Days of Love

Captain Janeway stood in front of the doors to Cargo Bay 2 with a padd in her hand gathering her courage. She still wasn’t completely sure that Seven of Nine wasn’t aware of her surroundings while regenerating but she had to take the risk. After deliberating every option available, she’d decided this was the best course of action. It had a good chance of success while still being honest and simple so that if she was discovered, it wouldn’t be anymore embarrassing than necessary.

Leaving the padd in Astrometrics before alpha shift left the remote possibility that someone else would find it, it was a public place after all, and the same thing was true for leaving it in Cargo Bay 2 during Seven’s shift. Not that she’d signed the message but she didn’t want anyone to read it anyway. It was, eh, rather personal. Encrypting it was an option she had also considered. Seven was after all smart enough to break the code on her own, yet unpredictable as she was; she could just as easily show up on the Bridge and demand Tuvok examine it. She’d considered transporting it in front of Seven’s nose but not only was her Astrometrics officer inquisitive enough to start perusing the transporter files, there was a good chance that somebody else might pick up on the transport and would take a look.

She was left with one option, which left her here and being afraid of getting caught. She had considered wearing gloves while handling the padd or swiping it with some biological-tissue killer after leaving it but had decided there was a fine line between being cautious and being obsessive.

It was a combination of things in truth. She wanted it to be a surprise and she didn’t want Seven to know she’d written the mushy letter. She didn’t want her to know how she felt about her. Of course, the proper course of action if she really didn’t want Seven to know was no action. But it was Valentine’s Day. She was in love so badly she’d happily sing any song over the ship’s communications system, she wondered over the beauty of practically every star they passed and senior staff meetings had become the sweetest, cruelest torture ever imagined. She wanted to share that. Preferably with the cause of this wonderful feeling.

It was selfish, yes; being in love could make you selfish. What could Seven do with the declaration of love she’d written? If she didn’t discover the sender? Absolutely nothing. If she did… She was pretty sure her feelings weren’t reciprocated, so that could make things immensely awkward for both of them. But what if they were… would she let something happen? As captain, she shouldn’t but would she?

Problems, problems, problem.

Meanwhile she was still standing in front of the doors feeling stupid about sneaking into Cargo Bay 2. She was captain of this ship after all not a love struck teenager. Hmm. However lurking in the corridor in the middle of gamma shift as she was doing now wasn’t too captainly either so with a final steadying breath she stepped into the line of the door sensors which obediently swooshed open.

Seven wasn’t regenerating; she was standing at her computer console looking over her shoulder at her mid-night guest. This was one eventuality the captain hadn’t allowed for.

‘Captain, how may I be of assistance?’

She couldn’t go back. She needed to say something. The padd was burning a hole in her hand.

‘You’re not regenerating.’ Lame, lame, lame.

‘I am doing some research on human behavior, captain.’

‘Oh.’ Her brain was working overtime but it didn’t seem to yield any results and she really had to come up with a good reason for being here. NOW. ‘This is for you,’ she offered the padd to Seven, ‘I found it.’ Fibbing! Naughty, naughty, naughty. If it would work though…

Janeway snapped out of her shock and her feverishly working mind finally started sprouting some interesting suggestions. ‘I walked by Astrometrics earlier just to take a look at the star chart for the upcoming sector. It was lying there on your console. It seemed to be rather personal, thought it best not to leave it lying around. I just skimmed the first few lines,’ she hastened to add, ‘but it seems you have an admirer.’

Seven walked over to take it from her. ‘Who is it from?’ Light blue eyes fixed intently on gray-blue ones.

‘No idea.’ The lying was unnerving her, she felt as though the tall ex-Borg was looking right through her. This was a little different from being diplomatic to some alien rogue. ‘Well, good night Seven.’

‘Good night, captain.’

Escape at last!


Janeway was eating her lunch in the Mess Hall on purpose. Nothing had happened so far and she didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. She’d hardly slept; half expecting Seven’s chime at her quarters, half going over all that had been said and done in Cargo Bay 2 earlier. Had she given herself away?

In the end, she’d fallen asleep about an hour prior to her wake-up call and had subsequently slept through it. She had just been in time for the start of her duty shift.

People around her were happily chatting about Valentine’s Day and the heart-shaped pieces of toast Neelix served with his meals. He’d wanted to organize a Valentine’s breakfast for all shifts but they were going through a bit of lean time with supplies steadily dwindling and no sign of a planet where they could stock up in the foreseeable future. Neelix had happily come-up with a workable compromise.

