Author's Notes: Greetings from The Lady Mage! Welcome to chapter 2 of Happenstance! I have SUCH high hopes for this fanfic! It's gonna be a good and long one! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. :) Special thanks to Starshine and Scifiromance for letting me tell them a story. Love you two! MUAH!

Scifiromance just updated her c/7 fanfic, The Gift! Chapter 110 is up, so make sure you check it out!

~LM

Obligatory Legalities: I don't own it, and I do not make any money off of it. Voyager and its characters belong to Paramount. This planet and the things that go on upon it are mine.

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Happenstance: noun: 1. A chance happening or event. 2. Coincidence.

XXX

When Chakotay woke up, it was a slow and arduous process. He was so warm.. but a lingering pain in his arm and leg, and a twinge in his back, continued to peck at his consciousness. Oh, the joys of getting older... He knew he wasn't a spring chicken anymore, but he felt like he'd been rode hard and hung up wet. Pins and needles were beginning to bloom from the arm curled in front of him, and when he went to move it to get some life back in it, there was something holding it down. With a slightly grumpy sigh, he slit open his eyes. They quickly widened.

Laying before him was a wet dream. Seven of Nine's face was mere inches from his, her head pillowed on his numb arm. In sleep, she was completely relaxed, young and lovely. Blonde hair curled around her face like a golden halo where it had slipped from her customary twist. Her arm thrown over his side was curled and pressed against his spine between his shoulder blades; the other arm was folded between them, the flingers splayed over his suddenly increasing heartbeat. They lay stomach to stomach, her breasts pressed to his chest and his knee cushioned between her legs, the two of them tucked away beneath the helm.

The helm?

The events of yesterday came flooding back into him- the nebula, the radiation, launching the beacon, the crash, losing consciousness.. Seven patching him up the night before, huddling for warmth beneath the helm. Before him, Seven made a soft, sleepy noise, and curled closer to him. Her mouth was centimeters from his now, lips full and rose and lush. Her breath ghosted over his chin, raising goosebumps down his neck. Alarm bells began to clang loudly in his head. He had to move- and move fast- before his body began to respond to the soft, curvy young woman pressed so intimately to him... respond to her full chest pressed tight against his.. to the delicious warmth radiating on his thigh between her..

Chakotay jerked, rolling back away from Seven like she had burned him. He felt a zing of remorse when her head knocked against the hard floor grate with a thunk as his arm was quickly taken away, her whole body startling as she was rudely forced awake. Big, blue, disoriented eyes found his brown eyes, then quickly scrolled around the room behind him. Gracefully, she pulled herself together, her hands coming beneath her chest to push her head up off the floor. She brought her metal laced hand up to rub over her bumped temple with a wince. "Commander?" she cleared her throat after the tone of her voice was scratchy with sleep.

Chakotay got a grip on himself before his jaw could drop. "Uh, sorry." he said, clearing the sleep from his own throat. "I thought I.. heard something.."

Seven was instantly alert, blue eyes wide as they met his. "What did you hear?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Oh.. it was just some sort of bird." he dismissed. "Sorry for overreacting like that. Did you bump your head?"

"It is fine." she returned, pulling her hand from her temple. Blue eyes left his to roam over the room she could see behind him. No consoles were lit, and there were several wires and conduits hanging from the ceiling where they had fallen through the holes made by missing plating.

Rolling onto his back, clenching and unclenching his hand to work out the pins and needles, he took in the destruction around them. B'Elanna and an entire team of engineers couldn't hope to piece the shuttle back together- not on this planet and not with the meager supplies they had at their disposal.

"How are your limbs?" Seven asked, her attention back on the commander beside her. With him rolled away from her, the cold was beginning to sink back in. Her biosuits shouldn't allow her to feel this cold- not at this level, anyway. It couldn't be cooler than the mid fifties inside the shuttle. She could feel a shiver beginning in her arms.

"Stiff, a bit." he answered, glancing over at her. The rose-colored lips that had been so tempting before were beginning to bleed lavender. "Are you okay?"

"I am.." Seven paused, clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering. Looking down she realized they were both still wet. The cold temperature and the four hours they had managed to sleep hadn't been enough to dry them. "..cold."

"Me, too." he said, feeling the cool air beginning to sink back into him. His leg and arm ached with the cold. He was sure they would need further tending once it was bright enough outside to properly examine. He grabbed up the rumpled emergency blanket his moving had pulled away from them and turned back to Seven. "Scoot over." he mumbled, bracing himself internally.

