Title: Simple Liberties – Season 7
Author: Ky (venom69)
Fandom: Star Trek: Voyager
Rating: ADULT.
Summary:What if Chakotay had said no?
Character/Pairing: Janeway/Chakotay
Spoilers: None… the show’s ended!
Warnings: sex, language.
Author’s Notes: Song belongs to Elton John. Part 8 of the Simple Liberties series. For Amanda, who bugged me incessantly to write this, from about an hour after Season 6 was posted. Happy Birthday, hon.
Disclaimer: Usual guff. Not mine, promise to put them back where I found them.
Date: 19/08/08

***

There's a rhyme and reason
To the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager
Beats in time with yours

***

"Kathryn Janeway's personal log, Stardate 54129.4"

Stifling a yawn, Kathryn sighed as she stretched under the sheet, forcing her lethargic muscles into action.

"Yet again we've had an eventful few months in this little corner of the universe. Mostly centred on the children that we have been temporarily housing, and the letters from home which are now somewhat regular thanks to a well placed relay station that Starfleet has been nice enough to take advantage of. Despite the command structure on Voyager, they seem quite willing to keep contact as often as possible, passing letters from families. They know that we’re headed towards the Alpha Quadrant, but they’ve not said anything about what happens when we get there. I admit that I’ve been too distracted to ask.”

She couldn’t help but sigh as her attention moved back to the children. It was hard enough to see the ramifications of the Borg’s destruction, but to see it inflicted on children… nothing could quite describe the horror that Kathryn felt every time she had looked at the baby with her tiny little implants. She’d tried to remind herself that everything was always worse when there were children involved, but it didn’t stop the turn her stomach did when the infant cried and Kathryn swore that she could hear a slightly metallic tinge to the voice.

"It seems surreal. One moment we were negotiating with children, the next we had several additions to the crew and the most adorable baby in sickbay, crying for the touch of someone that wouldn't hurt her."

The memory of the baby's wails made her sigh.

"Though I told myself not to, it was hard not to fall in love with the tiny bundle that protested loudly at anything she didn't like."

In fact, the baby had done nothing but protest for the first three weeks of her little life on Voyager.

"While I wanted to keep her from the first moment she smiled at me, we had to be practical about the decision. I'm usually fond of practicalities, but that doesn't seem to extend to my maternal instincts."

She remembered arguing passionately - though Chakotay called it stubbornly - with the Doctor over the fate of the baby that had, quite literally, been beamed onto their doorstep.

"In the end, it was decided that the Doctor would attempt to identify her race and we would return her to the people that would care for her. Part of me hoped that what the Borg had done to her, while hideous, would be enough to mask her true identity. Unfortunately, the Doctor was able to identify her as Resnik, a species that we had visited just a few short months before."

Kathryn sighed again. She remembered the feeling of her heart plummeting to her flat shoes when the Doctor had called her to his office to deliver that piece of news.

It hadn't been a secret that she wanted to keep the baby. Apparently, it had been known since Tom Paris and Kes had first seen her with the little girl. She wasn’t normally a ‘clucky’ woman, but Roshan had, apparently, had a profound affect on her as a person. She knew that the miscarriage had only added to that, regardless of the fact that she - for the most part - tried not to think about it.

And, thought she had, intellectually, known that the little girl would be better off with her own people, she hadn’t been prepared to part with her so soon after she arrived.

“The Resnik are reasonably nomadic by nature, particularly through this sector, as luck would have it, and it was only a few days later that we came across one of their vessels. We communicated with them and beamed over their Ambassador. I can quite honestly say that I have never seen someone physically recoil in horror at the sight of a child before, but he did.”

She remembered the look of sheer horror on his face when he had seen the baby. As was typical with most species, the Resnik were highly afraid of the Borg. Coupled with their intense religious beliefs and the Ambassador had declared the infant cursed, fated to bring the rein of Borg terror down on him and his people.

In short, he’d had no interest in the small bundle that shared his heritage.

“The Doctor had been able to remove most of her implants, but apparently her soul was marked from the moment the Borg touched her. The Ambassador was confident that her biological parents, if they hadn’t been assimilated, would feel the same. When we,” And by ‘we’, she meant Chakotay, “pushed the issue, he was very emphatic in his refusal to take her. I can’t say that I fought all that hard, but I like to believe that I’d prepared myself to say goodbye to her.”

In the three weeks that it had taken them to find the Resnik vessel, Kathryn truly did think that she’d been prepared to say goodbye. Or, at the very least, she’d been prepared not to fall apart in public.

“We ended the talks with the Ambassador on a reasonably amicable note, but were informed that if we kept the ‘tarnished soul’ on board, they would not want to continue any sort of trade agreement, though they wouldn’t fire on us.”

Now she remembered why Seven hadn’t been involved in the first round of negotiations with the Resnik.

“We parted ways with them once again and everyone tried their best to adapt to the idea of a new baby onboard. Because of what the Borg had done to her, the Doctor had more work beyond her aesthetics. He had been preparing a report on what she needed done when we were contacted again by the Resnik. It was a different Ship with a different ambassador for us to meet with.”

She sighed again.

“Ambassador Ene was much more pleasant to deal with. I admit that my first instinct had been to ignore his hail. I suspect that, though he would be loathe to admit it, Chakotay felt much the same.”

Though she had spent the most time in Sickbay with the baby, she’d found Chakotay there on more than one occasion, too. In fact, it seemed that the entire crew had warmed to the little bundle of joy. But it was hard not to.

Borg-ified or not, she was a cute little thing.

“Apparently, each Resnik Ship lives by its own rules and standards and what stands for one doesn’t necessarily hold true for the rest. Ene informed us that they would welcome the infant and any advice we had for helping her adjust to life without Borg implants. Again, I was hit with what can only be described as maternal instinct. I was prepared to send us into maximum warp and run away with the precious life that had been with us for a month and a half. I was prepared to shoot anyone that got in my way.”

Kathryn swallowed the lump in her throat.

“It would have been morally wrong, though that knowledge didn’t stop the thoughts from entering my mind.”

It hadn’t stopped the subsequent dreams, either, but she didn’t particularly want that in her log.

“Saying goodbye was hard, for everyone. Somehow, I managed to keep the tears at bay until I was back in my Quarters. I don’t know how I did it, though. Chakotay and I walked her to the transporter room. Ene smiled, clearly understanding the attachment we had all developed for her. He promised to take good care of her and, when she grew up, to tell her of the people that saved her.”

At the end of the day, logically, she knew that the baby would have a better life with her own people, as opposed to growing up on a Ship of mismatched people just trying to survive. The Resnik might have been nomadic, but they were more stable in their Space-lives than Voyager was ever likely to be. They had been living that way for generations; Voyager had been struggling to make it through each day for only six years.

“I have to admit that I’d already named her, in my head. Maia. It means ‘illusion’ which, in retrospect, feels appropriate. I’m trying to console myself with the thought that we’ve done the right thing by giving her to her people, but I’m not sure that it’s working. It’s only been a week. They tell me it’ll get easier.”

She sighed again.

“I hope so.”

Kathryn opened her mouth to say something else, but she didn’t much feel like talking anymore, even if it was just making her log.

“Computer; end log.”

***

By the time she’d finished making her log and had finally pulled herself out of the warmth of the bed and the inviting arms of slumber, Kathryn found that she was alone in their Quarters. Chakotay, she imagined, was already on the bridge.

She moved about her morning routine quickly, showering and donning her leathers - and downing two cups of coffee to kick-start her body - before she moved towards the turbolift. The Doctor had hailed her while she was brushing her hair, and she’d promised that he would be her first port of call this morning. She had three other crewmen to see and she’d promised to have lunch with B’Elanna.

As she waited for the ‘lift to arrive, she tapped her comm. Badge. “Kathryn to Chakotay.”

“Morning, Kathryn.”

His informal greeting told her that he was in his Ready Room. “Morning.”

“Finally awake are you?” He teased gently.

“I have been for a while.” She retorted.

“Heading to the Bridge?”

“On my way to Sickbay. The Doctor wants my help with something. Just thought I should check in first.” She stepped into the ‘lift and lowered her voice, giving the computer her destination.

“All quiet up here. Though we made contact with Rebi and Azan’s people earlier this morning.”

Kathryn smiled fondly as she thought of the Borg twins that had been with them for the previous six weeks. It had been an… interesting learning curve for them all, to say the least. Especially Seven. “How did it go?”

“Well. We’re going to rendezvous with them in a few moments. They’ve also agreed to give Mezoti a home.”

They hadn’t been able to find any survivors of Mezoti’s race and the fragmented information left from the children’s damaged cube had only been of so much help. It seemed that the Borg had wiped out the entire planet and the young girl was faced with the knowledge that she was the last of an entire species. Kathryn couldn’t even imagine.

Exiting the turbolift, she headed towards sickbay as they continued their discussion. “Have you told Seven and Kes?”

They had been sharing ‘joint custody’ - as it were - of the four children. Though Icheb didn’t require a lot of adult supervision, Seven hadn’t been confident in her ability to supervise the younger three and Kes had stepped in to help.

“Not yet. Want to do the honours?”

She smiled. “Not particularly.”

“I thought so.”

“I’ll be up there shortly.”

“Understood. See you soon. Chakotay out.”

Kathryn exited the turbolift and walked down the corridor. She paused when she reached the doors of sickbay. Part of her still expected to step through the doors and hear the wails of a hungry infant. It almost hurt when there was nothing but silence.

Taking a deep breath, she entered, and walked straight in to one of the odder discussions she’d ever heard from their resident EMH and Borg; the merits of crying.

“Crying is nothing to be ashamed of, Seven.” The Doctor was saying, his arms waving emphatically to emphasize his point… if he had one. It was a dicey bet, some days. “You should have seen me the first time I heard Puccini's Tosca in the holodeck. I sobbed through the entire third act.”

Seven didn’t even blink, “You're a hologram. You can't cry.”

Kathryn bit back a smile. She’d thought the same thing and, judging by the smile hovering on Kes’ lips, so had she.

“Ordinarily,” He agreed reluctantly, “but B’Elanna enhanced my emotional subroutines so I could truly appreciate the performance.”

Seven cocked her head to the side. “Then your reaction was the result of a technological enhancement, just as mine was the result of a technological malfunction.“

“What’s going on?” Kathryn whispered as she moved to stand beside Kes.

“She was saying goodbye to the children. Icheb noticed that Seven was crying.” She explained, her voice quiet as the Doctor and Seven continued their debate on crying, oblivious to everything around them.

“I thought that wasn’t something she was capable of, yet?” Kathryn didn’t exactly understand the mechanics behind it all, but the Borg stopped most other bodily functions in their drones, and she imagined the same went for tears.

“It wasn’t supposed to be.” Kes replied.

“Saying goodbye to the children was a traumatic experience.” The EMH was saying as Kathryn turned her attention back to the two people in the medical bay, “Crying was a normal response.”

“Except that I was in complete control of my emotions.” Seven countered smoothly.

The Doctor scanned her again, ‘hmm’ing’ as he checked the readout on the tricorder. “It seems I owe you an apology. According to this, your tears were the result of a glitch in your primary cortical node. Have you experienced any other malfunctions lately? Headache? Dizziness? Diminished motor function?”

“No.”

“Really?” The EMH didn’t look convinced and Kathryn wondered how he was planning to get Seven to admit to anything she might consider a weakness. “Then you won't mind if I check the bio-monitors in your alcove, just to be sure?”

Apparently that was a good way.

“I've experienced an occasional headache.”

If she hadn’t been a former drone, Kathryn would have expected Seven to roll her eyes.

“Why didn't you come to see me?”

He might be a Hologram, but the Doctor did roll his eyes, clearly frustrated.

“The malfunctions have not affected my work.”

“Seven,” Kathryn took a step forward before they could begin some kind of competition involving sarcasm. “If you're having problems you need to let us know. The Doctor only wants to help.”

She nodded and turned to the Doctor. “If it'll make you feel better I'll be more forthcoming in the future.”

He frowned, but nodded. “You're all heart. I'll schedule some follow-up tests.”

***

When she made it to the Bridge some thirty minutes later – Mortimer Harriman had another complaint about his experiments being tampered with – Kathryn had been just about ready to go back to bed and try to start the morning again.

She had only been in her chair for a few moments before her comm. Badge beeped. She was stupidly tempted to ignore it.

“Sickbay to Kathryn.”

Chakotay turned to look at her sharply, worry creasing his forehead. It was kind of cute that his feelings for her could get him to forget that she’d already briefed him about Seven, but she didn’t think she’d tell him that any time soon.

Duty made her tap the source of the hail while her sense of self-preservation screamed profanities at her. “Kathryn here.”

“I’ve completed my tests on Seven’s cortical node and you’ll be pleased to know that our resident Borg was right. Yet again.”

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and Chakotay appeared to resume breathing. “It was a small malfunction?”

“Yes. The node had, for want of a better term, blown a fuse” he’d been spending way too much time with Tom Paris, “but it was easy enough to replicate, for a change. If only every other Borg mystery was as easy as replicating a new part!”

Kathryn knew what was coming and couldn’t think of a good reason to stop it. She wondered if the Doctor knew that he’d just help to dig his own grave.

Predictably, she could hear Seven in the background a second later, “I believe the correct phrase at this point is ‘I told you so’.”

“Seven!”

Kathryn stifled a laugh and noted the amused look on Chakotay’s face, too. She could almost tell from the positioning of his head that Tom was trying to suppress a laugh. The two people in Sickbay continued to unknowingly broadcast their argument to the entire Bridge. Kathryn wondered if someone had thought to press record or not. Though Seven would be most displeased if people knew she’d had a moment of ‘imperfection.’

She had to end it, if only to save herself later grief. “You were saying, Doctor?”

“Right,” He cleared his holographic throat, “I was saying that Seven will make a full recovery. She’ll bounce right back to her charming self.”

Seven spoke again before Kathryn had a chance to open her mouth, “I believe you are insulting me, Doctor.”

Kathryn quickly thanked him and closed the like before anyone could hear the Doctor’s reply.

She thought a few people looked a tad disappointed.

***

Kathryn yawned as she crawled into bed.

Chakotay was playing hover ball and, even though it was still early, all she wanted to do was sleep. After a crazy morning at the beginning of the week – things should not be allowed to suck that much on a Monday – she’d hoped for a few quiet days. Unfortunately for her already sleep deprived brain, they’d had quite some week. And that was saying something, given their lives in general.

To top off her crazy morning, when Tom and Harry were taking the Delta Flyer for a test run, another small alien ship had pulled alongside them. Kathryn wasn’t quite sure of the details, but the alien pilot, Irina, had challenged them to a race.

Unsurprisingly, the two troublesome crewmen had agreed - readily Kathryn had thought. As the two ships had raced through an asteroid field, Irina's ship began filling with nyocene gas. Tom and Harry had worked quickly to beam her back to the flyer and, then, back to Voyager to make repairs. Irina has explained that she’d been in the sector to enter a race and it had all gone downhill from there.

She wasn’t quite sure how they had conned Chakotay into agreeing but Kathryn suspected it was the teen rebel that all men had inside them. She almost expected them to go vintage with colourful hairdye and a piercing or two in strange places.

And, since fate was a bitch at the best of times, while the boys had been on their little joyride, poor B'Elanna has been frantically trading favours with crewmates so she could borrow enough holodeck time for her and Tom to have an entire weekend to themselves. Kathryn had willingly traded her three hour chunk on Saturday for the promise of ‘ration rescue’ at the end of the month when she was out and Chakotay was trying to poison her with decaf. Again. Bastard.

Worse than all of that, when Tom had returned and convinced Chakotay to let them act out their little fantasies, he had told her that he had forgotten about the getaway weekend. B’Elanna had told him not to worry but, later, Kathryn had tried to console the distressed woman – with a little help from Ben, Jerry and Jose.

It was sometime late into the evening when B’Elanna confessed that she thought that things might be ending between her and Tom. Kathryn had done her best to quell her fears but, despite how much he had grown and changed and she respected him deeply for it, part of her was still a little unsurprised by his insensitivity. He’d seen something he wanted and went for it.

Kathryn had sent a silent prayer of thanks for Chakotay, who wasn’t quite stupid enough to do something like that. She hoped.

Not only had the boys abandoned them, but they’d also had another guest onboard; Gar, a local trader that had requested assistance with repairs to his shuttle. He’d only been on Voyager for a few days, but it had been one more thing that Kathryn had needed to think about.

While she’d been welcoming Gar, there’d been another development that had shocked her. Though she wasn’t quite sure how it had all worked out – and Kathryn reminded herself, again, to corner B’Elanna for details later – B’Elanna had ended up playing co-pilot to Tom. They won the race with light-years to spare and, strangely, ended up married.

Kathryn had been half-way through the duty roster when she’d been called to Holodeck 1 to be a Maid of Honour. It had been the strangest fifteen minutes of her life but the look on the newlyweds’ faces had been completely worth it. She’d shared a small smile with Chakotay – who had been roped in to give the bride away and perform the ceremony – and she couldn’t help but wonder if they would end up doing that at some point, too. Preferably with a little more planning, she’d thought.

Any chance that Tom and B’Elanna had of a honeymoon had been blown out of the water quite quickly, though.

Not enough hours later, Crewman Tabor had been working in a theatre – another of Tom’s holodeck programs – when he was attacked. They’d found him almost an hour later, sitting in one of the many chairs, completely unconscious. When the Doctor examined Tabor, he concluded that his injuries were the result of an attack, as evidenced by the microfractures on his cranium and contusions along his shoulder.

Chakotay had appointed Tuvok to investigate the case. Before any kind of investigating could happen, though, crewmen Yosa and Jor were working in engineering when Yosa reported that the pressure was fluctuating. According to the report that Kathryn hadn’t been able to read properly until after the whole incident, Jor had then ordered him to check the seals in the Jefferies Tube hatch.

When he didn't return, it hadn’t taken long for Jor to go in search of Yosa, only to find him unconsciou. The injured man had been quickly transported to sickbay. The Doctor examined Yosa and concluded that Yosa had the same microfractures and contusions as Tabor. It had been Chakotay that had suggested that the injured parties were former Maquis. Kathryn hadn’t thought of them as that for a number of years but even she had to admit that it made sense.

But it also meant that a former ‘Fleeter was probably responsible.

For almost a day, accusations were flown around, left, right and centre. No one seemed to know what to believe and even Chakotay had been a little aloof with her – not enough for her to call him on it, but enough for her to know that something wasn’t quite right. She didn’t really believe that he thought she was involved – not any more than she thought he was – but there was a seed of doubt in everyone’s belly and no one could change that until they knew.

And then Chakotay had been victim #3, followed far too closely to B’Elanna and then Ayala. Kathryn had been forced to Captain a frightened crew while she herself worried for her lover and friends.

It had taken a few hours until they’d learnt that the culprit was, in fact, Tuvok. In that time, Harry had been trying to work on the Holodeck to obtain more answers and all of their formerly comatose crewmen had woken. Kathryn had never been so glad to see Chakotay in her life.

Once they’d been able to crack the codes that had prevented them from accessing all of the computer data, they’d been able to recreate the shape of the attacker in the theatre.

Kathryn had felt her stomach drop when she’d seen the form of her old friend appear. Tuvok had come to the same conclusion, without the visual evidence and, by the time she’d left the holodeck, he had already had himself placed in the Brig. She’d gone to visit him and he’d explained that there was a voice trying to control his mind with Bajoran incantations. He had confirmed that he remembered the attacks, but not what had prompted them.

Tuvok had been able to give them a lead, at least; he'd said the chanting had begun after reading a letter he'd received form his son in another burst of Alpha Quadrant contact. When they analysed the letter, they had found a subliminal message that had been responsible for Tuvok's sudden attacks. It had been Chell that had recognized the Bajoran in the recording. Apparently, a mildly eccentric man by the name of Teero had worked with the Maquis, performing mind control experiments.

The Maquis had eventually asked him to leave - and you had to have really screwed up to get kicked out from a group that needed all the numbers they could get - and hadn't seen or heard from him since.

While Chakotay was being examined by the Doctor, she'd been questioning Tuvok, pressing him to tell her more of what he remembered of Teero. In the process, he'd had a flashback of wearing Maquis attire and sitting in a surgical chair with devices attached to his head as Teero performed a mind meld on him.

Before he'd been able to tell her more, something had snapped in Tuvok and his face had gone blank - a mean feat for a normally expressionless Vulcan. Kathryn had read, after the fact, that Teero had appeared to Tuvok and told him to complete his mission. Tuvok had struggled to stay in control of his mind, but it hadn't worked. Kathryn feared anything that could break a Vulcan; they were the strongest race she knew.

After Teero's 'visit', Tuvok had sent out a command in the Bajoran language. Kathryn hadn't know, at the time, what he'd been saying, but she'd left the Brig when Tuvok had started accusing her of being in league with the Cardassians.

Unwilling to argue with the remnants of a crazy man currently in another quadrant, Kathryn had begun to head to sickbay to check on the former Maquis. She'd made it all of five steps out of the Brig before Chakotay had been there.

She'd wanted to rush to him and hug him, but the hard look in his eye had stopped her. She'd stood rooted to the spot as he stalked - actually stalked - up to her.

"I'm taking control of the Ship." He'd told her, a firm grip on her upper arm as he forced her to pivot and then led her back to the Brig.

Kathryn had frowned, "You are in control."

He'd ignored her, though, and said something to the guard. Before she'd had time to figure out what was happening, Chakotay had released Tuvok and put her in his place.

She'd spent almost six hours in the Brig, alone, waiting to learn of her fate. She hadn't seen or heard anything from anyone until Chakotay had come back to the Brig, peace rose in hand, and apologized before filling her in.

He had told her that the former Maquis had been planning to dump the former Starfleet members of the crew on the first planet they found with oxygen. Though part of her hadn't wanted to know, Kathryn had pressed him to find out if that plan had included her, too. It had taken a good few minutes of pestering until Chakotay had confessed that the Teero part of him had been planning to order Tuvok to execute her as a show of loyalty.

Kathryn had shivered at the image before she'd kissed him and told him that she understood. He'd joked that she was the most forgiving woman in the universe.

She'd readily agreed.

After the incident with Teero had been over, everyone had wanted nothing more than a few days of peace to get their bearings and find their footing again. The attack had thrown them all off balance, reminding them of long-forgotten barriers between them. They'd been tense. Not nearly as much as they had in the beginning, but there'd been mild distrust and Kathryn had anticipated that there could well have been a small outbreak of disagreements.

Before anyone had been given the chance to really consider what had happened, the Doctor had disappeared. Well, not disappeared. Been replaced.

Harry had gone to see him for a mild pain killer to calm down the headache he had from being on the receiving end of B'Elanna's hyper spanner - and she wasn't going to forgive herself for that for a while, Kathryn knew - when he'd noticed that the Doctors behaviour was odd. More than odd it was... computerized. He was just as the EMH Mark I had been intended to be. Which was pretty much everything that their Doctor was not.

After Harry had gotten Tom to give a second opinion of the Doctor's behaviour, they'd rounded up a few others to confirm the theory before they'd all been convinced; whomever was in sickbay was not their Doctor. B'Elanna had examined the Doctor's mobile emitter and quickly been able to announce that it was nothing more than a replicated fake.

They'd all tried to find the source of the theft and quickly come to the conclusion that the last time anyone remembered the Doctor being 'normal' - for him, anyway - was just before Tom and B'Elanna's wedding. Which had also been the time that they'd been playing chauffer to Gar.

Neelix had been the one to point out that Gar had spent a night in Sickbay; he'd had ample access to the Doctor. They'd immediately begun searching for Gar by scanning his ion trail.

Several hours and far too many red herrings later - including a strange conversation with a woman that had been convinced that Kathryn was after Gar, who was, apparently, 'hers.' Kathryn had been forced to clasp Chakotay's hand and admit that she already had a man.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Tom had, of course, had a field day with that comment. Since neither of them had officially announced their relationship, ever, Tom had taken that comment to mean that he was now free to bring on his jokes. Unfortunately, since no one had previously confirmed the relationship, Tom had been given over seven months to work on them, too.

Once Kathryn had convinced the jealous woman that her intentions were as honourable as they could be between traders, they'd finally been able to track their former guest to a nearby star system. Of course, they'd only found him after three false stops.

When they did finally catch up with him, they'd engaged his ship in a tractor beam and questioned him. Unsurprisingly, he'd been less than helpful. However, thankfully, Neelix had learnt something from his time with the Maquis that they'd all learnt to become and proceeded to feed Gar a meal that made him sick. Several witty remarks had been exchanged over Neelix actually trying to make someone sick.

As soon as Gar had started to experience the agonizing stomach cramps that came with the food, and had been informed that the only one allowed to give out the appropriate medication was the EMH, he'd quickly confessed to trading the Doctor to a large hospital ship.

