The snow was getting worse and Chakotay frantically rubbed his frozen hands as he entered the small coffee shop on main street. Tom had suggested he should check it out during his lunch break since they served the best baked sweets in town. As soon as Chakotay had passed through the door and the small bell had finished ringing, he scanned the cozy interior.
The café looked pretty old fashioned, decorated well over the top with Christmas ornaments, but it also looked very homey. The delicious smell of freshly grounded coffee filled the warm air. Just as he took his first step into the welcoming room, Chakotay noticed a familiar figure in one of the small booths further at the back of the shop. Kathryn was bent over the table, buried in paperwork, while nervously tapping a pen against her face. Chakotay smiled and slowly he crept nearer.
"Kathryn?" he asked, and she looked up in surprise. A brief moment of confusion flickered across her face, but then a welcoming smile that reached her magnificent blue eyes, found its way onto her lips.
"Jack!" she greeted happily, as she peered up at him. He was still rubbing his hands and she could tell the cold was probably nothing he was used to. He was wrapped in a heavy coat and was wearing a thick hand knitted scarf and a matching hat, both in bright colours and bold patterns. She chuckled lightly at the sight, because she knew exactly where he had gotten them from. Her mother had a thing for knitting.
He pointed towards the seat opposite her. "May I?"
"Oh, of course." Hastily she pushed the stacks of papers and books into one gigantic pile to make room for him on the table.
"I'm not disturbing you, am I?" He asked as he pushed a notepad with handwritten scribbles aside, briefly glancing at the notes.
"No. No, of course not." She smiled as she reached for a coffee cup which, to her disappointment, was empty. She frowned quickly before she put the cup back down. "I was just doing some calculations. Nothing majorly important."
"During lunch break?"
She smiled shyly before looking down, as if he had caught her doing something she shouldn't be doing. He watched as she began to fiddle with the paper in front of her.
"Yes, well… If I don't do them, nobody will." She looked back up at him. "I'm afraid you've caught me with my one weakness: work."
At her confession Chakotay's face dimpled. He had noticed that she was always busy, fluttering from one place to another, half of the time clinging onto a cup of coffee or staring at some paperwork while walking. Curiously he peered at the paperwork. Chakotay was not trained in accounting, but even he could spot that she was working out something to do with the firm's budget.
"Anything I can help you with?" he asked nonetheless, hoping she would let him take a look at the figures. Bloomington's numbers hadn't added up at all this year, which was why Chakotay was here. He hadn't expected to see the branch's accounting books in a small coffee shop though, but he wasn't one to complain. If he could take a peek at where all his money went, he could perhaps figure out how to save the branch without having to come forth as the undercover boss.
Kathryn waved him off. "Oh, I'm just running some numbers, trying to see where I can cut the budget to save us from destitution."
He knew very well what she was talking about, but he pretended to be ill informed. "Destitution?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose, before she crossed both of her arms in front of her chest. "Yes. Our numbers are bad and if it continues, it will only be a matter of time before Headquarters sends some stuffy, stuck-up office guy in a suit to shut us down. Half of the town depends on Maquis Industries in some form or another and if they close… well, I guess you can imagine how bad that would be for us."
Chakotay nodded. "And you're stopping that from happening?"
She half-snorted before she rubbed a hand over her face and pushed a loose strand of hair back into her bun. "I'm trying, but no matter what I do the numbers just don't add up and I can't figure out where I'm going wrong." She leaned forward onto the table. "I've cut our expenditures as much as possible, but no matter what I do, it doesn't seem enough."
He frowned when the strange realization hit him that Kathryn was actually the assistant of the staff manager and not part of the accounting department. Why was she at all trying to work the numbers and not the designated department?
"Kathryn…" he began as a small man appeared on the table next to them. He had faded blond hair, was stout and had a strange, messy beard. Silently he refilled Kathryn's coffee cup before he rubbed his belly, which was covered by a beige-and-purple apron.
"Thank you, Neelix", she mumbled and instantly reached for her cup to take a large gulp of steaming hot, black liquid. It was written all over the face that she enjoyed every drop of it.
