Warning: This chapter sensitive material regarding pregnancy complications.

Chapter 5

Kathryn Janeway was soaking in her tub. The warm water felt so good to her sore back. In seven months, she might not have time to indulge herself. Between being the Captain and a mother, she'd be really busy. Yes, Chakotay would help with the baby, but unless things changed, she would be the primary caregiver of their daughter.

She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Looking down, she noticed blood mixing in with the water.

"No," she gasped. "NO!!" She stood up and felt a hard contraction. A tiny perfectly formed miniature human slipped from her body and fell in to the bloody water.

"NO! NO!" Then she screamed.

Chakotay was just outside her door and heard her scream. Hurriedly putting in his override code, he rushed inside. As he got to her bedroom door, he saw her sitting up crying.

"Kathryn, what's wrong?" He asked as he rushed to her bedside and pulled her into his arms.

"The baby, I had the most awful nightmare," she gasped through her sobs. "I dreamed I lost the baby." She buried her face in his chest.

"Shhh, it's okay. It was just a dream. Why don't I run you a nice warm bath?"

"No!" she cried as she pulled back.

"Kathryn?"

"In the dream, I was in my bathtub. I noticed the water getting bloody…I stood up…then…then…I had hard contraction…the baby fell down into the bloody water…" She began crying harder.

"Shh, shhh, it was only a dream."

She shuddered and kept crying. He held her close and rocked her back and forth. After a while, her breathing evened out, and he realized she had gone back to sleep. He eased her back down on the bed and covered her. He gently kissed her on the forehead and quietly left her quarters.

He walked into sickbay. The Doctor was in his office, and Chakotay walked right in.

"What do you need, Commander?"

"The Captain just had a pretty intense nightmare about losing the baby. Everything is okay with the baby isn't it?"

"The baby is fine, Commander. It is not unusual for a pregnant woman to have such nightmares. In the Captain's case, her scare today probably triggered the nightmare."

"That's good to know." He shook his head. "We tried to talk her out of beaming down. She is so damned hard headed about things."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're not telling me anything that I don't know. That's why when I took her coffee away for twenty-fours that I didn't say anything to her about it."

Chakotay chuckled and tugged on his ear. "Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon. I could almost see the steam pouring out of her ears when the computer informed her."

"I imagine it did. As long as her electrolyte balances are normal when I check her in the morning, she will be able to have coffee again."

"That's good, I don't think anyone wants to work with a caffeine deprived Captain Janeway."

Both men laughed. "Well, Doctor, I need to get back to the bridge. I had gone down to get a PADD out of my quarters when I heard her scream." He turned and left sickbay.