AN: This started as a short epilogue, but seems to have grown into a full, final chapter. Thank you very much to everyone who has reviewed this story here or on VAMB. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
xxx Chapter 12 xxx
The Admiral's appearance and her recital of the catastrophic events of her own timeline had an immediate effect on Kathryn.
In the preceding weeks, Chakotay had been relieved and deeply grateful to see that Kathryn had been slowly working her way back to reclaiming her life on the ship. The Admiral's arrival appeared to have dramatically speeded up that process. Kathryn seemed to have been so fundamentally shaken that within hours she had snapped into action.
Chakotay had looked long and hard at Admiral Janeway and struggled to recognise anything in her of the woman he knew and loved. Kathryn had been on the wrong side of the Temporal Prime Directive more than once it was true, but it was still a real stretch of the imagination to believe she would ever decide she had the right to wipe out twenty-six years of history in her timeline. It was just wasn't like her. To Chakotay it seemed more than a little presumptuous, self-important. He just couldn't imagine Kathryn ever doing that. He could only conclude that the Admiral's life must have been traumatic in the extreme to effect such radical changes in her outlook.
Kathryn repeated word for word to Chakotay the Admiral's description of the events that would come to pass if they chose to do nothing and just continued on their course. He needed no more persuading than she had. Neither of them could countenance such a future, let alone lead their crew into it.
When Kathryn presented their riskiest plan to date to the senior staff, she was at her best. One hundred per cent Janeway determination. Failure was not an option; they would succeed. Unspoken between the command team was the understanding that even if to attempt this was borderline madness, they would rather die trying than do nothing. Chakotay knew in his bones that if the plan succeeded, an added bonus would be that Kathryn would be herself again. If it didn't, they'd all be dead anyway, so what the hell…
He didn't need to be a psychiatrist to know that for months Kathryn had been suffering from some sort of debilitating depression. Given the events of the last year of Kathryn's life, Naomi Wildman could have made the diagnosis.
As he watched Kathryn going through the details of the plan with Tuvok on the other side of the conference room, Chakotay found his mind wandering back to the legends his father used to tell about how their ancestors treated those inflicted with melancholy. He and his sister had been entertained by these tales as children.
His father had described how these legendary healers would arrange for the elders of the tribe to ambush the sufferer and then inflict some sort of extreme shock upon the poor, unsuspecting individual. The particular examples his father recited that were always firm favourites with Chakotay and his sister were: kidnapping the melancholy person in the middle of the night and dropping them into the river; running into their dwelling screaming with a flaming pot, just before dawn, and leaving it there on fire for them to deal with; and last but not least, Chakotay's particular favourite, completely filling their home with live animals while they were out.
Meeting your future self, sending her to her death and then immediately travelling thousands of light years across the galaxy in a few minutes during a deadly battle for survival would certainly represent a pretty big shock for most people, so perhaps it wasn't too surprising these stories should come back to him now.
After Chakotay and Kathryn had spent an hour or so in her quarters, discussing the things the Admiral had told her, Kathryn tossed her uniform jacket onto the sofa, grabbed his hand and pulled him across the room and into her bedroom. If she felt the need to seize the day after hearing about all that misery, he was more than happy to do some seizing with her.
What she initiated then allowed him to feel once again the full force of the connection that for him was fundamental to their happiness together. It went some way to make up for their months of abstinence and he felt a damn sight better for it. He hoped she did too. If she had left it up to him, he wouldn't have been able to conceive of a better way to spend the hours on the eve of the battle. Despite the obvious trepidation he felt about what they were about to attempt the next day, his soul sang to have her back again where she belonged. He couldn't get enough of her and couldn't seem to stop touching her - didn't have to. Because now it seemed his touch was welcomed once more; desired, needed, wanted, craved even as she lay there opened up for him again, offering everything he'd been missing so much for months. He wondered if she really had any idea quite how much he'd missed her. He was one satisfied warrior by the time they finally lay still together and slept.
xxx
As the Admiral's armour was deployed and they entered the nebula, Voyager buzzed with tense anticipation. Crunch time had most certainly come.
Their insanely ambitious plan worked and the Admiral sacrificed herself for the sake of a better future for her crew and for her family.
They blasted out of the Borg cube back into the Alpha Quadrant just as B'Elanna gave birth.
