Disclaimer: Paramount created it, then they came up with the C7 idea (shivers at the thought), I'm just trying to put it right.

Authors note: You think this is taking a long time to update? I haven't updated my other story Betrayal for about two months (computer crashed, long story, waiting to get all the data off it, will be up dated within the next few week... hopefully).

Chapter three: Starting again.

Two weeks later.

Chakotay walked through the village to a small log building near the centre. He walked up the few steps that there were, across the wooden decking and through the door. The lady behind the desk smiled pleasently at him, recognising him from the various village parties and gatherings. He approached her, "I was told that the post arrived yesterday, and was wondering if there was any for me."

"Chakotay isn't it?" she asked as she turned to the various pidgeon holes behind her.

"Yes," he smiled; almost everyone in the village knew him or of him. There had been no large announcement, but his sister was well known, being the best doctor within the area, and as she visited patients, she would brag about his travels in the delta quadrant, and before long, the entire village knew him by name.

He was quite suprised when he was handed four letters, as he hadn't told anyone of his plans to visit his sister, but, it seemed that some of the Voyager crew had found out, or guessed.

The first letter, annoyingly, was from StarFleet command, asking whether or not he intended to keep his commision or resign it. He put that letter to one side, deciding that he would worry about that later. The second letter was from some jounalist requesting an interview. That letter went on a fire that someone was holding at the front of their house.

As he approached his sister's house he noticed that he had a letter from Tom and B'Elanna. He smiled to himself, wondering how they'd figured out how to find him, but shrugged the thoughts aside, sat down on the sofa and read it.

Hey Chakotay, it's me B'Elanna, thanks for letting me know you were leaving! Miral's fine, thanks for asking, in the letter that you never sent me. Tom's being Tom, and oh, says to say 'hi'.

We stayed at Tom's parents for a while, who are, by the way, not horrible like Tom made out they were! They've made me feel really welcome, and they absolutely adore Miral (she's going to be spoilt by them). But we've taken up the offer of an appartment from StarFleet, and we're currently living in San Francisco.

Most of the crew are still on Earth, even four months after we landed, which is good because we still get to see them reguarly. Maybe a little too often, if you know what I mean, not a day passes by without someone or other visiting, but I'd rather see them too often than not enough. I'd rather see you too often than not enough.

The Doctor's sulking right now, because he's not getting all the attention and fuss that he expected, and still refuses to stay with Zimmerman, out of some weird pride thing he has going. Tom thinks that he thinks going there will be admitting some sort of defeat. It would, but don't tell him that I said that.

I don't suppose that you want to know Seven's onto her sixth boyfriend since we got back, apparently the previous five were inefficient, (meaning that they didn't find the depths of particl physics, perfection and Borg ideals interesting). Chakotay smiled to himself. Maybe she should just marry the Doctor, oh no, I take that back, can you imagine having dinner with the two of them as a couple?

Anyway, Harry's just accepted a post aboard the Pioneer, he leaves in two weeks, so if you want to see him off you'd better leave by next Friday to get to Earth in time.

Naomi is getting on great with her dad, but probably boring him with stories of 'this one time when Neelix...', but you can't blame her, Neelix was a large part of her life. She's the most popular girl at her school, being part of the Voyager clan and everything, not to mention the brightest student, I would like to take some credit for that!

The Captain or Admiral Janeway, well, she wants us to call her Kathryn now, but it's hard to get out of a seven year old habit. She's doing fine as well, I think she was staying with her mother and sister for the first two months back, but StarFleet's given her a plush appartment in the city, and she's been living there for a few months now. I think Miral's going to love having a new playmate. Chakotay raised an eyebrow.

Oh, and going back to Miral. Me and Tom have been making friends with other parents within StarFleet, and already it's looking like she's going to have a large repetour of friends her own age, and it's great talking to some more experienced parents, and getting their advice, and also sharing problems with first timers like ourselves.

I would write more, but I think I'd bore you. Come back soon before I come there and drag you back!

Lots of love,

B'Elanna.

Chakotay folded the letter back up with a smile, it was good to hear from one of his oldest and closest friends. He lifted up the last letter. It was in a large brown envelope, and looked proffessional. There was no address on the back, but he proceeded to open it anyway. He removed the pieces of paper, and read the top one.

Commander Chakotay,

Dorvan,

Sector 19.237

RE: information on foetal progress

I am glad to inform you that you are to expect a healthy baby on star date 55.962, but the birth could be premature if the mother's consumption of coffee does not desist. However, I am not too concerned with the current levels of caffeine within the blood, and they should pose no long term threat as long as they are closely monitored.

