Time Enough
Chapter 13: Collective of Three

After receiving a detailed map, the trio marched off in search of their new home. They came to a series of dingy storefronts and both of the women regarded each other. They stood at last in front of the address Mr. Commagees had given them. It was the dingiest of the four. The lobby was cluttered with cracked rocks that had once been furniture. It was dark and dusty. Behind a dirty and chipped desk sat a large, unhappy fellow who looked just like Mr. Commagees.

"Excuse me," Seven said to him.

He shook, slammed a fat hand on the table. A long tongue protruded out to cover his eyes with saliva. "What the devil do you want?"

"Is this the Downloe Hotel?"

"Didn't you read the sign?" he asked derisively.

Seven glanced over her shoulder. "Of course not. I am not literate in your language."

The man tisked. "A'course yer not." He pointed to the front door. "It's Downloe Condominiums. Not hotel. What do you want anyway?"

"I will be renting a three-bedroom apartment for twenty Palms a lunar cycle," she said.

The man's eye became twin moons. "Oh, ye will, will ye? And I s'pose ye'll want me to draw yer bath as well? An' scrub yer back?"

"No, that will not be necessary," she said, unaware of the man's sarcasm.

He lubricated his eyes once more with his tongue as they rolled down Seven's body. "What's with all the metal in ye? It's unbecoming, really."

She arched the Borg-implant brow. "Whether you find me attractive is irrelevant."

"What are you then? We don't like trouble here? It costs us money to call security."

Seven noticed, through a scummy window, a small room behind the man. "I am Borg," she said.

"Borg?! Holy Tryto King of All Gleewee! How did ye get into our fair hamlet? Assimilation is unlawful, ye realize?"

"I had no intention of assimilating anyone, Mister...?"

"You may call me good-bye, ma'am."

He turned to his paper, waved a fat hand toward the door.

"I am confused."

"Not me problem, lass," he said, his head still down reading.

"Mr. Commagees sent us to this hotel and he agreed to charge us twenty Palms. Is he not the owner?

The man turned around, his face red, his bloated lips touching and then repelling repeatedly while his cheeks rhythmically expanded and contracted. "Mr. Commagees, you say?"

"Yes, Mr. Commagees. You and he could pass for twins, excluding the dispositions."

"Twins! A pox on your hide for that. Me brother Finn is generous to a fault," he eyed her. "With other people's money. That fatherless bottom-feeder!"

"So how much are the rooms, sir?"

"First me name is Gill. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

"Seven of Nine."

He spied Janeway half asleep on a rock, with a sun-haired girl helping out. "They are—?"

"My family."

"We like families," he said gratified. "Less trouble. But we don't have three bedrooms. Me brother Finn is a trifle daft when it comes to details like price per moonth."

"So what are the sizes of your apartments and how much do you require?"

"A two bedroom will run ye a fifty Palms, give or take a few Shades."

Seven did the calculations, though her credits from Finn seemed generous, the debits were accumulating quickly for a family of three, but she was determined to allow Kathryn to recuperate. Seven had taken tricorder readings through the day, all seemed normal. Yet she was displaying extraordinary loss of balance and appearing to shake uncontrollably at times. The Gleewee coffee worsened it, but allowed her to sleep. Seven postulated the Ket'zali injection was a drug of some sort, adversely working on the Captain's system. She knew she would require time to fix the Doctor's mobile emitter and bring him online as soon as possible. But to do any of that, Seven needed a safe place for Kathryn and Eridani. Decision made.

"Very well, Mr. Commagees," she said. "We will accept a two-bedroom for twenty-five Palms."

He eyed her suspiciously. "Thirty."

"Done," she said.

"You didn't let me finish. Thirty nine palms and six shades."

Seven of Nine had discreetly inquired on the way of apartment costs and knew that Twenty had been quite a fortunate find. She did not realize that the low price was more a commentary on the neighborhood than any other factor. But she could not bend economics to her will. Seven of Nine would merely retain the proper attitude. This was an experiment in market economic principles in a real world environment. So she threw herself into negotiations with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, being a Borg.

