Seven stood in the small room she had been placed in. She hadn't been able to talk to any of the others and had no idea what was going on. She didn't like this feeling of being closed off and alone and she was finding it hard to keep her demeanor cool. The loneliness of being one had been the hardest thing for her to adapt too, but her life with Kathryn had helped with that unease. A small smile tugged at just the very corner of Seven's mouth as she thought about her captures having to deal with the petite yet fiery Starfleet Captain.

There was a knock on the door and Seven turned around just in time to see a small girl who didn't look any older then Icheb, walk in with a tray of food. The girl put the tray on the little table with its single chair and then looked up at Seven. The two looked at each other for a long moment before the girl finally spoke.

"You do not look the way the Elders have described Borg." The girl said softly.

Seven folded her arms behind her back. "The Doctor removed most of my implants and Borg components when I was first severed from the collective. I have naturally rejected several more over the past four years."

The girl titled her head to the side. "You have not been in the collective for four years?"

"Correct." Seven replied coolly.

The girl stared at Seven again. "We were not sure if Borg ate but I have brought you food."

Seven was hungry but she'd never admit it. "Thank you."

"Do Borg eat?" The girl asked.

"Borg do not require food they acquire their energy from regeneration." Seven stated as if she were teaching a class. "I however am no longer Borg and do require nutritional supplements. I do not however require them at this time."

The girl nodded. She seemed content with Seven's answer but then asked. "Do you sleep?"

This time Seven kept it simple. "Yes."

"Your ship has arrived." The girl said. "Your captain has come down and is talking to the Elders."

Seven felt a lot better knowing that Kathryn was here. "May I see my Captain?"

The girl looked almost sad as she shook her head. "Prisoners are not allowed any contact with the outside world until after their trial."

"How do your accused present their side of things?" Seven asked. She couldn't help herself. Having the chance to learn about some new species hardly ever came her way. She knew facts about thousands of species and despite the mess she was in, it was nice to be able to look at a species in the way the others must.

"Their advocate gives their side for them. There are also other ways. The strange man who is there but not there, he is your advocate." The girl said as she headed for the door. "I will return later."

Seven watched as the girl left. She couldn't help but feel that something was a little odd about the visit but she couldn't place what it was.

Captain Janeway sat in the meeting hall listening to person after person detailing the Borg attack on the Zokinian homeworld. The whole thing was starting to make her feel ill, but it wasn't the details that were affecting her, it was these people's unwillingness to let go of the bitterness and move on. She couldn't help but think that if her own people had acted like this after Wolf 359 the Federation would have crumbled.

The advocate against Seven continued to talk to the woman sitting at the far left of the head table. She was a middle-aged woman, maybe a few years older then Kathryn herself, with long dark hair and eyes the color of cobalt. For the most part everything she was saying sounded pretty much like what everyone else had been saying. The Borg attacked, the Borg killed and assimilated, a handful of people barely made it out alive, but then she gave Kathryn just the bit of information she was looking for.

Janeway got to her feet quickly and looked at the woman with real sympathy in her eyes. "Excuse me, did you just say that the attack happened two years ago?"

Before the woman could replay the lead Elder slammed his hand down on the table. He glared angrily at the Captain and barked, "Captain Janeway! You have been warned. If you do not remain quiet you will be removed from these proceedings."

Janeway returned the glare. She wasn't about to let this pompous bitter man back her down. This wasn't just a member of her crew they were attacking, this was Seven, this was Annika, her Annika. "Seven of Nine has the right to have someone stand up for her."

"She has an advocate." The Elder said as he point to the doctor who was sitting next to the Captain. "We've been through this."

It was becoming more and more difficult to keep her temper down. "You haven't allowed him to talk at all since this whole thing started."

"He will get his chance." The Elder advised. "After all the accounts have been told he will get a chance to plead for his client's life."

Janeway slammed both of her hands down on the table. "You call her the guilty, you say that the Doctor will get a chance to plead for her life. You've already convicted her!"

"She is Borg! She is guilty for many deaths!" The man roared.

Moving out from behind the table Janeway approached the center of the room. Two guards moved towards her, but they stopped. Janeway wasn't sure if she'd seen it right, but she could have sworn that the girl who sat at the right of the long table taking notes had looked at the men with what looked to be a commanding glare. When she was sure no one was going to stop her she spoke.

"Seven of Nine was disconnected from the Borg four years ago. She was not part of the attack on your people. She was on my ship working towards reclaiming her life. She is no longer Borg. She is a member of my crew. She is a friend to many. She is a sister to a young man who looks up to her and needs her." Janeway paused for a moment. "She is my," Suddenly all the terms they had used for each other seemed shallow some how. "She is my partner. She is a mother to our child."

Several people in the room gasped before a gentle rumble of whispers began to clatter around the room until Elder called for quiet. Once again, from the corner of her eye, Janeway noticed the girl. It was her slight gesture that finally hushed the room. Anther slight gesture and the head Elder called for a recess. Maybe, hopefully, this was the break she needed, but just in case it wasn't she needed to speak with Tuvok. She needed to make sure he had a plan to get Seven back to the ship.

