Chapter Four

-=/\=-

It'd been over twelve hours since Chakotay had found out that Kathryn was pregnant with someone else's child. Part of him wondered exactly who she'd been with during their time together. He thought back to fourteen weeks prior, she'd gone on a mission with Tom to a planet and had been gone for nearly six days. Could she really have had an affair with someone on the planet, or worse, could Tom and she have both cheated.

What would B'Elanna do if she found out that Tom had cheated on her, well she probably wouldn't have reacted quite as calmly as he had, they'd probably find both Tom and the Captain floating in space. He sighed pushing the thought away, would either one of them seriously do that? He decided that she either had another partner on the ship, or she'd had an affair with one of the aliens she'd been negotiating with. None of this made any since to him.

His chime rang; he really wasn't in the mood for company, what if it was her? He couldn't stand to face her, not yet. He'd purposefully walked away from her to keep himself from doing something stupid. He wasn't typically a violent man, but he saw red when she'd told him. The chime rang again and he decided that he'd answer it; he prayed that it wasn't Kathryn.

B'Elanna walked into Chakotay's quarters, the lights were low, she could see his medicine bundle sitting on the coffee table, it was wrapped up. He stood up, "B'Elanna?" he asked surprised to see her.

She walked up to him, "we need to talk." She told him, he knew the tone in her voice, she was not happy with him about something.

"Alright," he said, "would you like something first?" he asked, not sure what this was all about. He was completely unaware that she'd been talking with Kathryn, and he knew she wasn't on the bridge when everything went down, so he didn't think that she knew anything.

"No, just to talk." She sat down without asking on his couch.

He took a seat across from her. "What's up B'E?" he asked.

She looked him straight in the eyes, "I had an interesting conversation with the Captain this afternoon." She watched his reaction; his face became set, and his jaw tensed up. Anger flashed in his eyes. He nodded not sure how much she knew of the situation. "Tom came to me in engineering during his break with some interesting information, so I went to go and see how much merit he'd had. When I entered the ready room she was nearly in shambles."

He crossed his arms but still didn't respond, he wasn't sure he wanted to know how much she knew. She was becoming angry at him, herself for how he was acting. "She told me…"

He finally broke his silence as he stood; his posture said everything, "she told you about her condition right?" He turned back to look at her, placing his hands on the back of the chair, "did she tell you it's not mine?"

"Yes, she did as a matter of fact." She too had stood.

He laughed in jest, "did she at least tell you who the father was? I would really like to know who she's been sleeping with behind my back." He was now pacing back and forth.

She raised her voice some, "No, she didn't tell me who the father was, because she doesn't know."

He stopped and looked at her, the boiling rage building up inside him once more. He laughed maniacally and started heading towards his bedroom. B'Elanna recognized a retreat when she saw one and quickly made her way in front of him. "B'Elanna move" he stated in a low tone.

"No, not until you hear me out or is that the latest thing? You say that you'll hear someone out and then you leave before they have a chance to explain themselves." Her eyes flashed as she looked deeply into his. Her temper was just as hot as his was at the moment. "She told me you promised that you would hear her completely out before you said or did anything, but you broke that promise." She'd crossed her arms in front of her chest and lifted her head as tall as she could.

He turned to walk away from her and she reached out and grabbed his arm. "Don't walk away from me," He attempted to break her grip but she had a firm one, "listen," her voice softened, "She loves you more than anything in the universe and would never cheat on you. It wasn't her choice to get pregnant; she doesn't know who the father is because she was violated." He stopped shock playing across his features, B'Elanna let go of his wrist as he turned to look at her. "She tried to tell you" she finished.

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, "Oh my spirits." He felt weak in the knees; B'Elanna guided him back to the couch and had him sit down. "I was just so angry at the thought that she could have… I"

B'Elanna coked her head to the side, "you didn't get her a chance to say otherwise." She sat down and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know, I was pretty angry when I'd heard her say that the baby wasn't yours, I wanted to scream at her and shout at her, but I gave her a chance to explain, at first I wasn't going to, but it really wasn't fair to not at least give her that."

