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Title: Marooned - Part 2
Author: Heather
Contact: madaboutmango@excite.com
Rating: PG for some implied Doctor nudity!!!
Summary: D/7, slight J/C. Initially inspired by a challenge by Vell. Seven tries to forget about what happened on the Holodeck, to no avail. The Doctor is caught in a compromising situation! The Captain has some fun....
Disclaimer: I love Voyager. Please don't punish me for writing a story about it. I wish I could live at Paramount!!
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Images flickered upon the cold grey walls. Images of unremembered times, images that warmed his soul. The Doctor paused playback when the image of Seven embracing him came up. How he wished he could remember that moment… how he wished he could recall the taste of her lips.
He got up from his desk and drew closer to the projected image. He ran his hand along the side of Seven’s face, while staring at her expression, trying to read the look on her face. She looked so… forceful.
The Doctor smiled as he imagined Seven forcing herself onto him. He liked that idea.
The sound of Sickbay’s doors opening jolted him back to reality. He nearly tripped over his own feet trying to get to the holo-imager to shut it off before the visitor could see what he had been looking at. The image began to fade off the wall just as Tom Paris walked in.
“Ahhh, Mr. Paris,” the Doctor said guiltily.
Tom smiled. “Doc, what were you doing?”
“I was, ah, viewing some medical files.”
“Medical files, huh?” Tom stepped past the Doctor, sidling towards the holo-imager.
“Mr. Paris… DON’T!!” the Doctor yelled frantically, rushing into the office and grabbing for the imager.
But Tom was quicker. He grasped the imager tightly, backing away from the Doctor.
“Tom, give it back, now!!” the Doctor said.
“No, not until you tell me what’s on it… or should I just check myself…?” Tom started fiddling with the buttons.
“I.. I’ll tell you. Just give it back,” the Doctor sputtered while frantically grabbing for his imager.
“I don’t think so,” Tom said, laughing and pressing the play button. But his eyes grew wide and his mouth hung open when he saw the image projected onto the wall.
“Is this for real?!” he asked.
The Doctor trudged to his desk and sat down. “I don’t know. I cant remember.”
“You can’t remember something like this? Does this have something to do with when you and Seven were stuck on the holodeck yesterday? B’Elanna mentioned something about that…” Tom said.
“Yes, she had to erase my memory of the events on the holodeck in order to retrieve my present program. Now I’m starting to wonder if that was such a good idea,” the Doctor moaned.
“Well Doc, you’ve got to ask Seven about that,” Tom said, turning his gaze back to the picture on the wall. “Wow.”
* * * * * *
Seven of Nine was working on a very complex set of calculations. It challenged her mind, and kept it occupied. She needed that more than anything now. If she stopped for a moment, her mind would begin to wander. And if her mind began to wander, she would start to think of him. He had beautiful eyes, and his smile was infectious. All it took was one look at his smile, and she would begin to smile herself… The console that she was working on emitted a series of ill-sounding beeps, startling her. I am becoming weak - she chided herself. I cannot allow myself to become distracted and make errors.
Seven tried to continue with her work but she could not stop the flow of images in her mind. Finally she banged her fist down on her workstation, and stopped working.
She was so relieved that the Doctor did not know of her display on the holodeck. She had been a fool.. giving in to her emotions. Emotions she didn’t even realize she had. I am damaged - she thought. What’s wrong with me?
* * * * * *
Captain Janeway was in a foul mood. There was no coffee anywhere and she needed it. B’Elanna had found a malfunction in several of the bioneural gelpacks. The replicators had gone down at 0400 hours and Neelix had neglected to put some beans aside for her in case of emergencies. Chakotay had jokingly suggested that she skip her bridge duty for the safety of the crew, and she had snapped at him in front of everyone. She felt like crap. Finally, after staying on the bridge for 2 hours, she had given in and decided to go to Sickbay for a quick fix. If the Doctor put up one of his fights, she’d delete him….
Getting to Sickbay, she trudged in and threw herself onto a biobed. She shut her eyes and waited. “Computer, lower ambient lighting by 50%” she ordered. The computer complied. After what seemed like an eternity, she snapped. “Doctor,” she growled. Another minute passed. “DOCTOR,” she screeched, sitting up. The Doctor and Tom emerged from the office with disturbed looks on their faces.
“Captain? Are you alright?” Tom said.
“Does it look like I’m alright? Tell the Doctor to get the hell over here. I need a shot of caffeine, NOW,” the Captain ordered, squinting to see if the Doctor was coming.
