Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager and anything related to it does not belong to me.

A.N. This chapter being published is entirely down to scifiromance. Really, send her any appreciation of it you might have because otherwise you might have been waiting another couple of years for it. I hope anyone who has stuck with this story enjoys it!

Chapter Five

Silence would have enveloped the Astrometrics Lab after Seven's confession if it wasn't for the harsh breathing of its two occupants. Seven's eyes were wide with barely contained panic as they looked into Chakotay's. The Commander was pretty sure his face mirrored Seven's, terrified expression and all. What they hell was he supposed to do now? He hadn't thought this through. He had assumed that if he could just get Seven to talk to him, fixing the problem would be simple. A few kind words and platitudes had been enough to reassure the Doctor, but this was different. Seven's emotions were on a whole other level to anyone else's on Voyager. There was so much that was still new to her, things she hadn't dealt with before. And she was so isolated too- not to the same degree as she was when she had first joined Voyager's crew, but still more so than anyone he knew on Voyager.

This was way out of Chakotay's league. But he certainly couldn't tell Seven that.

"It's going to be okay," he tried to inject some confidence into his voice, but the look on Seven's face did not change, except for an eyebrow that shot upwards incredulously. From that, he derived that his effort to sound like he knew exactly what he was doing had failed miserably. He decided to concede to that a little- to be more honest but still sympathetic to her pain. "Really, we'll figure out a way to fix this, Seven, a little bit at a time. I promise."

Seven's eyes dropped from his and the death grip she had on the edge of the console relaxed slightly. It encouraged Chakotay, if only a little. Her voice, however, did not. "How?" she asked, voice low, and Chakotay dearly wished that there was a real counsellor on board Voyager.

"Treat it like an experiment," he suggested. That got her attention. "The main problem, right now, is that you 're frightened of the Doctor, right?"

Seven flushed, embarrassed by her previous confession. "Correct, even though I have no reason to be."

Chakotay brushed his fingers down her arm, consolingly. "You have every reason to be afraid, Seven," he uttered gently. "It's a subconscious thing. Even though you know in your head that the Doctor won't hurt you, now that you've seen how easily he can be forced to do it, you're worried it will happen again." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "The man who tortured you looks the same as the Doctor, sounds the same as the Doctor and really is the Doctor, minus a few essential components. The key is being able to tell the difference between him with his ethical subroutines, and without."

Seven's expression was becoming steadily more morose. Analysing why she was afraid wasn't going to help. At least, not yet.

"You said you were on the Holodeck with the Doctor for two hours yesterday. Were you afraid of him then? Or is it just when he's performing medical operations?" Chakotay's question gave Seven something solid to evaluate and he watched as her brow furrowed as she considered her answer.

She took the easy question first. "I am afraid when I think of the Doctor operating on me," Seven spoke slowly, eyes pointed downwards, her gaze dancing across her fingers as though she wasn't quite sure where to look. "I have avoided Sickbay for that very reason."

Another confession she didn't quite want to give up, Chakotay realised. Then he resisted the urge to groan when another thought struck him. Seven would only be avoiding Sickbay if she had a reason to go there in the first place. He sighed, inwardly. If she was sick or hurt, even a little... But there was little he could do about that right at this moment. Then Seven continued with a statement that Chakotay had not anticipated, "When we were singing I felt..." she struggled to name emotions that she was still somewhat unfamiliar with, "disturbed."

Singing? Chakotay had heard the Doctor praising Seven's talents before but it was the first time he had ever heard her mention the hobby. It suited her, he decided, as far as hobbies went. But that wasn't what he was supposed to be concentrating. "Why did it disturb you?" he asked, not sure if she would, or even could answer the question.

"He sang-" her voice was halting as she answered the question, "and he made me sing while he was," she faltered again, stumbling over the correct way to describe her unpleasant situation onboard the Equinox, "extracting the codes to the power relays."

Even after reading the Doctor's extensive report on the matter, Chakotay didn't quite understand one thing, "Made you sing? What do you mean?"

Apparently it was the wrong question to ask. Seven seemed to draw into herself, but her voice, while quiet, was still harsh, and Chakotay shamefully felt as though he were the one interrogating her. "When the Doctor had access to both my cortical and reticular node, he was able to compel," she spat the word, "me to sing with him, against my will."

