Disclaimed: TPTB rule and own all . and as I said before, I'm just
correcting what they did wrong, and heck if they wanna turn it into a
movie, it's all theirs.
Author's note: Okay, here goes Chap. 2, thanks for the reviews. Captain
Kate, I have read Gateways, and I thought it would be interesting to start
my story in a scene where Janeway was most comfortable with Chakotay, thus
changing the story from there. I really don't know if Kathryn Janeway would
have liked to be called Kay or if the walls of Voyager are thin, but hey,
this is fan fiction right.
"Report!" barked Kathryn Janeway as the ship lurched throwing her into her first officer's arms. Usually, she'd have felt extremely uncomfortable in this position, but since the events of last night, she didn't mind.
"A ship is decloaking off out port bow," shouted Harry Kim, from his station at the ops console as the ship lurched again.
"And another," shouted Tom.
Kathryn nodded, to be blocked by Chakotay's chest. She hadn't realised she was still in his arms.
"Sorry Captain," he muttered.
"That's alright Chakotay," she said, freeing herself from his grasp.
He grinned at her, flashing his dimples, Kathryn sighed, if not for the dire situation and the audience of bridge officers; she would gladly have crawled between his arms again.
The ship lurched a third time, bringing Kathryn out of her reverie. "Hail them," she ordered.
"They're not responding," said Harry,
"Keep trying," said Kathryn.
"Captain," said Lt. Paris, from the helm, "May I suggest something?"
"I'm all ears Mr. Paris," she nodded.
"We could hit and run?"
"What?" asked Janeway.
"You know, hit then run off."
"I am familiar with the term Lieutenant," said Kathryn, "But we don't have warp engines."
"Oh yeah," echoed Tom.
"Bridge to Engineering," said Kathryn, accessing the ship's comm system.
"Torres here," answered B'Elanna.
"How long 'till warp engines are online?"
"Ten minutes Captain," said B'Elanna.
"Well, you've got two," replied Janeway, closing the channel. "Hull breach on deck thirteen," said Kim. "Repair teams are on it."
"Mr. Tuvok, arm phasers," said Kathryn.
"Captain, if we attempt more then one shot, it could severely damage the ship and drain more power, as it is Captain, we are living of energy reserves after the attacks by the Samaria."
Leave it to Vulcans to state the obvious, thought Kathryn, as she said, "Well we'll just have to make that one shot worth it, won't we?"
"Yes Captain."
"Target their engines," she ordered.
"Bridge to Torres, can we go to warp?"
"Yes Captain, but the best I can give you is warp three."
"That will do," said Kathryn. "On my mark. Mark."
Kathryn saw the beam leave the ship and hit the other vessel. At the same time, she felt the familiar lurch of the ship as it jumped to warp.
"We're safe Captain," said Mr. Kim. "The ship is not pursuing."
Kathryn nodded. "Damage report, Mr. Kim."
"Voyager's taken heavy damage Captain, 11 injuries, transporters and shields are offline."
"Try to get the shields back up. If those aliens turn up again, I want to be prepared and protected," she turned to Chakotay, "Have the senior officers meet me in the briefing room in 15 minutes."
He nodded.
"Captain, can I see you in your ready room?" asked Tuvok.
Kathryn raised an eyebrow at him, "Of course," she said as she shot Chakotay a quizzical look.
"Captain, I wish to congratulate you on your relationship with Commander Chakotay. They crew has been hoping for it to happen for a long time," said Tuvok as she ready room doors swished closed behind them.
"Oh," said Kathryn, she hadn't expected this. It was unlike her Vulcan friend to talk about trivial matters at important times. "And what do you think?" she asked. She really had to know what her oldest and closest friend on board after Chakotay thought.
"I believe it is a good match. You compliment each other, like two peas in a pod. I also believe that it will increase the crew's moral."
Kathryn grinned, "Thank you Tuvok," she said as she patted him on the shoulder.
*Beep*. Kathryn jumped at the ready room chime.
