Transported

Part 3

After the meeting, Janeway and Seven spent another hour and a half in Sickbay while the Doctor ran them through a battery of tests and scans and diagnostic procedures. By the end of it, Janeway could see that Seven was flagging, even though the captain herself was feeling uncharacteristically rested and more alert than she normally did at the end of a shift, particularly one filled with a minor crisis, as this one had been.

"Deck 3," Janeway called out, as they entered the turbolift.

"I need to return to my cargo bay now, Captain."

"You're going to have to stay in my quarters, Seven. Partly to keep up appearances, but also because you can't regenerate anyway. You'll need to sleep."

"Oh.....yes," she frowned. "That should have occurred to me."

"I know you're disoriented. So am I. Let's just realize that we can't expect the body and brain we each have right now to work the way we're used to," she smiled. "Come on. You need some dinner, and a hot bath might help you with the shoulder."

When they arrived at the captain's quarters, Janeway replicated a dinner salad and a glass of white wine for each of them, hoping the effects of the latter would take the edge off a very trying and confusing day, and what promised to be a still more confusing night.

They ate in silence, each noticing more new physical sensations and feeling introspective about the body she now occupied. Janeway felt full after only a couple of bites, while Seven still felt hungry after finishing her portion.

She eyed the captain's leftovers. "Are you planning to leave that?" she asked, pointing at the nearly untouched salad on the captain's plate.

Janeway smiled. "I'm full," she said, surprise lacing her tone. "Would you like to finish it for me?"

"May I?" Seven responded eagerly, surprised herself at her new enthusiasm for food.

"Of course." Janeway felt her chest suffuse with warmth and tenderness as she pushed her plate toward Seven. And she suddenly found herself wanting to treat the young woman to other culinary delights while she had the palate to appreciate them. "Would you like a hot fudge sundae for dessert."

"I do not know," she said between chews. "Is that any good?"

"It's heaven.......especially with coffee ice cream and pieces of toffee sprinkled on top. My sister and I invented it when we were kids. We call it coffee-toffee sundae. You'll love it!"

It took barely a minute for Janeway to order up the dessert from the replicator, but by the time she returned to the table, Seven had already finished eating the rest of the second salad. And as Janeway replaced the empty plate with the dessert dish, she considered ruefully that at this rate, her young friend might be experiencing those other biological waste disposal functions sooner than she'd hoped.

She sat down again, this time in the chair next to, rather than across from, Seven, wanting to close the distance between them so that she could watch the young woman's reactions to the dessert.

Seven gingerly picked up a spoonful of ice cream, hot fudge, and toffee bits and started to move it toward her mouth.

"Seven," Janeway interrupted, gently grabbing the woman's wrist to stay her motion, "don't chew the ice cream. It's very cold and may hurt your teeth. Instead, just slide it onto your tongue and let it dissolve a little. Then chew the toffee, and then swallow."

Concern momentarily flashed across Seven's now blue-grey eyes, but the tempting sight of the "dessert" quickly replaced that expression with one of eager anticipation. And when the young woman put the spoon into her mouth, the expression became one of cheer joy, a broad grin stretching across her face.

"Mmmmm," she said.

Janeway watched with utter delight as Seven devoured the dessert, relishing in the former Borg's own enjoyment of this new experience, and her heart ached, not for the first time, at the wonderful experiences Seven had been denied by her assimilation.

Seven caught the expression that briefly shadowed the captain's new face and wondered if perhaps Janeway was sorry she hadn't gotten some dessert for herself. Without hesitation, she pushed the now half empty dish a little closer to the captain and eagerly offered her the next spoonful: "Would you like some?"

Janeway was touched by the gesture and, although still feeling full, accepted the offer, dipping her head down toward the spoon and opening her mouth.

Seven smiled as she placed the spoon in the captain's mouth, watched her close the full lips around it, and then slowly pulled the spoon out. Despite her caution, however, a little of the sauce dripped onto the captain's chin. Putting the spoon down, Seven reached over and wiped the sauce off with her thumb and then involuntarily put the tip of her thumb in her mouth to lick the sauce off.

Their eyes met just then, and the amused expressions gave way instantly to something more.....electric -- a mutual recognition of the intimacy of their gestures in sharing the dessert, in having swirled their tongues around the same spoon, in Seven's unselfconsciously licking the sauce practically off the captain's face (albeit, with her thumb acting as intermediary). And before they quite realized what was happening, they found their faces had drifted to within mere centimeters of each other.....poised for a kiss. But when Janeway looked at Seven, it was her own eyes that stared back at her, mirroring at first her desire and then her confusion. And just as suddenly, the spell was broken.

Janeway shook the mood off as she got up abruptly and made her way to the replicator, requesting a second glass of wine to dull the edginess she was suddenly feeling again.

"Captain," Seven warned, "synthehol has an adverse effect on my......that is to say, your cortical implant."

"I'm sure it'll be all right if I just sip a little, Seven. Anyway, I'm just trying to relax. I've got a million things running through my mind, and I can't seem to stop thinking."

"That is normal, Captain."

"Is it?"

"Is it not?" Seven countered.

"Not to this extent. At least, not for me." Janeway struggled to put her feelings into words. "I'm always preoccupied, of course. But this is different. It's more. Suddenly, I'm not just worried about the ship, the crew, getting home, dealing with this crisis while preparing for the next; now my thoughts are preoccupied with more detailed problems......for example, for some reason, I've been wondering for the last hour why the circuits in panel A7 of the Astrometics Lab are running at .478 percent more efficiency than any other circuits in the lab. I wasn't even aware there were any performance variances among the circuits in Astrometrics."

"But I was aware of the fluctuation. And I had been analyzing that problem in my off-duty time for the last week prior to going on today's Away mission. A number of my calculations were, no doubt, stored in my cortical implant for processing."

Janeway was troubled by that notion. "You mean, in addition to your body, I now also possess some of your thoughts?"

"You possess some of my thoughts because you possess my body, Captain. Many of my thoughts and memories are processed and stored in my cortical implant. Your consciousness can maintain its integrity, can remain wholly yours, because it does not imprint itself in the bioneural matrix of your cortex. So when our transporter patterns reversed, it was your entire consciousness that got transferred to my body. My consciousness, however, is bifurcated: the part that is human is integral to me and that is what has been transferred to your body. But there is another part that is Borg, which is stored in the cortical implant: my enhanced data processing, my assimilated knowledges, my.......voices are all stored there. Those are yours now. You are Borg."

Janeway considered that revelation and felt herself becoming deeply unnerved by it -- particularly at the thought of remembering the experiences of thousands of individuals as they were being assimilated. "Why can't I hear the voices."

