Back to Work! Disclaimer: Oh and I'm just having a little fun with Paramount's characters. All I'm getting is a bit of enjoyment. Nothing more. Special thanks to my beta readers: Alicia Alston, Becca DeLaRosa, Morgan Peer, and Carl West. General Note: I suppose you could say this is a sequel to "Framed" but I wouldn't. I'd say this is Chapter One, and the other is merely a teaser, something I prefer calling a vignette. Time: 0555 Seven stepped out of the turbolift and headed down the corridor. She briefly ran a check of the day's activities when she entered Astrometrics. It was dark and devoid of life as usual, except for her and some other ensign who ran scans every other day. The ensign greeted her cordially and they began their duty searching for an M-class planet. Seven had planned about an hour for this task, but they had finished approximately twenty minutes ahead of schedule. She decided to engage in some small talk, but was unsure of what to say. The doctor had suggested stating the obvious as a means of generating conversation, but what would be obvious in this situation? "Ensign, we have finished early." "That's right." Seven was put out. The conversation had died immediately. She decided to try once more, "Ensign, we are alone." "Okay?" This was too much. The doctor was wrong; stating the obvious did not generate any conversation at all. She decided to revert to her old tactics. She began, her voice becoming more annoyed and brash, "Ensign," she pointed to her own as she continued, "place your lips here, now." ----------------------- The regeneration cycle came to a complete and Seven awoke, her dream fresh in her mind. She formed a small grin and stepped down. Today, she and Ensign Kim would work together. She thought about last night, and how wonderful it was. Her mind came back down to reality as she realized she had wasted two minutes and fourteen seconds thinking about irrelevant events. Quickly she drew up the data and headed out the door. Time: 0606 ------------------------------------------- Time: 0600 "Ensign, here are the schematics for the sensor upgrades," Seven said. He did not respond. "Ensign Kim," she replied, which still did not garner a response. She tried once more, sure that she would get his attention this time, "Lieutenant Kim." "What. Lieutenant?" Harry eked out, sounding slightly out of it, "Oh, hi Seven." She was correct and for that, gave a small smile. "Ensign, here are the schematics for the sensor upgrades." "Kiss me." "Ensign.." "We're alone. Come on." "Ensign, we can delay this course of action until after our duty shifts have terminated." Harry couldn't stand for Seven's teasing any longer and lunged at her like a wolf attacking unsuspecting sheep. His action gave Seven a nice surprise. -------------------------------------------- Time: 0601 The alarm blared, waking the tired ensign. Too bad, he was just getting to an interesting part in his dream. Although he wanted to stay in bed and finish his dream, he got up, dressed, and headed out of his quarters. The incentive was working with Seven. As he strolled off to Astrometrics he seemed happy, at least to the crewmembers he passed in the corridor. But something was tugging at him. Something about his relationship with Seven was disturbing him. He didn't know exactly what it was, but there was a problem. ------------------------ Harry turned a corner and spotted Seven coming from the other direction. She saw him as well and they met at the Astrometrics entrance. "Morning, Seven." "Good morning, Ensign." "No one's around, you can call me Harry." "Harry, here are the schematics for the sensor upgrades." "Okay, let's get at it." Seven's eyes lit up and they entered Astrometrics. "Harry, I enjoyed the performance last night," she called to Harry who was across the room accessing a console. "I'm glad you had a wonderful time," Harry said, walking up to Seven at the star chart. "May we not.." "Of course we can," interjected Harry, "How about tonight?" "Yes, and will you allow me to play.." "Of course you can," Harry interrupted. "Harry, stop interrupt.." "I'm no.." Seven stepped well within Harry's comfort zone and terminated his speech with her lips. When she stepped back, Harry protested, "Seven, we're on duty, this can wait. Besides what if somebody catches us?" He thought about Tom for a moment. "Please consult the PADD I gave you earlier." "So?" "I allotted two hours for sensor upgrades." "But we don't need all that time to upgrade the sensors." Harry said, confused. "I know Harry." "Seven!" Harry was stunned. Seven retaliated with a smile, "Shall we begin the upgrades?" "Don't you think we're going a little too fast. Can't we slow down?" "Please Ensign, our brief times together are already short. Having two successive days together is a rare occasion. We must make up for lost time." "Lost time? What's that supposed to mean? Seven. Listen, you don't know what you're getting into. You're not ready." "Ensign. It appears that you are not ready." "Why do you have to be so succinct about these things?" "Are you angry?" "Seven, no, I just... you're right. I'm not ready." "Am I causing you to be unhappy?" "No, it's just me." "Perhaps you require time to 'think things over.'" "Yeah, I'll go do that now. I'll see you later tonight?" She nodded to him and watched him exit Astrometrics. "I hope so, Harry." --------------------------------- Time: 1647 Despite his dislike for solitude, he was extremely grateful for it's respect for silence. Another quality he appreciated was that it always waited for him in his quarters. Sometimes Harry would find additional comfort from his clarinet, but it wouldn't last too long. There really was no one to offer advice, or sympathy, there was just quietness, and time for reflection of the day's events. He began thinking about his dreams, and how much he wanted to act them out. What he couldn't understand was why he was so aggressive in his dreams, but always backed down when confronted with the real thing. Unfortunately, his train of thought broke when he noticed the things on his nightstand. He saw the pictures and thought about them. There was one of his parents, a couple of his friends, but there was one missing. He produced a small grin, noting the reason for its disappearance. Now instead of one picture with a fake, he had five pictures of him with the real Seven. He remembered the first time they took a picture