A/N Thank you everyone for your great reviews and I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed this story. We've reached the end now and it's a lovely, not too cheesy but cheesy enough happy ending. Because everyone loves a wedding...

Four months later...

When Chakotay woke, he was unsure for a minute why his stomach was tied in knots. This was his sister's spare room, he slept here often and it didn't usually make him feel any different. A knock on the door caught his attention.

"Get up old man! It's time for breakfast. You can't do this on an empty stomach." called the impossibly cheerful voice of Michael Ayala, his best man.

And then he remembered why he felt so strange. Best man. Kathryn. Wedding. He was getting married today.

Swinging his legs over the side of bed, he padded to the bathroom.

"Morning, sunshine," Q grinned, laying in the empty bath.

Chakotay almost fell over in surprise.

"You're making a bad habit of this, Q," he spluttered, when he had time to slow his heart down.

"But it's so much fun," the alien smiled.

"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again," Chakotay said, splashing some cold water on his face, "You never came back."

"Well, I missed out the boring part, obviously. But I know what happened. Well done," he raised an eyebrow, "It's nice to know that you can do something simple."

"Have you come here to insult me, Q?" Chakotay smiled wryly.

"Of course," Q jumped up and looked Chakotay defiantly in the eye, "Do you remember that I don't like you?"

"Of course," Chakotay repeated what Q had said, "And I would have returned the sentiment a year ago."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what I mean. Thank you, Q. I owe you a lot."

"Don't be stupid, Chakotay," Q chuckled, "You could never do anything for me."

"Thank you all the same. Are you coming today? I'm sure Kathryn would like to see you."

Q pulled a face, "I don't do organised events. I need to go and see what sort of havoc that son of mine is wreaking in my absence."

He disappeared, reappeared as suddenly and added as an afterthought, "Don't mess it up Chakotay. Make me proud."

"Thank you Q."

***

The majority of the congregation was made up of the crew of Voyager. Kathryn and Chakotay's families sat at the front and then Harry, acting as groomsman and directing people to their seats, gave up on categorizing the crew as either 'bride' or 'groom' and just sent them to whatever side looked slightly more empty. The whole crew capable of attending was there. When Seven arrived with the Doctor and Reg Barclay, Harry discretely sent them in the direction of the 'bride' side. It would make less any awkward feelings on Chakotay's part, because Seven herself was completely over her time with the groom. Joe Carey's wife, Lisa, arrived with her eldest son; Kathryn had thought it right to invite her to represent her husband, whom would have certainly been at the wedding. Harry escorted her personally to a seat on Chakotay's side; she was a quiet, good humored woman and over the months, many crew members had been to visit her to share their memories of Joe.

Mild hysteria ensued when the great Captain Jean-Luc Picard arrived with his wife Doctor Beverley Crusher. Harry battled to keep his excitement under control in the presence of the great man. Icheb had been asked by Kathryn to escort Picard and introduce him to the crew members throughout the day; in his immaculate cadet's uniform (and with "The best job of the day," as Harry put it) the young man was swelling with pride.

As the time drew nearer to the ceremony, Harry shot Chakotay more frequent glances. He was stood at the front next to Michael, and the anxiety on his face multiplied with every second that ticked past. The sheer warmth of the day wasn't helping anyone to stay calm and under control. They were marrying in the beautiful old church where Gretchen had married Edward so many years before. Surprisingly, it had been Chakotay who suggested it, after hearing Gretchen mention it and going to look at the church for himself. The ceiling was high and the building should have been cool but the southern summer sun had other ideas. At the altar, Michael had removed his jacket for a few minutes, although Chakotay persevered and refused to remove his own.

By two o'clock, the guests were in place and Harry, winking at Chakotay, slipped out and headed to where the bride was waiting. The party out here was quite large; Kathryn's nephew Richie was acting as ring bearer whilst her niece Kim, along with Naomi Wildman, Chakotay's niece Maya and the just able to toddle Miral Paris-Torres were flower girls. As a nod to where Kathryn and Chakotay started, four year old Richie wore a miniature Starfleet uniform. The girls wore dresses of light blue satin, which matched the bridesmaids Phoebe and B'Elanna.

"Don't you two look beautiful?" Harry smiled, kissing B'Elanna shyly on the cheek.

"Aren't I a lucky son of a devil?" Tom Paris, the third groomsman, grabbed his wife around the waist.

"Tom," she moaned, "Stop it, you'll mess up the dress."

"Yeah, hands off Paris," Phoebe laughed, "You're my escort today. B'Elanna has to put up with Harry."

"What do you mean, put up with me?"

"All the ladies love a Paris, Har-"

Tom was cut off by the door to a small side room opening. Gretchen hurried out to go and take her place amongst the congregation, and then Kathryn emerged, closely followed by Tuvok. It was the first time that Tom or Harry had seen Kathryn in her dress and they were rendered speechless. Tom managed a long, low whistle as she took the self conscious turn that Phoebe demanded. The dress was simple but stunning, clinging in all the right places.

