PART 3
The darkness of night fell heavy on their shoulders as they went deeper into the woods and farther away from Henry, the renegade Q and the castle.
“Anyone have any clue where we’re going?” Tom muttered and tried to stifle a yawn that did not fit with the seriousness of the situation.
A Big plop! of a noise resounded in the night and Q whined, “Mud! I hate mud. I hate the woods. I hate camping. I hate all of you!”
“So then why did you bring us here?” Chakotay muttered and put his hand gently on Kathryn’s back, as she walked in front of him. It was more to comfort himself by knowing she was safe and there with the rest of them than for any other reason.
“This wasn’t the way the –“ Q started but then just as quickly was stopped as he tripped over a fallen log and landed with another plop! in a face full of dark, brown, gooey, chunky mud.
Kathryn couldn’t help but snicker.
“Did you actually just laugh at that poor man’s demise?” Chakotay chuckled.
Kathryn bit her bottom lip, quieting herself as quickly as she could and reached a hand down to her fallen former anachronistic host, “Up you go.”
“I want the continuum,” Q sighed.
“And I want a coffee,” Kathryn glared as she helped to steady Q on his wobbly legs. “But we don’t always get what we want.” She started off again into the pitch blackness with Tom and Chakotay. She didn’t bother to look back to see if Q followed because his voice confirmed his presence.
“And you’re an expert on that, aren’t you Kathryn Janeway!” Q hollered.
Chakotay pushed a sharp branch out of his way and tried to keep the pace that Kathryn was suddenly increasing in speed. “Q, let it go.”
“Just like you always let her go?” Q asked from behind. “You’re both ridiculous! Avoiding the obvious!”
Tom sighed as he swatted at some mysterious bug that suddenly crawled up his neck in the dark. “Can we find a place to settle in for the night? I’m being eaten alive by creatures of the night.”
“The Commander and I do not avoid anything,” Kathryn huffed and Chakotay perked his ears up to see what else would follow.
“Captain?! Can we stop now! Something has just crawled down the back of my shirt,” Tom practically screeched.
“Chakotay, see what’s eating Tom. We’ll stop in five minutes, Mr. Paris. And you,” Kathryn turned sharply around coming nose to nose with Q, “If you ever criticize the relationship that the Commander and I share, ever again, It won’t be that renegade Q you’ll have to worry about.”
“Touché,” Q smirked knowing he had pushed a KJ button and gotten a response. “But who said I was criticizing?”
“This looks like a good spot,” Chakotay said rather too cheerily as he stepped between Kathryn and Q.
“The ground?!” Q asked.
“Find a tree and hug it,” Chakotay glared at him.
“We should pair off for body heat,” Kathryn stated as she moved to find a nice big trunk that she could lean against during the night.
“Typical. This is becoming such a cliché,” Q smirked.
Chakotay walked by and muttered low enough for only the former omnipotent being to hear, “Let the woman be obvious in her own way, would you?”
“Paris and Q –“ Kathryn stated.
“No,” Tom groaned.
“You’re together.”
“Don’t think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, blondie,” Q warned.
“That leaves you and I,” Chakotay stated and walked toward where Kathryn was settling on the ground, spreading her layers of skirts out around her.
She looked up to where Chakotay stood; behind him the full moon’s bright white light shone down on them boldly. Kathryn patted the ground next to her.
“You know,” Chakotay stated as he sat down and then scooted over to have his right side touch her left side. “If I remember my history correctly,” he tugged at the loose material of the Kilt that was thrown across his chest and over his shoulder. “These things could be used as a blanket at night.”
“Just don’t unroll it all the way,’ Kathryn smirked. She allowed him to drape it around her shoulders and she couldn’t help but move in closer to where he was as her body shook slightly from a spell of coldness.
“What do you mean?” Chakotay asked as he sat stiffly next to her, enjoying the reassurance of her nearness but not quite familiar with the territory of what was and was not acceptable.
“I’ve been meaning to ask what you’ve got under that skirt of yours,’ Kathryn looked at him seriously and blinked. It was all she could do to keep from laughing at his expression.
