Star Trek Voyager characters are the property of Paramount Pictures.

THE LINK

SIX WEEKS AFTER VOYAGER'S RETURN

"Wow," B'Elanna said as she looked around her former captain's luxury lodge in the Sierra Nevada mountains. "What a paradise!"

The spacious living room had beautiful pine walls, a white ceiling studded with star-shaped lights, a floor adorned with a rich red carpet, couches of magnolia, a grand gray stone chimney in which a real log fire was burning, a tapestry rug before the hearth, furniture of smoky glass, tall arched windows that overlooked Lake Tahoe, and wide glass doors that led onto a magnificent balcony.

"It is rather something, isn't it?" Kathryn smiled.

"I could so live here. Trust us to pick a city house! When Tom said you'd got a place in the mountains, I thought 'What, has everyone gone crazy? Are we living in some kind of alternate reality?' but I take it all back now."

Kathryn laughed. "What's so strange about me getting a place in the mountains?"

"Well, no offense, it just doesn't seem like you. I'd have thought a city house in San Francisco would be more your style."

"It might have been once, but after seven years in space, never knowing if we'd see Earth again, I want to be surrounded by nature. I want to get up in the morning and say 'We're home and what a view!"

"I can understand that. But this place is more like what I'd expect Chakotay to choose. Yet he's living in an apartment in New York City. I swear sometimes we are in an alternate reality!"

A little gold dog came running into the room, something blue and soft between its teeth, and it ran excitedly around B'Elanna.

"Oh my," she laughed. "Who do we have here?"

"The latest addition to the Janeway family," Kathryn smiled. "My puppy dog, Tessi." She then addressed the little tearaway. "Here, Tessi. Here."

The animal ignored her and continued to run a riot around the room.

"I said here, Tessi. Here!"

At this 'don't mess with me' tone, the dog dared not disobey and bounced over to her. Kathryn couched down and took the blue something out of the creature's mouth. The blue something was half a pillow.

"Oh no," Kathryn sighed. "Not another pillow. Bad girl, Tessi. Bad girl!"

B'Elanna laughed. "Looks like you've got your work cut out with her."

"I sure have. I was going to get an older dog from a rescue centre, one that is at least half trained, but Phoebe gave me this little terror as a homecoming gift and that was kind of that."

She carried the soggy piece of pillow over to the recycler, manually replicated a doggie bone, and then threw it to the teething pup.

"There you go, honey," she said. "All yours for the chew."

Tessi got stuck in right away and carried the bone over to the rug, where she lay down on all fours to enjoy it.

"Looks like that will keep her busy for a while," B'Elanna smiled.

"Let's hope so. Adorable, though, isn't she?"

"Totally. Just don't let Tom see her any time soon. He's whining like a weasel for a dog and is driving me nuts. Because who do you think will be left to look after it? Me, that's who, and I've got my hands full with Miral. She's a real screamer, Capt...I mean Admiral...and has me up all hours."

"Please," Kathryn said. "Call me Kathryn. We're not in a command structure anymore."

"No, we're not. But a first name basis may take me a while."

Kathryn smiled. "So long as you get there. Now, can I get you something to drink?"

"A hot chocolate would be good. Thanks."

"Then a hot chocolate it is. In fact, I'll have one too. Nothing quite like a hot chocolate on a cold winter's night." She walked over to the replicator and manually replicated the drinks. "Whipped cream, sugar?"

"Both. Three sugars."

"Three sugars? You're worse than Chakotay!"

"But not as bad as Tom. He takes four."

"Really? Four?" She picked up the first of the hot chocolates. "Was I the only one on Voyager who didn't have a sweet tooth?"

"Oh, definitely not. I can think of at least one person who had a very bitter mouth."

Kathryn picked up the second hot chocolate and then made her way over to B'Elanna. "If you mean Seven, I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"Of course I mean Seven. Who else? Well, I can think of a couple of creeps that I won't mention, but none of them ever annoyed me half as much as her. And now she's got her Borg claws into Chakotay. So much so that he's shacked up in a city he hates just to be near her." Seven's aunt had just recently moved to New York City and the ex-drone was living with her. "Well, now that we're off the ship, I don't want anything to do with her ever again. Or Chakotay, for that matter."

Kathryn handed B'Elanna her drink. "You don't mean that."

"Oh, I do. If he wants to mess around with Seven, that's up to him, but I'm not going to stand around and watch. The whole thing makes me sick."

"They love each other, B'Elanna. I know their relationship came out of the blue, but it's something we're all going to have to adjust to."

"Not me. And I don't believe he loves her. How can he? She has the personality of a pancake!"

"If I thought you meant that, I'd be offended. Seven has had a difficult life, one could say tragic, and she's worked damn hard to reclaim everything that the Borg took away from her. If she's clinical sometimes, aloof, it's only because she doesn't know how to express herself. That doesn't mean she doesn't feel things. I think she feels things deeply. A kind and patient man like Chakotay will really help bring out the woman inside her."

"Oh, I don't think he's interested in the woman inside. It's the outside that's got him hooked. One flash of those...assets...and he's putty in her hands. It's disgusting."

"Chakotay isn't that shallow and you know it."

"No, I don't know it. And how can you defend him like this?"

"Because he hasn't done anything wrong, B'Elanna. He's free to love whoever he wants. So is Seven."

"But he doesn't love her! And they're so wrong for each other. He should be with you!"

B'Elanna regretted the words as soon as they were out, especially when Kathryn's face paled, but it was too late, they were spoken.

