“Touched Again.”

“So soon Seven?” Janeway asked as they walked along the corridors on their way to the mess hall, as she was handed a data padd.

“Yes. I believe that I am adapting to this form of expressing one’s self,” she replied.

“I’ll save it for later… if you don’t mind?” She pauses, “Unless you’d like me to read it now?” she asks, hoping that her Astrometrics officer would not ask her to do so.

“Later might be more appropriate,” she answers. “It is curious…” Seven begins then lets her thought trail off.

“What is?” Janeway prompts.

“I find myself telling you one thing, yet at the same time I wish another,” she replies.

“How so?”

“I would much rather you read it now, instead of later,” Seven answers.

Janeway smiles. “I think any one who creates something out of their imagination wants to feel validated – to know that all the hard work that was put into it hasn’t been in vain,” she explains as they walk into the mess hall.

“I see. I am simply wondering how you will judge what I have written,” Seven replies.

Janeway stops and turns to the former Borg drone. “Seven, I’m not judging you or what you’ve written. You’ve asked for my opinion on it, but if you feel that’s what I’m doing, then perhaps it would be best if I didn’t read it,” Janeway states, holding the data padd out in front of her, as if to return it.

Shocked by the Captain’s reply, as well as her body’s response, Seven shook her head. “No, Captain. I would like you to read it… please. I meant what I had said previously, I value your opinion.”

Nodding once, Janeway keeps the data padd. “All right Seven, I’ll read it as long as we’re both agreed that I am not judging you, understand?”

“Understood Captain.”

“Fine. Well, why don’t we get something to drink?”

“Acceptable,” Seven replies, relieved to hear that Captain Janeway would read her story. Perhaps she should see the Doctor. She was curious as to why her body reacted the way it did when the Captain seemed poised to return the data padd unread.

“Oh dear… I need a drink,” Janeway says aloud after reading Seven’s latest installment.

Walking over to the replicator, she requests a whiskey. Glancing at her couch, her eyes lock onto the data padd that was lying face down on the cushion. She relishs the slight burn of her drink after taking a sip.

“I do believe you’re adapting quite well,” she mutters to herself. Going back to the couch, she picks up the data padd once again, keying the commands, she watchs as the story was brought back to the beginning.

Taking another sip, Janeway tucks her legs underneath her and begins to read…

The only sound in her room next to the beating of her heart was the soft sway of her dress as she paced the floor – it was getting late.

She had been anticipating the arrival of her dinner guest for some time now. A brief communication earlier explained the unavoidable delay, she knew at any moment…

The door chime snapped her from her thoughts. Checking her reflection once again, she walked to the door. Seconds later it opened and her heart skipped a beat.

“May I come in?” she was asked.

“Yes… of course. Please, come in,” she replied, as her dinner guest pass by.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“I understand,” she replied.

“Do you Really?”

She nodded as she walked into her living room. She felt the warm presence of a hand on her arm; she turned slowly and gazed into the eyes that captivated her with their brilliance.

“Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?” The hand moved slowly up her arm. “How much I crave you… the feel of your skin underneath mine?” Soon the other hand joined its partner, trailing up and down her arms, while she stood perfectly still, absorbed by the sensations being generated. “May I taste your lips?”

She answered, by closing her eyes and tilting her head to one side.

“Tell me what you want,” she was asked as feather light kisses rained upon her face. “Tell me what you need,” was whispered in her ear. “Tell me what you desire.”

The kisses, moist, warm, and utterly distracting were driving all reasonable thoughts from her mind.

“Tell me what you want, tell me what you need… tell me what you desire,” was the only thing she heard over and over again.

“You!” she gasped as she surrendered herself to the passionate assault on her senses.

“I am yours to command,” she was told, prior to being swept of her feet and carried to her bedroom, where she was placed gently on her bed.

Her breathing had become labored, as hands caressed her body, the evidence of her arousal never in doubt.

She awoke sometime later, sated and parched. Her hand searched the other side of her bed, finding only cool sheets and a note, instead of the one she loved.

Opening the note, she read in the dim light:

I fear that I must go, but only for the time being. Know that one day, I will never leave you again.

Sighing, she placed the note on the nightstand.

Grabbing the other pillow, she brought it towards her face, inhaling the scent of…

“Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway.”

“Go ahead Seven,” she replies, placing the data padd down.

“Have you forgotten our velocity match?”

Janeway quickly glances at the chronometer, wincing. “I’m sorry. I’ll be right there,” she said getting off the couch.

“Understood… Captain?”

“Yes Seven?” Janeway replies.

“Have you had a chance to read it?”

“I have, and I’ll let you know what I thought about it as soon as I get there. Janeway out.” She hopes the velocity match would help relieve some of the tension she suddenly felt.

The End.