Star Trek Voyager is the property of Paramount Pictures

THE UNEXPECTED

CHAPTER 1

2378

Admiral Kathryn Janeway walked slowly through a golden woodland. She wore a brown duffle coat over black trousers and black gloves covered her hands. On her head she wore a brown woolen hat, her auburn hair just peeping underneath. A soft west wind blew, rustling the leaves in the trees and every now and then a golden leaf fluttered gently to the ground. She and Phoebe had often come here with their father while they were children. Phoebe would hold his hand as they walked through the woods while she would run ahead, collecting samples of soil or leaves for whatever science project she had been working on at the time. Since they had returned to Earth five months ago, she had visited this place often. She had never imagined she would live in Indiana again, but seven years in the Delta Quadrant had changed her mind about so many things. So many times she had thought she would never see her mother or sister again and now she just wanted to be close to them. It was easy to transport to work every day.

She reached a silver river that flowed through the land and sat upon a gray rock she had always sat upon as a child. She looked around. Everything was just as she remembered, even the distinctive shape of an ancient tree in the distance. In this place time had stood still. She closed her eyes and for a moment she could see her father and sister playing before her, could hear their laughter echo on the wind. She felt close to her father here and had spent many an hour sitting by the river in those dark months that followed his tragic death. He would be so proud of all that she had accomplished, that she knew. She knew that she should be proud of herself too, that she should be completely content with her life. She had achieved her mission of getting the crew home, had been promoted to Admiral, and no charges had been brought against the Maquis.

But she wasn't content. There was an emptiness inside, a void she didn't know how to fill. Some people could be happy with only their career, but she needed more than that, always had. She needed love. She needed it more than anything. But it seemed to be the one thing that would always elude her. She seemed destined to lose every man she had ever loved. Justin... Mark... Chakotay... It was always the same. Something would happen beyond her control to take them away from her.

Even now she could feel the pain of the wound Justin's death had made in her heart. She had loved him with all that she was and all that she could be. He had been her life. They had been each others lives, and life without him had been unbearable. Day had seemed to drag into day and all days seemed to be just one day. One long dark night. She had vowed then she would never love another man again. But then there had been Mark. He had befriended her in those darkest hours and she had come to depend on his care, his company and she had loved him deeply. But now, on reflection, she wondered if she had truly been in love with him. She had once told Chakotay that Mark had been her safety net and perhaps that is what he always had been. It had been a long and painful road to accept that she had lost him, but in the deepest regions of her heart she knew that it had perhaps been for the best. She had not felt for him what she felt for Justin, and knew she had not felt for him what she came to feel for Chakotay.

Chakotay.

This last wound to her heart was still fresh. She had fought tooth and nail not to fall in love with him, but it had been a hopeless battle. He was a handsome man, without a doubt, but many men were handsome and it was his gentleness, his kindness, and his compassion that had attracted her to him. She had cried herself to sleep many nights in those first months they were stranded as she missed Mark, missed her family, and she was scared of the responsibility on her shoulders. But Chakotay had made that burden lighter, had made everything easier. To him she had always been Kathryn first, then the Captain. She doubted she could have got through those first two years without him. He had made her laugh when she wanted to cry, had lifted her up when she felt she was going to fall, and always, without question, had believed she would get the crew home. She had come to love him and then slowly, exquisitely, she had fallen in love with him.

She gazed into the water before her and she could see a ghost of Chakotay's face smiling back at her. When she closed her eyes she could see him clearly, his image burned deep into her memory, safe for all time. As she let her mind drift back in time, she found herself back at the place she had visited in her memory a thousand times, New Earth. There he had told her in a beautiful ancient legend that he loved her, and later that night, that precious night, they had made sweet and tender love. She wiped away a tear as she remembered how hurt Chakotay had been when the crew came back for them and she told him she could not be his captain and his lover. Then she had still foolishly believed that they would make it home in a year or two.

For so long he had waited for her to change her mind, but she never had. She kept on shutting him out, pushing him away, until in the end he was far beyond her reach. He and Seven were no longer a couple, that she had heard, but not once had she seen Chakotay since the welcome home party Starfleet had held for them, and not a single letter or communication had exchanged between them. She didn't even know where he was. Somewhere in space, B'Elanna said, working on an archaeological excavation. She said he would be there for at least three years and for most of that time would be beyond communication range. It was too late for them now, perhaps it always had been. All she was left with now was regret, so many regrets. If she could do it all again, there were so many things she would do differently, so many things.

