RATING: PG-13 for language
DISCLAIMER: These characters are the property of Paramount, worse luck. However, the story is all mine!
SUMMARY: An away mission goes wrong. A JC tale from the view of Lieutenant Tom Paris.
NOTE: One of the challenges I set a group of mine was to write about the couple of your choice from another person’s Point Of View. I then realised that if I was going to challenge the group then I should complete it also! I posted it to the group as I wrote it and received some lovely, and encouraging feedback, as the story went through a few changes. (It changed title mid-flow as well!) So this goes out with thanks to my True_Romantic group, who encouraged, coerced and collectively beta’d for me. Thank you, ladies!

“Chakotay?”

WOW! And I probably said it out loud too, because the next thing she said was, “And Tom Paris, I presume?” in that dry tone of hers.

The look he gave me said it all… it meant go away. I hastily departed to the sanctity of the doctor’s office.

Now, look, no one would call I, Tom Paris, a romantic. Even B’Elanna can be hard pressed to think of something romantic I’ve done or said toward her. That’s not to say I’ve never done anything like that… it's just that I try to wrap it up into something that looks, well, cool.

But even I can spot a tender moment between two people that has been too long in coming. And this moment is well overdue… it’s a moment we never thought would happen, least of all the big guy.

So what led up to this beautiful moment unfolding right before my eyes in sickbay? Well, let me tell you…

It began with a simple away mission. The captain had taken a team down to the surface, leaving Chakotay in charge of the shop. Tuvok and Harry were at their stations and I was manning the helm, keeping an orbit in what we thought was an uninhabited planet. Things were quiet and the captain had been giving us a running commentary on the proceedings beneath us.

“Captain?” Harry interrupted the proceedings.

“Yes, Ensign?”

I turned my head and saw my friend’s fingers running rapidly over his console. “Captain,” he began again. “I’m detecting some kind of anomaly advancing towards us and you.”

“Anomaly?” Chakotay questioned before the captain could respond. “Can you be more specific?”

“I’m not sure. It’s coming from the other side of the planet. It just appeared. But it’s moving, and fast.”

The decision was quickly made. The away team were to beam up and I began to plot us a course away from whatever it was. I was just waiting for the acknowledgment that the team was back on board.

“Got them,” came the shout from the transporter room. My fingers ran over the buttons and we prepared to go to warp.

We had begun to speed away from the planet, missing the wave thing, when the next communication was heard. “Transporter room to the bridge!” we heard the agonised yell of the transporter chief. “We’ve lost the captain!”

I turned my head in time to see the big guy’s face turn completely white. “What do you mean, lost her?”

No, I remember thinking, please don’t let her be dead. I couldn’t bear it if something had happened to her.

The voice continued at the other end. Lieutenant Hartman I think it was. “She’s not here, Sir. I had a lock on all four of them and it looked as though all four were going to materialise okay and then suddenly she just wasn’t there.”

The commander was out of his seat; a little more colour now appearing in his cheeks. I think that, like me, he was just relieved that he hadn’t been given the news that she was dead. “Chakotay to Torres,” he said into his combadge.

“Yes, Commander?” That’s my B’Elanna, always quick to respond.

“Meet me in transporter room two right away. Tuvok, you’re with me. Harry, keep monitoring for anything remotely unusual and for any sign of the captain.” Finally he turned to me. “You have the bridge, Lieutenant Paris. I want you to maintain position. Don’t move any further from the planet unless I tell you to. Understood?”

I nodded mutely. What more could I do?

The next three days I just felt so totally helpless. The captain was missing and there was not one damn thing I could do about it. While B’Elanna, Chakotay and Tuvok, even Harry, were taking part in the investigation I was stuck at the helm. When I could I would retreat to the mess, in an attempt to at least make Neelix smile. It was no secret that morale had slumped big time and often it seemed that just engaging the likes of Naomi Wildman in a game of Kadis Kot was enough to take some of the burden from our Talaxian cook. For Naomi was depressed too, those closest around her were involved in the hunt for the captain and Neelix had his job cut out for him trying to raise the crew’s spirits. If I could help in any way this appeared to be it.

