0555 hours. Seven rubbed her tired red rimmed eyes and pulled herself up from her crouching position on the cargo bay floor, her legs sagging in complaint as her veins struggled to carry blood back down to her feet. Isabel would be waking by now, she always had been an early riser and it was her duty to go and attend to her. Thinking of her children focused her eyes on the photographs which had brought her so much pain the night before, she traced her fingers across the images and reluctantly opened the container, it wouldn't do for Chakotay to see them. She carefully placed them in and closed the lid, hiding them away as she imprisoned the painful memories in her soul for another day.

Thankfully Tom and B'Elanna had left their door unlocked so she walked straight to where she'd left the children. Isabel was sitting wide awake in her cot, when she saw her mother she grabbed the bars and pulled herself into a standing position. "Mawning Mama!" she said loudly.

"Good morning baby…" she glanced over at Luke who was still sleeping soundly and put a finger to her lips, "Shhh, Luke is still asleep."

"Shhh, seeping." Whispered Isabel, lifting her arms to be picked up.

"Yes." Seven replied, lifting her out and laying her on the floor so that she could change her, sending Isabel into a fit of inexplicable giggles.

"She's tickly Mama." Seven turned to see Luke looking at them, propping himself up in bed by his elbow.

"Ticky, ticky, ticky, ticky, ticky…" Isabel sang out, enjoying saying the new word over and over.

"Mama, can we go home? I want my cars…"

"No, we can't go home…" Seven paused, struggling to make herself heard over her daughter's singing. "Isabel, that's enough now." Isabel pouted slightly but fell silent.

"Why not? What about breakfast?" asked Luke.

Isabel perked up again. "Bwekfas?"

"We'll eat in the Mess Hall today."

"But why do we have to?" Luke persisted.

"We just do!" said Seven sharply. "Be a good boy and get dressed for me." She told him more gently.

After several minutes of preparations they were all ready to go and stepped out into the hallway. Isabel sat down on the floor. "Up! Up!" she said insistently to her mother, raising her arms.

"No…" Seven helped Isabel to stand up, but didn't carry her. "You're a big girl now, you can walk like your brother." Isabel gazed up at her mother, testing her resolve. Seeing no hope she obediently toddled after Luke.

"Seven?" Tuvok's voice echoed through her comm. badge.

"Yes Captain?"

"Come to my quarters. I must discuss the current situation with you."

"I must give my children breakfast first."

"They can come with you, I have a replicator here."

Seven was unsure of the soundness of that suggestion. "Isabel needs a high chair…"

"I will provide one. I expect you within five minutes." The comm. badge clicked off, conversation over.

Seven sighed deeply, there was no escape from the questions she knew were coming. "Luke, Isabel, turn around and come with me."

" Mama, the Mess Hall is this way." Luke informed her in a patient tone.

"I am aware of that but the Captain has invited us to his quarters."

Luke was intrigued. "Really? I've never been in his quarters before!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"No, neither have I." Seven admitted unable to completely keep the apprehension from her voice.

When they entered Tuvok's dimly lit quarters, Luke and Isabel were immediately captivated, the room was full of exotic plants. Seven expertly clipped Isabel into the waiting high chair and turned to an expectant Tuvok. "What is it you wish to discuss?" she asked him bluntly.

Tuvok was stopped by replying by seeing Luke approach a particularly large purple bush and poke it curiously. "Attend to them first."

"Of course." Seven replied with a slight blush. "Luke! Come and sit at the table!" Luke reluctantly stepped away and sat next to a tall flower in a pot with two big petals like a mouth. Seven quickly replicated plain cereal, some bread rolls and cut up a selection of fruits, laying it out before the children before sitting down herself.

"Seven, you are aware of the laws of the Temporal Prime Directive aren't you?" Tuvok said suddenly.

"Yes Captain." Seven replied blandly, she knew where this was going. Seeing Luke screw up his face in disgust, she distracted herself by warning him. "Eat your fruit." Luke sullenly put a single grape in his mouth.

