Disclaimer: Star trek voyager belongs to paramount. Th

V

Chapter 13: The amazing chapter that shall reveal all (or at least I hope)

"Is my desert really that bad?" Gretchen said after Chakotay had declined to take any, and Alex had also turned down the offer saying that he had to be getting home.

Kathryn's mother looked over at Felicity who had again piled her plate, "you're going to get fat if you eat all of that," she criticised.

"Oh please," Felicity started in a matter-of-fact sort of way, "this is nothing to what I eat while I'm staying at the academy."

Another row was brewing between Gretchen and Felicity. Alex got up from the table, "Luke, are you staying or coming with me and Riley?" he asked his son.

"I'm staying, I'll see you later," Luke answered.

Alex nodded, "bye Flic," he said as Felicity gave him a brief wave, after thanking Gretchen for the dinner he moved over to Kathryn. She got up from the table, and they comfortably embraced one another, "see you later," he said.

"Yes, probably Monday, at the academy," she said looking over at Riley who was putting on his shoes.

"I hate Mondays," Alex whined, "all of the cadets are always hung over on Mondays from the weekend."

"You hate everyday of the week," Kathryn was quick to point out.

Alex nodded, "see you around," he said to Chakotay, before quickly saying goodbye to everyone else and letting himself out of the house.

After desert the table broke up, and people began to move into the living room for coffee. Kathryn purposely stayed behind with Chakotay in the kitchen, "want to take these coffees somewhere else?" she asked handing him a mug.

Chakotay nodded, "sure."

The two of them walked up the stairs to the house with their coffees, "where are we going?" Chakotay asked thinking that she was leading him into her bedroom, not that he actually minded.

"You'll see," she said coyly.

Kathryn led him across the landing, and then up another case of stairs. She hadn't led him to her bedroom at all, but to the house's converted attic space. Panels had been removed from the roof to make room for a star light. "I used to come up here when I was young," Kathryn smiled as she put on a small lamp which dimly lit up the dark space, "usually at night when I couldn't get to sleep-"

"Let me guess," Chakotay crossed the bare floorboards joining her on the sofa, "you'd gaze up at the stars, and dream of commanding star ships."

Kathryn smiled, "but of course," they both laughed lightly.

The attic space was a comfortably sized room, although the floor boards were bare there was a thick rug covering the floor in front of the sofa. In the corner of the room was a telescope, directed pointlessly towards the ground, but the lack of dust on it showed that it had either been put there to keep it out of the way and was used from time to time, or that it had been dusted.

They sat awhile longer, enjoying each other's silence. "I suppose you want to know why I suddenly have children?" Kathryn didn't move from her slouched position, but turned her head in Chakotay's direction.

Chakotay shrugged, "only if you're ready to tell me," he said, "if you're not, I'd prefer to wait than have a half truth."

"I never lied to you," she said tiredly.

"You never told me the whole truth either," they weren't just talking about Felicity and Tobias any more, but also about New Earth.

"I know that I once told you that my daughter had been killed," she started, "I wasn't lying then," she sighed, "I thought that she was dead, I only found out that she was still alive when we got messages from home about three years ago."

"Is this going to be one of those things that you can't tell me?" he looked away.

"I hope not." He was relieved a little, that she may be willing to open up to him at last, "but it's going to be one of those things that's going to be hard to explain."

"Well, I don't hear any of your family quarrels," he pointed out, recounting the events in his mind of that evening.

She nodded. "When Tad was small, about two I think, he became very ill. His father, Justin, and I were told that it was a genetic condition; Justin's grandmother had been betazed and unexpectedly Tad began to reject that part of his DNA. The doctors said that they could replace organs and tissue, but once it began to affect his brain then he would be left severely brain damaged, and there was nothing that they could do for him." She paused pinching the bridge of her nose, "they only gave him three, four more years to live."

"But he's still here," Chakotay noted.

"Yes," she took a sip of her coffee, "but only because Justin was a genetic scientist, he spent months trying to find a method of curing his son, and eventually he did. I'm not a doctor, so you'll have to ask Tad the specifics, but he figured out that if he replaced some of the DNA that Tad was rejecting with something that his body would accept, then he should be able to lead a normal life. The DNA, he worked out would work best for Tad, would have to come from a sibling, with the right genetic make up."

"Felicity," he said, working it out by himself, "she's a mutant right?"

"Humm, Felicity was genetically designed using both mine and Justin's DNA. I've always been against genetic manipulation, unless it's for medical purposes, but Justin was strong in the belief that it was perfectly alright. I thought that Justin just genetically altered her so that her DNA would be a compatible match for Tad, and it wasn't until a while after his death that I discovered he had designed Felicity to be genetically perfect."

"Genetically perfect," Chakotay echoed, "what do you mean by that?"

"Justin altered her DNA so that she would have heightened senses, for example if she was blind folded she would be able to tell you exactly which direction a sound came from, how far away it was from her and if it was moving, and when if she's paying attention she can even say at what velocity. She also has a very good memory, and as a result she is fluent in five languages, and is able to recite, to the letter, chapters from books."

"I'm guessing she's a scientist, like her mother," Chakotay smiled.

"I wish," Kathryn laughed, "she doesn't seem to have the patience or tolerance for science. On voyager I was sent school reports from years of her life that I missed, there seem to have been occasions where she has gone out of her way to prove science teachers wrong, on basic rules of science! She's more into piloting, in fact that's the only reason she's still at the academy, they wanted to kick her out months ago, but she's such a promising pilot she's been allowed to stay."

