DISCLAIMER: Paramount, Renaissance Pictures and Shed Production, own a couple of these characters each. Me? I own err, well a dafy plot and bad writing style that I'm sure wouldn't bring a dinar...is life fair I ask you? Oh and there be women in love in here too...well actually six, but who's counting? Me obviously....did I mention I've a cold and not in my right mind? You've been warned. This is a bad sequel to Advice.
Taking Advice
By RalSt
Gabrielle looked down into the rippling waters of the scrying pool, a murky image of Seven of Nine staring back at her. "At least she's heading in the right direction," the blonde mused, her eyes coming up to meet the liquid brown orbs of her friend.
Nikki shrugged, "she could hardly get lost between the messhall and B'Elanna's quarters. She does have an eidimenwhatsit memory thingie."
"You tell her sweetheart," came an amused Scottish voice, "hi Gabby."
Gabrielle smiled at the hazel eyed woman, but her look soon passed over her friend in search of a tall dark-haired warrior. "Hi Hels, where's Xena?"
"Hi babes," Nikki mumbled, her arm reaching out to enfold Helen, even as her eyes stayed glued to the pool.
Her fingers trailing through Nikki's hair, Helen peered over her shoulder into the magical waters. "I see they're not together yet," turning to Gabrielle, her face momentarily turned to one of puzzlement, "Xena? Is she up here?"
"Helen!" Gabrielle's voice ricocheted across the small space, inadvertently disturbing the water in the pool.
"Hey! Watch it shorty!" Nikki grumbled before turning her attentions back to her girlfriend, "Tell her where Xena is before she does a Dockley with her little pointed sticks."
"They're sais, not sticks!" The short blonde was rapidly turning into one peed off warrior bard.
"Okay, sais then."
Pushing Nikki back slightly, Helen made a comfortable place for herself on the taller woman's lap. "Xena will be along in a minute, she's just frightening a couple of Persian merchants into changing their bathing time with ours. So you two romantics can play cupid."
"No mentioning of gods within a mile radius," came a sultry voice from behind the trio, as Xena made her usual last minute entrance. "So are they doing the two headed mambo yet?"
"Xena!" Scolded the bard.
"Nope." Admitted Nikki. While Helen took the opportunity to rain little kisses down her lover's neck.
Xena straddled the chair to sit behind Gabrielle, her arms encircling her friend. "Should I have brought popcorn?"
"This isn't a side-show Xena. This is serious." Admonished her partner, even as her eyes grew large at the prospect of something tasty to eat. "Do you have any with a toffee coating?"
"Shhhhhh!" All eyes suddenly turned to Nikki, who had begun making tiny little jumping motions on her chair. Much to Helen's delight. "It's action time."
Four pairs of eyes turned to the pool, where they witnessed Seven's opening words to her would-be lover.
"Lieutenant, may I enter?"
B'Elanna tried to scowl at the ex-Borg but something in the other woman's demeanour made it impossible. "Sure, why not."
Seven entered and went to stand in the centre of the room, her awareness centred on the dark engineer. "I hope I am not disturbing you."
"No more than normal." B'Elanna replied, straightening down her uniform jacket in an attempt to mimic her guest's pristine appearance. "So how can I help you?"
Turning, Seven moved until she was only an inch away from B'Elanna, her arm sneaking out to prevent the other woman from distancing herself. Her hallucinations had said to look into B'Elanna's eyes and just tell her how she felt. Simple. Or at least that's what they'd claimed. Looking directly into B'Elanna's deep brown eyes, Seven prepared to speak her heart.
"Seven! What the...what are you doing?" B'Elanna squirmed.
The chief engineer kept attempting to retreat, which was making it increasingly difficult for Seven to look her in the eyes with the intensity Nikki had suggested. "Please be still lieutenant, I am attempting to look you in the eye."
"What?" Presuming the blonde had blown another gasket, or been taken over by the memories of some demented hypnotist, B'Elanna increased her struggle.
Frustrated with B'Elanna's reaction, Seven released the other woman and took a step back to reformulate her approach.
