A/N: I hope you enjoy. Thank you for reading!

Janeway walked onto the bridge the next morning and took her seat. The bridge crew which had been lively with talk quickly quieted. Chatter had escalated since Seska's reappearance and she frowned to silently reprimand the crew.

It was none too soon as Chakotay walked off the lift and nodded to everyone. "Good morning," he said. Taking his place beside the captain, he whispered, "Ready?"

She nodded and rose. "Mr. Kim, hail the Kazon ship."

Harry hailed the Kazon vessel. "Channel open, Captain."

"Kazon vessel, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway…"

"Yes, yes, I know who you are." Cullah's face appeared on screen. "How have you been, Captain?"

"In full command of my ship, Cullah."

Cullah frowned at her reference to his failed takeover of Voyager several months back. "For now."

"Forever."

"We'll see. I hear you are quite susceptible to some of our native insects here in the Delta Quadrant. Perhaps you would like another extended vacation? I would be happy to give it to you."

Chakotay rose. "Don't threaten her."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the runaway father to be."

Chakotay clenched his fists. "I am no runaway, Cullah. I've only known of this child's existence since yesterday. Had I known earlier, Seska would have never left this ship."

Cullah laughed. "You were bleeding out from a phaser wound, Commander. You couldn't do anything then and you are still just as useless."

"We'll see about that. If this is my child, nothing will stop me from claiming it."

Cullah chuckled. "This is your child, however, I regret to inform you that Seska has rescinded her invitation to you to be my son's father. He will be raised by me as the son of a great Mage."

Chakotay lunged over the helm at the screen. "Never!" he shouted. "You will never lay a finger on my son!"

Janeway grabbed one arm as Tom grabbed the other. Together, they drew him back to his seat to try and calm him down but Chakotay fought and pushed them both away as he pointed back. "You will never get to see my son much less touch him! That's a promise, Cullah. Where is she? Where is Seska?"

"Captain!" The view screen went dark as Tuvok yelled and drew his phaser. A form began to materialize on the bridge.

"Wait!" Janeway watched as Seska fully appeared. Shaking her head, she said, "Well, I see you've introduced the Kazon to our transporter technology."

Seska looked at Chakotay and patted her stomach. "I share a lot of things."

"Obviously," Tom said.

As Seska walked over, Chakotay nodded at her abdomen. "Is that my child?" he asked.

Seska raised a finger to try and touch his cheek. He caught it and held it firmly in his grip. "Is that my child?" he repeated.

"What do you think?" she said.

"I think we need to see the Doctor and have the appropriate test run," Janeway said. "If this is the Commander's child, you would have no objection to proving it, would you, Seska?"

Seska gave her a large smile. "It kills you, doesn't it, Captain? The fact that I am carrying his child and you, well, you will never have that honor, will you? I will forever be the mother of his son and you will always be nothing. Not even worthy enough to carry his baby."

The words seared her heart as she remembered the child she had just lost. The child she would still be carrying if things had been different. Janeway swallowed hard and said, "You don't even know what you are talking about, Seska."

"Oh? Are you with child now too? I know the two of you just spent an awful lot of time together on that deserted planet." Seska glanced at Chakotay who dropped her hand. "Did she finally give in, Chakotay? Is my child going to have a sibling so close in age?"

Janeway crossed her arms to avoid attacking her. "Nothing that happened between the Commander and I on that planet is any of your business and it will not be discussed here."

Seska glanced at Janeway's middle. "That's not a denial."

"And you have yet to deliver any proof on your end," Janeway shot back.

Chakotay grabbed Seska's arm. "We're going to sickbay, now."

"Careful, Chakotay. I am in a delicate condition after all." Looking back to the captain, she added, "Shall we have our prenatal visits together?"

Janeway turned to Tuvok. "Mr. Tuvok, escort this woman to sickbay. Do not leave her alone while she is aboard this ship. Report the Doctor's findings to me as soon as they are available."

"Aye, Captain." Tuvok stepped down from his station and took Seska's free arm. Together, he and Chakotay walked her to the lift.