"It is imperative that you tell him nothing. I know it will be difficult…" He glanced at the children, "…considering your current situation but…"

"I am well aware of the complications of time travel Captain. As for my personal circumstances they are…" She had to force the word out, "…irrelevant. It would only cause both of us…difficulty if he were to become aware of how much our relationship…developed in this timeline."

"You were not involved with him as of 2nd of May 2377?"

"No." she replied stoically.

Tuvok wisely decided to leave it at that, he could tell by the expression on her face that she was telling him the truth. "Do you have any idea how this time travel occurred?"

Seven inhaled deeply, her hands clenching involuntarily. "It could be any number of things, a temporal rift, an unstable wormhole, even alien technology…"

"Would the sensors in Astrometrics detect such things?"

"Perhaps." Said Seven in a noncommittal tone.

"Begin scans immediately. He must return to where he came from."

"Yes…he must." Murmured Seven in painful agreement.

Meanwhile, Luke, not wanting to eat his apple and seeing his mother's distraction, sneakily placed a section of apple in the soil of the large strange flower which to his shock immediately reacted clamping it's "mouth" down on the fruit and dissolving it in some sort of acid. Luke's mouth dropped open. "Mama! That plant is alive, it ate my apple!"

Seven almost spat out the water she was drinking. "Luke get away from that!" she cried in panic. She dragged him away, seized his shoulders and knelt down to his eye level, breathing hard as she attempted to calm herself. "First of all I told you to eat that fruit and second of all you are not to provoke carnivorous plants! Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mama." Said Luke quietly. "What's carneevirus?"

Seven sighed in exasperation. "It's…things that eat other things. Just don't do it okay? Say sorry to the Captain."

"Sorry Captain."

Seven gulped and leaned against a wall to recover, tapping her comm. badge, she said, "Icheb, can you watch the children today?"

"Of course I can."

"Thank you." She told him in relief.

Chakotay tossed and turned in bed, the sound of screams and crying filling his dreams. Finally he was released and sat bolt upright, covered in sweat and panting. He swung his legs out of bed and shakily walked to the replicator and made a cup of tea. He sat thinking over his situation and eventually temptation won out. "Computer, when did I die?"

"Rephrase the question please."

"When did Commander Chakotay die?"

"Captain Chakotay died on Stardate 8123.1, 24th of January 2381."

"How?"

The computer beeped in denial. "Captain Chakotay's last will and testament is filed in data bank C, file Delta 9 Alpha 8."

There was something creepy in reading your own will but it seemed to be all he was going to get. "Open it."

"Access is denied to all but the designated executors."

Chakotay began to feel exasperated. "And who are they?"

"Commander Tom Paris, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and Seven of Nine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

All right, Tom and B'Elanna he could understand but Seven? He barely knew her, why would his future self give her control of his will? Well, I suppose she is practical and with Kathryn being dead and all maybe we became close. Guilt suddenly filled him, he hadn't thought about Kathryn and the circumstances of her death at all, hell he'd given more thought to Seven being married for God's sake. "Computer, when and how did Captain Janeway die?"

"Captain Kathryn Janeway died on Stardate 7809.8, 22nd of March 2379."

The computer's not going to tell me how we died, an idea hit him and he was ashamed that it hadn't occurred to him before. "Computer, access Captain Chakotay's personal logs, access code Alpha Gamma 14 Beta 1."

"Unable to comply."

"Why not? I gave you the code!"

"Unable to comply."

He kicked the console in frustration, had the crew locked him out of his own personal logs? They have a reason to; you're in the future remember? Said the logical voice in his head. I can find out things just by listening, he reasoned, opening the door. Quick as a flash a small child passed through his legs and into the room. "Bunny!" cried a little voice, before he saw the little figure crash it's head into his desk. An inconsolable wailing instantly filled the room between the sobs. "Mama…Mama!"

Chakotay rushed anxiously to the sound and saw a pale dark haired little girl, not much more than a year old in his estimation, sitting weeping on the floor, clutching the pale pink cuddly rabbit he'd found the night before. "Hey little one, what happened? Is that your bunny?" he asked her gently.

