Reversal {Star Trek Enterprise Mirror Universe fan fiction}

You'll Need to Come Here

She was wearing a black leather skirt, black boots and a blue sweater that was off her shoulders. Doug ran toward her. "You look beautiful,” he said, kissing Lili and instantly changing from a tee and boxers to a black suit he'd once seen in a shop window on Iapetus.

"Thank you." She smiled at him.

"Any place special we're going, all dressed up like this?"

"I don't know. Just thought it would be good to look good. What was your day like? I made apple fritters. Half of them didn't turn out so good, but the dog is really, really happy."

"I bet your screwups are better than most of the stuff I've been eating for the past decade,” he said, “I didn't do much. You know, sensors and all that. Thought of you all day."

"Oh, really? Well, I thought of you, too. But I think we really should work. At least a little bit." she grinned. "Walk with me?"

"Sure." he took her hand, and the scene changed to a New England autumn in full color. "I, you didn't tell me you had a little brother."

"Probably because I never did."

"Uh, never told me or never had a brother?"

"Well, both. Where are you getting the idea I have a brother?" Lili asked.

"Oh, well, I checked out your counterpart. I hope you don't mind."

"Actually, I did the same today. Go on. But, um, tell me, is she like, in prison or something? You look a little odd."

"Well, no,” Doug said, “She's got the same problem here that I have over there in your universe."

"When and where did she die? Wait, I'm not sure I want specifics."

"That house fire you told me about."

"Oh. And my – uh, her – brother? Did he make it?"

"No."

"Was he, like, a little baby?" she asked, feeling it despite herself.

"Seven years old."

"Oh, man. I just – yanno – I obviously could never have known him, but I still feel strange about the whole thing. Uh, can I ask why you were looking at the record anyway?"

"I, uh, I wanted to see if there were any pictures. Didn't want to meet her or anything. She is not you,” Doug assured her.

"What did you find?"

"Just one photograph that wasn't from the disaster. You – uh, she – must have been home from school. A little girl and her mother. Her, uh, her face had a flower painted on the side. The little girl, that is."

"S'funny. That is one of my best, most vivid memories of my mother. We went to a fair and I got my face painted. It was about three weeks before the fire."

Doug held Lili. "Sounds like a good memory."

"Why, uh, why were you looking? Really,” Lili asked.

"I, um, I wanted to have a picture of you, like I said. Because when this connection ends, I won't have much else left,” he said, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling a slight scent of apples.

"What?" Lili asked, a little alarmed.

"Surely you don't think this is going to go on forever? I figure this is a delicate connection. It's going to break at some point in time, like everything else on this ship. I, I don't want it to. Just want to be prepared for the inevitable."