DISCLAIMER: See Part 1
Alternate Consequences
By H.W.
Chapter 5
It was the second day of the meeting with Jadzia and Deanna and things were going really well. Torres was delighted to see that both women seemed to like Seven, and seemed to accept her position in Torres' life. Not, of course, that they could do anything about it if they hadn't liked it. But it was so much better that she didn't have to deal with that problem as well. They would meet once more in five hours time to spend the rest of the day enjoying each other's company.
But right now, Torres had other things to do. With difficulty she concentrated on the padd once more. Torres hated this part of her job; the damn reading of deals and agreements. Just so that she could sign it to approve it, or of course ask them if they really wanted to die that badly. But this was another thing that she was glad to have Seven around for. Seven now read all of the padds first, selecting the ones that she could simply sign for Torres, and only leaving a few that Torres had to decide on.
Torres smiled for a moment. Normally this was the part of the job that took most of her time. But not anymore. Seven, with that wonderful brain of hers, could read a hundred padds in a morning since most deals were only a few margins long. Something that people had learned long ago. If the text of the deal was too long, Torres would simply sent it back with the message, 'if you reduce this to a normal length I might actually read it.'
In the end when Seven was done with them there would be on average ten deals waiting for Torres to read.
Torres shook her head slightly as she finished reading the last padd. Some people never learned. She thought for a moment before entering her three line reply. 'This is the fourth time I see you trying to sneak this deal by. I gave you a clear NO all those times. If I see this deal again in any kind or form I will personally pay you a visit and fucking kill you myself.'
As she signed the padd she saw the date and time stamp that was added and could not believe that she had forgotten what date it was. She thought for a moment on how to correct her oversight and then smiled as an idea struck her. "My pet."
"Yes mistress?" Seven asked from the other side of the table where she was reading the padds that would never reach Torres' eyes.
"Please go get me the daily report from the bridge."
Seven lifted her eyebrows slightly at the request, knowing that Torres could simply acquire them by addressing the computer. Figuring that Torres must have her reason, Seven got up and left the quarters.
Once she was sure that Seven was not just gone, but also out of the ranger of her enhanced hearing, Torres hailed Martok. "Torres to Martok."
"Martok here."
"Martok, do you have plans for this evening?"
"Not concrete ones, why?"
"Because I forgotten what date it is, and now have to throw something together in a few minutes while my pet is getting me my report from the bridge."
Martok laughed at that. "That is the best reason you could come up with to get her from your side? What time would you like me to be there?"
"I invited Deanna and Jadzia for dinner at six. That is as good a time as any. And Martok, I made my decision. I am ready and willing to deal with the consequences if it ever becomes known. You can bring it if you want."
"That is some decision, my friend. But for you, I am glad that you took it. I'll see you at six, Martok out."
"One down," Torres said to herself. "Torres to Troi and Dax."
"General Martok," Seven said slightly surprised when she opened the door a few minutes before six. She had been expecting Jadzia and Deanna, not Martok.
"Hello Seven, can I come in?" Martok asked amused when Seven didn't make way for him.
"Of course," Seven said while hastily stepping aside. "I was merely not expecting you."
"Clearly." Martok saw Torres and asked her, "Didn't you tell her I was coming today?"
"Um, now that you mention it, no. Must have slipped my mind. What do you have there?" Torres asked while pointing at the box that Martok was carrying, knowing that Seven must have seen it.
"A present I got," Martok merely said.
Seven was just about to ask him if he wanted something to drink when the entrance chime sounded again. This time it was indeed Deanna and Jadzia at the other side of the door. Seven merely stepped aside to let them enter, surprised to see that they too were carrying boxes. Deanna was carrying a relative small box, only as big as her hand, but Jadzia was carrying a long flat box that was wider than Seven's under arm, and longer than half her body length.
"Ah, Jadzia, Deanna. I know this was short notice, you really didn't have to bring something."
"Well, once you told me what Martok was bringing, I had the perfect idea for a gift," Jadzia said while she put her big box behind the couch and out of the way.
