FAUX PAS

Chakotay looked up from his work and commanded "Come." in response to the door chime.

Tuvok stepped in and stood in front of the desk, even stiffer than usual. "You will forgive the intrusion, Commander, however I just received a transmission from an official on the planet below and thought it best to discuss the matter in person. Apparently one of Voyager's crew has been arrested and detained, there was an… incident. Minister Telak requests that we recall all personnel immediately, apparently we are no longer welcome."

Chakotay pushed the computer aside and rubbed his forehead as he let out a sigh, he really didn't need another problem. "Arrested for what, what sort of incident?"

Tuvok stared straight ahead and cleared his throat. "Sir, I believe the nature of the incident would fall under the heading of lewd and lascivious behavior in the Starfleet Code of Conduct."

"That's just great!" Chakotay exclaimed as he rose from the desk and placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Neelix had to go through three days of tedious negotiations to arrange trade and shore leave with the Blenni and somebody had to go and mess it up! Tuvok, who was it?"

"The official I spoke with did not have the name of the individual involved, only that they were being held in the 7th Provincial Detention Facility."

"Well, Tom Paris was one of the people down there so my guess is that's who they've got, if there's trouble, he finds it, and if there isn't any, he makes his own. Can you please contact Minister Telak and make our apologies and inform him that I'm beaming down and I'll take care of the matter?"

"Of course, Commander. Do you wish me to inform the captain as well?"

"No, Tuvok, she isn't feeling well and went to her quarters to lie down after lunch, so don't disturb her, she already had a bad headache. I'll beam down and see if I can clean up the mess and patch things up with Telak and at least get permission to trade back, we really need those supplies." Chakotay grabbed a PADD off the desk and rubbed his forehead again. "The captain isn't the only one with a headache now, recall all our people immediately, I'll be back as soon as I can, you have the comm."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Tuvok replied as he followed Chakotay from the ready room.

Chakotay met with Minister Telak, however the meeting wasn't the least bit productive, the minister was adamant that trade and shore leave were no longer a possibility. The minister had been opposed to allowing any of Voyager's crew to beam down in the first place as he was most suspicious of them and only Neelix's negotiation skills had finally made him reluctantly change his mind. Voyager had a large supply of borite ore, a rare commodity on Blenni, and their great need for it finally won out and a deal was made to trade for dilithium, much needed food and shore leave on the beautiful peaceful planet.

Realizing that he had to capitulate on the trade and shore leave issues, Chakotay moved on negotiate for the release of the prisoner. "Minister, I deeply regret the incident and I assure you I will deal with it most severely, would it be possible to release the prisoner to my custody? We will, of course, depart immediately."

Telak's patience was wearing thin, however he did think for a moment before speaking. "Commander, I regret, but such a heinous offence is rare here and such open and lurid displays of sexual behavior are simply not tolerated, the act was performed in front of Cleric Kalafon, our most sacred and holy cleric. He had merely gone to the lake to bless it for a devotional ceremony and then had to witness such a… a vile perverted atrocity on the shore of our most sacred lake. Commander, our society is a peaceful one and very high moral standards govern our people and insure that our way of life goes undisturbed. I regret, but the prisoner must stand trial according to our laws. Your Ambassador Neelix did assure me that your people would obey all local laws and customs, did he not?"

"Yes, Minister, I'm certain he did, but I assure you we too have laws and I will punish the lieutenant most severely."

"I'm sure you will, however justice must be carried out here first, the prisoner is scheduled for trial and sentencing in the morning, my aide will provide the details. If you will excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

Chakotay stood and managed a slight smile. "Of course, Minister. Would it be possible for me to see the prisoner at least?"

Telak shook his head. "Why you would want to see such a degenerate I do not understand, an aide will take you to the prison, however you must depart immediately after seeing the prisoner, is that clear?"

"Yes, Minister, very. Again my apologies, I deeply regret this incident and apologize on behalf of Voyager, Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets."

"Thank you, Commander, I regret having to deal with such a distasteful matter as well. Good day," Telak said as he returned to his work.

Chakotay was taken to the prison, led down a long corridor and told to go to the last cell on the left. He turned back and said to the guard, "The cell is empty!"

Another guard came running and the guards spoke quietly before one of them informed him, "The prisoner refuses to come out of the toilet, insists on hiding in there, no doubt from shame. I would too if I'd done something so disgusting in front of the Holy Supreme Cleric!" The guards left and returned to their desk down the corridor and out of earshot.

