Title: Interlude at Dawn
Author: Megara79
Series: Star Trek: Voyager
Rating: K
Summary: A sister's observations...
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Thanks to: Vestal Virgin, kick ass beta!
The house is quiet, slumbering peacefully as dawn approaches.
Phoebe Janeway knows this house like the back of her hand. It's been in her family for generations, a member in its own right. She's 41 years old and though she's married with children, she still spends every summer here. Her sons play in the same tree house she and her sister did as children. They fish on the same dock. Have afternoon naps in new hammocks strung up between old trees. They tend the vegetable patch that has grown to include more 'fashionable' greens, like Bolian blue kale and some sort of inedible space root Kathryn has planted for sentimental reasons.
They sail on Lake George.
She soundlessly tiptoes down the stairs, mindful of the fourth step that always creaks if you place your foot a little too far from the middle. It's a traitorous step, seemingly innocent and just like the others, but it's landed her in hot water with her parents more than once during her teenage years and it's only now when her own boys are getting older that she's starting to appreciate it's predictability.
She reaches the first floor without incident and continues her silent wander towards the kitchen where the coffee – a Janeway necessity – awaits. She passes the living room, the twin doors slightly ajar. She hears soft snoring from the room and the rustling of someone turning in their sleeping bag. She smiles, warming from the inside with affection for the people who are camped out in her family's summer house and around the property.
It's been a year since this group of strangers burst through a crack in the sky and into her life. She thinks of her older sister and the unmitigated joy she felt when throwing her arms around Kathryn for the first time in seven years. How they both cried and how that joy is still a part of her.
But the last 12 months have had their challenges too.
The Kathryn who came back is not the same as the one who left and when the strain of command began to lift there was little to keep an analytical mind occupied. In the following months she consorted with ghosts and held court with her demons and for a hopeless while the only respite she allowed was the medical ministrations of a photonic doctor and the unrelenting presence of a mother who refused to be pushed aside.
Through it all, the steadfast support of the people she brought back with her has lingered and slowly but surely Kathryn yet again becomes the sister Phoebe remembers. Because of this Phoebe considers them family, and this is why she was the one who suggested Lake George as the venue for the crew's reunion.
The weekend's been loud, messy, and definitely worth it.
"Coffee, black," she murmurs to the replicator when she enters the kitchen. The coffee materialises, the aroma of the Brazilian blend she prefers wafting through the air. She wonders where Kathryn is. Her sister has an uncanny ability to magically appear wherever there's coffee, but the house remains silent and Phoebe gets to enjoy her beverage in solitude.
She walks, cup in hand, towards the utility room which lies adjacent to the kitchen. She puts on her rubber boots and grabs an old over-sized cardigan from one of the hooks on the wall. She wraps it around herself and buries her nose in the material, inhaling deeply. It used to belong to her father and Phoebe can still smell his scent on it even though it's been washed countless times since his passing.
Heading out to the back porch, she rests her cup on the banister before leaning against it, the weight of her body supported by her elbows. She watches the lake, which also seems to be slumbering, and delights in the company of another early riser, a songbird in the tree branches overhead. She can see the dock from where she's standing and the boathouse to her right. Several tents are propped up where Voyagers are camping in the field behind, and she hopes they're all as content as she is at this moment. To her left, gnarled oak trees obscure part of the view, but she can see the dawning sun filtering through the leaves and reflecting off the water, and she knows they're in for another beautiful day. A niggling thought diverts her attention back to the boathouse. Her grandfather's row boat is missing. She scans the lake in a brief moment of unease before the boat drifts into view from the left.
Hah! So that's the reason the scent of coffee didn't beckon Kathryn to come join her. Phoebe recognises her sister's chestnut hair on the person sitting at the bow. She takes in Kathryn's appearance, noticing with sisterly annoyance, that the white, knee-length dress is her own. Like Phoebe, Kathryn is also wearing rubber boots and a cardigan. Her hair, a little longer since her return, is tied in a ponytail, and she has her feet stretched out before her and a pillow behind her back.
A man sits on the thwart, oars resting in the water as the boat glides forward. Phoebe recognises him immediately and her curiosity is peaked. She hesitates for a short second. This feels a lot like spying. Maybe she should sneak back inside and give her sister and the man their privacy? Her resolve breaks when the man secures the oars to the gunwale and the faint sound of Kathryn's laughter bubbles through the air. Phoebe smiles at the sound and remains where she is, absent-mindedly swatting away a nosy mosquito.
He didn't arrive with the others, the man who makes her sister laugh. Kathryn has spoken about him sparingly since her return and yet to Phoebe, Kathryn's silence has told her everything she needs to know.
This is a man who lives within her sister's heart.
