AN: Here we are, another piece! I wrote Chapter 29 earlier today, so please do make sure you read that one, if you haven't already.
I hope you enjoy! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
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"Seven?" Raffi said.
"Please—go back to sleep," Seven responded.
"Bathroom?" Raffi asked. Seven hummed. It was just a hum, but Raffi didn't like the sound of the hum. "Seven? Baby? Everything OK?"
"Please, Raffi," Seven said. "Go back to sleep." Raffi heard the sound of the replicator. In the absolute dark of their room, she would have never been able to see the buttons on the replicator to key in her pin, but Seven's ocular implant gave her vision capabilities that Raffi could only dream of, really. Without the need for a request beyond the pin, Raffi knew that Seven had only received a hypospray to top up any of her needs. "Tea. Hot. Chamomile."
"Computer, lights. Dim," Raffi said. The computer did what she asked, and the room was bathed in a soft light. Seven was recycling the hypospray that she'd apparently just used. She picked up her tea and brought it over. She put her pillow against the headboard and got comfortable so that she could lean into it and sip her tea. "You only drink that if it's a bad night. Like a really bad night. You think it'll help you sleep no matter what."
Seven eyed her over the top of the cup. She took a tentative sip of the steaming liquid. Raffi leaned over and put her hand over Seven's abdomen. She couldn't feel the little life there moving yet—and neither could Seven—but she felt like she could sense it growing.
"Is it Baby M?" Raffi asked. "Seven—you're coming down, but I can tell when you've been upset. Talk to me, please."
Seven frowned. She covered Raffi's hand with her own. After she patted Raffi's hand, she raised hers and looked at it, flexing her fingers and watching the way her implant moved—something she must have seen a billion times before.
"It was a—sleep disturbance," Seven said. "A creation of an over-active mind. Nothing more."
"Now, see," Raffi said, "I'd believe you if you sounded like you believed yourself at all." Seven frowned at her. Raffi gave her the best reassuring smile she could muster, and she straightened up, changing her position so that she could more comfortably face Seven. Seven moved her cup over to her left hand and touched Raffi's face with the hand that had been holding the cup. There was the slightest sensation of abnormal heat to her hand where she'd been cradling the cup in a silent search for whatever comfort might seep through the cup and into her fingers.
"You have to work in the morning," Seven said. "And your work is more strenuous than mine. There will surely be a follow-up after the gathering with the Eldinians tonight. You need to be refreshed, not exhausted because I kept you awake with ridiculous stories about the creations of my subconscious mind during my sleep cycle."
"Seven Musiker," Raffi said, putting just a touch of scolding behind her tone. "I am not going to sleep until you tell me every last detail about your nightmare—and I don't care how tired I am. The Eldinians are pretty nice, anyway. You'd like them, if you had gone tonight. They were very family-oriented. They'd forgive me if I told them I was up all night caring for my expectant wife."
"Would they feel that way if you told them I was Borg?" Seven asked, raising her eyebrows. There was a smirk on her lips, so she was serious, but she wasn't too upset—at least not at the moment.
She seemed to have relaxed a little from her earlier upset. It was Raffi that suddenly felt somewhat more unsettled than she had been.
"Is that why you didn't go to the gathering tonight? Because you were afraid of letting them know you were Borg?" Raffi asked. Seven looked away from her, casually taking an unusual interest in the Starfleet-issued bedspread. "Seven—you told me you weren't feeling well. Did you lie to me?"
Seven looked at her. There was some distress, now, on her face—or maybe that was just how it appeared through the slightly blurred lens of tears that Raffi was trying to hold back.
"I did not lie," Seven said. "I was not feeling well."
"You weren't feeling well because…you're…" Raffi stopped. "I thought it was the baby. I thought you ate something that didn't agree with you, or you were tired, or…if I would have known…"
"What?" Seven asked. "Would you have forced me to go? Raffi—the gathering went well. The Eldinians are likely going to join the Federation. There will, at the very least, be more talk of an alliance and further discussions. This is a success for Starfleet."
