A/N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, you feed my muse & I appreciate a
great deal. Once again I had a friend look at the drug and I am very grateful to her, however she is still training to be a doctor and not one yet, even so all mistakes are mine. Also a great big Thank You to my beta reader & I'm still blaming any mistakes on Microsoft Word & myself.
Chapter 3 - Friends.
Chakotay awoke in sickbay, he blinked furiously & tried to sit up, a low moan echoed when he finally managed it, he couldn't believe that anyone could be so stiff. Then memories flooded back: The fact that he had told Seven he loved her; the wonder he'd felt when she told him that she loved him as well; her collapse; the fear he felt when he realised she might die; the relief that she would survive with no neurological damage & the knowledge that it will probably happen again. He needed to see her, to make sure she was still there, still alive.
Ignoring the pain he turned his upper body towards the diagnostic bed, and breathed a sigh of relief, he could hear the steady, reassuring beep of the monitor scanning Sevens biomedical status. She was asleep, her face was childlike, innocent, & he knew he could stare at her forever, it was as though the sight of her was something that was now as vital to him as oxygen.
"Your awake. I was beginning to think there might be something wrong with my programme & I might have overmedicated you by mistake."
Chakotay was confused by The Doctors greeting but had to put need for knowledge first "Is Seven still alright?"
"Her vital signs have been stable for 26 hours, & although she is unconscious I've given her a high does of Chlordiazepoxide so that she won't feel any emotions if she dreams. She'll need to carry on with the treatment until she has the surgery, but that will have to be soon, as I estimate that she'll have a week, maybe even less, before her body starts to compensate & the drugs become less effective. Right now though she needs to regenerate for 4 hours so that corrections can be made to her cortical subprocessor. But first, how do you feel?"
"Like I've been drinking way too much Romulan ale, very stiff, & feeling like I need some caffeine to kick my brain into gear, but other than that just fine."
"I'm not surprised, as you've been asleep for 25 & a half hours, you're probably mildly suffering from caffeine withdrawal, dehydration & your electrolytes will certainly need balancing with a light breakfast. Which should come from the replicator & not from Mr Neelix. I would recommend scrambled eggs & toast. And then you can go & see the Captain as she is most anxious to speak with you, so anxious that she threatened to delete my programme if you didn't report to her as soon as you were medically fit to do so."
Chakotay groaned inwardly, clearly 'most anxious' was an understatement. "You'll call me when Seven's showing signs of waking?"
"Of course Commander."
Chakotay walked over to Seven & whispered in her ear "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll be back before you wake up." He kissed her forehead & again felt his lips tingle, he was starting to get the impression that he would always feel that whenever he kissed Seven & that prospect was a pleasing one, he stood back from the biobed.
The Doctor held Sevens' hand & said "Sickbay to Transporter Room, 2 to beam to Cargo Bay 2. Energise."
Chakotay watched as the transporter beam dematerialised Seven and The Doctor, then he headed for the door, he would go to the Mess Hall but first he needed a sonic shower & a change of uniform.
"Eating alone?" Chakotay looked up to see B'Elanna Torres standing next to the table, he glanced at her face, knew that Tom had shared the news that he had been with Seven with her & tried to avoid the conversation he knew was going to happen.
"No, I've finished", he moved his knife & fork together & placed them over his half-eaten scrambled eggs. B'Elanna took no notice & sat down opposite him "Oh please, join me" he said sarcastically. He started to eat again.
B'Elanna took a minute to observe Chakotay, truth be told, although he was good at sorting out her emotions, she was reasonably sure she wasn't any good at sorting out his, but she had to give it a try. "So why were you in sickbay? The Doctor wouldn't tell anyone."
"Now that's a surprise, The Doctor usually can't keep anything confidential to himself." Chakotay realised that The Doctor was keeping Seven's medical details to himself, he hadn't told the Captain anything, even when threatened. The Doctor must really care for Seven to risk the Captains' anger.
B'Elanna tried again "Tom said that you were with Seven, that she nearly died & that you seemed fine. Harry said that you were both in the holodeck, running a programme that you'd designed, when there was an emergency transport. How did you & Seven get hurt?