"Come," she called, walked around her table to sit down.
Chakotay walked in, "The rest of senior staff has gathered in the briefing room, Captain," he informed her.
"I will join them," said the Vulcan formally exiting the room.
"What did he want?" asked Chakotay as Tuvok left.
"He told me he approved of a relationship between us. We complement each other Chakotay, like peas in a pod."
Chakotay laughed. "I would hardly think it Vulcan-like to talk about something like that at a time like this."
"That's what I thought," smiled Kathryn, "Vulcan logic will never cease to amaze me."
"I want to know how we're doing on power?" asked Kathryn, walking into the briefing room and taking her place at the head of the table.
"Not good Captain," answered B'Elanna. "That little stunt we pulled back there cost us half our energy."
"But why?" asked Neelix. "I thought something like that doesn't usually use a lot of power."
"Usually," answer B'Elanna, "But since we already have very little power and half the systems weren't working, we needed to use extra."
Kathryn nodded. "How far away is the nearest M Class planet?" she asked Seven.
"Approximately six months from out current position," she answered.
"Do we have enough energy to last that long?" she asked the question that was on everyone's minds.
"Three months maximum," said B'Elanna.
Kathryn sighed and leaned back into her chair. "We'll have to cut back on our resources. Shut down all non-essential systems and life support on a couple of decks. The crew will have to share quarters. B'Elanna, I want a list of all the systems we can shut down. Harry, Tuvok, I want you to work on getting the shields and transporters back online. Tom, you work with Seven and see if you can find any other M Class planets. Neelix, it'll be your job to make sure the crew's moral is up."
Everyone nodded, "If that's all, dismissed."
One by one they got up and left, all except Chakotay.
Kathryn sighed, as she leaned into his arms, wondering why she had waited so long for this luxury.
"Kathryn," he said into her hair.
"Mmmm," she sighed softly. "You need to eat something," he said.
"No," she said pulling away. "I've got work to do."
"But."
"Later Chakotay," she said softly, "We'll eat together."
Chakotay nodded, there was no point arguing, she was too stubborn.
****************
Later that night, Kathryn lay on her sofa, running through reports. "Come in," she yawned as the chime rang.
"How are things going," asked Chakotay, walking in and settling down on her sofa.
Kathryn Janeway looked at him with a smile, "Not good, I'm afraid."
"What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
She sighed, "Even if we shut down all the crew quarters from decks six through ten, we still won't have enough power to last six months."
"Maybe you'll come up with a better idea after a good night's rest."
"Maybe," she agreed, unwillingly as she paused to look around her room. Then it struck her, "Maybe," she said again, "We could get all the senior officers to live here, it's big enough, then we could move people into the other senior officer's quarters. That way, a senior officer's quarter could hold more people, considering how big they are and we could shut off the power to more decks."
Chakotay nodded, "Sounds fine with me."
She turned to look at him, to find a smirk playing on his face.
"What?" she asked.
"Do I get to sleep in the Captain's room?"
"Chakotay," she hissed, "'Course not, what would people think?"
"I didn't know you cared what other people thought Kay," said Chakotay pulling her closer for a kiss.
"I care what you think," said Kathryn huskily, breaking away momentarily to say the line, before bridging the gap between them once more.
**************
Kathryn glanced around her quarters as B'Elanna strolled out of her bedroom. "Hi," she greeted everyone in the living room.
Kathryn wondered how B'Elanna could be in such a good mood. It had already been three months since the senior officers had moved into her quarters and Kathryn had never realised how irritating they could be until then.
She glanced around her living room, which served as a bedroom for all the male senior officers, a meeting room and a room where they gathered after their duty shifts for dinner and other activities. Currently, Tom was lying next to her mini library, picking out book after book and not bothering to put them back. Neelix stood at the portable stove and was making dinner. Kathryn sighed as she saw him add an unfamiliar herb to the pan and a fowl smell filled the room. She glanced back for the other's reactions, but unlike her, they had already grown used to it. Tuvok sat in a corner, meditating in front of his meditation lamp. So far, he was the only person who had kept his head and hadn't yelled at anybody. Chakotay and Harry were on the bridge and Seven was in astrometrics, probably saying her good byes. They had decided earlier that day to shut it down. There was nothing to scan aside from the planet they were heading too it was a drain on their power supply.
