CHAPTER 19
A throaty groan escaped as Captain Janeway descended slowly into the almost scalding water of her bath. The copious amounts of bubbles covered her nakedness as she sank all the way in with an appreciative smile touching her lips. She tried to keep any negative thoughts at bay and just enjoy her much needed bath, but it would seem her mind had other ideas. Janeway couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if the hallucinogenic drugs she had been given had caused her to tell Admiral Adama and President Roslin where Earth was. She probably would have too if the drugs had done what they were supposed to have. The Doctor had explained that something in her chemical makeup had interacted unexpectedly with the drugs and instead of merely fabricated hallucinations she had experienced an engram surge.
In lieu of experiencing vague terror she had been forced to relive quite vividly a handful of the worst moments in her life in the span of minutes that felt like days. She had almost been able to feel the kicks, phaser blasts, and other physical punishments as if they were actually happening to her in the present. At the beginning she had truly thought she was back in that Cardassian prison with Admiral Paris being threatened by Gul Camet. And then later she had been transported in her mind back to Tau Ceti Prime with her beloved father and Justin Tighe, her fiancé at the time. What had been more painful than the physical assault she had relived was the cold and darkness that was all encompassing when she was forced to face the day the two men she had loved more than her own life had died. And along with them a piece of her as well.
Janeway tried to keep the tears from falling from her eyes as she forced the memories away that were now so fresh in her mind once again. As if the events had happened yesterday instead of nearly twenty years ago.
"Damn them." Janeway angrily brushed away the tears that had dared to escape.
She thought about President Roslin and the Admiral. His son, Apollo. Doctor Baltar and Cottle. Colonel Tigh and Kara Thrace. Chief Tryol. The residents of Cloud Nine. They were all trying to get to Earth, an almost intangible place that most held as true based on nothing more than faith. They had the means to get there just not the knowledge of its location. The Voyager crew had the knowledge just not the means. It would seem a simple and straightforward alliance to make. So why hadn't she? Principles. Rules and regulations. Facts. She had been truthful when she had told them the Colonials would not be welcomed with open arms. They would be required to go through an extensive screening process and Janeway had no doubt that they would fail. She had seen and heard enough during her little excursion with Lee Adama aboard Cloud Nine that despite their FTL drive the Colonials were a primitive people who had yet to find peaceful means to settle disputes and problems. The Cylon conflict alone would have precluded their membership into the Federation.
Could she have done something more than give supplies and the location to the nearest and safest M-class planet? Probably. She could have even attempted to be a mediator between the Colonials and the Cylons, but it hadn't quite worked out that way. Voyager had been lost to her due to the unexpected jump and then Seven and she had quickly become prisoners.
Seven. Janeway remembered hearing Seven's voice as if it had been spoken from very far away while she had been held in Galactica's Sickbay. She hadn't been able to make out what it was Seven was saying, but just her presence had helped to calm the visions in Janeway's mind. Instead of ice and snow, she had seen Seven with a smile on her full lips and had felt warmed by it. It was strange, Janeway could remember the events of that memory but she couldn't recall Seven having had the tender look that the vision in her drug induced engram cascade had bestowed upon her. Perhaps at the time she hadn't allowed herself to see it. They had been in the mess hall eating breakfast. An ordinary day that quickly turned into a cherished memory. Stardate 52841, the first time Seven said "thank you" for taking her from the Borg.
The soft smile that began on Janeway's lips quickly vanished when her door chime interrupted her ruminations. "Computer, who's at the door?"
"Seven of Nine."
"Speak of the devil." Janeway's smile returned, though she felt trepidation at seeing the woman who she had just been contemplating. With some regret she removed herself from her bath and donned her cream colored robe after she used the heating unit to quickly dry her body.
"Come." Janeway moved to her replicator as the doors to her quarters opened with an audible hiss. She tried not to show how very aware she was of Seven's presence, which caused goose bumps to rise across her skin. "It's late, Seven."
Janeway didn't need to look behind her to know Seven stiffened at the reproach in her voice. With a sigh she turned away from her replicator with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the accursed cane gripped in the other. She resigned herself to the fact that Seven would not be easily dismissed and the uncomfortable awareness that a large part of her didn't want Seven to leave. "Would you like something to drink?"
"No. Thank you." Seven studiously ignored the enticing fragrance of bath oils and clean skin, the expanse of creamy flesh and the way the robe held Janeway's petite form. Her icy blue eyes had a dark cast to them as they instead focused on the metal cane next to the limb that Janeway was obviously trying to settle as little weight on as possible.
