Chapter 4
Both of Seven's eyebrows shot up when she actually, for the first time ever, heard a howl coming from the bathroom. It wasn't loud, in fact, it wasn't louder than a loud moan would be, but it was a howl never the less.
A moment later she could finally hear the water being turned on. This time, for the first time ever, she had been able to hear every single sound B'Elanna had made, every breath, even the sound of B'Elanna's fingers touching her own wetness. Everything. And Seven had been amazed. Amazed about the fact that she could have such an effect on someone. She had been worried that her scars had disfigured her. B'Elanna had shown her how wrong she was; twice. First by talking to her, and then a second time by having to take care of the tension that had built inside of her from simply kneeling in front of the blonde's naked body.
Seven smiled at that. Somehow that told her more than any word ever could.
Half an hour later B'Elanna finally came out of the bathroom. Seven noticed that the Klingon had her eyes firmly glued to the ground and didn't look at Seven at all.
"Did you enjoy your shower?" Seven finally asked, more to start a conversation than anything else. But when she saw the crestfallen look coming over B'Elanna's face she realized that she had said possibly the worst thing she could have. She sighed before apologizing. "I am sorry; I should not have said that, not now."
"Seven... I..." B'Elanna started, only to fall quiet again, she had no idea what she could even possible say to the blonde to make things right between them. Therefore she was totally shocked by Seven's next words.
"I wish to thank you, B'Elanna."
"Thank me?!" B'Elanna asked while her eyes shot up to meet Seven's. "Seven, what I just did... I'm even worse than those people making crude comments about your looks. Kahless, all they did was talk about your body; I got off on your body, while you were in the next room listening to me doing it. I... I don't understand how you can even be in the same room with me now."
"You are not being fair towards yourself," Seven said softly while moving from the short couch she had been sitting on to the long couch B'Elanna was sitting on. "If I had not been so obsessed with what I thought were my horrible scars, I would have realized that asking a Klingon, who I know likes women, to go kneel in front of me while I am naked, was an extremely unfair thing to ask of you."
"Don't make excuses for me, alright? No matter what you say, I didn't control myself, and used you as nothing more than an aid to get off. I..."
"Please do not call it that. Saying that all I provoked in you was an urge to 'get off,' that I consider an insult. I would much rather think that it was the person Seven of Nine that provoked that reaction, not just some naked woman standing in front of you. Now, as I said, I wish to thank you. First you eased my fears with words, and after that you, your body, showed me that those were not just empty or polite words. You showed me that just my naked presence is enough to excite you."
Seven hesitated for a moment and let her eyes drift over her own body before admitting, "Since I have started to appreciate the value of aesthetics, I have come to realize that I can be considered a beautiful woman. I am not blind to that fact, and I actually like that fact. I do not consider myself vain, but I still like the fact that I look 'good.' I thought that the scars that I have as a result of my surgery had taken away my looks; that I would now only ever be able to 'look good' when wearing tight fitting clothing that would reveal my bodily shapes, but not my actual body. You proved me wrong in a way that you would never have been able to do with words. As the saying goes, 'actions speak louder than words.'"
"But still, I,"
"You," Seven interrupted, "just gave me the best 'sound show' I have ever had. You seem to forget that part. If I had been upset with the fact that I knew that you were... pleasuring yourself while clearly thinking of me, then I certainly would not have stayed here and listened to it, would I?"
B'Elanna shook her head a little as if reluctantly agreeing to the point. "I,"
"You," Seven once again interrupted, "Did not turn on the shower this time until afterwards. In case you are wondering, that means that I heard everything. I could not have heard more even if I had been in the same room with you. Do you mind me hearing you so clearly?"
B'Elanna rubbed her hands over her face. She knew how Seven could turn conversations around. That the blonde sometimes planned conversations ahead like a game of chess, knowing up front what an answer would be, what the reaction to that answer would be, and what the reaction to that reaction had to be. So she also pretty much knew where Seven was heading. "I don't mind. I actually kinda like it, but wouldn't have done it deliberately any time soon. This basically comes back to the same as the first time you overheard me. I certainly didn't plan it like that, but now that it happened, I'm not sorry about it."
She saw that Seven was going to speak again and lifted her hand to stop her.