Seven sat on the small bed with her head titled back against the wall. She had her eyes closed and she was breathing slowly. Though she didn't need to regenerate more then twice a month now, she was approaching her two-week mark. She felt tired and stressed and her ocular implant was still causing her vision to blur. Seven wanted to go home. She missed Kathryn and their daughter and their friends.

As Seven's mind started to wonder it quickly affixed all her thoughts on Gretchen. Her birthday was coming up and Seven was still working on her present. She was designing an interactive interface that could be added to the personal computer thermal in their quarters. It would respond to Gretchen's growing vocabulary and help build her motor skills while aiding in her growing development, and Seven hoped, it would be fun as well. But time was running out and she was down to only a few days to finish it.

There was a knock on the door and the young girl from the day before came in. She sat another tray on the table and then smiled when she noticed that Seven had eaten a little from the last one she'd brought. She then looked up at Seven and titled her head to the side. "Who is... Gretchen?"

Seven's eyebrow shot up, which was her normal way of showing shock. "How do you know that name?"

The girl blushed. "I heard it in your thoughts. I'm sorry."

"You can read my thoughts?" Seven asked. She was suddenly very uncomfortable. It had taken time for her to adjust to having private thoughts, but now that she was use to it, she treasured it. She did not like having people intrude on her that way.

"Only your surface thoughts and you were kind of thinking loudly." The girl responded.

Seven remembered that they had been told only the strongest of these people could read the minds of off-worlders. This girl was a mere child and could do it. Seven fought the urge to shiver. She disliked telepaths.

"So who is she?" The girl asked.

"Gretchen is my daughter." Seven answered in that same teaching tone she'd adopted before.

The girl looked shocked. "I didn't know that Borg bore offspring. I thought they only assimilated."

If she weren't in a small room awaiting word on wither she was to be convinced of crimes that the Borg had committed, Seven would have screamed in frustration. "The Borg do assimilate. I am no longer a Borg. I am human. I have a family and that includes a child."

"So you have a mate as well?" The girl was starting to look a little more intrigued.

Seven nodded. "I do. Captain Janeway and I are mates."

The girl nodded to herself and then smiled again. "How old is she? You're daughter, not your mate."

"She is nearly a full terrain year in age." Seven answered.

The girl's face brightened. "She's just a baby then." Seven nodded and the girl saw something in her eyes and frowned. "You are missing her."

Seven nodded again. "I have not been away from her for such a long period of time before. I have been finding it unsettling. I wish to be with her."

The frown on the girl's face deepened. "She must miss you as well. One so small still needs mother to be close."

Icheb walked the floor of the Captain's quarters with Gretchen in his arms. The child was wailing at the top of her small lungs and wouldn't stop. Icheb was afraid the child would make herself sick, which is why he'd finally called for help a few minutes ago. When the door chime sounded, the young man sighed in relief. "Come." He called out over the crying.

B'Elanna walked into the cabin and tried hard to hide her smile. Poor Icheb looked like hell. "What's the matter?"

"I can't make her stop crying. I have completed all the normal tasks for caring for her. She has been feed, and cleaned; and she took a nap. She does not feel warm and the medical tri-corder readings say she is not ill."

Walking over to Icheb, B'Elanna smiled as she reached out and took the unhappy baby. A few months ago she had laughed over the old saying that once you have a child of your own something inside you clicks and a mother's instincts kick in. But now B'Elanna knew that wasn't just an old saying because instincts were telling her that Gretchen was a very scared little girl.

"She misses the Captain and Seven." B'Elanna told Icheb as she held the baby. "She's never been away from Seven for so long and now that the Captain is gone as well, she's a little scared."

Icheb watched, wide eyed, as B'Elanna walked into the Captain's and Seven's bedroom with the baby in her arms. He knew the three women where close friends, but he wasn't sure that B'Elanna should have just walked into their private space like that. It wasn't until B'Elanna walked back out of the room that Icheb realized that Gretchen had stopped crying. "How did you do that?"

B'Elanna sat down on the couch gently and softly rocked her goddaughter. "Do what?"

As he moved closer to the Chief Engineer and the baby, Icheb noticed that the baby was wrapped in an odd looking white cloth. "How did you make her stop and what is that?" He pointed to the cloth.

"That is how I got her to stop." B'Elanna answered as she lifted a sleeve.

Icheb blinked. "That is one of the Captain's civilian shirts."

B'Elanna nodded. "I knew she'd have one laying around."

Now the young man looked confused. "How does wrapping her in one of the Captain's shirts make her stop crying?"

"It's comforting, Icheb." B'Elanna explained. "Babies are very sensory. Smells and feelings and sounds are soothing. The shirt smells like the Captain and it's a safe bet that the Captain has held her while wearing it so it a why it feels like the Captain."

Understanding slowly dawned on the young man. "Thank you Lieutenant."

B'Elanna smiled. "No problem, Icheb. Tell ya what. Why don't you take a break for a while? I'll take Geejay back with me and she can play with Miral. That'll help her feel better."

"You do not mind?" The boy asked.

"I wouldn't have offered if I minded, Icheb." B'Elanna laughed.

Icheb blushed, "Of course. Thank you, I do have some lessons I need to finish."

"Then get going already. I'll pack up her bag and then we'll head over to my place."