On the third day I found myself in the Sandrine’s holoprogram. I wasn’t the only one in there either. Chakotay was propped up at the bar, looking as though he hadn’t slept in days, which I suspect he hadn’t. I got myself a drink and sat down next to him. Sandrine wisely decided to leave us alone.

“Tom.” He nodded at me.

“Hey, Chakotay. Quiet tonight, isn’t it.”

He shrugged. “Not many of the crew want to drink, I guess.”

“It’s late as well.” I looked across at him, he was still in uniform. “When was the last time you slept, Commander?”

He looked up at me. “Is it that obvious?” he asked, and I swear the beginnings of a smile could be seen.

I laughed. “Just a little. I know you’ve been working pretty damn hard.”

The smile finally broke. “Are you trying to get me to go regenerate, Lieutenant?” He must have noticed my surprised expression. “I’m the acting captain, I hear everything.”

I returned the smile. It was something I’d heard Captain Janeway say on more than one occasion. “Yeah, well…” I muttered.

“No, Tom. You did the right thing. She needed to regenerate.”

He was talking about me having convinced Seven of Nine to actually take a break from her work in the astrometrics lab. Like certain others I could mention, such as my company in Sandrines, she had not rested since the captain had gone missing. B’Elanna had mentioned it to me one night, concerned that some of Seven’s implants could fail and I, in turn, concerned that B’Elanna was concerned, had told Harry and Icheb. Us three guys had then gone to astrometrics and convinced Seven that the work could still be done while she regenerated. She put up a fight at first, before Icheb threatened to get the doctor. She shot us one hell of a glare and then left.

“I had some help, Sir.”

“Still,” he raised his glass in salute. “It was your idea. Good thinking, Lieutenant.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I think.”

He lowered his glass and turned to face me fully. Without any further warning he said, “Tom, I need a first officer.”

I was shocked to say the very least. Chakotay had taken on a lot of the captain’s duties in her absence but still, I knew what he was saying and he wasn’t exactly asking for my advice. “What about Tuvok?” I asked anyway. He was next in line and had taken command on more than one occasion.

“Too busy with the investigation.” I guess this was true. I know he’d spent a lot of time on the planet. Usually, in a situation like this we’d ask the natives for help. Only here there weren’t any natives to ask. “You’ve done this job before, Tom,” he continued. Well, that was true enough, I suppose. When the captain, Tuvok and B’Elanna had all transported across to a Borg cube once that had left me next in line. “It would only be temporary,” he tried to reassure me.

I told him I’d think about it and it seemed good enough for him. He stood up, patted me on the shoulder and turned to go.

“Kim to Commander Chakotay.”

Both of us stopped and looked at each other. There was no denying the tone of Harry’s voice.

“Yes, Harry?”

“Would you meet me in astrometrics, Sir? I think we’ve got something!”

Both of us had left the holodeck by the time he’d finished speaking.

Chakotay’s like the captain. They can walk damn fast when they’re determined to, leaving everyone else behind. On our trip to astrometrics I found myself feeling a bit like Naomi, having to almost run to catch up with the person she’s trying to talk to. Chakotay was striding on ahead; I almost wondered why he hadn’t called for a site to site transport from the holodeck to astrometrics.

“Report!” he yelled as soon as we got there.

Ensign Eager, as I call him, immediately began his report. It seemed that after he looked at the data Seven had collected he had noticed some similarities with his own information. To tell the truth, I didn’t understand a whole lot of it. Hell, I’m a pilot, not a scientist. But what I did get was that there was an ion trail to be followed and we were damn well going to follow it.

A couple of hours later, after a short nap in the first officer’s office, I found myself back at the helm, entering in the search parameters Harry had given me. We had no coordinates for a final destination, just a description of something to follow.

For three more days we followed the ion trail. Harry was constantly feeding me more data based on calculations that Seven and Icheb gave him. I pulled double shifts at the helm, not wanting to sleep more than the absolute minimum. Crewman D’kor was a good pilot but she still lacked experience in emergency situations. Tuvok and B’Elanna were still looking into the whole transporter issue since it seemed that some elements of it had been damaged by something when the away team had attempted to beam up.

