A PROMISE KEPT

By Ragpants

Disclaimer: Star Trek and its characters are the property of Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended. This story, however, belongs to me.

"Missing Neelix's food?" The warm voice came from just behind her left shoulder.

Janeway turned, startled, unsure of what startled her more the voice, or hearing it here in the cafeteria of Headquarters' VOQ. She hadn't seen him in five weeks, no six, ever since she had guided Voyager to a safe berth in Spacedock and been ordered to beam down immediately to Starfleet Headquarters.

O.K. She *had* seen him. Twice. Once from a distance clad like herself in hospital-blue pajamas as they had been lead through the halls at Starfleet Medical during their debriefing physicals. The second had been at her Review Board hearing, where, for three days running, he had testified about her performance as Captain of Voyager during their six year stay in Delta Quadrant.

And now he was here, standing just behind her left shoulder as if he had never left, a faint smile on his face at her uncharacteristic speechlessness.

"What?" she asked, realizing her former First Officer had said something to her which she hadn't heard.

"I asked what does your schedule for this afternoon look like?"

"I have an appointment over at JAG, but not until 1400."

"Good. Then you can have lunch with me."

Chakotay took her tray and began walking toward the recycler, leaving her little choice but to follow. They walked through the dining hall, careful not to touch or even brush against one another, both very aware that they were in uniform and that here, at Headquarters, protocol was very strictly observed. Out of the building and across the Academy grounds, and they began to relax. Chakotay guided her toward their destination with subtle touches on her arm. Then at the restaurant, he ushered her inside with his hand resting on the small of her back.

The bistro was small and surprisingly crowded, but they were able to find a table away from the door. They sat and talked. And then talked some more. About Voyager's fate and the scattering of her crew. About all that had changed in their absence. About her Review Board hearing. About everything.

Kathryn was surprised, listening to herself ramble on . It was as if she couldn't stop talking now that she had started.

Oh, how she had missed him.

It was a shock to realize how isolated she had felt during these last few weeks. She hadn't really been alone, of course. She had been home three times to see her mother. Each trip had been a relief. At home she didn't have to be Capt. Janeway, hero, lately returned from the Delta Quadrant. But it was a disappointment too. Her mother had listened to her stories of her adventures, but seemed disengaged--as if the stories were about strangers, which, of course, they were. She had visited Phoebe too, but once the conversation had gone beyond painting, Kathryn found she had little to say to her sister. And Mark. She had gone to see Mark and meet his wife, who seemed quite nice, but her old connection with him was gone. In fact, watching Mark and Elaine, Kathryn began to wonder if she even understood half of what they were saying. They seemed to have a secret language of shared looks, gestures and irritatingly half-finished phrases. She couldn't remember having anything like that all with Mark. In fact, she couldn't ever remember having anything at all like it with anyone, except......

She looked up with a start. Chakotay had said something to her, but she wasn't sure what. She scrutinized his face for clues. His expression was still, but his eyes danced with mischief and a hint of a grin hovered at the edges of his lips.

"You're late." he repeated, this time with the grin given full reign.

"What?"

"Your appointment *is* at 1400, right? "

Kathryn twisted in her seat to see the clock displayed on the wall above her head. It was 1:50. She'd never make back in time.

"This is your fault," she admonished him light-heartedly, wagging her index finger at him.

She stood and tapped her comm badge, unconsciously straightening into her 'captain's pose' . "Capt. Janeway to Lt. ka'Bernt. JAG"

"Lt. ka'Bernt here, Captain. How may I help you?"

"Please inform Comdr. Aragon y Chavez that I have been unavoidably detained," here she threw a quelling glance at Chakotay, the one she normally reserved for unruly Kazons and smart-aleck Ensigns, because his grin threatened to turn into an all out guffaw, " and I would like to reschedule for 1430." If she left now, she could just make it.

There was a moment's pause, then, "Comdr. Aragon y Chavez says that 1430 will be fine. ka'Bernt out."

Now the guffaws came. "Unavoidably detained. Surely, Kathryn, you can do better than that." He was laughing hard.

Kathryn tried hard to annoyed with him--he was the one who had dragged her halfway across San Francisco, who had let her talk on and on while he had watched the clock knowing she had to be someplace else-- and failed utterly.

She allowed herself to join his laughter. "It was a pretty lame excuse, wasn't it?"

"Unacceptably vague with a hint of arrogance is how my Cadet Commander described it the first time I tried to use it."

"Mine too, although I think he said it had the flavor of insolence." She reached over and lay her hand over his hand that lay on the table. "I have to go. It's been....It's wonderful to see you again." She turned, unwilling to go, but forced by necessity .

