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"Ransom of Two"

"So, what do you think?" Captain Kathryn Janeway paced back and forth in the living area of her new residence at Starfleet Headquarters.

"To what exactly are you referring?" Seven replied, trying to the best of her ability to act as if she had no idea what the captain was talking about.

"You know... the offer that's on the table."

"I'm aware of two offers that have been extended to you at this time. Which one would you like me to comment on?"

"I see. Eavesdropping again, eh? I thought you had broken that little habit back on Voyager," Janeway teased.

"I was not 'eavesdropping' as you say. It is difficult, however, to refrain from overhearing a conversation that is taking place in an adjacent room a mere four meters away," Seven defended, as she took her customary stance, hands clasped behind her back and chin raised in defiance of the universe.

"All right then, what do you think of both the offers?" the captain repeated, ceasing to pace so she could stop in front of Seven and search her eyes as she answered.

The younger woman was trying desperately to focus her mind on the task at hand. But the sweet memories of the first time she'd answered this question kept playing through her eidetic memory. The smoldering kiss she and Kathryn shared after Seven had made her feelings known to the captain, still felt warm on her lips like it had just happened seconds ago, which wasn't all that far from the truth.

"Both offers have significant merit. Starfleet is acting with prudence in allowing you to seek any command that you wish. You have achieved a great victory in bringing your crew home safely, deserving of Starfleet's utmost respect. Chakotay is also acting wisely. For there is no other creature that I'm aware of in this galaxy that would be a more preferable mate than yourself. If you affirm his request, the commander will be a privileged individual indeed."

"Why thank you, Seven." She paused for a long moment to drink in the lovely eyes of her companion. She began to feel as if her spirit would break free from her body to take flight into that blue. "Do you think I should take him up on his offer?" she smiled, testing, holding up her hopes to the younger woman.

"Captain, it is..."

"Seven," Janeway interrupted gently, "we're no longer on Voyager. We've been back home for, oh... almost four months now. Why do you insist on still calling me Captain? I'm not your captain anymore, only your friend."

Kathryn punctuated her heartfelt complaint by cupping Seven's left cheek with the palm of her hand, watching as Seven seemed to struggle with maintaining eye contact. As Captain of Voyager, she had forced herself for years to withhold her true feelings from this lovely Borg-Human hybrid. But no more. The duty was out of the way. She loved this woman with all her heart and was certain that the feelings were mutual. A private calm radiated within her like only Seven's presence could give as she waited with confidence for the younger woman's response.

Exhaling, Seven gave herself over to the warmth of Kathryn's touch as it suffused her body, starting at her cheek, moving around her ocular implant, over her forehead, through her scalp, radiating down her body to coalesce like the heat of a warm liquid at the apex of her abdomen. For better or worse to her mission, she felt compelled to at least speak this one truth.

"You were my captain at the launch of my rebirth into humanity. You have helped me to navigate many treacherous corrections in my course toward reestablishing my individuality. You have stood by my side, in my defense, now that we have reached our destination. You have been and always will be my captain and never, 'only' my friend."

Kathryn blinked, her eyes brimming with tears, glittering with abiding love, forcing Seven to avert her gaze in order to keep from falling apart herself.

The captain's hand, which had trailed down the soft skin of Seven's neck, now rested on her shoulder as Kathryn whispered in a tone thick with emotion, "Tell me your feelings for me, Annika. Please, I need to know."

Seven felt sick at what she was about to do. Kathryn speaking to that part of her that is completely Human and can never resist or refuse her captain, that part of her that is Annika, was making it nearly impossible for Seven to focus on her mission. She tried desperately to concentrate on thoughts of the past and on hopes for the future, as she forced her Borg logic and order to the forefront of her mind. She looked into Janeway's eyes, and for the first time, lied to her. "Kathryn, I respect you as my captain and love you as a friend but nothing more. I can not give you what you require of me. I can not love you with the passion and commitment that you deserve. I believe, however, that Chakotay can."

Kathryn's features turned ashen. She pulled her hand from Seven's shoulder and let it fall to her side as if its weight had just increased several kilos. Seven watched the familiar command mask slowly compose itself, hiding Kathryn's agony twisted features, forming a visage that seemed as if it were etched in granite, cold, intractable, not betraying for an instant the crushing anguish Seven knew was ripping its way through her captain's heart.

"I see." Janeway drew a slow even breath. "I appreciate your honesty, Seven," was her only reply.

Seven flinched slightly at the complete falseness of Kathryn's response, feeling guilt burrow through to her soul, knowing that her own statement had not been honest and also well aware that Kathryn had not appreciated her words in the least.

"I am sorry," she continued, in the chilly, Borg cadence that she always fell back on when she was having difficulty with her emotions.

"Me too," Kathryn offered in barely a whisper.

"I would be honored, Captain if you would keep me informed of any wedding plans. Your happiness is important to me."

Seven was becoming increasingly ill, having trouble breathing and feeling as lost as she felt the day Janeway confronted her in Voyager's brig, after she had been newly severed from the hive mind.

"I'll do that." Janeway looked at her one last time. "I imagine you can show yourself out?"

The ex-drone nodded her affirmative.

"Good-bye, Seven."

"Good-bye, Captain."

"I take it, since I'm standing before you once again, our mission was unsuccessful. At what point did failure occur?"

"She didn't marry Chakotay. So she won't be there to protect him. He'll be killed. End of story."

"That does not surprise me. Your logic is flawed as usual," Seven replied with great annoyance, still trying to regain her equilibrium which was thrown into a quandary by her time jump.

"How so?"

"Because you know of the commander's marriage proposal to the captain, you believe it is a perfect opportunity to use her to protect Chakotay from Dr. Cypher's murder attempt. But you have failed to consider the fact that she does not love him. She is in love with me. My refusing that love will not force her into his arms. She will not choose to be with someone else in order to ease the loneliness of being without me. One would think you would have learned your lesson during our first encounter when she helped us to apprehend Captain Braxton, achieving her objective with a mere .0036 temporal incursion factor. We must enlist her assistance in this mission as well. She will not be fooled into helping us. Captain Janeway is not a fool."

"I believe you're allowing your personal feelings to dictate your actions, Seven."

"And I believe I'm the only one of the two of us that is thinking, Captain Ducane."

To face her challenge, he advanced from behind his console and stood in front of her with his arms crossed.

"All right," he replied in a resolute tone. "Since you are the only one thinking here, what do you suggest? Captain Janeway can't help us even if I wanted her to. She's pregnant." As he continued, his words became laced with increasing sarcasm. "I think that might raise a few too many questions. Don't you?"

Seven smirked. "I'm not talking about *my* Captain Janeway."

Ducane heaved a sigh. "So we bring the past Janeway into this. Then what?"

"She and I will work together to accomplish this mission, keeping our interaction with others down to an absolute minimum. How we do that is irrelevant. Because if we are successful in stopping the commander's assassination, the timeline will reset itself at that point. Only she and I will hold the memories of our experiences."

Captain Ducane paced his bridge in silence, thoughts tumbling in his mind.

"Okay, Seven. We'll try it your way. You know as well as I what the stakes are. This timeline must not be allowed to continue! All our lives depend on it. When you succeed in stopping Cypher, tag him with your temporal locator. I'll transport him back with you, lock him up to await trial, and send you home so everyone can live happily ever after."

"Very well." She nodded and repositioned herself on the transport pad. "At the completion of this mission, if we are to 'live happily ever after' as you stated, then you will need to refrain from calling on us again. Like Kathryn, I'm developing a distaste for temporal matters."

"I'll do my best," he smiled.

"Somehow, that does not make me feel anymore confident," she gibed.

