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 3

Tom Paris stormed into Astrometrics. He stopped when he saw Icheb standing innocently next to Seven. Icheb noticed him and greeted him in a friendly manner, draining some of Tom's anger.

"Hello, Lieutenant. May we help you?" Tom frowned at Seven, then turned back to the trusting, younger man.

"Not this time, Icheb. May I speak to Seven privately?" Icheb looked at Seven, who nodded.

"Certainly," Icheb said and walked out of Astrometrics. Tom walked up to Seven and stood, glaring at her.

"Is B'Elanna the subject which you are interested in discussing with me?"

"Yeah. Specifically the way you 'implied,' something that could be very damaging to her reputation.

"I implied? I do not recall implying anything when last we spoke." Seven set down the padd she had been preparing calculations on and gave Tom her full attention.

"Don't give me that Borg innocence crap. You know damn well what you implied." Seven raised a calm eyebrow at him, hiding her dislike of him beneath her impassive outward appearance. "'If you are referring to last night, she was in my bed.' I believe that is what you said."

"More or less. I do not understand what you think I was implying. I was simply stating the fact that Lieutenant Torres spent the night in my bed."

"No, you were implying that she slept with you."

"I did no such thing. I did not say that I was in that bed. Had you inquired, you would have learned that I slept on my couch."

"But that's not what you said." Tom insisted and Seven began to get annoyed.

"What have my sleeping accommodations to do with Lieutenant Torres' location?"

"Stop doing that, dammit!"

"Doing what?"

"Talking like you're innocent. You knew that I would assume that you slept together!"

"So?"

"'So?' How can you imply that B'Elanna would sleep with just anybody? Do you know what it would do to her reputation if people thought she was having sex with you?" Seven started.

"Sex? What does sleeping have to do with sex? The only thing that they have in common..." That's when it hit her. He had assumed that they had copulated because B'Elanna had been in her bed. Irritation at his assumption that she would feign ignorance caused her eye to twitch, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of showing that he could affect her.

"You got it." Tom paused, suddenly at a loss. He realized he may have blown the situation out of proportion. "I'm sorry if you really didn't know."

"I didn't. But what do you mean, 'it would ruin her reputation' if others assumed we were mates?" Tom began stammering and backing out of the Astrometrics lab, saying that he had to get to his shift. "Is it because of who I am?"

"I've gotta go," Tom said and fled, leaving Seven to think about the information he had given her. The hurt it caused gave her pause. Was that why she was never asked to social gatherings by anyone save the captain and doctor? Did the crew still view her in a negative way that would affect the 'reputation' of anyone who wished to date her? She gave no outward suggestion of the inner turmoil when Icheb returned to continue their work, but it never left her mind.

B'Elanna slept until Seven returned from her shift. She saw that something was wrong instantly. Seven walked more stiffly than usual and refused to meet her eyes. B'Elanna was upset by the impersonal greeting Seven gave her and her temper began to flare. She thought last night had changed things for the two of them.

"You know what, Seven? I was looking forward to you coming back right up until I fell asleep because I needed to talk to you. But if you're going to treat me like a stranger, then I'm leaving." She walked to the door, fighting hurt and anger. "And I'm going to tell everyone that you snore," she growled, trying to hide her pain.

"Please do not leave, B'Elanna." She froze at the sound of her name and looked back at Seven. Seven frowned suddenly and declared, "I do not snore." B'Elanna smiled. "What do you wish to speak of?"

"First tell me why you're being so... formal," B'Elanna said, turning to face Seven.

"I would not wish to give anyone the wrong impression."

"About what?" B'Elanna asked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"About you and I." Seven still was unable to meet B'Elanna's eyes.

"Now how would you be doing that?" B'Elanna asked gently, walking up to stand in front of Seven.

"Lieutenant Paris—"

"Is an idiot." B'Elanna's words caused Seven to look up. "Seven, why are you scared to give people a wrong impression? What does it matter what they think?"

"I am merely concerned for your reputation."

"My reputation? As what? An engineer? A bad tempered Klingon?"

"I am not sure what reputation that Lieutenant Paris was speaking of."

"Didn't I just say he was an idiot?"

"But he is correct, B'Elanna. The crew is fond of rumors and they react to others based on their opinions of them. I do not wish to be the reason that others stop interacting with you."

"And why would you be?"

"If they assumed that we were in a romantic relationship..." Seven began looking at her holo-images to prevent herself from looking at B'Elanna, which was something that she desperately wanted to do.

"Then what? Nevermind. Seven, this is sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?" Seven looked at B'Elanna, despite her attempts to do otherwise. B'Elanna sat on the couch and looked up at Seven.

"My feelings... That is, I...When Tom came by here he said that you had... dammit."

"Lieutenant?"

"I think I'm in love with you!" B'Elanna blurted and immediately wished that she were anywhere else. She didn't want to see rejection in Seven's eyes, but she was scared to look for acceptance, either.