"As a precaution against the likelihood of another anti-Borg virus affecting my systems, I managed to store those memories in less accessible data nodes within my cortical implant, and I encrypted the data."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that even if those memories were forced to resurface, they would be gibberish unless and until I decoded them. I would find that confusing, but not I believe as unsettling as the voices."

"I'm finding this whole conversation confusing," Janeway said, absently rubbing an imagined headache at her temple -- out of habit rather than any pain.

"Well I did warn you about the wine, Captain," Seven retorted, sounding a little miffed that the current custodian of her body wasn't taking better care of it.

Janeway smirked back. And then her own massaging motion against her head made her remember Seven's shoulder, a distraction she suddenly welcomed. "Come on," she said. "I'll draw you a hot bath. It'll help with your aches and pains."

*****

Seven silently followed Janeway into the bathroom and watched essentially "herself" running through a number of unfamiliar motions: keying some settings into the bathtub controls, which suddenly responded with a gush of hot water, pouring some scented oils into the rising water, pulling out a robe and some towels, and finally ordering the computer to lower the illumination and begin playing a soothing melody.

"Seven?" Janeway called softly. "You can take off your clothes now and get into the tub. I'll go in the other room to give you some privacy, but I can come back after you're settled in to massage your shoulders a bit. Does that sound all right?"

Seven swallowed. Her throat felt constricted, but she managed to squeak out a "Yes," which allowed the captain finally to depart and left the young woman alone at last. She felt unaccountably relieved. Janeway's presence was beginning more and more to confuse her. She desperately wanted to touch Janeway, to reach out and caress her hair, her cheek, her back, every centimeter of her. She had wanted that for some time now, but most strongly since the incident with the Borg queen, which left Seven feeling an even deeper emotional connection to the captain, a bond that she wanted to solidify by connecting physically with Janeway.....with Kathryn. She wanted desperately to feel the press of Kathryn's flesh against her own flesh. Except at the moment, her flesh wasn't her own; it was Kathryn's. Seven shook her head in sudden confusion -- the standard response, apparently, to thinking too hard about this perplexing body switch. 'Perhaps the bath will help', she thought. And with that, she pulled off her clothes.

After pulling off the last garment -- the little bit of elasticized lace that covered Kathryn's private parts and that had snapped Seven earlier in the day -- Seven's eyes drifted up and caught her reflection in the mirror. She was fixated.

"Computer, lights full," she ordered.

Seven couldn't quite resist the temptation anymore. She had been curious for a long time about the captain's body, had imagined Captain Janeway standing naked before her, despite the fact that she sensed on some level that such thoughts were somewhat inappropriate. And now, this accident had given her the opportunity to look without having actually to request permission.....and without risking denial. Indeed, she could look because for the time being -- and perhaps forever, if it turned out that they couldn't correct the switch -- this was her body.

So she stood before the mirror and slowly inspected what she saw. Seven was surprised at the sight. Everywhere she looked, she marveled at how much smaller Kathryn was than she had seemed. With her uniform on, Janeway seemed so much more substantial, so strong, so Starfleet. But what Seven saw in the mirror now was a very delicate woman, small framed, the sharp edges of bone along the collar and at the hips, a belly only slightly rounded, breasts barely larger than her hands and topped with tiny pink nipples, and an ornamental overlay of brownish flecks all over her skin that Seven found utterly charming. She then turned and twisted her head over her shoulder, craning to see the reflection of Kathryn's back and bottom, which, she noted, were also very slight. Everything about the captain's body seemed dainty and fragile, and Seven wondered how such a small woman could seem, as Lt. Torres had once put it, "bigger than life."

Seven turned to face front again and caught a glimpse of Kathryn's eyes looking back at her. She was startled by those eyes, as if caught doing something she should not be doing. Then she stared openly at Kathryn's face for long moments until finally the thought came to her like an epiphany. 'She is lovely!.......Kathryn Janeway is small and delicate and lovely all over'. And Seven felt suddenly seized by the desire to touch that loveliness.

She reached up and caressed her face, the face that stared back at her in the mirror, and marveled at the thrill that the combination of the sight and the feel were producing. Her eyes and hands told her that she was touching Kathryn, but the sensations at her face told her that she was the one being caressed. And because it was so clearly Kathryn's hand that was doing the touching, Seven felt, all at once, the most beguiling and overwhelming sense that she was both touching and being touched by Kathryn.

Just then, the captain came into the bathroom, expecting Seven to be finally settled in the bath and awaiting her massage. "Seven, would you like -- oh, I'm sorry." She had caught a glimpse of naked flesh and out of habit began averting her eyes and apologizing just as Seven involuntarily reached down and yanked up the red tunic to try covering herself.

Then both women froze in their actions and stared at each other for long moments until finally.....they broke into a slightly nervous laugh.

"What are we doing?" Kathryn asked through her laughter. "It isn't as though I haven't seen my own body before!"

"Yes," Seven agreed somewhat tightly, but trying to smile through her embarrassment.

"I really didn't expect you to be quite so modest, though."

"Kathryn....I -- I mean, Captain.....I --" Seven began haltingly. She sighed. "This is awkward," she said, half mumbling to herself.

Janeway caught Seven's discomfort and felt suddenly more amused by the whole situation. "Kathryn seems appropriate under the circumstances," she teased, gesturing toward her naked body.

"I meant no intrusion," Seven apologized. "I was.....I was just -- "

"Curious?" Janeway offered.

"Yes," Seven admitted, with difficulty.

Kathryn suddenly started eyeing her own reflection in the mirror, Seven's face and body staring back at her. "Actually," she noted whimsically, "I've been sort of curious myself."

Seven quirked her brow at Janeway through the mirror, and Janeway looked back deciding that the expression wasn't quite as effective on her own mug as it was on Seven's, possibly because Janeway's face didn't have the benefit of the metallic implant for emphasis. She tested her theory, quirking her brow back at Seven in response, who visibly flinched, never before having been on the receiving end of her own look. Janeway laughed.

"I'm only kidding," she said after a moment. "Besides, I don't have a clue how to even begin taking this thing off," she added, motioning to the brown mesh suit she was wearing.

Seven considered that and then let the tunic fall to the floor as she reached to the back of Janeway's neck. "Allow me to assist you."

Suddenly nervous, Janeway pulled away. "Uh, that won't be necessary."

"It seems only fitting that you should be able to satisfy your curiosity as well, Kathryn," Seven retorted, pulling Janeway back with subtle insistence. "Furthermore," she continued, "I would feel less.....unsettled about my own breech of......etiquette."

Janeway smirked. "I doubt there's any 'etiquette' regarding something like this, Seven."

"Then let us create our own," she suggested softly.

