Star Trek Voyager characters are the property of Paramount Pictures.

Way The Wind Blows

Chapter Two

Chakotay stirred awake and tried to make sense of the shapes before him. As the haze cleared, he saw a familiar, yet unfamiliar, face looking down at him. It was Kathryn...her younger self...and at the sight of her, memories of what had happened came flooding back to him.

"You suffered some kind of post-transportation-trauma," Kathryn said, putting a hypospray to his neck. "Your body was breaking down at the cellular level. I've treated you as best as I can."

"Thank you," Chakotay said, sitting up on the grass.

"I also detected chronoton particles," Kathryn continued. "Which means you might be telling the truth...that you're really from the future."

"I assure you I am," Chakotay said, raising his hand to his pounding head.

"But from the future or not, you really need to see a doctor."

"I can't. Temporal Prime Directive." He looked up into the blue eyes he loved. "I'm just going to have to trust you to take care of me until I'm transported out of here."

"And how long is that going to be?"

"I don't know," Chakotay replied, averting his eyes so he could close them. The light hurt. "It could be a while." Something had clearly gone wrong in the attempt to transport him back to Voyager. But B'Elanna was a capable engineer and if anyone could fix the problem, it was her...

"And how long is a while? Hours, days, weeks?"

"I don't know," Chakotay said again. "I'd guess hours, but it could be longer."

Kathryn could see that he was in considerable pain so she put the hypospray to his neck again. "I'll give you another dose of painkiller. That should ease the headache."

As soon as she administered the drug, the unbearable pain in Chakotay's head began to subside. He looked up at her again, the light no longer hurting. "That's better, thank you."

He smiled warmly at her, but the gesture only seemed to make her nervous. She closed her med-kit, picked it up, and got to her feet.

"I'm sorry for your trouble, but there's no way you can stay here. There's a couple of other cabins within a mile radius. Maybe someone there can help you."

Chakotay slowly got to his feet, the action taking some effort as he was still a little disorientated. "I need you to help me," he said firmly. "Please, Kathryn..."

"I can't," she replied. "And you must think I'm stupid if you think I'll let a strange man stay in my cabin. I'm sorry, but you're not my responsibility. There are other people who can put you up while you complete whatever mission it is you're on. I've done my bit."

She turned to walk away, but Chakotay caught her arm.

"Kathryn, I..."

She tried to shake him loose. "Let go of me!"

At her mistress's distress, Petunia began to growl, but this time Chakotay would not be intimidated.

"I have no where else to go, Kathryn. And if you don't help me now, then one day you might be sorry for it. I don't know what's gone wrong, why I'm here in this time-frame, but I do know that you would want to help me."

Kathryn's lip trembled at his words but her eyes held his, studying him intensely, searching his soul. Petunia began to bark, guarding her mistress passionately.

"Quiet, Petunia," Kathryn said. "Quiet."

At her command, the animal fell silent.

"In this future you're from," Kathryn asked. "Do we know each other?"

"Yes," Chakotay replied. "I know this is hard for you, but it's hard for me too. None of this was supposed to happen." He paused. "Until my people can get me out of here, I'm trapped in this time-frame. What damage has been done to the timeline, I don't know. But we can't risk any more."

For a long moment, Kathryn said nothing as she processed thought after thought. Then she spoke. "Alright. You can stay. But I'm warning you, just because I'm smaller than you, doesn't mean I can't put up a fight. You try anything untoward with me and I'll make you pay. My cabin is equipped with high security that will detain anyone I identify as an intruder within a forcefield, and all replicators will only recognize the voices they are programmed to recognize. I will allow you to replicate food and clothes, but nothing else. Understood?"

Chakotay nodded. "Understood."

"Then I'll show you inside." She pulled out her phaser again. "But I want you where I can see you."

"As you wish," Chakotay replied. He began to walk towards the cabin, and Kathryn followed.