"You should eat something as well, Katie. You drink too much of that stuff," Neelix said as he watched her. She rolled her eyes at him before she took another swig. With a friendly smile he turned and faced Chakotay, stretching out a hand to greet the newcomer.
"I'm Neelix, owner of Nebula Coffee." Enthusiastically he shook Chakotay's hand, and Chakotay could instantly tell that the man was very eager to make his acquaintance. "Welcome to town."
Chakotay smiled. "Thank you. I'm Cha-..ack."
"Yes, yes, the newcomer at Maquis. I've heard much about you."
Chakotay raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask 'where from' Neelix continued talking.
"This is a small town. You'll soon learn that nothing here goes unnoticed."
Neelix was still shaking one of Chakotay's hands and he had to pull it away almost forcefully to get out of that small man's grasp. Uncomfortable, Chakotay tugged on his ear. "So I see."
"Well, since you've already found yourself a charming lunch companion, how about I serve you something tasty to eat?"
Chakotay chuckled. Yes, food was why he had come here. He was just about to ask for today's special as Neelix continued talking, again. The man obviously liked the sound of his own voice.
"Beef hot pot with steamed leola root and fresh bread."
Chakotay nodded. He had no idea what leola root was, but he enjoyed hot pots. "Sounds lovely, thank you."
Neelix grinned from what looked like one ear to the other before he turned to face Kathryn. "Katie?"
She held up a hand to protest, but her "No, thank you" didn't seem to register on the man's radar, since he hurried off squeaking, "Two stews coming right up!"
Kathryn and Chakotay exchanged a glance, before both started to giggle. Obviously they had been thinking the same thing.
"Interesting man," Chakotay laughed and Kathryn nodded, still snickering.
"Yes. That's one way to describe him."
She had known Neelix her entire life, but even she had to admit that he was a somewhat strange character. She would never understand what her best friend Kes saw in him. Oh, he was very generous and kind, but not the sort of man she would ever feel attracted to. Neelix had a very bubbly personality and could talk about the most boring subjects with devoted animation for hours.
After their laughter ceased, Kathryn nodded towards the toilet. "Excuse me for a minute, Jack."
"Of course."
Kathryn had barely left the room when Chakotay hurriedly reached for the paperwork on the table to spin it round to look at it. He couldn't make heads or tails of the numbers and scribbles she had made, so he pulled out his mobile phone to take quick snaps of everything. He'd send them to B'Elanna later and she should check them over. Math was more her thing than his.
Just before she caught him, Chakotay was done taking pictures. He was leaning casually against the table as Kathryn came back into the room. He watched her as she walked up to him, noticing that she started to fidget under his observation, nervously tucking imaginary strands of hair behind her ear. She slipped back into her seat, before she started to pull on the hem of her pullover.
"May I ask…" she began after a short pause, pointing to her own forehead to indicate she was talking about his tattoo. He could tell she didn't quite know how to formulate her question, so Chakotay elaborated before she started to stutter. He knew it was odd to have a facial tattoo.
"It's the symbol of my tribe."
Surprised, Kathryn's lips formed an 'Oh' while her eyes went wide. She had noticed his gorgeous bronze skin, yet she had not expected him to be Native American. She would've thought him Latino. Before her brain bombarded her with questions about his heritage, he continued in an even and calm voice to which she could listen to for hours.
"Both my parents were part of the Dorvan tribe, but I grew up in between cultures and always preferred the western way of living. My father was never happy about me not having a connection to my people and tried very hard to show me the way of our ancestors. I wasn't a very willing teen and ended up fighting with my father to the point where we barely spoke to one another. He died tragically, and I always regretted having disappointed him in regards to my heritage, so I decided to wear it to honour him. All males in my tribe wear it."
Kathryn licked her lips. It had looked odd to her the first time she had seen it, but the more she looked at it the more she liked it. Something about it was strangely sexy… well, maybe it wasn't just the tattoo. Jack was a very attractive man that already caught the eye of half her female colleagues.
"Well, it suits you." She smiled while she looked at it somewhat dreamy, which made Chakotay blush. "I like it."
"Thank you."
Chakotay was not a man who was easily moved by someone's attention to him, but something about the way she looked at him, made his heart skip a beat or two. He couldn't fathom why this woman had such a magnetic pull over him.
