GENESIS pt 2

Star Trek Voyager fanfic. The unthinkable had happened and Janeway found herself having to perform a Captain's final duties for the two young women she loved so dearly. Unknown to her though this is not the end but rather the beginning...
(Seven/B'Elanna) Divided into three parts due to size.

Read Genesis pt 2

Disclaimer: See part 1.



GENESIS pt 2 of 3
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





“Doctor? Did I just hear that you are waking them up?” Janeway had barely moved inside the room before asking, her slightly breathless voice a testimony to the fact that she had raced from the turbolift to get there in time.

The doctor, assisted by Ensign Wildman and supervised by Tuvok who had his phaser drawn, paused in the process of leaning over Seven with a hypospray in his hands. “Captain. Yes, as a matter of fact we are about to try and wake them in a few moments.”

“Are you sure about that, doctor? It’s only been a few days since the last of your procedures on them, won’t they need to rest and regenerate for a while longer?” Janeway was eager to see the women up and about again, but she was also anxious about waking them to soon and cause them further injury.

“I’m quite sure, Captain. We need to awake them to see if the procedures so far are working, then they can go back to resting again. Provided, of course, nothing is wrong.” The last was spoken under his breath, to not needlessly worry his commanding officer. “Tuvok is here in case we have a repeat scenario of what happened the last time one of them woke up.”

It had been quite by accident. After a few procedures the doctor had arranged for Seven to be connected to the portable emergency regeneration unit, hoping to start up the still lagging implants enough to tide her over until Seven would be able to use her alcove. What no-one had thought about was that even Seven’s emergency unit had it’s own timer, automatically waking her up at the end of the preset regeneration cycle.

When she woke up, Tom Paris had been in Sickbay to visit B’Elanna, and was in the middle of leaning over the still unconscious B’Elanna to kiss her when Seven had sat up and looked around.

Before anyone had the chance to react, she had thrown herself from her biobed and hit Tom in the jaw so hard it broke in three places and threw him into the wall with enough impact to give him a severe concussion.

It had been fortunate for Tom that Seven had still been rather weak from the procedures, otherwise a hit like that would have killed him before anyone would have been able to stop her. As it was, Seven was quickly sedated and Tom put on another biobed and treated, then given strict orders not to enter Sickbay unless called upon. Seven and B’Elanna were both put in restraints from that incident on, and the emergency regeneration unit carefully set for continuous regeneration.

“We need to wake them up to take a few readings, and if those readings are within acceptable parameters, we’ll let them go back to sleep shortly. If something turns out to be wrong they’ll still be put back to sleep, but hopefully we’ll know what we need to keep working on.” The doctor injected Seven with the hypospray, then B’Elanna.

They watched in silence as first Seven’s, then B’Elanna’s eyes fluttered and opened.

The doctor leaned in to take Seven’s readings, speaking quietly to her as he did so. “Seven? Can you understand me? Don’t be alarmed if you can’t remember who I am, but if you understand what I’m saying please give me a sign.”

Seven grimaced a little and squinted against the light shining in her eyes. When she tried to cover her eyes with her hand, she discovered that she had been tied down to the biobed.

“Don’t be afraid Seven, we’re here to help you.” The doctor tried to soothe her. “Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, I...” She squinted at him. “Doctor?” Her still somewhat sluggish voice inquired hesitantly, causing the hologram to beam with delight at being remembered.

“Yes Seven... that’s me.” He moved the tricorder over her head and smiled reassuringly. “Please remain calm, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“I...” She began, but was interrupted by the sound of B’Elanna fighting her restraints in the other bed. Samantha Wildman was trying to calm her down, but B’Elanna growled and grunted and tore at the restraints, injuring herself trying to get loose.

The doctor was about to turn around and assist Sam when Seven looked at him. “Doctor, please let me go to her.” She requested softly, her eyes tracking to B’Elanna’s struggling form with obvious concern.

The doctor hesitated, looking at Seven for a moment. Then he turned towards the Captain, shrugged a little, and removed the restraints from Seven. Tuvok immediately trained his phaser on her, but Seven didn’t seem to notice. Instead she staggered to her feet and moved to B’Elanna’s side.