The implied plea took Janeway off guard. So when Seven reached behind her and began unfastening the suit from the nape of her neck down to the small of her back, all Kathryn could manage was a nervous swallow. She wasn't quite sure what aspect of this was making her uncomfortable. Was it finally seeing the beautiful Borg's naked body? Was it the sensation of being nude herself? Or was it perhaps the sure knowledge that whatever else this meant, Seven was undressing her? She shivered involuntarily as Seven's hands -- her hands -- brushed against her bare shoulders while tugging the suit down.

Kathryn felt the need to quicken the pace. Seven's contact was starting to drive her to distraction, and the only way the young woman would stop touching her was if Kathryn were finally free of the suit. So she gave in to Seven's motions and began helping, pulling the sleeves off her arms and then yanking the garment down the torso, over the hips, and off the legs and feet. When she straightened, she breathed a sigh of relief as Seven finally pulled back from her. Then she made the mistake of looking in the mirror and found herself suddenly overwhelmed again. It was Seven. Seven's body. Staring back at her in the mirror. And standing absolutely naked before her.

"Oh, my," she gasped.

"Are you all right, Kathryn," Seven broke in with concern.

There was no answer. Kathryn was captivated by the vision and suddenly very curious about the Borg's body. She eyed the bountiful breasts reflected in the mirror, diverted her gaze to the implanted left hand and forearm, and then returned her eyes again to the breasts, her expression.....questioning.

Seven caught the inspection and smirked. "No, Kathryn," she noted peevishly, "those are not Borg implants!"

Kathryn was momentarily embarrassed that her expression had been so readable. "Sorry," she mumbled. Then she let a more scientific curiosity kick in. She fingered the implant in her right bicep, which she knew helped give Seven additional strength in that arm. The abdomen was smooth and flat, which Kathryn had not quite expected. The ridges she had always noticed along Seven's torso were apparently part of the suit. Kathryn felt slightly relieved by that discovery although she couldn't quite understand why. Then she turned and inspected the back. It was a long, muscular plain of flesh and sinew, tapering at the waist, very human and very attractive. The only discernable Borgness was at the small of Seven's back, where a fine mesh of cybernetic nodes appeared. She had heard Seven refer to these nodes once as her "receptors," and she knew that this is where the power signals transmitted by the Borg alcove were drawn into Seven's body, supplying her implants with the energy they required for regeneration. She began to move her right hand up to finger the mesh, but Seven's gentle grip forestalled her motion.

"Kathryn, be careful," Seven warned. "The receptors are extremely sensitive to touch."

Kathryn frowned. "How sensitive?" she asked.

"Please brace yourself."

Kathryn smirked dubiously but did as instructed, carefully gripping the edge of the sink in front of her. She then watched as Seven reached carefully around her back. What happened next astounded Kathryn with its intensity. Seven lightly brushed her fingertips across the expanse of the mesh, and Kathryn felt an instantaneous jolt of excitement that shot in all directions, suffusing her crotch with moisture, making her knees buckle, and causing her to emit a helpless sob of pleasure.

When she regained her senses, she found herself kneeling in front of the sink with her head resting against it, tears leaking out of her human eye, as Seven gently stroked her hair and caressed her arm in comfort.

"Seven," she rasped, "what just happened?"

"I believe you......'climaxed'," she explained gently.

Kathryn shook her head in mild shock and then noted ruefully, "That's the quickest....uhm.....experience I've ever had." She looked at Seven. "I'm surprised, however, that the Borg would bother developing such an efficient method of.....peaking," she said delicately.

"They have not. The receptors were purposely designed to be hypersensitive so that Borg drones could draw energy from their alcoves through the layers of exo-plating they normally wear. When my exo-plating was removed, however, my receptors were left exposed. The erogenous effect is an unexpected byproduct of your having severed me from the Collective."

"I did that to you?" Janeway asked regretfully.

"Yes." Seven said simply. Then after a moment, she added, "Thank you."

Janeway couldn't resist smiling. And she conceded that the effect was unbelievably pleasant, but it could also be incapacitating.

"Why haven't you ever said anything?"

"It is personal, Kathryn. The Doctor is aware, of course, but I do not want others to know that I am so......vulnerable to a mere touch on a very accessible part of my anatomy. And I require you to maintain my secret. Please."

"Of course, Seven. I won't tell a soul. But aren't you afraid that others might touch you there without realizing the effect it has on you?"

"When I anticipate engaging in an activity requiring contact, such as dancing, I wear a protective plate. Of course, the contact is still distracting, which is no doubt why I forgot myself and accidentally damaged Lt. Chapman when he and I danced on my first 'date'," Seven explained regretfully. "Beyond that, Kathryn, you are the only one who casually touches me when I am not......protected."

"And have I ever, you know....."

"On four separate occasions."

"Four?!" Kathryn swallowed her dismay.

"It is all right. My mesh suit offers a barrier against too much sensitivity. In fact, Kathryn, you only made me climax once."

Kathryn bit her lower lip.

"It was during our pre-launch 'Going Home' celebration after we had installed the slipstream drive. I had had some champagne and got 'drunk' and was in Sickbay recovering from the effects. You came to see how I was doing and placed your hand on my lower back to comfort me. When I jolted, you attempted to soothe me by rubbing my back, which of course had the opposite effect."

Kathryn gasped remembering. "Oh, Seven, I'm sorry. When you cried out and began sobbing, I thought you were having a depressive reaction to the synthehol. I had no idea I was.....violating you!" she exclaimed. "And while you were intoxicated!" she added, feeling horrified at herself for having, even inadvertently, engaged in such a reprehensible act.

"No, Kathryn," Seven objected softly. "You did not 'violate' me. You comforted me. That was your intention, and that was the effect of your caress. That it also had another effect is.....not regrettable to me. Indeed," Seven admitted with a trace of bashfulness, "if anyone is to blame, it is I. For reasons I cannot explain, I felt particularly......fond of you that evening and wanted you to touch me."

Kathryn couldn't help smiling at what amounted to a very common human side-effect of becoming intoxicated. And she was amused that the analytical Borg had not yet noticed the correlation between her drunkenness and her relaxed inhibitions.

"I was astounded," Seven continued, "and delighted, when you began caressing my receptors. It was as though you had read my thoughts. Your touch pleased me, Kathryn.......Your touch always pleases me."

Kathryn was taken off guard by Seven's admission, but she could not deny that she also felt......aroused by it. She just wished that Seven's clear blue eyes were the ones staring back at her with that pleading look. 'It's just as well that they aren't Seven's eyes', she thought ruefully. 'Or I'd be touching and pleasing her over every centimeter of her delicious Borg body right now!'

Kathryn wasn't sure where these thoughts were coming from. She knew she had feelings for Seven, but if pursuing those feelings had been merely complicated before, it was impossibly confounding now. She shook her head against the prospect.

Seven interrupted her thoughts: "I believe it is time now for my bath."

