A/n: Wow, this story has reached 200 reviews in 24 chapters, that's a record for me! Thank you so much for all the feedback and support everyone, I truly appreciate it. Please keep it up and enjoy this chapter! :)
Seven squinted in distaste as she stood in the half light of the Cargo Bay, positioned in front of the cracked mirror which had been discarded from someone's quarters and she'd been using with increasing frequency lately, not least the night before when she'd chosen her outfit for the party. Her Borg mindset had resisted the urge to replicate a new one; it was an irrational impulse of vanity. Still, she mentally remarked wryly, here she was acting on that same impulse with flawed materials, the Collective wouldn't have approved of that either. Slowly, she traced one finger over the rim of her optical implant, brushing her forehead as she did so at almost the exact place where her cortical node was locked deep in her skull. An unintentional sigh left her throat then as she gazed at her pale reflection on the mirror's dusty surface, the failsafe hadn't fully triggered last night but its warning pangs and the inevitable accompanying dreams had disturbed her regeneration enough to drain her complexion and keep a tired wrinkle lingering between her brows.
As the clock ticked ever closer to her duty shift in Astrometrics starting, the same question that had been on repeat in her mind echoed again, what should I do? The initial argument she'd made to the Doctor concerning her failsafe still held true, mostly. However, she'd defied the premise of that argument just by agreeing, tentatively or not, to join Commander Chakotay on a dinner date. It was likely, in all honesty even probable, that the failsafe would activate in such a situation but be that as it may she didn't want to back out, the spark of excitement, of hope, she felt at the prospect somehow dominated over the waves of fear she was experiencing simultaneously.
The languid swish of the Computer dragging the Cargo Bay's hulking pair of doors open made her jump violently, inhaling sharply as she whipped her head around to confront the intruder.
Chakotay's warm smile tensed sheepishly as he registered her reaction to his arrival. "Good morning Seven." He swallowed nervously as she stared at him wordlessly, "I'm sorry, did I disturb you?"
Seven hurriedly stepped unconsciously back from the mirror, managing this time to smother her blush before it diffused over her cheeks. "No, not at all. I was just…" She trailed off, realising a lie would trap her in a corner, and instead turned to face him, quirking an eyebrow mildly, "Don't you have a duty shift on the Bridge this morning?"
Chakotay met her gaze as her eyes swept appraisingly over his freshly pressed uniform. "I'm on my way there." He confirmed quickly, "I just thought I'd come here first." He gulped again as surprise immediately radiated from her serious, sky blue eyes. "To see if you still wanted me to come with you when you ask the Captain about the uniform…"
"Yes." Seven cut in a little too emphatically, "I…believe I will need the support."
"Okay." Chakotay agreed softly, "Although, honestly, I don't think you'll need me too much. The Captain will be delighted that you're asking."
Seven glanced back at her reflection in the mirror for a split second, morbidly struck by the fact that the crack in the glass divided her face almost exactly into the side scarred by unavoidable implants and the more human side, although even there the spider web of an implant splayed at the base of her ear marred the image. How could she presume the right to wear such a visible emblem of Starfleet acceptance when she was so…damaged? "Perhaps." She murmured pensively.
Chakotay, who had intently followed her gaze and felt his heart drop as he guessed her train of thought, stepped briskly forward and firmly gripped her elbow. "For definite." He corrected implacably.
Seven looked up at him uncertainly as she nodded slowly, very aware of the comfortable, warm pressure of his hold on her. "Probably." She conceded.
Chakotay let his grip slacken, he didn't want to push her too far, but at least he'd been there to offer reassurance. He couldn't help but note that she took a deep breath as he let her go, then promptly realised that he was doing the exact same. "I thought we'd wait until early afternoon to talk to her, this morning is quite busy for all three of us. Besides…" He added lightly, "The Captain is most amenable to conversation after her third or fourth coffee of the day, which generally falls just after lunch."
An amused, knowing smile pulled at the edges of Seven's lips but she suppressed the brief urge to laugh outright. "I have noticed that trend in her behaviour also." She told him, shaking her head and giving an exaggerated sigh as he chuckled, "Both the Doctor and I have tried to convince her as to the dangers of caffeine addiction to no avail."