"Which is exactly the same for you. I don't mind that you heard me, so I have to accept it when you say that you don't mind that seeing you naked makes me hotter than a star going nova."
"Indeed," Seven agreed with a smile. "Truthfully, B'Elanna, I am not sure if I would not have done the exact same thing had I been in your position."
"Really?" B'Elanna asked surprised, but now finally a smile started to tug at her lips. She knew that once more they were alright. She was just glad that when ever there was a problem between them at least one of them had always been stubborn enough to bite into the subject and hold on until they had talked it through.
"Certainly," Seven agreed. "In fact, I just told you that I had listened to the best 'sound show' I have ever heard. Do you really think that left me unaffected? No. As soon as we are done talking, but only then, I will go take the shower that started all this, and I can guarantee you that it will be a very long shower."
"Is there more to discuss then?" B'Elanna asked a little surprised. "I though we were okay here now."
"We are," Seven was quick to agree. "I just wonder about what we are doing, what we are."
"What do you mean?"
"We play sexually tinted games," Seven said hesitantly. "As a matter of fact, listening to you masturbate is a lot more than an innocent sexually tinted game. It is almost certainly a prelude to more. To maybe one day actually seeing you masturbate, and maybe more than that. Yet I do not think we have the emotional relationship that lovers normally do. So I was wondering what we are towards each other, and where what we are doing will eventually end up."
"Well," B'Elanna said thoughtfully while slouching a little on the couch. "I could once more tell you that I don't really know what we are doing but that I like it. But I can see that this answer is no longer good enough for you, and rightfully so, I must admit. See Seven, what I gather from what you just told me, you seem to think that things should happen in a certain line. People meet, they like each other, they become friends, they fall in love, they make love. True, that is the line you see the most, but it certainly isn't the only one possible. There's so much more. Did you ever hear of the saying 'a one night stand?' That's two people that only just met having sex. They don't know each other, they don't love each other, hell, maybe they don't even really like each other and both simply want to get off, and I use that phrase here deliberately. Another option is that two people meet, and they become the closest of friends possible, more close than needed for a successful long term romantic relationship, yet they never go down that road and simply stay best friends for life. Or you have what Tom wanted with me, being friends that don't mind sharing a bed every now and again, but certainly aren't in a real romantic relationship. Or take you and Harry, you were in a relationship, yet you broke it off after a while. So clearly you couldn't have truly been in love with him, yet you still dated him."
"I dated Harry because I wanted to experience what it was like to be in a relationship. To have someone to share interests with, to have someone I have to keep in mind when making my own plans. I wanted to see why people would choose a relationship when clearly it extremely limits someone. I never had feelings of love for him. I did, and do, have feelings of friendship for him. This did not change, or more to the point, it did change to where our friendship grew. Either way, the point is, Harry and I both knew that our relationship would only last a certain amount of time. Yet we both entered that relationship because we both benefited from it. I experienced what having a relationship was like, and Harry,"
"Harry got you," B'Elanna interrupted.
"Basically," Seven had to agree. "Harry 'got me' the way he wanted me. Harry is not someone to simply take mindless sex even if you were to offer it to him. There has to be a meaning to it for him. The woman should not get out of bed and be gone; she should be around and also smile at him when she sees him the next day."
"Well, the point is, both of you wanted something else from your relationship. It just so happened that what you both wanted resulted in you having that relationship for some time. Tom and I also wanted different things from a relationship. But unlike you and Harry, what we wanted didn't fit together. I told you that what Tom wants is something I don't want from a partner, because of that I couldn't play these kind of games with him. You're different. Because you and I didn't want anything from each other, we both found along the way what we did want to give to each other. Not what we want to get, but what we want to give. I'm playing sexual games with you because that's what I want... you just didn't mind and went along for the ride."
B'Elanna nodded her head slightly, more to herself then to Seven. "Yeah, let's call them by the real name; what we are doing is playing sexual games. They aren't sexually tinted games, they are real sex games. Yet we aren't romantically involved. While I now consider you a better friend than Tom was when he and I got romantically involved, I don't think that you and I have a romantic relationship... yet. You could say that as many people as there are, as many different kinds of relationships exist. Not really true, but it gives you an indication of just how many different relationships there are."
