Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager belongs to Paramount Pictures.
Authors note: Yes I know she's not supposed to drink wine- so we'll just say it was synthohol (or however you say it).
~*~
Chapter 5 : Gigga-moose
San Francisco, September 16th 2379.
Slowly Kathryn opened her eyes, the room was not brightly lit, but it was not dark. She turned her head and could make out a lamp emitting a cosy amount of light. Quickly her eyes began to focus, and looking to her other side she saw Chakotay sleeping awkwardly in a chair. Seeing him she smiled, but was still unsure of where she was. Suddenly it all came back to her, and she remembered that she was in hospital.
As if Chakotay could sense that Kathryn had just woken, he broke himself from sleep and lifted his head from the hand he had rested it in. Forgetting his own stiffness at having slept in such an uncomfortable position he smiled at Kathryn, who returned the smile. Heavily he got himself up, out of the chair and made his way over to her bedside. "How are you?" he asked attentively as he sat himself down on the edge of her bed, reaching for her hand and entwining his fingers with hers.
"Never again," she joked huskily. Her expression changed quickly to that of worry and she looked up at Chakotay, "how's the baby?" she asked.
"The doctor says that he's perfectly healthy," he reassured her, "but they took him into the nursery so he wouldn't disturb you."
She nodded, "have you seen your son?"
Chakotay couldn't help hide his smile, "yes," he admitted, "I went into the nursery while you were sleeping. He's beautiful."
Although they had taken her baby into the nursery to allow her to sleep, Kathryn wished that they hadn't, she felt as if she was missing something without him being there. Chakotay broke her from her thoughts, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there," he apologised.
She shrugged away the apology, "no one could have known that I would have gone into labour so early. Besides, I had Tad and Phoebe."
Chakotay had been away on an archaeology dig in Egypt, when he had returned home to his small apartment he received a call saying that Kathryn had gone into labour, immediately he had returned to San Francisco only to find that he had missed the birth and that he was the father to a 'healthy baby boy'. "I still wanted to be here for you though," he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
It was at that moment when the door chose to open, they both looked round to see Tad standing in the door way, with a bouquet of flowers. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he stayed at the entrance, not wanting to intrude.
"Yes, but I think the intrusion can be forgiven if those flowers are for me," Kathryn sat up a little painfully in her bed, and leant against the headboard.
"Well, they're not for Chakotay," Tad smiled as he made his way over to the bed, placing the flowers in an empty vase by her bedside before leaning over to embrace his mother. Next he faced Chakotay and shook hands. "So, thought of any names yet?" Tad said as he walked over to the corner and grabbed a chair.
"No. Where's your sister?" Kathryn watched as he carried the chair over to her beside and sat himself down.
At the question he flinched slightly, but covered it up, "she'll be here when she can," he explained.
He didn't get away from it that quickly though, Kathryn had seen the flinch in his face when she had asked the question, and so chose to pursue the matter. "Where is she?"
Again, Tad looked a little uncomfortable, he wasn't very good at lying, especially to one of the few people that knew him inside out. "Here, there, everywhere," Tad shrugged, "you know what young people are like these days."
"No I don't!" Kathryn was getting a little frustrated, "but I'm sure you're still young enough to tell me!"
Tad looked cautiously at Chakotay, hoping for some kind of distraction or support, but Chakotay was just as clueless as Kathryn, and so didn't pick up on the thought that Tad didn't want to speak about it. "I think that she might be off shore at the moment," he gave in.
"Off shore," Kathryn repeated, "a test flight?" He didn't even have to answer, she could tell just by looking at his face that she was right, then a thought struck her, "what's so different about this test flight that you're not telling me about?"
Shit! Thought Tad, why did he have to be so transparent. "Mum, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, some of the engineers that designed the shuttle she's testing are a little worried that she hasn't checked in on time. But she probably just got sidetracked during the flight and is on some planet getting pissed," Kathryn looked at her son with a disbelieving look on her face, "really mum, I'm not worried, you shouldn't be either, she'll be back in a day or so."
