by Avalon (avalon99@telusplanet.net)
http://members.dencity.com/avalon_online
J/C, PG-13, 1/1
Quite a few people have asked for a sequel to "Heaven and Ale". Well, this isn't a quite a sequel -- it's an alternate version. My Beta Reader asked me what would have happened if Chakotay had drank the ale instead of Janeway...and our imaginations ran amok! So here goes...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: To Linda Campbell for improving my stories to no end.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters. If I did...let's just say there would have been a lot more J/C stories on the show.
"Which leads to the question of what a Commander
Chakotay without inhibitions would be like..."
-- Heaven and Ale.
Janeway was in trouble. Three years in the Delta Quadrant hadn't prepared her for this. All her training at Starfleet Academy hadn't prepared her for this. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
Chakotay was singing. Well, serenading, really. That wasn't the worst part -- he actually had quite a good singing voice and, at another time, she might have enjoyed listening to it. No, it was the hands. His hands, to be exact. And where he was putting them. The first time, she had almost flown the shuttle through an asteroid belt. And then he had leaned over and nibbled on her ear...They didn't cover this sort of thing in shuttle training...
It was her fault, she decided. She was the one who had insisted they fly the shuttle down to the planet Minoru to negotiate with the natives over supplies and some much needed R&R for the crew. And she was the one who agreed to have a last drink with the Minoruvians before returning to Voyager. Hers had been fine -- a bit on the tangy side maybe -- but it obviously didn't pack quite the same punch as the ale Chakotay had drank...
It had taken a while for the effects to become obvious. They had boarded the shuttle and set course to rendezvous with Voyager. Everything had seemed normal at that point. Her First Officer had been...a bit more helpful than usual...but she hadn't thought anything of it. Until the singing started.
Janeway had been...startled...to say the least. But, she told herself, he was probably practicing for the next talent show. And, while bursting into song while in a cramped shuttlecraft with your Captain was an unusual way to get a vote, it had been working...until the hands came into play. Unless he was incorporating that into his act...
He reached out for her. She shot him a sideways glance. "Chakotay, you have my hand."
"Do I?."
"Yes."
"Oh." He raised it to his lips.
Janeway stiffened. "He is not himself," she told herself sternly, "You will NOT enjoy this..." Then he leaned over and whispered in her ear. Janeway swallowed. She wasn't sure that was anatomically possible...but it was making her toes curl. "Get a grip, Kathryn," she told herself forcefully, breaking loose long enough to make a course correction.
This time he ended up with both her hands. "Now what am I supposed to do," Janeway wondered, "fly with my feet?" She hastily squelched that thought -- the image of her in the Pilot's chair with both legs up in the air was not something she wanted to deal with right now. A faint blush coloured her cheeks.
"Commander," her voice shook slightly, "I need to fly the shuttle."
"Put it on auto-pilot...Kathryn."
She had never heard anyone actually growl her name. The sound sent a cascade of shivers down her back. A smile crossed his face at her reaction. Damn. It was the smile that did it...she had always thought her First Officer had the sexiest smile... No, no, and no! Abruptly she snatched both hands out of his grasp.
"I can't do that, Commander." Her voice was firmer now.
With a sensuous smile, he reached past her to flick on the autopilot. Janeway's heart sank. Unconsciously she licked her lips...then hastily regretted the action as his eyes locked on them.
"Chakotay..." she managed to say, her voice husky. And then he had pulled her forward out of her chair so that she was sprawled half on top of him. She could get no leverage to pull away...and then she didn't want to. With one quick motion he had threaded his fingers through her hair and, without pausing, lowered his lips to hers.
Janeway felt as if she had been caught in the midst of a supernova. Any thoughts of moving away, of trying to reason with him evaporated as the heat between them grew. Then his tongue caressed hers and all coherent thought vanished. She reached up and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer...if that were possible. As she did, her elbow brushed against the console. Without warning, the ship lurched. They were flung to the floor.
She found herself lying on top of her First Officer, his hands splayed
over her back...and elsewhere. He gave her a long slow smile then
said: "Good idea." He ran one hand through her hair.
Janeway froze. Then moved. Downward. The kiss this time
was even more electrifying.
They were halfway under the console when she heard the voice.
It was distant and garbled and for a moment, she wondered dazedly how Chakotay
could be calling her name and doing all of those amazing things
with his... And then it sunk in. It was Tuvok. Here.
With a muffled yelp she bolted upright...and cracked her head painfully
on the underside of the console. Her vision blurred. She shook
her head slightly to clear it, wincing. Of course. Tuvok.
On the communicator. He was early...
"Damn Vulcans," she thought as she started to rise, more carefully this time. Chakotay's hands moved to her hips and she put one knee on his chest to keep him where he was. His grip shifted and she gulped. Maybe that hadn't been such a good idea after all... Hastily she reached for the shuttle's communicator then stopped. Did she really want her entire bridge crew to see her...like this? At some point in the last few minutes her hair had come untied and her uniform was showing a...lot more skin...than was usual. Definitely a violation of Starfleet's dress code, she thought inchoherently.
"Captain Janeway. Commander Chakotay. Are you there?" Tuvok's voice was growing more insistent. Janeway moved Chakotay's hand out of the way and tapped her communicator pin, replying in as steady a voice as she could manage.
"Yes, Tuvok."
"Captain -- is something wrong with the shuttle's communication system? I am receiving you on audio only."
Chakotay opened his mouth to say something and she hurriedly silenced him. "No. It's fine. We're fine. Everything's fine. How are you?" She grimaced.
"We're...fine...Captain."
"You're early. Why are you early?"
A faint hint of concern coloured his voice. "Captain, I am switching to visual."
