Betrayal and Turkey
Chapter 33
By Hopping Hamster
Ok so I wrote this one NEARLY all finished and then my computer crashed…. When It started up again I hadn't saved the document and WORD could only recover the first three lines so I had to do it all again…. sorry!
Chakotay walked up the path to high house on the outskirts of town near the and immediately got the sense that something wasn't quite right. It wasn't quite how he had left it. His curtains were drawn! He an almost certainly opened them that morning so why were they closed now? Almost silently he laid the axe and carving tools he had been working with down on the floor against the wall and swiftly took his federation phaser from his belt. Reaching out he put the key in the lock and turned. His copper brown hands almost sweating as he silently stepped inside his house, immediately he sensed it smelt different, they air was different, it was different. As he moved closer into his sitting room and pulled aside a woven tapestry he was using as a dividing wall he knew he could sense somebody else in the room. He could hear the breathing and sense their presence. "Who's there?" he demanded pointing his phaser in the direction he was sure he sensed the person and demanded "Show yourself"
A small slim figure stepped into view but Chakotay could only make out the shape of a person, when they made no effort to say anything Chakotay feared raiders and with a swift movement had his arm securely round the feminine waist line and the phaser pressed against the woman's head. He knew it was a woman, she was tiny and delicate, her skin soft and she smelt beautifully feminine "Whoa!" She gasped in a deep voice then she exclaimed his name "Chakotay!" her deep voice was unmistakeable, she didn't need to say "it's me"
Still gripping her tightly with the phaser still pressed to her head he spun her around "Kathryn" he growled with a mixture of surprise, confusion and anger as he gazed into her deeply burning sapphire eyes.
"Hi" she smiled warmly, her blue eyes dancing as she tilted her head up to face him as she held her eyes with his she said softly "you could take the phaser from my head" she sounded casual but it hit Chakotay hard in the gut when she said it. Almost instantly let go of her and backed away lowering the phaser.
Feeling shocked he had almost blasted her with his phaser he scowled as she stepped back from him rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he demanded stiffly as he watched her.
Spinning to look at him her face cracked into a beautiful smile. With one clean sweep she reached out and grabbed the phaser from his hand and read aloud "Very low stun setting" almost with a hint of laughter in her voice she smiled and handed it back to him saying "that's my man" they both knew that on the very low stun setting even pressed right against her head he would have only knocked her unconscious for a few hours, no lasting damage would have been done and her certainly wouldn't have killed her. Snatching the phaser back from Kathryn Chakotay felt angry, she seemed to brush aside his ethics and laugh at him for not wanting to kill an intruder just for being there. There was a nagging question why she would call him her man but he decided not to entertain that idea just then.
"What are you doing here?" he snapped throwing the phaser onto a nearby table but stepping in front of her to not allow her further into his house all though clearly she already had been in "how did you get in?" he snapped the second question at her even more forcefully that the first.
Noting his hostility and his unwillingness to allow her further entrance into his home she simply reached out her hand dangling a platted cord tied onto a sliver metal object and smiled saying casually "key"
Realising what she was holding out he snapped and demanded "Give me that" as he looked down at the small object in his copper brown palm, he recognised the platted cord, he had made it only last month. "Carissa" as he clasped his fingers around it in a fist and looked up at Kathryn with question and anger in his deep brown eyes.
Kathryn shrugged and admitted "I told her I would give it back to you"
"You went to see Carissa?" Chakotay spat back not ashamed to hide his anger at her for visiting Carissa.
Kathryn nodded and refused to let his anger dissuade her and she admitted "I went to see your girlfriend, yes" the way she had stressed her being his girlfriend was not lost on Chakotay.
Chakotay ground his teeth together and snapped angrily "She is not my girlfriend" then almost as though he were ashamed or upset to face it he hissed "she left"
Kathryn watched him, she saw the anger surfacing, she knew she had to say the truth; she had to speak her mind raising her head, setting her jaw and meeting his dark eyes and told him in a husky voice "She took her daughter to safety"
If he was angry before he was enraged now. His breathing quickened, he moved closer to her and grasped her elbow as he spat angrily in her face "are you saying she needs to protect herself from me?" she tried not to appear effected by his anger but right then everything in her wanted to back away but she knew she couldn't.
Stepping even closer to him she closed the distance and raised her face so her face was only centimetres from his as she slowly raised her tiny hand to rest on his beating chest as she told him softly "I am saying an angry warrior is not a role model for a child"
He failed to hear the softness in her voice of the look of love dancing in her watery blue eyes his voice raised as she spat in disgust "how dare you, you…."
"Go on then!" she cut across him her voice cold and steady "hit me!"
