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You Can't Fight a Tidal Wave	By : madradena Category: Star Trek > The Next Generation Views: 1693 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own ST:TNG nor Dreamland, nor the characters from either. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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That afternoon they decided to rehearse the previous scenes to get used to each other and it soon became clear that the success of that one scene they performed together the day before was not by accident. They just clicked. Data had to admit that it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience to dance with Emma - especially that at those times she would not have the chance to speak and thus would not have the chance to tease him. Because she did tease him. In the two hours thirty-five minutes that had passed, he could count thirty-seven separate occasions when she managed to find something to tease him with. And he was almost completely sure that he might have missed a few because of his lack of thorough understanding of sarcasm. He was collecting all of these instances, so later on he could further analyse her personality and possibly to develop a counter-measure to her teasing.
They were at the very end of the first scene, where he had to do some tap-dancing - which was also an enjoyable activity - and almost finished the prose.
"...it is thirty-fourth between first and second." he replied to her question about the whereabouts of El Parador.
"Thanks." she replied smiling and hurried off the stage.
He looked after her with a smile of wonder: "Maybe, baby, it's you." he sang the last lines.
"Very good, guys!" Beverly said smiling proudly at them.
"Doctor Crusher." Data turned to her while Emma walked back up the stage to where they were standing.
"Yes, Data."
"I am curious. I would like to understand the motivation of my character more thoroughly."
"Very well, Data, just ask whatever it is."
He cocked his head to one side: "I believe, the phenomenon He is experiencing while talking to her is what is commonly called 'love at first sight'. However, He seems completely sure from the very beginning that somebody loves him, somehow implying that that 'somebody' is a very particular person. Can humans sense such a thing? I attempted to research the subject and found some contradictory resources on the matter. So I decided the best approach is to ask you, so I can understand the motivation of my character behind such a cheerful, although somewhat senseless behaviour as tap-dancing on the streets."
Emma looked at him in disbelief: "Oh, God! Does 'Singing in the Rain' ring any bells?"
Thirty-eight, Data counted. Although singing in any kind of precipitation did not "ring any bells" - or at least was not found in his databanks on weather - from her tone of voice he could tell it was another teasing.
Beverly ignored her "Data, you are right, I also think it is love at first sight. Between two people who are not at all beginners at love-affairs. About sensing that you have a kind of soul-mate, somebody who awaits only you... well, you see, it's a matter of belief. There are people who believe that every person has one and only one real love of their lives. But there are others who think that love between two people come slowly with a lot of compromises and respect towards each other and that love can come to a person several times. It's only that you have to open your heart and eyes to it." she finished smiling softly.
"Which of these beliefs do you share, Doctor Crusher?" he asked silently - and his utter innocence again caught Emma's breath. As if a child was asking his mother: which one should I believe in, mommy? She looked at Bev: this must have put a terrible weight on the person whom he confides with his questions. Then a thought struck her: what did people who created him do at the start of his life, if they didn't answer these questions to begin with?!
"Both." Bev replied and showed no sign of that weight of responsibility Emma had guessed she would. "I believe that love can take a lot of forms. It can come quickly and passionately. And it can go just as quickly. And..." she gazed away with a dreamy expression "yes, it can come with time. Slowly and gently. Feelings of friendship and support can turn into something deeper. Something more meaningful. You don't even notice, it develops so subtly..." she sighed "And one day you just realize that you can't even imagine your life without that special someone."
Emma saw that she should say something before her friend actually names that 'special someone' just in front of HIS second officer: "Bev, Bev... just stop okay? This is so sweet that we all are dying from diabetes by now."
Bev seemed to get to her senses in a moment. She shook her head a bit embarrassed: "Right, of course."
Data frowned at this irritated. Emma even did that to her own friend! She did not even have mercy on Doctor Crusher.
Suddenly, Beverly's com badge went off:
"Ogawa to Crusher"
"Crusher here." Bev replied after pressing the badge.
"Doctor Crusher, Ensign Harris is here to have her regular pregnancy examination. She says that since Doctor Selar is on shore-leave..."
"Yes-yes, we agreed that I would take over the pregnancy exams. I'm on my way. Crusher out." she finished and closing the channel, she looked at them apologetically "It won't take more than half an hour, forty minutes tops. I suggest you should take a short break, and after that, go on with the next scene, alright?"
"With the restaurant? Okay." Emma nodded, then Bev left them alone on the empty holodeck.
Emma looked up at Data who seemed to take some steps away from her. She watched him for a few moments then decided that they should break the ice and start to somehow communicate without Bev as a mediator. She looked at him with as a neutral expression as she could muster: "I think your character doesn't sense anything that you are suggesting."
