There was a lull in activity aboard Voyager, at least a lull in non-recreational activity. Ensign Kim and Lt. Commander Tuvok had the bridge. A group of the other officers were in Holodeck 2, engaged in a series of parlor games in the Sandrine program.

It was rare that they all had a chance to have off time together. All, including Captain Janeway, were glad to have a little fun time. She was skunking Commander Chakotay at pool and one might infer from his mischievous smile that he was enjoying it.

Lt. Torres and Ensign Paris were engaged in something that she'd discovered called a crossword puzzle. His knowledge of trivia was constantly exceeding hers, but this time she's been reading up. She knew more of the answers than he did.

The Doctor, Neelix, and Seven of Nine were having their own discussion of Earth trivia over by the bar.

"Nearly 78% of Earth's population had some form of pet in the late 20th century and a similar statistic today." Neelix said to Seven who showed distaste at having to clean up after another life form.

"For what purpose?" she asked.

"Medical research has proven that the presence of a pet actually decreases one's stress factors and lowers blood pressure." He looked over at the captain, "Too bad we don't have any on Voyager, some could benefit by the company of one." On many occasions he'd warned the captain about her job stresses and their detriment to her health.

"On Talaxia, I had a Kafarg, his name was Gibbles. I took him with him everywhere in my pocket."

"Why would you do that?" Seven asked more repulsed.

"I don't know. I guess it was nice to have a friend with me where ever I went."

Their conversation was interrupted by loud voices from the end of the bar.

"You cheated!" B'Elanna accused loudly.

"No, I didn't." Tom had that boyish gleam in his eyes. His smile was perfectly innocent.

"You looked at the back of the book with the answers!" She said pulling the book away from him.

"Aww, come on. We'll never get that puzzle finished." He whined playfully.

Meanwhile, the captain and Chakotay had finished another round of Cutthroat.

"You had better not be letting me win, Chakotay." Janeway said with mock threat in her voice.

He only grinned, silently egging her on.

Neelix spoke up to the group suggesting they play some parlor games. Amidst the rolling eyes and the groans, Tom perked up the wheels in his mind turning. This could be interesting.

"How about Charades?" Neelix asked enthusiastically. In turn the group groaned again.

"Spin the Bottle?" Tom grinned, pulling B'Elanna closer to him. In retaliation she popped him on the arm but didn't move away.

"What's that?" Seven leaned back and whispered to the Doctor as other suggestions flew around the room.

"An old Earth adolescent game, who ever the bottle points to gets kissed." He said leaning towards her ear.

"Oh." She said quietly and pretended to be paying attention to the discussion of what game to play. She was really thinking about the sensation of his breath on her ear.

Again the voice of Tom Paris was heard above the rest, "Well, I've been practicing my hypnosis. Any takers?" He looked over at the Doctor slyly, "Don't raise your hand so fast, Doc, we know anybody can make you sing like a canary."

That got a rise out of him. The Doctor stood up calmly. "I was taken by surprise. You cannot hypnotize someone who has their mind against it or with an IQ of my caliber."

"Well, come on then. Show me I'm full of it." Tom had more in mind than just a parlor trick.

"Very well, but I'm telling you, you're wasting your time." Even without my mobile emitter, I won't be susceptible to Mr. Paris's antics, he thought.

Famous last words. In no time, the Doctor was under Tom's spell. He did all the usual humiliating tricks. He walked like a chicken and thought he was King Arthur. Everyone got a kick out of it. Finally, Tom got to the good part.

"Now you must tell the truth about whatever I ask you." All eyes were upon him.

"What's your name?"

"I haven't decided on one yet."

"Okay. What do you think of Tom Paris?" He said and winked to his crowd.

"He's arrogant, self-serving, irritating..." Tom moved to cut him off, "...loyal, brave, decent, and despite his demeanor, substantial member of the crew."

So the Doc did have a well-rounded opinion of Mr. Paris.

"Anybody have a question they'd like to ask the Doctor?"

"Tom, no! This is enough. No one wants all their secrets told to the world. How do I know you won't do the same thing to me?" B'Elanna asked.

"Aww, come on! Who do you love?" He directed his question at B'Elanna, but someone else spoke.

"Seven of Nine." The Doctor responded.

Oops. The room was silent. No one had the gall to look at Seven, who was turning quite pale in the back of the room. Two seconds later she was out the door.

