Chapter Seven: His Captain's Daughter

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Kathryn felt something on her hand; she moved her head around slightly on her pillow before she opened her eyes. It took a moment for her vision to clear. She smiled when she realized who she was looking at. "Hello, Chakotay." She pushed herself up into a semi-sitting position, resting on a pillow and the wall.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked while stroking the back of her hand.

"I'm alright," she looked a bit pale, tired, and weak, but otherwise in fairly good shape.

"I'm glad to hear it," He smiled broadly; "I brought you something." He moved the hand that wasn't holding her out from behind his back and presented her with a little brown teddy bear. He was rewarded by a laugh as she reached out to take the small stuffed toy.

"Thank you." She laughed as she looked it over; it was chocolate brown with a light brown nose and ears. "He's adorable."

"I thought you might like it." He'd decided that a get well present was something she was in desperate need of. He was also very pleased that she seemed to like it.

The sound of something coming from behind Chakotay caught her attention. She moved her head so that she could take a better look. Her smile widened as she became aware of the fact that he hadn't come alone. Most of the senior staff were standing behind him. They in turn began to come up to her to wish her a speedy recovery, B'Elanna stopped for a moment, "Captain?"

"Yes B'Elanna?" She asked curiously.

The half Klingon lifted her finger and with a very stern face spoke, "If you ever do something like this again without telling us," she paused for dramatic effect, "well you know." Not long after she finished did her stern face melt into a huge smile, she then handed her a bouquet of wild flowers, "Just get better."

Kathryn smiled and laughed with her chief engineer and then accepted the rest of the gifts the crew had brought her. Once they were gone she looked up into Chakotay's eyes. Her eyes held a haunted solemn look, "I don't deserve any of this." She held the little bear and starred into its deep brown eyes.

Chakotay was baffled by her reaction, "What do you mean? Of course you do." He held her hand tighter as he spoke. "You risked your life to save another's, and you would have done that regardless of who that person was, I know you would have." He took the holographic chair by her bed. "What happened in the past doesn't chance what you did. It was a selfless act of love and you deserve every bit of this, and every bit of their devotion and loyalty." He reached up and brushed some hair out of her face, keeping his hand on her cheek making sure that she was looking at him.

She turned her eyes away from his and sighed, she stilled herself and managed to bring her gaze back to his, "I'm thinking of telling her." She paused so she could take a breath, "I know she's probably going to hate me, but I feel that I at least owe her an explanation." Once she was done speaking she let her gaze fall back to the bear, she brushed some of the fur that was covering it's eye away.

"I don't think she'll hate you. She'll probably understand that you were still a child yourself. Nothing can change that fact." He brushed his thumb across her cheek, "There were far worse things you could have done if you truly hadn't wanted her. The fact that you've been keeping an eye on her all these years, and attempted to care for her yourself shows that you love her. I think that is the most important thing to remember."

He leaned in closer to her willing her to look into his eyes; she looked into his eyes and found a sense of comfort. He moved his hand up to her hairline and brushed a few curls behind her ear, the Doctor had braded it as well but still her hair managed to escape. Once he'd brushed her hair back he let his finger trail down to her chin as he leaned in a bit closer.

She was slowly being drawn by an imaginary force towards his lips; she was nearly to the point of giving in when the sound of the Doctor's voice echoed through the room. The trance was broken, the two of them parted quickly both feeling a bit embarrassed. Brush the feeling off both she and Chakotay turned in the direction the Doctor was calling from. He was standing next to Crystal's bed, "She's waking up."

Kathryn tried to push herself off the bed quickly; she wanted to be there when she woke up, but found herself to be extremely dizzy. Taking notice Chakotay helped her to her feet and let her lean on him for support. She was still very shaky and probably shouldn't have been out of bed, but he could understand why she wanted to be there. With his help they were soon by the young woman's side.

A moan escaped the lips of Crystal as she slowly moved her head back and forth. Her eyes opened only to shut again quickly. The room wherever she was, was very bright; she tried opening them, this time more cautiously. As her vision began to clear she noticed that there were three individuals surrounding her. Becoming slightly alarmed she started to try and back away. Instinctively Kathryn placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Easy," she said in a very calm voice, "It's alright, you're safe." Something in the woman's voice told her that she was. She was tired, dizzy, and had no idea where she was.

"Where?" she managed to ask, her mouth was dry and her voice very horse. She began to take in the facts that were surrounding her. There were two men, both in uniform; at least she knew she was on a federation ship. The next was that the woman who was with them appeared to be a patient as well.

"You're on the Federation Star Ship Voyager, I'm Captain Janeway." Her words were calm and kind, Chakotay picked up the love in them as well. "This is my first officer Commander Chakotay, and our Doctor." She motioned to each of the men in turn.

The Doctor took over the explanation. "You were badly injured, but we've managed to keep you here with us." Crystal tried to pull herself into a sitting position, but no sooner did she flinch did all three sets of hands restrain her. "You're going to have to remain lying down. Your body has gone through a lot, just take it easy alright?"

Crystal didn't like the idea of just laying there but three against one really just wasn't a fair fight. After a few seconds of thought she spoke, "My crew?"

Kathryn raised an eye brow and exchanged a look between the other two individuals that were standing above her. She then spoke, "you lost a few more, but most are safe. They've been staying in our guest quarters." She looked the young woman in the face and then voiced her own question, "You're crew?"

The young woman nodded, "an accident killed our captain and first officer. The others were killed in various attacks. I'm the only original bridge officer left." She stopped to try and catch her breath then attempted to sit back up again saying, "I need to see my crew." Kathryn didn't attempt to restrain her again, she only gripped the side of the biobed to keep herself from falling down. The Doctor and Chakotay made Crystal lay back down.

The Doctor then chimed back in, "I think right now what you need is rest." He then turned his attention away from the young woman on the biobed, to Kathryn, "I think you ought to be getting back into bed yourself." She was starting to look worse for wear.

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes, "Doctor I assure you I'm fine." She responded.

The Doctor simply tilted his head to the side with a look that said, I'm not buying it. "Captain, don't make me sedate you, go on." Chakotay obliged the Doctor by taking Kathryn by the shoulders and guiding her back to her respective bed. Under other circumstances she would have put up more of a fight but she just didn't have the energy too. "I think the rest of this conversation can wait until morning. I'll see about having your crewmembers come by to see you later. Now, get some sleep, that's in order." He's raised his voice some so that Kathryn could hear him as well, and he looked between the two. As he disappeared into his office he smiled to himself, He was defiantly able to tell that she was his Captain's daughter.

Chakotay lifted Kathryn back onto the bio bed. Once she was laying down in a reclined position he leaned in closer to her ear he then whispered, "I think she'll understand, she seems to be enough like you." He pulled his head back and smiled as she meekly hit at him. "Now I think you should do what the Doctor says and get some rest. I'll bring by your book?" She nodded and watched as he left the room to retrieve it. Kathryn turned onto her side to look over at Crystal. She smiled; at least she'd make it.

That Doctor had returned to take a few more scans of Crystal then left again, once he was gone she turned to look in the direction of Kathryn and smiled slightly before she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. Though she was exhausted she wasn't sleepy so she waited until Chakotay brought her book to her. She settled in to read and he left for his duty shift on the bridge.