In one smooth, negligent motion, Seven severed the restraints holding B’Elanna down, then scooped the smaller woman up to rest against her. B’Elanna stopped struggling as soon as she saw Seven, and when the other woman pulled her in, she tucked herself into Seven’s embrace with obvious relief.

“M-my... head hurts.” B’Elanna groaned indistinctly into Seven’s hospital tunic, her voice rasping.

“Mine as well.” Seven responded, cuddling B’Elanna close and burying her face in her hair.

After a moment, they drew back a little, looking at each other intently. Blue eyes searched brown, and a Borg-enhanced hand came up to trace features with a butterfly touch.

“...B’Elanna?” Seven’s voice was as soft as the light touch moving across brow ridges and trailing down one cheek, and her eyes were warm and loving.

“Seven?” B’Elanna spoke the name hesitantly, then lit up in an adoring smile. “Seven.” She breathed, tangling her hands into long blonde tresses before closing the small distance between them. They kissed as if completely unaware of their surroundings, or of the people gaping at them.

After a moment, Tuvok spoke up. “I do believe the purpose for awakening them was to examine them, doctor.”

“Right.” The doctor snapped out of his trance. “Seven? B’Elanna?”

The women, still kissing deeply, showed no signs of having heard him. He cleared his throat. “Seven, B’Elanna!”

The two women did not separate, though they did stop kissing and turn their heads in his direction. B’Elanna scowled darkly, baring her teeth at him, while Seven merely cocked her implant. “Yes doctor?”

‘He means us no harm.’ She soothed B’Elanna, feeling the rising agitation in the smaller woman. B’Elanna nodded reluctantly and settled down in Seven’s arms. Then they noticed the rest of their surroundings.

“The sky... it’s gone.” B’Elanna struggled with the elusive mist of her memories. “No clouds.” She sounded somewhat despondent at that, and sighed.

“No, no clouds.” Seven agreed, kissing the top of B’Elanna’s head. Then she directed her attention towards the other people standing in the room. She met the eyes of Kathryn Janeway.

Janeway was crying silently, just a few happy tears to see them, hear them, alive again and sounding ever so slightly closer to their usual selves. She saw the dawning spark of recognition in Seven’s eyes, and smiled tremulously at them both.

Seven hesitated, then spoke. “Captain?”

A tiny noise escaped Janeway before she could control herself enough to answer. “Yes Seven, it’s me... Kathryn, your Captain and your friend.” She moved a little closer to them. “Do you remember me?”

Seven frowned slightly. “I believe so... but my memory is... difficult to access at the moment. Are you...” Seven’s voice faltered as if she was unsure of how to word what she wanted to ask.

“...our mother?” B’Elanna finished Seven’s sentence with a curious look at the crying woman.

Another strangled sob escaped Janeway before she answered. “In my heart, Lanna, always in my heart. But not by blood, to either of you.” She inched closer until she could lightly touch B’Elanna’s leg. “Do you remember me as well, B’Elanna?”

“I think so. It’s hard to say... my memory feels like a fog, if I try to catch something that floats by it just dissolves.” B’Elanna’s voice lacked it’s usual fire and like Seven she seemed troubled by the difficulty to remember, still she seemed peaceful in Seven’s embrace.

“Don’t worry, you’re just at the beginning of your recuperation, I have every confidence you’ll both have full recovery of your memories in time.” The doctor interjected smoothly, stepping closer to them. “We just have to be patient. But for now we need to examine you both, and take a look at those cuts on your arms B’Elanna. Will you let us do this?”

At both women’s hesitant nods, the doctor and Samantha moved in to run their tests. Samantha was told to begin by healing the small cuts along B’Elanna’s arms and legs from where she had injured herself on her restraints, while the doctor ran his tricorder over Seven’s implants. The women sat, side by side, on the biobed, not willing to part further than that, so the doctor had to adjust the examination to allow this.

Seven looked strangely at Samantha for a while. “You have a... subunit. Na-o-mi.” She pulled out the name into it’s syllables awkwardly, tilting her head at Samantha.

Sam smiled widely. “Yes! Yes, my Naomi. I’m Samantha Wildman, and you both know me.”

“Naomi.” Seven repeated thoughtfully. “How is Naomi, SamanthaWildman?”

