Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Paris were walking towards the powerplant, when they saw a protest raging on. "Under normal circumstances I'd say we should come back tomorrow." Lieutenant Paris told his captain, who looked up to him and just motioned for them to continue. The two of them pushed their way through the crowd, when suddenly one of the guards whipped the bud of his rifle across Janeway's face. She fell to the ground gripping her head; moaning in pain. One of the protesters pulled her to her feet; half dragging her away. Paris followed closely behind.
Once far enough away, the man let Paris take over helping her. He helped her lean against the wall of the ally that they were in. Tom took a quick look at her head and asked "Are you alright?" She pushed her way up, but swayed and answered "I'm fine. Just a little disoriented, and I have one hell of a headache." She brought her right hand up to the non open part of her head.
The man came back and told them they had to move quickly. He motioned for the Captain to hold on tight to him, so she threw her arms around his shoulders as he kept her upright. The three of them ran across the street, and into a building where they finally got her sitting on the stairs. The leader's assistant handed Tom a first aid kit, and he quickly grabbed the gauze to press it against her head. She shuddered and fell forward. He caught her. She leaned back slightly to look at him and said: "Sorry...I wasn't expecting that." He laughed but continued to say "I have to stitch up your head, but there is no anesthetic. I don't want to cause you more pain but..." She cut him off and told him that she would be fine. He grabbed the materials and quickly stitched it up.
She was in so much pain, but knew that they had to get out of here and back to the ship somehow. The leader's assistant pulled the little boy into the room and immediately Janeway became concerned. She pulled herself up, dismissing the nausea that came with, and yelled out "don't hurt him...Ooh!" she fell into Paris's arms as he held her back. "We have no intention to..." She sighed, but he continued "...if you do as we say." Her breath hitched as he told them what they wanted done. She looked up to Tom, who nodded in agreement. She agreed and off they went for the power plant yet again.
Instead she told them the truth. From behind her she heard the little boy get free. When she spun around and saw the gun going up. She knew she had to do something, so she took off running. She was in front of the boy as soon as the gunshot went off. The assistant ran after the others who had gotten through the gate. She fell to the ground gripping her side and gasping for air. Paris was next to her in seconds, with the little boy sitting behind her leaning over her arm. She pulled her hand away and he saw the blood. He ripped a spot of his shirt off and pressed it to her side. She gripped his shoulder and tried to stay quiet. She managed to say "GO lieutenant...Stop them..." He nodded in agreement. Before he left, he grabbed the boy's shoulder and asked "will you stay with her until I get back?" He nodded and she smiled. With that he was off and ran through the gate.
She turned around slightly and saw the boy sitting there holding her arm. He asked her "You saved my life. How can I ever thank you enough?" She smiled and tried to laugh, but pain raged from her chest. "I knew I couldn't let you be killed by these men...I'm just glad you're alright.." She tried to pull herself up but he was quick to say "No miss!" She looked up and smiled, but against his wishes she kept trying to stand up. Then he decided to ask "Miss? What's your name?" After she had reluctantly given up on trying to stand; she responded "My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway...of the Federation Starship Voyager..." He laughed and said "that's a long title." She tried to laugh again, but the result was no different then when she tried before.
The little boy glanced towards the gate and saw Tom running towards them. "Look! Your friend is coming!" She smiled but was disoriented, so she didn't really hear him. He quickly knelt down next to her and said "Captain? The thing is prevented, and I found a medkit so I grabbed something better to hold on your side...May I?" She slowly lifted her head to see him perfectly healthy. "Of course Lieutenant...but I'm so tired." He quickly tapped her cheeks a couple of times, before telling her "I know Captain, but you need to stay awake." She nodded, before he pressed the cloth to her side. Her arm went up to grip his shoulder, letting her head fall back as she tried to bite her lip and hide the pain in her voice.
He helped her roll onto her back over his lap. Her head lolled onto his shoulder. He looked to the little boy and told him "Kid, you should head home." He nodded, but before he left, he gave the captain a hug and said "Thank you Captain Kathryn Janeway. I owe you my life." She groaned at the sudden movement of the hug, but embraced it nonetheless. Once the boy left, she "ordered" Paris to help her up, but he told her "no" and kept her on the ground, until they were contacted by Chakotay who asked "Paris, are you there?" he responded: "Yes we're here commander. The captain is badly hurt, we need to get her to sickbay." he looked down at the captain who was trying to stay awake and cried out "Come on captain! stay with me!." She nodded her head as much as she could and Chakotay's voice came through the combadge saying "Hang on Kathryn, I'm coming." She tried to say something but was in to much pain.
