The Inevitable Truth

by: AW

Chapter 3

Rating: MA

Pairing: J/C

Summary: The Consequences of 'The Killing Game'.

Disclaimer: Paramount/Viacom own the series and the characters that are related to Star Trek: Voyager, but the story is mine.

Length: 1,850 words

Date: January 2018

The ship came out of nowhere. A blond woman showed up on the view screen.

"Chakotay is it you?"

Kathryn stared at Chakotay and silently put a hand over the baby bump. "Beam her to sickbay."

Chakotay looked at the woman who seemed to know him but he had no recollection of. "Do I know you?"

Kathryn motioned for Chakotay to follow her. Once they got in the turbolift she spun on him. "How do you know her?"

Chakotay shrugged. "I don't."

"Well she obviously knows you."

Chakotay sighed. "Let's go to sickbay and see what we can find out about her, and how she knows me."

Kathryn nodded and felt the turbolift halting.

The couple made their way to sickbay and saw the woman lying on the sickbay bed. "Hello. Where do you know me from?"

The woman they would come to know as Kellin opened her mouth to answer. "We fell in love Chakotay. I came back to find out if that love still exists."

Kathryn stared at Chakotay over the body of the buxom blond. She had nothing compared to that woman. Kathryn was plain, red hair and pale skin.

She placed a hand on her abdomen and hoped that Chakotay would love her and her baby and not the woman who had shown up out of nowhere with grandiose claims of a love gone wrong.

She sighed. He said he would return and she only hoped he would and did not find something better with that woman.

"Captain, please, I need asylum. You must let me stay on your ship, and we've got to get away from here. They'll be coming after me."

Kathryn stared at the woman. "Slow down a minute. I have a few questions first. Who are you, and how do you know my First Officer?"

Kathryn was almost dreading the answer to that question. "It's a complicated story. I'm not; I'm sure quire hot to begin. But if you don't give me asylum, they're going to track me down and they're going to take me back. And I don't want to go back."

The Doctor deactivated himself which left the Captain, Commander and Kellin.

Kellin stared at Kathryn and at the obviously pregnant belly. "I'll see you tonight Chakotay. Stay with her and try to figure out what's going on she seems to trust you."

Chakotay nodded and watched Kathryn walk out of sickbay leaving him alone with Kellin.

Kellin stared at Chakotay. "We're alone now?"

"In a manner of speaking. Can you clear up a few things for me now?"

She stared at him, "I'll try. It's complicated. You see, we've met before."

She drew in a deep breath and began her story. "About a month ago I spent several weeks here."

"Several weeks?"

"You and I worked closely together. You helped me a great deal. Then I left, knowing that you would forget everything about me."

He looked at her, trying to figure out if she were lying or not. "Then why did you come back? Why the battle? Why ask us for asylum?"

"I came back because I fell in love with you."

Chakotay stared at her incredulous. He couldn't have been in love with her too. Kathryn and he were already an item by that point; he knew she was pregnant with his baby.

"Chakotay I know this sounds crazy, but the feelings were reciprocated. That's why I came back."

Chakotay shook his head, "That's not possible Kellin."

"The heart wants what the heart wants."

Chakotay stared at her once more. "You saw the Captain. She's my other half. That is my baby she's carrying."

Kellin stared into him, "I know; but when I was here before you said that it was an accident and something that you didn't want."

"I never would have said that! And if you say you fell in love with me, you never really knew me at all."

With that lasting impression he made his way out of sick bay to go see the woman he truly did love.

[JANEWAY QUARTERS]

Chakotay walked in to see Kathryn, tears flowing down her cheeks, not sure what the future held.

"Oh Kathryn. Come here."

She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him with eyes so blue he could get lost in them forever. "What is that woman's deal?"

"She said she was here about a month ago and that she and I fell in love."

"A month ago we were together and you knew about the baby." She stared at him, "Are you having second thoughts? I know this was thrown on you and you didn't have a choice in the matter –"

He pulled her close, "Neither did you."

Kathryn looked visibly disturbed by this, "But I did Chakotay. It's my body and it was my choice." She stared at him. "I did this for you. I knew that you would be at my side no matter what."

He stroked his hand over her long red hair, "And so I would."

