Loud jazz music caught everyone's attention and they turned to see Harry playing with a band at the top of the room.
"If you don't mind Kathryn, could I still your fiance for a dance?" Kathryn's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she set her eyes on Sarah. She nodded absently.
"Go right ahead." She said with a soft smile. Shane pushed himself out of his chair after Sarah. He bent down to Kathryn and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"I'll be back in a minute, beautiful." He whispered futilely as everyone heard him anyway.
Tom shot a glance to B'Elanna and she nodded. They got up to dance, leaving an unearthly quiet Chakotay and an uneasy Kathryn alone. Kathryn watched him stare at the table silently for some time. Suddenly his head shot up and she knew the smile he wore was faked.
"Where are my manners? Would you care to dance?" He asked as she stood from his chair and threw his hand at her.
"We can keep an eye on those two at the same time." He gestured to Shane and Sarah as he winked. She smiled back at him as she took it and he pulled her from her seat to the dance floor.
"You never said anything." He whispered into her ear as he pulled her close and they swayed to the now softer music.
"Neither did you." She countered. He sighed into her hair.
"Maybe if you had told me where you were now and then I just might have." There was just the slightest hint of bitterness in her voice.
"I was on leave Kathryn." She almost snorted.
"Leave is a few months Chakotay. You asked for six, which was granted, that slowly turned into a year and then a year and another six months." Her voice was gently mocking.
"I'm coming back to Voyager after the honeymoon." He pulled his head out from hers a little so he could see her better.
"I needed the time away." He explained, she turned her head away from him.
"Away from me." She said sadly. He gripped her tighter.
"You know that's not-" She had turned hard eyes on him and his protest withered into nothing. His eyes dropped sadly and so did hers. The replaced their heads on each other again.
"Let's just not fight about it anymore." She said exasperated.
"Let's not fight about anything." He added and she chuckled softly into his neck.
"What?" He asked smiling.
"You *are* coming back to work right?" He nodded still confused. She grinned and he caught on. He chuckled himself.
"Okay, let's say that the Captain and Commander can fight, but me and you can't. How's that?" She nodded her approval as she laughed.
"Speaking of Captains and Commanders Chakotay. You do know that once you finally spend a little time actually serving on Voyager, Starfleet will soon be considering you for a Captaincy of your own?" His eyes darkened a little.
"I guess I'd forgotten about that. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." They both smiled.
"No pun intended." He added and she laughed into his shoulder and they continued dancing.