Once out of Seven's clutches, B'Elanna's hand immediately reached for her comm. badge, only to stop at the look of concentration of the ex-Borg's face. "What are you doing Seven?"
Without lifting her eyes from their perusal of B'Elanna's quarters, Seven mumbled a response, "looking for firewood."
"Firewood?" B'Elanna asked dumbfounded.
Seven nodded, as she lifted up a couch cushion and began to study the material. "I was informed that a campfire might be advantageous." With one deft move the cushion was shredded and its contents left to fall gracefully to the floor. "I believe this will be acceptable."
"Do you want me to take you to the Doctor?"
"Perhaps after," Seven admitted, as a small portion of her mind remembered that she'd recently experienced severe hallucinations that needed to be treated. "First I have to declare my love."
"What?" B'Elanna stood stock-still, the very air in her lungs held in suspended animation.
Not having realised the impact of her words, Seven went on to further describe her plans, "I must build a campfire, look into your eyes and then declare my undying love." As Seven went about her preparations she became aware that B'Elanna had stopped speaking, or even breathing hard. "Lieutenant? Is everything all right?"
The human hybrid was experiencing a moment of catatonia as Seven's words registered. She was no longer in her quarters or even on Voyager. She was in a blue mist of forgetfulness and she really didn't want to leave it anytime soon.
"Lieutenant? B'Elanna?" Seven waved a hand in front of the engineers face, but it had no effect. "Are you all right lieutenant?"
With a curse Xena stood and scowled down at her partner and friend. "That was your great advice? To scare her stupid?"
"No," Nikki leaned closer to the water, hoping the breath she blew across the surface would somehow awaken the comatosed Klingon, "perhaps she has a medical condition?"
"The only condition she has," stormed the warrior, "is you two meddlers."
"Now come on Xena, how were we supposed to know she'd freak like that?" Demanded the bard.
"I still think you should have left them alone to deal with it themselves." Helen added, to a nod from Xena.
"What and have them waste years? Like we did?" Nikki demanded.
"Well at least she'd be able to move." Helen quipped, only to be met with two sets of angry eyes. "Besides, we all managed to get together, eventually."
"What about the others?" Gabrielle wanted to know. "Have you forgotten about Susan and Talia? Or Kerry and Kim? Their human lives wasted, because they didn't admit their love in time."
"But they're together now." Xena countered, although her tone was somewhat subdued.
Gabrielle was off her chair and glaring at the warrior in a moment, "So that would have been okay with you? To spend our entire human lives apart?"
"Nothing could have kept us apart my love," tried the warrior, not wanting to risk her lovers wrath and the possibility of a mythical headache at the wrong moment, "true love finds a way, right?"
"Yeah well, sometimes it needs a little help." Gabrielle admitted, snuggling into her lovers enticing body. The two ancient heroes began to exchange kisses, for the moment having forgotten the woman whose image stood motionless in the water.
The other two debated whether or not to interrupt their friends, but the memory of a chakram through the chest was still too recent to risk it. Xena just did not like being disturbed. So in true heavenly fashion, Nikki and Helen decided to forget about the human plane for a moment and get in some pleasure of their own.
Seven had tried waving in front of B'Elanna's eyes, clicking her fingers and even shouting in the other woman's ear. But nothing worked. Looking around her, she once again noticed the cushion's innards scattered across the floor. "Maybe that's why I needed the fire? To revive you?" She asked the unresponsive woman. Searching for something to provide a spark, Seven remembered another human custom she'd learnt about through Naomi Wildman's bedtime reading. Standing in front of the lieutenant, Seven tried to look her straight in the eye, before reaching forward and pressing her lips to B'Elanna's.
The feeling was infinitely soft and for a moment, ever so still, until a tiny movement of her lips informed Seven that B'Elanna had awakened. For half a moment Seven contemplated removing her lips to enquire into the engineer's health, but the warmth of the caress soon clouded her mind to any other concerns.
Up in the far reaches of heaven, four voices were raised in a single cheer, as B'Elanna's hands reached up to engulf the statuesque blonde.
"We told you," came two smug voices, before they were silenced by the lips of their respective loves.
The End...kind of