A/N: Sorry the chapters are so long, but I can't help it. There so much I want to show you!

Time Enough

Chapter 16: Viral Fear

As Seven and the hostess threaded through the restaurant toward the door, Seven stopped. She abruptly grabbed the woman's arm before they could be seen.

"What?" The hostess was a young woman, whom Mr. Commagees called "cheeky, but a looker nonetheless."

"Remain here one moment," Seven said in that Borg finality that most beings found grating.

The hostess began a harangue about how annoyed she was and tried uselessly to break free from Seven's grip. But Seven had shut the woman out. She was too enthralled with the scene before her. Kathryn and Dani were talking, both smiling intermittently. They appeared to be enjoying each other's company, for which Seven was wholly grateful.

"Proceed," Seven ordered.

The woman huffed back to Mr. Commagees, who listened and licked his lips. Meanwhile, Seven presented herself to the pair.

=/\=

They were seated in the third best table in the house. It was crescent moon-shaped booth, facing a sand sculpture in the restaurant's pavilion. They ordered their usual. Kathryn was showered with Gweelee coffee from Mr. Commagees himself, while Seven sipped their finest honey mead. Dani alternately blew bubbles with her straw into her Gweelee dew and then slurped it loudly.

Kathryn turned her head, frowning. It had been such a lovely walk over, she wasn't going to break the spell because of a one, okay ten, little breaches of etiquette.

"I am most pleased to see you here," Seven said. "It was unexpected, but pleasantly so."

"My idea," Dani announced with a self-satisfied beam.

"You are very thoughtful," Seven whispered. "Thank you."

"Welcome," she said with the straw still between her teeth. She was about to blow more bubbles when Mr. Commagees appeared with the food.

"Here is the chef's finest rymic avkaris—medium rare—just the way our Mrs. O'Nine likes it," he said, setting the plate down in front of Kathryn. The grill marks were blackened across the grain of the meat. The pantoonie vegetables sported the same feature.

Before he'd serve anyone else, Kathryn had to take a bite of the meat and declare it the best thing she'd ever tasted in her entire life in any quadrant of the galaxy. While she was still chewing, Mr. Commagees patted her back. "Well, Kat?"

Kathryn stopped chewing and glared at him.

"That good, huh?" he said, misinterpreting her glare. "I knew it!" Then in a whisper, he added: "But don't tell Reather, your chef. He'll want a raise."

Dani ordered her usual rake and carold while Seven ordered the chutgris tenderloin with carold.

Dani had hardly touched her food when she declared she was full.

Kathryn sighed heavily but held herself from commenting.

"How can you be sated?" Seven asked her daughter.

"Dunno," she said, watching the bartender, who was cleaning up from the night's take. "Hey, Mom. Is that Partoom?"

Partoom had performed magic tricks at their table once before, a few months ago. He was watching her, smiling and flipping his clear mead mugs in the air and catching them behind his back.

"Yes, that is he." Seven found Partoom's antics tiresome. His repertoire was limited and his comic timing was clumsy. But he seemed to be a natural clown for the still evolving mind, such as Dani's.

"Can I go...." Her question was addressed to Kathryn, who was pointedly looking elsewhere. So Seven answered affirmatively for her.

=/\=

The couple continued to eat their dinners, while Dani sat at the bar stool, watching Partoom's shell-and-pea game.

As she slowly chewed her food, Kathryn considered Dani, watching her squeal in delight and clap at his antics

Seven's watched the woman intently, gratified to have a moment alone with her outside the bedroom. "What do you puzzle out, Kathryn?"

"Have you noticed that Partoom looks like Tom Paris?"

She turned, laying her arm across the bench back behind Kathryn. "I had not realized the similarities, but it is quite...alarming."

"Yes, that there could be two in the galaxy..." She raised an eyebrow for emphasis.

"At the very least two. Assuming the current ratio of one per quadrant, there may be a total of four."

"Appalling."

"Indeed."

Kathryn took a sip of coffee, gently cradling the cup with both hands. "I think Dani has a crush."

"A crush? As in...?"

"Puppy love?" she said, emphasizing the first letter of each word. She rested her chin in her hand. "A blooming fascination with the opposite sex."

Seven chewed several bites. "Would she not be homosexual as we are?"

"Not necessarily," Kathryn said, watching as Dani looked under a cup to find a disappearing mark. "Studies show only ten percent of any given population favor same sex interactions. Maybe Dani fits somewhere within the ninety percent."

Seven let her arm slip down, gently running her fingers through the back of Kathryn's hair. "If she were to manifest as heterosexual, would you be disappointed?"

Janeway did not speak for a long while. "I think that if Dani were kind, brilliant, happy and well loved—regardless of whether she loved male, female or Ferengi—I'd be proud of her."

"What if she loved Tom?"

"Seven!" Janeway said with mock seriousness. "That's where I draw the line!"

