Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, ship, or anything at all.

Chapter 24 – Q

Elizabeth woke up, her vision blurred by sleep. She moved her head to look at the captain sat next to her on the sofa, and instantly regretted it. She had one hell of a stiff neck. She moved slightly, wondering f the captain was awake or was she still asleep? She decided she must still be asleep seen as she wasn't moving, but sat with her head tilted slightly back, and her arms around Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn't move with out waking her, so she attempted to stay as still as possible.

After a few moments the door chime rang, waking the captain. She opened her eyes, and said "Come" almost automatically. Chakotay walked in, and smiled when he saw Elizabeth. The captain smiled back at him.

"What can I do for you, Chakotay?" she asked.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but we tried to call you over the conn. When you didn't answer I thought it best to come and see why you hadn't come to the bridge myself," he said, almost apologetically.

The captain nodded, "I see. I won't be on the bridge this morning," she said, inclining her head in Elizabeth's direction.

Chakotay grinned knowingly, "Well I'll be getting back to the bridge," he said, feeling like an intruder.

Chakotay turned and left, the doors swishing closed behind him. He was pleased to see the two of them getting on so well. He knew that it was what Kathryn wanted more than anything; he could see it in her eyes. Now she appeared to be truly happy, she deserved to be in his opinion. Especially after everything she had been through.

As for Elizabeth, he wanted to get to know her; no doubt she was her mothers daughter. He had heard that from several crewmembers since the crew had found out that the two were mother and daughter. Of course they didn't now the whole story, they never would. Kathryn deserved her privacy and he doubted Elizabeth would want anyone else to know about the origins of her life.

He sighed, as he entered the turbo lift, perhaps now things would go back to normal. This whole situation had started weeks ago, maybe even a month, he couldn't really remember. What he could remember was the look of total devastation on Kathryn's face the night he had found her in her quarters when she was supposed to be having dinner with him. He shook his head that was all in the past now, and from what he could see the future for all of them looked a lot brighter.

That Evening

Elizabeth sat across from Chakotay at a small table in the mess hall. Elizabeth picked up her fork and pushed her food around the plate for a few seconds, Chakotay watched her grinning. He knew she hadn't eaten much today, and had promised the captain he would make her eat something, but he couldn't in all fairness make her eat that.

The table had gone quite after Elizabeth had given Chakotay a flawless rendition of the day's events; including her argument with the doctor. Elizabeth seemed to be tired from the excitement of the last few days, from what he could tell.

"Missing your mom?" he asked, striking up conversation.

"No, well not really she had to work. What is this?" she asked, picking the lump of green up with her fork before tossing it back onto the plate.

"Leola Root," Chakotay said, noting her reaction.

"Ahh I've heard about this," she said, pushing her plate in front of her. Suddenly loosing her appetite, remembering her mothers fond terminology of Leola Root as 'Neelix's favourite poison'.

Chakotay continued eating in silence, as Neelix hummed in the background. Elizabeth sighed, she was tired, the most tiring part of the day had been arguing with the doctor, who seemed to think she was picking up her, mothers bad habits. Elizabeth had shunned this idea, with several spurious remarks. None of which she would care to repeat, eventually she had been saved by Tom.

"So, do you want to stay here?" Chakotay asked, disrupting Elizabeth's train of thought.

She looked a little uncomfortable, because if she was truly honest with herself she wasn't completely sure. She had so much back on earth; here she had her mom and Tom. They both meant a lot to her, but so did the people back on earth.

"I don't know," she said, quietly, avoiding Chakotays gaze.

"Oh.." he said.

"I miss earth, I miss the people, and everything. Don't get me wrong I love voyager, I found someone, something I thought I would never have," she said trying to balance her argument.

Chakotay was about to reply, but before he could open his mouth there was a blinding flash of light and Q appeared lounged across the table. Elizabeth instinctively moved away.

"It's decision time," he said.

-Fin-

Please review. I was going to end it here, but I have been persuaded to carry on. So, does Elizabeth leave voyager or does she stay?