AN: Here we are, another piece to this story.

I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!

111

B'Elanna hadn't been able to find a portable regenerator. There were only a few that were more than working prototypes—all created by B'Elanna and all for Seven's benefit—and it seemed they were all currently misplaced. B'Elanna had come back to tell them that, and to make sure that her information was programmed into Raffi's personal device so that, with the touch of a button, Raffi could contact her if some need were to arise.

While the time passed before they could leave, Raffi had nearly fallen asleep on her feet—simply holding the holo-image where Seven could see it and keeping her face close to Seven's for the comfort of the proximity.

Raffi had panicked, though, when she'd straightened herself up and slipped the holo-image into her pocket, hearing the alarm she'd set on her personal device go off, indicating that their time was up, to find that Seven had seemingly fallen asleep while the time had passed. If she'd simply fallen asleep, of course, Raffi wouldn't have been alarmed, but she'd seemed to have fallen asleep with her eyes open—something that jolted Raffi almost into having a heart attack. Her knees had gone weak as she'd grabbed Seven's shoulders to shake her.

"Seven—Baby? You gotta wake up…Seven?"

Seven roused, thankfully, quickly. Her head lolled to the side, in Raffi's direction, and Raffi knew, immediately, that there was a problem.

"I…" Seven started, even the one syllable coming out sounding unnatural and strange to Raffi's ears. Raffi simply shushed her and, with ridiculously shaky hands, reached for her personal device. In a hospital, the most reasonable person to call would have been the Doctor. Raffi fully realized that in hindsight, but at the moment it felt like nothing in her brain could function and her body could barely keep up with that. She called B'Elanna—because that was all that her mind could think to do.

"I don't know what's wrong," Raffi said the moment she'd made contact with B'Elanna. She'd heard herself like she was outside of herself. She'd heard the fear in her voice. She'd heard the tremor. It matched the shaking of her hands and the tremor that seemed to have settled into every one of her muscles. "Please…please…"

Somehow, faster than she'd even imagined, B'Elanna was there, beaming in with a personal transporter. The Doctor came after her, through the door, with his nurse behind him. B'Elanna's hands were on Seven first, and she'd reconnected her device before Raffi could even recognize that she had the cord in her hands. Seven was still, lying on her back, her eyes wide with a fear that sliced through Raffi like a hot knife.

Raffi stepped back when the Doctor came around to the other side of Seven, scanning her with a tricorder. She didn't want to leave Seven. She didn't want to be separated from her by even a half a foot, but she didn't want to be in the way, either. She didn't want to risk costing them even a moment in figuring out what was going on.

"Human vitals are within safe parameters," the Doctor offered. "She's stable. Though—you should try to remain calm, Seven."

"I—require," Seven said. That was as much as she managed to say, and Raffi bit her lip, wishing for anything to do with her hands to distract herself. She felt physical pain, at the moment, and it was overwhelming.

"You require regeneration," B'Elanna said. "Doctor—I'm in. I can access everything. All her Borg systems and nodes are currently crashing."

At those words, Raffi felt lightheaded and her vision narrowed and darkened for a second. Somehow, she pulled herself out of it as a voice in her mind told her that passing out would draw attention away from Seven and she'd rather every ounce of energy go toward Seven at the moment.

"Can you bring them back online?" Raffi barked. "Or—whatever the hell it is you do?"

"It's not serious," B'Elanna said calmly, but clearly with the intention to calm anyone who needed it. "I mean—it is serious, but it's not serious." She looked away from her device for a moment. She looked directly at Seven. "You need to remain calm, OK? I can handle the Borg parts, but you're the one in charge of the rest of you. Stay calm for me, and we'll get you through this. Can you do that? Can you stay calm?"

Seven rolled her eyes in B'Elanna's direction.

"I—can't—breathe," she offered.

"You're breathing," the Doctor said.

"She doesn't realize she's breathing," B'Elanna said. "There's a node in her brain that works directly with self-awareness. It's in the process of shutting down right now. Seven—listen to me. You are fine. You can breathe. If you stop thinking about it, you will do it involuntarily. Your lungs are not under the control of any of your implants. That's fully the human side of you."

"Should I call the Academy and have someone beam us a portable generator?" The Doctor asked. "She's stable—at least as far as we're able to help her for the moment. Not unless you have a better idea."

"I have a much better idea," B'Elanna said. "Doctor—from a medical perspective, is Seven free to go?"

"In this condition, Commander?"

"I'll make sure she's well-taken care of," B'Elanna assured him.

"I'm still reluctant to release my patient," the Doctor said. "However—there's nothing else that I can do for her without additional equipment."

