Disclaimer: I am not making any money of this fic, nor do I own Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation or the original series, or anything else I make references to. If you saw the character on any show, then it is not mine. The same goes for ships, planets, cultures, et cetera. This story will depict a loving relationship between two women and there are no apologies to be made over this Chapter 11 title is from the musical/Motion Picture "Grease."
Genre: Action-Adventure, Drama
Codes: K/7, T/7
Feedback: Please, reviews are the food of the muse… but flames are for candles!
Home, Chapter 11
Tell me more...
Past...
"Tell me how well you know Jessica." Janeway said to B'Elanna as they sat down to eat in the Dracco's cafeteria-style Mess Hall. B'Elanna looked up from the sandwich she had just taken a huge bite from and chewed quickly, trying to free her mouth before answering her captain. She swallowed, still managing to savor the real food in her hurried mastication.
"I know what Chakotay says, but I assure you that you can trust her." B'Elanna attacked her sandwich again, delighted to have something that had a real flavor to it. Tom Paris and Harry sat down with the two women, Harry next to B'Elanna, Tom sitting across the table, between Janeway and Harry.
"Of course you can trust Jessica, Captain." Harry said, sprinkling salt over the green concoction on his plate. Tom eyed Harry's plate warily while cutting up the course he had chosen, involving some kind of fowl.
"How can you eat that?" Tom asked and Harry ignored him, taking a bite. He chewed it slowly for effect and smiled at Tom, letting him know that it was enjoyable. Tom made a face. Janeway nearly laughed, missing the easy jokes that she had shared with fellow crewmates when she was lower in rank and just enjoyed the company for once. When they returned to Voyager, she would have to return to eating alone.
"That's not what I meant," Janeway said. "I mean... what is her story?"
"Ask her," Harry and B'Elanna said in unison.
"I did, but she was too busy. She just gave me enough answers to fuel even more questions." Harry smiled.
"That's Jess for you. She doesn't really like talking about herself, but she'll do it if she wants something."
"Like what?" Janeway asked, immediately suspicious.
"Friendship," B'Elanna answered between sips of her thick drink. "Or information. Sometimes she just likes to get a reaction out of people. To shock people when she's bored or trying to shake things up." Kathryn felt herself relax.
"So, what is her story? How did she get to Earth? Much less the twentieth century?" Harry looked from Janeway to B'Elanna.
"If you're going to tell her, please warn me so I can eat elsewhere."
"What's wrong, Starfleet? Weak stomach?" B'Elanna challenged. Harry shook his head.
"Weak heart." With that, he stood and carried his meal to an unoccupied table. Tom watched Harry leave and looked trapped. He started to follow Kim, then looked back at B'Elanna, obviously wanting to hear the story. Finally, his sense of friendship won and he took his tray to Harry's table, letting his curiosity suffer.
"It's a long story, Captain. Are you sure you want to hear it?" B'Elanna asked, chewing up the last of her sandwich. Kathryn nodded.
"Please." B'Elanna took a drink and indicated that Janeway should give her a moment to finish her meal. Kathryn looked at her food, barely touched and began eating herself. When B'Elanna finished the big meal she had collected, she looked at Janeway and took a deep breath.
"Jessica already told you that she was born at the end of a war. Well, Jessica was born to be Queen, in her mother's place. She was raised in the first week of her life with countless languages being shoved into her head, policies, laws, behaviors... All jammed into her brain by telepathic teachers. She was determined to be the best Queen she could, the best the Shashan Empire had ever seen.
"Nothing ever works out the way we want as kids. Her cousin, Morina, was a member of a House that was a direct offshoot of Jessica's. You see, like Klingons, families are divided into Houses, with varying degrees of power. The difference is that Shashans have varying degrees of mental power, and this is how their Houses are divided. There are Five Houses with the most power in Shasha, which is the name for the cluster in which Shashans reside. Seven stars, fifty-seven planets, only about nineteen of them inhabited.
