Disclaimer: Characters ('cept those I create) and universe owned by Paramount

Rating: M

Pairing: B/7

Notes: Figured I should have a disclaimer in here somewhere. Slight edit because of Chapter 22, "Rachel Thoms" is now "Emily Thoms".

Chapter 2- Just Another Day...

Captain Kathryn Janeway sat in her ready room sipping her third morning coffee. It had so far been a good day, she had gotten a good night's sleep, she had a good BM* and her coffee was extra black, seemingly filling her veins with caffeinated goodness making the morning paperwork not seem so tedious.

Her thoughts drifted to her Astrometrics officer, as they usually did while Janeway passed the time in her ready room going through the motions known as Starfleet paperwork. After seven long years, she could do paper work in her sleep and today was no different. Going over and discarding PADD after PADD, Janeway was currently more focused on the recent revelation that her first officer Chakotay was dating… *dating*, Seven of Nine. She wasn't really sure if she should be more disappointed in Seven, or impressed with Chakotay for landing the Nordic beauty. Not that it mattered she thought, as Seven would surely see just how much of an emotional wooden plank the man truly was soon enough. Sure, he was good at handling duty rosters and puffing up his chest while being the constant devil's advocate, but that didn't mean he was in any way shape or form good for the ex-drone.

No, Janeway thought, she would certainly tire of the animal guides and dream catchers soon enough and Janeway would continue to guide Seven through life via their late-night philosophical discussions. She wasn't even really aware of her possessive thinking when it came to Seven, it was just always there. Kathryn Janeway had severed the ex-drone from the Collective and believed herself instrumental in the young woman's journey back to humanity. The re-integration of a former Borg human was a scientist's dream. She just wished there was some way to help her fully recover physically from the scaring that was her Borg implants. Janeway was convinced the doctor would one day find a way to finally remove the rest of her implants.

Thinking of that day, a smile crept on to the face of Kathryn Janeway as she finished off another cup of caffeinated ambrosia.

Voyager's Captain shifted slightly in her comfortable chair at her desk before discarding another finished report. Wishing to stretch her legs a bit, Janeway made her way over to her replicator to gather another cup of coffee. Perhaps she'd have another conversation with Seven later tonight after she returned from the mining mission with B'Elanna- so long as neither of them come back dead. The two of them were grating on her nerves lately and it was high time they began to work together in a more professional manner. By forcing this alone time between the two of them, they'd either learn to work together or kill each other- she could at least say she had faith in the two of them to be civil. Although reports from Engineering had the two working without altercation until recently, they still tended to argue until they were blue in the face. Maybe B'Elanna just needs to get laid. Repressing a snicker and sitting back in her chair, Janeway took a swig of the dark liquid cradled in her palm.

Lieutenant Myles was also a positive factor in this situation. Janeway was glad Tuvok had sent her. The young lady had impressed Janeway through Tuvok's security reports. Apparently, she was quite adept and getting to the root of personnel issues before they needed to be passed on to Chakotay and was now Tuvok's right-hand woman regarding investigations- never mind the fact that she was a black belt in more martial arts than Janeway could recite. She was a dedicated officer and Janeway was glad she was now part of Alpha shift. From her few encounters with the young Lieutenant so far, Janeway had to admit that it was probably the woman's jade-coloured eyes that captured her attention most. They looked wiser than her years; focused and attentive.

The Captain picked up another PADD. It was a request from Lieutenant Paris for more holodeck time. With a roll of her eyes, Janeway placed it in the pile with the rest of Paris's requests. A new 'sexier' shuttle design, a black-and-white annual "Ball" hosted in a 1920's gangster style, request to personally tutor Ensign Jennifer Delaney as a back-up pilot... at least the man was honest in what he wanted and turned out to not be the waste of time his father had led her to initially believe would be. He even survived a relationship with B'Elanna, which had to count for something. While she had her doubts about Paris and Torres at first, they seemed to get along fine while dating and then their split six months ago seemed to go very well as well. Janeway was surely expecting fireworks from her Chief Engineer, but apparently, their friendship was stronger than most expected.

B'Elanna's evolution was something of a prideful achievement for the Captain. She had taken the angry young woman and made a fine Starfleet officer out of her. Despite her lack of tact- or patience- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres was a marvel in the Engineering room. Janeway might even have once considered a relationship with the half-Klingon, but she knew that their two alpha-female personalities wouldn't meld. She didn't mind the friendship they now had even if she found herself on occasion either barking at the young woman or rolling her eyes and shaking her head at her antics.

Besides, with Seven off the ship, Chakotay wouldn't keep making excuses to venture down to Astrometrics all day.

