DISCLAIMER: Everything of any worth belongs to Paramount.

NOTES: Episode Add on For Workforce I & II

Part 1 – BOXING

Quarra, Stardate 54584.3

Chakotay vaguely remembered the supervisor saying something after he had dropped him off at his terminal, but his mind had been more focused on searching the faces of the other workers, desperately looking for someone familiar.

And there she was, flitting from station to station. As ever, Kathryn worked the crowd with ease. A hello here, a gentle nod and a smile there. Except when she got to that last terminal. She smiled a little more broadly, her eyes bashfully looking at the man, and then away from him. She seemed shy, even coy.

Well, I'll be, Chakotay thought to himself. That was a sight you didn't get to see often. But his amusement was short lived when he suddenly realised the reason she seemed so uncharacteristically timid.

She was flirting.

Chakotay forced himself to look away, blindly punching buttons on the terminal in front of him. He didn't know if he was doing it right. He really didn't care. He looked back up at them, watched Kathryn place a little more than friendly hand on the other man's chest before she weaved her way back through the crowd again to her own terminal.

"Employee 9363, are you experiencing a malfunction?"

Chakotay span round, drawn sharply from his reverie.

"What?"

Seven of Nine, Annika Hansen, efficiency supervisor for this facility looked blankly at Chakotay, her hands working the padd, recording data.

"You have failed to observe your station for the last five point two minutes. "

"I'm fine," Chakotay replied, surprised at how comfortable Seven of all people looked.

"Then please attend to your station," Seven noted, before she strode off into the crowd.

Chakotay had no intention of monitoring his station. Darting between other workers, he approached Kathryn, reached out to touch her arm.

"Kathryn its Chakotay!"

Kathryn Janeway, as once was, turned to face the man who had called her. She had expected Jaffen to follow her again. The man certainly had a hard time taking no for an answer. His persistence was one of the things that had caught her attention. Instead she came face to face with a man she would have sworn that she had never met before, but whose dark sincere eyes seemed too familiar to her.

"Do we know each other?" she asked.

Chakotay faltered, suddenly wondering whether it would be safe to go ahead and blurt out the truth to her. Something told him that the local authorities wouldn't take vary kindly, and if Chakotay knew his friend at all well, Kathryn wouldn't take to it very well at all either. She hated to be backed into a corner.

Swallowing hard, Chakotay let go of her arm and took a conscious step backwards.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, "I just meant to say hi."

"You're new here?" she asked rhetorically.

"Just started today. I was told that you would be a good person to ask if I had a question," Chakotay replied, a smile creasing his features

He should have known that Kathryn would have taken most things in her stride. His sudden lunge in her direction hadn't phased her one inch, indeed the opposite.

"Well what can I help you with?" she asked pleasantly. She liked the look of the man in front of her. He reminded her of Jaffen in some ways.

"Oh nothing," Chakotay bluffed, "I just thought I would introduce myself."

"Chakotay huh?" she repeated, her mind playing over his name.

"My friends call me that," he smiled," My work file records my family name. Amal Kotay."

"Well I hope you have a good day," she returned his grin, and watched as he nodded, backing silently away to his console.

"What was that all about?" Jaffen asked.

"Nice man," Janeway whispered, leaning into Jaffen but her eyes watching Chakotay as he quietly headed back to his station. But before Jaffen could continue, Kathryn caught sight of a familiar pastel blue suit.

"Watch out," she whispered conspiratorially to Jaffen," The efficiency monitor is on the war path."…..

….. Chakotay slipped into the booth where Neelix sat. He watched the Talaxian's gaze as it followed Tom around the bar. Tom seemed at ease here, his natural charm winning over many a patron.

" They all seem so….happy," Neelix whispered.

Chakotay nodded.

"I ran into the Seven and the Captain," Chakotay sighed as he reached for the glass Tom had given him of whatever it was that Neelix had ordered.

"Are they okay?" Neelix gasped, concern etched on his face.

Chakotay gestured half-heartedly with his glass in the direction of Tom, watching as he fluttered around a pregnant B'Elanna.

"They're as happy as those two," Chakotay noted.

"I guess those two are meant for each other no matter what existence they find themselves in," Neelix chuckled warmly as Tom fussed around his wife.

Chakotay sighed heavily, but Neelix had the good graces to pretend not to notice it.

" Some, like Tom and B'Elanna are almost like their old selves, just that their original identities are buried," Chakotay muttered," others, like Kathryn and Seven seem almost happy with the existence that they have carved out here for themselves."

