Disequilibrium

by absedarian

Sequel to "Get Over It". Kathryn and Seven are together, but Chakotay has a huge problem with it and wants Kathryn for himself. Once more they need the help of their friends. Don't read if you like Chakotay.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Paramount/Viacom, not me, and I promise to put them back on the shelf when I'm done with them. They will be unharmed. Well, mostly.

A/N #1: This was first posted under my old Star Trek pen name, Crewman Beep.

A/N #2: This is a J/7 story, and there's love between two women. If that's not your thing, how did you even find this?

---

dis·e·qui·lib·ri·um , n: a loss or absence of stability or balance

"The time is 0600 hours."

Kathryn Janeway sighed as the computer declared the beginning of another day. She woke up slowly, her mouth curling into a smile as she became aware of her position. She was lying in the middle of her bed, naked, completely wrapped around an equally naked Seven of Nine. Her heart skipped a beat at the sheer pleasure of waking up this way.

She sighed again and tightened her hold on Seven, and was happily surprised when she felt long arms tense around her. Within moments, she was lying completely on top of Seven, their bodies touching all along their lengths.

"Good morning, Kathryn," Seven murmured as she nuzzled the captain's hair.

Kathryn pressed a kiss to Seven's sternum, then moved upward until she met expectant lips for a long, slow kiss. "Good morning, Seven," she whispered huskily as they parted.

"Did you sleep well?" Seven's voice was huskier than usual too.

Kathryn chuckled. "I slept wonderfully. For all of the fifteen minutes that you let me." She laughed quietly and shook her head. She couldn't remember another night where she had made love until the morning hours. By all rights she should be tired but she felt wonderful and energized, ready to take on the universe as long as Seven was at her side.

"I apologize, Kathryn," Seven replied quietly. "I should have let you sleep. However, it seems I was unable to stop touching you, being with you. I have never …"

She was stopped by a pair of lips pressed tenderly against her own, and she relaxed into the kiss. Seven felt bad for not allowing the captain any sleep but apparently the captain saw things differently.

"Seven," Kathryn began once the kiss ended, "I couldn't have stopped touching you either, even if I had wanted to." She kissed her lover again. "And I definitely didn't want to."

"But now you must be tired—"

"Yes, I'll probably be tired later today but right now I'm not," Janeway replied with a smile. "On the contrary, darling. This was one of the best nights of my life and I feel absolutely great this morning." Her smile grew wider. "Making love to you was what I needed last night, and I needed it much more than sleep."

"I am glad." Seven cupped the captain's face in her hand and placed butterfly kisses on her eyelids, nose, and finally her mouth. "I love you, my captain."

Seven increased the intensity of her kisses, drawing the captain into a hot and passionate meeting of lips and tongues. She teased the captain's tongue with her own and was delighted when the response was an impassioned groan. Seven let her hands slip through the captain's hair and down her back until one hand was on Kathryn's hip and the other on her buttocks, pulling the captain rhythmically against herself.

With an agonized groan, Kathryn tore herself from Seven's mouth. "Oh God, Seven, do you have any idea what you're doing to me?"

Seven's reply was to swirl her metal-encased fingertips in the captain's wetness from behind, then withdraw quickly.

"Seven," Kathryn said again, although it was uncertain if it was a plea or a complaint. Even Kathryn didn't know. "Seven, we have to stop," she moaned, even as she pressed her body into Seven's and her eyes closed in pleasure as Seven dipped her fingers back inside her. "Please, Seven, you have to stop," she tried again.

"Why?"

"Because I can't," Kathryn said, her voice showing her frustration. "I want you so much but I have to be on the bridge in a few minutes for my shift."

Seven seemed to ponder this information for a few seconds and stilled her hand. Kathryn was unsure whether she should be happy or disappointed but she knew she needed to get up soon.

Suddenly, Seven pushed two fingers deep inside her from behind, and Kathryn's eyes rolled back in her head with a loud moan. "Oh God, Seven … what … oh yes, Seven … no … yes, yes …. ooohhhhh …."

"This will not take long, Kathryn," Seven said against her lips, before pulling her into a series of searing kisses.

You have no idea , was Kathryn Janeway's last thought before her world exploded in beautiful colors as she came fast and hard, with an intensity that surprised her. She tore her mouth from Seven's to pull some air into her lungs, and so she could scream. It sounded animalistic to her, and the one tiny corner of her brain that was not busy exploding in pleasure wondered if she had ever made a sound like that before.

Seven stilled her hand but stayed inside Kathryn, having learned over the course of the night that this was something her lover enjoyed. Only when Kathryn started to shift did she remove her fingers and brought her hand up to her face to lick it clean, smiling happily at the taste.

Kathryn's eyes widened and took on a hungry look at the display. She pulled her body up, pushed the Borg-enhanced hand out of the way with her face, and kissed Seven, hard, pushing her tongue deeply into her lover's mouth, chasing her own taste. Then she pulled back quickly, breathlessly. She stared down at Seven, her face serious, and for a nanosecond Seven wondered if she had gone too far. But since the captain's eyes were a vibrant blue, indicative of a pleasant mood, Seven wasn't too worried.

"I love you, Seven," Kathryn quietly, and quite earnestly, declared. "And that just now was wonderful." She chuckled warmly. "Unexpected … but wonderful."

"I love you as well, Kathryn," Seven replied, equally serious.

"I know."

With a sigh, Kathryn rolled away from the enticing body beneath her. "But now I have to get up so I can make it to the bridge relatively on time." She looked back at Seven as she sat on one side of the bed. "However much I don't want to leave this bed or you, and believe me, I really don't want to."

"Unfortunately, you must." Seven rolled towards the other side of the bed and to her feet in one graceful, fluid motion that the captain envied. "Regrettably, I also have to report to cargo bay two for my scheduled regeneration." With that, Seven walked into the bathroom.

Janeway stopped dead next to the bed. "Damn, I totally forgot about that. Two days of regeneration." She looked decidedly unhappy. "Damn, damn, damn," she muttered as she finally followed Seven, who was already done with her sonic shower when Janeway entered the bathroom. The fact that Seven was standing naked in front of the mirror raised Kathryn's mood considerably.

"Efficient," she said with a smile and pressed a kiss between Seven's shoulder blades. Then, because she couldn't resist, she pressed her whole body against Seven's back and wrapped her arms tightly around the lanky body. She rested her chin on Seven's shoulder and their eyes met in the mirror. No words were needed between them. Seven's hands covered her own, and she watched as both their faces broke into wide, happy grins.

Kathryn lightly patted her lover's tight stomach, pressed another kiss against the shoulder, then turned to enter the shower stall. Seven's eyes followed her admiringly, tracing the trail the water left on the compact body. She contemplated joining the captain but knew that their play was over for this morning. She shook her head and proceeded to recycle her biosuit.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

When Janeway emerged from her bedroom, fully clothed in her uniform and just putting on her pips, the smell of coffee greeted her nostrils and she inhaled deeply. With a smile, Seven took the pips from her hand and handed her a steel mug with the other. "Allow me to assist you," she said quietly.

Janeway took a mouthful of coffee and waited for the caffeine to start spreading in her bloodstream. She smiled at Seven, who was focused on placing the four pips in a straight line along the captain's collar. Possibly the straightest line of command pips you'll ever see, she thought fondly, and rewarded Seven with a sweet kiss as soon as the last pip was done.

"I repeat, efficient," Janeway murmured after a long moment.

Seven gave her a grin and walked over to the table to get her own breakfast, a tall glass of brownish liquid that looked utterly horrible to the captain.

"What is that?"

"This is Nutritional Supplement No. 12." If Seven had detected the disgust in the captain's voice, she didn't let on. "It provides all the nutrition I require, and it is an amount my stomach can handle."

"But what does it taste like?" Kathryn took a closer look at the glass. "It looks so … bland." That's one way to put it.

"Taste?" Seven questioned, a blank look on her face. "Taste is—"

"Please don't tell me taste is irrelevant," Kathryn interrupted with a chuckle. "That's not what you said last night."

Surprisingly, Seven blushed. "You are correct, Kathryn. Taste is not irrelevant." She took another sip of her breakfast drink. "Perhaps this nutritional supplement could be considered bland but …" She got a devilish gleam in her eye. "Would you like to try it?"

The captain swallowed audibly but nodded. It's the least you can do, Katie. Just pretend it's a diplomatic function, and you're looking at a plate of gagh. Keep smiling. She took the glass and carefully lifted it to her face. It was relatively odorless with only a hint of nut-like aroma, which was definitely helping. Fighting the urge to hold her nose closed to deaden her taste buds she took a careful sip.

"What …? I thought …" Janeway stammered in surprise after the flavor burst in her mouth.

Seven actually chuckled at the look on her lover's face. "I am able to program the replicator to simulate any flavor I wish." She smiled indulgently at the captain who still looked slightly shocked. "I anticipated your reaction to my breakfast and thought it advisable to remove some of your preconceptions."

"That you did, darling, that you did." Kathryn laughed and took another sip. "But I thought you didn't like coffee."

"I do not care for the taste as much as you do but I do not think it is as vile a concoction as I have previously stated."

"Lucky me." Kathryn returned the half-empty glass to its rightful owner and grabbed her coffee mug again. "So, are you telling me this is a perfectly balanced breakfast?" There were possibilities there. "Could you program the parameters into the replicator in my ready room? This seems to be the perfect snack for me."

Seven handed her a PADD with a small, triumphant smile, happy that the captain had fallen for her little plan so easily. "The parameters are in here. You will just have to transfer them."

Her reward was a short but intense kiss. "Thank you." Then Janeway squared her shoulders. "Come on, I think I'll tuck you in."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

I wonder how things ended last night between Seven and the captain , B'Elanna thought as she walked the corridor down towards cargo bay two. Earlier that morning, she had felt the sudden urge to pick up some extra gel packs for repairs that might or might not get scheduled for later in the week. She grinned. It was as good an excuse as any to check if Seven had made it back to her alcove. You could have asked the computer, she reminded herself in the next second but for some reason she had wanted to see Seven before her duty shift, hoping that her face would give something away even in regeneration mode. If she was regenerating at all, her mind added. After last night, she wasn't taking anything for granted.

B'Elanna stopped short when the door to cargo bay two remained closed at her approach. "Not again," she said under her breath. For a second she contemplated trying to override the door lock, just like she had done the night before, but the thought that the captain might catch her again made her pause.

"Computer, who is currently in cargo bay two?" she quietly asked. Had to ask the computer after all, her mind snickered.

"Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine are in cargo bay two," came the prompt reply.

"I knew it," B'Elanna said to the closed door, congratulating herself on her good timing. She would just wait right here in the corridor and coincidentally bump into the captain when she came out. She casually leaned against the bulkhead opposite the cargo bay.

She didn't have to wait long before the doors swished open and the captain came out, smiling softly. The smile was replaced by the command mask as soon as she saw B'Elanna pushing herself off the bulkhead with a grin.

"Good morning, Captain," the engineer greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, B'Elanna," Janeway replied silkily. "Somehow I doubt it's a coincidence that I'm running into you here this morning."

B'Elanna tried an innocent look. "I was just waiting until access to the cargo bay wasn't restricted any longer." She leaned closer. "Honestly, Captain, you can't keep this area off-limits all the time when Seven is regenerating. Some people actually need to go in there, you know."

The captain's reaction was unexpected: she blushed. "Damn, B'Elanna, don't you think I know that?" She turned to look at the doors. "It's just that …" She trailed off.

"All of a sudden you don't want the whole crew to go in there when Seven is sleeping, right?" B'Elanna's expression was thoughtful. There was a new plan forming in her mind. "So, can I assume that you and Seven resolved your problems last night?"

Janeway shot B'Elanna a measured look, letting her wait until she could see the engineer beginning to squirm under her steady gaze. "You're skating on thin ice, Ms. Torres," she finally said. Then she started thinking about what Seven had said to her last night, that the engineer would help them get accepted by the crew. She appreciated the fact that B'Elanna had helped Seven, even though she didn't like the Borg. That thought softened her expression and she saw B'Elanna relax slightly.

"Come on, we don't want the others to wait any longer than they have to," Janeway finally said and started walking down the corridor.

B'Elanna followed readily. "They won't start the meeting without you, Captain."

"True," Janeway said with a grin. "However, I don't want to be too late." She was serious now. "Knowing Chakotay, he'll ask the computer where I am, and I really don't want to explain just yet why I'm late or what I was doing in cargo bay two where Seven is regenerating." She took a deep breath. "It's quite enough that you and doctor know."

"You know neither of us would ever say anything to anyone, Captain." B'Elanna actually sounded offended by the thought. "But do you really think you can keep this a secret?"

