Admiral Janeway had not packed efficiently when they had left Earth. She'd had trouble meeting Seven's gaze, and thrown clothing haphazardly into a suitcase. It had been tense with Mrs. Janeway, but Phoebe had been cheerful. Apparently, she was a romantic. If Admiral Janeway wanted to go across the galaxy and find Captain Chakotay, this was romantic.

Chakotay was romantic. Seven remembered that about him from the short time that they had dated. He liked dinners and flowers: these things were romantic.

From what she knew of Admiral Janeway, she was not romantic, at least not in the traditional sense. Her conversations with Chakotay had become shorter lately, and though she blamed being tired, or the constant shift in time as they moved from one ship to a starbase to another ship, Seven wondered if it meant anything. She wondered many things about the admiral's relationship with Chakotay that she had not considered important before.

If Chakotay had feelings for Admiral Janeway, why had he not acted on them earlier? Was it the admiral's decision to stay apart? Did she want a relationship? She had not wanted to be pregnant, perhaps she felt forced, or trapped in the idea that she had to be in a partnership: a collective of two people that was part of the greater collective of society.

Seven had not been ready for that when Chakotay had presented the idea. It was not marriage, not even an engagement that had made her realise she was in the wrong role. She was too unformed to commit to being the other half of a partnership. She did not know who she was in the entirety, and the idea of sex, real sex that was not part of Unimatrix Zero, without her memories of that to tell her what to do, had been too much. She had no desire for that, not with Chakotay, and thus could not accept being partnered with him.

She would explore the idea of sex later, at another time. Perhaps with someone who had a smile like Phoebe's. There was something intriguing about a so called 'wicked grin'.

Of course, if she had been involved in sexual intercourse, she would not have become pregnant. She was very careful with her body.

Admiral Janeway was rather careless with hers. Other things were continually more important, and Seven suspected that was why she'd been far enough behind on her inhibitors that they'd failed. Now she was reasonably cautious, because she carried another life and that act was more difficult than Seven had realised.

She had been around Admiral Janeway almost constantly for the last three months. Her schedule was forgiving and Seven wanted to be available if Admiral Janeway had required anything. Janeway had been available to her, even in the middle of the night, while Seven was learning to be human. Caring for others was part of being human that Seven was more than happy to embrace. Janeway did not make that easy. She argued about the change in her exercise routines, and she had kept playing velocity until her balance was off enough from the extra weight that her aim was changed.

When they spent more time swimming, Seven had discovered that the problem with giving up velocity was that swimming involved speaking. They had time to talk while they changed, and in the pool. There was ample time to talk when she accompanied Janeway to yoga classes and antenatal appointments. Occasionally Gretchen Janeway had taken her place, but there was some sort of disconnect between them, and while that grew, Seven had been somewhere she was not accustomed to being.

Now that experience was even more intense. She frequently was asked to share quarters with Janeway because the vessels they traveled on were science vessels, or small, or did not have the extra space. She did not mind the close quarters, when she was Borg, nothing had been her own. She did worry that Janeway minded never being alone.

Janeway did not complain about that, nor did she complain about what had been the cause of the long, very drawn out fight with her mother that had led to terse conversations over subspace. She spent more time talking to Phoebe than her mother, and her conversations with her sister were less topical. They talked about Phoebe's relationship, and what Phoebe was doing. They did not talk about the impending delivery of the baby and what Admiral Janeway and Chakotay were about to do.

One night, on the USS Wellington when Seven thought Janeway was asleep in the bed next to her, Janeway rolled to face her, something that involved moving her hips, and then the rest of her legs, and Seven heard the tiny inhale of breath that came from acknowledging her sore lumbar vertebrae.

"Seven?"

"I am awake."

Janeway for some reason found that humorous and smiled wearily. "I thought so. It is hard to tell."

"I am still new to sleeping. I still find it strange."