Kathryn nodded and began to pull away, intending to pick up the discarded brown mesh so that she could retreat to the bedroom and get dressed again while Seven bathed in private, but Seven reached out and gripped Kathryn's Borg hand to forestall her departure.

"And," she continued undaunted, "I believe you promised me a massage."

The tone was soft, inflected, and suggestive: in other words, completely unlike the Borg. And there was also the slightest hint of a grin playing about the thin, red lips. Had it been anyone but Seven, Kathryn would have suspected that she was being seduced. Despite the evidence, however, Kathryn decided that her own body -- which had always exuded a naturally sensual maturity, especially around the eyes -- must have been making Seven's proposal seem more sophisticated and even untoward than it actually was. After all, Seven was an innocent -- young, fresh, naive, capable of crushes, certainly -- as Chakotay suspected -- but otherwise pure of thought. Seven was the sort to inspire sexual fantasies, not have them. 'Not my little Seven', Kathryn thought. And then she grimaced internally at the overly maternal tones of the phrase her mind had conjured. She started to roll her eyes at her own thought but stopped herself when she caught Seven's inspection. Then she realized that Seven was gently tugging her towards the tub, and she felt panicked all of a sudden, frozen to the spot.

'Seven is pure', her mind repeated to herself. 'She is an innocent. This is safe!' Kathryn was not entirely convinced by these thoughts, but they freed her legs up enough that suddenly she found herself next to the tub, with Seven motioning for her to get in.

She wavered, but Seven's gentle insistence made her finally comply, stepping in the bath, lowering herself into the temperature-controlled water, and settling back into the softly contoured end of the tub, still repeating to herself 'Seven is pure. Seven is pure'. The water swirled at her lower back, sending tingles throughout her body that interrupted her thoughts, so that the next one came out more like a one-word plea -- 'Seven!'

And then, as if in response, Seven got into the tub, sending more tingles throughout Kathryn's current body, particularly when Seven turned and settled back into Kathryn, both women gasping at the contact.

"Computer, lights out," Seven suddenly called.

"What are you doing?" Kathryn managed.

From the darkness, she heard Seven's softly spoken reply: "I am taking a bath with you."

The simple admission -- so provocatively accurate -- momentarily distracted Kathryn, making her shudder in response. And again she felt the need to repeat the comforting, self-controlling -- and increasingly unconvincing mantra -- 'Seven is pure. Seven is pure'. After a moment, she cleared her throat and continued.

"I mean, why did you turn off the lights."

"What do you see, Kathryn?" Seven asked.

"I can't see anything," she blurted, beginning to feel a bit calmer now, if only because the conversation about the lights was deflecting the inappropriately erotic thoughts she was having.

Seven then pulled Kathryn's hands up gently and placed them on her breasts, holding them there gently but firmly through Kathryn's gasped surprise. "And what do you feel, Kathryn?" she asked.

Kathryn finally understood Seven's intent and began to feel her resolve slipping away. She held the warm body cradled between her legs -- her hands still resting on the slopes of her own bosom -- as her mind began reassessing its former opinion of the young woman: 'Seven is.......growing up', she corrected. And then she finally responded to Seven's question: "I feel you," she breathed, gently squeezing the breasts for emphasis.

"Yes, Kathryn," Seven rasped. "And I feel you."

Kathryn smiled unseen and slowly trailed her fingertips up Seven's arms to her shoulders to initiate the promised massage. She made a mental note to keep the strokes light, remembering that she was much stronger now with the Borg implants and not wanting to cause Seven any pain.....nor to damage her own body in the process. Seven moaned softly, communicating to Kathryn that she was applying the right amount of pressure, which in turn allowed the captain to concentrate on what she was feeling as she kneaded the painful tension away and replaced it with sensual pleasure.

'Yes', Kathryn thought, she was feeling Seven. And the sudden realization of that -- without the distraction of seeing her own face staring back at her -- now allowed Kathryn to remember other objections, other reasons why having an affair with Seven was a bad idea. Falling for a crewmember. For a Borg. For a woman. (Well, that last one wasn't really a bad idea, just an untried one.) But in the end, those were all just categories that failed adequately to convey everything that Seven was.....everything that Seven meant.

'Having an affair with Seven' -- her mind repeated the phrase and the echo reverberated throughout her body. And as the shudders settled in her borrowed loins, she sensed herself surrendering to her desire, to the long-denied desire to make love to the woman she had rescued from the Borg -- not once, but twice. And in the next instant, her mind ticked off all the reasons she could think of for why having an affair with Seven wasn't such a bad idea: that Seven wasn't Starfleet, that she was only an honorary member of her crew, technically outside the chain of command. 'And she reminds you of that every chance she gets!' Kathryn mused to herself, a smile playing on her lips.

That last thought filled Kathryn with a tenderness for the woman she was touching and made her reach out and embrace her, pressing her lips blindly against Seven's temple. And it didn't matter any more that it was Kathryn's own temple she was kissing as long as it was Seven who felt the touch.....and the affection it expressed.

Seven did feel it, and she turned instinctively towards the offered affection. "Kathryn," she whispered -- a beacon in the darkness that summoned Kathryn home.

And like the seasoned captain that she was, Kathryn navigated her way with blind precision, following the sound to its source until her lips docked with Seven's in a passionate contact that was soft and warm and safe. Then with a shared sigh, the surface contact gave way to a much deeper joining, as their mouths opened and their tongues chased after the moans they exchanged. And when their tongues touched and explored, the moans gave way to whimpering sobs, neither woman able any longer to hold back the tides of emotion.

Finally, Kathryn broke away for a breath. "I can't believe this is happening," she gasped.

"Just let it happen, Kathryn," Seven replied -- part plea, part command. Then she brought her lips back to Kathryn's in hungry emphasis, groping blindly for the other woman and splashing water outside the tub in the process until she found what she had been seeking.

The nipples on Seven's body were already erect and hard and, like the receptors, very sensitive to touch, something Seven remembered from her prior self-explorations. She treated Kathryn to the glorious experience of their sensitivity now, pinching and rolling the nipples in her fingers. She was delighted when Kathryn responded to the touch with a moan of pleasure. Seven had no way of knowing that this erogenous zone was more common, but she quickly discovered that when Kathryn reached up and pinched Seven's nipples, and the captain's body -- currently Seven's -- responded in the same, familiar way.

"Ahhhh," Seven exclaimed, half in discovery and half in delight.

Kathryn caught the revelation in the tone: "What?"

"Nothing," Seven panted. "I am just surprised that our bodies respond similarly to many of the same stimuli......We should continue these experiments," she added seriously. "It is important that I learn what your body likes."

"Indeed it is," Kathryn chuckled agreeably. "I hope you're taking notes."