They had reached the turbolift, which was empty. "Deck one," the captain absent-mindedly instructed the computer. "Don't get me wrong, B'Elanna," she said when the turbolift began its ascent, "I won't keep the fact the I love Seven a secret. I really doubt I could anyway." She couldn't stop the smile that erupted at the thought and at B'Elanna's grin. "But we both need to get used to the idea first before the whole crew offers us their opinion on it. I need some time."

"Computer, halt turbolift." B'Elanna turned towards the captain, hearing the slight worry in her tone. "Captain, first off, I'm really happy that things between you two are working out. I know I couldn't be considered Seven's friend but …"

"I think after last night she considers you a friend, B'Elanna," Janeway interrupted. "Thank you for helping her … that means a lot to her, and to me." She looked at B'Elanna questioningly. "Why did you help her?"

"Honestly, Captain?" B'Elanna shrugged. "I think I just got caught up in the whole romance of it, you know? Both of you in love with each other and not knowing it? It was painful seeing you circle around each other. And then, after you had left sickbay, Seven was so vulnerable, so … human, I just couldn't not help." The engineer met the captain's eyes. "She really loves you, Captain, with every fiber of her being. I hope you know that."

Janeway wondered if there was an implied threat in the way the statement was voiced but she wasn't too worried. "I know it, B'Elanna. Seven made that perfectly clear last night." She blushed, her body and mind remembering a variety of ways that Seven had proved her point.

"And you have no idea how happy that knowledge makes me." Janeway grinned as she continued. "And before you ask: although it's none of your business I'm going to tell you that I love her just as much."

B'Elanna blushed, not expecting such a declaration. "I thought so," she finally mumbled, slightly uncomfortable but still puzzled. "And as I said, I'm happy for you. So why do you …?"

"B'Elanna," Janeway interrupted. "I can't just announce it in the senior staff meeting, now can I? Can you imagine their faces?" She paused for a moment. "Besides, I doubt all of them will be quite as accepting as you are, and I'd like to let them get used to it slowly."

B'Elanna thought about that but wasn't sure who the captain was worried about. In her opinion, the captain and Seven were a great match, and the rest of the crew should be happy for them. She decided to let it go, for now, knowing she would find out sooner or later. "Well, I'd say you have two days before Seven gets out of her cycle," she finally said. "Because once the others see you two together you won't need to make an announcement. It'll be clear as day to anyone who sees you now."

Captain Janeway nodded. "I know." She squared her shoulders. "Computer, resume."

"So, Captain," B'Elanna asked quietly, just as they reached the bridge. "What are you going to do about access to cargo bay two? Maybe you should get Seven her own quarters." Not that there were any free quarters available, B'Elanna added silently, happy to just subtly prod her captain in the direction where she wanted her to go.

Then she walked out of the turbolift and towards the conference room, leaving Janeway to stare after her with a thoughtful expression on her face.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

The meeting of the senior staff went smoothly, apart from the fact that Janeway found it hard to keep her eyes open during the less exciting moments. She knew it was time for more coffee when she totally blanked out during Neelix's report on their supply status.

The only thing keeping her awake were the vivid flashes of last night that flooded her mind, usually triggered by a word or a certain gesture that reminded her of Seven. She had to concentrate on not blushing furiously during those moments and the knowing looks B'Elanna sent her at seemingly random intervals didn't help.

Janeway was glad when the meeting was over. Apparently everyone had agreed that they needed to find a suitable planet soon, as the crew needed shore leave after their last adventure with the Borg, and Neelix needed to stock up on some natural food sources. Due to Seven's absence, Chakotay had put Harry Kim in charge of finding that planet before bringing the meeting to a close.

Chakotay shot the captain a curious look when she left the conference room and walked straight across the bridge and into her ready room, and she knew she could expect a visit from her second in command sooner or later. He'd probably want to talk to her about the last mission too, and she was certain she couldn't put him off as easily as she had been able to the night before.

So it came as no surprise when she heard the door chime as soon as she had sat down with a tall glass of her new mid-morning snack. Her visitor, however, was a surprise.

"Tuvok?"

"Captain," he greeted her as he stepped up to her desk.

"Take a seat," Janeway invited him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Actually, Captain," Tuvok replied quietly, "I was wondering if there was something I could help you with."

"What do you mean?" Janeway was flabbergasted and very curious. "What makes you think I need help?"

"The fact that you are drinking one of Seven's nutritional supplements?" His voice sounded even drier than usual. "Or the fact that you appear to be easily distracted this morning."

"And that's so unusual?"

"You know that it is, Captain," Tuvok stayed his course but then he paused. When he continued, his voice was almost gentle. "Captain … I …"

"You know, huh?" Janeway interrupted his careful approach, sparing him the trouble of having to spell it out. When he approached her like that he was getting into something personal, and since he never talked about himself, she knew he had to be aware of her and Seven. How he knew was a mystery to her, though.

"Am I that obvious, Tuvok?" The captain wasn't sure she liked being read like a book, not even by an old friend.

"No, Captain, it is not obvious," he reassured her. "But I have known you for a very long time …"

"So, you're saying I was obvious to you," Janeway stated with a grin.

Tuvok thought it prudent not to mention just how obvious the captain's behavior during their recent encounter with the Borg Queen had been. He knew her well enough to be certain she would not appreciate that insight. "I included cargo bay two in my rounds last night. I wanted to check on Seven but she was not in her alcove."

Janeway sat back in her chair with a shrug. "Yes, she was in my quarters. We had some things to talk about."

"Your … relationship?" Tuvok was uncharacteristically hesitant.

The captain chuckled. "Tuvok, why is it that you're trying to talk to me about personal things when it makes you so damn uncomfortable?"

"As your oldest friend on board I feel it is my duty," Tuvok replied calmly. "I also have to admit I feel a certain … familial … responsibility towards Seven of Nine. And as your security chief I need to know whether this development might have any effect on the ship and crew."

Janeway leaned forward, any trace of their casual conversation gone. "How do you think it will affect the other senior officers?"

Tuvok was quiet for a few moments, no doubt contemplating the various officers of the senior staff. "I think there might be two groups," he finally began. "Those that will be happy for you, and those who will, for one reason or another, have difficulty coping with the new situation. The former group should be the bigger of the two, however."

Janeway was happy to hear that but she wanted details. "Would you care to elaborate?"

While Tuvok explained his thoughts on the matter, Janeway's thoughts drifted a bit. She was still following Tuvok's explanation – it was too important not to – but she also thought about his reasons for talking to her at all. She was touched that her security chief considered Seven family. Who'd have thought I'd ever marry into a Vulcan family? Her eyes widened in surprise at her own thoughts. Nonononono, I'm not thinking that. She dragged her mind from the mental image of Seven in a lacy white dress and focused on Tuvok again.

"Do you disagree with my findings?" Tuvok asked just then, obviously having seen her reaction to her own thoughts.

The captain was glad she had managed to follow his explanation. "No, I completely agree. Tom won't have a problem with it, and neither will Neelix. And as for B'Elanna," the captain continued with a smile. "Tuvok, she already knows, as does the doctor." She saw him twitching an eyebrow at that revelation. "In fact, B'Elanna more or less pushed me in Seven's direction because she couldn't watch us circling each other any longer. Or so she said."

"That will be very helpful with the rest of the crew," Tuvok admitted. "Her often loudly stated opinions are usually followed by the lower deck crew."

"Indeed, that's what Seven said too," Janeway agreed with a smile. "That leaves Ensign Kim and Chakotay."

"I believe that Mr. Kim will have misgivings at first, no doubt influenced by his own feelings towards Seven of Nine. He will, however, follow the example set by Lieutenant Torres and Mr. Paris."

Janeway tried not to flinch at the mention of Harry's feelings for Seven. Everyone knew that he had a crush on her, including the captain and the former Borg, but she really didn't like the thought of someone else looking at Seven that way. She sighed. "I agree."

Tuvok nodded slowly. "I find it harder to predict how Commander Chakotay will react but I fear he might feel … slighted."

"Slighted? Explain."

"The commander has romantic feelings for you himself, Captain, and that will undoubtedly influence his response." Tuvok's voice was impassive as ever when he delivered this information. At seeing his captain's face, he continued. "Surely you were aware of that, Captain?"

Janeway shook her head. "I had no idea," she whispered. "I mean, I knew there was something years ago but why would he hold onto that when he clearly had no chance?"

"I suppose he did not see it that way. He might have assumed that you shared his feelings but were simply abstaining from a relationship for the sake of your command. That will change now. And that-"

"Could make him rethink the situation," Janeway finished his thought. "What do you think he'd do?"

Tuvok's shoulders moved in an almost imperceptible shrug. "I have no frame of reference on which to base his expected behavior."

"But?"

"I would assume that Commander Chakotay might start by citing Starfleet regulations about fraternization."

"Which have no bearing on this situation since Seven isn't Starfleet," the captain mused aloud. "But he'll probably do that, I agree." How ironic, she thought, that a former Maquis could resort to that.

"He could also offer himself as a more suitable mate for you, Captain."

"Which he isn't." Janeway's voice was steely.

Tuvok conceded the point with a nod. "He could try to have you removed from command," he then dropped a second bomb.

"He wouldn't do that!" Janeway exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "There's no reason to even think about that."

"Captain, I am merely pointing out the possibilities," Tuvok said in a quiet voice. "You just went against the Borg to retrieve a crew member who by all accounts had left the ship voluntarily to go back to them. He could argue that you are … unstable."

Janeway started pacing. She opened her mouth to defend her actions – again – but Tuvok stopped her with a raised hand.

"Captain," he calmly continued, "the doctor would not go along with it in any case."

Janeway sat back down and focused on Tuvok. "Good thing because that would be mutiny," Janeway spluttered. "You can't believe Chakotay would actually go that far. I refuse to believe it. He's always been a good first officer."

The twitch in Tuvok's eyebrow told the captain that he wasn't entirely convinced.

"I'll talk to him," the captain said, determination coloring her tone. "I think I need to tell him before he hears some rumor about me and Seven. I'll tell him so he understands that this relationship will not affect my command or our working relationship." She took a deep breath. "Damn, I wanted some time just for Seven and myself to get used to the idea of being together. I wasn't exactly planning on a shipwide announcement."

"I do not think that will be necessary. However, might I suggest informing the senior staff?" Tuvok's eyebrow quirked. "Not that there are many of them left who do not know."

Janeway had to laugh at that, recognizing the truth. "Thank you, old friend. I think I'll do that."

With that, Tuvok got up and left. The captain's gaze followed him, her thoughts already on the problem at hand. She knew she would have to talk to Chakotay. The other senior officers were an entirely different matter altogether. She just couldn't see herself asking them into her ready room one at a time to bare her soul to them.

Suddenly, a wicked smile broke out across her face and her hand slapped her combadge. "Janeway to Torres."

"Go ahead, Captain."

"If you have a minute, I'd like to see you in my ready room."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

"You want me to actually spread around that you and Seven are together?" B'Elanna didn't even try to hide her utter astonishment. "But this morning you said that you didn't want them to know just yet."

"I know, I know," Janeway replied and took another sip of her nutritional supplement. "Tuvok convinced me that it would be a good idea to let the senior staff know, and he advised me to do it before the rumor mill does it for me."

B'Elanna wasn't stupid. "And you want me to influence the rumor mill in a certain direction. Clever."

"Thanks," Janeway commented dryly. "However, I'll tell Chakotay myself sometime tonight, so I'd like you to wait until I give you the go ahead before spreading the latest juicy rumor about your captain."

B'Elanna laughed out loud. "That's right up my alley. I'll just tell Tom and Harry tonight in the mess hall and make sure that Neelix is in the vicinity." She paused and cleared her throat. "Why the special treatment for Chakotay, though? I could make sure he hears it from one of us, too."

Janeway looked down at her hands. "I think it's better if I handle Chakotay myself." She hoped her voice wasn't giving away her anxiety about that little talk.

Apparently, it did because B'Elanna sat up and tried to catch the captain's eye. "Do you think he'll make trouble for you and Seven?"

Janeway looked up sharply, surprised that B'Elanna was jumping to that conclusion so readily. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, it's no secret that he has feelings for you …" She stopped when she heard the captain's groan. "What?"

"Nothing," Janeway quickly said. "It's just that you're the second person today to tell me that. And I really thought we had left that in the past where it belongs. Apparently I was wrong."

"Ah." B'Elanna nodded. "He also doesn't like Seven. He never understood what you see in her and if he's already jealous of your bond now, he might be even more so when he finds out about you two."

"And what do you think he'll do, B'Elanna?" Janeway's tone was calmer than she felt. "You probably know him better than anyone else on board."

