Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek, I'll be sure to return Kathryn, Chakotay and any other characters I borrow back to the correct shelves with no prior memories of this incident.

A/N: It's me – again! LoL… who else would it be… I've been thinking about this story for ages and I have so many ideas where it should go, just being able to sit down and write it makes me supremely happy – it's unfortunate that the only time I have is when I have to stay at home with the flu… so please excuse me if 'those' ends up as 'dose'. As ever, KayB…

xxx

Chapter Six – Child's Play

Chakotay could have slammed his fist into the biobed if it had not been fractured in 10 different places. Instead he leaned against it heavily as he watched Doctor Martin repair Kamal's robotic eye. As Chakotay had pulled back his fist he had never imagined the other inmate's eye to be made of anything other than organic tissue, now he regretted his actions in more ways than one – he was supposed to be trying to get back to Kathryn, not weave himself a bigger criminal record.

He had to admit though the feeling that ran though his body before he registered any pain was one of pleasure – teach that p'Takh to call his wife names. Since the other inmates had discovered Chakotay's "soft spot" they had used it to their advantage. This was Chakotay's third visit to sickbay that week.

Doctor Martin moved over to tend to his first. "Honestly Chakotay," he spoke in hushed tones, "I've told you to control that temper – you're never going to get out of here otherwise."

Chakotay nodded, Richard Martin had proved to be one of his sympathizers and he was glad. Other prison Doctors might not be as kind as he, he had smuggled a dermal regenerator to Chakotay during his last visit, so Chakotay could take care of any 'minor wounds' himself instead of logging yet another visit to sickbay.

"Are you done?" Lieutenant Harrow's harsh voice punctuated sickbay's silence.

"There, I expect you to lay off using that fist for at least three weeks, not that I expect you to pay any attention, the last time I told you that you were back in sickbay the next day."

Chakotay nodded ignoring the doctor's wise-crack as he allowed Lt. Harrows to guide him to the exit. He turned to give Kamal, who was staring with his one good eye at the mess of sockets and wires before him, one last look. Chakotay shuddered; the scene reminded him eerily of Seven of Nine and the Borg.

He was too busy thinking of his last encounter with the ex-Borg that he did not realise until he stood before a foreign door that he was not being led back to his cell.

Harrows seemed to register his unspoken shock, or maybe it was just 'Fleet procedure, "Everyone – no matter how hardened a criminal has a right to a lawyer. Innocent until proven guilty they say," He scoffed as he placed his hand onto the scanner on a nearby panel. "Admitting ex-Commander Chakotay for meeting with his Brief."

Chakotay sighed as he entered the room alone. Finally solitude – and hopefully answers to the questions that plagued him every night. What had he done to end up here? Would this lawyer know? If so, would she be on his side? Starfleet was famous for issuing biased prosecutors for cases they wanted to see fail in court.

It was minutes before the door opened once more to reveal a petite blonde woman, escorted by Lieutenant Harrows into the room. She thanked Harrows graciously as he closed the door behind them and smiled at Chakotay as she set her briefcase down on the table between them. Her official manner and stern face made him shudder – here, yet again was another reminder of what had led him here in the first place. The prison seemed to be full or Borg reminders today.

She proceeded to sit down opposite him and for a moment they looked at each other. She seemed to study him; he felt her gaze roam his face, taking in every little detail, before it fell on his pink fist – his skin still fresh where it had just been healed. She breathed in a sharp intake of breath before she began, "I'm Kelly Frasier, I'll be representing you in court on the 25th of November. Anything you say to be will be kept strictly confidential…" She paused and took another deep breath leaning forward as though about to reveal a conspiracy, but it was seconds before she continued, "I just want to say Commander, you have my every support in this case."

He leaned back in his chair, this time; it was his turn to study her. She was genuine, of that he was sure – but Kathryn always did say he had a nasty habit of trusting blondes. She didn't seem very commanding; it was difficult to believe someone so small could be a lawyer. Surely she must be intimidated by a judge, much less a whole jury - then again, his Kathryn was small-sized and she wasn't even intimidated by the Borg.

"We have some paper-work to fill out. You know, red tape and all that," she said gesturing to a stack of Padds she had just pulled out of her brown leather briefcase. As she organized them into separate piles, Chakotay decided he could see how someone like her would make a good lawyer. She was organized and firm and had obviously graduated top of her class, but she lacked a fire… a… he couldn't think of a word to describe it. She looked up at him for a moment, probably realizing herself under scrutiny and he attempted to search her eyes for what was missing, his father had always said a person's eyes were windows into their soul, but Kelly Frasier never met his gaze. He would wait until she looked him in the eye, he decided, then he would know what was missing, for now, he would trust her.

"These are the forms you have to fill," she said handing him one of her newly arranged stacks.

"No," he pushed her hand away. His abrupt command or maybe it was the brief contact between them caused her to look at him sharply, but she looked away quickly.

"Commander Chakotay," she addressed him formally, "I'm only here to help you," she attempted diplomacy, "You have got to cooperate." Quickly she seemed to change her mind, "I'm sorry," she stammered, "I didn't mean to be so harsh. I'm really sorry sir!"

He groaned inwardly, she was like a first year cadet, or maybe a pregnant wife. Chakotay remember having to be in touch with Kathryn's constant mood swing during her first trimester.

She seemed eager to cover up her blunder, "I shouldn't have addressed you that way, I mean I'm sure you have your reasons sir. I mean having survived the Delta Quadrant; you must know what you're doing. Where do we start, sir?"

So that was the problem. She held him on a pedestal. She, like most of the people who were on his side held him in awe, and believed that he could do no wrong. She didn't want him to have a bad impression of her. In some respects, that was good because it would mean she would fight her hardest (which didn't seem to be much) for his case, but he wasn't sure if he wanted someone who wasn't comfortable around him to represent him in court.

