That evening, Tom and Harry were playing pool at Sandrine's. Harry had been silent all evening, as he was still engaged in a mental war with himself over his actions with Seven, especially this evening. He regretted being so curt with her, but he had felt it was the only way he could protect himself from getting hurt by her. He now knew, however, that Tom had been right. If Seven had wanted nothing to do with him, she wouldn't have asked him to dinner. Seven was direct enough that if she didn't want the be friends any more, she would have told him. She didn't have the finesse to do that sort of thing over a meal.
Harry's mental distraction made his pool skills even less than they usually were. Tom noticed this, and knew what it was that was distracting his friend. As he sunk the eight ball, winning his fourth game in a row, he decided to broach the subject.
"Care to talk about it, Harry?"
Harry sighed. "Not really, Tom."
It was Tom's turn to sigh. "You can't keep it bottled up inside you forever, Har. You have to talk to them sometime."
"I know, Tom. You should have brought B'Elanna along. I really want to make up with her. We should call her, if she wants to come and shoot pool with us."
Tom's face burst into a smile a mile wide. B'Elanna had been distraught ever since her fight with Seven and Harry, and worried that Harry would hold it against her permanently. Tom figured that Harry just needed some time to himself. It turned out he was right.
"I'm sure she'd love to, buddy, but she's pulling a double shift - Beta and Gamma. I'll tell her you want to get together, though; she'll love to hear it."
Harry smiled at that. At least one situation would be resolved. "Do you know if she'll be free for breakfast the day after tomorrow? I'd like a chance to make up with her - on my own, if that's all right, Tom."
"No problem, Harry. I think she's free that morning. I'll give her your message." Tom felt good at this. It was at least progress. He decided to try and push his luck a little. "Now, how about Seven? When are you going to talk with her?"
Harry gave Tom his undivided attention at that. Tom thought his friend would tell him to mind his own business, but Harry gave in a little.
"We worked together today. You're right - she doesn't want to have nothing to do with me. She asked me to dinner."
"That's great!" Tom exclaimed. Then he noticed Harry wasn't smiling. "Wait a minute. You didn't do something stupid like turn her down, did you?"
Harry looked glum. "Yeah, I did. I didn't want to hear that 'I like you as a friend' speech from her. Not today."
Tom rolled his eyes. "Harry, I don't think that the Borg ever learn the 'just friends' line. And it probably isn't one of the things the Captain has taught her while they're playing velocity. Tell me something." He waited until Harry was looking straight at him. "I think I knew the answer, but was B'Elanna right? Do you love her?"
"Yeah, as stupid as it is, I do."
"It's not stupid, Harry. But if you love her, you have to talk to her. Even if she doesn't feel for you what you do for her. You have to talk to her," Tom reiterated.
"I will. I just don't know what to say to her."
"Well, figure something out, Harry. Now rack 'em up, let's see if I can make it five in a row."
The next afternoon, Commander Chakotay sauntered into the mess hall whistling a merry tune. He looked over to Neelix's counter, and saw the morale officer chatting amiably with Samantha Wildman. The Talaxian would occasionally reach out and touch her arm while speaking with her, and Chakotay thought he saw Neelix looking happier than he had in a long time, whenever he was with Ensign Wildman. Considering Neelix's usual happy expression, that was saying a lot. He wandered over to the pair, and greeted them with a cheery hello.
"Hello, Commander," Sam Wildman responded. "We'll see you at 1900, right Neelix?"
"That's right," he replied.
"Until then. Bye, Commander." She waved and left the mess hall.
"Good afternoon, Commander," Neelix said to Chakotay. "What can I get you today?"
"Just some egg salad sandwiches, Neelix; I have to get back to the bridge. Are you babysitting Naomi tonight?"
"Actually, Sam invited me over to dinner."
Chakotay shot Neelix and impish grin. "Dinner, eh? You been having a lot of those with Ensign Wildman lately. Just being a good godfather to Naomi, right?" he asked slyly.
Neelix blushed a little as he made Chakotay his sandwiches. "That's part of it," he admitted to the First Officer.
"Ah. So, any other gossip I should hear about?"
Neelix was glad to be off the hook himself. "Well, the Carey-Ayala practical joke war goes on. After Richard Ayala rigged Joe's sonic shower to blare Andorian religious chants at Joe, he vowed revenge. He adjusted Richard's commbadge to constantly play Bajoran children's songs every time he entered the holodeck." Neelix grinned at this. "Rather ruined his date with Stephanie Scheelar from Communications, I'm afraid. I wonder how he'll retaliate."
