A
Fairy Tale
by Sheri
“Mommy, I want a story.” The little half-Klingon girl was pleading.
“Katia, its time for bed.” Belanna’s five-year-old daughter had a way with postponing bedtime.
“Yeah, momma story, please!” three year old Owen should have been in bed already.
Tom came in to help, “Come on kids get in bed.”
“Daddy, please.” They both said in unison.
“Well I suppose, get in bed and we’ll tell you a story.”
“A story about Voyager, please.” They had been home for a little over 5 years now, and the kids couldn’t seem to get enough of the tales from the delta quadrant.
“A love story.” Katie interjected.
“Well, I have a story for you, although it really isn’t a love story, it could’ve been though.”
“Alright, that will be fine.” Claimed Katia, as she climbed into bed.
**********
“Let’s see, Once upon a time, there was a Captain and a Commander, who lived aboard the starship Voyager. They started out their journey as enemies, but when they were forced to join their crews together, they had to work together every day. It didn’t take long for the two to become fast friends.”
“Why were they enemies mom.”
“Well that’s a whole other story, basically they worked for different people who believed in different things.” How do you explain the now extinct maquis situation to a five-year-old?
“That’s not a good reason to be enemies.” Said Katia.
“That’s not the important part of the story, stop interrupting. Now where was I? Oh yeah, they became good friends. As time went on, the Captain and the Commander spent more and more time together.”
“Do they have names mom, it would be better if they had names.”
“Yes they do, Kathryn Janeway, and Chakotay.” Answered Belanna.
“What was Chakotay’s last name.” Asked Katia.
“He didn’t have one.
Anyway, like I was saying. They spent a lot of time together. A lot
of the crew began to wonder if the two of them were falling in love.
But those of us, who knew them better, knew the Captain had someone she
loved very much at home. One day the two of them became very sick.
In order to survive, we had to leave them behind on a planet that protected
them.
We were all very
sad at losing them so we looked every where for a cure and found one.”
“You went back to get them, wow.”
“Yes we did. We all thought for sure that they would’ve fallen in love, but they didn’t. It was obvious that Chakotay dearly loved her. But she did not.”
“That’s sad.”
“Yes Katia, it was quite sad. It hurt us all to see how she dismissed his feelings.”
“Why did she do that?”
“Well, see a Captain has rules to go by, and the rules said they couldn’t be together.” Belanna explained.
“Would they have gotten in a lot of trouble?”
“ No, I don’t think they would’ve, but she still followed the rules. Over the next few years, Chakotay continued to adore his Captain and she continued to push him away. After a while it seemed as if he maybe finally gave up. The journey home took seven years, and for seven years he waited for her. Now we were home."
“Was I still in your tummy then mom.”
“Yes, it was just a little while before you were born. Now, after we returned home we spent the next month in a lot of boring meetings. The whole time the Captain ignored us.”
“She did not ignore us Bella, they had her so busy, she could do nothing but ignore us, it wasn’t on purpose.” Tom still liked to defend her.
“Whatever. When we were free to go on with our lives, I cornered Chakotay. Asked him to come with us, forget about Kathryn Janeway, and start a new life. He said he couldn’t do that. And I… well; I said some things that hurt him. He left and we haven’t seen him sense.”
“What happened to the Captain?”
“Well, we’re not sure, no one really talks about her.” Tom replied.
“Mom, what did you say to Kotay that made him so mad.”
“I said that Kathryn Janeway had a cold heart, that she didn’t love him, probably couldn’t love him. And that he would be better off moving on.”
“Mommy, that wasn’t very nice, after all, didn’t you say she had those rules. If she was a Captain, she had to go by the rules.”
“I know, I really shouldn’t have said those things.” There was a hint of regret in Belanna’s voice.
“You should find Kotay, and tell him sorry,” demanded Katia.
Tom got up from his son’s bed, who fell asleep towards the beginning of the story, “She has a point there mom. Maybe we should try to find him.”
“I think I would like that Tom. I miss him terribly.”
“Well than, that’s the plan, we try to find him tomorrow. Now, little lady, off to bed.”
*********
“Well, here it is, he’s living in Montana, should we call him first?” Tom said, staring at the computer.
“No, with transporters, it will be just a short trip. I want to surprise him. Does it give any other information on him, is he married?”
“No it just gives his address.”
“Well, how about this weekend. We could go early Saturday morning, if it goes well, we could stay the whole weekend. If not, well, we can find something else to do.” Belanna didn’t sound too confident.
“Ok, we’ll do it Saturday morning then.”
