by Anonymous
---
Archive: PKSP, PKElite, ASC. . . Actually, I'd be in an absolute tizzy
if anyone actually liked this enough to archive it somewhere. So, most
anywhere is fine.
Spoilers: "Thirty Days", "Disease", "Bride
of Chaotica".
Being a cheesy queer girl as I am, I've taken the title of this from
a song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and
I", called, "Something Wonderful." This series is called
"The Prince and I" taken from a story about two completely
different people from two completely different worlds finding a kindred
spirit in each other, and also refers to Harry's monologue in Part 1.
Warning: I do awful, evil things to Janeway's character in this. This
takes place right before "Equinox I," and is sort of
anticipating the nervous breakdown Janeway has in "Equinox II."
She's not in the slightest pleasant. In fact... she's positively
hateful. ("Squirrely," one of my beta-readers described her.) So
if you looooooove Janeway, I suggest you skip this.
---
He will not always say
What you would have him say
But now and then he'll say
Something wonderful. . .
---
"Let's take it from measure 47," the Doctor instructed
Seven-of-Nine, "And I'll give you a measure for the pick-up."
He played the short intro on his piano and sang, "So please
forgive/ this helpless haze I'm--" and he stopped. "Seven!
Why aren't you singing? You have the melody there. . . Is something
wrong?"
She bit her lip lightly, what amounted to a gesture of extreme
hesitation. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I've been pre-occupied with
other considerations today."
"Such as?" He turned and fixed his gaze on her in concern.
"There is something I don't understand," she admitted.
"A StarFleet regulation, whose logic seems flawed, and yet the
Captain agrees with it."
"A flawed StarFleet regulation, imagine that," the Doctor
muttered, but his attention quickly reverted to his erstwhile pupil.
"Care to elaborate?"
"It is the regulation governing relationships among officers of the
same gender, even among different species," she answered
matter-of-factly. "Or rather, expressly forbidding it. "What is
the purpose of such a regulation?"
"Well, Seven," the Doctor began, imagining he was explaining
the proverbial "birds and bees" to a child. "According to
the historical databases, back when StarFleet regulations were being
ironed out, some people were very vehement that such relationships were
not natural and would lead to the abandonment of all moral
propriety."
"Whose morality?" she asked primly, and he smiled at her.
"As I understand it, Earth had just been through a terrible war, and
widespread Fundamental sentiment had gripped its population. The members
of other cultures involved in compiling the regulations agreed to leave
that in there to appease the Terrans."
"I am aware of the history," Seven mused. "I simply do not
understand how the gender of two officers is relevant in the morality of
their relationship. To say that such a thing is 'unnatural' is a
value judgment which in my eyes belies an illogical prejudice."
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, always enjoying
Seven's philosophizing.
"There are only two ordinary uses of the term 'natural,' and
neither of them seem to be relevant to the ethics of a relationship,"
she began. "The first meaning of the word means common-- a
phenomenon occurring on a widespread basis in nature. For example, it is
not natural to have perfect musical pitch. And yet clearly this cannot imply a
value, because we do not forbid two musical virtuosos from having a
relationship with each other. Simply because something is not common does
not imply it is bad."
"You. . . have a point," the Doctor conceded. "Go
on."
"The second ordinary meaning of the term 'natural' means
occurring without human or technological intervention. In this way, we say
that technological debris washing up on a beach shore is
'unnatural', or that cloning humans is 'unnatural.' Again,
the implication is that 'unnatural' means offensive and grotesque,
yet I posit that this is not necessarily so. It can easily be argued that
traveling through the galaxy at warp speed on a star ship is not
'natural', and yet here we all are."
"Excellent points, Seven."
She cocked her head at him in acknowledgement. "And yet I still do
not see how a personal romantic relationship between members of the same
gender can be deemed immoral. In fact, it would seem in direct
contradiction to the espousal of Infinite Diversity in Infinite
Combinations. And yet. . . the Captain has threatened anyone who does so
with solitary confinement. Isn't consensual sexual exploration part of
finding out the full extent of one's humanity? Certainly to whom one
is attracted is not something over which one has a choice."
"And even if one did, it would seem to me that it's a choice we
should all be allowed to make," the Doctor agreed.
"Precisely. I. . . am at a loss."
And while he could not actually take in any air, the Doctor imitated a
sigh. "You're finding out an ugly truth about humanity,
Seven."
"Which is?"
"That bias and prejudice can easily cloud one's logic."
---
End
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