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Disclaimer: Paramount owns the show and the characters, who in
turn own too much of me. NOTE: For my friend, Sylvia, who enjoys J/C fan fiction and has a wonderful ear for listening to a writer's complaints, especially when J and C won't do what the writer wants them to! Slim ChanceThe day was bright and warm, and Kathryn Janeway thought it had never felt so good to be away from the ship. The twin suns surrounding the planet were far enough away so as not to make the day too warm, and the air felt fresh and invigorating. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was a definite aroma that was almost recognizable. She took another deep breath. There. It almost smelled like lavender, yet not quite as sweet as real lavender. When Kathryn opened her eyes again, she found herself looking into the smiling face of her First Officer. "What are you smiling at?" she asked him, trying to act as though it were an everyday occurrence for her to stand in one place and breathe deeply, over and over again. "Nothing, Captain. Just wanted to make sure you're all right." But he remained smiling just the same. "I'm fine, Chakotay. Now, take a deep breath and tell me what you smell." Chakotay took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When he remained silent, Kathryn asked, "Well?" Putting his finger to his lips, admonishing her to be quiet, he closed his eyes gently and breathed deeply again. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at an impatient Kathryn Janeway, then shrugged. "What do you mean you don't smell anything? Chakotay! It smells like lavender! Now, come on. Try again." This time both officers closed their eyes, took a deep breath and slowly let out their breath again. When they opened their eyes only a moment later, Chakotay merely looked at his Captain as though she were imagining things. "Ah, hey, ah...Captain, Commander...is this a private party, or can anyone play?" Captain Janeway turned to see an amused Tom Paris standing only a few feet away. "Ensign, what's the status?" she asked, ignoring his question, which was often necessary to do with Tom Paris. "We're ready to go, Captain. The last Away Team is readying for beam up right now. You and the Commander are the last ones, and if I were you I wouldn't waste too much time in getting back to the ship. That might be the one thing that could send Tuvok over the edge." "Thank you for your opinion, Ensign," Janeway said in her best command voice, adding just the right amount of steel Tom always seemed to need from her. "We're right behind you." "All right then. See you back on Voyager." With that, Tom Paris started off to rejoin the rest of his Away Team, with a smile on his face. It was so obvious that the Captain and the Commander were involved in one of their little good-natured games. The Captain always lightened up a bit when she got off the ship, which wasn't often enough, if you asked Tom. He sighed. That was one of the burdens of Command, he mused. For the most part, both Chakotay and Tuvok were dead set against the Captain venturing off the ship for an Away Mission. They had finally relented this time since the M-Class planet they were currently on was completely uninhabited except for a few forms of plant life. Tuvok and Chakotay had both agreed that an hour or so planetside, under the watchful eye of Commander Chakotay, wouldn't likely endanger the Captain. As Tom reached the other members of his Away Team, he turned to look once more in the direction of the Captain and the Commander. He wouldn't want the Captain's job, that was for sure. She had the burden of making certain the entire ship ran efficiently each and every day. And being lost in the Delta Quadrant didn't afford her much time off from duty. He shook his head and wondered, not for the first time, just how she managed to do it. He knew that from time to time it got to her. Hell, it would get to anyone. But she was more resilient than most. Besides, she had Chakotay to lean on. Over the years, the Captain had finally let her guard down just enough to allow the Commander to take some of the burden from her. When that had happened exactly, Tom couldn't be sure, but it wasn't until they had been stranded in the Delta Quadrant for a good couple of years. Maybe the Captain had just finally realized she couldn't shoulder the entire burden alone any longer. No one could isolate themselves from others indefinitely, and certainly not Captain Janeway. Maybe she had once thought she could remain alone on Voyager, but Tom had noticed the look of loneliness in her eyes once or twice early on. But these days, it seemed as though Chakotay had taken some of that loneliness away from her. Somewhat, at any rate. Tom sighed. Many of the Voyager crew spent a considerable amount of free time speculating on the relationship between the Captain and the Commander. It was an often-discussed topic, and one that had provided many hours of amusement and debate for the sometimes bored crewmembers. Tom himself had instigated many of these discussions, and usually managed to get some sort of bet going regarding their interactions. For example, one current bet on the books questioned how long it would be before the Captain asked the Commander to her quarters again for a late night of reviewing crew reports. She seemed to do that on a more frequent basis these