Galatea : Part 10

     Tuvok strode onto the bridge, his calm features belying his pace. Seven
followed in his wake, silent, her eyes downcast. They ground to a halt a few
feet from the Captain.

"I have had to put two crewmembers on report for fighting in the messhall"
stated Tuvok, to begin with.

"Was someone making a fuss about the food?" Said Janeway in amusement,
walking to her chair to take the load from her feet. Tuvok had a habit of feeding
her information in drips and drabs. It was probably some twisted Vulcan joke.
"Lieutenant Torres is in Sickbay now attempting to-"

     Tom turned round at the mention of his beloved, showing that he had
definitely  been eavesdropping. He kept half of one eye on the helm, and the
expression on his face was one of horror. She had promised not to fight with
the rest of the crew, to stick to her activities on the Holodeck. He waited for
the name of her unlucky victim.

"B'Elanna has been fighting again? Who with-" The captain sat down in
resignation.

"Lieutenant Torres is attempting to repair the Doctor's program. He is
currently suffering from a broken jaw" Tuvok did not smile.

"What? How ? Who?" Queried the captain, a suspicion crossing her mind just
as her chief of security confirmed it.

"And Ensign Kim is in the brig. He refused to discuss the matter with me. Seven
was not directly involved but insisted on speaking to you" Tuvok seemed a little
put out that Seven was obviously not forthcoming.

     The bridge crew, who should not have been listening, were stunned.
Tom's face, if possible, became even more distraught. Janeway's eyes fixed on
Seven. 

"I think you and I had better talk. Chakotay, you have the Bridge."
Seven followed the staccato steps until the doors swished closed behind her.

     Surprisingly, she accepted the Captains offer of a drink, and sat down
with the mug of hot chocolate. Kathryn regarded her carefully. She sat back in
her chair and made a small wave of her arm to indicate to Seven that she should
begin.

     "What was it you wanted to tell me about" With Seven it was usually
easier not to ask questions that she could misinterpret. Seven took a long gulp
from her mug and surfaced with chocolate moustache.

     "The Doctor has just accessed his memories from the away mission. He
took them from me and refused to wait until he had spoken to you. He
reacted... badly" She took another deep breath and the captain filled in with.

     "What were you doing with the Doctor's memory files, Seven?
B'Elanna was supposed to be working on the Doctor's emitter"

     "Ensign Kim was intending to bring the file to you. He came to find me
first, as I didn't want anyone to know and he thought that I should speak to you
before things became complicated" Seven was the very model of
understatement.

     "To know what, Seven? Why would the doctor become violent over
what happened?"

     "I terminated my relationship with the Doctor. And I copulated with-"
Janeway dropped her cup. "Harry?"

     "With two of the aliens. I was not constrained to, I had a choice but"
she clenched her jaw before continuing. It was not entirely the memory of what
had happened that upset her, it was how the doctor had reacted then and now
"The alternative was that they cause further harm to the Ensign. The Doctor
was of the opinion that I should have refused them" Seven carefully regarded
the other woman. "What is your opinion, Captain?"

     "I think" said Kathryn, slowly "That you were very brave. I don't know
if I could have done that, even to save someone who-" She caught herself, "A
friend" She finished eventually. She ignored the spill on the floor in her concern.
Rising from her chair she took the seat next to Seven.

     "Why didn't you tell me?"

     "I consented." Said Seven dully.

     "You did a very brave thing." Repeated Janeway carefully "I can see
why you were cautious about letting the Doctor know."

Seven was surprised, despite what Ensign Kim had said, she had not been
convinced that anyone else would understand. "Then you do not think of me as
a two timing deceitful whore?"

"Of course I don't! How do you feel about it?"

"It was - irrelevant." she said simply "A mere physical process" She shook her
head "I never understood why such importance was placed on that act" Kathryn
caught her use of the past tense, but ignored it. "It meant no more to me than
when they attempted to remove my implants - that was more disturbing, my
implants are an integral part of my physiology, but the copulation - it was
unpleasant in that it was uncomfortable, and that my pride was damaged" Seven
put down her mug and stared at her hands "But it forced me to confront myself.
In an unpleasant way it was a lesson that I had to learn." She stood up, having
been sat down for far longer than she was accustomed.