"Thank you for your approval, Tom," she smiled shyly, "And yours Harry."

Harry's 'approval' was a blank look accompanied by a slight twitch in his eye. B'Elanna grabbed his arm and steered him in the right direction, shaking her head at Phoebe behind his back.

"Are you ready, Auntie Kathryn?" Kim asked, "Can we go now?"

"Yes sweetheart."

As Richie led off, the cushion held in front of him as though his whole world revolved around it, Tuvok held out his arm, "Shall we proceed?"

"Of course. Thank you for doing this Tuvok."

"It is an honour."

If it was possible for a Vulcan to beam with pride, Tuvok did as they made their way down the aisle. He didn't 'beam' in the obvious way; rather, pride seemed to ooze from him although his face remained impassive. In the absence of her father, Kathryn had been unable to think of anyone else more qualified to give her away than her best friend. She briefly considered the sedate figure he cut. Out of all the future that Admiral Janeway had warned her of, Tuvok's was the most devastating. Kathryn was grateful everyday that they'd been able to save him from that fate.

Richie reached the front and stood next to his new uncle. Chakotay ruffled his hair and bent to whisper in his ear. The youngster giggled and held his cushion closer to him. As the flower girls took their places and the two pairs of bridesmaids and groomsmen split off, Chakotay saw Kathryn for the first time. Tom and Harry couldn't help but smirk at the look on his face, making a silent bet that Chakotay was going to stumble over his words.

They were right. Kathryn kissed Tuvok's cheek and then turned to face her fiancé. Chakotay's expression answered every question she may have had and then the ceremony careered on. Chakotay did have some trouble keeping his tongue under control, which caused slight hilarity amongst the unruly groomsmen and made Richie turn to silently berate them. Needless to say, he did shut them up.

"I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and the vow I make today," Chakotay murmured, sliding the thin silver band onto Kathryn's slim finger. The tears she had successfully held at bay regrouped for a final attack and this time succeeded.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

As Chakotay gathered her for the kiss, Tom and Harry led a cheer from Voyager's crew. The tension between the command team hadn't failed to reach anyone during their seven years together and it was quite frankly a relief to know things had finally worked out.

***

Chakotay stood to make his speech, but didn't let go of Kathryn's hand which he had been holding under the table. Public speaking was not a forte.

"I don't really have much to say that Michael hasn't already said so I'll be brief. I'd like to pass on my thanks to all of you, individually. I know that whilst we were on Voyager many of you were perfectly aware that Kathryn and I should have been together. In fact, I'd like to congratulate Charlie Dempsey for finally winning Tom's betting pool."

A laugh went up as one of the young crewmen from engineering raised his glass.

"And so I'd like to thank you all for still believing in Kathryn and myself as a couple, even after all that time. Most of you believed in us way more than we believed in ourselves. We found our way in the end and I for one am still speechless that I can call Kathryn my wife. I think I'll always be speechless. So, to conclude, I'd like to make a toast to the wedding party, my new 'father in law' Tuvok and to my lovely Kathryn."

"To Kathryn!" the crowd echoed.

"And finally to all of you. I am perfectly aware that without the contribution of our entire crew, I wouldn't be stood here making this speech."

The cheer was deafening as Chakotay took his seat and kissed Kathryn. He was visibly shaking with nerves.

"The great Commander Chakotay, scared of a little public speaking," she teased, "I'll tell everyone what a baby you are."

"Go ahead and tell them," he growled, "They're not the ones married to me for the rest of their lives."

"No way," she whispered, the pair of them lost in the general furor of the moment, "You're all mine."

***

Late that night, when the last couples were twirling slowly around the dance floor, Chakotay thought, just for a second, that he saw Q standing by the pond. His face was half bathed in light with the other half lit by a satisfied smirk. When Chakotay looked again, he was gone.

"Are you thinking about your good spirit, my love," Kathryn murmured into his chest.

Surprised, he grinned, "How did you know?"

The light tinkle of her laugh caressed his ears, "He came to see me this morning. I assumed that he paid you a visit as well."

Shaking his head, the look of helplessness on Chakotay's face made her smirk.

"He said that he wasn't going to visit you."

"When have you ever known Q to tell the truth if he can possibly help it?"

"True. What did he say to you?"

She laughed, "He told me that it wasn't too late for me to marry him instead. He was joking, I could tell. And then he said something really un-Q."

"What was that?"

"He said that he hoped we have a good life together. And he meant it as well. I haven't known Q to be so sincere."

"Sounds like he was saying goodbye."

"That's what I thought. I hope he wasn't, in a way. I'd like to see him again."

Chakotay bent his head and kissed her tenderly.

"I'm sure we will. He doesn't trust me with you at all."

"I wonder why he did it?" she sighed into his chest. He picked her up bodily and kissed her again, ignoring the raucous laughter and catcalls from his slightly drunken groomsmen.

"I don't know exactly what game he was playing," he breathed in her ear, "But I certainly won."