AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome to Chapter 10! Thank you to those who read- special thank you to those who reviewed! Thank you to Scifiromance and Starshine for letting me tell them a story! Read, enjoy, review!

OBLIGATORY LEGALITIES: Don't own them, never will, won't stop me from writing about it.

~LM

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Happenstance: noun: 1. A chance happening or event. 2. Coincidence.

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The ground around the firepit in front of their cabin had been kept clear of debris- leaves, sticks, bits of bark, and the like- but now was a litter of firewood and the biproducts of the panther that Chakotay had killed to save Seven. Chakotay had stayed mostly on his backside, settled on the soft mossy ground and leaned back against the large logs they used to sit on around the firepit. He had given Seven instruction when asked, though she also had relied on a rather gory looking PADD and its encyclopedia for her information, but he was stubbornly resolute that he not take more than a teacher's part in the animal's processing. It was all he could do to squash back the memories of watching his father skin a whitetail while singing a song of sending to the animal's spirits. Thank you so much for your sacrifice- I'll enjoy chewing your bones while you enjoy grazing in the afterlife. Still, he couldn't help but start to hum the tune to himself as he examined the large black fur wrapped around the tripod over the campfire to dry out. Seven wasn't wrong thinking it would make a warm addition to the bed.

Hearing the soft humming, Seven set down the sharp stick she was skewering little chunks of meat on to be dried and leaned back to see Chakotay resting against the log behind her. The Commander looked a lightyear away, one hand smoothing over the dark beard he was slowly growing in, and the other hanging carelessly off the end of the knee propped up to his chest. She was well aware that this was not an activity he enjoyed. His instructions had been invaluable, but were given in short bursts as though he hated to impart such knowledge. Had she stepped too out of bounds? "Chakotay?"

He was startled as her soft voice yanked him back to himself. When he looked over to her, he nearly jumped again. For a second, it wasn't Seven of Nine looking at him so curiously, but some Viking's wife with her mane of blonde hair messily braided away from a face that had at some point become streaked and speckled with blood and dirt. "Spirits!" he hissed in surprise, his heart lubbing a painful beat as the hand stroking his beard nearly yanked a chunk of it out.

Seven's eyebrows drew together in concern. "Are you alright, Chakotay?" she asked, dropping the skewer of meat along with the others and turning to him fully.

"Yeah- yeah." he quickly smoothed away the ache in his chin. "Sorry- just lost in my own head for a minute." He glanced back up at her bloodied face. "Get a tickle on your chin?" he teased.

She smirked. She had tried to avoid touching her face, but hadn't succeeded. The skin felt tight where she knew blood had dried in a streak across it. "I think you're the one that almost had a bald patch." She pointed one stained finger to her own chin. "Right about here."

There wasn't any hiding his snort, or the short bark of laughter from his lips. "No. Remind me not to daydream while I stroke this thing. I need to trim it pretty soon."

Her eyes turned thoughtful, their path caressing his face like a lover's kiss as she innocently examined him. "Beards are considered.." she mumured, turning her eyes away. "Distinguishing on men.. are they not?"

"Well, they're not particularly prized on women." he returned, chuckling again.

She snorted. "No, I'd imagine not. Though, there are several species of humanoid for which facial hair is not a distinguishing characteristic of sex."

When he rolled his eyes, it was with an amused smile. "I've come across a few species I couldn't tell the difference between in my time, too. Starfleet trains cadets on it. Supposed to be careful with pronouns during first contact with new species just in case the translators offend." With a grunt, he pushed himself up onto his feet to get a better look at Seven's progress. "How much do you lack being finished? It's starting to get dark."

Seven turned back to the skewers of meat. "I have what I can use sliced and skewered." she answered. She gestured to the large lump of black furred skin on the tripod. "What do we do with this now?"

Chakotay reached out and put a hang gingerly on the warmed fur. "We need to stretch it out somewhere so it can dry for a few days. Are you sure you got all the flesh off it? There can't be any membrane or-"

"You watched me do it." Seven defended.

"Saved the brain?"

"I haven't removed it from the cranium yet."

"Just hang the head up in a tree until you need it."

