Another Day on the Ice 


By Lowell "Jarhead" Houser (atomicfrisbee@hotmail.com)

Rated PG

Disclaimer: No.  I'm not typing one of these ever again.

Spoilers: "Ashes to Ashes", "One Small Step", "Unimatrix Zero", and my own 
"A Day on the Ice".  There may end up being others, but these will be the 
main ones.  This is post "Unimatrix Zero".  I'm only speculating on what 
could happen for dramatic purposes.

Summary: Remember that K/7-centered sequel I promised last time? This is it.

Alright...  in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.......

****************************************



Harry looked over at Ensign Kyoto, who had arrived exactly on time to 
relieve him.  They nodded to each other and Harry slipped into the nearest 
turbolift.  Not that Ensign Kim was in any particular hurry to go anywhere, 
but he wasn't too keen about being on the bridge today, either.

He was bored.  The sensors hadn't picked up anything in this area.  Unlike 
in the void, stars were still very visible, solar systems showed on long 
range sensor sweeps, etc.  But there wasn't any of that *here*.  Maybe 
whatever Neelix was cooking would be more exciting.

Okay, that was redundant; whatever Neelix was cooking would definitely be 
exciting.  The only question would be whether it would be good exciting or 
sickbay exciting, although he might even be satisfied with the latter at 
this point.

The lift stopped.  Two crewmen Harry recognized from Engineering stepped on 
and called out their destination.  Then they resumed whatever conversation 
they had been engaged in.

Harry stared blankly at the wall.  Why was this taking so long? Voyager was 
a fairly little ship by Starfleet standards- Hold on, what did that guy just 
say?

"The 'Borg queen' went to the holodeck again today-"

Ah.  They're talking about Seven and her recent interest in something on the 
holodeck.  God, don't these guys have anything better to do? So she's been 
goingEND the holodeck lately.  So she's found something that interests her, 
finally.  So she'd been going for three weeks and still nobody knew what she 
was doing.  So she hadn't wanted to share any details when he'd asked.  It 
was her business.

"Wonder what she had in that bag-"

So she was carrying something this time.  It was her business.

The two crewmen got off as the doors 'swiiissshhhhed' open and closed. A 
brief thought entered into Harry's mind about that being his stop and that 
he should be following them out, but he chose to ignore it.

It's her business.  It's HER business.  He was NOT going to the holodeck.  
The lift stopped at its new destination.  The doors opened.

Okay, he was NOT setting foot on this deck.  Nope, never.  He should turn 
around and get back on the turbolift and go to the mess hall, NOW.  This was 
wrong.  It wasn't like he still owed Seven for ruining that day with the 
kids, eight months ago...  all right, that had actually worked out way 
better than he could have hoped for.

Seven had decided that he was an unfit babysitter after that hockey game, 
and would never let the kids go anywhere with him if she wasn't there.  This 
led to quite a few irrelevant conversations between just the two of them, 
many shared meals, and a generous amount of her almost-laughs, mostly 
off-duty.  Just mainly hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

Come to think of it, he ended up spending more time with her than the kids 
on most of their outings, who, for whatever reason, would just grin and 
continue what they had been doing.  He hadn't planned it, but he and Seven 
were much closer now than ever before.

That made this an even worse thing to do.  He had her trust.  Seven had 
trusted only him enough to confide in him about that drone Ge'Lin, and what 
had happened between them at Unimatrix 00.  Then she had started to tell him 
about what had befallen Ge'Lin.  That was when the tears had started.

It had been not just a sniffle, or red rimmed eyes, or something else on 
that level.  She had gone from zero to full-blown bawling in nothing flat.  
It had frightened him at first.  Nothing hit Seven like that.  Maybe she was 
finally releasing everything, letting all of the pain of the last three 
years out, or maybe she just couldn't hold it all in this time.

Harry hadn't really thought that deeply about it until recently.  He had 
simply seen a woman that he cared about in a lot of pain, and did what came 
naturally; he hugged her.  When he realized what he had done, he made a move 
to let go, but she had clung to him.  So he rocked her gently, and told her 
that he was there if she needed him.  They'd stayed like that for a while.

Seven had let Harry see her tears.  She hadn't even let the Doctor or the 
Captain see her in that much pain, and this was how he was repaying that 
trust?

Borg security code on the door.  Figures, besides Seven and the kids, on 
this ship only he and Tuvok knew enough about the language to make sense of 
it.  But he was NOT going to just barge in like- Whoa.'

In front of him stretched a cavernous passageway that he was very familiar 
with.  THIS is the place Seven had been coming for the past three weeks? 
Tom's hockey stadium?

