=A=

Seven's lungs hurt for no discernable reason. They burned, in fact.

This was not happening—her pride would not let it happen. She'd fallen for that benign-looking cover before, and she wouldn't be fooled again. Accepting those words was playing with fire, leading down a slippery slope that ended in pain. She'd choked on that smoke, that friendly ruse, too many times before.

Still, Kathryn Janeway's eyes followed her.

She felt them, hawkish, every so often…whenever their paths crossed. Seven tried to make sure they didn't.

They had not spoken since Seven had made it clear that there was no need to. She refused to make eye contact or acknowledge the Admiral in any way if possible—Seven ignored the situation and thus relegated the Admiral to insignificant status. After all, hadn't Janeway engaged in the same behavior not so long ago, used the same tactic? The message should have been absolutely clear. Clear as acid.

Inside her dormitory quarters, in the silence, she dropped her bag and set a PADD on the table. Her quarters were dim; she did not need full illumination. Seven approached the replicator to make an order, as she always did after Velocity practice.

"Energy supplement 8," she requested. It beeped a confirmation and her food appeared shortly. A liquid ion supplement followed, one that Seven actually found palatable.

Then again, a lot of things seemed more palatable after Neelix's cooking.

She took the supplements to her bedside and consumed them at a leisurely pace, enjoying the bits of flavor. Her room wasn't very garishly decorated; it was spartan. That wouldn't have surprised anyone. There wasn't much to look at as she ate, so she replayed the points she had scored during practice. Seven slowed and froze specific shots, studying the angle of her phaser and the placement of the Velocity disc. Today's workout had been an extremely successful one, at least on Seven's end; she had lost only a few points even against the better players on the Academy team.

Her mental exercise completed minutes later, she got up and scanned the PADD on the table to begin her next workout. It contained some of the lecture notes for her classes today. She was in the middle of reviewing them when her door chimed.

Eyes fixed on the door, she lowered the PADD. "Computer, identify the visitor."

The computer beeped in acknowledgement.

"The visitor is Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway."

Seven took a breath, startled but not surprised. "Admiral Janeway is denied access to these quarters."

Outside, she could hear Janeway's raised yet muffled voice.

Seven of Nine, I've had a lot of coffee, and I'll melt through this door with a phaser if I have to. Don't test me.

Though she undoubtedly would have made good on her promise, Admiral Janeway was able to easily override the standard lock on cadet quarters using her security codes. She stepped inside, looking very perturbed.

"That was completely unnecessary," she commented, ignoring Seven's atomic glare.

"You realize that you are trespassing," Seven coolly informed her. "Please remove yourself from my quarters."

Janeway smiled, stepping fluidly towards the blonde. "They're Starfleet's. And I am authorized to enter them with probable cause."

"You do not have probable cause. Get out."

"I have something to say," Janeway persisted, coming to stop a few feet from the other woman. "Something that should not be said outside of these quarters," she added quietly.

"I don't want to hear it!" Seven's eyes flashed angrily. "Leave!"

The older woman chose to say her piece anyways, diving into their shared personal territory and dragging Seven with her.

"A long time ago, you told me that you believed you had fallen in love with me." She kept her eyes clear and her hands at her sides as she spoke. "That you exhibited all of the symptoms, and that you believed it was possible I felt the same way."

The ex-Borg stood still as a statue, with eyes of stone.

"You asked me if I reciprocated those feelings," Janeway resolutely went on, gambling that Seven was reliving this particular memory as often as she was. "I told you that I did not."

Seven's jaw tightened dangerously. Janeway reached for damage control, but the detonation was long since happening.

"I was trying to protect you, Seven—"

"You nearly destroyed me in the process!"

"I didn't mean to—"

"To hurt me?" Seven cut in bitterly. "You took everything from me and then pretended—continue to pretend—like nothing happened," she seethed, eyes blazing with hell still left to pay. "You knew I was fragile and yet left me alone to deal with all of it! You were a coward."

"A coward?" Janeway nearly choked, suddenly feeling as though she were on her knees. So much for asking Seven about her feelings.

