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Author's Note: This story is a sequel to , or spin off from, Monkee's Advice From Someone Who Knows. It will make a whole lot more sense if you read that story first.
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Seven materialized slowly on the transporter platform. She looked around, surprised that there wasn't anyone in the room. There weren't even any transport operators. This puzzled her until she realized this was a 'receive only' platform and that no operators were necessary. Still she had expected Chakotay to be present. It was he, afterall, who had insisted she meet him in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. Perhaps he had gotten confused over her arrival time. Her transport had been delayed several times as higher priority and more urgent transports had shunted her farther and farther back in line. Starfleet with its prerogative to go to the head of line no longer applied in her case, so she had waited in line, just like everyone else. BesidesWagon Mound wasn't exactly on a commonly traveled route. Her transport operator had had to look up the coordinates in an archaic database and he had made a point of telling her he'd never even *heard* of Wagon Mound, New Mexico, much less ever had a desire to actually *see* the place before sliding the keys that sent her molecules flashing through the atmosphere.
Well, she was finally here.
Seven picked up her carryall and slung it over her shoulder. Her ingertips reached up to riffle through her new short haircut. She wasn't used to it yet. Her scalp felt oddly cold and the faint tickle of hair ends teased the back of her neck in a sensation that wasn't exactly good, but wasn't exactly bad either. Mostly it just felt strange. With one last look at the beige-painted peeling walls of the station, Seven walked outside.
She stood on the walkway with her carryall banging against her knees as her skirt fluttered in the wind. She looked like a character from one of those twentieth century television sitcoms Tom Paris used to inflict on anyone who couldn't invent an excuse fast enough. Only instead of looking awed or excited at the beginning of a new adventure, Seven looked....annoyed. The wind had picked up as she stepped outdoors and sand--the same fine, tan sand that she had seen piled up in the corners inside the transporter station--stung all her exposed skin like a thousand tiny angry wasps. Seven angled slightly sideways, keeping the blowing dirt out of her face and coincidentally taking in a long look at what she presumed was the main economic and social venue of Chakotay's--and now hers too--new home town. It was less than impressive.
Main street appeared to be composed of a dozen or more boarded up storefronts and one active establishment. At least she assumed it was active since there were nine utility ground transports and twice that many large quadrupeds--horses, Seven realized with a slight start--parked outside of it. She squinted into the sun's glare and was just able to make out the neon bright lettering in the window: Tafoya's 24-Hour Tavern. Cold Beer. Well, that at least explained the crowd.
Seven's fingers reached up to comb nervously through her hair again. She hoped Janeway's advice was sound. Her initial infatuation with Chakotay had worn off and she was having serious second thoughts about spending the rest of her life with him in a small cabin in the wilderness. She'd decided she'd be bored out of her mind. What exactly did they ever have in common? What did they have to talk about? Chakotay knew nothing about higher mathematics, quantum physics or cosmological constructs; she couldn't care less about finding her spirit guide or hearing one more highly symbolic, mythopoetic warrior tale. OK, so the sex had been pretty good so far, but afterwards there was always this awkward moment when neither of them knew what to say to the other. In the past, they always ended up talking about work or some phenomena that Voyager had experienced. Now that that option was gone and the topics for conversation had dwindled to "Um....Isn't it your turn to sleep on the wet spot?" Then there was the whole fantasy 'Adam and Eve, you woman, me man' thing that seemed to obsess Chakotay.....Yes, Seven was really counting on Janeway's advice to work. She just couldn't see herself spending her whole life in this one horse--- Seven wrinkled her nose as the wind shifted and she got a pungent whiff of horse piss and fresh manure--make that twenty horse, town.
At that moment a ground car roared up and stopped at the curb in front of Seven. At least Seven thought it must be a ground car, although the back of the vehicle had been cut away and flat bed for cargo had replaced it. Chakotay got out. He grinned at her over the roof.
"Like it? It's called a pick up truck."
Seven gave a tentative smile and nodded dubiously.
Chakotay was wearing the most outlandish outfit she had ever seen him inÑand that was saying alot since she had accompanied him on several planetary field trips and seen him attired in all sort out strange alien get- ups. He had on a tall, wide brimmed black felt hat, a red plaid shirt with white, curlique piping across the chest and on the cuffs, a brown leather belt with a silver buckle the size of a turkey platter, pointed toe boots with heels higher than anything she had ever worn, plus the tightest pairof blue denim pants she had ever seen. She wondered how he could possibly walk in them.
Chakotay sucked air through his teeth and grimaced in pain as he tried to step up onto the curb. Seven winced with sympathy and looked away as he reached down to adjust himself.
He started to reached down for her bag, then thought better of it. "Just toss your case in the back and I'll take you to see the homestead." Seven did as she was told and slid into the passenger side of the front seat. The truck took off like a phaser blast. Chakotay was leaning toward her. Seven thought maybe he wanted her to move closer, but he kept on reaching past her. He touched a button and a horrid, nasal, whining noise began pouring into the truck's cab. It sounded as if someone was drowning a cat while twanging away on a Klingon cymbaree. Chakotay grinned and patted her on the knee. "Only the best for you, Seven. That's the original Hank Williams....Senior. I've managed to find 200 hours of his old recordings."
Seven shuddered at the very thought of it, but gamely smiled back. It was time, she decided to make him notice.....She fluffed her hair, shaking her head vigorously so Chakotay could see how short her hair had been cut. She fluffed her fingers through her hair again. And again. And again.
He was still yakking on obliviously. "....wait 'til you see the house. Genuine reproduction of a homesteaders cabin. Rough hewn beams, sleeping loft up a ladder.... It even has a sod roof. And an outhouse." He sounded genuinely excited about that, though Seven wasn't sure why. "And the ranch is all set up. We can get busy wrangling right away." A hideous thought occurred to Seven. Could he possibly mean they were going to be handlling actual live animals? She faced Chakotay with a look of alarm on her face. "Surely, you don't intend to ranch cattle?"
Her fingers fluffed freneticly. She shook her hair again.
Chakotay shook his head. "Naw. There's no market for beef. Resequenced protein and all that." He leaned his elbow out the window and allowed his hand to be flung back by the rush of passing air. "Wind farming. We' re going to be wrangling megawatts and kilovolts. This is some of the best land for wind farming all of North America. It's got seasonal winds in the 50 to120 kilometers per hour range. And steady year round winds around 35 kph. Perfect." He smiled dreamily. A dust devil flung a shower of dirt and pebbles against the windscreen. Chakotay noticed her silence and turned toward her. He narrowed his eyes, studying her, as they jounced over the barren prairie landscape. "There's something different about you.....Wait. Don't tell me....."
Seven fluffed furiously.
He let out a little "ah" and tossed his arm over her shoulder. "Looks like you gained a kilo or two." His hand slid lower, over her ribs until it rested on the curve of her hip. He pinched her. "Don't worry. I won't tell and you'll work it off in no time....."
The End