"Stop looking at me like that, I'm fine." Janeway caught the worried look mixed with anger that a person who didn't know Seven as well as she did might have been completely unaware of. She brushed past Seven to settle on the couch underneath her viewport. Seven's gaze followed her and she turned towards the couch but did not join Janeway.
"I apologize, Captain." Seven stood stiffly with her hands clasped behind her as she tried to formulate the words she had come here to say.
"Seven." Captain Janeway deliberately softened her tone. She patted an area of the couch next to her in invitation. "Come, please sit."
Instead of her usual refusal, Seven instead nodded her head in acquiescence. She settled her lanky form in ninety degree angles of impossible straightness onto the cushion next to Janeway's, so close the heat from the Captain's body warmed her left side.
"Are you having difficulty coming to terms with what you experienced on the Galactica?" Janeway's dark eyes were noticeably concerned, open and compassionate. Her voice was a complex mixture of residual anger for what they had both been subjected to and worry for Seven.
"No." And that was the truth. Seven's only concern was for Janeway. "But I believe you are."
"I beg your pardon." Janeway was taken off guard by the assuredness of Seven's statement. And the truth of it, which caused the Captain's indignation for being so easily read by the other woman to rise.
"You never believed the Colonials capable of such inhumane acts to get the information they wanted because they were human. I have no such bias." Seven didn't mean to raise her chin or look so imperial, but she did. "That is why you are still being affected by the actions of President Roslin and Admiral Adama."
"I'm sorry I can't just shut my feelings off like you." Janeway regretted the words even while they were tumbling out of her mouth. And even more so when a hurt look passed over Seven's features. "I didn't mean that, Seven."
"You did not?" The injured look was replaced by irritation. Seven's eyes flared with anger that also colored her tone. "You still see me as Borg. As a machine. You do not see me as an individual… and perhaps you never will."
"That's not true, Seven. And that's not how I see you." Janeway felt shame drop heavily in her lower abdomen like a frozen stone. "I didn't mean what I said. I know you have feelings. That you feel. I—I said that out of anger."
"Do you feel anger towards me?" Seven ignored the warmth that filled her chest at what her Captain had just said to her for the sake of this enlightenment.
"Of course not." Janeway's hand halted before it reached Seven. The Captain seemed to think better of actually touching the other woman and instead retrieved her coffee mug from the low table in front of the couch.
"But you feel anger."
"I suppose I do." Janeway took a few sips of coffee before she replaced the mug on top of the glass coffee table. Her blue gaze swept across Seven's impassive features with interest. "Aren't you angry?"
"Yes. I am extremely angry." Despite Seven's words both her voice and facial expression were carefully modulated to project calm and control. "What you experienced at the hands of the Colonials was unacceptable."
"Seven…" Janeway quickly decided she couldn't very well tell the other woman not to feel a certain way. And it did fill her with warmth that Seven cared for her, but the Captain thought she understood more about what had happened onboard the Galactica to just brush it off as another run-in with hostile "aliens". "I might have done the same thing in their place."
It had been meant to be an offhand comment by Janeway, but she could immediately see in Seven's expression that it had elicited a strong reaction.
"If positions had been reversed and President Roslin and Admiral Adama had been on Voyager and had the means to get to Earth you would have imprisoned them with no just cause, not addressed their injuries, threatened them with physical torture, ordered the Doctor not to treat a serious wound, and drug them with hallucinogenic drugs that would cause extreme distress?" Seven's gaze narrowed as she watched Janeway take in her words with a grim expression.
"That's not what I meant." Janeway had to turn away from the pointed look Seven was paying her as her own ire increased. "They are a desperate people, Seven. Their worlds have been destroyed, they've been cast adrift hardly prepared for the dangers of space, and their one aspiration has been denied them. Voyager is a luxury cruise ship compared to the Galactica."
"Irrelevant." Seven's confusion and impatience at how Janeway was defending the Colonials colored her tone. "Their actions were unacceptable. You would never have acted in such a manner."
Janeway felt the uncomfortable weight of shame and regret fill her as she thought about what she had done not so long ago in an attempt to garner information from Noah Lessing. Any fight that was in Janeway's voice softened under the pressure of her own feelings of disgrace. "I'm not perfect, Seven."
"No. You are human." Seven's voice also lost its hard edge as she hoped she was finally getting through to her Captain. "You are the most human person I know."
Janeway couldn't help but be affected by the soft words. If they had come from anyone else she might have wondered about a double edged meaning, a back handed compliment of sorts. But coming from Seven she felt humbled and pleased.
"I've… done things I'm not proud of, but I can't say I would go back and do it differently even if it were possible."
