticed the faint alteration to my boyfriend's features. In that split-second, I realized that he'd chosen to respond to the self-described omnipotent being's nickname as a deflection, and that he knew why Amanda had caught said being's interest. He was, I surmised, trying to determine what, if anything, he could tell me.

Shirtless, with his pants still on, but unfastened, Data sat on the side of the bed. As he removed his boots and socks, he said, "This is not technically classified information, but I must ask that you keep it between us."

I set my padd aside. "I promise I won't breathe a word of it," I said.

"Very good." The crisp phrase was one he typically used when he was in what I referred to as 'officer mode,' and I had to work to hide my grin: I thought he was hot when he spoke that way. "Q's interest in Amanda Rogers is due to the fact that she is also a member of the Q Continuum."

I goggled at him. "You're kidding."

"Zoe." His tone was reproachful. "You know that I am not."

"I know," I said. "I'm sorry. Wait. She's a Q? Does she have powers, like actual-Q? Does she know she's a Q? Is she here on their behalf?"

"As far as I am aware," Data answered calmly, "she may have powers, but likely does not have great control over them. As well, she apparently believes herself to be an 'ordinary' young woman."

"Hmm." My version of the non-verbal sound would never be as adorable as his. "Well, it's good that she's here, then."

"May I ask why you say that?"

"Because," I explained. "The people on this ship know how to handle Q, which is good, but they're also incredibly well-versed at making people who are alone in the world feel like part of a family."

"I had not considered the latter point," Data admitted. "It would seem that Amanda is lucky that you have befriended her."

I shrugged. "That's not luck; it's just life. Lucky is what I am, to have you in my life."

"As I am, to have you, Zoe," he responded. He stood up again, to remove the rest of his clothing, and I was struck - not for the first time – at how attractive he was: the long lines of his arms and legs, the chest that I couldn't ever get enough of, certain other assets that I was privileged to be the only person to see - I really was lucky. "Is something wrong?" he asked, apparently misinterpreting my acute attention.

I shook my head. "Not a thing. I just…" I blushed. "I just like to look at you," I admitted.

I half expected him to begin his next sentence with "Ah!" and some observation about human sexuality. He surprised me by simply tilting his head slightly, and letting the rare real smile appear at the corners of his mouth. "I also enjoy looking at you, Zoe," he told me. "However, I prefer to touch you whenever possible." He slid into bed next to me, and tweaked a strand of my hair, whispering into my ear. "Touching you is best accomplished when you are not covered by one of my t-shirts."

I laughed and pulled his ancient (and unworn until I'd claimed it) Starfleet Academy tee over my head, tossing it to the floor. I'd likely find Spot curled up on it in the morning, but I didn't mind. Data extinguished the lights, and I turned on my side, facing him. Despite the lateness of the hour, our lovemaking was unhurried, beginning with slow kisses and teasing caresses and ending with me collapsing on top of him in a sweaty and satisfied heap.

(=A=)

Stardate 46201.79

(Saturday, 15 March 2369, 15:43 hours, ship's time)

Ever since the soothsayer in Shakespeare's play warned Caesar to "beware the ides of March," that day has been somewhat tainted. Okay, out in space we primarily used stardates to track time, but the Enterprise was Starfleet's flagship, and as such, we had closer ties to Earth's calendar than a colony world of mostly Vulcanoid people, say, or the population of Tagra IV, where we had been in orbit for several days while the science-y types were trying to solve an ecological disaster.

That particular March 15th was already bad enough. The Tagrans had created so much air pollution that even Earth at the worst part of the twenty-first century had never had air quite so brown or chunky, and Geordi, Data, and the rest of the team were pulling their collective hair out trying to fix the fancy generator that helped scrub the atmosphere, reverse the effects, and create a solution for the future. Then there was Q, self-proclaimed omnipotent being, who was on board to scrutinize and possibly recruit a student intern.

The box that was waiting on our dining table when I came home from a late lunch with Data and Geordi (a much-needed glimpse of each other for my partner for me, a much-needed break in work for our friend) was only the last element needed to make the day truly dark.

As boxes go, it wasn't particularly ominous. It wasn't particularly large, and it didn't rattle or tick. Actually, it was gift-wrapped in gold tissue and tied with a black ribbon, and there was a white card with my name written on it in strong, angular writing. A casual observer might have mistaken the handwriting for Data's, but I knew my lover was left-handed. This script was written by someone right-handed.

It was the same handwriting, the same kind of paper, that had been tucked into the box with the pigeon that had arrived for my birthday, which meant it could only have come from one person.

"Lore." The name slipped past my lips without my willing it, and I shivered. Was Lore on the ship? Had he been in our quarters? Was I supposed to leave, or call security or…?

My hand went to the comm-badge I'd resigned myself to wearing, and I contacted the one person I was certain would know what to do. "Zoe Harris to Lt. Commander Data," I said after the chirp that told me a channel was open.