“She’s better now that she knows that you’re... well, Seven. She’s very happy to have you back, it was difficult for her when you... were gone. She loves you very much.” Sam’s voice was gentle, trying not to let her own sorrow and the sorrow of her little girl shine through, and she also tried not to mention the fact that both women had been dead. They didn’t know yet if Seven and B’Elanna knew this, and what their reactions would be when it occurred to them.

Seven smiled slightly, her affection for Naomi coming through despite the difficulties to remember past the time on the planet. “I am sorry that Naomi has suffered. I care greatly for her as well.”

Sam beamed at that, although she had heard Seven express her love for Sam’s little girl in similar ways many times before. She knew that a certain little girl would be overjoyed to hear that her friend and hero remembered this much about her right away.

B’Elanna glared at Sam and pouted. “Naomi? Who is this Naomi?” She growled jealously, crossing her arms across her chest in an unconscious effort to look bigger and more imposing.

Biting her lip not to laugh at the endearing, if slightly ridiculous sight, Sam hastened to reassure the pouty engineer. “Naomi is my daughter, B’Elanna... my little girl. She is about so high...” She held her hand out at the approximate height of her only child. “...and she absolutely adores Seven.”

“Oh.” B’Elanna was pacified, and relaxed her posturing. Then she looked thoughtful. “Naomi... has spikes?” She asked, touching her forehead ridges lightly with three fingers, indicating the tiny spikes on Naomi’s forehead.

“Yes.” Sam was surprised, after all, B’Elanna might still be her friend although they were no longer as close, but she didn’t think B’Elanna felt any particular closeness to little Naomi. “Yes, Naomi has spikes on her forehead. She’s half-Katarian, just like you’re half-Klingon.”

Both the doctor and Janeway were making not-so-subtle gestures for Sam to shut up, but it was a bit too late.

“Klingon?” B’Elanna asked, her hand coming to rest slowly against her ridges.

Sam looked apologetically at her superior officers, briefly. “Yes B’Elanna. See?” She touched her own forehead. “I’m completely human, and Naomi is half-Katarian. You are half-Klingon.” Indicating B’Elanna’s ridges. “Don’t worry, you’ll remember about that in time.”

“I am half-Klingon.” B’Elanna said slowly, then turned and touched Seven’s ocular implant. “And Seven is... what?”

Sam smiled somewhat wanly, internally giving herself a good kick in the shin and wondering if she dared to look at her superior officers at all. “Well, you see... Seven is kind of... umm, half-Borg?”

“Borg?” Seven breathed, her eyes looking haunted suddenly. “I am Borg.” Her voice grew completely unemotional and distant. She shrank back from them, including from B’Elanna’s light touch on her facial implants.

B’Elanna gasped slightly and her eyes grew wide as the backlash of Seven’s emotions washed over her through their bond. Then with a low growl she spun around and straddled Seven, grasping Seven’s face firmly in her hands. “No!” She snapped, looking into Seven’s eyes. “No, mine!”

The veil of hurt and despair seemed to draw away from Seven’s eyes, and B’Elanna’s voice and grip gentled. “You are mine, bangwI'.”

They clung to one another.

‘You are mine’

----------------------

Days passed after the completion of the doctor’s exam, during which B’Elanna and Seven were kept mostly unconscious. Finally the doctor reasoned that they had done all that could be done for the two women in that state, and the sedatives were cut. To begin with neither Seven nor B’Elanna stayed awake for very long periods of time, and it was clear that although they were slowly regaining their memories, that process was difficult for them. Seven appeared to have much better access to her memories, most likely due to her now functioning implants, than B’Elanna, but she appeared to struggle greatly emotionally with their implications, which B’Elanna so far had less trouble with.

They stayed in Sickbay where the doctor could keep an eye on them, although Sickbay itself was sectioned off to give them some privacy from those that still needed to see the doctor for medical reasons. A few people were allowed inside the partition for very brief visits with the convalescing women, such as Harry Kim, Neelix, Chakotay, and little Naomi. Janeway came and went as she pleased, or as her duty permitted, which made her the person besides the doctor and Samantha Wildman that Seven and B’Elanna saw most often. Tuvok had agreed to keep his security detail standing guard outside of Sickbay itself rather than inside the room, but he still insisted it be kept as a precaution for now.

