Chakotay used his lunch break to go to the mess hall. There was always someone there who wanted to trade shifts or rations, and today he had something to trade. Since the Doctor had forbidden him from running any of his favourite programmes, and Chakotay thought it wrong to create a simulation of how Kathryn would react to his revelation, he was ready to barter his holodeck time. Sure enough, he spotted a gaggle of lieutenants and ensigns sitting around a corner table, waving padds and raising the stakes on whatever was the item of discussion.
When he approached them, they fell silent instantly, some even trying to hide their padds.
Chakotay smiled. "At ease, officers. I come bearing two hours' holodeck time that I've got scheduled for tonight."
"Two hours," he heard Harry Kim exclaim. "I might finally get to meet the slave girls!"
Choosing to ignore that statement, Chakotay sat down in a chair offered to him by a young man from engineering.
"What would you like in return, Commander?" The same ensign asked.
Chakotay shook his head. "I don't think that's how it works. Why don't you tell me what you've got?"
Chakotay considered himself quite lucky when he walked out half an hour later with three replicator rations and the promise to have the day off that Saturday. Harry had to be really eager to meet those slave girls.
He headed back to the bridge, where he was surprised to discover that Kathryn hadn't returned from her own break yet. Neither had Tuvok. He ordered the bridge staff to report on what he had missed, and settled down in his chair. It had really grown on him. He almost couldn't remember what it had been like on the bridge of his old Maquis vessel. It couldn't have been this comfortable.
He found himself not paying much attention to the report, but nobody seemed to notice. He thanked everyone and kept his eyes trained on his own console while he waited for the captain to return. Before long, Captain Janeway exited her ready room, followed by Commander Tuvok. They exchanged one of their unreadable looks, and then headed for their respective stations, Kathryn sinking down in her chair just beside Chakotay. She appeared flushed. Maybe Tuvok had brought a security issue to her attention. In that case, tough, it was considered polite to include the first officer. He decided that speculation wouldn't get him anywhere.
Pretending to check something on his console, he asked in a low voice: "How was lunch?"
Kathryn seemed startled, but then turned in her seat like she so often did. "Slightly unsettling, if I'm being honest," she replied in an equally quiet voice, "but now is not really the time to get into that."
Chakotay furrowed his brow. "Captain?"
She shook her head and waved her hand slightly. "Never mind. I shouldn't be this maddeningly obscure. I've been told it makes people think I'm sympathy-baiting."
He chuckled. "Well, if you do want to talk, my door is always open."
Kathryn smiled at that, and covered his hand with hers again.
They didn't have much time to talk after that, because Seven of Nine had some new readings about that supergiant and asked Kathryn to come down to astrometrics. Chakotay himself took the conn after the ensign assigned had to go to Sickbay to get treated for space sickness. After all these years in space, some of the crew still experienced flare-ups of that condition on occasion. People were usually sympathetic.
Chakotay liked piloting Voyager. Despite all the computerised systems, he still had to be completely focused on the task to make sure they stayed on course. Being in Tom's chair was proving to be an excellent distraction from his current emotional problems. Up here, he simply had no time to think about Kathryn's arms around his body, or her lips on his ... CRAP!
Chakotay checked the chronometer in his console. Great. He'd gone all of twenty minutes without thinking about her. That was a start.
When the queasy crewmember had returned, Chakotay's duty shift was about an hour from being over. He rejoined Kathryn in the middle of the bridge, smiling at her.
"Nothing like a turn at the wheel to make you feel alive," he said, expecting Kathryn to agree with him wholeheartedly. She just looked at him, however, with an expression that told him she was trying to puzzle something out. He lowered his voice. "Are you alright?"
She nodded slowly while her eyes continued to probe him like a tricorder. "Do you have dinner plans?" she finally blurted out.
He was surprised, but quickly caught himself. "Is that an invitation?"
The captain grinned at the familiar banter and went back to her work. Chakotay wished he could be that focused, but somewhere inside his mind there was a voice that screamed 'tell her tonight!' over and over again. The last hour of his shift would be a long one. And no matter how loud that voice might get, he had no intention of letting it tell him what to do.