Technically, Seen did not sleep, as a human did, she went into a start of dormancy that allowed her nanites to regenerate her body. Putting the microscopic machines in shifts had given her a human-like cycle, but she had been told she did not move or snore, as a human did.

"Shutting down completely and having nothing wake you?" Janeway was still amused, and her smile was wistful now. "That would be strange."

"The baby is bothering you?"

"She's still new to sleeping." The Admiral winced, and shut her eyes. "That or she thinks she's on gamma shift."

"Are you tired?"

"I'm always tired."

Seven watched her smirk and realised she needed to rephrase the question.

"Shall I engage you in conversation?"

Janeway's smile had a hint of gratitude. "I'd appreciate it."

Running her head through the possible conversation topics, Seven settled on a simple one that confused her. "Phoebe wishes to set me up on a 'blind date'."

"She chooses very attractive people." Janeway reached over and patted the back of Seven's hand, where it lay on the bed. "It could be fun. You can't ever tell her I told you this, but…she has a skill when it comes to picking people out. "

The conversation continued far into the night, and by the end, Seven had agreed to go to dinner with the friend of Phoebe's girlfriend. She did not know why dating a Betazoid would be easier than dating a human, she did not understand her emotions, having someone else know them would not assist her.

However, it made Janeway smile when Seven agreed. She was exhausted, and it was so late that they both woke with difficulty when it was time to move to the next ship. Even so, Janeway packed better that morning than she had the morning before. She seemed happier. Seven wondered if that was the beginning of a trend, and kept track.

She acquiesced and let Seven pack when they left Starbase One Eight Two because her feet hurt. Seven packed everything with optimum efficiency and was relieved Janeway had admitted her physical impairment. Seven found a way to remind her to write to Torres and Paris, which always made her smile, and Janeway packed herself, smiling when they left the USS Newcastle. Some combination of a letter from her mother that made her angry and a letter from Chakotay that made her pace almost left her packing completely forgotten when they left the USS Perth.

Three vessels and two starbases later, Seven had established the pattern. Janeway was desperately upset with her mother, and afraid of Chakotay. She was not 'willing to bet it all' that she was right, but she knew the stiffening of posture and the tightening of the face that came from fear. She had a responsibility to intervene, in some fashion, because Janeway would take care of her. Janeway had always taken care of her, even at the risk of her own life.

Running her fingers along the slender metatarsals in Janeway's foot, Seven kept her eyes down. Looking up might be confrontational, she wanted to be pleasant.

"You have not spoken to your mother today."

Janeway wriggled her toes but did not move to prevent Seven from continuing to massage her feet. Seven had been careful, she knew her feet hurt too much to risk letting go of that.

"She's not in a talkative mood."

"You are fighting."

"Seven-"

Instead of replying, Seven sank her strong fingers into the flesh of Janeway's ankle and drew a hiss of relief. "I believe you will feel better if you discuss it."

Janeway blinked rapidly. "It's not easy-"

"I will not place judgement."

"I know that Seven and I do appreciate-"

"If you tell me, you will sleep better."

Janeway rested her hand on her cheek, then nodded, blinking again, but her tears still escaped her control. She did not like that at all and her face tightened before she spoke.

"I've disappointed her."

"I do not see how that would be possible."

Quirking a corner of her mouth upwards, Janeway half-smiled as she wiped her tears angrily away. "I seem to have a talent for the impossible."

Seven continued massaging her feet, trading off the one in her lap. She did not expect the conversation to continue because Janeway did not continue talking after she began to cry. Whatever emotions lay behind her tears were too personal to address. When this time, Janeway spoke through her tears, Seven lost her rhythm and looked up from what she was doing.

"I don't want to be a parent."

Seven faltered. She did not know how to respond to this line of reasoning. "You had the option to terminate your pregnancy."

Janeway nodded once, then covered her mouth with her clenched fist while she took a breath. "I couldn't."

