Copyright 2000, Susan S. McCrackin  Reprinted with permission of the author.

Kathryn B’Elanna was slowly waking up, her eyes searching the room. B’Elanna watched her from across the room. She knew KB was hunting for her father. She expected her to start to cry when she did not see him, but she didn’t. She sat up, put her hands down on the cot in front of her and started staring at the doors of the treatment room. B’Elanna watched her carefully, then turned her attention to the doors herself.

She knew Barrat was coming.

She took a couple of deep breaths, then looked around the room.

They were ready.

The doors opened and he walked in. Two crewmembers followed him, their weapons once again trained on her.

"I will only talk to you alone, Barrat."

His eyes narrowed.

She laughed, "It would just be you and me, Barrat. I am sick and you have a weapon. How much of a threat to you am I?"

Her words were challenging and they had the effect on him she hoped they would have. He indicated to the men with him that they should leave. 

She watched them go, then laughed again once the door closed behind them, "Actually, when you hear what I have to say, I think you will thank me."

"You said you have a cure."

She pulled herself up to sit on one of the treatment beds, "Yes. I do."

"What is it?"

"It is this." She held up a hypospray, her thumb on the button to activate it. "But, before you do anything stupid, Barrat, you should know, this is the only dose. And, with the Doctor out of the picture, there won’t be anymore."

He watched the hypospray carefully. "How do I know this is not a trick."

"You don’t. Although, look at his child."

She watched him try to see Kathryn B’Elanna without looking at her. She could see he was afraid of the child.

"Did you not find it interesting that his child is the only one not sick? Everyone on this ship is sick but her." His eyes widened at her words. She continued, "Your people weren’t exposed on Voyager, Barrat. They were exposed right here. By something the Doctor created. He turned it loose on your ship. But he protected his child first. This dose was to protect me. Tell me, Barrat, how many of your crew have died already?"

That was a gamble. The Doctor was not certain the virus would be deadly; however, she suspected it might be deadly to someone who had never been exposed to similar viruses. She was sick enough to know that she would not be able to stay on her feet much longer. His reaction told her there had been a couple of deaths. She found the though comforting.

"Not everyone will die but a lot will. This," she held out the hypospray, "will ensure you are not one of the deaths."

"Why would you give it to me?"

"Oh, I wouldn’t give it to you. I would either inoculate myself or shoot it into the air before I would give it to you. I will, however, trade you for it."

"And your required barter?"

"Our freedom."

He laughed and pulled his phaser from his belt, "I can just kill you."

"Can you shoot me before I shoot this?"

He hesitated.

"You shoot me. I shoot this. I die from your phaser shot. You die from this illness. I’d say it would be a fight to the draw."

He was really starting to hate this woman. He just looked at her, his own fever clouding his thinking. He slowly put down his phaser and moved closer to her. She watched him, willing him forward just a few more feet. Finally, he moved to lean back against the treatment bed near her. Perfect, she thought.

"How do I know I can trust you?" He asked her skeptically. 

"Actually, you don’t really. But how do I know I can trust you?"

"Actually, you don’t really."

"Another draw."

He gave her a wicked grin, "Why do I feel you have a suggestion?"

She returned his grin with one as wicked herself, "You accompany me to a shuttle. We will make the final trade there."

Suddenly, he heard a sound behind him but, before he could turn, he felt the eyes of the child on him. He turned toward her and saw her looking at him, hate full in her face. His eyes went wide with fear and he started to move from the biobed when he realized he couldn’t. He was frozen in place. Try as hard as he could, he could not move at all. She was in his mind. He could feel her and he felt how much she hated him. He heard her speak to him.

"You hurt Mama. You hurt Dada. I hurt you."

He tried to scream but he couldn’t. Then, he felt something pressed against his neck and felt an almost welcomed unconsciousness overtake him. 

The Doctor had materialized behind him. B’Elanna had placed his mobile emitter on the floor with a hypospray nearby and had set a delay for his emitter to activate him. As soon as he materialized, he had grabbed the hypospray and risen behind Barrat to administer the heavy dose of sedative. 

