Chapter 4: Wasn't Expecting That

The Doctor was straight into action as soon as the transporter beam materialised the Captain and Commander in the Surgical Bay. He began scanning the Captain's body, significantly concerned by the colour of her skin and high temperature she was showing. Chakotay, with a firm grip around her hand, was highly concerned himself but he tried to keep his composure for her sake as well as his own.

The Doctor quickly grabbed a hypospray, inserted a blue coloured vial into it and then injected it into the Captain's neck. At first, Chakotay couldn't tell if he'd sedated her or just relieved the pain, all he knew was that her eyes closed and she'd relaxed.

Satisfied for a moment, the Doctor allowed himself to move away and activate the diagnostic bed. As the contraption closed around her, the Captain slowly opened her eyes. It was nice to feel normal again.

Chakotay reassuringly squeezed her hand before looking up at the Doctor who appeared to be double checking the scans, a deep frown engraving into his holographic face.

"Doctor, what's wrong with her?"

"I'm… not sure." he answered truthfully.

"What do you mean?" the Commander asked.

"All the problems seems to be related to some… thing in her stomach." he explained, "However, I can't work out what it is. There's some sort of energy field interfering with the scan."

The Captain rolled her head to the side. "Energy field?"

"It's some sort of… unknown energy emanating from a mass in your stomach." the Doctor explained, "That's as much as I can tell."

"Mass?" the Captain asked, "What sort of mass?"

"I'm not sure, Captain." confessed the EMH, "It's biological, not technological, but I need to do a deeper body scan as well as an analysis before…"

He trailed off, his program running over the possible scenarios the readings before him could indicate before coming to the same conclusion.

"Hang on." he paused, disengaging the diagnostic bed and doing another scan with the tricorder on the Captain's abdomen.

"What is it?" asked Chakotay.

The Doctor slowly looked up from the tricorder, his eyes noticeably wide.

"According to these reading," the Doctor ended up pausing again, "You're pregnant, Captain."

She was sure she'd misheard.

"What…?" her voice was raspy, almost as if she'd just woken.

The Commander's shock was evident. His eyes widened and his grip on the Captain's hand did loosen a little.

"But it's unlike any pregnancy I've ever seen." the Doctor confessed, returning to read and re-read the data his tricorder was displaying.

She sat up. "Pregnancy…?" she had to confirm slowly.

"Yes, Captain." the Doctor nodded slowly, "I'd say just over six weeks judging by the size but this energy field is really making it difficult to get a precise reading."

The Captain actually scoffed, her head shaking from side to side.

"It's not possible!" she was aware of the loss of Chakotay's hand in hers, "I know that for a fact!"

The Doctor sighed, mindful there was a problem between the pair. He was no fool, he knew the Captain and the Commander were a couple. However, by the way the Commander had fell deadly silent, he knew something wasn't right.

"Captain, I'm not naïve. I am aware that couples do sometimes end up with… unplanned pregnancies." he was subtle, "I would be right in assuming yourself and the Commander weren't trying to get pregnant…?"

The Captain sighed deeply, briefly stealing a glance at a very silent Commander. She couldn't tell whether he was hurt, angry or just as confused as she was.

"Doctor, I'm not saying that we haven't been intimate with each other before…" she chose her words carefully, "But six weeks ago we were getting ready to engage the Borg. I assure you, there was no time for that then!"

Now the Doctor understood the Commander's silence.

"Ahh…" he trailed off.

The Captain's confused expression soon morphed into a deep, unforgiving frown. It had taken her a moment, a moment longer than it should have, but merely a moment for her to understand exactly what the Doctor was suggesting.

"Don't you dare…!" she looked from the Doctor and towards Chakotay, her anger morphing into deep shock.

He just stood looking at her, his tight facial features hurting her more than a phaser-strike to the chest. It actually made her lungs lose the ability to breathe for a long moment.

"You too…?" she was actually breathless, her frown returning, "You honestly think I haven't been faithful to you?"

Chakotay could feel his teeth behind his lips. They were already deeply dug into the back of them.

"I never would have thought it." he confessed.

The Captain could feel the sting behind her eyes. It was rare for her to feel emotional in front of anyone other than Chakotay but everything seemed to be happening at once.

"Would have?" she'd picked up on that: past tense, "You mean you do now?"

Chakotay didn't answer but that was enough. He had without saying a word.

The Captain looked into her lap, nodding slowly to herself before regaining her self-control long enough to look towards the Doctor.

"I haven't been with anyone other than the Commander, Doctor." she refused to look back towards him, "And I know for a fact that nothing happened between us six to eight weeks ago."

