Plants Don’t Need You To Smile – Chapter 32 Instinct
Data x Gender-Neutral Reader
First Chapter
Or read it on AO3
Through all the stress and overwhelming feelings of the last few hours, you have lost track of time. Data informs you of that quite directly.
“I would recommend that you eat something soon,” he says, his seat turned slightly toward you.
You don’t feel like eating. Somewhere in your head your stomach is telling you that it is, in fact, hungry, but you don’t believe you could eat even a bite of your favorite meal right now.
So you don’t answer him.
“Are you in need of—”
You cut him off sharply. “Why did you do that?”
“What? Please clarify,” he asks back, brow furrowed.
“Why did you install the sensors on your console?” You meet his gaze now, angrily tensing your jaw.
“I did that to quicken the process of—”
“No, I don’t mean that. I know what it’s for, but why? Why did you take the one thing I can do on this mission away from me?”
You feel yourself start to shake again. A part of you feels like a toddler having a tantrum right now.
But this part, however immature, takes over. It all comes crashing down with the remaining feeling of being overwhelmed—of not knowing what to do, how to act, and losing your slim sense of purpose on this mission.
“Have I made you angry?”
“Yes,” you almost shout. You now jump up from your seat and hurry to the back of the Helix. You need space. Space from him. Space from all of this. This impossible thing he told you. Space from every little self-doubt you still harbor.
Data doesn’t follow you. But he stands up and looks at you from the cockpit, his head tilted.
“I am sorry. Please tell me how I can rectify my mistake.”
“There is no way,” you sigh. “You just… You do everything better. You’re fast, more efficient, and I honestly think you don’t need me here. Like at all. Who needs a botanist? Plants aren’t that complicated, and I’m sure all you would have needed to do was download a couple of files and you could easily take over every part of the mission. At least my parts.”
You find yourself back in the corner of shame and loneliness. Sinking to the ground in the far rear of the shuttle, where over a day ago you sat accompanied by three little plants.
You hug your legs and put your head onto your knees. You close your eyes and shiver. You hate yourself right now for doubting yourself.
You are here on the Enterprise, you can stop worrying. You don’t need to prove anything anymore, you hear Keiko’s voice.
But that isn’t true, you think angrily. Because being on the Enterprise doesn’t mean you made it. It doesn’t mean you are safe. People get transferred off the ship all the time. You’ve seen it firsthand. On your second day you saw two ensigns talk—one of them crying because she had just been transferred to another ship.
Transferred. That’s the nice way of saying she got fired.
Because if you get transferred from the Enterprise, it is a step down in every direction. No ship is better, bigger, or more advanced than Starfleet’s flagship.
“I can delete the program from my console again,” Data tries in a quiet tone.
Oh no. Again there is a little wetness on your cheeks. What is it with this day?
Hastily you wipe away the three tears that escaped from your tear ducts. You suck on your lower lip to calm down a bit, to hold on to the little respect for yourself you have left.
Call me Data. But at the end of the day, you are at work right now, and he is your superior. He is the one who can tell Captain Picard that this weird botanist doesn’t bring anything to the table.
You press your face to your knees now. You don’t want to be here anymore. In this situation. In this shuttle. With this man. Everything is just too much.
You are a gardener in space. But space, it seems, makes you crazy.
You hear the hum of the Helix and your own chattering teeth. And then you hear footsteps coming toward you. Then another sound: someone lowering themselves, kneeling beside you.
“I am very sorry I made you feel like you are not needed on this mission. But the truth is that I did not add you to the mission because I wanted to find out why I could not stop looking at you or thinking about you. I did it out of professional necessity. A botanist is needed on the mission, and I could not replace you. Because while I might be able to read levels, it is you who truly cares for the plants. The truth is that there might be more to it than sheer algorithms.”
He stops for a while. You feel him sitting beside you. You hear the fabric of his uniform move as he shifts positions. How, you don’t know. Because still you are not looking at him. And not going to.
“When planning this mission, I underestimated the necessity of a botanist. I thought it would be enough to get three Auravines and care for them. What you need to understand is that I am not good with caring for life-forms. I do not have the certain… intuition humanoids have. It seems there is more to it than calculating when and how to water a plant.”
You notice a hand resting on the floor beside you. So close it almost touches you. But it does not.
“I told my team exactly what you told me about the watering requirements for the plants, and although I suspect they did not do everything you told me, I also believe that you do not either.”
You frown, not getting where he is going.
“I have reason to believe that although you are a scientist—calculating and analyzing—you are also an intuitive person. You know what the plant needs in a way that I never could. And that is why I added you to the mission. I saw you care for the three plants in the lab and understood that you are the right one for the job. Not just because you have the required knowledge but also because you have a good instinct.”
His voice is soft, calm, and gets quieter with time.
“What I am trying to communicate is that although I might now see the levels on my screen, I still need you. The plants so far have shown unexpected behavior in the environments we planted them in. There might be more to consider. I need you on this task, and I do need your help with it. You do have a purpose on this mission.”
You sniff a little. The three tears almost stayed alone. Not quite, though. Your uniform’s fabric on your knees is wet.
You take all the strength you have and look up—not at Data, who is sitting beside you, but straight ahead. At one of the boxes.
“Are you saying this to comfort me or is this true?” you whisper. Your head hurts, partly because you really are hungry, it seems.
“Both,” Data answers. “I see no reason to lie to you as you are not in mortal danger. Therefore everything I have told you is true. I want to comfort you, but also I wanted to share my reasoning behind putting you on the team.”
You wipe away the rest of the tears with your sleeve and look down at your lap again, still avoiding looking at Data.
You feel cold all of a sudden. So you shudder, still not moving otherwise.
Data stands up again. You sigh, thinking that this was that, then. He has done his due diligence: telling you the truth, and now he will leave to do the job he is actually here to do. Understandable, you think.
But a few moments later he comes back. This time he holds the blanket in his arms. In one quick motion he wraps the blanket around your frame, straightening it with his hands.
That is when you look at him. Your face must look horrible—probably swollen and red, you think, embarrassed.
“You showed signs of being cold. So I brought you the blanket. To further comfort you.”
You snort a little, and a grin slips over your face. Then you shake your head.
He thinks he is not good at caring for life-forms? He has done a great job caring for you so far.
Data tilts his head but doesn’t ask the question so clearly prominent in his expression. Instead, he sits there looking at you.
“What might increase your body’s temperature further is another heat source,” he tells you in a neutral tone.
You nod. You don’t know if you understand what he means, but you are willing to take a risk. It seems like you haven’t done that enough lately.
So you scoot closer to him until you feel his shoulder at your temple. Shyly, you rest your head on his shoulder.
You still shiver.
He moves away a little. That makes you panic instantly. Have you misunderstood?
But the next thing that happens is Data wrapping his arm around your shoulders, moving you even closer to him.
You feel his body against yours, his hard chest at the side of your face.
You close your eyes, exhausted and excited at the same time.
The hand wrapped around you presses lightly against your shoulder, fingers moving rhythmically.
Then you feel his chin on the top of your head.
Next Chapter