4 Months Later

Chakotay sat in Kathryn's quarters, there was an slightly eerie feeling to it, she'd hadn't stepped foot in it for the almost three weeks. He, Neelix and Harry had left on a mission, coming back to find the crew had gone, all bar the Doctor, who was trying his hardest to repair the damaged ship. They had drained the radiation, got life support back online and fixed Voyager, then they'd traced the crew life signs to a large city on a planet called Quarra, they were due to be there within the next few hours. He wanted to feel close to her, choosing to take some downtime and sit in her dimly lit room, it had changed since he'd first stepped in it, for their first meal; it felt like a lifetime ago. Gone were the pictures of Mark, instead there was a picture of the senior staff, the peace rose he'd given her stood in a glass vase, various items she'd collected from missions filled in gaps.

He was worried, they're analysis of a weapons signature that had fired on Voyager not long after the crew left had matched a subspace mine, they could only conclude that it was a deliberate attempt to disable Voyager. But they couldn't understand why. He hoped finding the rest of the crew may answer some of these questions.

He stood, walking over to her bookcase, smiling at the sand drawing he'd given her, when something caught his eye, tucked behind it was another photo frame. He carefully moved the sand drawing and pulled the frame out, inside it was a picture they'd taken on New Earth, in their casual clothes, smiling; a time when they were both happy. Though he knew everything was far from normal where Voyager was concerned, he couldn't wait to have everyone back, safely, and to see Kathryn again.

Two Days Later

Chakotay sat in the semi empty apartment that belonged to Kathryn, he'd ran into her earlier, in the local bar, she had been with another man - he hadn't paid much attention to his name - they had been celebrating her moving in with him. Now he sat, in the dark, his arm stinging from a phaser wound, her words running through his head. When they found the crew, none of them had any memory of Voyager, so him and Neelix beamed to the planet, and managed to get B'Elanna back to the ship. But now he had to lay low, until Harry and the Doctor could beam him out and they could work on a wider rescue mission. With the conversation restarting itself, he was startled when the doors opened and Kathryn walked in, leaving the door opened, she moved a box then bent down where she found the blood stained cloth he'd discarded on the floor.

"Lights." She looked to her right, then over her left shoulder, where he'd was sat behind her, a phaser pointing in her direction. "What do you want?"

He managed to stand up, and walked over to the door, pushing it shut with his foot. You told me you were moving out. I needed a place to hide." He moved over to the console on the wall, using the end of the phaser he turned the lights back off.

"Jaffen knows where I am. He'll come looking for me." She informed him.

He moved over to the steps leading to the upper sleeping area and sat down, the light from the windows shining down on him. "I'm hoping you won't tell him I'm here." He was trying to gauge her feelings, how she'd react, but this Kathryn was new, she was carefree, happy, she wasn't Voyagers captain, she wasn't his Kathryn. He found it somewhat amusing that within a few months he'd interacted with another Kathryn that didn't know him, even if this one was of his timeline.

"They say you had something to do with the disappearance of a woman at the plant."

"I did. Her name's B'Elanna. She was brought to this planet against her will. Something was done to her so she'd forget her real life."

"And what, you helped her get home?" It was that same tone he'd heard from her alternate timeline self, suspicion, unbelieving.

"That's right. There are other people in this city who I'm also trying to help. I'm not here to hurt anyone. You have to trust me."

"You're pointing a weapon at me." She stated, reminding him even more of the Kathryn who didn't trust him when he was trying to help.

He threw it down to the floor, hoping that she could see he meant no harm to her. "Go ahead, report me. But if you do, a lot of innocent people are going to suffer. All I'm asking for is a place to stay until my friends come back for me."

She stared at him a moment, weighing up in her head his argument, then she gestured to his wound. "We're going to have to do something about that arm."

It was about an hour later when she return, with a medical instrument she'd stolen from the power distribution plant, Chakotay wasn't sure if he was grateful for her actions or shocked at them. She ran it over the wound. They were now sitting, him on a foot stall, her on a large square seat. "You need a doctor."

"That'll have to wait till I'm back on Voyager." He noticed the device was primitive, if he had been on Voyager, the Doctor would have healed it by now.

"Voyager?" It was strange to hear the word sound foreign from her, questioning her own ship.

"My ship." He watched her, but her face was neutral as she continued to treat his arm.

"You live onboard?"

"For almost seven years."

"Don't you ever want to stay in one place?"

He smiled at the question, the Kathryn he knew wouldn't want to stay in one place, she wouldn't want to be grounded. After a moment of quite he said. "You seem happy here." It was an observation rather than a question.

"I've got a good job." Her tone didn't changed, it was monotone, he would have though someone who enjoyed their work would be more excited to talk about it.