days. At least Tom thought so, and that discussion one night in the mess hall with several of the beta shift crewmembers had prompted the bets being placed. Within a couple of hours, crewmen from all over the ship were placing their bets on the encoded betting channel. Whoever among the crew wanted to get in on a certain pool would bet their replicator rations, and then the 'wait and watch' game would begin. Usually the alpha shift Bridge crew had the advantage of listening to conversations between Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, and often either Tom or Harry would be able to grab onto what was considered "insider information." Tuvok was also within range to hear some great conversation between the two Command chairs, and his heightened sense of hearing would make it even better, but unfortunately Tuvok would never become involved in Tom's betting pools. In fact, Tom knew that the Vulcan pretended not to know about the betting that went on, but Tom suspected that Tuvok was keeping a close watch over the games anyway. And although Tuvok was known to faithfully alert the Captain to any wrongdoings on Voyager, maybe even Tuvok realized that the crew needed a harmless diversion these days. Whatever the reason, at least the Captain didn't know about it. If the Captain ever found out about Tom's betting pool, the entire operation would be closed down immediately, and Tom would be in deep trouble. After all, five years ago, Commander Chakotay had put him on report for doing just this same thing, and Tom knew that Chakotay had informed the Captain of the situation afterward. True, he was working under cover as a ship's spy at the time, but the Captain had later informed him that this did not mean he could involve the entire crew in his betting schemes. She was adamantly against his corrupting the entire crew. Replicator rations were scare enough; she didn't need Tom Paris convincing other crewmen to give theirs up to him through some sort of illegal betting practices. No, this time, she wouldn't send Chakotay to take care of it. This time she would take care of it herself, and he'd have hell to pay. And as much as he hated to disappoint the Captain, he just couldn't help it that he was a man who lived on the edge. Shaking his head, Tom crossed over to his group and picked up the remaining containers of plant life they had collected for Neelix's kitchen and for the hydroponics bay. With luck, they would be able to replicate this environment in Voyager's hydroponics bay so the young plants would grow strong and healthy, thus reproducing vitamin-enriched food products that Neelix would later destroy in some concoction he'd create in his kitchen. Ah, the complexities of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Tom had never been happier in his life. Tapping his comm badge, Tom gave the order to beam his team back up to Voyager. ***** Meanwhile, the Captain and Chakotay were slowly making their way to the beam-up site that Tom and his team had just vacated. "Wait a minute," said Kathryn. Both she and Chakotay stopped suddenly. "Chakotay, the scent is very strong here. Don't tell me you can't smell it at all?" Chakotay took another deep breath. "Sorry, Captain. Maybe I've just forgotten what lavender smells like." "I can't believe that. How can you forget what something smells like?" She looked at him then, for a good long moment. Then she took a step closer to him and peered intently into his eyes. "I think you are just trying to convince me that you don't smell anything. I think you smell it just fine." "Captain, really. I don't smell anything remotely like lavender." It took all his resolve to keep a straight face. She really was beautiful when she was frustrated. "Fine. Whatever you say." The Captain threw up her hands in a gesture that usually meant 'forget it,' but Chakotay knew Kathryn Janeway well enough to know that the topic was anything but closed. The two commanding officers continued up the hill to the beam-up site at the top. They were indeed the only ones left on the planet, and the suns were just starting to set in the north as they reached the site. The Captain slapped her comm badge. "Voyager, two to beam up." "Acknowledged, Captain," came the voice from Voyager's transporter room. In another instant, the forms of Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay shimmered into the waning light, then reappeared only moments later in the transporter room aboard Voyager. "Chakotay..." began the Captain, as she stepped off the transporter pad and down into the room itself. Suddenly, the Captain stopped and gently put her hand out to touch the wall on her right. She shut her eyes momentarily, trying to stop the strange feeling of dizziness that had taken her unaware. Chakotay was beside her in the next instant. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Kathryn? Are you all right?" he asked softly. The Ensign assigned to the transporter room for the alpha shift stood by in case he was needed, watching the Captain, and holding his breath. He had heard the Commander call the Captain "Kathryn" and knew that the Commander was terribly shaken. Commander Chakotay would never have made the error of referring to the Captain by her first name in front of any of the other crewmembers, if he were thinking rationally. "I'm fine, Commander," said the Captain finally. She opened her eyes and slowly let go of the wall. "I just felt dizzy for a moment. Not used to being in the sun anymore, I suppose." "Maybe we should stop by Sickbay..." began Chakotay. "No, thank you. I've had a lovely day, and I don't want it spoiled by the Doctor telling me I'm not eating properly..." She began to walk forward as Chakotay took his place at her side. Then suddenly, Kathryn Janeway grabbed at the wall again as she began to fall. But this time, Chakotay was ready and caught her in his arms as he yelled over his shoulder to the young Ensign on duty, "Ensign! Beam us directly to Sickbay!" "Aye, Sir!" As the Ensign manipulated the instruments, then watched silently as the Captain and Commander shimmered out of the transporter room, he finally realized he'd been holding his breath the entire time. He let it out slowly, hoping like hell the Captain was all right. If anything happened to her, he knew the entire ship and her crew would suffer greatly. Nothing against Commander Chakotay and his abilities, but the Captain was fearsome and determined, and nothing would stand in her way of getting her crew home again. ***** "I don't know, Doctor. I just felt faint for an instant and my vision became blurred. Then, after stopping for a moment, my vision cleared and I started for the door. That's all I remember." Captain Janeway was sitting on the edge of a biobed in Sickbay as the Doctor ran what seemed to be endless scans over her entire body. Chakotay stood several feet away, watching and listening, with a worried look on his face. "Hmm. According to Commander Chakotay, that's when you fainted," said the Doctor, continuing his scans as he spoke. "I told you, Doctor. I'm all right. I feel fine now." "Yes, but even if that's true, there has to be a reason for you to have fainted into the Commander's arms a few minutes ago." "Doctor, it wasn't quite that melodramatic..." the Captain began, but the Doctor ignored her. "And my scan shows that, although you did not have a substantial breakfast, as usual..." here he gave her one of his 'I told you something would happen' looks, then continued, "You have enough sustenance in your stomach to prevent dizziness from a mere transport. No, there has to be something else..." "Doctor..." the Captain tried again. "Wait. What's this?" The Doctor continued to scan the Captain's body, although he seemed to concentrate his efforts on her stomach and abdominal areas. The fact that he was still ignoring her pushed her best behavior to the extreme. She knew she was not going to be able to hold her irritation in check for very much longer. Commander Chakotay moved closer to the Captain and the Doctor, with unanswered questions in his eyes. The Captain sighed. She felt totally surrounded, yet completely alone, since no one was paying the least bit of attention to anything she said. Finally, the Commander could wait no longer. "What did you find, Doctor?" "I'm not sure. Some readings are slightly irregular, but that's not altogether unusual only moments after a transport." The Doctor shut off his scanner and walked over to his instrument table. "Then that's that." The Captain slid off the biobed, obviously intending to leave the room. "Wait a moment, Captain. I'm not finished with my examination. Please get back on the bed." The Doctor turned his back to her then, knowing that she wouldn't be happy with his request. In fact, he knew that she knew that he had every right to order her back onto the bed if she did not comply willingly with his request. He waited patiently while she made her choice. Chakotay held his breath, willing his body to stay where it was. He wanted to lift Kathryn in his arms himself and sit her back on the bed, but he knew that this would only make her angry. She was completely capable and did not like to be catered to. To his relief, Captain Janeway lifted herself back up onto the bed without further comment. The Doctor, instinctively knowing that the Captain was once again on the bed, turned back to her with a larger, more localized, scanner. "Please lie down, Captain." As the Captain took a deep breath and lay back on the bed, the Doctor continued to speak as he scanned her upper torso and abdominal areas. "I'm taking some active scans so that I can study them after you've gone. I will make them interactive with the computer system and feed them into the medical database so that an hour from now they will look as they should, without showing signs of transport interference. Perhaps then I will be able to determine what caused you to faint. There. That should do it." The Doctor shut down the scanning device. "You may sit up now, Captain." As the Captain sat up on the bed, the Doctor continued. "I will let you know when I have completed my examination of these scans, Captain." "Thank you, Doctor," said the Captain, as she pushed herself off the biobed to stand between the Doctor and Chakotay. "Meanwhile, since you obviously skipped lunch again, may I suggest you eat something light now, and then remember to eat dinner this evening, as well," said the Doctor. Then he looked at her with meaning, and said in that superior manner he seemed to have perfected: "A substantial dinner." "Of course, Doctor. Thank you," said the Captain, giving no indication she registered the meaning behind the Doctor's words. "I will see that the Captain has something to eat, Doctor. We'll head for the mess hall after we