Disclaimer: You saw it on Star Trek? Then I don't own it! Simple enough? Femslash content (I like that word) so if you don't like that please don't waste your time with this story. Disclaimer, done.
Code: T/7.
Genre: Angst, Romance
Rating: M/R
Feedback: Click review, e-mail me, however you'd like to do it, but let me know what you thought!
Dark Dawn
Chapter 1
B'Elanna backhanded Tom and spat the Klingon divorce ritual at him. After expressing her distaste against the continuation of their marriage, she promised him that she would make it official by legal standards. She left him there, prostrate and sniveling and ran from their shared quarters, cursing the day she decided to try to salvage their relationship by marrying him. How could she be so stupid?
She had desperately wanted to have a family; that's why. A nice, traditional family with a husband and children and perhaps a pet once that option presented itself. But she had been fooling herself. Tom Paris was not husband material. She gave him credit for trying, but would not live with someone who could lie and cheat on her the way Tom had.
She couldn't let him hurt their daughter. He had made promises that he wouldn't leave them, but he had confessed to the affair with that PetaQ: Jennifer DeLaney. Let them have each other. She was standing outside the door to her old quarters before she remembered that they had been reassigned. To Seven of Nine. Frustration overwhelmed her as she realized that she had nowhere to go. She screamed and hit the door as hard as she could, then fell to the ground, heavy under the burden of her pregnancy, now sixteen weeks in, though her four months looked like seven by human standards.
She sat on her knees, crying audibly, feeling overwhelmed and unloved. The baby inside her moved agitatedly and she tried to stop crying, afraid that she might be poisoning the unborn child with her emotions. But her attempt only caused her to choke out a broken, bitter sob that was greeted by the appearance of Seven of Nine, curious as to why her door had been attacked and who might be trying to destroy the entrance to her new home.
Seven stood there uncomfortably, wondering how she should handle this obviously delicate situation. Unaccustomed to crying women on her doorstep, she assumed her usual stance and posed the only question she could think to ask.
"Lieutenant Torres, do you require assistance?" B'Elanna looked up, startled at Seven, unaware that she had been observed. She tried to get up, but she had fallen in an awkward position and found that she could not maneuver out of it. So she regretfully nodded and felt Seven's arms wrap carefully around her, hoisting her to her feet. Once she was standing, she allowed Seven to steady her and then finally realized that Seven was not fully dressed.
B'Elanna blushed, embarrassed to have disturbed Seven, who had obviously been asleep, judging by the pink tank top and matching boxers that the tall blonde was wearing. She couldn't help but notice how the dark pink made Seven's eyes appear violet and complimented her silken, wavy hair. She realized how she must have looked, disheveled and tear-stained and it only added to her self-consciousness.
"I'm sorry to have disturbed you," B'Elanna said, then began explaining, "I forgot that anyone had been assigned my old quarters."
"Why would you require them?" Seven asked innocently.
"I don't. Forget I was here. I'm sorry that I dented your door, I'll fix it in the morning." B'Elanna turned and took exactly two steps before her legs gave and she cried out in pain. She clutched her abdomen as another spasm rushed through it and began panicking, terrified that something was wrong. Sound came rushing back to her and she realized that she had lost touch with reality for a moment.
Seven of Nine was lifting her to her feet as if she hadn't gained twelve kilos in the past few months. B'Elanna tried to walk, but kept stumbling until Seven just picked her up and carried her as though she weighed nothing.
The doctor finished his diagnostic and gave B'Elanna the good news. "You didn't lose the baby, Lieutenant. The stress on your body almost caused a premature labor, but I have stopped that for the time being. Assuming that you can avoid any more unhealthy shocks to your system, then your pregnancy should progress smoothly, despite this incident." He pressed the hypospray to her neck, explaining it was to prevent premature labor in the near future. "You only have another two and a half months to go, Lieutenant. I'm sure you'll be okay. Perhaps we could neuter your ex-husband to prevent further crisis," he muttered, bringing a smile to B'Elanna, despite her sadness.
B'Elanna nodded at the doctor's instruction to return next week, for her next check up. But when he asked where she planned to stay tonight, she looked up at him, helplessly, and admitted that she didn't know. That's when Seven surprised her for the second time. She certainly hadn't expected the help to Sickbay or for Seven to stay to see that she was alright.
"Lt. Torres may share my quarters tonight, if she wishes." B'Elanna searched Seven for any emotion connected with what she was saying, but found only the quiet, composed woman she always saw. No, that wasn't right—she usually saw a cold, hard, stubborn ex-Borg drone: the Ice Queen. But suddenly, she saw past it at the woman who had hid from the doctor in Engineering, just to be doing something besides dying. The woman who had displayed immeasurable courage the entire time B'Elanna had known her.