"What?" she asked.

"It's still dark and we're cold. If we wait for the sun to come up to dry us, we won't freeze to death." he said, prodding her to turn away from him and face the underside of helm. He scooted in close behind her, pressing his chest up against her back but keeping their hips separate. "Warmer?" Seven nodded, eyes sliding shut as she began to feel the most delicious warmth filter into her cold back. Without her prompting, her body relaxed into it, sagging bonelessly back towards him. He threw his arm over her ribs, his hand coming up to rest over her belly. Chakotay felt sleep calling him back nearly immediately- perhaps as a result of the radiation exposure. Tucking the blanket around them both, he finally gave up the ghost, pulling Seven's body tight to his for heat, then passing easily into sleep.

XXX

When Seven woke up, it was with much reluctance. She had always had difficulty in falling asleep- and more difficulty in staying that way. The Doctor had always told her that it was likely due to her reluctance to relax and that the biobeds just weren't designed with sleeping in mind. Really, she tended to agree to a point. It was difficult to relax when half your mind was literally a super-computer, thoughts categorized and sorted, analyzed and translated, almost before you even thought them. 'Clear your mind.' he'd told her once. Easy for a normal human, maybe. Not so much for her. And the biobeds were uncomfortable. She had only laid in a normal standard issue bed once on the holodeck, and it was like laying on a cloud compared. Honestly, she had been on bunks in holding cells with more padding. So long as regenerating would sustain her without sleep, she had been bound and determined to stick with it over the tossing and turning in sickbay.

But that was before this. Though whatever she laid on was hard, the body pressed against her was not.. well, maybe in certain places, but overall not an unpleasant sensation. Light was filtering into the shuttle, hitting one eyelid enough to make her squint and burrow down deeper. With the light now out of her eyes, she dared to peek them open. They widened immediately.

Chakotay had her bodily pressed against the underside of the helm, his arm cushioning their heads. His forehead was against hers, his mouth centimeters from her own now, cupid's bow lips slightly parted as he slept. His other arm was thrown over her side, the hand pressed warm and heavy to the small of her back. Shoved between her knees like it belonged there was his thigh, his foot hooked around her leg to hold it in place. All over she was warm, both from his bodyheat and the silver emergency blanket slung over them.

'Cortical node, don't fail me now,' she thought sleepily, letting her eyes slide back closed. 'Oh.. and thank you, Doctor..' She curled in tighter to him, erasing all of the airspace between them. In front of her, he sighed in his sleep, pulling her tighter. Between her legs, his thigh moved up until it made contact with her body. She jerked in surprise at the sensation, hitting her head on the underside of the helm with a loud thunk. Beside her, he startled awake, rolling onto his back, eyes wild taking in his surroundings as she curled up cradling her head.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern, his voice thick with sleep.

"..Yes." she ground out. Internally, her head now throbbed with her heartbeat- the muscle kicked into high gear thanks to Chakotay's wandering knee.

"If you don't quit bumping your head, you're going to get a concussion before we even get to explore." he said, aiming for teasing. He scooted back to where he could sit up, then reached in and gave her wrist a tug for her to follow.

She slid out from beneath the helm, one hand still cradled over the crown of her head where it had hit the hard metal behind her. When she pulled her hand back with a wince, it was red with blood.

Chakotay clucked his tongue. "Ven aquí." he said, directing her to lower her head for him to see. Blood was matting into her hair, covering up the injury. "We will have to wash the blood away before I can heal your head."

"No, it's all right, really." protested Seven.

"You're bleeding pretty good." Chakotay said, carefully standing up. When his aching leg held him, he moved down into the aft, grabbing the medkit Seven had left on the floor. "Come on." With a sigh, she followed him, still cradling her injured head. The commander took in the state of the aft with a sour grimace. The jagged scar running across the hull let in a bright beam of light, illuminating every mote of dust hanging in the air. The water was still and calm, the majority of the shuttle's contents either floating or sunk into it. "What a mess." he murmured.

"Quite." Seven agreed softly.