Even though Janeway made it a point not to get involved in the personal lives of her crew, she would if it interfered with work and Janeway found herself with a bitter taste in her mouth at the thought of Seven spending such alone time with Chakotay.

Maybe *I* need to get laid...

Sure, the proverbial roll in the photonic hay with Michael Sullivan was enjoyable from time to time, but the Captain found she wanted a bit more. The crew would surely understand, and some, like Tom Paris had even encouraged her to do so. She wondered if a part of that encouragement wasn't also an offer, which in a way was flattering- and disturbing. Absently rubbing the crease out of her brow, Janeway sat back and took a moment to stare out one of the windows in her ready room. The truth was, there was only one person Kathryn Janeway truly felt as her equal, if not growing into one. Janeway smiled absently as she finished her morning reports.

Meanwhile on the bridge, Commander Amel Kotay aka Chakotay sat in the Captain's chair going over the morning departmental status reports. Seven and B'Elanna's team seemed to have left without a hitch, although there were apparently some minor fireworks this morning due to B'Elanna arriving late for the departure. Ensign Thoms, who was working in the shuttle bay at the time, had remarked that she had not even heard of half the profanities B'Elanna had apparently uttered while boarding the Delta Flyer. Emily Thoms, a human from the Mars colony and former member of Chakotay's Maquis cell was well versed in B'Elanna's foul mouth which made the report somewhat comical so the lack of a 'hitch' could be debatable.

Currently, Voyager was travelling at full impulse while the away team was gathering supplies at a nearby M-Class planet and the rest of the engineering personnel were performing the final repairs and maintenance on the EPS relays. At mid-morning Alpha shift, the bridge was abuzz with activity from departmental reports, to updates on ship status as well as the never ending conversation between Voyager's Ops Officer and Helmsman.

"Harry, I'm telling you it's a sure thing. The Delaney sisters are huge fans the Captain Proton program and I've written a special program for the four of us. Megan will be all over you." Tom had been trying for months to get Jenifer Delaney to go out with him but fate and circumstance always seemed to conspire against them. Last week when they finally had a moment alone at Sandrines, Jenifer revealed that her twin sister Megan had developed a crush on Harry Kim but was just as shy and socially awkward as the impressionable Ops Officer. Harry, however, seemed to be carrying a re-lit torch for Voyager's resident Borg. Tom thought Harry was long past his Seven obsession.

"I don't know Tom, who wants to get together with 'the sidekick'? Besides, I'm not really feeling up to the holodeck tonight."

Sparing a glance to the Captain's chair, Harry was trying not to show his frustration over his recent discovery that Chakotay was dating Seven of Nine. He had walked into Astrometrics to help with some sensor realignments when he overheard Chakotay thanking Seven for the 'picnic' in Cargo Bay Two the day before as the older man was leaving the lab. A quick inquisitive comment to Seven confirmed his suspicions. It angered Harry that she had chosen Chakotay for several reasons. The man never wanted her on the ship, he constantly questioned her motives and didn't ever really help the woman try to fit in. Harry could not once recall seeing a sincere expression on the man's face. He was all creepy smirks.

Besides, it was Harry who offered friendship and an unbiased acceptance to Seven first. Had he not been so initially intimidated by the tall blue-eyed woman, he could even have been her first sexual experience as she had offered to learn more about the physical aspects of individuality with Harry one night in the mess hall. Unfortunately, that encounter had been a disaster as the flustered Harry could hardly manage a coherent thought and ran out of the mess hall before he had a heart attack.

"Harry come on, it will be good for you to get out and have a bit of fun, you've been playing your clarinet far too loudly for the last three nights and your neighbours, including myself, have been complaining."

"Hey! The Doc has me accompanying him during his next recital." Harry stammered with false conviction.

Chakotay, who couldn't help but hear the exchange and who also suspected the real reason for Ensign Kim's childish depression decided to flex his command muscles.

"This isn't the high school bleachers Lieutenant, Ensign. Let's keep the non-operational chatter to a minimum."

"Yes sir." The two men responded simultaneously. Tom lowered his head back to his console doing his best to look like he was doing something other than looking at the straight line full impulse course he could monitor in his sleep. While his combat piloting adrenalin rush was filled recently, he still abhorred 'lulls in the action'.

'Maybe the Captain will approve of my 'tutoring' Jen on helm during slow times...'

Harry meanwhile, fought back the reddening of his face and re-checked recent long-range sensor sweeps of the near-empty space they were travelling through.

Over at Tactical, the stoic Vulcan Security Chief Tuvok was inwardly glad the non-duty related conversation had ended. His left eyebrow, which had been slowly migrating its way to his forehead over the past few minutes, began its nonchalant retreat to its original position. He was even about to speak up before the Commander had put the two men in their place. Such frivolous conversation was a waste of energy and had no place on the bridge while on duty. He once again was drawn to his conclusion that Humans were unable to maintain full focus for appropriate amounts of time due to their chaotic emotional nature and tendency towards the illogical.

