- Disclaimer: These people belong to
Paramount - I don`t claim them coz I don`t wanna be sued. The story
however, is mine. Feedback as always, is appriciated.
This is part 3 of what I call the "Reflections" series - and the last one. The first part was suppossed to be a closed story, but the response I got was so overwhelming I decided to write another part, and then yet another. But this IS the last one!!
Reflections by Life and Death Written by Camilla Sandman
Life and death. Death and life. Two fundemantal different positions, working against and with each other a the same time. Looking at it that way, death seemed necessary. How, then, did she feel so cheated? How come it felt so unfair?
Kathryn Janeway looked at the at face beside her for the hundreth time. Chakotay`s face. Her sobbing had stopped, instead she felt a peace. A peace at knowing nothing more horrible could happen. And she didn`t have any more tears left. Sickbay was so quiet.
A peacefull kind of silence. respectfull, mournefull. A funural.
Life. Death. His life, her life. Her life, his death. His death, her death. All tied together. One beginning, one end. It all seemed so clear to her know, here in sickbay by his silent body. All of her life reflected here in death.
"Captain..."
It was the Doctor.
She straightened herself, facing him.
"Doctor."
"There is nothing you can do. I will notify you if any changes occur."
She nodded silently, turning to Chakotay one last time.
So beautiful, in death still.
********************
Sickbay was once again quiet. Dark, almost deserted.
Only a few reflections in the glass. Reflections of the past.
************
Chakotay stepped on the bridge, wondering if the crew would notice the turnmoil of his feelings. But no one looked at him.
"Torres to the bridge."
"Bridge here."
"I need someone to take a shuttle to get closer readings of the star. Maybe we can figure out what caused this shut-down."
"Acknowledged. Chakotay out."
"I`ll go."
It was Paris. Chakotay opened his mouth, only to clamp it shut again.
Kathryn stepped out on the bridge.
"No thank you, Lietuenant. I`ll go myself."
The way her jaw tightened told him the reason why he wanted to go instead hadn`t escaped her. For a second he thought she would object, but she only gave him a polite nod and sat down in her chair.
********************
Janeway looked at the PADD on her desk telling her the last shuttle they had lost, meant they were down to only two shuttles left.
The last shuttle they had lost.
Sounded so innocent.
The last shuttle.
The shuttle Chakotay was on.
It had exploded. And Chakotay hed been beamed out a second to late. Comatosed.
"Damn the shuttles!!" she cried out. Who cared if they ran out of shuttles?? He wasn`t there with her to carck jokes on who would loose the next one, to smile at her accusal of sabotaging the ship by crashing shuttles. Nothing mattered.
And so she was dying, in her own way.
*********************
Voyager was quiet as it passed through space, finding its way home. Stars passed by, but wait!, a shooting star. bearly visible at all, but it was there.
It is said a you can make a wish while wathing a shooting star.
Voyager is alive. Its mind, the mind of the crew. Its voice, the voice of the crew. Its wish, the wish of the crew.
It is said that the wish will come true.
**********************
The drugs the Doc had given her was so powerfull it made her sleep for 20 hours straight, no interruptions.
"To help you sleep," he said.
Phaw! Become comatosed was more like it.
But now she lay awake in bed, wondering why something felt wrong. The lights were off, Voyager was moving, all the familiar sounds was surronding her, so... Wait, sounds. That was it! There was a strange sound in the room. Somebody breathing. Out, in, out, in, out. Somebody was sitting at the bed, looking at her.
"Lights!", she called.
The room bathed in light, she blinked once, twice, to get used to it.
Her breath stopped dead in her throat.
It wasn`t that she didn`t reconize the person at the foot of her bed, smiling so broadly at her. It was the fact that she reconized it all too well.
"Ch-Cha-Chakotay???"
The sweetest word in the universe. His smile became larger.
"Sleep well, Kathryn?"
She feel against his chest, clinging on to him as if she never wanted to let go. He put his arms around her, and they sat like that forever, nothing said. His body felt so warm next to her, so close, yet not close enough. She teared at his shirt to get him closer, needing to feel him closer.
Finally she let go, but only to grap his hand.
"What....?" was the only thing she got out, but he understood the question.
"The Doc says it`s a miracle. A wish come true."
"My wish," she whispered, reaching out to touch his face once more, to make sure he was real.
"Kathryn...."
"I know. We have wasted - I have wasted so much time. I`m sorry."
He slowly pulled closer, reaching out to her face as well, whiping away her tears. His hand continued stroking her chin as he continued, speaking softly as he always did.
"I love you." She seemed to stiffen at his words, then fixed her gaze on him.
"I do love you, Chakotay. But how can you..."
"Hushhhhh..." His voice was purring.
"This is not the night for regrets. This is a night of life, new beginnings and you and me. That is, of course, if you want me to stay...?"
She grapped hold of him, made him loose balance and fall on the bed. As soon as he did, she quickly got on top of him.
"If you even think of leaving, I`ll throw you out an airlock!!"
He could see the laughter in her eyes, the joy.
"Careful, I`m a wounded man!!"
His plea seemed only to make her laugh harder, and he realized there was only one way to stop it. So he kissed her.
There was no hurry. They both took their time, exploring one another throughfully, getting to know each other. He played with her hair as he loved to do, she made circles on his chest with her fingers, tracing the lines.
When he moaned a bit as she shifted her position, she stopped in dead air, looking concern at him.
"Chakotay, your injuries..."
"I`m fine," he told her, looking at her seriously.
"When I`m with you I`m always fine."
She smiled at his admittion, and lowered herself next to him. Carefully she lay a hand on his bruise ajust above the eye before letting her lips lightly brush it.
"I`m sorry."
From the bruise her lips traveled down over his cheek, tracing his jaw, his tattoo and finally finding his lips again. He let her take the iniative this time, understanding her need to make it right.
Her hands were already busy removing his clothes, he shifted a bit to help her then lay completly still as her eyes explored his exposed body. Taking a moment to remove her own clothing, she then let her lips and hands travel where her eyes had been seconds earlier. He gasped at her featherlike touch, his arousal getting quite obvious.
She saw it, and smiled.
"Easy, Chakotay. I want you to last all night."
That, he decided, was a promise as good as any.
*****************
Humans live in the blink of an eye for the universe. Time has a different being for it. So cold, so vast and all around us...
Voyager moved on in it. The stars contiued to pass by, some old, some young in the eyes of the universe. Some fell, but should the galaxy mourn a fallen star?
The stars was reflected in the table. The couple in the bed slept, he with his arms tightly wrapped around her, she with a look of peace on her face.
The universe looked at them, and smiled.
Happiness is such a fragile thing. But maybe it would last.
And as Voyager continued its search for home, surronded by the darkness of space, the universe blinked.
THE END
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