Almost as swiftly as her anger had appeared, it suddenly drained out of her. Justine slept, ignoring her door when it chirruped. Occasionally she rose from her bed, stumbled to the replicator, and requested a candy bar, or a boiling hot cup of coffee. She drank it too fast on purpose and then stumbled back into bed. She slept for three days, straight. She slept rather than face the reality that was slowly boiling outside her door.

Starfleet had yielded to Miranda's lawyers, and there was going to be a trial. Picard fought hard to keep his cool as the information fed in over his computer. The Enterprise was ordered to dock at Headquarters 111409 so that Starfleet could legally determine whether Justine Riley was Miranda's property… or not. It stunk of slavery, and furthermore, Picard thought this particular battle won when Data had been declared sentient.

Riker was equally grim. "We'll represent her, of course."

Picard nodded, running his hand across his mouth. "I thought we were done with this nonsense."

Several floors down, Counselor Troi was waking Justine. "You need to get up. You need to eat something."

Justine groaned and pulled the covers over her head. She was crying. "Just leave me alone."

"I can't do that Justine, you need to get out of bed."

"No!" Justine pushed herself deeper towards sleep.

"Come on, we're going to engineering."

There was a pause under the bedsheets. "Why?"

"Lieutenant LaForge ordered a new drive shaft, and he wants you to install it."

"On my own?"

"On your own."

That finally got Justine up. "I want a shower first."

"Good."

And so she showered, and ate a little cereal, and blinked in the suddenly harsh light of the corridor. They made their way to engineering, which was blessedly empty, except for Geordi, who was holding the drive shaft, still in its manufacturer's packaging.

"Here."

"Thanks," Justine whispered, hugging the bulky package to her chest. She didn't meet his gaze, but tottered off slowly, out of sight around the warp coil. There were a few seconds of silence, and then the unmistakable sound of the package being torn into.

"Thanks," Geordi whispered to Troi. "It's good to see her again… I was starting to worry."

Troi sighed. "I know. I think we're all worried." Troi glanced at the nearest timescreen. "I'm supposed to meet with the Captain and Will now. We're preparing a defense."

Geordi shook his head. "If there's anything I can do…"

"We'll let you know."

On the other side of the warp coil, an installation drill screamed, and then a metallic clang. Troi left.

Geordi let Justine work in silence, and in privacy, sitting at a terminal in the other side of engineering, half heartedly perusing the latest issue of Engineering Today. He could hear her working, steadily, by the sounds of the welding and the drive shaft grinding into place. An hour or two later, there was silence.

He looked up to see Justine standing a few feet away, arms crossed, head down. "I finished," she whispered.

"That was fast."

"I'm very good." It was such a flat statement that Geordi checked.

"Mind if I take a look?"

"No, I left the wall panel open so that you could." She followed behind Geordi, meekly.

Geordi ran his tricorder over the new installation, checking the seams and the flow rate. "Looks excellent," he said. "Well done, Ensign." He glanced back at her. Her head was still down, and he watched a tear fall and land on the floor. "Justine?"

"I'm sorry I yelled at you!" Justine blurted out. "I'm so sorry. And I promise I won't ever yell at the other ensigns again. I'll come back to work every day and work twice as hard again, I'm very good at my job just please, please don't let them take me away."

"Justine," Geordi said, leaning in, shocked. "Justine, no one is going to take you away. I know you're sorry, and it's ok. You're a good kid."

"Just a kid?"

Geordi swallowed. "You're a good ensign," he modified. "And no one can take you away from –" Geordi stopped. He had been about to say "from me," but swiftly changed it to "from us."

Justine stepped closer. Geordi fought the urge to step back in kind. She was suddenly too close for comfort. She put one arm around his neck, her fingers resting gently at his hairline. Geordi froze. With a small, hesitant breath, Justine leaned forward and kissed the corner of his jaw.

For half a heartbeat, Geordi couldn't think at all. And then a single idea came: Do something! Horrified even as he moved, Geordi pushed her away, abruptly, roughly. Justine stumbled.

"Ensign Riley," he said. "That was completely inappropriate." He shook his head in amazement.

"Why?" Riley breathed, drawing an uneven breath. "Lieutenant – you have to – "

"Have to report you? Because you're gunning for that."

Riley's eyes flew wide. "You wouldn't –"

"Justine, what do you want me to do?"

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I thought – you – maybe you, out of everyone – but no. You don't." She wiped at her eyes furiously and sniffed.

"Don't what?"

"No one wants me." Justine shook her head. "That makes it easier for her, I suppose."

"Justine…" Geordi whispered. "You have to know that's not true…"

"Prove it." she whispered back.

Geordi wrapped both his hands around her shoulders. His VISOR showed him as a blush swept up her neck and into her face. He could literally see her pulse hammering. "There are a lot of ways to care for someone, Ensign. And I do care about you - we all do - it's just..."

She tore himself from his grasp. At the door she turned, risking one last glance back at Geordi. Then she lowered her eyes and swept out of engineering.