Title: Gift of a Future
Author: Gileswench

(notes & disclaimer with part one)

"I thought everybody agreed last night not to repair the robot," Deanna mused as they strolled into Weatherly Park.

"Correction, Imzadi, everybody agreed except Willow. and she's the resident mechanical genius."

Troi shook her head.

"She means well, I can tell, but she's so headstrong. So unsure of herself she needs to act as though she's more certain of herself than anyone."

"Have you psychoanalyzed them all?" Riker grinned.

"On a fairly superficial level," she admitted with a smile.

"Do you ever leave your work behind, Deanna?"

"Will, this is just another away mission. We have to work with these people."

"Just another away mission? I don't recall Starfleet giving us any orders to be here."

"No, they didn't. And I'll admit, taking missions from Q is not my first choice, but we don't really have much to say in the matter."

Riker gave the roudabout a vicious twirl in frustration. Troi moved to his side and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Will," she said soothingly, "we'll get back where we belong."

"As soon as Q decides we've done his dirty work for him."

"He's sent us to worse places before. More dangerous ones."

"If this place isn't dangerous, what was the thing that attacked Wesley? What are these people fighting?"

Troi sighed and sat on the roundabout as it finished turning.

"I know there's danger here. And I know it's something big. All I meant was it looks as though, on a day to day basis, we don't have that much to worry about. We can concentrate on preparing for the battle to come. You know as well as I do that safe is a relative term, Will."

"Doesn't it bother you just a little bit, Deanna? Don't you want to...punch Q in the nose as much as I do?"

"Of course it bothers me. Being around these people...they talk a great deal, but so little gets said. They trust one another with their lives, but not their secrets. The repression is almost overwhelming sometimes. I think I helped Buffy a bit earlier, but I don't know how long it will last. I don't think I've ever known anyone so frightened in my life."

Will sat next to Deanna. He furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Frightened? Buffy? My guess would have been angry."

Troi shook her head.

"The anger is there, certainly, but it's a mask. She's terribly afraid to trust anyone; to open her heart. I don't know who hurt her so badly, but she's convinced that if she lets someone in, it will lead to disaster for everyone."

"I thought you couldn't read minds, Imzadi."

"I can't. She told me. Oh, not in so many words, but as a trained counsellor and as an empath, I can read between the lines. And Giles is just as bad in his own way. He just covers it with a different mask. It makes sense, really. She uses the anger, he hides behind his books and his sarcasm, but the end result is the same. Nobody gets in, nobody gets hurt...except they still do."

"And the others? What do they hide behind? What about Anya?"

"I find Anya very restful to be around," Troi said.

"Restful? Anya? I'm afraid you lost me there."

"She has no pretensions, no defense mechanisms. Nothing is held back. Whatever is on her mind, she says it without fear or favor. Compared to the others, I find that refreshing."

Riker laughed and rose to his feet.

"Come on, Counsellor. We have a robot to find."

He held out a gallant hand to Deanna. She took it, smiling at him.

"And wasn't there a disaster to avert as well?"

"That, too," he agreed. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" she asked as her eyes narrowed warily.

"I don't think we'll find the robot in the park, or near the magic shop. What say we do something twentieth century while we're here?"

"This isn't the twentieth century, it's the twenty-first."

"But if I recall my Earth history, there are still movie theaters. We could go to one of them."

"We haven't any money to get in."

"Then we'll sneak around the back. Come on, Deanna. Let's let our hair down a little. Like we used to."

Troi looked at their joined hands. She tried to ignore the tingle she felt when his thumb caressed the back of her hand. When she looked in his eyes, she stopped fighting.

"All right, Will."

The Buffybot sat slumped before a large headstone. Fat tears dripped down both cheeks. Willow wanted to kill her, Spike didn't want her at all, and she had nowhere left to go.

And she was still tense.

She swiped at her face with the back of her hand, despite the fact it couldn't keep up with the flow of tears.

What was left to her? Where could she go? What was she to do?

When would the tension stop?

At the sound of footsteps behind her, the bot leapt to her feet and took up battle stance. It might be daytime, but vampires weren't the only danger in Sunnydale.

It might be Willow.

It wasn't.

"Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you," the pale, yellow-eyed stranger said in an even tone.

"Wh - what are you?" the bot asked, raising her stake higher.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Data of the United Federation of Planets. Are you the robotic Slayer?"

"I'm Buffy. What are you?"

"I am an android."

"Is that a kind of vampire?" the bot asked uncertainly.

"No. I do not drink blood, human or otherwise. In fact, I am the same thing you are. I am an artificial life form. I have come to take you back to the Magic Box."

"No," the bot whimpered. "You can't take me back there. Willow and Tara want to kill me. I don't want them to kill me. I just want Spike to love me. I want him to make the tension go away."

Data considered the situation for a moment.

"If I promise not to allow them to deactivate you, will you come with me?" he asked.

"Will you take me to Spike?"

"Why are you not with him now? It is my understanding that he lives near here."

"He told me to go away," the bot managed through a fresh batch of tears. "He wouldn't make me feel better and he wouldn't save me from Willow."

"Then perhaps that is not the best thing to do. I will take you someplace where you will be safe."

"But what about the tension? It won't go away without Spike."

"What is it that Spike does to relieve your tension?"

"He has sex with me," the bot replied with the first smile Data had seen from her. "Then the tension goes away."

Data paused and ran through his subroutines for a moment.

"Is Spike the only one who can cure you? Would having sexual relations with someone else help you?"

"I - I don't know. I've never had sex with anyone else. Maybe."

"If you would be willing to perform an experiment, perhaps I could relieve your tension. I am fully functional and programmed in a wide variety of sexual techniques."

"Will you love me?"

"I am afraid I cannot do that. I am not programmed to have emotions."

The bot shrugged.

"My friends want me to die and Spike hates me now. I was programmed to love, but nobody loves me. At least you don't because you can't. If you can make the tension go away, I'll go with you."

Data held out his hand to the bot.

"I will take you someplace safe. Come with me."

The bot held his hand, but remained rooted to the spot.

"No. Make the tension go first, and then I'll go with you."

Data nodded.

"Would you like to go to a less exposed area?"

"No. Right here is fine."

The bot pushed Data to the ground and straddled his lap.

"Shall I engage my erotic programming now?" Data asked.

The Buffybot growled and kissed him.

Data activated his subroutine.