It had taken a few manoeuvres that Kathryn hadn't thought possible, but they were able to rescue him. Relatively unscathed, they'd made a hasty exit at high warp to avoid seeing if the Hospital Ship had a handle on the other side of medicine - wounding people.

The Doctor hadn't said much about the experience, but Kathryn knew that whatever had happened had involved coloured levels, an 'Allocatur' and something called 'T.C. ratings'.

No one had pressed the Doctor for information. He'd asked Seven to perform a diagnostic on his ethical subroutines and he had, apparently, been less that pleased when she'd given him 'a clean bill of health.' Neelix had told the Doctor of his 'interrogation method' and revealed that Gar had only been experiencing gas pains, nothing even approaching serious. The Doctor hadn't even smiled and that was how everyone knew that something had happened.

Chakotay had said that he would speak with the Doctor after his hover ball game and he'd told her not to wait up. She intended to speak to the Doctor when she had a moment, too.

Snuggling further under the blankets, Kathryn closed her eyes and slept.

***

Almost a month after the ridiculously hellish week – followed by some blessed quite space - when she looked at the Earth calendar date, as she sometimes did, Kathryn was unsurprised to see that it was Christmas Eve. She had known that it was coming, unlike the last one. Last Christmas, Kashyk had been with them and the holiday had passed by, ignored by most or quietly celebrated by the few who felt the need.

Kathryn hadn’t actually realized the date until she’d seen a Christmas card in B’Elanna’s office. She had loved Christmas as a child but, at the onset of puberty, she had declared it a silly children’s holiday. Her parents had indulged her sudden distaste of the holiday and they had waited patiently for her to grow out of it. She never really had.

Even still, though it seemed like a lifetime ago, she had sat with Roshan on her lap and thought of what gifts she would replicate or make – with some serious help – for him. She’d even made a mental note to ask Chakotay how he felt about the Santa thing. Though, she’d already guessed his answer after a flippant comment of his had revealed that he wanted his son to know his heritage – both from Trebus and Earth.

She hadn’t thought much of the comment, then, but now her mind was buzzing.

They hadn’t actually spoken for two days now and Kathryn knew she had no one to blame but herself. Chakotay had tried to talk to her about her taking risks by going on the more dangerous away missions – he was being stupidly overprotecting and ridiculously sweet and caring all at the same time – and Kathryn had snapped at him. Tired and fighting back the beginnings of a headache, and still reeling from some of the recent events, she’d reacted unfavourably.

He hadn’t been prepared to argue with her and he’d kissed her cheek and left, telling her to call him when she wanted to talk. She had thought his hasty exit rather petulant at the time and assumed he’d come back to finish what they started.

He didn’t.

Two days later and Kathryn had only seen him briefly when they changed shifts – their argument had come at the wonderful time when they were on separate shifts. When she wasn’t on the Bridge, she was in her Quarters and she assumed much the same was true for him. It had gone on long enough.

“Kathryn to Chakotay.”

She’d heard him in his Quarters not long ago but she wasn’t surprised when there was a pause before he answered. “Chakotay here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m on my way.”

The link closed and she smiled before she hurried to put away the few things out of place in the living room. As promised, he entered only a few moments later and she was hugging him as tight as possible before the doors had even closed.

“I’m sorry.” She said again.

“I know.” He kissed the top of her head and that was enough to make Kathryn sag in his arms, relief engulfing her. “Come and sit, I brought you something.”

Following his lead, they moved to the couch and Kathryn curled up next to him, finally noticing the two wrapped parcels he held. “You’re giving me a gift for being an ass?”

“No,” he chuckled, “I’m giving you a gift for Christmas. Well, for two Christmas’, actually. We missed the last one.”

“Did I ever apologize about Kashyk?” She was on a roll tonight with apologies and she figured she may as well get them all over and done with at once.

“You don’t need to. I ordered you to entertain him and then turned into some kind of caveman when you did.”

“You were an alpha caveman,” she corrected with a smile, “and I didn’t mind it quite that much.”

He snorted a laugh and kissed the top of her hair again. “I’m still not sure about all of this Christmas stuff, you know. Do I give you a gift now?”

“Tomorrow, actually. Tonight is Christmas Eve.”

“What does one do on Christmas Eve?”

“Drink alcohol, eat bad food, sing and laugh and generally be merry.”

“Hence ‘Merry Christmas’?” She nodded. “Sounds like my kind of holiday.”

“I’m sure.” She shook her head, still smiling. “Stop trying to give me warm fuzzies Chakotay, you know as much about Christmas as I do. They celebrated it on Trebus, too.”

“How do you know that?”

“I may have done some reading on the subject, over the years.” She’d done it a month after she met him, if she were honest.

“Really now?” He smirked and nodded. “Aren’t you full of surprises?”

Kathryn shrugged. “I’ve got to do something to keep you interested.”

He wiggled against her. “I don’t think you have to worry about that, somehow.”

***

"There!" Naomi cried.

Kathryn paused as she entered Cargo Bay Two, observing the two other occupants in the room as they sat on the floor, engrossed in what looked very much like a jigsaw puzzle. They didn't notice her entrance and she didn't really think it could be considered spying when she was merely interested in her goddaughter's education.

"Excellent." Icheb was nodding. "You recognized the complementary base pair."

Naomi frowned and shook her head a little. "Actually, I just found two pieces that fit together."

The older boy sighed. "You're missing the point."

"I thought the point was to finish the puzzle."

"And learn something about genetics."

Naomi examined the half-completed puzzle carefully for a moment, brown furrowed seriously. "If you really want to help, find me a green piece that looks like Tuvok's ear."

Kathryn coughed to make her presence known.

Naomi greeted her first, with an excited cry of "Kathryn!" and a tight hug.

Icheb was much more reserved, automatically standing to attention. "Kathryn."

"At ease." She smiled, releasing Naomi and moving to one of the crates nearby, "I'm just passing through."

"I apologise for the condition of the Cargo Bay. I've been tutoring Naomi."

The Borg were, apparently, a wee bit anal retentive about cleaning. It was kind of amusing, but he looked so worried. "Don't worry about it." She nodded to the puzzle, "Looks like you found a creative approach."

"Thank you, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Seven. I'm supposed to be writing a paper on transwarp instability."

They had all been pitching in to tutor Icheb, at the boy's request. He wanted to learn as much as possible and, after reading several texts about formal schooling and the practises that Earth held, he'd wanted to try it for himself. Papers, exams, assignments and all. Tom, never one for academics, had commented that he was nuts.

"Don't worry," She waved her hand before opening the crate and pulling out a bottle of blue liquid. "Your secret's safe, as long as you keep mine."

"Kathryn?"

"Antarian cider, not the replicated stuff." She beamed a little, proud of her stash. "There are only a couple of bottles left and I don't want Neelix getting his hands on them."

She couldn't bare the thought of such lovely cider being used in conjunction with something as evil as Leola root. And she didn't doubt that he'd do it, either.

"Then you should store them with the salvaged Borg components. Neelix never inventories those containers. He says they give him the creeps."

"Brilliant, Icheb. Would you mind?" She nodded to the container.

"Of course not." He moved to remove the last few bottles and relocated them to the salvaged components.

"As for you, young lady," Kathryn began, looking down at the smiling face of Miss Wildman, "I will see you tomorrow for our science lesson, correct?"

"I can't wait!"

The little girl had been spending too much time with Icheb, Kathryn thought as she kissed the top of her blonde hair and bid goodbye to them both. She was still chuckling to herself when she made it back to their Quarters.

Chakotay was still on the Bridge, but she had wanted to surprise him with a romantic dinner for two when he finished. They hadn't had a lot of time together of late and they'd both expressed their frustrations about that.

Every time they'd had a moment of peace, someone had managed to interrupt them. It was never anything more dramatic than pure coincidence, but it happened constantly and they'd both had enough. She was tempted to have both of their comm. badges re-routed to Tuvok, but she didn't want to have to explain to the Vulcan that she just wanted a night alone with her boyfriend, damnit.

Chakotay would kill her if he knew that she used the 'B' word about him.

Heh.

Shaking her head, Kathryn gave herself a little kick. Chakotay would be home soon and she wanted everything ready for him. Quickly, she poured two large glasses, left the bottle on the table and turned to her replicator. "Okay, it's just you and me here. We've got to work together."

She tapped a few keys, programming in a light salad. The replicator beeped in response and, a few moments later, the bowl appeared, full of deliciously looking food.

"You did great," She praised, well aware of how stupid she would look to anyone else, but also keenly aware of the necessity of sweet-talking the supposedly lifeless piece of technology, "Now let's kick this main's ass, shall we?"

Quickly programming the main, she gave it an encouraging smile and dashed into the bedroom to strip her leathers and pull on something mildly more attractive - though she knew that Chakotay was a fan of the leather.

When she was dressed and somewhat presentable - she didn't think she had enough time to do her hair - Kathryn made her way back to the replicator. She read the display and wanted to scream in frustration. "No! No, no, no, no, no! You were doing so well! What happened?"

She thumped her head against the troublesome machine and, naturally, Chakotay chose that moment to enter. "You're late." She informed him, not looking up from her defeated position. "Unfortunately, so is dinner."

"Let me guess; you burnt the roast again?"

Kathryn gave him a look; he always used that line. "You liquefy one pot roast and it always comes back to haunt you." She spared a thought for Lindsay Ballard, who had been the unlucky soul on the receiving end of her attempts at friendship.

"What were you making?"

"Vegetable lasagne."

He beamed a little, though he'd never admit it. "For me?"

"I thought we could have a nice evening together for a change." She shrugged and frowned. Sighing once, Kathryn decided that it was time to show the replicator who was in charge. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a replicator to fix."

"You can't pull it apart."

"Watch me."

Chakotay shook his head and moved to the bedroom, calling out that he was going to get changed. Kathryn took little notice, having already pulled the front panel off.

She wasn't quite sure how long he'd been gone but, when he returned, she had parts scattered across the floor. Working to candlelight hadn't helped, either and she'd called for full lights. The mood was pretty much ruined, but she had a score to settle.

One of the tall glasses full of cider appeared in front of her and she smiled, grateful. "Thanks."

"Welcome." He touched their glasses together and raised his slightly in toast. "So will we be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too?"

It wouldn't have been the first time, she had to admit. "Once, a long time ago, I called this replicator a glorified toaster. It never forgave me."

"I didn't realise replicators held grudges."

"Ours does, apparently." She growled a little. "Find me the thermal regulator, please."

He was laughing at the petulant expression on her face but Kathryn didn't care. Bending, Chakotay kissed the top of her forehead, still shaking with silent laughter. He handed her the part she'd requested and stepped back. "I'm going to finish off some work. Let me know when it's safe to approach."

He'd made it all of three steps before the ship had rocked beneath them. Chakotay stumbled, barely holding on to his glass, and Kathryn had to hold the open replicator for leverage.

"Chakotay to Bridge, what's going on?"

Harry, on night shift again, answered, "That was some kind of gravimetric surge." There was a pause and they could hear people talking in the background, giving reports. "It's overloading our inertial dampers."

Kathryn and Chakotay exchanged a curious look before she asked, "Source?"

"That's a good question." Harry sounded more than a little stressed. "Seven's trying to localise it."

"We're on our way."

They were both halfway out the door when Harry spoke again. "Engineering says the warp core's destabilising."

Chakotay didn't miss a beat, "I'd better get down there."

Kathryn nodded and turned in the opposite direction. "I’m on my way to the Bridge, Harry."

***

Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Starship Voyager, stood on the upper level of her new Bridge and surveyed the crew working around her. They all seemed so young, so green. Especially young Harry Kim.

She'd spoken to Harry’s mother before they'd left for Deep Space 9. A lovely woman with may wonderful things to say about her son. Captain Janeway hoped that they weren't all just bias.

They were preparing to chase Captain Chakotay's ship, the Liberty, into the Badlands. They were trying to figure out why their systems had started malfunctioning and they wouldn't be able to do much of anything until they had answers.

Moving down to the science console, Captain Janeway exchanged a quiet word with Samantha Wildman, one of the crew that she'd only met recently. She asked the young woman about her findings, but there was nothing they could find that could explain Voyager's problems. Harry's worried voice made her turn to the Ops station.

"Sir? I'm afraid I don't know you."

She saw the leather and the tattoo and knew who it was in an instant. "Take him into custody." Two guards were holding him in a heartbeat. Captain Janeway moved closer to him, surprised to watch his eyes move to her feet and travel up her entire body at a stupidly slow pace until they locked eyes. Was that... desire? Focus! "How did you get aboard this ship?"

The terrorist frowned. "Kathryn?"

There was something that sounded far too much like a caress when he said her name. "Oh, I didn't realise we were on a first-name basis."

Andrews commented before the Maquis Captain could respond. "We should've known the Maquis were involved."

"Maquis?" Chakotay almost grinned and Captain Janeway was well and truly confused by what was going on. "Involved in what?"

"Just when we're about to chase your ship into the Badlands, our systems start malfunctioning and, you step off the turbolift." Captain Janeway told him.

"Captain, I know this may be hard to believe but I think I've somehow been thrown seven years into Voyager's past."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Let's try another theory; You learned that Voyager had been assigned to capture you and you managed to get on board to sabotage her."

"Check your sensors. See if they're showing any strange temporal readings."

Harry called out from his station, "Captain, the environmental controls are fluctuating."

Captain Janeway nodded to the guards. "Take him to the Brig."

They had bigger problems to deal with right now - and that was saying something.

***

Thirty minutes and no closer to a solution to the malfunctions later, Captain Janeway turned, once again, at the sound of Harry's worried voice.

"Captain."

She turned, observing his drawn phaser, trained on Captain Chakotay as he stood, sans the security officers she'd assigned.

"Where are my officers?" Janeway demanded.

"The turbolift passed through a temporal barrier. They couldn't get through. If you're willing to hear me out, I can explain, at least... partly."

His voice was strangely soothing and Janeway had to shake herself a little to get her attention. She drew on sarcasm to hide her discomfort. "You mean about your being from the future."

"Your first Starfleet posting was on the Al-Batani, where you once knocked out power to six decks by misaligning the positronic relays."

She knew what he was trying to do. "Nice try, but you could've read that in a Maquis intelligence file."

"How's Molly, your Irish Setter? You rescued her from a pound on Taurus Seti four. She was the runt of the litter, but you thought she had spunk." His voice was still soft, almost as though he was trying to calm her. "You love music, but you never learned to play an instrument. Something you still regret. You broke your left arm when you were fifteen, climbing a tree, trying to impress a boy."

What in the hell...? "How do you know these things?"

"Because you told me, about three years from now."

She wasn't willing to finish this conversation on the Bridge. What else does he know? "My Ready room."

Two other guards stepped up without being asked and escorted Chakotay as they followed Janeway. When the doors closed behind them, Captain Janeway leant against the edge of her desk, studying the Maquis Captain. "Well?"

"Something happened to Voyager. In my timeline. The ship seems to have been fractured into different timelines. The bridge is in my past, as is engineering and sickbay. I imagine that there will be some sections in my future."

Time travel had always given Captain Janeway a headache. "Continue."

"The Doctor created a serum that he injected me with after my body went into a state of temporal flux. I seem to be the only one that can travel through the barriers."

He looked healthy enough, despite a few marks on his shirt. Janeway mentally slapped herself for looking.

Chakotay grinned, but quickly schooled his features. "I had him create another."

Tentatively taking the hypospray he held, she ran a tricorder over it, focussing on the read out intently. "It's a fascinating story, but as the Ferengi say, a good lie is easier to believe than the truth."

"So you're saying no one on your crew has encountered any of these temporal barriers?"

Janeway considered her options before she responded. Much as she didn’t want to talk to him, they needed answers. She nodded to the rear exit of her Ready Room. "My helmsman disappeared when she tried to walk down that corridor, but that doesn't prove she passed through a temporal barrier."

"If you inject yourself, I can take you down that corridor and show you everything I've said is true."

"Have Mister Kim run a full spectral analysis." She spoke to Andrews first, before she turned back to Captain Chakotay. "For all I know, this is poison and you are trying to assassinate me."

He moved faster than she thought possible. In half a second, he had turned the tables completely; now holding Janeway as a shield, keeping her arms tightly behind her back with one arm while the other held the hypospray to her throat. He began to force her backwards, keeping her held tight to his broad chest.

"She's right. Its poison and I'll use it."

Janeway knew he was speaking, but it didn't quite register. She knew it was important that she pay attention, but there was something gnawing at her mind. There was something... He's hard! She could feel the tell-tale press into her lower body whenever she bounced back against him in-step.

They paused, and it was only Andrews' voice that brought her back to reality. "Let her go."

"Lower your weapon." Chakotay countered, waiting until they did so before he injected her and walked her back through the fracture that Stadi had disappeared through earlier.

"Captain!" She watched Andrews squint and look at Rollins, confused, before he tapped his comm. badge. "Andrews to the Bridge. I need help here. The Captain is missing!"

Janeway found her voice again. "Andrews!"

"He can't hear you." Chakotay's voice was far too close to her ear. "We've moved into a different time frame."

She focussed her attention back onto the confused officers on the other side of the bulkhead, Andrews issuing orders. "Scan the area but don't go past that bulkhead."

"You want more proof?" Chakotay hissed. "It's right down that corridor. You just have to trust me."

"That isn't easy when you're holding me hostage." She snapped.

Chakotay moved away from her and she turned, rubbing her neck where he'd injected her. They held each others gaze and she could see determination in his stare. Unfortunately, she could still see the desire, too.

What the hell?

"Stay or go" He shrugged. "It's your choice."

"Now that I'm inoculated, I can go anywhere on the ship I want." The thought began to form in her mind quickly.

"That's right."

His conformation gave her the exit she needed. "Then I suppose I don't need you anymore."

"Without me, you'll be stepping into a future that you know nothing about."

Crap. Resigned, she turned and fell into step with him as they headed down the corridor. "Where are we going?"

"The Astrometrics lab."

"Voyager doesn't have an Astrometrics lab."

"Harry designed it. Or... will design it."

Was he allowed to tell her that? Curiosity won out over doubt. "Harry Kim?"

"I realise from your perspective he's new to the job, but he's going to become one of our best people." They stepped into the turbolift and he ordered the computer to take them to deck eight.

"Our people?" She repeated, staring firmly at the lift doors.

"Let's just say that things don't quite work out like you expect."

Her ship was fractured into different timeframe, four of her crew was missing, she was about to walk into who-knew-what and she was doing so with the very same man that she'd been sent to capture. Nothing was what she'd expected. "Really."

"It's all for the best, though."

The reassurance didn't offer much and Janeway had the distinct feeling that he was hiding something from her. Well, something more than one would have expected. "What's the reason we're going to this, er, Astrometrics?"

"It has temporal sensors that can help us map the ship and tell us how many time frames we're dealing with."

Okay, even the kid's mother hadn't had that kind of opinion of him. "Now you're trying to tell me Harry Kim invented temporal sensors?"

"No." Chakotay looked a little amused. "We used Borg technology for that."

Are you kidding me? "Borg?"

He shook his head a little as they exited the turbolift and headed down the corridor. "It's a long story."

"Maybe you should keep it to yourself." He gave her a surprised look. "The Temporal Prime Directive. The less I know about the future, the better."

They turned the corner and found Ensign Heath slumped against the wall.

Janeway dropped to her side and pressed her fingers to the young woman's neck. She was relieved to feel the flutter. "She's got a pulse."

Chakotay was scanning the area. "I'm detecting an active neurogenic field. This could be the day the telepathic pitcher plant put us all into comas, or it might be the time aliens invaded our dreams."

Holy crap! "We've got to get help."

"Don't worry, we managed to get out of both situations."

At least one of them had a bit of confidence.

***

Janeway hadn't known what to expect when they entered the Astrometrics lab. It was an elaborate and clearly well-crafted design. Two figures stood at the centre console, looking at a read out of Voyager, shaded into different colours.

When the doors hissed open the two occupants turned, the woman was the first to speak. "Kathryn!"

Janeway faltered a little. She always liked to know all of her crew, but this woman... "I'm sorry. I don't recognize you."

"It's me, Naomi Wildman. Your goddaughter?"

Goddaughter?

The man spoke next. "How did you..."

"Are you Icheb?" Chakotay cut him off.

The man nodded and Chakotay seemed pleased.

Janeway had no idea what to make of the situation. "Something tells me you weren't expecting us."

"No, ma'am."

"You both died." Naomi added.

"Seventeen years ago." Icheb confirmed.

"The Captain and I haven't risen from the grave. The ship's been fractured into different time frames."

Janeway wondered if it were her imagination or if he actually had put a subtle emphasis on her rank.

"Thirty seven to be exact." Naomi corrected.

"How did you calculate that?"

"We've had seventeen years to upgrade the sensors. A chrono-kinetic surge interacted with the warp core." Naomi explained.

"It shattered the space-time continuum aboard the ship." Icheb finished.

Janeway looked at Chakotay. "The accident that occurred in your time frame."

He nodded slightly before turning back to the other two. "The question is, can we repair the damage?"

"If we could get to a section of the ship that still exists in that time period, maybe we could counteract the surge, stop it from happening." Janeway offered.

"That section was the focal point of the surge. It seems to have been obliterated."

"It's too bad Seven's not here." Naomi offered with a slight sigh.

Is that a person? "Seven?"

"Someone who knows more about temporal mechanics than any of us." Chakotay supplied.

A person indeed, then. Was this job going to get any stranger? Janeway didn't think she was particularly fond of that idea.

"Unfortunately," Icheb was saying, "she hasn't been found either."

"Maybe we can find her in another time frame." Chakotay sounded hopeful and, at that point, Janeway thought that it was the best she was going to get.

Something in her mind clicked. "I have an Ensign Samantha Wildman on my crew."

"My mother." Naomi nodded.

Despite her request to not know about the future, Janeway turned to Chakotay and raised an eyebrow, unsurprised when he readily supplied the information she wanted.

"Naomi was the first child born on Voyager. A few years later, we rescued Icheb from the Borg."

"When I was little, there was nothing I loved more than spending time with Aunt Kathryn."

Well, who could resist a line like that?

Janeway gave her a soft smile.

Chakotay cleared his throat delicately. "We should get moving."

Nodding, Janeway followed him towards the door, looking back once more. "I look forward to meeting you both."

***

Chakotay took her to the Cargo Bay next.

Janeway's mouth had just about inserted itself permanently into the deck plating when she'd seen her formerly spotless cargo bay turned into some Borg cube replica. There was alien parts entrenched into everything. She'd hit Chakotay up for more answers, then, too.

He'd told her that it was during Voyager's temporary alliance with them. Janeway didn't press for more than that, she wasn't entirely certain that she wanted to know. Before she could formulate any kind of response, a drone approached them and Chakotay introduced it - her - as Seven of Nine.

The drone - Seven - explained that a chronoton field, generated by the warp core and projected throughout the vessel, would force Voyager back into temporal sync, and Chakotay would have a few seconds to counteract the energy surge that caused the problem.

Janeway had let her scientist mind take over, grateful for the distraction. It had only taken a moment before she'd suggested injecting the ship's bio-neural circuitry with the Doctor's serum, in order to transmit the chronoton field.

***

"That was an interesting experience." She commented numbly as they left the cargo bay.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're going to develop quite a knack for dealing with the Borg." He said.

Another thing she wasn't sure she wanted to know. But curiosity had won out with her many a time in the past. "You mean we're going to be seeing more of them?"

"We'll run into them on a few occasions."

He said so little and so much all at the same time. "Why do I get the feeling that's an understatement? It doesn't seem like my first big command is shaping up the way I expected."

She couldn't help the mildly self-deprecating comment that slipped out. She'd switched to command only under the advice - which was more of an order - of Admiral Paris. Janeway would have been happy to have been a scientist, leaving the tough decisions to someone else. It would be unacceptable if her first time at commanding a ship of this size failed. And it sounded like it was failing pretty epically.

"'In the middle of the journey of our life'," Chakotay began quoting and she recognized it immediately, "'I found myself astray in a dark wood, where the straight road had been lost.'"

"I didn't know Dante's Inferno was on the Maquis reading list."

"Actually, I borrowed your copy."

Her jaw dropped a little as they stepped into the turbolift again, sickbay bound. "My fiancée gave me that book as an engagement gift. I've never lent it to anyone."

"Not yet." He shrugged a little, not offering any more than that. "Anyway, I agree with Dante. If you always see the road ahead of you, it's not worth the trip."

"A soldier and a philosopher." She gave him a quick visual once-over, despite herself. "Your intelligence file doesn't do you justice."

***

They made their way quickly to sickbay, getting the Doctor to replicate more of the serum. He tried his hand at some kind of fashion designed and Janeway thought it fairly likely that he would never be able to consider it his forte. If holograms had them, she wasn't sure.