The cabin door had almost swung shut, so Chakotay pushed it open and stepped inside. He found himself in a homely living room with a pine floor, a comfortable looking brown sofa, two matching chairs, a pine table with bits and bobs on it including a bottle of water and a glass, and there were a couple of landscape pictures on the wall. There was a window to his left, decorated with brown curtains, and a matching one to his right. In the closest right corner there was a kitchenette, containing a replicator and a pine table with four chairs, and directly ahead of him, on the furthest wall, was an attractive stone chimney with a brown fur rug before it. A fire was burning in the hearth and something appeared to be cooking in a large copper pan. From the aroma, he guessed it was something containing potatoes and onion.

"Cooking?" Chakotay asked, turning to his custodian.

"Just a broth," Kathryn replied, putting away her phaser and putting down her med-kit on the table. "But I wouldn't be surprised if it's burnt by now."

"Maybe you should check it."

He saw suspicion fill her eyes again, then saw them move to her dog.

"Petunia, watch him."

The dog didn't need to be told twice. She sat before Chakotay and fixed her brown eyes on him. Chakotay looked at the animal for a moment, then at Kathryn as she went over to the fireplace.

"You have her well-trained."

"Of course," she replied, picking up a white cloth and using it to pull a solid lid off the copper pot. As she did so, smoke gushed out of the pot, almost choking her.

"Damn," she said, fanning the smoke with her hands. "It's burnt alright." She stepped away from the fire. "Computer, end fire."

Immediately, the fire extinguished.

"There would have been enough for two of us," she said, turning to Chakotay, "but there's no way we can eat it now. I'll have to replicate us something." She wiped her brow. "How does chicken casserole with rice sound?"

"It would sound good," Chakotay smiled, "except that I'm a vegetarian."

At this, Kathryn stilled a moment, then she put down the cloth in her hands. "You are?"

Chakotay nodded. "On principle. Does that surprise you?"

"No," Kathryn replied. "No, I..." Then, for the first time since he had met her, she smiled. "Actually it does. Not because there is anything wrong in being a vegetarian, but because I wasn't expecting it...I mean from you."

Chakotay smiled. He understood her reaction. If he was kind hearted enough to care about animals to the point of being a vegetarian, he couldn't be a man of violence. "You really have painted me as a villain, haven't you?"

"I guess I have," she smiled.

"Everything I've told you has been the truth, Kathryn. I mean you no harm, quite the contrary. You don't have anything to fear from me. I'd give my life to protect yours."

For a moment, just a moment, he saw tears well in Kathryn's eyes. Then they were gone.

"I'll replicate a vegetable casserole instead," she said. "But before I do that, I'd better make you a bed, just incase you have to stay overnight."

"Thank you," he replied.

"And take a seat if you want," she went on, " a drink of water too. The glass is clean."

Chakotay went over to the sofa and sat down. Still on watch-duty, Petunia followed and sat a couple of feet away from him, studying him closely.

Kathryn laughed softly. "Alright, Petunia, honey. You can stop watching now. I think we can trust him."

At that, Petunia got to her feet again and went over to the rug where she lay down.

Kathryn looked up at Chakotay again. "You haven't told me your name," she said. "If you're going to be staying here, then I'm going to have to call you something."

Chakotay's eyes twinkled in amusement. "You already know my name. While I was unconscious out there, you took a DNA sample and searched for a match on Starfleet's database. You found my profile and saw that I am indeed from the future, unless I've prematurely aged by twenty years."

Kathryn flinched. "How do you know that?"

"I know you," he said kindly.

Kathryn swallowed, clearly uncomfortable, and the suspicion that had just left her eyes returned again. "Or...someone could say you had a lucky guess," she emphasized his name. "Chakotay."

"Yes," he said quietly, sorry to see the doubt back in her eyes, "someone could say that."

Kathryn studied him closely and seemed to be battling between doubt and curiosity. "I see I'm going to have to watch myself around you," she said. "You're smart. And, unless you haven't been promoted for the past twenty years, I dare say you outrank me. But we're not in Starfleet now, so what I say goes around here. Understand?"

Chakotay couldn't help smile. Some things never changed. "Perfectly."

