AN: Here we are, another piece to this one. It's not quite your daily Raffi/Seven fix, but I'll update as often as I can. LOL

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

111

Seven finished brushing her teeth and checked her reflection in the mirror. There had always been mixed emotions when she saw herself. Her feelings about herself had ebbed and flowed for as long as she could remember. There were days when the very sight of herself—even catching a glimpse of her own metallic implants—could unsettle her stomach. There were other days when she accepted herself and, at times, even dared to feel good about herself.

Raffi had done a great deal to try to change the way that Seven saw herself. Even now, staring at her own reflection, alone in the bathroom, Seven smiled when she brought to her mind the image of Raffi, as she'd done so many times before, standing behind Seven with her chin resting on Seven's shoulder. In an intimate way that Seven would have resented if it had been anyone else—in a way she wouldn't have allowed from anyone else—Raffi would trace her fingertips over the sometimes-offending metallic implants with Seven watching her through the mirror, and she would remind Seven that she loved her. She loved everything about her.

When Seven took the time to make herself see herself as Raffi saw her, she found that she didn't dislike what she saw quite as much as she sometimes believed.

This morning, Seven let her eyes drift down from her face—a face she'd finally grown mostly comfortable with, as long as she didn't let her eyes linger too long on how new individuals reacted to it—and she let them drift down her body. She smoothed down the flowy dress she'd chosen for today—one she'd specifically requested with the word "maternity," realizing that the word gave her heart a jolt that felt not entirely un-electric. There was very little, if anything at all, out of the ordinary there. Using her abdominal muscles, Seven pushed her stomach out as far as she could. She smiled to herself, her cheeks burning warm, even though she was alone, at the silly antic. She ran her hand over her stomach before relaxing and letting out her breath. Her stomach returned to what it had been before—hardly any different than normal.

Seven sighed and left the bathroom. She had an appointment with Deanna Troi, and she didn't want to explain that she was late because she was wasting her time staring at her own reflection in the bathroom mirror and searching for any evidence of the baby she carried.

In the bedroom, Raffi appeared to be sleeping soundly. She'd been quite drunk when Seven and Miral had gone to pick her up at Picard's quarters. She'd apologized profusely and even begun to cry, instantly under the imagined impression that Seven would be angry with her that she'd drank too much—so much, in fact, that it hadn't been until she'd decided to stand that she'd really realized how drunk she was—and how drunk she seemed to be growing as her body metabolized the last of what she'd swallowed down. Picard, himself, had apologized, admitting that he'd been steadily refilling her glass without thinking about how strong the Eldinian wine was and the fact that Raffi would metabolize it quite differently than he did.

Seven hadn't been angry, and she'd reassured Raffi of that about a thousand times, it had seemed, before she'd finally fallen asleep with Seven simply holding her and stroking her hair, promising her that she wasn't angry, and nothing was wrong, and everything would be just as it should be in the morning.

That was the only reason that Seven decided to wake Raffi, now. Any other day, and under any other circumstances, Seven would have let Raffi sleep late on a morning when she didn't have to be on the bridge. She would have been careful not to wake her or disturb her in any way. She would have slipped out of their quarters without a single word.

In her gut, though, Seven felt that it would be almost cruel to do that now.

Seven sat on the side of the bed. Raffi had slept roughly the night before, and she was practically sideways across the bed. Seven had spent most of her night trying to avoid being elbowed, kicked, or otherwise pummeled by her sleeping love. Seven reached a hand out and touched Raffi's shoulder. At first, she touched it very gently, but then she put a bit more force behind it.

"Raf…Raffi…Raf…" Seven said, varying the volume of her voice each time she called the woman. Slowly, Raffi started to stir. She lifted her head, squinting, and scowled at Seven for a moment. Slowly, the expression melted away into a smile, though her eyes remained somewhat squinted.

"Hello, Beautiful," Raffi offered.

Seven smiled back at her. She pushed back Raffi's hair, wild from the fact that she'd had absolutely no care about it the night before.

