The shuttle bay closed behind the Aurora, and as soon as the hangar bay doors were sealed, a stream of crewmembers poured into the hangar to greet the returned starfarers. Kit and Laren left the ship first, holding hands blatantly and not caring who knew. Emily followed, and the two security crewmembers. Emily rushed into Jenny Wildman’s arms, kissing her repeatedly, both women crying and laughing.
Kieran and Seven lingered aboard the ship, looking at one another uncertainly, reluctant to disembark. “Seven,” Kieran kissed her tenderly, “let me know how your reunion goes?”
Seven returned the kiss. “You do the same. Kieran? Thank you for—everything,” she said softly. “I will always love you, no matter what happens now.”
“I know, my love,” Kieran assured her. “Just as I will always love you. We’re the guests of honor—we’d better go.”
Seven kissed her once more, and ducked under the doorway, carrying Erin Janeway. There was a collective gasp as the crewmates looked at Seven’s rugged leather clothing. Kathryn did not even attempt to hide her tears, gathering her wife and daughter into her arms. Geejay and Hannah stood nearby, Geejay wide-eyed and frightened that her mother was crying. Seven hugged the children, letting Kathryn take the baby. Naomi Wildman came to hug her mother, astonished at how tan and healthy Seven looked, and at how long her hair had grown.
Kieran had gone to the cargo hold and picked up one of the containers, and exited the Aurora last.
“Lenara,” she called out, “I’m sorry I’m late, honey, but they were fresh out of Otnerium. I had to go to four stores to find any. I hope this is enough,” she quipped, setting the heavy container down with a thud. Her wives engulfed her, and her sister and Cameron joined the group hug. Kieran could not remember when she had ever been kissed so many times at once, not even in the throes of passion with the Wildwomen. Robin turned to Jenny, taking Cami from her.
“Kieran, this is your daughter,” she said softly, putting the baby in Kieran’s arms.
“Oh, my God, Robs, look at her!” she gasped. “Oh, you poor kid, you look just like me,” she started to cry. “Robbie,” she kissed her tenderly, “I’m so sorry. If we do it again, we’ll select genes, instead of doing it randomly. Then she’ll look like you,” Kieran teased. “Naomi,” she leaned over to kiss the Ktarian, “you look like you haven’t slept the whole time I’ve been gone. Honey,” she gathered her into a warm embrace, careful not to crush her daughter, “don’t cry. It’s okay, now,” she whispered, holding her beloved tenderly. “Oh, Na, don’t,” she begged.
Lenara Wildman slipped under her arm as soon as Robin had taken Cami, clinging to Kieran’s side. “I knew I shouldn’t reopen the wormhole research,” she said softly. “I think you should retire from the project,” she added, eyes damp and heart aching.
“Be’thal,” Kieran said in a reproachful tone, “the reason I got lost doesn’t matter. All that matters is I’m home, now, and you have enough Otnerium to make wormholes for decades. Nara,” she lifted her chin, kissing her. “Honey, don’t be upset.”
Kathryn looked at everyone around her, handed Seven the baby, and said, “Pardon me. I have a debt to pay.” She looked over her shoulder. “Ro Laren,” she barked, and the whole entourage quieted, thinking poor Ro was about to be arrested. “Come here,” Kathryn pointed to the deck plating in front of her.
Laren leaned over and whispered “Please come see me in the brig, Kit.” She obediently stood where Janeway had ordered her to.
Kathryn grabbed her face and kissed her. “I decided not to kill you,” she said, laughing at Laren’s obvious surprise.
______
Joely Winfield sat in her office, waiting to discuss her evaluations with Captain Kathryn Janeway.
“Seven and Erin?” Kathryn asked as she breezed in.
“In perfect health. Well-nourished, no injuries, well rested. Seven’s got excellent mammary gland production, she’s down to her pre-pregnancy weight, and her vital organs are all functioning at peak efficiency,” Joely assured her. “The only oddity is that Erin has a Borg starburst between her shoulder blades. It’s not impeding anything, and I can remove it if you want. It’s up to you and Seven.”
“That’s a relief,” Kathryn sighed. “So what was so urgent?”
“Kieran’s evaluation. She’s not in nearly as good shape,” Joely advised. “She’s malnourished, underweight, her vascular system is hypertensive, and I want a psych consult on her. I am afraid, though Robin’s in a better position to judge than me, that she’s got post-traumatic stress disorder. In short, this took a serious toll on her, and I want her off duty until I say otherwise,” she concluded.
Kathryn thought about it. “Joely, how is that possible? For her to be suffering from malnutrition? She and Seven ate the same things, and they brought back cargoholds full of food.”
Joely nodded. “I know. But Seven told me that Kieran was very exacting about Seven’s prenatal nutrition, and that meant when things were lean, in the beginning, Kieran just didn’t eat her share of the basics. She was making sure the baby didn’t suffer. Seven thought Kieran was eating enough, but clearly, she wasn’t. And take a look at this,” she slid a PADD across the desktop.