He looked at the woman before him, she was wise, "I know, but I mean, we haven't even crossed the line, to think that she'd, with someone else, Oh man what have I done." He wasn't usually one to break a promise, and this time it was one that was very important.

"I would suggest that you go to her, she'll be out of sickbay in about an hour. I just dropped her off. The Doctor is trying to figure out who the father is. She hasn't told Tuvok yet, because she wants to make sure it isn't a member of the crew before her personal life gets spread all over the ship." She was trying to give him as much support as she could as well.

He nodded, he didn't know how to react; he looked B'Elanna in the eyes, "forgive an old fool?"

She nodded, and opened her arms to hug him. "So help me Chakotay, if I find who did this, I'm going to rip their heart out of their chest and eat it raw." She stated through gritted teeth.

He released her and looked her in the eyes, "not if I get to him first."

-=/\=-

The Doctor finished his scan he'd had her sedated because of how deeply he needed to scan, she couldn't' move during it. He pressed a hypo-spray into her neck and watched as she slowly awoke. She moved her head side to side and then finally settled onto the Doctor's face. Her mouth only twitched slightly in an acknowledgement that he was finished. He reached his hand out to her and helped her into a sitting position.

She swung her legs over the edge of the biobed griping it slightly. She looked down at her feet, she was cold; the doctor had had her remove everything but her tank and shorts. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "I will have the results in about twenty minutes, but, the baby is one hundred percent human, there is no alien DNA."

She looked up at him her eyes wide; the implication of his statement sent a shockwave of fear through her, not just for herself but for the other woman on her ship. "You're certain?"

He nodded, "I'm afraid so."

"Thank you, that means there someone else I should talk to right now." She was about to stand when he stopped her.

"Captain with all due respect, you need to eat something, you haven't had anything since yesterday evening, and I don't need to remind you that you hadn't kept very much of it. You're not going to do yourself any favors by starving." He was concerned, even though she at this point wasn't sure if she was going to keep the child within her or not, it would still take every bit of her reserves. She was already shaking and had almost no color in her cheeks.

"I'm just not hungry Doctor." She looked him in the eyes; they held a sad hunted expression.

He sighed and grabbed a hypo-spray and pressed a few buttons, "here, at least this will help some, I still want you to eat something but that will at least bring your blood sugar and electrolyte levels up, it is also chopped full of vitamins."

She rubbed her neck where the hypo-spray had been pressed too. She nodded and stood; she grabbed the rest of her uniform off of the table and quickly put it on. She had no intention of walking though the ship without being fully covered, not if there was someone out there that would take sick sadistic pleasure in seeing her in the state of undress.

No more words were exchanged as she prepared herself to leave. He would call her with the results, he knew the person she was going to talk to was Tuvok, since it appeared that there was a member of the crew that had done this, it was time to notify him.

-=/\=-

Tuvok was in deep meditation when it was interrupted by the sound of his door. Opening his eyes he looked up and stood. "Enter" he stated and watched as the person who'd interrupted him moved into the room. She stopped, she saw that he'd been meditating, she felt bad for interrupting him. She took a deep breath and waited. "Captain" he stated moving closer to her. "Computer lights fifty percent."

"I'm sorry for interrupting you." She stated not looking at him.

"No apology necessary," he moved over to the replicator and pressed a couple of buttons, he handed her the glass of spiced tea.

"Thank you" she still wasn't sure how she was going to explain what was wrong.

"Please have a seat." He motioned for the couch. She only nodded and walked to where he'd indicated, she carefully sat down. He took a seat next to her and clasped his hands together, "what is troubling you?" he inquired, he knew her well enough to know this wasn't a social call. Her body language coupled with the earlier events he'd witnessed on the bridge wasn't hard to ignore, something was amiss.

She looked up to look him in the face; he was so calm she was hoping that some of it would rub off on her. "Tuvok, there's serious security issue on this ship." She started.