"What was that?" said Janeway indulgently. 

"That I should not run from the things I am afraid of." Said Seven. Then she
cleared her throat. "I made several errors of judgement, Captain, that led to
today's altercation. I have learned my lesson and will accept whatever
punishment you deem appropriate." She stood with her hands behind her back,
as far from meek as anyone could be.

     "Which errors were those, Seven?" She wasn't finished yet. There was
far more to all of this than that horrible act.

The young woman looked surprised "I copulated with members of an alien race,
contrary to Starfleet regulations. You reprimanded Ensign Kim for the same
activity"  

     "That was an entirely different situation, Seven." Sometimes Janeway
despaired that she would ever be able to explain all the nuances of human
society to this wayward child. "I intended to offer you comfort, not
punishment"

     "If not for me, the Doctor would not have become so irrational and
Ensign Kim would not be in the Brig. He was defending me" Seven tried to
explain. Kathryn shook her head.

     "Tell me about your relationship with the Doctor, Seven" Rising to her
feet again. She paced away a little, to give the young woman time to think.

     "To what purpose? That relationship has ended, it is no longer-"
"All right Seven, let me just say- I am aware of the situation between the
Doctor, yourself and Ensign Kim. I had hoped that you were capable of sorting
it out on your own, or that one of them would have had the sense to-" she
craned her neck at Seven. "You can sit down again"

     Seven reluctantly complied. Her face was anticipative.

"You haven't done anything wrong, Seven. If you had come to me sooner, then
today might never have happened, but I understand that you didn't wish to
discuss it with anyone." Seven looked at the hand on her arm. She was still
unused to being touched.

"What will happen?" she asked "To the Doctor, and to Ensign Kim?"
Janeway held up a hand,

     "Janeway to Torres- Lieutenant, how are you getting along?"

"If I could find the code to turn his voice off, it would be going faster"
B'Elanna's voice did not disguise her irritation.

The Captain turned to Seven. "I'm going to remind you that this is too small a
community to get involved in this sort of mess. You can't avoid either of them
forever, so I suggest you think hard about what you intend to do."
Seven nodded solemnly.

     "If you need someone to speak to-" Janeway left it open. Seven gave
one more decisive nod and left the room, smartly. 

     Janeway took a deep breath and headed next for sickbay.

======
     "It's called pain, Doctor. Deal with it" B'Elanna's voice was even more
irritated, "Everyone else does. You're acting like a baby."

     "This is pain? I'm a hologram, I'm not supposed to be able to feel at all!"

     "You shouldn't have a broken jaw either, Have you been re-writing your
subroutines again?"

     "You think I did this? I told you, it was Ensign Kim."

     "I can see your code in here, all of Harry's modifications are in Borg
alphanumeric script, for some reason" The half Klingon flicked her eyes over 
the display, shaking her head. "What have you been doing?" she half sighed.

     "Remove the errors in my program, Lieutenant! Its inhumane to make
me sit around in pain like this instead of treating my injuries!"

     "Relax, I've isolated the altered files I'll just-"

"How's it going, lieutenant?" Janeway had watched them for a few moments
before entering the conversation. B'Elanna handed her a Padd. 

     "His new specifications are there. He's been programmed to react in
precisely the same way as a human. His sensory and tactile feedback appears to
work for all nerve impulses, he has a hologrammatic skeleton, musculature and
central nervous system, he requires sleep and nutrition, which can be
hologrammatic because he obviously cant digest real food. He reacts to
temperature and gravity. His memory and reflexes are subject to degradation if
he ignores his physical needs" B'Elanna turned to the Doctor with a smirk.  

     "No-one can deny your humanity now, Doc."

"This is barbaric, restore me at once! And stop talking about me as if I wasn't 
here!" The Doctor was furious.

     Janeway fixed a cool gaze upon him. "Sit still and be quiet, Doctor. Lets
fix your bones first, shall we? If you're programmed to respond to normal
stimulus then-" With a few passes of one of the medical instruments, the Doctor
was once again whole. Still complaining, but in one piece now.