"And all of this means?" Seven wondered.
"All of this means that you shouldn't try to compare what we have to what others have. Instead you should simply ask yourself what we have, and if you're alright with it."
"And what do we have, B'Elanna?"
"What we have? I think that we are in the middle, we don't have sex without a relationship, yet we also don't first build the romantic relationship before becoming intimate. I think that we're building them at the same time. Answer me this honestly Seven, are we friends?"
"Yes," Seven replied at once.
"Best friends?"
"Yes," Seven once more replied, though this time she took her time to compare the friendship she had with B'Elanna to her other friendships.
"Do you think that even though we're already best friends now, our friendship will only continue to grow and get stronger?"
"Yes." This time once again an immediate answer.
"I feel the same way. And even though I never wanted this with Tom, I do feel that even if we never become lovers, in good time I will be more than willing to play sex games with you that make the ones we've been playing until now seem mild, maybe even have sex when our bodies and souls need that despite not being lovers as well."
"I think that I too would not mind having such a friendship with you."
B'Elanna grinned. "Good, but, as far as I can see, that is a worst case scenario, something that tells us that it is alright to play even at this stage. But I have to tell you Seven, I think that there can be a lot more between us. I don't know about you, but I do have feelings for you that are more than just a friendship. There is also more in me than just lust for that perfect body of yours. Feelings that make me want to use words like 'make love' instead of 'having sex.' I think... I think it was there from the beginning. The... energy, the fire. We fight, tension. Hell you once told me that you stayed on Voyager because your interactions with me made you feel alive. From that very first day there was 'something' between us. That something is still there, it's just changing. Once I felt great pleasure from knowing that I pissed you off, now I feel great pleasure from knowing that you hear me reach my peak."
B'Elanna hesitated for a moment before admitting, "I want you to know that, before today, and most definitely after today, when I masturbated while you could hear me... when I came, I was thinking of you. Not as in fantasies, but as in knowing that you could hear me. It makes it... better some how."
"I think that I have to agree with all you just said. I do think that we can, and will be lovers at one point, when that point is... that is the question," Seven stated firmly. "But until that time, we should definitely be friends, have fun and... play."
"Couldn't agree more," B'Elanna said with a grin. "You know, we're sitting here talking as friends, but it could be that we'll be lovers next year."
"Could be," Seven agreed. "It could also be that we are lovers next month."
Now it was B'Elanna that agreed with a, "Could be. Who knows, it might actually happen next week."
"Indeed. I have a feeling that what I really need is for something to... fall into place. Because, let me assure you, B'Elanna, I do really like you."
"Rest assured, Seven, the feeling is totally mutual."
They looked at each other for a few moments with smiles on their faces. Even though neither of them really knew what was going on between them they both sure liked it.
"So..." B'Elanna finally said to mostly just break the silence, no matter how comfortable it had been. "You really heard everything I did in there, huh?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me, what did you like the most?"
Seven lifted her eyebrow slightly. This clearly was a new stage in their 'games.' Seven definitely liked it. "There is the obvious, the way your breathing changed. How it increases, how it falters ever so slightly just before you achieve release."
"You can call it an orgasm, Seven. Or if you prefer, and which I think actually fits better in sentences like the one you just said, you can use the word come, or the word cum. Though personally I prefer the word come. It sounds better in conversations. Cum, I think, is more for when you are actually making love, to tell your partner that you are about to cum, or ask them to cum for you, things like that."
"Ah," Seven said, letting the words run through her mind for a moment before deciding that she too liked the word 'come' the best for this kind of conversation. "Well, as I said, normally I like that the most since it is the thing I can hear the best over the running water. But today I heard sounds that are normally drowned out by the water, and I must say that I liked those just as much."
"Go on," B'Elanna urged.
"Today I could, for instance, also hear the sounds that your fingers make when you touch your wet... womanhood."
"I personally like to call mine my pussy," B'Elanna stated simply, "But I can understand if you find that too vulgar. I just find it better sounding than womanhood or vagina. I think it sounds more personal that way, and not so official."
"Pussy," Seven repeated slowly, which made B'Elanna laugh.
"We'll be having you talk 'dirty' in no time."
