See disclaimer for part one. And still, if you're under 16, don't read this. WARNING!: If you are totally offended by descriptions of alternative relationships, don't bother reading this. It's not really slash, but the holostory does deal with homosexuality. Summary: The holonovel continues, complicating things for Seven and Harry further.... Rated R. ~~~~~ Humanity 101, part two by Lindsay Penner rae67@hotmail.com Kalina seemed shocked at his question, but quickly hid it beneath an expression of happiness. "Sure. How old?" "Um... twenty-seven?" "Sure. Seven years." He gazed at her as if unsure of what he was going to say. "You love kids, don't you?" "You know that already. But you hate them." He gulped. "How many do you want?" Kalina's green eyes widened, and she looked deep into his eyes, probably scanning him. "You're not joking about this," she said with wonderment. "No, I'm not. How many kids?" "Two," she whispered, barely audible. "Fine," he smiled. "A boy and a girl." "'Kay." Kalina swallowed. "So how's school going?" Dean began complaining about his warp physics professor, and Kalina seemed to relax. The apartment disappeared, their banter being the last thing to vanish. ***** "Is that kind of promise common among humans?" Seven asked curiously as they headed down to the floor of the holodeck. Harry shook his head. "No. In fact, I don't know *anyone* who got married that way." "Why did Tom put it in the story, then?" He shrugged, noticing that she had stopped referring to Tom as Lieutenant Paris. "I guess it does make sense, in a way. If Kalina and Dean are such good friends, any romantic relationship between them would probably work out great. A marriage without arguing. If these two can get through their teenage years without a single major disagreement, then logically, they should be able to survive the rest of their lives without fighting." "But Tom and B'Elanna fight all the time, and they're still together." Seven's brow furrowed in confusion. He sighed, walking toward the door. "They're not exactly a typical couple. Didn't we have this conversation already?" "Yes, we did. But I don't understand why some humans prefer arguments, and some do not." She joined him in the corridor. "Just individual preferences," he said, continuing down the hall. "Some people like the confrontation, and some people don't. It's just your personality." Seven's eyes lit up with understanding. "Ah. Thank you." She walked into the turbolift, and they headed up to the mess hall in silence. The next morning, Seven dropped off her questions and went to Astrometrics. She had determined that if the bridge was the captain's domain, and Engineering belonged to B'Elanna, then Astrometrics must be her territory. She worked on the star charts for most of her shift, trying to cut a few more years off their journey. Eventually, however, she got bored, and asked the computer for the time. 1624 hours. Another thirty-six minutes until she could go to the holodeck. She yawned, wondering why she hadn't ever experienced this emotion before, and left the lab. She wandered the ship for a few minutes, even though she walked as if she had somewhere important to be. Finally, she found herself in a turbolift, headed for the bridge. She had no idea why she'd asked the computer to bring her here, then decided that she should make the most of it. She strode onto the bridge confidently, noting that Lieutenant Commander Tuvok was in command, and over to the ready room, where the captain was almost always hidden. She hit the chime, and a soft voice called, "Come on in." Seven took the invitation, and she glanced over at Commander Chakotay uncomfortably. Usually she had no problem talking to anyone, but for some reason beyond her current comprehension, she just wanted to ask the captain about this situation. "Commander, Captain," she greeted them. Then she turned to face the captain, who was sitting behind her desk, eyes still laughing at something, even though her face was composed. "I was wondering if I might have a word with you?" Kathryn nodded. "Chakotay..." He smiled. "Since no one wants my company, I'll just have to go out there and save Tuvok from Tom's smart-ass remarks." He headed for the door. As he neared the door, Kathryn said, "Hey, don't complain. Tom's not as sarcastic since he and B'Elanna became involved." Chakotay grumbled a reply, then left. Kathryn's face held a ghost of a smile. "He still isn't sure about Tom," she commented softly. "Why not?" Seven asked, curious. Everyone else seemed to like the pilot, and Seven herself found him quite likable. Kathryn shrugged. "Right after we ended up in the Delta Quadrant, they didn't like each other very much. In fact, they hated each other. But Tom respects Chakotay, even if he doesn't like him very much. I think he's not very happy that he doesn't have Chakotay's blessing to pursue a relationship with B'Elanna." "Why would he want someone else to tell him who he can have a relationship with?" Seven was genuinely confused. "None of the characters in the holonovel have asked others' opinions on those matters. They do what they want." Kathryn sighed, sensing that this conversation was getting too close to her own problems. "Some people just feel that they need the endorsement of people close to them, or close to the one they love. I guess Tom and B'Elanna didn't include that in their story." "Thank you." She paused, and looked down at her lap. "I am still uncertain as to what I should do about my feelings of... anticipation for the evenings. Today I couldn't concentrate on my work in Astrometrics. I enjoy the time I spend with Harry, and I am.... sorry?.... when our time is up. I find myself making excuses to prolong that time. Why?" The captain grinned at the young woman seated across from her. "When you can figure that out on your own, the holodeck program will be complete." Seven's brow creased with confusion. "But I do not *want* the time to end. So why would I wish to discover the motivation behind my actions?" Kathryn's smile widened. "Don't worry, Seven. Once you understand *why* you enjoy spending time with Harry, I promise that you won't regret the end of the holodeck time." Seven was even more confused now than she had been a few minutes ago. "You have given my much to think about," she said diplomatically, but her bewilderment was still evident in her voice. "One last thing." "Yes?" "B'Elanna brought it to my attention that my clothing may be... inappropriate for working." Kathryn snickered, and Seven shot her a puzzled glance. "What?" The captain quickly composed herself. "Nothing. Please, go on." Seven gave her one last look, then continued. "I was wondering... when I asked where to find different attire, she suggested the replicator. But I do not know how to go about choosing clothes. She recommended that I ask you." Kathryn smiled. She remembered searching through replicator files for hours when she was young, looking for the perfect outfit. "I'd love to help, Seven. When would you like to go shopping?" "Go shopping?" "Old Earth expression. Shopping was more common centuries ago, when every economy was based on money, but the expression is still used today. It means choosing the item or items you would like to own. So?" Kathryn asked again. "Would tomorrow evening be suitable?" "Fine. I'll meet you in cargo bay two at 2000 hours." Seven nodded briefly. "May I be dismissed?" The captain inclined her head, indicating that the former Borg should leave. Seven stood, nodded to Kathryn once, then departed crisply. Kathryn gave a small laugh once the doors slid shut, then tapped her comm badge, composing herself. "Janeway to Torres." "Go ahead," said the engineer. "I'd like to see you in my ready room, please." She asked politely, but her tone made it clear that it was an order. "Right away, captain," B'Elanna replied. "Torres out." The comm link closed with a solid smack from B'Elanna's end. Kathryn wondered for an instant just how many of their mechanical troubles could have been prevented had B'Elanna not needed to take her anger out on something. Then she pushed the thought out of her head. It was better that B'Elanna hit her engines than her engineers. Her mind involuntarily conjured up a vivid mental picture. The Doctor was complaining that he was getting too many casualties from Engineering as he treated a warp-plasma conduit. The image brought a smile to her face, a smile that was still present when the door chimed a few minutes later. "Come," she commanded. The door swooshed open. "You wanted to see me?" B'Elanna asked. "Yes, I did. We now have one *very* confused former Borg on our hands." "The story?" "Well, I think that complicated the problem, or at least brought it to the forefront," Kathryn commented wryly. "Huh?" "Seven is wondering why she likes spending time with Harry." B'Elanna grinned. "She asked me about that too. I figured that if she were in a relationship now, before she fully understands human socialization, it could do more harm than good." "I agree. But she will find out on her own," Kathryn pointed out. "So I say that when she figures out exactly *why* she enjoys the program so much, that's when we'll end it." B'Elanna nodded in confirmation. "That's perfect." "I assume the next part's ready?" "All set. We're just waiting for 1700 hours." Kathryn glanced at the chrono. "Oh, there's only two minutes left. What's this part like?" B'Elanna gestured to the computer with a questioning look on her face. The captain spun it around so the young engineer could access it. "Computer, display program Academy Omega-Eight." Lines of writing appeared, and she turned the console to face the captain again. "Here you go." "Thank you, Lieutenant. You're dismissed," she said absently, already engrossed in the story that B'Elanna and Tom had developed. B'Elanna smiled, and left the ready room. Down by the holodecks, Seven's command was a vague echo of B'Elanna's. "Computer, initiate program Academy Omega-Eight." Her and Harry entered the holodeck, and walked straight into the apartment that had already been established as belonging to Dean and Zach. They walked quickly up to the balcony, and sat. The lights dimmed, and the holograms began to move. ***** A few quick taps sounded at the controls to Zach and Dean's door, and it slid open in response. "What the..." Zach began. "Sorry, it's just us," Kalina said brightly as she slipped through the door, Lixa right behind her. "How did you get in?" Zach wondered out loud. "Oops," Dean said sheepishly. "That was me. I gave her the code." "Sorry if I scared you," Kalina smirked. "We weren't scared," Dean protested. "Right," Lixa chuckled. She glanced over at Dean, nestled snugly in the middle of a pile of clothes. "Comfortable?" "Yep," he answered joyfully. Kalina picked her way through the disaster zone, and sat beside Dean, who wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders. "Hey, Lix, c'mon over. It actually is kinda comfy." Lixa's nose wrinkled with disgust. "No, thanks. I'll just sit..." Her voice trailed off as she looked around the room, apparently for somewhere clear where she could sit. Finally, she kicked a shirt out of her way with the very tip of her toe, prompting an outraged gasp from Dean, and sat down. "Here," she decided belatedly. "Does she know?" Dean asked, not looking as if he cared if Lixa heard him. "Know what?" Lixa's voice had a singsong quality to it. "Coffee?" Dean asked Kalina. "And nicotine," Kalina explained. "I think they must react weird with her brain chemistry or something. She's too damn cheerful." "Know what?" Lixa repeated, sounding frustrated this time. Her voice brought the other two back to the present. "No, I thought I'd let you tell her. Does he know?" "No. Just you," Dean said. "Well..." Zach began. "Are you going to tell us or do we have to guess?" "You'll never guess!" Kalina predicted, sounding very sure of herself. "Prophets! Will *someone* please tell us what's going on here?" Lixa said, obviously exasperated with the secrecy between her friends. "I changed my mind," Dean said simply. Lixa threw her head back, and covered her face. Zach just sat on the other couch, glaring at Dean venomously. "You changed your mind? How the *hell* can you change your mind!?!?" Lixa screeched. The others held their hands to their ears, and Kalina extended her fingers to grasp her temples tightly. "Lix," Kalina said softly, "please calm down. Relax." Lixa took a few deep breaths. "OK, I'm fine now." Kalina relaxed her own death grip on her temples. "Have you told Jared?" "He'll be here any minute," Dean said. As if on cue, the door chimed. "At least *he* has enough courtesy to wait for someone to let him in," he shot at Kalina. "Does he have your code?" When no one answered her, she smiled, a satisfied look gracing her face. "I thought not." "That's not the point..." Zach began. "Hi, Jared," Dean interrupted. "C'mon in. Ummm, guys..." Kalina and Lixa nodded, and Zach disappeared into his bedroom. Kalina moved close to Dean, and put her hand on his shoulder softly, using that hand as leverage to pull herself up. He wrapped an arm around her waist, helping her to reach his height. "We'll be back in a few minutes," she whispered in his ear. "Just don't make a joke." Jared regarded the two with an odd look on his face. Then the two young women left, leaving Dean and Jared alone. Dean led Jared to where the couch was buried underneath piles of clothing, padds, and other random belongings. The two sat down, and Jared watched Dean, obviously expecting something. Dean sighed nervously. "I have something to tell you. I kinda made a mistake. I'm not gay." Jared's face fell. "Oh." "Please, please, please promise me you won't tell Emma," Dean begged. Jared looked at Dean for a moment, then said in a strange voice, "I won't say a word." "Thank you," Dean breathed in relief. "'Kay, Zach." Zach reentered the main room, and the three young men began talking about their classes as the darkness enveloped them. When the blackness lifted, Kalina and Lixa were sitting in a halted turbolift. Kalina was sitting facing Lixa, whose back was propped against the wall for support. Lixa was curled into a tight ball, face hidden between her knees. "Lix?" Kalina asked softly. Her best friend looked up. "I just accepted it," she moaned, "and now you're saying I have to figure everything out again?" "Yeah," Kalina sighed. "But this one isn't as hard to accept." "Why not?" Kalina shrugged. "I don't know. It just is." "How did he figure it out?" Lixa wondered out loud. "Trust me," Kalina grimaced. "You don't want to know. Let's just say it has to do with sex." "It's on a need-to-know basis, and I definitely don't need to know," Lixa joked. "Anyway, I have enough details for both of us," Kalina explained. Lixa nodded, and changed the subject. "You and Dean looked sort of... I dunno... different together today," she commented, sounding suspicious. Kalina gulped. "Um... yeah. Have you ever seen the really old holo.... no, that's not the word... motion picture!... of some story called 'My Best Friend's Wedding'?" "Yeah....." Lixa sounded uncertain about whether or not a centuries-old video was relevant. "You understand the plot, then?" "Mm-hm." "So, what's the whole basis of the story?" Kalina asked. "Guy and girl are best friends. They promise each other that if they're not married by the time they're both thirty...." She broke off in shock. "You promised him...." "He brought it up," Kalina said defensively. "But, yeah. In our case, though, it's twenty-seven." "Twenty-seven," Lixa breathed. "I've been going out with Jeremy for three, almost four months, and we don't even talk about next week, never mind seven years from now." "I don't even know what's going on anymore. Last night, when we were talking on the comm, we were arguing about what to name kids. This, from Dean I-will-never-have-children-ever Markham. Arguing wby vme over what to name kids that are at least eight years away from being born. We were talking about where to live, where to go for our honeymoon.... Lix, you don't know how much you're worried about the future until it's all of a sudden taken care of. I used to worry that I'd run out of time before I had kids. But, now..." She sighed happily. "All this still kinda freaks me out. But it must be weirder for you," Lixa commented. "Didn't you say that you talked to him about stuff that you wouldn't have ever said to him before?" Kalina exhaled loudly. "Damn. I hadn't even thought of that." She shrugged, seemingly uncaring. "Oh well. What's done is done. *C'est la vie.