He was an Ensign fresh out of the academy, a junior member of the engineering team aboard the newly-christened flagship Enterprise-G. A dream posting if there was ever one, and one which he worked very hard to achieve.
But everything changed as soon as he saw her. One look was all it took.
Seven of Nine, ex-Borg drone and new Captain, both senior in rank and age... the latter of which was more than three decades, but she was still stunning and very beautiful to the point he was barely able to hide his tightened pants in front of her and the rest of the engineering staff. Once she'd left, he exhaled a very heavy breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
He knew a lot about Seven of Nine, of course, her disconnection from the Borg collective and years on Voyager being well-known quite widely across the Quadrant and beyond, but after that uncomfortable yet very enlightening first meeting he needed to know more.
It had taken months, but he figured out how to hack into her personal logs and files. And indeed he knew much more, likely more than anyone except for herself. Knew that she spent almost a quarter of a century incredibly lonely and bitter after Voyager had returned, especially after losing the closest thing to a son she'd ever had... Icheb. Knew that even after everything that happened she still suffered from feelings of inadequacy and regret. And in one very notable entry, she'd wondered what path her life would have taken had she stayed with Chakotay, or if she'd been in a relationship with anyone else during that time.
He'd never had much experience with relationships himself, at least not with real people, so he understood where she was coming from. It was an unwritten rule that if someone was in a locked holodeck for around a half hour to an hour, alone, that they were using their leisure time for something more than a holo-novel. He had his own "leisure time" once or twice a week on average to blow off steam, which was fine, but another actual rule was that you weren't supposed to use holographic recreations of real, living people to do so. And doing so could get you into very serious trouble if you were caught.
Until then, he'd never risked it and was as straight-laced as any Starfleet officer could be. But after reading Seven's true feelings he realized just how much she truly hurt inside and would do anything to alleviate that.
He was falling in love.
Instead of a randomly-generated blonde or redhead that he was used to, he'd asked the computer to generate a representation of Seven of Nine as she'd appeared on Voyager. Once she shimmered into existence he took a few moments to truly appreciate her beauty... her form-fitting catsuit that showed off all her considerable assets, and her baby blue eyes that had never changed over the years. He commanded the program to start and she wasted no time in grabbing him, kissing him and leading him towards the bed.
About twenty minutes later, he shared a steamy shower with her to clean himself up before getting dressed and ending the program. A part of him knew that he'd definitely crossed the line but the rest of him felt free in a way he never had before.
It had taken over a year before he'd been careless enough to get caught by one of his crew-mates, simply by forgetting to lock the holodeck. Said crew-mate witnessed what appeared to be a younger version of her Captain and him fully nude, and despite his pleading wasted no time in reporting him.
He was confined to quarters with all holodeck privileges revoked, and at first was supposed to be shipped off to a nearby Starbase for psychological counseling and "holo-addiction", but a search of his belongings also found copies of the Captain's personal and restricted files which led to a level-ten diagnostic on the ship's main database. After it was determined that he'd hacked into it along with his holodeck indiscretions, he was stripped of both rank and posting and instead sent to be court-martialed.
Seven testified against him, which tore at his heartstrings. How could she do that to him?
He was offered a deal: An honorable discharge from Starfleet with his records expunged meaning that he could still work elsewhere, given his exemplary engineering skills... quite possibly the only thing that saved him from a decade in a penal colony. Needless to say he accepted the terms, while several of the Enterprise-G staff looked upon him with severe disapproval and malice, especially Seven.
But he was free and wouldn't give up. He'd give her the happiness and life she truly desired.
He spent the next five years on both a secret project and learning everything there was to know about Voyager and its mission. Part of his deal with Starfleet meant no unsupervised holodeck usage but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them, and spent most of his time with Seven but also viewed a truncated version of the seven years they'd spent in the Delta Quadrant. He was tempted to learn more about the redacted and censored content but Starfleet made it clear that if he was caught hacking into Federation databases again they wouldn't be as lenient the next time.
Not like it really mattered, because if his project worked he'd be living it.
His plan was simplistic in design: A small cloaked ship to evade detection and the tricky but well-documented "slingshot" time-travel effect around the Sun, to go back in time to be with Seven. The hard part was getting the proper materials, and he'd bribed and stole and even killed for them, because in his mind it ultimately didn't matter since the timeline would be changed.
Starfleet did detect him and nearly destroyed his ship, but he managed to get in the proper speed and position around the Sun before they could and they promptly disappeared off sensors. Not long after that, he landed the still-cloaked ship down on Earth and sat in silence for what seemed like hours.
It worked. It actually worked, and he was back to before Voyager even launched on its maiden voyage, back to before Voyager was even completed.
He smiled.