The door chime to Captain Janeway's quarters sounded, surprising her, as she wasn't expecting her visitor just yet.

"Come in."

It was Seven of Nine, sporting the new garb that she had adopted after Voyager returned home. Due to Starfleet's incessant surveillance, the ex-borg believed it prudent to discard the rather provocative body suit that served her so well on Voyager and present a less eye-catching appearance. After several tries, with the captain's help, Seven finally settled on Starfleet issue black trousers and boots, with the gray short sleeved turtle neck and a burgundy vest, much like the one that accompanies the new style of Starfleet uniforms. All in all, the captain thought she looked rather lovely in the new outfit and had told the younger woman so. But Seven was just happy that the change seemed to be working as she was feeling Starfleet's breath on her neck less and less.

Janeway had hoped she would wear something special for dinner. But her slight disappointment vanished and was replaced by concern when she noticed the distress in Seven that only the captain's eye would pick up on.

"Seven, you're supposed to be coming to dinner, which is an enjoyable experience. Why then do you look as if you're coming to your own inquisition? What's wrong?"

Janeway had been sitting on her sofa indulging in her favorite blend of coffee with a touch of raspberry mocha.

Seven smiled faintly at the memory. She could never hide anything from the captain, especially when she was nervous. "Raspberry mocha?" she motioned toward the steaming liquid.

Janeway grinned, "Yes. I've become soft in my old age. When did you become such an expert on culinary habits?"

"I'm not an expert on culinary habits. Just your habits," she replied with infallibility.

"Oh really!?"

"Yes." Shaking her head, she decided to plunge directly into the game. "You never change. You should hear yourself one year, eight months, and fourteen days from now. You pace around the house grumbling about how you have become 'soft in your old age', 'lost your edge', when in reality you are more vibrant and beautiful than many women of half your years, and always manage to gain some kind of an advantage when it suits you."

The captain's wry grin was replaced by a frown as a sneaking suspicion began to creep into the back of her mind. She placed her cup on the end table and stood, gazing into the gentle blue eyes of her ex-astrometrics officer. This woman was different, at ease, demonstrative, very human, with only a trace of Borg rigidity.

Calmly, testing the situation, she asked, "Seven, what do you mean, I should see myself a year from now? How is it that *you* have seen me a year from now?"

"You will not like the answer to that question, Kathryn," she said, with such gentle familiarity, it warmed the captain, diminishing the tension that had begun to build in her neck and shoulders as a result of Seven's reference to the future.

"I get the feeling you're probably right. But why don't you answer it anyway."

"As you wish. Precisely 5.37 minutes from now, Commander Chakotay will arrive with a marriage proposal. You must tell him in a very attentive way that you need some time to ponder his request. I'm aware of your feelings for me and understand that you would never willingly accept his proposal. But to successfully complete our mission, I'm afraid you must."

"Wa... waaait just a minute!" She waved her forefinger back and forth to indicate the negative. "What mission could possibly be so important that it would require that I marry Chakotay to complete it? And do I dare ask how you've come by all this information? Because you are absolutely right. Marrying Chakotay is the last thing on my mind right now. But you already know that, since you seem to be privy to what's on my mind. Which brings me to another question: since you are aware of my feelings for you, why don't you return the favor and make me aware of your feelings for me?"

'Less romantic than the first and second time she asked me that question but sufficient.' She smirked.

"What's that look for!? Haven't I taught you how to share?"

Seven took the captain's wheedling in stride, pleased that she was coping with the situation in a positive manner. "There is not adequate time for me to explain the situation fully before the commander arrives. Suffice it to say, that the fate of the entire planet rests on your marrying Chakotay."

"I see. Well, I guess that's a good enough reason," she quipped.

"I will explain in detail after his departure. I have come by this information through Captain Ducane of the time ship, Relativity."

"Oh brother! Captain, now is it?" Janeway rolled her eyes. "I should've known."

"He has solicited my help from the future to insure your help in the past, right now, to be exact."

"Heavens, here comes the headache!" Janeway put her thumb and index finger across her forehead to begin massaging the pain away before it started.

Seven stepped forward, whispering reassurance, "Kathryn, there is no time for this." She gently grasped the hand that rubbed the captain's brow and held it cupped between her own, causing the older woman to look up into ice-blue eyes that softly caressed her everywhere they looked. "You must trust me again, as you did the last time we were forced into such a situation."

"All right," she replied softly, her mind racing from memory to memory and her body being pulled from emotion to emotion.

They stood in silence for what seemed an eternity, one pair of eyes searching deeply into the other's.

"Kathryn..."

Scarcely a breath escaped Seven's soft, full lips as she tenderly pressed them against her captain's, sending a thrill of pleasure through the older woman that started a sweet ache throbbing at her center.

They broke the kiss just as Chakotay arrived to press the chime, alerting them of his presence.

Seven smiled warmly and released her grip on the captain's hand with a final supportive squeeze. "You can do this, Kathryn."

"If you stop distracting me," she growled, playfully.

Janeway took a minute to compose herself before she signaled the commander to enter.

Chakotay's countenance fell as soon as he saw his competition, Seven of Nine. 'She is beautiful,' he thought. 'Why is it that the two most lovely women on the ship had to be more interested in each other than anyone else? Just my awful luck I guess. I hope ka-tet is looking down on me today.'

"Chakotay, it's good to see you," she lied.

"You too." He smiled. "You're looking lovely as always."

Janeway felt sick. Knowing what was coming, wasn't always a good thing.

"Seven, I like the new look. What brought this on?" His curiosity had gotten the best of him so he decided to turn on the charm to see if he could get some answers.

Seven had to be careful. She was well aware of how much she had grown over the past, almost two years. Acting her old self was proving more difficult than she'd anticipated.

"My new 'look'?" She cocked her head to one side and gave him her best 'dumb girl look'. "Explain."

"The new clothes, Seven. What made you decide on changing the way you look?" he explained patiently.

"I found that the other attire was much too provocative for my current situation. Starfleet has me under constant surveillance. I'm certain if they were permitted, they would install audio and visual devices in my quarters as well. I'm attempting to be as uninteresting to them as possible, in hopes they will no longer desire to study my every move."

"You're saying, you're trying to keep a low profile." Janeway couldn't help but grin.

"I believe she's saying, she's trying to bore Starfleet into bothering somebody else," he teased.

"That would be an accurate assessment, commander."

"Unfortunately, you are far from boring no matter what you're wearing, Seven. You may have a long road ahead of you in trying to get Starfleet to leave you alone."

Janeway decided to have mercy and come to Seven's rescue. "So, what is it that brings you here, commander?"

Seven flashed a glance at the captain wondering how advisable it was to address Chakotay with the formality of his rank.

Chakotay, however, didn't seem to mind. "I'd like to discuss a private matter with you, Kathryn."

Seven interrupted, "Captain, I require the use of your communications console."

Janeway stiffened to a small degree, knowing that this was it, the moment of truth. Could she pull this off? She cleared her drying throat, "There's one in my office right behind you."

"Very well. I will leave you to your private discussion."

Seven was acting out a force ten Seven of Nine, making the captain bite her lip to keep from laughing out right. The commander, however, thought Seven was just being Seven.

Sometime later, after Chakotay's departure, Seven emerged from Janeway's office to find the captain staring out her window, overlooking the bay. She was so deep in thought that Seven had to move up behind her and lay a hand on her shoulder to bring her out of her reflections.

"Are you all right, Kathryn?" she worried.