*" She pronounced the last phrase with a perfect accent, obviously fluent in French. She sighed again, and pulled a padd out of her handbag. She scrolled down until she came to a certain part, and handed it to Lixa. "Read this. It's my magazine." "A woman's magazine? Don't we have enough of those at home?" "Yeah, but when I saw this article, I knew I needed to buy it. Just read it." Kalina gestured toward the padd, and Lixa bent her head over it. "'From boy friend to *boyfriend*?'" the half-Bajoran read aloud. "'There are seven things needed in order for such a relationship to work. Humour, respect, resilience, trust, communication, acceptance, and chemistry.' So?" she prompted. "So, I *know* I have the first six with Dean, but I have no *idea* about the last one." "Just do what it says here," Lixa suggested with a devilish grin. Kalina leaned over to read where Lixa was pointing. "Yeah, I think I do need to." She took the padd back. "Oh, it doesn't really matter right now. Later. Maybe this summer. Ready to go back?" "I think so," Lixa replied. "But you have to pull me up." Kalina stood. "Fine." She gripped Lixa's hands and pulled her friend up. "Computer, resume." The last thing to disappear were the nervous faces of Kalina and Lixa. ***** In the mess hall, Seven looked over at Harry. "What?" "I said Pare repeated slowly, "do you want me to read them to you?" "I understood what you said. I did not understand what you meant. I am perfectly literate in Federation Standard. I could read before my assimilation." "I know, he answered. "Think of it as an oral test." "What?" "Real life doesn't often give you much time to think of something to say or do. I'm just going to give you a crash lesson in thinking on your feet," he explained. She glanced down at her boots. "Should I stand?" He laughed. "No, stay sitting. 'Thinking on your feet' means making rapid decisions. Like Kalina did in yesterday's story." Seven cocked her head, remembering what had happened the previous day. Suddenly, she fixed her clear blue gaze on Harry. "When Dean wanted advice about how to tell Jared?" "Yeah. She couldn't really stall and say that she needed to think about it. She needed to come up with something right away." Seven nodded, and slid the padd across the table. "Here." Harry grinned, and lifted up the padd. He scanned it for an instant, then said, "OK. First question. Why would Dean give Kalina his entry code?" "They are close friends. If Dean was ever in danger or ill, Kalina could enter without having to buzz for entry. It is very efficient." Harry wrote down her answer as she spoke. "What is the time?" He glanced at the chrono on the wall above the galley. "1803 hours. Why?" "I am going... shopping with the captain at 2000 hours. I do not wish to be late." "You won't be," he assured her, hiding his disappointment. He *liked* Seven's current clothes, but he wasn't about to share that opinion with her. "Ready for the next one?" She nodded, and he went on. "Why would Kalina use Dean's code if she didn't need to?" They were silent for several minutes before Seven spoke again. "She knew he wasn't in any danger, correct?" Harry nodded, and the former Borg went on, thinking out loud. "And she was invited to the apartment," she stated. "So, she must have known that someone would be there.yinge may have used it just to show that she held power over them. Or because she didn't feel like waiting." "I'll give you my opinion on this one," he said slowly. "She was the only one who knew exactly what would happen that day, right?" Harry was going to help her out, but he wanted her to come to the same conclusion that he had. It was part of her lessons, he decided. "Right," Seven confirmed. "And she knows how nervous Dean was about telling Jared, right?" "Yes..." She stared off into nowhere, deep in thought. "Could this be an example of humour?" He grinned at her. "Now you've got it. I think Kalina either planned to use the code to lighten the mood she knew would envelop the room, or she sensed the mood from outside, and decided that using the code to enter the room would distract the others." "I see," Seven said, and, to her surprise, found that she actually did. "Continue." "Question three. How would you interpret the look that Jared gave Kalina when she left?" "Jealousy," she said simply. "He was jealous of the close relationship between Kalina and Dean." "'Kay. Next question." He paused to take a bite of his meal. "What did you notice about the short conversation between Jared and Dean?" She tilted her head, thinking. "When he said, 'I won't say a word,' he appeared to be deceiving Dean." "But he made a promise," Harry pointed out. "Promises can be broken," she returned. "And he promised he would not *say* a word. He could write it down." "Why, Seven, I believe you're learning to find loopholes." "What is a loophole?" "A way around something that is hindering you," he explained. "The next question asks whether you think Jared will tell Emma regardless of his promise." She smiled her half-smile. "I believe he will use my 'loophole'." He returned the grin, and continued with the questions. "Why would Kalina think that this time everything is easier to accept?" Seven considered this, then said, "Perhaps she hadn't fully accepted everything, not in her heart. Perhaps h 1ind understood, and she *thought* she had accepted everything, but when it all returned to the way it had been, she found it easier because she was halfway there." Harry found himself nodding in agreement, and jotted her response down on the padd. She was learning a great deal, and their time together would soon be up. He decided that he didn't really like that idea, and briefly considered changing the answers to sound more innocent, more like Seven had when she'd first come on board. He quickly dismissed that plan; it wasn't his style. "Why would Lixa find Kalina's promise weird?" "Lixa may believe that her friend is too young to be considering marriage, and that this method is inappropriate." "Okay. What did Lixa suggest to Kalina?" Seven thought for a second. "Before I answer that, how did the science of chemistry apply to that discussion?" "No, no," he said, trying to help. "Not *that* kind of chemistry. Um... romantic chemistry. Whether or not she's physically attracted to Dean." She nodded in understanding. "Then I believe she should determine whether or not she wishes to copulate with him." "Um... say it in Standard." "She should kiss him," Seven answered bluntly. Harry gulped, and jotted it down. "That's the last one. Here ya go." He returned the padd, and Seven hid it away in one of her unknown, invisible pockets. "I have a question for you," she said. "Yeah?" "Is kissing the only way humans can tell that they are physically attracted to someone?" "In the case Tom and B'Elanna have made up, probably. But in many real-life cases, not usually. Both Tom and B'Elanna knew they were attracted to each other before they kissed," he explained. "How? And when was their first kiss?" "They just knew. And you can ask one of them about the second part." "Why would kissing be the only way Kalina can tell if she's attracted to Dean?" Seven was still very curious about human interaction. "She could be too close to the problem. If she's been thinking about him as her best male friend for three years, she might not realize it when their relationship changes. Or, if it has already, when it did change." She nodded. "I will see you tomorrow." She stood, and left the mess hall. Harry watched her go, and sighed. "I wish I could tell her...." ***** "Ready?" Seven asked, approaching Harry's seat on the deck by the holodeck door. He glanced up at her from the padd he was working on. His jaw hit the floor. She wasn't wearing her regular brown catsuit. The captain had obviously taken the young woman clothes shopping the night before. She was wearing a long, flowing blue skirt and a tight shirt. Her hair was clipped loosely at the nape of her neck. "Ready," he managed to say. He walked into the holodeck, barely seeing the Academy grounds around him, trying to think of a way to ask his question. "Um... I see you went through the replicator files last night." She smoothed the soft material of the skirt. "Yes. The captain helped me choose this outfit for my off-duty hours. I... recall wearing similar clothing when I was a child. It... makes my family seem more real." She paused, gathering her courage to find out if her other motivation for choosing this outfit had worked. "Do you like it?" Harry nodded vigorously, then toned it down slightly, thinking that he must seem too eager. "It looks very nice, Seven." She inclined her head graciously, and they began program Academy Omega-Nine. ***** Jared lounged underneath one of the tall oak trees, and glanced over at a small brunette. He handed her a padd, and she read the short message. Her dark eyes turned into saucers as she looked back at him. "That's right. Dean changed his mind." "And he wasn't going to tell me?" The young woman, obviously Emma, seemed quite outraged. "No. He made everyone who knows swear not to say a word." "But you broke your promise," she concluded. He shook his head vehemently. "I didn't *say* a word." She grinned, eyes shining with unshed tears. "Thanks. Now I'll have to go make sure he fo

"s through on *his* promise." She stood, gave Jared a peck on the cheek, then walked away. The room darkened on his self-satisfied face, and his whispered comment, "Now Dean will get what's coming to him...." When the lights returned, Kalina was standing in front of a long, waist-level double barre, gripping it loosely. She wore workout clothes that looked more like a bathing suit; just a pair of tight navy shorts and a sports bra. She glanced into the mirror surrounding the exercise room, and lifted one muscular leg onto the top barre, above her waist. Trill markings were visible down her legs, and the spots also peeked through at her waist. She stretched her arms out gracefully, circling her hands around her bare foot. She straightened, extending her arms above her head, then leaned down in the opposite direction, bending her knee slightly to increase the stretch. Suddenly, the door to the empty room slid open. She didn't bother turning around, since she could see who it was in the mirror. "Hey, Lix." "Morning," Lixa yawned. "Why are you up so early? It's only 1100 hours." "Ohhh," Kalina groaned mockingly. "You had to wake up before noon. I've been here for an hour." "Yeah, but you're nuts." Kalina laughed good-naturedly, and slid her leg off the barre. She switched legs as Lixa removed her own T-shirt, revealing an outfit very much like Kalina's. She joined her friend at the barre, but used the lower barre, just below her waist. The two girls stretched silently for a few minutes. "Still confused?" Lixa asked finally. "Yeah," Kalina sighed, letting go of the barre and lying on the padded floor. She placed her hands by her ears, and laid the soles of her feet on the floor. She pushed, and formed her body into a perfect upside-down "U" that Lixa winced. "How can you do that? Doesn't it hurt? If I ever tried that, I *swear* I'd break some vertebrae," the half-Bajoran commented. Kalina swayed back and forth, still upside-down. "I like it. And I've been able to do this since I was eight. After so many years, your back adjusts to it." Lixa grimaced again. "Sorry. I *like* my back the way it is now." Kalina laughed, swung her body once more, and stood up. She blinked a few times, then focused on Lixa, who was still working out at the barre. "Can you do this?" She slid smoothly down into the splits. It was obvious that Kalina's flexibility was formidable, and Lixa didn't like being beat. This was probably some kind of ongoing contest between the young women. Lixa stuck out her tongue. "You took gymnastics for six years, and dance for eight. That's not fair." "Is too," the half-Trill replied, circling one leg around so that her legs were together. "Is not," Lixa replied childishly. "Can you do this?" She dropped her hold on the barre, and executed a perfect cartwheel. Kalina watched, and laughed when Lixa was done. "Yeah. With one hand tied behind my back." "No way!" Lixa challenged. "You don't think I can do it?" "Uh-uh," the half-Bajoran said confidently. "Wanna bet?" "How much?" Kalina considered this. "Fifteen credits." "Fine." They shook hands, and Lixa moved over to a bag in