LESSONS ACROSS TIMELINES ^{© 2003-2007}

By Lessa Soong

Chapter Four - Dating, Deborah, Omnipotent Beings

Harper won their bet.

Jayden Soong had been an employee of Comp-Tech for four hours when lunchtime rolled around. Harper had packed Data a lunch and insisted that he eat it in public.

“Try not to let everyone know you’re an android on the first day, okay?”

Data had teasingly promised to wait until the second day, but then had needed to go fix the mess she had made of his hair in her exasperation. But teasing Harper was enjoyable and Data had no intentions of discontinuing this new practice. If she could tease him about his...backside...then she was also fair game!

So, he sat in the lunchroom and ate a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple and drank a coke.

“The woman” sat down at his table when he was half way through with his ham and cheese.

She introduced herself and shook Jayden’s hand, welcoming him to the company. She smiled; laughed at things Jayden said and gave the best representation of coy mixed with brash he had ever seen. He was polite, informative and...uninterested. He made certain that he did not flirt with her. Data decided that if he had not made this bet with Harper, he would not even have noticed that the woman was flirting with him.

Strange!

Data did not tell Harper on the first evening home of the events in the break room. He wanted to make sure this actually was flirting, as he so believed, before declaring Harper the victor. But the woman, a blonde, Deborah by name, came and sat with him for lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wednesday evening, Data told Harper that since her office was only two point eight miles from his (one of the other reasons he had chosen this job), he would like to meet her for lunch on Thursday afternoon. He would drive over and they could eat together.

“Now how am I going to win our bet if you go into hiding at lunchtime?” she teased.

“You have already won,” Data confessed.

“What? Don’t tell me, you slept with her and now she won’t leave you alone. Are we going to need to change our phone number?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“While it has only been a short period of time that you have known the ‘real’ me, I believe you have discerned that I am not a ‘one night stand’ kind of android.”

“Why can’t you just say ‘guy’ or ‘man’? You’ve said male before, although you usually qualify it in there somewhere. I know I sometimes forget that you’re an android, but isn’t that the point? In that sentence your gender was relevant, not your construction. Does your ethical program kick you if you say ‘man’?” Harper asked.

“It has.” Data informed her.

“Does it now?” At his helpless look, Harper said, “Say that you are a man...use it in a sentence to describe yourself.”

Data sighed. He was disquieted when his ethical program was in conflict. It was one of the things that caused him a discomfort similar to what humans might describe as pain. It was not the same, but it was not enjoyable either.

“I am a man who would like to have lunch with Harper Leigh Talenger tomorrow,” he stated.

“Well?”

Nothing. Not even a twinge.

“I am human,” Data closed his eyes and shuttered at the onslaught begun by his ethical program. “I am not human. I am an android,” he corrected quickly. He sighed as the clamor died down. It really gave him fits with that one. Lying about being human was very hard for Data to do.

“This man owes you dinner, and as soon as I am able, I will pay that debt. Do I get to pick where we go or do you?” he asked, noting that once again, no alarms were going off.

“I think I’ll let you pick, only because I’m curious as to where you’d choose to go. You get paid at the end of the month?” Data nodded. Harper stood up and went to her calendar, it featured Classic Star Trek characters, so it did not bother Data, even though he had met both McCoy and Spock, who were pictured this mouth.

“Okay the thirtieth is on a Monday, why don’t we plan on going out Tuesday? In the restaurant world, Tuesdays are usually slow, so we should be able to get a good table and all. Sound good?” she asked Data, leaning around the wall so she could see him still sitting at the kitchen table.

“Agreed,” he said. Harper made a mark on the calendar and came back to the table.

“Okay you side-tracked me briefly, but I don’t have that bad a memory. Tell me how I won the bet, Mister-never-had-women-knocking-down-my-door. First, what does she look like?”

Data described Deborah and told Harper her name. He then answered questions that led to a near complete retelling of every word he had exchanged with the woman. Harper was less pleased with her victory as the tale unfolded.

“So, you’ve had lunch with her all week and you’re just now telling me?” There was a hint of accusation in her voice.

“I was not completely certain that Deborah was truly flirting until today,” he admitted, reluctantly. Harper seemed appeased, but only slightly.

“What happened today? Is she sexually harassing you?” Harper asked, concerned.

“No, she suggested that she and I get together this weekend. I believe that she asked me out on a date,” Data confessed, hoping Harper would not throw him out of the house. Harper could be very reasonable and logical when she wanted to be, but she could also be very...emotional.

“What was your answer?” Harper looked as though she were awaiting the outcome of a court-martial.

“I declined her invitation. I am planning to fix the leak in the basement, repair the garage door and we have to borrow your friend’s truck to purchase the replacement siding. I will not have the time for social activities this weekend.” Data’s expression gave no indication that his decision had been based on anything other than practical considerations.

“And why are you wanting to have lunch with me tomorrow?” Maybe that would give her some clarity as to his motivation, she decided. He suddenly looked nervous. Data rose from his seat and taking her empty plate, headed for the sink. He was such a neat freak!

“I think it would be best to be unavailable at lunch time for the next few days.”

~ Oh, no. He’s not getting off that easily, ~ she decided. 

Harper got to her feet and came over to the sink to help him straighten, but mostly to study his face. She grabbed the sponge and wiped down the table. “You didn’t like her, Data?” Harper asked, trying to put forth a casualness that she did not feel.

“She is a pleasant person.”

“I didn’t ask if she was pleasant, Data.”

He turned to face her, his expression, open and honest as ever. She hated the things he usually said when he took on this expression.

“Why do you wish to know, Harper? Do you believe that I should have accepted her invitation?” he asked.

Harper sighed inwardly. Next time he looked like that, she made a mental note to run! She had been trying so hard to corner him and had ended up cornered herself. Damn!

“None of my business. Jayden Soong can see whomever he wants to and go wherever he wants to, whenever he wants to.” She nudged him aside so she could put the sponge away. He turned to look her in the eyes.

“And what about Data, Harper?” he asked, seemingly just curious.

He was better at this than she was, damn him!

“Mr. Data has obligations to me that he needs to satisfy. Once that is accomplished, he is free to do as he wishes. You’re not property in any timeline that I know of, Data. You’re even free to move out now if you so choose. Don’t think that just because you live here that I’m going to try and influence your personal life. Do what ever makes you happy.” She turned and surprised him by opening the front door and walking out.

Data dried his hands on the kitchen towel and grabbing his keys from the hook on the wall, followed his upset housemate outside. He activated his holo-disguise as it was still light outside and scanned the street for Harper. She was sitting on a curb very close to the main road that ran along the right side of the house. She was actually sitting closer to the road than Data cared for....

He walked over and sat beside her, deciding that if a car swerved towards them, he should be able to protect her. They sat in silence for three minutes but Harper would not look at him. She did not ever acknowledge his presence.

“I did not intend to upset you, Harper,” he finally told her.

Silence.

“Is it your intent to give me ‘the cold shoulder’?” he asked, softly. She sat looking out across the street, with her elbows resting on her knees and her chin propped up in her hands. It gave her a very childlike appearance.

“I just came out here to think,” she finally said, defensively.

“And you intended to leave me behind?” he prodded.

“I didn’t go that far, Jayden.” She was very good at changing over to his outside name.

“Do you wish me to find a separate place to reside?” he asked.

“Your life, your choice.”

