Note: This is a Voyager story but with a TNG character so I have left it as a single catergory rather than a crossover.

The first paragraph below was an extract from a story I read in 2006 by Marmar1, Inhave tried to find the name of this story without success, but it may have been called Welcome Home and its what started this idea.

Chapter 1

Breaking from his gaze, her eyes followed her hand as her fingertips lightly caressed over his tribal tattoo, down the line of his cheek, to stop gently under his chin. Her eyes briefly considered his mouth; her tongue slipped out to moisten her own lips before they met his with a firm tenderness.

Her left hand rose to grip his right shoulder. Through slightly parted lips, her tongue slipped out to tease across his lips before she leaned back, breaking all contact with him. Once again, her eyes caught his and she was unable to mask entirely the desire, the sadness within.

"Welcome home, Commander." she said, her voice heavy.

Chakotay was in a state of shock as he watched Kathryn step through the door onto the bridge.

"What the hell!

Damn you Kathryn, why did you have to wait til now to do that?", he muttered moving quickly to follow her, to stop her and...what?

He stopped abruptly. What exactly was he doing, Seven was waiting for him in his quarters and Kathryn had made it clear she would never take their relationship further whilst they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

It had seemed to Chakotay foolish to wait, so after years of one rejection after another he had looked elsewhere for companionship, after all they might never get home...

It was then Chakotay realised he had given up, that was why he had started seeing Seven, oh sure she was attractive enough in her own way but still she was no Kathryn Janeway.

Kathryn, who had never given up hope she would get her ship and her crew home, never stopped fighting and changed the rules from the future to ensure they found a way home and in doing so maybe then to allow herself to give life to her feelings for him, but he had been impatient had not fully realised the depth of her commitment to her mission and he had given up on her, on them.

Chakotay backed away from the door, stumbled landing hard on the sofa, put his head in his hands in complete dismay.

Even with all the de-briefings, meetings and media attention there was little to dampen the Voyager crews return home, of course it had not been without incident.

After the shock of seeing Voyager appear out of the Borg conduit, Starfleet had effectively put the ship under a tight quarantine no messages in or out and they were to proceed directly to an Earth orbit and transport to a debriefing area somewhere in New Zealand.

The somewhere turned out to be the same holding facility Tom Paris had been in prior to joining Voyager on the trip to the Badlands. The irony of which was not lost on Mister Paris, who remarked on several occasions, "Did the Delta Quadrant thing really happen, or have I been dreaming for seven years".

Marquis crew-members were charged with crimes against the Federation, which were then dropped in most cases due to performance whilst serving on a Federation ship, helped in no small part by Captain Janeway, who seemed to have something positive to say in defence of every signal crew-member, it was widely commented on by the crew that she must have spent the entire seven years in the Delta Quadrant compiling defence arguments.

In the end the last people to leave the holding area were the command team, they had not had chance to speak to each other on a personal level for several weeks and Chakotay was still undecided about what exactly had happened in Kathryn's Ready Room the day they returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Intending to speak with her and get to the bottom of the situation Chakotay was heading to her quarters to have a long overdue conversation.

After 8 weeks in quarantine, in small quarters, being grilled daily along with a constant feeling of being under a microscope the final crew member had left two days ago into the arms of family or friends, travel worn, but in most cases smiling, Kathryn had made sure to see every single one safely into the care of a loved one, with a touch to an arm, a kind word of advice sometimes a bittersweet hug but all with the reminder that she would always be their Captain and if they ever needed her they were to call.

All that remained now were the command team, they had not spoken much more than official business in the last two months, even the last few months on Voyager had been better than this, they had at least been friendly towards each other, but it seemed with the return to Earth the only thing holding them together had slipped away.

The time had finally come for her to leave this prison, to move on with her life and Kathryn was packing up the few personal items remining in her make shift quarters at the holding area, the crew had come up with a name for it but she was too tired to remember what it was.

Six months leave and mandatory counselling twice a week every week for at least half of that, what a joy it was to be home! Along with the added joy of mandatory visits to headquarters every week to continue explaining her actions over the last seven years as Starfleet picked through her personal logs to see if she was actually stable enough to continue as a Starfleet officer - of all the bloody cheek!

