Chapter 3
"So how did you become interested in voyager?" asked Kathryn. It was about two and half weeks after the reported disappearance. She was talking to Finn about voyager.
"Well, the disappearance was reported an exact year after I moved to Colorado. And it was all over the news for about a month. It was hard not to get sucked in." he smiled charmingly at her over his coffee. Kathryn smiled back. Kathryn must have smiled with Finn more than she had in an entire year back on earth. Kathryn and Finn clicked on so many levels. But she still didn't want to tell him her real name. To Finn she was "Kate"
The next day Finn walked in and immediately scanned for Kate. She wasn't there yet, but the paper was. He wondered vaguely if there was anything about voyager. His mind was still on Kate. The headliner was "recent photos of captain Janeway." Finn flipped the page and what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Just then Kate walked in the door. He looked at her then back down at the paper. Time seemed to stop as her eyes locked onto his then dropped down to the paper he was holding. Kate's jaw dropped and almost in slow motion she spun and pushed her way out the door. Finn dropped the paper and by the time he got to the door she was racing down the street. He hissed under his breath and ran after her. He'd been waiting too long. But damn it, she was fast. He knew that if she turned a corner it would be all over. She started to turn and Finn put on an extra burst of speed. Almost there, a little closer, and he'd have her. Then, he caught Kathryn's wrist, spun her toward him and grabbed her other arm. She twisted and squirmed trying vainly to free her self from his grasp. But Finn held her tight. She caught her breath and looked him in the eye with a blazing look.
"Why didn't you tell me you're Kathryn Janeway?" he demanded. Kathryn faltered.
"Because I didn't want you tell anyone." She said looking at him.
"That's outrageous! Who the hell would I tell?" he said now slightly confused. Kathryn looked at him now looking slightly angrily.
" There's a reason I left san Fran sisco. I didn't want to be around my crew any more." She said. Finn stared at her.
" Fine, I wont even ask. But why come here?" he asked. She shrugged the best she could considering he had her arms pinned.
" I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time." Finn released her arms. She surprised him by not turning and running. She was still breathing hard. Kathryn turned and walked up to the nearest house. She stood there with the door open.
" Well are you coming or not?" He crossed the threshold and found himself in a small, sparsely furnished house. It was clean and modern. Kathryn was removing her coat. Finn noticed that by holding her wrists so tightly they had bruised.
"Do you want any thing?" she asked turning to him.
"Oh, no" said Finn shaking his head. Kathryn smiled, walked into her kitchen then returned a moment later with two cups of coffee. " Thanks." He said taking it gratefully. She sat down at her small kitchen table. For a moment she was quiet. Then she said
"It's okay. You can ask. I can tell you're dyeing to." Kathryn looked at him, with a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth.
" What was it like? The delta quadrant I mean?" Finn asked with out hesitation. She looked down into her coffee.
"Most of the time, it was daunting. You know the consent threat of being killed by hirogan or kazon. Or even worse, being assimilated by the Borg. But sometimes, it was almost nice." Kathryn was looking at him. Finn could tell this was the start of something new for them.
Every morning Finn would stop by common grounds then proceed to Kathryn's house. Once their Kathryn would talk about voyager. After that they would talk about other things. Once Kathryn asked him "you never told me, what exactly do you do?"
" I'm a board member at the hospital here. I suppose it's like a business man, a doctor and a lawyer combined." He said with a rather wry smile. " My father was a doctor and I wanted to follow in his foot steps but in the end I discovered I liked this better." Kathryn tipped her head to one side looking at him, and then asked, "Why's that?" Finn thought for a moment. " Well I'm the youngest board member so I usually end up being the one defending the doctors. All the other board members are really to old to care what happens to them. But as it turns out I usually win the case." Kathryn smiled at him.
A few days later he came to her house looking slightly annoyed.
"whets wrong?" Kathryn asked him.
"The lease on my apartment is up and I have to move out by the end of the week." Said Finn.
"Why don't you move in with me?" Kathryn spoke before even considering what she was saying.
"Excuse me?" asked Finn, sure he had misheard.