"I honestly have no idea, Captain," B'Elanna replied, regret coloring her voice. "He could behave in a mature way and accept that you're in love with someone else."

"Or?"

B'Elanna swallowed. "Or he could try and make life difficult for you." She paused. "What do you think, Captain?"

"I think I'll go with your first assessment," Janeway said firmly, although it sounded to B'Elanna as if she was trying to convince herself. "He's an adult and has always been an exemplary first officer."

Except where Seven was concerned … and you don't trust him fully, no matter what you're saying. B'Elanna watched the captain keenly and noticed the slight hesitation in the captain's tone. "Don't worry, Captain, I'll spin a great love story for the crew that will have everyone on our side. Even the Maquis."

Janeway nodded. "Well, it's actually Tuvok who's worried … but I'd appreciate that. Just don't turn my private life into a Klingon opera, please. I need to keep some of my command dignity."

"Captain, you worry too much," B'Elanna said with a grin. Then she got serious. "It's a good plan and should work. I'm sure you can handle Chakotay. He'll probably take it much better than we all think." And if he doesn't, I'll kick his ass or what's left of it after Janeway and Seven are done with him, B'Elanna vowed. Aloud she added, "Just let me know when to tell Tom, Harry, and Neelix."

"Thank you, B'Elanna," Janeway said as she stood.

"One last thing, Captain," the engineer said as she followed Janeway to the door. "You do realize that as soon as Neelix and Harry know, it'll be all over the ship, right?"

"I know. That's the plan, isn't it?" The captain's voice was resigned.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Kathryn Janeway relaxed into her command chair and looked around the bridge. The alpha shift crew was working at their normal efficient levels at their respective stations, and even Tom Paris was focusing on his console. So why was she feeling so restless?

Her eyes fell on the empty chair next to hers. You know why, her mind reminded her. She sighed, quietly enough so that the small sound got lost in the din of the typical bridge background noise. Chakotay had excused himself to run an errand of some kind, and she was waiting for his return and an opportunity to ask him to dinner. She was unsure why but she dreaded the idea of dinner with him almost as much as she dreaded disclosing her feelings for Seven to him. It just didn't feel right to have dinner with Chakotay without telling Seven, especially now that she was aware of his feelings.

She looked back at Tuvok, wondering if his suspicions were correct. She still believed that Chakotay would accept her decision, even though he might not be entirely happy about it. He was her friend, after all, and had been for years. Tuvok suddenly left his station to head for the turbolift, giving her a small nod and a shake of his head to let her know that it was something that didn't concern her and he had to take care of. Some security matter that he felt obliged to check out, the captain concluded and turned to face the viewscreen again.

She decided to visit Seven in her cargo bay as soon as possible to tell her about her plans, regeneration or not. She knew Seven would be at least subconsciously aware of her, and that alone made her feel better. Maybe, just maybe she'll even wake up. There was hope in her mind's voice, and Janeway found it hard to stop those thoughts.

She wouldn't mind a hug.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Chakotay shook his head as he walked down the corridor to cargo bay two, dismayed that a trace of the headache was still there, despite the doctor's hypospray. He felt extremely irritated but convinced that he was about to do the right thing for the ship. The ship was in danger after all, wasn't it? And he was the only one who could see that. It had all become so very clear to him this morning. So very clear.

He had woken up with an enormous headache but he felt his thoughts were clearer than they had ever been before. The headaches had come and gone but over the course of the morning he had also begun to feel slightly nauseous. It got so bad that he decided to see the doctor. The EMH had scanned him, thoroughly, but was unable to find the cause of the pain and nausea. There were, however, some irregularities in his scan that the EMH wanted to take a closer look at. Chakotay had decided not to mention his extremely clear thoughts, certain the doctor would take his ability away. He had almost refused the hypospray because he didn't want to lose his ability to see his world so clearly. It was almost as if he was on a quest. He knew exactly what to do and how to do it. His path was clear.

The doctor had wanted to keep Chakotay in sickbay to keep an eye on him but Chakotay had insisted on leaving, intent on carrying out his duty to his ship before his enemies could stop him. He didn't say anything to the doctor because he suddenly had the feeling that he was one of them. There was only one person on board who would understand him, his thoughts screamed, one person only that he needed. She would be his.

Chakotay frowned when he was stopped by the uncooperative doors of cargo bay two, and barely managed not to run into them. He looked around when he thought he heard a giggle but he couldn't see anyone. He missed the strawberry blonde head that ducked around the corner of the corridor and disappeared, only to come back up a few moments later to watch him.

Naomi Wildman had escaped her boring lessons with Neelix to check up on her best friend. She had been worried sick, literally, when Seven had disappeared with the Borg, and especially when she had realized that she and Captain Janeway were the only ones who were missing their friend. Naomi was very happy that Seven was back on board, and ever since she had been commended by the captain for coming up with a rescue plan – although that wasn't needed in the end – she had decided to keep an eye on her friend to make sure the Borg or any other bad guys couldn't get near her.

When Naomi had found the door to the cargo bay locked, she had deduced that the captain was equally worried about Seven, and so Naomi had hung around the corridor, keeping an eye on the cargo bay for the captain. It got boring after a while because nothing really happened in this part of the deck but then Commander Chakotay had almost crashed into the door, and now Naomi was alert.

She watched as the commander asked the computer about the status of the cargo bay, and was informed that access was restricted. He tried to override the lock by using his command codes, and Naomi began to wonder why the commander wanted to get into the cargo bay so desperately. And why he didn't ask the captain to give him access.

When Chakotay kneeled down and started working behind an access panel next to the door, Naomi decided to do something. She pressed her combadge, trying to be very quiet. "Naomi Wildman to Lt. Torres," she whispered, putting her mouth close to the combadge.

"Torres here," came the instant reply. "Naomi, is that you? I can hardly hear you."

"Yes," Naomi whispered, just a little louder. "Commander Chakotay is trying to get into cargo bay two but the door is locked."

"Naomi, what exactly is he doing?" B'Elanna's voice was interested now.

"I think he's scanning the controls next to the door with a tricorder but I can't really see what he's doing," Naomi replied after taking another peek around the corner.

"Okay, Naomi," B'Elanna said, "I'll be right there."

"Okay."

Naomi went back to watching the commander from her position, making sure she was mostly hidden behind her corner. She wasn't sure why that seemed like something she should do but the commander's behavior was weird, so she thought it better to stay out of the way.

It only took a minute or two for B'Elanna to arrive. She greeted Naomi with a finger held to her lips, and Naomi remained quiet as ordered. B'Elanna looked around the corner to see what Chakotay was doing, and had to grin when she saw him in the same position she had been in the night before. It's a good thing he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. And he has no chance breaking that lock. Especially since B'Elanna had gone back to the cargo bay after her talk with the captain to add a Borg encryption code to the door that Seven had shown her for emergencies.

B'Elanna straightened and put on a casual look as she turned the corner and walked towards Chakotay. He noticed her arrival straight away and seemed startled. "B'Elanna, what are you doing here?" he asked, and the engineer wondered if she imagined his nervousness.

"Oh, I just need a new gel pack from the cargo bay," she replied lightly. This is going to be my standard reply from now on, I can feel it. "What are you doing here? And what are you doing on the floor?"

Chakotay scrambled to his feet. "I wanted to check on Seven," he replied. "See if everything's okay with our runaway drone." His hand went up to his temple and rubbed his tattoo as if in pain.

"Are you okay?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Chakotay replied. "Why are you asking?"

"You seem … different somehow." B'Elanna looked at him closely. His face was a little pinched as if he had been dealing with some pain for some time, and his skin and eyes looked slightly irritated. "You look like you're not feeling your best. I think we'd better take you to sickbay, Chakotay."

"No, I'm fine! It's just a headache." Chakotay took a step back. "I've already seen the doctor and he gave me a hypospray. Nothing more he can do, B'Elanna."

"All right, if you say so." B'Elanna shrugged. "Well, since the doors here are apparently locked and access is restricted, I'd assume that Seven is regenerating as scheduled."

"I just wanted to make sure myself." Chakotay said with a slight flush, and B'Elanna made a mental note to talk to the captain about his behavior. She had the feeling there was more to it than a headache.

"I will make sure to tell Seven of Nine that you were worried about her," came a third voice from behind Chakotay.

B'Elanna grinned when she saw the tiny frown on Chakotay's face. "Hello, Tuvok," she greeted the new arrival. "What are you doing down here?"

"Yes, it's like a regular senior staff meeting," Chakotay grumbled.

"I was alerted by an attempt to override the access restriction placed on the cargo bay," Tuvok explained.

"Since I won't be getting my gel pack, I'll better get back to engineering now." B'Elanna turned to go.

"I am certain that the captain would be happy to let you accompany her should she want to check on Seven of Nine herself, Lieutenant," Tuvok said with a raised eyebrow, and the look he gave her told her that he knew about the Borg encryption code she had placed there. He knew that right now only Seven or the combination of B'Elanna and the captain could get these doors to open.

"I'll ask her then," B'Elanna said with a wink as she walked away, leaving Tuvok and Chakotay to face each other. Around the corner she gave Naomi a thumbs up and then took her hand and pulled her to the turbolift with her.

"We should return to our duty stations as well, Commander," Tuvok stated after a moment.

Reluctantly, Chakotay nodded. "After you, Tuvok."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

The two men were standing next to each other in the quiet turbolift, facing the door. Tuvok quietly counted the seconds before Commander Chakotay would break the silence. He made it to nine.

"Tuvok," Chakotay said, not taking his eyes off the turbolift door. "Have you noticed anything unusual in the captain's behavior recently?"

"Unusual?" Tuvok also kept his eyes on the door.

"Yes," Chakotay continued. "She seemed distracted today, and last night she practically threw me out of her quarters when I wanted to talk to her about the mission."

"I assume the captain was exhausted after the rescue mission, Commander," Tuvok explained flatly, "as were the other members of her away team."

"And now she's made the cargo bay off limits," the first officer ranted on as if Tuvok hadn't spoken. "Doesn't she trust her crew any longer?"

Tuvok considered telling him that Chakotay's attempt to override the door lock proved that the captain's measures were justified but then decided against it. He would inform the captain and leave it up to her to do something about it or not. However … "Given the fact that most members of this crew did not seem to care that Seven had sacrificed herself to save them, and were indeed not unhappy that she was gone, I think the captain is correct in granting Seven some privacy while she recovers from her ordeal." Tuvok turned to face Chakotay. "It was I who recommended the door lock as chief of security."

Chakotay was saved the trouble of finding a reply to that by their arrival on the bridge. He stiffly walked over to his chair and sat down with a nod to the captain, who was studying something on the monitor next to her seat. His mind was busy analyzing the events of the past hour. Apparently, the doctor, B'Elanna, and Tuvok were on Seven's side, which was not his side. But they wouldn't stop his mission.

He started making a mental list of his enemies, while watching the captain surreptitiously, trying to figure out what was bothering him about her behavior. She seemed different to him. She is behaving strangely, he thought defiantly, no matter what Tuvok says. Last night she should have been happy that he had come to her quarters, even bringing his last bottle of Aldebaran whiskey for her, but she hadn't even let him inside her quarters. Yes, she had looked a bit tired but she was also tense and distracted.

He had wanted to talk to her about Seven's latest breach of protocol, and about what they should do about the drone. He was not happy that the Borg was back on board, and the main focus of his mission was to make sure she would not be there to bother them much longer.

Chakotay watched as the captain leaned back in her command chair, her features relaxed. Was that a smile on her face? She looked radiant and more beautiful than he could remember. Maybe I should invite her to dinner tonight, he mused. She seems to be in a good mood, and I'm sure I could convince her that it's much more fun to spend her off-duty time with me instead of a Borg drone who needs her guidance all the time. After all, how much fun could it be to play mentor to an ice queen after all? Maybe he could take Kathryn on this wonderful quest with him.

"Chakotay?" The captain's voice interrupted his mental ramblings. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Captain," he replied automatically. "Why?"

"You seemed lost in thought and I—"

"Kathryn," he interrupted her, "would you have dinner with me tonight?"

Hell, no! Janeway almost bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying the first thing that tried to come out of her mouth. She was irritated at his continued use of her first name, suggesting more intimacy between them than existed. And a lot more than she wanted, especially now. Remember, her mind spoke up, you want to have dinner with him tonight to tell him about you and Seven. Now you don't have to ask him.

She turned to him and tried to smile. "I'd like that, Chakotay."

The smile seemed to have worked, judging by the self-satisfied grin that broke out on Chakotay's face. "That's wonderful, Kathryn!" he enthused rather more loudly than she appreciated. "My quarters, 1900 hours?"