"In love with me?" B'Elanna looked up at Seven's question and nodded, searching her face for any sign of how she felt. "I do not think that I share your feelings, B'Elanna, I'm sorry."

"Oh," was all B'Elanna could think to say. She felt as if someone had let all the air out of her.

"But I would like to get to know you better. I have feelings for you, and though they are not the same, I believe that if given the chance, they may become so."

"What do you mean?" Seven looked at the floor, then back to B'Elanna.

"I find you attractive—"

"Even like this?" B'Elanna indicated her swollen frame.

"Yes. I also enjoyed our time together at breakfast. I do wish to be friends with you, B'Elanna. Perhaps even more. I am just... reluctant, considering the circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"You recent dissolution of marriage, your pregnancy and my inexperience in relationships."

"Look. I'm not going to force anything. I usually would prefer to be alone. Relationships are too hard, it seems. Just forget I said anything." B'Elanna stood and began walking toward the door.

"B'Elanna." She froze at the sound of Seven's voice, hurt and embarrassment coursing through her body. She didn't turn around. "I believe that if we are to attempt a romantic relationship, then one of us should propose the first date. Therefore, how does dinner sound?" B'Elanna stood at the door, shaking.

"Um, it sounds good," she answered quietly, forcing her voice not to shake. Seven pretended not to her the tremor in B'Elanna's voice.

"Then I propose that we have dinner, tonight, on the holodeck." B'Elanna turned around, finally.

"Why the holodeck?"

"Because I believe that were we to use either of our quarters, it would be too intimate for a first date. Do you disagree?"

"No, but I could point out that I still don't have any quarters and am still sleeping here. Unless you don't want me to."

"No, I do not wish for you to cease sleeping here. But the holodeck will also provide a more... romantic atmosphere."

"It's a date," B'Elanna said, then left to retrieve something to wear from her former quarters.

B'Elanna laughed. Seven looked at her in the simulated moonlight, her skin glowing and her hair flowing in the breeze as the walked along side a holographic lake. Seven had decided that an evening picnic sounded romantic, so she had set the program up before B'Elanna arrived. It was actually Ensign Kim's program, but Seven asked him and he agreed to her using it.

"This is wonderful, Seven. I should have known you had a romantic side." Seven remained quiet and just enjoyed the view. They sat down at the edge of the water and B'Elanna took her shoes off so she could dangle her feet in. She was wearing a dark crimson dress that flowed in the wind, hugging to her form. Seven had to admit, at least to herself, that this had been a good idea. "Good food, good company, I think this is the perfect first date," B'Elanna whispered as she looked up at the full moon over the water.

"I am in agreement." The time passed slowly, the quiet conversation they had shared over the picnic replaced by companionable silence. B'Elanna leaned against Seven, who in turn, placed her arm around the smaller woman and held her close while they enjoyed the night.

"Do not push, B'Ella. It is not yet time." Seven demanded. B'Elanna glared at Seven, who was carrying her through the halls, in a hurry to get her to Sickbay. She had gone into labor in Engineering, ignoring the contractions at first, assuming that it was the false labor that she had experienced twice before.

Until her water broke.

The turbolift loomed ahead of them, the doors closing as a crewman boarded. Seven called for him to wait, but it was no use, the lift left without them. They both knew that she couldn't be transported, not with the baby's birth being so close, it could kill either or both of them. So they waited for the next lift.

"You can put me down, Seven. I think I can walk now." Seven looked at her dubiously, but slowly complied. B'Elanna somehow managed to stand, and began pacing in front of the turbolift, stretching her legs. "Computer, where is the damn lift?"

"Turbolift one is currently unavailable."

"What! Why?" B'Elanna demanded to know.

"It is on halt between decks two and three."

"Computer, override! This is a medical emergency!"

"Complying." A few moments later, the lift arrived and two flushed and disheveled crewmen staggered out.

"Sorry, sir," Crewman Rachel Smithjones muttered, embarrassed, as the two hurried off.

"The turbolift is not a toy!" Seven growled after them as B'Elanna pulled her in and the doors closed, sealing the lift for its journey to deck five. All the way there, Seven fretted and asked B'Elanna if she was going to be okay.

"Calm down, Seven. I'm fine. I'm just... having a baby. No big deal." B'Elanna said, attempting levity in the face of the ex-Borg's worry.

"It is a 'big deal,' B'Ella. It is your first baby." B'Elanna took Seven's hand and smiled, looking into her deep, worried, blue eyes.

"How long have we been together now?"

"Two months, one week, five days, twenty hours..."

"Alright, alright. I don't need it down to the second," B'Elanna said, laughing. "The point is, we've been together a while now. I was wondering if you had made up your mind yet."

"About what?"

"If you share my feelings?" Seven looked at her intensely.

"You have not surmised that information yet?" asked the serious blonde woman.

"I don't know." B'Elanna replied honestly. Seven opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment, everything went dark for B'Elanna. There was no warning, just an intense burst of pain, and then the dark washed everything away.

To be continued…