A/N: Thank you for your patience. Here is the continuing saga that began with Uneasy Beginnings. I held off and made it a long one for you. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Reading!

Janeway walked onto her bridge and nodded at her crew eagerly at work at their various duty stations. It had been two weeks since their experience with Seska and the Kazon and the invigoration from surviving what they had been through still had not completely worn off. She couldn't be prouder of their resilience.

The entire crew worked together like never before. Old divisions between Maquis and Starfleet had resolved save for the occasional quick quip or teasing remark to relieve the stress of being so far away from home. It was a reality and a heaviness that never quite left the crews' hearts and minds.

Now that their immediate crisis was over, Janeway could see the reality of their location beginning to wear, especially on those crew members who had partners and children back in the Alpha Quadrant. She wished she could come up with something more than a smile and chin up attitude for them but, alone at night in her quarters, she knew that didn't quite ease the pain.

As she settled into her Captain's chair, she caught Chakotay's warm gaze next to her.

"Good Morning, Captain," he said.

"Good Morning, Commander. Status?"

"All repairs have been completed. We are now where we were a little over two weeks ago."

She smiled. "No, Commander, we're better."

He nodded as Paris said, "Captain, I'm detecting a wormhole dead ahead."

"Active, Mr. Paris?"

Tom examined his sensor report before replying, "Yes and based on what I'm reading, Captain, I believe it leads back to the Alpha Quadrant."

Janeway jumped up and looked at Tuvok. "Mr. Tuvok, can you confirm Mr. Paris' readings?"

"Yes, Captain," he said. "But, unfortunately, the wormhole is not large enough for Voyager to pass through."

"What about a shuttle?" Chakotay asked.

Tuvok looked again at his readings and nodded. "A small shuttle could make it through on this end. But there is no telling if the circumference of the wormhole is consistent throughout."

"Well, let's try it," Janeway said. She practically ran to the lift and said, "I'll be in shuttle bay two. I'll maintain contact for as long as I can."

Chakotay jumped up and chased her to the door. "Excuse me? You are not taking a shuttle alone."

"Relax, Commander, I'll come back. If I can get through to the Alpha Quadrant, I can notify Starfleet and then return with their help. If it works, we can take the crew home in shifts."

"That's a big if. You can also get yourself killed if that wormhole does not widen all the way through to the other side. Not to mention, you have no idea where you'll end up in the Alpha Quadrant."

Janeway's eyes darted with his as she challenged him. "I think I'll be able to handle myself, Commander. I seem to have made short work of the Delta Quadrant so far, no thanks to you." She immediately regretted her words and Chakotay stepped back as if he'd been stung. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just have to do this for our crew and I won't let you stop me from trying to help them. I'm responsible for all of this. I have to try no matter where I end up."

Tuvok interjected and said, "Actually, I think I have determined that location."

Janeway and Chakotay turned to him. "Where, Tuvok?" she asked. "Where does it lead?"

"Back to the Badlands. I'm sorry, Captain, but a shuttle would not survive for very long in that environment. Even if you could contact Starfleet, they would not be in time to rescue you from the plasma storms. You and the shuttle would be lost."

Chakotay gave her an 'I told you so' look that she quickly dismissed. "Near Cardassian territory," he said. "You'd be back near Cardassia and in the middle of the war."

"There is no war. The Badlands are neutral territory," she said.

"No, they're not. Starfleet ceded them in your treaty along with my home planet."

"You know that's not true and I will not fight your personal battle on this ship!" Janeway marched into the lift and said, "Follow my previous order. I will remain in contact with Voyager for as long as I can." She looked at Chakotay's angry face and said, "Cheer up, Commander. If you're right, you may soon be Captain of this ship and then you can do exactly what you want."

"You're not going," he said evenly.

Janeway gave him a stern glare. "Watch me. You have the bridge, Commander."

As she called for the shuttle bay, Chakotay stepped in and placed his hand on the door to prevent it from closing. He looked down at her and said, "Mr. Tuvok, as I am now in command of this vessel, I will be accompanying the Captain on her away mission. You have the bridge, Lieutenant." He turned and looked around at the crew before settling his gaze on the Vulcan. "Any problem with that, Mr. Tuvok?"

Tuvok glanced briefly at the Captain before saying, "Not at all, Commander. I believe it is a Starfleet regulation that away missions have a minimum of two people at any given time."

"Tuvok…" Janeway said.

"Captain, do you wish to dispute the Starfleet regulations at this time?" Tuvok looked back at Chakotay and said, "It is possible since we have not received regular updates from Starfleet Command for some time that this regulation may have changed. Unfortunately, we have no way to know if it has due to our present location and current circumstances."

"Then I believe it is standard procedure that we go with their last transmission, correct?" Chakotay said.