It seemed to take forever for him to respond.

This is Data. Zoe, what is wrong?

Trust him to recognize that something was amiss, just from the fact of my calling. "I seem to have received a gift… at least, it's gift-wrapped. I'm pretty sure it's from…" I hesitated, not sure if I should speak his name over an open channel.

- Zoe?

"I'm pretty sure it's from Lore," I said quickly. "And I don't know if I should open it, or wait for you to be here after your shift, or call security or…"

Data cut me off with a simple statement.

I am on my way.

Then he closed the channel.

I didn't know what to do while I waited. Standing there staring at the thing seemed pointless but letting it out of my sight seemed stupid. And then… what if it wasn't from Lore? What if it was something else, and the handwriting was just similar.

But I didn't think it was that innocuous.

I had a gut feeling.

By the time Data came through our door, I'd retreated to the couch, huddled into my usual corner, holding a weirdly compliant Spot.

"Zoe…" My name was his only greeting, and then he turned toward the box on our table, running a tricorder over it, and finding nothing amiss. Or at least, nothing that I could discern.

"The handwriting matches that on the note from your birthday," he said. "But I cannot detect anything overtly dangerous about the box itself." I didn't question his assessment; I knew his memory was perfect, and that where I was concerned his focus was generally even sharper than usual. If Data said the handwriting matched, it did.

"So… we open it?"

"I do not believe we have another option," he said, with as much empathy as he was capable of expressing.

"I was afraid you'd say that."

Data plucked the package from the table and came to sit with me, sitting as close as he could. Reaching for me with his free hand, he gripped my shoulder lightly. "Do you wish to open it yourself, or would you prefer that I do?"

I hesitated. Part of me wanted him to do it, wanted him to face whatever was inside before I would have to, and shield me from whatever Lore had planned, and I came close to letting him. After a long moment of quiet, though, I held out my hand for the box. "I'll do it."

He didn't say anything, but I got the distinct impression he was pleased with my decision, that he was proud of me. He gave me the box, and I took a deep breath, then slid the ribbon away. While I normally ripped tissue to shreds, this time I peeled it away carefully, assuming Data would want to keep it. Inside was a black box, but not the kind that was used for jewelry or anything like that. Just a box that happened to be black.

Gingerly, I lifted the lid, and found another note written in the same script. "Sorry I missed our anniversary, Pigeon. I hope this pleases you."

"The only thing Lore could possibly do that would please me," I muttered, "is die." As soon as I spoke the words though, I realized that whatever else the other android might be, he was still the closest thing Data had to actual family. I also realized that it wasn't entirely accurate. Surprising myself, I amended, "That's not true. I don't want him dead, not really… I want him locked up somewhere for all eternity."

Data and I shared a look. He said nothing, but when his yellow eyes met mine, I could tell that he was thinking the same thing I was: eternity in prison, for an android, would be worse than death.

I handed my lover the card.

"Your anniversary," he murmured. "He is referring to…" It was rare for Data to leave a sentence unfinished intentionally.

"He's referring to when he raped me." Speaking the words was something I had to do from time to time. I'd discussed it with Deanna when I was still her patient, and I'd discussed it with my partner on more than once occasion. "Not exactly a date I feel like commemorating," I managed to quip.

"Nor I," Data agreed.

I pulled apart the tissue within the box and removed the object that had been tucked inside. It was a brooch, shaped like a pigeon, and there was no denying that the workmanship was exquisite. Strips of something like leather or rubber or… something else… had been fitted with tiny bits of metal, almost like cloisonné, but not. The single eye was a black bead that caught the light perfectly.

If Data had gifted me with a piece of jewelry like this – not a pigeon, obviously, but of a similar style - I'd have loved it.

The last gift from Lore, I'd flung into the holographic sea, needing to hear it splash. This time, I just pushed it to the far end of the coffee table and turned to face my partner. "Why is he doing this to me, Data? He's not here to see me freak out. He's not embedding recording devices - he isn't, right?"

"He is not."

"Then why? What does he get out of it?"

Data had never seemed helpless to me before, but his answer spoke volumes beyond the actual words: "I do not know."

I sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that." I took a beat, staring at the bird in the box. "Do I want to - know how it got here – I mean - not so much on the ship. I'm guessing he used normal mail service like last time, but… into our quarters?"

"I have asked Lt. Worf to analyze the data from our door." It was possible, I knew, to pull usage logs for every door on the ship, so this didn't surprise me. "I will also remove the brooch to my lab for a deeper scan, but I do not think we will learn anything new."

"No, I know. It's a longshot. But at the same time, if you didn't do all the scans, there'd be something there, just because the universe is perverse that way."

Data didn't agree with my statement – he couldn't – but he didn't disagree, either. Instead, he gathered the box, the wrapping, and the note together, in preparation to drop it at his lab on his way back to the bridge. "I am afraid I cannot stay. Will you be alright until my duty shift is over?"

