Note: While I was digging through old files looking for the pieces of a longer story to work on, I came across this file. I don't think I ever posted it. It's based on a delicious piece of fanart by kneipho called "Morning Joe." Enjoy.
March 28, 2014
"Morning Joe"
In the watery pre-dawn light, she stares at herself in the bathroom mirror. There are dark circles under both eyes and her auburn hair, longer now than it has been in over a year, is tangled and matted with stale sweat. With her fingertips she traces a series of pink blossoms along the side of her neck and wishes for a dermal regenerator, but she hasn't brought one with her to Paris. She hadn't anticipated needing one on this particular trip, and certainly not for the purpose of erasing the path he nipped and sucked on his way to her collarbone, and on to her breasts.
She sighs, closes her eyes, and turns away from the mirror.
Annoyed, she's about to drop the red satin robe and step into a much-needed bath when there's a light tap on the bathroom door, and just after it, his voice, hesitant and wary.
"Kathryn?"
She pulls the robe back up over her shoulders. "Yes? I'm about to get in the bath."
"Oh." She hears his weight shift outside the door. "I made you a cup of coffee."
She gives the tub a longing glance, weighing her urge to scrub the evidence of the last twelve hours off her skin against her visceral need for a cup of coffee. "Is it still hot?"
She hears the smile in his voice. "Very. Hot and dark, just the way you like it."
She rolls her eyes and secures the sash of her robe. "Come on in."
He opens the door and steps through, coffee extended and head slightly bowed. As she takes the first swig of coffee she eyes him over the rim of the mug. He looks oddly dwarfed in the fluffy hotel bathrobe and oversized pajama pants. She wonders why he feels the need to cover himself up this way, given how freely he shared of his body last night. He licks his lips when she swallows. She quirks an eyebrow at him.
"Can we talk for a minute?" he asks. "Before you go?"
He's going to tell her it was a mistake. She knows this, as surely as she knows the chemical formulae for water and oxygen. She takes another sip of the coffee and gives him a half-hearted shrug, steeling herself for the inevitable and refusing to acknowledge that deep down, she suspects that he's probably right.
"About…last night," he begins, and she nods.
"I know," she says.
He glances up at that, meeting her eyes for the first time. "You do?"
She nods slowly. "Yes. I know what you're going to say."
He lets out a quick breath and his whole body relaxes. "B'Elanna told you, didn't she? She warned you." He gives his head a small shake and smiles fondly. "I knew she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret."
Surprised by the unexpected response, Kathryn leans back against the basin, coffee all but forgotten. "B'Elanna is nothing if not forthright," she says vaguely. Somewhere, she has lost the thread of this conversation.
"So you know it's no coincidence," Chakotay says, his eyes boring into hers, "my being here now. And last night."
Kathryn narrows her eyes at him. "You knew I'd be here." She's careful to make it a statement, not a question.
He nods once. "I asked B'Elanna where I might find you."
Kathryn struggles to keep her expression neutral in the face of this revelation even as the previous twelve hours – his sudden appearance in the hotel bar, the glass of wine that became four, the unbearably long trip back to her room, the fleeting and forbidden moments of ecstasy they shared – shift and settle into a new, unexpected arrangement. "And she told you."
He nods again. "She didn't want to." He gives her a sheepish smile. "I guess I don't blame her, after everything. And I don't blame you for not wanting to be found."
"But here you are."
"Here I am."
Kathryn shifts against the basin. "Why?" She raises the coffee to her lips.
"When I got back to Trebus, I…" He sighs and lowers his head again. "It's not home," he says softly. "My family, what's left of it, wants me to settle there. They say they need me. But I don't want to go back. I'm not going back."
"What about…Luya?" It's the first time she's spoken the name aloud since hearing through the grapevine that Chakotay was seeing someone on Trebus. It's a lovely name, lyrical and exotic and bitter on her tongue.
Chakotay shifts his bare feet. Kathryn stares at his toes, curled against the cool tiles. "That was over before it even really began," he says. "Sekaya is the one who pushed her at me, and it was fun for a while, but…not right. I broke things off a couple months ago."
"I see," she says. "And then you came to find me."
"Yes."
"Why?" She swirls the dregs of the coffee in the mug. "You know I'm leaving in a week. I won't be back for at least three months."
"I know. That's part of why I wanted to find you right away. If you won't be back until the end of June, I'll miss your birthday. And I have something for you."
As she drains the last of the coffee she glances at him out of the corner of her eye and notices for the first time that his left hand is carefully hidden behind his back. She lowers the mug. "You do?"
He nods. "That's really why I came to Paris to find you. To give you your birthday present. The rest of it…" He smirks at her. "We got a little carried away, didn't we?"
She stares at him. "You let me think you were cheating on your girlfriend, Chakotay."
He winces. "I know, and I'm sorry. But I ended it with her so long ago that when it never came up in conversation, it completely slipped my mind. I don't regret anything that happened, and I didn't mean to go so fast last night, but to be honest, I've been wanting that," he inclines his head back toward the bedroom, "for a long time."
He gives her such an expectant, vulnerable look she can't help but smile. "To be honest, so have I."
"Okay," he breathes. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that." He pulls a long wooden box from behind his back. "This is for you. Happy early birthday, Kathryn."
"We're going to do this now? Here? In the bathroom?" She takes the box from him.
"When I woke up and you weren't in bed, I…"
"You thought I'd gone. You thought I regretted…last night."
He nods. "You did regret it when you first woke up, didn't you?" When she doesn't answer, he forces a smile. "That's why I followed you in here. I thought maybe if I brought an offering of coffee, it just might buy me enough time to explain myself."
Kathryn waves the empty mug at him. "Well, your Maquis tactic must have worked, because even though I'm out of coffee, I'm long past regretting last night."
He takes the mug from her and nods toward the box. "Then you should open that," he murmurs, his eyes warm and soft on her face.
Slowly, she lifts the hinged lid to reveal a silver chain with a round pendant inlaid with red, green, yellow and blue stones, and a set of matching earrings. "These are lovely," Kathryn whispers.
"They belonged to my mother," Chakotay says. "Gifts from my father."
She looks up at him and tries to return the box. "Then Sekaya should have them."
He shakes his head. "Sekaya has her own set from her husband."
Kathryn catches her breath at the unspoken significance in his words. "Chakotay…"
"There's a third piece," he continues. "A ring. A more meaningful piece. I wasn't sure about any of this so I left it with Sekaya." He sets his shoulders and looks down at her, unblinking. "When you get back from Eldis Four, we'll go get it together."
She brushes her fingertips over the fine wires, the delicate chain, the colored stones, luminous in the early morning light. "And then?"
"And then we figure out what comes next."
"Together?"
"Together. As long as we're together, it'll be all right." He steps toward her and places the palm of his hand against her cheek. "That's what I came to Paris to say. I want to be with you. Wherever you are, whatever you do, I want to be there with you."
Kathryn rises on tiptoe to press a tender kiss to his lips. "Will you come with me to Eldis Four?"
Chakotay wraps his arms around her. "I thought you'd never ask."
She pulls back the lapel of his robe and presses a kiss to his heart. "I'm so glad B'Elanna can't keep a secret."
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