together. *** They stood in a lovely garden that was filled with brightness, under the deep blue sky and the golden sun. He turned Seven towards him and asked her to smile. It was awkward to see Seven try to force a smile, so much so that he couldn't help but laugh. And laugh he did, but he stopped when he realized that his laughing was causing Seven to be anxious, tense, and uncomfortable. Instead he smiled and held her hand. She smiled at his gesture and was given a peck on the cheek. She smiled again. "Hey, that's lovely. This time for the picture?" "Of course Ensign," she smiled again. *** It had been a while since then and their relationship had progressed reasonably well. He sort of had what he wanted for so long: her. Seven of Nine's affection. He thought again. It was affection, wasn't it? If not then what? He wasn't sure now and knew that he couldn't be objective about it either. Plus he was reluctant to talk to anybody about it, especially Tom, unless he really wanted to be teased to death. And B'Elanna, well, she just didn't like Seven. Even talking with Seven was futile. She seemed more concerned with the feel of his lips than with the words that came out of them. The next picture was taken about two and a half weeks after the first. Seven already had the smiling component down, but she had insisted on practicing on obtaining the ideal body positions. So they had practiced whenever they could, which was not very often. Perhaps only three times for a total of approximately five hours. Despite Seven's wandering hands, Harry had kept his control by reminding himself that they were just friends and that Seven was unprepared for a romantic relationship. Harry sat up and took the third picture off the nightstand. He then proceeded to the living area and replicated a glass of water. This picture took him completely by surprise. It was like an ambush. About a week after the second picture was taken, Seven had asked him over the comm to meet her at the holodeck to practice posing. They had tried different locations as usual, had obtained a decent pose, and then he was ambushed by Seven's lips. She had shot her lips onto his, reasons unknown at the time, unknown even now. He never questioned her, just accepted. He drew in for another kiss, something Seven sensed, so she readied herself and leaned closer. Harry teased her by leaning backward. Seven opened her eyes, and before she could portray her disappointment, received Harry's counterattack. He embraced her and marked her forehead. Thoroughly satisfied with his unwritten signature, he followed the contours of her face with his lips until he discovered her luscious treasure, the one that had initiated the first-strike attack and failed to render her adversary's retaliatory capacity disabled. But it was the first kiss that would always be remembered, not only in his mind, but in the frame he was holding. Their first kiss was caught by the camera and framed. The fourth and fifth pictures were taken during one of Neelix's parties. They happened to be talking about subspace phenomena when Naomi took a picture of them. Of course, she took a picture of everyone there, but that's besides the point. He remembered some of the dialogue that passed. "Naomi, your camera appears cumbersome." "Uncle Tom gave it to me for my birthday." "I see." "He said that this was what they used in the twentieth century. Smile!" *** Back in his bedroom, he set the picture down and finished his drink. The door chirped. "Enter." "Hi Seven." "Are you well, Ensign?" "Yeah, I... would you like something to drink?" "No thank you, Harry. Are you ready?" "Ready for what?" "Ready to proceed with furthering our relationship?" "Uh, no, I think I need more time." "But I believe I have given you ample time to contemplate your emotions." "No, you haven't, you've only given me half a day." "On the contrary, I have given you two and a half months. We have been a unit for two and a half months since our first osculation, yet you make no effort to further our relationship. Do you wish to terminate our affiliation?" "What? Um, yes, I want to end our relationship." "You are not happy with me." "No, that's not the reason," he said unconvincingly. "I am making you unhappy." "No, Seven, you're not the cause of my unhappiness." "I do not believe you." "What?" "I have noticed that your reaction to my company has become more dispassionate. Your vigor is forced." "No, Seven, I don't think so. It's just that I've had some things on my mind." "The mood of the song you played for me last night and our discussion in Astrometrics have confirmed my assumptions." "Seven! Stop it! Listen to me. You are not the cause of my unhappiness. I just think it would be best if we just terminated our affiliation." "Why?" Even though he answered her fully with as much clarity and forcefulness as he could possibly muster, she stood in his quarters for a second longer than she should have. Then there was the swoosh of the closing door, and Harry was left once more with solitude. This time, the silence was unwanted. He had done it. He left the pictures of them experimenting on the nightstand. He finally knew what the problem was. He hated the truth, but he could no longer deny it. Seven was experimenting with him. He was just a project to her, nothing more than a lab rat. He was disgusted for being taken advantage of, but part of him told him that he was somewhat responsible for allowing Seven to conduct her experiment. His face became pained and he stared out the viewport. --------------------------------- Time:1000 Captain Janeway entered the bridge to begin her afternoon shift. Today, she was feeling ready for action. She had just came from an adventure with Leonardo Da Vinci on the holodeck. When she passed Ops, she noticed Harry, "That's strange, why is he early, his shift doesn't begin in ten minutes." She took another look. "Boy, he looks like he didn't get much sleep. I wonder what happened." She ventured further onto the bridge and sat down in her throne and waited for the other officers to come, "He'll get over it." For Harry, there was no longer anything to decide, there was no more internal struggle with his emotions and no more reason to be happy. He felt loss, guilt, and sorrow. Everyone would notice, but they wouldn't know what happened. He hoped to get over this quick, before it became an issue. As always, the first thing to do is go back to work. The End