"Won't it rot?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "A little. But better to be up a tree than in the cabin."

"I concur."

"Alright then." Chakotay put his hands on his hips, surveying the carnivorous mess around his once clean firepit. "We can tie the hide up against the side of the cabin. It will dry out there as long as it doesn't rain. Get some of that vine."

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An hour later found them hanging her long skewers up in the rafters beside but not touching the skewers of potato greens. The black fur hide was tied up against the side of the cabin on the other side of the wall from their bed with several lengths of vine. Seven had taken the panther's entrails by the basketfulls down to the river, walking a few minutes downstream before letting the water carry the bloody mess far away from their homestead so it wouldn't attract any other predators. By the time they were winding down, dark had long fallen and the air was beginning to chill.

"I'll show you how to dry the meat tomorrow." Chakotay said, rolling his shoulders after having his arms over his head for so long.

Seven nodded, turning to face him. "Thank you." she said quietly. "For your assistance in this.. undesirable task.."

He blew a breath out of his nose, shaking his head. "It's.." He crossed his arms. "You're right." When she dropped her eyes, he quickly amended. "I mean about resources. I'm not ready to eat meat, but I won't judge you for it."

"I don't particularly like the idea either." Seven returned with a sigh. "I would not have sought the creature out to kill it, but.."

"Yeah." he mumbled a little awkwardly. "Anyway, it's done, and I'm glad you were faster than that panther."

"Me, too." She reached up to itch where the blood was dried to her cheek.

"We should get cleaned up then, and prepare to batten down for the night." Chakotay reached out and took her chin between thumb and forefinger, gently turning her head to see the smear down her face. "You look like an extra in one of Tom's horror films."

Seven snorted, turning away from him towards the door. "Then I call first bath."

"What?" he returned in a teasing voice. "You take twice as long as me!"

"I do not."

"It feels like you do."

She looked at him over her shoulder as she grabbed a clean shirt to borrow from his bag. "I will be efficient."

He rolled his eyes, following her outside with the phaser. "I'll be at the top of the path, then.. Waiting." She only snorted, walking around the embers of the firepit and to the top of the path down to the water's edge. When he caught up to her, she continued down while he took a seat on the little treestump they had placed there. From here, he could easily see down to the water to be a lookout while still giving her some privacy. The sky never went pitch dark- or at least, it hadn't yet- but it was darker tonight that it had been before. It was also quickly growing colder. He had a feeling that their days were about to become harder. Harsher. As a cool breeze ruffled the hair on his chin, he was a little more appreciative of the fur tied to the side of the cabin. Seven was right- it would make a good blanket.

XXX

A breath hissed through Seven's lips as she stepped down into the cold river water. How much longer would they be able to stand to bathe down here? A week? A month? She would have to speak to Chakotay about an alternative. She remembered from reading through his and the Captain's logs that he had built the Captain a bathtub when he was stranded with her. Seven didn't need such luxury- a washbasin would suffice.

She sucked in another breath as she forced herself to sit down to her waist in the water, quickly cupping her hands together and scrubbing the frigid water over her face. The ache in the biradial clamp in her shoulder that had been building up since her run from the panther ratcheted up a notch as she sunk deeper to her neck. The muscles around the clamp cramped in the cold as she lifted her arms to run her hands through her hair. "Ow.." she murmured through teeth clenched to keep from chattering while she tilted her head back to wet her hair.

"You okay?"

Chakotay's voice startled her, sending a jolting jerk down her frame. "Helve-!" Her curse choked off at the lick of flame in her shoulder. She forced the arm down to her side, crossing her forearm over her ribs as her metal-laced hand cupped the injured shoulder. "Not this- not now.." she mumbled. Even the weight of her hand on her shoulder hurt. She could see and feel the reddening of the skin over the implant, irritated by its slipping out of alignment.

Chakotay, having heard her, stood from the stump for a better look down, calling out again. "Seven? You alright?"

Aggrivated and in pain, she managed to hiss back a terse. "No!"

XXX

"What?" Chakotay hadn't expected her to answer in the negative. He could vaguely see her pale hair on the water, but not the rest of her. She must be submerged. "What's wrong?"

