A/n: I know what you're thinking, why is she starting a new fic when I want her to update (insert fave fic here), but this idea just came to me and I had to write it!

The room was enveloped in darkness except for the dim, unearthly glow of her alcove in the far corner but Seven didn't care, she knew every millimetre of this room, and anyway, she didn't want to see any of the familiar objects it contained, not when once pleasant memories, now laced with grief, fought their way into her brain at every opportunity. She stared blankly down at the intricate beading of the blanket on which she sat, the one she'd been given by the Ventu girl over three years before, but couldn't focus on it, her gaze instead cruelly drawn to the holo-photo which rested between her crossed legs, her thumb caressing the image of his beaming face as she tried to imagine the feel of his warm skin. The memory brought tears rather than comfort, the salty fluid again burning her swollen eyes and splashing down onto the picture, staining the beloved image as her grief did the memory. Her gut tightened in sudden nausea and she let the picture fall as anger filled her, why did he have to die? He'd promised over and over, every time she'd jolted awake from a particularly violent Borg nightmare, that he'd never leave her, that she'd never be alone, and yet here she was.

Alone. She knew the meaning of the word, both literally and figuratively, but the last few days had given it a new dimension. She'd thought those first 73 hours immediately following the shuttle crash had been the most lonely it was possible to experience, but as least then there had been hope, slim though it was, enough to sit in sleepless vigil by his biobed, at first willing him to wake, then pleading, then murmuring her goodbyes. She'd told him that she loved him, but for the first time the words seemed inconsequential, lightweight, words could not express what he'd given her but she hoped that wherever he was he'd seen her face when she'd said it, then he'd know. He always had been able to see emotions in her metal scarred face no one else could.

Thinking of everyone else made her wince, he'd been right when he'd told her that true friends reveal themselves in the worst of times, others fall by the wayside. Tom and B'Elanna had been pillars of support, and it had been Tuvok, sick as he was, who had come to her quarters on the day of the funeral, letting her lean on him without the pressure of speaking. The Captain, her old mentor, had turned out to be one of the latter. When she'd discovered that Seven had let his devastated body follow his brain into death, she'd said that she didn't deserve to be his wife and she was letting her past with the Borg stop her from giving him his only chance. That was the only time during this whole ordeal Seven's mental state had degenerated into hysterics, screaming that if the Captain hadn't been so desperate to put a probe into that wormhole he wouldn't be dead… Seven bowed her head, ashamed of how far her outburst had gone and feeling more tears slide down her cheeks. When the Doctor had told her complete assimilation may return his bodily function, for a moment she'd been wildly, selfishly, willing to risk it, but then when push came to shove she hadn't been able to do it… Her heart twisted in pain, had she loved him as much as he deserved? Had the Captain been right, had she…killed him?

She heard the doors open but didn't raise her head, even as she saw feet move towards her and heard a voice fill her unwilling ears she remained motionless. "Seven?" A sigh echoed around the room as she didn't reply, "Seven, please talk to me, you haven't been out of this room for three days…" Icheb murmured gently, staring down at his adoptive mother with concern, love and fear. When she didn't respond, the frustration that had been building up inside him exploded, "Staying in here won't bring him back!" Still nothing. "The Commander would want you to continue to live your life Seven…" He pleaded desperately.

The response got then was sudden and unexpected, her tear stained face snapped up to meet his, her voice hoarse from disuse and grief, "How can he? He can't want anything, he's dead!" she shouted at him, crying from guilt as he winced, "I…I killed him…" She choked out.

Icheb grabbed her hands and looked at her intensely, "The shuttle crash killed him Seven, what you did for him was out of love… He never would have wanted to be assimilated, not after what it did to you, and the Doctor told you there was only a five percent chance of that restoring any level of brain activity, you had to let him go…"

"I haven't! I…I can't function without him, I don't want to live…" She began to sob before suddenly her vision blurred, her body overwhelmed with dizziness and she found herself on the floor a few seconds later, Icheb kneeling over her with a tricorder in his hand.