Before the doors closed, Seska called, "A pleasure to be back on board, Captain." Turning to Chakotay, she said, "And an honor to be the mother of your first child."

Chakotay almost dragged Seska into the medical bay where the Doctor was waiting. "You don't have to be so rough!" she said. "I am carrying your son!"

"We'll see about that," Chakotay said.

"Ah," the Doctor said. "I see our patient has arrived. Your Cardassian features have filled in nicely, Seska. I did an excellent DNA regeneration if I do say so myself." As she glared, he quickly added, "But that's not the DNA we are here about, is it?"

"How fast can you tell me if her child is mine?" Chakotay said.

"Only a few minutes. Just a tricorder scan and we'll be able to know instantaneously." The Doctor walked to grab one. "We've been busy these past few months, haven't we, Commander?"

Chakotay frowned as Seska grinned and said, "Well, well, confirmation of what I suspected. All those denials about you and the Captain not being intimate. It was all a lie, wasn't it, Chakotay?"

She brushed a hand across his chin and he pulled back. Patting her stomach, she said, "The Captain's not showing yet so I'll be first to deliver. And it is a son so he will be your most honored child."

Tuvok watched quietly as Chakotay placed a hand around her neck. She choked as he squeezed the breath out of her and said, "Are you sure about that? If I kill you…"

The Doctor returned and said, "Now, now, this is a place of healing. And I must advise you Commander that I can have Seska resuscitated in a matter of moments. I suggest you pick a more private place and no witnesses next time you try to commit murder."

Chakotay released her and she stepped back. She ran her hands over the fingerprints on her neck and caught her breath. She allowed the Doctor to place her on a bio bed and leaned back at his direction. He waved the tricorder and studied the results. "Hmmm," he said.

"Well," Chakotay said. "Is it my child or not?"

"According to this, yes. You are the father of Seska's child."

Seska sat up. "As I said, I will be the mother of your first child, Chakotay."

Chakotay tempered his intense disappointment and rage. Disappointment in himself for allowing this to happen and rage at the situation he would now have to deal with for the rest of his and his son's life.

"But I do need to do one final definitive test to be certain," the Doctor said.

"Why?" Seska said. "You already have the results. The child is his."

"The child appears to read as his, yes. But an actual DNA extraction will be the definitive answer that will conclude paternity beyond any reasonable doubt."

"Extraction?" Seska said. "You will extract nothing from my child."

"This is now our child," Chakotay said. "And I demand the test."

Seska swung her legs over the bio bed. "Well, I don't! You have your answer. You will not harm my child to try and discredit a truth that has already been confirmed."

"I assure you the test is perfectly safe," the Doctor said. "We will need a small sample of the child's cells and then…"

"And then nothing!" Seska slid from the bed as Chakotay closed in. Slapping her Kazon communicator, she called, "Cullah, beam me back now."

Chakotay reached to stop her but Seska remained where she was. He exchanged glances with Tuvok as she yelled, "Cullah! Cullah, do you read me?"

Chakotay smiled and stepped back as Tuvok clasped his hands and said, "I regret to inform you that Voyager has been in the midst of ongoing repair work. Damage from when this ship was hijacked and stolen has yet to be repaired from an incident that I believe you may remember. Our communications system must be temporarily down."

The sickbay doors slid open as Seska screamed, "You Vulcan liar! More like your shields are up. You are keeping me here against my will! I demand to return to my ship!"

Captain Janeway joined them and said, "Funny, I had the same request a few months ago. You didn't grant it then and now, yes, you are being kept against your will. Most former crew members who have demonstrated treason against my ship are held for trial. You were very foolish to come back here."

"Trial? I demand to be sent back to my ship. Now!"

"That's not happening," Janeway said. "You will be kept here until we have a proper trial aboard this ship. You will be monitored until the child is born and then confined to the brig or to the planet of your choice."

Seska huffed. "You already have me convicted, Captain? Why hold the trial at all?"

"Because I have morals and ethics unlike you. I am also humane in treating my detainees even when I don't personally think they're worthy of it. And I uphold the oaths I swore to unlike some other people in this room."

