Anticipation of a thing has often been said to be better than the thing itself.

Kathryn Janeway held this thought in her mind as she inhaled the heady aroma, spicy and rich, and forced down her impatience. She was determined to just experience this for a few moments before allowing herself anything more. Breathe in, breathe out. In, and out.

Once she could no longer stand the self-inflicted suspense, she let her lips brush against soft heat, the first taste hitting her like a shuttle at warp - dark, sensual and delicious.

Nope. Anticipation could not even come close to this.

She savoured every moment of that first time, eyes closed, surrendering wholly to the pleasure of it. Once it was finished, she opened her eyes again and from her position with her head lolled back against the sofa cushions she could see Chakotay watching her from the kitchen.

"So how was your first real coffee in seven years?"

Kathryn gave the empty mug in her hands one last loving caress and placed it down on the table before her. She smirked wickedly at him as she replied,

"Better than sex."

His eyebrows raised in obvious shock at her response, and he feigned a hurt expression as he moved towards the sofa, stocking feet padding like a cat's paws against the wooden floor,

"Really? Even last night...?"

She nodded in mock innocence as he came closer, looming above her now with a foot either side of hers where they rested against the floorboards. In one swift movement he reached down and grabbed her ankles, pulling her legs upwards and to the side so that she was lying flat on the sofa.

He positioned himself over her, drawing his face so close to hers that she thought he was about to kiss her, but he stopped a few millimetres short of her lips.

"Clearly I wasn't trying hard enough then. We'll have to do something to rectify that won't we?"

His mouth came down hard upon hers, knocking the breath out of her, and with that sharp exhalation all he could taste was the strong flavour of really good coffee. Wow, she was right - this stuff was amazing.

But then when had he ever been afraid of a challenge?

A/N: So I'd run out of filter coffee and hadn't managed to get more for a while (maybe three weeks or so). This morning I had my first pot after three weeks of instant and it was incredible. The thought came to me - wow if this is what it feels like after three weeks, how must KJ have felt after seven years?

Cue this pretty much writing itself in my head before I even got to the keyboard.