Title: Autumn Rain
Author: GeekyDollie
Date: 1999
Rating: G
Summary: Four years after the death of her father and her fiancé, Justin, Kathryn is contemplating her past during a rainy San Francisco afternoon.
Spoilers: None
Author's Notes: References taken from Jeri Taylor's "Mosaic". Hopefully, if you haven't read the book, you can still follow the scene.
Disclaimer: Voyager and the characters belong to TPTB of the Star Trek franchise. The events of the book "Mosaic" belong to Jeri Taylor and her publishers.
Kathryn sat at the desk in her assigned quarters at San Francisco. In her hands she cradled a still steaming cup of coffee while reading from a PADD on the tabletop. Every so often, she would take a sip from the cup.
Outside, the rain was pouring down, streaking the windows on the far side of the room. The late afternoon weather was dreary and gray, and Kathryn wondered if the rain would carry on through the night. She put the cup down for a minute and tucked her legs under her. Her loose sweater felt soft against her skin as she settled deeper into her chair. One hand reached out to reclaim her coffee, and the other picked up the PADD.
She had only recently returned from her assignment on the USS Faraday. After two grueling days of routine debriefings and the required medical exams, she now secluded herself in her quarters to finish the last of the mission reports. She had looked forward to returning home for months, and now she was enjoying her first few hours away from the strict protocol that bounded her for the duration of the last tour. Just a few more paragraphs and she would officially be on leave. Only... her mind couldn't concentrate on the reports.
Glancing once again towards the windows, her attention was captured by the swaying of drooping auburn leaves. How it reminded her of her favorite tree back home! She closed her eyes and could almost imagine the old tree in the agricultural community as if she was looking directly at it. She had spent countless hours in Indiana in the arms of her Willow tree: thinking, playing, studying, reading, daydreaming, and … and talking to her childhood friend.
Mark Johnson: once her young self's most despised rival. Countless games of tennis were played between them and never once, did Kathryn allow him to think that she less than capable of his skill. Truthfully, although she would never admit it back then, Mark's athletic skill was better than hers in every way. Kathryn had attributed it to his age: he was a whole two years older than she, and he had the passion for the game that her nine year-old heart couldn't even begin to muster. Not only did she have to play that archaic game with such an intolerable companion; Kathryn couldn't stand it when Mark let her win on purpose. The memory of it almost made her laugh.
It was the day before she was due at the Academy that he came to find her under that tree. She was always careful to be discrete about this place where she came to be alone. Little did she know that this was to be "their" tree in a matter of a night. He had come home for the summer and found her sitting under her Willow tree staring out at the vast cornfields. Kathryn could only imagine what she must have looked like to him: a young woman who felt like the universe had turned upside down in one summer; an adventurer ready to reach out and touch the stars; and yet, a lonely girl sitting under that tree.
Mark had never been a close friend, in fact, she felt like she never truly knew him at all. Yet, on that warm August night, she felt like that he was the only one in the whole universe who could understand her. They sat there for hours just talking of everything, anything. The stars came out to play with the two companions who laughed and pointed at the familiar jewels and contemplated the unfamiliarity that held Kathryn's future. It wasn't until the fiery sunrise peeked over the vast cornfield horizon that they parted company. The fork in the road towards their respective homes heard the last words between the two friends, and separated towards their future.
It would be years before she saw him again, and neither could have imagined where their lives had led them. Oh, Kathryn had pursued her career in Starfleet like she always wanted, but the price that had come with it! Full of excitement and exploration, the once admirable career had somewhat lost its luster to her. It claimed the life of her father and fiancé, but refused to take hers even though they were thrown into the same fatal situation. It left her life broken, her soul wounded, and more than once, she wondered if she would die from the pain that claimed her heart so that she could rejoin the two men she had loved most. It was only by chance that she met with Mark as she was just learning to find herself again.
And what better, more appropriate time to find her friend and confidante at her side after all those years! All the old childhood animosity had dissipated years ago, and all that was left was a comfortable friendship that they found in each other once again. Kathryn still found it strange, now four years later, that her enemy was now her best friend. He still challenged her to games of tennis; they still looked into the night sky wondering about those jewels in the sky (though now Kathryn had been among them). But the strangest of all was that she had fallen in love with him. All the time in her youth when she had struggled to leave Indiana for something more exciting among the stars, and she finds the other half of her soul had always been in that small agricultural community! She could only smile at the irony of it all.
Kathryn slowly looked away from the swaying branches and her eyes focused on her lover with wonder. He was sitting near the window so silent, and until just a few moments ago so immersed in his own work that she would have missed him in the shadows if she didn't feel his eyes on her. Perhaps inspiration again filled his thoughts, and Mark turned back to his work. Kathryn tried to do the same.
It all seemed so familiar. Kathryn sitting at her desk reading or writing some report or another. Mark sitting near the window either writing his latest paper furiously or lost in deep thought. Both with lukewarm cups of coffee near them. Many all-nighters were spent in a similar scene when both were pressed for time to finish their work.
Kathryn was once again mesmerized by the autumn rain. The wind whipped the auburn leaves in the rain and the water streamed across the windows. Soon the sky was dark gray, suspended in the strange hour where afternoon blurred into night. Every so often, a sliver of light would flash across the sky and a low resonant rumble came from somewhere in the distance.
And she felt his eyes on her.
A faint hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but his sparkling eyes gave him away. Kathryn knew he had caught her watching the windows and procrastinating, but she didn't care. She only offered him a sheepish smile. His gaze was almost intoxicating and he held her attention. A silent moment passed between them before he spoke.
"Do you know I love you, Kath?"
The whole world around them seemed to fade away at his words. It took only a moment for Kathryn to decide that her report could wait and left her desk to join him on the couch near the window. Curling up beside him, she looked into his shining eyes, "I know… I've always known…"
And in silence, they watched the autumn San Francisco rain.
FIN