"My, they play the Borg Queen as very… erotic, don't they?" Maura leaned into Jane, wincing as she watched the Borg Queen circle around an immobile Data. "I thought the Borg had moved beyond sexuality, haven't they? If they assimilate in order to expand their collective, why would they need any element other than superior technology and force in order to aid them? Trying to seduce Data seems counterproductive."

"Well, you have to understand," Jane said as she shifted to allow Maura to more comfortably lean against her shoulder, "the Borg have been trying to assimilate humanity for, literally, years at this point, which is sort of ticking them off. It normally only takes a few days, maybe a week, tops. Apparently, humans are a lot harder to assimilate than, like, 99% of the other species the collective has actually managed to assimilate into extinction or near extinction. So now the collective is a little fixated, and they are using everything they have in order to actually get to humans. I think this new Queen has turned a little sexual because sex appears to be a human weakness based on historical evidence from humanity's history. Why she's using Data? I don't know now… I mean, I figure it's because she thinks he's the easiest to convert since he's already a machine and it's no secret how badly he wants to be human, which is something she might be able to sort of offer him."

"Anyway, Picard knows a thing or two about the Borg. Not only was he Borg for a short time (Locutus was his designation) and was unassimilated by his crew, but he and his crew managed to bring individuality back into the collective via Hugh, which sort of acted like this virus that spread through the collective and took out a large chunk." She drew in another breath to keep explaining, "It was pretty messy. Lore, Data's brother, comes back, and he takes over the lost drones to lead them because they don't know what to do without the collective, and then he gives Data just enough emotions to hook him in, like giving a person drugs, and then, when Picard's crew tries to…"

She was silenced with Maura fingertips softly landing on her lips. "I'll google it later, Jane." Chuckling, the doctor slowly pulled her fingers away, letting them drag down to slightly pull at her friend's bottom lip. Jane shuddered. Maura did not miss the physical reaction, but chose not to highlight it. Instead, she took Jane's free hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. "I never realized how much of a Trekkie you were."

"Don't go around telling people," the detective said with some amusement in her voice. "It would ruin my badass reputation. Only geeks and nerds watch Star Trek."

"I happen to find geeks and nerds rather badass, personally," Maura replied with a smirk as she turned back to the movie. "Oh, I believe Cochrane is actually going to make it into space."

"Okay, we have two more movie's to go, but it's 1:30 in the morning. We can either finish them and sleep all day, or go to bed now and watch the other two tomorrow. Which do you want to do?" Jane picked up the pizza boxes and dirty cups to take to the kitchen. "I could go either way." Maura yawned. "Well, that answers that. Why don't you go get ready while I clean up?"

"You don't mind?" The smaller woman was already standing to head to the bathroom.

"Nope, but I get no flak for eating cold pizza for breakfast tomorrow." She grinned at the doctor's look of disapproval. "My weekend, my rules. No flak, got it?"

"Yes, fine, but I hope you don't expect me to eat cold pizza for breakfast." Maura stopped just outside the bathroom door to see what the verdict would be.

"And miss you attempting to make oatmeal while you're still half asleep? No way!" Jane laughed as her friend rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"I feel very sad for Data," Maura said into the quiet of the bedroom. Both women had settled into the bed, both on their backs, and Jane had thought the other woman had gone to sleep. Apparently, she had been thinking. "He was likely as close physically to humanity as he would be. It must have been incredibly difficult for him to sacrifice something he wanted so very much for so very long to save his captain."

"He was saving someone he cared about. There was no contest." Jane answered with a level of seriousness and conviction that surprised Maura. "It wasn't about Data saving his commanding officer. It was more than that. Data and Picard had moved beyond the command structure. They were friends, and his friend, the man who treated him more like a member of his family than an officer under his command, was in trouble. Data could do something to not only save that man but save everyone else. He took it." Maura could feel the bed move and Jane's arm brush against her own as a scarred hand landed atop an equally scarred torso. "You do what you have to do to safe family."

Maura rolled over onto her left side so she could see her friend. "Jane," her voice was soft. "Why did you do it?"

There was a moment's pause before a husky, cracking voice answered. "Someone had to."

"Given a few more minutes, I feel they could have been able to take him out. I've never asked, but I've often wondered." She reached out, placing her right hand over Jane's where it rested on the detective's torso, "what was the impetus?"

"He was going to hurt someone I cared about, and he had already hurt someone I cared about. I did what I felt I had to do to help Frankie and protect… people." In the silence of the room, Jane could hear her heart beating wildly in her ears, and she closed her eyes against her fear. She didn't want to have this conversation, but she had promised herself she wouldn't pull away from it if or when Maura decided to have it.

"I still dream about that day," Maura's voice was small and filled with fear and hurt. "I'm a doctor. I've gone to third world countries and helped the poorest and sickest people known to man. I spend one weekend a month giving my time to the local clinic and treating ailments of all kinds. I'm a medical examiner. I cut open and examine every inch of a human body – draining their blood, removing their organs, cataloging, analyzing," she sigh heavily, her hand gripping her friends tighter. "But, when it was you… when it was my… For the first time in my memory, I could only pray. I prayed for you, Jane. As I was kneeling in your blood, putting pressure on your wound, the only thought I had was, 'Please, God, save her.' Why? Why couldn't you wait?"

"Because I would rather he shot me than shoot you." Jane sighed, opening her eyes to meet the watery hazel eyes of her friend. "He was going to shoot you as a distraction, Maura. I couldn't let that happen."

They were silent for a long time, each searching the other's face in the dimly moonlight room. There was so much uncertainty between them, and neither seemed to know how to break the tension of the mounting pressure of unspoken questions and answers.

Finally, Maura nodded, nudging Jane's right arm up until she could comfortably settle against the lanky woman's side, resting her head on the other woman's shoulder and wrapping an arm and leg around the lithe body of the dark haired brunette. "Good night, Jane."

Wrapping her right arm as best she could around the smaller woman, the detective gave her a gentle squeeze. "Good night, Maura."

I had no idea there were so many parallels between Star Trek and R&I until I started writing this. However, the idea of Jane as a Klingon has a certain appeal to it, I must say. Meanwhile, your reviews still rock the house. Thank you for reading.