A/n: This one-shot is set in the unaltered Endgame timeline, maybe two to three weeks after they passed the transwarp conduit. I've rated it M because I think it might just be a little bit too risqué for T, but I'll take advice on that.

Chakotay felt a thrill run down his spine as he heard the familiar trill of his doorbell, a smile spreading across his face with an ease he had thought his time with the Maquis and onboard Voyager had robbed him of. It might not be her, the cynical side of his brain reminded him, you've been called for duty too often today to be sure… Chakotay silenced that doubtful voice with a glance at the clock which showed that it was precisely 1900 hours, the punctuality of the visitor made their identity almost inevitable.

Instead of ordering the door open, he strode up to it himself and opened it manually, more than ready to see her as soon as possible. He was rewarded as soon as the doors slid silently open to reveal Seven of Nine. Her cheeks became rosy for a moment at the sight of him, and for an instant a comfortable silence reigned between them before she broke it softly, "Good evening."

Chakotay grinned at her encouragingly, "Good evening." He echoed gallantly, stepping aside to let her in and feeling his breath catch in his throat as he caught a glance of the dress she was wearing from behind. "That dress is amazing on you." He murmured reverently as she turned to face him.

Seven didn't hesitate to give him a grateful smile, it wasn't in her nature to be coy, but still self-consciously touched her cybernetic arm, which was fully exposed right until the metal sunk into her delicate collar bone in the black halter neck dress she'd replicated for tonight. He hadn't seen the extent of the mangled limb before now, but when she met his gaze she couldn't regret her choice of clothing. The warm, secure feeling she always got when his eyes took her in, sweeping over the implants as if they were invisible, intensified as he closed the gap between them, stroking both her arms as if to silently reassure her. "I thought you might like it." She murmured with only a hint of wryness as she leaned into him, desperate for the closeness she'd so recently discovered after the events of the day.

Chakotay's dark eyes looked down at her intensely as he chuckled, the hands that moved to cup her face quivering with his gentle laughter. "You thought correctly Crewman; I commend your forward planning skills." Seven barely had time to curve her mouth into a responding smile before their lips met in a kiss. It was prolonged and passionate, assured even, but as they broke for air Chakotay sensed something amiss as Seven's fingers curled around his back, clinging to him, and instead of kissing him again as was her impulsive, and intoxicating, habit, her head bowed heavily, her brow resting tentatively on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked at once in concern.

Seven felt a flood of affection for him come over her, she should have known he'd be perceptive; it was one of the many, many things she admired about him. She let herself move her head to his chest for a moment as she prepared herself, already a little soothed by his broad hand caressing her back, then forced herself to step back from him with a heavy sigh. "I was contacted by Korath today."

Chakotay tried not to frown but couldn't stop a small crease from forming between his brows. "He's the leader of the Delta Quadrant branch of the Unimatrix Zero drones right?" he asked, put on alert by her resigned tone and muted manner. "What did he want?"

Seven touched the back of his arm, hearing the tension in his tone. "Nothing." She reassured him quietly, though he saw as she took a deep breath that her sky blue eyes had misted over, "He merely thought it right to inform me that the Beta Quadrant group has suffered serious losses in recent conflict with the Borg."

Chakotay felt his stomach drop, then twist uneasily, as he relieved her of the burden of having to say the conclusion he somehow knew was coming, "Axum was one of those losses?"

Seven answered with a brief, remorseful nod, her voice carefully level. "Korath believed so, but we will perhaps never be certain." She glanced up at him, her gaze apprehensive, before he surprised her by enveloping her entirely in a close hug.

"I'm sorry Seven." He said thickly, with enough sincerity and concern that it brought tears to Seven's eyes, eyes that had remained dry and stoic during her entire short conversation with Korath. "I know you cared about him."

Seven sighed into the crook of his neck as she mentally admitted the truth in that statement, no matter how confused her feelings had been left by the hybrid world of reality and dream that Unimatrix Zero had been for her, there was no point in pretending to be unaffected, not with Chakotay. "I did." She agreed sorrowfully as she stepped back from him, though she still consciously kept her hands in his. "I'm sorry; I have disrupted the atmosphere of our date…"

"No." Chakotay interrupted firmly, gazing at her empathically, "I don't ever want you to be scared to tell me anything Seven."

