Promises, Promises by Darrel W. Beach Mar. 1999 Chapter 6 An hour later, Tom was actually beginning to feel sorry for Carlo. The holographic Casanova had more than met his match in Seven. Despite assimilating the knowledge about the many forms of casual contact, Seven continued to fumble through her attempts at conversation, and Carlo was unfortunately made to suffer through the whole trial. The gigolo was getting quite frustrated with all the crossed communication. He would have given up on her but was helpless to deviate from Tom's programming. Seven finally put him out of his misery. "Computer, remove this character from the simulation." Carlo's image evaporated around his suave smile until nothing remained. Tom buried his head in his hands and sighed in exasperation. "Seven, what did you do that for? I really think we were starting to make some progress." "Do not patronise me, Lieutenant," she snapped back. Her decorum was finally on the verge of collapsing under her extended duress, despite her concerted efforts to remain focused. "These lessons are not optimally productive. I fail to see how I am to learn the proper rules of conversation when my partners are all programmed to alter their behaviour patterns to compliment my profile. There is no independent thought involved. It is unrealistic and ultimately a waste of my time. It is irrelevant that I should have to engage in these exercises anyway; Ensign Kim already knows me." She had him on that one. Unfortunately, that meant having to skip to the next stage of his instruction. Even more unfortunately, he couldn't think of any way to avoid getting personally involved in the instruction, not now that she had voiced her displeasure in interacting with holograms. "Uh...well...you have a point...I guess...." "Your hesitation would seem to indicate that it is time for your instruction on sexual intercourse." For a brief moment Seven experienced a stab of anxiety, recalling fragments of her nightmare with him, before subduing it. She had to maintain a dispassionate perspective more so now than ever. Tom broke into a cold sweat, quickly running out of options. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather do this with Harry? He'd kill me if he ever found out I...broke you in for him." Seven looked bemused at his arcane metaphor but chose not to question it. "My first attempt at this type of encounter with Ensign Kim, while considered efficient at the time, was poorly conceived. My association with the ensign had not yet been clearly established. Now we are more familiar with each other's mode of behaviour. It is evident that Ensign Kim still possesses a desire for physical contact, but I still intimidate him. My present condition, while distressing, provides me an opportunity to rectify that situation. However, I cannot attempt to engage him with my current level of inexperience. My execution must be flawless; I will settle for nothing less than perfection." "No. No, no, no, no, no. Computer, end program." The tavern dissolved around them. Tom paced in front of Seven muttering to himself, a hand pasted to his brow as if to deflect any additional stress. "I can't do this. I won't do this. Seven," he stopped and looked at her. He sighed wearily, the burden of this task weighing on him. "Look, I know that since you've been a drone for most of your life you don't quite understand the complexities of human nature. But this...what you're suggesting...that's crossing the line. Making love isn't something you rehearse. It's a spontaneous, unique expression of passion between two people, a special, intimate gesture. Given that it'll be your first time makes it that much more special. If Harry means that much, you won't deny him sharing that moment, and neither will I. You might have been raised as Borg, Seven, but you are still a human being. Procreation is ingrained in our DNA; when the time comes, you'll know what to do." "Unacceptable. Your opinion is irrelevant to my concerns, as is Ensign Kim's. I will conduct my affairs at my discretion. I require you to fulfil your obligation. You will comply." "No! I can't, not in good conscience." "You pledged your assistance. You *will* comply." Tom really began to regret ever having made that promise. He wanted to yell at her, tell her she was crazy and insistently refuse to help. He doubted that would work, though, not as long as she kept waving that promise in front of his face. Seven had done some questionable things already during her stay on *Voyager*, but despite all that she kept her word. Maybe it was her way of compensating for the Borg's treachery following *Voyager*'s showdown with Species 8472. They'd reneged on their promise not to assimilate the crew, and as a result she lost her link to the Collective. With that kind of perspective, he might be hard pressed to convince her that sometimes promises were made to be broken. *Damn, why did I ever agree to do this in the first place?