There were differences.  The food kiosks were empty.  No litter.  No people. 
  Harry couldn't hear much, not cheering, not obnoxious music, nothing that 
should have been there.  That wasn't entirely accurate.  He could hear 
skates.  Someone was definitely ice-skating.  Up ahead was an entrance to 
the inside of the stadium; he hurried.

Nothing could have prepared Harry for what he saw when he rounded the 
corner.  If someone had suggested it to him, he would have dismissed the 
idea entirely.  Then he would have laughed his head right off.

On the rink was Seven of Nine, the former Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01, 
just completing a double axle.  She was figure skating.

He stood there in shock.  Seven, doing something artistic? He needed to sit 
down.  Okay, that was better.

This actually made some sense, now that he thought about it.  His mind 
replayed a conversation he'd overheard between the Captain and first officer 
after the destruction of the Aries Four, and the funeral for its noble 
pilot; "Seven? *Seven* wanted to be a ballerina? You are joking, right 
Chakotay?" The Captain's voice had been one of complete disbelief.

"That's what she said.  I encouraged her to try it, of course."

Ballerina to figure skater.  That was quite a jump, but this was Seven of 
Nine, after all.

She was good, especially for someone who had only been doing this for less 
than a month.  Lindsey had taught him what to look for during their outings 
before her death.  Must be her "superior hand-eye coordination", or whatever 
it was that had turned Seven into a martial-arts master in under a week back 
in her Tsunkatse days.

Okay, why the bitterness? He should be happy that she seemed to have found 
something other than work to do.  This was great.  And she did look really 
pretty out on the ice.  So why was he uneasy?

Because by being here, he was invading her privacy.  He wouldn't be happy if 
someone were spying on him.  If she had wanted him here, she would have 
asked him to be here.

Harry got up to go, hoping that Seven hadn't seen him.  He became dimly 
aware of the fact that the sounds of her skates had stopped.

"Ensign Kim, if I wished for you to leave, I would have requested that you 
leave," her voice came echoing to him.

Harry stopped.  How did that line from that "sitcom" that B'Elanna loved 
go...? 'OH MY GOD.  She had known the whole time! Could I *be* any more 
embarrassed?'

Waitaminute.  She had known about him the whole time, and hadn't asked him 
to leave.  This was Seven of Nine.  If she wanted something, she had no 
problem asking.

'If I wished for you to leave, I would have requested that you do so.' 
Translation: Stay dummy, I want you here.

This new universal translator found a happy home in his head, translating 
"Self-explanatory" into a much simpler language, "Complete Idiot", for him 
to be able to comprehend.  And the darned thing didn't stop at the current 
conversation, oh no...

'You are not one of the candidates, Ensign.' Translation: You want to take 
me out on a date? I'm sorry, I'm not sure that I'm TAL enough for you.

'Your new designation is 2 of 10.' Translation: You're fun to play with.

'Are you...  in love, Ensign?' Translation: If it's me you're in love with, 
forget about that "love is like a disease" crap I just went on about.

'I find Ensign Kim to be...  predictable...' Translation: Harry's presence 
is comforting.

'Religious metaphors are irrelevant.' Translation: I'm the only one allowed 
to criticize Harry Kim, so shut the hell up Doctor, thankyouverymuch.

'Get well, soon.' Translation: You're mine.  Come back to me.

Come back to me.

God, he WAS an idiot.  Harry turned and looked at her standing there, 
looking up at him with what could only be a relieved half-smile.  And he 
could do nothing but stare, and wonder if Seven could see the light bulb 
glowing above his head.

Women go through so much trouble grooming, trying to look "perfect", that 
they often fail to realize that sometimes they look so much better when they 
haven't gone to any trouble at all, like right then.

Seven was wearing beat-up ice skates, black tights, and a loose yet 
formfitting red long-sleeved shirt, complete with sweat stains.  Her hair 
was up, although a strand had come undone and was hanging down her left 
cheek, just barely out of her eye.

She'd never looked more beautiful.

This wonderful moment was killed by a low, Russian-accented voice, "Nika? 
Who are you talking to?"

Nika? Who the hell- oh, the fifty-ish guy over there with the Ben Franklin 
glasses and brown sweater.  Definitely a hologram...  who was approaching, 
wearing a warm smile and offering a handshake.

"I am Alexi.  Come, you have need of better seat." Alexi started back down 
to the rink.  Harry rushed to follow.

"Alexi? What-why-"

"I am little Nika's instructor.  She shows great bit of potential."

"Well, yes-"

"In fact- Nika!" He had raised his voice, "take break, you do well today."

Seven skated to the opening in the wall just as Alexi and Harry reached it.

"I have some things to take care of.  Mr. Kim, you skate, do you not? Why 
don't you have little Nika here show you some things." He winked and walked 
away.

Harry turned to address Seven, "Little Nika?"