She glanced around the room as B'Elanna flopped down on the couch next to her. Kathryn frowned as the couch shook. She hadn't realised B'Elanna was so heavy. "Nice bathtub Captain," she told Kathryn, leaning over to the Captain to read the pad in Kathryn's hand. Kathryn winced, but didn't pull back as B'Elanna's wet hair touched her shoulders. Why couldn't B'Elanna dry her hair the way everyone else did instead of just waiting for the water to evaporate?
At that moment, Neelix chose to start humming a Klingon war song. Kathryn gave up trying to read the Stellar Cartography report and turned to B'Elanna who rolled her eyes. "At least he'd not singing a Klingon lullaby," B'Elanna whispered to her captain. At that moment, Neelix chose to add another spice to the already spiced up meal. Another could of gas filled the room. Kathryn coughed as she made her way to her bedroom, hoping that B'Elanna would stay behind. Fortunately, she did.
Kathryn sighed as she leaned back against her cot. She glanced at the chronometer, half an hour until dinner, maybe she should take a nap for a while. However, it was not to be, at that moment, she heard a shriek from Neelix and she rushed out. The gas was gone, but smoke was filling the room, Kathryn glanced around and saw B'Elanna pushing Tom and Neelix out the door. She searched for the source of the smoke and found that Tuvok's lamp had toppled over. She sighed as she called for the computer to turn on the internal sprinklers. "Tuvok, are you alright?" she asked the Vulcan who was drenched, just as she was.
"I am unharmed Captain," said Tuvok. "I am sorry," he said glancing around the wet room. "That's alright. Has this happened before?"
"No Captain. I fell asleep. I assure you it will not happen again."
She nodded as Chakotay walked in. She smiled at him as he walked up to her. "We detected the fire. I came to see if you were alright?"
Kathryn nodded, "Tuvok fell."
"Excuse me Captain," interrupted Tuvok, "I would prefer it if you did not discuss my. accident."
"Very well," she said turning back to Chakotay, "We had an 'accident'." She grinned, making a mental note to tell Chakotay what had happened when they were alone, if they were ever alone.
"I'm going to change," she announced to B'Elanna, Tom and Neelix who had just entered the room. Just then Neelix giggled, "Is there a problem Neelix?" she asked.
"Captain, you look funny when you're wet?"
Kathryn raised an eyebrow. Neelix would never say something like that to her.
"I don't care how I look," she said haughtily, walking out. She sighed, that had been very uncaptain like. It wasn't like her to put on airs even if it had been meant as a joke.
"Kay, are you alright?" Chakotay asked following her into her bedroom.
"No," she snapped.
Chakotay took a step back and immediately, she regretted her harsh tone.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, "It's just that having all of them here makes me slightly.. uncomfortable, what with their messy habits and weird songs."
"Kathryn," said Chakotay, massaging her back as they sat down on Seven's cot. "If you can get through the next three months we'll take a nice break and go for a picnic on the Holodeck."
"I don't need you to bribe me Chakotay," she said. "I'm a grown woman; I can take care of myself and my crew. I don't need you telling me when to sleep, eat and be merry," she said, taking her anger and frustration of the last three months out on him.
"Fine," he said, his patience growing thin as well. "Be alone."
Kathryn stared at him as he walked out. How could she have been so stupid? She wasn't angry at him, in fact, she told herself, she wasn't angry at anyone, she was just irritated. Maybe she should apologize, she told herself, to Neelix for the events which had just taken place, to B'Elanna for telling her that she should go and take her Bathleth somewhere else, and to everyone else for being so testy.
Quickly she dried herself and changed; glad to find all other seven members of the senior staff, other than the doctor gathered in her living room.
