Disclaimer :: I don't own anything Star Trek. Or Data... though I wish I could... But Starfleet ruled that he is sentient and, therefore, not property.

Dream 12

Data stood again on the edge of that golden field.

But this time there was no breeze. The grasses were still. The light was dull.

Data looked up. The sky was grey with clouds. The sun was hidden. But it was not cold...

He looked back across the vacant expanse of grey-gold -

And there was a figure... far off... moving toward him...

Her figure.

He waited, watching her move slowly closer...

...drops on his skin... arms... face... chest...

Gradually, the sky opened up into a rain storm.

But still there was no wind, no breeze.

She grew steadily closer.

Data gazed out into the vast swath, squinting against the rain now soaking his face and body.

...the rain running over his face... dripping off the end of his nose... dripping from his chin...

He licked water from his lips...

He could see her now, wet and contentedly smiling, as she progressed toward him.

She laughed - in front of him at last, glowing in the rain - "Your hair is all wet!" She reached up and touched his drenched bangs...

"So is yours." He smiled back... as she closed the gap...

She tasted of rain - clean and fresh as the air -

Slow kisses wet with it...

Soft, warm comfort now refreshingly cooled...

...Data's fingers in her soaked hair...

...her fingers against the wash of his chest...

...the rain running over his face... dripping off the end of his nose... dripping from his chin...

"Even in the rain, you shimmer..."

Her whisper against his mouth made his breathing heavy...

And she kissed him again. Deep, tongue-filled kisses, wet with the rain on their faces.

Her tongue teased -

Data groaned against her mouth with movement -

She gasped longing for him -

Deepening the kiss -

...his face was so wet and cool...

His chest catches with it -

As her hands snake into his dripping dark locks -

And thunder claps loud with a lightning strike -

As she drives for another kiss!

- Data snapped awake, gasping. The noise was so loud. Her mouth still *felt real. He lay there and closed his eyes - "accessing," his voice lapsed hoarsely into the old habit - remembering the images. He couldn't even begin to express how happy he was now that his memory record was *so complete. He relived it in his mind... and it eased him back to sleep...

~.oOo.~

"Computer, create a field of golden grass."

The image materialized around him.

"If I am facing East, there is a slight banking to the North."

The image shifted.

It was sunny.

"Make it cloudy, but not dark."

Greyness descended.

"Increase light levels by two lumens."

The computer adjusted.

Data stepped forward into the holodeck proper, and reached down, removing his boots.

The idea had lingered with him all day, all through his bridge shift at ops, and his engineering shift... so he decided to take the free hour he had before the Night Watch to... try this.

He wouldn't "build" *her on the holodeck though. He'd long resolved not to go down that road.

He walked barefoot for a while, losing the door... losing his way in the grassy stalks... His uniform keeping him grounded.

"Computer," his voice was very soft, barely above a whisper, "Please create a light rain, gradually increasing from a slow sprinkle to a steady precipitation."

Just like in the dream, tiny spottings on his face... hands... increasing slowly... making him blink...

Data looked up into the grey holodeck sky as the rain picked up, blinking fast against the drops...

He didn't care that his uniform would be soaked or that he'd have to walk, dipping, back to his quarters to changed.

His chest caught with emotion...

...a sob lunged forth from his throat...

He wept quietly for his loneliness for twenty-three minutes and seventeen seconds.

...the rain kindly washing the yellow fluid of his tears away...

~.oOo.~

AN :: "refreshing" adjective - "welcoming or stimulating because new or different." i wrote this lovely little bit during a power outage back the end of july. i smpily love Data in the rain.

Follow TAPo_o on twitter for original short works and random poems.

...i anticipate a delay between now and chapter 17... as i haven't found the head or heart to work on it. apologies to all who wait patiently on me. thank you for your readership. (i try to keep updates on my bio...)