Kathryn Janeway sat alone in a corner booth at Sullivan's Pub looking down into the creamy foam of the dark ale that sat untouched in front of her. Her mind kept going over everything that had happened, every detail, ever action, every word played out in her mind as if they were set on repeat. The entire episode with the Slayer and the Borg Queen and little Gretchen had turned the normally in control captain upside down and inside out. Her mind drifted back to the two derelict ships that fate had placed in their path. As she thought about it, she realized that it really had been as if fate had put them there at just the right moment for her to find the most precious gift life had ever given her.

Then she thought about the Slayer and what its people had taught her. Kathryn could see what obsession could drive people too, and it truly scared her. Those people were so driven by their obsession to destroy the Borg that they destroyed themselves in the process. She wondered if her drive to get her crew home was indeed an obsession that would someday take her ship down the same path.

If the people of the Slayer had shown her obsession, the Borg Queen had shown her what vengeance looked like. The look in the metallic eyes of the Borg matriarch and the smile that had crept onto her face the moment Seven placed the baby in her arms would be forever burned in Kathryn's memory. Her time on the ship also showed Kathryn a side of Seven she hadn't known was there. The young woman on that ship was so far from the woman-child she'd severed from the Collective that it was hard to think of them as the same woman. Seven had given her back Kathryn, she'd given her back her life outside the uniform. She couldn't have wanted more then loving and being loved by Seven, but then Gretchen came into her life. She still wanted to get back to Earth, she owed her people that and she missed her mother and sister and friends, but Gretchen had done something that not even having Seven's love had done. She'd truly turned Voyager into home.

The sound of soft footsteps approaching her table brought Kathryn out of her thoughts and caused her to look up from her glass. Her eyes locked with warm yet icy blue ones and Kathryn watched as Seven slid slowly into the seat across from her. She watched as Seven reached out to touch her hand but stopped, unsure if Kathryn wanted to be touched by her. There was fear and uncertainty in the younger woman's eyes that pulled at Kathryn's heart.

"Are you still angry with me, Kathryn?" Seven asked softly.

Kathryn looked at her lover for a moment and said, "Yes." But then she paused as she saw the dark sadness cross Seven's eyes, and sighed. "No, Annika. No, I'm no longer angry with you. I still wish you had told me of your plans though."

Seven titled her head downward but did not release the gaze she shared with the auburn haired woman across from her. "I would have if it would have been possible, Kathryn. I had to work quickly once I understood what it was she was doing." Seven's hand twitched. She wanted nothing more then to reach out and take Kathryn's hand in her own. "Her original plan was to raise Gretchen, to use her against humanity, and then make us face the fact that it had been our child who'd done it. Us coming upon her changed her plans, it gave her a chance at instant gratification."

A look of disgust crossed Kathryn's face as she recalled the look on the Queens face. Knowing what she knows now about the Borg and their Queen, Kathryn realized just how big an issue they were. It was one thing to think of them as mindless scavengers, feral cybernetic beings savagely assimilating because that's how they survive, but it was something totally different to know that there was someone so cold, so calculating, so manipulative, so sick and disturbed controlling it all. The Borg just became a whole hell of a lot scarier.

Silence grew between the two women as they both stared down at their hands, which each had folded directly in front of themselves on the table. After a few more painfully lingering moments Seven took a deep breath and looked up. "I am sorry I hurt you the way I did, Kathryn."

Kathryn looked up and once again saw unshed tears in Seven's eyes. Blue-gray eyes locked with blue until those tears finally rolled down Seven's cheeks. Kathryn finally reached out and placed her hands over Seven's. "I know you are, Annika. I know you didn't want to hurt me and that what happened needed to play out just the way it did, but it still hurt and it's going to take a little time for that to fade away."

"She needed to see the pain that my actions caused you." Seven looked at Kathryn for a moment. The look on her lover's face as she handed the baby to the Borg Queen haunted Seven and always would.

"What you did isn't going to knock us off her hit list you know." Kathryn warned. "Her promise to leave Voyager alone is worthless."

A very faint smile tugged on Seven's lips. "The sonic pulse that the doll emitted after our departure should have scrambled enough of her circuitry that we shouldn't have to worry about her for a very long time, and the virus I injected into the core will make sure she can never create another child using our genetics. She will never be able to come at us this way again."

"I still can't believe you plotted something so devious, Seven. I think you even impressed Tom." Kathryn said with a little chuckle in her voice. She could finally feel the weight of everything lifting from her heart. Seven's flicker of a smile had been like a flicker of light at the end of a long, dark, cold tunnel; her own small laugh like a warm and comforting blanket.

The tension between them started to melt away and Seven thankfully held tighter to Kathryn's hands. "The sonic pulse had been something B'Elanna and I had been working on with Tuvok's help. The doctor is the one who created the doll that fooled the Queen into believing I was really handing over our child."