"That is correct, Commander."

Janeway looked between the two men and saw a hint of a smile forming on Chakotay's face. "This isn't funny," she said. "This crew will need you if I…"

"If you…"

"If I am unsuccessful," she finished.

"Then I need to come with you to make sure that doesn't happen."

She raised her chin. "Do you know how to widen a wormhole, Commander?"

"No, but if we do get through, I spent the past two years in the Badlands. With all due respect, I can pilot that shuttle a hell of a lot better than you can, Captain."

Janeway bit her tongue and sighed heavily. Glancing back up at him, she waved her hand inside. "As you wish."

Janeway and Chakotay made their way to the shuttle craft and quickly made preparations to take off. She opened the communications channel and said, "Mr. Tuvok, we'll keep this link open for as long as we can. If you do not hear from us within twenty four hours, your orders are to continue on and take Voyager home. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain. Understood."

Janeway looked over at Chakotay. "Ready?" She nodded and he fired up the engines. They both watched the shuttle bay door open and the wormhole's opening appeared in front of them. "Let's go home."

Gently, Chakotay lifted the shuttle craft. It hovered for a moment before he turned and flew out into open space. Chakotay carefully guided the craft into the wormhole as Janeway gave Tuvok ongoing updates. Chakotay flew at impulse and slowly followed the trajectory until the shuttle began to shake. Its engines whined as outside forces grabbed the ship and shook it.

The communications channel crackled and Janeway lost Tuvok's voice. Both Captain and Commander worked their panels, feverishly trying to regain control of the ship. Suddenly, the shuttle sped up of its own accord and Janeway and Chakotay were hurtled towards the exit.

"Thrusters not responding!" Chakotay said.

"I'm losing helm control," she responded. "No response to manual overrides."

"Hang on," Chakotay said. "I think this is it!"

The shuttle flew through a burst of light as it was thrown from the wormhole. Just as Tuvok had predicted, they emerged in the Badlands with a giant plasma storm besides them. It immediately threatened to tear the shuttle apart with its random bursts of energy and Chakotay leaned across to frantically enter commands. She watched him work as he finally got the shuttle to respond and settle under his control. Janeway let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes as she sat back.

Chakotay grinned. "You're welcome."

Her eyes opened and she smiled back. "Nice work, Commander." Together, they turned to stare out the window at the angry, yet familiar space they had finally come home to. Despite the inhospitable location, Janeway felt tears well as the reality dawned that they were back.

Chakotay cleared his throat as he piloted the shuttle into one of his favorite hiding places. "I never thought I'd be happy to see this place again but it's kind of nice. I missed it."

Janeway punched up the communications system. As she opened a channel, Chakotay's hand flew down and closed it. She looked at him and he said, "You understand that if you let Starfleet know we're here you let the Cardassian patrol know too. Give me a minute to get the lay of the land and then we'll do that."

"Sorry," Janeway said shooting him an annoyed look.

He glanced at her sour expression and said, "What? You think I'm wrong? How long do you think this shuttle will last against a Cardassian war bird? I'm not in a hurry to visit one of their camps on my first day back. Not to mention, Voyager is depending on us."

"I know that! Believe me, I'm in no hurry to make my return visit either. I've dealt with enough Cardassians this month."

Chakotay relaxed. "I'm sorry. I forgot that you…"

"Old news," she interrupted. "Wait, Chakotay…something's wrong."

He tensed and ran his hand over the helm. "What? Is it the engines? Everything is reading fine on my end."

Janeway pointed at her control panel. "Look at the chronometer."

"The what?"

"The chronometer. Look at it!"

Chakotay looked at the computer's readout of the date and time. "But that's not possible."

"You think it's wrong?"

Chakotay and Janeway stared at one another for a minute before he said, "If we are here, at this time…

"…then you and your ship will be passing through…"

"…within the next hour," he finished. He sat back in his seat and said, "We've arrived an hour before I got pulled into the Delta Quadrant."

"Then this wormhole passes not only through quadrants but also through time."

Chakotay thought a moment. "If that's true, then we don't have to go back."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Chakotay turned. "If we stop ourselves from being taken, we don't have to go back because we would've never been."

"Okay, but how do you propose we stop the array from taking us? It's already been destroyed in Voyager's time period but not now. And we have no way of contacting anyone in the Delta Quadrant to stop it even if there was anyone there capable of doing it."

"We don't have to stop it. We can just not be here when it happens."

Janeway thought a moment. "Chakotay, we don't have time to find you and me and explain everything right now." She hesitated and then waved her arm. "But, you know what? It's our only option. Let's go find your ship and you can tell yourself not to fly in here. Hmmm…I'm actually going to enjoy watching you tell yourself not to do something. Meanwhile, I'll come up with a Plan B."