Seven nodded seriously, "I know."

He squeezed her hands. "Good." He said in relief as he gently guided her to the couch, "Do you still feel like eating?"

Seven smiled at him bravely, "Of course. If I remember rightly, I believe our arrangement called for my cooking skills."

"Oh no." Chakotay countered as he studied her pale, tired face. "I think I can cook for you for a change tonight. I owe you after the way you've provided such delicious food for our dates so far."

"You owe me nothing Chakotay." Seven cut in resolutely; frightened by the turn his words were taking. Obligation and pity were things she tried to avoid at all costs.

Chakotay saw her tense and he regarded her reassuringly, "No, owing each other isn't what couples do." He agreed before smiling as he walked over to his small kitchenette, which was open plan to the seating area. "Still, I want to cook for you, okay?" He relaxed as she nodded, but then chuckled indignantly as he saw Seven's eyebrows rise progressively higher as he began to arrange the kitchen. "Honestly, I can cook. I managed to feed myself before I met you, I was a bachelor for long enough." He told her, "The Maquis might not have eaten if I didn't know the basics at least; B'Elanna can't exactly work a cooker like she can an engine…" He laughed to himself as he chopped the vegetables, "And she's nothing compared to the Captain, after years of a weekly dinner briefing with her I can tell you that the woman could burn water!"

"Considering the fact that water boils, then her cooking skills must be truly woeful." Seven joked, triggering a guffaw from him and allowing herself to relax back into the couch and watch him work.

Soon enough Chakotay could leave their meal bubbling happily away and returned to join Seven on the couch, settling down at one end. When she appeared uncertain for a split second, he lifted his arm and Seven barely paused before cuddling into him. He waited until her cheek had lowered to rest on his chest, their steady breathing almost synchronised, before he finally asked softly, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"It was…difficult news for me to hear." Seven slowly admitted, shivering suddenly and tucking her long frame even tighter under his arm.

Chakotay bent his head briefly to brush his lips against her forehead as her loose hair spread pleasantly over him. "That's perfectly natural honey." He was only mildly surprised at how easily the new term of endearment slipped from his lips.

"Yes." Seven replied before adding thoughtfully after a long pause, "But still, I was not surprised, part of me expected it."

Chakotay's jaw clenched painfully, "Well, you know better than anyone how ruthless the Borg can be with individuality, but all of us understood why the former Unimatrix Zero drones risked it." They fell silent for a while before Chakotay asked, with a hitch in his tone, "If they'd asked you to join them, would you have gone?"

Seven felt the hand he had running through her hair tense and sat up to face him in response, looking him directly in the eye. "They did ask me, but I refused." She answered, pausing for a moment as relief briefly radiated over his tense, handsome face.

Chakotay considered telling her just how happy he was to hear that, but the inner conflict he saw haunting her beautiful face stopped him. "Do you mind me asking why?" He murmured cautiously after a moment, still searching her expression.

Seven inhaled sharply, tempted to go straight to the crux of what still bothered her about the decision, though she'd always known she'd made the right one. She concluded however, that he wouldn't understand her reasoning unless she explained in-depth. "Unimatrix Zero was a surreal experience for me." She started thoughtfully, meeting his gaze frankly, "I was suddenly among other individual drones, and they told me a part of my consciousness had always been free. I didn't want to believe them, it seemed impossible considering how…difficult my transition to Voyager had been." Her hands clenched in her lap and Chakotay had to fight the urge to comfort her somehow, to say that her resistance to being released had not been her fault, but he sensed that if he interrupted her now, while she was so lost in her thoughts, she wouldn't be able to continue. "I couldn't deny it though, the emotions started to come back, but it was so confusing, I didn't know what the feelings related to. Soon my perspective changed and it was my life here that no longer felt real, the Captain will tell you that I no longer acted like Seven of Nine, she didn't know me."