“You did not answer my question, Harper.” This finally caused her to look at him. She also stood up and put her hands on her hips. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at him. Data decided that he might have pushed her too hard...

He stood up as well, but he did not feel as though they were safe in this location and pulling one hand off her hip, Data ushered her into the grass and away from potential danger. As soon as he released her hand she stalked off across the grass away from him.

~ Definitely pushed her too far! ~

He caught up with her in front of the steps to the house. The steps would need painting soon, he noted. And the hedge needed trimming. He reached out and gently took a hold of Harper’s arm. Turning her slowly around to face him, he could not determine whether she looked very angry or close to tears.

“I had assumed that we were forming a friendship. Am I mistaken?” he asked, tentatively.  

“No,” she whispered.

Finally, a useful response!

Her expression turned to one of obvious pain. “You have to understand how hard this is for me at times. You were a dream, a fiction. Now I wake up in the morning to find you making my coffee. I just don’t know how I should feel sometimes. You were a safe obsession, damn it! But you walked out of the TV and into my guestroom.” Harper looked away, but as Data had once before, he sensed she was not finished. She walked past him and turned on her heels again to face him. She was speaking as soon as he too swung around to face her.

“Imagine that you, in your own time and place, came across Tasha. She’s alive and well, but does not remember anything about the Enterprise or you. Could you see her every day and not be torn apart by it? Well, that is how it is for me. Not always, but sometimes. I’m getting to know you, the real you, but I can’t always separate this,” she touched his chest with her hand. “With what I remember from what I thought was fiction. I don’t even know if it is fiction anymore since the only discrepancy we’ve found is that they didn’t have you with hair anywhere but on your head, and your uniform didn’t change.” She sighed and shook her head.

“You were a safe obsession. You didn’t exist so I could be as obsessed as I wanted to be. I kept it to myself. I wasn’t hurting anyone. I never wanted to lust after someone else’s man, so I didn’t want to focus on an actor. I focused on a fictional character in a morally upright and uplifting television show. I still wonder if I’m not dreaming all of this.”

“That has occurred to me as well, but I do not believe that either of us is dreaming,” Data assured her.

It didn’t help.

“It doesn’t make it any better. You could still be snatched away at any time. The day you finally got your disguise working, I came home and I couldn’t find you. The first thing I did was panic! I was sure you were gone and I would never see you again. I was not exactly comfortable sitting on your bed when I did find you, but it was either that or fall on the floor. I’m not sure how much of this I can take. I thought I was handling it, but now I’m not so sure. Please, go inside and just let me be for a while. I just need some time alone.”

At first Data could not move. Harper had said so much and he had so many questions. The determined expression on her face melted into one of pleading desperation. Slowly he turned and went back in the house.

Data sat on his bed in his room and went over what Harper had said. He had believed that she had abandoned her obsession, but now he knew that she was just attempting to repress it. She was also worried that he would disappear without her being allowed the opportunity to say good-bye. He should have told her already about what he had found. He had been more successful in his attempts to reconfigure his tricorder to scan for temporal shifts than he had let on. He had been able to determine that the power that had sent him here was not what he had previously believed.

The particles that he had detected upon his arrival had been off. Data had believed them indications of a shift, but detailed analyses had revealed that he had been meant to believe this, but it was not true. The particles had been replicated, by something more advanced than the Enterprise’s systems, but replicated nonetheless. He did not know how he knew, but Data now suspected that Q had indeed brought him here. Why, was a complete mystery, but all of Data’s attempts to summon the omnipotent being had proven ineffectual. Q had brought Data to a place and time where the Enterprise would not be able to find him and where Data could not hope to find his way back.

He was stuck here.

Until such a time that he had done whatever it was that Q wanted him to do, Data was stuck.

“Now that isn’t a very positive attitude from the eternal optimist,” said a disembodied voice. There was a flash of light and Q stood before Data, dressed in blue jeans, and a Star Trek T-shirt. Data stared briefly at the picture of himself and all the senior staff of the Enterprise that surrounded the image of the proud ship on the shirt. Looking from the shirt to Q’s eyes, Data began his questions.

“Why have you brought me here?” Data asked him, doubting he would get a straight answer.

“Isn’t that what you asked the woman when I zapped you here? Really, Data, you need to work on your conversation skills.” Q looked around the room. Other than the furniture and the android sitting on the bed, there was not much to look at. “Not much of a decorator either. You may want to consider sprucing up the place, Data. It may lighten your dreary mood.”

Data sighed and tried again. “Have you come to take me home?” he asked. Harper would not be happy, but maybe she would be relieved...

“No, I haven’t. You see, Data, with you I can be more patient in my lessons. You won’t live forever, but you’re not as fragile as Jean-Luc. So relax. You’re here for the duration.” Q smiled, as though this should please Data.

“The duration of what, may I ask?” Data asked, ever hopeful.

Q walked over to the door of Data’s bedroom and went out. “Where is the lady of the house hiding? I wanted to meet her. After all I had to search through hundreds of timelines to find just the perfect woman to teach you this lesson.” Data followed Q into the living room.

Just the perfect woman? What lesson? Data doubted that getting an answer to that question would be easy.

“Harper is outside. Please, Q. She is upset with me at this time. She asked to be alone.”

“Well, she’s been alone for five years, I think she had plenty of alone time then.” Q snapped his fingers and Harper was no longer outside. But she had previously been sitting, and the thing she had been sitting on was now gone, so she fell to the floor. Data went to help her to her feet. Harper's expression told Data that she somehow believed him to be responsible for her sudden appearance in the living room and in a way he guessed she was right.

“We have company,” he told her, helping her to a stand. Data pointed to Q.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed in a hush.

“See! I knew she would recognize me!” Q said holding his arms wide and grinning with glee.

“You’ve come to take him from me, haven’t you?” Harper sounded resigned to the inevitable, but also in shock. Data still had an arm around her from helping her to stand and he had decided to keep it there to steady her. Q looked almost serious at her question.

“Moi? On my honor, my lady, I will never take Data from you. ” Q cocked his head and stared at the two of them. “You make a rather interesting couple,” he noted.

“I will not be toyed with!” Harper raged, shrugging off Data’s almost protective embrace. “If you’re planning some little game to torture us, count me out! Take him home and leave me out of this. How can you be so cruel to him, Q? He saved your life once and all you gave him was a bloody laughing fit that he didn’t even understand,” she barked.

“I did enjoy it,” Data interjected.

“Shut up, Data!” She didn’t turn and look at him, but simply swatted at him with the back of her hand. “He misses his friends,” Harper continued, addressing Q. “He needs his Counselor and I think he even misses his cat. Send him home!” she huffed. Q listened to her ranting and turned to Data.

“Just like a woman.  Wants you to stay one moment, can’t wait for you to leave the next. Do you want to leave her, Data?”

Data felt as though all of time was standing still and waiting on his reply.

“I have promised Harper that I would honor my debt to her. Will you reimburse her, or erase the time I spent here from her history?” Data asked Q.

“Uuuumm, no. Sorry, actions have consequences, Data. I can take you now, but I can’t undo any of the damage that you did here. You know how the Continuum has been cracking down on me, just about takes all the fun out of it.” Q said with a sigh and a shrug.

“Go, Data. I’ll be fine, I release you from your promise.” Harper said, putting her hands on Data’s chest and looking earnestly up into his eyes.