*********
“God Tom, I’m nervous. What if he hates me, what if he’s been alone all this time, what if he’s still hung up on her. I don’t think I could take it if he’s still pining away after the unattainable.” The transporter had dropped them off just a short ways away from Chakotay’s house. It was a beautiful area. He was living in Dillon, Montana from his house you could see the Rocky Mountains, It looked to be a very peaceful area.
“Ah mom, look, is that his house, he has a horse, see it?” Katia was excited, she was the social bug of the family, and she loved meeting new people.
“Yes, that looks to be it.” She took a deep breath, " let’s go.” She took little Owens hand and the four of them proceeded to the house.
They rang the bell, it took a couple minutes but they could hear someone coming, then the door opened.
“Belanna, Tom, my god, is it really you?” Chakotay answered the door, seeming oblivious to the naked little boy, squirming in his arms.
“Yeah, it’s us. Been a long time old man.” Belanna wanted to cry.
“Yeah it has, come on in for a minute. After I get this little one dressed, I have to go out back. The wife is back there with the twins keeping an eye on the horse.” Chakotay explained.
“Twins, oh my, how many kids do you have.” She was shocked.
“Well three right now, the twins, Shayanne and Shayla are four and a half, and Justin here is 2. We’re expecting our fourth in 2 more months.” He smiled proudly.
“You wasted no time starting a family, and here I was worried about you.” She was happy to see her friend had moved on with life.
“No I didn’t, I told you there was nothing to worry about. Come on, I want to get out there before she goes in the stall in her condition.”
“Why what’s wrong?” Tom asked concerned.
“Oh the horse is going to have a baby today, she’s a bit feisty.”
They exited the house out the back door and proceeded to the barn. They immediately noticed to identical girls hanging on the door to the barn peering in. “Hurry daddy.”
“Where is your mom?”
“She’s in there helping.”
Chakotay was pissed. “Kathryn, get out of there, she’s liable to kick you in her condition.”
Kathryn, oh my god. Tom and Belanna looked at each other in disbelief.
“Relax Chakotay, that horse love’s me, she won’t do anything, besides I just wanted to give her a quick scan,” Explained Kathryn.
“Well come on out, we have company anyway, and the vet is on his way, he’ll handle the horse.”
“Who’s here?” she asked walking towards the barn door.
“Tom and Belanna, they brought some surprises too.”
Kathryn stepped out of the barn; they weren’t prepared for the sight. They’re prim and proper captain, now had waist length hair that looked wild, was wearing overalls and had one hell of a round belly. ‘She looked so cute.’ Thought Tom.
It was hard to read her eyes, was that a flash of fear they saw. “Wow, it’s been a long time, who do we have here?” asked Kathryn.
“The little one is Owen, he’s three, and this is Katia, she’s five.”
“Last time is saw you, you were still in your mothers belly,” Said Kathryn with a half smile.
“You two have been busy too, I have to say this was a shock, we had no idea the two of you were together.” Said Tom.
Kathryn didn’t answer his comment, “why don’t we just go inside, and let the vet do his work.” As she walked to the house.
They entered the house, the twins immediately grabbed Katia’s hand and guided her towards their bedroom, “Justin, why don’t you show Owen your toys.” Suggested Chakotay, and within seconds all children were gone.
Kathryn sat in a nearby chair, placing her hand on her belly let out a deep sigh. Chakotay approached her and placed his hand on hers, “Is he being overly active today.”
“Yes SHE sure is. Just like her sisters.”
“It’s going to be a boy Kathryn, and you know it, we have to even out the odds in this house,” He laughed.
Tom and Belanna watched the playful banter in fascination. They had never seen this side of their Captain; they were beginning to wish they had. The twins really had Belanna wondering, if they were four and a half, that means… “I was thinking, the twins, when were they born, I mean, it seems if they are that old then…”
“Kathryn was two months pregnant when we arrived at earth, yes it is true.”
“God, why didn’t you say anything? it would’ve thrilled everyone to death.”
“Would it have? Bella, we were going to tell you, in fact that day I was coming to find you to invite you to a small party where we were going to make the announcement. You’re reaction to the idea of us together changed our minds quickly. We decided it would be better to just disappear for a while, and if anyone was interested in finding us they could. No one has, guess it’s out of sight, out of mind.” There was still a hint of bitterness in his voice. Kathryn still sat in the chair, staring at her belly.
“Look, you never gave us any impression that there was something going on. How were we supposed to know?” tom didn’t like the attack at his wife.