I managed a watery smile. "I'm going to lock the door, change to sweats, and watch cheesy videos for the rest of the day, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to fall apart, and if I get spooked I promise to call Deanna or Dana or someone to come hang out with me."

I stayed on the couch, but he rose to leave, though he bent to kiss me before he stepped away. "Do not hesitate to contact me if – " he began, but that time, I cut him off.

"I'll be fine," I said. "I'm not even afraid this time. I'm more… angry… I think. Yeah. Angry." I was examining my own feelings out loud, and in the back of my mind I could perceive Data analyzing my analysis. "And confused," I added. "You're due back around twenty-two hundred hours?"

"That is correct."

"One more kiss?" He bent toward me again, and I put my hand on his side to hold him there, prolonging the contact. "I love you," I said.

"I am devoted to you, my dearest."

I watched him leave our quarters, and even managed to enjoy the view.

(=A=)

Stardate 46209.71

(Tuesday, 18 March 2369, 13:07 hours, ship's time)

Ten-Forward was always busy between eleven-thirty and thirteen-thirty hours, and that day was no exception. Fortunately, even though I was arriving a bit after thirteen hundred, I didn't have to worry about finding a place to sit. I was meeting friends.

"Sorry I'm late," I said, as I dropped into the open chair at the table where my newest friend on the Enterprise, Amanda, and my oldest friend on the ship, Dana, were already waiting. A third chair was also occupied by a young woman of about our age, who had dark hair, green eyes, and a heavily pregnant belly. "There was an incident with a surly Vulcan, a broken padd and an orange cat who may not live to survive another day. Hey, Serena. I'm glad you came." We'd been trying to get Rryl's girlfriend to join our lunches for months.

"Rryl said sitting around our quarters was unhealthy," she admitted, "and I finally ran out of advanced coursework. I'm trying to complete my first year of university courses via correspondence."

"Simultaneously with your last year of high school?" I asked. "Wait, aren't you a year behind us?"

"Summer session. Original credit," she answered with a grin. "That's one of the reasons I never hung out with everyone. And I'm glad I pushed. At least now I can take a year off once this one is born, and not be behind."

"Over-achiever, much?" Dana asked, but her tone was all amused affection.

"As if any of us are any better!" Amanda pointed out. Then she asked, "What was that about a cat and a Vulcan?"

I grinned. "Data's cat Spot has a knack for escaping from our quarters."

"Oh, so Spot's only Data's cat?" Dana teased.

"When she's mischievous, yes," I answered my best friend. Then I turned back to Amanda. "She ended up surprising Sokel and me during my Vulcan lesson this morning, knocked over an incense burner and a pot of tea."

Amanda laughed. "I have dogs at home. They've done everything from stealing food from the table to sneaking into bedrooms and eating slippers. Animals are great just when you think they've done it all they do some…"

She trailed off, her gaze drifting away from our table and toward another, on the other end of the lounge.

We all followed the direction of her stare, and Dana and I shared a look, realizing at the same time who was the object of her attention.

"Nice view?" I asked Amanda, teasing her a little.

"He's lovely," she said, and then blushed and amended. "I mean, yes, it's lovely."

The other three of us stifled our laughter, and I held my next question as the server delivered our food. Dana, who knew my tastes, had ordered a chicken Caesar salad on my behalf, and I had to laugh as I dug into it.

"Something wrong with your food, Zoe?" my best friend wanted to know.

"Not really. It's just… Caesar – the one from Shakespeare, not the salad guy – has been on my brain lately. Saturday was the ides of March."

"Beware…" Serena intoned.

"Exactly."

"Something happened." Dana wasn't asking.

"Received an unexpected gift from afar," I said vaguely. "I'll explain later. Right now, I'm more interested in something a bit more immediate." I used my best 'reporter' voice and asked, "So, tell us Ms. Rogers; how long have you been crushing on the first officer of Starfleet's flagship?"

"It's not a -" she began protesting, but our three expectant faces made her change tack. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only to those of us who have been through it," I assured. "Trust me, crushing on officers is hardly a new thing."

"Though most of us don't end up with our crushes turning into committed relationships," Dana added. "Zoe and Data are a rare exception."

Serena smiled at our new friend. "At least Commander Riker will be kind to you, if he ever finds out."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Amanda said.

"I am." Dana and I both turned sharply to look at the younger woman at our table. "Don't be so shocked that you didn't know. As you said, I'm a year behind all of you, and not part of the elite math group. Commander Riker was on the same transport as my parents and me when we joined the Enterprise. There was a minor engine issue, and I was afraid. He was very patient with a terrified teenager, and I couldn't help it. Of course, once we were aboard this ship, I kept trying to figure out his schedule, where he'd be that I could also be…."

"You stalked him?" I asked. "Seriously?"