the corner. She pulled out a skipping rope, and loosened the knot. She approached Kalina, who held an arm up behind her back. Lixa tied it in place tightly. "Now do a cartwheel." Kalina smirked at her friend. "Watch and learn." She gestured for Lixa to move off the mat with her free arm, then reached it high into the air. Lixa continued to watch dubiously. Kalina straightened her right leg, and pointed her toe, obviously preparing herself. "Chicken?" Lixa taunted. "Never," Kalina replied defiantly. She kicked off, and her one free hand touched down, supporting her entire weight on that wrist. Her legs were stiff as a board, and she didn't move her other hand at all. Her feet hit the floor, and she straightened, grinning triumphantly. "I believe you owe me fifteen credits." The grin twisted momentarily into an expression of intense concentration, but it returned so quickly that it might never have changed. "Yeah," Lixa grumbled. She opened her mouth to continue, but whatever she was going to say next was lost when the door swooshed open and Dean sprinted in, shouting aimlessly to no one in particular. He grabbed Kalina by the forearms, and began babbling incoherently. "Calm down," Kalina told him. He immediately stopped talking, and finally seemed to notice where he was, what he was doing, and, especially, what Kalina was wearing. His eyes lingered appreciatively on her for an instant, until Kalina grasped his arms lightly and spoke. "What's wrong?" He let her go, and stared right into her eyes. "Jared told Emma." Lixa gasped, and Kalina just asked impassively, "Are you sure?" "Am I sure?!?" he cried, voice rising to a crescendo. "Of course I'm sure! She showed up at my place about an hour ago, demanding that I follow through on my promise. My God, Kalina, I don't want to. I'm not attracted to her at all." Kalina said simply, "Then don't. Just tell her that you only think of her as a friend." "It's not that easy!" he wailed. Lixa took a few steps back, but Kalina stood her ground. "The last time a guy she liked turned her down, she almost committed suicide. I *don't* want to be responsible for that!" he insisted. Lixa backed up another couple of steps, and Kalina led Dean over to a bench and sat him down. She then lowered herself down next to him. "So what are you gonna do, then?" "I have no idea! I can't go through with it, and I can't tell her...." His cobalt eyes lit up. "I could just avoid her for the rest of my life. She graduates in a month, and I ship out in a year. The Federation's a big place." "I guess that's all you can do," Kalina sighed, shaking her head. "So, other than that, how's life?" "Still confusing." He stood, and leaned over to give Kalina a peck on the cheek. "Thanks, but I gotta go." He grimaced. "I'm supposed to spend *quality* family time with my parents. That's why I moved out." Kalina laughed, and Dean continued toward the exit, pausing to sweep Lixa up in a bear hug. "See you guys later." He left, and Lixa seemed to relax. Kalina shook her head again as she stood and continued to stretch. "He's really desperate to find another way to deal with this." "How do you know?" Lixa began, then stopped herself. "No, don't tell me. The empathy?" "Wrong. I can't read him right now," she revealed. "His thoughts are too erratic, too wild. I had to put my shields up as soon as he came near, and, in fact, they're still up. I'm too sensitive to my friends' emotions." She stopped, probably lowering her shields, then winced. "He's still too close." Her face eased into an expression of serenity. "There," Kalina stated. "Blocked." "Then how...?" Kalina shrugged. "He said..." she paused, indicating a direct quote, "My God, Kalina, I don't want to..." The young woman looked over at Lixa to see if she had noticed the same thing. "So what?" Lixa murmured, lying on her back and extending her legs in the air. "I don't see what's wrong with that." "Lix, what religion is Dean?" Lixa exhaled softly and rolled down, nodding in sudden understanding. "He was raised United, like you, but he's been an agnostic since he was thirteen." "Exactly. Dean wouldn't use that phrase unless something had really shaken him," Kalina concluded. "And what does everyone call me, Dean included?" "Kal..." Lixa realized. "And no one uses your full name unless they don't know you well, they're pissed off or they're stressed. Just like mine." Kalina nodded. "Not to change the subject or anything, but how's Jeremy? He hasn't called in, like, a week." "I dunno. I call him at night sometimes, but he's still whining about my smoking. But I did tell Kerr that I couldn't go out with him while I was still seeing Jeremy." "Good for you," Kalina replied approvingly. She leaned her lithe body all the way over to her left. "Yeah," Lixa sighed. "I just hope I made the right choice." They vanished slowly into nothingness. ***** "'Morning, captain," B'Elanna said, walking into the ready room. She held up her padd. "I have the next report about the holonovel." "Good." Kathryn put down her coffee mug to take the padd from B'Elanna's outstretched hand. She skimmed it and nodded. "Thank you. Have you talked to Seven or Harry lately?" The half-Klingon nodded. "This morning, when Seven dropped off her questions, I asked her what she thought of the program. She said, and I quote, 'it is a very informative tool to learn about dysfunctional human relationships'." She laughed. "I can't wait to tell Tom. He came up with most of this." B'Elanna's laughter was infectious. "Why am I not surprised?" Kathryn chuckled. "I think Seven's almost ready to end the program," B'Elanna commented. "She asked me again why she likes the holodeck time so much. And she keeps asking questions about my friendship with Tom before we... got involved." Kathryn nodded. "Voyager's little girl is approaching puberty." "Oh, great," B'Elanna scoffed. "She already thinks she knows it all." The captain laughed. "She's not that bad." B'Elanna shot her a dubious look. "Fine," Kathryn replied, holding up her hands in mock surrender. "I stand corrected. But she's better than she was a year ago." "She sure is," B'Elanna agreed. "I told Tom that we'd end the program when she figures everything out. Harry told him that last night, Seven showed up in one of her new outfits, asking him if he liked it. In addition to a confused Borg, we've now managed to confuse him." She grinned. "And wait 'til the crew gets their hands on this. It's probably a good thing we don't have a counselor on board. They would need more coffee than the entire senior staff combined just to schedule enough appointments." Kathryn smiled. "And considering how much coffee you, Harry, and I drink, that's pretty bad." Her blue eyes developed a mischievous gleam. "When should we start Seven on coffee?" "It's not a necessity to life on Voyager," B'Elanna commented. "Yes, it is!" She held up her mug. "Coffee is live-giving. Well, except for Neelix's coffee, which is life-taking." This last wry comment prompted a snicker from B'Elanna. "Coffee has gotten me through the last four years." Suddenly, her whole face lit up with inspiration. "That's how we should have beaten the Borg. Introduced coffee into the Collective." B'Elanna laughed. "Billions of drones running around the Delta Quadrant on a caffeine high, unable to regenerate because they can't stand still long enough to get into one of those alcoves." Kathryn suddenly got a clear mental picture of jittery Borg, trying to stay in their alcoves, but bouncing out. She laughed. "Oh, it feels good to laugh." "I know. Seems like all we do is go through battle after battle for a couple days, clean it all up, then start it all again." B'Elanna sighed. "I guess coffee *is* a necessity of life," she conceded. "I should probably finish these reports." The captain indicated the piles of padds on her desk. "And I'm sure you have work to do as well." The engineer nodded. "May I be dismissed?" Kathryn inclined her head, watching the young woman go. She smiled, and continued drinking her coffee. That night, Seven approached the holodeck in another one of her new outfits. The captain had suggested these "blue jeans" as more off-duty clothes. She had replicated a sleeveless blue blouse to go along with them, and even Seven had to admit that the final product was aesthetically pleasing. She waited for a few moments, beginning program Academy Omega-Ten, before Harry walked up. "Good evening, Harry." "Hi, Seven. Love the jeans," he said casually. He offered her his arm, and she stared at it, trying to remember what she'd seen other women do in the past when presented with this gesture. She suddenly remembered, with a burst of unexplained pleasure, and took his arm. He looked at her for an instant, then they headed into the holodeck. Inside, a wide green field surrounded them. People were scattered in small groups around a table covered with food, and around other, smaller tables. A wooden dance floor had been set up, and someone had started slow dance music. Several couples were on the floor, including Lixa and a tall, blond human who fit the description that Tom and B'Elanna had given of Jeremy, Dean and Emma, and Kalina and Zach. Kalina and Lixa were dancing within speaking distance of each other, and each had obviously maneuvered her partner so the two young women could talk. Kalina's eyes were fixed on Dean, who looked ill at ease with Emma attached to him like a second skin. The program began with a loud burst of babbling voices. ***** "Lix," whispered Kalina, standing on her tiptoes to look over Zach's shoulder, "look over there." Lixa gradually moved Jeremy around so that she could get a better view of the couple Kalina had indicated, Emma and Dean. "Someone needs to talk to him." "I will," Kalina volunteered. "He promised me a couple dances anyway." "And I promised Emma I'd dance with her once too. Next song," Zach said softly. "Sure," Kalina replied. She returned her attention to Lixa, who was gazing adoringly into Jeremy's eyes. His arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. "Lix, pay attention, or I'm gonna tell you two to get a room." Lixa pulled away from Jeremy slightly, but he tightened his hold on her. She glared defiantly at him. "Let go. I need to talk to Kal." "Haven't you talked enough?" "No," she insisted. "Fine," he sighed, and steered her back around to face Lixa again. Lixa stared at Kalina. "What are you gonna do?" Kalina shrugged. "Tell him to talk to her. He has to tell her eventually. I mean, it's been a month since he changed his mind, and I think she's still expecting him to sleep with her." "No kidding," Lixa smirked, gesturing to Emma and Dean with her chin. "She's even closer to his skin than your illegal red top is on you." Kalina straightened, moving slightly away from Zach to reveal the skin-tight sleeveless red turtleneck she was wearing. "It's not that tight. And it hasn't been illegal for a year, since my dad took that assignment on Starbase 239 and I moved out." She lifted a hand off of Zach's shoulder to point to Lixa's own painted-on beige dress. "Like yours is much better." "I always told you, I'm a bad example." "I *like* your dress," Jeremy protested. "And I still think that shirt's great," Zach told Kalina. Kalina laughed, and murmured to Lixa, barely audible, "Remember what my mom asked when I came home the first time I wore this?" Lixa giggled. "She wanted to know how many guys hit on you. What was your answer? Like, twenty?" The half-Trill nodded. "And again every time I wear it. Like that dress. Every time you wear that, you end up with a boyfriend." "We both have our lucky clothes." The strains of music faded away, and the two couples separated. Lixa and Jeremy went over to a table, his arm firmly around her waist, and Zach and Kalina headed over to where Emma was still attached to Dean, who was gently trying to pry her off. "You promised me a dance," Kalina informed Dean, who smiled gratefully. A new song started up. "What about me?" Emma pouted. "C'mon," Zach said, holding out his arm for her. She looked at it dubiously, then at Dean and Kalina, who were in a close embrace, and back at Zach's arm. "Sure," she conceded, finally taking hold of Zach's arm. He led her to the other side of the floor, to distract her from the conversation between the other couple, and they began dancing. He tried to hold her at arm's length, but she snuggled closer. After a couple minutes, he gave up and allowed her to pillow her head on his chest. But the uncomfortable expression on his face said it all. On the other side of the floor, Kalina was nestled tightly in Dean's arms. "Well?" she prodded. "Well what?" "You have to tell her." He started to protest, but she stopped him by placing one finger across his mouth. "I know you don't want to hurt her, but I don't think her mental state is that precarious." "I don't care. She's going to Casperia Prime in two weeks. And she's not coming back. I'll be fine." "You're telling me that you never expect to see her again?" Kalina said sarcastically. "Yeah. The Federation's huge," he said by way of an explanation. "Right," she sniffed. "And the universe doesn't love screwing with our minds. You *have* been around the last few months, haven't you?" "Yeah," he admitted slowly. "But that won't happen, will it?" "If she wants you, do you think a little thing like distance is going to stop her?" "Yes," Dean insisted. "It will. Can we *please* talk about something else?" Kalina shifted to stare up at him. She was obviously convinced by what she saw there, as she immediately changed the subject. "Look at Lix." He swung her around slowly to catch a glimpse of Lixa and Jeremy. "She's still with him?" "Yeah. Amazing, isn't it? I don't think all of her other relationships *combined* add up to the amount of time she's been with Jeremy." He shook his head in shock. "That's Lix for ya." He pulled her closer. "Thanks for being such a great friend." He kissed the top of her head lightly, and they settled into a comfortable silence. The song ended, and Kalina and Dean drifted over to the table where Zach, Emma, Lixa, and Jeremy were already sitting. He slung an arm casually over her shoulders, and Emma gave Kalina an icy glare when the couple joined them. Kalina returned the glare, magnified a thousandfold. "Hey, guys," she greeted the group. "Save us some chairs?" Lixa pulled one of her hands out of Jeremy's, but not without some resistance. She patted the two chairs beside her. "Right here." Kalina slid over to sit beside