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This takes place during Revulsion. Some of Robert Beltran’s best (and most under-utilized) facial expressions are in that final scene with Garrett Wang. I often wondered why Chakotay looked so happy. This is my explanation.

Thanks always to elem for her encouragement and betas. This is for DeltaS.

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns all things Trek, but is too easily distracted by cartoonish boobs to care about dimples.

 

Chakotay uses Harry and Seven’s misunderstanding to break Kathryn out of her funk.

 

* * *

 

Kathryn hadn’t settled in her ready room for more than a few minutes during alpha shift before feeling the familiar ache running across her trapezius muscle. For weeks she’d endured the spasms caused by stress, lack of sleep, and an erratic diet. Her entire right side felt hard as a rock despite the Doctor’s weekly chiropractic treatments and his poor excuse for therapeutic massage. Now a pinched nerve was imminent. Considering the pile of reports in front of her, that would not do, but she was loath to call upon the EMH for another one of his torture sessions. She still had tender bruises from the last one.

 

Naturally her thoughts drifted to the only person on Voyager whose ministrations worked, but he was not an option. Professional differences about a certain ex-Borg were keeping them from seeing eye-to-eye. The command team kept up with their weekly dinners to review ship’s business, but they rarely discussed anything personal at the table.

 

The situation would have been comical if the day-to-day stakes weren’t so high and Kathryn’s sense of humor hadn’t eroded so much. Adopting Seven into the crew was like taking in a stray puppy off the street. Unfortunately, the Commander viewed her as more pit bull than Labrador. It didn’t help that Seven had proved him correct on many occasions. Her unpredictability was exhausting; half of the daily reports had been official complaints about the drone riding roughshod over protocol. The latest one came from Dalby, which in light of his early years flaunting Starfleet regulations, was acutely ironic.

 

No one liked Seven and it put the Captain in a tough spot. Kathryn wore many hats onboard Voyager and the one she liked least was high school principal. Worse, the rumor mill had characterized the drone as “Janeway’s personal reclamation project,” further dehumanizing Seven. Every step forward the young woman took was shortly followed by several steps back. Seven’s acclimation to Voyager had been much more complicated than Kathryn originally anticipated and she needed help.

 

It had come as quite a surprise to her when Chakotay offered to integrate Seven into the duty roster himself. Kathryn was more than willing to handle the ex-Borg on her own – seeing it as her private penance for yanking the girl from the Collective without thinking things through. During many of Kathryn’s lectures to Seven in the ready room, the Commander’s expression had been noticeably impassive when he could have given her a look that said, “I told you so.” Still, Kathryn and Chakotay’s emotional distance hadn’t narrowed since Seven joined the crew and she was beginning to wonder if things between them would ever be the same.

 

Kathryn broke her reverie by picking up the next PADD in the deck. It was another Seven-centric report. The pain in her upper back went from a dull ache to a sharp one and she gripped her shoulder in a vain attempt to lessen it.

 

* * *

 

Chakotay sat in the big chair on the bridge. Long-range sensors hadn’t picked up anything more than space dust, which meant that the next few hours might be miraculously drama-free. Despite Kes giving them the extra 10,000 light-year jump out of Borg space, there hadn’t been much of a breather. New territory had yet to be charted, which got him thinking a week ago about Voyager’s neglected Astrometrics lab. If B’Elanna was able to integrate Borg technology into the warp drive, imagine what the enemy’s innovations would do for navigation? He knew Seven had been restless, pacing her alcove, so Chakotay had made it his personal responsibility to give her busy work. He recently accepted her as part of Kathryn’s mission of good, despite any misgivings he’d harbored. When he promised to make his Captain’s burden lighter years ago, he’d meant it.

 

Unfortunately no one liked Seven. B’Elanna would have been the likely choice to help update Astrometrics, but she was up to her ridges in engineering. Furthermore, ever since the drone whacked poor Ensign Kim at the base of his skull, the protective half-Klingon wasn’t getting within a parsec of the ex-Borg unless it was a direct order.

 

Fortunately, Chakotay’s wicked sense of humor hadn’t eroded along with Kathryn’s. He suspected that the one person on Voyager who wouldn’t say no to working with Seven of Nine would be Harry Kim and he was right. As a rule, Harry didn’t say no to much of anything, so it wasn’t that much of a eureka moment. However, Chakotay had a feeling Tuvok’s recent promotion might have put a chink in the ensign’s morale. After four years enduring above and beyond his station, Harry deserved an upgrade. The next best thing was to give him a project that would cement his reputation as Voyager’s most indispensable ensign once they returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Chakotay knew Harry well enough to anticipate him forgiving Seven for their earlier mishaps.

 

What the Commander hadn’t predicted was how forgiving Harry would be. The latest reports coming from the pair conflicted in a screwball manner. While Harry neglected to log in a late night “inspirational” session with the ex-Borg, Seven didn’t mince words about his overt pick-up lines and vain attempt at savoir faire. It cheered up a considerably dreary workweek for Chakotay to find out Ensign Eager was smitten with the only woman on the ship everyone couldn’t stand. Unfortunately, Harry’s self-confidence had been the lone casualty of that evening and he’d gone out of his way to avoid Seven since. If Chakotay didn’t figure out a way to mend the rift, his pet project would have to be abandoned. Kathryn would find out and nobody wanted to endure the repercussions of that scenario.