"And you have to admit that this is more my area than yours," B'Elanna said.

"Very well," the Doctor said. "You know how to contact me, if you need assistance."

He left. Raffi watched him go. It was possible that he said goodbye to her. She couldn't remember. She wasn't sure she'd registered it at all—if it had happened. She felt oddly numb. She wasn't certain that she could feel her lips—her face. She could, however, feel the sucking pain in her chest, like a bullet wound.

"I—require," Seven said again.

"You require assistance," B'Elanna said. "And that's exactly what we're going to give you. The only thing I require is that you remain calm and trust me. That's how you don't get hurt—and how those brand-new babies you have don't get hurt."

Raffi felt herself calming at B'Elanna's request to Seven, as though it extended to the both of them. She felt her muscles untangling a little, though she suddenly felt shakier and weaker than she had.

"She's OK…" Raffi said, it came out weak and not at all like a solid question nor a solid statement.

"We knew this was an experiment," B'Elanna said, "from start to finish. We knew that it was going to be a lot of trial and error. Right this moment, we're looking at an error. It's a shocking one, but it's not serious. I apologize, Seven, for the lack of sensitivity in what I'm about to say. For lack of better words, the power supply to Seven's Borg implants and nodes was low this morning. This was owing to a prolonged state of not regenerating. In addition, her body has been adjusting to the new chip and the hormone regulation, and that's been draining her power."

"She ran her batteries down," Raffi said.

"Essentially," B'Elanna agreed.

If Seven was offended, she made no indication of it, but Raffi also didn't know if she had the energy to really do so.

"This has never happened before," Raffi said.

"From my knowledge," B'Elanna said, "she's never been this low since we first separated her from the Borg Collective. At that time, we didn't know about her regeneration cycles, and the Doctor and I accidentally let her systems run down while working to extract as much Borg technology as possible. Seven—do you remember how I told you that your body would work to shield and protect your babies? Well, it appears that it's already making the necessary arrangements to protect them with everything it has—including everything you may need to continue functioning. When I look at her readings, it shows that her energy was redirected toward her womb. While she's been lying here, it's been at work adapting to her new state. Seven—you're going to be fine. As Tom would say, you've simply run out of juice."

"You hear that? It's OK," Raffi said, touching her fingers to Seven's face. She smiled at her, wishing she really felt the smile that she hoped would reassure Seven if she was feeling any fear. Raffi rested her hand on Seven's chest and soothed herself with the steady rise and fall. "It's OK. You're OK. See? You're—breathing fine and…everything's fine." Raffi looked at B'Elanna. "Everything's fine?"

"Everything's fine," B'Elanna said. "Can you help me get her up? You remember how I turned off her muscle control earlier? Well—it's shut down on its own, now."

"She's paralyzed?" Raffi asked, helping B'Elanna move Seven. Seven helped them, answering Raffi's question.

"Not entirely," B'Elanna said, slipping her device into the bag she wore slung around her body. "It's a different part of her brain that handles the human control, though, and it's probably more a little rusty—and very tired. I imagine that it atrophies, to some degree, since she hasn't used it much since she was a child."

"Is it—too early?" Seven asked.

"Too early?" B'Elanna asked, slipping her arm under Seven's to support her when they finally made a move to get her off the table.

"Babies," Seven said. "I require—recovery."

"Enough time has passed," Raffi said, almost hopping with the excitement that she'd understood Seven's poorly worded concern. Even working out that many words seemed exhausting for Seven. "They're OK. We can go home, now."

"We are going to regenerate," B'Elanna offered. "Lean on me. I won't let you're your babies fall—on my Klingon honor."

Raffi laughed because she noticed that, weak as she was, Seven tried to laugh. B'Elanna did laugh and, her arm around Seven, she slid her off the table and helped her find her feet. Raffi accepted some small piece of Seven's weight, but she immediately recognized that B'Elanna—arguably diminutive though she seemed for Raffi's stereotypical idea of a Klingon—possessed the practically legendary strength of Klingons. Raffi got the distinct feeling that the only reason she allowed Raffi to carry any of Seven's weight was to protect Raffi's pride and, really, the only reason that she was allowing Seven's feet to touch the floor was really to make her feel as though things weren't as serious as they were.

As soon as Seven was relatively stable between them, B'Elanna used her left hand to quickly program the personal transporter she carried. Before Raffi could question anything, they materialized in their living room—the three of them looking something like a Greek Chorus.

"I wanted to look at your regeneration chamber anyway," B'Elanna said, quickly moving Seven toward the bedroom.

