Chapter 17

Author's Note: I have decided to ignore a lot of the episodes. I may use some of them…but "The Q and the Gray" won't be one of them.

Kathryn could hardly believe it was already time for her weekly check up again. She was two and a half months along now. She and Chakotay entered sickbay and found the Doctor waiting for them.

"Hello Captain, hello Commander. Captain if you will lie on the biobed, I'll get your exam started."

She got on the bed and lay still as the Doctor closed the arch. He pressed buttons and watched as the data was compiled. His satisfied smile told her all was well. He deactivated the arch and it opened. Chakotay helped her to a sitting position. They both looked expectantly at the Doctor.

"Your pregnancy is proceeding as expected, Captain. Have you had any problems?" asked the Doctor.

"Now that I'm sleeping until I wake up from my nap, I am not feeling so tired. My appetite is bigger than normal. I'm eating a lot more than I usually do," replied the Captain.

"That's to be expected with pregnancy," said the Doctor. "Your weight is on target, so you are clearly consuming the correct number of calories; as long as you continue to follow the recommended diet and stay on target with your weight that is not a problem."

"I had the grab bars installed in my tub that were recommended in the information you gave us to read," she said.

"Good, be sure to use them even now. It's not uncommon for women to have bouts of dizziness during pregnancy. You do need to be careful of water temperature. Too hot of a bath is not good for the baby, as I am sure you've read in the information I gave you," said the Doctor.

"We read that part, Doctor," Chakotay assured him. "The Captain has been really careful since the day she fainted on that planet."

"Well, that's the only good thing that could be said about that," remarked the Doctor. He turned to the Captain. "As I said, everything is proceeding as expected. If you have any problems notify me at once. We're done for today."

"Thank you, Doctor," answered the Captain. She turned to Chakotay. "Time for breakfast and coffee, Commander; shall we?" she asked, putting her arm through his as she had taken to doing.

"Let's go," he answered.

The Doctor watched them leave. He was pleased that the two of them were getting closer. It was clear even to him that they were in love. The baby would surely bring those two together at last.

Later on the bridge, Kathryn watched the view screen as Voyager traveled at warp 9. The new crystals were working even better than they had hoped. She knew Tom was itching to take Voyager to her maximum warp of 9.975, but B'Elanna had recommended they only travel at warp 9 until they could land on a planet and do some routine maintenance and Kathryn had agreed with her. She surveyed all the stations on the bridge. Everyone was actively monitoring their systems and all was as it should be. Then with a flash of light, Q appeared on the bridge.