The BLTS Archive - Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave
by Omega (alisasheldon@hotmail.com)

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Disclaimer: Paramount is God of the Trekiverse. I am a lowly acolyte
attempting to preserve my sanity.

Warning: CD and I've been reliably informed that this qualifies as a
tearjerker. Get out the hankies.

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"Geordi, you must leave," he tells me as the ship shakes around us.

He knows that I'm not going to leave.

I can't do that.

It's said that captains don't abandon ship, but what do they take
engineers for?

This ship brought me to Data.

It brought me more joy than I could ever imagine.

I'm not gonna condemn her to a lonesome death.

I'm not gonna let Data stay, though.

A pretty poor return for the love he's given me.

"Unemotional android." Ha, what a crock.

"Leave, Data. I don't want you to die."

I finally turn to look at him and see something I'd never seen before:
Pure determination.

He wasn't leaving without me.

I wasn't going to leave.

He was going to die with me.

Love wells up in me so suddenly, I gasp with its intensity. "I love
you" I finally say, knowing it'll be the last time I can say it in
this life.

"As I love you" he replies quietly.

We kiss as the ship explodes around us.

I open my eyes, surrounded by light.

People dead for years surround me, all joyously laughing and talking.

I see Tasha and countless other friends we'd lost over the years.

Then I see him, golden skin shining like the sun.

Heedless of the others, I run into his arms, crushed by a powerful
embrace.

Tears hit my VISOR-less face.

It's only then that I realize I can see.

I can see the beauty of his soul and the depth of his love.

Sights never to be forgotten.

We are finally at peace and we are together forever.

As we knew we would be, for all of eternity.

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The End