She hadn't gotten more than two steps when he called after her. "Kathryn, have dinner with me tonight?"

She turned, her smile radiant. "When and where?"

>Chakotay calculated for a moment. They were both still in VOQ. "The Fairmont, eight o'clock. No uniforms."

"Fine. I'll be there." She nodded once as if to confirm it, then turned to leave again.

A pause, two more steps.

"And, Kathryn, bring an overnight bag."

And then she was gone.

It didn't occur to him until hours later that she had not answered or even acknowledged his last remark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kathryn reached Comdr. Aragon y Chavez office at JAG with bare moments to spare. She took several deep breaths to slow her breathing and entered, announcing herself to the Ensign at the desk. She was immediately shown into the Commander's office.
Kathryn had known Margaret Aragon at the Academy, though not well. Maggie had been Lettie's friend and Kathryn had never paid too much attention to Lettie's friends. They were all too "social" for her taste. She didn't have the time. Nevertheless Maggie had impressed Kathryn with her level-headedness and quick people sense--even if she was a History major. Now a cautious friendship was arising between them, kindled by a renewed acquaintance when Maggie had been assigned as Janeway's advocate before the Review Board hearing.

"I apologize for having to re-schedule." Janeway said as she took a seat opposite the JAG officer's desk.

"It's no problem......Here." The dark-eyed woman pushed a padd across her desk. "This is your compensation package. As a lawyer, I recommend you read it before you sign, but it's pretty standard. Back wages, accrual of leave and benefits, confirmation of rank and seniority and your position on the promotion lists, and a copy of the Review Board's findings which will be appended to your personnel file."

Kathryn lifted the padd and began to read.

"So...what 'unavoidably detained' you?"

Janeway's face tightened with embarrassment. "I don't supposed you'd let me pass on answering that, Counsel? The right to avoid self-incrimination and all that."

"No. Give....and remember everything you say will be held in strictest lawyer- client confidentiality," Maggie teased.

Janeway shifted in her seat and considered if there were some graceful way out this. There wasn't. " I was having lunch with a friend and I lost track of the time." There, the bare truth. She entertained some small hope that the woman sitting opposite her would let it pass. She hunched over the padd and tried to look intent on her reading.

"Not good enough. The Kathryn Janeway I remember would never lose track of time. Your lunch companion must have been awfully fascinating."
Sighing with exasperation, Kathryn leaned back in the chair and lay the padd in her lap. "I had lunch with my XO, that is, my former XO. We had a lot to talk about----ship's business," Janeway answered primly and picked up the padd and resumed reading. Aragon y Chavez began to chuckle. "Your XO? The Maquis? Kathryn, it's a wonder you came back from lunch at all! ........You know, you should have warned me about him. He's devastating. I was almost angry with you. I sent Ensign Boslough out to depose him before your hearing and everything she brought back was useless---and worse than that, *she* was useless. She mooned about the office for days. I had to warn her that her performance was unacceptable and would be entered permanently in her records if it continued. And I had to send Lt. Stavik back to do a re-deposition..... I hope lunch wasn't all 'ship's business'." Useless. It was useless. Janeway quirked a half smile, "No. It wasn't *all* 'ship's business'. In fact, I'm having dinner with him tonight." Maggie gave an answering grin. "Just dinner?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chakotay was nervous, more nervous than he had been in years. It was like being a fourteen again and asking a girl out for the first time. And it was his own damn fault. You would have thought that the years had taught him when to keep his mouth closed. But they hadn't--at least, they hadn't this time. Kathryn had already agreed to have dinner with him. He should have left it at that, but he hadn't. He had to keep pushing--and maybe ruined it all. So now he waited anxiously in a rented hotel room, hoping that he hadn't been enormously stupid.

He restlessly checked the time again. Too early. He didn't want to loiter obviously in the lobby, but didn't want to risk missing her either. The suit he wore wasn't helping either. It was the same one he had wore on those occasions aboard Voyager which called for more formal dress, but not uniforms--like the reception they had held for the Ennarans or the party they held after Neelix's resurrection. It was the only suit he owned, but the stiff collar of the shirt was choking him.

Time. Finally. Chakotay had asked the concierge earlier to keep an eye out for Kathryn. He had tried to describe her to him, but even as he had spoken he felt the words float away into the air as if words couldn't contain her, describe her. Words have power. They circumscribe reality. If he could only find the right words, maybe he could define Kathryn Janeway, hold onto her. But he couldn't. In the end, he was only able say she was woman of a certain age, of a certain height and hair color, with blue eyes---not Kathryn at all.