"I did," Serena admitted. "Eventually he noticed, or someone told him what was happening, and he brought me a brownie in Ten-Forward and told me he was flattered but that he was far too busy… he could have reminded me I was too young, or any number of things… but he didn't."

"Wow," Amanda breathed. We were all quiet for several minutes, mostly because we were eating. As we finished, it was she who broke the silence, asking, "So, are Counselor Troi and Commander Riker… together."

Dana, Serena, and I exchanged glances, and wordlessly, the other two deferred to me. The part of me that was grown up enough to be living with my partner knew I should redirect her interest. The part of me that was still technically a teenaged girl was not quite as bright. "They're good friends," I said. "And I'm pretty sure they have a history. And to be honest, I've always sort of thought of them as a single unit, but technically – or at least publicly – they're not a couple." The adult part of my brain kicked in, even as her expression was resolving into something considerably less like a schoolgirl with a crush and more like a woman on the prowl. "But Amanda… I'm not sure hoping for something with him is a good idea."

"This from the woman who is living with her lover?" Her expression told me that she didn't mean it as cattily as it sounded.

Even so, Dana and Serena excused themselves to go back to class, though the former reminded me, "You owe me a story about whatever your 'gift' was."

I nodded my acknowledgement then turned back to the blonde who had stayed at the table. "I said it as the woman who wouldn't want to see a new friend get hurt," I explained. I took a beat, then continued. "I know you probably don't want it to be common knowledge, but Data told me that you might be a Q. Is that true?"

"Q says so. You were right about him, by the way. He's not someone I'd want to know if I had a choice. He's been… sort of testing me."

"I do not want to know what a test from Q entails."

"It's… odd," she said after a moment's thought. "Half the time he's challenging me not to use the powers of the Q, while the other half he's helping me hone them."

"Do you want to be a Q?"

Amanda paused to think over her answer again. Or at least, that's how it appeared. "I didn't, when he first told me, but… that kind of power is difficult to turn down. But he's so… he acts like everything is a game. People dying, people getting sick. He could fix the air pollution issue on Tagra IV with a wave of his hand, but he says it's not his problem."

"I can't imagine what it must be like to be all betwixt and between the way you are," I said. "But if you ever want to talk to someone who knows all too well what it's like to be a unique being among humans, I'm sure Data would be happy to talk with you." It was all I had to offer.

"I'll think about it," she said. "Really. In the meantime, could you just pretend I never told you. I need all the friends I can get, and I don't want things to be weird."

I laughed. "No weirdness here, I promise. But… you might consider that you have as much to teach Q as to learn."

"Oh?" Amanda was obviously intrigued by my suggestion.

"Sure. You can teach them what it means to help, to perform good works. It would be the most awesome kind of subversion ever."

We laughed together, and then I had to leave, also. "Lasso wants me to sit in on the next meeting with the Tagran education delegation. He thinks I might have something to add 'as a student yourself, Mees Harrisss.'" I imitated my supervisor's accent on the last few words. "I'm around, though, if you need an ear."

"Thanks, Zoe. Really."

"Any time."

(=A=)

Stardate 46223.86

(Sunday, 23 March 2369, 17:02 hours, ship's time)

Ray was late to the pool, so I started my laps without him, trying hard to lose myself in the water and the motion of my own arms and legs as I stroked and kicked. Half an hour before, noticing that I was sprawled on the couch reading, Data had asked in his gentle-but-pointed manner if I had decided to skip swimming that day.

It was his way of telling me that I had spent enough time moping around, though he would never have used such language.

I think it was also a way for him to ensure that I wasn't alone while he went back to Engineering to assist with the most recent issues on Tagra IV, where the initial pollution problem had been exacerbated by a failing reactor – one that was partly responsible for environmental controls. Geordi and Commander Riker were on the surface, and from what I'd gleaned, things were bad to the point that if the reactor blew it could set off a reaction that would turn the whole planet into a fireball.

Except, that had to be wrong. That couldn't actually happen, could it? I had to have misheard.

I refocused on my swimming. One length of the pool, then two, three, four… At some point the rhythm of my movement put me into a sort of meditative state, where it was just me and the water.

A bright blue light followed by a change in the way the water felt pulled me from my Zen space. I stopped at the wall. "Ray?" I asked as I wiped the water from my eyes with the towel I'd left on the deck.

"Wrong again!" The delighted voice could belong to only one person.

"Q." I turned around to see him walking from the deep end of the pool to the shallow end.

"I didn't realize humans fetishized water so much that you have chambers dedicated to spending time in it," he observed with an air of disgust. "How do you manage without gills?"

"Carefully," I answered. "How do you manage without any sense of decency?"

"Decency? Aren't you the one wearing nearly nothing?"

I hadn't noticed his attire before but all of I sudden it connected that he was wearing another Starfleet uniform – rear admiral, this time – and then I glanced down at my utilitarian swimsuit. I had bikinis of course – Data had seen me in them more than once - but for serious swimming, a one-piece tank suit was better.

