Disclaimers: Star Trek Voyager, its characters, etc. belong to Paramount. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
AN: This is just a little something that I've had in my hard drive for awhile. Not beta'd but I hope you enjoy. I think I got all the errors :)
Kathryn and Chakotay sat on one of the pale grey couches in the upper area of the Ready Room. Before them, were two cups were set before them filled to the brim. In silence, they watched as tendrils of steam trailing up from the cups. One had been filled with a calming herbal tea, while the other filled with black coffee. Beside the cups, sat a small white pitcher of cold cream and a bowl filled with cubes of sugar. All of which were currently being ignored by the couple sitting quietly, watching the beverages getting cooler as the minutes passed.
The easy flow of words stilled as they thought back on the events of the previous weeks. Reflection was all good and well but before they could do anything, move forward they needed to get things out in the open at last.
It was no surprise that Kathryn broke the silence.
"I always thought that at the end of our journey…" Her voice trailed off, looking forward and refusing to meet his dark gaze.
"That we would have been at a different place?" Chakotay finished her sentence. Never had he pictured the events of the last few weeks. If someone had told him months ago that he would be with Seven when they arrived on Earth, he would have seriously questioned their sanity and would have differed them to the Doctor for a full evaluation. "Me, too. I thought at some point, we'd be given a chance to go forward especially after we started communicating with Earth but something…"
"No, someone," Kathryn corrected him with a wry smile, "always put a halt to it. Just about drove us crazy don't you think."
"It certainly explained someone's behaviour throughout the years," Chakotay teased as he continued to watch her, content to simply be in her presence after the last few weeks. "What do we do now?"
"Nothing," Kathryn replied firmly, rolling her eyes at his question, looking out the star field instead of him. What did he expect her to say given the circumstances? "As long as you're with Seven, we're going to do absolutely nothing about this."
"What if I were to tell you, there is no Seven and I?" Chakotay inquired, looking at her intently.
Kathryn quickly turned to face him, her eyes flashing with an inner light that he had not seen since the arrival of Admiral Janeway. "What?"
He reached over and cupped her face, his thumb brushing lightly over her cheeks. Marvelling at the softness of her skin. "She broke things off with me upon our arrival in the Alpha Quadrant. Something about more avenues of opportunity being open."
Kathryn felt her anger stir at Seven's dismissal of Chakotay affection until the truth hit her. He was free to be with her. With no Seven in the picture, Kathryn could finally lay claim to the tall, dark and sexy Maquis she had been sent to capture. Starfleet had acquitted all of the Maquis upon their return, based on her word and the various logs from all the crew that Starfleet had shifted through but she had never been one to shirk her duties.
'The Maquis Captain was about to be caught. After all, she had waited a long, long time to claim her prize.' Kathryn thought as she plotted her next move and words carefully.
"Well, if there's no one to impede our taking the next step forward," Kathryn whispered huskily, wetting her lips and teasing him with the sound of her voice. Slowly, she slid forward until her leg brushed along his and she began to trail her hand down to rest on his thigh. Her fingers dancing along his upper thigh.
"Not unless a certain Captain has swallowed more of those damn rule books," Chakotay countered softly. He shivered under her delicate touch before capturing the wandering hand within his and ignoring the small pout that his action caused. As much as he was enjoying her touch, they needed to finish their talk. After that… let's just say that Kathryn had no idea what she was about to unleash.
"A wise man once told that I shouldn't sacrifice the present for a future that may never happen." Kathryn finished with a tiny grin at him.
"A wise man said all of that?" He asked with a small smirk, remembering the look on her face the first he had uttered those words to her in the quiet of the cabin on New Earth. She had looked stunned and determined not to be reduced to a mere woman instead of the Captain that flowed through her veins.
Kathryn rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, but he's been know to have these moments of sheer stupidity at times."
"Really? When?" Chakotay leaned forward, eager for her reply.
" 'We have plenty of time' ring a bell," Kathryn replied arching a haughty brow at him.
He collapsed backwards with a softly uttered curse. He couldn't believe that she always brought this up when they started having this conversation. Why do women never forget each moment of stupidity that's uttered out of a man's mouth?
"Kathryn, it's not like I had much of a choice. We had a path to follow no matter how much I wanted to deviate from it, I couldn't." He replied in exasperation.
Kathryn laid her hand on over his, her fingers travelling over his broad fingers and down his palm.
"In a way I'm glad we didn't give in. Aren't you?" She asked in a pensively.
He shot her an incredulous look, "If you're fond of cold showers constantly and acting like a lovesick fool."
Kathryn looked him up and down, her mind going places it had no business going… at least not yet. "Better that than crazy, fixated captain that thinks of nothing but getting this crew home." She retorted.
He broke into a chuckle, remembering their journey over the years and how much she had been forced to change. He had learned over the years that teasing Kathryn kept her from falling into her virginal Captain persona too frequently.
"What?" Kathryn asked, not trusting the mischievous gleam look she was getting from him.
