All's Fair In Love and Pencils

TITLE: All’s Fair In Love and Pencils
AUTHOR: Matteabrit, September 2002
SUMMARY: A graffiti artist is on the loose. Can s/he help Janeway find her way?
RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: Characters – theirs, story – mine.
NOTE: Written as the result of a challenge issues in the JC1Challenge group – there had to be pencils everywhere on Voyager, and J/C had to be involved. Nuff said!

***

It began on the lower decks, unnoticed by of the senior crew. Within days however, word of it began to spread upwards until Neelix decided to discretely bring it to the Captain's attention.

“Graffiti, Neelix?” she asked surprised.

“That is what they’re calling it, yes. Words written illegally on a wall?” The Talaxian was a little unsure of the linguistics.

“Yes,” she sighed. “That’s what it’s called. I must admit, I’m surprised.” She stood up from behind her desk and escorted Neelix back to the bridge. “I’ll ask Tuvok to look into the matter.”

Two days later Kathryn saw it for herself while out for a stroll along deck thirteen. Peering closely at the wall she saw the faint scrawling of an immature hand. “I Woz Here,” she read out loud. “Well, I don’t know who was here,” she said with a grin to her first officer. “But they need to learn to spell.”

Chakotay tried not to laugh. “Question is, who’s responsible?” He glanced down to the floor, examined it for a moment, and then knelt to pick something up. “They’re also using a number two,” he commented. “When was the last time you used a pencil, Captain?” he asked, handing the object to her.

Kathryn stared at it. “When was the last time anyone used a pencil? They’re not exactly commonplace.” She sighed. “I’m afraid we might only have two possible culprits.”

Chakotay nodded. “Has Tuvok found out anything?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. And I’d hate to have to say anything to Sam until we’re entirely sure about this. This isn’t Tom’s style either.” She continued her walk. “To be honest, I’m inclined to think it’ll pass.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Kathryn looked sharply at her first officer. “You think it won’t?”

He shrugged. “Hard to tell until we know who it is. In the meantime I’ll call someone in to clean it up.”

It soon became apparent that it was not going to pass. Rumours began to circulate that the artist was getting more personal in his or her comments. ‘Kathryn luvs Chakotay,’ was now the text of choice if scuttlebutt was to be believed. The crew went at great lengths to hide the evidence from the senior crew, but often they only became aware of it by hearing the snap of wood and lead and looking down to see what they had stepped upon.

“Indeed, Captain, I am at a loss to explain these incidents,” Tuvok reported. Although not strictly telling a lie, he omitted the truth of what was being written.

Kathryn sighed. Sat behind her desk she glanced up to exchange a look with Chakotay. “And we’ve placed the security imagers at all angles?” she asked. “High, low, sideways?”

Chakotay grinned and nodded. “Which rules out one of our suspects at least.”

Kathryn allowed a half-smile to cross her face. “Good. I’d have hated to tell Sam Wildman.”

Tuvok’s eyebrow arched. “I take it you were thinking Naomi Wildman might be a possibility, Captain?”

She nodded. “The handwriting does look like a child’s hand might be responsible and the height of the writing didn’t make it out of the question either.”

“Might I enquire who else you believe may be responsible?”

“I’d rather not say at this time, Tuvok,” Kathryn smiled weakly. “But you probably have your own suspicions.”

“I would like more time to further study this phenomena,” Tuvok replied in a steady tone. “However, I do not want it to take up all my time.”

“Understood,” Kathryn smiled. “Perhaps whoever it is will grow tired of their hobby. Dismissed.” The Vulcan turned to go and was halfway through the ready room door when Kathryn called him back in. “By the way, Tuvok,” she said in a serious tone. “Neelix’s soiree is tonight. I expect you to be there.”

Voyager’s staid chief of security nodded and disappeared. As soon as the door was closed Chakotay let forth a burst of laughter. “I do believe you scared him, Kathryn.”

She shrugged. “Comes from years of experience, Commander.” She leaned forward over her desk, stared her second in command straight in the eye, and lowered the tone of her voice. “One day you’ll learn to be scared of me also.”

Chakotay didn’t flinch. “Never,” he declared firmly. He placed his palms flat on her desk and learned toward her so that they were practically nose-to-nose. “I’ll teach you to beware of me first.”

“Oooh, threats, threats,” she retorted. “You don’t scare me.”

“No?” He advanced closer and suddenly Kathryn could feel his breath on her face. His eyes bore into hers with an intensity she’d rarely felt before. Her own breath slowed while her heart increased it’s pace. If he were to kiss her now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to fight him off.

“Wanna bet?”

“Huh?” She snapped back to the moment. His face was lit up in a huge grin and she began to relax slightly.