Chakotay stepped back to the cell, crossed his arms over his chest and spoke loudly, "Alright, get your sorry ass out of there right now and that's an order! I hope you know what you've done, your little stunt got trade and shore leave privileges revoked. I've been talking to them for an hour, but I can't get you released, you'll have to stand trial and, if you think you're in trouble with them, just wait until I get a hold of you and, if you think I'm going to kill you, just wait until Captain Janeway finds out about this!"

The bathroom door opened a crack as a voice weakly replied, "I think Captain Janeway already knows about this."

Chakotay fell against the front of the cell and grabbed the grating to steady himself, "Kathryn? What are you doing in there? I thought you were on the ship, I thought Tom Paris was in here!

She stuck her head out the bathroom door, "Not exactly, are the guards gone?"

"Yes, they went back down the hall. Come out of there, what happened, are you all right? Kathryn, why are you all wet, where are your clothes?"

She meekly came out of the bathroom and stood there, wearing only her underpants and undershirt, as she wrapped her arms around her body. "Well, Chakotay it's kind of a long story."

Chakotay shook his head, rubbed his chin and chuckled, "Well, I have plenty of time, care to explain, Kathryn? Why don't we start with your clothes and why you're all wet, did you decide to beam down to go skinny dipping?"

"Of course not! I went to sick bay and Doc gave me one of those green pills. I laid down in my quarters and, when I woke up, I felt much better, so I decided to beam down to the planet to do some shopping. I got a cup of something that smelled just wonderful from a street vendor and it was just like coffee, better than coffee, it was marvelous! She told me it was made from nuts that grow along Lake Malaquine, so I beamed there to look for them, to see if I could get some seeds or plants to bring back."

"And you decided to take off your clothes and go swimming instead? No, let me guess, the coffee nuts grow underwater?"

"No… if you'd let me finish, I'll explain! While I was scanning, I slipped in some mud and dropped my tricorder in the lake. Well, there was nobody around, so I took my uniform off and waded out into the lake in my underwear to get my tricorder, that's what happened."

"Fine, Kathryn, that explains why you're wet and half naked, but

What about that little incident where they claim you exposed yourself and performed a sex act in front of their Supreme Holy Cleric?"

"What? I most certainly did not! When I came out of the lake my feet were full of some kind of thorns or nettles or something from the vegetation on the bottom, I sat on a rock to pull them out and my feet were really hurting, so I was rubbing them and that's when I saw an old man in blue robes and he screamed and, next thing I knew, a bunch of people came running and, well, here I am! I have no idea why they've charged me with what they did, you've seen them, it's hotter than Vulcan here, they dress in less than this, I'm certainly not indecent by their standards, Starfleet underwear covers everything up. Chakotay, I didn't do anything wrong, I have no idea why they arrested me, all I was doing was trying to get the thorns out of my feet!"

"Kathryn, you touched your feet in front of him?"

"Yes, they were itching and burning like hell from the thorns, they made me put these thick itchy socks on, but I don't think they're helping me and the guards forbade me to take them off, my feet are still red and swollen, here, let me show you," Kathryn said as she started to peel off her socks.

"No, Kathryn, don't! Leave those socks on, don't expose your feet!"

"Chakotay, don't be silly, you've seen my feet before."

"No, Kathryn, put the socks back on, now! Didn't you read Neelix's cultural report before you beamed down?"

"Not exactly, why?"

"Kathryn, apparently Blenni feet contain sex glands or organs or something, they're an erogenous zone, that's why everyone keeps them covered with those thick socks. When they want to, you know, they rub one another's feet to get things going, to give each other pleasure... Well, you can imagine what the cleric thought you were doing!"

"Oh my! I had no idea, I certainly didn't mean to disrespect their cultural taboos. Chakotay, what am I going to do, did you talk to them?"

"Yes, but these are very conservative and moral people, what you did in view of the cleric was about as disgusting as it gets for them. I talked to Telak for an hour, but he wouldn't give in, there was nothing I could do, you have to stand trial tomorrow. About the only good thing is that, since Neelix took care of all the negotiations with him, he has no idea he has Voyager's captain in the brig." He lowered his voice and whispered, "Kathryn, I'm sure you know, we could beam you back and warp out of here, they'd be no threat to us."

"No, absolutely not, I won't violate any directives. Chakotay, what is the penalty for what I did? Well, what they think I was doing?"

"They only explained it to me briefly, apparently they have some sort of correction centers for 'immoral women', from what I was told, they sound like convents. Kathryn, why didn't you read the report on the planet? None of this would have happened if you had, it's not like you to beam to a planet without familiarizing yourself with the local customs. Why were you in such a hurry to go shopping and why didn't you tell me you left? You know we were scheduled to be here for another five or six days."