Kathryn scrolled through the first few entries. “What is this? The memory says there’s almost two megabytes of information here.”
Joely smirked. “It’s a record of everything Seven ate from the time their ration bars began to run out. Every single day. Kathryn, Kieran calculated every nutritional variable and made sure Seven was getting her daily intakes of everything. She estimated every gram of food and calculated the values of the nutrients in that food. Skip to the next file, and you’ll see a record of how much food they had in the beginning, and how she allotted it so the baby was safe.”
Kathryn’s eyes widened. “She didn’t just—divide it in half?”
Joely shook her head. “Not even close. And it’s pretty clear that in the first six weeks after the ration bars were gone, there wasn’t enough food to sustain two people completely. No wonder Kieran’s not very healthy. I mean, the records show it got better, and the longer they were there, the better they did. Skip to the next file,” she instructed.
Kathryn paged on. “What is this—mortality tables?”
Joely’s eyes darkened. “Kieran figured out how much food she would have to store to sustain Seven and Erin for three months, if she died and left them with no ability to secure fresh meat. She left explicit instructions for Seven to tell her how much meat she would have to obtain and how often to renew their foodstores, and the nutrient values of all the foods they foraged—all of it. It’s like she was so terrified she wouldn’t be there to take care of them, she didn’t trust Seven to figure it out on her own.” Joely bit her lip. “Look at the next file,” she urged her.
“Medical tricorder data? She scanned Seven every single day? And Erin too?”
Joely nodded. “She wasn’t taking any chances. Look under her file,” she prompted her.
“Ten scans? That’s it? Barely once a month?”
“The first two were to make sure her injuries had healed. The other eight were nutritional and general health scans.”
“That makes no sense. If she scanned Seven and the baby all the time, why not herself?”
“I think if you look at the scans, you’ll see it,” she said softly.
Kathryn paged through them, and there was a very clear pattern of declining health. The blood pressure readings got worse every month, the strain on her system clearly causing a steady deterioration in her status. “She knew she would die in a few years, didn’t she?”
“Not even a few years. Maybe one year, it seems like, if that pattern were to continue. She’d have had a stroke or a heart attack with her numbers that bad.”
“And that’s why she was storing so much wood, and so much food, and leaving all these records? Because was planning on dying?”
“That’s what it looks like to me. Now do you see why I want a psych eval?” Joely emphasized.
Kathryn breathed deeply, nodding.
“Look at the next file,” Joely requested.
Kathryn cued the file. Kieran’s face appeared. “Hello, love,” she said softly. “I left these instructions for you, so you can take care of yourself and Erin. I’m sorry Seven, I know you’re scared to be on your own, but I promise, you can do this. First things first. The file Xmarksthespot is a map to show you where you can bury me. I dug a pretty deep grave, and you need to put me there and cover me very well, or I’ll draw animals. I know this is hard, Seven, but you have to do it. Or else do a funeral pyre and burn my body, but you cannot leave me in the open, or it could attract predators. Consider it my last wish, sweetie,” she laughed. “Okay. The files in this data PADD will walk you through everything you need to know to take care of you and the baby. Read the survival manual, honey. Memorize it. I did. It saved our asses, I guarantee you. Know that you’re strong, and brilliant, and you can endure this, your Borgness. I love you with all my heart. Thank you for making this time together one of the best experiences in my life. I hope you’re right about that afterlife thing we discussed. Take care of yourself, and Erin, my Be’thal.”
Kathryn swallowed hard. “You can get her healthy again, though?” she asked Joely.
“I’m going to put her on a regimen to fix the nutritional issues, but her hypertension is another story. I’m convinced if they’d been stranded another six months, she’d have been in deep trouble. Kieran knew she was getting sick, but she didn’t know how to treat it, not that she didn’t bloody try. Look at the next file—it’s a record of every plant she tried to use to make an infusion for vascular hypertension. She catalogued over a hundred plants, hoping one would have anti-hypertensive properties. It wasn’t that she wanted to die, or didn’t want to prevent her own death. She just knew she wouldn’t last long. And that explains the voluminous food stores, the record keeping, and her lackadaisical attitude about her own food intake. I want Robin to evaluate her in the next forty-eight hours.”
“I’ll arrange it,” Kathryn agreed.
“Fair enough. I sent her home with nutrient and anti-hypertension hyposprays, but she is just plain exhausted. And she needs intensive rest until I get the hypertension under control.”
“Okay. I’ll see to it. Anything else?” Kathryn stood to go.
“Yes. It’s time for your check-up. Don’t make me come chase you down like last time. I don’t have the energy, your highness,” Joely snapped.
Kathryn laughed. “Understood.”
______
“Seven didn’t wake up for three days,” Kieran told the assembled crowd, in between bites of chocolate pie. “And when she did,” she let the suspense build, “she thought she was only a little girl!”
Seven scowled at her companion, laughing. “Yes, Kieran had to raise me, just like she did her wife,” she teased Naomi.
