For The Love of a Child
Part Eight
"Hey Seven I found the fruit that you wanted." B'Elanna said as she walked into her quarters.
"I am over here B'Elanna." Seven said as she sat up from her lying position on the couch and put the data pad she was reading on the coffee table.
"What are you reading?" B'Elanna asked curiously as she put the bowl of fruit down on the table.
"It is all the data that I have collected about the baby." Seven said as B'Elanna took her seat on the couch and Seven rested her head in B'Elanna's lap again.
"Data you collected? I thought that the doctor was the one that was doing all the tests." B'Elanna asked as she began to stroke Seven's hair again.
"My nanoprobes are also monitoring the baby." Seven explained. "They provide more detailed information about the baby's health."
"Can I take a look?" B'Elanna asked as she took the data pad off the coffee table. After hearing no objection from Seven B'Elanna began to look through the file.
"May I have some of the fruit?" Seven asked as she looked at the bowl on the coffee table.
"Sure Seven." B'Elanna said as she continued to read through the data pad. B'Elanna absentmindedly reached into the bowl and pulled out a couple of the strawberries and held them at Seven's lips.
Seven felt a little strange about B'Elanna feeding her but remembered all the effort she had put into sitting up when B'Elanna entered the room. Seven opened her mouth as B'Elanna put the strawberry inside and closed her lips around it. As the strawberry entered Seven's mouth she closed her around the tips of B'Elanna's fingers.
"Did you like the strawberry?" B'Elanna asked as she removed her fingers with a little reluctance.
"It was… Yes, I… The strawberry was enjoyable." Seven said a little flustered by the surprising intimacy of the action.
"Here, try another one." B'Elanna said with a small smile as she fed Seven another strawberry.
"Thank you." Seven said as she finished her second strawberry.
B'Elanna and Seven spent an hour looking over the data pad and eating the bowl of fruit. When B'Elanna had finally finished the pad she looked down to find that Seven was already asleep.
Tom had spent most of the morning trying to figure out how to end things with Meagan. 'We've only been going out for a little while, but I know this is going to break her heart.' He thought arrogantly.
In the end Tom just decided to break it to her when they were having breakfast. "Megan I need to talk to you about something." Tom said as he saw her enter the mess hall.
"Sure, what's up Tom?" Meagan asked curiously. 'I don't know how B'Elanna ever put up with him for so long.' Meagan thought to herself as she sat down.
"It's about our relationship." Tom said with a sigh, for effect. "I just don't think it's working out. It isn't you Meagan, it's me." Tom added.
'Oh no,' Meagan thought in a panic. 'This wasn't supposed to be how it worked. I was supposed to dump Tom after I realized he could never be the kind of person that I could love. Then I was going to spend time with B'Elanna to get over it.' Meagan said feeling her plans begin to slip through her fingers.
Tom looked at Meagan as he broke the news to her. 'Poor girl,' Tom thought to himself. 'She's taking this harder than I thought. Maybe I should have been gentler.'
After seeing the look of pity on Tom's face Megan stood up and stormed out of the mess hall. 'I can't believe that fool could ruin all my plans.' Meagan thought, fuming.
"Wow, Meagan didn't look like she took that well." Harry said as he sat down next to Tom.
"I think I broke her heart." Tom said conceitedly. "It had to be done though. B'Elanna won't get back together with me if I'm seeing someone else. It's a lot easier to end it with Meagan now than later, when she's really attached."
"I guess you're right. How do you want to start getting together with them?" Harry asked.
"Well first we need to figure out why B'Elanna doesn't want Seven to go out with anyone." Tom said thoughtfully.
"It did seem kind of strange to me as well. I thought for sure that B'Elanna would jump at a chance to get some time away from Seven."
"Well there's a simple enough way to find out. All you have to do is ask her. Then she'll get mad and start shouting, eventually she'll just let it slip." Tom said knowingly.
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Harry asked.
"It always worked before." Tom said with a smirk.
"I guess I'll give it a shot during alpha shift." Harry said as he went to begin his shift in engineering.
B'Elanna opened her eyes with a smile. She probably wouldn't admit it to anyone but she enjoyed waking up with Seven every morning. 'I wonder what we're going to do after the baby is born.' B'Elanna thought to herself with a sigh. 'I really don't want Seven to go.'
B'Elanna's musings ended when Seven opened her eyes and looked up. "Good morning B'Elanna." Seven said with a smile.
"Morning, Seven." B'Elanna responded. "What do you have planned for today?"
"I have not made any specific plans yet. I was going to spend the rest of the day trying to find a name for the baby." Seven said as B'Elanna helped her to sit up.
"Do you need some help? We could probably talk about it over lunch." B'Elanna said hopefully.
"I would like that. I have been having trouble deciding on a name by myself." Seven admitted.