"Just so long as it doesn't affect the ship," Chakotay warned.
"Oh, I don't think you have to worry, Commander. They're very good at that sort of thing."
"Keep me posted." Chakotay looked across the mess hall. "Why is Seven of Nine eating alone? Doesn't she usually eat with Harry? He is on lunch, so I thought he'd be here."
Neelix moved in closer to Chakotay. Whispering, he said, "Something's been going on with them, but I don't know what. A few days ago, he turned her away from his table. He hasn't been eating with Tom and B'Elanna, either, but at least he smiles at them."
In a hushed voice, Chakotay answered, "He didn't look to happy about helping her in Astrometrics yesterday, either. I'll have to find out what's going on."
"Tell me when you do, Commander."
Chakotay ginned as the jovial Talaxian handed him his sandwiches. "You bet." He returned to the bridge.
Tom Paris was in the shuttle bay, trying to fix the propulsion controls of the Delta Flyer. Ever since it had become Voyager's shuttle of choice, his 'baby', as he thought of his, had been taking a beating. "I need a hand," he mumbled to himself. The only ones he felt comfortable about working on it with him were the designers of the Flyer - B'Elanna, Harry, and Seven. Even the repair crews from Shuttlecraft Maintenance made him anxious. Having finally gotten his perfect shuttle, high performance, and with an actual cockpit and controls that made him feel like a pilot instead of a computer technician, he didn't like the thought of anyone else meddling with it.
B'Elanna was busy in Engineering today, however. He knew she had a nasty schedule, and would be working straight through until 0700, when she'd have breakfast with Harry. So he tapped his commbadge to hail Harry.
"Paris to Kim."
** Kim here. What's up, Tom? **
"You busy, buddy? I need a hand on the Delta Flyer."
** Sorry Tom, I'm stuck on the bridge for a while. Try Maintenance. **
"And let them ruin my new toy? Maybe not."
** Sorry I can't help you, Tom. Try B'Elanna. Kim out. **
Tom groaned. Then he hit his commbadge again, muttering, "If at first you don't succeed..."
"Paris to Seven of Nine."
** What do you need, Lieutenant? **
"Are you busy in Astrometrics, Seven?"
** I am presently in Cargo Bay 2. My duty shift ended one hour ago. **
"Care to give me some assistance on the Delta Flyer?"
** I will be there shortly. Seven out. **
They worked together of the Flyer for two hours, and not only fixed the propulsion controls, but managed to increase the power efficiency of the Delta Flyer. Seven looked at Tom and told him, "This is the method I tried to use for Voyager three days ago. Lieutenant Torres objected to it."
Tom didn't want to be caught in the middle of this the way Harry had. "It's very efficient, and it works here because we have no other modifications to make."
She responded with a mere nod.
Tom had to admit that for whatever faults Seven had, she was an efficient worker. When he expressed his admiration for her focus to her, she answered in a way he wouldn't have expected.
"I have not been very efficient recently, Lieutenant."
"Why's that?" Tom asked. He suspected he knew the answer.
Seven hesitated. She would rather discuss this with the Captain or Tuvok, but Lieutenant Paris was here. He was also Ensign Kim's friend. Perhaps he could give her an insight into his mind. "I have been preoccupied with attempting to ascertain the reason that Ensign Kim is avoiding me." She looked straight at the Lieutenant. "You have been Ensign Kim's friend since you boarded Voyager, correct?"
"Since the day before, actually."
"Then perhaps you can explain why he is avoiding me. Does it have something to do with my recent dispute with Lieutenant Torres?"
Tom answered, "You really should ask Harry that, Seven. You should hear it from him."
"Logically, he will not tell me why he is avoiding, because he is avoiding me, Lieutenant. That is why I am asking you."
That elicited a sigh from Tom. "Fine. But before I tell you anything you have to promise to talk about this with Harry as soon as possible. O.K.?"
"I will try," she said, somewhat less than impassively.
"That's all I can ask," he said with a grin. "He's been worried that you wouldn't want to have anything to do with him, since, well, since B'Elanna said what she said."
"That he is in love with me."
Tom nodded.