"Do you include Chakotay in that, Captain? He also swore to uphold an oath that he broke. Why don't you just send the two of us back to the planet you abandoned? It will save you the trouble of keeping me and going through the farce of your ridiculous trial."

Janeway caught her breath. That deserted planet had become her and Chakotay's private place. It was their home where she had first shared with him deep intimacies and conceived their child. She decided it would be a very cold day before Seska slept in her cabin with him.

Steadying her emotions, she said, "Why, leaving Cullah so soon, Seska? I'm sure he'll be very disappointed although not surprised. It's an intriguing proposition. You'd be a long way from ever being able to make trouble in this quadrant again. It's tempting. But why don't we ask the Commander if he wants to spend the rest of his life with you there?"

Chakotay listened to the conversation between the two women and considered what Seska had just proposed. However disingenuous she meant to be, what she proposed made sense. It was the perfect solution to the problem he had created despite a lifetime sentence away from the one woman he truly wanted and loved. Even if Seska hadn't meant it, it was the right decision to make and he knew it. Clearing his throat, he said, "I'll return with Seska and the child to the planet, Captain."

Janeway's mouth dropped. "What? Cha-Commander?"

Seska grinned and moved to wrap her arms around his neck. "I knew you'd pick me, Chakotay. You always did."

Kathryn's heart burned as Seska clung to him. She watched as Chakotay pushed her away. "We'll talk about this privately, Commander."

Chakotay shook his head before saying, "No, we won't. This is the right thing to do. I have to take care of my son. He'll be safe on that planet and I can raise him without much interference from her." He looked at Seska and added, "No witnesses."

Seska circled a finger behind his ear and whispered, "We'll talk." She looked over at the captain and said, "Alone with him, together, on a deserted planet. I'm afraid you'll have to raise your child on your own, Captain." Patting her stomach, she said, "This will be the first of many sons for us. We'll have a whole tribe to populate our new home with and, one day, we will rule the Delta quadrant."

"You are insane," the Doctor said. Glancing at Janeway, he added, "And that is a professional medical opinion."

Janeway couldn't speak as she listened to Seska's plans. She turned away from her and said to the Doctor, "You're confident this is Chakotay's child?"

"I need to do an actual DNA extraction from the child to be absolutely certain but the tricorder is showing the Commander's DNA in the child's bioscan."

"Can that scan be altered?"

"Yes. By many methods, none of which I would support any potential parent using if they were planning to keep their child safe until it was born. That's why I need the other test to actually look at the child's cells."

"Understood. How long until you can perform the other test?"

"I can do it now. I can aspirate the child's cells in-utero but it is an invasive technique, Captain."

"Do it."

"Captain, I cannot perform that test without the patient's, in this case Seska's, explicit permission."

Janeway rubbed her forehead. "Then I have no choice but to let her leave the ship?"

"Or keep her confined until the trial you intend on putting her through."

"How long until she delivers?"

"I would estimate she will give birth in approximately two months."

"I don't think I have that kind of time with the due process regulations. "

"Oh, Captain, I'm so sorry to interrupt."

Janeway turned to Seska who still hung on Chakotay's arm. Janeway watched him gaze at Seska's unborn child and a pang of sadness stabbed at her. "What do you want?"

"I request permission to stay with Chakotay until this trial. After all, I am innocent until proven guilty, am I not? And since he obviously has no interest in keeping you and your child warm at night…"

"That would be up to the Commander," Janeway said. "Clearly, I am not in the habit of assigning my crew's sleeping assignments."

Seska smiled sweetly and laid her hand over her child. "Clearly. Did you hear that, Chakotay? She still refers to you as her crew."

He pulled away and said, "I am a member of her crew. Turning to Janeway, he said, "Seska will be assigned her own quarters."

Janeway couldn't help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction but she remained unemotional. "As you wish. Tuvok, once the Doctor has cleared Seska, confine her to the brig."

"The brig?" Seska folded her arms. "You can't keep me in the brig. I'm with child."