"Since you are the one with the cortical implant right now, Kathryn, I suggest you 'take notes'.....for both of us," Seven shot back with amusement. "Please begin by recording how much my body enjoys this next activity," she added in mock politeness, but her tone betrayed more than a hint of lust.

Kathryn suddenly felt her Borg nipples being tugged up and out of the water and rolled vigorously in a pleasantly tight grasp between thumbs and fingers. Through her excitement, Kathryn wondered when exactly Seven had tried this "activity" on herself, and the image that conjured added to her thrill.

Seven caught the slight surprise in the gasp and realized that the darkness made it impossible for Kathryn to tell when and where Seven was going to touch her next. And not being able to see Seven's advance made Kathryn anticipate her touch all the more. Seven decided to heighten Kathryn's arousal by exploiting this element of surprise. She pulled back and withheld her touch to build Kathryn's anticipation, then reached out and squeezed the right breast again, drawing her grip slowly to the peak and lingering playfully at the nipple.

Kathryn gasped and arched into the unseen touch, which ended too quickly. She then held her breath awaiting the next surprise attack. Her eyes involuntarily opened wider, straining to see in the unfamiliar darkness of her bathroom. Even the ocular implant was no help. She knew the implant permitted both nightvision and thermographic scanning -- which would let her see Seven either as a greenish-tinted infrared image or as color-coded patches of heat -- but Kathryn didn't know how Seven mentally activated any of the special functions of her implants. And she couldn't think straight anyway as she felt yet another blind but on-the-mark manipulation of her nipples.

"Oh, Seven.....you have no idea what you're doing to me," she breathed.

"Oh, Kathryn, but I do," Seven rejoined, her voice melodic with humor.

Seven's lips made their way to Kathryn's, and they spent the next several minutes lost in the most languid and deliciously soft kisses Kathryn had ever experienced -- Seven, too, but that wasn't quite as noteworthy since the young woman had never had any prior experience with this method of touching. And as she opened her mouth again to Kathryn, she wondered how the Borg could have considered this slice of perfection "irrelevant."

"Kathryn, I know how parts of my body react to the touch of my hands, but now that I occupy your body, I would like to touch you -- that is to say -- to touch my body in other ways so that, by observing your reactions, I may determine what else my body likes."

"What is it you want to do, Seven?" Kathryn managed through her desire.

Seven had, of course, fantasized many times about the captain touching her, and she had been captivated by one idea in particular. The memory of that favorite fantasy overwhelmed her now with another surge of excitement, so she had to take a moment to compose herself before continuing.

"I have wondered how my body would react to the feel of your mouth pressing between my legs."

Kathryn swallowed. The statement reminded her of a fantasy she had had herself on several occasions, of the Borg's full lips tracing the contours of the captain's most intimate regions. She had tried to suppress the thought after the first time, but it kept coming back to haunt (and thrill!) her on several nights, when her loneliness would wash over her, and she would permit herself to find solace in the company of her own hands. And now she had the chance to experience that fantasy -- albeit, not exactly in the way she had imagined. But despite the body switch, in the dark, she could allow herself to concentrate on what really mattered. She could allow herself to feel the intimacy of the contact, knowing that it was Seven touching her that way.

"Seven," she said, her tight voice struggling to maintain control, "we need to go lie down now, in my bed. But I.....I don't want to see you."

"I understand, Kathryn. We can turn away from each other before bringing the lights up. Then you can dry off and go into the other room first."

Without another word, Kathryn heard and felt Seven turn away, and then she averted her own gaze as she called for one-quarter illumination. She stepped carefully out of the tub, trying not to look at Seven, grabbed a towel, and quickly padded herself dry as she made her way to the bedroom. Then she tossed the towel aside and quickly got under the covers, yelling to Seven that she was done before pulling the covers over her head.

It felt like a lover's game, and Kathryn reveled in it, enjoying the searing anticipation of it as she heard the water sloshing in the other room, from Seven's exit, and then, after a moment, heard her own voice nearby as Seven called for lights out.

"Kathryn, I can still see by the light of the stars," Seven called to the lump in the bed.

Kathryn pulled the covers away from her mouth so that her voice wouldn't be muffled. "Computer, activate solar shields, close the bedroom door, and shut off all emergency lighting."

In the next instant, the room became almost foreboding in its blackness, and Seven instinctively groped towards human contact, pulling back the covers and sliding into Kathryn's embrace for comfort. Almost immediately, they tangled together in the dark and quiet warmth of Kathryn's bed, allowing their tactile senses to lead them down the path they had been circling forever.

Seven started down the path first, suddenly intent on gauging her body's reaction to the feel of Kathryn's hot, wet mouth around its nipples. Judging from Kathryn's pleased gasp and moan, Seven's body liked this very much. So Seven escalated the contact, gently biting at her own nipples and sucking more vigorously. The body underneath her arched and wiggled, fighting for breath.

Kathryn smiled through her pleasure, feeling very glad that Seven's nipples were as sensitive to this kind of touch as Kathryn knew her own nipples were. She guessed that Seven didn't know that yet, but she vowed to show her......later. At the moment, she simply let herself enjoy the rough, wet texture of the tongue against the nipple, willing herself to forget that it was her tongue by running the same thought through her mind like a mantra: 'Seven is making love to me. Seven is making love to me'. The thought intensified the sensation, sending another titillating surge through her, which erupted in a gush of moisture between her legs. The wetness made her desperately feel the need for Seven to touch her there, so she reached for the hand that Seven had been using to caress the outside of her left thigh and brought it abruptly between her legs, pressing it into the damp golden down and rubbing it almost roughly against it as she arched into the contact.

Seven picked up her cue, biting hungrily into the right nipple as she groped her fingers aggressively in and around the folds of her sex, unable to remember herself ever getting this wet before and marveling at it. She spread the wetness back and forth from the knot of flesh at the top -- which she knew was sensitive to touch -- to the tiny opening in her rear, which she had touched before but had not been able to explore as fully as she had wanted.

Kathryn jolted at the contact, particularly when the fingers passed over the puckered orifice at the back. She enjoyed this sort of contact, but she was usually reluctant to allow a more intimate probing without taking appropriate precautions against infection. Fortunately, Seven's implants and nanoprobes handled all of the Borg's waste disposal functions, so that this entire part of Seven's body remained pristine -- utterly free of bacteria. So Kathryn made herself relax, wanting to indulge the young woman's desire to probe and explore her own body. And Kathryn, too, wanted to learn what excited this body......for future reference. So she spread her legs as far apart as they would go, to allow Seven complete access, and gave herself over entirely to Seven's explorations. After all, she reasoned, Seven was certainly entitled to touch her own body any way she liked, as long as it didn't cause Kathryn to experience physical pain. And Kathryn granted that these touches were having quite the opposite effect, creating some of the most pleasurable sensations she had ever experienced.

