A/N: Dedicated to IndianSummer, because everyone needs some fluff on Sundays. :)
oOo
It happened once when she sat on the bridge, the night shift tiredly finishing their duties and handing off their stations. The cloth of her chair had just warmed to her body as she sank back and opened her console to read the reports from security on the quiet evening and the changes they'd initiated in the security protocols for the drills at 09:00.
At 06:59 she heard the hydraulic hiss of the turbolift settling, the doors swishing open to deposit two sets of heavy footsteps onto the bridge. Both turned to the right, descending onto the bridge.
Tom took his station, chatting quietly with the officer. Chakotay sat heavily beside her, his console waking under nimble fingers, moving of rote, logging into the system with lengthy security codes and spooling up reports from around the ship. He never looked up until he'd confirmed the roster for the day, noting that each crewman had logged into their proper stations.
It changed, a wobble just to the left of where it had been her entire life.
She shook her head at the thought. Not quite aware of the transference.
It wasn't the proper description. Really much more simplistic, but it made it easier to think about, even something so intricate and all-consuming.
It, the concept of home, wasn't something she took lightly. But one day, that single moment of change struck her. Her definition of home wigged somewhere in her brain to include him. To be him.
It was no longer a place. No longer her mother or sister, as much as Kathryn loved the women, it was a comfortable, unconditional love, wherever she was.
No, home switched suddenly in her soul when it became less ethereal in the embodiment of one man.
One smile.