Captain Janeway turned out to be a decent sparring partner. She and Addison were on a very similar level and they both found it challenging. It was a change of pace for Addison, who was used to Tuvok. He never made mistakes and never let her score on him.

Both women were breathing heavily, their faces flushed and sweaty, when Tuvok called for a halt. He gave them critiques of their performances and then left for a meeting, leaving the two women alone together.

Walking around to keep their muscles from becoming tight as they cooled down, the Captain was pleased to see that Addison seemed more engaged today.

"This is good for me. I believe I'm going to have trouble moving tomorrow, though."

Addison looked at the Captain, but didn't respond.

"You know, your file doesn't give much information on your background. Chakotay says that he barely knew you before we ended up in the Delta quadrant. Are you from Earth originally?"

"Yes, Captain."

Maybe she had to reassess her opinion about the woman being more engaged.

"Are you from North America?" She looked like she had some Asian influence in her background but her name was English or Irish, so it was difficult to tell.

"Yes, Captain."

Okay, she was going to need to stop asking yes or no questions.

"I see. My family is originally from Ireland." She smiled ruefully and pointed at her red hair. "What was your family's background?"

"I don't know, Captain. I never knew my parents."

Well, she had certainly put her foot in it, Janeway thought. That was a rookie mistake, asking about family before she had any information to back it up.

"Neelix is throwing a birthday party for Commander Chakotay tonight. Will you and Ensign Meru be attending?" Better to change the subject.

This seemed to catch Addison off guard.

"Um, I don't know, Captain. I suppose Tim will be going."

"Ensign Meru has been quite an asset to the engineering department. We're very lucky to have him as a part of the crew. I hope you'll consider coming tonight – I would enjoy seeing you there."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the invitation."

Janeway nodded at her and gathered her things. "Then I'll see you tonight."

Addison slumped as the Captain left the room. There was nothing she could think of that she wanted to do less than going to that party tonight. But she couldn't ignore an invitation from the Captain.

Most of the crew had been talking about the party for the last week. There had been nothing to celebrate recently and this was just the excuse they needed. Many of them had ditched their uniforms for something fancier and Timmy had insisted that Addison replicate herself something more formal.

Actually, he had replicated it himself and it certainly wasn't something she would have chosen; a small black number that hugged her body and didn't leave much to the imagination. It was sleeveless and came up high around her neck. She sighed as she put it on, knowing that it was going to draw undue attention to her.

The party was already going strong when they arrived. It was being held in one of the cargo bays, since there was no other place on the ship that could hold almost two-thirds of the crew. The lighting was low and tables had been set up around the floor, covered in food Neelix had either made or replicated for the occasion.

Music was being played and many people were already on the makeshift dance floor. Addison hoped that she wouldn't have to dance.

Timmy pulled her towards some of his friends, mostly former Maquis. He grabbed them each a drink on the way and then went straight to Chakotay to congratulate him. Addison stood awkwardly, trying to stay inconspicuous.

She heard a whistle behind her and turned to see Tom Paris approaching them.

"Wow, you clean up nice!"

Addison glanced quickly at Timmy and saw him frown before covering it up with a smile.

"As if you'd ever stand a chance, Tom." Timmy tried to keep his tone light.

Tom chuckled. "We'll see about that. I do outrank you, Ensign. That's gotta count for something."

He grinned impishly at Addison, his eyes twinkling. Addison responded with a shy smile, caught off guard by how contagious his enthusiasm was.

The smile left her face when she felt Timmy's hand possessively grab her waist.

"Tom, are you ever going to learn to behave yourself?" B'Elanna Torres had snuck into the group and playfully smacked Tom on the arm.

"I certainly hope not! Where would the fun in that be?"

"Only that you might actually get people to like you. And maybe you would start getting some respect from the Captain, instead of constantly being reprimanded."

"As if you can talk, Miss 'I'm going to Disagree with the Captain Whenever I Can'."

"Ouch! I only disagree when I'm right and she's wrong."

Everybody was laughing now.

The Captain's voice caused the laughter to stop, abruptly.

"Miss Torres, you didn't learn at the Academy that the Captain is always right?"

Janeway's voice was serious and Torres looked at her sheepishly.

"Captain! I think, um, that class was held the semester after I left."

Janeway chuckled and she laid her hand on the Chief Engineer's shoulder.

"Of course, Captain or not, I am always right. You'd do well to remember that."

Laughter broke out again.

"Yes, Captain, of course." Torres admitted defeat before excusing herself to get a drink.

Slowly, the group broke up and the Captain turned to Tim and Addison.

"Ensign, I'm glad you were able to convince Crewman Blake to come to the party. She definitely put me through my paces this morning. I'm looking forward to our sessions together."

Timmy shot a glance at Addison, who hadn't even told him that Tuvok had changed her job assignment yet. He recovered quickly though.