Phoebe has met him before, in the hectic weeks after Voyager's homecoming. Through it all, he remained a calm harbour in the midst of the storm. Wherever her sister went, he followed a few steps behind and to her left. He lent an ear when she needed it, steadied her with his very presence and shielded her from any work that didn't demand a captain's attention. Kathryn, in turn, fought for his pardon and reinstatement into Starfleet. She did the same for every Maquis, but her passion, even in the haze of her burgeoning depression, burned when she took the stand on his behalf. She calmed him with a touch on his arm, and she made him smile even when exhaustion almost overpowered them both. The two of them moved as one, their synchronicity unequivocal proof of their close relationship and yet at the end of every day he left with someone else.
When prodded, her sister quoted rules and regulations and told stories of a friendship that had never been anything but platonic.
Phoebe called them both idiots.
Last night he came to Lake George unannounced, a re-settlement project on his home planet initially taking precedence over Voyager's reunion. A cacophony of elated voices arose around the bonfire when the commander unexpectedly joined them. Phoebe automatically scanned the crowd for her sister. Even with her small stature, Kathryn was easy to find. She stood at the back, a glass of red wine in her hand, and watched her crew as they welcomed the first officer. If she was equally as surprised to see him as they were, it didn't show. Instead she exhaled deeply, a small smile grazing her features as her shoulders relaxed. It may have been a year since her return, but when the commander put his arms around Kathryn, it seemed to Phoebe that Kathryn was finally home.
That was yesterday.
Today they sail on Lake George.
His ill-fated relationship has long since ended, but like Kathryn he's had his own demons to battle. Back in the Alpha Quadrant he's again torn between his duty to Starfleet and the ruins of his homeworld, and yet upon his arrival it's clear that something has settled and the tide is turning. Phoebe sees in him the same contentment she's noticed in her sister over the past few months. Time, it seems, has given them both a reprieve.
Phoebe takes a sip of her coffee. In the time that's passed since she walked onto the porch, it's turned lukewarm. She blanches and tosses the remains into the bushes. The sun hangs a little higher in the sky and the bird overhead is no longer singing alone. Phoebe stretches and enjoys the oncoming warmth of the day. Her eyes stay with the pair on the boat. She watches Chakotay lean forward, offering Kathryn his hand. Even from afar, Phoebe can see her sister smile and she wonders what Chakotay's said to her. Whatever is is, Kathryn wraps her hand around his and allows herself to be pulled toward him. She settles on the thwart next to him and the dory gently bobs in the water at the movement. Kathryn's laughter floats through the air anew, and Chakotay's low rumble entwines with it. When Chakotay pushes a stray lock of hair behind Kathryn's ear, Pheobe smiles too.
And then she turns away.
She doesn't see how Chakotay captures Kathryn's face in his hands, thumbs gently stroking her cheekbones. She doesn't see how her sister curls her fingers in Chakotay's shirt, or how their first kiss lingers, whispering promises of things to come.
Phoebe doesn't need to see it.
She already knows.
Whereas Kathryn's gift has always been rooted in alacrity and command, Phoebe lingers and observes, and she's predicted this outcome since the first time she saw them together.
She heads back into the kitchen and goes to the stove to make coffee the old fashioned way. She can hear voices from the living room and the familiar sound of her eldest son running on the second floor. It's followed by a heavier set of footsteps and Phoebe chuckles. Tom Paris, no doubt.
By the time the coffee is finished and Phoebe has poured her second cup of the morning, the kitchen is full of people. Phoebe leans against the counter, cradling the cup in her hands when her sister and the commander join them. A breakfast plate is shoved in Chakotay's hands and he takes the one offered to Kathryn too, as she gestures towards Phoebe. They smile at each other as he sits, and Kathryn heads towards the coffee. Phoebe has already finished pouring her a mug when Kathryn reaches her. She hands it to Kathryn and hugs her sister to her side, her left arm around Kathryn's waist.
"Good morning," Phoebe whispers in Kathryn's ear.
"Good morning to you, too," Kathryn whispers back, and Phoebe hugs her sister even closer.
The two of them observe the activity in the room in comfortable silence. More and more Voyagers walk in, greetings are shared, coffee is poured and bacon fried. Phoebe's boys run trough the room, and unsurprisingly, Tom follows. Phoebe and Kathryn both snort as the trio darts through the back door with Tom yelling, "The last one into the lake is a rotten dungbeetle!"
"You're wearing my dress, you know," Phoebe says and sips her coffee.
"Am I?" Kathryn answers innocently, and Phoebe pinches her sister in the side. Kathryn yelps and Phoebe laughs out loud. From across the room Gretchen shushes at them, but there's no real reproach to her mothering.
"Are you happy, Kathryn?" Phoebe asks, blue eyes glittering as she looks from her mother and back at her sister. She finds that for the first time since Voyager's return, she isn't worried about the answer.
Kathryn pulls back a little, a smile blooming on her face as she takes in the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. Her eyes settle on Chakotay, who looks up, catching her in the act. A dimpled grin flashes back at her and Kathryn's smile broadens.
Turning back to Phoebe, she glows. "Yes."
Around them, the crew of Voyager stumble in and out of the kitchen. Family and friends enjoying their brief respite from everyday life and the fortunes a seven year detour have bestowed upon them. Another summer morning is well on its way.
And the house no longer slumbers.
The End