She bit her lower lip and held her breath at the introduction of a new sensation, as the tip of a well-lubricated finger squeezed its way through the tight rim. Then Kathryn pushed slightly against the tip to open up more to the probing finger. Seven clearly understood the subtle invitation for, in the next instant, Kathryn could feel the finger working its way more deeply into her, pushing very slowly and very deliberately until it was inside to the hilt.

Kathryn flexed around the finger, both to accommodate its bulk -- slight as it was -- and to feel it inside. It suddenly occurred to her that the next time they did this -- after returning to their bodies -- her own bottom would be stretched more by Seven's invasion since the Borg's fingers were slightly longer and plumper than her own rather dainty digits. And then Kathryn was surprised at how readily she was embracing this little "activity," her mind already racing ahead with thoughts about "the next time" and enjoying the idea of having to accommodate herself to more girth. 'Naughty, naughty', she thought, smiling in the dark. Then she sighed happily and decided to enjoy the moment. Forcing herself to relax around the finger currently inside her, she let Seven take charge again.

Seven understood that invitation, too. She began to rotate the finger back and forth very slowly, all the while keeping it deep inside. She wanted to maintain as much contact as possible, increasing the friction in what amounted to the most intimate, probing, and intoxicating massage the captain had ever been given.

Kathryn moaned helplessly. She couldn't believe how acutely sensitive this part of Seven's body was. Perhaps it had something to do with the proximity to the receptors. Or perhaps it was Seven's patient and deliberate technique, a slow boring that made the experience painless.....and wonderful. Whatever the reason, Kathryn marveled at how even the smallest flexing of the finger against the soft, interior tissue sent jolting currents of ecstasy through her.

She felt the finger pull out entirely and then felt another one prodding and probing into her -- thicker and longer than the first, and Kathryn guessed that Seven had switched to her middle finger. Kathryn moaned her approval, remembering that Seven wanted to know what was working best. And then she felt the finger wiggle and squirm inside her, commencing a very deep and intimate......tickle that made Kathryn squirm and shudder in response with the beginnings of an unexpected organism. 'Was that possible?' she wondered. She smiled as she realized that Seven seemed intent on finding out.

She felt Seven huddle between her legs and then gently pull up the left one, coaxing Kathryn to turn onto her stomach and apparently intending to keep the finger inside her throughout the maneuver. Kathryn was......intrigued......and also slightly shocked to discover that with no apparent will or decision on her part, the body she was occupying had already begun to comply, allowing its leg to be guided blindly over the crouched form in between and then shifting onto its side, trying to stay in the middle of the bed as it readjusted itself. And all Kathryn could do was enjoy the sensation of feeling herself rotate around the finger that was poking deep inside her as she turned. She had to pause for a moment in the middle of the turn, momentarily overwhelmed by the excitement, and then jolted as Seven took the opportunity to wiggle her finger in a rather erotic display of impatience. Kathryn laughed and shuddered all at once at the insistent little finger and squirmed with delight as it prodded her on. 'Oh, Seven', she thought with a grin, 'you are growing up so fast'.

Composing herself, Kathryn shifted again until she was on her hands and knees and then moaned loudly as Seven congratulated her on the successful maneuver by twisting the finger more rigorously inside her as she bent closer and sweetly kissed one of the now exposed cheeks of her own bottom. Kathryn enjoyed the extra contact. It had been so long since she had let herself be loved. And longer still since she had let herself be taken in exactly this way. So provocative. So intimate. So much more personal and trusting. She considered it odd that Seven had chosen to explore this form of penetration first, and then the thought was gone as she felt the massage intensify and her mind focused on the deliriously wonderful sensation of friction deep in-between her buttocks. And wanting to relax and open up to more of it, she bent down, lowering her head and chest onto the mattress and leaving her backside up in the air, completely splayed out to Seven's further explorations. Even in the dark, it was a position that made her feel totally exposed and vulnerable. And yet she felt oddly comfortable, implicitly trusting Seven. And sensing that, she realized that she desperately wanted the young woman to touch her in the most intimate and deeply personal ways imaginable.

Seven could feel how Kathryn had positioned herself on the bed and knew, of course, that it was her body positioned that way, but she allowed herself to imagine that it was Kathryn's body bent over and exposed in front of her. And the image her mind conjured thrilled her to her core. She held onto that image in her mind as she worked her finger with renewed vigor into the tiny opening, knowing that Kathryn was enjoying these sensations and wanting to intensify the experience for her, using her free hand to grab at the pliable globes of flesh that were now directly in front of her.

After several minutes of twisting and wriggling and then gently pumping the finger in and out of the puckered hole, Seven noticed that there was less tightness, and she suddenly wondered if Kathryn could tolerate a second finger. Considering that more lubrication would help, she pulled her finger out, and before she quite realized what she was doing, she brought her mouth down to the opening and began to lick and probe the orifice with her tongue.

Kathryn spasmed against this new sensation, and involuntarily grabbed and bit the pillow in front of her, which muffled her ecstatic scream. Then she forced herself to calm down, shuddering and panting and now emitting helpless squeaks of pleasure as she felt Seven begin to swipe the tongue in languorous strokes from front to back. And the squeaks became muffled moans and sobs whenever Seven occasionally paused her strokes to wiggle the tip of the tongue first around the sensitive nodule then thrusting deeply into her sex and then squeezing wetly into the puckered hole, liberally moistening it with a combination of juices. When Seven herself moaned -- apparently excited at what she was doing to Kathryn through the medium of her own body -- Kathryn felt the delicious reverberation of that moan in the most intimate regions of that body.

Satisfied that the tiny hole was sufficiently stretched and lubricated, Seven positioned an index and middle finger over the rim and then penetrated Kathryn again, which made Kathryn scream into the pillow from the sheer intensity of the pleasure. Then she slowly and deliberately pumped the fingers in and out of the small opening as she crouched down and lapped the juices that were now liberally spilling out of the larger opening.

Kathryn's knees began to wobble. She was now whimpering incessantly into the pillow, feeling the onslaught of the turmoil that had been threatening to overtake her since.....well, since 'yesterday?', when Seven suggested that she satisfy her curiosity? 'Was that yesterday?' she wondered. Probably not, although it did seem a very long time ago. Time itself was irrelevant. All the mattered was Seven. Seven probing relentlessly with those two fingers. Seven lapping hungrily with that tongue. And in a manner so private that only Kathryn could feel it. In a way intended only for Kathryn's sake. A prolonged, exquisite friction of skin and tongue and tissue that existed only for the purpose of bringing Kathryn the most sublime pleasure she had ever experienced. She wanted this moment to last forever. And just as she articulated that heartfelt wish in her own thoughts, Seven's body convulsed and shuddered, giving itself over, finally, to Seven's willful manipulations. And all Kathryn could do was scream from the ecstasy of the moment and from the sorrow that it was ending.

