DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc and Viacom. The story contents are the creation and property of Djinn and are copyright (c) 2023 by Djinn. This story is Rated R.

Too Long Too Far from Home

by Djinn

They don't know where they are. More importantly, the ship doesn't seem to know, either.

Their shuttle was taken and they were dumped with no supplies on a world quite a distance from where they'd first been captured. A world that while not toxic, is harsh. They weren't injured but they were abandoned, which is its own kind of torture—possibly even a death sentence for people not used to fending for themselves.

But these three are all inventive. Shaw in the way he can create useful tools out of seemingly nothing. Seven for her ability to hunt and find water and sense when wild weather—so common on this moon or planet, they're not sure which—is coming. And Jack for the endlessly inventive ways he has of just surviving—he knows exactly what to forage and what not to, what will poison them and what won't.

Liam made the firestarter, but Jack was the one who got the dry grass to light, who ensured they have heat in the cave they found to shelter in. Seven brings back animals to eat, but it was Liam who made the knives and spears and bow and arrow.

They have beds of leaves but they are all working on fur blankets from the pelts of the animals Seven brings back, using needles Liam fashioned and thread Jack made out of tendons—the same tendons that Liam uses for the weapons and tools. Their beds are settled around the fire so they all have equal access to the warmth.

But there are other kinds of warmth, and they've been stranded a long time and they've started to look at each other in new ways. No one uses titles anymore. No one defers to her as captain or Liam as senior officer and engineer or Jack as a new ensign with a crazy job title.

They just use names. Their mouths form them gently and with ever increasing familiarity.

They touch each other more, even though none are probably aware of that just yet. They stand close and they change in front of each other and they all know that they are each beautiful and desirable.

They all like what they see, no matter where they look. Seven prefers women and so do Jack and Liam, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want them and they don't want each other.

But they've done nothing. The ship will come. It has to come. Raffi and the others will never stop looking for them.

Right?

##

They've been here so long the seasons have changed. It's warmer, and while they still need the cave for shelter from the storms and animals—and on the hotter days, it provides a shaded place to cool down—they have more freedom to roam.

And to play.

Like the river. Seven knows the animals that hide in the shallows—has spear-hunted some of the fish—and considers it safe. There are no tracks at river's edge only, and she's never seen animals drinking there be attacked by predator fish or reptiles.

The river is deep enough in places to swim in and not so fast that it's dangerous. They strip off their clothes and enjoy actual baths, with soap Jack made from ashes and flowers and rendered tallow, rather than sponge baths.

They lie on the banks and watch the birds and the clouds until Seven tells them to return to the cave because a storm is on the way.

One day, they don't bother getting dressed as they return, none of them wanting to sleep in clothes made wet by putting them on before their skin and hair have dried. So they hurry back to the cave, laughing like teenagers—something only one of them was ever allowed to be—and ending up naked in the cave, a cave that seems so much smaller, so much more...intimate.

Seven looks at Liam first, because she's wanted him longer. For too long. Thinking it was unrequited but she's seen how hard he gets when she swims near him, when she lies near him on the bank, when he glances her way and his gaze lingers on her breasts, her hair, her face, her hips.

She looks at him now and her lips part and she says, "I need to be touched."

Liam breathes faster. His eyes dilate.

And behind her, Jack starts to put his clothes on.

"What do you think you're doing?" Liam asks gently and looks at her, because he's making a decision for them all and he hasn't even asked this woman he's wanted for so fucking long whether she wants that.

She turns to Jack and as always feels the affinity for their fucked-up childhoods. Except this young man has lived during his time away from regular life. She is not Chakotay, not taking advantage. She can see he wants one or both of them and his cock is beautiful and she is surprised that Liam swings both ways, but also glad.

She doesn't want to leave Jack out.

"Do you need to be touched or is this not something you want?" She doesn't move, because she's still his commanding officer and she and Liam are both captains—and he's so many ranks below them. This could be seen as an abuse of position.

"I want you both so badly." His voice is so soft they both have to strain to hear it.

