Nine Months – Getting to know you 3

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Rating: Adult

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 11/16/05

Summary: Nine months ago they were captured.

Chapter 8 - Stardate 52325.54 (April 29, 2375 7:44pm)

"I believe this is an appropriate time for me to serve the dessert I prepared earlier today," Seven announced as she brought in a tray, upon which was a plate of what looked suspiciously like chocolate chip cookies.

Sniffing the air B'Elanna asked with an excited gleam in her eye, "Are those cookies, Chocolate chip cookies?"

Seven tilted her head to one side and raised her brow in a characteristic look, "You are familiar with this food item. From your response, you are pleased?"

"Oh yea, I love chocolate chip cookies," B'Elanna examined the cookies on the plate with delight and amusement. They were, of course, picture perfect, and Seven had even poured two glasses of milk to go with them. "And milk as well." she noted.

Seven nodded, "It was recommended as the most common beverage chosen to accompany these, or would you prefer coffee?" she asked hesitating for a moment the tray just above the coffee table.

"No, milk's great," B'Elanna said as she grabbed a glass and a cookie. Taking a large bite she closed her eyes in pleasure at the taste. It had been such a too long since she had tasted a really good cookie. B'Elanna wasn't sure how their captors came by the basic food staples they provided for Seven to cook with, she assumed they used some type of replication system. If they did then it was not like the power efficient system Voyager used, but one of the types similar to what restaurants used, where accuracy, not the amount of power, was paramount. Whatever they used the quality was excellent, and it definitely showed in the foods Seven cooked.

"Mmmm," B'Elanna opened her eyes after this eloquent statement of appreciation, and started snickering at the look Seven was giving her. "That translates into, these are really good, thank you for making them." she clarified.

Seven, still slightly wide eyed at the engineer's response to the cookies, replied, "You are welcome Lt. Torres."

B'Elanna frowned, and castigated herself for not noticing earlier that Seven still called her by her rank. "Seven call me B'Elanna, you don't need to be so formal with me."

She had just surprised the blonde, that was obvious, what wasn't so clear was why. B'Elanna stared at Seven in growing confusion, over the past weeks she had noticed that Seven's face, especially her eyes, were much more expressive than she had ever noticed before. The Borg just wasn't as obvious in her facial expressions as most people were. At the current moment, Seven's face was rather animated for the ex-drone, and from the varied expressions passing over it, B'Elanna could only guess that the blonde was experiencing several different emotions. Why her simple offer to let Seven use her first name would get such a reaction, though, she had no idea.

Finally Seven asked hesitantly, "In my observations of human behavior, I have noticed that, except in Captain Janeway's case where she uses the first names of the Senior Officers to denote when she is speaking informally to them, the use of the first name is reserved for those regarded as friends. Does this mean that we are friends?"

"Well," B'Elanna paused marshaling her thoughts, "I'd say so, I mean we have been getting along well lately. And I like you Seven." Uncertainly, and feeling a bit defensive she finished, "Do you not want to be friends?"

A slight furrow between Seven's brows and silence met her question. B'Elanna put her milk on the table and crossed her arms over her chest feeling the first stirrings of rejection and anger. Then it occurred to her that perhaps Seven might not know quite what she meant by her offer. She ran through her head Seven's relationships with those on board and came up with only Janeway, the Doc and Harry as possible candidates to have offered friendship to Seven.

'So a Captain who can never forget that she's your Captain, and doesn't hesitate to use what she knows about you against you if she feels she needs to as the Captain; a hologram that lords his relative knowledge of humanity over you, and a guy that wants to date you.' Of the three only Harry was probably a good example of what a friend should be.

"Seven do you understand what a friend is?" B'Elanna was too focused on the woman beside her to notice how gentle her voice had become.

"One attached to another by affection or esteem." Seven replied.

B'Elanna sighed, "That's the definition, but do you understand what it means?"

The furrow reappeared, "At one time I believed I understood the usage of this term, but it appears to be more complicated a relationship than I had first thought." Seven stated.

B'Elanna guessed, "The Captain."

The metal around Seven's eye flew upward, "Yes, the Captain is the primary source of my confusion regarding the nature of this type of human relationship. How did you know this?"

"Not really that hard to guess," B'Elanna replied dryly. "Janeway's a nice person most of the time, but sometimes when she gets in her 'I win' moods, she can be very…" the half-Klingon searched for the proper word, but finally gave up. "Well she's not such a good friend at that time. Take what she did to Tom as an example, I don't think she could have chosen a punishment that would affect him more than solitary confinement."

Seven's face tightened and she nodded jerkily.

Staring at the Borg it suddenly dawned on B'Elanna that what she had initially scoffed at months ago as light punishment, might have been a lot harsher on Seven than anyone had appreciated. 'Except Janeway, she would have known, and would have done it anyway.' B'Elanna thought. She had confronted Janeway about Tom's punishment, thinking that the Captain had overlooked the possible psychological effects on the pilot, only to walk out shaken and enraged when she realized that Janeway not only fully understood what she was doing to Tom, but she didn't care so long as it ensured that he obeyed her in the future.

