When she approached his door and rang the bell, she suddenly remembered she doesn't know his name and panic rose in her belly. She is nervous and sweaty when she suddenly finds a pair of warm, dark brown eyes looking at her and suddenly panic in her stomach melts away to something else completely. She stutters at first, but he beats her to it by inviting her inside and offering her a seat. Shadow noticed his friend and to her relief, he is totally licking her and rubbing his head against her palm. Kathryn lets a delighted laugh out and She looks up to that warm, dark brown eyes (what?) and finds she cannot resist the pull of the warmth in the eyes of both the dog and his owner (more of the owner, but she is not going to tell him that)
"What do I owe you this surprise visit, miss...?" he trails over, looking at this gorgeous woman in his living room, and his dog is totally fond of. Not that he can blame Shadow of. He had seen Shadow's new Irish setter girlfriend and he had to admit Shadow had much better luck and sense when it came to ladies, compared to him.
"Dr. Janeway... Kathryn Janeway" she adds after a pause, remembering it is not a formal function and she needs to be friendlier to discuss the matter at hand. "I'm sorry to bother you. Mr." she looks at him while he smiles (those dimples!) and extends his hand in greeting, "Chakotay"
"Mr. Chakotay" she started to speak, but rather felt it sounded rather wrong than just how exotic his name sounded without Mr. Part. (what the hell Janeway? Why are you behaving like a teenager?)
"Please call me Chakotay, after all, it seems shadow knows you well." He points at the giant lab sprawled over her feet and lolling his tongue in a rather silly fashion.
"I came here to talk about him." Kathryn speaks in a hurry but soon regrets her choice of words when anger mar his handsome features and instantly finds herself not wanting to see anger in his face.
"I'm so sorry" Chakotay replies in a rather bristled tone but he cannot deny the question why Shadow loves her so much if she is offended by him. Instead he gestures at her to elaborate.
"It appears that Shadow is going to be a father ". Kathryn replied and found herself blushing (get a grip on yourself Janeway)
Out of all things he expected to hear, this was not it. Nope, definitely not.
"My dog, Mollie... she is expecting seven puppies and Shadow came to my house the other day with Mollie …" Kathryn trailed off. Rather finding herself blushing more at this one. She was getting angry at his silence right now.
"Oh... so that beautiful Irish setter is your dog." He finally managed to find his voice.
"And did you just say seven puppies?" He finishes with a surprising tone. (Way to go boy... septuplets on your first time as a dad. Not bad for you, old boy... not bad at all)
"Yeah... I uhh... we just found out today" Kathryn finished in a rushed tone, glad to get this awkward conversation over.
"Can I get you something to drink?" He asks, "after all, we are going to be god-parents for seven puppies and we can be friends, right?" He smiles that dimpled smile again and Kathryn finds herself nodding to whatever the thing he said.
She finds herself with a cup of coffee and a sleepy lab on her feet while telling Chakotay about Mollie and listening to Shadow's shenanigans in return. She never remembered a day she laughed this much in the presence of a guy she just met.
It is very late, and Molly had fallen asleep when she returns home.
A day later, Kathryn finds a huge bag filled with dog treats on her front porch (how did he know about Mollie's favorite treats?), chew toys, and grooming equipment and tins of dog food with the note telling, Gift for Mollie and child-support.
Kathryn loudly laughs at this and fails to notice Chakotay looking at her from his front door, eyes full of adoration.
And over the next months, she finds odd gift or two on her front porch, and sometimes Shadow visiting Mollie, and both comes to agreement to fix a doggie entrance on her backyard fence. And slowly Chakotay becomes a permanent fixture in her life. Sundays filled with long walks, coffee and talks while Chakotay bringing homemade meals and peace roses from his garden for Kathryn and Mollie falls in love with him as well. (Apparently, Mollie's resolve is weak when it comes to warm, dark eyes)
She found out he is an anthropologist and an archeologist with a PHD and not-so-surprisingly a therapist and does wood work in his free time as well. Man of contradictions, she notes with enthusiasm.
Doc and Tom comments on how she is much relaxed, and Tom adds a corny," we don't need new lighting in Lab, Doc. Kathryn's smile is lighting up the whole place" and Lanna smirks every time she sprawls "Chakotay thinks this", "Chakotay said that" and wisely stops from commenting. She is not surprised to find Tom Paris in the coffee shop she goes with Chakotay and dogs every Sunday morning and soon enough, Chakotay becomes a regular in their rag-tag scientist group outings. He is surprisingly good in theoretical physics and engineering to keep up with Lanna and Tom and gets to a friendly argument with doc about practice of indigenous medicine and what-not and drags shy Harry Kim to a discussion of classical music and composers. And to her delight, he is good at playing pool to give Tom a run for his money too. Chakotay fits with them like another piece of the puzzle and her treacherous mind supplies that she won't mind finding if they fit together as well.