CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
RESTORATION
Part Two
When Kathryn rematerialized, she found herself in the familiar, yet unfamiliar, surroundings of her bedroom. She looked around and couldn't help shiver at what she saw. It was exactly as it used to be before she and Chakotay had modified their quarters. The single bed that had once been a haven to her now looked lonely and uninviting, as did the entire room. Her eyes wandered to a corner of the room where Petal had always slept, but found only an empty space there.
"Computer," she said. "What stardate is it?"
Perhaps she had been transported to the wrong day. On stardate 54859.4., Petal had very much been a part of her life. And whatever the timeline, Chakotay would have had to put Petunia in the snow...
The Computer voice responded. "Stardate 54859.4."
So it was the right day. But where then was Petal? She made her way into the living room and as soon as she stepped into the room, another feeling of unease swept over her. It was four unaltered bays of furniture. There was no nursery, no bedroom, and no kitchen area leading to the bathroom. But then, on stardate 54859.4, this is how her quarters had looked, with the exception of Chakotay's belonging scattered here and there.
Kathryn's eyes found her old shelf of photographs and she wondered over to it. Pictures of Justin were amongst her family photos. Clearly she and Chakotay weren't even romantically involved in this timeline. But what of Quarren? She had been pregnant on Stardate 54859.4. Why wasn't she pregnant in this timeline? Given the attraction she and Chakotay had long felt for each other, if events had happened the same and they were both under mind control on that planet, she felt sure they would have become lovers...
Unable to ward off her curiosity, Kathryn wandered over to her desk and turned on her monitor. "Computer," she said, "display my personal logs."
Instantly, a list of log entries was displayed. Kathryn sat down and quickly searched through them, looking for entries around the time of Quarren. She quickly scanned a few entries, looking for information, and finally found a reference to Quarren. But events described in this timeline were so different to the ones she remembered. Being put under mind-control was the same, so was being made to work on the plant, but rather than being romantically involved with Chakotay, she had fallen in love with an alien man called Jaffen...
The door chime sounded and Kathryn quickly cleared the screen before getting to her feet.
"Come in..."
The door opened and B'Elanna came in. Her very distinctive bump revealed that she was pregnant, and Kathryn found an unexpected comfort in this. It was at least one link between her timeline and this one.
"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"
"I think we need to talk, Captain," B'Elanna began. "About what happens when the baby is here."
Kathryn bit her lip. She really didn't want to get into a conversation. It could jeopardize everything... "Can it wait, B'Elanna? I really don't..."
"It won't take five minutes, Captain. It's about selecting a new Chief Engineer. I was hoping that Lieutenant Carey would take over from me, but now that he's...well, it changes everything." She paused. "I was thinking of Anthony Foster."
Anthony Foster? What about Arlei? Why wasn't B'Elanna recommending her? B'Elanna and Arlei had become friends almost straight away. There could only be one reason why she had not recommended Arlei for the post...Arlei was not a part of their journey in this timeline...
"He's still got some things to learn, but he's a good engineer, gets on well with everyone, and as I'll be on hand to help and supervise him, at least to begin with, he should have no problems."
"I really don't have time to discuss this now, B'Elanna," Kathryn said. "I'm due on the bridge..." Not wanting to be trapped into a conversation, she walked towards the door. "We'll talk about it later." The doors opened and Kathryn walked through them, speaking as she did. "Help yourself to whatever my replicator's in the mood to give you."
Witht that, the doors shut behind her, leaving a rather stunned B'Elanna alone.
Chakotay was already on the bridge when Kathryn arrived there, talking with Seven. His hair was jet black and brushed back from his temple, just like he used to wear it. She looked around the bridge, looking to see what was different, but found that everything was virtually the same as on her Voyager. Apart from Harry and Tuvok and Lieutenant Farrow at the helm, the bridge was quite deserted.
As soon as he saw her enter, Chakotay left Seven and walked over to her, a padd in his hand. "Good morning, Captain."
"Good morning," Kathryn said.
"A report on the ship's systems," he said, holding out the padd.
Kathryn took the padd. "Thank you." She then went over to her chair and sat down. Chakotay sat beside her and began to work his console. "We should have an easy ride for the next few days and be able to make up some of the time we lost last week."
"Good," Kathryn replied. She addressed Lieutenant Farrow. "What's our current speed, Mr Farrow?"
"Warp 9.6," he replied.