"Morality, then, I said. Amanda's just a girl, like me. Making her choose between the person she thinks she is and the being you want her to be? That's just cruel."

"Is it?" I got the sense he was holding his power back, making himself seem smaller. "How much crueler would it be to let an omnipotent being stay in the human world completely unfettered, using her powers as her whims dictated, and causing damage every time she meant to provide help."

"I don't understand." Unconsciously, I'd echoed Data's most common phrase.

"No, you don't. You can't possibly. Imagine, Zoe, if you could do anything, go anywhere, at the snap of your fingers."

"Sounds pretty cool to me."

"I'm sure it does. Now imagine if you had grown up as 'just a girl, like you,' and suddenly had access to that power, using it without thought for the consequences."

"Like you do, you mean? I've heard the stories. You sent this ship into Borg space and people died. You tried to gift Will with Q powers, and got your ego bruised when he turned you down. You took the command staff on a Robin Hood adventure, but we covered that before. Data told me that there was some kind of lesson in all of those things, but I think he's giving you the benefit of the doubt. He's actually the only person on this ship who doesn't hate you, but even he warned me to stay away from you." Something else connected in my brain. "But you're here seeking me out. Why?"

I don't know if it was my change in tone from accusatory to inquisitive that caused him to change his mood as well, but instead of a roll of power or a petulant response, the false admiral allowed a split-second of vulnerability to show on his face. "Didn't your silicon seductor tell you about the time I was human?"

I was starting to shiver from being motionless in the water for so long, so I pulled myself onto the deck, turning to sit down and face him. I ignored the cheesy reference to my partner and asked, "Human? You?"

He seemed surprised. "So, your lover keeps secrets from you. Interesting. Ask him about it sometime. Ask him how he risked himself to help me. And ask him what I gave him as a gift of gratitude. As to you. You are important to Mr. Data, so you are of interest to me."

"Get in line," I snorted. "I'm already the object of a sociopath's interest – or is that psychopath? So, unless you plan to rape me and then start sending me random fish art, I don't think I'm going to be all that amusing for you."

Q stared at me again, and this time I felt it. I felt all of his power, and I had to close my eyes to ward off the dizziness. When I opened them again, he was sitting next to me, and clad only in red swim trunks. He was also completely dry. "The Q do not commit rape," he said in a voice that was almost kind, until he ruined it by adding, "We don't have to."

"Good to know," I said, because how else does one respond to a line like that?

"I offer you a bargain, Zoe Harris."

My voice dripped skepticism. "A bargain?"

"Yes. You're going to refrain from poisoning anyone else against me, and in return I will refrain from 'dropping in' on you without invitation."

"You'll refrain from dropping in on me or Data," I countered.

"Without invitation," he corrected.

I couldn't see either of us ever inviting him over for tea, but, whatever. "Fine. 'Without invitation.'"

"Done!"

He disappeared in a flash of blue light and I found myself back in the pool with a giant wave curling toward me. I was surprised to be back in the pool, shocked to see a wave there, but habit and instinct had me diving through it as it crested and following the bubbles back to the surface. Just as I broke through, I heard a voice echoing in my ears: "Invite me to the wedding, or I will give you gills."

When Ray showed up a few minutes later, I was standing in the middle of the shallow end, laughing.

(=A=)

Stardate 46226.73

(Monday, 24 March 2369, 18:12 hours, ship's time)

I didn't see Q again for a long time, and I only saw Amanda once more, very briefly. She popped into the protocol office on Monday afternoon to say goodbye.

"You've been a good friend, Zoe," she said. "I wish I could stay here. It feels like home."

I smiled. "It is home for me, but I know what you mean." I hesitated for a moment, not sure I should ask my next question, but finally doing so anyway. "You fixed the reactor on Tagra IV, didn't you?" I asked.

"And removed the pollution from their atmosphere," she confirmed. "I couldn't let all those people die. Q says that makes me weak and human."

"Q wishes he had that element of humanity," I told her, and while she thought I was kidding, I knew it was true, at least partly. "I meant what I said before about subversion. Teach them what being human really means," I said. "I think they need you more than you need them."

"How did you get so wise?" she teased.

"Living with an android teaches you to see things in new ways," I answered. "And… hanging out with Guinan kind of does the same."

"If you ever need a favor…" Amanda began, but she didn't finish the sentence. "I have to go," she said. "Tell the others…"

I grinned. "I know. I will. And Amanda?"

"Yes?"

"Don't forget to have fun."

She grinned at me and then swept her hands up in front of her and disappeared.

I sent a message to Dana and Josh confirming our regular lunch on Wednesday, and another to Serena, asking her if I could drop by sometime during the week – I was determined to be a better friend to her.

As I made my way home, I ran into a vaguely familiar figure in the form of Clara Sutter. "Hi, Zoe…" the little girl greeted me as I joined her in the turbo-lift. "Did you like the package?"