her best friend, and Dean sat beside her. Emma shot them another frosty glare from across the table. The group started talking about their plans for after school. After a few minutes, a familiar voice cried, "Kal, you should *really* stay away from your Imzadi." Kalina stood, spinning around furiously. She muttered a Klingon curse under her breath. "How many times do I have "Thell you, we're *not* Imzadi. We're not even Betazoid." "That's no excuse. You're an empath, just like a Betazoid. I don't think I've met everyone." She joined them at the table. Kalina sat down, and began saying names, going clockwise around the table. "Jeremy, Emma, Zach, you already know Dean, and..." Natalia cut her off. "You must be Lixa. I've heard so much about you." "And you're Natalia. Kal's been talking about you all year. Isn't it funny that we never met until the last week of school?" "Very ironic," Natalia commented. "Everyone, this is Natalia," Kalina introduced her friend. A chorus of greetings sounded from around the table. Natalia nodded in acknowledgement. "What are you guys doing?" Kalina opened her mouth to reply, but Dean beat her to it. "This is a meeting of the 'Promiscuous sex with Kalina' club. Would you like to join?" "You mean...." Natalia's dark eyes were gleaming as she studied everyone at the table one by one. "Yeah," Lixa answered, hugging Kalina, whose fair complexion turned as red as her shirt. Dean started laughing, as did Zach. Emma patted Kalina's hand from across the table. Jeremy just sat there, looking stunned. Kalina visibly forced her skin back to its usual pale hue. She shook her head in exasperation. "Ignore him. He's an idiot." Dean pulled her close to him and dropped a light kiss on her forehead. "But that's why you love me," he said, sounding very self-satisfied. Emma glared at him. "Right," Kalina agreed, prompting a surprised look from Natalia and a gasp of shock from Emma. "Excuse me," Emma choked out. She quickly got up and ran form the table. Dean stood, and watched her leave. "I should go after her." He moved to follow her, but Zach leaned across the table to stop him. "Stay here. I'll go." He stood and followed Emma. Natalia watched this whole exchange with an intrigued look on her face. "Very interesting," she commented, taking Zach's recently vacated seat. "So, what secret are you hiding?" she asked Dean. He just gazed at her for an instant, shocked. "What?" "You're hiding something," she repeated. "Who taught you how to make such strong shields?" He nodded toward Kalina, who was having an animated argument with Lixa about the colour they should paint their kitchen. "She did, about two years ago. Said my thoughts were too overwhelming for her." Natalia nodded in understanding. "Makes sense." At Dean's confused look, she explained, "When two non-empaths have a close relationship, they can often tell what the other is thinking without empathic abilities. But when two empaths, or even an empath and a non-empath have that kind of relationship, the stronger one can be overwhelmed by the thoughts and emotions of the other. I sense that you're very confused right now. Why?" "Um...." He glanced over at Kalina, who had planted her hands on her hips and was now staring at Lixa with a disbelieving expression on her face. Then he looked over in the direction in which Emma and Zach had left. Finally, he looked back at Natalia. "I'm gay," he confided. Kalina heard this, and spun around. Lixa's jaw dropped, and Jeremy tightened his hold on her arm. "C'mon. Let's go now," he murmured to Lixa. "No," she replied vehemently. "I want to hear this." "Kal, is this true?" Natalia demanded. "Yeah, Nat. It is. That's why I thought it was so funny when you kept insisting that we were involved," Kalina admitted, deadpan. "Well, this has been most... enlightening, but I have to go right now. Kal, I'll see you at our exams tomorrow. It's been lovely." Natalia fluttered her hand as she pranced off. "She's sure confident," mumbled Dean. "She's a daughter of the Sixth House of Betazed. Aristocracy does that to people," revealed Kalina. "Figures. Kal, we should probably get home. I have an early class, and you have exams," Lixa suggested. "I should go too," commented Dean. "See ya later, Dean. Nice to meet you, Jeremy." Kalina shook hands with Lixa's boyfriend, and hugged Dean. They let go, and he started moving away. "I'll call you tonight," he said. "'Kay," she answered. "Coming, Lix?" "Yeah. 'Night, Jeremy." She gave him a long, passionate kiss, and stood up. He stood as well, keeping one hand on her arm. "Stay here," he implored, giving her a hangdog look. Lixa pulled on her arm. "Let me go." "No," he insisted. She shot him a glare that could have melted pure duranium. "Let go now." She dug her nails into his skin, and watched his red blood trickle out. "Fine!" Jeremy threw her hand down, and walked away without another word, cradling his bleeding hand. "Prophets, Kal, did you see that?" Lixa was on the verge of tears. "Yeah." Kalina put a comforting arm around her friend and led her away. The girls' backs were the last things seen as everything vanished. ***** Harry sighed as the images faded away and the lights in the holodeck came back on. "I think Tom must be borrowing plot lines from Neelix's soap operas. Love triangles, abuse, all he's missing is amnesia." Seven stared at him for an instant, then decided to ignore the comment. "Why are Kalina and Dean so physically affectionate with each other if they are not involved?" She stood, and headed down the staircase. He shrugged, following her down to the floor of the holodeck. "I think a lot of it is comfort. Dean's going through some tough times, and Kalina seems to be a very physical person. Have you noticed how the captain is always putting her hand on people's shoulders, or patting them on the back?" "Yes," she admitted. "But it seems irrelevant. How does physical contact comfort humans?" "You'd have to ask the Doc. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with childhood memories. Babies are often touched when they cry, and it soothes them. We learn to associate contact with comfort,' he explained. "How..." She paused, gathering her courage. "I have noticed that they seem to know exactly how to hug. When did they learn?" He gulped. This wasn't what he'd had in mind when he'd volunteered to help Seven with her lesszed ... Well, so maybe it was. But he hadn't expected anything to come of it. "Do you remember hugging your parents before you were assimilated?" Seven nodded. "Yes, but my father used to lift me up in the air." Her blue eyes clouded for an instant. "He flew me around the room. Up and down..." Her voice broke momentarily, but she soon recovered. "It must be different." Harry's brain screamed with joy, and he tried to push the cries out of his mind, finally succeeding. "Do...." he swallowed, and took a deep breath. "Do you want to... I mean... would you like... um... do you want me to show you?" he stammered. "Yes," she agreed, as outwardly composed as ever, even though her insides were in turmoil. She took a few steps towards him, trying not to show how nervous she was. He moved closer to her, and placed her arms around his neck. Then he wrapped his arms loosely around her slim waist. "Now," he whispered, "just hug me like you remember hugging your parents." Seven squeezed tightly, and he pulled her closer. She could feel his muscles underneath the loose off-duty T-shirt he wore. She felt.... comfortable, and couldn't explain it even to herself. She felt him lay his chin on top of her head, and she snuggled into his frame. Harry was stunned. His contribution to her lessons in humanity would be teaching her how to hug. Well, at least this lesson was fun. After a few minutes, he released her, and she drew back. "Do you understand now?" He thought his voice sounded weird, but ignored it. She smiled slightly. "Yes, thank you." Suddenly, she moved back to him. "Good night," she said, hugging him again. She held on for a few instants, and then walked out of the holodeck, bending over to pick up the padd without breaking her stride. She continued on to Cargo Bay Two, not stopping to think about anything that had just transpired. Harry leaned back against the yellow-on-black grid that comprised the holodeck walls. "This is more confusing than the story." He was silent for a time, then tapped his comm badge. "Kim to Paris." There was no response. "Kim to Paris," he repeated. When Tom still didn't answer, he directed his voice up to the ceiling. "Computer, location of Lieutenant Paris." "Lieutenant Paris is in his quarters." "Is he alone?" "Yes," the computer replied. Harry headed for Tom's quarters. When he got there, no one answered the door either. Harry knocked on it manually. "Tom?" When the door didn't slide open, he told the computer, "Scan for lifeforms in these quarters." "There are no lifeforms in Lieutenant Paris' quarters," the computer informed him. Harry sighed. Tom was somewhere, without his comm badge. And he had a guess as to who was with him.... "Computer, locate Lieutenant Torres." "Lieutenant Torres is in her quarters." "Perform a scan of Lieutenant Torres' quarters. List all lifeforms currently there," Harry ordered. The computer was silent for a minute, scanning. Finally, it replied, "There are no lifeforms in Lieutenant Torres' quarters." Harry laughed out loud, prompting an odd look from a passing crewman. He ignored the look. "Where could they be?" he wondered out loud. "Please restate question." "Never mind," he answered, waving his hand dismissively, even though he knew the computer wouldn't understand that. "Oh, well. I'll just have to talk to Tom tomorrow. They probably want some time alone right now," Harry reasoned. He got on the turbolift and headed to his own quarters, hoping that a rehearsal session with his clarinet would help him sort out his jumbled thoughts. ***** The next evening, Harry and Seven ended up meeting in the turbolift on their way to the holodeck. "How do you think the story will end?" Harry asked. trying to start a conversation. Seven looked down at the floor, unsure if she should tell him what the captain had told her about the end of the program. Finally, she determined not to say anything. "I do not know," she admitted, deciding that her words weren't a total lie. After all, it depended on how they were interpreted... He nodded, and the 'lift slid smoothly to a stop. They got out, and walked over to the holodeck. "Begin program Academy Omega-Eleven," Harry ordered the computer. It beeped to indicate that it was ready, and they entered, walking up to their usual spots in the balcony. Below them was Kalina and Lixa's apartment. The two girls were huddled on the bean bag chairs, and Lixa had her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, as if for support. The program began, and the first thing that Harry and Seven heard was a loud sobbing. ***** "Kal, why didn't I see it?" Lixa wailed. "He was always so sweet. The perfect man. And now...." Her voice broke off in a deluge of tears. "This isn't supposed to happen. Not now, not here. Abuse was supposed to have been wiped out on Earth years ago. Dammit, I lived through the Occupation until I was seven and my father came and took me away. I saw my friends and my family killed and maimed, I saw my world raped by the Cardassians. I lived in a refugee camp for years. And now I can't even handle one lousy man." She broke into desperate sobs once again. Kalina wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Shhh, Lix. What did you always say you'd do if a guy tried to push you around again?" "Kick his ass?" Lixa looked hopeful, even through her tears. "That's right. Do you deserve to be treated that way?" Kalina seemed to be helping as best she could, but her clouded eyes betrayed her. She felt helpless. "No," Lixa admitted, wiping the salty tears away with the back of her hand. "And does he have any right to use his strength to try and control you?" "No." Her dark eyes seemed to be clearing slightly. "He's always joked around. Grabs my wrists playfully, pretending to not want to let me go.... holds me a little bit too tightly sometimes.... But I never thought he meant it... I never thought it could turn into this." "Could you tell that he meant it?" Kalina was obviously trying to make her friend face the fact that this had been the inevitable conclusion to a long series of events. Lixa shook her head vehemently, then groaned. "Damn migraine." She sighed once, then answered Kalina's question. "I didn't think so. Maybe if you had met him before, you could have helped...." "I did meet him. And I didn't see anything. He didn't seem like the kind of man who would do this." "You play around with Dean; I've seen you do it. How do you know that he doesn't want to hurt you?" Kalina shrugged. "You've never been swimming with both of us, but every time we swim, he throws me into the water. Over and over. I do get bruises from 'fighting'," she added quotes around the word with her fingers, "with him. But we're both laughing, and I *know* that he would never hurt me. Not on purpose." "But, Kal, how do you *know*?" Lixa pleaded. "I.... I guess... it's his eyes." "Huh?" Kalina sighed. "He's got that look in his eyes.... the one that says he cares, and doesn't want me hurt in any way." Silence reigned for a few moments, until, suddenly, Lixa burst out with a loud Bajoran curse. "I forgot about Kerr.... he's gonna *kill* Jeremy when he finds out." Lixa sighed in despair, and wrapped her arms around her legs more tightly, probably trying to withdraw from the world. But Kalina wouldn't let her. "Lix, you've got to talk to him, you know." "Yeah, I know, I know. But I don't want to. I mean, what can I say?" "I don't know," Kalina admitted. "I've never been in this situation before. The closest thing I ever went through was the king of controlling boyfriends, but even Nathan only tried to control my mind and my heart." She scoffed. "He was an idiot." "What should I tell him?" Lixa repeated, obviously desperate for an answer. "I think you'll have to come up with that on your own. I can't very well tell you how you feel, now can I?" Lixa's chocolate eyes lit up. "Yes, you can. Probe me. Tell me how I feel." Kalina shook her head. "Won't work. You're too distraught. Everything's too jumbled right now. Maybe Nat could, but even powerful Betazoids find that it's difficult to sort out emotions when the subject is confused and angry." Lixa sighed. "I'll just have to figure it myself, then." She stood, gently pushing away Kalina's offer of help. "Good night." She began walking to her room, but paused and spun around halfway there. "Oh, what time is your exam?" "0700," Kalina moaned. "Well, my class isn't until 0830 hours, so don't wake me up, 'kay?" "Yeah, whatever. I'll see ya tomorrow afternoon. 