Chapter 7 added on 21 Dec 2001
Disclaimers are in part 1.
Rating: NC17
Harry continued to support Seven as they walked down the corridor. He stopped her just outside of the doors to sickbay. "Are you sure you want to do this Seven, maybe it would be better to wait." He had no idea the kind of shape B'Elanna's body would be in after the battle, and the truth was he was a little afraid he would be in no shape to comfort Seven if things were too gruesome. After all, B'Elanna had been his friend as well.
"I must see her, please, I need to be with her."
Reluctantly Harry took the young drone's arm and led the way into sickbay. He was unprepared for what lay on the other side of the doors. He had never been to sickbay immediately after a major battle like this before. The injured filled every biobed and the rest sat on the floor leaning against the bulkheads, crude bandages covering wounds until the more serious injuries were dealt with. The medical staff was moving frantically between beds, and he could hear the sounds of moaning and crying from all over the room.
He pulled Seven to one side so they could be out of the way while they gathered the courage to search for B'Elanna's body. In the back corner of the room they could see the doctor frantically working over a patient. Seven's optical implant could detect the faint purple shimmer of a level 10 medical forcefield indicating the doctor was performing surgery of an invasive nature.
There was no sign of B'Elanna's body anywhere in the room. Finally Harry managed to grab the arm of a medic as he rushed by to gather more bandages. "We're looking for Lieutenant Torres," he asked quietly. The medic pulled his arm free and jerked his head toward the back of the sickbay as he hurried back to his task. Harry wasn't sure exactly what was going on at this point, so he took Seven's hand and they walked slowly toward the bed where the doctor continued to work furiously on his patient. They could hear his voice snapping out demands for instruments and hyposprays as he operated.
As they drew closer, Seven caught sight of the patient's dark hair. The doctor demanded a cardiac stimulator and he attempted to shock the heart back into rhythm. As the body of the patient arched into the air both Seven and Harry could clearly see the familiar brow ridges of the Klingon engineer. Seven grabbed the wall to support herself; she could clearly see that B'Elanna's chest was gaping open, the clean lines of the wound indicating the work of a laser scalpel. A tube was running out of her mouth to a machine that was regulating her breathing, and the sheet covering her body was soaked in blood.
Harry took Seven's hand and tried to lead her away saying, "Seven, maybe we should wait somewhere else, why don't we go into the doctor's office and get out of the way."
"NO," Seven snarled and refused to be moved from her spot by the wall.
It was over an hour later when the doctor walked through the forcefield and began to clean himself up in preparation for treating other patients.
Seven approached him cautiously. "Doctor, is she...will she be all right?"
"The next few hours will tell for sure, but I would go on record as saying that I'm cautiously optimistic."
"What happened Doc," Harry inquired? "I mean, the computer said she was, you know, gone."
"You mean dead? Well, maybe for a moment or two before her redundant organs kicked in. She sustained a severe phaser wound to the chest; it would have killed a human instantly. One of her hearts was damaged but I managed to repair it, as well as the third degree burns covering her chest. She did lose a portion of her lung, however, lucky for her she has a third one in reserve. I'm hoping she will be her 'charming' self again in a matter of weeks," the EMH answered before moving on to help the next patient.
They moved back to the forcefield to watch B'Elanna sleeping for a moment. Harry nudged Seven and pointed to a melted comm badge lying on the floor under the biobed. "No wonder the computer reported her as a casualty, once the comm badge was fried her life signs wouldn't register with the computer and she'd be reported as dead." He put his arm around the still trembling drone. "Are you sure you don't want to wait somewhere else. There really isn't anything we can do here for now."
Seven shook her head vehemently, "I need to be with her, if she wakes up she may need me."
Harry knew that B'Elanna would not be waking up any time soon, but he also knew when he was fighting a losing battle. "Will you be Ok here by yourself for a little while," he inquired gently?
Seven nodded, never taking her eyes of the still figure of B'Elanna.
"Just, take it easy ok, I'll be back soon." Harry left to give the good news to the bridge crew in person.
B'Elanna remained unconscious and behind the medical forcefield for several more days. Slowly the other injured recovered and resumed their duties until only the still body of the young engineer remained. Seven only left sickbay when she was ordered to sleep or regenerate, or when she was overseeing the repairs to engineering. She ran astrometrics from the consoles in sickbay. If anyone had missed the change in the nature of the relationship between the two former adversaries, the cat was well and truly out of the bag now. Seven was surprised at the number of crewmembers who stopped by sickbay to sit with her or bring her something to eat. Naomi Wildman made it a point to stop by with a Kadis Kot board every day after school, and Neelix seemed to appear every few hours or so to fuss after Seven to take care of herself.
When the doctor allowed the forcefield to be dropped, Seven sat with B'Elanna holding her hand for hours, and several times had to be evicted at night to go and regenerate when she was found sleeping sitting in a chair with her head resting on the biobed. Finally the breathing tube was removed and B'Elanna showed some signs of regaining consciousness. The doctor was now certain that he and his extraordinary skills had once more performed a miracle. He never tired of informing B'Elanna's visitors of that fact.
B'Elanna could hear muffled sounds, but she couldn't identify what they were. She slowly opened her eyes, but everything was out of focus. She blinked several times, squinting her eyes to try to focus on her surroundings, finally the worried features, and tear-filled eyes of Seven of Nine swam into view.
"Beloved," B'Elanna's voice was hoarse from the breathing tube. She felt Seven's tears as they fell on her face.
"I am here B'Elanna. Do not worry, everything is going to be all right now. Try to sleep my darling. I will not leave your side." Seven's tear-soaked voice was the most wonderful thing B'Elanna had ever heard in her life. She felt Seven's hand gently stroking her cheek, and she let her head fall into the contact even as she drifted back to sleep.
