I take a deep breath as I mentally put on my captain persona and address the crew once more, "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway. I've never liked saying good-bye, so I'll make this brief. I want you all to know that serving as your captain has been the most extraordinary experience of my life. No captain could ask more than what this crew has given - bravery, compassion, and strength of character, but I think what I'll miss most is the fun, the times we joked together, the games on the holodeck. I'll remember the laughter more than anything. Although Commander Chakotay and I won't be with you for the rest of your journey, we know that you'll be the same steadfast crew for Mister Tuvok as you have been for us. We wish you a safe and speedy journey home. Our thoughts will be with you. Janeway out."

My strength as captain was slipping away as I feel a tear roll down my face and I say the last few words. I know I am going to miss them dearly.

Chakotay puts a hand on my arm to comfort me and I place my hand on his in return. “I’ll be fine.”

“We’ll both miss them,” he tells me sympathically and I know he means it. Still, I continue to fight back the tears.

“I know, but in time, it will get easier.”

End POV.

A few days later, they were more relaxed as they were settling into their new home. Chakotay had been busy trying to make a home for them, while Kathryn had been trying to find a cure for their condition.

“OK, I need you to close your eyes,” he told her, wanting to surprise her with what he had been working on the last few days.

“Why?” Kathryn asked guardedly.

“Because it won’t be a surprise if you see it before I’m ready for you to see it.”

“What if I trip over something?”

“I promise you, I won’t let you trip over anything. Now close your eyes.”

Chakotay guided her as she walked blindly in the direction he was leading her. To Kathryn, it seemed like a long walk to their destination. Anxious to see what it was he wanted to surprise her with; she felt like a child on Christmas day.

“OK, you can open your eyes now,” he told her as they stood before a large oval shaped tub.

“A bathtub! Chakotay, you built this?” She could not believe he had done that for her. She wanted to grab him and hug him, but for some reason she refrained from doing so.

“I did,” Chakotay replied with his dimpled grin.

Kathryn loved that smile and she knew just could not resist it. ‘If only I could show him just how much I appreciate him, but I can’t.’

“It’s wonderful! But you shouldn’t have,” she replied as she caressed the side of the tub in an effort to keep from throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

“I wanted to. I figured it was the least I could do for you.”

“Such wonderful craftsmanship! Where did you learn to do this?”

“My father taught me.”

“You know what I’d like to do right now, Chakotay?”

“Take a bath?”

“You read my mind,” she replied with an appreciative smile.

“It really wasn’t hard,” he smiled back at her. “I’ll just go inside and finish the painting I was working last night.” He started towards the house so that she could have some privacy.

“Chakotay?”

“Yes?” He inquired as he turned back to face her.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” and with that he headed to house.

‘God I love that man!’ Kathryn thought as she turned back to the tub.

Finally, the tub was filled with warm water and Kathryn slowly submerged herself into the tub, enjoying the liquid warmth that surrounded her. She sighed with satisfaction as she lay back against the wall of the tub.

‘Kathryn Janeway's Personal Log, Star date 49690.1. Day 24 of our stay on the planet we've named "New Earth". As of yet I've been unable to make any progress in finding a cure for our illness, but a soak in the tub Chakotay built will hopefully help me focus on possible solutions.’

She smiled as thought about how much love must have gone into making the bathtub for her. “He can be so sweet.”

“Chakotay, are you there?” She needed to hear the sound of his voice.

Somehow being in the open air, although behind a wall of privacy, made her feel a bit vulnerable. On Voyager, she would have had plenty of privacy and the computer playing some soft music as the bathed, but there was no computer to play her favourite songs on this planet.

“No, I left an hour ago,” he replied jokingly.

She smiled and shook her head, “I was thinking, maybe looking for protein co-factors is the wrong approach. Even if I can't find a specimen of the insect that infected us, I could try to learn something about the bio-molecular evolution of this planet's ecosystem.”

Back in the shelter, Chakotay was working on a sand painting as he listened to her talk. He was not sure what to think about her suggestion, so he gave the only reply he could think of, “Can't hurt to give it a try.”