Kathryn moved to the cell door and touched her fingertips to Chakotay's through the grating. "I know, but your birthday is coming up and I was in a hurry, I wanted to sneak away to get you a present while I had the chance."

"Oh, Kathryn, I didn't need a present, you shouldn't have."

She walked a few steps away and turned her back to him. "I know and I should have known better than to beam down here without reading the report, I'm sorry. Do you have any idea how long they might keep me?"

"No, I don't, they wouldn't say anything, I got the impression it was up to the magistrate that will hear your case tomorrow. What are we going to do, Kathryn? They told me I have to leave immediately after seeing you and can't come back, none of us can. I don't have any idea, but they seemed pretty upset, what if they give you a long sentence?"

Kathryn thought for a moment. "Chakotay, if it's more than a month or so, then you continue on and leave me here."

"No way, Kathryn, I'm not doing that!"

"It's an order, Chakotay."

"I don't care, you can throw me in the brig when you get out, but I'm not leaving you in some alien prison and taking off, I won't do that, Kathryn, I care about you too much!"

She walked back to the grate and looked him directly in the eye. "Chakotay, if you care about me, then you will follow my orders and do what I told you. It's not just you, it's the rest of Voyager's crew too, they deserve to get home as soon as they can."

"Kathryn, you know damn well they won't want to leave without you!"

"Orders are orders, Chakotay, they'll have to, I won't have them pay for my mistake. Will they let you attend the trial?"

"I don't think so, but I'll go ask the guards and I'll see if I can get you some clothes. Hold on, I'll be right back." Chakotay returned and started taking off his uniform. "They wouldn't get you any clothes, said what you have on is fine, so take mine, at least it's better than standing there in your skivvies. They said they would ask about the trial and let me know, Minister Telak would have to approve it." Chakotay shoved his uniform through the small opening in the cell door.

Kathryn took it from him and grabbed his hand, "Chakotay, if they don't, if they won't let you see me again…"

He knelt, pressed her fingers to his face and kissed them, "Oh, Kathryn, I don't want to think of that!"

Before they could continue, the guards rushed in and pulled him away, admonishing him for forbidden personal contact with the prisoner, and drug him away. He craned his neck to look back at Kathryn's tiny hand sticking through the small slot in the door as the guards marshaled him away and he shouted "I love you, Kathryn!"

As Chakotay materialized on the transporter pad, B'Elanna started giggling, "Forget something, Chakotay? Nice shorts!"

He walked to the storage locker, retrieved a blanket and wrapped it around himself. "I'm not in the mood for jokes, B'Elanna, they arrested the captain and are holding her for… for violating a local custom she was unaware of. I have problems, big problems. Call Tuvok and tell him I'll be right up as soon as I stop by my quarters."

"Aye aye, Sir!"

Chakotay and Tuvok discussed their options, which were really only two, beam the captain out of the jail or let her stay and stand trial. Tuvok concurred with Chakotay's decision that they should follow Starfleet directives and not interfere in the local judicial process. Chakotay's request that he be allowed to attend the trial was denied as Blenni trials were to be attended only by those involved. They also refused to let him attend as her lawyer, citing that she would be provided with someone to explain Blenni law and the proceedings to her since she was an off-worlder. The minister did consent to advise Voyager of the verdict at the conclusion of the trial.

That evening Chakotay sat with a book in his quarters, his untouched dinner tray still on the table. His door chime sounded and he really considered ignoring it as he wasn't in the mood for company, but admitted his visitor anyhow.

Tuvok entered, with a pot of tea on a small tray. "You will forgive the intrusion, Commander, however I just prepared a pot of Shibana tea and I thought perhaps you would enjoy a cup, it is known to have calming properties."

Chakotay tossed his book aside, "Thank you, Tuvok, I can't seem to concentrate, I just read the same page three times and I haven't the slightest idea what it said, so maybe the tea will help. Please, have a seat."

Tuvok sat on a chair opposite the sofa, poured the tea and handed Chakotay a cup. "Commander, I am also concerned about the captain's welfare, we have been friends for many years."

"I know, thank you, I'm worried about her too. Tuvok, she ordered me to leave and continue for home if she's given a long sentence and I just don't know that I could do that."