There was something so final in that thought, Seven did not pursue it further. She worked her hands along Janeway's ankle, paying particular attention to the tendons surrounding the joint.

"Then you considered giving the baby up for adoption?"

Another nod; this one weaker. "I could give her to Chakotay, and let him raise her how he sees fit. I think he might understand, some day."

"Both of these choices are responsible ideas. Your mother would support either of them if they were what you wanted and thought was most prudent."

Though logical, that idea did nothing to calm Janeway, and Seven faced the unusual sensation of heat in her stomach and a tightening of her throat. She felt pain at the admiral's obvious suffering. She'd experienced empathy before, and thought it a useful survival mechanism, but found it useless to her. She did not alleviate the pain of others. It was not her purpose, yet, Janeway needed her to talk to her: to listen without judging.

"I'm pursuing the imprudent."

Seven moved to the metatarsals and the toes of Janeway's foot.

"Please elaborate."

"I know I love Chakotay. I know he'll be an excellent father, and I trust him to raise our child." That came easily, and Janeway was able to smile. "I'm not sure-" there her voice broke, cracking over unacknowledged feeling.

Seven's throat tightened further, as if she too would have trouble speaking.

Janeway swallowed, then finished, "I'm not sure if I'm in love with him. He's been the one thing I couldn't have. The man who was the closest to me and the furthest away for more years than I've ever been able to date anyone else, let alone be on the other side of a wall. It's like we lived together, for seven years and I never found a way to admit how I felt. I don't even know how I felt. I know he was talking about how he wasn't with you and I wasn't with anyone, then we kissed and talked about Venice and then she-" She rested both hands on her belly, suddenly seeming far smaller than she had ever been.

"Then she comes along when I least expect it and everything's different. There's no series of dates to see if we can be more than very close friends, there's no second time when neither of us has to worry about leaving: it's him and I and a baby neither of us every intended to exist."

"Feelings that a child is unwelcome are not uncommon." Seven had read that in the material provided by the midwife. Janeway obviously, though unsurprisingly, had not. "Children greatly alter the parameters of their parents' existence."

"I liked the parameters I had."

Seven finished with her foot and rested her hands across Janeway's ankles as her feet lay in her lap.

"Which were?"

"What?"

"How did you define the parameters of your relationship before your discovery that you were pregnant?"

Janeway leaned her head back, staring helplessly up at the ceiling. "Friends who'd taken a step? Friends who'd made a mistake? Friends who had absolutely no idea what they were doing."

"And you cannot be that with a child?"

"I don't know if I can be anything with a child."

Something in her voice stung Seven, as if she'd experienced physical pain. She reached up and took the admiral's hand into her own, holding it securely.

"I do not remember much of my mother, and I am unable to say that my recollections are enough to build a complete understanding of a maternal relationship. You have been as a mother to me. You guided me, instilled in me the ways of your world, cared for me when I was functioning less than optimally, rescued me from the Borg, and taught me that being human is an aspiration that was within my reach, yet ever evolving so that I must to seek perfection. I am confident in your ability to provide the same for your child. In fact, I believe she will be very fortunate to have the experience and protection of your affection."

During the long pause that followed, Seven was certain she had said something wrong; that she'd offended Janeway by comparing her in error to a mother she did not remember. To her great surprise, Janeway sat up, took both of her hands and held them so tightly that Seven thought she might have been in pain.

Janeway attempted to speak, but that failed her, and to Seven's great surprise, she dragged her close and hugged her as tightly as the swell of her belly would allow. They remained like that for quite some time while Janeway shed the last of her tears and Seven's ocular implants shared a similar malfunction.

"We have sensor contact with Voyager."

"Thank you, Lieutenant, I'll be in the transport room. Please pass my regards to Captain Nulgranis."