"That's good to hear, Captain. She is full of surprises. And it's our pleasure to be able to be here to celebrate Commander Chakotay's birthday."

"Well, I hope you enjoy the evening. Ensign. Crewman." She nodded at both of them before turning away.

Timmy turned to Addision immediately. "Since when were you meeting with the Captain?"

"Just this morning. She showed up to my session with Tuvok yesterday and offered to be my sparring partner. That's all."

"And you didn't think it was important to tell me that? Jesus, you realize that you now have the Captain's ear? This is a huge opportunity and you're too stupid to realize it."

His face was getting red and Addison knew trouble was coming if she didn't calm him down.

"She did mention that she thought were you an asset to the ship. She thinks very highly of you."

That got his attention quickly. "Really? What did she say? Tell me exactly."

The details seemed to mollify him and they returned their attention to the party, his ego sufficiently blown up.

She spent the rest of the evening following him around, attempting to make polite small talk – enough to satisfy Timmy but not enough to garner too much attention.

Unfortunately, her outfit attracted enough notice that she couldn't stay completely unnoticed. She quickly felt her energy draining and was glad when Timmy decided it was time to go back to their quarters.

Kathryn watched Ensign Meru and Crewman Blake walk out of the cargo bay, unnerved by the evening. When she had first noticed Addison, standing amongst her senior staff, the breath had left her body.

The woman was stunning in that dress. Addison had taken her hair out of its customary ponytail and it hung past her shoulders, shining when the low lighting hit it. The shapeless Starfleet uniforms did nothing for the woman's body, Janeway could now see. Instead, the dress showed off Addison's long slender legs and muscular arms. The collar made her neck seem incredibly long and Kathryn tried to focus on that instead of the woman's backside, which was impossibly tight against the dress.

When she approached the group, she tried to deflect her attention away from Addison by joking with B'Elanna. Still, she had been painfully aware of the woman for the rest of the evening.

Damn, she was in trouble. Nevermind, though. Tonight, she would allow herself this moment of weakness, but that would be all. Mark provided a convenient excuse, both for herself and the crew. Ever since coming to the Delta quadrant, she had realized her feelings for the man hadn't been as strong as she had thought. She barely missed him, in fact had felt relief thinking that maybe this would give her an excuse not to marry him. She loved him, but she wasn't in love with him.

But, she knew that having a relationship with a member of the crew was off limits and the fact that she was engaged provided her an out.

When she left the party, as she walked out the doors, she compartmentalized the evening and forced herself not to think of it again.

Six months later, Addison had settled into her new position on the security team. She had excelled at her training and Tuvok was quickly able to promote her to provisional ensign status.

It turned out she took to the martial arts with surprising ease and Tuvok continued to tutor her long after she had been promoted. She was now his best student and rivaled everybody but him, in terms of skill.

She had continued her sessions with the Captain, meeting twice a week, even when it became obvious that Janeway couldn't keep up with her. The Captain enjoyed how the sessions pushed her to her limits, though she felt her age was showing when she soaked her sore body in the bathtub at night.

To both Tuvok and Janeway, however, it was apparent that none of this had helped Addison integrate into the crew further. The Captain still knew almost nothing personal about the woman and hadn't pushed, since the day of Chakotay's party.

They both agreed that it didn't matter, though, as long as the Ensign was an asset to the ship. If she wanted to remain solitary, that was her choice.

For Addison's part, she was content with the routine of her job. She didn't admit it to herself too often, but she enjoyed the training sessions with Tuvok and the Captain. She had never had the chance to push her body in this way and she found it deeply satisfying. Tuvok had also taught her about meditation and it was much more rewarding than regular time spent alone thinking.

Otherwise, everybody left her alone and life aboard Voyager became routine.

The only struggle she had was keeping Timmy pleased. He had been angry when he had found out she hadn't told him about her training. Ever since then, everything seemed to make him mad. After the party, Addison had gotten a lot of attention from the men aboard Voyager. On one hand, Timmy loved to boast about how he was with such a beautiful woman. On the other hand, it only fueled his jealousy whenever she interacted with anyone but him.

To keep him happy, she withdrew even more, if possible, and rarely interacted with people outside of her duty shift.

Even as hard as she tried, though, it all came to a head one day at dinner in the mess hall. They had been eating alone, but Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Paris has seen them and asked to join them. All joking aside, Paris had made his interest in Addison clear since the night of the party. Always one to push the boundaries, he flirted with her every chance he got. Obviously, he wasn't on Timmy's list of favorite people.

It had been a stressful day for everyone – a sticky encounter with an alien race had left them all tense. It didn't take too much of Tom staring at Addison before she noticed Timmy's face getting red. She tried to get him to leave, but she was one comment from Tom too late.

