Chapter 2
Dr. Crusher picked up her tricorder from her desk in sickbay. She brought it to where Hayes was sitting and ran it over the woman's body.
"Admiral," Dr. Crusher started timidly. "If you don't mind me asking, did Data love you?"
"As far as I knew. Why do you ask?"
"Oh I don't know. Just curiosity. I always wondered if love was part of his emotion chip's programming. Now I can see that it was." She pressed buttons on her tricorder. "Well, it looks like you are suffering from exhaustion." She took her electronic shot out and gave Hayes a sedative. "I've given you a sedative so you can get a full night's rest. It shouldn't take effect for about 10 minutes or so." She put the shot back on her tricorder. "I will expect to see you back here in a few weeks to see how you are doing." Hayes got up and started for the door. "And Admiral, that's Doctor's orders." Hayes smiled and left as soon as the doors opened.
After a trip in the turbolift, Worf met Hayes in the corridor of the dormitory level. "Admiral," he started, "I have put all of Data's things back into his room, including his cat."
"Thank you, Commander. I appreciate it." She continued down the corridor until she realized that she didn't even know where Data's quarters were. She touched the black strip on the wall. "Computer, where are the quarters of Commander Data?"
It beeped. "Three doors down, residence hall number 270."
Hayes walked further down and went into the dark dormitory. "Computer, lights." The computer beeped and activated the lighting system. Now she could see familiar things, like Data's potted plant. She had seen it many times when her lonely husband had hailed her.
She sat down at the desk in the room. Data had sat in that chair. Her Data.
A cat scurried out of the bedroom.
"Spot!" Hayes picked up the golden kitty and hugged it to her chest. "Hey baby! Where have you been hiding?" Spot jumped from her arms and ran back into the bedroom. Hayes followed her and saw her walk over to her food bowl. Spot looked up at Hayes and meowed. "Oh, so that's it!" She laughed, picked up the food bowl and placed it in the food replicator. "Feline supplement number 25." It instantly was filled with food, so Hayes set it down on the floor. Spot sniffed it and ran away into the bathroom. "Spot? What's the matter?" Hayes could've sworn that Spot's favorite food was number 25. She sighed and pushed open the bathroom door. Spot was cuddling someone's ankles in the room and Hayes screamed when she saw who it was.
An android, that appeared to be Data, stood by the sink wearing only a towel. He saw Hayes through the mirror and turned to her.
"Who are you?" he asked. Hayes noticed that his voice had a metallic sound to it, but she pushed it aside.
"Data! Data, it's me, Rose!" She swept him up in a hug, but the android pulled her arms from his neck.
"No, no, no!"
Hayes pulled away so she could look up at him. "What?"
"I am not Data. I am B-4. Who are you?"
"I'm Rose, Data's wife."
"My brother was married?" He reached out and poked Hayes's arm.
"Oww! What was that for?"
"Are you an android?"
"No, I'm a human."
"Oh." He looked away, as if to process the thought.
Hayes scaled his covered body. "Why are you wearing a towel? Androids don't take baths."
"Oh, I was just…um…" He look behind Hayes and saw Spot. "Kitty!" He left the room to catch the scurrying cat. Hayes watched as the kitty avoided being captured and ended the chase by running under the bed in the bedroom. B-4 looked rejected. "The kitty doesn't like me." Hayes felt a wave of pity for this child-like creature.
"It's okay, B-4." She walked over to him and took his wrist. "Come here." She sat him down in a chair and patted the armrest. "Spot! Come here girl!" Spot ran to the chair and jumped onto the armrest. Hayes pet her and she began to purr. B-4 reached out to grab Spot so she started to run away. "No, no!" Hayes caught her and put her in B-4's lap. Hayes took one of B-4's hands and made it slowly pet the kitty. "Like this. Gentle." B-4 continued stroking Spot and the cat purred even louder until it jumped out of his lap. B-4 got up too.
"I have to go now." He was halfway out the door before Hayes realized.
"B-4, um, you might want to put some clothes on."
"Oh, yes. Sorry."
Paige walked into the bathroom and found a stack of neatly folded clothes in the linen closet. She picked up the top article. It was Data's spare uniform. No, she wanted to keep that. She gave B-4 an outdated uniform.
"Here, B-4. Put this one on." She picked up the rest of the clothing stack and took it with her to the bedroom while B-4 changed. When he was done, he hugged her.
"Goodbye, Sister."
"Goodbye, B-4." He left the room and waved to her before the sliding doors closed. She sank into a chair. "Computer, music. Play something by Vaughn Williams." It started to play 'Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'. She spotted a row of shelves and walked to them. Leaning up against them was a stack of paintings. She picked up the first one and looked at it. On it was a painting of Lal, Data's daughter. Hayes smiled and ran her fingers over the beautiful face. "Computer, can you please put a nail in the wall for me?" She knew that the computer didn't care if she asked, but she was always nice and courteous to it.
"Specify placing."
Hayes took the painting into the bedroom and touched a spot on the wall next to the bed. "Computer, put a nail right here." A nail appeared and she hung the painting. She smiled at her work and straightened it a bit. "Perfect." She walked over to the replicator in the room. "Computer, please give me a recent picture of Cmdr. Data in a gold frame." The frame appeared and she picked it up. She turned and set it down on the night stand. Tears came from her eyes as she looked at the face in the frame. Her shaking hand tried to scoot the frame over a bit, but that made it fall off of the night stand and go under the bed. "Shoot," she grumbled to herself as she bent over to reach under the bed. The frame was within reach and she got it easily. Before she got up, she noticed a hand monitor face down at the head of the bed. She stretched further and got it also. When she got up, she put the frame back onto the night stand and sat down on the bed.
The hand monitor's screen was flashing, "Hello Rosie."
Hayes typed in her authorization code, Paige87ZetaMasque, and the message started downloading. When it was done, Data appeared on the screen.
"Hello, Rosie. If you are watching this message, I am no longer alive."
Hayes wiped her tears as the message continued.
"I know that you are wondering why I did what I did." His silky yellow eyes stared intently at her, as if he knew where her face was. "I did it to save the Enterprise, my Captain and the Federation. You of all people, Rosie, would understand that."
Hayes's tears started up again.
"Please do not cry for me, Rosie. I know that is what you are doing. I cannot stand the thought of you being unhappy." He looked away and it almost looked like he was going to cry, then he looked back. "I love you, Rosie. Please do not ever forget me." He touched the screen. "I have to go now. Good-bye, Rosie." He smiled and the screen turned off.
Hayes tried to speak, but she could feel the sedative coming into effect. As her eyes closed, she sank back onto the bed and held the monitor to her chest. With the last bit of strength she had left, she set the message on continuous play and fell asleep listening to Data's voice.