Following the rest of the crew down the corridor, Kathryn walked slowly wincing slightly with every stride. Now that the Hirogens had safely left, she had less to distract her from the phaser wound on her thigh and it was beginning to throb painfully. She didn't know he was just behind her.
Chakotay leaned in towards Kathryn and moved his mouth close enough to her ear so that only she could hear his voice. "You're limping."
"I am not," jumping slightly and noticeably straightening her posture.
"You are too, and stop it, you'll only make it worse."
Kathryn came to a halt suddenly and Chakotay collided with her softly as she turned to face him. "Stop what?"
"Trying to hide the fact you're injured. What happened?"
"Nothing, it's just a small phaser wound to the thigh," she waved and turned to set off down the corridor again.
Chakotay followed. "Have you been to see the doctor yet?"
"There wasn't time. I wasn't going to waste time while those damn Hirogens were roaming around on my ship."
"What about now?"
"There are repairs that need doing, we're in bad shape, Chakotay."
"I'm sure Voyager can spare you 5 minutes to go visit the doctor."
"I'll go in a bit."
"No you won't, I know you. You'll leave it until the last possible moment and you'll have to be carried to sickbay."
Kathryn threw a look over her shoulder that made Chakotay grin.
"Evidently you know me too well."
"So…"
"So it will still have to wait, there are things that are more important right now."
"What are you doing first?"
"Going to go and see what damage has been done to my quarters. I heard there was fighting in the corridor outside that spilled into some of the quarters, you might want to check yours."
"I will."
Kathryn let out a yelp as her foot caught on some rubble on the floor and her leg twisted. Grabbing Chakotay's outstretched arm to stop herself falling she managed to reclaim her balance.
With one arm around Kathryn's middle, and another holding her hand to keep her steady Chakotay spoke plainly. "Sickbay, Kathryn."
"We're almost at my quarters, I just need to learn to look where I'm going. After apparently surviving all those horrible simulations, it would be ironic if I was taken out by a piece of rubble." she said trying to brush it off with a joke.
Chakotay let Kathryn shake him off and kept half a step behind her as they made their way to her quarters.
"Damn." They'd rounded the corner and both of them could clearly see Kathryn's door had phaser burns across the front of it.
"It might just be the outside," Chakotay said trying to raise some confidence.
The door slid open on command and they stared stared into the room. It wasn't that bad, a few more phaser marks, an upturned chair, a broken…
"I only just fixed that replicator!"
Chakotay couldn't help but laugh, "You're always fiddling with that replicator, why don't you get someone to fix it for you?"
"I like fixing it myself, it reminds me of my time training to be a science officer."
"You think you'll be able to fix that?" Chakotay said absent-mindedly turning his attention to her door, checking for damage
Kathryn raised her eyebrow to Chakotay's back in reply. "I'm captain of a starship, if I can't fix a simple replicator, we're in trouble."
Chakotay decided the door was fine and turned back to face Kathryn. "It looks like the American soldiers tried to take refuge in here, but it's not too badly damaged."
Kathryn sighed and ran her hand across the broken replicator. "No, it could have been a lot worse."
"Will you come to see the doctor now?"
"I'm going to try and see what I can do to this replicator," she said grabbing the side and lowering herself to the floor somewhat awkwardly.
"Kathryn, this is stupid, you're obviously hurt."
"It's fine, the doctor will be busy enough with the influx of injured crewmen he'll be dealing with. I can wait."
"Fine," Chakotay said taking a step forwards, "Where is your medkit?"
"Pardon?"
"I know you have one around here somewhere."
"Why do you want it?"
"If you won't go to see the doctor, then someone's got to have a look at that leg."
"You're not medically trained."
"Well neither are you and you always seem to forget that."
"I'm busy anyway."
"I'll make you a deal. I'll let you try and fix the replicator," he said, earning a glare from Kathryn, "if you allow me to try and fix you."
Kathryn's eyes narrowed. "Nice try, Chakotay, but still no."