“You may want to rethink that, my dear,” said Q. He looked around the room and up at the ceiling. It needed painting, Data noted. And cobweb removal... “On second thought, it may be easier for you in an apartment. This place is rather neglected. No money to fix it up I’ll wager. You’ll have to get a one room flat, but you won’t have to work two jobs...for more than two more years.” Q said this with all the emphasis he would give to a hangnail...actually he may have found the hangnail more interesting.

“I’m going to lose my house?” Harper whispered, all the color draining from her face. She had turned from Data and he wondered if he should reach for her shoulders again. “Why? He didn’t spend that much money...why-“

“Oh, its not all Data’s fault, he just gets the ball rolling...downhill I’m afraid. It’s the fire. Burns too much of the house for you to fix since you let your homeowner’s insurance lapse... Quite sad really, since Data could have prevented most of the damage. Superhuman speed, resistance to fire and all... Come Data; let’s get you home. Too bad you’ll miss your lunches with that cute little blonde. All you needed was a red head for a complete set.” Q motioned for Data to come closer, but Data stood unmoving.

“Go, Data. I’ll just move now. He’s right, really. I have no need of all this room. We got this house to fill it with kids. I’ll put it on the market in the morning. Go home,” Harper pleaded.

Data shook his head. “I cannot discharge my obligation. Nor can I allow you to dismiss it.”

“He’s not going to hang around while you pay me back, Data. It’s not his style.” Harper reminded him, impatiently.

“I am aware of that fact.”

“Oh, I won’t leave you completely stranded, my golden friend,” Q assured Data. “Tell you what, when you want to go home, just stand before Harper, click your heels three times and say ‘there’s no place like the Enterprise’ three times.” And with that Q was gone. Harper was sure, for a moment that Data had gone too. She was not sure whether she should be relieved or devastated to find the android just where he had been.

“You really are stranded here now aren’t you? He won’t come back for years, if he ever does.” Harper was not asking a question. Data stared at the place where Q had been and wondered if he had done the right thing. His ethical program had rebelled against leaving Harper to a possible future of poverty, but had he now negated any possibility of returning to his friends in the future?

Data again felt torn.

Harper had been kind to him and had risked herself to provide for him whatever he needed, but they had both assumed that this would be short lived. There had always been an underlying urgency to complete his tasks before whatever had thrown him here pulled him back. But now Data knew the tests he had run and the conclusions he had reached were indeed correct. It was not an accident that he was here. Q had something in mind and Data was not going to be returned until the plan came to fruition.

“It is best this way,” he said, absently.

“How?” Harper snapped.

“If I left I would have missed our dinner plans and you already wrote it down on the calendar,” he said, with little conviction.

“That was the best you could come up with?” Harper shook her head and heaved a sigh. “Now you’re going to hate me. You should have gone, Data.”

“It is futile to argue the point now, Q is gone and I also do not believe that he will return until I have learned whatever lesson he believes I need to learn.” Data moved to the hall and stared at the smoke detector secured to the wall.

“What are you babbling about? What lesson?” Harper asked padding after him like a puppy.

Data reached up and touched the test button. A sharp shrilling scream blasted out from the unit. Data nodded, but was only partially satisfied. “Q did not tell me anything except that he had searched through hundreds of timelines in order to find the perfect woman to teach me this lesson.” Data now headed down the stairs to the location of the smoke detector in the basement.       

“So, who’s the perfect woman? The blonde?” Harper asked, bitterness entering her voice. She was running down the stairs after him. When they both reached the landing, Date turned to her.

“No, you,” He turned away and continued towards the downstairs detector. Data checked this one too and with a nod turned to wait for Harper to come out of her daze and catch up to him.

“What the hell does that mean? The perfect woman to teach you a lesson...what did you do? Get caught with your hand in the cookie jar?” She stood in front of Data with her hands on her hips again and he found himself smiling. He recalled the memory of her actually yelling at Q. Of course, she had also told him to shut up... Data would have to talk to her about that. Yelling at Q was never a good idea.

“I do not have any further information on this, Harper. Tomorrow, we will purchase new batteries for the two smoke detection units we have and purchase two additional units. We need one for your bedroom and one for the garage. I will insure the batteries are changed every four months.”

“It says to change them every six months, Data.” she argued, with no idea as to why. He turned and looked her in the eye.

“We are going to change them every four months. I will not allow our home to be destroyed due to neglect,” he replied firmly.

“Our home?” she questioned.

He cocked his head to the side. “Have you decided to ask me to leave?”

“No, how can I teach you your damned lesson if you’re not here? Fine, our house. I always suspected you had a stubborn streak, Data. I just never expected to have it used against me!” She only sounded half-heartedly angry.

“Your manager was closing at the mall tonight, I want you to call her, please. Inform her that you will not be able to work tomorrow evening,” Data ordered, sort of.

“Why?” Harper asked. Data was on the move again, heading upstairs. With his long strides, she had to use her own to keep up with him. Good thing she was tall for a woman.

“We have many areas of the house that need tending. Your work schedule includes no days off and this makes it difficult to attend to certain items.”

“If I remember correctly, you once told Geordi that you could remain on the bridge at all times, so why are you harping on me about work. I need the money and you know that,” she defended.

Data had plans for her in this area, but he had decided that it would take time to implement and more time if she resisted.

“I will contribute to our financial condition at the end of this month and then our situation should improve.” Dramatically, he thought. Data had only considered employment at businesses that could insure his ability to properly provide for Harper's welfare should he determine that he would not be able to return to his own time.

Today they had not only discovered that Data was not going anywhere in time, but Harper had agreed that he should also not change his physical address. He walked to the phone and handed it to her. He would have dialed as well, but Data was sure that Harper knew the number. She huffed at him, but relented. Harper’s boss was not happy, but agreed saying that Harper had been looking tired lately. Overhearing this caused Data a pang of guilt. He was well aware that he was the cause of his housemate’s fatigue.

Data sent Harper to bed after one glass of wine, but had her come back out to say goodnight after her bath so that he knew she was safe. Data was going to honor his promise to her...despite everything.

Data was insane!

She was living with an insane android! Harper sighed. She was in love with an insane android who lived in her house and wanted to take overpaying the bills. She could not argue that he wouldn’t do a better job than she could, but they were Harper’s bills and it was the principle of the thing.

Men!

“That’s just what I need,” Harper mumbled to herself, laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling. “A man in the house to do the bills, paint the ceiling, bring home the bacon and still let me sleep alone!” She picked up a pillow and pretended to smother herself with it. In one of her stories, she had a woman complaining that men were designed to drive women crazy. How ironic that Harper had not even met Data at the time she had written it, but now she knew it to be one hundred percent true!     

 On Harper’s bedside table she kept a laminated picture of Data that had come with a movie gift set that she had purchased three years ago. The picture featured Data standing next to the Borg Queen as it had been from the movie ‘First Contact’. Since Data’s arrival, Harper had begun to hide the picture under something, because she’d used it as a coaster for years now and didn’t want to give it up. She picked it up now and stared at the image of the Queen.

“Ya know, I never really was jealous of you even if you had a taste of what I’ve always wanted, but now I think I do hate you for having hurt him in the process.” She had no idea why, but the image of Data sitting down on the couch so that Harper couldn’t look at his cute butt any longer, came to mind. She laughed. What could be the lesson she was intended to teach him? Harper doubted that her appreciation of his ass had anything to do with it...or any other parts of him, for that matter.