"I have something to say," she said quickly, getting their attention.
"I would like to." it had never been easy for her to apologize to anyone, not to her father or mother or Mark, Justin or Phoebe. "Apologize," she finished. When no one said anything, she added, "For being so impatient with you. I now understand that we have to stick together and put up with each other's differences. We're going to be together, no matter if in one room or not for a long time and so we'll have to learn to live together and to put up with one another."
One by one, she looked at each of her senior staff and they smiled at her in turn. When Kathryn's eyes fall on Chakotay he looked away. She sighed as Seven broke in, "I do not mind putting up with your snoring Mr. Paris," she said resolving last night's dispute.
"And I don't mind putting up with you working in the middle of the night," he replied.
Kathryn smiled. "And now dinner. I cooked something special," said Neelix. "It's delicious, considering we have very few herbs and spices."
Everyone groaned as they made their way to the counter where the food was served. Only Kathryn and Chakotay stayed back, "I'm sorry," she said looking into his eyes. "I didn't mean any of those things I said."
"Neither did I," replied Chakotay.
"Forgive me?" she asked.
"Always," he said leaning closer.
"Get a room," teased Tom as they hastily broke apart and joined the rest for dinner. **********************
Three month's later..
The ship was restocked and ready to go. Kathryn stared at the stars from her place on the bridge. Yesterday, everyone had been moved back to their own quarters, with the exception of Joe Carey and one of the Delaney twins who had decided that they were fated to be together.
Kathryn glanced at her bridge officers, they had grown very close over the last six months and Kathryn wouldn't have changed anything that had happened for the world.
"All systems are ready to go Captain," said Chakotay.
Kathryn nodded in acknowledgement, "Mr. Paris set a course for the Alpha Quadrant, warp 7."
"Aye Captain."
Kathryn glanced over at her console which was blinking; there was a message for her.
Picnic on the banks of Lake George?
Kathryn glanced up at Chakotay and grinned.
0800 hours and don't be late
She replied as she turned back to face the stars streaming as they went streaming by.
To be continued. Okay, maybe it was a little out of character in come places and there wasn't much of Janeway/Chakotay, but there will be in the chapters to come. If you didn't like something or want some sort of explanation, pray tell.
"Report!" barked Kathryn Janeway as the ship lurched throwing her into her first officer's arms. Usually, she'd have felt extremely uncomfortable in this position, but since the events of last night, she didn't mind.
"A ship is decloaking off out port bow," shouted Harry Kim, from his station at the ops console as the ship lurched again.
"And another," shouted Tom.
Kathryn nodded, to be blocked by Chakotay's chest. She hadn't realised she was still in his arms.
"Sorry Captain," he muttered.
"That's alright Chakotay," she said, freeing herself from his grasp.
He grinned at her, flashing his dimples, Kathryn sighed, if not for the dire situation and the audience of bridge officers; she would gladly have crawled between his arms again.
The ship lurched a third time, bringing Kathryn out of her reverie. "Hail them," she ordered.
"They're not responding," said Harry,
"Keep trying," said Kathryn.
"Captain," said Lt. Paris, from the helm, "May I suggest something?"
"I'm all ears Mr. Paris," she nodded.
"We could hit and run?"
"What?" asked Janeway.
"You know, hit then run off."
"I am familiar with the term Lieutenant," said Kathryn, "But we don't have warp engines."
"Oh yeah," echoed Tom.
"Bridge to Engineering," said Kathryn, accessing the ship's comm system.
"Torres here," answered B'Elanna.
"How long 'till warp engines are online?"
"Ten minutes Captain," said B'Elanna.
"Well, you've got two," replied Janeway, closing the channel. "Hull breach on deck thirteen," said Kim. "Repair teams are on it."
"Mr. Tuvok, arm phasers," said Kathryn.
"Captain, if we attempt more then one shot, it could severely damage the ship and drain more power, as it is Captain, we are living of energy reserves after the attacks by the Samaria."
