By Coral & Jo
Disclaimer: Yeah, Paramount owns the lot -- how on
earth did you guess?
Dedication: Jo said it should be for Janeway and Chakotay,
and Paramount for mucking up and thereby forcing us to write this. Along the
same lines, it should also be for LiveJournal - I started it because of the site
being down for maintenance...
Admiral Kathryn Janeway, formerly Captain of the Intrepid Class Starship
Voyager and now languishing idly at Starfleet Command in San Francisco.
Chakotay, standing at the door of said Admiral's office, chuckled to himself as
he watched the petite woman who had dozed off on her couch, a PADD on the floor
next to her where it had fallen from her hand...
He slowly walked across the room, picking up the PADD and placing it on the
desk. Turning to the woman on the sofa, he smiled to himself. She looked so
peaceful - a pleasant change to how she had been of late. He reached out and
brushed a lock of hair away from her face. She looked just perfect...
He watched her chest rise and fall a few more times, then reluctantly put a hand
on her shoulder to gently shake her awake. It was gone ten at night and he had
panicked when she hadn't met him earlier that evening as they had planned. They
couldn't do much more about socialising tonight, but he could at least escort
her home and make sure she went to bed. Kathryn stirred slightly, but showed no
sign of waking up. He sighed, wishing he could leave her there, but knowing that
her back and neck would be killing her in the morning if he left her like this.
Again he shook her gently, and was rewarded with a groan. "Go away,"
she moaned. He stared at her, taken aback.
Chakotay realised there was only one thing to do. Walking over to the
replicator, he requested a cup of the strongest black coffee on file --
unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Kathryn's own blend -- and took it back over
to the couch. He waved the cup under her nose whilst repeating his earlier
shaking.
The coffee had the desired effect. Kathryn opened her eyes, and grabbed the cup.
She gave him a weak smile, before downing the coffee in one go, startling
Chakotay. How could she do that? He shook his head, and took the cup which she
was handing to him. "I told you not to come and pick me up," she told
him, stiffling a yawn.
He sat down beside her, the empty cup in his hand. "You're lucky," he
said, "I almost had to literally pick you up and carry you out. And that
would have made a dignified sight for the junior officers to see, wouldn't
it?" he added teasingly.
She groaned and squeezed her shoulder a few times. "You wouldn't have
dared," she said through a yawn.
"You wanna bet?" he asked, smiling wickedly.
"Chakotay, you wouldn't do that!" she exclaimed, but he continued to
grin at her.
"Oh yes I would," he laughed as he stood up and scooped her up into
his arms.
She cried out, partially surprised, partially indignant. Then she grinned
wickedly and hit her combadge. "Janeway to Security..."
"Kathryn Janeway!" he cried out, alarmed. Just then the buzzer on the
door sounded, and in his hurry to get out of a potentially embarassing situation
for Kathryn, he managed to drop her.
Chakotay looked down at Kathryn, then back at the door. He had forgotten how
awfully prompt the security teams were in Starfleet Headquarters until now, and
the fact that Kathryn was now crumpled at his feet and apparantly having
difficulty moving didn't seem to bode at all well for him. He crouched down,
reasoning that he had about ten seconds before security let themselves in, and
tried to ignore Kathryn's glares.
"Umm, are you okay?" he asked sheepishly.
"Never been better thanks," she said sarcastically. "What do you
think, you big oaf?" Chakotay ran his hand across his forehead, wondering
what to do now. "What are you going to do then, Chakotay?"
"How about you tell security they're not needed?"
Too late.
The doors swished open and when Chakotay's gaze turned to the door, he was
greeted by the sight of five phaser rifles levelled at him. His heart sank and
he looked back at Kathryn, who had started coughing violently when she had tried
to turn her head to the door.
"Stand up and back away slowly from her," the largest of the security
guards said firmly.
"Kathryn-" Chakotay began imploringly, but the harsh coughs made it
impossible for her to speak.
He stepped away as he'd been instructed, wishing he could do something. Just
then, Kathryn's hand snaked out, grabbing his leg and pulling him to the floor
next to her. Chakotay tried to glare back, but the impish grin on Kathryn's face
caused him to laugh instead, and his hands snaked out to start tickling her
where he knew she was most sensitive. The not-very-dignified-looking Admiral
started to giggle like a schoolgirl and tried pushing him off her, then
retaliated with tickles of her own as she found he was too strong for her.