"Tom, I think that's enough." Janeway said. The whole room felt embarrassed for the Doc. Tom didn't directly ask him the question, but he felt incredibly guilty for doing it. He'd just wanted to hint around the subject, not come out and say it.

"I think it would be better if we all just forgot what he said. Tom, just bring him out of it." said Chakotay.

"Does everybody agree not to say anything to him?" Janeway asked the others. There were nods in agreement.

"I'll go talk to Seven." Janeway said and left the Holodeck.

Seven had fled to Astrometrics. When Janeway arrived she looked around, not seeing her at first. Then she saw her shadow in the back of the lab. Seven, who was sitting on the floor against the wall, was staring out into space.

"Seven?" the captain asked gently. No response. "Did what he said upset you?" she said crouching down next to her.

"No." she said unemotionally. She turned to the captain; "I am not upset. It merely caught me off guard." Sensing the insufficiency of her answer she added, "I'm fine."

Janeway wrinkled her brow and thought she knew better than that. She could tell that Seven was affected, but if she didn't want to talk about it, then that was her business.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with you, but if you want to talk, anytime, my door is always open." She smiled sympathetically.

Seven nodded and returned her gaze into nothingness. She just wanted to be left alone. She heard the captain get up and leave, but didn't turn her head.

What did he have to do that? Hypnosis as a party game is reckless and irresponsible. This disheveled everything. She'd never be able to look at the Doctor the same way again, knowing what she knew. Knowing that he held such deep feelings for her would complicate their friendship, putting a paranoid curtain around everything he said. She didn't want to hurt him.

She didn't want her friendship with the Doctor to change. She valued it very much. If anything he was her best friend, the person she had felt she could go to about anything. Except this. Over 34% of relationships fail in the transition from friendship to more. She didn't want to lose that.

And what if his attraction for her was just superficial, on the basis on physical attraction? He had love interests before and none of which had worked out. Why would it work with her? Why should she assume that they could have any sort of future together? What if one day he decides that he doesn't love her anymore?

When did she decide that she loved him back? She rested her brow on the heel of her hand. Why did this have to get so complex?

While Seven was battling with her denial, Tom and Neelix were still in the holodeck trying to tell the Doctor what happened without telling him what really happened.

"Well, I told you it wouldn't work...where is everyone?" the Doctor said looking around after being snapped out of the trance.

Tom and Neelix looked at each other a silent question exchanged. Then both turned to him and grinned at the Doctor.

"Yeah, you're right, Doc. Didn't you hear the captain and Chakotay being called to the bridge?" Tom said hoping Neelix would play along. "And B'Elanna remembered something she had to do in Engineering." She'd really left shortly after the bombshell. Aside from Neelix, he was on his own.

"R-right...uh, nothing serious though." Neelix broke in quickly.

The Doctor looked around again. "Where's Seven?"

Eyes wide, both men thought quickly, but unfortunately spoke together, "She wasn't feeling well/had to check on something."

"She said she felt one of her implants was malfunctioning and went to adjust it." Good save Tom.

"Oh. Well, I guess I should be getting back to Sickbay." he said eyeing the two of them suspiciously. They were acting too strangely for him to stick around. He called to the computer to transfer his program to Sickbay. He had a feeling they weren't telling him something.

Returning to Sickbay, the Doctor puzzled over Neelix and Mr. Paris's behavior in the holodeck. He supposed that they weren't telling him the whole truth. Of course, he'd been hypnotized; he wasn't that arrogant. What exactly had he said?

Oh, well. He'd come back to Sickbay to check on Seven. If she wasn't feeling well, then he was the man for the job.

"Sickbay to Seven of Nine." He waited with no response. "Computer locate, Seven of Nine."

"Seven of Nine is in the Astrometrics Lab."

"Sickbay to Astrometrics. Seven are you there?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"I heard that you were ill, is there anything I can do?"

"NO." she said and buried her head in her knees.

He was taken aback by her tone. What did he do?

Seven decided that she'd chosen a poor hiding place. She got up and left for a quieter spot. She didn't have anything to say to him anyway.

"Seven?" By then she'd already gone and wasn't paying attention to his calls. It didn't take long to track her down, but, of course, a patient had to walk in and keep him busy for a few minutes.

The rest of the crew was going about as usual and no one noticed the quickened pace with which Seven made her way to the other holodeck.