Before she could react, Timmy had grabbed Tom by the collar and gotten in his face.

"You don't have any respect for other people's things, do you?"

"I didn't realize that Addison was your property." Tom wasn't going to back down.

"Gentlemen, is there a problem here?" None of them had seen Captain Janeway enter and Addison noticed that everybody around them had stood and was watching the altercation.

Timmy slowly let go of Tom's shirt and turned towards the Captain, straightening his own jacket as he did.

"No, Captain. No problem. We were just leaving."

"Yes, it seems like that would be a good idea."

Timmy glared at Tom before turning and stalking out of the room. Addison glanced apologetically at Tom, avoided looking at the Captain, and turned to follow Timmy.

Addison knew she was in trouble long before they arrived at their quarters. As soon as the doors shut behind them, Timmy turned on her, eyes blazing.

"You bitch! That's just what I needed, Captain Janeway seeing me like that."

"Timmy, I didn't do anything!"

"Exactly! Tom Paris has been flirting with you for months now and you do nothing to stop him. Don't think I don't see what's going on between the two of you. I'm not stupid."

"Nothing is going on between us. I don't even know him!"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" He grabbed her hair and wrenched her head around, forcing her to the ground.

"Timmy, please, stop!" But Timmy was beyond hearing her. He let go of her hair and a second later the back of his hand connected with her face.

He had been rough with her before, but what happened next took it to a new level. Truthfully, Addison was surprised it had taken him this long. She had never been with a guy who didn't get physical with her and she was used to violence. She had actually been impressed by Timmy's ability to control himself as much as he had.

Her body automatically went into defense mode and she curled up, raising her arms above her to take the blunt of the blows. She pushed herself back until she reached the corner of the room and turned away from Timmy, to protect her face and stomach.

She felt his foot connect with the small of her back and she yelped in pain. The noise seemed to enrage him further and he pulled her away from the wall. His hands enclosed her throat and she quickly began to feel light headed. The last thing she remembered was staring into his eyes, slowly losing consciousness.

When she woke up, she was still lying on the floor and she was naked from the waist down. She moved to get up and groaned when her body protested. Checking to see Timmy asleep on the bed, she pulled herself together and made her way to the bathroom.

Fortunately, the only visible mark was the bruise on her face, which she thought she would be able to hide. The rest of her body was covered in bruises, but nothing that couldn't be covered with long sleeves.

A quick shower made her feel a little bit better before she slipped into bed next to Timmy. She spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling, only drifting off for about an hour before the alarm went off.

She woke up to Timmy stroking her hair. She pushed herself up on her elbows and looked at him.

"Shh, honey. It's okay."

She looked at him, not sure what he thought was okay.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that last night. I just lost control. I guess I was just so stressed from the day and Paris really pushes my buttons. It just hurts me when you don't let him know that you're with me."

Addison didn't say anything, but let herself fall back to the bed. She tested out her muscles, knowing that her back was going to give her the most trouble.

Timmy rolled over to straddle her and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Hey, I love you. You know that, right?"

"Yes, I know that." She did know that, which is why she was with him. When she had first met him, she had nothing and he had given her a place to stay and security. Both were things she didn't have before that.

She didn't know if she loved him, but she knew that she owed him more than she could ever give back. She shouldn't let Paris act the way he did

"I'm sorry that I made you think I was encouraging Tom Paris. He doesn't mean anything to me. I'm with you."

"I know that. I do." He smiled at her and got out of bed to get ready for the day. He made her breakfast, a first, and they sat at the table together eating. When he left for his duty shift, she went to the wall and replicated some makeup.

She had her session with the Captain this morning and realized that she usually wore a tank top to workout. Instead, she took the undershirt of her uniform and put that on. The mock turtle covered most of the bruises on her neck and she covered the rest with the makeup she had replicated. A little bit more went over the mark on her face. With a last glance at the mirror, she left to meet the Captain.

Janeway didn't say anything to Addison when she first saw her. She had missed most of what had happened the night before, only walking in to see Ensign Meru in Tom Paris' face. When Addison and Timmy had left, Tom brushed off the incident. Kathryn hadn't missed the look on Addison's face before she had followed the Ensign, though, and it had concerned her.

They began their sparring and it didn't take long for Janeway to realize that something was wrong. Addison was moving stiffly and slowly. It was significant enough that Janeway was almost winning.

She threw a punch at Addison's head and the woman twisted around to avoid it, lowering her shoulder and exposing the left side of her body. The Captain's momentum was taking her away from Addison, so she continued to spin and brought her leg around in a kick that connected with Addison's back.

Immediately, an involuntary whimper left Addison's throat and she fell to ground, clutching at her back. Janeway quickly leaned down over her.

"Ensign, what's wrong?"

"I'm okay, Captain. I think I just tweaked by back."