‘She’ll never give up and just accept being here,’ he thought sadly.

Outside, Kathryn jumped as suddenly heard a noise not too far from her. Startled, she cried, “Chakotay!” She jumped out of the tub and quickly wrapped a towel around her body.

Alarmed, Chakotay discarded the sand that was in his hand and rushed out of the house. It did not take him long to reach Kathryn’s side.

“What’s wrong?” He could feel his heart pounding hard with worry. Are you alright?”

“Someone's in the woods!” She stated excitedly as she sounded uncharacteristically vulnerable. “Over there. It looks like some kind of primate.”

“I've detected primate life signs here, but I've never seen one,” Chakotay informed her. He was not sure how to react.

“He’s cute,” she commented when the little ape became visible. Then she beckoned to him, “Hello. Are you hungry? Is that why you came here? I'm Kathryn. He's Chakotay. We've had to move into your neighbourhood, but I hope we can be friends.”

Chakotay watched her as she spoke to the creature. ‘She’s so cute, but does she really believe he understands her?’

Kathryn sighed with disappointment as she watched the monkey depart from them, “Maybe he'll come back.”

“Looking for a pet?” He asked with a smile and briefly thought about how beautiful she was.

“No. I’m looking for a clue about primate physiology on this planet. They must have to contend with insect bites too.”

‘I can’t believe I’m standing here, talking to my captain and admiring her while she is dressed in nothing more than a towel! I think I need to get back into the house,’ Chakotay thought as he looked at Kathryn. He felt his arousal building and knew he had to get away from her before he did something he probably shouldn’t.

“Maybe we…” She stopped in mid-sentence as she realized why Chakotay was looking so uncomfortable and pulled the towel tighter around her. ‘Oh God! I’m not dressed and he’s staring at me,’ Kathryn thought. ‘This can’t be good.’

‘If she knew what I was thinking, she’d take her phaser and shoot me!’ Chakotay thought as he tried to conceal what he was feeling.

“Um, excuse me,” he said awkwardly and departed for the house. ‘Spirits!’ He scolded himself. ‘I can’t believe I was starring at her in a towel! She is beautiful though. Stop it, Chakotay, before you get yourself into trouble!’

Once she was back in the shelter, Kathryn wrapped a robe around herself. Then she walked out into the living area and began to work again on trying to find a cure for what ailed them.

“Maybe we should be out looking for other primates. I might be missing something important,” she commented, not mentioning a thing about their previous encounter.

“Kathryn, the Doctor worked for weeks trying to find a treatment for this disease.”

“Yes?”

"You've been at it twelve hours a day, seven days a week since we got here, and we're still no closer to a cure than we were the day we were infected.”

“I'm not sure what you're getting at,” Kathryn asked puzzled.

“My people have a saying, ‘Even the eagle must know when to sleep’. Maybe it's time we both considered that.”

“You mean quit, give up?” She was obviously not ready to do that, her determination was very apparent.

“Why do you have to see it as defeat? Maybe it's simply accepting what life has dealt us, finding the good in it.”

“There may be a day when I'll come to that, Chakotay, but...” She paused for a moment before continuing. “I'm a long way from it right now. I need to keep looking.”

‘She is so damn stubborn, but I guess that is one of the things I love about her. I just wish she could accept the fact that we maybe here for a very long time, maybe a lifetime,’ Chakotay thought with a sigh. ‘She might be a lot happier if she could do that.’

The next morning, Kathryn was hard at work again. She was not about to give up, but Chakotay did not say another word about it. He just let her go about keeping herself busy.

“I'm going to check the insect traps in Beta 4. What are you up to now?” Kathryn asked Chakotay.

"Making headboards…”

“Headboards?” She asked with shock.

“I've noticed you sometimes sit up in your bed to read. Figured you might as well have a comfortable backrest.”

“That's very thoughtful of you, Chakotay. You've done so many things to make our lives easier. The cooking for example. I hate to cook.”