“Want to bet if I can make you scared of me first?”

She laughed. “Chakotay, that is no contest. You already are scared of me. It’s why you won’t let me cook.”

He leaned back and looked down at her. “No, Kathryn,” he said patiently. “That’s your cooking I’m scared of.”

She resisted the urge to throw something at her first officer, but instead opted to go for a friendly command of, “Get out!” She knew she’d see him that evening; he’d already insisted on escorting her to Neelix’s party.

Several hours later Kathryn was waiting for her escort to arrive when she thought she heard a noise outside her quarters. Stepping into the corridor she sighed when she saw the latest batch of graffiti on the wall. Her head turned quickly in an attempt to possibly see the culprit but the passageway was empty. “Computer, has anyone been in this corridor in the last five minutes?”

“Negative.”

She was about to go back into her quarters when something caught her attention. Lying on the floor just a few feet away was a familiar looking object. Picking it up she swirled the number two in her fingers and began to think. Looking a few feet further she saw another pencil on the ground. Another couple of feet and Kathryn was able to come to the conclusion that she was definitely being led somewhere.

The trail led down into the bowels of the ship and following it turned into a time-consuming task for its captain. As she passed crewmembers on their way to the messhall or to their duty stations she muttered a quick hello, as much as was required of her, and hurried by, intent on her task. So focused was she that she never even heard the faint voice coming from her combadge.

The turbolift finally opened on the fifteenth deck and on the floor lay a solitary wooden object. Picking it up and adding it to her collection Kathryn advanced down the dark narrow corridor, hoping to soon come to the end of the trail. It was quiet down here; few crewmen spent their time on this level if they could help it. The only sound to be heard was the dull thrum of the ship’s engines and the sound of Kathryn’s own footsteps on the metal grating of the floor.

So focused was she on her trail of discovery that she never even heard the person approach her from behind. Consequently, when the hand landed on her shoulder she jumped into the air and screamed. The pencils she clutched dropped to the floor, scattering around her feet. Another hand then reached out to hold her close and a voice said low in her ear, “It’s all right, Kathryn. It’s just me.”

Chakotay! Kathryn sagged against her first officer’s chest and began to feel a little foolish. “What are you doing down here?” she asked, attempting to regain a bit of composure.

“Looking for you,” he replied, in a tone that implied that his answer was obvious.

“Oh.”

Still she stayed in his arms. Still he held her. Neither appeared willing to let go of the other. Kathryn, for her part, suddenly had no desire to pull away from the comforting embrace of Chakotay. There had always been an element of safety where he was concerned.

“Hey,” he suddenly grinned and she felt his smile against her hair. “I guess I won the bet.”

“The bet?”

“Well, I scared you, didn’t I?”

She twisted in his arms and slapped him lightly on his chest. “There was no bet, Chakotay. And just for the record, that’s the wrong type of scaring. If I’d have wanted to scare you, rather than make you scared of me, I could have done something a long time ago.”

“Such as?”

He lowered his head so that his face was level with hers. The smile on his face, illuminated by only the thin beam of the strip lighting on the walls, made Kathryn’s head spin. She could barely think straight for the emotions that were running through her. “Oh, I don’t know,” she whispered, placing her arms around Chakotay’s neck. “Perhaps something like this.” She placed a light kiss on his lips.

Seconds later, Chakotay pulled back with a bemused smile on his face. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Who are you and what did you do with my Kathryn?”

She shivered in the arms that he still held around her. “My Kathryn,” she repeated huskily. “I like the sound of that.”

“You’ve always been my Kathryn,” he admitted. “Why now, though? Why choose the depths of Voyager to start showing me how you feel?”

“I don’t know,” she replied slowly. “Why not?” She shrugged and grinned. “The moment just seemed right. Besides,” she pulled away from him and knelt down. “Our graffiti artist managed to figure it out. What could I do?”

Chakotay knelt beside her on the cool deck plating and saw, for the first time, the words that the rest of the crew had being seeing. He stared at it for a long while before asking quietly, “Do you?”

She nodded. “I guess I do,” she said slowly. “It took me a while to see it, but I was following this pencil trail and when I found myself on this level the words just began to jump out at me. At first I laughed it off, then it just began to sink in until I realised it was the truth.”

*****

“Still got the pencil person haunting us then,” Tom grinned as the command couple walked back across the messhall from the buffet table. They had been late arriving at the party; having spent some ‘quality’ time together in the seclusion of deck fifteen.

Kathryn blinked. “I beg your pardon.”

“Your skirt,” B’Elanna commented dryly. “It’s covered in pencil marks.”

“It wasn’t me,” a small voice shouted out. “You can’t get me for that one.”

Sam shrugged apologetically. “Word gets around. Quite a few people think its Naomi. We’ve already discussed it and I don’t believe it is.”

