Only Space
Disclaimer: All characters belong to paramount. Part 2 of Only time. POVs of Chakotay and Janeway.
The next morning Chakotay could not keep his handsome smile off his face. She loves him. She loved him. Last night had been the best night of his life. She had asked him to "dance with an old friend". It was the last dance she would ever have with him. Bitter sweet. Especially for her. She acted as though she would never see him again. He would, of course, see her (former self) on the bridge the next day – the Kathryn that kept parameters, that followed protocol. She had to. They both knew that. Yet if she felt the same way he did, would they not have at least stayed friends or maybe even gotten closer once they had gotten home? How could they have drifted apart? Would their friendship have survived if one of them had moved on? Had the future Kathryn gotten back together with Mark? Had he finally stopped waiting for her and found someone new? Now that he knew how she felt, he would not allow the latter to happen.
As he stepped onto the bridge he realized that he could no longer look at the captain without smiling. It was only the back of her head! Nevertheless, it reminded him of last night's perfect moment in time... This was completely inappropriate. He could not let her see him like this: she would ask too many questions; things would get uncomfortable. And that would be the last thing he wanted. After all, her present self hadn't told him those words last night. He could hide his emotions and he decided that he would, with all his strength.
Captain Kathryn Janeway noticed a gleam in her first officer's eye the moment he sat down.
"Good morning, Commander."
"Captain."
Now she knew something was up – he didn't even glance at her – he had purposely not looked at her. She suppressed a sigh: things had not been going her way since Admiral Janeway came aboard. She hated to admit it, but part of her annoyance was probably the fact that she was no longer the person with the most control on the ship anymore. The other part was positively the fact that she couldn't believe that she would one day become this future version of herself. What could have possibly pushed her to break the temporal prime directive? What fatal mistake had she made that was worth all of this? Not to mention that her future self was stubborn and domineering, in addition to many other annoying characteristics that she hoped her present self didn't possess.
And now, Commander Chakotay was the last straw. What the hell had she told him? She had no right to interfere! The captain had everything under control.
"I'll be in my ready room... looking over Admiral Janeway's plan."
Looking slightly irritated, but not too much more than usual, the captain left the bridge.
The plan, as Chakotay knew it, other than the technology involved, wasn't at all complicated. Admiral Janeway had told them that the information gathered from Voyager, after they had finally gotten home, about artificial wormholes, space corridors, and slip stream technology, had aided scientists back on Earth to equip space-faring ships with the ability to create an "Alpha Link", a sort of nexus between one end of the galaxy to the other. This was, of course, with the help of Voyager's crew and captain. The technology could only be used in emergencies as it would drain most of the ship's energy. However, it insured that no further ships would be stuck in the Delta Quadrant, away from their homes, alone to fend for themselves.
B'Elanna and her efficient engineering team were fitting the technology from the admiral's ship to Voyager. Admiral Janeway had everything worked out and was supervising and directing the engineering crew with B'Elanna. They would make the jump as soon as they had completed the modifications.
Chakotay wondered if the captain was feeling out of place. Admiral Janeway had taken over since she came on board. The admiral had been with the crew longer; she knew them more intimately. And she could get them home sooner. The crew was still loyal to the captain, but it wasn't as though the captain would refuse a faster way of getting home to save several lives of her crew. Particularly since the technology was created from Voyager's own crew and experiences. Chakotay sighed. In spite of what Admiral Janeway had told him, he knew that Captain Janeway needed him at this moment as a friend. Especially now as the crew grew closer to Admiral Janeway who, despite the distance of time, was closer to them than Captain Janeway ever was.
She barely heard the door chime.
"Come." Standing by her couch, facing the window, the captain looked light-years away.
"Chakotay... do you think I've distanced myself too much from the crew?"
"Your position requires that you do. And you're also in a very unique situation."
"Admiral Janeway seems to balance it well. She had more time to spend with the crew in the Delta Quadrant."
"She's not the captain either."
"She was at one time. Chakotay, when you were captain, did you keep this much of a buffer between you and your crew?"
He paused. "No, I didn't. But I learned my lesson."
"I think I've learned the other side of that lesson: the crew has grown closer without me. I knew there were sacrifices to be made but maybe I didn't know where to draw the line, where to stop."
Chakotay thought that perhaps she had drawn too many lines in her life, too many parameters, too many borders. It was true that she didn't know when to stop.
"...and soon, when the crew gets home, I will no longer be their captain. What will I be to them then?"
"Kathryn, you will always be their captain. You will always have their respect and loyalty."
She looked down. "And you Chakotay, will I always be your captain?"
Chakotay moved to stand right behind her.
"I would hope that you would always be my friend," he said softly.
Janeway smiled at this. She turned to face him, then blushed and looked away. "Chakotay, you were never just a friend." Then she looked straight at him. "You were so much more."
They gazed deeply into each others eyes, the space between them diminishing...
"Kim to captain. We're ready to form the Link," the ensign announced.
The captain smiled and closed her eyes, exasperated and somewhat embarrassed. There were always interruptions.
"Good work. Proceed."
She paused before she turned to face her first officer anew.
"Are we ready, Chakotay?" She asked enthusiastically.
"Oh yes, definitely ready," he responded, all smiles again.
Just then Voyager jolted as if she had heard them. Janeway lost her balance and fell into Chakotay's strong arms. The only space left between them gone, they kissed as the bright and beautiful colours of the Alpha Link brought them closer to home.