"No... not really." She drew a calming breath. "Seven, I just told a man whom I love dearly, as if he were my own brother, a lie. I'm not sure who was more surprised, him or me. What the hell did I just do? My God! He was so sincere and loving. I feel like a sick dog. He didn't walk out of here. He floated out. I made a total fool out of him and for what!?"

"Kathryn, you will be saving his life and the lives of everyone on Earth. I do not believe he will mind having looked like a fool."

Janeway turned to look upon her co-conspirator. "I think you'd better tell me about our mission."

Seven nodded. "In the correct timeline, Alaam Cypher, an archeologist and chemist, presented research into transphasic trilithium as a new power source ten times more efficient than dilithium. Instructions as to the refining method were found in an ancient archeological dig site, located on Earth's South American continent. This sparked the commander's interest, knowing full well this information could prove that first contact actually occurred a few thousand years earlier than history records. However, during his research, Chakotay discovered something much more serious than just the rearranging of historical events. In its transphasic state, the trilithium becomes unstable and has the potential to start a molecular chain reaction in the atmosphere, which would destroy all life on Earth in a matter of minutes. Chakotay presented his findings to Starfleet, revealing an eminent danger in using such energy. Upon further testing, Starfleet found the commander's study to be accurate and abandoned the new energy source, labeling it as an unnecessary risk. Dr. Cypher disagreed. He believed that with further testing on a larger scale, the instability problem could be resolved. Starfleet was not willing to risk the lives of the entire planet on Cypher's hypothesis and refused to allow him further attempts. In this altered timeline, however, Dr. Cypher has managed to come back for revenge to eliminate the commander before he presents his findings to Starfleet, which will allow Cypher the freedom of testing the refining technique as much as he likes. Captain Ducane believes there is a ninety-seven percent probability that his testing will destroy all life on this planet. Our mission is to stop Cypher before he can assassinate the commander."

Janeway frowned as her brain processed the assemblage of information that had just been tossed into her lap.

"Why couldn't we have just told Chakotay that he is in danger? For that matter, why bring you into this? Why not just have my future self and the future Chakotay come back in time to prevent the assassination attempt? That way we could just act out our parts and no one would be the wiser. Mission accomplished."

"Ducane is afraid of possibly further altering the timeline. If Chakotay is wary of his danger it might affect his work. He must discover the potential danger in the use of this new power source. Also, because of the commander's past record, Ducane believes it would be unwise to bring him in as the third party in this mission. Our previous experience gives us an advantage in this matter. My involvement with this mission is for your support. The Seven of this time is waiting on the "Relativity" for my return. She does not have the necessary experience or information to complete this mission."

"I suppose you do?" Janeway asked the obvious.

"Kathryn, come." She took the captain's hand and led her to the antique white sofa at the center of her living area. "Let us sit. What I'm about to share with you may be difficult."

The captain graced Seven with one of her sexy agley grins. "This is a switch. I'm used to asking you to sit and you saying, 'I prefer to stand'. Maybe I should give you some of your own medicine."

The barest of smiles played at the corners of Seven's mouth, as she looked over her shoulder on the way to the captain's replicator. She returned with a raspberry mocha coffee, wrapping Kathryn's hands around the mug and not letting go with her own. They stayed like that for a time, Seven kneeling in front of the woman she loved beyond words, enjoying the warmth of her touch, listening to the rhythm of her breathing and Kathryn, marveling at the intense feelings that simple touch sent racing through her body.

Seven spoke softly, as she tenderly caressed her captain's beautiful hands, "Your future self wanted very much to take this assignment but could not." The younger woman stared passionately into the clear, blue-gray eyes that she had come to rely on so completely, trying to convey all the love she had inside of her with just one look. "Kathryn... my Kathryn is pregnant with our child."

Silence enfolded them. A joy began to fill the captain's soul like that of nothing she had ever known. Tears slipped down her cheeks, as the coffee cup separating them was set aside and they slid into each other's embrace as if they had both just come home. Kathryn held Seven's head to her chest, stroking her back and shoulders, losing herself in the wonder of the moment.

After sometime, she spoke, "Oh, Annika, I never thought I would view time travel as a good thing. But having this special glimpse into the future makes all the difference in the world."

"I'm finding that it is very bittersweet, indeed." Janeway loosened her hold and Seven lifted her face, making it possible for her to look upon her captain once more. "I must complete my explanation about why the future Chakotay could not participate in this undertaking."

The captain put two fingers over Seven's mouth forestalling her continuation. Licking her lips, Kathryn purred, "Not just yet." She drew her teeth over her bottom lip. "I'd very much like to kiss you again."

Seven's mind was at the mercy of her body. She felt her lover's sweet breath bathe her lips, just before bathing them in the warm moisture of her mouth. Undeniably, she craved this touch from her captain, who was all too happy to oblige.

They pressed lips gently at first. But Kathryn was hungry, starving, desiring the sweet warmth and flesh and love of this woman. She slid off the sofa, joining Seven on her knees, allowing the full length of their bodies to come together, causing a muted gasp to interrupt the steadily increasing rhythm of their breathing. She let her fingers glide down to Seven's waistline and begin tugging at her shirttail, working her hands underneath, massaging along the powerful musculature of Seven's back.

Seven helped Kathryn in removing the clothing obstacle, until her vest and shirt and bra were removed in one fluid motion, landing forgotten on the slate gray carpet.

The captain breathed, "Seven, you are ..." she couldn't finish, overwhelmed by emotion as she gently trailed her fingertips from the cleft of Seven's chin, down her neck, in between her firm breasts, over her abdomen, to her navel and back up again to rest her palm over Seven's pounding heart.

The ex-borg drew several halting breaths at the languid touch that was driving her nearly insane. She pleaded, "Kathryn, please!" Seven reached out to her, pulling them together, drinking in the feel of her partner's body.

As they slowly reclined to the floor so that Kathryn rested with her full weight on her luscious companion, she murmured playfully, "I'm sure this is nothing new for you. But since it's my first time, please be gentle."

A quiet chuckle floated through the silence. "I'm always gentle. In the 437 times that we have made love, I have never once injured you."

"Oh, my! 437 times? I guess we've been busy," she marveled with a hidden sense of pride.

"Possibly 438. But I have yet to discern if the one instance I'm unsure about actually constitutes making love."

"Tell me," Kathryn whispered, as she kissed her way from the implant on Seven's right bicep, over her collarbone, descending to suck on the sensitive flesh between her breasts.

Seven did her best to comply. But the captain's attentions were making it quite difficult to concentrate. "Several months after we had begun our intimate relationship... one of my implants suffered a malfunction, causing... Starfleet unnecessary alarm. In their overreaction, they demanded I... I be quarantined until the malfunction could be repaired."

As Seven reached this point in her story, Kathryn's concern began to grow causing her to discontinue her erotic caresses and give her total focus to the younger woman's words, words that were becoming subtly laced with distress. She rested her head on Seven's shoulder, nuzzling her cheek and ear trying to offer what comfort she could.

"What did they do to you?" her tone became defensive.

"I was not harmed. You have always stood by my side, Kathryn. Always." She paused to pull her lover more firmly against her, feeling the captain's body heat, trying to chase away the darkness of the memories. "The only way that you would allow the quarantine was if you alone were permitted to monitor my progress to insure I was not mistreated further. We resided for nineteen days in adjacent rooms separated by a sheet of transparent aluminum. Being so near to you and not being able to touch you was a tormenting ordeal. I have experienced numerous forms of pain but this was unbearable. We maintained an active comm link at all times. One evening, as I lay in the darkness listening to your breathing, I found the dull ache overpowering. I cried out to you. With tears burning my eyes, I lost control and raged against the barrier between us, hopelessly smashing my Borg enhanced fist into the transparent wall that separated us. After which, I slid down the window and sat on the floor with my arms encircling my knees in a futile attempt to stop the nauseated feeling which seemed to draw the air from my lungs. After some time, when I had calmed, I heard you call to me. You had increased the illumination in our rooms slightly, so that when I looked up at you, the satin of your gown seemed to gently glow like the first shimmer of sunrise. You whispered, 'do you want me?' in a way that made my blood seem as if it were on fire. Yes. I wanted you more than anything I had ever wanted in my entire existence. 'Stand,' you said, as you let your garment slip to the floor."