"I'm not taking no for an answer, I can just as easily get the doctor to abandon sickbay and make a home visit. It's either me or the doctor."
Kathryn bit her lip for a second before answering. "Fine, it's over there," she said pointing across the room.
"Thank you."
He retrieved the kit and sat down next to Kathryn on the floor where she had already removed the front of the replicator. "How are we going to do this?"
"Can you fetch me my hyperspanner," she replied, "and what do you mean?"
Chakotay stood up to get the spanner. "Well I've got to get that wound somehow, so either you take off your pants or I'll cut through the material."
Kathryn's eyes widened slightly, she hadn't thought about that. However much she wanted to choose the first option, she was still the Captain. "You can cut through the material, the pants are ruined anyway from the phaser."
Silently Chakotay passed her the hyperspanner and sat back down next to her. "I'll try to be gentle."
Kathryn didn't flinch as she felt his hands fall on her thigh. Everything about this man was gentle, he was so kind-hearted and soft; she felt safe under his touch.
Chakotay lifted and slowly cut away a section of her pants, as she tried to focus on the replicator parts in her hands and not his quick fingers making easy work of removing her clothes. They were silent as he peeled back the stained material and she quietly winced as it stuck a little to the wound.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry," Kathryn shook her head and focused even more intently on repairing the replicator.
The wound wasn't deep, but was obviously giving her pain. Chakotay took the dermal regenerator from beside him and held it up against Kathryn's thigh. He felt her straighten as he placed his hand on her leg.
Kathryn felt his fingertips brush the inside of her thigh and she felt herself stiffen automatically; something Chakotay noticed too. She felt the familiar tingling feeling of the dermal regenerator across her leg as he moved it slowly up and down. She let her hands fall from where she was fiddling with a bundle of wires and she lowered her eyes to Chakotay.
"Gung ho?"
"Huh?"
Kathryn smiled, "In the Jefferies tube, you said I was a 'gung ho kind of gal'."
"I did?" Chakotay answered continuing to tend to Kathryn's leg.
"Well I suppose you don't remember."
"What was I like?"
"As an American soldier?"
"Yeah."
Hot, sexy, completely irresistible…"Brave, protective, a little 'gung ho' yourself."
Chakotay grinned, "Sounds like a pretty good combination?"
"Did I mention the bad breath, funny walk, that weird little…ow!"
"Oops, sorry."
"No you're not, you did that on purpose," Kathryn said, eyes narrowed.
"There, finished," Chakotay smirked, removing his hand from her skin. It was scary how suddenly cold she felt, and her reply was quieter than she intended.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
There was a moment of silence before Chakotay spoke. "What else did I say?"
"As the American Soldier?"
"Yeah."
"Nothing really, we were busy trying to find a way to outwit the Hirogens."
"I had all those good qualities you listed and I didn't say one thing that was at least slightly charming?" Chakotay raised an eyebrow.
"Well, not that it matters because it wasn't real, but you said I was different to the girls back home."
"That's more like it," Chakotay grinned.
"I thought it was a little cheesy actually."
"I prefer enchanting,"
"Clichéd."
"Not even a little attractive?"
Well… "…Fishing for compliments?"
"Am I going to get any?"
"Did you not hear the 'brave, protective…',"
"Doesn't count, that wasn't me."
"Then you can carry on fishing," Kathryn smirked.
Chakotay sucked in some air and made his way to his feet shaking his head, "Harsh, Kathryn. You've cut me deep."
She could see the teasing in his eyes, but she enjoyed these little conversations. It was a game, each of them daring the other to go that little bit further.
"Going?"
"I've got things to do, now that your better. Although I still think you should go and see the doctor, I'm not going to proclaim to be the Delta Quadrant's finest physician."
"I might," she replied, both of them knowing that she wouldn't.
He reached the door, and turned back before leaving. "Oh and you can tell me I'm cheesy or clichéd if you want, but I stand by what I said. You're definitely different to the girls back home."
Kathryn went to say something in return but he'd already disappeared.