Disclaimer: Paramount is the all knowing, all seeing God, my humble being bows before its greatness.

An epic tale (I use the word loosely), where our 2 favourite commanding officers get it together and have a happy ever after, sorry if that ain’t your thing. There is a bit of sex mentioned nothing really graphic. Spoilers for those who haven’t seen ‘Think Tank’ (well not really, I just brought in a character from it), and also DS9 ‘What you leave behind’ (which if you haven’t seen you really should), if you don’t have at least a cursory knowledge of DS9 then bits maybe way over your head.

I ain’t Shakespeare, I know it and once you’ve read this you’ll know it too. I’d appreciate constructive criticism, please note the word constructive, underneath it all I am a sensitive person. IT JUST WOULD’NT STOP! PLEASE LET ME OUT I’M TRAPPED IN HERE! It may interest you to know that this was stared in one century and ended in another (I’ll not use the M word cos to be honest I’m a little sick of it and I have trouble spelling it).

Any comments good, bad or indifferent to This address

By KittyKat

Kathryn stared absent minded out the window at the passing stars a rapidly cooling cup of coffee in her right hand, her left hand resting on her hip. She sighed deeply and took a gulp of the coffee and grimaced slightly at the taste. Neelix still hadn’t quite perfected the taste but at least it was getting better. Shaking her head slightly as if to dispel her thoughts she walked over to her desk and set the cup down.

‘You can’t hide in your ready room forever Kathryn. The world has got to be faced.’ She thought determinedly to herself as strode to the door, the door swooshed open and Kathryn found herself colliding with something warm and extremely solid. A hand reached out to prevent her from falling and pulled her close.

"Captain are you OK?" Chakotay asked concerned

"Yes, thank you Commander. You may release me now." His hands dropped away abruptly and Kathryn stepped back her face bright red. She looked up at Chakotay unwilling to look him in the eye.

"What can I do for you Commander?" She asked trying to keep her voice controlled. Chakotay starred at her and she dropped her eyes to the ground and began to study an imaginary mark on the floor with great interest. Chakotay put his hand under her chin and gently raised her head until her eyes met his.

"We need to talk Kathryn." He said softly. Kathryn swallowed; she felt a lump in her throat.

"I can’t talk right now. Engineering…. I promised B’Elanna I’d…." she trailed off at the look of annoyance on his face. He removed his hand from her chin and clasped the tops of her arms.

"You’ve been avoiding me for weeks now Kathryn, I never thought that you of all people would run from your problems." He said, an angry tone to his voice. That got her, her eyes flashed briefly and she shrugged off his hands.

"My quarters Commander 20.00. Don’t be late." With that she pushed passed him and stalked towards the turbolift. Chakotay stared after her a faint smile on his lips.

Kathryn sagged against the wall of the Turbolift.

"Engineering." She ordered. She closed her eyes trying futilely to shut out the memories that were assailing her. It had been nearly a month it felt like yesterday. The way his hands felt running over her breasts, the feel of his erection pressing into her stomach, the deep penetrating kisses, the whispered, breathless words…. The turbolift came to a halt and softly slid open. Kathryn quickly composed herself and headed towards B’Elanna who was standing beside the glowing warp core talking animatedly to a young ensign.

"Captain." She acknowledged as she approached dismissing the ensign.

"Lieutenant." Replied Kathryn in greeting.

"I believe that you been having some problems lately?" She proceeded without further ado.

"We have." Confirmed B’Elanna

"It hasn’t been anything major just lots of little ‘hiccups’. The curious thing is that they are affecting all computer systems and appear to fix themselves. I’m not even sure o how long they have going on for because most of it is undetectable, although they have been getting increasingly more serious." Kathryn frowned

"Any idea’s B’Elanna?"

"Not yet Captain but I’m working on it." Kathryn nodded

"Get Seven to give you a hand. I want a report on this within 24 hours before it turns into something really serious." B’Elanna grimaced at the though of having to work with the Borg but replied

"Aye Captain." She tapped her combadge and contacted Seven.

"Computer what time is it?"

"The time is now 19.55," the computer stated tonelessly. 5 more minutes. He was never late. Kathryn drained the last of her coffee ignoring the queasy feeling in her stomach. She didn’t know why she was having such a hard time dealing with this. It was quite simple, she would just tell him to forget that it ever happened, it shouldn’t have happened.

"What if it should have happened?" Her mind whispered traitorously to her. No it couldn’t. In the aftermath she had debated endlessly with herself over the pro’s and cons but it all came down to one thing: Her responsibility to Voyager. She was beginning to hate this ship. The fact that she couldn’t be herself all the time. The fact that she had to keep a tight reign on her emotion, her passion. There were times that she felt more Vulcan the Human. She remembered telling him all of this that night and the way that he had held her close comforting her and she shuddered in longing. The door beeped and she quickly wiped damp palms down her palms.

"Come in", she croaked. The door slid open and Chakotay entered a stubborn expression on his face.

"Commander." She said clearing her throat nervously. She gestured to her couch.

"Won’t you sit down." Chakotay made his way over to the Starfleet standard issue couch and sat down.

"Can I get you something to eat, drink?" Kathryn began to walk over to the replicator.

"I still have some rations left, I’ve gone off coffee a bit and I know that you must want something proper to eat after being in the mess hall…" Chakotay got up and walked over to her. He grabbed her firmly by the arm and led her over to the couch and gently pushed down.

"Kathryn, you’re babbling", he said sitting down beside her. Kathryn took a deep breath.

"Chakotay I know why you are here. She started.

"It’s about what happened between us that night," she paused briefly.

"The thing is that I think that we should forget it ever happened. It was a mistake I think we can both see that." She looked pleadingly at her to back her up. Chakotay looked intensely at her and reached up to tenderly touch her face. His hand moved round to the nape of her neck and slowly pulled her forward.

"Kathryn." He whispered as his lips met hers. Kathryn’s mind screamed frantically at her all the reasons that she had decided that this shouldn’t happen again but already she was lost. His lips moved over hers parting them quickly and slipping his tongue past her teeth, his other hand reached up to cup her breast, running his thumb over the nipple which was visibly hardening through her uniform. Kathryn moaned slightly and moved strained closer. Chakotay lifted her across his thighs so that she straddled him. His erection was pushing against her and she began to rock against him whimpering slightly at the sensation. Chakotay’s hands had moved and were now trying to pull open her jacket; his mouth was on her neck, biting lightly. He suddenly stopped; he raised his head to look directly into her eyes.

"I think we should continue this is in the bedroom", he said softly. Kathryn nodded slowly as Chakotay picked her up and started to walk towards the bedroom.

She awoke slowly aware of a hard warm body curved around her back, a hand curved about her stomach, she arched her back, like a cat, against him. Kathryn stared blankly at the chair near the bed that was draped with his uniform.