"Good morning," Seven said. "How are you feeling?"

Raffi furrowed her brow.

"Terrible," she admitted.

"I am not surprised," Seven said. "You have grown unaccustomed to large quantities of non-synthetic alcohol. The Eldinians are a species given to hedonism, and their fermented beverages are known for their sweet, floral taste and excessive strength."

"You assimilated them," Raffi said.

"The Borg assimilated them," Seven said. "Yes."

"You knew the wine was strong," Raffi said.

"Yes," Seven said.

"You could have warned me, Seven," Raffi said.

"I told you that it may be strong to you," Seven said. "Do not insinuate that I let you believe otherwise."

Raffi laughed quietly.

"I wasn't listening," she admitted.

"That's hardly my fault," Seven said.

"You're right," Raffi said. "It's not your fault." She reached a hand out and lazily touched Seven's dress, clearly not committed to waking entirely. "You look pretty. Let me see the dress?"

Seven stood, humoring Raffi. Though much of her believed that appearance was truly irrelevant, and though she wouldn't really classify herself as vain, Raffi had taught her to enjoy the compliments she gave her.

"The dress will suffice," Seven said.

"It's pretty," Raffi said. "Maternity?"

Seven hummed and sat, again, on the edge of the bed.

"Though it was unnecessary to replicate a dress from the maternity selections available," Seven said. "The baby's presence is undetectable."

Raffi scrambled up, supporting herself on her arms.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "What happened? What's wrong?"

Immediately, Seven realized that she'd misspoken, and she'd stirred up an unintentional emotion in Raffi.

"Nothing is wrong," Seven said.

"Are you OK?" Raffi asked. "Is the baby OK, Seven?"

"To my knowledge, we both remain undamaged," Seven said.

"Then, what do you mean the baby can't be detected?" Raffi asked, sinking back down a little, though it was clear that she hadn't decided to let go of her concern entirely.

"I mean that I can't see proof of the baby, Raf," Seven said. "There is not sufficient change to my physical appearance to warrant the wearing of a maternity dress. Raffi—if we hadn't announced the pregnancy, nobody would be aware of it outside of sickbay and the medical reports they're required to provide."

Raffi smiled at her softly—the way that Raffi did when she was particularly enamored of something that Seven said, even though Seven rarely understood exactly what it was that made Raffi so fond of certain statements.

"You're upset because you're not showing enough?" Raffi asked.

Seven stared at her a moment.

"I'm not upset," Seven said. "I simply—don't think my choice of maternity dress was a logical or necessary choice."

"It doesn't have to be logical or necessary, Seven," Raffi said. "Sometimes, you can just do things because they make you feel good." Raffi moved forward on the bed a little and wrapped her arms around Seven as she rested her head on her legs. "Come here," Raffi said, stifling a yawn as she settled into place with Seven's lap as a pillow—her actual pillow abandoned many hours ago, if she'd ever really used it at all the night before. "Let me hold my babies—both of them."

"You are feeling affectionate," Seven said. Still, she was only pretending to disapprove at all. When Raffi squeezed her gently, she felt a rush of warmth and affection. Her chest squeezed tightly with love—pure love—for the woman that snuggled her face affectionately against her abdomen. In response to her statement, Raffi nuzzled her stomach, and then she kissed her through the fabric.

"Don't worry, I found her," Raffi said. "The baby's right here."

"She is hardly large enough to merit any comment," Seven said.

"She's a very big girl," Raffi said. "And she's growing so well. She's doing everything just like we want her to, and we're so proud of her." Raffi smiled up at Seven and winked at her. "And—don't you listen to your mama. She's proud of how big you are, too, but she's just…overly practical and a little bit grumpy."

"I am not grumpy," Seven said, raising her eyebrow at Raffi. "And the baby has not yet developed the ability to hear you speaking."

"You don't know that," Raffi said.

"I am almost certain," Seven said.

"But not entirely certain," Raffi offered. "Would you rather speak kindly to her and find out that she can't hear us, or say critical things and find out that she can, Seven?"

