A/n: Thanks to xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for putting up a new C/7 story, "Cradles and Coffins." The telepathic thoughts between Borg in this chapter are written in bold italics.

"Mama…" Celeste whined as she abandoned the toys spread across Astrometrics' floor and toddled over to her mother, stubbornly wrapping her arms around Seven's legs and gazing up at her pleadingly, "Mama…"

Seven sighed as she bent down to carefully free her legs, "Just a little longer baby. Why don't you play with your blocks, okay?"

"No…" Celeste began to complain but reluctantly wandered back to her toys when she saw her mother's set expression and plonked herself down on the floor with a soft "Hmph!"

Seven choked back a laugh at her daughter's antics and turned back to her console with a feeling of guilt, she knew the child was bored, and probably had a right to be since like her mother she'd spent most of the last two days in their quarters or Astrometrics… Seven bit her lip unhappily, she should have been allowing the influx of a crowd of strangers from the Maconian station change her routine, she certainly didn't want Celeste growing up to be as socially awkward and crowd shy as she herself was…

The soft swish of the doors broke through her thoughts, followed immediately by the sound of a slightly indignant voice, "Seven, its 12:45! We were supposed to have lunch fifteen minutes ago, aren't you coming?"

Shame and guilt filled Seven as she turned to face an excited Naomi Wildman and wished she'd never arranged anything with the girl as she said lamely, "I have a great deal of work to complete Naomi…"

Hurt and disappointment flooded Naomi's young face. "But you promised me Seven!"

Celeste chose that moment to back her friend up, "Nami!" she exclaimed happily, stumbling as she always did over the name as she ran enthusiastically up to the older girl and began to tug her impatiently towards the door, obviously expecting fun.

Naomi giggled and patted the toddler on the head while looking teasingly over at Seven, "See, Celeste wants to go too! And you did promise me."

Seven sighed again as she stepped away from the console, scooping up Celeste as she did so. "Well, it seems the two of you have succeeded in convincing me to keep that promise."

Naomi grinned up at her. "Let's go!"

As the three of them stepped into the crush of people surging up and down the corridor, Seven couldn't help but tense up, overwhelmed by the raucous roar of strange voices and the press of unknown bodies around her as she struggled through, fighting panic as an overexcited Celeste wriggled in her arms. Naomi, although smaller, was having almost as much trouble pushing through the tide of people, "Excuse me!" she called out politely to multiple people, "Excuse me, we're just trying to get through to the turbolift. Excuse…"

A bulky man, his arms laden with purchases, unknowingly bumped Naomi against the wall and Seven stiffened protectively, stating loudly in her most commanding Borg influenced tone, "Step aside!"

The sea of people parted almost instantaneously, leaving Seven and Celeste standing conspicuously in the middle. Seven flushed slightly at the inappropriateness of what she'd just done as she felt curious eyes burning into her, both upset and oddly relieved that people were still so nervous of her presence. Naomi ended the awkward moment by returning to her side with a quick murmur of "Thank you." Seven nodded hurriedly and walked with unnatural speed towards the Mess Hall, already longing for peace and quiet.


"So have you and Commander Chakotay decided when you're going to get married yet?" Naomi asked curiously as they weaved through the Mess Hall looking for an empty table.

"We have not come to a conclusive decision quite yet." Seven replied as her eyes settled on a small two-seater table and she headed towards it. "We are thinking of a date just after Celeste's birthday."

"Her birthday's just over a month away!" Naomi exclaimed excitedly as she settled down in her chair while Seven replicated their food and clipped Celeste into a highchair. "You'll need to start planning!" she advised Seven seriously as the former drone brought back the food and sat down. She thought for a moment and said with a hint of hope in her voice, "Who are your bridesmaids going to be?"

A knowing smile pulled at Seven's lips as she helped Celeste eat. "B'Elanna Torres perhaps…" She began, watching the girl's face fall, "…and you of course."

Naomi's face lit up, "Really?" she gasped in delight. "Thank you Seven! What colour dress do I get to wear?"