"Well, I'm not aware of any regulations that exempt pregnant crew members from appropriate disciplinary action. If the Doctor clears you from sickbay, you will be taken into custody and live like any other Starfleet detainee."

"Starfleet," Seska sneered. "It's your blind devotion to that antiquated organization that got us all stranded here in the first place!"

"You can lodge a complaint when we get back to the Alpha Quadrant. Doctor, she's all yours. Commander, I want to see you in my ready room."

"Captain," Chakotay started."

Janeway stopped in front of him. "Now! That's an order, Commander."

He nodded and watched her march out the door on her way back to the bridge.

A few minutes later, Janeway paced in her ready room trying to calm her nerves. Emotions of sadness, disappointment, frustration, and blind jealousy all raced through her. She tried to calm her nerves by walking to the replicator and ordering a cup of coffee. Her tea cup trembled as she brought it back to her desk.

A check with Paris confirmed the Kazon ship had been tractored per her orders and so far had not posed a threat nor made any communication attempts at calling for help. Janeway had raised shields and brought the ship to yellow alert just to be safe. The crew was already on edge with their fresh memories of the Kazon takeover and the internal drama they were now dealing with didn't help.

Her door chimed and she called Chakotay in. He walked in with his head down and passed his normal chair by to climb the steps up to her sofa. Slowly, he sank down and ran his hands over his face.

Janeway watched his anguish for a few moments before saying, "You still don't know if that child is yours, Chakotay. The Doctor told me there were many methods that she could be using to fool a simple tricorder scan."

Chakotay sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Janeway walked over. "It does matter. This child could be Cullah's for all we know." She sat down next to him and put a hand on his knee. "Trust me when I say we'll find out. We'll end this for you."

Chakotay looked up and she saw incredible pain in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Kathryn. I am so sorry that she's putting you through this."

She patted his leg. "You're not responsible for her."

"Aren't I? I was the one who was enough of a fool to allow her aboard my ship. Her, Tuvok, Paris, not one person was really working for me and the Maquis. It was all a big joke. I'm a big joke now and there is an innocent child that has been created because of me and all of this. Whether I am his father biologically or not, he exists because of me."

"I don't to see any logic in that train of thought, Chakotay. Seska is responsible for her own actions. This isn't your fault so don't try and make it yours." She stopped and smiled. "I'm beginning to see how you feel when you constantly badger me about taking responsibility for the things I can't control. I guess I owe you an apology, Commander."

A faint smile crossed Chakotay's face. "Thanks. But you don't have to worry. I won't be around to badger you anymore."

Janeway leaned over and touched her fingers to his chin. "I am not stranding you on that planet with her."

His eyes met hers. "You have to. It's the best way. I can raise that boy…"

"You can raise him here. Aboard Voyager."

Chakotay shook his head. "Not with Seska. She'll be constantly trying to sabotage this ship. You can't keep her aboard. She's too dangerous. You know that."

"I'm not planning to. I'm sure Seska has about as much interest in raising this child as she did about being a Maquis. She wants something from us. And I'm sorry to tell you, I don't think it's you."

"What do you think she wants?"

"If she holds true to form, our technology."

He thought a moment and said, "You think they're planning to take Voyager again?"

"Cullah is sitting in our tractor beam without so much as a peep. What do you think?"

Chakotay rose from the sofa. "I think we're being surrounded by Kazon ships."

Janeway nodded. "Yes and why do you think Seska wants to backtrack and go back to that planet? I'll bet that planet isn't so deserted anymore. What do you think our odds are of even making it there?"

"I'll have Tom run a full sensor sweep back to our previous course."

As he began to leave, Janeway caught his arm and he pulled her to him. He looked down and she saw the love she had grown so used to seeing every day and night while they were away in his eyes. He leaned down and she let him capture her lips with his.

They kissed passionately until Chakotay pulled back and tried to run his fingers through her hair as he had often done. Her tight hairstyle wouldn't permit it so he pressed his forehead to hers instead. She closed her eyes and listened as he said, "You are the only mother of my child. You are the woman I love and you will always be my heart no matter where I am."