* The weight on his shoulders suddenly got much, much heavier. "Let's go to my quarters. We'll have more privacy." *Harry, I hope you'll understand that I didn't have any choice in this.* "Care for some company, B'Elanna?" The engineer's wandering thoughts scattered. She looked at the interloper and smiled. "Thanks, Harry. I'd like that." Ensign Kim set down his dinner and sat opposite her. "So, what you were just thinking about?" "Everything and nothing." She sighed. "Anything you want to talk about?" She grinned at the grain of concern planted in his question. "I'm fine, Harry. It's just...I don't know. Lately it's been a real task for Tom and me to spend any time together. When Tom wants to do something I'm busy in engineering, and when I finally get some spare time he's already made other commitments. I'm worried that our relationship is falling apart, but I don't know what to do about it." "I think if you guys really love each other, you'll find a way to keep it going." "You really think so?" "I've seen how happy Tom makes you. I don't think he'd risk doing anything to put that in jeopardy." Harry's sentiment warmed her considerably. She opened her mouth to thank him for the encouragement when she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye. Ensign Taylor to be precise. Harry noticed her puzzled expression. "What is it?" "I thought Tom was helping Ensign Taylor with her third level piloting instruction." He looked over his shoulder at the ensign. "Maybe the lesson ended early." "Yeah, maybe." B'Elanna had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, though. "Excuse me a minute, Harry." She left the table and intercepted Ensign Taylor at the galley counter. "So, how was the lesson, Taylor?" Just the confused look on Taylor's face was enough to raise suspicion. "What? What lesson?" "The flight training? With Lieutenant Paris? At 1900 hours?" "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I have no idea what you're talking about." "I see. Sorry to bother you." B'Elanna trudged back to the table but didn't sit down. "I don't like this, Harry." Harry activated a voice link to the computer through his badge. "Computer, where is Lieutenant Paris?" "Lieutenant Paris is in Holodeck 1." He looked up at the engineer. "Maybe you heard him wrong, B'Elanna." "No, I clearly remember him saying Ensign Taylor. I wonder what he's up to?" Tom made doubly sure that the security lock on his quarters was activated. He didn't want to leave any chance of anyone accidentally walking in by accident. If only the bedroom had a door as well, maybe he wouldn't feel quite as paranoid. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to triple check the lock. "Computer, please verify security lock." "Confirmed. Level 4 security has been initiated." "You are stalling, Lieutenant. By my recollection of information we could have completed the act of copulation in the time you spent securing your quarters." "I guess you've never heard of foreplay, then," he muttered under his breath. Seven still heard him, however. His snide tone was lost on her. "Foreplay: sexual excitation through tactile stimulation. Is foreplay considered a vital part of copulation?" A thought struck him in that moment. Maybe she had just given him a loophole; even if he had to rob his best friend of a unique experience, he might still be able to avoid the ultimate betrayal. A cunning grin let loose. "You bet it is." *As weird as it sounds, Harry's gonna thank me for this.* Tom led Seven into the bedroom, pleased with the plan that he had unintentionally devised. He'd prefer not to get involved in Harry's sexual relationship with Seven at all, but since he had no choice in the matter, he'd settle for the least compromising alternative. Seven would more or less get what she wanted, and he would avoid a conscionably reprehensible act -- sort of. "How do you wish to begin?" Tom almost thought he detected anxiousness in Seven's question. "Uh, well, I suppose the best way to start would be to just undress and get into bed, then go from there." Seven quickly measured the scenario. Assuming a horizontal orientation troubled her, of course. She still hadn't become comfortable with the notion of sitting yet. It was impractical; if ever an emergency situation arose, time would be wasted in having to stand first before taking further action. However, this wasn't the appropriate time to argue about efficiency. She was here to learn the proper form of intimacy, no matter how inefficacious it was. "Very well." With a few expert moves her jumpsuit puddled to the floor around her feet. Tom had barely even removed his jacket, and what he saw promptly froze him