"It is clear you need someone to maintain your facility."

"Are ye offering, lass?"

"Perhaps," she said. "I will repair your...." she was going to say computers but realized that the commodity here was not information. It was temperature control. "misting system." She gestured gracefully with her hand upward. A series of copper tubes criss-crossed the ceiling. She could tell from hard water deposits that it had misted, providing efficient evaporative cooling, something Mr. Commagees seemed to need. He seemed rather desiccated.

"I can repair it for you if you for one hundred Palms?"

=/\=

Seven realized, even with her negotiation down to the original price, she knew they'd been overcharged. The two-bedroom apartment was small and grimy. The living space was able to hold a stained, sagging couch, a wooden chair and a short table, which unmistakably served as the dining area as well. The kitchen contained a busted replicator and a sink, with running water that smelled of rotten eggs.

The bedrooms were spare, each containing a double bed. The only saving grace was the black sheets had been cleaned and smelled fresh. It would suffice, Seven told herself, making sure to keep her annoyance in check.

Seven pulled back green curtains that bundled on the floor, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. The three coughed until their eyes watered. Seven rubbed the window with her forearm. A greasy streak marred the frosted look of the undisturbed grime. She leaned over, rubbing a small circle until it squeaked under her ministrations.

"Efficient," she said of the view of the main boulevard.

Dani peaked out. "Wow," she said. "We can see the whole world."

The girl felt Kathryn standing behind her.

"Look at the red tents way over there," Dani pointed out. "And look, there must be a swimming pool around. Those women are half-naked. Uh-ho," she said, when one of the men was slapped brutally by a half-naked nymph. "What do you think happened?"

Seven yanked the curtains closed, earning a glare and a cough from the youngster. "It is late, Eridani. Perhaps we should assess the quarters and perform our lavations."

=/\=

After helping her daughter bathe and telling her a story that she made up about an enterprising and beautiful Captain of a sea ship, Seven tucked Dani in, though she vehemently listed reasons she should be allowed to stay up. "It is almost dawn, mom," she finally managed with a yawn.

"Irrelevant, Eridani. You require ten-point-five hours of sleep per night to function properly. You will not receive the sufficient amount for tomorrow's activities. That in turn will activate the prolonged and vexing use of your vocal chords, stretching single syllables into multiple. This will be done throughout the day, culminating in a temper tantrum at precisely oh-four-hundred."

"I don't whine," she informed with a frown.

Seven kissed her forehead and then her lips. "Sleep well, little one." Seven felt small hands link behind her neck, pulling her down for a constricting embrace.

"Love you."

"I love you, as well." Seven stood, tucking in her covers as she went. "But yes, Eridani, you do whine." She glanced up, contemplating other superlative verbs. Then Seven gave her daughter a pointed look. "You bleat." Seven walked to the door, pivoting there. "You drone." To Dani's teeth click, Seven offered her a soft smile. "But I care for you nonetheless."

"G'night, Borgie."

"No, Eridani," she raising an admonishing finger. "You may call me mother. Mom is also acceptable. Borgie is out of the question."

Chuckling, the girl rose to her elbows, tipping her head and giving her mother an impish grin. "Why don't you ever call Cappie her special name?"

Seven tried to keep a placid face. "Which would be?"

There were parts of this nonsense that Dani appreciated and toying with her mothers was two of them. "You know."

"Tell me again. Perhaps I have forgotten."

=/\=

Seven was still chuckling softly when she opened the door to their bedroom. Wrapped in a white towel, Kathryn with her Starfleet tunic draped across her lap was sitting on the bed edge. Her brushed hair was still damp. She had been listening to the repeated chirp of an activated comm badge. Her eyes were unseeing and she did not hear as Seven entered the bedroom.