Seven did not smile as she watched Kathryn's apparent disgust assert itself. Then she turned to study Partoom again, with an adoring eight-year-old drinking in his every move. "He does indeed bear a remarkable resemblance to Lt. Paris. Perhaps they share some genetic makeup."

"Or perhaps the Creator has a twisted sense of humor," Janeway added with a sarcastic snort. "In any event, Dani comes by her taste of blonds honestly."

Seven slowly turned her head, widening her eyes, an invitation for Kathryn to elaborate.

Janeway touched a finger to Seven's dimple, letting it slide along the strong jaw line. Then she kissed the full lips that had parted for her. "Her mother is partial to blondes, too."

Seven arched a brow. "How many blondes are you partial to exactly, Kathryn?"

She made a show of perusing the workers who were closing up the bar. She rested her chin in hand, lifting a single clawed finger with the other. "One. I am only partial to one and her name is Seven of Nine."

She spread her lips in a rare and satisfied full smile. "You shall be magnificently rewarded for answering correctly, Kathryn."

"Will I?" Her voice was already gravelly.

"Yes," she nodded seriously. "I believe it is important to stimulate...." Janeway's moan was suggestive agreement. "The proper respect for learning."

Janeway let a finger circle the lip of her Gweelee coffee mug. "It sounds as if the oral arts...are also promoted, professor." Kathryn's eyes flicked up to Seven's, where she could see desire's conflagration.

"And most vigorously, Kathryn" she added. "We are unerringly strict to the adherence of standards." Janeway raised an eyebrow, as if in genuine interest. "Precision is sought, even if the student must repeat her lessons."

"Sounds like my kinda place."

Seven felt warm at the sight of Kathryn's wickedly smile.

"I am most pleased that you wish to serve under me."

She gathered Seven's hand. "The pleasure is all mine, darling." Kathryn kissed her knuckles. "Thank you."

"For what do you thank me?"

"Everything," Kathryn said, in serious expression. "For the vote of confidence, especially."

Seven watched Kathryn kiss her hand again. "You are very welcome, Pips."

Kathryn frowned, dropping her hand and turning to face forward. "Pips," she mumbled disagreeably. She took a long drag of her Gweelee coffee, smacking her lips as she slammed it on the table. "That's good."

Seven leaned in, nuzzling her ear. "There is a direct correlation between the amount of Gweelee coffee you consume and the level of arousal you express."

Kathryn patted Seven's cheek. "Is that a complaint?" she whispered.

"An observation," she clarified.

Kathryn held Seven's eyes, seeing such adoration reflected there it nearly frightened her. She wasn't sure she deserved it or that she could remain worthy of it. For whatever reason, Kathryn feared losing it and the thought made her chest constrict.

Mr. Commagees intrusion was welcomed by Kathryn, just to sidetrack the frightening thoughts. He set another Gweelee coffee down in front of her.

"Oh, no, Mr. Commagees," she said. "I'm done."

"What? Ye've hardly met your quota!"

"I need my wits!" She explained that she was going to conduct experiments with Dani to explore Newton's three Laws of Motion. Kathryn laughed at Seven's enthralled expression. "What?"

"Does this signal a new era of détente?"

Kathryn's eyes brightened and her lips curled into a soft smile. "I certainly hope so," she replied.

"Were ye having trouble with your lassie?" Mr. Commagees said, turning to watch her giggling with Partoom.

"Oh, it was just your ordinary mother-daughter tussles," she replied, trying to downplay in front of Seven's boss.

"Ah," he said. "Well, here's me advice. Just ask yerself, 'Is this the hill I want to die on?' Me misses and me, we've raised four hundred guppies. All of them, happy and healthy because we pick our battles carefully!"

Kathryn smile was shaky. "Mr. Commagees," she said graciously. "You and your wife must be geniuses. I believe she shared that with me one day and it has made all the difference. Thank you."

He took his mug back, downed it himself and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "Be right back, lass."

Seven traced over Kathryn's profile, from her twinkling eyes to her glorious smile.

When she felt the heat of Seven's study, she faced her. Seven felt Kathryn's breath on her face when she asked, "What are you looking at?"

"The change in your relationship with Dani has been beneficial," she replied. "Harmony has solved many of our worries."

Kathryn's smile dimmed and she looked away. "Yes, it certainly has," she said, folding her napkin in her plate so she could stand. But Seven caught her arm.

"How are you feeling?"

She thought about lying to her lover. She wasn't always around to catalogue every new symptom or measure the severity of the old ones. Yet, somehow, Kathryn felt comforted that Seven wanted to know about it. "It's worse," she said flatly, unable to look at Seven. "I can't see color anymore. Just black and white. And my clumsiness has increased."

Seven pulled Kathryn close. "I will find a way to repair the mobile emitter," she whispered close to her ear. "I will not allow you to be harmed in any way."

