"Knock! Knock!" Tom bellowed.
"Come in, Paris." Chakotay didn't bother glancing away from his computer since he already knew who was standing in the doorway of his office.
"How'd you know it was me?"
"Because you're the only person that says 'knock, knock' while actually knocking on the door. Why do you do that anyway?" Chakotay glimpsed at Tom over his reading glasses and quickly returned his attention to the monitor.
"I don't know. To annoy you, I guess."
"Thanks," Chakotay deadpanned.
Tom stepped into the office and meandered in front of Chakotay's desk. "So, I have two problems."
"Okay."
"One is official. One is not."
Chakotay leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with one hand, leaving his glasses askew. "Is the official one is work related?"
"Yes, sir."
"All right, start with that one." He adjusted his glasses and refocused his attention to his computer screen.
Tom took a seat in one of the chairs situated in front of the desk. "So you know how we acquired a couple of new items for the pop culture exhibit-"
"Uh-huh." Chakotay monotonously responded as he quickly checked his iPhone.
"And the museum plans to renovate the exhibit within the year."
"Yeah."
"Well, Maxine wanted me to come up with ideas on how to make the space a bit more interesting and modern, but she's on vacation for the next two weeks-"
"Mmm-hmm." Chakotay peeked at his phone again and when he noticed nothing new he continued to type away at his keyboard.
"So I was thinking we could build a couple of robots, you know those really realistic ones like the cylons in Battlestar Galactica and have them give tours of the exhibit. Hopefully they won't turn on us."
"Sounds goo- wait, what?!" Chakotay finally took his eyes away from the screen and frowned at Tom.
"I just wanted to see if you were listening," Tom grinned. "I can come back later if you're busy. I don't mind."
"No, it's fine. I'm just…distracted."
"I can see that. The moment I saw you check your phone twice in a matter of seconds I knew something was up."
Chakotay chuckled. "That noticeable?"
"Well, yeah. I mean you usually keep your phone in your desk drawer. Heck, how many times have you left it in your car? So what's up?"
Chakotay removed his glasses and studied Tom, debating what he should and shouldn't tell him.
It was hard to believe that a little over two years ago, Chakotay could barely stand the sight of him. It had deeply bothered Chakotay that Tom's father was able to pull a few strings to get him a position he didn't deserve nor had he worked hard to get. In Chakotay's eyes, Tom was the symbol of privilege: coasting through life, screwing up, and then having someone else fix it. But once they actually began to work together, Chakotay discovered Tom was smart, kind, and an extremely hard worker; he had just fallen into bad situations where he had become essentially non-hirable anywhere else. And now Chakotay considered him a close friend.
"I need your opinion on something." Chakotay turned the thin monitor to face Tom. "What do you think?"
"I don't understand." Tom slowly said as he examined the display. "It's a coffee shop. Are we building a coffee shop at the museum?" He paused. "We already have the café, though."
Chakotay smiled. "No, we aren't. I mean, what do you think environment wise. Would you want to go there?"
"I suppose," Tom shrugged. "It seems much swankier than a Starbucks or Coffee Bean."
"That's what I thought, too." Chakotay turned the monitor back to himself and continued to blankly stare at the screen.
"Okay, Big Man, you need to explain yourself because I'm still not getting it. You're not much a coffee drinker, so what is this all about?"
"I just, you know, wanted to take someone there."
"Oh, Seska?" Tom batted his eyelashes.
Chakotay adjusted his posture on the chair, not out of physical discomfort but more of a discomfort regarding the subject. "No, not her."
Tom gasped and leaned forward in his seat, whispering, "Did you guys break up? I haven't heard you mention her lately."
"No, we haven't broken up. She's in New York for work. She'll be home tomorrow."
"All right. So if it's not Seska then who?"
"Just a friend."
"Is this just a friend the reason you keep checking your phone?"
Chakotay glanced at his phone at the mere mention of the device. He rubbed his eyes and took his time to formulate his response. "I met her at the shelter on Saturday."
"What shelter?"
"The animal shelter. I adopted a dog."
Tom raised both hands in surprised. "What?! You got a dog and you didn't say anything?"