Leave it to Vulcans to state the obvious, thought Kathryn, as she said, "Well we'll just have to make that one shot worth it, won't we?"
"Yes Captain."
"Target their engines," she ordered.
"Bridge to Torres, can we go to warp?"
"Yes Captain, but the best I can give you is warp three."
"That will do," said Kathryn. "On my mark. Mark."
Kathryn saw the beam leave the ship and hit the other vessel. At the same time, she felt the familiar lurch of the ship as it jumped to warp.
"We're safe Captain," said Mr. Kim. "The ship is not pursuing."
Kathryn nodded. "Damage report, Mr. Kim."
"Voyager's taken heavy damage Captain, 11 injuries, transporters and shields are offline."
"Try to get the shields back up. If those aliens turn up again, I want to be prepared and protected," she turned to Chakotay, "Have the senior officers meet me in the briefing room in 15 minutes."
He nodded.
"Captain, can I see you in your ready room?" asked Tuvok.
Kathryn raised an eyebrow at him, "Of course," she said as she shot Chakotay a quizzical look.
"Captain, I wish to congratulate you on your relationship with Commander Chakotay. They crew has been hoping for it to happen for a long time," said Tuvok as she ready room doors swished closed behind them.
"Oh," said Kathryn, she hadn't expected this. It was unlike her Vulcan friend to talk about trivial matters at important times. "And what do you think?" she asked. She really had to know what her oldest and closest friend on board after Chakotay thought.
"I believe it is a good match. You compliment each other, like two peas in a pod. I also believe that it will increase the crew's moral."
Kathryn grinned, "Thank you Tuvok," she said as she patted him on the shoulder.
*Beep*. Kathryn jumped at the ready room chime.
"Come," she called, walked around her table to sit down.
Chakotay walked in, "The rest of senior staff has gathered in the briefing room, Captain," he informed her.
"I will join them," said the Vulcan formally exiting the room.
"What did he want?" asked Chakotay as Tuvok left.
"He told me he approved of a relationship between us. We complement each other Chakotay, like peas in a pod."
Chakotay laughed. "I would hardly think it Vulcan-like to talk about something like that at a time like this."
"That's what I thought," smiled Kathryn, "Vulcan logic will never cease to amaze me."
"I want to know how we're doing on power?" asked Kathryn, walking into the briefing room and taking her place at the head of the table.
"Not good Captain," answered B'Elanna. "That little stunt we pulled back there cost us half our energy."
"But why?" asked Neelix. "I thought something like that doesn't usually use a lot of power."
"Usually," answer B'Elanna, "But since we already have very little power and half the systems weren't working, we needed to use extra."
Kathryn nodded. "How far away is the nearest M Class planet?" she asked Seven.
"Approximately six months from out current position," she answered.
"Do we have enough energy to last that long?" she asked the question that was on everyone's minds.
"Three months maximum," said B'Elanna.
Kathryn sighed and leaned back into her chair. "We'll have to cut back on our resources. Shut down all non-essential systems and life support on a couple of decks. The crew will have to share quarters. B'Elanna, I want a list of all the systems we can shut down. Harry, Tuvok, I want you to work on getting the shields and transporters back online. Tom, you work with Seven and see if you can find any other M Class planets. Neelix, it'll be your job to make sure the crew's moral is up."
Everyone nodded, "If that's all, dismissed."
One by one they got up and left, all except Chakotay.
Kathryn sighed, as she leaned into his arms, wondering why she had waited so long for this luxury.
"Kathryn," he said into her hair.
"Mmmm," she sighed softly. "You need to eat something," he said.
"No," she said pulling away. "I've got work to do."
"But."
"Later Chakotay," she said softly, "We'll eat together."
Chakotay nodded, there was no point arguing, she was too stubborn.
****************
Later that night, Kathryn lay on her sofa, running through reports. "Come in," she yawned as the chime rang.
"How are things going," asked Chakotay, walking in and settling down on her sofa.