Kathryn pecked her lips, and then leaned her head on her shoulders. "Thank you, darling."

Just then, Mr. Commagees waddled from the back of the restaurant with a small yellow wagon in tow. "Will this help yer science experiments?" he asked, presenting four-wheeled cart.

Kathryn brightened. "Oh, Mr. Commagees, you are too kind!"

"Glad to help out such a beautiful family," he replied. Seven knew that his benevolence was anything but. He would squeeze more hours out of her later, away from Kathryn's hearing. But she was willing to pay if it meant this small gesture. "I recommend that you take this through Arpy's Lane, just off the main square, due west. Go the entire length and when you come to a rusty iron door, keep going. Down four flights of stairs and you'll be in the bedrock of Guadalquiver. Smooth limestone down the gulch for ye to ride in the wagon."

He also explained that the Guadalquiver had been a might river at one point in history, but it was dammed in ancient times to supply Gweelee City with potable water from the mountain peaks twenty kilometers north.

=/\=

Pushing through the iron-gate, the trio found themselves standing on a mesa where they could see for kilometers in every direction. There were other mesas divided by deep valleys. In the distance, the star-sparkled black night was lightening to pink.

"It's breathtaking," Kathryn said, feeling a chill from the breeze. She wrapped her arms around herself.

Dani turned in a complete circle to behold the scene. "Yeah," she said. "Can we go now?"

"Let's enjoy the view for a bit longer, hmm? We have plenty of time."

Dani frowned, but wasn't about to make a scene. Nothing could be worse than turning back now. So she folded one leg in the wagon and pushed herself with the other, pretending to be the U.S.S. Dauntless on a recon mission.

Seven came up behind Kathryn, who was facing the sunrise. She wrapped her arms around the woman. Kathryn covered Seven's hands with her own. "You're core temperature is falling," Seven said.

Kathryn chuckled. "Oh, Seven. You say the most romantic things!"

"It was not meant to be amorous," she replied matter-of-factly.

"With this view, darling," she whispered, "it should be."

Seven wanted to tell the woman she loved, a feeling she thought she understood until now. Instead, Seven brushed Kathryn's hair from her neck, touching her lips to the corded muscle she found there.

"Much better," the older woman cooed.

=/\=

Down in the dry riverbed, Cappie gestured for Dani to bring the wagon close. "All right, Dani. We are going to learn about Newton's three laws of motion." She climbed into the wagon, scooting to the back of it. Then she gestured for Dani to join her. Dani climbed in, sitting between Cappie's legs with her back against her mother. She pulled the handle toward her and waited expectantly.

Seven stood to the side with her arms folded, watching them.

"Okay, Cap," she said.

But still they waited. Dani finally managed to turn enough to allow one eye to look at her mother. "Aren't we gonna move?"

"Not yet," she declared.

"Isn't this a 'speriment in motion?"

Kathryn chuckled. "Yes, of course. We are exploring Newton's First Law of Motion."

"But we're not moving!"

"Exactly!"

"Huh?"

Kathryn squeezed the girl's middle. "Newton's First Law is the law of inertia," she explained. "An object at rest will stay at rest unless acted on by a force."

"Hmm," Dani said dejectedly. "I think the First law is boring."

"Newton's Second Law of Motion is this: acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass."

Dani curled her hands around the wagon handle again.

Kathryn glanced at the tall blonde watching them from the sideline. "Okay, Andy," she called. "I believe you agreed to be the force to act on our mass."

"My pleasure," she said as she bent over to take hold of the back of the wagon. "Brace yourselves." With Borg enhanced thrust, Seven pushed them hard. The wagon began to speed away down the riverbed limestone.

"Weeee!" Dani shouted, her strawberry locks flying backward. "The second law is way more fun!"

"Yeah, it is!" Kathryn agreed.

Seven began to jog after them for several long meters. She reached them just in time to see the wagon hit a rock and the pair go tail over teakettle, with Kathryn falling on Dani, who braced her hands against limestone. But Kathryn took the brunt of the tipped wagon on her back. When Seven arrived to lift the wagon, both of them were giggling in each other's arms. Limestone had generously painted their brown clothes and hair with white dust.

Seven crouched down to watch the pair. "Why do you express amusement?"

"Hello, darling," Kathryn said, opening her eyes and offering her hand for a lift. Seven obliged, helping Kathryn stand. The older woman was still chuckling as she patted the white soot from her rear end. Seven had lifted Dani from the back, bracing her under the arms.

"That was fun!" Dani declared, holding her palms up. Blood drops where she'd skinned her hands contrasted grossly against the white dust.

"You are injured," Seven replied, trying to take the hands in her own.

Dani wiped them on her butt. "I'm ready for another lesson!'

Kathryn reached for the girl's hands. "You're hurt?"