"I don't know. I didn't think I had to announce it to everyone. And it's mostly for Edgar's sake anyway."
"Yeah, but still." Tom shook his head in frustration. "We can discuss the dog later, go on."
Chakotay couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, I met her on Saturday. She adopted my dog's sister. And we just happen to run into each other before our puppy training class yesterday. Then we had coffee."
Tom closed his eyes and scrunched his face as if trying to process all the information bit by bit. "So, let me get this straight. You run into each other at the shelter, you both adopt dogs that are siblings, and then you happen to have the same training class without planning it?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"This is exactly like one of those Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movies but I have a front row seat."
"Oh, shut up, Paris!" Chakotay threw his pen at Tom which he swiftly dodged.
Tom laughed but his mood quickly became somber. "No, but real talk. It's great that you hit it off with… what's her name?"
"Kathryn," Chakotay supplied.
"With Kathryn. Just becareful. Seska is still in the picture and she's been in the picture for many years now. You don't want feelings to get hurt, you know. And you don't want to be that guy, either. You're better than that."
"Tom, we just had coffee. Nothing else."
"You say that but when was the last time you Googled a place to take Seska and were so concerned if she would like it or not."
Chakotay pursed his lips as he tapped his fingers on his desk. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I don't want to be a wet blanket especially when you looked so happy coming into work this morning. I don't think I've ever seen you that cheery before. Now I know why."
"Did I really?"
"Yeah, you were one step away from breaking into dance and song. And I wasn't the only one to notice." Tom paused. "All I'm saying is that you need to end something first before starting something new. Just dropping some truth bombs, that's all."
Chakotay considered his words. "Thanks, Tom. I appreciate your sincerity."
"No problem, man. Anytime."
Tom got up to leave but Chakotay stopped him. "Hey, didn't you have some unofficial problem or something like that."
"Oh, right. The caterer cancelled for the engagement party-"
"Isn't that only three weeks away?"
"It is and that's why B'Elanna and I are panicking. Well, she was angry at first, now she's panicking.
"Did the caterer survive the wrath of B'Elanna Torres?"
"Barely." Tom laughed. "Anyway, I know you said Sekaya owns a restaurant, I thought I would ask her if she could possibly cater. I know it's so last minute but everyone else is booked."
"You do know she only cooks vegetarian food, right? You can't have your maple glazed bacon or pepperoni pizza bites."
"I don't care as long as it's food. Plus, I can have cheese pizza bites." Tom waggled his eyebrows and grinned. "So, may I please have her contact information? Please!" He dramatically clasped his hands in a begging motion.
"I'll text it to you later. I'll also give her a heads up."
"Thanks, buddy. You're a life saver"
As soon as Tom left his office, Chakotay picked up his phone. He had left it open to the handful of messages Kathryn had sent him the previous night. He stared at the phone and then at the image of the coffee shop on his computer screen. He started to compose a message and then deleted it. He began again, but changed the wording to make it sound a tad more casual but then deleted it. The charade went on for over ten minutes until he finally settled on- 'Kathryn, if you aren't busy on Saturday afternoon, it would be great to have the dogs meet up to play. We can grab some coffee afterward. Let me know.' He studied the text and was about to hit send when Tom's warning words drifted into his mind. You don't want to be that guy. After a moment of further thought, Chakotay deleted the message he had so carefully written and placed his phone in his desk drawer.
/\/\
Kathryn sat in her office alone lost in thought, trying very hard not to think of the day before. Her teacher's assistant had gone off to buy them both some coffee to get them through the rest of the day. The broken Keurig had been a total loss and had been dumped at the nearest recycling center on Monday morning. Kathryn gazed at the empty spot on the shelf, mourning the loss of her closest companion.
"I can bring my old coffeemaker from home if you like?"
Lost in reverie, the sound of Harry's voice made her jump. "No, that's all right. I've been meaning to buy a new one. Just forgot."
He handed her the cup of coffee. "Kathryn Janeway forgot something. I think I'm going to mark this down on my calendar."
She jokingly glared at him. "Oh, stop it, Mr. Kim. I forget things, too, you know."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to tease. I know you're going through a lot right now." He sat down on the couch by Kathryn's desk and opened his laptop to finish some work.
