Laugh With Me pt4

STAR TREK VOYAGER-fanfic. Incidental proposals and… nakedness?
(Seven/B'Elanna)

Read Laugh With Me pt4

For disclaimers see pt1.




Laugh With Me pt4
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by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson





As B’Elanna left her quarters not long thereafter, showered and ready for her partial duty shift, she had a feeling her life had just irrevocably changed due to the woman whom had curiously enough walked her to the door before, hopefully, spending the rest of the day relaxing on B’Elanna’s couch. She didn’t quite anticipate some of the ways in which it would change, though.

Happily making sure her beloved ship had not fallen apart without her supervision B’Elanna got some hands-on work to do, but as it was a slow day and Vorik had been even more effective than usual in her absence, she soon found little else to do than the dreaded paperwork that was, unfortunately, also a part of her duties as Chief Engineer. It was easier to keep her thoughts focused while to her elbows in the inner workings of her ship than it was reading and typing up padds, and inescapably her thoughts returned to Seven.

She was starting to wonder if it was one of Seven’s goals in life to drive her out of her mind. Previously Seven had done this by pushing all of B’Elanna’s buttons until she’d explode, something which the blonde couldn’t quite be held responsible for B’Elanna had to ruefully acknowledge now. Badly suppressed attraction and desire coupled with denied Klingon instincts? Yeah, that will mess a girl up. But the latest handful of hours alone had proved that Seven had, whether on purpose or not, found a new way to drive B’Elanna insane.

As if the previous night and early that morning had not been enough to fuel B’Elanna’s more heated fantasies for a long time to come, Seven had treated her to another. As she stepped out of the bathroom Seven had called for B’Elanna, and B’Elanna had put aside what she was doing to go see what she wanted.

The sight that greeted her as she entered the bedroom was of a Borg bottom wriggling in the air, clad only in miniscule underwear – B’Elanna had replicated it but not considered the cut or the size difference between herself and Seven in her hurry – as Seven had crawled halfway under B’Elanna’s bed in search of the biosuit she had discarded the night before.

When Seven had come out from under the bed it turned out that she was wearing the blouse B’Elanna had handed her, although not buttoned it fully, and what Seven was really after was the shoes attached to her biosuit. B’Elanna had somewhat unsteadily suggested that Seven take the opportunity to experience being barefoot, and that if she wanted to leave B’Elanna’s quarters she could replicate herself a pair of standard Starfleet uniform shoes her size.

Unfortunately B’Elanna’s heart-pounding reaction to another visual of irresistible Borg-influenced perfection, this time wriggling no less, had not gone unnoticed, and Seven had called her on it. B’Elanna, feeling more than just a touch lightheaded at the time, had tried for a whimsical answer and told Seven “No day is complete without a little half-naked Seven, is what I always say.”

Seven had, of course, taken her seriously. Exactly how seriously B’Elanna had yet to find out.

As B’Elanna was alternating between doing actual work and generally behaving like a lovestruck teenager Chakotay came over to pay her a visit.

“Hey.” B’Elanna tried to sound casual and look as if he had interrupted her working and not dreaming about a certain tall, blue-eyed blonde. “The Captain is back on the Bridge, I take it?”

“Oh yeah.” Chakotay snorted with a touch of amusement. “There’s precious little in this or any quadrant that our Captain cannot take on... with a few cans of black coffee, that is.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t encounter any alien races that wish to be difficult today.” They shared a grin at that. “But how are you and Seven doing, B’Elanna?”

The question shouldn’t have made B’Elanna blush, but it did. And worse, she could see the surprise that quickly turned into smug amusement on her old friend’s face at the sight of it. “We, uh, she’s fine, she’s feeling a lot better now.”

Chakotay crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her.

“Arrgh, damn it, stop doing that!” He laughed as she groaned and laid her forehead against the desk.

“You’ve got it bad, my friend.”

“Oh you’re not kidding.” B’Elanna growled and sat back up to rub her hands across her face. “I can’t believe I managed to deny it to myself for so long, I mean, surely I’m not that stupid?”

Chakotay didn’t offer a comment on that and she gave him a brief glare before closing her eyes again, rubbing wearily at the edge of her ridges. “Yeah.” She sighed.

“Um, B’Elanna?”

“Today, the more time I spend with her the more I want to just... grab hold of her and never ever let go.”

“Uh, yeah, about that, B’Elanna...”

“Its like I went from keeping as much distance between us as possible, to wanting to keep her with me always. It’s a little... bewildering. Even for me.”

“Does that count as a second marriage proposal?” Seven wanted to know, curiosity in her voice.

B’Elanna’s eyes snapped open.

There was Chakotay, with a frozen and slightly pained expression, not so discreetly pointing to his left. Her eyes obediently followed the direction.

In the open door stood Seven, dressed in B’Elanna’s burgundy blouse and black slacks, her blonde hair combed but still down from its usual bun. She held a stack of padds in one hand, and a small stasis tray in the other. A quick glance downwards confirmed that she was in fact still barefoot.