Dani showed her palms, the blood smeared where she'd attempted to wipe them clean. When she saw the persistent red, Dani snatched her hands away from her mother's grasp and licked them clean. She presented them perfectly clean with minor scrapes.

"Oh, sweetheart," Kathryn said distastefully. "Tongues are not for cleaning wounds."

"What wounds?" she replied with a grin. "Let's go again, mom. C'mon."

She slipped her hand into her mother's, trying to tug her toward the upright wagon. Kathryn tugged back. "Hold on, there, Speedy," she teased. "We have to finish with the First Law."

The girl groaned. "Not again," she complained.

"The second half of the first law states: an object already in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an outside force." Kathryn reached down and picked up the offending pebble. "This is the outside force that stopped our motion."

"But what a ride!" The girl grinned brightly. "Can we do it again?"

Kathryn shook her head. "Not yet. We're still talking about the First Law."

The girl groaned, but Kathryn playfully tugged her arm. "Think, now, Speedy," she said. "The law states that what goes in motion stays in motion. The wagon was stopped by the pebble and by friction. But what happened to us?"

The girl's smile widened. "We fell forward."

"Yes, we had no choice but to obey Newton's first law," she said. "We remained in motion until the planet stopped us."

"It was fun," she reiterated. "Can we do it again now?"

Kathryn glanced at an amused expression to Seven, who responded in kind. "No, not yet. We need to look at the Third Law now."

"How many laws are there?" Dani asked, letting her arms fall straight down and bending over slightly, as if her shoulders were burdened somehow.

"Just three."

"Good."

Kathryn placed her hands on her hips, reminding Seven of the Captain on her bridge in her element. From the gleam in her eye, Seven knew that her lover was enjoying the day every bit as much as the eight-year-old. "Andy," she said, slipping in so easily to the nickname now without much thought. "Did you bring the balloons?"

Seven produced two balloons from her pocket.

Kathryn took the red balloon, a habit that amused Seven because of its link to the Starfleet Command Structure and uniforms. "What?" Kathryn asked, noting the mirth in Seven's otherwise placid features.

"You chose red," she said. "Pips."

Kathryn glanced at the balloon just as she was about to blow into it. "So I did."

"Can I blow the blue one?" Dani asked her mother.

Seven handed her the deflated rubber orb.

Dani's cheeks puffed out and her face became a beet red as she tried to inflate it. Finally, she looked at it. "It's broken."

"May I, Eridani?"

Dani handed it to her mother and then growled when it blew up.

"Darling, don't tie your balloon," Kathryn instructed. Then she handed Dani the blue balloon. "All right now. We'll let go of both balloons together. Don't throw it, mind you. Just let it go. We'll see what happens."

The red balloon floated down while the blue balloon zipped around them randomly until it landed emptied of air. The red balloon eventually popped as it settled to the ground. Kathryn explained the application and she could see that Dani was enthralled. "Science is neat," she replied with a grin. "Thanks for showing me, Cap."

Kathryn put an arm around the girl and squeezed. "You're very welcome."

=/\=

The sun was beating down, heating the air and the trio was glad to find their way back to the main square. Most everyone had gone in doors to sleep, but there were a few shops remaining. "I'm thirsty," Dani said, flopping down on a table near the fountain.

"Me, too," Kathryn admitted. "Will you be all right here or do you want to go with—"

Dani put her chin in her hand. "I'm tired."

Kathryn was also feeling the exertions of the day. She felt as if she were going to keel over at any minute, yet, the thought of spending a few minutes alone with Seven would be enticement enough to remain on her feet. So Kathryn grabbed Seven's hand, smiling at her in wonder—delirious, flagrant enchantment.

Seven allowed her hand to be taken, while she spoke to their daughter. "We shall be just...." When she caught sight of Kathryn's unrestrained affection, her words faltered as she fell into the violet eyes. She met Kathryn's transfigured expression of love with one of her own and before she could measure her response, Seven offered a guileless response of her own. She pressed their lips together. It was not a kiss long enough nor deep enough to even begin to quench the fire within Seven. But as an expression of the burn, it did bring a sweet, wistful yearning to both them.

Dani happened to look up when her mother grew silent. She smiled at their simple affection before pain cinched her heart. She wished her own parents had the courage to share more moments like this.

As if the momentary interlude had been a routine chore, Seven resumed talking exactly where she left off. "...A few meters there," Seven pointed to an al fresco shop. But neither her lover nor her daughter believed that Seven thought the exchange was as prosaic as that.

Dani spied the rock-hewn store, with a brown awning stretched in front. "Can I have candy, too?"

"We shall see," Seven said.

=/\=

Kathryn slipped her arm in Seven's. "What a beautiful day," she replied, inhaling deeply.

"You seem content," she said.

"Oh, I am," she replied. "It's nice to see progress, at last."

"She shares our need to explore."