The Doctor grabbed for a hypospray and filled it. He came over to the Captain and injected it into her. Janeway seemed surprised. “Aren’t you going to argue with me?” she muttered, feeling the drug running through her veins.
“Why bother?” the Doctor replied.
“Good choice,” the Captain said, smiling inwardly, remembering her earlier threat of deletion. She was starting to feel better.
* * * * * *
Seven had retired to the holodeck. Something inside told her to go there, that she would be able to think more clearly in the same environment where her troubles had begun. She had initiated the Beach program and now all that was missing was the Doctor. Of course that was the last thing she wanted right now. There was no way that she could face him right now. She knew that she had a “date” with him at 1900 hours that evening… Perhaps she could cancel… no…. then the Doctor would suspect something was wrong and she couldn’t let that happen. All must appear normal as it was before.
I must prepare myself - she thought. I must test myself to see if I can handle this.
“Computer, duplicate image of the Emergency Medical Hologram.”
“The Emergency Medical Hologram’s program contains too many integrated files to permit duplication,” the Computer replied.
“Computer, duplicate only the interactive and physical subroutines.”
“Warning, no medical files will be available for access in this hologram.”
“Proceed.”
The Doctor shimmered into view on the holodeck. “Hello, Seven,” he smiled.
Seven felt nervous, her heart racing, “Computer, pause the Doctor program.”
The duplicate Doctor froze.
“Computer, locate the Emegency Medical Hologram.”
“The EMH is in Sickbay.”
She didn’t want there to be any mistakes.
* * * * * *
Captain Janeway raised herself off of the biobed and headed for the door. She paused momentarily and turned to face the Doctor. “Doctor, about the bioneural gelpack problem we’re having… I need you to run some tests on some samples of barillium we picked up on our last excursion. B’Elanna suggested that maybe they could be used to enhance the efficiency of the gel packs.
“I’ll get right on it,” said the Doctor.
“Let me know when you have the results, ok?” Janeway called as she left.
* * * * * *
“Computer, have the doctor program respond randomly to my queries from the algorythms I have programmed,” Seven ordered.
The Computer beeped in compliance.
Seven faced the duplicate doctor. She took a deep breath. “Doctor, I must tell you something of extreme importance,” she began.
The hologram looked at her.
“I have become romantically attracted to you. I wish to further our relationship from friends to…. boyfriend and girlfriend.” Seven felt a huge lump growing in her throat. Her chest felt tight and she felt very warm. It was extremely unpleasant.
The hologram walked closer to her and said, “Seven, I’m sorry. I regard you as the closest of friends, but nothing more. You need to be with someone who is flesh and blood. Someone you can grow old with. I’m not that person.”
Seven felt a piercing pain in her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she suddenly felt very sick to her stomach. “Computer, reset doctor program,” she called weakly.
The hologram quickly shimmered away and then appeared in his original location. He looked at her.
Seven took a deep breath and began again, “Doctor, may I tell you something?”
“Why of course, Seven,” the hologram replied.
“Over the past few months, I have come to realize that I have become romantically attracted to you. I wish to further our relationship and would like to know if you feel the same.” Again, Seven felt the extreme uncomfort of her nervousness. She hoped that the random response the hologram would give would be one of reciprocation.
“Seven, I don’t know what to say. I’m extremely flattered to say the least…”
Seven felt sick to her stomach again. She couldn’t bear his rejection, not again. ”Computer, reset doctor program.”
Again the hologram shimmered to its original position.
“Computer, run algorithm omega 7 via the doctor program,” Seven commanded.
She turned to the hologram and said, “Doctor, I need to tell you something.”
“What is it?” the hologram asked.
“I… love you, Doctor,” Seven managed to say, despite the deafening pounding of her heart.
The hologram drew closer to Seven. He put his hand on her cheek and stroked it gently. Then he said, “I love you too, Seven. I always have.” Seven felt the sick feeling leaving her body. It was replaced with a feeling of elation, a tingly sensation coursing through her body. It was not unpleasant. The hologram leaned into her and brushed his lips against hers. A short breath escaped from her lips and then she kissed him back fiercely with a want and need that she didn’t know was in her.
A beeping sound interrupted her reverie.
“Holodeck door lock being overridden by Captain Janeway,” the Computer announced.
Seven had just enough time to pull herself away from the hologram before Captain Janeway stepped into the holodeck. She looked surprised when she saw Seven and the Doctor inside.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you two, but I believe that I have the holodeck reserved from 1200 to 1300hrs. It’s 1205… I tried to announce my presence but you obviously were using a locking mechanism on the door.” Janeway looked at the Doctor with a slightly accusatory look.