A shadow cast over her closed eyes and she felt someone next to her. Kathryn was not surprised to find the tall blonde looming. "Are you just going to stare at me all night?"

"However pleasant that may prove...." She arched a brow at Kathryn's surprise. "I am..." It was then the Seven noticed the tears running down Kathryn's face.

What could an ex-Borg drone say to a Starfleet Captain who lost her ship? There were no words in any lexicon in any language in two quadrants that could console her, especially one as stubborn as Kathryn Janeway. Instead, Seven pulled Kathryn into a tight embrace. "Voyager will find us."

Kathryn registered the intent, clenched her eyes closed and a single tear fell from an eye.

"Oh, Kathryn," Seven whispered. She kissed the wet trail down until the tear disappeared. Seven pressed her lips lightly, brushing Kathryn's face with soft, feathery kisses. When she reached her mouth, Seven was surprised to be kissed back. "Please let me love you, Kathryn."

Seven felt Kathryn's arms rubbing her back, lightly at first. Her eyes closed and her lips parted. Kathryn had been desperate for her touch since finding her on the Mencari ship and now she damned the indecision inside.

When Kathryn tried to turn away, Seven caught her shoulders, pushing her down against the bed. Her lips locked onto the Captain's, who showed no hesitancy. "Please, Kathryn."

Seven's face hovered expectantly over the Captain's. Images of Seven going back to Chakotay in a huff filled her head. She was a difficult woman to love and everyone that she allowed to love her either left her or died, which amounted to the same thing. Seven would be no different.

Seven watched the yearning war with fear. She had never known the Captain was capable of it, but Kathryn was enslaved to it.

Kathryn was trying to think. She could think her way out of an attraction and consequently an orgasm. Yes, she most certainly could. The Borg Collective, the Vidiians, the Hirogen. She outsmarted them all. These tingling nerve endings and the near painful-pleasurable throbbing between her legs could be managed. If only Seven's lips weren't sizzling their way down her throat. Or if her Borg hand wasn't drawing their hips together.

Seven could feel the tension in Kathryn's body. She was coiled so tightly, Seven was afraid one strum too many and Kathryn'd ricochet around the room until she tired herself out. "Permit me to demonstrate my feelings." It was a throaty whisper and it made Kathryn shudder. "I know you feel the same for me."

She closed her eyes, feeling the scintillation of Seven's lusty gaze prickle over her shoulder. Kathryn tightened her stomach, as it churned from a distinct sensation of falling. Her greatest fear was to fall, an irony of a Starfleet captain. But she knew it was less a fear of heights and more a loss of control. She'd never felt like she was in a tailspin with her other relationships. She was the anchor of every relationship. But with Seven, she could lose herself. Her body was crying out even as Seven continued to favor her body with gentle kisses. Her eyes snapped open when the tall woman's hand fumbled with her towel.

"Self-denial is inefficient." Then gently she cupped Kathryn's breast, the redhead arching into the touch. As she trailed kisses down Kathryn's neck toward a tawny peak, Seven whispered against the lightly freckled skin. "But I find adaptation to be quite provocative."

Kathryn let out a throaty laugh before she cupped the back of Seven's head, while the other threaded under an arm to cup the taller woman's shoulder blade. "How could I resist such sweet talk?"

Seven pulled back and opened her mouth, but before she could say the natural response, Kathryn covered the woman's lips with her own. Seven felt as if the words were stolen from her, lost in the heat and passion of their uncontainable fusion. It was becoming difficult for her to keep her intellect walled off from the demands of her own biological collective of skin and lips and moisture. She tried to focus on Kathryn's observation. "But Kathryn...." Her chin was pointed skyward and her hand cupped the auburn-haired beauty who was accelerating her nerve conduction velocity to distracting speeds and causing her body to produce copious and viscous liquid. She could not even recall how they both had been disrobed nor how Kathryn hovered over her in the creaking bed.

