*Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything but the idea of my story. Enjoy!
Thanks to CatC for her friendship, help and editing.
The next day, on the bridge, Chakotay tried to hide his excitement. He had decided to let Kathryn know that she had been spending the past few days with him. He had only found out the previous evening that she thought he was part of her program. She had made a holographic Chakotay to be with her on her New Earth program that she called 'Eden'. It was a re-creation of their home on New Earth.
He had been upset, at first, that she had made a replica of him on the holodeck. He had been thinking about it all night long, since he was unable to sleep, and decided to be flattered that she had wanted him there at all.
As Alpha shift wore on, he grew more and more anxious that she would leave the bridge early and go to the holodeck before he could get there. He had been trying to figure out the best way of telling her that she had just spent the last two days with him, instead of her hologram like she thought. He thought he had the perfect plan, but had to leave early to make the proper preparations.
He got his break when B'Elanna called up to the bridge saying she needed to talk to Chakotay about an engineering personnel problem. He excused himself from the bridge, discussed the problem with B'Elanna, and decided not to go back to the bridge, but to the holodeck instead.
He walked into the holodeck, changed some of the parameters, and was satisfied that his plan was now ready.
Kathryn was relieved to see that Chakotay had not returned to the bridge before the end of Alpha shift. She didn't want to have to leave the bridge quickly to avoid him again today. She knew she didn't trust herself, now, alone with him. She had fallen in love with him all over again, even though it was her holographic Chakotay. She didn't want it carrying over to the real Chakotay - well, she did, but knew Starfleet regulations didn't allow it.
She waited for the Beta shift to take their places on the bridge before standing up and walking into her Ready Room. She wanted them all to think she was going there to work on her reports; in reality she was sadly lagging behind. She walked into the room, ordered a cup of black coffee, and walked back to her quarters. She had a decided lilt in her step. Had anyone been watching the way she was walking, they would have said she was almost walking on air.
Commander Chakotay rushed back to his quarters and put on his clothing. He quickly went back to deck 6, and waited in the room just opposite of the holodeck, waiting for Kathryn come. He was tense, anticipating every move, hoping his plan was a perfect way to tell her.
The Captain entered her quarters, removed her uniform and put on her blue dress. She brushed her hair with care, putting it in a barrette, and ran her fingers through it. It was shorter now than on New Earth, but she was going to grow it longer again, for him. She put on her sandals, picked up the book she was reading and headed for the holodeck.
Chakotay watched Kathryn exit the turbolift. He listened to her say, "Computer, start 'Eden' program", watched her enter the holodeck, and waited for a few moments until she would be away from the sound of the door. He waited a few seconds, and entered.
He watched Kathryn from the path. She walked straight to Breakfast Rock and settled herself on it, and began to read her book. He walked silently around in the bushes until he could come in to the clearing from another path from where she entered. He did not want it to look like he had followed her. He had his arms full with a picnic lunch. He spread out the blanket and set out the food in the clearing near the water.
"Hello, Kathryn" he said, with a full, dimpled smile. He held his arms out for her to hug him. "Lunch is served!" He said with a flourish, imitating a waiter in a fine restaurant.
"Hello, Chakotay" she answered, looking up from her book. The smile grew on her face when she saw him. "I am glad you are here! And you brought me lunch. You are so thoughtful!" She slid off the rock and enfolded Chakotay in her arms. "I enjoyed last night. I slept so well, after leaving here. I dreamt of you all night." She sighed.
Chakotay smiled "I dreamed of you too, my love. I will cherish last night for the rest of my days." 'Especially after I tell you the truth. Hopefully I won't just have to dream about it then.' he thought. His eyes twinkled, "I brought lunch because I was hungry and thought you might be too. I also wanted to share your company."
They ate lunch together, watching the sun reflecting off the water and the birds flying overhead. "This was a paradise!'" she said, "why did we ever leave it?"
"We never left" he answered, "here we are!" and motioned all around her, to their paradise home.
