Chapter Text
He stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher what she had just said.
“Commander, do you understand me? I wish to terminate our private acquaintance… indefinitely.” Seven looked at him with what could only be described as concern, presumably at his lack of response.
“I understand what you’re saying Seven, but that doesn’t mean I understand why .” He replied confused.
“There are two main reasons,'' replied the Borg. “Primarily, I wish to terminate our relationship because, now that I have the ability to feel a larger range of emotions, I can more adeptly analyze my emotions. Having done this I have determined that my feelings for you do not hold the potential for a long term relationship in the alpha quadrant. Additionally, it is illogical to continue a relationship in which neither one of us will find emotional satisfaction. Would you not agree?”
She stared at him as though everything she had just said was perfectly clear. Granted, he could understand that her feelings for him might be a crush, at least he assumed that was what she was trying to say. What he didn’t understand was how she could be so sure neither one of them would be happy in a relationship together.
“Seven, I understand that you may not have feelings for me, but you can’t know that I don’t have feelings for you. Not all emotions can be clearly understood", he replied.
Seven turned from the astrometrics terminal she had been uploading for analysis. “It is illogical to assume that you could find happiness in a relationship with me, if you are currently in love with the Captain. I may not have a full knowledge of human romance, but all of my research indicates that monogamous individuals, such as yourself, would not be happy in a relationship with someone you are not fully dedicated to.”
Chakotay stared at her in shock for a moment. “Seven, what makes you think I’m fully dedicated to the Captain in a romantic way? I’m her first officer. I’m dedicated to her in a professional sense, not personal.”
“Negative, Commander. While I may not have possessed the ability to fully feel emotions, I have always been able to identify the physical expression of others’ emotions. In your case, I have observed no less than 20 occurrences of what I believe could be considered ‘flirting’ between the Captain and yourself while on the bridge or otherwise engaged in some sort of command debate. Additionally, during these occasions, both yours and the Captain’s blood pressure and heart rate experienced a significant increase, along with an increase in several hormones associated with-”
“Alright Seven that’s enough.” Chakotay cut her off. He didn’t need to hear the clinical explanation for feelings he had been suppressing for the past seven years. “I understand why you think that we might have feelings for each other. Hell, you’re right that I had feelings that would be considered unprofessional. However, the Captain no longer reciprocates those feelings, if she ever reciprocated them at all.”
Seven thought for a moment before replying. “You are wrong. During my interactions with the future Admiral version of the Captain, I noted what I believe to be the physical expressions of regret when she spoke of you. Additionally, the Captain has decreased the amount of physical contact with you by 47% since I determined she became aware that we may have a personal relationship. It is my opinion that she still maintains her feelings for you. I believe it is what Lieutenant Paris calls ‘carrying a torch’?”
“Seven…” he paused, “I don’t know how the Captain feels. I don’t know how I feel. But I do know that Starfleet expressly states that Captains cannot have personal relationships with their crew. Maybe one day we’ll all figure out how we feel; but, for now let’s leave all of this out of our reports? We can report that I helped you with a ‘humanity’ project and all of this can get sorted out after Starfleet decides what’s to be done with all of us.”
“That seems satisfactory Commander. Now I believe we should return to preparing our reports and systems for analysis.” she replied, turning back to the console.
“You’re right. We have a lot to do before our arrival tomorrow.”, he started towards the door before turning, “and Seven? Thank you for bringing this to light. I think you may have been right. I don’t know what the future holds, but I think yours will be brighter with the right person beside you. And I’m not him.”
As Chakotay walked through the halls towards his quarters, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to the second year of their voyage, back to New Earth and the promise he had made then. He hadn’t done a very good job of keeping it recently, but hopefully that could change. As he sat at his desk and began to complete his report of the most recent events with the borg and the Admiral, he could only hope that Starfleet, and his Captain, would be forgiving of past wrongs.