‘I certainly can’t blame this on alcohol’, she thought wryly, her hand reached down to gently stroke the hand that covered her stomach. She thought back to the time almost a month ago now, God it seemed longer. They had found a pleasant planet called Keros just inside the Morash system, congenial natives, beautiful landscape, perfect for shore leave. Unfortunately the Keronians had a line in rather potent alcohol, which the two commanding officers did not realise at the time and didn’t feel that they could afford to insult their hospitable guest by refusing the drink. Several glasses later they had made it back to his guestroom and eventually into his bed. The sex had be good, Damn the sex had been good, but she had enjoyed even more the feeling of closeness she had felt when they were talking, and they had talked. Intimate things, emotions, feelings, fears, hopes it had all spilled out, not just from her but from him as well. For that night she hadn’t felt so alone, but she knew it was more than that, far more than that, and that had been what she was most afraid of. They had talked again last night and he had methodically worked through each of her problems, she smiled as she remembered that, he knew how to calm her fears. It had nothing to do with the crew yet he’d said afterwards, but no-one was going to begrudge her happiness and Starfleet were hardly going to condemn her. She was pulled from her reverie by light butterfly kisses along her shoulders.

"I thought we were going to take this slowly." She scolded softly rolling on her back.

"I am taking this slowly." A mock hurt expression on his face.

"I’m going to take this very slowly, in fact it could take hours." She laughed at him.

"That does sound like slowly." He grinned back his dimple showing.

"Permission to continue Captain."

"Permission granted Commander, please continue."

Seven stood in the astrometrics room studying the data in front of her, her brow creased in a frown, she tapped impatiently at the console it had been over 48 hours and still she had yet to find a solution to the problem at hand. They had been trying all the standard purging methods of getting rid of the virus and nothing was working. It was very frustrating. She didn’t like this feeling. She was becoming inefficient. Her only consolation was that she had managed to track down all the faults caused by what Ensign Paris had referred to as a ‘gremlin in the works’, she still didn’t completely understand his archaic sayings, and had informed the relevant areas in case of any repercussions. Her frown deepened in annoyance as the lights suddenly went off. She hit her combadge

"Seven of Nine to Lieutenant Torres…." She began striding out of the room.

Kathryn could here the Doctor sigh heavily in the darkness.

"You know this could begin to get very annoying very quickly Captain. I am a Doctor not a cat I am not equipped for seeing in the dark!" Kathryn shook her head in exasperation.

"I am aware of that Doctor and we are working on it. Now what did you want to see me about?" She put her hand behind her a felt the hardness of the bio-bed, she leant against and crossed her arms. ‘This better be good’ she thought.

"Ah yes", replied the Doctor.

"As you are aware we have been having some trouble with the ship lately." Kathryn rolled her eyes. Receiving no response the Doctor continued.

"Well Seven of Nine reported to me areas of sickbay and the medical equipment that has been affected. Fortunately I have been lucky and so far only things have been affected, please note that I said so far, and both corrected themselves within a couple of hours. One was the amount in your monthly contraceptive hypospray earlier this month, in that there wasn’t enough in it to make it affective. Fortunately I know that this shouldn’t be a problem with you. With Tom and B’Elanna I wouldn’t be so sure." Kathryn was glad the Doctor couldn’t see her face, although she felt as though it was glowing red enough. She cleared her throat and asked cautiously.

"Um Doctor? What was the other thing affected?"

"Oh Commander Chakotay’s contraceptive hypospray, his is due nearly a week after yours as yours and with the same problem, of course that is strictly confidential you understand." The lights can back on that point and the Doctor looked delightedly at the Captain’s now ashen face.

"Doctor we may have a problem", she said quietly.

8 serious faces sat around the large table. B’Elanna was talking

"The problems are getting much worse Captain. Earlier the life support went off line. It may only have been for 30 seconds or so, but next time it could be the warp core shutting down during warp or the antimatter containment fields failing." Kathryn rubbed her temple worriedly

"Seven have you any idea what might be causing this?" She asked almost pleadingly.

"Captain, I have been studying the available data closely and I believe that the ‘incidents’ have been caused by some sort of computer virus, however I am still uncertain as to the properties and therefore I am unable to correct the problem." The rest of the group looked at her in surprise. Chakotay spoke first.

"Are you suggesting that what has been happening is a deliberate act of sabotage?"

"Yes." Seven replied neutrally.

"The incidents do not follow the course of a natural computer malfunction, therefore the computer must have been deliberately sabotaged."

"But who and why would have some of done that," asked Harry bewildered.

"I believe that there are plenty of who and whys Harry" Kathryn said quietly.

"Voyager has plenty of enemies in the Quadrant. If we could find out when it was planted we should be able to trace the who and why. The problem is it could have been in the system for God knows how long." Kathryn got up from her chair and sighed deeply.

"Tuvok you better start looking into this as well. B’Elanna I think you are right about the potential dangers of this. Commander I want you to find the nearest planet that we can set down on until this can be solved. Harry give Seven and B’Elanna a hand and I want every other crewmember you can spare B’Elanna working on this. Inform me of any developments immediately." She turned to face the window.

"Dismissed." Everybody stood and began to leave. Kathryn turned slightly.

"Commander, could I speak to you a moment?" Chakotay waited until everyone left the room. Kathryn stared out at the stars.

"Have you spoken to the Doctor?" She asked trying to keep her voice level.

"Yes, I have. How did you know about it?" He queried. She swallowed and turned round to look at him.

"Same problem", she said softly and watched as shocked comprehension crossed his face.

"Well I guess that would explain why he had been treating me like a misbehaved teenager", he said ruefully. He walked over to her and touched her face gently his expression serious.

"How do you feel about it?" Kathryn dragged her eyes from his.

"How do you feel?" She asked back.

"Kathryn." He reproved softly.

"I don’t know OK. Part of me is happy about it. I would like to have a child before I’m too old. But there’s another part of me that says that this is not the time or the place to having a child. It would not be fair to Voyager and, more importantly, it would not be fair to the child. I don’t know how well I could be a mother and a Captain especially not here in the Delta Quadrant." Chakotay watched her eyes fill up and pulled her too him, wanting her to know that he understood.

"You know that you are not be alone Kathryn? Aside from me, there are a number of Aunts and Uncles for him or her on Voyager. I know I promised that I’d go slowly but I love Kathryn and as much I want this child I will stand by you know matter what your decision." Kathryn hugged him tightly wondering what she had done to deserve him.

"I’d never admit this to anyone else but you Chakotay, but I’m scared."

"I know", he said kissing the top of her head and rubbing her back comfortingly with his hand.

"So am I. But it’s early yet we don’t have to make any decisions right now."

The turbolift doors slid open and Kathryn strode onto the bridge bracing herself against a railing as the ship shuddered violently and the lights flickered briefly.

"Report Mr Paris!" She barked as she made her way down to the Captains chair and sat down, glancing briefly at Chakotay who was standing at Ops.

"We are approximately one hour from the planet Captain, we should make it." They were running at impulse speed now, the warp drive would have been too dangerous to chance. It had taken them a week to get to this planet. Kathryn looked at Chakotay.