She scanned the tables around her. No Seven. It was a long shot of course; the ex-Borg hardly ever came here. She’d hoped she’d be here looking for answers to the mystery padd. But so far, no good. Janeway decided if she didn’t have any luck now, she’d use the afternoon to make a thorough round of Voyager. Maybe she’d bump into Seven then. By accident naturally.

Finishing up her toast and coffee, she was about to get up and leave when the doors opened on her Astrometrics officer. Janeway felt her heart plummet into the general area her stomach used to be but was now occupied by a subspace anomaly which had sucked her stomach to deck eleven or there about. She’d go look for it later, right now, she wanted to see what Seven was going to do. If she would come over to her. Hastily she picked up her empty cup and pretended to drink from it. No this would not do. She’d get some new coffee. Maybe she’d even catch her love’s attention that way.

Seven was still standing near the doors looking around the room.

Neelix bustled over, glad to see the woman in his domain. ‘Hello Seven, enjoying your Valentine’s Day?’

‘I’m looking for the captain.’

‘Well, she was here a couple of…’ Neelix's words faded away as Seven spotted her target and moved off without further acknowledging the Talaxian cook.

‘Captain, may I join you?’

Janeway wheeled around. It still came as a surprise to hear the cool tones addressing her. Her sudden movement almost made her spill some coffee she’d just retrieved from the replicator. ‘Of course. Can I get you anything?’ Act normal, act normal, act normal, nothing going on, regular lunch in the Mess Hall, Kathryn silently encouraged herself.

Seven pondered this for a second. ‘Tea,’ she hesitated a second before adding ‘please.’

Seated at the captain’s earlier table with their drinks in front of them, Janeway was trying to start an innocent conversation with a very distracted Seven of Nine. ‘Find anything interesting about the upcoming sector, Seven?’

‘Seven? … Was there anything in specific you wanted to talk about?’ The captain’s heart although back in place was still not functioning properly. It was beating so loud, she could hardly hear her own thoughts. This was the moment Seven would confront her. She’d considered all possibilities she’d managed to come up with.

‘Captain,’ Seven gathered her thoughts before continuing, ‘the padd was indeed from an admirer. It was a love letter. Unfortunately, it was unsigned. The person asked me not to tell anyone but you are already aware of its existence.’

‘Well, it’s not uncommon for a love letter to be anonymous Seven,’ Janeway replied.

‘When I went to Sickbay this morning for my monthly check-up, the doctor offered me a dead flower.’

Janeway snickered inwardly; glad she’d chosen a letter instead of a rose. She could just imagine Seven’s indignant, imperious reaction to the doctor.

‘He explained it was a rose and a token of his affection for me for Valentine’s Day. I asked him if he wrote me a letter as well. That seemed to upset him. Apparently I have two admirers.’ Seven sighed despondently.

‘Isn’t that a good thing? I’m a bit envious Seven, I wish I had someone who send me a letter or gave me a rose.’

‘You are the captain,’ Seven said as if that closed the matter.

Janeway blinked, slightly hurt. ‘True, it would be unsuitable but it’s also nice to know you are wanted and loved. I am still a human being Seven, with feelings…’

Seven looked up at that from her cooling tea. ‘I apologize, captain I did not mean to imply that you do not have feelings. I merely thought you might be uncomfortable with such shows of affection because of their inappropriateness.’

‘It depends, mostly on how it was done and how publicly it was done but also on the sender.’

Seven studied her for a long moment as if deciding on something. Janeway felt her insides flutter. Oh God, she would surely melt under that gaze.

‘Yes. I wish I knew who the sender was.’

When the blonde finally responded, Kathryn needed a few seconds before she understood the words or could formulate an intelligible answer. ‘Doesn’t the letter hold any clues?’ she asked tentatively, a little nervous about the answer she’d receive.

‘Only some general ones that did not reduce the number of possible writers enough to make an ‘educated guess’,’ Seven explained. ‘My best option would be to have it examined by the doctor, however that does not seem tactful under the circumstances.’


The second part of the captain’s shift had passed as slow as the first. Her mind lingering on Seven, their conversation in the Mess Hall. She was now pretty sure that Seven wouldn’t figure out she’d written the letter. At least not as long as she didn’t let the doctor examine it. The realization had left her a little wistful.

