Chapter Eight: Curiosity

_{© Lady Owl}


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Heather sat at the kitchen table once again while Neelix was busy preparing a tray full of several different types of food items for her. Because Neelix didn't want to waste too much, he decided to prepare small sample portions and only a few at a time. He also included some of his own favorites so that if she didn't like it, he'd be more than happy to finish it for her.

She watched him curiously as he set the tray down in front of her and looked down at it with a slight disappointed look on her face; nothing on the tray even looked remotely familiar to her. She looked to him as he sat down beside her, seeing her expression and slanted his mouth in response. There was nothing more he could do and he was trying his best...

Neelix moved his arm around her and gave her a soft hug to encourage her to try and she slowly reached up to the tray and picked out an item that looked appealing to her. Neelix smiled, hopeful for it was one that he liked, too. He watched as she took a small bite, not sure how she could even really get a good taste of it with so little put in her mouth. She licked her lips and looked up to him, smiling and nodded her head in approval as she set it back down on the tray.. only she moved it away from the others. He raised his brows curiously, wondering why exactly she had separated it.

Heather picked up a second, tasted it and made an odd face as she set it back down on the opposite side of the tray, away from the first, also separating it from the original group. "Oh, I see.." Neelix said with a smile. He watched her do this with each item on the tray, and as he had expected, her dislike pile was larger than the other. She simply didn't like most of them.

He sighed as he stood and got her a small plate so that she could set the three that she did like on it, while he took the tray from her and set it on the back counter. He began to prepare a small severing size of each of the items she liked so that at least for now, she'd have something to eat. There were still several more items that he could slowly introduce to her over the next few days so he wasn't too concerned about finding more things she'd enjoy, but... there was one more item that he had been waiting on to finish cooking... though he was kind of suspicious of it as he took it out and put it on a seperate plate.

"What the hell.. is this?" Neelix looked disgusted as he hesitantly set the plate down in front of her, not sure it was even safe for her to eat this, or if he even wanted her to... but he didn't look as disgusted as Heather. Her nose was all scrunched up as she reached out with a food utensil and poked at the moving mess on the plate. She promptly shoved it away. He was relieved that she was as grossed out by it as he was. He couldn't imagine serving that to her on a regular basis.

The front door suddenly opened and they both looked over to see Veeno walk in, smiling. It's like he lives here... Heather thought to herself.
"Aww you started the party without me?" He asked as he reached down to the plate and grabbed a small handful of the moving food to take a bite. Heather looked away, coughing as Neelix cringed, "How...do you eat that?!"
"What?" Veeno said, his mouth still full.
"Ah... nevermind..." Neelix picked up the plate and shoved it at Veeno.. "Just take it... it's stinking up the whole place..."

Veeno looked confused as he sat down at the table, joining Heather as Neelix set down her plate of food for her, only problem was, Heather had lost her appetite as she watched Veeno eat the nasty food.

"There is also a tray on the back counter if you want any of it, " Neelix said to Veeno, "She didn't like any of those, either."
"Nice, thanks." Veeno said between bites.
"So why are you here, anyway?" Neelix asked.
"What, I'm not allowed to visit you anymore?" Veeno joked and Neelix just rolled his eyes as he turned back to the counter to clean up, "I just meant that since we went out this morning, I didn't expect to even hear from you for the rest of the day, let alone expect you to stop by unexpectedly."   
"Well I got out of work early and didn't have anything else to do, besides I was curious about that thing you bought for Heather." Veeno replied.
"Yeah well, it's broken so I don't know what you expected to see."
"You're a frickin mechanic, why don't you fix it for her?"
"I intend to but I didn't expect to do it today."
"Can I see it?" Veeno asked, curiously.
"Depends, it's Heather's, maybe she doesn't want you to." Neelix replied slyly and Veeno gave him a dirty look as Neelix walked over to Heather and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him as he pointed to her lap, knowing that since she got the item, she hadn't let it out of her sight. She looked down to see what he was pointing at and hesitantly picked up the device and handed it to him. Neelix held out his hand to Veeno, showing Heather that he wanted to give it to him and waited for a response from her. She made a face but slowly nodded and Neelix handed it over to Veeno.