Kathryn Janeway looked at him with a smile, "Not good, I'm afraid."
"What seems to be the problem?" He asked.
She sighed, "Even if we shut down all the crew quarters from decks six through ten, we still won't have enough power to last six months."
"Maybe you'll come up with a better idea after a good night's rest."
"Maybe," she agreed, unwillingly as she paused to look around her room. Then it struck her, "Maybe," she said again, "We could get all the senior officers to live here, it's big enough, then we could move people into the other senior officer's quarters. That way, a senior officer's quarter could hold more people, considering how big they are and we could shut off the power to more decks."
Chakotay nodded, "Sounds fine with me."
She turned to look at him, to find a smirk playing on his face.
"What?" she asked.
"Do I get to sleep in the Captain's room?"
"Chakotay," she hissed, "'Course not, what would people think?"
"I didn't know you cared what other people thought Kay," said Chakotay pulling her closer for a kiss.
"I care what you think," said Kathryn huskily, breaking away momentarily to say the line, before bridging the gap between them once more.
**************
Kathryn glanced around her quarters as B'Elanna strolled out of her bedroom. "Hi," she greeted everyone in the living room.
Kathryn wondered how B'Elanna could be in such a good mood. It had already been three months since the senior officers had moved into her quarters and Kathryn had never realised how irritating they could be until then.
She glanced around her living room, which served as a bedroom for all the male senior officers, a meeting room and a room where they gathered after their duty shifts for dinner and other activities. Currently, Tom was lying next to her mini library, picking out book after book and not bothering to put them back. Neelix stood at the portable stove and was making dinner. Kathryn sighed as she saw him add an unfamiliar herb to the pan and a fowl smell filled the room. She glanced back for the other's reactions, but unlike her, they had already grown used to it. Tuvok sat in a corner, meditating in front of his meditation lamp. So far, he was the only person who had kept his head and hadn't yelled at anybody. Chakotay and Harry were on the bridge and Seven was in astrometrics, probably saying her good byes. They had decided earlier that day to shut it down. There was nothing to scan aside from the planet they were heading too it was a drain on their power supply.
She glanced around the room as B'Elanna flopped down on the couch next to her. Kathryn frowned as the couch shook. She hadn't realised B'Elanna was so heavy. "Nice bathtub Captain," she told Kathryn, leaning over to the Captain to read the pad in Kathryn's hand. Kathryn winced, but didn't pull back as B'Elanna's wet hair touched her shoulders. Why couldn't B'Elanna dry her hair the way everyone else did instead of just waiting for the water to evaporate?
At that moment, Neelix chose to start humming a Klingon war song. Kathryn gave up trying to read the Stellar Cartography report and turned to B'Elanna who rolled her eyes. "At least he'd not singing a Klingon lullaby," B'Elanna whispered to her captain. At that moment, Neelix chose to add another spice to the already spiced up meal. Another could of gas filled the room. Kathryn coughed as she made her way to her bedroom, hoping that B'Elanna would stay behind. Fortunately, she did.
Kathryn sighed as she leaned back against her cot. She glanced at the chronometer, half an hour until dinner, maybe she should take a nap for a while. However, it was not to be, at that moment, she heard a shriek from Neelix and she rushed out. The gas was gone, but smoke was filling the room, Kathryn glanced around and saw B'Elanna pushing Tom and Neelix out the door. She searched for the source of the smoke and found that Tuvok's lamp had toppled over. She sighed as she called for the computer to turn on the internal sprinklers. "Tuvok, are you alright?" she asked the Vulcan who was drenched, just as she was.
"I am unharmed Captain," said Tuvok. "I am sorry," he said glancing around the wet room. "That's alright. Has this happened before?"
"No Captain. I fell asleep. I assure you it will not happen again."
She nodded as Chakotay walked in. She smiled at him as he walked up to her. "We detected the fire. I came to see if you were alright?"
Kathryn nodded, "Tuvok fell."
"Excuse me Captain," interrupted Tuvok, "I would prefer it if you did not discuss my. accident."