'Night." She went into her room, and the door slid shut behind her. Alone in the main room, Kalina picked up a padd. The second part of the letter she'd been working on for Natalia. She continued writing, telling her Betazoid friend exactly what had happened during the month of May. She paused when she got near to her promise to Dean, ending this letter as well with a request for a promise from Natalia that no one else would ever find out. She loaded it into the comm system, but didn't send it. Kalina lifted a second padd up and began working on the next part. She wrote about how confusing her emotions were, and she confided that she could barely sense Dean's feelings through her own. She told Natalia the main things about her promise, and sighed before finishing it. She asked her friend to probe her mind, to help Kalina sort her own feelings out. She signed it with a flourish, and added this part into the computer. She sent off the first part, and lay down on the couch, deep in though. Then everything went black. The room lit up again, and the girls' apartment was empty once again. But the view through the window showed that it was daytime, and no lights were needed. Lixa sat at the kitchen table, mug of coffee in one hand. She sighed loudly, and placed the coffee on the table. She lifted the cigarette in her other hand too her mouth, inhaled, and lowered her hand again. She dropped her head heavily onto her empty hand, and the comm screen chirped. She stood, bringing her coffee and her cigarette with her. Lixa tapped the controls, bringing up Jeremy's face. "Hi," she said, sounding unsure. "I need to tell you something," he began bluntly. Then he noticed what she held in her right hand. "Why are you smoking? I thought you quit." "I know that's what you *thought*," she sneered, obviously not in the mood for his disapproval. "And I *did* quit, for, like, two months." She shrugged. "But I like it. And remember, I hid this from my mom for four years before I moved out. I've had tons of practice." "It's disgusting." "Tough. What do you need to tell me?" Lixa sounded sad. He sighed loudly. "I don't know how to say this." "Just spit it out," she advised. "I haven't really known where this whole relationship was going from the beginning, and I still don't know now," he said slowly. Lixa took another drag on her cigarette. "So?" she prompted warily, not sounding as though she wanted an answer. She got one anyway. "I don't know what to do anymore," he admitted. "I never really cared from the beginning. It's over. 'Bye." Jeremy hit the controls on his screen, and his image vanished from Lixa's view. She squeaked, as though she was trying very hard not to cry, and dropped the cigarette into an ashtray. "You never really cared?" she asked Jeremy, even though he couldn't hear her. "You asshole. You said you'd be with me for a million years. You said you loved me." Her voice was hard. She picked up a holopicture of her and Jeremy, and whipped it at the wall. It shattered, leaving a pile of transparent aluminum and circuitry on the floor. She lifted another frame from the table, a two-dimensional picture, this one of Jeremy alone. She hurled it at the same spot at which she'd thrown the last image. It cracked loudly upon impact, and glass and plastic fell beside the first pile, bringing a satisfied grin to Lixa's face. But the grin quickly turned into tears, and she just let them fall. After a few minutes of silent weeping, her cries grew louder, more desperate. Lixa ran into the kitchen and grabbed a padd from a drawer urgently. She spent several minutes typing a message into it, tears dripping onto its surface, and threw it on the counter. Then she ran off into her room, locking the door behind her. The main room of their apartment was empty and silent, except for muffled music coming from Lixa's room, lyrics incomprehensible. After a few moments, the apartment door slid open to admit a cheerful Kalina. She was whistling happily as she tossed her bag onto the couch. Her eyes scanned the room quickly, and caught on the two piles of debris that marked Lixa's torment. She walked slowly over to them, and sifted through the shards until she found what she was looking for. She lifted up the bent, folded picture of Jeremy, and stared at it for a moment. Her face grew noticeably dimmer. "Lix?" she shouted. "Where are you?" She listened for an instant, and heard the music. She smiled grimly at her friend's choice, obviously recognizing the song. Then her expression darkened even further. She practically ran into the kitchen, and looked through several drawers, as if ascertaining that everything was where it should be. She paused in the middle of the room, seemingly thinking. Then she moved over to another drawer, and opened it. She rummaged through it, extending her arm to the far reaches of the drawer. She frowned, obviously not finding what she had hoped to find. She went to leave the room, then noticed the padd lying on the counter. She picked it up quickly, and her clouded green eyes skimmed it over. "Kal, I decided I would tell you this through a padd because I'd only end up more upset if I talked about it. Jeremy broke up with me. I was trying to figure out what to do, and I was starting to get mad at him. But I still do like him very much and I didn't want to lose him, so I decided not to say anything. Then he called, and told me that he had something to tell me. I just knew it was coming. He said he didn't know how to say it, so I told him to just spit it out. He said that he hasn't had any idea where this relationship was going from the beginning and that he doesn't know what to do anymore. He said that he never cared for me from the beginning. That almost hurt me more than the fact that he said he didn't want to see me anymore. I can't believe this happened. I tried so hard to keep it going and now I feel lost. I just can't believe that he says he never cared. It's been four and a half months.... well, I guess *was* four and a half months. If you talk to Dean or Zach or anyone else, please mention it. I don't think I can handle all the comments they'll make right now. I find it hard to think about. I really did love him. I've never felt that way before, and I know we're young. It's all supposed to be puppy love right now, and maybe it was. Obviously it just wasn't meant to be. The Prophets didn't mean for us to walk the same path. He's changed so much for me; it'll be hard to go on without him. But I'm willing to try..." Kalina paused, and sighed deeply with relief. She wiped the tearstains off the surface of the padd, and continued reading. "Don't worry about anything. After all, you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. I will try to stay clean and be a good little girl. Right now I just want to hide in a hole and stay there forever. I don't think I can ever face him. It's just too hard. Anyway, just leave another padd on this counter or come and talk to me. I don't care. It's your choice. But I don't promise that I'll be very talkative. Luv, Lixa." She put down the padd and sighed. "That explains the music," she muttered. She walked down the hall to Lixa's room, stopping outside. "Lix? It's me. Will you let me in?" A loud sigh echoed inside. "Yeah." A few clunks, and then the door slid open, to reveal Lixa's tear-streaked face, holding a lighter in one hand and another cigarette in the other. "Oh, Lix, I'm so sorry..." Kalina began as they disappeared. ***** Seven blinked twice to clear the wetness out of her eyes. She wondered why she was crying. This wasn't her life, after all. And emotions were irrelevant. So why was she crying? Harry looked over at her, and noticed the tears. He decided that Seven crying could be interpreted as a sign that she was becoming more and more human. He returned his gaze to the empty holodeck, and cleared his throat to give her time to compose herself. When she turned to face him, her face was perfectly emotionless, almost Vulcan. "Ready to go?" he asked politely. "Yes, I am," she stated. She was about to say something else, but stopped instead, and stood up. She glanced at him nervously, then began walking down the staircase to get her padd of questions. "See you tomorrow, then?" he inquired, trying not to show his disappointment that they wouldn't be spending any more time together that evening. She began to nod, then changed her mind, and held out the padd to him. "I found the last... oral test helped me very much," she improvised. "Would you read off the questions again?" He smiled at her. "I'd love to," he responded, taking the padd from her outstretched hand. "Mess hall?" Seven shook her head, feeling the unfamiliar weight of her hair brushing along her back softly. "My cargo bay," she proposed. He swallowed. "Um, yeah, sure." They left the holodeck arm in arm. ***** "She will not," insisted B'Elanna. "Seven doesn't know how to use her innocence to her own advantage yet." "I think she will," countered Tom. "Have you seen how she carries her lack of knowledge about personal space to an extreme when Harry's around." "No way. She can't *possibly* have learned that much about human interaction in the last two weeks." Tom nodded firmly as they entered his quarters. "Yeah, I think she has. In fact, I'm so sure, I'll make you a bet that she'll use her innocence to get him." "What do you want to bet?" she asked curiously. "Hmmm...." He pretended to be thinking, when, in fact, he had the perfect payoff worked out already. He'd just been waiting for the perfect excuse to use it. His face lit up with planned "sudden" inspiration as he sat on the couch. "I know!" "What?" she asked dubiously. For some reason she had a feeling that she didn't really want to know. "The winner gets a hundred kisses." He glanced at B'Elanna, curled up in the armchair, not sure what her reaction would be. Hopefully, she'd agree. After all, this was a win-win situation. She leaped off the chair and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. She grabbed his hands, and held them above his head so that he couldn't fight back. He struggled instinctively against her for a moment, but relaxed when he saw the leer on her face. "Make it two hundred and you have a bet." "Two hundred," he agreed. "Seal it with a kiss?" She brushed her lips against his in reply, then stood up and extended a hand to help him up. "It's a bet." Tom sat down on the couch again, and pulled B'Elanna onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. "Harry told me something very interesting this morning," he began intriguingly. "What?" "You know how our characters seem to hug a lot? Well, I guess Seven noticed that the real people on Voyager don't do that, and asked about it. He made up some reason that had to do with comfort, and then she wanted to know how they knew *how* to hug." He snickered. "Harry 'offered' to demonstrate. It must have been such a hardship for him." B'Elanna chuckled. "Maybe I shouldn't have bet you. I didn't have all the information." He laughed. "Oh, well. We'll just have to start on those kisses right now." "Not yet. When the program ends. Try to get all the details from him once they're done," she told him. "The betting pool is trying to figure out what they're doing in the holodeck every night. The odds are running two to one in favour of some kind of recreational program." "And what are the odds that they're doing exactly what they're doing?" "Seven to one," he informed her. "How 'bout the odds that they're having kinky sex in there?" she asked curiously, knowing that there were probably a few people who had placed similar bets. "Four to one," he admitted. She laughed. "Figures. No one on this ship can mind their own business. Who won the bet about when we'd get together?" "The captain," he said, smiling. "Harry was running that line so I wouldn't find out. He told me later that she placed the bet right after they rescued us on the Day of Honour." B'Elanna's laughter grew louder. "This ship is worse than Kessik. Everyone knew everything about everyone. No secrets." "Makes life more interesting," he said. "Shouldn't we start work on the next part?" "We have tomorrow's part in the databanks already. I have a feeling that's all we'll need." "Why?" "Let's try asking the computer where Harry is," she suggested. "Computer," Tom began, "location of Ensign Kim." "Ensign Kim is in Cargo Bay Two," the computer said in its monotone. His eyebrows rose in surprise. "He's a fast worker. She's been on board for nine months, and he's already in her cargo bay. If I remember correctly, it took me nearly four years to be allowed in your quarters." She stuck out her tongue. "But Starfleet's not a pig, like *some* people I know. And she might not even be in there." She directed her next words at the ceiling. "Computer, location of Seven of Nine." "Seven of Nine is in Cargo Bay Two." She grinned. "Yeah, they're together. We might not need to write anymore stories." "Good," he leered. "Our time can be spent doing better, funner things." "'Funner' isn't a word!" she protested. "It is now. I invented it." B'Elanna laughed. "You can't *invent* a word." "Can too." "Can not." "Can too." "Can... oh, listen to us! This is stupid. Our time could be better spent," she said. "I was hoping you'd say that," he replied suggestively, and pulled her close for a long kiss. ***** Seven approached the holodeck the next evening at 1655 hours, and ordered the computer to begin program Academy Omega-Twelve. She found that she was nervous about meeting Harry. The night before, after finishing her questions, they had talked for hours, just getting to know each other. She had told him what she remembered about her life before the Borg assimilated her, and what life was like in the Collective. He had talked about his family, and Earth, and how much he missed them. The evening had ended late, when they'd both realized that they had an early staff meeting that morning. He had hugged her before leaving, and she had become even more confused than before. She sighed softly, and leaned back against the bulkhead to wait for him. He showed up a few moments later. "Let's go," he said cheerfully. She