And yet, it was not to rectify any of those mistakes that Admiral Janeway had appeared from the future. That troubled her, troubled her greatly. There were so many ways the Admiral could have tried to get the crew home, so many times she could have returned too, and yet she had chosen that way, that time, possibly the most dangerous of them all. It was impossible to understand because it was not the time she would have chosen and certainly not the way. There had to have been a reason for her actions, and it had to have been more than Seven's death and Tuvok's illness. Every time she thought about it a cold shudder engulfed her. Whatever tragedy the Admiral was trying to avoid had to have been close in their lives. Even though it would never happen in her timeline, the thought of it still haunted her. She could not forget the pain in the Admiral's eyes when they were in the briefing room and she and the crew had decided to go ahead with the journey rather than accept her gift of a way home. A lot has happened to me since I was you, that's what she had said, but while she had told her so much about Seven and Tuvok, she had not mentioned one of those things that had happened to her.

A drop of rain fell on Kathryn's face and she looked up at the cloudy sky. It looked as though it would pour with rain any moment. She should have checked the weather forecast before leaving her house, but the sky had been blue and the sun shining. But, it was time she was heading home, anyway. She stood up slowly and pulled her coat tighter around herself. She was cold and suddenly very tired too. She had been feeling tired a lot lately and was waking up after hours of sleep as though she hadn't slept at all and quite nauseous. All she wanted to do now was go home to bed, but she had an appointment in just under three hours time with Anne Carter, Curator of Voyager.

Voyager was a museum now, just as the Admiral had told her. She had been there as a visitor once or twice, but it was hard being only a visitor on the ship that she had captained for seven years and that had been her home. It was probably hard for the others too. The Bridge had been fixed with holo-emitors so that visitors could be entertained with re-enactments of battles that had taken place in the Delta Quadrant. It had proved extremely popular and now the Curator wished to have more re-enactments on the ship, particularly in her ready room and engineering. She had told her that B'Elanna would be the better person to advise her about events in Engineering, but she would help as much as possible with her Ready Room and other places on the ship. The macroviruses she had fought in the corridors would certainly be entertaining to visitors.

Since they had returned home and especially after seeing the Bridge re-enactments, so many people came up to her and told her how great they thought she was, how brave, and what a heroine. She always smiled and thanked them, but she had never done any of it to be a heroine. All she had wanted was to get her crew home to their families. It was ironic. She had spent the past seven years thinking about nothing but getting the crew home, but now that they were home, a part of her longed to be in the Delta Quadrant again. Never could she have imagined how much she would miss everyone. But the burden on her shoulders had been a heavy one and she was glad to be free of it. She had just been the captain so long that it was taking time to find Kathryn again.

Before leaving, she glanced once more at the beautiful scene before her, indulged in the memories it evoked, and then turned once more to the winding path that would return her to the present.

The door chime sounded, waking Kathryn. She had fallen asleep on her sofa listening to the soft music of Mozart. The meeting with Anne Carter had lasted longer than she had expected and she had been absolutely exhausted afterwards. She sat up slowly and looked around. It had been light when she had lay down on the sofa, but now it was dusk.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"The time is 20:00 hours."

8 O'clock. Had she really slept for almost three hours?

The door chime sounded again and she groggily stood up and made her way to the door. She peeped into the security monitor to see who was there. It was the Doctor. She sighed. He was the last person she wanted to see right now. She opened the door.

When she spoke, her tone was abrupt, discourteous. "Doctor. What brings you here?"

"Well," he replied, "that's a very warm welcome. And they say my social skills need improving."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Kathryn said, holding the door open for him to enter. "I'm not in the best of moods today."

"And not in the best of health by the look of you either," the Doctor continued.

"I'm just a little under the weather, that's all."

"Sounds to me like you need a check up, Admiral."

"No, I..."

The Doctor frowned.

"Oh, alright," Kathryn said, smiling inspite of herself, "if I must."

"And it just so happens," the Doctor said gesturing to a case in his hand, "that I have a med. kit right here."

"Very convenient I'm sure," Kathryn replied. "This wasn't really a social visit was it?"

"I saw you on Voyager today," he said, opening the case. "You didn't look at all well, at least not to my expert eye."