Kathryn stood and slowly, deliberately unbuttoned her blouse, allowing it to slip to the floor.

"Computer, lower lights to twenty-five percent," she ordered.

She removed her bra, leaving her breasts to bounce free, as Seven watched her memories of the past , come to life in the present. Kathryn's slacks, shoes, and panties were discarded with the same torturous leisure, until she stood over Seven, her softly freckled skin, exquisite in the lambent illumination.

"Tell me more."

"My heart was pounding in my ears and throbbing at my center. I was so aroused and intrigued by what you were attempting, my actions were completely instinctual. My body had taken over. After I had removed my clothing, you begged me to touch you. I was puzzled at first, until you pressed the entire length of your body against the translucent object of our mutual torment. 'Please, touch me!' you said again with such need in your voice, I knew you were feeling the same agony I had been. So I touched you... without touching you."

"Where?" The captain reached down and helped her lover to her feet.

"I placed my outstretched arms and hands over yours, against the barrier."

"Like this?" She opened Seven's hands and tenderly pressed their palms together, rotating their arms and hands to their sides, resting her forehead on Seven's chin with the full length of her body against the larger woman.

"Ah... yes," she gasped as her mental images combined with her actual feelings began her trek to the edge of ecstasy.

"Where did you touch me next?"

"I pressed my lips to yours and felt the heat and condensation of my own breath and tried to remember what you tasted like."

Their lips came together once again, with Kathryn's whole being desiring to make every one of her partner's memories come to life.

Seven was whimpering in her need, voice barely a breath, "I wanted to be inside you and finding that I couldn't frustrated me. You must have known because I heard your voice again. It rumbled, deeply, passionately, through to my center, 'touch yourself where you want to touch me.' I did."

"Show me," she purred as she moved to unzip Seven's trousers and peel them down her muscular legs tugging them off with her boots. Repositioning herself, in front of but not touching her lover's body, she repeated, "Show me. Touch yourself where you want to touch me."

Seven buried two fingers, slowly and deeply within herself, panting quietly as she caressed the silky wetness and anticipated the captain's next request.

"Tell me... what happened next?"

I scooped as much of my fluid onto my fingers as I could and brought them to the window in front of your mouth and deliberately smeared my fingers over your lips. I wanted so much to taste you. You... you... spoke again, almost a growl, 'Watch me with your eyes and feel me with your hands and come for me with your body and soul'. You... ah... began to lick, gingerly at first but then drove me nearly mad as you swiped your tongue over the ten centimeters of transparency that was smeared with my juices. I couldn't help myself. I kissed and sucked hungrily at the same area you were tasting, trying hard to imagine it was you I was tasting.

Kathryn gasped at the mental image, her skin beginning to glisten from the perspiration that was trying to cool the fire of her flesh. "Oh, Seven... let me. Please, let me."

She moved the younger woman's hand away, which immediately found its way to Seven's mouth, where she once again reveled in her own wetness. Her head lulled back and she moaned as the flavor spread over her taste buds.

"Seven!" Kathryn cried out as she pulled her lover back down to the floor, carefully plunging her first two fingers as far into the younger woman's heat as they would go. Placing her soft, flattened tongue over Seven's ridge of nerves, she swiped up and down without mercy, her fingers moving in and out with the same rhythm until the lovely blonde was shrieking in time with the pulses of her climax.

"Oh, God!" Seven heard through the explosion of sensation in her body. She knew that voice and knew what that phrase in that cadence meant. Kathryn was very close herself.

Kathryn's center was agonizing, eager to be touched. She rasped, "Just let me press against you. I want so much to be close to you."

"And I want so much to taste you," came a low, sensual, powerful voice. Seven skillfully moved, positioning herself, between Kathryn's legs. "This time, I *must* taste *you*," she growled.

The captain's eyes fixed on the beautiful blonde as she stared down on her with hunger.

"Yes, Seven. I need!" Kathryn pleaded.

Seven fell on her captain, gently sliding her arms under Kathryn's thighs, embracing her with love and desire and a single purpose. She sucked on the delicate lips of Kathryn's sex drinking every drop of love she had to offer, maddeningly pushing her to the precipice. When she had taken the edge off of her desire by feasting on the older woman's nectar, Seven gently wrapped her lips around the sensitive pearl at her captain's center and sucked until all consciousness vacated Kathryn's mind, engulfing her in pure light.

Seven held her tight, knowing how it felt to not be able to get close enough, hoping to fulfill her lover's deepest, most hidden need. The need to be one.

Kathryn woke sometime later to the warmth and softness of Seven's body under her, wrapped around her, protecting her.

"How do you feel?" Seven asked.

"At peace," she answered simply.

Seven squeezed her gently. "I love you. You are what makes my existence have meaning, a worthwhile purpose. No matter what happens, please try to remember that."

The weight of their duty slowly intruded on their private moment until it was obvious to both of them that it was time to turn their attention back to the task at hand. They dressed in silence, with thoughts of dread playing through their minds.

Janeway leaned back on her couch and invited Seven to sit. "I guess it's time to get on with this." She gave her Borg a wry grin. "You were about to tell me about the future Chakotay's status, before I... we got carried away."

Seven called on all eighteen percent of the Borg in her for strength. "It is not pleasant news. The reason the future Chakotay can not be of assistance is because he is suffering from the advanced stages of Sensory Tremens. During his testing of the trilithium refining process, he was exposed to high levels of transphasic radiation, which triggered his genetic defect and started an accelerated progression of his illness. There is nothing that the Doctor can do for him. The commander is for the most part happily unaware of his problem. You visit him at the medical facility often, as he believes you are his spouse and the child you are carrying is his offspring. He has been a good friend to both of us. We have agreed that there is no harm in allowing him this fantasy if it brings him some happiness before his death. Kathryn," she paused, "I'm sorry."

The captain sat in silence, stunned, trying to make sense of all the information she had received over the past several hours.

"I'm beginning to understand the complexities of what's at stake here. Is Ducane out of his mind? There must be a better solution. Leave it to him to come up with the most difficult scenario and then throw it in my face."

"It was my suggestion to bring you into this. Captain Ducane would have preferred I trick you into Chakotay's bed. I knew that would not be possible. So I convinced him to bring you in on the mission." She braced herself as she watched the myriad of emotions play across Janeway's face.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do? Damn!" She quickly stood and walked to her window, again staring out on her favorite view.

Seven approached and reached out to her.

"Don't! Just don't. Tell me what it is that you're asking me to do. I just want to be sure you know what you're asking. So I know how angry I should be with you."

"You are required to capture Dr. Cypher for return to temporal authorities. This is to be done with as little incursion of the time line as possible."

"No, Seven. Specifically, what is it that I will have to do to complete this mission? Dazzle me with your precision."

Seven swallowed, battling the painful emotions tearing through her insides. Her jaws flexed as picture after picture of what her captain will have to do flashed through her mind.

"Well?" Janeway was sick with anger and frustration. She felt betrayed, used, and trapped once again by duty. What enraged her most was the fact that the person she loved so completely was being employed as the instrument of her entrapment and exploitation.