And Chakotay? Well, Chakotay divided his time either pacing the bridge or pacing the ready room. And once I caught him sleeping on the couch in there. I don’t think he went back to his own quarters once. He was worried, you could see it in his expression, and no one was really surprised by that. Yeah, sure, Captain Janeway had gone missing before, we had joked of it becoming a habit, but usually we had a fair idea of what had happened. He was still a good captain to us all and was a great leader for us, encouraging us, cheering us on, but when you broke it down to a more human level, Chakotay was worried sick about Kathryn.

It’s hard to describe the relationship between the two of them. B’Elanna once told me that Chakotay was once in love with the captain, but if he still is he sure hides it well. Sure, he loves her and she loves him but on what level we just don’t know. Being newly married myself I can’t begin to describe how good it is to be in love with someone who is in love with you. I really wish the two of them would try it sometime. Every time we go through episodes like this, with one of them in danger, I think maybe this time. And every time the situation is resolved morale is high for a couple of days as they relax around each other. And then comes the invariable slump.

On the fourth day we were still blindly following the trail when something rather remarkable happened. Harry had just reported a clustering of the ions when suddenly I couldn’t see a damn thing. It wasn’t just me either. I could Chakotay muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, “what the hell?” When the dust began to settle and the bright lights dimmed back to respectability I heard a collective gasp that made me turn around.

There, sitting on the floor, legs straight out before her, was Captain Janeway. She had one hand on the ground as if to steady herself and with the other she was rubbing the side of her head.

Slowly we advanced toward her but were temporarily halted by her words. “Ouch,” she murmured as she rubbed her head again. That only served to bring Chakotay and I closer to her. Then she took a look around. “Where the hell am I?” she asked of the big guy who was now in front of her. “And who the hell are you?”

I didn’t need a medical tricorder to figure out that she’d undergone some kind of memory loss. The fact she didn’t recognise Chakotay was proof enough of that.

We slowly helped her to her rightful seat and crouched down in front of her. Tuvok wordlessly handed me the tricorder and I cautiously began to scan her.

“Who are you?” she asked again, staring at the commander.

“Chakotay.” He didn’t appear to be concerned, but then he’d been through this before with her on that planet when we’d all been brainwashed and made a part of the labor force. Hard to believe that had been only a month or two ago.

“Chak-o-tay.” She tried the name out and repeated it as if it seemed strange to her. Eventually she concentrated on the first syllable before coming up with “Jack.” It would have to do for now.

Then she looked at me. Thankfully my name was a lot easier to work with.

“And where am I?”

“The Starship Voyager, ma’am,” a voice from the ops console called out. “Harry Kim at your service.” Well, he sounded cheerful enough at least.

She turned and waved a greeting. “And I’m,” she paused in thought. “Kate,” she came up with finally. “Yes, Kate sounds right.”

That did make Chakotay blink. Me too, in fact. One casual evening in Sandrines’s she had confided that she hated that particular abbreviation of her name. I took a look at the tricorder one last time and stood up.

“Well, Kate,” I began. “My instrument here shows that you must have one hell of a headache. Would I be right?” She nodded. “I’m going to recommend that you visit our doctor in sickbay. Is that alright?”

“Will you and Jack come with me?” She looked a little fearful.

“We can do.” I looked across at Chakotay who nodded silently. I hit my combadge. “Paris to sickbay. Prepare to treat one special lady with one hell of a headache.”

“Acknowledged, Mr. Paris,” the doc replied.

We decided to beam to sickbay. It wouldn’t do our captain any good by running into crewmembers who would call her by rank.

The doctor, unfortunately, didn’t have any better news for us. “It’s as if her entire memory has been pulled from her,” he told us. “We’re fortunate she could remember even a slight bit of her name. And unless we can find out what happened then our chances of reversing what happened are virtually nothing.”

In other words, not something I would want to place a bet on.

Chakotay eventually made the decision to guide “Kate” back to her quarters while I called a senior staff meeting. I’d never called one before, never mind chaired one so that proved to be an experience. But we eventually came to the agreement that the captain’s reappearance was definitely related to the sudden ion cluster. Seven and Harry told us that the trail actually continued on and it seemed obvious to all of us that we should continue following it. As B’Elanna said, what did we have to do lose by doing so? Perhaps we’d eventually gain something from it, such as an answer to the question of what the hell happened.

