"Kathryn are you ready?" Phoebe shouted, looking in the mirror one last time to fix her earrings.

"Aunt Kathryn we'll be late if we don't leave right now!" Naomi added.

"Ok, ok I'm coming," Kathryn muttered from the back bedroom.

The two turned as Kathryn entered, their mouths nearly dropping at the sight.

"You look amazing," Phoebe said.

She wore a floor-length spaghetti strapped dress. It was navy blue with a slightly daring neckline and a slit up the side. Her hair was past her shoulders and loosely curled, and her makeup was utterly flawless.

"Really? You think?" Kathryn said, using her hands to flatten the front of her dress.

"Without a doubt," Phoebe said.

"She's right Aunt Kathryn, I've never seen you look so pretty," Naomi said sweetly.

"Thank you, both of you," she said with a smile.

"Alright that's enough staring we have to go," Kathryn said walking towards the front door.

It was then that they noticed the that the back of the dress was just as daring as the front. It had a low cut and a few straps going crisscrossed. Naomi and Phoebe looked at each other with the same delightful smile and had the exact same thought.

'Just wait until Chakotay sees her,'

They giggled and followed her out the door.

Even from the outside, one could easily tell that this was the location of something rather extravagant. Upon entrance the three women found themselves standing on a large balcony overlooking the entire ballroom. The room was full of people talking and laughing. They walked forward to get a good look, and Phoebe walked down the marble staircase the instant the bar hit her line of vision. Naomi soon followed, recognizing a few of Voyager's former crew. Kathryn waited, but soon enough her eyes caught their intended target.

He was talking with Tom and B'Elanna when Naomi came running over to greet everyone with a smile and a hug. Naomi then tapped Chakotay's shoulder and pointed towards the balcony where Kathryn stood. She physically blushed, caught staring directly at him, but it was easy to see how he lit up watching her as she descended the staircase.

There was something else in his stare, an arrogance or overconfidence that hadn't been there the last time she saw him. She chose not to read too much into it, but something in the back of her mind told her it was odd.

Making her way to them, she stood before Chakotay with large, unblinking eyes. He moved in to kiss her on the cheek, feeling her blush grow hotter under his lips.

"It's nice to see you," she said shakily. She looked up at him, then remembered that she came over to greet others, she quickly turned.

"It's so nice to see all of you," she said to the group. She caught Tom staring at her dress, his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened. She wasn't the only one who noticed his shocked look. B'Elanna picked up on his awkward staring and elbowed him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of him and sending him into a coughing fit.

"Nice to see you too captain, you look…incredi….very nice tonight," he grunted, changing his compliment to something tamer before B'Elanna knocked his lights out.

B'Elanna smirked and shook her head.

"It's Admiral now, helmboy," she said to her husband.

"Actually, tonight it's just Kathryn, and thank you for the compliment Tom," she said.

"How's Miral?" she asked, purposefully avoiding looking at Chakotay.

"She's great. She's growing up so fast, and I can tell that she misses her Aunt Kathryn," B'Elanna said.

"I'll have to stop over sometime soon and visit her,"

"Definitely," Tom added.

Suddenly she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and then a whisper in her ear.

"I was hoping we'd get the chance to talk…alone," he said, his voice was deep and seductive.

The close contact sent shivers down her spine, but before she could reply, her sister ran up to her and pulled her aside.

"Excuse us," she said to Chakotay with a smile. He nodded, and the two women walked away.

"Kathryn, you'll never believe who I just ran into at the bar," Phoebe said.

"Who?"

"Mark," She blurted.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Kathryn asked in surprise.

"Apparently he knows the guest of honor and got an invitation. But that's not even the best part. He's been bugging the heck out of me trying to find you, he looks like a man on a mission. Also…his wife isn't here,"

"Why didn't his wife come?" Kathryn asked.

"I asked, and he said that she wasn't feeling well, but when I looked down, his wedding ring was off," Phoebe whispered.

"So why does he want to talk to me?" Kathryn asked, absorbing all of the information.

"I don't know, but Kathryn I've got a bad feeling about it. The last time I saw him act so jittery he proposed to you,"

"Alright calm down, I'm sure it's nothing. He probably just wants to say hello,"

"Or maybe he wants to say 'Hello, I'm sorry I ever thought you were dead and moved on, let's get back together'" Phoebe said, going into hysterics.

"You are being ridiculous. Mark is a highly intellectual man, he wouldn't act out of spontaneity,"

"Maybe it isn't spontaneous. I mean he's had a few years to think about how you two left off. Maybe he has regrets about finding someone else," Phoebe suggested.

"God, I hope that's not what's happening. I loved him, but an emphasis on the past tense. We've changed too much, so many things have happened,"

"Well it seems that you might have to tell him that," Phoebe said, over Kathryn's pointed at Mark who was across the room, and hadn't seen them yet.

Kathryn looked in that direction, but her eyes stumbled upon a full grin with dimples that made her knees almost buckle.

