Chapter 3,

A/N thankyou to my only two reviewers, Polgaria, I love your Kelley o malley story it was so sad! But so great cos Kathryn was so nice! and jane, thank you. Can you two please get other peole to review too!! Thanks

About 2 hours later Chakotay felt a gentle squeeze on his muscular upper arm and could hear his name being called. He opened his eyes and tried to identify the owner of the voice. He noticed sickbay was practically empty and briefly wondered how long he had been sitting there. He was pulled out of wonderment as the fog cleared and saw B'Elanna standing next to him, a concerned look on her face.

"Hey old man, how's she doing? Tom told me what happened on the bridge." Their eyes locked for a moment and B'Elanna understood his expression without the need for words.

"That bad huh, what did doc say? Tom didn't tell me much, but he's really shaken up." She took his hands in hers and tried to comfort him. "She'll pull through you know, she's a fighter." He stayed silent for a moment, and then replied. "She lost a lot of blood and broke both her legs and 5 ribs, she's. she's paralysed from the waist down B'Elanna. The doc. Says she might wake up soon." B'Elanna walked to the side of the bed opposite Chakotay and picked up Kathryn's other hand and a quietly said,

"I'm so sorry Kathryn, but you have to pull through for us. Please, I need you. Do you remember that alien who almost killed you and his matrix; I didn't think I could go on if we lost you. What you said I said at your 'funeral' it's all true." The hard klingon let a tear fall onto her hand.

"Yes," a moan came from Kathryn's lips. "I.I remember. Wha.." She croaked and had to swallow to ease her dry throat, "What happened? Am I in sickbay? The ship?" The doctor had come over when he heard her moan and was now scanning her with a tricorder.

"Oh Kathryn, you came through for us!" the woman on the bed felt both her hands being squeezed.

"Captain, you're going to be fine and so is the ship. When the ship was attacked, you were hit by beam, which crushed your chest and pierced your lung. You broke both your legs too, we have all that under control and now you're awake and coherent we can rule out brain damage. Don't try to talk much but try to rest."

"Chakotay, B'Elanna, is everyone ok, are you ok?" She said weakly.

"Everyone's fine, worried about you, but fine. There were some minor injuries and no fatalities and repair crews have started to repair the ship. How do you feel?" B'Elanna said and smiled.

"Sore, I remember the beam, are you ok?"

"We're fine, look the doctor needs to talk to you, but I'll be right over here with B'Elanna." He went to the doctor's office and whispered something to B'Elanna. The doctor finished scanning her and said,

"Captain, when the beam fell it hit your lower back and broke your pelvis in several places. It also crushed both your femurs. I have repaired all that damage, but you damaged some nerves in your spine. I can't repair that. I'm sorry captain, you are paralysed from the waist down and as a result you can't move your legs. Like I told the commander it may improve with time, but it is not likely. I'm sorry." The woman just stared open mouthed for a moment and when the doctor saw the tears build up in his captain's eyes he carried on and said "But I will work round the clock to try and find a way to repair the damage. If nothing else at least you will get the rest you badly need now, captain, instead of being on your feet 18 hours a day." Seeing the tears start to flow he quickly dropped the attempt at humour and said "Sorry, bad choice of words. Try to look on the bright side." He retreated to his office. Kathryn broke down and held her head in her hands and her shoulders shook violently as she let her tears out.

Chakotay and B'Elanna came over and Chakotay pulled her torso into a tight embrace. She turned her face into Chaokotay's chest and sobbed in to his strong body. He just gently held her and rubbed her back until she pushed away from him and sniffled. B'Elanna put her hand on her shoulder and said "I'm so sorry, captain!" she looked up at B'Elanna, her eyes red and swollen.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have to see you're captain break down in her first officers arms, it's not your fault anyway!" she controlled her sobs long enough to see that B'lanna too was crying. Kathryn reached out her arms to the younger woman and they shared a hug, each gaining as much benefit from it as the other.

"I'll go, give you some privacy," B'Elanna said with a nod and turning to walk out. Kathryn turned back to Chakotay and looked into his eyes.

"What am I going to do? How can I command the ship if I'm a cripple?" She sobbed for a few more minutes and then looked up again, seemingly remembering her duty as a captain. "It looks like you're the captain now. I'm handing over the command of the ship to you on a permanent basis."

A/N please oh for the love of everything please review! and more chapters will come bt only if tell me you want them! At least 5 reviews for one update!