The mother has not requested a specification of sex, but if you would like to be informed then please feel free to write back and ask me for it, or anything else that you feel you should know. Although you are not expected to attend the birth, if the situation were to change then I would like to be kept informed, to ensure that the appropriate proceedures are followed through correctly.

I would also like your permission to access your medical files, or to be notified if you have any medical conditions, allergies, genetic disorders etc that may effect your child. As I have said, I have no worries currently, but it is always best to be prepared, and often (if it is at all necessary) it is best to operate sooner rather than later. I have attached some scans of the foetus, and basic relevant medical information, if you should require more, please to not hesitate to write.

Yours truthfully,

Doctor P J Kline

Fingers trembling, so far having already done the maths in his head, he turned the page to see a long list of medical data, most of which meant nothing to him. The following three pages were pictures of the foetus at various stages and angles. He placed the papers back into the envelope and chucked it on the sofa beside him. This was not happening to him. It was probably just a mix up. Kathryn would have told him. Wouldn't she?

Then, like someone winding him in the stomach, B'Elanna's words came back to him, 'Miral's going to love having a new playmate'.

Before he could allow himself to dwell on it any longer, he ran to his room and packed a bag.

His sister was just coming through the door to the house when she saw Chakotay emerge from his bedroom. "Hey big brother," she smiled over at him, then noticed the bag slung over his shoulder, and her smile dropped, "you going somewhere?"

He looked suprised to see her. He was suprised to see her. In his rush he'd completely forgotten about her, realisation struck him, that he would have forgotton to say goodbye to her, had she not just walked through the front door. "I'm sorry," he made his way over to the sofa, and picked up the letters that he'd left there, "I need to go back."

"Where?"

"To Earth," he replied, making his way over to Sekaya.

"Oh," she sounded disappointed, "you going to tell me why?"

Chakotay smiled softly and rested a hand on her shoulder, "I'll tell you when I get there," he replied and kissed her on the forehead, "the transport leaves in ten minutes, and I don't want to wait for two days to catch the next. I'll see you later okay?"

She smiled, "you'd better think up a good reason for leaving me while you're on your way over there."

He nodded, and smiled, "bye," he shouted over his shoulder as he ran out of the front door.

"Bye," she shouted back, rolling her eyes, brothers!

A few days later.

Kathryn just stood at the door in shock, as the one man that she least expected to see at her appartment, at half past eleven at night, stood at her door, his eyes intent on her. Chakotay moved forward and placed a hand on her waist, but she retreated, she didn't know why. He looked hurt and suprised at her movement, but accepted it and took a step back, "I'm sorry," he managed to choke the words out, in a quiet voice. His eyes finally moved from appreciating her altered appearance, and met her sharp blue eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" his voice sounded pained and tired.

Absentmindedly, she placed a hand on her swollen belly, "I didn't want you to feel pressured to make any decisions."

"Like what?!" he sounded angry, "like whether or not I wanted to be part my child's life?"

"Maybe you should come in, so we can discuss this properly," she suggested.

He ran a hand through his hair, and stepped further inside. "Spirits Kathryn, you of all people should have known I would want to be this baby's father."

Sighing, she went over to the door, and closed it behind Chakotay, this was going to be a long talk, and she wasn't going to stand at the entrance to her appartment for the duration of it. "Maybe that's part of why I didn't tell you," she said as she passed back by him and headed down the hallway towards the lounge.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as he followed.

"It's supposed to mean," she disappeared through a door to one side, "that I don't want our baby to grow up with a father with regrets, I wanted you to chose your own life, not for someone else to chose it for you." She sat down heavily on one of the sofas.

Chakotay seated himself opposite her, "and you never thought that I might regret not being part of this?"

She lay back into the sofa, taking a few calming breaths to help her recover from the shock of seeing him. Although it was late, she hadn't been asleep, some habits were hard to change, and staying up late doing work was one of them.

A thought occured to him, "unless you just didn't want me."

Her head bolted up, and she looked fiercly across at him, "Chakotay, I was going to tell you, then I found out about Seven, and before I could get passed that, you up and left. You didn't say bye or mention to anyone where you were going, you just went." She sighed, "I thought about tracking you down, but I realised that maybe it was for the best, you obviously needed time alone, and I wasn't about to deprive you of that."

"What does Seven have to do with anything?" he was furious.

"You married her in an alternate timeline," Kathryn replied through clenched teeth, not too pleased at his agressive tone.

