Memories in Bloom

The sky a brilliant blue, like her eyes, the older woman remembered as she padded around her garden, snipping the spring flowers now in bloom.  She smiled, thinking about days gone by and the beautiful woman who had once shared a time with her.  Seven of Nine had made the most wonderful and loving spouse anyone could have ever of had.  This one thought brought more warmth to her than the sun ever would.  Her smile lingered as she basked in her thoughts a moment longer.

“And to think.”  Retired Admiral Kathryn Janeway spoke out loud, “I was so full of myself I almost missed the opportunity to have shared it all with her.”  She stood in her garden in pure amazement with one hand on hip, shaking her head.  The smile she possessed spoke of the happiness she had experienced with Seven and the memories she would always have.

The winter’s weather had finally broken and a gentle spring breeze blew across the field sweeping her gray hair about her face.  She let it tussle until the breeze ebbed then put the ends back behind her ears.  The slight tremor in her hand reminded her that Kathryn Janeway had grown old in her years and within that she had also grown tired.  Her step now slow and not as sure as it was.  Her heart longed for the day she would see her one true love again.  She shook off the thought and with her basket now full she left the garden, climbing the back steps of her home cautiously.  She had fallen twice before, but now that she was alone and miles from her neighbor she didn’t want that to happen again at least not if she could help it.  Placing the basket on the kitchen table she felt a chill creep through her, walking to the replicator she commanded.  “Coffee… black.” Yes, she still had command of some things in her life, but not like she used to.

Like I used to, she thought as she seated herself in front of the basket of flowers ready to work her magic on them.  She only had a short time left before the small gathering she had planned would be underway.  She floated back into her reverie of what and whom her life once held dearly.


 

 

“Grandma…  What’s his name?” The little blonde girl asked shaking the retired Janeway.

“What’s whose name, Tyne?”  She straightened up from where she had been reclining on the porch swing and looked to see what her granddaughter was referring to.

“Him!”  Tyne pointed.

The little brown rabbit sniffed around in the elder Janeway’s garden oblivious to the humans around him.

She smiled back at the younger child and ran her hand through the child’s hair.  “I doubt that he has a name, sweetheart.  Would you like to give him one?”

“Yes!  And I think we should name him after grandma Seven.”  The little girl sitting next to her carried the same blue eyes.  They swept the elder Janeway up and for a moment they captured her as she had been many times before when Seven had looked at her just right.  It stirred her memories around to the forefront once again as she looked out beyond the creature her granddaughter sought to name.

“Seven?”  The captain of Voyager questioned upon entering her quarters, “Why are you here?”

“I had no where else to go.”  The ex-Borg drone replied turning to face the stalwart woman that approached.

“Is there a problem with your alcove?”

“No… yes.  I cannot…”

“What is it, Seven.  Tell me.”  It was not a command as she placed her hand softly on Seven’s arm.

“She is coming to take me back.”

“Who’s coming, Seven?”  Janeway asked apprehensively looking into the ex-Borg’s eyes.

“The Borg.”  The shiver that Seven experienced ran through the captain.

“Why?  We haven’t found any Borg warp signatures for quite some time now.”

“She will never allow for me to leave the Collective,” Seven stated without truly answering.

“Nor will I ever allow you to leave this… Collective,” Janeway assuredly asserted.  She ran her hand up and down Seven’s arm.  A sign that she meant every word she spoke.  They had come too far for her to allow that to happen.  Seven had taken to her humanity as a duck would to water.  Through it all they had become friends.  She had allowed Seven of Nine use of a bridge no other member of Voyager’s crew would dare cross.  She would risk her life for this young woman that sat with her now.

“Seven.  If she does come we deal with it as we have before.  Please, don’t lose any sleep over this.”

Seven looked at her, searched her eyes and saw the truth she spoke.  She relaxed for the one person she knew she could always count on.  Perhaps count on forever.

“You need to regenerate.”  It was spoken, but not an order.  Kathryn Janeway enjoyed the time they spent together.

“I wish I could stay here forever.”  Seven spoke softly.

“Why, Seven?”  Kathryn asked surprised, but wanting to hear more and understand where her friend was coming from.

“I always feel safe…after talking with you.”  The hesitancy could be read on Seven’s face.  It showed of her humanity more than anything.

Janeway smiled, appreciating the bravery that it must have taken for such an admission.

“Captain?”

“Yes, Seven?”

“There is more that I feel beyond issues of safety,” Seven offered.  But Kathryn saw it in the ex-Borg’s eyes before she ever uttered a word.  It was all there and Kathryn Janeway knew it.  She felt it suddenly radiate off of Seven, up her arm and into her heart.  The impact could be likened to the stun of a phaser.  She reached up and put her hand to her heart never taking her eyes away from the young woman who sat next to her.  She couldn’t.

Seven watched the captain’s eyes darken.  She saw the older woman’s hand placement and then felt the same hand take hers and felt as it was laid upon Kathryn chest.  Neither woman could speak.  There was nothing to say.  It all came down to how they felt for one another.

“Grandma… I think we should name him… Thumper.”  The little girl spoke as she shook her grandmother out of her reverie.

“What honey?”  The older Janeway questioned letting go of her remembrance.

“I said… I think we should name him Thumper!  I read it in a book once.”

She smiled at her granddaughter then wrapped her arms around her.  “I like that.”

Kathryn Janeway leaned back with the young girl in embrace.  She so much reminded her of Seven in the way her hair flowed around her face, the blueness of her eyes, the smile and the inquiring mind.  She hugged her as she looked out beyond her flower garden, now home to Thumper.  She felt the stun of the phaser again in her heart and smiled.  I’ll see her soon enough, she thought to herself, but for now she would just let her memories bloom.

“Grandma,” the little girl started.

“Yes, Tyne?”

“How’d that baby bunny get born?”

She knew the sun would set on this conversation as it had for many of the ones she had had with Seven.  She pulled the young girl closer and settled in.