Seduced

Could you whisper in my ear
The things you wanna feel
I'll give you anything
To feel it comin'

I wanna wake up where you are

"Slide" - The Goo Goo Dolls

'Captain?'

'Yes Seven?'

'Here are the reports you wanted from the Astrometrics Lab.' Seven deposited the PADDs on the desk in Captain Janeway's ready room and turned to leave, but just as she was about to reach the door leading out to the Bridge Janeway stopped her.

'You've not forgotten about our velocity match tonight have you Seven?'

'1900hrs, Holodeck 2, if I am not mistaken Captain.' She knew she wasn't.

'That's right, I'll see you then.'

'If that's all Captain, I have some work that needs attending to.'

'Yes, Seven, of course, you may leave.'

Janeway took a deep breath as Seven of Nine exited her ready room, but actually wished for a cold shower, being in the Borg's presence always had this effect on her. At first she tried to ignore the reactions, but with time she accepted them. She knew now that she was in love with Seven, just as she knew that she would never act on that love. Seven wasn't ready, may never be ready and, of course, she was the Captain, Seven was a subordinate, Starfleet took a dim view of a Captain getting involved with a member of her crew.

But she's not technically in Starfleet, a niggling little voice in the back of her head said.

Willing the voice to shut up, Janeway turned back to the departmental reviews she was working on, hoping the distraction would help counter the after effects of being in the presence of her astrometrics officer.
 

*****

'Computer, cross reference increase in heart rate and respiration with dilated pupils.'

The computer chirped its completion and Seven analysed the results, hardly daring to believe what she was told. The Captain was attracted to her. Could this be true? She wanted to believe it, but couldn't quite accept what was there in front of her. Deciding to get a second point of view on the matter she went in search of the one person she believed would be able to help.

'Lieutenant Torres, could I speak with you about a personal matter?'

B'Elanna's first instinct was to tell Seven to get lost, but not in such a nice way, however, she was also curious as to what Seven could possibly want from her. After a second of battling, her curiosity won out and she motioned Seven to follow her to a more private area of the mess hall. Trying to muster some sort of civility she asked Seven how she could help.

Not one to beat around the bush, Seven got straight to the point, 'I believe the Captain is attracted to me, and I would like your guidance as to how to proceed in initiating a romantic relationship with her.'

At the finish of Sevens sentence, B'Elanna first reaction was to gape at the former Borg, 'What makes you think that,' she finally managed to splutter.

'I consulted the computer as to the cause of the Captains physical reactions when I am around her, there is a 97.6 percent possibility that these reactions are caused by attraction.'

B'Elanna still didn't want to believe Seven, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of, so she asked, 'and the other 2.4 percent?'

'It is possible that the Captain's reaction to my presence is caused by fear, but I do not believe the Captain is afraid of me.'

'No,' B'Elanna said almost to herself, she was deep in thought and didn't like the direction her brain was taking, a direction that ended in jealousy. Shaking her head almost violently she pushed her thoughts down, willing herself to ignore them. Turning back to Seven she asked, 'What makes you think I can help you?'

'You are one of the few people on this ship who could be considered close to the Captain and the only one out of that limited few who I believed would help me.'

The engineer was still shocked that Seven would come to her, but when she looked at it from her point of view it did make a certain kind of sense, she couldn't see either Chakotay or Tuvok helping Seven in this department and even if they did agree to it she didn't think they would be much good. No, she thought, this needs a woman's input.

'OK, Seven, I'll help you.'

Putting their past altercations behind them, Seven and B'Elanna spent the next twenty minutes discussing how to go about wooing a Starfleet Captain. Finally agreeing on a game plan Seven left B'Elanna in the Mess Hall and made her way back to Cargo Bay 2.
 

*****

Five minutes early for their Velocity match, Janeway took a moment to limber up before Seven arrived and was for this reason unprepared for what was about to happen. Seven entered the holodeck, and the Captain immediately drew in a sharp breath and began to teeter in the awkward position she was currently standing in. The reason for her reaction was Sevens new velocity outfit. In place of her usual attire was now a pair of shorts and a tank-top which seemed to cover almost nothing of Sevens tall frame.

'Is something wrong Captain?' Seven asked, aware that she was at least partly to blame for the flushed look Janeway now wore on her face.

'I'm fine Seven, you just startled me when you walked in, that's all. I notice you've changed your out fit.' Yeah right, just noticed, her inner voiced proclaimed.

'Lieutenant Torres suggested it may help keep me cooler while I am playing.'

'Oh,' the Captain replied, her brain unable to comprehend a word with more than one syllable. She motioned to the court, 'Shall we start?'

Throughout the game Seven made sure to brush 'accidentally' up against the captain as many times as were possible without it being too obvious what she was doing and was quite pleased with the sharp intake of breath she elicited as a response each time this happened.

To the Captains credit, although she was distracted beyond the point of concentrating for most of the game, she still managed to win. Just as she was reaching the door to exit the holodeck after their game she felt a hand on her arm and heard Sevens voice.

'Why have you never allowed me to call you Kathryn?' the ex-Borg began as Janeway turned to face her, 'You say we are friends, yet I still have to address you by your rank when we spend time together as we have been doing this evening.'

Janeway was surprised by this question, in as much as she didn't think that it bothered Seven what she was allowed to call her.

Obviously it does, she mused, while replying to Seven almost exactly what she was thinking a second earlier, ending with the words, 'Of course you can call me Kathryn when we are off duty, we've been friends for long enough now.'

Seven took a few seconds to reply, thinking about what to say, it was important to get the next bit out completely right, just being granted the permission to call her captain by her given name was more than she expected. 'Acceptable,' she said turning to access the holodeck doors, just as she was about to go through them she looked over her shoulder and continued, her voice husky, almost purr-like, 'Goodnight Kathryn.'