Tom Paris was prohibited from doing his usual duty shifts in Sickbay, and furthermore, he was forbidden from coming to see B’Elanna. Security had to forcibly stop him from entering Sickbay and escorted him away at least twice before he finally grasped that he was not going to be allowed to see his former girlfriend while she was still there.


One day Sam Wildman had enough of Seven and B’Elanna’s wild appearance, replicated a few sets of loose-fitting clothing, brought a big bucket of water, shampoo, brushes and scissors, and paid them a particular visit.

After some persuasion, the doctor decided to not only allow Sam to try to convince Seven and B’Elanna to get their hair in order, but to help out as well. The women in question were at first rather sceptic to the idea, although they were very grateful for the new clothing.

“And why should we let you do this... hydro-washing thing, again?” B’Elanna said while sniffing the shampoo bottle. She found she liked the scent, grinned, and promptly stuck it under Seven’s nose. “Here, smell this.”

“Well, _that_, for one thing.” Sam chuckled. “It’ll make your hair smell nice, apart from also making it clean and making it easier for me to brush out the tangles for you.”

“B’Elanna always smells exceptionally nice.” Seven told Sam, but still sniffed the offered bottle. B’Elanna beamed happily at the compliment. “And we have been sanitized.”

“Yeah, you were cleaned up, but it’s not the same thing. Wouldn’t you like to have your lovely hair properly clean and knot-free? And we need to even it out a bit for you, too.”

“I would like to try this.” B’Elanna stated, taking back the shampoo. “What do I do?”

“Just lie down here...” Sam showed B’Elanna to lie down on a biobed while she washed the long curly tresses for her. It took some time before Sam was satisfied, then she repeated the process with Seven. The doctor joined them as Sam was carefully brushing out the tangles from Seven’s hair, and he picked up a brush to do the same for B’Elanna.

“Well now...” The doctor piped up with surprising cheerfulness. “how do you want your hair?” He picked up a scissor and held up B’Elanna’s large, knot-free but still unruly mane of hair and aimed the scissors to cut at about shoulder length. “Your old hairstyle, I presume? Of course, I could offer you some lovely variations that...”

“No!” Seven shot up from where she had been sitting, patiently allowing Sam to brush her hair through a few more times, and crossed over to B’Elanna’s side in an instant. She pushed the doctor away and scooped up B’Elanna and her hair in her arms protectively.

B’Elanna blinked a little in surprise but didn’t object, and when Seven ran her fingers adoringly through her hair, B’Elanna purred contently and rested her head on Seven’s shoulder. Seven glared at the doctor and pouted, causing him to sigh and shake his head.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her!” He exclaimed indignantly. “For goodness sake, Seven, I was going to cut it at whatever length and in whatever style she wanted, I wasn’t going to just chop it all off!”

“Seven.” Sam admonished gently. “A ‘no’ would have been enough, you can’t go around just shoving people across the room when you don’t agree with them.”

Seven looked a bit embarrassed, and after a moment she looked at the doctor apologetically. “I am... sorry. I did not mean to hurt you, doctor. I simply...” She watched her fingers slip through the dark curls, unable to look at the doctor. “...reacted. Please do not cut B’Elanna’s beautiful hair.”

“It’s allright Seven, I wasn’t hurt.” The doctor told her gently. “But if it had been anyone else, they could have been, do you understand? You’re so much stronger than everyone else, you have to restrain yourself from lashing out when it’s not really necessary.”

Seven nodded, clearly ashamed.

“And as for B’Elanna’s hair, well, that’s up to her, although we do need to cut off at least a little, if not for aesthetical reasons then for the sake of safety. If B’Elanna is to return to active duty sometime, she will have to cut some of it off, because wearing her hair this long could be dangerous in her line of work.” The doctor tried to explain as reasonably as he could. “It’s not something either of you need to consider right now, though, because you’re not going back to your duties for some time yet.”

B’Elanna looked up at Seven, who was still pouting slightly and running her fingers through B’Elanna’s hair. Then she touched her hair tentatively, indicating a length somewhere just above mid-back. “Would this be allright? I could tie it back with a piece of leather if it got in the way during work.” It wasn’t entirely clear who she was asking.

