"Hi…" Sekaya greeted nervously as she warily approached Seven's lonely position in the clearing. Seven started at the sound of her voice but didn't reply, only narrowing her tear glazed eyes uneasily. The sight of this undeniably human sign of distress made Sekaya's fear of the former drone, which had lingered stubbornly even after she'd gained insight into the younger woman's unenviable trials, melted completely away and left behind a determined resolve to mend whatever fault she'd opened in Seven's relationship with Chakotay. "I think we need to talk." She stated firmly as she came to a halt a few paces from where Seven sat and waited for her to make the next move.

Seven couldn't help but stiffen defensively at her words. After years of being at the receiving end of the Captain and the Doctor's "talks", generally on the error of her ways, steeling herself was practically a natural reflex. Despite this, her gaze still flickered upwards to take in the facial expression behind Sekaya's surprisingly measured tone. Apprehension had replaced fear in Sekaya's features, but what shocked Seven was the empathy and guilt which now shone out from Sekaya's brown eyes, rather the judgemental resentment which had been there only the night before. "If you wish." Seven finally decided to concede, shifting awkwardly on her perch on the boulder to allow Sekaya to join her.

Sekaya sat down gratefully, flashing her a brief, wobbly smile. "Chakotay's looking for you, you know…" She paused as Seven winced in guilt, something she took as a good sign towards the depth of her feelings, and then nodded heavily in acknowledgement. "Imyself was looking for you to apologise, I should never have been so harsh and unwelcoming towards you. I don't really know you after all so I shouldn't have…" She trailed off again, blushing, "Chakotay only just told me you had enhanced hearing, I was mortified when I realised you probably heard…"

"I did hear." Seven confirmed bluntly while studiously avoiding her eyes, "But I do not require your apologies."

Sekaya breathed a brittle laugh in reply. "Come on, you can be as angry with me as you want. Chakotay certainly won't hold it against you at the moment…" She replied as light-heartedly as she could, thinking the other woman was dodging the conversation.

"You misunderstand me." Seven interrupted sharply, a spark of agitation now lighting her previously deadened eyes. "You need not apologise because your…" She swallowed, her breath catching in her throat, "…concerns were well founded."

Sekaya gave a slight snort of disbelief, unable to really believe what she was hearing. She peered at Seven questioningly, "Well, not in Chakotay's book apparently, and he's the important one in this equation, not me, right?"

Seven bit her lip as she sighed, her voice thick with emotion. "Precisely." She answered, "His happiness is the most important thing."

"He's not very happy right now, in fact he's miserable, and I should know what that looks like, being his annoying little sister." Sekaya remarked, running a strained hand through her hair as she realised the subtly humorous approach wasn't going to work, "Look Seven, if you really want him happy, and I believe now that you do, go back to him right now." She advised gently but not without a little impatience.

Seven's hands clenched tightly, causing shards of rock to crumble between her fingers. "I can't! I could cause him pain…" She closed her eyes momentarily, Admiral Janeway's revelations about Chakotay's torturous widowhood in her timeline still fresh in her mind, "You…You were correct, it is highly unlikely I could give him the children he deserves…" She gulped, a single new tear following the stained path down her cheek, "I…I could malfunction at anytime…" She heaved a deep breath to calm herself and stared at Sekaya unwaveringly as she spoke her decision aloud, "That is why it is better to stop this now, before he is too attached to me…"

"That ship has already sailed, he's more than attached to you, and you to him!" Sekaya snapped incredulously before muttering under her breath, "Sprits, the two of you are so alike!"

Seven stared at Sekaya in frustrated bemusement. "What similarities are you referring to exactly?" she asked sharply.

"You've both got an overdeveloped martyr complex!" Sekaya responded, nearly throwing her arms in the air. "You both take personal responsibility for everything, why do you think Chakotay joined the Maquis?" Seeing that Seven wasn't comprehending her point, she impulsively reached over and squeezed her hand, "Listen, you're not in control of any of those things, Chakotay wouldn't blame you and I'm sorry if I made you believe that he would. Our parents taught us to accept ill health and death as parts of life, and as for children, that's fate. If I told you about all the heartbreak I had before having Adam…" She halted, her gaze clouding over with agonising memories before she focused on Seven again, whose slightly more open expression showed her that her words were being heard. "Anyway, Chakotay is a grown man and I'm sure he knew what he was getting into when he chose you."

Seven blinked rapidly, her vision blurring. He had chosen her. It was doing his intelligence a disservice to assume he hadn't been aware of what he would face in becoming involved with her. Hadn't he told her that they should just live for the love they felt at that moment? Even as the foundations of her resistance began fall away beneath her, fear still froze her to the spot. "I am still Borg. His being involved with me could unfairly prejudice others against him…"

"Some people would say his being a Maquis could affect you in the same way." Sekaya pointed out pragmatically.