Chakotay tried counting to 10 in his head to control some of the anger he was feeling, it didn't work & he let loose. "Sadly, your husband gossiping is not a surprise but pass this on to him . . . If he can't respect medical confidentiality & understand that anything he learns in Sickbay should remain in Sickbay, then he has no business taking shifts in there and that is something that he & I will discuss at a later date. I will also have to have a long conversation about holodeck privacy with Ensign Kim. As for you B'Elanna, I would have thought that you'd have known me long enough to know that I won't add to the gossip on this ship, especially when the gossip is about me. Is that clear?"
"Yes Sir."
"Good." Chakotay snapped. He stood up carefully, so that his chair wouldn't overbalance & draw attention to them, although he wouldn't have minded jumping up so fast that his chair fell back and storming out of the Mess Hall. He was so angry, this was incredible they hadn't had their first 'official' date yet, they hadn't even kissed & already the vultures were circling, wanting any titbit of gossip they could get their greedy hands on.
"Janeway to Commander Chakotay." He heard over the comm system, he signed internally again . . .round two coming up he thought to himself. He hit his comm badge and replied "Yes Captain?"
"Please report to my Ready Room."
"On my way Captain." He didn't want to leave B'Elanna like this; she needed to understand that he wouldn't tolerate any further invasion of his or Sevens' privacy. "Just to make this crystal clear B'Elanna, I know what skills & talents you have & I know how much working in Engineering means to you, so I need you to understand that I mean every word that I say. Should I learn that you have been invading my privacy, or Sevens', or that you helped anyone else to do so. I will make an official report to Tuvok, he will charge you & you will be court-marshalled, put on trial & sentenced to time in the brig after been stripped of your rank & busted down to Crewman. Do you understand me?
"Yes Sir". B'Elanna watched as he recycled his tray through the replicator then left the room. She felt stunned, that had been worse than the time she had released Dreadnought & Chakotay had told her he'd been disappointed with her. Now he was furious with her, he must be to threaten her job like that. She slowly came to the realisation that she had been put on notice about finding out anything about Seven as well as Chakotay. Kahless! He must really care for her, if not love her, to try to protect her privacy as fiercely as he had . . .That meant Tom had been right & she hated that. But how was it that no one had seen this coming? Were she & Tom so self- absorbed that they had missed the signs? She didn't think so & that meant that there was still something she was missing . . .& she hated that as well.
Chakotay entered the bridge from the turbolift, noted that Harry was at his Station, he considered going over & warning him of the consequences of not minding his own business but he knew he had to see the Captain first. He walked across the Bridge and pressed the chime, the door slid open, he took a deep breath & released it, then walked in.
He noticed immediately that she was sitting on the couch and already had the tea out. That meant she wanted to 'chat' and they'd probably be there for some time. She looked up "How do you feel?"
He sat down opposite her. "The same way I did after Ensign Chapman's bachelor party where there was a great deal of Romulan ale."
"I'm guessing extremely hungover, you know there's a reason Romulan ale was made illegal Chakotay."
"Yes I know & I wasn't drinking any yesterday either, no the day before yesterday, sorry, I'm having a hard time accepting that I slept through a day & a bit."
"Okay. So why did you?"
"Why did I what?" Chakotay tried to stall, he wasn't sure how much he could tell her without telling her about Seven or about him & Seven. Captain Janeway shot him a look that said talk or cease breathing. "Alright". He threw his arms into the surrender gesture. "I slept the day away because the Doctor gave me what he called a 'light sedative' so that my body and mind would be able to do some healing." He really hoped that would be enough.
"What happened for you to need healing?"
Nope, clearly not enough. Okay here we go again. "I was given some information which had me running the entire range of emotions & the Doctor believed that just ordering me to rest wouldn't be enough to get me to do it. The Doctor also wanted to keep an eye on me which, considering how long I slept, wasn't such a bad idea."
"Chakotay, this is like pulling teeth, I still don't know what happened & I'm concerned now because it's not like you to be evasive & you have been. I haven't been able to get any information from the Doctor; I've had two crewmembers not to mention friends' unconscious for the last day & no one will tell me why. Now I'm the Captain & I can order you to tell me but I don't want to do that, so please tell me."
