AN: This is the first part to a short story. Some of the ideas of this story were taken from Elogium, but it's been adapted by me for the story.

I own nothing from Star Trek.

I have to add in the disclaimer that I have no loyalties to Mark and, therefore, I have no problem erasing him. I'm sorry if you're a fan of Mark's.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"There you are, Captain," Chakotay said. "I thought I might see you over breakfast."

"I heard Neelix mention a leola root omelet and I decided to just have coffee for breakfast," Kathryn responded. "Did you need something, Commander?"

Chakotay took his seat near her on the bridge. The morning was calm. There was very little going on and everyone passed in and out rather leisurely. Chakotay leaned toward her, though, as though he were afraid of being overheard.

"I wanted to talk to you about fraternization on the ship, Captain," Chakotay said.

"Fraternization?" Kathryn asked.

"Maybe that's not the word I'm looking for," Chakotay said, laughing quietly to himself. "To be honest, I spent most of my breakfast searching for the right way to present this to you. It's about the couples on the ship, Captain. There are a number of them. On top of that, there have been a few instances of jealousy and a few arguments to handle because those relationships that seem to be popping up everywhere."

It was only natural. They were on the ship for an indefinite amount of time. Realistically they were looking at seventy five years on Voyager if nothing happened that sped up their trip, somehow, or slowed them down dramatically. People were starting to settle in and accept the fact that they wouldn't be seeing Earth for some time. They were starting to get comfortable with each other and they were starting to see each other as members of some type of extended family.

Relationships—romantic and otherwise—were starting to form everywhere.

It was only natural. They were only doing what was natural for any lifeform.

They were comfortable, their needs were met, and now they were seeking mates for companionship and, eventually, to continue the species.

"What about these relationships did you wish to discuss, Commander?" Kathryn asked.

Chakotay looked at her. The corners of his mouth curled ever so slightly upward before he forced his expression back to a more neutral one.

"We're lightyears away from the Alpha Quadrant," Chakotay said. "We're on our own out here. We're seventy five years away from Earth. Whatever we decide to do out here? That's up to us, but we need to have a clear idea of our policies. Do we allow the relationships to develop as they seem to be developing, or do we do our best to stifle them?"

Kathryn sucked in a breath and held it. On a short mission they'd frown upon something as unprofessional as an open relationship that possibly drew attention away from duties, caused favoritism among members of the crew, or even caused negative interactions among members of the crew. This wasn't a short mission, though, and Kathryn didn't want to play like she was a god that lorded over every aspect of her crew members' lives. It wasn't fair to them. They would spend most of their lives on Voyager. She couldn't ask them to spend their lives ignoring everything they felt the natural urge to do.

"We're a long way from home," Kathryn said. "Everybody's homesick. They're lonely. They're thinking about the lives that they dreamed of having on Earth. It's only natural that they're going to be looking for some kind of life here. They're going to begin to pair off. I'm not going to tell them that they can't do that. I can't tell them that they can't have the lives that they want to have. They have to be free to live their lives. They have to be free to do what's natural. To do just what they're doing. To pair off. To find mates."

"It's only natural," Chakotay echoed, "that they'll start to pair off. They'll seek mates. Build lives together."

"That's exactly it," Kathryn said.

Chakotay nodded his head gently. His eyes searched her face. Kathryn fought the urge that she sometimes felt to look away from him when he looked at her so intently.

"That's what everyone will do," Chakotay said. "Does that include you?"

Kathryn's heart picked up a beat and she felt her breath quicken. She was good at getting her reactions under control, but she didn't doubt that Chakotay had noticed some change in her even if it lasted no more than a nanosecond. He had to know the effect that he had on her, especially when he said things like that.

"As the captain, that's a luxury I don't have," Kathryn said.

She tried to pretend that she didn't see the expression that crossed Chakotay's features. Was it disappointment? Sadness? Hurt? She didn't want to read into the expression because it would only make it harder to keep her resolve.

"You don't want marriage?" Chakotay asked. "A mate as you call it? Someone to share your life with in an intimate manner?"

If she didn't know why her heart was behaving so erratically, Kathryn might have gone to sick bay to ask the EMH to check her over and make sure she wasn't suffering from some sort of coronary episode. She knew that they were alone on the bridge. Tuvok passed through every now and again. Tom had passed through once. Nobody was paying them any attention, though, and with nothing concerning taking place, nobody was spending too long in any one place. They passed through to check the monitors at their stations and then they left again.

Nobody was paying them any attention, and even if they were, they probably wouldn't understand why it was that their captain was so moved by the voice and expression of the first officer.

"I did," Kathryn said. "Back on Earth."

"Earth is seventy five years away from us," Chakotay said. "You don't want something more in that time?"

"I intended for us to be home before Mark gives me up for dead," Kathryn said. She could lie to him, but she couldn't lie to herself. Not really. Voyager had disappeared to everyone back home in the Alpha Quadrant. They'd gone completely off the radar. They'd vanished. They'd had no contact whatsoever with their loved ones and nobody back home had any reason to believe that they were still alive.

Mark would move on. He'd probably already moved on. He was a handsome man with a good job and a lot to offer someone. Kathryn hadn't been the only woman who'd been interested in him and she hadn't been the only woman who'd gotten his interest.

Mark would move on. Maybe he had already moved on. And Kathryn knew it.

"Do you ever want children, Captain?" Chakotay asked.

Kathryn swallowed down her desire to tell him that she wished he wouldn't always call her "captain". She swallowed down the desire to tell him how much she missed, sometimes, simply hearing her own name or some nickname that made her feel more like a human and less like a job position—even for a moment.

She didn't tell him, either, that he had a way of saying "captain" that almost made it sound like a pet name. He could put so much affection behind the word that Kathryn almost felt it was a tender way to address her instead of a formal way.

"I did," Kathryn said. She smiled to herself as she remembered the family that she'd once dreamed of having. "But seventy five years is a long time."

"Maybe we all have to consider the possibility that our lives on Earth are gone as we know them," Chakotay said. "Everything we knew before is gone to us for at least the next seventy five years. That would be true, I believe, even for a captain."

Kathryn stood up. She had no real need to go anywhere. She had nothing that was immediately pressing for once and nobody was calling out for her assistance. Still, she felt like she absolutely had to leave the Bridge. She had to leave Chakotay's presence for a few moments.

If she didn't, she wasn't sure that she wouldn't end up saying or doing something she'd regret.

"I hope to find a way to get us back far sooner than that," Kathryn said. "In the meantime—I want the crew to find happiness where they can. We're not going to put restrictions on relationships. I won't try to control their lives in such a way."

"And your own?" Chakotay asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"That's the only life of which I'm ever truly in control," Kathryn said, already starting to walk away from him so that she wouldn't have to see his expression. "Commander, you have the Bridge."

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AN: Just a note that I'm new to writing for this fandom and I'm new to watching Star Trek. I may not have all the jargon and such just right yet. I'm still learning.