“Seven?” B’Elanna croaked weakly. “What are you doing here?”

“I will not be long.” Seven assured to Chakotay and B’Elanna both, clearly believing she had interrupted. “You forgot these in your quarters earlier. And you need sustenance.” She placed the small tray in front of B’Elanna and the padds to her right.

She smiled at the stunned woman. “I shall see you later, B’Elanna.” She nodded briefly at Chakotay. “Commander.” And then Seven left, as suddenly as she had appeared.

The two remaining in the room looked at each other in silence for a long moment. Finally B’Elanna looked down at the padds. Indeed, she had forgotten those at home earlier, and if she hadn’t been busy daydreaming about Seven she would have noticed before now.

“What did she get you?” Chakotay wanted to know, a little less teasing in his voice now.

B’Elanna lifted the lid to find a bowl of her favourite soup, a glass of milk, two simple cheese and cucumber on rye sandwiches, and a steaming cup of coffee. Exactly what she would have replicated for herself.

Something squeezed her heart and made her eyes sting just a little.

Noticing her reaction Chakotay smiled, patted her on the shoulder, and quietly left B’Elanna to her thoughts.

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As so often happens on Voyager, a few unforeseen things wreaked havoc with the ship, and while the damage was fairly negligible it did make for a more busy shift than what B’Elanna’s workday had been so far. In fact the various little tasks piled up one after another until B’Elanna looked around and realized that it was just after midnight. The duty shifts had long since changed without her noticing.

Cursing lightly under her breath, B’Elanna went to adjust her work hours for the following day and making sure someone capable would be in charge in her absence. This was why she disliked messing with her work hours. Sure, B’Elanna could do double shifts like nobody’s business if it was needed, and frequently did, but for those times when it wasn’t strictly necessary, starting work at any other hour than the one her body expected her to was just asking for trouble.

A bleep from a nearby screen on one of the workstations flanking the walls of Engineering caught her attention, and as she turned to look Seven appeared, in B’Elanna’s quarters no less.

“Seven?” B’Elanna was a little surprised and a lot pleased that Seven would contact her. “Hey. I’m sorry I haven’t called to say that I was going to be late, I got caught up in work and lost track of time.”

Seven nodded. “I suspected as much, and did not expect you to call me. Have you finished work now?”

“Yeah, I’m signing off now, I should be back home in a little bit.” There was a pang of wistful longing at the idea that her quarters might have been home for the both of them, and it made B’Elanna feel a little embarrassed. How did she get this bad so quickly? “Will, um, will you be there?”

“I...” Seven looked a bit unsure. “...was uncertain of how long you wished for me to stay. I had intended to go regenerate after speaking with you now.”

How about you stay indefinitely? B’Elanna thought and smiled winsomely. She couldn’t exactly say that though. “Do you need to regenerate tonight?”

“No...” Seven’s reply was slow as she stared at B’Elanna in fascination. “I could postpone my regeneration until... tomorrow evening?”

“Good! I mean, that would be good... if you want to stay tonight?” B’Elanna’s smile was contagious and the two of them simply smiled at one another for a long moment. Vaguely aware of where she was and that she didn’t want to get caught grinning like a lovesick fool by anyone that worked under her, B’Elanna forced herself back into focus. “I’ll be home in just a little bit then.”

“Very well.” As B’Elanna reached to turn the viewscreen off, she was halted by Seven. “B’Elanna?”

“Yes?” B’Elanna noticed a different kind of smile on Seven’s lips, and was curious.

Then her mouth dropped open and her eyes felt like they were about to fall out.

“SEVEN!” She gasped and threw herself at the viewscreen, awkwardly trying to cover it with her body. “Woman, have you gone insane? What are you doing?”

The voice coming over the speakers sounded a bit smug to B’Elanna’s ears.

“You did say that no day is complete without ‘a little half-naked Seven’. I merely wished to ensure that your day did not begin... incomplete.”

Blushing furiously and having difficulty breathing B’Elanna cast her eyes about wildly. Had anyone seen? Was anyone close enough to have caught sight of Seven... B’Elanna’s mind did a little detour. “Kahless!” And what if someone had heard? She groaned.

“There was no-one else in visual range. I made certain of that.”

“Buh.” B’Elanna said.

“I shall see you soon, B’Elanna.”

With that and a small clicking sound B’Elanna knew the viewscreen had been turned of from Seven’s end. Still B’Elanna couldn’t move.

It took the arrival of a few nightshift engineers, who walked up to their Chief and stared with wide eyes at the fiercely red woman flattening herself against a work console.

“A-are you alright, Chief?” One of the braver men asked hesitantly.

Mortified, B’Elanna roared at them and marched out. She was halfway to the turbolift when her stride faltered, her thoughts returning to Seven’s unexpected little display.

Oh ye gods, what a woman, B’Elanna groaned and hid her face with her arm. And that woman was waiting in B’Elanna’s quarters for her to come home.

A giggle escaped.

She straightened and resumed walking with new purpose in her stride and a wide grin on her face. No time to dawdle there.

Seven was waiting for her.


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