A/n: Thanks to bellislefan for the encouragement in updating this story, and of course once again to augustdarkstar for giving me the idea in the first place.

Chakotay halted abruptly as soon as he entered the now active holo-programme just behind Seven, recognition hitting him hard. The programme had been altered slightly; the pool table had been replaced by an large rounded table, atop which was an extravagant arrangement of lilies, roses and carnations, the piano had been moved to a more prominent position and upgraded from a battered old example to a baby grand, more characters were enjoying formal sit-down meals rather than the usual examples of social drinking. Still he couldn't mistake the long, sweeping line of the familiar bar, nor the cloudy, atmospheric, lighting, dimmed here to a softer golden glow. "Chez Sandrine?" he questioned as he turned to Seven and saw that she'd already been studying his reaction. "Don't get me wrong, it's certainly more…civilised than when Tom gets free roam, but it doesn't strike me as your style Seven, or Chapman's for that matter…"

Seven almost looked amused, but the tiny glint in her eyes soon faded to resignation. "It is not my 'style' Commander, though I cannot speak for Lieutenant Chapman. The Doctor chose this programme."

Chakotay chuckled awkwardly, running a hand through his hair as he broke away from Seven's guarded gaze to glance around the room again. Indications of the Doctor's taste were indeed everywhere, blotting out the more fun elements Tom had often added to the simulation. "Right, of course he did…" He muttered.

"I suppose…" Seven began, feeling obligated to defend the Doctor somewhat since she'd had no idea how and where to conduct a date. The Doctor's interference had been unasked for, but she'd been glad of it at the time. That was the sentiment he and Tom Paris had been taking advantage of. "…he assumed, rightly, that I would have no concept of the correct environment for a date and that Lieutenant Chapman wouldn't take the initiative either." She caught Chakotay's gently empathic gaze and stiffened, "The alternative is he thought this would bring further amusement to Lieutenant Paris."

Chakotay sighed as he absorbed this flash of anger, the first he'd really seen from her in this situation. Part of him was relieved that she did indeed recognise the full weight of what the Doctor had done to her, but a larger part of him was unsettled, since he suspected fear of his judgement had brought this out in her. He doubted Seven wanted to look as if she'd relinquished control to the Doctor entirely, she was too proud and dignified a woman for that. "I don't think he was thinking of Tom." He replied carefully, "I think it's more likely he wanted to impress the idea of romantic atmosphere upon you."

Seven pressed her lips together thoughtfully as she regarded the programme more detachedly. "So this programme is indeed considered romantic?" she asked him uncertainly.

Chakotay nodded, "This incarnation of it definitely is." He assured her, "Although I must say, I'm surprised at the Doctor, from what I remember he had only unpleasant encounters here himself." He gave a mild laugh at the memory, "You see, back before you came on board…" He started to explain.

"…at Kes' second birthday party, the Doctor was repeatedly…" Seven smirked to herself, "…molested by this establishment's proprietor, Sandrine." Seeing Chakotay's bemused expression she added drily, "The Doctor has told me the story several times during my weekly maintenance checks. It seems a strange preoccupation to have when at the time the ship was being contorted by an unknown force."

Chakotay laughed, although the humour in the situation had been the farthest thing from his mind at the time. "It does, doesn't it? But then again, that was his first time outside of Sickbay." He shook his head wryly, "I always suspected that he rather liked Sandrine behind all 'I'm a doctor!' protests."

"I concur." Seven agreed, her smirk curving for a moment into a small, but real, smile. "Why else would he feel the urge to detail the incident to me so repetitively?" Unconsciously emboldened by their shared conclusion, she absently admitted, "I have never particularly liked this programme myself."

Chakotay regarded her cautiously, unconsciously leaning away from her. "I guess it would seem pretty irrelevant to you."

Seven caught his eye sharply before shaking her head mutedly, "No, I appreciate that the crew require a space for relaxation." She countered, pausing for a few moments before elaborating in a softer tone, "This simulation strongly reminds me of the role I was trapped in when the Hirogen captured the ship."

