Chapter Text
Raffi glanced the chronometer on her PADD as she felt her stomach rumble. It was just past eleven. She opened her communicator to her text log with Seven. “Lunch?” She questioned.
She was prepared to put the communicator down and forget about it for an hour while she waited on a reply, but Seven replied within five seconds. “I’m busy. Meet me on the holodeck?”
Raffi frowned at the screen. “I’ll be there,” She replied. Seven had known the request would darken her mood, it would be pointless to pretend to be excited.
“Thank you, Raf.” Seven didn’t explain and Raffi left the conversation there. She replicated herself lunch and ate at her desk while she worked, trying to fight off the pang of grief in her chest.
‘The holodeck’ had meant the one aboard the La Sirena at 1900. They had done this dance enough times that Raffi remembered the moves. Raffi stepped onto the bridge at 1730, holding a takeout bag. Seven was in the captain’s chair running through her preflight checks. She was wearing the usual light shirt, jacket, and cargo pants that Raffi had come to expect of her. Comfortable, functional, casual, and it blended in when she was trying not be noticed on Ranger operations.
Raffi plopped gracelessly into the chair at the tactical station. “I brought dinner.” Seven wordlessly sent her half of the remaining software checks to complete.
She saw Seven grimace when she saw the remaining number of the tasks on the list. “I got bogged down somewhere. I should have handled most of these myself by now. Are you free to stay the night?”
Raffi forced herself to remain straight faced. “Yeah, I can do that. You leave in the morning then?”
“Six. Three days out to deliver medical and food aid to a mine that collapsed.”
“Do you know where you’re going after that?” Raffi didn’t know why she picked at that scab. Dinner was cooling at their feet and she hadn’t even set up her joke yet.
Seven looked over at her for the first time. There was a warning in her expression. “They did. It’s confidential, but I will be back in four weeks for the vacation we planned.” She noticed the bag at Raffi’s feet, and seemed to process the comment about dinner then and there. “I’m just as likely to puke that back up as to keep it down tonight, Raff. We talked about it last time.”
Raffi beamed at her, enjoying the confusion that Seven regarded her with. “We did. Do you remember your exact words?” She rolled her eyes. It was obvious they both remembered them. Seven made a show of checking the chronometer on her communicator even though she could pull one up on her work terminal.
“It would take a full hour to digest a meal sufficiently.” Seven echoed her own words as Raffi said them. “You came early so we could eat together.” A small smile pulled at the edges of her mouth. She held her hand out expectantly.
“I want one last meal with you. You have your rituals and I have mine.” Raffi handed her the breakfast burritos she’d wheedled out of the cook from her favorite café just off base and a bottle of orange juice. Seven unwrapped one burrito and greedily devoured it in six large bites. Raffi was just biting into her own when Seven opened the second burrito. “Kathryn doesn’t believe half of my stories involving you, you know.” She said around her second bite. “Especially that you eat like that.”
Seven glanced away from the screen. “I’m civilized enough to not eat like this when I dine with an admiral.”
“She’s told me about a few of the postings that you’ve been offered.” She wasn’t satisfied with trying to pick at just one wound tonight. “There are a few good ones. I know you want command but there’s a few science vessels looking for project leads that would be a good springboard to a captain’s chair. It’s been almost three months. You’ve got to make a choice soon.”
Seven was quiet until she finished her burrito and took a sip of her orange juice. “I told her and Picard I would make a choice at the end of our planned vacation. I’m still not sure if I’m going to take an official commission.”
Raffi didn’t press her further on the point. “I got an offer to take a position in the field for a year. It’s solo work on the edges of the neutral zone. If you decide to stay with the Rangers, we’d be closer together.”
Seven considered that. “I had hoped that joining up would bring us closer together and not further apart, but being on a ship for the next five years, we were only going to see each other on shore leave in federation space anyway.” She sighed. “You should take it. A field operation will help you get more important postings in the future.”
Raffi reached over to take her hand, beaming when Seven squeezed it. “You know they’re both going to hail you constantly for the next three days.”
Seven gave her the small half smile that she reserved for when she was feeling smug. “I didn’t tell them I was heading out.”
“You’re devious!” Raffi laughed, but she quickly sobered. “I’m moving into the apartment on base next week. It’s closer.” She didn’t have to specify that it was closer to the transporter that led to the space dock. “Maybe next time we do this, whether you’re getting on a Federation ship or this one, we do this at my place?”
Seven quirked an eyebrow. “Do you want to be investigated for domestic violence when you carry me out of the holodeck crying and bloody?”