"Do you also call your breasts 'tits?'" Seven wondered.
B'Elanna thought about that for a moment. "No, not really. I actually like the way 'breasts' sounds just fine, though I'm also fine with boobs and use that sometimes. But breast definitely has my preference. I actually only use 'tits' if I'm talking deliberately vulgar, which I don't do that often. It's just that there really isn't a nice comfy word like that for down south, so I use the cleanest vulgar word I know. Breasts sounds good, private and fits into a conversation like we are having now, but in that same conversation I only find pussy fitting for down south. Use it a couple of times to get used to it, I'm sure you'll be fine with it. But anyway, back to the point. You like...?"
"Well, as I said I could hear you when you touched your... pussy. Combined with your breathing it sounded very arousing."
"I can imagine," B'Elanna said with a grin. It felt weird, but good, that only an hour before she had felt ashamed that she had thought of Seven while masturbating, and now Seven was telling her how much she enjoyed the sounds that B'Elanna made when she was touching herself.
While before she had thought about the fact that Seven could hear her, and had let this get her aroused even more, this time she had actually fantasized about Seven doing things to her and had felt ashamed for it. But now... now that things were once more alright between them, and she knew that Seven sure didn't mind, B'Elanna was sure that it had not been the last time that she would allow the blonde into her fantasies.
"Damn, Seven, I just realized that we've been sitting here for over an hour talking. That's not fair to you. Go take your shower. Once you come back we can go back to doing what we were going to do before this all came up. You wanted to finish that book, right? And we really should eat something."
"That is correct." Seven agreed while she got up. She too realized that sex games might be fun, but they had to ease into them. Besides, after hearing B'Elanna before while she was... busy, and hearing her now talk about it, Seven really needed to have a good release herself. When she was halfway to the bathroom, she was stopped by B'Elanna's voice.
"Hey Seven, I thought you might want to know, those times you could so clearly hear me touching my pussy, that must have been when I finger fucked myself. I like to do that sometimes. Move my fingers in and out a couple of times to have a different feeling than just rubbing my clit, before I take them out and lick them clean. I thought you might want to know that while you take your shower."
Seven turned back to B'Elanna with a look of outrage on her face, a look that was quite ruined by the flush that was covering her face as well. "Are you trying to drive me insane?"
"Nooo," B'Elanna said in a drawn out way. "I just decided that since you had such a good sound show earlier, I might as well share other interesting things with you. Do you mind? If you really do mind, I can tone it down. I just want to have fun with you, Seven."
"I was going to say that, yes I do mind. But hearing what you just said, you might actually think I am serious. So, no, I do not mind. Play with me all you want B'Elanna. I do not object at all."
"Good to know," B'Elanna grinned. "Knowing that, I'll now every once in a while have some fun before I turn the water on. But to drive you wild, I won't tell you if I'm about to do that, or if I'm about to have some fun under the shower, or if I truly am only going to take that shower. Guess you just have to listen in to find out."
"You... are a cruel person," Seven said in an amused voice while entering the bathroom. She loved every minute of B'Elanna playing with her. She was just about to step away from the door and let it close when she decided that now that B'Elanna had taken so many steps to make sure they both could have some fun that they really wanted, it was now her turn to do something back. Something that she had wanted to do for some time now, but the removal of her implant had interfered with that.
B'Elanna shook her head with a smile. Who would ever have guessed that Seven would be so willing to go along in her games, games that in all reality could be called childish... well, eighteenish, since it did involve very adult themes? But it turned out that Seven was a more than willing culprit. Oh, B'Elanna knew that they really wouldn't be acting like this every free minute of the day, not even every evening, but that was alright. Games like that were best played only one or two evenings a week anyway.
B'Elanna thought about it for a moment and had to admit that Seven's reasoning had probably been right when she had said that it did matter that Seven wasn't Tom. B'Elanna didn't hate Tom; she still liked him and hoped that one day they could again be as close as they had once been. But Seven had been right. If B'Elanna had done with Tom only one tenth of what she had already done with Seven, they would have had sex several times. It just felt good to tease and play simply for the fun of teasing and playing. With Tom, everything had been a prelude to sex. Hell, Tom would have been insulted if he had found out that B'Elanna had masturbated instead of having sex with him. But somehow B'Elanna just knew; if she and Seven were lovers, and she told Seven that she had just masturbated, the only thing that the blonde would have said would have been to ask if she had enjoyed herself.