Seven gave her an easy shrug in response, "It is your dress. Wear whatever colour you wish."

Naomi beamed at her but before she could reply Seven was distracted by a determined tap on the shoulder. She turned around sharply to be faced with a hooded figure, his face almost completely obscured and his hands holding out a large metal case before her. "You are Seven of Nine?" he asked concisely.

Seven felt a shiver travel down her back at the man's deep voice but ignored it, along with the accompanying feeling of déjà vu. "I am." She confirmed flatly, "What do you want?" she asked sharply, failing to keep the nervous suspicion from her voice.

The man slowly began to open the case, "I heard you were a former Borg drone, I thought you might be interested in these." He threw the case open to reveal several metal objects within.

Seven gasped, her hand lingering on one of the objects as her mind was overwhelmed by sounds and images, the roar of a Cube's hull breaking through an atmosphere, blurry visions of other drones… She gulped as the strange sensation left her and frowned up at the man, "These are some of the synaptic relays from my original Unimatrix, where did you get them?"

"A trader on Oralius 9 said he found them, are you interested or not?"

"I'll take them." Seven replied, surprised at the decisiveness in her own tone. "Captain Janeway will provide you with whatever monetary recompense you require."

She saw a gleam of satisfaction enter the man's impassive eyes as he shut the case and left it on her table before heading back to join two other hooded figures at a table just in front of them. Naomi frowned at Seven's distant expression in concern, "Are you okay Seven?"

Seven pushed away the claustrophobic and confused feeling that the flashback of some sort had left lingering within her, "I am not comfortable with crowds." She admitted, which was entirely true but no longer the sole reason for her unease.

Naomi looked at her in surprise, "But you were part of the Collective, isn't that just one big crowd?"

Seven winced, "Precisely the reason I don't like them now."

Naomi gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that. Do you want to leave?" Seven nodded gratefully and carefully lifted Celeste into her arms while still clutching the case, its contents required in depth study.


Meanwhile the hooded man sat with his two companions, a younger male and a female, all three watching Seven and the two children leave before turning to each other, silent to all others, only talking in their own minds. "Stage 1 is complete; we must proceed to stage 2." The older man mentally told the other two.

"Agreed." His companions thought in unison. "Now we must disable their internal sensors, and then begin Stage 3." The woman added, the men could feel her relief and anticipation, but it didn't stop the unease of the younger man.

"I do not see why we should not try to talk to her…" He began unhappily.

"You know what her reaction would be!" The woman shot back hotly, "This will never be over for us if we do not go through with our plan…"

"I have no wish to see her harmed…" The younger man defended himself.

"We need consensus! We cannot do anything without it!" The older man mentally rebuked both of them. He felt their regret and shame and then thought more calmly, "We proceed as planned, agreed?"

"Agreed." They both replied, the man a little more reluctantly than the woman.

The younger man, gritting his teeth and flushing with shame, verbally murmured to the woman across the table, "I apologise for my indecision…"

"Apologies are irrelevant!" she hissed back at him in frustrated anger.


Seven ran her hand carefully over one of the synaptic relays, wincing as one of the unwanted images assaulted her again and thought back to what B'Elanna had said earlier as she sat down beside the case on the edge of her and Chakotay's bed. Nostalgia? Impossible, a human irrelevance! She told herself hotly, the past is irrelevant and even if I did have feelings about it, I'd be able to ignore them… She was pulled from her thoughts by her realisation that she could no longer hear Celeste splashing around in the bathroom next door where Chakotay was bathing her for bed and she hurriedly slammed the case shut, fearful of Chakotay's reaction if he found out about her unconventional purchase.

