Chp. 4

Usual Disclaimers.

Review please!

They made love for the first time that night. There didn't seem much of a point in waiting.

They woke up together the next morning, looked at each other, the immediately began to knock down some walls – literally.

They spent the day rearranging the shelter, making one bedroom bigger and moving everything from the other into it. As the sun set, a full day after their first kiss, they sat together on the grass in front of the shelter, gazing up at it. The gray exterior of the shelter had, in the months since their arrival, almost disappeared under the criss-crossing of logs Chakotay had carved out. He had tripled the square footage, and he was hoping to be done in the next few weeks.

"So, what's the new floor plan?"

He sighed and leaned back on his hands. "I guess we don't need the two bedrooms anymore."

"Well, until today we had planned on two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, dining area, two bathrooms and a den. Sooo…now we just turn one of those bedrooms into a…library?"

Chakotay was silent for a moment. "Oh, no."

"What?"

He sat up straight. "Oh, no, no, no."

Kathryn sat up next to him. "Chakotay, what?"

He looked at her, his eyes panicked. "Kathryn, we haven't had a physical since we left the ship. We're supposed to have one every year. Mine was supposed to be three months ago."

"So?" she asked, puzzled. "My yearly was supposed to be a month after we got here. What's your point?"

"Kathryn, we're not up to date on our boosters."

"Which boosters are you…" her voice trailed off as she realized what he meant. "Oh."

They stared at each other. They looked away from each other, then back again. The sun finished setting while they sat in silence.

Kathryn finally spoke up. "There's only a very small chance, Chakotay. It was just once, and I'm not as young as I used to be. It might not have happened."

"Would we be able to tell now?"

"No. I'd say probably a week."

Chakotay ran a hand through his hair. "I should have thought about this. I can't believe this. How could I have been so stupid?"

She frowned. "Chakotay, I was there too, you know."

"I initiated it! I should have remembered…"

She grabbed his hand. "Listen, there was no reason to think about it. We've both been on boosters since we entered the academy. Actually, I've been on them since high school. They're just something we take for granted. They're administered automatically unless you specify otherwise, so there's never a reason to think about it. This isn't anyone's fault. And I might not even be pregnant. I don't think you should be worrying about it until we know for sure." She snuggled up closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "If I'm pregnant, we'll have a baby."

"Kathryn! What kind of life can we give a baby? Growing up with just us? And then when we die, it'll be all alone."

"There's the shuttle. And we don't know that we'll be here forever. We also so don't know if we'll always be alone here." She looked up at him and smiled. "Aren't you always saying we don't know what the future will be?"

He frowned. "Hey, don't use my words against me!"

She laughed. "Well, you're being silly. I really don't think I'm pregnant. If I am, you'll make one of those rooms a nursery. If I'm not, you'll make it a library. And until we know anything, we'll just have to be careful. I'm afraid the doctor neglected to include boosters in out cache of medical supplies."

"I guess he didn't think we'd end up like this."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Or maybe he did."

As fate had it, she wasn't pregnant, and they didn't have to wait a week to find out. She came out of the shower three days later while he was laying on the couch reading after a hard day of working. She leaned against the doorframe, still in her towel, and crossed her arms. "Well, I just got my period."

He slowly laid the book on his chest and looked up at her. "I'm assuming part of our medical cache is medication for that."

"Naturally. And in the replicator files." She grinned wryly. "Let us pray we never run out and that the replicator never dies."

"Well, I'll certainly be speaking to my spirit guide about it." He sat up to make room for her, and she sat down next to him. "So we'll have to be very careful from now on."

"We could replicate condoms."

"What?"

She looked up at him. "You've never heard of them?" He shook his head, and she giggled. "Well, I'll show you one later. Let's just say it's how people prevented against pregnancy before boosters."

"Ummm…okay." He pulled her close to him. "Kathryn, I'm sorry we can't have children. I would love to have a baby with you."

"I know. And I would love to have one with you. If we could find a cure, we could leave and have a family. But I don't see how we can at this point. I'll do what research I can, but I really can't do much."

"Well, that's that, then."

She sighed. "I guess it is." Then she brightened. "But we'll always have each other."

"How poetic."

She punched him in the arm. "Don't condescend to me!"

"Oh, you don't like my condensation?" he reached over and tickled her. "You sure about that?"

She laughed harder. "Stop! Stop it! My towel's going to fall off!"

"You just said the magic words." And with one swipe he pulled the towel off of her and threw it across the room, still tickling her.

She shrieked. "Chakotay!"

He leaned down and kissed her, and all thoughts of babies were forgotten.

"Happy one year!"

Kathryn stood inside the kitchen door, her mouth open in surprise. "What's all this?"

Chakotay moved towards her and took her basket. She had been out looking for berries all day. "It's dinner."

She took off her light jacket and placed it on the hook near the door. "But you made me breakfast this morning!"

