Disclaimer: All the characters and situations are the property of paramount
Noises
At first he thinks he imagines it. After all he has only just made his home on a brand new ship, it's to be expected that the usual hums, sighs and whispers of day-to-day working take a while to adjust to. During the day it all mainly slips by him, caught up as he is in the difficult job of plotting a 70 year journey not to mention the integration of two crews who until a few weeks ago were sworn enemies. It's at night when they catch his attention; as he sits alone in the unfamiliar quarters of a dead man he hears sounds that unsettle him.
It's a relief when the day comes around again and he buries himself back into his work, adjusting to his new demotion and realigning his priorities until they are so in-sync with hers the two of them are barely indistinguishable. He hears the mutters as they pass together, his crew questioning the sanity of their former captain as they fill in yet another unwelcome report or adjust the collars of their stiff new uniforms, her crew muttering unformed fears of attack and mutiny. For the most part she appears not to notice and he follows her leave.
She is all business, presiding over each memorial service with dry eyes and barely flinching at the realisation that if they do somehow complete their long journey the only senior staff member likely to be left alive is Tuvok. She is determined and focused, if the reality of their desperate situation has sunk in it has left no visible trace. Occasionally Chakotay wonders if she is part Vulcan, sentiments he hears echoed throughout the corridors as various individuals struggle to come to terms with their life sentence. Sometimes he sees flashes of the woman she used to be, a woman he'd like to get to know, a woman with a razor-sharp wit that can slice through a man as neatly as a surgical cut and a dry sense of humour that can take him by surprise. Often she makes a quick comment that makes him laugh only after he's left her presence and gone back to his work.
Still it is hard to dispel the questions, so many lost so soon into the journey and yet the Captain remains the same. He yearns to tell her of this, to suggest to her that she lower her shields around the crew a little but somehow he senses that this would not be welcome. But at night he sits in the quarters of a dead man and listens to unfamiliar sounds.
A month passes and then two more and things settle into an uneasy routine. The noises subside for the most part, he still hears them occasionally but then they too become integrated. The Captain too appears less on her guard, perhaps trusting her crew more or maybe she's just laid a few of her demons to rest, he's unsure. Eventually even the most vicious whispers dissipate and the crew accepts the Captain's fierce protection of her emotional state. A few games of well-played pool later and most of them are talking warmly of the woman fate has chosen to lead them home. Even Chakotay manages to come to terms with the fact that his commanding officer may never really open up to him, although he suspects she will come to trust him more than most.
And so a sort of calm settles over the ship Voyager, each member adapting and adjusting until each little quirk is smoothed into a more manageable shape and integrated into this new community. Another few months pass and it almost feels natural, the noises almost gone. It is 6 months since their journey began and Chakotay sits quietly in the quarters he calls his own and listens to his Captain crying on the other side of the wall. It almost feels like home.