Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager, I do however own this plot and the original characters.

"You say that time can't heal, the broken heart you stole. I don't know what's real. I don't know what's real. You are what I can't feel. Oh, something in my heart, still you're in my heart, makes me miss you more." - "Something In My Heart" Royksopp.

They barely looked at each other, or even went as far as to greet each other at all the next day.

They had torn into each other so badly the previous day that the anger and pain was still very fresh on their minds. Despite how their respective mothers had tried to console them, they had refused to come to terms with what had been said, and what such strong reactions could mean for both of them. Especially now that they were far from being on pleasant terms.

They threw themselves into their work the next passing days, going on without a single sparing glance to each other when not absolutely necessary, though at the same time feeling weighed down more and more by it.

While Naomi did everything to pretend he wasn't there, aside from properly answering questions and engaging in class, Icheb tried his best to keep his mind solely focused on teaching. Icheb had been so sure that Naomi would be receptive to him, know she had similar feelings toward him. He could not fault her firm desire to focus on her studies though, it was what he admired from her the most. However, his admiration to her choice did not temper his need to seek her. Icheb had never felt as drawn to someone as he had to Naomi Wildman.

In his adolescent years on Voyager he had befriended many people, but his age and naiveté had relegated him to spending most of the time with the younger passengers on Voyager. While he had been, mostly in the literal sense, bonded with the other former Borg Children, Naomi's propensity to spending time with them, considering her curiosity for anything Borg and need to 'play' had often times resulted in them spending a lot of time together. It was only natural that they would have bonded the way they had. Years later, that bond, despite it having weakened over the decade physically apart from each other, was still strong enough to pull him toward her. Seeing her as an adult, having radically matured physically, emotionally, and mentally, attracted him to an unreasonable degree. How could he ignore that?

Some days it didn't work for either of them and they found their gazes flickering to each other when they were sure the other wasn't looking, unaware of how much they mutually wished to end this disagreement.

Icheb fought for focus, angry at himself for losing his concentration over a mere girl, despite knowing in his heart that she was everything but 'mere'. It only took until the end of that initial first week for Icheb to truly understand what he felt for her, understand that he hadn't just simply missed her company from when they were children, and now hadn't wanted just any friend, but wanted her. Even if it were possible to attain his desires, his selfish need for her would get him and Naomi herself distracted. It was not fair to her, he valued her dreams, and so he decided it really was best to stay away, give her a chance at her goals. In their capacity to somehow think on the same frequency, Naomi's inner opinion mirrored his, hoping that time would ease her 'crush' on him, would help her focus on her studies, her future... somehow though, they knew this would be far from easy.

T'Chea, Hannah and now Kav'ain noticed the stark change in their friend, seeing her take the days on with as much determination as a woman on a mission, but seeming unhappy at the same time. They worried and stressed over her, but she had yet to say anything.

As the month went by, Icheb and Naomi noticed that the time distancing themselves only served to become more and more of a burden on their hearts. Neither of them could have imagined how difficult it would have been for them, surprised by the sheer amount for virtual strangers to miss each other so much after just a week of getting to know each other again. While Icheb did all he could not to notice how elegant and beautiful she was, the way she carried herself, the way her intelligence made her sound sophisticated and yet never used it to belittle anyone. She was reserved, modest, friendly, and completely selfless. How could he not notice her? How could he have screwed up so badly?

At the same time, Naomi did all she could not to notice Icheb noticing her. He thought he was being sneaky, but his eyes on her were familiar, she had always known when he was looking her way. It was so much different now than when they were kids though! And it just hurt all the more knowing that she could do nothing about how amazing it felt to be looked at as a woman by him. Noticed in that way by someone Naomi had begun to feel strongly about made it so much worse as they were avoiding each other now. What just added to the pain was how much Naomi had been regretting her decision to distance herself from him, but no matter how many times she tried to catch his eye, he would not acknowledge her in the least.

So Naomi resolved to focus on her studies, working hard to put Icheb out of her mind, pretend that it was still a time she had barely been in contact with him. She poured herself into her work, taking on greater assignments, getting help from different sources when she needed it, and volunteering in as many extra-curricular activities as she could. Despite all her efforts, the pang of regret, the fact she missed him now more than she ever thought she would, often times distracted her. Even so, Naomi strove for excellence, and was regularly commended for her efforts, even though she did not share her instructors' views of how exemplary she was. Naomi simply wanted to achieve her goals, and if it meant distracting her from her irritating heart ache, so be it. Naomi knew what she was feeling now, knew she couldn't deny it, but it wrecked her to give it another thought, so she pushed it from her mind and powered through.