Kathryn gazed at the Doctor sadly. She knew that leaving Voyager had been hardest for him and Naomi. It had been the only home either had known. "Do you often visit Voyager?"

"Whenever I can," he said honestly. "But I have never seen you there before today."

"No," Kathryn answered. "I find it hard, Voyager belonging to someone else."

The Doctor looked up at her. "Voyager will always be your ship, Admiral," he said kindly.

"Our ship," Kathryn replied, tears welling in her eyes. "Our ship."

Holographic tears welled in the Doctor's eyes too and then he turned once again to the med. case and took out a tricorder.

"So, Admiral, what are your symptoms?"

"Just fatigue, mainly. I seem to feel tired all the time, and sometimes I feel nauseous too."

"How long have you been feeling this way?"

"A while. A week or two, perhaps. I always feel worse in the morning."

The Doctor began to fiddle with his tricorder.

"It could be exhaustion. You've worked yourself to the bone over the past seven years and haven't taken things any easier since we returned. You need to be kinder to your body."

He began to scan her with his tricorder. As he did so, he stepped away, almost as though he was dazed.
"That can't be right," he said quietly.

He fiddled with the tricorder again and then scanned her a second time. "Exactly the same."

Kathryn's stomach began to churn from fear. "What is it, Doctor?"

He bit his holographic lip and looked up at her. "According to my tricorder, you're pregnant."

Kathryn stared at him a long moment and then seized the tricorder anxiously. "Let me see."

She looked at the displayed data. Sure enough, it indicated a life sign inside her.

"I don't believe this," she said. "It has to be a malfunction. There's no way in hell I could be pregnant."

The Doctor took back the tricorder. "Are you absolutely certain of that?"

"Of course I'm certain. I've lived the life of a nun for I don't know how long since. You need to get a new tricorder." She walked over to the replicator. "I'll replicate you one." She spoke to the machine. "One medical tricorder." A tricorder materialized. Kathryn picked it up and took it over to the Doctor. "Now scan me."

The Doctor did what he was told and then studied the data.

"Exactly the same," he said. "Without a doubt you're pregnant."

Frightened tears welled in Kathryn's eyes. "No, that can't be ... I haven't had intimate relations, I..."

"What about that alien you were involved with on Quarren?"

"Jaffen? But that was more than eight months ago."

"Inter-species conceptions and pregnancy vary greatly. Did you and he have intimate relations?"

"Yes, but it was just the once..."

"Once can be enough."

"But at my age? It would be difficult to conceive even if I tried."

"If we're talking about human-human conception. Human sperm only lives for days. But in some species, sperm lives for weeks or even months in the womb or the fallopian tubes, waiting patiently for an egg to be released." He paused. "When was your last period?"

"I can't remember," Kathryn replied quietly. "I haven't paid that much attention. I haven't been regular for a couple of years now."

"Try and think. Have you had a period since Quarren?"

She thought a moment. "No. I think the last one was just before. The one before that was when Chakotay and the others were under Teero's influence. I remember that because I had to take medication for the cramp." She sat down on her couch and hugged her cardigan to her body. "I don't understand this. My memories of what happened on Quarren are kind of hazy, especially the early days, but I can't believe I would be so careless or that those aliens would even allow their workers to get pregnant."

The Doctor sat beside her. "They were underpopulated. Of course they wanted their existing population to reproduce. They were sophisticated in the art of memory manipulation and in all likelihood manipulated your mind so that you wouldn't think about the necessity of birth control. You weren't in command of all your faculties. You even betrayed Chakotay to the authorities. You weren't responsible for your actions."

Kathryn buried her head in her hands. "Can you tell how many months pregnant I am?"

The Doctor scanned her again, worked his tricorder. "You're just over four months pregnant."

Four months? She had been pregnant for four months and never even suspected? "I would have known," she said quietly. "Four months is a long time..."

"Yes, but you had no reason to suspect a pregnancy. And you've always been far too negligent of your health. No doubt you just ignored any physical signs there may have been. It's also possible that the baby is developing at a slower rate than a full human baby which means that things are happening at a slower rate for you." He paused. "We'll have to do more tests to determine how long your pregnancy is likely to be. If we were on Voyager, I could do these tests myself, but now we're in the Alpha Quadrant, I'll have to refer you to a specialist."