Kathryn squeezed Seven's arm in affirmation. "And our need to understand why."

"Noble characteristics for a future scientist."

"But damned frustrating in a child," Kathryn replied with humor.

Seven had been scanning the sky as it faded to yellow. The temperature had already risen to twenty-five degrees Celsius. Fat puffs of cotton in the west were churning, being consumed by the yellow giant of the planet's sun. "Look, Kathryn," she whispered, pointing to the clouds.

"Oh," she replied. "I miss rain. And daylight."

"Yet life here is not unlike life aboard a starship."

"Yes, but at least we had a holodeck," Kathryn replied with faint amusement.

Seven pivoted toward Kathryn, taking the woman in her arms and cupping the back of her head. Seven felt the luxurious, silkiness of the auburn hair. "I have lived both in the reality of the natural world and the artificial environs of a Borg cube," she whispered. "Aboard a Starship and now on a desert planet. Heretofore, my existence has been but a mere shadow." Seven's parted lips descended on Kathryn's, capturing them in a tangle of tongues. "Until now."

Kathryn surprised herself by slipping her arms around Seven's neck, abandoning good sense to match Seven's ardor. She closed her eyes, feeling light headed and lost in the senses of Seven's breasts smothering hers, Seven's breath on her cheek, Seven's hot tongue swirling in her mouth and Seven's hand circling her back. Then suddenly there was blackness, followed by Seven pressing her close to her body.

"Kathryn," she whispered. "Are you well?"

Kathryn opened her eyes. The sun was higher and she realized her feet were not supporting her weight. When she finally settled on her own legs, she pulled away. "What happened?"

Seven studied her intently. "You lost consciousness," she said gravely. "Briefly," she added hastily to the worry in her eyes. "Mere minutes."

Kathryn laid her head on Seven's shoulder. "Minutes," she whispered. When she'd steadied herself she gently pushed away from Seven's body. "You see what you do to me, darling?"

Seven's pressed her lips together, fending off her first, and likely accurate, retort that Kathryn's reaction was more symptomatic of disease and not conjugal bliss. "I thirst," she merely replied, settling her hand against the small of Kathryn's back.

=/\=

Dani watched them walk hand in hand to the store, stopping once to look at a cloud going by and then to kiss. Yes, she really did like these parents better. They were more attentive to each other and to her. She felt her throat constrict to think of her real parents, both gone forever.

Her emotions were so deep and troubled, she did not notice when she was surrounded by five girls from her apartment complex. They were all of the same species, except the alpha female. Four of the girls had green skin with lithe bodies and their voice was rippled in buzzing that irritated Dani's ears. The pack leader, a girl named Nessa, was more humanoid, cinnamon coloring and defined muscles where her tan dress did not cover. Nessa's almond green eyes narrowed on Dani.

"Hey," Nessa said with a nod of her pointy chin.

Dani cupped an eye from the rising sun and tipped her head. She wasn't sure what kind of greeting that was. It was non-standard and she wasn't sure she liked it. "Hello," she replied.

One of the girls behind Nessa—one with a teal dress that draped thin from her shoulders, and flared at the knees—seemed to scoff at her greeting. "Like, are you so literal?" Her words were shrill and punctuated with sarcasm that didn't register with Dani.

Dani's Borg implant kicked in, running green letters across her visual center. The definition of literal was not really clear to her because the girl made it sound like an insult. Yet, the term was neutral. She wasn't sure what to say.

This only encouraged the chorus of green girls to giggle, poke each other and imitate Dani's formal "hello."

Nessa watched Dani's face, an interesting play of innocence and loathing swirling there in the magnificent blue eyes. "How old are you?"

"Eight."

"No wonder," she said. "You're practically a hatchling."

Dani shrugged, not interested in debating her age or her experience.

"Isn't your mother, like, a...." The girl with the teal dress looked around, her nictitating membrane covering her bulging eyes. "Borg," she whispered. This made the other girls gasp, all except Nessa.

"What if she is?"

"Their bad," the girl said, earning nods of assent from two of the other girls.

"Do you know my mother?" Dani asked reasonably.

"Well, no," the girl said. "But all Borg are the worst kind of predator. My mother said so. They take what they don't need and they destroy what they don't want, all without a care about how it affects the rest of us. That's what mom says anyway."

"My mom isn't like that," she replied.

Nessa followed the jerk of Dani's head, watching a tall, blonde Borg with an arm around a shorter, redhead. Both standing in an interminably long line in one of the shoppes. "Why don't you hang with us?" she finally asked.

"Ask your friends," she replied coolly.

Nessa quirked a thin, hairless muscle over her eye. The shadows gave it the definition of an eyebrow. "What is she talking about, Seely?"

Seely, the girl in the Teal dress, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her flat chest. "We talked a while back," she replied, looking at Dani head to toe. "She's too...." The girl curled her lips. "Too much of a tomboy."

