Fair Heaven
by LZClotho
Disclaimers on part 1.
Fair Heaven Part 4
The walk to the harbor was quiet. The sounds of town growing more distant, the sounds of the waves growing closer. "I like the sounds of the sea," Katie said.
"It is very rhythmic." Hans considered the description and nodded as he decided it fit.
"Yes, it is. Very relaxing."
They were just leaving the dirt path and stepping onto the wooden planks that made up the pier system, Hans wondered what on his ship to show the Irishwoman first, when Katie stumbled and fell against his body.
Reflexes quick, he caught her before she could fall all the way to the ground, his hands steady and sure around her waist.
She lifted her head, causing their gazes to meet. Luminous, as though lit from within, her eyes searched his face. Her hands, sliding over his forearms, he thought to steady herself, instead pushed her body up higher against his front, and her face came close to his.
There was a catch in both their breathing, as though time itself hesitated. Then Katie's lips were whisper light against his.
His arms crushed her against his chest, holding her firmly. She sighed and the kiss deepened.
The touch of their lips lingered, only slowly, finally, parting. His hands had worked up into her hair, the strands now tangled around his fingers. Gently he withdrew them, stroking the locks. Her head fell back, her eyes closed, the expanse of her throat bathed in the moonlight.
"You..."
"Was I too forward?" Katie's chin dropped with alacrity.
"The Valkyries would mistake you for one of their own," Hans marveled. "But I cannot believe you wished to do that."
"Oh, I did, I do, and I want to do it again," Katie laughed. "You are a marvelous kisser."
Katie's hands went up behind his head, pulling his lips down upon hers. The taste, the texture. Explosions went off within him, and a throaty laugh from Katie broke his concentration.
"I think you'd better take us to your cabin."
Heart pounding hard against her ribs, Seven lifted Janeway, cradling the smaller woman in her arms, their lips not parting. She half ran, half stumbled, the planks shaking under her boots, and boarded Torvald's Maiden, Hans' ship.
Kathryn Janeway's breath warmed her ear, her lips caressed the pulse point in her throat and Seven stumbled so hard she fell back against a wall to regain her balance without losing her precious cargo.
She forced herself to steady her breathing as she felt Kathryn's hands push past the thick jerkin.
"Cap- Kath- Katie!" She had meant to add "stop" but the woman's touch was making her insensible.
The darkness of the cabin was total. Normally she would have called for the arch, or lit a candle to provide light spill into the surroundings.
Perhaps it was irrelevant for Kathryn to see. With her enhanced vision, Seven could. So she lifted Janeway onto the bed.
As long as she kept on her clothing, the holodeck cloaking program would keep all her secrets.
Kathryn Janeway awoke with a start, aware she was chilled, and looked around in surprise. She had fallen asleep wrapped up in Hans' arms after the most incredibly varied lovemaking.
But the gentle rocking motion of the anchored boat was gone, as was Hans. The holodeck had been replaced by her quarters. The feather-stuffed mattress also gone, replaced by her Starfleet-issue 24th century bedding.
There was a slight dull pain behind her left ear. Maybe the alcohol, Hans' special native ale, was the explanation why she did not remember getting up, leaving Hans and returning to her quarters.
The tingling between her thighs though was a delicious reminder the event had indeed happened. She lingered getting ready that morning and reported to the bridge for Alpha shift a leisurely twenty minutes late.
The smile stayed put, even through two marauder attacks that day.
"Would you like to go with me to Fair Haven?" Icheb asked as he entered Astrometrics for his duty shift.
Seven flipped down onto the console a PADD she had been reading and turned quickly to the young Brunali. "Is Naomi not available?"
"Harry invited me."
"Then you should go."
"Will you come in as well?"
"I will not."
"Oh. Is there something I can do to help you finish your work more quickly?"
"No." Seven hoped to avoid having to fabricate a reason.
"Oh."
Icheb remained still for a long moment before Seven stepped aside at her console. "We must begin our work," she prompted.
He glanced at the status boards as he settled into his post. "The encounters with Species 948 yesterday do not seem to have caused extensive damage to Voyager."
Seven nodded. "I have been recalibrating the array sensors knocked out of adjustment."
Icheb held out his hand. Seven put a PADD into it. The young man's expression grew puzzled as he started to read it. "...The journey twas two se'nnights, but when finally we put to anchor in..."