“We’re sorry Captain. We shall be going now.” Seven said. Then panic started to rise within her. How would she end the doctor program without tipping Janeway off? As she hesitated, Captain Janeway said, “Doctor, did you find out anything yet about the barillium?”
The hologram looked confused. “The barillium?” he said blankly.
“The barillium. Can it could be used to enhance the efficiency of the bioneural gel packs?” the Captain asked impatiently.
The hologram just continued to stare blankly at the Captain. Seven knew that without medical knowledge, the hologram was clueless to questions like these… she had to act quickly.
“Captain, the Doctor has asked me to help him. We will get back to you as soon as possible,” Seven said quickly as she grabbed the hologram’s arm and walked towards the exit. “Have a pleasurable time,” she added.
Janeway looked slightly confused but she let the matter drop.
“Computer, deactivate the doctor program,” Seven said.
The hologram shimmered away and Seven gave one last look to the Captain before she retreated.
Janeway paused for a moment, trying to assess what had just transpired. When she couldn’t come up with anything, she shrugged and said, “Computer, lock holodeck doors. Initiate holoprogram Janeway 27.”
A beautiful field appeared. The soft, warm wind was blowing the flowers and long green grasses in a soothing manner. Off in the distance, a man was walking towards her. She could make out the smile on his face, the thick, dark hair, his strong, stocky build. “Chakotay,” she called and ran to meet him in the grass.
* * * * * *
The Doctor ran the tricorder over his patient, silently contemplating the information being fed into it.
“Commander, you can’t possibly expect to run holodeck programs with the safety off and think you’re going to come out of it unscathed,” he scolded.
Commander Chakotay grinned sheepishly under his bruised and bloodied face. He shot a look of help at Ensign Paris, but the young man only smiled at him.
“Doctor, you know how I love to box. Well, it doesn’t feel the same with the safety on. I need to know that the threat of being knocked out is real, you know?”
“No, I don’t know. I’ll never understand the human need to feel unnescessary pain when it can be avoided so easily,” the Doctor sighed.
He ran a dermal regenerator over Chakotay’s wounds. When he was finished, Chakotay got up and grabbed his gloves that were resting on the adjoining bed. “Thank you Doctor. I will try to be more careful next time!”
He exited Sickbay with an amused look on his face.
The Doctor shook his head.
* * * * * *
Seven strode down the hall. She was relieved that Captain Janeway had not asked the hologram more questions. She could have been found out. And what would have been her explanation? She was aware that duplicating crew members on the holodeck without their permission was frowned upon. Seven just sighed and decided that she was very glad that nothing had come of it.
Then suddenly, she stopped. Something had come of it. The hologram had kissed her, and she had never felt so alive in her life. It was the same feeling she had gotten when she had kissed the Doctor when they were trapped on the holodeck. She was also aware of the feeling she had gotten when the hologram had rejected her. Seven caught her breath. She never wanted to feel that way again, never. So what could she do? These dreadful emotions. As a borg, she had never experienced nervousness or pain or elation. She had a task and she did it without a second thought. Now, she must debate and go over every action, or else there could be dire consequences. She valued the Doctors friendship and would never do anything to risk losing that. Seven decided that before revealing her feelings to the Doctor, she must first assess if he had similar feelings for her. If he didn’t reciprocate, she would never tell him. It wasn’t worth it.
She took the turbolift to Deck Eight.
* * * * * *
The doctor ran his final test on the cube of barillium. He checked the readout on his computer and smiled.
“So, Mr. Paris. What do you think?” he quieried.
“It looks good, Doc. You’ve gotta admit that I’ve got one smart girlfriend!” Tom boasted.
“Lieutenant Torres is very resourceful. It’s a wonder she got hooked up with you…”
“Ooooh!” Tom winced.
“Well, you know what they say about opposites attracting….” The Doctor quipped.
“Hey, Doc. Enough picking on me for one day! Come on, I thought we were buddies”
“Hmmm,” the Doctor sighed.
“Hey, I do keep all of your dirty little secrets,” Tom reminded him.
The Doctor just eyed Tom with an exasperated look. “Would you mind watching Sickbay while I give my findings to the Captain?”
“No problem!” Tom replied.
“Just don’t get into any trouble,” the Doctor scolded while grabbing his holo-emitter and attaching it to his arm.
* * * * * *
On her way to Cargo Bay 2, Seven got an idea.