Images and events flashed in Janeway's mind's eye. Quinn. Tuvix. Her alliance with the Borg. Arturis. Crell Moset. Erasing the Doctor's memories. Ransom. Noah Lessing. And then there was always Seven. She had forcefully ripped Seven from the Borg, thrust humanity and all of its foibles onto her and told her it was for her own good. How confusing and terrifying it must have been for Seven to have individuality so forced upon her amongst a ship full of people who more often than not feared her, even to the point of phobia. It was to Seven's credit that she adapted as well as she had in the last two years.
"You do not seek absolution from the things you have done. The choices you have made under desperate circumstances." Seven knew of some of the acts Janeway had committed before she had been taken from the Borg. After reading the private logs of Captain Janeway when privacy had been irrelevant had told Seven much about the self-recriminations the other woman's actions have caused her. "Yet you intimate that I forgive the Colonials for their actions. Actions that caused you pain and distress."
"Who would I seek my 'absolution' from? I'm alone out here." Janeway's slim shoulders shrugged minutely to ward off any uneasiness caused by Seven's defensive attitude.
"You forgive them because they are human. As you did the crew of the Equinox. As you would have Captain Ransom if he had survived." Seven's assuredness was in her blunt tones and lifted chin. "As you do me. I have helped destroy billions of lives. Assimilated thousands of individuals myself. And yet you have allowed me to live. To become a member of your crew. To develop into an individual. You have… forgiven me."
Seven's voice lost some of its certainty as it trailed off into a whisper. A gentle finger under her chin caused Seven's eyes to lift as well. She saw conviction in the dark blue eyes that met her own steadily. A small smile lifted one corner of Janeway's lips.
"If you want my forgiveness you have it. But you don't need my forgiveness, Seven. You weren't responsible for your actions. And I think having twenty years stolen by the Borg is punishment enough." Hot tears gathered in Janeway's throat as all the conviction she had within herself came through in her openly affectionate expression. "You're an individual. An extraordinary individual, Seven."
The fingers on Seven's chin lingered for a moment after emotion caused her voice to crack. Feeling self-conscious Janeway began to pull her hand away from Seven's soft skin, but was stopped when a metal laced hand grasped her wrist.
Their eyes were fixed on one another seemingly frozen in time as something changed between them in the one simple act of Seven initiating physical contact with Janeway, which was something she hardly if ever did. In the span of time their gazes remained locked, Seven remembered the Captain's words aboard the Delta Flyer shortly after the Doctor revived her.
CHAPTER 20
While onboard the Delta Flyer, Seven never left Janeway's side even as she transferred the Doctor's program into the mobile emitter she had utilized for the mission.
"Her immune system has been severely compromised." The Doctor carefully removed the metal brace and bloodied bandage that was wrapped around the Captain's left thigh with a pained expression. "This wound has become infected. I'm going to have to cleanse the drugs out of her system before I can operate. She may become nauseous, so she will have to be revived before we can begin."
Seven stood by the biobed in the Delta Flyer's aft section that contained Janeway's unconscious form as Ensign Jurot and William Telfer assisted the Doctor in the upcoming procedures. The Doctor pressed a hypospray containing a mild stimulant against Captain Janeway's neck. Immediately after the dispersal, Janeway groaned as she began to rise against the darkness that had enclosed her.
"Seven… please… forgive me."
Janeway's voice had been so soft Seven doubted anyone else in the cabin had heard the affecting words or the distressed manner in which they had been spoken. Confusion warred with the almost physically painful wrenching in her chest. And above all Seven felt tenderness as she replied earnestly and just as softly as her Captain.
"I forgive you."
Shortly after speaking those three simple words that had a calming effect on Janeway, the Doctor had scooted Seven away and administered a powerful anti-toxin solution. Janeway's expression clearly showed the nauseating side-effect of the medicine, but she controlled the lurching in her stomach as she came back to reality rather quickly.
"Doctor?" Janeway's eyes opened to find the holographic CMO standing above her. He had a serious though affable expression on his craggy features.
"It's all right, Captain." The Doctor administered a full spectrum antibiotic, along with a painkiller, and an immunoboost. "You're safe now. We're on the Delta Flyer heading back to Voyager."
A suddenly worried thought caused Janeway to sit up abruptly. "Seven!"
"I am here." Seven stood stiffly as Janeway' expression softened into a mixture of gratitude and relief.
"Has the Galactica jumped?" Knowing her leg still needed attending to despite the fact she couldn't actually feel it, Janeway settled back against the cushions of the biobed.
