Disclaimer: Just borrowing a swing on Paramount's playground.

AN: Wow! 69 positive reviews, and 1 negative one. It is amazing how much that negative one stings. But the constructive one by anonymous immediately following really helped bolster me up to finish this chapter. Many thanks!

Confrontation

There was a moment several heartbeats long, where Kathryn stood motionless, with her eyes unwillingly taking in the shiny cascade of debris across the viewscreen. Her pulse thundered in her ears, and she could see Chakotay's mouth moving, but could not seem to hear anything he said. Her fingers gripped the railing so tightly that her knuckles were white, and yet she did not feel the strain in her joints.

Her world had shattered abruptly into a million tiny pieces, and they seemed to be falling, slowly, slowly, expanding outward like the debris field of the Renaissance.

"Transporter room!" Chakotay shouted desperately. "Do you have Ensign Kim?"

"The Gentarrans are coming about, Captain!" Ayala said, tension evident in his voice.

"Target their weapons array and fire," Chakotay instructed, even as green particle beams shot towards Voyager. "Tom, evasive maneuvers!"

"Direct hit," Ayala said exultantly, as his phaser blasts hit the other ship, and then, "Minimal damage. Their shields absorbed almost all of the impact." Voyager shuddered as the Gentarran weapons' fire grazed the hull.

"Transporter room, respond!" Chakotay said intensely.

"The Gentarrans appear to be attempting disruption of our intraship communications," Ensign McKay observed.

"Can you jam their signal?"

"I'm trying," she replied crisply, her fingers flying across her workstation.

"Transporter room to bridge," came an unrecognizable voice, smothered in static.

"Go ahead," Chakotay said.

"I have Ensign Kim, but he's been injured," the transporter chief informed him. Kathryn gripped the railing even more tightly, and willed her knees not to buckle. Her world reconstructed itself quickly, and she felt dizzy and overwhelmed. I will not cry on the bridge, she thought fiercely to herself.

"Good work, chief. Get him to sickbay. Bridge out."

Chakotay heard the sibilant hiss of the turbolift doors behind him, and knew without looking that Kathryn had gone.

"What are they doing?" Chakotay asked, gesturing toward the Gentarran ship. It had moved away, and hung motionless among the stars.

"Holding position just out of weapons range," Ayala reported. "Weapons are still powered up, but they are not locked."

"Can they take us?"

"Their ship is smaller, but I can't even begin to delve into all their redundant systems. It looks like we are more than evenly matched, sir," Ayala replied.

"Hail them," the captain said tersely.

"Channel open," Elizabeth said.

"This is Captain Chakotay of the Federation starship Voyager," Chakotay began. "Explain your hostile actions against that vessel!"

"What concern is that vessel of yours?" came a smooth voice.

"They were ambushed and attacked without provocation," Chakotay responded, feeling his anger begin to rise, yet not comfortable revealing the status of the Renaissance crew to the Gentarran leader.

"They have committed espionage against the Gentarran government," the disembodied voice said. "We have been tracking them for several months."

"It would seem that you've accomplished your task, then," Chakotay said. "Your continued presence seems somewhat hostile."

"I don't think our stance is currently a hostile one," said the voice, amused.

"You fired on my ship!" Chakotay replied angrily.

"Consider it a …warning." The voice was softly menacing. "My men are scanning the debris fields. It is well known that the occupants of that ship were part of your crew at one time. If remains are not detected in the debris… we'll know where they are."

"And if we decided to leave?"

There was a barely audible chuckle. "Oh, I wouldn't try that, Captain." With a chirp, the connection was severed.

"Can their scans pick up something in that much detail?" Chakotay asked.

"It would fit with the other technology we've seen so far," Ayala admitted. Chakotay swore under his breath.

"I need Kathryn up here," he said, half to himself, and then tapped his commbadge. "Bridge to Sickbay."

"Sickbay here," the EMH responded, in his nasal tone.

"What is the status of Ensign Kim?"

"He was evidently thrown into a bulkhead during the first round of fire. He has a pretty severe scalp laceration and a fracture of his left leg. He'll be fine." Chakotay nodded in satisfaction. "Would you have Kathryn come up to the bridge as soon as possible? There may be an incident involving the Gentarrans."