"Seven, what are you doing?" Seven couldn't stop her shoulders from slumping as she turned to see Chakotay watching her from the bathroom doorway with Celeste, dressed in bright pink pyjamas, in his arms. Her whole body stiffened defensively as she remained silent, and he breathed a tired sigh, "You were hiding those Borg components from me?" he asked rhetorically. Seven bit her lip and swallowed angrily, she had expected B'Elanna to keep their conversation in confidence. As if he could read her mind, Chakotay said, "B'Elanna's just concerned about you." He walked over to her and placed a warm hand on her shoulder, "And so I am." He continued, his dark eyes serious.

Seven's eyes lowered guiltily as she squeezed the hand on her shoulder, she really had hated keeping this from him. "I received these synaptic relays from my original Unimatrix, they elicited…odd feelings I wanted to understand, but I knew it would disturb you…" She explained quietly.

"Listen Seven, anything than can give you closure from the events of your life as a drone is good in my book." He assured her softly, "I just don't like you hiding things from me, pushing me away when all I ever want to do is help you, alright?"

Seven felt tears brim at her eyes, "I know…and I'm sorry." She said thickly. "Your confidence is one of the most important things I possess…"

Chakotay wordlessly hugged her against his chest with his free arm, resting his chin on her shaking shoulder as he murmured in her ear, "I can get out of my night shift and we can talk if you want…"

Seven softly kissed the crook of his neck where she'd buried her face, gratitude and love for him flowing gladly through her heart. "No, go on." She murmured as she pulled reluctantly back from him, "The Captain deserves a chance to have to accept some gifts of gratitude too." He laughed, remembering the armfuls of useless objects he'd been constantly accepting on Janeway's behalf all day. "We'll talk, tomorrow."

"Good." Chakotay agreed in relief before glancing at the clock and then at his sleepy daughter, "Mama's going to have to tuck you in by herself tonight little one, okay? Papa needs to go to work."

Celeste nodded sleepily as she was gently passed to her mother. "Wove Papa."

Chakotay and Seven smiled, always struck by the extent of her vocabulary. "I love you too honey." Chakotay replied, leaning over to give Seven a gentle kiss before he walked out of the door.

Seven then spent a therapeutic time cuddling and reading to her daughter before settling her down in her cot for the night, but when the baby was well and truly asleep she found herself being once again drawn towards the box. With a sigh she laid out the objects next to the computer console and ordered, "Run a complete multi-phasic scan." As the scan clicked on she turned tiredly to her alcove, it had been moved to Chakotay's quarters now that she had completely moved in with him, and stepped inside, hoping for peace as the predictable emptiness of regeneration closed in on her.


"There are the relays, we should begin." The older hooded male from earlier thought to the others as they entered Voyager's First Officer's darkened quarters, the ones he apparently shared with Seven of Nine.

"There she is, regenerating as we thought." The woman replied, snatching up the relays and carrying the rest of their equipment over to the alcove. She handed a relay to the younger man, "Insert this."

They both felt his unwillingness and the older man intervened, "You're still afraid of harming her?"

"Yes! Her child is over there, we shouldn't risk…"

The older man winced as he thought of his own, assimilated, children. "We will not harm her, we're only assessing memory files. Begin."

The objector obeyed, pressing commands into the alcove's control panel after putting the relay into Seven's neck. The connection formed instantly, and for a moment they were four, until that is, things began to go wrong. "She is aware of our presence and trying to regain consciousness." The younger man warned fearfully, "We must stop! This could give her brain damage…"

"Irrelevant!" The woman retorted, "We'll never become individuals if…"

She stopped as Seven's eyes shot open, her arms flying outwards at them, "I will not comply!" she shouted in rage and fear as she pushed them away from her with all her strength. Before they could fight her, several shots of phaser fire flew through the air and all three of her attackers fell. As her body sagged against the console in shock, she saw her saviours, Chakotay, Tuvok and an entire security team.

Chakotay ran to her and wrapped her shaking body entirely in his arms. "What the hell just happened?" he asked in angry disbelief as she clung to him.

A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D Thanks to lisac1965 for requesting this "Survival Instinct" plot arc, I hope you like it so far! I'm sorry it took me so long to write it. If anyone else has any ideas for episode to adapt for this story, tell me. :D