Seven felt a cold chill run up her back as her eyes struggled for sight, starlight penetrating through the large window the only light as she stood in an unfamiliar bedroom, whose quarters were these? She searched around and finally saw a door, although tightly shut. As she reached her hand into the shadowy corner the darkness suddenly receded to reveal Chakotay standing before her, his smile tinged with sadness. Before she knew what she was doing she stepped into his arms, contentment washing over her for a few blissful seconds until her eyes unwilling focused on the figure behind him, piercing silvery injectors mercilessly into his back… Panic constricted her throat as the Borg Queen's face became clear…
"Seven, Seven!" The Doctor's voice jerked her out of the dream with a strangled gasp. Noticing her expression his hand comfortingly touched her arm. "Are you alright? I'm sorry to wake you but the Captain wants to see you."
Seven looked at the Doctor's kindly face in confusion for a few moments. Was she alright after such a dream? "Yes…I'm fine." She replied shakily before turning her eyes back up to the ceiling to recollect herself. "The Captain may come in."
He looked at her with probing concern for a few moments before tapping his comm. badge. "You can come in now Captain." Sickbay's doors opened and the Captain immediately stepped in as if she'd been waiting outside. She threw a significant glance at the Doctor who backtracked towards the door muttering as he picked up his medical tricorder, "There's been three suspect cases of food poisoning in the last week, I think I'll make time to question Mr Neelix about his hygiene practices."
"You do that Doctor." The Captain approved distractedly, studying Seven's pale carefully impassive face as the Doctor nodded and made his exit. Listening until the doors had closed behind him, the Captain sat down in the chair next to Seven's biobed with a deep sigh and folded her arms. "How are you Seven?"
"The Doctor has fixed all the damage." Seven replied, cool and nonplussed.
The Captain fought to suppress another irritated sigh; obviously she wasn't going to make this any easier than Chakotay had. "The Doctor told me. It's good news…"
"Yes."
"Look Seven, tell me what happened. It will make it easier for yourself and for Chakotay…"
At the mention of Chakotay Seven's self-control involuntarily loosened its grip. "What happened is irrelevant now. The damage is done." She said harshly, though Janeway sensed the anger was not truly directed at her.
"Well it's obviously relevant to you and to Chakotay! As your Captain…" She observed Seven's hands clenched, her throat repeatedly moving as she gulped, but she remained stoically silent. Changing tack she spoke again in a calmer yet more commanding tone. "Seven, any encounter with the Borg must be fully disclosed and examined, I have to know their motives to properly protect the crew, you know that. Why did the Cooperative turn on us?"
Seven knew she'd been cornered, the Captain's explanation made sense, she had to know for the good of the crew but that acknowledgement didn't make the words any easier to say. "There never was any Cooperative! It was an illusion, the Queen controlled them all."
The Captain stared at her in momentary disbelief before it began to sink in. "What? Then why the need for all the deception? The Borg may be ruthless but they're normally upfront about it…"
Seven swallowed the lump that lay tight within her throat, trying to blink anyway the heaviness in her eyes. "Their normal methods hadn't succeeded…"
"In doing what?"
"In containing me! I…was assembling resistance, I…had to be stopped…they had to find a way of coercing me…" Janeway was shaken by Seven's expression, the guilt-ridden self hatred evident in her features, the tears dusting her pale lashes.
"Why Chakotay? If Riley wasn't free then I don't see a reason why he in particular…"
A single tear escaped from Seven's eye and rushed down her cheek. "Riley was not a normal drone, she did want him back but…" The next question Janeway had intended to ask, why she had so recklessly gone after Chakotay, died on her lips, she knew the answer. Seven had feelings for him, the one who had never trusted her. How did that happen? Then she remembered her conversation with Chakotay, his visible concern for her, his desperation to wake her… The Borg had known on some level, why hadn't she?
"Seven, none of this is your fault…" She began; hoping hearing it from her would pull her out of this emotional vortex.
"Whose is it then?" Seven snapped with flashing eyes visibly glazed over with tears. "If it hadn't been for me Chakotay would have never have been assimilated…he'll never forgive…"
Janeway seized her flailing wrist to hold her still and stood up to loom over the biobed. "I doubt he believes there's anything to forgive. You need to talk to him, that's the only thing that will heal either of you or else the suffering you're both feeling will be compounded by loneliness."
"I can't…" Seven admitted her voice thick with grief.
Janeway stood up, turning away from her towards the door. "Seven, you've spent your life here running away from emotions until you learn to adapt but…" She was tempted to say love but hadn't got her head around it enough yet to say it when referring to Chakotay and Seven. "…this particular emotion involves another person and sometimes they can't wait for you…you have to take the risk at the time, if you don't you'll regret it believe me."
Seven looked at her and saw sincerity in her face. "I…understand Captain."
"I hope so." Said the Captain in a satisfied tone, making her way to the door. Turning back for a moment she said quietly, "Good Luck Seven."
"Thank you." Murmured Seven after a confused pause, seeing some sort of accepting consent on her mentor's face. She wasn't sure how long she sat without moving on that biobed, all she knew was that it was now well into the night as she finally made her decision and tapped her comm. badge. "Computer, locate Commander Chakotay."