"I-" she started to call out to him, but cut herself off.

The tone of her voice had him halfway down the path, his eyes scanning up and down the banks for any sign of trouble or danger. "Seven?"

She turned her head to look at him in the water, the blood and mud cleaned from her face. "I need your assistance." she said through clenched teeth.

"You, what?"

"I have injured my arm."

"How?" he asked, coming to the water's edge. "Let me see it." When she began to shift up out of the water, he spun on his heel again. "Seven, you don't have any clothes on."

"Do you bathe in your clothes?" she hissed, standing up in the water. She was just above waist deep, and the sudden weight gravity put on her arm pulled a whimper past her lips. "Get me a blanket."

"Okay." He sprinted back up the path to the cabin like she'd kicked him.

She watched him go as she waded over to the rock she used to beat their clothes on as she scrubbed them, perching there with her knees up to her chest for warmth. When he made it back down to her with a dry blanket, she was shivering, huddled into a ball on the rock.

"How did you injure your arm?" he asked, unfolding the blanket and holding it with his arms outstretched. He looked away as she practically slithered off the rock, closing his arms and the blanket around her when he felt her step up against his body. With her wrapped, he opened his eyes to look at her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face blanched. "Seven?"

"It's.." Seven began, a pink blush coming up her neck from the edge of the blanket wrapped around her.

"It's what?"

"..my biradial clamp." she said quietly, embarassed. "It's come out of alignment."

It took a moment for him to realize what she was talking about. "In your shoulder?" When she nodded, he clucked his tongue in sympathy. "Okay.. how do we fix it?"

The blush intensified. "The Doctor was able to realign it via massage.." The volume of her voice was lowered until he had to strain to hear her. "I do not know how to do it to myself."

"Oh." He pursed his lips, trying to think of what to do or how to help. He couldn't do anything out here in the dark. "Well, let's get you back into the cabin where it's warm. You're shaking like a leaf."

She nodded, her good hand coming up and grabbing the edge of the blanket to hold it in place. When Chakotay leaned down and picked up the dirty and clean shirts from the sand, she followed him back up the path, fighting to hold in a whimper with each footfall. It felt as though she had sand in her joint- the once smooth mechanics now stilted and gritty, gnashing together instead of sliding as they should be. She could feel the muscle and tissues around it beginning to swell.

Inside the cabin, Chakotay dropped her shirts on the table before shutting and latching the door. She crouched in front of the fireplace, beginning to instinctively reach out with the hand not holding her blanket around her to grab another log for the fire. Her hitched breath was enough to have the Commander beside her in a flash, a worried look on his face. She couldn't unclench her jaw or she feared she would cry out, so she managed to say through gritted teeth, "More wood.. Fire.. Cold.."

"Okay." Chakotay tossed a few more logs on the little fire before grabbing the medkit from its place at the end of the bed. He opened it on the table, pulling out the hypo and dialing in a dose of pain reliever. The tool was pressed to Seven's neck and the medication administered before she had a chance to ask him what it was or see him coming.

"What was that for?" she asked, turning her head to look up at him.

"Pain reliever." he answered, tucking the hypo back into the case. "You're obviously in pain."

She nodded, then shook her head as her vision began to blur at the edges. "How much did you.. give me?"

He paused, deer in headlights. "Just the general dose. The general setting. I-"

"It's okay." she cut him off gently. "I'm just really sensitive to some pain relievers."

"Oh.." he mumbled. "Sorry."

"It is alright." The world toppled just a little as she stood, the blanket still clutched together with her good hand, but he was at her side to steady her in a heartbeat.

"Let's get you into some clothes." Chakotay said gently, moving her to sit on one of the logs that were destined to become stools for the table. His bag was put on the end of the bed before he dug through it, finally coming out with a sleeveless undershirt she could wear and he could still see her shoulder. He held it out to her. "Here you go."

She nearly scowled at him. "I'm afraid I will require your assistance." She let the blanket loose enough to bare her shoulders. Her right shoulder was swollen and red around a bump that shouldn't be there. "I can't move my shoulder."