"A pilot," Chakotay said a little to himself, "I always imagined that if you had a daughter she would be a lot like you, a scientist probably-" he broke off, "did you ever find out whether our baby was a boy or a girl?" he asked, sidetracking from their original conversation.

Kathryn looked away briefly, summoning the strength to look Chakotay in the eye, "no," she studied his face, "I didn't do it to hurt you," she tried to explain. "Justin died when I was only three months pregnant with Felicity, and on voyager when I found out I was pregnant with your child I got scared; I'd been the single mother before and I didn't like it, and I didn't want to go through it again. Even if I hadn't altered your memories, or if I returned them to you, I realised that raising a child on voyager would be impossible, even with your help. I was the captain of an entire crew, I couldn't raise a child at the same time."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them until Chakotay chose to speak, "I guess the whole business with Seska didn't exactly help."

"It didn't make my decision," she looked him evenly in the face.

"How about we make a promise to be absolutely honest with one another in the future," he suggested.

She allowed herself to relax a little and nodded. "When Felicity was about a year old I began a relationship with Raphael, he was a mutant himself, and so I didn't think twice about telling him that my daughter was also a mutant. Felicity grew up with Raphael as a father figure, she knew that he wasn't her biological father, but called him 'daddy' anyway."

"I'm guessing that something happened," not noticing it, Chakotay closed the gap between the two on them on the sofa.

"Sort of," she said shaking her head she continued, "I was young, and didn't like the idea of raising two children by my self, and so when he asked me to marry him I said yes. I convinced myself that I loved him, but after a while I realised that I didn't. We stayed together because of the children, but after a year of constant arguing, not speaking to each other, and on my part, two affairs, we divorced."

"How long ago was this?"

"Um, Felicity was almost six, so over thirteen years ago," she answered him.

Chakotay remembered what she had said about a family vacation about the time, "what happened?" his voice concerned.

"I gained custody of the children, as Raphael wasn't their biological father, but thinking that a clean break would be best I told Raphael that he wasn't to see Tad or Flic again. Or course he tried to go against me in court, but it didn't work. I wasn't exactly sure what happened then until three years ago, when we received messages from home, but it turned out that Raphael went to a group of his contacts, and told them that Felicity was a mutant, and that I worked for Starfleet intelligence.

"When I took the children on vacation with me, on the shuttle returning home, Raphael and two other men came onto the shuttle. He thought that they were just going to help him take Felicity and Tobias, but when they came aboard they tried to kill them both. In a panic Raphael knocked out both men, erasing their memories, he left one on the shuttle, and the other one he took with him, back to his own shuttle. Felicity, being small went with Raphael. I thought that the shuttle Felicity had been taken away in had blown up, killing her and one of the terrorists, but it turned out that Raphael covered up his tracks by transporting out at the last minute."

"These men, that tried to kill Felicity and Tobias, wanted them dead because you worked for Starfleet intelligence?" He now had his arm around Kathryn's waist, and she had settled comfortably into his chest.

"Yes, that's why he went to them I think," she relaxed at having told him the long and complicated story that was her past, and her present.

He kissed the top of her head. "So how come Felicity is here now?"

"Tad," she answered simply, but thought a brief explanation would have to be given, "when I went missing in the delta quadrant, he became obsessed that I was still alive. He started searching for people with similar DNA to myself, and that's how he came across Felicity. She was living under a different surname with Raphael on a new colony some distance from here. Charges were never pressed on Raphael, Alex thought that it would be best if people went on with the belief that she was dead. That's why it's important that we find Paul, if he finds out that Tad is still alive, and Felicity especially, he might come after them again." She closed her eyes against Chakotay's chest, lost in the warmth and comfort.

Chakotay realised that she was getting droopy, "how ever much I don't mind you falling asleep in my arms," he chuckled, "I don't think that your mother would like it if I left you sleeping on the couch, and seeing as I don't know where your bedroom is it's looking like that just might happen."

She took her head away from his chest, and traced the line of his jaw with her finger. Tenderly he leant over and kissed her, their lips brushed briefly, but it wasn't enough for either of them. Their lips locked and the kiss became more passionate. It was the first time that they touched since the business had started over three months ago, and it was somewhat relieving for the both of them. Kathryn broke away from him, putting a hand on his chest to prevent him from leaning in to kiss her again.

He was afraid that he had done something wrong, but she smiled at him. "I'm really tired," she explained, "I don't think I'm up for anything tonight."

He nodded, "shall I go?" he placed a hand on her upper arm.

"It's late, you can stay over if you want," she offered.

"Sure, I don't mind sleeping on the couch."

Whispering she said, "we only give the couch to people we don't like," she stood up from where they were sitting, and returning to a quiet but normal volume she added, "you can stay in my room if you like."

He stood up, "are you sure your mother won't mind?"

Smirking she grabbed both his hands, and wrapped them round her waist, he didn't object. "You were perfectly prepared to make love to me on the couch, but now you're worried that my mother might object to you spending the night in my bed."

"Good point," he brushed his lips against hers, "where's your bedroom then?"

V

There's probably things that still don't make sense, but tell me what I haven't explained in this chapter and I'll try and explain it in the next chapter.

Thanks for all those that have reviewed, getting feedback is very important to me.