I'm really starting to love you guys for the wonderful feedback. I've gotten so much and I'm eternally grateful for it. I honestly didn't think I'd get that much. Especially when you take into the fact that this is my FIRST Voyager Fic. It's also great to know that I haven't butchered the characters too much, though that's ideal may change after this, finale, chapter. Tell me the truth if I ended this okay. I need to know cause you know what? I may just revise it or even add on to it. Extra chapters = incentive for feedback?? You be the judge hehe.

Anyway enough of my blabbering - I know if I were you guys I'd wanna get straight to the good stuff so feel free to bypass this and go straight to the story. Though don't forget - this has been a burden of love and hate and it holds a special place close to my heart. Lack of feedback may just break my heart… Okay enough! Go read and enjoy.

~Gimpy~

[a.k.a. Danielle]

p.s. Recognize the beginning? You will if you're a sap heh.

****

Part 9

"I'm Henry the 8th I am, Henry the 8th I am, I am. I got married to the widow next door, she's been married seven times before. And every one was a Henry, HENRY! She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam, I'm her 8th old man Henry, Henry the 8th I am!" Chakotay belted out the words brashly. He'd been singing the song for at least half an hour and was starting to forget the words but pushed on. He could he see it wearing on Seven, her tolerance quickly growing shorter by the vowel.

"Second verse! Same as the first! I'm Henry the 8th I am, Henry the 8th I am, I am," he added his best version of a British accent, knowing that any minute now Seven would break.

True to form, she did, in a booming thunderous voice. "Enough! You irritating, insolent, brutish barbarian!"

"Getting to you, am I?"

She was seething again and turned to face him. "Not only is that song an atrocity to all musical compositions but you can NOT sing."

"Aww come on, I wasn't that bad."

She chuckled bitterly, "I've heard speeches from the Doctor that were better."

He flinched mockingly, "Now that's just cruel."

"And correct." Abruptly her voice dropped to a soft despondent whisper. "Why do you insist on aggravating me? If this was your sole purpose in coming here, then why?"

"It wasn't but it seems to be the only way I can get a response out of you." Chakotay followed her actions, dropping his own voice. "You sit there and you search for something I don't want you to find. What else can I do but try and take your attention away from it. And if I have to sing a song and lose any pride I have left at the same time to get it, then that's what I'm going to do. Simple as that."

Turning half way in her chair, she set the controls on auto. Taking a stand she walked to the force field that separated them. He stared up at her, unbeknown to her intent. With delicate unshielded eyes she held his gaze, dropping to her knees before him. She had an uncompromising air about her that told him this was his moment to state his case, that she would listen to him and truthfully think about what he had to say.

"Tell me, honestly, why." In that moment she seemed as human as everyone else, her implants nothing but accessories adorning her ashen face.

"You know why..." It was his turn to shy away from the conversation as she had so many times before.

"I want to hear you say it."

Dropping his gaze to the floor then back again, he muddled through the thoughts in his head, trying to pinpoint the ones he wanted to voice. "I watched you go from being cool and calm, so sure of yourself, to suddenly transforming into a small, vulnerable child stuck in a grown woman's body. I saw you fall to pieces in my arms. You showed me something that no one else has ever had the privilege to witness." Getting to his own knees, he tried to reach for her and quickly snapped his arm back when he came into contact with the painful field.

She winced along with him and quickly called to the computer to shut the intrusive field off. Chakotay rewarded her with a tempting smile that warmed her skin. Unhindered by the now vacant wall, he diligently closed the space between them.

With growing confidence, he brushed a stray hair from her face. Instinctively her head dipped to the ground, her cheeks flushing a bright red. The mere action itself bewitched him to her. Sliding comforting fingers under her downcast chin, he lifted her head until her eyes connected once more with his own. "I saw the real you. No inhibitions, no stone walls to hide behind. Just you... nothing in my lifetime has ever felt so honest and so pure as that did. You have no idea how honored I was to be the one to hold you when you cried. Did you truthfully think I could just walk away from you after that?"

By the end of his impassioned speech tears had already started to brim, a few slipping down her now severely flushed cheeks. She didn't acknowledge their presence, allowing Chakotay to capture them with his more than eager thumb.

"Someone has to pay..." she breathed out the words, any chance at forming more coherent phrases lost in the upheaval.

"Don't you think you've beaten yourself up enough?" His hand reattached itself to her cheek.

"It hurts... I hurt..." A quiver formed in her throat, weakening her ability to speak clearly.