"What was the nightmare about, Seven?" Raffi asked, changing the subject, but already imagining the answer.
"Hominis machinas," Seven said, putting her cup down on the bedside table. "A post-modern human hybrid. Isn't that what Dr. Spalen said our baby would be?"
Raffi's stomach dropped.
"Don't let him get to you," Raffi said.
"What if he's not wrong, Raffi?" Seven asked. "What if Baby M is some kind of…hominis machinas because of me?"
"First of all, Seven, anything that our baby got from you would be wonderful, because it comes from you," Raffi said.
"Raffi—you've seen what I look like. Without even thinking about my internal systems, the implants that are visible on my body...you know what I look like. The minute people see them…"
She broke off. Raffi moved toward her in the bed.
"Seven—I've seen implants on your body that very few people ever see unless they're caring for your medical needs," Raffi said. She laughed to herself. "Very few people better ever see them, either, without a damn good explanation, now that you're my wife." Seven laughed quietly, but she regained her earlier interest in the bedspread. Raffi touched her chin and turned her face. "I think they are beautiful. And I think you are beautiful. And I know that each of them—each of them does something to keep you here, with me, just as perfect as you are, so I wouldn't do away with a single one of them."
To illustrate her point, she touched the implant on Seven's right shoulder, tracing it with her finger.
"Raf—I'm afraid that…I might do something to hurt the baby, and I can't control it."
Raffi leaned and kissed Seven's cheek. She kissed again, moving her lips closer to the implant on the side of Seven's face. The third kiss that touched down allowed Raffi's lips to find the edge of the metal.
"You are not hurting our baby," Raffi assured Seven, her voice barely louder than a whisper—but Seven's hearing, which was much better than Raffi's, couldn't possibly miss the words. "You are building our baby. Giving it life."
"Life as a machine, Raffi?" Seven asked. "What if I am…dooming our baby to life as a machine?"
Raffi laughed to herself, but she knew that she was forcing it. She forced it to keep the tears at bay.
"You're not a machine," Raffi said. "You are anything but a machine. You're one of the most human people I know, and…and beyond that? Seven—you're better than a lot of the people I know—have known—in my life. You're not a machine."
"You didn't see what I saw in the dream, Raf," Seven said.
"No," Raffi said. "I couldn't. Our minds aren't connected."
"But—it was as if the baby's mind was connected to mine," Seven said. "The baby was hurt. Angry, Raffi, because I made it into some kind of horrible machine."
"It was just a nightmare. It was the result of—of Dr. Spalen's ridiculous ideas and baby-making hormones, Seven. Trust me. The nightmares are awful, and they sometimes seem like they just keep coming, but they're just nightmares. We have seen the baby, Seven, OK? If the baby were a machine, we would have noticed. The baby's stats would have stood out. Our baby doesn't register as any kind of new or unknown species. It doesn't register as some kind of machine. None of the readings have come back the slightest bit odd. Our baby is a human, Seven, and Dr. Spalen is an asshole. Nothing more and nothing less."
"There is so much that is unknown here," Seven said.
"Fine," Raffi said. "Fine—let me rephrase this. Seven—even if our baby is a…an android…I'm not going to care. And neither will you."
Seven laughed.
"I do not think our baby would be an android," Seven said. "It's unlikely that I'll biologically produce synthetic beings from our combined DNA."
"Android. Machine. Whatever you want to call it. Seven—this baby is already loved. And, Seven—you are loved, just as you are."
She leaned and kissed Seven. For a moment, Seven didn't move, though she did accept the kiss. Then, she leaned forward, hungrily seeking more. Seven threw Raffi off balance a little as she moved to change the position of her legs—something to give her a bit more mobility—and nearly toppled Raffi backward onto the bed. The quick change in position was enough to put Seven over Raffi as Raffi unfolded her legs and allowed Seven to take a dominant position for the moment.
"You are loved just as you are," Seven echoed. "Endlessly. Desperately."
Raffi closed her eyes and drank in the sensations of Seven kissing her neck. She tangled her fingers in Seven's hair and pulled at it.