"Then take those clothes back off, dipshit." Liam's voice is gently teasing, the voice Jack has always responded to—needing some level of care and care-free in how he's treated.

"I love Sidney."

They know it's true. They also know Sidney has not settled in, has not let him in as far as he might like. They don't know the details, but they can tell when one partner wants more than the other may be willing to give.

And none of them may ever see Sidney again.

"Okay, Jack." Seven reaches for her clothes. "Maybe tonight's not the right—"

"I didn't mean that. I just mean that I think you two love each other and are too stupid to know it. And I love her. So this isn't... It wouldn't be..."

"Fair?" Liam asks.

"I wouldn't ask you to include me just so I didn't feel left out if you two really love each other."

Liam looks at Seven, his smile a tentative one now that love is being bandied about. "Do we?"

She nods. "I made you a job, asshole."

Jack laughs because how can he not? These two will fight to their dying breath. They need a referee, not a third.

But Liam just laughs and says, "Okay, yeah we do." But then he turns to Jack and the way he's looking at him takes Seven's breath away. It's so sweet, so generous. "You're a gorgeous young man who gives as good as he gets and is as smart as either of us. Add in the bad boy and..."

Seven laughs and nods.

"Yeah? The bad boy's working for me?"

"Oh, yeah," Liam says and Seven bites her lip as she nods again.

Moving behind her, Liam says, "But I get how I should get to touch her first." He puts his arms around her, and she shivers at this first embrace, the way he's holding her, how strong he is. Then he dips down to her neck, kissing and moving her hair aside.

Jack is breathing hard. "You two are so beautiful."

"There's beauty in unity, Jack." Seven holds out her hand to him. "And a whole front of me he's not using. Or you can get behind him. Your choice."

"But I get to fuck her first."

"Liam. Jesus."

"He's just proving he's alpha. And I'm okay with that, Seven. Also he loves you and I just really adore you. He should go first. You two should go first. Let me watch. Let me decide once I see how you are. Whether this is something I want to get in the middle of."

Liam's hand dips lower. "You've done this before? And gotten burned?"

"You live while you can when you're on the run. But yeah, I have been burned. Just see if you really want me there after you've connected."

The other two immediately imagine themselves in his place, watching, knowing exactly when the energy turned, when he was no longer welcome. How much harder to get dressed in the middle than before, like he was just doing.

But he's right. They don't know how much they want each other and are just being kind—not wanting to shut him out while they get what they want.

But she thinks Liam is too good at doing multiple things at once, at forging unique relationships with so many people, not to be able to love them both.

And he thinks she's a Borg, so this should be easy. And would she have already done it if Janeway had told her and Chakotay that they were going off without her over her dead body?

She turns in his arms, kissing him, sinking down to the floor, but making sure that Jack isn't sneaking out. She can tell Liam is doing the same thing.

If both of them care this deeply, then both of them can care this deeply. She sees it on Liam's face just as much as she feels it.

"Get over here, Jack," she says. "Kiss one of us."

It actually doesn't surprise her when he chooses Liam first. Or that Liam kisses him back so sweetly, even as he reaches for her hand, holding in a way that lets her know she's not the one being excluded.

When Jack turns to her, she lifts an eyebrow and says, "Finally. Jesus."

He laughs, his face less tentative. "You're intimidating. No way I was kissing you first. And he'd have been pissed. If there's a harem, he wants to lead it."

"Actually she probably does."

She nods. "My boys."

They both frown at that.

"Fine, my guys."

Liam is pulling her down to lie between them and she lets him, swallows hard when she realizes neither of them understood how many implants she had.

"Easy," Liam says, as if reading her mind. "Isn't she gorgeous, Jack?"

"She's a goddess."

"See, Seven. Don't look worried. Look happy. We're both still hard."

"Could be for each other."

"We're not looking at each other, Seven." Jack leans in and kisses her softly as Liam begins his exploration of her body, his engineer's fingers dancing over her implants and other, very important places.