Throwing a small padd into her duffle Kathryn wondered if they were together now, the woman she had come to love like a daughter and the man she thought she might spend the rest of her life with once they got home. On the one hand she couldn't be angry at Seven, it wasn't as if Kathryn had any prior claim. But there was something, an understanding a whisper of a promise between her and Chakotay that had plainly been more evident to her than him, muttering to herself about angry warriors and broken promises was only serving to push her further into an angry rage, seven years of running on red alert followed by the last few months being dissected had taken its toll on her self control, hurling the coffee cup across the room, not really caring as it shattered on the opposite wall, Kathryn felt that iron mask slip just a bit, it felt good, so picking up another meaningless trinket from the pile she threw that as well.

In those few moments Kathryn Janeway displayed a loss of control that would have shocked many of the people who knew her on Voyager as she threw another cup adding a string of curses in various languages for good measure, then realising that she had nothing else to break and being unwilling to replicate something else she slumped down in the chair head in her hands and sighed. "What is the point anymore what do I do now?"

Across the room the console beeped signalling an incoming message, Kathryn cautiously raised her eyes and looked in its direction huffing gently she pushed herself up.

Chakotay was walking across the compound when a person transported into the entrance, the glare of the afternoon sun was in his face and he could just make out the silhouette of a man, he couldn't overhear all that was said to the security officer on duty but caught the name Kathryn, so headed in that direction.

William T Riker had spent the last two hours trying to convince the stubborn iron willed woman to come to him, in the end he had given up and just walked to a transport and decided to go collect her. Kathryn Janeway or Riker as he continued to think of her just because it amused him to do so, was even more stubborn than Jean-Luc Picard. Technically speaking she was still his wife as they had never gotten round to a divorce, but after some 17 years apart it didn't count for much, he still loved her she had a way of worming her way into someone, but it wasn't the same as being in love with her, that's what he told himself anyway.

They had been going through the paperwork before she disappeared but it had never been submitted. As he materialised on the transporter platform in New Zealand he thought about how he was going to explain to Kathryn that she was still married to him, smiling he considered it had been a very long time since he had anything thrown at him by a beautiful woman so it could be time to remedy that and she did like to throw things.

"Commander Riker, Here to meet Captain Kathryn Janeway from Voyager, I believe she's leaving quarantine today. She's not expecting me so I'd be grateful if you could point me in the right direction".

The security officer looked down his lists, but was saved the trouble of directing by Chakotay, "Commander William Riker, of the Enterprise isn't it?"

Riker turned and looked into the face of Commander Chakotay, he recognised him from the news reports on Voyager which had been peppering the holovids for the months since their return. "Yes and you're Commander Chakotay"

Nodding an affirmative, Chakotay extended his hand to the man, as he asked "You're a friend of Kathryn's? strange she never mentioned you".

Shaking Chakotay's hand Riker considered that statement, whilst he and Kathryn had never shouted their relationship from the rooftops they had never been hiding it from anyone, sure after the split they hadn't been in the same circles very often, mainly as self preservation it seemed that even after they agreed to end their three year marriage they couldn't quite turn off that initial attraction to one another, having been caught a couple of times with their guard down and ending up in bed together after a function somewhere - they decided to avoid each other. Communication via com link ensured they were never at the same function at the same time and if they were they brought company, after Will's assignment to the Enterprise more often than not that someone had been Deanna or Doctor Crusher in a pinch.

"Huh, Not surprising", releasing Chakotay's grip Will continued, "We didn't exactly advertise, So where is she hiding?"

Chakotay motioned in the direction of a long low building just ahead of them, "I was just heading that way myself, l'll show you".

Just then a door across the quad opened and the woman in question stepped out into the sunlight, holding a small star fleet issue duffle and wearing a very old style command uniform, Will Riker stopped and simply waited for her to clock him, his mind going back to the last time he saw her.

