A/N: So I (re)watched "Shattered" today and this little idea wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to make it into a one-shot. I love that episode, it's definitely up there in the shippy-stakes :) The title is from the song "I Wonder" (funnily enough) in Disney's Sleeping Beauty (I think that's the right one...)
Hope I did it justice and you enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
I Wonder
"Your faithful First Officer isn't going to let you die."
That simple sentence from Seska was enough to make Kathryn stop and think.
Think about all the little things she'd been noticing since he had inoculated her: the little smile he would shoot in her direction; the things he knew about her; the little touches and gestures that denoted easy familiarity.
The fact that out of everyone on the ship he had chosen to inoculate her to help him.
The latter she could dismiss as a practicality, she was the Captain of Voyager, it would make sense that he would come to her for help. But the simple fact that he was willing to bring her along with him, even though she wasn't his Captain, at least not yet, made her wonder.
Wonder what exactly their relationship had evolved into over the years.
The wondering morphed into full blown curiosity after Seska's comment about his faithfulness. He hadn't even wavered when Seska threatened to kill her; he had just put down his weapon.
Just like that.
"I'm your First Officer, it's my duty to protect you."
He'd said that to her earlier, in order to convince her that they had to work together to save the ship and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't glad that she had agreed. But the look in his eyes as he watched her being held hostage made her wonder if there was more than duty involved.
She also hadn't missed the flicker of jealousy in his eyes when they had encountered Chaotica in the Holodeck.
Something was up and she intended to find out what it was.
It took only a few moments for the situation with Seska to be defused and for everyone to disperse to their separate time frames. Once they had all gone she confronted him.
"Let's just say there are some boundaries we never cross."
A cryptic response if she ever heard one and his rueful smile as he said it made her think that maybe, maybe there was something there.
She certainly hoped so.
She left him in Engineering in order to return to the Bridge, her thoughts full of this man she barely knew, yet would come to know so well. For the first time since seeing Tuvok die she decided that perhaps Chakotay was right, it was better to leave things as they were. If they never got stranded, they wouldn't have become so close.
And that would have been a shame.