followed him into the holodeck without another word. Inside, a large, expansive park greeted them. Kalina and Lixa were posed as if they had been tossing a Frisbee back and forth in the middle of the green field, and Harry noticed that Lixa was back in her workout outfit. She was on the rebound, then. They headed up to their seats, and the story began again. ***** "Nice catch," called Kalina. She turned to watch a guy around her age walk by, and the Frisbee floated right past her. "Are you paying attention?" cried Lixa, and Kalina jumped guiltily. "Oops, sorry. My mind was on other, more important things." She gestured at the man she'd been admiring, and Lixa's eyes widened appreciatively. "Mmm. The park is sure filled with lots of good-looking men today. It's as if someone knew we were coming and brought them here on purpose." Lixa jumped in the air to catch the Frisbee, and another man watched her drop back to the ground. She caught his eye and winked playfully. "To help you get over Jeremy? I *knew* I should've made that sign?" Kalina breathed. "Which one?" The half-Trill laughed merrily. "The one that said: Attention, men. Lixa is on the rebound. Watch out!" Lixa joined in the laughter at her own expense. "C'mon," she protested, "I'm not that bad!" "Lix, what are you wearing?" "That's not the point! This is comfortable," she defended herself. "Fine," Kalina conceded. "But after you and Greg broke up last year, how long were you single?" "Um.... five days?" the half-Bajoran admitted. "Exactly. And that was the most serious relationship you had up until Jeremy. *That's* why I'm nervous. I don't want you to get hurt because you just didn't want to be single anymore. OK?" "Yeah," Lixa sighed. "But even if Jeremy came crawling back to me today, I wouldn't take him. I don't think I could stand having a guy's arms around me right now. It's just too soon." "Whatever you say, Lix," Kalina agreed, but she was obviously not buying any of it. She threw the Frisbee, and her friend caught it. They dropped into a long silence, just throwing and catching, throwing and catching.... Then everything darkened. When the lights came on again, Kalina was sitting in front of her comm screen. Lixa was sitting on the couch, a cigarette in one hand, and a padd in the other. She was typing rapidly into the padd, barely paying attention to Kalina. Suddenly, Lixa stood, and walked into the kitchen. Kalina waited until she was alone, then hit the controls lightly, and ran her eyes down the list of name. She touched the name 'Cara Devon' briefly, and it changed colour. The screen was blank for an instant, but soon it filled with the logo of a college. After Kalina stared at the logo for a few minutes, it was replaced by the image of a young woman in civilian clothes, with Trill spots running from her temples to the neckline of her shirt, and the Risean marking on her forehead. "Hey, cousin!" she said happily. "We haven't talked in a long time." She tossed her blond hair back, and looked straight at Kalina with large blue eyes. "I know, Cara," Kalina admitted. "And I'm sorry. But the Academy is very stressful, and I don't have a lot of free time. I just finished my last exam today, so I thought I'd call you." She sighed loudly. "I have a major problem. Before I tell you, I want you to promise that you won't interrupt me until I'm done. No questions, no comments, no interruptions. Got it?" "Promise," Cara vowed. "What's wrong?" Her brow creased with concern. Kalina begin to detail her relationship with Dean, though not in as much depth as she had with Natalia's letter. Finally, she got to the events of the last few months. "Cara, promise you won't say anything. Not Grandma, not Grandpa, and definitely not your parents." "I promise," Cara said, sounding a bit exasperated. Kalina explained what had transpired on her birthday, but didn't go into much detail about the next month. She told Cara about her promise to Dean, and about how she wasn't sure if she was attracted to him or not. She finished with a loud, resounding sigh. "I just don't know anymore," she said despairingly. "Maybe I'm just too close to the problem." Cara nodded. "Yeah." "So?" Kalina prompted. "What do you think?" "I think your friends are insensitive for teasing you about your relationship with Dean," Cara began, eliciting a stunned look from Kalina. "They are not. They just don't understand. It's complicated. It's my life, and I don't even understand it. How can you ever expect to understand it all after only fifteen minutes of explanation?!?" Kalina countered. Cara continued as if Kalina had never spoken. "But I do think you should kiss Dean. You need to know what you feel, and that's the best way to find out." Kalina sighed. "Yeah. Maybe sometime this summer." She looked off into Lixa's hallway. "Oh, Lix is coming. I gotta go. Miss you." "Yeah, me too. See ya later!" The bubbly young woman cut the link at her end, leaving Kalina to stare at the blank screen. Lixa was noticeably more relaxed when she walked into the main room. "Hey, Kal. I'm gonna take a walk. 'Bye." She didn't allow Kalina to get a word in, just walked out the door. Kalina leaned back, sighing. She put one hand on her forehead, and squeezed, as if she had a headache. She settled down, lost in her thoughts. The comm system interrupted her musings. She reached over to activate it, and Natalia's eager face appeared. "C'mon, Kal," she implored. "I'm gonna die of suspense. I won't tell anyone, I swear." Kalina nodded, seeming satisfied. "I'm sending the next part now. When you're done, call me." She cut the link and lay down on the couch. Several minutes later, the comm system chirped again. She laughed shortly, and switched it on. When Natalia glared at her, she laughed again. "Done already?" "Why didn't you *tell* me he was gay?" the Betazoid wailed. "I thought he was joking! Damn, but you taught him well. His shields are almost as strong as yours." "Don't worry, Nat," Kalina said smoothly. "It gets worse from there. Now where's my promise?" "Yeah, yeah," Natalia grumbled. "I promise I won't tell." "Not a soul. This gets way more confusing. Here's the last part." She hit a touchpad, and Natalia grinned. "Got it." "'Kay. As soon as you finish, call me back. I want your opinion on something I wrote in there," Kalina explained. "Mm-hm. See ya." The screen went dark, and the room vanished. ***** Seven sighed. She'd been hoping that this next part would help explain to her precisely what she was feeling. She resolved to ask B'Elanna about everything the next morning when she went to drop off her questions. She stood, and spun to face Harry. "My cargo bay again?" she asked hopefully. He shook his head, and her face fell for an instant. "My quarters this time," he offered. She grinned slightly, and nodded. "Sure." She walked down to the main level of the holodeck, and scooped the padd off the floor. "Let's go." They left for his cabin, and Seven had only one thought: This could get interesting. ***** "Could you repeat that?" B'Elanna asked Seven the next morning. "I said," Seven replied patiently, "I am confused about human emotions, particularly love. How did you know that you loved Tom?" The half-Klingon sighed happily. "I... just knew, I guess. We spent a lot of time together, and I knew he cared for me, especially after the pon farr incident...." She grimaced at the memory. "Stupid Vulcan p'tahk." "What?" Seven asked, not understanding the reference. She did understand the term "p'tahk" and the Vulcan pon farr, but she didn't understand how it applied to B'Elanna's present situation. "I don't understand." B'Elanna exhaled loudly, and pulled Seven into her office. The door closed behind them, and they were finally out of earshot of the rest of her engineering crew. "You know Vorik?" she asked nervously. "Yes." "And you know about the pon farr?" Seven nodded, and B'Elanna went on. "Well, when his pon farr started, he chose me as his mate. I turned him down, but he tried to bond with me anyway. Somehow he transmitted the pon farr imbalance to me, I don't know how exactly." She shook her head to clear it of the cobwebs that surrounded the whole event. "Neelix, Tom, and I went down to the surface of a planet to look for galacite, and Neelix fell off a cliff, pulling me with him. I wasn't hurt, but Neelix broke his leg. I started to walk away, but Tom came after me. He wanted me to stay with the group. I..." She cringed for an instant, then her face regained its former neutral expression. "I bit him on the cheek. Do you understand what that means to a Klingon?" "I do. A bite on the cheek is the Klingon method of marking a mate," Seven stated flatly. B'Elanna nodded, still looking kind of nervous. "That's right. After I 'marked' Tom, he asked why I was acting so strangely. I told him to get away from me, and ran off to look for the galacite myself. Right after I found it, Tom, Chakotay, and Tuvok showed up." She swallowed. "I don't remember much of what happened after that, but I'll tell you what I do know. Tuvok said I was going through the pon farr, and I ignored him. Then some aliens showed up, and the cave started rumbling. Someone grabbed my arm from behind, and I lashed out instinctually. Next thing I knew, I was trapped with Tom, away from the rest of the team." She lowered her voice even further. "I couldn't control my Klingon side. I was... aggressive and... um... determined to get what I wanted - well, needed, I guess. I knew Tom was interested in me, and I told him not to push me away. And for a few seconds, he didn't. But then he told me that he knew it wasn't really me talking, and that he hoped that someday I'd say that and mean it. So you see, he could have taken advantage of me. Kahless, I was practically begging him to. But he didn't. And that showed me how much he'd changed." She sighed. These memories were the most clear of all she remembered of the pon farr. "That's how it all started. After Tuvok and Chakotay found us, Tuvok ordered Tom to.... help me. And he was going to, but he kept apologizing. Vorik interrupted us before anything happened, but I do remember that after I fought Vorik, Tom just held me, brushed back my hair, whispered that everything was going to be fine." She paused, and swallowed. "So how did you know?" Seven repeated. She still didn't understand how B'Elanna had been able to tell. The engineer glared at her pointedly. "I'm getting to that. I avoided Tom for a little while, but we eventually met up in a turbolift. He confronted me, told me that we had to deal with it...." "And...." Seven was getting impatient. B'Elanna's dark eyes shot daggers at the former Borg. "And... I made up some excuse about how I was under the influence of the chemical imbalance, and that I hadn't meant what I had said." She laughed harshly. "I even believed it. But Tom didn't. He said that I was afraid of my Klingon side, and that he wasn't, that he actually liked it," she said slowly. "And that's how I figured it out. But I didn't admit it for so long...." Seven nodded in understanding. "Thank you, B'Elanna. You have been a great help." She left the room without saying anything else, without bringing up her own problem. As the door swished shut behind Seven, B'Elanna grinned, and tapped her comm badge. "Torres to Janeway." "Go ahead," said the captain. "Are you alone? This has to do with Seven's program," B'Elanna explained. "Yes, I am, Lieutenant. What's going on?" The engineer laughed briefly. "A couple more parts should do it. She just showed up in Engineering, wanting to know how I knew that I was in love with Tom." "Good. Have you even bothered to write tomorrow's part?" "Yeah, we did. Just in case." She laughed again. "Seven wanted to know how to hug the other day. And if she was curious about that, tomorrow's part should end the program for good." "Why?" Kathryn asked curiously. "What's it about?" "You'll have to read it to find out," B'Elanna said mysteriously. "I'll send it to you tomorrow." "Fine," the captain said, pretending to be exasperated, and changed the subject. "Do you know how the betting line is running on them?" "Why?" B'Elanna replied innocently. "When's your bet for?" "Next week," Kathryn answered automatically. "Hey, wait a minute. How'd you know I had a bet?" "I heard that Harry was running the pool concerning Tom and me, and that you won that one. I figured you had a similar bet placed on Harry and Seven," B'Elanna shrugged. Laughter filtered over the comm channel. "I do," Kathryn admitted. "But it's just to keep in touch with my crew's lives." "Yeah, right. And I suppose the fact that Seven confides in you had no bearing on how you bet," B'Elanna said skeptically. "Of course not," the captain said mock-indignantly. "I expect a report as soon as you or Tom learns anything new." "Yes, captain," B'Elanna replied. "Torres out." She cut the link, and settled back in her chair to think. Her musings were interrupted by a hiss from the direction of Engineering. She leapt up and ran out into the main engine room. "What the hell was that?!?" "An EPS conduit has malfunctioned in Jefferies tube 7-E," Joe Carey informed her. "Why aren't you fixing it?" she demanded. "Right on it, ma'am," he answered jauntily, and grabbed his toolkit before slipping into the Jefferies tube. ***** That night, Harry waited outside the holodeck for Seven. He accessed program Academy Omega-Twelve while he was waiting, and leaned back against the wall, replaying his conversation with Tom in the mess hall that day over and over in his head. Tom had asked an innocent question. He just wanted to know if Harry was still interested in Seven. Harry had looked down at the inedible glop on his plate, then lowered his voice, and confided that yes, he was still interested. Then Tom had wondered out loud how Seven's lessons were going. Harry had told him that they had been spending the evenings together after the holonovel ended, and Tom had smiled and laughed. He had refused to talk about Seven anymore, and had simply changed the subject to his current favourite: B'Elanna. Harry had listened to his best friend ramble on and on about how much he loved her for an hour, but hadn't really been paying attention to Tom. Seven's insistent voice startled Harry out of his reverie. "Harry? Are you alright?" she asked, sounding concerned. She shook his shoulder lightly, and he realized that his eyes were closed. Seven almost jumped in surprise when Harry's dark eyes flew open. Instead, she took one step back, and composed her face rapidly. Her talk with B'Elanna had convinced her that she may be in love with Harry, but she was unwilling to do anything about it yet. "Hi, Seven," he greeted her. "Let's go." She nodded, and they walked up to the balcony talking softly, going through Kalina and Lixa's apartment, past the still figures of Lixa and a young Bajoran who had already been identified as Kerr. As they sat down, the program initiated and the figures began moving. ***** "Are you okay?" Kerr asked, sounding sympathetic. Lixa nodded firmly. "Yeah, I'll be fine. As long as I *never* have to see him ever again." She looked incredibly unhappy. "I'll make sure he never comes near you. What happened, anyway?" She sighed loudly, heavily. "Promise you won't say a word to anyone else?" "Yeah, I promise," he answered slowly. "And you won't try to beat him up or anything?" She sounded worried. "No, I won't. If I do talk to him, I'll just yell at him." That cracked Lixa's depressed expression. The corners of her lips quivered just a bit, and Kerr noticed. "C'mon, you need to smile." He ran his thumb along her jawline. "Let me see that pretty smile." She jerked away from his hand instinctively, then shuddered. "Sorry. I guess I'm not very good company right now." He leered at her playfully. "I know what will cheer you up...." He leaned in close, and before she could move away from him, kissed her squarely on the lips. She shoved him off of her with more force than was apparent in her slight frame. "Get the fuck off of me!" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Don't ever touch me again!" she screamed. "Wha... I thought that's what you wanted!" he cried, sounding outraged and confused all in one. "No!" she shrieked. "Stay away from me." Kerr didn't listen. His turquoise eyes shone with undisguised lust as he approached her. "You know you want to...." he said suggestively, and grabbed her wrists tightly. "Prophets, not again!" she wailed, tears starting to mark damp paths down her cheeks, and struggled against him. But her strength wasn't nearly a match for his. She twisted her arms around violently, trying to dislodge his death grip, but it was futile. Finally, Lixa managed to get one hand loose, and slapped him hard across the face. He automatically put his other hand up to the hand-shaped mark on his face, and she used that weakness in his hold to sprint across the room, hurdling the couch in the process. She tossed down several chairs in his path, and ended up with a brief window of opportunity, free of Kerr. She reached down into her boot, and pulled out a long, wicked-looking Klingon dagger. "Where did you get a d'k tahg?" Kerr wondered aloud, sounding astonished, and obviously not expecting a response. She answered him anyway. "My mother was part of the Resistance when I was a little girl. She taught me how to fight. A Cardassian came after me when I was five years old. I killed him with his own phaser. But it was close. Just a few seconds difference, and I would have died, or been raped." Lixa was brandishing the knife expertly, surely knowing how to use it very effectively. She laughed sardonically, which seemed incongruous with the tears still streaming down her face. "Since then, I've always had a weapon on me. This little beauty I picked up on Deep Space Nine, the last time I went to visit my mother. The Ferengi bartender had a large collection of... shall we say... collectibles? He sold it to me for a fair price, and, believe me, I *know* how to use this." "I do believe you," he said quickly. "Please put it away." He held up his hands in surrender, and backed slowly away from her. "Yeah, right," she scoffed. "I'll put it away when you get out of here. And never come back." "Fine, fine," he said, obviously trying to appease her. He continued backing slowly toward the door, which slid out of his way when he drew near enough. He kept on going, muttering, "Women! Too emotional...." He spun around as the door swooshed shut. Lixa exhaled deeply with relief. She collapsed in a small pile on the ground, still crying despondently, the d'k tahg cradled safely in one hand. Everything darkened. When the room lit up again, Kalina was talking to Natalia while walking down the street. "I knew it! I knew you two would end up married!" Natalia was saying triumphantly. "Well, she amended ruefully, "maybe. Not for sure." "No," Kalina agreed. "Not for sure." She sighed. "I still don't know how I feel about Dean. Life is too confusing." "Well, your shields are up, so I can't really help you right now..." Natalia began. Kalina cut her off. "This is my building." She pointed at the uppermost apartment. "Let's go. I can understand why you wouldn't want to do this waling down the streets of San Francisco." The two young women walked into the building, and waited for the 'lift, still talking softly aboute tin. Their conversation was interrupted by the swish of the 'lift doors. Kerr rushed out. "Prophets, Kalina, your roommate is nuts! She's up there, holding a Klingon dagger, and threatening to use it on me!" he cried urgently. "What?" Kalina asked reflexively, then concentrated briefly on him. Natalia did the same, and the two came to the same conclusion at the same time. "He's telling the truth," they said in unison. Kalina's voice was resigned, and Natalia's, confused. "She just pulled it out of her boot. I don't even know why!" he said loudly. Natalia shook her head insistently. "You're lying now. You do know why she pulled a knife." She looked at Kerr with searching black eyes. "And you're guilty about it," she revealed casually. "How did you know?" he inquired incredulously. "What? You never met a Betazoid before?" she smirked. "You forgot," Kalina chimed in. "I'm empathic. You *never* lie to either an empath or a telepath. It's pointless." He looked nervous, as if the two women were about to draw daggers of their own right away. Suddenly, he spun around, and ran for it. Kalina moved to go after him, but Natalia held her back. "What he did can't be proven, and it's not serious enough to warrant official charges. In fact, Lixa's d'k tahg was probably what saved him from criminal charges. Let him go." The half-Trill relaxed noticeably, and slid gracefully out of Natalia's grip. "Thanks a lot. I should probably go talk to Lix alone. Do you mind if we postpone this?" The Betazoid shook her head graciously. "Not at all. Later." She left Kalina standing alone in front of the open, empty 'lift. Kalina watched her friend walk away, then boarded the 'lift. It barely jostled her on its way up to the top floor. She got out when the doors opened, and walked quickly into her apartment. Lixa hadn't moved from her fetal position on the ground. Kalina went to stand beside her friend, and drew the knife out of her hands. "I'll just take this, if you don't mind," she said with only a trace of sarcasm to show that even is Lixa *did* mind, it wouldn't matter. "Why did you pull it out?" she asked softly, comfortingly. "You haven't used your d'k tahg for much more than fighting holographic monsters since you bought it." Lixa seemed to recognize Kalina's voice, and her tear-streaked face lifted so their eyes met. "He wanted to.... to...." Her voice broke off in another deluge of tears. "To what?" Kalina insisted kindly. "To.... take me." Kalina must have understood what Lixa meant, because she gasped. "My God, Lix, are you okay?" Lixa stood slowly and patted herself down. "Fine." She grabbed a tissue off a nearby table, and wiped the tears away. She rummaged through a small makeup bag momentarily, until she came up with a tiny compact. She flipped it open, and patted her red face down with the skin-toned powder within. In a few short seconds, no trace of crying could be found, with the sole exception of her shining brown eyes. When she was done, she held out her hand to Kalina. "Can I have my knife back now?" The half-Trill handed it over reluctantly. "Please use it for holograms, not sex-crazy men." She snickered. "Not that they don't deserve it." This elicited a laugh from Lixa, but that joyful sound quickly reverted into a sob. "How do I do it, Kal? Do I have some kind of asshole-magnet on me?" The sob turned back into laughter. Kalina smiled. "No, Lix. You just haven't met the right guy yet. But you will. We all will." Lixa looked at her disbelievingly. "How did you do it?" "What?" Kalina was confused. "Find yours," the half-Bajoran said cryptically. "Huh?" The expression of bewilderment on Kalina's face intensified. "Dean," Lixa clarified. "What? No, Lix, I told you, Dean's not my soulmate." Kalina sighed, and muttered to herself, "I think..." Everything vanished. ***** As the yellow and black grid of the holodeck reappeared, Seven stood. "Why would Tom and B'Elanna write such a violent scene into their story?" she asked, confused. "Oh, B'Elanna's dealt with guys like that before. She told me that she actually did carry a d'k tahg after she left the Academy," Harry explained. "She only hid it away after she came aboard Voyager." He shivered. "You should see that knife. You can tell that she actually got some use out of it." "I do not believe that is their sole motivation," she stated evenly. He paused, thinking, and the pair began walking down the stairs. Harry stopped to pick up the padd on the way out, still silent. Finally, he responded. "What do you think could be their reason for putting that into the story?" She considered this as they got onto the turbolift. "The program is meant to teach me. A few days ago, I asked B'Elanna why many of the male crew members stare at my body. Could that have something to do with it?" He pushed back an insane wave of jealousy. "Maybe. How do you think that could apply?" He realized that no one had specified a destination for the 'lift and looked over at her. "Where do you want to go tonight?" She tilted her head upward. "Cargo Bay Two," she commanded, and the 'lift began moving. Seven then returned her full attention to Harry. "Could this happen on Voyager?" she asked, almost fearfully. He studied her for a second, then spoke. "Not on the ship itself." He exhaled deeply. "But on some of the space stations we stop at, it probably could," he finished regretfully. Her eyes clouded, and she looked away for a moment, not saying a word. She developed a faraway, lost look, and Harry caught it. "What's wrong, Seven?" he asked gently. She turned to face him, her blue eyes still troubled. "When we went through that nebula...." She paused, trying to decide how much to confide. Finally, she whispered, "You know I began experiencing.... problems with my Borg sensory implants near the end of the trip?" "Yeah, the Doctor said that in his report once we all came out of stasis," he replied slowly. "But what does that have to do with Kerr attacking Lixa?" "At one point, I believed that we met a at h and that we rendezvoused with them to trade components." She shuddered slightly at the memory. "Aboard was another single being, an alien man, who kept offering to.... keep me company." He nodded in sympathy. "That must have been really weird." "It was... unsettling." Her expression became thoughtful. "Perhaps B'Elanna wished to show me how to handle a situation like that." He grinned as the doors to the 'lift swished open softly, depositing them just down the corridor from Seven's cargo bay. They walked the few meters in silence and entered the bay. Seven had redecorated to a point. There was a table in the middle of the room, as well as another computer console and a desk. Several armchairs were crowded in one corner. It still looked like a cargo bay, but wasn't as spartan as it had been before. She took a seat in one of the armchairs, and he sat across from her. "That's right, I think," Harry told her. "You'll probably have to deal with a man who wants more than you can give at some point." "Why?" He stifled his smile. Even little Naomi Wildman didn't ask as many questions as Seven. "You're beautiful. It's only natural that-" She cut him off, a raised eyebrow the only sign that she was astonished. "I'm beautiful?" He nodded forcefully before he could chicken out. "Yes, you are." There was an awkward moment of silence, until Harry held up the padd containing the questions. "Ready for the questions?" She nodded, grateful for the distraction. "Let's begin." "Okay, first question: Do you think that Lixa should have pulled her dagger?" "Yes," she answered, very sure of herself. "She needed to defend herself." He jotted that down on the padd, and went on. "Why would Kerr lie to someone he knew was an empath?" She pondered that for a moment. "Do we know if Kalina carries her own knife?" "No." "Starfleet training includes self-defense, correct?" "Uh-huh. In the second year, which Kalina just finished. So she would easily be able to defend herself," Harry explained. "And she is athletically inclined as well. I believe that Kerr was scared of what Kalina could possibly do to him if she learned the truth," Seven concluded. He wrote it down, and decided that she was getting better at this as the holonovel progressed. "Next question: Why would Kalina return Lixa's knife to her?" "So she could defend herself," she stated simply. "Okay. Why do you think Lixa believes Dean and Kalina to be soulmates?" He thought that this was the hardest question. She thought for an instant. "They seem to be very comfortable in each other's company. They obviously love each other, and their personalities are very compatible. Their souls understand each other," she finished poetically, surprising Harry. She sat quietly for a minute, then asked curiously, "Do you believe in soulmates?" He nodded right away. "Yes, I do. It's the only thing that could ever explain Tom and B'Elanna." He held up a warning finger. "But you're not allowed to tell them that." She inclined her head slightly in agreement, and he lowered his hand. "During the first three years or so of the trip, they fought at every chance. Tom would ask her out, she would reject him, and it would all start again the next day. But since the Warp-ten project - I assume you've read our reports?" "I have read every non-classified mission report Voyager has accumulated." "Good. So you know that the three of us worked together to build that shuttle. I think that started their friendship. And something happened on the Sakari planet, but no one will tell me what." He wasn't thrilled that his two best friends were withholding information from him, but he'd had no choice. When he'd asked B'Elanna, she'd