Kathryn knew it was silly but the old uniform was familiar, comfortable and a bit like a full shield at red alert. So she didn't really care what she looked like when she opened the door leading out of the temporary lodgings, as she entered the quad she could see two figures ahead of her, but the sun was so bright she couldn't immediately make out who the people were, stepping out onto the rough path brought the figures out of the suns glare revealing her second in command and someone she hadn't expected to see.

Memories came flooding back as she looked at him, he looked good, but then he always did that was part of the problem. He's put on a few pounds in the last few years, since... she felt her foot scuff the ground as she faltered over the gravel and the memory, oh no Kathryn don't go there. But the thought was already in motion playing out, the night before Voyager had departed space dock they had met to finalise the divorce paperwork and as usual the bickering started, it was good natured nit-picking something they had always done, but with the paperwork in front of them it had felt very final.

"You need to sign it Kate", Will pulled the padd out of its case sighing gently as he placed the object on the table in front of her.

Eyes flashing she replied "I'm not the one who missed our last meeting to do that", still not touching the padd.

Here we go thought Will, "I'm aware I missed our last meeting, but the time before that you did soooo I figure by now we must be about even" he smiled gently his blue eyes twinkling

Kathryn huffed, unwilling to admit to that!

She rose heading in the direction of the replicator, raising an eyebrow in his direction asking a silent question, "Please, you know what I like", he drawled and waited for her reaction, sure enough she laughed a rich smoky sound and called up their drinks.

"Stop flirting, and finish your meal, I slaved at least 30 seconds over the replicator creating that", placing their drinks on the table she sat back down on the sofa, leaning towards him, she whispered, her warm breath caressing his skin "Besides, I'm immune to you"

Will felt his throat tighten, dangerous territory, they both knew that was a lie and the reason they couldn't work, they were both too driven in their career to have time for a serious relationship, true she had beaten him to the Captains chair on the USS Bonestell five years ago but he had got First Officer before her on the USS Hood and had been holding out for his chance on the Enterprise, It was rumoured that she had been on Picard's list of potential First Officers, which didn't surprise Will one bit. The marriage had been convenient, it worked well for the first few years they enjoyed each other in and out of bed, they didn't particularly need the other and had always kept separate residences but in their close circle of friends it had stopped the endless setups with strangers, the constant nagging from parents about settling down and for Kathryn it had closed a point on her personnel file about difficulties forming permanent attachments following the death of her father and fiancée Justin, and Will needed someone who didn't demand anything of him after Deanna had rejected him although he didn't exactly blame her for that, being found drunk and in bed with Kathryn had put paid to Deanna taking him seriously for many years.

The divorce papers needed signing for so many reasons but as Kathryn was in a relationship with an old friend, Mark who didn't have a clue as to the marital status of his girlfriend, it was for the best. Will was of the opinion Kate was stalling incase she needed an out, Mark was a nice guy but far to planet bound for Kathryn Janeway and he didn't challenge her on anything at all, they never argued, disagreed or bickered and why would they, she came to him for that! In fairness to Kate she did have some boundaries and whilst she came to him when she needed to rant like a Klingon warrior or drink like one for that matter, she hadn't taken him to her bed whilst she was seeing Mark, but tonight something felt different the energy in the room was charged in a way it hadn't been in years of friendly dinners and chance encounters.

"C'mon Kate, sign up to get off the Riker train or change your name and have done with it", he knew this would get a rise out of her it always did. But she floored him by picking up the padd and signing her name saying triumphantly, "There done, Not so hard." she slid the padd into his lap, once again leaning into him and chuckling quietly, "I'll be damned if you get your name on a Captains chair by pinning it on me, get your own!"

The scent of her perfume invaded his nostrils and her sparkling grey eyes looked up at him full of amusement with the hint of a challenge, god she was magnificent she always surprised him, she was still watching him her breath catching as his fingertips grazed her jaw, he swallowed hard waiting for her to push him away, but she didn't instead she moved closer her lips brushing his, as his hand slid behind her head gripping her hair slightly tugging her head back so he could breathe in the scent of her, "Are you sure", he whispered.