"Well when she gets in those moods, she uses what she knows about to you against you. Like you don't like being alone or not having anything constructive to do, and like Tom doesn't like being alone either and has a definite problem with being confined." B'Elanna stated. She wasn't surprised when instead of disagreeing with her assessment, Seven nodded, confirming her suspicions about Seven's punishments. "That's not something a friend is supposed to do, Seven. They aren't supposed to use what they know against you, and they aren't supposed to do things that could emotionally and mentally harm you, at least not on purpose."

Seven looked troubled, "She cannot always be my friend because she is the Captain."

B'Elanna barked out a short laugh, "You mean she's your friend until you do something to challenge her authority as Captain."

Seven looked openly distressed at this comment. B'Elanna bit back her anger, "I'm sorry Seven, I know she's done a lot for you. If it weren't for her you probably would have been left at some planet to fend for yourself." she admitted, not feeling too proud of it. "I'm still mad at her about Tom….and I'm worried about him." she admitted.

"Lt. Paris is resilient, and Ensign Kim is his friend. Harry Kim will care for him in your absence." Seven tried to reassure her, but B'Elanna could tell that she was not quite as certain as she sounded, and was concerned as well.

Staring at the Borg, B'Elanna found her mind wandering back to those first few months, when Seven seemed to be restricted to the Cargo Bay as much as she had been in the Astrometrics Lab she helped build, or Engineering. Had anyone been there to speak up for the blonde, to even raise the question of what so much solitude would do to someone who wasn't used to being alone?

With some shame she remembered her glee over each of those times, and the last month long confinement when Seven had sent the injured alien over to the Hirogen. It was only after the Hirogen had taken over Voyager and forced them to participate in their Holodeck games that anyone had realized that the Borg had probably prevented Voyager from being destroyed that day, but B'Elanna doubted that anyone had ever admitted as much to the blonde. Even the Captain had been overheard relishing the Borg's subsequent greater willingness to obey orders just before Seven had been given the assignment of working with Kovin. Certainly she herself had enjoyed seeing Seven, not being catered to, or given greater latitude than others.

Belatedly she realized that she had never responded to Seven, "Harry will do his best, he's a good friend to have." Seven nodded and picked up her milk and a cookie and began to delicately nibble on it. B'Elanna went back to considering the events right after Seven had been released from the Cargo Bay.

She had always felt slightly guilty over the fact that she had never clarified with the Captain that she hadn't actually seen the events that lead up to Seven striking the trader and breaking his nose. At the time the Captain had asked, she hadn't really thought about the fact that she had looked over and saw Kovin standing very close to Seven, looked down at her console and listened to them, and looked up in time to see Kovin impact the deck. There had been about fifteen seconds of time, during which Seven struck the trader that she hadn't actually overseen, and later she just hadn't bothered to clear it up with the Captain, not wanting the woman to think she had willfully omitted something.

Now thinking of Seven's obvious rage at the time, and the subsequent things she had overheard, about Seven having a panic attack in Sickbay and suffering flashbacks, B'Elanna wondered if the long confinement had anything to do with Seven's less than stable mental state during that time. And what exactly the trader had done to provoke Seven.

Feeling anxious, and suspecting that she might really not like the answer, she said, "Seven," she paused and couldn't meet the woman's curious eyes as the blonde glanced at her in response. "Remember Kovin?"

Seven frowned and looked uneasy, "Yes, he was killed because of my erroneous accusations." she stated quietly.

B'Elanna frowned, having been unaware that Seven blamed herself for the man's death. "Could you show me how he hit you?" she blurted out.

The optical implant rose at this and Seven stared at her blankly for a moment, "I would not want to damage you Lt…" Seven hesitated, "B'Elanna." she finished.

"Damage me?" B'Elanna asked confused, unaware that Seven had been injured during the episode. To her surprise Seven lifted an arm across her breasts protectively, covering them.

"The manner in which he struck me hurt my breasts, B'Elanna," Seven clarified, she dropped her arm but remained slightly hunched over and looked very unhappy with the conversation.

'What the?' B'Elanna thought, "How exactly did he hit you?" she asked shocked. Hearing the anger in her tone she jerked her head to the side and then breathed a sigh of relief at seeing that the robot had not interpreted it as anger toward Seven.

When she turned back Seven waited until she had her attention, then moved her hand diagonally across her chest, and over the center of both of her breasts. "Only he impacted my body here and here," she clarified indicating a point on the outside of one breast and the inside of the other.

"No wonder you hit him," said B'Elanna. It was the first thing she though, the second and unsaid thought was, 'I helped him get away with it. I helped him get away with striking her like that.' She stared off to the side, trying to come to grips with what she had allowed to happen in her own engine room, and the fact that she had helped Kovin get away with it by not admitting to Janeway that contrary to what she had first stated, she hadn't actually witnessed the entire incident.

"I'm sorry Seven," she whispered feeling worse by the second. "I'm sorry I didn't go to Janeway as soon as I realized that I hadn't seen everything, if I had she would have thrown him off the ship for doing that."

Seven's face revealed her puzzlement, "It was not incorrect of me to strike him?"

