AUTHOR'S NOTES: Gosh, it's been a loooooooong time since I've worked on this one, folks. I was trying to work on Happenstance- and made some headway- but this story kept coming back to haunt me. It really left me no choice. Mezoti must be pacified. She's serious.

Anyway, special thanks to Starshine and Scifiromance for listening to me rant, rave, and note, and thank you to everyone who comes to read this. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

~LM

OBLIGATORY LEGALITIES: I do not own Star Trek, and I make nothing more than simple satisfaction from this story.

XXX

February 4, 2377

XXX

"Do you think he's using warp four to get home quicker?" Rebi asked excitedly, holding onto the railing in front of him overlooking the shuttle bay. "Or is he using his thrusters to dodge around the meteors like-" The boy made a swooping motion with his hand, complete with shuttle noises.

"Come on, Rebi!" Azan called from the steps across the platform before turning back and following Seven, Mezoti, and Icheb down the stairs to the ground floor.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Rebi raced after them, catching up to his twin halfway down the set of stairs. "Seven, when is Lieutenant Paris due back again?"

"In aproximately twenty-five minutes, Rebi." answered the blonde, a little smile playing about her lips. "We are here in plenty of time. You will not miss it."

"Okay, good." Rebi's voice echoed back to them off the far wall.

Mezoti giggled. "It echoes." she said before calling out a loud, "Hello!"

Beside her, Azan laughed. "Hello!"

"Children.." Seven warned, leading them to the main console at the head of the shuttle bay. Perhaps in the time that it took Tom and Neelix to get back, she could squeeze a few equations in- or perhaps go over one more lesson with the children.

"I bet he's going warp 4 since he is out of the asteroid belt." Rebi murmured, his eyes glued to the gigantic shuttlebay doors in anticipation of their opening. "Or maybe he-"

"Or maybe you could just ask him when he gets back instead of making our auditory arrays short circuit with your babbling." Icheb snickered, dodging the swat from his younger brothers. "Or you could just look at the sensors. It's a simple calculation to determine his speed."

The younger boy perked up. "Oh, yeah!" he turned to his guardian at the console, sidling up beside her and squeezing Mezoti out behind them. "Seven, can we look? I want to see.."

Now behind them, Mezoti pouted. "Hey!" she hissed, moving back into her self-designated spot hard enough to cause both Rebi and Seven to step apart. She crossed her arms, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

"Mezoti!" Seven scolded, looking down at the smallest Borgling. "Do not push."

"He pushed me first!"

"Did not!" argued Rebi.

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Children!"

Rebi and Mezoti both looked chastised, their heads bowed and hands crossed behind their backs. Rebi sighed, chancing to look up at her to guage how much trouble he was in. "I'm sorry, Seven." he mumbled.

"Seven.." Mezoti was against Seven's side like she'd been magnetically drawn, arms wrapped around Seven's ribs and her head resting against Seven's chest.

The blonde held in the sigh, having become more used to the little girl's tactile needs over the past week. Knowing that the willowy Norcadian wouldn't be moving for a bit, she simply adjusted her stance so that she could access the console one-handed. "Rebi, if you will observe the sensor data-"

Icheb gently took over the console. "Allow me." he said simply, letting his little brothers crowd on either side of him. "If we look at the sensor data from the time that he exited the edge of the asteroid belt, and calculate it against how far the Flyer is from Voyager.."

"Then we know when he will be back." Azan said with a nod, looking over to his twin's exuberance with a smile. "In-"

"Seventeen point three-six-two minutes!" the twins finished in unison.

Seven smiled behind them, letting her arm cup around Mezoti's shoulders. "And that means his speed is..?"

"Warp three." Mezoti answered softly, smiling when Seven's arm tightened for a few seconds in the affirmative.

Behind the group, the shuttle bay doors slid open and shut. "Hey, it's my favorite students." Chakotay's warm voice called out to them as he approached, a smile on his face. "What are you guys doing down here?"

The twins rushed to greet him, laughing when he tussled their hair in turns, leading them back to Seven and the other two children at the main shuttlebay console. "We are waiting for the Flyer to get back." Rebi explained excitedly. "Lieutenant Paris should be back in sixteen minutes!"