given him her "angry Klingon" glare, and stomped away. Tom had just changed the subject. "I know," Seven informed him. He looked at her in astonishment. "What? How do you know?" "B'Elanna told me this morning." "Well? Are you going to tell me, or do I have to go ask B'Elanna and get my arms ripped off?" She glanced at him playfully. "Get your arms ripped off." Harry laughed. "C'mon," he wheedled. "I really want to know." "Fine," she consented, and proceeded to repeat everything B'Elanna had said. "Wow. No wonder they avoided each other for days after that," he breathed, amazed. "But if you think about it, they must have been fated to be together." "Why?" "If Tom hadn't been in that accident at Caldik Prime and eventually ended up in prison, and if B'Elanna hadn't dropped out of the Academy and become Maquis, they probably would never have met. Everything in their lives was meant to lead them on a path towards each other." She considered this. "How does someone know who their soulmate is?" He cleared his throat nervously. "I don't know. I think people just... know." She nodded, and, seeing his discomfort with the topic, changed the subject to the work they were doing in Astrometrics. They continued talking well into ship's night. ***** Kathryn got up from her captain's chair during Alpha shift the next morning, and held up a padd. "Lieutenant Torres just sent me the next part of the holonovel, and I believe I'll go read it in my ready room. Chakotay, you have the conn." Chakotay nodded in acknowledgement, and the captain headed into her ready room. A couple minutes later, Tom suddenly slapped his forehead, a if he'd forgotten something. "Oh, Commander, I forgot about something I have to do for the Doc in Sickbay. Can I...." "Sure. I'll take the helm until your replacement arrives." Tom vacated the pilot's seat for the first officer, and darted into the turbolift. Chakotay watched him go, puzzled as to why Tom would run off the bridge. His unspoken questions were soon answered, however, when Kathryn stalked back out onto the bridge. "Where is he?" she demanded. "Who?" Chakotay asked, though he already had a pretty good idea who she was after. "Tom." She gritted her teeth. "I'm going to personally shoot him out a torpedo tube." "Why?" She handed him the padd, and indicated a few lines that she had highlighted. "Read that." He spun his chair around to face an irate Kathryn Janeway, and noticed the murderous look in her eyes. "He broke into my personal logs!" she cried softly, so that only Chakotay, and possibly Tuvok, could hear. Chakotay read the lines she'd pointed to, and his eyes grew harder and harder as he read. "I'm going to help you load him in." He typed a command into the helm, calling for another pilot. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Tom Paris." "Lieutenant Paris is in Sickbay." "Good," Kathryn muttered. "He's already there. He won't have to limp to Sickbay when I'm done with him." She marched off the bridge, and called to Tuvok, "You have the bridge," as she left. ***** In Sickbay, Tom was pacing back and forth in the surgical bay. "Why did you want me to put you in confinement?" the EMH asked, as confused as a trick of light could get. A forcefield shimmered into existence, then became invisible. "Protective custody. The captain's gonna murder me." "Why?" "Don't ask," Tom murmured. As he finished, the doors slid open to admit the captain, whose blue eyes were hard as steel. "Captain, nice to see you. How did you like the story?" he asked matter-of-factly. "You," she roared, and moved toward him. Tom backed up until his back was against the wall. Even with a forcefield between them, the captain's Look could possibly kill him. She continued advancing on him, mumbling, "How did you get into my logs?" He grinned, looking very much like the cocky observer she'd brought onto Voyager four years ago. "My father locked down my computer all the time when I was little. I learned to get around it by the time I was seven." She kept moving forward, finally hitting the forcefield, which sparked at the contact. "Hey!" she cried. She spun to face the Doctor. "Why is he confined?" He motioned to Tom. "Ask him." "Protective custody," Tom volunteered. "I don't want to be forcefed leola root or anything for the rest of the trip." "No, you get to clean the warp-plasma manifold with a toothbrush." kathryn's angry look had been replaced by a smile. She finally saw the humour in the situation. Tom smiled. "Oh, doesn't that sound like fun?" he retorted. "I'll come back to the bridge if you promise not to kill me." She nodded kindly, and her eyes relaxed their icy glare. "I won't kill you." He glanced over at Chakotay, who, up until now, had been silent. "You too." "I won't kill you. Not yet, at least," he promised. Tom smiled. "That's all I ask. Doc, drop the forcefield." ***** Seven was pacing in front of the holodeck while she waited for Harry. "Computer," she said, just to have something to do, "begin program Academy Omega-Thirteen." The computer beeped in response. "Enter when ready." She wasn't ready yet, however, and she sat down in front of the door. After a few seconds, he walked up, and they entered, talking amiably. The holodeck had conjured up the front door of Lixa and Kalina's apartment this time. They sat down, and the program initiated. ***** Dean walked up to the door and hit the touchpad that would announce his presence to anyone inside. No one answered. He touched it firmly again, thinking that maybe no one had heard. "I'll be right there!" Kalina cried, sounding very far away. "Well," he muttered, "if you can use my code, then it's only fair..." He keyed the code into the door, which slid open. Kalina must have heard the door opening, because she shouted. "Hey, who's there?!?" "It's me," Dean answered. "I'll be right out." Splashing noises filtered out into the main area. Kalina and Lixa must own a bathtub. "I could come help..." he suggested playfully. A musical laugh filled the hallway, and the splashes stopped, and the sounds coming from the bathroom indicated that the water was draining. "Too late." Kalina walked out, hair pinned up on top of her head messily. She had only a towel wrapped around her lithe body, and even her fair skin looked dark beneath the white towel. Dean's eyebrows went up in appreciation, and his jaw drul d. "Is that your new uniform? I like it." She laughed again. "Only if you wear your boxers around campus." She mopped her brow with the back of her hand. "Damn, it's too hot. I thought that bath would cool me down, but it didn't. At least I didn't go on that hike with Lixa and Greg." She began pulling pins out of her hair, letting it flow loosely down her bare back. "What?" "Lixa went out with another of her exes. This was the one I liked the best anyway." She sighed. "I hope I don't turn out to be wrong about him too." Dean nodded. Kalina had probably already explained it all to him. He gestured to her attire. "Do you want some help getting dressed?" "You wish," she teased. "Just stay out here." He plopped himself down on the couch, and propped his feet up on one of the beanbag chairs. "I won't move." "Good," she answered, sounding satisfied. "I'll be in my room." She disappeared into her bedroom, and Dean watched her go. She must have propped the door open with something, since she continued to carry on the conversation. "Why are you here?" "Can't a guy drop by to see his friend?" "Not when she's having a bath," Kalina joked. "I offered to help..." More laughter echoed down the hall. "You're hopeless. Why did you use my code? For all you knew, I could have been walking around naked. It would probably be nice and cool." He smirked, even though she couldn't see him. "I wouldn't be complaining." He stood, and walked a few steps down the hall, not close enough to see inside her room, but close enough so that Kalina sensed his movement. The towel came flying out of the room, directly at his head. "Get your mind out of the gutter." She paused. "And go back into the main room." "Fine..." he said exaggeratedly, and did as he had been told. He stretched out on the couch, and picked up a padd from where it had fallen onto the pile. "Are these your magazines?" "Where?" Her head poked out, hair now neatly tucked into a French twist. He indicated the pile, and she nodded, going back into the room. "Yeah, but don't..." "What's this?" he asked curiously, and a soft Trill swear sounded in the other room. "'From boy friend to boyfriend'." She rushed out, wearing a bikini top and short shorts. "Give me that." She grabbed for the padd, but Dean held it high up in the air, out of her reach. She stood on tiptoes, but he angled the padd so he could still read it. His azure eyes scanned the article, and he mouthed the words. When he got to the end, he handed it over to a nervous-looking Kalina. "Interesting. Is there a reason those first six are checked off and the last one isn't?" "It belongs to Lix...." she said weakly. "Nice try," he grinned. "But I don't believe you. Lix has friends who are male, but she wouldn't bother to read an article like this, much less fill out the quiz." Kalina's green eyes met his. "It's mine," she admitted slowly. "I wasn't sure.... I mean, Nat sensed that we had a bond between us." She sighed. "Her parents were Imzadi, and she thought that we felt like that. It kind of scared me, so I bought this to figure out what was going on." She glanced down at her bare feet. "It didn't help." He looked at her again. "Maybe it did." He ran his finger down the screen until he found what he was looking for. "Chemistry. If you're not sure about this one, kiss him. If no sparks fly, then there's no hope of it turning into anything." "So?" she inquired. "How did that help?" "We still don't know, do we? I thought you'd sensed it, but I wasn't sure." "Sensed what?" Kalina still sounded totally confused. "I'm not sure either," he confided. "So why don't we kiss and see what happens?" She swallowed. "I guess...." They moved closer, and Dean wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his embrace. This was obviously familiar, comfortable. They understood this. Neither moved for a long moment, and both looked very uncomfortable. "Um... Kal?" "Yeah?" she replied nervously. "This is weird." "Why?" He laughed. "Five minutes ago we were joking and making up innuendos. Just friends. And now, we're barely comfortable hugging." That made Kalina smile. "You're right. What should we do about it?" "Remember the fake kiss?" Her grin widened. "That was years ago, but.... yeah, I do." "Why don't we start with that?" he suggested. She nodded, and he placed one hand over her mouth, tightening his hold on her waist with the other one. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he brought his lips to his hand. From the right angle, it could look as though they were kissing. They had obviously done this several times, and were very talented at making it look realistic. Gradually, Dean pulled his hand out from between their mouths, and their lips met for an instant. They separated. She looked at him, and her skin was paling, making her spots stand out. His eyes were wide. "Did you figure it out?" Dean asked. It seemed to be an effort to get each word out. She nodded, probably not trusting her voice. "You?" He nodded as well, and lifted her up by the waist, spinning her around. "Why didn't we do that years ago? It would have saved a lot of people a lot of confusing problems!" She laughed, and shook her head. "No idea. But at least we did it now, before we muddled up anyone else's life..." Their lips met again, more desperately this time, as everything vanished. ***** Seven smiled as the holograms disappeared, and looked over at Harry, who was studying her intently. "I believe the program is over for good," she stated. "What?" he replied, confused. "How do you know?" "The captain and B'Elanna have both told me that when I figured out why I find this program very enjoyable and anticipate it each day, then the program would have run its course." "So?" Harry wasn't sure he understood what was going on. "I enjoy the time spent with you," she explained. "I believe we should... check to see..." That he understood. He took her hand and they walked down to the main level of the holodeck. He leaned closer to her, and they kissed. Seven pulled back after a moment. "I was right. Good." He didn't have time to ask what she'd been right about, because she cocked her head to one side, listening. "Do you hear cheering outside the holodeck?" He listened as well. "Yeah, I do." He held one finger to her lips, signalling for her to be quiet, and crept over to the door, making sure to stay well out of the way of the sensors which automatically opened the door. Suddenly, he leapt into the range of the sensors, opening the door. Tom fell into the holodeck and B'Elanna jumped back in surprise. She swatted Tom on the shoulder in annoyance. "You were too loud!" Tom laughed. "Oh well. They would have found out eventually." He waved to Seven. "Hello. I hear your program is finished." "That's right," she said bluntly. She and Harry left the holodeck, joining their friends in the corridor. B'Elanna smiled, and held out one hand to help Tom up. He stood, and wrapped his arm around her waist. She looked up at him innocently. "I win." Harry glared at them, not believing what was going on. "You guys had a bet on us?" Tom nodded eagerly. "And B'Elanna gets to collect." He kissed her firmly. "One." And again, longer this time. "Two." "How much did you bet?" "Two hundred kisses." Harry reached for Seven's hand. "C'mon. They could be here all night." She placed her hand in his, and he pushed them into the holodeck. The doors slid shut behind the couple, already totally engrossed in each other. Harry wondered if they had developed some other kind of respiratory system, then pushed the thought from his mind. He had more important things to worry about. "Computer, place privacy lock around this holodeck, authorization Kim delta-lambda-four-two. Open only for the authorizations of Lieutenants Paris and Torres." The computer beeped. "Understood." He turned to Seven, whose hand was still tucked firmly in his. "C'mon. We're going to my quarters to talk." "I want to check something out again..." ********** THE END ~~~~~ Loved it? Hated it? Wondering if I'm sane? Want to know more about my holocharacters? I might write a sequel... But only if you send me feedback at rae67@hotmail.com. Copyright August 1998.