Kathryn slowly woke from her peaceful slumber. Although a bit tired, she felt very relaxed and at peace. Thoughts of last night came back to her and she smiled. She turned over to find that Chakotay wasn't in the bed.
"Computer what is the time?"
The computer's monotone voice chimed in, "The time is 0600."
Quickly getting out of bed, she grabbed her robe from the chair. Wondering why the computer didn't wake her at the usual time, she walked out into the main room where she found Chakotay preparing breakfast.
"Good morning!" She walked up, wrapping her arms around him as he gave her a passionate kiss. "When I awoke and didn't find you in bed, I thought everything that happened last night was a dream."
"Believe me, last night was no dream. I hope you don't mind, but I woke before the alarm was supposed to go off and decided to let you sleep a little bit longer. I have a few more things to finish up here so you can go get ready if you like."
"I think I could get used to this all of this pampering." She turned around and gave him a smile as she disappeared into the bedroom. Twenty minutes later Kathryn returned, hair pulled up and in her uniform. As they sat down for breakfast Chakotay spoke, "Are you worried about telling the senior staff about your pregnancy?"
"I think I would be lying if I said I wasn't. I'm not sure what they are going to think."
"Kathryn," Chakotay reached over and took her hand giving it a firm squeeze, "they will be happy for you...for us. They want nothing more for their Captain to be happy."
"I am happy, the happiest I have been in a long time." She gave him a smile back.
"Well then, why don't we finish our breakfast and get to the bridge." Chakotay took her hand and gave it a light kiss.
The staff meeting was pretty uneventful. Kathryn tried to focus on what everyone was saying, but at the same time she just wanted the meeting to come to an end so she could let everyone know the news. As the minutes slowly passed she kept getting more nervous and Chakotay could tell that by the way she fidgeted in her chair. At one point their eyes met and he tried to give her a reassuring smile. Kathryn hadn't realized Tuvok had concluded his report until he snapped her back to reality, "Captain."
Startled, she looked up to see all eyes were on her. "Thank you for your report Tuvok. Is there anything else that needs to be brought up." No one said a word. Kathryn knew that it was time. She stood up, her gaze shifting to Chakotay for some reassurance. He smiled at her and she then turned back to look at everyone. "Before we adjourn this meeting there is something that I need to say." She paused. "I...well...that is the Commander and I...we are expecting a baby." Kathryn looked at all the faces looking back at her, trying to gauge their reaction. She began to panic when no one said a word. Tom finally broke the quietness, "And here we have had a betting pool going on to see how long it would take you two to get together!" Laughter broke out and this seemed to bring everyone out of their shock. One by one they offered their congratulations to the command team.
When the room finally quieted down, Kathryn spoke, "Thank you all for your kind words. I honestly wasn't sure what you would think. Chakotay tried to reassure me that everything would be fine and I guess he was right." She looked in his direction and gave him a smile. "We still need to tell the rest of the crew, but we wanted all of you to be the first to know."
Neelix interrupted, "Captain, may I offer a suggestion. Why don't we throw a party, a celebration of sorts? Then you can tell everyone at once."
Kathryn thought for a moment and then smiled, "Why not. I think it's a great idea Neelix. Of course all of you will keep this to yourselves until the night of the party." Her gaze shifted towards Tom who just looked at her and smiled. "When do you expect to have everything ready Neelix?"
"Well, how about we have it in a few days. I'll have enough time to prepare the food and set-up the holodeck."
"Alright...you make all the necessary arrangements and inform the crew of the party. I think we can officially call this meeting to an end. And again, thank you all for your support. Everyone is dismissed."
Everyone filed out of the room and Chakotay stayed behind. "Now that wasn't so bad was it?"
"No...no it wasn't and of course you were right all along. The party will be a nice change of pace for the crew and definitely make it easier to tell all of them. Now why don't you come here and give your Captain a kiss before we report to the bridge."
"Is that an order?"
"You better believe it"
"Well, in that case..." Chakotay pulled Kathryn close to him and gave her kiss that reminded her of last night. They finally pulled away obviously not wanting it to end, composed themselves, and made their way to the bridge.