She is good, Chakotay has no doubt about that, Katherine Janeway will use any & all levers she can reach to get her own way, but she wasn't going to get her own way this time. This knowledge had nothing to do with Voyager or its' safety only with Seven, it's her secret & only she can tell the Captain not him.
"From your silence I'm going to assume that you want me to make it an order. All right, Commander Chakotay there was an incident in Holodeck 2 28 hours ago that resulted in The Doctor ordering an emergency transport to sickbay where Seven of Nine underwent an emergency procedure due to 1 of her implants malfunctioning & she is still unconscious. You were put on sick leave for 24 hours, which was later updated to 36 hours, for what the Doctor called 'Shock'. Now because you were running a programme of your own design & the Holodeck safeties were engaged I have to hold an inquiry to determine what happened & if there are any dangers to the ship or its' crew." Janeway spoke using a steely tone that was meant to convey to her First Officer that she wasn't messing around & she would learn what had happened.
Chakotay knew this had gone too far but he couldn't see anyway to proceed, at least not without telling Katherine everything, unless he told her that he wouldn't tell her everything & that was probably the worst idea he'd had so far. He then considered the fact that the time he'd spent sleeping could have been put to much better use i.e. figuring out what he was going to tell the Captain.
Okay, here goes nothing. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the holodeck or my programme so there's no risk to the ship or the crew & if you look at the Holodeck log that will be verified. As for Sevens' implant, it didn't exactly malfunction because it was doing what it was supposed to, only it was doing that in a more human than Borg body which resulted in the malfunction & the need for the procedure." He really, desperately hoped that that was enough & that he had covered the Doctors misdirection so he wouldn't get into trouble.
"That's not enough Chakotay, you see I did some research & I learnt that you didn't alert the Doctor, no one did, yet he knew to order an emergency transport. Would you like to explain that?"
Truthfully, not really. Spirits how much did she know? & how much would he have to tell. "Seven was under the impression that the implant might be activated so she asked the Doctor to monitor her vital signs, he did, & when they showed her to be at risk he transported us both to Sickbay." He then realised that he'd really gone & done it with that last bit."
"'Risk', what do you mean by 'risk'?" He knew that she now knew she was getting somewhere. It was now time to put his cards on the table, his but not Sevens'.
"Seven told me about her implant & although she didn't ask me to keep the information from you I will. Had she wanted you to know she would have told you & frankly it's not my place to tell you."
Captain Janeway considered this for a moment, Seven her protégé, her friend, hadn't come to her with something that put her at 'risk' yet she had told Chakotay, someone who hadn't wanted her aboard at first & had been slow to trust her. Why? "How much of a risk is the implant?"
"I can't tell you. I'm sorry." He knew his tone of voice & his face told her he truly did regret that he couldn't. He knew that he really did want to tell the Captain just how risky the fail-safe device was so that she could order the doctor to disable it now, while Seven was unconscious, so she would be alright, as long as operation's a success. But he also knew that he had to give Seven the right to make her own choice, granted not much of a choice, but still a choice.
"Why did she tell you & not me?"
Chakotay knew the Captain was feeling a lot of pain from Sevens' decision because she allowed herself to ask that question. He also knew that he owed her nothing less than the truth. "Seven told me because she loves me & I love her." Chakotay heard her gasp but had to finish. "We told each other how we felt because we had reached the stage where we couldn't keep it from each other. I didn't mention anything to you because I wanted to know how she felt first & things just escalated very quickly." He shrugged wanting her understanding.
She stood up & stared out of the viewport at the passing stars, she didn't have any right to feel upset. She was the one who had defined their relationship as friends only, she had said that as Captain she had to maintain a certain distance from the crew & she had done just that. Now that he had moved on she knew that she had been right to do so. But with Seven, she's a child; all right she has an adult body but emotionally. Yes she's exploring her humanity & part of being human is having emotions, but love? How could she know if what she felt was love or not & Katherine knew she would have to help Seven in any way she could.