Seven lifted the PADD from his hands, replacing it with another. "Excuse me."
Icheb's puzzled expression followed Seven over to the far console where she divided her visual attention between the readouts from the array controls and the PADD in her hand.
Seven continued to consume the logs of Hans Alesund as the day progressed, determined to find an insight into her ancestor's life, something to use in her own.
Particularly if it would create another opportunity to follow the events of the previous night.
At times in the past, Seven had cursed her eidetic memory, as it forced her to relive events of awkwardness down to the smallest detail.
However, now it served as the sensory record of possibly the most pleasurable experience in Seven's short time as an independent human. Dazedly she recalled the softness of cotton under her fingertips then parting buttons and corset stays to reveal the gentle slopes and curves of tawny skin. The heady scent of heather followed by the slick feel of warm and wet on her fingers, the taste of ale, piquant on the lips, and then Kathryn's essence on her tongue.
Every catch of the husky voice, the dance of small hands on her face, the melding of their lips in kiss after kiss.
Seven replayed the physicality of the night over and over again, caressing the svelte muscular body of Kathryn Janeway writhing and undulating, wanting Seven's every touch.
Exhaling Seven felt her own body temperature rise with the memories. It had been so hard to deny the woman's requests to touch her, but the pleasure for herself had nevertheless been very real, and very fulfilling.
When Kathryn Janeway lay exhausted, a contented smile gently curving her features, and falling asleep wrapped in Hans' arms, their bodies – Janeway nude and Seven still mostly clothed, Seven looked down at their bodies, drawn to the parted braes and the projection now flaccid against Janeway's hip. She caught her breath, suddenly hit by the reality of what she had done.
The holodeck had not failed her. With ingenuity, Seven had succeeded in connecting with Janeway in a way they never could in reality. A conundrum. She eased herself back from the sleeping woman, uncertain if she should wake her and confess all, or leave immediately.
Janeway adjusted her position in her sleep, a slightly upset expression beginning to form. The automatic gesture of pulling the woolen cover over the woman's figure returned the look of peaceful contentment and Seven nodded to herself, a decision made.
With a reluctant, quiet order to the computer, Seven transported them both to the captain's quarters, leaving the nude woman on her own bed before returning to the cargo bay and her own necessary regeneration cycle to be properly prepared for duty.
Her chest was heavy, and she greeted the end of regeneration with some trepidation. However, watching Janeway today, Seven was pleased to see that the captain seemed content and at peace. She had been as unbending as duranium facing the marauders, but the tensions and anxieties that Seven knew plagued the captain about the daily trials of their situation were greatly lessened, almost absent. Seven had always been captivated by the woman's many expressions, but decided she was most enamored of the positive, happiness... passion.
If, in her guise, she had played some small role in that, Seven decided it was a good thing. The passion, so new, bubbled in her stomach. A very good thing.
"Captain Janeway to Seven of Nine."
Seven blinked as the voice of whom she had just been thinking interrupted the silence of the Astrometrics lab. Clearing her throat, she tapped her combadge. "Seven here, Captain."
"B'Elanna needs your assistance in Engineering."
"Yes, Captain." Seven's breath caught and she recognized disappointment. Examining her thoughts, she realized she had wanted the captain to say that she, Janeway, needed her help.
"Thank you, Seven. Janeway out."
Captain Janeway strode into her quarters on light steps. The end of the Alpha shift had brought the previous night's pleasures back full force with Chakotay's innocent question, "So what have you got planned for tonight?" She declined dinner with him but said she would probably see him in Fair Haven. He told her he was planning a little meditation instead. She nodded and entered her quarters quickly searching out the things she needed.
She stepped into her bedroom to retrieve her gown for Fair Haven and found herself picturing the bed as the feather-bed on Torvald's Maiden. Even the deck seemed to shift under her feet as she was catapulted back to the magic of the previous night.
Oh, Katie you've got to get some more. Arousal rose and she put her hand to her throat, reveling in the rushing beat she felt under her fingers.
When she went to her closet and did not find the gown, she recalled again her unusual awakening that morning. Her gown had not come back to her quarters with her.
Had Hans...? How could he? Holograms could not leave the holodeck. She rubbed her head in brief confusion then considered the ale once again. She smiled accepting the reasoning easily.
Replicating a new gown, she resolved to stay away from Hans' ale. But there was not a moment's thought given to staying away from Hans.