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The
sky a brilliant blue, like her eyes, the older woman remembered
as she padded around her garden, snipping the spring flowers now in
bloom. She
smiled, thinking about days gone by and the beautiful woman who had
once shared a time with her.
Seven of Nine had made the most wonderful and loving spouse
anyone could have ever of had.
This one thought brought more warmth to her than the sun ever
would. Her
smile lingered as she basked in her thoughts a moment longer.
“And
to think.”
Retired Admiral Kathryn Janeway spoke out loud, “I was so
full of myself I almost missed the opportunity to have shared it all
with her.”
She stood in her garden in pure amazement with one hand on hip,
shaking her head.
The smile she possessed spoke of the happiness she had
experienced with Seven and the memories she would always have.
The
winter’s weather had finally broken and a gentle spring breeze blew
across the field sweeping her gray hair about her face.
She let it tussle until the breeze ebbed then put the ends back
behind her ears.
The slight tremor in her hand reminded her that Kathryn Janeway
had grown old in her years and within that she had also grown tired.
Her step now slow and not as sure as it was.
Her heart longed for the day she would see her one true love
again. She
shook off the thought and with her basket now full she left the
garden, climbing the back steps of her home cautiously.
She had fallen twice before, but now that she was alone and
miles from her neighbor she didn’t want that to happen again at
least not if she could help it.
Placing the basket on the kitchen table she felt a chill creep
through her, walking to the replicator she commanded.
“Coffee… black.” Yes, she still had command of some
things in her life, but not like she used to.
Like
I used to,
she thought as she seated herself in front of the basket of flowers
ready to work her magic on them.
She only had a short time left before the small gathering she
had planned would be underway.
She floated back into her reverie of what and whom her life
once held dearly.
“Grandma…
What’s his name?” The little blonde girl asked shaking the
retired Janeway.
“What’s
whose name, Tyne?” She
straightened up from where she had been reclining on the porch swing and
looked to see what her granddaughter was referring to.
“Him!”
Tyne pointed.
The
little brown rabbit sniffed around in the elder Janeway’s garden
oblivious to the humans around him.
She
smiled back at the younger child and ran her hand through the child’s
hair. “I doubt that he has
a name, sweetheart. Would you
like to give him one?”
“Yes!
And I think we should name him after grandma Seven.”
The little girl sitting next to her carried the same blue eyes.
They swept the elder Janeway up and for a moment they captured her
as she had been many times before when Seven had looked at her just right.
It stirred her memories around to the forefront once again as she
looked out beyond the creature her granddaughter sought to name.
“Seven?”
The captain of Voyager questioned upon entering her quarters,
“Why are you here?”
“I
had no where else to go.” The
ex-Borg drone replied turning to face the stalwart woman that approached.
“Is
there a problem with your alcove?”
“No…
yes. I cannot…”
“What
is it, Seven. Tell me.”
It was not a command as she placed her hand softly on Seven’s
arm.
“She
is coming to take me back.”
“Who’s
coming, Seven?” Janeway
asked apprehensively looking into the ex-Borg’s eyes.
“The
Borg.” The shiver that
Seven experienced ran through the captain.
“Why?
We haven’t found any Borg warp signatures for quite some time
now.”
“She
will never allow for me to leave the Collective,” Seven stated without
truly answering.
“Nor
will I ever allow you to leave this… Collective,” Janeway assuredly
asserted. She ran her hand up
and down Seven’s arm. A
sign that she meant every word she spoke.
They had come too far for her to allow that to happen.
Seven had taken to her humanity as a duck would to water. Through it all they had become friends. She had allowed Seven of Nine use of a bridge no other member
of Voyager’s crew would dare cross.
She would risk her life for this young woman that sat with her now.
“Seven.
If she does come we deal with it as we have before.
Please, don’t lose any sleep over this.”
Seven
looked at her, searched her eyes and saw the truth she spoke.
She relaxed for the one person she knew she could always count on.
Perhaps count on forever.
“You
need to regenerate.” It was
spoken, but not an order. Kathryn
Janeway enjoyed the time they spent together.
“I
wish I could stay here forever.” Seven
spoke softly.
“Why,
Seven?” Kathryn asked
surprised, but wanting to hear more and understand where her friend was
coming from.
“I
always feel safe…after talking with you.”
The hesitancy could be read on Seven’s face. It showed of her humanity more than anything.
Janeway
smiled, appreciating the bravery that it must have taken for such an
admission.
“Captain?”
“Yes,
Seven?”
“There
is more that I feel beyond issues of safety,” Seven offered.
But Kathryn saw it in the ex-Borg’s eyes before she ever uttered
a word. It was all there and
Kathryn Janeway knew it. She
felt it suddenly radiate off of Seven, up her arm and into her heart.
The impact could be likened to the stun of a phaser.
She reached up and put her hand to her heart never taking her eyes
away from the young woman who sat next to her.
She couldn’t.
Seven
watched the captain’s eyes darken.
She saw the older woman’s hand placement and then felt the same
hand take hers and felt as it was laid upon Kathryn chest.
Neither woman could speak. There
was nothing to say. It all
came down to how they felt for one another.
“Grandma…
I think we should name him… Thumper.”
The little girl spoke as she shook her grandmother out of her
reverie.
“What
honey?” The older Janeway
questioned letting go of her remembrance.
“I
said… I think we should name him Thumper!
I read it in a book once.”
She
smiled at her granddaughter then wrapped her arms around her.
“I like that.”
Kathryn
Janeway leaned back with the young girl in embrace. She so much reminded her of Seven in the way her hair flowed
around her face, the blueness of her eyes, the smile and the inquiring
mind. She hugged her as she
looked out beyond her flower garden, now home to Thumper.
She felt the stun of the phaser again in her heart and smiled.
I’ll see her soon enough, she thought to herself, but for now she would just let her
memories bloom.
“Grandma,”
the little girl started.
“Yes,
Tyne?”
“How’d
that baby bunny get born?”
She knew the sun would
set on this conversation as it had for many of the ones she had had with
Seven. She pulled the young
girl closer and settled in.
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