"Ensign Kim is my friend. He was the first person on this ship to try and befriend me, and he has been persistent in his friendship despite my initially viewing him as an annoyance," she admitted. "Why would I want to discontinue that friendship?"
"I honestly have no idea, Seven. I think this whole problem is all in Harry's mind. You get that way when -" Tom stopped there.
"When what, Lieutenant?"
"When you're in love."
Seven's eyes widened. "So Lieutenant Torres was correct. Harry is in love with me."
Seven's use of his friend's first name brought a grin to Tom's face. "Yes, 'Harry' is in love with you. He has been for quite a while. Probably since he first met you."
In a confused voice, Seven asked Tom, "Then why did he not wish to copulate with me last year?"
"You know, Seven, lots of people on this ship would be surprised to hear me, of all people, say this, but there's more to love than just copulation. You were new to humanity - innocent, in a way. Harry didn't want to just have sex with you, Seven. He wanted a relationship. He still does."
Seven looked troubled at what Tom had just said, so he started to ask probing questions. "How do you feel about Harry? Is it just friendship? Or something more?"
The former Borg's answers were faltering. "I... he... I don't know."
"Do you think about him much?"
A small smile came to her face. It was the first one that Tom had ever seen, but Harry had told him that she smiled to him occasionally. Seeing this hint of a smile on the blonde woman's face made Tom understand what Harry saw in her even more that he previously did.
"I find I am often contemplating Ensign Kim. I enjoy working with him, and I enjoy dining and conversing with him after our duty shifts." Her face fell a bit. "Until he stopped wanting to take his meals with me."
Tom persisted. "Sounds like you have feelings for him. Do you love him?"
Seven hesitated again. "I do not know. I do not know if I feel as strongly for Ensign Kim as he does for me, but I do enjoy his company." She shook her head. "I wish he were not avoiding me."
"Sometimes, Seven, I've found you can't let people avoid you for too long. They may need space, but sometimes too much space can be a bad thing. That's how it was with me and B'Elanna."
"She tried to avoid you before your 'relationship'?"
Tom looked wistful. "Yeah. A lot. B'Elanna was special in a way no other woman had been to me, and I know she liked me, but she didn't know how to deal with it. I had quite a bad reputation before I got together with her, you know."
"I have heard some of the crew mention this."
"Anyway, because she didn't know what to do, she tried to avoid me a lot of the time. I knew she needed some space, but if I let her stay away from me as much as she thought she needed, she would have never dealt with me, and we wouldn't have our relationship. And we'd both be very unhappy.
"Harry might think he has to avoid you, Seven, but I think he's wrong. You obviously do too. Don't let him avoid you forever."
Seven nodded. "Thank you for your suggestion, Lieutenant." She started towards the door of the shuttlebay.
Tom stopped her. "Two things before I let you go. One: don't tell Harry what I told you. Trust me, he'd must rather tell you himself, even if he doesn't know it."
"And the second thing, Lieutenant?"
Tom looked at Seven very seriously. "The second thing is, don't toy with Harry. If you really feel for him, Seven, that's great, and you have my full support. I think you and Harry could make each other very happy. But if you just want to experiment with someone, to try a relationship as a learning experience, then my advice is DON'T. Not with Harry. He really cares about you, and I don't want to see him hurt. And neither does B'Elanna. If you only want to stay friends, tell him. It would hurt him less than to be used as -"
"As a 'lab rat', Lieutenant?"
"Yeah. That's what B'Elanna said, isn't it?"
Seven frowned. "Yes, it is. As I told her, I would never use Ensign Kim as an experiment. But..." she looked directly at him with a worried expression on her face. "But I am unsure as to whether I 'love' Harry. I wish to spend time with him, and they idea of an association with him similar to the one between you and Lieutenant Torres is one I often find myself contemplating, but as I said, I am unsure whether I feel as strongly for him as he does for me."
Tom now smiled warmly at the unsure woman before him. "Well, it does sound like you're interested in him, at least. And we humans have a way of dealing with feelings that are more than friendship, but may not *yet*" he stressed the 'yet' "be love."
"And that method is what?"
"Our 'method', Seven, is dating," Tom answered.
"I will look it up in the databases. Thank you for your assistance, Lieutenant."
"Just remember, Seven, don't let him avoid you."
"I will not." She left the shuttlebay.
Behind her, Tom Paris was smiling. To no one in particular, he said, "You owe me one, Harry."