Seven felt Kathryn climax as another gush of moisture washed over her face. Then she felt Kathryn go limp, the buttocks bumping her slightly as Kathryn fell in a crouched heap. She pulled up her head and rested it, cheek to cheek, against the fleshy bottom, panting in her own excitement. She did not, however, withdraw her fingers. She just held them inside, waiting for Kathryn to regain her breath.

After several long moments, when her shudders had begun to subside, Kathryn felt the fingers begin to withdraw. The movement was slow as if Seven were trying to keep the friction to a minimum now that the ecstasy was over. But when they were only halfway out, the fingers paused. And then, to Kathryn's surprised, the fingers started squeezing back inside her, very slowly, until they were in again all the way to the hilt. Caught off-guard, Kathryn involuntarily pressed against the fingers to push them out, which meant loosening the muscle around the entrance and unwittingly opening herself up more. And when she did that, the fingers responded to the accidental invitation by boring in more deeply in exquisite rotations. Then in the next instance, they were slowly withdrawing again. And before Kathryn knew it, Seven was languidly pumping the two fingers deeply in and out of her again in what was plainly the beginning of another erotic seduction designed to reignite Kathryn's passion.

Kathryn couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that Seven was pushing for more and that Seven's body -- apparently with no input from Kathryn's will -- intended to comply, flexing invitingly around the prodding digits as another rush of its natural lubrication trickled down its inner thighs. And then Kathryn felt Seven begin a slow, delicious assent, kissing and nipping her way up one of the exposed cheeks. Of course, Kathryn didn't realize where the mouth was heading until suddenly it was there. And all it took was one provocative swipe of the tongue across those hypersensitive receptors, and Kathryn was gone again, the combination of probing fingers in her bottom and swirling tongue at her back sending her into the turmoil of yet another orgasm. She marveled at the thought before losing consciousness.

*****

Kathryn Janeway fluttered her eyes against the sudden illumination, not quite sure where she was, how she got there, or what she was doing, but she knew almost immediately that she wasn't alone. She felt strong, warm arms around her and looked up trying to focus on the face looking down at her. The features were familiar and the eyes warm and loving.

"Mother?" she said.

The face frowned then smiled in sudden amusement, a rich, throaty laugh bubbling up through thin red lips. The lips pressed against her temple in a kiss, and then whispered close to her ear. "Will that be your 'pet name' for me, Kathryn?" she teased.

Suddenly Kathryn remembered who this was and what they had been doing, and she burst into laughter at the question, hugging Seven fiercely to her bosom.

As their laughter subsided, they gazed at each other and then kissed, Kathryn marveling at the deliciously intimate flavors still lingering on those thin red lips. When they pulled back, they suddenly found themselves studying their own faces with an unexpected interest. Seven pensively fingered the ocular implant on the face that stared back at her. And Kathryn studied the under-used laugh wrinkles around her eyes, pleasantly surprised at how lovely her face became when it was alive with amusement.

"I am beautiful, Kathryn," Seven announced, surprise evident in her tone. It was said with Borg objectivity rather than arrogance, and Kathryn couldn't help but grin broadly at the self-discovery. "Oh," she continued, "I am even more beautiful when I smile like that!" And then with a pensive frown she concluded, "I believe I should smile more often."

"Yes, you should," Kathryn agreed in amusement. "And I believe I should smile more often, too," she added, voicing her own discovery as she traced the lines around her eyes.

"Perhaps," Seven suggested softly, "we simply required more reasons to smile."

Kathryn felt the truth of that. "I'd like to add to those reasons now."

"Yes," Seven agreed.

"Would you like the lights out again?" she asked, suddenly not minding the face that stared back at her.

Seven frowned. "Do you require it?"

"No," she said, still surprised that she didn't.

"Neither do I," Seven admitted. "I feel that I am already aware that it is you behind that face, and I am now intrigued.....even a bit.....aroused -- by the prospect of watching myself make love."

"Yes," Kathryn agreed, excited by the thought. Then she frown. "Darling, you understand that I can't......do exactly what you did, yes?"

"You mean with my.....your......our......uh, 'backside'?"

Kathryn couldn't help smiling at the confusion over which possessive adjective to use, and couldn't help feeling a little thrilled that Seven settled on the shared possessive, as if saying that what was once hers is now 'their mutually shared backside'. It seemed a sweet and tender act of sharing, one lover to the other. Of course, the thought occurred to her that if Seven ran around using 'our' in reference to her anatomy, that everyone would think that the self-important Borg had finally gone too far, adopting the royal 'we' in an over-the-top affectation, as in 'We shall wash our backside now.' Kathryn laughed again before refocusing on the young woman's question.

"Yes, Darling, that's what I mean. That body," she said, indicating the one Seven currently occupied, "uses its......uhm, 'backside' for waste disposal."

"So you said," Seven acknowledged, recalling with displeasure their earlier conversation in the lavatory near Astrometrics.

Kathryn chuckled again before continuing. "We would have to take some precautions to keep the experience sanitary and safe."

"Does your body respond to that experience in the way mine does?"

"No.....well, at least I've never been as sensitive there, although I'm beginning to suspect that your technique would be very satisfying to me even if I were back in my own body."

Seven caught the compliment. "I am glad you enjoyed yourself, Kathryn. And I do wish to be on the 'receiving end' of that experience at some point," she punned. Both women laughed, Seven with a wink and Kathryn temporarily taken aback by Seven's unexpectedly bawdy sense of humor. "But," Seven continued after a moment, "I believe we should wait until after we've corrected the transporter accident, and I am back in my own body so that I can enjoy the full experience. Until then, let us say that you will 'owe me one'," she quipped again.

"Yes," Kathryn agreed, both amused and aroused.

"What I wish to experience now, however, is what most excites this body."

Kathryn smiled and rolled the two of them over so that Seven was now lying flat. She then leaned down and began sucking the nearest earlobe, sending unexpected shutters through Seven.

"Kathryn," Seven gasped, "are you part Ferengi?"

"No, Darling," Kathryn laughed. "Now turn your head so I can give you some umox," she teased.

Seven shot her a deeply suspicious look but happily complied, enjoying the sensation of the rough tongue tickling her ear. She then felt Kathryn trailing kisses down her neck and languidly nibbling the flesh there. That excited her, too. Kathryn's body seemed sensitive in so many more areas than she initially considered.

Kathryn, for her part, was thoroughly enjoying herself. Because she knew her own body so well, each kiss and nip hit its mark, making Seven squirm and moan in pleasure. She considered there might be something a little off -- perhaps a kind of hyper-narcissism -- about making love to someone in your own body, but Kathryn couldn't help admitting to herself that she found her body attractive and the experience unaccountably arousing. Her breasts were smaller than Seven's but still bountiful enough to offer a soft and fleshy treat. And she indulged in herself now, taking a nipple into her mouth to show Seven, as she had promised herself, that this particular activity was something both of their bodies enjoyed.

