A/N: Federation Genetic Manipulation laws are not something that I really wanted to deal with either. Kudara's amazing "Nine Months" does a good job of realistically tackling the issue- it's a great read if you haven't already. I often feel is if I'm writing the longest 'slow burn' ever, but I now realize that my original idea for a short 10-chapter story has been completely blown out of the water. This story has taken a hold of me and is not letting go any time soon.

Chapter 9- Super B'Elanna

~Regeneration Cycle Complete~

~Internal diagnostic complete. All systems 100%. Current Voyager Time 1643…~

Seven of Nine stepped out of her alcove into the cold emptiness of Cargo Bay 2 as she became aware of her current functional status.

"Computer, what is the location of Lieutenant Torres?"

~Lieutenant Torres is in Sick Bay~

"What is her current status?" Seven walked over to her hutch and retrieved a blue biosuit from her replicator which she proceeded to change into quickly.

~Lieutenant Torres is active~

If the computer could intone understatement it would have paused after "is", but as it was, it was enough to let Seven know that B'Elanna was awake. Fixing her hair she strode out of Cargo Bay 2 in order to check on the Lieutenant. She had convinced herself that all other priorities were secondary. There would still be time to see Naomi Wildman before her regular bedtime, Seven concluded.

As she made her way to Sickbay, Seven focused on trying to determine the best way to broach and discuss the subject that was on her mind. It was proving difficult as she continued to remember the events of the day before in which she had attacked the large reptilian creature, was injured, had conversed with the Lieutenant in a friendly manner while her wounds were tended to on the Delta Flyer and seeing the care in the eyes of the Lieutenant as she carried her in Sickbay and assisted in the surgery. She remembered the previously unknown feeling that gestated within her as B'Elanna had spoken to her in Klingon. Seven felt as if her life was becoming more complicated as the days drew on, but she was nothing if not determined and stubborn in her research. She would understand `humanity', of that she was sure. More data was required. Oh, she understood more than she often let on, but you simply can't replace 18 years of experience with researched data.

Striding purposefully into Sickbay, Seven immediately noticed Lieutenant Torres pacing back and forth as the Doctor was attempting to scan her while the Captain and Tom Paris stood off to the side engaged with the two in conversation.

"…cell structure has been... `optimized' in layman's terms, and she will no longer be subject to normal cellular decay." The Doctor had stopped his current scan and was addressing the Captain.

Seven strode up and stood behind the Captain and Paris with her hands clasped behind her back while looking at B'Elanna. B'Elanna gave her a quick nod while her eyes darted toward the Doctor and rolled in an exaggerated manner. A soft smile blossomed on the half-Klingon's face. Seven found a tiny smile working its way onto her lips as she gave a brief nod in response. She concluded if the Lieutenant didn't want her to hear the current conversation, she would have said something. Captain Janeway didn't seem to notice Seven enter as she was locked in her own thoughts. Her inner scientist, teenager and Captain seemed to be constantly fighting for supremacy over the past couple days and it was the scientist's brief turn to run the show.

"So Doctor, what you're saying is that B'Elanna now has denser muscle fibre as all of her myofibril within her muscle fibres has condensed and increased in number. Her bones and joints have been strengthened to compensate, her organs are now working at optimal levels AND she's not going to age?" It was all simply too incredible for the Captain. If she were honest with herself, she was a little jealous.

The Doctor noticed Seven but decided not to interrupt the Captain until she was finished. "Just a moment Captain, Seven how are you feeling?" He moved to Seven and gently placed a hand on her right shoulder. Janeway spun around realizing Seven had somehow appeared behind her and all previous thoughts disappeared as she too moved to Seven's other side and placed a hand on her left shoulder.

"Seven! …how are you feeling?" She all but purred before the tall ex-drone could even formulate an answer to the Doctor's same question. If ex-Borg were prone to rolling their eyes and letting out melodramatic sighs, now would have been a great time for both.

Luckily, they aren't.

Tom however, was another story so he looked at B'Elanna and rolled his eyes. He briefly wondered if one could permanently hurt themselves by rolling their eyes too much in one day. It was hard not to laugh at the obviousness of both the Captain and the Doctor, but the truth was he was more interested in the well being of B'Elanna at the moment.

"Captain, Doctor, I… `am fine'." Seven stiffened even further as her Borg emotional shielding solidified in place. "The surgery was successful as was the Lieutenant's exceptional repair work on my implants, I am functioning at peak efficiency. I came to enquire into the health of Lieutenant Torres and speak with her in private. I do not wish to interrupt your discussion and I will leave if Lieutenant Torres wishes to keep her medical condition private." Secretly, Seven was hoping that if Lieutenant Paris was invited to stay that she might be as well. She was confident that she had interpreted the Chief Engineer's earlier expression correctly and that she didn't mind the ex-drone being there.