"But it was your idea to combine the two." Janeway still couldn't believe what had happened.

When she had seen Seven in sickbay with Gretchen, Seven and the Doctor had been working on creating a doll that was so life like it did it's job in fooling not only the Queen, but Janeway as well. Then she'd gone to B'Elanna and the three of them fit the sonic device into the doll, making it appear as if it were Gretchen's implants. The doll was then injected with Gretchen's genetically marked nanoprobes, while Gretchen herself had been sedated. Seven and B'Elanna then reprogrammed a stasis pod that masked Gretchen's life signs and bio-signature. They'd also used the anti-transport tech from the Slayer as a backup. When the Borg scanned the ship they picked up the doll's nanoprobes rather then Gretchen's hidden bio-signs. When Seven whispered in the baby's ear, she was activating the sonic device by verbal command.

They were both back on Voyager when the device went off. When it did it broke Seven's link with the Queen, causing her to black out. Janeway didn't know any of this until she'd gone down to sickbay with Seven and found Gretchen sleeping in her pod. She'd been so confused and then so angry when she found out the truth that she cut herself off from not only Seven but everyone else involved for a few days. She had even refused to allow Seven to see Gretchen, but once her anger and her hurt faded away she let everyone back in enough to work things out.

Seven didn't say anything as she watched the emotions once again play out in her lover's eyes. She would never truly forgive herself for deceiving Kathryn the way she did. And she knew that what she'd done had caused a fraction, though a minute one, in Kathryn's trust, but they were dealing with all of it. Finally Seven said, "She threatened my collective and I could not allow that. I would destroy them all before I allowed one to harm you or our daughter."

The smile on Kathryn's face grew. "She threatened your family, Annika."

Seven titled her head to the side as her left brow rose. "Is that not what I said?"

The flicker of amusement in Seven's eyes made Kathryn laughed. The two women remained in the booth in the corner of Sullivan's for a little while longer before Seven mentioned that they were going to be late and that the others were waiting for them at the Ox and Lamb.

Janeway nodded and allowed Seven to pull her to her feet. Seven wrapped her arms around the smaller woman as they stood there simply looking at each other for a moment, then she leaned in and kiss Kathryn softly at first, but Kathryn quickly deepened it. When the kiss ended Seven whispered, "I am so…"

Janeway pressed a finger to Seven's lips. "No more apologies, Annika. We put this past us here and now."

Seven nodded. "Agreed." She smiled a little. "Am I permitted to tell you that I love you?"

"For the rest of our lives as long as I get to say it back." Kathryn kissed the younger woman softly.

When they walked into Fair Haven's inn Kathryn smiled as she looked around at the small gathering. Her daughter's arrival made Kathryn realized that these people weren't just her crew, they weren't just her friends; they were her family.

"I hope she wasn't to much trouble, Doctor." Seven said as the Doctor approached them with Gretchen in his arms.

The Doctor smiled. "Of course she wasn't any trouble."

"So why the impromptu party? Not that any of us mind the down time." Tom asked with his boyish smile firmly in place.

Seven reached out and claimed her daughter from the Doctor and then turned to Kathryn before looking at the others. "This month's data pack came this morning."

"We're having a party because the mail came?" Harry asked as he walked over.

A large smile appeared on Chakotay's face as he joined them. "I take it there was good news?"

"Very good news." Kathryn said as she looked down into Gretchen's bright face. She then paused until she had everyone's attention. "After sending in the Doctor's scans as proof, the Federation has sent us our daughter's birth certificate, so it's now official. Seven and I are the proud parents of Gretchen Irene Hansen Janeway. "

The small crowd roared in cheerful congratulations and held their drinks high in a toast to the new family. The party went on happily and exploded once again into happy bursts of cheering when B'Elanna and Tuvok agreed to be Gretchen's godparents.

"Clearly a well thought out way of balancing the influences the two will have on the child." The Doctor teased. "She can learn to lose her temper logically."

Tuvok didn't react to the Doctor's joke but B'Elanna huffed. "Remind me to show her how change your image matrix to make you look like a Cardassian dung flea."

Kathryn laughed as she took the infant from Seven and held her close. "Do you think a time will come when we can leave her with someone without your bio-suit, Seven?"

"She will adapt." Seven replied as she tried to arrange the bio-suit so Kathryn wouldn't trip if she tried to walk away with their child in her arms.

"You sound awfully sure of that, Seven." B'Elanna said as she placed a hand on her own growing belly.

Tom looked at the cooing little girl and smiled. "Yeah Seven what makes you so sure she'll be willing to give up her security blanket."

"It is simple Mister Paris." Seven stated as Gretchen grabbed hold of her finger. "She is where she belongs, home, with her family."

The End

Thanks to all of you for reading and a special thanks to those who reviewed. Episode two is coming soon so look for "Betrayed"