Title: Watchful, Part one.

Author: quew

Disclaimer: Paramount owns them all (Them being the characters from Star Trek: Voyager and the premise of the show itself). I am just borrowing them and I will return them and hit the reset button when I'm done. 

Archiving: Pm and P&P if wanted: Anywhere else is fine too, just ask! *g*

Rating: PG

Notes: Ok, since I was asking about free-writing, I thought I'd try it *s* So expect a lot more mistakes than usual as this has been neither edited nor given the most cursory once over in the beta department. 



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I was surprised, the first time I looked at her. I thought I had forgotten everything - and I had - but the sight of her, injured and unconscious next to me, bought back feelings. Something inside me remembered her, even if it was not my conscious mind. 

I had had quite a shock when I awoke the first time. For a moment, I'd looked down at the...the /catsuit/ I'd been wearing and wondering just what the hell I did for a living, but then the balding, slightly grouchy doctor assured me it was for a good reason. I asked what the reason was, trying to sit up, and he looked at me strangely. 

'What do you mean?' He asked, fiddling nervously with the cylinder in his hands. 

'What's it for?' I asked, increasingly agitated. 'Why would anyone wear this out of choice?' 

'Seven, are you-' 

'What? Seven?' I suddenly realised that I didn't know my own name. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know /anything!/ 

I fell sideways off the narrow bed I’d been on and backed away from the balding man, who was holding his hands out, trying to calm me down. 'Who are you?' I cried. 'Who am /I/?' 

'Seven, please-' 

'What kind of name is that?' I'd snapped, feeling tears make my eyes burn. I held them back, trying desperately to feel in control of something. 'No-one would have a name like that! No-one would dress like this! Where am I!' 

I'd grabbed the edge of the bed next to mine and pulled myself upright, my body stiff and unresponsive. It was only when I turned to try and escape the man that I noticed it was occupied. My eyes fell on long, lean legs, bruised and bloody, leading up to a torso that was covered in what appeared to be surgical equipment. I'd gasped as my eyes reached her face, and momentarily forgot my predicament as feelings overwhelmed my already fragile emotional balance. 

Just as I reached out a hand to touch those strange ridges on her forehead, I felt something cold against my neck, heard a faint hissing sound and everything went dark. 

The next time I awoke, I went from unconsciousness to full alert in about three seconds flat. I tried to get off the bed but then something stopped me dead. I'd run into some sort of invisible barrier that blocked my progress. Gingerly, I stretched out a hand, watching the energy curl around my fingers as I pushed harder, feeling the resistance grow. I had the strange feeling that if I pushed hard, I could break through the barrier. 

'You're lucky that's not stronger,' a low, throaty voice said to my right. 

I whirled and saw a petit, red-headed woman, her expression a mixture of amusement and worry. 

'Who are you?' I asked, climbing back onto my bed and drawing my knees up towards my chest. My body was still stiff but it was healing with a speed that surprised me, and it didn't complain when I moved suddenly anymore. 

'I'm Cap...I'm Kathryn Janeway,' the woman said. Then she moved away, fingered a control panel and I watched as the force-field fizzed and died. She moved and sat on the end of my bed without hesitation. 'How are you feeling?' 

'Um, ok. I think.' I said. 'I want to know who I am. You do know, don't you?' 

She nodded. 'Yes. Your name is Seve-'

'No.'

'No?'

'No. Seven isn't a proper name; it's a number. Why would anyone have a number for a name? Like some sort of...of designation!' 

She smiled slightly at my outburst and said, 'I'll explain fully later. Your real name is Annika. Annika Hanson.' 

'Annika?' I felt my eyes fill up again. I never thought I'd feel such joy at having something as simple as my own name. I felt like a little part of me had been reclaimed. My mind bubbled over with questions and I felt them trip off my tongue before I could stop them. ‘What else? Where am I? What’s…what’s my job? Who are my friends? Who is she?’ 

The last question took Kathryn Janeway by surprise. Her eyes flickered toward the unconscious woman and back to me, and I could plainly see the question in her slate coloured eyes. 

‘I want to know.’ I clarified. ‘Is she my friend? Why is she hurt?’ 

Kathryn fidgeted but hid it well. ‘No…not really. You two have quite a history of…antagonizing each other.’ 

