Kim leaned against the doorway of Sickbay but didn't say a word. It wasn't long before Kerry looked up, "What do you want Kim?" Kim wiggled her eyebrows. "Really Kim, I'm busy..."

Kim pushed off and let the door of Sickbay swish closed, "Where's the Doctor?"

Kerry raised an eyebrow, "I'm chopped liver?"

"Funny, I guess now we really have to name him huh?" Kerry shrugged, and tapped some more on the screen in front of her. "What are you doing anyway?"

Kerry looked up again, "I have to catch up Kim, I've basically been AWOL for six years, and unlike the Doctor, I cannot simply beam the information into my brain."

Kim looked over Kerry's shoulder, "Ah, comas, yes, catching up are you..." Kerry gave Kim a push in the ribs, "Hey, do no harm, remember?" Kerry shook her head, "So..." Kim trailed off as she put her arms around Kerry's waist. Kerry turned in the embrace and stared up into Kim's eyes. Kim blinked in surprise at what she saw there, "Not going to happen is it?"

"Nope."

"We're friends though, right?"

"Yep."

A pseudo aggrieved sigh came from Kim's throat, "I guess I'll just have to go see what Seven's doing tonight huh?"

Kerry grabbed a hold of the closest of Kim's pinkie fingers, "If you break her heart I will break each and every one of the bones in your fingers... individually. Understood?"

Kim wiggled her pinkie out of the choke hold and held her hands up as she took a step back. "Hey, I was just joking Kerry."

Kerry shook her head and walked over to the diagnostic bed, she straightened the sheet that was lying there. "Sorry Kim... I know that you... I'm sorry."

"So, is it Seven or someone else? Sandy? Susan... I think Susan has a thing for redheads myself..." Kerry tilted her head to one side, "C'mon, who am I going to tell..." Kerry took a step towards Kim, and pulled her head down. She whispered into Kim's ear. Kim blinked, "Oh, ah... oh... okay. Hey, good luck with that Kerry... seriously..."

The Captain had every right to be in Engineering, and yet, every single Engineer and Operations Officer was surprised to see her there. "Captain."

Kathryn nodded, "When you're set, we'll get under weigh."

B'Elanna swallowed, "Captain, I uh... just got finished sayi... Of course Captain. We are all set. Just awaiting your order to warp towards home... Captain."

Kathryn nodded again, "Of course," she tapped on her commbadge, "Janeway to the Bridge."

"Bridge here."

"Commander, set a course for Earth, and engage at no more than Warp Five. In about 22 hours we can bump that up to warp six."

"Aye Captain. Chakotay out."

Before anyone could say another word Kerry Weaver's voice came through the COMM system, "Captain Janeway to Sickbay."

Kathryn started towards the Engineering's exit, but paused and turned her head back, "I was listening Lieutenant..."

As the door closed after Kathryn B'Elanna shook her head.

Kerry sat behind the Sickbay office's desk. She and the Doctor hadn't quite decided who would use the office, or if they would somehow split its use, but here she sat as Kathryn came into Sickbay. Kerry met Kathryn's eyes and then moved her own gaze to the chairs in front of the desk. They were both silent as Kathryn sat and Kerry prepared herself. Kathryn didn't ask why Kerry was out of bed so fast after having had a horrendous C-section, and Kerry didn't ask why Kathryn hadn't been in Sickbay when the CMO had woken up.

Finally, it was Kerry who spoke, "The three of us, Three Musketeers. You'd think that in the 24th Century college kids could be more inventive right?" Kerry shook her head, "The three of us, we had to convince Bev, she never was one to take chances. We went climbing, I don't remember the mountain."

"GBH..."

Kerry looked up and met Kathryn's eyes, "What?"

"Great Blue Hills, it was the... well, I wouldn't call it a mountain, it was the hill like bump that we climbed that day."

Kerry nodded, "I'll take your word for it. I don't remember much of the day, but now... I remember waking up, two days later, in Chicago." Kerry closed her eyes, but couldn't continue. Kathryn put a hand on the desk, and before she could blink again Kerry grabbed it in her own. "I'll fast forward through the leisurely storytelling. I think that when we got hit with the Caretaker's ray. The doctors thought I was going to die after the tumble I took down GBH. I probably should have. Somehow the ray got all my memories mixed up in there. I loved doing my dissertation on the ways of Medicine back at the turn of the 21st Century. They were primitive, but at that point, so much was changing every day. And Chicago, that's where they took me that day, best neurologists in the world."

"They couldn't transport you there..."

Kerry took a breath in, "I woke up, my head bashed in, and you were there, looking like hell on a biscuit."

"Bev was there too..."

Kerry looked down, then back up, "That's not what Bev said. She told me, once we had convinced you to go get some sleep, that you had not moved from the spot I saw you in the whole time I was out."