"It would indeed be difficult, as you will recall she gave me a similar order when the two of you were infected with the disease and we had to leave you behind. I found that order extremely difficult to obey and, ultimately, I did in fact disobey it. Perhaps I should point out that Starfleet regulations dictate that, upon the captain's incarceration on the planet, command of Voyager passed to you, so any orders Captain Janeway gave you regarding Voyager exceeded her authority. The decision of whether or not to wait for her release is yours to make, Commander."

"Are you sure, Tuvok?"

"Quite."

"Well, I guess there's no point in worrying about a decision until we know what her sentence will be, is there?"

"I believe that would be a logical course of action. One would hope the Blenni will take into account that the captain was only uninformed about local customs and had no intention of violating them. Hopefully she will also point out the differences between Blenni and Human physiology and that, due to them, she was not intentionally performing the act of which she stands accused. She can be quite verbally persuasive, so, if she is allowed to speak at her trial, she may be able to convince them that incarcerating her would serve no logical purpose."

Chakotay finished his tea and put his cup back on the tray. "Well, let's hope so! Thank you for the tea, Tuvok, that was very kind of you."

"Of course, Commander, have a good evening."

The next day Chakotay worked in Janeway's ready room, never straying more than a meter from the com link, as he nervously awaited the outcome of Kathryn's trial. He worked preparing his log entries and report on the Blenni and the incident that had occurred. When he finished he sat back and chuckled as the computer prompted him to put Janeway on report, something he never imagined he would have to do. She had certainly put him on report a few times over the years, always deservedly so, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. As the computer prompted him for his reply again he started to say no, but then replied that she should be put on report, not because it was standard procedure, but because he had to prove to her and to himself that their relationship did not interfere in making proper command decisions.

The call from Blenni came late in the afternoon and a less than pleasant woman's face filled the screen. "Commander, I am Magistrate Anona. Minister Telak has requested that I inform you of your crewman's sentence. She has been remanded to the Blenni moral corrections facility and shall remain there for fifteen days, she was given an exceptionally lenient sentence since she is an off-worlder and has agreed to depart our planet immediately upon her release and never return."

Chakotay was relieved that the sentence was not longer and put on his most pleasant face to address the magistrate, "Thank you for informing me, Magistrate. Is she permitted visitors or would it be possible for me to communicate with her at least?"

"No, neither are allowed, it is essential she remain secluded if her morals are to be properly corrected. I assure you she will be well cared for, our purpose is to correct and reform her, not to punish her. Minister Telak asked me to enquire if you want her back when she is released?"

"Yes, yes of course we want her back!" Chakotay replied.

The magistrate shook her head, "I cannot imagine such a thing! The woman said she had a mate that would take her back even after what she did, but I was certain she was lying. I cannot imagine such a forgiving mate, your customs must be very different from ours, if I had done such a thing, my mate would banish me to the Isle of the Immorals for certain. Her belongings were retrieved from the lakeside and I shall beam them to you. Good day, Commander," the woman said as she abruptly cut the link.

Chakotay informed Tuvok and went directly to the transporter room to pick up the box that the Blenni had beamed up and he took it to Kathryn's quarters. He sat it on the coffee table, opened it and took out her uniform and tricorder. Chakotay placed the tricorder on her desk and took the com badge and pips off her uniform, placed them on her dresser, tossed the uniform in the clothing recycler and put her boots away in the closet after cleaning the mud off. He returned to the living room and removed her shopping bag and went to place it in the closet also, but temptation got the better of him and he sat on the bed and looked inside it. There were several packages of dark brown nuts, undoubtedly the "even better than coffee' she had discovered, and some sort of contraption which looked like a pot to brew it in. Sitting them aside, he removed a pair of simple blue tunics, one large one small. The fabric seemed to have almost animate properties, sliding through his hands at will and so light and delicate in texture it could barely be felt, yet its touch was somehow extremely erotic and sensual. "Oh, Kathryn!" he whispered as he held the tunics tightly in his fist and remembered the sight of her little hand reaching through the cell door as the guards had led him away. He carefully returned the items to the bag and placed it in her closet.

