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Thank you elem for the excellent beta, much appreciated as always.

 

 

The Adirondack Mountains were cold even in late July. Kathryn Janeway shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her. She could have called it a night and headed back into her tent and the warmth of her sleeping bag, but she was enjoying herself far too much. The weather on Mt Marcy was unpredictable; it could be clear and cold one minute or covered in a dense fog the next. For now, she was grateful for the cold. There were no clouds, which meant a perfectly clear sky for one of her favorite hobbies.

 

The soft sound of a snapping twig in the bushes behind her made her reach for her phaser. She kept it nearby on the granite outcropping on which she was lying and, although she knew that the area was perfectly safe, seven years in the Delta Quadrant had given her a healthy suspicion of humanoid life forms. Here on Earth, it was the two legged, holoimaging, recorder-carrying variety that she had come to loathe. Ever since her arrival back into Federation space, she had been hounded from her mother’s house, to her sister’s farm in the Panamanian Mountains to Starfleet headquarters.

 

She may have been more amenable to giving them interviews had they not been so persistent. In fact, she had done so, for hours on end, in the early days. However, when the focus changed from Voyager’s journey in the Delta quadrant to her personal life and speculation about her relationship or lack thereof with her First Officer - the once Maquis Captain whom she’d set out to capture - she began to rethink her openness, and availability.

 

When they failed to dig up any dirt on the relationship, they turned their attention to her family and their reaction to the initial loss of Voyager. When she’d seen for the tenth time the footage of her mother and sister placing flowers on her “grave”, Kathryn began to see red and refuse all interviews.

 

Phoebe being Phoebe had just laughed it off, and in one memorable moment, started to pull up her shirt to flash the waiting reporters when Kathryn had pulled her away completely mortified.

 

Phoebe could not have been clearer to Kathryn about how little it mattered to her what the rest of the federation thought. And she had advised Kathryn not to waste her energy being angry and recommended that she should just channel that energy into lots of hot, wild sex to make up for seven years of deprivation.

 

“Or possibly longer, because honestly Kathryn, I can’t imagine Mark indulging in hot or wild anything. So forget the damn media and focus on yourself, oh and that hunk of a first officer of yours.”  Kathryn had nodded meekly and then turned the topic to something less personal.

 

The breaking point though, came when the press tried to follow her into the Night Owl, and one of their overzealous reporters knocked over a cup of her favorite blend; one she’d been craving all day. She’d snapped and if it hadn’t been for Mark, who was with her at the time, she could have quite possibly phasered the hapless woman out of existence. As it was, the reporter was treated to the famous Janeway death glare. It had stopped many an alien dead in their tracks and the reporter had been led away, blubbering something about never having believed it was possible.

 

Mark had gently suggested that for the safety of the reporters she should call on Starfleet security. That she had done and, for six glorious months, she was able to venture out reporter free.

 

It had been almost a month since she had last needed their help, so it was unlikely that it was someone from the Federation Press. Her hand made contact with the phaser and she sat up, still facing away from the bushes. She silently regarded the valley below, waiting to see what that person’s next move would be. The rustling stopped, but she could hear soft footfalls behind her. She set down her phaser and despite herself, felt a small grin crook the side of her mouth.

 

“For a Maquis, instructor in advanced tactics and a tracker, you are extremely noisy. I could hear you coming a kilometer away. How many bears did you startle on your way here?” She still hadn’t turned around but could almost see his answering grin.

 

“I didn’t want to scare you.”

 

“You mean you didn’t want to get phasered.”

 

“That too.” He laughed and she turned around.

 

“What are you doing here Chakotay?”

 

“I was sent on an errand of mercy.”

 

“You were, hmmm. By whom? And why don’t you sit down so I don’t need to keep craning my neck to look up at you.”

 

Chakotay sat on the rock beside her. “This rock is freezing. You’re not cold?”

 

“A little. You would think that these Starfleet issue planet P undergarments would keep me warmer.” She laughed at his grimace, “Now tell me what you are doing here? And what’s this errand of mercy?”