Jack has deepened the kiss as Liam dips in, hitting everything just right and it's been so long, and she's wanted so much from them, and she's gone, crying out into Jack's mouth as Liam takes her to the sweetest place imaginable.

"Fuck, that was hot," Liam says, as Jack pulls away so she can breathe.

They both pepper her with little kisses, everywhere but her lips so she can catch her breath.

"He's right. A goddamned goddess." Liam reaches over to Jack, running his hand through his hair, down his back, even as neither of them stop exploring her body with their lips. Jack reaches back, touching Liam, and she feels so utterly safe underneath them.

Unity is beautiful.

"Someone needs to be inside me," she says, wanting to come again.

"Like I said. She's in charge." And then Liam grins at her and winks and she knows he's going to be more generous than she might be. "Jack..."

Jack looks surprised as she eases him to her, ready to let go at any time if this is too much, too weird. But then he's on top of her and looking down with the most desperate longing she's seen in a long time.

Liam is watching him carefully. "It's not just Sidney you've had fantasies about, is it, Jack?"

"Are you going to kill me for that, Liam?"

"I am if you don't get inside me."

"She's the fucking captain, Jack. Follow orders."

With a laugh that lets her know he's finally quit overthinking, Jack sinks into her and Liam stretches beside her, kissing her, their mouths open, deep, a lovingly desperate connection. Then Liam lets her go and slows Jack down and she loves that, that he's a mentor in this too.

"This is our first time, Jack. Go slow." Then he rises up enough to kiss Jack as he plunges way more slowly—and deeply. As he finds the rhythm that works for her, that makes her clench and cry out, that makes him come probably before he wanted to but they've all been waiting so long.

Liam pulls her up, turning her so she's on her hands and knees and takes her from behind, pulling her up so he can play with her breasts, can kiss her if they both stretch. She thinks he's willing to say she's in charge but maybe not quite feeling it, because as positions go, this one is primal.

And she doesn't mind. She doesn't mind at all.

Jack moves in but Liam says, "Not this time. She's mine. For now." His tone is easy, but firm.

This is the captain she would have followed anywhere until Picard came and tested her loyalty and they all found it was...conflicted.

She meets Jack's eyes, doesn't look away, asking, "Do you like being with us?"

Liam doesn't seem to care if she wants to include him this way. He just moves his hands lower, so many sensations buffeting her as he owns her and Jack can only watch for now.

"I do like it."

"We like being with you."

"Have you ever done this before?" Liam asks her.

"Not with men."

"So fucking hot," they say as one.

Typical boys. It's her last thought before she climaxes, before she slumps bonelessly and curls up and says, "Fuck each other."

And then watches the beautiful way they do. This is not the first time with a man for either of them. There is no fumbling, just graceful giving and receiving until Liam stops and Jack says, "Some things should wait until we can make it comfortable for each other. I'll figure out how to make lube."

And Liam just nods and goes back to what he's doing until Jack calls out, his voice so helpless it makes her smile.

She loves that even more. That they will take care of each other but only in safe ways. That they will have other times to do other things, and they are acknowledging that.

She also doesn't hate that it means if they want to penetrate anything other than a mouth, it needs to be her. For now anyway.

##

They fall into a rhythm after the first few, frenetically passionate days. No longer so concerned about everything happening with all three of them present.

Content to share whatever way makes sense.

Liam is walking down to the river. He sees Seven lying on the bank, naked, and Jack being a complete moron splashing around in the water.

He sets the fishing pole he's been working on down and lies down next to Seven. "So someone's happy."

She laughs.

"Did he fuck you?"

"He did."

"Did he take it slow this time."

"Well... Slower, I guess."

"Jesus fucking Christ, I know he's capable of being a battering ram but it's not really what you need. Although I am jealous of his stamina."

She pulls him down to her for a kiss. "Don't be. So much to be said for finesse."

"And love." He's got the mushy look she loves, the one that tells her he really does love her.

She knows she's wearing it back. "And love."

Jack glances over at them and nods with his chin at the fishing pole. "That thing ready for liftoff?"

"I think so. Best stay left. I tend to cast right."

