Disclaimer: I own some peanut butter, but I do not own Voyager. Paramount does. The good part: if we want peanut butter sandwiches…party at my house.

Summary: Something wicked this was comes.

Chapter 1: Cold Days and Early Mornings.

Chakotay found him self very wide awake at a very early hour. He sat up in bed and had the computer confirm for him what he already knew. It was 0400 hours, and it was the third time this week that he woke up at this time for absolutely no apparent reason.

He pulled the covers back and climbed out of the bed. He headed to the replicator and replicated a cup of hot tea with some honey in it. Chakotay sat down on his couch and watched the stars go by as he slowly sipped his tea. If this was anything like the last two times, he would be exhausted enough to sleep again in about fifteen minutes.

This pattern was starting to confuse him slightly. As far as he could tell there was no dream that was setting it off. The ship was in a relatively peaceful area of space, so there were no disruptions in his sleep from battles or red alert claxons sounding. He shook his head and took another sip from his tea. Still something else was waking him up. Something else was trying to get his attention.

Chakotay finished his tea, placed the cup in the recycler and then headed back to the bedroom. On his way there he could have sworn he heard rustling coming from Kathryn's room. He hoped it was simply her getting an early start to the day since she was on the alpha shift, and not anything else. He figured he would ask her about it when he got on shift later on. Right now he was far more concerned with getting a bit more sleep. He felt an odd brush of cool air on the side of his face as he lay back down on the bed.


Kathryn skipped coffee when she woke up. For the first time, she actually didn't need it. She had woken up around four am, and was wide awake and energetic. She cleaned her quarters, got ready for her shift, and got three reports read. At first it didn't feel all that unusual, until she realized she had only had roughly two hours of sleep and hadn't had any caffeine in about fourteen hours.

When she reached the bridge, her wave of energy had faded. She went to her ready room and got her cup of coffee. She sat down at her desk and looked at the pile of reports sitting in front of her. She had, had the energy earlier this morning to take on the world; now a few reports were staring at her as though they could take her in a round of velocity.

Before she even had the chance to get to get started on the, some-what important reading of the reports, the door chime went off.

"Come in." She said. She already had a sneaking suspicion who it was before they even walked through the door.

"Morning Captain." Chakotay said. He had the crooked smile on his face that made her stomach to little flip flops.

"Good morning Commander. What can I help you with?"

"Just wanted to check in with you, see if there were any reports I could take off your hands."

Kathryn got up from her desk, grabbed a few of the P.A.D.D's as she walked around and handed them to Chakotay. She could have sworn she felt a cool breeze as she made her way around the desk. She didn't give it another thought, but the feeling stayed with her.

"Be my guest, Chakotay. I'm definitely not in the mood to handle any more of these then I need to." Kathryn said.

"Long night?" he asked

"More like too short." She said. She smiled at him softly. "It's nothing to be worried about though, it's not as though I haven't gone many nights with little sleep before." She added when she saw the concerned look in his eyes.

Chakotay thought about telling her that he was awake far too early this morning as well, but decided against it. Her one night awake at four am, wasn't the same as his three. He didn't want to draw attention to something that might have been simply Kathryn's body acting weird.

"Glad to help. Dinner tonight?" He said. He took the P.A.D.D's from her hand and when his fingers brushed against his hers; his heart almost skipped a beat. He looked at her and the sparks that were there were undeniable to both of them.

"Only if it's in your quarters. My replicator has once again decided to be my enemy." Kathryn answered. She smiled at him then moved back to her desk. She adjusted her uniform before sitting back down.

"Nine-teen hundred hours?" Chakotay said as he followed her over to the desk.

"I'll see you then."

Chakotay exited the ready room and almost ran headlong into Tuvok who was going in for the daily security report. The two said their apologies and their hellos before they returned to their directions.


Kathryn was ready to simply put her head down on her desk and sleep after Chakotay left, but Tuvok entered immediately after. She had forgotten about the daily security report, which wasn't at all like her. She blamed it on the lack of sleep, but that still didn't fully explain it. Like she had told Chakotay this wasn't the first time she had gone on very little sleep.

