Chapter Nine: Stubborn Redheads
-=/\=-
The tension between Kathryn and Crystal over the last few weeks hadn't gone unnoticed by the crew of either ship. The only five people that knew why weren't' talking to anyone about what was going on. However, that most certainly didn't stop the crew from coming to their own conclusions as to what was going on.
B'Elanna looked across the mess hall at the young redhead; she was sitting with Billy who'd been assigned to her team in engineering. After a few moments she turned back to look at Tom, "Have you noticed that the Captain and Crystal seem to be avoiding each other?"
Tom nodded and put in his two cents, "Yeah I have, a few weeks ago Crystal came out of the ready room very quickly. I'm not sure what happened but I haven't seen the two of them go near each other since." He looked into the direction of the other woman in question. Kathryn was sitting with Chakotay at their usual table, far from most of the action in the mess. He turned back to the B'Elanna, "I also find it strange that the Captain was the only compatible donor on the ship." He lifted up his coffee to take a sip.
"I found that to be odd too," Looked away from Tom to her left when she heard someone pulling up a chair, it was harry.
"Are you talking about or resident red heads?" He set his tray down as he took his seat next to the others.
Tom nodded
Before anyone else could speak Harry added something to the conversation, he leaned in and in a hushed tone spoke what he knew. "I heard something interesting from one of the Condor crew members today. We were working on a project together and the subject came up. Apparently Crystal was adopted as a baby." He raised his eyebrow in a manner in which to suggest something.
B'Elanna smiled as she mused to herself, her eyes opened wider as she spoke, "You don't supposed that," she looked between the two women in the room.
"The do look a lot alike," Harry added.
"It sure would explain a lot" Tom stated. The group hushed up as they noticed Kathryn and Chakotay stand up. The smiled and nodded to the pair as they walked past.
Once they were gone B'Elanna chuckled, "Listen to us, really what would be the odds of that actually happening?" Besides Tom, you have seen her medical records; do they even mention a pregnancy? She'd also have had to be sixteen to have had her; Captain Janeway just doesn't strike me as the kind of person that would have gotten herself into that kind of situation."
Tom and Harry exchanged glances and then both turned to look at B'Elanna, "You're right, we're probably just blowing some strange coincidences out of proportion." Harry stated. The group then finished up their meals chit chatting about other things.
Across the room Crystal and Billy were in deep conversation. "I don't think I'm ready to talk to her again, she certainly hasn't made an effort to talk to me." Crystal stated as she pushed the strange food she'd been given around with her fork. She still wasn't used to Neelix's idea of a good wholesome meal.
"I think you should, and if I remember right I think that it's you that has been avoiding her." He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her. "You were also none to kind when you confronted her; for one thing I think the DNA analysis probably wasn't the best approach." She avoided his eyes and refused to give what he said a response. Billy sighed, "Chris," he reached out and placed his hand on the one that wasn't playing with her food. "The two of you need to sort this out, we're going to be stuck on this ship for a very long time; too long to keep this type of emotion bottled up and hidden."
She sighed deeply, "I know, I" she paused then continued, "I just don't know where to go from here." She looked deeply into his eyes, her ice blue ones gleaming. "She probably thinks I hate her."
"Do you?" He asked, "Do you hate her for what she did?"
Her eyes fell and in a very quiet tone she simply stated, "No," she set her fork down and then moved both her hands to her lap. The girl looked very vulnerable.
Billy decided that the rest of their conversation should be held somewhere more privet. "Hey lets go back to my quarters, Tony's on duty and won't be back for a while. We can talk more there.
She nodded and stood quietly. She looked very sad as she walked along side of him. Billy carried their trays of not half eaten food to the recycler. He then escorted Crystal out of the mess hall. The girl's posture and mood was picked up by the three senior officers in the room.
Harry looked at the other two, "Wonder what's up with her?"
Both Tom and B'Elanna shrugged before they stood to recycle their empty trays. It was B'Elanna that spoke up, "Not sure, perhaps she's just homesick."
Tom couldn't resist the chance to make a really good joke, "or just sick of Neelix's food." The rest of the small group smiled broadly and laughed as they made their way out of the mess hall and to their respective destinations.