The Doctor grabbed the unconscious man and lowered him to the bed. Quickly, B’Elanna joined him and they removed the belt from his body. She grabbed it and started studying it. She looked up at the Doctor, a smile of relief on her face, "I think I can deactivate it." 

"Good." He grabbed the phaser, then moved to pick up Kathryn B’Elanna. They went to stand behind the treatment bed in the farthermost corner of the room. B’Elanna grabbed all her makeshift tools and joined them. She sat on the floor and started to work on the belt while the Doctor placed Kathryn B’Elanna on the floor next to her, then stood, his weapon trained on the door. He would kill the first person that came through the door. He checked to make certain the phaser was set to kill and not to stun. He watched the door and Barrat. 

B’Elanna concentrated on the belt. She forced herself to think and her fingers to stop their shaking. She bent forward, focusing her thoughts, following the circuits in the belt, disabling them one by one. Finally, she disabled the last circuit, then, hesitantly looked to the explosive device on the belt around Kathryn B’Elanna. She gingerly fingered the device and looked up at the Doctor. 

He looked down at her, then painfully closed his eyes for a moment before looking at her, his face now calm. "I trust you, B’Elanna. Go ahead."

She pulled the child closer to her, wrapped one hand around the device, took a knife and slid it behind the belt, near her hand. Taking a deep breath, and, in one swift movement she quickly sliced through the belt, pulled the belt from the child and turned, throwing herself onto the device wrapped in her hand. She laid there waiting for the explosion. Finally, she took a breath, realizing it was not going to come. She turned to see the Doctor hugging his child, relief in his face.

"Now, let’s see about getting out of here." He was holding his hand down to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. They moved forward to get away from the explosive device and now held their position near the bed holding Barrat. 

"Is he still out?" B’Elanna was looking at the man carefully.

The Doctor scanned him, "Yes. I gave him a pretty hefty dose. He should be out for a while."

"Well, are you ready to fight your way out of here?"

The Doctor fingered the phaser in his hand, "Absolutely." 

She picked up Kathryn B’Elanna and moved into position behind the Doctor. "Just give me a minute to grab a phaser from somewhere once we get out there."

He nodded and they started for the door.

Kahkar’s ship was moving through space at transwarp speed. With Seven’s help, they had greatly narrowed the search area. Seven was continuing to work to try to narrow the search area even more, running scans, desperately working to find the Ikora. Ketaria watched her carefully. She could feel the panic pouring from her. But Seven did not show what she was feeling. She worked, her head down, the movements of her hands sure.

No one would know that she was in emotional and physical pain.

Ketaria’s eyes sought her husband’s. She could see how unhappy Kahkar was. He was staying close to her, watching her every movement, alert to any sign of a problem.

Harry Kim was also staying close. Ketaria felt how much he hurt for her and how much he loved her. His feelings were more intense now than the first time she had felt them. Now, she sensed a new bond between the two of them. She was not certain what it was and she knew it was different for Seven than it was for Harry but it was a bond, none the less.

She caught his eyes and he gave her a woeful smile. She smiled back at him. She watched as he allowed his eyes to drift back to watch Seven. Suddenly, she felt a powerful emotion pouring from Seven, then saw her body tighten.

"I have found them."

Kahkar moved to her side immediately, then raised his head and called to the bridge, giving them the new coordinates. Then, he had the coordinates transmitted to Voyager even as he hailed Captain Janeway.

The view screen came on and all eyes were raised as she came into view.

"This is Captain Janeway."

"Captain," Kahkar spoke, "Seven has identified the ship. I have transmitted the coordinates to you. We are on our way there now." 

Her head turned, then she responded, "We have received the coordinates and are setting course now. We will proceed at maximum warp." She hesitated, "It will still take us a number of hours to get there."

"We will be there within the hour, Captain. My people will handle this. Do not worry."

"Thank you, Kahkar. May I speak with my crewmembers?"

"Of course." He turned to Harry who stepped forward.

"Hello, Captain."

"Hello, Ensign. How are… you doing?"