"Any more information on that planet Commander?"

"Very little Captain. It’s a standard class M planet. Life signs are restricted to abundant plant and primitive mammal. As far the computer can tell that is it. This may be an opportunity to restock, it’s a lonely area of space."

"That is assuming that we are able to make it to the planet Commander." Stated Tuvok steadily. Tom turned round to look at him.

"Lieutenant Tuvok. Always the optimist", he muttered under his breath.

"I am simply being realistic Mr Paris." Replied Tuvok in the same steady voice. Kathryn allowed herself a small smile at this much-played banter, but the smile soon vanished as the ship shuddered again. She tapped her combadge,

"B’Elanna what exactly is the problem this time?" B’Elanna’s flustered voice came back,

"The fusion reactors powering the impulse keeping turning themselves on and off briefly." Kathryn frowned.

"Are they beginning to overheat at all?" She knew only too well the explosion that could occur if that happened.

"Not yet Captain, we should be OK for another couple of hours. I’m doing my best to keep them going." Kathryn gripped the arms of her chair hoping that B’Elanna was right.

"Take her down slowly Mr Paris", commanded Kathryn as Voyager entered the planet’s atmosphere.

"Aye Captain." Replied Tom and Voyager began her descent, eventually landing with a thud on the surface. There was a collective sigh of relief over the bridge. The crew turned to look at Kathryn expectantly.

"Tuvok, Tom, Harry I want away teams on the surface as soon as possible. I want Neelix down there as well, this could a good opportunity to restock. Report back in two hours. If Seven can’t cure this virus we could be down here for a while." With this she walked to her ready room sitting down abruptly on the chair resting her head in her hands. A few moments later a steaming hot cup and plate of biscuits was placed in front of her. She looked up at Chakotay. He smiled kindly.

"Weak tea and ginger biscuits, a traditional remedy for morning sickness in my family."

"Ginger biscuits?" She asked picking up a ginger biscuit and biting into it.

"Ginger is good for nausea, ask the Doctor." Chakotay sat down opposite her.

"We haven’t had a chance to talk lately", he said seriously.

"Aside from the morning-sickness, how have you been?" Kathryn rolled her eyes and leaned back into the chair,

"I don’t know what to do," She said quietly, Chakotay got up and kneeled down so he was eye level with her,

"About the baby?" His tone was cautious; Kathryn reached across to grasp his hand,

"Everything, the ship, the crew, the baby, this…"signalling with her hands

"Relationship. Everything." Chakotay sat back on his haunches and stated,

"I didn’t know you considered me a problem." Kathryn then reached up to touch his voice,

"That’s not what I meant." She sighed harshly.

"I know we said that we’d take this slowly but I need to be with you right now. I can’t cope with this on my own."

"You know that you’re not on your own Kathryn, you never have been." He said emphatically.

"Of course I know that!" She jumped up from her seat and turned toward the window.

"I just don’t like having to sneak around like a couple of teenagers." She heard him get off the floor and approach her. Then she felt his arm snake around her waist and then heard him whisper into her ear,

"We don’t have to." She turned around in his embrace and looked up at him,

"But what will the crew accept it. This goes against Starfleet protocol." He grinned ruefully and whispered,

"You forget half the crew were Maquis we don’t really hold out much for protocol."

Kathryn matched his smile and said,

"Yes but won’t they think you’ve gone over to the other side."

"Maybe, a long time ago, but we have been out here for five years and how many Starfleet and Maquis have got together? If we were going to mutiny we would have done it already."

"We?"

"We, us, them it doesn’t matter anymore, the lines between the two crews are too blurred now."

"But, what about Starfleet and…" She was silenced by Chakotay’s lips coming down upon hers and all her thoughts dissolved into oblivion.

"Kathryn you talk far too much we have been through this already many times. And I ‘m tired quite frankly though I never thought I would hear myself say that I was tired when it concerned you!"

He walked her gently backwards until her back came into contact with the adjourning bulkhead.

"Chakotay we can’t do this here!" Chakotay looked down at her and whispered,

"Kathryn, you have such a dirty mind. Remember rule number 1." And with that he turned towards the door and walked back onto the bridge. Kathryn watched him as he calmly sat down at his seat and asked for an update, and then said,

"Damn man!" She muttered under her breath storming off the bridge, throwing him a dirty look as she went

Kathryn paced her quarters restlessly. Sometimes he made her so mad. Like the other day when she had tried to set some down some rules for their relationship. She hadn’t got passed rule 1: No sex on duty. He’d laughed, he’d damn near went into hysterics. She supposed it was a stupid thing to say but she needed boundaries. She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. Her she was thinking about her relationship when she more important things to worry about at the moment, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else until she had this sorted in her mind. She was only human as Chakotay kept telling her. She walked over to the replicator and ordered her daily glass of milk she then sat down at her desk and picked up a padd a looked at what she had written. No matter how many times she stared at it, it always came down to one thing; she loved him. Starfleet, duty, the crew none of it matter when it came down to that. It seemed so selfish but she didn’t know how to feel any other way. Maybe he was right and they should the tackle problems as they arise instead of inventing new ones. She set the padd down on the desk and drained the last of the milk. It wasn’t her favourite beverage, but the Doctor had recommended it. The door beeped softly.

"Come in." She said, glancing up. She couldn’t prevent herself from smiling as Chakotay walked in.

"I’m sorry." He said quickly.

"About earlier I mean. I know I shouldn’t tease, and I understand your worries, but I just get so frustrated sometimes. I want to be with you Kathryn. Permanently. I know I said I would take it slowly but I think that it’s too late for that." He glanced at her stomach. Her hand reached up to stroke the still flat plane gently. She looked at him.

"I’m frightened Chakotay. Of my feelings for you, of being pregnant, of the effects. I love you so much sometimes it hurts, I don’t know what I’d do if I’d lost you. That’s why I’ve been backing off and making excuses. I don’t want to back off anymore, I think its like they say ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’". She smiled a little sadly. Chakotay walked over to her.

"Kathryn I can’t promise that nothing will happen to me but I would never willingly leave you." He lifted his hand and rubbed his thumb over her top lip.

"I’m glad to see that you’re listening to the Doctor." Kathryn felt her face turn red and she lifted her hand to rub her top lip.

"You could have told me." She muttered. He smiled.

"You missed a bit." He said, his dimple showing.

"Where?" She asked mortified.

"Right about here." He lowered his head and kissed her gently. Kathryn felt her knees go weak. He really knew how to kiss. She placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away.

"Remember rule number 1 Commander?" She wagged her finger at him and strolled out of the door.

The grass was green, the sky was blue, the water was pink, but two out of three wasn’t bad. Kathryn breathed in the crisp air. It was unrealistic to expect all planets to seem like Earth, but when you were staring out over the horizon at the disappearing sun, and ignoring the three moons behind you, it almost felt like home. Almost. She was standing on the edge of a pool her back to the small wooded area she had tramped through 10 minutes earlier. It was virtually impossible to get lost on this planet even without the small Starfleet markers.