Neelix served them lunch and throughout their entire meal Kathryn and Chakotay had a joking, light conversation with the occasional longer-than-necessary gaze at each other. Kathryn had never thought she was flirting with him, but just after Chakotay left to get back to work, her friend Kes, who had entered the Café some time ago, sat down in the same spot where Chakotay had been sitting just a few moments prior. She threw Kathryn a questioning look, grinning broadly and Kathryn tugged on her hair.
"What?"
Kes smiled. "Nothing. It's just… you two looked very cozy with each other."
Kathryn shifted her jaw before she looked down. "He's a nice guy."
"So I could see."
Kes couldn't stop herself from grinning and Kathryn knew exactly what her friend was thinking. Even though Kes was a few years younger than her, they had been best friends for quite a long time and Kathryn was quite capable of reading Kes's mind.
"It's not what you're thinking," she defended herself.
Kes smirked at her friend. "I didn't say anything."
"You don't need to say anything. I can see it on your face." She shielded her upper body by lifting her hands slightly into the air. "He's a colleague who joined me for lunch, that's it."
Kes's fingers began to toy with her cup in front of her. "A very handsome colleague who you could not stop flirting with, you mean."
"I didn't flirt with Jack…" Kathryn leaned back in her seat. "Besides… I have Mark. You know I'd never-"
"I know," Kes interrupted, before slowly inching to the edge of her seat and slightly leaning over the table. Her voice dropped so just Kathryn could hear. "But you and Mark are… you know, you two will never…"
Kes didn't quite know how to formulate her point without upsetting Kathryn. She knew Kathryn didn't like hearing about how dull their relationship was, but Kes felt she needed to remind her friend that her happiness mattered too. Kathryn shouldn't settle for an average relationship just because it was convenient and safe.
"You two are not happy with each other, Kathryn", she began and Kathryn drew in a sharp breath. "You keep arguing, separating, going back together only to do the same a few months later again."
Annoyed, Kathryn clicked her tongue, but didn't say anything.
"You two have been going round in the same circle for years and unless you break up with him once and for all, you will never be truly happy."
Kathryn knew of course that Kes wasn't wrong, however she didn't like to admit it. Mark was a genuinely nice guy and she did enjoy being around him. It was just… they lacked fierce, passionate, love and devotion, compared to other couples. Oh, they complimented each other in many regards, it was just… gosh, Kathryn didn't even really know what exactly it was that was wrong about them.
"I'm not going to…" Kathryn waved her hand dismissively through the air. "...start something with a random guy who's only here for a couple of weeks just because Mark and I are having a rough time."
Kes watched her for a moment.
"I'm not saying you should get involved with that guy… I'm just saying you should perhaps start to look for other options. If one of those options happens to be a handsome, dark-haired guy named Jack, then you shouldn't dismiss him too early."
Kes drew up an eyebrow and Kathryn snorted, burying her face in one of her hands. She peeked at her friend from behind her fingers and Kes began to grin again. Jack was nice, very nice, and Kathryn would be lying if she said his presence didn't stir up something within her. Kathryn wasn't a teenager anymore, yet she couldn't suppress her curiosity.
"Do you think Jack is interested in me?"
Calmly Kes took a long sip of her hot chocolate, before she looked at her friend in all earnesty. "Yes. If the looks you were giving each other were any indication, I'd say you'll be writing wedding invitations pretty soon."
A short, abrupt laugh escaped Kathryn's throat. Kes was ridiculous sometimes. Kathryn had no notion of getting married… not to Mark and least of all to a stranger. Although perhaps she wouldn't mind a taste or two of Jack's delicious lips. At the thought, a crimson blush worked its way onto Kathryn's cheeks. Gosh, what was she thinking? She didn't know the man. Maybe the lack of passion with Mark was driving her slowly insane.
Kes set her hot cup down on the table, before she looked at her friend. They silently but good-naturedly glared at each other for several seconds. Kes didn't need to ask what Kathryn was thinking since she could see it written in pink all over her face. It didn't take long before the friends burst out laughing and Kathryn buried her face deeper in her hands.