Disclaimer: Star Trek and its world, characters and ideas all belong to Paramount. The story belongs to me.

Thanks to Cat C for her friendship and editing abilities.

1 Chapter 2

Kathryn woke up in the morning startled to find Chakotay in bed with her, bare-chested, lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand. He was looking at her with an amused, dimpled grin on his face. At first, she thought she was dreaming. Many of her dreams were like this, waking up with him by her side, looking down at her lovingly. She almost smiled up at him seductively, as she so often did in her dreams, but caught herself quickly.

"Good Morning, Kathryn. Fancy meeting you here." he snickered. He had obviously just woken up recently himself, and was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. His hair was tousled, and his eyelids were still heavy with sleep.

Smiling, he looked down at her, watching her think things through. He studied her face, her shoulders, and the curves of her body he longed to explore. He could feel her heartbeat through the mattress, and smelled her shampoo. The sight and smell of her was enough to drive him crazy. He was already fighting to keep himself from becoming aroused, but was afraid he was losing. He could study her for hours, and had been drinking her features in when she woke up. He had enjoyed watching her wake up, and was surprised that she had come to him.

"How'd you get into my room?" She asked, pulling the covers up to her shoulders. Her mind was racing; as much as she had dreamed of being in this position, she was confused.

She was still in her 'The Captain of the ship could not be in a relationship with a member of her crew' mode. They had only been on Earth for a few days, and she hadn't yet adjusted to not being in command. Kathryn thought Chakotay had taken the opportunity of returning home, to resume the relationship that they had started on New Earth. She did not remember Chakotay coming into her room in the middle of the night, nor going to his room. Since she had not yet had her coffee, and she had not had much sleep, she was morning-mind-muddled.

When he saw the confused look on her face, he laughed, "You, my dear Captain, are in MY room!" He loved to tease her, and was enjoying this.

His dimples and laugh stirred warm tingly feelings within her and hear heart beat even faster. His closeness filled her senses, but her 'Captain's mask' went up quickly. "What do you mean? I certainly did not come to your room last night. You are in my room!" she insisted.

He just laughed and motioned for her to look around the room. When she did so, she noticed that his personal effects were in the room, and his clothes were hung in the closet as well as his carry sack on the floor. She caught herself studying his room, realizing how masculine it was just with his effects placed around the room. His smell was permeating the room as well, and she took a deep breath. When she looked back in his direction, she noticed that he was studying her as much as she was studying his room. In looking back at him, she also noticed the bulge under the sheets. She blushed.

She wracked her brain trying to remember how she had gotten here. She stammered, "I d..don't know how this could have happened. I assure you, this is not how it looks." She jumped quickly up out of the bed, looked down at herself and noticed that she was wearing only a light nightgown. She looked for and found her robe on the floor, hurriedly grabbed it and put it on in one swift motion. When she looked up to apologize to Chakotay, she noticed his smile and the way he was looking at her and blushed even more, if that was possible.

"Well, I'm sorry for intruding, Commander Chakotay." She said, trying to muster up all of the professionalism she could. "I must have stumbled into your room last night. I had fallen asleep on the couch in the lobby, after pacing most of the night. I had a lot of things on my mind. When I awoke and found where I was, I stumbled down the hallway into what I thought was my room, but happened to be yours. I now vaguely recall having problems getting the door opened." This was said as she was fumbling to find the belt for her robe, but she gave up. She was obviously unaware she had just put her robe on inside out.

She then became aware of her mistake, an error of habit. On Voyager, her room was the first door out of the turbolift, and his was the second. Here, his door was the first and hers, the second from the lobby. As she spoke, she concentrated on the floor, embarrassed. She pulled her robe tightly around her and headed for the door.

"Wait! Kathryn, please." he said while trying wrap the sheets around himself and stand up at the same time. He was having difficulty with the sheet, but soon figured it out. He walked holding the sheet up trying to stop her.

Only then did she really looked at him and noticed his awkwardness. She then realized that he probably did not have anything on under the sheet, and it made her face flush hot. Trying to avoid his attempts at stopping her, she sped towards the door and out of his quarters.

He caught up with her as she reached the door. "Don't leave, Kathryn, wait!" he yelled as the door opened.

As she walked out into the hallway, she was shocked to see several crewmembers looking at her in the doorway; they had turned around to see who was yelling. Tom and B'Elanna, who were walking Miral, were among the crowd. She realized what a sight they made: she had just woken up, her hair was a mess, and she was clutching her inside-out bathrobe tightly around her. Chakotay, wrapped only in a sheet, was yelling to her. What was worse was that she hadn't even had her coffee yet! She sped to her door, opened it up, and rushed inside to the sanctuary of her room. "What will they think of me? How am I going to explain this?" she moaned.

Chakotay, seeing the crowd in the hallway, smiled sheepishly to them, shrugged his shoulders, and walked back into his quarters.

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