AUTHOR: Sally
SUMMARY: Tom Paris' latest plan backfires most unusually
RATING: PG
DISCLAIMER: not mine, nuff said
The latest plan to get the commanding officers failed when Neelix walked into the ready room and asked what kind of icing they wanted on top of their cake.
Kathryn stared blankly at him while Chakotay recovered quick enough to ask, “What cake?”
“For your reception, of course,” Neelix replied, as if it should be obvious. “I know you didn’t say there would be a reception but I did some studying of the database and it seems no wedding is complete without a reception.”
Kathryn was still silent.
“We’ll get back to you on that, Neelix,” Chakotay told him. “Right now, we are in the middle of something so could you excuse us?”
“Oh yes, of course.” Neelix began walking backwards towards the door. “I completely understand. If you could just let me know soon.”
“Understood, Neelix.” Chakotay watched as the Talaxian finally left.
Kathryn was finally able to say something. “Cake? For a wedding reception?” she gasped.
Chakotay shook his head. “This has Tom Paris written all over it. Let me at your computer a minute.”
Kathryn moved and Chakotay came around behind her desk. Within moments he had tapped into the ship’s messaging system. “Bingo!” he said as his captain stood up and walked over to the viewport. “Listen to this.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“The wedding invitation that we never saw. ‘You are cordially invited to join as we exchange vows of marriage. Holodeck Two, sixteen hundred hours, Friday February fourteenth. Signed Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay.’ Well, that would explain the looks I’ve been getting this morning.” He looked across at her. “I don’t know how the hell they were planning on getting us to attend though.”
She sat down on the couch and sighed. “How long can this go on for?”
He crossed the room and sat down beside her. “The thing is,” he said, taking her hand gently, “Is that they can see there’s something between us, even if they don’t know what it is.”
“But after all this time, you’d think they’d get over it and move on.”
There was silence for a while before Chakotay spoke again. “We could always tell them the truth,” he suggested.
She turned to face him. “You cannot be serious.”
“Why not?”
“Well, if you really want to be the one to admit that you ran off to join the Maquis on your wedding night, go right ahead. I’m sure the crew will love it.”
He pulled his hand away. “I guess when you put it like that,” he said stonily.
She turned to look out at the stars. “I’m just glad my family didn’t know. It would have been so humiliating.”
He stood up and stared at her. “I don’t believe this,” he muttered. “Kathryn, we’ve been through this. You said you understood.”
She smiled sadly at his reflection in the glass. “We did and I do. I’m sorry. Its just this latest thing.” She reached out blindly for his hand again. “And you don’t make it easy to get over.”
“That wasn’t my intention.” He sat back down again and grasped her shoulder, forcing her to face him. “Look, I know we talked about this when I first came on board but the timing was all wrong and I knew you were still hurting. But Kathryn, here we are all these years later and we’ve still not managed to let it go.” He looked her straight in the eye. “I know how I still feel about you. But do you feel the same?”
Kathryn nodded and her eyes welled with tears. “I did try to get over you, really. I thought I could have a future with Mark, but when he was so far away… What? What’s so funny?”
Chakotay was laughing. “Just how were you going to explain the situation to Mark anyway?”
She sniffed. “I was going to get an annulment only I got ordered to go on a mission to track down this Maquis terrorist and his merry band. Of course, if Starfleet had known I was married to you…”
“We wouldn’t be sitting here, having this conversation,” Chakotay finished. “See, I told you that eloping was a good idea.”
Kathryn smiled. “I didn’t think so at the time.”
“Well, you’re family would have wanted one style of wedding and mine would have wanted it completely differently.”
His face clouded at the memory and Kathryn instinctively shifted closer to him. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. She, too, remembered that fateful evening when, in the middle of their celebrations, his sister had called with the tragic news about his family.
“Isn’t it crazy,” he said. “How one day can turn out to be the best and worst day of your life?”
“Your best day?”
He slid an arm around her shoulders, drawing her up against his chest. “I had everything I ever wanted that day,” he murmured.
She looked at him, eyes glistening. “Really?”
“Yes,” he smiled. “Just as I do right now.”
He lowered his lips to her. The touch was tentative at first but slowly grew in intensity until both of them drew away, breathless. For a moment they sat there in silence, just staring at each other.
“Do you still love me?” Chakotay asked suddenly.
She blushed a little. “Yes, I do.”
“Then marry me on Friday,” he replied.
“What?” she gasped. “Chakotay, we already are married.”
“Yes, I know that but the crew doesn’t,” he said grinning. “But Tom has gone to all this trouble and Neelix is making a cake.”
Kathryn laughed. “Well, it would be the last thing anyone would be expecting.”
“Exactly.” He grasped her hands tightly. “What do you say?”
Her eyes gleamed. “Janeway to Neelix,” she said, activating her comm badge.
“Yes, Captain?”
“Make that lemon icing for the cake.”
At fifteen fifty hours the following Friday, B’Elanna called upon the captain to assist her in an engineering simulation on the holodeck. At the same time, Chakotay, who’d gone off duty an hour previously, was being called upon to play a friendly game of pool with Tom Paris. They met each other outside the holodeck.
