Is this Really Goodbye?
by Bratling
Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing in their sandbox.
Author's note: This is for the Secret Santa drabble exchange. My prompt was, "No one had ever kissed her like that before." and to have a happy ending. So it's a gift for KJaneway115.
No one had ever kissed her like that before. Hazily, her heart pounding, it occurred to her that it had been the last first kiss she would ever experience. Heat tore through her and she could tell that Chakotay was strongly affected as well. After what seemed like both an eternity and no time at all, she pulled back, breathing heavily.
"Wow," she said, her voice shaky. "I knew it would be like this."
"I dreamed it would be, but I gave up." Chakotay's voice was equally as shaky.
Kathryn closed her eyes, bowed her head, and swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Are you leaving with her?"
"I can't," his voice came out in a harsh whisper. "This was supposed to be goodbye, but it's not. It never could have been."
As she said it, she damned the honorable streak within her that would not embark upon anything resembling an affair. Because if Chakotay was committed elsewhere, that's all they could ever have. She deserved better. "Did you commit yourself to Seven?" she asked, hoping it wasn't so.
"No," he said softly. "I only promised to see her settled at her Aunt's house."
"After you keep that promise?"
"I'm coming to Indiana to find you." He leaned down and kissed her again.
Kathryn wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. This was the future she had worked so hard and sacrificed so much for. "I love you," she murmured as the kiss broke.
"I love you, too. Always have," he answered.
After 70,000 light years, home had been right in front of her all along.