Chakotay tried to explain himself better. "Captain, Katherine, you & I know that maybe on New Earth we might have had a shot, but even there it wasn't completely right. When I'm around Seven it feels right, that's the best way I can describe it, I feel like a piece of me that I didn't know was missing has returned & it's her. That's all I know & frankly it's enough, if it's all I know for the rest of my life, it's enough." He couldn't go on, she still might die, & he knew that if she did he wouldn't want to go on without her.
Janeway looked around & saw her friend trying to contain his emotions; she had always been able to read his face & what she saw reassured her. He truly did love Seven of Nine; now, all she had to do was discover if Seven of Nine loved Chakotay. Katherine hoped Seven really did love Chakotay or this could end in disaster for both of them. She walked around & hugged him. "It sounds as though you do love her & I'm happy for you, for you both."
Chakotay heard the sincerity in her voice and found his after a few seconds "Thank you so much for that, it means a lot to me."
She smiled affectionately at him. "Well, after that revelation I need something a little stronger than tea." She walked over to the replicator & said "Coffee, hot & black." She turned to face Chakotay "Would you like something?"
"No thanks, I'm fine with tea." The replicator hummed, Janeway grasped hold of the mug & sat back down on the sofa. "I have to ask for some leave."
"For how long?"
"It might need to be as long as a week, maybe even more. Under Starfleets' relationship laws I wouldn't be allowed to be on duty unless it was a dire situation & the Captain & Second Officer were dead. But to be honest, right now I shouldn't be in Command as I doubt I would be able to keep my mind on my job."
Katherine was curious "Why so long?"
"I'm sorry Katherine, that falls under Sevens' Secret, hopefully it won't need to be that long." Chakotay was determined not to tell her about that. "I'm hoping that Seven will tell you herself."
"Alright, request for leave is granted. Should I assume that Seven is on leave for the same amount of time?" The Captain was enjoying herself now.
Chakotay considered that for a second or two, he didn't know whether the Doctor would allow her to work while she was on the medication or she may agree to have the surgery straight away & not need that much time to recover. "To be on the safe side yes, but the Doctor will probably have it down as medical leave & not requested leave, that way Seven can try to resist him & no one else." He grinned, Seven hated not been able to work, she had once deactivated the Doctor in the middle of a sentence just to leave Sickbay.
"I'll wait for the Doctor to decide then." She also had witnessed Seven wanting to be free of Sickbay & didn't really want Seven arguing with her about it.
Captain Janeway knew there was one more subject she needed to bring up, especially now she knew about Seven & Chakotay, but it was a delicate one. "When I was looking into what had happened on Holodeck 2 records indicated that someone had already gone looking for the information & the codes weren't Tuvoks'."
Chakotay just sighed "Yes I know, Tom had to help the Doctor with the procedure & I clearly wasn't as discrete as I should have been as he told B'Elanna something, & possibly Harry. From what B'Elanna said he checked the Holodeck log, which he shouldn't have been able to do as that knowledge is restricted to Level 9 security, so I'm going to have to have a conversation with him. Now I threatened to have B'Elanna court-martialled if she used any of her skills to invade Sevens privacy or mine. I also told her to tell Tom that his job in Sickbay was on the line if he couldn't remember what he learnt in Sickbay was supposed to stay there."
Janeway tried to imagine him talking to B'Elanna like that & couldn't, he must have been really angry. "Well you seem to have dealt with B'Elanna." If not wiped the floor with her. "If she cares about her husbands wellbeing I guess she'll warn him, so that just leaves Harry & as that's a security matter Tuvok can deal with him & change the access codes after he's learnt Harry's source. Then you won't have to think about what to say to him while you're on leave." She smiled, she had him there & she knew it.
Chakotay just smiled back "Thank you."
*"Sickbay to Commander Chakotay."*
Chakotay hit his comm badge, his face betraying his fears "Chakotay here."
*"Sleeping Beauty is showing signs of waking up, you'd better get down here."*
"On my way." He closed the link & looked at his Captain & friend.
"Go."
