Two mornings later Chakotay sat with Kathryn and Tuvok in the conference room waiting for the rest of the senior staff.  Kathryn had told Tuvok what she planned to do the day after she had first discussed it with Chakotay.  She had asked him to think about all the changes necessary to carry out the change in command and then to meet with them that afternoon.  The three had spent most of the previous afternoon discussing the specifics of the transfer.  On one point Kathryn was adamant – Chakotay must make the decision about his replacement as first officer.  She would have nothing to do with that decision.  Chakotay and Tuvok had discussed the matter for some hours.

Today they would explain what was going on to the rest of the senior staff.  The meeting was scheduled for 07:30, rather early, but they knew this would be a long meeting.  Just as the chronometer read 07:29, Tom and B’Elanna entered the room followed moments later by Harry.

“I hope we’re not late, Captain.  Helm Boy here just had to get one more piece of toast for breakfast.”  B’Elanna apologized for the three glancing around the room.  She was somewhat surprised that some of the department heads that frequently attended senior staff meetings were not present.  Kathryn waited a moment while they all took seats around the table.  Tuvok quietly handed pads around to everyone ignoring their looks when they saw the pads were blank.  Kathryn started the meeting that would rearrange lives on Voyager more than anything had since they arrived in the Delta Quadrant.

“OK, we’re all here.  Tuvok has handed you clean pads to make notes.  You’ll probably need them before we’re finished.  There is juice and coffee here on the table so help yourself at any time during this meeting.  The replicator is open if ‘Helm Boy’ needs another piece of toast or anyone else needs something.  This meeting is going to include an announcement, a report and then a discussion.  I’d like to keep everything except the report portion of the meeting as informal as possible without letting it get out of hand.  I want to stress right now that the report contains a decision that is final.  Any questions?  No?  Good.  Commander, I believe you have an announcement.”

Chakotay smiled at Kathryn and reached out and took her hand before turning to the others.  “We’re expecting another baby in about 7½ months – finally!”  The response was unanimous.  All present knew that Kathryn and Chakotay wanted a third child.  Tom and Harry congratulated Chakotay; B’Elanna hugged Kathryn.  For a few minutes confusion and exuberance reigned while Tuvok watched with one raised eyebrow.  Eventually Chakotay calmed them down.

“Calling a meeting to make that announcement may seem unusual, but it is directly related to the report Kathryn is going to give you now.  Please allow her to finish before you make any comments about its contents.”

Kathryn knew this would be the hardest part of the meeting for her.  She had taken nearly a week to speak to Chakotay and only momentum and Chakotay’s support had gotten her through telling Tuvok.  Chakotay had offered to tell the senior staff but she wanted to tell them herself.  He would make the announcement to the crew later today.  One more time, she told herself.  I can do this one more time.

“At 12:00 today I will turn command of Voyager over to Chakotay who will assume the duties of captain.  I will be taking an indefinite leave of absence, perhaps permanent.”  Only Chakotay’s look at the three who had not yet heard the news kept them silent.  He had certainly picked up using Kathryn’s death glare over the years.

“First of all, there is no medical reason for this leave whatsoever.  The doctor doesn’t even know about the change in command yet.  He will find out with the rest of the crew later today.  This is something I want.  I want it for me and I want it for my family.  Chakotay had nothing to do with my decision until after I had made it.  He wasn’t expecting this any more than you were.  This baby made me realize that I had missed a lot of important things in my life and the lives of our children because of my commitment to Voyager.  I want to experience those missed things with this child; I want to experience this child as a mother.   I can’t do that and be captain of Voyager.  I wanted the leave to be permanent, but Chakotay refuses to let me do that.  He will only accept command on the basis that my leave be indefinite.  I tried to call his bluff by saying Tuvok could take command, but Tuvok supported Chakotay.  I can tell you this leave will extend at least until this child begins school, probably longer.  For that reason, all changes are being made as if it were permanent.  I will be a civilian passenger along for the ride after 12:00 today.  I’d like you to all understand why I’m doing this and give me your support even if you can’t give me your approval.  You have been a wonderful staff and I hope you’ll continue to be wonderful friends.”