Janeway nodded her agreement but couldn't shake the feeling that something had just gone really, really wrong. "I'll take a walk," she announced And cargo bay two sounds like a wonderful destination to me, she added silently. "Commander, you have the bridge."

When she passed Tuvok's station she saw the frown between his eyebrows and the knot in her stomach spawned another knot.

"Captain," Tuvok said quietly as he handed her a PADD, which she took automatically. "Lt. Torres also mentioned that she required your assistance. I suggest you go to engineering before you proceed with your … walk."

Janeway studied the PADD in her hand and wondered if she was imagining all the subterfuge going on around her. However, knowing Tuvok, there was probably a good reason for him to send her to see B'Elanna before she went to see Seven, so Janeway simply nodded as she entered the turbolift.

"Deck eleven," she said as she activated the PADD.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

"Lt. Torres."

The chief engineer whirled around at the sound of Vorik's voice, nearly hitting her head on the Jeffries tube wall. "What?" she snarled, irritated at having her work interrupted.

"The captain would like to speak with you," the Vulcan replied in his imperturbable way. "I took the liberty of directing her to your office."

B'Elanna took a deep breath as she crawled out of the Jeffries tube. "Thank you, Vorik," she calmly replied when she was standing on her feet again.

"What can I do for you, Captain?" B'Elanna asked as she entered her office.

Janeway turned around to face her. "Actually, Tuvok said you needed me for something. And I have a feeling it has something to do with this." The captain held out the PADD she had been studying.

B'Elanna took the PADD and quickly read it. "You're correct," she said when she was done. "Chakotay's attempt to get into cargo bay two." The engineer hesitated. "Captain, I'm not sure what Chakotay was doing there or what he wanted in there but I'd bet a month's rations that it wasn't official business."

"If it had been, he would have asked me for access, so I have to agree with you." Janeway's expression was unreadable and her voice was flat. "It's a good thing cargo bay two is locked then, isn't it?"

The captain rubbed her forehead, trying to stave off the headache she could feel forming there. "I really have no explanation for his behavior." She sighed and leaned against B'Elanna's desk. "Any ideas?"

"Actually …" B'Elanna hesitated. "He seemed tense … and I think he was in some kind of pain. He said he'd already been to sickbay but that the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him."

"Hm, I think tense is the right word for him." Janeway hit her combadge. "Janeway to sickbay."

"Sickbay here. What can I do for you, captain?"

"Doctor, did Commander Chakotay see you this morning?"

"Yes, he did. He complained about a headache but I couldn't find a reason for them. However …" The EMH paused.

"What, Doctor?"

"There were some irregularities in his scan that I haven't been able to figure out yet." It was clear from the doctor's voice that he didn't like admitting that.

"What kind of irregularities?" Janeway asked.

"His neural pattern seems slightly … off," the doctor replied. "Like a frequency that was shifted to a different level. It's barely noticeable, and Chakotay didn't mention any other problems except for his headache and some slight nausea, so he insisted on resuming his duty. Against my better judgement, I might add." He sounded peeved.

"Well, keep working," Janeway said. "And inform me as soon as you know more."

"Yes, Captain."

Janeway turned to B'Elanna. "So, we still don't know what he wanted in cargo bay two. It could have been completely harmless, you know."

"Ask him," B'Elanna replied with a shrug. "At dinner tonight. You did ask him to have dinner with you, didn't you?"

"Actually, he asked me," Janeway replied uneasily, unable to shake the bad feeling she was getting. "He seemed quite happy when I accepted."

"I bet," B'Elanna mumbled. "When are you meeting him?"

"1900 hours." The captain's voice was quiet. "His quarters. Damn, I wish that Seven wasn't regenerating," she added with a sigh.

"It would be easier if you could speak to her, I suppose." B'Elanna looked at the captain. "Why don't you wake her or whatever it is you do to get her out of her cycle?"

Janeway laughed humorlessly. "Believe me, I've thought about it. But I don't want to wake her just because I want to talk to her, and the doctor was quite adamant about the length of her cycle."

"Captain," B'Elanna began softly. "Do you really think Seven wouldn't prefer to be awake and able to speak to you?"

"I know that she'd rather be awake, B'Elanna," Janeway said with a grin. "She disagreed with the doctor about the regeneration cycle from the beginning. Still—"

B'Elanna interrupted the captain by slapping her combadge. "Torres to sickbay."

"Sickbay here. Go ahead, Lt. Torres." The doctor's voice betrayed his impatience.

"Doctor, if we needed Seven for something would it hurt her to interrupt her cycle?"

"Well, she has only been regenerating since this morning …"

"Which is a lot longer than she normally regenerates, isn't it?" B'Elanna interrupted the EMH.

"Yes, it is. And I suppose if there was an emergency it would be okay to end her cycle but I'd rather you didn't." The EMH didn't sound too happy.

"Thank you, Doctor, that's all I needed to hear. Torres out." B'Elanna grinned at her captain.

Janeway's whole body tingled at the thought of talking to Seven, of hugging her, of wrapping herself around that wonderful warm body for as long as she could before she had to go to that dinner with Chakotay. Close to two hours, she thought. We could do a lot in two hours. She shook herself to get some control back, then grinned at her chief engineer. "You think this counts as an emergency?"

"Absolutely," B'Elanna replied immediately. "I'd say you're in desperate need of –"

"Stop right there, Lieutenant," Janeway said and held up a hand.

Suddenly B'Elanna remembered something. "I'll have to go with you, Captain, at least to get you into the cargo bay."

Janeway sobered. "Is that the little something you required me for?"

B'Elanna nodded. "I added a Borg encryption code to the cargo bay doors this morning, and I'm afraid right now you need me to open the doors."

Janeway smiled at the sudden protectiveness she detected in B'Elanna. "I don't know what made you do it but thank you, B'Elanna," she said.

"Did I mention that Naomi spent the morning watching the cargo bay doors, and that she was the one who called me when Chakotay showed up?" B'Elanna laughed at the expression on Janeway's face.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

The laughter quickly disappeared from B'Elanna's face when she and the captain were faced with an unresponsive cargo bay door five minutes later. No combination of the captain's command codes or the engineer's removal of the Borg encryption code seemed to be able to open the doors.

After fifteen minutes of trial and error Janeway was getting frustrated. "Maybe saying 'Open Sesame' would help," she growled, barely restraining herself from kicking the door.

"At this point I'd say a phaser blast would be more successful," B'Elanna growled back. She was feeling bad, thinking that her addition of the Borg code sequence was responsible for their current situation. "Look, Captain, why don't you head back to the bridge while I try and get the doors to open."

Janeway shot her a force ten glare.

"I mean now that you removed the access restriction I should be able to get the door open without you," B'Elanna quickly continued. "If I can find out what's wrong, that is," she added under her breath.

"Tell me, B'Elanna," Janeway asked in a low voice, "have you ever seen anything like this before?"

B'Elanna was about to reply quickly but then thought about the situation. There was something wrong here … they should have been able to open the doors without any problems instead of getting a constant "Access denied" message from the computer. "I'm not sure what's going on here, Captain," she finally said. "But I'm going to find out. It must be some malfunction in the door mechanism, and I'll make it my top priority to get it to work again."

"Do it," Janeway replied. "Computer, state the time."

"The time is 1748 hours."

"Damn," the captain said with a sigh. "I guess I won't be seeing Seven before dinner with Chakotay then." Which was too bad because the longer she had been standing here, unable to get inside, the more she wanted to be in the cargo bay with her lover.

"I'm going to get the door open, Captain," B'Elanna promised. "You'll have to talk to Seven after your dinner then."

Oh, I'll be doing more than talk to Seven after dinner, much more. Janeway knew herself well enough to know she'd be more than ready to finish the day in Seven's arms instead of her bed alone. She exhaled slowly.

"I guess I'll finish off in my ready room then before I join Chakotay tonight." She barely suppressed the bad feeling that sent shivers down her spine. Something was definitely wrong but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Please keep me updated on your progress, Lieutenant."

With that she turned and walked away, seeing from the corner of her eye that B'Elanna dropped down on her knees to open the panel next to the doors.

See you later, Seven. I hope.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Janeway spent an hour in her ready room, finishing her report on the rescue mission. Starfleet is going to have a field day with this when we get back, she thought wryly but decided not to leave out too many details. Besides, if I leave out the juicy bits, Chakotay will probably be happy to fill them in for me. She was startled by the thought. Now where did that come from?

The truth was that she knew she was most certainly facing a court martial for a whole number of infractions during her years here in the Delta Quadrant. She was also reasonably sure she'd come out of the proceedings with her head held high. She was in a difficult situation out here, doing her damn best to hold up Starfleet ideals that weren't made for their situation, and deep down she refused to be held accountable for risky decisions she had to make to get them all home in one piece.

So, what are Starfleet going to say about your crew? The Maquis could face jail time but she would fight for them. Neelix would be all right, she knew, and would proudly serve as some kind of Delta Quadrant ambassador to the Federation. No, the biggest problems were her sentient EMH and Seven. Time to give them a head start.

She picked up a PADD and began a new log entry.

"Captain's log, stardate 52621.4. I have decided to grant the Emergency Medical Hologram the field commission of Lieutenant. He has shown remarkable development here in the Delta Quadrant and exemplary skills and courage, transcending his programming, and achieving sentience. I fully accept his rights as a citizen of the Federation. Computer, log this and send with the next data package to the Federation."

"So logged."

The captain smiled and forwarded her decision to the Doctor, adding just one sentence. "Add two pips to your matrix … and come up with a name, Doc."

Janeway nodded, satisfied with her decision. She sent a message to Chakotay to inform him, then leaned back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. One down, one to go. She wondered if granting Seven a commission as well would help her or hurt her when they got back to Earth. She shook her head, sure that Seven wouldn't even want that. Besides, having an affair with a lieutenant under your command would really make your superiors twitch, Katie. No, she needed another plan. She'd talk it over with Chakotay after dinner, once she had told them about her and Seven. Assuming he would accept their relationship …

Janeway checked the display on her terminal and pushed herself to her feet. She was late for dinner.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

B'Elanna threw a spanner into her toolbox with an expression of disgust on her face. She had been trying for over an hour to open the door to cargo bay two, and so far she had been frustrated at every turn. Everything she tried got only so far before she failed again. She was puzzled and angry, and still something about the way the door controls reacted when she worked on them tickled a distant sense of familiarity in the back of her mind. Familiar enough to know that the locking mechanism had been tampered with.

She slapped her combadge. "Torres to Tuvok."

"Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Can you come down to cargo bay two and look at something for me?"

There was only a slight hesitation. "I am on my way."

The engineer decided to relax for the time it took Tuvok to come down, and to try and remember why the roadblocks she encountered seemed somehow familiar, and why she couldn't remove them if that were truly the case. It was embarrassing to be unable to open this door, not to mention inconvenient if the captain wanted to see Seven. Or if Seven wanted out.

That's it! B'Elanna growled as it came to her. Of course! Someone was trying to keep Seven locked into the cargo bay. But why? Who would have an interest in that? Quickly, she picked up her engineering tricorder and changed a few parameters before scanning the access panel again. Oh, no … this is not good, she thought when she saw the results of her scan.

Just then Tuvok appeared at her side. "Lieutenant?"

"Hello, Tuvok," B'Elanna said, barely turning around to greet him. "Did the captain fill you in on what's going on here?"

"The captain mentioned that you were unable to unlock the doors despite your joint efforts."

B'Elanna exhaled loudly. "And now I know why." She held the tricorder up for Tuvok to see.

Tuvok studied the display, and B'Elanna could have sworn she saw a small furrow between his brows that looked a lot like concern. "This is a Maquis signature," he pointed out after a few seconds, vaguely remembering the coding from his undercover work several years back. "Why would a Maquis crewman be interested in restricting access to this cargo bay?"

He looked at the doors. "Seven of Nine," came the rational deduction. "Someone is trying to keep her from exiting. Or us from entering."

B'Elanna nodded and got to her feet. "Tuvok, this isn't just a random Maquis signature," she explained quietly. "I've only seen this used once."

Tuvok checked the tricorder again, then nodded once, his face a stony mask.

This time, however, B'Elanna could have sworn she heard him sigh. "What do we do now?"

"We could beam Seven out," Tuvok suggested.

"Not possible," B'Elanna said, shaking her head. "We can't transport her out of a cycle. As long as she's in that alcove, we can't transport her."

"That leaves us with two options," Tuvok calmly stated. "One of us needs to beam inside the cargo bay to get Seven out of her cycle, and then beam back out."

"Or?"

"Or we transport Seven and her alcove somewhere else."