"Ever consider doing something more challenging?"

"My job's challenging enough." Focusing on the task at hand, the rather slow tending of his arm.

"You monitor reactor coils, right? You're obviously a very capable woman. You could probably run that power plant." He watched her again with interest, how would this new Kathryn act to the idea of being in command.

"Why would I want all that responsibility?" He could almost hear the scoff in her voice, it dawned on him, if they couldn't fix what had happened, get their memories back, he was going to loose her, there be no way this Kathryn would want to travel, she'd want to settle here with her stable job... with Jaffen.

Suddenly the sub-dermal communicator chirped three times, making them both jump slightly. "What's that?" She asked.

"My people are trying to contact me." He held his left hand closer to his mouth and spoke. "Chakotay here."

"Are you okay, Commander?" It was Harry's voice.

Chakotay felt relief at hearing the Ensigns voice, they hadn't been destroyed or captured by the people on this planet, they were safe. "For the time being. Can you get me out of here?" He glanced up at Kathryn, she was watching him intensely.

"No, sir. We're eight light years away."

Chakotay frowned slightly, he was hoping to get back to Voyager, put together a rescue plan for the rest of the crew. "How are you transmitting this signal that far?"

"We're using a triaxialating frequency on a covariant Subspace band. It was B'Elanna's idea." This time the Doctors voice came through.

Chakotay watched as Kathryn expression changed to looking surprised. "I take it she's feeling better."

"She's responded well to treatment." The Doctor informed him.

Harry asked. "Have you located anyone else from the crew?"

Looking straight at Kathryn, Chakotay replied. "As a matter of fact, I'm sitting with Captain Janeway right now." Her eyes widen more, she even backed a little away from him.

"How is she?" Harry asked.

"A little suspicious, just like B'Elanna was at first. How soon can you get back into transporter range?"

"A couple more days to finish repairs. What about the shield grid?"

"I have an idea how to shut it down." Chakotay informed them. "Until I get back to you, let's maintain comm. silence, just in case we're being monitored."

"Understood. Good luck, Commander." Harry said, before the comm went dead.

Kathryn stood, backing away from him. "Why did you call me captain?"

"Because that's who you are." Chakotay stated, hoping she might sit back down and listen to him.

"That's absurd." She spat back at him. "So what are you saying, that I was brought here by force too? That my memories were manipulated?"

"I know it sounds strange." He started, but she cut him off.

"Helping you was a mistake." Her tone was harsh, harsher than he'd ever heard it before, she headed towards the door.

"Listen to me." He got up, crossed the room to stand in front of her. "There are more then a hundred members of Voyager's crew working at that power plant. Your crew. And when our ship gets here I'll be able to prove it to you. Look, I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to, but don't you at least want to know the truth? Let me prove who I am. Hand me that dermal regenerator."

Though hesitated, she headed the instrument over and Chakotay walked to a mirror place by a window, Kathryn following. As he ran the dermal regenerator in front of his face, noticing her reflection behind him, the bony ridges vanished and his tattoo reappeared.

"We're the same race." She gasped.

He turned to face her, seeing mixed expressions on her face. "We're more than that. We're friends." He looked into her eyes, then a crazy idea ran through his mind, old Earth fairy tales always had a curse of some sort, broken by true loves kiss, what if it was real, what if it could break her curse. He placed his hands on her arms and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against hers, after a second it felt like she was responding to him, but then she pulled back, broke free from his grip. He watched as she stood in silence, her mouth and eyes wide open, he was hoping that maybe it had worked, that memories were flooding back to her, but after a 'excuse me,' she walked out of the room, leaving him feeling disappointed.

=/\=

Several Hours Later.

Kathryn sat in her Captains chair, Chakotay at her side, they'd managed to rescue the crew, and several other people who'd had their memories altered. The crew had responded well to the Doctors treatment and were heading back to their posts. She'd said a teary goodbye to Jaffen, she even consider offering him a place on Voyager, but he stayed behind, taking over the distribution plant, it hurt her, she'd cried when she'd hugged him farewell, wishing that he could stay. But she couldn't of had an open relationship with a member of her crew, and like all her previous relationships, it ended.

She now sat with Chakotays question ringing in her ears, "Are you sorry I showed up?"

Their kiss ran through her mind, she hadn't told him, and probably wouldn't, but something had happened when their lips had touched, something... magical. Memories had flashed before her, the offering of a pink rose, clasping hands, a pocket watch, so many different things that at the time she didn't know how to deal with it and left. Even though she'd called security, part of her had been convinced he'd been telling the truth, but she didn't want to give up Jaffen, she didn't want to give up happiness and love.

When those memories, she looked him in the eye and replied. "Not for a second."