Vox
 

Prologue

Darkness, incomplete, hell-is-green glow ruins the effect. Green is the colour of exhaustion, the colour of the ache in her neck and the leaden feeling in her limbs. Green is the bile that rises in her throat when she remembers.

Actually, it's a rather nice green. Flickering like a plasma ball, plasma, superheated plasma, all that was left of the queen and the strange polyhedron that chased them halfway across the quadrant. Green scattered on blonde hair, why did she want Seven so damned much?

Why can't Kathryn sleep now?

She's slumped against the dais of Seven's alcove, wondering what the hell she's doing here and what the hell she would have done if she hadn't got her back. Wondering how it's possible it could have hurt so much.

/ Go! /

Seven's face, pleading, entreating, even in command. Sudden feeling as if the gravity system is malfunctioning.

/ I'm not leaving without you! /

It's not about leaving her crew behind, not any more. She can't leave Seven behind, it's just not possible, don't even think it.

/ Then you will be assimilated. /

Somehow she feels like Seven's warning her, not threatening her, and one last look, burning that image in her brain for the empty, empty future. After Seven. After she's lost Seven, after the glittering angel has stepped out of her life as violently as she entered it.

Kathryn shakes herself, lets her eyes rest on the long, very real form standing over her. She's here. She's back. She's home. Think it, chant it, a mantra until you can really, truly believe it again. Whatever you do, don't walk away, because you know you're still afraid this is a dream.

Vox

"Regeneration cycle incomplete."

Seven blinked, unsure at first of what, exactly, had been penetrating her consciousness enough to disturb her regeneration. Then she became aware of the raw, gasping sound from by her feet, and looked down.

"Captain?" That must have been it. The captain was crying, curled on the floor. Seven crouched and placed a hesitant hand on the captain's back, feeling the shuddering that rocked through the surprisingly small-seeming frame.

"Seven." Eyes dark in the dim light, faint green reflection off tears as the captain looked back at her. A moment's hesitation, and then the captain simply curled around towards her and pressed her face against Seven's thigh. Seven was aware of the strange and incredibly precious trust of the moment. Wasn't quite sure what to do with it, and so just wrapped her arms around the captain, and held on, and soaked in the feeling of human contact with it.

She'd given this up. Had knowingly returned to the Collective to save this woman and her crew from going with her.

She could feel herself starting to shake. Felt it as the captain realised, angled herself to wrap her arms, her whole body around Seven. Silent comfort, because Seven didn't know the words for this and wasn't sure there were any.

Time passed. Seven deliberately didn't mark it, didn't clock the seconds with any kind of accuracy at all. Just time, until she'd stopped shaking, and so had the captain, but it was very very warm and she was in a place she didn't want to leave just yet. Knew, somehow, it was where she'd wanted to be for a long time.

But finally, she felt the captain shift. Felt her angle her head towards her, caught her lips with her own before she could speak. Tiny, warm kisses, not needing to doubt whether they'd be accepted, and then she kissed her back. Seven opened her mouth to her, opened herself, and felt her heart clench at the near-painful intimacy of it. Explored her with lips and tongue, long, deep kisses. If she could crawl inside this woman, she would.

They were both breathless when finally they pulled apart. Seven looked at her for a long moment. Kathryn, not the captain, not like this, not pressed against her, for once needing comfort as much as giving it. A smile touching her lips for the first time in a while, Seven rose, extending one hand downwards. Kathryn took it, allowed Seven to pull her to her feet, leaned against her.

"My quarters?"

Quick kiss. "Yes."

The corridors were darkly lit with night watch as they made the distance from the cargo bay to Kathryn's quarters. The only words either of them spoke were to order the turbolift to the appropriate deck. Somehow it was too much already just to hold themselves together until they made that sanctuary. Talking would have shattered them both. Kathryn didn't release her hand.

Into the dark suite of rooms. They didn't turn on the lights. Seven felt suddenly shy, saw in Kathryn's smile that she realised it. Kathryn slid into her arms, warm and real, and kissed her, gently, no demand in the touch, even as Seven felt her self-imposed distance fade and she opened again to the touch. She was almost unaware of helping Kathryn remove her clothing, of shedding her own to Kathryn's bedroom floor. She needed the touch of Kathryn's skin.

She was gasping for breath between kisses now as sure, strong hands roamed her body, evoking unfamiliar sensations and a building tension she wasn't sure she could stand. Kathryn's body was sweat-slick beneath her fingertips as she listened to the soft, incoherent cries her own touches evoked. And still they kissed.

At soft, wordless encouragement she let her fingers slide inside Kathryn, wished she could touch her more deeply still. Slick heat encompassing her fingers as she stroked, bodies moving against each other, the smell of sweat and Kathryn and sex, and she cried out as the tension in her broke, and broke her apart with it. Seven gasped for breath as she felt Kathryn convulse in her arms, and shudder as Seven wrapped herself around her and just held tightly until she could pull herself together enough to relax again.

Kathryn was silent, then, and still, for long enough that Seven almost wondered if she were sleeping. Then she felt Kathryn's lips touch hers, once more, and felt/saw her raise her head to see the chronometer by the bed. Heard her sigh.

"You have duty," Seven surmised.

"Yes." Kathryn's arms tightened around her, slightly. "I don't want -" She trailed off. Seven understood.

"Neither do I," she admitted. Kathryn smiled, then.

"Join me for breakfast?"

"Yes."

First a shower, together, not wanting to pull apart that far, and then they dressed, still in the dark. Kathryn's body was pale and beautiful in the still-dim light, almost painfully clear in the green resolution of her stereo view. But first just her hair, then her uniform too, were still red, rich and vibrant enough not to be green, even to Seven. Seven wondered briefly if that were why she liked red so much. She couldn't think of a colour more the antithesis of green, and her time back with the Collective had reminded her why she had come to hate green. Her ocular implant was enough that it was always, always there.

One last kiss, crawling as deep into Kathryn's mouth as she could, and they left Kathryn's quarters. The Mess Hall wasn't crowded. Just the early breakfast takers, and Neelix. His gaze on them was... thoughtful.

Kathryn spoke, her tone low. "Seven. Are you all right with what happened last night?"

"Yes, Kathryn," Seven answered, also keeping her voice low. Then she smiled. "Possibly I am 'all right' because of what happened last night. I was... troubled."

Kathryn smiled back. "So was I." She touched Seven's hand. Somehow the gesture was truly intimate, today, as it never had been before. They ate in companionable silence.

Finished with the light meal she had requested from Neelix, Seven rose. "I should return to regeneration," she explained. Kathryn nodded, and stood.

"I'll come with you," she said.

"That is not necessary," Seven demurred. Kathryn smiled.

"I know. I want to."

Oh. Seven felt the blood supply to her cheeks increase as she returned the smile yet again. "Very well. Thank you." Knowing she'd never said the words before, yet unprepared for the way Kathryn's expression softened, offering her a tenderness she hadn't expected in public.

She liked it.