They’d been here for 2 weeks already and they still hadn’t found a solution and, as beautiful as the planet was, it was beginning to feel like a gilded cage. They were lucky they had found a planet so safe. Some of the more optimistic crewmembers were treating it like an extended shore leave, and publicly she had been promoting this view, privately though she had her doubts. She had her top people working on it and they still hadn’t got anywhere and the strain was beginning to show. Tom and B’Elanna were barely talking at the moment but she was going to have a word with them. As rule she didn’t involve herself in her crew’s personal relations, however it was affecting their work and therefore the ship she didn’t have much choice and this was definitely interfering. She smiled as she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"It’s gorgeous isn’t it?" Said a voice behind her. She nodded in agreement.

"How are feeling? How’s the nausea?" Another slipped around her waist to rub her stomach gently. She leant back.

"Fine. I have been following your traditional remedy. I’ve got an appointment with the Doctor in about 15 minutes if you want to join me."

"There’s nothing wrong is there?" His body stiffening in concern.

"No, of course not, just routine, but the Doctor is going to do a visual scan of the baby and I thought that you might like to be there." He relaxed again.

" I thought we were going to wait to find out the sex?"

"We are! The Doctor will conceal any incriminating bits. Besides I thought you were convinced it was a girl?" She gasped as he delicately bit her neck.

"I am! Sort of." He said in a hurt voice. She disengaged herself from his arm and turned round pulling down his head to kiss him firmly.

"We’d better get going. Don’t want to late for the Doctor!" A look of mock horror crossed his face.

"I tremble at the thought!" He grinned and grabbed her hand as they began to walk back to the ship through the trees. Neither saw the brightly garbed Talaxian concealed behind a large bush more than a little bemused by what he had just saw.

The whole crew knew by lunchtime the next day. Neelix had a problem keeping the smallest thing quiet, so he was hardly likely to keep something like this to himself. Chakotay walked into the mess hall to grab some lunch, he was starving as he had missed breakfast this morning, and he grinned as he remembered the reason why. He had the strangest feeling that everyone was watching him. He glanced round briefly and spotted Tom he squinted at him suspiciously; the Ensign had a very knowing smirk on his face.

‘Chakotay you are getting paranoid in your old age.’ He thought to himself. He walked over to the counter picking up a mardi fruit. Neelix suddenly appeared before him nearly dropping the spiky, yellow fruit.

"Hello Commander and how are you this fine morning?" Chakotay could have sworn that Neelix winked at him.

"I’m fine." He muttered quickly grabbing the nearest plate and heading for the nearest empty table. He was half way through his lunch when a shadow fell across his plate. He looked up to see Tuvok standing in front of him.

"May I speak with you Commander?" He asked solemnly.

"Of course Lieutenant", he gestured to the seat opposite.

"What can I do for you?" Tuvok looked unwaveringly at him.

"It has been brought to my attention, that there is a rumour that you are engaged in a ‘relationship’ with the Captain." Chakotay choked.

"And you found this out how Lieutenant?" He had never been very keen on Tuvok, especially the whole spying thing. It didn’t really endear a person to you.

"I believe that it started with Mr Neelix. I felt you should know of this rumour."

"Thank you Tuvok. Do you believe this rumour?" Tuvok raised his eyebrow.

"There is an old human saying ‘there is no smoke without fire’ and while Mr Neelix does have a tendency towards hyperbole I do not believe that he would tell an outright untruth. Would I be correct in assuming that Mr Neelix is accurate in this case?" Chakotay looked him directly in the eye and said quietly and firmly

"You would be correct." He pushed his plate away. This could be the time for some damage limitation. If he could stem the rumour quick enough…

"How many people know of this?"

" I believe Mr Paris is taking bets on the name of the child." Replied Tuvok his face as neutral as ever. Although Chakotay was sure he sensed a hint of disapproval in his voice.

"I think I better talk to the Captain." He said quietly, standing up to leave. If they knew about the pregnancy he needed to talk to Kathryn as soon as possible before she heard about it from anyone else.

Kathryn was sitting at her desk in her ready room. The ship was running on minimal power and she was considering setting up camp on the planet, while they needed the power on Voyager to work on a solution the virus was still attacking the systems. At least down here it was merely an annoyance rather than anything serious as it would have been if Voyager had been travelling. She looked up as her door chirped.

"Come in." She called curious. She bit her lip as Chakotay walked in.

"Kathryn…"

"Chakotay…" they both laughed nervously.

"Seven…"

"Tuvok…"

"You first," said Kathryn.

"No that’s OK you go," replied Chakotay. She swallowed and cleared her throat.

"I’ve just been talking to Seven, and she told me um… of an interesting rumour that is apparently going around the ship." She looked at him.

"Would this rumour happen to involve a certain two commanding officers?" Asked carefully. She nodded.

"I believe I may have heard something similar. How do feel about this rumour?" His eyes were fastened on hers watching for every small emotion.

"I don’t know yet. I think that I will have to let it sink in. See the reaction of the crew."

"Neelix winked at me." He said abruptly.

"Paris smirked. Tuvok was disapproving, but then he always is." Kathryn smiled at him.

"Only with you." She said softly.

"Tuvok’s the security officer, he always knows a heck of a lot more than he lets on."

"Remind me never to play him at poker." Replied Chakotay with a rueful grin. His face grew serious.

"What are we going to do about this Kathryn?" She sighed and shrugged

"Play it by ear." She stood up and walked to him slipping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest.

"It’s like you said. It’s no-one’s business but ours. Besides we are in too deep now to give up what we have because some members of the crew aren’t happy." He rubbed her back with his hand and held her tighter. Reluctantly the broke the embrace. He looked at her strained face.

"Still no break through?" She shook her head a despairing look on her face.

"Seven is trying, she’s been missing her regeneration cycles. I’ve had just had the Doctor on at me complaining about, so I’ve sent her to him and they can discuss it together. I’ve managed to sort Tom and B’Elanna through, because frankly an angry half-Klingon is not what we need right now. At this moment I feel that our only chance is if I get down on my knees and pray. This is a beautiful planet Chakotay and under other circumstances I would be happy to stay a while, but I hate it. It feels like a prison. I just want to get the hell off of here! We did not get all this way to be floored by a lousy virus!" She banged her fist against the table in frustration. Chakotay rubbed her arm comfortingly.

"We’ll find a way. We always do."

"Maybe our luck has run out." Kathryn murmured bitterly. He gently pushed her face up so her eyes met his.

"It has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with this crew and you know it. You have one the best crews in and out of the Federation!"

"I know." She replied.

A tense group of senior staff sat around the oddly shaped table. Kathryn stood at the head of it.

"Seven have you got any further?" She had been asking this question for the better part of the month, but you never know. Seven looked up from her padd.

"I believe I have discovered who planted the virus." The rest of the crew looked at her expectantly.

"Well! Who was it?" Demanded B’Elanna impatiently.