Yes she really liked what she had with Seven, and she liked even more where it might end up if they were a little lucky.
B'Elanna was just about to get up and get a drink when she realized that she could hear the water of the shower louder than she normally could. She looked to the bathroom and was totally surprised to see the door still open. Surely Seven couldn't have forgotten that, could she? While B'Elanna was wondering about that, she got her answer in Seven's voice, speaking to the computer. "Computer, change bathroom door setting. The door will now stay open unless specifically closed by an individual."
{New programming accepted.}
B'Elanna groaned softly. Seven had easily turned the tables on her. There was no doubt about what Seven was going to do under that shower, and there was also no doubt that now B'Elanna would be able to hear anything that was louder than the relatively soft sound of the water.
B'Elanna could hear a soft humming coming from the shower. The bitch was humming! There was no way that B'Elanna could listen to Seven under the shower and not be affected to where she herself would need release again. B'Elanna was already wondering how she was going to do that, what she was going to say as to why she needed another shower.
B'Elanna thought about that for a moment while she heard the humming stop and a mix between a sigh and a moan coming from the shower. Probably the easiest way to do it would be to simply state that she needed a shower, again.
She heard a soft gasp and felt herself getting wet again in response, just thinking about what Seven might be doing to herself that would produce such a sweet gasp.
Oh, yeah, B'Elanna was enjoying every second of this, and wondered how she had ever been able to have fun at home without Seven living with her.
~~~~~~~~~~{}~~~~~~~~~~
"So what you're telling us is that we're going to have a very boring month in front of us?" Janeway asked at the weekly department update meeting.
"Not necessarily," Seven disagreed. "What I said is that we are entering what the Borg called sector 34,786. They found no life-form worthy of assimilation. There are several species in this sector. However, they did not have any technology that was of interest to the Borg, nor did those species stand out biologically to warrant assimilation just for that. There might even be several species that have developed warp capability by now."
"I thought that the Borg assimilated pretty much all life-forms that can walk on two legs," B'Elanna asked from her chair on the other side of the table.
"Monkeys are capable of walking on two legs, yet the Borg do not assimilate them," Seven explained.
"Could've fooled me," B'Elanna said, looking pointedly at the blonde, a grin tugging on her lips.
"Lieutenant Torres, I don't find comments like that amusing," Janeway warned.
"Aye Captain, sorry," B'Elanna said. She and Seven had been in a playful mood the entire day. Exchanging jabs one moment while just joking around the next. It had surprised many a person in Engineering to actually hear Seven joke around with the Klingon.
"To answer the Lieutenant's question," Seven continued, "The Borg do assimilate entire species simply for the number of drones on occasion, but the Borg do not assimilate mindlessly. The technology comes first, and they adapt the number of drones in accordance. They assimilate to keep the number of drones at a level needed to run the technology at peak efficiency, and they only expand the Borg Collective in an orderly and efficient way."
"So if they had enough drones, they would have skipped 'unremarkable' species instead of assimilating them?" Janeway asked to clarify.
"If the Borg had enough drones at the time they passed through this sector, which they had," Seven agreed. "They would not assimilate species, unless one of the species is shown to have a distinctiveness that is of interest to the Borg. However, all species will have a trace of the Borg in their history. The Borg will have assimilated several thousand individuals of every species to 'sample' the race."
"But aren't a few thousand people a little, well, little, seen on a Borg scale?" B'Elanna asked. "I mean, there is a big chance that those thousands don't have knowledge the Borg are interested in, but others might. You could assimilate about five thousand people on Earth, but the chance that you find someone between them who can fix a warp drive would be pretty damn slim."
"True," Seven agreed. "But the point is that most, probably all, of those people, would know that warp drive exists. The Borg assimilate a sample of drones, and from the information those assimilations produce a decision is made about assimilating the rest of the race."