leave here," said Chakotay, as Kathryn sighed. "Good. And if you don't mind, Commander, since the Captain should also lie down and rest for awhile, I would feel better if you also escort her to her quarters after she has had something to eat. Just in case she should feel lightheaded again." "Of course, Doctor." Chakotay turned to Kathryn then and held his arm out for her to take. She bristled a moment, then grudgingly took his arm and they headed out the doors and into the corridor, with the Doctor smiling after them. When they were safely outside Sickbay, Kathryn let go of Chakotay's arm and turned to him. "All right, I'm fine now. There's no reason for us to continue this charade, Chakotay." "I don't know what you're talking about, Kathryn." "Look, Chakotay, I appreciate what you did in there just now. But I'm not hungry. I promise I will eat later. All right?" "No, not all right. I promised the Doctor I would take you directly to the mess hall, and that's where we are going." "Chakotay..." "Look, Kathryn, you can order me to walk away if you want to. But then I'll be forced to let the Doctor know you pulled rank on me, and he'll have to deal with it from there. It's up to you." He watched her face go through a thousand emotions as she considered her options, before reluctantly taking his arm again, and sending him a look that was definitely set for stun. "I will get even with you for this, you know," she said under her breath, and just loud enough for Chakotay to hear, as they continued to walk down the corridor toward the mess hall. "I have no doubt about that, Kathryn," Chakotay replied, smiling to himself. "But it won't necessarily make you the winner." That will give her something to think about, he thought. Kathryn Janeway was as stubborn as they came. ***** After the Captain and Commander Chakotay had stopped for a quick bite in the mess hall, they walked down the corridor to the turbolift, and after reaching the appropriate deck, they headed toward Captain Janeway's quarters. "Chakotay, I can make it home by myself, you know. You really don't need to escort me to my door." "I promised the Doctor I would see to it that you are returned to your quarters in one piece. We can't have the Captain roaming the ship alone and risking another episode like the one in the transporter room earlier today." "I feel fine now," repeated the Captain for the umpteenth time, as she and Chakotay reached her quarters. "And you've just managed to fulfill your promise to the Doctor. Now, I am going to take that rest, then if I still feel fine in an hour, which I no doubt will, I am going to return to the Bridge to finish my duty shift." At that, the Captain activated the door code, and the door to her quarters slid open. "You might want to make the Doctor aware of my intentions, Commander, so that we all understand each other," she said over her shoulder to Chakotay as she entered her living area and the door slid shut once again behind her. Chakotay smiled to himself. Leave it to Kathryn to have the last word. He slapped his comm badge in order to inform the Doctor of the Captain's intentions, as commanded, as he started for the Bridge. Both the Captain and Chakotay had taken an odd duty shift today, as had most of the alpha crew, in order to take better advantage of daylight hours on the M-class planet. Chakotay knew that the Captain was intent on completing her duty shift, mostly to prove a point. She would return to the Bridge today even if her shift lasted only a few minutes longer. She insisted on never being given priority treatment over any other crewmember aboard Voyager. ***** At precisely 1700 hours, the turbolift doors opened, and Captain Janeway stepped onto the Bridge of her starship. She nodded and responded to various crewmembers' greetings as she moved to her command chair. Sitting, she turned to her First Officer and nodded. "Commander," she said, as she brought her small computer on-line at her left. "Captain," returned Commander Chakotay. "I hope you were able to catch up on those reports." Kathryn smiled to herself, but kept her eyes focused on her computer screen. "Yes, thank you for covering Bridge duty for me." "No problem, Captain. My pleasure." Captain Janeway knew from Chakotay's comment that he had informed the Bridge crew that their Captain needed some quiet time in her quarters to catch up on reports. She also knew that Chakotay would do everything he could to prevent rumors of any sort to surface regarding her dizziness in the transporter room earlier. And Kathryn would have bet a month's rations, if she were so inclined, that Chakotay had even visited the young Ensign in the transporter room as well, swearing him to secrecy about the earlier incident, prior to reporting back to the Bridge himself. As Kathryn sat quietly staring at her computer screen and musing about Chakotay's behavior, Chakotay glanced at her inconspicuously from his own computer terminal. The Captain did seem back to normal; her color was better and she had obviously picked up on his comment the moment he had said it. He had noticed the smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth as she had thanked him for covering her Bridge duty. Chakotay took a deep breath and willed himself to let it out slowly, so as not to alert Tuvok or, worse, Tom Paris. Sometimes any small gesture could encourage comment or thought during routine Bridge