Raffi smiled at her. “Oh, honey, that’s just a Tuesday in the senior officer’s quarters.”
They worked quietly after that, asking questions when needed, but mostly enjoying the companionable silence. When the preflight checks were finished, Raffi left tactical to stand in front of the captain’s chair. Seven looked up into her face, blue eyes analyzing her posture. Seven held out her left hand. Raffi gently enclosed it with her own and helped Seven to her feet. She started toward the holodeck, tugging Seven along by her hand. Seven followed obediently, kicking off her boots at the door. Raffi started the program labeled “Warm Up” from the holo-controls once they were inside. A single wooden chair with a cushioned seat and back with no arms appeared, with a soft flogger on the seat. Raffi claimed the flogger while Seven wordlessly started unbuttoning her own shirt. Seven settled into the chair, straddling it backwards, resting her arms on the top of the backrest and pillowing her head on her arms. She had kept her pants on but her whole back was naked, exposed to Raffi.
The more thorough warm up had been her idea, but Seven had proposed that she be the one to start the scene by flogging her. At first, she had balked at the idea of being the one to strike Seven. She liked holding her, even when Seven was falling apart at the end of an intense session, but being the one to cause the pain had been a hard pill going down. The compromise had been to use a soft flogger. Even at her full strength, the flogger didn’t register higher than a hard slap of the hand on Seven’s pain scale.
Raffi gently stroked Seven’s back with her palm. “You ready?” She asked.
“Yes, Raffi.” Seven had lifted her head to regard her with a warm smile. Raffi started off with soft strikes that Seven didn’t react to at all, and worked her way to the hardest strikes she had control over. Seven’s skin remained pale for a good twenty minutes before it started to color up with a pale pink. Seven relaxed into the chair as the flogging grew more intense and her breathing became slow and deep. She was almost asleep. Raffi stretched her burning forearm as she regarded her handiwork. Seven was slumped forward, her breath coming in deep even breaths. Raffi peeled her gloves off as she took the few steps to Seven’s side. Raffi ghosted the tips of her fingers over the skin she had just flogged raw. It was feverishly hot but Seven didn’t even register the touch.
Raffi stroked her back, drawing a sense of comfort from the strength she felt there. “Seven, honey?” Raffi prompted.
Seven roused slowly and turned to meet Raffi’s eyes. “Yes, Raffi?” She wasn’t pain drunk yet, but her eyes were clouded with the first touches of an endorphin rush. As Raffi drew near, Seven reached for her and pulled her into a slow and precise kiss.
Seven felt and tasted divine and Raffi wanted nothing more than to spend the entire evening in bed, trading those kisses until Seven had to leave in the morning. She regretfully broke the kiss when she felt the need to take a deeper breath than what she was pulling in through her nose. Seven was gazing at her with an intensity that Raffi might have found uncomfortable if it were anyone else. “Status?” Raffi questioned, finding that all her other words had dried up on her tongue.
Seven actually paused to consider before answering. She shook out her limbs, took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes in a quick meditation. “Green, Raff.” When she opened her eyes, they were clearer.
Raffi reached for Seven’s cheek, pleased when she nuzzled into her palm with a comfortable sigh. “I think it’s her turn now.” Raffi watched Seven as she said the words. Her pulse jumped with excitement but she made a show of blinking slowly and turning her head to kiss Raffi’s palm. The excitement soothed the worry bubbling in her gut a bit.
Raffi brought their lips together again in another kiss that she would trade the world for. Seven broke it this time. “Please allow me-“Seven broke off and tried again. “Can I-“She halted again, closing her eyes in irritation while she combed through her thoughts. “I would like an orgasm.” A flat statement. No questions. No begging.
Raffi had to fight the urge to kiss her again. “I will happily supply you with an orgasm.” Raffi replied, mimicking Seven’s formal and precise vocabulary. It was clear that Seven and her hookups hadn’t talked much in the last twenty years. Talking about sex was a great window into how Seven had spoken before her time in the Alpha Quadrant, Raffi reflected while she went to the wooden dresser and fetched out the gloves Seven tolerated and the lube she preferred.
When she turned around, Seven was standing patiently next to the chair, fully naked and completely comfortable. She had seen Seven naked at least a hundred times, but every time she felt her heartrate spike just a little. She admired Seven’s long legs, her muscular thighs and the bits of her lower abs that were just starting to soften with age.