The doors swished shut behind her leaving a very shaken Kathryn Janeway still standing in the holodeck.

'Well damn,' the good captain said to herself, after drawing in much needed air, she wasn't sure, but she thought Seven had been flirting with her. I wonder where she picked that up, she thought.

Suddenly, her increasingly annoying inner voice piped up, So, Katie, what are you going to do about it then, just stand there like a fool while she gets away? I think not, go after her, now!

Almost running out of the holodeck in a very undignified manner for a Starfleet captain, Janeway followed the familiar route through the ship towards Cargo bay 2 where she knew Seven was now likely to be. As she reached the doors Janeway paused realising she had no idea what to say to Seven once she entered.

She had nearly talked herself out of going in at all, when she was stopped by the doors opening in front of her and Seven striding out, just missing a collision with the captain at the last second.

'Kathryn,' said Seven, not looking nearly surprised enough as she should, considering she had just left her less that ten minutes before, 'did you wish to speak with me?'

There it is again, the captain thought, barely suppressing a shudder at the way Seven had said her name, so much feeling in it, the way it rolled off the ex-Borg's tongue, almost as if it was laced by desire. No, no, no, Seven doesn't even know what desire is, she's too new to humanity, to be able to grasp something like that. You must be imagining it, your own feelings clouding your perception.

Realising Seven was still waiting for an answer Janeway responded, 'I just wanted to see if you were OK, you seemed to almost run out of the holodeck after we finished playing.'

'I am functioning adequately Kathryn, there is no need for you to worry.'

'Why do you keep saying my name like that?' the words were out before Janeway even realised she had said them and almost immediately she started mentally hitting herself over the head.

'Like what, Kathryn?' Seven was playing now, and surprised to find she was actually enjoying it.

Janeway was taken aback, she thought Seven would admit to something, she didn't quite know what she wanted that something to be, but even so, maybe I am really imagining it, she thought.

'It's nothing, Seven, forget I said anything.'

'Don't you like the way I say your name Kathryn? I could continue calling you Captain if that is what you would prefer.'

This time as Seven uttered the captains name her tongue flicked out to moisten her lips and Janeway knew something was going on, plus there was the fact that Seven's eyes hadn't left hers since the conversation began. Making a decision she motioned the Borg to follow her into Cargo bay 2 where they would hopefully have a little more privacy. At this point, Seven's eyes got a wicked tinge to them, which fortunately for the captain she didn't see.

Taking a deep breath, Janeway began, 'if you were any other member of my crew I would be beginning to think you were flirting with me.'

'Why any other member of the crew? Why can you not believe that I am flirting with you? Do you have that little regard to the amount I have progressed since I came onboard Voyager?'

'Are you flirting with me?' once again, the words were out before she had thought them through and although one part of her wished she hadn't said them, this time another part of her desperately wanted to hear the answer.

'Would you be disappointed if I said no?'

Janeway was at a loss for words, all she could do was to stare into the pale blue eyes of Sevens desperately fighting the battle of her heart and her mind. Her heart was urging her forward, into the arms of the ex-Borg, who so obviously now would welcome her there, but her mind was throwing up so many objections it was unbelievable.

'Seven, you know I could never get involved with a member of my crew, it would be too complicated. How can I be sure that I would be fair when it came to making decisions about that person? My feelings could cloud my judgment.'

'Kathryn,' Seven was serious now, 'do you expect to make the remaining decades of our journey alone? No one on this crew expects you to do that, they want you to be happy, they trust you implicitly, and know, as do I, that you would never let personal feelings get in the way of your job. However, that is irrelevant, you are already in love with me, so nothing would change if we were to become involved, except that I would be able to return that love.'

Stunned into silence, Janeway once again stood there, saying nothing, but her thoughts were reeling, how did she know? How did she know? Was I that obvious?, then her brain finally got around to processing the last part of the sentence and she gasped, spluttering out, 'you love me?'

Seven walked toward her captain, stopping only when her body was mere centimeters away from Janeway. She lifted her hand and traced it lightly down Janeway's cheek, brushing her bottom lip, then lightly touching the chin, lifting it up just enough so that they were gazing into each others eyes.

Feeling no resistance, Seven pulled the captains face closer to hers, until, if either one was to lick their lips, they would touch the others in the process. 'I cannot remember a time when I did not care for you,' she whispered, 'A time when you were not the only constant thing in my life, a time when you were not there for me. Even when I was a my most rebellious and uncooperative, you were still there. You are always there in my mind, whatever I am doing I see you, I need you,' she paused, 'I love you Kathryn.'

There were tears welling up in Kathryn's eyes as she listened to Seven, if there was any doubt in her mind about the seriousness of the feelings Seven held, or in fact, the seriousness of her own feelings, they were gone now.

'That was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.' As she spoke her voice wobbled and a tear managed to escape her eyes, rolling down her cheek, finally to be caught by Seven's thumb as she brushed it away.

Leaning into the touch of the woman who had held her heart for the past three years, Kathryn brushed her lips over Sevens, gasping slightly at the electric current the contact sent through her.

Not wanting to deny the craving she held for her captain any longer Seven tried to deepen the kiss, but a look of hurt flashed through her eyes when Kathryn pulled away.

'I am sorry, I did not mean...'

Kathryn quieted her with a finger to the lips then whispered, 'Join me in my quarters.'

The smile that graced Sevens lips then nearly caused Kathryn to melt on the spot, 'Of course,' she replied, 'anything for you.'

Taking her hand, Kathryn led her through the ship and into the captains quarters.