"All the evidence points to Kurros or one of his crew."

"Kurros." Exclaimed Tom puzzled.

"But I thought he and his ‘tank’ were long gone."

"While trying to trace the origins of the virus I discovered that Kurros, or at least his image, had beamed across to Voyager, giving him the opportunity to plant the virus. I shared this information with Lieutenant Tuvok."

"If this were the case why was he not detected?" Asked Chakotay.

"The signature was well hidden to be undetected unless it was being looked for."

"You suspected it was Kurros?" Questioned Kathryn adroitly. Seven nodded in affirmation.

"We have encountered very few races in recent months that would have the technological and mental ability to create such a virus and implant it so that it would lie undetected for so long."

"I would have thought that Kurros would have been able to keep himself undetected." Commented Harry.

"Unless he wanted to be detected," responded Kathryn quietly.

"There would be no point in taking revenge if we didn’t know who was taking it would there? He’s probably gloating right now about this and I hate to give him the satisfaction." Kathryn breathed deeply.

"Captain?" Ventured B’Elanna cautiously. Kathryn turned to her.

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"There is one solution we haven’t tried." Everyone was staring.

"We could shut down and wipe the whole system ship wide." The Doctor looked horrified.

"But that would also mean wiping my memory and new personality files!" B’Elanna pulled sceptical face that spoke volumes and Tom kicked her under the table, flashing her a warning glance. Kathryn grimaced.

"Doctor that is a final resort." She placated.

"But we still haven’t been able to purge the virus and starting from scratch may be our only answer."

"There must be another way!" Cried the Doctor desperately.

"I’ll help. It’s a virus isn’t it? I’m a Doctor that’s what I do. Cure viruses. I think that that is the least you owe to me!" Kathryn considered briefly and nodded.

"OK, we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain and it isn’t an angle we’d thought of. I’ll give you to the end of the week Doctor any help you need, just ask. If there is nothing else…" She paused.

"Dismissed." The room quickly cleared, the Doctor commandeering B’Elanna and Seven as soon before they reached the door. Chakotay gave a brief look at Kathryn before leaving as well. Kathryn turned to the window and stared out at the planet, it made a change in view anyway. It hadn’t been too bad. There had been some covert glances and questioning looks but so far so good. If the senior staff were taking it well, which Chakotay had said they would be ‘another I told you so’ for him, then maybe the rest crew would react the same. Maybe.

The Doctor paced sickbay excitedly. He had it! Unbelievable but true. Eureka! Admittedly it had taken him almost the entire week, but the rest of them had been at it for over a month, not that he was going to gloat about it. Well maybe a little, he did deserve. The crew really didn’t know that they had landed on their feet with him. He had called a staff meeting for 14:00, which was in exactly 10 minutes 12 seconds. Now if Seven would just hurry they had agreed to meet 10 minutes before the meeting. The door swished open allowing Seven to enter.

"Good afternoon Doctor." If the Doctor had a heart it would have skipped a beat.

"Good afternoon Seven. I just wanted to check that there was nothing that you wanted to go over before the meeting starts."

"I believe that I understand what is required." She affirmed briskly.

"Good, good. Well may I suggest that we make a move then." Seven nodded and turned towards the door, missing the Doctors longing look.

Tom was experiencing a weird sense of déjà vu, but then he often did at these meetings. Half the time he had very little idea of what was being talked about it was best just to let the ‘science’ brains get on with it. There was no stopping B’Elanna once she got started. Of course that wasn’t always a bad thing. He was glad they’d made up, if anything it stopped him from feeling so redundant. He was a pilot pure and simple and no amount of working in sickbay was going to change that. He sighed heavily. The sooner they were off this plane the better, it was getting boring and they couldn’t even use the holodeck, not that Harry or B’Elanna wanted to they were always too busy. Whatever the Doctor had to say it better be good. He sat up straight as the Captain entered the room. Now that was something that certainly wasn’t boring. He couldn’t imagine her pregnant, even though she did have that clichéd glow about her, plus that time she had run out of the room hand clasped over her mouth when Neelix had brought in a pot of coffee. And Chakotay, he flicked a quick glance at the first officer, who’d have thought the old guy had it in him, he’d love to be a fly on the wall in that relationship. On second thoughts maybe not, it would kind of be like spying on your parents, he’d done that once when he was younger, accidentally, it wasn’t pleasant, he was still trying to repress that memory. To be honest he’d never really thought they’d ever get up the nerve to actually go for it, they’d been prowling around it since they’d met, sometimes you could have almost cut the sexual tension in the air between them. It was just nice to see two people as happy as he and B’Elanna were. Well most of the time anyway. She did have one hell of a temper when provoked and he did like to provoke her. He caught her eyes with his and leered at her, she frowned severely at him. Love was great.

Everyone was looking expectantly at the Doctor who could barely contain himself.

"As you know the Captain gave me a week to come up with a solution to a problem that you haven’t been able to solve for a month. Needless to say I have found a solution after many sleepless nights and working all hours." No one was willing to point out that as a hologram he didn’t need to sleep and working was what he was designed for.

"As I said in the last meeting it is a virus and viruses are my stock in trade. In most species the best defence against a virus is the bodies natural defences. These are called antibodies. These work by attacking…"

"Doctor!" Kathryn held up her hand to silence the Doctor.

"Could you please just get to the point." He glared at her.

"I was. The point is we need to ‘inject’ Voyager with some antibodies." Tom looked up confused.

"I hate to be the one to state the obvious but Voyager isn’t a person, it’s a machine, I don’t see how you could…" Everyone had turned to look at Seven. The Doctor smiled.

"Precisely. With a little bit of adapting Seven’s nanoprobes should be able to ‘cure’ the ship of the virus." Kathryn nodded in comprehension. She turned to face Seven.

"Are you OK with this? Has the Doctor explained it to your satisfaction?"

"Yes Captain I understand and consent to the procedure." She replied. Kathryn smiled.

"Um, there is one small drawback." Ventured the Doctor carefully. Kathryn stopped smiling.

"Which is?" The Doctor looked nervous, he knew how anxious they all were to be off this planet.

"Well, it will take me a while to adapt Seven’s nanoprobes and then it will take a while for them to fix the problem."

"How long?" She asked.

"I can’t be sure, a month maybe two." Kathryn smiled

"It’s a better alternative Doctor. Well done. At least now that we will be able to get off this planet, another couple of months on it won’t be so bad.

"There is just one more thing Captain…"

Kathryn let out a long sigh as she flopped onto the bed; she rubbed her gently across the slight swelling of her stomach. It was barely noticeable, but it was there and she was proud of it. So was Chakotay, whenever they slept he always had his hand on her belly and his eyes strayed to it sometimes when he didn’t think anyone was watching, of course she was watching, but she didn’t let him know that.