"Spirits." he sucked a sympathetic breath through his teeth at the sight. "Okay.. how about I help you get it over your head?"

"Still can't lift my arm, Chakotay."

"...right."

She sighed, crossing her legs to catch the blanket as she let it fall to her waist, putting her good arm across her breasts and turning her bad arm as far out from her belly as she could manage without crying out. "Thread it onto my arm and up my shoulder. I can do the rest."

It took him a heartbeat longer than it should have to meet her eyes again, and a heartbeat after that to finally move to scrunch the shirt up and prepare it to go over her arm. Her skin practically glowed in the firelight, blemish-free but for where the lacing over her left hand sunk into the flesh of her forearm. He tried to keep the shirt and his hand from touching her skin both for her sake and his own. Once it was up to her shoulder, he stepped back and turned away to put his bag away, giving her time and privacy to pull the shirt over her head and put her good arm through it.

When he turned back around, she still held the blanket around her legs to keep them warm, but the shirt covered her torso. "Alright.. now.. your arm.. Here, come over by the fire and we will try to fix your.. uh, clamp."

"Biradial clamp." she corrected softly.

"Right. Sorry." Gently, he directed her to stand up before sitting down in front of the fireplace with her blanket, then pulled the vacated log behind her to sit on, giving him a height advantage. "Okay, so, clamp is here." He didn't miss the anticipatory wince when he pointed to the edge of her swollen red flesh. "And goes to here."

"Yes." She shied away from him. "It's alright- you do not have to attempt-"

"You're hurting." he stated obviously. "Now tell me how the Doctor fixes it and maybe I can help."

"But-"

"Seven.." When she turned her head up to meet his eyes, they were softened in the firelight, the dancing flames bringing out all the different hues of brown that made them up. Her own were dark blue and frightened, winced in pain from the burning throb in her shoulder. His voice was soft but sincere "Let me help."

After a second or two of deliberation, Seven finally nodded, sitting straight. "Very well."

Chakotay directed her to turn so that she sat sideways in front of him, her injured shoulder between his knees. "Okay, so it needs to go back in this way, right?" he murmured, very lightly drawing his finger in the direction he meant. Seven hissed in pain, but nodded. "Alright.. I'm sorry.."

"It is no matter." she answered as he gently touched her shoulder. "It can't be help- Chakotay!" She gasped in pain, her uninjured hand shooting out and latching onto his ankle.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He quickly released her.

"Too hard." Seven ground out between teeth clenched shut. She laid her head forward to rest on his knee. "..too hard.."

"Okay, not so hard." he mumbled, swallowing thickly before gently brushing his fingers over Seven's shoulder. He tried to keep from tensing up as she whimpered at the contact. After a few seconds of him working his hands over her shoulder, she stopped making noise, but kept her hand firmly on his ankle, and her forehead against his knee. "You know.." he said softly, slowly adding a little more weight to his ministrations, "When I was young.. my mother.. she used to get these awful headaches.."

"Hm?" Seven murmured, finally relaxing as the pain began to slowly ebb away, the clamp was slowly massaged back into alignment, and the pain reliever set in. There was a thought trying to wiggle its way to the front of her mind to say that Chakotay had never been known to speak about his mother- not that she ever knew of anyway. Perhaps this was an important story, but the pain reliever was making her world a little fuzzy outside of the grounding hand on his ankle and her forehead pressed against his knee.

"Yeah.. we.. I mean, she worked.. hard, you know?" he continued, "And she used to have me massage her back and shoulders.. She'd sit at the kitchen table so I could reach.. I'm sure I was crap at it at first.. but after a while.." He backed off when a particularly sensitive spot drew a pained hiss from his companion's mouth. "Lo siento.. Anyway.. after a while, she'd call me over my dad to do it."

Seven made a non-commital noise, leaning more heavily into him as he worked the clamp back into alignment. Chakotay's hands held a weight and a warmth that the Doctor just couldn't replicate. His hands were roughened from the hard work of building their cabin, and hot with the blood circulating in his veins, lending her some needed heat. She could feel her whole body beginning to relax as she focused on the feeling of that heat, letting her heavy head rest fully against his knee, and her hand on his ankle go slack.

