Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [Kaz/Zero]

The look that the Augment cast toward her host was positively venomous. The questions were starting to get extremely personal and she wanted nothing more than to bolt out of the door and back to her own quarters. She didn't even have Ghost to distract her since she had thought that it would be a better idea to leave him behind.

"You are already aware of the fact that my emotional maturity is not at an adequate level for my age, both through my own inexperience and through Admiral Corinth's education. I am incapable of offering her the understanding and love she requires."

Leela watched as Zero glared. She knew that she had struck a nerve. The Trill had her right where she wanted her. In order to help Zero develop further she knew that she would have to have her break down the walls that Corinth had built. "Can you elaborate further?" She asked taking a drink of the brandy. "Tell me about a specific time that Jiseth had an emotional need that you couldn't fulfill?"

Once again, Zero took a while before she answered, still glaring at Leela. It was clear that she wasn't going to abandon this line of questioning, but perhaps if she stopped giving her the ammunition to question her...

The Augment remained silent, deciding that the best way to end this uncomfortable line of questioning was to simply stop answering. Instead, she leveled her glare at the Trill and crossed one leg over the other at the knee, folding her hands over it.

Leela shot a glare back at Zero. She knew in order to help her grow she would have to push her far beyond her comfort zone. She took a sip of her brandy and set the glass back to the table. She didn't break eye contact throughout the entire motion. "Well...?" Leela waited for an answer. "I'm not going to let this go. I know its uncomfortable but you need to answer the question."

The prolonged eye contact didn't bother Zero in the slightest. She had often held staring matches with Admiral Corinth during the first few months of her incarceration at Starfleet Medical and with many superior officers since.

"Such information is private," she replied shortly. "I will not compromise what trust has been placed in me by allowing it to be used against us by Corinth."

Her soup cooled and Leela had barely taken more than. She was beginning to realize that this wasn't going to be as easy as the Captain made it seem. Although she wasn't certain why this surprised her, nothing about this situation had been easy or routine.

"Zero..." She began. With a calmness in her voice. She resisted and urge to lash out. "I promise you, here and now, that I am on your side. I want to help you. I promise you anything we discuss is not going back to him. The Captain and I are trying to help you achieve a level of emotional development that can demonstrate that you are prepared for true independence." She took a sip of her Brandy. "I need to help you show some progress. Developing meaningful relationships with those you love is critical. If we can help bring you and Jiseth together in a meaningful emotional manner. We may just succeed in proving that to the Admirals."

Leela leaned in closer and whispered. "Please Zero, let me help you."

The Augment narrowed her pale-grey eyes at Leela, still not entirely sure about trusting her. In fact, Zero was already pretty sure that trusting this Trill was not a good idea, not matter how much she protested the opposite.

On the other hand, if she truly meant what she was saying about going behind Corinth's back and proving to other admirals that she was capable of functioning, then maybe, just maybe...

She looked away, down at her hands folded in her lap. "Jiseth often requires emotional support and understanding, as well as physical relief important to her emotional wellbeing. I am unable to provide such things."

Leela stood up and made her way to the cabinet where her brandy sat out. She poured another drink and took a sip. The alcohol was beginning to ge to the Trill but she was well experienced at keeping control while intoxicated. She wasn't certain if she considered that a skill or a failing but the ability was there, nonetheless. She leaned her back against the cabinet and turned to address Zero. "The most important thing, and what I believe you lack, is an ability to empathize with someone. You need to be able to understand how others feel before you can respond accordingly."

As Leela stood up, so did Zero. It wasn't a necessarily useful move, but the Augment didn't appreciate being sat down while others stood around her. It was a position of dominance that made her quite uncomfortable.

"I am capable of analysing and identifying the emotions of others. It is their understanding, application and responses that elude my comprehension. My reactions to such things are often seen as insulting or inadequate even if that was not my intention."

She fell silent for a moment, looking down and to the side. "Jiseth, for example, often wishes to initiate intimate contact, but in recent times, my own training has prevented me from responding to those wishes as she expects and needs me to. While I am capable of determining that she is hurt, upset and angered by my rejections, I do not know how to resolve the situation."

Leela swirled the brink around in its glass for a moment. She quickly realized that she was making Zero uncomfortable and returned to her seat.

"Have you told Jiseth how you feel when she attempts to be intimate?.... Have you expressed the feelings that surface whenever she attempts to initiate relations?"

Although her host had sat down, Zero remained on her feet for a moment longer before remembering that it was polite not to loom over someone who had been nice enough, (suspected ulterior motives aside), to invite her over for dinner.  

Once she was sat down again, however, there were still several moments of silence in which she warred with herself about how much she could tell the Trill.  How much would be betraying Jiseth's confidence?  Gavin was aware, yes, but he had already well established himself in her trust by that point.  

She looked down at her nails, kept short and immaculate for her work in sickbay, nervously picking at a hangnail.  "I have attempted to inform her, yes.  Her reactions to such information were not positive in the slightest. I find that I do not wish to inform her when I am uncomfortable or afraid."

If you can't talk to those you love... Who can you talk too?

The thought swirled around Leela's mind. She was worried for her new friend, whether Zero appreciated it or not. As the thoughts marinated she found her mind drifting to the relationships of pasts hosts. She quickly found herself considering Jareda's marriage. In many ways, him and Zero were alike. Married to their work, no imagination and a terrible sex life. But he loved her. He never quite figured out how to show her the depth of his passion.