"Seven?" B'Elanna awoke disoriented.
"She's not here just now, but I assure you she will be back shortly," came the clipped tones of the Doctor. He stepped over to the bed and began his scans of the patient. "I see you are recovering nicely."
"What happened, why am I here?"
"You don't remember the fight in engineering."
"Fight, with who," B'Elanna was getting agitated.
"Calm down or I'll have to give you a sedative. We were attacked and you were injured in a fire fight in engineering."
"When?"
"Almost two weeks ago now."
"Two weeks," B'Elanna yelped "I've got to get to engineering," she struggled to get off the bed.
"Lieutenant Torres, if you don't lie back down immediately I will be forced to sedate you," the Doctor ordered! "Besides your engines are in capable hands."
"Whose capable hands," B'Elanna ground out.
"Seven of Nine is overseeing all the repairs, so please try to calm down."
"Oh Kahless, my engine room will never be the same," B'Elanna sank back down on the bed in defeat.
She had several more visitors in quick succession, as the Doctor announced to the bridge that B'Elanna was feeling better. Captain Janeway popped in to check up on her Chief Engineer, and they chatted for several minutes until Harry popped his head in the door; the captain excused herself, promising to be back soon.
"So, Maquis, I see you're slacking off again," he teased, producing a small bouquet of flowers and setting them on the console near her bed.
"If you really want to impress me Starfleet you'll smuggle me a PADD so I can see what the heck in going on in Engineering after all this time," B'Elanna grumbled.
"I'm shocked, you mean to tell me don't trust Seven alone in your engine room even after all this time?"
"Come on Harry, what's going on down there, I need to know," B'Elanna pleaded.
"What is going on down where, exactly?" came a familiar voice from the doorway.
"Oh Maquis, you are so busted," Harry laughed as he began to slink to the door in an over-exaggerated fashion that had B'Elanna laughing.
"Trying to check up on me were you Lieutenant Torres," Seven intoned with a severe look on her face as Harry exited the door behind her with a wave to B'Elanna.
"I need to know what's going on in my engine room Seven, there was a lot of damage, and some of the repairs could be delicate. I should take a look at what's been done and see where we stand."
"Where we stand is that you are recovering from a serious accident, and are in no shape to be worrying about ships repairs. You can trust that I am being most...efficient...in undertaking repairs."
B'Elanna groaned at hearing the Borg's favourite word. "Just tell me a little bit about what's going on and I'll stop worrying, I promise," she wheedled.
"Persistence is futile B'Elanna Torres."
B'Elanna slumped back down on the biobed fully prepared to sulk when Seven spoke again softly.
"Are you not happy to see me?"
B'Elanna, realizing that this was the first time she had really been awake to talk to Seven since the accident, was instantly remorseful.
"Seven, sweetie, of course I'm happy to see you. I'm sorry, you know how nuts I get when I'm stuck in sickbay. Come here, I'm really sorry," she held out her hand and Seven moved swiftly to take it.
They sat quietly holding hands for a few moments, and then B'Elanna tugged gently, pulling Seven to her to give her a soft kiss. The doctor, who had been watching the exchange between the two women, suddenly had an urge to do something somewhere else, anywhere else, and he left in a hurry.
B'Elanna giggled upon seeing the Doctor's less than dignified exit. "I guess we scared him off huh?"
A worried look crossed Seven's face, "he is the biggest gossip aboard this ship, are you not worried that he will tell everyone about what he saw."
"I don't care who he tells beloved, I don't plan on keeping this a secret...do you?" B'Elanna was suddenly unsure of exactly how Seven saw the relationship.
"I do not want you to be ostracized over our relationship. I worry that the other crewmembers will not accept your relationship with a Borg." Seven was aware that people had been very friendly since B'Elanna's accident, but she didn't trust that this wouldn't change once people realized that they were more than just friends. She was too inexperienced to know that her actions over the past few weeks were more efficient than a comm announcement in explaining the extent of their feelings for one another.
"You are a former Borg, I don't think people will have a problem with it, and I don't care if they do. I'm happy with you, and I'm hoping you're happy with me. That's all that matters." B'Elanna was exhausted after this outburst, and she lay back down, her forehead covered in a sheen of sweat.
Seven soothed B'Elanna, wiping her forehead and kissing her ridges gently. "I have never been happier B'Elanna."
"Well that settles it then, let the Doctor tell the world."
"B'Elanna," Seven's voice was quiet.
"Mmhmm."
"What does this word you call me 'beloved' mean? I thought it was an adjective."
B'Elanna laughed at the young woman's literal translation. "Well, it is I guess, but it means that you are my beloved, that you are beloved of me. I don't think pet names are supposed to make grammatical sense." She paused for a moment; "It's also the title of an ancient Earth book. I was reading it before the accident and I guess it stuck in my mind. It's a book about how the past is a living thing, and if you aren't careful it can catch up with you no matter how hard you run. I guess it sort of applies to both of us."
"I would like to read this book."
"Tell you what, why don't we read it together when I get out of here?"
"That would be nice, my beloved," Seven said as she continued to caress B'Elanna's ridges.
The doors to sickbay opened and Neelix came in with a food-laden tray. "Alright, its time for the patient AND the visitor to eat," he announced. He proceeded to spread out several different types of food, assuring both Seven and B'Elanna that everything was exceedingly bland. He was about to leave, when B'Elanna insisted he stay and eat with them. It took almost no persuasion and soon he was making them both laugh with his tales from the messhall. They talked for several hours until the doctor chased both Neelix and Seven out saying that his patient needed her rest. Neelix was gratified to see the tender kiss that Seven and B'Elanna shared before the Doctor ushered them out the door.
To be continued....