"I'm sorry," B'Elanna said humbly. "I shouldn't have said that. But it's the truth. I know you love him, I've seen it in your eyes a million times, and I thought he felt the same. I hoped, we all hoped, that when we got home and out of a command structure, the two of you would have a future together."

Slowly, painfully, Kathryn turned towards a window and gazed out at the evening lake. B'Elanna was right. She did love him, so much that life without him was hell, but he no longer loved her and she had to accept that. "I won't deny that there was a time when we had feelings for each other," she said quietly, "but that's all water under the bridge now."

"I don't believe that. When Chakotay said at the welcome home party that he was dating Seven, I saw the hurt on your face. He's broken your heart and I won't forgive him for it."

"He hasn't broken my heart any more than I've broken his over the years," she said sadly. "I always made it quite clear to him that as long as we were Captain and First Officer nothing could ever happen between us, and although it hurt him deeply, he always respected my view and never pressurized me to change it. I hoped he would still be free when we got home, I'll admit that, but I always knew he would move on eventually. I just, well, I didn't think he and Seven were already dating. I thought their relationship was one that was yet to happen."

"I never thought it could happen. Sure, Admiral Janeway told some sob story about how Seven was his wife and died in his arms, at least that's what I heard on the grapevine, but that just made me think that the future she came from was some kind of alternate reality. I never thought the Chakotay I knew would want Seven. Never."

Kathryn turned from the window now and faced her former chief engineer. "Well he does, B'Elanna, and you have to accept it and wish him well. I know you've never got along with Seven, but Chakotay loves her and, as his friend, you must respect that and make the best of it. We don't have the right to tell anyone who they should love. They have a lot of challenges ahead of them. Don't make things more difficult. Your friendship is important to Chakotay, it always has been. Don't make him choose between your friendship and the woman he loves. Please, B'Elanna, try to accept things. Try for me."

There was such a painful longing in Kathryn's eyes that the fiery half-Klingon could not defy her. "Alright," she conceded. "I'll do it for you."

Kathryn put her hand on B'Elanna's shoulder. "Thank you, B'Elanna. Now, how about we take our hot chocolates onto the balcony? I want to hear all about what you've been up to since we got back."

B'Elanna smiled. "Sounds good to me."

The lodge's balcony was long and spacious and was surrounded by a forcefield to keep out the bitter winter weather. From it there were uninterrupted views of the lake, but presently a February mist hung in the air and clouded the scene.

"Trust us to get home in the middle of winter," B'Elanna said as she looked out at the lake from a wicker chair. "Why couldn't it be summer? Boston in winter is hell on my Klingon bones."

Kathryn laughed. "You could always move to Florida."

"Then Tom would be too hot. Honestly, Capt...I mean, Kathryn...a bit of sun and he fries. You should have seen the state on him when we got back from Hawaii. You'd think he'd been in the Sahara for a month. I'm just hoping Miral is something between us both and neither gets too hot or too cold. Otherwise we'll have a hell of a time picking a vacation place."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here any time."

"Thanks. You at ours too. That is, if you can endure a mad house." She picked up a chocolate cookie from a plateful that Kathryn had brought onto the balcony with them and bit into it. "Oh boy, these cookies are good. Did you make them?"

Kathryn laughed. "What do you think?"

"Right, stupid question. Who then? Your Mom?"

"Close. My Aunt Martha. She's a whizz in the kitchen. Too bad I inherited the hair and not the cooking gene, eh?"

"Are you kidding? I'd kill for your hair."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Try having Klingon hair and making it look decent. Your hair looks great no matter how you wear it."

Kathryn smiled. "Thanks for the compliment."

A bleep sounded and then a female voice spoke. "Incoming mail."

"Let me guess," B'Elanna said. "Fan mail. We've had tons since we got back. You must be getting even more."

"Sack loads. But I've also been getting hate mail."

B'Elanna put down her drink. "Hate mail? Who could possibly hate you?"

"A number of people, it seems. Some hate me because I made Chakotay, a Maquis warrior, my First Officer. Others hate me because I was on a mission to capture Maquis. Others hate me for making an alliance with the Borg, and others hate me for some other such thing that I did during our journey."

"Man, they must be crazy! You're the best and bravest person I've ever known. You worked yourself to the bone to get us home and denied yourself everything. They should be applauding you, not condemning you."

"I don't expect everyone to agree with every decision I made."

"Maybe not, but they have no right to send you hate mail. If they don't like what you did, let them keep their stupid opinions to themselves. I hope these letters haven't upset you."

"No. I expected them. But I have upped my security as a few of them have contained death threats."

"What? Have you told Starfleet, the police?"

"Yes. I forward all threats to both."

"I'm glad to hear it. There are some crazy people out there and you can't be too careful."

"I know."

"Have you told Chakotay? I know he's on some reality-trip at the moment, but he still cares for you and would want to know."

"No, I haven't told him. I haven't really told anyone. What's the point? Besides, there's nothing Chakotay can do. And it's not his problem. He's not my First Officer any more. My safety is not his concern. He may even have had some hate mail himself. He has a lot of enemies. I have good security and the threats are dealt with."

"Maybe so, but call me, no matter what the time, if you need me."

"Don't worry yourself, B'Elanna. I'll be fine."

"Of course you will. But still, promise me you'll call me if one of these creeps gets creepy."

Kathryn reassured her with a smile. "I promise."

END OF CHAPTER ONE