Disclaimer: The Star Trek franchise was created by Gene Roddenberry and belonged to him and now belong to a bunch of people, and to Paramount; I don't own nothing here. This story was made only for fun; I didn't make any money on this.

Summary: In the end, it was the unusual presence of a smell that made him pensive, when he returned to the sickbay.

Universe:Star Trek – Voyager (VOY).

Ships: Kes/EMH – but it can also be seen as friendship.

Warnings: Before anything, I have the obligation to say that English is NOT my native language and this story didn't have a beta reader. Therefore, the following text may have some gross grammatical mistakes. So, if you really want to read... you're warned! :D

(Also, if you see some of these errors and want to let me know, I would really appreciate it. It's always good to correct my grammatical mistakes when I can.)

A.N.:The title it's from the song "Strangers When We Meet", by David Bowie.

I apologize if any character is OOC [the EMH probably are here]; this is never my intention, but sometimes it's hard to found the character's voice accurately.

Spoilers for "The Gift".

Rated: K.

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Bruised Passivity

By Mychelle in a Wonderland

X_X_X

It was the unusual presence of a smell that made him pensive, when he returned to the sickbay.

It had been only a few hours since the hectic day's events. Just a few hours since they were sent to a long distance from the place where they were – the parting gift that they received.

Just a few hours since Kes was gone.

And that's why the smell caught his attention. That was Kes's smell – the odor that he learned to associate with her. He didn't know if it was an artificial perfume or an Ocampa's natural pheromone – it never occurred to him to ask.

It was a sweet, bland fragrance; if he was a poet and not a doctor, he supposed that he could classify it as a serene aroma, that could bring as much peace as the person that transmitted it.

Leaving personal matters aside, he turned his attention to his Borg patient; he needed to check her condition. It took much less time than he predicted – all her vital signs were normal, or as normal as her physiology would permit.

Alone in the sickbay and without nothing else to do, he put his tricorder aside and noticed that he could still feel that peculiar smell, but it was weaker now; soon enough, it would dissipate completely.

And more than anything else, it was this simple thing that made him truly understand the events of that day. He would never smell that scent again; never again his sickbay would have that flavor in the air.

Never again his sickbay would have the presence of Kes. He would never see Kes again.

After this realization, and for reasons that he couldn't quite explain rationally to himself, he remained quiet and did absolutely nothing for long minutes, until the scent died away completely.

Just then, in his now odorless sickbay, he allowed himself to shut down his program, asking himself if this strange sensation forming on his chest was what some species, especially Humans, called grief.

The End

A.N.²: Kes is my favorite character in Voyager. It was so sad when she was gone :(

I always had a soft spot for Kes/EMH. I think they could be good together; Kes was able to put the Doctor in his place when it was needed, a thing that anyone who would become involved with the EMH needed to do.

Also - in the end, when I used the word 'grief', what I really wanted to use is the Portuguese word 'saudade', but there isn't a clear translation for this word in English, so, I had to adapt.

Just a little thing that I needed to write to get off my system, I hope you liked it!