Chakotay rose from his chair as Kathryn stepped out of the office.
"Thank you Deanna." Kathryn said as she came out the door.
"See you next week, Hello Chakotay, How are you doing?" Chakotay wrapped his arm around Kathryn before replying.
"I am doing well, good to see you. Tell Will I said hi alright?"
"I will, see you two later." She winked at Kathryn and went back into her office.
Kathryn and Chakotay exited the office building and walked into the cool spring air. Kathryn grabbed his hand as the walked back to the transport station. Kathryn had been seeing Deanna Troi for 4 months now and had significantly improved. She was regaining weight at a healthy pace, had stopped hurting herself, instead painting at least 5 times a week to provide some form of stress release, and had formally accepted Chakotay's request to be his 'Girlfriend' about two months back. She had even been reinstated to her starfleet position on a part-time basis.
"So, how was today's appointment?" Chakotay asked candidly. "And what was that wink about?"
"It went very well. She was just reminding me of something, don't worry."
"Alright…" He said skeptically. "What did you talk about today?"
"We talked about my father." Chakotay squeezed her hand, knowing that that particular subject was a difficult one for her.
"It's okay Chakotay, we talked about good things, things he'd be proud of me for, and we talked about other stuff too, like the what my future might bring. Which reminds me..." She stopped and gestured to a small cafe on their right.
"Care to join me for lunch? I want to tell you something." He nodded and they proceeded to the small restaurant.
The cafe was small, only about 10 tables total. There was a small breakfast bar on the right hand side that seated 5 and faced the cramped kitchen, and booths lined the opposite wall. Despite it's size, the place was packed. Every table was taken and there was quite a large gathering by the door waiting for a table. As they pushed their way to the counter to get on the list, the people around them shifted their voice to whispers, pointing at them. Chakotay smiled as he saw one girl turn to her mom, mouth wide open as Kathryn passed her. The girl tugged on her mother's sleeve and was emitting a small squeaking noise.
When they finally got to the counter, the man behind the register did a double-take as he recognized them.
"Admiral, Commander, what a pleasure."
"Please, we are here just as Kathryn and Chakotay, how long is the wait?"
"Oh um…" he looked down at a list in front of him and looked even more uncomfortable than he did before.
"It will be.. at least an hour."
Chakotay started to suggest they go somewhere else when the man hastily added "But if you would like to sit at the bar, it should only be about 10." Kathryn smiled and said "We will take it." They waited, getting many stares, but they just made small
talk with each other.
Before they knew it the man had called Kathryn's name and they were seated with rather large menus placed in front of them. They shared a menu and scanned it together. After much debate Chakotay decided on a pecan pancake combo and Kathryn ordered the Huevos Rancheros.
Once the order was placed and Kathryn had a steaming mug of black coffee in her hands she turned to him, her face becoming quite serious.
"Chakotay, I wanted to talk this over with Deanna before I said anything to you, but Starfleet had offered to reinstate me full time, Deanna had given me the go ahead but I didn't realize that she had told Starfleet that I was ready until they contacted me a few days ago."
Chakotay looked down at his own mug and swirled it. "Chakotay look at me." He reluctantly looked up, but when he did he saw the determination in her eyes, and knew he wouldn't be able to talk her out of it.
"I know that you don't want me to… well… go back to how I was. But I won't. Chakotay, I have you now, that is, if you will stay."
Chakotay set down his mug then and grabbed her free hand.
"Kathryn, I will never leave you again, you know that, and you know that I support you no matter what you decide. I just don't want you to be so stressed anymore, you gave up everything you had for seven years and I want you to be able to enjoy life here. I just.. I don't want to lose you again."
This time it was she who sat down her mug and grabbed his other hand.
"I promise, I won't lose myself, not again. You give me strength, and now that I can rely on you openly like I have always wanted to, I feel like I can do anything, because whatever I do, we do together."
He couldn't resist. He pulled her into a crushing kiss, not caring who would see them. He needed to show her how much he loved her. Eventually they broke apart and Chakotay saw a tear in the corner of Kathryn's eye.
"Okay, but we do this together." He said. She nodded and smiled as he wiped the tear that had begun to slide down her cheek. She sniffed and grabbed her coffee once more. Soon their food came and they enjoyed every minute of it, sharing their plates and discussing meal they used to have on Voyager.
When they were done, they left hand in hand, not speaking anymore, simply enjoying the feeling of being together.
Whatever life threw their way, they would handle it, and thrive, because they finally had each other.