Nessa wanted to shove Seely away from her, but instead she turned back to Dani, touching her hand. Her skin was warm, to Dani's surprise. "Do you want to hang with us?"

Dani's confusion played across her face to openly, a look Nessa found profoundly refreshing. "What do you mean?"

The girls giggled at her until Nessa shot them a look. "You know, hang out with us. Shoot the breeze." Nessa wasn't seeing understanding and she sighed. "You know, be friends."

Just then a morbidly obese boy, whom Dani had observed, waddle methodically across the Plaza to them. His skin was nearly translucent, allowing Dani could make out his circulation along his humanoid body not covered by clothes. His form was segmented crosswise, with a bulbous head topped with two beady black eyes.

He stopped beside Nessa, a sound of frustration echoed from his overlarge, yawning mouth. "Why don't you ever wait for me?" he asked. His words were strange echoes as if he were speaking in a large cave.

Nessa narrowed her eyes, turning to greet the boy. "I told you why, doofus," she replied. "We don't want to kick it wit' you."

Dani wondered if her universal translator were malfunctioning. The words seemed to be Federation standard, but did not seem to make sense in this context.

"Aw, c'mon, girls," he replied. "I thought I earned it."

Nessa held up a perfectly manicured finger, with long red nails. "One day," she replied. "You got it for one day."

Dani couldn't read any expression on the semi-transparent face, but she could see the blood squeezing through veins, around a bumpy gray lump inside. "I got in trouble for lying for you," he replied. "I thought I proved—"

Nessa whirled on him, disgust evident when she considered his body. "Look, Grub," she hissed. "Here's the deal. Get cuter and you're in." Her chorus sniggered.

Grub shook his head. "So you think I'm cute then," he replied. "Hmm?"

"No," Nessa shouted, finally losing her patience. "You're freaky." Nessa shot a finger to Dani. "You know where we hang. Catch us later." She made off quickly, her pace set to leave Grub in the dust.

Dani put her chin in her hand. "Why do you want to...hang with those girls?"

His face, with no facial expression, was impossible to read. He didn't answer, but stared at her for so long, Dani wondered if something was wrong. "So, is Grub really your name?" Dani asked, watching the boy's red blood squirt through his veins.

"Yes, why?"

"It's different is all," she replied.

"How do you know the girls?"

"I live in the same complex where they live."

"You do? How come I've never seen you?"

"Cap makes me sleep during the day because it's so hot."

"And Cap would be?"

"One of my mothers."

"You've got two mothers?!"

"Um hmm," she said pointing to them as they made their way back.

He watched them as they approached. Grub thought they were monstrously tall and slender, probably wouldn't survive pupation, he thought grimly. "I only have one parent," he said looking back. He began to stare at Dani's freckles. "What are those ugly spots on your face?"

She tightened her lips and tried to brush them off. "Nothing," she replied sharply. "What's wrong with your skin?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking down at himself while he flapped his arms.

"I can see your gizzards."

He shrugged his pudgy shoulders. "Just the way I'm made right now," he said.

"Me, too," she declared.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," he whispered. "My mom says I should think before I speak. I told her it's because I never get practice when you have fifty brothers and sisters."

Dani was too annoyed to respond to the idea of having that many siblings. It would be pure heaven to her. Instead she just looked away, feigning indifference.

"Well, anyway," he said. "I don't live in your complex." He waited for her to say something else and seemed vaguely disappointed when she didn't. "How come you don't chillax with Nessa and them?"

There goes the translator again, she thought. "What does that mean?"

"Hang, chill, relax," he said patiently.

She shrugged. "They really don't like me."

He leaned in. "I'll let you in on a secret," he whispered. "They don't like me either." He smiled widely when Dani finally looked at him. Dani's narrowed, realizing there was more to Grub than met the eye.

"So why do you follow them?"

"Because it annoys them."

Only then did Dani match his smile.

"There aren't a lot of boys my age, except my brothers."

"I wish I had a brother," she said dreamily.

"You can have mine," he chuckled. "They probably wouldn't gore you. At least I don't think."

"What do you mean?"

"Ahh, never mind," he replied. "Why don't the girls like you?"

Just then, Kathryn and Seven returned, both looking down at the curious creature speaking to their daughter. "Hello," Kathryn said.

Grub smiled, a grotesque caricature that seemed more frightening than friendly. "Hey," he replied with a curious nod of his large head.

"Mom and Cap," Dani finally said. "This is my new friend, Grub."

He pointed his black beady eyes to Dani. "We're friends?!"

"If you wanna be," she said haltingly, realizing she should have asked first.

"Totally," he replied.

"This is my mom and Cappie."

When Grub looked at Seven's Borg hand and then got a closer look at her implants, he gasped. "Borg!"

Dani frowned. "She doesn't bite," she said. "Or assimilate."

