Chakotay walked toward Kathryn smiling. "It seems like our two groups are starting to get along pretty well."

"I agree." Kathryn looked back down on the main engineering deck where Joe and B'Elanna were using words instead of fists to communicate. "I think they are going to make a fine crew."

Chakotay gestured for Kathryn to accompany him out of engineering. "Tell me, Captain. If our situations had been reversed and this were my ship instead of Voyager, would you have served under me?"

Kathryn stopped and eyed Chakotay from head to toe before continuing into the corridor.

"Well, Commander, I don't think I would have agreed to let you be captain if that's what you mean." She stopped at the door of the turbolift and turned slightly to stare up at him. "As for serving under you? Frankly, I don't see what rank has to do with that. Would you care to explore the possibility in my quarters, say over dinner?"

Chakotay eyed her speculatively. "Does that offer include breakfast?"

"It might."

"Then it would be my pleasure, Captain." Chakotay held out his arm for Kathryn.

"It had better be mine too if you expect breakfast, Mister."

Kathryn stepped inside the holodeck and looked around. Tom had managed to recreate the bar in Marseilles quite effectively. It was dark and moody with some quiet corners and a pool table for a small crowd. A few characters in twentieth century suits and hats stood with pool cues in their hands watching Tom as he sank the eight ball. Kathryn smiled and walked over to watch.

"Good evening, gentlemen."

Chakotay smiled at her from across the table but said nothing. Tom straightened and turned to face Kathryn.

"Hi, Captain. Care to join us?"

"Is this billiards or pool?"

"Pool." The rough reply from one of the characters was barely polite.

"Ah, yes. Billiards is the one without the pockets." Kathryn's interest grew. "What do I have to do?"

Tom hastily racked the balls and positioned the cue ball. "You strike the white cue ball with the cue stick rolling it into the other balls. The objective is to knock the balls into the pockets."

Kathryn patted the table thoughtfully then nodded and looked around. Her eyes fell on Chakotay holding a cue.

"Commander, your stick!"

Chakotay blanched. "Here? Now?"

"Of course here and now. Do you have a problem with that?"

Chakotay shook his head slowly. His dimples deepened as he walked toward Kathryn.

"No, ma'am!"

"Is it crunch time, Commander?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Chakotay advanced toward Kathryn, backing her towards the table. "Computer, delete holocharacters. The rest of you – get out! Now!"

"We seem to have lost our sex appeal." Tuvok's words confirmed that Chakotay's idea had worked. 

Kathryn smiled as she watched the creature move away from Voyager on the main viewer. She turned to Chakotay. "Well done, Commander. It seems you've just earned the right to be the ship's expert on mating behavior. Think you're up for the job?"

Chakotay's eyes flashed. "Yes, Captain, I do. I'll be happy to give you a practical demonstration if you like."

Kathryn turned to eye Chakotay. "Oh, I think I'll like that demonstration just fine."

"I just don't know what you see in him, Kathy." Q was dancing around Kathryn as she tried to make her way across her ready room. Chakotay watched as Kathryn evaded Q, his expression a mixture of irritation and amusement.

"Is it the tattoo?" Q snapped his fingers. "Look, I have one, too."

Kathryn sidestepped Q for the third time and made it to the upper level. Q jumped in front of her and stuck his neck out. "Mine is bigger than his."

Kathryn glanced at Q and the tattoo that now covered half his face. She stopped and stared at Q considering his statement.

Deliberately her eyes studied the tattoo before they moved down his body stopping just below the belt. She then turned her eyes to Chakotay and repeated the process. She turned back to Q and looked him squarely him in the eye.

"I don't think so." Kathryn turned and moved toward Chakotay, her smile turning slowly suggestive as she approached him.

"But, Kathy, I…" Q never finished the sentence.

Kathryn stood and glared at him. "Go away, little boy. I'm about to become very busy." 

"Our last night in the Delta Quadrant," Kathryn said softly turning her head to gaze at Chakotay.

"You've made your decision." Chakotay wasn't all that surprised to learn she had decided to attempt to use the quantum slipstream drive.

"We launch tomorrow at 0800. You and Harry will take the Delta Flyer. Voyager will be right behind you."

Chakotay took a deep breath, the let it out slowly. "The crew will be pleased." Chakotay's voice contradicted his words.

"What about you, Chakotay? What do you think about my decision?"

"I've analyzed Harry's flight plan. The theory is sound, but there are just too many variables. If something goes wrong in that slipstream..." 

"It could be our only chance to use the quantum drive."

"If you showed this data to any Starfleet engineer, they'd think we were out of our minds. We can find another way home. We've waited this long…"

"Long enough," Kathryn interrupted him. "We've waited long enough. I know it's a risk, probably our biggest one yet, but I'm willing to take it."

Chakotay made no comment.

"Are you with me?"

Chakotay leaned up on his elbow and stared at Kathryn loving the way her hair sprawled across the pillow. Slowly he ran his hand over her very distended belly. "I'm always with you, Kathryn."

"It won't work!" Kathryn hissed the words at Chakotay.

"Sure it will. Trust me."

"It won't work." Kathryn refused to concede the point. "This is not a matter of trust."

"Sure it is. All you have to do is trust me."

"I'm telling you, it won't work!" Kathryn was insistent.

