"Commander LaForge, there's an Andorian transport, the Aleutia, hailing us . It doesn't appear to be a distress call."

"Put it on visual." Geordi couldn't imagine what an Andorian transport would want from them. They were low-level traders, ferrying basic necessities between primarily new Federation settlements. There were several such in nearby sectors, but none of them of interest to the Enterprise. Then again, Geordi's imagination in general had taken a beating since he was assigned overnight watch at the conn, leaving Lieutenant Commander B'Rek to serve in Science and Engineering and as second officer in Data's absence. Though he'd been disappointed not to have been chosen to serve in Data's place, he didn't take it personally. An emotionally neutral Vulcan was closest to what Captain Picard was used to as second officer, and Captain Picard didn't respond well to changes in his daily routine. Funny how someone who could think on his feet in the most hellish situations could be thrown into disarray with a change in his personal environment. Though Geordi enjoyed the Big Chair as much as any other senior staff did, the graveyard watch played havoc with his circadian rhythms and he wondered how long it would take for him to get back to normal once he returned to regular duty. All of these musings were blown from his head when the image materialized on the bridge viewscreen.

"I request permission to come aboard and return to active duty."

Geordi sprang straight out of the Big Chair as if it were on fire. "Data! You're back! You're in one piece!"

Data appeared puzzled, and he looked himself over. "I concur with both observations. Are you all right, Commander LaForge? You seem a bit… at loose ends."

"I'm a bit exhausted from working the overnight watch! Hell yeah, Data, permission granted!" The rest of the bridge crew, minimal at this hour when most of the complement was asleep, covered smiles and snickers. "Well it's 3 am, after all," Geordi informed them. "Have the Aleutia beam you right to the bridge." Data's response was hesitant.

"Do you wish me to relieve you of the remainder of your watch?" Though he rotated to overnight on an intermittent schedule and under special circumstances, it wasn't Data's typical watch.

"No, Data. I just wanted to welcome you back."

"Ah. In that case, Geordi, I must respectfully decline. If it is all right with you, I would prefer to return to my quarters first." More varied chuckles from the bridge crew.

"That's enough!" Geordi barked at them. Or tried to. His suggestion was supremely stupid, given the circumstances of Data's absence. "Sorry, Commander Data. Of course, return to quarters and report to the captain and Lt. O'Reilly in the morning to process your return to duty." Now the laughter wasn't even subdued. "All right, all right, people, control yourselves." Liberties were taken on graveyard watch that would never be dared at any other time. Or with Commander B'Rek at the conn. "Oh, you know what I mean Data. Welcome back. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, Commander. Data out." The viewscreen went blank, and as Geordi returned to the Big Chair with a smile of satisfaction his mind wandered to formal fashions. He'd be damned if he'd be wearing his uniform as Data's best man.

"Computer, 1/8 light." The command was barely a whisper. He expected her to be asleep in the bedroom and that the light wouldn't reach her. Though Data's visual processors were capable of amplifying ambient light to multiple powers, Leo's intolerance of any light at night, even the glow from a chronometer panel, meant that all computer displays were deactivated when their quarters were "asleep", even though he was not (his in-bed reading by 1/8 light was discontinued promptly at 11pm; any other work was accomplished by a direct link with the ship's computer or his PADD).

As he quietly set down his travel bag of "necessaries" Data's attention was caught by the sofa. To his surprise Leo was wrapped up in a blanket and sleeping soundly. A glance into the bedroom showed a bed that clearly had been undisturbed for some time. He approached the sofa carefully, and closer inspection revealed Leo was tightly hugging the pillow he had left for her. In fact her face was half-squashed into it, rendering her breath sounds stifled and snuffly. He wanted to let her sleep, he honestly disliked disturbing what he considered to be a regenerative state essential to her well being. But he was unable to restrain himself. It had been a week, seven days of disconnect from belonging. He knelt next to the sofa and laid a hand on her hair, fingers tracing the delicate strands. He wondered if this might be analogous to a human sipping water after a long thirst. He had suffered no pain but something undeniable, if indefinable, was relieved when he touched her.

She made no sound, there was no typically discernible movement or murmur of waking. Instead in a single motion she reached for Data and pulled herself half off the sofa, tangled in blankets, "teddy" ignored as that miserable aching absence was finally filled by its opposite. Finally she managed a single word after pulling her face from his shoulder, "Okay." He, they, everything in the future.

"Yes."

