A bright light shone in his eyes as Chakotay slowly slipped back into consciousness. He blinked several times before attempting to sit up, gasping as pain shot through his ribs. A small, gentle hand placed itself on his chest, easing him down to the bed. He realized he must be in Voyager's sickbay. "Rest Chakotay," said a familiar voice.

"Kathryn," he said, hardly daring to believe his eyes. Yet there she sat next to him: her grey eyes back to normal, her petite figure dressed in Sickbay clothes, her warm smile radiating down to him, and her small hand resting firmly in his.

"I'm here Chakotay," she said, cupping his face with her free hand, "You saved me."

"Your hair," he said, running his hand through the short pixie cut she now wore.

"The Dr. regrew as much as he could with the regenerator. However, I have to wait for time to do the rest." She bit her lip, her eyes giving him an apprehensive look.

"What is it Kathryn?" he said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Do you like it?" she asked in a small voice, clearly worried. Laughing, he reached up and tousled her hair, causing her to smile; "You've never looked more beautiful."

They stared at each other for several moments, the happiness and joy shining in both their eyes.

"I suppose you want to know what happened." Kathryn asked him, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Not right now," he said, slowly propping himself up on one arm and gingerly pulling her toward him with the other. Their lips met, softly at first, but the kiss soon became hungrier and more passionate. After several seconds they broke apart.

"Where's the Dr?" he asked her, looking around expecting to see the hologram hovering nearby.

"I deactivated him," Kathryn replied with a sly smile, "I wanted to be the one to care for you."

"There's no one I would rather have," he said, kissing her again.

"Speaking of which, I should probably run some more scans," she said, getting up and grabbing the tricorder. "I repaired all your injuries an hour ago, but I should check and make sure things are going smoothly." He just smiled, watching her work over him.

"Forget about that," he said, "I'm fine. Let's get out of here."

She closed the tricorder and gave him a smile. "Normally, I would agree with you. However the Dr. has ordered us to stay here for observation for the next twenty-four hours and I'm inclined to agree with him."

"In that case," he said, pushing a button on the side of his bed to make it double in size, "come join me." She smiled and climbed up onto the bio-bed, snuggling down into his embrace and laying her head on his chest. He reveled at her warmth next to his as he kissed her forehead and pulled her closer. After several minutes of blissful silence Chakotay whispered, "Kathryn?"

"Mmmmm," she mumbled, nearly fast asleep.

"I love you." He saw her smile a little smile to herself before she whispered, "I love you to Chakotay." A few seconds later her deep breathing told him she was asleep.

…

"Well Admiral, Borg nanoprobes aside, you seem to be in excellent health. However, I'm confining you to quarters for the rest of the day," the Dr. said the next day as he was clearing Kathryn and Chakotay to go.

"Thank you Dr."

"And Admiral, next time you want alone time with the Captain all you have to do is ask. Don't deactivate me," he quipped, turning his tricorder to Chakotay.

"Alright Dr. I'm sorry," Kathryn said with a laugh, patting him on the shoulder.

"You're free to go too Captain. It seems like the Admiral adequately healed your injuries. Just stay in your quarters for the next twenty-four hours."

"Thank you Dr," Chakotay said, getting off the bed and wrapping Kathryn's arm through his as they exited the Sick Bay.

"And come in tomorrow for another checkup before resuming active duty," the Dr. called after them, as they turned out of sight.

Chakotay and Kathryn exchanged a glance and began laughing, "Good old Dr. Hasn't changed a bit," Kathryn commented.

"Always protective of his captain."

"Just like a certain first officer I know," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, my motives are completely different from the Dr.'s."

"And they are…" she coaxed, with a sly smile and arch look. Raising his eyebrows and giving her a mischievous grin, he wrapped his hands around her waist and pushed her into an empty corridor, running his hands through her hair and kissing her passionately.

"That I'm deeply and crazily in love with you," he whispered in her ear, causing her to smile and return his kiss.

"Not as much as I am with you," she replied kissing him back. A few minutes later, she linked her arm back through his and they continued on their way.

"The problem we have to figure out now is how to spend the day with each other when the Dr. has confined us to quarters," he commented a few minutes later.

"Oh that's easy," she said with a saucy smile, "He confined you to your quarters but he only confined me to the quarters area…he never specified a specific one."

"So my quarters it is," he said with a laugh.

…

"Now I want to hear the whole story. What happened?" Chakotay asked as they snuggled on the couch drinking coffee and hot chocolate.

"Well, I went to the Borg cube to try and prove we had nothing to worry about. Voyager was going back to the Delta Quadrant over my dead body…"

"Yes, I've heard that part. Skip to when I entered your alcove."

"Well, I had been the queen for several weeks by that point and it was…horrible," she recalled, shuddering at the memory. "My mind was still there, but it was suppressed by her mind and the Borg collective. As much as I tried to fight against her I just…couldn't." At this point she broke down in sobs. Chakotay had never seen Kathryn cry before, and it scared him. Pulling her close he stroked her hair and kissed her cheek, trying to comfort her.

"I assimilated so many people…hundreds of lives lost because of me…"

"That wasn't you Kathryn. That was some monster that used you in a horrible way, but it was not you. You are in no way responsible for those people's deaths."

"But if I hadn't gone to the cube…"

"Then somebody else would have." He tipped her chin up so she was looking directly at him, tears still streaming down her face. "You did nothing wrong Kathryn. No one blames you at all. The Borg are the monsters, not you." She simply nodded as he wiped away her tears and held her close.

"Can you finish the story or would you like to stop?" he asked hesitantly.

"I've gone this far. I might as well finish the rest. Let's see…when you walked in I was immediately on alert. I hadn't seen you in months…not since…" she trailed off, blushing.

"The night we spent together after you finally acknowledged your feelings for me," he finished with a smile, taking her hand. That had been one of the happiest nights of his life and he would never forget it.

"Yes. I was overjoyed to see you, and your presence and touch gave me strength. I knew if I was ever going to break free this was the time. However, that still wasn't enough. As you saw, I could break through for several moments but then she came back. I had the horror of watching her hurt you. That's what really gave me strength…thinking of you and how I was causing you pain. When she tried to kill you, I was so scared I couldn't stop it; I couldn't bear to watch you die and know I had done it. However, I couldn't do anything."

Then she smiled for the first time in her whole recitation. "Then I heard you say you loved me. I don't know why, but that gave me the strength I needed. I think maybe I was dying for the opportunity to tell you I loved you too," she said, tracing his tattoo with her finger. "After that I was able to take control and stop her from killing you. I ran over to you and soon you were unconscious. I used your com to contact Voyager and Tom beamed us up to sickbay. You can probably guess the rest…the Dr. made sure I was severed from the collective for good, then I deactivated him and cared for you."

She leaned in and kissed him again, cupping his face in her hands. "Thank you," was all she said.

"For what?"

"For coming after me, for saving me…for loving me."

"Any time," he said smiling and taking both her hands in his. "I told you before Kathryn, I will always be here for you whether you like it or not. Your wants and needs will always come first. You are my life…I love you."

"And I love you Chakotay…more than anything."

"Then marry me." The words were out of his mouth before he could even think, and he could tell they surprised her. But once they were said he knew they made total sense. Almost losing her had taught him he never wanted to go through that again. If they were married, he wouldn't have to worry about that; they would be together forever. "I don't want to lose you again Kathryn. Please say you'll be my wife."

"Yes," she said in a small voice, barely a whisper. Than her face burst into the most radiant smile and she leaped on him, hugging him around the neck. "Oh yes!"

Smiling he pulled her to him and their lips met. All was right again with the universe.