Turning to leave, he noticed that Kathryn's bed was unmade and her bedroom was none too tidy, so he made the bed and decided to take a few minutes to straighten the room. He had occasionally been through her bedroom to use the bathroom, but he had never actually looked around, never really been privy to the inner sanctum of where Kathryn slept. Her bedside table was piled high with PADDs and a few books, nothing surprising as he knew she liked to read in bed and probably worked there too. He picked up a plate with a half finished sandwich and cup of coffee from her bedside table and, as he did, accidentally knocked some items to the floor. Reaching into the small space between the bed and the table to retrieve them, he slid them out and laughed as he returned a little teddy bear, dressed in a pink tutu that said "I love you Sis" on the front, to the table. He placed two small jars of skin cream and a bottle of nail polish next to it then picked up a small picture frame that had fallen face down. Expecting it to be a picture of Kathryn's sister, Chakotay moved to replace it, but stopped when he saw himself in the cute little flower encrusted frame. He studied the picture of himself, in an unguarded moment, sitting on the ground leaning against a tree reading, and wondered where it had come from. Carefully scrutinizing his clothing and the background in the picture, he realized it must have been taken on New Earth, although he was unaware Kathryn had taken it. He smiled as he replaced it on the table, hoping that he put it back exactly where it had been watching out over Kathryn all this time as she slept.

Chakotay picked up the discarded clothing and towels from around the room and carried out two more half finished cups of coffee and disposed of them, wondering if the woman had ever actually finished a cup of coffee. As he tidied the rest of her quarters he slipped another coffee cup into the replicator to be recycled, realizing he had lost count and wasn't sure if it were number eight or nine.

As usual Kathryn's desk was piled high with work, some done, some undone. Realizing he would have to do what she normally did during her absence, he sorted through the stack of PADDs and pulled out the ones that needed his attention. Sadly, one of the PADDs in the pile was Neelix's cultural report on the planet that she had not read, the oversight that had led to her incarceration.

Given the massive pile of work it was understandable she hadn't gotten to it, yet it was also inexcusable, she was the captain, she certainly knew the regulations.

At the staff meeting the next morning Chakotay realized that they would have to remain in orbit for the next two weeks and really had nothing to do, so he resolved to keep the crew busy and productive and ordered that all systems be thoroughly checked, recalibrated and brought up to peak efficiency. One of the many PADDs on Kathryn's desk contained her notes from her frequent late night tours around the ship when she couldn't sleep, so he thought this would be an excellent opportunity to correct all the things she had noted, from doors that rattled to dirty carpets and bulkheads that needed repainting.

Captain Janeway's absence from the ship was keenly felt and the crew enthusiastically dedicated themselves to their assigned tasks, both glad for the change in routine and also for the chance to do something they knew would please the captain upon her return. Of course Tuvok and Chakotay were the only two on board who knew of the exact nature of the captain's offense and they were glad for that. For once, the Voyager rumor mill was not running rampant, and the crew seemed more interested in preparing for her return than wondering about the specifics of why she was gone. When Chakotay made his now routine late evening tour of the ship, he couldn't help but notice that Voyager seemed to positively glow, not just from the repairs and refurbishing, but also from the increased contentment and sense of pride from her crew.

As Chakotay's head hit the pillow, he thought of Kathryn, hoping that she was well and coping with her incarceration and separation from the ship. She would be back the day after tomorrow and Chakotay sighed as he realized that, no matter now badly he wanted to, he couldn't run to her and hug and kiss her like he wanted to when she returned. Loving Kathryn was very easy and the most natural thing to do, yet it was also the most difficult thing Chakotay had ever done.

When the guard at the Blenni correctional facility returned Kathryn's clothing to her, she sat on her bunk, pulled it from the storage carton and hugged it as Chakotay's wonderful scent filled her head, thank goodness they hadn't laundered it. She got into his oversized uniform as quickly as possible, glad to be comfortably clothed again. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony of her situation, that she had been sent to prison to supposedly correct her morals, yet had been forced to wear a thin scanty prison uniform tunic for the last two weeks that, by her standards, didn't even begin to cover up enough. She took the sash from her prison tunic and tied it around her waist to keep Chakotay's pants up. Kathryn struggled to stay awake as she waited for the guard to come back for her, on her final night she had been forced to listen to a trio of nuns chant the merits of a virtuous moral life all night long and could only manage to steal a few precious moments of sleep here and there before the guard would notice and rouse her.

As Kathryn stood before Magistrate Anona prior to being released, she did her best to try to apologize for her mistake and sound reformed and repentant, hoping that she might somehow smooth over the situation and perhaps the Blenni would have a change of heart and consider allowing much needed trade after all. As Anona continued to lecture her on morality, Kathryn rocked back and forth in her thick scratchy Blenni socks, trying not to yawn and counting the minutes until she could peel the horrible itchy things off and beam them into deep space.

When Kathryn finally materialized back on Voyager the only thing that kept her from prostrating herself and kissing the deck was the presence of the transporter operator. The young man snapped to attention, his expression not revealing how ridiculous Kathryn looked in Chakotay's oversized uniform. "Welcome back, Captain."