A tear ran down Kathryn's cheek and with a trembling hand she wiped it away. This was all too much to take in. The Doctor saw her struggle to hold back the tears and hesitantly, reluctantly, he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Of course," he said, the words requiring effort as it went against all he, as a doctor, believed in, "if the fetus isn't sufficiently advanced, a termination may still be possible."

"No," Kathryn cried, getting to her feet. "It's out of the question. Absolutely out of the question!"

The Doctor stood also. "Then consider donation. It may be difficult to donate a fetus of an undocumented paternal species, but not impossible. There are many couples very desperate for a child."

Kathryn shook her head. "Donation carries too many risks. Five out ten babies don't survive the transplantation. I won't take that risk." She paused, forced back the tears. "I just need time to come to terms with it, that's all."

"Of course," the Doctor said gently. "I just want you to be aware of all the options."

She nodded tearfully. Her face was almost white now and she was trembling violently. The Doctor once again put his hand on her shoulder. "Let me get you a drink. Do you like apple juice?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Now that you're pregnant, you're going to have to significantly cut down your caffeine intake. That means very little coffee and tea."

"I understand," she replied and another tear ran down her cheek as the mention of tea evoked a memory.

"If this is happening to me, it happened to her too," she whispered.

"The Admiral?"

She nodded. "But she didn't say anything." She paused. "And neither did you. When you examined her, you didn't tell me she'd given birth."

"I didn't examine her reproductive organs that closely," the Doctor replied. "I was interested in her DNA and brain structure, not her womb. And we don't know what happened to her in her timeline, whether she chose to go ahead with the pregnancy."

"I wouldn't have aborted," Kathryn replied, "not even on Voyager." She paused. "It frightens me sometimes to think that in some future, some time, I became her. A lot has happened to me since I was you. That's what she said. But while she told me about Seven dying, about Chakotay's pain, about Tuvok's illness, she didn't tell me anything about what had happened to her." Another tear ran down her cheek. "She must have miscarried."

"Speculating like this does no good," the Doctor said gently. "It's just as possible she gave birth to a fine healthy child."

"Then why pick that moment of time to return to? It's tortured me. There were other opportunities. The slip stream incident for example. Why didn't she help us perfect that? There had to be more reasons why she chose then."

"There could have been a million reasons. The future she came from no longer exists. What matters is your future." He paused. "Now sit, Admiral, and let me get you that drink."

Kathryn forced a smile. "Thank you, Doctor."

She sat once again on the sofa. As the Doctor went over to the replicator, she picked up the tricorder he had left on the couch. She looked once more at the light indicating a life sign inside her and with trembling fingers touched it. It was a baby's life sign. Her baby's life sign. She was going to be a mother. While the circumstances weren't exactly what she'd pictured, she had always longed for a child of her own. Perhaps, just perhaps, this once destiny was being kind to her.

Kathryn watched Miral as she lay in her carry cot. It was so good having B'Elanna and Tom as neighbors. When they had returned to Earth, B'Elanna and Tom couldn't decide where to live so Kathryn had suggested Indiana. She said it was a beautiful part of the country and if they chose Bloomington, they could be neighbors. Miral was an alert child and seemed fascinated by the silver necklace Kathryn wore. Kathryn observed her more closely than she ever had before. It had only been two days since she had found out she was pregnant and she was still trying to absorb the news. Miral smiled at her and Kathryn smiled in return. As she did so, a strange fuzzy feeling captured her heart. In only a few months time she would be looking at her own baby like this. Thoughts like that helped belay her fears.

"Don't get too gooey eyed over her, Kathryn," B'Elanna said, emerging from the kitchen, "or I'll be putting you down on the baby sitting list."

"Actually," Kathryn said turning to her. "I would like to baby sit her."

B'Elanna sat in the chair opposite. "You would?"

"Yes. I'll need the practice."

B'Elanna picked up a cookie from a plateful on the table before her. "Your sister's expecting?"

"No," Kathryn said, tears welling in her eyes. "It's me. I'm pregnant."

B'Elanna looked up at her, stunned. "Pregnant?"

"That's right," she whispered.

B'Elanna could see that Kathryn was on the verge of tears and went to sit beside her. She took her friend's hands in hers.

"How are you pregnant? Did someone..."

"No," Kathryn replied. "No, it's Jaffen's."

"The man you got involved with on Quarren?"