"I am fine, Captain. And Seven is well also." He smiled into the view screen.

"Good, I am relieved to hear that. Hello, Seven." She waited.

Seven finally looked up from her work, "Captain."

Janeway tried to give her an encouraging look, "Congratulations on finding the ship."

She did not respond but did offer a small nod of her head and then returned to her work.

"Kahkar, we will see you as soon as possible. Janeway out."

The view screen went dark and the three of them turned to look back at Seven who continued to work. Kahkar walked up to her, "Seven, you should rest now."

"No, I am trying to identify their life signs."

"We are still too far away for that."

"We will not be for long."

"Seven, please." Kahkar moved to stand in front of her, "You need to rest. We will take of things from this point on. I must insist that you rest." His voice was firm and emphatic. It brought her head up. "You have done everything you could possibly do. You have done everything I will allow you to do. No more, Seven. You are going to rest and you will not argue with me." He moved around the console to put his hands on her shoulder. Harry and Ketaria watched, both slightly fearful at her reaction but Kahkar turned her to him, "The battle is mine now, Seven."

She stood, still, looking into his eyes, hers flashing with anger then closing as her head slumped against his chest. Ketaria felt the fight flow out of her body. He led Seven toward the doors and she went without a fight. Harry and Ketaria fell in behind them. 

They took the two guards outside the door by surprise. The Doctor shot them before they could even raise their phasers.

"Did you kill them?" 

"No. I adjusted the phaser." He gave her a grim look, "But not by much. They will be out for a long time."

"Good." She leaned down and grabbed both phasers, sticking one in her belt and raising the setting on the one she kept in her hand. She adjusted Kathryn B’Elanna’s weight and indicated the corridor to their right, "The lifts are down there."

He moved forward, making certain she was behind him. She was deadly pale, despite her fever. He wasn’t certain how she was still on her feet. He knew she was running on adrenaline and determination and not much more. He wished he could take Kathryn B’Elanna from her but he was their shield. He only had to get them down one hall and down two decks to get to a shuttlecraft. They had surprise and the illness of the crew on their side. 

They half-walked, half-crawled down the corridor, both alert for any members of the crew. The Doctor watched forward, B’Elanna backward. They were at the lifts in a matter of seconds but to B’Elanna, it felt like a lifetime. They each took a position on either side of the lift doors, phasers trained on them as they opened. They looked at each other in relief when the lift was empty. They entered and B’Elanna keyed in the command for the deck where the shuttles were located. She leaned back against the lift wall, gasping for breath.

"B’Elanna," The Doctor was at her side immediately, "are you okay?"

"Yes." It came out as a wheeze. 

He felt her forehead, then her pulse. "I should take Kathryn B’Elanna."

"No." More wheezing. "You guard us. I’ll carry her."

"Only a few more feet, B’Elanna."

The lift stopped and they took low positions, their phasers again trained on the doors. One crewmember was standing at the door and the Doctor took him out. He stepped out, quickly looking around, then motioned B’Elanna out of the lift and picked up the man’s phaser. She stood, adjusting Kathryn B’Elanna on her hip and moved cautiously out of the lift, her phaser drawn. Kathryn B’Elanna was holding onto her neck, instinctively holding her body close to B’Elanna’s. She was quiet, her eyes alert and watching.

They were fifty feet away from a shuttle when they heard a voice yelling. The Doctor quickly turned, firing his phaser and B’Elanna took cover behind a packing crate. He joined her, firing as he did. She put KB on the floor and looked over the packing crate, firing at someone she saw running in the shadows. She watched as he fell. 

"One down." She glanced at the Doctor. 

"I think there are only two more down here," he spoke tersely, "unless they call in reinforcements. There is one over there," he indicated a spot off to their right, "and then one in those shadows," he pointed straight ahead with his phaser. "Should we try to make a run for it?"

"Not with the two of them. I don’t like those odds," she looked around, trying to come up with a plan. "Doctor, I am going to go over there," she indicated another set of packing crates to her left, "I will try to go around behind them. If I flush one of them out, you be prepared." 