“It’s a kilt, a kilt, Kathryn,” Chakotay defended.
“Yes of course,” she stated.
A strong gust of wind ripped through the air and Tom Paris elbowed Q in the ribs.
“Stop that! You’re hurting me,” Q glared. “And you’re hogging all of the trunk.”
“It’s not my fault this forest isn’t big enough for the both of us,” Tom glared right back. They both silenced themselves as soft laughter from the Commander and the Captain resounded over across from them in the darkness.
“Look at them,” Q said haughtily. “Makes me sick.”
“You’re the one who started all of this!” Tom reminded.
“Moi?! No, If this story were going the way I intended it to, they would be far more than friends,” Q clamped his jaw shut.
Tom struck him with a steady gaze, “You mean to tell me that you were playing matchmaker?!?”
“So hard to believe that I’m a sucker for bi-pedal love?” Q rolled his eyes. “I do have a wife and baby Q at home you know,” he reminded.
“I don’t buy it for a second.”
“I didn’t cry wolf! You’re the ones who had to play bravehearts and ruin the plot!”
A passage of dark clouds past over the full illumination of the moon blocking out what natural night light they had been receiving only moments before.
“Will those two ever shut up?” Kathryn muttered as the darkness enfolded. “What’s a kidnapped Captain have to do to sleep with her Commander around here?”
Chakotay didn’t move, he didn’t blink.
“I’m sorry—“ Kathryn stumbled embarrassed. “That sounded wrong – I meant – That is to say—“
“We should get some sleep,” Chakotay stated softly. His heart was playing a little pitter-patter of a tune called ‘disappointment.’
“Yes, we should,” Kathryn stated softly and with a bit of reluctance that was more obvious than she had hoped for.
“Unless of course you can’t sleep?” Chakotay spoke up.
“Actually, I’ve got some things on my mind,” she said.
“So do I,” Chakotay stated as well.
The silence between them did little to ease their discomfort.
“Warm enough?” Chakotay asked the first thing that came to mind.
“Can I take up a little more space?” Kathryn moved into his open arms. She didn’t sigh she didn’t smile nor did she breath as he brought her in close to him.
“Take as much as you want,” Chakotay replied softly.
In that moment, she understood. She felt his warmth, she was so close to him that she could, for the first time, hear his heart beating.
Chakotay breathed in the cold night air softly, he moved his cheek to rub against the top of her head; feeling the softness of her hair beneath his skin, he sighed with pleasure.
The moon’s light had yet to resurface from behind the dark clouds. He could barely see her and she could barely see him. But they could feel each other, feel every movement that was made.
If Kathryn had ever thought of ‘carpe diem’ it was in that instant. She could feel Chakotay’s cheek rubbing affectionately back and forth across the top of her hair. Her fingers dug gently into his shoulders as she kept him close to her for all it was worth.
What she did next, she did without any thought or worries . . . she moved her face upward into the dark . . . her eyes adjusting only enough to see the silhouette of a man she had come to know and love so dearly over the course of seven years.
Her hand reached up and out of the plaid blanket to feel for his face and skin. Touch his forehead, where she knew his tattoo resided, she spoke softly, “Now would be a good time to for you to kiss your lady.” Her breath, which carried the words out into the open, was so hot against the night air that even she knew it left its mark in a cool display of affection.
“My lady?” Chakotay said, his words suddenly close to her ears in the darkness.
Kathryn shivered as soft lips kissed her bare neck in the space of seconds.
“Yes,” she breathed softly.
Chakotay moved his lips up to Kathryn’s earlobe as he suckled the soft and delicate skin there. He nibbled on her earlobe and felt a rush of male satisfaction as the rate of her breathing became more ragged. “My lady,” he breathed the confirmation into her ear as he gently lowered the both of them to the ground. In the darkness, every sense of feeling of smell of taste was accented by their inability to see each other.
Kathryn let go of reason and of reluctance and ran her hands up and under Chakotay’s loose white Scottish shirt. Her hands moved over solid abdomen muscles and her hands went up to squeeze his shoulders as she encouraged him to go on in his attentions to her.