"No!" But it was too late. The image of Tuvok appeared before her on the console. A Vulcan eyebrow rose higher as he realized he could only see her from the neck up.
"Captain?" There was a wealth of questions in that one word.
"Uh...we're...having a few...technical problems. I'm just working on some...adjustments."
"Where is Commander Chakotay?"
He started to rise and she hastily pushed him back down on the floor. "He's...er...helping me." She made an effort to gather her thoughts. In the background, she could see eyebrows being raised all over the bridge. She continued hastily. "When will you reach the rendezvous point?"
"We're...at...the rendezvous point."
"Oh." The conversation ground to a halt. Chakotay's hands resumed their wandering. Janeway forged on gallantly. "Well. Okay. We'll...um...see you in a minute. Janeway out." She switched off the communicator and looked down at her First Officer. He smiled back at her and growled softly.
"Come here."
For a moment she was tempted. Very tempted. But Voyager was only minutes away. And she wouldn't let anyone see him like this...
Janeway reached past her First Officer for the emergency medkit and removed a sedative then leaned forward. His smile widened. "I'm sorry about this, Chakotay," she said. As he opened his mouth to reply, she pressed the hypospray against his neck. An expression of disbelief flashed through his eyes before they slowly drifted shut. She hesitated for a long moment, running a finger caressingly over his tattoo. Then reluctantly, she climbed off and slid into the pilot's seat. With an inward sigh, she set course for Voyager.
* * *
Chakotay wanted to die. The pounding inside his head had not abated despite the Doctor's ministrations. Unfortunately, it seemed there was no cure for the aftereffects of Minoruvian ale other than being locked in a dark room for two days. But before he could do that, he had to face...her. Standing carefully, he took a cautious step forward. The room blurred around him and the ship went into a high-speed 360 degree spin. Nevertheless, he kept going.
Chakotay left sickbay and made his way carefully down the corridor. It seemed to take forever. Finally, he came to an uneven halt outside her quarters. He leaned his head against the door, wincing inwardly. What was he going to say? What could he say? He had practically thrown his Captain to the shuttle floor and... He swallowed. Death was looking better all the time...
At that moment the door slid open. Surprised, Chakotay found himself falling forward. He had a quick glimpse of Janeway's startled face before his weight drove them both to the floor. Again. This had an all too familiar ring to it. With a muffled groan, he tried to climb back to his feet...and failed. Miserably.
Janeway blinked and took a deep breath. This was...a surprise, to say the least. She had thought she was prepared herself for the inevitable meeting with her First Officer but she hadn't expected it to take place with him lying full length on top of her...
"Commander." She was astonished at how calm she sounded.
"Yes?"
"I can't breathe."
"Sorry." With an effort he managed to roll off onto his back beside her. "I came to apologize," he said to the ceiling.
She raised one eyebrow but said nothing. Chakotay closed his eyes and concentrated on ignoring the increasing tilt of the floor and the full-scale Klingon opera pounding away inside his head.
"Are you going to get up?" Janeway asked quietly as she clambered awkwardly to her feet and looked down at him.
"No."
"Are you all right?" There was nothing but the proper note of concern in her voice.
"No. Not really. But I needed to talk to you." He paused. "Of course, I didn't expect to do it lying on your floor."
She smiled slightly. "This could wait until you're feeling better..."
"No. It can't." With infinite care, he pulled himself into a sitting position. So far so good. He spoke carefully. "I apologize for everything that happened in the shuttle. Everything. I should have..."
"Commander." she interrupted him. "You are not responsible for anything that happened."
His voice was stronger now. "The ale was..." He faltered then continued. "I'm your First Officer and you're my Captain. I shouldn't have done what I did. I'm sorry."
She crouched down beside him and reached out a tentative hand then pulled it back as he turned toward her. "Apology accepted...Chakotay."
Their eyes locked and Janeway bit her lip. "I...owe you an apology too. I can't help but feel that I took advantage of the situation. You had an excuse...for what happened. I didn't."
Chakotay hesitated for a long moment before he replied. "Kathryn...if I had been in your position -- I don't know what I would have done."
Janeway's heart lurched. Chakotay swallowed, unable to look away. The tension between them skyrocketed.
Finally, she broke the gaze and rose unsteadily back to her feet. This wasn't going the way she planned. She had wanted to be cool and in control. Instead, she was finding herself fighting the temptation to launch herself at her First Officer and continue where they had left off on the shuttle. "Bad idea, Kathryn," she told herself firmly, "Very bad idea." So why was it looking better all the time? Resolutely she clasped her hands behind her back.
Chakotay slowly stood. Janeway hesitated, then reached a hand down to him to help him up. He took it...and a shockwave ran through them both. She snatched her fingers away as if they had been burned. She thought desperately: "If I can just get him out of my quarters, I will be fine. Everything will be fine. Just get him out the door..."
"Commander," her voice trembled slightly. "You look terrible. Why don't you go back to your quarters and get some rest?"
He cleared his throat, hesitated as if he were about to say something, thought better of it, then said instead: "Yes, Captain." He turned, swaying somewhat, and headed toward the door. He had just reached it when her voice halted him.
"Chakotay."
He half-turned in the open doorway. "Yes?"
"What would you have done in my position?" She couldn't believe she was asking this. What was she thinking? Actually...she knew what she was thinking. A tiny smile began to curl around her lips.
Chakotay stared at her for a long moment, then responded to her smile with one of his own. He took one more step out into the corridor and spoke over his shoulder, a faint glimmer in his eyes. "I still have the bottle of ale the Minoruvians gave me before we left. Maybe we should find out someday..."
THE END