"And I simply stole my gift from you, Torres," Deanna said as she put her box on the small table beside the couch where Martok had put his. "I'll explain later."
"You better," Torres said with a fake growl, knowing that if Deanna said that she stole it from her, it either was that it was something that was actually meant for Torres at some point, or something that once had belonged to Torres but that she had gotten rid of.
"Mistress, is today your birthday?" Seven asked softly when the others weren't talking to Torres. She wondered how it was possible that this B'Elanna Torres had a different birthday than Voyager's B'Elanna Torres had.
"Not at all, my pet. My birthday is next week. No, my dear. Today IS a birthday, but it is your birthday. You really didn't think I would forget about that, did you?" Torres asked with a grin, smartly leaving out that she had indeed forgotten about it until only several hours ago.
"And General Martok, Intendants Dax and Troi are here to celebrate the birthday of a slave?" Seven asked amazed.
"No," Martok interrupted while putting his hand firmly on Seven's shoulder. He had clearly heard the conversation between Seven and Torres. "Today, tonight, some friends of Torres and her Mate are here to celebrate that Mate's birthday. Tomorrow is early enough for you to be the slave again.
Seven looked in amazement at the four people around her, not believing that others besides Torres were willing to treat her as anything but a slave in the universe she was in now. Finally, not really knowing what to say, she turned to Torres and whispered something in her ear.
After a moment, Torres nodded her head in agreement. "You are right, Seven. Since tonight we are only friends, we should not celebrate your birthday here." Torres pointed at the three boxes their guests had brought. "Take those and follow me."
Martok had been in the private quarters of Torres numerous times of course, but Troi and Dax had never been there, didn't even know that they existed.
"You have been holding out on us, I see," Jadzia said with a smile while looking around the kitchen/living room.
"I have," Torres agreed. This... you are now in the part where I live when I'm truly home. The part that you have seen of my quarters until today is the official part, but this, this is home."
"This is a lot more modestly decorated than those rooms out there," Deanna said, feeling that Torres was indeed even more at ease than she had in the other room. This truly was her home.
"So what more have you been hiding?" Jadzia asked. "Somehow I don't think that this living/eating room is all."
"It's not," Torres agreed. "Through that door you will find my office. The most I collect there is dust since I normally only read from padds. So I had one of the alcoves that my pet needs installed in there."
Jadzia walked to the door, but not close enough to open it. "May I?" She asked, not because Torres as Klingon Intendant was higher than her, but simply because she was in a friend's house and didn't want to go anywhere uninvited.
"Sure," Torres merely said.
Jadzia stepped into the office and looked around. The office did indeed give a feeling of not being used, but what definitely was the eye catcher was the bulky machine standing against the far wall. "What do you need that thing for?" Jadzia asked as she stepped back into the room where the others were.
"I need it to recharge," Seven said, simplifying matters to the extreme.
"Recharge?" Jadzia asked confused.
Seven raised her eyebrow before saying, "I am a sex toy. Is it not normal to recharge a sex toy when the energy cell runs low?"
"What?" Jadzia asked, her mouth hanging open slightly, as Torres and Martok burst out laughing at the remark.
"Seven, don't tease her," Torres said while still grinning. She was glad that Seven felt so comfortable with these people, comfortable enough to tease them a little. "As I told you the first time you met my pet, she is more then she seems, as you can see she has implants, these are cybernetic implants. Implants that enable her to do things that none of us can do. But one downside of those implants is that they need pure energy to work. So Seven has to regenerate a certain time every so often. Or as she just said, basically, she has to recharge."
"I see. Every positive comes with a negative," Jadzia said in a demeanor that was totally different from her normal behavior. It was clear that now it was purely the symbiont in her talking. "If that is the only price you have to pay, than you have made a good deal."
"There is more," Seven said sincerely, thinking only for a moment about her time as a drone and what she had done as that drone. "But since it brought me to my mistress, I would gladly endure it all again."