He raised his eyebrow, "Captain?" he questioned; he'd been unaware that there was anything that needed his attention aside from routine operations. He took note that her hands were shaking as she held the cup. He reached out and placed one hand on hers stalling the movement.

"Tuvok, someone on this ship." She looked away and down to where he held onto her hand. She took a deep breath, "About Fourteen weeks ago, I apparently was assaulted," she took pause, "sexually" she added, "the problem is I can't remember anything." She looked into his face her eyes searching his.

He nodded, "I will look into the matter immediately, are your certain of this happening?" he asked her, he needed to know logically how she had come to this conclusion. He'd also inquired because she had said that she had no knowledge of the event.

She nodded and placed the cup she'd been holding down on the coffee table. "I'm one hundred percent certain that I was violated," she took a breath; "the evidence is here." She placed her hand on her lower abdomen. "I found out last night, I didn't tell you right away because we weren't sure if it was a member of the crew or not." Her voice was calm as she spoke; she was beyond the emotional stage with everything that had happened. She was numb. "I just came from sickbay, the doctor took some deep level DNA scans of the fetus, he'll know who the father is in about fifteen minutes, but he confirmed that it is human."

Tuvok nodded, "that leaves only a member of the crew."

She nodded and looked at him, "I want you to come with me when I get the results." She looked down at the hand that still rested on hers, the contrast of their skin together accenting the smallness of her hand. "Both as my friend, and as my chief of security, once we know who it was, I want him to be arrested."

He nodded. "And what about the commander?" he asked.

She looked down and her ability to control her emotions began to wane, "we, we're not on very good terms right now."

He nodded, "I will help you in any way I can."

She looked up into his eyes again, she reached out and hugged him, "Tuvok, what would I ever do without you?" she asked. He knew this was rhetorical question and simply mimicked what he knew was the appropriate response to the embrace. He placed one had on her back and the other on her head simply patting it for a moment until she broke the hug. The two of them then sat in silence as they waited for the Doctor to summon her.

-=/\=-

In the mess hall Tom was getting anxious, B'Elanna and he were supposed to meet up for dinner, but she was a no show. He looked up when he saw Harry come over carrying his dinner try. "So any idea about what's going on between the command team?" he asked as he took his seat across from Tom.

"Nothing, I went to go and talk with him, but he wasn't having any of it. B'Elanna went to talk with the Captain, but I haven't seen her since I watched her disappear into the ready room." He leaned back and looked towards the door, "she was supposed to meet me for dinner."

"Have you asked the computer where she is?" Harry inquired.

"No, she could be with the Captain still, or she could be talking with Chakotay." Tom took a sip of his coffee. "I just wish I knew what was going on."

The two men looked up as Neelix came up to the table; he took a chair and flipped it around sitting down with his arms resting on the back of it. "So do you two have any ideas about what might have happened between the command team?"

Harry looked at him, "what'd you hear?" he asked wondering who'd let the events slip. He looked at Tom suspiciously.

"Hey it wasn't me" he stated, "the only person I told was B'Elanna, in her office."

"It wasn't Tom, it was Vorik he mentioned that there seemed to be some unrest with the command team. And then I heard a few more talking like they'd broken up. I was wondering how much of this was true?" he was asking out of his own curiosity and the fact that if the command team had broken up, it could be very bad for the crew's moral.

"Well I don't know what they heard, but as far as we know they simply had a fight, couples do have fights. Until we know more I suggest that we try to play rumor mill damage control, because if they have had an argument, which we suspect they have, that is the last thing that needs to get back to them that the whole ship is talking about it." Tom had become rather wise in the time he was on Voyager.

"I agree" Harry stated, he looked up to see Seven walk into the room, she approached their table.

"Is it true that the Captain has confined the Commander to his quarters for the rest of our journey back to the Alpha Quadrant?" she raised her silver implant towards her hair line as she stood with her hands joined behind her back.

Harry rolled his eyes, "No, and where did you hear that?" he asked.

"Tal Celes," she paused for a moment, "though her information isn't always accurate." She stated thoughtfully.