Kathryn answered Admiral Paris's welcoming hail and sent Tom down to sickbay to meet the newest member of the Paris family. Then she turned her solar smile on Chakotay, who basked in it for a long moment, before she directed it towards Harry.
"Put it on the view screen, Harry, and magnify."
Harry let go of Seven and moved back to work the controls at his station.
Chakotay was standing by Kathryn's side in the middle of the bridge, hands on his hips, head bowed. He took a breath and waited. Then he looked up to drink in the image.
The huge, blue and green sphere filled the screen.
There was a moment of total calm on the bridge as everyone just stared.
"Thank you, Admiral Janeway," Kathryn whispered, audible only to herself and Chakotay. Then she turned and looked slowly around the bridge, her eyes connecting with each member of the bridge crew in turn, before she finally spoke, her voice claiming with ease this space that had been hers for seven years.
"We did it! Thank you all, for taking the risk, for being prepared to sacrifice yourselves for something we all believed in. No Starfleet captain has ever asked more of their crew than has been asked of you, and no crew has ever given as much as you have. Thank you all."
There were murmurs of approval and then a round of spontaneous applause, and Harry whooped, "We made it! We actually made it!" and everyone laughed.
Chakotay's hand crept into hers and he waited until she looked his way. The applause died down, as everyone was drawn back to the compelling image on the screen. During this lull, he addressed her, his smile impossibly wide. "Permission to behave inappropriately on the bridge, Captain?"
Her expression rivalled his. "Granted, Commander."
He picked her up in one swift movement, leant in and kissed her. Then, without breaking contact, he shifted her weight, holding her up with just one hand momentarily as he groped behind him blindly with his other hand. When he found her chair, he eased them downwards until he was sitting with her sideways across his lap. Her lips had already parted to invite him in and he continued to kiss her comprehensively, with delicious disregard for everything around them. As she responded in kind and her fingers slid from his face to thread up into his hair, Kathryn Janeway settled into what was definitely the most un-captain-like posture she had ever adopted on the bridge of her ship.
Mike Ayala broke into a wide grin, and spoke, out loud. "Well that's something you don't see everyday," and the bridge crew turned as one to look at him, astonished.
Harry nudged Seven and was just considering whether he dared follow the example set by his commanding officers, when his console beeped. Seven followed his gaze and they read the incoming message display.
"They're hailing again!" he hissed to her, as he looked helplessly towards the command team, who resembled more of a command unit at this point. "I'd better..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Seven pushed him out the way and several seconds elapsed, while she entered something into his console. He looked at her, alarmed.
"Seven! What did you do?"
"I responded."
"You can't respond! They want the Captain! What did you put?"
"I simply informed them that the Captain is conferring with Commander Chakotay, on a matter of some urgency relating to his status on arrival, and I informed them that she will contact them when her conference is over."
Harry gaped at her in awe.
xxx
Chakotay sat in his chair on the bridge. Kathryn was in the ready room taking another communication from Admiral Paris.
Three days had passed since they had arrived back so dramatically in the Alpha Quadrant. Kathryn was herself again, there could be no doubt about that now. She had risen like a phoenix from the ashes of her other self, to face head-on the new challenge of preparing the crew and the ship for their arrival on Earth. Her mind seemed to be sharply focused already. In addition to the obvious uncertainties Chakotay was concerned about, she had anticipated all sorts of other issues they might need to address. She was ahead of him in her thinking. He'd resigned himself years ago to operating a few steps behind her in most things. In fact, he mused now that he'd be more than happy to spend the rest of his life slightly behind this particular woman.
He wondered how much Admiral Paris knew about what sort of reception would await them on Earth. He was increasingly anxious to find out, and shifted in his seat, eyeing the ready room door again.
"Janeway to Chakotay."
"Yes, Captain?"
"Please report to the ready room, Commander."
"On my way. Tuvok, you have the bridge."
Chakotay entered, and she came out immediately from behind her desk and motioned for him to join her in the raised seating area.
They climbed the steps and stood side by side, the Alpha Quadrant star scape going past behind them. He searched her face for clues as to the nature of her communication with Admiral Paris.
"Owen says we have a week before they start the debriefings and shred us all to pieces."
"And the Maquis?"
"He was cagey, but cagily optimistic I think." He took a deep breath and relished the release of some of the tension that came with it.
"That's good news."
