Today, it seemed, he couldn't keep his hands off her.

His fingertips exploded with an unbearable tingling whenever she was within five feet of him. Nothing was really different about today. No. Gretchen was the same. The shop hadn't changed. It was a normal weekend morning helping at the shop that led into a productive afternoon.

What was different?

Kathryn.

Chakotay eyed her like a predator, tracking her as she walked into the back room, untying her apron as she went. He upturned the last clean coffee mug on the shelf, then headed to drop the tub back in the dish pit where Benny would fill it with the next batch of clean dishware. Divesting himself of his own apron, he grabbed his keys and wallet from the office.

When he peeked his head out the back door he didn't see Kathryn. Usually they met behind Reverie before they went home. His gaze swept across the alley again to find it disappointingly empty. Back in the shop he checked the bathroom and front of house one more time, which was devoid of Kathryn. Puzzled, he considered where else she might be. She wouldn't have walked home alone.

Of course! She'd mentioned she was going to do the order today. She wouldn't be able to put it in tomorrow. It would be the first day of school already.

Only a matter of days had passed since they'd celebrated knowing each other for a year.

He smiled to himself at some of the memories he'd filed away of the past year, from their turbulent beginnings, to the journey they took falling in love and overcoming obstacles and sadness.

He checked the last place she might be- the cellar where the dried goods were kept. He descended the stairs, the wood creaking under his heavy shoes. Ducking beneath a beam at the bottom of the stairs (he'd hit that at least a dozen times and now avoided the room in general), he spotted her pressing a piece of paper to the wall as she ticked boxes on the form to order more of any goods they needed. She scanned the shelves carefully, murmuring to herself.

Before he knew what he was doing, Chakotay had Kathryn in his arms and pinned to the wall she'd been using to write on. The items in her hands bounced off the hard floor as she reached up to sink her hands into his hair, cradling him to her as he ravished her exposed throat. He finally gave into the urges he'd been fighting all morning.

His hands weren't expansive enough to touch everything he wanted to sear with his fingertips at the same time. Her clothes wouldn't cooperate as they should, so he settled for pressing into her, muffling her sighs of contentment.

She bit into his lower lip when he brought his mouth to hers, and just as she released a hitching sigh and shuddered into him, he heard the creak of the stairs and a feminine throat clearing loudly.

"I want grand kids, young man, but you best not make them in here." Gretchen looked at them pointedly, smiling.

"Don't worry, Mom. You don't need to worry about that." Kathryn laughed, smirking and heading upstairs. Leaving the completed order form in her mother's hands.

Scaling the stairs to catch up after he awkwardly excused himself from Gretchen's presence, Chakotay caught up with Kathryn out in the alley.

"What do you mean by that?" He breathed heavily, rasping his question.

"Oh? But we can't make a baby when there's already one…" She seemed a smidge distracted as she told him the news.

She grunted, displeased when he pinned her to him in a bear hug.

"I can't breathe Chakotay! Let me go!" She struggled half-heartedly until he pulled back, maintaining a light embrace.

"I know we weren't trying…"

"We haven't exactly been careful this summer…remember the lake?"

"I know. But, I'm overjoyed. Wait, how do you feel about it?"

"I think it's wonderful. I was worried at first about telling you, and I was going to tell you tonight…"

"Does Gretchen know?"

"No. Just you." She shook her head and looked up, beaming at him.

"I knew something was different about you. You decided to tell me this morning, didn't you? It's why you've been a bit off the last week, huh? Oh, and Mollie's been just at your heels so much!" The dots all connected, firing off the neurons of realization.

He was so excited, he couldn't get his voice to stop battering her with senseless questions.

Channeling some of that shocked and elated energy, he pulled her tight to him again and swung her off her feet in at wide circle.

"This is amazing!" He put her back on the ground.

It all just kept getting better. In the last year he'd completely changed his life. Before he didn't believe in so-called happy endings with wealth, notoriety, material attachments, and white-picket fences. Maybe that stereotypical dream wasn't his dream. That's where he'd gone wrong before coming here. He'd sold his soul and his peace to latch on to the expectations success dictated in the mainstream world. What he had here was even better by a magnitude of…we he didn't quite know, but he was quite sure he was the luckiest man in this galaxy and perhaps the next as well.

oOoOo

Madeline Akina Walker was born three weeks early, but perfect in every way, if a bit small. Her eyes matched her birthstone, clear and the color of the sea, an aquamarine mist he could spend hours drowning in. Her tiny fingers grasped at everything around her, head swiveling with purpose and mouth opening and closing tiredly. She fought sleep constantly, content instead to stare at the faces above her, the blurry vision of noses and mouths accompanied by comforting coos and sweet scents.

"Welcome to the world little one." He sighed when she finally settled to sleep in her parents' arms.

He added the picture of his first daughter, the smell of her belly, the feel of her delicate ears and toes, and the taste of her skin when he kissed her palms to his mental files, brimming with everything he'd ever wanted.

End of Epilogue

A/N: I know, super mushy, but they deserve a happy ending. 3

Keep an eye out folks, I'm already considering which of the next tales I'm to delve into!

CheyF