Kathryn nodded. "Evidently we didn't use birth control. When we were back on Voyager, I just assumed we had or, if there was remaining sperm, the Doctor had sterilized me of it to prevent conception. But he obviously hadn't. He probably didn't have to time to do more than restore my memory. He had over a hundred people to take care of." She paused. "Apparently Norvalen sperm lives for weeks so the next time I ovulated, I conceived."

"I don't know what to say," B'Elanna said quietly. "How do you feel about it?"

"Shocked ... at least I was. I'm getting used to the idea. I feel scared and yet excited too. I've always wanted a baby." She paused. "I have an appointment with Dr Cara Shaw later this afternoon. She's a specialist on inter-species pregnancy and will probably be able to tell me how long the pregnancy will be."

"I'm sure she will. Although she might not be able to tell immediately. She'll probably have to monitor the growth of the baby and then she'll be able to guess how long it's likely to be until the child reaches full term."

Kathryn nodded and another tear ran down her cheek. "I keep thinking about Admiral Janeway. If I'm pregnant, she had to have been too. I keep wondering what happened to her, to the baby. I can't put aside the feeling that this was another reason why she did what she did."

B'Elanna squeezed her hands. "It seems to me she had a lot of reasons. And if this was one of them, then let's just thank her for it."

Kathryn nodded again.

B'Elanna drew slightly away from her now. "What are you going to do when the baby arrives?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far. I suppose I'll take maternity leave and afterwards get a nanny. My mother hasn't been too well lately and I couldn't ask her to look after a baby while I work."

"I know I'm no qualified nanny," B'Elanna said, "but you're welcome to leave the baby with me. Tom and I are going to try for another child soon so I'm not going to be going back to work for a few years."

"I couldn't put you to any trouble," Kathryn replied quietly.

"It wouldn't be a trouble, it would be a delight. And it would be good for Miral to have company."

Kathryn smiled softly. "Then that would be wonderful, B'Elanna. Thank you."

B'Elanna smiled warmly in return. She then hesitated a moment, pondering whether she should say what she was about to say. But she couldn't refrain from it.

"You know," she began hesitantly. "You don't have to do it alone."

"What do you mean?"

"Chakotay."

Kathryn tensed, gripped her hands tightly together, and then turned away from her.

"He loves you, Kathryn," B'Elanna continued. "And I know that you love him."

"It's too late," Kathryn said tearfully. "Any chance we had was over years ago."

"That's not true. All you have to do is be honest with each other about how you feel."

"There's no point. He's moved on a long time ago."

"If you mean Seven, that's over. It's you he loves, he told me."

Kathryn fidgeted with a button on her blouse. "Then why did he marry Seven in the Admiral's timeline?"

"I don't know. Perhaps they split up, got back together again some time later. All I know is that he loves you."

Kathryn was quiet a moment and then wiped away a tear. "And what am I supposed to say to him? 'I love you, Chakotay, but by the way I'm carrying another man's child?' It's too late, B'Elanna, too late."

"He wouldn't see it that way. It's not your fault what happened with Jaffen. You didn't even know who you were. He'd want to be here for you, support you."

Kathryn looked up at her. "It would be difficult to reach him even if I wanted too."

"But not impossible. If you write to him..."

"No, B'Elanna. Just leave it, please. We're not a part of each others lives anymore. We're not even friends. He's got a new life, doing something he's always wanted, and I have to make one for myself, for my baby."

B'Elanna bit her lip. There was so much more she wanted to say but she knew it wasn't her place. It was up to Kathryn and Chakotay what they did. She couldn't be responsible for their lives, even if she felt with her whole being what they were doing was wrong. She put her hand on Kathryn's shoulder. "I won't say another word."

"And you won't write to him, promise me."

B'Elanna hesitated, but then smiled reassuringly. "I promise."

Her word was enough for Kathryn and she smiled warmly in return.

"Come on," B'Elanna continued, "let me get us another drink. Then we can go into the garden for a while. It's a beautiful day."

Kathryn nodded. "I'd like that."

B'Elanna picked up two empty glasses from the table. "Apple juice again?"

"Please." Kathryn sighed. "But oh, what I wouldn't give for a coffee right now. I haven't had one all day."

B'Elanna laughed. "Hardship indeed."

"Believe it. I don't know how the Admiral ever gave it up. It can't have been because she was pregnant. I think the only way I'll get through the thought of labor is to think what a delight a pot of steaming coffee will be afterwards," she teased. "In the meantime, I'm going to have to make do with coffee ice cream, coffee cake and coffee cookies."