"So what else is there?" Jadzia asked being once more the Jadzia they all knew.
"Through that door there you will find our bedroom, and after that, through the other door, you find our bathroom."
All of them had heard the 'our' instead of the 'my,' but none of them deemed it fit to comment on that.
"May I?" Jadzia asked one more. And after getting the permission she inspected those rooms as well. "That is some bath you got there in the 'bath' part of your bathroom, Torres," Jadzia said once she got back. "You can do laps in there. Would you object to moving this party to the bath? I'm in the mood for a warm bath anyway. Jadzia looked around the women before finally resting her eyes on Martok. After looking at him for a moment, she added, "You do have a replicator where we can replicate some bathing clothes, right?"
Martok merely snorted at that. "Women, they would bathe naked even though they love to see another women naked, but suddenly get modest if a man can see the same woman naked that they would like to see naked."
"It's just different," Jadzia and Deanna said at the same time.
"Yes I have a replicator, and sure we can move there," Torres spoke up. "But why don't we first give Seven her gifts? I think if may be easier here on the dry."
"Sounds like a good idea," Deanna agreed while getting up and handing her box to Seven. "Happy birthday, Seven."
"Thank you," Seven said softly while taking the box. She slowly opened the box as she realized that this was the first birthday present that she had gotten in her adult life.
Once she had opened the box all the way, she could only look amazed at what was lying in it. She didn't dare touch it, it was so beautiful to her. She also knew that this gift had to be priceless. Even in these modern times, replicators couldn't recreate the materials used for this gift.
"Well what is it?" Torres finally asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
Seven merely handed the box to Torres. Torres looked at the gift for a moment before looking at Deanna. "You said that you stole this from me. I knew that you were joking, now I know even more, I never had anything like this."
"I did steal it from you," Deanna disagreed. "It is just that you never got it before I stole it." Deanna smiled before relenting and explaining. "It was a gift really meant for you. It is created by the best Betazoid craftsman. It was commissioned by the rare gems syndicate. It was supposed to be a thank you for you for allowing them mining rights on that Klingon colony. They are making a killer profit, and they want to keep you happy. But I know that you never wear jewelry, so no matter how wonderful it is, all you would do is look at it, and put it away somewhere where it would never be seen again. Am I right?"
"You are," Torres was forced to agree.
"But when you told me the reason for this party, I thought this would be perfect for Seven. I am certain that she will appreciate it more. So, as I said, I stole it from you and now I gave it to her. I hope you can forgive me for this theft."
"You are forgiven," Torres said right way. She looked at the present once more before standing up, "Seven, would you do me the honor of wearing my mark?"
"Yes," Seven said softly while getting up as well.
Torres stepped behind Seven and put the chain around that long and elegant neck. She took the opportunity to place a soft kiss on Seven's neck before moving those blond hairs back into place.
Seven sat back down before looking at Deanna. She wanted to thank her, but as she looked at her, Seven knew that it wouldn't be necessary. Deanna smiled and dipped her head slightly in a 'you are welcome' manner. Being a Betazoid, Deanna could feel Seven's emotions. Deanna understood probably even better than Torres did just what this meant for Seven.
Seven lowered her eyes to look at the necklace. More precisely, it's pendant. It was an even sided triangle with all sides being about ten centimeters (four inches), with the third point pointing down, and the other two points attached to the chain around Seven's neck. While the chain was made out of woven tri-colored Latinum with small gems delicately woven into the thin, but extremely strong chain, the triangle was a flat scene set in different color gems. Diamonds, natural gem quality Dilithium crystals, and Zali gems; the most expensive and rare gems in entire Coalition space. Seven knew that the Zali gems in the triangle alone had to be worth more than three million credits.
But what really made the triangle priceless for Seven was that these different colored gems had been used to form Torres' shield. The famous B'Rel bird, holding a bat'leth in one claw, while holding a Ver'Zok bird in a struggle for life in it's other claw.