Kathryn had told him about her divorce. She had kept it a secret from mostly everyone else but she figured he needed to know. Her current distraction wasn't about that, though, it was related to the wonderful time she had the evening before. Not until she had arrived home and had time to analyze their meeting did she realize Chakotay never mentioned his girlfriend. Well, it's not like she had mentioned her divorce either, but that was a slightly touchier subject. The mysterious girlfriend was just something that kept popping into her mind from time to time and she couldn't completely ignore.
"You know, I'm going to order a new coffee maker now since it seems no one is showing up for office hours."
Harry laughed. "They're all waiting for the day before the final to come begging for help."
Kathryn sighed. "Have you seen my phone?"
"I think you put it back in your purse after lecture."
"Oh, that's right. Thanks."
She pulled out her phone and was going to the Amazon app when temptation got the best of her. She let her finger wander to the messages icon and click on the button. She thought about sending Chakotay a simple 'Hello' when she noticed a grey bubble with three tiny dots on the lower left of the screen. The bubble disappeared and then reappeared. Kathryn furrowed her brows as she continued to watch the vanishing act.
"Um, Harry, you know those three dots that pop up in messages on an iPhone?"
"Yeah?" He answered without looking up.
"What exactly does that mean?"
He stopped typing and glanced at Kathryn. "Just that someone is typing on the other end. The dots go away when the other person stops typing or the message is sent."
"Okay, that's what I thought."
Kathryn continued to watch the dots appear and disappear for several minutes. The dots eventually stopped popping up on the screen and Kathryn was disappointed to realize a message didn't either.
/\/\
On the drive home Kathryn kept wondering about the text that never appeared. Could it have been a simple glitch? Or had Chakotay simply decided not to send whatever it was he had been typing at length. It was a puzzle that was going to remain unsolved because she was never going to ask him about it.
As she pulled up to her house, she noticed someone was outside the house with the red door across the street. She had been meaning to head over and thank Annika for the wine for several days but kept putting it off. Even though she was thankful for the caring gesture she couldn't also help feel a bit awkward by the act.
She sat in her car for a moment and studied the person in the front yard from her side view mirror. It was definitely the elderly lady she had seen a few times before.
"What the hell. Let's get this over with," Kathryn muttered under her breath.
She got out of the car and crossed the street. The lady's back was toward Kathryn and didn't see her approached.
"Hi! I'm Kathryn Janeway. I'm your neighbor from across the street," Kathryn said from the sidewalk, smiling.
The elderly lady didn't turn around and made no acknowledgement she even knew someone else was in the vicinity. Kathryn figured she just hadn't heard her and took a several steps closer to her.
This time Kathryn yelled as she waved her hand to get the ladies attention. "Hi! I'm Kathryn Janeway!"
The elderly woman slowly turned to face Kathryn. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Have you been standing there long?"
"No, no. I just crossed the street. I live over there." Kathryn pointed toward her house.
The woman moved closer to Kathryn. "I left my hearing aids inside. Nasty habit I have. You said you live over there?" She pointed to Kathryn's house.
"I do. I was wondering if you're Annika?"
"Oh, no. Annika is my niece. I'm Irene Hansen. It's nice meeting you…Kathryn, right?"
"Yes, Kathryn. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Irene." She gently shook the lady's hand.
"Annika isn't here at the moment. She'll probably be home really late tonight. Is there something I can help you with?"
Kathryn gently shook her head. "No, it's fine. Annika left a bottle of wine on my porch a couple of days ago and I just wanted to thank her for it."
"Oh, right, she mentioned something about that. I'll definitely let her know. Actually, I'll leave her a note because I'll probably forget otherwise," Irene chuckled. "Old age, gotta love it."
Kathryn laughed. "Well, I better get going. I have a hungry dog to feed. Nice to finally meet you."
"Likewise, dear. Don't be a stranger from now on." Irene yelled as Kathryn made her way home.
"I won't."
"Have a good night."
"You too."
Kathryn walked inside her house and made her way to the kitchen. That wasn't so bad. She looked down to find Amelia patiently waiting by her dish.
[TBC]
