I know I have not written anything on here for ages, that is because my Voyager brain has been switched off, nothing has come to mind of what to write, but now I am back with some inspiration, I hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think. If it is rubbish let me know I am a big girl I can take it.

The advent of hope

Sitting in the office again, she was always sitting in this damm office, staring at the same damm wall and drinking the same cup of damm coffee.

Resisting the urge to throw said coffee against said wall Kathryn sat back in her chair closed her eyes and held on to the cooling mug tighter. Willing the frustration inside her to level off, until she could become a normal human being again.

She had been on the edge for a while now, she was Starfleet's golden girl, she was the advertisement for everything that should be in a uniform, could do anything she wanted, any assignment, any career path she chose. Any that was accept her own ship, her own crew and to go out into space once more. No they wanted her here on Earth, her face in as many pictures and posters as they needed. Her occasional talks to the new cadets and appearances at certain functions were the only things really required of her now a days.

Kathryn Janeway was not the kind of person to just sit back on her lorrals though, ok she had gone to the other side of the galaxy and back, and had delivered a crushing blow to the Borg, but she was far from finished yet.

Running her hands down her face trying to wipe the frustration from her physically she turned her eyes back on to the picture that hung on her wall. It was a large framed photo of Voyager, she could even make out the small scars alone her hull from the battles her ship had been in over the years. The photo had been taken before they decommissioned her and dismantled her for parts. Kathryn had forth vehemently for her repair but it had been a battle she was not destined to win.

Most of the crew although sorry to see it happen had spread far and wide then, Chakotay and Seven had moved off world and were starting a family, Harry had been given a promotion and commission on a ship and had accepted. The doctor had been downloaded and transferred to his own office and B'lanna had been busy with Miral and her new job. The only one of her senior crew to have stood by her on this was the last person she expected it to be.

Tom Paris had come back from France, where he had relocated to help stop Voyager being taken to pieces. He had stood shoulder to shoulder with his former Captain in front of his father and begged the man to see sense.

Kathryn hand finally given up knowing the decision had already been made and there was nothing either of them could do about it. She had finally had to drag Tom out by his shirt collar and by him a beer at the local pub.

She had sat there with him in silence sipping the bitter liquid and locking her eyes on the table before his sigh caught her attention and broke the spell they had both been under.

"Why did you come?" Kathryn had asked and he seemed genuinely shocked by her question almost hurt, and it took Kathryn a second to realise why.

"I mean, no one else came, God, most of them barely replied to my subspace message." She said which seemed to appease Tom as he had gone to reach for her hand but stopped at the last moment.

"I guess that ship just meant more to me than you ever realised." He had told her, she had never gotten the opportunity to ask him what he meant. Shorty after Tom had finished talking he had received a subspace message from B'lanna that their daughter had been taken ill. He had rushed out of that bar with barely a glance back. At the time Kathryn had been more concerned for Miral than Tom's manners.

It had come as a surprise when he had contacted her a few days later to apologise for leaving her like he had, and that Miral was recovering in hospital after catching a pretty severe case of the Romulan flu.

That was however the last time she had herd from her former pilot, it had been nearly six months and she was still sat here at her desk drinking her coffee and staring at that picture with nothing important to do.

Slamming her hands down on the desk Kathryn stood up and pushed her chair under her desk, grabbing her jacket and pulling open her door she breezed passed her sectary without a word and walked out into the corridor. Stopping and turning her head left and right she couldn't decide where she wanted to go first. Now she had made her decision there was plenty of things to consider, but where to start could be the most important one. Finally turning on her heel Kathryn Janeway strode out of Starfleet head quarters and out into the sunshine of a early spring day. It was warm enough that she realised she no longer needed the jacket. Throwing it over her shoulder she paused for a stride, turning once more in a new direction Kathryn decided if she was going to do this then it would not be clad in the admiral pips she had been so proud of when she had first put them on.

Stepping on to the transport and calling out the location for her apartment she allowed a small smile to grace her lips before she dematerialized causing the cadet at the station to become slightly confused, not that she cared about that, she had a plan and was going to see it though no matter what.

Tom Paris sat on his veranda, he liked to do this every night before the sun set completely, dusk was his favourite park of the day, closely followed by dawn. He rolled the whiskey around in his glass as the ice clinked together and reminded him of time he had spent not so long ago with friends, probably the best friends he was ever likely to have.