"Rebi got to help the Lieutenant and Mister Neelix with their preflight checks." Azan said, his voice rather proud as he stood to his full height.

Beside him, Rebi smiled shyly. "Well, I didn't get to help exactly.. They just let me watch them go through the sequence before they left."

"That's how you learn." said Chakotay, not taking away from the boy's exuberance. "Maybe next time, you will get to help first hand. And its only- what?- another couple of years before you will get to go on brief routine survey missions to observe."

"Speaking of survey missions," Seven broke in, "Has the Captain sent you down here to check in on the away team?"

Chakotay scrunched his nose with a shake of his head. "The Captain? No." He came to stand beside her, leaning in conspiratorially. "Actually, Tom is supposed to have picked up something for me at the trading colony.. I was coming to collect it as he returned."

The blonde gave him a half smile, amused. "And would this item Lieutenant Paris procured for you happen to be contraband?"

The Commander shrugged. "Depends on whether or not the Captain finds out."

The twins, uninterested in the Commander's contraband, returned to the console and Icheb, leaving the adults to speak, but Icheb had already used their distraction to pull up his latest physics module. "Icheb, we want to see the-" Azan began crossly.

"Shh." Icheb cut him off, his eyes not leaving the console. "I'm studying."

"But Seven said we can use the console to-" Rebi whined.

"Seven is busy." Icheb said quietly, glancing at Seven and Chakotay speaking about their next lesson plans behind him. Sure that they were paying him no mind, he turned back to his brothers. "And so am I. Find another console to play on."

Mezoti gently broke away from Seven's side to join the others by the console. "Seven would not appreciate your manners, Icheb." she said quietly, looking down at the module he had pulled up. "Especially when you are doing your equations incorrectly."

The teen jerked his head to look down at the eight year old, an expression of incredulity plastered on his face. "I am not doing them incorrectly!"

But the little girl was undeterred. One dainty finger reached out to point at a sequence of numbers. "You've missed a decimal point here." Her eyes scanned down the page, her fingertip moving to another calculation. "And here."

Icheb moved her hand from his screen, reading over the numbers she had pointed out as his ears began to burn. "Well, I only missed a decimal point because you three keep bothering me while I work!"

The twins snickered. Mezoti only shrugged, turning to join the twins over Icheb. "What is it Harry Kim says? 'If it makes you feel any better?'" The boys' snickers turned into giggles.

"Come on." Azan said as they turned away from the console. "I know where we can get a better look." His eyes were on the far wall as he spoke. He turned back to his twin long enough to take his hand before leading him along to the far side of the bay. "This way."

"Where?" Mezoti asked, following closely at their heels. "Where are we going, Azan?"

When they made it across the shuttlebay, the athletic twin pointed up above their heads. Rebi and Mezoti followed his line of sight to a short platform suspended above them. Its purpose was to allow engineers to easily reach the top and sides of shuttles so that they could be repaired, but it would also serve as a tall vantage point for the children to watch Tom bring the Flyer in through the shields protecting them from the vacuum of space just beyond the giant bay doors. An access ladder recessed into the plating on the wall lead straight to the edge of the platform. Azan was the first to take hold of a rung. "Follow me."

"This will be great!" Rebi enthused quietly, waiting until Azan was a foot over his head before taking hold of the ladder rungs himself. "We will be aproximately thirty feet up. We will be able to see the whole Flyer!"

Mezoti was the last to begin climbing, pausing only to glance back at Icheb, Seven, and Chakotay. The teen was still engrossed in correcting his boring old homework on the console, and the other two.. The little girl smiled as she caught the edges of her guardian's lips turning up. Beside her, Chakotay had a grin on his own face. They were happy. More importantly, they were distracted. Turning back to the ladder, the little girl quickly followed her brothers up.

The platform shifted slightly on its cables when Azan eased his weight onto it. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to slip, he scooted farther on before turning to offer a hand to Rebi. "Careful. It moves." he warned.

As Rebi scooted on after him, he also turned to offer a hand to Mezoti, helping her steady herself as she joined them on the platform. Once they had settled, the cables holding them up stilled, but six little hands continued to hold knuckle-white to the edge of the suspended decking as they awaited Tom and Neelix's return.