"Anyway, Jessica is a member of the First House and the Second. Before she was born, the five main houses had never intermarried, never bred together, for fear of the power it might create. But Elizabeth, Jessica's mother, was married to JonnAyt'n Wrou, the first son of the Second House.
"Morina was a member of a 'bastard House' as hers is called. It's a House that once belonged to power, but married Houses so low in the power structure, that their power dwindled and their identity as a member of the House was lost. Shashans can be linked to their House through the color of their scales." B'Elanna finished off her drink and continued.
"Jessica's are white, with a rainbow sheen. Only the Five Houses have that sheen, which is what identifies them as the most powerful. One of their belief systems maintains that the sheen is due to the fact that as their powers grow, they are beginning to lose their corporeal nature.
"JonnAyt'n's color was blue. Each House is also identified by an animal. Morina's was a broken unicorn, because she was descended from the First House, whose animal is the Unicorn. The Second is the Dragon, the third is red and represented by the Phoenix, the Fourth is yellow and the Lion and the Fifth House is black as pitch, identified as the Winged Horse."
"This is a very interesting cultural lesson, but how is this Jessica' story?" Janeway interrupted. B'Elanna shrugged.
"Just thought it would make some more sense if I threw that in."
"All right. But I'm curious about Morina," Kathryn prodded. B'Elanna nodded.
"Morina was jealous of Elizabeth. You see, if Elizabeth hadn't returned to Shaola when she was younger, Morina's mother would have been given the throne. Then Morina would have taken over when her mother died. She was fifteen when Elizabeth got pregnant. Morina had been waiting for Elizabeth to die, because she wasn't supposed to be able to bear children and when she died, Morina would become queen.
"When Elizabeth became pregnant, seemingly by a miracle, Morina started plotting against her life. She was going to use the war as a cover for her assassination. But the Enterprise-D showed up on the day that she was going to kill her, ruining her plans, since Elizabeth wasn't alone from that moment on. Dr. Crusher delivered Jessica and her sisters that day—"
"You mean they're triplets?" B'Elanna shook her head and smiled.
"Sextuplets. Identical in everything but power and personality. Jessica holds the most power by more than twice as much as any of her sisters. Multiple births aren't uncommon amongst the Shashans, though identical siblings are. Morina knew that there was no way she could subtly kill all seven of them, so she decided that killing Elizabeth and Jessica would be enough, since Jessica was the only one that couldn't be manipulated.
"Jessica was too much like her real father, never taking anything at face value, always looking for the truth, exploring and fighting. That's how she knew that JonnAyt'n wasn't her real father." There was a collective gasp and B'Elanna looked around. Every Shashan in the room was gathered around the small table, listening to the story. "Shit," B'Elanna said.
"I take it that was a secret?" Janeway asked. B'Elanna nodded and glared around her.
"And as Jessica's zhanal, I've already informed her of who is present right now. So if any of what I just said leaves this room..." Every head bobbed up and down, promising to keep the secret. B'Elanna sighed.
"So who is her real father?" Janeway asked.
"He was a Starfleet officer. Presumed dead seventy-eight years ago. That's not quite the truth, apparently, but I'm not sure what exactly is."
"Does he have a name?" Kathryn asked, wondering if she had heard of him.
"I... don't want to say. He was Elizabeth's first husband, on Earth. Jessica has his hair color and devil-may-care attitude. That's all I'm going to tell you. As I was saying, Morina planned to kill Jessica and Elizabeth. So she struck a deal with the Vorchen." Kathryn knew that that was a bad thing without being told.
"You mean with Kanir?" B'Elanna nodded.
"Although Jessica didn't know who was in charge until that battle earlier. They killed her mother and tried to kill her. One of them, a humanoid named Jaytor, stuck a dagger through her chest. Jessica said that she laughed, because it didn't seem real. Because she knew somehow that she wasn't going to die. And she didn't. Her mother did.