"You..." Kathryn took her hand out from under Kerry's and put it in her lap, "You never said anything, said that you knew. I didn't want you to know..."

Kerry shook her head, "I didn't know, I didn't remember until this most recent... foray into my own head. Not to veer wildly back into Captain CMO discussion, but I'm not sure that you want me anywhere near patients Kath..."

"I do..." She halted her sentence, "Even half of you is better than any EMH, even the Doctor."

Kerry sat up as straight as she could in the chair, "That, that's not quite all I remembered. I also remember something you said before I was all the way out of the coma way back then." Kerry paused, "Maybe remembered is too strong a word. How you wouldn't stop pushing a certain feeling down if I survived?"

"Kerry, you were dying, my good friend, one of my best friends. I would have sold my soul to the devil for you to be okay, to wake up."

Kerry folded her hands in front of her, "So, if I, say, asked you to come to the Holodeck for dinner tomorrow night. You'd say no?"

"Ker..." Kathryn stood and walked towards the back of the office. She stood with her back towards Kerry. "No matter what feelings I felt or didn't feel in the past, now. I'm the Captain, you're one of my officers. I didn't cross that line for Chakotay, I..."

Kathryn trailed off as Kerry's hands came around her stomach. Kerry watched Kathryn's reflection close her eyes and breathe out one long breath. "Now, technically Captain, I could relieve you of duty, let Commander Chakotay drive this pile of nuts and bolts and we could roam freely..."

Kathryn pushed backwards and Kerry went flying. She hit the desk and slumped down between it and the visitor's chairs. Kathryn was over next to the CMO in half a second, "God Ker, I'm sorry..."

The rest of her sentence was history as Kerry reached up and brought Kathryn's head down. Their lips met in the middle and neither halted the kiss until a throat cleared in the doorway of the office. They both looked up to see the Doctor, who pursed his lips, "Am I interrupting something? Captain, Doctor?"

Kathryn scrambled up as fast as she had ever moved and quickly gave Kerry a hand up, "We were just..."

She elbowed Kerry in the gut, "... uh, looking for a contact lens." Both the Doctor and Kathryn stared at Kerry. "What? It's a lens that you put, ah right, wrong reality."

"Doctor Weaver. Humor aside, I would recommend... less strenuous activities for at least another couple of days."

Kerry tilted her head to one side, "Now, would dinner be considered strenuous Doctor?"

The Doctor got a twinkle in his computer generated eye, "No, I don't believe so Doctor."

Both Doctors looked over at Kathryn who held her hands up as a shield. "It's not a good idea. Chief Medical Officer or not, I'm your commanding officer Kerry."

"So. You were my friend before I was assigned to Voyager. We've been friends since the Academy. What's the difference between this, me suggesting we cohabitate or co-populate..." Kathryn rolled her eyes at Kerry's choice of words, "... or us being life long friends."

"She has a point."

Kathryn's gaze pinned the Doctor, "Doctor..."

Kerry's ears perked up and she smiled, "Hold that thought Kath... would you like to meet someone?"

The Doctor faded into the background as Kerry exited the office and went over to where the incubator still was, tucked into a corner. Kerry carefully opened the top and extracted the little girl within. She smiled as the child cuddled up against her mother. "Kath, meet Samantha Kathryn Weaver..."

Kathryn peeled her eyes away from the child, "Kathryn?" Kerry nodded, "How is she doing?" Changing the subject was always a good idea.

Kerry rocked her arms gently back and forth, "The Doctor thinks she'll live another one hundred, one hundred twenty years..."

"DNA tests?"

This question gave Kerry pause, "Maybe, eventually... For now, she's my little miracle. Just call me Mary..."

"Magdalene?" Kerry's shoulders shook with laughter, but Kathryn looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry..."

Both women looked up as the sickbay door on their side of the sickbay flew open. Seven strode in with a bawling Naomi Wildman in her arms.

Before Kathryn could move little Samantha was in her arms, Kerry had threaded her arm through her crutch and was next to the bed as Seven put Naomi down. She quickly grabbed a hypospray and stuck it above the wound She also grabbed a cloth and placed it over the wound. She put a hand on top of Naomi's head. "It'll be okay, you'll be okay..." Kerry looked across Naomi at Seven. "What happened?"

"Naomi Wildman was playing in the Cargo bay. She dislodged a crate that then fell on her."

"Doctor Weaver?"

Kerry looked down at Naomi, "Yes Naomi?"

"It hurts..."

Kerry took the cloth off of Naomi's arm and picked up another instrument. "You will be okay. I promise." She let it glide across Naomi's arm, "How're you doing Naomi?"

Seven moved away from the bed, finding something interesting in the Medical computer.

"I'm okay..., sad..."