Raffi tugged a glove onto her right hand as she sat down on the chair that had just been vacated, as it was the only one available. Seven settled into place in her lap, straddling her face to face. Seven’s breasts pressed heavily into her own, distracting her from the lube she was drizzling onto her fingers. She cursed softly as it landed on her knee. Seven let out a breathy laugh into her ear. Seven hadn’t fully sat onto her to allow a space for Raffi to slip her right hand into place under Seven. She grasped Raffi’s gloved wrist to tug her middle finger against the opening of her anus.
Raffi found Seven’s right hand with her left, entwining their fingers. Seven pressed her forehead to Raffi’s, their lips centimeters apart. She circled Seven’s anus with motions that had become familiar and practiced. “Always your butt, huh?” Raffi asked and Seven smiled.
“You can have the front when you take the glove off.” Raffi was certain that Seven had intended that remark to be pointed but she was panting between words. Raffi had worked the finger in just past her first knuckle and was swirling it around to relax the muscles clamping down on her. Seven slid to rest her chin on Raffi’s shoulder. “Don’t tease, Raff.” Seven had tried for serious and it had come out high, breathless, and pleading.
“Breath through, sweet heart and take it when you’re ready.” Seven slowly dropped her weight into Raffi’s lap in a controlled movement, breathing through the discomfort as she swirled her hips. Inch by ponderous inch, Seven pressed the finger through her stiff muscles to rest against its third knuckle. Raffi felt her begin to sweat. Seven shuddered and let out a pained exhale, but Raffi could feel the warm gush of arousal onto her wrist. Raffi kissed the tight muscles at the base of Seven’s neck to draw her attention from the ache before beginning to ease the finger in and out. Seven’s breaths hitched into little involuntary moans as she relaxed into and around Raffi. “We’re going to have to teach you patience.” Raffi chided lightly. Seven just blinked at her, pretending to be ignorant of the offense she had committed.
Seven was feverishly hot to the touch and warmer inside, the cool metal of the implants was a welcome relief in the places where they pressed against Raffi’s skin. She could taste the salt of Seven’s sweat where she was kissing her neck. Raffi picked up her pace incrementally, savoring the whimpers, moans, and occasional whine she drew from Seven. She let Seven grow impatient, her brow furrowing as she rocked onto Raffi’s finger and realized it was no longer enough. “Raffi…” Seven’s voice was soft. “I require- “
Raffi interrupted her. “More?” She asked. Seven’s chin dug into her shoulder as she nodded. “How many?”
Seven turned her head to rest her cheek on Raffi’s shoulder. “Three.” Seven groaned the word directly into her ear. The thick husky affect of Seven’s voice set Raffi alight. Her clothes were suddenly a prickly and unwanted barrier between her and Seven’s soft and warm flesh. Raffi could just make out Seven’s lips pulling into a loose smile. “I love how worked up you get when I do that.”
Raffi responded by bringing her ring and index finger to rest against Seven’s entrance. “You’re so beautiful.” Raffi replied instead of indulging Seven’s attempt to speed things along. “Now lift up and take what you asked for.”
Seven worried the corner of her mouth in Raffi’s peripheral vision, but she followed the direction. Raffi repositioned her hand so Seven had the option to pull herself up and away from her fingers if it all became too much. Seven lifted herself up, putting her weight onto her heels. She braced her hands on Raffi’s shoulders, disentangling Raffi’s left hand from her right to do so. She was radiant from this angle, head tipped back, throat exposed, but just out of Raffi’s reach. Raffi settled her left hand onto Seven’s right hip, fingers seeking the implant there. Seven’s brow furrowed as she pressed experimentally down against the bunched fingertips. She got as far as the first inch. Raffi felt Seven cramping around her, could see her abs flexing. Her shoulder flared with a sudden pain and she realized it was Seven’s right hand clamping down on her in a rare loss of composure. The fingers on her left hand were fluttering, as if keeping that hand in check was more of a mental priority for Seven. “Raffi, please.” Seven distress was clear in her voice.
“Hey.” Raffi got her attention with a word. Seven looked guiltily down at her, still trying to circle her hips appropriately to make her body surrender. “Don’t you dare start begging. You tell me what you need.”
Seven swallowed a whimper and nodded. Her voice was even thicker now. “Oh, fuck.” Raffi was trembling with the effort of staying still. She knew what Seven needed and it was torture not to give it to her. Seven simply buried her head in Raffi’s neck again, making plaintive self-pitying noises. She trusted her whole weight to her heels and dropped her hands to grip the seat of the chair. Raffi realized a second too late what her plan was.
