What the Eyes Cannot See

By: Butterfly Kathryn

Rated: M

Disclaimer: Characters and locations are copyright to their respective owners, no infringement intended.

Summary: A terrible accident while on an away mission leaves Kathryn Janeway permanently disabled. Will she be able to learn to see what's around her?

Chapter Four: The School of Life

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It'd been a few days since she'd woken up from the coma, and Kathryn was being driven crazy with being stuck in sickbay. The doctor still hadn't let her get up out of bed as of yet, though from the sound of it she'd be doing that shortly. She also hadn't had much peace, seemed that there was a different crewmember in sickbay to check on some medical need, or to ask the doctor about something just about every hour. She knew and was sure the doctor knew the real reason behind the sudden ship wide increase in medical services was so they could check up on her.

The latest visitor was Naomi, she had supposedly fallen down and her arm was hurting, however the doctor could find nothing truly wrong with the young girls arm. "Naomi," he said gently, "I believe that you have a minor soft tissue injury, and a bit of rest should take care of it." He played along, it was obvious that the girl was not injured.

"I'll be okay?" she asked. Not looking at the doctor but toward the bed where the captain lay.

"Yes," the doctored closed the tri-corder. Then sighed, "if you want you can go over and say hi, but don't keep her to long." He helped the child off the bio-bed.

Naomi nodded, and then calmly walked toward the bed, "Captain" she said in a quiet voice.

Kathryn turned toward the child, "Naomi, what are you doing here?" she feigned, she'd known why the child was there the entire time.

Naomi smiled, "I fell and my arm was hurting, the doctor says it's a minor soft tissue injury, and that I have to rest it" she stated very matter of fact.

"O is that right? I'm glad that your arm is going to be alright" she smiled, and pulled herself into a reclining position.

"Me too" the girl cocked her head to one side, "how are you doing?" she asked concerned.

"I've been tired but I'm going to be alright." She said telling the truth, it seemed aside from the not being able to see and the wear her body had from the comma was it.

The child paused and then in an almost whisper she asked, "Is it scary?" her lip curled up as her eyebrows lowered with her query. "Not being able to see and all?" Kathryn's face dropped, which didn't go unnoticed by the child, Captain Janeway was her hero, and it scared her more then anything that she was hurt or scared.

Taking a deep breath Kathryn responded, "you know I'd never lie to you right?" she asked but didn't wait for a response, "so I'd have to say yes, it's very scary, but people have to deal with scary things all the time, and how we deal with those scary things says a lot about who we are as a person." She reached out for the girl's hand. Upon seeing the captain move her hand out Naomi took it, Kathryn ran her thumb over the back of her hand.

Naomi wanted to cry she was scared for her captain and her friend, "I'm scared for you" she whispered.

Kathryn's heart sank, "I know but I'll be alright, and it's okay to be scared"

"Okay" she swallowed hard, "Permission to hug the captain?" Naomi asked.

Kathryn smiled a slight sideways smile, "Permission granted." She wrapped her arms around the young girl as she climbed up to hug her.

The doctor had kept silent during the exchange, but after the child was released from Kathryn's embrace he moved closer and knelt by the child, who wiped her eyes. "Hey I think that we need to let the captain rest some and you need to rest that arm to make it feel better." With a sniff Naomi nodded, she reached her hand up to the doctor wanting him to walk her out. He complied. Before the child left the room he whispered to her, "Come back later for a checkup, you might be just what the doctor ordered to help the captain." He gave her a wink and she smiled and gave him a nod before leaving.

Kathryn too needed to wipe her eyes; she hadn't really faced the fact that she was facing the true unknown until that moment with Naomi. She swallowed hard and forced herself not to start sobbing she was going to be strong no matter what. "Doctor" she called out.

"Yes captain?" he moved to her.

She squared her shoulders, "I think it's time I get out of this bed." She was in full captain mode now.

It's what the Doctor was waiting for, up until now she hadn't been showing her true spirit and might. "I think that is a wonderful idea."