With a quiet sigh, and a soft grunt of pain as he knelt on his sore leg in front of the water, he frowned. Even as hurried and rushed as the night before had been, he was sure that Seven had done her utmost to heal his injuries. They should no longer hurt like they did. He made a mental note to check them again once he was sure Seven was okay, though he was sure it was just the aftereffects of the radiation on either himself or their equipment. Taking the tricorder out of the med kit, he ran it over the clear water flooding the back of the ship, looking for any signs of parasite or dangerous bacteria. Finding none, he pat the moist carpeting next to him for Seven to kneel down. "The water is clean, at least." he said as she crouched beside him. "Drinkable. That's good." He glanced back at the floating items in the water. "Because I'm pretty sure that most of our rations are going to be underwater right now." Another sigh. "Ven aca. Let me see your head."

Seven lowered her head, turning so that he could see the bloody mat. She let her eyes slide closed as he gently turned her head to see the wound better, one hand cupped warm over her chin while the other parted her hair. Nimble fingers carefully palpated around her wound, then were gone for a few quick seconds and replaced with ice cold water. The blonde couldn't help the startled jerk that shivered through her body, or the loud gasp of air she sucked into her lungs.

"Sorry. I know it's cold." Chakotay said softly, pulling his shirt free of the waist of his black trousers and lifting it up to wipe the blood away from the cut. He dabbed the fresh blood away, then grabbed the dermal regenerator to seal it back up again. Finished, he wiped the rest of the drying blood away from the wound site, then released his hold on Seven's chin. "All better."

"Thank you." Seven said, pushing her hair back out of her face. She met his eyes, then was drawn to the long hook-shaped cut marring Chakotay's face. "Allow me to heal that for you."

He looked puzzled. "Heal what?"

"Your face." she gestured to the water. "See your reflection?"

The commander leaned out over the water, one hand coming up to trace the bloody scabbed line across his nose and fishhooking up to his cupid's bow. "Oh." he said simply, earning a soft snort from Seven. "Ah, it will heal on its own."

"It will leave a scar." said Seven with a light scowl, lifting the dermal regenerator where he'd set it back in the kit.

"Well, scars are distinguishing on men." Chakotay said with a playful shrug.

"You're already distinguished." Seven said. Two seconds later she realized what had come out of her mouth and froze. Beside her, Chakotay had also paused at her words, but perhaps sensing her being uncomfortable, didn't comment on it. Instead, he turned and leaned down for her to heal the long cut. The blonde mentally shook herself off, looking back up to his face without meeting his eyes. Leaning up onto her knees, she mimicked his hold on her own chin by cupping his jaw with the warm metal of her left hand, then used her right to begin to erase the long cut across his forehead.

"We need to drag this stuff up out of the water." Chakotay said softly, watching her azure eyes slowly follow the path she made with the dermal. "And do an-"

"Shh." she half-whispered, one corner of her mouth turning up. "Do you want this healed properly or not?"

He couldn't help the half-smirk. "Sorry."

"Close your eyes."

"Sí, señorita." He mumbled, obeying. It tickled and itched where she ran the dermal between his eyes and over the bridge of his nose. When she moved to his cheek, he peeked out from between his lashes. Her face was a mask of concentration, bottom lip gently caught between white teeth, brows slightly drawn. The ex-drone was so close to him that one blonde ringlet was tickling his jaw by his ear.

Seven carefully drew the dermal over Chakotay's cheek, and ended it just above his cupid's bow. She put the dermal down before checking her work, gently running her thumb over his lip. His eyes shot open to meet hers. Immediately, her hand was snatched away, and the blonde turned to set about repacking the med kit, trying to hide the deeper blush rising up her neck. For once, having her hair down was a blessing.

"We, uh.." Chakotay turned his attention back to the water and the things floating in it. "We should start trying to figure out what of this is still salvageable."

"Yes." agreed Seven simply, taking the repacked med kit and putting it safely in the dry cockpit.

"I'm glad my bag is waterproof." grumbled the commander, eyeing the fallen lockers half-sunken in the water. "What about your bag?"

"I do not believe so." said Seven, returning to stand at his side.

"Well, no time like the present to begin, then." said Chakotay, standing. He observed the long flat plane of the back of the lockers, jutting out of the water on one side, and sloping down in towards the hatch. With a shrug, he jumped forward, landing on the edge, three feet away from where he had been, and not surrounded on all sides with water. He windmilled his hands once to regain his balance, then looked around again from his new vantage point. From here, he could see over a large piece of ceiling plate to the other set of lockers behind it. "Boy, are you lucky." he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder.

