A/N: Just a quick thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send me a note. It's very much appreciated.

Janeway hurried to the transporter room with Chakotay's words still ringing in her ears. The fact that he would even considered pursuing a romantic relationship away from their forced journey together confused and at the same time heartened her. She had always questioned the sincerity of his feelings or attraction and believed they would quickly dissipate once they were back home. She still had a pretty good hunch they would especially after their wormhole experience. She wasn't about to get her hopes up. She had been disappointed on both prospects too many times already.

Gath greeted her as she materialized on the planet. "Captain, how nice of you to join me again. I do appreciate your company."

"Thank you, Gath. But I actually have an important matter to discuss with you."

"As your message indicated. What can I do for you? Anything I have is yours."

Janeway smiled. "Well, hold that thought. You don't know what I'm about to ask for."

Gath spread his arms wide. "Anything I can give is yours, Captain. It always will be."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Gath grew confused. "Riddles, Captain. Speak plainly."

"I'm sorry. One of my crew members, Harry Kim, was the guest of one of your young ladies last night."

"Ah, I see! And he wishes to marry her. He moves fast but we can have the most exquisite wedding…"

Janeway put up her hands and shook her head. "No, no. It's nothing like that. He did enjoy himself immensely, but he mentioned she had taken him away."

"Yes? Where did they go?"

"40,000 light years from here."

"Yes, but in what direction? There are many places they could have gone."

"Gath, it doesn't matter. What matters is that they traveled 40,000 light years in seconds." She placed a hand on Gath's arm and drew close. "You know we've been trying to get home to our own planet. 40,000 light years would knock decades off of our trip. I understand this technology can be used to transport vessels. Is there any way you would consider allowing us…"

Gath pulled away and paced with his arms spread open. "Captain, Captain, why would you want to leave a place such as this? I thought you enjoyed our hospitality?"

"We do, Gath, but this isn't our home."

He walked back and took her hands in his. "It can be."

"That's a very nice offer and a generous one but our lives are not here. They are aboard Voyager and in the Alpha Quadrant."

"No, Captain, obviously you belong here with us otherwise the fates would not have brought you."

"Please. It's very important to us. We have families and friends and responsibilities to get back to. Before all of that is lost forever, I need to get my crew home. Please help me."

Gath's serene expression was lost for a moment replaced by irritation but he quickly recovered his smile. "If it's that important to you, Captain, I will ask the leaders to consider your request."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me for you to do that for us."

"As you wish, Captain."

B'Elanna banged her utensils on the mess hall table as she picked at her food. Neelix noticed her agitation and sat down across from her. "Problems in Engineering, Lieutenant? I thought this little visit to Sikaria was supposed to relax everyone. Have you not made it down to the planet? Just about everyone who has is in the best spirits I've seen in a while. It does a morale officer proud. I thought I was pretty good until I see this."

"I'm fine, Neelix."

Neelix looked up as Tuvok and Harry approached. "You don't look fine, Lieutenant. Maybe some fellow crew members might cheer you up. Mr. Tuvok and Mr. Kim, why don't you keep Ms. Torres here company while she finishes the delicious dinner I made?"

"Don't bother," B'Elanna muttered.

Neelix gave the two men a pat on the shoulder while he scampered off to the kitchen. They sat down and Harry said, "Heard anything yet from the Captain?"

B'Elanna shook her head. "Not yet. But I'm sure she'll try her best just like she did when she blew up the array and our way home."

Tuvok stiffened. "Interesting dinner conversation. Is there a reason we are reminiscing and directing such anger towards the Captain?"

Harry quickly filled him in on the Sikarian transportation device. "It's our way home, Tuvok."

"Only if the Sikarians allow us to use it."

"Allow? Allow?" B'Elanna said. "If we just ask nicely and accept the No's we keep getting, I'm not sure why we are bothering to attempt to get home at all."

"So you would have us violate the Prime Directive, Ms. Torres?"

"It doesn't apply!"

Tuvok turned. "And you, Mr. Kim?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, does it? The Prime Directive is to stop us from contaminating other less advanced cultures. This is just hitching a ride from someone more advanced than us. What's the harm? We'll be gone before they know it leaving their system intact. It's not like we are taking something that doesn't belong to us. We're just making use of it for a few seconds. It's potentially sixty years of our lives, Tuvok. Humans and Klingons don't live as long as you do. I want to see my parents again."

Tuvok was silent for a few moments. "Do we know what the Sikarians might want in exchange for our trip if we conducted this in the proper way?"

"B'Elanna and I were talking about that. I think we have something no one else can give them."

"And what's that, Mr. Kim?"

"Stories. Literature. Plays. Millions of them from places and beings they don't even know exist yet."

Tuvok looked at B'Elanna. "That would be tempting to the Sikarians. I suggest we see what the Captain has been able to do and proceed from there."

"And I say we have a better back up plan," B'Elanna said.

"Meaning?" Tuvok said.