Chakotay became rueful as he thought of what Captain Janeway had told him of her time in Unimatrix Zero with "Annika Hansen". She'd really revealed little to him, except to say with a mixture of regret and awe that it was like meeting the woman who'd never had a chance to be. He realised now that suddenly being so utterly human must've been a shock to Seven, and he couldn't help but be frustrated by the unfairness of it all.

Seven continued, her gaze now turning completely inward, as if he wasn't there. "And…and then it was gone as suddenly as it had come, I was back here again with mere fragments of what I'd experienced, enough to make me realise my deficiencies but not enough to help me correct them. Seven of Nine was inferior to Annika Hansen…" She stopped, swallowing hard, as she saw him flinch at the bluntness of what she'd just said, opening his mouth to argue but she held up her hand to stop him. "But I realised when Korath asked me to join them that it would be futile for me. The virus hadn't restored my memories, if I went with them I would go as Seven of Nine and all I can recall is my life on Voyager." She paused again, staring at him sadly as a single tear rolled plaintively from her human eye, "I couldn't leave, I'm more Borg than any of them but still I didn't want to go. I couldn't bring myself to dedicate my life to the Collective once again, even if it was to destroy them…" She heaved a choked breath as more tears followed the first, "I think that could be considered selfish…"

Chakotay didn't restrain himself now, gathering her shaking body wholly in his strong arms. "Listen to me…" He whispered thickly as he curled himself over her, burying his face in her hair for a moment, "It isn't selfish to want to live your life Seven, especially not after what you've been through. Why should you have to sacrifice your life to fighting the Borg just because you were unfortunate enough to be assimilated? I know you feel guilty about what you were forced to do as a drone, but I don't believe joining Unimatrix Zero would've helped you cope with that. As well intentioned, even noble, as their aims are, they want revenge too." His face darkened with long buried pain, "I know what its like to live for the sake of revenge, it isn't worth it and it doesn't help you feel any better because what happened can never be reversed."

Seven knew he was speaking from personal experience, could see all of her own frustration and guilt reflected in his beloved face as he was pulled back towards his past. She shifted on his lap so she could see him fully, then reached up with her human hand to stroke the side of his face. They sat like that for several minutes, their pent up emotions slowly receding as they took solace from the understanding of another person, something both had lacked for a long time. As she calmed down, her perspective returning, Seven ran her thumb lightly over Chakotay's warm lips, a touch that finally sparked a flicker of a smile from him. "I don't remember having my first kiss with Axum, or my first date, not even what we talked about. All of those memories I share with you, and they're better I know…" She blushed fiercely as she realised she'd spoken these thoughts aloud, fearing that she'd gone too far in admitting that to him, when their dating was supposed to be "slow and casual" but as she met his intense, unreadable gaze she felt another, deeper confession escape her unbidden, "I love you Chakotay…" She whispered.

Chakotay had been watching the subtle changes of expression flow over her face as she spoke in fascination, he couldn't believe he'd once thought her robotic, even soulless. Only Seven would make such a declaration so directly, with such conviction, while her fear of rejection was so obvious. That unique combination of implacable strength and fragile vulnerability had somehow managed to reach his scarred heart somewhere along the road of their often wary, uncertain friendship and he knew at that moment he never wanted to let that redemptive feeling go. "I love you Seven." He replied simply, showing his commitment to the vow by kissing her, fully and devoutly, on the mouth as he pulled her against him.

Seven took a few seconds to realise that the soft whimper she heard as he did so came from her own throat as she responded to his kisses, burning with a new heat. They'd been passionate since their first kiss, hadn't thought in her inexperienced mind that they could be more so, but these caresses, tender and loving though they still were, had an irrepressible intensity to them that only seemed to increase with every passing second. Even as she had to break of air, he didn't pull back. He always had before, even if they intended to kiss again. Now he just moved smoothly from her mouth to her face and then her throat, which somehow made it more difficult to breathe that even when their lips had been locked. Her mind was losing its focus on everything else around her to the extent where she couldn't recall when they'd moved to lie out on the couch rather than sit, but she didn't care, in fact not even noticing the change until his warm body left hers and a chill of subconscious panic ran through her. "Please don't leave me…" She pleaded, cringing as she realised how weak and broken she sounded.