I'd been about to return her greeting with some throw-away line about school or something, but her question made me freeze. "Package?" I asked her.

"The one that came a week or two ago? It looked so fancy with the black ribbon and gold wrapping."

"You saw it?" I asked. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and demand that she tell me everything she knew, but I managed not to. "Where did you see it?"

"Dad's assigned to the quarter-master's office this month," she said. "And he said it was marked for hand delivery, so he had it at home so he could do that. I wanted to know what was inside, but he said he didn't know. Was it something amazing? Was it a gift for you from Commander Data?" Her voice sounded like she was imagining something incredibly romantic.

"It was a gift from… someone else," I hedged, recognizing that Clara was just a little kid, and didn't know any better. "It was a brooch – a pin – but it wasn't to my taste."

"Oh. That's too bad."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Yeah, it is."

The lift stopped at one of the residential decks, and Clara excused herself and left, all bouncy innocence.

I made my way to the aquatics lab to check in with Lt. Nguyen and feed the latest residents of the big tank – a pair of Flash-fish from a beta-quadrant planet called Tiburon. They were headed to the San Diego Zoo, by way of a couple of different starships, a gift from the newest member of the Federation.

They were gorgeous creatures, known for flashing a sort of firefly-like luminescence when they were excited or afraid. Food was on the list of things that typically excited them, so I always enjoyed feeding them, even though their food was live baitfish.

The aquatics lab had always been a place of peace for me, so it wasn't unusual that I was still there at eighteen-hundred hours, when Data's shift ended. What was unusual was that he came to find me there.

"Am I intruding?" he asked as he entered the darkened space where the big tank was located. Blue light kept us from being in total darkness. "We had agreed to meet for dinner in Ten-Forward," he reminded me.

"You are never an intrusion," I said. I would have been happy to leave it at that, but his attitude made it clear that he expected more. "I needed to be somewhere calm so I could think," I elaborated. "Fish are calming." I paused to take in and let out a slow, deep breath. "Is something wrong?"

"I believe I am meant to be asking you that," Data admonished gently, though there was a hint of teasing in his voice. "Did Q pay another visit before he and Amanda left the ship?" I'd told him about the 'bargain' I'd made with our uninvited guest.

I shook my head. "No, he said he wouldn't, and he didn't. I just… I found something out today, and I'm not sure if it means anything, or not."

"Perhaps if you tell me, I can help you 'figure it out?'"

I smiled at him, knowing that even in the dim light he would catch the gesture. "It's the kind of thing I'd rather discuss with my partner than with the second officer of the ship." I used phrases like that whenever I wanted what I said to be off the record. "Is that okay, even though we're here, and not at home?"

"Technically, Zoe, the entire ship is 'home,'" Data pointed out. "But yes. I will listen in 'boyfriend mode.'"

I smiled at his phrasing, but sobered almost instantly, as I explained, "I ran into Clara Sutter in the 'lift earlier, and she asked me if I liked the present I received. She thought the gold paper and black ribbon were 'fancy.'"

"I was not aware you had befriended the Sutter child."

"That's just it, Data. I haven't. I've met her once. Maybe twice. And okay, the first time was when you were seeing me off last October, but… "

"But there is no reason she should have seen a gift meant for you?"

"Yeah. So, I asked her where she saw it and she told me her father was assigned to a rotation with the quartermaster and that it was in their quarters for 'hand delivery.' And that just… it seemed really odd to me. Every other time I've received physical mail it's either been beamed to my location, or I've been called to go fetch it."

"That is the usual protocol," Data confirmed. After a brief moment of searching, and the signature eye-flickering that came with it, he added, "Ensign Sutter is not currently on the duty roster for any department other than engineering."

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm not just talking to my boyfriend anymore?"

"Because you are not," he said. "There has been an apparent breech of protocol, at the least, and possibly of ship's security. We must look into it."

I turned my face away from Data's, focusing on the fish. "I assumed as much, but… does it have to be tonight? Couldn't it be first thing in the morning?"

"As you received the most recent gift from Lore over a week ago, I do not think it is emergent. May I ask why you wish there to be a delay?"

"Two reasons, but one's sort of selfish."

"Tell me," he encouraged.

"Amanda left today. I know we've only known each other for a couple of weeks, but it was nice having a friend who wasn't stuck in classes like Josh and Dana. I'm feeling a little down, and I was hoping for a low-key night with my boyfriend." I turned back to him and flashed a wry grin. "That would be the selfish reason. The other is… Clara's a little kid, and she doesn't deserve to have a security team barge into her home to question her father when it could be done tomorrow when she's in classes."

"Zoe…" Data began, but I couldn't tell from one word if he was in officer-mode or boyfriend-mode, so I cut him off.

"I know. It's ship's business, and you have to do your job. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Zoe," he repeated my name. "It is ship's business, but that does not mean you are not entitled to voice an opinion, especially since, in this case, your suggestion is valid. I will contact Lt. Worf in the morning, and we will ensure that Ensign Sutter is questioned discreetly."