Still, the information Data had given her about the woman in his office troubled Harper. She had no right to interfere in Data’s personal life if he suddenly decided to have one, but how was Harper going to deal with pining after a man who was right under her nose but she could not touch?

Chapter Five - Rebuilding Harper

Thursday was a productive day and Data felt pleased with his progress by lunchtime. He was planning the work he would do this afternoon as he headed for the elevator. He did not want to keep Harper waiting... The big gold finished glass doors loomed before him, but he could hear a pair of high heels coming up from behind him.

“Jayden? Are you ignoring me?” Deborah looked very hurt when he turned to look at her. He had not heard her speak to him before these words.

“No, did you call to me? Do you require assistance?” he answered, palming his car keys.

“Why do you have your suit jacket on? You’re too new to have a lunch meeting.” Deborah fingered a blonde lock, curling it around as though attempting to form a ringlet.

“I have one nonetheless, but it is not a business lunch. If you are not in need of assistance, I will need to continue this conversation at a later time. I do not wish to be late.” Deborah let her hand fall from her hair.

“You’re meeting someone for lunch? Man or woman?” she asked, suspiciously.

Date realized that this whole scene could have been avoided if he had just mentioned Harper earlier.

“I am going to my housemate’s office to have lunch with her,” he conceded, hoping for the best. 

“Housemate? Is that like a roommate?” she asked, seemingly trying to decide her course of action. Data looked up her reference, but was careful not to tilt his head to the side or move his eyes as he normally did when performing this task.

“Yes, she is my roommate. Her name is Harper. I will see you later if time permits, Deborah. I do not wish to be late.” He moved to go, but he could hear an insulted sniff emanate from behind him. He would try to explain this to her later. Perhaps he should tell Harper that he would be late picking her up, in order to speak with Deborah regarding the nature of their relationship. Whether he would be speaking of his relationship with Deborah or the one he had with Harper, Data was not certain, but he would have to deal with this and soon. Deborah deserved an explanation.

Data discovered at lunch that Harper did not like his idea. She did not say this, but Data had already spent enough time cataloging her facial expressions to know that this one was not cheerful acceptance.

“Tell you what,” she told him “I need to drop by the drugstore for some girl stuff and since you and I are attached at the hip lately I haven’t had the chance to go. I’ll take you back to work after lunch and pick you up tonight after the drugstore. Deal?” She sounded odd, but this seemed reasonable, so Data agreed.

When Data entered his office building again, John Lucas, whose name was an obvious reminder of someone else, was waiting for him.

“Hey, Jay. Been looking for ya. Was hoping to work with ya on that internal report this afternoon,” John said, speaking in his annoyingly unprofessional way.

Data nodded. He had already ‘learned’ about this report that John was to instruct him on, but Harper had warned Data that he should not show too much of his superior capabilities and allow his fellows to ‘teach’ him. She had called it ‘showing him the ropes’. Data had heard this expression on another occasion, but he had known the ropes at that time too.

“Yes. Thank you for your willingness to educate me in this area. I will need the information for the quarterly report. I would also like you to look over my critiques of the software packages I was assigned.” Data had detected eleven flaws, but had only noted nine per Harper's warning.

“Sure, no problem.” They headed for the elevator and Jayden Soong’s desk.

Later that afternoon, Data informed the receptionist that he was expecting a guest and wanted to be informed of Harper’s arrival. He had gone by Deborah’s desk just prior to the time she took her afternoon break and asked her to come to his desk before to her departure for the evening. The woman had agreed all too eagerly.

“Hi, Jayden,” Deborah purred from just behind him at 5:03 PM. Data had a second chair in his cubical, so he asked her to sit. She looked more inclined to sit on the edge of his desk, but settled for the chair.

“I am afraid that I have unintentionally misled you, Deborah. I had believed that your motivation in joining me during our lunch hour was simply a desire for company. I have enjoyed your company as well, but somehow I gave you the impression that I was interested in company after work hours. That is not the case. I sincerely apologize for failing to inform you earlier, but I was...confused.” Stunned, actually. Harper had been right here as well and Data had not been able to accept it. He had spent two days trying to convince himself that he was imagining suggestive smiles where none existed. But he had indeed seen them and had delayed in dealing with the situation. He simply was not used to women flirting with him!

“So, you’re not interested? What are you, gay? Married? Sleeping with your roommate?” she sniped. Her lips curved downward in a fierce expression.

Data had not expected this much of a response. Nor had he expected Deborah to sound so venomous. Her tone and the look in her eyes caused Data to recoil, slightly. Her memory was not very accurate, though. She had asked him if he were married on Monday.

“None of your suppositions are accurate, Deborah. I simply do not wish to pursue a relationship of this nature at this time. I meant no offense.” He rose and hoped she would take this for a dismissal.

Deborah had obviously never been in Star Fleet.

She did not move.

Finally she did move, but only to uncross and recross her legs. “Are you sure about your decision, Jayden?” She leaned forward slightly. “I think you and I could have some fun together. It doesn’t have to be serious. We could just get together and play once in a while. I’d just like to see you out of that suit and tie once or twice. I’m sure you take-“

“Jayden? Oh...I hope I’m not interrupting something.” Harper appeared as if out of thin air at the opening of Data’s cubical. Her eyes were bright and full of mischief. Suddenly, Data realized why Harper had been so eager to drive him back to work.

“Your housemate, I take it?” Deborah asked with irritation. She still did not stand.

“Yes. Harper Talenger, this is Deborah Crabtree.” Data introduced them, wishing Q would reappear and save him from this. Harper moved to shake Deborah’s hand. Her beaming smile seemed more bright and cheery than the situation warranted.

“Jayden told me he’d met a nice girl here at lunch and that her name was Debbie. You, I assume?” Harper asked, smoothly.

“Deborah, my name is Deborah. Yes, I met Jayden his first day. We’ve lunched together three days in a row.” Deborah said challengingly. She finally stood, still moving in a manner that could be seen as flirtatious. As Deborah rose, she seemed to give Data every opportunity to look down her blouse. 

“I was not able to have lunch with him on those days,” Harper spoke as though she was speaking to Deborah, but she was looking at Data. “I had a big project and had to eat at my desk.” Harper ignored the other woman’s challenging actions. She was not going to fight with this girl, but she was going to make it clear that this man was off limits...or at least not interested. If Deborah wanted to flash her tits at him or anyone else, that was one thing, but trying to pressure Data into going out with her was quite another. If Harper believed for one minute that Data was really interested in Blondie, then she would have sulked for a year, but she would have stepped aside. But Data had not indicated that he was interested. He said he thought it best to not be available for a few days.

Sounded like disinterest to Harper!

Harper turned to the only man in the cubical and being that it was a tight fit, she was standing with only inches between them. “Ready to go home?” she asked him, conversationally. “I believe there are batteries and two smoke detectors calling your name.” She put a hand to her ear as though she was straining to hear a call from the distance.

“I have not forgotten,” he commented, drolly.

“You never do.” Harper said with a grin. Turning back to Deborah she said, “Will you excuse us, please, Miss Crabtree? We’re trying to fix up our house and have to get to the store.” Harper beamed a perfectly pleasant smile at Deborah, but also moved so the other woman couldn’t brush Data as she left.