"Meaning we get ourselves home. Like Harry said, we have lives to get back to and I want to be young and able when I get back to it."

Several hours later, Janeway rubbed her eyes in her ready room as she tried to concentrate on her stack of reports. She still had not heard back from Sikaria and it did not bode well for her request. B'Elanna's angry face and accusatory words replayed in her head. They were accusations she had made to herself nightly.

Chakotay poked his head in and said, "Mind if I keep you company?"

She smiled tiredly. "Who's going to run the ship?"

"I think we're close enough to hear them yell if something comes up. Something tells me Sikaria isn't going to be attacked any time soon."

"Are you sure of that? B'Elanna is ready to do a one woman mission to the surface to get that transporter device for us."

Chakotay sat down. "Still no word?"

"No." She sat up and said, "And I'm not even sure my request actually made it to the council. I know Gath was quite opposed to letting us go."

"Why?"

"I think he enjoys his role as host too much."

"Well, I can understand wanting to keep Kathryn Janeway to myself for a while longer."

"Chakotay." She shook her head and slumped back in her chair. "I don't have the energy for this right now."

"Oh good. Perfect timing to take advantage of you."

She raised her head. "Excuse me?"

"Relax. I'm on duty, remember?"

She leaned across the desk and folded her hands. "What do you think? If the Sikarians say no, what are my options?"

"Are you asking my permission to authorize a raid and grab the Sikarian's transport device?"

Janeway sat back. "No. I can't do that, can I? It is tempting though, isn't it? I can even justify it myself if I follow B'Elanna's train of thought. It's what a Maquis would do."

"No, it's not."

Janeway glanced at him. "No, Commander?"

"The Maquis only took from those who violated our sovereignty. We never harmed or involved innocents. We never did anything to anyone other than those who aggressed against us first."

"You intercepted Starfleet shipments. You disrupted our supply ships…"

"You ceded my planet to the Cardassians. I win."

Janeway rubbed her face. "Well, I'm too tired to fight the Maquis war with you tonight, Chakotay."

"I don't want to fight with you at all."

Janeway took a breath. "But you would like to get back and rejoin the fight, wouldn't you? That's what you did when we went through that wormhole."

"Of course. That's where I'm needed."

Janeway nodded and fell silent as she fingered her coffee cup.

"What are you thinking, Captain?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. If we went home now, it would be just like that."

Chakotay leaned forward. "You were thinking about us, weren't you? You were considering having a future with me away from this ship."

Janeway looked at him and shook her head. "No. Barring a Starfleet order which may very well come when they find out how I got us home if I decide to violate the Prime Directive, I will still be captain of this ship. And even if I'm not, I will still be serving Starfleet in some capacity."

Chakotay grinned. "Then we're back to the 'catch me if you can' days."

She took another deep breath and said, "This is foolishness to think that you and I could ever be anything other than friends, here or back home."

Chakotay listened to her words. "I don't think so and home hasn't really happened yet. That may still be a long ways away. The Maquis may be successful and not need me once we return."

"It's a nice thought, Chakotay, but you were on the losing end of things when we left. The Maquis' days are numbered. And you still have charges to answer for if we do get back."

"Maybe."

"Definitely."

Chakotay leaned across the desk and said, "You wouldn't come visit me in the penal colony?"

She grinned. "I might make a trip or two if I find the time."

He laughed and said, "You'll be there. You'll have to keep Paris and I from killing each other."

"Actually, I'll be behind the same bars. I can't take technology I don't have permission to utilize."

"Now I kind of like that idea. You and I could be cellmates."

She shook her head and said, "Get out before I throw you out for inappropriate behavior towards a superior officer."

Chakotay chuckled and pointed a finger at her as he rose from the chair. "I never said a word. Those were your inappropriate thoughts, not mine. Shame on you, Captain."

She waved him towards the door. "Out!"

"I'm getting to you, Captain." Chakotay stopped. "Look, for what it's worth, I do want to go home as badly as everyone else on this ship. But stealing our way back is not the way to do it. You know that."

Janeway nodded. "I do. Thank you, Commander, for supporting me."

"I always will, especially when you're doing the right thing. Goodnight, Captain."

Chakotay walked down the corridor later that night with his medicine bundle under his arm after his shift. He stopped and chimed one of the doors. They slid open and B'Elanna appeared.

"Did you get it?" she asked.

Chakotay walked in and pulled a small technological device from underneath. "Here. Test it. Make sure we don't blow the ship to pieces before we activate it."

B'Elanna took it with glee and placed it on her table. She bent over and studied it. "How did you convince the Sikarians to give it to you?"

"I didn't. I made an exchange with an 'unauthorized' person."

B'Elanna straightened up. "Then how do we know it's the real thing and not a fake?"

Chakotay nodded. "That's what you're about to tell me."

B'Elanna studied it again for a few minutes until her eyes lit up. With a smile, she said, "Looks like we're going home."