"Very well," she said turning back to Chakotay, "We had an 'accident'." She grinned, making a mental note to tell Chakotay what had happened when they were alone, if they were ever alone.
"I'm going to change," she announced to B'Elanna, Tom and Neelix who had just entered the room. Just then Neelix giggled, "Is there a problem Neelix?" she asked.
"Captain, you look funny when you're wet?"
Kathryn raised an eyebrow. Neelix would never say something like that to her.
"I don't care how I look," she said haughtily, walking out. She sighed, that had been very uncaptain like. It wasn't like her to put on airs even if it had been meant as a joke.
"Kay, are you alright?" Chakotay asked following her into her bedroom.
"No," she snapped.
Chakotay took a step back and immediately, she regretted her harsh tone.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, "It's just that having all of them here makes me slightly.. uncomfortable, what with their messy habits and weird songs."
"Kathryn," said Chakotay, massaging her back as they sat down on Seven's cot. "If you can get through the next three months we'll take a nice break and go for a picnic on the Holodeck."
"I don't need you to bribe me Chakotay," she said. "I'm a grown woman; I can take care of myself and my crew. I don't need you telling me when to sleep, eat and be merry," she said, taking her anger and frustration of the last three months out on him.
"Fine," he said, his patience growing thin as well. "Be alone."
Kathryn stared at him as he walked out. How could she have been so stupid? She wasn't angry at him, in fact, she told herself, she wasn't angry at anyone, she was just irritated. Maybe she should apologize, she told herself, to Neelix for the events which had just taken place, to B'Elanna for telling her that she should go and take her Bathleth somewhere else, and to everyone else for being so testy.
Quickly she dried herself and changed; glad to find all other seven members of the senior staff, other than the doctor gathered in her living room.
"I have something to say," she said quickly, getting their attention.
"I would like to." it had never been easy for her to apologize to anyone, not to her father or mother or Mark, Justin or Phoebe. "Apologize," she finished. When no one said anything, she added, "For being so impatient with you. I now understand that we have to stick together and put up with each other's differences. We're going to be together, no matter if in one room or not for a long time and so we'll have to learn to live together and to put up with one another."
One by one, she looked at each of her senior staff and they smiled at her in turn. When Kathryn's eyes fall on Chakotay he looked away. She sighed as Seven broke in, "I do not mind putting up with your snoring Mr. Paris," she said resolving last night's dispute.
"And I don't mind putting up with you working in the middle of the night," he replied.
Kathryn smiled. "And now dinner. I cooked something special," said Neelix. "It's delicious, considering we have very few herbs and spices."
Everyone groaned as they made their way to the counter where the food was served. Only Kathryn and Chakotay stayed back, "I'm sorry," she said looking into his eyes. "I didn't mean any of those things I said."
"Neither did I," replied Chakotay.
"Forgive me?" she asked.
"Always," he said leaning closer.
"Get a room," teased Tom as they hastily broke apart and joined the rest for dinner. **********************
Three month's later..
The ship was restocked and ready to go. Kathryn stared at the stars from her place on the bridge. Yesterday, everyone had been moved back to their own quarters, with the exception of Joe Carey and one of the Delaney twins who had decided that they were fated to be together.
Kathryn glanced at her bridge officers, they had grown very close over the last six months and Kathryn wouldn't have changed anything that had happened for the world.
"All systems are ready to go Captain," said Chakotay.
Kathryn nodded in acknowledgement, "Mr. Paris set a course for the Alpha Quadrant, warp 7."
"Aye Captain."
Kathryn glanced over at her console which was blinking; there was a message for her.
Picnic on the banks of Lake George?
Kathryn glanced up at Chakotay and grinned.
0800 hours and don't be late
She replied as she turned back to face the stars streaming as they went streaming by.
To be continued. Okay, maybe it was a little out of character in come places and there wasn't much of Janeway/Chakotay, but there will be in the chapters to come. If you didn't like something or want some sort of explanation, pray tell.