**********In the Delta Flyer**********

Chakotay attempted to open his eyes but found they were too heavy. He couldn't sit up either, but realized that he was sprawled out on the deck of the Delta Flyer. The magnitude of pain he was feeling throughout his body was almost worse than being tortured by a Cardassian. Making an enormous effort to get up, Chakotay winced involuntarily as a sharp flash of pain coursed through his arm. He ached all over but he shoved away the pain as he remembered the accident and who had been on board with him.

"Kathryn!" he cried sitting up hastily and glancing frantically in all directions, trying to ignore the searing pain in his head.

"Shh. It's all right, Chakotay, I'm here." Gentle hands pushed him back down to the ground and he collapsed willingly. Kathryn was safe.

"Of course I'm safe," she replied, with him only then realizing that he had spoken aloud. "Here's something for the pain."

He felt a slight pressure on his neck, then a coolness swept through his body, winning every battle against the pain. Sitting up more slowly this time, his dark eyes rose up to meet her blue ones that seemed to be sparkling with unreleased tears. . . but no, that was impossible.

Kathryn broke his gaze before he could make certain. "I thought I'd lost you," she said to the floor. "You were just lying there, so still. . ." Shaking her head as if to clear it, she looked up again, the command mask sliding into place. "Let's see if we can get out of here, ok?"

"Sounds good," Chakotay didn't let her realize how he hated it when she closed herself off from him. Taking her offered hand, he stood up and took his place at the console.

"It looks like we missed the monument and dove straight into this slush," Chakotay said as he gawked at the black liquid swirling around the shuttle, then shifting his gaze back to his station. "All primary and secondary systems are offline. I'm guessing that happened when we hit the surface of this stuff."

"This 'slush' as you call it, Commander, happens to be what keeps me going through the day."

Turning around, Chakotay caught a fleeting glance of a mischievous smile upon her face. He slightly tipped his head at her, asking her what she meant without words.

"It's coffee."

Chakotay felt his eyes widening in astonishment. "Coffee?!" he half asked, half demanded.

"Take a look," Kathryn scooted over to make room for him at her console.

Peering over her shoulder, he shook his head in amazement. "How do you do it, Kathryn? The replicators are offline, and you still have your coffee." He turned his head sideways, only then realizing how close together their heads were. Kathryn still hadn't noticed.

"The problem isn't having the coffee, it's getting to it. With the transporter shot, I can't even have any," Kathryn said laughingly, turning and caught her breath as she realized how close he was. "The bad news is, we haven't got much power, and life support is only barely functioning. I'd estimate only about an hour of air left," she ended worriedly.

"Well, that should be plenty of time for Voyager to find us and beam us up."

She moved away slightly. "You don't know how deep down we could be, and the sensors aren't working. Before Ensign Sai was. . .killed, he took scans of this pit that we're stuck in. Apparently, it goes down nearly to the planet's core. There's no way that Voyager would be able to transport us out if we're that deep."

Chakotay sighed and gazed at her in slight frustration. "Do we have any chance of repairing the shuttle with the supplies we have?"

Kathryn's sky blue eyes met his obsidian ones. "No," she said softly. "There's nothing useful in the cargo holds or anywhere else."

Turning away from her, Chakotay leaned his forehead against the opposite panel and banged his hand gently on it. How was he going to survive this? Stuck in this enclosed space with the woman he loved, with no repairs or anything else to do to keep his mind occupied. And the possibility of having her die in here with him? It was unthinkable.

Her hand found its way to his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It's all right Chakotay, we'll get through this. We always do," Kathryn tried to reassure him.

He nodded, not wanting her to know how deeply he was affected. "We're trapped by the one thing you love most," Chakotay joked with her, to take her mind as well as his off of their current situation.

Behind him, Kathryn opened her mouth to betray her greatest kept secret, that there was something she loved more than coffee, but closed it before she could speak. Instead, she just patted his shoulder. "I'm going to go in the back. Want to join me?"

"Not right now," Chakotay declined, turning to face her. "I have a lot of thinking to do."

Kathryn was too busy being glad that she would be alone with her own jumbled thoughts to notice the slight significance in his words. She smiled softly at him, then moved towards the back if the shuttle.