He smiled at her then raced from the room. She sighed & went to the replicator for her next cup of coffee, she was sure she would need it.
great deal. Once again I had a friend look at the drug and I am very grateful to her, however she is still training to be a doctor and not one yet, even so all mistakes are mine. Also a great big Thank You to my beta reader & I'm still blaming any mistakes on Microsoft Word & myself.
Chapter 3 - Friends.
Chakotay awoke in sickbay, he blinked furiously & tried to sit up, a low moan echoed when he finally managed it, he couldn't believe that anyone could be so stiff. Then memories flooded back: The fact that he had told Seven he loved her; the wonder he'd felt when she told him that she loved him as well; her collapse; the fear he felt when he realised she might die; the relief that she would survive with no neurological damage & the knowledge that it will probably happen again. He needed to see her, to make sure she was still there, still alive.
Ignoring the pain he turned his upper body towards the diagnostic bed, and breathed a sigh of relief, he could hear the steady, reassuring beep of the monitor scanning Sevens biomedical status. She was asleep, her face was childlike, innocent, & he knew he could stare at her forever, it was as though the sight of her was something that was now as vital to him as oxygen.
"Your awake. I was beginning to think there might be something wrong with my programme & I might have overmedicated you by mistake."
Chakotay was confused by The Doctors greeting but had to put need for knowledge first "Is Seven still alright?"
"Her vital signs have been stable for 26 hours, & although she is unconscious I've given her a high does of Chlordiazepoxide so that she won't feel any emotions if she dreams. She'll need to carry on with the treatment until she has the surgery, but that will have to be soon, as I estimate that she'll have a week, maybe even less, before her body starts to compensate & the drugs become less effective. Right now though she needs to regenerate for 4 hours so that corrections can be made to her cortical subprocessor. But first, how do you feel?"
"Like I've been drinking way too much Romulan ale, very stiff, & feeling like I need some caffeine to kick my brain into gear, but other than that just fine."
"I'm not surprised, as you've been asleep for 25 & a half hours, you're probably mildly suffering from caffeine withdrawal, dehydration & your electrolytes will certainly need balancing with a light breakfast. Which should come from the replicator & not from Mr Neelix. I would recommend scrambled eggs & toast. And then you can go & see the Captain as she is most anxious to speak with you, so anxious that she threatened to delete my programme if you didn't report to her as soon as you were medically fit to do so."
Chakotay groaned inwardly, clearly 'most anxious' was an understatement. "You'll call me when Seven's showing signs of waking?"
"Of course Commander."
Chakotay walked over to Seven & whispered in her ear "Don't worry sweetheart, I'll be back before you wake up." He kissed her forehead & again felt his lips tingle, he was starting to get the impression that he would always feel that whenever he kissed Seven & that prospect was a pleasing one, he stood back from the biobed.
The Doctor held Sevens' hand & said "Sickbay to Transporter Room, 2 to beam to Cargo Bay 2. Energise."
Chakotay watched as the transporter beam dematerialised Seven and The Doctor, then he headed for the door, he would go to the Mess Hall but first he needed a sonic shower & a change of uniform.
"Eating alone?" Chakotay looked up to see B'Elanna Torres standing next to the table, he glanced at her face, knew that Tom had shared the news that he had been with Seven with her & tried to avoid the conversation he knew was going to happen.
"No, I've finished", he moved his knife & fork together & placed them over his half-eaten scrambled eggs. B'Elanna took no notice & sat down opposite him "Oh please, join me" he said sarcastically. He started to eat again.
B'Elanna took a minute to observe Chakotay, truth be told, although he was good at sorting out her emotions, she was reasonably sure she wasn't any good at sorting out his, but she had to give it a try. "So why were you in sickbay? The Doctor wouldn't tell anyone."
"Now that's a surprise, The Doctor usually can't keep anything confidential to himself." Chakotay realised that The Doctor was keeping Seven's medical details to himself, he hadn't told the Captain anything, even when threatened. The Doctor must really care for Seven to risk the Captains' anger.
B'Elanna tried again "Tom said that you were with Seven, that she nearly died & that you seemed fine. Harry said that you were both in the holodeck, running a programme that you'd designed, when there was an emergency transport. How did you & Seven get hurt?