B'Elanna thought for a second. "We should try the first option. Much easier than finding room for that huge alcove somewhere." She looked at Tuvok. "You or me?"

Tuvok merely raised an eyebrow and hit his combadge. "Tuvok to transporter room one. Lock onto Lt. Torres and beam her inside cargo bay two."

Nothing happened.

"What's going on, Ensign?" Torres asked, rapidly nearing the end of her patience.

"I'm not sure," came the disembodied response. "There seems to be some sort of dampening field inside cargo bay two. I can lock onto Lt. Torres but I can't beam her inside."

"Can you get a lock on Seven of Nine?" Torres asked while Tuvok ran another scan on the cargo bay doors.

"Negative, Lieutenant."

B'Elanna shook her head in disgust. "What now?"

Tuvok met her eyes. "Now we will alert Captain Janeway," he said quietly as he slapped his combadge.

Before his hand reached it, however, a call came through.

"Sickbay to Lt. Tuvok."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

In sickbay, the doctor was busy studying the readings he had taken from Chakotay. It had helped that three more crewmen had come in, complaining of similar aches and nausea. All of them had no obvious reason for their problems but all of them shared readings that were slightly off the normal spectrum.

The EMH had been busy comparing all the samples, adding new ones as soon as a new crewmember with the same symptoms came in. Finally, he was able to see it. "Oh, no," he said with a sigh. "Sickbay to Commander Chakotay."

His only response was a dull chirp. Hmm, curious, he thought. "Sickbay to the captain."

Another dull chirp. The doctor frowned. "Sickbay to Lt. Tuvok."

"Yes, doctor?"

"Tuvok, I can't reach either the captain or Commander Chakotay." The doctor didn't wait for a reply before pressing on. "The commander needs to be in sickbay. Now. He and several other crewmen have been infected with a virus that directly affects their brain chemistry."

"What kind of virus?"

"I don't know," the doctor replied. "I've never seen anything like it before." He paused. "I can't even tell you where it's coming from. There have been no away missions recently, and the bio-filters have not picked up anything from anyone transported recently. I'm currently trying to find something all the patients have in common."

The doctor wondered if he imagined the slight hesitation before Tuvok replied. "What are the effects?"

"Hard to tell without further tests but guessing from the brain areas that are affected the most? I'd say probably delusion, irritability, maybe even paranoia."

There was a definite pause before Tuvok replied. "Understood."

Trusting the security chief to find Chakotay and bring him to sickbay as soon as possible, the doctor began contacting the other infected crewmen.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Kathryn Janeway pressed the door chime at her first officer's quarters, still hoping the queasy feeling would go away. Damn it, Katie, it's just a talk. And dinner. Just eat, tell him, and leave again. Two hours tops, then you can spend the rest of the night in cargo bay two, looking at Seven.

Her face broke out in a wide smile at the thought, just as the door in front of her opened and Chakotay appeared. Janeway's smile froze when she saw her first officer in what appeared to be formal traditional clothes. What the hell?

"Good evening, Kathryn," Chakotay greeted her with a huge smile.

"Hello, Chakotay," Janeway replied, her mind on autopilot. Suddenly she was very glad she was still in uniform, not having seen the need to change for dinner. Apparently, her first officer had a different idea about this evening than she did.

Before she could even start correcting his assumption he guided her inside his quarters and over to the table, which was decked in what the captain thought was real china, crystal, and several huge candles. Oh, shit. He thinks this is a date.

Her fear was confirmed when Chakotay pulled out her chair for her and gestured for her to sit. The knots in her stomach grew, and Kathryn was afraid she'd be totally unable to eat anything, even if she had wanted to. Chakotay's silence only added to the tension.

"Chakotay," she began as soon as he had taken a seat across from her. "This is all very nice but …"

"Please, Kathryn," he interrupted her with a smile. "Let's eat first. We can talk after dinner." He reached across the table to touch her hand but Janeway managed to pull it out of his reach just in time, trying not to make it too obvious. When she saw the smile slipping from his face for a fraction of a second, she knew her attempt had not been as successful as she'd hoped.

"Chakotay," she tried again. "I'm sure whatever you prepared for dinner is great but unfortunately I can't stay too long." She met his eyes and injected a bit of her force ten glare into the look. "So, I really do think we can talk and eat at the same time."

The captain's voice made it clear that this was not a request, and Chakotay withdrew his hand from the table to show that he understood. "If that's what you want, Kathryn," he said finally, in a voice Janeway hadn't heard before, and which made the hair at the back of her neck rise.

There was a certain sense of menace coming from her first officer now, and Janeway wondered again what was going on with him. The captain decided that maybe it was better to have the talk in her ready room while they were on duty the next day, and she started to get up. "I think it's better if I …"

"Sit down, Kathryn," Chakotay interrupted her forcefully, suddenly standing right next to her. She hadn't even seen him move. "You will have dinner with me. Now."

"Chakotay, what's going on here?" Janeway consciously kept her voice steady and calm but didn't move an inch, except to stand up even straighter. "Are you feeling all right? Maybe we ought to go to sickbay. Let the doctor take another look at you. Maybe there's more to your headache than you thought."

"Oh, I'm quite all right, Kathryn," Chakotay replied, drawing out her name. "It's you who's not." He leaned closer to her. "And I'm going to change that."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Chakotay." Janeway's voice was steely now, and her tone was low and dangerous. "And I suggest you follow me to sickbay to have you checked out." There was definitely something really wrong with him, she realized.

"Or what, Kathryn?" He asked silkily. "Do you really think you can beat me in hand to hand combat if I refuse to go?"

"No," the captain calmly answered. "I would simply call for security."

"Ah … see, that could be a problem," Chakotay said, his hand rubbing over his tattoo.

"Glad you agree."

"You misunderstand, Kathryn."

If he didn't stop using her name like that she'd be forced to kill him instead of having him taken to sickbay.

"It's a problem for you," Chakotay continued. "You see, I've erected a dampening field inside these quarters so there's no calling for help, I'm afraid."

Before he was even finished, Janeway's hand had slapped her combadge. "Janeway to Tuvok."

A dull chirp was her only reply, and she didn't bother to try again. Seeing the smug expression on Chakotay's face once was more than enough.

Janeway decided to use her diplomatic skills, so she relaxed her stance. She could talk her way out of this, if she had to. This man was one of her trusted officers after all. She should be able to reason with him. She knew she had to get him to sickbay somehow.

"What do you want, Chakotay?" she asked, injecting a lot of compassion into her voice, which seemed to work as Chakotay straightened from his menacing posture and took a half-step back.

"That's much better, Kathryn," he praised with a smile. He started to pace, walking behind her back in a small circle. "Go for diplomacy. It's what you're so very good at, after all. Good enough even to negotiate with the Borg. Say, did you and the Borg Queen have a nice chat over who gets to keep the drone? Or did you just go in, phaser rifle blasting, because she stole your little pet project?"

Janeway stared straight ahead, not following Chakotay's movements. Her mind worked furiously as she analyzed all the information she got from Chakotay's questions. She relaxed her stance a bit more as she realized that he didn't seem to know about her and Seven yet, something she had been afraid of when his behavior had started to get slightly crazy. She also realized that he probably was too far gone for diplomacy. Not knowing what made him react like that scared her.

She sent a small silent prayer to her lover. Seven, if you can hear me, please wake up. I could need some help here.

It was only afterwards that she realized that wishing for Seven to be there was most probably wishing for her lover to place herself in danger. Chakotay's tone had revealed an intense dislike for Seven, bordering on hatred. She sent her thoughts to Seven again. On the other hand, please, darling, stay away from here.

She just hoped this … whatever it was … didn't make him do something really bad.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

"Regeneration cycle incomplete."

Seven opened her eyes, instantly alert. Her eyes scanned the dark cargo bay, sure she would find the captain waiting for her. When she couldn't detect her or any presence at all, she frowned. "Computer, run alcove diagnostic routine alpha one."

"Acknowledged."

While the computer ran the short diagnostic routine, Seven stepped off the dais and over to her work console to pull up the latest logs. Nothing unusual was entered there but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She touched her combadge. "Seven of Nine to the captain."

A dull chirp answered her. "Seven of Nine to Lt. Torres." This time nothing happened, not even the hiss of static. "Seven of Nine to any senior officer." Again, nothing.

Seven frowned again. "Computer, locate Captain Janeway."

"Captain Janeway's location is currently unavailable."

"What?" Seven shouted.

"Rephrase command or question."

Seven ignored the computer, although her irritation was rising. "Computer, locate Lt. Torres."

"Lt. Torres is on deck 8, section 29 alpha."

Seven's ocular implant went up. According to internal sensors B'Elanna was right outside the cargo bay. She decided to simplify things and just go and talk to her. She shut down her console and turned when the computer announced that it had finished the diagnostic on her alcove.

"Result?" she asked, although she was certain of the answer by now.

"The alcove is functioning within expected parameters," the computer confirmed Seven's suspicions. Something was wrong here, and her bad feeling grew. She had the stronger than usual urge to talk to Kathryn, right here and now, and she also experienced the beginnings of what she recognized as fear. Hopefully, B'Elanna had more information on the sudden problems with internal communications.

Seven walked purposefully towards the door, barely managing not to run into it chest first when it didn't open at her approach.

"Computer, release lock on door to cargo bay two."

"Unable to comply."

Seven frowned, then knelt down and opened a panel next to the door. She saw nothing wrong with the door mechanism, so she went over to her console to pick up a tricorder. She scanned the mechanism, her frown getting more pronounced with every pass she made with the tricorder. She took a deep breath, suddenly having the feeling that there wasn't nearly enough oxygen in the air. She told herself sternly not to panic and finally straightened herself with a small shrug. Then she wedged her Borg-enhanced hand into the minuscule slit in the door and began to pull.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

In sickbay, the doctor was busy keeping an increasing number of patients calm. He had managed to get all of the infected crewmembers he knew about to come back to sickbay, and he was keeping everyone who came in complaining about headaches there too.

He was very worried about Chakotay and the captain, though, especially now that he had had to call in security after one infected ensign had threatened him with a phaser.

The patients were definitely showing signs of delusion and paranoia, and the step to violence was a very small one. He sighed as he sedated the last rebellious crewman and thanked the security team for their assistance.

Then he went back to trying to find a cure.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

B'Elanna was relatively certain she had never seen Tuvok quite this frustrated. It wasn't so much that you could see it in his face – after all, his facial expression never varied all that much – but it was the way he held his phaser and the tension in his body that gave it away.

Trying to contact the captain had been futile, and Tuvok was now torn between running off to find his captain and staying here to try and get Seven out of cargo bay two. His teams were busy securing sickbay and patrolling the rest of the ship in search for more infected crew. It was down to him, and the doctor's report had made it quite clear that the captain was in a potentially dangerous situation.

B'Elanna was just about to tell Tuvok to go and help the captain when she heard something. She held up a hand to quiet Tuvok, then walked closer to the door of the cargo bay. There it was again, the faint sound of movement inside. "Did you hear that, Tuvok?" she asked without turning around.

"Indeed I did," came the quiet reply. "There it is again. It seems Seven of Nine is not regenerating any longer."

"Yeah … or someone is in there with her when she's pretty much defenseless." B'Elanna put one hand on the door. "Too bad someone forgot to put back the manual openers where they belong," she mumbled.

"I do not believe that was an oversight." Tuvok was now standing right next to her.

Frustrated, B'Elanna banged her fist against the door and promptly jumped back about three feet when the doors opened a bit and a Borg hand appeared.

"Seven!" Torres exclaimed, her voice a mixture of shock and relief.

"B'Elanna Torres," Seven replied with a grunt from the other side of the door. Her voice sounded breathless. "I require assistance to open this door."

Both Tuvok and B'Elanna dropped whatever they were holding and added their considerable power to the effort. It only took a few moments to get the door open far enough to allow Seven to exit onto the corridor, where she took a few deep gulps of air before addressing her two companions.

"I am unable to contact the captain, and the computer is unable to locate her," she informed them. "I believe she …"

"Needs our help," B'Elanna finished for her. "Yes, we know. We're having a … situation here."

"We were just about to go and search for the captain, starting at the most probable location," Tuvok added.

"The most probable location?" Seven's voice was hard.

"Yes," B'Elanna growled. "Chakotay's quarters."

Before Seven could ask more questions, B'Elanna grabbed her arm and began to pull her towards the turbolift, Tuvok having already set off in that direction. "Come on, I'll explain on the way."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Janeway sat down at the table, pretending everything was as it should be. She could see out of the corner of her eye that this behavior baffled Chakotay, but only for a moment. A smug smile ghosted his features as he sat down across from her. Janeway felt sick, and she grabbed her fork. It felt good to wrap her fingers around something, hard, and it would make a nice weapon in a pinch.