Kathryn shook her head. “You’re serious?”
Seven nodded. “I was quite brain damaged, but my nanoprobes healed me, eventually. Only it took five months or so for me to remember the present. Poor Kieran had to live through my tedious adolescence.”
“And I’ve got stories I could tell,” Kieran laughed. “Kat, you, me, a bottle of whiskey one night?”
“Absolutely,” Kathryn said. “I’m always up for dirt.”
Cassidy Thompson regarded her sister with hungry eyes, unable to stop staring at her. “Kelsey,” she said, “how did you guys stay alive so long? Your rations would have only lasted a couple of weeks,” she noted, knowing the rations complement from her Starfleet classes.
Kieran stood up. “Where do you think I got this lovely evening wear?” she smarted. “Seven and I killed everything that walked and ate it,” she laughed. “Thank God we had our phasers. Oh—and my clairvoyant wife put together an emergency survival kit and hid it in the Viper. That made the ration bars last a month, at least, and we started to supplement our bars with food we found and hunted. This is one of my first tunics,” she advised the group.
“The workmanship in this is quite good,” Kathryn fingered the leather. “Don’t tell me you learned to sew, Kato,” she asked skeptically.
“Seven made this,” Kieran smiled fondly at the Borg. “She’s the most resourceful woman I’ve ever known,” she praised her Borg companion. “She made soap, and candles, and clothes, and cooked some excellent food for us.”
“Thank you,” Seven inclined her head. “But I would have to say that’s your niche. Kieran delivered our baby, Kathryn,” Seven advised her wife. “Though I nearly killed her for wisecracking through the entire ordeal,” she added, stealing a bite of Kieran’s pie.
The long table in the Wildman’s quarters was laid out with dozens of Kieran and Seven’s favorite dishes, and the pair was eating ravenously. Kieran was puzzled that Kit seemed to be sticking by Ro Laren’s side, and Jenny and Emily were obviously avoiding them. “I’d kill for some of that,” Kieran pointed to the coffee pot. “If only our replicator had survived the crash,” she sighed. “I could live without convenient food, and without toiletries, and without clothes. But oh, Good Christ, I missed drinking coffee,” she bitched.
Naomi poured her a gigantic mug, sweetening it and adding heavy cream. “Here, sweetie. Knock yourself out,” she invited her.
“So, go on,” B'Elanna enthused. “Seven lost her memories? Whatever did you do without her thinking she knows everything?”
The wayward women spent several hours telling their families about the prior eight and a half months, and the laughter and tears flowed liberally. Seven’s gaze rested on Kieran with an apparent adoration, and Kieran’s focus was equally loving for the Borg. The obvious connection between them wasn’t lost on anyone.
When it was far past a respectable hour, Kathryn gathered her sleeping children, and woke up Geejay. “Naomi,” she said softly, “would you take them home? I need a moment with Seven,” she looked at her meaningfully.
“Sure, Mom,” Naomi agreed.
Kathryn took Seven’s hand. “I need to speak with you, darling,” she advised her wife. “It will only take a moment,” she promised.
Seven nodded, reluctant to leave Kieran behind, but resigned to whatever Kathryn had to say. They stepped into the hallway outside Kieran’s quarters, Kathryn greedily drinking in the long, lean form of her wife.
“Honey,” she began, taking both of Seven’s hands, “I have quarters arranged for you and Kieran, if you want them,” she offered. “It’s obvious that you’re—very close,” she settled on. “This must be a difficult transition for you, you’re so accustomed to being with her night and day.”
Seven was stunned at the knowing and accepting tone in her wife’s voice. “You—want me to move out of our quarters?” she clarified.
“No, I don’t,” Kathryn immediately assured her. “I am saying it’s your choice. Of course, I want you to come home with me. But I understand if that’s not—what you want to do.”
Seven grabbed her wife, hugging her fiercely, bursting into tears. “Oh, my Kathryn,” she breathed into her auburn hair, “I do love you. Please believe that,” she entreated.
Kathryn clung to her momentarily. “I know you do, Seven. And I love you, more than I can ever begin to tell you. Please,” she stepped out of Seven’s embrace. “Try to decide as soon as you can where you want to be. I will try to be—supportive,” she said sincerely.
“Kathryn, I need to talk to Kieran. I need to know what she wants to do. I don’t feel comfortable making a unilateral decision—this affects all of us.”
“All right. I’ll leave you here, and if you want to come home, then do. Otherwise, hail the quartermaster and he’ll show you your new quarters,” she said quietly. “Good night, Seven. I’m so glad you’re safe. If you want Erin to stay with you, I understand that, too. Kieran is obviously taken with her.”
Seven was moved at her wife’s generosity, though she was reluctant to trust it. She kissed her sweetly, cupping Kathryn’s cheek in her hand. “Thank you for understanding. This is—awkward,” she admitted. “We thought we were going to be there permanently,” she began.