Seven's mind was slipping further away, she found. It was being replaced by frenzied sensations so nearly close to inducing overload and yet, Seven felt there was more, so much more, just beyond her reach. Lips sucking a nipple and a warm hand kneading its twin. An insistent knee parting her thigh. A sigh of pleasure vibrating next to her ear. Lips finding a trail down the center of body toward her navel. "But Kathryn...." Finally, through sheer willpower, Seven lifted her head, bracing herself on her elbows.

Kathryn's lips were swollen and she appeared to be intoxicated, though the Gleewee coffee would have metabolized from her system hours ago. Seeing the expression on Seven's face, Kathryn's arm encircled the woman's head, laying her back gently. She laid on her side, intent on the blonde as a finger stroked one eyebrow. "Yes, darling."

"My words are not intended to unduly distort my feelings for an advantage."

The earnestness in her expression nearly made Kathryn laugh out loud. But she knew that Seven's genuine concerns could not be brushed aside. A crooked smile and a look of complete adoration greeted Seven's raised eyebrows.

Kathryn ran a finger over the single eyebrow and then over the eyepiece. "Oh, my love, it is just an expression," she said quietly. Then, of their own accord, her eyes traveled down the length of the gorgeous landscape with its rounded mountains enticing her and its golden forest guarding the cleft. Between each word, Kathryn punctuated her thought with a kiss, traveling slowly back down. "Now, Seven of Nine, this is most certainly not the time to debate anything."

"My body is in a marked state of excitation," Seven said needlessly.

Kathryn's hand trailed over the delicate planes and curves circling the skin ever so delicately, searching for any overlooked treasure that could yield more sighs and breathy exclamations from the usually terse and imperturbable Borg. Kathryn inhaled Seven's musky scent as a finger stroked along the moist seam of her sex.

Kathryn closed her eyes as a single finger dipped into the pool of heated desire. "Oh, Seven," she murmured.

Seven opened her legs wider and bucked her hips in search of more of Kathryn. "I am...I need...." She fell back, a hand over her eyes. "I cannot...I...." Seven's hand flew to the head between her legs, caressing the auburn locks in encouragement. "Precisely."

Seven quivered with every flick of Kathryn's tongue and she felt herself continue to rush toward something. It was a coalescing of body and soul toward something primal and profound.

When Kathryn inserted another finger, a primitive grunt ripped from Seven's throat over and over as she exploded under Kathryn's mouth. The older woman drew back to watch the moisture gush onto her hand. Her fingers coaxed more vibrations from Seven until finally the blonde blindly reached for Kathryn's shoulders. "I require sexual regeneration at this time."

Kathryn crawled up, leaning her body against the spent Borg.

When Seven opened her eyes, she searched the loving blue-grays that watched her. "I deduce that I have experienced the physiological response to sexual stimulation."

Kathryn allowed a languid hand to trail down the woman's arms. "How was it?"

"Comparison is difficult as it was my first."

Kathryn's lips curled in the corners. "You're joking."

"I do not jest about orgasms, Kathryn."

"No," Kathryn purred as her lidded eyes wandered down the length of the voluptuous body sprawled beside her. "I suppose that would be unwise." She felt like an empty bottle facing a tsunami of wine. "How about another?"

Seven rose to one elbow to meet her eyes. "You were to be the recipient of the first orgasm."

Kathryn smiled, as she rested a possessive hand on an ample breast. "Rank has its privilege, my darling."

Seven turned over, half her body draped over Kathryn's. She studied Kathryn's face with the same intensity and diligence she approached everything. She brushed her thumb across Kathryn's lips and smiled when she was kissed. Seven dragged her fingertips to the Kathryn's small breasts, circling a tip lightly.

"I think you should kiss me when you do that," Kathryn said in a husky voice.

Seven leaned down, watching the woman's face intensely. Kathryn expected a soft peck as prelude. Instead, the ex-Borg lowered her open mouth, demanding and receiving entrance. Kathryn moaned in delirium at Seven's commanding exploration. The kiss was a strange blend of scientific rigor and delicate reverence.