"I'm on my way," Kathryn's voice was heard clearly over the open commlink.

"What's going on?" Kathryn Janeway was all business as she strode onto the command deck of Voyager.

"This Gentarran vessel is going to attack us as soon as they don't find your remains in the wreckage of the Renaissance," Chakotay informed her.

Kathryn's eyes shut for a moment, and she looked apologetic. "We thought… it's been so long since we left, we thought we were safe." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Are we outgunned?"

"Possibly," Chakotay replied succinctly. "B'Elanna mentioned that you had the Gentarran database on board the Renaissance. Did that make it over to Voyager, or was it lost?"

Kathryn looked at his curiously. "I uplinked to Voyager's computer last night. It's just a cultural database though; it won't have any classified military information in it."

"We haven't got anything else to try. We've all seen Gentarran technology. I don't want to risk a firefight."

"Let's go look at it, then," she said.

"Get their registry number off their hull," Chakotay instructed Elizabeth, as he and Kathryn exited the bridge to the ready room.

A moment later, the registry number had pulled up the ship's name and crew complement.

"You're right; we're not going to be able to use any of this," Chakotay said. Janeway stared at the crew roster as it scrolled up the monitor. In an ironic coincidence, the ship was named the Allanora.

"Oh my God," she breathed.

Chakotay looked at her, uncomprehending.

"Prastin. Prastin is the captain of this ship," she said, growing excited. "We've got to talk to him."

"What good would that do?" Chakotay asked dubiously. "This is a different reality. He does not know you here."

"But I know the kind of person he is. Maybe he can be reasoned with." Chakotay looked doubtful, but conceded her point, deciding not to bring up the possibility that the circumstances of the different reality could have made Prastin into a completely different person. "Try to get him over here."

Prastin strode into the conference room of Voyager, looking very different in a Gentarran military uniform. A faint scar sliced along his cheekbone, and disappeared into his hair. He reacted immediately upon seeing Kathryn and Harry seated at the table, along with Chakotay.

"You!" he said, with venom in his voice. "Our scan was nearly completed, but I see the evidence of our failure is right in front of me." He reached for the communicator on his hip.

"Wait!" Chakotay called out. "Hear us out, Captain, please." Prastin gave them a look, as if they were children that he was humoring.

"Very well. But I will be taking these two back to the Allanora with me, and they will be executed for espionage against Gentarra Prime."

"And what about Voyager?" Chakotay asked smoothly. "Are you going to destroy us as well?"

"We have no quarrel with your ship…yet," Prastin said darkly.

"Why not?" Chakotay's voice was bland and disarming. "These two have left no detail out of their reports. We know all about the Portal."

Prastin face grew enraged, and he directed his ire toward Kathryn and Harry. "Yegran was right to want you hunted down and killed!"

"And now, let me finish what I have to say. The reports tell the reasons behind their disappearance and their return. That is all. Our ship is from a Federation of planets in the Alpha Quadrant, and we still have over 65 years of traveling ahead of us. We have no interest in your technology. We just want to go home."

"How do I know that you wouldn't sell this information to the highest bidder, should the opportunity arise?" Prastin sneered.

"You don't," Chakotay said honestly. "But we don't operate that way. The reports dealing with Gentarra Prime will be encrypted and sealed. Your secret will be safe." Prastin looked unconvinced.

"Prastin," Kathryn ventured, speaking for the first time, since his arrival. Prastin looked affronted at the familiar address. "You never minded me calling you by your given name before," she continued.

"Woman, you are –" Prastin began, and then stopped, as he realized what she was referring to.

"Yes, I knew you on Gentarra. We were friends with you. And your brother, Prascor. And your wife," Kathryn spoke tentatively, remembering Lurtak's warning that not everyone married the same people or ended up in the same circumstances in the alternate universe.

Prastin's eyes narrowed at her suspiciously at Prascor's name.

"I do have a brother by that name," he said reluctantly. "But I have no wife."

"You do on Gentarra," Kathryn said simply. "And a baby girl named Rasila. I was there when she was born." Prastin started.

"Rasila was my grandmother's name," he said. "I –" and he suddenly seemed to remember where he was, and what he was doing. "It really doesn't matter," he said, somewhat sadly. "I have my orders. Even if I were inclined to let you go, I would be court-martialed and imprisoned. My crew would report me to the Chancellery."

