...More Human Than Human...
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. Reviews are welcome. I don't own any characters other than Fenix Flarestone. Enjoy and stay ethical y'all.
Chapter 20: Later Dudes, Peace Out!
Previously…
"Hey, man. I see how you look at Data. He's adorable, and so sweet. He's not any less perfect than Lore. Let's face it, Data and Lore are gorgeous. Speaking of... My pizza's ready and I need to get back to them. We're playing video games. Hope I helped broaden your mind a bit. Take care and I'll see you around, Tasha. Peace out." Fenix finished and saluted Tasha as she left her at the counter to ponder about what Fenix had expressed to her. Fenix is right… What I did to Data was unacceptable. I blamed my moment of passion on polywater and pushed him away… truth is… I wanted to be intimate with him. I know it's wrong of me to feel ashamed for our night together… but I can't help what I feel… what I still feel, even though I understand that I shouldn't. I'm so sorry, Data...
It's been over a week on the Enterprise and today was the day Lore and Fenix would leave. Lore thought about Fenix's strained relationship with her parents and thought of something before they left. "Fenix, let's go to the holodeck for a bit. I want to meet your parents. At least your father. It's something that is done in human customs when one starts a romantic relationship with someone. I'm not human but you are, and I think it'll do you good to see them again." Fenix sighed and thought about it, not relishing seeing her mother but she did miss her father very much. "Okay, maybe meet my dad. See how it goes with him and then maybe mom. Dad's pretty chill, he influenced a lot of the things I like. Music, playing guitar, surfing, and drinking. I have enough in common with him." she chuckled. Lore gestured, "Then it's settled. Let's go."
Making their way to the holodeck, Fenix commanded the computer the time and place. They were back in her room and headed downstairs and to the garage where her dad was fixing his own truck. She mustered up as much courage and called out for her father, "Hey old man!" He rolled out from under the truck, a man in his early fifties wearing coveralls with the sleeves cut off exposing his decently muscular tattoo covered arms. His blonde hair slicked-back undercut with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. "Fenix! Long-time no-see, kiddo! I got some doughnuts for you." He greeted with a thick Irish accent, his smile turned into a death glare as soon as he saw Lore. "So, who the hell is this buck?" He interrogated and stood up, a lean muscular stature standing about 6 feet tall. "Um, dad, this is my boyfriend, his name is Lore." Then looked to Lore, "Lore, this is my dad, Oisin." Lore initiated a handshake but was rejected as Oisin became furious, "What!? You fucking cradle robber I'll kill you!" and clocked Lore in the face, "FUCK! That bloody hurt!" he yelled as he shook his hand, seething in pain. "Dad! PLEASE! Let me explain-" "-Fenix! Have you lost your noggin!? Why? He's far too old for you." His attention averted to Lore, "And YOU! You have no business what-so-ever goin' after a child! You paedophile!" and grabbed Lore by the collar. Lore's eyes widened in surprise since no one as ever had the courage to show pure anger towards him. Holy shit… I'm not angry. Actually, I admire him for defending his daughter. A true parent. Fenix had to get him to snap out of it so she grabbed one of his exactor knives and sliced her arm open, "Look at me dad!" showing her dad her unique ability. "Glad that got your attention, let me explain everything and please just don't interrupt me, I hate it when you do that." Oisin looked at her daughter with worried and perplexed eyes as he sat down to listen to his daughter.
Oisin offered them beer while Fenix told her story to her dad and had Lore explain his part as well. Oisin opened up a new pack of smokes trying to wrap his mind around their far-fetched tale but in the end, he believed them and concluded, "Well... I always said... I don't think any man in this world would be good enough for my daughter..." Fenix extended her hand for a cigarette, "No."Oisin declared.
"But dad… I told you. I can hyper-regenerate. It'll just help me chill out a bit..." she whined. Oisin rolled his eyes, "I can't argue that..." and handed her a smoke then the lighter to her.