“Of course. See you tomorrow, Jayden.” Deborah said as she walked by him, trying to muster a sultry smile.

“It was lovely to meet you, Miss Crabtree. Drive carefully going home now,” Harper called to her. When she turned back to him, Data looked down at her suspiciously. “What?” Harper asked, shrugging innocently.

“You planned this. Do not try to convince me that you did not.” Data sounded stern, but he knew that if she were paying attention, his eyes would betray him.

Harper grinned. “I planned this,” she admitted, with a glint of joy in her eyes. “I expected you to get yourself in trouble so I decided I’d be there to get you out of it. If you’ve changed your mind and want to spend the night in her bed, I can call her back-“ Harper made as though to chase after the blonde, but Data pulled her back by the arm.

“I do not wish that. I also do not believe for a moment that you believed that I did.”

“Not a one-night stand kind of guy...” Harper recited, although a corrected version. She looked very pleased with herself, standing inches from him, her fingers laced together, behind her back.

“Correct,” he replied, looking down at her. As she grinned up at him, Data realized he felt something, an inclination to move closer to her...to touch her.

Data jerked back, suddenly nervous and confused by this impulse. Where had this come from?

“I need to straighten up before we leave,” he informed her. Harper made a strange noise as a reply, but Data paid it no mind, moving to turn off his computer and put on his jacket. Collecting his briefcase, he nodded at her that he was ready. She grinned and rolled her eyes at him.

In the van, Data had a lot to say, but could not bring himself to ask the questions that were burning in his brain. They arrived at the local store and Data attended to the ‘boy’ shopping, while Harper picked up some foodstuff that she needed.

“Not really ‘girl’ stuff,” she commented.

“Why are you referring to what I wish to purchase by a gender?” he asked, not seeing a connection. Harper grinned and put a half-gallon of milk in their cart.

“Because you’re suddenly behaving very gender specific. You want to check the locks at night and fix up the house and do the bills. All very manly stuff, and I want to know who hired you to take care of me?” she teased.

“Q?” he asked in a hush.

“I’m supposed to be teaching you a lesson, not the other way around,” Harper reminded him, poking him in the side.

“Perhaps you are to teach me how to take better care of another person. I can already take care of a cat,” Data mused. Harper patted his arm, sympathetically.

“You miss her, don’t you?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“Spot? I did enjoy taking care of her. I think I miss her the most late at night,” he confessed.

“Why?” Harper asked as they made their way to the battery area.

“After you have gone to bed, I am alone. On the Enterprise, I was rarely ever completely alone. Spot did sleep a great deal, but she usually would take her catnaps near me when I was in our quarters.” He was smiling at the memory. Harper had the strongest impulse to hug the stuffing out of him. She sighed and decided that she was just going to have to get him a kitten.

 ~ God, but I’m a sucker! ~ She thought. ~ Is there anything I wouldn’t do for him?~

After they arrived home, Data went to work. He changed into some old clothes of Robin’s and after tending to all the alarms, with Harper handing and holding various items, Data headed to the garage. He would cut the tops of the bushes and she was to trim the front limbs with the non-electric sheers. He sent her in to eat her dinner while he cleaned up the mess and planned his next attack. The garage door had been ‘dinged’ years ago when Harper’s daughter had jokingly hit the control to lower the door before the van had cleared it. Data believed that he could straighten it, but did not wish to break it. He had been given Harper's approval to try, so he...tried.

Looking around the neighborhood to ensure that no one would see him, he set to work. A push here and a pull there and a controlled hit at precisely this point. Done!

For good measure, he swept out the garage and reorganized the yard tools. Data came upstairs to find Harper dusting and listening to music. She was singing and moving about the room in a halfhearted attempt at dancing. She had not noticed his presence and was just enjoying the moment.

As Data watched her, that strange feeling returned. 

In some ways he found her movements humorous.

In some ways he did not.

Data pulled himself away before Harper noticed his stare. Heading for his room, Data pulled his pajamas from a drawer and his robe from the closet. Grabbing a clean towel from the linen closet he headed for his shower. Yard work was very dirty work. He had never thought about life in this time period and how much work it entailed. Shopping, cooking, cleaning and working in order to pay for it all. It was amazing that any of these people ever had time for sleep.

Data emerged from his bathroom clean and feeling better. He did not mind doing things that would cause him to get dirty, but he did not like being dirty any longer than necessary. He heard the vacuum as soon as he opened the bathroom door. Harper was not dancing, but she was still singing above the noise. He went to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine for her. He decided to pour himself one too.

The noise stopped and Data turned to see Harper putting the vacuum away in the hall closet. He made his way over to her with glasses in hand.

“Where did you come from?” she gasped, startled at his sudden appearance.

Momentarily confused, he said, “Omicron Theta?” Laughing, Harper took his proffered glass and shook her head at him. “Come with me,” he said and led her down the stairs to the garage. They left their wine on the table at the top of the stairs. Opening the door, he pointed at his handy work.

“Wow! You swept, you straightened. Oh, Data you fixed the garage door!” He nodded excitedly when she finally noticed what he had been waiting for her to see. “Well, I don’t know what to say!” Harper looked a little dazed as she took one step up the stairs. Before taking a second step, she turned back and kissed him quickly on the cheek. “Thanks, Data,” she said, appreciatively and headed back up the stairs.

~ It had just been a peck on the cheek, ~ Data reminded himself firmly. ~ She had not lost control and thrown herself at him! ~

He was in his room and Harper, too, had gone to bed. It was 2:14 AM and he was still going over the events of the day.

Harper had warned Data after he had only been in her home for a few days that she was what she called a ‘touchy-feely’ kind of person.

“So, if it bothers you to be touched, patted, hugged and so on, either get over it or get used to it. I’ve been this way all my life and even people that have told me they disliked being touched never minded it when I did it. So be prepared.” Her warning had been quite serious.

“I have no aversion to being touched,” Data had assured her, but he had been confused as to why she would warn him about this. Now he understood. He had witnessed it several times in her manner in public. She touched everyone she knew and sometimes even her customers at the second job. And everyone that she touched, responded. They smiled or reciprocated. No one ever seemed offended or displeased at her touch. She was also very friendly. She always greeted cashiers warmly and thanked them politely. She had a smile for everyone as long as she was in a good mood and she usually was.

Harper did tend to wake up grumpy, but if Data had her coffee waiting for her, this and five minutes of quiet brought her out from under her daily gray cloud. Data had even discovered that if he waited for exactly four minutes and thirty-seven seconds and then caught her attention with a silly grin, she was like putty in his hands. 

It was just her getting used to him. The little peck had meant she was pleased, that was all. Harper was trying to push her past over-involvement with his facsimile away and form a new relationship with the ‘real thing’, but she had made it clear that it was not easy.

Data analyzed his thoughts and possible reactions to her suggested scenario of meeting a Tasha who did not remember him or the intimacy they had once shared. How would he have reacted to seeing Tasha again? To work around Tasha, remembering the feel of her skin, the taste of her mouth, the sounds she made as he had made love to her. But have Tasha remember nothing?

Yes, Harper was right, it would bother Data to see Tasha again and have her not remember him at all. But he did not have a forgotten past with Harper. So how was that applicable here? His analysis of this question caused him to pull up the memory of one of the first things she had said to him.