She was glowing, beautiful. Good news agreed with her, she hadn't had nearly enough of it in the last seven years. She touched his hand, then took hers away immediately. "Come with me to Indiana, while we wait?"
"I'd love to, if you think it's wise."
"We'll plan our strategy and work out what's wise there together. In any case, you need to meet my mother. You may be a grown man, but you could still do with a bit of mothering, and I'm happy to share mine with you."
"Come here." He reached for her to pull her into an embrace. The euphoria of the last few days and the rediscovered delights of the last few nights meant that he was finding it far harder than usual to keep to their tried and tested rules of engagement whilst on duty. The fact that the finish line was in sight now didn't seem to help. At all.
"Stop it! Chakotay." She gave him a firm shove. "We're still on duty and you're still my first officer, for another few days at least." She took a fraction of a step back, to look him up and down appreciatively. "And a very fine one at that. No one else could've helped me lead this crew as well as you have."
"Why, thank you, Ma'am," he replied, with a mock bow.
"I'm serious. I probably don't tell you that often enough. I know you once said you thought any number of people could've been just as good a first officer, but I don't agree. No one could've done the job anywhere near as well as you have."
"I don't remember saying that," He searched his memory, brow furrowing for a moment.
"No? Well, perhaps you didn't mean it? Perhaps it was one of your more underhand Maquis tactical moves?" She turned away from him and took a step towards the railing, one hand on her hip, the other gesticulating in the air, as she continued to describe his former, possibly false, modesty. "It was that first night you sweet-talked me into all this. I remember it well; you said that I needed more than just a first officer, because any number of people could fulfil that role. Tuvok could do that, you said, and some of the things you had in mind for us, well, you wouldn't want me to be doing them with Tuvok."
A wide grin spread across his face, as both dimples and the memory surfaced. "I don't think those were my exact words, Kathryn, but I have to admit you've captured the sentiment." He sidled up to her and his large hands cupped her buttocks. "Fancy doing a few more things now that you wouldn't do with Tuvok?"
"You're out of line, Commander! Unhand me!" She swatted him furiously. "We're still on duty! I mean it. We've done so well all these years, we can't blow it at the last minute! The other day was an exception, obviously! Exceptional circumstances...emotions running high and all that."
"You're right, Kathryn...Captain, I'm sorry." He quickly withdrew his hands, truly put in his place. He took a step back to put himself out of harm's way and clasped his hands tightly behind his back, looking down to study his boots.
"Unless of course our off-duty relationship was more formalised," she mused.
He looked up, head cocked to one side. Surely she didn't mean...? "Formalised how exactly?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Oh, Right. Yes. Of course, so..." he faltered. She did?
"Well? Will you?"
"Will I? ...Will I ...Yes! Of course." He paused, still in shock, his eyes locking with hers.
She seemed completely composed, hands on her hips, chin in the air.
"That was it?" he asked, still more than a little taken a-back.
"Yes. Why? That not good enough for you?" Her chin rose a little further.
"No. I mean, yes! Of course it's good enough, more than good enough, it's wonderful, I... it's just a bit... sudden."
"Sudden? It's been years, Chakotay."
"I mean that I was going to... well... "
She stepped right up to him, toe-to-toe, and continued. "Good, anyway, so now that's settled, you can go ahead and manhandle your fiancé with impunity."
Immediately his hands recaptured that delicious backside, his mouth came slowly down to towards hers, and he murmured, "Who's she?"
Ten months later, two days before Vice-Admiral Janeway was due to start her maternity leave, Chakotay was obliged to leave his students mid-seminar when he received news that Kathryn's waters had just broken, rather spectacularly, whilst she was in the middle of some particularly delicate, diplomatic negotiations.
He supported her in every way he could as she prepared for this baby to leave her body for a second time; this time, in the way that nature had intended. Sixteen hours later, she gave birth, at Starfleet Medical, to a healthy baby boy with a sun-kissed complexion, chocolate eyes and a shock of thick, dark brown hair.
Chakotay leant in to kiss his wife, oblivious to the Doctor merrily snapping away beside them with his holo-imager.
As Chakotay held his son in his arms for the first time and looked down at the tiny face - the face that at one point he had refused to allow himself even to imagine - he felt indescribably grateful for their three lives.
Whatever the future held for them, they would meet it together. He thanked the spirits that he would be forever connected to this extraordinary woman.
The End.