Harry's anxious voice suddenly broke the calm on the bridge. "There's something out there, Captain...it's coming towards us..."
Chakotay looked up from his console. "Look like I spoke too soon..."
The next alarm came from the Computer. "Security alert, Security alert." The lights dimmed and the ship automatically went to red alert.
"It appears to be some kind of temporal anomaly, Captain," Tuvok said.
"It's coming too fast for us to avoid it, Captain," Harry said, his anxiety growing. "It will engulf us in less than a minute."
"Mr Farrow, bring us to a standstill," Kathryn cried. "Tuvok, take shields offline."
Chakotay questioned. "Captain?"
Kathryn ignored him. "Immediately, Tuvok."
"But we might be destroyed," Harry said in horror...
"This is not up for debate, Mr Kim," Kathryn replied. "Take shields offline, Tuvok. That's an order!"
Tuvok hesitated. "Captain, I must..."
"Just do it!"
At that he was subdued and did what he was told. "Shields are offline."
"It's almost upon us," Harry cried..."Any second now..."
"On screen," Kathryn said calmly.
The viewscreen came online and the temporal wave was visible in the distance, a speck of blue light that was growing bigger and bigger and bigger until it completely covered the viewscreen... Seconds later the ship began to shake quite violently...
"We'll be destroyed," Harry cried again. "We've got to raise shields..."
"No," Kathryn answered. "Trust me on this..."
"But, Captain...
"It will soon pass," Kathryn said. "If we raise shields..." But before she could finish, a severe shake of the ship threw her to the floor and she lost consciousness when her head slammed against cold metal...
All was misty... a white daze... It cleared slowly and Kathryn saw a face looking down at her. Her vision was blurry, but she knew who it was. Chakotay.
"Welcome back," he send kindly.
She tried to sit up but Chakotay held her down. "Take it easy."
"What happened?"
"You fell and hit your head when a temporal anomaly engulfed us."
Kathryn closed her eyes, everything coming back to her...a temporal anomaly had engulfed them, she'd been taken to the Timeship Relativity, sent to another timeline, but now had to be back in her own...
"Is there much damage to the ship?"
"Only minor damage."
"Casualties?"
"Nothing serious."
Her head hurt and her eyes were still not focussing. It must have been some blow to the head she received when she fell. Captain Marsden must have transported her back to Voyager unconscious and Tuvok or someone found her...
"How long do I have to stay here?"
The Doctor unexpectedly answered. "Overnight at least. You received quite a severe blow to the head and are suffering from concussion. You're going to have a headache and blurred vision for a while."
"I'd rather go to my quarters," Kathryn said. "I'll rest better there..."
"You need to be taken care of, Captain..."
"Chakotay will take care of me..."
"Commander Chakotay's got to run the ship, he can't..."
"It's alright, Doctor," Chakotay said. "I'll take care of her. There's nothing I can do on the ship until repairs are complete."
The Doctor sighed. "Very well. But I want you to promise me she'll go to straight to bed..."
"You have my word," Chakotay replied.
Ten minutes later, Kathryn and Chakotay materialized in her quarters. As they did so, Kathryn's heart almost stopped at what she saw. Although her vision was blurry, it was very clear that there was no nursery, no extra bedroom... And that could mean only one terrible thing - she was still in the other timeline.
"What did you do?" she said, turning to Chakotay.
He frowned. "I'm sorry?"
"When I lost consciousness on the bridge... You raised shields, didn't you?"
"I had no choice," Chakotay replied. "That anomaly would have killed us all."
"I gave direct orders that shields were not to be raised! You had no right to undermine that order!"
"We were getting casualty reports. I couldn't risk lives..."
Kathryn was about to retaliate, but bit her tongue. It would do no good. And she could say something she was not supposed too. She raised her hand to her aching head and tried to calm herself, tried to think. If she was still in this timeline, there had to be a reason for it. And that reason could only be that Captain Marsden and Lieutenant Ducane were going to try to retrieve the device again...
"I'm sure you did what you thought was best," Kathryn replied. "But if the wave returns, it's imperative that you don't raise shields."
Chakotay hesitated. "You know something about this anomaly that you're not telling me, don't you?."
"Yes, and I can't tell you...temporal prime directive."
"I see," Chakotay said, his amusement audible in his voice.
Kathryn couldn't help ask. "What's so amusing?"
"Nothing," he answered.
"Yes there is," Kathryn said. "Tell me."
