#but it was also fitting that when harry came to tuvok's quarter he would only mention janeway. like of course he would

[doctahchang]

yes i think they didn't change tuvok's uniform into command one in resolutions + didn't give him captain's pips because they probably didn't want to make a different uniform for him just for one episode but i also think that he preferred not to change it bc it was his way of clinging to the hope of getting his friend back. he probably justified it by not wanting to waste the ship's resources or something

[ezrisdax-archive]

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B'Elanna comes down with Ankaran flu, of all people she expected to show up every day Seven wasn't on that list.

Doesn't mean she can't get used to it. (also here on ao3)

~~

The problem with being on Voyager, on top of the many many things that kept going wrong, was that it was easy to pick up a cold or something from someone else when it came around.

B’Elanna found herself bitterly cursing Carey since she’d obviously got the Ankaran flu from him. But he’d bounced back and was taking care of her – her! – engines now.

Normally her Klingon side did her some good and allowed her to recover faster than her compatriots did but the Ankaran flu had never sat well with her.

Just like lying down and doing nothing for days didn’t even as feverish as she was.

Honestly it was because of the fever that she has assumed the Seven standing in front of her was nothing but a weird dream.

Except she wasn’t going away, just standing there.

“What are you doing here?” B’Elanna asked, finally tired of the staring.

“I was informed by Ensign Kim that you would do better getting ‘well wishes’ from your favourite people.” Even as Seven said it she had that minute twitch, the kind she got when she thought that the Voyager crew was being overly emotional and illogical.

It was no wonder she and Tuvok got along.

“Therefore,” Seven continued, clasping her hands behind her back. “Get better.”

“You’re my least favourite anything.” B’Elanna replied, burying herself further into the mountains of pillows that Neelix had stacked around her. Her tone lacked the usual bite though and Seven could clearly tell since she just raised an eyebrow.

“By process of elimination I assume I must be your favourite ex-borg.”

“By process of elimination you’re also my least favourite.” B’Elanna snarked. “Also you’re beaten out there by Icheb.”

“Ah.” Seven didn’t look affected at all and in her head B’Elanna cursed her cold attitude. Just once she wanted to rattle Seven, see a different side of her, get her to react.

“Guess that makes me your favourite and least favourite Klingon by that logic though.” B’Elanna said, mostly just to herself.

“You are correct in that assessment.”

B’Elanna rolled her eyes. “Whose your favourite human then?”

Seven didn’t answer, surprising her enough that B’Elanna frowned at her with concern.

“I’m joking Seven, you don’t have to answer that.”

Whatever awkward moment there was it was broken when she got a sneezing fit. She reached over to grab the tissues that Harry had replicated for her but growled in annoyance when she saw the box was empty and threw it at the wall.

It barely got halfway thanks to her tired muscles.

“Here.” Seven held up what must have been a freshly replicated batch.

“Thanks.” B’Elanna muttered and took them, under her breath cursing Carey and the Doctor and because really how could he cure Tom and Kathryn from being lizards that one time but couldn’t fix the flu?

“I believe that is because it is adaptive.” Seven said, answering her rhetoric question.

B’Elanna glared at her with bleary eyes.

“You appear to need sleep.” Seven said as she straightened up, halfway an observation and halfway an annoying order.”

“I’m not sleeping with you creepily watching.”

“Very well.” Seven nodded, “I will see you later.” She paused. “Get well soon, Lieutenant Torres.”

B’Elanna just waved tiredly at her, not bothering to answer.

She’d just see Seven when she got back to her station and then hear all about how borg nanites were superior or something.

Weirdly she was looking forward to that.

~~

Seven was back again and B’Elanna really was having a fever dream. She had to be. There was no way Seven would return the next day to a situation she had no control over.

“Did you bring me soup?” B’Elanna asked, blinking at the tray in Seven’s hands.

“It is high in nutrients.”

“Oh good for it.” B’Elanna huffed, “I was concerned about that.”

Seven didn’t take the bait, just set the tray down in front of her.

The tray that wasn’t going away just like Seven.

Not a dream.

B’Elanna took the spoon, squinting at the soup just one more time in case the hallucinations had gotten the best of her.

“Thanks.” She said quietly, trying to surreptitiously glance up at Seven.

Seven’s eyebrows rose slightly in her surprise and the corners of her lips twitched in something that might have been a smirk but she was quick to school her expression back to calm indifference.

It was too bad really, B’Elanna thought, a smirk was close enough to a smile and Seven looked good like that.

She froze at the thought after a second and shook her head.

Really the fever was getting to her.

When she woke up a few hours later she had a memory of the soup, the taste of it in her mouth, but the tray and Seven were gone and blankets had been wrapped around her where they’d been kicked to the bottom of the bed before.

~~

“Review this.” Seven said as a greeting the next day, pushing a padd into her hands.

The words swam on the screen when B’Elanna looked down at it. She was beginning to feel queasy looking at it but swallowed it down.

“What’s wrong, Seven? Can’t handle things without me?” B’Elanna couldn’t resist taunting even as she swayed a little.

The padd was tugged out of her hands despite B’Elanna’s protest.

“I can see it will need to wait.” Seven was frowning down at her again. Then she whirled and walked over to the replicator, coming back with a glass of water. “You need the hydration.”

B’Elanna took the glass, swallowing some of it and then pressing the cool glass against her cheek to alleviate some of the heat.

“You are not getting better.” Seven stated. “I will inform the Doctor.”

The glass was mercifully plucked from her grasp before B’Elanna spilled it on her by falling backwards into her pillows.

“Tell him to fix this.” B’Elanna said, her words slightly slurred by her exhaustion. “Cause you need me back.”

It wasn’t until she woke up later that she realized Seven hadn’t argued that fact.

