Summary: Some time at the Academy,
took a little bit of liberty with Kathryn and her friends, so I stole Beverly
Crusher, what's your point… J
She sat in her ready room, reading her padd. She was to capture and bring back
the Maquis deserters, running rampant in the quadrant, just outside of
Cardassian space. She scanned the crew list, read their names. "B'Elanna
Torres, Tom Suder… her eyes stopped as did her voice when she saw the name of
the Captain. " Chakotay…" It couldn't be, it wasn't possible. There had to be
another, it couldn't be the Chakotay she knew so many years ago at the academy…
She peered out the window, bored out of her mind. Her roommate was out with her
boyfriend and that meant that Kathryn was stuck in her Starfleet issue room,
sitting on her Starfleet issue bed, reading Starfleet stuff for her Starfleet
exam. She cursed her rotten luck and her boredom. Throwing the padd she was
reading onto the floor, she fell backwards onto her bed and decided to let
sleep claim her from her torture.
Later, Kathryn awoke to the sound of giggling. She sat up, and asked for the
time. It was 0200 in the morning, and so she got up and opened the door to have
a word with whoever may have disrupted her sleep. She found it to be none other
than her roommate and another person, who she assumed, was Beverly's boyfriend. "Would you to kindly
knock it off? I'm trying to get some sleep, not to mention the fact that it's
0200 and you'll probably wake everyone on this floor up. Her harsh whisper
startled Beverly.
"Sorry Kay, I was just coming in anyway. Goodnight Jack" She kissed the man on
the cheek and proceeded inside. "Hey, Kay" she called as Kathryn climbed back
into the bottom bunk she shared with Beverly Howard "What's the matter? I've never
seen you so pissed at me." Kathryn just glared at her, but then let out a deep
breath.
"Gee Bev, maybe it's because I'm incredibly tired of Starfleet, and all the
work I have to do, while you are able to just gallivant around into the wee
hours of the morning as I fall asleep reading an archeology report." Beverly looked at her
friend and sighed "Sorry Kay, but you know, Jack asked me out…"
"It's not you Bev, I'm just frustrated and I'll admit it, a little jealous, by
the way, Jack's a keeper…" They laughed and both drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Kathryn awoke before Beverly
and dressed. She walked over to the replicator and ordered coffee and a pastry
for breakfast. She quickly ate and left for a walk. She needed to clear her
head, and the best way to do that was to walk around the grounds of the
Academy. The sun was rising over the water in San
Francisco Bay and she
absent-mindedly strolled the grounds, content to be alone for just twenty
minutes, when she knew Beverly
would wake up.
He awoke, careful not to wake his roommate, and dressed. He walked over to the
replicator and ordered tea and bread. He ate quickly and left for a walk. He
watched as the sun shimmered on the waters of the bay. He absent-mindedly
strolled the grounds, content to be alone for just twenty minutes, when he knew
Jack would wake up.
With a jolt Kathryn fell to the ground. She looked up to see a hand of a rather
handsome man. " I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention, the beautiful
sunrise distracted me." He flashed her a gorgeous smile, and she could see his
dimples and something else. A mark, on his forehead, that looked like a tattoo.
She was immediately attracted to him. "It's no problem" she replied, flashing a
grin of her own. He took her hand and helped her from the ground. He was drawn
to her, her red hair glistened in the sun and her blue eyes seemed to draw him
to her. With her hand still in his, he introduced himself. "By the way, I'm
Chakotay." She looked up at him, and then down at their hands. "I'm Kathryn,
but most everyone calls me Kay." She smiled crookedly at him. "Where are you
from Chakotay?" His name rolled off her tongue, bouncing in the middle, it was
as if she was singing it. " I should ask you likewise Kathryn…" for some reason
he preferred her full name, it was beautiful as was she. They smiled at the
banter and walked the grounds smiling, talking, and getting aquatinted.
As classes began, she said goodbye to Chakotay, and he to her. He asked her to
meet him that night for dinner, and she eagerly agreed. She would not be alone
reading padds tonight and she walked into class, elated and happier than ever.
That evening the sky grew cloudy and she waited for him, but he never came.