Forte's aside, she'd been a little startled to find the holographic Doctor weaning Maquis leathers, instead of the standard issue medical uniform he was programmed to have. She hadn't commented, fairly certain it was yet another thing she shouldn't ask about.

"This may sound lecherous," Chakotay was saying when she turned her attention back to the other occupants of the room, "but why don't our clothes disappear when we pass through a temporal field? The med kit you gave me did."

He was addressing the Doctor, but he was looking at Janeway and she swallowed and tried to concentrate on getting the Doctor's... contraption on.

"I suppose the serum in your blood may have seeped through your pores." He strapped the vials across Chakotay's chest. "Let's hope they keep the vials in place."

"In their very attractive wrapping." Chakotay's voice dripped sarcasm and Janeway had to stifle a grin.

"I've replicated these belts to resist the effects of the temporal barriers, just like the hyposprays." The Doctor didn't look as perturbed as Janeway might have expected.

Nevertheless, she was impressed. She didn't know a lot about the EMH, but she did know it was supposed to be a lot less creative than that. Not that it was a bad thing at this particular point.

The Doctor left Chakotay's side and moved to help her finished getting 'strapped in.' "I didn't realise you were programmed to be so versatile."

"I wasn't, but when you're thrown into the deep end of the galaxy and left running for as long as I've been, it helps to develop a few extra subroutines."

"How long have you been running?"

"Almost three years, since our original doctor was killed."

Her heart was somewhere in the vicinity of the insane three-inch boots she wore. "Killed? How?"

And he was looking at her like she'd gone made. "In the incident that stranded us here in the Delta-"

"Doctor." Chakotay stopped the sentence. "Let's not."

Whatever the message was, the EMH got it. "Of course. I'm sorry." He moved away from them, running a tricorder over one of the hyposprays he had waiting for them.

"The Delta quadrant?" Janeway finished the sentence, against her better judgement. "Is that what he was about to say?"

"Kathryn, don't."

She didn't like him calling her that. Not bothering to reply, she took the hypospray the Doctor offered and followed Chakotay out of sickbay, not bothering to protest. It might be her ship, but he was right; it was a future she really knew nothing about. And, if something went wrong, they'd have no way of contacting each other.

Janeway had her pride, but she wasn't an idiot.

***

They'd only been walking a few moments when she couldn't stand not knowing any longer. "Can I ask you something?" There was no way she was waiting for him to reply. "I started out with a crew of a hundred and fifty three. I already know I lost my Doctor. How many others?"

"We'll suffer casualties like any other Starship, but you'll gain new crewmen as well." His answer was very tactful and very safe.

"Like you." She summarized. "How do we end up working together? Do we work together?"

"Daily," He admitted. "As for how? Our crews will be forced to work together after we get stranded."

"In the Delta quadrant." Saying it a second time didn't hurt any less. "How does that happen?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Hell no!

She was saved from replying but, since saviour came in the form of one very large alien, hostile... thing, apparently intent on killing them, Janeway wasn't sure it counted.

"Run!"

Chakotay hadn't needed to say it. They both bolted down the corridor, knowing that they would hit a fracture sooner or later. When they did, they rolled across the floor, trying to catch their breath.

"What the hell was that?" She panted.

"A Macrovirus. They infected the ship a few years ago."

Did her whole life suck that much? Or, God help her, was she just hearing the highlights? "Sounds like it's going to be one disaster after another on this ship."

"You once told me that Starfleet Captains don't choose their missions, the missions choose them. You're going to have the opportunity to study things no human has ever seen before."

She appreciated the sentiment, but she couldn't bite back the sarcasm; "Including some very large germs."

***

"That was ridiculous." Janeway shook her head as they exited the holodeck.

"That was very Tom Paris."

They had just entered a monochromatic environment. A program called 'Captain Proton' apparently. While they had easily found the panel they needed to remove to inject the gel pack, when they had reached it, some madman called Doctor Chaotica and his henchmen appeared and restrained them.

When the computer had failed to respond to their commands to shut it down or delete characters, Chakotay had told her to 'play along' as Queen Arachnia. He'd explained the relationship between Chaotica and Arachnia and, before she'd had a chance to seriously mock anything, she'd found the madman kissing his way up her arm. He even managed to graze her breast with his nose and she was damn sure it wasn't accidental.

Willing herself not to vomit - and thankful that her sleeves were long - Janeway had managed to convince Chaotica that she was loyal to him. She hadn't been able to stop her eyes from rolling when she'd thrown in a 'my liege' for good measure.

After convincing him that it was an alien plot that was making the gel pack sick, they convinced him to inject the serum himself. With his back turned, Chakotay had disabled the robot and popped Chaotica square on the jaw.

Janeway was sure she'd hear him mutter her name.

***

As they walked down the corridor, the floor began to vibrate. Softly at first and then stronger, until the tremors were making it hard to keep upright. A wall panel blew behind them and Chakotay pushed her to the ground, covering her with his body.

“What the hell is going on?” He voice was muffled by his chest.

“We’ve been attacked a few times – pick one!” He growled.

Holding her securely, Chakotay tried to roll them.

No way. “What are you doing?”

“The panel flew into a fracture. Unless you want to stick around to see what happens next,” an ominous creaking sound rang out, supporting the hint that she very much did not want to see it, “I suggest you help me.”

Convinced, Janeway did just that, rolling with them until they passed through the fracture and into a movement-free corridor.

Panting, she lay trapped under him. Her hips and elbows were feeling a little ginger after the roll and, when he moved a little, she realized she could add her chest to that list. Except he wasn’t getting off her. And she wasn’t pushing him.

He was looking at her and Janeway knew it was coming, knew it was stupidly inappropriate, knew that now was most certainly not the time, knew she’d be kicking her own ass for an extremely long time, but she let him kiss her.

And he did. Thoroughly.

For all of forty-five seconds, he teased and tasted her, their bodies pressed together, before the doors that they’d landed in front of opened and they heard the irate voice of a woman. “Would you two get a room already?"

Jumping apart – as much as one could jump while on the floor – they rose to their feet. Janeway eyed the dark-haired woman in leather before her. She had forehead ridges that spoke of Klingon heritage and Janeway knew that she wasn’t a member of the crew she’d left Deep Space 9 with. She looked half amused and half annoyed.

Janeway couldn't help the flush that spread over her, but she tried to offer an explanation. “There’s a problem with the ship.”

“I know.” The other woman nodded. “We’ve been trying to contact the bridge for help but no one is answering.”

"Good thing we're here, then." Chakotay supplied. "B'Elanna, what's going on with engineering?"

Janeway didn't know why he would be asking this woman that question. She had a chief engineer. Didn't she?

The woman, B'Elanna - Torres, her mind supplied as she recalled the personnel files - quickly filled them in on what she knew. They told her about Seven's plan and she helped them injected the packs in engineering.

Once they had all been inoculated, Janeway quietly thanked her for her help and moved to follow Chakotay to their next destination.

"Hey, Kathryn?" B'Elanna called.

Janeway turned, once again confused by the familiarity with which she had been addressed. "Yes?"

"What's with the uniform?"

Chakotay answered for her, ushering Janeway out the door. "Ask me later!"

***

After leaving Engineering, they'd passed through another fracture only to be confronted with the very same woman they'd just left.

She hadn't been the same, though. The woman they'd encountered in the corridor was hostile and angry, shouting accusations at Janeway and glaring at Chakotay. She'd said something about Janeway being responsible for stranding them in the Delta Quadrant and, once they'd parted from the irate woman, Janeway had pushed Chakotay until he'd told her about the Ocampa and the Caretaker's array.

Much as she would have liked to have known more, the heavy knot of guilty had quickly settled in her stomach and she'd forced her body to follow Chakotay blindly, her mind reeling.

They found themselves in the mess hall next.

Despite entering yet another part of the ship she knew nothing about, Janeway didn't know quite what to think when she entered and saw bodies, both dying and already dead, littering the floors, covering the tables.

People moaned with fevers and she watched as none other than Tom Paris appeared to have taken on the role of medic. There was also a small blonde woman with pixie ears bustling about, issuing orders and dispensing medication. Everyone seemed to listen to her and Janeway assumed it was someone else they'd 'picked up' along the way.

Tom finally noticed them, looking up from the crewman he was tending to. He appeared to do a double-take when he looked at Janeway, but she was used to it now, especially being, once more, surrounded by people in leather. Her stiff uniform was completely out of place.

"How'd you get in here?"

Chakotay shook his head, moving towards the galley, where he'd said the gel pack was. "There isn't time to explain."

Janeway frowned as he moved away, looking at the bodies around her, before turning back to Tom. "What happened to these people?"

"Radiation poisoning. The EPS relays overloaded when the Macrovirus started getting bigger than our heads." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "We need the Doctor and medical supplies, or we're going to have a lot more casualties."

She touched his arm, trying to offer some form of comfort. "I'm afraid that's not possible right now. Do the best you can."

"Understood." He hesitated for a moment. "The baby is in sickbay."

Baby?

"I don't know..." He paused again and Janeway could have sworn there were tears in his eyes. "The Doctor was trying to stabilize him, but... I don't know."

Janeway had no idea what he was talking about and she wasn't entirely sure she should ask. Thankfully, they were interrupted by an odd looking man that held the key to her heart.

"Coffee, black."

"How do you know how I like my coffee?" She asked even as she inhaled it.

"Well, you haven't changed your standing order in seven years." He smiled gently but she could see that he had been injured too and was hurting.

"Thanks. It's just what I needed." Ii could only have been more perfect if it had come with a shot of whiskey.

"Don't worry, Kathryn, you and Chakotay will get us out of this. You always do."

"Thank you." She swallowed the last of the coffee quickly and nodded to Chakotay, signalling that she was ready to move on.

Giving the odd man that came bearing coffee a quick smile goodbye, Janeway followed her companion out of the mess hall and into the turbolift.

"Deck eleven." He called.

"I can't let this happen," she finally decided, "not again."

"What are you talking about?"

"Voyager getting stranded." Saying it made it seem much more real than it had a few moments ago. "All these deaths, this entire future, it's my fault. I've got to do something to change it."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Maybe we can find a way to modify Seven of Nine's plan. Put Voyager into temporal sync with my time frame." If they could do that, she could stop this all from happening. From what she had seen thus far, it would be for the best.

"Kathryn, no."

Janeway wasn't listening. "Now that I know what to expect, I could avoid getting trapped in the Delta quadrant in the first place."

"Halt turbolift." He had her attention now and they turned to face each other. "Seven's plan is dangerous enough. Trying to alter it is too risky."

"It's worth the risk."

"If Seven's idea works, everyone will be fine."

"The baby?"

She watched him pale. "What baby?"

"Tom said that the baby was in sickbay. Was he talking about Naomi Wildman?"

"No." Chakotay didn't offer any more than that and something about the look on his face made her drop the subject, too.

"Even if everyone is fine, they'll still be stuck in the Delta quadrant. If the temporal anomaly doesn't kill them, something else will. The Borg, telepathic pitcher plants, macroviruses. The Delta quadrant is a death-trap!"

"What about the Temporal Prime Directive?"

It counted for diddly squat when there were children involved; most things did. "To hell with it."

"With all due respect, it's a little presumptuous to think you have the right to change everyone's future."

"From what I've seen, they'll thank me."

"All you've seen are bits and pieces. You're not getting the whole picture."

There'd have to be some pretty spectacular events happening to make up for what she had seen. "Really? Just what am I missing?"

"It's not what, it's who. People like Seven of Nine, a Borg Drone who'll become a member of this crew after we help her recover her humanity, or Tom Paris, a former convict who'll be our pilot, chief medic, and husband to B'Elanna Torres."

The calm woman she had met before meeting her much feistier counterpart. Janeway suddenly had a lot more respect for Tom.

Chakotay continued, oblivious to her thoughts. "Two crews, Maquis and Starfleet, are going to become one and they'll make as big a mark on the Delta Quadrant as it'll make on them by protecting people like the Ocampans, curing diseases, encouraging peace. Children like Naomi and Icheb are going to grow up on this ship and call it home. The entire crew will come to think of Voyager as home because they're surrounded by more than just the people they happened to get stuck with, they're surrounded by family."

Janeway opened her mouth to continue but, apparently, he wasn't done.

"Not to mention the fact that your life is going to change in ways you can't possibly imagine. If you change the way things happen, you'll never get the chance to be godmother to Naomi. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. So much has happened to us out here, both good and bad, that changing it would just be asking for trouble."

She knew that he had a point, but even so... "Are you going to be lecturing me like this for the next seven years?"

"Don't worry," he assured her with a grin, "you'll always get the last word."

Well, thank God for small mercies then. "In that case, let's get back to work."

***

Their final stop was the transporter room. Chakotay had explained that he'd already been there and knew what they were about to encounter.

Apparently Seska, a Cardassian spy posing as Bajoran, had aligned herself with the Kazon and the timeline of the transport room was from when they'd taken over the Ship.

Once they'd entered, Seska had immediately had a Kazon guard seize them. Chakotay had explained the situation - and actually told the truth - and the other woman had deemed the story so preposterous that she believed him. She'd been happy to let him inject the gel pack, but she'd quickly realized that his presence meant that the Kazon plan to commandeer Voyager would fail at some point.

Seska had demanded that he modify the plan by bringing the ship into temporal sync with her time frame. He refused and she had threatened to shoot him.

At that point, Janeway - with a little help from Paris, Kim and B'Elanna, who had all been injected with the serum in preparation for that very moment - had stormed in. A fight had ensued and they'd looked to be losing quite spectacularly but, at the last moment, Seven of Nine had appeared through a temporal barrier. Seska had fired at the drone, but Seven's Borg force field had easily repelled the phaser shot and she had been able to overtake the Cardassian.

With the Kazon and Seska all incapacitated, Janeway turned to the group. "The rest of us should return to our sections. After Chakotay initiates the warp pulse, he should find himself back at the moment Voyager encountered the chrono-kinetic surge. He's going to have a few seconds to reset the deflector polarity. If the time line is restored, the rest of us should have no memory of what's happened here so I'd like to thank you now for putting your doubts aside, and helping me put mine aside as well. Good luck to each of you."

She exchanged smiles with each of them in turn as they left.

When Janeway and Chakotay were alone again, they made quick work of securing their future/past intruders, before heading out of the transporter room and towards where they both needed to be when the surge happened.

"Mind if I ask you one last question?" Janeway asked, her shoulder brushing with his as they walked.

"Will I have to break the Temporal Prime Directive to answer it?" He seemed amused by the prospect.

She stopped then, turning to face him as he did the same. Janeway cast a quick glance around the corridor to ensure that they were alone before she turned her attention back to the compelling man that had turned her world upside down in a matter of hours.

"Maybe, just a little. For two people who started off as enemies it seems we get to know each other pretty well." She flushed a little, remembering the kiss that had been ended prematurely. Briefly, she wondered what would have happened if B'Elanna hadn't chosen that moment to exit Engineering. "So, I've been wondering. Just how close do we get?"

He paused for a moment, clearly contemplating how much to tell her. "Let's just say there are some barriers we never cross."

There was something in the way that he said it, the way his eyes sparkled, that told her more than the words had. "But we do develop a close... friendship?"

"Yes."

He'd known enough about her to make that obvious. While she would accept his answer about them, there was still one other thing she couldn't let go of. "Whose baby was in sickbay?"

"Kathryn..." Chakotay’s voice held a warning note.

She took the hint and smiled. "See you in the future, I suppose."

"You will."

Before she lost her nerve, Janeway stretched up to kiss him. It wasn't anything like the other kiss they'd shared. There was a spark, but not hungry passion. It was goodbye to someone she didn't technically know yet, but would soon.

Temporal mechanics made her brain hurt too much.

Quickly giving him one final smile, she turned and moved toward the turbolift, watching as he turned in the other direction, engineering bound.

Making it back to the Bridge, Janeway turned to Harry. "Ensign?"

He nodded and scanned the console before him. "Chakotay should be initiating the pulse in ten seconds. Five, four, three, two..."

***

When Kathryn made it to the Bridge, the ship was still shaking. She'd only been there a few moments when the movement stopped and that was often scarier, at times.

From her position in the XO chair, she turned to ops. "What is it?"

"I don't know." Harry tapped a few commands, frowning. "Main power's being re-routed to the deflector dish."

"Who gave that order?" A blast rocked the ship violently before everything was quiet and still once more. "Any damage?"

"The deflector's been burned out, but we're okay." Harry replied.

Before she could ask anything else, Chakotay entered the bridge, his leathers charred. He looked a little worse for wear, but he seemed to be in once piece.

"You Okay?" She asked as he approached.

"Fine."

"Do you know why B'Elanna burned out the deflector dish?"

"Actually, I ordered her to do it."

"Why?"

"Trust me." He smiled reassuringly. "It was better than the alternative."

Curiosity had always been a Janeway trait, to a fault at times. "Which was what, exactly?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why Not?"

"The Temporal Prime Directive." Since when did he adhere to Starfleet protocols? "B'Elanna's already got a team working on repairs. What do you say we finish our dinner?"

Taking the hand he offered, Kathryn let him lead her back into the turbolift.

"Are you really not going to tell me what happened?" She prodded.

"Not a chance. I am, however, going to do this," He called for the turbolift to half before he took her in his arms and dipped her as though they were dancing, his mouth easily finding hers.

Kathryn didn't question the motives and she kissed him back soundly, winding her arms tightly around his neck, not doubting that he would support her weight. He tasted her thoroughly, his tongue in her mouth. It was the first real kiss they'd been able to share for days.

When he set her upright again, she touched her tingling lips, mildly dazed. Her eyes wide with desire, she grinned at him. "Was I saying something?"

***

Dinner - and two bottles of cider - finished, Kathryn sat curled into Chakotay's side as they finished their evening off on the sofa, quietly talking and trading childhood stories.

"Forget particle fountains and subspace inversions," Kathryn told him seriously, "there isn't an anomaly scarier than a thunderstorm on the plains, especially when you're six years old. I remember watching a bolt of lightning split an oak tree in my grandfather's yard. I climbed it just a few hours before."

Chakotay, who had been quiet during dinner, smiled and kissed her head. "Good timing."

He'd been distracted all evening and Kathryn knew that, whatever had happened with the deflector dish had rattled him. She had to know. "So what would've happened if you hadn't turned our deflector dish into a lightning rod?"

"We've been down this road before."

"Have we?" She couldn't recall the conversation, if that were true. "Something did happen, outside the normal space-time continuum, didn't it?"

He nodded slightly, but didn't comment.

"It's strange thinking there's a piece of your life you don't know anything about."

"Sounds a lot like the future."

"I guess." She bit her lip. "If you won’t tell me what happened, at least tell me that you're Okay?"

Chakotay smiled softly. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Would you like to perform an inspection and check for marks yourself?" He teased.

"Actually," She pulled herself off the couch and held a hand out to him, a reverse of how they'd stood on the Bridge earlier, "I don't mind if I do."

***

When Kathryn found herself going stag for lunch - Chakotay and Tom were 'bonding', apparently - she immediately called Kes and organized to meet in the mess hall.

She hadn't had a chance to sit down with her Ocampan friend in far too long; not since her date with Harry and that had been months ago.

Kathryn freely admitted that she'd been a bit neglectful with her friendships but, for the first few months of her relationship with Chakotay, she'd found most of her attention dedicated to him. Not to mention the unexpected problems she'd encountered with the more physical side of their union. Despite the somewhat rocky start to their sex life, sans alien interference, Kathryn thought that they'd done a damn good job of making up for lost time.

The downside was the lack of time she'd dedicated to her friends, but no one seemed to mind all that much and, if they did, they obviously weren't inclined to tell her. She suspected that, after watching the command team dance around each other for years, no one had the heart to bring them out of their 'honeymoon phase.'

"So tell me what's going on with Harry?" Kathryn asked as they took their trays to a vacant table and sat.

Kes flushed. Even at almost six years old, she was still uncomfortable talking about her personal life. "We went on a few dates, but that was all."

"Didn't work?"

“We had fun, but I thought it best not to continue.”

They seemed so damn cute together. “Why not?”

"The Doctor expressed concern that I hadn't experienced my elogium yet," She explained, after a moment of silence.

Kathryn remembered the incident with an alien life form, years ago when their journey had still been new and the bond between the crew not as well-formed, when Kes' body had reacted to the outside influences and brought her elogium - her one shot at pregnancy - on far too early.

She'd been faced with the choice to have a child or not and, since the Ocampa only had the opportunity once, she and Neelix had agonized over the decision. They'd finally reached the conclusion that they wouldn't let the opportunity pass, when the Doctor had been able to nullify the affects causing the premature puberty.

Kes had been thrilled to learn that her elogium should still proceed as normal when she was at a more appropriate age.

"Does Harry know?"

"No."

Kathryn frowned, confused. If nothing else, Kes and Harry were good friends and she didn’t understand why that would cause Kes to rethink their closeness. "Why haven't you told him?"

"It should have happened already," She admitted.

Oh. "Kes..."

"I know that you're supposed to be in a relationship before you have a child. I know that you're supposed to be stable and able to support the needs of another. I know that this may not be the best environment to bring a baby into, but... I want one."

Kathryn knew the feeling. "Have you had the Doctor examine you?"

The younger woman shook her head, a sad expression on her face. "No. It would be hard for him to tell. Since he's never encountered a fertile Ocampa before, I'm not sure there's a way for him to determine if I'm infertile or not."

"But he has the information from the swarm that we encountered years ago. He scanned you then, when you were going through the process, couldn't that help?"

"I don't think so. The elogium was false, then, and I had a look at my file; there's not a lot of information about what my body chemistry had done. Certainly not enough for any kind of comparative study."

For as much as she wanted to comfort Kes, Kathryn couldn't help the pang she felt in her own belly. "There are other options, you know."

"I know. But that's not what I want." Kes smiled sadly. "Remember when I was pregnant, in the human way, when those aliens experimented on the crew?"

Kathryn could still remember the blinding pain that had come with the procedures performed on her skull and she well remembered her young friend waddling around with a protruding stomach. "Yes."

"It made me realize that I want to experience it all. Gestation, birth… everything. The other options available wouldn't allow that."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Accept that this is the way it is for a reason and try to find the good in the situation."

“I supposed that’s the best way to look at it.” Kathryn didn't think she would have been able to be that optimistic if the situation had been reversed. "But I still think you should talk to Harry."

***

After her lunch with Kes, Kathryn had retreated to the holodeck for a little quiet time with Master Di Vinci.

There was something oddly cathartic about having the older man critique her work. More often than not, he corrected her techniques but, of late, he'd been giving her a compliment or two as well.

Kathryn had a hunch that a certain Captain on the Ship had seen to that, after the Maestro had reamed her out one day and Chakotay had walked in on the middle of it. He hadn't seemed to believe her when she'd said that a little healthy debate was good for the muse, but, if he had tampered with the program, she was touched by the thought.

She'd spent a few hours with the Maestro, working on the clay head that was still plaguing her, years after she'd first begun to mould it. Da Vinci cursed at her whenever she threatened to throw it out and, if nothing else, it was certainly a lesson in patience.

Relaxing on the holodeck had been exactly what she'd needed. She loved that Chakotay lived with her - though, still not officially, his quarters were pretty much empty now - but there was still nothing that could quite compare to spending a few hours alone, lost in thought.

Of course, only an hour in to her reserved time, her solitude was broken by none other than Naomi Wildman.

"Sweetheart! What are you doing here?"

If it had been anyone else, then Kathryn would have asked them to leave, but no one on the Ship could really refuse Naomi and Kathryn was, perhaps, one of the guiltiest of that.

"I'd like to talk to you about my mom's continued romance with Mike." She replied seriously.

Sam and Mike had been sort of together but sort of not since the crew first received letters from home. There'd been nothing overt about them, just soft smiles and gentle touches in public.

"Well then," Kathryn wiped her hands on a nearby rag, "by all means, have a seat."

Naomi pulled herself up onto one of the spare stools by Kathryn's workbench. The Maestro re-entered the room and Kathryn deleted him before he could comment on the child's presence.

Turning her attention back to the serious young lady before her, she smiled. "What can I do for you?"

"Mike took me to the mess hall last night for dinner while mom worked late."

"That was nice of him."

"Yes, it was." She looked so serious. "He requested my permission to ask mom to marry him."

"What did you say?"

"That I would think about it and get back to him."

Even though she had to stifle a small chuckle of amusement, it was, perhaps, one of the sweetest things Kathryn had ever heard of. Though, he'd probably expected an immediate answer in the affirmative and she wondered what he'd thought of the wise words from Naomi.

"So, that's why I'm here," Naomi continued. "I would like your opinion on the matter."

Oh dear. "Well, it's your opinion that Mike wants."

"Do you think I should let him?"

"That's up to you, sweetheart."

"I don't know if I'm supposed to say yes or not." Naomi looked so lost that Kathryn couldn't help but move around the bench to hug her.