Seven's fingers used the lightest touch to tease Kathryn, drawing a growing number of incomprehensible vocalizations from the woman.

Kathryn could feel herself rising like mercury in the torrid heat of her arousal. Her legs wrapped themselves around Seven, the muscles taut from trying to press the taller woman against her humid center. But Seven's casual resistance finally drew a protest from her. "Seven..." Her mouth went dry when Seven trailed her hands over the soft triangle of hair.

When Seven dipped the smallest tip of a finger into Kathryn, she smiled into the blue-gray eyes. "Yes?" she whispered.

Kathryn opened her mouth to speak. But when Seven added another finger and a rubbing thumb all she could manage was a series of throaty sobs. Kathryn finally managed to slip a hand between them to cup Seven intimately. Despite her incoherence, Kathryn managed a weak, "Together, darling."

Twin strokes and grinds wrenched double responses; Kathryn's throaty cries of release were counterpoint to Seven's staccato whimpers. Kathryn and Seven exchanged breaths, each providing sustenance and fuel for the other. When their undulations had gentled, Seven collapsed on top of Kathryn. Their soaked fingers were still weaved together with the other person.

After several long heartbeats, Kathryn tenderly kissed Seven. "I don't want to move," she confessed.

Seven's lips at the woman's ear sent shivers down her spine. "I do not wish to break our network either."

When Seven felt fingers flexing inside of her, she responded in kind and then found her lover's mouth. It pleased Seven that the Captain's response was ravenous, as if they'd just started this journey. Kathryn felt desired, something she hadn't realized she'd missed.

Only after long, languid moments of connection did Seven finally roll to her back, bringing the other woman with her. Kathryn laid a head on Seven's shoulders, an arm across her middle and a leg across her thigh. Then she affectionately kissed the skin she found beneath her mouth. "You surprised me."

Seven's arm draped around the woman and her hand indolently brushed a freckled shoulder. "How so?"

"I wasn't aware that you knew your way around a woman's body."

Seven remained quiet for so long, Kathryn pulled her head back to look at the woman who held her safely. "What I meant to say was you were wonderful." She searched the woman's face, finding uncertainty. "What's the matter, darling?"

"Nothing is the matter," she said flatly, looking up at the ceiling. "I am finding it difficult to place into words what I feel. This experience...." She met Janeway's gaze. "This experience with you has been beyond anything that I.... I feel so many emotions at once that it is difficult to understand them all and to label them. Am I being illogical?"

Kathryn kissed the woman's jaw line. "No, not at all. I think I understand exactly what you mean."

"You do?"

Kathryn's eyes darted away and blush burned its way down her body. "Yes," she whispered.

"But you have had sexual relationships prior. How could this be?"

She shrugged and nestled closer to Seven. "I don't know. I just know that I've never felt what I feel now."

"So it is not a physiological response?"

"No," she whispered again, against Seven's neck. "I know you haven't. But that is what I don't understand, darling. How could this be your first, when...?"

Seven continued to stroke Kathryn's back, reviewing her experiences with Chakotay. "When my relationship with Chakotay progressed, I had researched mating rituals among humans—" Janeway chuckled, as she imagined Seven throwing herself into twenty gigaquads of data. "Including the chemical and physical reactions to arousal and climax."

"You've always been thorough," she said dryly.

"I have realized that the definition of a woman's orgasm has been grossly understated. It is beyond mere contractions following nerve stimulus and endorphin releases. I was unprepared for it, despite my experiences."

"And your experiences would include...."

"First Commander Chakotay... Lt. Paris...." Kathryn's eyes grew golf-sized and her mouth parted slightly.

The Captain's interludes include few and far between, beginning with Paris and that was because she possessed a small reptilian brain at the time. Of course, the other reason was she found them wanting somehow. She never understood how until the possibility of sex with Seven of Nine. 'Wanting' is the wrong word, she thought, tapping a finger to her lips. They had. What they needed was to lack.