"I'm not surprised she's clinging to it like that. It's probably one of the objects I saw that came in with her when they sold her to us. The little space rats usually sell the extra junk they collect off in the markets for extra profit so it's safe to assume it probably belongs to her... only thing is, what were the chances of actually coming across it again? And if there are any more things of hers out there..." Veeno said as he took the device from Neelix.
"Well.. it is broken and with that jerk of a merchant and his outrageous prices.. I doubt it would have sold any time soon." Neelix replied.
"Nah, he was just looking for a sucker like you to come along." Veeno smirked at him as he looked down at the object.
"If she does have more stuff out there and all these merchants keep taking advantage of me every time I try to get it back for her.. I'm gonna be broke..." Neelix sighed.

Heather watched Veeno as he carefully examined it, running his finger along the crack that covered most of the screen. "Strange little thing... do you think you could replace the screen?" Veeno asked. "I think so, but at the moment I'm more interested in just knowing what it does, If it's safe." Neelix replied.
Veeno laughed, "What do you think? She was carrying around a weapon?" He said as he turned it, examining the rims and noticed an outlet on it, "Looks like it can plug into something... but you'd have to make a custom receiver to make it compatible."

Heather could see that Veeno seemed as confused about the object as Neelix had been and reached her hand out to him, wanting it back. Veeno smiled and placed it gently in her hand, watching as she brought it close. She looked sad as she ran her own finger over the broken screen.

"Why don't we try it now? You have plenty of supplies around here." Veeno asked.
"Well... alright." Neelix said and carefully took the item from Heather, and then walked over to his console and sat down in the large chair in front of it. "You see that large tangled mess of wires over there? Can you manage to bring me one?" Neelix asked Veeno and he got up from the table and walked to the wires where he struggled to get one free. Heather got up, too and slowly approached Neelix as he lowered his goggles over his eyes, looking at the device more intently. She was curious what he was doing.. but was also afraid that he might break it even worse... Not wanting to get in his way, she approached him with hesitation, but as she came close, without even looking at her, Neelix extended his arm around her and brought her close, bringing his hand back to hold the device as she was tucked snugly in the crease of his arm.

As Veeno came over holding a single wire, Heather turned her head to the side to look up at him. "You should really untangle those..." He said with an annoyed tone.
"Can you also get me my tools and pull up a crate for Heather to sit on."
"So demanding..." Veeno said in a sarcastic, but joking tone and brought Neelix a heavy metal container and then pushed up one of the large crates close to Neelix's chair. Veeno himself sighed as he rested an arm on the back of Neelix's chair, watching with interest as Neelix cut the wire and frayed the individual strands inside. Heather carefully moved from Neelix, not wanting to be in the way and sat up on the crate Veeno had provided for her, leaning forward so she could watch Neelix work, wondering what he was even trying to do.


"This stubborn thing..." Neelix muttered. He had been attempting to make a proper connection for a good twenty minutes and finally got a signal on his console. He stared at the screen seeing nothing but alien gibberish and sighed, "It's just displaying code... the computer doesn't understand it anymore than we understand Heather...the good thing is, I think there is enough here that the computer can make a proper translation and set up a program that could run it, but I'm not that good with computers to know for sure." Neelix said.
"Well I can't help you there, I'm just average with them." Veeno replied as Heather peered over at the alien screen. She felt some excitement swell inside herself as she finally thought she understood what they were doing, seeing the familiar text displayed all across the monitor. English words mixed with computer code. It was always a bit odd, yet interesting, seeing code and the inner workings of things, but.. if they were trying to connect it to their computer because the screen was broken, and it was only displaying code, how long would it take to fix that? And why not just fix the screen?

She stood up from the crate and went to Neelix, moving her hand up and gently touched the screen while looking at him. He tried to smile and nodded his head in response, "I know, Heather.. I'll fix it for you, I promise. I just wanna see what's on it first." He said to her as he moved his arm back around her and tugged against her, wanting her to climb up on his lap with him. She was hesitant at first, but carefully sat against his thigh and he gently pulled her back onto him and brought her head against his chest.

Unfortunately, there was nothing else he could do for now except wait and hope this would actually work... but Heather was already feeling tired. It had been a long and stressful day and she felt herself drifting off in his arms. Neelix also felt out of it, leaning his head back against his chair as he closed his eyes just to rest them for a moment...

