I do not own Star Trek.

I woke the next morning afraid it had all been a dream. But there was Hugh, laying right beside me, the golden band glittering on his finger. He was still in his wedding robes, as he'd fallen asleep the instant we walked into our room. Thankfully, because we were staying in the Borg city, every bed had a regeneration line next to it. I just had to attach it to his arm without waking him, which was easy. Hugh could sleep like a log if he wanted to. Thankfully, he didn't snore. I simply pulled the covers over him, softly kissed his cheek and crawled into bed beside him, pulling him close to my side.

I watched him beside me, until his eyelid started to flutter open. A tiny brown slit appeared, then grew wider as he yawned.

"Morning, sleepyBorg." I said, grinning.

"Morning." He yawned again, then sat up and stretched. His little face was so irresistible, I reached over and hugged him like a teddy bear, which made him laugh.

"You're so cute when you laugh," I told him.

"That must be why you're so good at making me do it." he answered. I nodded.

"I can't believe this is real." I said, "All my life, I secretly hoped I would meet someone and fall in love and, well, you've read enough books. You know the rest." Hugh nodded and held my left hand in his left, so both our rings caught the sunlight coming in through the window.

"They always live happily ever after." he said, "And even if it's not happy, or they die, or something else, they still always end up together forever."

"And so will we." I said. He nodded and gave me a kiss before he took off the robes and hung them up. I would later learn that Beverly and Athena had made them by hand. I looked at him as he put them with our things. Without anything on, his Borg implants freely reflected the sunlight, setting him ablaze with red and orange light. He was so beautiful that way. We had the entire day to ourselves, since we had taken shore leave for the wedding. I had thought of going and getting some work done on the Enterprise, but seeing him like that, I changed my mind, abruptly tossing aside the uniform I had been about to change into.

"Jean-Luc?" Hugh's eyebrow raised.

"I'm a bloody idiot, Hugh. I wake up after the happiest day of my life and the first thing I thought of doing is working. Well, forget that, I'd rather spend the day with you." Hugh laughed again.

"Well, if you're an idiot, then I'm an imbecile. I forgot we weren't on the Enterprise until I looked away from you."

"We're a couple of fools, aren't we."

"I'll knock some sense into you." he laughed as he lightly chucked a pillow at my head.

"Oh, so that's how you want to do this, eh? Well, two can play at that game." I sent the pillow spinning into his stomach, causing him to fall back onto the bed, laughing as he swung the pillow at me. I grabbed another and started swinging at him. It was strange, I actually felt years lifting off of me. Not that I was old, but at times, I felt old. Hugh seemed to be the exact opposite, having lost none of his childlike innocence since the day we rescued him. That was one of the things I had fallen in love with about him, the pure joy that filled his heart and made up who he was. It was like everything beautiful and good had been mixed together into one being, and that was Hugh. i swept him up into my arms and spun us around before I fell on the bed with Hugh on top of me, both of us laughing heartily. He laid his head on my chest and let out a blissful sigh.

Hugh's POV

Sometime later in the day, it started to rain. A storm, to be exact. A natural occurrence on this planet. I knew the forcefield at the top of the building would be allowing only a portion of the water to fall down to the tree at the center, just enough to nourish it, but not enough to flood the building. Outside our window, the sky had grown dark, and lightning flashed across it, accompanied by thunderclaps so loud the ground seemed to shake with them. But I was safe inside, wrapped in a warm blanket and Jean-Luc's strong arms as we listened to music, watched a movie, or read a book. I knew I was safe with him, and now I had him for eternity. No matter what happened, he would always be there to save me, hold me, and protect me. Even if I lost everything else, I knew I would still have his love. The gold band on my finger was a constant reminder of that.

"I love you, Hugh." My heart leapt as he said it, and I smiled.

"I love you, too, Jean-Luc." He softly kissed the top of my head.

(about a month later, back on the Enterprise)

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the searing ache in my head. At the same time, though, the rest of my body felt like I was laying in ice water. I tried to sit up, but the pain in my head stabbed through me and I groaned as I fell back down.

"Hugh? Are you all right?" I could hear concern in Picard's voice. I made to answer him, but all that came out was a miserable groan as I pushed out from under the blankets. Now I felt like my body was on fire. I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew something was wrong with me. Picard came over and took my hand, his face growing worried when he felt how clammy it was. He carefully pressed a hand to my forehead and frowned. Then he stood up and went to the comm terminal.

"Picard to Engineering." I couldn't hear what the other person was saying when they answered, then Picard continued.

"Do you think you could get someone to cover for Hugh today? I don't think he's feeling very well." Silence. Then,

"Excellent, thank you so much, Mr. O'Brien...Yes, I'm taking the day off as well...No, Riker will do it. He's fine with doing it temporarily...Yes that's all. Thank you. Picard out." He shut off the comm and returned to where I lay, now shivering, on the bed.

"Something's...wr-wrong." I said softly. He nodded.

"You're sick, Hugh, that's all. Don't worry, it'll pass. I'll have Dr. Crusher come and take a look, but I know you'll need lots of rest." I groaned softly. He stood up and disappeared for a moment, then came back with a cold, wet cloth in his hand which he lay across my forehead. It helped dull the pounding ache a little, but it didn't go away entirely. Picard made another call, then came back and sat beside me, covering me when I started to shiver and removing the blanket when I got hot. After a while, Dr. Crusher came in. I was covered with the blanket at this time. She came over and sat beside me, scanning with her tricorder and muttering to herself. Finally, she turned to Picard.

"He's sick alright, but it's nothing serious. I'll send up some meds for him, to try and get his fever down, but he'll be out for a few days. Just have him stay in bed and keep him hydrated and make sure he takes his meds." She turned to me again. I could barely open my eye to look at her.

"You'll be okay, Hugh. You'll have Jean-Luc here to care for you until you're better." He nodded as he sat down on the bed on my other side and held my hand, gently rubbing it between his own. I nodded my thanks as Crusher stood up to leave. Picard carefully lifted the now warm cloth from my forehead and disappeared from view, only to return with a fresh, icy cold one. I managed a tiny twitch of a smile for him, and he leaned over and kissed my cheek as I sank into a dreary half-sleep.

Picard's POV

I woke this morning to find Hugh groaning softly, which was unusual for him, but I thought I knew what the sound meant. Dr. Crusher came up and confirmed my thoughts. Hugh was sick. He must've caught something when we made a stop at Earth Spacedock to refuel. I'd heard rumors that there was a bug of some kind going around there, but had paid it no mind. I looked down at Hugh, only half asleep. The poor Borg was absolutely miserable. He could barely open his eye to look at me. I felt awful for him, constantly shivering, then sweating, then shivering again. The meds from Dr. Crusher finally arrived what seemed like an eternity later. I helped Hugh slowly into a sitting position, then gave him the pill along with a small cup of water. He slowly took the pill, then lay his head against me as I helped him lay back down and pulled the blankets over his shivering form. I switched out the wet cloth on his forehead, this time for one wrapped around a bag of ice. I knew it gave him a tiny bit of relief when I did so. Then I gently rubbed his hand between mine as he fell into actual sleep.

I had no idea what awaited us the next day.