by Dakota

“What's wrong?” Chakotay sat up putting his arm around her shoulders. “Bad dream?”

“Yes, but not the kind of bad you mean. This felt almost like a warning of some sort.”

“Would it help to talk about it?”

“I don't know. It couldn't hurt.”

“Want some tea while you talk?”

“That would be nice.” Kathryn tried to calm herself while Chakotay retrieved two cups of tea from the replicator. That was one change in her habits since she and Chakotay had become lovers – she was drinking more herbal tea and less coffee. She glanced at his back and shoulders. Yes, she would trade coffee for Chakotay any day.

Gladly she took the mug he held out to her and took a sip of the hot brew. Then she struggled not to spill it as he sat down and slid up to the headboard making himself comfortable for their talk. Once he was settled, he took her mug while she slid up in the bed to lean against him while she talked. Satisfied that she was comfortable, he handed the mug back to her.

“Now, tell me about this dream.”

“There was nothing particularly frightening or bad about it, but it bothers me all the same. I am standing in the middle of a road, just standing there staring at it. Not too far from me the road splits and goes in different directions, not sharply but angling away from each other. Just looking at them, I seem to know they never come together again.”

“Why is this frightening? It sounds harmless enough.”

“I know. But you are standing next to me; I know because you are holding my hand. You're waiting for me to make a decision. I don't how I know that; it's a dream so I just do. The other thing I know is that one of the roads is your road and the other is mine. It's like a huge warning that our paths will split. I don't even want to consider that possibility. It just seems so real, so inevitable.”

“Kathryn, where exactly am I? Beside you or next to you?”

”You're a bit behind me because my arm is stretched to the side and back a bit. You're standing with your back almost to mine, waiting for me.”

“Kathryn, which way are we walking in the dream?”

“I'm not sure.”

“Ok, which way am I facing while I wait for you?”

“I don't understand. You'll walk forward.”

“But will I walk toward the split in the road or away from it?”

“Oh!”  Kathryn stopped to think about the images in her dream. “You're going to walk away from the split, but you're waiting for me to go with you.”

“Kathryn, that's not a nightmare or a warning. That split in the road is where we've been, not where we're going. I have your hand in mine and we're walking away from the separate paths. It's a good dream. Our separate roads are behind us; we're walking the same path now.”