Neelix eyed the Commander quietly.

"Your not thinking of leaving them here, are you?" he asked suspiciously.

Chakotay shook his head slightly.

"No," he added with finality.

But part of him wasn't so sure….

…. Chakotay let himself quietly into Kathryn's apartment. It seemed that no matter where Kathryn existed, she stilled picked the same combination of numbers for her door code and Chakotay knew them all. The door had released with a faint quick on the second go. He had tried Kathryn's birthday first, with no luck. Then he had tried his birthday and the door lock had released.

Chakotay took a sheet from her closet, tore it into strips and dabbed at the bleeding wound on his arm. He was thankful that he had gotten B'Elanna out of here at least. Part of him desperately wanted to open a comm link to the ship and see how his friend was doing, but the Quarran authorities seemed to be very good at tracking comm pathways and it might lead them to the ship again. Chakotay knew that Harry and the Doctor had the ship just barely held together with duct tape and prayers. The more he could keep the Quarran fighters away from Voyager, the better their eventual chances for escape would be.

Sighing heavily, Chakotay shuffled over to back wall and slid down to sit tiredly in the shadows. Dabbing at the wound one more time he tied of a length of sheet round his arm and lent his head back against the wall.

It looked very much like Kathryn no longer lived here. He could see things that were hers, her knack to acquire odd little trinkets as mementos to her travels still seemed to be part of her personality here too.

He remembered what she had said to him in Tom's bar earlier this evening. She was celebrating her decision to move in with Jaffen, but she had come over to apologise for her new housemate's lack of manners earlier. Chakotay had felt his insides go hollow and he fought hard not to let his reaction show to her. He failed. His eyes had dropped away from hers for a brief moment, the corners of his smile sinking sadly. He had forced a congratulations from between his teeth, attempted a weak smile. But he felt like the ground was shifting out from underneath him as he sat there, looking up at her sadly. She had smiled, told him he could drop by an time and returned to her table

He doubted her invitation to drop by had included hiding out in her deserted apartment, but Chakotay knew that deep down, his Kathryn wouldn't have minded.

Dozing fitfully for most of the early evening, Chakotay was startled awake by the gentle beeping of the door access and the unmistakeable click of the locking mechanism releasing. Slowly he tried to pull himself into the shadows more; raising the phaser he had stolen from the security patrol just in case.

He had watched Kathryn bounce into the room; she exuded confidence and contentment as she waded through boxes looking for something. What she found when she saw the rag and raised the lights was hardly what she had come here for.

"Why do you want?" Janeway asked, her voice tainted with a fear Chakotay had never seen in her before, especially around him. "Jaffen knows where I am. He'll come looking for me"

"I'm hoping you won't tell him I'm here," Chakotay replied tentatively, as he pulled himself to his feet and shuffled over to the push the door shut again. He nudged the locking mechanism and heard it click into place.

Kathryn Janeway looked at the man in her quarters; saw the gaping wound on his arm. He was strikingly handsome she thought, tall and broad, but he seemed so gentle as he reached down and tossed the gun in her direction. His complexion seemed to be sallow and white, despite his naturally dark colouring. He was obviously in pain.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone. You have to trust Me.," he promised, with such certainty in his voice that Kathryn's fears seemed to melt away.

"We're going to have to do something about that arm," Janeway finally replied and she stepped towards where he now sat on the stairs, feeling a faith and confidence in this man that she couldn't explain. Despite the fact that the security patrols were looking for him in connection with the disappearances of two people, Kathryn felt that she didn't need to be frightened with him…

…Chakotay was surprised when Kathryn actually returned with the dermal regenerator she said she was leaving to get. He had expected her to bring back the authorities instead.

"You need a Doctor," She noted as she tied the bandage back over the partially healed wound

"That'll have to wait till I'm back on Voyager," Chakotay replied.

"Voyager? " Kathryn queried.

"My ship. "

"You live on board? " Janeway asked bemused. Chakotay wondered if she would really have asked that with a tone that suggested it was ludicrous to live in space, had she known the truth of her own life. Looking over her features briefly, marvelling at the sense of peace that emanated from her, the smiled as he replied to her.

"For almost seven years," he finally answered.

Kathryn now looked at him with eyes that spoke the same disbelief that her voice had implied earlier. Chakotay couldn't help but smile.

"Don't you ever want to stay in one place? " Kathryn asked.