“Are you sure?” Chakotay groaned and went to kiss her lips. He pressed his firmly to her own, feeling the warmth that was accentuated there; his tongue slid into her mouth and was greeted in return with her own. When he tried to pull away from the kiss, she caught his lower lip gently between her teeth and refused to let him leave her so soon.
Kathryn let go reluctantly, searching in the darkness to find his eyes,” I’m the Captain.” Her breath was short, ragged. “I’m always sure.”
That was all he needed to know as he pushed himself up on two steady knees to take off his shirt. Throwing it over his shoulder, he moved down again to kiss Kathryn. His hands searched for the laces of her bodice.
“Oh, Chakotay,” Kathryn murmured against his lips.
“Kathryn,” Chakotay greedily took her mouth with his.
“Chakotay,” she took her hands to his back and ran her nails across his skin. She smirked when he bucked suddenly at the rough but sexual touch.
“Damn Kathryn!” Chakotay suddenly collapsed on top of her and hit the ground. Both of them were out of breath.
“What?!” Kathryn was shocked.
“How the hell do I take that bodice off?!” Chakotay said passionately in a quiet whisper. “It seems to be a rather good deterrent to sex,” he chuckled finally.
Kathryn groaned but then chuckled too. “Don’t worry about it,” she stated softly. She reached out blindly and found his hand, taking it toward where she lay on the ground bellow him.
Chakotay felt her guiding his hand toward warm skin. He took a small breath in as he felt the smoothness of her thigh; when his hand was guided up, he had a pretty good idea of where his final destination would be.
Kathryn spread her legs and place Chakotay’s solid touch to her womanhood. That was all the guidance he needed as he moved in to quiet her moan with another full kiss.
Chakotay moved his finger around her wet, soft sex and felt his own manhood growing with the need for fulfillment. He grunted with surprise as Kathryn’s hands had snuck down to push up his kilt.
Soft hands moved down to grasp his shaft and he lost concentration on the ministrations he was dealing out to Kathryn.
“Oh God,” he moaned, and cleared his throat in nervous realization that he may have been a little loud. His sex had grown to full sized and he wanted nothing more than to enter her and make love to her completely and freshly.
“Chakotay,” Kathryn stated as she moved her hands to cover his buttocks, pushing his shaft near the opening of her womanhood. “How about a little highland fling?” she taunted like a wench with no decency.
He could wait no longer. With one solid push he was inside the warmth that was her; feeling the tight wetness that squeezed at him, he responded as any man would . . . with yet another powerful thrust.
The hot tension of orgasm was building in Kathryn. She moved to spread her legs wider and wider, trying to allow more of him inside of her body. She could feel Chakotay nearing his own pleasure and so she took her legs and wrapped them around him – holding him in close and letting her own feminine sex finish off what he had started.
Moving his mouth to hers, they both were lost in kiss of confirming love at the moment of their release.
Q Sat up in the darkness, nudging his fellow human blanket, “Wake up!”
“What?” Tom said sleepily. “What the hell do you want?” Tom sat up just as the moon came out from behind the clouds – once again filling the darkness with a bit of light. Tree leaves and bits of twigs stuck to his messed hair.
“Did you hear something?” Q hissed.
“No,” Tom rolled his eyes.
“I know I heard something!” Q hollered.
Both men looked to where the Captain and the Commander sat, together, against their tree trunk.
“Well it’s not them,” Tom yawned.
“Are you sure, blondie?” Q asked.
“Positive.”
“But—“
“Go to sleep Q!” Tom thudded back against their own tree trunk.
“You know—“
“No.”
“They might have—“
“Not possible.”
“I know I heard something.”
The shadows of night clouds passed over the moon, blocking out any further evidence for the night.
B’Elanna’s face was bright read as she read the next line, “Kathryn Janeway didn’t regret having sex with,” she cleared her throat which was suddenly stuck, “Chakotay.”
Harry Kim was busy pacing the room. Tuvok sat silently on the sofa in the Captain’s quarters, his hands forming a triangle of a temple that was directed towards his lips in thought.