"No, Commander Chakotay took out their propulsion system. He'll transport their missing part once we're back onboard Voyager and ready to leave this sector." The Doctor smiled smugly at what he thought had been an ingenious maneuver on the First Officer's part.
"I need to speak with the Commander." Janeway's expression was not at all smug as she made a quick decision.
The Doctor tapped his combadge as directed. "Doctor to Commander Chakotay."
"Go ahead, Doctor." There was obvious fear underlining Chakotay's otherwise profession tones.
"Chakotay, we can't leave this sector once the Delta Flyer is onboard. The Galactica is the Fleet's main line of defense. And even if you replace their missing part it will still take them time to repair the damage. Also have Neelix put together a list of supplies we can send over to the Galactica." Janeway ignored the looks both Seven and the Doctor were paying her as she continued issuing her orders. "They've surrendered and I believe Admiral Adama to be true to his word. But tell them if they make any hostile move towards Voyager we will retaliate."
A completely confounded Commander Chakotay answered with the only response he knew she would accept. "Aye, Captain."
"Captain, are you ready for transport?"
Captain Janeway nodded her head to the Doctor's question. She allowed her gaze to move to Seven even as she shimmered away on a transporter beam.
CHAPTER 21
Seven was abruptly taken out of her reverie when Janeway attempted to pull her wrist from the metal laced grasp. Seven maintained her gentle, but unyielding hold as she looked intently at Janeway's rather bemused features. Her voice was soft as if what she was about to tell her Captain was a secret that even the walls of her living quarters could not be privy to.
"I forgive you, Kathryn. Even though I do not believe you have done anything to require it. I do forgive you." Seven had already supposed Janeway recalled the drug induced engram cascade and the look of remembrance verified it. "And you are not alone. I am here."
Kathryn Janeway wasn't sure what to be more shocked and astounded by. The use of her first name. The heartfelt words that warmed something within her that she didn't even know had existed until the cold feeling of guilt was gone. Perhaps the hand that still held her wrist. Or the fact that Seven's face was progressing ever so slowly towards her own until warm breath drifted across her lips. Janeway was also surprised to find that she had closed her eyes and had only noticed that fact when she reopened them to find Seven with a lift to her full moist lips.
"I love you."
Janeway only had the time it took for her to gasp in astonishment before Seven's lips covered her own and her eyes once again drifted close as the sweetest kiss she had ever received was given to her by the woman she held forever close to her heart. The heart which was now thumping wildly in her chest at the sensation of Seven's lips moving slowly over hers. It was an inexperienced, but sincere kiss which made it all the more beautiful. No other part of Seven was touching her except for her lips and the one hand on her wrist, but Janeway felt warmth spread throughout her body from those two points of contact.
It could be categorized by most as a chaste kiss, but it was still the most powerful life-changing kiss Kathryn Janeway had ever experienced in her life. Ever hoped to experience. It was different from all the other kisses because at that moment she knew she was loved unconditionally, powerfully and ceaselessly. For Seven never did anything halfway.
As her lips moved over Janeway's, Seven pulled Janeway closer to her body until the petite frame was pressed tightly against her own. The points of warm contact almost overwhelmed Seven even as she hugged the other woman closer to her body. What had started off as tentative movements, Seven now began a more thorough exploration as her tongue pushed between lips and teeth in order to dance and dual with Janeway's.
The groan of pleasure that rumbled from Janeway's throat spurred Seven on to take her expression of love to the next level. Seven began to part Kathryn Janeway's robe with unhurried deliberation. Just when the robe was about to fall away completely, firm hands grasped Seven's forearms, which effectively stopped the impending removal of her robe
"Seven, please stop." Janeway's eyes were heavily-lidded, her pupils were dilated, and the hammering of her heart in her chest could be felt by Seven. The heavy breathing as if Janeway had just exerted herself physically caused her voice to come out low and husky, with confusion and apprehension infusing the gravelly tones. "What does this mean?"
"You are shaking." With great care, Seven pulled the cream colored robe tighter to warm the suddenly very vulnerable woman before her.
After the robe was once again secure, Seven let her eyes drift back to Janeway's elegant features and realized that the Captain had never taken her questioning eyes off of Seven. She was awaiting an answer.
"This means I will no longer allow you to see yourself as being alone. Nor will I allow my existence to be a lonely one when it is possible to change it." Seven cupped Janeway's face in her right hand as she looked as earnest as she could. "You have taught me how to be an individual, to be human. You have also shown me why I should strive to be human. You say you are not 'perfect'. Is it not 'human' to have flaws, to make mistakes and to learn from them, to adapt? I am not perfect. Can we not be imperfect together?"
