Star Trek Voyager: Consequences

Star Trek Voyager: Consequences 16. A Question of Socialisation

Seven slid her work satchel, filled to the brim with PADDs, off her shoulder and dumped it on one of the kitchen chairs before walking towards what she still referred to as Chakotay’s bedroom, despite the fact that she’d been sharing it for more than a month now. As she walked through the door his back was to her as he sat at the phone, he had obviously just finished a phone call so Seven greeted him quietly, “Good evening.”

He quickly twisted around in his chair, a warm smile lighting his features at the sight of her. “Hi.” He replied, following her gaze to the phone and answering her unspoken question, “That was Harry; he’s just been promoted to Lieutenant.”

This news immediately forced the tiredness from Seven’s brain and brought joy and enthusiasm to her face. “That is wonderful news! Starfleet’s acknowledgement of his capabilities is long overdue.”

Chakotay nodded in undisputed agreement. “He’s delighted of course; he’s even holding a party for all his family and old crewmates next week.”

Seven’s face tightened momentarily in pain but she summoned a weak smile from somewhere and said lightly, “You should go; you haven’t seen any of your old friends since you went to Vulcan in search of me…”

Chakotay frowned at her slightly flippant tone. “I’ll go if you come with me.” He responded seriously.

“I doubt my presence will be missed.” She replied stoically, “I will start making dinner, shall I?” She began to turn on her heel to leave but within seconds Chakotay was on his feet and gripping her forearm tightly to keep her in place.

“That’s not true, you’d be welcome there, you know that.” Seeing that familiar and exasperating expressionless mask settle on her face, he said in a lower tone, “If this is about the Admiral…”

“It’s not.” Seven interrupted icily before her tone became more uncertain, “But everyone will ask awkward questions…”

“If they do, we’ll just tell them the truth!” Chakotay ground out through gritted teeth.

Seven sighed deeply; as if she’d given this more thought than she’d ever wanted to. “We cannot, it is not our place to besmirch the Admiral’s good name, she did a great deal for the crew and I do not want to cause a rift.”

“She doesn’t deserve your loyalty Seven…” He muttered, the shadow which had come over his face telling her more than the words themselves.

“No…” Seven admitted in an exhausted whisper, “But I’m not going to be as vindictive as she was to me when she felt betrayed.”

Chakotay swallowed his frustration and squeezed her hand. “I can understand that but that doesn’t mean our relationship has to be a secret Seven.” He sighed and wrapped his arm around her slim waist before gently kissing her cheek, “I’m never going to be ashamed of you, I want everyone in the galaxy to know that I love you…” He whispered softly in her ear.

Seven felt her barriers fall away, as they always did eventually when they were alone, and sighed in surrender as she let him kiss her, “After the trial, I’ll go with you wherever you wish my love.”

He stiffened protectively at the mention of the trial, his relief at the conclusion of the previous conversation practically forgotten. “Did you hear anything today?”

“The prosecutor is coming to discuss my testimony tomorrow.” Seven admitted, unable to stop her mind from drifting back to that night for a moment before Chakotay’s voice pulled her back to the present.

“Testimony? I thought they had enough physical evidence to leave you out of it!” Chakotay exclaimed, worry and anger at what he saw as unconcern by law enforcement making the words come out harsher than he had intended, regret flooding him as Seven flinched.

“It’s a last resort; they have to plan for every eventuality and defence.” She finally replied, clamping down on her bottom lip as she shakily repeated what the victim support liaison officer had told her, “Apparently, the five accused are denying everything, Starfleet has suspended them for now but they have family connections and they’re excellent cadets, no criminal history…”

“I wouldn’t give a damn even if they were all Zephron Cochrane reincarnated!” Chakotay snapped hotly, “You shouldn’t have to do this, it’s not justice, it’s not fair…”

Seven sighed tearfully, “If anything about this was remotely fair, none of it would’ve happened...”

Chakotay silently put one of his strong arms around her shoulder and let her lean on him heavily, he knew by painful experience when he should let a subject drop. “You said something about dinner?” he asked kindly.

“Yes…” Seven began, giving his cheek a kiss of unspoken gratitude. “What would you like?”

Chakotay rubbed his aching head with the back of his hand as he once again struggled to focus on the computer screen before him but his mind just couldn’t focus on writing student reports that day, his mind was on Seven and the conversation he knew she must be having in her own office with the prosecutor from San Francisco. He couldn’t choke back a growl of frustration as he dwelled on the situation, the phrase “innocent until proven guilty” had been a wonderful concept while sitting in an academy ethics class, but when he knew that it was going to be someone he loved going through hell to try and prove that guilt it seemed a lot less clear cut. He knew that rape cases often came down to “he said, she said” and although he was loathe to admit it, he was well aware of the fact that Seven’s Borg heritage could affect her credibility, or even bring hostility from the jury, he was after all, the man who’s tried to suck her into space when he’d first met her… A persistent knock at the door jerked him from these aggravating and depressing thoughts, “Come in!” he called, none too pleased about being disturbed, but as his head jerked up to see the two people who had entered the room, his mouth dropped open in shock. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s a nice greeting Chakotay.” Tom Paris said sarcastically, his smile widening as he realised how well the surprise had worked.

Chakotay rapidly closed his hanging mouth and tried to recollect himself, “Sorry.” He muttered apologetically, before looking to B’Elanna for support, “Really, what are you doing here?”

“We came to see you of course, I wanted to call ahead but Tom thought that with your unsocial status recently we’d better surprise you.” B’Elanna explained somewhat sheepishly as she saw how much the sight of them had unsettled her old friend, “I’m sorry, we’ll go…”

Chakotay was now rapidly beginning to feel guilty. “No, don’t go…” He hugged his friend warmly, “I’m always pleased to see both of you, it’s just…unexpected that’s all…”

“That was the idea!” Tom joked. “We thought…”

He was interrupted by another knock at the door, “Chakotay, I…” Seven’s distraught voice froze in her throat as she realised who were in room with Chakotay, her tear-stained face paling even further as she was caught in their shocked, questioning looks.

A/n: I finally wrote this, sorry for the wait. PLEASE tell me what you think! :D