Chapter 8 – Time is Irrelevant

The doors to Astrometrics swished open and Commander Chakotay stepped inside. He had spent a restless night in his quarters, in and out of sleep. Seven was standing in her usual spot, statuesque in her biosuit. She glanced at the chronometer and then turned to face him. It was 0501 in the morning. "Commander, I did not expect you to be here so early."

Chakotay shrugged. "You said you would be here at 0500," he replied with an easy smile, not willing to divulge his true intentions just yet.

"I've actually been here since 0430," Seven stated.

Chakotay's eyes looked up to the display on the main screen and did a double take. Instead of the results from the scan for subspace ruptures he had expected to see, there was a page of a book with a portion highlighted. An excerpt Chakotay recognized from his youth and reading with his mother. "'That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,'" he said, reading the first line.

Seven looked at the text as well, as if examining it with a microscope. "From an ancient Earth book," she said.

Chakotay nodded. "I'm familiar with it."

Seven examined the text for a moment longer and then touched the controls on her station. The screen went blank. She then picked up a PADD and handed it to Chakotay, apparently the report regarding the scans for the subspace ruptures. Instead of looking at the PADD, however, Chakotay glanced up at the blank screen and then back to Seven. Her non-verbal skills were not as polished as others, but it was clearly evident Chakotay was wanting an explanation for her choice of reading material instead of the report and would undoubtedly wait for it. Interestingly, she was actually relieved to be able to tell someone. Or more precisely, to tell him. "I had a dream last night," she began tentatively.

"Oh?"

Seven nodded. "Unusual, in and of itself, since I don't recall ever dreaming while regenerating before."

Chakotay rested his elbow on a nearby railing. "When we were in B'omar space and near the wreckage of your parent's ship. You had dreams of a raven."

"Those were hallucinations," Seven corrected. "Instigated by the Borg device left active on the vessel." Her voice was irritated. "This is completely different."

"I apologize," Chakotay quickly said. "I was not intending to be insensitive."

"Of course not," Seven replied, brushing it aside. She knew Chakotay well enough, even from before the incident of the previous day. From what she had observed of his interactions with the crew, he seemed always attentive to each crewman's needs, including herself in a few instances. In a different way, since the incident, she also felt she knew him more intimately, on a deeper level. It was hard to pin down particular reasons connected to this knowledge.

Chakotay leaned closer. "I must admit, I had some interesting dreams last night as well."

Seven frowned. "In my dream," she continued, not quite registering his comment, "we were walking on a wide path."

"We?"

"Yes." She gestured to the now blank screen. "The account depicted in this book. You and I were the two people in the story walking between Jerusalem and Emmaus."

Chakotay crossed his arms in thought. Now that was a fascinating concept. "What were we talking about?"

"I don't quite remember the details," Seven replied, clearly frustrated. "We were married. We were older." She hesitated. How was she to articulate that, in the dream at least, she also was considering her love for him? Was it the beginnings of that she was feeling right now? How much time was required before you knew for certain? She wasn't ready to share any of those thoughts just yet. "When I woke, however," she said instead, "I did know it was somehow connected to this account. I thought I would access it in Voyager's database."

"See if it would jog your memory."

"Precisely."

Now Chakotay was very curious, the report on the scans completely out of his mind. Truth be told, he had not come early to Astrometrics to read the report anyway. He had come to talk to Seven. "Did it jog your memory?"

"No," Seven replied. She sounded disappointed. "The two travelers in the story converse with a third person, a stranger to them. In fact, the stranger is the focus of the book, Jesus of Nazareth of whom the two were disciples. Jesus had been killed two days before, and was now resurrected as he had foretold."

Chakotay nodded thoughtfully. "Yesterday, when you were talking about Omega, it was almost in reverent terms. A quest to witness perfection. You said without it, your existence would not be complete."

"I was mistaken," Seven said curtly. That was before.

"But don't you see," Chakotay continued. "In your description to me, you compared it to seeing God." He gestured to the empty screen. "In the faith of many, Jesus is part of a Triune-God. He is God. Perhaps your dream is your subconscious wrestling with these thoughts. Your own Road to Emmaus."