 

After a particularly sleepless night worrying about their languishing friendship, Chakotay made the one true win for the week. He had remembered a story Kathryn told him about her Academy days that resonated with Harry and Seven’s situation. Now that he’d recalled it, the Commander mentally slapped himself for not thinking of it sooner. At 0600, he made his way to cargo bay two just as Seven finished with her regeneration cycle. He related the Captain’s story and gave her a PADD filled with more relevant data. By 0800, the chime to his office rang and Seven reported that her working relationship with Harry had been mended.

 

Averting a medium-sized snafu without involving the Captain wasn’t unheard of, but this time Chakotay had decided to take a calculated risk and let her know in greater personal detail how the renovation was going. That morning, the Commander snuck in an incomplete, watered-down version of Seven’s report about Harry’s seduction scene into Kathryn’s usual pile of PADDs. What’s the worst that could happen? Chakotay knew his Captain was tightly wound. Maybe all she needed was reassurance that Seven was going to be okay for her to finally unclench.

 

*Janeway to Chakotay*

 

Her death glare voice was unmistakable and the Commander eyed the ready room doors with a smile.

 

“Yes, Captain?”

 

*Hand over the bridge to Tuvok. We need to discuss your latest report*

 

“Understood.”

 

With a nod to the Vulcan, Chakotay entered the principal’s office as the doors swooshed open.

 

* * *

 

“What does she mean by ‘complex social interactions’ or did you make that one up yourself?” Kathryn motioned to the lone PADD on her desk.

 

“It was one of many Collective euphemisms Seven used in her report, but I didn’t want to bother you with its entirety. She’s very detail-oriented.”

 

“So I’ve come to notice. Did any of those ‘interactions’ involve a smack to Harry?”

 

“Not as far as I know.”

 

“What possessed you to pair them up? I thought Mortimer Harren would’ve been the likely choice.”

 

“Harren and Seven are a bit too alike, I think.”

 

“That’s exactly why they’d work perfectly together! Why didn’t you give me her actual report?”

 

Chakotay sighed, “Because you’ve been noticeably more tired than usual. I handled it, Captain.”

 

Kathryn looked over her first officer dubiously and tapped her combadge.

 

“Janeway to Seven of Nine.”

 

*Yes, Captain*

 

“Report to my ready room.”

 

*Acknowledged*

 

Chakotay smirked to see how easy it was to predict Kathryn’s next move.

 

* * *

 

Within twenty-three point nine minutes, Seven of Nine was going through the weekly interrogation she’d become accustomed to from the Captain. The human female before her was a mixture of interesting contradictions she was beginning to appreciate. Before talking with Chakotay about her, she’d seen the Captain as her warden in some juvenile detention center.

 

Without knowing what she was doing, the drone had been constantly testing the older woman’s fortitude since she’d arrived on Voyager as a reaction to long-buried feelings of abandonment and anger. If Seven acted badly enough, perhaps Janeway would leave her on the nearest M-class planet for good. It’s not a situation she had preferred, but somewhere deep in Seven’s psyche was a child demanding discipline and constant supervision. She had yet to address the resentment she felt at parents who put science above all else – including their only child. The Captain was a scientist as well, taking risks in unknown territory. Who could say she was different?

 

“And what exactly did Harry say in response?”

 

It took only a moment for Seven to find the information in her neural net, “I believe he said, quote, ‘Voyager isn’t all Jeffries tubes and cargo bays…you know,’ end quote,” she replied in monotone.

 

“Did he proposition you?” The Captain’s brow furrowed. She reached for strength in the confines of her nearby coffee mug.

 

Chakotay clamped down on his tongue to stop his dimples from revealing themselves. Harry Kim capable of sexual harassment? Damn, woman, you must be more tired that I thought.

 

Seven’s right eyebrow arched thoughtfully. “No. I believe the proposition came from me.”

 

The statement caught Kathryn in mid-sip and the burning liquid went down the wrong hatch. As she coughed, the straight-faced Commander lightly slapped his Captain’s back. Kathryn wordlessly motioned Seven to continue as she recovered.

 

“I told him I was not ignorant of human behavior. I’ve noticed Ensign Kim’s attempts to engage me in idle conversation and his pupils dilate when he looks at my body. Much in the same way the Commander reacts when he looks at you, Captain.”

 

This time Chakotay was unable to hide behind a stony face and his eyes went wide, pupils constricting. Suddenly this prank on Kathryn was backfiring.

 

Seven hardly noticed the air in the room. She was on a roll:

 

“I then asked Ensign Kim if he was in love with me. When he reacted negatively, I assumed he wanted to copulate. I outlined the merits of assimilation over seduction and requested that he take off his clothing for the benefit of exploring my humanity. I believe that is the proposition your inquiry is in regards to, Captain.”