"Is that alright with you, Lieutenant?" B'Elanna turned abruptly at the doctor's question, broken from her thoughts and replied.
"Yeah. If I'm not intruding," she added, addressing Seven.
"Not at all, Lieutenant. Though I have a bed, I rarely use it, since I still prefer regenerating. However, when the captain suggested that I move into my own quarters, I found the idea appealing. Therefore, despite the inconvenience of moving my alcove, I transferred to your previous quarters, which the captain offered me."
"Well, then. Lead the way," B'Elanna said, hopping carefully down from the biobed. She followed Seven back to her old quarters, neither speaking on the way. B'Elanna steeled herself for the new look to what had been her home for the six and a half years before she had married Tom, but when she set foot in the room, she found not much had changed. A couch was placed in front of a coffee table and a chair sat off to the side, exactly as she had left it.
However, in place of the decorations B'Elanna had hung on her walls, there were holo-images. Mezoti, Azan and Rebi stood in front of Icheb in one, another was of Seven and Mezoti, one with Seven and Icheb, Seven and all the Borg children, small individual pictures of each of the children, Naomi and Seven, Mezoti and Naomi and finally, B'Elanna's gaze was drawn to the lone holo hung on the wall next to the door to the bedroom. It was of One and Seven.
Other than those pictures, the walls were bare, but in all truth, the pictures were all the gunmetal gray walls needed. They made this room a home. B'Elanna felt tears burn behind her eyes as she looked around to find more pictures of Seven with her colleagues, Janeway, Tuvok, the doctor, even one with B'Elanna. It was a candid shot of them working together in Engineering, B'Elanna smiling and Seven raising her eyebrow.
Seven watched B'Elanna look around, vaguely nervous at the first guest she had invited to her quarters since she had redecorated. She was especially anxious that B'Elanna not find fault with her arrangements, since this had previously been her quarters. Lieutenant Tuvok had suggested hanging objects that contained meaning to her, so she had hung the collection of photos the doctor had given her as a 'house warming present,' as he called it. The only picture he had not provided for her was the holo of One, which she had kept since his death as a visual reminder of... her son.
B'Elanna turned to Seven, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes, which she blamed on her hormones. She walked toward Seven and repressed the urge to hug the stiff woman, who suddenly looked very vulnerable, despite her hard exterior. Seven turned abruptly and led the way into the bedchamber. This was where B'Elanna noticed the most change. There was a borg alcove, casting green illumination throughout the room, the only light source before Seven ordered the computer to create normal lighting, destroying the eerie glow.
The bed sheets were standard issue, but rather than gray, Seven had apparently convinced the computer to replicate a pale green blanket and forest green sheets, which caught the glow from the alcove rather attractively. B'Elanna had never been fond of green, but she had to admit that the colors were the prettiest shades she had ever seen and it seemed a logical choice, given the lighting.
B'Elanna slipped beneath the covers and noticed that her red nightgown made it all seem a little Christmassy and she chuckled. Seven of Nine and Christmas didn't seem to go hand in hand, but picturing the former drone in a tight 'Santa' outfit made her smile again.
Seven watched B'Elanna crawl into her bed and wondered why she was laughing. Was it at her attempts to make her quarters 'homey?' Or perhaps it was some random thought passing through the chief engineer's mind that she couldn't fathom. Whatever it was, Seven felt left out and quickly walked over to her alcove. After giving the computer the command to turn the lights off, she stepped back into her place and felt the click as the regeneration cycle began and her consciousness started to fade.
"Good-night, Seven," she heard just before she was about to drift off. She halted the process long enough to respond.
"Good-night, Lieutenant."
"Since we're sleeping together, you might as well call me B'Elanna." Seven caught her breath for a moment, then complied.
"Sleep well, B'Elanna."
"Sweet dreams." Seven decided not to inform B'Elanna that she did not dream, but rather allowed herself to once again drift into her cycle.
Seven woke from her regeneration cycle in the middle of the night. She looked down at Lieutenant Torres, asleep in her bed and faced a dilemma. Usually, if she awoke from regenerating, it meant her body was ready to sleep and she would move to the bed. But the bed's occupant posed a problem. She had no doubt that it would be intrusive of her to either wake or join B'Elanna without permission.
She considered the couch and finally decided that it was the only option left. She took the excess pillow from her bed and a blanket from the closet. Once the couch was transferred into an acceptable bed, she fell immediately into a deep slumber.
To be continued…