She never saw him again, on her morning walks, anywhere. Her hope of seeing him
again faded, and eventually died. She met Justin, and they were happy, they
were even engaged to be married, but he had died fifteen years ago, with her
father. Now there was Mark, but she still thought of him, every time she
stepped onto a ship, every time she boarded her ship, Voyager, she still
thought of Chakotay. As they slowed out of warp speed, she stepped onto the
bridge and ordered Harry Kim to hail the renegades, to hail Chakotay.
" Captain Chakotay, I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship
Voyager, I ask you to stand down, and give up your ship, surrender and no harm
will come to you or your crew." But then everything changed, they met Kes and
Neelix, Chakotay lost his ship, they almost lost Harry and B'Elanna, and they
were stranded seventy-five years from home. They were lost with two crews, two
captains, not so different. Not nearly strangers. In her ready room, Kathryn
stared at the wall, her back to the door. It beeped and someone walked in. She
turned to face the intruder…
"Kathryn… it's nice to see you again, I'm sorry for everything you know, for
the night so many years ago…" His black eyes bore into her soul, and she found
that in her heart she still pinned for him, and there he was. As if he was a
ghost, she reached up and touched his arm. He covered her hand with his, and
smiled. He knees felt weak, like they had so many years ago. She smiled back
and they began talking. They talked about Beverly, Jack, even Jean- Luc Picard,
her father, their new crew, and they emerged from her ready room, with a
solution. They were to be one crew, Starfleet, united till they returned home,
united so they could get home. Kathryn and Chakotay's eyes met. No one knew
they had met before, no one needed to know. But as they stared at each other,
Captain and First Officer, they both wondered how they were going to survive
the next seventy-five years as just colleagues, it would be fight they would
both loose.
As she stepped out into the blinding light of the sun, she looked around and
smiled. After seven years, after the Caretaker, Species 8472, the Borg, the
Kazon and every other species Voyager had encountered in the Delta Quadrant,
they were home. She looked at the crowd of reporters that swarmed her crew, and
she prepared to descend into the throng of story hungry people, waiting for
Kathryn Janeway, the Captain and leader of the crew. She looked for a familiar
face among the crowd, but she knew that he would not be there, he would be with
Seven. She felt her chest burning with anguish, and jealously. He was hers, he
had taken her heart and she knew that she had lost him. It was her fault her
was gone, and she hated herself for it.
He looked around, watching for Kathryn, hoping to see her. Seven held onto his
arm, much like Kathryn did, many times. He wished it was she, but he knew that
Kathryn had given up on him, he'd lost her, and he hated himself for it.
They talked for a bit, exchanged addresses, new jobs and other small talk after
the debriefings finished. They both knew it was over, they both knew they had
to move on. They shook hands as it began to rain. The drops helped to mask
Kathryn's tears, as she held tightly to Chakotay's hand. Neither wanted to let
go, and Seven watched as Chakotay drew Kathryn into an embrace and whispered to
her.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way…" he muttered as he kissed her forehead
" We had nothing to end Chakotay, you know that, I was too stubborn to express
how I feel…"
" It's not just you Kay…" She was startled at his use of her name. Kay. No one
had called her that in years, as a matter of fact, after Chakotay left
Starfleet; she stopped using that nickname. Everyone just called her Kathryn or
Kat. It was strange to hear his lips form that word.
"Kathryn?"
"Chakotay, what did you just call me?"
"Kay…"
Her hand moved across his cheek, and she moved to trace his tattoo, " Thank
you"
" For what?"
"For everything Chakotay, for everything." She looked over her shoulder, and
saw Seven of Nine waiting for Chakotay. " Go ahead, maybe she won't be so
stubborn as I was. Make sure you invite me to the wedding…" she smiled, the
tears falling down her cheeks. He tightened his grip on her hand that still
lingered on his chest.
"How could I marry someone when my heart is entirely bound to someone else?"
His eyes gazed into her own and he gently leaned down to kiss her…
"What about Seven?"
"She decide to pursue a relationship with the Doctor, I wasn't her 'type'".
Kathryn smiled as he kissed her; they attacked each other's lips, hungry to
taste each other after waiting seven years for first contact. Kathryn could
feel the flash bulbs of the reporters as they kissed, but she didn't care. The
man she had loved for what seemed like an eternity was finally hers. The rain
poured down as Chakotay held Kathryn in his arms. They both had found love, and
the woman warrior and her angry warrior had finally discovered the true meaning
of peace.