 

Chakotay glanced over at Kathryn. She had turned herself around so that neither he nor Seven could see her face. A hand covered her mouth and her shoulders began to shake up and down. Before either of them knew it, the drone and first officer were treated to a full-on, drop-down, dragged-out belly laugh.

 

Oh, how good it felt for Chakotay to see her come undone after so much time spent in self-imposed emotional exile. He moved towards his laughing Captain to prevent her from tripping over the couch and their eyes met. Hers were twinkling and moist. He winked back. She straightened up then, a glimmer of mischief registering in her face.

 

“I suppose this is why Harry has been afraid to come near you over the past few days.”

 

Seven appeared nonplussed at the previous outburst. Humans were peculiar, moody creatures. “Yes, but data regarding your time spent at Starfleet Academy was enough to aid in mending the rift…”

 

“Uh, Seven, I don’t think –“ Chakotay interrupted.

 

“Wait. What was that? My time at Starfleet? What has that got to do with anything?” Kathryn looked over her XO, eyes narrowed.

 

“Commander Chakotay was astute enough to connect your past experience with a fellow student to my present dilemma with Ensign Kim. It aided me in finding…empathy…for his situation and gave me an alternate form of compassion different from the version I experienced with the Caatati. It was a most revealing conversation.”

 

Chakotay swallowed. Kathryn’s eyes never left his during Seven’s explanation.

 

“I’m sure it was. Seven, you are dismissed. You will continue reconfiguring the sensors for Astrometrics with Mr. Kim and report any future problems to me.”

 

“Understood.”

 

* * *

 

After Seven left the ready room, Kathryn’s death glare was set to kill on her first officer.

 

“Explain.”

 

“I’d love to,” Chakotay’s eyes danced with glee. At least he had her full attention. “But not here. Dinner in my quarters tonight and I’ll give you the full report,” he grinned.

 

For the first time in a long while, Kathryn was struck by how intensely right Chakotay was in his capacity to know the right thing to say, at the right time and with the right amount of cocksure finesse. Against better judgment, she surrendered.

 

“1900 hours. Not a minute more. And the food better be spectacular.”

 

“I promise it will be as good as the company.”

 

* * *

 

His jaw was sore from laughing. The Kathryn he’d secretly yearned for in more than friendship was back. Chakotay was right to delay his explanation of the Harry/Seven debacle. It gave his Captain time throughout the workday to see the big picture of what he’d set out to do that morning: to make her happy. The one thing that hadn’t changed – damn the Kazon, damn the Borg – was her unparalleled reasoning. Sure, it had been questionable at times, but he was foolish to think that their relationship would have remained darkened by its absence for too long.

 

“I can’t believe you remembered that. It was such an inconsequential event in my life,” she paused between sips of wine.

 

“From the way you told me, that boy broke your heart.”

 

“I was silly, infatuated. He took our study date a bit too far and I ended it, nothing more.”

 

Kathryn’s eyes betrayed her. For a moment, she was transported back to that moment – in the same manner Chakotay had witnessed the first time she’d told the story. Just as quickly, she shook it off:

 

“Anyway, I sanction any embellishment you gave the tale. It was worth it to hear Seven say the word ‘empathy.’ Kudos to you, Commander.”

 

Kathryn raised a glass and the stemware clinked. She took a sip, but a twinge in her shoulder caused her to put her drink down, tilting her head to one side as her hand grasped at the muscle.

 

“The Doctor’s treatment doesn’t seem to be working. Why don’t I give it a try?” Chakotay got up from the table and motioned his Captain to the couch.

 

Kathryn hesitated at first, suddenly pulled out of the jovial element they’d created before. It was easy to hide behind camaraderie, food, wine, a good story, a good joke. This was territory she knew was trouble – at least where she was concerned. Nevertheless, his hands were upon her and they were like a salve to deep wounds.

 

She fought the urge to make any noise, remembering how things had progressed on New Earth in the same situation. The result was a new tension competing with Chakotay’s ministrations.

 

“Relax. I won’t assimilate you,” his soft voice buzzed in her ear and it made her shiver.

 

“Stop it, you.”

 

A long time passed. Chakotay persevered but Kathryn’s trapezius had yet to give up the fight.

 

“I have something more to confess,” he intoned.

 

“And this is supposed to relax me?”

 

“Have I failed you thus far?”

 

She realized she couldn’t fault him that. Chakotay registered her silence as assent:

 

“I gave Seven access to certain entries of my personal log –

 

Kathryn whipped around. Maybe she could fault him.

 

“It’s not what you think. The reason why I remember so many of your anecdotes is because I record them in my logs. I selectively picked a few of them for her to study. Most of them are stories you’ve told me, a majority of them concerned with selflessness, compassion, fealty – all good qualities. If Voyager is adopting a former Borg, you are her best example. I think she should know that.”

 

For the first time that evening, Chakotay felt Kathryn relax. His fingers could finally get deep beneath the layers of trial, tribulation, duty and unexpressed sorrow. He admired every part of her. I love you, Kathryn.

 

His pupils dilated.

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