"So..."

He glanced over the sparse dinner table. Dinner conversation had been stilted this evening. Well, he mused, it had been stilted over the past few months – that is, when they had dinner...

If he had to put a date to it, he would have said she started to change, albeit in small ways, after they came in contact with the Equinox. The tragic, nearly surreal, encounter was the nidus for which she began her metamorphosis into a woman he barely knew anymore.

She didn't look at him; rather she sat uncomfortably, fiddling aimlessly with her uneaten dinner. "Hmm?" Her tone was petulant, childlike.

"No," He shook his head. "I was just thinking…"

She looked up, eyeing him cynically."About?"

Kathryn knew how she was looking at him; like a spoilt child who'd been caught disobeying their parents. And she knew she had no reason to treat him like this, to act so churlish. But she couldn't help it recently; she couldn't seem to get herself out of this terrible rut. In a swirling, deep whorl pool of complacent melancholy, she was lost.

He said something but she wasn't paying attention. "I'm sorry?"

"I said," He enunciated slowly, his frustration with her starting to seep through his soft voice. "'Seven years.'"

"Seven years?"

"It's been almost seven years since we got stranded here in the Delta Quadrant."

"Oh," She mused, not knowing his reason for saying it. "What's your point?"

"Nothing, Kathryn," He sighed, stifling the urge to roll his eyes as he put down his fork. "Maybe I shou-"

"Tuvok to the Captain."

She tapped her comm. badge. "Go ahead, Tuvok."

"We have picked up anomalous readings on sensors. Shall we alter course?"

She looked to him and he nodded, already out of his seat. "Yes, alter course; we're on our way."

Nothing more was said of dinner as the two officers hastily made their way to the bridge.

"Tuvok, report!" Her command was predictable as she descended the steps to her command chair.

The view screen shifted, zeroing in on a nebula-like anomaly. "What is it?" She walked to Tom's chair, perching behind it as she stared, mesmerised by the swirls of green and purple.

Chakotay walked up behind her, his proximity close if for no other reason than to share her view.

"Unknown, Captain," Harry volunteered.

"Can we get any closer?" Her voice was dream-like, far off.

"Negative," Tuvok responded. "Voyager is too large to get sufficiently close to take further readings."

"Is there any danger?" She was fascinated, having never seen anything like it in her life. She found the beauty awe-inspiring and, with practised urge, she couldn't help but want to know more.

"It is not likely. Howev-"

"Commander," She turned to Chakotay, her body brushing against his as she turned. "Accompany me to Shuttle Bay Two; we're going to have a closer look."

"Captain," Tuvok's voice was predictably cautionary. "We do not know anything about the anomaly-"

"Tuvok..."| Kathryn wasn't in the mood to be argued with; She felt bad about dinner, about being so truculent with him. And this might, she thought, be just what they needed - something to do together. They had been fighting for months now and it seemed like the days kept bringing hardships that further tore away from the best friendship she had ever known. And, if she was honest, something more. "Keep a transporter lock on us. We'll be back soon!"

He moved to object, but she placated him, patting him gently on the shoulder as she walked past. "We'll be fine," She said with one foot in the turbolift. "You have the bridge."

"It's beautiful, isn't it Chakotay?" She smiled, glancing at him over her shoulder as she manipulated the shuttle sensors. Nearly in vain, she hoped that something would spark between them again; that they could mend this chasm that she had built.

She wasn't immune to it - the distance that had come between them and the subsequent bitterness that had followed. Their separation had been slow, centimetre by centimetre - done so subtly that they hadn't taken notice of it until a deep, craggy flume had formed. If she was honest with herself, she knew it was her own doing - her own fears, her own pride that stood between them. And she knew - knew intimately - that if the cracks in their once solid rapport remained, they would only grow. And grow to a point where, in the not too distant future, he wouldn't want to look at her. But like the man in Plato's cave unable to see the light, so she too was unable to see any way around their combined misery.

"Mmm," he shrugged noncommittally.

Not too long ago, Chakotay would have been ecstatic to be alone with her – to have her all to himself. He pictured them together; laughing, joking about Tom's antics, Seven's quirky traits, something funny Naomi said or did... They would flirt, skimming on the balance beam of friendship and something more. But now, he was just angry with her – at his wits end. And soon, he thought, he wouldn't even want to look at her.

Unexpectedly, the console lit up and the small shuttle jolted. "Kathryn?"

"I know," She tore her eyes away from the shimmering beauty in front of them. Sensor readings were off the charts - data coming in so fast that it was scrambling the interface.

"Chakotay," Her voice was terrified, shaky as the shuttle rocked back and forth - the movement not barely compensated for by intertial dampeners. "It's the anomaly!" It was pulling the shuttle in, and she was panicking. "Reverse thrusters!"

Though his fingers danced frantically on the console, his work was meaningless. "I am! Nothing's happening!" The anomaly was like quick sand; the harder the struggle, the quicker the pull. "Kathryn! It's not working!"

"We're being pulled in," A cold sweat broke out over her lip and she could feel the pooling of moisture in her palms and down her back. "Janeway to Tuvok!" She tapped her comm. badge in haste.

Nothing. There was no response. "Communicators are offline!"

"Transporters?!" She frantically searched the computer's system.

He shook his head and glanced at her, fear settling in his veins as the swirling blue pulled them closer, the scintillating miasma settling around them.

"They should have beamed us out by now!" Kathryn shouted. "Computer, lock onto Commander Chakotay's and my biosignatures and beam us directly to Voyager!"

But the computer didn't respond. Everything was offline.

Chakotay's eyes locked with hers. "Kathryn!"

She looked to him, terrified and looking for purchase, and took his hand, holding so tightly that her nails dug into his palms. So much unsaid, she thought - so much undone. But there was nothing to do - nothing to say, and nothing to feel other than utter terror as they helplessly held on tight and prayed to storied Gods and Spirits for their unseen, irresolute hand of provision.