Thanks to the somewhat regular mail call they'd established with the Alpha Quadrant, Naomi had received a few letters from her biological father. She'd confessed to Kathryn that Gresgrendrick was just a strange man on another planet. She didn't know him and didn't know why she should miss him.

Ayala, despite only having started to see Sam as more than a friend not all that long ago, had always been around. Everyone on Voyager had been around for Naomi. They were fiercely protective of Voyager's first child.

Pulling back from her tight hold on the girl, Kathryn tried to make the choice easier for her. "Honey, do you like Mike?"

"Yes." Naomi didn't even have to think about it. "And he makes my mom happy."

"Would you be Okay with having him live with you?"

"I guess so." She frowned for a moment before adding, "As long as he doesn't have too much stuff. Mom and I already have a lot."

"I'm sure you can ask him to limit the amount of stuff he wants to bring with him." Kathryn made a mental note to see if they could do something about the size of the Wildman Quarters.

"I guess it'd be Okay if he asked mom, then." Naomi gave Kathryn a quick hug, squeezing tight, before she jumped down from the stool. "I should go and tell him in case he's worrying about my answer."

Kathryn though that he'd probably be giving himself an ulcer while he waited. "Good idea."

***

Seven, of all people, had been the first to tell her. Then Harry. And then Icheb.

Finally, Kathryn tracked down B'Elanna and pulled her into a tight hug. "Congratulations."

B'Elanna smiled and returned the hug. "Thanks."

"Seven said you were dizzy. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Do you need anything?"

A loud rumbling from the direction of her waistline answered her before B'Elanna could, "Apparently I do."

They made their way back to Kathryn's quarters - she wasn't going to inflict Neelix's food on an innocent life form such as a baby. The poor thing would certainly grow up knowing all about bad cuisine, soon enough.

She let B'Elanna program the replicator out of safety. It had only been the week before that she'd had words with it about a lasagne she'd made for Chakotay, before he'd ended up burning out the deflector dish. She still had no idea what had gone on and he was adamant that he wouldn't tell her. He'd been a little quieter than normal in the week since and Kathryn knew that, whatever had happened had rattled him, but she wasn't going to push the issue.

Now, though, sitting across from her friend, she smiled. "So, tell me what the Doctor said."

"Aside from the obvious?"

"Nice to see you still have your sense of humor." Kathryn poked a fork in B'Elanna's general direction. "I know you're pregnant, I want to know what else he said."

"Apparently, the reason I fainted could be that the Klingon and human metabolism sometimes clashes. The baby is healthy, but the Doctor warned me that I could look forward to experiencing some behavioural volatility."

"Ouch."

"Yeah, you can imagine how I took it when Tom piped up."

Kathryn could also imagine the kind of jokes that he would have used, too, and couldn't help but think that he was deserving of some of the volatility that was to come. "Is the gestation period the same?"

"Thirty weeks is the expected, but it's hard to be sure with mixed breeding." She shrugged a little. "The Doctor also said that the baby's spine will be deviated."

"Didn't you once tell me that you had a genetic modification that corrected the same problem before you were born?"

"Yes." B'Elanna looked uncomfortable for a moment, frowning. "He'll perform the same procedure on the baby, too. It's not a big deal."

Though she knew that something else was bothering her friend, Kathryn didn't press the issue. Yet. "So how do you feel?"

"A little nauseous."

Kathryn snorted and rolled her eyes. "I meant about being a mother."

"I'm scared out of my mind." The admission appeared easy but it had probably cost the normally proud B'Elanna a lot.

"I think you'll find that's perfectly reasonable."

"Were you?"

How does she... oh "It was a little different with Roshan."

"I guess so."

Kathryn scratched her forehead nervously, wondering if this was a bad time to be brining the topic up or not, but unable to stop herself speaking. "I had a miscarriage last year."

"I didn't..."

"I know." She shrugged. "I wasn't ready to deal with it. I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone."

B'Elanna looked rattled. "When was this?"

"After that alien tried to convince us that we were getting back to Earth and everything was rosy?" B'Elanna nodded. Everyone remembered that. "I found out I'd miscarried a few months later."

"Kathryn... I'm so sorry,"

"I know," she smiled gently, "It's OK. My point is that, when I actually thought about the idea of being a mother, it scared the crap out of me, too."

"I'm glad it's not just me."

"I thought you might be."

"I wish you'd told me, though, when it happened."

"We all had other things to worry about, then." She didn't tell B'Elanna that the miscarriage was part of the reason that Chakotay had been such an ass to her, but she suspected that the other woman could well guess.

"I suppose so." B'Elanna sighed a little. "Do you want to have more children?"

Kes had asked her the same thing the week before when they'd discussed her situation. "Yes, I think so."

"And Chakotay?"

They hadn't discussed it much, only long enough to agree that she should have her booster updated at her last physical, but Kathryn was certain that he would relish the chance. "I suspect he wouldn't say no."

"True." B'Elanna's smile was bittersweet. "He loved being a father to Roshan after he'd gotten over the shock, didn't he?"

No one had really spoken of Roshan much over the years. He was by no means a taboo topic, but unless Chakotay brought the subject up - which he rarely did - then no one else wanted to broach it first. It was still an open wound and Kathryn thought that it always would be, to a degree. "Yeah, he really did."

Eager to turn the tables on the morose conversation they'd fallen in to, Kathryn poked her tongue out at her friend. "Are you getting sentimental already?"

"Maybe." B'Elanna admitted, before she reciprocated the childish act. "But it beats the hell out of volatility!"

Kathryn couldn't argue the point.

***

When she saw B'Elanna the next day, she was surprised when the other woman requested they talk.

B'Elanna had always required a certain amount of pressing before she would reveal anything. Kathryn supposed it stemmed from her self-confessed abandonment issues, but she'd never asked outright. She'd never minded having to force the issue and, over the years, she'd learnt when enough was enough.

When they sat down in Kathryn's office, she waited for B'Elanna to begin but nothing was forthcoming. Finally, she broke the silence, "What do you want to talk about?"

"I had the procedure from the Doctor this morning."

Kathryn instinctively held her breath. "Is everything alright?"

"It went fine. The Doctor said that the baby's spine would develop normally from now."

"So what's the problem?"

"I went to the Holodeck afterwards. I projected an image of the baby when she will be twelve. I did some research with removing certain gene sequences. I'm concerned about future health problems and I want the Doctor to use my research to avert them before they happen."

"Is there a valid medical reason to do what you're proposing?"

B'Elanna looked confident. "I believe so."

"Removing genes would change your child completely. These genes influence behaviour, personality, looks." Kathryn had a hard time fathoming why anyone would want to do that. "Are you prepared for that?"

"None of that's as important as her health." B'Elanna protested easily.

"What does Tom say about all of this?"

"I wanted your support first."

That was odd in itself, but B'Elanna didn't let her speak.

"Look, I've done statistical analyses, epidemiology. I just want the Doctor to at least review my work."

"All right, I'll ask him to take a look at it." Kathryn frowned. "But in the meantime, I suggest you have a talk with your husband."

***

When B'Elanna came back that afternoon, Tom in tow, Kathryn could clearly see that it hadn't gone well for them.

"I'm not exactly sure what you want me to do." She shrugged, looking at the two people that stood before her desk.

"I want the Doctor to genetically alter my child."

Tom waved a hand in his wife's direction. "You see what I'm dealing with here?"

"What you're asking for is ethically questionable. The Doctor has reservations, your husband is against it." The Doctor had, in the gap between visits, sent her a report on his concerns about the procedure. Kathryn didn't quite know what had gotten into B'Elanna, but she knew that no amount of pressing would tell her.

"I only want to do what you and Kes did, for Seven of Nine."

Kathryn's eyebrow rapidly crept up to meet her hairline. "I beg your pardon?"

"You had her implants removed."

And...? "I don't see the connection."

"You altered her physiology. You changed who she was." B'Elanna explained. "You felt like you were acting in her best interest. So am I."

Paris chimed in, then. "Seven was born human. Kathryn just helped to restore her original physiology."

"And gave her a much better life in the process." B'Elanna finished.

"Our child isn't even born yet. How do you know what's going to make her life better?"

They'd turned to face each other, completely ignoring Kathryn.

"I just don't want her to start at a disadvantage."

"Look, the Doctor said you might experience mood swings."

B'Elanna threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes. "That's it. Just dismiss my argument as some kind of hormonal outburst."

"I didn't mean that."

It's like a tennis match. It had to stop.

"Stop it, both of you. The biggest problem you two have isn't ethical, it's marital. I'm happy to offer you advice as a friend, but as your XO, you both know damn well I can't authorize anything."

"But you can talk to Chakotay for me."

Kathryn had guessed that they'd been headed in that direction. "And you know me well enough to know I wouldn't do that. You two need to work this out."

She watched them leave her office silently, knowing they'd figure something out eventually.

Hopefully before it came to blows.

***

Two weeks later and Kathryn was glad it was over with.

Of course, since their lives were nothing if not dramatic, it hadn't been over until B’Elanna had pulled out all the stops and gone crazy Maquis on them by trying to re-program the Doctor to perform the surgery to remove her baby's Klingon DNA.

She hadn't gotten very far, being ironically blocked by her own security measures which required two access codes in order to do anything of major importance to their EMH - they'd learnt after the incident with Gar. B'Elanna had apologized to her husband, Kathryn and the Doctor, but Kathryn couldn't help but let the incident make her think.

The recent events had left thoughts of home and family swirling through her head for days. For Seven years they had been travelling with a goal of reaching Earth. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to get back to Earth, more that she didn't know why Chakotay and the others did.

Despite the fact that there hadn't been political division among the crew for quite a number of years, Kathryn still couldn't help but wonder what would happen when they got home. Starfleet hadn't said anything in any of their letters - which they continued to address to Captain Kathryn Janeway - and she had to admit that she hadn't quite had the balls to ask.

Starfleet, despite not having clued anyone in to the fate of the Maquis, had been offering words of encouragement, promising that they're researching a way to help get Voyager home before everyone was going grey - or balding, as the case would eventually be for Chakotay, she knew.

Though, Kathryn considered, not only had Starfleet not said anything, Chakotay hadn't either. Whenever she mentioned Earth, he would converse with her but rarely offer up anything of his own. He'd never specifically said that they were headed back to the planet she held so dear. But he'd also never said that they weren't and he had, many times in the past, addressed alien species' as representatives from Earth.

In short, she had no idea what to think, so she cornered him in his Ready Room, bringing an offer of food from the mess hall as something of a peace offering for the conversation she was about to initiate.

"I wanted to talk to you," She started, well aware that her opening sentence had probably made him shit himself a little, as most men did. "About what happens when we get home."

Chakotay took the bowl of soup she offered and smiled a thanks. "Home?"

"Earth."

"Well, I haven't been around Starfleet for a while, but I assume the correct procedure is still to dock the ship."

"Don't pretend you haven't thought about it."

"What makes you so sure I have?"

Because she would have, if she'd been in his position. "When you and I met, you had a crew of thirty-eight."

"And?"

"And you would have had a plan to ensure their safety when you asked for my Captaincy."

"I thought you preferred the term blackmailed?" He was teasing her, but it was only adding to her frustration.

Kathryn Janeway was not a fan of not knowing what was going on and she wasn't going to let him keep her in the dark any longer. Especially if he ever wanted to have sex with her again. "Chakotay."

"Kathryn, you know I can't answer this. I'm surprised you're even asking me."

She frowned, her soup forgotten as she stared at her lover and tried to understand what he was - and wasn't - saying. "Why would I not want to know?"

He ignored the question. "If the former Maquis go back to Earth, we'll be tried and jailed for war crimes."

There was no way to refute that and Kathryn wasn't prepared to placate him and offer words of encouragement about the intent of her former employers. Starfleet would try the Maquis, there was very little doubt about it. Though it hadn't been said explicitly, it would have been naive of them to think otherwise.

"Need I remind you that we're all Maquis now?" She looked down at her leathers, now so familiar, and tried to remember the time when she hadn't automatically reached for them in the morning.

"Starfleet wouldn't put you on trial, Kathryn. They'd see that you made the best choice possible in a bad situation."

She couldn't refute that, either, not when Owen had said as much in his letters to her. "Were you just going to pack up and run, then? Dump us in Federation space and high-tail it out of there?"

Chakotay didn't respond and Kathryn supposed that she had her answer. She couldn't help but wonder why he had fought so long and so hard to start a relationship with her if he was just going to turn around and leave. What was the point in going through all of that drama for, in the end, nothing?

"I see." She said quietly, taking his silence as an admission.

He spoke then, "When we first started our journey, everyone thought we'd get home quickly. We were all convinced there was a wormhole around every corner, remember?"

She did. Their hopes had been so high, in the beginning. They'd taken on every challenge, good and bad, with wide, excited eyes. Once the shell-shock of all the rapid changes had worn off - getting stranded and the quick change in command had been the most prominent - they'd been eager and tenacious, ready to take on the whole Quadrant.

At some point, though, people had begun to resign themselves to their fate. They had turned their attention from the burning need to get home and, slowly, started to find the good in what they had. Kathryn couldn't deny that, for the most part, life was good. Very good. But the uncertainty of the future did not sit well with her.

She turned her attention back to the man across from her and hoped to God that he wasn't going to break her heart. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"We never expected to get home in our own life times. Not really. You and I spoke about the potential need for a generational ship when we found out about Naomi."

Kathryn remembered the conversation. "And?"

"And I hardly think that Starfleet would put children on trial for their parents' mistakes."

She blinked, incredulous. "So you were hoping you'd be dead before you had to face the issue?"

Even though she hadn't been a Captain for years, she couldn't imagine that knowing that would have instilled much faith in her crew, if she'd told them that was her 'plan.'

"No, I was hoping that we would survive." Chakotay scrubbed a hand over his face, his soup also forgotten, cold by now. "In the beginning, none of us could see past our noses, let alone consider what would happen when, if, we ever made it back."

"But now?" Now that they had shaved decades off their journey, where did he stand? Where did she? Where did any of them?

"Kathryn..."

"Answer me, damnit." She snapped. "This is my future you're talking about, too."

"I know that, but I-"

"What about B'Elanna? If we make it home soon, is she really going to be able to go into hiding while pregnant? Or with a newborn?" She shook her head, "Have you even thought about this?"

"Of course I have! I think about it all the time. And I thought about it when Roshan was born, when you miscarried, when we finally got together. All the time."

"After all that thinking, you still don't have a solution?" She knew that she was probably being a little harsher than necessary, but she had to know. They all deserved to know and she was not going to sit back and let him brush this off as an issue to be dealt with later.

"I told you, I can't answer you."

Well, then.

She had always thought that Chakotay had wanted nothing short of long-term from her, them, but Kathryn could well infer what his current plans were and she wasn't prepared to stand by and let him dictate her life like that.

She wasn't going to spend her life with a man that intended leaving her when they reached home, no matter when that would be. She would rather be alone now rather than have to live a lie, pretending that everything was going well, all the while knowing in the back of her mind that he intended to leave her. "I suggest you make use of your own Quarters."

He looked genuinely confused. "What?"

She wasn't about to give him the answer. "I'm not prepared to invest any more time in us when this is the end you have in mind."

"Kathryn, I-"

"Save it." She shook her head and stood. "I have a duty roster to attend to. Excuse me."

The doors closed behind her and she noted with sadness that he didn't try to stop her from leaving.

It was over, then.

***

B'Elanna eyed her expectantly. "What do you mean it's over?"

Kathryn sighed and shrugged.

She didn't want to tell B'Elanna the specifics of what had happened. Mostly because, she had to admit, she feared that her friend was 'in' on whatever half-thought-out plan Chakotay had come up with. She didn't think she could handle listen to her friend try and defend her lover.

Ex-lover.

She wondered when the mental corrections would stop hurting so much. "Can we talk about you?"

"Yeah, cause I'm the model of a stable woman right now." She snorted, still clearly disgusted in her own behaviour with the Doctor.

"You were trying to do what you thought was right."

B'Elanna shook her head. "I was trying to alter my own child. A baby."

"But you didn't."

"I would have." B'Elanna admitted quietly, touching her stomach. "All I could think was that I didn't want the baby to grow up the way I had; an outcast. Someone to mock."

"B'Elanna, your child will be loved and supported."

"Here, yes. But what about back home?"

Kathryn felt a pang shoot her heart, but she did her level best to ignore it. "There will always be people that don't understand, B'Elanna. Doesn't matter if it's on Voyager or Earth."

They had met many an alien species that hated Seven on sight, purely because of what she was. They had met aliens that hated them all on sight, purely for being different. It was a fact of life no matter where you were in the universe.

"I know." B'Elanna gave herself a little shake. "But back to the topic at hand. Why don't you want to go back to your Quarters?"

Alpha shift had ended thirty minutes ago and she'd sought solace in B'Elanna and Tom's Quarters for a while. She didn't like to think of it as hiding, per se, but she knew damn well it was. "Chakotay is getting some things."

"Kathryn... you don't have to tell me what happened or anything, but don't you at least want to try and fix it? You love him and he loves you, too."

She bit back the tears, hating that they came forth at all, and shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes love isn't enough."

***

Kathryn Janeway was running late.

Not only was she running late, but she was lost. Her first day on the job and she'd gotten lost, for crying out loud. Boarding what she really hoped was the right transport, she looked out at the sea of industrial activity around her.

If nothing else, getting lost had given her an amazing view of the city and she could see what drew the different people to this one place. It would certainly be a change of pace to what she was used to. She couldn't wait.

Finally entering the power plant, Kathryn stopped the first person that she would find. "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the supervisor?"

The man pointed behind him, "Over there."

"Thank you."

Spotting the man that seemed to be in charge, Kathryn made a beeline for him.

"Your authorization and licenses please?" She handed the relevant papers over, waiting silently while he scanned her information, before he looked back up at her. "Level six in thermodynamics and quantum fusion. Well, Janeway, I'm impressed."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now if you can just manage to report to your shift on time."

"I'm sorry, I boarded the wrong transport." She flushed with embarrassment. "I ended up at the Atmosphere Filtration facility."

"They're always looking for skilled workers. I'm surprised they didn't offer you a job."

The casual answer was enough to calm her nerves a little. "I promise I won't be late again."

"Well, it's easy to get disoriented when you're new here. I've been in this city all my life and I still get lost on occasion." He turned, nodding to Kathryn to follow and they moved past several work stations before stopping at one that was unmanned. He pointed to it to indicate that it was hers. "Now, you'll be monitoring the primary reactor coils. They process more than eight thousand-"

"Eight thousand metric tons of tylium per second at ninety four percent thermal efficiency." She finished for him, before explaining, "I've memorized the specifications."

"Let me know if there's anything you need." He didn't comment, but she thought she saw a hint of surprise in his expression. "You'll find we like to keep our workforce happy."

Kathryn grinned and touched her computer console, "I can already tell it's going to be much better than my last job."

***

Five hours later, she was a little concerned her first assessment might have been a little hopeful. The machine reminded her of the cooking unit she'd had at home - that damn thing had been possessed. By the time she'd left on her last assignment, it had taken to giving her opposites; oatmeal when she asked for steak. Eggs when she asked for salad.

"Come on, it's just you and me here. We can do this."

The computer console she found herself working on now seemed to be doing much the same. Desperation had seen her ask for more information about it before the damn thing sent her batty. And, worst of all, it didn't respond to anything she said to it.

A PADD appeared in her line of sight. "The specifications you asked for."

"Thanks." Kathryn nodded to the Supervisor, grateful that he moved away before the console started to beep again.

"Input error four one five. Command code violation two three zero eight."

Ready to give it a good thwack and already sick of the computer's voice, she leant her forehead against the machine and spoke to it, "Come on, shut off that damn alarm and I promise I'll never violate you again."

The alarm continued, defiantly getting louder with each shrill ring and her braid flapped against her back as she jumped.

"Please. I can't look like an idiot on my first day."

A hand darker than her own popped up in the space between her body and the console, easily typing in commands. "You almost started a core overload." The hand owner explained.

Kathryn stood upright, turning to face a man, the embarrassment of earlier returning full force. "I would have corrected it."

"Well I'm sorry for interrupting then, and for eavesdropping." She cocked an eyebrow in question and he continued, "I overheard you talking to your console."

She shrugged. "It's an old habit."

"Does it work?" He asked seriously.

"I'm not sure this control panel and I speak the same language yet."

"Well, if you need an interpreter..." He held out a hand. "Chakotay."

She took a moment to study him; tall, dark-skinned, tattoo, black hair tinged with grey, but still human. She had no idea how many human's lived on this planet, but Kathryn was just a little glad that she'd found one. And he was attractive, which didn't hurt.

She shook his hand. "Kathryn."

"I work just down there." He nodded to a station a few back in the row.

"That's good to know."

"Did you just transfer over?"

She nodded. "This morning."

"First day nerves, huh?" He smiled gently and tapped the top of the computer. "Be careful, they can smell fear."

"This station doesn't require two operators." The hard voice belonged to a tall blonde woman that stood next to them, frowning, clipboard in hand.

Chakotay turned and smiled, offering her his hand, "I don't think we've met. I'm-"

"Employee one three two six," she finished easily, turning her attention to Kathryn, "and you're employee eight five eight four. Since you're new here, you may not be fully familiar with the labour protocols, but you should be aware that fraternizing is not permitted during work hours."

Chakotay was the one to answer, "And do you have a number or maybe a name?"

"Annika Hansen."

"And what exactly is your position here?"

"I'm the new Efficiency Monitor."

"Oh, I didn't know they'd hired one."

"Now that you do, I suggest you return to your station."

After seeing the exchange, Kathryn decided to jump in, "We weren't fraternising. He was just helping me correct an input error. We're almost finished."

Annika nodded once. "Do it quickly."

"Yes, ma'am."

She watched the blonde walk away before turning back to her 'helper.'

"I thought we were fraternising." He grinned at her, smug. "Maybe we could get acquainted after work. There is a little place some of us like to go to. We could get a meal."

Kathryn considered it for a moment but there had been someone, a man, back home and it hadn't worked out. Fresh from that relationship, she wanted nothing more than to focus on her work for a while before she jumped into anything knew. Even if he was extremely appealing to her. "I can't."

"You need to talk to someone besides your console."

He looked disappointed and Kathryn tried to smile to ease the blow a little. "I appreciate the offer, but with this new job I don't really have time to socialise."

"If you change your mind..." He nodded to his station again.

"I'll know where to find you." She finished, watching him turn and move back to his console, quickly slipping back into his work.

She watched him over the tops of the consoles for a moment - having to stand on the tips of her toes, of course - and hid quickly when he looked up.

Not bad for a first day.

***

Kathryn entered the bar that one of the workers had recommended. She kept her shawl close; the night air had a slight bite to it but she shrugged the material off when she found a table. Hopping up onto the chair, she pulled out the manuals that would serve as her date for the evening.

She was three sentences in when he arrived.

"I thought you didn't have time to socialise?"

"I'm not socialising." She protested automatically, "I'm reviewing these manuals and having something to eat."

"Well, I recommend the Latara broth and the section on thermal coefficients." He nodded and took up residence on the other chair, "I'll join you."

"Really, I'm very, very busy." She tried to keep her voice firm but, for the most part, she was just amused at his persistence and she suspected it showed.

"Oh, not to socialise, to, er, help you review the manuals."

She raised an eyebrow, but moved the manuals over so that he could look too. The bartender brought them drinks and a tray of food and they sat, heads bent together as they poured over the manual. Kathryn was determined to show the computer who was boss and she let him point out different things that they read, explaining them for her - and then she corrected him, quite often - before they'd fall into a tangent of something more random.

"So, where are you from?"

"A planet called Earth. Long way from here." Kathryn took a bite of something from the vegetable plate between them.

Chakotay took a bite of something as well, grimacing when it was less than pleasing. "Why did you leave?"

"My planet is overpopulated, very polluted. There's very little work there, but I always wanted to spend my life in the stars anyway. I wanted to know what was out there." Despite being indoors, her gaze automatically flicked upwards and Kathryn found herself just a little sad when she couldn't see anything.

"What made you change your mind and settle down here?"

She wasn't quite sure she had an answer for that. "I think I needed a change." It was weak, but it was all she had.

Her biggest problem, of late, had been that she'd felt out of place. She was hoping that Quarra would cure that. New job, change of scenery... it might just be the thing to cure her restlessness. She hoped.

Shaking the sudden bout of morose thoughts from her mind, Kathryn did her best to smile at her companion. "What about you?"

"Originally from Trebus." He replied.

So he was human, then.

Kathryn knew the name, knew that she'd heard about it before. She tried to search through her memory, trying to place the familiarity... It took a moment for the name to click. "Oh."

"Yeah." He shrugged away whatever sympathy she would have, eventually, offered. "I left before most of the trouble."