     "Thank you and if you'll just restore my original program, then I'll get on
with-"

"There's still a lot of work to do, Doc. You made some additions to your
programs that may have to be altered." B'Elanna forestalled his speech.

     "You are not going to lobotomise me! Captain?" he turned to the senior
officer for re-assurance, and received none. 

     "What additions are those, exactly?" Said Janeway.

"Minor improvements to enable me to pursue a romantic relationship more
effectively." He sniffed. "I closely studied a few of the classics, you need not be
concerned. Shakespeare, The Bronte's, works from several cultures."

     "Didn't I warn you about downloading directly into your database? You
have learning capabilities. Use them. Your program is easily affected by external
data, it leads to file corruption." B'Elanna rounded on him.

     "My ethical subroutines are intact. I merely have heightened emotional
responses. There was no real harm done..." The Doctor was very casual.

     "You threatened, and attacked another member of my crew. I've read
the security report, Doctor. Your behaviour has become obsessional, verging
on homicidal. Your ego trip threatened to undo most of the progress Seven has
made. Consider this a warning, If you ever speak to another member of my
crew in that manner again, then you will have cause to regret it."   

     "Don't I have any rights? Oh I forgot, I'm just a set of subroutines,
switch me off, switch me on, delete this, amend that" his eyes blazed.

     "If you want to be treated as a human, then perhaps you should start
acting like one" said Janeway coolly. "B'Elanna, is this form stable?"

     "Absolutely, He could switch between this and his solid state as easily as
he makes himself pure light."

     "Good. Until my further notice, you may only access your solid state in
cases of emergency which require the authorisation of a command officer, Do
you understand me?"

     "You are trapping me in this body? but- my duties-"

     "Lieutenant. Doctor."
  
B'Elanna remained there, finishing up, ignoring the Doctors pleas for help.
"There is no rational reason for me to be so restricted. I only behaved as-"
"I'd have voted for wiping your program after some of the tricks you've pulled.
If you hurt Seven again, it wont be just Harry and the Captain coming after you,
understand? It'll be you, me and some of my Klingon friends down in holodeck
two."     B'Elanna entered the commands that prevented the Doctor from making
his own modifications to his program. She ignored his outburst, humming
happy tunes to herself as she worked. 

     "Are you threatening me lieutenant?"

     "I'd watch your mouth, Doctor. I might have difficulty fitting you into
my busy schedule for repairs"

With that parting shot B'Elanna left the Doctor to stew in his own juice. From
his incoherent exclamations, she had pieced together the unpleasant tale. She
went in search of Seven. She didn't know what to say to her when she found her
in her quarters, packing up her belongings for the second time in a month.
There were pitifully few things that went in the box.

     A stuffed toy, a small pile of Padds, and some Holo's of a small blonde
girl and her family. Seven turned to her clothing, spotting B'Elanna as she stood
there awkwardly and silent.

     "Lieutenant?"

     "The Doctor told me what happened, and I just came to-"

"I do not need your pity. There is nothing further to be said." Sevens tart
rejoinder caused B'Elanna to lash out. 

"Why the hell did you knuckle under to him anyway?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"If it had been me, then I'd have told the creep to get lost a long time ago"

"You are not me" Replied Seven, halting her packing to stare defiantly at the
half Klingon.

"That's obvious!"

"I do not need your assistance, or your observations regarding my
relationships"

"But you spent plenty of time observing me and Tom." The response was a
sarcastic drawl.

"And I utilized those observations in my relationship." Seven sounded a little
confused.

 "Wait a minute, I'm not getting the blame for this - You think me and Tom are
like you and the Doc? No way, not in a million years"

"Explain" Seven snapped.

     "We respect each other Seven, we do things for each other because we
want to, not because that's what the database says we should."

"I realise that I was in error. I have terminated my relationship with the
Doctor."

     "Just like that? You don't care what he said to you, or how he made you
feel or behave, you don't mind that he made an idiot of you in front of the entire
crew?"

     "My personal feelings are unimportant"

     "All right then, you don't care that he hit Harry? You don't give a damn
that he's in the Brig because the Doc tried to attack you? I thought you were his
friend."