"Guess we can now stop putting my shield on your clothing, huh?" Torres asked amused, knowing that such an expensive mark would say much more than a simple mark on clothing ever could. One didn't give, or allow a slave to wear, something as expensive as that necklace if one didn't care deeply for that slave.
"Indeed," Seven could only agree. She knew, no matter what, from now on she would be wearing this chain every minute of the day, except for when she slept, was naked, or Torres told her not to, of course.
"Well, I don't know if I can top that," Jadzia finally said into the silence that had fallen after the blonde's one word answer. "But let me give it a try anyway." She handed her big box to Seven with a 'Happy birthday Seven,' and sat back down.
Seven had assumed that since the box was so flat, but big, that it would contain some sort of clothing. Therefore she was quite surprised at the solid weight of the box.
Seven opened the box and once more was totally astonished about her gift. Seven could not believe that anyone, let alone an Intendant, was giving her this gift. She slowly took the bat'leth into her hands and lifted it out of the box.
The weapon was beautifully decorated with engraved scenes of battles on one side, and an engraved scene of a pair of lover in the grips of ecstasy and passion on the other side, and Seven had no doubt that the weapon was of the highest quality, unlikely to ever break. But they all knew that the real present wasn't the weapon, but getting it. To be given a bat'leth you had to be seen as a warrior. Seven knew that Jadzia had to know this as well. After all, Torres had told her just how interested Curzon Dax had been in Klingon culture.
To be presented with such a gift meant that the giver respected you. More over, respected you enough to give you this honor laden weapon. Oh, a Klingon could buy their own bat'leth at any time, but there was a not so small percentage of Klingons that went through life never receiving a bat'leth as a gift.
Seven stood up once more and swung the blade into the position of a warrior salute. "Thank you. I swear on my honor that I will never disgrace this blade, nor the spirit in which it was presented to me. Unless you disgrace yourself towards me at some point, you have a friend for life in me, Jadzia Dax."
Jadzia stood up as well, giving Seven a short nod, like Klingons normally did. "Very well spoken, Seven of Nine. It honors me that you accept my gift so openly."
Torres sat back and enjoyed the interaction to the fullest. Though she hadn't told Seven this, she had worried how Jadzia and Deanna would react to Seven. Torres should have known not to worry. Give a chance, Seven could win everyone over, simply by being herself.
Just as she had with the necklace, Seven presented the bat'leth to Torres so that she could look at it. Having a feeling that Torres had not clearly seen the engraved scenes, Seven presented the bat'leth to Torres with the battle scenes facing her.
"This is incredible work Jadzia. Somehow I don't think that this comes out of a replicator."
"It doesn't," Jadzia agreed. "I bought that when I was still Curzon Dax. It was such an unusual piece that I just had to have it. I never saw an engraving like that on a bat'leth. I actually bought it on Kronos, from a guy called Hak'Uk'."
"That is the best blade maker that is still alive at the moment," Torres said impresses. In fact, that was were her own bat'leth was created. "But perfect as this engraving is, I have seen scenes like that before."
"Oh, that isn't the engraving I bought it for," Jadzia said amused. "That is merely the 'decent' side that you can have facing out if you want when you hang it on the wall. Flip it over."
Torres did so and looked at the other engraving for a moment. "Oh, for crying out loud. Dax, I always knew you were a hound, but this confirms it."
The other side of the bat'leth had only one engraving. It was in the center of the weapon, up to the blade side. It depicted two lovers laying down, very clearly both women. The first woman had her hand between the legs of the second woman, who's head was thrown back in ecstasy, and the first woman was making good use of that and had her head placed to the second woman's throat in an eternal kiss.
"Kahless, why would Hak'Uk' make something like this, and why would you buy it?"