His skills had increased considerably over the years to the point he very easily hacked himself into Starfleet as a full Lieutenant and was part of the team that applied the finishing touches to Voyager's computer system before the ship was activated for the first time. He'd made sure to install a backdoor to give him clearance above the Captain and even any Admirals if he needed to at some point.
Because he was going on the journey with them, having also given himself a "transfer" to Voyager's engineering staff. He knew that despite his rank B'Elanna Torres would be made Chief Engineer and thus his superior but he truly didn't care. He was there for one reason and one reason only, to save Seven. He'd hoped that nobody ever looked too closely at his fabricated service record, but since he would be listed among the "lost" Voyager crew and Starfleet would also be preoccupied with the Dominion War for years to come it was very unlikely.
Years passed, and despite his foreknowledge he never realized just how boring and mundane most of Voyager's journey really was and that everything that was well-known about it was both rare and sensationalized. More than once he was tempted to smash Harry Kim's clarinet or punch Neelix in the face but he'd resisted the urge, as hard as it was.
Then the time finally came, where Captain Janeway made a "deal" with the Borg against Species 8472. And she came.
His Seven.
It had taken months before he actually met her for the second time, because given his rank and experience he was often heading Engineering while Lieutenant Torres was asleep or otherwise indisposed. She was aloof and really nothing like her future self, and they'd barely spoken to each other before she'd left, but it still made a huge impact on him. She was so much better than the simulated, holographic Seven in every possible way and he swore that he'd smelled a hint of lilac in her hair, something that he hadn't known she liked. He took note.
He didn't want to play his hand too soon and scare her away, but also didn't want to take too long and have someone else pursue her like Chakotay or Harry Kim, the latter of which he could tell had eyes for her and then some.
It was close to a year after her "rescue" from the Borg and by chance (or by fate as he'd tell himself) was walking by Holodeck Two which was in use and given that the door didn't open when he neared it, locked as well. He chuckled at the implication, knowing what was likely happening behind those doors. Even on Voyager, single members of the crew like himself had "leisure time" at least several times a month and a blind eye was turned towards it by everyone so long as the main rule wasn't broken. Of course, he'd made sure that he didn't but the various randomly-generated women didn't hold a candle to Seven whatsoever, and it was more for release than anything else.
Curious, he asked the computer how many people were in the holodeck and who, and the voice replied:
"One, Seven of Nine."
Of everyone that he'd expected to be in there, she wasn't one of them and it both surprised and exhilarated him. She really wasn't any different than anyone else after all, wasn't any different than him.
Using his backdoor override, he entered the holodeck which revealed a bedroom with Seven of Nine on top of a holographic male clearly in the middle of the act, and her moans and gasps were like beautiful music to his ears. Sure, he'd heard her holographic duplicate do so often but it was still just an approximation, the real thing made his heart hammer in his chest to the point he felt like it was going to explode.
She didn't notice him right away while he watched, but when she did she paused the program and wrapped a bed-sheet around her nude frame, looking both very embarrassed and angry at her intruder. He sheepishly explained that the holodeck wasn't locked (and altered the logs later to make sure it appeared that way when she checked, which she did), and quickly turned around and exited.
Something he'd spent a fair bit of time upon along with his engineering and hacking skills was psychology. He was no Betazoid but knew that he was in a perfect spot and how she'd eventually react, and all he had to do was wait. He had been wracking his brain trying to think of a situation to approach her and it figuratively fell into his lap, and with luck it'd soon be literal as well.
Three days later after his shift was over and he was relaxing with a glass of (non-synthehol) wine, the chime to his quarters rang. He knew who would be there before he opened the door, and took a moment to freshen himself up before doing so.
Seven of Nine, dark-blue catsuit and all.
She appeared professional and (like he'd guessed) wanted to discuss what happened in the holodeck, and he invited her in. Again, not wanting to overplay his hand he didn't offer any wine and sat a fair distance away from where she did. Despite her Borg stoicism she was still clearly embarrassed at being caught having sex with a hologram and urged him to not tell anyone. He promised, and knowing her likely better than she did herself at the current point in time, put his skills to good use.
He explained that it was normal to explore sexuality and that he'd often done it on the holodeck himself, and that there was nothing to be ashamed of and that a good chunk of the crew also did it. She explained that, due to having most of her life stolen by the Borg, she didn't get to experience it and several months earlier started doing so with holodeck programs once a week. She also admitted that, past the first few times, she didn't do it solely for the experience but also the pleasure, and again he reassured her that it was normal and genuinely felt bad over the Borg destroying her life.
It was a fairly short conversation and, after reassuring her once more that he wouldn't say anything about it, she left to "regenerate" (sleep) for the night but not before he told her that he'd be there if she needed anything. He swore that she had a slight smile at that remark, if only for a moment, and then she was gone.