"Nothing," Chakotay murmured, counting the seconds as he waited for her response.
Her eyes narrowed and locked on him, "Obviously you found something I said funny," she said in a low voice that threatened all kinds of cruel and unusual punishment if he didn't answer her.
"I was just thinking that you were a little Captain Ahab at times," Chakotay replied, fighting back a laugh at her shocked look before a flicker of wariness entered his mind at her devious smile.
"Well, at least you know the good and the bad, Commander," Kathryn retorted with a sweet smile, resting her hand lightly on his knee and patting it a mocking gesture of reassurance.
"And the scary. Especially when you're caffeine deprived," he teased, testing the limits, only to yelp a second matter when her nails dug into the scat flesh surrounding his knee. He grabbed hold of her hand and held it captured within his warm grasp. "Abusing your subordinates, Kathryn? Starfleet would be appalled."
"They would probable give me a medal for keeping you in line. Besides, you know you like it," Kathryn retorted, poking him again to prove that she could without any retribution.
"I can think of better uses for your hands, Kat," Chakotay murmured, bring her hand up, palm facing up and pressing a kiss in the palm. Her fingers curled at the feel of his lips and he smiled. Pulling away, their gazes meet and for once, nothing was hidden.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, we still haven't solved anything," Chakotay said hugging her close, his breath rustling her auburn hair with each exhale.
"We don't have to. I'm just going to lean back and watch the fireworks," Kathryn sighed, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped snugly around her.
Chakotay sat up, jarring her, "Kathryn Janeway relax and not try and solve the problems of the universe? When did I enter a parallel universe? Wait a minute! If Seven had not ended things, you were going to leave me to that fate?" He growled at her.
"I have no choice, Chakotay. You can't change the past, even if it's the recent past. At the time when I had made my decision, you were with Seven, " Kathryn replied, "I couldn't just break that up, I needed to respect your wishes for a different future that didn't have us together."
"I already told you, Seven was just a fling, something that was dreamed up as a means to grab everyone's attention... your attention," Chakotay defended himself, "Both of us knew that it meant nothing. Besides, I have it on good authority that she was trying to make the Doctor jealous."
"It worked," Kathryn replied dryly, "You're both lucky that we didn't space you or take a bat'leh to you. B'Elanna offered to lend me hers to teach the "stupid p'tak" some common sense. As Tom hadn't done anything wrong recently, I could only assume that she meant you."
Chakotay croaked, his imagination running wild at the thought of Kathryn getting attached to another weapon, "What stopped you?"
"Reaching Earth," Kathryn replied shrugging, "Our journey was over, we weren't restricted by parameters anymore. Stupid reason not to get involved before but you knew of the restrictions that I had to deal with."
"I understood why but some part of me always wished you would say to hell with them," Chakotay murmured, pouting slightly as he thought back on all those years of repression and grieve.
"I couldn't rock the boat then but now, I could do whatever I wanted, and no one is going to tell me what to do anymore. Not Starfleet or anyone else that felt they had a say in my…our life. We just have to decide what path we're going to take," Kathryn replied, twisting to face him.
He nodded in understanding, "Do we go our separate ways or…" He asked , his voice trailing to a stop as he was unsure of what to say next. He wasn't sure what the future held but he couldn't image a future without his Kathryn at his side. These last few years it had seemed to pass by in a flurry, chaotic, peaceful, heartbreaking yet filled with so much love. He felt that his life had been laid out before him and he had no recourse but to follow the plotted path, even if at times it was one that he didn't wish to follow at times. No matter the twists and turns, the path always seemed to lead back to her.
Kathryn rolled her eyes at him, sometimes the man could be the slightest bit dense when it came their … relationship. She had been forced to push him aside to many times and she was damned if he was going to escape her clutches now.
"No, I haven't forgotten your promise to me," Kathryn chided him, flashing him a little smile "You're stuck with me."
"I could think of worse ways to spend the rest of my life than by your side, Kathryn," Chakotay replied quietly. This was the realization of all his dreams and fantasies. A lifetime to spend with the most exasperating, loving and beautiful woman that he had been smart enough to fall in love all those many years ago.
The sat enjoying the silence and being in each other's arms until she broke the easy silence.
"Do you think that they knew, Chakotay?" Kathryn asked pensively.
"No," Chakotay replied, shaking his head, "If they had, they would have gone about our situation in a completely direction. Knowing this future, I'm sure that they would have tried to stop this from happening."
"They did stop it, Chakotay. Everything that happened before now was real, going forward from that point, it's contrary to what they decided. We've taken hold of our future and are shaping it to our desires."
"Now we just have to fix the last plot that has you dead after becoming the Borg Queen."
"Oh, we do not have to do anything, Chakotay," Kathryn purred.
"What! You want to stay-"
"Shhh, that's what the fans are for. If TPTB don't give in a fix this, they will," Kathryn stated, "Who knows us better than them? After all, they gave us immortally already unlike your last romance, they won't let us down."
The End