The BLTS Archive- The Best Birthday by Avatar (avatar@cfl.rr.com) --- Archive: Yes, for Fire and Ice. All others please email me. Disclaimers: The characters and places described here are, by unfortunate virtue of copyright, the property of Paramount Pictures. I wish they were mine but, alas, they are not. Warning: The following fic contains romantic feelings between two women. If you don't like that sort of thing, why are you even here? --- Kathryn Janeway walked down one of the many corridors on Voyager, holding a uniform in her left hand and a padd in her right. Captain of what had to be the most diverse ship in Starfleet, and the only one to be exploring the Delta Quadrant, there were many tasks which probably required her attention at this moment. But this evening would not be about being a Captain, but about being a friend. Perhaps more. Although she would not allow herself to hope for the possibility. It was true, though, even if her mind didn't accept it. Her heart knew otherwise. It hadn't been two weeks since Seven's experiments in the holodeck had revealed a problem in the woman's cortical node. Ever since, Seven had retreated back into the comfort of her Borg exterior. Janeway hoped that tonight would change that. It was, after all, a very special day for Seven of Nine. In past years, Janeway hadn't thought to look up the day, but that made it even more important that she did so this time. Seven hadn't had one since she was five years old, before the Borg assimilated her, and that made tonight especially important. Kathryn nodded as she passed an ensign in the hall. Voyager was almost through Beta shift and the day was almost over. Janeway slowed her step as she approached a door on the left and brought the padd to her face. She took a quick look at the code and entered it on the entrance control. The doors parted, the sequence verified, and Janeway stepped in. At the moment, the quarters were dim and quite Spartan. Janeway hoped, though, that in time that would change. Standard Starfleet furniture decorated the room - one couch, chair, and coffee table and a bed. There was also a small desk to the right that had yet to be fitted with a terminal. She would have to speak to B'Elanna Torres, the ship's Chief Engineer, about that tomorrow morning. But it shouldn't be much of a problem. Janeway set the uniform down on the coffee table, keeping the padd in her hand, and exited the quarters, the doors opening at her approach. She stepped back out into the corridor and turned back the way she came towards the turbolift. Kathryn had initially planned on calling the ex-Borg to report to this location, but Janeway thought going to her would prove to be more of a surprise for Seven. The site-to-site transport was already programmed and ready to engage on her order. Janeway continued to the turbolift and entered her destination as Astrometrics, where she knew Seven would be. She just hoped the young woman would like the surprise. --- Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero-One, stood at her console. Her head was tilted as she analyzed the screen. Diagnostics results of the regeneration units in Cargo Bay 2 were displayed on one half, while specifications and power graphs littered the rest of the space. Though she should not be engaging in a purely personal project while she was still on duty, the current region of space Voyager was traversing had no nebulas or anomalous readings that would require course heading adjustments or investigation by the ship's sciences department. She, then, felt justified to be using the equipment in a way that might be beneficial. If not to the ship as a whole, then at least to a portion of it. Seven rarely dreamed and, when she did, it was usually due to an outside source of some kind. The Borg Queen had used the signal to interact with her on some occasions, but the instance that still had the most impact on her was from Unimatrix Zero. It had been a place of solace and escape for the longest time for many in the Collective, including Seven. A place where drones could escape the hive mind and once again be individuals. Seven had forgotten about it until she had received signals from it nearly a year ago. This morning, she had emerged from the regeneration cycle with remembrance of a dream, but it was not from an outside source. A quick check of all subspace communications - on both standard and Borg frequencies - had confirmed that this morning. But she could not shake the dream - or the reason why it had manifested itself. --- The lush landscape of the terraformed Tendara Colony stretched on for miles in the distance. It was described by most of the inhabitants to be more beautiful and vast than that of even Earth. In the far-off distance, where the ground met the heavens, white swirls of clouds played across an orange-tainted sky. On the lush green lawn below, a small girl was running around in circles, chasing after a small insect as it flew through the air. Annika Hansen was ecstatic. Today she was five years old and knew her parents would be preparing a party for her later in the day. But she had to get through the rest of the morning first. The last time she checked, it was still over three hours away. Her anticipation had woken her up from sleep early, but the novelty soon wore off when she realized it was only fun to wake up early when doing so didn't make one bored. The insect flew across the point where Annika was allowed to play and she ceased