AN: This is a multi-chapter story based around "Resolutions." I'm taking HUGE liberties with the timeline, the plot, etc. though. Basically I'm changing all kinds of things about it, but that's the episode that inspired me to start this.

I own nothing from Star Trek and this story is just for entertainment purposes. It's not for profit and I'd really recommend not even taking it seriously. It's just something I'm doing for my enjoyment and, hopefully, for someone else's.

I'll give you a warning that there's a little smut in this chapter. I don't write much, and I don't get too detailed, but sometimes it happens. This is one of those times.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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He'd been in love with her since almost the first moment he'd seen her. He'd certainly been in love with her since the moment he'd let down his Maquis guard and come to know his Starfleet captain.

All the time spent on the ship, he'd dealt with the forced distance that she kept between them. He'd dealt with the erratic way that his body behaved any time they touched or drew near to each other. At night, alone in his quarters, he'd dealt with all the scenarios his mind had created for how they might cross that line that kept them separate as surely as any force field ever could.

She was his captain. She was in command of him in every way imaginable. She always had been, even if she wasn't fully aware of the scope of the control that she had over him.

He had learned to accept the fact that there would likely never be anything between them. What he wanted to happen between them would simply never happen.

But things had changed. They had changed so entirely in such a small amount of time that Chakotay couldn't figure out which of their many and varied lives felt more like a dream.

The one just in front of him, though, was the one that seemed to truly be too good to be true.

Chakotay waited as long as he could stand to wait for her to make any final protests that she might want to make, but they didn't come. He watched her face from above her as he entered her and she held his eyes with her own. As soon as her body detected its invader, her walls locked down around him and she closed her eyes to him.

It had been some time for both of them and his body was crying out for movement and haste while her muscles begged him for time to adjust to their new positions.

Her comfort meant a thousand times more to him than his own. He'd stop that instant and leave her body, no matter how impossible something like that felt at the moment, if she told him that's what she wanted him to do.

That wasn't what she wanted, though. She accepted his quiet apology, which Chakotay wrapped in a kiss for her, for any discomfort she might feel while her body adjusted to accept him. Slowly, he felt the tight hold her muscles had on him relax and she opened her eyes to him and rolled her hips as a silent invitation to him to move the way that he wanted.

Chakotay accepted her unspoken answer to a question that he never asked out loud, and he let her set the pace for their course.

It was the first time that they were ever together. Chakotay hoped it would be the first of many times, but he was sure that it would always be special to him. It was the first time that he saw Kathryn come completely undone in such a beautiful way—and it was him that she allowed to be her undoing.

Later, soaking in the very same bathtub with her that had started the whole thing, Chakotay held Kathryn's body against him and marveled at the small wonders of the world.

She leaned back against him, rooting into him a little, and turned her face to the side to rub it against his in an almost catlike manner.

"What?" She asked. Chakotay hummed at her to clarify. "What are you laughing at?"

"I wasn't laughing," he responded.

"You were," Kathryn quietly countered.

Chakotay took the bath sponge she was toying with and ran it over the front of her body once more as though he hadn't already washed her clean over half a dozen times in the short amount of time they'd been soaking there.

"I was just thinking about small wonders," Chakotay said.

"Small wonders?" Kathryn asked.

Chakotay hummed at her and kissed her damp neck. Wet tendrils of her hair stuck to his face and he smiled to himself again. He loved to see her with her hair down. It made her so much more human ad so much less captain.

Now the captain side of her was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know whether to thank the insect that got us grounded here, or the primate that broke that final barrier tonight," Chakotay explained.

He felt Kathryn tense and he responded by holding her until she relaxed again. She wasn't as comfortable as he was, yet, with the thought that they were really alone. Voyager was gone. They were the only humanoids on this planet, which they had named New Earth, and this was their new life together.

Chakotay was accepting it—even more so now—but Kathryn was still adjusting to the reality of it.

He was happy being grounded. She still wanted to fly. She'd come around to it, though. This was their life now and Chakotay vowed to himself that he'd do everything he could to make it a happy life for her—one that she'd enjoy until the end of her days, something Chakotay hoped would be a great number of years away.

"Live long and prosper," had been Tuvok's final words to them as Voyager left them behind under Kathryn's final command. Chakotay intended for them to do just that. He could be patient with Kathryn. He could have infinite patience for her if that's what she needed from him.