     "Anger would be unproductive" said Seven. She turned briskly back to
her task, pulling out the red Satin dress that she had worn on that particular
night. She considered the events of the evening and her brow furrowed. 

     "Unproductive?" B'Elanna spluttered in disbelief "You just don't want
to admit that you might have made a mistake do you? You cant bear to be
wrong, so you pretend you don't care." she snorted and turned to leave.

     "I was wrong" said Seven. The actual words seems to cause her pain. "I
trusted him. I believed that he was as interested in my welfare as his own." With
a sudden movement she tore the satin garment from neckline to hem. Without
looking further at it, she balled it up and tossed it into the recycler. B'Elanna
leant by the door, watching.

     "All your brains and you fell for it" She shrugged her shoulders.
"I have less than nine human years of experience" Said Seven, in a manner that
could have been taken for anger, "I turned to him for advice, he coached me
through almost every step I have made. He taught me how to be human again.
He made me into what I am and then grew angry when I was not all that he had
wanted"

"He was angry because he realised he couldn't own you"

     "How would you know?"

     "My love life hasn't exactly been smooth. I've made mistakes. Its all part
of the learning experience" 
 
Seven picked up a vase. A tall white elegant shape that held a few silken
flowers. She stared at  it remembering the Doctors face as he'd given them to
her. A reward for their first kiss. 

     "Throw it" Said B'Elanna. "You'll feel better"

"Violence solves nothing" Seven still held the vase.

"Trust me. I know all about losing your temper"

Seven took careful aim. Shards of white porcelain pinged into every corner of
the room. She catalogued the small piece of destruction with calmer eyes.
"Primitive" she said "but effective. However I would like to be gone before the
Doctor returns"
"Where are you going?"

"Cargo Bay 2. I can regenerate tonight, and until I arrange other quarters or
move a bed in"
 

Galatea : Part 11

     Harry lounged on the low shelf, legs stretched out in front of him,
waiting for the Captain to appear. Every time he thought about the expression
of fear on Sevens face as the Doctor opened his mouth again, he grew angry.
His arm and shoulder ached. His head pounded with the same mobile headache
he'd had all day, and still all he could think about was Seven and not the
impending wrath of his captain. He stared stubbornly at the wall. Why was he
plagued to make such an idiot of himself over women? Why was that area of his
life subject to such ridiculous situations.
  
He thought about Libby and her furious ultimatum that had sent him out here,
about B'Elanna and the throaty voice in which she used to call him Starfleet. He
thumped his head back against the wall with a groan as he contemplated his
doomed flings and infatuations. The ease at which Tal had walked out of his life
still made him feel miserable, even though the whole damn thing hadn't been
real.  

He really had no idea why he'd admitted his feelings to Seven. She didn't
understand them, he'd misunderstood her question and blurted out the one thing
that he'd kept hidden from her, even if from no-body else, practically since he'd
first met her.      

"Ensign" Said his Captain, sharply. He hadn't heard her come in, he hadn't paid
much attention to anything except himself. She had a resigned look on her face,
as if she'd had a very bad day already and that anything he said was just going
to make it worse.

He stood up and faced her with an unrepentant mien. That surprised her.  

"At ease, Ensign" Said Janeway. How much worse could today get? She
thought. With a wave of her hand she dismissed the security and dropped the
force-field. 

"Is it safe to come in?" She attempted to lighten the mood, slightly. Harry gave
a flicker of a smile, but said nothing.

     "You understand why you're in here?"  

"Striking another Officer, preventing said Officer from performing his duties,
Making unauthorised modifications to a ship dependant system" Harry had an
understandable subdued tone to his voice.

"Those will do to start with. Harry, what am I going to do with you?" 

He looked at her mutely.

"I've talked to Seven, and to Neelix and they make it plain that you didn't start
the fight. However, you could have waited a few seconds longer and Tuvok
would have taken care of it, or you could have shut down his program or-"

"That wouldn't have been right" Said Harry uncomfortably.

"Breaking his jaw and landing yourself in here was the right thing to do?"

Harry looked startled at that revelation.

"You're stronger than you think you are" Said Kathryn with a smile.

"Has B'Elanna fixed him yet?" Harry was concerned. She nodded in reply, but
continued with her commentary.