Kathryn leaned across the table slightly, and looked Prastin straight in the eyes.

"Harry and I have a baby girl as well. She was born the night we had to flee Gentarra Prime. We named her Allanora." She paused a moment to let that sink in. "She is innocent. As are the large majority of the crew, who do not even know what happened to us on Gentarra Prime. No one on this ship deserves death. You can stop this."

"I cannot," Prastin contradicted her wearily. "My crew's first loyalty is to Yegran. They could relieve me of duty, and destroy you anyway."

"I propose a little subterfuge," Kathryn said, with a gleam in her blue-gray eyes. Prastin looked at her for a long moment, but his face gave nothing away.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

Harry Kim and Elizabeth McKay strode down the corridor toward the Cargo Bay at a brisk pace. Harry's gait was slightly uneven, and he was beginning to tire, having trouble keeping up with the other ensign. He began visibly favoring his injured leg, and Elizabeth slowed down.

"And just why aren't you in sickbay again?" Elizabeth asked, with a teasing note in her voice. The two had gotten to know each other during Gamma shifts together, in which Elizabeth manned Ops, and Harry had the conn. Their friendly camaraderie was easy to recover.

"I think I was bothering Kathryn and Chakotay," Harry said, a sheepish note in his voice. "I wanted to do something, and they wanted me to stop asking." Elizabeth's eyes darted over to Harry, at the mention of those two names, as if to see how okay he was with the situation.

His face appeared natural, but he noticed her glance. "I'm all right," he said, even though she hadn't asked. "Are you?" She smiled, a little self-deprecatingly, and nudged him in the upper arm with her shoulder.

"I will be." They walked in silence for the length of a section. "Were you… very upset? I mean, at first?" Her tone was hesitant.

"Well, yeah," Harry said slowly. "I was angry, thinking that she would throw away everything we had. I was afraid that being back on Voyager would change everything. I worried about how she felt about Chakotay when we were still on Gentarra. I was afraid that the only reason she was with me was because I was the only one around. She assured me that that wasn't true, but yesterday, I thought I had been proven right."

"Chakotay told me that – that she turned him down," Elizabeth noted. Harry's eyes glittered angrily at the thought of the former Maquis propositioning his wife.

"He had no right to ask," he said shortly.

"No, he didn't," Elizabeth agreed. "But isn't it better to have it all out in the open now, rather than just festering quietly?"

"I suppose," Harry said, and then looked at her suddenly, "So, are you and Chakotay…?" Elizabeth blushed a little, and shook her head.

"No, that is… we were, but – no. Not right now. He – he has some things to work out… before…" she trailed off. When she spoke again, her tone of voice was matter of fact. "Why did they put you down here with me?" she asked.

"Well, not because there are machinations going on. Even though that's clearly what you're thinking," Harry replied, with a smile.

"I am not," Elizabeth lied. Harry looked at her, one eyebrow raised. She looked away, and her cheeks flushed. "Okay, I admit it. I thought they might have put us down here on purpose. But really, with all this going on? They have more important things to worry about."

"I don't know," Harry said doubtfully. "You'd be amazed how adept Kathryn – Captain Janeway is at multitasking." A glimmer of pain flickered in Elizabeth's eyes for a moment at the mention of the captain.

"Killing two birds with one stone, huh?" Elizabeth said, and her tone was a little bitter. Harry looked at her in sympathy.

"She probably figures we'll talk," he agreed, "It'll all work out," he said, trying not to sound trite. "You'll see."

"That's easy for you to say," she exclaimed, trying to infuse her voice with humor, and halfway succeeding. "You won!"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way," Harry said, modestly.

"You would too!" Elizabeth genuinely laughed. "Look at you! Your head is practically swelling up right before my eyes. The male ego is truly a disgusting thing!"

Harry looked at her with a hurt expression, and mimed being shot in the heart. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him.

"You hang out with Tom Paris way too much," she said. They entered the Cargo Bay, and looked with trepidation at the large storage drums sitting in the middle of the expansive room. Just adjacent to them, was an anti-grav cart, piled high with containers, all with glowing warning labels affixed.

"Well, there it is," Harry said, in somewhat of an understatement. They regarded the containers for a moment. "You ever worked with this before?"