"Ahaaaaaaummm," Seven responded, in a declaration of surprise that segued into a moan.

Kathryn stifled a laugh as she kissed across to the other breast. Then she conscientiously brought her right hand up to tweak the nipple her mouth had just left so that it would not feel so abandoned.

Seven was writhing from the cheer joy of the simultaneous attention to both nipples, Kathryn's sucking and tweaking becoming quite rigorous. And she wondered whether Kathryn's nipples also enjoyed being bitten, as Seven discovered her own nipples had. She guessed that Kathryn had read her thoughts when, in the next instant, the felt the sharp edges of her own teeth nipping and chewing at the hardened tips of Kathryn's breasts.

"Oh, yes," she sighed. "You're body adores that!"

"Indeed it does," Kathryn agreed merrily around the next mouthful.

She felt herself becoming excited again just from the thrill of Seven's reaction, which at once satisfied and further stimulated her hunger like a feedback loop. Each moan made Kathryn bite and suck harder, which in turn made Seven moan more loudly, escalating Kathryn's hunger into a kind of feeding frenzy that left the nipples plump and red and achy from too much attention.

Kathryn would have continued gorging on those nipples but for the fact that the enhanced senses of Seven's body allowed Kathryn to pick up the scent of her own body's arousal. And suddenly she remembered that she needed to show Seven the other areas of this body that enjoyed being touched. With her course of action outlined, she began another delicious journey -- trailing nips and kisses and licks along the soft underside of her perky breasts, down the respectably muscled plain of her abdomen, and into the dewy, reddish down of her sex.

Seven gasped as she felt Kathryn parting her legs. Then she felt the hot and sticky folds of her sex being pulled gently open by her own fingers, the metal of the implanted left hand feeling particularly cool against the engorged tissue. Then she thought she felt puffs of cool air, and she hazzarded a glance down to investigate. She felt at once shocked and aroused to see her own eyes staring back at her with an impish grin on her face, as her mouth blew air on the intimate inner region between the captain's legs. Seven couldn't tear her eyes away. The expression was so sensual -- the tableau so intimate......the full lips of her mouth poised and ready to feast on the more tender lips of Kathryn's sex. It was as if she were watching an illicit holorecording of herself making love to Kathryn. She wanted to watch.

"Wait," she instructed.

She reached for several pillows and piled them at the head of the bed, then readjusted her body up against them until she was in a half-sitting position, looking down on herself. She then spread her legs wide open again and looked demandingly at Kathryn, unguarded lust flaring her nostrils and making the blue-grey eyes smolder with intensity.

Kathryn shuddered at the wantonness of the expression etched in her own face and understood finally -- and with considerable pride -- why none of her previous lovers had ever been able to resist that look. She quirked her lips in self-appraisal, pleased that even she couldn't resist her own look. Then she moved cat-like towards Seven, repositioning herself over her prey, poised for the attack, and all the while maintaining contact with the blue-grey of Seven's desire. Exaggerating her gestures so that Seven could see and anticipate her actions, she began by inhaling her own scent deeply and then provocatively licking her lips as if in hungry expectation of a delicious feast. Then she stuck her tongue out and flicked the tip very briefly over the nub at the top.

Seven gasped and shuddered helplessly at the pleasure of the contact. It was so brief, but unexpectedly intense. And she knew she wanted more.

Kathryn did not disappoint. She hunkered down to feast in earnest, burrowing the firm and rough little muscle deep inside and then swiping upward to lick and suck and gently nibble on the tender bundle of nerves at the top of the folds.

The sensations were so profoundly unnerving that Seven found it hard to keep her eyes open against their onslaught. But the sight was also immensely arousing: her head bobbing up and down as her face buried itself intimately between Kathryn's legs, her nose and chin becoming progressively wetter with Kathryn's juices, her eyes dark with arousal. She wanted to capture this moment. To remember these visions forever. So she forced her eyes open and willed herself to memorize every detail.

Kathryn pulled back again, and Seven could see that she was becoming even more aroused by her actions, breathing harder now, and biting the full lower lip with an expression of interest and intensity and purpose. Their eyes met again, Kathryn wanting to watch Seven react to her next action. And when she was sure she had the young woman's attention, she pressed two fingers all the into her and then began slowly stoking the heat inside.

The prodding was deep and deliberate, as Seven's had been, but less delicate, as if trying to stretch and fill in a more complete penetration. Then Kathryn introduced a third finger, stretching the opening even more, the strokes intent and unrelenting but still patient. Seven watched Kathryn's eyes dance back and forth, looking into Seven's face but unable to keep her eyes away from the scene between Kathryn's legs, the intimate sight of the fingers probing the feminine opening of Kathryn's sex too arousing for either one of them to resist.

And as Seven watched Kathryn, she was overcome with tenderness when she saw her new lover absently brush her cheek against her inner thigh and then gently kiss it, communicating affection for Seven in a way that was oddly more personal, more intimate, and certainly more sweet than the wild and deliriously invasive actions of Kathryn's hand, which was now all but pounding itself with wet smacking sounds into her hungry sex.

Kathryn communicated her affection for Seven again, this time by kissing the tender nub of flesh, knowing that Seven would feel the contact to her core. And when Seven shuddered, Kathryn knew she was close to the edge. She gently reached up and grabbed what was for the moment Seven's right hand and placed it on her breast.

"Touch yourself," she suggested, her voice tight with her own excitement. "It'll add to the experience." Then still watching Seven, Kathryn brought her mouth down again to tongue the fleshy knot as her hand pumped even more rigorously.

Seven did as Kathryn suggested, bringing the other hand, too, up to the other breast and then tweaking the nipples roughly to match the intensity of Kathryn's pumping. This combination of sensations above and below did the trick. Within moments, the young woman was convulsing in one of the most intense sexual peaks she had ever experienced.

Seven felt herself groping to capture the moment, but before she knew it, it was gone. She suddenly found herself sobbing in a confusingly bittersweet sense of possession and loss.

Kathryn pulled herself up onto Seven, covering and holding her, knowing that the press of their bodies would provide a source of comfort to the unnerved young woman. And with soft, cooing sounds and gentle strokes through auburn hair, Kathryn did comfort, feeling Seven settle and relax and finally drift off to sleep.

After a moment, Kathryn pulled the blankets up around them. She looked down at the sleeping face and wondered if her expression was always so peaceful. And then she decided that it didn't matter. Whatever it had been, she knew from the calm that had settled into her chest that the expression would be peaceful from now on. With that happy thought for company, the captain managed something she had never known the Borg to do: she fell asleep.