They had been on the planet for 3, nearly 4 weeks, the Doctor informed that Seven’s ‘antibodies’ were doing their job and it was just a matter of waiting. An unfortunate side effect had been that they had all had to move out of Voyager and onto the planet. The area surrounding the ship was littered with temporary structures, most with crewmembers sharing. It had been a severe strain on their precious replicator resources and sometimes frustrating with the virus causing havoc. She and Chakotay had set up a little further away in a secluded area, camping out was nothing new to them but she wasn’t able to have her bath this time, Chakotay catching in the tub was one thing Harry Kim was another. Another thing she wasn’t keen on was this cleaning business, her mother had been big on the whole cleaning your own house, but it really wasn’t for her. Chakotay didn’t mind doing it, especially with her in her condition as he quaintly put it. Something about her pregnancy had brought out the hunter-gatherer type protector instinct in him, which at times could be very frustrating as he kept treating her as if she were made of china, and OK so maybe she liked that a little, sometimes, but not all the time she told herself firmly. So she cleaned, and she cleaned damn well even if she did say so herself, she dared anyone to find a speck of dust in the place, but she didn’t have to like it. She closed her eyes briefly; all that scrubbing had tired her out, if she just rested her eyes for a moment…

It was dark when Chakotay entered the makeshift home. It wasn’t as good as the one on New Earth but still, there were some definite improvements. He had just spent the last couple of hours with Tuvok and Neelix, discussing what they could do to keep the crew occupied and the answer was ‘not a lot’, he didn’t need to be stuck in a small shack with Tuvok and Neelix together for 2 hours to point out the obvious. He was glad Tuvok was sharing with Harry instead of Neelix, the Vulcan would seriously lose it if he was forced to share with the Talaxian, who, to be honest, could only be taken in small doses at the best of times. With nothing to do he would drive the most amicable person insane. He sighed deeply and ran his hand tiredly over his face, they could discuss it all again tomorrow, who ever said being a first officer was easy? It was good to be home. He passed into the bedroom where his eyes fell on the sleeping figure of Kathryn still fully clothed. He grinned ruefully; it was the 2^nd time this week already. They had stopped wearing their uniforms when they had left the ship, they were a little impractical, Kathryn was wearing a pair of close fitting black trousers, made even tighter by the slight swelling of her pregnancy, with a sleeveless waist coat of shimmering bright blue and green. Chakotay was loath to take it off her she looked very sexy like that but he began stripping her and then gently easing her under the cover. He was going to have to talk to her about taking on too much again; he was beginning to sound like a mother hen. He stripped himself and slipped in behind her pulling her to him and lightly cradled her stomach with his large hand, she moaned slightly in her sleep and snuggled closer to him tangling her legs with his. He had never known so much peace, lying here like this, it made him feel that no matter happened everything would be all right if she was with him. Maybe he was getting sentimental in his old age.

Kathryn stretched in the bed arching like a cat and savouring the warmth of the man beside her. She was going to have to get up soon, the sun was beginning to rise so it was nearly 7:00. She had always been an early riser, eager to get up in the morning, but now she was in no rush, which may have had something to do with a certain someone waking her in the early hours of the morning and tiring her out. She got up quickly though when she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. Luckily it passed quickly; it was less frequent now, as were the dizzy spells, in fact she felt better than ever, even though she was stuck on this planet. She dressed quickly and smiled to herself as she walked into the makeshift kitchen and hummed softly to herself, making some herbal tea and a quick fruit salad for breakfast. An arm snaked around her and Chakotay nuzzled her neck.

"Kathryn, you know I love you but you couldn’t hum a tune to save your life." She turned around and punched his arm and he laughed at her.

"Sit!" She ordered, pointing to the small table.

"Aye Captain!" He returned saluting and quickly sitting down. She placed the dishes in front of him and sat opposite.

"So what are your plans for today." She asked him taking a mouthful of the salad.

"Discussions with Neelix and Tuvok again." She looked at him seriously.

"The crew are all adults, with the exception of Naomi and she is easily kept busy. You could just leave them to there own devices. Just think of it as extended shore leave. They don’t need watching 24 hours and there is very little trouble for them to get into here." He sighed.

"I know that, but Tuvok sees trouble around every corner."

"Fine just tell its an order, except for the basic upkeep that needs done on Voyager the crew are officially on shore-leave. Now you can relax a bit more." He leered mockingly at her.

"You always relax me Kathryn. Are you seeing Seven today?" Seven was the only person who stayed on board Voyager mostly because of her need to regenerate, but she was also closely monitoring the progress of the nanoprobe antibodies.

"Yes but not till later, I’ve got reports to go over first." She replied finishing her fruit.

"Could you meet me for lunch? At the clearing? Around 13:00?" He asked. Kathryn looked up at him. He seemed nervous.

"Yes all right." She replied carefully. He smiled with what seemed like relief.

"Good," he nodded, picking up their dishes and hastily cleaning them.

"13:00 it is then." With that he left, leaving Kathryn to stare bemusedly after him.

Chakotay was anxiously pacing around the clearing he had a cloth spread over the ground near the pool, it pink water shimmering in the afternoon sun. His hamper was all set up; all he needed was Kathryn. He’d been going over what he was going to say to her again and again but he still knew that it was going to come out all wrong. His hands were sweaty and he rubbed them down the sides of his trousers. He hadn’t felt this nervous since he’d applied for the academy. He froze as he heard a noise through the forest. This was it.

"Hi." He said quietly as she appeared.

"Hi yourself." She replied. Something was definitely up with him today. He gestured towards the picnic.

"Are you hungry?" She nodded and they sat down and began to eat. After a while Chakotay started to relax and just enjoyed her company, but the end of the meal drew near and the nervousness came back. Kathryn lay back on the cloth resting under the warm sun. Chakotay got up and began to pace.

"Kathryn, I’d like to talk to you about something." She sat up on her elbows.

"As you may have realised, the crew has taken us being together quite well, and we are really good together and with the baby… I know it sounds old-fashioned but…" He paused and took a deep breath

"Would you marry me?" He said quickly. Kathryn looked stunned.

"Yes." She said quietly

"Now I know I said we would take this slowly and I know that I haven’t, but I don’t see any reason stopping us, but if you don’t want to, I’ll understand… Did you just say yes?"

"Yes." She stood up and walked to him, taking his face in her hands she kissed him deeply.

"Yes. I would have thought that it was clear that I had no aversion to marriage. Everything you said is true. There is nothing stopping us. Well except for the fact that I’m the Captain and I can hardly perform my own marriage." Her eyes were misted.

"We can complete the marriage rites of my people instead if you want." She nodded.

"You’d prefer that wouldn’t you? What does it involve?"

"It entails standing before the tribe and stating your intention to be man and wife." He told her.

"Sounds simple enough."

"There used to be more to it. Like the trading of property between fathers, but it hardly applies with." Kathryn looked melancholy for a moment

"I would have liked my father to be there. Do you think they would have got on? Our fathers I mean." Chakotay smiled ruefully

"I doubt it. But they probably would have enjoyed that." He held her close, savouring the warmth of her.

I tried to finish it I really did but it just kept on coming. Sorry.

