Author's Note: Well, the last chapter seems to have been a buzzkill. It's a shame, it's my favorite chapter. But don't worry, it's not over yet, and I'm a sucker for a happy ending, even if it's overdue. - CL

When the computer chirped its gentle morning alert, Janeway awoke with her back to Chakotay, head pillowed on his arm, his other arm across her loosely and their fingers twined together, as they had slept. She inhaled and exhaled a deep, controlled breath. The Captains' Dance was over. Now was the time to consolidate the advantage she had gained.

Today, Chakotay would put on a Starfleet uniform and take the first officer's chair. Today, he would order his crew to unify with hers, into the one Starfleet crew that would get them home. She had done the necessary thing, and if in the years to come the cost seemed higher than she might have chosen willingly, there was nothing to do about that but endure.

Janeway slid out of bed and wrapped her robe around her. Chakotay lay still with an expression of such deep peace and satisfaction that she couldn't bear to disturb him just yet. When she returned to the bedroom from her sonic shower, he was collecting pieces of his clothing from the floor around the bed, stark naked. She stopped short, struck by his smooth flow of muscle, something Michelangelo would have sculpted.

When he noticed her in the doorway, he faced her and held the clothes in front of him automatically. Their intimacy of the night before had already dissipated, she realized with a dull pang. It would be like this between them from now on. The barriers they had taken down would rise again and there was no telling when or if they would ever fall again. She tightened the belt on her robe and stepped forward to retrieve and hand him his shirt. The touch that passed between them in the handoff made them both step backward. Without a word, she moved into the main room to coax her first coffee from the replicator.

When Chakotay had dressed, he came to set her coffee on the desk and take both her hands in his. Janeway looked up to see that his eyes were not quite the same shade of angry black she remembered from those first few moments on the bridge. Something ineffable had changed in him. Something had lightened.

"Thank you, Kathryn," he said. "I know we won't be able to speak of it, but I will never forget this night. I promise you that."

She couldn't suppress her sigh. She rested one hand on his chest, trying to reach him, make him understand what she must do. His heart pounded under her palm. "You must not promise me anything, Chakotay. We could be out here for years. We'll be a strong team now, I'm sure of that, but we have to do our best to forget the rest of this."

He lifted his hand to her neck, which had grown as tense and stiff as ever in the minutes since she'd risen from their shared bed. With a subtle grip, he freed the tension. She felt her shoulders relax and drop. Another sigh escaped her lips, this time a sound of release … and regret.

"I won't forget," he said with a firm clasp on her shoulder. "And I do promise."

With a small, determined thrust of his chin, Chakotay took his hands off her and walked out the door without looking back. She held herself upright, almost on tiptoe, until the doors closed. If he had looked back, she was not sure that she could have kept herself from running to him and begging him to stay, move into her quarters – but it was better this way.

Janeway staggered a step and put both hands on her desk for the strength to stand. Left alone, the greatest challenge of her life entirely ahead of her, she cast her gaze across the room to the tiny wooden ship balanced on a shelf. Chakotay had been right. He hadn't hurt her. He had given her exactly what she needed, no matter how difficult the gift was to accept right now. She hoped she had done the same for him.

An hour later, Janeway was on the bridge when Chakotay entered. He was wearing his Starfleet uniform for the first time, hair slicked back, pips on straight, every inch the Starfleet first officer, with only the tattoo hinting at all that lay beneath. She nodded a greeting without a flicker of familiarity and gestured for him to stand before his chair as she circled the bridge, preparing for the speech the crew so badly needed.

"We are alone," she began, "in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We've already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face. But one thing is clear: both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew – a Starfleet crew."

Janeway paused long enough to look Chakotay in the eye and show him that there would be no discomfort or avoidance between them. They had made their bargain and performed their ritual. He met her gaze with the steady support she had already come to expect from him. The Captains' Dance was forever behind them now. The great voyage lay ahead.

"Set a course," she ordered, "for home."

Epilogue to follow…