"My old man thought it was just as well.. He loved my mother, of course, but he'd rather be off.. reading his old books or planning his next excursion than.." He moved his hands fluidly up across her shoulder, along her clavicle, and then back around behind her neck, following the knotted muscles. "..sitting there rubbing her shoulders.." Another few minutes of gentle pressure and he had the knots out of Seven's neck, unconsciously pulling her closer to his body to reach the other shoulder. "My old man's geneology.. it was really important to him. Trumped the rest of us sometimes.. I think he meant well, though.. Just wanted us to know where we come from, eh?" The last bit of tension drained out of the muscles beneath his fingertips. "There. How does that feel?"

Seven didn't answer.

"Seven?" Chakotay whispered. "Are you-?" He had to stop himself from chuckling when the blonde let out a quiet sleepy sigh. He leaned back enough to see her face on his knee. She was fast asleep. "...asleep?" he finished with a quiet snort.

Between his knees, Seven leaned in closer to his stomach so that her hair tickled the skin over his navel even as it sent a cold, wet droplet of water down to soak into the waistband of his trousers. After another quiet sigh, Chakotay let the affectionate smile bleed over his face. Seven deserved a commendation award for putting up with him sometimes. He knew he had been an ass more than once since they'd crashed here. Sometimes, the Latin temper trumped the placid indian in him. He turned his eyes back to the shoulder he'd just massaged back into place, gently running his hand over the bruising flesh. There was little doubt that her shoulder would be tender for a few days. At the turn of her neck, he worried that it, too, would be sore. "Seven?" he whispered, tucking her wet hair behind her ear. "Seven, wake up, cariño.." The starburst by her ear shone in the firelight, and he ran his thumb across one spindle. She smiled in her sleep. "Seven.."

"Hmm?" she sighed.

"Let's get you into bed." When she only sighed again, he chuckled. She must not have been lying when she told him she was sensitive to pain reliever. With careful hands, he reached down and scooped an arm under her blanketed knees, then the other behind her shoulderblades, hefting her up into his lap. She stirred for a heartbeat or two before settling against him, completely relaxed.

Grunting with the effort, he managed to stand up, carefully shifting her weight in his arms. She really was lighter than he expected her to be, but his muscles still sung out at the extra weight after a day of hard work. Honestly, he had figured she would have been heavier with what little Borg tech was left inside of her, though surely the Borg would have learned how to optimally gut and wire their drones without making them so heavy that they bent the walkways inside their cubes.

It was only a few steps to the bed, so he had ample time to lay her out on it before he over-taxed his own shoulders. As he laid her down, he was careful to prop her shoulder up on a fold of the blanket still wrapped around her, hoping it would cushion it as she slept. Seven hummed again as he tucked her in, pulling an amused smile from his lips.

She really was beautiful as she laid there.

The thought brought a bucket of ice water chill over his head. Where had that come from? Of course he was aware that she was beautiful- anyone with functioning eyes could tell him that- but since when did he think about her that way? Uneasy, he quickly straightened, grabbing up his overnight bag and taking it to the table.

The medkit was put away and his grooming kit pulled out as he sat down on the second log looking for a distraction from the woman sleeping not ten feet from him. First, he pulled out a comb and ran it through his beard, straightening all the wild little hairs down. He found the scissors and the palm-sized vanity mirror and brought them both up to his face. In the mirror, he studied his reflection with the scissors paused just beneath the length of his beard. The hair wasn't that long yet- barely hanging an inch down below his chin. It had itched for the first week, but hadn't given him any problems since.

"Distinguished." he mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes before bringing the scissors up to his lips. He pursed them before trimming the ends of the whiskers that were beginning to grow over his top lip. They were already beginning to tickle his lips when he spoke, and he couldn't bear the thought of them mingling in whatever food he ate. They had to go.