She gulped, briefly glancing back down to her still-flat abdomen.

"I don't know how this pregnancy's possible." she looked back towards him, "And I really do wish I was lying about that."

She pushed herself up off the bed, feeling her self-control beginning to slip.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I should be on the Bridge."

She left swiftly, abandoning the two officers before either of them had a chance to object. She had absolutely no intention of allowing herself to cry in front of them. She wasn't weak and there was no way in hell she was going to let either of them think otherwise for even a second.

The Commander could feel his guilt growing by the second, flooding him so every part of his body felt heavy. He couldn't believe that he had imagined the possibility, even for a second, that she had been unfaithful. Had he forgotten how difficult she had found it to become involved with him? Why would he even have considered that she would find it easier to become involved with someone else? How could he have been that stupid?!

"For the first time ever, I don't know what to say." the Doctor had to say something before either of them found it too awkward to even move.

Chakotay was angry with himself. He'd have to somehow find a way to apologise to her but for the moment, he had to help her the best he could. He had to address the problem neither of them were willing out loud: If the Captain had no knowledge of how her pregnancy was possible, what had happened to her?

"Doctor…" the Commander felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to use the word assaulted but he was unsure how else it could have been possible, "Can you find out who the father of the Captain's baby is?"

The Doctor nodded once. "I can try and isolate the DNA in order to analyse it." he answered, "However, this… energy field may be a bit of a problem."

"Do what you can." the Commander ordered.

"Aye, Commander."

=/\=

The Captain hadn't gone back to the Bridge. To be honest, she hadn't had any intention of going back to the Bridge. It had just been the first place she could think of to say before exiting Sickbay.

She'd actually made her way back to her quarters, her combadge discarded at the door to prevent anyone contacting her any time soon.

She couldn't take it in. She, Kathryn Janeway, was pregnant.

And to make matters worse, she had no idea how it was possible.

With no-one around in her quarters, she had no problem in allowing herself to break down. She'd managed to keep it in on her long journey from Sickbay but now she was safe to let it all out.

Ripping the top layer of her uniform off, she threw it somewhere, not really caring where. Her broken sobs disrupted her breathing pattern and tears distorted her vision as she stumbled towards her inviting bed. She just wanted the mattress to catch her, hold her and support her. She needed someone and it looked as though it wasn't going to be Chakotay.

Her hands were violently shaking as she gripped onto her pillow, her sobs growing silent but not stopping. The whole idea of someone taking advantage of her in any way was making her feel physically sick but what made it worse was being unable to remember anything.

However, what was hurting her the most was Chakotay. Did he honestly believe she would have lied to him, hurt him in such an unforgiveable way? She thought he knew her better than that. She thought she meant more to him than that, was trusted by him more than that.

"Bridge to Janeway."

Tuvok's hail over the comm. system was loud enough to startle her.

Scrambling up into a sitting position, the heel of her hands harshly rubbed her sodden eyes. Somehow she believed drying her eyes would be enough to hide the fact she'd been crying even though Tuvok wouldn't be able to see her.

"Yes, Tuvok?" she was thankful her voice didn't crack.

"A ship is approaching at high warp. They're asking to speak to you, Captain."

Running her hands harshly down her face, the Captain pushed herself up and went in search for her uniform jacket.

"On my way." she assured him, sighing as the channel closed.

Her uniform jacket was already on and she was in the midst of fastening it up when she exited her quarters, finding herself almost physically bumping into the Commander.

"Whoa…" he muttered just as she jumped back.

She fastened the final clip and pulled her hair from underneath, immediately beginning to twist it to fasten it up.

"Commander." she acknowledged.

The Commander felt a lump grow in his throat. "Kathryn, look. I'm…"

"I can't talk now, Commander." her voice was cold and a large part of him knew he deserved it.

She began to walk away, barely making more than a few steps before she felt him grab her hand. She immediately stopped and turned to face him.

His eyes were heavy and she knew there and then he was regretting what had just transpired in Sickbay. However, she had been honest with him. She couldn't talk to him there and then; she was needed on the Bridge.

"Kathryn…" he tried to plead.

"Commander, I'm needed on the Bridge." she told him, her voice flat, "So if you would kindly let go I've my hand, I'll be on my way."

Chakotay sighed to himself. "Don't you think we need to talk?"

The Captain tried her best not to scoff. "I've heard all I need to." she assured him, looking down towards his hand.

He didn't want to let go but he did. Call it a gesture of good intent.

"Please, we need to talk."

The Captain stood her ground, apparently considering his statement. It took her a good moment before she noticeable scoffed that time, squaring up to him.

"Don't hold your breath."

And with that she left.