Chakotay laughed louder at her openly joking manner, "There's no hope of that advice taking hold I'm afraid, I've been telling her to cut down for almost seven years now and she only drinks more."
"Maybe you're just not very convincing." Seven suggested teasingly, grimacing slightly when she mentally noted how incorrect that statement was, he'd been convincing her to do things that were outside her comfort range at every turn recently.
Chakotay's laugh this time rang a little more awkwardly, though he took it good-humouredly in the sense it was meant, unconsciously shifting uncomfortably as he spoke again, "Maybe, you'll have to ask her." His gaze was suddenly unwavering as his tone abruptly turned serious, "Are you still willing to join me for dinner tonight Seven?"
Seven, in the back of her mind, thought she detected a nervous edge to his soft, velvety voice but quickly dismissed the idea as improbable. Why would he be nervous? He had done the asking and presumably had much greater experience with 'dating' than she had… Perhaps he is apprehensive about being so intimately alone with ex-drone? A harsh, pessimistic mental voice hissed, or maybe he regrets asking you at all? She had to close her eyes for a moment as these doubts oppressed her, the now increasingly familiar first spasm of pain from the failsafe hitting her head like a warning shot. As she opened her eyes again though and saw that he'd seen her discomfort and stepped closer in concern, the whole of his handsome face lined with it as he continued to watch her, somehow that sight brought a positive, even light, reply to her lips. "Yes, I am most willing." She told him, "My decision has not altered since last night…"
Hearing the tiny quiver of uncertainty in her voice and so guessing that she'd just stopped herself from tagging a question onto the end of that last statement, Chakotay hurried to reassure her, "I'm glad." He paused for a moment to smile at her tentatively, "Honestly, I came to the decision to ask you days ago and I certainly haven't changed my mind."
"Oh." Seven breathed out before she could stop herself, somewhat startled by his timescale. Days? She knew that she somehow managed to make a good impression on him last night but Chakotay considering his offer for days struck her as improbable, too flattering to her to be true. "I…" She trailed off, brushing her hand over her throbbing forehead as her mind rushed suddenly into a decision. "I am not sure of what time I will be able to come…" Seeing his face fall, she hastily explained, "One of my implants must be repaired and I am uncertain how long it will take the Doctor to fix it, that's all."
"You're unwell?" Chakotay broke in, scrutinising her intently.
"It…shouldn't be serious." Seven assured him awkwardly, able to skirt the truth but avoiding telling him a complete lie either. "The Doctor has told me he'll be able to correct the problem, it really just causes…headaches under certain circumstances."
Chakotay tried to smooth out his frown for her sake but didn't quite succeed. "What I saw you have just now looked more like a serious migraine." He said tightly, though he quickly backed off as he saw her flinch in reply, "Don't worry, just let me know when you're available, I can give you the day off if you need it…"
"That shouldn't be necessary." Seven answered firmly, though a second later her gaze and tone dipped shyly, bordering on ashamed. "I would appreciate it if my duty shift for this morning could be altered slightly however, I should probably go to Sickbay now."
"Sure, of course!" Chakotay replied empathically, "Take all the time you need. The most important thing is your health."
Seven forced her eyes up towards his again, but to him her expression still seemed surprisingly muted, her face pale. "Thank you."
The Doctor was distractedly humming along to the score from Madame Butterfly in his office when he heard the careful swish of Sickbay's doors opening behind him. The tune died on his lips as he saw Seven standing just within the threshold, as tense as a wound spring but with an odd light in her pinched eyes too. "Seven? What can I do for you?" he asked cautiously, "Your next maintenance check isn't until tomorrow…" Really, in his ideal world it wouldn't have set so many alarm bells ringing for Seven to wander into Sickbay unannounced, he would've loved to see more of her casually after all, but as it was he was resigned to her only coming here when necessity prescribed it.
"I am well aware of our schedule Doctor." Seven replied, taking a deep breath before walking straight up to him. "I am here to enquire...about your research into the failsafe incorporated into my cortical node." Another weighted breath left her, "I have…reconsidered your effort to attempt to remove it."