She wasn't in the lobby, nor had she checked with the desk clerk. Chakotay was feeling a little frantic. She wasn't coming after all. He had twice circumnavigated the hotel's lobby, when the concierge saw him and nodded toward the bar.

Kathryn had arrived a bit early---military habits die hard. Better to be early and wait than risk being late.

She wore a blue two piece dress that she had bought earlier at a dress shop the Comdr. Chavez had recommended. The blue patterned silk was nearly the same blue as her eyes. The jacket had a long tightly fitted right sleeve, then dropped from her shoulder to sweep snugly across the bodice, gathering on her left hip before falling into an asymmetric peplum. The skirt was barely longer than the jacket. It was elegant and very un-Captain-like. She would have never considered wearing aboard the ship.

Waiting in the lobby had seemed awkward, so Kathryn had gone into the bar. She perched elegantly on a high stool and asked the barkeep for a glass of wine. She just taken her first tentative sip from her glass when she had the distinct yet not uncomfortable feeling she was being watched. Kathryn turned--and saw him, watching her.

Chakotay had taken a few steps into the bar and stopped, waiting for his eyes to adapt to the lower light. He scanned the room and saw Kathryn sitting at the bar. Something eased in his chest. He knew it was her, knew the shape of her shoulders, the elegant line of her neck, knew them by heart, had spent years memorizing them. Gazing at her, a sense of peace and fulfillment came over him.

She must have sense his eyes on her because she turned just at that moment and looked straight at him, and smiled. Placing her glass on the counter, she slid off the stool, all gracefulness and legs, then stooped to pick up something from the floor. An small travel case which had been hidden from his view. His heart leap up in him. Kathryn--*his* Kathryn-- had finally come to him.

He stepped forward to meet her and slip the travel case from her hand. They stood awkwardly for a moment, at once old and new lovers. He wondered if he ought to kiss her in welcome, on the cheek, but knew if he touched her he could never leave it at that. Instead he smiled at her, a smile of incandescent warmth that lit his face. She returned the smile.

"I wasn't sure if you were coming."

"I said I was. And you, of all people, should know just how well I keep my word."

The years of trust hung between them, over matters great and small, a promise kept.

"Do you want to finish your drink, or shall I have the maitre'd seat you while I take this," he shifted the case in his hand, "upstairs.?"

Kathryn smiled warmly up at him through her lashes. "Neither. I think I'll go with you."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kathryn turned in her sleep and bumped up against something warm and unmoving. It woke her. Chakotay's back. She smoothed her hand down over his shoulder, along his back, across his ribs and down to trace the curve of his ass, feeling the warm velvet of his skin, the faint tickle of the tiny hairs under her palm. Beautiful. She thought about waking him, but his breathing was the easy rhythm of a sleeper's and the small kisses she planted along his shoulder blade had had no effect so far. Sighing, she eased off her side of the bed. She had always been a poor sleeper herself, restless and easily awakened. Let him enjoy his rest. They'd had little enough of it last night. An involuntary smile curled her lips.

Standing, slightly disoriented by the unfamiliar room, she sought her travel case. She found it and patted inside it, feeling for her robe. She slipped the pale jade robe on, tied it and walked toward the faintly graying light of the sitting room. It would be dawn very soon.

There was a replicator in the sitting room, the one she had suggested they could use to order dinner, though they hadn't . She called for a pot of coffee and a coffee service, then took the tray out onto the balcony. There was a view of San Francisco Bay from here. Lovely in the pre-dawn haze. The forcefield screen held the elements at bay so she was neither cold or damp. Peaceful. She settled in a chair to enjoy her morning coffee and the sunrise reflected in the waters. She thought perhaps she should consider what had passed between her former first officer and herself during the night just over, but she didn't want to think about it. She was good at that, at over- intellectualizing. She just wanted to bask in the quiet joy the night had brought her.

"You weren't there..." Chakotay's voice was low but somehow...accusing.

Kathryn didn't turn, a tiny bit irritated by his plaintive tone and the interruption of her solitude. She heard the soft pad of a footfall as he took a step toward her.

"You weren't there...." This time the voice was a bit louder, as if he wasn't sure she had heard him the first time.

Kathryn shifted in her seat and put her coffee cup down on the table. Rising, she turned and was shocked when she looked at his face. Although his visage was stoic, his dark eyes radiated doubt and fear. Had she caused this? She lifted her hand towards him and took an unconscious step forward. She was swept immediately into his arms and crushed against his chest. His cheek pressed against the top of her head, his beard catching in her hair as he stroked his face against her.