"Why would Curzon buy it?" Jadzia asked laughingly. "Come on, Torres, you know how he liked women. And if he couldn't be with them because they were not interested in men, he loved to watch. He was good at persuading women to at least let him watch, even without the added weight of it being an Intendant that was asking. Do you really think that he could have walked away from that once he saw it? As for why Hak'Uk' made it, he told Curzon that it was a commissioned 'spare no expenses' piece. But the woman that commissioned it never came back to buy it, leaving her down payment and the bat'leth with Hak'Uk'. Come on, be honest Torres. Don't you think that it is a very erotic scene, yet not obscenely so?"
Torres looked at it for a moment longer before having to agree. The scene was erotic, but nothing more. "Alright, you are right."
"See? Well, as I said, I bought that as Curzon Dax, and I never could get rid of it. I tried several times to just throw it way. But I would look at that scene one last time and I just couldn't. I couldn't throw the love you can so clearly see between those women away as if it was nothing. And once I became Jadzia Dax, I had an even harder time throwing it away because of that, but I'm also not so into Klingon weapons like Curzon was, so I just stowed it away somewhere.
"But now, with you and Seven, I found the perfect placed for it. Tell me that it doesn't remind you of you and Seven. Hell, you can only see the face of the women that has her head back, the other face you can't see because she is kissing the throat. You can't see the Klingon ridges, so it is every easy to imagine her having no ridges and having blonde hair."
"You are right, you are right," Torres relented while she handed the bat'leth back to Seven. Then she pointed at Jadzia before adding, "But I still say that you are a hound."
Jadzia spread her arms with a grin, "Torres, being a hound is fun. You better believe that I'm a hound and proud of it."
"But she is my hound, and that makes it alright," Deanna added, giving a peek into just how close she and Jadzia were. Apparently there were closer than Torres had assumed.
"Enough with the mushy stuff already," Martok growled, before grinning. "You make a Klingon want to puke." Martok handed his box to Seven. "Here, see what a real gift looks like."
Seven took the third box with a smile and was once more surprised by the weight of the box. But just before she opened the box, Martok put his hand over Seven's. "You have to understand, Seven. Though this is a gift from me, I have the permission of the chancellor to give this to you. But this is more a gift from us to Torres than merely a gift to you. She asked Worf if you could have this, she was willing to give him whatever he asked so that she could give you this, so Worf is now giving you this through me, as a gift to Torres. You may never show this to anyone except the people here, and you may never tell anyone that you have this, for officially it is impossible for you to have this. And it could even bring Worf into trouble... not that he couldn't handle the trouble, but still."
Seven nodded her head in understanding and Martok took his hand away. Seven opened the box, and once she saw what was inside, her heart actually stopped beating for a moment. She could not believe that she was getting this, getting this gift moved her so much that it was second only to when she had found out that Torres loved her, truly loved her.
For inside the box lay a Daqtahg, also known as the Klingon ceremonial blade. Seven took the blade out of the box with a shaking hand. She pushed the button that opened the two side arms, turning the blade into the well known three-bladed knife that represented a Klingon's honor.
"I know that it is extremely unfair of us to give that to you, and then not allow you to carry it with you," Martok said as Seven pushed the button once more to fold the two side knives back in.
Seven looked at the emblem on the hilt for a moment, not really believing what she saw. But no matter how long she looked at it, the shield of the house of Torres didn't disappear. "You made me a member of the House of Torres," Seven said in nothing more than a whisper.
"No, not officially," Martok disagreed. "You, are merely a slave and therefore can't be part of the House of Torres. But, while this is not officially, this is official enough for you to find Torres in the afterlife... should you go to the same place. But as I said, this is more a gift to Torres than it is to you. Worf and I care for her. Enough to be glad that she finally found someone who doesn't want to kill her." Martok grinned at that sentence.
"With this we are showing her that we accept you as her mate, even if only unofficially. But, that doesn't mean that Worf has made any decision on what he thinks of you, Seven. He still thinks that Torres is nuts for putting you in the position you are now in. But he doesn't begrudge Torres the chance to be happy, even if that happiness comes from lunacy."