When they'd bought the house and installed the state-of-the-art chamber that B'Elanna had updated as much as possible, Raffi had suggested they make it more like an oasis for Seven and less like something clinical. They took her straight there, and B'Elanna helped Seven onto the platform.

"A little help while I adjust controls?" B'Elanna requested.

Raffi stepped up and wrapped her arms around Seven. She accepted Seven's full weight as Seven hugged her and rested against her. Raffi closed her eyes, enjoying the embrace even under these circumstances.

"We're taking the voltage down a little lower than I originally suggested," B'Elanna said. "We can go up as your body adapts. We'll give it time to get used to what it's doing. This'll add about an hour or two longer to your cycle, so you can plan for that. Also—you want to make sure you're regenerating often for a while. Nobody knows how pregnancy affects Borg systems. You're the very first one that we know of in any quadrant. Be patient with yourself and your body. If it can make me feel exhausted, it can make you feel exhausted. But—this? It shouldn't be a problem, OK? You don't feel fine, but you're going to be fine. I'm activating the magnetic field."

The chamber had a light magnetic field that Seven activated whenever she stepped in to regenerate. In the past few years, as her human systems had become more prominent with the steady upgrade of her Borg parts and the removal of all of them that weren't so imbedded into her that she couldn't survive without them, Seven had started to relax more while regenerating. It had made remaining in position a bit more difficult, and the magnetic field emitted just enough force that, pulling on her remaining implants, it helped her to maintain the proper posture.

She looked relieved when it pulled her into position for regeneration.

"I'm going to let you say goodnight—or whatever it is you do," B'Elanna said. "This is not a problem. It's scary, the first time, but it's not a problem. Relax and regenerate well…or however that works. You'll be a brand-new Borg at the end of your cycle."

Seven managed a thanks, and Raffi did, too. B'Elanna saw herself out, and Raffi pressed her lips to Seven's. The kiss was half-hearted, but Raffi didn't take it personally.

"Don't you ever—ever—wait that long to regenerate again, OK?" Raffi said.

"I miss…" Seven said. She seemed unable to finish it, but Raffi didn't need the rest. She touched Seven's face, brushing her thumb over her cheek and letting her pointer finger touch the side of her ocular implant.

"I miss, too," she offered. "But I'll be right here when you wake up. And we'll—have dinner or something." She laughed, knowing that their days and nights would be confused for a day or two, now.

"I love," Seven managed.

"I love you, too," Raffi assured her. She raised her eyebrows as realization washed over her. "All three of you. Sweet dreams, Baby."

She winked at Seven and backed away—avoiding the voltage of the chamber—and she pressed the button to start the cycle.

Raffi waited a moment, holding her breath, to make sure that everything was working fine. She saw Seven slip into the stasis-like trance that came with regeneration. She checked the panel on the side of her chamber—a special installation, actually, from B'Elanna, that had been meant to help out a human with a Borg "girlfriend," as they'd temporarily labelled themselves when they'd purchased the house. The panel assured Raffi that Seven was in her regeneration cycle. It recognized her internal power level as being at 1%, and it suggested that she would need at least nine hours to complete the cycle at the lower voltage instead of the more efficient cycle she'd recently been enjoying.

Seven was safe, comfortable, and getting exactly what she needed.

Knowing that, Raffi felt her whole body start to feel like it was melting. With a few hours of absolute silence ahead of her, she locked the transport pad, found her vaporizer and took a few draws from it, and made herself a drink from the beverages left over from the party.

She ran a scalding hot bath for herself and sank into the water up over her shoulders. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the back of the tub, where she'd rolled up a towel for the comfort of her neck.

She sipped her drink and alternated it with draws from her vaporizer. She felt her body relaxing. She felt her mind relaxing.

She had been, arguably, a major fuck-up for so much of her life, but she wasn't that anymore. Seven didn't see her as that. Seven saw her as someone who had so much to offer—and she allowed her to do what Raffi genuinely felt she needed to do. Seven allowed her to take care of her. She allowed her to prove to herself that she could do that. Seven trusted her with her vulnerability, and Raffi valued that like one of the greatest treasures the whole universe had to offer her.

And Raffi was good at this. She was good at her life now.

Raffi shifted slightly in the hot water, finding a more comfortable position. She sipped her drink some more and felt that mix with the vapor that unknotted her muscles and relaxed her mind.

Raffi loved Seven like she had never loved before—like she would have never believed possible—and she felt that love emanating back to her at all times. Seven was safe. She was regenerating. She was carrying their perfect little babies—embryos, as the Doctor would say, but technical language didn't interest Raffi—and they were safe, protected by everything Seven's body had to give them.

Raffi could relax, entirely, for the time being, imagining that she couldn't possibly be any happier than she was at the moment.