Kathryn tapped her comm badge off and glanced down at her bag. She'd been alternating between the same three outfits, the grey, the blue and the deep purple. It didn't make sense to bring more, not when she could replicate something else on Voyager. She'd spent time wearing less. There had been parts of her time as captain when she'd worn the same uniform so long that it had worn through along the sleeves, or along one of the seams. None of her clothes now were in that kind of danger.

The baby, Chakotay's baby, was quiet, as if she understood the gravity of the what was about to happen. Perhaps she was asleep, she had been awake most of the night, twisting and stretching the confines of Kathryn's body. There couldn't be much space left. Kathryn's navel pointed outward, and the stretched skin of her belly bore silvery lines, indistinct, like an undocumented nebula.

She'd been held hostage several times in her life, external forces had kept her contained, told her when to eat, when to sleep: this was the first time she'd been held hostage from the inside. Instead of being stronger, an overwhelming force like the Borg or the Cardassians, her captor was fragile: a life unable to exist without her protection, yet full of demands. She had to eat when the baby wanted. She couldn't sleep unless the baby slept, and coffee, which had sustained her for so many years, alternately made her nauseated or sent her into waves of heartburn. Not that it stopped her from drinking it, or resenting the baby and her own body for taking that last refuge as well.

Seven stood at the doorway, serene as usual. Her hair was down, something Alynna, of all people, had suggested to her, and it made her look so human.

"You know Seven, every time we've board a new ship, I think half of it becomes jealous that I'm with you." Kathryn winked at her, trying to keep the conversation light.

Contemplating the thought, Seven tilted her head. "If you'd be more comfortable, I could announce that I am not your romantic partner."

"Oh I don't mind. It probably keeps the crew from beating down your door."

"I am not interested in a sexual relationship at this time."

"Haven't met the right man or maybe the right woman?"

"I am waiting to see if I feel an electrical connection. A spark. I believe that is traditional."

"That's it, no more talking to my sister."

Kathryn reached for her bag, but Seven took it from her hands.

"I believe you will want your hands free when we meet Captain Chakotay."

That pause happened again. Seven's eyes flashed with pain.

"Admiral, I wish to apologise."

Waving her off, Kathryn winced and shifted her weight. When she favoured her left hip, the right one inevitably ached by the end of the day. It would be good to have it all over with, to be paroled from pregnancy to the physically easier tasks of feeding and changing a baby.

"There's no need, Seven. I should be apologising to you for monopolising your time."

"I am pleased to assist. It was different than teaching at the academy. I am glad we have had time to talk. There is one more thing I wish to say."

Kathryn folded her hands over her belly, trying not to visibly brace herself. "Go ahead."

"I interfered with your chance to be with Chakotay on Voyager. Please understand I was unaware of your feelings for him. If I had not pursued him, you may have come together sooner, perhaps with enough time to plan for a child you both wanted."

"Seven." Swallowing hard, Kathryn reached for the younger woman's chin. "Chakotay and I were not together on Voyager because I didn't want us to be together. Nothing you did, or could have done, came between a potential relationship that Chakotay and I meant to have. We made a choice not to be together, and everything that came after that for us was based on that choice. I don't want you to feel bad because you were with Chakotay. I'd like you to think of it as a learning experience. I'm sure he'd ask that you see it that way."

"My actions contributed to your estrangement."

"No, no, no." Kathryn dropped her hand to Seven's shoulder, rubbing it warmly. "My actions created any estrangement that exists. I choose to put my feelings aside, and asked him to do the same while we were on the ship. I choose not to pursue anything with him and kept him away. I- I didn't know what I wanted, or how to approach it. Relationships are very difficult for me."

"Yet you will pursue one now?"

"Maybe we'll make the attempt, or we won't. We'll make sure the baby is loved and cared for and we'll do our best to decide what we want. Hopefully it's the same thing."