XXX

Down on the main floor, Icheb finished skimming over his module. He had given up physics with a harumph after the others had left him alone to it, his pride wounded at having his younger sibling point out such a glaring mistake. What he had pulled up instead was a theory of biology relating to a species of humanoid from the Alpha Quadrant. Unfortunately, it did not hold his attention for long. Even as interested in DNA as he was, the lesson was as boring as one of the Doctor's. He almost thought to check to see if the Doctor himself had authored it. Logging out of the console, he turned to see what the others were doing. He was quite sure Rebi was still gushing on about the Delta Flyer. As for Mezoti, she was probably clung back to Seven's side like a leech, and Azan was no doubt fighting to tune out so that he could tolerate Rebi's enthusiasm. Imagine the teenager's surprise when none of the children were there when he turned around.

"Huh?" he mumbled to himself, his eyes scrolling over to Chakotay and Seven as they stood nearer the doorway to talk. The children were not with them. Across the bay, the sound of Rebi's soft voice caught his attention. It didn't take long to spot the three youngest Borglings perched precariously two stories above the bay's main floor.

XXX

Mezoti curled her legs under her body, scooting closer to Rebi beside her as she let her eyes roam over the bay. According to his chattering beside her and the quick calculation Seven had encouraged them to perform, Tom and Neelix should be arriving quickly enough. She had never seen the shuttlebay doors open before. Sure she had looked out of every window she had come across, but she wondered if it would look any different to see the expanse of space through just Voyager's integrity fields. She remembered once having walked through a corridor on the broken cube that was open to space. Only the sickly green light of the Borg forcefields kept her from being sucked out to a quick but painful death. It hadn't occured to her to be scared then. She had been merely a drone- a neonatal one at that. Of what consequence was she? That Harry Kim had ducked and shuddered had only been a temporary curiosity as she had taken him back down to the maturation chambers that had become her collective's bridge.

Now, she wondered what was out there. A million trillion species must dot the unknown universe. How many were warp capable that the Borg were unaware of? How many were capable of doing things even worse than the Borg? What if, she wondered, they were heading straight into their territory right now? She knew how far Borg space stretched, and she knew what laid along all sides of it.. but they were in newer territories every day. Would it be tomorrow that they would come across a more advanced specie? A week from now? A month? The tiny hairs along the base of her neck began to raise. Why could she never feel safe?

XXX

Watching the others, the teen snorted. Boy were they in for it. "Hey, Seven?"

Behind him, the two adults cut their conversation off, turning their heads towards him. "Yes, Icheb?" Seven replied.

Icheb raised his eyebrows innocently. "Where are the others?"

"Others?" The ex-drone blanched, her eyes widening slightly as she turned her attention out to the expanse of the shuttlebay. "Where did-?"

"Did they run off?" Chakotay asked with an amused chuckle. "They'll miss the Flyer."

"Not exactly." answered Icheb. He gestured up to the suspended platform. "May I suggest that you turn your attention.. up?"

The panicked gasp that came out of Seven's mouth was not a sound Chakotay would ever have associated with her. Even after everything he knew she had been through, she always been calm and composed. Those who paid little attention to her may perhaps consider her to be wholly stoic.

Those people could eat their hearts out.

Seven sprinted across the shuttle bay to the recessed ladder that lead to where her fosterlings were perched, her face white. "Children!"

Three little heads popped out around the rectangular platform, eyes all rounded and fingers still gripping tightly to the edge. "Yes, Seven?" Azan acknowledged cautiously.

The blonde stared back up at them with equally widened eyes. "Come down from there before you all fall!" She very nearly shrieked. "You are no longer in possession of exoskelton armor plating! A fall from that height would be fatal!"

The smaller twin scowled. "Ah, Seven, our bones are reinforced with-"

But Seven wasn't having it. "Your internal organs are not!" She barely noticed Chakotay and Icheb joining her by the ladder, so focused she was on the youngest three. "Come down! Now!"

Rebi pouted. "But, Seven-"

"Now!" With her hands planted firmly on her hips- a stance she had been on the other side of with the Captain many a time- the children knew better than to continue to argue.

"Okay, Seven." Azan said with a sigh, reaching out and grabbing hold of the ladder rungs and beginning his climb down.