Seven set her whole body weight to bear against Raffi’s fingers. Raffi felt all of the cramping and spasming. The chair creaked under Seven’s grip. It was uncomfortable around her fingers, the tight contracting muscles threatened to snap her delicate finger bones. Raffi kissed Seven’s throat and stroked her hip implant, doing anything she could to help ease the fallout of Seven’s foolish decision. Deprogramming all the drivel that the holo-novels had taught her was proving to be months of work. The biggest hurdle was the begging. Seven had confessed that she hated it after a long session where Raffi had made her beg for every movement of her fingers, but it was the first place that Seven’s mind went to when she was in sub space. Apparently Seven had decided that it was better to suffer than to try and express what she needed without asking or begging for it.
Seven had been silent while she worked herself down Raffi’s fingers, but she was fully seated on Raffi’s third knuckles she let out a series of ragged moans. Seven went boneless against her. “Seven, honey?”
Seven had to turn her head to reply audibly. “Fuck me.” She said in a harsh, nearly teary tone.
“I plan to sweet heart. Status?” They could talk about it later, when Seven wasn’t still cramping from the mistake.
Seven repeated her earlier process of taking a breath and wiggling her various body parts before replying, “Green,” in that same just shy of teary tone.
Raffi fluttered her fingers experimentally. Seven quaked with pain and pleasure before returning to her boneless slump. Raffi didn’t feel the added slickness that would indicate that Seven was bleeding. Raffi eased her bunched fingers out a few centimeters and eased them back in. Seven responded with a hissing exhale, but she resumed the subtle rocking that worked Raffi into and out of her in tiny increments. Raffi stilled. She followed Seven’s lead, keeping her movements subtle. Raffi let herself enjoy the moment, savoring the places she was skin to skin with Seven, the nearly searing hot temperatures inside of her, the slick, smooth flesh of her rectum. She could hear Seven’s heartbeat and feel her shuddering, desperate, gasping breaths lengthen into moans.
The last of the cramps subsided within a minute and Seven opened for her. This was the most open Seven had ever been for her. Raffi wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. She started fucking Seven in long languid strokes, enjoying the different sounds she could draw from her just by varying the length and strength of her strokes. It took a few minutes, but eventually Seven was able to rock back into her hand far enough to take the entire length of her fingers in one stroke. Seven was a shuddering, whimpering, sweat soaked mess on her lap. “Ah, Raffi!” Seven keened and pressed back to fully seat Raffi’s fingers inside her. Raffi growled with pleasure at the familiar feeling of Seven clenching around her as her orgasm began. She let Seven ride her through it before she eased her fingers out. She caught Seven’s disappointed whimpers at suddenly being empty and swallowed them in a kiss.
“I know sweet heart.” She murmured against Seven’s lips as she pulled her glove off. She let Seven bask in the post orgasm haze, and requested a warm rag from the computer. She cleaned the lube from Seven’s anus after she wiped the excess arousal from Seven’s inner thighs and outer folds. Raffi’s pants were a mess from her own arousal and the puddle Seven had made in her lap. “How’re you feeling?” Raffi husked in Seven’s ear. “You need fixed up so it doesn’t mess with the scene?”
Seven shook her head after she considered the offer. “It’s a different type of pain and I like the ache.” Raffi carefully stroked the overly warm skin of Seven’s back experimentally. Seven closed her eyes and pressed back into her fingers. Raffi resumed stroking the skin around Seven’s hip implant, watching her eyes crack open. “Can you do that during?” She asked. “It’s grounding when I approach my limits.”
Raffi responded by kissing Seven’s chest, ignoring the flood in her own pants and her growing need. She despised the holo-program in that second and for a few petty seconds after. Seven was leaving her and the only orgasm she would get was from her own hand after she tended to Seven. Raffi squeezed Seven’s muscular ass in her palms and allowed herself a few breaths with her head buried between Seven’s breasts before she pulled herself together. “Put your pants back on. She doesn’t get to see how wet you are.” It also protected Seven’s ass. She’d had to dermally regenerate a few places where the hologram had dipped lower than agreed as part of a ‘margin of error’ Seven had programmed in.
Seven rose and pulled the loose-fitting green cargo pants back on after she rose from Raffi’s lap. Raffi padded from the chair to the holo-controls. She selected a program that Seven had titled ‘Diana’ but she looked over Seven before she enabled it. “Status?”