"Go ahead and make fun. I'm also going to enjoy you telling yourself not to do something. Maybe then you'll understand my pain."

"Fine, but you're up first." She checked the chronometer and said, "You have 45 minutes to stop yourself from making a life altering mistake."

Chakotay punched at the controls and said, "I'm touched you want to save me from my fate."

She smiled and said, "Oh I really don't care about you. I just promised Tuvok that I would get him home to his family and I do intend to keep that promise. He is on your ship right now."

Chakotay glanced sideways at her. "One of these days, I'm going to become more important to you than that Vulcan."

The shuttle powered up and Chakotay flew around the plasma storms. Janeway noticed he was taking them out of the Badlands and into the known Maquis run area. She kept a steady countdown with the time and, as they emerged into open space, Chakotay lifted a finger and pointed. "There! The Val Jean and the Cardassian ship are straight ahead."

Janeway grabbed his arm as the red alert blared. "Another Cardassian patrol is right behind us!"

Chakotay cursed and turned the shuttle to just run along the edge of the Badlands. The Cardassian ship followed and hailed them.

"Starfleet vessel, you are in violation of…"

Janeway cut the transmission and said, "We don't have time for this!"

"I know!" Chakotay swung the shuttle around on a direct course to the Val Jean which had almost made it to the edge of the Badlands. "Fire the phasers on my command."

Janeway called up the weapons array and said, "Ready, but we're going to draw fire."

Chakotay put the shuttle on dead pursuit and closed behind.

"Cardassian patrol ship is locking on," she said.

"Shields up!" Chakotay called.

The shuttle rocked as the Cardassians strafed the side of it. Chakotay pushed the shuttle faster until he was almost on top of the Cardassian ship pursuing the Val Jean.

"Ready on my mark," he said.

"Wait!" Janeway looked at him and placed a finger against her lips. Initiating a hail, she announced, "Maquis ship, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. You are hereby ordered to return to Federation space immediately. Failure to do so will result in immediate engagement by any and all means necessary to stop you. Federation shuttle, please escort the Maquis ship to shuttle bay two immediately."

Chakotay gave her an incredulous look. She shrugged and said, "I am still the Captain even if my ship is 70,000 light years away."

Chakotay turned back and watched as the Val Jean listed before being steadied and flown quickly away under the supposed cover of Voyager. Janeway hit his arm and he looked over.

"Follow yourself," she said. "We're the shuttle and we have to look like we're following my orders to return to Voyager."

"Okay, but I would never fly the Val Jean like that. Something must have happened." He made the adjustments and said, "You also understand there is no way I would ever come to you willingly, right?" As if on cue, the Val Jean suddenly doubled back from Federation space and veered away into the contested territory away from the Badlands.

Before she could reply, Gul Evek's voice came across the channel. "Captain Janeway, I do not see your ship or any record of a Voyager. Perhaps, the Federation's stance against cloaking technology has been revised?"

"Yeah, something like that," she murmured.

"You need to answer him," Chakotay whispered.

"No, I don't. I didn't answer to Seska and I won't answer to Gul Evek. Keep flying, Commander! We have to find Voyager in this time period and warn me now."

Chakotay shook his head. "No, we don't. It's unnecessary. You were sent out here to find Tuvok after we were taken to the Delta Quadrant. That mission won't exist now. Your orders will change."

"Unless you fly back here and…" Janeway paused. "Wait a minute. Why are we still here? If the timeline has been changed, shouldn't we…we should have been moved to the new timeline with me on Voyager and you…"

Chakotay followed her train of thought. "And me with the Maquis." He was silent and then cleared his throat. "You know, if we did change things, then you and I will never meet. At least not like we did. We'll never get to know each other like we do now."

Janeway met his eyes. "No, we won't."

"Well, I guess it's true what they say about never really going home again." Silence hung between them until Chakotay shrugged and said, "If this did work, then you and I may have disappeared off of our ships. I think that's exactly what happened and why my ship flew wild. If that's the case, then we need to go back and resume where we left off."

"Our past and present selves merged as one. But with our memories intact? What if Voyager is still back in the Delta Quadrant waiting for us to rescue them?"

"Our crews are already here. B'Elanna or Tuvok must have taken control of the ship when I disappeared. At least, it looks like that way. That means they're already rescued." Chakotay's eyes swept over her as he added, "I'm glad I didn't lose my memories of you. I'd be a much poorer man for it."

Janeway smiled and she placed her hand over his. "I agree but it looks like we do remember. All of it."

"Yes." Chakotay smiled and pulled away. "I guess the next time I see you it will be with your hands on your hips, gloating, as they lead me away in cuffs on my way to spend the rest of my days next to Paris."

