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 3

Later on that morning, at breakfast in the building's mess hall, all conversation stopped as the Captain entered the room. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, knowing the story had quickly circulated through the entire crew. She quickly chose a muffin, some scrambled eggs, and a large mug of coffee. She chose to sit with Tuvok, knowing he would remain reserved, not speaking of what everyone else was surely gossiping about.

When Chakotay walked into the mess hall, all eyes were then on him, except the Captain's. There were whispered murmurs going through the crowd. People were watching to see if he was going to sit with the Captain. Usually, they sat together, seemingly to 'talk shop'. But now the crew wasn't sure.

The crew had many thoughts and questions on the subject. How long had the Captain and the Commander been spending the night with each other? It could have been since their return from the planet they had been stranded on. They could have been transporting to each other's cabins without the crew's knowledge, others added. There were many possibilities and many theories. No one knew exactly, but all had their own ideas. They began to relate the many times that they had seen the Captain and the Commander together, and how they stood a little too close to each other to be 'just friends'. There was much talk about how the Captain always placed her hand on his arm, or his shoulder, as they were talking or problem solving. This was the only topic in the mess hall all morning. Yet the feeling that was unanimous with all but the Captain was: "It's about time."

Chakotay got his breakfast, and walked over to sit with B'Elanna and Tom. "I guess we're the conversation du jour." He said as he tilted his head towards the Captain across the room. He offered them a wan smile.

"I guess so." Tom said, trying to hold back a smirk. "I personally was wondering what took you two so long, but I think that is the general consensus with the entire crew."

B'Elanna elbowed Tom in the ribs. "Tom, stop it. They're upset enough as it is, can't you see that?" and she turned to her former Maquis Captain, and one of her closest friends. "What happened, Chakotay?"

Chakotay looked at Tom with a look of doubt on his face about his last comment, then turned back to B'Elanna. He explained The Captain's recent lack of sleep to them, then said, "I can't quite understand it myself. She said she was so tired last night that she stumbled to the wrong room, crept into the bed without turning out the light, and fell fast asleep. When I woke up this morning, the Captain was in my bed with me." 'Not that I disliked it', he added mentally. The look of confusion on his face was genuine.

"I can only begin to imagine how rough all of this has been on her." Said B'Elanna. "I know that she was helping us with all of the calibrations for the new shields and weapons. She was standing over us all like a mother hen!" she said, then laughed. "I know she was nervous about the mission, we all were. Then to come back here and find out that Starfleet was not only dissecting the ship, but her career as well. They have been listening to her Captain's logs as well as her personal ones, trying to find evidence against her, the Maquis and the Equinox crew. That would be enough to drive anyone crazy." She shook her head.

Tom looked at his wife and nodded thoughtfully. "I never thought about it that way, I guess they are probably looking for information about me, too, to see if I served my time well. I have been nervous about that ever since coming back home became a reality. What will happen to Miral if we both end up in prison?" as he said this, he became very quiet. Tom and B'Elanna shared a glance, telling Chakotay that they had been discussing this at length, and it was still a worry to both of them.

"I know," Chakotay confided in them, "I have been very concerned about what is going to happen to the Maquis myself. I have been thinking about turning myself in and telling Starfleet that my crew was not responsible, that I should take the sole brunt of their anger. Even though I do not want to go to Prison, I would gladly do it to keep my crew out of it."

B'Elanna's mouth opened to protest, but Tom spoke first "Commander, to us, there is no more Maquis crew… We're all Voyagers' crew. For the last seven years, we all worked, fought and played side by side. We are one crew, stronger for being united."

B'Elanna and Chakotay looked at Tom and agreed with him. "Now, if we can just convince Starfleet Command of that, we'll all be either imprisoned, or given medals… I'm not sure which." Chakotay laughed.

Captain Janeway looked at her old friend and confidante, Lt. Commander Chakotay. "So, Tuvok, have you had a chance to contact your family? I assume someone is coming here to help you with your treatment?" She looked worried for her friend. She had just recently found out that he had been diagnosed with a Vulcan mental problem that would leave him insane if he did not get help, and his only cure was a meld with a family member.

Tuvok looked up at the Captain. "Yes, I contacted T'Pel last evening, she and our children are scheduled to arrive here in approximately one week. Starfleet Medical is giving her special permission to visit, breaking the quarantine, since it is part of my treatment. They have also concluded that my only treatment is the meld; there have been no further medical advances in the years since we were in the delta quadrant." He looked at his friend with sorrow in his eyes. "I sincerely hope, Captain, that you did not take my illness into account when you were planning our return through the Borg Transwarp Hub. I would have preferred staying in the Delta Quadrant than to take the risk we did. Though, I must admit, we did make it home and destroyed the Hub in the meantime. The mission had a high percentage of risk involved, and the odds were highly against us."

Kathryn took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "I had forgotten just how good freshly brewed coffee really was." She smiled," Of course, Tuvok, I had that in mind, but my main goal was to get home. To get all of us home. The Admiral would not have it any other way. She risked her life, or should I say gave her life, to get us home. I just couldn't take that sacrifice lightly, no matter what the odds. I had faith in your calculations, Tuvok, and those of the rest of the crew. I had to." And she offered him a smile. "I wanted to get home as much as anyone else in the crew."

Tuvok cocked his eyebrow at her. "What are your plans now, Captain?"

She smiled; "You mean besides trying not to get court-marshaled?" and she shook her head. "I really don't know. I've wanted to visit my family in Indiana; I miss my mother. I have also been planning to take some time off, I'm sure that I've earned enough leave for a long vacation! Seven years on active duty should give me quite a lot of leave saved up!" she took another sip of coffee.

"You certainly earned it, Captain." He said. "Seven years alone is a long time."

She wondered what he meant by that last statement, but decided not to say any more, for fear of turning the conversation to her earlier mistake.

When Kathryn finished her breakfast, she excused herself from Tuvok saying she wanted to call her mother. She stood up, and began to walk out of the cafeteria. She tried to look at her crew to smile to them, but couldn't because she was afraid to see mocking smiles in their faces. Had she actually looked at them, they all had encouraging smiles on their faces, all trying to show her their support.

Chakotay saw Kathryn leaving Tuvok's table, and quickly finished his meal. He wanted to talk to her. "Sorry to eat and run, but I need to catch up with the Captain and settle things." He said. Once finished, he stood up, carried his tray over to the recycler and headed off towards her quarters. For good measure, he stopped and picked up a fresh pot of coffee, and a mug.

He paused outside of Kathryn's room, heard her shuffling around inside it and used his override code to go in. He tried to walk in quietly, but she was standing close to the door when it opened.

"Kathryn, we need to talk." He said.



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