They planned to meet again in two days to watch the sequel, and B'Elanna and Kathryn agreed that Han would get the girl and Vader would eventually be fried. Chakotay and Kathryn strolled to their quarters, still chatting and giggling about some or the other detail from the film. When they arrived, Chakotay wished they hadn't. She seemed reluctant to go as well. He had felt so comfortable around her all evening, he wished she could be like that every day. He knew that eventually she'd back off, but he wanted their familiarity to last, so he plucked up his courage and asked if she wanted to come inside for a nightcap. She hesitated for a moment, but then smiled and simply nodded.

They sat on the couch, close, like they had the entire evening, and sipped some tea. After they had sat a while in silence, both simply savouring the moment, Chakotay realised that the silence wasn't bothering either of them. He smiled and thought that there weren't many people he could feel so comfortable around, people who simply enjoyed being there with him. She had the same need for silence as he did, she understood. She probably needed it more, the stress of every day was sucking the strength out of her, one day at a time. He was so glad she had been happy for one night. He never dared to nourish a hope about her giving in to him, loving him, he knew she was set in her decisions, and seemed to live alright with that. But he hoped they'd go back to being closer friends.

She put her cup down and leaned back against the side of the sofa, looking out to the stars. He smiled at her beautiful face, lit by starlight, her thoughts probably lightyears away. He looked out as well. He thought about a few things from the film and grinned. It had been a great night. He was looking forward to the next 'movie night' at Paris'. They had agreed on using someone else's rations the next time, which was only fair. He looked back at Kathryn... she had fallen asleep. Her face was more relaxed now, it seemed she had been in constant thinking mode before, and now she was quiet and at peace. If she could have seen the affection in his eyes, she probably would not have been so quiet, but rather found a hasty excuse to leave. But now he had her with him. Somehow, her giving in to sleep in his quarters made him understand just how much bound them. They felt at home with each other.

He gently gathered her up in his arms, almost shocked at how little she weighed. He promised to stuff her with more popcorn next time. Although she had actually almost eaten all of it by herself today, he mused, smiling at the small, beloved figure in his arms. So fragile, and yet she had that iron will to keep her going, to get them all home. He placed her in his bed, took off her shoes and covered her with his blanket. She turned onto her side, making little noises indicating comfort and warmth. He smiled, placed a soft kiss on her hair and grabbed a blanket to sleep on the couch. He looked back at her one last time, silently renewing his vow: I will always be there, by your side, to protect you and make your burden lighter.

Kathryn awoke slowly, there was no computer alarm. She felt well rested and comfortable, but a little disoriented. The pillow smelled differently. It all smelled familiar though. I'm in Chakotay's bed. Her mind quickly returned to the night before. The thought of him carrying her to his bed made her knees weak. And something in her belly told her that she would give anything, even her damned protocols, to have been awake at the time. She had felt so happy the night before.

Suddenly she was wide awake. She saw herself striding onto the bridge, him next to her, distant, because she had pushed him away again. That's how it had always been – and suddenly she felt very different from what it had 'always been' like. Anger, fear, loss. She didn't want to lose this feeling. She didn't want this moment of peace to be just one moment. She wanted it to expand, wrap around her life, Voyager, the whole Quadrant. Her heart felt like a tight knot. Him. She needed him.

A sense of hurry grabbed hold of her. She stirred and sat up, blinking. Then she heard the most beautiful voice in the world.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

Her heart stopped.

"Coffee?"

She stared at him – he had been standing there, waiting for her to wake up. She felt her cheeks getting warmer and warmer. The only thing she could summon was "thanks" as she accepted the cup of steaming coffee.

He gave her a few minutes to gather her senses. Gods, she looked so adorable. He wished he could see her like that every day. Especially every morning. The implications of that thought made his heart beat faster. He saw her dishevelled hair, the hazy look on her face as she took a deep gulp of coffee. He briefly imagined things he shouldn't, like ruffling through that hair and kissing away the haziness. He shook that thought. Don't even think about it. Get yourself together.

She woke him out of his musings, but the cute sleepiness in her voice wasn't helping. " That was probably the nicest wake up call I've ever had. Just four words, and one of them was coffee." She grinned and he laughed. The tension shrank away and made way for genuine happiness between them. When have I last seen her like this? Have I ever? No, I haven't.

"Well, I'm due on the bridge – if anyone asks, I'll simply say you're getting acquainted with my bed and they'll—hey!" She had thrown a pillow at him and growled playfully. "Like hell you will... I'll toss you out of an airlock first!"

He laughed and threw the pillow back to her. Shrieking, ducking, laughing, she grabbed it, hugged it.

So. Beautiful. Argh.

"Just kidding." She pulled Janeway-Glare No.5: You better be.

With great reluctance, Chakotay tore himself from the magical moment. "I'll be on the bridge, take your time." He really hoped she would, he wanted her to have the privilege of the moment as long as possible.

When he turned to leave, Kathryn made a sudden movement, toppled forward on the bed and held out her hand briefly. "Chakotay, wait, I ---" she stopped herself. I'm not ready to tell him, yet. But I'm on my way...

He searched her eyes, curious, a little confused. "Never mind," she smiled. "See you later." He nodded, smiled, turned away. As he left she saw him shake his head before the doors closed – in disbelief? Or to shake the moment away, to put on command mode. She knew exactly how that felt. She threw herself back on the bed with an exasperated sigh, still holding on to his pillow.

On her way to the bridge, the Captain was delayed, first to check on astrometrics – Seven had discovered some nebula, again – then sickbay – the doctor wanted to tell her about his latest microbiological breakthrough personally – and lastly engineering, but that one she enjoyed. She winked at B'Elanna as she stepped next to her at the Warp Core and murmured in a low voice "so how's the Force with you today, lieutenant?" B'Elanna giggled very uncharacteristically which drew the attention of one Vulcan eyebrow. Now Kathryn had a quick laugh. She was very happy. Not only was she surprised to notice that the light-hearted feeling she had woken up with hadn't left her when she 'became' the Captain again. She also realised that it wasn't interfering with her duties at all, on the contrary, her mood probably worked wonders for the crew around her.

She was right – everyone seemed quite happy in engineering, though probably due to B'Elanna's good mood. Today, it seemed to Kathryn, she was on a different ship than the weeks and months before. A door had opened for her and she hadn't even stopped to look before she walked through it. Situations and moments that wouldn't have happened in the Alpha Quadrant had happened here, on Voyager, and suddenly she was perfectly alright with it. She almost made a face. To think that all it took was Tom's movie night...

"Captain?"

B'Elanna's quizzical look made Kathryn realise she'd said that out loud. She looked embarassed, but B'Elanna didn't push her, just smiled a little too knowingly. But what the hell. The Captain was glad she and her chief engineer had grown a little closer the night before. Having a woman as a close friend, her confidante, was something she hadn't realised she was missing. Her sister had always been there for her back home, but on Voyager Chakotay and Tuvok were closest to her. B'Elanna and her may have had their differences, but somehow, a friendship was developing, and Kathryn liked that.

What she didn't know that moment was that Tom and B'Elanna hadn't been able to resist: First thing in the morning, they had checked internal sensors. Captain Janeway is in Commander Chakotay's quarters. They both had trouble wiping silly smiles off their faces for the rest of the day.