Seven raised her hand, slowly reaching for Kathryn's hand and holding it tightly. She was becoming more human each day. Five years ago, Kathryn never would have thought it possible to care so much for someone who had been thrust so inexplicably into her life. Perhaps that was the point: what she was meant to be getting out of this. Seven hadn't asked to be reborn into humanity, but she had, and she'd come of age on Voyager, with Kathryn's family as her own. As much as Seven had been hers, this baby was even more so.

Kathryn straightened up, smiled once more at Seven before she relaxed, letting her fears be forgotten for now.

"Come on, let's go give Chakotay one hell of a surprise."

"The Rhea is hailing us, Captain." Harry's report had a hint of curiosity. The Rhea was simply passing through on her way out into deeper space. Perhaps Captain Nulgranis just wanted a last friendly chat before she led her crew on their mission. They'd be out longer than Voyager had been.

He sighed, trying not to wish again that he had another letter from Kathryn instead of a friendly chat with another captain. For some reason, all of her messages had been short lately. When pressed, Seven had offered that she was tired, and that talking too long made her sad. Putting the absent out of the heart did sometimes make it easier to cope with loss, even a temporary one, and he couldn't blame her, even though the less she wrote, the more their separation tore at him.

Of course it would be difficult. Their relationship was barely a few hours older than their baby, and even the years of friendship and uncertain romance they'd built, might not be the proper foundation for a romance relationship. Could they go from friends to lovers to parents and maintain their connection? What state was that connection in after months of letters and late night subspace conversations? What was she doing on her maternity leave that left her surrounded by space? Had she moved up the lunar colonies to see the stars? Wouldn't she have told him if she'd moved out of her apartment? Was she simply restless?

Captain Nulgranis' dark face filled the screen, her teeth bright white as she smiled.

"Captain Chakotay, you are looking well."

"The middle of nowhere suits me, Captain. I hope it will be pleasant for you."

"You know us, Chakotay. We old warhorses who do not like diplomatic negotiations and get sent out to the fringes of space, where we can't offend comets and nebulae."

"Sounds slightly familiar."

"Headed back soon?"

"A few weeks. We're finally starting to run out of nebula."

Nulgranis grinned again, her dark eyes full of amusement. "You found a beauty. We will work hard to find something prettier. Then you will owe me a drink."

"Seems fair. Take care out there. It'll be hard to beat me if you don't come back in one piece."

"That is a very good idea. I will try to keep that in mind."

"Good luck."

"And also to you, Chakotay. Though, it seems you will not need it. Nulgranis out."

She vanished from the screen. Her last smile had been enigmatic, something full of mystery. He was ready to write it off, to call it nothing, but Harry looked up in surprise.

"Captain, your presence is requested in transporter room one."

Chakotay left his chair immediately. "Requested? There's no crew coming aboard. No transfers, no-"

Harry's smile could not possibly have been brighter, or full of more surprise. "Captain, the request is from Admiral Janeway-"

"Mr. Paris-"

"Got it." Tom grinned from his seat. "Go get her, Captain."

His journey down to the transporter room was one without time. He passed Seven and B'Elanna in the corridor with barely a nod to either of them. Ensign Carritinelli, the transporter officer on duty, nodded to him, standing at attention at the door.

"Captain."

The door hissed open, letting him in and there she was. Kathryn stood there, hands crossed over the swollen belly that held their child. Her hair had grown longer, fuller with her changing hormones, and it fell loose on her shoulders. He wanted to run his hands through it, to tangle them up and hold her close with no plans of letting go.

She studied him silently, smiling that crooked little smile she had when she'd pulled off an impossible plan.

"Turns out no one cares where you take your parental leave."

"You came all the way out here from Earth? That must have taken-"

"Twenty-seven days, twenty-three hours and some number of minutes I've forgotten since Seven told me."

"Kathryn-"

She didn't even have time to move her hands before he embraced her, holding her close and relishing the feeling of her body against his. She was warmer than the hologram, and she wrapped herself around him in turn, holding him just as fiercely as he held her.

