A day later, she found herself walking distractedly into the Sickbay, having been called by a very irritated Doctor; the Captain had, once again, failed to show up for her monthly checkup, and the Hologram didn't let her forget it. "Sorry, Doctor," she murmerred soflty, sitting on the edge of a bio bed and allowing him to proceed with his scanning, poking, and prodding.

He spoke to her about how she was putting herself at risk by disregarding his heedings, but she hardly listened. The previous day's events were still going through her mind constantly. As she remained distantly silent, she wasn't even aware of a pause in his movement, and in his merciless droning. "Captain?" he asked.

She jumped, startled, and looked up at him. "Yes?"

"I don't mean to pry, but...Is something wrong?"

"Why do you ask?"

The Hologram raised an eyebrow in an eerily human expression. Of course, everything about the Doctor was eerily human. "Well, you're utterly silent, staring at a blank wall, and not fighting me at all. I'd say that's reason to suspect that something is bothering you." He smiled slightly.

She returned it wearily. "As usual, your diagnosis is right on target." Janeway sighed, shaking her head. She rubbed her face tiredly.

"Anything I can help you with?" the Doctor asked, laying down the tricorder. "I have been learning more and more about psychiatric care, what with no counselor on board."

The smile widened just a bit. "Truth is, I don't know if anyone can help me. If we were in the Alpha Quadrant now, it wouldn't be a problem, and the answer would be a simple 'yes.' It wouldn't have nearly as much impact on Voyager...But we're not in the Alpha Quadrant, and it's not a simple 'yes.' Because it would have an enormous effect on the crew." She sighed again, rubbing her face. I just don't understand...What am I supposed to do?

He sat down beside her, and she turned her head to look at him. It was obvious he didn't understand what her tiny bit of ranting had been about, or if it had been supposed to make sense to him, which it hadn't. "I'm willing to act as your sounding board," he assured her.

"Thank you, Doctor, but...I don't know." There was another moment of silence in Sickbay before he spoke again.

"If not me," he shrugged, "then why don't you try making a hologram of someone you can talk to, who would help you understand and make the right choice? It would be as good as talking to the real thing, without the awkward tension. You could delete the program after you've come to a conclusion, and it would never have to become public knowledge." He looked at her, and she at him, and the eyes she looked into had never seemed so...human.

A genuine smile spread across her tired features and looked with fond grattitude upon him as she stood. "I think I'll do that.," she told him. "Thank you."

He nodded and smiled slightly too. "Any time...We may not be flesh and blood, but we still know how to listen."

She left the Sickbay, going toward the Holodeck, thinking of who she would create to help her. Her first thought for when he had said someone she could talk to, was Chakotay. But no, she couldn't talk to him about this, hologram or not. She knew what he would tell her, because he'd already told it to her. No, not Chakotay.

Next she came up with Tuvok. But somehow the idea of talking to her old Vulcan friend about her love life didn't seem overly appealing.

Daddy.

Cocking her head as she walked, she turned the prospect over and over in her mind. As a child she had been closer to her father than anyone else. He was dead now, some fifteen plus years ago. But even his hologram might help her now, and she was willing to try it.