"Mum, can I have another cookie?"

Ito, a young boy of only five years, sat quietly begging his mother for just one more treat before bed. Lina, his eight year old sister sat nearby, waiting for her own cookie, should Ito get lucky enough for their mother to agree. The partners in crime rarely separated, especially when sugar was involved. Sekaya shook her head no.

"Ito, you need to be going to bed. We have a big day tomorrow," she replied.

"Mum," Lina asked. "What's tomorrow?"

Sekaya gathered her children and shuffled toward their bedroom down the hallway. Guiding them into the room they shared, she switched on the nightlight and pulled the covers down on their side-by-side beds. She watched lovingly as her children climbed under the blankets and settled in.

"Tomorrow, Chakotay comes home," Sekaya replied.

"And he's getting married?" Ito asked, excitedly.

"Yes, Ito," Sekaya replied. "Tomorrow our family gains an Aunt."

"I'm so excited!" Lina cried. "The first wedding in our family."

"Yes, Enara will make a wonderful aunt," Sekaya sighed. "Now, you two need to go to sleep."

She bent and gingerly kissed each dark head before tucking their blankets tightly around their shoulders. She stood and walked toward the hallway. Turning back to them, she blew them each a kiss. She smiled at their giggles as she closed their bedroom door.

Chakotay had spent months with Sekaya, her husband Kono, and their children. But, he was always thinking of somewhere, or someone else. Chakotay had happily announced he was going back to Earth for a short time. He was gone only two weeks. He couldn't have even made it to the soil of the planet before immediately returning to the Dorvan system. He refused to discuss what happened, but she knew someone had crushed his spirit. The man she got back was a disheartened shell of her brother. Whatever happened to him was devastating.

Lina and Ito had been excited for nearly a week, ever since Chakotay announced he would marry a member of the tribe to become a council leader. As soon as he arrived back, he told her he would marry a tribe member and join the council to settle permanently on Dorvan. When she asked whom he would marry, he had shocked her with his answer; whomever his family chose for him. Arranged marriages were rarely practiced anymore. Of course, most men of the tribe married earlier than Chakotay had as well. But to ask his sister to choose his bride had been a shock to say the least. He had gently kissed her cheek and left her home to meet with the tribal elders. He left immediately for the sweat lodge in the valley and the purification ritual before marriage. That was five days ago.

Sekaya sat heavily down in the chair of her living area and stared out into the rainy night. Kono had been no help. He said to choose a woman for Chakotay was a dishonor and he would have no part in it, leaving the choice solely to Sekaya. Enara was a nice enough woman, and she had agreed to the arranged marriage. Older than Sekaya, Enara had been waiting for 'the right man' for years. Apparently, Chakotay and Enara had that in common. They both waited for love that didn't come. No one else would agree to the arranged marriage, so Sekaya had little choice. She knew her brother had loved someone once. She could see it in his eyes when he spoke of Voyager. She had strong suspicions of who it was, but he would never admit it. He always spoke carefully of his former captain. Sekaya may have been away from her brother for many years, but he was still not good at keeping secrets from her. Whatever had happened to Chakotay on Earth, she knew Janeway was involved.

A sharp knock at the door drew her attention from the fierce rain pelting her home. Kono was in bed, as were the children. Chakotay wasn't due back from the valley until tomorrow evening. She had no idea who her visitor could be. Pulling aside the heavy latch, her door opened to reveal a woman in a blue dress, dripping from the rain. Her red hair plastered to her face may have hidden her identity from some of the tribe, but Sekaya easily recognized Kathryn Janeway.

"What do you want?" Sekaya asked her.

"Are you Sekaya?" she replied, her teeth chattering slightly in the cold wind.

"Why are you here, Janeway?"

"For Ch.. Chakotay," Kathryn responded.

Sekaya tried to keep a stern face, but she couldn't ignore the blue tinge of Janeway's lips in the freezing downpour. She watched the older woman shiver for a few more heartbeats before rolling her eyes and dragging her inside the house. She retrieved towels from the hall closet and wrapped them around Janeway's trembling body.

"Thank you," Kathryn whispered.

Sekaya tersely nodded. She marched to the laundry closet beside the kitchen and pulled out a clean dress of her own. Tossing it to Janeway, she turned her back to give the woman a few moments to get into the dry garment. When she was done, Sekaya took the wet blue dress and tossed it over the clothesline strung above the doorway. She barely hid the disgusted twinge as she watched Janeway pin the Starfleet comm badge to Sekaya's dress.

"Now, why are you here?" Sekaya demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Can we sit?" Kathryn replied, gesturing toward the table and chairs.

Sekaya pulled out a chair for Janeway and remained standing, arms crossed, waiting for an answer.

"I think he needs my help," Kathryn said, sitting heavily in the chair.

"I think you've done enough."

"Did he tell you?"

Sekaya flopped into the chair at the table next to Janeway and didn't respond. She scratched at a crayon mark on it's dimpled surface, no doubt from Ito. He usually missed the paper. The older woman sighed.

"I saw him in a dream. I think it was a vision," Janeway finally said. "He was begging me for help."

"It's too late," Sekaya replied. "This is his fate. You can't hurt him again."

Janeway's eyes were huge as she heard Sekaya's words. She trembled again, but this had nothing to do with the cold or the rain.

"I said those exact words to him in the vision, Sekaya."

"Tell me what happened on Earth, Janeway. Answer my questions and I will try to answer yours."

Kathryn sighed as tears welled in her eyes. She stared at the ceiling as she tried to keep them at bay, but one slid silently down her cheek. She ignored it as she gathered the courage to tell Sekaya what happened between them.

"Chakotay asked me to marry him," she whispered after several seconds of silence. "And I said no."

"How does the dream fit in?"

Sekaya sat stunned as Janeway continued to describe the scene in her dream with vivid detail. The multiple versions of herself, angry with Chakotay as he sat tied to a beam with fire licking at him. She had said she couldn't control the dream in the beginning, but toward the end, when she had joined Chakotay on the burning platform, she had decided to be with him and the fire consumed them both.

"Sekaya, what's happening? I don't understand what I saw. But I know it was more than a dream. It was a cry for help. And I won't let him go again," Kathryn said emphatically.

"I want to believe you, Kathryn. I do. But I know my brother. He was devastated by your rejection. Why did you tell him no?"

Janeway sighed and scratched at the table top.

"I'd practically have to tell you our story from the beginning to explain that," she whispered.

Sekaya rose to the coffee maker on the counter. She turned the machine on to cycle and sat a mug in front of her own seat and Janeway's.

"We've got all night," she replied.