Disclaimer: I don't own them, but they are poor, abused children who need to be taken care of, so I'm just mothering them for a little bit.

A/U after Resolutions. What if they hadn't been able to get the cure from the Viddians, and just had to make their way home without their command team?

Please review! Please, please, please!!!!!!!!!!!!

Left Behind

By Aislinn Carter

It was these nights he would miss.

Summer had come to this planet. It was a summer very much like Earth's, with the scent of grass and the buzz of insects and the warmth of the sun. The daytime heat had long since faded away to the mild cool of nighttime, and Chakotay sat on the porch to enjoy it. They wouldn't have many nights like this left.

He gazed up at the stars. They had become familiar to him, and he would miss them. They had made constellations, he and Kathryn. Many nights they had lain on the grass next to each other, attempting to place old legends on some stars, making new ones for others. Hi favorite was, of course, the one she had named 'the angry warrior'. He didn't really see it, but it meant a lot to him all the same.

He smiled as he heard Kathryn reading out loud from inside. She was always so inquisitive, and she loved to read. She read all the time…out loud, to herself, in the house, in the garden, in the woods, on the rock in the field. He would come in at night and see her on her stomach in the living room, engrossed in a PADD, barely acknowledging him. His favorite times were when they would sit on the porch together, and she would read out loud in the silence of the night. He would miss that, too.

The call had come several days ago, a long ago echo of a life left behind. The Starfleet equipment had long since been buried under boxes of cast-offs, things they didn't need in their life here. He hadn't even noticed the beeping at first, absorbed as he was in his sand painting. It was only when Kathryn's head snapped up with a puzzled expression that he noticed something was amiss. He jumped up, quickly burrowing through the boxes and containers until he saw what it was.

It was the subspace communicator.

Someone was trying to contact them on a Federation signal.

He concentrated on his breathing as he unearthed the device and placed it on the table. They must've still been a ways off if they were using this instead of communicators, but they were still closer than any Federation ship had been in years. His mind quickly fell back into that of a Starfleet officer as he deftly worked the controls, and a burst of static assailed their ears.

"…to Captain…Voyager to…come in Captain, Commander, do you…"

He looked at Kathryn. She looked frightened, but he knew he had to do this. He had to answer this call. They would come anyway, and besides…they deserved a better life than this. They hadn't asked for this, and now, it might be time to go home.

He took a deep breath. "This is Commander Chaotay," he said, ignoring the looks of surprise as he spoke officially in this long forgotten title. "I can read you."

"Commander, it is good to hear your voice." It was Tuvok. "It has been a long time."

Chakotay's breath hitched. "It has. How is Voyager?"

"You will be pleased to hear, Commander, that Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant seven years ago."

His mouth dropped open. "You were only here for a few months after you left us?"

"Yes. It is a long story, but suffice it to say, we were able to find a wormhole and we returned home."

His heart felt like it was breaking. A few months? Only a few months? If they had never stopped on this damned planet, they would have been home by now.

"I do feel the need to inform you, however, that I disobeyed Captain Janeway's orders. We did attempt to seek a cure form the Viddians. It was an unsuccessful venture, unfortunately."

"That's…all right, Tuvok. I congratulate you on your return," he said numbly. "But what are you doing back here?"

"Starfleet was able to design a crude version of the Borg's transwarp conduit. It took quite a while, but it was finally tested and approved. During that time, the virus you and Captain Janeway were exposed to was studies in great detail at Starfleet Medical. Several months ago, a cure was discovered, and our mission to bring you home was approve by Command." There was a brief pause. "Am I correct in assuming that you and the Captain want to return with us?"

Chakotay swallowed hard. He felt eyes on him, and it was all he could do to regain his composure. "Tuvok…I'm sorry to have to tell you…" He blinked back tears. "Captain Janeway has been dead for five years.."

There was completer silence. Then Tuvok cleared his voice. "That is…regrettable. She was a very fine woman. A fine friend. May I ask how she died?"

Chakotay glanced at the faces in front of him. "She died giving birth," he said softly. Little Katherine took Edward's hand, and they stared solemnly at their father. Even at five, they knew what had killed their mother.

TBC

The wormhole Voyager used to get home was the one from 'False Profits', the ep with the Ferengi. I feel that Tuvok wouldn't have let the Ferengi dally about while the crew searched for a solution. In my world, Tuvok beamed the Ferengi right to the brig and made some sort of holographic production or even just the crew dressing up as them in order to explain to the people that they were leaving. Then Voyager flew through that wormhole before it could collapse and voila, home sweet home. Of course, their guilt over their command team made them work for years to find a cure and a way back…Wanna hear more?