Chakotay knew the significance of the, obviously unintentional, words instantly. He supposed the only aspect of closeness Seven had ever had the opportunity to feel was the pain of abandonment and loneliness. The lust he'd drawn back from her to rein in was forgotten for a moment as he held her again. "I'm not darling, I promise…" he murmured into her ear, kissing it intently, "Leaving you is the last thing I'd ever do…" He assured her fiercely, his attention moving back to her flushed face for a moment.

Seven sensed a silent question in that split second glance and took control herself now, taking his face in her hands. "I won't leave you willingly either." She murmured resolutely, kissing him again as he smiled in return and repeated his own assurances over and over like a prayer as he again moved to court the sensitive skin at her throat. "Ah…" She gasped out, the low tempo of the gasp jolting upwards as the smell of smoke hit her desire dulled senses. "Our meal is burning…" she managed to force out as Chakotay remained stubbornly ignorant, her sighs of pleasure dissolving into giggles as he groaned uncomprehendingly then a second or so later sprang up, swearing.

"What do you think the procedure for us is now?" Seven asked suddenly several hours later, long after she'd salvaged their dinner and they'd retreated back to the couch. Somewhere during that time she'd shifted so that her head lay in Chakotay's lap, an unconventional but comfortable position, she liked being able to look up at him without his always noticing as he relaxed and even drowsy.

"Procedure?" he echoed in amusement, lifting his eyebrows a bit. "You're the one who follows the Doctor's social strategies, what do they say about a 13th date?"

It was Seven's turn to raise her eyebrows, much higher than his."You're still counting?"

Chakotay chuckled teasingly, "I may not be a maths genius like you but I can count, even if some of those dates were just a few minutes together between red alerts."

Seven winced, thinking of the many close calls of the past few weeks. "The area just beyond the transwarp conduit has been much more heavily populated with hostile species than I would've suspected."

"Not everyone can just run away when something like that pops up near your home. It's not wonder most of the inhabitants of this region have been particularly suspicious of us." Chakotay responded with a sigh. "What did you really mean by procedure Seven? I think we can just continue with what we've been doing, it's made us happy so far." She smiled at him in agreement and he decided to brooch what he'd been contemplating since their relationship had moved up another gear. It had never been "casual" or "slow" as he'd originally intended on asking her out, they'd always been serious, which he could only contribute to their committed personalities, giving less than all of themselves to anything worth doing went against the grain for both of them. "I think we should tell our friends about us." He regarded her knowingly as she stiffened apprehensively, "That doesn't mean that we give up our privacy, but it wouldn't be right to keep something so important hidden."

Seven was relieved that his pride in her was so obvious, and part of her wanted to announce to the world that she, of all people, loved and was loved, but that didn't lessen her concerns enough to make them irrelevant. "I do not think the reactions will all be positive Chakotay."

Chakotay took a deep breath, "There will be some surprised people, but there's nothing to be negative about, we love each other and ultimately nothing and no one else matters."

Seven shot him a pointed look, "I know of two people who will believe their opinions are relevant."

Chakotay guessed who she meant immediately, "The Captain and the Doctor care about us both Seven. I'll admit that they're protective of you, it might be a little harder for them to accept, but they should end up being the happiest for you."

"You are the last person I'd need protecting from." Seven said in exasperation, sitting up with a pensive sigh, "Is it normal to have as much conflict as I have with my mentor figures?"

Chakotay laughed, "Yes, I'd say so."

Seven nodded in acknowledgement before drawing her knees up to her chest. "I will need to talk to the Doctor, I believe he has...a romantic attachment to me."

Chakotay showed his surprise without meaning to. "I didn't think you realised…" He admitted.