her pursuit of the creature, less cause her Mother to yell. Turning around, she ran back to the house. Annika could tell her Mother was reading some information from a padd while she sat on the porch steps. "Mommy, is it time yet?" Annika asked, approaching her. She watched as her Mom diverted her attention from the electronic device and looked up. "Not yet, honey," she said. "You're Dad has to be home and we're still waiting for you're Aunt to arrive." "But I'm bored," the little girl protested, standing directly in front of her mother. "What are you reading, Mommy?" "Don't worry about it, Annika," her mom deflected. "It's just one of your dad's crazy theories. As soon as your Dad and Aunt arrive we'll start your celebration." "Soon?" the girl pleaded. "Soon, Annika," Mommy responded and turned back to reading the padd. "Now go play." --- Seven recalled the memory as occurring in their last months on the Tendara Colony, before her parents, with her, had departed for a remote outpost in the Omega sector, from which their course for the Delta Quadrant was initiated. Her parents' fascination with the Borg then had led to their, and her, assimilation by them. She gripped the console as thoughts of her parents' actions continued to manifest. Foolish, she thought. Instead of being nurtured by loving parents, she had been nurtured by the enormity of voices that was the Borg Collective. She had grown up with no thoughts or instincts of her own. The Queen controlled everything. Seven doubted she would ever feel like Annika Hansen again. Recent experiments she had conducted in the holodeck had proved that it was an almost certainty. Her cortical node had begun an automated sequence when she had begun to feel intense emotions that, if she hadn't been able to hail the Doctor in time, would have killed her. There was, according to the Doctor, surgery that could be done that might terminate the node, but it would take several treatments and was risky. Even then, Seven wasn't sure if she would be Annika Hansen ever again. Even removed of Borg implants, her past in the Collective would still be with her. The weight of all the civilizations she had helped extinguish would still be on her shoulders. The memory of that would not go away because of an operation. Indeed, that was her initial thought when the Doctor approached her about the option. She had said she experienced enough of humanity. Truth be told, she would never totally, truly experience humanity. In that way it was better to stay in her current state. The computer beeped to inform the last diagnostic had ended. Seven read over the data that was displayed on her console, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Power output levels were normal and there was no corruption in the EPS relays that were routed to it. "Good evening, Seven," Captain Kathryn Janeway said, stepping through the threshold into Astrometrics. "Good evening, Captain," Seven replied, her eyes not moving from the screen. She pressed some controls on the console to close the open windows and return to the normal scans of space. Janeway, however, noticed the abrupt change. "Is there a problem with the alcoves?" "No," she replied. "My alcove is functioning perfectly. I...had a dream and was concerned that it could be an outside communication. It was not." Seven did not elaborate on the subject, not wanting at this moment to cause worry to the Captain. She is most likely going to her quarters and decided to stop by for one final report. "So this was your own dream," Janeway stated, moving closer to Seven. "What was it about?" "I do not wish to discuss it," Seven replied quickly. Then she turned her head and offered, "Perhaps another time." Before the Captain could respond, she picked up a padd that was on the console's surface and extended it to her. "Today's Astrometrics report." "Actually," Janeway said, accepting the padd with her right hand, "I didn't stop by to pick up today's Astrometrics report." Seven eyes caught the presence of a bundle in Janeway's left hand that she had failed to notice before. It appeared to be a change of uniform, although Seven couldn't understand why the Captain would carry a change of clothing with her. "Indeed?" she questioned. "What is the purpose of your visit?" Janeway's gaze grew serious. "Did you really think you could hide this from me forever, Seven? You must've known that I'd eventually find out." Seven's look grew perplexed. The experiments, she thought. It was impossible for her to find out unless the Doctor told her, and Seven knew that was not a possibility. Nor did she record it in either her personal or duty logs. "I did not intend to deceive you. How did you find out?" "Looked it up in the database," Janeway shrugged. "It wasn't hard to find in the Starfleet records." She approached and held out the bundle that Seven had recently noticed. A padd was sitting on top. "Happy Birthday, Seven." Seven's brow furrowed. It was not the response she was expecting. "Birthday?" she repeated, looking up into the Captain's blue-gray eyes. Janeway smiled. "Come on, Seven, you can drop the feigned surprise." When it failed to elicit a response from the ex-drone, the Captain tilted her head slightly, approaching the console. "What did you think I was talking about?" "Nothing," Seven replied quickly. She looked down at Janeway's outstretched hand again. "What is this?" she asked of the Captain. Seven knew the concept of human birthday celebrations, but had