Veeno felt his head slowly slip from his hand and was shaken awake from what he thought was him simply dozing off... He blinked hard and looked over to Neelix, wondering how much time had passed and how long he may have been out... but he smiled to himself as he saw them both asleep together in the chair.

Thinking it better to leave, he carefully stood, trying to be as quiet as possible to let himself out, but Neelix stirred slightly in his chair, leaning his head back as he yawned deeply, "Veeno? You're leaving...?" He asked in a sleepy voice. Heather nuzzled against his chest, rousing from Neelix's movements and voice and he lowered his gaze down to her, not even remembering that he had fallen asleep here with her cuddled up against him. He smiled and caressed the side of her head, running his fingers through her soft hair.

"I don't even know what time it is.." Veeno replied as he walked over to Neelix, rubbing his eyes, "How long were we out?"
Neelix looked to his monitor in front of him to see the displayed time, but instead, he instantly noticed a flashing light on the monitor. He leaned forward to get a closer look causing Heather to suddenly wake and adjust herself from this now uncomfortable position. She looked up, seeing his head extended out over her and turned her own head to see what he was looking at. He moved his hand up and pushed his goggles back from his eyes to his forehead, squinting his eyes in amazement.

While they had slept, the computer had managed to translate some of the strange alien text and, not only that, it had set up a program to display exactly what the code was programed to show... or well, some of it. Heather smiled with excitement, seeing the familiar, though glitchy and incomplete, interface. She moved from Neelix's lap and slipped off his knees so she could stand and pointed up at the screen as she took the device from Neelix. She pointed down at the small broken screen, trying to tell him that this was what her device displayed. Neelix nodded, understanding that it was the same display, only projected larger onto his monitor. He reached up to his screen to see if he could interact with the interface and to his surprise, he was able to. The program worked smoothly as he touched one of the small, odd, fluctuating symbols on the screen.

Veeno hovered close, watching, blocking Heather's view and she made an annoyed face... but just then, a loud sound blared out of the speakers connected to Neelix's console causing all three of them to flinch back in surprise. Heather's face lit up in delight as the room filled with a familiar beat.
"It's music!" Veeno shouted over the loud sounds.
"No.. really?!" Neelix shouted back sarcastically, reaching out to turn it down, but Heather stopped him, placing her hand over top of his, smiling up at him. He stared down at her, into her wide and bright eyes. He had never seen her look so happy before.
"Well if you weren't awake before, you certainly are now!" Veeno replied happily, "It's a pretty catchy song... too bad we can't understand the lyrics."
"Lyrics..." Neelix repeated the word, his eyes looking focused as he realized something. "Do you think this is Heather's language?" Neelix asked and Veeno's eyes went wide as he stared at him, "It must be? If it really is hers..." Veeno replied.

Neelix noticed Heather nodding her head lightly to the beat of the music and talking.. only no sounds were coming out. Lip syncing, he guessed.. which just proved that it was her language if she was familiar with the song and singing along to it. He tapped against his lips as he stared at the screen and pressed another of the symbols. The music instantly stopped as a second song with a much different beat, began to play.

"I wonder just how many songs are stored on this thing.. or even what else?" Neelix thought out loud but Heather reached up to Neelix's screen and slid her finger along it as she attempted to scroll through what appeared to be a huge list... As Neelix watched, he was amazed by just how many there were... Were these all songs? "It's a storage device... " Neelix said in awe.
"Wow... I guess that thing was really worth the price tag, huh? If all of those really are songs and each one has singing in it.. of her language, you'll be able to translate her language in matter of hours!" Veeno said with excitement.

Neelix smiled. Not only had he made Heather extremely happy but this was just wonderful. He could finally talk to her. Understand her. Tell her that everything was going to be ok... and how he cared about her... how he felt. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close to hug her tightly. She seemed startled but turned herself in his arms, "Thank you." She whispered and smiled. It didn't matter that he didn't understand her...he would... and he felt excitement swell inside him at the thought as he held her close.