Kerry kept talking as she healed the gash, "It's hard loosing your Mom huh?"

Naomi nodded, "Did you?"

Kerry nodded, "I did. I cried for almost a whole day straight."

"You didn't sleep?" Kerry shook her head, "Did it help?"

"I wish it had. You'll always be sad Naomi, but I'm living proof that eventually you won't be this sad." Naomi grasped Kerry's free hand, "What hurts?"

Before Naomi could answer, Samantha started crying. The Doctor appeared from wherever he had been hiding. He took the instrument from Kerry's hand and Kerry went over to Kathryn to take back Samantha. Kerry spoke towards the Doctor, "Are you planning on using the lab?"

"No, feel free to use it..."

Kerry disappeared into the lab and closed the door. Kathryn came to Naomi's bedside as the Doctor finished healing the young child's cut. She broached the subject she didn't really want to touch. "Naomi, Seven stayed with you last night, but she can't do that every night. Is there anyone on board you'd want to stay with?"

Naomi's face looked as young as it ever had. She looked tired and just generally depressed. "Not Seven?" Kathryn shook her head, "Can I... Doctor Weaver?"

Kathryn paused, "Kerry?"

Naomi nodded, "When she was fifteen her second Mom and Dad died and she got hurt." Naomi paused, "Like me..."

"No one else?"

Naomi looked down at the bottom of the bed and her toes, "I'm a burden..."

Kathryn raised Naomi's and met the girl's eyes. "You are not a burden. You don't have to make your choice right now, just soon... okay?"

"Are you and Doctor Weaver going to live together?"

The Doctor smiled as Kathryn blinked in surprise, "From the mouths of babes..."

"Doctor..."

The Doctor gestured, "I believe I will take a trip to the Mess Hall, Seven..."

Seven fell in step with the holographic Doctor, "Perhaps you can explain what I am missing."

Kerry came out of the lab, "Everyone has disappeared." Naomi's eyes got wide and Kerry came over to the Captain and the Captain's assistant. "Naomi, meet Samantha..."

"She's so small..."

Kerry nodded, "She was a little early."

Naomi watched as Kerry moved Samantha back to the incubator. Namoi shook her head, "It was a stupid idea..."

"What?" Kerry came back to Naomi's bedside.

"Who I'm going to live with..."

"Not Seven?" Naomi nodded and Kerry was silent for a bit, "Don't we have portable walls on this ship? Put up quarters at the back of the Cargo bay. Bathroom, bedroom, little place for homework... With Seven right next door during the night. It wouldn't be a great place but..."

Naomi looked between Kerry and Kathryn. "Really?"

Kathryn thought for a couple of seconds, "I'd have to double check with Harry, but I bet we could."

Naomi sat up suddenly and put her arms around Kathryn. Then she yelped with pain. Kerry gave Naomi another dose of pain reliever from the hypospray as the Doctor and Seven came back into Sickbay.

Kerry raised an eyebrow, "Quick jog to the Mess Hall?"

Seven spoke, "We came back to see if Naomi wanted to join us."

Naomi nodded, and with Kathryn's help, got down off of the bed. She took Seven's hand and started talking a mile a minute as they walked out of Sickbay.

Kathryn desperately wanted to avoid an awkward silence so as the doors swished closed behind the Doctor, Seven, and Naomi she spoke, "I thought you liked Kim?"

Kerry shrugged, "I did, I do, but we implode if we try to be anything but friends. I thought you liked Seven."

Kathryn looked taken aback, "What?"

"It's okay..."

"No, I mean, I think of her..." Both red heads lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, "Why did you make your promise?"

"Why did you kiss me?"

Kerry smiled, "Why didn't you pull away?"

"Why won't you answer my question?"

"Why won't you?"

Kathryn put her hands on her hips, "I believe you're back..."

Kerry leaned against one of the beds. "I've remember everything, even when you had Rom..."

Kathryn was over to Kerry and put her hand over Kerry's mouth. "Not even the walls need to know about that..."

Kerry smiled into Kathryn's hand, but didn't move otherwise. Neither blinked, and breathing was at a minimum. Slowly Kathryn took her hand away from Kerry's lips and brought it down to her side.

Little Samantha gave a happy yell that seemed to snap Kathryn out of her funk. She glanced over at the incubator. "The Holodeck?" Kerry nodded, "With Sam?"

"If you want... but..." Kerry smiled, "Auntie Kim wanted to take a shift looking after her in here..."

"Oh..." Kathryn paused, "Just Dinner?"

Kerry smiled, a twinkle making it to her eyes, "I won't even spill my wine on you..."

Kathryn frowned, a bit confused. Finally she shook her head, "Hell woman..." And in one move she took a hold of Kerry's head and sealed their... dinner plans... with a kiss.

Fin ~ September 8th, 2006