NOTE: Just a little something for Valentine's Day.
February 14, 2015
UNFAMILIAR STARS
It's almost like Earth.
She thinks it as soon as she beams down to meet with the Magistrate, first step in negotiating a supply and recreation stop for her weary crew. From the cloudless blue sky and the rolling hills to the sweet-smelling trees and flowers, everything about Galta Prime reminds her of home. But three years into the journey, the memory of spring in southern Indiana is more bittersweet than sad, and now, with the ship restocked and the crew left to their own devices for the day, she indulges a rare moment of solitary reflection.
Her steps lead her to an urban park and down a flower-lined cobblestone path. There are insects, but none larger than a small butterfly and most more colorful and delicate. With every breeze, pink and white petals from the trees overhanging the path shower down and swirl around her. She inclines her head at the whispering sigh of a nearby fountain, and somewhere more distant, the tinkling of a wind chime.
There's movement in the foliage at the side of the path, and she bends in time to see something small and furry dart into an opening in the hedge. The little creature turns and chitters at her – angrily, she thinks with a smile – and disappears into the hedge. Before she can rise and resume her wanderings, she hears a voice on the opposite path, just beyond the high hedge. It's a familiar voice, somewhat laced with desperation, and she smiles.
"Come on, it's just like a…like a Holodeck simulation. Just a peaceful sail on the pond, nothing more."
"I don't know, Paris. Your words say 'nothing more,' but your eyes…"
A hand pressed to her lips to suppress the laughter that threatens to bubble forth at B'Elanna's frosty reply, Kathryn remains crouched beside the hedge.
"Come on. It's our last night here." Tom's cajoling voice again. "Live a little. I rented a boat for a two hours on the lake at sunset. Just you and me. That's all I'm asking."
She hears footsteps on the path behind her and starts to rise, unwilling to be caught eavesdropping by one of her crew. But when she turns she sees that it's just Chakotay, who, she realizes, has probably been following her discreetly since she dismissed her security team half an hour ago. So she leans out into the path and waves. He stops, a bemused expression on his face. "Kath-" he begins, but she raises a finger to her lips and beckons him to get low, and come closer.
He obliges and crouches, if reluctantly, and joins her beside the path. "What are you doing down here?" he whispers.
She points to the other side of the hedge. "Tom and B'Elanna," she mouths.
Chakotay nods and smiles, dropping to his knees at her side. "What's he trying to talk her into now?"
"A sunset sail on the lake."
To her surprise, Chakotay frowns, and she raises her eyebrows in silent question. "She's not much of a swimmer," he explains.
"Oh!" Eyes wide, Kathryn peers through the hedge and starts to rise. "Maybe we should-"
He stops her with a hand on her elbow. "Let's see if she handles it on her own. She needs to learn that it's safe to be honest with him."
Kathryn's lips twitch up into a slight smile, pleased to have confirmation that that relationship is becoming exactly what she thought it was becoming, although she's surprised Chakotay is comfortable with it. He and Tom have come to a grudging respect, but she wouldn't call them "friendly," at least not friendly enough for Chakotay to give his blessing to this budding romance. She resolves to ask him about it later.
Tom's voice returns, pulling her from her thoughts. "If you'd rather not spend the afternoon with me," the young man says, a hint of disappointment in his voice, "I think Harry's around somewhere. Or Mike. Maybe even the Commander."
"No, that's not it," B'Elanna replies quickly. "It's just that..." Kathryn holds her breath. "I don't really..."
"What is it, B'Elanna?"
She sighs. "I can't swim."
Kathryn catches Chakotay's satisfied nod out of the corner of her eye and pats his arm.
"I...didn't know that," Tom says carefully. "I've seen you in the beach program on the Holodeck, and I guess I thought..." His voice trails off, then comes back stronger and more hopeful. "Well, we don't have to go boating. How about a picnic in the hills? We can pick up some food in the marketplace, or we could have something beamed down."
B'Elanna is quiet for a moment. "I saw a cafe right off the square that had some pretty good-looking pastries."