"Great." B'Elanna said with a smile. "Just come by engineering around 1300 hours."
Seven nodded as she got out of bed and went to the washroom.
'Well I guess that means that I'm going to be making breakfast again.' B'Elanna thought to herself as she got out of bed and remembered what happened the last time. 'I think it would be easier if I just replicated something this time.'
When Seven walked out of the bathroom she noticed that B'Elanna had already set the table.
"Hey Seven, I decided to replicate breakfast this time instead of making it." B'Elanna said as she set down the plate of bacon and eggs.
B'Elanna and Seven spent most of the morning talking about a few names they had been thinking of.
"Well I should probably get going." B'Elanna said as she put away the plates. "I'll see you at lunch." B'Elanna said as she kissed Seven's cheek and walked out the door.
B'Elanna walked to engineering with a smile on his face. She seemed to always be in a better mood when she spent time with Seven.
"Just the person I wanted to talk to." Harry said as B'Elanna walked into engineering.
"What is it now?" B'Elanna asked as she rolled her eyes and felt her good mood start to evaporate.
"I don't like what you've been doing to Seven." Harry said feeling a little of his anger come back to the surface.
"I haven't been doing anything to Seven." B'Elanna denied. "She belongs at home, not running around all over the ship especially with the coming."
"That's bullshit. You have her wrapped around your little finger. All you have to do is ask and she'll do whatever you want." Harry denied venomously.
"You better watch what you say Harry." B'Elanna said as her eyes narrowed.
"What did you have to do?" Harry asked ignoring B'Elanna's threat. "How did you take over Seven's life?"
"Keep Seven out of this." B'Elanna ordered. "She has nothing to do with this."
"It was the baby wasn't it." Harry said grasping at straws. "She'll do anything you want as long as you don't take away her child."
B'Elanna saw red as soon as Harry finished speaking. Harry for his part gulped visibly as he paled and took a few steps back.
"If you ever so much as think about uttering those words again I will rip off your arm and beat you to death with it." B'Elanna said quietly betraying her anger.
"B'Elanna, I…" Harry started to say in a panic. "I didn't mean to… I mean." Harry stuttered as he took another couple of steps back, unable to meat B'Elanna's angry glare.
"The only reason that you're still standing here is because I don't want to leave Seven alone when I end up in the brig." B'Elanna said angrily. "You can think about that while you're removed from duty for the rest of the week."
"You can't do that." Harry said finding a little backbone.
"I'm you're commanding officer and I just did. And just to make sure you actually spend some time thinking about your holodeck privileges are also revoked for the next month." B'Elanna added maliciously.
"I know I said some things that were a little out of line but this is going too far. I'm going to have to go to the captain about this." Harry threatened desperately.
"Go ahead." B'Elanna said with a snort. "And while you're at it why don't you repeat everything you just said to her. I'm sure she'd be interested to know what you consider appropriate topics of conversation during duty shifts."
Harry knew he was stuck as he looked at everyone in engineering. With everyone staring at him some with angry glares he knew he would never be able to defend his actions to the captain.
"I just relived you of Duty Kim." B'Elanna said, glaring at him again. "That means I want you to get the hell out of my department!"
Harry quickly left engineering, afraid that B'Elanna would take away his replicator rations as well.
Meagan watched Harry almost run out of engineering from her station. 'Of course,' she thought to herself. 'Harry and Tom are working together to get Seven and B'Elanna. I'm going to need some help if I'm going to get B'Elanna. I just need someone to occupy Seven so that I can spend some time alone with B'Elanna. It would be impossible to do it all by myself.' Meagan thought to herself with a smirk.
"Everyone get back to work." B'Elanna said as she stormed up to her office and sat down.
The engineering crew quickly got back to work. They weren't sure if B'Elanna's bad mood would spill over to them so they decided to play it safe for a while and spent the next couple of hours working on their various projects.
"It looks like B'Elanna is going to be in her office for a while." Carey said as he walked up to Meagan.
"Maybe I should go talk to her." Megan thought out loud. "I can probably get her to calm down."
"What? Are you kidding? B'Elanna's probably going to bite the head off the next person that goes up there." Carey said incredulously. "Just go about your work. We just have to wait for her to calm down."
"I guess I could wait a while." Meagan said a little reluctantly.
"I knew Janeway had a thing for Seven, but I never knew about Harry." Carey said changing the subject.
"The Captain likes Seven?" Meagan asked not believing her luck.
"Yeah, why do you think she had such a fit when she found out Seven was pregnant? She wanted to be the one to give Seven a baby." Carey said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I never knew." Meagan said as a smile began to form on her face. 'This is perfect. The captain can have Seven and I can have B'Elanna.' Meagan thought to herself with a smile.
"I need to go see the Captain about something." Meagan said as she walked out of engineering.