Seven rose one perfect eyebrow. "Pardon?"

He gestured to the plating, reaching over it and into the locker. With a grunt, he lifted up Seven's portable regeneration unit from where it dangled precariously over the water by its shoulder strap. "It didn't fall in the water." he said, carefully moving the unit across his center of gravity and then holding it out to Seven.

"Thank you." Seven said, gently taking the cylindrical unit from him with outstretched arms before turning to store it in the cockpit with the med kit and out of harm's way.

"You're welcome." said Chakotay, carefully turning back around to peer over the plating. "That's one less thing we have to worry abou-ack!" Turning, one foot caught on the edge of the lockers, and he lost his balance, landing on his bottom on the slanted metal, and then slipping down into the cool water like a waterslide. He came up sputtering and coughing, the cold temperature enough to take his breath away. "Son of a b-!"

"Are you okay?!" Seven asked, wading into the water and helping Chakotay to stand.

"Yeah, I'm okay." he answered, wiping the water from his eyes. When he blinked them open, he didn't miss Seven's amused smirk as she moved past him to turn the line of lockers he had been sitting on over. "Water's freezing!" He shivered with a grimace, reaching down to help Seven.

"A necessary evil to be in." she half-grunted, wrenching the lockers over so she could begin opening them.

"Evil's right." he groused, assisting her.

XXX

Seven frowned, having to work harder than she liked to keep her feet from sinking into the sand. Her shoes just weren't made for this sort of terrain. Luckily the beach was short- only perhaps six meters between the water and more solid ground.

Outside of the shuttle, in the bright light of the sun- or rather, the white dwarf that could somehow be seen from this little pocket of space- the water was clear and clean, transparent as glass near the shore and a bright teal blue in the middle at its deepest. They had crashed in a dense bit of forest near the base of a tall snow-capped mountain to the west, and what looked like a clay layered mesa to the northeast. The red formation jutted high into the air, freckled with caves and crevices across its cliffs, with one long flat plane on top. The river they had waded out of went both ways, the water fast enough to keep it fresh and clean, but without enough current to drag their shuttle the rest of the way under. She was glad of that- not only because for now it was the only shelter they had, but also because she had no idea how to swim and would therefore be unable to assist Chakotay in retrieving whatever they could underwater. She didn't like the idea of him having to dive down alone, either. The risk of becoming stuck and drowning was too great.

"Wow." Chakotay said softly, turning to take in the scenery around him. "Would you look at this place?"

"Com- Chakotay?" She raised one eyebrow before turning and walking the rest of the way to solid ground as gracefully as she could manage without breaking her ankles.

"I guess if we had to crash," he began, following her. He held out the other tricorder for her to take. "At least we picked a beautiful place to do it.."

She snorted before she caught herself, quickly flipping open her tricorder and moving away from him. She didn't miss his amused grin. "M-class planet. Temperate climate." She read the readings. "No humanoid life within a thousand kilometers... I think this tricorder is damaged." She scowled as the numbers for latitude and longitude continued to scroll though she was standing perfectly still. "I can't get a reading for-"

"The time is off on this one, too." Said Chakotay, holding it out to her. The built in clock continued to scroll between two times, one ticking by seconds, the other seemingly stuck at 0947- likely the moment the first radiation wave hit them.

They had been lucky to find even just these two tricorders in mostly working order. He had been correct that the majority of food rations would be under water. One box had been spared, leaving them with five to seven days worth of food depending on how they stretched it. The good news was that the water was clean and drinkable, so they would potentially only be in real trouble if they were here for more than 15 days or they could find nothing to eat on this planet. Chakotay's waterproof overnight bag had been found, and its contents still dry, the PADDs functional, and the Doctor's holocamera still in working order. That, he had thought, was a good thing, because he really didn't want to listen to the Doctor complain about his broken equipment even if he had used his own replicator rations to immediately replace it. Seven's bag was either still lost under the water or had somehow been sucked out of the shuttle and swept away. They kept their eyes open for it even as they scouted for resources.

Not thirty meters from their shuttle they came across a large patch of leaves growing out of the ground in the soil just up to the sandy beach. The leaves were a deep green, with frilly edges, supported on long, thick green stalks. Chakotay snorted. "Looks like a patch of turnips."

"Turnips?" Seven frowned, walking up to the edge of the patch and crouching down. She waved her tricorder over the leaves in front of her. With a small triumphant smile she looked up at Chakotay where he stood behind her. "These are edible. There is some sort of tuber beneath."