"And finally Ensign Kim," Seven added after some time.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow in surprise that Seven mistook for admiration.

"I do not consider it an achievement," Seven pronounced matter-of-factly.

The Captain leaned forward on an elbow, her attention more rapt than she wanted it to appear. "What exactly do you consider it?"

"Thirty minutes wasted on the holodeck," she replied in a monotone.

The Captain studied the Borg's face for hints of humor, but found only an empty slate looking back at her. Surely, I have misunderstood, she thought.

"You mean, the setting was on a holodeck?"

"That, too."

"You are saying the men were—"

"Holograms, yes, Kathryn. Facsimiles. Photonic duplicates. Light and—"

"Thank you, Seven. I think I understand. Forty-point-five minutes for four is—"

"The holograms were not all men. And there were five of us."

"At one time?" Kathryn's voice became shrill. Even in the tensest negotiations she'd never allowed her voice or her expression to betray her personal thoughts. But then again, she also was not talking about sex with someone she wanted to have sex with.

"In succession."

Kathryn lay back, running a hand through disheveled hair. "That's about ten minutes each." She couldn't hide the amusement in her voice and hoped that it was far too subtle for Seven to understand.

"That is incorrect assumption. For Lt. Paris, it was five-point-four-three minutes. Apparently, he considered it a race." Seven did not attempt to hide the disgust in her voice.

Kathryn raised to her elbow again. She knew this was puerile and really the holograms could be so flawed, completely misrepresenting the real individuals. But it was still fascinating.

"Commander Chakotay performed in twelve-point-two minutes. Ensign Kim for nine-point-five minutes."

"And that leaves the balance for—"

"You."

"I beg your pardon?" Kathryn sat up, spinning around to look at the calm young woman. "Are you telling me you had sex with a hologram of...me?"

Seven's face crinkled, wondering what the difficulty was. It was common knowledge the hologram technology was utilized for quite a bit of sexual exploration. The cleansing of the holodeck walls had become the most odious task on Voyager, falling to the junior officers. Seven had heard them comment that the scent of sperm and vaginal secretions was like cleaning a dorm room at the Academy after a Vulcan orgy. It was a remark that she found perplexing considering the contained response Vulcans usually displayed. But she made a mental note to ask Tuvok.

"Is there a problem?" Seven finally asked.

Kathryn felt the tension in her facial muscles and willed them to relax. It's a holodeck. Everyone does it. Everyone but the Captain. She could never bring herself to utilize it for that particular type of recreation. Of course, the Doctor, who had noted the stress and the formation of ulcers in her stomach lining had encouraged her to use it for "medicinal" purposes. She had walked out on the Doctor then and there.

"Kathryn?"

Seven was leaning on a propped elbow, concern marking her face. Her hand brushed the woman's thigh tenderly. Kathryn covered the hand, bringing it to her lips for a brush of her lips. "Oh, I'm just surprised. I never imagined anyone could use me...a facsimile of me for...for that purpose."

Seven opened her mouth to explain that the time index for the Kathryn program predated her arrival on Voyager. But she thought better of it, remembering suddenly that the Captain's parents were traditionalists. Perhaps that meant they all prescribed to the puritanical view of sexuality. Or perhaps not, after tonight's writhing display.

Shrugging off the feelings of violation, Kathryn finally smiled, choosing instead to consider it an honor to be subject to Seven's sexual interest for nearly twenty minutes, twice as long as the men. "So how was I?" Kathryn looked down at the hand lying on her thigh. "Did I...please you?"

Seven cocked her head to one side. "Define please."

Kathryn studied Seven's face for long minutes. The ex-Borg was not given to jocularity, that Kathryn knew of, particularly vulgar ones. Kathryn's eyes went wide with the realization. "You didn't climax with any of us," she whispered hoarsely. "Of them, I mean."