Kathryn nodded, although she wasn't totally convinced. "So names," Tad interrupted, "I was thinking maybe Gigga-moose," they both looked at him in a little disbelief, not quite sure that they had heard correctly. "Okay, maybe not," he laughed out loud.
Momentarily forgetting her own concern for her daughter a smile escaped her lips.
~*~
(A few days later)
Aaron Dyami Janeway as Chakotay's and Kathryn's son was later to be named, had been born four weeks earlier than expected. After some discussion (shouting) between the doctors and Kathryn, it was agreed (ordered) that Aaron should be allowed to stay in the same room as Kathryn for the duration of her stay in the hospital.
Any one who knew how quickly gossip spread on voyager would have guessed that it would have spread a lot more slowly now that the crew had dispersed, but they would have been surprised at the sheer velocity that the news of Kathryn's birth spread. After a respectable day was left for Kathryn and Chakotay to settle with their new born baby, the couple were inundated with visitors and messages from their former crew.
Chakotay slouched back in his chair and let out an exasperated gasp, "give me a screaming baby any day, but please, no more visitors!"
Kathryn laughed, "how many's that today? Twenty? Thirty?" she guessed at how many visitors they had already had.
"Thirty four," he said looking up at the ceiling and then lowering his head to face Kathryn who was sitting cross legged at the head of her bed, wearing brown corded trousers and a cream long sleeve shirt. "We've had about twenty calls from people that can't come for various reasons, and I'm guessing there will be about the same number recorded when I get back home. Minus ten people that probably haven't heard, or couldn't care less, I think we may have another seventy visitors and messages at least."
This time Kathryn cocked her head back, "it was easier fighting the Borg," she commented. Speak of the devil the door to her room opened and Icheb, Seven and Harry all walked in. As always, no matter how tired she was, Kathryn was accommodating and smiled at them all as they entered.
From the corner she heard Chakotay mumble, "Thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven."
Kathryn smirked and gave Chakotay a glare that basically translated as: 'although that was slightly amusing, I am trying to keep serious here, so please don't do that again.' To this Chakotay just smiled at her amusement.
~*~
(About twenty minutes later)
The room looked round as the door opened, Kathryn was the last to look up because the baby had begun screaming and she was trying to calm him down. "Hi Alex," she smiled when she saw her old friend standing in the door way. "Everyone this is an old friend of mind Alex Kemp, Alex this is Seven, Harry and Icheb." Aaron's screaming settled a little, but he was still red in the face.
Alex smiled, but his smile quickly faded. He looked across at Kathryn, "I was hoping to have a word with you," he said, "but if you're busy I can come back tomorrow."
Chakotay's heart sank for a moment, Alex had probably come to tell Kathryn about a situation at work that had arisen during her absence, and the first thing he knew Kathryn would want to do would to return to work. "It's okay," Kathryn crossed to room to where Chakotay was sitting, instinctively he stood, and a quick switch was made with Aaron, "we can talk now."
Reluctantly Kathryn headed for the door of the room, giving Aaron and Chakotay a last look before she left. The moment she was gone however Aaron decided that another screaming session was in order, Chakotay shot the others an apologetic look and paced the room with him. "It's a shame you didn't visit earlier in the day," he smiled, "he was asleep then."
"We could leave if you would prefer," Icheb offered ready to stand.
Chakotay shook his head, "no it's okay, I was only joking," although his smile was genuine, he did think that he and Kathryn could only benefit from some time alone with their son, without the constant interruptions from visitors.
"So have you and Kathryn decided who's going to do the good parent, bad parent routine?" Harry asked with a grin, "like who's going to be the strictest?"
"Definitely Kathryn," Chakotay laughed, "she's done it all before, and is much scarier than me when she wants to be."
Harry laughed, and a smiled made it's way across Seven's face also. "I thought that Aaron was both yours and Kathryn's first child." Icheb picked up on Chakotay's slip.