While they waited patiently on the translation, playing one song after another so that the translation software could pick up the sounds of her language, instead of just the written words in the form of code, which proved to be a lot more complicated, Neelix was attempting to fix the screen of Heather's storage device. He had called Stanli and asked if he had any kind of touch screens available that he could have sent to him that day. Luckily he had a few and because Neelix didn't want to take any chances that one might not work over another, he had them all delivered within the hour.

After several hours of waiting, Veeno leaned forward towards Neelix's monitor, noticing another small glowing button, "I think it's done!" He said in excitement. They both hovered close to the console and Neelix played a test sample of the supposed translated language. They both smiled as they could almost perfectly understand most of the words that were said in the test and Neelix tapped a button to begin uploading it to the station's language banks. Even if the translation was not entirely complete, their individual translation chips would upload any new words she spoke, straight into the station to be translated and integrated. But Neelix was nervous and excited at the same time. He could finally understand Heather's language and, for the first time, he would be able to speak to her and she'd understand him. Or at least, he hoped. The translation software wasn't perfect so all he could do was try.

Neelix stood and approached Heather as she sat on the crate. She looked happy and bright. He smiled down at her and reached out to her hands and softly took them in his, holding them firmly. She looked up at him, concerned, noticing that he seemed anxious. He smiled at her and parted his lips to speak.. but hesitated, wondering what he should say, exactly. She cocked her head slightly in confusion, still looking up at him, waiting to see what he was doing.

"Heather..." He finally said, "You.. should be able to understand me now." Her eyes widened in surprise as she just stared up at him in amazement. He smiled and knelt down in front of her, waiting for her response... but it didn't come. His brows were crunched up in confusion and he looked over to Veeno who simply shrugged. Had it worked? Why wasn't she saying anything... He thought as he turned back to look at her. "Please, Heather.. saying something.. anything so I know it worked..." He said in a pleading tone.

She stared down at him as she bit her lower lip and then parted them slightly. "Hi..." She nervously said in a whisper and his eyes lit up. He stood and slipped his arms under hers as he did, and lifted her up, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, Heather.. I have so many things I want to tell you..." He said as he held her close, rocking her in his arms. She felt her stomach twist with nervousness, not knowing what to say or how to feel. She had gotten so use to not being able to communicate with him that this felt like a huge leap. Neelix set her down, keeping one hand on her waist as he moved the other up to her face, caressing softly and smiling up at her. "Heather.. I want you to know that you're safe. That no one is going to ever hurt you, ok?"  He said to her and she nodded her head slowly in response just staring at him, looking lost. "It's ok, Heather.. you don't have to say anything.. I'm just so happy you can finally understand me." He said, closing his eyes and bringing her face close to his own to nuzzle her.

This was so strange.. she thought. It felt like she was meeting him again for the first time. Body language and actions were one thing, but being able to understand and speak with someone... See how they talk...how they say their words and express themselves, it was all part of learning who someone was in a whole new dimension.. and now it felt like Neelix was almost a stranger to her again, familiar but unknown... She had finally become comfortable with him.. and now this... though, she'd guessed it was to be expected even though she was beginning to think it would be impossible to ever communicate with him. She took a deep breath. This was it. She could finally talk to him. Finally ask him what the hell was going on and why she was here.

"Where... am I?" She finally asked him and he opened his eyes to look at her, feel warm excitement run through him as he heard her voice.
"Yo-.. you're on a station." He said.
"A.. space station... right...? You showed me the planet..." She asked and Neelix nodded his head slowly. "That's right." He replied, feeling some of his excitement leave him as he knew where this would lead... the truths that would finally come out...
"Why am I here?" She asked and he swallowed, glancing up at Veeno who had a look on his face, wondering if Neelix would tell her the truth or not.
Neelix breathed deep, "You... were stolen." He replied hesitantly and saw her head nod slowly. "I know... but, I mean.. why?" She asked, "Was....was it you?" She asked nervously.. wanting to know the truth but, if Neelix was the one who had done this to her, the last thing she wanted to do was anger him. Who knew what he was capable of...

Neelix looked shocked at the suggestion, "Wh-..me? Oh god.. no, no-no. I didn't do this to you Heather. I didn't steal you from.. where ever you came from." He said as he softly stroked her face, trying to show how sincere he was. She nodded slowly, feeling some relief but it only brought up more questions than answers.. "Then who? And why?" She asked.

