Tom stood over the hot stove as the liquid in the pot came to a slight boil. He lightly stirred it and then poured the broth into the empty bowl that sat on the counter. Grabbing a napkin and a spoon, he made his way to the bedroom.

"I made you some soup. I know you haven't been keeping things down, but try sipping on it, you might feel better after," he placed the bowl on the nightstand and sat next to her as she was lying down.

She placed down the newspaper she'd been reading and smiled softly at her husband.

"Thank you," she took his hand and rubbed her thumb gently across his knuckles.

"I'm so sorry, I can't believe I got sick on what's supposed to be our honeymoon," she said guiltily.

"No less than a day ago I vowed to stand by you in sickness and in health, I'm not backing out of that promise. Besides I like taking care of you…when you let me,"

She chuckled.

"I wish we could've gone somewhere," she said.

"There's still time. We can go on our honeymoon whenever you're feeling better. It's not like we had anything really planned out," he said, comforting her.

"That's something we don't seem to do very well," she laughed.

"Who needs to plan life when you can live it?" He asked rhetorically.

"You sound like a postcard," she said sarcastically.

He laughed and shook his head.

Brushing her hair away, he checked her temperature by kissing her forehead.

"You don't feel warm," he commented.

"No, I don't think I had a temperature earlier either,"

"What were you looking at?" He asked, pointing towards the newspaper by her side.

"Nothing really…just houses," she admitted.

"Houses?"

"Yeah, for the future, our future," her voice grew softer, sweeter.

"Can I take a look?" He asked with a smile.

She handed him the paper. Immediately he saw that one listing had been circled several times over in red ink.

"I'm guessing you like this one?" He laughed.

"How did you know?" She asked sarcastically.

"It's perfect Kathryn. I married a woman with excellent taste,"

"And I married a man who says all the right things,"

He leaned in for a kiss, but she quickly dodged his advances.

"I don't want to get you sick!" She exclaimed.

"I don't care," he brushed it off.

He kissed her gently at first but it grew more passionate with each passing second.

"Worth it," he said as he pulled away.

"I doubt you'll be saying that when you have your head in the toilet a few days from now,"

"Kathryn, I was serious this morning, You really should go to the doctors,"

"I know, I know. I really hate going to the doctors,"

"I know you do, but it would be a shame if my lovely wife of 24 hours died of a horrible disease before we even consummated our marriage,"

Her face was torn between wanting to be horrified and wanting to laugh hysterically.

"That's so morbid! I'm not dying, I just feel like I'm dying. But if it means that much to you, your ever so lovely wife will drive herself all the way to the doctors and back just so that they can tell her what she already knows, that she has a stomach bug,"

"I can take you," he offered.

"Thank you, but I'll go by myself. No need for you to skip work again, especially if we want to buy that house," she said, pointing to the listing.

"Oh, now I see how it is now. You want me to go off and make the money so you get to spend it," he teased.

"Yes, because I was looking to marry wealthy and my first thought was to find myself a pilot instructor," she said, mocking him.

"Ouch! That one stung," he clutched his heart and winced in fake pain.

"The truth hurts my darling," she laughed.


"You're sure you saw their life signs?" Chakotay asked, looking over the ensign's shoulder.

"Yes, without a doubt two clear and strong biosignatures matching the captain and lieutenant originated from this location here. It was only for a few seconds, but I'm sure," Harry replied.

"There are a few planets there, any idea which one they're on exactly?" Chakotay said, pointing to a small group of circles on the screen.

"No, but I've narrowed it down two. We'll reach the first one in twenty-four hours, and the second is not far from the first," the screen shifted, showing the two planets to which he referred.

"Make an announcement, senior staff meeting in ten minutes," Chakotay patted the ensign on the shoulder and went on his way.

As Chakotay walked down the hall, he felt a new sense of life. He could feel every inch of his body practically floating on air. She was alive, they were hours from finding her and she'd be back in his arms soon. He never wanted to lose hope, and he had every reason to hold on. Where ever she was in that moment, he hoped that she had held on too.