"All that may be so," Seven agreed. "Still, mere words can not convey how thankful I am for this. Please, do send the Chancellor my most sincere gratitude for this. And thank you very much. When I stayed here, all I knew was that I would have my mistress. I gave up all my friends to be with her. I am proud and honored to have found a new friend in you. And I could not wish for a better one. Thank you."
"I have a present for you as well," Torres said while she got up and took one of the many padds that were lying on the table. "But before I could give you this, I wanted you to have the gift Martok brought." Torres handed the padd to Seven, but didn't let go just yet. "Now, I don't want you to get the wrong impression. As you know, one of my tendencies is to get rid of problems. This is nothing like that. This is something I want to give you, and also something I want to give myself. Yes, you stayed, but I don't want to have to wonder years from now if you are still staying because you have missed your chance to go. I want to know even then that you are staying because you want to, not because you have to. So, this is as much a gift to you as it is a gift to me."
Seven nodded her head in understanding before Torres fully let go and Seven could read the padd.
Once she had, her eyes shot to Torres. In the padd there was the account and name that Seven had set up to prove that a slave could set up an account. But just as important, in the padd was a contract in which Torres 'sold' her body slave to the person who's name Seven had made up, and that the new position of Seven was now to be this person's body slave. The contract was already signed by Torres, and all Seven had to do to make it legal was to add a date.
Seven knew only too well what this meant. Since this new master didn't really exist, Seven could simply write out orders in this master's name. She could order herself to be brought anywhere in the coalition, and she could simply go there. After all, she was following an order from her master. Torres had given her freedom in a place where slaves couldn't be free. Seven could simply add a date, and from that point on, she would no longer be Torres' possession.
"I do understand why you gave me this, but I can guarantee you that this will never be used. Thank you B'Elanna. Thank you, my mistress."
Torres merely smiled for a moment before realizing that she and Seven weren't alone. "Alright. Now it is time to move this party. Martok, as you know, there is a replicator in my bathroom. Why don't you use it and get into the bath? Deanna, Jadzia, there is a replicator in my bedroom as well. Why don't you two use that one and then get into the bath. Seven and I will change here."
Everyone agreed to that and soon Seven and Torres were left alone to change.
"I can not believe the presents they gave me... that my friends gave me."
"As friends go, you made some damn good ones," Torres agreed when she heard Seven change her words from 'they' to 'my friends.' "I have to admit though that I'm also partially responsible for that."
"You? How?"
Torres smiled at the question that been brought down to the most economic use of words. "When I contacted Deanna and Jadzia I told them what present Martok would bring, which gave them an indication of how free they were with what to bring. Last thing they want is to bring a gift that outshines the gift I gave you. And Martok only brought his gift after I told him that it was alright to do so. I'm sorry my pet. You know I love you, but even I had to think about the risks of you getting that."
"Risks?" Seven merely asked.
"Seven, as Martok said, if it is found out that you as a slave have a Daqtahg to call your own, and that Worf knows about this, than Worf gets into deep shit. But I, having been the one that gave my house name to you... At the very least I would be forced to step down as Intendant. At worse, the name of my house would be scrapped from the Klingon archives, all assets from the House of Torres would be confiscated, and not to forget, you and I would be killed. No matter how much I love you, that, my pet, I had to take into account."
Seven looked at Torres silently for a minute, she hadn't realized how much Torres was risking. Seven saw Torres as a person who was firmly in control of the Klingon forces. Now Seven realized that this was true, but that Torres was putting herself in a dangerous position simply for Seven's sake.
"Mistress... B'Elanna, I do not know how to react to this. I do not want you to be in danger merely for my sake."
Torres smiled and shook her head slightly. "I'm not really at risk as long as I can trust you, Seven. People will not find out about this unless you let them know. But as you have shown, you can play my slave, even though we both know that you are not. I may be your mistress, and you are my pet, my 'slave,' but this is simply because we both want it like that. But you have never truly been a slave to me. As long as we can go on like that, I'm perfectly safe."
"Jadzia and Deanna could use this information to their advantage though," Seven pointed out.