Seven returned her gaze. “It’s green, Raffi.” She pushed the button. The room that materialized was entirely different this time. It was a sun lit room with walls constructed of stone with a view of a tall mountain range through the windows. The furniture was still all sex and bondage apparatus, but the sex toy shelves had been replaced with more exotic art. The center piece of the room was a large leather seat with a back that sat a few inches above the floor. Raffi ignored the tall, dark-haired woman standing a few feet away. She took her place on the seat with her back resting against the fine supple leather and her legs extended straight in front of her. Seven had assured her that the margin of error didn’t include Raffi as an accidental target. Seven straddled her lap again, thighs on either side of her thighs, knees resting against her hips on the wide seat. Seven folded her legs under her, her ass settling a few inches above her heels.
The room smelled of leather, latex, and whiskey. Seven leaned in heavily against her. Once again, they were pressed breast to breast. Seven set her hands on the supple handholds on the back of the modified whipping bench. She dipped her head and kissed Raffi’s neck, then her sternum in familiar soothing kisses. “I can smell your arousal. Do you require an orgasm?” She was entirely serious with her offer. Raffi had to close her eyes against the intensity of Seven’s gaze.
“Don’t tease me, Seven.” She put her hands on Seven’s shoulders. “Lean into me. You’ll cool down too much if we stop to get me off.”
Seven’s brow furrowed. “I wasn’t teasing.” She almost looked hurt. “It would take me five minutes. If you don’t fight me.”
Raffi sensed that this would quickly derail into an argument that wouldn’t give anyone an orgasm or get anyone the release they were looking for. “The offer was kind, Seven. I’m sorry I brushed it off, but tonight is about you. You give selflessly often enough that you deserve to be the center of attention today.” Seven settled into place easily enough. Her forehead rested on Raffi’s shoulder. Raffi had her left hand on Seven’s right hip, the other resting on Seven’s left thigh. “Computer, start program.”
The dark hair woman came to life. She was wearing a tight black leather boddice to match her pants and boots. It matched her whip as well. “You brought your friend back again?” The hologram addressed Seven.
Seven started to turn to look but Raffi caught her chin to drag her back to position. “Yes, mistress.” Raffi remained placidly in place. She found the title and its accompanying pretense ridiculous, but this was for Seven. She wasn’t going to scoff at Seven’s rituals after she had worked so hard to earn the trust to join them.
Raffi watched the woman stalk closer, feeling Seven melt into her with each loud step. Raffi kept her attention on the coiled whip. The woman stopped a foot behind Seven. She gently caressed Seven’s mid back with the leather coils. Seven shuddered with anticipation. “You’re always so eager.” The woman said it with a warmth that Raffi envied. “You’re going to be very good today, aren’t you?” She let the whip drop halfway to its full length. She kept the tail tucked against the handle to use the doubled over length of the whip to tap slowly and suggestively between Seven’s shoulder blades. “How many do you think you’ve earned today?”
Seven inhaled with excitement and pressed into Raffi at the word ‘earned.’ Raffi still thought that the set up was a little too theatrical, but she appreciated the effect it had on Seven. “Seventy-five.” Seven’s answer was confident. The woman was silent, her suggestive tapping grew harder and then transformed to into small lashes every few strokes when the woman flicked her wrist just so.
Seven was barely breathing. Not even the harsh lashes drew a flinch or shudder from her. Raffi bit the inside of her cheek, smiling a bit. She had gotten caught up in the pretense for all her misgivings. Despite how it was being presented, this was still a warm up with the safety protocols engaged. The women had slowed her pace, lashing harder at Seven every five seconds. She was moving her target around the muscled expanse, spreading a darker flush of red over Seven’s skin. “Seventy-five?” She took a step back, lengthening the tail by slipping her palm a foot up the whip’s length and taking the end of the tail with her. “You barely made it to fifty last time.” The woman was taking silent steps backwards between strokes, her whip growing longer with each strike.
The woman was gentle with her first full length stroke, it made a harsh thump against Seven’s left side, and Seven breathed out a contented sigh. “I can handle it.”
“Computer disable safety protocols.” Raffi broke her silence, smiling at the tremor she felt in Seven’s arms. The woman didn’t acknowledge the command. She started winding up for her second full length strike. “Computer, pause program.” The woman froze. Raffi felt Seven’s lips on her neck before she had time to form words. She let Seven run the kisses up to her lips before kissing back fiercely, slipping her hands into Seven’s pants to grip her ass and pull her harder into her pelvis. Raffi thrust up with her hips. The force and friction tore a moan from Seven. Seven pressed down into her and Raffi wanted to fuck her all over again, scene be damned. Instead, she settled herself back into place and broke the kiss. “Status?” She asked.