But when he finished his whiskers, and returned to the length beneath his chin, he couldn't bring himself to cut it just yet. His eyes once again found Seven laid out asleep across the room. Surely his beard must not be too bad if she finds him distinguished. She looked beautiful- angelic- sleeping away with her good arm up under her head for a pillow and her sore arm resting crossed over her belly. He could just see a slit of pale skin where her shirt didn't quite meet the blanket around her hips. To deny she was attractive would be folly. Chakotay knew then that if he wasn't careful, he would definitely end up falling for her.

As he continued to watch her sleeping in the firelight, she pulled one leg up, turning her hips away from him. The firelight glittered off of the edge of a spindle etched into the skin of her hip, reminding him of her undress beneath the blanket. Tearing his eyes away from her, a blasphemous little voice in the back of his mind whispered to him. 'Would that be so bad? To fall for her?'

Grooming kit all but forgotten, he shook the thoughts from his head. He grabbed another blanket from the pile at the end of the bed to sleep with, being careful to step over Seven in the bed to keep from moving her. He managed to lay out between Seven and the cabin's wall, pulling the blanket up over him before he relaxed enough to forget himself. The arm he typically threw across her belly hit higher than he meant for it to, jostling her sore arm as he gently pulled her body to him for warmth.

"Cha.. kotay.." He tensed up as she hissed in pain, but relaxed when she didn't wake. The pain killer seemed to be doing its job- especially so with how sensitive she seemed to be to it.

"Lo siento, Seven." he whispered, tossing his blanket over her torso and legs as well to keep her warm. When he shifted again to get comfortable, he was extra careful of her arm. Once settled, it didn't take him long to follow her into sleep.

XXX

When Seven woke up next, she knew it was the middle of the night without having to think too hard to check her chronometer. Her shoulder was tingling and burning in turns as whatever medicine Chakotay had given her hours before was beginning to wear off. She tried to wiggle to move it into a perhaps more comfortable position before realizing she was quite pinned in the spot. Chakotay's hand was warm on the metal spindle on her exposed hip, the weight of it pleasantly registering against all the little pressure sensors built in to the metal. His palm spanned most of it, with his fingers fanned in between the spindle's edges where the skin was more sensitive. His leg was also trapping her other leg to the bed, his torso half over her uninjured arm, and his head laid with his forehead pressed to the shell of her ear.

"Chakotay." she whispered, gently tugging her hand from beneath him. She had nowhere to go with it other than to put it beneath his neck, curling it around to rest her palm on his shoulder. He pulled her tighter in his sleep, the hand on her hip dipping down over the bare skin of her backside. Her breath hitched, remembering she had been too preoccupied with her arm to ask for a pair of his pajama pants or boxers. "Chakotay.." she whispered again. Her answer was only a sigh.

The ache in her arm doubled when she carefully forced it into motion, snaking her hand down over her belly until it could lock over his arm. With a wince, she pulled his arm back up to her waist, his hand now falling warm over her lower back. She paused for a moment, letting the pain ebb back a bit before reaching down again and tucking the blanket around her hips. It took most of her concentration to attempt to pull it back up to her ribs, but she couldn't get it back over his arm again. When her next breath came out in a pained moan at the motion, he finally stirred beside her.

"Seven?" he mumbled, pulling back enough to look down at her.

"..my arm.." She hissed again in pain.

He gently pulled his arm from her back, rolling back from her. "Tell me what you need."

'A great many things.. least of all your..' She blinked her eyes, clearing the voice back from the forefront of her mind. "I can't move it back up. Uncomfortable this way." she managed.

"Oh. Okay." he returned softly, pushing the shared blanket down to their waists before climbing over her. When she gave him a confused scowl, her put his hands under her knees and her back, gently lifting her and scooting her into her typical place against the wall. He didn't say anything to her gasp of surprise, but sleepily smirked at the back of her head as he helped her roll onto her side and then situate her injured arm. "We'll make you a sling in the morning." he said softly, crawling back into the bed after her and pulling the extra blanket up over them both. "Have to stay off that arm a few days."

She nodded, turning her head back to look at him as he settled behind her, half asleep already as he molded himself to her back. "Yes." she agreed.

His breath was warm against her back, his forehead pressed firmly against the back of her neck. "..don't like.. you walking around.. hurt.. pinche.. gatos.."

XXX

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~LM