Captain's Log, supplemental: Two days have passed since we successfully destroyed the Excalibur. Voyager sustained minor damage and the crew minor injuries. The Doctor informs me that everyone will be able to report for duty in the morning. Unfortunately, while the distress signal that the aliens used for so many years to lure unsuspecting ships into their trap has been terminated, we have no way of knowing if it destroyed them completely. For now, a warning buoy has been deployed, and we can only hope that no other ship has to go through what the crew of the Excalibur did. As for myself, and my crew, the whole experience has left us all a little unsettled.


The rocking motion of Ava's rocking chair didn't seem to be calming either child that night. Kathryn Janeway had mindlessly fallen into a rhythm what felt like hours ago, rocking back and forth in the chair. Michael was huddled next to her, Ava in her arms, but still neither child gave into the sleep that had to be beckoning them. Sighing, Kathryn closed her eyes for a moment, completely lost in thought that she didn't hear the door chime go off.

"Kathryn?" Chakotay's voice brought her out of her stupor. Opening her eyes slowly she could see him standing in the doorway to the nursery, looking concerned. "Didn't you hear me ring the chime?"

Giving him an apologetic look, she shook her head. "No, sorry," she replied. "What can I do for you Commander?"

He handed her a stack of PADDs. "I know the Doctor said no work, but if you're having as much trouble as I am trying to stay distracted, then I thought you could use these. Tuvok seems to agree. It's all the status reports from the last two days. It appears that Voyager as a whole got out of this encounter unscathed, with the exception of a few burnt out consoles. We just need your approval on the little repairs."

Sliding Ava off of her lap, which resulted in both children whining, Kathryn grabbed the PADDs, assuring them that she would be right back. Chakotay offered to tell them a story to keep them occupied while their mother went to type in the necessary approval into the computer's systems. Michael seemed more enthused than Ava about the prospect, but Kathryn surmised that the Commander could hold his own for a few moments while she tended to her work. Besides, she needed the break. She had been rocking for at least an hour and her backside was beginning to get numb; she welcomed the chance to get up and move.

Pulling her personal computer around to face her she began to give the authorization codes for the repairs, listening to the sounds of Chakotay's voice in the nursery as he told the children a story. Her mind began to wander over the events of past two days , seeing that horrible monster rounding on her and her children in the corridor, Chakotay trying to keep them safe. How terrifying must it have been on the Excalibur for the away team? They had been trapped on that ship for over three hours, alone with no way to communicate with Voyager. She had only read bits and pieces of Chakotay, Tom, and Sarah's reports, and after her own experiences with the aliens, she was none too eager to continue reading them. For the most part, the three officers seemed to be coping with their personal ordeals and Kathryn was just relieved that she had not lost more than the two unfortunate crewmen. If Kes had not been able to fire the torpedoes, however, Kathryn knew she wouldn't be standing there typing in authorization codes for repairs.

Whatever had compelled Sarah to bring Kes to the bridge with her and Tom, Kathryn was grateful. She thought about Sarah's account of speaking to a vision of the captain of the Excalibur; he had claimed to be a presence on Voyager for sometime, to protect the children from the creatures, perhaps he had been the one to push Sarah to take Kes with her. They probably would never know.

Finished with the work, Kathryn shut the computer down and went to take the PADDs back into the nursery to Chakotay. She stopped in the doorway at the sight that greeted her. Both children were snuggled up against Chakotay, sound asleep, and the first officer in turn was napping as well, his arms gently wrapped around the children's small bodies. Smiling gently, Kathryn grabbed the throw on top of her bed and draped it over them, and then with one last look lowered the lights and left the room, beginning to wonder if fate had thrown them all together.


Pulling an over-sized wool sweater over her head, Sarah shook out the last bit of dampness from her hair and proceeded to replicate herself a warm cup of hot chocolate. It wasn't something she drank often, but it reminded her of her childhood, and right now she needed to feel comforted. She had just finished her log on her experiences on the Excalibur. Even reliving those horrifying hours in writing had made her frazzled, so she took a hot bath, climbed into some comfy clothes, and decided that a good book and a cup of hot chocolate would help her to relax for the rest of the evening. She had just settled down onto the chase lounge, legs curled around her, when the door chimed. Even before she allowed the person in, she knew who it was. "Come in."

Tom Paris stepped inside the cozy lit room, wearing a jade green button down shirt and black pants. "Hi," he said, softly. Suddenly all the courage he had mustered to come here in the first place, was gone, looking at her. The rosy color of the sweater she was wearing accented the tint in her cheeks, dark hair, still damp at the ends from a bath, framed her delicate face, and she was quirking one of those grins that made his knees go weak whenever she did it. He had come here with every intention of telling her how he felt, but now, his resolve was slowly leaking away.