Kathryn leaned back in her chair.  She had managed to get all the words out without her voice breaking but it had been difficult.  Near the end she had not been able to meet anyone’s eyes and would probably not have been able to finish if she had not felt Chakotay’s hand on hers as she spoke.  The others’ initial reactions had turned to stunned silence.  She had answered most of the questions they would have asked.  Her plea for acceptance and support had done the rest.  B’Elanna finally rose, walked around the table and put her arms around Kathryn.  “Whatever you want, Kathryn.”  Chakotay gave them a few minutes before breaking the silence.

“I will complete the report.  The captain refused to be involved in the decision to name a new first officer believing that I should make that decision on my own.  I disagreed.  While Kathryn was not involved, Tuvok has been invaluable in his participation in this decision.  Make no mistake, the final decision was mine.  Fortunately, once we had gone through all the possibilities, we agreed.  B’Elanna, for the record, you were considered.  The truth is that you are simply too good an engineer to consider removing you as Chief Engineer.  Harry, you were also considered.  You’re an excellent officer but you don’t have the experience to take over the duties of first officer yet.  Someday you will.  We’ve put notations in both your personnel files noting all this.”

“Tom, there is no one on the ship better at the helm than you.  Tuvok, the same can be said for you at tactical and as Chief of Security.  I was tempted to try to run the ship without a first officer – for about ten seconds – because I didn’t want to move either of you from your current posts.  Sorry, Tom, you lost.  As Voyager’s helmsman, you are the most expendable, so you will become first officer when I take command of Voyager.”  Everyone turned to watch Tom’s reaction.  Tom was silent.

“Well, it looks like I finally found a way to silence Tom.”  B’Elanna, Harry and Kathryn chuckled as Chakotay’s remark released a lot of tension and everyone relaxed a bit.  Chakotay continued.

“Tuvok cannot be replaced as Chief of Security or at tactical.  His experience and training are needed on a day-to-day basis to run this ship safely.  Tom, I will not be replacing you as head of your department.  Those duties will be consolidated with those of the first officer.  That means you will retain all the paperwork and continue to coordinate the training for Voyager’s pilots.”  That finally brought a response from Tom.

“I hate all that paperwork.”  Tom’s sigh could have been heard halfway to Engineering.  Tom immediately realized how that sounded.

“I’m sorry, Commander.  I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded.  I think I’m in shock.  First you tell me the captain is giving up command of Voyager and then you tell me I’m going to be the first officer.  Right now my brain is not processing information too well.”

“Chakotay, I think you need to give Tom a minute.  I notice that B’Elanna and Harry don’t appear to be processing information any more efficiently than Tom.”  Kathryn inserted her comments to give Chakotay an excuse to alter the tone of the meeting to a more informal discussion.

“I concur, Captain.”  Tuvok, reacting to the cue before Chakotay could, spoke as he rose and approached the replicator where he requested an herbal tea.  Chakotay filled a juice glass for Kathryn then retrieved hot tea for himself.  The three sipped slowly until Tom, B’Elanna and Harry had recovered from the news enough to obtain beverages for themselves.  Kathryn asked if they had any questions about the report.  They had a few about the baby and Kathryn’s decision.  It took about fifteen minutes to answer their questions about the changes in Tom’s position and how it would affect the various departments.  Kathryn took the opportunity offered by the discussion of that issue to move them into the other issues.

“Folks, there are a lot of things that have to be changed.  For instance, every security code on this ship must be changed as soon as possible after the change in command.  Every single security code.  I’ll even be locked out of my logs as captain.  You can decide later if I need to be given access to anything.  Now if you would each take a few minutes to jot down all the things in your departments that will be affected by this change, we can run through the lists as a group and make notes and additions.  You have to make certain I am completely locked out as a civilian.”

The group worked together quietly at first, then began discussing points that crossed departments before going into full discussion mode.  The ideas flew back and forth.  Problems, possible solutions and resulting new problems competed with solid solutions and issues that needed to be investigated more thoroughly before they could be addressed and resolved.  Chakotay and Tuvok had already written the program to change all the security codes on the ship.  They had also written an encrypted program and buried it as far as they could into the computer system.  Only the two of them knew about the program.  Only the two of them could authorize it being run.  If they were both on Voyager able to act, they had to act jointly to run the program.  That program, called “reverse Janeway.” would restore all the security codes that had existed immediately before Kathryn turned command over to Chakotay.  They viewed this as an emergency way of giving command back to Kathryn if there was ever a threat to the ship so severe they risked losing the three most senior officers.  Kathryn might be taking a leave of absence, but she was still a qualified captain and might someday have to take command unexpectedly.