"Like I was saying... whoever she chooses would have to be pretty fucking deadly. I guess my wish came true in a way. Lore's from Omicron Theta and he's not even human. He's better than the rest of us which is rather fitting for my daughter." He looked to Lore who gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I can see how much you love my little girl. Lore, I'm sorry I decked you." he assessed as he took another drag from his cigarette and took a swig of beer. "Apology accepted. I'm glad Fenix had the chance to talk to you. She really missed you, you know?" Lore stated. Oisin chuckled, "Well… she's always been my baby girl. I know we're not blood related but that don't matter. She took after me either way." Fenix stood and squeezed her dad for a quick hug and sat back down, "Hey dad, did you know? I also got the best drummer in the universe now. I got him into playing drums." Fenix proudly declared. "That's great, Fenix! You've always wanted someone to drum with ya." Oisin smiled as tears welled in his eyes, "Oh, Fenix... I can't believe you've grown up so much. I swear it feels like yesterday we've brought you home from the adoption agency, you were such a wee girl. Now you've become a beautiful accomplished young woman of sixteen-" Fenix chimed, "-Seventeen, almost eighteen even." Oisin waved his hand, "I can't keep track of your age, child! You'll always be my baby girl to me no matter how old you get!" The three of them chuckled then Oisin continued, "I'm going to miss you so much. But I'm glad that you found someone worthy of you." then hugged her whole-heartedly. Fenix shed a tear as she spoke, "I missed you so much dad, and I'm so happy and lucky to have found Lore. He's everything to me." He let her go and said, "I don't think mom would approve of Lore though. She won't understand... You know how she is…" Fenix nodded in understanding as Oisin added, "I know she was hard on you and I tried to get it through to her thick-ass skull that you're different and you couldn't be moulded into what she wanted you to become. You already had a strong sense of self from when you were a wee child. She just wanted what she thought was best for you. I hope you can one day forgive her. It won't do you any good to cling on to the past when you were meant to make a brighter future with Lore." Fenix asked, "Does that mean you're accepting Lore?" He looked over to Lore and shook his hand, "Lore, take good care of my baby girl. You better marry her before you do anything." he warned.
"Dad! What the hell man!" Fenix exclaimed. "What? Can't a father be protective over his daughter and instil some propriety for her sake? I may be a heavy drinking Irishman but I have morals, too, you little shit-head." he teased his daughter and let go of Lore's hand. "Dad, thanks for everything. We gotta go. I'll miss you." "I'll miss you too, kiddo. Go already before I start sobbing like a baby." And with they ended the program. Everything dematerialized leaving them in an empty black room.
Fenix looked away from Lore as she wiped her eyes and said, "Let's go back and pack our shit before saying 'bye' to Data. I'm gonna miss him, too." Lore grabbed her wrist and pulled her into an embrace. "You do share a lot of similarities with your dad, even if you two aren't blood related. He's a good man, protecting his offspring as he did." Lore gently spoke as he held her. "Right? I wouldn't be who I am today without his influence. A headstrong little shithead." She joked and looked up to meet Lore's solar eyes filled with kindness. He pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face and he declared, "I love you Fenix, and I want to marry you. I want to make our union official. I know you said back on Omicron Theta you didn't want to get married because you'd outlive everyone, I hope I changed your mind." She smiled and replied, "When you gave me that ultimatum, I sealed that deal with my first kiss... I knew it was going to be you and me for the rest of our never-ending lives. I thought of it as a proposal. Not official, but it doesn't make it any less meaningful. But if you want to make it official, then I'd be happy to marry you." Lore smiled brightly and kissed her passionately. Fenix added, "Then I can change my stupid last name. 'Fenix Flarestone Vogel' sounds like a stripper's name." Lore laughed and replied, "Vogel? That's a German name. It means bird." She nodded, "It was my bio-dad's last-name… But over time, I just stopped using my last-name since… my bio-dad didn't want me around I guess… And I didn't really feel like taking on O'Neill either, Oisin's last-name. Last-names don't mean much at this point..." Lore understood Fenix wanted to know why and who were her biological parents where, "We don't know anything about your bio-parents... Their background, their circumstances… nothing. We might never know. It might be one of those things that are going to have to be left alone whether you want to or not." She nodded, "I know… but it still bothers me, a lot." Lore changed the subject knowing this wasn't doing her any good, "Now that you mention it... your name does kinda sounds like a stripper name... Besides, 'Fenix Flarestone Soong' sounds better." Fenix voiced her random thoughts, "You're going to be labelled as a 'cradle robber' forever. It never crossed my mind until Dad mentioned our visible age difference, that drunk Irish bastard..." Lore chuckled at her still-naïve thought process and replied, "I noticed our visible age difference from the moment I saw you." Fenix scrunched her face in disbelief as she asked, "Really? Oh yeah! And at Risa, too! I forgot all about that incident. Man, I'm slow at times." she laughed. Lore corrected aloofly, "Not slow, just forgetful. I don't expect you to remember everything as I do, biological brains aren't as efficient as computers, just the way things are." Fenix exaggerated her sigh and replied, "Thanks for saying I'm less smarter than you, ass. You're lucky you're a very good-looking computer." He chuckled and kissed her again.