"It's alright. We tend to have that effect on people." He would put up with it for now… and probably for the rest of the case he decided. If she wanted to do what was right by him, he could probably use her to his advantage.

"Are you sure you don't want to fill these in – they're vital to the case."

"I know, it's just I have a few questions."

"Oh," she said as realization dawned on her face, "Go ahead."

"Firstly, I want to know what I'm being charged with."

Her face fell, "You mean, you don't already know?" She asked.

He shook his head warily, "Do you?"

She seemed crestfallen, "No, but I will find out. I did try looking up information on the crime; I mean it is important to know what you're defending. First rule of becoming a lawyer, but I could find nothing. Naturally I have issued a court order demanding Starfleet release all information pertaining to the case, but so far… nothing. They have no right to withhold this information it is every much yours and it is theirs, but in the meantime, I was hoping you could give me something to work with."

Chakotay ran through his mind, how to tell her that he felt that this tied in with a certain ex-crewmember? There was no proof, no evidence, just intuition, but Kathryn had always told him that his intuition was always right – called it his Gift, but he was reluctant to share it with Kelly Frasier. Each time he had opened up to blondes it had only steered him further away from Kathryn and if he did it once more it would lose her and Taya for good. No, it was better to keep things he was unsure of to himself, he had learnt his lesson.

"I have no idea," He felt like he was lying – but he wasn't. It could be important to the case, his conscience told him. You don't know that… Kathryn's trust is just as important.

"Well in that case –" She reached for the Padds.

"One more…"

She looked up, waiting for him to continue.

"I was just wondering what you could tell me about Kathryn and Taya… how are they? Do you have news? Pictures?"

Kelly Frasier smiled genuinely for the first time, "I thought you might ask that," she said reaching further into the case next to her. "Here," she said handing them over, "I haven't actually made contact with your wife, but these are pictures I got from news vids and press releases."

Chakotay leaned forward and spoke in hushed tones, "Do you think you could make contact with her? Send her a message?"

Kelly Frasier looked away, intimidated by the small distance between them, "Naturally, she is crucial to the case. I will be meeting with her soon." She paused, "Commander Chakotay I have been advised not to be a middle-person in the relationship between you and your wife by Starfleet Command, but if you require me to do so and promise that you will not refer that I am sending her your communications then I will do so. My first priority is to my client and second to Starfleet, though I have told them otherwise."

Chakotay assumed that was the go ahead he was looking for, "Will you tell her… tell Kathryn," Now he didn't know what he wanted to say, he had sat for nights thinking what he would tell her had he the chance to say only a few words, but now they all escaped him. It came to him suddenly, "Tell her I wish I could be by her side and that I know this must be more difficult for her than it is for me, but tell her things are still the same and as she did before, she still needs to…" He paused and searched for the right words, it was seconds before they came to him, "She still needs to believe in me." He relaxed, "and of course that I send my Taya a kiss."

Between his little speech, Kelly Frasier had dug into her briefcase yet again when he finished, she looked up and coughed, her eyes glistened a little and she smiled for the second time that day, this time it was sad, "She is very lucky to be married to a man like you. You probably already know this, but she is on your side."

Chakotay had indeed known this, but to receive conformation somehow made him feel that bit better.

"Your time is up," said Lt. Harrows reappearing at the door, "You have another visitation scheduled tomorrow at which you will be permitted to continue your discussion."

Chakotay nodded at Kelly Frasier as he was escorted out. "Thank you," he mouthed.

xxx

Kathryn Janeway sighed as she dumped her brown leather briefcase on the living room sofa of the Paris-Torres living room. Her first instinct was to move across the room to where B'Elanna sat playing on the floor opposite Miral with Taya in her arms.

"Hi," Kathryn said as she scooped her child into her arms. She placed a kiss on Taya's forehead as she leaned the child against her chest and nestled her head into the baby's small shoulder. She whispered something to the child and the baby gurgled. Only then did Kathryn address B'Elanna and Miral, "Hi you two," she ruffled the toddler's soft black hair.

B'Elanna who had been watching Kathryn the whole time ignored her greeting, "Are you sure you want to do this? Go back to work I mean? You're pretending to be on Starfleet's side, surely they don't trust you."

"I have to admit it's a bit rocky, I had a lot of difficulty trying to play it straight, all I did was read reports on ships status and summarize it for the computer logs, I felt like a first year cadet on work experience."

"Did you find out anything new?" Kathryn thought it was odd that she would ask that openly, then again if they were trying to feign normality they would be expected to talk about the trial.

Kathryn shook her head as she gently bounced Taya up and down, "But there has been a report field to release all Chakotay's information to his lawyer."

"That's good, you–" B'Elanna stopped herself abruptly, apparently B'Elanna had almost taken normality a little too far.

Kathryn gave her a look whilst Taya gurgled happily, "Did anything interesting happen here today?"

"Just the usual, like you said this morning – it was going to be an uneventful day. We missed having you around the house," she paused and then added as an afterthought, "Owen Paris stopped by to see Miral though, he said to say hello to you."

"How very thoughtful of him," Kathryn relaxed into an arm-chair by the fire-place. "What do you say the three of us go out for dinner tonight, it'll be good to get away from the house?"

"Okay, we'll get Harry and Tuvok to join us, make an outing out of it, we haven't seen them in a while."

Kathryn nodded, "I'll just get changed then." She should have known her going back to work would arouse surprise in Starfleet, who were lucky to have Admiral Owen Paris who had a relationship with Kathryn's closest friends.

She sighed as Taya yanked on a strand of her loose hair, playing pretend was a lot more difficult now than it had been when she was five.

To Be Continued…