"I was, despite your startling exit from sickbay, planning on giving you a
commendation for your actions during this mission. Now..." she spread her
arms wide. "Why don't you tell me what the hell you thought you were doing?"

"Lowering myself in your estimation" He said easily.

"This is not a laughing matter, Mister Kim" Janeway glared at him and he had
the sense to drop his eyes for a moment.

"I have spoken to Seven of Nine and to the Doctor on this matter. I expected
you to resolve this in an adult manner. Obviously I was wrong"

     "I tried to be grown up about it" Said Harry slowly, "I didn't pay any
attention to the Doc's hysterics, I tried to behave the same to them both as I
always had, but" He looked up slightly defiant "It didn't work out"

     "So I see. I'm disappointed in you Mr Kim. It seems that you didn't learn
your lesson after your last little fling, I'm-"

     "Last little fling?" repeated Harry, stung by the similarity between her
words and those of the Doctor. Both were dismissive. "You don't think that I
actually care for Seven?" 


     "Ensign!" whipped Janeway dangerously "You seem to have a very lax
attitude towards Starfleet regulations at the moment, how many more are you
going to break?"

"I always have, where my friends are concerned" Harry challenged her to deny
that. Turning her back she paced away from him, gathering her breath and
collecting her thoughts.      

     "You're not the green ensign that stammered his way onto my bridge
anymore, are you?"

     "No. Not your bridge" Said Harry. "I'm not that different from him. a
little more impulsive, maybe"

"That's not necessarily a bad thing." she turned around "Your Holodeck
privileges are suspended for six weeks. You are limited to basic replicator
rations for six weeks, and if I find out that you and the Doctor have been
fighting again, no matter who started it-" she didn't need to finish that sentence.

"Yes Ma'am"

"Report to sickbay for your medical. Get out"

Harry left rapidly.           

Tom was in sickbay when he got there.  The pilot had a huge grin plastered
 a cross his face. For a very brief moment, Harry almost wished that it was the
Doc instead.   "Soooo, got anything new to tell me?" he asked as Harry
approached.

"No." The younger man sat down. "I'm here for my medical"

"The Captain wasn't happy?" Tom said redundantly. 

"No"

"So?" Tom made gestures for Harry to keep talking. He picked up the tricorder
and made at least the motions of looking at it.

"It could have been worse" Harry shrugged. He rubbed absently at his left
shoulder, pulling a face.

"Are you okay? Any discomfort?"

"I've got a stinking headache and my arm feels weird, some idiot stuck a load of
nanoprobes into me, I just broke the Doctors jaw, the captain thinks I'm crazy
and Seven probably won't ever speak to me again"

"I can do something about the arm and your head. Hmm."

"Hmm? That's your medical opinion? Stick to flying" Harry was maybe a little
more grumpy than necessary.

     "Your nanoprobes haven't settled in yet, that's why they're itchy. If you'd
hung around in sickbay then you'd have known that"

"There wasn't anything to stick around for" Harry stood up.

"Not even Seven?"

"Tom, what are you talking about?"

"You did know she'd been sneaking in here to see you when she wasn't on
duty?"

"No."

"Oh, I thought the Doc had caught the pair of you together and that's why-"

"I was alone last night" said Harry very pointedly "And nothing happened
between me and Seven" he lied. Well nothing had happened. He'd made an idiot
of himself, but that was about it. Seven had been sneaking into sickbay to see
him? The hiss of a hypospray eased the headache, but not the confusion.

"Well I get off in about half an hour, do you want to come down to Sandrines? 
You can tell me all about it?"

"Sorry, Tom, I can't" Harry was genuinely apologetic. 

"I could come over to yours, we'll grab a pizza and- don't tell me you're on
bread and water" Ensign Paris was being remarkably astute.

"Something like that. I get to eat in the messhall for the next six weeks"

"That's cruel" Tom shuddered.

"I'm not going to sprout any more implants in the night?"

"Shouldn't think so. I'll keep running scans. If it's really uncomfortable just
come back." Tom put his tools down and Harry made to leave.

