Seven tapped at the control panel in front of her, bringing up an image of earth. She stared at it, a sigh escaping her lips. She heard someone enter the room and she erased the image from the screen. She turned around to see Lt. Torres looking at her suspiciously.

"Seven, what was that?" B'Elanna questioned, her tone almost angry sounding, her eyes flicking to the screen behind Seven. "What are you still doing here? Your shift ended over two hours ago."

"Nothing of relevance." Seven said her icy voice warning B'Elanna to drop it. "I do not require regeneration or substance." She stated.

"You are such a workaholic!" B'Elanna said stormily. She went over to a different console, muttering as she punched in different commands. After a few moments of watching Seven spoke.

"Lt. what are you looking for?" Seven asked. B'Elanna just mumbled something about an anniversary. Seven put two and two together. "You are looking for a nice view for your six month anniversary?" She said, making it sound more like a statement than the question it was.

"You make it sound so frickin' bad." B'Elanna growled, continuing to search through the database. Seven turned to her own console, punching in a few commands and something appeared on the screen.

"Is this aesthetically pleasing enough for your purposes?" Seven questioned. B'Elanna looked up at the image and her face went from annoyed to surprised.

"It's breath-taking Seven." She whispered her face in awe. "I haven't seen anything like it."

"It is visible from the eye. You can see it from the starboard side of the ship." Seven returned. She turned back to the console. "If you want to see it closer, use the holodeck program called Seven-Nebula-Last." She returned to what she had been doing before she had allowed herself to be distracted.

"Uh... thank you Seven, I might take you up on that." B'Elanna said before she escaped the Astrometrics room. As she entered to turbolift to go to her own quarters, she wondered. 'Why does Seven have it as a holodeck program?' she shook herself out of her musings when the turbolift halted at her deck.

Seven tapped at the console, finishing off the scans that she had started earlier and had been waiting to complete. When she had analysed the data that was brought in, she added it to the databanks and left Astrometrics, starting to feel worn.

"Doctor to Seven." The doctor's voice rang out on the com system. Seven tapped her comm.

"Yes Doctor?" she replied.

"Your weekly check up." The Doctor chided.

"I will be there shortly." Seven replied curtly, changing her direction to enter a turbolift. She entered sickbay.

"You're late Seven. Are you alright?" The doctor said as Seven came to stand near the console. She stood with her hands clasped behind her, as she always did.

"I apologize Doctor, it will not happen again." Seven replied. The Doctor took out a medical tricorder and checked on her Borg implants. He put the scanner down.

"Your implants are fine." Seven turned to leave. "But I am concerned. You seem overtired. Have you been regenerating properly?"

"Yes Doctor." Seven answered truthfully. She just hadn't been regenerating as much.

"I don't really think you need to regenerate anymore, I believe that you could just sleep like the rest of the crew. I believe it's time for you to get your own quarters." The doctor said, apparently satisfied by her answer.

"Yes Doctor." Seven said again. She gazed at the hologram coolly. She was about to leave the sickbay when the doctor called out.

"Seven!" she turned, waiting in the doorway. "My ears are always open if you need to talk." Seven nodded once before she left, heading for cargo bay two. She stepped onto the alcove and closed her eyes. And she dreamed, like she had been for the last week, something that she was not supposed to do.

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Lt. Paris entered B'Elanna's quarters, slowing when he saw the room. The lights were dimmed and at the center of the engineer's main room was a table with two settings, a lit candle resting in the center. B'Elanna stepped out of the shadows next to the door and hugged Paris around the waist.

"Hey." She said softly. Paris nervously pulled away. The smile fell from B'Elanna's face when she seemed the fear that clung to him. "Tom? What's wrong?" she asked. The helmsmen swallowed nervously.

"I'm not going to dance around this one B'Elanna." He took a deep breath before he blurted out what was bothering him. "I don't think we should see each other anymore." He said quickly. B'Elanna opened her mouth to say something but Paris held up his hand. "Let me explain. I loved you, but... you are not for me. I'm sorry B'Elanna, I just can't do it anymore." He said, striding out of the room.

B'Elanna collapsed on her couch, her mind still processing what had just happened. When she fully realised what had just happened, she let out a small quiet howl, and over turned the table, extinguishing the candle. She pounded again the wall, venting her frustration as angry tears slipped from her eyes.

--------

Seven entered the senior staff meeting finding it only half full. Paris was talking quietly to Tuvok, and Chakotay was sitting down, speaking with the captain. The Doctor looked bored off to the side. In fact, the only one not to arrive was B'Elanna. Seven stood in the corner, patiently waiting for the time that she could return to Astrometrics and do something useful.

B'Elanna came in, looking normal, but she seemed different somehow. Sadder, more depressed, as thought she had lost something precious to her. From the way she kept glancing at Paris, Seven thought she could deduct what happened.

Janeway took in the reports, her sharp mind absorbing everything. She dismissed everyone but Seven and B'Elanna. She B'Elanna first, concern in her voice. Seven, behind her unmoving mask, was anxious to get away from everyone.

"B'Elanna, are you alright? You seem..." Janeway let it trail on, looking into B'Elanna's eyes.

"I'll be fine Captain, just had a rough night." She replied. Janeway didn't seem to quite believe her, but she dismissed her, allowing her to go to engineering. She turned to Seven.

"Seven, the Doctor asked me to assign quarters to you. It will take a few days, but your new quarters are deck 9, section 8." She informed Seven. Janeway watched Seven closely for her almost invisible signs of emotion. Either Seven was getting better at hiding it, or she was totally neutral on the subject.

"There are no available quarters available in that section." Seven replied.

"One of the crewmen in that section has moved into a different quarters to live with another person. B'Elanna's quarters are there maybe you two could become friends." Janeway said carefully. Seven just regarded her with her Borg face on and did not say anything. Janeway sighed. "Dismissed." She got the feeling as Seven left that it was going to be a long day.

Seven became aware that she could no longer ignore her stomachs demands. She gave in and went to the mess hall, halting before the counter to attract Neelix's attention.

"Hello Seven! What can I get you today?" he asked cheerfully.

"Nutritional Supplement 41-beta... and an apple." She said. Neelix raised his brow and smiled.

"Just a sec." he pulled the drink out of the cooling machine he had rigged and grabbed an apple from a bowl on the counter. "Here you go Seven. Enjoy your breakfast." He said before he turned his attention to another. Seven went and sat in the least occupied corner of the mess hall.

She had partially eaten her apple and drank most of her nutritional supplement when she saw the shadow fall across the table. She put down the data pad that she had been reading. B'Elanna held a tray in her hand.

"Mind if I sit down?" she asked. Seven studied her for a moment. B'Elanna was about to turn away when Seven replied.

"No, I do not mind." Seven returned to the data pad, closing the program she had been reading. B'Elanna sat down, eating her food quietly. Seven studied her indirectly.

Her Borg enhanced ears picked up a conversation from across the room. She finished off what remained of her meal and dipped her head to B'Elanna. "Lt." she left the mess hall for the sanctuary of the Astrometrics.

B'Elanna watched Seven leave, wondering what had caused her to leave so suddenly. She noticed a few Ensigns also watching her go. She shrugged it off and finished her breakfast in silence before she headed off to engineering.