It might have been difficult for Seven to say, or to even think about, but it was something solid for Chakotay to work off. "And singing is what the two of you do together, socially?" he asked. At Seven's short, sharp nod, he continued, "I won't tell you to avoid singing altogether, Seven. It wouldn't be healthy to just ignore your fears completely. But I won't say that you should go to the Holodeck every day with the Doctor and sing, either." She was giving him a glare that implied he was being extremely unhelpful, so he decided to get straight to the point. "Why don't you ask the Doctor for some other sort of music lessons, like piano?" The glare had softened into an inquisitive stare so he continued, "That way you're not entirely avoiding the problem but you can confront it gradually."

"That is a possibility that I hadn't considered," Seven admitted softly, staring at her hands twined together on the console. "I appreciate your advice, Commander."

As she took a sip from the tea that still sat on the console, Chakotay could hear a 'but' coming...

"However, that will not help me confront the Doctor in medical matters."

Of course. He wasn't entirely aware of how often Seven had to visit Sickbay, in order to regulate her Borg implants and to deal with all those other little maladies the afflicted the crew , but Chakotay was fairly sure that it was more than anyone else. And the truth was, he really had no idea how to solve that particular problem. "I don't know, Seven. I really don't. But I know the Doctor will understand if you're hesitant. And if you want," he hesitated himself now, worried he'd be overstepping his bounds, "I'll go with you next time you need to go to Sickbay."

Seven, if it was possible, looked even more uncomfortable at the thought. Chakotay didn't know it, but the majority of her trips to Sickbay were to do with her implants and left her somewhat exposed. Once upon a time, she wouldn't have cared. But after two years living with the crew of Voyager and learning to fear the Borg, even her own implants, which kept her alive, repulsed her. She would take the benefits that they offered her, but those benefits came hand in hand with a whole host of issues, including, but not exclude to, looks of fear and disgust from those who had encountered the Borg before and the possibility that she might drop dead from one of her implants giving out. Once, she was proud of her Borg heritage. Now, she would not reveal it any more than necessary.

"That will not be necessary, Commander. I believe that this is something I should conquer on my own. But thank you for the offer." And for the reassurance, was the thought that went unsaid.

Chakotay smiled at her kindly, feeling the knot that had settled in his stomach when he had started this conversation loosen. "I know that talking about it won't solve all your problems, Seven. But if you ever want to, or you need a sounding board, you can come find me at any time." He ran his arm up her back, settling his hand comfortably on her shoulder. "Now, shouldn't you be regenerating?"

He felt her back straighten, her muscles tighten, as though bracing herself. "Yes," she said, her voice back to its normal confident tone, "I should."

Picking up their now empty mugs and trailing his hand down to the small of her back, he guided her out of Astrometrics before she had a chance to change her mind. "Come on then, I'll walk you down to the Cargo Bay."

They walked in silence at a measured pace until they reached the deck which housed Cargo Bay Two. With his hand still firmly planted on her back, Chakotay learned far more about Seven than he had from talking to her in Astrometrics. Her pace slowed and her muscles were coiled, like that of a cat about to pounce, or perhaps the mouse that was about to run away. It was this that compelled him to enter the Cargo Bay and see her safely in her alcove, when normally he would have parted ways with her at the door, reluctant to intrude into something so personal.

As she stepped onto the platform of the alcove, ready to enter the regeneration cycle, he stopped her. "Seven," he approached the topic that had been bugging him ever since Seven had made the statement it related to earlier that night. "There's one thing you said earlier that you're wrong about." She looked at him curiously, rather than appalled at the thought that she could be wrong about anything. "You said that if the Doctor wasn't your friend, you'd be alone." He shook his head as he said, "You wouldn't be. You have more friends on Voyager than you know."

Seven gave him a smile that was as rare as gold dust. "I am beginning to see that, Commander. Good night. And thank you."

Her eyes closed as she slipped into her regeneration cycle. Chakotay stayed thinking about what she had said, watching her, long after he could have left.

A.N. I hope this was worth the wait! I've been editing this on a tablet so if there are any issues I promise to sort them out as soon as I get access to a computer. Just the epilogue left now. I shall try and post it in a slightly more timely fashion than this chapter!

~Sweetdeath04