"Well," he began, "for weeks you've been pestering me to break the temporal prime directive and tell you how I knew we needed to use the deflector dish, but now the shoe is on the other foot, I'm supposed to ask no questions..." He smiled. "I might play you at your own game..."
Kathryn made no reply, his words unexpectedly making her uncomfortable as she had no idea what he was talking about. She just rubbed her aching head. Chakotay put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Let's get you to bed..."
Kathryn wracked her brains trying to think what to do. She really couldn't afford to be indisposed right now, but there was no ignoring the physical symptoms. And as there was nothing she could do to return to her own timeline, she had to trust Captain Marsden. She had no idea what kind of technology they possessed in the 29th century. Perhaps they were well aware of her indisposition and were waiting until she was a little better before making a second attempt at retrieving the device... That's if... No, she couldn't bring herself to think it. They had to still exist. There was no reason for them not to exist... Things just hadn't gone to plan. She was only meant to be in this timeline for half an hour and was certainly not meant to be examined by the Doctor. It was strange he hadn't noticed the removed Borg implants from her brain, but then they only showed up on scans and he probably didn't use more than his medical tricorder to determine that her head injury wasn't serious. She just had to be patient and wait for Captain Marsden and Lieutenant Ducane to do their part...
Chakotay could feel the tension in her frail body and interpreted it as a sign of distrust, of discomfort in the thought of him helping her dress for bed. He squeezed her shoulder affectionately. "You know you can trust me, Kathryn."
Kathryn understood his meaning, and once upon a time she would have been horrified at the thought of him helping her undress, but that was no longer the case. "Yes," she said quietly. "I know I can trust you. But my head's hurting too much to change. I just want to lie down." She hoped Chakotay would buy the excuse. There might not be time to change back and she really didn't relish the thought of being transported back to Relativity in her nightdress.
"Alright," he said. He caressed her arm softly and then began to usher her towards the bedroom. "Come on."
He led her into the bedroom and Kathryn was glad of his arm to lean on. Her body felt weak and nauseous. Chakotay pulled back the covers and Kathryn climbed into the bed. He then took off her boots and tucked the covers around her.
"Try to sleep," he said gently. "It's the best medicine."
Kathryn nodded and found that her eyes were closing almost against her will. Within minutes, she was asleep.
When she woke up, Kathryn found that while her head still hurt, her vision was clear. Chakotay was sitting on a chair at the other side of the room and smiled when he saw she was awake. "Feeling better?"
"Yes," Kathryn answered. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Just over four hours."
So long?
Chakotay got to his feet. "Can I get you anything?"
"A glass of water would be good," Kathryn replied.
Chakotay smiled. "One glass of water coming up..."
While he left the room to go and replicate a glass, Kathryn sat up. This bed wasn't as comfortable as hers. Chakotay had made them a headboard and it was just the right shape and size for her back. She looked around the room and her eyes once again fell on the empty space that Petal's bed should have occupied.
"Here," Chakotay said, having returned with the water.
Kathryn took the glass, but her mind was fixed on Petal. Why didn't she exist in this timeline?
"Things are rather muddled in my mind," she said quietly. "The deflector dish incident...was that when you put Petunia in the snow?"
"No," Chakotay replied. "That incident was a few weeks before..."
So, it had happened then. He had put Petunia in the snow. And if there was no Petal, that could mean only one thing: in this timeline, Chakotay had left her in the shelter...
"Of course," Kathryn said quietly. "I'm sorry..."
"As you say," Chakotay said. "You're just a little disorientated right now..."
The door chime suddenly sounded and Chakotay went into the living room to bid whoever was there to enter. The doors opened, and Neelix came in, a tray in his hands with two silver dishes on it.
"I've brought you some soup and bread for the Captain," he said.
"That's very thoughtful, Neelix," Chakotay replied. "But I don't know if the Captain's up to eating..."
"Of course she is," Neelix replied, making his way uninvited into the bedroom.
Kathryn's heart stirred with emotion when she saw her beloved Talaxian enter the room. It had been so long since she had seen him or heard from him and she missed him so much.
"I'll hear no excuses for not wanting this, Captain," Neelix said. "An invalid must keep up her strength. Doctor's orders..."
"Thank you, Neelix," she said, too overwhelmed at the sight of him to even think of arguing.
He put the tray before and took off the silver lids. "The bread is freshly baked, Captain and I've put plenty of butter on it just how you like it."