Kathryn smiled contentedly to herself as she looked around the assembled crew before her. She wore a simple flowing dress of deep blue which reached her ankles. It was her nod to tradition, besides Chakotay seemed to like it. They stood near Voyager in the rest of the crew surrounding them in a circle. They had decided to have a legal ceremony afterwards with Tuvok presiding but Kathryn felt that this was more meaningful. They faced each other. Their right hands had been bound together to symbolise their being bound together as one and they had drunk from the same cup to signify sharing, all that was left was to state their intention to marry. Chakotay was looking deeply into her eyes. He began

"I Chakotay claim this women as my own." Kathryn was completely mesmerised by his loving stare and completely missed her cue.

"Oh um…" She stuttered going red as she realised that everyone was looking at her.

"I Kathryn Janeway claim this man as my own." Chakotay kissed her quickly. He knew that she was still a little uncomfortable about being affectionate in public but he couldn’t resist. She grinned at him.

"So am I Mrs Chakotay or are you Mr Janeway now?" She asked teasingly. Tuvok began to unwrap their hands.

"How about both." He replied stroking her face gently. He reached down and took her hand turning to face Tuvok. Kathryn aware that her friend did not approve of the match, and she was sorry that he could not share in her happiness, but he had agreed to legally marry her and Chakotay so at least she knew that he accepted that they were together. She only hoped that as time passed he would realise that she was happy and she wasn’t about to let her relationship with Chakotay affect the way she commanded the ship. She was snapped back to attention as Tuvok cleared his throat and Chakotay tightened his grip on her hand.

"We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of…"

Neelix had prepared a feast for the reception using foods from the planet. Everybody was in high spirits so the taste of the food wasn’t all that important, but it was still amazing how some one could turn naturally delicious food into something so unappetising. Still there was some Mardi fruit on the planet and no matter what Neelix did to the yellow, spiky fruit (TWICE IN THE SAME STORY, IS THERE AN AWARD?) it was still tasty. It was the most popular dish in any known quadrant. This was a double celebration. The Doctor had just pronounced Voyager ‘cured’ they could get back up ‘there’. Kathryn was anxious to get off the planet so they weren’t going to have much of a honeymoon, but she had promised Chakotay a weekend to remember on the next pleasant planet they came across, which had appeased him slightly. She was loath to admit but the fact he was nearly unable to keep his hands off her did wonders for her ego. Of course she was doing wonders for his as well, ever since they’d sat down at the table her hand hadn’t left his thigh. She wondered if he was going to make his speech sitting down, or should she move the vase of flowers that Neelix had put on the table over to the left a bit? She grinned wickedly to herself; maybe she’d just let him suffer a little. She hadn’t felt this happy since…she didn’t think she’d ever been this happy, even with Justin or Mark. At this moment she didn’t really care if they got back to the Alpha Quadrant or not, and she didn’t think Chakotay did either. But it was something that she owed the crew and something that she had been fighting for for over 5 years now, she wasn’t the type of person to give up after all they had been through.

The party went on for most of the night, although the newlyweds had retired a number of hours earlier, because of Kathryn’s ‘condition’, which met with a number of sceptical looks. Tomorrow was a new day in more ways than one.

(Leigh, I please note that I was thinking of you)

Kathryn sat studying the pad in her hand. She was sitting at the desk in her ready room drinking coffee and reading reports, one of the few benefits of being heavily pregnant was that it was now OK to drink coffee admittedly it was in small doses but it was better than nothing. Chakotay was now acting Captain and Tuvok acting first Officer, she would like to be a fly on the wall whenever they were both on the bridge. There had been a mutual decision that as she was now in her 8^th month she should restrict her self to desk duties. She hadn’t actually had a say in this mutual decision, and although she understood it, it was driving her mad. She needed to be on the bridge commanding, she was the Captain for heaven’s sakes, it was what she did best. But faced with a joint front from Chakotay, the Doctor and that traitor Tuvok, she’d had little option and to slight her even further, they were doing a damn fine job without her presence. Well that was just fine, they hadn’t had a major problem to cope with since the virus, but if they did, they would coming running to her for help before you could say ‘Captain we’ve got a problem’, she’d bet on it!

Kathryn grimaced as the baby gave her a hard kick and rubbed the spot gently through the material. It wouldn’t be long now, the thought made her feel a little apprehensive, if she honest, she was terrified of the whole thing. Being a Captain was one thing being a mother was something entirely different, at least you were trained to be a Captain. It was at times like this that she wished her mother was here, just so that she had some one that she could talk with, ask questions. There were women she could talk to aboard Voyager, some had children back home, a couple of the female crewmembers with shorter gestation cycles than humans had already given birth. The result of her union with Chakotay had been a rise in shipboard marriages, including Tom and B’Elanna, who was also pregnant. Voyager was becoming a family ship and she wasn’t sure if it was for the best. Yes everything had been quite for the past months, but experience had taught her that danger was never far around the corner, could she possible justify risking the lives of children if push came to shove? She wondered how those ships that did support families, most notably the Enterprise, coped with having the added responsibility of civilians instead of just trained personnel. It couldn’t be an easy task and it must be something their Captains took into account in every situation. She sighed and rubbed her temple, they’d cope, as Chakotay said they always managed to find a way and this was no exception.

"Captain could you come to the bridge?" Kathryn was snapped out of her reverie by Tuvok’s voice floating across the comm.

"Of course." She replied puzzled. What was going on? Maybe she was right, first sign of trouble and thy needed her. She levered herself up from her chair, glad that no one was there to see her. One thing she hated about being so pregnant was that as she was slightly built her stomach was massive and she had trouble moving about with it, she felt like an overweight Horta. She made her way, slowly, onto the bridge. She looked at the crew who were smiling a little suspiciously.

"Report Commander." Both Tuvok and Chakotay both began to speak and she held up her hand.

"Sorry Acting Commander Tuvok." Tuvok raised his eyebrow in what could be called amusement, but as he was Vulcan naturally it was nothing of the sort.

"Sensors have picked up what appears to be a wormhole approximately 2.5 light years from our current position. Kathryn tried to not get her hopes up. It had happened so many times before and they had all come to nothing this could be the same. She looked at Tuvok.

"Have you scanned it yet?"

"Ensign Kim is doing so now." Kathryn nodded and looked at Chakotay, she could see that he was struggling to conceal is excitement.

"On screen Harry, I want to see it." Harry brought it up on the viewscreen and Kathryn held her breath as she stared at the sight in front of her.

"Have you ever seen anything more beautiful." Whispered Tom awed. Kathryn smiled slightly. The wormhole itself was not all that interesting to look at, it resembled something like a black and was certainly nothing like the wormhole near Deep Space 9, but it was what this innocuous looking, cosmic event promised that made it so wondrous.

"Captain, the scans are complete." Stated Harry looking up from his console.