 

“I don’t know what it is. I was hoping you could tell me.” At her raised eyebrow, he explained, “Phoebe sent me here; she said you needed something from me.”

 

“She what?” Kathryn started to choke and tried valiantly to disguise it as a coughing fit.

 

He thumped her on the back “What?”

 

When she could speak again, she shook her head “Its nothing.”

 

He looked at her suspiciously but did not say anything, then asked, “So what was it that Phoebe thought I could help you with?”

 

Kathryn was grateful that the darkness hid her cheeks; she felt sure were flaming red.

 

“Ah, well I don’t know what she’s talking about. Phoebe gets these half baked ideas in her head.”

 

“So... you’re saying I came here for nothing?”

 

“Well not nothing, now that you are here you can help me with what I was doing before you came crashing through the bushes and interrupted.”

 

“What were you doing?”

 

She pushed him back gently on the outcropping and then lay down beside him. “Look up.”

 

He gazed intently at the sky; it was pitch black. He could see the familiar constellations of earth wending their way across the sky, and the occasional starship far above the planet, traveling to or from space dock. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at.”

 

“Shh, don’t talk, just watch there, in the direction of Betelgeuse.”

 

He looked and then he saw it a faint flash of light “A meteorite.”

 

Kathryn shook her head in mock dismay “A shooting star and that one is number 156.”

 

“Shooting stars? I would never have believed it - Kathryn Janeway, lying on the ground in the freezing weather, counting meteorites and calling them shooting stars.” He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. “Should I be alarmed? Did the Komar take over your body, and force you do unspeakable things. The Kathryn I knew complained bitterly every time we passed through a meteor storm”

 

She grinned up at him “Lie back down, you are blocking my view. Is it so surprising? We used to do this with my father when we were little, Phoebe and me, I think the most we counted together was 305 in an hour and I was trying to beat that record.” Then with mock annoyance, she added, “and now I’m not going to, since I was so rudely interrupted.”

 

He started to sit up “Well if you feel so strongly about it, I can leave you to your counting.”

 

“No!” and then softly, “No, stay awhile, I think it’s winding down and I’m glad for the company.”

 

He settled back down. It was quiet for a while and then he saw one. “157”

 

He could feel her smile. “158”

 

“Chakotay?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“How did you find me?”

 

“I told you. Phoebe.”

 

“Not good enough.” she wagged her finger in the air. “I told Phoebe I was going to Lake George, not up here.”

 

He laughed, “I should have known that wouldn’t escape you. She did tell me Lake George and when I went there and found the cottage empty, I asked Harry to help me.”

 

“Harry?”

 

“And Tom and B’Elanna”

 

Janeway groaned. “So pretty much our entire senior staff.”

 

“Not quite, I didn’t need the Doctor or Seven, well maybe a little bit of help from her but that’s all, I promise. I definitely did not ask Tuvok, because he would be interrupting us every few minutes.”

 

Janeway let the implications of that slide by for the moment. “159”

 

“I think we are already past that, it’s 160”

 

“So are you telling me that you got my crew out of bed in the middle of night to have them locate me? What would they think?”

 

“Its only 21:00 hours on the West Coast, and they were wide awake, well mostly, Miral is sprouting her molars and she kept B’Elanna awake last night, trying to bite her. So B’E was half asleep, but she was happy to get involved and as for what they would think?” He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. Brushing a strand of hair from where it had flopped across her cheek, he whispered, “I think you know the answer to that Kathryn.”

 

Janeway felt a shiver run through her at his touch, she moved away slightly and then sat up. “That I do, too well, how many times did the turbolift suddenly break down when we in there together, five, six?”

 

“I lost track, I think it was more fifteen or twenty.” He grinned at her. “I was beginning to think that the Starfleet engineers had equipped Voyager with defective turbolifts.”

 

“Well those weren’t as bad as that time when they shut us up in the Jeffery tube.”