A few weeks later, Lieutenant Torres was ill so he'd been assigned the day shift and it wasn't long before their paths crossed again, given Seven's workload back and forth between Astrometrics and Engineering. She wasn't as cold towards him as before and seemed to be somewhat happy to see him, as much as a woman who'd spent most of her life as a Borg and was only freed little more than a year could be, anyway. Given that he was the first person who showed her kindness through an embarrassing situation, it was likely that she'd be more open and trustworthy towards him and it seemed as if that was already happening.
Little happened at first, but eventually she made the first move and invited him to a game of Kal-toh in the Mess Hall. It was a game he was terrible at (which Seven and Tuvok repeatedly pointed out, to his chagrin), but he didn't care. He did get better over time but barely won a game or two against Seven, and never did so versus Tuvok.
Games turned to conversations, conversations turned to dinners and holodeck adventures (not "leisure time"), and dinners eventually turned into a full-on date where Seven discovered she had a poor tolerance for alcohol and fell fast asleep. The next date, however, was where everything changed and he finally made the move he'd dreamed about since the days of the Enterprise-G.
Foregoing wine after the embarrassing first date, he and Seven made out and in her words desired to have a "real experience", to which he eagerly agreed. And about an hour later she had fallen asleep still cuddling him, breasts pressed into his back and he wished that wonderful moment would last forever. Once Seven woke up he made sure to be the first thing she saw, and after replicating a light breakfast they shared a quick sonic shower together.
She was his, and he was hers. Never would she be lonely again.
Word of their new relationship spread and while some of the senior staff like Janeway and Chakotay had a bit of apprehension (the latter had taken him aside and in no uncertain terms warned him what would happen if he'd ever hurt Seven), most were generally supportive and glad that Seven was "coming out of her shell" as it were. One exception was both Q and his son, who called him an abomination that shouldn't exist and urged the Captain to get rid of him before he could do untold damage. Given that he was an upstanding member of her crew and occasional Chief Engineer, Janeway of course told them no and asked why they were so hostile towards him. Q replied that something (that he couldn't reveal) both prevented him from directly harming him in any way and telling her anything other than the fact he was dangerous. Janeway would have none of it though and eventually they stopped, but not before telling her that she'd made a huge mistake.
He breathed a sigh of relief, but also wondered just what could threaten or control a Q and why it seemed to be protecting him, which gave him chills.
Voyager's journey was almost over, and he knew it as soon as the future version of Janeway appeared, with a similar story of taking far too long to get home and losing many crew members along the way, including Seven. He'd taken care to listen to every word she said and heard no mention of Chakotay, but given how she looked towards him it was obvious that something horrible still happened in that alternate future timeline.
Not that it mattered, because a few days later they were back on Earth being debriefed by Starfleet and none of that would ever come to be, and he had the most beautiful woman in the world by his side and would never let her go.
Most of the Voyager crew attended their wedding roughly two years later, with The Doctor giving her away in lieu of her unfortunately assimilated father. Once the vows were read and the ring was on her finger, he knew that she was saved from her horrible fate and would love him forever. It didn't take long before their first daughter was born, and another two years later, and finally a son two years after that. While he was still technically in Starfleet but largely retired and on reserve, Seven never formally joined and was instead living a quiet and happy life with him and their children and doing occasional research projects for Starfleet that warranted her expertise. She was content and had no regrets, as she truly wanted and he'd given her everything she'd asked for.
Unfortunately, Q had been right, and Seven being veered off her destined path indeed had consequences.
Icheb died alone and in horrifying pain after being stripped of his Borg implants and left for dead. Seven never learned of his fate.
Seven not being present to aid Picard and Soji led to the deaths of the entire La Sirena crew and the annihilation of the Synth Homeworld by the Zhat Vash. The synthetic ban remained in Starfleet for hundreds of years, which included The Doctor who was only reactivated long after all his friends were dead and gone, but as a consolation he did meet some of their descendants including Seven's.
Knowing in advance that Jack Crusher was the linchpin behind the Borg Queen's plan to assimilate Starfleet, Seven's husband excused himself from her for "research" and after tracking him down unceremoniously vaporized him (and his mother, who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time) with a phaser before he knew what happened. The Changelings were eventually weeded out and executed and the Borg Queen, realizing that her plan had failed and she would soon die made a spiteful suicide run directly for Earth with her derelict cube.
Starfleet couldn't react in time due to the cube flying at near-warp speed and it crashed, killing over a quarter of the population and rendering entire continents uninhabitable for millennia to come. By sheer happenstance it was nowhere near where Seven and his children were and until he received a message from them he was crying and utterly terrified that they'd been killed, especially after he'd learned that many of the Voyager crew had been including Janeway, Chakotay, and the Paris family including their daughter.
But they hadn't, and all was well for Seven. That was all that mattered, after all.