Chapter 14: The Captain's Proposal
Shell shocked wasn't an accurate word to describe how she felt. Shocked. Overwhelmed. Happy beyond belief. Nothing could quite explain the feelings racing through her body as Chakotay was knelt down in front of her. She knew there was a ring but that wasn't what she was focusing on. It was him. Completely him.
Her breathing halted, only for a moment. He was proposing to her, actually proposing to her. It was something she had never imagined. Yes, she'd dreamt about it, fantasised even, but never expected it.
In all honesty, she was feeling beautifully overwhelmed. After getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant, she never thought she'd be lucky enough to find someone again, not after Mark. However, here was Chakotay, proving her wrong in the best possible way.
The room had fallen silent; everyone was hoping for the same thing. Another reason to celebrate.
"It depends." she finally said.
The smile which followed her statement immediately made the Commander nerves diminish. It was clear in her eyes, her answer. She was just taking her sweet time saying aloud.
"On what?" he flashed a soft smirk, curious to see where she was going.
She leant forward slowly, their faces close within moments.
"Is this the way the angry warrior story ends?"
Her voice was like a dream – soft, breathless, simply beautiful.
He laughed lightly. "It's the way I want it to end." he admitted, "Or at least this chapter."
Releasing a dry sob, a smile split her face in two. He couldn't have answered it any better than that. Her hand wrapped around his neck, bringing him just that little bit closer to her.
"Yes."
Only those close enough to the couple hear the Captain's response but the grins the pair exchanged mere moment later seemed to confirm what they'd all been silently hoping for. She'd said yes.
It wasn't long before the room broke out into applause, pleased smiles erupting and spreading like wildfire across each and every crew member's face. It was about time their Command Team ended the ship largest and longest betting pool.
The Captain wasn't one for public displays of affection, she never had been, but at that moment, she had no objection in pulling the Commander towards her and kissing him rather passionately. The action earnt a cheeky wolf whistle from Tom Paris and was soon followed by a chorus of happy laughter. It was safe to say that she hadn't been that happy for a long, long time.
=/\=
Good news always seemed to travel at Warp 10 on Voyager and that night had been no exception. The Captain and Commander had barely been engaged for more than an hour yet as they returned to their quarters that evening, every crew member they passed congratulated them. There simply were no secrets on a ship that small.
"So, did you enjoy the shower?" the Commander asked, watching her settle down on the sofa after slipping the top layer of her uniform off. She was finding the damn thing was becoming too constricting.
She nodded, accepting a cup of Ktarian orange squash. She'd never really enjoyed that particular beverage before but during her pregnancy, she'd developed a taste for it.
She took a sip as he took a seat next to her.
"It made up for the reports I'd been stuck doing all day."
Chakotay laughed softly, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his chest.
"Well, I couldn't have you finding out beforehand." he kissed her hair.
She nodded softly, leaning forward to place the cup down on the side. Whether she enjoyed it or not, it was no substitute for coffee.
She returned to her previous position within moments, her head leaning against his chest yet still tilting to look down at the ring sat proudly on her finger. Her thumb traced it slowly, the movement making Chakotay take note. It had cost him over six weeks' worth of replicator rations but have been worth every single one. She'd said yes.
The Captain sighed contently, moving her head to look up at him. Their eyes met, both sparkling in the dim light of the room. In that moment, both of them were sure they'd never been so lucky.
Their lips met, starting soft but slowly growing in intensity. Their hands soon joined in, the Commander's coming up to hold her jaw delicately. They parted when the need to breathe became too much, the Commander trailing his lips down her exposed throat when her head fell back.
"Take me to bed." she breathed.
He didn't have to be told twice.
In the following week, the news of the Captain and Commander's engagement had spread to every corner of the ship. The few crew members who hadn't congratulated them on the night had by then, leaving the Captain on a major high.
"So," started Chakotay as he began clearing away the dishes from dinner one evening, "I was wondering if you'd like me to begin decorating the baby's room?"
He took the pile over to the replicator to be recycled while the Captain, already in her nightdress, was sat at the table reading the latest Astrometrics report. His question made her lift her head and meet his eye.
"If you want to."
He nodded. "Yeah." he paused to dematerialise the dishes, "If I'm going to be a good father, I need to start pulling my weight."
The Captain released a harsh breath, shaking her head ever so softly.
"There's no if about it." she felt compelled to point out as he headed back over, "You're going to be a great father."
Chakotay smiled as he leaned down and kissed the side of her face, resulting in her leaning back on her chair. It could be rather annoying how he distracted her from her work but she wasn't complaining in the slightest.
"I hope so." he whispered, delicately placing his hand against her bump. He'd gotten rather attached to that bump over the past couple of weeks. Biological or not, it was his little baby growing there.
He lifted his head and met her eye. "Any particular colour?"
The Captain shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She trusted him to make the right decision.
"Just make it neutral."
"Aye, Captain." he agreed, kissing her head as he straightened up, "I'll start it tomorrow."
She smiled tiredly, rolling out her shoulders. It had been a rather long day and her earlier bath had made her feel rather lethargic.