"No, it's ok Seven. Thanks for your concern and I'm glad to see that you're… operating at peak efficiency once again- I'd hate to have to occasionally mop the floor with a damaged ex-drone." She smirked playfully at the tall blonde before fixing her gaze at the two ogling teenagers on either side of her. "I'm HOPING the Doctor and Captain will have this sorted out soon." B'Elanna ground out the last part glaring at both the Doctor and Captain Janeway in a manner that she hoped could best communicate: `focus and get this over with'.

The Doctor was the first to snap back to the subject at hand as he let go of Seven and tried to answer the Captain's original question. "The simple answer is that B'Elanna's hybrid Human-Klingon DNA has been `optimized' to its maximum genetic `potential'. Soft tissue, blood, bone- everything has regenerated anew. Even her brain cells, while keeping all the previous information, have more streamlined synapse connections in almost double their original number. Her senses, reaction times and agility are likely greatly improved as well. I can find nothing contagious about her physiology and it's not that she will not `age' -she will- just not as we think of it in terms of normal cellular decay over time, it is more likely that her `prime' will simply be far longer than usual for the species. I suspect she still has only so many heartbeats, just like the rest of us… er, well, you. Honestly, her condition is stable and at this time I can see no reason to not to return the Lieutenant back to active duty for half-shifts for the next week so long as she comes in every morning before her shift for a comparative-DNA scan AND she and I spend the afternoons in the Holodeck testing her new limits so there are no accidents."

The last of his recommendations was said while he looked at B'Elanna leaving no room for debate. If she wanted her freedom, she'd be there in Sickbay every morning until the Doctor felt it was no longer necessary and running on a treadmill in the afternoon. B'Elanna knew this was as good a deal as she was going to get so she nodded honestly at the Doctor and then looked to the Captain before glancing quickly at Seven behind her.

Seven, for her part, couldn't take her eyes off B'Elanna the whole time the Doctor spoke. This new information made the already intriguing woman even more so in her eyes. When their eyes met ever so briefly, she felt a jolt of unknown, yet not unpleasant energy cut straight through to her core. The intensity of it finally allowed her to peel her eyes away from the feisty half-Klingon.

"You're sure Doctor, that there is no way to reverse what has happened? What about using the transporters and an old pattern?" Captain Janeway was still trying to wrap her head around the events of the past 24 hours.

"Captain, her DNA has been permanently altered and all traces of the original toxin are gone. Trying to use the transporters to re-integrate her atoms from an old pattern will likely kill her as the transporters can only use the matter given. This is not like the security protocol which can disable weapons or filter contagions, viruses and bacteria. Unfortunately, during the initial transport of Seven and B'Elanna to sickbay, the computer was unable to accurately determine the 'unknown contaminants' and remove them. I admit the urgency of Seven's injuries prevented me from properly reviewing the logs."

His pause was not lost on the Captain who had also briefly looked at the logs and didn't recognize the situation for what it really was.

"There is now nothing technically foreign in the Lieutenant's body and so the transporter pattern recognition software safeguards will not allow re-integration based on a different pattern- if those safeguards were removed, which by the way also requires the authorization of the Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Torres would die upon reintegration." The photonic Doctor intentionally left out the words `may' or `might' as he knew the Captain could be unnecessarily tenacious and in his best medical opinion, it was simply not a viable option for many reasons. He paused a moment to take an unnecessary breath before continuing.

"Also, even if we could go back to the planet and do further studies on the wildlife, which you've already said was not going to happen due to the dangerous conditions we know exist there and the upcoming negotiations with the Vor'Tin in the next sector, anything I tried to do to change Lieutenant Torres back would be akin to genetic tampering- which is strictly prohibited by Federation law and my own ethical subroutines. Quite frankly, the process of 'evolution' if you will- which her body has undergone has done what no sentient scientist could ever accomplish. It's best for her to simply try and adapt and move on."

The Doctor had been frustrated at his inability to not only truly understand what had happened to the Lieutenant, but also the fact that he was completely at a loss as to how to counteract the process. On another level, the whole experience was very stimulating for the Doctor as the process of change through B'Elanna's body could almost be poetically compared to that of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly- without the cocoon.

Regardless of Voyager's track record in the Delta Quadrant with things not working out, Janeway felt that she had no reason not to agree with the Doctor's conclusions.