"Commander Chakotay is in Holodeck 2." Said the Computer in that monotone yet confident voice.
Holodeck 2? Wasn't it considered strange to be on a holodeck at 0230 hours? Her stressed heart saw an escape route, she shouldn't interfere in his privacy, their conversation could wait until tomorrow. Yet in her soul she knew it couldn't wait and mentally begging her resolve not to desert her she took off her comm. badge and made her way to the holodeck.
She paused in front of the doors, securely locked from the inside. Perhaps she had been foolish in abandoning her comm. badge, she couldn't call him. If you called him you wouldn't speak, the logical side of her brain reminded her and after a second of consideration she jammed her nanoprobe injectors into the door control and ordered them to open and lock again behind her. As they obediently slid open, the thought occurred to her that the last time she'd been on the holodeck was with the Chakotay hologram, how much had changed since then! At least she'd had the sense have the operation performed on her cortical node while the Doctor treated her injures. Pushing all such distracting thoughts from her head she stepped inside to confront her fears.
Splashing water was such a relaxing sound, he'd always thought so but even this bombarded his brain with other peoples' memories of similar situations. The unmistakably technological sound of powered doors shattered his concentration and his strained nerves. "For God's sake, leave me alone!" He snarled without turning around to face the intruder.
"I…I apologise Commander, I will leave…" The voice although less certain and undoubtedly more emotional than normal was still recognisable and his head snapped round.
"Seven?" He breathed in disbelief as his eyes met hers. She broke eye contact first, biting her lip and he knew he'd trigged a flight response. In desperation he stuttered, "Stay…please…I…" He couldn't get any further, but he succeeded in as far that she remained rooted to the spot.
Seven's gaze flickered around wildly, anything to avoid meeting the dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on her. They were standing in front of a beautiful tall, flowing, sparklingly clear waterfall within a lush tropical forest; the whole scene seemed eerily familiar. "Is this…"
"It's Ledosia yes. Near where you found the shuttle." Chakotay replied, glad for a neutral topic.
Seven's hand brushed a large flower. "It's perfect. True to life in every detail…" She stopped, blushing. She shouldn't be in here, in this sanctuary he had obviously created for himself.
He smiled; he now knew that to call something perfect was the absolute highest praise she could give. It was a good thing; he'd created it for her after all, for their date that had never happened… He looked down at his hands, familiar human and new cybernetic and spoke suddenly without looking at her. "The memories…of those that are gone…why haven't they driven you insane?"
Seven surprised herself by deflecting the question. "Many people maintain that I am not fully sane." She replied in her best impression of a light tone.
"Don't say that, that's not true!" He corrected her hotly.
Seven thought for a moment and sat down on the springy grass with her legs crossed, giving him a nervous sidelong glance as she did so. "It can be disconcerting sometimes I suppose, I have lived with the memories of others for so long they are a part of me now, without them I would have very little of my own…" She paused again. "When I feel guilt for what has happened to those people, I remember that these…fragments are all that remain of them as individuals and I should…respect and care for them as such."
Chakotay thought back, yes he'd had visions of death and assimilation but on the whole much of what remained wasn't sinister, just peoples' memories as she had said. He looked over at her again, shaking and vulnerable and was overwhelmed with grief for them both and gratitude and respect that she'd sought him out while she herself was suffering. Silently he rose and sat down beside her, managing to meet her eyes as he said, "Thank you Seven."
Seven's head lowered even further, her eyes fixed on his cybernetic hand. "For what?" she asked in bitter confusion.
"What do you mean for what? For saving me! For being here now…"
A sob rose in her chest. "I didn't save you; I'm the cause of it all! They wanted me; if I wasn't here you wouldn't have gone through this…" Teardrops began to fall with a steady rhythm.
"Seven…you can't think this is all your fault?" He questioned seriously, lifting her face up with his hand as she half nodded. "It's not! It's the Borg's fault and no one else's. Please believe that!"
"But you can't forgive me after this!" She exclaimed tearfully.
"I can because there's nothing to forgive!" He practically shouted. "Don't torment yourself like this, not when I love you so…"
Seven let her hand brush his face. "You can't say that now, wait until you adapt…then your humanity will reassert itself…"
He laughed. "Are we acting like Borg right now? Listen, the one thing this has taught me is to embrace emotion because you never know when it will be taken from you…one day without it was enough…you've survived eighteen years of that…"
Seven halted, looking at the beloved, impassioned face. "Are you certain?" She asked in a barely audible whisper.
"I know my own mind, my own heart. I did before all this and it's only made everything clearer."
Seven looked at him for a moment and kissed him gently. "As do I…finally." His only reply was to wrap his arms around her and return the kiss, with that they both let their Borg pasts go and let humanity embrace them again.
A/n: I hope you like the ending, please review! Thanks to SweetDeath04, DestinChild, lisac1965, Captain Ryder, MidnightVampireCharlotte and lizzy74656.
lisac1965, my faithful reviewer has published two brilliant C7 one shots, they're on my favourites page, please review them too and hopefully she'll write more!