She'd never felt hunger in his kisses until now, and was beyond questioning what new analog might have been achieved. For his part Data felt the need to regain every part of their connection simultaneously, the knowledge that re-established presence. It wasn't emotional, but it was elemental. Then he felt the inner hesitation, barely the length of a single of her heartbeats, the doubt that no time or amount of reassurance could completely extinguish. He pulled her off of the sofa, held her head-to-toe against him as he lay down on the floor, leaning over her to stroke her face. "This is not a welcome home present," he told her between kisses, alternating deep and delicate lip touches on her face, her neck, her mouth, to feel in his way what he couldn't feel in hers, "you are not using me," he shushed her barely-begun words with more kisses and caresses, "to touch you, to know you, to feel and hear your body, that is my pleasure, you do not need to understand it, to feel your love for me in your substance and see it in your presence is all the 'pleasure' I require. Believe me, Leora Eileen, have faith, that even if I could feel physical pleasure in every human aspect this," he pressed his face into her breast and both of them felt her breath and heartbeat alter, "this is where the meaning lies. Words can lie, human emotions and nerve endings can mislead, but heart and blood and breath cannot, and I cannot conceive of any greater definition of pleasure than their honesty. You 'give' me more than you can imagine, and your absence from my life cannot be an option if I am to continue live as I want to. "

Leo was in tears, taken by surprise not only by his sudden return but by the intensity of his insistence that she was as important to his life as he was to hers. That any other human woman might not interpret it that way was irrelevant. Everything was irrelevant. He was home, and the balance was corrected.

"Data, D, I," she tried to tell him things she couldn't form the words for but he smiled that smile and lay beside her, one hand reaching under her pj's to feel her warmth and texture, he'd always been intrigued by the her physical responses and kept internal track of how slowly or quickly or in what configuration his varied touch could transform the velvet of a flat nipple to an insistent point, or bring her heartbeat from calm to racing. He recorded that now, unbuttoned the flannel to replace his hand with his mouth, rewarded by her movement and sound as she pressed closer into him. His eagerness for what she finally understood freed her to touch and embrace him as if he were human, something she realized she'd never actually done because she didn't think it registered in him, now he'd finally persuaded her it did even if it wasn't in a way she completely understood.

"I would love no other," he whispered against her skin, repeating the phrase like a verbal kiss every few inches until he arrived again at her mouth. He repeated it against the tears on her face, into her hair, against her ears as she pulled at his uniform and finally there was nothing but skin and silken polymer, equally warm and equally welcoming.

In the morning she woke still wrapped in Data's arms but in the bed she'd been unable to bear without him.

"Good morning," he told her in that news-announcer voice.

"Yeah," she agreed and stretched and whimpered in the waking-up routine she'd foregone last night. As always, Data loosened his grip enough to give her room but not so much he couldn't share in the event.

"Back to work," she reminded them both, though of course Data had never forgotten even in the midst of their reunion. He'd simply learned the value of the term "back burner", a concept which had eluded him for so long. Just because one possesses parallel processing capabilities doesn't mean everything has to be on an equal level at all times.

When they were both in uniform and Leo was having her morning tea, Data approached Leo with something hidden in his hand. "I would like to show you something," he told her.

Aha. He opened his hand, and in it lay a tiny black box. He didn't waste any time, she thought to herself.

"Take it," he prompted her and she did, keeping one eye on him as she pried the lid open. What she found inside, however, wasn't what she was expecting. Silly woman, when had Data ever been "expected"? Inside the box in a nest of synthetic foam lay a tiny, very tiny, square of silicon. Barely visible were tracks of metal on its surface.

"I'm sorry, what is it?" Before she could be aware of her expression she saw that her disappointment was mirrored in Data's own face.

"It is a gift from Juliana Tainer."

"Your mom."

"Yes."

"But what is it?" She closed the box and handed it back to him as slowly as possible.

"It is, in simple terms, an 'emotion chip'. My father, Noonien Soong, had not perfected it at the time he inserted it in my brother Lore."

"Let's hope not." She'd heard all about the evil twin, though they hadn't met thank god.

"It remained Dr. Soong's primary focus in the years after I was left on Omicron Theta. It has been tested by Juliana Tainer and others, and has met every expectation. She gave it to me before I left he Daystrom Institute two days ago. It is an 'engagement present'. She said that after speaking with you she is certain it is something that would enhance our relationship."

"But what about what you said last night? I thought emotion wasn't necessary, that everything about me gave you everything you need? You know I don't want any more from you than you're able to give already." The alteration in Data's expression would have been indiscernible to anyone but Leo, or perhaps Dr. Tainer.

"It is not 'necessary'," he told her quietly. "It is an option we are now able to explore if and when we wish to."

Oh god. The one thing that Data had been longing for since, well, since forever and she couldn't find it in herself to jump for joy until he could do so himself. The fact was, the potential change represented by that tiny bit of silicon terrified her.

"Well is it okay if I think about it?"

"You know you may discuss it with me at any time. It is not 'necessary' to our life together." He took it into the bedroom, and she heard a bureau drawer open and close.

"Shall we go to the ready room together?" Data asked, as if the previous exchange hadn't happened. "You must process my return to duty." She didn't respond, so he took her hand and led her to the door. "Leora Eileen, everything is restored to its desirable state. Do not worry so."

She followed him to the turbolift and continued to hold his hand as they rode to the bridge. Looking sidelong at him she knew, how she knew, that while this new chip may not be "necessary" it was what he'd worked toward at great cost all his life. Having gotten everything she'd wished for herself for quite some time now, she was in no place to advise him to "be careful" of what he wished for.

That little black box symbolized their future together more than the biggest, fattest diamond ring that could exist in the 24th century. Leo sighed internally as the turbolift doors slid open and Data stepped out to the welcomes of his crewmates.

Once more into the unknown, she figured. It ain't like I don't know the way.