After many more weeks of drifting by, Naomi's friends reached their limit in patience. The girls found their recently very reclusive friend as usual sitting on their dorm room, quietly 'reading' her novel. Seeing her dazed expression, barely reading the letters on the screen made their resolve to reach her harden. It was time for an intervention. Nodding to each other they walked over and promptly sat down in a showing way on either side of her. They fixed her with steady, demanding stares, hoping Naomi would open up to them on their own before they had to do anything drastic.

Naomi knew what her friends wanted, and slowly set her story down, appraising them tiredly. "What do you want from me?" she questioned harshly.

"Naomi, please talk to us?" Hannah began gently.

"About what?" Naomi retorted.

"You're the one that knows what it is you need to talk about," T'Chea countered almost impatiently, ignoring the disapproving look from their fully human friend.

"There's nothing to talk about," Naomi went back to reading her novel. Or more accurately, reading the same paragraph repeatedly.

"Naomi," Hannah stressed pleadingly. "You've been practically drifting from class to class, day by day for over a month!" she said in exasperation.

'A month and nineteen days,' Naomi thought silently. "There's nothing wrong," she repeated quietly.

Why was she so stubborn about this? Why couldn't she just tell them? Was she afraid of how they would react? If they would judge her? "Naomi, it's gotten to the point that, even though you're with us physically, you're not really with us. You've been distant and honestly it kind of hurts. We miss our cheery, witty friend," Hannah implored.

"T'Chea, do you feel the same? Have I really been distant from you guys?" Naomi asked with a sad frown. She hadn't realized her turmoil would spill into her interactions with her other friends!

"Yes, Naomi. Hannah's description is valid," the Romulan nodded solemnly.

"I... I'm so sorry," Naomi felt the now familiar prickling sensation of tears threatening to break out. She had come to care so deeply for her friends, the idea that she had estranged them, hurt them, was too much for her wounded emotions to bear.

"Naomi, please please tell us what's wrong?" Hannah begged, feeling her own tears threatening to spill.

Their gentle persuasions finally broke her, and Naomi felt her restrained emotions suddenly clog her throat. "I... okay..." Naomi hesitated. "Please don't tell anyone? You must swear, swear on the Federation if you have to that you won't tell a soul. If it were to get out that... well, if it were to get out, my future in Starfleet won't be the only career on jeopardy."

"You have absolutely nothing to fear from us, Naomi," T'Chea promised. "I swear on Romulus that I will not betray your trust."

"Me too... on the Federation, that is," Hannah smiled weakly.

"Okay," Naomi let out a breath, pausing to collect her thoughts. "You... weren't off when you teased me at the beginning of the term that I had a crush on... on Icheb," she began. T'Chea bit her lip, doing her best not to say that she knew it out loud. Naomi was grateful for her restraint, and grateful that Hannah was keeping her fits of girlishness in check. "I didn't realizing it completely at the time. I thought it was just a passing fancy, it was just Icheb, you know? I described him like he was on Voyager, that had been my... my initial thought of him before. He was just a friend, a dorky, awkward friend. I had no idea he would turn into such a complex... man." Naomi rubbed her PADD that now rested on her lap, trying to soothe her nerves.

"I've been... I've been slowly falling in love with him... probably since I knew him," she smiled humorlessly, as though she was still unable to believe it herself. "It's only recently that my maturity would catch up with my body, my initially girly crush to develop into something deeper. I... I pushed him at arms length, refused to recognize my feelings and make him frustrated by my denial. I know he must feel something too, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to push back as hard as he did. But we had a fight... a terrible fight and we said such terrible things to each other..!" Naomi's tears freely fell down her cheeks now and she scrubbed angrily at them. "I-It's killing me..." she shuddered as a sob threatened to escape her. She felt, probably Hannah's hand running gentle comforting circles on her back, but couldn't focus correctly.

To distract herself, Naomi decided she needed to move around, work what had been holed up inside her out physically. Hannah and T'Chea watched as Naomi stood and began to pace in agitation. "I've been trying all month to convince myself that nothing was wrong, that everything was okay and we'd eventually become friends again, but I can't!" Naomi couldn't have imagined how important Icheb would have become to her. Who could blame her? Ten years and nothing, and then suddenly they had an undeniable connection. Now she couldn't get past a month without alienating everyone from her over a fight with him. How could she have fallen so hard so fast for him? "It's unethical," she insisted. "It's very frowned upon for us to be to-...together... and I had a fight with him for that very reason. How could I tell him how I felt though? How could I risk making it harder for us? Distracting us?"