shifts. And Chakotay just wanted the remainder of alpha shift to pass without further interruption. "Did you enjoy your time on the planet, Captain?" asked Tom Paris from the helm. Kathryn glanced up from her terminal. "Very much. Thank you, Mr. Paris," she said in her crisp command voice, which told him in no uncertain terms that she was not interested in furthering this discussion. She glanced back down at her computer data. "Yep, it was a beautiful planet," continued Tom. "In fact, I thought I even smelled some fresh lavender in the air." "Mr. Paris, your point?" asked the Captain. "Oh, nothing. No point, Captain. Just making conversation," Tom said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Then am I to understand that your report regarding your team's findings during the Away Mission has been completed?" "Uh...no, I mean almost. Not quite," replied Tom. "Then am I to understand, instead, that this conversation is over?" "Yes, Ma'am," replied Tom, resignedly, knowing he had lost yet another one with the Captain. He could never quite figure out how it was that she always knew how to upend him. Worse, she always seemed to be able to do it so darned easily! Chakotay hid his smile the best he could. Would Tom Paris ever learn that the Captain would always win? He had to hand it to Kathryn; she certainly knew how to handle Tom Paris better than anyone, and even when she wasn't feeling her best. Behind Chakotay, Harry Kim shook his head slightly, then turned away as Tuvok raised his eyebrow in Harry's direction. Sometimes it wasn't the most comfortable feeling knowing that Tuvok's line of sight was directly across the Bridge from him. Harry couldn't believe Tom still tried to get one over on the Captain, even after all these years of trying and not once succeeding. Sometimes Tom just couldn't let things alone. One of these days it was going to be his undoing. Chakotay turned to the Captain. "Did you get through any of those crew evaluation reports yet?" he asked. "Actually, I haven't touched them, Commander. I realize our duty shift is running later today, but if you don't have plans for this evening, how about dinner in my quarters? With your assistance, maybe we can muddle through those reports by midnight." Tom Paris threw a quick glance over his shoulder at Harry Kim, just as Harry looked up from his console in time to meet Tom's look. They grinned at each other, then quickly looked away. One of those bets had now been concluded. Harry shook his head and smiled to himself. He couldn't help it, even if Tuvok noticed. That little exchange between the Captain and Commander had just cost B'Elanna 10 replicator rations, and she wouldn't be too happy about that. She had bet that they would read the crew evaluation reports in the Captain's quarters tomorrow night. She had been so close...but close never counted in Tom's pools. How Tom always managed to call it when it came to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, Harry would probably never figure out. "Sounds good to me, Captain. What time?" Chakotay was saying. "2000 hours. And bring an appetite." "Oh? Are you planning to try out a new recipe on me?" Chakotay grinned. Kathryn looked at Chakotay and smiled. "Don't worry. You're off the hook - it's replicator rations tonight. I don't get ambitious about cooking twice in the same month." Chakotay returned the smile. "I remember," he said, and Kathryn chuckled. Must be one of those New Earth memories, mused Tom. Every now and then one of them would still hint at the three months they had spent stranded alone together on that planet before Voyager had gotten hold of a cure for their disease and returned for them. It was strange, really. The two of them referred to that time so rarely. And when they did, it was just as they had now referred to it, with a hint at what had been, a sort of shared understanding between them, especially when the Captain laughed that throaty laugh, as she had just now. And regarding New Earth, Tom thought again how he would hand over plenty of replicator rations to anyone who could just answer a few questions for him about those 12 weeks the Captain and Chakotay had spent alone together. Alas, no one in the entire Delta Quadrant could answer those questions except the two people who were there, and Tom knew that whatever had - or had not - transpired between the two of them was locked inside their two minds forever. But, oh, what he wouldn't give to know whether or not they had made love with each other. The general consensus aboard ship was that they had not done the deed, but at times Tom had witnessed a glance exchanged between them or the brush of one hand over the other's hand, and Tom could swear the chemistry between those two could start a fire! No, he didn't think it had happened yet, but it was going to one day. He could recognize the signs a mile away, and he was right here in front of them everyday. Besides, if they had been intimate on New Earth, Tom didn't think Chakotay would have been able to return to Voyager from New Earth and carry on as if nothing had happened between them, no matter how much the Captain might have expected him to. Chakotay wore his heart on his sleeve where the Captain was concerned, and Tom had seen the desire there so intensely on Chakotay's part so many times...well, who could blame him, really? After all, Chakotay spent a lot of time with Captain