Torres grinned at that. "You just called them your friends, yet now you state that you don't trust them, are you sure that you weren't born in this Universe?"
Seven got a crestfallen look on her face than she realized that this is exactly what she had done; mistrust her new found friends. "I, I..."
"Seven, relax. I think Deanna and Jadzia would be disappointed in you if you did blindly trust them. You have to remember that, just like me, they are a person but also an Intendant. As a person you might trust them blindly, but as Intendant there is a chance that they have to do something that hurt them as a person, but something they have to do never the less to survive as an Intendant.
"Take Deanna and Jadzia. You once asked me if they were lovers, I thought that they aren't fully lovers. Today we have found out that they are closer than even I thought them to be. Yet, as much as they might like each other, if needed, Deanna would still do some things that would hurt Jadzia personally, and vice versa."
"So even they do not trust each other?"
"No, I don't think that you understand what I mean. They do trust each other. The just know that maybe one day that trust will be misused. It is a sign of caring for someone. In fact, this should have shown me that they are closer than I thought. If you open yourself so fully to being used by another person, knowing that once day they might, or might HAVE to, use you. It shows how much you care for that person."
"I do not understand."
Torres sighed. "I'm sorry, my pet, I know that I'm explaining this badly. It's like... Wait, I think I know something to explain it to you. You told me that you can assimilate me, if you wanted to. That you could make me do things against my will. If you wanted to, you could command the entire Klingon forces through me. You could start a war with any of the other factions, simply by having me command it. You could do that, I know that you could do that. Yet I trust you not to do that. I don't fear you touching me with that hand when we make love, I don't fear you putting that hand at my neck to guide me to where you want me. You can hurt me, Seven. You can use me. Yet I trust you not to do it.
I think it is the same between Deanna and Jadzia. The point is, that they are close to you, they are your friends, but if you were to trust them blindly right now, you would be making a mistake. You really only know them two days, to trust them fully you should know them a lot longer then that, maybe even years."
"I trust you fully, yet we only know each other for less than two months. Does this mean that I also should not trust you?" Seven asked.
Torres grind her teeth together while saying a silent 'shit.' "You shouldn't," Torres finally said.
"Unacceptable."
"Unacceptable?" Torres repeated.
"It may be common practice in this universe to not trust people, and I am certainly not going to trust every person I know, but I will not start to mistrust my friends simply because it is common here. And I will certainly not start to mistrust the person that I love more than life itself. The Federation has the standard that they initially trust the people they meet, until they prove untrustworthy. I like that approach, and I will adapt it to my needs.
"However, I do know that trusting everyone I meet in this universe would be an unwise thing to do. Therefore, my compromise is that I will be distrustful of people I do not know, but once I have decided that I can trust them I will do so until the point that they prove that I should not trust them. I trust my friends."
Torres shook her head in amusement. "You, my dear, are an extremely stubborn woman, and I wouldn't want to have you any other way."
Seven smiled, having a feeling that Torres still had her reservations about trusting others. "You do realize that you trust me, do you not? You only know me for less than two months, yet you give me the ammunition to bring you, and your house, down."
"Oh, shut up and start changing," Torres growled, knowing only too well that the blonde was right. With Seven, Torres was going against all her own rules.
Seven gave Torres a superior smile before nodding her head slightly. "Yes, mistress." Seven moved to the replicator and replicated two sets of bathing clothes, handing Torres a set before starting to open her bio-suit. "Mistress, I have been wondering, why does everyone call you Torres? I hardly ever hear someone address you as B'Elanna. Martok sometimes does to give a statement more meaning, but other than that, he too calls you Torres."
Torres took the two piece bathing suit that Seven had replicated and started to strip as well. "The answer to that is very simply, my pet. I never really liked my first name. So I always urged, and later on simply told, people to call me Torres."
"But you do not object to me calling you B'Elanna. Why not?"