"What'd you make the hook out of?"

"Bone."

"You're amazing, Liam." Then he turns and goes back to swimming against the current.

"To have that kind of energy..." Seven smiles lazily. It's a nice day, she can't sense a storm on the rise, and Liam's potentially going to take over fishing and stop bitching about how her spear obliterates the fish bones and makes it hard to clean.

He made the spear, she'll point out. It's not the equipment: it's the technique, he'll counter. And they'll smile like lovesick idiots the whole time they argue.

Jack watches them and knows they are deeply, deeply in love. He wishes he could feel that for them. He wishes he didn't dream of Sidney. Who he's only been with once and they'd both had way too much to drink and it wasn't very good.

And she'd been holding him at arms' length ever since when it came to sex. But at least she still wanted to spend time with him. Would maybe give him another chance someday.

"Crusher, get over here. Our woman needs more."

Seven smiles because she loves that Liam calls her that. Jack never does though and she knows it's because Jack's deeply, stupidly, madly in love with Sidney. He loves her and Liam, but it's not the same thing.

Although Sidney may not be an option anymore if they never get rescued. And he's pragmatic enough to throw himself into being with them even if his heart isn't entirely in it.

"It's the way of a man to pass on knowledge to the younger generation," Liam says, sounding so pompous as he spreads her legs for Jack that she cracks up. "Honey, this is serious."

She tries to bite back the grin but can't.

She understands though why he's doing it here, in daylight. Why he's being both clinical and loving, his finger darting in and out, showing Jack how hard and where and when to let up so she can recover.

He's a master at making her come over and over and if Jack learns the lesson and gets back to Sidney, that girl will owe Liam so much.

She closes her eyes, can tell by the touch that Jack is doing it now, and smiles. Liam corrects him, but so gently, like he would a new member of engineering, and every now and then he goes, "Ooh, she liked that. Do it again so I can see what you're doing."

It's hell being a guinea pig—if hell is a lot of orgasms with two delicious men.

She finally pushes them away. "Guys, enough." They are both super hard, and she holds her hand up when they look at her forlornly. "This spot is closed for siesta. You have lube stashed. Go use it."

And they laugh and Liam finds the cache pot that has several things including weapons just in case they're ever in need of that when they're near the river.

He doesn't mind letting Jack take him—it's easier to tell him to slow down when he's the one getting railed than constantly critiquing him with Seven.

And he does say it and finally feels Jack let go of whatever this urgency inside him is and just go slow, kissing his neck since Liam wanted it from behind this time.

"Yeah, that. Fuucck, yes." Liam begins to play with himself, but Jack eases his hands away and does it for him, getting him off the best way without being told how. But that makes sense. They're both guys. They both know what they like.

It's why Liam's been focusing on how Jack gives Seven pleasure. Because he thinks he doesn't have that much experience despite his bravado and because Sidney deserves a guy who knows what the fuck he's doing if they ever get home.

And he hopes for Jack's sake, they do. The kid's enjoying him and Seven—and learning a fuck-ton about good sex—but he is totally gone on La Forge.

He calls her name out in his sleep.

He calls Liam's name out, though, as he comes, just now.

Easing out, he pulls Liam around and curls into him, and Liam knows this mood, how Jack sometimes just wants to be held, and he wonders how much of this is sexual and how much is just that Jack has led a super lonely life and being loved, being cared for, by a man is just so new and nice for him—Liam tries not to think about how he could be Jack's father because they're fucking, for Christ's sake. But Jack's a complicated young man and that's potentially part of it.

Jack feels Liam's lips on his neck and sighs at the connection. He lets himself lie, feeling held and spent for the moment and good. Then he eases away and says, "Let's see this fishing pole."

It's still lying near Seven, and Liam's afraid he'll cast back too far and hit her, so he takes Jack down the river, but not before they both just stare at her napping, her skin tanned, her body luscious and welcoming—most of the time anyway. They've temporarily worn out their welcome. And worn her out.

"She's so beautiful, Liam."