"She's your mom?"

"Yeah," Dani said, a little bored.

"Does Security know?" he asked in an echoey whisper.

Seven produced her golden badge. "I am deputized," she informed the boy. She realized she could not have impressed him more.

"Oh, wow! A Borg and a deputy," he replied. "You're lucky, Dan."

"Dani," she replied.

"I'm gonna run home and tell my mom," he declared, hobbling around painfully slow. Then he hobbled back to face them. "Nice meeting you, uh, Mom and Cappie—"

"The pleasure was ours," Kathryn said. "But you may call us...Mrs. O'Nine."

He lifted his fat hand. "Cool," Grub said, as he hobbled around to face the direction he needed. "I'll catch you later. How old are you anyway?"

She was whispering "catch," trying the colloquialism on for size. "Oh, eight," she replied when she realized he was waiting for an answer.

"Me, too!" Of course, he meant months while she meant years. "Later."

"Later," Dani said, deciding she liked the way Grub talked.

Kathryn handed Dani an earthen jar of water. The three watched the boy shuffle off toward home. The entire time, both women wondered if they should bring up the difficulties she had because her mother was a Borg. When Dani yawned loud and long, both women decided it was time to go home.

=/\=

Kathryn's days were eased with the addition of Grub to Dani's routine. They each got their own time: Dani to complete chores, including the weeding of the roof garden; and Kathryn to assist Seven with the mobile emitter. During the late morning, Kathryn would instruct Dani in the basic courses of Earth history, English literature, mathematics and, their favorite subject, science.

After lunch, Kathryn grabbed a padd onto which she'd downloaded a classic book she was planning to read to Dani. While Dani finished picking up the table, Kathryn sat on the couch, with her legs crossed at the ankles propped on the coffee table. She patted the spot next to her. "C'mere, baby. We are going to do something a little different this afternoon."

Dani curled her legs under her, laying her head on Cappie's shoulders in her mother's embrace. "What's this?"

Kathryn held up the padd. "A book I retrieved from the Delta Flyer database," she said. "I thought I could read it to you, since it's been so cold out."

Dani sat up, her eyes big and alarmed. "But I was going to play with Grub today."

"Oh, you still can, closer to sunrise when it's warmer." Kathryn patted the girl hip. "It'll be fun."

"All right," she said.

Kathryn wondered if she sounded like Dani at that age. "'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott. Chapter One—"

"Little Women?!"

"It's a classic, Dani! I think you'll like it, especially Jo.... She's the one I always identified with in the story."

"Are there are any monsters?"

"No."

Dani frowned a little. "Are there any spaceships?"

"No, not if memory serves."

Dani's frown deepened. "Robot dinosaurs? Kid-eating plants? Rabid tribbles?" For every shake of her mother's head, Dani began to unfold herself from the couch. "This isn't a story about dressing up and wearing poofy dresses and stuff, is it?"

"It's the journey of four sisters into womanhood and how they each must face their own flaws."

"Wow," Dani mumbled. "That sounds pretty boring."

"Dani," Kathryn said with her own frown. "Trust me. It'll be fun."

"Why can't I pick the book?"

"Because you don't know what the books are about."

Dani peered over the padd. "What are the other titles?"

Kathryn sighed, as she punched a few keys. A list of titles was displayed. "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland." She flicked her eyes to catch Dani grimace. "What?"

"It would be okay if were Agnon's Adventures. How much adventure could someone named Alice have?"

"Dani," she said. "That's stereotyping."

"What' wrong with that?"

"You don't even know what it is," she replied. "It would be like me saying that children of Starship Captains are spoiled."

Dani considered what the green girls said about her mother, a slander if there ever was one. But still, she wasn't drawn to that story and she said as much.

Kathryn sensed something more there, but decided to wait to see if Dani would bring those strong feelings she saw flash across her face. Besides, Kathryn knew she couldn't possibly win an argument with an eight-year-old and if she did it would be a pyrrhic victory at best. She gave Dani a small smile when she realized it was something she had in common with her Borg mother. "Fine," she replied evenly. "Can I read the other titles for your review?" With Dani's nod, she continued. "Oliver Twist."

"Anything else?"

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."

"That's it," she said, curling back in. "That's the one."

And so, Kathryn began reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain, eliciting giggles alternated with sympathy for the wayward orphan boy.

=/\=

"I think we should stop here," Kathryn declared in a dry throat. "We'll pick up tomorrow with the next chapter."

"Aww, Cap!" she said, remaining still. "I wanna know what happens next."

"Tomorrow," she said, rubbing her eyes. Kathryn's vision had begun to blur halfway through the last chapter and it was all she could do to finish it. "Besides, I thought you were going to go play with Grub."

"Oh yeah," she jumped up. "I'll see you later." She gave her mother a peck on the lips.