Chakotay leant forwards and ran his hands through his dark hair in frustration, "we can't know what the circumstances were there," he shot back, "maybe you miscarried, or, maybe abortioned," he stood up suddenly, "this is such a mess!"

He moved away from her and towards the window, purposefully keeping his back away from her. There was a long and painful silence between them, that seemed to last an eternity. From the reflection in the glass he watched as she stood from the sofa, a little less graceful than her usual movements, and made her way over to him. Coming up from behind him, she slipped her arms around his waist, and rested her head against his shoulder blade.

For a moment he was too scared to move, too scared that any movement would cause her to break away from him. So slowly, he reached down and covered one of the hands on his waist with one of his own hands. "Maybe we should pay more attention to what happens now," he could feel her warm breath against the back of his neck, "rather than how and why we got here."

"You know where I stand on this," he replied, his voice an eerie calm compared to his earlier outrage.

"No," she pulled away, "I don't."

Chakotay turned around, confused, "I said that I wanted to be this baby's father."

"How?" she'd taken a step back, and broken their physical connection, "do you want to play happy families and raise our child that way? Do you want us to remain friends; to continue dating other people, with the baby going between us constantly? Do you want to be the weekend dad, that eventually loses interest? Or do you just want to walk out of that door, and go back to how it was before, me not knowing where you were, and you not knowing anything about this baby?"

There was a pause from the man infront of her, he'd just assumed that he would turn up at her door, and everything would work itself out. He'd never considered that there would be choices to be made. "Do you love me?"

She frowned, simple enough question. There was a long beat of complete silence. Did she? The pause was too much for him, he let out a long shaky breath, "maybe we should just try the friendship thing," he suggested, knowing that it was going to be the hardest of the options for him, but he also knew he couldn't leave his child, or force her into something that she didn't want.

He moved passed her, with the intention of letting himself out of her appartment, "you haven't let me answer," he stopped in his tracks at her words.

Slowly, he turned around, finally daring to again meet her eyes. "I love you," she replied simply, "I'm just scared that it won't be enough."

His shoulders dropped with relief, and he suddenly became aware of his rapid pulse. A small smile finally made its way to his lips, "it's a good start," he said as he closed the gap between them, then paused briefly before slowly wrapping his arms around her. She responded by softening into the embrace, and he finally found the confidence to kiss the top of her head as she took her arms around his waist.

After some minutes of them just standing there like that, Chakotay felt Kathryn reach for his hand, he didn't understand, but allowed her to take his hand and place it on her stomach. The frown on his face lasted a moment longer, before he felt movement, his eyes widened and met with Kathryn's, she smiled reasuringly. His suprised expression quickly flickered to a smile as he felt more movement. "I can feel the baby kicking," he stated the obvious, as she just smiled amusedly at his pleasently suprised expression. "It doesn't hurt does it?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

Kathryn shook her head, "not that I notice, sometimes it keeps me awake though."

With a sudden pang of guilt, he suddenly remembered how late it was, and for a moment worried that he may have woken her, before he noticed she was still half dressed in her Admiral's uniform, minus the grey jacket. "Was the baby keeping you awake before I came?" he asked suspiciously.

She grinned guiltily, "I just had a lot of work, but I don't think I'll get too much sleep once you've gone, seeing as the baby's just started up kicking again."

"How long has the baby been kicking?" suddenly he wanted desperately to catch up on everything that he'd already missed.

"Umm, just under a month," she replied, moving his hand to a slightly different position. He smiled to himself, as he felt a very distinct kick beneath his palm. "So where are you staying?"

Chakotay frowned, good question, "nowhere. I got off the transport, and came straight here."

"From where?"

"From Dorvan," he replied, then the thought occured to him that she didn't have a clue where he'd been for the past four months. "I've just spent the past two months with my sister and her family, and before that, I spent about six weeks visiting maquis memorial sites, laid a few ghosts to rest caught up with a few old friends, and basically just tried to figure out what I'm going to do next."

"And what did you decide?"

He shrugged, "I want to be with you."

She raised an eyebrow, "and you decided that before or after you found out I was pregnant?"

"Before," he smiled, pulling her towards him in another embrace, "but before I found out about this, I thought I'd be stubborn and wait for you to come to me."

Kathryn smiled against his shoulder, and relished in the familiar comfort of his arms. "Maybe you should stay here tonight," she suggested, as she pulled back a little. He gave her a look which questioned if she was sure. "In the spare room of course," she quickly ammended.

He smiled, "if it's not too much trouble."

Telling him that it wasn't, they both started to get ready for bed. In their seperate bedrooms.

End of chapter three