Torres moved over to the by now naked blonde and took a moment to kiss her, using the opportunity to softly squeeze Seven's behind with both hands. "Mmm. Sorry, I just had to do that. No matter how or what, seeing you naked never stops affecting me."
Seven let her eyes roam over Torres' naked body before doing the exact same thing to the Klingon as she had done. "I can certainly understand that," Seven said aster they finally stopped kissing. "You affect me very much as well. In fact, I would love to make love to you right now."
Torres laughed at that. "We have guest, my dear. It would not be polite to have them wait while we make love, especially since they are here to celebrate your birthday. But tell you what, tonight when they are gone, you and I will spend the rest of the night in bed, making love."
"I would like that," Seven said softly.
"Make love as Seven and B'Elanna," Torres added after a moment.
"I would really like that," Seven said after kissing Torres again. "I would like it even more if you promise me something."
"What?" Torres asked.
"Today, with my birthday we make love as B'Elanna and Seven. But next week, with your birthday, you will be my mistress and I your body slave for the entire night."
"Ah, I see. You want to be ruthlessly used for nothing but my pleasure, denied pleasure yourself, unless pleasing you pleases me. You want to be my sex toy?"
"Yes," Seven said in nothing more then a whisper. Just thinking of Torres making love to her that way affected Seven to the extreme.
"Very well, my dear, you will have your wish. But you better make sure that my sex toy is charged all the way," Torres joked, referring to the joke Seven had told Jadzia about charging the 'sex toy.' "Because I can promise you, you will have to work damn hard next week."
"I hope so, mistress."
"We really should get going, the others must be waiting for us."
"I know," Seven said while she stepped away and staring to put on the bottom of her two piece bathing suit. "You were explaining to me why you do not object to me calling you B'Elanna," Seven pointed out, mostly to get the conversation to a 'safe' level again.
"Right, well, because, my dear, for some strange reason I like it when you call me by my first name. And besides, it is for us the perfect way to distinguish between what we are. Master/slave, or equal level partners."
"I see. Thank you for explaining that."
"No problem, my dear. So tell me, how did you like your gifts?" Torres asked, even though Seven had already stated being impressed with her gifts. But then, one could be impressed without necessarily liking something.
"They were wonderful," Seven said while she was about to reluctantly take her necklace off.
"You don't have to take that off if you don't want to," Torres said when she saw how hesitant Seven was to take her necklace off. "That's the real stuff, not cheap fakes. The water, nor any of the bathing salts I sometimes use, affect it."
"I that case I would like to wear it."
"Then you should, my dear." Torres took hold of the pendant and lifted it slightly from where it hung between Seven's breasts. "All I ask of you is to take it off when we are in bed. Somehow I think it will be in the way, especially when we make love."
"I will," Seven assured. "I also do not think that I would be comfortable while I am lying in bed. I think it would become... annoying." Seven put on her top and saw Torres smile. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," Torres assured while she trailed the edges of the top with her finger. "I just really like the way you look in this. You do realize that it still leaves quite some of your breast visible? I think that was designed for people that have a little... less wonderful assets than you do. "
Seven looked down at the top, which really was nothing more than two strips of cloth as wide her hand that were attached to each other with a few thin strings of cord. It covered her nipples and the middle part of her breasts, but leaving more than enough area free on both sides. "I know," Seven agreed. "It was originally designed several sizes smaller, but I lengthened the cords, without widening the cloth." Seven looked up and smiled at Torres. "You know that I am not a modest person, and I know that you like to look at me. This is what I would like to wear while enjoying a bath with our friends. It is 'decent' enough to not be disturbing or distracting, yet it will give you a very nice view to enjoy."
"And I'm sure that the others will enjoy the view as well," Torres pointed out with a grin.
"Should I choose something else?" Seven asked, knowing what the answer would be.
"Nooo, you go on and wear that. I don't mind them enjoying the view. After all, I'll be the one who will be taking that off of you later, and not them."
"I can not wait, I want you, B'Elanna."
"And you'll have me, later. Now let's go join our friends."