“Why did it matter, there were reasons we didn’t get involved earlier, protocol was a serious issue. You may not have liked it, neither did I but it was there. And if the maquis were to be freed everything had to be by the book. We knew how we felt, and that was what was important. We didn’t plan on getting together until we were in the alpha quadrant, it just happened. But it wasn’t something to advertise, at least not then. And if you can’t understand that.” Chakotay stopped, noticing Belanna’s tears. “I’m sorry, what you said hurt, it hurt a lot, none of you really knew her, I did.”
“I know we didn’t, we wanted to but… that wasn’t easy.”
“You know, I’m still here. I know I didn’t make it easy for any of you to know me. It really didn’t surprise me at all to learn how you felt. And despite how much of a jerk Chakotay is acting like now, we have moved on from that. It did hurt at the time, but I understood that. Just like he said, we went away to make a life together and didn’t really care who followed, and we’ve been happy, beyond happy. I don’t want to think about any of that, because it doesn’t do any good now, I would like a fresh start with you, if you want that too.” Kathryn sure had a way with her speeches.
Belanna whiped the tears away, “I would really like that.”
“Well then, enough of this, Chakotay,” she started, rubbing her belly, “We are hungry, when is dinner.”
“DO you really think I’m going to fall for that, we already have 3 kids.” He laughed.
She gave him the best pout she could, “Yes we have, and you should already know, I can’t wait, I need food, please.”
He laughed even harder, “That’s more like it, ‘I’ is the correct term there. Fine, I’ll go cook us some dinner woman. Tom and Belanna, you are staying for dinner right?”
“Sure that would be great. We do have to go find a hotel to stay at though first, we didn’t get one yet since we weren’t sure how this would go.”
Kathryn patted Tom’s shoulder, “Well, you already found the hotel, come on, I’ll show you to a room, Katia can sleep with the twins, and Owen can sleep with Justin. Justin has a double bed, there will be plenty of room and we can think of something for the girls.”
“Are you sure? We can…” Belanna didn’t have time to finish her sentence.
“Of course we’re sure, how are we supposed to get reacquainted if you have to get up and leave to get the kids to bed, no, your staying right here.”
*********
They all enjoyed the dinner Chakotay cooked, and had just got all the kids off to bed. The noises coming from the bedroom told them that the girls had not yet went to sleep but no one was going to stop it, they were having too much fun. Chakotay lay back on the couch, and Kathryn lay on top, settling in between his legs. Funny, but to Tom and Belanna, after spending only one day with them, it looked so natural. The love that radiated from the couple was something else. Chakotay had his hands on her belly, and was rubbing slow circles, Kathryn’s hands were ontop of his, following his same path. It wasn’t long before they noticed Kathryn had fallen asleep. Chakotay laughed quietly, “ it works everytime, a little massage, and the two of them are out like a light.”
“Chakotay, I wish things were better between us. I’m really glad to see that I was so wrong.” Said Belanna.
“Things will be fine between us Belanna, we can have a fresh start! And I am glad you were wrong to. When I was on Voyager, I often wondered if it would ever work between Kathryn and I. I had always hoped it would, but I never seen any signs. Then after she came to me that first night, I knew. She has a lot of love to give, and I’m really glad I didn’t give up on it.”
“Patience is really a virtue, isn’t it old man.” Laughed Belanna.
“It sure is. It sure is!”
**********
They knew they wouldn’t be able to stay long today, but they weren’t quite ready to leave. All the kids were out at the barn watching the new mommy and baby. “She even had a girl, I tell ya Tom, they’re out to get me.” Chakotay laughed.
“Well, Chakotay, maybe you’ll get lucky with this next one.” Said Tom.
Chakotay grinned, “Aww Tom, it doesn’t matter, I love having all the girls in the family, another one would truly be a welcome addition.”
“You have a great family here Chakotay, a beautiful family. I wish we didn’t miss so much of it.”
“You won’t any more Tom, don’t worry about it.”
**********
They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and watching the kids play. They didn’t want it to end, but they all had to get back to their own life.
“Hey, do you have plans for Thanksgiving?” asked Kathryn.
“No not really.” Answered Tom.
“Well good, now you do. We will expect you here.”
“Aye Captain.”
“Stop it, the baby will be here by then. You’ll have to come meet her.” Laughed Kathryn.
Chakotay rolled his eyes, “We would love to have you.”
Belanna gave the two of them a hug, “God, it’s good to be back, I’ve missed you so.”
“Your welcome back here anytime, not just Thanksgiving.”
They said their final good-byes, and the Paris’ headed off to the transporter site.
As they were walking
down the road, Katia looked up at her mom, “see mommy, fairy tales really
do come true.”
END