I know, you guys want to kill me for waiting over two years to update. My bad. A little naughty birdie discouraged me from this story and I've been busy writing other stories as well. Sowwy. Please don't kill me! I'm too young to die!!

Wow. It's been exactly two years to the day since I last updated. Weird...

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Chapter 8

"What do you want, Q? I still have another hour."

He lifted his arm to look at an imaginary watch. "Not by my clock."

Hayes looked over at her computer's clock. He was right. It was later than she thought it was. She looked at the half-finished Data and sighed. She hadn't done it on time. Q watched her; perfectly aware of what she was thinking.

"I believe you still have choice #3."

She set her tea down on the table. "Okay, what is it."

Q blinked and Data disappeared, along with all of his parts. "Before I tell you the riddle, I must ask you a question."

"That wasn't part of the deal, but go ahead."

Q straightened up and walked to a bureau that had Data's picture on it. "Star Fleet is the only world that Data has ever known. If you get the riddle right, and I restore Data, he will face the same punishment as you, would he not?"

She hugged her arms to her chest. "Yes, he will."

Q picked up the frame with Data's picture in it. "Data worked so hard to pass the ranks on The Enterprise, and you would throw that away just to have him back? Your punishment will be fair, but his..."

"What's the riddle?"

Q put the picture back. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Just tell me the damn riddle!"

"Very well." Q flopped down on her couch and put his hands under his head. "Data tries so hard to be human, and yet, he is already so much like your race. But try as he may, he will never receive this one thing. Although for you, he may search his little android soul for it and he may find something like it, and in his own way give it to you." Q got up and faced her with his arms crossed.

"That's your riddle?"

"Yes," Q said with a smile.

Hayes got another glass of tea from the replicator. "It was a good effort, Q. I commend you."

"If you're going to be ungrateful, I could take my offer back."

Hayes seemed unaffected by his comment. "I will try to figure out your riddle, if you promise one thing."

"Yes," Q said with interest.

"Promise that when I give you my answer, you will not use your powers an any way to affect my answer. And no matter what my answer is, promise that you will not accept another answer from me."

Q looked suspicious. "Very well." He vanished into thin air.

Hayes grabbed her couch to steady herself. She already knew the answer.

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The two days passed without many events and soon Q appeared in Hayes's apartment. She didn't look up from her computer, but she knew he was there.

"Hello, Q."

"Hello Admiral, are you ready to tell me the answer?"

She got up and sipped a glass of milk. "First, stop reading my mind. I want my privacy."

Q nodded. "Your mind is safe from me. Your thoughts are your own."

Hayes sighed and straightened her uniform. "The answer that I'm giving you is love."

Q looked at her for a minute or two. "Are you quite sure?"

She folded her arms in front of herself. "Quite."

"Even without reading your mind, I can tell that you're not telling the truth. You know that's not the right answer."

"I didn't say it was the answer. I said it's the answer that I'm giving you."

"I'm curious." He put his hands behind his head and relaxed on the couch. "If you know the right answer, why are you giving me the wrong answer?"

"Since it won't matter anyway, I'll tell you." She leaned on her desk. "I am about to be given my sentence by the high council. They will probably de-commission my entire family, not just me. If Data were still alive, it would include him. Data doesn't deserve that fate. If you re-make him and erase our memory of each other, he will get to continue his life on the Enterprise and I will face judgment sooner or later for what my family did."

"Why would you do all that for him, just to have him forget who you are in the end?"

Tears trickled down her face. "Because, I love him. And he gave me his heart."

Q smiled. "You knew the answer after all." He snapped his fingers and Data appeared next to him. Hayes didn't react until Data blinked and smiled. He was fixed!

"Data!" She ran to him and hugged him tight. His arms felt so good on her back and head.

"Rosie," he whispered and kissed her head. She forgot everything in that second. Then she remembered.

"No!" She pushed him away and looked at Q. "I got the answer wrong! You promised me you wouldn't accept another answer from me!"

Q smiled. "From you, yes. Old Data here answered the riddle himself after I explained that I knew you would try to get the answer wrong."

Data took her hands. "I cannot be away from you, Rosie."

Tears rolled down her face now. "You don't deserve my fate, Data."

He brushed some of the tears away. "You are my wife, Rosie. We must face everything together." He hugged her again and brushed away more tears.

Q smiled. "Reunions are so touching." They looked up at him. "Not really, I'm just trying to go with the moment." He snapped his fingers and he disappeared.

"Data," Hayes mumbled as she buried her head in his chest.

Data lifted her chin and stared into her eyes for a minute.

"I love you, Rosie."

He captured her lips in a fiery kiss.

Hayes moaned against him.

"Let's take this elsewhere," she said in a low voice.

They did.

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