Disclaimer: The characters belong to Paramount.
Dedication: Without a doubt, Abby, who should probably get a co-author's credit too.
I am aware I've taken a few liberties with the level of Treknology, but the poor soul coughAbbycough this happened to is still in the 21st Century. g Thanks also to Jade for a quick, secret beta and the title.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kathryn walked into the house the same way she did every day. Five steps in through the door, pick up waiting coffee from Chakotay's hand, kick boots off and dump PADDs onto the table. Then she dropped wearily into the comfy chair in front of the open fire Chakotay insisted on having, groaning as she settled back against the soft cushions. Without a word, Chakotay moved over behind the chair and started massaging her shoulders, working the knots out. She sighed gratefully and melted into his touch.
"Bad day?" he asked softly.
"You could say that - oh, that feels good," she murmured.
"Care to tell me?" he asked.
She took a sip of coffee and nodded slightly. "I wasn't due at the Academy until ten, so you'd already left by the time I was ready to go, as you know. I was over at San Fransisco campus and had a whole bunch of additional material I had to take over for the lecture, so I needed the groundcar to get it all there." She punctuated the sentence with a moan as Chakotay worked on a particularly sore spot.
"So what happened?" Chakotay asked, when the moans subsided again.
"You know I asked you to get B'Elanna to have a look at the locks on it?"
Chakotay winced as he realised where this was heading.
"You didn't, did you?"
"I must have forgotten," he admitted frankly.
"I think you did. Over to the left a little... ohhh, that's better. Well, I got into the 'car, dumped the last of my PADD's onto the second seat, locked it automatically and started the engine. Then I realised that I needed to wipe the condensation off the windscreen, so I opened the door, forgetting that the 'car didn't unlock because the central locking is stuck, and shut the door without thinking about it." She paused, taking a deep drink from her coffeemug. "So I was locked out of the 'car, because I'd left the keys in the ignition."
"There's a spare key in here, though," Chakotay said, pausing in his ministrations for a moment to retrieve a second mug of steaming coffee from the replicator.
"Thanks," she said, taking it from him. "Yes, there is. But my house keys were attached to my 'car keys. Which were locked in the 'car."
"Ah."
"I told you we should have had a standard access code panel, but, no, we had to be traditional..." She shook her head. "So I was locked out of the house. And of the car. And all my stuff for my lectures were locked in the car, so I couldn't even hike the five miles to the public transporter station. Up a bit, please... thanks."
"So what did you do?"
"The only thing I could think of -- popped over to the Smiths' and borrowed our spare key off them. Lucy is away but thankfully her husband was in -- though none too pleased to be woken as he works nights."
"I'm sure he didn't mind too much. They're a nice couple." He grinned. "And it's not like you make a habit of it."
"So," Kathryn said, choosing to ignore his last comment, "I let myself into the house and grabbed the spare 'car keys. Unfortunately, whatever I had done had completely frozen the locking, and I couldn't open it. I was nearly beside myself by this point, as I was going to be late if I didn't get this sorted soon. I couldn't get into the car to get my materials out, so I couldn't even borrow the Smiths' and get to the Academy that way." She sighed heavily. "So I went in to call the GRC, put the spare housekey down by the viewscreen, but just as I was activating it I remembered that there is an override on the central locking, so that the driverside door can be opened with just the ignition key."
"I could have told you that," Chakotay commented.
She shot him a deathglare over her shoulder. "If you'd got B'Elanna to fix it in the first place..."
He held his hands up in surrender. "All my fault," he said cheerily, sitting down on the sofa across from her. "So what happened then?"
"Well," she continued, "I ran out of the house, slamming the door shut behind me..."
"...and your spare housekeys were still by the viewscreen?" Chakotay finished with a smirk.
"Yes. The front door locks automatically, and my normal set were still locked in the 'car," she finished with a sigh.
"How... vexing," Chakotay said.
She looked as if she was about to snap his head off, but then she sank back and laughed. "I was thinking something along the same lines. Luckily, I managed to open the 'car door with the key, and got my house keys. And everything was alright." She smiled to herself, then admitted with a sigh, "But I did attach the spare house key to my necklace in case I did anything else stupid..."
Chakotay smiled sympathetically. "Sounds like a bad start to the day indeed. Do you need me to kiss it better?" he asked.
"I'm not going to refuse..."
The fire was smouldering in the fireplace, and the lights were dim. Chakotay was curled up on the sofa, a semi-naked Kathryn in his arms. He smiled contentedly down at her and ran his finger down her cheek, causing her eyes to flutter open.
"We should probably go to bed, you know," he said quietly.
"What can we do here that we can't there?" she said, kissing him.
"Sleep in a comfortable position, for one thing. It's gone midnight already."
She rolled reluctantly off the sofa and onto the floor, pulling the comfortable afghan around her shoulders. "Mmm, I suppose."
Chakotay stood too, and put an arm around her shoulders, guiding her tired footsteps into the bedroom and tucking her into bed. He lent over to kiss her goodnight then switched off the light.
"Chakotay?"
"Hmm?"
"If this is the result, I think I'm going to lock my keys in the groundcar again tomorrow..."
END