The doc called with his report while we were talking. Seems like the ions had played a major part in the captain’s memory loss. There were traces of them in her bloodstream. Apart from that she appeared to be physically fine. Harry asked about her memory loss but the doc wouldn’t give us an answer to that one. My fear was that unless we could figure out this damn ion trail her condition was going to be pretty much permanent.

Chakotay contacted us after that. Said we needed to figure out what to tell the crew. Tuvok suggested that it was logical to tell them truth but you could tell Chakotay didn’t like that idea one bit. He gets so over-protective at times that it’s a wonder I haven’t had to treat him for injuries caused by the captain. Because that is one independent lady. Sure, there have been a few times when that independent spirit of hers has got her into trouble that he’s had to bail her out of, but even so…

Anyway, so Chakotay didn’t want the crew to know. We reasoned that the crew had a right to know that she was alive and besides, the familiar faces might have helped. No doubt Neelix could be relied upon. I still smile at the memories of him helping a very un-Vulcan like Tuvok when he had suffered a memory loss thanks to an injury. That Vulcan is a damn fine chef, much better than Neelix but I’ll keep that opinion to myself.

A new voice interrupted our discussion. Clearly “Kate” still had the attitude to go against her first officer’s wishes. “I want to see the ship, Jack,” we heard her say. “You can’t keep me in here forever.”

“No, I can’t,” he agreed. “But the crew will be wanting to see you.”

“Then we can’t disappoint them, can we?”

He was fighting a losing battle and eventually he had to concede. An announcement was made that we had retrieved the captain. Department heads would have to brief their people on what to expect.

She found me in the mess hall on the second day after her return. I was sitting at a corner table reading a PADD from B’Elanna when I looked up and saw her standing in front of me. I gestured for her to join me.

“It’s Tom, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.” I almost added ma’am on the end.

“I’ve read about you.”

I smiled. “Chakotay’s given you access to the logs then. Don’t believe all you see in them.”

She laughed. “I won’t. Besides, Captain Janeway appears to be one hell of an old woman. How have you survived her all these years?”

It was an interesting question. “You’ve just read the captain’s logs then. You were keeping those official-sounding for Starfleet.”

“Jack said that was the reason too. So I’m not really that bad then?”

“What did he say?”

She frowned. “He said I wasn’t but I could tell he was keeping something from me.”

Old man, I thought, you are slipping. She can see right through you and she doesn’t even have the benefit of knowing you for seven years. I leaned in close to her. “Let me tell you something. The Kathryn Janeway that I know is a smart, funny woman. She’s all business on the bridge but when she’s off it, she tells jokes, shoots a mean game of pool and is one hell of a friend. She’s given me my life back and I’ll always be grateful to her for that. She’s given me a wonderful wife in B’Elanna and a daughter who I know will be beautiful.”

“But she had to strand you seventy thousand light years away from home to do that though.” The old look of guilt was beginning to set in but for once I had to interpret that as a good sign. She smiled. “Tell me about Jack,” she said to me. “He’s my first officer, right?”

“Right. You made him that when you combined the two crews. You read about that, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “It sounds like it was the right thing to do.”

“It was,” I reassured her. “Without that combination we’d most likely be still stuck back there, in Kazon space.”

“How well do we get on?”

I was silent for a bit. I didn’t know how to answer. That question could have two different answers. And one of them I was not prepared to answer. “Professionally or personally?”

“Both.”

I decided to hedge my way around. “I suggest you ask him to access your personal logs for you. But on the bridge the two of you work well together. Sometimes you agree, sometimes you don’t. But you make a good team and together you’ve got us through the rough times.”

“And off the bridge?”

“He knows never to play you at pool and you know that he’ll force you to take every shore leave opportunity that comes up.”

She threw her head back and laughed. And it was a good sound, I have to admit.

“Bridge to Lieutenant Paris,” my combadge called.

“Yes, Commander?”

“Tom, I need you up here.”

“On my way, Paris out.” I stood up and turned to go. “You be okay here?” She nodded. “Good. Why don’t you see if Neelix will brew you up a mug of coffee?”

“Coffee?” she cried. “I like coffee? Jack never told me that!”