Kathryn put down her glass of water on the tray and picked up a spoon. "What is the soup?"
"Potato soup mixed with onions, herbs, and Leola root."
Kathryn took a spoonful and then smiled. "Delicious. You've really excelled yourself this time, Neelix."
Neelix glowed with pride and watched as she took another mouthful.
"Would you be able to keep the Captain company for a while?" Chakotay asked him. "I'd better see how things are on the bridge."
"Certainly," Neelix replied. "It will be a pleasure."
Chakotay turned to Kathryn. "I won't be long."
"Take as long as you need," Kathryn replied.
With that Chakotay left and Kathryn couldn't help feel a twinge of sadness as she watched him go. He had been so kind to her, so gentle and considerate, but there was something different about him. She couldn't quite place it, but it was something to do with the way he looked at her. There was warmth his eyes, there was care, but there wasn't the love she was so used to seeing there...
Neelix noticed her reaction to Chakotay's departure and his mood sobered. "It must be hard, Captain, seeing Commander Chakotay with Seven."
Kathryn looked up at him. "Seven?"
"Yes, they..." He paused. "They haven't told you, have they?"
Kathryn tried to put two and two together. "Are you saying that Chakotay and Seven are...seeing each other?"
"That's right," Neelix went on. "They went on a first date last weekend and are going on another one this weekend."
"I see," Kathryn said quietly.
"Only I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. It's meant to be a secret. I just thought they would have told you..."
Kathryn was a moment in answering as she tried to absorb this. Chakotay and Seven? It didn't seem possible. "Perhaps they have told me," she said, putting her hand to her brow. "My head is fuzzy right now."
"Of course," Neelix said. "But please don't tell Seven or the Commander you know if you don't know. Seven trusts me and..."
"I won't say anything," Kathryn replied. "You have my word." She gazed at the soup before her but it had suddenly lost all it's appeal. Chakotay and Seven? Her Chakotay and Seven? It was too terrible to even contemplate. But then everything about this timeline was terrible. There was no Silvie, no Stevie, not even little Petal. All she could hope was that she wasn't trapped here. It would be an existence worse than death.
"I always thought that you and he would...you know..."
"I'd rather not discuss it," Kathryn answered.
"Of course," Neelix said. "I won't say another word..."
Tuvok's voice suddenly sounded as the ship went to red alert. "This is Commander Tuvok to all. Another temporal wave will engulf us in approximately three minutes time. Severe turbulence is likely. Brace yourselves accordingly. I repeat. Another temporal wave will engulf us in approximately three minutes time. Severe turbulence is likely. Brace yourselves accordingly."
Kathryn swallowed. This was it. This was the second attempt. She hit the commbadge that still lay on her chest. "Janeway to Tuvok. Bring the ship to a standstill and take shields offline..."
Tuvok responded. "Captain?"
"Just do it, Tuvok, and keep the shields offline no matter how bad the turbulence gets. I can't tell you why, just trust me on this..."
"Understood," Tuvok replied.
The connection terminated and Neelix reached for the tray. "I'd better take this out of harms way, Captain."
He took the tray into the living room.
Before he returned to the bedroom, a blinding light filled the room and the ship began to shake. Kathryn turned away from the light and buried her head in her pillow in an instinctive attempt to protect her eyes.
The turbulence was severe and she could hear things move and fall in her quarters. She clutched the covers as she was rocked about in the bed, hoping it would soon be over...
Then it was. All was still. Quiet.
Kathryn opened her eyes and found herself lying on a gray floor, the bed gone. She looked up to see a middle aged man with short blonde hair scanning her. She had to be back on the timeship Relativity. Her vision was again blurred and her headache was worse.
"Concussion," the man said to Captain Marsden who stood beside him. "One more temporal jump should be okay, but it will probably render her unconscious. Temporal jumps really shouldn't be made with a head injury..."
"One more is all we need," Captain Marsden replied. "But if there's any risk at all to her long-term health then we should postpone it until she has recovered from this injury. Once we've restored the timeline, the past won't be going anywhere..."
"There's no risk of long-term damage," the doctor replied, "but as I said it will probably render her unconscious."
Kathryn interrupted. "I can live with that. I'd like to go home as soon as I can..."
"Then we'll transport you as soon as the timeline is restored," Captain Marsden replied.
The doctor extended his hand to Kathryn and helped her to her feet. Her boots were upon them and as she looked at them she also saw that her hair was exactly as it was before it was cut and dyed...
