Voyager was in orbit around a planet that was rich in minerals and boasted a climate that on a balmy day reached nearly –20C.  There had been a rash of volunteers to stand double shifts on the bridge or any department, just as long as they weren’t assigned to the landing party.  Chakotay had left Tom to deal with the headache and to tell the unlucky they were assigned to a landing party anyway.  Believing that his absence from the bridge would let him avoid getting dragged into the middle of arguments between Tom and the rest of the crew, Chakotay had sought sanctuary in the day care center under the guise of seeing how things were going for the children that day.  He received daily reports from each shift as well as from the teachers of the older children, but he enjoyed checking out the center personally.  He didn’t get the chance to visit very often, but when he did, the children were delighted.  They knew he was on an “official” visit the moment he entered the room.  He had yet to figure out how they knew when he had come to see them instead of actually being on ship’s business, but they had yet to be wrong.  He’d have to ask Kathryn to check his forehead for a sign that said ‘playing hooky from the bridge.’

“Daddy!”  The cry started from the corner where Taylor and Kay were playing with RT, Carrie and Jem.  Leave it to his kids to see him first and share the knowledge.  Chakotay believed that they had learned to share everything they knew from RT who had inherited it from his dad.

“Tell us a story, Captain!”

“Yes, a true story.”

“Daddy, tell a story about Voyager in the Delta Quadrant.”

“Yes!  That’s it, a true story about Voyager!”  It seemed that this was going to be the story of the day.  That was a tough one — a true story about Voyager that was interesting for the kids.  He scanned his memory for minor incidents that they might enjoy while he made his way to the story corner – a huge pile of cushions just right for telling and listening.  Kathryn had been helping with the babies in another corner and came to join Chakotay and the children.  Now nearly nine months pregnant with twins, she didn’t move with her customary agility and speed but Chakotay still thought she was beautiful.  He cautiously helped her sit down on the cushions before joining her.

While the children were finding seats around the couple, Kathryn whispered to Chakotay, “You’d better be there to help me back up, mister, or you will be on the couch for the rest of your life.”  Chakotay may have been captain of Voyager, but he was also a very wise man who hated sleeping on the couch.

“Yes, dear.  Whatever you say, dear.”  Kathryn’s prompt reply to his attitude was an elbow in his ribs so subtly delivered that the children never noticed.  Chakotay noticed and wondered whether it would leave a bruise.

“OK, kids.  You say you want a true story about Voyager in the Delta Quadrant.  Well, this is a true story and it happened when Carrie was just a brand new baby and not too long before Kay and RT were born.

“We were helping a group of people and met a man named Neelix.  He said he was a Talaxian.  He had very dark yellow, almost orange, hair that grew in a strip down the back of his head.  Neelix wore is hair so that it fell below his shoulders.”

“Why didn’t he have to have a regulation haircut?”  Leave it to RT to want to know why someone else didn’t have to follow the rules.

“Neelix wasn’t in Starfleet or a member of a Starfleet family.  He also wasn’t on Voyager very long.  Now, where was I?”  Chakotay would give the children a chance to show they had been paying attention to the story.

“Neelix had hair down to his shoulders.”  Carrie was the first to refresh the captain’s memory and she glowed with pleasure.

“Ahhhh, yes.  Neelix wore his hair long and it hung in gentle waves down his back.  In fact, it looked almost like Carrie's hair, all shiny and silky, except for the color.  Well, not long after Neelix began his visit, he asked Captain Kathryn how she got her hair dry so fast all the time.  She explained to him about hair dryers and helped him replicate one.  Once she had shown him how to use the hairdryer, she let him keep it.

“Now Neelix knew how to turn it on and off, but he didn’t really know much more about hair dryers.  One night he wanted to dry his hair but it was very late and he was extremely tired so he set the hairdryer up so it would dry his hair while he was sleeping.  Well, he fell asleep enjoying the gentle warm air blowing over his hair, but he slept more than twelve hours before he woke up to find the hair dryer still running.

“Neelix didn’t think anything about the dryer or his hair until he went to a mirror to comb his hair.  What had once been long and silky hair was now a wiry mop with lots of broken pieces all sticking out and the shorter pieces on top sticking almost straight up in the air.  Neelix rushed right to sickbay for the doctor to cure his hair.  The doctor could barely keep from laughing as he explained there was nothing he could do.  The dryer had completely changed Neelix’s hair chemistry and it would always look the way it did that day.  He would now have to live with hair sticking up in the air for the rest of his life.  Neelix took the news sadly but courageously.  In a few days he was joking about his hair with the crew in the mess hall.  They were all very glad he was joking about his hair because it was very difficult not to laugh at his new hairstyle.  After a week or so we all got used to it.  Now when we think of Neelix, we think of him with that hairstyle.”

“You sure you haven’t stretched the truth a little bit, Daddy?”  Taylor was never sure how much of her father’s tales to believe but she did know that he would never lie to her, plus she was a natural diplomat.

“I haven’t stretched the truth about his hair, Taylor.  He really did make it get all fuzzy and stick up by leaving the hairdryer on too long.”

“Is there a picture of Neelix in the files, Captain?”  Jem was the first to think of looking up a picture to see his hair for herself.

“There should be.  Why don’t you go look for yourselves?”  Chakotay was quick to distract the children and send them on to another task.  He had Kathryn right next to him and wanted to take the opportunity to talk for a moment before he returned to the bridge.  After glancing around the room to make sure the children were well and truly distracted searching for pictures of Neelix, Chakotay turned his head to kiss Kathryn.

“I don’t see you enough lately, Kath.  I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.  Are you going to make it home for dinner tonight?”

“Yes.  I should be there by 18:00.  The last away team should be back by 17:30 and Tuvok has night duty tonight.  How are the three of you doing?”  He placed his hand on her belly where he could feel the twins cavorting, obviously having enjoyed the tale as much as the other children.

“We’re fine.  The doctor says I could go into labor any day now.  I’ve already made arrangements for Kay to stay with Sam and Joe until they’re born.  Taylor is going to stay with Harry; she really likes being with Jem because she gets to be the older and wiser one.  It’s just you and me tonight.  Think you can handle it, old man?”

“Yes, I think I can handle it.  Got time for lunch with an old man?”  Chakotay climbed to his feet before gently hoisting Kathryn to her feet.  He held her until she regained her balance and then hugged her close.  “Your place or mine?”

Laughing, she punched him gently on the arm before taking his hand and leading him out of the day care center.

“Neither.  The mess hall is serving coffee ice cream today and I’m not missing it for anything, even you, old man.  You, on the other hand are on my dinner menu tonight.”  Laughing the two walked Voyager’s corridors leaving smiling crewmembers in their wake.