Now he was fuming "Kathryn" he hissed but when she was the tears mount in her eyes and the anger rise he bared his teeth at her "grrr" he spat turning then he suddenly appeared to become distracted as he began to look around "what's that?" he demanded staring up at noting in the ceiling.
Kathryn didn't hide the confusion on her face as she followed his eye line and looked up asking "what's what?"
Looking back at her he demanded "don't you smell that?"
Kathryn's eyes widened and she shouted out in horror "Oh no!" pushing past him she continued shouting "no no no!" as she ran to the wooden door on the other side of the room.
Suddenly becoming concerned for her he followed asking "Kathryn?" concern lacing his voice.
"Oh please no!" she called shouted hurrying towards the door that leads into his kitchen. As she flung open the door they were greeted by a mass of black smoke filling both their noses and causing them both to cough as she tried to waft it aside with her hand and gasped "spirits" Chakotay froze as he stared at her, she had never to his knowledge used that as a sign of explanation, that was something she had learnt from him and his people. For some reason it made his heart swell with pride and love as she did.
As Kathryn coughed moving further into the room Chakotay turned his attention back to the matter at hand and moved to fling open a window as well as she back door and waited for the smoke to dissipate. As it did he saw Kathryn lifting a blacked baking tray from his old iron oven "what the?..." he gasped but his voice trailed off as he saw how horrified she looked as she stared at the burning tray in her hands which she had wrapped in a towel "what exactly is that" he asked as she set it down on his table, horror still evident on her face.
"Dinner" she moaned as she ran her hands over her face, not meeting his eyes. Her eyes were filling with tears, something he didn't miss.
"Dinner?" he repeated astounded that she had made him dinner, or at least tried too.
Poking the offending blackened object in the baking tray with a fork she muttered "nut roast"
"Nut roast?" his dimples came out in full force as he looked at her sad face to the tray on the table as he joked casually "it's black"
"I noticed" she scoffed throwing the fork down and turning she added angrily "ruined"
"Kathryn?" Chakotay asked softly his hear swelling with pride as he began to realise what she was doing. As he moved closer to her he rested his hand softly on her shoulder and tried to get her to turn to him.
As she slowly turned to him he saw the tears streaming down her face, he felt so sad as he slowly reached up and used his thumb to softly wipe the tears from her eyes, as she looked up into his eyes she said sadly "Well there is not much point to that now"
"Kathryn!" she said with his dimples flashing, causing her to stop and look at him wide eyes.
"What?" she questioned, stunned he had interrupted her sad musings about the ruined dinner.
When he was sure he had her full attention Chakotay began slowly "Are you trying to tell me you went to see my girlfriend, got the keys to my house and let yourself in so you could" he stopped to move from her "errrm" he began to prod the nut roast with the fork "cook me dinner?" his nose was winkled up and he looked disgusted to call it food but the question was genuine.
"I suppose now that you put it like that…" Kathryn began slowly as she watched him but then began to laugh and wipe the tears from her eyes.
"What's so funny?" Chakotay demanded unsure what could possibly be so funny about it.
"The look on your face when you said the word cook" she laughed.
Chakotay too smiled but it wasn't long before his face fell and he asked almost horrified "you don't actually expect me to eat this do you?"
"No" she sighed hanging her head.
"Hay" Chakotay whispered realised the effort she had put in. Moving to her he drew her into a tight hug and was surprised when she seemed to naturally move into it and fall into it "I'm sure it would have been nice" he assured her stoking her back softly.
"Sure" she groaned holding her tighter.
It was then she sensed his grip tighten, "Kathryn" he almost gasped "spirits" pulling from her and moving behind her, having noticed what was behind her for the first time.
As Kathryn saw where he was looking she because almost self-conscious "sorry" she blurted out hoping he wasn't angry "I didn't mean to…." But her voice trailed off as she tried again "I thought…" but that didn't seem to be what she wanted to say, sighing heavily she started again "well I hoped maybe…" shaking her head she muttered "oh forget it!" looking at I'm just stood there staring at her saying nothing she hissed "your angry" how could she have been so stupid to think he would like it.
Looking around his sitting area at the beautifully decorated table, peach roses in the centre lit only by the candle light, to mood every but of beauty because of the effort and money she had put into the equiseta decorating of the dining and seating area. Seeing she had taken is stunned silence as anger he grabbed her hand and made her look at him as he insisted "no, I think it's lovely" When she looked unsure he continued "and a lovely idea you cooking" His sad face began to crack a smile as he added "just let me know next time"
"And don't burn the food?" she joked.
"I suppose it helps if you don't" he laughed and then added "there are only so many times I can save you from a smoke filled kitchen you know Kathryn" to which they both laughed, knowing it wasn't the first time he had done that.
