Author's Note: It's a double drop this weekend!
I *promise* we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon! We're almost through the flashbacks. There is a small snippet here to draw back to the DaTasha focus.
This chapter & the next are the end of the big flashbacks.
There will be snippets before the end of the story arc. But they will be snippets only. Data, Picard, and the gang will all be back as main players after this interlude.
Thank you for all your support!
-X-
Please be advised this portion of the story is a dark turn. I want to assure you – this series has a happy ending. But this part is filled with pain and loss.
Content Warning: Strong language, violence, abuse, child abuse, CSA, sexual assault, torture, graphic injury, enucleation, pregnancy/childbirth, miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, self-harm, suicide, character death, murder.
-X-
Present
Data and Tasha were lying in bed in her quarters. Tasha was starting at the lines on the ceiling panel above as she tried to slow her mind enough for sleep.
She rolled onto her side and curled up in hope that a new position might help.
"You are not sleeping," Data said.
Tasha giggled.
"No," she replied with a thick yawn.
Tasha stretched out and then flopped back onto the bed.
"Are you feeling alright?" Data inquired.
"I'm just tired," Tasha answered.
Data frowned. He rolled onto his side and spooned up behind Tasha.
"And yet you are not sleeping?" Data pressed.
Tasha melted back against his embrace.
"I just have a lot on my mind. This whole business with the Romulans gives me an icky feeling," Tasha said.
"Ah, your gut," Data said, understanding.
Tasha pulled his hand to her mouth and pressed a soft kiss there.
"I suppose. It's not really a hunch. I just always get a bad feeling when Romulans are involved," Tasha shared.
They were masters of deception.
"I can't shake the notion there's more going on here than we know. More than we'll ever know," Tasha said in a strange, faraway voice.
She sighed.
"But then I suppose it's always that way when Romulans are involved," Tasha acknowledged.
Tasha rolled in Data's arms, so she snuggle up against him.
"And then there's this business of a secret wedding," she said.
Data leaned back. He cupped her chin, pulling Tasha's face up so he could meet her eyes.
"If the thought distresses you, put it out of your mind," Data said.
Tasha blinked rapidly.
"No, no!" she assured him.
She flashed him a hazy smile.
"I think it's the only thing keeping me sane," Tasha confessed.
"Oh," Data replied.
YOU ARE READING
The Complication
Fanfiction"Am I the 'complication'?" Data asked. Following the events on Ligon II, Data struggles to reconcile the discrepancies between Tasha's verbal and nonverbal communication. Furthermore, his attempts to better understand what's happening lead to him fr...