Chakotay quickly noticing his slip, having momentarily forgotten that Seven, Harry and Icheb did not know of Felicity and Tad. "He is," this was the first time that Chakotay had ever had to lie out right that Kathryn did not have any other children, and he was hating every moment of it, "I meant on Voyager," he easily explained what Icheb had correctly picked up on as an error in his interpretation of what had been said.
Aaron was still screaming, Kathryn had said that if he thought that it was loud now then he would have a shock when Aaron became loud enough to hear from the other end of the house without a baby monitor. Chakotay had laughed at that, but had stopped abruptly when he saw that Kathryn wasn't joking. The door opened again, but Chakotay didn't look round like the other three did as he was searching for a towel, thinking that maybe Aaron had some trapped wind, ruling out all other possibilities.
"I thought that you had twins for a moment there, and then I remembered, that yes there had been occasions in history when a child had been born that could make such a devastatingly loud noise without aid of a microphone, an amplifier and stacks of cabs." Chakotay looked round to see Tad standing in the doorway, "want a hand?" he asked.
Chakotay nodded, "if you think that you can do any better," he challenged.
Accepting the challenge he crossed the room, where he took the baby from Chakotay's arms, and rocked him gently. "Is Kathryn around, or did they realise that there were twins after all and she's giving birth again?"
There was laughter from the room, and Tad beamed slightly, and his grin widened when Aaron's crying ebbed. "You're a genius!" Chakotay looked over to see Tad holding the baby effortlessly.
"I've been told not to allow people to boost my ego, apparently I'm arrogant as it is. Hi Seven," he turned to the young woman sitting in the chair and beamed at her.
She returned the smile, but not as fully as she was trying to figure out Tad's relationship to Chakotay. But she was trying to figure out the wrong relationship, and realised this when he turned to Chakotay and again asked, "so where's Kathryn?" It was at that moment when something slowly began to click.
"She's talking to Alex," Chakotay sat on the edge of the bed, "Tad, this is Harry and Icheb and you seem to already know Seven," he raised an eyebrow, but Tad didn't give anything away with his expression neutral, "everyone, if you haven't already guessed by now this is Tad."
"How do the two of you know each other?" Seven asked Tad more so than Chakotay.
Tad pulled a face, the first indication that he hadn't planned on Seven being in the room when he entered, and a sudden desire to leave the room overcame him. "Through Kathryn," he brushed the question to one side, no doubt he would later be given the third degree, but he quickly decided that leaving the room quickly would buy him more time to think of an excuse as to how he knew Kathryn, and he needed a better reason than mere coincidence as to why they both shared the same surname.
Loosening Aaron in his arms slightly, Tad indicated that he was going to return the baby to his father's arms. Chakotay realised this and held out to receive his son back. The moment that Aaron was free of Tad's grasp though he started to cry again, "comes with practice I guess," Tad reassured Chakotay, before leaving the room, looking quickly over at Seven to see that he definitely would get the third degree later on, she just had that questioning look on her face.
Seven and Icheb didn't stay for that long after Tad had left the room. Icheb gave the excuse that he had to meet up with some friends, and didn't want to keep them waiting, although this was true, Seven's excuse that she had a lot of work to do and had to be going wasn't entirely truthful. Although she did have much work to do, there was nothing that couldn't wait a day or two, the truth was, was that she was finding it hard to enjoy the company of her former crew mates after Tad had left, as her concentration was on why he had been there in the first place.
On the way down the corridor, just as Seven turned left to go down the corridor, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head right in the opposite direction of the corridor to see Tad holding Kathryn in a comforting embrace. She saw the man that had been introduced as Alex Kemp standing close by, "excuse me," a nurse said, Seven stepped automatically to the side just as she realised that she was standing in the way. Quickly pulling herself back from her curious stare, she headed back down the corridor to where she had originally intended to go, catching up quickly with Icheb, who had not noticed their former Captain on his way out only seconds ahead of her.
~*~
End of chapter 5
Thanks for reading (I know it's late I forgot, but happy new year, I reckon that I can get away with saying belated happy new years for about another week before my friends that I haven't wished it to send me 'un-happy new year' messages, if they even exist!)