"No, but I've heard about it," Elizabeth replied. "Are you sure they aren't trying to get rid of us secretly?" she whispered with mock seriousness.

"Elizabeth!" Harry was trying to sound disapproving, but the laughter in his voice gave him away.

"Well, somebody has to pack tritanium resin into two 500 kilo drums, and which two people get picked from the entire crew?"

"They needed two people that they could trust, and that were available," Harry said succinctly. "We're it. Tuvok and Mike are going over tactical scenarios. B'Elanna's priming the engines for a cold-warp jump. Tom is practicing the maneuver that's going to get us out of this stuff's way, when Prastin blows it up."

"The Picard maneuver, right?" Elizabeth asked, picking up the first container delicately.

"Well, something like it anyway," Harry said, opening the first drum. "We eject this out of the cargo bay, just in time for Prastin to blow it to kingdom come, and at the same time jump to warp from a dead stop. Supposedly, it'll look like we exploded."

"Do you think it'll work? Assuming this doesn't blow us to smithereens now?" she asked. "Okay, I've got it here. Pull out the stabilization rod, and then press that button. The tank should drain down into the drum." Harry followed her instructions, and neither said anything else until the containment unit flashed green, signaling that it was empty.

"Next?" Harry asked, and Elizabeth pulled the next unit into position. "If it blows up now, nobody on Voyager will even know we made a mistake! But I think it might work. Chakotay suggested putting some garbage and spare parts in here before we blow the bay doors, for the simulation of debris." There was silence again while the second container drained. "I just can't believe Tom's going to do it blind."

"I always thought he was crazy," Elizabeth said, only half-joking. Harry grinned at her, and they got the third container ready to be emptied. Harry and Elizabeth had gravitated toward each other during those quiet night shifts, because their shy natures found each other unintimidating. She had never been able to understand Harry's odd-couple friendship with Tom, whose freewheeling ways and overzealous mouth, scared her to death. Silence. Monitoring. Green flash.

"He's the only one who could do it, that's for sure," Harry affirmed. "And if Prastin weren't helping us out with vector and timing, we wouldn't be able to do it at all, not after they've disabled the sensor array. Without the coordinates, we could end up in the core of a star or something!"

"I can't believe the captain is letting them do that," Elizabeth observed. Fourth tank drained. Green light. "Scan the drum," she said. Harry pulled out his tricorder, and ran a scan on the contents.

"It's stable," he said. "It's evidently standard procedure for the Gentarran military to disable sensors. Anyway, it beats the alternative," he added, referring to her earlier comment. "I guess it makes it more convincing that we exploded too, because who would use warp drive with no sensors? It's never good to fly blind, but it's better than getting blown the hell up by the Gentarrans." Elizabeth wordlessly conceded his point.

Fifth tank.

Tension on the bridge was high, as the crew of Voyager prepared to begin their performance. All they could hope now is that Prastin would stick to the script, and that they wouldn't be inadvertently destroyed in the process. Kathryn stood ramrod straight to the left of the captain's chair, having refused both Chakotay's and Tuvok's offers of their chairs.

"I haven't been reinstated yet," she said calmly. "You are the two ranking officers on the ship. I'll stand."

Elizabeth was back at Ops. Harry was down in the cargo bay, with Joe Carey, packing it full of every kind of disposable flotsam they could locate. The doctor had reluctantly given them DNA, with permission of course, so that the Allanora would be able to locate human "remains".

Kathryn felt a headache beginning above her ears. She stood at perfect parade rest, and let her mind drift to Alli, safely down in sickbay with the EMH. She missed her baby. It was hard to believe that they had only contacted Voyager yesterday. And now the Renaissance was gone. She recalled the searing moment of fear that had sliced through her like a bat'leth, watching the Renaissance diminished into particles.

If I ever had doubts about whether or not I loved Harry, they were certainly put to rest this morning, when I thought…I thought…she could not even allow herself to approach that concept, and left the thought unarticulated. She was frustrated with herself. How can I do this? How can I order him on an away mission if I'm paralyzed the entire time with fear that he won't come back? This is why I didn't want to get involved with Chakotay either, she thought angrily. It makes you weak.

She was jolted out of her musings by a hail from Elizabeth's console. Chakotay nodded at her gravely. It was time for the play to begin.

