~t

Disclaimer: not mine

~~t~~

Ow.

When the room stopped spinning, Tal Celes wondered how she came to be staring at the ceiling. Hadn't she just been crossing the Astrometrics lab? Soon the expansive view of grey ceiling was blocked out by a looming Seven of Nine.

"Crewman Celes, are you injured?" Seven asked in a mildly inquiring tone.

Tal sat up quickly, "Oh, I'm fine. Great even." Then she tried to stand and wound up windmilling and grabbing a startled ex-Borg as her right leg gave out.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Tal squeezed her eyes shut in pain, unconsciously squeezing the Borg arm she happened to be holding at the same time.

"You do not appear to be 'fine', nor 'great'" Seven pointed out with an arched ocular implant that Tal completely missed.

Tal finally opened her eyes and, realizing the stranglehold she had on the untouchable blond, quickly released her grip. And subsequently made a wobbling spectacle of herself before her flailing hand encountered a nearby stair railing. The Astrometrics head just watched with muted Borg amusement.

"I do not believe I have ever seen a being trip so successfully without outside influence."

"Ah ha…" Tal laughed embarrassedly, followed by a wince.

Kneeling down, Seven abruptly reached for Tal's injured leg, inspiring another near fall. After an arch look at the restabilized Celes, Seven felt the ankle she was holding before standing just as abruptly.

"I believe it is sprained, you will report to Sickbay."

"Um…" Tal bit her lip uncertainly before she let go of the railing and made an experimental hop towards the door, "right, Sickbay. I'll just…" another hop, which resulted in some frantic arm waving to prevent a reintroduction to the floor, and a glare from Seven.

"That mode of transport is extremely inefficient."

Tal looked uncertain; "Well I don't want to Emergency Transport for a sprained ankle…"

"That would be a waste of the ship's resources." Seven agreed with a small frown.

Tal looked towards the door apprehensively and gave another hop. Seven gave a full body sigh, somehow leaving the distinct impression of rolled eyes.

"Unaccaptable."

The sharp word nearly knocked Tal off balance as she twisted to find Seven mere inches from herself.

"Put your arms around my neck." The Borg ordered.

Tal's eyes widened and darted around the room before turning back to Seven, wondering if Voyager had passed through some new anomaly while she wasn't looking.

"Uh…"

With an exasperated sigh, Seven grabbed Tal's hands and placed them loosely over her shoulders before leaning down to grab Tal's legs behind the knees and stand.

Tal automatically clasped her hands behind the blonde's neck when her balance disappeared and then blinked when she realized the ex-Borg was carrying her.

Bridal style.

"Wha-"

Tal's confused exclamation was cut off when Seven set off down the hall at a brisk pace. The injured Bajorian felt herself blushing as they passed several gawking crewman. Seven didn't even seem to notice as she composedly strode into a turbolift and announced "Sickbay."

Several minutes later, Tal was sitting on a biobed watching the sickbay doors shut behind Seven of Nine; still blushing and thinking that for someone dubbed "Ice Princess", Seven felt surprisingly soft and warm.

~t