"The wonders of 29th century technology," Captain Marsden smiled.
The Doctor then put a hypospray to Kathryn's neck. "This should help with the queasiness and blurred vision."
The medication worked almost immediately and Kathryn's blurred vision cleared and her nausea eased.
"I trust the mission was successful," Kathryn said. "I fell and hit my head during the first attempt and while I was unconscious Chakotay raised shields."
"We were aware of that," Captain Marsden replied. "One of our people was present on the bridge and reported events to us. Under cover agents are one of the main ways we monitor the timeline."
"My head injury will be on record though. The Doctor will be suspicious when..."
"We're compensating for that. At this very moment our surgeon is operating on Mr Neelix to alter his memory ingrams so that he has no recollection of the past few hours. Your counterpart will have no recollection either, or a recent head injury, which will lead the Doctor and your counterpart to conclude that the second temporal wave somehow erased time in the Captain's quarters so that those hours effectively never happened for her or Mr Neelix." She paused. "We've already transported your counterpart back to Voyager and as soon as we've sent Mr Neelix back, our timeline should be restored."
"What if it isn't? What will you do with me?"
"We'll keep trying. Our history is at stake. But I am confident our timeline will be restored."
"I hope so," Kathryn replied. "From what I saw, it isn't the one I would choose as my ultimate existence."
The woman smiled. "Neither would I, for without your marriage to Commander Chakotay, I won't exist at all."
Kathryn's eyes widened. "You mean?"
"That's right," the woman continued. "I'm one of your descendants."
Kathryn studied the woman more carefully and did notice a distant resemblance to Chakotay in her eyes.
"I've always wanted to meet you," she continued. "You've been my heroine all my life. When I was a little girl my mother would tell me all these wonderful stories of your adventures in the Delta Quadrant and we would spend hours on Voyager's replica watching and participating in some of your encounters with alien lifeforms. Chasing macroviruses down the corridors was always my favorite. I wanted to grow up to be a captain just like you and was so proud that you and Commander Chakotay were my ancestors."
Tears welled in Kathryn's eyes at her words.
"We're ready to transport Mr Neelix," Lieutenant Ducane said.
Captain Marsden turned away from Kathryn. "Then proceed."
He went over to his station. "Initializing transport...Transport successful."
Captain Marsden analyzed a monitor before her and then looked at Kathryn with a smile. "We have restoration of history."
Kathryn smiled. "All's well that ends well."
Captain Marsden stepped forward and held out her hand to Kathryn. "This has been a day I will never forget."
Kathryn took her hand in hers. "Neither will I."
The woman reached into a pocket in her jacket and pulled out Kathryn's wedding ring. She looked at it a moment and then held it out to her ancestor.
Kathryn took it gratefully. "Thank you."
She slipped it back on her finger and then looked up at the woman before her. The two women locked eyes for a moment and then Captain Marsden spoke.
"Initialize transport. Send Captain Janeway back to Voyager."
Transport initialized and Kathryn dematerialized.
Chakotay rang the Ready Room door chime for a second time. There was no reply. Using his override command, he opened the doors and went inside. His eyes scoured the room and he saw an injured Tuvok leaning over an unconscious Kathryn. He was clearly dazed and there was a bleeding wound on his head. Chakotay hurried over to him.
"The Captain's pulse is steady," Tuvok said when he saw Chakotay, his voice breathless.
Chakotay put his hand on the Vulcan's shoulder. "Let's get you both to sickbay." He hit his commbadge. "Chakotay to transporter room one. Transport Commander Tuvok and the Captain to sickbay. Chakotay to sickbay. Two more casualties."
It was almost two hours later before Chakotay was able to go to sickbay to see how Kathryn was. When he arrived, the Doctor, Tom, and Susan Morris were busy treating patients. It had been a long time since Chakotay had seen sickbay so crowded. He looked around the room and finally saw Kathryn sitting up in bed talking with her father. Relief consumed him to see her awake, and he walked over to her.
Kathryn saw him approach and smiled warmly. "Everything okay?"
"All under control." He took her hand in his. "How are you feeling?"
"Queasy, but otherwise I'm okay."
Chakotay smiled, but knew that "okay" for Kathryn really meant she was feeling quite bad. Otherwise she would have said she was "fine".