"Jessica watched her die while the Vorchen ran off, believing that they had killed her. Morina found her, howling over her dead mother's body and picked up on her thoughts, using them against her. Jessica believed that she had failed her mother; let her die. Morina just used that to drive her away. Jessica ran away, to her sisters and convinced them to leave Shasha with her. To go to the Enterprise.
"So they attempted to space-shift, as they call it, for the first time. The problem was that the wormhole that had brought the Enterprise to Shaola was beginning to collapse, causing fluctuations in time/space. Since space-shifting means that they are traveling through that continuum, their path was altered and they were separated. Three went to Earth, three went to a planet called Ebtor, a place not unlike Turkana IV, same time period."
Kathryn shuddered at the name Turkana IV. A failed Federation colony from early in the century, run by gangs of murderers and rapists. She had done a report on that planet in her sociology class at the Academy. They had lost contact with Turkana IV in 2352, knowing only that the inhabitants had gone underground. She couldn't imagine growing up on such a planet.
"Jessica was one of the three to go to Earth."
"What were her sisters names?" Kathryn asked. B'Elanna laughed.
"Elizabeth had only one name picked out when she discovered she was pregnant. She liked names that started with a 'J' and wanted to see how similarly she could name them."
"You're kidding. Six kids, all named alike?"
"Jessica, Jessamyn, Jennifer, Jessie, Jennah and Jennette." Kathryn shook her head.
"I never understood why parents do that." B'Elanna shrugged.
"Anyway, Jessica, Jennifer and Jennah all went to Earth. Jessamyn, the second most powerful of the sisters, and the other two went to Ebtor. The trip erased their memories of everything but their names. Jessica unconsciously planted them in the mind of the woman who found her and her sisters. It was the last time she had access to her telepathic abilities, since she chose to repress them, to fit into the society better.
"She lost everything about her that was Shashan, became completely human. Until she was five. Then her first zhanal, Tasha Yarr's death hit her, distorted through time/space. Jessica almost went insane, but instead, her latent abilities resurfaced just enough to allow her to join minds with Janet, who kept her secret both from love of a sister and because, if it weren't for Jessica, she would have been a human vegetable.
"She had a neurological disorder that caused both mental retardation and a slow breakdown of her organs. She wasn't supposed to live to see her twelfth birthday. Jessica didn't save her life, but she saved her mind, forcing her to learn, to push herself until she seemed as normal as any other child.
"Other than that, Jessica grew up fine. She tested out of primary school and secondary school by the time she was seven. She went to a secondary school for students twelve to eighteen, or seventh through twelfth grade. That's where she met a boy that her adoptive father didn't approve of. He was five years older than she—twelve to her seven.
"Shashan children come into their sexuality between the ages of ten and thirteen. But before their first sajala, they experience a less severe form of it. If Jessica had been on Shaola, she would have been supervised during this time, which would have also been anticipated.
"The boy's name was Johnny. Pretty common, which is what Jessica's adoptive father thought of the boy himself. He came from a poor family that had lived in downtown Kansas City before moving to St. Louis, which was where they were living. Jessica and the boy had sex. Her father found out and disowned her. He was planning to send her packing to April, the woman who originally found and adopted her.
"Johnny hung out in a gang a lot, so he spent quite a bit of time on the streets, as did Jessica. The night that she came to tell him what her father had said, that he told her she either left Johnny and moved to live with April, or she could live on the streets, they were walking in a bad part of town. She just told him that she couldn't see him anymore, didn't explain why.
"He ran off. She chased him to an old bridge, which collapsed underneath him. She managed to grab his hand at the last second, but she wasn't strong enough to hold him up. What made matters worse, was that there was a train passing underneath them. Jessica told me that she watched the train going by, thinking that if she could hold him up until it passed, he could survive the fall. She couldn't hold him up long enough and he hit the last car of the train.