Veeno stepped in. He could see how difficult this was for his friend and wanted to try and help. "Heather," Veeno startled her as he spoke and knelt down beside Neelix to her, "There are these aliens that... collect people. They do this so they can make a profit. It's not legal but that doesn't stop them from doing it anyway." Neelix and Veeno could see she looked horrified by this information. "They abducted you and brought you here.. so they could se-"

Neelix put his arm on Veeno's to stop him but Veeno just stared at his friend, "She should know Neelix... I know you hate it but she needs to know the truth."
Heather's eyes darted between them, "Know.. what...?" She asked, afraid and anxious at the same time. Neelix lowered his head and swallowed as Veeno continued, "So they could sell you..."
"Sell me? What do you mean?" She asked and Neelix tightened his eyes, preparing to hear the dreaded word. "Heather.. you're a slave." Veeno finally replied, staring at her to see her response. She just stared back at him and then looked towards Neelix who still had his head lowered.
She had a feeling that was what he'd say.. but she needed to hear it anyway...

"A slave..." She repeated the word and lowered her gaze to the floor, feeling her breathing become more rapid as the realization kicked in. "If...I'm a slave, who.. owns me?" She asked nervously.
"I do..." Neelix lifted his head and opened his eyes to look at her. She stared into his eyes... he looked so upset and afraid. "But I promise you, Heather... I would never, ever treat you like a slave..."
She felt her heart thumping loudly in her chest, noticing she was breathing deeply with anxiety. "Does... that mean I can't go home?" She asked, biting at her lower lip. Neelix stared back into her eyes, seeing how hopeful she still was... and knowing how he was about to crush her...
"I.. can't take you home, Heather..." Neelix replied, feeling his throat tighten up, "I don't know where your home is... but.. I'd hope that, maybe you'd want to stay here with me..."

Heather's eyes looked lost. She turned away from them and slowly walked over to the window. Neelix looked to Veeno and then back to Heather as he stood and walked over to her. "Heather...please, I can't change what has happened but I promise I'll always be here for you. I'll always take care of you. You'll always have a home with me..." But she just lowered her head, not saying a word. Neelix felt himself panicking. What was he going to do... What if she rejected him? What if she didn't want to stay here with him?

Veeno came up to Neelix and gently grasped his wrist, pulling him gently from Heather. "Neelix, it will be ok."He said to him in a firm, but reassuring tone, "She just needs some time to let this all sink in. It's a lot for anyone.."  Neelix looked over to her, seeing her close her eyes and rub her forehead as a tear ran down her cheek.
"But.. I want to be here for her..." He replied.
"And you are.. but she needs to be alone right now..." Veeno said and gently tugged Neelix to the front of his quarters. "Why not go work on you-- the ship. It will keep you busy while you let her be.." Veeno suggested and Neelix slowly nodded. "I guess, but I don't want to leave her here by herself..." Neelix replied
"She'll be ok, Neelix, it will only be for a couple hours." Veeno said as he softly patted his friend on the shoulder, "Please call me if you need anything. I'll be there..."



When Neelix came back home, it was already very late and he was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

As he entered his quarters from the back door and walked down the short hallway, he instantly looked to his left to see that she was still by the window, only she had fallen asleep. Her head pressed against the glass as the hand she had used to prop her head up had lazily slipped from her chin.

He breathed deeply and went to her, tossing his goggles to the floor beside his bed before he came up to her and ever so carefully lifted her limp body up into his arms. He tightened his eyes with emotional pain as he carried her over to his bed where he carefully set her down and crawled up beside her, carefully snuggling up behind her and holding onto her tightly.

She stirred awake, feeling him nuzzle against her shoulder and his fingers slip around her hand, holding it tightly. He was trembling which made her feel even worse... She knew he was hurt but what was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to feel... She was a slave and she could never go home... but why? Was it because he was keeping her here? No... he said he would never treat her like a slave.. but he also said he didn't know where her home was. She just didn't understand...

She closed her eyes. Her mind was so tired. So sick of thinking... the last thing she remembered was feeling Neelix grip her hand again before she fell back asleep...

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