"And now it's dinner time." He pulled out a chair for her and gestured for her to shit down. She did, and marveled at the table setting in front of her while he went back to the kitchen.

Chakotay had completely carved the table in the dining room, fashioning it from a nine foot long, five foot high tree stump he had found deep in the woods. It had been back breaking labor – for both of them – the get it back to the house, even with being able to carve it out with their phasers. But it had been worth it. It shown like a polished gem, and the wood was smoother than silk to Kathryn. She had knit a pale green tablecloth for it, and tonight, four silver candlesticks and white china adorned it. The candles were lit, and were the only lights in the fading twilight. The wineglasses were filled; a crystal vase in the middle of the table held a dozen multicolored roses, and a basket of fluffy biscuits were next to it. A large box was on the seat next to hers, and she wondered what was in it, but decided to wait for Chakotay.

He came out of the kitchen holding two steaming bowls. "Here you go, my lady. A bowl of chicken soup to help settle your stomach." He set it down in front of her.

She smiled. "I'll assume yours isn't chicken."

He set his soup down and sat at his place. "Mine is rice and vegetables."

She spooned some soup from the bowl and took a taste. "I wish you would tell me what your secret ingredient is! This is amazing!"

He grinned, flashing his dimples at her. "You really want to know? I might just tell you, since it is out anniversary."

It had been a year. Not a year since they had arrived; they celebrated that six months ago. They had spent the day then trying to find the monkey who had been hiding from them all winter, only to find him with another primate and a baby one. Kathryn had been enchanted with the infant monkey. She had promptly named Abu's wife Lilo and the infant male Mowgli. When he questioned her about it, she said that she was keeping the Disney holovid tradition and was naming them after characters. Lilo had been a character in Lilo and Stitch, about a little girl and her pet alien, and Mowgli was the name of a boy raised in the jungle in The Jungle Book. He had just laughed softly and wrapped his arms around her as they watched the new family.

After that, they took a boat ride down the river, and spent the night laying in the field near their newly finished home, watching the stars and reminiscing about Voyager.

"Our lives there are so far away," she said sadly. "I wonder where they are now. I wonder if they…survived."

"I'm sure they did. Tuvok is a wonderful tactician. Our crew is one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of serving with. They'll make it home."

Tonight, they were celebrating the one year anniversary of their first kiss. The beginning of their relationship as lovers, and not just friends. She was touched that he had gone to so much trouble for her, and she was especially touched by the soup. They had eaten a bad batch of what they called blueberries a few days ago. She had eaten the most, and as such her sour stomach was lingering. But for a while, they had both been suffering pretty bad.

They chatted while they finished their soup, and then Chakotay picked up the dishes and disappeared back into the kitchen. He came out with two plates, and set them down carefully.

"Since you're still not feeling great, I decided a light pasta dish would be good for tonight. It has a light pesto sauce. I think it should be okay for you."

"Oh, this smells great!" She took a bite and closed her eyes. "Oh, my God, this is so good." She continued to eat while he looked on with amusement.

"I see you're feeling better." He said, grinning.

"Hey, I didn't eat for days. I have a lot of eating to catch up on."

He shook his head, still smiling, and began eating his own dinner.

They finished dinner, which was followed by a vanilla crème brulee. Everything was delicious, and Kathryn was thrilled with it. She was even more excited when she opened up the gift on the chair to find an assortment of bath beads and bubble bath.

"Oh, Chakotay! These smell amazing!"

"I noticed you always use the same scent, so I came up with a few for you to try."

"This is wonderful." Her eyes welled up with tears. "You're too good to me."

He took her hand. "No, you're too good to me. You fill my soul."

Her tears spilled down. "Oh, honey. That's so hokey."

He laughed. "Well, it's the way I feel." He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "So, shall we try them out?"

She led him to the bath.

Most days they spent together, but there were some days they would be off doing their own things. One day, about a week after their anniversary, Chakotay went to forage for wood to stock up on for the winter, and Kathryn stayed home to finish preserving the fruits and vegetables they had gathered. He had taken the shuttle to bring the wood back in, and it was nearly dark by the time he got back.

"Kathryn?" he called as he entered the house. "Honey, I'm back."

He took off his coat and hung it up. The weather was starting to get chilly, a lot sooner than it had last year. He was glad the house was completely done. They had rearranged the shelter and used it as walls for the interior. It was a cozy house, warm and decorated beautifully by Kathryn. It was the kind of house he would have liked to have raised a family in, but he was happy just to have Kathryn.

"Kathryn?" He called again. It was silent. He checked the bedroom, but she wasn't in there. "Kathryn? Where are you?"

He checked the rest of the house until he got to the bathroom. Thinking she might be taking a shower, he knocked on the door and opened it. She was sitting on the toilet lid, staring into space.

"Hon? Didn't you hear me?"

She turned her head to him, her eyes still glazed over.

"I'm pregnant."

TBC