He nodded at her, "Be careful, B’Elanna."

She winked at him, then moved low and quick, staying in the shadows. A beam of phaser fire shot over her head. She ducked but did not return the fire. She wanted them to get braver, to feel like it was safer to stand. If they did, the Doctor would have a cleaner shot. She kept moving around, staying low but being obvious in her movements. She wanted them focused on her and not on the Doctor and Kathryn B’Elanna. She saw another phaser beam go over her head, then, she jumped up and fired quickly in the direction that shot had come from. Then, she just as quickly ducked. She glanced up to see the figure stand to return her fire and saw a phaser beam come from the direction of the Doctor. The figure dropped like a stone.

"Way to go, Doc." It was a whispered gasp. 

She started to move again and heard footsteps starting to run. The remaining crewmember was opting for escape rather than a fight. She risked raising her head and saw the figure running in the shadows. She aimed and fired and the figure fell, skidding forward. She stayed quiet a moment, listening but could not hear anything. She turned and made her way carefully back to the Doctor’s side. 

He was holding Kathryn B’Elanna in his arms, his phaser held ready. When she slipped back beside him, he gave her an appreciative grin. "Ready?"

She gasped for her breath and held out her hands to take KB. The Doctor looked at her, "Wouldn’t it be better if I carried he?"

"You shield."

"Against what?"

She shrugged, "Never know."

He handed her over and they started for a shuttle again. Suddenly, a voice spoke to them from behind, "Stop."

They froze.

"Drop your phasers and turn around."

They both dropped their phasers and turned around. Barrat stood, holding a phaser on them. 

"You should have killed me, Doctor. Your compassion has proven to be your undoing."

"It wasn’t my compassion, Barrat. It was my programming. My compassion would not have kept me from killing you."

He looked at the two of them and laughed, "You two are very good at deception. It is a shame I shall have to kill you." He looked oddly at the Doctor, "Or is it possible to kill a hologram? I had not considered that problem. I can, however, kill you." He looked at B’Elanna. "I will look forward to killing you. I should have killed you in the beginning."

B’Elanna stood still, watching the man’s face. He was going to kill her, she could feel it. Her only thought was how to protect Kathryn B’Elanna. Slowly, she tried to slide the child far to her right and away from the line of fire of his phaser.

Kathryn B’Elanna was looking at him, her eyes seeming to shrink as she looked at him. She felt B’Elanna’s fear and the man’s hatred. 

No. Hurt bad man.

B’Elanna watched his eyes and saw them blink in surprise. Then, she saw his eyes go to the child and watched as he desperately moved the line of the phaser from her to Kathryn B’Elanna. She saw his hand tighten and she screamed, turning her body to shield the child and take the shot of the phaser. She fell to her knees, then dropped forward as she lost consciousness, falling on Kathryn B’Elanna as she did.. 

The Doctor charged Barrat, screaming his anger and caught the man in his arms, driving him back. They rolled on the floor, each fighting to be the first to regain their footing. The Doctor managed to get to his knees first, pulling back his fist and swinging it forward with full force, catching Barrat on the chin, snapping his head as he did. The phaser flew from the man’s hand. He pulled back and hit him again, rebreaking his nose. Barrat fell back, screaming in pain, his hands searching for a weapon. He came up, brandishing a knife and came at the Doctor. The Doctor laughed as Barrat swung the knife at him, catching him in the middle but the Doctor adjusted his program to allow the knife to pass through. He caught the man’s hand and wrenched the knife from his hand. Taking it into his own, he plunged it into Barrat.

Barrat staggered, grabbing the Doctor’s hand as it still held onto the knife. Their eyes met, Barrat’s surprised. The Doctor looked at the man who had killed his wife, who had tried to kill his child, who may have killed his best friend. He held the man’s eyes as he thrust the knife deeper. 

"Compassion," said the Doctor, his voice full of hate, "is irrelevant."