“Unless wishful thinking has given me a new ability, I don’t think I had anything to do with your arrival here...” Wishful thinking... Was it more than just an intense interest in him? More than just the study of him as she watched the TV show?

“...I never wanted to lust after someone else’s man...” Lust? To ache for, to be consumed with desire for, to crave, long, need, pine, want, wish, yearn, or yen for. 

Had she imagined herself...with him? Imagined an intimacy between them?  

And why was just the thought of that causing him to feel...anxious. Or was it anxiety?

Further analysis pointed to things being worse than Data had been willing to consider. He had wanted to believe that Harper had just thought fondly of his ‘character’ and had enjoyed the little stories that she had read...

Overwhelmed with a sudden need to know, Data almost ran from his room to the computer desk. Once it had booted up and the DSL had connected, he accessed the archive and pulled up every story that involved...him. Some were very objectionable! This “Data” had committed horrible acts of violence and sexually atrocities. The stories portrayed him acting contrary to almost all of his ethical subroutines!

There were also stories that involved himself and every one of his friends engaging in sexual acts. Male and female! There was almost nothing that had not been written about.

Data could understand why Harper had tried to convince him not to read these stories, but he wondered why she had read some of them...or if she had...

Data’s ethical subroutine was already raging from what he had read, and he worried that it was going to try to shut him down for what he was now thinking. He backed out of the Internet connection and pulled up Windows Explorer. Harper had asked him not to go into Word, but Data could still look at what was listed without actually going into anything he found there.

There were six Word documents listed. A Dangerous Meeting. Teagan. The Real Thing. The Captain’s Woman and one more that had two parts. This was the only one that gave Data pause.

Lessa and Data –Choices and Dreams, Part 1 and Part 2.

He did not know a Lessa.

“Did you read them?”

Data gasped. He had not even heard Harper come into the room. He swiveled the chair around to face her. She looked as though she was in a state of shock. He knew how she felt.

“No, I gave you my word that I would not. How many of them include me?” he asked her, hoping she would answer before she made for his off switch.

“What do you think?” she asked angrily. “And how do I know that you kept your promise?” she shot back at him.

Her hands where shaking with rage as he took them in his own. “I did not read the stories attached to these titles. I only looked at the titles to see if they hinted at the contents.”

“I should have deleted them, but I was being stubborn! How could you do this to me, Data? You invaded my privacy!” She yanked her hand away from his and glared at him furiously.

“I wanted to know if you thought about me the way the others, who have written stories involving me, do.”

“The archive?” she asked, looking mournful. Data nodded. “All of them with you listed?” Another nod. “God, Data, some of them were really offensive!”

“Why did you read them?”

“I guess the same reason that you did. Curiosity. I stopped reading some of them if I was really offended, and some I have never and will never read.”

“And your stories?” He had to know...

“You won’t give up, will you? You’re a smart boy, what is your educated guess?” she asked caustically.

“The titles are too vague, except for this one,” He pointed at the two-part story. “I am troubled by ‘a dangerous meeting’. Who is dangerous?” Despite her anger, she had to laugh.

“The girl. They’re all love stories, Data. I always thought it was unfair that you never were given the opportunity to ‘get the girl’ in any of the stories I’ve read...novels I mean, not fan fiction. Even in the fan fiction, I’ve only found a small handful. I created a character and hooked her up with your character. The character, remember? You were fiction! It was fun and romantic and she’s referred to as marginally dangerous. She’s not really...well if she gets mad, but...don’t get me started.”

“Who is Teagan?” May as well go all the way...

“You are really pushing it, Mister! She is harder to explain. Lessa is in two stories Teagan is in three, but she is different in each story and meets you at different times and in different situations. Lessa stays the same, the meeting is just different. The Captain’s Woman is the only one that’s finished. There, happy? I don’t have you doing anything sick or perverted; you just fall in love and build a bunch of kids with her. And they all lived happily ever after...”

“May I read “The Captain’s Woman?” Data asked, still wondering how it could be about him with that title. Harper knew his rank...his previous rank.

“No!” she almost screamed. She pushed him back from the desk and shockingly sat on the edge of his lap and began deleting the stories. She even emptied the recycle bin, just to be sure. Once this was done, Harper leaped for his lap and glared defiantly at him.

“Was there a salaciously sexual content in them, Harper?” Data asked.

“No! Well...in one, but I was talked into it!” she defended, but it meant something else to Data.

“You have shown these stories to other people!” he asked, standing.

“You were not real, damn it! In the one I made the intimate stuff very innocent sounding. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a sex scene without mentioning any body parts?!” Her fists were at her sides and she was standing on her toes shouting at him.

“I am sure I do not know,” he replied ironically.

“Well, it’s not easy, let me tell you! No sex takes place in the Captain’s Women until the very end and it’s only hinted at...strongly hinted at. In ”A Dangerous Meeting”, Susan challenged me to make a more sensual scene. Others did it, why couldn’t I?” she defended.

As much as Data hated to admit it, Harper had a point. As far as she had believed at the time, Data was a fictional character. Why would it be wrong to write about a fictional character? All love stories. Happily ever after. Children? They were not about Harper and himself. But were the characters really Harper with a different name? 

“Will you describe Lessa’s character, please?”

“She is a willful twenty-three-year-old who is quickly proving to be a very promising cyberneticist.”

“A cyberneticist?” he asked incredulously.

“It gets worse. She is a reluctant telepath who can hear you. She has a temper worse than mine and is not afraid to use it. She likes to cook, but only gets to in ‘Choices’. She can be sweet and funny and very daring. She’s also good at missing the obvious and had no idea that you are interested in her at first.”

“I? You have me pursue her?” he asked flabbergasted.

“A fun twist.  You were always the one pursued in the show. I thought it would be fun for you to do the chasing for once...not that Lessa runs. When it finally hits her, she does panic a bit, but she gets over it,” Harper explained.

“She is dangerous, but I am the one chasing her and she panics when I catch her?” he asked, disbelieving. His synopsis made Harper laugh.

“She’s charming in a silly school girl sort of way, really,” she assured him.

“Is she you?” Data asked. He had to know and the description was not clear enough for him to discern for himself. Harper’s smile vanished.

“In some ways. In some ways she’s what I would like to be. Younger for one...” Harper seemed to sense that this was coming to a head. Her color was ashen.

“And intimate with me?” he finished for her.

“I’ve not hidden the fact that I was obsessed with you. How could I? I’ve explained this every way from Sunday to you Data and if you just can’t get over it, then you should’ve forgotten about that damned lesson Q wanted me to teach you and gone back with him. Whatever was in those stories was fiction, just like you were to me a month ago. Did you know I was working on one of the stories when you popped here? I know the difference between real and unreal. Q is messing with my head too Data! But I still know that Lessa and Teagan do not exist. And as far as I know, you have never been in love with someone alive who loved you back! I can’t take it back. It would be a lie and my ethical subroutines would not allow me to say that you mean nothing to me.” She glared up at him and looked madder than when she had been yelling at Q. “Now, what else do you want from me?” she asked poking him in the chest in time with each word.

“I want to understand why,” he told her. “Why have you not sought a new mate? I have seen no indication that you even try to date.”

She reeled back from him as though she were avoiding a blow.

“A new mate?” she repeated, aghast.