Seven's lips lifted into a small smile of wonder as moisture escaped from Janeway's blue eyes. The tears that fell on to her hand were warm and Seven treasured them.
"What I feel for you I cannot adequately put into words, but I know that it is love. Even when I am not in your presence I often have thoughts of you. What you might be feeling, thinking, doing and hoping none of those are causing you distress. I often wonder if you know how often you have almost caught me observing you… on the Bridge, at staff meetings, while playing Velocity, or at social gatherings." Seven didn't add that the only reason why she succumbed to Janeway's "order" to attend celebrations usually held in the Mess Hall was because the Captain usually sought her out at such events. "Do you know that when you smile and it causes your eyes to seem illuminated from within that an almost uncontainable warmth fills my chest. It is almost painful when I am filled with such simple joy. Or when you are threatened, as you were onboard the Galactica, that what I feel is actually painful. I feel… rage and fear. I wanted to do irreparable harm to President Roslin and Admiral Adama for causing you pain, but I knew that you would not approve of such action so I did not. Because I do not want you to be disappointed in me. I do not want you to see me as a failure. As an unfeeling machine. As someone incapable of feeling love. Or undeserving of it in return."
Without losing contact with Seven's light blue gaze, Janeway took the hand that had cupped her face and caught tears away from her cheek as she gathered the metal encased hand in her other. She held both of Seven's hands in her own as she allowed the love she had thought she had to keep hidden shine through her smile and her bright blue eyes. "I do believe that you love me. But there are many different forms that love can take. The truth is, Seven… I'm in love with you. I have been for a very long time. I never dared hope you would return my feelings. I'm afraid that you still might not. Why did you kiss me?"
"You believe my love for you is… platonic? You are wrong." Seven's tone wasn't nearly as steely as it usually was when she was correcting someone. She knew Janeway was not nearly as confident when it came to matters of the heart than with being the Captain, the scientist, and the leader. "Would you think me perverse if I confessed that I have thought about… imagined what your naked form would look like when aroused by my ministrations? By my hands and lips touching your skin. How I have wondered how you would sound as I pleasured you with my tongue. What your taste would be like and how your scent would coat my skin. How you would feel around my fingers as I entered you. Would you moan my name? Scream the name of a deity? Or would you make soft guttural groans and grunts as you have done while we have played Velocity, which has made me wonder if you knew the effects those sounds cause within me. They distract me and I have wondered if perhaps I would win a match if you would refrain from making such provocative noises. Or perhaps you would think me inappropriate if I told you that I know you are quite aroused right now, that your fragrance in the air has alerted me of this fact. And you might deny your body's reactions, but I would not believe you. And what, I wonder, would you say if I told you that resistance was futile?"
Kathryn Janeway, for perhaps the first time in her life, had been struck mute by Seven's words which had in fact aroused her beyond anything she had every experienced before. She was sure even without Seven's enhanced senses the other woman would have been able to detect her excitement at hearing those aggressively sexual wonderings.
Any answer Kathryn would have voiced was prevented quite effectively by Seven's hot mouth on hers once again. This time the kisses were anything but tentative and chaste. They were insistent and forceful to the point of being almost bruising. She welcomed the aggression and matched Seven's passion with her own.
Before she realized Seven's intention, Kathryn was pushed gently, but swiftly onto her back atop her sofa. Any residual pain in her left thigh was utterly forgotten as her legs fell open to accommodate Seven's form nestled in between them. Her arms were held above her head and over the armrest by the gentle, but firm hold of Seven's metal laced hand. Seven's right hand began the work left unfinished when Janeway had stopped her previous actions with a "please". The knot of the cream colored robe released within Seven's hands before the silky material separated to reveal Kathryn's naked form.
"You are beautiful." Seven's words came out breathy as she took in the small lithe form of the indomitable Captain Janeway revealed to her completely for the first time, of what Seven knew, would be many. "May I touch you?"
Seven had let her metal encased hand fall away from Janeway's wrists as she purposefully kept it away from the vulnerable flesh beneath her. Kathryn smiled encouragingly as she understood Seven's hesitation regarding her Borg appendage. She took both of Seven's wrists in her hands and brought Seven's fingers and palms, both metal and flesh, to rest upon the creamy expanse of her upper chest dusted lightly by small freckles. "Please."
Seven smiled the first toothy grin she had ever possessed while in the company of another as she felt completely accepted despite her own wariness regarding her powerfully enhanced hand and body. "I will comply."