She sniffed, 'You may have never left this place, but you are just a hologram. I did have to leave, and it broke my heart. I also broke my Chakotay's heart when we left. I wonder if he'll ever forgive me for it, I have never forgiven myself.' She thought.
They finished lunch, sitting as close to each other as possible. Kathryn put her head on his shoulder, and Chakotay put his arm around her. They held hands; "It just doesn't get any better than this." Chakotay sighed.
"I'll agree with you there." she smiled. Perfectly happy in each other's embrace, they sat silently for quite a while, watching the sun descend towards the horizon. As the sun went down, she gave a little smile to Chakotay, "Want to swim?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye, remembering last night.
"Sure" he answered, with his dimpled grin that dissolved her every time she saw it. "I love to swim, and it's always better when I'm with you."
She stood up slowly, not wanting to leave his embrace and waded knee deep into the water. She turned, splashed him with cold water, and hoped for a reaction.
Chakotay had acted just the way Kathryn wanted. He jumped up, ran to the water and joined her, dunking her on his way in. They had often played in the water this way. They horsed around in the water, dunking each other, pulling each other under from below, and had swimming races. Chakotay always won the races, with his broad shoulders and well muscled arms.
After a while, with the sun completely down by this time, she started to shiver. "I'm g-getting cold." She stuttered. "Let's g-go home."
He followed her, as he usually did, a few steps behind her so that he could watch the way she walked. He could always read her mood that way. The way her hips swayed, and she rushed her steps indicated that they would have a wonderful night together. He was in seventh heaven, not quite believing what was happening, but not wanting to pinch himself to see if he was asleep for fear of waking up. He hoped his plan would work, it wouldn't be long now.
When they got back to the clearing around their home, she ran ahead and rounded the corner of their shelter, entering the house first. As she walked through the doorway, Chakotay was sitting at the table, dry. "It's about time you got home, I was beginning to think you were lost." He said, eyes twinkling and dimples full force. She stopped short. If this was her holocharacter, with whom had she spent the afternoon? The answer chilled and excited her.
The wet Chakotay entered the structure just seconds behind her. He looked very surprised to see himself sitting at the table. He looked at Kathryn, then at the figure sitting at the table, then back to her again for an explanation. "What's going on?" 'Here goes the first part of the plan. I hope I am acting surprised, I don't want to lie to her, but I do want her to realize that I know about the holographic Chakotay. I set it up so he would be here, to greet us when we returned.'
Kathryn studied the Chakotay at the table and the Chakotay that was standing behind her, trying to figure out which was which. She closed her eyes and sighed, she had been caught. "Computer, delete Chakotay character" she said, only half hoping that the one that she had spent the afternoon with was the holocharacter. When the Chakotay that was at the table disappeared, her fears were confirmed. She sunk into a chair, stunned.
"What is happening here?" his voice asked surprised, watching her reactions to what just happened. "And who was that?" he asked, knowing the answer all too well.
Kathryn looked up at him in embarrassment, knowing that her secret had been found out. "I thought you were my holocharacter. I didn't know it was really you. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, confused.
"You had a holocharacter of me when you could have had the real thing?" he asked, incredulously. "I would have dropped everything I was doing to meet you here. You know that. Why would you resort to recreating me?" he asked, hurt now. "When I walked onto the holodeck two days ago, looking for you, I thought you had finally answered my prayers" he answered, taking her chin in his hands. "I have been dreaming of this ever since we left our planet, and it happened just like in my dreams. I just want to hold you in my arms again, like we did on New Earth."
"I dreamed of it too, Chakotay. That is why I created this program! I actually created it within a short time after we were brought back to the ship. I couldn't stand not having you in my life anymore. I also knew that we couldn't have what we shared there. I am bound by Starfleet regulations." She said, turning away and taking on her Captain's tone again. "That is why I created this place, and the holocharacter. We can't go back, Chakotay. As much as I want to." Then she picked up something in his previous statement that she hadn't realized was there.