"This is Captain Prastin of the Allanora," Prastin began coldly without preamble. "We have contacted Gentarra Prime. It is the order of the Gentarran government that your ship be destroyed. You have knowingly harbored criminals, and kept treasonous documents of State secrets in your computer database. For these –"

Chakotay ordered the commlink severed with one wave of his hand.

"Get us out of here, Paris," he ordered abruptly. "Maximum warp!"

Over on the Allanora, the helmsman shouted suddenly to Prastin, "Captain, they're powering up their warp engines!"

"Activate the sensor disabler," Prastin said immediately. An orange beam was emitted by the Gentarran ship, which diffused mistily through Voyager's shields, illuminating them momentarily. Voyager wheeled about erratically, and shuddered to a halt.

"Their sensors are offline," the operations officer said with satisfaction. "It will take them hours to repair their array."

"Regrettably, they will be unable to complete the repairs," Prastin said darkly. "Bring the ship about."

"Our sensors are offline," Elizabeth announced calmly, as the viewscreen winked off. They were now completely helpless, having no sensor readings and no idea where the Allanora was.

"Kim to bridge," Harry's voice sounded tinny from his locating in the echoing chamber of the cargo bay. "The Allanora is moving into position behind us. I can see them through the bay doors. They're lining up for a direct shot to our warp core."

"Are you ready?" Chakotay asked.

"We're in position to depressurize the cargo bay on your mark," Harry replied, as they moved outside the bay, exchanging a significant look with Lieutenant Carey. It was now or never.

"They're in position," Carey said.

"You've got 10 seconds," Ayala put in.

"B'Elanna, are you ready?" Chakotay asked quickly.

"Aye, sir," B'Elanna responded from her post in Engineering.

"Tom?"

"We're pointed in the right direction, sir," Tom said briskly.

"3…2… mark," Ayala replied. Harry released the forcefield in the cargo bay, watching through the clear panel in the double doors. The contents of the cargo bay had barely cleared the ship, when a green particle beam lanced out from the Allanora.

"Now!" Chakotay thundered. Tom engaged the warp drive to full throttle, as a huge explosion flickered through the viewports of Voyager. There was a terrifying jolt, and Voyager veered to one side, and shook under the punishing speeds.

"I'm losing the warp field!" B'Elanna called from Engineering.

"We've got a hull breech," Elizabeth said, speaking almost on top of B'Elanna. She studied her readout for a moment. "It's near the cargo bay."

"That jolt the second before we went to warp…the tritanium resin must have detonated too close to the ship. I'm going to have to shut it down!" B'Elanna said, intensely.

Chakotay looked at Tom, questioningly. Paris shook his head.

"We've got to stay at this speed for 19 more seconds, or we won't end up where we're supposed to."

"Hold it together for as long as you can, B'Elanna," Chakotay instructed.

"I'll try rerouting…" her voice was lost in a mumble, as alarms started to wail. She began shouting at her engineering team, and closed the comm.

Klaxons began to wail on the bridge, as well. Ayala and McKay's hands flew over their respective consoles. Voyager began to vibrate, and Kathryn struggled to stay on her feet. Stars streaked by at dizzying speeds.

"Captain!" B'Elanna said urgently.

"Four more seconds!" Tom interrupted.

"I'm shutting it down now!" B'Elanna didn't wait for an okay, and the engines thrummed to a stop. There was a moment of silence as the crew quietly waited to see if some disaster waited.

"Put all reserve power to the shields," Chakotay instructed. "Get those sensors back online, before anything happens. Kathryn, can you go down and check on Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Carey?"

Kathryn nodded and headed for the turbolift. It did not escape her notice that he had carefully phrased his request as a question, not an order. Nor did she miss the fact that anyone could have contacted them with a communicator. She appreciated the opportunity to get away and check on Harry…and Alli… now that Voyager was out of immediate danger.

Kathryn ran into Harry and Joe halfway between the bridge and the cargo bay. They were dirty and scratched up, but appeared none the worse for the wear. Harry was somewhat pale, and he was visibly limping. Concern flashed in Kathryn's eyes, and she moved toward him, but checked herself at the presence of Lieutenant Carey.

