A young man with a turban showed the Doctor and Janeway to their cottage. It was a small but stable home built on a piece of land adjacent to the museum. There were several such establishment's kept for scholars and government representatives. Outside the single story establishment was a large porch that overlooked the river and the pyramids. Janeway thought it was a breathtaking view. She stood and looked at the ancient city still bustling and moving with the energy of the past and the excitement of the future. For a moment, just a moment, she allowed herself to forget who she was and why she was there. She allowed herself to get lost in her imagination and her wonder. She was staring at the past, at history, but it was not history, it was now. It was now and it was alive and it was earth. Reds and oranges streaked the sky as the sun sank further below the horizon. At the corners of her vision, the dark purple of twilight creeped from the shadows of the day's hot sunlight.

As the sun plunged further, the purple gave way to small clusters of stars that twinkled overhead. Janeway thought of her crew. She hoped they did not delay even longer to look for her. She hoped they continued their voyage as best they could. But, she knew they hadn't. And so every day she stayed in the past and protected this time lord, was one day longer that her crew went without being home. However, this odd and strangely magnetic man was her only hope for getting back home, not just to voyager, but to her Earth. She would stay the course. She would help him to the best of her ability and then he would return the favor.

A hand snaked around her waist and rested just below her sternum. Beside her, a crystal tumbler glass filled to the brim with a clear liquid sweated in the evening heat.

"Quinine." The Doctor explained as he dropped his head to the crook of Janeway's neck, "the mosquitos get quite bad here."

Janeway's heart raced as she felt his hot breath on her collarbone. She nodded and took the glass. All thoughts of Voyager and home were brushed aside as she felt his warmth against her own skin. She brought it to her lips and too a long drink. She coughed in surprise.

"What's wrong?" asked the Doctor, fear and concern in his voice, "are you unwell?"

"Nothing," she said as she took another sip, this time more measured, "I just didn't expect quite so much gin."

He smiled and put his head back on her shoulder. She could feel the corners of his lips twist into a smile, "oh my darling," he teased, "never could quite hold your liquor."

How could he possibly know that? Janeway thought. She returned her gaze to the pyramids. Their edges could now just barely be seen against the darkening sky.

"Are you happy?" he asked, taking his head away to take a sip of his own drink.

"What makes you ask such a question?" Janeway responded rather startled.

"It is just I have pledged to myself, to you, and to god, that I would do everything in my power to make you happy. You are my life I just want to know if I have done anything to ruin yours, yet."

Janeway smiled. This man, this Doctor, was certainly charming. Janeway thought back to the kitchen table where he outlined this crazy plan.

"So you become someone else?" She asked, trying to find a scientific explanation as to how such a thing could be possible.

"Yes, but no." He explained, sipping his tea, "I will still be me. But I just won't be me. Does that make any sense?" He was frantic. His eyes shifted focus from her left eye to her right and back again.

"I believe so."

"Really?" He squeaked. His eyes crinkled and his mouth opened wide.

"Yes, you will retain central elements of your personality and self. You will assume the life of a normal human man. You will simply forget all extra-terrestrial components of yourself so that you are not able to be tracked by this, as you say, family of blood. It is my responsibility to adhere to whatever backstory in which we are placed. Doing otherwise could compromise the mechanism of the fob watch."

"That's it!" the Doctor exclaimed, "normally my companions don't get these things right away!" His eyes twinkled as he looked into her eyes.

Janeway didn't know what how many other companions the man experienced, and didn't quite like the tone of flippancy in his voice when he mentioned them, however she couldn't help but return a small smile.

As Janeway looked over the sparkling city with torches burning from various dwellings, she wondered how many were put in her position before. How many companions were thrown in with this man and fell in love with him.

Janeway scoffed and then laughed. Love, she thought, don't be ridiculous.

"What is so funny?" the Doctor asked, "are you laughing at me?" He sounded wounded and took another sip from his glass.

Janeway turned to look at him. Her words were light but he could not meet her eyes with his own. He looked over the city. She took a long sip from her almost empty glass and set it down on the railing.

What has happened, she thought, why is there so much pain in his eyes?

She turned to him and reached for his face with her free hand. She gently pressed against his cheek until he turned to look into her eyes.

"You make me very happy." She whispered, "I am more at peace with you than I have been in many years." And in that moment, she thought it just might be true.