The lights in the room slowly started to rise as the computer announced that it was 0600. The two women in the room slowly began to stir, with the smaller of the two groaning over the short amount of time she'd been able to sleep. The tall blonde that had been lying next to the smaller woman, smiled.

"At least you were able to get some sleep, Kathryn. B'Elanna has most likely been up all night seeing to repairs." Seven said as she rose from the bed and waited for her partner to join her.

Kathryn nodded as she slowly made her way out of bed and towards the replicator in the living room. "Coffee, black." She ordered before saying, "She's probably still working. She wasn't very happy when those conduits exploded."

Seven stood with her hands behind her back waiting for the first sign that Gretchen was starting to awaken. "She is still troubled by the loss of Ensign Delvine on the mining mission she went on last week. She has been over compensating with work. I believe a play date on the holodeck will be helpful."

"The hardest thing about any command is the loss of an officer's life, Annika, and it never gets any easier." Kathryn replied as she sat at the small dinning table and sipped her coffee. "Especially when the death was such an unnecessary one." She took a sip of her coffee and sighed contently. "I think some down time with the girls is a great idea."

"The caves were dark and Ensign Delvine was separated from the group. B'Elanna can not blame herself for an accident." Seven said softly as she sat next to Kathryn. "But logic is illogical in this matter."

Kathryn laughed softly. "You spend to much time with Tuvok, Annika."

The tall blond lifted her brow and titled her head just as her enhanced hearing picked up the first sounds of their ten month old beginning to stir. "I believe we will be in need of one of Neelix's jars of baby nutrients shortly."

Kathryn couldn't help but smile. "Then I should get my shower so I can replicate breakfast."

An hour later Kathryn walked into the mess hall with Gretchen in her arms and the child's large bag of necessities on her shoulder. The smile she'd had on her face as she listened to her daughter attempting to form words, faded when she saw her chief engineer sitting by the large window looking down at her own child.

"Good Morning Lanna." Janeway said as she approached.

The young woman looked up and replied simply, "Morning Captain."

B'Elanna looked a lot worse for wear and Kathryn became concerned. "Have you gotten any sleep, B'Elanna?" The young woman shook her head and Kathryn's frown deepened. "How are the repairs coming?"

"Nearly finished." B'Elanna answered. "We should have them done by the end of the day."

"Then all the major work is done?" Janeway asked. When B'Elanna nodded she said, "I'm sure your people can handle the loose ends. I want you to take the afternoon off. You need to get some rest."

B'Elanna knew by the look on the Captain's face that there was no use in arguing. The two women sat there a bit longer before B'Elanna finally gave in and talked with the Captain about everything that had happened. They talked about the explosion in the conduits that took out a whole section on deck three, about Delvine's death in the caves, and in the end B'Elanna felt a little better. The conversation then quickly turned to the girls as they watched them together.

"Do you think they'll be ok growing up like this?" B'Elanna asked.

Kathryn smiled. Although she wasn't sure why she was so sure about it, she knew that the girls, that Gretchen would grow up to be someone to be proud of. "I know they will, Lanna, I know they will."

Some time in the future

"It wasn't an accident. Delvine was murdered." Gretchen said softly as she watched over her mother's old captain's logs. She'd known that Burening had to have killed the young man in order to take his place, but it hadn't seemed real to her until now. None of this had seemed real to her, even though she had lived though it, had relived it during Malcolm's trial, it still seemed like a bad dream.

It was unfair to Gretchen that Ensign Delvine's death was rewritten to be an accident, it took away from his honor somehow, but she understood why things had to be cleaned up. Malcolm's last minute rant could have caused a total melt down of the time line. If her mother had been allowed to remember what he'd said, she would have made different choices and Gretchen's present would have been utterly different.

"A life time spent in a maximum security colony on Pluto is hardly enough to make up for what he did." She said aloud just as the chime to her ready room door sounded. Gretchen quickly turned off her screen, took a deep breath to settle into her captain's mask, and then called out, "Enter."

She wasn't to surprised to see her mother enter her ready room. Voyager-A had been in orbit along side the Di Vinci when Gretchen had come through the spaceal rip, and then had followed them during their short trip back to Earth. Gretchen had spent the two weeks it took to get to Earth in debriefings and trial proceedings and had been, until now, able to avoid her mothers.

"Admiral." Gretchen said as she got to her feet. She stood there with her hands clasped behind her back until Kathryn laughed.

"You look so much like your Mama when you stand like that." Kathryn said as she came over to the desk. "Relax sweetheart, I'm not here as an Admiral, I'm here as your mother."

"I kind of thought you'd be by." She replied before waving her hand over the tea set on the corner of her desk that held a pot of fresh brewed coffee. She didn't wait on a reply from her mother, she just poured her a cup and handed it to her. "What's on your mind?"

Kathryn took the cup and then motioned for Gretchen to join her on the couch across the room. "I've been keeping a close eye on former Lieutenant Bruening 's trial." She began as she sipped the coffee.

She'd been afraid of that. During her time on Voyager her computer had recorded audio of everything that had had happened to be used as evidence. If her mother had been watching the proceedings she head the comments Malcolm had made. "Ya know I had really thought you'd known about my going to that..."

"We can talk about just how many times you snuck off to follow away teams later, Gretchen. That isn't what I want to talk about." Kathryn said as she placed her cup on the table in front of them. When she turned back to her daughter she asked. "Why didn't you ever tell me how you felt about coming back here?"

Gretchen looked down into the darkness of her cup as she replied. "Because how I felt didn't matter."

Kathryn placed a finger under her daughter's chin and lifted her head to make the younger woman look at her. "Of course how you felt mattered."

"No it didn't. You had to get your crew home. The one hundred and forty-one people on that ship who belonged here were more important then the hand full of us who's only home had been Voyager. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few."

Kathryn frowned as she took her daughter's hand into her own and held it. "You could have still come to me, sweetheart. You should have come to me and your Mama and talked about how you were feeling." Kathryn paused a moment before adding. "I should have known by the way you acted out back then."

Gretchen shook her head as she squeezed her mother's hand. "It would have been an irrelevant use of our time together and a betrayal of what you stood for as Voyager's captain."

"Not being there for you when you needed me to was a betrayal of what I stand for as your mother" Kathryn replied. Reaching out she caressed her daughter's face and brushed at her hair. "This has been a really hard assignment for you hasn't it, my darling girl."

The younger woman nodded. "Yes, but I don't have any regrets and I would do it again."

"They really should have assigned someone else." Kathryn said with a gentle shake of her head. "Talk about conflict of interest."

That made Gretchen laugh. "Admiral Paris knew I'd never let anyone else do it."

Kathryn smiled. "That's what Tom said when I asked him if he'd lost his mind."

Gretchen was glad that the conversation had shifted. She'd done what she had to and now she just wanted to live in the moment. She had had her fill of the past for now. "Did you come over alone?"

A bright smile spread across Kathryn's face. "No, your Mama is waiting for us in your quarters. I wanted a chance to talk to you alone. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine, Mom." Gretchen reassured her mother. "Yeah, sure, when we first got back I hated it, but going back to Voyager then I realized that what really made Voyager home was my family, and I still have all of you." Leaning over Gretchen placed a kiss on her mother's cheek. "I'm fine, Mom, so stop worrying about me."

"That, little girl, will never happen." Kathryn said with a lopsided grin.

The End

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying the journey I've set Janeway and Seven on and hope you will continue to come along with us. Up next... Sins of the Past