Chakotay tried counting to 10 in his head to control some of the anger he was feeling, it didn't work & he let loose. "Sadly, your husband gossiping is not a surprise but pass this on to him . . . If he can't respect medical confidentiality & understand that anything he learns in Sickbay should remain in Sickbay, then he has no business taking shifts in there and that is something that he & I will discuss at a later date. I will also have to have a long conversation about holodeck privacy with Ensign Kim. As for you B'Elanna, I would have thought that you'd have known me long enough to know that I won't add to the gossip on this ship, especially when the gossip is about me. Is that clear?"
"Yes Sir."
"Good." Chakotay snapped. He stood up carefully, so that his chair wouldn't overbalance & draw attention to them, although he wouldn't have minded jumping up so fast that his chair fell back and storming out of the Mess Hall. He was so angry, this was incredible they hadn't had their first 'official' date yet, they hadn't even kissed & already the vultures were circling, wanting any titbit of gossip they could get their greedy hands on.
"Janeway to Commander Chakotay." He heard over the comm system, he signed internally again . . .round two coming up he thought to himself. He hit his comm badge and replied "Yes Captain?"
"Please report to my Ready Room."
"On my way Captain." He didn't want to leave B'Elanna like this; she needed to understand that he wouldn't tolerate any further invasion of his or Sevens' privacy. "Just to make this crystal clear B'Elanna, I know what skills & talents you have & I know how much working in Engineering means to you, so I need you to understand that I mean every word that I say. Should I learn that you have been invading my privacy, or Sevens', or that you helped anyone else to do so. I will make an official report to Tuvok, he will charge you & you will be court-marshalled, put on trial & sentenced to time in the brig after been stripped of your rank & busted down to Crewman. Do you understand me?
"Yes Sir". B'Elanna watched as he recycled his tray through the replicator then left the room. She felt stunned, that had been worse than the time she had released Dreadnought & Chakotay had told her he'd been disappointed with her. Now he was furious with her, he must be to threaten her job like that. She slowly came to the realisation that she had been put on notice about finding out anything about Seven as well as Chakotay. Kahless! He must really care for her, if not love her, to try to protect her privacy as fiercely as he had . . .That meant Tom had been right & she hated that. But how was it that no one had seen this coming? Were she & Tom so self- absorbed that they had missed the signs? She didn't think so & that meant that there was still something she was missing . . .& she hated that as well.
Chakotay entered the bridge from the turbolift, noted that Harry was at his Station, he considered going over & warning him of the consequences of not minding his own business but he knew he had to see the Captain first. He walked across the Bridge and pressed the chime, the door slid open, he took a deep breath & released it, then walked in.
He noticed immediately that she was sitting on the couch and already had the tea out. That meant she wanted to 'chat' and they'd probably be there for some time. She looked up "How do you feel?"
He sat down opposite her. "The same way I did after Ensign Chapman's bachelor party where there was a great deal of Romulan ale."
"I'm guessing extremely hungover, you know there's a reason Romulan ale was made illegal Chakotay."
"Yes I know & I wasn't drinking any yesterday either, no the day before yesterday, sorry, I'm having a hard time accepting that I slept through a day & a bit."
"Okay. So why did you?"
"Why did I what?" Chakotay tried to stall, he wasn't sure how much he could tell her without telling her about Seven or about him & Seven. Captain Janeway shot him a look that said talk or cease breathing. "Alright". He threw his arms into the surrender gesture. "I slept the day away because the Doctor gave me what he called a 'light sedative' so that my body and mind would be able to do some healing." He really hoped that would be enough.
"What happened for you to need healing?"
Nope, clearly not enough. Okay here we go again. "I was given some information which had me running the entire range of emotions & the Doctor believed that just ordering me to rest wouldn't be enough to get me to do it. The Doctor also wanted to keep an eye on me which, considering how long I slept, wasn't such a bad idea."
"Chakotay, this is like pulling teeth, I still don't know what happened & I'm concerned now because it's not like you to be evasive & you have been. I haven't been able to get any information from the Doctor; I've had two crewmembers not to mention friends' unconscious for the last day & no one will tell me why. Now I'm the Captain & I can order you to tell me but I don't want to do that, so please tell me."