"Nice and slow." Chakotay called up to them, watching just as closely as Seven did. When Azan was low enough, the Commander reached out and plucked him off the ladder before setting him down safely beside Seven. He watched her briefly check him over, running her human hand through the boy's hair as anxious eyes quickly flashed up and down his ten year old frame. Quick as a wink, she was satisfied that he was unharmed and her attention was focused back on the two still above them.

"Be careful, Rebi." Seven instructed anxiously, watching Rebi cautiously reach out for the nearest rung of the ladder.

"Yes, Seven." Rebi mumbled, taking hold of the rung. The twin shifted his weight to grab the rung with his other hand, and the entire platform shifted with him. Mezoti squealed behind him as it moved, but he merely used its momentum to propel himself fully onto the ladder.

"Seven!" the youngest Borgling shrieked as the platform continued to rock while Rebi made his way down the ladder to Chakotay's awaiting arms. "Help!"

"Climb down!" Seven called up to her, watching the platform shift several inches each way as it slowly worked its way back to equilibrium. "Like the boys did!"

"I can't!" Mezoti cried, "It's moving too much!"

"You got yourself up there." Icheb called up. "You can get yourself down."

"No, I can't!" Mezoti yelled back down at him. Without letting go of the edge of the platform, she laid her body out behind her, feeling safer with her center of gravity against the swinging metal below her. She eyed the ladder rungs through her tears. They looked a mile away and impossible to reach. "Seven, help me! Please! I can't get down!"

"It's not that bad, Zotti!" Rebi called up to her. "You can do it!"

"I'll go get her." Azan said, dodging around Seven towards the ladder. Seven reached out and snatched hold of his overalls strap, pulling him to a stop.

"No, you will not." Seven was quick to say, moving Azan to stand beside his brothers.

"Seven! Please!" Mezoti sniffled, wiping her face on her sleeve without letting go of the platform. "I can't get down! Seven!"

Chakotay clucked his tongue. The platform with steady now, but the little fingers he could see clutched onto the edge above them didn't look like they were ready to move. "You're going to have to go up and-" He started, turning his head back to where Seven had been beside him, then looking up as he realized she was already halfway to Mezoti. "-go get her... well, okay." He cupped his hands around his mouth. "You be careful, too, Seven! You don't have any armor anymore either!"

"I am perfectly fine, Chakotay." Seven called back down as she climbed high enough to look over the edge of the platform. Mezoti was sobbing now, her face hidden against the inside of her arm. "Zotti, kom till mig, älskling."

The little girl turned her head to look at her foster mother as her breathing began to come in little panicked gasps. "Seven.. I.. can't.. climb.. down.."

Seven hooked one elbow around the top ladder rung. The other arm reached out and gently took hold of Mezoti's wrist. "You don't have to climb." she said softly, gently pulling the little hand away from the edge of the platform. "Come on, älskling." Mezoti twisted her hand to grip Seven's arm like a lifeline, half scooting and half being pulled to the edge closest to the ladder. "Hold on to me."

"O-okay." The youngest Borgling reached out and put her arms around Seven's neck in a tight hug, letting Seven pull her smaller frame between herself and the ladder.

"Hold tight." Seven said, using her free arm to urge Mezoti to wrap her legs around her middle so she could climb down fairly uninhibited.

"O-okay."

Below them, the twins cheered as Seven slowly made her way down the ladder with Mezoti clinging to her like a primate infant. Once she was down within reach, Chakotay used a hand on her back to steady her as she left the ladder and balanced herself with her youngest charge still clinging desparately to her.

"Back on even ground now." Chakotay said to the little girl. He turned his eyes to the twins. "Maybe next time we should stay down here, huh?"

Azan and Rebi looked properly chastised, heads hung and arms crossed behind their backs. "Yes, sir." the mumbled.

Seven was not as easily pacified. "What were you three thinking climbing up there? Those platforms are for engineers- not for children!"

"Exactly." said Icheb. "And-" Seven cutting not so friendly eyes his way choked the words in his throat. The teen was intelligent enough to be quiet, adopting the same stance as his brothers while Seven got their scolding out of her system.

"We didn't mean to-" Azan began.