Using the only defense she had to fall back on when she squared off with Janeway, she adopted her rigid Borg demeanor, clasping her hands behind her back and leveling her gaze on the woman she had sentenced to a living hell. "You will have to convince the commander that you love him, marry him, share his bed, encourage his research at every opportunity, knowing full well that doing so will also be encouraging his exposure to the radiation that will eventually kill him, and maintain a watchful eye for his assassin. When contact with Cypher takes place you must stop him, killing him if necessary. Once that is accomplished the original time line will reassert itself."

"You hope."

"If we don't do this, Kathryn, we will all die."

"Yes. That's the catch twenty-two. Isn't it?"

There was a long pause as the captain composed herself.

"All right. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Chakotay will present his findings to Starfleet within the next six months. The assassination attempt must occur sometime before he displays his results."

"My... can't get anymore precise than that," she jabbed.

"It is as precise as possible. There is no way of reading Cypher's mind to know when he plans to strike. Ducane traced his time jump location, finding the doctor's lab and his journals, which simply stated he would strike when Chakotay least expected him to do so."

"Well then, I'll contact you if I need any further assistance. Dismissed."

Seven flinched at the captain's cold, official tone. She bowed her head slightly. "Very well. I will endeavor to stay out of your way."

With that she turned on her heel, exiting Janeway's quarters, taking an injured and miserable heart with her and leaving one behind in her wake.

Laughter...

"Do you take this man..."

Silence...

"To honor and cherish..."

More laughter...

"Yeah, right!" Paris yelled, causing the onlookers to snicker.

Janeway gazed out into the crowd of spectators. Her whole crew was in attendance. Sweet, not so innocent anymore, Harry Kim was talking with Tom Paris, laughing and pointing in her direction. Neelix was standing with his arm around Naomi in silence, both with what seemed like looks of disappointment or disgust on their faces, she wasn't sure which. B'Elanna was brooding, pacing back and forth, mumbling Klingon obscenities to herself.

"Forsaking all others..."

"Don't make me laugh!" somebody shouted.

Tuvok was nowhere to be seen. And Seven, well... that was to be expected.

"Until death do you part?" the minister finished his drawn out question.

"The sooner the better! Then she can move on to who she really wants!"

Riotous laughter...

'What the hell!' Janeway thought, helplessly. 'This was supposed to be a private ceremony.'

"Janeway had a votive lamb, a tattoo traversed his eye. And though he loved her honestly, the lamb was sure to die," a monotone Vulcan voice echoed from a dark corner of the sanctuary.

Silence...

"Well!?" the minister asked impatiently.

"She doesn't know!" the assembly mocked. "Chakotay or Seven of Nine? Sorrow or joy? A living death or the death of the Earth?" they laughed.

"Poor Captain... her high and almightiness is finally taken down a peg or two," someone in the group continued to taunt.

Janeway turned to her husband-to-be in exasperation. "Chakotay, do something!"

He blankly stared back at her and frowned. "Do I know you?"

As the pounding inside her skull increased she felt as if she would vomit or pass out or both. She swayed back on her heels...

"Hey, Ulethi..." A gentle hand was massaging her arm and shoulder. "You were dreaming again. Are you all right?" Chakotay asked.

Janeway's eyes slowly focused, becoming used to the darkness, beginning to recognize the rugged wooden beams running across the high ceiling of Chakotay's log home... now her home.

"Damn!" she grumbled under her breath. "I'm sorry I woke you." Wrestling with the heavy quilt that covered her, she flopped over onto her stomach, trying to push the remains of her recurring nightmare out of her mind by ramming her face into her pillow.

He began rubbing her back. "I'm worried about you. I think it's a little strange that you feel we need so many security devices set up around the house. And these nightmares are getting worse, more frequent. Maybe you should pay a visit to the Doctor."

"That's not necessary. I'm just afraid for your safety. You said yourself, the nearer you come to proving the danger of the trilithium, the angrier Alaam becomes. Your research is important. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Thanks. I think."

Janeway sighed, "Not *just* because of your work."

"I was just teasing," he chuckled. He stroked her damp, tangled hair. "You're soaked. Let me go get you a new gown."

While he shuffled through the closet, she drew in a deep breath and tried to relax. She knew what was coming. Chakotay's remedy for her nightmares was a thorough massage and love making. It was always the same 'trick' to get her undressed: 'you're soaked. Let me get you a new gown', which after she took off the wet one, he wouldn't allow her to put on the dry one until they were finished.

'He's soooo clever,' she jeered under her breath.

After he helped her off with the sweat soaked night gown, he held the new one behind his back and grinned.

Janeway couldn't help but reciprocate with a wry grin of her own. "I don't know why you bother with the little night gown routine."

"Because it's fun. Would you rather I say, 'hey honey, you're feeling ill and I'm the cure'?"

"How romantic," she snorted.

To cover the damp bed sheets, she spread out the quilt to lay on and grabbed a black bear skin, Chakotay's favorite, a gift from his grandfather, from the chair next to the bed. Crawling in under it, she curled up on her side and tried to warm up a bit.

The mattress dipped and she felt him slide up against her. 'You're weak,' she spoke to herself inside her mind. 'God, help me! Why do I love him at all? Why can't I just do my duty and go home to Seven?' She shivered as he pressed his hot body to her back. 'Please forgive me.'

He held her close, pressing his larger form into the contour of her body, caressing the chill from her skin. When she stopped shivering, he moved her gently to her stomach and began working on her back, neck, and shoulders. His hands were rough, dry from the experiments he performed daily, during his research. Her skin bowed easily under his touch, as he kneaded, shook, rubbed, and scratched her flesh, moving her ever so slowly, too many times too slowly, toward release. Sometimes he hurt her. But she never said anything, feeling as if she deserved to suffer for allowing him, no, encouraging him to kill himself with his work. Every feeling of pleasure was a betrayal, a betrayal of her love for Seven, a betrayal of Seven, a betrayal of herself. As he thrust inside her, relentlessly driving her toward her climax, all she could think was 'this isn't supposed to be happening. I'm not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to love him like this'. When she came, her thoughts always drifted to Seven and how, right that instant, she should be sharing quarters, sharing a bed, sharing *this* with her, not Chakotay.

He was always virtually silent when he released, moaning only a breath into her ear, desiring to leave her as soon as he could, without being too abrupt. He would pull out and roll over on his back, staring at the ceiling, his mind a whirlwind of thoughts. Love making brought his mind alive with theories, which, without exception, urged him out of bed and off to his lab in the basement. A good thing, for then she could cry alone, in silence.

Following his exit, her walls would come crashing in on her, leaving her yearning ever more bitterly for the joys and fantasies and emotional life that she had only dreamed of but never believed would come true, until she experienced the love of an extraordinary woman called Seven of Nine.

Her hatred for Dr. Cypher was growing out of control. Deep, hiding in the inner most catacombs of her soul, she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would kill him if he gave her the most minuscule opportunity to do so.

"Oh, Annika," she whimpered, as she cried herself to sleep, to dream once again of the ungodly, mocking travesty of her so called life.

"You know Ni-wa, I was thinking maybe you should pay a visit to Seven," Chakotay urged, while attempting to concentrate on the data he was adding to his PADD.

Janeway flinched at the mention of Seven's name.

"You haven't seen her since the wedding. Five months apart from one's closest friend is enough to give anyone nightmares. I don't want you to think I'm trying to get rid of you or anything. You know how I love you looking over my shoulder when I work," he quipped. "Getting out of this house on your own, without me tagging along, would be a good change for you, I think. Besides, Paris has challenged me to a little rock climbing and repelling. I thought it might be a nice change, seeing as how I'm finished with my work."