Live long and prosper!
Authors note: Yes I know she's not supposed to drink wine- so we'll just say it was synthohol (or however you say it).
~*~
Chapter 5 : Gigga-moose
San Francisco, September 16th 2379.
Slowly Kathryn opened her eyes, the room was not brightly lit, but it was not dark. She turned her head and could make out a lamp emitting a cosy amount of light. Quickly her eyes began to focus, and looking to her other side she saw Chakotay sleeping awkwardly in a chair. Seeing him she smiled, but was still unsure of where she was. Suddenly it all came back to her, and she remembered that she was in hospital.
As if Chakotay could sense that Kathryn had just woken, he broke himself from sleep and lifted his head from the hand he had rested it in. Forgetting his own stiffness at having slept in such an uncomfortable position he smiled at Kathryn, who returned the smile. Heavily he got himself up, out of the chair and made his way over to her bedside. "How are you?" he asked attentively as he sat himself down on the edge of her bed, reaching for her hand and entwining his fingers with hers.
"Never again," she joked huskily. Her expression changed quickly to that of worry and she looked up at Chakotay, "how's the baby?" she asked.
"The doctor says that he's perfectly healthy," he reassured her, "but they took him into the nursery so he wouldn't disturb you."
She nodded, "have you seen your son?"
Chakotay couldn't help hide his smile, "yes," he admitted, "I went into the nursery while you were sleeping. He's beautiful."
Although they had taken her baby into the nursery to allow her to sleep, Kathryn wished that they hadn't, she felt as if she was missing something without him being there. Chakotay broke her from her thoughts, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there," he apologised.
She shrugged away the apology, "no one could have known that I would have gone into labour so early. Besides, I had Tad and Phoebe."
Chakotay had been away on an archaeology dig in Egypt, when he had returned home to his small apartment he received a call saying that Kathryn had gone into labour, immediately he had returned to San Francisco only to find that he had missed the birth and that he was the father to a 'healthy baby boy'. "I still wanted to be here for you though," he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
It was at that moment when the door chose to open, they both looked round to see Tad standing in the door way, with a bouquet of flowers. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" he stayed at the entrance, not wanting to intrude.
"Yes, but I think the intrusion can be forgiven if those flowers are for me," Kathryn sat up a little painfully in her bed, and leant against the headboard.
"Well, they're not for Chakotay," Tad smiled as he made his way over to the bed, placing the flowers in an empty vase by her bedside before leaning over to embrace his mother. Next he faced Chakotay and shook hands. "So, thought of any names yet?" Tad said as he walked over to the corner and grabbed a chair.
"No. Where's your sister?" Kathryn watched as he carried the chair over to her beside and sat himself down.
At the question he flinched slightly, but covered it up, "she'll be here when she can," he explained.
He didn't get away from it that quickly though, Kathryn had seen the flinch in his face when she had asked the question, and so chose to pursue the matter. "Where is she?"
Again, Tad looked a little uncomfortable, he wasn't very good at lying, especially to one of the few people that knew him inside out. "Here, there, everywhere," Tad shrugged, "you know what young people are like these days."
"No I don't!" Kathryn was getting a little frustrated, "but I'm sure you're still young enough to tell me!"
Tad looked cautiously at Chakotay, hoping for some kind of distraction or support, but Chakotay was just as clueless as Kathryn, and so didn't pick up on the thought that Tad didn't want to speak about it. "I think that she might be off shore at the moment," he gave in.
"Off shore," Kathryn repeated, "a test flight?" He didn't even have to answer, she could tell just by looking at his face that she was right, then a thought struck her, "what's so different about this test flight that you're not telling me about?"
Shit! Thought Tad, why did he have to be so transparent. "Mum, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, some of the engineers that designed the shuttle she's testing are a little worried that she hasn't checked in on time. But she probably just got sidetracked during the flight and is on some planet getting pissed," Kathryn looked at her son with a disbelieving look on her face, "really mum, I'm not worried, you shouldn't be either, she'll be back in a day or so."