“Read your personal logs,” I advised. “You’ll probably find something in there about his thoughts on that.”

As the weeks went by we gradually got used to seeing Kate around the ship. She rarely appeared on the bridge, however, and never in any of the senior staff meetings. More often than not she could be found in the messhall, in the company of Chakotay. She offered to help Neelix in the kitchen one time and he refused point blank and she was pretty upset about it, claiming that she wasn’t the captain anymore and that she ought to be able to help.

Eventually, Chakotay and I took her aside to tell her why Neelix had refused her request.

“You can’t even work a replicator, Kate,” I told her.

“Who told you that?”

“You burned a pot roast,” I smiled. Lindsey Ballard had told Harry who had told me.

“Look, Kate.” It was Chakotay’s turn and he tried to be gentle. “A few months ago we were supposed to have dinner in your quarters. I was late. You told me it didn’t matter. You had the replicator in pieces. Said you’d called it a glorified toaster once and now it was holding a grudge. Kate, Neelix might not be the greatest chef in the quadrant but that’s his area of expertise on this ship.”

“And what’s mine?” We looked at her blankly. “What’s my area of expertise on this ship?” I nearly said that she was the captain but of course she wasn’t, not now. “I have no expertise. Since, since…” She gestured wildly to her head. “Since this happened I’ve been useless. I’ve been told I was the captain, I’ve been told that I was a science officer. But now I’m nothing.”

Chakotay immediately put an arm around her and I moved slightly to shield her from view. We were in our usual corner of the messhall and many of the crew still saw her as Captain Janeway and hoped that she’d recover enough to lead us again. It wouldn’t have done for them to see her so upset or for her to know they’d seen her. So while he tried to comfort her I began to search around for ideas to help her. I could see where she was coming from. When the rest of us were on duty she was bored out of her brain. At the end of a shift Chakotay would contact her, let her know that he’d be with her shortly, and not one person within hearing range would miss the sound of sheer relief in her voice when she acknowledged him.

“You’ve read the logs, right?” I finally said.

“Yes, of course.” She looked baffled.. “Tom, I’m sick of reading…”

“I know you are. But you’ve seen how Captain Janeway thinks, how she operates.”

Chakotay was slowly beginning to get my drift. “We could even dig up a copy of Starfleet protocols.”

“No more reading, Jack. I just said that,” she protested. “And I’ve read enough about protocol in those logs to last me a lifetime.” She turned back to me. “Do go on,” she said in a sweet tone of voice.

“Well,” I said. “I’m sure Chakotay’s already told you what we’re trying to do.”

“Yes. And its not that I don’t appreciate the gesture but I just don’t know if we can find a solution for this.”

“What?” I gasped, pretending to be amazed. “The Kate Janeway I know doesn’t admit defeat so easily. All I’m asking is that you take a look at the data, check out some of the reports. You may find something that we missed.” I looked across at the big guy. “What do you say, Commander?”

He pushed Kate gently away from him. “Sounds like an idea, Lieutenant. You should attend some of the briefings as well, Kate. We’d value your input.”

“What could I possibly have to contribute?” she protested.

“We said the same about Neelix and Kes when they came aboard,” replied Chakotay. “You were the one who gave them a chance to contribute. And you were right. They proved to be valuable members of the team. Kes was sorely missed when she left. Surprise yourself, Kate.”

He was so earnest about it that she almost looked convinced. “I don’t know.”

He added one more word. “Please?” It must have been the look he gave her because she smiled and relaxed. Suddenly I felt like I was intruding in an incredibly private moment so I made my excuses and left. As I went to exit the mess hall I looked back across at the table. The two of them were deep in conversation and Kate was looking more animated than I’d seen her in a long time. This, I decided was a good thing. I then left to find Harry.

The ions were appearing again. Even Kate had noticed them. She practically ran out of the ready room where she’d been spending a considerable amount of time lately and demanded that Harry confirm what she’d seen on her computer screen. Harry grinned at her and said that he knew what she’d seen because he’d transmitted the data to her himself. She almost looked excited by it, something Captain Janeway almost never was.

Chakotay followed at a more sedate pace. “Report, Ensign.”

“Massive ion particles gathering ahead, Sir. But no more path.”