His last statement took a few seconds to sink in before she realized what he had said.

"Completely finished!?"

He nodded.

"Chakotay, that's wonderful! When do you plan to present your findings to Starfleet?"

She was excited for him and relieved that her mission was almost complete and tense because she knew that Cypher's time was up.

"Day after tomorrow because tomorrow is my day off, first one in five and a half months. And I'm taking it," he added with a resolute nod of his head.

"Do you think it's smart to play cliff hanger with Paris a day before your meeting with Starfleet? What about Cypher? You know he's unbalanced." Annoyance began bubbling up through her voice. Chakotay was acting like the impetuous first officer she thought was left on board Voyager when they returned home.

"Kathryn, I appreciate your concern. Really, I do. But I'm a big boy. I can manage on my own for a day. Alaam may be a little hot headed. But he's not crazy. I'll be fine."

Janeway tapped her forefinger to her lips and frowned. "If I were still your captain, I would relieve you of duty and confine you to quarters. I guess that won't work here?"

"No. You gave up that right when you said, 'I do'." He smiled. "Go see Seven. I'm going to reserve my gear and have a few beers with Tom. He wants to talk about our climbing strategy. I'll see you later tonight." He pecked her on the cheek and trotted off.

"Be careful," she sighed, knowing there was nothing she could do to change his mind.

Seven sat in the darkness of her counterpart's sparsely furnished quarters, staring at her computer console, going over Dr. Cypher's journals for at least the hundredth time. Since the day of Chakotay's original presentation was nearing, she knew that the doctor must make his move as soon as possible. She was hoping to find a clue, as to what that move might be.

She had spent the last few months trying to discover a way to help Kathryn without making contact with her. Their last meeting was brief, at the captain's wedding, which Seven had to attend in order to keep up appearances. The memory of fear and sorrow in Kathryn's eyes weighed upon her body and spirit like the gravity of Vulcan. There was no relief, making her wish for the first time that she wasn't Borg at all so that she could more easily forget the events of that day. Or at least be without an eidetic memory that continually replayed the events like a digital recording.

It was obvious, from Seven's point of view, that the captain blamed her for the difficult position she had been plunged into, being forced to deny everything she believed in, in order to save it.

"Kathryn is correct," she echoed into the suffocating stillness, to no one in particular. "I am at fault. It was my limited vision that would not allow me to see an alternative."

The door buzzer sounded, ripping through the silence and her thoughts, forcing her behind the sofa with phaser at the ready and pointed directly at the entrance to her living space.

"Enter," she called.

As the door slid open, the light from the hallway streamed across the shadowy room, giving Janeway the false impression that Seven's quarters were vacant. She stepped inside, allowing the door to swish shut behind her. As it did she noticed the activated console across the room to her right and made her way in that direction, thinking Seven must be close by.

Why she didn't make her presence known to her captain immediately, puzzled Seven. She was frozen in her position, tracing every motion, every line, every curve of Janeway's graceful form. 'I miss her,' she admitted to herself.

Running her fingers over the low back of Seven's chair, the captain seated herself at the console and began to scan the information there. When she realized what the younger woman had been working on, she gingerly ran her fingertips over the computer screen and whispered to herself, "Where are you, Seven?"

The weariness that weaved its way through Kathryn's ragged tones startled Seven, beginning her glimpse into the torment of the captain's last several months.

Speaking softly, so as not to frightened her guest, she answered, "I'm here."

The older woman relaxed visibly but didn't move, staying in her seat facing away from Seven, seemingly frozen.

When Kathryn heard her lovely Borg's voice for the first time in what seemed like forever, it was like a perpetual chill had been driven from her bones. She hadn't allowed herself to believe she would ever see Seven again and had forced herself to all but forget how divinely peaceful and softly loving the younger woman's voice sounded to her ears. The captain's eyes blurred with tears that she didn't want Seven to see but couldn't help. She wanted so desperately to hold her, to forget the past, to start the hope of feeling again, in the only arms that offered her that hope.

A metal mesh covered hand touched Kathryn gently on her left shoulder, sending a feeling of relief through her fatigued soul. Another hand slipped across her chest, tenderly pinning her against the back of the chair.

Lowering herself to one knee, Seven buried her face in the sweet smelling, auburn fire at the back of her captain's neck. She moved her left arm to around Kathryn's waist and just held her, subconsciously afraid that she would vanish into thin air, with her dreams, like so many nights before. Seven's fears were sent chasing into irrelevance as she felt the wetness of tears splash upon the hand that was resting over the older woman's heart. Carefully easing the chair around, she looked earnestly into Kathryn's brokenness with everything she had and everything she was.

The passion and trust and sincerity in those infinitely blue eyes swallowed the last of Janeway's conviction, embraced the misery of her lie, and allowed her, finally, to collapse into the support of another.

Each of Kathryn's ragged sobs nicked a piece of flesh from the heart of love that beat between them. Seven blamed herself for this epitome of imperfection, this wholly ill-conceived folly, this putrid excuse for a plan that she had birthed into existence. She had never loathed herself before because the Borg in her would not allow it. But as Kathryn cried in her arms, at each jolt of her beloved's body, the humanity inside her rose up and slammed the Borg inside her into submission. The same unanswered question kept echoing in her mind, 'How could I have done this? How could I have done this? How could I have done this...' Seven brushed her lips over Kathryn's forehead, cradling her, cooing softly and lulling her, trying to gently soothe and calm the violent sobbing. There was nothing to say that didn't seem inadequate. So Seven remained quiet, knowing that Kathryn would speak when she was ready.

After a long silence, a hoarse whisper floated through the air, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall apart like that. I just... I've missed you. Many nights I've dreamed of holding you. I wasn't prepared for the reality of you really being here. There's so much I want to tell you. I'm sorry for being angry with you. I'm sorry for acting so awful toward you. I'm sorry..." Seven forestalled her list of apologies with a finger to Kathryn's lips.

She slowly shook her head, as she fought her own tears. "It is I who should be apologizing to you for this poorly contrived mission. I did not realize how reprehensible this experience would be for you until you forced me to state each detail of which you would be expected to accomplish. Even then I did not fully understand the pain it would cause."

Kathryn managed a weary smile as she traced the lines on Seven's face, drinking in the beauty she had so utterly missed. "Living a complete lie is a devastating thing, no matter how noble the reason for living that lie. I don't think I completely understood that either until now. But, thankfully, it's almost over. Chakotay will present his findings to Starfleet first thing day after tomorrow."

Seven stiffened, "Where is Commander Chakotay now?"

"Being Chakotay," she sighed.

"I do not believe that is a positive thing."

"No," she answered as she moved to get up, afraid by this time Seven's legs would be numb from supporting her weight. "But there wasn't much I could do to stop him without making him think I needed to be committed."

Seven frowned, not quite understanding the captain's statement.

Kathryn chuckled and offered her a hand. "You know, institutionalized. He already thinks I'm paranoid. I didn't want to push the issue. Instead I contacted Tom and told him I was a little worried for Chakotay's safety and if he wanted to live to see his next birthday, he better make damn sure he keeps a wary eye open. It's pretty sad when Paris has more respect for me than my own husband."

Seven cringed at Kathryn's mention of her husband, asking herself once again how could she have been so completely wrong about everything.

"You get used to it after awhile."

"To what are you referring?" she asked as she clasped her hands behind her back trying to regain some margin of control over herself again.

"When did you learn to be coy?" Kathryn teased. She became silent and wistful, interlinking her fingers and gazing down at the backs of her hands in guilt or embarrassment or some as yet undefined emotion. "You get used to the sound of the word husband. You get used to living with the reality that you wanted a wife instead of a husband, a woman instead of a man, someone you loved beyond all passion instead of someone you love like a brother."