"Wait, you were here two days ago? Why didn't you say something to me? Have you known about the holocharacter this long too?" she said, with growing anger in her voice.
"Calm down, Kathryn. I tried to talk to you on the bridge two days ago, but you avoided me." He answered, defensively. "Every time I tried to motion you towards the Ready Room, or some place in private to talk to you, you made up reasons not to see me. I'm sure the headache was just another excuse." He said, looking down at her, touching her face.
She put her hand over his, "I guess I did avoid you. I'm sorry for that, but I was beginning to have feelings for you again, through the holocharacter, and didn't want the feelings to overflow to the real you. Starfleet regulations." She said distractedly, losing some of her anger. 'Actually, I'd love it to overflow to you, but it can't happen. I wish it could.' she thought.
"Honest, Kathryn, I didn't know about the character until yesterday. I was just walking around the program, marveling at what you had created, and how well it was done, when I saw him. I ran into him in my workshop, and deleted him." He admitted.
"You were in the holodeck yesterday? You deleted my character? So, were you here last night too?" she blanched.
He took her hands in his. "Yes, Kathryn, last night was me, us. I loved every minute of it, and wouldn't change a thing." 'And, I'd like a whole lot more!' He added in his thoughts, knowing what she was now going to say.
She pulled her hands away from his, her anger coming back. "You knew that I had the character, deleted him, and pretended to be him? I can't believe you, Chakotay! You lied to me!"
He tried to pull her back towards him. "Don't turn away, Kathryn. You cannot do this to me again. I thought we had finally found each other all over. My heart cannot bear disappointment like that a second time."
"Well, Chakotay, you should have thought of that before you tricked me. You know well the Starfleet regulations, and that I just can't turn my back on them." She turned around and stormed out of their cabin, and the holodeck.
Chakotay followed her, trying to convince her that he had only done this out of love, but she wouldn't listen.
*More to come. Please review - let me know if you like it!
Thanks to CatC for her friendship, help and editing.
The next day, on the bridge, Chakotay tried to hide his excitement. He had decided to let Kathryn know that she had been spending the past few days with him. He had only found out the previous evening that she thought he was part of her program. She had made a holographic Chakotay to be with her on her New Earth program that she called 'Eden'. It was a re-creation of their home on New Earth.
He had been upset, at first, that she had made a replica of him on the holodeck. He had been thinking about it all night long, since he was unable to sleep, and decided to be flattered that she had wanted him there at all.
As Alpha shift wore on, he grew more and more anxious that she would leave the bridge early and go to the holodeck before he could get there. He had been trying to figure out the best way of telling her that she had just spent the last two days with him, instead of her hologram like she thought. He thought he had the perfect plan, but had to leave early to make the proper preparations.
He got his break when B'Elanna called up to the bridge saying she needed to talk to Chakotay about an engineering personnel problem. He excused himself from the bridge, discussed the problem with B'Elanna, and decided not to go back to the bridge, but to the holodeck instead.
He walked into the holodeck, changed some of the parameters, and was satisfied that his plan was now ready.
Kathryn was relieved to see that Chakotay had not returned to the bridge before the end of Alpha shift. She didn't want to have to leave the bridge quickly to avoid him again today. She knew she didn't trust herself, now, alone with him. She had fallen in love with him all over again, even though it was her holographic Chakotay. She didn't want it carrying over to the real Chakotay - well, she did, but knew Starfleet regulations didn't allow it.
She waited for the Beta shift to take their places on the bridge before standing up and walking into her Ready Room. She wanted them all to think she was going there to work on her reports; in reality she was sadly lagging behind. She walked into the room, ordered a cup of black coffee, and walked back to her quarters. She had a decided lilt in her step. Had anyone been watching the way she was walking, they would have said she was almost walking on air.