Seven shrugged, "I didn't, not until recently, until I became aware of my own feelings." She conceded softly before adding wryly, "The Doctor may be more comprehensively socially programmed than I am, but he has never been subtle." She gave a small sigh, "He admitted feelings for me when he thought his programme was degenerating." She looked at Chakotay for support, "I do not know how to "let him down easy" as I've heard Lieutenant Paris has put it."

Chakotay squeezed her hand tightly, "Just be honest with him, you value the friendship too much to do anything else, if he's really the friend I think he is to you, he'll accept us."

Seven nodded slowly before looking at him out of the corner of her eye as she murmured, "And what about the Captain?"

"What about her?" Chakotay asked, sighing as he realised what she was, reluctantly, referring to. Rumours about himself and Kathryn's relationship had been smouldering away, refusing to die out, for years before Seven had even come on board. It was inevitable, even with her admirable dismissive stance on gossip, that she'd heard something. He turned Seven by the shoulders to face him fully, "I'll tell you everything about my relationship with Kathryn Seven, gladly, just to clear that away from us." He waited until her blue eyes had stopped wavering and regained their trusting light before continuing, "I respect Captain Janeway, she's become just as good a friend to me as she has yours, but that's all it was ever going to be, even if we were civilians on Earth." He explained honestly, "I'll admit that, in those first few months, after I'd stopped seeing her as an enemy, that I was a little attracted to her…" He squeezed Seven's shoulders reassuringly, "I definitely have a type when it comes to women Seven." He said frankly, "I'll admit to liking intelligence, common sense and good nature as well as beauty, you have all those things and more, and in her own way, the Captain does too. I was mixed up at the time remember, everything with Seska had happening back then…" He trailed off, his face darkening, "You know the story about when the Captain and I were stranded on that planet together?"

Seven's head bobbed, "New Earth, yes. You were there for twenty nine days."

"Longest twenty nine days of my life." Chakotay pronounced without hesitation, "We talked more on our first date than I did with her during all those days."

Seven tried and failed to hide her total bemusement. Why would anyone treat Chakotay like that? Especially when you were potentially faced with a lifetime on a planet together? For her, who had always hated being alone despite her social awkwardness, such an idea was inconceivable. "I don't understand…" She admitted.

"Neither did I." Chakotay agreed, gratified by Seven's uncomprehending expression, he'd known she'd probably be unable to wrap her head around the Captain's self-centred actions. "Not at first anyway. I'd go and add to our shelter, try to make our lives a little easier considering the difficult situation, and she'd furiously research a cure. She talked more openly to her pet monkey than she did to me."

Seven's brows creased incredulously, "Pet monkey?"

Chakotay shook his head, "I don't know either. Anyway, she held me at arms length that whole time and in hindsight I'm glad that she did, not only because it would've made returning to Voyager awkward but because it was the first of many times were shown to be on completely different pages with life-changing decisions, not just when you came abroad or the Equinox battle but with more minor things. We never would've been happy together, I know that now."

Seven processed this in silence for several seconds before cautiously returning to his lap and wrapping her arms loosely around his neck. "I'm happy now." She whispered, leaning in and kissing him, softly at first, but then harder as he moaned in reply.

"Me too…" Chakotay groaned out breathlessly, cursing his lack of self-control as he felt the blood rush away from his head, "Seven…" He breathed apologetically as he felt her gasp in response to his obvious arousal.

She pulled back, searching his face as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I love you Chakotay." She repeated reassuringly.

"Thank you." He whispered, understanding her meaning and pulling her flush against him now as he began to kiss down her neck again, carefully untying the halter of her dress as he did so.

Seven paled as he began to see the true extent of her implants. "You do not find my implants…off-putting do you?" she asked thickly.

Chakotay's gaze lifted back up to her face as he shook his head, gaze certain. "No, I don't." He said emphatically, "I love every part of you. You are an absolutely gorgeous woman and I'm a lucky man…" She cut him off by kissing him and after that they didn't need to speak again.

A/n: This is officially my longest piece of writing ever! I think I might have been a little overambitious with it, it's the first time I've risked M rated as well as it being extremely long, but I hope you all liked it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'm going to be offline tomorrow, so if anybody updates I'll review when I get back online. :)