Seven covered Kathryn's hands with her own and brought them up, pinning them tenderly against her chest. "I do not know how to express my regret for forcing you into this position. I should have found another avenue to accomplish this task."

Seven ached to somehow show Kathryn how deeply she felt, loved, regretted, wished, how deeply... everything. The only way the ex-drone could somewhat sufficiently convey her feelings was through physical touch. She tilted her head forward and placed a soft fleeting kiss upon her captain's elegant lips.

Kathryn whimpered slightly, giving herself over to the raging heart inside her. They leaned together, maddeningly increasing the delicate pressure of their kiss. Seven's lips were so soft, gentle, smooth, and responsive. There were no whiskers to scratch the captain's sensitive skin, no pressure from Seven's lips to dominate her own, only the desire to love and to bring pleasure and to soothe the loneliness of separation.

"My Kathryn..." she breathed. "I have ransomed your soul, your sanity, and our love against the lives of the inhabitants of this planet. I thought it was a justifiable sacrifice. But now, I'm uncertain. The pain I have caused you... I do not deserve your love."

"Oh, my sweet, wonderful woman," Kathryn nuzzled against and tried to hide all her raw emotions in the warmth of the bend in Seven's neck. "I love you anyway."

The midday, southern California sun beat down on the majestic cliffs of Hidden Valley, in Joshua Tree Park. Chakotay never seemed to be able to get enough of the marvelous beauty of the Mojave Desert. His Native American blood seemed to override all else when he entered the freedom and peacefulness of the wilderness. As he stood atop the grand rock formation he and Tom Paris had scaled earlier that morning, his heart swelled with joy at the miraculous complexities of the breathing Earth. As far as the eye could see, life was springing up from the seemingly parched rocks and sand of a sunburned wasteland. A coyote darted back and forth through blooming Joshua trees, in pursuit of its illusive prey. Soaring high above them, in a deep blue sky was a golden eagle, watching over all of this majesty, in search of his own lunch.

"The Great Spirit has really blessed us today Tom. What do you say? Race you to the bottom?"

"As long as we race *safely*. If anything happens to you, your wife will have my head on a platter."

Chakotay sighed in moderate annoyance.

"You were her first officer for seven years Chakotay. You act like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into. What did you expect? All of a sudden she would start saying yes sir and no sir, to you? You're damn lucky she married you at all! Personally, I had my money on Seven."

"Yeah, yeah! Just shut up before you find yourself at the bottom of the cliff the hard way." He gave him a playful jab to the ribs.

The blonde, good spirited ex-lieutenant smiled and wiped the sweat from his brow, looking over the edge, as he watched the droplets accelerate out of sight.

"Well, at least I'd win the race," he grinned. "Maybe I should turn my flight school over to my partner and start one for rock climbing. Absolutely *no* crashing allowed at either school," he quipped.

Chakotay shook his head. "Let's get going. There is a distinct odor forming around here. Which is odd, because buffalo are not indigenous to this area."

They both laughed and began checking their gear for the descent.

They started down slowly, wanting to make sure they were anchored properly and every precaution had been taken. After descending only five or six feet, they both heard a transporter beam materialize on the plateau, just out of their line of sight. They looked at each other and started to laugh.

"You gave Captain Janeway our route didn't you?" Tom teased.

"She insisted."

"Ahhh... the joys of married life," Tom needled.

As they both snickered, looking up, waiting for Kathryn to come into view, their smug expressions disappeared at the sight of Alaam Cypher gazing down on them with a demonic grin on his face.

"Now what have we here? Two tasty morsels dangling precariously over shark infested waters. How intense!" Cypher's words oozed enmity.

Tom reached for his phaser.

"Ah, ah, ah... that's not nice Mr. Paris." As Cypher spoke he kicked rocks and sand off the ledge into their eyes. Quickly, he grasped a twenty kilo or better stone from the dust and hurled it toward the blinded Paris while taunting, "Be careful. A big, old rock might accidentally fall on your head."

The boulder hit the helpless Tom on the bridge of his nose knocking him unconscious, possibly breaking his neck. That possibility, however, was irrelevant because without sufficient tension on his repelling harness, he plunged to the basin below with a grotesque thud.

"Eww..." the doctor grimaced, "I bet that hurt. Woe!" He looked at Tom's bent and broken body. "I think I can see some brains down there. Want to look?" He acted as if he were going to give his binoculars to Chakotay but then withdrew them saying, "Oh! You can't see anyway with all that sand in your eyes. Silly me. Never mind then. Just take my word for it. It's disgusting."

"Damn you Alaam!" Chakotay rubbed his eyes, desperately trying to clear his vision. "Kathryn was right! You are crazy!"

The realization of Tom's death was the sledge hammer that drove home just how right Janeway was. 'If only I had listened...'

"You didn't have to do that! You..." in a weaker tone, almost weeping, "bastard."

"Bastard is right!" came a low, husky, rumble from further back on the plateau.

Cypher spun around to see a squinting Janeway staring at him with her phaser leveled at his midsection.

"Please, won't you be so kind as to give me the slightest, most infinitesimal reason to kill you."

"Somehow you don't look as threatening out of uniform," he parried.

"Try me."

It was surreal. His eyes darted around looking for an out. If he could just manage to get his revenge on Chakotay...

"Times up! Put down your phaser or I'll put *you* down like a lame dog, which is better than you deserve." Her jaws flexed as she tried with every ounce of command control not to rip his throat out.

He would have nothing to do with surrender. Taking his weapon out slowly, he acted as if he were going to give up the stand off but at the last instant lunged over the edge of the cliff, knowing he would get one clean shot at Chakotay on his way down.

Janeway had other ideas, however, and vaporized him in mid air, leaving nothing but the stench of burnt flesh and singed hair, the true essence of what he was.

"She used the temporal locator, you gave her, to contact me shortly after Cypher's termination."

"Then she was successful," a statement not a question.

"She did well. Only a 1.793 temporal incursion factor, which under such dire circumstances is substantially better than I ever hoped possible. Some minor details have shifted. But nothing that will have a drastic impact in the future and nothing that can't be worked out."

"Clarify!" Seven's patience with him was at an end.

"I can tell you only this: Chakotay is already dead. He was exposed to a significantly greater amount of radiation this go around, which increased the speed and severity of his degeneration. Your residence has changed location. And Captain Janeway has already given birth."

Seven was visibly shaken. "Our child has been born premature?"

"Not exactly. She's six months old actually and in perfect health."

Seven's confusion and uncertainty began to unravel as her logical Borg nature took over, simulating every possible scenario that would allow for such an outcome. As her humanity began adjusting to the solutions her cortical processor was imputing, Captain Ducane placed something in her hand.

"Janeway wanted me to give you this before you returned." It was a piece of paper folded three ways and sealed with a foil emblem adorned with a 'J' that seemed to grow like foliage out of a stand of soy beans.

Seven recognized the seal on the paper as belonging to Kathryn's mother. The stationary had been a cherished gift, presented to Kathryn by her mother upon Voyager's return home and had never been used in the time since it was given.

"Janeway said it was of the utmost importance that you receive this and requested that you take the time to read it before your return."

"And when will that be?"

"Anytime you're ready, just say the word."

"Where is it that I'm returning to?"

"Janeway has a place in Indiana about forty kilometers from her mother's farm. I can transport you to the front yard if you like."

"No. I require some privacy and time to read Kathryn's letter. Show me a schematic of the property."

He called the data up on his console.