Chakotay relaxed against the back of his chair and watched his captain. This was what he had wanted, just the two of them together, enjoying a comfortable meal. Some light wine, and even lighter conversation, until he would charm her into his bed, where she would stay forever. If only he didn't have this terrible headache again. He shook his head, trying to ignore it.

He saw Kathryn in his mind's eye, laid out on his bed, gloriously naked and ready for him, saw her sweaty and needy afterwards, telling him to never leave her, except to take care of the ship. He would marry her – he was an honorable man, after all – and she would resign her post and make him captain. Her new role in life was to take care of him and his every need.

Yes, he could see that just fine but one look at Kathryn's stormy eyes told him that she still needed to be charmed and wooed. He smiled and decided to begin. "You look wonderful tonight, Kathryn," he said with a charming smile.

Janeway tried not to recoil visibly from the oily smile across the table. He's not himself, he's not himself, she kept repeating in her head but it didn't help all that much. She was wondering where he was going with this, trying to come up with a response that would put him at ease. "In this?" she asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic. "I'm so sorry I didn't have the time to slip into something more … appealing," she added. Like chain mail. Or a used hazmat bag.

Chakotay smiled. "You are always beautiful."

"Thank you." Janeway wondered why the words made her skin crawl when Chakotay said them, while she craved hearing them from Seven. She shook her head once, banishing thoughts of Seven from her mind. She needed to focus on the situation. As long as Chakotay was busy with her, he couldn't harm Seven. Or anybody else.

"You're not eating, Kathryn," Chakotay observed. "Don't you like the food?"

"I'm afraid I'm just not all that hungry," Janeway replied. Still, she kept her hand wrapped around the fork, the knuckles slowly turning white from the pressure.

"Sorry to hear that," Chakotay replied tonelessly. "Would you like a drink instead?"

"No, thank you." Janeway hesitated, then decided to test the waters. "I'm really tired, I've had a long day, Chakotay," she said with what she hoped looked like sincere regret. It wasn't even a lie, she was suddenly exhausted. "What I'd really like is to retire and get some sleep. Maybe we can continue our conversation tomorrow?"

"Oh, of course, Kathryn," Chakotay replied instantly with a smile. "I'm sorry, I should have realized …" He got up and walked over to her, pulling her chair back from the table. "I'll just show you where the bed is."

Janeway stood up and took a quick couple of steps away from him and the table, and towards the door. "Oh, that's all right, my friend," she offered easily, "I know where my bed is. But thank you for the offer."

She turned and started to walk towards the door but Chakotay was there in an instant, blocking her way. "Where do you think you're going, Kathryn?" he snarled.

"To my quarters," she answered, keeping her voice low and reasonable, although she was close to screaming. "I thought we had just agreed to talk more in the morning."

"You're not going anywhere, Kathryn," Chakotay ordered, grabbing her arm. "The only bed you'll ever sleep in again is mine."

His hand tightened round her biceps and he tried to pull her in the direction of his bedroom. Janeway stood fast, digging her heels in and tried not to let her body be moved by his much bigger mass. Apparently, she was stronger than she looked because he grunted in surprise and exerted even more effort.

"Why are you still fighting this, Kathryn?" he asked in exasperation. "There really is no reason any longer. You want this as much as I do, I can see it in your eyes."

Janeway realized that he was completely delusional. "Chakotay, you're my friend and have been for years," she tried to let him down gently, despite the situation. "Don't ruin this now. I can never be more than your friend."

He looked at her, utterly confused. "But I know you love me, Kathryn," he shouted. "And I love you. We have to be together, it's our destiny." He pulled at her arm again. "You remember the story … the angry warrior and the female leader," he grunted. "We're destined to be together."

"Chakotay, listen to me," Janeway implored, breathing a little harder now as she tried not to be dragged into his bedroom like a cave-woman. "I do not love you," she said, enunciating every syllable clearly. "I do not love you. I will never be more than your friend. Let me go now before you do something we'll both regret." She paused, debating with herself but then decided to add, "Let me take you to sickbay, please. There's something wrong with you, Chakotay."

The pressure on her arm eased a bit, and she looked at her first officer's face. He looked like a petulant child. "Please, let me go, Chakotay."

"No! There's nothing wrong with me!"

All that was missing was Chakotay stomping his foot, the captain thought. She was breathing easier now, literally and figuratively, feeling she was closer to regaining control. Don't make a mistake now, Katie. "Chakotay, you need to let me go now," she said, deciding to change her approach, her voice deliberately gentle and calm. "I promised B'Elanna to go over a problem in engineering with her after dinner." Maybe that'll help.

"B'Elanna?" Chakotay roared. His eyes were getting a wild glint. "You'd rather be with B'Elanna than me?"

He let her arm go with a little push which surprised Janeway enough for her to stumble backwards and fall. Chakotay towered over her, menacingly. Okay, so that didn't work either. Think, think! "No, Chakotay," the captain said calmly. "I'm just going to help her in engineering. You know that I enjoy that a lot."

"Yeah, well, that will have to stop as soon as we're married and I'm the captain," he murmured, more to himself than to her.

What the fuck?! He wants me to marry him? He wants my ship? Despite knowing he was delusional, Janeway was getting furious. Was this what he was secretly dreaming of? "I would never marry you, Chakotay," she spat, outrage making her incautious. "The only person I'd ever even think about marrying is …" She stopped herself but not before Chakotay looked at her strangely.

"Who, Kathryn?" His voice was hard. "The only person you'd ever marry, Kathryn … who is it?"

Janeway didn't reply, not even when Chakotay started kicking her leg. "Who?" he asked again, shouting the single syllable at the top of his voice. "Who? Who? Who?"

Each question was accompanied by another kick but the captain remained quiet. When one kick went a little higher than the others, she curled around his leg, trapping it with her body and pulling him down. He hit the deck hard, his head connecting with the edge of a low table before hitting the floor, making a dull thud on impact. Maybe that helps, the captain thought. She pushed herself to her feet, spared one look for her first officer's unconscious form, and ran over to the door.

It didn't budge.

"Computer, release door lock."

"Unable to comply."

She began tapping her command codes into the manual override but still nothing happened. She heard a groan and knew she didn't have much time. "Computer, can you relay a message to the tactical console on the bridge?"

"Unable to comply."

"Damn." Another groan from behind her sent her flying to Chakotay's work station. She tapped furiously for a few moments, then sent a short prayer to whatever deity was in the vicinity before pressing the final button.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Seven was ready to kill someone by the time the turbolift doors opened on deck three, preferably Chakotay. She just knew the captain was in his quarters – B'Elanna's explanation had been economical and to the point, which had earned her an unexpected nod of approval from Tuvok even – and had left no doubt in Seven's mind just who was responsible for the captain's disappearance. B'Elanna had called it a gut feeling, and she was willing to follow that to wherever the captain was. She understood why Kathryn had met the first officer for dinner and that he was infected by a virus, but she still wanted her out of there.

She also wanted an explanation of why she had been locked inside cargo bay two. She was certain Chakotay had something to offer in terms of explanation. If not, she had ways to make him talk.

Most of all, she simply needed to see that the captain was all right, and by the looks on their faces, Tuvok and B'Elanna shared that sentiment.

Seven was so focused on getting to Chakotay's quarters that she almost ran over Tuvok who suddenly stopped in front of the large control panel in the corridor. Only her Borg-enhanced reflexes prevented her from crashing into the Vulcan. B'Elanna wasn't quite so lucky and bumped into Seven heavily. Her breath escaped her in a whoosh.

"Why did you stop?" she asked.

Seven was busy studying the display, trying to figure out what had caught Tuvok's attention. When she saw it, she simply pointed out the information to the engineer.

"What?" B'Elanna wasn't in the mood to spend time reading, but when she looked at what Seven pointed out, a grim smile broke out on her face. "Leave it to the captain to find a way," she murmured.

"Indeed," Seven replied. The display kept flashing two lines of texts, right inside Chakotay's quarters on the deck plan.

"Temperature level above recommended level. Immediate action recommended. Security team required."

B'Elanna studied Tuvok's face. "This is a code, isn't it?"

Tuvok turned to face the two women and nodded. "We developed some basic codes many years back but this is the first time either of us had to make use of any of them."

"So what's going on?" B'Elanna asked while Seven looked on impatiently.

"The captain has no verbal access to the computer and she is unable to leave Chakotay's quarters, which is why she sent a short systems warning to the wall displays all over the ship. The captain feels the situation is dangerous but not yet lethal. Timely intervention, however, is wanted and needed."

Seven was on her way to Chakotay's door before Tuvok had finished speaking, and the two officers were now hurrying after her. Out of habit, B'Elanna pressed the chime at the door but there was only the almost expected dull chirp, and the door remained close. She sent Seven a short look.

Seven nodded once, then savagely wedged her Borg hand into the door.

Tuvok's eyebrow went up, and B'Elanna just shrugged. "Hey, it worked before!"

"Indeed." Tuvok commented and added his strength to the effort. Soon enough they had the door open wide enough for Seven to see what was going on inside.

A growl erupted from deep within her chest, and she pushed herself through the door as soon as the gap was wide enough.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Janeway watched as the coded systems message was sent and breathed a short sigh of relief. It was a good thing she remembered those early lessons Tuvok had taught her after having to get her out of one scrape or another. She was certain her security chief would see the message soon, and she had chosen the less dramatic wording as she felt things were more under control now.

She decided to look around for something she could use as a weapon, even though Chakotay was being quiet for the moment. Or so she thought until a big hand landed heavily on her shoulder, almost making her lose her footing.

"What do you think you're doing?" Chakotay snarled and whirled her around.

Janeway went with the motion, managing to push him off a bit with it. Well, so much for hoping that the bump on the head corrected his problem. She straightened. "I'm trying to get you help, Chakotay," she explained in her most diplomatic tone.

For a moment Chakotay searched her eyes, then shook his head. "No, you're just making trouble again," he finally spat. "You're probably hoping Tuvok is on his way here, ready to burst through the doors." Suddenly he sniggered. "Or better yet, your pet Borg."

Janeway remained quiet, figuring that as long as he was talking he wasn't doing anything else, multi-tasking not being one of his specialties.

Chakotay kept on giggling. "That's not going to happen, Kathryn, and do you know why?"

Out of pure reflex, the captain shook her head. Her bad feelings about the situation were suddenly getting even worse.

"See, I took care of the Borg," Chakotay calmly said. "She won't be making any more trouble."

"What did you do to her?" Janeway growled, and she was surprised at the tone in her own voice. No matter what made him to do it, if he hurt Seven, I'll kill him.

"Oh, Kathryn, don't worry," Chakotay said with a smile. "It was painless. I simply removed all the oxygen from cargo bay two while she was regenerating. She wouldn't have noticed a thing," he finished. "No pain, no problem."

Janeway's heart grew cold, and there was an icy pit forming in her belly. Seven dead? No, that couldn't be right. But what if Chakotay really managed to kill her? Janeway raised her eyes to meet Chakotay's and her first officer took a step back when he saw the cold fury in those gray eyes.

Before Chakotay could react, Janeway was at his throat, pushing him back with all her might, choking him. They tumbled to the floor, Janeway on top, but he soon managed to shove the much smaller body off and scramble to his feet. When Janeway pushed herself onto her hands, getting ready to get to her feet, Chakotay slapped her hard across the face.

Janeway saw stars. Who knew he could hit that hard? Those stupid boxing holo programs must have had some effect on him. She struggled to get her hands and feet under her, to get up off the floor but Chakotay was towering over her.

"Really, Kathryn," he said, breathing slightly harder. "Why are you doing this? Why can't you see she just made things difficult for us? Everything was good until she came on board. I only tried to make everything right again!" He was really working himself up. "But if you're being so completely unreasonable about it, I'll just have to keep you here until you see reason."

He raised his arm, and Janeway could see the phaser in his hand. She couldn't see the setting but she wasn't about to take any chances. The captain wrapped her feet around his legs and pulled, surging to her feet in the next instant. Chakotay was so surprised that he lost his footing and tumbled backwards, dropping the phaser in the process.

Janeway jumped over him to get to the phaser but Chakotay grabbed her ankle, stopping her in mid-lunge. A second later they were both rolling around on the floor, each one trying to get to the phaser first.

Chakotay was just a tiny bit faster than Janeway, and within seconds the captain was staring down the wrong end of a phaser again.

"I'm getting tired of this," Chakotay snarled.

"So am I," Janeway growled back. "Are you going to do anything about it?"