To say that the Doctor was awestruck would've been an understatement, although he supposed he should've been used to her directness of manner by now as he tried to gather his disbelief and delight into a coherent reply. "Really Seven?" he finally asked thickly, letting a smile break out across his face only when she nodded quietly, "Well, I have to tell you how utterly relieved I am that you've come to this decision Seven, the dangers of your situation, not to mention the whole range of emotions you were cutting yourself off from completely, had me truly worried about you…"
Seven pressed her lips together, "I presume your concern led you to research methods on how to remove the failsafe?"
The Doctor nodded vigorously, "Oh yes, I've been working on the problem constantly ever since it presented itself." He assured her before his voice became a little disappointed, "Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a way to resolve it in a single operation, it would take at least two."
"Could you start the process now at least?" Seven asked pointedly.
"I'd rather not leave you in this position for a second longer Seven." The Doctor informed her empathically before taking his time to stand back for a moment and study her. She looked pale, tired and decidedly preoccupied. "Seven, do you mind me asking what has precipitated this change of heart?"
She visibly stiffened, her chest going still. "I…merely spent time considering the situation and came to the conclusion that I had perhaps not included all relevant variables when I came to my original decision." She replied with deflecting scientific blandness.
The Doctor was surprised how quickly he saw through that to pick out one particular 'variable', Commander Chakotay, the flesh and blood man this time. Even he, who hadn't particularly wanted to see anything, had noticed that they'd been happy in each other's company during the party the night before and, looking back, he realised that Chakotay had been edging closer to Seven for weeks now. He was grateful that the shift in the relationship had drawn her reckless game of Russian roulette with the failsafe to a halt, but everything else about it left him uneasy, and not just for personal reasons. Perhaps he was judging the Commander's intentions harshly, he knew him to be a good man, but his first concern had to be for Seven and her welfare, didn't it? It would be a tragedy if Seven's first experience of being free of the failsafe was the pain of being hurt. He couldn't help but think back to the story of the opera he'd just been listening to, Seven didn't deserve to be cast aside like a modern day Madame Butterfly, it would set her back so much. It was more than possible, Chakotay didn't have the best romantic track record, and had had a good number of the exotic away mission flings First Officers were infamous for, and then there were the crew's unsubstantiated, but stubborn, suspicions about him and the Captain…
Seeing Seven eyeing him apprehensively, the Doctor put his medical professional hat back on. "That's good to hear and if that's the case I don't see why we shouldn't start now. Be that as it may, it's my duty to warn you that the halfway period between the two operations will be difficult to navigate."
"In what way?" Seven murmured, fear now resurfacing in her voice, "I won't be able to feel the emotions?"
"Oh no, I think you will." The Doctor answered, "In fact, from my study of the failsafe I think your entire emotional range will be more acute. Although the failsafe only triggers at the onset of…" He cleared his throat, "…certain emotions, I think it's been systemically dulling your emotional reactions to everything." He squeezed her shoulder, "It will be frightening for you at first, but you'll get through it." He waited for her to nod before continuing, "Your cortical node will be fragile until the process is completed, but realistically we need at least a couple of days between the two stages for safety. The failsafe will still be nominally active during that time…" Seeing her blanch, he rushed to assure her, "But the threshold for it triggering should be much higher. Since you've managed so long with only triggering it once in its current settings, your emotional state would need to be extreme before that happened, which I think is unlikely while you're aware of your condition, right?"
"Yes…" Seven agreed slowly.
The Doctor gave her arm a gentle pat as he showed her a small cortical monitor. "I'd have you wear this between the operations so I can monitor your condition, if anything did happen with the failsafe you'd be beamed straight here."
Seven remained in a thoughtful silence for a moment before giving a resolute nod. "Then I give you permission to perform the first operation right now Doctor."
A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I know that the Doctor had the failsafe removal down to a single operation by "Endgame" but this story is only set a couple of days after "Natural Law" so he hasn't had the extra time. Also, as I'm sure you've gathered, the change is important to the plot!