"You fainted, I've called the Doctor, stay still while I…" He stopped midsentence, his face frozen in shock.

Seven propped herself up impatiently, "Icheb, I don't need the Doctor, I just haven't consumed enough nutrients…" In answer Icheb handed her scan results and she read them, two weeks three days pregnant.

13 years later

Seven forced Astrometrics' doors closed just as a group of the flying alien invaders, Species 5680, crashed against them, creating an ominous dent in the centre of the doors. She heard them snarl in agitation and then the bang as they began to try and break through. Quickly she fused the panels together with her phaser but she knew she only had a matter of minutes to escape. "Mama? How'd they get so close? Where is everyone?" Seven twisted around at the sound of her son's voice, the twelve year old cut and bruised but otherwise uninjured as he stared at her in fear.

Seven gulped, there wasn't anyone else, not anymore, yet she drew back from telling her terrified child that piece of information. "They're probably hiding like we are Kole…"

His clear, dark eyes saw through that. "They're dead?"

Seven winced, and then nodded grimly. "I think I may have a way to fix it…" She was stopped by a fit of coughing, blood spurting out of her mouth.

Kole only then noticed the gaping hole in his mother's back. "Mama, they hit you!"

She sighed weakly, "I know love, don't worry…" She collapsed heavily onto the console, only strength of will keeping her upright. "Remember…what I told you about the temporal plain?"

Kole nodded vigorously. "That's what they use to attack us…"

"I…I found a way to harness it, create a gateway and travel back to stop all this, they attacked before I…" She gasped in pain, unable to hide it anymore.

"Can you still do it?" Kole asked desperately.

"That's what I'm doing…" She replied softly, letting all her remaining strength drain into her hands as she dialled in the commands. Suddenly a violet light Kole associated with the attacks filled the room and formed a shimmering hole in the wall. "You have to go…" Seven whispered, "I can't let you die here…"

"Me? You're coming too! I won't go without you Mother!" he shouted angrily, making Seven smile, he only ever called her mother when he was set on something.

"You must! It's too late…" She slumped to the floor as the door began to cave, this time unable to force herself back up. "Wherever you go, don't tell them…who you are…not even me…you understand?"

He knelt down beside her, cradling her head. "I know the Temporal Prime Directive Mama, I won't. Where will I go?"

"The past…" She breathed as she stared at the portal's bright light, "It's collapsing, go!" She gave him a shove forward, "I love you, my baby…"

"I love you…" Kole sobbed as he ran blindly into the portal.

It collapsed within a minute of him going through. "Help him Chakotay…" Seven whispered as her life ebbed away and the aliens broke in, swarming the room within seconds.

"Have you ever thought of taking over Neelix's old haunt in the Mess Hall? I know, after eating the meal you made last night, that you'd do the job much better than Chell." Chakotay murmured in a wheedling tone near Seven's ear as she shyly kept her eyes focused on the Astrometrics console in front of her.

She smiled softly, "I doubt I'd continue to find cooking a relaxing pastime if I had to cater for the whole crew rather than just you. I don't know how Neelix coped."

"I don't think we'll ever know! I hope he's not poisoning Dexa with Leola root!" he laughed, then became serious again, "For our sixth date I promise you non-replicated food, made by me this time."

"The thought makes me envy Dexa and her Leola root." Seven shot back in that dead pan tone of hers he now knew to be teasing.

He was about to reply when Seven's face paled in shock. "What is it?" he asked anxiously.

"There's a temporal anomaly forming…in this room…" Seven answered, her tone disbelieving.

Chakotay hit his comm. badge, "Chakotay to Janeway…" He was interrupted by a flash of violet light, then a tunnel, similar in looks to a wormhole, formed in the wall, spewing out a single small humanoid before disappearing. The body slid down the far wall and collapsed in a heap, but they could already see that it was a young, and visibly human, boy.

A/n: I REALLY hope you like this! PLEASE REVIEW! :D