He watched as the life left Barrat’s eyes and the man dropped to the floor. Then, he turned to B’Elanna. He rolled her over, picking up his screaming child, trying to comfort her and check on B’Elanna. He felt for a pulse and was relieved to find one, even though it was weak and thready. He looked around to make certain no one else was around, then grabbed B’Elanna by her shirt collar and dragged her toward a shuttle. He pulled her up the ramp of a shuttle, then lowered her to the floor, quickly moving to close the shuttlecraft door. Still holding his daughter tightly to him, he moved to the pilots seat and gave himself a few minutes to familiarize himself with the controls. Then, he activated the shuttle's engines and made an adequate, if somewhat bumpy exit from the ship. He concentrated on escaping the ship, then set the autopilot controls and went back to check on B’Elanna.

She was barely breathing. He looked around in frustration, trying to find an emergency medical kit. He started opening bulkhead doors, looking for any type of supplies. Suddenly, he saw his hands.

"No!" He was fading. The battery on his mobile emitter was dying. "No, please. Not yet." Then, he felt the ship shudder. He looked up in shock. He ran to the helm to check sensors. They had put a tractor beam on shuttle. He put Kathryn B’Elanna in the second chair.

"Sit here, sweetheart. Daddy has to take care of something."

He sat in the pilot’s shuttle, trying in desperation to think of something to do. Then he sputtered. He looked sadly at his child for a moment, then his anger set in.

"One more chance, Kathryn B’Elanna." He looked over the helm controls, then initiated a set of commands and fired an energy burst back through the tractor beam. He watched the sensors then grinned when he saw explosions indicated. He knew the ship at least was crippled. He hoped it was more. 

Then, he saw the hail. He hit the command and heard the voice.

"…. Omarahn calling the unidentified shuttle."

"Kahkar?" 

"Doctor?"

"My mobile emitter is failing. B’Elanna is hurt. We ne….."

His program sputtered and he dematerialized, his mobile emitter falling to the floor.

Kahkar looked around his sickbay. It looked like a war zone triage hospital. The Doctor’s mobile emitter was recharging on a special recharging pad he had quickly developed. He was not certain if the Doctor’s program had been damaged and it would be a few hours before he would be able to check it out.

B’Elanna was extremely sick and they were trying to determine what was making her so. They were running tests to determine what virus she had contracted so they could develop a cure for it. They were giving her oxygen to help her breathing and had her in an isolation force field. She had not regained consciousness since they had brought her onboard. That worried him.

Seven was recovering from surgery. Her internal bleeding had gotten worse and she had collapsed as he was walking her out of his astrometrics lab to get some rest. They had almost lost her before they could do the surgery.

Harry was in a chair next to her bed, holding her hand but sound asleep.

Ketaria was rocking Kathryn B’Elanna, trying to get her to sleep but the child would not close her eyes. They roamed from bed to bed to pad, watching and waiting.

Kahkar looked at the clock and left for the transporter room. It was time for Captain Janeway to arrive.

Ketaria felt the child enter her mind.

"Hello, Kathryn B’Elanna." The child was quiet and Ketaria could feel how troubled she was. "Do you want to talk to me?"

"Hurt bad man."

"You do not have to worry about the bad man anymore, Kathryn B’Elanna."

"Hurt bad man."

Ketaria concentrated, then ventured a question, "Did you hurt the bad man?"

"Yes."

"Did you hurt him with your head?"

"Yes."

Ketaria held her mind still, not allowing Kathryn B’Elanna to feel her shock. She projected a feeling of calm and tried to mentally reach out to the child. She was surprised to realize the child held her away. "Kathryn B’Elanna, it is all right. You should let me help you."

"No help."

"Yes help." She made the thought slightly forceful. "Kathryn B’Elanna, let me help you. You cannot do this without me."

She "saw’ the child turn to her, tears in her eyes and lift her arms to her. Ketaria went to her and wrapped her in calming thoughts, comforting her.

In the physical world, she tightened her hold on the child in her arms, her face a mask of worry, sighing deeply. 

Ketaria and Kathryn Janeway stood by, concerned, as Kahkar held the mobile emitter in place and activated it. They all held their breath, not certain what would happen. The battery had never given out on the Doctor’s mobile emitter and they did not know if his program would be damaged.