I nodded, but it took me a minute to give him words. "Okay. Thank you." I turned back to the fish in their tank again, attempting to hide the tears that had formed inexplicably in my eyes.

I should have known better than to try to fool Data. His arm was around my shoulders at once, pulling me close to his solid frame. "Dearest?"

"I'm sorry," I said, turning so I could bury my face against his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I keep thinking I'm fine, and then he sends another bird, and I feel like it just happened. Does he have people working for him, or was this a one-time thing? Will I ever feel safe again? Are there going to be more birds dropping into my life at random intervals?"

It's a rare thing for an android to be at a loss for words, but I could tell that Data really had no idea what answer to give. In the end, he opted for honesty. "I do not know," he said. "But I will do my best both to keep you safe and to discover the truth."

Sitting in the watery blue light of the aquatics lab with his arm wrapped around me, it was easy to believe him.

(=A=)

Stardate 46232.54

(Wednesday, 26 March 2369, 21:03 hours, ship's time)

"I shall remember: When Caesar says, 'do this,' it is perform'd." Reg Barclay was reading the part of Antony as we read through the script of Julius Caesar, and he was doing surprisingly well. I could actually see him playing the part, if the drama group chose to produce this play. Dr. Crusher had invited us to her quarters to read through several different scripts, some for just a few scenes, some longer, since the elementary school kids were using the auditorium all week.

Data, playing Caesar, had the next line: "Set on: and leave no ceremony out."

"Caesar!" I read the Soothsayer's line. We were rotating through the smaller parts on a scene-by-scene basis.

"Ha! who calls?" Data answered, in character. I thought the way he raised his voice and sharpened his pitch on the first word was kind of hot.

"Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!" Will Riker read, as Casca. I'd been surprised that he hadn't picked Brutus, but he'd claimed he wasn't entirely comfortable with Elizabethan language.

"Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear." I hadn't seen Data perform since we'd been in Little Women together almost a year before, but, even more than Reg, he'd improved.

I made my voice as dark and ominous as possible. "Beware the ides of March," I intoned, enjoying the irony. That date had come and gone only recently, and it had been fraught with… well, not danger, exactly, but drama, I guess.

The reading went to about twenty-one hundred hours, when Dr. Crusher dismissed us with the reminder that she'd let us know in a week what script she'd settled on, and which roles we'd been assigned. 'Stealth casting,' had worked so well for Little Women that she wanted to try it again.

"Hey, Reg… you did really well tonight," I called out to the ever-anxious lieutenant as he, Data, and I arrived at the corridor junction where our paths would diverge. I nudged my partner subtly, and he echoed my assessment.

"I concur with Zoe, Lieutenant." His tone was bright and upbeat. "Your performance skills are much improved."

"Than – thank you, sir, Zoe." Reg said, stammering only a little. "Goodnight." He turned around and continued on his way, and we entered the turbo-lift that would take us one deck up to our quarters.

Inside, I said to Data, "You were pretty impressive, tonight, too, mister. If we end up doing this play, you'd do well in the lead."

"Do you believe I can adequately portray Caesar's passion and his anguish?"

I put my hands on his chest, then slid them up and over his shoulders to clasp them behind his neck. "I know you can."

"Thank you, Zoe." His arms came around me, and his hands met behind my back, resting in the curve of my lower back. "You were quite effective as Portia," he said, before he bent his head and kissed me.

I didn't bother pointing out that I was too young to play Brutus's wife with any real conviction or credibility. I was too busy enjoying the moment.

It was a moment that ended far too soon. "I am due on the bridge at twenty-two hundred hours," Data reminded me when he pulled back to let me breathe. "I may not be home before you wake tomorrow, but I will make time if you wish to meet for lunch."

It had been on the tip of my tongue to tease him about checking my availability, but when I opened my mouth to respond, what came out was, "Can I come?"

"Zoe?"

"Last fall, when I wanted to observe you on the bridge, Captain Picard changed the schedule, so we'd have more time together. Tonight… maybe it's Julius Caesar, or maybe it's just that we still don't have any clear answers from Ensign Sutter, but I'm feeling a little jumpy, and I think watching you in command would help."

There was no up-quirk of his lips, but the faint shift in his focus told me he understood that I was combining my need to feel protected with my desire to understand his work better, and that my request had somehow pleased him. "The captain is off-ship, attending a conference, but I will confirm approval with Commander Riker," he said, and lifted his hand to activate his comm-badge.

I managed to stay his hand just in time. "In a minute," I said, adjusting my grip to twine my fingers with his. "I need a little more time of just us, first."

"As you wish." We relocated to the couch, where I curled up against him just enjoying the close contact. Some nights 'couch time' ended in make-out sessions, or more, but that night it was enough just to be touching and talking.