-=/\=-
Kathryn sat looking out at the stars; Chakotay had accompanied her to her quarters. Over the last three weeks this was often the case. He knew that she needed him, but she hadn't actually asked, nor had she actually brought up what she really needed to talk about. Most of their evenings were spent talking about the ship and other things. Occasionally they would talk about Earth and their families. The two of them had also started to grow far closer then they'd been previously, much to Chakotay's surprise.
The insecurities that Crystal had brought with her had played a part in their growing relationship. She was worried and unsure; in the state that she was in she was putting up far less guards as she normally would. The human need for companionship seemed far harder to resist. Chakotay took as many moments to show her how much he cared for her without pushing her. He didn't want her to push him away and start isolating herself from everyone. For now, he would be there for her as long as she needed him too.
That night was the first night she spoke about the child that had come back into her life. "She's avoiding me." She stated as she continued looking out at the stars.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, he had noticed that she appeared to be avoiding her too but he wanted to hear her thoughts on it.
"If we're in the mess, she'll walk around the perimeter of the room rather than past me, and I've seen glimpses of her as she's turned around when we've been in the corridors." She sighed and finally turned to look at him. Her face was somber." He only nodded as he was unsure as to what to say. "I knew she'd hate me." Her eyes drifted down to the floor.
Chakotay's heart broke; the pain she was feeling over the situation was so great but there wasn't anything he could do to ease it. "I don't think she hates you, maybe she's feeling as unsure as you are about everything. Maybe, she thinks that you don't want to have anything to do with her. She also could be ashamed with herself for how she acted." He paused for a moment, "Have you made any effort to seek her out and talk to her?"
She looked back up at him, and thought for a moment, "No, I doubt she'd listen to me." She turned to look back at the stars.
Chakotay moved closer to her and carefully placed his hand onto her shoulder. "Perhaps you should take the first step. Show her how much you really do care about her?"
She could feel how close he was to her and turned towards him. She moved into his arms and rested her head on his shoulder suddenly feeling the need to be held. At first her actions startled him, but he didn't let her know that it did. He took her invitation and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. He felt her nod, "maybe," is all she said before she fell silent.
-=/\=-
The next morning Kathryn sat at her desk in the ready room. Her thoughts were on both Crystal and the events that had happened the night before. She was feeling closer to Chakotay then she'd ever felt before. The night before she'd turned to him for support and cuddled into his embrace and for the first time in a long while she felt safe; truly safe and supported it was a feeling she really hadn't felt before. He definitely gave her the strength to do things, she just hadn't really noticed how much before. She sighed, and then looked at a folded up letter that she held in her hands. As a child she'd been used to writing the old-fashioned-way, ink and paper. Her parents thought that it was good for her sister and herself to maintain those skills.
She'd written it with the intention of leaving it for Crystal when she was older, but had never found the time, or the right moment to do so. Chakotay had convinced her to make the next move in resolving things with her, and this was going to be it. She would just have to wait until the end of her shift.
-=/\=-
After her shift was over Kathryn checked the computer for the location of Crystal. Thankfully she was busy elsewhere. Kathryn made her way to the girl's quarters and keyed in her override code and slipped inside. "Computer lights fifty percent." Once the room was lit enough for her to see, she made her way to the coffee table. She placed the handwritten letter onto it and placed a single yellow rose into a vase with it. Quietly she left Crystal's quarters calling for the lights to turn off.
-=/\=-
About an hour later Crystal and Billy returned to her quarters. They'd just finished up dinner together on the holodeck and she was feeling very relaxed. She had already started making plans for how she was going to talk to Kathryn; Billy had convinced her that she was acting foolish and sort of child like.
As they entered her quarters Billy called for the lights. Crystal was still laughing at something he'd said, "I'm going to go and chance, I'll be right back." She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss before heading off to her sleeping area to change. As she went to chance out of her dress Billy went to the replicator to get them some drinks. He moved back to the coffee table and went to set them down; he paused when he spotted something.
"Chris" he called out, "There's a yellow rose and what looks like a letter here on the coffee table."
Crystal walked out of the bedroom as she finished slipping on a long powder blue spaghetti strapped satin night gown over her head. "What?" she inquired as she moved to the front of the couch. She tiled her head to the left as she lifted up the yellowed paper, she slowly unfolded it and her eyebrows furrowed.
Billy moved up behind her, "Who's it from?"
She looked up into his eyes shock was evident on her faces, "The Captain." She looked back down to the paper she held in her hands, "It's a letter from the Captain."