place. He felt stupid about it -- he'd seen naked women before, many of them just as beautiful as Seven -- but her nakedness still filled him with awe. Maybe it was so shocking because he never expected to see her in this state, even though he had once, in a fleeting moment of lust, tried to visualise it. Maybe it was because that visualisation still couldn't compare to seeing the real thing. It hadn't registered to him that in all the times she had interacted with other people on the ship, she had not been wearing any kind of undergarments. Her skin, either due to the doctor's regenerator or her own Borg nanoprobes, was absolutely flawless. It stretched smooth across her flat stomach and toned abdomen, puckered only by a perfectly shaped navel. The other vestiges of Borg corruption now visible didn't register as out of place. Rather, the skeletal looking gunmetal grey attachments seemed exotically natural as they meshed with her skin. Her breasts stood out firm despite their size. In fact, her small aureoles made them appear larger than they were. Tom's upper lip began to sweat. B'Elanna punched the holodeck control panel. "He's not here." "I guess we just missed him then. Any idea what program he was running?" "Hang on." She looked up the access log and growled. "Computer, where's Lieutenant Paris now?" "Lieutenant Paris is in his quarters." Torres strode off toward the turbolift, her fists clenched. Startled, Harry glanced at the information on the panel. Program Paris-3-alpha-7. He couldn't place the extension, but if he remembered correctly, though, then this was the Sandrine's program. He started after B'Elanna. What was Tom doing in Sandrine's that he didn't want B'Elanna to know about? "You find my appearance pleasing," Seven observed more than asked. The lieutenant had stood inert staring at her for 7.8 seconds already without saying a word. It was very clear to see his arousal. Tom tried and failed to tear his gaze away from her body. "It's...uh, wow." "I will take your colloquialism as an affirmative. Please commence your instruction." She skewed her head in question. "Does foreplay require only one individual to be in a state of undress?" "Huh? Oh, sorry." In his distraction Tom had stopped the removal of his tunic. Now reminded, he forced his attention back to it. His fingers continually slipped on the fasteners of his clothes, though. He definitely felt some anticipation in lying naked next to her; he was already painfully erect. This only made him feel guiltier; he couldn't shake the fact that he was corrupting a moment meant for his best friend. Faster than he would have liked he was clad only in his underwear, tented by his erection. "OK, I guess we're ready to start." "You have not finished unclothing." Tom blushed involuntarily. "It's called modesty, Seven, something you obviously don't have a problem with -- not that you should." He pulled down the sheets on his bed. "After you." "I am puzzled. We remove our clothes, only to cover ourselves again? Where is the efficiency in that?" "To do what we're going to do, wearing clothes would be inconvenient. Don't worry, the sheets will trap our body heat so we won't get cold." "I am not affected by relative changes in ambient temperature." "Then we'll use the sheets so *I* won't get cold. Do you need any help getting in?" "Your assistance will not be required." She sat stiffly on the edge of the mattress, then with precision swung her legs over and underneath the covers. Finally she laid her head on the pillow. She shifted uncomfortably for a moment as her feet were awkwardly pressed flat against the tucked-in sheets. Tom crawled in from the other side, kicking the fold loose in the process. Seven instantly pointed her toes upward. The mattress seemed to resist her normal standing posture, though. She did not look comfortable, if comfort mattered. Tom observed how she rested there, seemingly at attention, and furrowed his brow. Some of his earlier anticipation evaporated. She looked completely dispassionate. Harry really wanted this? Not knowing if there was anything appropriate to say, Tom instead cozied up beside her. Palming her cheek, he turned her face to his and inched his mouth over hers. He poured all his concentration onto her lips, drumming up the courage to kiss them. They certainly did look inviting.... "Is kissing a common requisite in foreplay?" Seven asked in a low voice. "Save your questions for later, Seven." He cut off her opportunity to reply by smothering her mouth. He was pleasantly surprised how well she responded, as though she had plenty of experience kissing people. He opened his eyes for a moment, squinting when a bit of light glinted off one of her implants. Curious, he traced a delicate outline of the metal with a fingertip. The transition between organic and