"Don't wander off like yesterday," she replied to the creature flashing toward the door.

"I won't."

"And be back by dinner time."

"I will."

"I love you!"

The door slammed, but opened again. "Love you too, Cap!" Then it slammed again.

=/\=

Grub and Dani wandered out to the dingy shoppes that lined the boulevard to Dani's apartment. The pair looked at odds and ends, neither found anything to buy nor did they have the funds to buy it, until they happened upon a new shoppe.

When they walked in, the acrid smell of urine assault Dani's nose. "Eww! What's that smell?"

"What smell?"

"You can't smell that?"

"I don't smell anything," he said, ambling toward a cage. "Hey, look at this!" Inside was a black catlike creature with yellow eyes. It arched its back when Dani approached.

"It looks like a kitty!"

"It's an acrionyx," he said, raising his hands. It was the sort of expression that Dani thought meant disgust to him.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," she said in a high-pitched voice. She was about to put her hand inside the cage when a portly woman, wearing a long dress covered in orange blossoms shuffled out. The short woman had stubbly black hair and her eyes were perfectly round, with heart shaped lips.

"Ah," the woman purred. "You like little acrionyx?" To Dani's emphatic nod, the woman laughed from the belly, her entire body shaking. "They are rare breed from Gamma Quadrant. I import them myself from loving breeder."

"Can I...can I pet it?"

The woman nodded, gesturing with both hands for her to do so.

Dani allowed just the fingertips inside the cage, resuming a more soothing call for the kitty. The acrionyx hissed and spat.

"He shy," the woman replied. "He need time."

Dani stayed by the cage, trying to coax the frightened kitten to her, while Grub did a brief tour of the pet store. "Hey Dan," he said. "There are really cool federlings at the back of the store."

Dani wasn't sure what why cold federlings were superior, but she wasn't interested. The black cat with yellow eyes had stolen her heart. When Grub shuffled up to her, the cat was pressing itself against the cage. The long black hairs sticking out in every direction. He was raising his head to meet Dani's gentle rub.

When the woman announced it was closing time, Dani wanted to whine. "How much is he?"

"Two palms," she muttered dejectedly.

"That's a lot," Grub said.

"You buy?" the storeowner asked urgently.

She shook her head, shrugging. "Not today."

=/\=

Dani trudged back to the apartment complex, oblivious to the rising yellow sun. "What would Tom Sawyer do?" she wondered.

"Whose Tom Sawyer?" Grub asked, through several long puffs. Dani was strolling, but to Grub it was tantamount to a job.

"An orphan boy who gets what he wants," she replied.

As they entered the complex, Grub's stomach rumbled, which it did quiet often. "I'm hungry," Grub said.

"Want to stay for dinner?" she asked just as they climbed the steps to the main door.

"Do you think your mom will mind?"

"You eat at our house three of four days," Dani said. "Has she ever complained?"

"No," he replied between pants of exertion. "She's too nice."

"To you, maybe!"

"She's nice to you, Dan," he said in a gently scolding voice.

Dani paused with her hand on the main door. "Why do you call me that? Dan?"

"Dunno," he replied. "I think it's because when I say 'danieeeeee,' I vibrate too much and it hurts my gullet."

"Oh," she said.

"Does it bother you?"

"Naw."

Then she paused again. "Try to sneak by Mr. Commagees, otherwise...." She moved her fingers and thumb like an incessant mouth.

"Gotcha," he replied.

As Dani tiptoed in, she repeated his comment. She tried to commit all of her new words to her own memory.

Mr. Commagees was consorting with a young woman, who was complaining of the price increase in her rent. So Dani broke out in a run, while Grub hobbled behind her.

=/\=

Dani threw the door opened. The apartment was dark, and there was no dinner on the stove. "Mom!" Dani yelled. "Where are you?" She'd checked the entire apartment by the time Grub arrived.

"Where's Cappie?" he asked. "She always has dinner ready."

"I know," she said. "But maybe we're going to eat at the restaurant today."

"You're lucky," he said. "We never go. My mom can't afford it."

Dani urged a winded Grub to stay behind while she checked the garden.

"Would you mind if I get a snack?"

"Naw, but all we have is healthy stuff."

Dani ran up to the garden, kicking open the stairwell door. The sky was a pink, as the yellow sun touched the horizon in the west. The shadows in the garden were long. She looked around and didn't see anyone, and turned before she whirled back. Her mother's garden tote was sitting on a ledge. She ran over to it, and nearly tripped over the body of her mother.

Kathryn was lying on the cold stone floor in a strange posture. Behind her head was a pool of dried blood. "Mom!" she cried out. She knelt by her, felt her hands and face. "Mom, wake up!"

After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to wake her mother, Dani bolted to her feet, wringing her hands and looking around. She wished her other mother could read minds and come home. "I'll be back, mom," she whispered. "Please don't die!"