‘Really?’ 

‘Yes.’ 

‘Why?’

Kathryn shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Ever since you joined our crew you two have been at loggerheads.’ 

‘Crew? Our crew?’ 

‘Yes,’ Kathryn nodded. ‘You’re part of our crew. We’re on a Starship – Voyager.’ 

‘I’m a part…of Voyager?’ I repeated, feeling a warmth spread through my chest. ‘Like…like family?’ And what about family? Did I have any? And a /Starship/! What a concept! 

‘Yes, like a family,’ Kathryn agreed, although I could sense her feelings of awkwardness pouring off her like waves. 

‘What is it?’ I asked, agitated. My new-found excitement at meeting the rest of the crew was dampened by her obvious agitation. 

‘I…I can’t lie to you,’ she said softly, and I stiffened. ‘You…didn’t get on so well with a lot of the crew. Most of them.’ 

‘Really?’ I asked. What kind of person had I been? I looked down at the catsuit once again and shuddered. ‘Were you and I…friends?’ 

‘Yes,’ She said it without hesitation, a smile lighting up her features. ‘Yes, we are.’ 

I smiled a little, feeling relieved. At least I had one friend aboard Voyager. Just then, the doors had opened and a relatively tall, youthfully attractive Asian man had walked in. 

‘Seven!’ He called upon seeing me, rushing forward. I couldn’t help but smile as he hugged me gently before Kathryn pulled him off.

‘Harry…’ She said, pulling him aside. She said something to him which I didn’t catch and he returned to my bedside, more cautious but no less pleased. 

‘Annika,’ he said, smiling slightly. ‘I’m glad to see you’re awake.’ 

‘Thank you,’ I replied. ‘You are…?’

‘Harry,’ he said. ‘Harry Kim.’ 

‘Thank you Harry,’ I said, and he blushed slightly. 

‘How are you feeling?’ He asked. 

‘Okay, I think.’ I said, reaching up to scratch my temple. As my hand dropped, my eyes focused on the movement, following the limb during its downward drift. It took a moment to figure out what I was looking at, but when I did, I froze and my eyes widened. 

‘What the…? What’s this? What’s this?’ I asked, waving the hand with the metal winding round it toward Kathryn. 

She caught it gently, her eyes asking me not to get too worked up. I was tempted to ignore the request, but didn’t. 

‘It’s an augmentation to your natural systems,’ she explained quietly. ‘You have them all over your body.’ 

‘I…I do?’ I whispered, swallowing a slow building wave of revulsion. 

‘Yes.’ 

‘Oh,’ Was all I could say. 

Harry gave us some space and I saw him talking to the doctor. They came closer, and I could hear what they were saying. 

‘How’s B’Elanna?’ Harry asked, and my eyes moved to the woman in the bed beside me. That was her name? 

‘She’s going to be alright…’ The Doctor paused. ‘But even with our medical technology…it’s going to take a long time for her to be back to normal.’ 

I let my gaze linger on her, taking in everything as I heard the doctor continue. ‘If she hadn’t jumped in front of Seve…of Annika, though, Annika would have taken the full brunt of it. She’d be dead.’ 

She’d saved my life…yet we weren’t friends? She had saved my life? What had happened? For the rest of the time that Kathryn and Harry were there, I didn't really hear their comments and questions, and couldn't, despite my almost overwhelming curiosity, ask any of my own. My mind was filled with images of B'Elanna saving me from certain death, again and again, her brown hair flying around her proud face as she fought for me. 

I looked at the catsuit a third time and felt a desperate anger at my situation flow through me, coming easily. 

'Was I a nice person?' I asked, interrupting whatever it was that Kathryn had been saying.

She blinked. 'Sorry?'

'Was I nice? To people? Was I kind to animals?' It sounded ridiculous, but I had to know. 

'Yes. But...' 

'But?' 

'You were a little...aloof. Hard to get to know.' 

'But nice?' 

Kathryn looked almost on the verge of tears at my insistent, almost desperate questioning. 'Yes, sweetheart, you were nice. You never did anyone harm. Not while you were in control of your own actions.' 

My head whipped up. In control of my own actions? 'What are you talking about?' 

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