And Her Hair All Done Up In Curls

Chapter 2
What?

Rating G: so far

Summery: Kathryn is being plagued by a series of nightmares. What could they be about?

Disclaimer: All is owned by paramount, unless never mentioned one the show. I have just decided that I could take the voyager crew (Kathryn and Chakotay) where paramount would never have. I am not making any money, just doing it 'cuse I wanna.

Kathryn walked down the corridor at a hurried pace, B'Elanna had just contacted her with an urgent request for her to come to Engineering. She had sent B'Elanna to translate a data padd that she had discovered just hours before, the data padd, she was sure, would explain the origins of a small infant that had been beamed down next to her, as she was reading down on the M class planet that voyager had discovered. B'Elanna's call had alarmed her a bit. She had sounded a bit nervous over the Comm. Kathryn halted as she came to the turbo lift. She pressed the button to summon it. Chakotay caught up with her, he had heard the request and decided that he would accompany her to Engineering. He also wanted to find out what had made Kathryn upset earlier. He had made a comment about her and childcare, her mood had change abruptly, he would have pushed the issues further but the doctor interrupted them. "Kathryn" Chakotay said. She jumped slightly, not realizing that he had fallowed her.

She turned slightly to look at him "Yes, Chakotay" she said evenly. She looked at him and knew exactly why he had fallowed her. "And before you say any thing, I don't want to talk about it."

"Kathryn?" He questioned, "What made you think that I wanted to talk about something? Unless there is something on your mind?" He responded to her remark, he hadn't thought that she had figured out that he wanted to talk about what happened in sickbay, but never underestimate Kathryn's perceptiveness.

"Chakotay don't play dumb, you know as well as I do that you wanted to talk about earlier, and I all ready told you I don't want to talk about it. It is a subject that I don't want to broach." The doors to the lift opened. Kathryn ducked inside, hoping that Chakotay wouldn't fallow her in. Unfortunately it was an implausible event. Leaning on the back of the lift Kathryn called out for it to take them to Engineering. Chakotay watched Kathryn, she seemed to be much more defensive then normal, and her eyes were wary.

"Kathryn," Chakotay stated.

She glanced in his direction, her face set, "yes"

"Why don't you want to talk, there is obviously something bothering you, and perhaps it would help if you talked to someone about it." He regarded her intensely, his eyes searching her face for any sign of what was bothering her. He knew that it had to do with the baby that was now laying in sickbay, but he had no idea of what the connection was.

"Chakotay," she stated more harshly then she had intended, "I already said that I didn't want to talk about it, can't you ever leave well enough alone." She was now starting to become upset. She didn't want to talk; bittersweet memories had already begun to hunt her mind. Her words priced tough Chakotay, his face faltered a little, Kathryn noticed, "I'm sorry Chakotay, It's just I'd rather not talk right now, I didn't mean to sound so, you know" His face softened once more, he decide that trying to push for more information would only lead to more tension.

"It's ok Kathryn, and I'll drop the subject" he said. He reached out and took her hand squeezing it a soundless invitation for her to come and talk to him if she needed to. Kathryn smiled at him, her eyes still showing the hunted look from before. The doors then swashed open; the command team took one last glance at each other before commencing their journey to engineering.

When Kathryn and Chakotay walked into engineering, they saw B'Elanna leaning over a console. "B'Elanna?" Kathryn inquired. "You have translated the padd?"

"Yes, Captain," B'Elanna, stated quickly. "And I believe that it is addressed to you."

"To me?" Kathryn said flustered.

"Yes, see." B'Elanna handed her one of their own data padds that contained the translated version of the alien padd. The padd read.

To the captain of Voyager,

I have been fallowing your ship for sometime now, and in my present condition was determining weather or not I could let the child that I have carried go to you. It is not common for my culture to give their infants away but the fact that I will be unable to care for it has lead me on a desperate search. Normally if a woman in my species cannot care for a child it would go to her parent's but in my case that could never happen. I have been alone on my vessel now for about ten days; a terrible plague has swept through the ship, and it is only a matter of time before I die, and then my child would to. I have done some research on the virus that we have contracted, luckily the virus only affects adults; so she is safe. I can assure you that my child will not harm your crew, I made sure before I beamed her down next to you that she was not a carrier. I beg of you to take care of her this is my last request. You and your crew seem to be very honorable and loving people and I know that you will give her a good home.

Kathryn's eyes widened, she looked up at Chakotay, then to B'Elanna. Kathryn now understood why B'Elanna sounded the way she did over the comm. It was a very precise letter, addressed directly to her. She was being asked to take the child, Emotions crossed her face, memories form the past flooded her mind. She couldn't handle this, not this. She felt herself grow week. "Thank you B'Elanna" she managed "Now if you will excuse me I must," she was almost panicking her hart was racing, she felt her self losing cohesion, "I must go over this, I will call a staff meeting tomorrow to discuss this" she swallowed "letter." With that she was gone. Leaving Chakotay and B'Elanna staring vacantly in her wake.

Kathryn all but ran to her quarters. Once inside the world crumbled, she fell to the ground tears racking through her body. Her mind kept screaming, this isn't happening, not again. NO! Over and over. She had no idea what she was going to do. And now she knew that there were going to be questions to be answered from Chakotay. After what seemed like hours Kathryn's mind cleared, she willed herself to calm down. She told her self, this is different, It's a different situation, different place. She slowly calmed down and regained her senses. Kathryn picked herself up off the floor. She reread the letter; unfortunately it left no room for doubt. The women who had beamed the infant down wanted her to take her. She wrote down some notes for the staff meeting tomorrow, then slowly went into her bedroom, she shade her sundress that she had downed that morning, and pulled her nightgown over her body. She climbed into bed and slowly drifted off to sleep. That night the dreams came again.

"Watch me, Watch me" came a tiny voice, "Did you see, did you see me, I did it."

"That's wonderful," Came a reply to the small voice. "But it's time to go,"

"Do we have to?" the tiny voice cried

"Yes, you know that gam'ma doesn't like it when we are late."

"Ok, just one last time around the Ice?"

"Ok, one last time."