"I'll see you chez Neelix, then? Half an hour?"
=====

     They are behind him. He knows what he will see when he turns around,
and doesn't want to but does it anyway. The Borg are there, their representative
is Seven of nine, the first time he saw her, skin and leather and metal gleam, and
her beautiful eye has a dull cast to it. She speaks with a billion voices in unison,
and his feet are glued to the floor, and they watch and he sees the faces of the
others, they aren't Borg, but they're waiting,

'Why are you making such a fuss, Harry? Tom is looking at him oddly. 'Good
grief', said B'Elanna 'You're acting like a child'

     The captain raises her mug at him and turns back to chatting with
Tuvok and Chakotay, only the Doctor smiles at him, tapping his fingers on his
arm, and she is still walking forwards, steady footsteps and he cannot move.
'Ensign Kim' she says, it might almost be a smile, and her fingers touch his neck
and he feels them, thousands billions of them, he looks down in horror at his
arm, sees the wires under his skin, feels the jab of pain as metal claws burst
from his flesh high behind his ear.

'Ensign Kim!', she says again, her voice confused a little this time, 'Ensign!'

He opens eyes that he thought were wide-awake, and the room is dimly lit.

"You were having a nightmare," she said simply. 

He sat up, absently rubbing at his left arm, it still tingled. He made out her
shape in the dim light available.

"Did I leave my door unlocked?" The chrono said it was twenty six minutes
past two.

"You did not." She sat down on the edge of the bed, long bare legs clad only in
short red pyjamas. The little vest top she wore was red too. 

"You broke in?"

"Your security is ineffectual- to a Borg" She smiled as she said that.

"I don't often get people breaking in to my quarters, if you're going to make it a
habit then maybe I'll do something about it."

"Maybe?" She queried in a low voice.

Seven drew her knees up onto the bed and sat cross-legged, looking at him with
interested eyes.

"I came to give you this." She forestalled the question on his lips. Holding out a
parcel, tied with curly ribbons. "Naomi helped me to wrap it."

"You broke in to give me a gift?" 

"Will you open it?" She pushed it into his hands, and numbly they took hold of
the box. He still didn't believe that he was awake. He thought, briefly, that he'd
slipped from his nightmare into something worse. 

"Please?" The word was so odd from her lips that he began to pick at the
ribbons, all thumbs for a moment. Seven leaned over to help him, seemingly
giddy, as if she were receiving the gift. A giggle escaped her, as he removed the
lid.

There was a clarinet inside. A new one. She must have known that his did not
survive the trip. Known that he had no way of replicating a new one for some
time to come. He didn't touch it at first. He put the box on the bed between
them, trying to make some definite line.

"I don't know what to say" His voice didn't quite make it, breaking slightly with
nervousness. He cleared his throat.

"Thank you" she prompted him with a completely straight face.

"Thank you, Seven." He finally managed to stutter out. He gave a tentative
smile. "Don't take this the wrong way, but, did you really have to break into my
quarters in the middle of the night just to give me this?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise gift. Did I surprise you?"

"Yes. You did" He shook his head in amazement.

"I have a request to make..." Seven left the end of the sentence until Harry said 

"What?" encouragingly.  

"May I sleep with you again?" At his suddenly widened eyes, She continued
quickly. "I moved back into Cargo bay 2. I recalled that I had slept without
incident in this bed" she said, passing over the slight. "I hoped that you would
permit me to sleep on the couch tonight."


     He pulled the covers rather more firmly around his waist, having finally
realised, with her request, precisely how he was dressed and where they were.

"Yeah, of course." He felt obliged to respond.

He noticed that her hair was in pigtails, hanging down by her shoulders. She
simultaneously appeared to be child of Naomi's age and an extremely, but
unconsciously sexy young woman. Then he cursed himself for thinking that way
about her after what had happened.

Seven disturbed his quiet panicking. Even after his self declared defiance to the 
captain, he wasn't that different.  

"Ensign Kim, may I get a glass of water?"

"Yeah, sure, but" He stopped and looked at her. "You recall that discussion we
had months ago about the use of names?"

Sipping at the glass, she nodded.

"The one where you agreed that occasionally, in informal situations it might be
permissible to refer to someone by their given name, instead of rank?"
She put the glass down carefully "Yes, Ensign?" She didn't appear to get the
hint.