He turned back to her and frowned: "Then what do YOU suggest?" it came out a bit too harsh.
Emma tried not to notice his irritation - especially that she didn't really understand what its source was - and just shrugged: "He's in love with love." she replied simply.
Data opened his mouth to reply something, but then it took him some more time to formulate the question: "How can one be in love with love? How can one feel an emotion toward an emotion? It seems contradictory."
She decided that she wanted to look up into his eyes when she would answer this, so she walked up to him and gazed straight into his eyes. He didn't turn away this time.
"Why?" she asked "Have you never felt that way before? Have you never had that thrill of the rush of the hormones, when you feel as if everything and everybody around you would suggest that right after the next corner you will find the biggest love of your life - and then of course you turn that corner, and there is nothing but trash there..." she looked away grimacing then back at him again "But anyway, you just love that feeling! You are all smiles while walking down a street where even the pigeons are having their wedding dance, and it's spring, the fragrance of blooming flowers is in the air - love is in the air! You just have to love that. This is how He feels, at least, that's what I think." she added finally then looked into his eyes questioningly "You really never had that?"
"I seem to lack one prerequisite which you listed as a must to have this emotion: I do not have hormones."
Emma waved that excuse away: "Oh, come on! But you do fall in love. With or without hormones. Don't tell me you don't just adore that feeling!" she told him with a smile.
Data seemed to hesitate. One moment gone. Another. And another without an answer. And it suddenly dawned on Emma:
"You've never been in love, have you." she whispered stunned.
"I..." Data hesitated for a moment longer then looked at her ice-cold again "I do not feel inclined to continue this conversation."
Emma was shattered to pieces in a single moment - and the worst was that she had no idea why. Suddenly, she felt a tight squeeze in her chest, which made her voice to be lost "Of course you don't." she breathed gazing down "I would answer you, if you asked me..." she murmured almost only to herself.
"I also do not feel inclined to pry into your private life, Lieutenant Jones." he told her on his usual silent tone.
Her head snapped up at this, her features hard like a stone: "Yes, Sir, Commander, Sir! From now on, I will stick to topics strictly in relation with our professional affairs, Sir!" she stood with her back straight, her gaze ahead like a professional soldier "May I ask for permission to have something to eat in our break, Sir?"
Data tried to count on, but he was not sure whether he just should count the whole scene as one teasing (or rather insult) or count her tone, her posture and the meaning of her words separately. Before he could answer, she turned her gaze to him, looking daggers at him, then simply walked to the replicator unit and asked for a sandwich. He watched her as she sat at the edge of the stage to eat it. He stood there for a moment longer then went to sit next to her. She seemed to ignore him for a while then stole a glance from him then another and another. The last time her sulking expression turned into a neutral one.
Finally, she held out her half-eaten sandwich to him: "You want some?" she asked.
He gazed at the offered food and a grimace crept into his features. He loathed to eat after someone else! He was able to analyse thousands of different molecules, and with his emotion-chip, he finally was able to actually taste food as well, enabling him to use the two abilities together. When trying to eat something together with someone else, the result was that he could precisely differentiate between the taste of the food and the taste of the saliva of his eating partner. The effect left the impression of kissing in his mind, and thanks to his emotion-chip, he felt mortified by the experience, because he never ever intended to kiss his best friend on the mouth! And Geordi had no idea what has gotten into him causing him even more embarrassment, when he had to explain it to him...
Emma frowned seeing his hesitation: "Oh, come on, take it! I don't have leprosy!"
"Your status of health was never in question, Lieutenant Jones." he answered on a calm voice.
"Then take it, Deadpan! You need to keep in top shape as well! Your bones clatter under your skin!" she added, when he finally, reluctantly took the sandwich from her hand.
He took a bite and chewing on it, he replied: "I do not require sustenance."
Emma laughed out loud taking back her sandwich from him: "Of course you don't..." she mumbled looking ahead then turned to him again: "How was it? Did you like it?"
Data swallowed his mouthful and looked straight into her eyes: "Yes, I did." he replied. And it was true. And it was also true that he was not referring to the food. The taste of her in his mouth started a warm feeling in his groins. Though this time, it was not a blaze only embers.
She smiled as she took a bite from the sandwich exactly at the place he left his teethmarks. She looked at him mischievously: "Now, it's as if we have been kissing." she told him naughtily.
Data gaped at her. Did she actually read his mind?! Did she have the same ability to taste his saliva as he had tasted hers? That warm feeling began to steadily grow. No, no, no... this was not right! He had taken his sexuality program offline before crossing the threshold of the holodeck. Why was it online again?!
Emma didn't seem to sense anything from his confused thoughts. She just looked at him apologetically: "I'm sorry I have invaded your privacy before. It'll never happen again. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings." she told him on a soft sincere voice.