With agonizing slowness Seven left a heated trail across Kathryn's already hot skin. Seven reveled in the guttural moans that emanated from Kathryn when she covered both her breasts before she manipulated the pliant flesh and hardened peaks. Seven only stopped when Kathryn writhed urgently against her and wetness was felt thought the material of her biosuit that was pressed against Kathryn's heated center. Both her hands brushed against the flat expanse of Kathryn's stomach, past her fascinating indentation known as a bellybutton which Seven no longer possessed, down to the source of the fiery heat and moisture contained where Kathryn's thighs met.
"Seven!" Kathryn's slim pale body arched like a bow upon Seven's entry. Her eyes fluttered as the two fingers within her flexed and brushed against a collection of nerve endings that caused Kathryn to voice her pleasure with Seven's name repeatedly between moans and exhalations. Seven knew she had never heard a more perfect sound in her life than Kathryn Janeway impassioned by her.
CHAPTER 22
"The time is oh five hundred. The time is oh five hundred. The time is—"
"Computer, turn off the alarm, reset." Kathryn Janeway groaned as she held her right hand over her eyes against the bright lights of her bedroom. She groaned again when she felt muscles she hadn't used in five long years ache in remembrance of last night's activities. She suddenly realized with a cold feeling landing in the pit of her stomach that she was alone in her bed. Had she dreamt the whole thing? Impossible.
Janeway used her sheets to cover her nakedness when she sat upright in bed to take in her surroundings. Aside from the rumpled bed she presently occupied nothing was out of the ordinary. It wasn't until she smelled the unmistakable scent of coffee that the cold feeling of dread seeped away and she smiled brilliantly as the bearer of the blessed beverage entered the bedroom.
Seven's hair fell across her shoulders in soft waves that looked even smoother than Janeway's cream colored robe she had on that ended at the provocative length of mid-thigh exposing a large expanse of leg to Janeway's appreciative gaze.
"Oh, thank you." Janeway took the proffered mug of coffee happily and inhaled the aroma of the hot beverage before she took her first sip. She smiled in gratitude as her bright blue eyes met Seven's icy blue look of unhidden adoration. "Good morning."
"Good morning." Seven elevated the greeting with a lingering kiss that left the Captain literally breathless. "Breakfast is ready."
Janeway took sips from her mug as she stroked the creamy material and the body that was hidden beneath. Her voice was inquisitive though her eyes danced with merriment that curled her lips as well. "If you're wearing my robe, what am I supposed to wear?"
"Nothing." Seven smiled a small but happy smile of amusement when Janeway's eyes went wide at the matter-of-fact answer. "I prefer it."
"Oh, you do, do you?" Janeway's voice was lightly teasing as she continued to let her free hand glide over the satiny material that covered Seven's torso. "Well, as much as I like your preferences I do have a modicum of modesty, you know."
It surprised Janeway when Seven suddenly stood before she divested herself of the borrowed robe. Standing stiffly at attention as if she were on the Bridge as opposed to standing gloriously nude in her Captain's bedroom, Seven quirked the metal implant as she maintained a false seriousness. "I do not. You may have your robe back."
"How am I supposed to eat with you sitting across from me like that?" Janeway wasn't sure how she was even supposed to be able to breathe when faced with such a magnificent and arousing sight. Seven merely looked at her with challenge in her eyes almost daring Janeway to make a move on her. Janeway knew she wasn't going to be the one to lose this battle of wills. "Keep it. I'll just replicate a new one."
Janeway ignored her body's protest for moving away from Seven's warmth as she moved to the clothing replicator in her closet. It could definitely be said that the fearless Captain Janeway let out a rather squeaky yelp when arms suddenly closed around her across her chest and hips. She groaned with happiness as soft curves and warm metal pressed tightly against her naked back.
"Perhaps this will assist you in overcoming your 'modicum of modesty'."
Seven's soft voice caused Kathryn Janeway's body to flush with excitement. The metal encased hand that moved quickly to nestle in between her legs helped as well. A flood of moisture coated Seven's metal tipped fingers as she entered the woman held lovingly, but firmly in her arms. The guttural sounds that emanated from Kathryn caused a rush of moisture between Seven's legs. Seven rubbed her heated center against Janeway as she thrust her fingers repeatedly. As Seven's climax rapidly approached her fingers increased the speed of their movements as well, which expedited Kathryn's own release. With Seven's name on her lips Kathryn Janeway's legs buckled as she peaked.
Seven had no time to recover from her own climax before she found herself sprawled across Kathryn's expansive bed with her knees bent and her legs splayed exposing her to her lover's heated blue gaze and skillful tongue.
It was quite close to the start of Alpha Shift when Seven and Kathryn managed to pull themselves apart long enough to shower and don their biosuit and uniform, respectively. Kathryn thanked Seven sincerely for the breakfast despite the Eggs Benedict going to waste. Instead, Janeway replicated another cup of coffee and Seven had a nutritional supplement.
