Disclaimer – Sorry folks I'm sure we all know this bit off by heart. I own nothing; Paramount owns everything except the words on this page. I am making absolutely no money from this and still I spend hours slaving over it … hmmm now why does that equation not add up!

Summary – Imminent death has a way of ripping through even the toughest of defenses. Will love conquer all, or will our favourite couple turn their back on what might be their last chance to fulfill their destiny. Hmmm-tough call – let me give you a little hint, you won't need a hankie with this one!

Rating – J/C General

Many thanks – Thanks to all those wonderful people who helped me with this story, in particular Mik, Mel and Ally. You don't want to know what the story was like before their intervention! Thanks also to Kate at JCUK for providing me with a title!

All bets are off!

By Momac
2000

'Oh great … here we go again.'

Tom Paris tried not to think of the replicator rations that would start pouring out from his account as soon as word of this latest debacle leaked out to the crew. The Captain would probably call it poetic justice. After all he was the one who had initiated the betting pool within minutes of hearing that, despite Tuvok's strenuous objections, Chakotay would be accompanying the Captain and himself on the away mission to Tauros IV.

Feeling brave, he had staked a weeks rations that for once they would return from the negotiations with the shuttle intact. It had seemed like a sure bet at the time, after all he was the pilot and as long as he kept Chakotay away from the controls he had nothing to worry about.

Who could have foreseen that a micro meteor would chose the one moment he left the cockpit to punch a hole through their shields, compromise the hull integrity and destabilize the warp core's containment field? Shaking his head at the fickle nature of fate, he clawed his way through the smoke filled cockpit to where Commander Chakotay was fighting with the controls of the dying shuttle.

'Nice going Commander. Remind me again … you did actually qualify as a pilot at some point in your illustrious career.'

It took every ounce of self-control that Chakotay possessed not to slam his fist into the grinning face of the younger man. He had tolerated the crew's obsession with his piloting skills for years, grateful for anything that drew attention away from the nebulous state of his relationship with Kathryn. However the joke was starting to wear perilously thin. Resigned to having to suffer yet another round of smirks and snide comments he channeled his energy into something more productive, reaching out to silence the alarms that screamed for attention as the shuttle's systems crumbled under the strain.

'Well, look at it this way.' Tom frowned at the readout in front of him, his fingers dancing over the control panel as he struggled to compensate for the failing engines. 'Voyager shouldn't have any trouble locating us. We're leaving a debris trail that even Neelix could follow.'

The communication system chose that moment to stutter back into life, filling the air with a burst of static that had both men wincing in pain.

'Computer, recalibrate communication wavelengths to nominal settings.'

'Unable to comply.' The usually sedate voice of the computer wheezed out at them from the concealed speakers, barely audible over the hiss of static.

'Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way.'

Reaching over, Chakotay pulled the access panel off the communication console and activated the manual controls in an attempt to filter out the worst of the interference.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth when the static finally gave way to a series of muffled oaths. They could only belong to one person; Captain Kathryn Janeway, the third and final member of the away team. It was only when a particularly colourful invective echoed round the cockpit followed by what sounded suspiciously like Starfleet issue boots making sharp contact with something metallic that either man found their voice.

'Did she just?' Tom grinned like a schoolboy at the reassuringly human response of his normally implacable Captain.

He could picture her standing, hands on hips, her eyes boring holes into the warp core with more efficiency than a hundred micro meteors. He had been on the receiving end of the infamous Janeway 'Death Glare' enough times to know how devastatingly effective it could be.

Chakotay merely grunted as he fought with the shuttle's controls. He was about to reply when the port thrusters failed, throwing the shuttle into a flat spin that resulted in both men being flung from their seats. Fighting the effects of the g-forces tearing at the ship they wasted precious moments clawing their way back to their chairs.

Once seated Tom attempted to compensate for the loss as best as he could but the options open to him were few and far between.

'Captain, we should be clear of the asteroid field in approximately 2 minutes.' Tom swore softly as the lights began to fail, casting shadows across what was left of the control panel.

'Sensors indicate that the 4th planet in this system should support human life. If you can coax the impulse engines along until we've cleared the upper atmosphere, I should be able to glide the rest of the way down. Captain?'

Static sang back at them as the hail went unanswered. An old, familiar fear resurfaced to haunt Voyager's First Officer. Chakotay drew in a ragged breath, powerless to prevent the images of another mission from filling his mind. The years had done little to dilute the horror of his memories, all he had to do was close his eyes and he was back on that desolate planetoid, forcing breath after breath into her unresponsive body.

Fighting to maintain an illusion of control he tapped his comm.badge again, his mind blocking everything out but the one thing he so desperately wanted to hear.

There was no reply.

'Relax Chakotay, she's probably too busy wrestling the engines into submission to answer.'

Tom's words were meant to soothe but the continued silence weighed heavily on them both. 'Things are as good here as their going to get. Go check on her… but be warned, if she asks I'll tell her it was your idea. I've only just got my second pip back and I'm kind of attached to it. Besides you're her first officer, if anyone should get their ass kicked its you; comes with the territory.'

