THINGS GONE AWRY IN THE UNIVERSE--PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

CHAPTER 6 - TELLING CHAKOTAY

Kathryn went into sickbay for her first checkup two days later. He scanned her stomach, watching her out of the corner of his eye. He was still nervous about the other day. Very nervous.

"Would you like to see your children?" he asked cautiously.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, yes, please!"

He entered the tricorder information into the sickbay console, and two small holographic figures shimmered into view in mid-air. "Kathryn Janeway, meet your son and daughter."

She stared at them, her eyes taking in every detail. Her son was a big boy, sturdy like his father, with black hair and deep brown eyes. Her daughter was dainty and petite, like herself, with a dusting of reddish hair and bright blue eyes.

Suddenly, she grinned. "That's it!"

The Doctor stepped away from her slightly, licking his lips nervously. "What?"

"Can you put these onto an isolinear chip so that I can download it into the next subspace packet we send to the shuttle?"

He nodded, relieved she hadn't said that B'Elanna was coming down to reprogram him. "Yes, I can."

"Thank you."

Several minutes later, he handed her a small chip that contained the parameters for the two holographic figures. Her eyes bright, she took it with a quick word of thanks and left. The hologram sighed. Holographically, of course.

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Kathryn sat at the controls for subspace communications, entering information. She finally got her precious letter and programs nestled in the computer file designated for subspace shuttle communication. She grinned again. When Chakotay opened this letter, he was going to get the shock of his life.

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Chakotay heard the communications console start to shrill, and he moved to receive the scheduled subspace packet from Voyager. He opened the main file, going over the information contained within. He came across a file directed to him, and downloaded it to a padd. He backed out of the files and moved into his tiny sleeping space. Sitting on the narrow bed, he activated the message. Kathryn's lovely face appeared.

"Hey, honey. I know this is unexpected, but it just couldn't wait. I have some news for you." She paused for a long moment, and he started to fidget. "To find out what it is, you'll first have to open the two files contained within simultaneously. Then, when you've finished…observing, return to this letter, and…well, you'll see!"

Raising an eyebrow, he followed her directions…and was rendered absolutely, positively speechless. Two figures suddenly floated before his eyes. They were infants, looking to be about nine or ten months of age. The smaller one, a female, had red hair and blue eyes…very familiar attributes. The larger one, a male, had black hair and deep brown eyes…also very familiar. He quickly keyed back into the letter, taking one last lingering look at the two holograms before they vanished.

"I'm sure you're a little confused as to what this is about—"

"I'll say," Chakotay muttered.

"—and so the short version is this: I'm pregnant. With twins."

With that, her face disappeared, replaced by the Starfleet emblem. Two minutes later, Chakotay realized he was starting to turn blue, and he took a deep, shuddering breath that nearly sent him to the floor when it hit his oxygen-deprived brain. Oh. My. God.

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Ian found him like that a half-hour later, still sitting there staring at the padd he held.

"Chakotay?"

"Wh—huh?" came the man's sputtered reply.

"Are you all right?"

"Wha—oh, uh, yeah—yeah, I'm fine—it's just—I—Kathryn's pregnant. We're pregnant. With twins. A boy and a girl." Staring at his hands, Chakotay repeated, "Twins."

Ian moved to embrace his friend. "Congratulations. God, I don't know what I'd do in that situation, but I'm sure I'd be just as shocked as you are."

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