This chapter came about thanks to a suggestion from stampensue. Thanks so much!

And to dear Singing Violin for her constant encouragement and comments...thank you!

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Kathryn bolted up from her biobed as a group of people hurried into sickbay. The Doctor came running out of his office, and Kathryn could see her mother and Ensign Kim – no, he wouldn't still be an ensign – hovering around a small form. Two additional crewmembers that she didn't recognize were there as well. The Doctor ushered them over to a biobed close to the door and he tapped his combadge.

"Sickbay to Commander Chakotay."

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Please come to sickbay immediately. There is a medical emergency concerning your daughter."

Kathryn's mouth dropped open. His daughter? Her eyes flew to the small form on the biobed that the Doctor was scanning. Hesitantly, she slid off the biobed and made her way over.

"What happened?" the Doctor was asking her mother.

Gretchen's face was blotchy and her eyes red. "She was just playing." She said, her words hitching on her sobs. "She was just playing and she hit her head. She wouldn't wake up!"

"I was there." Harry said. "Tom and I went to go see the kids. She and her brother were running around and she tripped. She hit her head on the corner of a table."

The Doctor grimly looked over his tricorder readings. "Unfortunately she may have hit her head in exactly the right place to cause the most damage. There's internal bleeding. I have to try to stop it or I may have to perform surgery."

"What?" Gretchen gave a strangled cry.

"Lieutenant Staller, Ensign Rich, please take Mrs. Janeway back to her quarters. Please, Mrs. Janeway, I need you to go and wait for me to get in touch with you."

Gretchen began to protest but the young lieutenant and ensign quickly escorted her out. Harry still hovered over the small girl as Kathryn approached.

"Commander Kim, please get me a cortical stimulator. Then locate my medical staff and get them down here now!"

Harry ran off to do as he was told and Kathryn heard him mutter "Always taking their breaks at the wrong times", but she wasn't paying much attention. She was staring at the little girl on the biobed, a little girl who but for her dark hair could have been herself at that age. "Oh, my God." She breathed.

The Doctor looked up. "What are you doing out of bed?" he asked sharply.

"Is that her? Is that Kathryn?"

"Yes, it is. And if you don't go lay back down and let me do my work, she's going to end up the way you were yesterday. Please, go and let me do my job."

"I won't bother you." She said softly. The Doctor rolled his eyes and continued his work. Shortly after, three of the crew who she knew worked in sickbay came rushing in, and Chakotay followed.

"What the hell happened?" He yelled. His face grew pale as he saw his daughter lying still in the biobed. "Doctor?" he whispered.

The Doctor glanced up. "Take Captain Janeway and go wait somewhere. I can't have any distractions. Please, I don't want either of you in here."

Harry came over to Chakotay and tugged on is arm. "Come on, Commander. I'll explain to you outside." He glanced over and saw Kathryn staring at her daughter. He looked surprised, mostly because he hadn't seen her until now. But Harry was nothing if not a model officer, so he found a robe for Kathryn, helped her put it on, and escorted his former commanding officers out of sickbay.

"Harry, what happened?" Chakotay asked, his voice strained and his eyes filled with tears. "Why is she unconscious?"

"It was an accident. She hit her head on a table while she was playing with Edward. The Doctor said there's internal bleeding."

Chakotay stared at Harry in horror. "From hitting her head?"

"Evidently, she hit just the right spot. It's been known to happen." He glanced at Kathryn. "Are you okay, Captain?"

She stared at him, then promptly burst into tears.

Chakotay rushed over to her and gathered her into his arms, where she clung to him and cried. "She's so beautiful," she wept. "She's so much more beautiful than I had pictured her."

"That's because she looks like her mother." He whispered in her ear. He looked at Harry. "Harry, why don't you go stay with Gretchen and Edward? I'll contact you when I know anything."

"Of course, Commander." He turned and left, practically fleeing from the sight of his former captain crying.