By the time the senior staff was seated Chakotay entered with a smile on his face. The excitement in the air was practically tangible.

"Alright everyone, settle down. I'm sure Ensign Kim has filled you all in on his findings by now. In about twenty-four hours we'll reach the first planet. I think that B'Elanna and I should be the ones to go. Re-scanning for their biosignatures proved fruitless, therefore we're under the impression that someone or something is actively concealing them. We can't use technology to track them down, so we'll have to try asking around, gathering information the old fashioned way," he continued.

"We'll need a transport prepared and a com line will remain open for our safety. Also, please keep this information on a need to know basis, the rest of the crew will be informed once we find out more. That's all I have to say on the matter, everyone's dismissed,"

He notices that as everyone left, B'Elanna remained seated, staring blankly ahead.

Once everyone had gone, she whispered.

"I gave up on him…so easily and all this time he….I stopped believing. The whole time you never did, and I even tried to convince you…" her voice broke.

"I'm so sorry," she said, looking up at him.

"It's ok B'E you didn't know. He'll forgive you, I forgive you,"

"I don't know if I forgive myself. I'm angry, I'm so angry at myself, at everything. I don't even know what to do anymore. I shouldn't have lost hope," she said. All the grief and bitter anger she held inside these past few months had welled within her and now threatened to spill out.

"Anyone in your position…." He tried to calm her down.

"No, you were in my position but you still held on. I..I was so selfish, I just wanted to push it aside and move on. I didn't want to feel that loss anymore, but he's out there waiting for me. The whole time he was out there," She got up to walk out the door, but he grabbed onto her hand and pulled her back. Once she faced him again he sat her back down.

"He loves you. Love is about forgiveness. He'll look past this. B'Elanna, you need to be easier on yourself. You were in mourning, you thought he was dead. You can't blame yourself for wanting to move on. Now's your chance to make up for that. We'll be the ones to bring them back,"

She nodded.

"I just hope they're ok,"

"Me too,"


Kathryn walked in, closing the front door behind her. She laid her purse and keys down on the table and leaned on it for support. Tom heard the commotion and walked out of the bedroom. He noticed that her head was down and her shoulders shook slightly. She was crying, he hated seeing her cry.

"Kathryn? What's wrong?" He asked nervously.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and quickly turned to face him. Her hands quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. He walked over and hugged her. When she pulled back, she looked into his eyes, her hand instinctually drifted towards his forehead, wanting to trace something that wasn't there. She dismissed the uneasy feeling that action gave her, and focused on the man in front of her.

"I went to the doctors today," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"And what did he say?" He asked, now more worried than ever.

"I'm not sick," she said with a wry chuckle,

"Not sick? But…" he paused.

She gently took his hand an guided it to her stomach.

"Kathryn…are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"If you think I'm saying that I'm pregnant, then yes," she said sarcastically.

She watched vigilantly as his face slowly morphed from shock to wonder. As soon as he was decidedly happy, she felt that she could breathe a little easier. That didn't last long when in his excitement he knocked the breath out of her lungs again by picking her up and twirling her around. She laughed and yelled to be put down twice before he complied.

When she looked back into his eyes, she could see he was almost crying.

"I love you so much," he said seriously.

"I love you too," she said, hugging him and holding tight.


"Excellent. Everything is going just as we planned," Clenak stated.

"Well not exactly," Kwide confessed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The worry in Clenak's voice was evident.

"It means that we've had the two of them in this simulation for thirteen weeks," Kwide paused.

"Yes, and.." Clenak grew impatient.

"And, looking at the data…the fetus is approximately at fifteen weeks gestation," Kwide stated.

"So it's not…" Clenak said, his mind wandering to the implications and the problems.

"No, it's not his,"

"This is a disaster!" Clenak stood straight up and began to pace back and forth.

"Not necessarily, no one needs to know the true parentage of the child. The two of them have no reason to believe it would be anyone else's. We'll ensure they don't find out," Kwide said.