B'Elanna opened her mouth then closed it considering the question. "Well…Janeway would probably tell you that you shouldn't have struck him, just stepped away and reported the incident. But I certainly would have knocked his ass to the floor for touching me like that."

Seven stared at her for a long moment, "I am still responsible for his death," she concluded sadly.

"Why do you think that?" B'Elanna asked trying to remember all the details and what the Borg would have had to do with any of that idiot's decisions.

"The accusations I made due to my memory error, they started the chain of events that lead to his death." Seven explained. "Captain Janeway blamed me." she finished sadly.

"Seven," B'Elanna stopped trying to figure out a diplomatic way to say that idea was stupid. "Seven," she began again, "The Doctor made a mistake trying to be a psychologist when he isn't one. You made a mistake believing that your memories of assimilation." B'Elanna paused realizing something, "Memories of a six year old child who probably didn't fully understand what was happening, you thought they were of Kovin hurting you for some reason. Maybe it was the thoron blast, maybe something else, but you thought it was true when you said it right?"

Seven mutely nodded in response.

"Kovin was the one who decided to run, Kovin was the one who decided to fire on Voyager even though we weren't attacking him, and Kovin was the idiot who kept firing when his weapon systems were overloading even when we hadn't ever fired back." B'Elanna's gaze was steadily meeting Seven's trying to convince the other woman of the sincerity of her words. "Seven, he killed himself, no one forced him to make the decisions that he did, no one's responsible for his death besides him." She paused a moment, "And if Janeway told you she blamed you for it then she was wrong for doing that."

Seven's face was a picture of confusion and indecision, haltingly she stated, "She did not tell me that she blamed me, but after Kovin's death she turned and looked at me. My analysis of her facial expression was that she held me responsible for the event."

B'Elanna knew the look Seven was talking about, and could easily see Janeway giving the blonde such a look after Kovin's ship exploded. She sighed, "I don't doubt your right. But I'm sure if you were to ask her today she would tell you that she didn't, and would probably even apologize for causing you to believe that you should."

Seven regarded her, her expression still confused, finally she said, "I will consider what you have said B'Elanna."

Nodding, B'Elanna went back to her milk and another cookie, needing something to occupy her hands while she thought about some of her past actions.

"B'Elanna," Seven's voice caught her attention after a few minutes and she looked up. "I forgive you." Looking into the blue eyes meeting hers, B'Elanna could see nothing but sincerity in them.

Chapter 9 - Stardate 52326.14 (April 30, 2375 2:04am)

A slight pressure against her shoulder woke the half-Klingon from a restless sleep punctuated with memories of the times she had yelled at Seven or enjoyed seeing Seven embarrassed at some social situation. Thus, when she woke she was feeling quite a bit of guilt, and was therefore cranky at the world in general.

Looking over in the dim light she realized with surprise that what had woken her was Seven, or specifically Seven's forehead where it was pressed against her arm. It wasn't surprising that Seven was over on her side of the bed. Seven regenerated for four hours every night on her side, when the cycle ended she remained asleep and drifted over toward the heated side of the bed.

Their very first night of captivity, when it had happened B'Elanna had woken, and had been ready to tell the Borg to move back over when she realized that the blonde was shivering. Puzzled she had lifted herself up and reached over the sleeping woman only to find that the other side of the bed felt definitely cold compared to hers. It hadn't taken her long to realize that her side of the bed was heated, whereas Seven's was either not or was actively being chilled. After considering the situation for a few moments she had just moved over closer to her edge and left Seven alone.

This was the first time, though, that Seven had actually come close enough to touch her. Carefully B'Elanna moved away and rolled over on her side so that she could see Seven's face, not even noticing that her irritation over being woken was gone. The blonde slept with her mouth partially open, showing just the tips of white teeth, and her hands were folded together against her upper chest. In sleep Seven's face showed little of its usual expression. Instead it was completely relaxed, softer and much more innocent looking than when she was awake.

'She looks almost like a child sleeping like that,' B'Elanna thought, 'But she's definitely not.' Seven knew, and had seen, entirely too much to be compared to a child in anything except understanding her emotions and social knowledge. And even there she was improving by leaps and bounds.

"I've been such a P'taq to you," B'Elanna admitted to the sleeping woman in a whisper. Then she smiled wryly, after all it was not like Seven hadn't been perfectly capable of getting some of her own back in their arguments, and definitely had upon occasion.

Softly she sighed, admitting to herself that the Borg was a much more forgiving and generally kind person than she was, if their roles had been reversed she would have made sure that Seven's life was a living hell; trapped in these rooms all the time with nothing to do but cook and clean, she would have blamed the Borg for it all. Of course that was probably the very reason she was being trained to be some type of soldier and Seven was the hostage.

So she got to go outside, learn how to use different weapons and equipment, taught tactics, how to move around without being seen, more medical training than she had ever wanted, and Seven got the pain inducers. All because she would adapt and not hold it against B'Elanna, and the same would not have been true the other way around.

Gently she reached out and stroked the blond hair for a few moments, the only thing she could do was make sure that she tried her damnedest to please their captor or captors so Seven wouldn't be hurt.