Letting out a sigh Tom refused to dwell on the past on such a beautiful evening, the only thing that would have made it better was if Miral had been with him, but she was on the Dauntless with her mother. B'lanna had told him to come to be a pilot with her, but he had wanted to stay, to have a year on the ground to decide what he really wanted. What he didn't say was that he didn't want to fly anything but Voyager or for anyone but Captain Janeway. Now sat here almost two years after their return he was still no closer to deciding. He had lost Voyager and now his wife and daughter, yes they came back every time they were on Earth, Miral called every night and Tom had gotten himself a dream job. Dream that was because what he really wanted could only ever be a dream now, he had been recruited by a shuttle firm to test pilot all their latest offerings, he could work his own hours and put in as much or a little time as he wanted. He loved his job but he was stuck in a rut and he knew it, for a while now he had been thinking of going with B'lanna and his daughter the next time they came back, it might not only save his marriage which was dicey to say the least, but also provide him with the opportunity to be a proper father to Miral.

Polishing off his whiskey Tom reached down to the side of his chair and picked up the bottle. Poring himself a generous slug he took a deep breath then a small sip.

He had realised long ago that he had lost his passion, where Harry had gained in it finding himself happiness and purpose Tom had allowed himself to wither away and dwell on the past, and that was not the Tom Paris he was, so when he had gotten Janeway's message about Voyager being dismantled he had rushed over there like a bull in a china shop. He had allowed all that pent up anger at himself come out choosing to use Voyager once again as his passion and drive.

He had realised soon enough that it was not just Voyager that had sparked passion in him and sitting across the bar from her Tom had wanted to say so many things, he had wanted to ask how she was, tell her how good she looked and that he had been keeping up with her progress via the news. None of it had come out however and when he had finally said something of consequence he had gotten the call about Miral being taken ill.

He had felt guilty afterwards and had forced himself to call her to face any anger but there had been none, just concern and what Tom thought was vague regret. After that he had decided to go with B'lanna and take care of Miral on board the Dauntless, it had cause no end of arguments, he had hated being in space again, unable to do anything but wonder the corridors and wait for his wife to came home at night. He had finally managed to let B'lanna take Miral back to France with him, they had a wonderful time together but his young daughter wanted to go back after a few weeks and B'lanna wanted her to come back. This had quickly returned to normal, sub space messages, polite visits from B'lanna, and exited ones from Miral, but they always ended up back on Dauntless, and he ended up back on this Veranda.

Watching as the last rays of sun sank beyond the horizon Tom emptied his glass and stood up. Picking up the whiskey bottle he pulled back the glass door that separated the house from the Veranda and walked back into the now darkened room, managing to avoid banging his toe on the low coffee table. Something which he had learnt to the cost of his toes over the years, turning around he placed the whiskey on the shelf moved his cup into his now free left hand and slid the glass door shut with his right. Moving through into the kitchen tom flicked on the light switch and went to the recycler and placed his glass inside it and pushed the button so it vanished.

Tom looked around his kitchen, he had just had it redone so that it looked more like a traditional kitchen. A real working sink sat under the small double window, beside it was a beautiful ornate cupboard where he kept his pans for cooking on. And finally he had a working stove and oven installed. He had found that cooking, really cooking food in the evenings was something he really enjoyed, that did not mean however he was going to give up the ease of the replicator, or the suppleness of a sonic shower for that matter.

Flicking off the light Tom turned and headed for the sonic shower, throwing his jumper off in the process he aimed for the love seat but managed to find the floor instead he just shrugged his shoulders, intending to pick the item up when he had finished his shower Tom moved off down the hallway through the darken house, not needing the light to see his way around and not wanting it either.

Just as Tom pushed open the door to the bathroom there was a chime from the front door and he stopped in his tracks.

"It was rear anyone called on him so late, when it happened it was never good, it was either a neighbour in need of his help, which meant he would be on his hands an knees fixing something or it was a work mate wondering if he fancied a drink, which he invariably didn't but often agreed to go because he didn't want to be rude.

Walking with a heavy stride Tom pulled open the door and almost closed it again, he rubbed his eyes wondering if he had fallen asleep and had yet to realise it that was until she spoke.