Chakotay had saved his best argument for last. He smiled at her. Not just his usual heart-melting smile. This was a full-blown dimple attack. Kathryn's resolve dissolved.

"All right."  Pride kept her head high even as she grudgingly yielded to his arguments. "But I don't want a count down. Just do it!"

Chakotay smiled and clasped her more securely in his arms as he swept her into an elaborate move across the dance floor. Then he did it.

The crew watched in amazement as their first officer dipped their captain within inches of the floor.

Kathryn stared around her ready room at the accumulation of gifts from the local government. It looked like a pack rat's worst nightmare. She tried to reach her desk but was interrupted by the chime.

"Come!" Her voice was irritated.

"We just received this for your collection." Chakotay held up something that looked like a dead tree with hinged branches sporting large razor-edged leaves. It didn't seem to be a very practical weapon – unless you handed it to your opponent in which case it was probably quite efficient.

Kathryn stopped to study the latest addition to her new collection forgetting that she was near one of the first. The plant's vines were in her hair forcing her attention away from Chakotay. The plant was clearly not going to let her go easily and she struggled to escape without pulling out her hair.

Suddenly Kathryn jumped and screamed. The plant had wrapped one vine around her waist and had planted the leaves of another firmly on her butt.

Suddenly the vines dropped away and she felt Chakotay pull her away from the plant. Kathryn turned enough to see half the vines lying on the floor and what was left of the plant quivering in its container. She turned back to Chakotay as he dropped the unwieldy weapon.

"Wasn't that a bit extreme?"

Chakotay grabbed her and pulled her against him sliding one hand to the spot the leaves had just abandoned. "No one, not even some plant, gropes you when I'm around. I'd rather do it myself."

"You're more than just my captain. You're my friend." Chakotay's voice was soft and sincere. The husky tone and slightly suggestive whisper was one of his most appealing traits.

"What?" Kathryn's practically shouted at him. "My friend! That's it?

His voice might be as smooth as fine whiskey but the sentiment expressed was more typical of a pubescent Neanderthal. Kathryn was not amused. "That's all I am to you? Your friend?"

"That's not what I said. I meant…"

Kathryn didn’t let him finish. The only reason he got that much out was she needed to catch her breath. She climbed the step toward her desk and turned to glare at him. At least with him on the lower level, she could look him in the eye without straining her neck.

"Friend? After all these years, that's the best you can do?" Kathryn's voice went up a notch. "This is all your fault and that's the best you can do to placate me? Friend?"

Kathryn ran out of words and turned to go to her desk. Chakotay followed her. He caught up with her before she could sit down. Tentatively he reached out to touch her shoulder. She jerked her shoulder away and turned to glare at him.

"Don't touch me!" Her anger was real but she didn't sound quite like she meant what she said, even to her own ears. Kathryn turned her back on him. "Go away!"

Chakotay stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't usually say that to me."

"Maybe I should have. If all I am is your friend, I definitely should have. I told you to go away. I don't need a friend right now. Leave me alone."

Chakotay held her next to him. "You're the one who said I held you at arm's length when we weren't making love. I was just letting you know how I felt when you weren't in my arms. What exactly do you want from me?"

Kathryn was silent. Chakotay felt her relax slightly and stop trying to pull away from him. She shifted slightly and he moved one hand over her to calm her. She shifted her position again slightly, pressing back against him. Her mood change perplexed him. What was going on?

Mood change? An explanation popped into his head. No, not possible. Chakotay rejected the idea. Kathryn wouldn't do that. Would she? There was only one way to find out.

"Kathryn, are you pregnant?"

Silence. Absolute silence.

"I thought we decided this was not a good time."

"I decided it was."

Chakotay sighed in frustration. "Just exactly where are we going to put a baby? Which one of our four children du you propose we put on the floor?"

"Two."

"What?" Kathryn's only word made so sense at all to Chakotay.

"Which 'two' of our children?" Kathryn's voice was tentative as she tried to focus Chakotay's attention away from the main point.

"Twins? We're having twins?" If Chakotay had been shocked before, now he was stunned. "We don't have room now, what are we going to do with two more children?"

"Calm down. We'll manage." Kathryn changed the subject again. "Besides, it will be great on Chinese night in the mess hall."

"Chinese night?"

"Sure. Remember? With six you get egg roll."

Kathryn summarized their plan for the people in engineering a final time. "After Chakotay initiates the warp pulse, he should find himself back at the moment Voyager encountered the chrono-kinetic surge. He's only going to have a few seconds to reset the deflector's polarity. If it works, the time line should be restored and the rest of us should have no memory of what's happened. I'd like to thank you now for putting your doubts aside, and helping me put mine aside as well. Good luck to each of you." 

The crowd dispersed leaving Kathryn and Chakotay standing by the warp core. Janeway turned to him smiling evocatively.

"Mind if I ask you one last question?" Her voice was low.

"Will I have to break the Temporal Prime Directive to answer it?" 

"Maybe. Just a little." Kathryn looked up at him hopefully. "For two people who started off as enemies, it seems we get to know each other pretty well.  So I've been wondering… just how close do we get?" 

"Let's just say there are some barriers we never cross." Chakotay watched the smile on Kathryn's face fade. "But there is one barrier we've crossed together many times."

"Exactly which barrier is that?"

"Let's just say you're even more beautiful carrying my baby."

"I bet I have fun discovering whether those are the only dimples you have."