"I was so relieved when I found out this baby was yours, I never pictured myself with anyone else's children."

He raised an eyebrow, "Children? So now we're going to have more than just this one?"

She smiled, "I would not be opposed to it."

He laughed. "I think our family needs its sleep."

He pulled her to the bedroom and they fell into a much needed sleep.

[3 HOURS LATER]

Chakotay heard the chime to the door.

He was awakened from the deep sleep and opened the door to see Kelln.

Kathryn looked so peaceful sleeping he was remiss in waking her.

He wrote a note on a padd, put on his uniform and left their quarters.

"I'm hungry Chakotay; do you think that Neelix will have any leftovers hanging around?"

Chakotay looked at her curiously, "I'm sure we can scrounge something up in the mess hall."

They found some leftovers and took a seat by the window in the mess hall. He stared at her, "I'm curious. When you were here before you said we worked together, but you also said you were here to retrieve a runaway. How was I involved?"

Kellin grinned at Chakotay. "Aren't you more curious to hear about how we fell in love?"

"We? You said you were in love with me. You didn't say I felt the same way. I hardly think that I would have betrayed Kathryn like that – especially in her condition."

"When will you stop talking about her as if she is the love of your life. If you hadn't returned the feelings, do you really think I would have taken such a terrible risk to get back to you?"

Every time Kellin opened her mouth and made a more ludicrous statement, Chakotay got more suspicious. "Let's take it one step at a time. How did you get on our ship?"

"That was easy. The hard part was looking for the runaway without anyone finding me. I managed two days on the ship before I triggered an intruder alert and lost my cloak."

He stared at her as she told the story of how they had met and how he had supposedly betrayed Kathryn. "And then what happened?"

She smiled, "And then I met you."

Chakotay listened to her weave her tale.

"I felt an attraction right away, but I couldn't afford to get distracted. I had work to do. And I didn't know if you felt it, too."

Chakotay was getting frustrated. He did not want to know how he came to 'fall in love', with this alien, this woman who seemed to be nothing but manipulative. "What happened next?"

"You took me to Captain Janeway. I explained the situation. She didn't like the idea of a stowaway on her ship, so she told you and Tuvok to work with me to flush him out."

"And did we?"

She looked at him as if she was trying to make a point to him. "You keep trying to jump to the end. You're skipping all the parts about us."

"And you keep trying to talk about your feelings. I'd rather you stick to the events, not the emotions surrounding them."

Kellin went to grab his hand, to make him feel close to her. "Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

He pulled his hand away in frustration. "I don't want to play this game. I've been assigned to talk to you, to figure out whether or not you're telling the truth. Even if you are, I have no memory of meeting you, and I certainly have no memory of feeling anything for you. You might remember a relationship between us, but as far as I'm concerned, it didn't exist." He paused, "There is no way I'd betray Kathryn like that."

"I see." Kellin gets up and proceeds to the window, Chakotay eventually following.

He turned her around so she was being forced to stare at him, and he was making his point clear. "I'm sorry. I just want to make it clear how I feel."

With that lasting impression he left the mess hall and went to their quarters.

He walked in to see Kathryn sitting on the couch, her hand rubbing the baby bump and a Victorian novel in her hands. "Hey."

She gave him a tired smile, "So what happened?"

He drew in a deep breath, "Kellin came to our quarters. We went to the mess hall. She said she was hungry. We scrounged up some left overs and she told me about the runaway that was in hiding on our ship."

He got down on his knees so he could stare in her eyes. "She wouldn't stop talking about how we fell in love. I told her in no uncertain terms that I would never betray you like that or walk away from you or our baby – our future."

"Do you mean that Chakotay? I'm giving you a get out of jail free card. If you want out let's end it now - no hard feeling, no awkwardness - you can see the baby whenever you want."

Chakotay sat down on the couch and pulled her into his lap. "I don't want you to ever think that I don't want this." He placed his hand on the baby. "This is the best thing that anyone has ever done for me, and being with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me." He kissed the top of her head.

He pulled her up when she was standing in front of him he tilted her head up so their lips met in a searing kiss. "I love you Kathryn – forever and always."

She nodded and fell into his arms.

It would be okay.

END CHAPTER 3

TBC IN CHAPTER 4