"That she is. Okay, let's go try this thing out."

##

The cave is dark except for the small fire they have lit because summer is ending. They are all tan, and Seven and Jack's hair has bleached in the sun and Liam's scalp is tan where the hair is thin because he didn't like his hair without product and Jack can make many things but hair gel isn't apparently one of them, so he had Seven cut it close to the scalp.

He likes his crazy ass hair the way it was, but he's not unhappy with how they both looked at him once it was buzzed—or as close as they could come with a stone knife.

But now Jack is lying on the bed across from them. They all still have their own beds, and then there's the one where anyone can sleep. It makes it easy to say, "Not tonight." Just pick your own bed and you're tagged out.

Liam and Seven are going slow—the way they've taught Jack to go now—and he keeps pulling her legs higher and higher around him, watching her face in the fire's glow. They come together, which isn't something either of them try for, but when it does happen they both love it.

They are so tender with each other and Jack lies on his back, staring at the cave ceiling and thinking how this might be his life. He'll outlive them. And Seven can't get pregnant.

He'll eventually be alone.

Again.

But then they all hear the voices. People yelling.

Sidney yelling.

They are all up and pulling on clothes and Jack is running out, leaving them behind, and Seven leans into Liam and says, "I'm glad I wasn't in love with him because that would hurt."

"It for damn sure would." He pulls her to him. "I am in love with you."

"Same." Her smile is gorgeous. "You think they kept our positions open?"

"I really don't know."

"I'm with you. Whatever they do, I'm with you."

"Same."

They lock hands and the accord between them surges strong and beautiful as Raffi walks into the cave.

"Hey, Raff," Seven says. "What took you?"

"Needle in a haystack, Sev. But you know me. I don't give up." She looks back and grins. "And neither does La Forge. That girl has it bad."

"Well, so does he, so..." Liam lets go of her and walks past Raffi, putting his hand on her shoulder for a moment and whispering, "Thank you for not giving up."

Then Seven walks into her arms and just holds her.

"It completely smells like sex in here. Please tell me you weren't doing both of them."

"I wasn't doing both of them." It's a lie but she knows Raffi wants that from her.

"And I guess you and Liam are...?"

"Yeah." They'd broken up, she and Raffi, long before this. But sometimes the heart still hopes.

Raffi stops hoping, is just glad she found her captain and friend. She'd already lost her as a lover so she won't cry over Seven and Liam being together.

Seven holds on longer than she expects so she checks out the cave.

Three single sized sleeping areas and one giant one.

She is so not going to dwell on that.

##

At first the ship seems so crowded. Loud and hard and the air smells funny. But then they have hot showers and eat food made with spices and talk to people who aren't just the three of them and it feels good, it feels right.

They shouldn't be surprised that their spaces weren't filled except by Raffi and others moving up temporarily as they searched everywhere for them. They had Janeway and Picard and Crusher and everyone else pulling for them. Who was going to say no, that their positions had to be filled? That if they were found, they could find other jobs?

No one. No one was going to tell them that. So they are here and here is where they can stay.

Liam moves his things in with Seven and Jack comes to the door and whispers that he can't. He just can't, not now, not now that he has Sidney back.

And Seven and Liam nod, and tell him it's fine, and they don't touch him because the threesome that they enjoyed is gone. And now they are back, on this ship, and she will be his captain and Liam will continue to give him advice and be the one he seeks out for fatherly/big brotherly counsel, and he will be with the woman he truly loves.

And they are okay with that. They turn to each other feeling small pangs of loss but not true hurt because they both saw this coming.

And he is so much younger than they are. He deserves to be young.

They kept him alive. They kept him sane. And they taught him useful skills.

And he taught them some.

And they were all the better for it.

Liam goes back to his engines and sees that his deputy kept things up the way he likes things to be kept up. And his people throw him a party and there is a lot of swearing and silly tech gifts because he was "roughing it" for so long. And he smiles so much his face hurts.

Seven sits in the big chair with a new appreciation for movement, for stars streaming by, for the crew around her and the bridge crew in front of her. For everything that makes this ship hers and theirs and something she actually loves.

