DISCLAIMER: Usual 'they belong to Paramount' - just having fun. No money erned, etc.
NOTES: Silly short story, stands alone. Third posting, although still haven't posted my original story... All thanks to Captain Cheryl as my beta, who suggested I pad out dear Tom. Thanks pal..
Sweet Dreams
By alastria7
"Lieutenant Torres, awaken, please," Seven asked urgently of the Chief Engineer. Bending over the bed, she extended her arm towards the sleeping woman and pushed firmly on the protruding hip.
Tom stirred first. "Uh?" he said, bleary-eyed, to no one in particular. Then it dawned on him that someone else was in the room with them. "Computer, half lights", he said, quickly. B'Elanna, meanwhile, was becoming aware of both the pressure on her hip and the intrusion of light, and was waking, although anyone who really knew her. after all, what kind of idiot pokes a sleeping Klingon (albeit a half-Klingon) in the middle of the night?
"Seven?" asked Tom, wondering if he was dreaming this apparition in the half-light. No, he thought firmly: if I were dreaming this, she'd be on my side of the bed, not B'Elanna's. Rubbing one eye with his hand, he continued to look at Seven with ethereal interest: not fully awake, his poor sleep-befuddled brain was not taking in any of this.
Awake now, B'Elanna turned her head and saw the arm, with its hand on her hip. Alarmed, she spun around, looked up, and saw the Astrometrics Officer. "Seven! What the.?" Pulling backwards, sitting up in bed now, with her back against the headrest, she glared at Seven. "What in Space are you doing here!? Leave. Now." She pointed towards the door. "Go - regenerate, or something!" The look on B'Elanna's face would have won some sort of prize, although no one would have dared present it to her!
Tom pulled himself together enough to ask: "Seven, is everything alright? Shouldn't you be regenerating?"
"I was regenerating. I had. a dream."
"You dream?" B'Elanna was side-tracked from her indignation for a moment as she studied Seven's face with interest.
Apart from Unimatrix Zero, I do not. Until now."
The Chief Engineer's interest was growing - she found herself wondering what the hell this ex-Drone had dreamed about that had warranted this nocturnal excursion. "Well?" She stared at the object of her frayed fascination expectantly; then, considering the dream might be very personal, she added gently, "Do you want Tom to leave?"
"It is immaterial whether he leaves or remains here."
"B'Elanna shifted sideways towards Tom and made room for Seven to perch on the side of the bed; she then levelled her gaze at the intruder, who remained silent.
"Well?" B'Elanna was getting Klingon again: "God, Seven - it's the middle of the night, this is damned unusual and we're waiting to hear why the hell you think you've got the right to be here! This better be good, Borg." Tom's nod confirmed that he was in agreement with her sentiments.
Lieutenant, this concerns you," said Seven evenly.
"Yeah, I'd got that." Curiosity was fast overcoming frustration again - the target of Seven's attention asked, "Concerns me, how?"
"My dream - it was. I was kissing you, Lieutenant. I don't recall what had preceded it, but. well, I believe it was one of the most satisfying moments I have ever known."
Looking back at Seven, B'Elanna let out a strangled "Uh-ah", blushed and bared her teeth in a `what-the-hell-am-I-supposed-to-say-to- that!' grimace. Tom was being a little less than useless, having gone into some kind of neural shock. It took him a while to object, first visually, then verbally. "This is too much! You can't just come into a man's bedroom in the middle of the night, and casually inform him you had a dream where you kissed his wife!"
"I did not come here to inform you of anything - it is B'Elanna I am here to see."
B'Elanna was grateful for the dialogue between them, as it gave her a moment to partially recover. As Tom began another `I'm outraged'- type sentance, B'Elanna placed a restraining hand on his arm. "Shhhh, Tom. Let me handle this." She drew in a deep breath, paused, and then levelled her gaze at Seven. "Well - Seven," she said at last, uncomfortably, "we all have dreams. We don't all tell each other about them." She smiled, in spite of herself, as she recalled her last dream: she certainly wouldn't tell anyone about that! Straightening her face she continued, "You had a dream, about me? Fine. It happens. But what exactly are you doing here?"
"Research."
"What!?" the couple said together.
"I wish to research whether this dream world is anything like reality." Tom started to say, "Well, how.?" as Seven leaned forward and took hold of B'Elanna's face in her hands. The two women looked at each other for a nanosecond's eternity, during which time B'Elanna growled, almost under her breath, "You wouldn't dare."
Tom seemed to shake himself out of his perpetual stare of disbelief and manage to say, "Hey!" just as Seven thoroughly kissed B'Elanna, who quite forgot to struggle half way through the proceedings.
Pulling back from a shocked `experiment' of a Lieutenant, Seven stated matter-of-factly, "It does."
"What does?" came a weak reply.
"Match up to the dream. Thank you, Lieutenant, my research is now complete." Seven got up and, with her business-like precision, strode for the door, without a backward glance, and left the room. No doubt she was returning to Cargo Bay 2 to regenerate.
"You're welcome, Seven," said a totally amazed B'Elanna, to Seven's receding back.
With the researcher gone, the spell was broken and Seven walked down the corridor to peals of raucous laughter, and excited squeals of conversation, which was obvious even through closed doors! This situation continued for some time until, finally, the married couple settled down for sleep again. But as she lay there, in the dark, B'Elanna was wondering what on earth the ex-Borg may dream next when, suddenly, it dawned on her that she wouldn't mind what it was, and a shiver went through her body.
Under her breath, and with a sense of growing excitement and expectation, she quietly said, `Sweet Dreams, Seven..', and smiled.
The End