Perspiration dotted Addison's face and she was breathing heavily, which was unusual given the fact that they hadn't been at it for that long. After a moment, Addison sat up and her breathing slowed.

"I'm okay," she repeated herself.

Janeway grabbed a towel and softly wiped Addison's face.

"Why don't we get you to sickbay. The Doctor can take a look."

Addison shook her head, "Really, Captain. I'm fine."

Janeway made a derogatory noise in the back of her throat, "All you security people are the same."

Addison turned to look up at the Captain and smiled, "Right, because I've heard it's easy to get you to see the Doctor."

But Janeway wasn't paying attention to her words anymore, "Ensign, what happened to your face?"

When she had wiped Addison's face, the makeup had come away with the towel, and now Janeway could see the bruise.

"Captain?"

"Your face is bruised. How did that happen? And tell my why a kick that normally wouldn't phase you just put you on the floor."

The Ensign raised her hand to her face and touched the bruise, "It's nothing, Captain. I had an accident and I was embarrassed by it, so I covered it up."

"You really think I'm going to believe that? Take off your shirt, Ensign."

Addison panicked then, standing up and backing away from the Captain. Unfortunately, Janeway was between her and the door. She cursed her bad luck. She couldn't count the times she had gone out with makeup covering a bruise without anybody questioning her.

"Why?"

"Ensign, take off your shirt now. That's an order."

"No, Captain. It's none of your business."

"Everything on this ship is my business, Ensign." Janeway knew she was treading on thin ice, but wasn't willing to let it go. She had seen enough last night to guess at what was happening. "Take off your shirt."

Addison looked around it as if somebody was going to show up and help her.

"We can stay here all day, Ensign. We're not leaving until you take off that shirt."

"Then I guess we'll be here all day, Captain." Addison took a seat in front of her commanding officer and didn't say another word.

Janeway sighed and softened her voice, "Addison, I'd like to help you."

"I don't need any help, Captain."

"You believe that it's okay for your boyfriend to hit you?"

"Who said he hit me?"

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Ensign. That may work on other people, but it will only waste more of our time."

Addison looked at the Captain assessingly, "I'm not going to do anything to risk Timmy's position on this ship."

Unfortunately, Janeway knew enough about abusive relationships to know that what she said was true. She also knew that as much as she wanted to go straight to Ensign Meru and kick him in the balls, that wouldn't be helpful either.

"Will you talk to me if I promise that nothing you tell me will leave this room? I won't take any action unless you allow me to."

"Even if you promised that, you couldn't change your opinion of him and that would affect the possibility of advancement for him."

"Ensign, I've already formed an opinion about him based on what I'm assuming he's done to you. It's too late."

"Captain, it's nothing. It was my fault. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. And if it was nothing, you wouldn't be hiding it."

"People always overreact about things like this. It's really not important." Addison didn't know why the Captain was making such a big deal out of this.

"Why don't you let me decide that for myself? Take off the shirt." The words came out sounding harsh and Janeway softened her voice again, "Addison, please let me help."

It was her tone that made Addison pause. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that before, as if they actually cared. She still wasn't inclined to trust the woman, but she did know how stubborn the Captain was and wasn't sure she was going to win this battle.

"You promise that you won't tell anyone?" Her voice sounded like a child's. The Captain knelt in front of Addison, and put her hands on her shoulders.

"I promise."

Addison reached around and pulled apart the Velcro holding the shirt together. She drew her arms out of the fabric and dropped the shirt in her lap. She was unable to look at Janeway as the older woman took in her bruised upper body and the fingerprints around her neck.

The Captain walked around behind the Ensign and knelt down. Addison felt fingers trace the area where she had been kicked.

"What did he do to you?" Janeway couldn't keep the rage out of her voice. She was appalled. She had suspected that he hit her, but this was way beyond that.

"Captain, you promised." Addison knew Janeway was trying to control herself.

"Yes, I know. We need to have the Doctor look at you."

"I'm fine. I've had worse."

That statement went straight through Janeway's heart. She was beginning to understand why they were having such a hard time trying to get the woman to open up.

"Why are you with him?"

"He's a good man, Captain. He gave me a home when I didn't have one. His temper is a small price to pay."

"No matter how good he is, it's always too big of a price to pay, Addison."

Anger filled Addison's voice when she next spoke, "That's easy for you to say, Captain. You grew up in a loving home, with a roof over your head and as much food as you wanted. Your parents protected you and made sure you had what you needed. Not all of us were that lucky. I put up with some things because it's the best I can do. If I didn't, I wouldn't be alive right now."

"But, Addison, you have a home now. We will protect you. Things are different."

"Nothing is different, Captain." Addison stood up and put her shirt back on. "Permission to be excused."

Janeway looked at Addison for a moment before nodding her dismissal. She watched the woman walk out the door, trying to sort out her options.