“And does Seven have to have hers cut as well?” B’Elanna asked, frowning slightly as she ran her hands through Seven’s hair.

“Well, yes, I would recommend it. Though, again, it’s up to you.” The doctor assured them. He watched with some surprise how Seven and B’Elanna looked at one another for some time, neither of them speaking, although Seven nodded briefly once. Then Seven released B’Elanna and they both turned to him, giving him the eerie feeling that he had missed out a part of the conversation somehow.

The doctor then cut B’Elanna’s hair to the indicated length, somewhat amused when Sam insisted she’d be allowed to braid the part that was to be cut off before he put the scissors to work in B’Elanna’s mane. Seven looked on mournfully, but Sam surprised them all by finishing the braid and securing it, then handing it to Seven to keep. Seven smiled happily and brought the braid to her face, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply.

The newly coiffed B’Elanna then insisted she’d be given a braid of Seven’s hair to keep when it was Seven’s turn to have a haircut, and then tucked the blonde braid safely into the chest pocket on the burgundy shirt that Sam had provided. Seven’s hair was left somewhat longer than B’Elanna’s, for the simple reason that the doctor thought it was easier for Seven to fasten her hair into a bun and thus out of the way while she worked, than it was for B’Elanna to do the same with her unruly curls.

“Would you look at that... you’re finally presentable.” Sam joked and straightened Seven’s deep blue shirt while the younger woman was busy playing with the buttons.

“Whom are we to be presented to?” Seven asked distractedly, inspecting the enamel buttons a bit more closely. B’Elanna smirked and playfully reached over to undo the buttons as Seven closed them, causing a small game of finger-wrestling over the possession of said buttons.

Sam shook her head. “No-one Seven, it’s just an expression. I just wanted to say that you look nice.”

“Yes, very nice.” B’Elanna agreed, eyeing Seven with a tiny leer on her lips. “Very nice indeed. That looks very very nice on you. Of course...” B’Elanna yanked Seven closer and peered unashamedly down the opening of her shirt, then sighed wistfully. “...you look even nicer without it.”

Seven giggled softly as Sam blushed and the doctor looked decidedly uncomfortable. B’Elanna did not look up from her inspection of Seven’s chest underneath the shirt.

“Hey, when are we going to be allowed to move to my quarters? Soon? Please, say it’s soon.” B’Elanna didn’t seem to notice that her other hand had snaked down to cup Seven’s behind. “Very soon.”

“Erm, well, I’m sure it won’t be too much longer now, but you need to stay here for a while longer...” The doctor began awkwardly, only to be interrupted by B’Elanna’s deep and heartfelt sigh. She let go of Seven’s shirt and instead leaned her head against Seven’s shoulder.

“But doctor...” She complained against the fabric of Seven’s shirt. “...you don’t let us, you know, be intimate in here. It’s been forever!”

The huge sigh of frustration that B’Elanna let out, and that was responded to by Seven pulling her arms a bit closer around her, would have been comical if it weren’t for the fact that Sam and the doctor had walked in on the pair in semi-intimate situations several times already. It had led to a conversation about things that it was not proper to engage in while in Sickbay, and meant that Seven and B’Elanna did try not to embarrass the doctor and his assistant further, but it also meant that they were both beyond eager to leave. B’Elanna had remembered that she had her own quarters somewhere, and had begun insisting she and Seven be allowed to stay there instead.

Sam Wildman blushed some more. The doctor fidgeted. Finally he sighed. “It won’t be much longer, B’Elanna, I’m sure of that. Try to, umm... restrain yourselves a bit longer, please.” He rolled his eyes a bit and wondered if he shouldn’t let Janeway have this little talk with her girls after all. “And it isn’t a good idea for you to be, umm, intimate in that sense at the moment, heaven only knows how you’ll react later on and...”

B’Elanna spun around and pierced the doctor with an angry glare, perceiving a threat to the precious bond to her mate. Sam, realizing that the doctor was about to say some things better left unspoken until the women were more stabile, cleared her throat loudly and stepped in to distract the suddenly very tense women. “I was told to ask you if it was allright if Naomi stopped by a little later? She wants to come visit and tell you all about her latest holodeck adventure, I suspect. Would that be OK with you?”

