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Chapter 5 – NightmaresCassie strode hastily down a corridor at Starfleet HQ, she had just told Reg everything, and he had agreed to help, which had surprised her but she knew he was doing it because he could see the benefits to everyone, especially her. Reg had told her he would get clearance to take a shuttle out on a routine scout mission, she would take his place at the helm and the rest was up to her. He had told her not to do anything suspicious, as if she needed telling that.
She headed across the lawn to the officers quarters, she was going to go back to Tom and B'Elannas for the next few days, until Q dropped off the temporal fold device. Then Reg would get clearance to take a shuttle out and she would go and get her mom back. She already had the plan worked out in her mind; she would keep the shuttle cloaked, beam aboard, then find her younger self and tell her what's going to happen, without anyone seeing her so as not to contaminate the timeline anymore than necessary. Once she has told her younger self what she must do to prevent the accident, she would beam back to her shuttle and set the auto destruct sequence for after voyager went through the wormhole. The only way she would know if she succeeded or not would be that she didn't end up in this situation again three years from now.
Cassie entered the tall grey building, and almost ran straight into Chakotay. She stared at him, shock and horror flowing through her veins. How would she ever do this with him here? Why was he here?
"Cass," he said, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Are you, ok?" he asked, seeing that she had not moved, and was staring at him, with wide-eyed amazement. Her face was pale and he couldn't honestly tell whether or not she was glad to see him.
"Hi," she said after a moment.
"Friends again?" he asked, hopefully.
"Huh? Oh yeah", Cassie said, having forgotten their argument over the last few days of excitement and hope.
He smiled at her, slipping his arm around her. She smiled at him, shaking off the urge to run away and hide.
"Why are you here?" she asked, turning to face him.
He smiled, and tilted her face up to face him, "I was worried about, and so I've taken leave of absence. Admiral Paris is a very kind man."
Cassie nodded, "I guess."
"Are you free for dinner?" he asked, hopefully.
"Sure, but later, okay."
"Later then", he nodded. He noticed that she seemed a little uneasy, perhaps even nervous around him. He released his hold on her, and she ran off down the corridor. She let out a sigh of relief as she rounded the corner. What the hell was she going to do now? Cassie couldn't believe this was happening, not now. She knew Chakotay too well, he'd mollycoddle her, and that was the last thing she wanted right now.
* * *
Cassie rounded a corner heading for the bridge; she smiled at the few crewmembers that she ran into. She had been let out of lessons early, for once. Tuvok was a keen teacher, a little too keen in Cassie's opinion. She grinned as she entered the turbo lift to be met by Tom Paris.
"Hey," she smiled.
"Hi, did you get summoned to?" he grinned.
"No, why?" she gave him a confused look.
Tom shrugged.
"I'm going to see if mom wants to do something this afternoon," she said, hopefully.
The turbo lift came to a stop, and they exited. Cassie took in the scene on the bridge; the captain, commander and Tuvok were crowded round the tactical station, whilst all the other officers were looking at them expectantly. The swish of the lift doors caused them to turn around.
"Lieutenant," the captain said, she looked extremely happy. Her eyes were shining and she couldn't seem to wipe the grin off her face. She smiled at Cassie holding out her hand, which Cassie accepted gratefully.
"We've found a wormhole to the alpha quadrant, we're going home," she said, evidently overjoyed at the prospect. She pulled Cassie into a brief hug, before turning back to Tuvok.
Cassie woke up sweating and shaking, tears streaming down her face. Home, she whispered, home. She heard someone enter the room, and come to sit beside her.
"Shhhh, come on it's okay. It was just a nightmare," Chakotay whispered, enveloping her in a hug.
It wasn't 'just a nightmare' Cassie knew that, it was real, it happened three years ago. Three years ago she heard her mother speak those fateful words, with such excitement and happiness. The tears kept coming she couldn't stop them, it wasn't the first time she had had this nightmare, but she prayed that this time it would be the last. The nightmare always ended there, always, it was as though fate was telling her she could have done something; she should have done something. Next time she would.
-Fin-
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