About 11:50 the group noticed Kathryn and Chakotay had stopped participating and were simply looking at each other.  A glance at the chronometer told them why the two had become quiet.  The discussions were suspended by unspoken agreement.  There was still a lot to do and many decisions to make, but they had a good start.  They looked at the chronometer again and then at the captain.  At Chakotay’s nod, the others left the conference room and headed for their stations on the bridge.  Chakotay looked at Kathryn.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Kathryn?  There is still time to change your mind.”

“No, I’m sure, Chakotay.  I was sure long before I found out I was pregnant.  It’s just a big change and I’m a little scared.”

"Are you sure you want me to tell the crew or do you want to do that?"

Kathryn met his eyes. He knew her so well. He had agreed to tell them so she wouldn't have to think about it but now he knew she was ready to tell them herself. She nodded.

"I'll tell them."

Then shoulder-to-shoulder they too headed for the bridge as the command team for one last time.

Kathryn looked around the bridge as if in farewell.  Could she give this up?  Then she looked at Chakotay and thought of her children.  She had made her choice.  It hadn’t been easy, but she knew it was the right choice for her at this point in her life.

“Open a channel to the entire ship, Ensign.”  Harry had the channel ready and opened it as she finished speaking.

“Janeway to all hands.  Effective at 12:00 today, I am taking an indefinite leave of absence as Captain of Voyager and turning command over to Commander Chakotay.  Please give him your support and loyalty as you have me over the years.  Your department heads will provide you with further details later today.  Janeway out.”

Kathryn turned to Chakotay who had been standing at her side.  Slowly she removed his rank bar and then took her captain’s pips from her collar and placed them on his collar one by one.

“Chakotay, effective immediately, I am turning command of Voyager over to you and assigning you the field rank of captain.  Concurrently, I am taking an indefinite leave of absence and giving up my position as an officer on Voyager.  Congratulations, Captain.”

Kathryn reached to shake Chakotay’s hand.  She looked at the man who had been her husband and first officer for so many years and was now her captain.  She wondered what changes he would make and whether they would affect her.  She knew that while most things would stay the same a few would change.  For all that they agreed on many things and worked out the rest, they were very different people.

Kathryn quickly learned the one thing that had already changed was how the captain treated his family in public.  Chakotay pulled Kathryn close and kissed her gently.  He whispered so only she could hear.

“Get used to it, Kathryn.  I’m the captain now and the entire crew will soon get used to seeing us in public as a married couple, not just officers, even when I’m on duty.”

Kathryn yielded to Chakotay’s kiss for a moment before stepping back.  She spoke to him as she started for the turbolift.

“If you’ll excuse me, Captain, I think I’ll change my clothes and join my children for lunch.”

Chakotay turned to Tuvok to give one of the most difficult orders he would ever have to give before he took the captain’s chair.

“Tuvok, run the program to change the security codes.  We’d better have the logs and computer records show that the changes were done promptly.”

“Running the program now, Captain.”

“Tom, I haven’t had time to move all my things from your office yet, but feel free to use it.  You can transfer all my files on the computer to the ready room computer.  You may also want to go over all security issues with Commander Tuvok.  I’ll need to meet with you later today to go over a few other things.  The duty roster should be OK for a few days.  I made some adjustments last night that go into effect at noon today.”

Chakotay was interrupted.

“Janeway to Chakotay.”

“Yes, Kathryn, what do you want?”  Chakotay was more than a little surprised to hear from Kathryn so soon.  He wondered at the irritation that was clearly evident by her tone of voice.

“It seems that when you changed all the security codes for the captain just now, you also removed my access to our quarters.  I can’t get in.”  Chakotay smiled and Tom and Harry had to struggle not to laugh.  None of them had thought of little things like that yet.

“Kathryn, I’m sorry.  I’ll take care of it.  Chakotay out.”

“Computer, admit Kathryn Janeway to my quarters.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Harry, get down there and see what else Kathryn can’t access.  Check her replicator rations as well.  Give her access to the bridge and engineering and any other area that she might be denied because of her civilian status.  She may be a civilian now but this is still her ship.  If you don’t have the clearance to authorize everything, make a list and I’ll do it all at once.”

Chakotay knew Kathryn had planned on being treated just like any other civilian, but he had no intention of doing that.  He hadn’t bothered to argue with her; he just waited until he could make the decision without the argument.