"Are you both all right?" she asked, solicitously including both of them in her glance. The two men nodded, and Harry did not miss the formality in her demeanor and stance. "You look like you need to be in sickbay, at least to let the Doctor check you out."

It was a testament to Harry's fatigue that he didn't argue with her about it, and by the time they reached Sickbay, he was leaning heavily on both her and Joe. Kathryn had adroitly avoided the searching glances Harry was sending her, and didn't say much on the rest of the walk.

Sickbay was crowded with minor injuries, as well as one of B'Elanna's engineers who had suffered some plasma burns when a console exploded. Ensign Wildman was assisting the EMH, as Tom's piloting skills were still needed on the bridge.

"Doctor, can I get a dermal regenerator and a analgesic?" Kathryn asked over the din. The Doctor shouted their location, and Kathryn abandoned Joe, pulling Harry around to the semi-privacy of the Doctor's office. "I'll be right back." She cornered Ensign Wildman, and told her that Joe had hit his head, but appeared okay, and found the medical items she had mentioned.

"How do you feel?" She asked, worry creasing her forehead. She smoothed his hair back from his face with one hand. He captured her hand and kissed her palm.

"I've had better days. My leg is killing me," he grimaced, flexing and extending the offending limb.

"You've done too much on it today. You should've rested," she said, injecting him with the pain reliever. "I shouldn't have let you go down –"

"Hey," Harry interrupted gently. "I was glad to do something. I wouldn't have had it any other way." He reached up to caress her face, and she shied away from his hand. He dropped his hand, bewilderment and anger washing across his features. "Kathryn, what's wrong?" She was running the dermal regenerator over the cut on his forehead.

"Nothing. I just – I just – people might see," she mumbled, embarrassed with herself, even as the words came out of her mouth.

"I see," Harry said flatly, his lips narrowing into a thin line. There was a moment of silence. The regenerator whirred softly. Then, they spoke simultaneously, their words tumbling out in a rush.

"Is it always going to be like this?" he asked.

"I don't know if I can do this," she said. They looked at each other with a strange combination of disbelief and anguish. Silent tension stretched out for an infinite, agonizing moment.

"You don't know if you can do what?" Harry asked slowly.

"This," she gestured back and forth between them. "On the ship. While I'm in command. I don't think I can handle it. I can't even handle it now."

"You don't think you can handle it?" Unmistakable anger was in Harry's voice.

"It's why I didn't want to get involved with Chakotay…before Gentarra Prime. If you get too attached, too involved…it interferes with your ability to make command decisions." Her voice was low and intense.

"Kathryn, that's bullshit," Harry said evenly, his calm tone belying the ire simmering beneath his words. "If that were true, starship captains would be forbidden to have long-term relationships."

"Today, when the Renaissance exploded, I went numb. I thought you were onboard, and I nearly stopped functioning. Then in sickbay, as soon as Chakotay called for me, I had to leave you there. What kind of life is that for you? That's not fair to you."

Harry laughed mirthlessly. "Don't do that, Kathryn. Don't play the unselfish martyr, pretending you're doing this all for me. Chakotay might have bought it, but I don't!" She flinched as if she had been slapped.

His voice had risen during his last sentence, and it rang out loud and clear in the crowded sickbay. The lull of silence lasted only a moment, and then the murmur resumed, somewhat louder than before, as everyone tried their hardest to look uninterested in the captain fighting with her husband. Kathryn writhed in embarrassment.

Before Harry could say another word, Kathryn had snatched up Alli and slipped quickly and quietly out of the room.

Gamma shift was more than half over before most of the crew on Alpha shift finally went off duty. They had been working around the clock to get the sensors online and recalibrated. Chakotay strolled the corridors, allowing himself a moment of relaxation, now that the bridge officer currently on duty had informed him that they expected sensors to be back up within the hour.

As he rounded the corner, nearing his quarters, he saw Harry Kim walking in the corridor, trying to look like he hadn't been there long. Their eyes met, and slid away from each other, uncomfortably.

Chakotay stopped at the doors to his quarters, and was punching in his personal code, when he looked up again. Harry was still walking, almost pacing, outside the captain's quarters.

"Is there something wrong, Ensign?" Chakotay asked, almost unwillingly.