Chakotay grimaced as he saw what she meant. "All it's missing is the holographic cigarette smoke…" He muttered in distaste, "Not to mention the holographic Nazis and the Hirogen hunters themselves."

"And the stage." Seven murmured with a slight shudder.

Chakotay frowned when he saw the disturbance fleeing over Seven's impassive face. "That's right; you were a singer in that programme. I have to admit I never heard you, but several crewmembers said they remembered your beautiful voice…"

"I doubt they remembered anything of substance from the programme after being freed from the cortical devices." Seven interrupted dismissively, "In any case, as I told the Doctor when he was attempting to introduce me to hobbies, my voice is modulated by a Borg vocal sub-processor."

Chakotay wasn't sure how to respond to that, by investigating further why Seven continued to deflect compliments so fiercely, or to clarify that the Doctor had been trying to get her to conform to his own hobbies, consciously or not, as well as manipulating her for a bet. In the end, he tiredly decided he'd rather get this whole thing over with. "So…how do you want to do this analysis?" he asked stiltedly after the almost obligatory awkward silence between them.

Pulled from her own introspective thoughts by the question, Seven gave a tiny start before answering. "I believe the most effective way to proceed would be to play a recording of my last experience in this programme…my date." She waited for Chakotay's tentative nod of approval before heading over to the holodeck control panel, discreetly disguised by thick velvet drapes. She had to clench her human hand to stop it quivering as she hastily dialled in the commands. In the next instant, the surroundings in which she and Chakotay stood shimmered, returning to solidity to reveal two new presences in the room, Lieutenant Chapman standing by the bar, looking apprehensively toward the door, and the Doctor perched attentively behind the piano, a beret placed jauntily on his head in a useless effort to blend into the background. She too turned to look at the door, but squeezed her eyes shut, instead counting down in her head until the holographic 'memory' of herself would enter. 4…3…2…1… The familiar swoosh rang through her ears and she forced her eyes open in time to watch an identical image of herself walk slowly into Sandrine's, of course unaware of herself and Chakotay observing. Seven didn't need the hologram to turn around as it made it's way towards the holographic Chapman at a nervy pace, she could remember her eyes widening in surprise when she'd spotted the Doctor, then the relief she'd felt when she'd seen Chapman. She glanced down at herself as she watched Chakotay study the scene, re-thinking her choice of clothes. Why, when she'd known that watching this holographic recording was most likely the way they'd conduct this analysis, had she bothered to re-wear the outfit to meet Chakotay? He was seeing it on the hologram now and could analyse it just as well. She felt the uncomfortable heat of self-awareness burn her cheeks, no doubt painting them red. This whole exercise was a folly, perhaps an even bigger exercise in vanity than the date itself had been. What was the Commander here for other than to boost her self-esteem after the Doctor and Paris' actions had pummelled it into submission? She couldn't deny that, after her initial bemusement at the Commander's lack of recognition of her, the same circumstance had given her pleasure, and she didn't like or want to acknowledge the reason why.

"Seven?" She inhaled sharply as Chakotay softly called out to her. She hurried over, PADD tightly in hand.

Seeing the unspoken question in his eyes, she headed over to the two holograms, though it was more disturbing than she'd anticipated standing next to a hologram of herself, to answer him. "Observe this conversation and inform me of mistakes."

Chakotay grimaced at her bluntness as he watched a much more earnest version of Seven of Nine, the hologram, try her best to engage in conversation with Chapman, who was, although visibly nervous with sweat beading on his forehead, being perfectly nice to her. "Seven, come on, I won't…" He started, trying to get her off this self-critical path she was on. One hard, stubborn look from Seven though, one she was just as likely to have learned from Captain Janeway as much as the Borg, reluctantly made him acquiesce to her wishes, for now. He'd just have to show her the light another way. Sighing heavily, he began the critique. "You're both being pleasant to one another, trying hard. Neither of you are doing anything particularly wrong, you just don't know each other well enough to relax." He partially concluded, "I've had dates that began much worse than this, and so has everyone on the ship…" He caught her eye as she glanced up in surprise at that, biting his lip in irritation when he saw that she was noting down what he said, probably verbatim, into the PADD she held. He hardly hesitated before gently grasping her wrist, shocked himself when she jumped violently at the touch. Still, he forced her to lower the PADD as he met her gaze, "You don't need to make notes of this, please Seven."

