The autumnal desert sunlight brought Chakotay out of his sound sleep and he turned his head to gaze at Seven, now at peace beside him after a difficult night. He run his thumb over her red rimmed eyes, much as her tears had pained him, he knew that they were a healthier reaction than when she had had her emotions towards her parents' fate all bottled up within. He ran his hand down to her bump and felt one of the babies kick, Seven's face didn't stir even as it happened again, how was she able to sleep through that? He was just wondering whether it was Aylen or Michael that was doing it when Seven shifted and woke. "You will need to go to work soon." She mumbled into the pillow.
"Yeah, I know. Didn't you regenerate at all last night?"
"No. I will do it later; I have little else to fill my time."
"It's Friday today, we'll have all of the weekend together I promise."
"You don't need to do that…" Seven protested, feeling guilty at tying to the boredom of this room during his days off.
"But I will." He replied with conviction. "Now, what do you want for breakfast?"
Seven blinked awake, the words "Regeneration cycle is incomplete" slamming into her ears.
"You still make it say that? Doesn't it wake Chakotay up at night?" A familiar voice told her. When her vision cleared Seven reeled in shock.
"Admiral!" Janeway stood before her, carrying a large box. Seven remembered her question and responded. "The warning is built into the alcove I cannot deactivate it, only turn the volume down at night."
Janeway smirked slightly, "Still can't take a joke can you Seven?"
"No Admiral." Seven agreed, agreement was always the simplest route with the Admiral. She eyed the box suspiciously, "What is that Admiral?"
"Research Starfleet wants you to check out. Now I know Chakotay will be annoyed but it's nothing you can't do lying down…"
Seven now took in the contents of the box hungrily. Finally a productive activity! "Thank you!" she exclaimed softly, her voice full of gratitude. The Admiral made herself comfortable in a chair and Seven lay back down in bed. The Admiral seemed agitated, and waited a while before speaking.
"I've been given a new ship Seven, the U.S.S DaVinci."
" An appropriate name." Seven said as her only comment, awaiting more.
"We are going to the Gamma Quadrant in three days, the mission is set to last a year."
"A year! And you're going on Monday?" Seven asked in complete shock, when the Admiral nodded in confirmation, Seven looked at her in silence for several minutes before speaking again. "You have never really adapted to being back on Earth have you Admiral?"
Janeway just sighed deeply, "The Gamma Quadrant needs some good people after the fall of the Dominion. I've always had wanderlust, why else would I go into the Badlands after Maquis a month before my wedding?"
Seven flinched at the bitterness and regret in this statement. Perhaps the reason the Admiral had been so against her pregnancy in the beginning was that she saw the drone she had salvaged getting the happy marriage and children she had missed out on by a twist of fate? Not relishing this line of thought but now looking at the older woman with understanding that hadn't been there before she decided to be supportive. "The Gamma Quadrant will be receiving our best. I…hope you find what you're looking for Admiral."
If she wasn't mistaken relief passed over the Admiral's face and for a moment Seven wondered if she'd told anyone else of her leaving. The Admiral abruptly rose and lifted two packages from a bag, laying them out on the bed beside Seven. "Now I made blankets for the Wildman children and Miral…if you have some already don't worry…"
Seven shook her head and hastily unwrapped the packages to reveal the two most beautiful baby blankets she had ever seen. One was a deep emerald green, the other a soft amethyst shade, each were edged in silk of the other colour. She ran her hand up the soft warm wool and gazed at the Admiral in amazement, who chuckled. "Well, I won't be around to see these two born so I thought I'd go a bit more extravagant…I was going to monogram them but you haven't chosen names yet…"
"Oh we did, last night. Michael Magnus and Aylen Erin."
"You included your parents' names?" asked the Admiral in surprise.
"Yes, it seemed a good gesture to make…"
"I'm proud of you Seven." The Admiral said suddenly, and Seven had the feeling that she would not see her again, the mission was more dangerous than she had let on. Janeway then picked up the emerald thread and the amethyst blanket, beginning to sow an A.E. and the rest of the visit passed in companionable silence.