While the personal matters of the crew were not something he concerned himself with, Tuvok noticed that several crew members including Mr. Kim and Captain Janeway were acting in an atypical manner after they discovered the change in the nature of the relationship between Seven of Nine and Commander Chakotay. The Captain had grown unconsciously more irritable, Mr. Kim was showing signs of depression and Commander Chakotay was displaying the typical prideful smugness of one who believed his worth to be more than it was. Apparently he could not see the inevitable as Tuvok did; Seven of Nine was not romantically interested in the Commander and would most likely be terminating their new affiliation shortly. Understanding Seven as he did, Tuvok did not believe her actions to be as illogical as he might have thought were she an average human. No, Seven of Nine was engaging in a version of very logical research before she claimed her logical mate. At least more logical than the average human. Vulcans would never have this problem. Compatibility and a proposal were all that was needed.

Knowing this, Tuvok did not trouble himself any longer with these irrelevant thoughts believing that the situation would soon resolve itself and focused back on the readings of the console in front of him: weapons and shields at 80%, no immediate threats in the vicinity and security reports from all decks were positive.

Back in the Captain's chair, the large man with the tribal tattoo adorning his left eyebrow would not be distracted by the behaviour of the Helmsman and Asian Ops Officer because tonight he would set another date with the most desired woman on the ship. 'Perhaps dinner and an evening walk through a forest on the holodeck, then back to my quarters where I can further impress her with my knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the galaxy.'

As the view-screen continued to display the current sector of space ahead of Voyager a small smile played upon Chakotay's mouth. He wondered at what the current ration pool was at concerning the virginity of Seven of Nine. Sure, Tom had been forbidden by B'Elanna all those months ago on any further betting with regards to Seven, but it didn't stop the lower deck crewmen from getting one going- one that was so far a secret to the rest of the senior officers on Alpha shift. Chakotay himself had only discovered the pool by accident one night on Gamma shift when he couldn't sleep and had decided to go for a walk through the lower decks. Two of the crewmen specializing in deuterium and dilithium ore processing were discussing the pool and Chakotay had overheard them. Rather than stopping it, Chakotay told the two men he'd keep it secret as long as he got in on the action.

It seemed like a good time to make an anonymous bet on tonight, yes, tonight would be the night he'd shower Seven with compassion and comfort when she returned from her undoubtedly frustrating day with B'Elanna gathering resources. While he didn't see a future with the Borg woman and admittedly still didn't trust her, Chakotay was still a red-blooded human male. If the Captain wouldn't start accepting some of Chakotay's invitations for evening conversation and dinner, the burly man had no problem indulging the ex-drone in her 'quest for humanity'. Perhaps she'll even be a good lay while providing the added benefit of making the Captain jealous. Yes, things were looking up for the former Maquis Captain.

Three hours into Beta shift, Chakotay was in Holodeck One putting the final touches to his evening's entertainment and Tom had finally convinced Harry to accept his invitation so the two of them along with the Delaney sisters were in Holodeck Two running "Captain Proton Versus the Sisters of DOOM!"

Captain Janeway, well known to be in her ready room for several hours into Beta shift each day, had just about all that she could take of reading ship status updates and setting new replicator ration levels for the crew until Voyager's energy reserves were back to optimum levels. Grabbing a few PADD's to take back to her quarters, she dropped the rest of her plate of "Leola Root Surprise" into the replicator and was about to step on to the bridge when she was hailed over the comm.

"Tuvok to Captain Janeway, please report to the bridge."

She tapped her communicator after letting out a tiny sigh.

"On my way"

"Report" the diminutive Captain barked replacing Tuvok at the con. His evening commanding Beta shift now had Tuvok moving quickly back to Tactical replacing the Beta shift Ensign. "Captain, we have received a distress call from the Delta Flyer; medical emergency, we are en route and will be within transporter range in three minutes."

Janeway had been looking over the current reports on her command chair arm console. "Good work. Now, let's get our girls back to Voyager and hope I don't have to confine one or both of them to the brig for the rest of the trip home." Her attempt at humour was not lost on the Beta shift crew who knew who was on the Flyer, though they didn't see the flash of worry and anger cross their Captain's face.

Captain Janeway was able to fully raise her command mask in the next moment as the flyer came within transporter range. She quickly hailed the Flyer to find Lieutenant Myles at the helm and had B'Elanna and Seven transported quickly to sickbay.

End Chapter 2

* Richard Lewis. Robin Hood Men In Tights. Nuff said.