Seven called, “Computer, locate the EMH.”
“The EMH is in Sickbay,” the computer responded.
Maybe I’ll just drop by Sickbay to do some assessment right now - she mused
* * * * * *
“Computer, locate Captain Janeway” the Doctor ordered.
“Captain Janeway is in Holodeck One.”
The Doctor headed for the turbolift. The Captain's going to be so pleased! - he thought happily.
* * * * * *
Tom stretched lazily in his chair. Arms behind his head, he let out a huge yawn. He hated his shifts in Sickbay. The time went by so slowly, and having only the Doc for company was almost too much for Tom to handle sometimes.
His eyes wandered slowly around the room, seeing if there was anything new or interesting that he could check out. His gaze fell upon the Doctor’s holo-imager lying on the desk in front of him. He knew that he really shouldn’t snoop, but his curiousity got the better of him. Wondering what other interesting photos might be on the device, he leaned forward and flipped it on. The image of Seven kissing the Doctor came on. Go, Seven! - he thought amusedly.
“Computer, play images starting from frame 1,” Tom called.
* * * * * *
Seven took a deep gulp of breath as she neared Sickbay. She had to act as normal as possible, even though her heart was racing at an impossible speed. The doors to Sickbay parted in front of her and she stepped into the room. Looking from side to side as she walked, Seven surveyed the room looking for the Doctor. Spotting Tom Paris in the office, she strode up to him.
But when she saw images of herself and the Doctor projected on the wall, her mouth hung open her eyes grew wide with terror. When she finally looked over at Tom, his face was a mirror of her own.
“Sev… I didn’t hear…. you c.. come in. Oh my God,” was all that Tom could manage.
“Ensign Paris, what is the meaning of this?” Seven heard herself say.
“Oh, God. You weren’t supposed to see these. The Doctor’s gonna kill me.”
“The Doctor?”
“Yeah, they’re from yesterday on the Holodeck. The Doc couldn’t remember any of this happening. Shoot, I’m in deep crap now,” Tom moaned.
Seven just stared at Tom.
“Mr. Paris, I believe that I will need to speak to the Doctor privately about this matter. Would you mind leaving?”
“I’d be happy to. The Doc should be back any time.”
Tom got up quickly and scurried out of the room, leaving Seven to ponder the images on the wall.
* * * * * *
The Doctor pressed the chime on the door to Holodeck One. After a few moments he pressed it again.
“Who is it?” an angry voice finally responded, a little out of breath.
“Captain, it’s me, the Doctor. I have some good news!” the Doctor said cheerfully.
Several moments of silence, then the doors opened. Janeway stood at the entrance looking very annoyed.
“First, you and Seven take over my holodeck time and now you’re interrupting me when my time’s almost up. What’s with you today, Doctor?”
“Seven and I didn’t take over your holodeck time, Captain.”
“Fifty minutes ago, I interrupted you and Seven in here, remember?”
“Captain?”
“Doctor, are you telling me you can’t remember being here less than an hour ago?” The Captain paused, “I asked you about the barillium. Seven said that you and her were going to work on it together.”
The Doctor’s mind was still blank, but he decided that due to the Captain’s apparent rising anger, he would play along with her..
“Ahh… yes. I’m terribly sorry to interrupt you Captain but I have the results of my findings on the barillium.”
The Captain sighed and wiped some sweat off her forehead. She grabbed the padd that the Doctor was holding and started reading it. “Well, what did you find?”
“The barillium should make an excellent improvement to the efficiency of the gel packs.”
“Great. Let Lieutenant Torres know. Keep me posted. Now is that all? I’d like to get back to the 5 minutes I have left of my program.” Janeway handed the padd back to the Doctor.
“Of course,” the Doctor said, still slightly confused.
He turned and left the Catain. I’m going to run a self-diagnostic as soon as I get back to Sickbay - he thought..
* * * * * *
Seven stared at the images for a few minutes more, and then switched the imager off. Looking around like a guilty child, she snatched the imager and called out, ”Computer, locate the EMH.”
“The EMH is in the hall on Deck 5.”
Oh no! she thought. Quickly, she went to the far side of Sickbay and opened the door to the Jeffries tube passage. It was her only way out. She couldn’t confront him. Seven crawled inside the tube and closed the door behind her. She started to crawl away but then stopped and turned around. Perhaps now was a good time to observe the Doctor’s actions. She cracked open the access door just a millimeter and waited.
* * * * * *
The Doctor walked into Sickbay, still pondering the meaning of the Captain’s earlier comments. Noticing that Tom was gone, he sighed and shook his head.