Kathryn nodded, although she wasn't totally convinced. "So names," Tad interrupted, "I was thinking maybe Gigga-moose," they both looked at him in a little disbelief, not quite sure that they had heard correctly. "Okay, maybe not," he laughed out loud.
Momentarily forgetting her own concern for her daughter a smile escaped her lips.
~*~
(A few days later)
Aaron Dyami Janeway as Chakotay's and Kathryn's son was later to be named, had been born four weeks earlier than expected. After some discussion (shouting) between the doctors and Kathryn, it was agreed (ordered) that Aaron should be allowed to stay in the same room as Kathryn for the duration of her stay in the hospital.
Any one who knew how quickly gossip spread on voyager would have guessed that it would have spread a lot more slowly now that the crew had dispersed, but they would have been surprised at the sheer velocity that the news of Kathryn's birth spread. After a respectable day was left for Kathryn and Chakotay to settle with their new born baby, the couple were inundated with visitors and messages from their former crew.
Chakotay slouched back in his chair and let out an exasperated gasp, "give me a screaming baby any day, but please, no more visitors!"
Kathryn laughed, "how many's that today? Twenty? Thirty?" she guessed at how many visitors they had already had.
"Thirty four," he said looking up at the ceiling and then lowering his head to face Kathryn who was sitting cross legged at the head of her bed, wearing brown corded trousers and a cream long sleeve shirt. "We've had about twenty calls from people that can't come for various reasons, and I'm guessing there will be about the same number recorded when I get back home. Minus ten people that probably haven't heard, or couldn't care less, I think we may have another seventy visitors and messages at least."
This time Kathryn cocked her head back, "it was easier fighting the Borg," she commented. Speak of the devil the door to her room opened and Icheb, Seven and Harry all walked in. As always, no matter how tired she was, Kathryn was accommodating and smiled at them all as they entered.
From the corner she heard Chakotay mumble, "Thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven."
Kathryn smirked and gave Chakotay a glare that basically translated as: 'although that was slightly amusing, I am trying to keep serious here, so please don't do that again.' To this Chakotay just smiled at her amusement.
~*~
(About twenty minutes later)
The room looked round as the door opened, Kathryn was the last to look up because the baby had begun screaming and she was trying to calm him down. "Hi Alex," she smiled when she saw her old friend standing in the door way. "Everyone this is an old friend of mind Alex Kemp, Alex this is Seven, Harry and Icheb." Aaron's screaming settled a little, but he was still red in the face.
Alex smiled, but his smile quickly faded. He looked across at Kathryn, "I was hoping to have a word with you," he said, "but if you're busy I can come back tomorrow."
Chakotay's heart sank for a moment, Alex had probably come to tell Kathryn about a situation at work that had arisen during her absence, and the first thing he knew Kathryn would want to do would to return to work. "It's okay," Kathryn crossed to room to where Chakotay was sitting, instinctively he stood, and a quick switch was made with Aaron, "we can talk now."
Reluctantly Kathryn headed for the door of the room, giving Aaron and Chakotay a last look before she left. The moment she was gone however Aaron decided that another screaming session was in order, Chakotay shot the others an apologetic look and paced the room with him. "It's a shame you didn't visit earlier in the day," he smiled, "he was asleep then."
"We could leave if you would prefer," Icheb offered ready to stand.
Chakotay shook his head, "no it's okay, I was only joking," although his smile was genuine, he did think that he and Kathryn could only benefit from some time alone with their son, without the constant interruptions from visitors.
"So have you and Kathryn decided who's going to do the good parent, bad parent routine?" Harry asked with a grin, "like who's going to be the strictest?"
"Definitely Kathryn," Chakotay laughed, "she's done it all before, and is much scarier than me when she wants to be."
Harry laughed, and a smiled made it's way across Seven's face also. "I thought that Aaron was both yours and Kathryn's first child." Icheb picked up on Chakotay's slip.