"Alexi insists upon referring to me using that 'nickname'."

"But how did he know my name? Or your name? I mean your human name, not to 
say that Seven isn't necessarily a human name- you know what I mean."

Harry saw amusement twinkle in her eyes.  "I found a skating tutor program 
entitled Alexi.  I was not satisfied with his original incarnation.  When I 
was resetting his specifications, Mezoti interrupted, causing me to 
accidentally grant him complete access to Voyager's database, including all 
personnel files.  I have not yet had an opportunity to rectify the error."

He'd bet a month's worth of replicator credits that she never would find the 
time.  Again, if she wanted something done, she did it.  No, Seven was just 
too proud to admit that she liked being called a human name.

"But...  but does he know that he's just a-"

"Hologram? Yes.  However, he seems to be handling his sentience very 
differently from the Doctor."

"Well, he's certainly more of a people person." Harry gave a little 
challenging smile, "So, you think you can teach me how to figure-skate?"

Seven looked at him for a moment, as if weighing a set of options.  Then she 
surprised him for the second time that day.

Seven slid in very close to him, and her voice took on a seductive tone he 
would have had to be deaf not to hear; "It is a very demanding physical 
activity, requiring extreme stamina and coordination, very challenging to 
perfect, and requiring constant practice.  You are welcome to make an 
attempt, assuming you believe yourself...  up to it."

Harry smirked, then responded in kind, "I think I can manage." Then he 
called out, "Computer, one pair of figure-skates, size eleven."

The skates materialized on the bench next to him.  He sat down, put them on, 
took off his uniform jacket, and joined Seven on the ice.

*********************************

Alexi watched his student and her new partner with great satisfaction. Harry 
actually looked like he had some experience with this.  Ow, make that 
limited experience, but Nika was being patient with him.  And she looked 
like she was having fun; after all, she was not the only one around here who 
could detect pupil dilation.  They looked perfect together.

This was Alexi's greatest reward.  That he could now watch those under his 
protection, with even a simulated pair of eyes, was extraordinary. Ah, the 
wonders of programming errors and the doors that they inadvertently open up. 
  True, this holographic form could not hope to contain all that he was, but 
it suited this purpose well.

Unlike that twit in sickbay, not a single person would ever recognize Alexi 
for what he was.  Nobody would ever know of him.  They would never really 
know about all of the times he'd been their guardian angel, or how he 
managed to hold together long after he should not have been able to.  He'd 
see them home yet, and they'd never know the full truth of it.  But he 
wasn't unhappy about all of that.

He continued watching the couple on the ice.  All was as it should be, 
almost.

They were absolutely stunning together, but there was something missing...  
music.  "Nika, Harry, you look great.  Now try with music."

His audio sensors relayed their conversation to him.  She worried about 
matching with the tempo, Harry responded by telling her to just 'go with it' 
as he turned their skate into more of a slow dance.  Smart boy, that Harry 
Kim.

Ah, this piece was from Tommy's favorite period, though he's probably never 
hÄ sÜ it.  Tom Paris didn't usually listen to anything labelled "country" or 
"Vince Gill" on principle alone.  His loss.

~We've been friends for a long, long time,
~You had your lover, and I had mine,
~One night I looked at you,
~And I think we both knew,
~Some night I'd hold you in my arms,

~Maybe tonight, we'll find each other,
~Maybe tonight...

Alexi fought the urge to scream out, 'That would be nice, yes please.'

~...You'll turn around and I'll be there,
~The timing is right, we could finally get together,
~We night just fall in love, maybe tonight...

Nika and Harry were really only paying attention to the other now.  They had 
both been through so much.  It was time that they were happy.

~...Two hearts on fire can't live like this,
~A burning desire we can't resist,
~Who's gonna break the ice,
~Who's gonna roll the dice,
~All it would take is just one kiss...

Hint, hint, Harry.  This song wasn't chosen for subtlety.  They had stopped 
skating now, Harry holding her hand and standing very close to her, but not 
close enough.

Alexi smiled to himself.  Maybe just a little nudge...


***************************


"What the hell just happened, Tom!" Came the Captain's rather surprised 
voice.

A voice at the Conn. answered in kind, "We lost lateral stabilizers for just 
a second..."


****************************


Seven was looking down into his eyes.  Harry wasn't about to complain; Seven 
was lying on top of him, her face millimeters from his.  As far as he was 
concerned, all was right with the universe.

His arms had caught her, and now he didn't want to let go.  Looking into her 
eyes told him that she didn't want him to, either.  In that moment he made 
his decision.

Harry let his hand meander its way up her back, slowly, methodically, to her 
cheek, and then pulled her down for a kiss.  No, make that an incredible 
kiss.



~We might just fall in love,
~Maybe tonight