"To what? To sneak away? To leave my custody without consent?" Seven scowled at the boys, absently hiking Mezoti up to her hip. "To climb thirty-two rungs ten meters up into the air without any type of safety device? To sit on an engineering platform with no safety harness?" She paused long enough to set Mezoti down on her own two feet, but allowed her to keep her arms wrapped firmly around her middle.

"We just wanted to see the Flyer better.." Rebi peeked up at Seven through the fring of hair that fell forward across his forehead and eyes. "I just wanted to see the Flyer."

Azan looked up, too. "I only wanted to find a place Rebi could see it better.. and Mezoti just came along.."

"We didn't mean to misbehave." Mezoti whispered pitifully. "Rebi just wanted to see the ship and you were busy with the Commander and Icheb wouldn't let-"

The teenage outrage unzipped Icheb's mouth. "Don't blame me for your disobedience!"

Azan met his anger with anger, chastised stance gone as he scowled up at the older boy. "She didn't! You told us to go away and leave you to your-"

Rebi joined in. "You wouldn't let us on the console anymore and-"

Mezoti chimed along. "I didn't say you did anything, Icheb! I only said-"

Seven cut them all off with one irritated bark. "Children!" She pointed a silver-tipped finger to the wall next to them. "Noses. Now."

Chakotay looked confused as the twins scuffed their feet, shuffling to stand facing the wall. "Noses?"

Mezoti sniffled again. "Punishment protocol.. number thirteen." She slowly pulled her arms from her guardian's waist and followed her brothers.

"Icheb." Seven gestured to the wall again. "Nose."

"What?" the teenager balked. "I didn't do anything!"

"Comply!"

"But-"

Seven changed her stance, fully facing the young teen, ready to continue her scolding. Chakotay put a hand on her arm to ground her, turning his eyes to Icheb. "Go on, Icheb." he said in an attempt to de-escalate the oncoming argument. Better to show a united front to the children than to undermine what he knew was developing between the Astrometrics officer and her wards. "That's an order, son." He ignored the boy's irritated huff as he joined his siblings, putting his nose against the wall with the others.

"You will stay there until Lieutenant Paris and Mister Neelix return with the Delta Flyer." said Seven sternly, ignoring the Commander's hand on her arm.

Chakotay gave her arm a little tug, pulling Seven's attention back to him and off of the children. "They're fine." he said pointedly, quietly even though he knew they all possessed the same or similarly advanced hearing of the blonde woman before him. "No serious harm done, right?"

It took a few seconds for the anger and worry in Seven's eyes to change to a more reserved, tired calm. "Yes." she nodded, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh.

"My nose itches." Rebi whined quietly, said nose firmly planted against the wall despite his discomfort.

"Mine is running." Mezoti whispered, still sniffling. "Seven.."

"Then you better go catch it." Icheb said. "You'd look even funnier without a nose."

Mezoti turned away from the wall to glare at the oldest boy. "Icheb!"

"Zotti!" Rebi put a hand on top of Mezoti's head, turning her back to the wall. "Number thirteen!"

"Okay, okay." conceded the little girl with a sigh.

Luckily for the children, it was only another five minutes before the Delta Flyer made its way into the shuttle bay, and Rebi got to have his up close look at Tom's baby in action. Seven and Chakotay made the children wait until the Flyer was fully docked and powered down before letting them get near it. Rebi, of course, lead the charge, waiting impatiently by the back hatch for it to open.

"You'd think he was waiting for Santa Claus." Chakotay joked to Seven who gave him a little half-smile for his effort.

"I just want to see!" Rebi said excitedly as the hatch opened, lowering the ramp to the ground. "Lietenant!"

Tom was his usual all smiles, his overnight bag slung over one shoulder. "Hey, guys! We weren't expecting a welcoming committee!" Neelix chuckled behind him, his own bag tucked under his arm.

"I could get used to it." said Neelix. "Hello, children."

"Hello, Mister Neelix." the children echoed.

"How was the trip?" Chakotay asked.

"Oh it went great, Commander." said Neelix, walking down the ramp to join Seven and Chakotay. "We traded for quite a bit of bounty. I got a whole slew of new spices for the messhall. Can't wait to try them out!"