Tuvok had very little to report. Things aboard Voyager had been fairly quiet the last few weeks. Other than a few species of aliens that had been wanting to trade, activity in this region of space had been low. He did mention though that several members of the crew had reported environmental differences in certain sections of the ship. There were areas that had significant changes in temperature, for a few seconds before returning to normal. Tuvok being as efficient as he is had already set someone into looking at it so there was no need for Kathryn to order him to do so.

"Anything else Tuvok?" Kathryn asked once he was done giving his report.

"No Captain." He answered.

"Alright then, dismissed." She said.

Tuvok turned to leave and on his way out he felt something cold. The logical part of him tried to chalk it up to the same environmental problems as the rest of the ship, but there was something else that made his ears struggle to listen a little harder.

"Commander?" Kathryn said. His hesitation was a little unusual and he looked a little distracted. Tuvok didn't immediately answer her. She got up from her chair behind the desk and started towards him. "Tuvok." She said. She was about to put her hand on his shoulder when Tuvok turned suddenly. Startled, Kathryn took a step back.

"I'm sorry Captain." Tuvok said in response to her jumping back. Kathryn looked at him trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

"What is it Tuvok?" She asked.

Tuvok hesitated before he answered. He wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to say anything about something that might very well have been nothing. "I think it was just one of the environmental disturbances Captain. I'll get back to the bridge now." He turned and left, leaving Kathryn in her ready room, not entirely convinced that he was telling the whole story.


The rest of the day went by fairly slowly and quietly. Kathryn was sure by the end of the day that there was no way that she could possibly read another report. She made her way through the corridors towards her quarters to get changed, thankful for the time she was going to have with Chakotay, and thankful that she was no longer on shift. She was sure that if she wasn't meeting Chakotay for dinner she would in fact, already be sleeping. She wouldn't have even bothered to change out of her uniform.

By the time she had changed into something far more comfortable, Kathryn was late. The very cold blast of air she felt as she was leaving her quarters, she simply chalked up to her hurry. She didn't even notice that the chill it's self took several minutes to leave her after she got into Chakotay's warm quarters.

Chakotay couldn't help but chuckle to him self when the chime on the door rang almost fifteen minutes later than it should have. It wasn't the first time Kathryn had been late for dinner, especially not after a duty shift. He was sure though, that when he opened the door, he would come face to face with a slightly out of breath Kathryn Janeway dressed in a long blue dress. Sure enough, when the doors slid open she was still putting the finishing touches on her hair, pulling a few more of the strands back into the half ponytail that she saved for more casual occasions.

"Sorry I'm late." She said walking into his room.

"Don't worry about it, super won't be ready for a little while yet. I started it late."

"Counting on me to not show up on time?"

"Just expecting the usual." Chakotay said smiling. Kathryn playfully hit him.

"The supper had better be good Commander." She smiled as she moved to sit down on his couch.

She breathed in the aroma of his quarters and tried to keep as much of it in her as she possibly could. The more she could take in now, the more she could keep with her when the night inevitably had to end and the two of them had to return to their own rooms and a reality that was becoming harder to face with out each other.

"I wouldn't be able to talk you into tea instead of coffee would I?" Chakotay said going up to the replicator.

"Not tonight. With out it I'm sure I'd fall asleep halfway through dinner."

Chakotay replicated himself a cup of tea and his captain a cup of coffee, black naturally. When he turned to join her on the couch he noticed that she did in look like as though she could fall asleep at any moment, but there was something else there as well. He had seen her tired enough times to know when it was simply lack of sleep or if there might be something that lay deeper causing the problem. He handed her the cup of coffee and then sat down next to her on the couch.

He was about to say something when he felt the cold air. He first felt it on his right elbow and it then moved slowly by him, although it felt to him like it had moved through him. When it finally passed, Kathryn started to shiver.