TITLE: It Isn't What It Looks Like 
AUTHOR: Jack Staik
PART: 1 of 1
RATING: PG-13
CODES: VOY, K/7
SUMMARY: The title says it

=================

Insomnia stalks Harry Kim through the halls of Voyager.

In public, he puts on a happy face, but he lies. He knows he
lies.

His heart left with a girl who didn't even care. She left
with her people, deserting him even though he had risked his
career and his home to be with her.

Now, all he could do was walk the halls deep into Delta
shift, with almost no crew about, and mope on the sad wreck
that was his life.

Passing along Deck Six, he thought he heard a sound, but
couldn't quite make it out. Curious, he walked in the
direction he supposed he heard it.

It came again, louder.

This time he was certain, and he could identify it.

A scream.

Harry broke into a run.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Annika ran, but they were right behind her.

The little girl stumbled through the corridors of Voyager, a
horde of Borg in pursuit. The crew lined the corridor, and
she could hear them talking.

"It's her own fault."

"Couldn't save her, even if I wanted to."

"Horrible thing - belongs with them, really."

Annika stubled, and looked up in terror as the lead Borg,
the one wearing her father's face, reached for her -

"Time zero-one-four hours. Regeneration cycle interrupted."

Seven found herself stumbling along the floor, off the
raised dais of her regeneration alcove, dragged along by
Ensign Harry Kim's arms.

Her throat was sore from screaming.

"Seven! Can you hear me? Seven!"

Her eyes looked around, unfocused, uncomprehending. Tears
ran down her face.

In a choked voice, Seven of Nine whined, "I want my mommy,"


Sitting on the dais, Harry rocked Seven in his arms, singing
an old Korean lullaby his grandmother used to sing, until
her sobs subsided.

Slowly, Seven raised her head. She looked straight at Harry
for the first time. "Ensign Kim," she said, by way of her
usual greeting.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"N - I am undamaged."

"That isn't what I asked."

She pulled away, trying not to meet his gaze. To be so
vulnerable - frightened her. She wouldn't - couldn't let him
see her like that.

"A - minor dysfunction. It will not happen again."

"That was not a minor dysfunction, Seven. That was a
nightmare."

"Nightmares are irrelevant." she stated in her best Borg
Efficiency voice. "My regeneration cycle was interrupted. I
must resume. Assist me."

She stepped into the alcove with a *click* of power leads
and interface ports locking into place. As Harry adjusted
the reset controls, Seven spoke.

"Ensign Kim."

Harry looked up. "Yes?"

"Thank you for your assistance."

 * * * * * * * * * *

Seven looked none the worse for wear the next day, but Harry
was worried. He had had nightmares, but seeing Seven of all
people reduced to a terrified child was frightening.

The next night, Harry Kim once again prowled the corridors
of Deck Six.

His wanderings were not aimless; he was always near Cargo
Bay Two.

Then, a little after midnight, a scream.

He bolted to the Crago bay.

Inside, Seven stood rigid in her regeneration alcove, her
chest heaving, tears in her eyes, screaming at the top of
her lungs.

"NOOO!! PLEASE!! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!! DON'T LET THEM GET ME!!
I'LL BE GOOD!! MOMMEEEEE!!"

Harry hit the emergency override and pulled Seven free from
her alcove again.

She collapsed into his arms, sobbing. "Please don't let them
get me. I'll be good. Please..."

Then the only sound was a child crying.


"How long has this been going on, Seven?"

Seven looked over at Harry across the mess room table, a cup
of Neelix's Leola-root-based coffee substitute in her hand.
Normally she didn't imbibe, but somehow, it seemed ...
necessary at this point.

"There is nothing "going on", Ensign." she lied.

"Seven," he said, dissaproval in his voice.

"Ever since - since my recovery from Unimatrix One." she
stammered.

Harry took her hand in his. "What are you dreaming? Tell
me."

She described, in clinical detail, herself as a little girl,
running down the corridors of Voyager, Borg with her
father's face chasing her, and the crew standing by, doing
nothing, saying horrible things about her. By the end of her
narrative, tears were streaming down her face.

Harry was no psychologist, but this was some rather potent
stuff. She needed more help than he could provide. "Perhaps
Chakotay could help. Dreams are more his field-"

"NO!" Seven objected. "I - I don't think that will be
necessary. It-it's only a d-dream."

"Seven, you're stammering."

She looked embarassed. "I-it's nothing. P-please don't tell
anyone a-about my-my dreams."

Harry hesitated. "For now."