"I woke up and you weren't there," he whispered into her hair. " I was....afraid that I had lost you. That I hadn't pleased you or that you had finally realize you could do much better than an ex-Maquis has-been." His voice dropped even lower until she strained to hear it even though his lips moved against her ear. "Or worse. That I had dreamed you. I've held you so many times, only to wake and find it was all a dream. I didn't want it to be a dream."

His words shook her soul. Her angry warrior hid a tender heart. She wrapped this knowledge in her woman's heart. Sliding a hand against his chest, she pushed back from him far enough that she could look into face and hold her eyes with her own.

"I'm sorry," she said simply, "I didn't know. I promise you there will be other mornings. So many other mornings that you will forget that there ever was a time when you didn't wake and find me beside you."

The words flew out. She hadn't planned to say them, certainly hadn't intended to make any promises. And yet. And yet, there was a rightness about them. A rightness which was reinforced as she watched the hope and joy rise in Chakotay's eyes, incandescent, burning away all of her doubts. Kathryn closed her eyes, overwhelmed by the emotions she read in his eyes, and pressed her forehead against his collarbone, listening to the echoing rhythm of his heart.

They held each other for an indeterminate time, enjoying the warm reality of each other. Chakotay stirred slightly, sliding his mouth to her ear.

"You get up too early, Kathryn," he murmured seductively. "Come back to bed. Let me show you how I planned to wake you up."

Kathryn chuckled deep in her throat. "I can imagine," she answered, drawling out the last word suggestively against his chest.

"Come to bed and you won't have to imagine." His arm slid down behind her knees and he lifted her into his arms, buoyant with happiness.

Chakotay placed her on the bed, then reached down to untie her belt and spread open her robe. He stood back and just looked at her, admiring her slim form, watching in fascination as her nipples tightened.

She flushed under his unwavering gaze, then grew impatient. Kathryn reached up and pulled him down. He lay stretched out on her, covering her, stomach to stomach, thigh to thigh.

"Better," she sighed, "I was getting cold."

"Can't have that," he agreed. Her arms slid around his neck and she tugged slightly, bringing his mouth to hers. Their mouths joined softly, lips parting to make way for exploring tongues. The kiss was slow, leisurely.

She slid her hands down and pressed on his left shoulder. Chakotay obliged her by rolling onto his back. Kathryn straddled his waist, her robe spread out behind her like a train. She leaned down to brush her lips across his, then stayed to taste his mouth deeply. Her lips traced the strong line of his jaw and she enjoyed the sandpaper texture of his beard under her mouth. Her tongue slid out to draw a warm line to base of his throat, then explore the hollow above his collarbone, returning to nibble the side of his neck. Chakotay's throat rumbled wordlessly beneath her lips. Kathryn's mouth drew into a smile and she moved her explorations lower. Her warm mouth surrounded his nipple. A hiss of pleasure escaped between Chakotay's teeth as Kathryn's firm tongue flicked over its hardened tip. She leaned back onto her heels and drew her fingers lightly across and down his chest, tracing patterns of pleasure that ended at his waist.

Kathryn made to move lower and found her legs tangled in her robe. She slipped it from her shoulders and pushed off the bed, then sliding lower, tasted Chakotay for the first time. He gasp at the heat of her mouth and she felt the muscles of his thighs tighten under her hands as he fought to maintain control. Kathryn explored his length eagerly, drawing him again and again into her mouth. Her fingers traced random patterns on his belly and thighs, feeling the muscles clench beneath the skin

Chakotay's eyes drifted closed and he was lost in the sea of sensation for an indeterminate time. He opened his eyes and watched Kathryn, enjoying her dreamy expression almost as much as the pleasure she was giving him . Suddenly he was seized with an overwhelming desire to taste her as she was tasting him. He needed her as the thirsty man in the desert needed water. He hooked his hands under her arms and lifted her up to him, kissing her lips briefly and nuzzling her soft breast before settling her across his shoulders.

Kathryn braced her hands against the wall and tensed with anticipation. She could feel his breath touching her, feathering in her pubic hair. And his tongue touched her. Kathryn started away at the intensity of the sensation. Chakotay's hands slid up to circle her waist and pull her back to his waiting mouth. "Mine," he growled. "Mine."

Small shivers began to shake Kathryn's body, growing into wracking shudders. Her knees turned liquid. She reached down and slipped her fingers along Chakotay's face, caressing his forehead. "I.....I can't...." His hands traveled up to support her body as he lowered her crosswise onto the bed and then twist himself around to return to his place between her thighs. Kathryn's moaned and rocked against his mouth. He eased the pressure of his tongue as her shudders diminished. He raised his head to look at Kathryn's flushed face, then pressed forward again to touch her center. She shivered in response. Experimentally, he tried again and felt her shiver again against his tongue. Smiling, he touched her again, delighted by her response.