The virus that they had wouldn't hurt them as long as they remained within the protective atmosphere of the planet they were calling home. Kathryn hoped to find a cure for their virus, but the truth was that Chakotay already believed a cure would do them very little good. Voyager had left them. It had been gone for at least a week and it wouldn't be coming back this way. Voyager was headed for Earth—the real one—and it wasn't going to keep circling back to see if Kathryn had solved the mystery of the virus. They had a small craft, but even if they were to cure the virus, they wouldn't make it home in the small vessel. They would die of old age long before they got anywhere near the Earth that they'd once called home.

But Chakotay wasn't going to hurt Kathryn by destroying her dreams for her. She left family that she cared about on Earth and she dreamed of one day seeing them again. Chakotay wasn't going to snatch hope away from her. He never would—even if they were nearing a hundred years old and still living on this planet, he'd never tell her it was impossible that she'd ever see her family again. He'd let her hold onto whatever she needed in order to feel happy.

His family, really, was gone. He had no real reason to feel as drawn to Earth as Kathryn did. There or here, home was simply where he made it.

And now, home was where Kathryn was.

Chakotay kissed the side of Kathryn's face again as she relaxed into his arms once more.

"It's going to be morning soon," Chakotay said. "We should get some sleep if we're going to get anything done tomorrow."

"I have to check the traps tomorrow," Kathryn said. "I think I'm going to try something new in them. Maybe I'm not using the right ingredients to draw the insects."

Chakotay hummed at her. He didn't care about the bug hunt, but he'd pretend that he did. It made her happy to tinker all day with science and he wasn't going to take that away from her any more than he would take anything else away. So he pretended to be interested.

"Do you have some ideas for a better bait?" He asked.

"I have a few ideas," Kathryn said.

"You can try something new each day," Chakotay said.

"Or I could try something new in each trap," Kathryn offered.

Chakotay laughed.

"It's better to spread it out each day," he offered. "Then you give everything a fighting chance to draw something in."

He ran his fingers over her skin, feeling how soft she felt in the water. She hummed contentedly at the sensation and then she wrapped her hands around his.

"What will you do tomorrow?" She asked, toying with his fingers.

"I was thinking about building a bed," Chakotay said.

Kathryn laughed to herself.

"Building a bed? We've got beds," Kathryn said.

"Not one that's big enough for both of us to sleep in," Chakotay said.

"We were in the bed not long ago," Kathryn pointed out.

"Not side by side, we weren't," Chakotay challenged. Kathryn smiled at that. "I can connect the beds, though. I can change them a little. Make them into a bed that we can share. Unless, of course, you don't want to sleep with me."

Kathryn touched her cheek against his, leaning back on him.

"I think it would be nice," she said. "But—I think you ought to know that I can be an insatiable cuddler."

"I'm looking forward to it," Chakotay said.

"It might be more than you can handle," Kathryn teased.

"I believe I'm up for the challenge."

Kathryn moved her body, rubbing herself against him in the tub. She laughed, low in her throat.

"Are we still talking about the cuddling?" Kathryn asked.

"We will be," Chakotay said. "Just as soon as we take care of something else. Can we go inside? Have you soaked enough?"

Kathryn shifted around, turning as best she could in the tub to face Chakotay. When he'd built her the tub to make her happy, he had thought that he'd built it plenty big enough for her. Now, though, he was wishing that he'd made it a touch bigger. Of course, at the time he was building it, he'd never imagined they might be sharing it.

"I've never..." Kathryn hesitated a long moment, but Chakotay let her have her time to search for the words that she wanted. "I've never been with anyone under the stars, Chakotay."

It sounded like it was part statement and part question.

"It seems like it would be a bit too rustic for you," Chakotay said. "Like it would be getting a little too in touch with nature."

"I've already done a couple of things that I didn't think I'd ever do tonight," Kathryn said. "Maybe it's a night for trying new things. Having new adventures. Different kinds of adventures. I've never stayed up until dawn, either, because I spent all night being with someone every chance we got."

Chakotay swallowed. The way she was looking at him took his breath away. The night was bright and she was beautiful in the moonlight. She looked like she just stepped out of a dream—one of his greatest dreams—but she was as real as anyone ever had been.

"Dry off, Kathryn," Chakotay said. "I'll go get a couple of blankets. It's a night for adventures. New experiences. And I want to give you as many new experiences as I can."

Before he moved to help her out of the tub and free himself for the trip inside after blankets, Chakotay accepted the warm and passionate kiss that Kathryn offered him. Tonight they'd sleep out under the stars on a blanket—at least for as much sleep as they actually got. Tomorrow, he'd build them a bed that they could share together for all the nights to come.