Seven returned for another kiss, making a disappointed noise when Raffi turned her head away. “Green.” She answered, dipping her head to press kisses to Raffi’s neck again. She brought her hand to Raffi’s hip and squeezed. “Status?”
Raffi let their lips meet again while she assessed. She felt wonderful, Seven was radiating pleasure and contentment. It was a true honor to be trusted to watch Seven choose to submit to someone else in a way that there was no sexual gratification. It was just Seven and the whip. To have been granted control over the scene was even more touching. Seven could handle herself, Seven knew her limits, and this scene was intended to push them, but she wanted to watch Seven grapple with the challenge. She didn’t like causing pain, but on this side of the equation, being the one to hold Seven and keep her together in the face of the sadistic mistress hologram, she felt at home. “Green.” She answered when Seven broke the kiss to regard her. “Computer resume program.”
The woman finished the movement and the tail lashed over Seven’s back. The sound was the same but it left a long purple welt along Seven’s left shoulder blade. Seven melted even further into her. The hologram was winding up again. “You had better start counting these is you intend to make it to seventy-five.” Seven drew in a breath to begin the count.
“One.” She said before the next stroke landed. Her voice was strong and calm. “Two.” Seven continued in the same even tone as the whip raised a welt along the other shoulder blade. Seven counted steadily as the woman carefully covered her back in long dark welts, the whole way to twenty-five. Raffi might have been worried for Seven, as her skin was mottled nearly black, but she sounded strong and present as she counted. She wasn’t even trembling as the lashes landed. Raffi wondered if Seven’s pain tolerance was extreme enough that this was an intense massage for her.
Raffi was startled when the next strike came fast and hard a few inches from her face. Seven flinched, blurting a panicked, “twenty-six,” in the following second before the next stroke landed an inch from the last, toward the top of Seven’s right shoulder blade. “Twenty-seven.” Seven exhaled the number. The handles on the bench creaked, Seven going taut as twenty-eight landed on her spine. Twenty-nine and thirty were along the top of her left shoulder.
Raffi smelled the blood welling over the thin gashes and looked to see it begin to clot and scab immediately. She glared at the woman as she landed the next five hits in a line just a little lower than the last five. The strikes were compact, leaving a palm sized bruise with a weeping cut at the center. She overlapped the bruises to form a continuous thick line across Seven’s skin like she was drawing a grid. Around forty, Seven began to tremble with the first rush of endorphins, but it helped her relax again. The fiftieth stroke landed just next to Seven’s hip implant. She let out a sob of pain and pleasure.
The woman made a show of switching whips. She gathered up the one she was using and took it to the rack to exchange for a heavier one. Raffi dug her thumb into the skin above Seven’s ocular implant, trying to calm her quick shuddering breaths. “Status?” Seven pressed into her thumb and shoved her bruised hip into Raffi’s fingers. She didn’t answer. Raffi pressed into her hip implant. “Status?” She repeated.
“Fuck!” Seven cursed and rolled her hips, her composure was nearly entirely gone. She was shaking, sweating, her eyes sheeted with unshed tears. “It’s… it’s…” She groped for words. “Green. All clear. Good.” She was throwing out every word she knew that would continue the scene. “I’m almost there, Raffi.” Her voice was thick, almost gravely. She saw Seven swallow and start to form the word ‘please’ on her lips.
“None of that, baby.” Raffi murmured. “You don’t have to beg anymore. Remember to breath, I’m here for you, but you have to breath, nice and slow.”
The whip cracked into the ground next to the woman’s feet. Seven fell silent and tried to still herself. Fifty-one was a huge slash across the line of bruises just above the waistband of Seven’s pants. It was nearly perfectly straight and immediately wept a stream of blood down onto Seven’s pants. Seven whimpered. Fifty-two crossed the next line of bruises, fifty-three made a line at the bottom of her shoulder blades, fifty-four cut across the center of them. Fifty-five finished the lines across the top of her shoulder blades. Five open, raw, wide wounds seeped blood down Seven’s back.
Seven rocked minutely into Raffi to ground herself. She was whispering a litany, some Vulcan prayer that Raffi half recognized, trying to control her breathing against the harsh sting of the new whip. Seven had fallen apart at this point last time. This time she used the moment that the woman took to grab a drink from a glass of water to recenter. Raffi stroked Seven’s cheek and throat, almost enjoying the feverish warmth of flushed and soaked skin. Raffi stroked over her sides, her ribs, and settled both hands on Seven’s hips.
