It was late in sickbay, and as the hours had passed the senior staff had trickled in to visit their captain, all standing silently around her bed as she slept, waiting for some sort of conclusion, a sense of finality to the terrible limbo they'd been in. Chakotay stood with them, not even caring that they might see him holding Kathryn's hand. It was too late for that. No one said anything. All of them were wondering the same thing; would Tom bring Amelia or not?
The minutes ticked down. In only an hour's time, the cell damage would be too great to reverse. It needed to be now.
The sickbay doors hissed open and Tom and B'Elanna walked in, Amelia between them, their hands in hers. The little girl looked nervous, but she walked determinedly, clutching her father's hand tightly.
As one, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Tom and B'Elanna brought her to the bed closest to Kathryn's, and Tom lifted her onto it, her tiny legs dangling over the edge. Tom was tense, his face a mask. B'Elanna stood beside him, taking his hand.
The Doctor had immediately gone to Amelia and ran his tricorder over her.
"The hyposprays I gave her have taken effect," he said with a satisfied nod. "I've greatly increased the number of stem cells in her body. Extracting them now should be easier and leave her with less side effects." He got Amelia to lie down as he prepared his equipment and ran some final scans. He looked up at Tom with an apologetic expression.
"I'm afraid I have to do this the old-fashioned way, straight from the bone with a needle," he explained. "The other methods would be too harsh for her body's immune system. I'll give her some pain relief, but she'll have to be awake for the procedure so I can monitor her readings. It won't block out the pain in full."
Tom nodded, jaw clenched tightly. Amelia lay back, listening to all this, blinking rapidly. Chakotay left Kathryn's side to be nearer to her, heart swelling at the sight of her resolve. The Doctor gave her a hypospray for the pain, and moved her so she lay on her side, lifting her shirt a little to expose her hip.
When The Doctor returned with a long needle, Amelia's eyes finally showed some fear.
"Daddy!" she cried, reaching out her hand.
Tom took it and held it tightly, kissing it. "It'll be okay, sweetie."
The Doctor began the procedure, and at first, Amelia bore it bravely, wincing slightly and squeezing her father's hand. But as it wore on she began to cry and tried to squirm away. Tom stretched over her to stop her from thrashing around, his face agonising to watch.
"It'll be over soon, I promise," he said, own face in a grimace.
The Doctor finished the extraction and handed something to Seven who was acting as lab assistant. Then, with a reluctant expression of his own, he lifted the needle again and began the process anew.
It was excruciating to watch, and most of the senior staff winced and looked away. Chakotay almost couldn't bear it. Hadn't he once sworn to protect this child? To keep her from harm?
Finally, The Doctor was done, and he and Seven rushed off to the laboratory area to prepare the treatment for Kathryn. Tom immediately left to prepare another hypospray of pain relief for Amelia, leaving her with Chakotay. The little girl lay on her back, body trembling and tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.
Chakotay held her hand and smoothed back her hair, more in love than ever with this precious girl.
"Was I brave, Chakotay?" she asked him in a tiny voice. "Was I like the person in the story?"
"Braver," he said, fighting his tears. "Braver than your mother and father together."
"I agree." Tom had returned, wiping his eyes. He pressed the hypospray to Amelia's neck and then kissed her on the cheek. "The bravest of all of us."
Amelia smiled softly and closed her eyes wearily. Chakotay and Tom stood over her for a while as The Doctor rushed around sickbay tending to Kathryn. The senior staff watched silently. Even Tuvok looked less composed than usual.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, The Doctor looked up from one of his monitors with a small smile.
"I believe it's working," he said, to audible gasps of relief. "There's a long way to go, but it's encouraging."
Chakotay could have fallen upon his knees in gratitude, praying to every Spirit in the universe to thank them for saving her. As it was, he hid his face in his hands for a moment to recover himself. She's going to be alright … she's going to be alright …
"Now everybody, get out," The Doctor said abruptly, analysing his readings. "That's an order. The captain needs rest."
Obediently, most of the crew shuffled out, most glancing back at the captain, and all stopping for a moment by Amelia's bed to offer her a smile and a kind word, B'Elanna kissing her on the forehead. Chakotay ignored the order, but The Doctor seemed to have expected that.
He came over to Amelia and examined her carefully while Tom waited anxiously. The Doctor's smile was promising.
"She seems to have suffered no ill effects," he said and Tom exhaled loudly. "I'd like to keep her in sickbay for observation for a few days however."
"Whatever you say, Doc."
The Doctor pressed another hyposray to Amelia's skin. "I'm just going to put you to sleep, Amelia. Your body needs to get strong again."
"And sleep makes people strong again, like with Mommy," Amelia said, nodding as she remembered his words from that morning.
The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Well done!" He looked at Tom with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe she won't be a scientist or a pilot. Doctor Paris-Janeway sounds rather nice, don't you think?"
Tom opened his mouth to argue when a call came in over the comm.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Paris. There's an urgent issue with the navigation array. The nebula is interfering with it."
Tom hesitated, chewing his lip. His eyes lingered on Amelia, whose eyelids were now beginning to droop.
"Go, Tom," Chakotay said with a smile. "I'll stay here for a while with her until you come back."
"Thanks, Commander," Tom said, rubbing at his eyes again. "Maybe it'll do me some good to start thinking about work again for a little while."
Tom signalled to the bridge that he was on his way and then left, leaving Chakotay alone with the two Janeways. The Doctor continued working over Kathryn for a while, his expression growing happier and happier. Chakotay took up his old position beside her bed and took her hand once more. Was it his imagination, or was her hand warmer now than it had been before?
Chakotay stayed there motionless, almost believing he could see Kathryn returning to life before his eyes. He watched her so long his entire body grew stiff with sitting in the same position. He stretched his neck and shoulders painfully, knowing he would pay for this later.
A small sound roused him to the fact that Amelia had woken up behind him. Placing Kathryn's hand back on the bed, he crossed the room to where Amelia lay. She blinked up at him sleepily as Chakotay tucked her blanket around her.
"Is Mommy better yet?" she asked.
"She's getting there," Chakotay smiled, smoothing down the blanket. "Thanks to you."
Amelia smiled to herself. She looked up at Chakotay, fixing him with her signature piercing look, the one more perceptive than the ship's sensor array.
"Do you love my mommy, Chakotay?" she asked.
Chakotay didn't want to lie to her.
"Yes, I do," he admitted. "Very much."
"Then you should tell her," she said with a yawn. "Then you can get married."
Chakotay chuckled. "I'd like that very much. But it's not as easy as that."
"Why not?" Her nose wrinkled in confusion. "Daddy told B'Elanna that he loved her and they're getting married."
He sighed, and crossed his face with his hand.
"It's a little different than that. Mommy is the captain, and there are rules."
She made a face. "Daddy says rules can be broken sometimes."
Chakotay laughed and nodded, agreeing with her. He briefly pressed his lips to her forehead and waited with her until she fell back to sleep. Despite her Janeway glare and stubborn streak, she was most definitely Tom's daughter.
He turned to look back at Kathryn. Rules can be broken sometimes.
He thought of all the many rules he had broken in the past.
There were very few of them he had ever come to regret breaking.