" You should move in with me. It would be a lot less farther for you to walk" She said.
"Okay. I accept." Said Finn. By the end of the week he had moved into Kathryn's spare bedroom.
A few days after this transition, Finn got a page that he was needed at the hospital for a board meeting. Kathryn volunteered to go with him. " I can't stay in this house forever, finn." she said flippantly. He relented and let her come with. The hospital was a five and half block walk from her house.
As they entered, most of the nurses threw hatful looks at Kathryn. once safely inside the elevator Kathryn asked Finn, "what was that?" he looked at her sheepishly.
"lots of the women here, er, like me." Finn looked at her and saw much to his relief that she was hiding a smile. They arrived on the 3rd floor were the board meeting was to held. They exited and walked to the nurse's station. Carla Espinosa, the head nurse , was there doing paper work. " Hi Carla." Said Finn, reaching the desk.
" hello finn." She replied with out looking up. Much to Kathryn's relief Carla was wearing a wedding ring.
"Carla, I want you to meet Kate." Said Finn. Finally Carla looked up.
"oh. It's nice to meet you." She said shaking Kathryn's hand.
"likewise." Kathryn replied, taking her hand.
Finn spoke, "could you let dr. Kelso know that I'm here?" Carla nodded. As she turned away Carla's husband Chris Turk, and his best friend J.D. came up.
"hey Finn! What's up?" said Turk loudly.
" the ceiling." Said Finn. Why did Turk find it necessary to ask him this every time? He was always going to have the same answer.
"Ha ha." Said Turk sarcastically.
"So finn who will you be rescuing this time?" asked J.D.
"Hopefully, not you." Said Finn, joking. But J.D. had been distracted by Kathryn.
" Hey Finn, whose your friend?" asked J.D eyeing her. Kathryn moved a millimeter closer to Finn.
" This is Kate. Kate this is Turk and J.D" he said both J.D and Turk nodded to her. Just then their other friend, Elliot Reed, came up to talk to Carla.
"Hi Finn. How are you?" she asked him.
" I'm fine, Elliot I'd like you to meet my friend, Kate." Said Finn gesturing to Kathryn.
" It's nice to meet you." Said Kathryn politely. Elliot nodded politely, then turned to talk to Carla. Just then a loud, sarcastic voice erupted behind them.
" Well, well, well, what do we have here? Oh, why it's the Brady bunch." Kathryn tuned and found herself facing a tall, proud looking man.
" Kate this is Dr. Perry Cox. And his ex- wife, Jordan." Said Finn frowning slightly.
" Oh sorry finn. I didn't realize you and your girl friend were standing there." Said dr. Cox. Just as Kathryn was about to say hello, a very ugly look crossed his face. She turned and saw anthore man approaching. " Well bobo, whose career are you ruining today?" asked dr. Cox, crossing his arms over his chest.
" This is Dr. kelso, chief of medicine." Whispered Finn, entrancingly close to her.
"Perry, if all you wanted to take cheap shots all day then you should have gone into sports, but until then get out of my way." Said doctor kelso looking board. " If you two would be so kind to accominy, me." He said gesturing to Finn and Jordan. He opened a door and waved them througe. Thee door slid shut and Kathryn sighed. She then turned and found Carla, Elliot, Turk, and J.D. staring at her.
" Can I help you?" she asked them nervously. God she hoped they hadn't realized who she was. She and Finn had deiced to use her fake name.
"So what's it like?" asked Elliot, staring at Kathryn
" What?" asked Kathryn, now thourgeoly confused.
" What's it like dating Finn." Said Carla, as though stating the obvis.
" Finn and I are not dating. We're just friends." Said Kathryn
" Sure." Said Carla sarcastically. Then she turned away. Every one left. Kathryn sat down to watch the work around her.