Chakotay held her as she sobbed, and it wasn't long before he joined in. The toll of the last day or two was finally crashing down on her, and the toll of the last five years was doing the same to him. He briefly hoped that no one would come down the hall and see them, but that thought was abandoned as she clutched his shirt tighter and began to slide to the floor. He pulled them both down to sit against the wall, and they sat like that for quite a while, crying over what they had lost and what they might lose still.

Finally, their sobs subsided and she leaned back against him. She sniffled. "I can't believe it. I just can't believe that's my little girl. Oh, God, Chakotay, if something happens and she had never met me because I'm a selfish, idiotic ass-"

"Shh." He said softly. "You're none of those things. You were just confused. I'm sorry for yelling at you before, Kathryn. I should have realized what this must be like for you."

"Well, I'm sorry for yelling at you, and I should have felt the same way. I should have taken my children into account." She was quiet for a moment. "It's just that it seems like it was yesterday that they were turning somersaults inside me, and now they're too big to even be carried. It hurts so much."

"I know. I know. And I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

"It's not your fault." She gripped his hand tightly. "Don't ever say that again. You couldn't have done anything any differently." She buried her head in his chest. "Oh God, if something happens to her…"

"She'll be fine." He whispered, more to convince himself than her. "She has to be."

They sat in the hallway for an hour. Kathryn finally drifted off to sleep, and he held her head in his lap, stroking her long hair and watching the door to sickbay as silent tears ran down his face. Why did he always have to lose someone, in order to gain someone? He had lost his lover for his children, and now he was losing his child for her mother. It just wasn't fair, and he didn't know how much more he could take.

Finally, the sickbay doors opened, and the Doctor emerged to find them on the floor. "I thought I would find you here." He said wearily.

"How is she?" Chakotay asked timidly, bracing himself for the worst.

"She'll be fine. I was able to get the bleeding under control. But she'll have to stay here for a few days." He glanced at Kathryn lying on the floor. "She can keep her mother company."

"Can we see her? Is she awake?"

"She's not awake yet, but you can come in and sit with her." The Doctor turned back into sickbay, and Chakotay nudged Kathryn's cheek.

"Kathryn?"

Her eyes flew open and she sat up. "What? Is she okay?"

He grinned. "She's fine. The Doctor said she's still asleep, but we can go in there and sit with her."

Kathryn got to her feet. "Well, let's go, then."

They entered sickbay and found two chairs waiting for them next to their daughter's biobed. They sat there, and Kathryn tentatively reached out and took the little girls hand. "She's got such little hands." She said with a smile.

"Well, she is five."

Kathryn gazed at her daughter, committing everything to memory. "Look at her. Her little face and her long hair…she's so beautiful I just can't get over it."

"Wait until you see Edward."

"Oh! Can Mom bring him here now?"

"We should wait until Kathryn's awake. It might scare him. They're very close."

"Yes, I can imagine they would be." She leaned down to whisper in her daughter's ear. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here all these years. I'm going to make it up to you; I'm going to be the best mother ever, and I'm going to love you so much you're going to get tired of me."

Guilt, Chakotay thought. Tuvok was right.

They sat there at Kathryn's side for another twenty minutes. Finally, she began to stir, and Kathryn began to look nervous. He patted her thigh. "Don't worry." He said soothingly. "She's going to be so happy to see you."

The little girl slowly opened her eyes. "Daddy?" she said drowsily.

"I'm right here, honey."

She turned her head to look at her father, but her eyes fell on Kathryn. They widened, and her mother gasped at how blue they were. "Mommy? Is that Mommy?"

She could swear she felt her heart break. She had never been called Mommy before. Tears began to run down her face and she clasped her daughter's hand. "Yes, honey, I'm Mommy. And I'm so happy to see you."

Her daughter smiled and closed her eyes again. "I'm happy to see you, too." She mumbled. "Daddy, it looks like we're gonna hafta start calling me Ariel, right?"

Chakotay laughed. "We'll talk about it later. Get some rest. Mommy and I are right here."

And little Kathryn fell asleep.