Upon entering her quarters, Janeway immediately noticed the two items that had been placed on her coffee table. It unnerved her a tad to know someone had been here without her permission or knowledge but at the moment the feeling was easily outweighed by the bubble of almost anxious anticipation she felt rising. Not everyone would have had the nerve to break into her quarters. Seven would though, maybe Chakotay, they were pretty close after all, B’Elanna could probably have pulled it of, she’d have the gall for it, or some crewmember she didn’t know that well. Most would be too intimidated by her status as captain but who knew, there could be another B’Elanna/Seven-like person walking around on her ship.

She scratched B’Elanna from her list immediately; the woman was in love with her helmsman after all. She sincerely hoped it wasn’t her first officer that could ruin a perfectly good friendship. Seven. Oh please, let it be Seven, please.

On the table on a small platter lay a caramel brownie. It looked all soft and gooey and smelt heavenly sweet. Next to it was a padd displaying a single sentence. ‘Please meet me in Astrometrics.’ The odds for it being Seven were rising but, she reminded herself, it could still be anybody.

Picking up the delicious looking little square and the small white napkin that came with it, she went on her way to Astrometrics. She took a bite and felt the brown goodness melt in her mouth. Savoring the taste, she groaned softly. Whoever it is, thank you, she thought.

If it is Seven, there’s a chance she’s doing this because I said I was a little envious, she reminded herself. But Seven was a very honest person so when asked about her intentions, she’d probably tell her straight out. Don’t get your hopes up; keep your wits about Katie.

The only light in Astrometrics came from the huge screen that covered one entire wall. On it was displayed a light bleu planet with white swirls of clouds, surrounded by an almost golden atmosphere. It was a breathtaking sight in and of itself but what actually made Janeway’s breath catch in her throat was the sight of Seven of Nine’s silhouette in front of one of the workstations. Her strong, shapely body outlined by the soft glow from the screen, her hair was down framing her face, resting on attractive shoulders.

As the doors closed behind Captain Janeway, Seven turned to face her. ‘Computer, seal doors to Astrometrics and lights at forty percent.’

Janeway felt a shiver run down her spine, what had the woman planned? ‘Seven?’ she asked.

Seven turned her gently towards the screen and the image of the revolving planet. Keeping her hands lightly on the red clad shoulders she spoke softly, clearly enunciating every word.

‘Your home is among the stars, on Voyager and on earth. My home is among the stars, on Voyager and where you are. Only when I am with you, secure that I will see you again tomorrow, can I breath, can I make plans, can I love, only when I am with you.’

Kathryn reveled in the contact between them, the sweet words making her feel warm and loved. Tears shimmered in her eyes on the verge of falling. She couldn’t say a word if her life depended on it.

‘Captain, is this the right place?’ Seven asked eventually. All Kathryn could do, was give a slight nod.

‘Is this the right way?’ Another nod.

‘Am I the right sender?’ Seven asked, clearly a little uncomfortable.

Janeway nodded. ‘Seven, always,’ her voice low, hoarse, breaking. She felt so vulnerable and so safe at the same time. She still couldn’t look at the woman she loved so deeply.

‘Captain I believe I love you.’

Finally, the magic words and they sounded so right, Seven so sure and sincere. Kathryn turned around pulling the other woman closely into her body, not able to wait another second for what she had longed for for so long.

‘Thank you for your letter,’ Seven murmured softly into Kathryn’s hair.

Janeway stiffened a little. ‘You knew?’

‘It could only be from you, nobody else loves me that way,’ Seven smirked.

A soft chuckle touched a long lean neck. ‘You’re perceptive my sweet,’ Kathryn looked up, ‘and this is a very beautiful Valentine’s Day gift. Thank you.’

‘I was researching the subject yesterday when you came by. I do not understand why people would want to declare their love on one day only and why on this day,’ Seven asked.

‘Then why did you choose this day?’ Kathryn wondered for a second if maybe this was all because of her earlier remark.

‘I did not, you did. It seems to have a special meaning to you.’

‘I love you every day, it was only today I had the courage to tell you but I assure you I love you every single day, my sweet Seven.’

‘I know,’ Seven smiled a big radiant smile, stunning Kathryn into silence, ‘and now I am going to kiss you.’

Her breathing completely forgotten, her heart doing summersaults in her chest, she felt as if a sun had exploded inside her, spreading warmth and light and making her feel as though she was on fire. Kathryn looked up at the gorgeously full lips slowly descending on her own.

‘Oh Seven,’ she breathed against Seven’s lips. Then all words were forgotten and only a feeling of softness and of warm, strong love surrounding them and filling them was left.

END OF STORY