"This is simply fascinating B'Elanna to be honest. I'm glad that despite your stubbornness to admit your own injuries and my own lack of focus on the transporter logs, you are alright. I'll let you back on duty as soon as you're ready and since you're going to follow the Doctor's instructions…" She fixed a tame Force 5 glare into the Hybrid's dark brown eyes, "as far as I'm concerned, that is that." No sense wasting the prep-work done in her ready-room.

"Thank you Captain." B'Elanna new when to stifle her pride despite rumours to the contrary.

Turning to Seven, and riding another 'science-high', she decided to take Myles's advice and the opportunity presented her. "Seven would you like to come by my quarters this evening for dinner? I'd like to hear the story of how you saved B'Elanna." She tried to hide the enthusiasm in her voice as she looked up into the deep blue eyes of the tall blonde.

Seven had been expecting the invite. Over the past week, she had noticed the change in her Captain's behaviour in response to the fact that Seven had been `dating' Commander Chakotay. Concluding that if she were successful this evening she would be once again free to `date' tomorrow, Seven, as efficient as ever felt little need to linger on the Commander. "I have several personal matters to attend to this evening Captain, tomorrow would be more acceptable." She gave a slight sympathetic smile so as not to dissuade the Captain. In her heart, she didn't really think that the Captain was an option for a relationship, but she was committed to the process she had begun. She also felt that the Captain would come to understand her own feelings better through this and see that they were truly not right together. Better to have things done and over with than let them linger and fester. Lingering and festering was not the Borg way.

Janeway bit back the burgeoning disappointment and jealousy within her and fell back on her command training. "Very well, how about tomorrow at 1800?" Disappointment changed quickly to euphoria as another thought sprung forth from her subconscious mind. Maybe she's going to break things off with Chakotay tonight. Damn, Myles may be a genius.

"That would be acceptable, Captain." Seven responded with a slight nod noticing the Doctor to her right stiffen and oddly enough, B'Elanna seemed to stiffen briefly as well. The Captain, however, beamed.

B'Elanna had been watching the interaction with initial amusement, but felt somehow as if her `thunder' had suddenly been stolen. She already had much to think about and was finding the Captain's obvious attempt at securing a date with a woman who was already in a relationship somewhat angering and dishonourable. Seven seemed completely oblivious to this fact as well and B'Elanna felt a surge of protectiveness well within her.

Tom had also been watching the whole scene with interest as there was so much new delicious gossip being spawned that it made him want to unleash an evil smile and wring his hands together like one of the villains in his Captain Proton holoadventures. He was still B'Elanna's friend though, and saw how this situation was starting to draw attention away from her and to the one person she had always felt `stole her thunder'- even though she'd never say it out loud. He gave a quick squeeze to her arm to bring her back out of her thoughts.

"Lanna, I know you're a private person, but the fact that you've been… changed will likely be discovered one way or another," he put up his hands in a defensive gesture as B'Elanna turned and narrowed her eyes at him. He added quickly, "I'm not talking about gossip here, and certainly not specifics, but I think that you'll at least need to let the rest of the Senior staff and maybe even your engineering crew know that you've gone through some changes and there is nothing to worry about."

B'Elanna's original ire at Tom had been more for show as that was one of the things she had just been debating with herself. She figured that if you `grew another head', so to speak, there was no point in pretending nothing was different.

She turned to the Captain just to get this whole mess over with and because she was really starting to feel uncomfortable for some reason. "Tom's right Captain, I don't want any specifics to get out, but we'll have to let the Senior staff know… and I'll let my engineering team know that I'm even less a person you want to anger." She said the last part with a toothy grin.

"I think that is a good idea B'Elanna- but no breaking any noses. You're off duty until tomorrow and we'll talk again at the Senior staff meeting tomorrow at 1000 hours, the rest I'll leave to you and the Doctor. Doctor, Tom, Seven, obviously I don't need to tell any of you that B'Elanna has trusted us with personal medical information that is not to be revealed." All three in question gave their assurances, although the Doctor was huffing at the implication that his ethical subroutines would ever be compromised. Janeway then strode from Sickbay a moment later.

Tom realized this was a good moment for him to make his exit as well so he excused himself and dragged the mumbling Doctor into his office.

B'Elanna watched her man-child friend drag the Doctor off with a sigh of relief that the helmsman could actually act like an adult from time to time. She turned back to the stoic blonde once again curious over what the tall beauty might want.

"So Seven, you wanted to ask me something?"

End Chapter 9

***So Janers is still a bit oblivious and doesn't really know what she wants but hopefully that will change soon. I also wanted to remove the possibility of B'Elanna's condition being reversed. Please feel free to point out typos and format errors, cutting and pasting on this thing is a pain in the ass and sometimes things get jumbled for some reason.***