Janeway could see Chakotay's thumb tensing on the trigger, and she found herself thinking that if Seven was indeed dead, at least she wouldn't be alone in whatever afterlife there was. Seven hated to be alone.

Suddenly, there was a noise at the door and Chakotay turned his head to look in that direction. "What …?"

He never managed to finish the question as the captain took the small moment of distraction and made good use of it by savagely kicking Chakotay where it hurt the most. "I should have done this years ago," she murmured.

Chakotay dropped to the floor like a bag of wood, keening like a baby, while Janeway grabbed the phaser from his hand and ran over to the door. She hadn't even reached it when Seven squeezed through the opening and ran over to her, her face showing a mixture of worry and rage.

The Borg stopped, torn between staying close to the captain and killing Chakotay. Her worry for the captain won out, and she ran her eyes over the smaller form to determine if she was hurt.

"I'm okay, Seven," Janeway said, reading the look just right. "He didn't hurt me … much," she added with a glance at the still whimpering form on the floor.

Janeway realized her mistake as soon as Seven growled deep in her throat and started to walk over to Chakotay, no doubt to put the first officer out of his misery. She held Seven back by the arm and positioned herself between the Borg and Chakotay. "Don't hurt him, Seven," she asked. "He's not himself. He needs to go to sickbay."

Seven looked her in the eye, indecision written all over her face.

"I really don't want to spend the next few years alone at night because you're in the brig," Kathryn pressed on.

"You could … let me get away with it," Seven commented but her mouth was curling into the tiniest of smiles.

"Even if the captain could," came Tuvok's voice from the door, "Starfleet most definitely could not."

"Hello, Tuvok," the captain greeted her security chief with a smile. She was relaxed, now that the situation was over, and also nodded at her chief engineer. "B'Elanna."

Tuvok dipped his head in greeting, then unceremoniously hauled Chakotay to his feet and dragged him towards the door. B'Elanna smiled at Seven. "You could have waited for us, you know."

"No, I could not," Seven replied evenly. "Chakotay intended to terminate the captain."

"What?" B'Elanna erupted. "He didn't?! He must have been really jealous!"

"I don't think it was jealousy so much as it was delusion," Janeway remarked. "Whatever's wrong with his brain made him think he had a chance with me … and that he could take over as captain for me as soon as we were married. I never even got around to telling him about Seven."

B'Elanna couldn't help herself and started laughing. "You give up your ship and marry him?" She howled with laughter until Janeway joined in while Seven looked on slightly bemused. "Oh and it's a virus, Captain. The doctor found it in several other crewmembers as well. He's working on a cure as we speak."

"I still think I should be allowed to terminate him," Seven said when the two officers were slowly calming down.

"Sorry, Seven," Janeway said. "As I said I'd rather you were with me than in the brig." She ran her fingers along Seven's arm. "Let Tuvok and the doctor worry about him, please."

Grudgingly, Seven nodded, and Kathryn hugged her, while B'Elanna busied herself at the door, trying to undo the dampening field. Janeway pulled Seven as close as she could, just to let her know how glad she was that they were both alive.

"I am glad you are functioning adequately," Seven whispered, her lips pressed against Janeway's hair.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Seven."

"Why would I not be?" Seven asked, surprised but not overly concerned.

"Chakotay said that he tried to kill you by slowly decompressing cargo bay two," Janeway replied. "Apparently, he was just trying to goad me."

Seven thought about that for a moment. "No, I believe the commander did indeed attempt to terminate me," she said quietly, remembering the way the air seemed to get thinner as she was trying to get out of the cargo bay. "However, as you can see he was unsuccessful." Which she felt described the commander perfectly.

"I'm very grateful for his incompetence," Kathryn said huskily before she pulled out of the embrace and became the consummate professional again. "Let's call a meeting of the senior staff," she said to nobody in particular. "We need to deal with this mess."

Seven and B'Elanna nodded and followed the captain through the gap in the door. "Oh and, B'Elanna," Janeway added over her shoulder, "have someone fix whatever Chakotay did to cargo bay two. That's a top priority."

"Yes, Captain."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

The meeting was short since there was no doubt that Chakotay had been under the influence of the virus. The doctor brought the senior staff up to date on the situation.

All crewmembers had been to sickbay to be checked out by the doctor, and in the end there had been eight infections including Chakotay. The doctor had also found the source of the infection. Apparently, all eight crewmembers had tried one of Neelix's new breakfast recipes, for which he had used a plant he had picked up from a planet several light years back. Neelix had stored it in the hydroponics bay and had only remembered it that morning. Fortunately for most of the crew, his creation was almost inedible and only eight people had even tried it. However, for them one bite had been enough.

The doctor had also been working hard to find a way to remove the virus and reverse its effects, and he had finally come up with a way. It had turned out to be relatively simple for almost all of his patients but the one patient where the cure didn't work was giving the EMH a major headache.

"Unfortunately, I am still no closer to finding a way to reverse the effects the virus had on Commander Chakotay's brain," the EMH reported over the emergency medical channel. "The disease has progressed the farthest in the commander," the EMH explained with a sigh that was purely for effect. "Apparently, he was the first to get infected and he simply let it go on too long before I could sedate him and give him the anti-virals. I have stopped the virus's progress but that will only last if he is kept sedated."

"What do you suggest, Doctor?"

"I recommend putting the commander in stasis until I have a way to reverse the effects on his brain, and not just a way to halt the progress," the doctor offered after a long moment. "The energy output would be minimal, and the commander certainly would not be any worse for wear when we wake him up. In fact, putting him in stasis would be healthier for him than keeping him heavily sedated all the time."

"You expect me to put a member of my crew permanently to sleep?" Janeway asked in a low voice after a moment of stunned silence.

"It is an unusual but most logical suggestion, Captain," Tuvok said evenly.

"But …" Janeway was clearly surprised at that, and very obviously uncomfortable with that solution. "What about the other seven crewmembers, Doctor?"

"I would like to keep them under observation until tomorrow," the EMH replied calmly, "but if nothing unforeseen happens, they'll be released in the morning."

"Doctor," Neelix interrupted gently, still feeling somewhat guilty. "Could we wake up the commander and ask him what he prefers?"

Janeway looked expectantly at the doctor but the EMH shook his head. "I would not recommend that," he replied. "Any time not spent under sedation just makes it worse. And given the fact that the virus makes the commander extremely delusional, I doubt he has a valid opinion on the matter anyway."

The captain nodded, her face serious. "Thank you, Doctor." She looked around the table, at the solemn faces around her, then addressed the EMH again. "Please prepare the commander for stasis, Doctor." She turned to Tuvok. "Would you go down to sickbay to make sure nothing unforeseen happens?"

Tuvok nodded once and stood to go.

"Commander Tuvok," Janeway said quietly just as he reached the door. "I am promoting you to acting first officer. Please recommend a suitable candidate as acting chief of security."

Tuvok looked slightly pained but dipped his head in acknowledgment. "Lieutenant Ayala will be a suitable replacement for me."

Janeway chuckled dryly. "I doubt that but I agree with your choice. I'll make it official." She stood. "Dismissed."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Two days later, Captain Janeway was sitting in her ready room, PADD in one hand, while the other was stroking the rim of her coffee mug. The coffee in it had long since gone cold, as she pondered over Tuvok's final report. Chakotay had apparently used a sort of contained computer virus he had developed while being in the Maquis, which had carried out a range of orders like permanently locking the cargo bay doors and beginning a depressurization sequence. Too bad he had never used his hidden talents for the good of Voyager.

She would have to think about ways to make the crew see that Chakotay had not been put in stasis as a form of punishment but because so far the doctor had been unable to help him. And that his attack on the captain had not been mutiny, had not been motivated by Chakotay's lack of faith in her leadership. Well, she admitted to herself, he probably had been unhappy with the way she ran the ship but that probably had more to do with Seven of Nine and Chakotay's feelings for the captain.

Janeway sighed. She knew that for most of the conversation with Chakotay he had not been himself, but she also realized that the brain-altering effects of the virus had only enhanced his thoughts and feelings. Which meant that he probably was in love with her, and that at least some small part of him felt he would be a better captain. And that deep down inside he really disliked Seven of Nine.

She sighed. It always came down to Seven.

Despite the seriousness of the situation her mouth curled into a small smile as her mind turned towards her lover. She couldn't resist letting her mind wander back to the previous evening and the multitude of ways Seven had attempted to make sure – again – that the captain was really unharmed by Chakotay. She grinned. She of course had to make sure that Seven was absolutely fine in return. Neither of them had gotten much sleep but when morning came, she had felt refreshed and alert anyway.

Seven had left before breakfast to regenerate for an hour before her shift started, which was the only part about the morning Kathryn didn't like. It had only been a few days since they had gotten together but already she wanted to spend more time with the Borg. Hell, what she wanted was to spend all her time with Seven.

Her brain came to a stuttering halt, as did the hand that had been caressing the silver coffee mug. Like living together? Are you out of your mind, Katie? She suddenly remembered B'Elanna's not so subtle hints about Seven's privacy, and the recent situation with Chakotay had driven the point home in a very simple way: Seven needed private quarters, that much was clear.

The problem was, there were no free crew quarters, and she couldn't just shuffle people around to make room for Seven. And she couldn't make Seven share quarters with anyone. Not with anyone … but herself.

Very sneaky, B'Elanna, very sneaky indeed, she thought as she realized where the engineer had been pushing her ever since she had known about the captain's feelings for Seven. The captain tried to push the thought away for the moment, and to focus on more pressing issues but it was futile. Thoughts of Seven in her quarters morning, noon, and night, came back before she could even pick up another PADD. Seven lounging on her sofa when the captain came home after a duty shift, or better yet, Seven already waiting for her in bed.

Kathryn's hands began to tingle, and she clasped them together in her lap. There was no doubt that she enjoyed these visions, and that she'd appreciate the pleasures of living together. But what would the crew say about it? And would Seven even want to? Well, she would just have to ask her, wouldn't she?

Her musings were interrupted by the door chime. Her heart beat picked up in the hopes that it was Seven but it dropped back to normal when her "Come in." revealed B'Elanna behind the opening door.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

It was only then that Janeway remembered having indeed asked the engineer to come see her after her engineering staff meeting. "Ah, yeah," she stalled while she reigned in her thoughts of Seven. "I wanted to talk to you about the situation with Chakotay."

"What about him?"

Janeway smiled as she got up and walked around her desk. "Come join me up there," she said as she pointed the Klingon in the direction of her couch. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"A glass of red leaf tea, please," B'Elanna requested as she slowly sat down on one corner of the couch.

Janeway's eyebrow went up at the unusual choice but she ordered it from the replicator, along with a fresh coffee for herself. As she sat down, she couldn't help but ask, "Since when do you drink Cardassian tea? I didn't even know we had that programmed in the replicator."

"I added it," B'Elanna admitted with a blush. "I enjoy the taste, that's all," she said a little defensively.

"Relax," Janeway told her with a short laugh, "if you like it, you can drink buckets of it for all I care."

B'Elanna relaxed visibly and sipped from her glass. "I couldn't very well drink it when I was in the Maquis," she finally said, "but nowadays I don't see any reason why I shouldn't have one now and then."

"Indeed," Janeway agreed.

"So, what about Chakotay?" B'Elanna asked after a few moments.

Janeway settled more comfortably onto the couch. "I'm still uneasy that we decided to put him in stasis," she began slowly. "And I still can't believe that there were so many … resentments brewing in his mind, that he was feeling the way he did. I thought I knew him reasonably well." She shrugged.

B'Elanna studied her captain. "Are you worried because he surprised you? Or is there something else?"

Janeway showed one of her half-grins. "Of course there's something more," she replied before taking another sip of coffee. "I guess there's no easy way to ask this, so here goes: do you think there are people in the crew who think that we put Chakotay in stasis as some form of punishment? Who will try and get him out of stasis?"

B'Elanna looked stunned. "Why would they do that?" She stood and started pacing. "The whole crew knows that it was the virus that made him go after you, not some planned mutiny." She stopped in front of the captain. "I don't think there's reason to worry, Captain."

The captain studied her chief engineer for a long moment before nodding, accepting B'Elanna's assurances for the moment.

B'Elanna had the strange feeling that this little chat wasn't over yet, although the captain obviously had no intention of talking about her former first officer any longer. She cocked her head as she looked at the older woman, but the captain simply relaxed back against the couch and inhaled the coffee aroma from her mug. Not knowing what else to do, the Klingon shrugged and sat back down again.

After a few moments she became impatient. Her engines were waiting for her, after all. "Is there something else you wanted to discuss, Captain?"

"Actually, B'Elanna," Janeway said evenly, "now that you mention it … I wanted to talk to you about Seven."

