The first half his shift had been uneventful so far but Chakotay was glad as it allowed his mind to wonder back to the events of the past week. Finally something seemed to be going right for Voyager and he was thrilled that they had everything they needed now which meant all the crew could relax a little; including Kathryn. He actually grinned as he remembered her laughing at him when he nearly passed out as she actually agreed to shore leave: without arguing. He had just come back from his shore leave and marched into her ready room ready to argue his case, but quickly became to stunned to even speak when he saw the casual clothing and she turned and said Relax Chakotay I'm taking shore leave. It was at that point in time he had to grip the end of her desk and her laughter filled the room; You know you would think that I never take time off from the expression on your face…see you in a few of days commander. Again a huge grin fills his face as the memories fill his mind. His thoughts were interrupted, when a hail came through the bridge.

"Paris to Voyager, medical emergency" Tom snapped "Three to beam directly to sickbay." Immediately Chakotay's head snapped up, he quickly stood and made his way to the turbo lift;

"Tuvok you have the bridge…I will be in sickbay" Chakotay's comment was met with a nod as the turbo lift doors hissed shut. As the doors reopened Chakotay picked up his pace towards sickbay. As he rounded the corner, he saw Belanna sat with her head in her hands. Slowing to stop in front of her he placed on hand on her shoulder:

"Belanna" he spoke softly "…Belanna what happened…what's wrong?" She slowly pulled her gaze up to meet his. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "The Captain…she…she is hurt…real bad…heart stopped…cuts…bruises" She drew in a deep breath to try and calm her emotions "I don't know what happened, we…me and Tom…found her." The colour drained from Chakotay's face. He Grabbed hold of Belanna's arms and pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, It will be alright…Lets go back in and see what's happening" taking hold of her hand he led her back into sick bay. Belanna now had some control of her emotions, but felt anger beginning to boil up inside of her, someone had to have done this to her and she would find out who. Chakotay made Belanna sit on a bio bed and asked her if she was alright when she confirmed that she was he turned his attention to the bio bed, which was surrounded with activity.

Chakotay took a step forward so he could get a better look at Kathryn. What he saw made him grow even paler; if that was at all possible. He now understood why Belanna had been so affected. Her face alone was covered in bruises, cuts and was visibly swollen; her body wasn't in much better shape. She was deathly pale and he could still make out the tear tracks down her cheeks. She was covered in blood and he wouldn't even attempt to call what she was wearing clothing. She had only been gone for a few days, how could this happen? The image before him made him block out everything else surrounding him.

Half an hour had passed since Chakotay entered sickbay. During that time the doctor with the help of Tom Paris had finally had stabilised the Captain's condition. The doctor now had to explain to Commander Chakotay what the next steps will be.

"Commander, please come into my office." The doctor sat behind his desk and waited for the Commander to seat himself across from him.

"Doctor, is she going to be alright…what happened…what's wrong?"

"Commander, please calm down, I won't know exactly what is wrong or what happened until I get a more detailed scan." The doctor shifted in his seat "all I can tell you now is she is stable for the moment, but she needs surgery for the internal damage I have detected. After I have the information you will be the first to know. For now I need you and Miss Torres to leave sick bay until I have finished. I will call you as soon as I know anything." Chakotay took one last glace at the Captain and left sickbay followed by Belanna.

After what seemed like hours of continuous pacing, followed by sitting and then pacing again Chakotay finally got the call he had been waiting for and practically ran all the way to sickbay. He was in no way prepared for what the doctor had to tell him.

"Commander the Captain suffered from internal bleeding, broken ribs which punctured her left lung, which have all been taken care of. She also had a broken arm, severe bruising and several wounds to the skin which have caused her to loose a lot of blood, again this has all been taken care of and isn't a problem. However the evidence suggests that she was beaten rather brutally and repeatedly. There is also evidence of…" the doctor paused and took a deep breath " evidence pointing to rape." Chakotay immediately jumped out of his seat and began pacing, the pain evident on his face.

"Unfortunately that isn't all…I found a several drugs present in her system and I cannot distinguish their purpose, but considering her other injuries they were probably used to induce pain or maybe effect the mind" Chakotay glanced at the EMH and saw his own pain reflected back at him. The doctor had never looked so human.

"Is…Is she going to be alright?" Chakotay whispered as he closed his eyes to prevent tears from falling.

"Physically she is fine…mentally and emotionally we will have to see when she gains consciousness, I'm going to allow her to awaken naturally to prevent her body going into shock, when that will be is up to her" The doctor stood and placed a hand on Chakotay's shoulder "I am going to deactivate myself for now" with that the doctor vanished from sight leaving behind a traumatised Chakotay.

How could this have happened? Why didn't anyone notice? I should have known…Oh Kathryn please be okay. Chakotay quickly informed Tuvok of the situation and told him to begin investigating. Pulling up a chair beside her bed he sank into it and reached out to grab her hand. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb:

"Kathryn if you can here me, we are going to find whoever did this to you, I swear it!" With that said he finally allowed the tears he had been holding back to fall.