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[ Again, he nods, understanding her perspective. Being alone has always been a part of Data's existence; feeling alone is different, something he can now understand. He does not like it. ]
I have found loneliness to be a particularly difficult emotion.
[ At the same time, he is pondering her question, uncertain of if his response will help. ]
While I am uncertain how much of it will be relevant or helpful to you, but I would be willing to elaborate. While I was being manipulated using forced emotions, I was used to imprison three of my friends and shipmates, including Captain Picard.
[ Here, he actually pauses. He wants to turn his emotion chip off, but that's something he denies himself; it seems important that he face the emotion. ]
While they were imprisoned, I was also forced to perform... experiments, on my closest friend, Geordi. The procedures were painful, and I caused him a great deal of injury.
[ Another moment, to push his emotional processes aside. ]
After I was freed of this control and we were safely returned to the Enterprise, our chief medical officer, Doctor Crusher, was able to reverse the effects of the procedures. However, having witnessed firsthand what I was capable of, I believed that I would become dangerous with emotions. Geordi was the one who convinced me not to destroy the chip; had I done so, I would never have gained the ability to feel.
As I continued to live without it, I persisted in working to better myself, to grow and to develop my understanding of humanity. When I felt that I had reached an impasse, that I had progressed as far as was possible for me to without the aid of the emotion chip, I asked Geordi to help me install it. It was an extremely difficult transitional process. The chip initially overloaded my neural net, and I was bombarded with feelings I could not effectively adapt into my programming, and ultimately became overwhelmed by.
However... I adapted, and I learned to live with them. In doing so, and in experiencing my own emotions, firsthand, involuntarily and free of outside influence, I discovered that they did not change who I am. While I had always intellectually understood the concept, I now knew that what I had been forced to feel was not an accurate depiction of who I was. Having time to learn and to experience what it was to truly feel my own emotions is what granted me the clarity to fully accept that what I had done did not reflect upon who I am.