"And you want them to hurt like you... I understand that but it won't help." The voice of reason seemed bitter to him and callous to her.

"Why me? Why did it have to be me?" The words sounded pathetic to her ears but she didn't have the strength to care.

No words in any language could answer her question, leaving him speechless. Unable to withhold any longer, he pulled her too him. She conformed to his body, the action so comfortable, so natural, it was as if she'd been doing it all her life. The tears spilled from her almost depleted body until there was nothing left but an ever-growing emptiness. A permanent hole tattooed itself onto her soul, never to be erased. Her innocence had been torn away from her once again. She was child again, naked, cold, huddled in a corner, weeping for that which was now lost. No amount of tears would bring it back. And she realized with trepidation that even vengeance would amount to nothing. She was now and forever would be, the little lost girl.

Seven felt depression's calloused hands grasp at her, trying to pull her under and clung tighter to Chakotay. Somehow, in just a matter of hours, he'd become her buoy, her lifeline. They'd gone from barely knowing each other to intertwining in an intimate embrace. She never wanted to leave the serenity his muscular arms provided.

Slowly she realized that when this was all over, and they were back on Voyager, she'd never experience these arms or the comfort they exuded again. She withdrew from him a little and gazed into his questioning eyes.

"I want to go back now."

"You sure?"

Unable or maybe just unwilling to speak, she simply nodded her head. Giving her a warm smirk and a reassuring squeeze on the arm he reluctantly pulled himself off the floor. From his advantage point he watched as Seven stayed seated on the ground. She stared at her now vacant hands, wondering it they'd ever feel his again. Her gaze was adverted when one of his hands slowly intruded on her vision. It was an offering. For help, not only now, but whenever she needed it and she eagerly accepted it.

Pulling her up easily, he quickly informed her, "I'll take helm, you can rest."

Again she nodded and allowed him to walk around her. Her arm shot out, constricting around his wrist and preventing him from walking further away. Puzzled, he marveled in how sultry she looked as she slid herself closer to him. He witnessed a hesitation in her eyes before she wrapped her arms around his neck and held tight. The embrace was a lasting one, both of them holding on tightly to the other. Seven pulled back first just so she could see his face. Entranced, all he could manage to do was watch as she leaned in and kissed him for a second time.

This time was different then the last. He felt her velvety lips sprawl against his own and move ever so slightly. It wasn't chaste by any means but it also wasn't deep or prolonged. For him it ended too soon and he lost her again.

Dumbstruck he focused on the feelings tickling his unnerved lips. "What was that for?"

A giggle vibrated through the slender woman before him, followed by a bashful smile. "When we get back to Voyager things are going to change. I wanted to experience that before I lost the chance."

"You're right, things will be different but believe me when I say that you will always be able to come to me for a simple hug or an able bodied listener... always. Now come on," he rapidly changed the subject, gripping her elbow and pulling her towards the two lone chairs at the shuttlecraft's helm. "I drive, you relax." He emphasized his words by moving her in the direction of the as yet unused chair.

Lowering herself into it, she instinctively pulled her legs up to her chest. There she remained for most of the journey back, unmoving, unvocal, and at some point unconscious.

In the end, both of their predictions came true. Things went back to at least a semblance of normality for the both of them. After awhile everyone forgot about Seven decking Neelix and then a day or so later stealing a shuttlecraft. To everyone she was the same former Borg drone that had always been there; quiet and introspective. To Chakotay she was something more than that. He could see her shy away from social functions even more then she used to, knew she wasn't being quiet out of nature but fear.

He'd lost track of how many times he'd had to divert the captain from interrogating her, stating that if Seven wanted her to know she would tell her on her own. It was a lie, both he and Seven knew they were never going to tell the Captain. It was their secret and neither one wanted to lose the connection it had somehow formed between them.

Chakotay's end of the bargain held up too. Seven had become prone to panic attacks at odd times, after staff meetings, before duty shifts. Every time all she had to do was find him and he was there, be it to listen to her or give her a comforting hug while whispering it would be okay. Overtime she learned that no matter what the time, she was always more than welcome to wake him up after a nightmare.

All but one thing remained true to form for the now odd couple. Months later, in the wake of a terrifying nightmare that was not her own, Seven had the chance to kiss her savior once more. She never took it, safe in the knowledge that a chance would come again someday and when it did there would be no hesitation, no second-guesses, just her, him and nothing else.

La Fin