Hours later the effect of the sedative slowly wore off, and Seven of Nine woke up. The lights were dimmed, indicating that there were night on the ship. When she noticed where she was, and remembered why, she immediately closed her eyes again. The sight before her was everything, but desirable. She didn't want to see HIS daughter. But the girl thought otherwise. She turned to her side in her dreams, and with this movement she instinctively snuggled up to the woman lying next to her.
Seven opened her eyes, as she felt the small, warm bundle at her stomach. She wanted to push her away, but the little one grabbed her dress with her free hand. If the Commander frees herself, the little girl will definitely wake up. And when she wakes up, she starts crying again. And Seven didn't want that. There were one worse thing beside sight of her, her cry. The cry for her mother. This little girl seemed to be persistent. And with this, she earned the Commander's recognition. But not her love, or acceptance.
So Seven was silently watching the girl. She was so small! But she was so human. But the worst thing of her, that she had HIS eyes, as the Commander remembered. HIS eyes. Even after all this time, she wished that those eyes would only look at her and that their owner would only see her. The Doctor. How was he able to bear a child? With someone else. With a foreign woman. Seven hated the child for inheriting HIS eyes, but somehow she wanted the girl to look at her again. Only to let her see HIS eyes. This duality almost drove her mad.
"She is very cute, isn't she?" Beverly asked her quietly.
Seven didn't respond.
"Cuteness is irrelevant" she said finally.
"People usually find small children cute."
"I think, I am failed to be a human. Even in this field."
"But you let her snuggle up to you!" Beverly smiled encouragingly. "Don't you want to caress her?"
"There's no meaning waking her up" she refused the offer. "She is very loud."
Beverly was worried. The little girl needed her mother, but Seven of Nine totally refused her. The Commander's behavior was not different from usual: her emotions were under control, her speak was matter-of-fact, unemotional. She didn't show any bonding to the child.
"She only wants to be with her mother, and she doesn't understand, why don't you love her."
"I am not her mother!" Seven cried quietly, but with so much emotion, which reassured Beverly.
"Well, in fact, you're her mother."
Seven looked at Beverly as if she doubted the doctor's sanity.
"It is absurd."
Beverly silently gave her the notepad with the data of the examination of the girl. The Commander red the files, and didn't react at all, just stared at the notepad.
"Are you sure?" she asked finally.
"Do you want to double-check the examination?"
Seven shook her head.
"I trust your work."
She gave back the datapad to the doctor, and closed her eyes. She didn't sleep. Maybe she was thinking.
"How did this kid even get here?" she asked finally.
"We don't know. Jean-Luc investigated, but it seems this girl suddenly appeared in a moving turbolift."
"With transport?"
"There are no traces of transportation. She just appeared, from the thin air."
"Is there no signs of an alien methods of transport?"
"No."
Silence fell to the sickbay. Seven of Nine was thinking hard.
"Where is her father?" she asked in the end.
The doctor could see in the Commander that the topic was taking a toll on her. Beverly appreciated the effort that she dared to ask.
"No trace of him."
Seven of Nine took a big breath, and breathed out at a troubled rate, which warned the doctor, that she had two patient. The Commander of the Stargazer was the second one.
"Would you like another dose of sedative?" Beverly offered her.
Seven of Nine shook her head.
"I don't want to sleep."
"But sometimes it comes in handy. It helps organize thoughts."
"The Borg Queen said the same thing" she smiled a bit. "Only she sent me to regenerate instead of sleeping."
"The Borg seem to have some good ideas too" Beverly nodded. "I know you have trouble with sleeping. However, I want you to at least rest, even if you don't fall asleep."
The doctor left her two patient.
Half an hour later the Commander called her.
"I'd still like the sedative you offered, doctor!"
"Why?"
No answer came.
"What's the problem, Seven?" Beverly asked, although even in the dim lighting one could see the Commander's wet face and red teary eyes. There was no sound of her crying, and her body was not shaken by the sobs. But that made her even more pitiable. "Tell me! No one else is here, no one else can hear it."
"This girl is his child" she stated.
"And yours."
"Mine, but not mine. Genetically mine. But who is her real mother?"
"Does it matter? She is yours… She recognized you as her mother. Isn't it enough?"
"But her real mother was hugged by him..."
Beverly suddenly understood everything. It was easy, and common. The Commander was simply jealous.
"How could he do that with another woman? Why didn't he do that to me?"
She asked, and her tears were uncontrollably falling.
"I don't know" the doctor said, and began to caress Seven's back. "Otherwise you can ask him soon. Because we are heading towards the Jupiter station."
Seven's head snapped up at this news.
"Why?"
"Why?" Beverly asked back. "Because your daughter's existence raises more questions than it answers."
"I am not sure, I want to meet him" Seven whispered pitifully.
"Hey, that man loves you" she tried to reassure her patient.
The Commander looked at her like a life belt is thrown to a drowning man.
"He wouldn't have wanted a child with you if he wasn't still in love with you."
She patted Seven's shoulder, and left her alone with her child and with her thoughts.