Clenak shook his head and increased his speed of pacing.

"It still proves our theory," Kwide offered.

"Except for the fact that the female already had a mate, something we didn't anticipate…oh this is all complicated…very very complicated. What about after the birth, what if the child looks too different? He might reject it, reject her and then this whole project would collapse!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, we keep going. I've recorded the data to show thirteen weeks," Kwide said nonchalantly.

"You mean falsified the data to lie through your teeth," Clenak snapped.

"Whatever it takes! Don't you get it? We get one shot if they…Clenak we can't let something as insignificant as a timeline ruin the entirety of our work,"

"Lying, stealing, kidnapping, falsifying data, paying off drunks. Look at what we've become. I hate it," Clenak said, on the verge of a breakdown.

"This will all still work, I promise," Kwide said calmly.

"Maybe we were wrong. Maybe we should stop all this," Clenak offered

"Don't say that. After everything we've been through, you can't mean that,"

"I really do, Kwide. I really do,"

With that, Clenak barged out of the room, slamming the door behind him.


"Chakotay to Voyager, we've transported down to a remote location on the surface of the planet. There seems to be a civilization not far from here. I will be leaving this line open as we discussed,"

"Aye Commander," the ensign replied.

It took the two of them less than an hour to find the nearest establishment. Upon entering, the stench of booze and something reminiscent of tobacco filled the air. Chakotay wasted no time, walking straight up to the bartender.

"Excuse me I was hoping to ask you a few questions. We're in search of our people…."

Suddenly a man in the back fell off of his seat. He was tall, and his skin was a soft shade of lavender. As he got up and slowly stumbled toward the two of them, his slurred speech became more clear.

"you're a human!" He exclaimed, pointing at Chakotay.

"Yes, what do you know of my kind?" He asked skeptically.

"I know much. I know that you come from a quadrant many lightyears from here, I know you live on a ship named Voyager, and I also know that you've come here in search of two of your own," the man admitted.

"Tell us what you know," B'Elanna's patience was all but gone. Her anger boiled over as the man laughed in her face.

"I'll tell you everything, but it's gonna cost you, pretty lady," The alien went to touch B'Elanna's face but quickly retracted his hand as she made a sound reminiscent of a growl.

Chakotay came between the two to keep B'elanna's vocal display of anger from turning into a physical one.

"Whatever it is, consider it yours," he answered.

The alien paused a moment to think.

"Pay off my tab and buy me a drink," he demanded.

"That's all?" Chakotay asked in shock.

"It's a big tab," the alien offered.

"Deal," Chakotay nodded at the bartender.

Once the three of them were seated and the alien had a new drink he began to talk.

"Alright. Your people are not on this planet, but they are on the next one. They're being held by two scientists,"

"Who are these scientists? What do they want with our people?" Chakotay asked.

"Their names are Clenak and Kwide. They experiment on different species, dozens of them. They are known for being daring with their experimental endeavors. Some call them inhumane others call them insane for performing experiments that many in the planet's government do not approve of,"

Chakotay and B'Elanna's faces revealed the horror of their thoughts. Both had jumped to conjuring images of their loved ones in immense pain, being used as guinea pigs.

"What do they do to their test subjects," B'Elanna asked, unsure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"I have no clue. I'm just told what species they need and for a decent price, I provide them with two subjects. Usually, I get volunteers, this time I had to get a little…creative," the alien said, savoring another sip from his glass.

"Where do we find them on this planet?" Chakotay asked.

"They have a large facility in the middle of the northern mountain range. It's heavily secured, practically undetectable unless you know what to look for,"

"Anything else we should know?" B'Elanna asked.

"Clenak is quite amicable, but watch out for Kwide. You don't want to get on his bad side,"

"Thanks for the warning," Chakotay said, getting up from his chair. B'Elanna followed the action and the two made their way to leave.

"No problem. For what it's worth, I hope you find them," the alien raised his glass in salute to the pair.