Kathryn nodded and twisted around in an effort to see what B’Elanna had commented on. Chakotay, meanwhile, took a step back and gazed in appreciation at the same view, earning him a glare from her and a snort from Tom. Her beige skirt was covered in grey streaks of pencil lead. “Damn,” she muttered, before rounding on her first officer. “This is all your fault, Mister.”

“Mine?” Chakotay’s face was the picture of innocence. “I don’t know what you mean, Captain.”

Whatever Kathryn might have been about to say in response was lost as the messhall door slid open noisily and a man appeared. While he was dressed in a Starfleet uniform it was safe bet to say that he was not a member of the Voyager crew. Neither was the boy he was dragging literally by the ear across the floor.

“You used a door?” Chakotay muttered in amazement.

The man looked at the first officer and sighed. “A door makes more of an entrance at times like these, Chuckles. But I suppose you wouldn’t think about that.” He cocked his head to one side. “That’s if you even do think at all.” He sighed. “But I suppose Kathy must have her reasons for keeping you.”

Kathryn folded her arms neatly across her chest. Even out of uniform she could be an imposing figure and the omnipotent one actually appeared to flinch. “Why must you even make an entrance at all, Q?” she asked.

He looked suitably meek. “I’m sorry, Kathy,” he told her, sounding contrite. “Next time I’ll just appear again. You obviously prefer it.” He pulled the young man to his side. “I just merely wanted to inform you that I’ve found your little graffiti artist.”

Kathryn swapped her attention to the boy and blinked. “Bit young to be in a Starfleet uniform, isn’t he?” she commented, as she took in his appearance. Like father, like son, she thought.

“He’s your culprit, Kathy. Though why he decided to indulge in such foolish games I just don’t know. There’s so much more in the galaxy to play with.”

A small figure pushed past Chakotay’s legs and marched up to the boy. “You left that writing?” Naomi demanded. “I got into trouble because of you. That’s just not right.” Her arms crossed in a miniature imitation of Kathryn.

Q gazed down at the small girl then back to the captain. “Got her trained well,” he commented dryly. “However,” his tone changed as he looked back at his son. “The girl has a point, Q. All Q must face up to their responsibilities.” He chose to ignore the snort that came from Kathryn. “And you decided to let the human take the credit for your stunts.”

“I’d hardly call it credit!” Sam exclaimed, defending her daughter.

Q made a face at her. “No matter. The boy wasn’t willing to admit what he did.” He lowered his face down so it was level with his son’s. “A Q is all knowing. Did you think you wouldn’t get caught?” He stood up again and looked at Kathryn. “Parenting isn’t at all what it’s cracked up to be,” he sulked.

“I wouldn’t know,” Kathryn commented dryly. “But I do know that Samantha here does a wonderful job.” She beckoned the science officer and her daughter forward. “I’d suggest your son spend some quality time with them. Perhaps you should as well.” She levelled a glare at the man. “You might actually learn something.” She leaned slightly to Sam’s side and whispered, “Do your worst and I’ll make it up to you.” She got a grin in return.

Q rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. Do you really think I could learn something from a mere mortal?”

Kathryn’s jaw was set firmly. “Well, let’s see… Sam is a full-time single parent, a full-time officer and her child does not deface property. I’d have to say yes.”

Naomi stood on the outer sides of her feet and smirked. In return, Q Jr. stuck out his tongue. Naomi’s response was to stick her thumb on her nose and stick out her tongue. Q Jr. opted to stick his thumbs in his ears and waggle his fingers at her.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Kathryn said at last. “You all begin oh eight hundred hours tomorrow. Junior will attend all the lessons that Naomi goes to. Meanwhile, leave us alone, and make sure all the graffiti is gone and no more appears,” she said sternly. “Otherwise you’ll both be scrubbing plasma manifolds and I’ll get your wife onto you.”

Q looked a little taken aback. “Kathy,” he whined. “I’m hurt.”

“You will be,” she muttered as she turned her back on the man. “You will be.”

****

“Children,” Chakotay commented as they made their way back through the ship after the party. “They take some work, don’t they.”

Kathryn laughed. “Apparently my sister now has two. I don’t envy her one bit.”

They stopped outside her door. “Do you want any?” he asked.

She looked down at the carpeting. “I don’t know,” she said shyly. “Perhaps, one day. What about you?”

“Perhaps, one day.” He paused and there was silence. “Not tonight, though.”

They laughed awkwardly together before the silence crept in once more. Kathryn stared at the floor, Chakotay cast glances up and down the corridor.

“Would you like to come in?” she asked at last.

The relief on his face was evident. “I thought you’d never ask,” he laughed.

FINIS

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