Chakotay thought about telling her the story of her life, of their lives. He wondered whether the fact that they had come together in space and travelled together seeking out new worlds and new friendships would mean as much to her as it did to him. He wondered whether she would understand that the life that he had aboard Voyager was the most fulfilling existence that he had had in his life. That the friendships he had made there, hers among them, meant more to him at times than his own life. He doubted that without understanding the concept of Voyager, she would ever understand the importance of their lives aboard the ship. He looked away from her soft features to look at the partially healed wound.

"You seem happy here," he noted, changing the direction of the conversation.

It wasn't until he had uttered the words though that he realised that the answer to that very question meant more to him than anything. As much as he hated to see her with another man, he had always desperately wanted to see her happy.

"I've got a good job," Janeway answered, and Chakotay was buoyed by the fact that she didn't exactly answer the question. She hadn't said that she stayed here because she liked the scenery or because she had a man in her life. The part of Chakotay that noted such minutia in her statements to heart at her words but he also knew better than to push her on anything.

"Ever consider doing something more challenging? " he finally asked, knowing well that Kathryn's very core was powered by new challenges. He was surprised by her answer.

"My job's challenging enough."

"You monitor reactor coils, right? You're obviously a very capable woman. You could probably run that power plant. "

Chakotay watched as she smiled gently at him. Her answer though nearly floored him.

"Why would I want all that responsibility?" she had chuckled back at him.

Chakotay's smiled faded as he thought of all the times she had shouldered responsibility for things. It was her strength and it could also be her undoing, as he and Tuvok had discovered over the years. Harry thankfully interrupted his thoughts. The news wasn't good but at least he knew that B'Elanna was safe and okay. He only wished that Kathryn was as thrilled with the communiqué.

"Why did you call me Captain? " She asked, her voice trembling.

Chakotay looked at her, watched her look away from him to study her hands.

"Because that's who you are," he replied softly.

"That's absurd. So what are you saying, that I was brought here by force too? That my memories were manipulated? "

"I know it sounds strange. .." Chakotay began, but Kathryn cut him off.

"Helping you was a mistake," she spat.

Chakotay tried to reason with her, but he knew Kathryn well, knew how stubborn she could be. Sometimes, he thought, there were times when you just needed to give Kathryn a figurative slap in the face with the truth. Gently he took the dermal regenerator from her and worked it across his face. He watched himself in the mirror; saw the ridges fade and the familiar tattoo reappear. He turned to look at Kathryn, his dark eyes watching her closely for signs that she might panic.

But Kathryn didn't run. She didn't flinch. She simply reached up to tentatively to trace his tattoo.

"We're the same race," she whispered, genuine awe in her voice, her eyes finally for the first time seemed to question the fabrication of her life. Despite Kathryn's better judgement, she found herself trusting the man before.

Chakotay looked at her and smiled, feeling the first semblance of success as he piqued her curiosity. He reached out and took her hand, fighting the urge to run his hand down her smooth face.

His heart demanded that he tell her the truth of his feelings, to be honest with her for once, if only for a brief moment. But his more rational side saw the battle between her known and unknown lives, between what was and might be going on inside her mind and he found himself retreating back into himself. His confidence of the moment seeped away but the hint of his feelings, of his love remained in his voice as he squeezed her hand to reassure her

" We're more than that," he replied his voice barely more than a whisper " We're friends."…

… Chakotay sat in his chair and stared blankly at the view screen, not really seeing the planet revolve below him. His mission had succeeded but he felt hollow inside. He looked around at the faces on the bridge, saw an echo of the feelings and scenes he saw played out around the entire ship. Tuvok look distracted, Sam was quiet and seemed lost in her own thoughts. Mike, usually a quiet but friendly presence around the bridge seemed almost withdrawn, his eyes dark and haunted.

Chakotay had, perhaps somewhat naively, expected so much joy from his crew and friends at being home. Only Tom and B'Elanna seemed truly grateful to be back where they belonged. Last night after another failed attempt to coax Kathryn from her quarters, he had sat alone in the mess hall and watched the comings and goings of the crew. Only B'Elanna and Tom had acknowledged him.

"I don't think I'm the most popular person around here for some reason," he had confided in Tom.

Tom had looked ruefully around the rest of the crew in the room.

"It's nothing personal," the helmsman sighed," it's just a little difficult right now for some."

"Not you," Chakotay noted.

"I didn't have anything to lose," Tom half chuckled, half snorted." My whole life's on this ship. B'Elanna and I haven't got anything any where else to be."

