Love Hangover
Rated PG
Kathryn Janeway’s Personal Log:
“We’ve been back in the Alpha Quadrant for eighteen months now, thanks to my older self. Chakotay and I were married one year after we returned. Now… After… Six months of… marriage… I’m… Oh, God!”
Kathryn made a mad dash to the bathroom without ending her personal log.
“Kathryn, are you alright?” Chakotay asked with concern as she came out of the bathroom.
“End personal log,” she said before answering his question as she headed for the replicator, “I’m fine. Hot tea, sweetened.”
“Tea?” Chakotay questioned as she removed her drink from the replicator and took a sip.
“Why not? It’s about time I gave up coffee.”
“You’re acting very strangely. Have you been drinking?”
“The only thing I’ve been drunk with is your love,” Kathryn teasingly replied as she walked over to him with a smile on her face.
“Kathryn, I’m serious! You’ve been sick every day lately.”
“Only in the morning,” she corrected him, a smile still on her face as she reached up to caress his cheek with the back of her hand. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but in a few…” She suddenly stopped and ran to the bathroom again.
When she finally returned, Chakotay stated, “Kathryn, I’m taking you to see the doctor. This has gone on too long.”
Ignoring him briefly, she returned to the replicator and breathlessly said, “Crackers. That should help.”
“Kathryn,” he said firmly.
“I’m fine, Chakotay!” She insisted as she suddenly pivoted on her heels to face him again. “If you would just listen to me for a moment, there’s nothing wrong with me that nine months won’t cure.”
“Nine months?” He looked shocked.
“Well, seven and a half now,” she informed him, relieved that she was finally able to say the words without him interrupting her or their unborn child sending something back up again.
“Seven and a half?” Chakotay looked completely confused.
“I’m six weeks pregnant.”
His face suddenly brightened as he ran over to her, “Kathryn, are you sure?”
“The doctor double checked my results yesterday afternoon.”
Chakotay excitedly lifted Kathryn off her feet as he held her close to him, “Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”
“I would have if you had woken me up when you had got home. Now put us down before you strain something and drop us.”
Chakotay gently placed his wife back on her feet, “We’re going to have a baby! I can’t believe it!”
“Believe it.”
“Six months! It took us six months!”
“Actually, four and a half. Remember, I’m six weeks along now.”
“I thought it would take longer, if it ever happened, because…”
“We’re not old, Chakotay!”
“No, but we’re not spring…”
Kathryn suddenly grabbed her mouth with her hand and pushed past him, as she mumbled, “I think I’m going to be sick!”
A few minutes later, Kathryn stepped out of the bathroom as Chakotay jokingly asked, “Was it something I said?”
“Shut up, Chakotay!”
“Only if the mother of my child lets me give her a kiss.”
Kathryn smiled and sauntered over to him, “Mister, you have yourself a deal!”
She threw her arms around him, kissing him passionately, a kiss that was filled with a lifetime of commitment. The warmth of his body next to hers enthralled her. Never in this universe would there be the lonely Kathryn Janeway filled with regret and sadness, whom the younger Kathryn had met eighteen months prior. That world no longer existed and never would. All of Janeway’s hopes and dreams were fulfilled in this universe.
When the kiss broke, Kathryn continued to hold her husband close to her as she asked, “Think you can put up with me being pregnant for seven and a half more months?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Chakotay grinned. “I spent seven years putting up with you on Voyager as we tried to get back home again. What’s seven months?”
“Chakotay, I love you!”
He started to kiss her again, when she suddenly pushed him away and added, “But I think I’m going to be sick again!”
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