"Do you want something to drink?" Sarah asked, getting up off the chase lounge and moving towards the replicator. "Coffee? Tea?"

"Just a glass of water, thanks," Tom replied, watching as she turned her back and ordered the computer to replicate a glass of ice water for him.

She handed him the glass and their fingers brushed for the smallest of moments. He felt the spark pass between them. Awkwardly their eyes met as Tom put the glass of water down on a nearby end table, he reached for her, letting his hands rest behind her head, softly weaving his fingers into her silky hair. For a moment his eyes rested on her face and then he felt himself being pulled towards her, their lips closing the gap between them…

"Doctor to Lieutenant Barrett."

They pulled a part as if suddenly they realized what was about to happen. Sarah reached for the combadge resting on the dining table, trying to keep her back to him. "Go ahead, Doctor."

"Could you come down to sickbay please?"

Sarah's eyes locked with Tom's for a moment. They pleaded with her to tell him no, and apart of her wanted to say no, to explore what was going on between the two of them, but another part was screaming at her to get out while she could. "Is there an emergency Doctor?"

"I wouldn't classify it as an emergency, Lieutenant; just Ensign Wildman apparently needs someone to talk too."

With a sigh she told him she was on her way and she closed the comlink. Tom was looking at her with a twinge of sadness on his face. Tears began to creep into her eyes and she instinctively turned away. The silence seemed to drag out between them with neither of them knowing what to say exactly. "I should be going," Sarah finally whispered. She tried to be quick about leaving, but Tom was faster, he grabbed her by the arm, not forcefully, but with enough force to hold her in place before she could make it out the door.

He wasn't about to let her go, not yet, not without her knowing how much he cared for her. Tom turned her towards him, pulling her closer to him. "When you were trapped in that ready room, it was the single most terrifying moment of my life. I thought I was about to lose you, without ever saying what I needed to say to you. I don't know why, I haven't been able to understand it myself yet, but I've fallen hard for you, Sarah. And I don't want another day to go by without you knowing how much I love you."

"We can't Tom," she cried, tears falling down rosy cheeks. "We're senior officers…"

"Do you think I care about protocol?" Tom snapped. "If we're going to survive out here, there are some protocols that are going to have to be done away with. We could be out here another seventy five years, Sarah. Do you want to throw your life away like that? I know that a starship isn't exactly the best place for a relationship, but it's better than spending the next seven decades alone, don't you agree?"

Before she could reply he pressed his lips to her eagerly. Sarah wanted to return it, every fiber of her being wanted her to return it, but the cold fear that had gripped her two weeks before, when she had realized how much she cared for him, snapped her back to reality. She pulled away, tears soaking her cheeks by now. "Tom, I'm sorry," she whispered, "I can't." She managed to get out of his arms and out the door, making a mad dash for the turbolift, for she knew that if Tom caught her again she couldn't resist the next time.

"Sarah, wait!" Tom called after her.

She turned in the lift just in time to see him sprinting after her. The doors shut in his face and she called for the lift to take her to deck five. In the short ride she managed to wipe the tears off of her cheeks using her sweater, but she knew that the Doctor and Samantha Wildman, and whoever else she encountered in the next twenty minutes or so would know she had been crying. Thankfully the corridors of deck five were abandoned and she managed to get to sickbay without anyone questioning her if she was alright.

The only ones in sickbay were Ensign Wildman and the Doctor. The hologram was busy working on something, a bit aways from where Samantha was lying on a biobed. "Ah, Lieutenant," the hologram greeted, which caused Samantha to sit up.

"Sorry that I couldn't get here sooner," Sarah said, finding her voice was still a bit unstable. The hologram grumbled something that was inaudible to her. "Doctor, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Ensign Wildman alone."

More grumbling from the hologram resulted in the EMH moving into his office. Apparently he thought he should be privy to this conversation, but if that was the case all along, then Samantha would not have requested to speak to Sarah. And Sarah knew that Samantha had requested it. She was starting to get better at reading people's thoughts. Waiting until she was sure that the Doctor was tucked away in his office working, Sarah sat down on the edge of the biobed. "What's going on Samantha?"

"I…well, I...that is to say... we…we'd been trying for months," Samantha started, "I wasn't sure until…the other day. My husband is still at Deep Space Nine...he doesn't even know..."

It took a moment for Sarah to take in her words. "Samantha," she said, softly, resting a hand on her knee, "Are you pregnant?"

"Yes," Samantha hiccupped, tears cresting on her eyelashes.

Sarah did the only thing she could think of at that moment. She hugged the shaken ensign tightly and silently prayed the answers would come later. For now, Voyager was going to have to prepare for another baby.