"You're pretty miserable and distracted now, you know... maybe it would have been easier if you gave in?" Hannah questioned gently.

"Maybe," Naomi relented. "It's too late now though."

"It's never too-"

Naomi cut off her well meaning friend. "It's too late," she insisted stubbornly. "We're so angry and so stubborn that we can barely be in the same room! I screwed up my chances of being friends with him! He hates me and resents me now, I... I know it. It's... it's the only reason I can think of to explain why he's being so cold..." Naomi had worked herself up into fits but felt her rapidly uncontrolled emotions quickly spending her energy. The half Ktarian collapsed back onto the couch, her face falling to her hands as her body twisted forward. "He hates me... I lost him..." she tore out, finally losing the battle with herself she had been fighting all month and allowed the mournful sobs from pouring out of her.

Hannah, her own tears steaming down her face, pulled her friend to her lap, rubbing her back and cooing soothingly at her. T'Chea folded her hands in her lap and gazed with heartfelt sympathy and sadness at her sorrowful friend. They were equally crushed by the severity of her friend's emotional struggle, knowing that their friend's unwilling spiral into love for man whose relationship couldn't happen in the academy tore her to bits. It was cruel of fate to bring old friends together again and force them to fall in love like that, only to laugh in their faces at their struggles with regulations. Naomi had cried herself to sleep in Hannah's arms, but neither girl had the heart to move their friend from the couch and wake up.

The next morning, Naomi woke up groggily, as early as always, but this time stayed in the dorm. She pulled herself off of the couch and slumped onto her bed, letting herself fall back and closed her eyes. Emotional weariness took ahold of her and she found herself lost on Voyager again, seeing old friends and laughing with them. She missed her birth home so much, missed the comforting familiarity of it, strength of its powerful walls and innocent times it held. Oh sure, there had been some pretty righteously scary stuff, but they had always persevered. Before she knew it, she was being nudged awake. Opening her eyes she found her roommates giving her sympathetic smiles. They were dressed and ready to go. How long had she dozed off for? "It's alright Naomi, you're not late," T'Chea mentioned in her usual unnervingly accurate way of telling what was on Naomi's mind. "You're an open book," the girl's lips quirked into an amused smile.

"Do you want us to wait for you to get ready?" Hannah asked.

"Nah, you girls go on ahead. I want a nice hot sonic shower," Naomi shook her head. The girls understood Naomi's need to clear her thoughts and left without another question. Naomi sighed in relief and made her way to the bathroom. She stripped and stepped into the sonic shower, letting the soothing pulses of the sonic vibrations relax her. It might night have been water, but it was still nice. Once she was clean, she got dressed, trying to keep her mind clear and focused on each minute task. If she was going to get through that day without letting... anyone, know about her little break down last night, she was going to have to take control again. Nodding to herself in satisfaction with the ability to get herself together, the former Captain's Assistant went back to the day's routine.

That night, Naomi arrived at home with a stressed sigh, collapsing back on the couch. She tried not to let Icheb's icy demeanor get to her. It wasn't just his fault that he was being so distant, it was her suggestion, after all. She just hadn't realized how much it would hurt. A little later, the girls found Naomi in much the same manner they had the previous night, on the couch, a PADD in her hand. This time, though, Naomi stared off into space, her device left forgotten against her curled legs. Hannah at least was prepared this time though! Plopping the item she had carefully carried over since obtaining it at the local grocery story in front of Naomi, she sat down and waited for her friend to notice them.

"Hannah," Naomi finally acknowledged, coming to.

Hannah smiled amiably and motioned with a nod toward the coffee table. "That's for you."

Naomi looked down at the odd little container and then her eyebrow popped up. "...Ice cream?"

"Not just any ice cream! Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream! A girls best friend when she's having boy troubles, no matter what century," Hannah grinned. Naomi laughed out loud, easing her friends as a result. It was the first time in more than a month since Naomi laughed so freely.

"Thank you, Hannah!" The girl grinned and took the offered spoon. Fortunately for Hannah, she made the right choice bringing her a dessert. Since she was little she had found comfort in sugary things when she felt upset.

"I also thought that maybe a cheesy movie would make your night all the better?"

"Maybe," Naomi's lips quirked up again.

"I will never be able to understand human females and their illogical fixation with ingesting such a large quantity of sweets just because they are upset," T'Chea shook her head.

"Careful Chea, you're almost starting to sound Vulcan," Naomi mumbled as she dug into her ice cream with Hannah.