Seven's frown deepened. "Omega is nothing more than a construct. A single molecule contained within the universe and nothing more. It is not perfection."

It was as Chakotay had suspected. Her view of Omega had so radically changed in that moment the molecule started to spontaneously form within the containment chamber. Many things had changed, he knew that for himself. "Perhaps you're searching for something more," Chakotay suggested.

"Perhaps," Seven replied thoughtful. And then something Chakotay had said earlier finally clicked in her mind. "And what of your dreams, Commander?"

Chakotay laughed. Yes, many things had changed in that moment just before they initiated transport that much was clear. This conversation with Seven was evidence of that. And then, of course, there were his dreams. "My dreams were not as coherent as yours," he said. "A jumble of thoughts and images. Much like my thoughts late yesterday."

"You did seem out of sorts in the turbolift," Seven commented.

Chakotay turned away and scratched his neck. "There was one common element throughout, however."

"And what was that?" Seven prompted.

Chakotay hesitated, seeming almost embarrassed to say. "You were in all of them," he finally confessed.

Seven raised an eyebrow.

"It's hard to explain," Chakotay said, only afterward realizing it was the same expression both he and Seven had told Captain Janeway the previous day. It was hard to explain. In fact, as he had acknowledged to himself before, it is why he had arrived in Astrometrics so early. He had needed to see her, to talk to her. To wrap his head around this new normal. "Ever since yesterday, just before we initiated the transport of the Omega molecules from the planet's surface, I've felt there was… something more. A connection between us that I can't quite articulate."

"A tangible link," Seven mused.

Chakotay nodded. That expression hit a chord. "Yes exactly."

"I believe I have felt something similar," Seven replied. It both excited her and concerned her that Commander Chakotay was in a similar situation. For her part, she felt ill prepared to process these feelings, having only been disconnected from the Collective for less than a year. They stood in silence for a short time, each with their own thoughts. For Chakotay, as they were speaking, the jumble of thoughts in his mind were finally beginning to crystalize. There was a new connection between he and Seven, but in another sense, it was as if the connection had existed for a long time. Then Seven gestured to the PADD which Chakotay still held in his hand. "Are you curious about the results of last night's scan, or did you simply come here to talk with me?"

She was perceptive. Chakotay lifted up the PADD, but he suspected he already knew. "So what were the results? What of the subspace ruptures?" Apparently he would rather hear it directly from her and not read the report.

Seven touched the controls again and their course in the Delta Quadrant was displayed. The bubbles that had indicated the position of subspace ruptures were no longer present. "There is no sign of the subspace ruptures within a twenty light year radius," she said. "I suspect all the anomalies of this type have been eliminated throughout the entire Galaxy."

"I suspect you are right."

"You know I am," she replied with a touch of uncharacteristic humor. She then looked away as if considering something. "I suppose we need to go see the Doctor."

"Why is that?"

"It is clear something happened to the two of us yesterday. In that moment of time. Afterwards, I executed procedures I had no previous knowledge of. I checked the Borg data nodes, and there is no mention of Doctor Kehl nor the method of achieving a sub minimal diffraction divergence on a replicator or transporter confinement beam. Further, we now appear to have these feelings for one another. A familiarity with no basis in past experiences. We are not ourselves."

Chakotay was smiling. "I'm not so sure."

Seven folded her arms. "We have been dreaming of each other Commander," she reminded him. "You have stated feeling a connection to me somehow and I have concurred with your assessment. Before yesterday, did any of these thoughts exist?"

She had a point. "Not as such," Chakotay finally replied.

"Further, there are other changes. My opinion of the significance of the Omega molecule has changed considerably," Seven continued. "I am certain you have noted the same thing. There has been a radical alteration of our thoughts. We can't simply ignore that."

Chakotay put down the PADD and stepped up to Seven and placed his hands on her arms. "I'm not suggesting we ignore it," he said. "Quite the contrary. I suppose we should see the Doctor. But also, I think we should… explore these… thoughts and feelings. Get to know one another better."