"I was invited to a sort of graduation party / spring break week on Risa," I shared after a minute or two. "It's for all the graduating seniors in the sector who live on ships or bases. Dana and Josh are going. Serena wants Rryl to go, but he's not sure about leaving her."

"I am aware of the event," Data said. "Do you not want to go?"

I'd been mulling it over since the previous morning, when the invitation had arrived. "A year ago, I might have jumped at it – considered it sort of a 'last hurrah' before shifting my focus to college – but a year ago, I was already practically living with you, and there's an equal chance that I might not have."

"It is your decision, of course, Zoe, but I do not like the idea that our relationship is keeping you from enjoying typical coming-of-age rituals."

I knew he meant what he said. I also knew that I had no interest in going. "If you really want to mark some artificial transition point for me, then let's take a vacation sometime between now and the end of August, somewhere private. But otherwise? Data, I haven't been a typical student or a typical teenager since we became a couple, and my coming-of-age began the moment I stuck that chip in your head and finished when you brought me home from Lore's ship."

His response to that was to squeeze me a little bit tighter, cuddle me a little bit closer. "If you are certain, then I will not 'push' you to attend."

"And the vacation?"

"Do you have a destination in mind?"

"I do, but it's a little unorthodox."

"Tell me."

"Your house. The house on Terlina III. I meant what I said when we left: I want to go back, spend more time there without a giant project hanging over our heads. I'm… I can't explain it but being there feels… right."

"Then we will go," he said simply.

We lingered on the couch a little bit longer, and then I got up to use the bathroom and change to fresh clothing, and he contacted Will, who was happy to approve my observer status for the evening.

(=A=)

I'd been on the bridge of the Enterprise a couple of times, but only briefly. Once, Data used the bridge as a shortcut to get me home on time, and more recently, I'd had to cross it in order to attend meetings in Captain Picard's ready room.

Being on the bridge during the night watch, however, was distinctly different. First of all, there was a sort of… buzz… that I hadn't noticed before. It was a little more subdued than the kind of workplace banter I'd seen in videos or experienced in the protocol office, but it was definitely a lot less formal than what I'd imagined, and a lot looser than what I'd seen in the middle of the day.

Lt. Worf rose from the center seat after Data had given me a brief tour and introduced me to the on-duty crew. From the security station, I watched him report the ship's current heading and give a brief rundown of the status of various systems and departments, ending with, "Astrometrics is currently conducting long-range observation of a pair of comets, and Med-tech is recalibrating the bio-beds in the main Sickbay. Captain Picard checked in at twenty-one hundred hours. He is on course and his expected rendezvous time has not changed."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Data was always so crisp when he was in officer mode. "You are relieved of command."

"I stand relieved, sir."

It was twenty-two hundred hours precisely (according to the readout on the security board) when Data said, "Begin night watch."

The work lights dimmed by about twenty-five percent, a feature my partner explained, that was meant to 'preserve the natural circadian rhythms of the predominantly humanoid crew.' Worf left, but I stayed where I was, watching and listening as Ensign Claymore showed me what he was monitoring, and how the security and tactical stations were different from each other, though there was some overlap.

Eventually, I made my way to the seat next to Data, which he told me was designated for the first officer when there was a full crew at work.

I'd brought a padd with some briefings that Lasso had assigned me to read, as well as a novel, loaded onto it, but I set it beside me and spent the first half of Data's eight-hour watch actively observing. The ship wasn't doing anything fancy – we were in that downtime between active missions that I'd taken to calling 'the boring parts' – but that's exactly the experience I wanted.

What I saw that night was that Data was competent and collected – things I'd never doubted – but also that he knew how to maintain easy camaraderie among his crewmates when he was in charge, engaging in their chatter when it was appropriate, and reigning it in when things got a little too casual.

At zero-two-hundred, Data assigned the next-most-senior officer to take the command chair and availed himself or a break that was just long enough for him to step outside the bridge doors and kiss me goodnight.

"Will you be able to sleep, Zoe?"

"Yes," I said, and meant it. "Thank you for this. It was surprisingly informative."

"I look forward to hearing your impressions over breakfast."

"It's a date," I said. "I'll send a text message when I'm back in our quarters, so you don't worry."

Data merely nodded then bent to kiss me again.

"Love you," I told him. "Good night."

By zero-two-thirty I was tucked up in bed with Spot on the pillow next to me. If, as I fell asleep, I spent some time imagining my partner wearing command red and sporting four solid pips, in control of his own ship, I don't think anyone could blame me.

Notes: This episode incorporates events from "True Q." I have altered the way Amanda is first introduced to Q, but none of the salient points of the episode. "Flight Pass" is a re-dress of "Ticket to Ride." It refers to the Stephen King novel. The conversation between Zoe and Q refers to the events of "Q Who," "Deja Q," "Hide and Q" and "Q-pid." I hadn't meant to spend so much time with him, but he kind of took over. (Revised 24 September 2019)