Near the end of the board meeting Elliot came over to Carla." I forgot to give you this earlier. It has interviews with the crew of voyager, and recent pictures of captain Janeway." She said handing over a newspaper. Kathryn spun around and saw Carla holding a newspaper. She bent down to pick a box of paper clippings. Just then the boardroom door opened. Finn Jordan, and the other have poured out of the boardroom. Carla opened the newspaper, and looked at the photos. As she did Finn reached Kathryn, and realized what was transpiring. He gazed, horror struck as Carla looked up and yelled at the top of her lungs, "CAPTAIN JANEWAY IS STANDING RIGHT THERE!" A very long terse pause followed this proclamation. Kathryn could feel all eyes on her.
Finn grasped her arm and started to back away slowly and carefully. Carla's statement hadn't sunk in completely yet. "Get ready to run," he whispered to her. " They oppressed with you, and dr. Cox runs a six minute mile." Finally every thing that Carla said had its affect.
"GET HER!" yowled J.D. Kathryn and Finn sprinted towards the nearest elevator. Finn prepared to push the button, but Kathryn pulled him into a medical supply closet. " Why did you do that?" he asked, looking at her.
"Because, they'll assume that we took the elevator. Now shush!" she said, rather forcefully. Kathryn pressed her ear against the door. Finn realized that she was right. He heard voices from outside the door.
"Did they take the elevator?"
"Yes."
" We need to catch them." Finn heard the elevator doors open, then closed. Kathryn waited a moment then opened the door to a deserted corridor.
" Come on." She whispered, pulling him into a nearby room. She closed the door then crossed to the window and opened it. She looked down as though judging something. She turned to him and asked, " Do you trust me?" Finn looked at her and replied,
" With my life." Kathryn smiled at him.
"Good. Now come over here." She said. Finn walked over to the opened window. " This is only a two story jump. It wouldn't hurt us." Kathryn said looking at him and taking his hand. "Okay. Ready?" she asked making an attempt at a smile.
" As I'll ever be." Said Finn. Then they jumped.
To Finn, the jump seemed to go in slow motion. He turned his head to watch Kathryn as she jumped. Finn watched her face, with a passionate expression of determination. Her slender, lithe body pointed towards the covering like an arrow. In those few crystalline moments Finn realized that Kathryn was everything he desired more than anything he had ever known.
The covering came up to meet them and the impact shocked Finn but didn't hurt him. He got up with Kathryn and ran to the edge of the covering. They jumped again. At that same moment the elevator doors opened and the hospital staff saw as Kathryn and Finn jumped and they gave chase. Kathryn and Finn were already up and running toward the street. The staff was in hot pursuit. Kathryn and Finn were weaving in and out of the crowded streets, trying to lose the staff. Their legs still hurt from their earlier jump and it was getting harder to run. was almost on top of them as they put on an extra burst of speed, turned onto their street, opened the door, and ducked safely inside before dr. Cox saw which house it was.
Kathryn and Finn sat panting with their backs pressed against the door. Finn looked over at Kathryn, who was having a hard time catching her breath. As soon as she managed to stop coughing and asphyxiating, he reached over, caught her by the chin, and kissed her. Their lips stayed pressed together. Finn could feel her body tensing in surprise, and then relaxing under his touch. By degrees, they then gently pulled away from each other, and looked shyly at each other. Finn was now sure that the feeling was mutual.
As soon as Carla got back to the hospital, she contacted the federation. Carla gave them all the information she had on Captain Janeway.
That night commander Chacotay got a message from someone named Carla Esponasosa. "Hello. My name is Carla Esponasosa, and I have information regarding the warebouts of captain Janeway…." Two minutes later, Chacotay was contacting the rest of the senior crew. They all lived within transported distance of each other, so tom, B'lenna, Harry, Tuvok, and the doctor were all there fairly quickly. Once they were all seated, Chacotay began. "a woman named Carla contacted me saying that she has seen the captain." There was a collective gasp that came up from every one.
"where?" asked tom.
"in Colorado." Anserwed Chacotay.
" Colorado?" said B'lenna skeptically. " Are you sure this isn't just a hoax?"
" All the same, we should go tomorrow, just to check." Answered Chacotay. Reluctantly the rest of the crew agreed. Tomorrow they would search heritage Colorado.