When he let her go, wanting to look at her and seal her into his memory, Kathryn kissed his cheek, still smiling with pride.

"I missed you too."

After a group dinner, a medical exam, and hundreds of questions, Kathryn had been the centre of attention for longer than she had any interest in being. She missed her crew, and it was so lovely to see Tom, B'Elanna, Miral and Harry again.

Chakotay's new chief medical officer had joined them, and Kathryn found her much like her letters. Preia was efficient, yet empathetic, kind and just odd enough with her dichotomy of faith and scientific devotion to be interesting. She'd easily engaged in conversation with Seven, which endeared her further. Kathryn had been comfortable enough with the midwives in San Francisco. Starfleet had an excellent medical staff, and she would have been comfortable delivering there. Liking Chakotay's new doctor made Voyager that much more appealing

Chakotay had obviously become quite close to his new doctor, and if he respected her, she would. His sense of people was usually very good, and often better than her own. It was strange not to have the holographic doctor, and stranger still that it was Chakotay ship now, not hers, yet being on Voyager's deck again had a sense of home she'd been missing on Earth. It was right that the baby would be born here. The events leading to her conception had begun out among the stars, and Kathryn could think of no better place to begin her life.

When the whirlwind had settled, and Seven had been taken away by the other officers to see Tom's new holodeck program, and tell them all about what life was like on Earth, Chakotay stood from the table in the mess hall, offered her his hands and led Kathryn away.

She'd nearly asked Tom for her own quarters, not wanting to rush things between her and Chakotay more than biology already was. She'd had the request on the tip of her tongue when Chakotay joked about how it was a good thing his room was neat.

She was going home with him. After nine months away from him, Kathryn was back, exactly where she'd been when she'd gotten herself into this mess, riding a turbolift with Chakotay's hand sending shivers of electricity though her back. Now that she was pregnant, even being mildly aroused made her belly twitch and threaten to contract. Those contractions weren't unpleasant, but they were new. Lots of things were new. The way her breasts ached when anything touched them or when nothing touched them, and the way the baby was heavy down in her hips, as if all of her baby's weight was resting there, just above her pubic bone.

He'd missed the part of her pregnancy were the baby had started to move, and only experienced through a hologram what it was like to feel the baby kick or twist. Now that the baby was rubbing out of space, there was little for Chakotay to feel at all. The baby's kicks were limited to the space of her uterus, and that seemed to be shrinking further every day.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Thank you." She took a seat on his sofa, noticing that her bag had already made it to his quarters.

"You travel light."

"Didn't think I'd need much. I'm going to need new clothing after the baby comes anyway."

He returned from the replicator, two cups of tea in his hands. Chakotay set them down and sat next to her, eyes only for her.

"And you're all right?"

"I'm fine."

He reached for her belly tentatively and she took his hand to guide it.

"There's a foot up here today, next to my lung."

Chakotay chuckled sympathetically, rubbing his fingers against her belly. "Does that hurt?"

"Sometimes." She sat back, letting him feel around her belly, making contact with his child. "It's not bad now that baby's running out of space. He can't get as much momentum as he did."

"You're beautiful pregnant."

"I'm round in new places, soft in others and generally pudgy in all the wrong ones."

Shaking his head in disbelief, he kissed her cheek, then took the initiative to kiss her lips. "You're beautiful, Kathryn. You always are."

"I think you're biased."

"You're probably right."

He kissed her again, exploring her mouth with his tongue, just as his hands had explored her belly. The doctor, Preia, had been sweet even to whisper that they could have all the sex they wanted, just to stop if anything became uncomfortable. When she'd been thoughtful enough to mention, with a hint of colour in her face, that if intercourse didn't work there were always other methods, Kathryn had decided she liked that Bajoran doctor very much.

They needed to talk, but somehow they both knew they'd talked already. They'd been talking for more than eight years, and everything left between them, didn't need to be said aloud. As she kissed him back, she brought his hands to the fastenings on her shirt. Chakotay's fingers were quick, and they knew how to undress her. He'd been undressing her with his eyes since she'd arrived and she was as hungry for him as she had been for dinner.