“I noticed that one, Ensign. Care to hazard a guess as to what might be happening?”

“A guess, Commander?”

“Maybe it’s the end of the rainbow?” was all I could think.

There was a nervous laughter from around the bridge.

“Our pot of gold, Lieutenant?” Chakotay queried.

Kate was now thoroughly confused. “Rainbow? Gold?”

I watched as Chakotay placed an arm around her shoulders. “Means we’ve more than likely got to the end of the road. It’s the end of the quest.” He paused before continuing quietly. “It means that quite soon we’ll know if your memory loss is permanent.” He gave her a hug before dropping his arm. “Senior staff to the briefing room.”

Kate was given her usual seat at the head of the briefing table. When Chakotay had first offered that seat to her she had refused. But we’d all refused to sit anywhere else but our usual seats. So she had smiled that smile we had come to know, the one which admitted that we had got her, and sat down. She refused to chair meetings however, and instead nominated the acting first officer, me, that lovely task. Those were the moments I would wonder just how much of her memory was really gone.

We’d been sat there for a good twenty minutes going through various ideas including the “wait and see” option. I think that one frustrated B’Elanna the most; she always liked to be on the move. I sympathised with her. But it did seem to be Kate and Chakotay’s first choice. It was, I guess, Kate’s decision to make, and he backed her completely. We would see no argument there. We never did these days. Whatever one said, the other tended to agree with. There was a closeness between them that we’d never seen before the transporter incident. It might have been there but the captain had always kept her thoughts and feelings to herself, especially when she was on duty. But now she seemed to be a lot freer with her thoughts and her actions. And without her uniform she did indeed seem more human.

“So we just wait?” B’Elanna furiously asked. “How long for?”

“For as long as it takes, B’Elanna,” Kate replied.

I watched my wife fold her arms. She wasn’t happy. “Until our systems begin to break down? With all due respect, Kate, I think that’s a lousy idea.”

“It’s not your decision to make,” she was told. Kate was ready to argue this until the shift ended. “Its mine and…”

And with that she was gone from us again. I recall blinking and then staring round at everyone else. Several jaws has dropped while Seven and Tuvok already had scanners out. But it was the big guy that seemed to be in the greatest shock. All this time in the briefing he had been sat extremely close to Kate, a sight we had become accustomed to. At the moment she had disappeared she had been leaning back against him, his arm around her shoulders. Now his arm was around thin air.

Within seconds the scene had changed again. Harry had jumped up and ran out to the bridge, presumably to check any data available at his console. B’Elanna had moved to Chakotay’s side, the doc immediately disappeared down to sickbay and Seven and Tuvok looked to be in one heck of an animated conversation. I didn’t know what to do, I’d have stayed to talk to Chakotay but B’Elanna looked to be doing a fabulous job. They’ve been friends for years, those two. They certainly didn’t need my help.

I wandered back to the bridge. The crew there had no clue about what had just happened and I didn’t feel like telling them. I walked over to see Harry.

“What have you got?” I whispered.

“The same anomaly that triggered this whole thing,” he replied, looking down.

“What?” I said, and then immediately realised that my voice was probably a little loud. “What?” I asked again, quieter.

Harry proceeded to tell me of what he’d found. A lot of it went over my head but over the years I’ve learned that if you nod and smile encouragingly at him, Harry Kim will indeed get to a point that even Naomi Wildman can understand. What it came down to was that the same anomaly that had occurred when the captain went missing had now reoccurred and more than likely had something to do with Kate’s disappearance. But we were no closer as to find out what that anomaly was.

“Could it be a cloak?” I asked, my mind jumping from one idea to the next.

Harry shook his head. “It could. And the ion trail would certainly hint at that. But I know Tuvok tried scanning for it and nothing materialised. I don’t know, Tom. I really don’t know.” He sighed. This was hurting him.

A light started to flash on his console. The next thing there was a red pencil beam light going across the bridge, from left to right. Harry reacted. “Bridge to Commander Chakotay. We’re being scanned.”

“Acknowledged.” The next moment the briefing room doors slid open and the commander strode out, much the way that the captain used to do. “Open a channel.” He waited for Harry’s nod. “This is Commander Chakotay of the Starship Voyager to whatever just scanned this vessel. Please respond.”