"Thank you, it's good to be back." She went to the console and tapped the com panel, "Janeway to bridge!"

Harry Kim's enthusiastic voice greeted her, "Bridge here, welcome back, Captain, we sure missed you!"

"As I missed you. Harry, what are you doing on the bridge, aren't you on gamma shift, what time is it?"

"Yes, Ma'am, it's a little before 0300."

She rubbed her forehead and tried to orient herself. "Oh, yes, sorry, I must still be on Blenni time. Mr. Kim, I haven't had any appreciable sleep in the last twenty four hours, I'm going to my quarters and taking the day off tomorrow, I've barely had any sleep the last two weeks and I'm exhausted, so please see that I'm not disturbed. I do want to make one last try to smooth things over with the Blenni and open trade, so I'll be on the bridge tomorrow afternoon, as soon as I'm feeling up to it."

"Yes, Captain, we'll maintain standard orbit until you order otherwise. Goodnight, Ma'am, we're glad to have you back. Bridge out."

Kathryn made her way to her quarters as fast as she could. At that hour there were few crewmen in the corridors, so thankfully she didn't run into anyone. Despite her fatigue, she couldn't help but notice how much better the ship looked, the clean carpets and the freshly painted corridors. Kathryn stopped in front of Chakotay's quarters and reached to ring the chime before she remembered the time and stopped herself. Instead she went into her own and sent him a message to let him know she was back. She desperately wanted to see him, but he was no doubt asleep and she would soon be as well, no matter how hard she tried to fight it. The Blenni did not require nearly as much sleep as Humans and her stint in Blenni prison amounted to two weeks of sleep and coffee depravation, not to mention the fact that they ate less as well and prison meals were inadequate and she had probably lost a kilo or two. They had not intentionally mistreated Kathryn by any means, it was just that the Blenni required less food and sleep than Humans did and, therefore, that was a punishment in and of itself.

The thoughts of a hot meal and a cup of coffee called to Kathryn as well as a soak in her bathtub, however sleep won out and she stumbled into her bedroom without turning on the lights, tore off the wretched itchy socks, stripped off her clothes, put on a nightgown and slid into bed. She wiggled around, reveling in the softness of her mattress and sheets and she rolled over to grab her other pillow and cuddle it. "Lights!" she shrieked as her hand made contact with warm flesh. "Chakotay, what are you doing here?"

He slowly sat up and tried to shake the sleep from his head, "Kathryn, what are you doing here?"

She grabbed the sheet and tried to cover herself. "Me? This is my bed, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, Kathryn, you're back!" he exclaimed as he opened his arms to her. She smiled and slid into his embrace as he asked, "Kathryn, did you get out early? You weren't due back until day after tomorrow. Oh gods have I missed you, are you OK?"

She relaxed and snuggled up with him. "No, I was there the whole fifteen days." She raked her fingers through her hair as she tried to think. "Oh, that's it, Blenni days are shorter than ours, so it was less by Voyager time, thank goodness, and boy am I glad to be back! I'm fine, but you still haven't explained what you're doing in my bed, Chakotay."

Chakotay played with his earlobe and grinned, "Well, I thought it would be another day and a half or whatever before you got back. I had all the carpets cleaned while you were gone and they did my quarters late this afternoon and they were still damp and the smell was bothering me, giving me a headache, I couldn't sleep. I didn't think you would be back and thought you wouldn't mind, so I came over here to sleep. I'm sorry, Kathryn, I guess I should have gone to one of the guest cabins or something."

"It's OK," she replied as she began madly scratching at her itchy feet. "They made me wear those horrible socks the whole time, I think I was allergic to them, oh damn but my feet itch!"

"You want me to call the doc, maybe you should go to sickbay?"

Kathryn continued to frantically scratch at her feet, "No, I'm too tired, they hardly let me sleep, can you get me an antihistamine tablet and some ointment please? If they're still bothering me tomorrow I'll go, I know he'll want to check me out anyhow, but I'm just not up to it tonight."

Chakotay got up and put his robe on. "Sure, be right back." He returned and gave her the pill and a glass of water and got a basin of water as he handed Kathryn her robe and she put it around her shoulders. "Here, I replicated an herbal soak that should help, soak your feet then put the ointment on, I'm sure they'll feel better.

