Day 6: stardate 50376.2
He observed her from his side of the bed. He wasn't due on the bridge this morning so he had the time to watch her get ready. He smiled when she looked at his reflection in the mirror, twisting her hair back and closing her hair clip around it. When she concentrated back on her own face, applying light makeup, he noticed how tired she looked. There were dark circles under her eyes, quickly disappearing under her makeup, and her whole body seemed tense.
He hated doing this to her and thought about ending his whole ploy there and then. But it was only another day and he was more than sure that her reward would be worth it in the end. He felt even more guilty when she turned around to him and gave him a slow, leisurely kiss before asking the computer for the time. At the reply, she sighed heavily, squared her shoulders and left her quarters for her duty shift.
The rest of the day turned out to be lucky for him as two plasma infusers malfunctioned and caused an overload and several blown warp coils, keeping Kathryn busy for the rest of the day. When she finally reached her quarters that night she felt so grimy and exhausted that she could barely stay awake for her shower and was fast asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. All Chakotay could do was press a kiss to her temple and pull the covers up around her. She hadn't even bothered to get dressed after her shower, he noted with a smile.