Seven stared down at his hand around her wrist, not looking up as she said, "But I require notes to complete a full analysis…"

"I'm not sure analysis that deep will help." Chakotay told her, guilt tightening his chest when Seven's eyes flickered up to his for the briefest instant, full of hurt. "You have an eidetic memory don't you?" he enquired, changing tact. When she nodded, still without fully meeting his eyes, he tried to explain, "You won't learn just by studying what I say to you Seven, just watch with me."

"As you wish." Seven mumbled, moving away just enough to cause Chakotay to remember to release her. He followed behind as she obediently set the PADD down on an empty table and crossed the room to join the holograms, who had now been seated for their meal.

They observed the meal, through drink orders and starters, in near complete honesty. Seven allowed the dialogue, much of which had left her own lips just the night before, flow drearily over her, instead focusing on Chakotay's reaction. In all honesty, Chakotay had several, one of which, guiltily, was surprise that it was going as well as it was. True, the problems with conversation persisted. Seven was a preternaturally intelligent woman, there was no doubting that, and since he'd often been surprised by her insight, today included, he suspected she had some level of natural astuteness with people, but it wasn't showing itself with Chapman. She was missing most of his cues that would've entailed longer conversation, and both of them were growing flustered, Chapman neither confident enough to follow her line of thought nor guide her onto his. The problem wouldn't have been so pronounced if, as he'd said before, they'd known each other. Seven took a great deal of time, perceptive though she was, to be able to understand and relate to those around her, and she'd had the most contact with the senior officers. Chakotay couldn't quite blame her for the difficulty, he'd known her over a year now, as the everyday liaison between the Bridge and Astrometrics he saw her at some point daily, but at most his knowledge of her was translucent, more often completely opaque. Even so, the Doctor had done her an incredible disservice by encouraging what was basically blind dating. "Seven…" He finally asked, "How exactly did you come to chose Chapman for this?" He felt incredibly awkward, since he liked to respect others' privacy as much as he treasured his own.

Seven shifted uncomfortably, recalling Harry's incredulity when she'd explained her methods to him. "I discovered my own interests, and then found the most appropriate match from the data given in the crew manifest."

"You discovered your interests?" Chakotay echoed dubiously, her wording, always so precise, now getting alarm bells off in his head.

"Work, physics, mathematics…and music." Seven reeled the short list off automatically, leading Chakotay to believe that the Doctor had drilled her somewhat.

"I got the impression earlier you didn't like singing…" Chakotay began uncertainly.

"I said I am probably not due compliments." Seven corrected, "Not that I do not…enjoy the activity." She added in a quieter, almost shy, voice, "The Doctor taught me a composition called 'You Are My Sunshine'."

"I think I know it." Chakotay assured her, growing intrigued despite himself.

"For listening purposes I prefer instrumental music." Seven declared, "Lieutenant Chapman and I eventually found common ground on that."

"So I see." Chakotay agreed as he saw the holograms grow marginally more animated with each other. "But Seven, there is such a thing as chemistry between couples…"

Seven allowed herself an exasperated frown, "If you are referring to the chemical changes in the brain due to attraction, the drive towards procreation, and then copulation, the Doctor has already given me an…exhaustive and elaborate explanation."

Chakotay winced at the thought of that lecture, one he could imagine a little too clearly, having been overexposed to the Doctor's style of teaching more than once. "That's not the type of chemistry I'm referring to, at least not exactly. It's figurative. Attraction plays a role of course, but so many other things too. You don't think Tom and B'Elanna would've found each other if they'd been matched up purely on interests do you?"

Seven smirked slightly, "No." She conceded readily, before she felt the familiar cold fingers of fear and doubt dig into her heart. "If I understand the concept, 'chemistry', which you say is a key element to romantic success, can be…random."

Chakotay heard the distress in her voice and turned to face her. "That's the magic of it, you never really know who the sparks are going to fly with." He tried to smile at her encouragingly, "It can be scary sometimes yes, but it's also one of the best experiences in life, and you always have a choice of whether to pursue someone or not."

