A/n: Here's another little ficlet from the 'Seven's Sins' archive. Short but sweet for my readers hopefully. :)
Seven shivered and tucked her knees up against her churning stomach, no food, no matter how much of it she had misguidedly eaten, should disable her body to such an extent! Angrily she clenched her jaw to stop her teeth chattering and squeezed her eyes tight shut to block out the glaring lights of Sickbay in attempt to ease her thumping headache, but it only seemed to worsen, icicles of pain stabbing at her skull. "Feeling any better Seven?" The Doctor's gratingly cheerful voice boomed through her ears.
"No." She answered, a little shocked by the insolent grumpiness in her own voice, she sounded like a child! Ashamed of herself, she tried to lift her head to look at him, but a tidal wave of nausea and the intensifying pain in her head sent her slumping back against the biobed once again. "Are you certain there is nothing you can do to ease this pain in my head Doctor?" she asked through gritted teeth, managing this time to keep her tone marginally civil.
"Not this type of headache I'm afraid." The Doctor advised calmly, "Tom Paris has a wonderful 21st century expression for what you're suffering from, "brain freeze". You'll just have to wait until your body absorbs the shock of consuming two tubs of strawberry ice cream in one sitting.
"And the nausea?" Seven asked stiffly.
The smile the Doctor had been trying to hold back began to win the battle with his lips. "That was probably the fault of the chocolate, lime and strawberry cheesecake, as well as the bag of marshmallows and…"
"I understand!" Seven snapped. "Thank you Doctor."
The Doctor gave a dry chuckle and retreated back into his office, just as Sickbay's doors opened to reveal Commander Chakotay. "How are you feeling Seven?" he asked pleasantly. Seven cringed violently as he looked at her in concern, her face burning with shame.
"I requested that you not tell anyone of this Doctor!" She growled accusingly towards the office.
The Doctor stepped back into the main room, hands raised in defence. "I'm obliged to tell him you aren't fit for duty, I didn't tell him why."
Chakotay stepped back, embarrassed. "I'm sorry Seven; I didn't mean to pry…"
Guilt washed over Seven like a cold bucket of water over her head, extinguishing her anger. "It is your duty to observe the welfare of the crew Commander; this is the fault of my own overindulgence."
Chakotay couldn't stop his eyebrows from rising up his forehead, the idea "overindulgence" and what he knew of Seven's character were definitely juxtapositions in his mind."Overindulgence?" he echoed as he approached her biobed and sat down slowly beside it, "What did you eat?"
Seven stared at his face, afraid to see derision there, but instead only seeing gently curious interest in dark brown eyes which, oddly, reminded her of the rich colour of the hot chocolate she'd drank as her first foray into desserts. "I drank a hot chocolate, and then ate half a cream pie, two tubs of strawberry ice cream, a bag of marshmallows and a chocolate, lime and strawberry cheesecake."
Chakotay smiled at her as his momentary shock faded. "Sounds delicious."
"Yes, at first." Seven conceded. "I am unsure why I ate so irresponsibly. Tom and Harry were teasing me slightly about my nutritional supplements, so I decided to widen my dietary range. It seems I went too far in my experiments."
Chakotay nodded, "That's very understandable. We've all gone a little too far with new desserts at some point, and you're not exactly used to anything like that."
"There is such a thing as a happy medium though." The Doctor commented sagely.
"Says the man who doesn't eat." Chakotay whispered to Seven, causing an unexpected giggle to leave her lips. Although startled, he'd never heard Seven laugh before, Chakotay found himself grinning at the new sound. "I've been in your position before you know Seven."
"You engaged in gluttony Commander?" Seven asked in such an incredulous tone that left Chakotay wondering if he showed his fun side to the crew at all, these last few years had obviously made him seem unchangingly serious.
"I did...a lot." He admitted, "And it involved alcohol too, which I don't advise. There was one memorable time, I was a young cadet at the Academy, my friends and I had been assigned clear up duty after a big, fancy Starfleet dinner. One friend dared me to eat very last leftover scrap on the buffet tables, all while drinking a litre bottle of vodka. He said I'd get all of that month's replicator rations if I succeeded."
"And did you?" Seven asked, intrigued.
He smiled wistfully at the memory, "I did, and I got the replicator rations. It was three days before I could get out of bed to use them though." He laughed, feeling relieved when Seven joined him heartily, a grateful expression on her face.
"Thank you for telling me that story Commander, it makes me feel slightly less guilty about my own immature actions."
"You weren't as bad as me!" He retorted laughingly before his face became more serious, "Don't feel too bad Seven; you remember when you told me about you missing out on your teenage years?" She nodded slowly, waiting for his point. "Well, you haven't had much of your hard partying twenties either so I'll let you get away with it this time."
"Thank you Commander." Seven said with grateful sincerity, mulling over the point he'd just made.
"No problem." He replied with a friendly grin. "I don't think I need to tell you that I still expect you back on duty when you feel better."
"Of course not Commander. I intend to be back to my full efficiency by tomorrow." She said seriously, while shyly returning his teasing smile.
A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D