Chakotay sipped his tea, eyeing Tom. He remembered how even when he had the ability to run riot on the planet below, Tom had still been drawn to B'Elanna. His instincts had still been to protect his wife and baby. Nothing that Kadan could have done could have altered the true nature of their feelings for each other. Chakotay wondered if his helmsman knew just how lucky he was.

Tom finished his fork full of food, before he set the plate aside. He could see Chakotay's mind ticking over, guessed that some of the thoughts were good, others not so good. Swallowing he looked up at the First Officer, hoping that a little perspective might help the big guy.

" It's like everyone here was really happy in that little dream world that they had us living in," Tom began," and then they suddenly were forced to realise that everything they thought was good in their lives was a dream and any real semblance of a life that they may have is thirty thousand light years from here. It's kind of a bitter pill to swallow."

Chakotay's thoughts drifted to the man Kathryn had had transported up to see her tonight. He wondered if she felt the way Tom surmised the others felt. Ripped from one life of perfect happiness and forced to merely subsist in another, everything that you loved thousands of light years away... How much had he taken away from Kathryn by coming back for her that night? A future as someone's wife, perhaps someone's mother. Something better than the solitary guardianship of one hundred and fifty lives, all of who seemed to have something in their lives that she was denied. No wonder she had seemed so settled there. Her life there was everything that it couldn't be here.

Chakotay was summoned from his daydream back to the planet circling below in the view screen as Harry announced that all the Quarran officials had departed the ship.

"The captain's guest?" Chakotay asked, suddenly wanting to know what decisions Kathryn had made. But he didn't dare take his eyes off the back of Tom's head, feeling as if his whole life at the moment was transparent to everyone.

"He left with the last group," Harry replied quietly.

Before Chakotay could answer the tired Ensign to thank him for his report, the turbolift doors opened and Kathryn stepped hesitantly on to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge," Harry announced.

Chakotay watched Kathryn flinch every so slightly. Forcing a weak smile, to the surface, she rounded the rails to take her seat. She stared at the view screen watching the blue marble world revolve. From here it looked so much like Earth. It had felt so much like Earth. He thought about reaching out and taking her hand, but he doubted that she was up for a display of his affections when she had just denied her own by sending away a man she had fallen in love with. Taking a deep breath he looked at her sadly.

"Ready to go," he asked, so softly she barely heard him at first.

"It may not have been real, Chakotay," she muttered," but it felt like home. If you hadn't come after me I never would've known that I had another life."

Chakotay forced a smile that he didn't feel. She didn't sound all that relieved to be back. Leaning over he looked at her briefly before he replied.

"Are you sorry I showed up," he asked.

"Not for a second," she answered him matter of factly, turning to look at him for the first time since the EMH had discharged her from sickbay.

He didn't see her usual smile in her eyes, nor did he see her usual do or die manner. He saw an echo of Kathryn Janeway etched in the stone life features of the Captain, emotionless.

Chakotay wasn't so sure that she wasn't regretting his rescuing her, but Tom had called out then to answer Janeway's heading instructions, and by the time that Chakotay looked at Kathryn again, all the was Kathryn had been consumed by all that was Captain. Chakotay watched her sit back confidently in her chair.

But within ten minutes she had retreated to her Ready Room, shutting herself away from her crew, her life that had consumed whatever happiness she may have had on that planet. She sat down stiffly at her desk, and found herself staring blankly at the monitor, wishing for all she was worth that it was as easy for her to become nothingness as it was for that screen.

On the bridge, Chakotay looked away from the closed doors of Janeway's Ready room and sighed. As soon as he had seen to it that the ship was safely away from Quarran space, he had handed over command to Tuvok and headed for his own office. He had a stack of crew rosters and assignments to look over and he had promised Neelix that he would rotate Chell to the mess hall to cover for him whilst he made extra rounds to counsel the crew. But he could only stare blankly at the pads wondering whether he could have done things differently. He opened the desk drawer and let his fingers wander over the cloth bandage Kathryn had made him, a brief sad smile washing over him. Reluctantly he took the small keepsake he had accquired on Quarra from the drawer and walked over to the old footlocker he kept in his office for burying such things. Keying in the combination, he opened the locker and placed the cloth inside, his gaze briefly darting over the other things he had stowed here over the years.

When the door chimed and Neelix entered, Chakotay closed the trunk and reactivated the lock, the gesture symbolic on more levels than he cared to discuss with the Talaxian right now.

"Keepsakes, Commander?" the Talaxian enquired,

Chakotay shook his head, as much to shake away the thoughts of Kathryn as to answer his guest.

"No," he sighed, taking his seat behind his desk again," just boxing away my life again."