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A stream of not so nice words met the ears of Chakotay as the doors to sickbay parted. It was obvious that Kathryn was not happy with something, upon entering the room it became obvious what that something was. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of a couple of holographic bars.

The Doctor sighed, "let's not push too fast, use the bars." He grabbed her hand only to have her pull hers from his.

"I'll get up on my own" she stated, reaching up trying to locate where one of the bars were. She made contact with the first one, and then reached up to find the second, once she'd managed to grab them both she attempted to lift herself up only to get about half way into a standing position just to have the strength in her arms give out. A new stream of words flowed from her mouth as she once again found herself on the floor.

She sat there for a moment, she wasn't going to give in; she would get up on her own. Thankfully she was unaware of the fact she and the doctor were no longer alone. The doctor looked up to see Chakotay and held his finger to his lips letting him know not to say anything. He nodded and watched.

Kathryn took a really deep breath, and reached up for the bars again, this time she gave it everything she had and though shaky found herself back in a standing position. Once she was sure of her footing she squared her shoulders. "Alright I'll use the bars, for now" she conceded having at least won some of the battle with the Doctor.

Chakotay decided to appear like he'd just walked in, "Captain" he stated, "You're standing, that's wonderful" he approached the walking bars.

"Commander" she stood straighter realizing that she was resting on the bars, she wanted to appear stronger then she was. "Yes, we've started getting me back on my feet." She stated. Her head was turned slightly toward the direction of his voice. "So what brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd come by to deliver the reports from this morning staff meeting, though I can come back and read them to you later if that would be better." He looked over at the Doctor who was slightly annoyed by the interruption.

"Actually, you can read them to me as we're doing this" she stated, and turned her body around being that she was near the end of the bars, A little company would be most welcome" she stated knowing that would get on the Doctor's nerves a bit.

The Doctor was annoyed he'd much rather have no distractions but he knew he wasn't going to win the war but at least he would win the battle, "He can stay provided you do what I ask when it comes to this, that means use the hand bars."

Sighing again, "fine Doctor, I'll use the hand bars, for now" she stated.

"Good" he said.

Chakotay began to read the reports to her as she started to relearn how to walk. She was tired and far weaker then she thought she'd be, this frustrated her, she was hoping to be out of sickbay much sooner then it appeared she would be.

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It'd been almost a week since she'd first attempted to walk, though she was still fairly weak and tired easily she'd finally been released from sickbay. Naomi had made several trips back to sickbay for various reasons, and seemed to show up when she was feeling the most disappointed or distracted. She had a feeling the doctor had his hand in that but the child always seemed to ground her.

Sitting on her couch in her living room Kathryn held a cup of coffee; it warmed her hands and made her feel comfortable. She took a sip then set it down and sighed. Standing up she carefully made her way to her living area and called for the lights out of habit. When she still was unable to see she closed her eyes and reminded herself that they would do no good and turned them off again. She wanted a bath but the Doctor had specifically forbid her from taking one afraid that she'd slip and fall in her still weekend state, so to the sonic shower instead.

After her less then satisfying shower she made her way to her bed, there wasn't much to do at this point, she'd already listened to the reports for the day oddly enough having the computer read them to her seemed to go faster than if she'd read them to herself, she was thinking of suggesting that as an idea for improving efficiency on the ship. It didn't take her long to fall asleep, she was exhausted.

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B'Elanna rang the chime on the captain's door, but there was no answer. She rang it again becoming somewhat worried, she knew that she was in there because she'd inquired as to where the captain was. When there was still no answer on the third chime she really became worried. She keyed in an emergency code and let herself in. "Captain?" she called out. "Computer lights" it wasn't a surprise that they were off. "Captain" B'Elanna made her way through the living area to the bedroom. She raised her eyebrow when there was no one on the bed.

She checked the bathroom but she wasn't in there, only one last place to look and that was the kitchen. She turned and made her way into the kitchen to find the captain laying on the floor. She knelt down quickly, "Captain" she touched her shoulder concern racing through her.

Kathryn startled awake disoriented and not quite sure what was going on.