“Ready?” Chakotay asked her.
“I’m more worried about whatever it is that Tom’s got planned,” Kathryn confessed. “And I’ve got a nasty feeling that Tuvok’s in on this as well.”
“Well, someone’s got to officiate,” he considered. “Okay, well, here we go.” Their hands grasped briefly before the doors to the simulation slid open.
A green field, edged with trees, lay before them. The majority of the crew had gathered, parting neatly down the middle to form an aisle, which led to Tuvok, stood at the head of the ensemble. Slowly, they made their way through until they reached the security chief.
“Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay,” the Vulcan began. “I must apologise for the deception. However, it was necessary…”
Kathryn cut him off with a wave of her hand as she and Chakotay turned to face their crew.
“Everyone,” she began. “I want to thank you all for coming here today. It means a lot to us. However,” she said, letting her gaze fall upon Tom in the front row. “You should know that we were not the ones to issue the invitation for you all to come and join us here today. But the mere fact that you are here speaks volumes to us about how you feel about this situation.” She looked at Chakotay and smiled.
He reached out for her hand. “Since you all made the effort to be here, we have decided not to disappoint you.”
A loud cheer went up which Kathryn immediately silenced with a raised hand. “Its not quite what you think though. And Tuvok?” She turned to her friend. “We won’t be needing you.” She smiled at his raised eyebrow.
“Ten years ago on this very day,” Chakotay began. “Kathryn Janeway made me the happiest man alive by marrying me.” He chuckled at the gasps that came from all around. “However, before we were able to tell anyone I received the news from home that many of you know about. My actions were the indirect cause of us all being out here and for that I apologise. But somehow,” he grinned. “This beautiful woman never got around to ending the marriage.”
Harry blinked. “You mean you’ve been married all this time?”
“And Starfleet doesn’t know?”
The answer to B’Elanna’s question came from her husband. “Of course not,” Tom retorted. “If Starfleet had known, Captain Janeway would never have been given command of Voyager. Hell, she’d probably be in a lowly administrative position by now, if they hadn’t already managed to drum her out.”
“Captain, Commander,” Tuvok interrupted. “My congratulations to the two of you. However, I must ask what your purpose is for today, since you are already married.”
Chakotay smiled. “Although we have technically been married for all these years, we have not lived as husband and wife. Therefore I have asked Kathryn if she would repeat her vows with me and she has said yes.” He turned to the woman standing at his side and took both of her hands in his. “Kathryn, ten years ago today you made me very happy as we pledged our love to each other. We promised to love and honour each other for the rest of our lives but then I dishonoured that love. Kathryn, the spirits have shown mercy on me by placing you back in my life and now I promise never to leave your side again, not only for as long as we both shall live but into the life beyond as well. For as the angry warrior found his peace standing at the side of the female warrior, so have I found my peace with you.”
Kathryn pulled a hand away to wipe furiously at her eyes. “Chakotay, I don’t know what to say. I certainly don’t have the way with words that you do but I’ll try. It wasn’t easy letting you go all those years ago but I understood why you had to go. I loved you so much that I had to let you go. When Starfleet told me who it was that I had to go after I knew, as you had taught me to know, that the spirits were watching over us. I am not a religious person but I truly believe that we were brought together to this place and to this moment. You give so much to me, Chakotay, yet you take so little. You are a constant in this world of mine and I give you so little in return. But I can give you my love, for now and for always.”
She smiled up at him. Without a word Chakotay pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. The crew erupted into cheers and applause as their commanding officers kissed.
Finally pulling apart Kathryn straightened her jacket. “There was one final thing,” she called out. “As you may have all guesses, we already knew about this little event, though I suspect the perpetrators had no idea of what the result of their stunt would be. But Commander Chakotay and I wanted to use this time to pledge a vow to you, our crew. It’s been seven years since we found ourselves here in the Delta Quadrant and a lot has happened in that time. We’ve covered a lot of ground but we still have a long way to go. On behalf of the commander and myself I pledge to you now that we will get Voyager home to the Alpha Quadrant. I have no idea how long it will take but we will get there.”
There was another round of cheering as she finished.
EPILOGUE
Tom Paris, chief pilot and failed matchmaker looked at the crowd around the table. “Okay,” he groaned. “Who told?”
“It was not I, Mister Paris, no matter what you might be thinking,” replied Tuvok, as several sets of eyes turned on him. “Neither did I know about their being married already. Contrary to popular opinion, I am not privy to everything in the captain’s private life.”
“So who did?” B’Elanna asked. “It wasn’t me.”
“And don’t look at me, either,” Harry replied.
Seven shrugged. “It did not seen logical to do so,” she commented. “If they had been told then today would not have happened. Or at least, it should not have happened.”
“But they knew, and it did happen,” Tom insisted. He looked around. “Who?”
His wife laid a hand on his arm. “Tom, perhaps someone came up and offered them their congratulations. It could be that simple.”
He sighed. “Yeah, well. Looks like the joke’s on us, doesn’t it. Who’d have thought it?” The gang shook their heads. “No more complicated matchmaking schemes for me,” he resolved. “Next year, I’m sticking to a simple party for Valentines Day.”
FINIS