She is good, Chakotay has no doubt about that, Katherine Janeway will use any & all levers she can reach to get her own way, but she wasn't going to get her own way this time. This knowledge had nothing to do with Voyager or its' safety only with Seven, it's her secret & only she can tell the Captain not him.
"From your silence I'm going to assume that you want me to make it an order. All right, Commander Chakotay there was an incident in Holodeck 2 28 hours ago that resulted in The Doctor ordering an emergency transport to sickbay where Seven of Nine underwent an emergency procedure due to 1 of her implants malfunctioning & she is still unconscious. You were put on sick leave for 24 hours, which was later updated to 36 hours, for what the Doctor called 'Shock'. Now because you were running a programme of your own design & the Holodeck safeties were engaged I have to hold an inquiry to determine what happened & if there are any dangers to the ship or its' crew." Janeway spoke using a steely tone that was meant to convey to her First Officer that she wasn't messing around & she would learn what had happened.
Chakotay knew this had gone too far but he couldn't see anyway to proceed, at least not without telling Katherine everything, unless he told her that he wouldn't tell her everything & that was probably the worst idea he'd had so far. He then considered the fact that the time he'd spent sleeping could have been put to much better use i.e. figuring out what he was going to tell the Captain.
Okay, here goes nothing. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the holodeck or my programme so there's no risk to the ship or the crew & if you look at the Holodeck log that will be verified. As for Sevens' implant, it didn't exactly malfunction because it was doing what it was supposed to, only it was doing that in a more human than Borg body which resulted in the malfunction & the need for the procedure." He really, desperately hoped that that was enough & that he had covered the Doctors misdirection so he wouldn't get into trouble.
"That's not enough Chakotay, you see I did some research & I learnt that you didn't alert the Doctor, no one did, yet he knew to order an emergency transport. Would you like to explain that?"
Truthfully, not really. Spirits how much did she know? & how much would he have to tell. "Seven was under the impression that the implant might be activated so she asked the Doctor to monitor her vital signs, he did, & when they showed her to be at risk he transported us both to Sickbay." He then realised that he'd really gone & done it with that last bit."
"'Risk', what do you mean by 'risk'?" He knew that she now knew she was getting somewhere. It was now time to put his cards on the table, his but not Sevens'.
"Seven told me about her implant & although she didn't ask me to keep the information from you I will. Had she wanted you to know she would have told you & frankly it's not my place to tell you."
Captain Janeway considered this for a moment, Seven her protégé, her friend, hadn't come to her with something that put her at 'risk' yet she had told Chakotay, someone who hadn't wanted her aboard at first & had been slow to trust her. Why? "How much of a risk is the implant?"
"I can't tell you. I'm sorry." He knew his tone of voice & his face told her he truly did regret that he couldn't. He knew that he really did want to tell the Captain just how risky the fail-safe device was so that she could order the doctor to disable it now, while Seven was unconscious, so she would be alright, as long as operation's a success. But he also knew that he had to give Seven the right to make her own choice, granted not much of a choice, but still a choice.
"Why did she tell you & not me?"
Chakotay knew the Captain was feeling a lot of pain from Sevens' decision because she allowed herself to ask that question. He also knew that he owed her nothing less than the truth. "Seven told me because she loves me & I love her." Chakotay heard her gasp but had to finish. "We told each other how we felt because we had reached the stage where we couldn't keep it from each other. I didn't mention anything to you because I wanted to know how she felt first & things just escalated very quickly." He shrugged wanting her understanding.
She stood up & stared out of the viewport at the passing stars, she didn't have any right to feel upset. She was the one who had defined their relationship as friends only, she had said that as Captain she had to maintain a certain distance from the crew & she had done just that. Now that he had moved on she knew that she had been right to do so. But with Seven, she's a child; all right she has an adult body but emotionally. Yes she's exploring her humanity & part of being human is having emotions, but love? How could she know if what she felt was love or not & Katherine knew she would have to help Seven in any way she could.