Janeway, and she was certainly an attractive woman. And Tom just knew she had to be different when she was alone with Chakotay, one on one. Hell, he had seen hundreds of hints of her other self - like the episode today on the planet, that bit about the lavender. And her voice even changed when she wasn't in the Captain mode. Tom smiled to himself. Her non-Captain voice was like velvet, sultry and seductive, not like the steel cased command voice she used on the Bridge. Tom secretly referred to that other voice as her "brandy" voice because it was as warm and inviting as a glass of real, non-synthenol brandy. He had described the Captain's sexy voice to Harry once, explaining the term 'brandy' (Harry hadn't tasted real brandy yet at the time!), and Harry had blushed a deep crimson! So, even ole' Harry had fantasized about the Captain! Even today, all it took to make Harry's face turn red was the mere mention of the word "brandy." But sometimes the Captain looked at Chakotay with a fire in her eyes, too, although Tom knew she didn't realize it. She would never intentionally advertise it. Tom figured that Chakotay probably mentally collected each and every tidbit the Captain threw his way, and continued to bide his time, just waiting for her. And who could blame him? Surely not Tom. Look at how long it had taken him to win B'Elanna over! Some things were just worth the wait, he grinned to himself. It was obvious they loved each other. Hell, everyone knew that! But the Captain was just so damned Starfleet...she took everything about that oath seriously. Too seriously, Tom thought. Having a relationship with Chakotay wouldn't break any Prime Directive. It might stretch a Starfleet principle or two...but they were so far away from Starfleet now, what could that matter in the long run? The Captain still ran a tight ship, and the crew respected her for it. Tom just didn't think it was right for Starfleet to expect the commanding officers to isolate themselves from their crew, or from a relationship that ought to be. But what did he know anyway. He had never understood most things about Starfleet. Just ask his father. Sometimes Tom really felt sorry for Chakotay, though he would never let Chakotay know it. Tom had B'Elanna now, but he had gone through hell for nearly five years trying to prove himself worthy to her! And Tom was sure it would pay off for Chakotay someday. The two of them were just so damned secretive, though. No one truly knew what their relationship was like behind closed doors. But the fire in both their eyes only seemed to grow brighter and stronger over the years. Tom respected the hell out of Kathryn Janeway as his Captain; she was the only person in his entire life who had given him a chance to prove himself. He knew he drove her nuts with his constant bantering and untimely comments on the Bridge, but truth be known, he did that on purpose. She was the only person who could consistently best him, and though he would never admit it, he enjoyed their repartee immensely. But there had been times, back before he and B'Elanna had gotten together, when he did stop and think of the Captain that other way. Every now and then, Tom used to imagine what it would be like to make love with her. This imagery had proved to be one of the most intense fantasies he had ever conjured up! Back when she had worn her hair up in that bun, he had imagined her coming to his quarters, or him going to hers, and she would take her clothes off while he watched, then as she came to him he would pull the pins from her hair and watch as it tumbled in waves over her shoulders. Then he would entangle his hands in it as he pulled her to him... He remembered the first time he had seen her with her hair down. Tom was pulling double duty on the Bridge that day, and suddenly in the middle of beta shift the ship was attacked by a strange birdlike species. He had immediately called the Captain to the Bridge, and she had arrived in uniform, but she hadn't had time to put her hair back up in the bun. She had hurriedly wrapped a ribbon around it behind her, but the damage had been done. She had unknowingly become a permanent character in Tom Paris's mental fantasy world. He smiled to himself. Thank the gods she couldn't read his mind; he would be dead for sure. But, one thing Tom knew was women, and he knew one thing about Captain Kathryn Janeway that he didn't have to make love with her to discover for sure: She would be as passionate in her lovemaking as she was in everything else she did. That was the secret about her that had made the fantasy so rewarding for Tom. To this day, he knew that about her as strongly as if he had experienced it for himself. And he thought Chakotay suspected as much about the Captain as well. Yes, Tom was sure that Chakotay would truly know for certain one day. Good for him; Chakotay deserved to experience it for himself. Not every man would wait for a woman as many years as Chakotay was obviously willing to wait for Kathryn Janeway. Tom grinned again. Not many men would be able to handle a woman like Kathryn Janeway once they'd won her over. But if anyone could do it, Chakotay could. Ah, well, time to get back to that report the Captain had asked about. She wouldn't let him put it off for long. Tom smiled to himself; another thing Tom Paris knew for sure was that nothing stayed the same. And Chakotay and the Captain were