Chakotay started to back off at the intial onslaught, but soon had her pinned
back on the floor, tickling her mercilessly-
A cough from the doorway recalled the pair to their senses.
Kathryn's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she realised what she'd
just done. "Umm, I think there's some mistake here- we don't need
security," she said uncharacteristically shyly.
"Yes, we can see that, Ma'am," said one of the security guards as he
turned to his colleagues and raised an eyebrow. Kathryn was so mortified she
didn't even notice the use of the disliked title.
"It's not what it looks like-" Chakotay began, but the guards had
already beaten a hasty retreat and he was talking to thin air. He groaned and
buried his head in his hands.
Beside him, her neat hair tousled, Kathryn sighed heavily.
"This is just perfect," she whispered, before moving to get up. "Oww!"
she cried out in pain. She'd forgotten about the whole being dropped on the
floor thing.
"What, did I do something?" Chakotay leaped up, concerned.
"Yeah, you dropped me on the floor!" she winced, but suddenly started
to laugh. "What must those security guards think..."
"Maybe they'll think it was just a bad dream," Chakotay said
optimistically as he helped Kathryn to her feet. His gaze took in her flushed
face, messy hair and crumpled uniform, and he winced. "This doesn't look
good."
Looking at Chakotay, Kathryn had to agree. This was not good for her reputation.
"So, what do we do about this mess?" Chakotay asked her worriedly.
Kathryn tried to take a step forward, but her leg wouldn't support her weight,
and the only thing that saved her from collapsing back to the floor was
Chakotay's quick catch. She sighed as she leant on him, a frown marring her
features. "If you think you can help me back over to the couch *without*
depositing me on the floor, you'd better do so, then get my hairbrush out of the
desk drawer. That will at least be a start," she suggested.
He nodded, putting an arm round her back to support her, and led her back to the
sofa. He then went to look for the requested hairbrush. As he was searching
through the drawer it occurred to him that she didn't seem to be pushing him
away, hiding into her shell, which was his previous experience with this sort of
encounter.
He found the hairbrush and walked back over to the couch, smiling to himself as
he did so. Kathryn reached out to take the brush, but as she moved her arm, she
cried out in pain. Not needing to be told, Chakotay sat down beside her and
started running the brush through her shoulder length hair himself, savouring
the feel of it -- and remembering another night, so long ago now, when he had
been able to touch that hair... His firm, rhythmic strokes trailed off as he
lost himself in nostalgia.
Kathryn sighed happily as Chakotay brushed her hair. She'd always loved having
her hair brushed, but there was something special about Chakotay doing it. She
was so lost in thought for a moment that she didn't immediately realise he had
stopped. When she did, however, she twisted herself round, gritting her teeth
against the pain.
Before she knew what she was even doing... before she could reason with herself
or realise properly what was happening... he took her chin in his hand and
kissed her gently. She kissed back hungrily; what had been a chaste kiss
developing quickly into something more passionate as he responded eagerly. She
raised a hand to run her fingers through his hair -
And cried out in agony as a sharp pain shot through her arm, and she fell back
onto the cushions, gasping for breath and trying to stop the tears which were
springing to her eyes.
"Kathryn!" Chakotay cried, looking down at her with a concerned look
in his eyes. He quickly stood up and walked away from her, realising what he'd
done was wrong.
"Chakotay," she whispered, still trying to keep the tears at bay.
"Don't just walk away from me..."
"Kathryn, I wouldn't walk away from you -- I was afraid... you'd changed
your mind..." Chakotay looked down at her again, the frail, lonely woman in
front of him.
"Chakotay..." She tried to sit up, but couldn't move for the pain.
Chakotay went back over to her, scooping her up in his arms once more, and
placing a light kiss on her forehead. "Let's get you to sickbay. Unless you
mind if anyone sees you like this...?"
She shook her head as much as she could without hurting herself, and smiled up
at him. "I don't think it will be possible for anyone to get a *wrong*
impression now," she said wryly.
They laughed, and Chakotay strode out of the office towards sickbay, Kathryn
falling asleep in his arms... where she knew she felt safe.
END