Good Things
"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
– Marilyn Monroe
Disclaimer - Paramount owns all the characters, I'm just borrowing them…
(Please read and review if you have the time, feedback is so very helpful)
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Chapter One - The call
It was just approaching 0200 hours she saw, as she opened her eyes in response to the persistent chime of the computer. She rolled over, groaned and placed the pillow over her head in an attempt to block out the irritating noise. Since Voyager's return to Earth and her subsequent promotion almost two months ago, former captain; now Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway had been buried up to what felt like her neck in debriefings and reports. Having only just finished proof reading yet another long missive, this time concerning their dealings with species 8472, she had been asleep for less than an hour.
Being back on Earth still felt surreal, and most mornings she awoke in the bedroom of her San Francisco apartment wondering why she wasn't in her quarters. The disorientation was fleeting, but the reality of living planet-side and not on a Starship was a process of adaptation. The space alone was something that she was still getting used to. The Captain's quarters on Voyager had not been small by any standards, but she had discovered that as a Vice Admiral and designated a returning Starfleet hero, she was entitled to a surprisingly large accommodation allowance. This she had accepted as she had had no idea where she wanted to live immediately after they returned and for the moment, she was still here.
Her new home was a large three bedroom apartment set over two floors. The entrance hall, utility area and cloakroom were on the ground floor. Upstairs was the main living area with an open plan kitchen and lounge and the bedrooms, the third of which she had decided to use as an office. A small corridor from the lounge led to her bedroom and the guest suite and bathrooms. As far as decoration, it was still a blank page, with neutral coloured walls, some hastily replicated furniture and a few of the possessions she had brought over from Voyager. She had taken the following weekend as leave and told herself that she would start to paint and then collect the rest of her things either from storage or her mother's house.
Touring recreations of apartments on the holosuite, she had almost given up hope of finding somewhere. But her heart had risen when she had looked out of the large window in the lounge and seen the park opposite. After so long in space, she had not expected to find an apartment in a large city where she could see anything other than other buildings. The small park with its neatly trimmed grass and lines of trees was nothing like the rolling fields and countryside of her native Indiana, but in quiet moments, she stood on the balcony and looked across at the green space. Watching people walking and children playing and straining her ears to hear the birdsong or the wind simply moving the branches of the trees.
She had forgotten the normal sounds of everyday life, she realised. On Voyager, they had lived with the constant hum of the engines, and the soft background noises made by all the Starfleet technology that surrounded them. Escaping to the holodeck and the occasional shore leave was the only time in seven years that she had heard the sounds of nature and she realised how glad she was to hear them again. She kept her windows open as much as she could, even though she was sure that Tuvok would comment on the potential breech of security when they next spoke.
Located just 10 minutes away from Starfleet headquarters the apartment was also convenient for her daily commute and meant that she was close to her former crew, many of whom had chosen to accept similar accommodation offers, at least temporarily. Seeing them often, made her feel that she was still connected to them and it was helping all of them to come to terms with the changes that returning to Earth had brought. Chakotay had organised weekly social events since they had returned and it had been her privilege to meet the families of those she considered to be her extended family.
It had been harder than she had ever imagined, the final time she had left Voyager. Watching her crew disembark and handing over her ship to a team of Starfleet engineers and officers. Grateful to have actually got the ship and her crew home, she had never given much thought to what came next. Almost as soon as Tom Paris had finished the landing, it had seemed as if there was an endless procession of requests for transport aboard. At first it had been the necessary Starfleet brass and she had found herself conducting a make-shift final briefing in the Mess hall, before hastily donning her dress uniform to meet the Admirals. After that, it had been security personnel and specialist counsellors, followed by maintenance and ground staff. They had all been doing their very necessary jobs she told herself, but with each passing day she felt less like the Captain and more like a visitor who had begun to overstay her welcome. Only at night did she feel like the ship was hers again and long after the late shift had finished she walked the corridors for hours trying to commit each bulkhead to memory. The skeleton night crew probably thought she was crazy, but they were too polite to say anything and her rank earned her the privilege of their discretion.
Tom and B'Elanna had moved into an apartment close by and the three of them had begun to bond. They met each week either for a meal or for Kathryn to babysit Miral and after a few weeks they had become good friends, away from the structure of command. Tom had finally got used to calling her Kathryn and she had been thrilled when B'Elanna had asked Kathryn to call her Lana, a name her mother's family had used. Kathryn found herself grateful for their friendship. Having shared experiences on Voyager, she found that she had no need to explain things to them that she spent most of her days explaining to other people. After seven years in command, had begun to try and let her guard down, managing to let go of the Captain a little and to be herself around them. It was a refreshing change and she was surprised by how good it felt.
B'Elanna had surprised them all by deciding to take a six month maternity leave. She told Kathryn that she wanted to spend some time with Miral before deciding whether to go back into space. Even Tom hadn't seen that coming, he'd joked when they'd had dinner a few nights ago. He had taken a temporary assignment, working with a team of Starfleet test pilots and engineers on the design for a new fleet of shuttles. His experience with the Delta Flyer and his natural talent as a pilot making him the ideal candidate.
Chakotay and her were a sore subject that she tried not to think about. She had seen him increasingly infrequently over the last six weeks, even going to the trouble of avoiding him at the dinners and functions that they were both invited to. She'd used the excuse that theirs was a friendship that would wait awhile. There were so many people she needed to reconnect with and they were both in high demand. De-briefings aside, there were constant requests for interviews, references, lectures and charities wanting patronage. It had been a poor excuse and she'd known that. His relationship with Seven had hurt her, she could admit that to herself now. It had felt like a betrayal and with Seven of all people. She had started to analyse her feelings, but had yet to come to a real conclusion. Was it because of her protective feelings towards Seven? Was it his lack of judgement in choosing someone so inexperienced and so much younger than himself? She thought she had known Chakotay and yet this was a profound shock. Maybe that was what had been the worst of it. She had thought that he was an open book to her and now she had to face the fact that he wasn't.
As if that wasn't enough, there was also the realisation that after New Earth she had allowed herself wonder if there might be something more between them once their duty to Voyager was over. But his relationship with Seven had ended that. She could see that he had chosen to move on and she knew that she had to find a way past all of that. She wanted his friendship back. He had been her rock during their years in the Delta Quadrant and she felt as if a piece of her were missing now. The awkwardness between them was painful and it kept her awake some nights.
This however, hadn't been one of those nights and as the chiming started again, she allowed her curiosity to get the better of her. Her now more conscious mind was telling her that whoever it was, might just have a very good reason for calling at this time. Sighing, she sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, before standing and walking over to the console. Grabbing a pale blue pashmina that had been hastily flung on the chair she gathered it round her shoulders.
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"Computer lights to 60 per cent. Identify caller."
The caller is Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres. At this, Kathryn suddenly became much more awake. There was no way B'Elanna would call at this time unless something was wrong.
"Computer accept call, display on bedroom console only."
As soon as B'Elanna's face appeared on the screen, she started to talk.
"Kathryn I'm so sorry to call you at this hour, I know you've been up to your eyes in debriefings this week and you must be exhausted. Tom said we should wait until the morning, but I'm really worried."
"It's okay Lana, what's happened? Is Miral alright?"
"Yes, she's fine Kathryn, I'm sorry. It's Chakotay I'm calling about. He was arrested last night."