She can tell Raffi ran the ship well. She's glad because it gave Raffi a chance to forge her own dynamics with the bridge crew, with the command team, with security and engineering and medical.

So they slowly settle in. Loud noises still startle them and sometimes Seven or Liam will reach for Jack for just a simple touch and realize it might be misconstrued.

They can reach for each other though and do, unafraid to show they are together. They have been missing and the crew never stopped looking for them. Why lie to a crew this faithful? Why play games?

Other than the ones that will protect Jack. That they do willingly.

And things become normal again: shift changes and reports and aye, sir and no, ma'am, and just being Starfleet after living on the land.

It was a moon, they found out. It was a moon and winter was coming. What they first experienced was late spring. Raffi told her they wouldn't have survived the winter.

They are lucky they were found when they were.

Liam and Seven sit in the mess, eating all the breakfast things they missed the most. Bacon and hash browns and pancakes and toast. Eggs they found on the moon. They don't eat eggs or fish right now. They are sick of it.

But not of maple syrup, not of sauces that have nothing to do with the few flavorings they found to use with their home-caught meals. And not of coffee. They all drink too much.

Jack is drinking it right now, while he stands in line with Sidney. Liam and Seven are laughing at him as he slurps it down. Some things he still does too fast.

Other things...

They smile at each other, on the same page, remembering how Liam taught him, how Seven taught him too—she liked some things better than others. Liam learned from her too, not how but nuance. She learned a lot too, watching what they both seemed to crave from each other. How they held on, how they moved, what speed.

"I love you," Liam whispers in her ear, leaning in, and stealing her last piece of bacon as he does it.

"Asshole."

He laughs and splits it, holding out the half but she rolls her eyes and stands, carrying her plate to the place in line where bacon lives, happily letting crew move aside so she can nab some and go back to Liam.

"Good to be captain, I guess," Jack says, like he doesn't know what he's missing. Seven moves like a jungle cat cutting in line that way. Liam can move that way as well—when he's not thinking about it. If he's trying to be cool, he tends to galumph.

But he looks at Sidney and feels his heart speed up. The way her eyes light, the sweet smile that becomes naughty if he's a very good boy. The way she stands closer than she did before, the way she touches him all the time. Nothing crass, just contact.

He loves it.

Sidney tells Jack she'll be right back and goes to the table Captain Seven and Shaw are at. She leans down between them, her hand on their backs, and whispers, "I'm only going to say this once. I don't know what happened when you were gone. I don't want to know what happened when you were gone. But...thank you. Thank you so fucking much."

"We have no idea what you're talking about," Liam says.

"But if we did, it wouldn't matter, because yours was the name he called out when he slept." Seven turns so she can give Sidney the sweetest—hopefully most motherly smile. Or is that creepy?

Liam thinks her smile is sending a mixed message, so he just says, "Yep. He's truly all yours."

"Oh, shit, that's so sweet. Do I have to stop bossing him around now?"

"Fuck, no. He's used to following his mommy around. Gonna take a tough cookie to cut those apron strings for him."

"He's not wrong." Seven laughs.

"Hey, he left her and came here. He's not tied to her." Sidney realizes they are teasing and says, "Oh. Yeah, this tag-team sarcasm thing wasn't missed. But you were." She gives them both kisses on the cheeks, then rejoins Jack in line.

"What was that?" He's remembering the nights he and Sidney have had since he's got back. He's remembering how she looks when she comes—repeatedly. How she likes his tempo, his moves. How that first disastrous encounter was chalked up to them both being too wasted to have sex properly.

He looks over at Seven and Liam and smiles.

Liam looks back and grins, then lifts Seven's hand to his lips and kisses it.

And Jack can see the river in his mind, and their glowing skin, and the beauty of their not quite perfect smiles, and how sweet the care they took of him was, how generous they both were. And he loves them—he loves them so fucking much.

And he knows he's better at loving Sidney because of them.

And not just in bed.

In all the ways that matter.

FIN