“Of course it is.” Seven said warmly. “I always look forward to her visits, Samantha.”

“Spike?” B’Elanna perked up. “Oo, have her bring some of those games she had with her last time, will you? I’d love to play.”

That had been unexpected. That Seven and Naomi were close were no surprise to anyone, but that B’Elanna took to the girl as well had been quite an unforeseen development. B’Elanna particularly liked to play games with the little girl, and Naomi was quite ecstatic to have gained yet another playmate.

“I will.” Sam promised. “She’ll stop by after Neelix has brought you dinner later on, then.” She noticed that Seven made a face. “What is it Seven?”

“Mr Neelix.” Seven grumbled. “He brings me unpalatable nutritional supplements while B’Elanna is given banana pancakes. I would like to have pancakes as well.”

B’Elanna hugged her and kissed her cheek. “We can share my pancakes, Seven... we always do.” Then she made a face. “But those drinks he sends you are disgusting! Why does he do that, anyway?”

“I’m sure Neelix just doesn’t know that you can digest food more easily now, Seven.” Sam soothed. “I’ll let him know that you don’t want those supplements anymore, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to get you the same food he’s bringing for B’Elanna.”

“Why wouldn’t Seven be able to eat food?” B’Elanna wanted to know, going back to absently playing with Seven’s buttons.

“Seven’s implants were... more sensitive before, and one of the side-effects of that was that she had a very restricted diet.” The doctor told them, glad to focus the conversation back on areas where he had expertise. “Seven still has some restrictions we must observe, but you are right that we should inform Neelix that she no longer needs to digest her nutritional supplements.”

“Another change from how your implants used to work is the amount of time you need to regenerate, Seven.” The doctor warmed up to his subject and spoke far more animatedly. “Before, you needed to spend several hours a day regenerating in your alcove to function at peak efficiency, and you never slept. Now, with the changes in the workings of your implants, you can chose instead to spend two or three hours in your alcove each week, or five hours with your emergency unit, as long as you eat and sleep properly and don’t suffer any damages.” He gestured at Seven while pacing back and forth. “If you were to be hurt, or had a problem with your implants, regeneration in your alcoves would still be the best thing to speed up your recovery. Why, if I could prescribe all my patients to...”

They tuned him out, quietly talking amongst themselves instead.

----------------------

Another handful of days passed, and became quite obvious to all involved that they were not going to be able to keep B’Elanna and Seven confined to Sickbay for much longer. There was little reason to, as the doctor had done all he could for them physically, and both women were in excellent health, although there was still a ways to go with their other problems. Those things would not be aided by keeping them in Sickbay however, so after some careful consideration it was decided to prepare B’Elanna’s quarters for her.

The fact that B’Elanna, with ever shortening temper, had threatened to just walk out of Sickbay and look around the ship on her own if they weren’t allowed out of there soon had perhaps brought the dilemma to light, but it was when she darkly told them that if she and Seven were to be held prisoners like that indefinitely, she would have preferred it if they had been allowed to live out their short but happy lives on the planet instead, that really drove the point home.

Seven was another kind of dilemma. She had never had quarters of her own, and putting the recovering woman in Cargo Bay 2 among the storage containers and Borg technology seemed very much like a bad idea. Especially since she no longer needed to rely on her alcove as much, but instead slept and ate like anyone else onboard. Janeway decided they would put the women together in B’Elanna’s quarters for now, considering they would probably need one another’s support in the changes the recovery of their memories would bring, and also quite simply because any attempt at separating them would most likely be met with a great deal of violence from both of them.

It was with that in mind that Kathryn Janeway brought with her a small group of people that could be considered friends to one if not both of the women in question, and headed to the sealed off quarters that had used to belong to B’Elanna Torres.

Janeway had been there herself, alone, packing B’Elanna’s things together for storage or, eventually, recycling, a short while after the woman’s death. Once that was done she had shut off environmental controls and sealed the door off with a high-clearance command, in preparation for the day when someone else would be reassigned those rooms as their living area. Seven’s things were left as they were, as the young ex-Borg had very little personal belongings and they were all already stored in compartments in her alcoves, making her living space all the more clearly just another object stored away in the Cargo Bay. It had shattered Janeway more to turn off the power to the alcoves than it did to pack B’Elanna’s belongings away, as it pointed out the cruel mistakes she had made in allowing Seven to live that way.