Tom looked at Neelix, "don't look now, but it sounds like we may have a ship wide outbreak of rumors already."

Seven just stood there wondering what exactly was being meant by their conversation, Neelix was starting to feel overwhelmed, and both Harry and Tom knew that the worst of it was still to come if someone didn't figure out how to patch things together soon.

-=/\=-

B'Elanna walked with Chakotay; he needed to talk to Kathryn. He felt very sheepish, he'd hurt her very badly on top of the injustice she'd already faced. They paused in front of her quarters and rang the chime, there was no answer. He rang a few more times. "I don't get it" B'Elanna stated, "she said when she was done with sickbay that she'd return to her quarters, I don't know where else she could be."

Chakotay nodded, "Computer, locate Captain Janeway."

"Captain Janeway is in sickbay." The computer's voice resonated through the corridor.

The two locked eyes with each other and headed back down direction they came, "I can't imagine the procedure taking that long." B'Elanna stated.

"She may be getting the results." He looked back towards the woman, he was walking quickly. The pair arrived in sickbay just a few minutes later.

-=/\=-

Kathryn, Tuvok, and the Doctor looked back as the doors to sickbay opened. Kathryn quickly looked away when she saw Chakotay.

He walked in and up to the other three B'Elanna holding back slightly. "Kathryn" he started using her name instead of her title. "Can we talk?"

She didn't turn to look at him, "I'm a little busy right now." She stated, her tone was harsher then she intended, the hurt from earlier coming back to sting.

He looked at the rest of the people in the room, and they all walked to the other side of sickbay leaving them alone. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off. She rested her arms on the consol; they hadn't quite gotten to the results when they were interrupted.

He watched her posture and could tell her resolve was breaking. "I'm sorry" he simply said.

She was crying but didn't want him to know. She tried to make her voice sound normal but failed miserably. "You didn't hear me out, even though you said you would." She slowly turned to look at him.

"I know, and I feel awful about that, B'Elanna told me everything." He looked down then up, he reached his hand out to touch her cheek; she let him leaning into the warmth slightly. His thumb brushed one of her tears away.

"You didn't trust me." She cried, "How could you think I'd ever do that to you."

"I understand now, it's just, I mean the circumstances, it pointed to what I thought. I know I should have let you finish, but I was so angry that I knew if I didn't leave that, I would have said or done something stupid." He reached up his other hand and cupped her face, "can you forgive me?" he looked deeply into her shimmering eyes.

She nodded crying harder, and she fell into his embrace. She needed him, she couldn't' face her current reality without him. He held on to her tightly trying to let her know how much he really did care for her. After a few moments she sniffed and then pulled away from him. She used the back of her hands to clear her eyes. "I think we need to find out who did this to me." She stated, she didn't want to know but she needed too. "I'd like you to stay, just you have to promise me; you'll let Tuvok handle him. I don't want to have to lock you in the brig for murder." She tried to make a joke, but she knew that there was a pretty good possibility of it happening.

He nodded, "as hard as it will be, I will."

She cleared her throat and then called out, "Doctor, we're ready." The other's came out of the other side of sickbay through the Doctor's office, B'Elanna was starting to walk towards the door. "B'Elanna." Kathryn said, "I think I'd like it if you were here too."

She nodded and walked up to stand next to her, Chakotay was behind her letting her know that he was there and wasn't planning on leaving her. The Doctor stood to her left and Tuvok just on the other side. The Doctor pressed a few buttons and the results of the exam were in front of them. He looked up at her, "I found something very interesting, if you look here, this is one strand of DNA in your baby." He stated pointing to an image of a base pair. And, this is your DNA," he pointed to another sequence; they were virtually identical except for the differences that would be expected between mother and child. They all nodded, "now, I found no match to the second strand of DNA on the ship."

She looked up into his face, "what do you mean? I don't need to remind you that we haven't exactly had contact with other humans out here aside from the crew." She stated.