They walked back to their room to collect their things back to their vessel. They began organizing everything on the vessel and before they said their goodbyes. "Hey Lore, yesterday when we were sparring, there was a song you picked I never heard before. What was it? It sounded rad." Lore smiled as he secured her bag, "Band's called Reckless Love, they formed in Finland back in 2001 but they didn't release an album until 2010. And that song's called Wild Touch." "Oh, I see. It was after I left the past. Makes sense. But yeah... I loved it. Smooth guitar solo and the lyrics are hot as hell." Lore grabbed her by the waist and sang softly in her ear a verse from the song, "I'm afraid to think what I will turn this night into, I got a hunger for tough love and the target might be you. It doesn't really matter if you're only seventeen, satisfaction guaranteed I promise that you'll scream." he licked her neck then kissed her fiercely instantly making her weak in the knees, he held her in her arms as he continued assaulting her lips.
Data entered the vessel interrupting the couple. "Hey Data!" Fenix greeted as she blushed getting caught kissing Lore by his brother. "Hello Fenix and Lore, today is the day the two of you will be departing, correct?" inquired Data. "Yeah, we don't want to overstay our welcome and I want to do more travelling with Lore." Data nodded and she added, "Oh yeah, thank you so much for believing in me and tutoring me this past week. I'm really happy that I was able to finish my studies. I'm forever grateful for giving me your time." Fenix thanked and hugged Data, he embraced her back and replied, "It was a very enriching experience for me. Not just the tutoring aspect but to be able to spend time with you and my brother meant something to me." Riker, Deanna, and Tasha joined them to send them off shortly. Fenix, Lore and Data existed the vessel as Fenix acknowledged their presence and added, "I'm going to miss you so much Data. Remember what I told you?" Data sifted through his databank and recited her exact words, "Desire to learn is a very human emotion. Desire to be loved and to have friendships are also very human emotions. They're there, you may not feel hatred, anger or malevolence but you feel emotions. You just feel them differently, I think you just haven't figured out how to appoint value to them. Please don't deny them and don't let anyone discredit your emotions either. You're awesome exactly the way you are. Please don't ever forget that." Fenix smiled kindly and reaffirmed, "That's exactly right Data." Lore looked at Fenix with adoration seeing her treat his brother with such compassion and understanding. Lore knew Data's positronic net has become accustomed to their sensory input and knew he'd miss them, in his own way. He previously held so much resentment towards Data but he learned to move on and accept his brother as his family. Lore approached Data and embraced him, "I'll miss you little brother. I'm glad we finally met. We should keep in touch, Fenix keeps saying 'technologies' come a long way' from her stand point. Might as well utilize it, right?" Data tilted his head and answered, "I would very much like that. We can share our adventures and experiences." Fenix added, "And if we're close by or something, we could visit each other, too." She turned to Commander Riker, "Riker-dude, thanks again for giving me a chance to finish my studies. It's feels good to finish it, that's for sure." she thanked. Lore added, "Yeah, I can tell she's been a lot happier now that she accomplished something. Thank you." and shook his hand.
"It's my pleasure, you're a very talented young woman, I know you'd be going places when you decide to apply yourself." Riker replied with a kind smile. Lore smiled at Deanna, thanking her empathically. She smiled back understanding his feelings of appreciation and then to Fenix, "Wherever you two are going next. I hope you have a safe and exciting journey. I'm glad to have met both of you." Deanna said with a smile. "I'm glad we met too. You've helped us out a lot, Deanna. Thank you." Fenix thanked and have her a hug. Tasha stepped up, "Fenix. Thanks for our talk last night." Tasha acknowledged. "Anytime." She replied with a nod. Lore eyed Tasha's tension towards him, but pushed it aside, "Well, thanks for everything. Data, we'll keep in touch." Lore reaffirmed. Fenix bid them, "Later dudes, peace out!" She laughed as her and Lore walked back into the vessel as Lore closed the door. "Lore, let's listen to Reckless Love. I want to hear more of their stuff." "Sounds good. They have a lot of good songs, you'll probably like them." Lore confirmed. The Enterprise crew walked out of the main shuttle bay, with Lore and Fenix leaving shortly.
The Enterprise crew all thought about when Data recited Fenix's words. They realized that they need to rethink how Data thinks and possibly feels, they wouldn't be able to look at Data the same especially after that epiphany and witnessing Fenix and Lore's relationship. The crew watched the Vulcan vessel leave, all of them having a slight emptiness within their hearts. A human girl and an android man has changed so much on how they viewed themselves and each other.