"That's okay, I bought two." (Doctor, Seven & Icheb)

Author's Note: This story takes place after "Endgame".

/

"Acceptable," said Seven.

"What my esteemed colleague means to say," added the Doctor with a sideways smile, "Is that you've done excellent work, and we are truly grateful."

The work in question was a Borg regeneration alcove, which a team of engineers (watched by an armed security detail, which Seven found unnecessary, but did not protest) had just finished installing in Icheb's dormitory room at Starfleet Academy. The machine's power coils glowed green above the young man's head. It and he looked very alien in the small, bright room with its ivory walls, gleaming furniture, and crisp white sheets on the bed, but Icheb smiled as he stepped down, as if it was everything he could ask for. The Doctor scanned him with his medical tricorder and nodded, satisfied with the results of the test run.

"You are welcome," said the Saurian lieutenant who was leading the team. He spoke through a vocoder without much emotional range, but the way he held out his scaly hands was unmistakably kind. "We do our best to accommodate every student. If any adjustments are needed, Cadet, only call us."

Icheb nodded and shook hands with him. The team filed out, the security officers last of all. One of them cast a glare over his shoulder at the alcove, but one glance from Seven was enough to send him out the door.

"Well, that's taken care of." The Doctor put away his tricorder and dusted off his hands. "Computer, time?"

"Seventeen hundred hours and forty-two minutes."

"Still some time before the welcome ceremony, then. How about we explore the campus a little?"

"Agreed," Seven and Icheb said in unison.

/

Orientation was a much more festive occasion than Seven had expected; Starfleet Academy was showing its most extroverted side. Even the weather was unusually warm for September, making her grateful she wore a light blouse and slacks instead of her biosuit. The sky was an astonishing shade of blue. After spending most of her life on ships (or cubes), she was still not used to being outdoors.

A lively game of Velocity was taking place on the outdoor athletic court. Student societies had set up booths to introduce themselves and recruit new members. She walked past a bat'leth fencing demonstration, a historians' club with people dressed in togas, kimonos and Vulcan robes, and a wilderness survival club where a demonstration of camouflage seemed to have turned into a competition for who could paint the most colors on their faces. Music with a pounding bass line played over an unseen sound system. The smells of fried and sugared food hung in the air. Cadets, officers and their families were rushing back and forth everywhere she looked.

She wondered if any of the other parents or guardians felt like clinging to their children and not letting go. She locked her hands behind her back.

"It's all so … " Icheb's eyes were huge as he took in the spectacle, making him look very young in spite of the dignity of his brand-new uniform. "So much bigger than Voyager."

"Indeed."

"I've never lived with so many people my own age before." His gaze followed the groups of cadets enjoying the activities. They belonged to many different species, but he would be the only ex-Borg. "I hope they accept me."

"Anyone who does not would be unworthy of your company in any case. Since you adapted to Voyager, you will adapt to this place as well." And so will I, Seven reminded herself. Because I must.

Icheb gave her a look of silent gratitude, walking with his hands behind his back in a posture just like hers. "I will call regularly."

"Sundays. Nineteen hundred hours."

"Agreed."

Seven looked around for the Doctor, who would surely understand what she meant to say to Icheb as well as she could. She spotted him several booths back, weaving his way through the crowd with a stack of napkins in one hand and a paper bag in the other. He wore a baseball cap, chinos, sneakers and a bright green polo shirt. With his mobile emitter hidden in a pocket, he looked like any other relative seeing off a cadet. By the time he reached them, he was smiling.

"Your scan indicated low blood sugar," he said to Icheb. "And I'd wager your results, Seven, would be the same. I know how you forget to eat when you're preoccupied. Besides, doesn't this look delicious?"

He pulled a cinnamon roll out of the paper bag and held it out, the white frosting gleaming in the sun. It smelled like Neelix's spiced cider on Ancestors' Eve. Icheb's face lit up, and Seven guessed he was remembering the same thing.

"He can - "

"She can have it," they said at the same time.

"That's all right," The Doctor's affectionate smile beamed on them both. "I bought two."

He held out a second pastry and they ate, as neatly as possible given the stickiness of the frosting, warmed by a great deal more than sugar and sunlight. Seven's internal chronometer was counting down the seconds until they had to say goodbye, but she silenced it. For now they were together, and that was enough.