We waited. Nothing. Chakotay asked Harry to repeat the message. It went out again. Still nothing. Chakotay began to pace, I watched as his fists clenched and unclenched. Woe to him who gets to feel the commander’s anger. I know. I’ve been that one on occasion. The first was when he first beamed aboard Voyager. First he got the news that Tuvok was actually a spy and then he saw me. The only reason I survived, I suspect, is that a certain Captain Janeway got between us. But there was no one to stop him now.

“Sickbay to Lieutenant Paris.”

It was the first sound we’d heard after sending out the message. I think we all jumped.

“Go ahead, Doc.”

“I request that you come down to sickbay at once. There is something that demands your attention. I would suggest you bring the commander with you.”

We almost raced to the turbolift.

And skidded to a halt just inside sickbay. There on a biobed was a wonderful sight. Kate. The doc was looking smugly at us as he ran a tricorder over her.

“Gentlemen.” He nodded at us and then stepped forward to meet us. “It appears we have good news. As you can see, the captain has returned. And my readings show that she has all her memories intact.”

“Which ones?” Chakotay asked.

The doctor looked puzzled for a moment. “Why, all of them, of course.”

It wasn’t enough for either of us. Did the woman in front of us have all of Kate’s memories, all of the captain’s, or both? We crossed over to the bed and stood beside it. Gradually she began to stir. Her eyes flickered and then opened fully.

“Chakotay?” we heard her say.

WOW!

Tom Paris Personal Log:

I guess we’ll never know just what it was out there. The captain has all her memories back but has no idea where she was when she was taken from Voyager. Those are the only gaps in her memory now. Our best guest is that there was some race out there with cloaked vessels who wanted to do their own version of first contact.

But there is something different now about her. On duty she’s the captain we all know and missed. Off duty though she’s more Kate. Except she’s not letting us call her that anymore. I called her Kate last night and she told me that I was fired as a first officer. Suits me fine. I’d rather be piloting anyway. But she takes jokes a lot better now. She’s also not afraid of showing her feelings. If I see one more game of pool disintegrate into a flirting session between her and big guy I think I’m going to be sick.

I’ve no idea how long it will last… as I’ve said, usually the good mood evaporates after a couple of days. So I’m not putting any bets on it. But something is different this time. Not something I can put my finger on, but the two of them are so much more relaxed. She remembers everything from the past several weeks and she doesn’t appear embarrassed by it. And goodness knows how many of the crew saw her relaxing in Chakotay’s arms.

Like I said, you wouldn’t consider me a romantic. Yes, I am married, and I do like to spend some time with my wife. Alright, I guess there is the part of me that likes candlelight dinners and soft music and holding B’Elanna close to me. And I wish those two could experience it. But who knows, after the closeness I’ve seen these past few days, perhaps they are. The two of them are still intensely private people. Good luck to them anyway. I know the crew would love it if they did manage to get something resolved. And I know a few people who would definitely clean up on the pools that do exist. Hey, I’m still human, you know.

But watching them now… she’s been waving that pool cue at him for the past ten minutes. He’s been calling her Kate and getting away with it. Every time he’s gone to grab the cue she’s pulled it back.

“Hey, Tom?”

“Yeah, Harry?”

“What’s going on between the captain and commander?”

“Looks like a game of pool to me, Harry.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You’ve noticed it, too, then?”

“Half the crew is talking. And ask Seven. She’s been taking measurements of pupil dilation and body temperature.”

“What are her findings?”

“That there’s something going on between them?”

“Can you be more specific?”

“Well, you know.”

“Embarrassed by two people showing affection towards each other, Harry? You didn’t seem to mind a few days ago.”

“Yeah, but it’s the captain.”

“I don’t think so. That looks like Kate to me. Oh hey, they’re leaving. Fancy a game of pool?”

“They’re leaving together.”

“Yeah, come on, Harry. You want a game?”

“TOM!”

“Yes?”

“They’re leaving together.”

“So?”

So here I am, racking up the balls, while Harry is still staring at the door. Yes, they did leave together, and they looked very, well, comfortable together. Perhaps this time we do have a different ending to a bad episode. Like I said, if there is something between them, good luck to them!

End log.

FINIS

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