“Who the hell wrote this?!?!” B’Elanna’s voice rose as she scrolled back to the previous paragraph. “The Captain wouldn’t—“
“Wouldn’t she?” came a sudden, intruding, deep feminine voice from behind all three of them. Tuvok stood calmly up from his sitting position, Harry Kim halted where he had paced and B’Elanna whirled around to face a rather surprising visitor.
In the doorway to the Captain’s bedroom stood Q; not just any Q but the lady Q who had caused so many problems on Voyager before she had mated and produced a baby Q to unite the continuum.
“What the?!” Harry Kim started.
B’Elanna jumped as with a snap of the lady Q’s fingers the PADD she had been reading disappeared from her hand and into the omnipotent being’s grasp.
“Rather steamy section—“ she stated as she scrolled.
“That’s none of your business!” B’Elanna started forward but Tuvok stepped in front of her.
“You are looking for your mate?” Tuvok asked.
“Oh I know where the bastard is,” she muttered. “Why he cares about this crew of bipedals is beyond me. No offense,” she added with a smirk as she walked into the room, hitting the PADD against the palm of her hand.
“None taken,” B’Elanna glared. “Give us the PADD back.”
“As if you know how to use it?”
“It’s standard Starfleet issue,” Harry stated.
“No shit Sherlock,” she eyed him, up and down, making the young ensign gulp and then moved along. “But you have no idea what it does beyond that. The story that is.”
“That’s our clue,” B’Elanna stated, though she had felt it all along in the bones of her sturdy frame, it was finally confirmed. “In that story is what we need to get the Captain back.”
“Yes, but you’d go about it all wrong with your simple minds,” the Q stated. “And I have a child who needs his daddy back by bedtime!”
“So you are saying that up until this point,” Tuvok began, “everything that we have read has already happened in the past. The Captain was in Henry the VIIIth’s holding. Your husband, Q, lost his powers to a renegade Q . . .”
“And the Captain and the Commander had sex?!” Harry ran a hand through his hair.
“Then we should finish the story!” B’Elanna started forward, ready to take back the PADD.
“Ah ah ah,” the lady Q held it out of her grasp. “The more you read the more out of control things will get. No, this story needs a few more characters before it can get interesting and resolve itself.”
“You mean – with each section we read – we only confirm and create the events?” Harry asked.
“Yes,” the Q smiled.
“But then that’s good! We should let it play out! Your husband wrote it – no doubt he had a plan in the end . . .”
“That plan altered the minute the other Q came into the picture,” she stated with anger.
“So you’re saying that the Captain, the Commander and Q are currently victims of plagiarism?!” Harry asked with a bit of bafflement.
“If the plot is out of control and the ending is undetermined – what do we do?” B’Elanna asked.
Tuvok stepped forward and held out his hand, “We rewrite it.”
“Vulcans,” the lady Q smiled, flinging her long red tresses of hair back of her shoulder with a swift movement. “Always so damn smart.”
Snap. Snap Snap. Snap Snap Snap Snap.
“Tell him to stop,” Tom scratched his arm and warned Chakotay.
Snap.
“Give it up,Q” Chakotay scratched his cheek and warned for Tom.
Snap.
Kathryn Janeway scratched her neck and winced with each snap of Q’s fingers. This had been going on for twenty minutes too long. They were lost in the woods. They had gone in circles for the past hour and when they had finally found another route, they had walked ignorantly into a patch of poison ivy.
Snap snap.
“Enough!” Kathryn stated. “That’s an order,” she breathed, trying to calm herself.
“We should just sit here and wait. We’re doomed to die,” Q wailed. “And here I was so very up and coming as the proud father of the first continuum baby in over fifty millennium. Oh my poor son,” he sat on a trunk and itched his nose passionately, “orphaned at a young age!”
“What happened to your wife?” Tom asked, itching his back as best he could and went to sit next to Q.
Kathryn stopped and turned to face Q, hands on her hips, “Yes? What did happen to her? With one snap of her fingers she could’ve saved us all from this mess.” She regarded him and the situation with cool anger.
Chakotay, on the other hand, didn’t remind Kathryn that if their situation had been remedied earlier then they wouldn’t have shared themselves with each other the night before.