"Edible?" Chakotay crouched beside her.

"Nothing poisonous, at least." said the blonde with a soft chuckle.

"Well, that's.. promising." Chakotay chuckled with her, reaching down and giving one thick stem a tug. "Don't be a carrot.. don't be a carrot.. don't be a carrot.."

Seven scrunched her nose. "Why would it be a carrot? Carrots are indigenous to Earth."

Chakotay barked a laugh. "It would be just my luck! I hate carrots!"

"That must limit your options as a vegetarian."

"Eh, you'd be surprised." He gave the stalk a hard jerk, unearthing a bulbous purple tuber about as big as his palm, dotted with tiny roots growing out every which way, clinging to the dark brown soil they'd been pulled from. "Oh.." He nearly scowled at the vegetable as Seven scanned it with the tricorder. "Edible still?"

"Mostly carbohydrates, a little fiber, a little protein.. Potassium, Vitamin B6.." Seven read off. "Vitamin C.. trace amounts of calcium, thiamin, niacin, folates, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, riboflavin, and iron." She nodded. "Edible."

The commander shrugged, pulling the stem from the tuber and then cracking it in half. The insides were a deep violet. Using his thumb nail to push back the peel and dirt, he took a tentative bite. He chewed thoughtfully for a second or two, then swallowed. "Not bad." he appraised, "Kind of starchy, and a little sweet. Like a potato or a parsnip, maybe." He looked down at the skin of his hands. "And look- I didn't turn purple." At Seven's amused snort, he held the other piece of vegetable out to her. "Here, try it. See if you turn purple."

"Shy of choking to death on one of these.." Seven said with a playful roll of her eyes. "I fail to see myself changing colors by eating one." She followed his example, using the thumbnail of her human hand to scrape away the dirt and peel, then delicately bit into the purple flesh. Like he had said, it was slightly sweet, and not at all unpleasant to eat.

"At least we won't have to worry about starving." said Chakotay, looking at the large patch of vegetables in front of them. There was another patch several meters farther down the river, and he was certain there had been some closer to the shuttle as well they hadn't thought to scan. Wherever there was abundant sun to kiss the earth beyond the beach, the purple tubers seemed to grow. "We could live off of purple potatoes if we had to."

"They would supplement for a while." Seven said, ever the realist. "But with the last of the rations, should be more than enough."

He nodded. "We can build a little fire to cook some. They have a chalky aftertaste raw."

Her nose scrunched with a nod. "I concur."

"Let's keep hiking up this river for a bit. We can pick some of these on the way back. There seems to be no shortage of them." said Chakotay, standing from his crouch. He pulled his tricorder back out, looking down at the area they had mapped so far. They had found no sign of intelligent life yet, but he continued to be on his guard just in case. "Let's go."

XXX

Chakotay could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he tried to strike a fire again. He'd found a little piece of rough steel that had been a part of the lockers, and a bit of rock on the ground not far from the shuttle crash that looked and felt like quartz. Striking them together produced a spark, but he couldn't for the life of him get the dry leaves in front of him to catch. With a defeated sigh, he glanced up at the shuttle where Seven was supposed to be retrieving the box of rations to eat with their river potatoes... if he could ever get a fire lit. She was still out of sight, not privy to his struggling. "Damnit, you can lead a damn resistance and command a starship, but you can't light one little fire? Really?" He struck once more, harder, and watched a good spark take hold of the edge of a dried leaf. He dropped the rock to lean down and blow on the leaf, cupping his hands around it to keep it from being blown away. "Come on, you!" He blew again, watching the spot turn red and a little bit of smoke curl up from it. "Almost.." The tiny red ember turned black and died, not enough fuel to sustain it. "Damnit!"

Seven glanced out of the jagged scar across the shuttle just in time to see Chakotay sigh defeatedly. He was turning his little piece of foraged steeled over in his hands, glaring down at the pile of dried leaves in front of him. He was no closer to starting a fire than he had been five minutes ago when she waded through the water to come grab the rations. She supposed that starting a fire was a more difficult undertaking than she had originally imagined it to be, and briefly wondered why he didn't want to use his phaser.

"Alright, come on." she heard him mutter.

Well, if he wanted to attempt to do it without the use of modern accoutrements, she would patiently wait.