Kathryn's hands reached down to slide her fingers through his hair, urging his face up. "Enough, Chakotay, I want you." she murmured, and drew him up along her body. He entered her all at once and Kathryn gasped at the pleasure of it. He moved in a slow rhythm at first, becoming faster as Kathryn's hips rose in counterpoint to his own. Mouths that had been joined drew apart as their breathing became ragged and resolved into groaning gasps. Chakotay planted his mouth against Kathryn's neck, groaning deeply as she spasmed around him and finally releasing his own desire deep within her.

They lay tightly wrapped together, breathing heavily against each other's neck, unwilling to part. Kathryn slowly ease her clasp around Chakotay's back.

"My leg," she explained apologetically. He nodded his understanding against her throat and moved to lie beside her. His placed his large hand over her belly and felt her shiver faintly at the loss of his warmth. Rolling to his side, he reached across her to the blanket which was bunched at the foot of the bed and drew it across both of them.

"Thank you." Her lips moved, but made no sound.

He leaned forward to kiss her cheek, found her already asleep and kissed her anyway before wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her tight against his chest. Only then did Chakotay allow himself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Kathryn's turn to wake alone in bed, in an unfamiliar room, covered by a blanket, yet still slightly cold. She sat up. The light from the sitting room was bright now. It must be much later than when she gotten up the first time. She found her robe pooled in a heap on the floor next to the bed. She put it on, and tying it securely, walked to the balcony where she knew Chakotay would be.

He was sitting in the chair she had abandoned some hours earlier, drinking her coffee. Not the same cup, of course. That had gone long cold. But a fresh cup from her pot, while he held a padd before him and read from it.

Kathryn catfooted silently up behind him until she was able to place one of her hands on each of his shoulders.

"You're drinking my coffee," she announced in best 'Captain's annoyed voice'.

He laughed, put down the coffee and the padd, then reached back to take her hand and used it to draw her around and across his lap. When he had her securely seated, wrapping an arm tightly around her waist, he leaned across her to upright a clean cup and fill it from the pot. Leaning back, he handed her the cup.

"Kathryn," he chided amusedly, " we're back in the Alpha Quadrant. Home. On Earth. Coffee is grown on 149 planets and programmed into every replicator in a 10 light year radius. I think you can afford to share a cup of your coffee with me."

She made an indeterminate noise in her throat and reached for the padd on the table.

"What are you reading?""Housing vacancies," he admitted with a trace of hesitancy as she touched the activator key on the padd.

"Why? You have quarters on base." Her voice was matter of fact.

Had she forgotten her promise so soon? He risked a glance at her face before answering. Her eyes were intent on the padd, her brows drawn together slightly in concentration. He decided humor was the best approach.

"Well, unless Starfleet is paying you a whole lot more than they're paying me," he began with force joviality, "this place will bankrupt the both of us."

Kathryn shot a look of annoyance at him and slid out of his lap, ostensibly to refill her coffee cup, but she settled herself in the other chair beside the table instead of his lap when she'd finished.

Chakotay let a small sigh of disappointment escape his lips.

Kathryn looked at him sharply and noticed for the first time that he was neatly turned out in his uniform, from the three Commander's pip winking at his collar to the freshly shined boots on his feet.

"I thought you told me yesterday that you were finished at Headquarters, that you were on leave?"

" I am. I just have a few things to finish up at Personnel: changing my next- of-kin, updating my will, and they're after me to list a preference for my next posting." He looked cautiously over at her face, then glanced away before continuing. "I thought you might want to come with me. We could request a joint assignment. Or..." he paused hesitantly here, "we could put in for a partnership accommodation in future assignments."

Chakotay was reluctant to look at Kathryn's face, afraid of the rejection he might see there. Instead he watched her hands. Her right lifted the cup toward her mouth, paused halfway up as his words settled in her consciousness, and continued upwards to complete the journey to her mouth. Then the cup dropped down to be cradled in both hands atop the table.

She was quiet for a long moment. " If that was a marriage proposal, Chakotay, it's certainly the most oblique one I've ever heard of." Then her hands were braced on the side of the table as she pushed herself back and away.

She stood and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" he asked, unsure what had just happened.

She turned and a crafty half smile was on her lips. "To take a shower. I can't show up at Headquarters looking like *this*." She plucked at the front of her robe. "If I hurry, we can be finished with Personnel in time to look at some of those vacancies." She turned and left.

Chakotay picked up the padd from the table and pressed the activation key. He grinned. True Janeway style--even here, even now. The housing openings had been appraised and ranked in order of her preference and at the top of the list were two words: I accept.