The next week passed in a blur and before they knew it, it was time for the Captain and the Commander to reveal their relationship.
The day of the announcement came early for Kathryn Janeway. She found that she could barely sleep the night before and when she awoke much too early for her shift on the bridge, she couldn't fall back to sleep.
After trying for nearly an hour to drift off again, the sleep deprived woman got up and decided to go for an early breakfast.
The Mess Hall was empty when she entered save Neelix who was happily whisking a bowl of eggs behind the counter.
The eggs soon were transformed into a Jibalian seven-spice omelet, which Kathryn ate greedily. She had noticed in the last few days that she had been getting hungrier than normal.
'Little One seems to be a hungry fellow,' she thought as she downed the last of her glass of juice. 'Hope it doesn't mean I'll turn into a whale just to feed him.'
With her breakfast finished and nothing else to do, the Captain made her way to the bridge.
Upon her entering, everyone snapped to attention but she waved them off, saying that she was just here for something to do and that they should go back to whatever it was they were doing before disappearing into her Ready Room. She stayed there doing busy work until her shift started.
~~~~~ST:V~~~~~~
Every officer on the bridge could tell that something was off with their captain. She was fidgety all morning, constantly shifting positions in her chair, crossing and uncrossing her legs, and tapping her fingers against her leg. It had everyone perplexed. They were speeding through space at warp five and hadn't come across anything what so ever in the past day and a half to warrant such unease.
Only two bridge officers had any idea about what could have the captain so agitated but they were still as curious as the rest of the crew to find out what was going on.
Just before lunch, the captain of the Federation starship Voyager left the bridge and headed to her Ready room for the second time that day.
Mere moments after the Captain vacated the bridge, the First Officer entered. He didn't, however, take his seat. Instead, he walked over to the Ready Room and disappeared from the bridge crew's view as well.
~~~~~ST:V~~~~~
"You ready?" Chakotay asked once the door had slid closed behind him.
"As I'll ever be, I suppose," Kathryn sighed.
"Do you know what you are going to say?" he inquired.
"I have a plan," she answered. "I'm going to start with New Earth and how a relationship developed. Then say how the relationship on the planet has continued and also led to my pregnancy, which is 13 weeks along. They don't need to know about what happened between leaving New Earth and finding out I was pregnant. That's private."
"Sounds good," Chakotay agreed. "Straight forward and to the point. Are we going to stay in here or are we going to go to the bridge?"
"If we don't go out there, it'll seem like we're ashamed of what happened," Kathryn shook her head, "and that is the farthest thing from what I feel."
"Lead the way," he said, gesturing towards the door and giving her a quick peck on the cheek as she walked by.
She walked over to the door and, with a deep breath, entered the bridge.
Every crew member on the bridge turned to look at the captain and first officer as they walked on to the bridge.
Kathryn ignored them and continued on to the middle of the bridge.
"All hands, this is the captain," she called with a confidence that she wasn't really feeling. "If you could all take a moment away from your duties, I have a…rather important announcement to make.
"As all of you know," she began her speech, "a little over three months ago, the Commander and I returned from New Earth. What you do not know is that while we were on the planet, Commander Chakotay and I formed a…romantic relationship that has continued since our return to the ship.
"I am telling you now because our relationship on the planet has led to an unforeseen but very welcome consequence. The Commander and I are expecting a child and in six months, give or take, our ship will have a new crew member.
"If anyone has any concerns, feel free to come to myself or the Commander with them. However, I want to assure everyone that I will let this affect my decisions as Captain as little as possible."
With that, she sat down in her chair and gazed at the view screen.
Harry's mouth was hanging open just slightly. B'Elanna scoffed in disbelief and looked at Chakotay with raised eyebrows. Samantha Wildman looked stunned at the captain's revelation.
Only Tom and Tuvok looked unfazed by the news. Tom sat at his station and smirked at the expressions on his fellow officers' faces while Tuvok simply stared forward, stoic as ever.
The bridge was silent for a few moments before Tom broke it with some of his usually comedic teasing.
"Close your mouth, Harry," the helmsman chuckled. "You look like you're trying to catch meteorites with that thing."
Harry's mouth snapped closed as he turned to glare at his friend.
"Congratulations!" Samantha exclaimed. Since telling the Captain of her own pregnancy, the two had developed a friendship, meeting for meals on occasion and even the odd game of Velocity when Samantha could be dragged away from her daughter.
"Thank you, Ensign," Kathryn Janeway smiled at the young mother.
"Yeah, congratulations, Captain," Harry said, now that he had finally gotten over the shock. "You, too, Commander."
"Thank you, Mr. Kim," Chakotay inclined his head at the excitable young man.
After various words of congratulations from the rest of the bridge crew, the Captain and the Commander took their seats, ready for a shift on the bridge.