"No," Harry lied badly. "Thank you, sir, for your concern." There was another awkward moment of silence. Harry slanted a look upward, and saw Chakotay still standing there. Why won't he go inside? the younger man wondered desperately.

"Do you want to come in?" Chakotay ventured, gesturing toward the open door with one hand. Harry looked like he would rather be beaten with Klingon pain sticks, but he followed Chakotay in, throwing one backward glance at Kathryn's door.

"Do you want something to drink?" Chakotay asked, once they were inside, wondering if they were going to be able to hold a conversation at all.

"Whatever you're having is fine," Harry said absently. Chakotay ordered two glasses of iced herbal tea. Harry studied the sprig of mint in his glass, sipped the tea, and said nothing.

"Is…there something troubling you, Ensign?" Chakotay initiated again, beginning to become annoyed with both Mr. Kim and himself.

Harry scoffed. "Yes, but, believe me, you aren't going to want to talk about it."

Kathryn, Chakotay thought. He was hardly surprised.

"I am an adult, Ensign Kim. And one of my functions on Voyager has been to be a ship's Counselor of sorts. If you need to talk to someone, feel free to talk to me."

"Even if it's about my wife?" Harry asked bluntly, using the phrase guaranteed to cause the most discomfort.

"Even that, Ensign," Chakotay said, restraining a wince, and looking Harry dead in the eyes. I know exactly what you're doing, the glance said.

"Kathryn's having second thoughts…again," Harry added the last word after a beat. For his part, Chakotay continued to be amazed at how painful Harry's mere statement of her name could be. "She's worried that her involvement with me will interfere with her ability to make the tough decisions."

"Why do you think she's saying that now?" Chakotay asked. Harry looked at him in askance for a moment, as if surprised that Chakotay was acting professionally.

"I'm assuming it was because of the Renaissance exploding this morning, and the breech down by the cargo bay. She kind of let it all loose on me in sickbay. She even gave me some line about how it wasn't fair to me that the ship would always be first, when she was in command."

"Standard Kathryn Janeway evasion tactics," Chakotay snorted. "She's scared."

"Why?" Harry burst out in frustration. "Does she really think that little of me? Of the crew? Is there anyone aboard Voyager who would begrudge her happiness?" He stopped abruptly, and looked quickly over at Chakotay.

"No, there is no one who would begrudge Kathryn anything, including me," Chakotay said, somewhat dryly. "She is afraid of herself." There was a short silence. "Every time Kathryn has opened herself up, she has gotten hurt. Has she told you about Justin?"

"Yeah," Harry said slowly. "One night, on Gentarra, she told me about him. I think it was the anniversary of his death."

"It devastated her. Took her years to get over it. I used to think sometime that she'd rather be miserable and lonely for the rest of her life, than risk that happening again."

"So she's afraid of having to send me to my death?"

"She's afraid of that, of looking less like captain, of feeling less like a captain, of acting less like a captain."

"What do I do to make her unafraid?" Harry asked seriously, meeting Chakotay's gaze steadily. Chakotay felt a rush of admiration for the younger man, as his love for Kathryn and his dedication to their relationship became apparent in that one, seemingly innocuous sentence.

"You're going to have to give her what she needs. If she needs to look professional, even in the mess hall, while off-duty, you're going to have to do that for her. I think, she'll unbend once she gets used to balancing both aspects of her life," Chakotay said. "You'll have to be patient."

"Like you were?" Harry asked, not unkindly. Chakotay looked at him in surprise, and nearly laughed.

"I suppose so, yes," he said. "But you have an advantage that I didn't have."

"What's that?"

"She chose you," Chakotay said simply. "You might not have been on Voyager at the time, but that doesn't change the fact that she chose you." Harry shifted around in his chair, uncomfortably, the half-melted ice clinking lightly in his nearly empty glass.

"Chakotay, I'm s—" Harry began, unsure of what exactly should be said. Chakotay held up one hand to stop him.

"You owe me no apology, Ensign," he said sincerely. Harry looked like he wanted to say something else, but Chakotay forestalled him. "Go on and talk to your wife."

TBC

Next Chapter: Denouement

Thanks for all the reviews. I guess it's good that people are reading my story, even if not everyone likes it. Hopefully, the characters got more faceted. I have more plans for Elizabeth, and as you can see, nobody died.