Spock's daughter

III 33

[At the Sickbay]

The captain was at the sickbay now, talking to the doctor about the recent incident. Seven had joined them, Lil as well.

"Are you saying his parents re-infected him?" Janeway asked.

"No, they merely sedated him."

"I don't understand it", Lil murmured.

"He was genetically engineered to produce the pathogen from birth", the doctor said.

"Bred to kill Borg." (Janeway)

"I didn't mean that. I meant why would they do this to their own son?" Lil whined.

Janeway took her into her arms.

"We don't know. But I assure you, we won't let it happen again.

"Is he in danger?" the young girl wanted to know.

She was scared for her mate's safety.

"I can suppress the pathogen. He'll be fine, physically."

"He's going to need help coming to terms with what's happened", Janeway said, looking at Seven, before she glanced at Lil.

"Captain, I..." Seven began.

"Use your maternal instincts. They worked before. And Lil can help to with the mating bond."

[At the Astrometric lab]

"I thought you were studying spatial harmonics", Seven said.

"My parents suggested I might have an aptitude for genetics as well", Icheb replied.

"I see. What have you learned?" Seven asked.

"This is the genome of a typical Brunali male and this is my DNA. They're nearly identical, but do you notice the differences in the third, thirteenth and seventeenth chromosomes?"

"Yes."

"My parents made microgenetic alterations so I would produce the pathogen. Quite ingenious."

"It's also barbaric", Seven shot.

"They were trying to defend themselves, their way of life. Preserve their species."

"I know how difficult it is to acknowledge your parents' faults, but what they did was wrong. You don't have to forgive them."

"Do you think they will ever forgive me?" Icheb wanted to know.

"For what?" Seven asked.

"I could have destroyed that Sphere. I failed them."

"You would have been reassimilated."

"I know, but..." Icheb began.

"But what?" Seven interrupted.

"Maybe it was my destiny", he noted.

"Maybe. In the future you may choose to fight the Borg, but you'll do it in your own way. You're an individual, and you have the right to determine your own destiny. It's time to regenerate."

"And if I prefer to continue studying?" Icheb questioned.

"It's your decision", Seven told him.

She turned and wanted to leave. But she turned back and addressed Icheb again.

"By the way, Lil is on her way here. Please. Don't make it hard for her. She is not herself since you left her and she needs your help, especially now."

The door opened and she walked out seeing Lil already at the corner.

"He's in there and waiting."

"Thanks, Seven."

The former drone walked away while the girl stepped into the Astrometric lab. She saw the teenage boy's back and gulped nervously. She had a PADD in her hands. Slowly she walked up to him and waited till he turned around.

"Lil,... I'm sorry. I know I said that I would never leave you... and I broke my promise..."

He hugged her tightly. But when he didn't feel her hugging back, he backed away, his eyes full of confusion and hurt.

"Lil?"

The girl looked down at the PADD in her hands and slowly and shakily hold it out to him. Icheb took it slowly and looked at it. His eyes widened when he saw what was standing there.

"You... you're... having..."

"No, Icheb. We. We're having a baby."

The teenager let the PADD fall to the ground and grabbed her face before smashing his lips on hers hard. The kiss was passionately and almost urgently. Icheb let go of her face, not breaking the kiss and gripped onto her waist tightly. Her hands wandered over his arms, stopping a bit under his shoulders.

'I love you.'

'I love you too. And you little baby.'

The teenager wrapped his arms tightly around her thin waist.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am. I shouldn't have gone back down. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Lil sighed.

"I didn't want to let it influence your decision. I didn't want to force you to stay with me when you wanted to stay with your family."

"Hey, you and the baby are my family. But I still can't figure why it happened. I was assimilated. And Borg don't produce children."

"Maybe you're more humanoid than you thought."

He smiled happily.

"So what do I have to expect the next nine months?"

"Ehm,..."

"What?"

"Ten months."

"That long?"

"It's part Vulcan."

"Wow. Three species in one being. Human, Brunali and Vulcan. I wonder what it will look like."

Lil opened her mouth to say something and shifted from one foot to the other.

"The doctor said that he could show us what it will look like."

"Really? Can we go now?" he asked.

"Can't we do that tomorrow?"

Icheb smirked evilly and turned Lil around, starting to tickle her at her waist. Lil laughed and tried to get out of his grip, but he tightened it more and more.

"Okay, okay. You convinced me", she said laughing.

Hand in hand, they went through the corridors of the ship, which lead to the sickbay. They found the doctor next to a console. When he saw the couple coming in, he couldn't hold back a grin.

"Curious about how it will look like, huh?"

He typed something and a three dimensional baby appeared. It was curled into a ball. The baby they were seeing had a nose like Icheb and the pointy ears Lil had.

"Beautiful", she whispered.

"Just like my Lil."

"V'Lilis."

Both males in the room were confused.

"What?"

"That's my real name."

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Okay, now I need help with the baby's name. It can be Brunali, Human, Vulcan or a mixture of all three.