Rebi almost bounced on his heels as Tom made his way down the ramp, his questions spewing forth in his excitement. "Did you get to go warp three? No, four? Did you get to swerve around the asteroids or did you use the phasers to blast through them, or did you-"

Tom ruffled the boy's hair with his free hand. "We went warp three." he answered with an amused chuckle. "But we just flew around the asteroids this time. Didn't need to use the phasers. Besides, if we missed, they could have hit the colony we were trying to go trade with." He gave Azan's hair the same treatment. "And I don't think they would have been very receptive to our trades if we had blown half of them up, huh?"

Mezoti giggled. "Not likely."

"See?" Tom continued. "So, no phasers this time. Just some excellent piloting skills and then a lot of trades. Lot of weird people on that colony." He shook his head. "Really weird. But they had some good stuff."

"Did you get anything good, Lieutenant Paris?" asked Azan.

"Ah, nothing for me this time. Mostly just ship's supplies. The Doctor and the Captain will be pleased." He leaned down to the kids to whisper. "And Neelix grabbed up some new stuff to cook, so watch out in the messhall for the next few days." He chuckled when the three youngest kids laughed. "Don't tell him I said that, though, okay? Our secret."

"Our secret." giggled Mezoti.

Chakotay came to stand behind the children, leaving Seven and Icheb to listen to Neelix's aquisition of spices story. "Tom, did you get the.. uh..?" He vaguely gestured towards the shuttle.

Tom stood straight again. "Oh, your.. yeah, it's in my overnight bag. I'll get it to you later." He pulled his overnight bag around to the front, reaching inside and pulling out a little silver rectangle. "Oh, but check this out. I got it for Harry's birthday tomorrow." He tossed the rectangle to the Commander, who turned it over in his hands.

"What is it?"asked Chakotay.

"That's a Turiphian lute." said Azan, recognizing the object.

"That's a long way from its home." said Rebi. "Turphine is in grid zero three three eight."

"Ah, good to know." said the helmrat. "The guy from the market just said it was a music box."

"Hardly." said Mezoti. "They are impossible to play unless you have the correct gene to unlock it."

"You got scammed." Azan nodded sagely, then turned to his brother. "That is the correct term?"

"Scammed, bamboozled, conned, gypped.." Rebi listed.

Mezoti giggled. "Tricked, hoodwinked, deceived."

Chakotay handed the box back to Tom. "Ah, seems you were swindled."

Tom took the box back with a sigh. "Well, maybe Harry will luck out and have the gene. Worst comes, he can stick it on a shelf and show to his parents someday." He regained his smile, tucking the box away. "A souvenir from grid zero three three eight."

"We're still having his party tomorrow evening, right?" confirmed Chakotay. "In the mess hall?"

"Yeah, he didn't want to have it in Sandrine's this time. Probably because he didn't want to deal with the new waitress. I programmed her to have a bit of a thing for ensigns." said the pilot with another laugh.

That piqued Mezoti's interest. "A party for Harry Kim?" she asked quietly. "In the messhall?"

"Yeah. You guys coming?"

Three sets of hopeful eyes turned to the blonde woman patiently humoring Neelix behind them. Her blue eyes widened as she suddenly had three children clutched around her. Mezoti was the first to speak, looking up at her guardian with a big smile on her face. "Seven, Seven, Seven! May we attend Ensign Harry Kim's birthday celebration tomorrow afternoon in the holodeck? Please?"

"Please, Seven?" the twins chorused.

"It would be fun." Chakotay said, watching the children interact with their guardian. "I'm surprised the Captain hasn't asked you yet."

"The Captain," Seven began, settling her arms down so that they were around each twin's sides and her hands cupped over Mezoti's back. "Is aware of my.. dislike for her parties."

"Ah, but this isn't one of the Captain's parties." Neelix corrected. "Tom planned this one. I'm going to make a big chocolate cake- B'Elanna gave me a list of ingredients to replicate for it."

Rebi bounced on his toes. "Chocolate? Seven, please?"

Tom chimed in. "Yeah, Seven, please-please-please?"

Seven snorted softly at Tom before giving her three youngest an indulgent smile. "As you wish."

XXX

"Zotti, kom till mig, älskling." ="Zotti, come with me, darling."

Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!

~LM