"I am not criticizing our baby," Seven said. "I'm only criticizing my choice of dress, Raffi. I didn't need to presume that she would be large enough to require such a garment."

"She's growing as fast as she can, Seven," Raffi said with a laugh. "In fact, she's growing a lot faster than she would be, otherwise. Besides—at the rate she's growing, you'll probably fill the dress out by the end of the day."

"Now you're exaggerating," Seven said.

Raffi nuzzled her again.

"I am," Raffi admitted. "But—it's OK that you chose a maternity dress, even if you're not in the third trimester. The dress is nice, and you look beautiful, and she's probably very comfortable with all the room you're giving her to stretch out. It's a perfect choice, and if anyone criticizes it, you can tell them to take it up with me or Elnor."

"I do not need you or our son coming to my defense," Seven said.

"You may not need it," Raffi responded, "but you're sure as hell going to have it, so you might as well accept that."

Raffi sighed and sat up. Seven could tell, immediately, that the sigh wasn't directed at her, and she didn't take it personally for even a moment. Raffi's hands immediately went to her head and it looked like she was trying to keep her own skull from fracturing into pieces.

Seven leaned and collected the hypospray from the bedside table. She pressed it to Raffi's neck before Raffi realized what she was doing, and Raffi jumped.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

"An analgesic," Seven said. "For the headache that I never doubted you would have after last night." She offered Raffi the glass of water that she'd replicated earlier, along with the analgesic, in anticipation of Raffi's suffering upon waking. "Drink this. You'll be dehydrated."

Raffi accepted the glass. She drank half of it in nearly one long gulp.

"Thanks," she said, as soon as she'd swallowed. She smiled at Seven. It was a bit strained, thanks to the headache that wasn't gone yet. Her eyes still squinted, as well, with the pain. "You take good care of me."

"If I do," Seven offered, "it's because I learned from observing how you care for me." She glanced at her personal device. "I have an appointment with Deanna Troi. I would have left you sleeping, but last night you seemed insecure about my intentions to remain in our marriage. I didn't want you to wake and, in finding me gone, think something horrible and completely ridiculous."

Raffi made a face. The same soft smile was offered to Seven that she'd seen before.

"So—you're not leaving me?" Raffi asked.

"Not permanently," Seven said. "However, I have to go if I'm not going to be late."

"Tell her everything," Raffi said. "Don't hold anything back. Let her help you as much as she can, OK?"

"I have no intentions of hiding anything," Seven assured her.

"Just—remember to tell me everything, too, when you get back," Raffi added.

Seven smiled at her.

"I promised you that I wouldn't keep anything from you, either," Seven said, "and I meant it. You should sleep. Drink plenty of water. I'll be back later."

"Do I get a kiss?" Raffi asked. Seven leaned and indulged her. Seven hummed as she pulled out of the kiss.

"Perhaps you should also consider brushing your teeth while I'm gone," Seven said.

"Is that your way of saying my breath stinks?" Raffi asked with a laugh.

"Eldinian wine has a sweet, almost floral fragrance," Seven said. "But—that's only prior to digestion."

"Do you still love me enough to give me one more kiss?" Raffi asked. Seven leaned and kissed her again.

"Nothing could stop me from kissing you," Seven assured her. "Except for the fact that I am going to be late for an appointment, and I despise tardiness."

Raffi laughed.

"Go!" She said, reaching for the pillow and hugging it. "The sooner you leave, the sooner you can get back and tell me absolutely everything you said." Seven smiled and said goodbye as she attached her combadge to her dress. "Seven…" Raffi said, calling her back. Seven lingered in the doorway of their bedroom. "You look beautiful, and…don't worry…our daughter is more obvious than you think, and she looks beautiful, too."

Seven felt her cheeks run warm. She believed her own eyes—there wasn't much evidence of the baby she carried—but Raffi's words still gave her a pleasantly warm feeling in her belly. She held onto it as she slipped out of their quarters and down the corridor, heading in the direction of Counselor Troi's office.