Chakotay tried to explain himself better. "Captain, Katherine, you & I know that maybe on New Earth we might have had a shot, but even there it wasn't completely right. When I'm around Seven it feels right, that's the best way I can describe it, I feel like a piece of me that I didn't know was missing has returned & it's her. That's all I know & frankly it's enough, if it's all I know for the rest of my life, it's enough." He couldn't go on, she still might die, & he knew that if she did he wouldn't want to go on without her.
Janeway looked around & saw her friend trying to contain his emotions; she had always been able to read his face & what she saw reassured her. He truly did love Seven of Nine; now, all she had to do was discover if Seven of Nine loved Chakotay. Katherine hoped Seven really did love Chakotay or this could end in disaster for both of them. She walked around & hugged him. "It sounds as though you do love her & I'm happy for you, for you both."
Chakotay heard the sincerity in her voice and found his after a few seconds "Thank you so much for that, it means a lot to me."
She smiled affectionately at him. "Well, after that revelation I need something a little stronger than tea." She walked over to the replicator & said "Coffee, hot & black." She turned to face Chakotay "Would you like something?"
"No thanks, I'm fine with tea." The replicator hummed, Janeway grasped hold of the mug & sat back down on the sofa. "I have to ask for some leave."
"For how long?"
"It might need to be as long as a week, maybe even more. Under Starfleets' relationship laws I wouldn't be allowed to be on duty unless it was a dire situation & the Captain & Second Officer were dead. But to be honest, right now I shouldn't be in Command as I doubt I would be able to keep my mind on my job."
Katherine was curious "Why so long?"
"I'm sorry Katherine, that falls under Sevens' Secret, hopefully it won't need to be that long." Chakotay was determined not to tell her about that. "I'm hoping that Seven will tell you herself."
"Alright, request for leave is granted. Should I assume that Seven is on leave for the same amount of time?" The Captain was enjoying herself now.
Chakotay considered that for a second or two, he didn't know whether the Doctor would allow her to work while she was on the medication or she may agree to have the surgery straight away & not need that much time to recover. "To be on the safe side yes, but the Doctor will probably have it down as medical leave & not requested leave, that way Seven can try to resist him & no one else." He grinned, Seven hated not been able to work, she had once deactivated the Doctor in the middle of a sentence just to leave Sickbay.
"I'll wait for the Doctor to decide then." She also had witnessed Seven wanting to be free of Sickbay & didn't really want Seven arguing with her about it.
Captain Janeway knew there was one more subject she needed to bring up, especially now she knew about Seven & Chakotay, but it was a delicate one. "When I was looking into what had happened on Holodeck 2 records indicated that someone had already gone looking for the information & the codes weren't Tuvoks'."
Chakotay just sighed "Yes I know, Tom had to help the Doctor with the procedure & I clearly wasn't as discrete as I should have been as he told B'Elanna something, & possibly Harry. From what B'Elanna said he checked the Holodeck log, which he shouldn't have been able to do as that knowledge is restricted to Level 9 security, so I'm going to have to have a conversation with him. Now I threatened to have B'Elanna court-martialled if she used any of her skills to invade Sevens privacy or mine. I also told her to tell Tom that his job in Sickbay was on the line if he couldn't remember what he learnt in Sickbay was supposed to stay there."
Janeway tried to imagine him talking to B'Elanna like that & couldn't, he must have been really angry. "Well you seem to have dealt with B'Elanna." If not wiped the floor with her. "If she cares about her husbands wellbeing I guess she'll warn him, so that just leaves Harry & as that's a security matter Tuvok can deal with him & change the access codes after he's learnt Harry's source. Then you won't have to think about what to say to him while you're on leave." She smiled, she had him there & she knew it.
Chakotay just smiled back "Thank you."
*"Sickbay to Commander Chakotay."*
Chakotay hit his comm badge, his face betraying his fears "Chakotay here."
*"Sleeping Beauty is showing signs of waking up, you'd better get down here."*
"On my way." He closed the link & looked at his Captain & friend.
"Go."
He smiled at her then raced from the room. She sighed & went to the replicator for her next cup of coffee, she was sure she would need it.