Janeway carefully set her mug atop her dining room table, before she looked seriously at Seven with an almost commanding expression. "Seven we need to talk."
Seven's voice hitched with sudden worry. "Do you regret what we have done?"
"No!" Janeway calmed herself as she laid a reassuring hand over Seven's metal laced one. "No, not at all. Why? Do you?"
"Never." Seven had detected a note of concern in Janeway's voice as well. Despite all they had done with one another over the course of the evening and early morning they were both uncertain where they stood. Seven decided Kathryn was correct. They did need to talk. To discuss parameters of their new relationship.
"I meant what I said last night. I love you, Seven. I'm in love with you. And I have been for a long while now." Kathryn's eyes drifted down to their joined hands as she tried to voice her concern which came out as an apprehensive whisper. "I just… I don't know what we do now."
"I will move in and we will be engaged." Seven thought those two steps were the most logical, though she could tell by the bemused expression that Janeway had not thought along those lines. "I have surprised you."
"I just… don't you think that's a little… fast?"
"No, I do not. What would you have us do? Date?"
"I think a few dates would be nice, don't you?"
Seven smiled brightly as if she had just been given a precious gift. "In public?"
"Seven, this isn't something that has to be hidden." Janeway thought about Seven's tendency to be a bit indiscreet and thought better of her words. "Well, some aspects of our relationship should be kept just between the two of us but… I'm happier than I have ever been since we got stuck in this godforsaken quadrant and I don't care who knows. No strike that, I do care. I want everyone to know. I love you, Seven. Everyone should know how fortunate I am that you love me back."
Janeway was not known for her sappiness and Seven wasn't known for being demonstrative in her display of emotion. Both women were happily out of their elements at the moment.
"Seven, I would love if you'd move in with me." Janeway ignored the nervousness and her own need for privacy since she was even more overcome by the prospect of Seven being her lover and then her wife. "I know you're probably a horrible slob, but I want to spend every moment I can with you. I want to fall asleep in your arms and wake up every morning I can in the same way. As for the proposal… I need to have at least one date before we make that official. I can't very well have my first date with you be our wedding."
"Kathryn Janeway, are you asking me to marry you?" Seven's full lips quirked up in delight as did her silver optical implant. She felt something akin to a bursting sensation warm her chest.
Janeway regretted not having anything close to an engagement ring, but she and Seven were anything if unconventional, besides she had something hidden away even more precious than a diamond set in gold. "I suppose I am."
"Then I accept."
"Well, I'm glad that's settled then."
Janeway squeaked a high-pitched note of surprise which was quite unbecoming of a Starfleet Captain as she was suddenly swept off her feet before she was carried into her bedroom.
CHAPTER 23
"Hmph." Doctor Gregory Sandra Lewis looked it his communications display in his office in Sickbay onboard Voyager with a look of both annoyance and relief on his features. He had wanted to order Captain Janeway to take a few days off to rest after her arduous ordeal onboard the Galactica but he knew all efforts on his part would be futile. But apparently, according to the memo from Commander Chakotay to all department heads the Captain had taken it upon herself to institute her own rest period. The Doctor was irritated because he wanted to submit his name change to the Captain as soon as possible so he could be given his rank. Commander Lewis, he liked the sound of that.
CHAPTER 24
Ensign Harry Kim's heart seemed to skip a beat when his eyes rested appreciatively on the person manning the Astrometrics command console. "Good morning."
"Ensign Kim. Sir! Good morning."
Before his greeting the sound of the door alerted Tal Celes with a start to his presence. A presence she was more than happy to be in. Celes watched with a sort of giddiness permeating her lanky figure as he approached her with a broad smile and an open expression on his attractive features. She thought his smooth nose was especially endearing.
"How do the skies look?" Harry looked up at the large holographic screen that displayed the space around Voyager's current position and was pleased to see it looked pretty bare, boring even. He looked over to his companion and smiled what he hoped was a charming, but professional smile. He tried to ignore the fact that he found the ridges across the bridge of her nose quite lovely.
"Pretty calm, Sir." Celes enlarged the sector they were heading in that contained nothing more than a few asteroid fields to emphasize her point and for something for her fidgeting fingers to do.
"Harry. It's just Harry." He tried to act relaxed and nonchalant as he leaned against the console. "So, uh, have you seen Seven? I have something I need to see her about."
Celes had just recovered from Ensign Kim's instructions to use his first name, so it took her a moment to register that he had just asked her a question. One she was just about bursting to tell someone. "You won't believe this but Seven took the day off."