The evening finally came, and Chakotay was getting increasingly nervous. Not because he was about to go on a date with a strong and beautiful woman, he'd done that before, but because this particular strong beautiful woman had no idea that it was a date. He had already showered and changed into civilian clothing. Somehow, though, not wearing his uniform made him feel self-conscious, a sensation that he didn't fancy at all.
He had heard someone saying once that being nervous before a task was the body's way of saying that said task was important, and Chakotay liked to agree with that sentiment.
On his way to the captain's quarters, he took a detour to deck 8 where he had stored some bottles of Antarian cider. Today seemed like a good occasion to open one of them. He verified that Seven was out by asking the computer about her whereabouts before he entered the cargo bay. He quickly retrieved one of the bottles and resumed his course. The corridors were mercifully deserted when he reached Kathryn's door and pressed the bell button on the panel next to it. It took her longer than usual to let him in, and he was beginning to worry that she might have run into some extra work on the bridge, when the door finally slid open.
Chakotay was rendered speechless by what he saw. The lights in the captain's quarters had been dimmed, the soft coloured radiance around the windows being the only artificial illumination. The smell of good food was wafting out to greet him, which was slightly surprising, since Kathryn had managed to burn replicated food on occasion. Kathryn herself looked simply breathtaking, standing next to her desk. She, too, had donned civilian clothing, and was dressed in a flowing long, dark blue skirt and a loose-fitting shirt of the same colour.
She smiled at him and put away the padd that she had been studying. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought she looked nervous, too.
At a loss for words, Chakotay raised his bottle of cider while he stepped inside.
She was the first to speak. "What's that?" Her voice betrayed that she was intrigued.
Chakotay grinned. "Antarian cider. I've been saving it." He handed her the bottle. "I thought it would go well with the ... what's for dinner again?"
She chuckled, placing the bottle on the dining table. "To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. I didn't prepare any of it. I coerced Neelix into cooking something for us."
Chakotay went over and inspected the food more closely. It sure looked delicious. He identified at least three separate dishes, including Parthas a la Yuta, a leafy green side dish, cheese pieroggi, Zephram Cochrane's favourite food, and Osol Twists, a dessert that was as tasty as it was simple.
He let out a low whistle "Neelix really went all out, didn't he?"
Kathryn nodded. "He must have gone through the entire Federation database to find all this. He even prepared some Bajoran cocktails, although I have to admit that your cider sounds even better right now."
She gestured at the chair Chakotay usually favoured. "Well, let's sit down and enjoy."
Chakotay sat, his heart beating in his throat. He found that he wasn't really hungry at all, but the time wasn't right yet to reveal why he had really come here tonight. Kathryn started filling both of their plates and they began their meal. It was extremely delicious. Chakotay couldn't concentrate on all the different flavours and textures, though, because his mind kept going over what Kathryn had said about the food. She had talked to Neelix about their upcoming dinner, which she had never done before. Was it possible that she expected this evening to go into a different direction than their previous dinners?
It took him a while to notice that Kathryn was looking at him. He must have zoned out and missed whatever the captain had said.
"I'm terribly sorry, could you repeat that?" He felt himself flush. Such lapses in concentration weren't like him at all.
Kathryn picked up the cider bottle to illustrate her point. "The cider. Would you care to do the honours?"
He smiled and, getting up, took the chilled bottle. Their fingers brushed, and he had to control himself so he wouldn't let go of the bottle to grip her hand properly. He looked down into her eyes and saw her looking back at him, a subtle blush tinting her cheeks.
For a moment, Chakotay was at a loss for what to say. Fighting the urge to kiss her was getting harder and harder. He cleared his throat. "Do you have a bottle opener?"
Kathryn handed him the device. "I must warn you, Captain, I'm not exactly known for my skill in this area."
Kathryn chuckled richly, then got up and walked over to her couch with their empty glasses and the dessert plate. "Why don't you join me over here? The view is much better." She sat down, one leg folded underneath her.