The Hands of Time
Part X
Rated: MA
Pairing: J/C
Summary: The hands of time stop for no one.
Disclaimer: The characters always belong the Paramount, and some of the script, but the story is mine...thank god for small favours.
Date: November 2000
Length: 1361 words
And I could not ask for more…
Kathryn had spent her life asking for more. The hands of time had been very kind to her in many ways. In others, such was not the case. She had been asking more of herself professionally for more years than she cared to admit. Since her first encounters with Starfleet as a very young child to her first command, then her second…then Voyager.
She was constantly saying I have to do better, I have to be more. But there comes a time, when as Chakotay had said before, the eagle must rest, and so she realized must Kathryn Janeway.
She had beaten the Borg, she had been assimilated. She had been thrown into more dangerous situations than she cared to admit.
She had loved and lost twice in her life. The idea of marriage and children had been all but banished from her life: And then came Chakotay.
He was her last chance at happiness. In the beginning she had thought she could get away without it. She had thought that these things indeed did not matter as much as everyone said they did. She could last without all these things. She could live without all the things in the world that so many people had. She was Kathryn Janeway and for so many years that had been a comfort to her,and enough for her.
The great Kathryn Janeway did not need home, hearth, the things all others needed to survive. Instead all Kathryn needed was…
She thought back and asked herself time and again what exactly it had been that she had thought she'd had. Power wasn't it. Importance? Well of course she had been important. She had had so many people depending on her, so many lives that had needed her, but that wasn't it either. She thought about it. It was the stability. The stability of knowing you had you and only you to depend on and to look after. And now…now she had more.
She had not asked for these things but they had found her. And for that she was glad. She was happy. She turned to Chakotay; she took the child from his arms. The child started to fuss in her arms. She started to sing in a soft voice, she remembered from the planet, he had sung to her, a lullaby, and now she repeated. She loved this child. She kissed the soft skin on the child's forehead. Soft reddish down covering his head that she knew would probably get darker as the child aged.
Blue eyes, which she knew would turn before the child reached a year. Yes for now Ris looked like her, but she knew when he got older he would be the spitting image of his father. She couldn't wait for the day when she could look into his dark eyes and see Chakotay. Her love, forever immortalized in the face of a child.
She felt the tears slide down her cheek; Chakotay approached her. She stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Chakotay, I'm quitting." He looked at her puzzled. "The Fleet Chakotay. It just doesn't mean as much as it once did. Now the eagle must rest, and I've got other things I need to do." She hesitated. "Will you marry me Chakotay? Marry me, we can raise Ris Together, and maybe, someday, we'll have another daughter." She felt the tears continue. "She'll never replace Addy, but…maybe she can supplement our lives just a little more. Make the trip back and the sacrifice just a little easier." He took the child from her hands, now asleep. Chakotay brought him over to the crib where he now slept. He picked Kathryn up and proceeded to take her into the bedroom. As he placed her on the bed, he spoke to her in hushed voices.
"Kathryn, I will love you forever, marry you, make you my wife and give you as many children as you want, or can bear for me." He never questioned her decision to leave Starfleet. He never asked her any questions. Love and marriage were built on trust, and he trusted her, and trusted the decisions she made. Just as he had on the Voyager, he trusted her here: Implicitly.
Three months later on the shores of the Hawaiian paradise, Chakotay lay. The whole of the former bridge crew of Voyager were there. When she looked around, she was surprised how many of them had turned in their commissions upon returning home.
He sat on the shores Kathryn at his side…Ris in the bassinette at their feet, shaded from the sun of the Hawaiian evenings setting. "Kathryn, I love you so much."
She turned to him. On her left hand she wore a band that told them that she was his. That she belonged to him. That she would never leave him. After the nights of torture, the Starfleet trials, they had all been pardoned and Kathryn had been offered a promotion. She had just turned it down, saying now she had others who depended on her and needed her more.
She would could not stop the hands of time, and such being true, neither would she sacrifice her life for those hands, those minutes, those seconds.
There was no way.
She watched as Tom and B'Elanna cuddled on the shores. The waves washing over the couple as they shared their love. Kathryn smiled. B'Elanna had gained her figure back immediately, as had Kathryn for the most part. Unfortunately, that would not be the case for long.
She carried another child for Chakotay. At this thought her hand traveled down her abdomen where their third child lay. A daughter for her Angry Warrior. She had appeased him, and he was full of anger and regret no more.
Chakotay saw the smile creep to his wife's features. "Kathryn what is it?"
She laughed out right and pulled his hand to her stomach where hers contentedly lay. His eyes brightened and his smile widened.
"Kathryn, does this mean Ris might get another sister after all?"
She nodded and pulled him to her. She kissed him full on the lips a kiss full of promise and forgiveness. Full of hopes for the new days.
Yes life in all its forms would continue and so would they all. For the hands of time stopped for no one, but perhaps, for a moment they could slow them to a pace they could all enjoy, and let love flourish in the moments that still existed.
Lying here with you
Listening to the rain
Smiling just to see the smile upon your face
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more
Looking in your eyes
Seeing all I need
Everything you are is everything to me
These are the moments
I know heaven must exist
These are the moments I know all I need is this
I have all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more
I could not ask for more than this time together
I could not ask for more than this time with you
Every prayer has been answered
Every dream I have's come true
And right here in this moment is right where I'm meant to be
Here with you here with me
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've got all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more
I could not ask for more than the love you give me 'Coz it's all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more
I could not ask for more
THE END
I Could Not Ask For More, by: Edwin McCain