"Zero. You can't be afraid. I know you love her... Why do you find it so difficult to talk to her?"

Thinking back over the many times she had tried to respond to Jiseth's advances, but then cowered away, Zero sighed quietly, feeling her expression fall briefly into one of abject sorrow before she caught it and schooled it into something far less incriminating.

"If I attempt to speak to her on the subject, she becomes melancholy or distressed. I do not wish to be the cause of such emotions in her and therefore I do not bring up the subject."

"Zero." Leela began as she finished yet another drink. By this point in her evening the alcohol was beginning to have effects and she could feel her mind beginning to cloud. She pushed the cloudiness aside and let her mind focus on Zero. "You have to worry about your own emotional well being as well. You can't let all of your feelings stay bottled up inside. Its just not emotionally healthy."

Zero tilted her head to one side, looking a little confused. How could she concern herself with her own emotions when Jiseth was in distress? However, she could see that the Trill was starting to succumb to the effects of the alcohol she had been imbibing throughout the short evening.

"I see that you are no longer in a state of sobriety conducive to these talks," she said shortly, using that fact as an excuse to deviate sharply away from conversation about herself. "Perhaps you should rest and pay attention to your own health before concerning yourself with mine."

She put the glass down and pushed it away. "Zero, I was drinking this stuff decades before you were a figment of anyone's imagination. I am just fine." Leela paused as she pondered all of her previous interactions with the Augment. "Why do you do that? Every time a conversation seems to turn too personal or something that could illicit real emotions... You shut it down. You always find a way to shut it down. Usually you just turn to insults, at least this time you were seemingly concerned for my well-being." She picked her drink back up and took another sip. "I think you don't want to have this conversation. I think you clam up and get rude to keep anyone from getting too close." The air grew quiet for a moment. The sudden honesty from Leela was likely a reaction to the liquor, but the Trill would never admit it.


"It won't work this time Alpha... We're talking whether you like it or not!" Leela proclaimed.

Zero lifted one white eyebrow at the Trill, her expression unamused. Looking for something to occupy her hands and gaze so that she could appear disaffected by Leela's apparent discovery, she picked up her half-finished glass of greyish-brown nutritional supplement, twisting and rotating the glass so that the thin gruel oozed in response to one of liquid's physical properties, remaining horizontal.

Was she concerned with the Trill's wellbeing? Not particularly. Not at all, in fact, beyond what her position as a medical officer demanded of her.

"You are correct in one element. I do not wish to be having this conversation, especially not with a parasite-ridden amoeba such as yourself."

"There you go again Zero." Leela knew she needed under her skin. She wanted to make her aware that the feelings were there. The Trill confronted her again. "You insult me... You're hoping that I will back down and that you won't have to deal with these emotions."

"I have been informed that all individuals are entitled to their opinions. However, I am also aware that I do not have to believe that the opinions of others are necessarily true," Zero replied evenly. "That was something of a relief to me. I do not think I could lose adequate IQ points in order to see things as you do."

The Trill took the final sip of her soup and stood with the bowl in hand. As she made her way to the replicator to return the bowl and spoon she began to speak. "Do you talk to Jiseth like this when she pushes you too far? Zero, I'm here to help. For your own well-being, you must begin to de-construct these walls. You have to learn to discuss the way you feel.. in detail... without outburst." She placed the bowl in the replicator and turned back towards Zero. "You are certainly welcome to an opinion, I even encourage it. But this isn't about opinions. Its about helping you to digest you emotions and gain an ability to better communicate with your friends colleagues and even your lover."

"Jiseth is capable of reciprocating as well as she is of receiving," Zero pointed out to the Trill. "As A Romulan, I believe she actually enjoys the repartee. She is rather skilled at it."

She got to her feet, following Leela's example and recycling the half-eaten nutritional supplement. She was going to have to eat a full one in the morning, something that she wasn't looking forward to. The young Augment was choosing to ignore what Leela had pointed out about taking down her defenses. That was something that, as far as she was concerned, was not happening.

Leela laughed at the assertion that Jiseth was skilled at trading insults. Through the laughter the Trill began to speak. "I'm sure she is quite skilled and she may even enjoy it. Its an odd thing. Some people are like that. I can understand why one would enjoy it. Ive been known to trade insults and jibes as well."

Zero kept the smirk from her face as Leela took the bait and changed subjects away from her mental state and emotions. Excellent.

"I am surprised that you found yourself capable of formulating an insult."

Leela made her way back to her seat as she looked over Zero. She glanced up and down as if pondering her inner thoughts. She began to formulate a reply and decided to glaze over Zero's remarks entirely. "How do we help you get to the point where these Admirals will release you from the restraints that tie you to Starfleet Medical? What do we need to do Zero? In so many ways I see so much potential but until you can confront these emotions I worry that your growth will be stunted." Leela's tone took a much more serious pace. Her voice softened with every word.

Zero folded her arms, looking away from the Trill. She knew that the chances of their plan succeeding were slim, at least in the young Augment's view.

"I do not believe that it is possible," she replied quietly. "Admiral Corinth has designed a minefield of psychological triggers difficult to navigate."