"She ran down to see if he was still alive and he was. But he had been crushed beyond repair by the train and he died in her arms. She never went home. She stayed on the streets, trying to erase the memories of what had happened to her. She used drugs and joined a gang that promised more drugs and protection. But only for boys, so she became a boy.
"Using the drugs, she began remembering who she was, where she came from and she became obsessed with trying to use her powers once again. But she didn't know how. Sometimes, after she dropped acid, she would be able to change her form, but she was never sure if it was her or the drugs. She began accumulating blank spots in her memory, waking up in places she had never been before. At some point, she made it to New York, but nothing was better there.
"Her gang found out at some point that she was a girl and—"
"I know what happened there," Janeway said, not wanting to hear it again. B'Elanna nodded her understanding.
"Well, once she was in New York, she had to support her drug habit. So, since she was already breaking the law, she decided to break it some more. There were... ways to earn money. People with... sick tastes—"
"Please tell me that you're not talking about what I think you are."
"Some men prefer young—"
"I asked you not to tell me." B'Elanna smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"One night, she visited her adoptive mother and found out that Patrick, her father, had died. Well, actually, her sisters found her, almost dead in the streets and dragged her back to April's apartment. Jessica had been in hospitals repeatedly, she was malnourished, had been beaten, stabbed, raped, shot, and all but murdered. Not an inch of her wasn't bruised. April told her about Patrick and Jessica went back to the streets, depressed that she hadn't had a chance to apologize.
"Eventually, she went back to St. Louis, where she bumped into her baby brother, Mikey. She was on drugs, beaten badly from a rough client and he just looked at her. He didn't say anything; he just started crying. He had always looked up to her, been cared for by her and she loved him like he was her real brother.
"She never touched drugs after that night. She cleaned herself up, began trying to recreate the accident that had brought her to Earth. When she was nine, she enlisted her sisters' help, reminding them of themselves. Their first attempt failed. They kept trying until one day they succeeded in leaving Earth. They didn't know that Jessamyn had been trying a similar experiment on Ebtor.
"Jessica, her sisters and Janet, who was hoping for a cure in the twenty-fourth century, appeared on Ebtor. They were captured by the local authority and separated again. Janet was the only one who didn't end up back on the streets, but was adopted by a semi-normal family. The seven girls reunited once again and tried to space-shift, remembering the wormhole that had originally brought them to the Alpha Quadrant.
"They found a wormhole and a nearby space station. Called Terok Nor. It was 2368. Jessica was the only member of the group to materialize on the station. The other six ended up on a Federation starship flying near the Bajoran Sector."
"2368?" Janeway asked, understanding the significance of the year. "That's the year the Bajorans began a full scale resistance to the Cardassian Occupation. By the next year, the Bajorans had claimed that station... Was Jessica involved?"
"Only superficially. You know how spiritual Bajorans are, right? Well, Jessica had no great love of Cardassians and she began sabotaging the station, little things that were really only noticed by the slaves working there, as it made their jobs easier. They saw her as a sign from the Prophets, and began their revolt in earnest.
"Jessica space-shifted to where she sensed her sisters and found herself in the middle of a battle with the Romulans. The battle was won, but the entire Starfleet crew died of a biological weapon that the Romulans transported aboard. Jessica and her sisters called on the memories of their joinings, called on the memories of their zhanali. Except Jessica, who merely organized them, having lost her zhanal years earlier.
"They piloted the ship towards the first Federation ship they could find. It was the Enterprise. The ship's systems were failing, the girls were dying, except for Janet, who had been in a surgical bubble from the moment they arrived on the ship, because of her condition. She was unaffected by the weapon, that only minimally affected the Wrou sisters.
"They reached the Enterprise, transported Janet over to them and stayed with the ship, transferring critical data over to the Enterprise Computers. Captain Picard ordered them to transport over to the Enterprise, but they raised shields and set the self-destruct, using the codes Jessica had hacked out of the main computer."