Her shirt fell away, leaving only the thin silky vest beneath and the bra that held her too-full breasts. He was gentle with that, drawing her to her feet, and slipping her out of her camisole. His uniform top was off as they headed for the bedroom, and she sat down on the bed, kissing him as she undid his trousers. She was too pregnant to spread out on the bed and take him between her thighs, but they were adaptable. They hadn't waited all this time to lose to the limitations of position. He slid off her socks and boots, letting her bare feet sink into the carpet.

With her down to her bra, he took the time to explore her skin, finding the new silver lines she hated in the flesh, and the purple marks the expansion of her belly had left on her skin. Chakotay worked his way up to her breasts, kissing the soft white flesh exposed by her bra as he reached for the clasp. The rounded, too sensitive flesh of her breasts ached anew as he massaged them, freeing them gently from her bra and taking them into his hands instead. She gasped simply from the touch of his hands to her nipples, and Kathryn groaned when he lowered his mouth.

Keeping a hand on her breast, he lowered his other hand to her thigh, slipping it up until she sighed desperately as her stroked her. Squirming towards his hand, she wriggled up further on the bed. With Chakotay's help, she stripped off her trousers, and her panties, far from sexy, grey ones that rode high on her belly, joined them on the floor. He continued working his way up, teasing her until she was wet and aching. His feather touch was maddening, sending her into a spiral of desire and the need to be with him.

His arousal was obvious in the prominent bulge of his shorts. Sitting up with his hand still on her breast, Kathryn eased down his clothing, exposing his impatient erection. She licked her fingers, dancing them across the tip so that his breathing sped, falling into the same desperate gasping as her own. She ran her hand over him, teasing him further erect. He tore her hand away, kissing her with his tongue deep in her mouth. She slid backward on the bed, turning over onto her hands and knees. Chakotay followed her up. Kissing down her spine, he reached around and massaged her breasts, drawing little gasps each time one of her nipples brushed against his hand or wrist.

One hand trailed down across her swollen stomach, heading down across the curve of her belly and slipping back between her legs. She was wetter now, slick and swollen with arousal, and she could feel the heat of him against the back of her thigh. Kathryn rocked back, pressing up against him. Chakotay sank his fingers into her, opening her up for himself. The hot tip of his penis danced across her aching sex before he joined them, slipping deep inside her. Her swollen flesh accommodated him easily, and his sigh of contentment radiated through her.

He kissed her back, making sure she was all right before his hips canted towards her, sending him deeper. Groaning in pleasure, she leaned back into him, letting him find an angle and a rhythm. Between his hands and the full, aching stretch of him within her, her body vibrated with the pleasure of it. It had been months since she'd had sex, an eternity since she'd had him last inside of her, yet her body welcomed him, brought him in because he belonged there.

Chakotay found a gentle rhythm, then, as she writhed up and back to meet his thrusts, they sped up together. His breath grew quick, then ragged. Her own came in gasps and pants. Orgasm, like a long forgotten sensation, crept over her before she realised how far it had come. Breathless and sated, she dug her sweaty hands into the sheets and cried out down into the bed.

He held her hips as he followed her over the brink. The wetness of his body spilled into her and he collapsed next to her, rolling her to her side and holding her tight against his chest.

The lingering pleasure of her orgasm sang through her, tightening down through her body, and turning her belly to a hard ball of flesh, wrapped tight around the baby. Chakotay's arm lay comfortably over her, keeping both of them safe.

They lay there, entwined and damp with sweat as their breathing slowly returned to normal. He rested his mouth on the back of her neck, kissing her again. Everything she had to say, all her doubts, could wait for morning. Now, with him there was only peace and that needed no words or plans for the future. It simply was, and that was more than enough.