Chakotay could hear footstep on the stairs and figured Ayala had forgotten something, he would come over if he needed him, so Chakotay decided to keep boxing.

As the footsteps drew nearer, he could tell that it was not Ayala. The steps were lighter and quick paced, probably Be'lanna, she must be in a good mood if she's taking the stairs like that. But then why would she come to see him so late, while he was working out, if she was okay?

He continued to box, trying to keep his eyes focused on the bag in front of him so he wasn't awkwardly staring at the person when they reached the top. He quickly darted his eyes over, and nearly missed the bag with his next punch.

There, scanning the upper floor, was Kathryn.

She stood with her hair in a high ponytail, she wore a sky blue workout shirt that fit to her curves perfectly. The black leggings she wore were also skin tight and hugged her well, the whole look made parts of his body react in ways other than what was considered appropriate for this situation.

She was stunning, all sweaty, tired, and out of uniform. She was Kathryn.

He looked up from the punching bag and their eyes locked.

She quickly broke eye contact, but he was already taking off his gloves and walking over.

'Oh god, oh god please don't notice how disheveled I look' She thought to herself as she began to put on her Captains persona. 'And for goodness sake when did he get so attractive?'

Since their first time seeing each other on the view screen there had been a certain tension between them. Like it or not they were both extremely attracted to one another, and their flirtatious behavior had only increased over the past year as Kathryn slowly let go of the idea that Mark was waiting for her back on Earth.

In general Chakotay could feel her starting to open up to him, she would make flirty comments to him, her hand rested on his shoulder a little longer than normal, and he often caught her staring when she thought he wasn't looking.

The past few months had been especially… Tense. He often found himself staring at her, be it her beautiful hair, her striking and elegant facial features, or her curvy figure, and when he got caught (which was more often than not these days) instead of quickly moving and doing something else, she would give him a certain look and continue with her actions, sometimes moving to even more distracting positions.

But this, seeing her like this, well he was going to have a hard time with subtlety tonight.

"Good evening Captain."

"Hello Commander, staying late tonight I see."

"Uh yes, I'm training Ayala in martial arts, boxing, and a few other combat styles, and since the program was set to keep running we stayed a bit later than usual."

She nodded, she should have guessed it would be him.

Chakotay filled the awkward silence that she left by asking "What brings you here? I haven't seen you in this program before."

She snapped out of it, realizing how disengaged she was acting.

"Oh, uh no, I don't use this one, I normally prefer rock climbing or skiing or something like that. I just, felt like coming here tonight."

He noticed the tension in her voice and the tight grip she had on her water bottle, she was slightly taken aback by his presence yes, but the lines under her eyes and her general tension told him that there was something more wrong.

"Yeah, I know how you feel, sometimes only a gym workout will do, even if it is in a twenty-first century holo-gym."

He gestured to a bench behind the punching bag, hoping she would follow, and was relieved when she did.

"I was wondering what century this design was from, leave it to Mr. Paris to create something unconventional." She replied.

He sat down and grabbed his water, poured some into his mouth, and then motioned for her to sit next to him.

She sat and drank some water too, then leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her head down, a very rare posture for the invincible Captain. Now he knew there was something wrong.

"Kathryn?"

She straightened up and looked at him, attention caught by his use of her name.

"Yes?"

"Kathryn what's wrong."

It wasn't a question, he knew there was something on her mind, and she cursed his ability to read her. She opened her mouth to protest that she was perfectly fine but he cut her off.

"No you're not fine, something is bothering you. What can I do to help?"

She sighed and gave a small laugh, wow she really is transparent to him.

"Nothing specific really, I'm just tired." She looked at him, expecting a response, but he just stared back at her, edging her to tell him more.

"Chakotay I'm okay, really. The incident with those stasis chambers and that manifestation of fear has just been on my mind." She looked down then.

"Kathryn I know that was hard, I know how much you hate not being in control of dangerous situations, especially when they involve the lives of your crew. But Harry and Be'lanna are fine, a bit shaken up yes, but they are okay." She stayed still.

"You did what you could and it was more than enough, you made the right decisions and without your understanding of fear, we never would have been successful."

Her eye twitched and her arms clenched for a millisecond when he mentioned her control of fear. That was the problem. She had to face fear, and face how she dealt with it.

He could tell she wasn't quite ready to face that demon, but she needed some form of release. He glanced up and noticed the punching bag swinging in front of them. Perfect.

"Hey, I have an idea."

She turned her head and watched him get up and walk over to where he had been when she walked up.

Chakotay knew that not being in control was hard, especially for her, and he knew full well how fear combined with the stress of dealing with unpleasant thoughts could make you feel.

"Have you ever tried boxing?"