"I guess it's a little late to start now." He said in resignation.

"You are incorrect. I have. On one occasion."

"Was I there?" He joked.

"It was just after we were beamed onto Voyagers shuttle. I thought you were
dead."

"I have to be dead for you to call me Harry?" Her brow furrowed for a moment,
and she pushed him backwards. then whipped the pillow away from under his
head.

"I will demonstrate. Lie still." She knelt by his side, running her fingers butterfly
soft, over his throat.

"You were not breathing, your pulse was fading, and you were a mess" she said
her stock of adjectives passed over for the more descriptive word. "Mr Paris
was flying the shuttle, Commander Tuvok was at tactical and Captain Janeway
was trying to administer medical help. I was concerned. I did not want you to
die so I- "She slithered into the same position, straddling his hips, at which
point he did stop breathing, but only for a moment. "I tried to force you to
breathe."

Harry was speechless. 

"I will not attempt to resuscitate you now, it would be detrimental to your
health. However I repeated this action several times until you gave indication
that you were alive." Her lips were inches from his own now. He could feel the
tickling of her breath against them. "You spat out a quantity of blood, but
began to breathe on your own. Your eyes were still closed and I was concerned
that you had been permanently damaged. You did not react to my requests for a
response until I called you by your name, Harry." She had done it again. This
time he was aware of it. "When you opened your eyes to look at me, I was
relieved and then angry because you had frightened me."
ell. guess I owe you my life," he said. He couldn't think of anything sensible to
say.

"And that was when I hit you" she finished guiltily. She looked apologetic. He
laughed.

"What is so humorous?" She was a little hurt. She'd been trying to give a
serious explanation.

"You promised not to hit me again!"

"You stated that you were not going to die" She rebuffed him, her mood a little
lighter now.

"Okay, okay. We're even then?"

"Agreed" She nodded, but she did not move from her vantage point. She was
aware that he was affected by her proximity, and was curious to see what
would happen next.

     He didn't know either. He knew what he should have done: taken her
back down to the cargo bay to regenerate, and to forget all about what he had
told her during that unpleasant incarceration when she had turned to him for
comfort. He couldn't escape the notion that she was only turning to him now
because she didn't know what else to do. He was acutely aware of her
closeness, and that it would so easy to touch her. He knew she wouldn't protest
and was waiting for him to make a decisive move, one way or the other.



     Slowly he moved his hands up her bare arms, finally resting on her
shoulders. One strangely steady hand slid around the back of her neck, and he
wistfully thought how it would feel to run his hands through her long blonde
hair. Gently he made to pull her forwards. To his surprise, she had already
begun to lean closer to him, as she had been a few minutes before, until their
faces were yet again inches apart.

     He wasn't entirely certain who moved next, but their noses bumped like
children. She smiled again, and her lips were slightly parted when he kissed her,
very gently at first, but without hesitation. They stayed that way for a long time,
although it seemed short enough. When they reluctantly separated, Seven tried
to analyse the experience. She concluded that further experimentation was
required.

"This isn't a good idea" he said hoarsely, and kisseing r again. She had
contemplated the physical qualities of the osculation, and despite the fact that
she found it pleasurable she was unable to isolate any specific reason. The
Ensign was warm, and his temperature was rising, no doubt due to her
proximity, his lips were soft and-.

"You're doing it again, Sev." He had pulled away from her very slightly to say
that.

"What?" she said guiltily.

"Analysing me" He was not annoyed.

"I was" she admitted "I wished to determine why I find this action so
pleasurable. I have been kissed before; but-" She ran her finger very lightly over
his lips. "Your lips do not appear any different to those of anyone else, apart
from one thing,"

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"They are yours" she finished, with a smile on her face. "I must conclude that I
enjoy kissing you, Harry." 

     She snuggled into his side for the rest of the night, head on his shoulder,
hair in his mouth and one arm positively across his chest. He slept, contentedly,
for the first time in a long time. He had the dream about being assimilated by
the Borg again, but it did not make him wake in a cold sweat. Behind his
eyelids, a sultry voice purred to him that resistance was futile.