not partaken in any of them. Nor was she aware that today was her birthday. Her human birth date, at any rate. "I discussed it with the Doctor this morning," she replied, placing the uniform and padd on the edge of the console. "He said that you shouldn't need to wear your biosuits any longer. The majority of your human physiology will be able to respond by itself. So this is my gift to you." Seven reached for the fabric, unfolding the sleeves to reveal the teal shoulder pads of the science department. Attached to the collar was a single pip. The Doctor had told her that she could begin to wear standard clothing weeks ago, but Seven had kept to her usual biosuits. Mostly because wearing standard clothing might be deceptive. It would make her look human even though she wasn't. But the fact that Janeway had offered this as a gift suggested that the Captain felt she was ready and wouldn't be out of place. It was, after all, standard Starfleet attire. But the rank puzzled her. "I am only a crewman, however." "Not anymore," the Captain replied, leaning further over the console. "I've given you a field promotion. Congratulations, Ensign Hansen." The mention of her human name caused her to look at Janeway. It was the first time since she was confined to the brig, when she initially arrived on Voyager, that she could remember her last name being used by the Captain. Or anyone. That is incorrect, she thought. In Unimatrix Zero-One she was known as Annika. It was the only place that she had allowed that name. The only time it seemed correct. But that had somehow changed just now. "I go by Annika here," she had told Janeway then. It was the only time she had addressed herself to the Captain in that form. "Seven?" Janeway asked, breaking the silence that Seven now became acutely aware had developed. She straightened. "Thank you, Captain." Seven did not say anything about Janeway using her human name. Though, it had bothered her in the past when people had used it instead of her Borg designation. "Oh, I'm not finished yet," Janeway responded. Seven noticed the glint that appeared in the woman's eyes, accompanied by a barely noticeable twitch of her lips. "Computer," the Captain commanded, "initiate site-to-site transport Janeway-One." The familiar feeling of the transporter enveloped Seven. When her molecules had re-formed, she was standing inside a dimly lit standard crew quarters. Except for a few minor furnishing, they were empty. "Captain?" she questioned, looking towards Janeway. "Have a seat," Janeway ordered, the slight grin still on her lips. "After all, these are your quarters." "My quarters?" Seven repeated, confused. It all seemed surreal to the young woman. The uniform, the quarter arrangement all reminded her of the holodeck experiments she had conducted with the Chakotay hologram. But, unlike that experience, Seven still had her implant. Janeway closed the distance between them, placing them mere inches apart. "I should've done this a long time ago. You shouldn't have had to live in the Cargo Bay for so long. I am so sorry for neglecting that, Seven." Seven heard the slight crack in the Captain's voice and her irregular breathes. Or was that her? She followed a single tear, glistening in the dim illumination, as gravity pulled it down her cheek. Seven watched as it passed the woman's jaw. Seven's right hand, trembling, reached up and wiped the tear away. "The fault was mine," she whispered, the lump in her throat preventing her from talking normally. Seven, although it was biologically impossible, knew in that moment it was her heart. Kathryn gripped the other woman's hand. "Happy Birthday, Seven," Janeway returned, experiencing the same difficulty talking. Seven reinforced their connection by covering her Borg-meshed hand over Kathryn's. She glanced at the replicator on the wall, then to the small dining table. She still wasn't completely sure what she was feeling, but Seven did know she did not want the feeling to end. And she only felt this way around Janeway Seven released from the connection, as much as she did not want to, and walked over to the replicator unit. She stopped midway and turned around. "Kathryn," she said, returning her gaze momentarily to her friend and Captain, "Thank you for all of this." As she punched in her request, her thoughts briefly returned to the past. --- Annika Hansen rushed up the steps of the back porch and pulled the doors open. They slammed against the inside walls with a resounding thud. Annika looked up to see her mother's head sharply turn to look at the origination of the noise along with the rest of the house. "Sorry," the girl said. Then her eyes focused on the taller, familiar man next to Mom. "Daddy!" Annika exclaimed and ran to her father. "Hey, Muffin," he said, scooping her up and raising the young girl to his face. He kissed her cheek and said, "Are you ready for your birthday party?" "Yep," she replied, smiling as she looked at her father. "Can we begin soon?" "We can begin right now," he said as he lowered her into the "Birthday Seat" at the table. "This is going to be the best birthday ever, Daddy," Annika said, eyes twinkling as she looked at all the assorted presents. "I can feel it." --- As Seven picked up the glasses of wine from the replicator and turned around, offering one to the Captain…to Kathryn…she reflected on the comment. "This is going to be my best birthday ever," she said, repeating the words from long ago. "I can feel it." --- The End