"There," she pointed, "2.3 kilometers from the dwelling. I will walk along the perimeter of the field until I reach the house."

With letter in hand she stepped onto the transporter pad of the Relativity, for what she was absolutely certain was the last time.

"Here," he tried to hand her a heavy jacket. "It'll be the dead of winter when you arrive. You might need this."

"Captain Ducane, I do not require anything from you, save you heed this warning: our mission may have been a success for you but was extremely destructive for Kathryn and myself. If I'm unfortunate enough to find myself in your presence again, I will be forced to terminate you. Is that clear?" She stared at him, hard, unforgiving, and completely Borg.

"Crystal." He nodded as she disappeared from sight.

'Sheesh! Two death threats. I guess I won't be using either of them again,' he mused to himself, content that all was well in *his* world.

As she walked slowly toward the house that she hoped would hold the love and the life and the peace that she had lost at the beginning of this nightmare, she didn't really notice the bitter winter elements as they poked and prodded their way through her clothes to the warm flesh beneath. The sun shone at her back as she carefully opened the delicate seal guarding the contents of Kathryn's letter. It read:

My Dearest Seven,

I've been waiting for you and missing you terribly. I've been trying to think of what to tell you, how to explain to you everything that's happened in my life, during the fourteen months you've been gone. But I just can't. I don't know where to start. I hope it will be different when I see you again. But for now, I just have nothing on my mind, nothing to remember, nothing to forget. I have nothing to regret. But I'm all tied up on the inside. No one knows quite what I've got. And I know that on the outside, what I used to be I'm not, anymore. You know I've heard about people like me, but never made the connection. They walk one road to set them free and find they've gone the wrong direction. But there's no need for turning back because all roads lead to where I stand. And I believe I'll walk them all, no matter what I may have planned. Can you remember who I was? Can you still feel it? Can you find my pain? Can you heal it? Then lay your hands upon me now and cast this darkness from my soul. You alone can light my way. You alone can make me whole, once again. We've walked both sides of every street, through all kinds of windy weather. But that was never our defeat as long as we could walk together. So there's no need for turning back because all roads lead to where we stand. And I believe we'll walk them all no matter what we may have planned.

Come back to me, Annika.

All My Love,

Kathryn.

As Seven read the letter, her gate quickened with each revealed need of the woman she loved. By the time she had finished, she was almost at a jog. She carefully refolded the letter and placed it safely inside her vest before, cat like, breaking into a sprint. She covered the remaining two kilometers with fluid, powerful strides, ending, in a matter of minutes, at the front porch of a moderately sized mahogany dwelling.

The house seemed quiet as she stepped onto the porch, regaining her breath before she entered. She didn't knock, trying the door to see if it were sealed. The latch gave way and she let herself in, quietly absorbing the warmth of what was to be her new home. The warm wood finishes and all natural colors had a pleasant calming affect on the mind and body. It was silent, save for the crackle of a fire coming from a room to her left. She entered to find Kathryn, arm draped across her eyes, sound to sleep on a huge, burgundy hued sofa, with a not so tiny bundle slumbering in the crook of her arm. Kathryn's hair was splayed out, covering the plush arm of the couch, the dark background, bringing out the shimmering highlights even more beautifully. The white of her robe blended with the white receiving blanket that the infant was loosely wrapped in, making it difficult to determine where one began and the other ended. It was an exquisite melding of mother and child, a flesh and blood sculpture of living love. The sight was so lovely to Seven's weary eyes that irrepressible tears pushed their way down her cheeks and the weight of the past several months flowed out of her body, both splashing to the hard wood floor, forgotten.

All she wanted to do was look, look upon the beauty of her Kathryn and the peacefulness of the precious life asleep at her side. Seven knelt next to the couch, wanting to be closer and curious about the little girl's aesthetic qualities. As she stared into the angelic features of the child, she was awed by the power the infant had over her. She longed, to press her lips to the charcoal wisps that covered her sweet little head, to encircle her warm, fragile body in a protective embrace, and to love her in a special way that would change both of their lives forever.

Kathryn stirred, causing Seven to hold her breath. Not wanting to wake them, she sat back in a chair next to the sofa and just watched. After awhile, the baby began to stir, letting out little whimpers and squeaks.

Kathryn's sleepy voice soothed, "Shh... shh... shh... it's not time for you to get up yet, little one. Momma doesn't want to get up yet either. I'm all..." She rolled onto her side and stopped in mid sentence when she noticed Seven sitting there, face glowing with a rare, brilliant smile that made the older woman's heart stop for an instant.

No words were needed for this homecoming. Kathryn silently untangled herself from the baby and kneeling in front of her wayward Borg, embraced her with a feeling of effortless cessation. She was now complete, no longer having to wander through room after room, thought after thought, emotion after emotion, alone.

As Seven tenderly wiped the lone tear from her captain's cheek she whispered, "I have missed you as well."

Kathryn brushed the back of her hand over Seven's jaw, gently caressed her hair, and held her hands, gazing at her as if she were an awe inspiring wonder of the world. She couldn't help herself, after spending the better part of the last nineteen months without her, Kathryn just needed to know, not have to imagine, what Seven felt like.

"I suppose you have at least a thousand questions," she murmured, with only half of her attention focused toward Seven's reply, as the other half was drinking in the sight, and sound and smell of the younger woman.

"For now, only one."

"What's that?"

"What did you name the child?"

A smile, making her eyes sparkle, lit up her features. "Aryn 'lives in hopes' Janeway. Aryn is a combination of the first letter of your name and the last three letters of mine. And her middle name was Chakotay's request."

"May I hold her?"

"Of course you can." Kathryn turned and carefully picked up the sleeping infant. As she placed the child in Seven's arms she assured her, "Don't worry a whole lot about waking her. She sleeps like a stone. Thank God!"

Seven cradled the child, humming a lullaby that floated from a distant memory. "She is perfect, Kathryn."

"Seven, about Chakotay... "

"I'm already aware of his death."

With as much compassion as one could share, Seven filled her gaze and poured it into the captain's eyes, trying to support her efforts to speak the words that were weighing so heavily on her heart.

"He's Aryn's father," Kathryn whispered, waiting for a response that didn't come.

There was just silence, a drawn out calm in which an ex-drone, now individual, softly smiled down on a brand new, individual.

"Annika... say something, please."

"What would you have me say?"

"Tell me what you're feeling."

The younger woman paused, attempting to compose her thoughts.

"I feel as if I have left a part of myself behind, as if something inside is missing that I will never be able to replace. But at the same time I feel as if a part of myself that has been lost for centuries has been rediscovered. It is not a feeling that can be easily explained."

"I... when I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't bring myself to terminate it."

Seven slowly shook her head and sighed, "It was not this innocent child that needed to be terminated."

She reached out to Kathryn, sliding her fingers through fiery softness and laid her palm over the older woman's right ear.

"The designation you chose for her is as perfect as the child herself. I have come to understand that a name is a significant defining factor of our individuality. Since it was not our DNA that combined to form this child, but will be our lives that combine to raise her as an individual, I find your actions in mingling our names to form hers, an apt representation of our love for her and for each other."

Kathryn bent forward, turning her head and resting it on Seven's thigh, as new moisture silently trickled from the corners of her eyes to begin its journey to wherever tears of joy travel after their emancipation.

" 'Lives in hopes' is indeed, also fitting. It is the way Commander Chakotay led his life and in labeling the child as such, will now be his living memory and the way we shall lead our lives, as well. Shall we not?"

The Starfleet Captain, warrior, peacemaker, mother, lover, friend replied, "I live in hopes, my love. I live in hopes."

~~~The End~~~

"Survival is insufficient".......*loving* is perfection. back