destined for something to happen. Tom's mission was simply to time his own part just right. He could always use replicator rations. ***** At 1745 hours, precisely fifteen minutes prior to the end of the current alpha duty shift, the Captain's comm. badge chirped. "Sickbay to the Captain." "Yes, Doctor. What is it?" The Captain was engrossed in a table of matter vs. antimatter containment and her tone implied a slight impatience at being interrupted. The Doctor didn't seem to notice. "Captain, I have concluded my analysis of ...the subject of our earlier conversation. Please come to Sickbay immediately so that I may share the results with you." "Doctor...," began the Captain, then immediately thought better of arguing with the Doctor while still on the Bridge, where many pairs of ears were listening. She sighed. "I'm on my way, Doctor." "Thank you, Captain. Sickbay out." Janeway sighed again, then looked at Chakotay with an "I really don't want to do this" look on her face. "Do you mind finishing the Bridge shift alone?" she asked. "Not at all, Captain," Chakotay smiled at her. "I'll be happy to cover the last few minutes of Bridge duty while you visit with the Doctor." Kathryn Janeway logged off her computer station, lowered it from sight, and stood from her chair to head for the turbolift. Just as she turned, Chakotay stopped her in her tracks. "By the way, Captain, if the Doctor gets long-winded, please remind him that you have dinner to prepare this evening." The Captain gave him one of her "drop it, mister" looks, then continued on her journey to Sickbay, with Chakotay smiling to himself long after she was gone from the Bridge. ***** Sickbay was deserted as Kathryn Janeway entered through the double doors. She headed directly for the Doctor's office, where she found him engrossed in his computer screen. The Doctor looked up. "Ah, Captain. Please. Sit down." He stood and gestured to the vacant chair in front of his desk, and Janeway sat. Although there was no one else present in Sickbay at all, the Doctor stood and glanced outside his office just to be sure. "Doctor, what is the problem?" asked the Captain, trying to bring the Doctor's attentions back to why she was here. "Nothing, Captain. Nothing at all. I just want to be certain we won't be interrupted." The Doctor turned and looked at the Captain. Then he glanced away, took a deep breath, then walked to his desk and sat on the edge, near Janeway. "If I didn't know better, Doctor, I'd guess you were about to deliver some very bad news to a very ill patient." Her voice was steady, but the Doctor's actions were beginning to unnerve her. "I apologize, Captain. This is just, well...not an easy thing to do." "Doctor, please get on with it. What is my condition?" Her voice must have betrayed her more than she suspected, because the Doctor suddenly seemed to understand that he was causing her undue concern. "Captain, you are in perfect health." As the Captain was slowly letting out her breath, he continued. "Except for your poor eating habits, of course. I see no change there..." "Doctor..." "Yes, yes. To continue." The Doctor stood and walked back around his desk, then sat slowly in his chair. "Captain, there is simply no delicate way of saying this. You are carrying a child. You are...pregnant. There, now you know." Kathryn Janeway simply stared at the Doctor. She had never been so shocked in her life. Of course the Doctor was wrong, but about something so simple? It had been a relatively easy thing to determine whether a female was pregnant for hundreds of years now. How could the Doctor even suggest such a thing? Kathryn forced herself to calm down, take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Doctor..." she began. "Yes, I know what you are going to tell me," the Doctor retorted. "I'm not sure that you do know," she said slowly, steadily. "Yes. I do. Now please, let me continue." The Doctor took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, then continued. "Captain, I know that you have not engaged in...sexual activities... in rather a long time - in a very long time, in fact. And, since the gestation period for a human female's offspring is nine months, I immediately knew without doubt that there was no way you...." "Doctor..." began the Captain, in a voice that spoke volumes. The Doctor stood from his chair, and continued. "Knowing this, I ran every test known to both man, and EMH, several times. And came up with the exact same outcome every time...." "Well then, you'll just have to run those tests again, won't you, Doctor." Her voice was calm, controlled. "Or find other tests to run in their place. Because I can assure you that I am not pregnant." With that, the Captain rose from the chair and had nearly reached the door to the Doctor's office, when he stopped her in her tracks with a simple, but sure, statement. "And I can assure you that you are, Captain." Captain Janeway turned slowly back toward the Doctor. He held his ground, and looked her in the eye. She stood silent, a litany of thoughts running through her mind, but none that she spoke aloud. And just as she began to tell herself that there was a glitch in his program, she knew that there wasn't. Kathryn knew that the Doctor would never have called her to his office if he had not been certain of her condition. Nevertheless, she could not possibly be pregnant. "Doctor, you know that I am not going