Disclaimer:
Paramount owns Voyager.
Note:
I've copied the format used on The JetK page…I posted this ages ago, and
thought I should spread the joy..;)
For
Death Has No Dominion
Author: Manda (Mizuno Ami)
Codes: J/Kashyk
Rating: PG-13
Date: August 2000
His dark exterior conveyed a sense of guilt
as, she suspected, it always did, due to the nature of his robust profession.
"I don't like what I do." He told
her, that evening. She nodded, taking up a wooden hairbrush and releasing her
hair from it's usual restraint. This nightly vigil was unchanging, and by now
she knew to indulge him -- for indulgence had, once apon a time, saved
lives -- and another man's life which she'd held as Paramount.
"I know."
"I'm not happy with it." He entered
the room, stripping his uniform with the carelessness of one who did it often.
So often that it, among other things, became routine -- monotonous. She reached
for the garment, to dispose of the wrinkled pieces, but a warm hand closed over
hers paused the action.
"Please. Brush your hair."
Her hand continued to run the soft bristled
brush through her tresses, roan brown strands yielding easily. The breeze
rushing through an open window caught strands, and for a moment, her face was
framed in a halo of golden-brown.
"Do you ever forgive me?"
The brush fell from her hand, forgotten as
she sat in stunned silence on the edge of the bed, a half-dressed soldier
beside her. To ignore the question would be useless -- he would pursue an
answer, doubtless.
"Do I?" She repeated, calmly
retrieving the fallen object. "Do I forgive you?"
A pause. A rustle of bedclothes as she moved,
pulling his body into the bed, and touching her mouth to his ear. A whisper,
soft, yet dry as death. And perhaps she was dead, in her own way.
"Yes. I forgive you. Because you let
them -- all of them -- live."
He smiled, fully divesting himself of
clothing, and slumbering off beside her. Yet in the darkness, a second smile
appeared, from the woman who had sacrificed something -- everything, her self
respect and dignity -- for many to live. Kathryn Janeway moved into Kashyk's
arms, her lips curled in satisfied glory.
For death, perhaps, had no dominion.
-End-