"Are you coming?" he asked softly, referring to bed.
She nodded. After being awake for over nineteen hours and knowing their next shifts were just under eight hours away, they both were in need of some sleep.
As the Captain's head hit the pillow that night, she soon fell into Chakotay's warm embrace. Comfy and content, her head began to fill with possible images of her life after the baby was born. Part of her couldn't wait until the time came even though she was incredibly nervous. She guessed any expectant mother shared those fears. However, as long as Chakotay was by her side, she knew she would never have a problem too big that they couldn't face together.
=/\=
The Captain had reached ten and a half months' gestation. She'd recently begun wearing her maternity uniform in order to hide her bump. It turns out that something she had dreaded had actually become a blessing as it hid the definition of her stomach. She wasn't sure why but she was a little self-conscious when it came to her bump.
The Bridge that morning was oddly quiet. There were no anomalies on sensors, no problems on board, nothing.
Lieutenant Paris had reached a point of boredom he thought humanly impossible. Back at the Academy, he'd been taught that piloting a starship was a dull, boring and tedious task, apart from the times when it wasn't. However, that morning was a time that it most certainly was.
Spinning around on his chair, he turned to see Harry Kim, the young Operations Ensign and his best friend, staring into space – literally. He then looked across at the Captain. She was leaning harshly on her elbow while reading a large PADD which the Commander had given her near the beginning of her shift. It must have been interesting; she'd been reading it for two hours. His wandering eyes soon fell upon the Commander, the one who soon caught onto Tom's stare and smiled weakly. He looked just as bored as he felt.
He sighed harshly, looking back at the Captain just as she put down the PADD. He took that as the moment to spin back towards the helm.
"Good story, Captain?" he asked, doing a quick check of the navigational controls.
"If you can call a 23-page report a good story, then yes." she replied dryly.
He had to spin around to face her, his eyes wide.
"23 pages?" he asked in disbelief, "Who wrote that?"
"Ensign McKinley from Astrophysics." she replied rubbing the arch of her nose, silently pleading for her eyes to hurry up and refocus.
Tom scoffed. "He must be eager for a promotion." he voiced, earning a laugh from Ensign Kim and some of the junior officers.
"How does he even find the time to write that much?" Harry wondered aloud, "Between my duties, I can barely write more than five."
Tom scoffed once again. Five.
"Speak for yourself!" he moaned, "I push it with three, four if I'm feeling good."
"You obviously aren't good that often then, Lieutenant." smirked the Commander, "Your reports for me are barely longer than two pages."
"Two pages?" it was Ensign Kim's turn to smirk, "I didn't even get away with that in the Academy!"
Tom turned back to the helm, his shoulder shrugged.
"Nor did I…" he confessed, earning a small chuckle from the Command team.
Later that night, the Captain was sat in her office reading through the data obtained from the pulsars they had been in vicinity of when the aliens with the genetic tags had been on-board. That kind of anomaly had always fascinated her; it was just a shame she couldn't have been more interested at the time.
"Kathryn?" called Chakotay as he entered their quarters that night.
"In here!"
The Commander entered the room to see her buried in piles of PADD's, albeit looking very happy and somewhat relaxed. It was obviously more for pleasure than work.
"What are you doing?"
"Research." she replied with a smile, "Well, reading through it."
He scoffed lightly, rolling his eyes as he began to laugh. "You and your research."
"Excuse me." her smirk began to grow when their eyes met, "I don't tell you how to spend your free time." her brow raised suggestively, "Do I object when you go boxing on the holodeck?"
No. She didn't.
Rolling his eyes, the Commander took off the top layer on his uniform and left in on the side. He then made his way over to her, lightly brushing her hair between his fingertips before gathering it together and moving it to one side.
She immediate dropped the PADD against the desk. She knew what was coming next and she was already eagerly anticipating it.
Chakotay began expertly massaging her shoulders, something she hadn't realised how much she was in need of. She automatically sighed and her head dropped back against the chair, allowing her tense shoulders to relax under his marvellous hands. He'd always been able to work wonders with his hands.
"You're so tense." he whispered into her ear.
She shivered at his whisper and closed her eyes. Her soft moans were the indication of just how much she was enjoying the sensation.
"It feels good."
He continued to deeply massage her shoulders before moving his lips southwards and kissing her newly relaxed and exposed neck, something she had no objection to. It amazed her just how much, or rather little, he had to do to make feel as though she were walking on air.
A few moments later, he broke away to her silent protests and turned off her computer.
"Come to bed."
She shivered again, standing and finding herself being guided to the bedroom. He wasn't rough with the kiss he initiated but she moaned, the feeling too good to keep her quiet. He always knew the right thing to do – the right thing at the right time.
"Oh, humans!" a familiar voice suddenly exclaimed from the corner of the room, "You can be so disgusting sometimes."
They pair quickly broke away, both in a small state of shock. They certainly hadn't been expecting company.
Immediately, the looked around and were met with a pair of familiar eyes.
"Q?" they cried in unison.