A lone cry rings though the dark silence, eliciting another. Now, the combined harmonization of the two rouses both of us from a sound sleep. Our skin is sticky and there's a slight peeling sensation as we disentangle, ambling fitfully to find our robes.
The bed is so inviting. I know that I should be selfless and bolt up at the start of the babies' crying, but the truth is that I'm exhausted. Between work, being a new mother, and still having an insatiable sexual appetite for my husband, I'm dog-tired.
"You go," I fall back onto the pillow.
I hear an incredulous laugh and then a kiss on my brow. "There are two of them, Kathryn. No" another kiss and a hand tugging at my own, "you're coming with me."
"Ungh," I groan. "Okay," I smirk deviously, "but I you're going to pay for this later."
"Let me remind you," I he grins, "That it was my 'payments' that got us into this".
I shrug on my robe while I admire his strong, tawny form in the half-light of our quarters. He's beautiful and I don't think that I'll ever stop thinking that. His back is turned to me as he pads around the room looking for his boxers. "You're staring at me, Kathryn." He smiles over his shoulder.
I'm not even going to blush. If I want to admire my handsome husband's naked form, I will do so without any hesitation. I simply grin cunningly as he shrugs on his loose pinstripe shorts and we head to the opposite end of our now large, generously family-sized quarters.
"What do we have here?" A tiny pink form squirms and continues her exclamations of discontentment. I turn and meet a tall man holding a similarly malcontent brown bundle.
"Hungry?" I ask Renee seriously as I brush past my husband, moving into the living area.
"I think this one is." I feel a weight sit next to me and I lay my tired head on his broad shoulders.
"You know, Chakotay, I think my chest is going to fall off. My breasts hurt constantly with these two – not to mention all the fun you're getting out of them."
He snickers, "who's first?"
"No," I shake my head, "only one tonight. There's some milk that I pumped yesterday in the replicator. You're in charge of Anna."
"Aye Captain," he mock salutes me as he ambles towards the kitchen area.
"You know," He saunters back, "I can't help it if I find you irresistible. You and your chest." He kisses my long, messy, post coital bed curls.
"I'm not complaining," I smile, remembering his passion earlier this evening…. practically every evening. We're still newly weds, despite the fact that we have two kids. And, we've spent 5 years waiting for one another. Well, that's not the truth; I think that we've been waiting longer than that.
I feel the infant latch onto my nipple, "Owch!" I roll my eyes, "No matter how many times either of them do this, it still hurts!"
I just receive another kiss in the new silence of the quarters, "So," he begins against my mouth.
"So?" I'm fixated by the small, pale little infant cradled against me. I can't believe how much she's grown! She's come a long way from that vulnerable, transparent sick little baby weighed down heavily by Borg armor. Every day she mesmerizes me and I still can't believe that she's ours.
"So what do you think of that plan by Reg Barclay? Do you really think it could get us home?"