"Yes, fearless Captain Janeway was a coward," the younger woman repeated furiously, and then delivered the coup de grace. "She was too much of a coward to admit that she felt the exact same way."

Seven's eyes could have cut diamonds.

Janeway crossed the space, refusing to allow guilt to splinter over her features. She stood inches from the younger woman's scathing gaze, matching it evenly.

"I am not a coward."

Seven almost sneered down at her, offended at the very suggestion.

Janeway reached up and kissed her.

Even as she felt the smaller woman's hands on her neck and face, and the soft pressure of her lips, Seven could only instinctively close her eyes. The Admiral soon moved to her neck, fingers now firmly in her hair. The breath on her skin was warm and inviting. She was vaguely aware—somewhere—that this was the moment she had been starving for. Still frozen, she let the older woman tentatively begin to touch her body.

Is it really being rewritten after all these long years of regret?

Her anger and pain thawed under Janeway's hands as they gently fell along her back. The hurt and resentment trickled away from her face; hardness dissipated under the salve of the Admiral's hesitating, sensual apology…the long-awaited cure to her misery.

Seven was finally able to regain control of her body.

She pushed Janeway several steps backwards into the wall, both of them breathing heavily as they stared at each other in the dim light. Seven intently studied the older woman's eyes.

They were unguarded and sorry, and that was all she was looking for.

The ex-Borg pounced, unable to contain the desire burning throughout her body at the sight of a surrendering Admiral Janeway.

She closed the distance as Janeway's hands rose to meet her. Seven smoothly intercepted them and thrust the Admiral into the wall, easily pinning her by the wrists with one hand. The hold was tight, practiced, and left Janeway's hands trapped helplessly above her head.

Seven used her free hand to stroke the Admiral's jaw.

"Clearly you have been busy learning," Janeway murmured, unused to being so defenseless but finding the role reversal enjoyable. "Although I wish it had been under my guidance…"

The younger woman deliberately let her trail off, staring at her in the most unchaste way.

Janeway felt her pulse race.

The ex-Borg smiled suggestively, then leaned in with ease and began to slide her tongue along the Admiral's ear. It was an achingly slow journey. A shiver shot through the shorter woman's yielding body, traveling faintly into Seven's hand. She moved her hand from Janeway's face and let it wander down lazily…until it found its way underneath the Starfleet uniform and caught on the hem it sought.

As her fingers crept along the border between fabric and skin, Seven moved to the Admiral's exposed neck.

Withstanding the combination of Seven's teasing hand and wet kisses became impossible, and Janeway started to struggle fiercely against the other woman's hold on her wrists.

This only increased the strength with which the ex-Borg held her, causing sparks of pain to fly from Janeway's arms.

"Submit," she commanded tightly, lightly pressing her thigh into the correct place.

The Admiral made a strangled noise that Seven recognized as a low moan. She also recognized it as code for give me more, and obliged. She returned to Janeway's neck with vigor and rocked into her, with just enough force so that she could feel the friction.

Janeway closed her eyes against the overwhelming sensation of pleasure and tilted her her head back against the wall. She no longer cared about her bound and upraised hands, and forgot any lingering concerns about their relationship; her lips parted involuntarily as she let go.

Seven watched it happen, watched the compliance melt over Janeway's face and the way her lips moved, and grinned wantonly.

"I accept your submission," she whispered, feeling the last drops of her anger drain away.

So Janeway was not a coward after all.

A/N3: As happens sometimes, this story took on a mind of its own and veered off the path I'd originally envisioned, which was almost completely Seven-centered.

I had a lot of ideas floating around about how to bridge gaps after Voyager's landing, realistically project changes in character, and expand on the context…but for all of that input, it seems I still ended up writing a condensed version of the whole potential story. It will probably be re-edited eventually and altered to fix whatever holes I find, bumps in the story flow, or to add detail and round out the storyline. But for now, this is the rough final product. If you have a suggestion or observation or anything you'd like to share, please do!

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)