Commander Chakotay rushed back to his quarters and put on his clothing. He quickly went back to deck 6, and waited in the room just opposite of the holodeck, waiting for Kathryn come. He was tense, anticipating every move, hoping his plan was a perfect way to tell her.
The Captain entered her quarters, removed her uniform and put on her blue dress. She brushed her hair with care, putting it in a barrette, and ran her fingers through it. It was shorter now than on New Earth, but she was going to grow it longer again, for him. She put on her sandals, picked up the book she was reading and headed for the holodeck.
Chakotay watched Kathryn exit the turbolift. He listened to her say, "Computer, start 'Eden' program", watched her enter the holodeck, and waited for a few moments until she would be away from the sound of the door. He waited a few seconds, and entered.
He watched Kathryn from the path. She walked straight to Breakfast Rock and settled herself on it, and began to read her book. He walked silently around in the bushes until he could come in to the clearing from another path from where she entered. He did not want it to look like he had followed her. He had his arms full with a picnic lunch. He spread out the blanket and set out the food in the clearing near the water.
"Hello, Kathryn" he said, with a full, dimpled smile. He held his arms out for her to hug him. "Lunch is served!" He said with a flourish, imitating a waiter in a fine restaurant.
"Hello, Chakotay" she answered, looking up from her book. The smile grew on her face when she saw him. "I am glad you are here! And you brought me lunch. You are so thoughtful!" She slid off the rock and enfolded Chakotay in her arms. "I enjoyed last night. I slept so well, after leaving here. I dreamt of you all night." She sighed.
Chakotay smiled "I dreamed of you too, my love. I will cherish last night for the rest of my days." 'Especially after I tell you the truth. Hopefully I won't just have to dream about it then.' he thought. His eyes twinkled, "I brought lunch because I was hungry and thought you might be too. I also wanted to share your company."
They ate lunch together, watching the sun reflecting off the water and the birds flying overhead. "This was a paradise!'" she said, "why did we ever leave it?"
"We never left" he answered, "here we are!" and motioned all around her, to their paradise home.
She sniffed, 'You may have never left this place, but you are just a hologram. I did have to leave, and it broke my heart. I also broke my Chakotay's heart when we left. I wonder if he'll ever forgive me for it, I have never forgiven myself.' She thought.
They finished lunch, sitting as close to each other as possible. Kathryn put her head on his shoulder, and Chakotay put his arm around her. They held hands; "It just doesn't get any better than this." Chakotay sighed.
"I'll agree with you there." she smiled. Perfectly happy in each other's embrace, they sat silently for quite a while, watching the sun descend towards the horizon. As the sun went down, she gave a little smile to Chakotay, "Want to swim?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye, remembering last night.
"Sure" he answered, with his dimpled grin that dissolved her every time she saw it. "I love to swim, and it's always better when I'm with you."
She stood up slowly, not wanting to leave his embrace and waded knee deep into the water. She turned, splashed him with cold water, and hoped for a reaction.
Chakotay had acted just the way Kathryn wanted. He jumped up, ran to the water and joined her, dunking her on his way in. They had often played in the water this way. They horsed around in the water, dunking each other, pulling each other under from below, and had swimming races. Chakotay always won the races, with his broad shoulders and well muscled arms.
After a while, with the sun completely down by this time, she started to shiver. "I'm g-getting cold." She stuttered. "Let's g-go home."
He followed her, as he usually did, a few steps behind her so that he could watch the way she walked. He could always read her mood that way. The way her hips swayed, and she rushed her steps indicated that they would have a wonderful night together. He was in seventh heaven, not quite believing what was happening, but not wanting to pinch himself to see if he was asleep for fear of waking up. He hoped his plan would work, it wouldn't be long now.
When they got back to the clearing around their home, she ran ahead and rounded the corner of their shelter, entering the house first. As she walked through the doorway, Chakotay was sitting at the table, dry. "It's about time you got home, I was beginning to think you were lost." He said, eyes twinkling and dimples full force. She stopped short. If this was her holocharacter, with whom had she spent the afternoon? The answer chilled and excited her.