"Forget the boat," Tom crows. "We'll go up into the hills and watch the sunset over the lake."
Kathryn and Chakotay stay still for a moment, listening to their footsteps retreat along the cobblestone path, then Chakotay rises and reaches a hand down to her. "I'd say she handled that pretty well," Kathryn says.
Chakotay smiles and nods. "Better than I expected. It's a step in the right direction." He tucks her hand into the crook of his elbow and resumes his stroll along the path.
"You approve of their relationship?"
He's quiet for a long moment before he speaks again. "It's really not my place to approve or disapprove of anything B'Elanna does. I will say that a year ago, I wouldn't have been very supportive. But now?" They take a few slow steps together. "I want her to be happy. If Tom makes her happy, then I will support them both however I can. If he ever hurts her, though..." He gives his head a small shake.
"He knows better."
"I hope so, for both of their sakes. She deserves to be happy."
"They all do."
"Including you?"
Her gaze flicks up to his. She hears the echo of an old conversation in the breeze and wonders if he can, too. "I am happy," she says. "Or as happy as I can be until I get these people home safely to their loved ones." He nods and pats the hand tucked into the crook of his elbow.
They walk along the path in silence for a time. The sun slips lower in the sky and the shadows lengthen around them. The wind kicks up a small storm of flower petals; she plucks one from the air and rubs it between her fingertips.
"What did you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?" he asks.
"Nothing much. A walk, maybe a little shopping in the marketplace."
"How long until we break orbit?"
She glances up at the sky. "Must be about eight hours. I should get back to the ship."
He stops walking and turns her to face him, an infectious smile turning up his lips. "Wait a couple hours. I happen to know there's a sailboat at the dock that needs a Captain and a First Mate."
"You're on," she says, and grabs his arm.
At the rental kiosk on the dock, she has to bite her lip when he gives his name as "Thomas Eugene Paris, Overconfident Pilot and Professional Gadfly."
The rental agent frowns. "You don't sound like the man who made the reservation."
"That was my secretary," Chakotay bluffs, and fifteen minutes later, they're headed away from the dock in a medium-sized sailboat. Their dinner of fruit, bread, cheese, and a bottle of sparkling wine - pre-ordered by Tom along with the sailboat - is packed in a small cooler set into the deck.
Chakotay turns out to be a competent enough sailor. When she asks him where he learned, he tells her about learning to sail with his Grandfather on a small, sleek craft he helped build. In turn, she tells him about a cabin her family owns on Lake George, and the sailboat that's always docked there, ready for her use.
"You miss it," he says.
"Of course. As I'm sure you miss your sailboat on Lake Ahlia."
He gives his head a little shake. "It's gone now," he says.
"Oh! I didn't mean-"
"I know. It's all right. I'm...at peace with it. As much as I'll ever be, anyway."
He is quiet for a long moment. Kathryn turns her face to the setting sun.
"I do miss it, though," he finally says. "So much."
Sensing that he needs space, Kathryn retrieves their dinner from the cooler and begins opening the stasis containers one by one. A movement in the hills across the lake catches her eye and she looks up in time to catch a wave from a young man who might be Tom Paris. She raises her hand in sheepish acknowledgment and turns away.
They eat in silence, watching the colors of the sky shift from gold to red to purple. The wind dies and the little sailboat drifts aimlessly on the clear, blue water. She returns the empty containers to the cooler and sits beside him on the deck as evening descends on the lake.
"Are you happy, Chakotay?" she asks, her voice a whisper in the darkness.
He lets out a long, slow breath. "There are days when I think it's been so long since I was happy that I don't know how to feel it anymore." She turns to study his profile in the sun's last, faint light and catches her breath at everything she sees there. "But then," he continues in a whisper, "then a day like this happens. And I realize I must be the happiest person alive."
Kathryn smiles and turns her face back to the sky. She slips her hand into his and together they watch the heavens all around them fill with unfamiliar stars.
-END-