'I hope she isn't planning what I think she is.' Carey thought to himself as he watched Meagan leave. 'B'Elanna is probably the last person anyone should try to manipulate.'
Carey thought as he got back to the project that he was working on.
After another hour Carey was almost finished his work when he looked up to see Seven walk in.
"Hi Seven," he greeted. "Now is probably not the best time to talk to B'Elanna he warned, she's in one of her moods." Carey warned.
"I do not understand. B'Elanna seemed happy when she left." Seven said confused.
"You should probably ask her." Carey suggested wisely. The last thing he wanted to do was get in the middle of this strange love triangle that was developing.
"I believe I will." Seven said as she walked to B'Elanna's office.
"Wait," Carey said as he quickly moved in front of Seven. "Are you sure you want to talk to her now? I think she's still in her mood."
"We are supposed to have lunch together." Seven explained. "I am sure that I will be fine." Seven said as she moved past Carey and knocked on the door.
"What do you want?" B'Elanna shouted through the door.
"B'Elanna?" Seven asked. "Is everything alright?"
"Seven?" B'Elanna asked unable to hide her surprise.
"Yes." Seven answered simply.
"Just give me a second." B'Elanna said as she ran around her office trying to make it a little more presentable.
When B'Elanna finally opened the door she met a smirking Seven. "Do you still have time for lunch?"
"Sure I just need to finish a little work." B'Elanna said as she pulled Seven into the office and closed the door.
"I was informed that you were in one of your moods." Seven said as B'Elanna was closing the door.
"It's nothing." B'Elanna said dismissively. "Have a seat. I'll be done in a couple of minutes." B'Elanna said as she led Seven around her desk and gently pushed Seven down into the chair.
"Thank you." Seven said as leaned back in the chair and pulled her feet up.
For the next few minutes Seven looked around B'Elanna's office. It was just like her quarters before Seven moved in. Nothing was in its proper place. The best way to describe it was a giant mess.
"Alright let's go." B'Elanna said as she helped Seven to her feet and they left engineering.
"Have you thought of any names for the baby?" Seven asked. "I have not yet found one that is quite right."
"I've got a couple of ideas." B'Elanna said as they walked into the mess hall.
Seven sat down at one of the tables facing the view port as B'Elanna went to get their lunch.
Seven let out a sigh of relief as she looked around the mess hall. For once the captain was not around to apologize or ask Seven to move in with her. In the beginning it was nice to see that the Captain cared about her again, but now it bordered on annoying.
"Here you go Seven." B'Elanna said interrupting Seven's thoughts. "I thought you might like to try spaghetti and meatballs." She said as she set the plate down in front of Seven.
"It is good." Seven said as she tasted one of the meatballs.
"So what kind of names did you have in mind?" B'Elanna asked as began to eat as well.
"Naiomi Wildman has informed me that I should choose a name that has a personal significance to me." Seven said. "What do you think of the name Hope?" Seven asked.
"It's not bad." B'Elanna said, but it doesn't seem quite right. "How about Marlene? It's Spanish. I was hoping that we could name the baby after some of our ancestors."
"Something still seems to be missing." Seven said thoughtfully. "But I like your idea of naming the baby after our ancestors. How do you feel about the name Kaia?" Seven asked.
"I like it, but what's the ancestry of that name?" B'Elanna asked.
"It is Klingon. I wish to name the baby after Kayless." Seven said.
"Are you sure Seven? I got teased a lot about my mixed heritage." B'Elanna said a little unsure.
"That is exactly why we should name the baby Kaia. I do not want the baby to forget who she is, how she came to be." Seven said as she decided on the name.
"Kaia it is." B'Elanna said with a smile. "She is going to be so special, and loved."
"I agree." Seven said with a smile of her own. "And perhaps now you can tell me why you were in 'a mood'" Seven asked.
"It was just an argument with Harry." B'Elanna said as the smile left her face.
"Was it because I cancelled our date?" Seven asked. "It did not seem to bother him last night."
"When I walked into engineering he accused me of taking control of your life." B'Elanna said, still a little upset over it.
"That must not have gone over well." Seven stated.
"Let's just say I made a few threats and punished him accordingly." B'Elanna said with a smirk.
"What did you do?" Seven asked. Her interest peeked.
"Well I took him off duty for the week, and that would have been the end of it if he hadn't kept arguing. By the end of it I took away his holodeck privileges for a month as well."
"Harry must have upset you considerably." Seven observed.
"He did, actually I think I was too lenient on him. Maybe I should take away his replicator rations as well. What do you think Seven?" B'Elanna asked.
"I think that with all of the time Harry likes to spend on the holodeck this will be punishment enough." Seven said highly amused by the whole situation.
"Captain Can I speak to you privately?" Meagan asked as she walked onto the bridge.
"Certainly ensign, We can use the ready room." Kathryn said as the two women walked inside and the door closed.
To Be Continued…