She had decided to work off some of her frustrations in the gym program that Chakotay had designed. Clad in a sleeveless workout suit, she put on the half-fingered gloves and began her routine.

I will forget what I heard. Jab

Things are the same as they were the day before. Jab, jab, kick

Feelings are irrelevant. Jab, knee, lunge

This didn't make her feel any better. With every attack against the truth her feelings had a counterattack. She tried to push the thoughts away, but they pushed back harder.

A voice inside of her tried to be heard. What was irrelevant about the Doctor's feelings? Why was it a surprise to know that he loves her?

Not long ago he was willing to leave. If he's in love with her than how could he leave her?

When did she ever give him reason to stay?

Wasn't their friendship enough?

Apparently the Doctor is also in search of a suitable mate. He wants to feel loved.

She thought she made it clear that she cared for him.

But not in the parameters that involved a romantic relationship.

"Seven?" a real voice said from the corner of the room.

She whirled around to see the Doctor standing there. By then realized she was out of breath and exhausted. But not too exhausted to bring her guard up.

"Doctor, how long have you been there?" It wasn't as if he could have heard her inner argument.

"Not long. What's wrong? Why are you so agitated?" His brow furrowed in concern. "Is it something to do with what happened in the holodeck earlier?" He stepped dangerously close.

She ignored him. She could say nothing, just punch at the air with her back to him. She couldn't bear to look at him.

"Would you please stop that and talk to me?!" His voice grew more exasperated. When she further ignored him, he grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. "DAMN IT, SEVEN! What happened when I was OUT?!"

She looked at him with wild eyes. He'd never reacted this way. She thought his eyes looked more intense than she'd ever seen them, like he could look down into her. Her lungs were bursting, her heart pounding, and she was struck dumb by the harshness of his voice.

"What did I do?" he asked more gently than before.

"You...you, said..." she felt her eyes burning, "you loved me." The words out of her mouth sounded even worse than when they were in her head. She felt so naked, so ashamed that she'd been affected by something so insignificant.

The Doctor mirrored her expression as his eyes fell from passion to pain. He'd said what? He'd said that he loved her? How stupid he was to let this happen.

Immediately he dropped his grasp on her shoulders and retreated to a nearby bench. His head dropped to his hands and he sighed deeply.

Oh, why did this have to happen? Everything was going so well. He'd put aside his ambitions and resided in the fact that she would miss his company if he were to leave. He'd accepted that and turned a blind eye on how deep his feelings for her ran. He wouldn't ask for anymore than she was willing to give.

They had a good friendship. This ruined everything. Imagine if he had told her how much she meant to him then, now he knew how she'd react. She would've walked away from him forever.

What could he do now? Tell her he meant that just as a friend? He had no way of knowing what he said.

In his deepest horrors, he saw Tom Paris having him confess his deepest desires to her in front of a room full of their friends. Reciting love sonnets like a lovesick puppet.

Oh, God, what have I done?

Seven saw the Doctor grow more distraught with every passing second. "Is it true?" She looked at him through eyes of blue flame. His gaze rose to meet hers.

He couldn't lie to her. She could tell anyway. "Yes. It's true. We've gone through so much together. We're very much the same, you and I. You've given me so much more than friendship; you've given me inspiration. You, you're incredible, Seven. You amaze me everyday with your courage and your tenacity. The way you've surpassed the odds against the life you've been given. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't see your face everyday."

"I don't know what to say."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. Now I know that you don't feel--"

"I haven't said anything yet." She sat on the bench next to him. "May I speak now?"

He grimaced and nodded.

"Doctor, I consider you a good friend. You've helped me understand the value in that. Without you I wouldn't be the person I am and for that I am grateful. I came here dismiss what I'd heard because I thought it would damage our friendship." She carefully leaned her head against his shoulder. She hoped the gesture would further convince him.

He turned to look at her and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. She looked at him as he did and tiny shocks ran down her spine.

"Doctor, would you kiss me now?" she said softly, her face not far from his. Not waiting for his answer she leaned in towards his full lips.

"Uh,mmm.." was all he got out before she kissed him.

His hands cupped her face and stroked her cheek as he deepened the kiss. He felt her fingers trailing down his arm. Incredible, he thought in the midst of more incoherent thoughts.

"In coming here I discovered my own feelings." she said after they broke contact. "Would you care to join me for dinner this evening?" She smiled at the dewy eyed Doctor.

"It's a date." He said resuming the kiss.