Data opened his eyes and found himself lying in his bed with Emma next to him deeply sleeping. It was dark in his bedroom, but some dim light came in from the working area. He pushed the blanket off of himself and sat up cautiously so as not to disturb Emma. She stirred and reached out for him instinctively, but did not wake up. He watched her as she cuddled closer to his pillow with a soft moan and lay her arm over it as if she was holding on to him. She then fell back into a deep slumber. He stood up, arranged the blanket around her and then walked out into the workspace area.

He knew whom he would find there. He knew it the moment he'd opened his eyes. He knew it, because SHE had told him she'd never leave. He would never be free. But he was determined to face her now. It was time.

He stopped in the doorway and gazed into her eyes. The Queen stood at the exact spot he had left her, when only two weeks ago, he'd decided he finally couldn't bear it any longer and turned himself off. She was standing there with the same smile she had on her lips, when all the world faded into one tiny point of light just to be devoured by nothingness.

He felt his heart sink and his mind touched once again by the darkness of that deep chasm he managed to climb out of in the last days. But this time, he wanted to fight it. So he walked up to her and looked deep into her eyes.

She reached out with her hand and gently touched his lips with the tips of her fingers, just the way she always did.

"Don't be frightened!" she told him once again on the same voice full of repressed desires she once had, when he was her captive.

He shook his head and took her hand gently in his "I am not frightened." he told her silently - but this time, he did not share those desires, he didn't want her anymore. He held her hand in his "I have to ask for your forgiveness. I betrayed you. It is not something I do often nor something that I can forgive myself easily. But I need to have your forgiveness also."

She smiled tenderly "Data, we both did what we had to do. I needed to try to turn you over to us. You needed to do whatever you felt right."

He bowed his head still feeling ashamed by his deeds "However... it is not just betrayal I am guilty of... I killed you!" he whispered.

And all of a sudden, the Queen chuckled softly. He looked at her stunned, almost shocked at her reaction "Data... I am the Borg. You cannot kill me! As long as the Borg live, I will always be alive! What you killed was merely a shell. I am as immortal as you are!" she touched his lips with her fingertips again "This is exactly why we would have been so perfect a couple..." she whispered and gazed at his parted lips then into his eyes longingly.

He looked into her eyes wistfully "If we met under different circumstances..." he shook his head - he didn't really believe that himself.

She squeezed his hand in hers and looked at him determined "Don't think that we won't meet again. When the world of organics come to an end... you and I will meet yet again. Time... is irrelevant for us. And I will wait patiently for our time." she whispered and then leaned close to his face, pressed her lips gently to his - a feather-like touch - and then faded into nothingness.

He was left there with a feeling of overwhelming relief.

He opened his eyes and found Emma propped up on one elbow looking down at his face, watching him sleep. He looked at her with a hint of surprise and turned his head to her. She raised her head from where it lay on her fist, reached out and combed her fingers through his hair lovingly.

"Did she appear?" she asked on a soft voice.

He blinked for a moment amazed at her question. Then turned on his side and propped himself up the same way she was to face her. He nodded "Yes, she did. However," he gazed away thoughtfully "it was no nightmare. She," he looked back into her eyes "she said goodbye." - he barely could believe it himself!

She smiled relieved and stroked his cheek tenderly. Then she sighed a deep weary sigh, and he looked at her concerned "Why are you not sleeping?"

She shrugged slightly "I needed to make sure, you don't have any nightmares. I needed to watch over you."

He smiled in wonder and cupped her face gently in his palm. Then leaned close to her and kissed her on the lips gratefully. Just as she slid her arm around his neck, and he pulled her closer, they felt the bed move. They broke away and gazing into the direction of the movement met Spot's gaze glowing against the darkness as she was lazily walking up on the bed towards them.

"Spot, do you have a sixth sense to know the exact time, when you disturb the most?" Data asked with a lot less irritation then he intended. The cat refused to appear the whole time they were up - but of course now...

As a reply, Spot stopped between them and started to kneed the blanket.

"Spot!"

Emma chuckled softly as she dropped her head tiredly back on the pillow and lay on her side. "Tell me, Deadpan, does she always sleep with you?" she asked with a slight suspicion.

Data looked from her to Spot, who was taking a circle to make herself comfortable and then lay down scooping herself up "Not always." he stated matter-of-factly, then looked back at Emma innocently and added meticulously "When I am doing Gamma shifts, she sleeps alone."

She laughed out and then stroked the cat's fur lovingly. Spot didn't bother to react, she was already sleeping, pressing herself close to Data.

Data finally admitted "Whenever I utilize my dream program, she would join me in the bed, yes." He finally lay down again and turned to his side too. He reached out and took Emma's hand, where it lay next to Spot over the blanket.

They lay there in the dim light gazing wordlessly at each other, and slowly Emma's eyes closed.

"You know what goes on in my head, Deadpan?" she mumbled sleepily.

"I have to admit, I have yet to develop telepathic skills." he told her, and she heard him smile.

She returned it but felt herself drifting off "Hhmmm..." she started to croon silently "Put your dreams away for another day, And I will take their place in your heart..." her speech slurred already, she finally dropped off before she could finish.

He squeezed her hand "Let your kiss confess this is happiness, darling, And put all your dreams away!" he finished the last lines of Dreamland for her quietly. He carefully leaned over to her and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. Then lay back on his side, and after a moment, joined her in Dreamland again.

A/N: Italics are from Dreamland as usual.

And thus, 'You Can't Fight a Tidal Wave' comes to a conclusion. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this story - it is about the size of a novel, so if you got through, kudos to you! :)

I suppose some of you might have a sense of 'unfinishedness' as there are themes that are not concluded. This is because I always intended to write a sequel, where the loose ends would all tie up.

Update: I've begun to write the above mentioned sequel called 'Blind Chess'. Check it out, if you liked this story! :)

Thank you again for reading 'Tidal wave' and especially for giving me feedback! Please do go on leaving reviews! Even if you just leave a few words, it's precious to me! It's a huge thing to get feedback after over a decade of writing only to my desk-drawer! And please listen to Dreamland, if (for some unfathomable reason) you haven't done so far! :-*