Well, I told myself I was going to write this after I first saw "Infinite Regress," but I kinda sorda, well....forgot. But it aired again this evening and I thought, "Let's give it a shot!" So that's why, at 1:15 am on a Saturday night, I find myself writing this. Be forewarned: I've eaten too much chocolate, I'm tired, and this is my first K/7 story.
DiSCLAiMER: Paramount owns the TV show. but they keep leaving stuff out, so I'm adding it in.
It Takes Two to Tango (a missing scene from "Infinite Regress")
by Celestia
*treelweep*
Harry Kim looked up from the PADD he was reading. Who would be calling at this time of night? "Come in." The doors opened. Harry's eyes widened, and he dropped his PADD in surprise.
There, right in front of him, stood Seven of Nine, looking very unlike Seven of Nine. Her long blonde hair was loose, she was wearing a floor-length body-hugging red dress, and there was a huge smile on her face. "S-s-seven?!"
She threw her head back and laughed. "Are you so shocked that all you can do is mutter numbers? I know it's a little odd for me to come in the middle of the night, but..." she came all the way into the room and walked over to Harry. "Once, a little while ago, you mentioned something about teaching me how to dance." She looked at him, her blue eyes twinkling, and held out her borgified left hand for him to take. "I want to learn now. I want to...what was it you called it? Oh! Tango! Or waltz, that sounds exotic!"
He took her hand, bewildered, and let her pull him out of his chair. "O-kay..." He was very much in shock, but he decided to go along with this. After all, it could just be a dream, and there was no harm in enjoying a dream was there? "Which are we going to do first?"
Seven's smile was still plastered on her face as she thought about it. "Hmmm...the tango. You said something about it being a romantic dance, and since tomorrow's 'the' anniversary..." She winked at him.
Anniversary?! For what? When she first came aboard Voyager? That must be it, thought Harry. But what was this about romance? Did I miss something? "Are you feeling all right, Seven?"
She laughed again. "Will you quit talking to me like I'm a number? You know my name! And I feel terrific, like dancing! Now, what's the starting positing for this...tango?"
"W-well," he stammered. He noticed that they were still holding left hands. "You hold these arms out like so, and you put your hand on my waist like this," he placed her delicate hand on his hip. "And I put this hand on your shoulder, like this."
She smiled sweetly at him. "Don't we need some music?"
"Computer, some Tango music."
"There are 196 selections for that dance. Specify."
"Just pick one at random."
The computer complied by picking a piece which was somewhat slower than the average tango, but still contained enough of a beat to be danceable. Seven stared thoughtfully at the ceiling while she tapped her foot. "It had an interesting beat to it." She turned to Harry. "So, what are the steps?"
"You start with your left foot..."
*~*~*~*
What followed were two hours of conversation, laughter, and a fairly bad version of the tango.
"Now, your elbow should..."
She blushed. "That's not an elbow."
He quickly realized what mistake he had made and drew his hand back as his face flushed. "I-I'm sorry..."
She laughed again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. "Tsk-tsk. Don't worry about it! What am I going to have to do, use sticky notes to tell you which is which?"
Sticky notes? thought Harry. What the hell are sticky notes?
Suddenly Seven stopped laughing. "Oh dear! I've had so much fun that I've lost track of the time! I've got to get back home!" She let go of him and headed for the door. Just before she disappeared into the corridor, she leaned in the room and blew Harry a kiss. "See you tomorrow night?"
Harry couldn't believe his ears. She'd do this tomorrow, too?! This just didn't seem like her. Was something wrong? Should he have taken her to Sickbay? You're crazy, Harry. She shouldn't go to Sickbay just because she finally wants to have some fun. "S-sure," he managed to get out, in answer to her query.
She smiled and disappeared out the door.
*~*~*~*
Seven was back to her usual self by the staff meeting the next morning, so Harry decided not to bring up the night before. If she wanted to talk about it, she'd mention it to him.
But by mid-afternoon, rumor had spread that Seven was in Sickbay, something about exhibiting multiple personalities and biting B'Elanna on the cheek.....? Harry decided to head to Sickbay and talk to her.
The multiple peronalities explained what had happened the night before. It definitley hadn't been Seven who had asked him to tango. But perhaps she had been there on some level, maybe she remembered it...and maybe she'd had fun.
So, ten minutes after making the decision to go see her, he was beside her Sickbay, with the Doctor right behind them.
"She shouldn't be talking to you at all, Ensign, and she may not be able to for long. New personalities are manifesting themselves every minute. I should be keeping her sedated. But I'm just a Doctor, what do I know...."
"Doc, can you leave us alone for a moment?"
The Doctor sighed. "Fine. But as soon as she starts hearing voices, call me." He turned and walked away.
Harry turned towards Seven. "Seven, about last night...." Seven's eyes widened and she sat up. Harry tried to get her to lie back down. "Seven, you probably shouldn't..."
"I am capable of sitting up, Ensign." Her steely toned voice was back, and there was no hint of laughter in her eyes. This was a totally different woman than Harry had seen the night before. "What do you mean by, 'about last night'?"
"Do you remember it, anything about it?"
"I remember beginning my regeneration cycle at 2200 hours, and ending it at 0600 hours. Am I supposed to remember something else?"
"You came to my quarters, at 0200, in a red dress...you asked me to teach you how to tango."
"Tango?"
"A human dance." Harry's voice took on somewhat of a sad tone. "You don't remember that> Any of it?"
"I apologize, Ensign. I...I was not myself."
"So I've been told." He got up and began to leave. "Well, get well soon."
Seven lay back down on the biobed. "I will try."
*~*~*~*
Two nights later, after the viniculum had been shut off and Seven was back to normal, Harry was sitting in his quarters when the doorbell rang.
*treelweep*
"Come in."
The doors opened, and there stood Seven, exactly as she had appeared a few nights before, in a red dress with her hair flying loose. All that was missing was her smile.
"Seven? Is that you?"
"Don't not worry, En-Harry, I....I am myself." She stepped further into the room and the doors closed behind her.
Harry pinched himself, then he winced. Nope, this wasn't a dream.
Seven noticed him wincing. "Is something wrong?"
"No!" He shook his head. "Nothing at all. Just wondering why you're.....here."
Her mouth may not have been smiling, but there was a hint of it in her eyes. "I find myself...intrigued by what you call 'the tango.' You mentioned that you taught it to one of my personalities. Also, the tone of voice you used when mentioning that meeting seemed to indicate that it brought you great joy. When I told you that I did not remember that, you seemed....saddened. I would now like to add that memory to my data banks. Would you mind instructing me?"
Harry smiled. She had the weirdest way of being sweet...he got out of his chair and headed towards her. "Well, you start by taking my hand like this....."
*~*~*~*
we're going to leave now and let them dance the night away......:)
questions? comments? money? celestia@innocent.com
p.s - that thing about "that's not my elbow" is actually truly something that Garrett Wang actually did, and Jeri Ryan came in the next day with sticky notes in the respective places saying "elbow", "not an elbow"! I thank the people at the P/T Collective Archive Messageboard for bringing that up, even though they have no clue who I am.
