Nine Months – Getting to know you 4
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
Warning: Violence disclaimer, general angst warning.
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 10 - Stardate 52394.67 (May 25, 2375 1:21am)
Seven murmured incoherently, and shifted restlessly, in her fevered sleep. Half-asleep, B'Elanna jerked herself awake, from where she sat in the chair beside the bed, and glanced over concerned. She was almost certain that she had properly cleaned and sterilized all of Seven's wounds, before sealing them closed, but the blonde's fever indicated otherwise.
Movement in the door drew her attention, and she stood up so fast that the chair fell backward, as one of the insectoid robots entered. "You will administer these antibiotics and pain killers to your hostage every four hours. Training is suspended until further notice." A slot opened on its front, and B'Elanna forced herself to move closer to it so she could take the hyposprays it was offering. After it withdrew from the bedroom B'Elanna injected Seven with the medicines.
Sitting back down in the chair, she stared at Seven, remembering the events of the day before. The training robot had led her to the room where she usually studied first aid, basic medicine and surgery.
"It is now time for your final surgical test." It had announced. Then Seven had stepped in the room, and before B'Elanna even registered why she was possibly there, her training robot had lashed out. Blood seemed to go everywhere; and somehow she had managed to get across the room before Seven struck the floor, easing the woman down. She had went to knees in shock for a second; then slipping in Seven's own blood, she struggled to her feet, and grabbed the surgical instruments.
Her first action was to sedate Seven who was still barely conscious, her blue eyes seemingly asking B'Elanna why had this had been done to her. Her next was to start sealing up the worst of the damage before Seven bled out. She had struggled to keep her alive for what seemed like forever, but was only about ten minutes, before Seven was stabilized enough for B'Elanna to lift her to the bio bed and finish healing her wounds. Four hours later she permitted herself a long enough break so she could eat one of the ration bars and went back to work, this time making sure Seven's Borg systems had not been compromised, even though they had not been directly damaged.
"No you don't want to eat that one, look its broke Maria." B'Elanna focused on Seven in surprise wondering what in the world she was talking about. "Here, I'll take that one, and you can have mine." Seven continued talking her voice oddly pitched.
Frowning, B'Elanna got up and felt of Seven's forehead, internally cursing the robots, and the fact that they had not permitted her to take a medical scanning instrument with her into their quarters. Seven at least felt cooler than she had before, to B'Elanna's relief, and despite the fact that she had been talking, the Borg showed no signs that she was awake.
"Papa, was pleased with my equations, he even stopped looking at the Borg communication, and explained to me how to use integrals to find the area under a function graph." Seven spoke again.
B'Elanna paused, her hand still on Seven's forehead as she stared down at the blonde finally recognizing the tone. "It must be the painkiller." she theorized aloud. 'She's remembering when she was a child, but who is Maria?' she wondered. Then she realized something else, at six years of age Annika Hansen had been doing mathematical equations that she had done in school at twelve or so.
Throughout the rest of the day, and into the night, Seven would occasionally speak aloud, apparently dreaming about her childhood. B'Elanna didn't want to keep giving her the painkiller, but was pretty sure that whoever or whatever was controlling the robots, would take that as a refusal to follow their directions, and would punish Seven if she did not.
During those hours she learned five things about Seven. One, much of the behavior Seven exhibited, such as her perfectionism, that they had thought was Borg, was definitely not, as she had certainly shown signs of it as a child. Two, the commanding, arrogant tone that she used was not Borg, it was from her mother. That gem had come from a snippet where Seven was giggling to Maria about her father calling her his little Captain, and complaining about her learning it from her mother.
Three, balancing out the perfectionism and arrogance, were the characteristics B'Elanna had come to appreciate; Seven's kindness and consideration, which apparently had always been part of her character. Four, which she had already partially figured out, was that Seven had been mathematically gifted, and showed an unusual understand of physical theory for a six year old. And lastly, five, Maria was a stuffed bear that Seven talked to as a child.
Now at 2 pm, and the last of the medicine given four hours ago B'Elanna was hoping that Seven would at last fully wake up, though she had grown rather fond of the glimpses of a young Annika Hansen that she had overheard for the past 12 hours. Seven's eyes flickered and B'Elanna got up from her chair and leaned over her, smoothing some errant hairs out of her face.
"B'Elanna," Seven said huskily.
"Welcome back," B'Elanna smiled somewhat shakily in relief.