B'Elanna laughed again and then disappeared into the kitchen.

It was late, but Kathryn couldn't sleep. The appointment with Dr Shaw had gone well, but she was still left with more questions than she had answers. From the scans, the fetus didn't seem to be as developed as a human fetus would be at 17 weeks. Dr Shaw could only thus conclude that the pregnancy would be longer than nine months. From her estimation, the fetus was developing at between ten to twenty percent times slower than a human fetus. If this continued, the pregnancy could be anything from ten to twelve months. There was also a chance that once the child was born, he or she would develop at a slightly slower rate than human children. However, Dr Shaw did not believe it would be significant enough to prevent the child attending a conventional school. Quite the contrary. The baby's brain was developing quicker than a human baby's brain developed. It was just the physical body that was slower. Dr Shaw said that in some species this was quite common and the physical body would develop in the last stages of pregnancy and would develop again rapidly at puberty.

She said that human and Norvalen DNA were very compatible. She also said she didn't believe there would be any complications, but would like to see Kathryn every fortnight just to monitor her condition. She had asked if Kathryn wanted to know the gender, but she said she didn't. However, she was sure Dr Shaw had said "he" in a slip of the tongue, though. Her stomach had turned at that. A daughter she could raise confidently on her own, but she was less sure about a son. A boy needed a father to emulate, or at least a father figure, and there was no one. Her father was dead and she didn't have a brother. She also didn't know what she would do with a boy. She didn't have much experience with children and didn't have a clue what little boys liked to do. But if it was a boy, she would learn, and was sure Tom and her brother in law would be good role models for him.

Kathryn closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but thought chased thought in her mind and she couldn't stop thinking about Jaffen. She had loved him, truly loved him, while they were together on Quarren. It was only as her memory slowly returned that her feelings changed. She remembered enough of her love for Chakotay to know that her heart could never be completely Jaffen's. She had hurt Jaffen by turning cold, she knew. There was no reason for him not to stay with her on Voyager, no reason at all. The only reason had been that she didn't want him too. He had known that, suspected at least, because he had made no protest when she told him he could stay but there could be no relationship. He had probably seen enough of her real life to realize that he had fallen in love with a different woman. But the important thing was that they had loved each other and their child had been made with love. She remembered her words to Jaffen before he went back to Quarren. "I won't need souvenirs to remember you ." There was a strange irony to them now.

Souvenirs.

She didn't have a picture of him. She sat up, clutched the covers against her. She didn't have one picture she could give her child of his or her father. That thought mortified her. Not only would her child not know what his or her father looked like, he or she would not even know what a Norvalen looked like and why he or she bore certain physical characteristics.

Kathryn got out of bed, put on her dressing gown, and made her way into the living room. She remembered that before Neelix had left Voyager, he had given her a black box full of photographs. He said he had taken hundreds over the years and, as it would be impractical to take all of them with him, he had put aside some for her. She searched in a cupboard for the box now. Jaffen had spent a few hours on Voyager and it was possible, just possible, that Neelix had taken a photo of him. He always wanted to take pictures of visitors to the ship.

At last she found the box and she went to sit with it on her sofa. It was quite a large box. There had to be at least two or three hundred pictures. She had never looked at them before. Time was never her own on Voyager and now she was home, she had forgotten all about them. She put the box on her lap and took off the lid. The pictures were all piled on top of each other clumsily. She took out a handful and quickly began to sift through them. There were all kinds of pictures. There were pictures of the crew, of planets, of aliens, of anomalies, and starships. There were pictures of her with her hair long, with it short, with it tied up in a bun and tied back in a ponytail. Neelix had been more zealous with the camera than she had ever imagined as there were even pictures of her working or eating in the Mess Hall. There were pictures of Chakotay, of Tuvok, of Seven and lots of pictures of Kes.

She picked up another handful of pictures and went through them just as quickly. She continued doing this until there were very few pictures left in the box. Tears welled in Kathryn's eyes. She knew it had been a long shot, but she had hoped so much that there would be a picture of Jaffen. Just one. That was all she wanted. Just one. She picked up another handful and began to go through them. Her heart stopped when there, just after a picture of the warp core, was a picture of Jaffen. It showed only his top half, but was a good, clear, picture. Kathryn clutched the picture to her chest and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Thank you, Neelix," she whispered. "Thank you, thank you."

END OF CHAPTER 1