"But lucky for us, the species proved 'unremarkable," Janeway spoke up. "I for one hope that we'll find a species that is willing to engage in some good old fashion trading with us. That means we have to get our information in the old-fashioned Starfleet way, by scanning the planets that could be of interest to us. Serves us right, we shouldn't rely on Borg knowledge as much as we've been doing lately."
"Which I've been telling you for almost two years now," B'Elanna piped up.
Janeway gave her a look but didn't comment on B'Elanna's remark. "Alright people, we really do need to stock up on pretty much all we have; food, Dilithium, antimatter, you name it. It's all at acceptable, but low levels. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to go back to using replicator rations even for the basic stuff like food. Seven, go to Astrometrics and start scanning. Harry, give her a hand."
"Captain, the scanners have been affected by the dark matter cloud we passed through yesterday. I was planning on repairing the damage today," Seven pointed out.
"You mean we can't use the scanners?" Janeway asked. "I don't like that idea at all. That should have been reported before."
"No, Captain. We can use the scanners. What I meant is that I cannot work on the data the scanners gather, and enhance their performance at the same time. I would require Lieutenant Torres' assistance."
"Can't go even one day without my help, Blondie?"
"That's enough Lieutenant," Janeway interrupted. She really didn't know what was going on with B'Elanna today. It was common knowledge on the ship that the two women were friends. Rumor had it that they were a lot more than just friends, yet she continued to snap at Seven. Maybe they had a fight, a real one. What ever it was, it had no place in a senior staff meeting.
"B'Elanna, you will help Seven and Harry, and I don't want to hear about any 'problems.' Do you understand me, Lieutenant?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Alright, we all know what to do; dismissed."
As soon as Seven, B'Elanna, and Harry had stepped into the turbolift, Seven turned towards the Klingon. "B'Elanna, please watch what you say in front of the Captain. I do not want you to be in trouble because of me."
"Well, it really is your fault, you know."
"Hey, can you two stow it until I'm out of this lift?" Harry interrupted.
"What's the matter? Worried you'll get caught in the crossfire?" B'Elanna asked amused.
"Something like that," Harry agreed with a grin.
Unfortunately for Harry, B'Elanna's playful mood now shifted to him. She stepped closer and said seductively, "You know, there are a lot of people here on Voyager that would actually love to be caught in the crossfire. Seven on one side, me on the other, and them in the middle. How about it Starfleet? You could have some fun with Seven for old times sake, and then even boast that you fucked the Klingon on top of that... well not on top; I would be on top."
"No thanks," Harry said right away. "I know my limits. Seven was enough to handle; the both of you together would kill me."
B'Elanna laughed and put her arm over Harry's shoulder while saying to Seven, "See, if Tom would be as smart as Harry here, I would love to hang around with him again."
Seven nodded her head in agreement and understanding, before leaning in and treating Harry to a passionate kiss. Harry was surprised for a moment, but quickly recovered and fully enjoyed the unexpected treat.
"Hey break it up you two," B'Elanna finally said, not wanting to admit that seeing Seven kiss someone lit a small fire of jealousy in her stomach. Yet at the same time another part of her, slightly more lower than her stomach, showed it's appreciation of the visual by getting slightly wet. She could only imagine what it would do to her to have Seven kiss her like that.
After Seven and Harry broke apart, the blonde smiled at B'Elanna. "It is your own fault. You should not tease Harry by promising him he could have some fun with me for old times sake. I merely fulfilled the promise you gave him."
B'Elanna lifted her hands in surrender and said with a grin, "Fine. Harry, as of now I can assure you that you are totally safe from me teasing you in any kind of way... that involves hinting to what you and Seven shared at least."
"Oh, I don't mind; you can tease me like that all you want," Harry grinned, making the women laugh. "Though talking about teasing, I really would suggest that you keep the teasing down in the meetings for the time being."
"Well, it really is Seven's fault," B'Elanna replied. "She keeps giving me those great opportunities to react. And the Captain is just as bad. 'We shouldn't rely on the Borg knowledge as much as we have been doing lately.' How can you expect me to not react to that?"
"Then maybe it is time that one of us had a conversation with the Captain," Seven suggested. "She does take our altercations much too seriously. I had assumed that she would have known by now that we have become friends, but maybe I am mistaken with that assumption."
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, we aren't going to do it now. Come on, let's get those scanners working."
Continued...