He looked at her surprised then suddenly forlorn: "Didn't mean to hurt my feelings. Which occasion do you mean exactly? Only the last one, or your apology refers to the near forty occasions before that as well?" he asked on such a matter of fact voice that she felt completely demolished by it.
But she was not ready to show a male that she was hurt in any way, so she just grimaced then looked at him with a patronizing look: "You keep count. Maybe you should have your head examined. Such behaviour might be a sign of Compulsive-disorder, you know." she told him popping the last bit of her sandwich in her mouth and leaping to her feet, walked away.
Warm feelings gone. Irritation back. He got to his feet as well and catching up with her at the back of the set, looked into her eyes: "I do not require an examination of my mental state. I am not capable of human mental disorders you are suggesting. I am an android. And you are taking offence on a question that was based on facts."
"Fine! What do you want to hear? That I'm sorry for who I am? Or that I won't be teasing anyone any more? You will be sorely disappointed, Deadpan!"
"Why? Why do you have this need to insult everyone around you? Why do you call everybody names? I wish to understand your motivation."
"My motivation?"
"Yes! I do not see the point in scaring people away. I wish to understand."
"Strange this coming from you, Deadpan. You don't understand?" she looked at him again with that smug expression, and now Data was even more confused. She then started to slowly walk towards him making him step back "You spend most of your day on duty." a step "Then you spend your free time here." another step "Doing a play that you never even intended to." and another "With a person you don't even like. ...Your friends forgotten. Your life forgotten. And you are saying you don't understand my motivation behind running away from people."
He gaped at her at this, then swallowed hard as he felt a peculiar combination of sexual arousal automatically triggered by her nearness and sheer panic!
"The motivation is the same, Deadpan. Only the means are different." she was now looking straight into his eyes, their chest brushing.
He shook his head and tried to take another step away from her gaze, but the closed door of the set behind him stopped him. She didn't let him run away, she again closed the distance between them and looked into his eyes: "I am just as intimidated as you are." she whispered to him.
Suddenly, his mind was flooded with images from his memories with the Borg Queen. When she walked up to him slowly, seductively asking him about his experiences with physical forms of pleasure. He felt just as cornered as now. Just as afraid. And just as aroused. Tempted. Seduced. Her beautiful lips just as close as now Emma's were. The heat of her body pressed against him.
He made a whimpering sound, and as his eyes closed, Emma suddenly realized something was very wrong. She knew he was not with her any more. She had seen this before, she had seen post-traumatic flashbacks of others, and she had lived them herself as well. Oh, God, Deadpan, you are even a bigger mess than I am; she thought as she watched him standing there with closed eyes, tortured, hoping that it would all just go away.
She slid her fingers around his wrists gently - his pulse was racing - and leaned closer to him calling on a soft voice: "Data!" She felt him shudder at the light touch and the sound of her voice, she went on "Stop this. Whatever you see, it's not real. She's not real! You're not there with her. But here with me! Do you hear my voice?" she asked as she gently stroked his wrists with her thumbs "I'm here. And not going away!"
Another shudder rippled through him, and he opened his eyes slowly looking at her through his long lashes with unfocused eyes. He suddenly made an attempt to break away from her, but it was only half-hearted, and she put her hand gently on his shoulder to make him stay:
"Ssshh! Just stay here. Calm down. We're not rushing anywhere." she told him still on a soft voice, and he was amazed to find that it soothed him. He relaxed back against the door and let her stroke his wrist and shoulder where her hands still rested. Oddly enough, her touch was soothing as well. It did not create the usual rush of arousal this time.
After a few moments, the real world fully returned to focus, and he felt very embarrassed. He opened his mouth, and she looked back up at him with a calm gaze. "I..." he started "I cannot explain..."
"Hush!" her touch on his shoulder became more firm for a moment "You don't have to. Just..." but her sentence was interrupted by the opening holodeck door. She was thinking quickly and slid her arms around his neck pulling him into a full embrace and saying her last line of the last scene they have covered so far:
"Well, why don't you come in for a nightcap?"
She opened the door behind him, and they disappeared behind it as Beverly walked up to the stage.
Emma gave him a small smile as he looked at her stunned in the shades, then she opened the door and stepped out to greet Beverly:
"What's up, girl? New baby on board?"
Bev laughed: "It would be too soon for that! How come you are rehearsing the last one? I thought we agreed..."
"We decided to do the scene that was already discussed and fully developed and wait with the restaurant scene until you return." she lied, and as she looked over to Data, she was relieved to see that he looked back at her now with his usual deadpan expression.
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You Can't Fight a Tidal Wave