Seven still seemed somewhat confused, her eyes roaming around the room and a frown on her face, finally she looked back to the half-Klingon, "I am thirsty." she announced and struggled to get up.
"No you don't," ordered B'Elanna as she placed a hand on either shoulder to stop the blonde. "I'll get it for you, you shouldn't get up yet." She continued in a softer voice as Seven stared up at her wide eyed. Releasing the woman, B'Elanna turned to go out of the room, turning back she requested sternly, "You promise you won't try and get up while I'm getting your drink?" The brief grumpy pout that greeted this only caused her to grin.
"I will not B'Elanna," Seven promised, then sighed.
Shaking her head, and slightly worried that Seven still seemed to not be entirely her normal self, B'Elanna filled a glass with water, grabbed a straw she had noticed earlier in the day and returned to the bedroom. She set the glass on the small table beside the bed, and turned to Seven, "Ok let me help you into a sitting position," she inserted an arm behind the blonde's shoulders, and helped her sit up, noting with concern the wince of pain on Seven's face as she did so. "Are you ok?"
Seven nodded, "I seem to be…stiff." she explained.
B'Elanna handed her the glass and watched while she drank, when Seven sat the glass down on the table she was about to ask her how she was feeling when one of the robots appeared in the doorway. A distressed noise from Seven caused her to glance back toward her, and instinctively she released her, stood up, and stepped between the injured woman and the machine in response to the frightened look on Seven's face.
"You will provide an update on your hostage's condition and return the scanning device." It stated shortly, ignoring, or not caring, where she was standing. With a feeling of relief, she retrieved the medical scanner, and turned back to Seven. Seeing the expression on the blonde woman's face, and her tenseness, B'Elanna stepped closer and rested what she hoped would be a reassuring hand on Seven's shoulder. After a few seconds of contact, Seven's fearful gaze finally left the robot still standing in the door, and switched to her.
With one final squeeze to the shoulder underneath her hand, B'Elanna started her scan, studying the results she turned back to the machine. "She is recovering satisfactorily, with no sign of infection. She should not move around much for another twelve hours, and should regenerate sometime within the next six. After twelve hours she should limit her activities for another two days, after that she should be able to resume normal activities."
"Conservative, but not outside the parameters of this training exercise," was its pronouncement.
B'Elanna stiffened at the evaluation, but the robot did not take any other action, so she returned the scanning device, and watched from the bedroom doorway it until it left their quarters. Both Seven and she knew better than to comment on where the robot was, but B'Elanna gave her a reassuring look as she returned to the side of the bed, and from the blonde's immediate relaxation knew that she had been understood.
"I wish to take a bath," Seven asked her looking rather unhappy.
B'Elanna was not particularly surprised; she knew Seven had to be feeling rather grungy by now. "Ok," she agreed, "but you're going to let me help you and we're going to take it very easy."
"Yes, B'Elanna," Seven agreed easily, looking brighter and more cheerful just at the idea.
B'Elanna noticed that Seven seemed quiet as she helped her bathe, but it wasn't until she helped her back into the bed and began combing her long hair that she noticed that she was becoming distressed. "Seven, what's wrong? Do you hurt somewhere?"
"I am functioning adequately, B'Elanna," she answered in a strained voice. B'Elanna waited silently, suspecting that the blonde had more she wanted to say, and was shortly rewarded. "I seem to have had particularly vivid dreams while I was sleeping."
"Ah," things began to make sense, "I think it was probably the painkillers that I was supplied. Shortly after I gave them to you, you began talking."
Seven looked startled at this information, "I was remembering events from when I was aboard my parent's ship, the Raven."
B'Elanna nodded, "You talked a lot to your stuffed bear, Maria." she said with a gentle smile.
"Yes," Seven looked far away, "While my Papa and Mama were working."
Seven looked so vulnerable and lost at that moment, that B'Elanna felt a rush of protectiveness come over her. Over the course of the day she felt like she had gotten to know who Seven was for yet a third time.
Her first idea of who Seven was, the one she held onto so tightly aboard Voyager, had been so wildly inaccurate that she was now ashamed of how hard headedly determined she had been to hold onto it. Since they had been captives together, she had come to realize that Seven was actually someone she liked, and had become friends with. Today though, she had gotten to know the brilliant, arrogant, perfectionistic, kind, compassionate child Annika Hansen, a child that was very much like the adult Seven of Nine.
