After a warm, long, and cleaning shower, Kathryn had composed herself enough to be seen by her crew. She made her way to her ready room with a cup of coffee in hand and stopped just outside the turbolift when she saw the backside of Chakotay waiting by her doors.

"Commander?"

He turned around and smiled. "I was waiting for you and Tuvok." He nodded his head toward their chief security officer at his post.

Kathryn started to question him further, but decided she didn't want that in front of the rest of the bridge crew. "When you're ready then, Tuvok." She waited for his confirmation before she ushered Chakotay into her ready room; the doors couldn't close quickly enough. "What were you waiting for?"

"Me? Am I not allowed to be debriefed on what happened?"

"No, I didn't—That's not..." She stopped and groaned, quickly draining her coffee and immediately replicating another.

"You didn't want the see me." His voice was filled with firm finality and she closed her eyes.

"Chakotay..." She sighed and forced herself to open her eyes and look at them, her hands tightly clasping her mug of coffee close. "We can't—" Her door chimed and Kathryn felt her heart briefly jump into her throat before she composed herself. "Come in."

Tuvok entered and she sat on her couch, Chakotay sitting at the far end. Tuvok looked between them for a moment before offering a padd to her. "The Doctor identified the unknown compound concentrated around the cave." He paused and gave the padd a pointed look. "This is his report."

"Thank you. Is that all?"

Tuvok nodded and Kathryn quickly excused him, her eyes already hurriedly scanning the information. The doors barely closed behind Tuvok before she dropped the padd and threw her head back.

"Damn it!"

Chakotay silently stood and grabbed the padd from her lap, remaining standing while he read over it. "Oh."

"Pheromones? Seriously? Those aliens have a-a sex cave, and we happened to stumble upon it?!" She covered her face with her hands and groaned.

"A sex cave?" His voice was filled with amusement and she lifted her head to glare.

"You think this is funny?"

He shrugged. "A little."

"No, it's not! What we did down there..." She fell silent and leaned her head back again, completely at a loss for words.

Chakotay remained quiet for a few moments. "If it was that bad, Kathryn, we'll agree to forget it and move on."

"It's not that it was bad!" The words flew from her mouth before she could think about stopping them and she cringed. "It's that I wanted it outside of those pheromones. That I've thought about it before and I'm still thinking about it!" She looked at him, her eyes wide with her admission and her desperation to take it back.

"Then why haven't you done anything?" His words were slow, each one obviously chosen carefully.

"Because I can't. We can't." She stood up to be closer to eye level, her coffee abandoned and forgotten beside where she sat. "We have a ship to run, Chakotay, and nothing can get in the way of that."

"Why are you so convinced this would affect your ability to be a captain?" She started to respond, but he tossed the padd to the couch and held up his hand. "No, wait. These feelings aren't new for either of us. And they've done nothing to impact you as a captain or me as your first officer. So, why would admitting them cause that?"

She bit her lip and looked down, analyzing their spotless boots for several moments before she could look up. "Because I'm afraid," she finally admitted.

"Then let me help. We can take it slow, adjust and see what happens." His voice softened and he stepped closer until he could rest his hand on her shoulder. "We have 70 years."

"Are you sure." Her voice softened more than his until it was barely audible.

"I'm sure, Kathryn. Anything to give us a shot." He watched her, judging her reaction before he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.

With the memory of earlier imbedded in her mind, she deepened the kiss and slowly wrapped her arms around him. He smiled and returned the kiss with as much as she gave, his hand moving from her shoulder to her waist.

"Is that a yes?" He asked quietly, their lips brushing.

"Yes." She offered a small smile and kissed him again. "Yes, it is."

"Then what do you say we try things of our own accord?" A small grin crossed his lips and she couldn't help her quiet laugh.

"Here?"

His grin only widened, only to disappear as she tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him, erasing every question of her intentions from his mind.