"Tom!" Janeway gasped and rubbed her forehead to ease her forming headache. "That will have changed back too. I'll work on his release. He's a good man. Maybe I can get him a post on Voyager. I'll speak to his father and take responsibility for him…" She remembered his words and added, "Oh, and I promise I won't celebrate too much when you go before the penal board."

"Gee, thanks."

As they flew into Federation space, a starbase appeared in front of them. Standard Starfleet transmissions flooded the shuttle's communication grid and Chakotay reigned in the engines.

He and Janeway sat in silence again as the shuttle hung quietly in space. Searching out her hand, he found it and squeezed hard. He could tell from her rapid breathing that she was getting just as emotional as he was at finding what they thought they had lost forever. After a few minutes, he heard her shift in her seat.

"Um, we need to dock and confirm that my crew is back too." Her hands went to hail the starbase but Chakotay stopped her.

"Don't do that."

"Why not?

"What if I'm wrong? What if you and I are just doubled?"

"Well, we won't know until we contact Starfleet. I can find Admiral Paris. He'll believe…"

"No, he won't. At least there is no guarantee he will especially since you and I can't verify any part of our story."

"Yes, we can."

Chakotay shook his head. "You are going to tell Starfleet that, in a future timeline, we got swept away by an array into the Delta Quadrant at separate times? We found each other, combined our crews, started to head back to the Alpha Quadrant, but figured it would take about 60-70 years or so. Luckily, we found this wormhole that brought us right here and back in time and now we have prevented the initial incident so no worries going forward about losing us again. Just please tell everyone to stay out of the Badlands from now on and we'll all be safe."

Janeway frowned. "Chakotay, they can investigate the wormhole and we have this shuttle. They can run scans on this ship and on you and me. We'll all show signs of temporal anomalies."

"Fine, but I still can't land this shuttle at your starbase. I am not your First Officer anymore. I am back to being a wanted Maquis criminal. And I have no plans to make it easy for you to turn me over to them."

Janeway's eyes widened. "I wouldn't do that."

"Are you sure?"

She frowned again. "Okay, so you'll be uncomfortable for a bit while they investigate our story. But, once we prove that we are from a future timeline, I'm sure they'll work with you regarding your punishment for Maquis activities. I'll tell them everything you and the others have done over the past few months."

"Really? Including the little mutiny we just had? Those months don't exist for them and I'm sure they'll love that bit when you fill them in on it. Trust me, Captain, Starfleet is not going to be impressed enough by you to turn me loose so I can return to the Maquis."

"Return?" Janeway's worried eyes met his dark ones. "You're going back to fight?"

"Unless the treaty has been rescinded, yes. I go back to defend my home. You're going back to following orders and defending whatever Starfleet tells you to, right?"

Janeway straightened in her seat. "Yes, Commander, I am. That's my job."

"Yeah, well my job is protecting my people and my people are not Starfleet here."

Janeway took a deep breath and moved away. She stared out into space and looked at the starbase. Listening to the chatter, she finally said, "I understand."

Chakotay followed her gaze to the base. "But you're disappointed."

She looked back and said, "I just think you could be so much more, Chakotay. You have been so much more. To me and to Voyager." He bristled and she quickly added, "I do understand your commitment to your people. I do. It's just…"

"…a battle you don't think I will win?"

She nodded. "I didn't have to tell you that."

He turned back to the controls. "No, you didn't." He brought the engines back online. "Because you're wrong."

The shuttle started to move and she asked, "Where are we going?"

"To find Voyager. Do you remember where you were at this point in time? We need to find out for sure if your crew is back or not and if a second you exists. Spirits help me."

She ignored his last remark and said, "Voyager was still being commissioned so I would be receiving my command instructions."

"At Headquarters?"

Janeway nodded. "Yes. I don't remember the exact date but I would have been there awaiting Voyager's completion and my first mission."

"Then let's go find where you are and if your crew is also here."

"And if they are?"

"Then we've probably set things right. At least as right as they can be." He glanced over and said, "And I'm sure you'll come up with a good cover story for why you suddenly disappeared and are now reappearing. As will I."

"Yes, but I probably wasn't missed at all. I'm usually in my office, alone, prepping reports. Only the coffee cup would have missed me. Oh, my coffee!"

Chakotay chuckled. "Sounds like you. And now you can have coffee whenever you want. Was that always the problem with you?" He ignored her glare and said, "I guess you and I will probably be the only ones with knowledge of what happened in the Delta Quadrant."

Janeway sobered. "That would be appropriate. I hope so. I deserve to be the only one who lives with that."

Chakotay glanced at her again. "Hey, it looks like we fixed what happened. It's over. And don't worry. I'll keep your secrets. They'll come in handy if Starfleet gets lucky and nabs me one day."

Janeway pushed at him and Chakotay laughed as he piloted the shuttle towards Earth.