Fairwell Past
Maybe banging her head against a bulkhead would help Kathryn understand why the hell Chakotay did what he did. Right now she wanted to embarrass him as much as he did her earlier on tonight, to make him grovel to her door and beg her forgiveness. Sure, it sounded a little sadistic, but damn the man, he made her want to kill him.
As if on cue the door to her quarters chimed. Kathryn sighed heavily, taking her feet off the coffee table and placing her book on its surface. Standing up, she called for the computer to allow entry to her late-night caller.
"You took your time." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Chakotay smiled shyly and tugged at his earlobe. "I know." His smile faded. "I figured you'd want some time alone. You were pretty upset when you left, and I guessed you had some thinking to do."
"It's a shame that you didn't do the thinking before your little stunt earlier on."
He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry about that."
"Is that all you can say?" Kathryn uncrossed her arms and moved closer to him. "You punched Michael!"
As much as he tried, Chakotay failed to suppress the grin that spread across his face, bringing his dimples into full view. "It's not like I hurt him, Kathryn, he's a hologram."
"That's irrelevant, and you know it." She turned around to face the stars that streaked past her window. "Look, I know Michael is not real, but he's real to me. And then when you and I ..." she faded off, sweet and tender memories of a few nights previously flooding her mind. "I just wanted to be the one to tell him, that's all."
"And you did." Chakotay moved closer to her. "Do you regret what happened between us?"
Kathryn felt his strong arms wrap around her, and she leaned into his embrace. "Not for a second, and you know that."
"Then what?" Chakotay placed a kiss on top of her head. "It's not like I marched into his bar and attacked him, Kathryn. I followed you to Fair Haven because I wanted to make sure he took the news well."
"Liar." She poked him with her finger.
"Ok, I wanted to make sure that you were safe. I even waited out of sight at one of the back tables. It wasn't like I was sat there pulling faces and taunting him."
"Fine, fine," Kathryn conceded.
"And you saw what happened when he realised you were leaving him for me. One minute he's sat down calmly talking with you, the next he's turning over tables and launching himself at me. My reaction was self defence!"
"I believe you," Kathryn assured him.
"Then why did you call me a moron and walk out?"
Kathryn sighed, turning around to cuddle up to Chakotay. "I felt embarrassed. Half of Fair Haven saw what happened, as well as a good portion of the crew. And ... I guess I'm just disappointed that this is the end of 'our little secret'," she realized.
"Don't be," Chakotay whispered, nudging her gently with his shoulder to encourage her to raise her head. She did. "Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret on a ship this small? We'd have been to busy hiding this from the crew to enjoy it ourselves."
"I know, I know," she reluctantly agreed. "I'm still angry with you for beating up my ex though," she pouted playfully.
Chakotay smiled sweetly at her. "I think I know how to make that up to you," he offered, leaning down to close the distance between his lips and hers ...