Chakotay was astounded when Seven recounted the visit to him that night. He couldn't believe that after so long of shunning them Kathryn had revealed her better side. Unlike Seven he wasn't particularly shocked that she was leaving, Kathryn never had been able to settle. In light of this he once again admired his beloved wife's constant adaption to change though her old work ethic now irritated him as he tried to get her to relax and leave her new work alone. "Seven, it can wait until the morning…you should be resting…"
Seven laughed quietly, "That's what the Admiral said you'd say…"
"She knows me well and so do you so stop worrying me!" he retorted.
"Fine. We will sleep." She said, waiting for him to come and join her. When he did he quickly fell into a sound sleep but the same state evaded her, discomfort reigned. She tossed and turned for a couple of hours without relief before giving up and going to her alcove to regenerate. She was surprised when not just discomfort but pain kept jolting her awake. A sickening sensation rose within her when she realised that the pain was not random but regular and she desperately shook Chakotay awake.
He peered up at her with bleary eyes. "What's wrong?"
She looked at him as levelly as she could, panicking him wouldn't help. "I…believe I am having contractions which are five and a half minutes apart. I must use the emergency medical beacon and go to the Doctor."
Chakotay stared at her in horror. "What? How can that be? You're barely twenty seven weeks along…"
"I…I…realise that." She replied shakily, her grip tightening on the beacon as another undeniable pain passed through her.
Her pain wracked face forced Chakotay to see that this was real. "Go!" he told her and she immediately beamed away.
The Doctor was scanning her almost before she'd materialised in his medical bay. "Oh God." He muttered and yelled at the nurse, "Get me Ramadrin, Iltazone and Otrimol now!"
Only now did Seven's fear break through the mental walls she'd built to contain it. "No…no…no…it's too soon…they can't come now…" she began to whimper.
"They won't if I can help it!" said the Doctor, beginning to administer huge doses of the labour halting drugs he had ordered.
Chakotay burst through the doors and ran up to Seven who immediately burst into tears before getting herself under control again as he tried to soothe her. After three hours of battling the contractions stopped and Chakotay and Seven were overwhelmed by relief before noticing the Doctor's expression. "Seven you will have to remain here…twenty seven weeks is just too early…"
Seven had already resigned herself to this. "I know."
"No…you don't…I'm going to have to put you in a medically induced coma…"
"A coma?" Chakotay burst out, "You can't do that…"
"He can and will." Seven stated emotionlessly.
"Seven…"
"Doctor will you leave us for a moment?"
"Yes, of course." The Doctor turned away from the argument he knew was coming.
"Seven, how can you even consider this? It's too dangerous!"
"It's too dangerous for Aylen and Michael if I don't do it." That stumped him and he just stared at her with frightened, guilt filled eyes she couldn't bear.
"Chakotay I need you to listen to me with a rational mind." She said after some minutes had passed.
"Okay…" he replied in a wobbly tone.
"You may face some difficult decisions…I want you to know that I support you completely…"
"I already know that!"
Seven just continued, "If the worst should happen…if you need to make a choice…choose the children that we share…with no guilt or sorrow…"
A zombie like Chakotay finally felt the meaning of her words sink in. "What are you saying? This is about what that future Admiral said…we've been through that already!"
"It's not about that…it's about us alone. We will hope everything will be fine but prepare for…"
"I'm not going to prepare! I won't! I can't! Don't ask me to!" He stormed about the room like a trapped animal. Seven watched him for a moment before opening her arms to him with tears streaming down her face.
He collapsed against her, shaking violently. "I can't lose you…I can't live…"
He repeated this mantra over and over suffering something akin to a panic attack with Seven's arms tightly round him, kissing him and murmuring, "I know…I know…" as he clung to her.
After some time had passed Chakotay's mind returned to him and he felt a surge of love for the woman who had comforted him and kissed her gently, knowing that he must do as she asked. "Come in Doctor, we're ready now."
The drugs were carefully administered and Seven slipped into unconsciousness with Chakotay holding her hand. "We would have lost all three of them Chakotay if she'd laboured in the state she was in…" explained the Doctor.
Chakotay nodded. "I know. What do we do now?"
"We wait."
A/n: I hope you don't hate me! Please review!