B’Elanna’s quarters had not yet been reassigned to someone else, and as such Janeway had not expected the sight that met her as she used her clearance to enter the rooms flanked by Neelix, Chakotay and Harry.

The place was a pigsty.

Someone had, clearly with the use of a high clearance code themselves, entered and turned the environmental controls back on, then unpacked a few things, like B’Elanna’s bed, and used them. The bed was dirty and unmade, and had what looked like a large stain of wine soaked into the mattress, the floors were covered with dirty articles of clothing, padds, unrecycled food plates and glasses, and synthenol bottles. One wall was covered in a large, gooey stain, with pieces of glass and broken cutlery littering the floor in front of it, clearly having been the target for a destructive fit and then left that way.

Janeway was grinding her teeth so hard she was giving herself a pounding headache. She didn’t need to take a closer look at the ruined uniforms on the floor to know just who had used their clearance to defile the former quarters of B’Elanna Torres that way... and if she could have gotten her hands on the helmsman right at that moment, he might just have joined the bottles he must have thrown into the wall, but fortunately for him, Tom was still on duty.

While Janeway reigned in her temper, Chakotay discreetly directed the others to begin cleaning up, the took his superior aside. After some argumentation on Chakotay’s part, he managed to convince Janeway that she should go get those of Seven’s meagre belongings she thought the young woman might like, after that maybe check in with the doctor if there was anything in particular they needed to get, and leave the cleaning up to them. After a moment Janeway agreed, gracing her second-in-command with a small grin to tell him he was as transparent as ever, and left for Cargo Bay 2.

She considered stopping by the Bridge first, to have a word or three with her helmsman, but even though she was angry Janeway knew it was grief that had driven Tom, and while he had to be reprimanded at least she should do so when she herself was seeing things with a clearer head. She snorted to herself that Tuvok was having a bad influence on her as she entered the turbolift.

A handful of hours later Janeway, the doctor, Tuvok and at a distance behind them, a small group from security, escorted Seven and B’Elanna to B’Elanna’s old quarters. Both women seemed very eager to leave Sickbay although B’Elanna groused about having to be escorted by security as if they were criminals, but strangely enough hearing the half-Klingon complain about things just made Janeway smile with the familiarity of it all. She found herself deeply moved, although also very concerned, by the fact that without appearing to notice it themselves, Seven and B’Elanna walked down the corridors hand in hand.

“...so how long are we going to have security hanging around outside our door, anyway?” B’Elanna grumbled on. “OK so I get that we’re not allowed to go wherever we please on the ship unless we have company yet, but we will be allowed to eventually, right? And they’re not allowed to come busting into our place whenever they want, either, just so we’re on the clear on that.”

Janeway grinned, oh yes, this felt familiar indeed. The fact that she was the ship’s Captain rarely cut her any slack with either of these young women. “The guards are there mostly for your sake, to keep visitors away when you’re not up to seeing them, to escort you to the messhall when you feel like going there for your dinner, and also to keep an eye out in case something happens and you’re not able to call for help yourselves...” They entered the living area in question. “...that sort of thing, not so much to keep you confined to your quarters.”

She shook her head ruefully as she realized that B’Elanna had stopped listening, and instead walked around her old home with a big smile on her face. Seven also walked around inspecting things, and B’Elanna turned around, grabbed Seven’s arm, and dragged her around the room with her, pointing at things.

“Careful, that bat'leth is sharp!” Janeway exclaimed, wondering who was responsible for putting B’Elanna’s razor sharp weapon on display in the same room as her defenceless girls.

She received an answering chorus of ‘Yes Captain’, but neither Seven nor B’Elanna moved away until they had inspected the weapon to their content. Janeway waited until they moved away to the other room before sending Tuvok and the doctor a glare and an urgent nod in the direction of the weapon. The doctor rolled his eyes a little, but he and Tuvok still walked over to secure the weapon safely and cover it’s sharp edges with a transparent sheath.