 * * * * * * * * * *

"Time zero-zero-six hours. Regeneration cycle interrupted."

The automatic device that Seven had set had registered a
sound in excess of seventy decibels, and had discontinued
regeneration for the third time that night. Rest eluded her.

Before, when she had been awakened, her nightmares had not
returned that evening. Now, she could barely close her eyes
without hearing hateful whispers and the whine of servos...

What was different?

Harry Kim.

He wasn't here, like those other times.

Seven of Nine - no, really Annika at this point - sprinted
down the corridors of Voyager, toward safety and rest.

Towards Harry Kim.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Harry, unable to sleep, was part-way through an old novel
when he heard the announcer chime at his door.

He glanced at his desk display, noted the time. Who could
that be, he wondered?

He went to the door and touched the Open control.

The door slid back to reveal Seven of Nine.

Her frame was shuddering, tears stained her eyes, deep sobs
came from her mouth.

"Help me," she whined.

Harry embraced her and held her in his arms until her sobs
gentled down to the deep, even breathing of sleep.

 * * * * * * * * * *

Harry awoke to the feeling of someone sleeping on his arm.
And an odd crackling sound.

He glanced to his side, and noticed Seven, sleeping the
sleep of the innocent, still in her purple leotard. She was
drooling onto his night tunic.

He watched, fascinated, as her saliva crystalized on the
tunic, producing that crackling noise he had heard. A side-
effect of the nanoprobes, he wondered?

Seven's crystal blue eyes fluttered open, and she smiled at
Harry. She raised her head, causing a *snap*. She looked
down at his tunic, where a patch of bluish resin had
collected.

"Oh - my apologies, Ensign. The nanoprobes in my bodily
secretions tend to decay quickly once out of contact with me
- I'll try to repair the damage -"

Later," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Seven thought for a moment. "Better." she said, a smile on
her face. "I feel - better." Then she looked puzzled. "I
also feel - sticky."

Harry smiled. "Well, your alcove probably took care of
things like cleaning and such, but you're going to have to
do it yourself this morning. You can use the shower first."

She nodded. "I will comply." And she got up smoothly and
went to the bathroom.

As Harry went to program a breakfast at the replicator, a
high-pitched whine came from the bath, followed by a loud
bang. He ran over to the shower, where Seven stood naked. A
thin blue smoke was coming from the sonic shower unit.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "My Borg implants caused a
feedback and - and -"

"That's all right, Seven," he reassured her. "You didn't
know."

She looked at Harry as if for the first time. "You're my
friend, aren't you Harry?" she asked in a curiously high-
pitched voice, like a small child.

"Of course, Seven. I've always been your friend."

Once again, she collapsed into tears. But not of pain and
fear. Tears of joy.

After breakfast, the two used the cleaning facilities in the
guest quarters, and went to their duites.

 * * * * * * * * * *

At lunch, Harry walked into the Mess Hall, looking
suprisingly chipper. He even ordered some of Neelix's leola-
root stew without an expression of distaste.

As he sat down, Tom and B'Ellana noticed that Harry was in
the first good mood he had been in since the Tahl incident.

"Well, Harry, what happened to you?" Tom asked.

"What?"

"You're cheerful, you've got an appetite, you don't have
bags under your eyes - an impartial observer might think you
were happy."

Harry just smiled. "Nothing happened - nothing unusual."

Seven walked into the Mess Hall, dressed in a garishly-
bright lemon-yellow leotard and a package under her arm. She
walked up to Tom, B'Ellana, and Harry's table and said,
"Hello, everybody!" with a big smile.

Tom and B'Ellana stared.

Seven looked at B'Ellana. "Close your mouth, silly, before
your jaw falls off." she giggled.

"Seven - giggling?" Tom wondered.

Seven sat down by Harry and gave him a hug. Then she handed
him a package. "Here."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Open it."

Harry opened the package and removed a new sleep tunic,
exactly like the old one - but in lemon-yellow to match
Seven's new leotard.

"I tried cleaning your old sleepwear, but my body secretions
damaged the fabric too much." she said matter-of-factly.

"That's all right, Seven. It wasn't important."

"And I repaired the damage to your shower, too."

"That wasn't necessary, I could have done that."

"I just wanted to say thank you for letting me sleep with
you."

Harry smiled. "Glad to help."

As Seven went to get her nutritional supplement, Harry
noticed that Tom and B'Ellana were looking at him with wide-
eyed shock.

Then Harry noticed that the entire room was quiet, and
everyone was looking straight at him.

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Fin