"...Nevertheless, the sentiment remains the same," T'Chea said, trying not to find offense at being compared to her emotionally repressed biological cousins.

"T'Chea," Hannah sighed. "You wouldn't understand, you've never felt heartache."

T'Chea shook her head, still not convinced but sat by them anyway. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm... I'm going to try to fix this," Naomi said resolutely. "I'm not..." Going to lose him like this? Stay away from him for another ten years? Naomi shook her head. "There has to be a way to at least come to a truce?" she reasoned. She was tired of being angry at him, not really remembering why she had been so angry with him to begin with.

"Hm," T'Chea nodded, agreeing with her. "Do be careful though. Don't be like my cousins and keep everything bottled up, okay? It's never a good idea to keep intense emotions inside. My people know this better than most. Just be careful, but follow your heart, okay?" T'Chea advised. Naomi was so touched by T'Chea's concern for her that the girl set the ice cream down and reached for her, pulling her into a hug. T'Chea was so surprised by the sudden physical contact that her control of her abilities slipped. All at once the Romulan was flooded with the same intense emotions she had warn Naomi not to keep to herself. Confusion. Pain. Fear. Refret. Longing. Love. Those were only some of the stronger emotions that flowed through the girl.

When Naomi pulled away, she was shocked to find their normally collected friend with tears streaming down her face. "T'Chea..." Naomi murmured in confused concern.

"I... I'm so sorry, Naomi," T'Chea muttered back, pulling all stops to regain her composure. Taking a deep breath and refocused on the girl and carefully wiped at her cheeks. "I'm incredibly sorry, Naomi. When you hugged me, I was surprised and my control over my touch telepathy was lost. Please forgive me for the blatant violation of your privacy?"

"It's okay!" Naomi said honestly. "Really! It was my fault for not taking consideration of your people's ways. I didn't think."

"I should have had better control," T'Chea shook her head.

"Well... do you understand now?" Naomi ventured softly, curiously. T'Chea nodded slowly, giving her a very strong sympathetic expression. Naomi nodded in satisfaction while Hannah gave her a sad, knowing look.

The next morning, Naomi took a deep breath and approached Icheb's desk before the class began. She had hoped to catch him at the classroom early and was graced by fortune that she did. He sat there, tapping at his PADD with rapid, calculated movements. "Icheb?" She asked hesitantly. She bit her lip when he didn't even spare her a glance, though did tilt his head slightly to let her know he was listening. "Icheb..." Curse her for getting tongue tied! She took another deep, calming breath and collected herself. "It was wrong of me to say what I had," she began, feeling relief flood her when he paused his incessant tapping.

It gave her the courage she needed to go on.

"I was scared over my... my feelings," she told him, still uneasy about even mentioning the prospect of having any for him to begin with. Though that in itself was the problem, she knew. "You forced me to recognize them before I was ready to, and I reacted badly. I never meant to hurt you or push you away. I... I miss my tutor, my friend..." Naomi felt her heart race a little when he finally set his PADD down and looked up at her, pain flitting through his eyes. "I hope... I hope one day we could go back to being on friendly terms?"

Icheb had listened her heartfelt apology with much more than a little bit of guilt. She was blaming herself for what was his fault initially. He had started all of this and she was taking it all onto her shoulders! "I... was at fault too," he said softly, unsure how to properly explain himself at the moment. "Friendly terms..." he smiled weakly, "...it sounds good," he said finally.

Feeling like they had made progress, Naomi let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "Then, I'll take my seat now... professor," she said, trying her hand at being playful once again. Icheb didn't say anything, went back to his PADD, but he did have a little ghost of a smile on his lips.

For now, it was enough for both of them.

TBC...

End A/N: As I mentioned at the start of this chapter by the lyrics, this chapter was heavily influenced by the song "Something In My Heart" by Royksopp. It seemed to reflect the direction their relationship has taken pretty well. I know I tend to focus on Naomi more than Icheb, but I hope you guys don't mind. I relate a little more to Naomi and felt easier to write her point of view. Still, I hope I'm getting Icheb's feelings across well enough.

Also, I've noticed that I put in more efforts in the inner workings of the characters than probably necessary... like a pendulum swing, I went from zero introspection, to an overload of it. I'm sorry if some of you find that difficult to read, but these first few chapters are the ones with the most, I promise. It's actually one of the reasons it's rated M, not just for that, but for the fact that this story is meant for more matured readers who appreciate character development. Oh and age has nothing to do with it by the way.