A shuttle landed about 600 meters from them, at least that's what Paris's chronometer told him. He looked down to the Captain who had her nose scrunched, her eyes closed, and her hand above his on her side squeezing it. "Captain, you're gonna be okay. The shuttle's arrived, so the away team will be here any minute." She tiredly told him "...kay..." but kept her eyes closed. He saw Chakotay and the Doctor coming over a hill. He placed the captain's hand over the cloth, so he could signal them. Quickly he started waving his arm around.
The away team saw him and took off. Chakotay was the first to arrive and immediately knelt by his love and asked: "Kathryn? What happened?" She tried to pull herself up and into his arms, but she had become stiff in her immobility. Tom helped her shift to lean on Chakotay, so he and the doctor could get better access to the wound. "Captain, we need to get up to the ship ASAP. This might hurt, but the Commander and Lieutenant Paris are going to carry you to the shuttle. Okay?" She tried to protest, but within seconds she was off the ground with pain ranging from head to toe. They took off running back to the shuttle.
They ran through the door of the shuttle, and the two men laid Kathryn down on the floor. She couldn't bite her lip anymore, so a gasp escaped. Tom took his spot at helm control and started bringing the shuttle up, while Chakotay and the doctor stayed by her side. He cupped her face and said "You have to hang on, okay? We had a date tonight, and it seems that you decided to make a temporal jump and get yourself hurt." She tried to laugh, but immediately gasped at the pain, and gripped the front of Chakotay's uniform. He peeled her hand away and replaced it in his own hand. To her holding his hand somehow felt right. Tom called out "Hang in there Captain, we'll be back to Voyager in three minutes." She took a deep breath and said: "Thank you...Mr. Paris." Suddenly she felt like she was going to be sick. Her hand flew out of Chakotay's and landed itself over her mouth. The doctor quickly grabbed the newly replicated basin, and arrived just in time. She pushed herself up and spewed a purely brown liquid into the awaiting basin. Her hand managed to find Chakotay's again, as he proceeded to rub her back. When it passed she fell back against the wall and the doctor's mouth flew open, which concerned the two of them. "Doctor? What is it?" Chakotay asked, tightening his grip around her shoulder. He chuckled and asked "Captain? When was the last time you ingested something other than coffee?" She pulled herself further up the wall and said "I had some...soup last night." The two men in front of her just gave her the 'You shouldn't be doing that' look that she knew all too well.
She slunked back down the wall, sighed, and said "I know what you are...all thinking, but I was very...busy today. It didn't help that I then got thrown...through a temporal fracture." They all laughed when suddenly the Shuttle docked, but had a rough landing. She moaned and gripped her side tighter. "Come on Kathryn! Just a bit longer." Chakotay said, lifting her into his arms. He watched her head fall against his shoulder when he suddenly didn't feel any breathing coming from her ribs. "Doctor! She's not breathing!" he yelled out; causing the doctor to run over and scan her. "We need to go NOW! We're losing her. Her lifesigns are destabilizing." They burst out of the shuttle bay doors and ran into the nearest turbolift.
Chakotay kept his eyes focused on his Captain's face, hoping she would be alright. As soon as the turbolift doors opened the three of them darted out into the corridor, almost running into Kes. "Doctor, I was just coming to the shuttlebay to see if you needed help." She said as they continued to run towards sickbay. "The captains lifesigns are destabilizing." The doctor told her as they stepped foot through the doors of sickbay. "Gentleman, lay her down in the surgical bay." Chakotay ran full speed towards the other side of sickbay. Tom helped him lower her down, but she had not moved an inch. The doctor and Kes walked over and said "Commander, we are going to have to perform surgery. If you wish you can sit in my office until it's over." He was thankful, and slowly walked into his office. "Mr. Paris? Where are you going?" the doctor asked the already leaving lieutenant. "I was heading back to my post. Why?" Kes jumped in and pulled him towards the bed and said "We need your help. You are a trained field medic, are you not?" he nodded and they started the surgery. It was meant to only last one hour, but the time was going on four hours.
