And Her Hair All Done Up In Curls

Chapter 7
The Past Relived

Rating Pg 13:

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.

"So you just found a baby laying at the base of a tree?" Chakotay asked slightly stunned.

"Yes," Kathryn stated, "It's not any stranger then finding an alien baby under a bush, on an uninhabited planet, in the middle of the delta quadrant. Besides the authorities said that who ever left her there probably saw me and put her there knowing that I would see her, and believe me she wasn't there when I started to study, I was in that tree for hours."

"Ok, go on, you'd been studding and found a baby, you hurried home and told your mom, what happened from there?" Chakotay was very curious; he had walked into her ready room about two hours ago and saw a photograph of a small girl. He confronted Kathryn and started an argument. Which ended in a stare down, so to speak, she gave in and started telling him the whole story, only after a series of crying secessions.

Kathryn looked at Chakotay; she had calmed down, and was able to talk to him with out crying. Besides she was all out of tears. "Well, Momma called Starfleet head quarters, while I fed her, and got some more blankets, it was a cool day. They came out and questioned me, I told them every thing I knew. They checked over the baby, she was healthy, they asked if Momma and I could take care of her, the foster care facilities were full, because of a disaster that left many kids homeless; Momma had been thinking of being a foster parent and had already submitted the paperwork. So they decided to just let us take the baby being Momma was nearly an official foster parent, as they put it. I can tell you dad was sure surprised when he came home from work. He and Momma had been thinking about it, he didn't know that it would happen so soon." Kathryn smiled at her joke, Chakotay smiled as well. He nodded for her to continue. "After a couple months and no trace of anyone she could have belong to, the authorities put her up for adoption.

I had fallen in love with her. I also was the one that took care of her. See at the time our house didn't have the extra room, and Momma asked me if I could let her stay in my room with me, I quickly agreed. You know me and kids right."

"Yeah, I remember when Naomi was born, for the first week I wondered if poor Samantha would ever be left alone." Chakotay laughed a little, and so did she. "Ok go on,"

"So being I had her, I was the one for all of the late night feeding, and so on. When it came time to give her up I didn't want to. I think I cried and pleaded for them no to take her away from me. After a competency hearing to see if I was mature enough and could provide her with a decent home, like I had already been doing, they let me adopt her. Also I think it helped that my father was an admiral. We had a few connections…"

"…She was a very bright child, and loved to read, but her favorite thing was skating. In the wintertime, we would visit a pond in California, I can't remember the name but we loved going there, the Ice was always very pleasant. I taught her how to skate when she was three. Edana was so thrilled about it that I enrolled her into skating classes." Kathryn looked at Chakotay. He smiled at her gently. "She won so many trophies, and when she was seven she was one of the youngest to compete in Star Fleets, young Skaters tournament. I remember her coach telling me that most children aren't ready for it until they're ten, but Edana, was one of the best out there." Kathryn looked away smiling at the memory.

Chakotay let her bask in it for a little while, before asking, "so, how did she die?" His voice was soft and sympathetic.

Kathryn looked at him briefly, "She fell."

"Skating?"

"No, she fell from our tree. The one I found her under. It was just two days after her tournament, she was to be starting back at school that Monday, and she wanted to go and spend some time in the corn fields, before she had to go back. It was before dinner and I told her it was ok; I could remember doing the same thing." Kathryn's tears threatened to return as she spoke, Chakotay took notice and stroked her arm slightly. She took a deep breath before continuing. "About an hour later, my neighbor came running to the door, she told me that Edana was hurt. I'd been helping Momma in the Kitchen, and I dropped the bowl of corn bread batter and ran out, with my neighbor, as Momma called for help." Kathryn started crying but continued through the sobs. "She was laying at the base with the branch that had broken just above her. She was unconscious. They rushed her to the hospital, but there wasn't much they could do, she had hit her head hard, and suffered severe brain damage, we where told that she'd probably never wake up," Kathryn took a deep breath well closing her eyes trying to keep from braking down completely. "She was in a comma for three months, before" she swallowed hard, "before her tiny heart gave up." Kathryn lost the battle; she fell into Chakotay's arms. Chakotay just rocked her back and forth.

He held her for what seemed like ages after her crying stopped. She fell asleep in his arms exhausted from crying, and her lack of sleep. Chakotay quietly checked the time. Their shift would be over in just a few hours. He decided to let her sleep, figuring that she needed it. He picked her up and laid her on the couch. He then sat down on the floor next to her and took her hand into his. He rested his head next to hers. He to drifted off to sleep as well.

Abut an hour later he was a woken by Kathryn squeezing his had, she was muttering something unintelligible. The unclear words became clearer, and Chakotay could make out, "Edana wake up please, wake up." Chakotay's heart fell, as he realized why she was looking so tired, she was probably having nightmares on top of taking care of Sidra. Before he could wake her up, she startled her self-awake. She noticed Chakotay, "Oh Chakotay," she sighed out of breath. She looked down realizing that she still had his hand in a death grip. She let go "sorry, I"

"It's ok," she had started to look away but he caught her face in his hand, and turned her face to look at him. "Kathryn, have you been having nightmares?" she nodded. "How often?"

"Every time I go to sleep, I only can sleep a few hours at a time, now a days." Her eyes drifted away from him.

"Have you talked to the doctor?"

"No, I didn't want to have to tell him why."

"O Kathryn," he said, moving his hand around to her back to pull her into a hug. "You need to get help, Tuvok is the only one around here that can go with out sleep for any length of time. You need to take care of yourself."

"I know," she said, clutching on to him. "It'll be easer now, can you come with me to sick bay. I don't know if I can alone."

"Certainly," he nodded.

"Thank you" she whispered. "I think every thing will be ok now, I think I can face anything, with you by my side. The doctor, Sidra, the Delta Quadrant, But most of all my past; I can face everything from now on, with you by my side. I can do it with you." Then she hugged him even tighter.

The End