"Then I'll go and make the bed."

She looked at him for a long moment, the reels of her mind turning, and then disappeared into one of two doors behind her.

The sound of a door closing woke Chakotay up. In the quiet warmth of the fire, he had fallen asleep.

"I'm sorry," he said, putting his hand to his neck, "I must have dosed off."

"A side-effect of the drugs I gave you," Kathryn said. "They make you sleepy." She saw that Petunia was lying at his feet, sleeping soundly and smiled. "Looks like you've made a friend."

Chakotay looked down at the dog and smiled in return. "Looks like I have."

"I don't know about you," she said, going over to the kitchenette, "but I'm starving. I'd better make dinner. It's almost 7pm."

"That late?" Chakotay asked. "I must have lost a few hours in the temporal jump. It was only morning on..." He was about to say Voyager, but stopped just in time.

Kathryn turned around. "Morning on?"

"My ship," he replied hastily. Then he got to his feet, eager to steer away from the subject. "Let me make dinner for us. I'm a good cook and I'd like to thank you for putting me up like this..."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Kathryn answered. "You suffered a severe trauma. You need to rest." She gave a wan smile. "But thank you for the offer."

Chakotay nodded, a little disappointed, but appreciated the sentiment.

"It shouldn't take me long to replicate something," she continued. "You can check out your room in the meantime. I've made the bed, cleaned the bathroom, and I've programmed the replicator system to give you food and clothes. To activate it, all you need to do is say Beta 4."

""Thank you," Chakotay replied.

Kathryn gestured to the doors behind her. "First left."

Chakotay gave a nod and then made his way to the door.

The bedroom was bigger than Chakotay expected, and very inviting. There was a large double bed with pretty yellow sheets, a pine wardrobe, a chair, a replicator, and to his left there was a glass door leading to a small bathroom. He opened the door and looked inside. There was a sonic shower, a white water-closet, and a matching white sink. Clean yellow towels were on pine shelves behind him, and on a thin shelf above the sink was a yellow soap in a silver tub, a tube of toothpaste, an unopened yellow toothbrush, dental floss, a bottle of shampoo with conditioner, a razor, some shaving essentials and body spray. Beneath the sink there was a large med-kit. Kathryn had clearly tried to provide him with everything he needed.

Above the shelf there was a long mirror, and Chakotay couldn't help looked up at himself in it. He had almost forgotten he was wearing a disguise. He touched his mustache and toyed with the idea of shaving it off, but then thought the better of it. Kathryn was suspicious of him enough as it was. To change his appearance could make her even more so.

Kathryn...

Why had she sent him here? Why had she changed his place of destination at the last minute? Those questions were plaguing his mind. Had the future been altered because of his presence in this time frame, or was his presence here part of history? Was that why she had looked at him so strangely when she arrived at the cargo bay and saw his disguise? Had Kathryn sent him here because she knew he had to be here? Had she known of this the whole time he had known her?

He reached into a pocket in his pants and pulled out his commbadge. He knew that the likelihood of him being able to contact Voyager was negligible, but he felt as though he had to try. He hit the commbadge, activating it.

"Chakotay to Voyager."

As he expected, only silence answered.

Resignedly, he put the commbadge back into his pocket. It would help B'Elanna to locate him and beam him back to Voyager...that is if she could. What if he was trapped in this time-frame? What if there was no way she could beam him back? What if something had happened to Voyager in the time he'd been away and the transporter had been damaged?

Was he doing the right thing to stay here? Should he have taken Kathryn's advice and gone to stay elsewhere? How long should he stay here, waiting for B'Elanna to beam him back, before taking matters into his own hands and either trying to get hold of some temporal device, or going to warn his younger self to not be transported in the first place?

There were so many possibilities, so many questions...

He buried his tired head in his hands and tried to think... But the prevailing image that came to his mind was Kathryn's face when she saw him in the cargo bay. Had she sent him here deliberately? Was all this part of some temporal loop? There was only one way to find out, and that was to stay, at least for the moment.

END OF CHAPTER TWO