"Why don't you go talk to Mark, clear some things up," Phoebe said.

"Later. There's someone else I have to talk to first," Kathryn said half-mindedly.

As Kathryn walked away, Phoebe huffed.

"That's just great Kathryn, leave me in the dust for some gorgeous god-like…oh who am I kidding I'd do it too," she mumbled to herself.

Naomi walked over with a smile and they watched as Kathryn asked Chakotay to dance.

"They're cute together," Naomi said.

"I agree," Phoebe said.

"Do you think it'll work out?" she asked.

"I hope so, but you and I should maybe keep look out for the ex," Phoebe said.

"What ex?" N

"Mark, Kathryn's former fiancée,"

"He's here too?" Naomi asked, her face turning white as a sheet.

"Yeah and he's been looking for Kathryn, he wanted to talk to her about something important. I don't think his wife would appreciate them having that conversation though,"

Naomi nearly fainted. Kathryn neglected to mention the fact that Mark had gotten married.

"Phoebe…I think I need to tell you something," Naomi said, frightened of what was to come next.

"What is it? Are you ok?" Phoebe asked, noticing the girl's nervousness.

"I did something really stupid," Naomi confessed.

"Spill it kid,"

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Kathryn asked, as they gently swayed to the soft beat.

"I got your letter this morning. I wanted to ask you…Why now? Why not all those years ago?" he said. There was no anger in his voice, only curiosity and intrigue.

"Hold on…. What are you talking about? What letter?" Kathryn asked, confused.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," he said with a smirk.

She shook her head and ran through her mind their last conversation. She had no memory of sending him anything this morning.

"Dear Chakotay," he started, reciting from memory the words which had floated in his head for several hours.

"I've waited for these feelings to dim, for them to go away, but they only grow the longer we are on this ship. I try to tell you, not with words, never with words. A simple touch…"

She nearly fainted when he started reciting the letter which contained her deepest most secretive feelings for the man before her. She felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

"Enough! Where the hell did you read that? How?" he said, mortified and angry at the invasion of privacy.

"You sent it to me," he said innocently.

"No, I didn't. I'd never send that….it was personal. How dare you!" she backed away from him, and tried to keep her voice down as not to draw too much attention to them.

"Kathryn you sent it to me, I was addressed to me. What was I supposed to think?"

"I…I can't do this," she went to turn but was faced with Mark walking right in her direction smiling like a schoolboy.

"Shit," she said turning back to Chakotay and resuming their dance.

"What?" he asked.

"Mark. If you got your letter, then he must have gotten his. That's why he's acting so strange," she said under her breath.

"Wait, you're telling me that I wasn't the only one who got a letter?" he was slightly shocked and more than a little hurt.

"I'll explain later, but right now I need to do something, and I want you not to read too much into it, okay?" she said quickly.

"Okay, but…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Kathryn grabbed him by the collar and kissed him fiercely. She was hoping that it would get Mark to leave her alone. It worked, about ten seconds ago. There she was, still kissing him in a room full of people she worked with and not giving one flying fuck about it. Another ten seconds went by, twenty, thirty, and they were still lost in one another. Nothing else mattered, only him. Tongues dueled, and hands began to roam. They only pulled apart when they heard B'Elanna asking if anyone knew the Heimlich maneuver to help her husband. He started choking on his food the second he saw his former commanding officers. Harry slapped his back a few times and he was back to breathing, but most of the room had their eyes on the pair.

Chakotay pulled back first and looked deep into her eyes.

She couldn't believe she had just done that. 'How was that making things better?' she scolded herself. Now her heart was racing and she was absolutely beyond embarrassed. Everyone went back to what they were doing, but she still felt eyes on her.

"Kathryn…I…" he started.

"No, I should go. There are some people I need to speak with before I leave,"

"But you just got here, and I really think we should talk about this," Chakotay said.

"I have to go," she said as the tears began to fill her eyes.

She slipped outside, not noticing that her sister and Naomi were following her.

Phoebe looked to Naomi and told her to stay there while she went to talk to Kathryn.

"You ok?" Phoebe asked, gently placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"No…I'm not," Kathryn admitted through tears.

"What happened?"

"He…they both read them. Somehow, they read my letters. My most personal feelings….and they read them," She said.

"Then Mark was coming, and I freaked out, so I kissed him. I had never kissed him before, but I stupidly did just now and…I don't know what to do,"

"How the hell did they get those letters?" Kathryn asked to no one in particular.

"Actually, I can answer that one," Phoebe said, turning back to face Naomi.

Naomi looked at the two with a guilty half smile and walked forward.

"Let me start off by saying… I'm so sorry Aunt Kathryn. I thought that I was helping you. I never meant to hurt you,"

"What did you do?" Kathryn asked, taking her command position with her hands on her hips.

Naomi looked to Phoebe for help, but Phoebe gave her a look back that said 'You're on your own with this one kid,'

"I sent the letters," she blurted out.