“Your husband had been deceased for five years, Harper. You-“

“And that’s it? I should just pick myself up, dust myself off and find a new husband?” Her expression made it clear she was against this idea. “Robin was my life! My soulmate! He gave me my only child, made me a mother!” Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I can’t just toss him aside and forget what he means to me.” Harper turned from Data for the first time in all of this. Her sobs became louder.

“My daughter healed. My doctor told me I would too. They consider you crazy if you don’t get past a death like this. But I couldn’t. You want to know what I really want, Data? I want Robin back! I want him here and with me and alive and well. I want him to tell me it was all just a bad dream. That he will never leave me and I will never again have to sleep alone.” Harper slowly sank to the floor. Hugging her knees to her chest, she continued to sob.

Data got down on the floor beside her and pulled her to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, but he could not think of one single thing to say other than...

“I am sorry.”

Her obsession with him had been illusionary...as illusionary as Harper had believed Data to be!

Feeling that she would be perceived as unbalanced if she insisted on keeping her late husband alive in her mind, she had turned to a fantasy. A safe fantasy. She had surrounded herself with images of Data using each one as a block in the wall between herself and the reality that she could not bring herself to face.

Her husband was dead and she was still alive.

Instead of moving on and allowing herself to heal, Harper had clung to the past and a man who could no longer provider her with love. So Data had been selected to fill in the blanks...until he popped into her living room and spoiled everything.

Facing one’s demons was at least as hard as resisting temptation.

Was Harper correct in her assessment that Q was also manipulating her? Harper would not be having this problem if, for whatever reason Q had decided to send her Captain Picard.

Even so, it meant that Data had a whole new dilemma. He suspected that he had correctly identified the emotion that she was causing in him. It was still very new and small, this feeling. But it was building.

This woman who had professed to be obsessed with Data was, in reality, still in love with her husband...and Data was afraid he was falling for her.

Her sobs were subsiding and Data decided it was time to get her off the floor. In a move few could duplicate, he rose to his feet and carried Harper up with him.

“Where are we going?” she asked in a very small voice.

“Where do you wish to go? I had been considering the couch...” he answered gently. He noted again that she was barefoot. Her gown and robe swirled to her feet, but they would not protect Harper’s feet in a fire. Data needed to see that her bedclothes were flame-retardant or at least resistant. She needed slippers or something she could slip on should the prophesied fire come to pass.

Data was unsure as to why he kept thinking of things like that at times like this.

“The couch is fine,” she said, surrendering to his will.

He placed her there and sat next to her.

“You told me that you had been to see a counselor before, true?” he asked, beginning his new train of thought. She sniffed and nodded. “I want you to make arrangements to see this person again.”

She snorted at this. “And tell her what? ‘The android that I live with thinks I need to start seeing you again. Can you help me to forget about my late husband so the android I live with can stop worrying about me? The omnipotent being that sent this artificial life form to me thinks I can help him learn something important, but Data is worried that if I don’t get over the loss of my husband that I won’t be able to help him with his problem.’ Can’t you just see it? If I go and even open my mouth, you will never see me again.” Harper narrowed her eyes at Data. “Is this your plan to get my house away from me? Get me committed to the nut house and you’re set!”

While he knew very well what morbid humor was, he had rarely heard it used quite this way.

“You could talk to her without mentioning me.”

“I don’t think so, Data. In a very short amount of time you have taken over a large portion of my life. It was not your choice, nor was it mine. I was doing okay with the facsimile.”

“I beg to differ,” he commented.

“Don’t beg sweetie, it’s not your style. Anyway, I would have to talk about you and since I can’t tell her the truth about who you are, I would have to lie. Lying never puts you on the path to salvation...or even good mental health.”

“You are not unbalanced,” he assured her.

“Thank you, I didn’t think I was either,” Harper said, with a small smile.

“But you do have unresolved...issues,” Data added.

“Seems like we have something in common, Data. Quite a pair, are we not? Crazy woman who can’t get over her husband’s death, substitutes him for an android she thought she would never meet...surprise! And a crazy man who can’t forget his first love who rejected him before her untimely demise and the fact that he was tempted for half a second to chuck humanity to play house with a woman who was paler than his is. Yep, quite a pair.”

“You do not paint a very flattering picture of either of us, Harper,” Data noted, but could not argue too much with what she had said.

“You’re the painter, sweetie. I can’t even draw a straight line. But then what the hell is artistic about a straight line? Can I ask you something?”

“Yes,” he said shaking his head at her flow of words.

“Why couldn’t we have done this during the day? It’s, what, three AM? Could we not have concluded that we’re both nuts at a reasonable hour?”

“You believe insane people should discover their irrationalities at a sensible hour?” he asked, losing control and beginning to chuckle.

“Okay you’re right. Well, whatever happens now, I think we’re going to have to pass the counselor’s hat back and forth between us. I’m sure that between the two of us we can get our heads screwed back on straight,” she said, and pretended to be looking for loose bolts around his neck.

“I believe that some of your cognitive functions have been compromised,” Data teased.

“I hate it when that happens...” Harper muttered, humorously.

“But I believe that I can help you reprogram them and perhaps install safeguards to prevent future data corruption.”

“I take it that was data with a little ‘d’. Can you reprogram me with a better memory too? I forgot my own birthday last year.”

Data grinned. “I do not think so, but I can remind you. I have had many humans anthropomorphize me, but few wish to...”

“Androidize themselves? Maybe it’s something that comes part and parcel with having a screw loose.” She grinned at him and shrugged.

“Perhaps, you need to work on your speech, too. You use too many contractions,” he teased.

Harper gave him an evil grin. “That’s because I’m Lore, did I forget to mention that?”

“Must have slipped your mind...”

“Actually, it is all part of my evil plan to take over the world or the past or the Borg, or just you I guess... Okay you win. I’m not Lore or an exceptionally wonderful android; I’m just a tired and emotionally drained inferior human. Can I go back to bed now? I promise to be crazy with you in the morning.” She tilted her head to the side and looked pleading, but also sweet and funny.

Data chuckled softly. “Do you wish me to carry you to your bedroom?” he asked with a pleasant grin.

“No, the malfunction is in my head, not my legs. I could have walked to the couch too, you know,” she informed him, with a gentle smile. Data got up and held out a hand for her.

“You do not have any slippers,” he said, pulling her to her feet.

“And the significance of that is...?” she asked with her head tilted, studying him.

“If there is to be a fire in the house, your feet could be injured.”

Harper shook her head at him. “You worry too much, but...in case of fire, Data, you have my permission to carry me.”

Friday was difficult for both of them.

Harper had trouble getting back to sleep and Data felt as though he could have continued their late night conversation for hours if it had not been for Harper’s need of rest. In Data’s opinion,  there were not enough hours in the day in this timeline.

Data drove to join Harper for lunch that afternoon, but they ate in the public lunchroom so they were not able to speak of any of their pertinent problems.

“How’s Deborah?” Harper teased, not even two minutes after Jayden had joined her.

“I believe that you should come with a warning label,” Data told her, narrowing his eyes, but grinning.

“Talk about data corruption... I think I’ve corrupted you!” Harper exclaimed as quietly as she could. She had looked stunned at his retort, though, and Data found that he was pleased.  

“That is a distinct possibility. However I have planned a countermeasure,” he said with a lecturing pointer finger raised.

“Don’t keep me on the edge of my seat, I’ll probably fall off...”

“I have planned some corruption of my own.”

“I’m in trouble now...or you are, because as backwards as I am, I just might enjoy it!”