"No you don't, I didn't find a match until I ran an even deeper level analysis." He brought up another strand of DNA, "look here, these two strands are nearly identical except there appears to be an unknown mutation here, here, and here." He pointed to a few of the base pairs. "That is why the computer didn't detect the similarities right away." She looked intently at the screen, "now if I bring up all three of the DNA Strands, we'll use yours as a base comparison, this is what I have."

All the people in the room starred at the screen, aside from the mutations that the Doctor and pointed out all three strands were identical. Kathryn's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, she laughed in disbelief, "Doctor, you're not saying that this baby is." She couldn't even figure out what the words were to describe what she was thinking.

"You and the fetus inside you share ninety eight percent of your DNA." He stated.

No one dare move, they all were thinking the same thing; Tuvok was the first to speak, "interesting."

Kathryn looked at Tuvok then back to the Doctor, "how is that even possible?" she could feel Chakotay's hand on her shoulder and B'Elanna's on her arm.

"I don't know, in essence the child you are carrying is a clone of you, sort of. Somehow your DNA was replicated, mutated, and fused with one of your eggs, how that happen I do not know." He looked at her, "It could have happened randomly due to some sort of anomaly that you were exposed to, or the more sinister possibility is that there was an experiment done on you, I don't need to tell you that it isn't the first time we've run into that possibility. Anyway, what we need to do to find out how this happened is to retrace everything that happened between fourteen to fifteen weeks ago."

Kathryn wasn't so traumatized now, there was a possibility that somehow this life inside her was created by accident, but then again it may not have been. She quickly snapped out of the shock and devastation she'd found herself in earlier in the day and slipped back into Captain Mode. "Doctor, I would like you to perform physicals on all crewmembers, if there is someone performing experiments on the crew we need to know about it. Tuvok, I want you to run full security sweeps of the ship, look for anything out of the ordinary, if this was an experiment I doubt that the people that are performing it would just leave without recording any results."

The two men nodded and said their 'Aye Captains' and she turned to address the other two that were with her in the room. "B'Elanna, see if you can help fine tune our sensors, if there something out there I'd like to be able to find it. Commander, we can discuss this situation over dinner, I'm feeling hungry and I will need to talk to Tom, to go over all the information we have from our away mission" she stopped and looked up, "We both had an incident where we felt like something was on the Delta Flyer with us, we can look over all available data. Also Doctor, if you can try to figure out how my DNA was mutated, it will probably be important to know." Everyone nodded again. "Alright let's get to work."

-=/\=-

Tom and Harry were about to leave when the doors opened and in walked B'Elanna, Chakotay, and Kathryn. They both looked relieved, "Mr. Paris, Kim" Kathryn stated motioning towards the far table in the corner. Chakotay grabbed three trays and followed the group to where Kathryn led them too.

Once they were seated she began to speak, "Mr. Kim, first thing in the morning I want you to assist Seven of Nine in astrometrics, I need you to take some long range scans of the Asteroid belt that surrounded the Ranok home world, Mr. Paris, I would like to have a meeting with you tomorrow, I need some more information about our away mission." They both nodded, "We'll have a staff meeting at 0900 hours tomorrow don't be late."

The two men stated in unison, "Yes Captain."

"Very good," she nodded, "that's all" she let them know that they were free to go. Harry took off immediately he had a few things that he'd needed to do before he turned in, Tom lingered behind. "Yes Tom?" she said in a softer tone, B'Elanna just looked up at him.

"Is everything alright?" he looked behind him to make sure there wasn't anyone else close by that would over hear them, "between you two?"

Chakotay nodded, "yes, it was a very big misunderstanding, you'll know more tomorrow at the staff meeting."

Tom accepted this information and turned to B'Elanna, she smiled, "I'll catch up with you shortly. I was busy and as you know didn't get dinner."

He nodded and took off as well leaving Kathryn, B'Elanna, and Chakotay to discuss the day's events in peace. Thankfully no one on the crew had caused the problem, but all that was left now to decide was if she would keep the life that shared ninety eight percent of DNA or not, and how the life came to be in the first place.