“Aye, captain.”  Harry left the bridge still chuckling at the image of Kathryn locked out of her own quarters.

A few days later Kathryn and Chakotay had a heated discussion about Taylor and Kay.  He wanted Kathryn to take them to the nursery and preschool during the afternoons.  She wanted to keep them with her all day.  Eventually Kathryn had to concede that Chakotay was right.  The children did need to socialize on a regular basis with other children and adults.  Once she had yielded on that point, he suggested that she find an interest to fill her afternoons.  Kathryn resisted, as Chakotay had known she would.  He was pleased when she finally agreed to talk to T’Pel about civilian activities on Voyager.

Another problem surfaced in the first few days after Chakotay took command of Voyager.  Most of the crew had difficulty calling Kathryn by her first name.  Only the senior staff seemed comfortable with the idea.  They were in unspoken agreement that calling her ‘captain’ would only confuse others.  The children in the nursery came up with the solution.  They invariably called her ‘Captain . . . Kathryn’ stuttering over the change in name.  The combination stuck.  First the staff in the nursery and the parents picked up the phrase, and then the senior staff and the rest of the crew adopted the phrase.  Chakotay approved the title and Kathryn was secretly pleased with her new name.

Surprisingly the two people most impacted on a personal level by the change were Taylor and Kay.  The girls had been so proud of their mother and the fact that she was the captain of Voyager.  They didn’t really understand why all of a sudden their mother wasn’t the captain anymore.  Kathryn tried to explain without bringing in the new baby.  The only thing that helped the girls was when Kathryn asked them if they were proud of their father when he was the first officer.  Kathryn continued the discussion with the girls focusing on Chakotay and his responsibilities before finally bringing it back to her wanting to spend time with them.  Once the girls had considered the entire family they were able to accept the change.  In another few days, they felt as good about their father’s role on the ship as they had their mother’s.

Chakotay entered their quarters running only a half hour late for dinner, not as late as usual.  Unfortunately he had promised Kathryn to make a special effort tonight.  They had planned to tell the girls about the new baby.  He decided to try some humor before Kathryn had time to comment on his tardiness.

“Honey, I’m home!”  Both had heard enough of Tom’s stories about his hobby with twentieth century America to appreciate the joke.

“I’m in here,” rang out from their room.  Chakotay wondered why Kathryn was in there instead of hovering over the dinner table or the girls.  He entered their room and found Kathryn just getting up from the bed where she had been lying down.

“You OK, Kathryn?”

“Yes and no.  I’m fine.”

“Then why the ‘no’?  Is the baby all right?”

“Easy, Chakotay.  Yes, I went to the doctor for my regular check up.  It seems he overlooked something when I went to have my pregnancy confirmed.”

“What are you trying not to tell me, Kathryn?  What’s wrong?  Whatever it is we’ll deal with it together.  You know that.”

“It’s not that kind of problem.  What the doctor overlooked was a second baby.  I’m carrying identical twin boys, Chakotay.  There are going to be two babies, not one, to keep us up at all hours in seven more months.”

“Twin boys!  Oh, Kath, that’s wonderful.”  Chakotay’s voice rang through the room.  There was no doubt that he thought this was a good thing.

“Shhhhhh.  The girls will hear you.”

“We’ll be telling them tonight anyway, Kathryn.  I was beginning to think we’d never have another child. Now we’re having two more.  We’ll have two girls and two boys.  I couldn’t be happier about the babies.”  Chakotay’s exuberance faded as he finally switched his attention back to Kathryn and looked at her face.

“Aren’t you happy about having twins?”

“Oh, Chakotay, you know how much I hate how I look when I’m pregnant.  I love carrying your children, but I had only planned on one.  I was huge with each of the girls.  Can you imagine how I’ll look carrying twins at eight months?”

“Yes, I can, Kathryn.  You’ll look beautiful, just like with Taylor and with Kay.”  She needed reassurance and found it in his words and in his arms.  Finally she pulled away to look at his face.

“You wouldn’t lie to a civilian, would you, Captain, just to make her feel better?”

“If I had to lie, I would.  But I don’t have to lie.  I’m happy about the twins and I think you’re beautiful when you’re pregnant.  Come on.  I’m hungry and I’m sure the girls are hungry, too.  Besides we need to tell them our news.”

“You always know how to make me feel better.  I’m glad I decided to keep you around.”

“Me, too, Kathryn.  Me, too.”