"With the three men, I thought I had. It was...pleasant enough. However, I do not believe that I had experienced an orgasm."

Unbelievable, Kathryn thought. "Not with anyone?"

"Holographic Commander Chakotay, Lt. Paris and Ensign Kim are the only ones I have sexual relations with, Kathryn." She lifted her eyes briefly. "The corporeal Commander Chakotay and I did engage in copulation once, however."

Kathryn narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure she wanted any details about that encounter. She'd surmised that Seven's first orgasm was here tonight with her. That meant zippo for Chakotay. And my hologram, she thought glumly. Then she remembered the irrational sounds she evoked from Seven and smiled smugly.

"What of you, Kathryn?"

The smile slipped from her lips. "What about me?"

"I am interested in your sexual history."

Kathryn's face melted from shy reticence to reluctance. But she couldn't be a coward now. "I've been engaged twice." She shrugged, hoping that explained everything.

"But never married."

She shook her head, lying back down to nestle against the woman. She was hoping Seven was getting as sleepy as she was. She closed her eyes and yawned.

"What of Q?"

"What about him?" The venom on the last word was evident.

"You never shared any—"

"None. Just one forgettable kiss, thank goodness."

"And Kashyk?"

"A kiss," she whispered.

"Unforgettable as well?" Seven asked.

A small sound of reluctance garbled Kathryn's initial response. But then she did a double take, when she noticed the smiling eyes. "You were pulling my leg," she said softly, cupping the woman's cheek tenderly.

Just as Seven opened her mouth to state the obvious, Kathryn dipped hers, capturing the Borg's open mouth. The Captain pressed her back down, pressing her body against the lean one under her. Seven seemed to relax under Kathryn and the older woman sighed, closer her eyes at last.

"Your not jealous," Kathryn said with a hint of relief.

Seven offered a confused expression. "I am with you now," she stated. "They are not. I believe that accords me a significant advantage."

Kathryn nipped Seven's chin. "I'd call it a win-win, darling."

=/\=

Later that night, Kathryn awoke to an empty bed. She listened in the dark, the torch long gone. She heard faint clinking of ceramic in the kitchen and so she waited. Then she saw the tall shadowed figure return to their room.

"Where were you?" She asked sleepily.

A towel-wrapped Seven held a torch high in one hand and a glass in another. She placed the torch in its holder on the wall and offered the glass to her lover.

"I brought you water."

"How did you know I was thirsty?"

"Because I was." She watched the torch light dance shadows across the contours of Kathryn's classic face. "We will also require additional hydration to continue our lovemaking."

Kathryn handed Seven the cup, and she finished the last bit of water. Kathryn's crooked smile warmed Seven far more than the torch. The mattress groaned under Seven's knee and then gave way to her full weight. Slowly, Seven leaned in to possess the warm, wet lips that waited hers.

The woman gently pushed Kathryn to the bed, without breaking lip contact. When she pulled back, she rested on an elbow to just gaze at the Captain, her auburn hair fanned across the pillow. "I am a most fortunate drone," she whispered before she nuzzled her ear. "You are...." Her throat constricted so tightly around the words.

Kathryn threaded her fingers through Seven's long blonde hair. She could see Seven's face in the torchlight, revealing unmistakable longing. "What, darling? What is it?" Kathryn lifted her head to kiss her eyes, nose, cheek and finally mouth. "I'm right here."

"Yes," Seven whispered as she settled between Kathryn's thighs. "Yes, you are." She was sure that Voyager would find them, but she dreaded the day when Kathryn would become her Captain agai

Until then, Seven made love with Kathryn over and over before morning, filling themselves with light, laughter, soft caresses, hungry kisses and warm embraces.

=/\=

A/N: When I started this story, I expected our fair couple to do "it" long before Chapter 13. Unfortunately, my characters tend to do whatever the hell they want, which is why they finally just consummated their relationship. So what I'm saying is, it's Janeway and Seven's fault they took so long to do it.