Outside, his spark died again.

Of course, there was a limit to how long she could wait- she'd much rather cook the purple potatoes than eat them raw. With an affectionate roll of her eyes, she marched back up into the cockpit to where he had settled his bag with the other things they had salvaged from the water. One PADD was procured from his possession, and before she was even fully outside to wade back to the sandy beach, she was looking up in the built-in encyclopedia just how to start a fire with steel and rock. As he caught sight of her with the PADD, she paused.

"What'cha got there?" he asked, gesturing to the PADD. "Little light reading for dinner?"

"Oh, I.." she paused, tucking the box of rations under her arm to hold the PADD with both hands, walking up beside where he knelt, and crouching down beside him. "I was looking up how to start a fire.."

"Oh, yeah?" He rolled the piece of steel between his hands again, nervously fidgeting.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I was unaware you had already began." she said quickly, setting down the box and pulling the PADD to her chest. "I assumed we wouldn't use phasers to save their battery since she shuttle has no power, and it would be unwise to waste their battery.. I did not mean to overstep."

He raised his eyebrows briefly. "Oh, no, no, you're not overstepping. Have you ever made a fire?" When she shook her head, he smiled, holding out the piece of steel. "Well, if you want, you're welcome to have a go."

The little piece of steel was heavy and warm in her human hand. "I don't want to insult your-"

"Nah, you're good." he cut her off, his smile growing. "Go ahead. What does the PADD say?"

She returned his smile shyly, pulling back the PADD enough to read it. "Well, it says here, that one method has you take your kindling, and construct a fibrous nest of sorts.."

XXX

Later that night, after their dinner of ration bars and roasted purple potatoes, the sun had fully gone down- and the temperature with it. Sitting by the fire, it was warm. Sitting next to each other was warmer still. Without the white dwarf sun, the nebula could be seen from where they sat, the sky starless but for five little points scattered inside the purple, pink, and orange gaseous clouds. Chakotay poked the fire they had started together with a long stick, knocking the biggest log out of the fire to save for the next day and let the smaller sticks burn down. Seven watched the sky with big, bright eyes, unaware that the firelight caught them and turned them a bright honey blonde to match her hair, or that her companion wondered what she would say if she caught him continually turning back to them, unable to look away long.

After a few minutes, she glanced back down at the fire, drawing her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them. Nights were cold here- at least this time of year, she supposed.

Chakotay saw her shiver once- just barely- and wondered how well insulated her biosuit was. He was in three layers and beginning to feel the chill of the night. She was only in- he stopped that train of thought before it left the station. "Getting cold." he mumbled softly, meeting her eyes. She nodded once. "And late. We should turn in soon."

"As you wish." she agreed simply, suppressing another shiver.

"Well, no time like the present. Maybe we can get an earlier start on tomorrow- I'd like to hike up to some of those caves. They may make better shelter than this half-submerged shuttle." he said, reaching out with his stick and giving the small campfire a stir to put it out. Without the fire, only the bright lights of the nebula lit the little world they were stranded on, casting just enough light that they could see to wade back into the shuttle. Inside it was pitch black.

Seven felt her way into the cockpit, annoyed that there wasn't enough light available in the mess that was the aft to help her cybernetic eye to see. Once in the cockpit, she groped along the helm for their silver emergency blankets. Chakotay was right behind her, reaching around to grab his own.

"Here." he half-whispered, handing her one of the blankets. "Spread this out under the helm- it will keep our body heat from being leeched into the decking. We can share the other to keep warm."

With a nod, even though he likely couldn't see it, Seven knelt down and spread out the silver blanket. Finished, she glanced back up at him with a soft, "Done."

"Scoot over." Chakotay said, kneeling beside her. The commander gently prodded her back to get her to slip under the helm, then quickly followed her. The blonde lay rigidly, facing away from him, but at the first touch of his arm tucking the blanket around them, his knees coming up behind her knees, and his chest against her back, she relaxed with a quiet sigh. Seven could feel his breath blowing over the nape of her neck, drawing goosebumps down her spine. "I'm sorry I have to be in your personal space, but-"

"I do not mind. It is cold." she cut him off quietly. "Sharing body heat is efficient."

"Yes. Efficient. Goodnight." he whispered behind her ear.

The blonde managed to suppress the shiver his voice pulled. She swallowed once, a little loudly. "Goodnight."

XXX

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~LM