The conviction in his tone calmed Seven slightly, but the sight of the kitchen door swinging open to reveal a waiter carrying two plates of lobster, the main course, made her want to hide in shame, to quickly tell Chakotay that she'd learned enough and to deactivate the programme. Yet the words wouldn't leave her mouth, she was frozen watching a disaster play out in slow motion.

Chakotay saw the change in her demeanour, really this woman was more multi-faceted than he'd ever expected, and then saw the problem himself when confusion and rampant disgust filled hologram Seven's face as she looked down at the plate in front of her. "What is this?" she asked holographic Chapman dubiously.

"It's lobster, an Earth delicacy." Chapman explained, obviously bemused by her strong reaction.

Seven's nose wrinkled as she gave the lobster a second look. "It has an exoskeleton…" She muttered in revulsion. Still, when she saw Chapman begin to eat, she visibly gulped and picked up her knife and fork, only for her knowledge to again be lacking. In panic, she turned frantically to the Doctor behind her, who responded by making a snapping motion with his hands. Chakotay couldn't help but take a step back in anticipation, even before Seven gamely took the lobster in both hands and, no doubt with the help of her Borg-enhanced strength, snapped the whole thing clean in two. The meat sprayed outwards wider than Chakotay would've thought possible, but the majority of it, unfortunately, seemed to splatter across Chapman's dress shirt. Seven was painfully, speechlessly, mortified, eventually choking out, "I will replicate a replacement at once…"

Chakotay let Chapman's polite protestations of it not being her fault go over his head as he saw that, if it were possible, the real Seven beside him looked even more horrified than her holographic counterpart. He kindly put his hand on his shoulder, "It's not that bad Seven. To be honest, I wouldn't have known how to eat lobster either…"

Seven shrugged his hand off. "You are a vegetarian, such knowledge is irrelevant to you." She grumbled, her embarrassment somehow growing.

"Maybe this'll be the motivation for you to join me in that." Chakotay joked before becoming serious again as her face remained stony, "I'll need to tell you someday about the time I set a girl's hair on fire when we were out on a Valentine's Day camping trip…"

Seven blanched, then looked up at him gratefully. "Perhaps this incident in equitable to that…" She admitted, "…but this date gets worse."

"Worse?" Chakotay repeated, listening in to the holograms again just in time to hear Chapman suggest that they abandon their meal for a dance. They walked onto the dance floor, Seven stiff but attentive in Chapman's arms, and soon enough the characters of Sandrine's began to join them. One particular couple did a fancy spin, and Seven, always observant, innocently tried to copy the move with Chapman. His almost immediate cry of pain cut the dance short however as well as silencing the music. The other couples moved off the floor as Chapman cradled his arm in agony. Seven looked so shocked and guilt ridden Chakotay wondered for an instant if she were going to faint, before she pulled herself together just as quickly and called for the Doctor, who hurried over, all while still apologising over and over for 'damaging' him.

"I ruptured his shoulder muscles." The real Seven explained over the Doctor's quick diagnosis. Chapman, sent to Sickbay for treatment by Tom Paris, quickly left. "I thought…when you came to the Cargo Bay Commander, that you came primarily to punish me for damaging Lieutenant Chapman as well as for causing disruption for the Kadi Ambassador."

Chakotay shook his head fervently as he grasped her by both shoulders. "I came to the Cargo Bay to check you were okay." He told her forcefully, "Chapman reported his injury to me as he's obligated to, but I never made the connection. He never told me how it happened Seven."

Seven heaved a deep breath. "I suppose I will have to add chivalry to the Lieutenant's crew profile." She muttered weakly.

Chakotay chuckled, regarding her fondly. "Maybe. As for the Kadi Ambassador, he was so lacking in chivalry that no one really blamed you for…uhh…decking him. He deserved it on so many levels."

"Perhaps." Seven replied ruefully, "But it doesn't excuse my behaviour."