"Why didn't they transport over?" Janeway asked. "Why did they—"
"The weapon," B'Elanna answered. "They were carrying the virus that had killed the ship's crew. Anyway, the ship blew up and Jessica and her sisters combined every power in their bodies to make themselves pure energy. They then impregnated a member of the Enterprise's crew, super-gestating her. One hour for every month of normal development."
"Who?" Kathryn demanded, getting into the story.
"Um, I think her name was Deanna Troi. Anyway, their bodies reconstructed themselves, growing in bursts that ended with them in the forms they had had before they 'died.' Down to scar tissue."
"Wow," Janeway said, sitting back. Then the math hit her. "Wait a minute—the Enterprise-D was launched in 2363. If they returned in 2368, that—"
"Yeah. They were five years early. They were born on their exact birth anniversary, ten years developed, but five years from the year they were born." Kathryn shook her head.
"Unbelievable."
"Yeah," B'Elanna agreed. Every Shashan in the room was still staring at her and a larger crowd had gathered. Some children sat in the front of the group and B'Elanna growled at them. "What are you all looking at?" The Shashans scampered away, some laughing, others chattering away. One little boy walked boldly up to them and smiled.
"You tell the story of our Queen." He continued smiling and B'Elanna smiled back, nodding. "Are you her friend?"
"I'm both her friend and her cousin from the Klingon Empire," B'Elanna said and the boy's eyes grew huge and glowed yellow.
"May I touch you?" the boy asked. B'Elanna leaned down and kissed his cheek. He brought his hand to it and walked away, his eyes wide and dazed. Kathryn laughed.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Janeway said. B'Elanna turned to her. "How are you related?"
"Her Callayna is half Klingon, half Shashan."
"What does that term mean?"
"Genetic-Father is the exact translation. Her mother's husband, JonnAyt'n, is her Callayna. His genes were mixed with hers while she was still forming, so that she would be indistinguishable from his own child, and so that no one on Shasha knew that their First Princess was a bastard. It's what gave her the second mark on her throat."
"What?"
"Oh, sorry. When she's in full Shashan form, you can see her spots—"
"I remember those. You mean one of the big ones, just above her shoulders?"
"Yeah. But the thing is, Shashans only have one large mark. It's in the rough shape of the animal that that House is represented by, and why that animal is chosen. Jessica has two. A Unicorn and a Dragon, both perfectly formed. It's a genetic aberration.
"Usually, a female will take the mark of her mother's House, a male, his father's. Weak females have on occasion taken their father's or strong males, their mother's. But never has anyone taken two marks. Even Jessica's sisters only have the Unicorn. That's the only way to distinguish them physically."
"So she has the genetics of her mother, father and her mother's husband."
"And her godparents." Kathryn's eyebrows raised at this. "Her mother hadn't chosen one when the Enterprise-D showed up. The babies screamed psychically, who they wanted to be their godparents. By Shashan tradition, a bit of each of the godparents' genetic material is thrown into the mix just before birth. Not enough to alter their genetics, just enough to imprint them."
"So who were the godparents?" Janeway asked.
"Commander William Riker and Lieutenant-Commander Deanna Troi. Something about them being destined for each other, Jessica told me. Some word that I can't remember, in Betazoid."
"Hello, Captain," a soft, baritone voice interrupted. Kathryn looked up at Luii and smiled, then stood.
"Captain," she acknowledged. B'Elanna stood as well and grabbed her dishes.
"Your First Officer is requesting that you check in with him. After you do, I thought you might like to visit Jessica." Janeway nodded. Luii smiled. "There is a console that you can access right over there. I'll wait in the hall for you."
"Thank you," Kathryn said and Luii smiled. A female crewmember suddenly jumped in his way as he turned to leave and he looked at her. She pressed her hand against his chest and smiled, her eyes violet. He took her by the shoulders and looked into those eyes. She melted against him and he tossed her away. She looked confused as she sat on the floor and hissed at him. He just turned and left. Janeway looked at the woman as she stood. Her scales were almost golden in color, and her hair was blood red.