"Seven? As in Seven of Nine?" Harry's dark eyes widened with surprise and mirth. "About six foot, blonde hair blue eyes, former Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero One? You're right, I don't believe it."
"She sent me a memo about twenty minutes ago. I had to read it twice before it registered in my brain that she was actually leaving the Astrometrics lab in what she referred to as "moderately adequate" hands." Celes would only admit it to herself at the moment that she thought Seven was actually being pretty generous with that assessment.
"Well, I knew the Doc wanted her to take some time off after the, uh, recent events, but I never thought she'd actually go for it. Huh?" Harry didn't add the fact that he knew from handing the Bridge over to Chakotay after his Gamma Shift watch that the Captain had also done the seemingly impossible. She had also taken a personal day. He wondered if the two events were somehow connected.
"From what I've heard Seven deserves a month off after being held prisoner with the Captain and the two of them getting poked at by… by needles!" Celes internally shivered at the thought of hollow pieces of metal going forcefully into her body and extracting her blood. It was the thing of nightmares. She sort of wished Billy had never informed her about that little tidbit. "What did you want to see her about? Maybe I can help. I am in charge of Astrometrics after all."
"Actually I have something with her name on it." Harry held a blue octagonal piece of plastic up for evidence. The disc did indeed have a large red "7" written on it. "So, I guess I, uh, better go find her then."
"Oh… oh yeah, of course. I'll just see you later." Celes tried not to let her disappointment show, but ever since the incident with the interphasic life form she found that she had a bit of a thing for the Operations Officer.
Before the doors could open, Harry turned around with forced confidence. "Uh, Celes. Would you want to eat dinner? I mean with me? After your shift is over. And before I cover the Bridge for Gamma Shift? We could either meet in the mess hall or I could come by here or you know… whatever."
Harry was sweating and he knew it. The large brown eyes weren't helping his nervousness.
"Yes, I mean to all of it. Or, you know, some of it." Celes bit her bottom lip in an attempt to contain herself. Just wait until Billy hears about this.
Her best friend, Billy Telfer, had been advising and goading her to get up the courage to ask Harry Kim out on a date. She was relieved and elated that now she didn't have to.
"Okay, great, um… I'll just come by here after your shift ends then."
"Sounds great. I'll just see you then, I mean later."
"Okay, later then."
The only reason why a giddy Harry Kim didn't run into the doors to the Astrometrics lab was because they were specially designed to prevent such an occurrence. As he walked toward Cargo Bay 2 he didn't quite punch himself in the arm for a job well-done, but there was definitely an air of accomplishment surrounding him.
The large pneumatic doors opened into the cavernous and green tinted cargo bay and Harry was relieved that he no longer felt apprehensive about the active Borg hardware therein. He never thought he'd see the day where he could get used to anything having to do with the Borg. But things change. People change.
"Seven?" Harry passed by the cargo containers to where the regeneration alcoves were situated, but there was no Seven. "Huh. Kim to Seven."
Harry stood with his hands on his hips staring idly at Borg alcoves as he waited for a reply and then waited some more before his brow creased in bemusement and a touch of worry. "Computer, locate Seven of Nine."
"Seven of Nine is in Captain Janeway's quarters."
"Huh? What's she doing there?" Since no answers were going to come from the cargo containers Harry departed the cargo bay to go to the turbolift. He debated whether he should go to the Captain's quarters, but something made him decide against such an action. Whether it was intuition or the fact that both women weren't on duty it didn't matter since he decided whatever was on the disc could wait for the following morning. Surely whatever it was couldn't really be that important since he found it intermixed with deployment files from Chief Tryol. Though he was curious to find out what "FTL" meant.
THE END
"The Queen and the Soldier" Suzanne Vega
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore"
The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside.
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
Only first I am asking you why."
Down in the long narrow hall he was led
Into her rooms with her tapestries red
And she never once took the crown from her head
She asked him there to sit down.
He said, "I see you now, and you are so very young
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won
And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun
And now will you tell me why?"
The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye
She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try"
But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry
But she closed herself up like a fan.
And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread
It cuts me inside, and often I've bled"
He laid his hand then on top of her head
And he bowed her down to the ground.
"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel
As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed
But I won't march again on your battlefield"
And he took her to the window to see.
And the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was gray
And she wanted more than she ever could say
But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away
And would not look at his face again.
And he said, "I want to live as an honest man
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman who I don't understand
Your highness, your ways are very strange."
But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break
And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached
She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
She would only be a moment inside.
Out in the distance her order was heard
And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word
And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on