"Your family?"

"I wasn't on speaking terms with them when I left, so... I don't know."

She couldn’t imagine lying awake at night, wondering if the people she loved were alive. Though Kathryn had left Earth, at least she'd had the chance to say goodbye to her family. "I'm so sorry."

"I think about them sometimes." He admitted, before he shrugged again. "It doesn't matter now."

"I think it does." The contradiction was, perhaps, inappropriate considering she'd only just met him, but something about Chakotay told Kathryn that he wouldn't mind so much.

"You've got me there," He finally conceded with a small smile. "But there's not much I can do about it now. The trouble," Which was, namely, Cardassians, "knocked out all of the planet's communication systems. Even if I wanted to contact them, it would be impossible."

"I'm sorry." She said again, if only because there wasn't much else she could say.

She knew about the Cardassians and what they had done to the border colonies and she thought it unlikely that many would have survived their version of tender loving care. She imagined that he knew that too.

"In any case," He said, his voice taking on a lighter tone. "We should be celebrating a new friendship, not being so morose."

Kathryn couldn't help but match the smile he offered. "Perhaps."

Chakotay held his glass up, "To new friends."

Kathryn returned the toast, clinking glasses before finishing the last of the sweet juice she'd been drinking. "It's getting late," She finally said. "I should head home."

"Let me walk you?"

She nodded, accepting the offer a little quicker than she would have liked. They packed up the manuals and he helped her back into her shawl before they turned and exited the bar. The night air's chill having gotten worse in the hours she'd been inside, Kathryn walked a little closer to Chakotay.

"Stealing body heat?" he teased easily.

"Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." She shrugged. "I can't believe I let you keep me out this late."

"I felt it was my responsibility to help you study those manuals." Chakotay defended easily.

Kathryn didn't buy it for a second. "Of course."

"And now that I have, you should be less likely to overload the core."

"I was never in danger of overloading the core." She defended, indignant.

"Of course not. That explains why, when I met you, you were engaged in a battle of wills, huh?"

She flushed a little and it warmed her in more ways than one. "Something like that."

They didn't pass many people, it was late out and curfew was approaching. Anyone still out was hurrying home before security stopped them. Kathryn observed a group of people congregating at the entrance to a building and she couldn't help but smile.

"It's nice to be in a place where different species get along so well." She commented, nodding to the eclectic group of people she'd observed.

Chakotay nudged her shoulder with his own. "So, you admit we're getting along."

"I was speaking in a broader cultural context."

He didn't seem convinced. "Is that so?"

Kathryn decided that now would be a good time for her to change the subject, before she ended up digging herself a hole. "I still haven't adjusted to the weather here. It gets so cold at night."

They turned down onto the street her new home was on and Kathryn was a little pleased to note that she hadn't gotten lost this time. Though that may have had more to do with her companion than anything else, she quietly admitted.

"My body heat and I are glad to be of service, then." He ribbed gently, nudging her shoulder again. "You know, one of the advantages of living in employee housing is that we can continue sharing ideas even after the work day is over."

She ignored the subtle invite. "Is that so?"

"Yes," He nodded and smiled, "and I do have a spectacular view of the river from my living quarters."

"I really have to get to sleep." She replied, entering her building. "Maybe another time."

Approaching her door, Chakotay stopped and eyed her seriously for a moment. "I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable."

"You're not." She told him firmly.

"Well, if you get lonely..."

Kathryn felt warmth spread through her. "I'll let you know."

He kissed her cheek before he turned and headed to his own rooms.

Kathryn smiled.

***

Three days later, Kathryn was fairly certain that things were going to work out in her favour. Not only had she finally found her place at the power distribution plant, but her friendship with Chakotay had made the transition into a new way of life easy.

He'd asked her to have dinner with him - for the third night in a row - so that he could introduce her to his 'little sister.' He'd said that, though they shared no relation, he and B'Elanna had a long history together.

Kathryn was aware that things with her and Chakotay were moving faster than she would have normally liked, but something about him calmed her. She didn't fear him, didn't fear what was happening between them and, for the first time in her life, she was more than happy to let things progress as they did.

An alarm sounded and Kathryn jumped, startled, frantically looking at her console. None of the readouts indicated a problem and she looked up to find Chakotay next to her.

"It wasn't me." She said automatically.

"It's not an overload." He smiled. "It's time for our inoculations."

"What inoculations?"

He waved her concern away, turning to follow the throng of people lining up. "They're nothing to worry about. Protection against ambient radiation.

Kathryn followed him. "I didn't realise that was a problem."

"It's not, as long as you're inoculated regularly. We're lucky to have an employer that concerned about our safety."

Considering some of the people that she'd worked for in the past, Kathryn couldn't help but agree. They joined the line of co-workers waiting. "How long had this been a problem for?"

Chakotay shrugged. "It's been like this since I arrived. I haven't really asked, to be honest."

They shuffled forward easily, quickly reaching the head of the line. Chakotay went first, tilting his head to the side so that he could be injected. Kathryn stepped forward next, thanking the man once she'd been inoculated.

Chakotay had moved to the side to wait for her and he walked her back to her console. "Are we still on for dinner?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll meet you at the bar."

"Great." He looked around quickly to ensure that their 'efficiency monitor' wasn't looking, before he kissed her cheek and smiled. "See you then."

***

"B'Elanna!"

Kathryn stood and smiled as the other woman approached. She could see the small bump of pregnancy under her clothes and made a mental note to ask Chakotay about it later.

The dark-haired woman approached, quickly embracing Chakotay before turning to the other occupant of the table. "You must be Kathryn?"

She smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Chakotay had told me a lot about you," She informed her, moving to sit, "I think you've definitely captured his interest."

Chakotay immediately cleared his throat and shot her a warning look. Kathryn immediately decided that this was a woman she needed to know. "Oh really?"

"Yes." B'Elanna glanced at Chakotay. "But we can talk about that later."

"Later?" He squeaked.

The two women laughed.

Shaking himself of the fear that had gripped him, Chakotay spoke again, "Do either of you want anything to eat?"

They ordered quickly and Kathryn noted that the bartender appeared interested in B'Elanna, but didn't say anything. She was also curious about the obvious pregnancy, but bit her tongue.

"He left." B'Elanna told her, obviously interpreting the look for what it was. "When he found out I was pregnant, he took the first transport out of here."

Kathryn wasn't sure what she could say to that. "I'm so sorry."

B'Elanna shrugged. "We're better of without him."

"And you have me." Chakotay reminded her.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing!" B'Elanna laughed.

Kathryn knew that she was going to like this woman a lot.

***

A few days later, Kathryn was pleased to note that her initial thoughts about B'Elanna still stood. They had spent a lovely evening talking and laughing like old friends. They'd had lunch, just the two of them, the next day and she'd made plans with the other woman to have dinner soon.

After their introductory meal, Chakotay had walked Kathryn home again, after seeing B'Elanna to her own door safely. He'd kissed her cheek and smiled at her, before stealing a real, though brief, kiss from her willing lips.

Kathryn had said goodnight to him at her door and then spent an hour acting like a lovesick teenager - Does he really like me? Do I like him? Am I ready for this? - before she'd gone to bed with a smile on her face.

She was mid-way through getting her console to co-operate when she was interrupted by a dark man. She'd seen him around the plant, but hadn't interacted with him much.

"Excuse me."

Turning to face him, she smiled. "Hi."

"I believe we know each other."

"You're Tuvok, right? We met last week at the shift briefing."

"Before that." He shook his head. "Before we were working here."

"Oh, I don't think so." She realized as soon as she said it that it could have come out badly and tried to save herself from any kind of social faux pas, "I mean, we're obviously not from the same place."

"Still I believe I know you." He cocked his head to the side, examining her. "From the hospital perhaps?"

"What hospital?"

"I am not certain." He frowned. "We were patients."

"You must have me confused with someone else. I've never been sick enough to go to a hospital." She could feel Chakotay's eyes on her and was thankful for the potential back up. Turning back to her station, she smiled apologetically at Tuvok. "I'm sorry, I have a lot of work to finish."

Tuvok gripped her upper arms, staring at her intently. "Please, try to remember. It may be important."

Chakotay approached, then. "Is there a problem here?"

"I think it's just a misunderstanding." Kathryn replied, trying to quell the unsettled feeling that had taken up residence low in her belly.

Chakotay spoke, "Tuvok?"

"She's right." Tuvok admitted, looking uncomfortable, realizing how much attention he'd drawn to himself. "It's... er, it's... er, a misunderstanding."

"You don't look well. Maybe you should go to the infirmary."

"No, no, I'm fine... fine. Er... I'll go back to my station." He turned back to Kathryn. "Sorry to have bothered you."

She watched him walk away and shivered a little.

Chakotay touched her arm. "Are you OK?"

"I think so." Unconsciously, she moved a little closer to him, watching Tuvok's retreating back.

"What was that all about?"

"I'm not sure." Mentally shaking herself, she tried to smile. "Strange man."

"And a terrible joke teller." He squeezed her forearm. "So, are we having dinner tonight?"

"Again?

He pretended to look offended. "What, you don't like my cooking?"

The meal he'd cooked for her the night before hadn't exactly been what she would call palatable. "No, it's wonderful. It's just..."

"I'm a perfectionist." He shrugged, "I'm going to keep trying until I make you the perfect meal."

"And then we stop eating together?" He frowned and she smiled. "I'll have dinner with you on one condition; I make it."

"I think I can accept those terms."

"Good. Now go back to your station before the Efficiency Monitor catches us fraternising."

***

Kathryn touched the cooking unit with slight fondness, silently praying that the meal would be something akin to edible.

She'd been trying to make a meat loaf, which was tough to do without any actual meat. The recipe had promised that vegetable loaf would be just as good, but when she looked at it, she had a hard time being convinced. She wondered how he managed to feed himself well enough with a diet that didn't include any meat, but admitted that he'd just had more practise than she.

Chakotay, at least, had the good graces to look excited when she put a plate down in front of him. "Mmm, smells good."

"It's only burnt on the outside." She defended. "Your cooking console's a little temperamental, huh?"

"Did you try talking to it?"

How did he know her so well already? "Once I cut off the charred part I'm sure it'll be fine."

She watched Chakotay cut a piece off and chewed slowly. "It's good."

"Really?" She watched him shake his head and reach for a napkin. Undefeated, Kathryn grabbed her shawl. "Let's go."

"Where?" Even though he questioned her, he still rose from the table and followed her toward the door.

"I promised you dinner. We'll just have to get it somewhere else."

"Wait," Chakotay spun her around, pulling her into his arms to smile down at her. She could feel his hardness pressing into her lower belly and it sent a mildly unexpected jolt of desire through her. "I'm not really hungry. Are you?"

Well, when he put it like that... "No."

"Let's stay here."

She had intended to nod her approval, but he claimed her lips before any sound other than one of hormonal approval could come fourth.

Winding her arms around his neck, Kathryn kissed him back with as much passion as she could, drinking in his scent, even though it was tainted with the taste of her burnt meal.

He was surprisingly aggressive in the way he claimed her mouth, leaving her with no doubt that he would have her tonight. She didn't mind as much as she thought she should have, though, and Kathryn pressed their bodies as close together as she could. Eyes closed, she could feel him walking her backwards until they both fell, with no grace whatsoever, backwards onto his couch. She landed on his chest and their kiss broke when she let out a surprised gasp, some of the breath being knocked out of her.

He winced a little, too. "You OK?"

"Oh yeah."

"We don't have to..." He didn't finish the sentiment, but she knew what he meant.

"I want to."

He kissed her again, instead of responding, one hand tangled in the long hair that fell down her back, the other pressed tightly into the small of her back. Kathryn rubbed their lower bodies together shamelessly, need filling her faster than it should have. She wanted him, desperately, but had no real reason why her body craved his touch.

Thankfully, for her, he seemed to feel much the same.

Both of their sweaters were gone quickly and her shirt and bra followed two kisses later. When she was topless and pressed against his bare chest, Kathryn decided that her life had definitely changed for the better.

Her sensitive nipples rubbed against his chest and she'd managed to find just the right angle with which to rub against him in order to provide the best kind of stimulation. It was so, so good, but it would all be over quickly if she let herself continue. She wanted release, but she wanted him more and the thought startled her a little.

Not inclined to move from the couch in the slightest, Kathryn moved until she sat, straddling his hips, glad for the size of the furniture he'd been given. Wiggling down a bit - and trying very hard not to self-consciously imagine the way her breasts moved when she did so - Kathryn rested just above his knees, easily flicking the button of his pants open before she lowered the zipper.

When his erection sprang free from the constraints of his pants, Kathryn grasped him in her hand, palming the hot flesh. Chakotay groaned beneath her, enjoying the feelings for only a moment before he batted her hand away. She got the message; now.

Chakotay went for the waistline of her pants next, undoing them with practised ease. He pulled her back down to lie on his chest before they shuffled against each other to get of their pants off. It was the most ridiculous way to do it and Kathryn knew that anyone watching would have laughed, but the urgency they both seemed to feel wouldn't allow for them to think about it logically.

Finally naked, their mouths fused together again. Kathryn knew that she should have made more of an effort at foreplay - if only for the sake of her genders' reputation, really - but she wasn't prepared to wait any longer. Gripping the base of his penis with her hand, she lowered herself onto him, sighing into his mouth when they were finally joined completely.

She took a shuddering breath before she rocked against him. Their position didn't allow for a lot of movement, but the friction more than made up for that. Almost embarrassed by her body's eagerness, Kathryn sped the pace up, her clit rubbing against his pubic bone, adding to the storm that festered in her belly.

For as much as she wanted their first time to last, her body had made the executive decision that enough was enough and, before she had time to comprehend the situation, she was falling to pieces on top of him, crying out into his mouth. He swallowed her cries easily, hands gripping her hips, before he was straining against her, crying out his own pleasure.

It was fast and rushed and everything she had needed.

When their breathing eventually retuned to normal and Kathryn felt like her muscles were made of more than jelly, she pulled his sweater over her head, grinning at him.

"You look better in it than I do," He told her. There was a blanket on the back of the couch and he offered it to her, shrugging back into his pants.

Tracing the lines of his tattoo with her fingertips, she smiled. "I'm going to get some tea. Want some?"

"Please." He nodded and smiled. "I hope the cooking console's not being temperamental again."

"Making a hot drink is one thing I can do." She assured him.

Chakotay didn't let her move, pulling her back into his arms. "Are you comfortable?"

"Now that you've thwarted my plans to replenish my thirst?" She teased, before snuggling further into the blanket and his bare chest. "The blanket's nice and warm."

"No, I mean here with me."

He was serious and she thought it only fair to reciprocate the tone. "I can't remember being more comfortable in my life."

Chakotay smiled, brushing his fingertips along her cheek.

The mood was broken by a knock at the door. Chakotay sighed and moved to answer, giving her a quick kiss first.

When he opened the door, Kathryn saw security standing there and, mindless of the fact that she was clad in his sweater, a blanket and not much else, she moved to stand next to him. "What's going on?"

"Chakotay?" one of the men asked. When he nodded, the man continued, "We have you listed as the emergency contact for B'Elanna Torres."

"That's right."

"She was kidnapped approximately four hours ago."

Kathryn gripped his hand, offering quiet support while her heart sank to her knees.

"Do you know what happened?" Chakotay asked.

"We're reviewing the evidence." The other man answered. "There's not much we can tell you right now."

"I understand." Chakotay nodded, almost to himself. "Thank you for letting me know."

Kathryn moved to make him a hot tea, quietly leaving it on the coffee table for him. "Are you Okay?"

Chakotay scrubbed his hands across his face. "A little rattled, to be honest."

"I think that's to be expected." Kathryn sat next to him, rubbing her hand up and down his back. "Can I do anything?"

"Just... stay."

***

"So, what I was thinking is, if we were to combine our resources we would reduce our expenses."

Kathryn frowned at him from her position in his bed. "Are you asking me to move in?"

"Yes. I know it's impulsive, I know we haven't known each other very long, but things are so easy when we're together and it just feels right and I just thought I-"

"Yes." After what had happened with B'Elanna, Kathryn had learnt one thing; life was short. Starting today, she was going to embrace whatever happiness was thrown her way, regardless of how long it would last.

Chakotay, for his part, looked relieved and nauseous all at once. "What?"

"Maybe I'm out of my mind, but let's try it."

Chakotay pulled her into a tight embrace.

***

The next day, they still hadn't had word from B'Elanna or the authorities. Security had called to say that there'd been no new information and the tapes hadn't been of help. Kathryn didn't know what to do and Chakotay didn't say much about the situation, silently worrying.

"You've only been here three weeks. Where did you get all these things?"

Kathryn shrugged. "I'm a collector."

Despite her offered to wait until they knew what was happening with their friend, Chakotay had been adamant that, now more than ever, they needed to do what was right. He wanted her there when he woke up every morning, he'd said, and Kathryn hadn't had the heart or desire to say no.

Chakotay fingered one of the objects she'd so recently placed on his shelf. "You collect spent plasma relays?"

"I like to think of it as a decorative object." She looked at a piece of a warp coil. "You know, I think this would look better over there."

"You're cute when you're organizing shelves, you know." Kathryn flashed him a grin and headed towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"To get the rest of my things."

Chakotay eyes her. "There's more?"

"Just think of how much more shelf organizing I'll have to do!"

She hurried back to her apartment and grabbed the last two bags she'd packed earlier. Closing the door to the empty rooms - she still technically had the lease for another month before another worker would be moved in - Kathryn turned and headed back to her new home.

Pushing the door open, she walked in to find Chakotay clearing away the tissue she'd used to wrap her breakables in.

"This is the last of it," She told him, dropping the bags by the door.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." She assured him.

"You know," he started, moving to pull her into his arms, "you could have warned me that you're a packrat."

Kathryn opened her mouth to reply but, before she could, her body was enveloped in the strangest sensation she'd ever felt in her life and her eyes slipped closed of their own accord.

When she opened them again, she found herself standing in a standard issue Starfleet Transporter Room. Pulling back from an equally startled Chakotay, she turned, even more surprised to find B'Elanna standing at the door.

"What..."

"It's a really long story," B'Elanna told them. "I need you to trust me and I need you to help me."

Chakotay stepped forward. "I trust you. What do you need?"

"We're about to be inundated with about a hundred and forty people that have no idea what's going on. We've all been brainwashed. Our Doctor has the inoculations and he'll administer them as quickly as possible, but there's going to be a lot of confusion." She held out a picture frame, "I thought you might like a little proof."

Kathryn took it, looking at a picture of her and Chakotay sitting amongst a group of people; B'Elanna, the bartender, Tuvok, the Efficiency Monitor. There were other people she'd seen from the plant there, too.

Frowning, Kathryn looked at B'Elanna intently. "Who are we?"

"We're Maquis."

***

"Are you okay?" She finally asked, tired of the silence that had stretched between them after he'd entered her Quarters and made a superficial comment about the missing six inches from her hair.

"I'm... getting there." He shrugged. "It was a little brutal, coming out of the mind control and realizing..."

That his son was dead. His parents, sisters, cousins... all dead. His Maquis friends still in the Alpha Quadrant... dead.

"I understand." Kathryn finished quietly. She'd had much the same realizations when the mind control had worn off, a few hours after her turn with the EMH. She'd remembered her father, Justin, Roshan, friends, crewmen... she'd been forced to remember them all.

Chakotay tugged his ear uncomfortably, silence stretching once more, before he took a deep breath and looked her square in the eye. "I love you."

Kathryn blinked once, letting the words sink in. "You've never said that to me before."

"Maybe not outright."

"I knew, though." She smiled a little. "And I assumed you knew that I love you, too."

He grinned at her and Kathryn remembered the night he had told her as much, long before they'd actually gotten together. "I had a fair idea."

"So what now, then?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

Despite what had happened on Quarra, there was still the issue of getting home to be resolved. Kathryn wasn't entirely certain she wanted to do it tonight, though.

"Can we just... sleep?" He asked. "After the last few weeks, I think we both deserve the break."

Kathryn nodded and she thought that her body might have done a happy dance if she weren't so damn tired. "Yes please."

He held a hand out to her and Kathryn took it, getting to her feet with a small groan. They mightn't have been sold into some kind of manual labour, but she was still dead on her feet regardless.

She let Chakotay lead her to bed. He stood in front of her, eyebrow raised in question, and she nodded, offering the permission he sought. A small smile on his face, he stripped her. It wasn't particularly erotic - though she did note the look of desire in his eyes - but more caring and soothing.

Touched, Kathryn moved as he needed, helping him shed her clothes before he pulled her nightgown - an ice blue number that he had given her on their one month anniversary - over her head and let it fall to cover her. He turned and pulled the bedcovers back, waiting for her to slip in before he tucked the covers around her neck and kissed her forehead.

He stood and gave her another smile.

Kathryn smiled back, sleepily. "Where are you going?"

"I thought-"

"Stay."

He did.

***

Kathryn sat with a PADD in hand; the Doctor's report on the incident on Quarra.

Though, as far as Kathryn and the others were concerned, they'd simply woken up in another life and gone about as completely new people. They'd all had their own identities, but the little details were missing and the interpersonal relationships hadn't all been there. Though some had been reformed, Kathryn remembered with a smile.

In reality, though, Voyager had hit a subspace mine which had deluged the ship with poisonous tetryon radiation, forcing them to evacuate in escape pods. They'd found themselves on Quarra, under the tender loving care of Dr. Kadan. Despite a promise to help, he'd brainwashed them all into believing that they'd fled to Quarra in order to escape their former lives. Kathryn herself had believed that Earth was overpopulated and polluted, and that she'd chosen to leave her family forever.

When Kes, Harry and Neelix - who had been on a trading mission with the Nar Shaddan in the Delta Flyer - attempted to rendezvous with Voyager, they'd had to track the ship, finding it in a nearby nebula, where the Doctor had hidden it, trying to make repairs.

Once they'd done as much jury-rigging as they could with the limited knowledge they had and help from the computer, they'd set in a course for Quarra and attempted to expose what was going on. Kes had come down to the planet in disguise, claiming to be looking for work in medicine.

Unable to explain what had happened to the crew, she'd found work, made contact with B'Elanna and, eventually, had her beamed back to Voyager. The Doctor had examined the expectant Klingon and been able to come up with an antidote to the mind control drugs that Kadan had used.

While the doctor had been examining B'Elanna, Kes had been working in the hospital when Tuvok was brought in. She'd been the one to treat him and, after earning the trust of several key officials, she'd quickly learnt what they were doing - kidnapping and brainwashing people to help with a labour shortage that the planet had been experiencing for some years.

Kes had returned to Voyager with Tuvok and they had threatened to expose what the hospital was doing to the entire sector, unless they released the crew. The Quarra officials had been given little choice but to agree. Kathryn and Chakotay had been beamed up first, with B'Elanna - who was herself again - ready with an explanation.

Once they'd been convinced - and it was hard not to when there were videos that you had recorded telling you about your real life - they'd gone to the cargo bay to be with the crew.

Kathryn had spent a lot of time trying to comfort confused and scared people. She'd found Naomi hiding behind one of the cargo crates and she'd helped the little girl find her mother before the Doctor was able to treat them.

Five days later, everyone's memory back full force, Kathryn flopped down onto the sofa and groaned, her muscles protesting loudly at anything resembling movement. She'd been on the holodeck with Seven, playing hover ball as a way to 'relax.' All it had done was messed up her hair and made her sweaty.

"You look good like that."

Men! "I look like a pig."

"A very attractive pig, then."

She batted away the hand that moved to touch her. "I'm going to shower."

"Want company?"

"Not from you!"

"You wound me, Kathryn."

Turning back to look at his smiling face, she rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but return the grin. Things were going to be Okay, eventually.

***

Kathryn sat on the Bridge, slouched down in her chair, reading a superfluous report that wasn't helping her general sleepiness. Thankful that the Maquis were far more lax in protocol - including one how went about ones duties - Kathryn let herself slide down a little further, imagining that her chair had suddenly morphed into some kind of recliner.

She wondered if she could get Chakotay to do something about that. Sleeping with the boss had to count for something, right?

The Ship shook, startling her from her thoughts. Immediately, Kathryn sat up straighter and squared her jaw. "Report."

Tom was the first to answer, his movements speeding up as he spoke, "A ship just de-cloaked off our port stern."

"Can you identify them?"

"They re-cloaked." Harry replied.

Chakotay stepped out of the turbolift, looking to Kathryn. "What's going on?"

He'd had the morning off to have breakfast with B'Elanna and make sure that she and the baby were Okay. Kathryn hadn't bothered to call him; she knew that he would have been halfway to the Bridge before the first hit had been over anyway.

"Cloaked ship approached and attacked without hail."

"That disruptor blast had a Klingon signature." Tuvok added.

"Evasive manoeuvres." Chakotay ordered as another blast was fired. "Hail them."