"Sorry to turn up like this Mr Paris, but could I come in, I have a proposition for you?"

Kathryn had threw on some clean civilian clothes and packed some more in an overnight bag. She knew that she would be staying for at least one night as she knew her former pilot would want to at least here what she had to say even if he said no she knew that he would extend her that courtesy at least.

Kathryn had done a little research before she had left, her sudden impulse to rush to Tom and spring all these plans on his tempered by her stop to change clothes. She was not impetuous by nature, she had just been denied excitement too long, now the thrill was back it was like a drug for her, but she hand managed to contain it just long enough to draw up a better plan and find out a bit about her former pilots life.

She had contacted B'lanna asking about Miral, and finally Tom, leaning from the engineers face much more than her words. Kathryn decided right then that Tom Paris's life was probably not as full as he would like it to be. Encourage and saddened by this Kathryn had hopped on the transport and winged her way to France.

Questioning her decision all the way Kathryn had finally stopped off just outside his large apartment and had paused at the bottom of the stairway to his front door. Thinking back to just that morning sat in her office staring at that picture of a ship that would never see space again had gotten her moving. She had decided in that moment only a few hours ago now that even though her ship was lying in bits on some workshop floor she was not. That even though most of her crew although loyal had their own lives their own ambitions to pursue, she had allowed herself to become a puppet and that was not her.

She knew what Tom had meant finally in that moment as well about Voyager meaning more to them than to the rest of the crew. It had been her ship, but it had been his home, he had been set free there and given his second chance, a purpose and a family, now they were back he had lost those and once again Kathryn wanted to be the one to save him.

She had knocked on the door and it had taken him a while to answer, she was about to give up thinking he was out as the house was dark when the door had opened and there stood a bare chested Lieutenant looking back at her rubbing his eyes in total surprise.

Kathryn had decided to delve right into it, asking to come in and brushing past him as though he wasn't half naked and this wasn't late or unusual. Tom stood there for a second before he closed the door and followed her as she walked a short way down the hall when she realised she had no idea where she was going and that it was pretty dark inside the apartment.

"Umm please Admiral this way." Tom said unable to call her anything but her rank even in his own home and it earned him a raised eyebrow and a quirk of the lips.

"Tom even if I were on duty and you were fully dressed you can still call me Kathryn." She smiled as she followed him though the house as Tom turned on the lights as he went, finally leading her into the sitting room which looked out on to the veranda.

"You have a beautiful place." Kathryn offered as she went and admired the view from the floor to ceiling glass doors.

"Thanks, can I get you something to drink?" Tom asked not knowing what else to say, she had shocked him into submission and not for the first time, he was going to need to compose himself if he was going to deal with Kathryn Janeway and the first thing would be to put his jumper back on.

Snatching the item of clothing off the floor Tom pulled it over his head as Kathryn turned away from the view and acknowledged his question of a drink. He saw her glance at the whiskey bottle and he shrugged his shoulders.

"If you want one I'm game, but it tastes so much better out there." Tom said following her gaze and picking up the bottle. Kathryn turned her mouth up in a half smile and allowed him to open the door for her.

"This is lovely." Kathryn said stepping out, it was chilly now the sun had gone down, but there was no breeze and the external light created a artificial heat that the whiskey would only add to.

"I know it's the reason I brought this place, oh hold on." Tom said stepping back inside and moving through to the kitchen opening a cupboard above the sink he took down two fresh tumblers and went to the replicator and asked for some ice.

Joining Kathryn back out on the veranda Tom offered her the glass and then the ice, she took both. Then sat down on one of the chairs and Tom copied her position.

Taking the bottle and poring Kathryn a healthy slug Tom then topped himself up and turned to his former Captain now admiral. The light caught her still auburn hair and placed her face in half shadows which seemed to extenuate her already distinctive features. Her eyes were hidden in half shadow but still sparkled with life as she raised her glass.

"A toast Mr Paris, to the good old days." She said and Tom knew that whatever it was she had come to offer him it was bound to turn his life on its head.

Hope that was ok I have never done a post Endgame fic before so I thought I would give it a crack, as ever feed back is much appreciated I would love to know what you think. I will try and update as quickly as possible I hope I can bring some more drama and adventure into your lives. Thanks for reading XxX