Seven tilted her head slightly to the side, as if to examine more closely Chakotay's hand on her shoulder, although she made no movement to extract herself from his touch. He quickly pulled his hands back, but stayed close. "What do you have in mind, Chakotay?" Seven asked. He seemed a bit surprised she had called him by his name rather than his rank. "If we proceed with this relationship as you propose, it is only appropriate for me to call you by your name."

Chakotay nodded and then smiled. The whole conversation was remarkable in its own way. "All I ask is, if you ever decide to call me by a Borg designation, it should be One of One."

The comment seemed a non sequitur, but humorous in its own way. Seven surmised he was teasing her for assigning Borg designations to the work unit she supervised when constructing the omega containment chamber. "That seems only appropriate," she replied. "So noted."

"I hear Crewman Dell's friends are starting to call him Three of Ten," Chakotay laughed, and Seven simply shook her head.

"I will show you the data Chakotay. I improved the efficiency of the team considerably by organizing them correctly."

"I have no doubt about that."

"You never answered my question," Seven said, finding herself both irritated and amused. "You say you want to explore our relationship, our thoughts and feelings. What do you have in mind?"

Chakotay shrugged. "Spend more time together."

"That would be acceptable."

"We have almost two hours before we meet with the Captain. Why don't we go someplace and talk."

"We are talking."

"Not here."

"Where do you propose?"

"Perhaps we could go to the holodeck and, I don't know, take a walk," he suggested. "Pick a planet and go for a hike and talk to one another. Like I said, get to know each other better."

"The holodeck?"

"Sure."

"I don't think that would be appropriate," Seven said. "I'm currently on duty."

"Oh, I could fix that."

Seven raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that would be appropriate either. Besides, I still think we should go to sickbay. Why don't you want to see the Doctor? Are you concerned he might find an explanation for our altered state of mind?"

Chakotay considered this, but then shook his head. "I don't think he will discover anything." It wasn't as if something new had been implanted into his mind, it was more like something already existing had been revealed.

"Nor do I," Seven concurred. How she could be certain, however, alluded her. "Nevertheless, I still believe it prudent to inform the Captain and be examined by the Doctor."

Chakotay shrugged. "If that is what you think best, then of course we will." He smiled again, "We have all the time in the world."

All the time in the world… Seven looked away, as if remembering something. "Time is irrelevant," she said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"Something I think I heard once." A snippet of her dream from the previous night came into focus. Not in those words, but it was what the stranger had been trying to tell her on the Road to Emmaus. Whether for a moment, or for a lifetime, the feelings were the same. She looked at Chakotay intently, having made a decision in light of Chakotay's apparent desires, and of her desires. "Hold perfectly still." She tilting her head slightly again, but this time a prelude into leaning in closer to Chakotay. She tentatively placed her own hands about his waist and pressed her lips lightly against his. She then retreated ever so slightly, but remained closer than when they started.

"What was that for?"

"Would you believe me if I said that since yesterday I've had this thought that I've been waiting to do that for a very long time? Years, in fact."

"You've only been on Voyager for nine months."

"I know."

Chakotay looked into Seven's eyes. For some unfathomable reason, he felt a sense of deja-vu. An intimacy that shouldn't exist but did. Time was irrelevant, time is irrelevant, and time will be irrelevant. Whatever had happened in that moment had changed them, and he was more than happy to explore the ramifications of those changes with her. In fact, if he was looking for something more on his own Road to Emmaus, he would like nothing better than to search for that something, for that meaning and purpose, with her. The two of them together. "Oh I believe you," he said, and then wrapped his arms about her as well, leaning in for a deeper and more meaningful kiss than their first.

#

Captain Kathryn Janeway glanced at the chronometer on her desk and frowned. Her morning cup of coffee steamed in front of her, a small bit of foam swirled around the top. It was already 0705 and both of them were late. There was something going on, and she had a feeling she would be finding out soon enough. Never a dull moment. She touched her comm badge. "Computer, locate Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine."

#

THE END

Author's note: And thus ends the last of the "Possibilities" stories. Sorry it took so long. Having written it over the course of 19 months with a 15 month or so gap, I'm afraid this one might not hold together as well as the others. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless.

TTFN