The endorphins were fading. Seven’s breaths had hitched into shaky sobs. The glass thudded softly to the table. Tears spilled onto Seven’s cheeks as the woman cut five evenly spaced lines vertically across her back to form a proper grid. Seven sobbed the numbers into Raffi’s shoulder in croaked and broken tones. Next, she restarted the grid, laying her strokes over the exact lines she had struck the first time. Seven convulsed with each lash, her blood showering out in droplets as the whip rebounded and cast the gathered blood out of the gash and off its tail. Raffi jammed her fingers hard into the spot on Seven’s hip implant that made her thrash. Seven let out a ragged whine. The wood of the bench creaked under Seven’s left hand. “Seventy!” She lifted her head from Raffi’s shoulder to speak the word clearly. The woman smiled.
“You’re so brave and strong today. You’ve earned something special today. I’ll give you an extra lash, but you don’t have to count.” Raffi hated her even more. Seven made a choked noise but settled as easily as she could with her trembling limbs and hard wracked breaths.
Raffi counted in her head. Seventy-one was a long stroke from Seven’s left shoulder across the width of her back diagonally to the middle of her rib cage. The skin was ripped away by the whip in a deep bleeding gash. Seven bit down on Raffi’s shoulder to muffle her scream. Raffi had to swallow her own whine of pain. Seventy-two crossed the other gash, carving a deep red X into Seven’s flesh. Seventy-three fell over the exact wound of seventy-one, laying it in deeper. Seventy-four similarly deepened the other stroke of the X.
Seven tried to gather her trembling legs under her to rise, but Raffi gripped her hips to hold her in place. “Computer pause program.” Seven collapsed fully against her, completely undone. She shook and wept openly into Raffi. “Seven, honey?” Seven needed a full minute to calm herself enough to look at Raffi without breaking down into sobs and tears. “Status?” She couldn’t tell if Seven was over the edge or on the brink of it anymore. She’d never tried to bolt before. She had always used the safe word when the pain pushed her too far. Raffi felt her stomach clench with horror as she realized that Seven might not be able to use any of her words in this state. They hadn’t planned for that. In the old program, if Seven stopped counting the program would discontinue after the second uncounted lash and move into aftercare as a failsafe. They had built this program on the assumption that Raffi could read Seven well enough to safe for her if she lost her speech or her ability to choose. “Seven? Can you squeeze my shoulder?” Seven’s right hand moved in a shaky but assured motion to her shoulder to squeeze it. “One squeeze for green, two for red.” Seven gave a firm single squeeze, her face still buried into Raffi’s other shoulder. Her sobs had quieted from the wracking, lung shaking variety to a simple heaving kind that shook her shoulders.
Raffi resumed the program and the last two lashes landed heavily and sickeningly hard into the grooves of the last four. Seven would have that X indelibly scarred into her shoulder blades if she didn’t have the wounds treated. Raffi dismissed the woman, but left the room intact. She held Seven while she sobbed and shook, letting her get every tear she needed to shed out of her system.
After she was able to calm herself, Raffi convinced Seven to lie on her stomach on the whipping bench. Seven insisted on keeping a hand on Raffi’s body, desperate for continued physical contact. Raffi pulled the medical supplies from a nearby shelf, though it was just a little too far away. “Raffi, please, come back.” Seven whimpered when she stepped just out of Seven’s reach to go to the shelf. Raffi hummed assurances to Seven while she decided which supplies to grab.
“I’m coming back baby, just hold out for a few more seconds.”
She heard the groan of the whipping bench before she felt Seven drape over her like a human blanket. “Not fast enough.” Seven murmured into her shoulder, her voice was hoarse and broken from her weeping. Raffi smiled and turned her head to kiss Seven’s cheek. With Raffi promising to stay with her, Seven went easily back to the bench. She nuzzled into the supple leather while Raffi knelt over her, squeezing Seven between her knees. She stuck mostly with the cleaning and sanitizing gels. Everything else was more medical care than they had agreed to.
Despite the volume of blood, Seven’s two largest wounds had scabbed over and everything else was healing in tight little lines. Her bruises had started to fade already. The nanoprobes really were a force to be reckoned with. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to get Seven cleaned up and out of her pants. The other woman shook when she tried to walk unsupported, so Raffi let Seven drape over her as they went back to Seven’s quarters. She was naked, bloody, and on the verge of a collapse, but still eagerly nuzzling and kissing at Raffi’s neck the whole way to the bed.
Raffi got Seven dressed in clean underwear and a pair of sweats and replicated her a mug of tea to sip. Seven sat hunched, leaning into Raffi while she sipped the tea. When the mug was finished, she set it aside and gazed at Raffi with her impossibly blue eyes. They had cleared somewhat.