synthetic was almost seamless. Even in her partially restored state, Seven probably made no distinction between both aspects of her physiology. The awareness both amazed and worried him. In itself, the lieutenant's actions left no impression on Seven. She catalogued the effects of varying pressure and surface contact involved and the fluidic exchanges that took place. Trivial, she thought. She sensed when he began stroking one of her transceivers, but completely ignored the touch. She also failed to react when he sensually slid his hand down her neck, across her collarbone, and down her torso. His hand then moved back up to her right breast. Finding purchase, Tom began kneading the ample flesh between his fingers. Seven registered this tactile sensation as oddly disparate. Her brain attempted to identify the experience as painful, yet it was not wholly unpleasant. She recalled from the medical information she had recently assimilated that breasts were the female's most prominent sexual organs and easily susceptible to physical stimulation. This had been referenced under the section of "erogenous zones". Almost as an afterthought, she remembered an addendum to that section of text regarding the sensitivity of the nipples. At that same moment Tom found the nub of skin on her right breast and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. B'Elanna stopped at the entrance to Tom's quarters and touched the chime button. She then started ticking off the seconds until he answered. Seven's body tensed in response to the jolting electrical impulse that ripped through her nervous system. Her back arched reflexively and she inhaled sharply, caught unprepared. Her body then relaxed as the feeling dissipated. Tom grinned slightly, feeling her body melt into the contours of the mattress while the nipple clutched between his fingers stiffened. Now that she had let her mind escape into the realm of physical sensation, her body relaxed. He'd have to remember to tell her this afterwards. Right now he was determined to conclude this liaison as quickly as possible, and there was one sure fire way to accomplish that. Careful not to disrupt the flow of the moment, Tom grabbed her other breast and planted it in his mouth. He sucked and nibbled. He allowed his tongue to work over her nipple and aureole, hoping the roughly textured muscle could elicit another distracted reaction. It didn't appear to be working, but after a moment he heard a soft, low moan of pleasure. Of course, he now realised that Seven would not be a noisy lover. Alternating breasts, Tom's free hand slithered down Seven's belly in search of her pussy. He met with her snatch of pubic hair with interest; due to his shock he hadn't noticed it before, but he now felt the considerable tangle of growth that had occurred in the three months since Seven had most of her Borg prostheses removed. He doubted the Doctor would have been that pervasive during Seven's initial treatments. Impressive. It was now obvious to B'Elanna that he wasn't responding. Any number of reasons could have explained why, but she suspected that he was ignoring the call. She pressed the button again, this time a little harder. Harry chewed his lip nervously. Seven felt his hand's descent. The further it went, she noticed how the response threshold of her epidermis decreased. A likely explanation was that he was reaching another erogenous zone. He reached her vagina and began probing it with his fingers. Oddly, she felt the release of bodily fluid lubricate her orifice. She failed to explain why that would occur. Tom choked out a laugh amid a mouthful of breast flesh. He was obviously doing something right; she was wet and ready to receive his cock. Well, that wouldn't happen, but she'd get the second-best thing. He spread apart her labia and softly stroked her vulva, coaxing her clitoris out of hiding. Seven cried out a little more urgently, a cross between a moan and a whine. He could only guess what she might be thinking. Seven was beyond rational explanation when the first wave of ecstasy emanated from Tom's manipulation of her clitoris. There was no other way to define it. There was no other it way it could be defined. She had very little experience with emotional states, but somehow she just knew that this experience fit into the context of ecstasy. A memory of her childhood came to her from out of nowhere to help her place the sensation. Almost like tickling, but...more, different. It felt unique. Further to her surprise she welcomed it. It felt...pleasurable. Something about that bothered her, but she couldn't pinpoint the reason. Her ability to think was being clouded. Even more disconcerting, she really didn't seem to mind right at that moment. She just wanted the experience to continue. Tom stopped suckling and looked up at