After all that time Chakotay had still not left the sickbay office. Finally the surgery was over and Paris returned to the bridge, the doctor and kes took their place in the office, and Chakotay was finally able to take his place next to the love of his life. "Oh Kathryn! i'm so glad you're alright." Later that night he drifted off to sleep, not knowing his head fell onto her stomach.
She awoke a couple of hours and felt something pressing down on her abdomen. When she lifted her head and saw what it was, she let out a light laugh but her body didn't think it was a great idea. She moaned in pain, sending Chakotay shooting up out of his seat. "Kathryn! You're awake, how do you feel?" She reached up to his hand and tiredly responded: "I'm fine. I just realized my body doesn't agree with laughing." He laughed and replied "Well, i'll try not to be funny." She smiled and tried to pull herself to be sitting up, but the doctor quickly ran to her side yelling out "Captain! Please stay down? You just woke up after being in surgery for four hours." She reluctantly fell back, while the doctor raised the back of the bed up a little bit. "Thank you Doctor." He smiled and gave her an update on how she was doing, while Chakotay went to grab some things from the replicator.
When he arrived back at her side, she held out her hand instantly. With one hand behind his back she kept trying to peak. "Well Captain, you should be able to leave sickbay in a couple of hours. Before you go back on duty though, you will need to eat something other than coffee." Her eyes went wide as she asked "Wait, are you cutting me off from coffee Doctor?" he saw the rage manifesting behind her eyes and adamantly shook his head responding "No, no, of course not. Just eat something else before returning to the bridge." They both smiled as he ran back into his office.
She settled back against the biobed, as Chakotay finally pulled out a steaming cup of coffee from behind his back. "Oh, Chakotay! You are my lifesaver. Thank you." She yanked the cup out of his hand and enjoyed her first sip in over a day. Her face lit up, but he knew he had one more surprise for her. He inconspicuously pulled something out of his pocket, but managed to keep it hidden from her prying eyes. Within minutes she managed to completely finish her coffee, and was very much awake. "Kathryn? I know we have only known each other for a short time, but can I ask you something?" She shifted to have her body facing him before nodding. He held up the black velvet box and started "Captain Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, will you go on another date with me?" He looked up to see a tear rolling down her cheek.
Within a microsecond she pulled him closer to her and said "Yes Chakotay. I will give you a chance and go on another date with you!" he was so happy at the answer that he planted a deepening kiss on her delicate lips. The doctor and Kes had started clapping, which ripped them apart in a second. Kes ran up to the Captain and enveloped her in a tight hug telling her "Congratulations Captain." Kathryn welcomed the hug with open arms. Chakotay joined in as well as the doctor. Suddenly the doctor told the captain "You are free to leave sickbay. I have replicated a new uniform for you." He placed them at the foot of the biobed and she lit up with glee. After she had replaced the dreaded medical gowns, she had felt like a normal person being back in her uniform. She stepped out and saw Chakotay standing there with a bouquet of flowers. ¨Thank you Chakotay, for all you've done for me the past few months."
Finally the command team were able to walk out of sickbay hand in hand. They entered the closest turbolift, but before she could say 'bridge' Chakotay spoke out "Deck 2" she looked up to him and just shrugged. He said "Guess now, you have to eat with someone watching you." Playfully she punched his arms. Neelix greeted the two of them as soon as the doors fully opened. "Good afternoon Captain. I have prepared a special meal for you and the Commander." She laughed which still didn't agree with her, but she couldn't help it. Chakotay was quick to notice the slight discomfort that she showed in that moment. He hadn't realized how much more observant he had become after all these years of enduring the love of his life constantly facing death. They followed Neelix as he showed them a table in the corner. He had "fancied" it up with a silver tablecloth, and a candle glowing brightly in the center of the table. "Thank you Neelix. You didn't have to do this, you know that?" He smiled and said "It's a special night, so actually I DID have to do it. Enjoy." The command team pulled the dome covers off to see that Neelix had made them an italian dinner. As they both stared into eachothers eyes, they knew that life couldn't get more perfect.
' The End