He grinned, and took a bite of his lunch. He had decided that he did not like peanut butter and jelly, but he did not want to complain since their funds were running so low. This would change once he received his first check, but that was still over a week away. To be so bound by money...it was a frustrating position in which to be. They needed many things, mostly for Harper or the house, but money was required for them all. It was very limiting!

Data drove Harper to her second job under protest. She was very tired and was in no shape to work, but there had been no time to call in a replacement, even if Harper had agreed to do so.

“Go home, I’ll be fine. I’ll call you when we’re ready to leave and you can pick me up,” she told him in the parking lot. Data wanted to come in and help if he could, but Harper just shook her head.

He sighed and waited until she was out of sight to drive home.

Data was starting to like Classic Star Trek. He would always miss the first few minutes of it, but he could extrapolate. He mostly watched the TV when Harper was not at home, but he wondered if he should encourage her to watch it with him. He had assumed that he would identify more with Mr. Spock, whom he had met, but he found this to be untrue. While Data enjoyed watching Spock spar with the doctor, he had never agreed with the Vulcan philosophy, and now he disagreed to a greater degree. As such, Data saw the missed opportunities that the Vulcan did not even seem to notice and felt...bad for him.

“Well, how does Jayden like his new job?” Susan asked as she and Harper worked on putting new stock out on the selling floor.

“Oh, it seems to suit him. He’s a very fast learner and that comes in handy.” Harper replied. It was another slow night, but at least there was something to do.

“You gonna let him stay or is he gonna move out when he gets on his feet?”

“I think he’ll stay. We had an argument about that the other day. I made this dumb bet with him that he would have a girl thinking about whispering sweet nothings into his ear within a week and boy did that backfire.”

“He sleeping with her already?” Susan asked, coming close to Harper in case someone had wandered into the store.

“That’s just what I thought! No, but she was flirting with him. He made out like he wasn’t interested, but I still wonder. He’s been acting kind of strange the last two days. Anyway, we had a fight about this girl and I told him he was free to do whatever he damn well wanted, but not in my house! I think he was worried that I was gonna kick him out.”

“Are you?”

“No, we came to an understanding. But he did find my Data stories.” Susan had acted as a sounding board for several of her stories and never seemed to tire of Harper going on about Data. Harper had even considered telling Susan who Jayden really was, but decided that Susan, like everyone else, would never believe her. It was just too fantastic.

“So, he knows you’re nuts now, huh?” Susan teased. Harper laughed.

“I think he suspected that even before. He didn’t read them and I deleted them off the computer right in front of him, but he doesn’t know that I saved them to disk the day he came to live with me. They’re safe and sound and hidden in a drawer in my room.” 

“I kind of wondered about them since I know you haven’t worked on them since he got here.”

“He’s always in the room! I can’t write about a man with a man in the same room with me. Just too weird.” Harper noted, wrinkling up her nose at the idea.

Susan poked Harper in the ribs and grinned with an evil gleam in her eyes. “Get him to help you. He could play Data and you could play Lessa. Act out the scene and just write down whatever you all say, taking out the contractions for Data!”

Harper almost choked, but let it turn into a strangled sort of laughter. If Susan only knew.

“No, thanks! Hey, do you know anyone who is giving away young cats or kittens? I need one.” Harper told her.

“Please tell me it’s not what’s on the menu this weekend,” Susan said with a laugh.

“No, that would be you, but you’re too short to feed the hordes. I need to get Jayden a kitten.”

“You need to? Why?”

Harper grinned, but blushed too. “Because if you had seen the look on his face when he talked about how he missed his cat that he used to have and how lonely he gets at night after I go to bed, you’d need to get him one too.”

“Sure he wasn’t hinting that he wanted something other than cat company?” Susan asked, eyebrows raised.

“Is that all anyone can think of?” Harper asked with a mock groan of impatience.

“Is there anything else you think of?”

“Not often,” Harper admitted, blushing.

“And have you thought about Jayden?”

Harper reddened further. “Maybe a little.”

“And maybe a lot!” corrected Susan.

Data waited by the door for the ladies to exit the store and then he walked with them as they made the nightly bank deposit for the store. In the van, he asked Harper about her night while driving home. She was cheerful, but tired. Her mind was still on the conversations she had had with Susan. Harper looked for the newspaper as soon as they arrived home. It had been Susan’s suggestion to check the classifieds for listings of free kittens. Claiming fatigue, Harper grabbed the paper and retreated to her room. Data gave her a quizzical look, but could not argue.

There were three listings for kittens. She found a piece of scrap paper and wrote down the numbers and tucked them in the pocket of the pants that she would wear to work tomorrow. They were going to borrow a truck from Alex, her store manager, in the morning, so she took her bath and padded out to say good night.

~ My nighttime routine is nowhere near the same as before he came, ~  Harper thought. Data was looking for something to watch on TV and Harper found this strange. IQ of what, a million? And he’s a couch potato wanna-be. He’d found an old Rambo movie and seemed wrapped up in it. He was sitting forward, staring intensely at the television screen. Harper knew by the expression on his face that Data was analyzing what he was seeing.

“Good night, Siskel. Ebert’s going to bed,” she said. She leaned over the arm of the chair and kissed Data on the forehead. Data stiffened as soon as her lips touched him. Harper sensed his apprehension and pulled back.

“Sorry, must have thought I was one of my story characters for a moment. I’ll see you in the morning, Data. Night.” She turned from him and immediately looked in frustration at the ceiling.

~ Who the hell do I think I am? Lessa? Am I going to jump in his lap next and try to drag him to bed? Oh, God, stop thinking! Just stop thinking!!! ~

“Harper, I-“ Data began weakly.

“Don’t say another word. I told you I’m an affectionate person, but I will make an effort not to feel as comfortable with you as I do. Good-“ Data was suddenly on his feet and looking pitiful before her.

“I did not expect the...good night...kiss. I understand that it does not necessarily denote anything other than affection. I do not object to your having those feelings for me. I share them.” He looked very nervous about admitting that. “I regret that my reaction appeared to reflect displeasure.” He sighed, apparently at a loss for words. He stood looking at her for another moment before touching her arm lightly and leaning in to kiss her on her forehead. Harper found herself closing her eyes to concentrate on committing this feeling to memory. She didn’t want to forget the feel of his lips touching her. It may be the only kiss she ever received from him and she wanted to remember it.

But it was so brief...

“Good night, Harper. I shall wake you at eight tomorrow.”

“Okay. Night Data.” she said in a bemused voice. She wandered down the hall and back to her room, shutting the door behind her. Data watched her until she was out of sight. The feelings he was discovering pulsed through him. Why was it that he could never have an uncomplicated opportunity for a relationship? Was the lesson Q was trying to teach him that emotions were something that he did not want? Data had read extensively on the subject of love and relationships over the years, but he had not found very much that would help him in this situation. How does one stop themselves from falling?

He needed to concentrate on helping Harper through the mourning that she had never completed. Data knew about mourning. He knew about loss. Tasha, his father, Lal. In some ways Data even mourned the loss of Lore. There had not been many moments with his brother that Data enjoyed, but he had come to almost cherish the few that had taken place.

Data reviewed the files that he had on mourning and death for relevant entries. In an instant, he had a plan. Tomorrow when Harper came home from work, she would find Data wearing the counselor’s hat.