Seven smiled and pushed Raffi back onto the bed, on her back. She glanced wordlessly, suggestively, down at her thigh and the space between Raffi’s. Raffi almost melted at the hunger in her gaze. “You really are the best, but not tonight, baby.” Seven frowned, eyes narrowing with her disappointment. “Kiss me while I take care of it myself.” She accepted that answer easily enough. She laid down on Raffi, leaving enough space for her hand to slip between their bodies and brought their lips together.
Raffi felt Seven’s fingers close around her wrist loosely as she slid her fingers into the waistband of her pants. Seven was slipping out of her submissive headspace into a dominant one. They were learning to navigate this particular transition. Seven was still fragile and prone to drop coming out of the submissive headspace, so challenging her dominance was tricky. Raffi still had a harder time changing lanes and allowing Seven to have the leading role. “You’re going to keep that there?” Raffi asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. Seven nodded and pressed their lips together again.
It didn’t take Raffi long to get herself off, she had decades of practice and she was still wet from fucking Seven. She found her clit and started to drag her fingers over it in slow deliberate circles. “A real orgasm Raffi, not just a quickie to take the edge off.” Seven very gently changed the motion and pace of her fingers. She was now dragging her fingertips up and down over her clit at a slower pace. Raffi recognized it as the rhythm that she guided Seven into when she was riding her thigh. She maintained the new pattern even when Seven stopped guiding her wrist. Seven pulled back, settling her weight on her elbow. “That’s it, right like that. Just like when you let me fuck you.”
The praise shot through her, she shuddered involuntarily, her fingers stuttering out of rhythm for a few breaths. Seven tilted her head, meeting Raffi’s gaze, her lips turning down slightly. Raffi forced herself to maintain eye contact while she resumed the proper motion. Seven’s frown faded. “You’re beautiful.” She murmured.
“I’m holding up my end of the bargain, but I’m not getting kissed right now.” Raffi’s voice was ragged to her own ears. She’d been ignoring her own need all night and now that she was actually taking care of it, heat thrummed up through her core. Seven leaned down to press a kiss to the skin next to her ear, using her grasp on Raffi’s wrist to speed up the strokes. “Tease.”
“You know you would have come already if you’d have let me do it.” Seven murmured into her ear, but she didn’t make a move to slid her thigh between Raffi’s. “You like my thigh more than your fingers.”
Raffi didn’t have a witty reply to that. “Sometimes it’s worth it to go back to your roots, helps you remember how good you have it now.”
Seven settled her lips onto Raffi’s and she melted into it. Her hips jerked into her fingers as she caught the sensitive part at the top of her clit and circled it. She felt Seven’s smile at the short moan that escaped into her mouth. Seven pulled back and Raffi chased her lips. “Breathe, Raffi. Focus on yourself. You’re so thoughtful and loving to me, give yourself that privilege.” The heat was building up inside her too quickly. Her clit ached under her fingers, it was almost too much, it was becoming too much with each stroke back and forth over her. She bit her own lip, she needed Seven. Seven seemed to read her mind and brought their lips together for a chaste kiss, pecking Raffi’s lips in quick succession. “Slow down.” She didn’t use her grip on Raffi’s hand to force her to slow, but Raffi followed the direction. “Slower, slower, there.” The ache was manageable, the heat no longer threatened to consume her.
It took a few minutes for her find the correct motion to build herself up slowly instead of the usual quick small orgasm that she used to take the edge off when she got too worked up. Seven kept her promise and kept kissing her through, only pulling back long enough to murmur directions. Eventually Seven released her wrist to tangle a hand in her hair. When Raffi started to buck into her own hand, whimpering into Seven’s mouth, Seven pressed her weight down onto her hand. The added weight pressed the fingers harder into Raffi’s clit and forced another layer of intensity to the release. Raffi was breathless and dazed for a few moments afterwards. “You make everything better.” Raffi said as she withdrew her hand from her pants and offered her arousal soaked fingers to Seven. Seven eagerly took them into her mouth to clean them. “You’re way too hot.” She murmured, slapping Seven’s thigh gently. “Now let’s get you into a position you can sleep in.”
Raffi convinced Seven to lay down on her front with her back completely uncovered. Raffi spent what felt like hours kissing all the marks and uneven ragged edges of the wounds themselves. Seven made pleased noises at her until her breaths became deep and she drifted off to sleep.
Raffi set an alarm for 0400 so they could have breakfast together and curled up on her side, tossing a leg over Seven’s to get as much contact as possible between their bodies.