Protocols Unknown: A Decision of The Stars

In The Night

The fire crackled in the hearth, casting flickering shadows against the dark wood of Sullivan's tavern. It was late, the kind of late where the streets of Fair Haven were quiet, where the world outside felt softer, more forgiving.

Janeway sat at the bar, fingers wrapped loosely around a half-empty glass. She wasn't drunk, but there was a looseness in her posture, a rare moment where she wasn't bracing for something.

Michael Sullivan leaned back against the bar beside her, watching her with that quiet, knowing look, the one that always seemed to unravel her carefully constructed walls.

"You're quiet, got something on your mind, Katie?"

She smirked, swirling her drink. "You could say that. How do you always know?"

"I just do, and I'm always right."

Janeway huffed a quiet laugh, shaking her head. But Michael was patient. He didn't push. He never did. And somehow, that made it harder to hold back.

"I've been standing on the edge of something reckless. And I think... I want to jump."

Michael raised an eyebrow, then winked. "Ah, now that doesn't sound like you at all, does it."

Her smirk faltered. Just slightly. "This is different."

A pause. A shift in the air. Michael studied her, his easy warmth never fading, but something softer settling behind his expression. "Then tell me."

Janeway stared down at her glass, then slowly, carefully set it aside.

"There's a child."

Michael blinked. That, he hadn't been expecting, "A child?"

"An orphan. We found her alone, lost. When I look at her, it's as if..."

Michael waited.

"I've known her."

The words settled between them, heavier than she expected.

Michael didn't speak right away. He just watched her, the way only he could, with patience and quiet understanding.

"She's yours, then."

Not a question. A simple statement that made Janeway's throat tightened.

"I don't know what she is to me." The words came out quieter than she meant. "I just know I can't let her go."

Michael nodded, as if that was the most natural thing in the world.

"Then don't. Keep her. She feels like yours, then she must be. Some things can only be written in the stars, Katie."

The simplicity of it made her chest ache.

For a fleeting second, she let herself imagine it, a world where things were simple, where there was no Starfleet, no protocols, no impossible decisions. Just her and the baby, safe, untouchable.

But that wasn't real, however beautiful it felt.

She pushed away from the bar, shaking her head with a small, tired smile. "I should go."

Michael studied her, then nodded. "Ah, Katie. You've already made your choice. You just haven't said it out loud yet, and it sounds like that little girl is lucky to have you."

Janeway hesitated. "I think I'm the lucky one."

Voyager was quiet. Most of the crew had long since retired to their quarters, the hum of the warp core the only steady pulse in the stillness. This was the part of the night Janeway usually savored, the rare hours when command faded into routine, when the weight of decisions could be set down, if only for a moment.