"And?" Asked Kathryn

"So far so good. It is certainly large enough to take us. It is also nearly as stable as the Bajoran wormhole, however we still don’t know where we’ll end up. We are going to have to send in a probe." Chakotay and Kathryn exchanged glances. Chakotay tapped his commbadge.

"B’Elanna we need a probe set up and ready to go ASAP." Kathryn turned to Harry.

"You said it was nearly as stable as the Bajoran wormhole. IS there any indication that this isn’t any natural phenomenon?" Harry shook his head.

"Not from the preliminary scans, no but the information from the probe should tell us more."

"Once we start receiving communication back from the probe I want you and Seven to get working on it. I know it’s hard," she said to the bridge crew.

"But we shouldn’t get our hopes up too much, for all we know this wormhole could take us back to where we started. Its important to remember what has happened before." Kathryn knew she sounded cruel, but in the long run it was better if they didn’t set their hopes too high.

"Tom take us in closer." She ordered.

"Aye Captain." He replied immediately setting the course. Kathryn turned to Chakotay.

"I’ll be in my ready room, call me if there’s any progress." As she turned to leave he grasped her hand briefly, looking in his eyes she realised that this could be, if not a way home then at least a step forward.

The senior staff were gathered in astrometrics. It had taken a while but finally all the data from the probe had analysed. They were waiting impatiently for Seven and Harry to begin. Kathryn looked at Harry he was smiling, that was definitely a good sign. Everyone was staring expectantly at him.

"Seven and I have examine the data from the probe and the wormhole leads into the edge of the Gamma Quadrant. " Seven briefly tapped the console and brought up the location. Everyone’s faces fell as they saw the location; it would be like starting back at the Array. Kathryn looked at Harry he was still smiling.

"I haven’t finished. From here we are only 10 light years from the Bajoran wormhole." Seven tapped the console again to highlight the position of the wormhole. Everyone looked speechless but not for long.

"What about the war with the Dominion?" Began B’Elanna.

"Aren’t they based in the Gamma Quadrant? How do we know if we are going to be able to get within 10 light years of the wormhole?"

"I believe that may be a risk we have to take." Replied Tuvok.

"Besides the war may be over by now." Interjected Tom optimistically. B’Elanna looked at him.

"Yes but in whose favour?" Chakotay, who had so far been silent, turned to Harry.

"How stable is that wormhole Harry." Harry crossed his arms his earnest smile subdued.

"The wormhole is stable at the moment, put it will only last 3 maybe 4 days.

"Would it be possible to send a deep space probe in and still receive information?" Harry considered it.

"Yes it should be. It could take awhile though, it would depend on the strength of the signal, it may take up to 24 hours to get a response." Chakotay turned to Kathryn, she nodded.

"That sounds like the best option. I don’t want to be going into another region of space blind. Get on it." She turned on her heel and strode out of the astrometrics lab without another word. The rest followed suit soon after.

An air of nervousness settled over the crew. It so much the fact this was the closest they had been to been to getting home since they’d ended up in the Delta Quadrant, but more the fact that they might actually get there. What did the future hold? The Maquis crew were uncertain for the future. What did they have to go back to? Many of their families were dead, the Maquis had been decimated, they had no homes to go back to. And how would they be received? With open arms or thrown in the nearest rehabilitation camp. For all they knew the Cardassians had won the war, what would be the point or returning then? The Starfleet crewmembers faced uncertainties as well. Would their families be glad to see them after so long? Would the relationships they had formed onboard Voyager continue after they got back? Kathryn was feeling both sides. She didn’t really believe that Starfleet would arrest the Maquis. Not after all that had happened, but she was worried for their future. Although the Alpha Quadrant was a damn sight safer than the Delta Quadrant. Well it had been, but with the Dominion war was anything certain? She rubbed her belly, what would it all mean for her and Chakotay? However the stubborn part of her passed on from her father, demanded that she get her crew back home, now was not the time to be faint hearted. They were a damn fine crew and whatever came their way they would handle it.

The call came at 05:00. Harry was summoning the senior crew. They all arrived in the conference room in record time, Tom and Chakotay still pulling their jackets. As soon as they had all arrived Harry launched in.

"All clear." He grinned then continued.

"The sensors picked up some space travel but so far no Dominion." Kathryn nodded.

" We’ll proceed." She knew they had fears, she could see on their faces but her tone brooked no argument.

"I’ll make an announcement to the rest of the crew. However, just in case, I want this ship running at peak efficiency in case we do run into trouble. We’ll depart at 09:00." She looked around; excitement was mingled with fear.

"Dismissed." They all hurried away. Only Chakotay remained. When the door finally slid shut he took her in his arms.

"You did it Kathryn. When others would have given up long before you did it." He said quietly.

"Chakotay, I am so afraid." She whispered. He rubbed his hand comfortingly up and down her back.

"Of what will happen. To the crew. To us." Chakotay set her slightly away from him and looked down into her eyes.

"No matter what happens, I will never willing leave you Kathryn. Do you understand that? Not Starfleet, not the Cardassians, not the Dominion. Do you remember the story I told you on New Earth? About the warrior? I will always be with you." He kissed her then, gently, as if she were made of glass. Of course Kathryn, being Kathryn would stand for that and responded by pushing him against the nearest bulkhead, kissing him ardently. Chakotay smiled against her mouth; damn did he love his wife.

The Bajoran wormhole was open before them. It seemed as those everyone on the bridge, the ship for that matter, had stopped breathing. The air was thick with tension. Kathryn had decided against making contact through the wormhole, aside from the fact that they didn’t know what lay ahead, she wanted to make an entrance. She took a deep breath.

"Mr Paris engage." She said. She then grimaced at the pain in her side. There had better be nothing unexpected at the other end of this wormhole as she had a feeling she was going to be fully occupied. The ride was bumpy, although Tom did his best, but thankfully it was quickly over and they came through the other side. Time stood still for a moment and on screen was the most beautiful sight in the world. Deep Space 9. She noticed a number of ships in her docking bay most notably a couple of Starfleet vessels, slightly battered but Starfleet nonetheless. Kathryn could sense everyone’s relief, as all seemed quiet.

"Mr Kim open a communication channel."

"Aye Captain."

"This is Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager, asking permission to dock." A Bajoran woman, dressed in red appeared on the viewscreen.

"This is Major Kira Nerys commander of DS9." She took in the outdated uniforms they were wearing.

"That wouldn’t happen to be the USS Voyager that went missing in the badlands 6 years ago?" Kathryn smiled.

"The very same." She answered. The Major Kira smiled reminiscently.

"I remember Captain Sisko saying that you had made contact from the Delta Quadrant. I guess you found a short cut." Kathryn rubbed her stomach as a fierce pain gripped her.

"It’s a long story Major." Kira nodded.

"I guessed it might be. We’ll clear a space for you."

"Thank you Major." Replied Kathryn.

"Oh and Captain. Welcome home."

Finis

(04/01/00)

Finally it has ended. I’m sorry but I couldn’t leave our brave crew languishing in the Delta Quadrant, had to get them back, at least once.