Needing no encouragement Chakotay started towards the door with as much speed as was possible given the debris that littered the cockpit. Alone again, Tom turned back to the screen and began to coax the shuttle into co-operating with him, glad to have something to think about other than the med kit that Chakotay had slipped over his shoulder before disappearing into the gloom.

Out of sight of the prying eyes of Lt. Tom Paris, Chakotay could let his fear show. Praying to his Gods for strength he all but tore the door off the engine room compartment in his haste to gain entry.

The smell of fried gel packs and scorched metal assaulted him from all sides but he brushed past them as he sought some indication that his Captain … his Kathryn was still alive.

Wreckage was strewn across the floor, but of Kathryn there was no sign. He was about to reach for his tricorder when he heard the coughing, faint at first, but growing stronger as the spasms increased in intensity. Following the sound to its source, he found her buried deep in the heart of the workstation that housed the shuttles environmental controls.

'Kathryn?'

Relief washed over him as he knelt down beside her, tricorder in hand. Time seemed to drag out as he waited impatiently for the results of the scan to register on the tricorder's display screen. What he saw did little for his peace of mind but there was nothing registering that suggested she was in any immediate danger of dying on him. A hypospray to counter the effects of smoke inhalation was the most pressing issue. The rest could wait until they were back in the capable hands of the Doctor.

'Just a moment, Chakotay … I've nearly got it.' Her words were forced out between coughing fits, the force of which seemed to vibrate in the air between them.

He was about to risk full exposure to her wrath and pull her out by her feet when she gave a satisfied sigh and began maneuvering herself out of the hole she had created.

Distracted by the sight, it took Chakotay several moments to realise that the smoke had cleared as the filters reactivated. Grateful for small, mercies he reached down for Kathryn and helped her to her feet, administering the hypospray concealed in his left hand as soon as she was upright.

A slow smile crept across Kathryn's features as the medication began to take effect. The pain, which had kept her focused for the past hour receded, leaving in its wake a bone-crushing fatigue that dulled her mind and slowed her reflexes.

Chakotay watched with barely concealed concern as she ran a grime-encrusted hand through her hair.

'Chakotay, you're staring.'

Kathryn refrained from adding the word 'again', undecided as to whether to be amused or irritated at the guilty expression that flashed across his features.

'You've got soot all over your face.'

He continued to stare at her, his expression unreadable. Without warning, he reached out and gently rubbed his thumb over her cheek. His touch was fleeting, barely more that a whisper of skin against skin but it left devastation in its wake. Startled by the unspoken intimacy of his action Kathryn stepped back … her mind grasping for some way to diffuse the situation, to reinstate the barriers that she had come to rely on, but most of all to calm her pounding heart.

'Chakotay, don't!'

'Don't what? Touch you?'

He moved closer, forcing her up against the workstation she had just finished repairing. Once again he watched her retreat from him, wrapping herself up in her precious protocols until she was almost out with his reach. Almost, but not quite.

Up until now he had respected her wishes, hidden his feelings deep inside himself and tried to accept that they would never be anything more than friends, but not this time. Perhaps it was the smudge of soot on her cheek that tugged at his heart, or the lost expression in her eyes that seemed to cry out to him. Whatever the reason he found himself pushing conscious thought aside as he reached for her.

'For all I know Paris is about to smash us to pieces attempting to land this thing. If I have to die, then at least I'll die happy.'

The words hung in the air between them, a barrier begging to be broken. The choice was hers, to pull back or move in. The question may have been directed at the Captain, but it was Kathryn who answered.

'When you put it like that Commander it would be churlish of me to refuse.'

The words whispered against his skin as her mouth brushed past his cheek, playfully evading his lips.

'Kathryn!'

Her name evolved into a groan as he felt her body mould itself to his. Sending up a silent prayer to whatever God had interceded on his behalf he captured her mouth with his own …

Back in the cockpit Tom Paris let out a whoop of joy as silence once again filled the air. He had experienced a momentary pang of guilt when it became obvious that neither of his commanding officers had remembered to deactivate the comm. system before resolving their differences.

The same feeling of guilt had resurfaced at about the time he regained full control of the shuttle, cutting through the planet's heavy atmosphere to make a textbook landing on the alien terrain. He explained away his appalling lack of manners with the excuse that he had been fully occupied responding to Voyager's hail to remember to deactivate the aforementioned comm. system. Besides, who was he to interfere in the course of true love?

Instead, he sat back in his chair and contemplated the commercial value of the information in his possession. Confirmation of the exact nature of the command couples relationship had long been considered the ships equivalent of the 'Holy Grail', but he was strangely reluctant to provide it. Like a child, he hoarded the secret to himself.

Of course, he would have to tell B'Elanna … if only for reasons of self-preservation! If she found of that he'd known, and hadn't told her he would be spending the remainder of the journey wired up to life-support in sickbay.

And if he told B'Elanna then he would have to tell Harry and if he told Harry
then …

The End

This marks my second voyager fanfic. When I started it I had a completely different, and far less romantic ending in mind but somehow this just seemed right. Consider it my 'first kiss' and 'busted' stories all rolled into one.