She caught Kathryn staring at her and she stood and sighed.
"It's such a waste," she said.
"What is?" B'Elanna asked. She looked at B'Elanna.
"The captain. He's sixteen and still unmated. He doesn't take lovers, doesn't even court. I'd like to kill that bitch Morina for ruining him for the rest of us."
"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked. The woman turned to Kathryn.
"Don't you know? He was one of the queen's personal concubines. The king was as well, but he at least mated our Queen. Luii can't seem to get over it. Some say that it's because he was the one who actually got the bitch pregnant, some say he's in love."
"With who?" B'Elanna asked. The woman smiled, her eyes laughing.
"Jessica, of course. She rescued the concubines, freed them and saved his life, since they all wanted to kill him for helping Morina breed. Morina was going to make him her King until he tried to murder her in her sleep. Then she told all the other boys that he was the one that fathered the brat that kept her in power. He was only twelve at the time and that bitch was twenty. She only liked the younger boys. But Jessica's House and his are in a constant state of dispute. She ignored that dispute and befriended him, almost forcing them to disown him."
"So if he pursued Jessica..." B'Elanna began and the woman shook her head.
"His family doesn't care about him any more. Not since his mother died. His father always hated him. I suppose it's because he never had any girls, just Luii."
Janeway walked to the comm, leaving B'Elanna to talk with the woman. She had noticed that her Chief Engineer had a taste for gossip and knew that the conversation wouldn't be over quickly. So she went to report to Chakotay that she was all right, amused by the contradiction of reporting to a lower ranked officer.
Present...
"Did you... have sex?" B'Elanna asked Seven later that morning as she ran the sonic shaver over her legs. Seven was watching in fascination.
"No. Why would you think that?" Seven responded.
"Because you weren't at home all night. I wanted to talk to you, so I asked the computer to inform me when you returned to your quarters. The computer never contacted me, so I know that you never got in."
"I fell asleep." Seven said, trying to ignore the throbbing that had set in behind her eyes.
"Why?" B'Elanna asked. When Seven didn't answer, she looked up and noticed that Seven was watching her shave with an intent look on her face. "What?"
"I did not say anything."
"Yeah, but why are you watching me?"
"Does it make you uncomfortable?"
"No, I just want to know why you're doing it." B'Elanna said, getting a little frustrated with Seven's evasiveness.
"Because I have never observed this activity before."
"You don't shave?"
"I have no need. The doctor saw no reason to inconvenience me by stimulating hair growth that I would later need to remove." A thought passed through B'Elanna's mind and she blushed, but decided to try to find out anyway.
"So he only gave you hair on your head?"
"No." Seven sat on B'Elanna's bed as a wave of dizziness passed over her and waited for it to pass. "I also have hair on my pubic mound. The doctor said that I may choose to shave that later, but if I desired it, then it would be there. I have found no need to remove it as it does appear to be aesthetically pleasing." B'Elanna nodded absently, trying not to picture that 'aesthetically pleasing' hair. Before she knew what she was saying, a compliment spilled out of her mouth.
"Everything about you is aesthetically pleasing," she murmured. Seven blushed briefly.
"Thank you." B'Elanna's head shot up, having forgotten that Seven had superior hearing. She smiled and switched off the shaver. "You know, I had a friend that didn't have to shave. She was the only female from a mammalian species that I was ever friends with that didn't shave, as a matter of fact. Her race just doesn't grow hair anywhere else on their bodies."
"What was her name?" Seven asked, knowing that this was one of many appropriate responses to such a question. Also, species could often be derived from their designations.
"Jessica."
"Were you at the Academy or in the Maquis together?"
"Maquis. I thought..." B'Elanna's expression darkened a little and Seven surmised that Jessica had been a spy. Suddenly, B'Elanna shook her head slightly and laughed. "My god, I haven't thought about Jessica since... It's been a while." Her eyes grew distant. "I wonder if she is still alive." Seven stood and walked into the small bathroom.