The Doctor’s image sputtered, faded, then sputtered before solidifying.

"Dadadadada!" Kathryn B’Elanna was practically screaming.

He reached for her and she buried her face in his neck, crying hard. He held her to him, his eyes closed tightly, unable to speak, only to hold her. Suddenly, he felt himself sputter again and he looked up into Kahkar’s face in fear but Kahkar was smiling at him. 

"I’m sorry I did not warn you, Doctor, but I transferred your program to my system. I am concerned about your mobile emitter and I didn’t want to risk damaging your program by having a sudden failure. I adapted my ships systems to handle your program in this room." He reached over and removed the emitter from the Doctor’s arm, "I’ll be able to run a complete diagnostic on it without having to worry about you."

The Doctor gave him a slight nod, "Thank you." Then, he looked around and saw Captain Janeway standing in front of him, "Captain. It is good to see you."

"Hello, Doctor. It is wonderful to see you again." She reached forward, grabbing his arm. 

"Doctor," Kahkar stepped forward, "I need your help with B’Elanna. She is extremely ill."

"Of course. It’s a virus. I can give you the details." He looked at Kahkar sheepishly, "I created it."

"What?"

"I’ll explain everything later." He turned to look for her, then stopped as he saw there were two beds occupied. His eyes went from figure to figure, then widened as he recognized Harry standing next to one of the figures, holding a hand. A hand with an exoskeleton.

"Seven?" He could not move. He was not certain what he was seeing was real.

Janeway stepped forward, "Doctor, she was hurt…."

He looked at her, his eyes almost vacant with shock and amazement, "It’s Seven?"

She reacted with confusion but responded, "Yes. It’s Seven."

He moved past her slowly, almost afraid to move or to take his eyes from the figure on the bed. If he did, he was afraid he would wake up from this dream and she would fade from his reality. He walked up to her, gingerly taking her hand, not really expecting to feel warm, solid flesh and almost collapsing when he did. 

"You are alive." He did not take his eyes from her face, "But Barrat said he killed you." 

Harry watched the Doctor as he looked into the sleeping face of his wife, put her hand down beside her and backed away from the family. Ketaria felt both his happiness and his pain.

Kahkar walked up, putting his hand on the Doctor’s back, "Yes, Doctor, she is alive. She was hurt but she is recovering. Right now, she is sleeping and B’Elanna needs your help more than she does."

The Doctor had to work to pull his eyes away from his wife but he allowed his programming to take over and handed Kathryn B’Elanna to Captain Janeway before following Kahkar to B’Elanna’s side.

B’Elanna was sitting up, coughing, still having to work to draw a deep breath. Her chest ached, as did her back where she had been shot. As a matter of fact, she hurt everywhere. At least it told her she was alive. She coughed again, a deep, wrenching cough and felt Kahkar press another hypospray against her neck.

"This should help you with that cough but, I am afraid, some of this is just going to take time for you to get over."

She nodded, coughing again, then heard the child’s voice above her.

"Bala. Bala."

She looked up to see KB reaching for her. She reached for the child who quickly settled herself into her arms and sat with her head resting on her shoulder. She heard the soft voice, "Bala. Mama hurt."

"Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry." B’Elanna started tearing.

"No, B’Elanna." She looked up at the Doctor, as he talked, "She’s hurt, but she’s not dead. She will be okay." He turned slightly so B’Elanna could Seven lying on the bed nearby.

"Oh, KB!" She pulled the child up so she could look at her, "Yes, Mama is hurt but she will be okay. You don’t have to worry about her." She pulled the child back close to her, hugging her tightly. After a moment, she looked up at the Doctor, "Barrat?"

He gave her a look, "I killed him."

Kathryn Janeway’s mouth dropped open at his words but B’Elanna just gave him a grin, responding roughly, "Good for you."

"Doctor." Harry spoke from behind them, "I think Seven is waking up."

The Doctor turned immediately and rushed to her side. He took her hand and spoke to her, "Seven. Wake up, Seven." 