She lifted her head, revealing a pair of shimmering bright blue eyes and a quivering lip. "Oww…"

"Oh, I'm going to have to take you to the Doctor aren't I?" Chakotay muttered.

"Isabel! Isabel!" Icheb suddenly appeared in the doorway, "Oh, Isabel, what have you done?"

"Ikeb…" whimpered Isabel. Icheb walked up and took her in his arms, Luke walking close behind him.

Realisation dawned on Chakotay. "Wait, this is Seven's daughter?"

Icheb paused unsure of what to say to him, "Yes."

Isabel buried her head in Icheb's uniform, "Want…Mama…" she managed to say between sobs.

"Okay, I'll take you." Icheb murmured, guilt ridden that he had allowed her out of his sight.

Icheb, Isabel and Luke all left for Astrometrics and Chakotay followed them. Seven was standing over a console trying to concentrate on the scans and not having much luck when Luke ran in and wrapped his arms round her legs. "Mama, Isabel's hurted!"

"What? Where is she?" Seven exclaimed, turning from the console to see Icheb holding a weeping Isabel and Chakotay standing beside him. "Are you okay?" she asked Isabel anxiously, taking her from Icheb, "You found your bunny though, that's good isn't it?" Isabel just buried her head in her mother's neck and continued to cry, holding the toy by the neck.

"I think she hit her head off of my desk." Chakotay told her.

As soon as he said this the colour drained from her face. "Your quarters? She's not meant to go in there, I apologise…"

"No, no, it's okay. I think she was looking for her toy." He said in an attempt to reassure her which didn't seem to work. "Have you found what caused all this?"

"Nothing conclusive. I will need to update the sensors." She couldn't bear to look directly in his face and turned away.

Sensing that he was being dismissed, Chakotay tried to draw her back out. "She's your spitting image Seven, well except for the hair."

"Yes."

God, how could the same woman be so sweet with her children and so monosyllabic with him? The many complexities of Seven of Nine never ceased to amaze him.

Isabel began to cry again and Seven began to feel concerned, pressing her comm. badge she called the Doctor. "Doctor, Isabel has damaged herself."

"What did she do?"

"She walked into a desk." Chakotay informed him.

"Bring her to Sickbay and I'll have a look, you come too Chakotay, I need to run more tests on you."

"Luke, you stay here with Icheb. Icheb, please run more scans." Icheb nodded to her and she left with Isabel, Chakotay following behind.

"She's fine, not even a concussion. I'd just let her sleep it off." The Doctor patted Isabel on the head. Glancing nervously at the silent figures of Seven and Chakotay, he spoke again. "Seven, may I speak to you in my office for a moment?" He guided her into his office and as soon as they were out of Chakotay's earshot said, "Seven, what are you doing? I thought we agreed you were going to avoid him…"

"I cannot avoid him! I'm the one who's supposed to get him back…"

"Let Icheb do it, I know you want to see him but it's not going to do you any good…"

"You think I am enjoying this?" Seven hissed angrily.

"On some level, yes, at least stop exposing the children to him…"

"I am not exposing them!" she snapped, turning to leave. The Doctor held her back. "Let me go!"

"No! You need to hear this!"

"Leave me alone for once!" she cried, almost bolting from the office, before catching herself and picking up Isabel. Chakotay saw unadulterated pain on her face but before he could question or comfort her she muttered a quick "Excuse me" and left.

Chakotay turned to an exasperated Doctor angrily. "What happened to Isabel wasn't her fault, you shouldn't chastise her as much."

"It was nothing to do with that!" the Doctor told him sharply, beginning the scan. "You're out of temporal sync." He informed him but was met by silence. "Chakotay? Are you listening to me?"

"Who was Seven's husband Doctor?"

Obviously not listening then. The Doctor quickly formulated an answer. "A good man, she adored him." Chakotay expression became unreadable but the meaning sank in with the Doctor. My God, he's jealous! Jealous of himself! Not that he knows that. This is going to complicate matters.

A/n: Please review! How am I doing so far?