 

“I don’t think it was as bad for you as it was for me. At least you could sit up in there, I had to slide half way down to sit, and, to make matters worse, my muscles were so knotted after that experience, I had to go and have the Doctor massage me. Then I had to put up with all kinds of insinuations about what I was doing to get into that position in the first place. I was so close to decompiling his program that day.”

 

“Well, I thought the pattern of the flooring would never vanish from my posterior.” She laughed at the memory.

 

“I would have liked to have seen that”

 

“I don’t think that was in the First Officers job description.”

 

“I wasn’t thinking as the First Officer.”

 

Kathryn felt her cheeks warm at the tone of his voice. “I know.” she whispered.

 

She fell silent.

 

“I think we lost track.”

 

She wasn’t sure if it was the shooting stars he was talking about or something else entirely.

 

“Chakotay?”

 

“Hmm hmm?”

 

“Why did you come?”

 

“I told you, Phoebe.”

 

She drew her knees close and, resting her head on them, turned to him.

 

“No really. The truth now, I doubt Phoebe told you to rush over here in the middle of the night.”

 

He sighed “No you’re right.”

 

“Well?”

 

“I’d been thinking about how different things are since we got back. I miss Voyager, being able to walk out of my quarters and always finding someone to talk to and I especially missed walking into the mess hall at 02:00 hours and finding a certain captain with a large mug of coffee. I miss us Kathryn.”

 

“You could have commed me, I thought you knew that. But I haven’t heard from you in months not since…”

 

“Since spring, I know. The last time we spoke was when I was staying at Tom and B’Ellana’s after I got back from Dorvan.”

 

“So why didn’t you?”

 

He stood up and walked right to the edge of the outcropping. She resisted the urge to reach out and pull him back from where he stood so precariously close to the sheer drop.

 

“I needed time. I was upset about your silence after the debriefings and for my part, I thought I was giving you some space. You vanished without a word and I thought I understood. You needed time to yourself and time to reconnect with the relationships that you left behind. I convinced myself that’s all it was when one month went by and then another and then almost six. Then I hear that you had all the senior staff to your home in Indiana, except me.”

 

He was still facing away from her “Then you just call out of the blue one morning and act like nothing ever happened. That upset me and I need time to think. Why did you shut me out Kathryn? I thought our friendship meant more to you than that?” He couldn’t keep the anger and bitterness out of his voice.

 

She shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. “The Admiral.”

 

“What Admiral?”

 

“Janeway.”

 

“What?!” He turned back to face her, puzzled by her answer.

 

To her consternation, she found herself blinking back tears. Taking refuge in anger, she retorted, “You should talk about friendship Chakotay. I had to hear about your relationship with Seven from the Admiral. Do you know what that was like? Having your future self tell you that the someone you care deeply about is in a relationship with someone half his age, and that relationship will result in their marriage.”

 

“Marriage?! To Seven?! I don’t know on what plane of reality the Admiral was functioning, but it certainly wasn’t mine. Seven wanted dating practice and she came to me. Once we reached earth, I was there to give here advice on the first few times she went on a date. We were never together.” He shook his head bemused. “You were angry at me, and that’s why you made no effort to contact me?” He was starting to feel calmer.

 

“That and I didn’t think I was ready to see the two of you together.”

 

“You should have trusted me Kathryn.” He couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice.

 

“I’m sorry. I was too absorbed to be thinking clearly.” She reached out and touched his arm tentatively.

 

“So what made you call me?” He put his hand over hers

 

Janeway laughed “My mother, the trickiest and most devious woman you’ll ever meet. She told me that Seven had left you and was spreading the word that you were too old for her. I was furious, it’s a good thing you were there to take my comm., I was ready to call Seven next.”

 

Chakotay laughed “Both you and your sister seem to have inherited that trait. Well thank you for being so quick to defend the reputation of your old friend.”

 

“That and more.” She whispered.

 

He smiled, and pressing a quick kiss on her cold cheek, lay back down next to her. “And more.” he agreed.

 

“162.” she snuggled in close.

 

“163, I think we are back on track”

 

“Yes.” And this time she knew he wasn’t talking about the stars. 

 

 

 

 

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