He watched as she opened her eyes and saw the look of awareness as she saw his face.

"Doctor."

"We are all here and we are all safe." 

"Mama." B’Elanna joined them and put Kathryn B’Elanna down on the bed next to her. The child nestled in the crook of her arm.

She did not say anything but the Doctor saw the peacefulness come back into her eyes.

The sickbay had now gone from a war zone triage hospital to a recovery room. Kahkar would not let any of the three leave so he had managed to modify the room so he could keep an eye on everyone and yet give them a certain amount of privacy by using movable screens. Right now, however, there was an impromptu party as a number of the Voyager crew had transported over, including Neelix with quite a bit of food. 

The two beds had been moved to the center of the room, facing each other and one held Seven, the Doctor and Kathryn B’Elanna while the other held B’Elanna and Tom. The rest of the Voyager crew was scattered around, some in chairs and some standing.

The Doctor and B’Elanna were reciting the events that occurred on the Ikora, B’Elanna’s part of the story punctuated by deep, hacking coughs. Now, it was difficult not to talk about the experience without a kind of excitement from time to time but they were both mindful of the impact of the story on Seven. B’Elanna looked to Ketaria frequently to make certain Seven was dealing with everything. Seven’s face showed very little emotion but B’Elanna knew this event would have a deep and long-lasting impact on her. She could see that Ketaria was struggling to help Seven through the telling.

When the Doctor told about the final fight with Barrat, all he said was that he had killed him in self-defense. B’Elanna looked at him carefully and his look told her he would talk to her about the matter later. She knew that was for the best.

Ketaria watched everyone carefully, then receiving a silent message from Seven, she looked to Kahkar who stood, commanding everyone’s attention.

"I hate to break up this party, but I am going to have to demand my patients rest. You are all invited to return tomorrow." He looked firmly to the Doctor, Seven and B’Elanna, "They will all be here."

The room cleared quickly with Captain Janeway accepting Ketaria’s invitation to spend the night in their guest quarters. B’Elanna held Tom’s hand and her look told him he would not be returning to Voyager. He just grinned at her. Harry started to leave but was stopped by Ketaria.

"She wants to talk to you. I will arrange for you to have privacy."

He nodded and stood back, waiting.

True to her word, she soon had the beds separated and set up in a way to allow each couple to have complete privacy. When she indicated to the Doctor he was to join her and bring Kathryn B’Elanna with him, he barely glanced at Harry before doing so.

Harry slowly approached Seven and she reached for his hand when he did, pulling him down to sit on the bed next to her. 

She looked at him, swallowing hard, "What you did for me….."

"Shhh." He put his finger to her lips.

"But if it had not been for you….."

"Seven, it is all right. I wanted to be there for you."

She reached up and put her hand to the side of his face. He reached up, putting his hand over hers, then pulled it away to kiss the palm of her hand before pressing it back against his face. He looked deeply into her eyes and, slowly leaned forward to kiss her lips. She let him, then found herself kissing him back; his kiss given in love, hers given in thanks. They broke and he pulled back.

"Harry," her voice quivered, "I don’t…."

"I know."

She hesitated, "I am sorry."

He nodded, "So am I." He put her hand down in her lap, held it for a moment, then, let go, turned and left. She watched him go, her heart aching.

After a moment, the Doctor’s head appeared around the barrier. She smiled at him, pushing herself up in the bed. He walked in, Kathryn B’Elanna in his arms. "Ketaria and Kahkar are bringing a crib for her." He gave her a big grin, "B’Elanna and Tom are already asleep." He put Kathryn B’Elanna down next to her, their child sound asleep, "And they aren’t the only ones."

She pulled Kathryn B’Elanna to her with one arm, then reached up to the Doctor’s face and pulled him to her with the other. She kissed him passionately, then hugged him tightly, whispering in his ear, "Welcome home."

He chuckled, enveloping her in his arms, "But we are not quite home, yet, Seven. This isn’t Voyager."

She pulled back and looked at him, smiling, "But, Doctor, when I am with you, it is home."

The End