“TOBY!” B’Elanna’s delighted cry startled Janeway so much she was already in the doorway to the bedroom before realizing that it was not a cry of distress. As that realization hit her, she sagged slightly on the doorframe.

“Look Seven, it’s Toby! My Toby!” B’Elanna hugged the worn stuffed toy with a huge grin, kissing the rumpled head, before holding it up for Seven to admire. She laughed when Seven leaned in to scent the toy, then rubbed the fingers of her human hand over the worn material.

“Toby smells like you, B’Elanna.” Seven stated with approval.

“Of course he does, I’ve had him forever.” B’Elanna grinned. “He’s my favourite thing.” Then she stopped and gave Seven a sultry look. “Well, he _used_ to be my favourite thing...”

Seven smiled and moved in to wrap her arms around B’Elanna, causing the smaller woman to lean back in the embrace and purr.

Janeway cleared her throat delicately and looked around the bedroom, not quite sure how she was supposed to react to the idea of her girls, together, yet. Her eyes fell on the bed that Chakotay had replicated to replace the one that Tom Paris had ruined. Her eyes grew wide, then she looked around the room again. “Umm, Tuvok, doctor... where is the other bed?”

Tuvok and the doctor appeared in the doorway, and B’Elanna and Seven turned to pay more attention as well.

“What other bed would that be, Captain?” Tuvok asked reasonably.

“What?” B’Elanna straightened in alarm. “You’re not putting someone else in here with us, are you?”

“Ahh, I meant the bed for Seven...” Janeway said somewhat hesitantly to Tuvok. “It seems they forgot to put a bed in here for Seven.”

“Captain?” The doctor cut in as delicately as he could. “That bed is made for two, and in all honesty they have been sleeping together on the same biobed since they were taken off their sedatives. There wouldn’t be any use to put a second bed in here.”

“W-who authorized this?” Janeway asked stiffly, making plans to make dinner for whoever was responsible, which was her own personal form of vengeance. It wasn’t that she disapproved, not really, although she still needed to adjust to the idea, it was the knowledge that when the young women had regained enough of their memories to be back to something along the lines of their old selves, that might just tear them apart.

“It was Commander Chakotay, Captain.” Tuvok replied calmly, silently giving as much approval as a Vulcan could. “The bed was especially designed by Commander Chakotay as well.”

B’Elanna grinned briefly. “Give Chocolatay my thanks, will ya Tuvok?”

“Please express my gratitude for his thoughtfulness as well, Commander.” Seven requested.

“Now, Captain...” B’Elanna grew serious again, in fact she got a bit agitated as she turned her attention back to Janeway. “You didn’t answer my question. You’re not putting someone else in here with us, are you?”

“I hope not, for their sake...” The doctor muttered under his breath, looking at the ceiling.

“I...” Janeway floundered slightly. “I just thought... it would be better... safer, for you, if...”

“To seek to interfere with a mated bond is illogical, Captain... and it can be very dangerous. I would advice against it.” Tuvok inclined his head slightly towards Seven, in acceptance of the passing look of respect and gratitude that flitted subtly across her features. Her Borg nature made her nearly Vulcan in his eyes, a fact that made him all the more inclined to treat her and B’Elanna’s Pon Far-induced mating bond with the respect that his people always treated marital bonds.

“I wasn’t trying to _interfere_, Tuvok...” Janeway sighed and admonished her old friend. “...but they’ll have troubles enough when...”

“Worrying about what may or may not happen when we’ve got quite enough on our plate with the present is also illogical, right Commander?” The doctor dared to supply to the conversation, gently trying to nudge Janeway out of the bedroom.

“Indeed.” Tuvok said, raising an eyebrow at the holographic doctor but not contradicting him.

B’Elanna had enough. “Yeah, well, your concern is appreciated, but it’s not necessary, we’ll be just fine on our own.” She pushed Janeway slightly until she stepped out of the bedroom, then made small shooing motions at them. “We appreciate all you’ve done for us and we’ll probably see you tomorrow, but for right now Seven and I want to be _alone_. See yourselves out, will ya?”

With that B’Elanna simply turned and pulled Seven in close. The two women were already kissing passionately when the doctor grabbed Janeway’s elbow and urged her towards the exit.

A deep-throated growl and a moaning “Oh _Seven_!” followed them out through the doors.