"What about her?" B'Elanna asked, then paused. "No, no, no … don't tell me you decided to end things because of this mess?" She sounded disgusted.

"What?" the captain spluttered. "Why would I want to do that?" She sat up straight. "And even if I did want to do that, why would I be telling you?"

B'Elanna had the decency to blush. "Er … I don't know, Captain." She swallowed. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Janeway decided to let her off the hook. "The past few days you've been hinting, not very subtly I might add, at the fact that Seven's situation isn't ideal. Living in a cargo bay, I mean."

"True."

"So I started thinking about assigning her crew quarters …" The captain's voice trailed off.

"But you realized that there are no free quarters, and that you can't make Seven move in with another member of the crew?"

"Correct," Janeway agreed, inwardly smiling at the way B'Elanna had just confirmed her suspicion that the Klingon was trying to push her in a certain direction. "A fact that I'm sure you were quite aware of when you started bringing the situation to my attention."

B'Elanna wondered if she would ever be able to stop blushing. "Yeah, I did."

"So what you really wanted was to push me into having Seven move in with me?" Janeway's voice was low and even, betraying nothing.

"Well, yeah … I thought it would be the best solution for all concerned."

"For all concerned?" Janeway asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Next time keep your mouth shut, Klingon. "I think it would be good for you and Seven because you obviously love each other," she began. "And isn't that what people in love do?"

"Maybe," Janeway admitted, "but definitely not after barely a week, Lieutenant. At least not where I come from."

B'Elanna nodded. "But it would also be good for the crew, I think."

"Elaborate," the captain demanded. "What do my living arrangements have to do with the crew?"

"They would see Seven as an integral part of the ship—"

"They should do that anyway. She's a good officer."

"But she's still not fully integrated Captain, and seeing her do something so human as falling in love could help with that. I know it helped me seeing her in a different light."

"Yes, you mentioned that," Janeway interrupted again. "Until very recently you weren't exactly friendly towards Seven."

"Yes, I know," B'Elanna agreed. "And I'm really sorry about that now. But seeing her so … vulnerable that night made me realize just how human she's become." She paused. "As I said, she and I will probably never be best friends," she continued after a moment, "but I think there's a mutual respect and understanding now."

"And you think that the crew would accept Seven more if she lived with me?" The captain's voice betrayed her disbelief.

"Well, actually … I think just living together would be okay but—"

"But what?" Janeway's voice had wandered into the dangerously low register again. "No, wait – let me guess. You think there should be some kind of commitment. Right?"

"Right?" B'Elanna's reply sounded more like a question.

"Tell me, B'Elanna," Janeway asked silkily. "Whose fantasy are we talking about here?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Captain."

"Why the sudden interest in getting me married – at least I'm assuming that's what you're talking about?"

B'Elanna nodded. "Er … I … Captain …" She hesitated. "I think there are many people in this crew who'd like to move in together, or get married." She looked into the captain's eyes, seeing the stormy gray there. "I think Tom and I are just one of the couples … and I think if you and Seven were in a committed relationship, the crew would feel more open and relaxed about coming to you with their marriage requests, or even with wanting shared quarters."

Janeway was quiet for a long time, digesting this. "So you're saying that I would serve my crew if I were to live with Seven of Nine?" She stood and walked over to the replicator. "That's rather far-fetched, don't you think?"

She held up a hand when she saw B'Elanna take a breath to respond. "I need to think about this, B'Elanna." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm warning you though: don't expect me to get married any time soon."

"Yes, Captain," B'Elanna replied dutifully. She stopped herself from saying that if she really wanted the captain to get married she would just present the idea to Seven in a way that would have the Borg running to her lover with a marriage proposal in no time flat.

"That leaves one question …"

B'Elanna wasn't sure if the captain was talking to herself or to her, so she remained quiet to be on the safe side.

"Would Seven even want to move out of cargo bay two and live with me?"

Now B'Elanna was pretty sure that the captain wasn't asking her opinion. She replied anyway. "There's only one way to find out: just ask her."

Janeway looked at the engineer, a sardonic grin on her face. "You don't say, Lieutenant. Dismissed."

As the Klingon left the room as quickly as she could without actually running, Janeway looked after her, a crooked grin on her face. She loved rattling her officers now and again, and her chief engineer had been quite shaken at the end. She chuckled. But admittedly, B'Elanna also had left her with some things to think about. Did she want to live with Seven? After only a few days? Was she even ready for that kind of commitment? The visions of Seven waiting for her after her duty shift, lounging on her bed returned, as did the tingling in her hands. That answered that.

"Just ask her," she murmured under her breath. "Yeah, right."

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

When the door to Astrometrics swished open, Seven of Nine didn't have to turn around to recognize her visitor. She kept her eyes on her console but could not prevent her lips from forming a small smile. "Captain."

"Hello, Seven." The captain's voice was husky and sent shivers down the Borg's spine. The fact that Janeway was standing so close to her now that her breath was lightly caressing Seven's neck was not helpful either. "Still working?"

Seven recognized that Janeway wasn't really asking about something that was quite obvious. She translated the inquiry in her head: What are you working on? Why are you still working? She replied accordingly. "I have begun to recalibrate the long-range sensors, Captain. I feel it would be prudent to have them … more attuned to Borg signals."

"A Borg early warning system?" Janeway asked. "Sounds good. How much longer will you need for that?"

"My presence is not required here for much longer." Seven turned to look at the captain for the first time, and felt her breath catch in her throat. Why did this woman impact her so? The urge to touch the smaller woman was incredibly strong, and her hand had started moving towards the captain before she could stop it. It took considerable effort to bring it back down on the console. "I have almost completed the input of the new algorithms. Ensign Delaney can finish the recalibration without my supervision."

Janeway looked around the room, not having spotted either of the Delaney sisters when she came in. She quickly pulled back her hand that had become dangerously close to Seven waist. "That's good," she said finally, but she had to swallow before she could get the two words out.

Seven smiled. "Ensign Delaney is picking up a report from B'Elanna in engineering." Then she decided to be daring. "You can touch me, Kathryn. We are quite alone."

Kathryn chuckled. "And it's incredibly hard not to touch you, Seven." She let her hand rest on the Borg's slender waist. "Have you noticed that too?"

Seven turned more fully into Kathryn's body. "Yes, I have," she answered, and her voice sounded rough to her own ears. "I am glad I am not the only one."

"God, your voice is dangerous like that," Janeway growled as she leaned in and kissed Seven briefly, but passionately.

Seven was pleasantly surprised. It was unlike the captain to be so demonstrative while they were on duty. Since she had no such problems, she responded eagerly until Kathryn pulled away breathlessly.

"We can't do this here, Seven," she said, trying to inject a bit of her command persona into her voice, and failing miserably.

"I am aware of that," Seven stated. "We are both still on duty."

"Actually, my duty shift ended before I came down here, and I think yours is officially over too," Janeway replied with a grin. "Would you like to have dinner with me in my quarters, Seven?"

"I would like that."

"Wonderful! See you shortly then?"

Seven nodded and gave the captain one of her rare smiles. "I will leave as soon as Ensign Delaney returns," she promised.

Janeway smiled. "Can't wait," she whispered close to Seven's ear, then turned and quickly left.

Seven watched her go, wondering who or what exactly would be dinner tonight.

=/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\= =/\=

Kathryn Janeway was nervous. More nervous, actually, than she could remember being in quite a while.

She had taken a quick shower and was now dressed semi-casually and very flatteringly in black pants and a long off-white shirt. It was her favorite, and she had seen Seven's eyes light up on the previous occasions that she had worn it, so she figured it was a good choice. Now all that was left for her to do was wait for Seven.

She began pacing her quarters, from the replicator to the sofa and back, exactly ten steps each way. The door chime stopped her in the middle of her seventh lap but being the stubborn woman she was, Janeway finished walking to the replicator before calling out to her visitor.

She was glad she had something to hold onto when she turned around and her eyes fell on Seven. The Borg apparently had taken the time to prepare for this evening as well. She was dressed similarly to Kathryn, just that her shirt was shorter and in a black so deep it seemed to swallow the light around it. Her hair, falling in gentle waves around her face and shoulders, and her fair complexion were a perfect contrast.

Janeway swallowed audibly. "You look … absolutely gorgeous, Seven," she finally managed around the surprisingly big lump in her throat. She had never seen Seven more beautiful. Not even naked. There was something about the contrast of light and dark that made Seven look all the more enticing.

"Thank you," Seven replied politely, dipping her head. Then she moved closer to the captain. "You are … perfection, Kathryn," she whispered. "I have always appreciated this shirt on you. It complements your coloring perfectly."

Kathryn blushed and felt a smile across her face. She was happy, happy to be here in this moment in time, and happy to be in the presence of this unique woman. Happy and utterly amazed that this woman loved her. "I love you," she whispered, not even realizing that the words had actually come out until she saw Seven's smile and felt the long arms around her.

"And I love you, Kathryn," Seven whispered back, not sure why they were doing so but accepting it as part of what was going on between them.

Following a sudden urge, Kathryn hugged Seven hard, pulling the younger woman as close as she could and burrowing her face into the long neck. She took a deep breath of Seven's unique scent, and exhaled slowly.

"Is everything all right, Kathryn?" Seven asked quietly after a few moments.

Kathryn released her hold and took a half-step back so she could meet Seven's eyes. "Yes, everything's perfect," she said with a smile. "I'm just happy and …"

"And?" Seven asked when Kathryn didn't continue.

"And I'm a little nervous." That's a big, fat lie and you know it, Katie.

Seven looked confused. "Why are you nervous? We already cop … made love successfully." Her ocular implant rose a little higher. "Is there something else we need to be doing?"

Janeway laughed gently. "Probably." She kissed Seven sweetly before leading her over to the sofa. "And yes, we made love very successfully, I'd say." She pulled Seven down next to her and snuggled close.

"Why are you experiencing … nerves then?"

Janeway sighed. "I'm not sure." She took a deep breath and decided to get to the point. "Actually, that's not quite correct. I know why I'm nervous … I want to talk to you about something, and I'm not sure how you'll react. That makes me nervous."

"Ah," Seven replied evenly. "Understandable, if quite human." She took Kathryn's hands in her own. "I will listen to what you have to say. There is no reason to be nervous. I love you, and that will not cease because of something you wish to say."

Janeway smiled and sat up straighter. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to move out of cargo bay two and into other quarters. You would have more privacy that way, and nobody could try and hurt you while you were regenerating." She was wondering if she had spoken as fast as it had felt to her.

"I was unaware there were crew quarters available," Seven responded, surprise evident in her voice.

"There aren't," Janeway said evenly, crossing all available body parts that Seven would come to the right conclusion all by herself.

"You want me to move out of cargo bay two?" Seven asked. "But there are no crew quarters available." She paused. "I would be required to share quarters with another member of the crew?"

It was quite clear what she thought of that, and Janeway cringed internally. "Yes, I was thinking of—"

"Which member of the crew would wish to share their living space with me, Captain?" Seven interrupted coolly.

Janeway gave herself a good mental kick. I've approached this all wrong, she thought disgustedly. Blunt, direct, that was what Seven understood best. "I would, Seven," she said, cupping the Borg's face in her hands. "I know we've only been together a very short time but I'd like you to at least think about it."

Seven still looked confused, so Janeway decided to elaborate. "Would you consider moving into my quarters, Seven? To share …" Stop, that's enough, Katie. One more step and you're proposing marriage!

The smile that blossomed on Seven's face was all the answer Kathryn needed but the Borg replied verbally nonetheless. "I would very much like to share your living space with you, Kathryn," Seven declared very seriously. "Shall I get my things from cargo bay two right now?"

Janeway laughed and managed to stop Seven before she could get up completely. "No, darling," she said as she pulled her lover into a short kiss. "I just want you to think about it for now."

Seven appreciated the sweet kiss but wanted to clarify something. "I do not need to think about it, Kathryn. You are the only person on this ship I would ever want to share accommodations with, and I shall get my possessions after dinner."

"Dinner?" Kathryn asked, quite happy just to snuggle with Seven.

"Yes, dinner," Seven replied patiently. "Was that not why you asked me to join you tonight?"

Kathryn had a feeling she was being teased but she wasn't totally sure. "No, I asked you here because I wanted to talk to you. Dinner was just an excuse." She sat up. "But if you're hungry …"

"I am not in need of … food at this moment," Seven said with a twinkle in her eyes. "Are you hungry, Kathryn?" She was definitely teasing.

"Oh, yes," Janeway growled. "But not for food," she managed to get out before kissing Seven hard and pushing her back into the sofa.

Seven smiled and realized – quite happily – that dinner tonight would be her.

The End