Seven's flushed face with an arrogant smile. "So, you like that, huh?" She returned the look with glazed eyes. "This is...inconceivable." "I haven't even begun yet." With that, Tom inserted a pair of fingers into her orifice. B'Elanna stabbed at the touchpad yet again. She knew he was in there, so why wasn't he answering? If Tom Paris thought he was in trouble before.... "Computer, override door lock, authority Torres-Delta-Five-Two-Two." The computer beeped sourly in response. "Access denied. Insufficient security clearance." "*What*?" Harry checked a nearby wall panel. "I don't know how he did it, but Tom put a Level 4 lock on his quarters. You know, B'Elanna, maybe you're jumping to conclusions." She fired a menacing stare at the ensign. Harry shrunk back reflexively. "Maybe he's planning a surprise for you or something." "Not likely. My birthday was five months ago, there are no important holidays occurring, either Klingon or Federation, and our six month anniversary isn't for another month, although I doubt he'll make it that far. He's hiding something, and I'm going to find out what it is." She pulled open an access panel, exposing a circuit junction. "So, are you going to help me or not?" This could land them in serious trouble if she was wrong, but he couldn't say he wasn't interested in finding out what was going on. "Is that an order, Lieutenant?" B'Elanna looked up at him wryly. She understood. She would accept full responsibility for this invasion of privacy. "It most definitely is, Ensign...and, thanks." "Yeah, yeah, I know," he replied dismissively, knowing that he probably would have helped her anyway. "Let's just see if we can reroute the command pathways for the door." Seven gripped Tom's back more tightly as she lost her grasp of reality. Her brain was now constantly buffeted with raw, intense emotions. A part of her mind feared it; her body reacted independently and unpredictably, betraying everything she thought she stood for. It cried out frantically, desperately trying to warn her of the chaos that threatened to tear her apart, but it was too weak. The plea drowned in a bath of endorphins. She could only concentrate on the sensations coursing through her body, feeling the ebb and flow as the lieutenant rhythmically pistoned his fingers into her vagina. A throaty growl of lustful pleasure escaped her. For the moment, Seven of Nine did not exist. Tom was also struggling to keep control of himself. Hearing Seven's moans of desire aroused him greatly and he was tempted to put himself inside her. There had always been something special about having sex with virgins. However, he had to remember who this was and the people involved in this convoluted arrangement. Harry was a straight-laced guy, and very modest. While Tom didn't doubt the guy had experience, he probably hadn't been the amorous type. Harry wouldn't have had these kinds of opportunities often, so he wasn't about to take one away from him now. He pumped his fingers faster and harder, feeling a strange sense of urgency. Seven felt the pressure building inside her caused by the lieutenant's fervently increased actions. Panic began to set in. Each time she thought the sensations couldn't get any more intense they would get stronger. She thought either her body or her mind would explode from too much feedback. She dug her nails into Tom's back to brace herself, piercing his skin. The lieutenant grunted in pain and stepped up his efforts, and the pressure climbed even higher, escalating out of control. The voice of protest returned, finally able to overcome her hedonistic thoughts, telling her that what was happening wasn't right. It was happening too fast to be averted, though. Seven gasped in shock as the sensation suddenly peaked. Every muscle in her body tensed. Then, all at once, she felt all the stored up energy released through her vagina while her limbs spasmed uncontrollably. Tom grinned in triumph the moment he felt Seven's pussy clench around his fingers, followed shortly by a gush of hot, sticky fluid. He had to wait a few moments before he could extract them, though. She had quite a grip. Then the moment of nirvana was blown apart by a hard-edged voice. "There," B'Elanna announced proudly as the doors finally gave way. She dusted her hands on her pant legs and vaulted herself up from her crouched position in front of the access panel. "Now to get to the bottom of this." She strode purposefully into the room. Harry followed. She didn't spot him in the main room, which left only one place he could be. Without breaking pace B'Elanna headed for the bedroom. "Tom Paris, you've got some explaining to...." Harry looked over Torres' shoulder, annoyed that she had stopped in the middle of the doorway. What he saw knocked the breath out of him. "Oh, my God," he wheezed out.