"I'm only going to tell you this once," Raffi said. "I expect you to join me at these diplomatic gatherings, from now on, unless you have a real reason not to be there."
Seven pulled back from kissing Raffi's body for a moment.
"I do not want to be the reason that any species does not join the Federation," Seven said.
"If a species doesn't want to join the Federation because we have xBs, then they're not the kind of species that we want joining the Federation in the first place. And you know that everyone would agree with me. If we have something tomorrow, Seven, I expect you to be there—on my arm."
Seven smiled at Raffi tenderly. Hovering over her, Seven dipped back toward Raffi in pursuit of another kiss. Raffi wrapped an arm around Seven and tugged at her. Seven allowed herself to be toppled onto the bed, and she rolled, flipping Raffi on top of her—just as Raffi had intended for things to happen. Seated across Seven, careful not to let her weight actually press down across Seven's body, Raffi let her hands explore Seven. She reached a hand behind her, letting it drop between Seven's legs to find the leg of Seven's panties. She pushed the panties aside, teasing Seven with her fingers while her other hand massaged Seven's breasts.
"I was going to show you some special appreciation," Seven said, sliding her hand between them to tease Raffi. Raffi closed her eyes, riding Seven's hand while she enjoyed the sensation of touching the soft skin inside of Seven. Seven moved, sitting up, and the change of position put Raffi comfortably in her lap. They kissed a moment, savoring the taste of each other's mouth, and then they pulled away long enough to rid themselves of panties and nightgowns so that nothing could impede their pleasure. Returning to the same comfortable position, with their hands between them, each of them found their way inside the other, and Raffi wrapped her left arm around Seven's neck, pulling her close to her so that she could kiss her while they fucked each other.
Raffi came first. Her orgasm hit her hard, and she pulled Seven to her, holding their bodies as tightly together as she could while Seven continued to coax pleasure from her body. Raffi was coming down from her orgasm, stealing kisses from Seven as she did so, to prolong the effects of every bit of enjoyment that she could, when she realized she'd gotten so overwhelmed with her own release that she'd forgotten Seven. She slipped her hand back down to finish what she'd started, kissing Seven deeply between each time she allowed her to catch her breath or moan her appreciation of what she was feeling.
When Seven came, Raffi tried to commit every sound and expression to memory. She nuzzled against Seven, both of them coated in a layer of sweat that blended between them as they touched. Raffi pulled Seven down on the bed to lie beside her, ignoring for a moment that they'd changed sides of the bed.
"You certainly don't fuck like a machine," Raffi offered with a laugh.
Seven rested with her face only inches from Raffi's, and she smiled at her.
"How is it that you manage to relieve all of the distress that I feel?"
Raffi laughed. She slipped her hand down, finding Seven's clit and rolling it. Seven opened her mouth in something akin to surprise as an aftershock of her orgasm rolled through her in response.
"I know all the right buttons," Raffi teased. She winked at Seven. "I know exactly how to turn you on—and get you off." She withdrew her hand and rested it on Seven's hip. She let it trail around to the base of Seven's spine. She touched her finger against the implant there. "But—there's absolutely nothing mechanical about that. None of it. Arousal…sex…even procreation…our baby, Seven, those are all very human things."
"Is loving you human?" Seven asked.
"Very," Raffi said. "I recommend that you never stop doing it."
Seven's smile was sincere.
"I won't," she assured her.
"You want your tea?" Raffi asked. "Or—will the little sleeping pill I gave you be enough to get you, and me, and Baby M a few hours of sleep before our duty shift?"
Seven settled down, seeming to root a little deeper into the bed next to Raffi. She reached and, finding the blanket, tugged at it. Raffi moved her legs, as did Seven, so they could work their way under the blanket.
"Computer," Seven said. "Lights off."
In the darkness, Seven rolled over. She reached her hand back, finding Raffi's. Raffi didn't have to ask what she wanted. She simply moved against her and wrapped her in a hug. Raffi closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of Seven's hair. She planted a kiss on the back of Seven's neck, and she settled in to sleep, hoping they'd seen the last of nightmares for the night.