Work Text
Kathryn stood at the side of the ballroom, a glass of champagne in her hand. She was watching Chakotay and Seven on the dance floor, her heart aching inside her chest.
Someone came and stood beside her, but she ignored them.
“Tom told me something interesting earlier,” Phoebe began.
“I don’t want to hear it, Phoebe,” she told her younger sister, her voice shaking.
“Katie—”
“Please,” Kathryn pleaded, meeting her sister’s dark eyes. “I can’t.”
Her younger sister bit her lip and nodded.
“I’m going to go and see Mom,” Phoebe said, giving her sister’s arm a squeeze. “Let me know if you want something stronger.” She gestured to Kathryn’s champagne.
Kathryn lifted up the glass in response as Phoebe walked away. Her eyes followed her sister to where their mother, Owen, Julia, Tom and B’Elanna were. Phoebe’s mouth moved, but she was too far away for Kathryn to hear what was being said. It couldn’t have been good though, because Tom’s face scrunched up and Owen sighed. The group continued speaking, and Kathryn’s eyes fell on Chakotay and Seven again. The band stopped playing and she applauded alongside everyone else before she threw back the rest of her champagne.
“Katie?” A voice asked, and she turned to see Owen standing there. “Do you want to dance?”
There was a brief moment of hesitation on her side, but she knew that she couldn’t, lest everyone figure out that there was something wrong.
“Alright then,” she answered, returning his smile.
He took her to the dancefloor, the two of them making small talk as they moved across the floor. The topic of conversation had turned to baby Miral when, to Kathryn’s surprise, Chakotay and B’Elanna approached them.
“Captain, can I steal my father-in-law for a dance?” B’Elanna questioned.
Kathryn’s heart was pounding as her eyes slid between her chief engineer and mentor. But she forced herself into diplomatic mode in order to stay calm. She didn’t have time for this.
“Of course,” she told the younger woman.
There was one disadvantage to this arrangement: Kathryn had to dance with the one person she did not want to see.
Even though her heart was aching, dancing with Chakotay felt natural. Her cheek was almost touching his, and her hand was on his upper shoulder blade. She closed her eyes briefly, inhaling his scent of sandalwood before she had to let him go for good.
This thought made her pull back, eyes wide and filled with tears.
“Kathryn…?” Chakotay whispered.
“I— I can’t—” she stammered when the song ended.
She turned towards the band and applauded them alongside everyone else, before she slipped through the crowd to the balcony. When the door had shut behind her, she leaned against the wall and exhaled deeply, her breath making a small cloud in the air.
The cold air hit her, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered violently. There was the sound of the door opening again, and she turned to see Chakotay closing it behind him.
“Jesus, Kathryn, it’s freezing out here,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Staying silent, she just shrugged.
“What’s going on?” He asked gently, standing beside her.
“Seriously?” She snapped as she turned to him, eyes pricking with tears again. “You’re seriously asking me what’s wrong now? When you’re dating Seven and not telling me?” Her lip shook as she spoke. “I thought we were friends, Chakotay. Friends tell each other things. But you didn’t. The admiral did.”
“Woah, Kathryn,” he began, reaching out to her but taking his hand away at the last second. “Seven and I are not dating. We have never been dating. She asked me to dance, and I said yes because she’s my friend. We went out a couple of times on Voyager, but it never went further than that. Anyway, I love—” He cut off and looked down at the ground.
Kathryn felt her breathing grow quick as her jaw slackened a little.
“You love who?” She asked quietly.
Chakotay tugged his earlobe, still not meeting her eyes.
In that moment, it hit her that they didn’t fully trust one another anymore. They had been friends for almost a decade, but now they were in danger of losing their whole relationship, and she couldn’t face that. She couldn’t lose him completely. Her heart wouldn’t be able to take it. So instead, she forced herself to be brave.
“Chakotay,” she whispered, reaching out and stroking his arm with her thumb. “No matter who you love, I’m here to hear it.”
Dark eyes met deep blue ones, and she saw a familiar expression in them.
Love.
She stumbled backwards with a gasp and almost fell, but he caught her in his arms. Their faces were millimetres away from one another, and she pressed her lips to his. His hands tangled in her hair and hers wrapped around his neck as the kiss deepened. As he ran his tongue over her lips, the door opened and they immediately jumped apart.
It was Phoebe.
“Sorry, I got told to—” The younger Janeway stopped speaking when she saw her sister and Chakotay standing there.
Kathryn brushed something imaginary off his shoulder as Phoebe’s eyes darted between them.
“Oh. Uh, I guess I’ll just—” The younger woman pointed behind her and then closed the door.
The remaining two laughed before Kathryn shivered again.
“Here, take this,” Chakotay said, wrapping his blazer around her and then his arms.
“Thank you,” she whispered to him, running her thumb over his tattoo.
They stood opposite each other silently for a little while longer before Kathryn spoke up.
“I feel like we should probably go back inside. Phoebe was most likely sent on my mom’s orders to check on us.”
After she handed him his blazer, they went back inside.
When the door to the balcony had closed behind them, Kathryn noticed that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everyone was still talking and dancing like they had been before.
Voyager’s command team had only just begun to move through the crowd when the band finished their current song and started playing a slower one. Chakotay immediately offered his hand to Kathryn.
“Would you like to dance, Kathryn?” He asked, his eyes gentle.
“I’d love to, Chakotay,” she responded, taking his offered hand and squeezing it.
They began to sway to the music, his hand rubbing up and down her back and her thumb rubbing across his thumb.
“It’s good to be home, huh?” He whispered to her, their foreheads almost touching.
“Yeah.” She gave him a nod, feeling a smile fill her face.
A moment later in the middle of the dance floor, Kathryn kissed Chakotay again, ignorant to the deafening cheers that came from the Voyager crew and the groaning from Tom and Harry as B’Elanna grinned smugly.