He sat the basin beside the bed and she put her feet in and heaved a sigh of relief. "Ahhh, you were right, this feels wonderful, thank you so much, they feel better already!" She swished her feet around in the basin as Chakotay massaged them. Kathryn grinned, "So much for two weeks of moral rehab, first thing I do when I get out is expose my feet and let you give me a foot job!"

Chakotay laughed as he dried Kathryn's feet with a towel, "Yeah, was it good for you too?" I've always wanted to get into your socks, Kathryn!"

She grabbed the towel and snapped him with it, "You!, and that's as far as you're going to get tonight! I'm exhausted." She got back into bed and started applying ointment to her feet. "Thank you again, they feel much better now. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow, I already talked to Harry, and I'll be up to the bridge whenever I get there. I'm going to contact Telak again and see if maybe I can patch things up."

Chakotay pulled up the covers and tucked her in as he said, "I doubt it, but it's certainly worth a try. I'm off tomorrow and I'm sleeping in too, pulled a double today. Well, I'm going back home, I turned the ventilation in my quarters up to max, so maybe it's not so bad in there now?" He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "Goodnight, Kathryn, sleep well and I'm certainly glad you're back."

"Thank you, I'm glad to be back and it looks like you took good care of my ship. Chakotay, if the smell in your quarters still bothers you, you're welcome to sleep on my couch, just let yourself in quietly and make yourself at home."

"Thank you, Kathryn, I'll see you in the morning."

Kathryn slept in until nearly ten and felt much better in the morning. She vacillated between getting another hour of sleep and a steaming cup of coffee and finally got up, opting for the coffee. She dashed for her replicator and her mouth watered as she commanded, "Coffee black!"

Unable to comply.

"Computer, authorization Janeway pi alpha, coffee black!"

Unable to comply.

She put her hands on her hips, "Well, why the hell not, I need some coffee!"

Captain Janeway is on report, replicator rations have been suspended pending satisfactory completion of disciplinary action.

"On report? Computer, who put me on report?"

Commander Chakotay.

"Chakotay!!!" Kathryn screamed as she stormed for the door. She rang his chime and pounded on his door, but got no reply, so she stomped back to her quarters, cursing under her breath. "Oh, there you are," she said sheepishly as she retuned to find him lying on her sofa.

He sat up and moved his blanket to make room for her to sit. "Yup, I was here the whole time, you blew right past me. My quarters still reeked, so I slept here. Sit down, Kathryn, and I'll get you a cup of coffee." He got her a cup and one for himself and sat back down beside her. "Here you go, good morning, Kathryn. How do your feet feel this morning?"

She held the cup tightly between both hands and took a long luxurious sip, sat back and sighed, "Ahhh! Boy did I miss coffee! My feet are much better, thanks. Good morning, Chakotay, sorry, I guess I didn't see you."

"Well," he chuckled, "I wouldn't expect you to be able to see a big 80 kilo guy on your sofa before you've had some coffee. I'm sorry about the replicator rations, the computer automatically did it, I'll fix it."

Kathryn took another long sip and looked up, incredulously, "Chakotay, you put me on report?"

He grinned and fiddled with his earlobe, "I kinda had to, after I filed my report on the incident on Blenni the computer prompted me to. I didn't want to, Kathryn, but it was proper procedure. I didn't think about the replicator rations, that they'd automatically be suspended, I wasn't trying to deprive you of coffee, I don't have a death wish."

Kathryn leaned forward and looked Chakotay directly in the eye. "Chakotay, do you really think I deserved to be put on report?"

He met her gaze, "Well, yes, Kathryn, I do, you violated regulations by beaming down without reading the cultural advisory report first and I was in command at the time, so you should have informed me when you left the ship. If it had been anyone else, there would have been no question about putting them on report and you know how I feel about you, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I let my feelings for you get in the way. I'm sorry, I did what I thought I had to, you know you can amend my report if you want to."

"Don't you dare apologize for doing your job! I'm glad you put me on report, it proves to me that you can keep business and pleasure separate, so to speak. I was wrong in what I did and I'll take my lumps. So have you decided how to punish me yet?"

He took her coffee cup and refilled it, "Depriving you of coffee would be too dangerous, but I noticed the hull is looking a little shabby, so I thought I'd have you repaint it." Chakotay sat back down and pulled the blanket across their laps. "No, actually I didn't give it any thought. You're back, you can decide."

"Nope, no way, it's your decision."

Chakotay slid over closer and put his arm around Kathryn, "OK, I'll decide later, that's business. We're both off duty today, how about a little pleasure right now?"