~~

“She keeps coming by.” B’Elanna said to Harry the next day.

Harry didn’t bother to hide his amused grin. “You should hear her in Engineering. Carey keeps ducking out when she comes in because she keeps finding flaws in his work. Apparently it’s not as adequate as yours.”

“Seven finds flaws in everything.” B’Elanna said, refusing to feel somewhat charmed by that. “Including my work.” Which grated on her constantly, she knew what she was doing.

“Right.” Harry leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. “Except I haven’t heard the two of you fighting over your quality of work in months.”

That was…true. Their arguments of late had just been about the better way of going about B’Elanna’s plans rather than the idea of them.

“Guess Seven’s learned to appreciate some flaws.” Harry continued, still grinning at her.

B’Elanna narrowed her eyes even as she was certain with how red rimmed they were it lacked the effect she was going for. “You’re delusional, Starfleet.”

“I’m not the one with the fever.”

“And I’m still thinking straighter than you are.”

~~

Soup, B’Elanna had learned, lost its appeal rather quickly.

Which was why when Seven brought toast the next night B’Elanna actually made a delighted noise.

“It appears you are feeling better. The medication the Doctor administered must be the correct treatment.”

“Go Doc,” B’Elanna cheered with fake enthusiasm as she tore into the toast.

“You should be well enough soon to return to your duties.”

B’Elanna paused and looked up at Seven. “Did you miss me or something, Seven?” Her conversation with Harry came back to her with easier clarity.

Now she could even see that there was just the slightest of pink in Seven’s cheeks.

“In your absence the work has been lacking.” Seven eventually said after the silence went on too long.

“Uh hunh.” B’Elanna said doubtfully. “It’s nice to be missed.” She grinned sharply. “Guess someone can keep up with that brain borg of yours after all.”

Seven got that annoyed look on her face that B’Elanna could only tell because she’d been watching Seven’s face for reactions for so long. To anyone else the changes would have been minute and unnoticeable.

“If that is what you wish to tell yourself to feel better you may.” Seven said, her tone a little icier.

“I will, thanks.” B’Elanna kept grinning, feeling better than she had in days.

Seven gave a sharp nod. “I’ll take my leave, since you are better.”

It wasn’t what B’Elanna had been hoping for and she sighed as Seven turned away, “Seven, wait.” She called out, and scowled as Seven’s back. “Look,” B’Elanna continued and ran a hand through her hair and made a face at how sweaty it felt. She needed a shower and how Seven could stand to be around her like this when she’d made her displeasure on the unhygienic form of sick people clear she had no idea. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It is just nice to be missed.”

Seven turned her head back, looking over her shoulder at B’Elanna. She looked like she was struggling with her words again before she finally said, “It is not just your work that has been missed.”

Without another word she strode out of B’Elanna’s quarters, leaving B’Elanna blinking in surprise and staring at the spot where Seven had been.

“Damn.” B’Elanna sound out loud. “Starfleet was right.”

She’d never tell Harry.

~~

It took her another two days to be cleared by the Doctor who had given her a lecture on health that B’Elanna had tuned out for the most part.

She got ready that morning feeling energized, ready to get back to her engines and see what messes had been made while she was gone.

When she walked out her door however she stopped, seeing Seven standing there awkwardly.

“I was informed you were cleared for duty.” Seven said, she held out some padds for B’Elanna to take. “I have made several reports regarding incidents made while you were gone.”

B’Elanna rolled her eyes. “At least let me have breakfast first Seven.” B’Elanna groused but took the padds. She hesitated before reading them however and looked over at Seven. “You could join me.”

Seven’s eyes flickered over towards her, curious.

“I got lunches and dinners with you these past few days, well.” B’Elanna amended. “I ate while you stood creepily. I figure I’m owed a breakfast too.”

Slowly Seven inclined her head in what might have been a nod of agreement. B’Elanna clapped her on the shoulder, grinning.

“Good, you can tell your favourite Klingon, who you missed so much, how much you missed me again.” B’Elanna said, her spirits lifting in the moment.

Seven’s lips pursed in annoyance.

“I have observed Voyager’s crew over the last few days and come to a conclusion.” Seven clasped her hands behind her and started to walk, forcing B’Elanna to rush forward to keep up.

“Is it that you missed me?” B’Elanna teased again.

“That among the crew’s members you are unique.”

“Oh.” B’Elanna said numbly, taken aback by the sudden confession.

“It is not something I would have appreciated before. Your absence has made me value it even more.”

“Oh.” B’Elanna said again, swallowing. She leaned in as they walked, pressing her shoulder against Seven’s arm. “I appreciate you visiting me. It was nice. But I could do with dinners where we both eat.”

Seven stopped suddenly, making B’Elanna stop too. She stared down at B’Elanna, “You are proposing we take meals together.”

“I’m proposing dates, Seven, get with the program.” B’Elanna replied, a little agitated that Seven hadn’t picked up where she was going and feeling far too open.

Seven’s cheeks were just that slightest tinge of pink again, B’Elanna was beginning to find it more than just charming.

“Very well. As you have stated, breakfast is viable start.” Seven took a breath and began to walk again.

B’Elanna caught up with her once more, her fingers brushing against Seven’s.

“I lied before you know. You are my favourite ex-borg, no offense to Icheb.”

“I will inform him of such.”

“Seven, no. Don’t tell the kid that, it’s a joke.” B’Elanna’s fingers twitched when Seven’s ran against her own, feeling an urge to just grasp them. “But you never answered who your favourite human is.”

Seven glanced over. “You are half human.”

There was a warmth that spread through her and B’Elanna ducked her head to hide her smile. She reached over, taking the chance to grab Seven’s hand anyway just for that.

From the corner of her eye she could see the smallest smile on Seven’s lips and that was a reaction she could definitely get used to.