Chakotay quickly noticing his slip, having momentarily forgotten that Seven, Harry and Icheb did not know of Felicity and Tad. "He is," this was the first time that Chakotay had ever had to lie out right that Kathryn did not have any other children, and he was hating every moment of it, "I meant on Voyager," he easily explained what Icheb had correctly picked up on as an error in his interpretation of what had been said.
Aaron was still screaming, Kathryn had said that if he thought that it was loud now then he would have a shock when Aaron became loud enough to hear from the other end of the house without a baby monitor. Chakotay had laughed at that, but had stopped abruptly when he saw that Kathryn wasn't joking. The door opened again, but Chakotay didn't look round like the other three did as he was searching for a towel, thinking that maybe Aaron had some trapped wind, ruling out all other possibilities.
"I thought that you had twins for a moment there, and then I remembered, that yes there had been occasions in history when a child had been born that could make such a devastatingly loud noise without aid of a microphone, an amplifier and stacks of cabs." Chakotay looked round to see Tad standing in the doorway, "want a hand?" he asked.
Chakotay nodded, "if you think that you can do any better," he challenged.
Accepting the challenge he crossed the room, where he took the baby from Chakotay's arms, and rocked him gently. "Is Kathryn around, or did they realise that there were twins after all and she's giving birth again?"
There was laughter from the room, and Tad beamed slightly, and his grin widened when Aaron's crying ebbed. "You're a genius!" Chakotay looked over to see Tad holding the baby effortlessly.
"I've been told not to allow people to boost my ego, apparently I'm arrogant as it is. Hi Seven," he turned to the young woman sitting in the chair and beamed at her.
She returned the smile, but not as fully as she was trying to figure out Tad's relationship to Chakotay. But she was trying to figure out the wrong relationship, and realised this when he turned to Chakotay and again asked, "so where's Kathryn?" It was at that moment when something slowly began to click.
"She's talking to Alex," Chakotay sat on the edge of the bed, "Tad, this is Harry and Icheb and you seem to already know Seven," he raised an eyebrow, but Tad didn't give anything away with his expression neutral, "everyone, if you haven't already guessed by now this is Tad."
"How do the two of you know each other?" Seven asked Tad more so than Chakotay.
Tad pulled a face, the first indication that he hadn't planned on Seven being in the room when he entered, and a sudden desire to leave the room overcame him. "Through Kathryn," he brushed the question to one side, no doubt he would later be given the third degree, but he quickly decided that leaving the room quickly would buy him more time to think of an excuse as to how he knew Kathryn, and he needed a better reason than mere coincidence as to why they both shared the same surname.
Loosening Aaron in his arms slightly, Tad indicated that he was going to return the baby to his father's arms. Chakotay realised this and held out to receive his son back. The moment that Aaron was free of Tad's grasp though he started to cry again, "comes with practice I guess," Tad reassured Chakotay, before leaving the room, looking quickly over at Seven to see that he definitely would get the third degree later on, she just had that questioning look on her face.
Seven and Icheb didn't stay for that long after Tad had left the room. Icheb gave the excuse that he had to meet up with some friends, and didn't want to keep them waiting, although this was true, Seven's excuse that she had a lot of work to do and had to be going wasn't entirely truthful. Although she did have much work to do, there was nothing that couldn't wait a day or two, the truth was, was that she was finding it hard to enjoy the company of her former crew mates after Tad had left, as her concentration was on why he had been there in the first place.
On the way down the corridor, just as Seven turned left to go down the corridor, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head right in the opposite direction of the corridor to see Tad holding Kathryn in a comforting embrace. She saw the man that had been introduced as Alex Kemp standing close by, "excuse me," a nurse said, Seven stepped automatically to the side just as she realised that she was standing in the way. Quickly pulling herself back from her curious stare, she headed back down the corridor to where she had originally intended to go, catching up quickly with Icheb, who had not noticed their former Captain on his way out only seconds ahead of her.
~*~
End of chapter 5
Thanks for reading (I know it's late I forgot, but happy new year, I reckon that I can get away with saying belated happy new years for about another week before my friends that I haven't wished it to send me 'un-happy new year' messages, if they even exist!)
Live long and prosper!