Seven's brows instantly furrowed into a glare of deep offence. "I don't care…" She stopped abruptly, flushing as Sekaya smiled at her knowingly before her expression saddened somewhat.

"Caring too much about what other people thought wrecked my first marriage." Sekaya revealed ruefully, quirking her eyebrow at Seven when shock radiated over the blonde's face. "Didn't Chakotay tell you the background to our sibling fall out?"

"No." Seven answered honestly, "He just told me that you had differing views on the Maquis." She straightened her back somewhat stiffly, "The Voyager crew made me aware long ago that it is not considered good social etiquette to pry."

"You're right on all counts." Sekaya readily agreed, amused by the thought of Seven prying, she'd need Chakotay to tell her what incident had taught the woman not to pry. "But I wasn't really against the Maquis in principle, I hated the Cardassians as much as the last colonist, they killed my father after all, destroyed my home world, but I was too…scared to do anything about it. My first husband's family disliked me from the outset, I was an outsider, a hillbilly in their eyes. I practically cut myself off from home to please them, and when the attacks happened I just tried to get on with my life, distance myself as I had before." She breathed a regretful sigh, "Chakotay didn't take too well to that attitude of course, and I was so angry with him for clinging to a death-wish…" She trailed off, "Anyway, the point is that even by being the most loyal of Federation citizens I didn't get any slack from some people and I never will. You'll probably be the same, but it doesn't make you any less of a person. I'm sorry I treated you that way."

"You perhaps treated me that way at first, not now." Seven corrected softly. "I understood." She cringed into herself as the new guilt that had been creeping up on her with Sekaya's words took root. "Do…Do you think Chakotay will forgive me for what I did today?" she asked in a whisper, her head bowed as unshed tears continued to bite at the back of her eyes, fighting for release.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think so." Sekaya answered simply. "But you can't keep running away from him every time you get upset, understand?"

"Yes, and I won't run, ever again." Seven replied sincerely.

Sekaya stood up determinedly, "Let's go find him then." She announced with a beaming smile of relief.

Chakotay shuddered as the damp wind of the still early morning hit his bent back, leaning forward on Sekaya's garden bench with his head in his hands. She could be back in San Francisco by now without even giving him a chance to fight for her… He jumped violently as someone's hand touched him lightly on the shoulder, his head springing up. "Sekaya…" He started angrily, the rebuke dying on his lips as he saw Seven hovering nervously just behind his sister, looking ashen faced and guilt ridden.

Sekaya smiled sweetly as she observed his speechlessness."Look who I've found." She said cheerily, almost as if she were a mother presenting a child with a lost favourite toy. She shot Seven a reassuring smile before turning smartly on her heel and walking back towards the house, leaving the couple alone.

Chakotay stared at Seven in utter silence for a few moments before all the anxiety and pain he'd experienced over the last hour found an outlet in anger. "Where have you been?" he spat out, standing up so suddenly he had to reach for the bench to stay upright.

Seven gazed at him pensively for a second, what she'd witnessed of his reaction to her abandonment had horrified her and brought all her old doubts roaring back into her brain, but this time, in front of that beloved, anguished face, her heart won out. In two long strides she closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms tight around his muscular frame. He stiffened momentarily in surprise and lingering resentment, but she breathed a sigh of relief as he gradually allowed her embrace, then gently pulled her into his own. Slowly, after an indeterminable period of just standing like that holding each other, Seven lifted her chin up from where it had been resting tentatively on his broad shoulder and looked pleadingly up into his face, "I'm sorry…" She choked out brokenly, "I acted irrationally, allowed my fears to overtake me. I should have believed in you, in us… I'm so sorry…"

Chakotay sighed heavily, hugging her slight body as close to him as he could as her sincerity rang true in his ears and reached his heart. "I know you are honey, I'm sorry too. We both acted irrationally, didn't we?" he admitted, smiling fondly down at her as she nodded rigorously. "Although something tells me I'm always going to be a little irrational when it comes to you."

"I think I may share that weakness where you are concerned." Seven agreed, lowering her gaze shyly before a rueful smile crossed over her lips. "Sekaya said we both possess a martyr complex. Apparently that means we take excessive personal responsibility for our problems."

Chakotay gave a small laugh. "Well, since she's a psychology lecturer, we should probably take her word for it."

"She helped me recover from…this crisis of confidence." Seven told him carefully, "I am greatly in her debt, almost as much as I am in yours."

Chakotay's hands rose up to her shoulders and gripped them tightly, almost possessively. "Consider my debt repaid if you never do that to me again." He told her, his voice made harsh with pleading.

"I will never leave you again." Seven whispered firmly before bringing her lips to his in a tender kiss.

A/n: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D I hope you like the ending, or I should say the ending of this part, I'm about 95% sure that this story is going to have a much longer, more complicated sequel at some point in the relatively near future. (That is, if you want a sequel?)