“Computer run self-diagnostic on EMH.”
The computer beeped and said, “Running diagnostic. Diagnostic complete.”
The Doctor scanned the findings on his screen. He was performing at peak efficiency.
“Computer, has anyone tampered with my memory algorithms in the last 12 hours?”
“Negative.”
So why can’t I remember what the Captain was talking about? Then it hit him. There had to be something wrong with the Captain.
“Computer, run medical scans on Captain Janeway, medical clearance 147Beta.”
The computer complied and the Doctor frowned while analyzing the readout. Above normal pulse, above normal respiration, above normal vascular pressure, but besides that, everything else seemed normal. Blaming it on fatigue or stress, he decided not to go into it any further unless the Captain brought it up again.
Humming softly, the Doctor brought up some weekly medical exam files that needed to be catalogued and went to work on them.
* * * * * *
Seven shifted uncomfortably in the tube. Her Borg body was not used to laying stomach down on hard titanium, but it was a discomfort she didn’t mind enduring if she could get an idea as to what the Doctor was thinking about those images. She watched as the Doctor moved around Sickbay, humming softly and going about his routine. He is very pleasing to the eye - she thought critically. A pleasing body, strong arms and legs, deft hands, broad shoulders, straight neck, warm, comforting eyes, soft lips…. she stopped herself from thinking these thoughts. I am feeling strange, I must stop this at once. - she chided herself.
* * * * * *
All done with his duties, the Doctor decided to prepare for his date with Seven.
“Computer, lock entrance doors to Sickbay.”
“Doors locked.”
The Doctor then went over to a wall closet and opened it. He took out a tall mirror and set it against the wall. “Computer, change EMH’s clothing parameters to program Gamma 16.” The blue and black Starfleet uniform was replaced with a grey button-up shirt and black pants. The Doctor looked at his reflection as he stretched, bent over, and turned around.
“Computer, change EMH’s clothing parameters to program Gamma 17.”
Over and over the Doctor changed his clothing, trying to find the perfect outfit.
* * * * * *
Seven was amused at the way the Doctor was surveying himself in the mirror. She smiled despite herself, a wide teeth revealing grin. She herself had never gone to so much trouble in choosing something to wear. Her unitards came in different colors but she never chose one over another because she preferred a hue. She considered teasing the Doctor about his actions the next time she met up with him, but then she reminded herself that he didn’t know she was watching him. Seven moved again; uncomfortably, in the tube, making not a sound. Then, her mouth opened in shock at the sight she was witnessing through the crack of the door in front of her.
* * * * * *
“Computer, delete EMH’s clothing.”
The Doctor stood naked in front of his mirror, looking himself over. He was a well muscled, lean man if he must say so himself. Still, he sucked in his stomach a bit and straightened up. He ran his hand down the front of his chest through the dark hair upon it. He made some arm clenches , and then stepped closer to the mirror. What’s the use? he thought. Seven’s never going to see me this way, anyway…
“Computer reinstall standard clothing parameters to EMH.” The Doctor said a little sadly.
The computer complied.
“Computer, unlock entrance doors to Sickbay.”
The Doctor felt dejected as he put away his mirror and trudged over to his desk.
* * * * * *
Seven was still reeling in shock from what she had just seen. She felt a mixture of new emotions, all very good. It was strange; she had never even thought of the Doctor in that manner before. She was aware that he had a physical body, but the appearance of it had seemed unimportant before; not anymore… She felt flushed.
* * * * * *
The Doctor sat in his chair, deep in thought. He started to hum again. Then, quite suddenly, his eyes began to dart around the room. They grew wider as he got up and started flinging things off his desk as he searched for something.
“Doctor to Ensign Paris.” He called frantically
“Paris here.”
“Ensign, where’s my holo-imager?”
There was a long silence.
“Ah… Doc…. Seven’s got it.”
“Seven?!!!” the Doctor practically screamed.
* * * * * *
When Seven heard the Doctor scream her name, she quickly got to her knees and started crawling away from Sickbay. She had never crawled so fast in her life..
* * * * * *
“Computer locate Seven of Nine,” the Doctor ordered frantically.
“Seven of Nine is in Jeffries Tube 19, Deck 5.”
The Doctor spun around, bolting to the access door at the far end of the room. It was open a crack, and when the Doctor opened the door and looked inside, he saw his holo-imager laying on the floor of the Jeffries tube, and he could hear the distant clacking of metal against metal….
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On to Part Three
