Someone else was thinking about kissing. Although he didn't quite legally want to kiss a certain lady. Peter Beckett felt like he started his life again, as his fiance turned into a Borg drone and he had a reason to break up with her. He felt a bit sorry, because he invested a lot of time and money to marry into an Admiral's family, but didn't feel sorry at all to have a chance to find a more decorative girl than Amelia Janeway. She was cute, but comparing her size to Zimt's… Well, Zimt won. Definitely won. That's the good side of leaving Amelia Janeway. Moreover, when Zimt hears the news of the breakup, he will surely want to comfort him. So Peter Beckett wins, and marry into a famous engineer's family. Not a bad trade. So where was Zimt exactly? He turned to the computer.

Zimt felt tired. The Commander didn't sleep at all last night, and didn't even want to get a sedative. She didn't even felt to regenerate, so Zimt had to entertain her. Despite she allowed the young woman to sleep, and she even offered the couch, or her bed, but Zimt was afraid, that the Commander would do something more serious, than assimilating the Admiral's daughter. Although, she couldn't have done worse anyway. So they were awake the whole night, and playing Kadis-kot. Zimt was tired, but she could easily win over the Commander. The Borg's mind was somewhere else in the Universe, but she didn't tell to Zimt, she asked in vain.

After all this, Zimt was not happy when she ran into Peter Beckett in the cafeteria. The man had been inconsolable in recent days, and Zimt tried in vain to explain the advantages of being a Borg to him. So she tried to avoid him. But it didn't always work out. Not that morning either. He caught her in the cafeteria, and sat down next to her.

"I didn't know you liked lattes!" he smiled at her seductively.

"I had a long night, and I still have a shift in the sickbay" she replied reservedly, and drank the coffee in big gulps. After she finished, she grabbed a datapad, and started reading, while eating her breakfast.

"I like hard-working women" Peter tried to talk with her again.

"Everyone in the class knows that" Zimt mumbled, and stuffed her mouth with vegetables.

"Really?" his company asked in disbelief.

"Really" she nodded. "But, it is said, that those girls were working hard in your bed, instead of their studies!"

Zimt stood up, grabbed her empty tray, and left the sad ex-fiance. Peter Beckett didn't follow her. He explained her latest remark as the sign of jealousy, so he was satisfied with his efforts. The grumpy woman had softened a bit.

Amelia Janeway was restless. The new Borg drone was still in the sickbay, but she was locked under energy barrier, which prevented her to run away. She was not handling the transformation of her body badly. Her Borg skills were still new for her, and Captain Picard deactivated her inner shield generator, so it was possible her to confine to a limited space in the sickbay. She was walking in there up and down, and cried her pain out. Her mother tried to calm her raging soul, but apparently with little success. She snarled and cursed at everyone, who walked there. The staff started to avoid her, and Beverly Crusher had to face a rebellion, because nobody wanted to go close to her.

Only Zimt was willing, but only when two security officers looked after her. On that day she found Admiral Janeway sitting on the sickbay side of the barrier. She was watching her sleeping daughter, but she was tired, very tired. Zimt didn't want to wake up the new drone, but her mother was looking terrible. She began to examine her without permission. The device didn't give more information, what she observed.

"Admiral, you should rest" she told to the old lady.

" You would need it too" she answered with a tired smile. "You look dead tired too."

"The Commander was awake at all night" she explained, and sat down to the floor, next to the Admiral.

"Seven never ever liked to sleep" she smiled. "She was a bad girl in the old times. She didn't change."

"Are you not angry at her?"

"No. Not at all" she said honestly. " Amelia looked for trouble herself."

"Would it not hurt you, what happened to your daughter?"

"Hurts" she said. "When your little girl had to face her biggest nightmare, it hurts you as her mother. But it was not Seven's fault."

"Are you sure? She was the one, who assimilated your daughter."

"It is a tiny revenge for what we did to her."

The young doctor was silent, and looked at the Admiral. Kathryn Janeway looked back at her, and some strange feeling squeezed her heart. The young doctor reminded her to someone. She couldn't grab whom she reminded her, but her eyes was strongly familiar. Not that little girl, who was rescued by them years ago. Not even the Doctor. Someone else, but she dug through her oldest memories in vain.

"We didn't know, that Humans treat the implanted people so cruel. But we are responsible to bring Seven back to the Alpha Quadrant. More or less despite her will. And she was right: we had been left her alone among the wild beasts. So it is our punishment. We deserve more, but Seven seems to be satisfied with this much. Does she want to see Amelia?"

"No. She is closed to her quarters because what she did."

"Isn't she upset?"

"She is clinically depressed. So she didn't leave her quarters anyway. She's had a lot of losses lately."

"I have heard about Icheb" the Admiral sighed. She knew the young Borg very well, and she was aware how protective was Seven toward him.

"And her daughter."

"Daughter?" she echoed the young doctor's word. "I didn't even know she had a daughter."

"A one and a half year old biological daughter."

"Name?"

"Elle."

"How?"

"She was kidnapped from her a few days ago from the Jupiter station. She is still suffering from the loss."

"Couldn't Dr. Zimmerman help? He is the biggest researcher of the world!"

"Dr. Zimmerman is also lost, with your former EMH."

Tears started to running down on the Admiral's face. She finally understood. Seven lost everybody, she loved! She didn't want her such a fate. She loved her like Amelia. So the Admiral was hurt like Seven.

"That's why you didn't want us to meet her..."

"The Commander is now unpredictable. Her emotions are stronger, than an average human's, and if she starts running amok, we can't stop her."

"She seemed to be calm."

"It takes a lot of work, her to be so calm" Zimt sighed.

The Admiral saw her tiredness.

"Thanks for helping them so much!" she tried to to express her gratitude. "Aren't you afraid of them?"

"Why?" Zimt asked in surprised.

"Because they are Borg. Most people are afraid of them."

"I like Borgs" she smiled, and certain light made her eyes shining.

"Do you like them?" the Admiral asked back amused.

"Not all of them, but I really like Seven of Nine."

"And my daughter?" Kathryn asked uneasy.

"Well, she is the only Borg, I hate" she answered honestly.

Kathryn lowered her head. It was painful to hear, that the only brave doctor, who was willing to treat her daughter, hated her.

"I hate her, because the Commander assimilated her, instead of me!" She cried desperately.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway couldn't say a word for a first time in her life.