The wet Chakotay entered the structure just seconds behind her. He looked very surprised to see himself sitting at the table. He looked at Kathryn, then at the figure sitting at the table, then back to her again for an explanation. "What's going on?" 'Here goes the first part of the plan. I hope I am acting surprised, I don't want to lie to her, but I do want her to realize that I know about the holographic Chakotay. I set it up so he would be here, to greet us when we returned.'
Kathryn studied the Chakotay at the table and the Chakotay that was standing behind her, trying to figure out which was which. She closed her eyes and sighed, she had been caught. "Computer, delete Chakotay character" she said, only half hoping that the one that she had spent the afternoon with was the holocharacter. When the Chakotay that was at the table disappeared, her fears were confirmed. She sunk into a chair, stunned.
"What is happening here?" his voice asked surprised, watching her reactions to what just happened. "And who was that?" he asked, knowing the answer all too well.
Kathryn looked up at him in embarrassment, knowing that her secret had been found out. "I thought you were my holocharacter. I didn't know it was really you. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, confused.
"You had a holocharacter of me when you could have had the real thing?" he asked, incredulously. "I would have dropped everything I was doing to meet you here. You know that. Why would you resort to recreating me?" he asked, hurt now. "When I walked onto the holodeck two days ago, looking for you, I thought you had finally answered my prayers" he answered, taking her chin in his hands. "I have been dreaming of this ever since we left our planet, and it happened just like in my dreams. I just want to hold you in my arms again, like we did on New Earth."
"I dreamed of it too, Chakotay. That is why I created this program! I actually created it within a short time after we were brought back to the ship. I couldn't stand not having you in my life anymore. I also knew that we couldn't have what we shared there. I am bound by Starfleet regulations." She said, turning away and taking on her Captain's tone again. "That is why I created this place, and the holocharacter. We can't go back, Chakotay. As much as I want to." Then she picked up something in his previous statement that she hadn't realized was there.
"Wait, you were here two days ago? Why didn't you say something to me? Have you known about the holocharacter this long too?" she said, with growing anger in her voice.
"Calm down, Kathryn. I tried to talk to you on the bridge two days ago, but you avoided me." He answered, defensively. "Every time I tried to motion you towards the Ready Room, or some place in private to talk to you, you made up reasons not to see me. I'm sure the headache was just another excuse." He said, looking down at her, touching her face.
She put her hand over his, "I guess I did avoid you. I'm sorry for that, but I was beginning to have feelings for you again, through the holocharacter, and didn't want the feelings to overflow to the real you. Starfleet regulations." She said distractedly, losing some of her anger. 'Actually, I'd love it to overflow to you, but it can't happen. I wish it could.' she thought.
"Honest, Kathryn, I didn't know about the character until yesterday. I was just walking around the program, marveling at what you had created, and how well it was done, when I saw him. I ran into him in my workshop, and deleted him." He admitted.
"You were in the holodeck yesterday? You deleted my character? So, were you here last night too?" she blanched.
He took her hands in his. "Yes, Kathryn, last night was me, us. I loved every minute of it, and wouldn't change a thing." 'And, I'd like a whole lot more!' He added in his thoughts, knowing what she was now going to say.
She pulled her hands away from his, her anger coming back. "You knew that I had the character, deleted him, and pretended to be him? I can't believe you, Chakotay! You lied to me!"
He tried to pull her back towards him. "Don't turn away, Kathryn. You cannot do this to me again. I thought we had finally found each other all over. My heart cannot bear disappointment like that a second time."
"Well, Chakotay, you should have thought of that before you tricked me. You know well the Starfleet regulations, and that I just can't turn my back on them." She turned around and stormed out of their cabin, and the holodeck.
Chakotay followed her, trying to convince her that he had only done this out of love, but she wouldn't listen.
*More to come. Please review - let me know if you like it!