"No response." Tuvok answered after a beat. "Port shields are down to fifty percent."

"They've re-cloaked again." Harry added, "Tetryon readings indicate it's a D-Seven Class cruiser."

"D-Seven?" Tom spun around on his chair and frowned. "They were retired decades ago."

"If their technology is antiquated..." Tuvok started.

"Perhaps a metaphasic scan might be able to penetrate their cloak." Chakotay finished. Kathryn nodded and he tapped his comm. badge. "Bridge to Astrometrics."

"Astrometrics here."

"Seven, initiate a metaphasic sweep."

She didn't indicate any kind of acknowledgement of the order, but there were all used to that and they waited for a few moments until she spoke again.

"I've detected a vessel. Transferring the trajectory to tactical."

"I have them." Tuvok confirmed.

Chakotay nodded. "Fire phasers."

"Direct hit." Tuvok confirmed, but they'd all seen that for themselves on the view screen.

"Hail them again." It took a few moments for the other vessel to accept the hail. "This is Captain Chakotay of the Starship Voyager. Stand down."

The leader of the Klingon Vessel scowled. "We will not surrender to sworn enemies of the Klingon empire."

Chakotay stood in the centre of the view screens range, palms facing up. "We aren't enemies."

The Klingon sneered. "We do not negotiate with Federation!"

"You'll find that we have more in common on that front than you think."

Chakotay's blaze response got their attention. "What?"

"We're Maquis." He responded. "Aside from that, the Empire signed a peace treaty with the Federation more than eighty years ago. If I'm not mistaken, it's still in effect, but I haven't been in touch with the higher ups of Starfleet for quite some time."

"You're lying."

"I'm not lying," Chakotay shrugged, "but even if I were, your ship is no match for mine. I suggest we discuss this, but if you're not interested, I can have my security officer fire again..."

"What is there to talk about?"

"The treaty, for one thing. I'll give you access to our database and show you I'm telling the truth."

"Databases can be falsified."

The novelty of dealing with a race that they knew was wearing off quickly and, save for showing them the evidence, there was little that they could use to convince a ship full of Klingons that this eclectic bunch of miss-fits wasn't going to get to them.

Miss-fits...

The incident before Quarra fresh in her mind, something in her brain clicked and Kathryn stepped forward. "There's a Klingon serving aboard this ship."

"Impossible."

Chakotay quickly took the ball and ran with it. "She's my Chief Engineer."

"I will meet this Chief Engineer."

Chakotay bowed slightly. "We'd be honoured to have you as our guest." The view screen flicked off and Chakotay turned back to Kathryn. "B'Elanna is going to hate me, isn't she?"

Kathryn shrugged. "Quite possibly."

Tom spun around. "Want me to come with you when you tell her?"

"No." Chakotay paused. "Maybe."

***

"Captain Kohlar. B'Elanna Torres, our Chief Engineer."

Kathryn watched Kohlar's mouth drop open. "You're with child."

B'Elanna looked extremely uncomfortable and a protective hand moved to her stomach. "That's what the Doctor tells me."

"Did you conceive during the holy month of nay'Poq?"

She wasn't even going to bother doing the math. "I have no idea."

"It would have been seventeen or eighteen weeks ago."

"That sounds about right," She rolled her eyes, "not that it's any of your business."

Kohlar looked to Chakotay. "I must return to my ship.

"Aren't you interested in learning about the treaty?" Kathryn asked.

"I must return to my vessel." He repeated.

Chakotay shook his head, "Not without your assurance that you won't fire on my ship again."

"You have my word."

There was little else they could do and a Klingons word was usually good for something - certainly more than they'd had to go on at times in the past. Chakotay nodded to Tuvok, "Escort Captain Kohlar back to the transporter room."

"Aye, sir."

B’Elanna watched them leave before she turned back to Kathryn and Chakotay. "What the hell was that about?"

Chakotay shrugged. "No idea."

***

Kathryn yawned, crawling into bed in a haze. Chakotay was already asleep and she should have been, too, only she'd been hit with a bout of insomnia and ended up reading until two in the morning.

I'm too old for this, she decided with a silent groan.

Chakotay stirred as she was pulling the covers back up. "Kathryn? Why aren't you asleep?"

"Why aren't you?" She whispered.

"S'cold."

"I can adjust the temperature for you." She offered.

A hand snaked over her stomach to her side, tugging. "You could just come here instead."

"I can." She moved until they were pressed together. "Is B'Elanna Okay?"

"She's a little shaken, but she's getting there."

After they'd had Kohlar beam over to the ship, he'd returned to the Klingon vessel and, not long after, they'd realized that the Klingon ship was having a warp core breach. Kohlar requested emergency transport and all 204 Klingons from the vessel were beamed over into the shuttle bay.

Voyager had been forced to jump to warp as the Klingon ship exploded. Suspecting that he'd deliberately made his ship self-destruct, Chakotay and Tuvok had questioned Kohlar. It had taken some time before he'd finally confessed that they'd done it in order to beam aboard Voyager. He'd explained that they'd been following a sacred text that told them to embark on a long journey to find their 'Kuvah'Magh' or 'Saviour.'

Kohlar believed that saviour was the unborn child of B'Elanna Torres.

After almost a full day of 'incidents' - everything from fights to Harry almost getting himself a Klingon stalker, which would have earned him an angry Ocampan with telepathic abilities. He hadn't been quite sure which to fear more, Kathryn thought - some of the Klingons had started a hunger strike and refused to eat until B'Elanna agreed to meet with their Council of Elders.

Despite quite a bit of profanity being thrown around at the request, Chakotay has asked her to help. Kathryn still wasn't sure exactly how it had all happened, but B'Elanna had been roped in to convince them that her child was their saviour in order to end a century of useless searching.

Whatever Kohlar had said to the young woman had certainly been convinced her to help. She hadn't been willing to lie outright, though, so Kohlar had suggested that she study their scrolls and interpret them in a way that appeared consistent with the events of her life. They'd planned to then take those consistencies to the attention of the council.

If nothing else, Kathryn was grateful that the plan had worked so well. The scrolls and the 'consistencies' had been enough to convince their elders that they were telling the truth. She'd told the Klingons that Voyager was on their way to a planet much like their home world. After that, the Klingons had made a 'request' to be left on the planet to begin a new life.

"Do they really want them to name the baby Kuvah'Magh?" Kathryn asked, chuckling as she thought about what B'Elanna would have said to that.

"I suspect they were serious." Chakotay yawned, rubbing his cheek in her hair.

"Go to sleep."

"Mmm... you too."

Kathryn was already halfway there.

***

Kathryn sat at her desk, cup of coffee in hand as she listened to Icheb make his report.

"...Though it was a blatant violation of the Prime Directive, Kirk saved the Pelosians from extinction, just as he had the Baezians and the Chenari many years earlier. Finally, in the year 2270, Kirk completed his historic five year mission and one of the greatest chapters in Starfleet history came to a close. A new chapter began when Kirk regained command of the Enterprise."

"How many more chapters are there?" It was the first chance that Kathryn had been given to speak and she wasn't going to miss it.

"Thirty four."

How had she been roped in to taking Chakotay's history class, again? "This was supposed to be a twenty minute presentation."

"I was trying to be thorough." Icheb frowned. "I could shorten the report."

"That won't be necessary. You obviously know the subject matter. Congratulations. You have just passed Early Starfleet History." His desire to want to learn anything and everything had led to formal classes. Kathryn had Science and Physics, but Chakotay had given her puppy dog eyes to take the history exam that Icheb was to present today on Starfleet History.

The bastard knew it would drag on!

Icheb beamed at her and it almost made the torture worthwhile. "Thank you."

She nodded goodbye to him and sighed when her office doors closed behind him. Inhaling a large swallow of the delicious coffee that had been her last link to sanity through the report, Kathryn almost choked when someone spoke.

"I would have failed him. Kirk may have been a lowly human, but at least he had pizzazz. That report made him sound about as exciting as a Vulcan funeral dirge."

Eyeing the young man in leathers reclining on her couch, she tapped her comm. badge. "Kathryn to Security."

"Don't bother. I trapped the crew in a temporal loop." He laughed to himself, shaking his head, his mild curls rustling. "They keep experiencing the last thirty seconds over and over. Almost as monotonous as drone boy's essay."

"Who are you?"

"I know he's grown since you last saw him, Kathy," That voice she did recognize, unfortunately. Turning, she saw Q sitting in the chair across from her desk, "but don't tell me you can't see the family resemblance. This is my son, Q. I'm a little hurt you didn't recognise Junior. You are his godmother, after all."

She frowned at the boy who looked, in human terms, to be in his late teens. "The last time I saw him, he was an infant."

"Four years ago, in human time." The young man grinned. "You called me adorable."

"You remember?"

"I may have looked like an infant, but I was still a Q." He looked to his father. "Maybe you should have picked a better godparent." And then he turned back to Kathryn. "And you should do some more reading about children."

"I wonder if it's too late to ask Jean-Luc?"

She sighed, a headache already beginning to form. "What do you want, Q?"

"Well, Junior's taking a little vacation from the Continuum. I recommended he spent it with you."

Kathryn blinked. "Why?"

"Oh, he's always been fascinated by the old man's stories about humanity. I thought it was time he had some first hand experience."

"I am flattered that you would entrust me with your first-born, but I really don't have time and I don't think the Captain will approve."

"Please, lucky for you, Chuckles loves kids. Besides, Q's as quiet as a Zizznian church-mouse. You'll forget he's even here." The elder Q snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Kathryn was still glaring at the chair. Finally turning her attention to the young man still on her couch, she fixed him with her glare as well. "We need to talk to the Captain about this and if you're going to stay, we'll need to lay down a few ground-rules."

"I don't think Chuckles has a choice." Q replied smartly. "And I make my own rules."

He followed his father's lead, snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Kathryn heaved out a sigh and tapped her comm. badge, wondering if the loop had been ceased. "Janeway to Bridge?"

"Chakotay here."

Thank God. "We've got a problem."

She began making a verbal report as she entered the Bridge. Chakotay was over by the security station and Kathryn made a beeline, approaching the two men as they watched the read outs. "Any luck?"

Tuvok shook his head. "I'm not detecting either Q."

Chakotay eyed her. "You Okay?"

"Fine." She offered a tired smile and turned back to Tuvok. "You should keep running scans."

"And let me know if they resurface."

"Scan, scan, scan." The young Q was lounging in the Captain's chair. Kathryn noted with a frown that he'd turned it into the recliner she'd been longing for. "That's all you people ever do. I've been through every deck on this ship and do you know what I've seen? Bipeds pushing buttons, bipeds replacing relays, bipeds running diagnostics. You're Maquis; Raid something! Engage an alien species! Just do something interesting."

Kathryn waved a hand. "Say hello to Q, everyone."

He jumped up at the introduction, walking around to annoy each crewmember, his arms flailing about as he spoke. "We could fly into Fluidic space and fight species 8472, or we could detonate a few Omega molecules. We could see how the Kazon would do against the Klingons. Don't tell me you haven't imagined that meeting! We could find a wealthy vessel and pilfer from it. What do you say?"

Chakotay didn't even pretend to think about it. "No."

"Twenty minutes observing humanity, I'm already bored. I guess I'm just going to have to amuse myself." He disappeared again.

Kathryn and Chakotay had just enough time to exchange a concerned look before the comm. system went off.

"B’Elanna to the Captain. Get down here now."

No one wanted to deal with a pregnant, irate Klingon, but, more than that, they didn't want to deal with what she'd do if they didn't show up.

***

"You want to know what your godson has been up to?"

When Kathryn looked at Chakotay's fuming expression, she was pretty sure that her answer was 'no.' She nodded anyway, if only so he didn't explode by holding it in. She didn't want to have to explain it to the cleanup crew.

"He threw a part around the warp core. A party!"

"Didn't Tom have that idea a few years ago?"

Chakotay glared. "He made Seven of Nine's clothes disappear and he gave the computer a rebellious personality."

"The replicator did tell me to make my own coffee earlier." She'd thought it had been the work of Tom.

"Apparently Neelix was responsible for initiating a war between the Bojians and Wingarii."

Kathryn frantically tried to place the names. "We passed through that region a few months ago. They were at peace."

"Not anymore, thanks to Q."

She poked a finger at him. "I didn't invite the boy."

"He's your godson."

"And I haven't seen him in four years! It's not like I raised him."

"Well, of course not, he's not demanding coffee every five minutes."

She threw a pillow from the couch at him. "Stop being an ass or you're sleeping on the couch." She was almost teasing.

"Is this what they call a lover's spat?" The young Q asked interrupted, sitting on the dining room table, his feet crossed under him.

Chakotay turned and glared. "Q, it's customary to knock on the door when one wants to enter."

A knock sounded and neither bothered to move.

"Very funny." Kathryn commented, rising to her feet. "What do you want?"

"Some fun." Q shrugged, mock helplessness being conveyed through a pouted bottom lip. "I just want to have a good time, is that so much to ask?"

"Yes." Chakotay ground out.

"Well, if you don't want to play, I invited some more exciting people over."

"We are the Borg. Resistance is futile."

"Q!"

***

Kathryn stood behind Chakotay's desk in the Ready Room. Across from them, Q was doing his level best to explain away his son's actions.

"He isn't so bad once you get to know him. He's just misunderstood."

"He tried to kill my crew." Chakotay bit out.

The Borg had attacked and almost killed them. It hadn't been until the drones were beginning to board Voyager with the adult Q showing up just seconds before anyone was assimilated. It had been far too close a call for their liking.

"No one was hurt, I repaired the damage to your ship. I even gave your pet Talaxian his vocal cords back." Q grinned. "Everything's exactly as it was."

"And how long do you think it will take your son to come up with another way to amuse himself?" Chakotay asked.

"If you knew he was dangerous, why did you send him here?" Kathryn added. She eyed Q for a moment. "Is this another 'lesson' for humanity?"

Q sighed. Kathryn didn't think she'd ever seen a Q sigh before. "It's supposed to be a lesson for him. Think back to my last visit. I made you the offer of a lifetime."

She assumed it was directed at her, unless there was something Chakotay hadn't told her. "Asking me to mate with you was hardly the offer of a lifetime."

"If you hadn't turned me down I wouldn't have been forced to mate with that other Q."

Chakotay responded, his voice little more than a growl. "And?"

"My point is, Junior was suppose to inspire peace and compassion, but instead of order he's brought chaos. He's been starting wars among innocent species, tampering with primordial gene pools, punching holes in the fabric of space-time."

And that was their problem, why? "Where's his mother been during all this?"

"She's been so humiliated by his antics she's disowned him. She's blamed me for everything." He sighed again, his shoulders slumping. "I've managed to undo most of the damage, but that wasn't good enough for the Continuum. They're hounding me to straighten the boy out. That's why I brought him here, in hopes that your remnant Starfleet ideals would rub off on him. Obviously, that hasn't happened. He's not even resembling a good Maquis, either. Did you teach him nothing?"

Kathryn was mildly amused by the fact that she wasn't taking any joy in his pain. In fact, she almost felt sorry for him. What the hell had she been drinking in her coffee? "You can't just dump your child on someone and hope he learns something."

Q looked genuinely confused. "I can't?"

"He needs to be parented." Chakotay told him.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that? Q is the first child born in the Continuum, which makes me the first parent. I don't even know where to begin."

Kathryn shrugged, "You could start by spending time with him."

"Urgh." Q made a face. "Couldn't you do it?"

"No." Kathryn folded her arms. "Parenthood is more than just cleaning up your child's messes. You need to set an example."

"It's the only way he'll learn." Chakotay added.

"Of course... Once he begins to know me better, he'll idolize me. Then he'll do anything I say. Kathy," Q ran around the desk and grabbed her, giving her a far-too-long kiss, despite her tightly clenched lips, "you're a genius."

He clicked his fingers and disappeared.

She heard Chakotay call for the Bridge to run a scan for any Borg or Q activity, but she was too busy trying not to think about what had just happened. When Chakotay touched her shoulder, she jumped.

"You Okay?"

"I need a bath."

"Go back to our Quarters." He rubbed her shoulder. "You look tired."

"You want to come join me?"

Chakotay kissed her slowly, pushing the taste of Q from her memory, replacing the sick feeling with a warm hum. He smiled against her lips before he pulled back. "You won’t get anything akin to rest if I come with you. I'll come check on you in an hour."

"Deal." Kissing him quickly once more, Kathryn left and headed back to their Quarters.

Once there, she ordered a very big bubble bath, adding in the lotions that Chakotay had given her. She lit a few candles and stripped down. Wrapping her long hair in a towel, she climbed into the steaming water and sighed in contentment when the warmth enveloped her. The heat made her head rush for a moment and she took a few deep breaths, calming her body.

Her eyes closed of their own accord and she let the peace and quiet sooth the tension from her body.

Which was when she heard a splash and her eyes shot open.

"I take it back." Q sat across from her, thankfully clothed in leathers, but looking perturbed and pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "You're not a genius. I should have known better than to take the advice of a human."

Was nothing on this bloody ship sacred? "Q!"

"Your brilliant plan didn't work. I smothered the boy with attention, spent every waking moment with him, but things only got worse." He glared at her, his look of expectancy making her blood boil.

"You've been gone for less than ten minutes." She snapped.

"On your temporal plain, maybe, but in Q-time we've spent years together." His expression changed to one of hurt, oddly. "Now he's embarrassed to be seen with me, and it's all your fault."

"My fault?" Kathryn repeated, frowning.

"Tell me how you plan to rectify the situation." He demanded.

Taking a deep breath and resigning herself to the fact that her bath was effectively over, "What happened after you left Voyager?"

"Q got away from me and rearranged to tectonic plates on Bosel Prime." Q shrugged and blinked innocently. "I tried to get him to apologise to all sixteen billion Bosellians, to punish him like you said, but he got angry and stopped talking to me."

"So you gave in to him." Kathryn summarized.

"I told him he could shift as many continents as he liked as long as no-one got hurt."

"Q, that's not parenting."

He pouted even more, if that was possible. "Why can't you just do it?"

"I'm not a parent."

"Really?" He gave her a strange look before he shook himself a little. "Well what do you suggest, then?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're not going to do your son any favours by indulging him. You need to make him understand that there are consequences to his actions."

"Consequences? Hmm. Kathy, I take it back. You are a genius." He leant forward with the intent of kissing her again.

She offered him the sole of a water-wrinkled foot.

***

"Are we sure he's gone?" Chakotay asked, pulling his boxers shorts on.

"We've just spent a week playing faux teachers to the first Q child in the hopes of changing his errant ways. We've had Icheb almost die, an alien race threaten to obliterate us before our dear friend, the adult Q, revealed that he was actually the angry alien and it was all an elaborate ruse to turn his son onto the right track, while also proving how much he cares and loves the boy." Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure of anything right now."

Chakotay smiled and shook his head. "You're right. It's been yet another crazy week. When do things become normal again?"

"I think the better question," Kathryn started, pulling back the bedcovers to slide in, stifling a yawn, "is; 'What constitutes 'normal' around here'?"

"Point taken." He climbed in to the other side of the bed, rolling to her side to kiss her quickly before turning onto his back.

Kathryn yawned again, unable to hide it this time. "Sorry."

"Go to sleep."

She didn't need to be told twice. "Goodnight."

***

“So, you’re not going to believe this,” Chakotay started as the doors shut behind him, a frown on his face. “But I think Seven asked me on a date today.”

Kathryn looked up from her PADD, ridiculously glad that he’d come straight to her rooms at the end of shift, without asking permission. Things had been rocky since they’d returned from Quarra, but they’d been getting better day by day.

She still wanted answers to her questions about returning to Federation space, but she knew that she’d have to accept his silence on the matter. Regardless of her stubbornness, the ease with which she’d formed a connection with him, sans memory, had been a pretty big hint as to who she should be with at this stage in her life.

It had taken alien tampering to make her realize that she should be with him, but she wasn’t going to argue the point.

“A date?” She finally repeated, frowning.

“Yes.”

“As in dinner and a movie?”

“I think she wanted to try just dinner to start with but… pretty much.”

“A date date?” Kathryn asked again. “With goodnight kisses and potential sex?”

“I don’t think Seven’s up to all of that but, yes, a date date.”

Was this what happened when Seven's had Borg inspired medical issues?

Two days ago, she'd called sickbay as she fainted while on the holodeck. She'd been spending more and more time in there and Kathryn had thought to talk to her about being neglectful of her duties. The Doctor had arrived on the holodeck and found that she was going into neural shock. Her cortical node had begun to shut down, but he managed to stabilize it.

It turned out she had been running simulations on the holodeck, testing out social situations and practising her skills in the area. It seemed she'd even had something of a romance with someone on the holodeck, but Kathryn had never found out who and the Doctor had vowed not to tell. She'd heard rumours that ran from Chakotay to Neelix to inanimate objects.

After he'd done some research, the Doctor had discovered that Seven's cortical node had not malfunctioned, but in fact was designed to shut down her higher brain functions when she achieved a certain level of emotional stimulation. Kathryn couldn't say she was shocked. The Borg weren't known for their love of emotions.

The Doctor believed he could reconfigure the node so she could continue her simulations, but it would be a difficult and lengthy process. Seven, after many hours of talks with Kes and Kathryn, had agreed.

If this was what the result was, though...

She wasn’t quite sure what the correct response was. But she gave it a good shot anyway, “I assume you told Seven that you’re very happy in your extremely monogamous relationship?”

“Pretty much.” He nodded.

“Pretty much as in ‘I’m going to see if I can get some anyway’? Or pretty much as in ‘back off bitch or my wife will shoot you’?”

“You’re not my wife yet, Kathryn,” He was holding back a laugh and, if she admitted it to herself, Kathryn thought the whole thing was pretty damn funny too. And she already knew his answer before he spoke. “But, yes, the latter was pretty much it.”

“She knows we’re together.”

“I know.”

“Everyone knows.” She’d ‘announced’ it when they had been looking for the Doctor.

“I know.”

“Hell, we’re the worst kept secret in the Delta Quadrant!”

“And we have been for years, even before there was anything to be secretive about.”

She let the gentle dig slide. “I wonder what made her ask.”

“I thought the same thing. I ran into Kes afterwards and she told me about the lessons she and Seven have been having about social encounters, specifically romance. It's all happened after her first surgery and she wants to try the dating scene again. Despite the attempt with Chapman having been relatively successful.”

Kathryn had been the one to help Seven get ready for her first date, more than a year ago. And been on the receiving end about a quiz on her, then, almost non-existent sex life with Chakotay. Not that she wanted to think about that ever again.

As far as she was aware, Seven and young Chapman had dated a few times, before they’d stopped going out. Kathryn had asked her about it when they had been working together on repairs, but Seven had said that she didn’t want to talk about it. It hadn’t been spoken of since. “I never did find out why they stopped dating.”

“I asked the same thing. According to Kes, Seven was bored.” He shrugged and waved away her look of confusion. “I don’t know. But, apparently, now she’s ready to try again and she wants some variety.”

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. “Because it’s the spice of life, right?”

“Something like that, yeah. Kes encouraged her to seek out someone with a different personality to Chapman to practise her dating skills on. Kes said that she mentioned that someone like me would be a good choice.” He tugged at his earlobe self-consciously. “I’m not sure what that means.”

“Kes knows that you’re kind and loyal. You’re a gentle man and Seven needs that. She needs someone that won’t push her.” Kathryn smiled gently. “Or maybe you’re just a babe magnet, as Tom would say.”

“You’re fabulous for my ego, you know.” Chakotay kissed her lightly. “Let’s go with that.”

***

Kathryn and Chakotay stood side-by-side, nervously waiting in Astrometrics, Harry and B'Elanna flanking them while Seven worked at the console to the left.

Three weeks ago, Starfleet had sent instructions in the data stream indicating that they had a plan for visual communication to be possible, giving them specifics on what Voyager needed to do to be prepared. Kathryn had been more than surprised when Chakotay had agreed, ordering the crew to follow the instructions.

She hadn't wanted to question him, not after the last conversation about Starfleet had ended in them breaking up. But she was curious and she knew the she was only going to be able to hold her tongue for a limited time. Regardless of his intentions, he stood beside her, looking just as nervous as she felt.

Kathryn had no idea who would greet them if the link worked. She had no idea what the reception would be. But she wanted to see them and she liked to pretend that she was prepared for whatever came their way.

"The deflector's in position." Harry announced.

"Anything?" Kathryn asked.

"I'm picking up a phased tachyon beam."

"There's triaxialating signal encoded in it." Seven added.

"Showtime." Chakotay whispered. Then, louder, "On screen."

The picture that came through was grainy and fuzzy, the sound distorted. "Voyager, this Lieutenant Barclay at Starfleet Command. Are you receiving this?"

"Can you clear it up?" Kathryn asked, a knot in her stomach.