to believe this without proof." Her tone was even, her words measured. "I know that, Captain." The Doctor reached behind him and slowly pulled his computer screen around to face the Captain. "That's why I prepared this data prior to asking you to come here. Here is the scientific explanation," he said gently, moving aside to allow Captain Janeway to move behind his desk and sit in his chair. As she moved slowly towards the Doctor's chair, Kathryn thought absently that she had never sat in his chair before. Strange to think about this now. But, not so strange, either. The human mind fought for its sanity in many ways. After several moments spent staring at data that ought to mean something to her, she sat back and regarded the Doctor, who was sitting on the edge of his desk, waiting for her to finish. "Why don't you explain this to me in your own words, Doctor," she said quietly. The Doctor took a deep breath. Now he was on familiar ground, not dealing with feelings, but with fact. "Captain, what happened earlier today is something that nearly defies explanation. But not quite. The reason you fainted after the transport was because the transporter had actually impregnated you with human male DNA. The sudden fertilization of your eggs with this DNA resulted in your bio-nervous system's attempt to reject the action, simply because this process usually takes hours to occur naturally, while in this case the entire process took only minutes, moments in fact. You fainted because your own body was attempting to reject the impregnation." The Doctor paused, but only for a moment. "After discovering the results of my tests late this afternoon, I contacted Ensign Kim and asked him to look over ship's sensor readings from around the same time that you and the Commander transported back to the ship from the planet. While I didn't explain to him why I needed the information, Ensign Kim reported back to me that while he couldn't be certain, he detected what might have been a spatial distortion, a frequency wave of sorts that, according to his readings, occurred at precisely the same moment you and the Commander beamed back to Voyager." The Doctor beamed with pride at his explanation. Then he continued, since the Captain had not reacted at all to what he found to be extremely enlightening evidence. His tone was almost reverent when he said, "Captain, what happened to you today was something that had such a...slim chance... of occurring, it's nearly what was once termed a 'miracle'." The Captain was so quiet and so still that the Doctor was afraid she had gone into shock. He literally took his medical tricorder from his desk and was about to run a scan, when the Captain stood and looked at him. "I cannot accept that, Doctor. There has to be a mistake." "But, Captain..." began the Doctor, searching his database for a way to convince her. "You said a 'slim chance,' right?" she asked him, closing the distance between them, and looking the Doctor in the eye. "Yes, but..." he was still struggling to find a way to make her understand. "How slim?" "I beg your pardon?" "How slim is the chance that this could happen?" "One chance in 820,463,988. But what does that have to do with anything?" The Doctor was still not sure she wasn't suffering from some form of shock. "If you found one way in over 820 million to prove that I'm pregnant, it should be much easier to find a way to prove that I'm not. Now get to it." And with that, the Captain left the Doctor standing alone in Sickbay, staring at the outer door as it closed behind her. She was in shock, all right, he thought to himself. She certainly wasn't thinking logically. Best to keep himself activated tonight. Who knew when a dose of reality would hit her and she would be back. Sighing, the Doctor decided to run some more tests anyway, just to be able to tell the Captain that he had done so. He shook his head. If the Captain were thinking clearly, she would realize he could never be wrong about something so simple. It had been a relatively easy thing to determine whether a female was pregnant for hundreds of years now. Oh, well. She would be back...and he would be waiting for her. The Doctor turned back to his work. ***** Captain Janeway had never experienced anything remotely like what the past few hours had brought. Setting the table in her quarters for dinner, she smiled when she thought about what Chakotay's reaction would be when she relayed to him what the Doctor had told her earlier. Then she stopped suddenly. She couldn't tell Chakotay. He might actually consider the Doctor's explanation to be correct. Or at least worth consideration. And it just wasn't possible that she was pregnant. Not only was it completely implausible, but add that slim chance that the Doctor had mentioned before to the fact that it had happened at precisely one of the few times she was alone in a transporter beam with her First Officer, who also just happened to be the only man in any universe that she would want to have a child with in the first place... Just the thought of the total improbability was enough to make her head dance. No, she would wait for the Doctor to come up with something that made a lot more sense than any of this. But...what if the Doctor were right? The thought nagged at the back of her mind until she forced herself to sit down and consider it. *****
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