"Captain" B'Elanna stated, she helped her up when she began tyring to get up on her own. "Are you okay?" the half klingon asked, he looked her over it was obvious that she'd hit her fore head on something, she had a small bit of blood trickling down her forehead.

"Yeah, I'm" she sighed more embarrassed than anything else, "I think I slipped"

Grabbing a clean cloth B'Elanna pressed it against the small gash in her forehead. "I'd say so." She looked down to see what she'd slipped or tripped over, it appeared that another rag had fallen on the floor. Winching a bit Kathryn took the rag from B'Elanna and held it on her own forehead. "Lets get you into the living room"

The pair made their way to the couch, B'Elanna helped get her comfortable. She looked over the gash, "I hate to say this, but you're going to need to see the Doctor that is nasty."

"Great just what I needed" she stated.

"Yeah, tell me about it, I'll get him for you, no since having you go all the way back down to sickbay."

Kathryn felt really sheepish, all she was attempting to do was get something to eat that wasn't replicated, she'd been eating a lot of replicated food and was beginning to run low on her rations, she had some food stored away that she'd replicated a while ago. "And to think, all I wanted was a bowl of cereal"

It didn't take the doctor long to get there, and she was patched back up in no time, though the question if she could actually stay by herself came back up, she'd originally convinced him that she'd be fine alone, just she'd avoid taking bath's and actually cooking until she learned how to do these things safely and her body was strong enough to do so, but with this little slip of hers the Doctor was having second thoughts.

"Doctor I'm blind, I'm not an invalid" her hands were on her hips, a glare firmly in place, though she wasn't doing nearly as good of a job, since she couldn't actually tell her there intended victim was standing exactly.

"I understand that, but I'm concerned about your safety, that was a pretty nasty knock, and it could have been far worse." He wasn't backing down, he at least wanted someone to come by and be with her during the day when she would be up and about and to help her get her meals.

Her behavior was much like that of a young girl being told she had to have a baby sitter, even though she felt she was old enough to take care of herself. "It was one accident; I'll just have to make sure there isn't anything on the floor." Her arguments were weak and she knew it, but she would argue the point until she was blue in the face, she did not want someone to take care of her. She hadn't had someone taking care of her since she was a young child.

B'Elanna rolled her eyes, she'd had enough of the arguing, "How about a compromise?"

That caught both of their attentions, "You want to make sure she's safe right? And you don't want anyone taking care of you right?" she looked at both of them even though she knew the captain couldn't' see her. How about we get the computer to monitor you I can program your combadge to detect a fall if another one should happen, and I'm sure that the doctor can have the computer monitor bio signals, that way the computer can alert him if there is a problem, and you don't have to have someone doing everything for you?" The Doctor and Kathryn thought on this new idea for a moment, and to B'Elanna's surprise they both seemed to like it. "Good then it's settled."

B'Elanna wasn't normally the peace keeper out of the group but well sometimes you had to do what you had to do. The Doctor left to make some of the adjustments, and B'Elanna quickly programmed the captain's combadge, once the necessary modifications were done, she sat back down on the couch with the captain. "So, why are you here anyway B'Elanna?" she finally asked.

It then hit her, she hadn't even mentioned why she was there, "I actually was coming by to see if you'd like to have breakfast with me, though it's a bit late and I was supposed to be on duty an hour ago." She laughed.

"I think that your commanding officer will understand why you're late, and actually something to eat sounds wonderful, since that's what started this whole thing." She took a deep breath, things were harder then she thought they'd be. "Let me go and change then we can go to the mess hall, I think I've had enough of my kitchen for the morning."

B'Elanna laughed even though there was a bit of sarcastic resentment in her statement that was obvious.

She waited for her to emerge in a simple long-sleeved cotton dress, she smiled as she slipped on her shoes that had been set right next to her bedroom door, "Figured this wouldn't mismatch."

The smile in B'Elanna's voice could be heard, "It looks good" she then accompanied the captain to the mess hall for the first time in quite a while.

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Yay another chapter!

Once again I apologize, I seem to take a long time to update things, but at last a new chapter, I hope it was worth the wait.