Though, what she had said made sense. They did have a responsibility to get things in order, to the ship, to the crew and themselves. There was more at stake here than just their relationship . . . or so he tried to remind himself.
“No doubt she’s trying to teach me a lesson,” Q huffed.
“One that will no doubt have you dead in the end,” stated a voice that all of them were expecting to turn up sooner or later.
The renegade Q had hunted them down. Though that hunting had probably been composed of retracing the same five miles in a circle for the past two hours.
Kathryn stood tall and turned to look at the ‘man’, “What do you want with us.”
One steady finger pointed out toward the other Q, “Him.”
Their Q gave a slight gasp and hid behind Tom Paris.
“Oh sure – now you like me,” Tom muttered.
“Why? These recent events certainly do not concern you,” Kathryn stated calmly. Her calm seemed to take the other being off guard for a moment as consideration flickered across his face.
“That’s right!” Q hollered, “I was just trying to write in a little action, adventure and sex into their little lives.”
The other Q focused on him again, “For millennium after millennium you have been nothing but a pain in my plans.”
“As if your plans were any more important than mine?!” Q accused.
“I went far beyond the continuum and far beyond you – then you come here, taking into your sick amusement my King!” the renegade Q accused.
“Are you still upset about Cleopatra? How was I to know that Anthony—“ Q started.
“You are a pest in my timeline and I will rid you of your own personal history once and for all,” he stated as he raised his hand.
“No!” Kathryn Janeway hollered.
A snap resounded.
The other Q looked puzzled for a moment and then snapped his fingers together. Nothing happened. He whirled around and was confronted with a rather dangerous sight.
A large crack, as though the heaven’s above roared with thunder.
Chakotay, Tom and Q gasped as a large trunk spilt down its middle fell on top of the other Q.
“How?!” Tom asked.
From out of the woods walked a rather haughty woman with red hair. “Never underestimate the power of a woman,” she smirked, held her fingers like a gun and blew imaginary smoke from their tips. “Besides, I snap-to faster than any man ever could.”
“Sweetie!” Q rushed towards his wife who had, just in time, taken the snap from their enemy and saved the day.
“Captain? Commander?!” B’Elanna Torres hollered as she, Harry Kim and Tuvok came following from out of the woods. “Are you alright?”
“Fine,” Kathryn affirmed calmly, though her heart raced. “Lieutenant how?”
“Me!” the redhead smirked.
“Honey, sugar, darling, dear,” Q went on. “I could use my snap back.”
“You’ve embarrassed me and your son,” she stated with a glare.
“I only wanted to share our joy!” Q reasoned!
“With those two?!” the lady Q nodded in the direction of the Captain and the Commander.
B’Elanna, Tom, Tuvok and Harry watched quietly in the distance.
Kathryn and Chakotay stood frozen, disheveled and speechless where they were.
“They were almost frigid!!!” Q explained! “Little touch here, pat on the shoulder there, hand shake here, smile there, bitching that they’re alone, making holographic boyfriends, resorting to dating species 8 something something something, angry warrior legends . . . on and on it went until the story got stuck!”
“So you went to un-stick them?” the lady Q asked.
“Exactly!” Q grinned.
“Oh,” she gushed, “How romantic!”
“Excuse me,” Kathryn Janeway said.
“Never knew I had it in me did you?” Q asked her.
The lady Q moved forward and raised her hand upward, ready to snap, “Kiss me, lover!”
“AHEM!” Kathryn Janeway cleared her throat.
“Kathy,” Q glared. “You’re ruining our moment here.”
“Take us back to Voyager. Now.”
The lady Q rolled her eyes, “She can be such a b—“
Snap.
In the flash of a moment, it was as though they had never left, never gone anywhere and never done anything out of the ordinary. The bridge was cool with its fresh, recycled air and the sensors chimed happily to themselves.
Kathryn looked around to make sure her anachronistic party was accounted for. She reached down to smooth nervous hands over her Starfleet slacks and noted, with relief, that she was once again a Captain.