Harry nodded, more to himself than anyone else. "I'm on it." A few seconds later, the picture cleared.

"Captain Janeway, it's a pleasure to finally talk to you in person."

Kathryn looked at her old mentor, unsurprised by the title. She glanced to Chakotay but he just nodded and she turned back to the screen. "The pleasure's ours, Admiral. How's the weather in San Francisco?"

"Cold and rainy as usual." The older man responded. He turned to the man beside his former protégée. "Captain Chakotay, we haven't formally met before."

"I know who you are."

"I'm sure. Tell me, what do you plan to do about Voyager?"

Way to get to the point, Owen. Kathryn was glad he'd asked, it would save her from having to do it later.

"Our current heading will see us enter the Alpha Quadrant in approximately thirty-three years and seven months, I believe." He moved to stand at parade rest. "Give or take a day or two."

Owen didn't look shocked by the cavalier attitude. "You intend to turn yourself over to the authorities?"

"I don't believe there's been a crime committed, Admiral."

Owen paused for a moment, flicking a glance to the people that shared the room with him. "I'm not entirely convinced of that myself either, son."

"I'm surprised to hear it." Chakotay admitted.

"I'm not the one you have to convince." Owen reminded him. "In any case, I've been given permission to inform you that, as of now, we will be able to establish visual contact with Voyager regularly. Thanks to Harry Kim, Seven Of Nine and Reginald Barclay, who came up with the ingenious plan of bouncing a tachyon beam off of the quantum singularity. We'll have eleven minutes of contact per day. It's up to you how you allocate the time, but we've contacted everyone's family and they're waiting to talk with you."

"Everyone, sir?" Kathryn asked, automatically adding the formality.

"We've contacted as many people as we could." Owen looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Some of the Maquis don't appear to have much family left, but we've assumed they will speak with friends."

Barclay coughed. "Admiral, um, there was something else."

"Oh, yes." The older man nodded and turned his attention back to the screen. "Mister Barclay has arranged a small gift for you and your crew."

"This is a live image from McKinley Station." Barclay explained and the view screen changed from Starfleet HQ to a picture of Earth in all her glory. "Not too much cloud cover over North America today."

Kathryn bit back tears. "Quite a view. Thank you, Reg."

The picture flicked back to Owen and he nodded. "Our time is almost up. Captain Chakotay, Starfleet would like to open the table to negotiate with you for the safe return of our technology and people."

"No one has been hurt." Chakotay assured him and Kathryn automatically found herself nodding her own conformation. "And I'd welcome your thoughts on the matter."

The older man nodded before the signal was lost.

***

The gathered in the mess hall and Chakotay pulled her to the side, handing her a glass of punch that he'd pilfered. "Neelix did this quickly."

Kathryn looked around at the decorations that hung from the ceilings and adorned the tables. Their resident Talaxian had done a lot in just a few hours, but he'd always had that ability. "He did well."

"How are you?" Chakotay asked.

"Fine." She offered a tight smile.

"Kathryn."

She sighed. There was no use avoiding this any longer. "Are you going to negotiate with Starfleet?"

He shrugged. "I don't see the harm in talking to them."

"Chakotay, you're a wanted criminal."

"I hadn't forgotten."

She shrugged. "Well, how much leverage do you think you have?"

"Kathryn, we have Voyager. And we will do for quite some time. If the former Maquis really wanted to have leverage, we would have been selling off technology left, right and centre and you know it." Chakotay glared at her. "Stop looking at me like you expected me to happily waltz back into San Francisco and hope that everything would be rosy."

"It's my future too. I hardly think its wrong I want to know what you're planning."

"Kathryn, I don't know what I'm planning, okay?"

She frowned at him. "What?"

"I just want to get through each day. Anything beyond that is a little hard to plan for, sometimes."

Kathryn couldn't fault him that, she felt the same way a lot of the time. After a moment of tense silence, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I just... want to know where this is going, I guess."

"Kathryn, are we having a relationship talk? Now?" He was looking at her like she was nuts. Maybe she was.

She flushed, cursing her emotions. "Well, partly."

"I'm not planning to run away and abandon you, okay?" She nodded and he pulled her into a hug, regardless of their location.

Neelix called out for everyone's attention and they parted, turning to listen to him.

"In my hat I hold one hundred and forty six sequentially numbered isolinear chips, one for every member of the crew." He held up a hat that jingled when the chips moved against each other. "Each chip entitles the bearer to three minutes of uninterrupted comm. time with his loved ones back in the Alpha Quadrant. Good luck."

Neelix began to walk around, offering the hat for people to take a chip.

"My Mom's birthday is next week." Harry grinned. "This could be the best present I ever gave her. Who's everyone else calling?"

"I'll be calling my sister." Chakotay told them, turning to the woman at his side. "What about you?

"My mother, I hope." Just the thought made her want to do a little dance. There was so much she wanted to say to her mother, so much she wanted to know. It was a rush.

Tom pulled his out and read, "Number six."

"That's the lowest one yet." Neelix beamed. "You'll be talking to your family the day after tomorrow."

Harry went next, "One hundred thirty. That's about a month and a half from now. So much for Mom's birthday."

Kathryn moved to pull a chip out. Swirling them in the bottom of the bag, she grabbed one. Pulling it out, she turned and read, "Twenty-two."

Chakotay pulled number three and took a step back to let someone else get theirs. "You take it," he told her, holding his chip out.

"What?"

"You should talk to your mom tomorrow." He kissed her forehead. "I can wait a few days to speak to my sister."

Across the room, she could see Tom and Harry making a similar exchange and she reminded herself to tell Owen how well his son had done.

She grinned at him. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

"Just keep reminding me."

***

Kathryn waited nervously while Seven established the connection. For once, she was grateful that the former Borg didn't have a taste for small talk. She wasn't sure her brain was quite capable of that right now.

The screen flicked to life and for the first time in seven years, Kathryn found herself staring at her mother. Like an idiot. "Hi."

Her mother smiled. "Hello."

"I thought I'd know what to say." Kathryn's mouth gaped, everything and nothing on the tip of her tongue. "How are you?"

"Better, now. How are you?"

"We're good. We're... good." She found herself simply staring, a dreamy smile on her face. "We won’t get a chance to talk again for a few months. And we only have a minute here now. But I wanted to say... hi."

"I'm glad you did."

"How's Phoebe?"

"She's well. She's on Deep Space 9 for some art show, at the moment. She'll be sorry she missed this."

"Say hi for me." Kathryn grinned. "You look great."

"You look tired. Are you sure you're okay?"

"We do the best we can." She wasn't going to lie. "But there are a lot of good things on board."

"How is Chakotay?"

She'd mentioned him in her letters once or twice, but never outright said anything. Her mother had always known though, it didn't seem to matter if she was seventeen or on the evil side of forty. "He's well."

"I want to meet him next time."

"The signal is degrading." Seven announced.

Kathryn had almost forgotten she wasn't alone. "I have to say goodbye now. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Take care."

It was both the strangest and the best discussion she'd ever had with her mother in her life.

***

“How did it go with your mom?” B’Elanna asked her, sitting down with her and Kes to a stack of banana pancakes and tomato soup.

She didn't ask about the food. “It was good. Surprisingly awkward, but good.”

B’Elanna nodded.

Kes smiled. “Harry is still beaming about speaking to his mother. I don’t think Mrs. Kim is entirely thrilled with her son’s employer, though.”

“Chakotay?” Kathryn frowned.

“The Maquis.” Kes corrected.

"Who are you going to call?" Kathryn asked B'Elanna, not particularly wanting to debate the merits of Maquis Vs. Starfleet.

"My father wants to talk."

Kes smiled. "That's wonderful."

"Are you going to?" Kathryn asked.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "I'm still mad at him for leaving. Isn't that dumb?"

"Not at all." Kathryn shook her head. "Part of me will always be angry about my father dying. I can't change it and it doesn't help, but that's the way it is."

"I feel the same way." Kes agreed.

"Tom thinks I should talk to him."

Kathryn grinned. "Tom has moments of wisdom."

B’Elanna rolled her eyes. "Not many."

***

Kathryn entered the ready Room and sat, offering Chakotay a tired smile. "You wanted to see me?"

"You okay?"

"Tried." She admitted. She hadn't slept well the last few nights, instead spending hours staring at the ceiling, listening to Chakotay breathe. She would have thought that, now she'd gotten to speak with her mother, her insomnia would have died down, but it only seemed to have increased.

"I have something that might make you smile, if nothing else." Chakotay offered her a sympathetic look. "It seems one of our troublesome three have been at it again."

"B'Elanna is finding it too difficult to move at the moment and Harry is busy trying to convince Kes to go out with him again." She summarized. "So, what's Tom done now?"

"He piloted the Delta Flyer somewhat recklessly through the bustling Ledosian spaceport and is about to learn the hard way from Port Authority, via us, that he has committed a piloting violation."

Kathryn snorted a laugh. She couldn't help it. "You're kidding?"

He grinned back at her. "I'm really not."

"With the amount of time he spends bragging about his skills..." She laughed, "oh, when are you going to tell him?"

"He's on his way."

"You have to let me stay for this." She begged.

He eyed her. "What will it get me?"

Kathryn fixed him with a pointed look. "It'll get you tonight in the bed instead of on the couch, we're you're headed..."

"You'd miss me too much." The door chime sounded and he gave her a very serious look. "This isn't over. Enter."

Tom entered, slightly out of breath.

Chakotay didn't bother with pleasantries. "I hear you took the Delta Flyer for a joyride."

He paled a little and Kathryn found it incredible that he couldn’t portray a convincing look of innocence after so much practice. "I wouldn't call it a joyride, per se."

"Well, whatever you call it, you have to face the consequences."

Tom's face was moving toward a lovely shade of green. "What are the consequences?"

Chakotay held out a PADD while Kathryn tried her hardest to bite back the laugh threatening to bubble up. "You're going back to school."

Tom quickly scanned the PADD. "Piloting lessons?"

"Apparently, the standard penalty for your infraction is a three day course in flight safety, followed by a test." Chakotay elaborated.

Tom looked relieved. "Well, did you explain we wouldn’t be here that long?"

"Actually," Kathryn started, still holding her tongue, "while you were completing your mission, Kes was invited to a four day medical conference, in place of the Doctor.” And hadn’t the Doctor been thrilled about that.

Tom, for his part, went greener. "Here on Ledos."

"I decided to give the entire crew shore leave." Chakotay announced. "It'll give you plenty of time to brush up on your piloting skills."

"I don’t need lessons." Tom protested. "I'm the best pilot we have!"

"Apparently the authorities disagree."

"But..."

"It's an order." Chakotay's voice was firm.

"Yes, sir."

Tom walked out, head hanging low.

Kathryn turned back to Chakotay. "That was evil. And priceless."

***

Kathryn was still laughing to herself three hours later when she came off shift. The look on Tom's face had truly been priceless and she knew that B'Elanna would be disappointed they hadn't snapped a holoimage or two.

She'd only been in their Quarters for a few moments when Chakotay hailed.

"Kathryn here."

"We've got a problem. Kes and Harry haven't checked in. We tried hailing, but there was no response. We contacted the conference co-ordinator. He said they never showed up."

"Anything on sensors?"

"We've located a hull signature over the southern subcontinent, but it’s only a wing."

Kathryn frowned. "Nothing else? No life signs?"

"Nothing."

"That’s awfully low for something to be in orbit."

"It’s not in orbit. It’s resting on an energy barrier. We think the shuttle may have collided with it."

That didn't sound right. "Why didn’t they see it?"

"Standard scans didn’t reveal its presence. We were only able to detect it with our Borg sensors. We're assuming that the rest of the shuttle made it through the barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier's deflecting all our scans. There’s no way to know if the shuttle or its occupants are on the other side. We're about to hail the Ledosian ambassador. I thought you might like to be here for it."

She'd spoken with him a few times in long-range communications. Nodding, more to herself than anyone else, Kathryn headed back to the Bridge.

***

Kathryn made Kes' Quarters her next stop before home.

She rang the chime and the doors opened immediately. Entering, she found her friend sitting on the couch under the view port, a soft hand-made blanket on her lap.

Kathryn moved to sit next to her. "You okay?"

"Better." Kes smiled. "I feel bad for those people. I don't like to think we contaminated their evolution by being there."

"Kes, it's hardly your fault." Kathryn touched her arm.

After they'd failed to report in and they hadn't showed up at the conference, Voyager had contacted the Ledosian Ambassador, who informed them that the barrier shielded the territory of the indigenous Ventu and it was erected centuries ago by aliens to protect the Ventu from having their culture destroyed by the Ledosians' own unenlightened ancestors. The technology was a mystery to them, so they had been unable to lower the barrier. The Ambassador had been firmly of the opinion that no crewman, if alive, could ever get out.

Voyager had been able to penetrate the barrier with their phasers and they'd beamed Harry and Kes back to safety, but not before they'd been forced to spend almost a full day doing unimaginable damage to the Ventu and their future.

Kathryn had read their report about the Ventu and she knew that the blanket on Kes' lap had been given to her by a young native as a sign of friendship. She could easily see how much the experience had touched her young friend.

"Do you think about what you'll do when we get to Earth?" Kes asked suddenly, startling Kathryn out of her thoughts.

"All the time." Kathryn assured. "What makes you ask?"

"I'm just wondering what my place will be." Kes admitted. "Harry and I are... we're going to try again."

Kathryn grinned. "That's wonderful!"

"It is. But what happens when we get home?"

Kathryn knew that Harry had been engaged when they'd been stranded but, as far as she was aware, he had been in contact with Libby and happily wished her well with her life, citing that they'd both changed too much and it was too long to ask someone to wait. She didn't think that was what Kes was referring to, though. "I guess we'll all have a lot to think about on that front. But, Kes, it's a long way off."

Kes didn't look convinced. "Maybe not."

"You know something I don't?" Kathryn wasn't entirely kidding.

"I was just thinking, that's all." The young woman shrugged. "I guess I was just thinking too much."

Kathryn patted her hand, wishing she could offer more than empty platitudes. "I know the feeling."

***

"How's Kes?"

"Feeling a little listless, I think." Kathryn moved about as she set the table for their dinner. "Harry?"

"Pretty much the same. I think the Ventu really made an impact on our young lovebirds." Chakotay stood by the replicator, keying in their meals. "They'll be okay, eventually."

"Yeah." Kathryn lit the candles, pouring them both a glass of wine from a bottle that Tom had given her some years before as a birthday present. "At least everyone is okay, that's the main thing."

"How are you doing?" Chakotay asked, carrying the casserole to the table. "You still look tired."

"I still am." She assured him. "Maybe now that everything is okay, I'll get a good night's sleep." She hoped, at least.

"Have you been to see the Doctor for a sleep aid?"

"No," she shook her head, dishing out their meals, "I don't want to be drowsy in the morning."

"Well, consider it if you don't get any sleep tonight, promise?"

Reluctantly, she agreed. "Promise."

***

B'Elanna was reclining on a long lounge chair, full of cushions designed to support her and her baby. Kathryn had been amused when Tom had added it to the Resort program on the holodeck, but his wife seemed to love it.

The two women had agreed to meet mid-morning in the resort to talk about what would happen in engineering when B'Elanna gave birth to the baby. They'd been there for almost an hour already and nothing productive had happened, not that either really minded.

Smiling at her friend, Kathryn held out a fruit platter. "Want something?"

"I always want food lately." B'Elanna rubbed the side of her ever expanding belly.

"Well, we've got to keep Voyager's youngest happy, haven't we?"

B'Elanna grumbled good-naturedly, before helping herself to some of the fruits. "What are you up to today?"

"I have a lunch meeting in half an hour. Other than that, I might actually be bored for a change."

"God," the other woman laughed, "don't wish that on us."

***

She was surprised when her 'lunch meeting' entered. Kes came, bearing food on a tray for them both, a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Kathryn asked, accepting the meal. There'd been an appointment scheduled, but Kathryn hadn't expected Kes. With food, no less.

"Neelix came to talk to me earlier." Kes explained, pushing her food around with a fork. "He's thinking about staying with Dexa. He wanted to know what I thought about the idea."

Three days prior, Neelix had been hosting a party to celebrate First Contact Day, the anniversary of the Vulcans' arrival on Earth, when Chakotay had interrupted with news that sensors had detected Talaxian life signs a few light-years away.

While Neelix had been fairly bouncing out of his skin, Voyager had followed the readings to an asteroid field. Tom, Tuvok and Neelix had taken the Delta Flyer to track down the Talaxian’s. They'd discovered their life signs inside a large asteroid and, soon after, an explosion forced the Flyer to crash-land on that asteroid.

Neelix had regained consciousness to find a pretty, widowed Talaxian woman named Dexa treating his injuries. She'd told him that his friends were safe, and that the explosion came from miners who were using charges to break apart asteroids for their mineral resources. Kathryn didn't know the details, but Dexa and Neelix had spent quite some time talking, though she kept him locked behind a force filed.

On Voyager, they had been preparing a rescue mission for the flyer when Commander Nocona, the leader of the miners, hailed them and explained that a mining operation was in progress. He warned them against a rescue mission until the operation was completed and, with little other options, Chakotay had been forced to agree.

Neelix, on the other hand, had been making new friends with the Talaxian colony, winning the heart of many, not least of all Dexa's son Brax. He'd learnt that over 500 Talaxians lived on the asteroid and, while they had been willing for him to stay, they had wanted Tom and Tuvok gone. Neelix hadn't wanted to stay alone.

The excitement hadn't stopped there, though. When they'd tried to leave, they'd found the young boy Brax, Dexa's young son, had snuck on board the 'flyer. When Neelix took the boy back to his mother, he found her and Oxilon in a confrontation with the miners. Nocona was ordering the Talaxian’s to evacuate the asteroid so it could be demolished. Dexa had stood up in defiance and he had pushed her aside, causing Brax to throw a rock at Nocona and, when the miners then attempted to grab the boy, Neelix defended him and had gotten into an altercation with the miners. They had quickly reached a standoff, so the miners gave the Talaxian’s three days before they had left.

While Oxilon had worried that the fight may have made things worse, Dexa had suggested that it was time to defend themselves, rather than run away. Neelix offered to help and Voyager had received three Talaxian guests while they attempted to negotiate with the miners.

Neelix had been in his element, showing off his ship to Brax and Dexa. He had learnt that her people — refugees from the Haakonian takeover of Talax — first settled on a planet called Phanos where they were restricted to a very small area. When her husband attempted to farm outside their allowed zone, he was killed by a government patrol. Then they came to the asteroid, where they thought they wouldn't be bothered

Despite Chakotay’s negotiation skills, the miners wouldn't compromise except to extend their deadline for evacuation. After the failed negotiation, Voyager had agreed to ferry the homesteaders and their supplies to the nearest M-class planet.

Concerned for their safety, Neelix had asked Tuvok for advice on how to devise a defense strategy for the Talaxian’s' new home. Tuvok proposed that their current home could be defended by a shield perimeter, but with the miners monitoring the asteroid they would need competent leadership to defend against a pre-emptive attack. Tuvok suggests to Neelix that he could be that leader and, unsurprisingly, their resident cook had taken the idea and ran with it.

Neelix had taken his own ship to the asteroid and proposed to establish a shield grid, by using their one remaining ship to implant 16 force field emitters into the asteroid's surface. After some convincing, they'd agreed, and Neelix had taken up the role of leader. Just hours ago, they had managed to activate the shield grid before the miner's had been given the chance to attack.

Now, Kathryn sat with her friend, watching the play of emotions across her face. "What do you think about the idea of Neelix leaving?"

"He was my first love. I was lucky that we had a wonderful friendship afterwards." Kes smiled, perhaps a little sadly. "I want him to be happy and Dexa seems lovely."

Kathryn's smile held a tinge of sadness too when she thought of Neelix leaving. But, Like Kes, she wanted him to be happy. "I think you made your choice."

***

She stood next to Chakotay, at the doors of the shuttle bay.

As Neelix approached, he would find the entire crew lining the corridor, forming a long honour guard of friends. Kathryn had thought it a fitting way for them all to say goodbye to their friend.

When she looked down passed the people, she could see him walking towards them slowly, exchanging smiles and quick words with people as he went. He passed Kes with a small smile and Kathryn imagined they'd already said a private goodbye.

Neelix stopped to shake Chakotay’s hand. "Thank you. For everything."

"It's been a pleasure."

He turned to Kathryn next and she felt tears bite at her. She smiled through the sting and pulled him into a hug. "I'm very glad to have met you, Mister Neelix."

"The same to you, Kathryn Janeway."

With one last smile and a small wave, he disappeared through the doors to the shuttle bay and left for his new life.

Kathryn turned to Chakotay as people started to head back to their stations. "That sucked."

"You knew it would happen eventually."

"I did." She pouted a little. "But it still sucks."

Chakotay patted her head. "I'm sure Naomi would say the same."

***

She'd had high hopes for a quiet few days after they'd all had to say goodbye to Neelix.

The Talaxian had been a part of their lives since day one in this godforsaken quadrant and it would be hard to get used to not seeing him every day. Kathryn could even admit that part of her would miss his food - if only for the fact that it's horridness had been a way for the crews to bond, in the early days.

He would have known what to do now. She thought with a sigh.

Entering the mess hall and seeing Chell behind the counter didn't make her feel any better - though she imagined her intestines were sending some kind of silent thank you skyward. Chell had some big pots and pans to fill but, after only two days on the job, he seemed to be doing well. And people seemed to be enjoying their meals, which was a good sign.

Smiling at their new cook, Kathryn took a bowl of what seemed to be fairly inoffensive pasta. Finding an empty table, she sat down alone, grateful for the quiet moment.

That morning, Seven had detected high neutrino emissions indicative of a wormhole. A Borg cube had passed by, virtually on top of their heads, and they'd high-tailed it out of the sector. Seven had then told them that the centre of the nearby nebula may contain hundreds of wormholes, any of which could lead to the Alpha Quadrant.

The way home was right in front of them and only several million of their closest Borg friends stood between them. So ironic and so typical of the Delta Quadrant.

With a little shake of her head, Kathryn sighed. She tried to force her thoughts out of the morose mood they'd settled in and forced herself to finish her meal before she ended up late to her next appointment.

***

When Kathryn entered sickbay, the Doctor was humming Opera again and she thought he may be attempting to deafen any patients with some of the high notes.

After several too-long minutes, he noticed her standing just inside the door. "You're on time."

"As requested." He'd called her the day before, after they'd said goodbye to Neelix, and asked her to be here. "What can I do for you?"

"It's more about what I can do for you, actually." The Doctor corrected, hypospray in hand.

Kathryn was appropriately frightened. "And what can you do for me?"

"Your physical."

"Again?"

"I left you until last."

She frowned. "Chakotay hasn't mentioned anything." Nor had anyone else on the crew, for that matter.

"I asked the Captain not to give you a 'head's up', as it were."

He'd been spending too much time with Tom. "I'm not that much work."

The Doctor folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "You really are. Now, if you'll please, this can be painless, I assure you."

Sighing, Kathryn followed his orders, moving lay on the biobed, letting him do a full sweep with the medical tricorder.

"You know, you really need to take better care of yourself."

Here we go again. "I know, Doctor."

"I'm sure you do."

She ignored the sarcasm that laced the dig and tried to focus the conversation. "Is this the part where you ask be if I'd like my contraceptive booster renewed?"

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" The Doctor gave her a pointed look. "I would, however, like to discuss why you didn't come for me for a check-up when you found out that you're pregnant."

Uh... eh? "Pardon?"

The Doctor eyed her for a moment, frowning. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"You're pregnant." He looked at his tricorder.

"No, I'm not."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, clearly ready to butt heads with her as they so often had in the past. "How is your cycle?"

"Light and irregular at best, as always." She waited for the punch line to this whole thing, but none came. "You're not kidding, are you?"

"No." The Doctor turned the tricorder so she could read the information it clearly displayed. "You're almost twelve weeks pregnant. Congratulations."

"Twelve weeks?" She repeated numbly.

"Just shy of, but yes." The Doctor touched her arm. "You're in the second trimester. Everything is fine, the baby is as he or she should be."

Oddly, Kathryn couldn’t help but remember an incident from their third year in the Delta Quadrant. Kes had been injured when she’d supposedly disturbed a sacred shrine. They’d run test after test to try and find a way to help their young friend, but had been left with nothing scientific that could explain the illness. Kathryn had ended up on a religious quest to find the answer.

In her quest, aside from painting a rather... well, crap, landscape, she’d been bitten by some kind of animal and she’d stared at a rock and, perhaps most importantly, she’d experienced a vision.

The vision had been of a big house with a wide porch and a man calling out to her to come and feed the baby. At the time, she’d been startled and confused when she’d realized that Chakotay was the ‘daddy’ calling for her.