Noting that Seven's signs of distress were increasing she started stroking her hair, trying to be soothing. "What's wrong Seven?" she inquired worriedly.
She was concerned to see tear's well in Seven's eyes, "My father…" Seven took in a shuddering breath, "My father would hold me in his lap and touch my hair like you are," the breath was definitely more a sob now. "He called me his Muffin, and told me he loved me."
Without thinking much about what she was doing, B'Elanna wrapped her arms around Seven and gently hugged her. "I guess you haven't remembered much about your parents until now?" she inquired quietly.
A head shaking against her chest and a whispered, "No," was all the answer she received.
"What are you feeling Seven, what are you thinking about?" B'Elanna asked, not wanting to tell Seven what she thought the woman was feeling, just incase she was wrong.
Seven was silent except for deep shuddering breaths, finally, "What you are doing now, the way you are holding me, the way it makes me feel, is like what I felt when my father held me. This emotion causes me to wish that he were here, but if he is still alive then he is likely a drone." Seven paused for a moment, "When I think of that, then I feel anger toward him and my mother for seeking out the Borg, and our subsequent assimilation. My emotions are conflicting, but the strongest is a feeling like what I felt when One died, the Doctor informed me that this emotion is known as grief."
The last statement surprised B'Elanna for a moment, until she thought about it. Janeway had given Seven the responsibility of training and essentially raising One, it shouldn't be surprising that she would have grieved over his death.
Uneasily she remembered the abbreviated funeral held for the young Borg, it had been attended by only by Seven, Janeway, the Doctor, Neelix and herself, even though One had died saving all of them. She recalled Seven standing motionless, and to her eyes completely unemotional, staring fixedly at the bulkhead as the service was read. Then she hadn't known what to think, except that Seven was acting very oddly. Now she suspected Seven, at that time, had no idea how to deal with the emotions One's death brought up, and that had been her way of trying to control them.
"You were essentially the person who raised him, its not surprising that you experienced grief when he died." B'Elanna murmured.
"He was my son," the reply was muffled against her chest.
B'Elanna looked down at the blonde head against her chest in puzzlement, "Your son? Because of your nanoprobes?" she asked floundering.
"One was not a clone of Ensign Mulchaey, he was a combination of mine and his genetic material, combined by my nanoprobes." explained Seven.
B'Elanna closed her eyes, and hugged Seven even tighter against her. "Oh, Seven," she said simply with sympathy. B'Elanna didn't know what to think; once again she was feeling what was becoming an all too familiar emotion around Seven, guilt, with a liberal amount of shame. At least she could be proud of the fact that not only had she attended, but during the funeral she had felt a spark of anger over only four people showing up for it. She had gone because she had become rather fond of One, his naivety and engaging eagerness, and out of honor for his self-sacrifice.
"I am experiencing grief over their loss, I am also experiencing anger, it is confusing." Seven switched back to B'Elanna's original question with a plaintive note to her voice.
"Yes, it is," B'Elanna agreed, thinking soberly about her own emotions about her parents.
Seven remained silent, rested face buried against B'Elanna's chest just below the hollow of her throat. The blonde held onto B'Elanna's shirt front, and every so often the half-Klingon could feel them tighten and then loosen. She couldn't tell if Seven was crying or not, she could only hear deep ragged breathing, as the woman struggled with the emotions she was feeling, and the only thing she could figure to do to help, was to keep holding her.
The silence had gone on for so long that Seven's voice startled her, "She is gone." the tone held only sadness.
"Who?" B'Elanna wondered if Seven was talking about her mother.
"Annika Hansen, she is gone. I cannot be her." resignation was added to the already sad tone.
"Seven," B'Elanna paused to order her thoughts, feeling keenly that this was something important that Seven needed to know. "I met to Annika Hansen today, she can be arrogant like her mother, likes things to be perfect, whether it's a cookie or the equation she working on, but she's also very giving and compassionate." She looked down and was silent until Seven finally glanced up and met her gaze. "And she's still here."
Seven pulled back and B'Elanna could tell she was getting ready to argue with her, "We were wrong, Seven." Seven's mouth snapped shut and she looked puzzled, "We been telling you that you act like a Borg, but we were wrong. Yes, being a Borg exaggerated your tendency toward perfectionism and probably your habit of being arrogant. But they didn't make you that way; you came to them that way. Annika Hansen isn't gone, you've been becoming more her…more yourself every day, we just didn't see it."