"Do you wish her to be alive?" Seven asked, handing B'Elanna the towel she was groping blindly for after splashing water on her face. Seven returned to the bed, her head beginning to pound in earnest.
"Yes!" B'Elanna said, putting the towel back after using it. "She was my best friend. I mean, I was mad at her for a while for turning out to be a spy, but she never betrayed us. She nearly sacrificed her life to prevent our capture." A look passed over B'Elanna's face and a question formed in Seven's mind.
"Were you in love with her?" B'Elanna looked at Seven and opened her mouth to say no.
"Not in love. But I did love her. She was related to me—not by much, but still..." B'Elanna noticed that Seven was looking at her strangely and she tried to explain. "You see, there was something about Jessica. Something that didn't let you not feel. Indifference was anathema to her. And as alien as settling down. You either loved her or you hated her. There was no middle ground; she wouldn't allow it. It was all intensity. She was there, and then she was gone. But in that time, she was in your heart, one way or another."
"Certainly there were those whose emotions did not range in the extreme for her," Seven said. B'Elanna smiled and looked down, leaning against the doorway, arms crossed over her chest.
"If you didn't like her, she'd make you hate her. If you liked her, she'd make you love her. And I did. I loved her. Sister, cousin, mother, friend, lover, whatever, I loved her. She was passion; she was fire. And she was never forever. When she left, she broke your heart." B'Elanna looked up. "But there was always a promise of tomorrow. 'Tomorrow I'll be back,' her eyes said."
"But she never came back?" Seven watched the emotions playing across B'Elanna's face. B'Elanna shook her head and a tear trailed down her face. Seven stood immediately and went to brush it away, meeting B'Elanna's hand in the process. For a moment, they locked eyes and Seven allowed her hand to rest on B'Elanna's cheek, the half-Klingon's gently touching her own.
Then Seven's head exploded in pain. Her hand went to her temple as she fell to the ground. B'Elanna tried to ask what was wrong, but Seven covered her mouth. Then, eyes wide, Seven's hand switched from B'Elanna's mouth, to her own. B'Elanna recognized the universal sign and moved Seven to the toilet, holding her hair back as she retched. B'Elanna wrinkled her nose at the smell, but didn't move her hand away from Seven's forehead, where it was being ground into the toilet lid.
"Seven, what the hell have you been drinking?" After Seven was finished heaving, she leaned back against B'Elanna's compact body, feeling everything shifting dizzily around.
"I do not recall what Ensign Kim called it."
"Harry got you drunk? That PetaQ!" B'Elanna was about to lay threats on his life when Seven shook her head violently.
"No. He ordered my drink without synthehol, but the replicator malfunctioned, apparently. He moved me to his bed when I passed out and slept on his couch." B'Elanna immediately took back every bad thing she had thought about Harry and transferred the insults to his replicator, which she intended to fix as soon as she could. After checking his replicator log to confirm what Seven had just told her.
"You should probably go to Sickbay, maybe the doctor can give you something. The last thing we need with this mysterious alien species that is blowing up this part of the Delta Quadrant is an Astrometrics officer with a hangover. Icheb can do your job until you're able to. I have to finish getting dressed and go to Engineering soon."
"I shall see the doctor," Seven agreed, hoping that he really could help. Her 'hangover' was one of the most uncomfortable conditions she had experienced since coming on board Voyager. It was an experience that she almost wished she hadn't allowed and intended never to endure again.
As she walked to Sickbay, she recalled the look on B'Elanna's face when she had attempted to remove the tear and wondered if she had made a mistake. She debated the issue and determined that she had misinterpreted the signs. Most likely, B'Elanna was not in love with her, but perhaps she did love her, as she loved Jessica. Then Seven began doubting her own feelings, wondering how one distinguished love from being in love and by the time she reached Sickbay, she was so confused that she almost forgot why she was there.
To be continued…