Of course, she’d dismissed the vision after Kes had recovered. Mostly because, at that stage, she hadn’t wanted to deal with the ramifications of thinking like that. Roshan had died soon after and then the miscarriage had happened and life had gotten in the way of her thoughts wandering back to the strange vision.

The Doctor’s revelation made her think of that vision and she wondered how much of it could possibly be true.

Was she having a daughter? There was a 50% chance. Roshan wouldn’t be part of the future, she knew that. But that house, she had thought, looked to be on Earth. Did that mean that they’d be home before she gave birth? Did that mean that all of her fears about what would happen when they reached Federation Space were null and void? Chakotay hadn't been wearing an ankle bracelet in her vision.

Or had it just been yet another strange experience in the Delta Quadrant?

Shaking the odd thought from her mind, Kathryn shook herself and turned back to what the Doctor was saying - something about regular prenatal vitamin injections.

"...and you're going to have to take better care of yourself. Are you getting enough protein in your diet? It can be hard for vegetarians to find enough protein."

"My protein intake is excellent, I assure you, Doctor." Kathryn moved to the door. "If you'll excuse me, I should go and tell Chakotay."

"You'll come back for a scan tomorrow?"

"Promise." She paused. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"

***

Her mind reeled as she waited for the turbolift.

How was it possible that she hadn't noticed this - again! She'd been tired and more emotional than normal, lately, but everyone went through spells like that. It was part of life in space. The boredom or the over-stimulation would get to you and everything would be just a little more dramatic.

Surely, if not the emotional signs, she would have noticed the physical? Stepping into the lift, she was glad to find it empty and she looked down at her body, trying to see a difference. Her clothes still fill and she didn't feel any bigger - everything looked normal from the angle she viewed it at - so she could only assumed that it was either happening so slowly that she hadn't noticed it yet or the Doctor had made a mistake.

She didn't think he would have let that happen, though, not given her history.

Second trimester. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the Doctor had easily knocked one of her greatest fears out of the way. Twelve weeks.

She must have conceived on Quarra, she realized. And it would probably have been a fair assumption that Kadan and his assistants had neutralized her booster, either intentionally or not.

The thought made her stiffen and she thanked whatever deity listening that she had found a connection with Chakotay in her mind controlled state, instead of some unknown alien. She couldn't imagine what they would have done if she'd moved in with another man and found out, later as it were, that she was pregnant.

Stepping onto the Bridge, Kathryn almost lost her footing as the ship shook beneath them. She looked at the screen and frowned, not quite sure what she was seeing.

"What is it?" She asked, making her way to her chair.

"Judging from the tachyon emissions, some sort of temporal rift." Chakotay replied. "But we don't know how it's being generated. Seven is running an analysis."

Kathryn looked behind her to see Seven working.

"I'm detecting nadion discharges on the other side of the rift." Tuvok announced a few moments later.

"Weapons fire?" Chakotay asked.

"It's possible." Tuvok looked back down at his console. "The signature appears to be Klingon."

"Red alert."

The lights dimmed under Chakotay's command and Kathryn watched the view screen intently. Ribbons of blue energy appeared to float through space. She was trying to determine if she was seeing what she thought she was seeing - or if pregnancy caused hallucinations - when Tuvok spoke again.

"There's a vessel coming through the rift."

Chakotay appeared to hold his breath. "Klingon?"

"No, Federation."

Harry spoke before he could. "We're being hailed."

Kathryn watched Chakotay, wondering what he would do. They'd spoken to Starfleet only briefly when visual communication had been established. It had been agreed that, given the circumstances, the crew would be allowed to talk to family before anything political began. What would he do now that 'they' were on his turf?

"Onscreen."

The image appeared and, rather than any kind of fleet of negotiators, they were faced with one Admiral. Not just one, though, it was... her? Kathryn wasn't quite sure what she was going on, but the Admiral in the ship looked disturbingly familiar, if not save for the grey hair and added wrinkles.

"Recalibrate your deflector to emit an anti-tachyon pulse. You have to seal that rift."

The voice sealed her fate and Kathryn knew that she was staring of some version of herself.

"It's usually considered polite to introduce yourself before you start giving orders." Chakotay replied. "And you'll note that I'm not wearing a uniform."

If this was Starfleet's weirdass way of negotiating with them, it was never going to work.

"Captain, a Klingon vessel is coming through." Tuvok called.

"Close the rift." The woman on the view screen snapped. "You want to deal with an irate Klingon vessel?"

Chakotay thought about it for a heartbeat before he nodded to Tuvok. The rift closed behind the Starfleet Shuttle that held the Admiral.

He looked back to the screen. "I did what you asked. Now tell me what the hell is going on."

She raised an eyebrow at the tone, but answered anyway. "I've come to bring Voyager home."

***

They beamed her to the ship and Kathryn and Chakotay met her there, while her shuttle was being tractored into the shuttle bay that had so recently been home to Neelix's cargo ship.

When the older woman materialized on the transporter pad, it was no less weird then when they'd been speaking on the view screen.

Chakotay took a step forward. "Welcome aboard."

The way she looked at Chakotay made Kathryn nervous, but she didn't voice the thought.

"It's good to be back."

"Would you like to tell us what's going on?" Chakotay asked.

"Perhaps in my Ready Room..." The other woman responded.

He nodded and the three turned and headed towards the turbolift. As they walked to the Ready Room - from the side entrance to avoid a mild spectacle - Kathryn took the time to surreptitiously study the other woman. She was going to do her level best to reserve judgement until the Doctor confirmed her identity but, deep down, she was already fairly certain that she was looking at her future.

And her future didn't have a wedding ring on, she noted, mildly perturbed.

When they entered, the Admiral looked at the empty coffee pot on the table.

Chakotay followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like a cup?"

"No, I gave it up years ago. I only drink tea now." She waved away their looks of surprise. "I told the curator at the museum that if he wanted to make the Ready room more authentic, he should always keep a steaming pot of coffee on the desk."

Kathryn finally found her voice. "Voyager's in a museum?"

"Voyager is a museum on the grounds of the Presidio." She moved up to the window, looking out into the black of space. "On a clear morning, you can see Alcatraz from here."

"You made it back to Earth." Kathryn felt herself sag a little, knowing that something would be a certainty. She looked to Chakotay though and knew that, even though they would make it home, not everything was a certainty.

She felt the familiar knot of tension in her belly, but considered that morning sickness may have just been making an appearance.

"Unfortunately," The Admiral started, picking up the cup that Kathryn kept in Chakotay’s office, "our favourite cup took a bit of a beating along the way. It was damaged during a battle with the Fen Domar."

Chakotay frowned. "Who?"

The Admiral waved away the confusion. "You'll run into them in a few years."

"As lovely as all of this is," Chakotay started, moving to sit behind his desk, nodding toward the other two chairs across from them, "I'm not convinced I want to hear about the future. I'm surprised that you would be talking about it."

The Admiral nodded to Kathryn as they both moved to sit. "A lot has happened to me since I was her."

"I don't care. Let's leave the future alone for now, shall we?" His tone didn't leave room for argument.

"As you wish." She shrugged. "Now, will someone tell me what's going on here?"

"How about we talk about what brought you here, first?" Chakotay offered.

"Did I mention I outrank you?"

"Did I mention I'm not wearing a uniform?"

Part of Kathryn was quite content to watch them continue their pissing contest - she'd had quite a few with Chakotay herself over the years - but they weren't getting anywhere fast.

They were glaring at each other hotly, attempting to shoot daggers through their eyes.

The Admiral relented first and Kathryn thought that might have had more to do with the fact that she wasn't prepared to waste time as opposed to anything else. "Fine. Three days ago, you detected elevated neutrino emissions in a nebula in grid nine eight six. You thought it might be a way home. You were right. I've come to tell you to take Voyager back to that nebula."

Kathryn had only been thinking about that not long ago. She frowned. "It was crawling with Borg."

"I've brought technology that'll get us past them." She smiled, "Oh, I don't blame you for being sceptical, but if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?"

"For the sake of argument, let's say I believe everything you're telling us." Chakotay said, "Why would we want to tamper with what is meant to be?"

"My future sounds pretty rosy to you, doesn't it?" The Admiral asked.

"Well," Kathryn answered, almost afraid of what Chakotay would say, "Voyager gets home, there's a way to defeat the Borg. That doesn't sound like something to pass up."

"So, why would you want to tamper with such a perfect timeline?" The older woman summarized. "To answer that I'd have to tell you more than you want to know, but suffice it to say, if you don't do what I'm suggesting it could take years to get Voyager home, and there are going to be casualties along the way." She held up a hand when Kathryn moved to speak, "I know exactly what you're thinking."

Kathryn frowned. "You've also become a telepath?"

"I used to be you, remember? You're asking yourself, is she really who she says she is or is this some sort of deception? For all you know, I could be a member of species 8472 in disguise. Have your people examine my shuttle. Tell them to take a close look at the weapons systems and the armour technology. In the meantime, the Doctor can confirm my identity."

***

For the second time that day, she found herself back in Sickbay, this time with company.

The older woman’s' exasperation showed. “What the hell is going on here?”

Kathryn didn’t quite like the way her counterpart spoke, but she didn’t voice that thought.

"This isn’t what I remember." The other woman finished.

They’d established that she was Kathryn Janeway and there wasn’t any sign that she’d crossed time-lines. But she was wearing the uniform of an Admiral and Kathryn wondered if that was what her future held - returning to Federation space and receiving a promotion to boot.

She wondered how closely Starfleet had looked at her logs, especially if they had given her a promotion. Surely her relationship with their most wanted would raise a red flag? Hell, her medical records noted that she’d been pregnant with his baby. Twice!

Regardless, after the meeting in Chakotay’s Ready Room, her counterpart had been getting steadily more agitated, the more they refused to answer her questions. It seemed that the Doctor was to be on the receiving end of that and, after the lectures Kathryn had received lately, she wasn't all that upset about that.

The Doctor had his tricorder in hand and was re-scanning the older woman, a frown creasing his forehead. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I’m not having memory problems and I’m not going senile in my old age, so stop scanning me!” she snapped. When she turned her attention back to Kathryn - the younger one - and Chakotay, the bite in her voice had softened a little. “I’m talking about Voyager. About the crew. This isn’t the way things were in my timeline.”

Chakotay had a discreet hand on the small of Kathryn’s back and, when he spoke, he rubbed his thumb back and forth over her spine, offering something akin to comfort. “What’s different?”

“Well, for starters, the Captain.” She deadpanned. “I don’t know how you got the big chair, but it didn’t happen like that in my Voyager. We ran a tight Starfleet ship the whole time we were in the Delta Quadrant.” She turned her attention back to her younger counterpart, “And just what the hell are you wearing?”

Kathryn hadn’t given any real thought to her leathers for a number of years and the comment startled her a little. She didn’t bother responding, though, choosing instead to turn her attention back to the Doctor. “Are we sure she’s not from an alternate reality? Or a different timeline? We’ve had enough experience with them.”

“I can’t find any genetic evidence to support that. For all intents and purposes, aside from the age difference of approximately twenty six years, she is you.” The Doctor ushered them to the side. "My scans of the Admiral's cerebral cortex turned up something interesting,"

"What is it?" Chakotay asked.

The Doctor tapped up a scan, pointing to the area he was referring to. "I'm not sure. I've never seen this kind of implant before."

Kathryn frowned as she looked at it. "Alien technology?"

"The microcircuitry has a Starfleet signature."

"Of course it does." The Admiral waved a hand.

The Doctor was the one to reply. "Admiral?"

"You invented it, twelve years ago from my perspective." She explained, waving her hand causally.

"I'm sorry, Admiral, I didn't realise."

"What, that I was eavesdropping?" She smirked. "I may be old, but my hearing's still excellent thanks to your exemplary care over the years."

The Doctor had already moved past the apology. "So, this implant I'm going to invent. What does it do?"

"It's a synaptic transceiver. It allows me to pilot a vessel equipped with a neural interface."

"Fascinating. Tell me, what other extraordinary breakthroughs am I going to make?"

"Doctor!" Chakotay snapped.

The doors to sickbay opened and the Admiral jumped to her feet, an odd look on her face. "Hello, Seven."

Seven eyed the woman curiously before turning to Chakotay and Kathryn. "The technology aboard the Admiral's ship is impressive. Much of it appears to have been designed to defend against the Borg."

Chakotay blinked, "Could we install these systems on Voyager?"

"The stealth technology is incompatible but I believe we can adapt the armour and weapons."

"Well, Captain?" The Admiral asked, her arms folded.

"Do it." He nodded.

Seven turned to leave, giving the Admiral one last odd glance before the doors closed behind her.

A thought sprung to mind and Kathryn waved the Doctor into his office. She watched through the glass walls as Chakotay tried to - probably unsuccessfully - engage the other woman in conversation.

Keeping her voice low, Kathryn turned back to the Doctor. “Has she had a miscarriage?”

“There is scarring on her Uterus that would suggest she has, yes.”

She couldn’t help but wonder how that had happened. If, as she said, that Kathryn Janeway had run a Starfleet Ship, jumping into bed with Chakotay probably hadn’t been something she was willing to consider.

When they rejoined the other two, Chakotay had filled her in on Voyager's colourful history. The Admiral glared at her. "You gave him your ship?"

Kathryn shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do. And it's worked, for the most part." She offered Chakotay a small smile.

The Admiral, for her part, simply rolled her eyes. "I can't wait to hear what Starfleet has to say about it."

"They know, actually." Kathryn replied. "Would you like to get something to eat and I can fill you in?"

***

The two Janeway's sat across from one another in the younger versions' quarters.

Both plates of food untouched, the Admiral flicked her gaze around the room. "So he lives here too."

"Chakotay? Yes."

"Are you a concubine? Part of the package deal? Take the Captain, in all senses of the word?"

Kathryn felt a little like she was being grilled by her mother. The only thing that stopped anger from bubbling to the surface was the knowledge - and, technically, proof - that she would have said exactly the same things. "We did what we had to."

The Admiral snorted. "Apparently."

"That didn't happen until years later." Kathryn defended automatically. "And from what the Doctor tells me, I'm not the only one." She gave her counterpart a firm look. "When did you and Chakotay...” She trailed off, certain the other woman would know where he thoughts were headed.

“In our seventh year. Just once.” Admiral Janeway sighed. “We were arguing about his new relationship with Seven. And then we stopped arguing and just...”

“Went for it?” Kathryn offered, trying not to imagine Chakotay with Seven.

“Pretty much.” The older woman sighed again. “I fell pregnant, but we didn’t know until I miscarried. By the time that happened, Chakotay and I had already argued until we were blue in the face about what would happen next. I wanted to forget that it ever happened, he wanted to move forward. When I didn’t budge, he went back to Seven. I married them a little over a year later.”

“I’m sorry.” Kathryn offered, for want of anything better to say. “But that’s not my reality. I’m not the Captain.”

“No,” the other woman agreed. “You certainly aren’t.”

***

Kathryn stopped by to see B'Elanna before she went home to pass out for the night.

Nine hours earlier, her counterpart had arrived. It had taken a few hours for them to question her but, once that had been done, they'd established a plan. They would upgrade Voyager with the Admiral's modifications and then they would try to use the wormhole to get home.

Kathryn had been working in engineering, trying to get the armour systems online. She'd had a brief meal with the Admiral - brief as in neither had eaten and barely a word had been exchanged after a brief discussion of their sex lives - before she'd gone straight to work. Now, it was well past time for her to sleep, but she wanted to check on her friend first.

B'Elanna had been experiencing Braxton hicks for several days and the Doctor had ordered bed rest until the show actually started.

Mindful that she was about to encounter a bored Klingon, Kathryn rang the chime on their Quarters, walking in when the doors opened.

She smiled at her friend. "How are you?"

"Going nuts," The other woman replied from her position perched on the couch. "How are you? You look tired?"

As much as she wanted to tell B'Elanna, she hadn't seen Chakotay since they'd been in sickbay with the Admiral and he needed to be the first to know, so she held her tongue. "I'm okay. About to head home to sleep. Have you been getting updates on our progress?'

"Yes, thank you. It's pretty exciting."

"It is."

"Sadly, not exciting enough to send me into labour." B'Elanna glared at her stomach.

Kathryn silently wondered if she would be like that, soon enough. "It'll happen when the baby is ready. Have some patience."

B'Elanna shrugged helplessly. "Never was my virtue."

***

Kathryn wondered if her day could get any worse.

She'd returned to her quarters after speaking with B'Elanna to find Chakotay already passed out. For as much as she had wanted to talk to him, she'd also been glad that sleep wouldn't be delayed. She'd been virtually unconscious before her head had even hit the pillow.

Much to her and her body's dismay, she'd only managed to sleep for a few hours before the Doctor had called her. It seemed that, when Seven had taken a much needed break to regenerate, she was visited in her mind by the Borg Queen, who warned her not to let Voyager return to the nebula or it would be destroyed.

Kathryn and Chakotay, both still rubbing sleep from their eyes, had been forced to wake quite a few more people up. The Admiral had insisted that the Borg were 30 years behind compared to the technology and tactics she'd brought. It had taken almost an hour of debate among them to decide to maintain a course for the nebula.

When they'd finally reached the murky nebula, the armour had been deployed and the ship's hull completely covered. They'd all held their breath as they waited to see if it would hold as three Borg Cubes engaged, but their weapons fire was repelled. The Borg had scanned them, found a weakness and fired. Voyager had responded with the launch of transphasic torpedoes, which completely obliterated the Cubes with one or two shots each.

It was then they found the center of the nebula, where the crew saw a massive Borg structure. Admiral Janeway ordered Tom to enter an aperture in the structure, but Chakotay quickly belayed that order and demanded an explanation.

Seven of Nine had revealed that the structure was a transwarp hub, one of only six in the galaxy. Chakotay had ordered them out of the nebula and now Kathryn found her standing with him, Tuvok and the Admiral as Seven brought up an image of the hub on the screen in Astrometrics.

"This hub connects with thousands of transwarp conduits with end points in all four quadrants. It allows the Collective to deploy vessels almost anywhere in the galaxy within minutes." She explained.

Kathryn felt her blood run cold at the mere of what they could do with the hub.

"Of all the Borg's tactical advantages, this could be the most significant." Tuvok commented.

"It's no wonder the Queen didn't want us in that nebula." Kathryn breathed. That thing was huge.

Chakotay asked the question everyone was wondering about. "So how do we destroy it?"

"The structure is supported by a series of interspatial manifolds. If we could disable enough of them, theoretically the hub would collapse." Seven run a simulation, quickly showing the possibilities.

"This is a waste of time." The Admiral snapped. "The shielding for those manifolds is regulated from the central nexus by the Queen herself. You might be able to damage one of them, maybe two, but by the time you moved onto the third, she'd adapt."

"There may be a way to bring them down simultaneously." Kathryn was thinking out loud.

The Admiral didn't take it that way. "From where, inside the hub? Voyager would be crushed like a bug."

"What about taking the conduit back to the Alpha quadrant and then destroying the structure from the other side?" Chakotay asked, looking back and forth between the two women.

"This hub is here. There's nothing in the Alpha Quadrant but exit apertures. While you're all standing around dreaming up fantasy tactical scenarios, the Queen is studying her scans of our armour and weapons, and she's probably got the entire Collective working on a way to counter them. So take the ship back into that nebula and go home before it's too late."

"Find a way to destroy that hub." He snapped back.

Tuvok and Seven made very discreet exits.

"I want to know why you didn't tell me about this." Kathryn demanded.

"Because I remember how stubborn and self-righteous I used to be. I figured you might try to do something stupid." She turned to Chakotay. "You, on the other hand, surprised me."

Kathryn ignored the last part. "We have an opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the Borg. It could save millions of lives."

"My Admiral didn't spend ten years looking for a way to get this crew home earlier so you could throw it all away on some intergalactic goodwill mission."

"Your Admiral?" Kathryn repeated. "Exactly how did you get home?"

"With a little help from ourselves." She replied cryptically. "Let's just say I'm not the first one of us to try this, though I don't seem to remember My Admiral having to deal with this kind of attitude. Let's try and get it right this time, shall we?"

"Maybe we should go back to Sickbay." Kathryn suggested.

"Why, so you can have me sedated?"

"So I can have the Doctor reconfirm your identity." She corrected. "I refuse to believe I'll ever become as cynical as you."

"Am I the only one experiencing déjà vu here?"

Kathryn blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Seven years ago you had the chance to use the Caretaker's array to get Voyager home. Instead you destroyed it." She flicked her eyes to the very silent Chakotay as he stood, watching the two Janeway's argue. "God only knows what kind of pigheadedness led to this version of events."

"I did what I knew was right." Kathryn replied. "In every decision."

"You chose to put the lives of strangers ahead of the lives of your crew." The Admiral obviously couldn't win an argument she knew nothing about, so she went for the jugular. "You can't make the same mistake again."

"If you got your Voyager home," Chakotay began, finally speaking, "then we can too."

"Besides, there are so many differences in our histories." Kathryn thought of the life inside of her and knew that there were a lot of differences in their present, too. "Who know what will happen? Getting home could be the worst thing that happened to us."

"Tuvok has a degenerative neurological condition that he hasn't told you about. There's a cure in the Alpha quadrant but if he doesn't get it in time..." She let the sentence hang.

"Tuvok wouldn't condone us putting the crew at risk for his sake." Chakotay protested.

"You've done it for less." The Admiral snapped. "Do you want me to tell you about the Chakotay in my timeline, Captain? I can't bee too specific, he and I haven't spoken in twelve years."

Kathryn knew that the comment hit Chakotay where it hurt, especially after he'd spent so much time trying to ease her insecurities.

"Even if you alter Voyager's route," the Admiral continued, "limit your contact with alien species, you're going to lose people, including your friendship, but I'm offering you a chance to get all of them home safe and sound today. Are you really going to walk away from that?"

When he looked to her, she knew that Chakotay had made his decision.

***

After the heated discussion in Astrometrics, Kathryn and Chakotay had confronted Tuvok. What the Admiral had said was true and he could only be cured by mind-melding with members of his own family.

Despite that, the entire crew had agreed that they would allow their journey to take longer if they could accomplish something they believed in. It was everything the Maquis stood for.

Surprisingly, the crews' display of solidarity had made the Admiral remember how much the crew loved being together and she'd even gone so far as to admit that she was wrong. But, despite the new play to simply destroy the hub and continue on, neither Janeway had been content without a way to have their cake and eat it too. Kathryn wanted her child to be born in the Alpha Quadrant but she didn't want it to happen at the expense of countless others. B'Elanna, still resting, agreed with the sentiment, she knew.

After far too many cups of coffee - which the Admiral had almost orgasmed over - they'd found what they were certain was the only option. Kathryn had gone to the shuttle bay not long after and injected the Admiral with a hypospray.

The Admiral had taken her shuttle through one of the hub's apertures and, if all went to plan, entered the Unicomplex where the Borg Queen resided. Voyager didn't have a lot of time to play out their part in the plan.

"The Admiral succeeded, Captain." Seven announced, after several tense moments of silence. "The conduit's shielding is destabilising."

Chakotay didn't miss a beat. "Now, Tuvok."

Tuvok fired as Tom glided them through one of the conduits. They were being pursued by a Sphere that was firing constantly and the ship shuddered beneath them.

"Aft armour is down to six percent." Tuvok announced.

"Hull breaches on decks six through twelve." Harry added.

Tom's hands danced wildly across the helm, "I can't stay ahead of them, Captain."

"The armour is failing." Tuvok continued.

Chakotay turned to Seven at the upper level. "Where's the nearest aperture?"

"Approximately thirty seconds ahead, but I am unable to determine where it leads."

Chakotay nodded to himself, before he spoke. "Tom, adjust your heading."

Tom did as told, sending Voyager hurtling through the conduit until they were hurtled through the aperture. The Sphere followed them and, as they cleared, Tuvok fired again, causing the Sphere to explode as it attempted to follow them through.

The view on screen of the large explosion sent them all into silence.

When someone thought to move again, it was impossible to tell their location from simply looking at the stars around them and, even though the question burned on everyone’s lips, the Bridge remained silent for a long moment.

Chakotay broke the silence after clearing his throat and sharing a quick glance with Kathryn. “Where are we?”

They could hear Harry pulling up the readings on his console before he spoke. “Right where we expected to be.”

Kathryn held her breath, touching her stomach lightly and wondering if she really could feel something, or if it was just her imagination. She shot a quick glance to Chakotay and they exchanged looks. She still hadn't had a chance to talk to him about the baby, damnit. And now was certainly not the time.

Though Harry’s answer should have told them everything, there had been so many theories, so much speculation, that where they ‘expected’ to be had changed from moment to moment. No one had been sure that it would work and everyone had prepared themselves for both outcomes to the best of their ability.

But it begged the question; Alpha or Delta Quadrant?

Kathryn took a deep breath. “And where is that, exactly?”

***

End.