“Everyone is accounted for,” Chakotay moved close to her.
“So it seems. But where did our two unwanted guests go?” Kathryn looked around sharply.
Q and his lady Q with the baby Q flashed into their existence again. If Kathryn Janeway didn’t know what trouble they could wreck, she would’ve said they were picture perfect as a family.
“You’re so rude sometimes,” Q accused. “Did you have fun?”
“Did we—“ B’Elanna roared in the background but quieted.
“Q,” Kathryn Janeway started forward. “In the future – if you ever decide to interfere with Voyager’s day to day activities again – I’ll find a way to personally ruin your continuum days.”
“Is that a promise?” he asked with a smart grin.
“Aren’t you going to thank me?” the lady Q smiled. “I took my talents and put a simple end to a rather complicated story.” She balanced the baby Q on her hip with a slight bouncing movement.
“No.” Kathryn stated with firm lips. “We’ll bid you adieu and be on our way.”
The lady Q snorted, “You can stay and play with the bi-pedals but I have more important things to do.”
“Sweetie? My snap?” Q reminded his mate.
“Men. So demanding.” With a snap she restored him to Q state and then in the next second she was gone as quickly as she had came.
Kathryn breathed one sigh of relief – now if only she could get rid of one last problem for the day.
“Q,” Kathryn started.
“No need, no need,” he held up his hand . “I will leave you to your boring existence.”
“It was just fine until you came along,” Chakotay moved to stand next to his Captain.
“Reeeeaaaally?” Q asked. He was suddenly enlighten with his omnipotence and could recall exact events of the past he had not been previously privy to.
Chakotay turned a deep shade of red and Kathryn’s jaw dropped slightly before she clamped it shut.
“Time for you to go,” she ordered.
“Just remember,” Q gathered them close to him, as he whispered for their ears only, “You wouldn’t have gotten any if it weren’t for the time you spent together in the past.”
“Out!” Kathryn hollered and behind her her bridge crew wondered what had just transpired.
In a snap, Q was gone.
“The end?” Harry asked from somewhere behind them.
“There should always be an epilogue with these things, you know,” Chakotay stated as he eyed me from across the table.
"I personally would prefer an ending,” I smiled and took a sip of coffee. It had been too long since I had had a solid cup o joe and enjoyed Chakotay’s company in private. Not much had been said on what we had shared; I was fine with that as all we could stand to do was rest since our journey back to Voyager.
“It’s been one hell of a week,” Chakotay agreed. “From the Doctor to Q to—“
I had to hold up my hand to silence him, “Let’s not go through the list.” I didn’t want the chain of events to lead back to another awkward moment. But as with all things close and personal, they can never be avoided.
“I have to ask,” he started.
I actually didn’t want to groan, I wanted to hear him and to know.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Do you think Q had a point in that sick plot of his?”
“Maybe,” I agreed, holding the warm cup of coffee in my hands and thinking to myself.
“Did we act of our own free will? Especially since someone else had written the course of events we were to follow?” Chakotay asked, his eyes never leaving my own.
I had no absolutely accurate answer to give him. And so I spoke of what I did know.
“Do we ever? Sometimes, when you think you have complete control over a situation you have nothing at all. And other times, it’s the exact opposite,” I stated. I looked down into the dark liquid held in my cup - solitary, calm and strong.
I could feel the silence build and then just as suddenly I perked up to the feeling of its possible end. “You have a question for me, Commander?”
He smiled. “Yes. If you could’ve changed the story,” he cleared his throat, “our story . . . would you have?”
I looked at the man who sat across from me, waiting. He was the cornerstone of my life – new and old – steady and changing. Pushing my chair out from behind me, I walked over to him.
My legs bent, and I knelt before him, my hands desperately searching out the warmth that he had shared with me so recently ago, and I was rewarded with him meeting me halfway.
“Truth be told,” I leaned close to him, and it was so close I could feel the breath from his mouth hitting my lips. “I was hoping for a sequel.”
Chakotay reached for me, and swept me up in his arms where I was hostage to no one but him. “Your wish,” he smiled, “is my Command . . . . my lady.”
THE END!