"No, it doesn't." Chakotay agreed, "But as long as you remember that from now on I think you'll be okay. Now…" He glanced back at holo-Seven dancing with the Doctor, "I think we have one part of our analysis to complete, you need to gain confidence dancing." He stepped back onto the centre of the dance floor and extended his hand out to her.

Seven gaped at him in such disbelief that he had to bite back a laugh. "I only agreed to dance with the Doctor because he cannot be damaged!"

"If I'm 'damaged' it'll be because of my own two left feet, not because of anything you did." Chakotay told her with certainty, "Don't make me make it an order Crewman."

Seven shook her head at him as she tentatively took his hand, but he could see a smile fighting to break out in response to his teasing. "I suppose you have strengthened shoulder muscles built up by boxing, so I am unlikely to damage you."

"You know about my boxing?" Chakotay questioned in surprise, "You haven't been studying me as extensively as Tom and B'Elanna, have you?"

Seven looked up from her feet, having perfectly aligned them with his, to check the question wasn't serious, glad to be able to easily tell he was teasing her. "It was in your crew manifest profile." She quipped back at him without hesitation.

Chakotay surprised himself as well as her by giving her waist a squeeze in response, not quite slackening his grip on her to its former looseness when he began to lead her around the floor. He moved with her more than the Doctor had, despite the slow tempo of the song 'Someone to Watch Over Me', moving easily over the floor together. Seven soon didn't need to instruct herself to relax, she was already malleable in his arms. This felt altogether different from her experience with the Doctor. Of course the Doctor did give off infra-red radiation, but that was insignificant compared to the sensation of sharing body heat with Chakotay. She had to explain her excessive warmth with that explanation, since the dance wasn't exactly strenuous. Still her heart rate fluttered and jumped out of time to the music. This was inexplicable, beyond analysis. However befuddling it was though, a strange sense of fear and loss gripped her momentarily when Chakotay's feet stopped on the last beat of the song and she had to glide to a halt beside him. She heard, rather than saw because she'd dropped her eyes as soon as the dance ended, her partner clear his throat awkwardly. "That's first dance I've managed to finish since senior prom."

Seven wasn't sure what a 'senior prom' was, but she got the gist of the sentiment. "Your feet succeeded in coordinating themselves after all." She remarked in quiet approval as she quite abruptly dropped her hands from his and took a long stride back.

Chakotay laughed, "Don't tell the crew, they'll want me to prove it in front of a crowd next."

Seven's lips twisted uneasily, "I do not intend to make a report of this evening." She assured him, "I believe we have completed the analysis to the best of our ability, thank you for your assistance Commander."

Chakotay had the reply 'Anytime' on his lips, what he would've said to any other member of the crew, but then thought better of it. "I'm not sure how much help I was." He answered modestly, "Other than maybe supplying some moral support."

"Yes, moral support…" Seven stuttered, before quickly recovering herself, "But on the contrary, your advice was invaluable."

Chakotay smiled as he regarded her thoughtfully, "Do you mind if I give you some last advice before we leave?" he asked tentatively.

"Of course not Commander." Seven responded hastily, bracing herself.

"Don't over think this one dating experience too much okay?" He made a rueful grin, "The 'bad' dates help us to recognise the 'great' ones when they come along, and they will come along for you, that's for sure." He sighed a little, "As for chemistry, all I can say is that you'll know it when you feel it, okay?"

Seven blinked up at him, confusion, some level of realisation and pain shining out of her blue eyes all at once like an optical illusion before the shutters came down. "I hope you are proven correct on all points Commander…at some time in the future." She eventually said. She waved a hand towards the door, "I'm sure you wish to retire to bed now."

Chakotay started to nod slowly, but as he watched her stand there, dressed to blend in to the programme but still standing out like a burning beacon with the characters drifting past her, she looked alone and vulnerable, even bereft. "You know what? Not really. How about we bring back the pool table and I teach you the game?"

Seven stared at him intently for a moment, the beginnings of a frown starting to form at the corners of her eyes as she struggled to read his face, but then her expression cleared and she gave her habitual bird like nod. "I suppose I should explore acquiring some more hobbies." She conceded seriously while revealing to him the briefest flicker of a bright smile.

A/n: Please review this final chapter and thanks for reading! :D