"OK, I'm sure it's not what you had in mind, but I'm starving, do you think you could spring for some breakfast? The Blenni don't eat as much as we do, the meals there were just snacks to me, my stomach hasn't been full in two weeks."

"Sure!" Chakotay replied as he moved to the replicator. "What's your pleasure: bacon, poached eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, on omelet, sausage, hash browns, toast, blueberry muffins, oatmeal, cold cereal, fruit plate?"

"YES!" she replied, "and more coffee too, please!"

They curled up on the sofa together under the blanket and had breakfast as Kathryn related the details of her stint in moral corrections prison and Chakotay filled her in on all that had happened on the ship while she was gone. Chakotay wasn't sure how, but somehow Kathryn had managed to eat every morsel of food from the her tray and his leftover slice of toast as well.

He shook his head as he took her tray back, "Kathryn, where did you manage to put all that food? I know, if you're still hungry I saved a big piece of my birthday cake for you in stasis, it was delicious, best cake I've ever had. Do you want me to go get it?"

"Birthday!" Kathryn sighed, "I missed your birthday, I'm so sorry, Chakotay, but happy birthday a little late! I did get you a present, but it was in my shopping bag and I guess it's long gone, it was by the lake and they never gave it back to me or maybe it's still sitting there."

"No it's not, they beamed your clothes and shopping bag back, I put it in your closet, I'll go get it." He retrieved the bag and sat it in her lap and she kept it closed as she fidgeted. "I hope you like it, I wasn't too sure about it, I didn't know of you would want to wear it."

He gave her a dimpled grin, "Kathryn, I have a confession to make, when they beamed back your bag I looked through it before I put it away, so I know what it is. I'd be happy to wear it, I'll put it on right now if you want, will you wear yours too?"

"Oh yes, of course!"

His grin got wicked. "Without anything under it, I mean on top?"

Kathryn was confused, "What do you mean on top?"

He reached into the bag and pulled the tunics out. "I mean, would you wear it without a bra or undershirt underneath, like the women on Blenni do?"

"What? No! Chakotay, the tunics are for my sister and her husband." She took out the coffee maker, reached inside and pulled out a small packet. "This is what I got for you, well, for us really," she said as she opened the packet to reveal two bracelets made of hundreds of intricately woven metal threads. "Aren't they exquisite? They're handmade, it takes several days just to make one and they have a special magnetic clasp that only works one time, once they're put on, if you ever take it off the clasp releases the threads and the bracelet falls apart. The Blenni call them promise bracelets, people exchange them when they make a special promise to one another. The legend is the bracelets will fall apart if the promise is broken by either person, I don't know if that's true, but the Blenni believe it."

"Kathryn, they're lovely, truly exquisite craftsmanship and I think the legend is just charming, thank you so much!" He held out his wrist, "Will you put it on? No, wait, don't we have to decide what promise to make first?"

Kathryn smiled, "I suppose we do."

"Alright!" Chakotay replied as he took her hands. "Well, Kathryn, I think we should promise that we will always love and respect one another and be best friends. Would you be willing to do that?"

She smiled and squeezed his hands. "Yes, Chakotay, I promise that I will always love and respect you and will always be your best friend."

They put the bracelets on one another's left arms, settled back on the couch and cuddled up in the blanket as Chakotay said, "Thank you again, Kathryn, you couldn't have given me a more special gift."

"You're welcome, I'm just sorry I missed your birthday. Oh, Chakotay, I do have something else to give you," Kathryn said as she put her hands on either side of his face, pulled him to her and kissed him on the lips. "Happy birthday, I love you."

"Oh, Kathryn! I love the bracelets, but I think I liked that even better, it's exactly what I've always wanted!" He slid his arm around her and returned the kiss, "Thank you, Kathryn, I love you too and you don't know how much I missed you while you were gone. Well, would you like another cup of coffee?"

Kathryn got up and stretched, "No thanks, they don't expect me on the bridge until this afternoon, I thought I'd be decadent and go back to bed and get another hour or two of sleep."

Chakotay stood and took their coffee cups back to the replicator as he asked, "Want some company?"

Kathryn smiled shyly as she replied, "Well, I don't know about that, Chakotay."

He took her hands and gave them a squeeze, "We'll just sleep, Kathryn, I promise." They held hands as they walked towards her bedroom, but she stopped when they got to the door, so he reiterated, "You can trust me, Kathryn, just sleep, I promise."

She slid her arms around him and said, "Maybe you shouldn't make that promise, Chakotay," as she pulled him down and kissed him playfully, "I'm pretty sure the bracelets will fall off if you do!"

THE END