The Doctor approached now, having finished attending to a patient. "The Captain suffered quite a blow to the head and will need to take things easy for a few days. I'll be trusting you to make sure she does."
"You have my word," Chakotay replied.
Kathryn shivered at the de ja vu.
"And taking it easy means taking it easy," the Doctor continued. "That means no physical or mental exertion of any kind. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly," Kathryn replied. Then she added. "When can I go home?"
"This evening." the Doctor smiled. "Mother and daughter can go home together."
Tucked up comfortably on the couch, Kathryn watched as Chakotay emerged from the kitchen with two mugs of hot chocolate topped with cream. He handed one to Kathryn and then sat opposite her to enjoy his. Kathryn dipped her finger into the cream and licked it before taking a sip of the drink.
"It's good to have Silvie home," Chakotay said.
"Wonderful," Kathryn replied.
"And you seem happier...about everything."
Kathryn looked up at him. "Something happened today, something I can't tell you about... Temporal Prime Directive. But it made me realize how lucky we are..." She paused. "And just think of all the wonderful stories we'll be able to tell our grandchildren and they'll be able to tell theirs."
Chakotay smiled. "The day we got boarded by the Borg."
Borg. She had almost forgot. She searched beneath her blanket and pulled out an honesty hat.
Chakotay questioned. "What are you doing with that?"
"I want to ask you something."
Chakotay put down his drink. "Don't you trust me to give you an honest answer?"
"If you're going to give me an honest answer, wearing the hat won't matter, will it?"
"Yes, but..."
Kathryn fixed on him a determined gaze. Chakotay sighed. "Alright, I'll put on the hat."
She handed him the hat and he put it on.
Kathryn hesitated and clutched the blanket around her. Part of her was afraid to ask what the other part of her was desperate to know.
"If you could change me in any way...I mean the way I look...what would you change and..."
Before she could finish, Chakotay took off the hat. "What's this about, Kathryn?"
Kathryn lowered her eyes to avoid his inquisitive gaze. "Nothing. I just..."
Chakotay got up and went to sit beside her. "I love you, Kathryn. I'm crazy about you. I wouldn't change anything about you." He reached out and touched her cheek with a smile. "I love your eyes, your nose, your lips, your freckles...every single one..." Kathryn smiled as tears welled in her eyes and Chakotay took her hand in his. "What's brought this on?"
Kathryn lowered her eyes. "I just...You were with someone else... in the timeline I experienced. She is...was...so beautiful..."
"So are you beautiful," Chakotay replied. "No one could be more beautiful to me than you..."
"But she was really beautiful and..."
Chakotay interrupted by kissing her lips tenderly. Kathryn couldn't help respond and kissed him in return.
When they drew away, Chakotay looked warmly into her eyes. "Does that convince you?"
"Oh I don't know," kathryn teased. "I might need a little more persuading."
Chakotay smiled and then brought his lips down to hers in a tender kiss.
Kathryn then leant into his strong body and they cuddled together on the couch.
"You know," Chakotay said impishly. "You never did answer."
"Answer?"
"What you least like about your spouse."
Kathryn laughed softly. "I didn't, did I?" She sat up again so she could look at him. "And with my head injury, you're not going to be able to make me wear that hat."
Chakotay smiled. "Unfair, Kathryn Janeway, unfair."
Kathryn gazed into his eyes, losing herself in them. "I love everything about you, Chakotay." She smiled and imitated him..."Your eyes, your lips, your nose..."
They both laughed softly.
"I even like what I most dislike," she said seriously... "your over-protectiveness." She paused. "Don't ever change. Don't ever stop loving me."
Chakotay kissed her hand. "No chance of that."
"Even when I'm stubborn?"
"Even when you're stubborn."
Kathryn gazed into his eyes again and then lowered her lips to his. She then began to kiss the hollow of his chin, working her way to his neck, showering him with tiny kisses. Chakotay cherished her kisses for a moment and then spoke, knowing only too well what was on her mind. "No physical exertion ... remember..."
Kathryn planted one last loving kiss on his neck, and then drew away.
"Besides," Chakotay said, looking at a little fluffy red-haired dog who was sitting on the floor watching them with bright black eyes and wagging her tail incessantly, "I think someone else wants your attention."
Kathryn followed her husband's eyes and smiled when she saw Petal. "Come here, old girl," she said, "Come sit with me."
With a happy bark, Petal jumped onto the couch and snuggled up to her mistress.
END OF PART TWO