"But what I do makes you uncomfortable doesn't it? Every time I do something that adds a personal touch to the shelter, you resist it."

Kathryn sat down on a nearby stump, “Sometimes it feels as though you've given up, that you've focussed on making a home here instead of finding a cure that will let us leave.”

"I can't sacrifice the present waiting for a future that may never happen. The reality of this situation is that we may never leave here. So yes, I'm trying to make a home, something that's more than a plain grey box."

Kathryn stood and anxiously headed off to check the traps, "Someday I may have to let go, but not today, ok? I've tried a new glucose bait in the traps. I have a feeling this might be the day I make a breakthrough."

She walked off to check traps, leaving Chakotay behind and frustrated, ‘I just wish she could accept having to be here. I know she appreciates what I do, but I don’t think she appreciates it like I would like for her to,’ Chakotay thought as he went back to work on the headboards.

Kathryn was in the woods checking the traps when she heard a sound. She was hoping Chakotay had decided to keep her company.

“Hello? Chakotay?” Kathryn stopped when she saw her little friend again. She smiled as she addressed the monkey. “Hello again. Well, you certainly cover a lot of territory. Or are you following me? Do you understand me? There. Know what that is? That little insect just might be what gets me out of your backyard. What do you think of that, huh?”

The monkey excitedly pointed toward the sky.

“What is it? What's happened to the sky? If you're suggesting I should get out of here, I agree.”

Storm clouds gathered overhead and the wind began to blow. Kathryn and the monkey ran for cover as the trees bowed to the hard gusts of wind. She kept tripping and falling over the debris that the wind tossed about, but she continued to clutch the case with the samples in it close to her. Finding it hard to keep her balance as the wind blew even stronger she fell again.

“Kathryn! Kathryn! Are you hurt?” Chakotay yelled with panic in his voice as he helped her to her feet again.

“No. I couldn't keep my balance while carrying the case.”

“Give it to me,” he ordered.

“What's happening?” She asked as she handed him the case.

“It seems to be some kind of storm. Our tricorders don't recognize it, but it sure packs a wallop! I don’t think we want to stick around to find out what it is exactly, either.”

Once inside the shelter, they ran to the table and crawled under it for safety. The roar of the storm grew louder just as gale force winds tore the roof off the shelter allowing the rain to pour in on top of them.

Chakotay tried to comfort Kathryn by holding her close to him, as the storm howled through the house. All they could do was watch as the turbulent storm tossed all that they had around the place. They started to wonder if the table would be enough to protect them as they felt the force of the storm grow even stronger. Then the raging wind knocked all the samples Kathryn had collected to the floor, causing them to shatter.

“Oh, no!” Kathryn cried as she watched the samples fall. She tried to break free of Chakotay’s grasp as she saw all her hard work destroyed by the storm.

Chakotay clung tighter to keep her from going after what was left of the samples. He knew if she left the shelter of the table, she would be seriously hurt.

The blustering wind, flying debris, and hard rain caused Kathryn to surrender and bury her face into Chakotay’s chest. She felt defeated once she realized there was nothing she could do.

Chakotay was not sure if she was crying or just protecting her face. At that moment, he did not care. All he cared about was keeping her safe from harm as he closed his eyes to stop the sting of the small particles that hit his face.

The storm continued to rumble through the house for several more minutes, battering them and anything else in its path. It seemed like almost a lifetime before it finally stopped as fast as it had begun.

Slowly, the two of them emerged from their shelter and looked at all the disarray that left behind in the storm’s wake. Everything that they owned was strewn across what was left of their home. Some of was salvageable, the rest had been ruined and left unusable.

Chakotay watched Kathryn as she examined the remains of the samples. Her hair was a mess and she was soaked from the rain, but he was thankful she was unharmed aside from a few scratches.

“Well, so much for that,” she sighed with defeat.

“Let's check outside. Maybe some of the insect traps are still intact,” Chakotay suggested hoping it would give her some encouragement.

As the two of them walked outside to see what was left of the equipment they had, Chakotay knew she was sadden by the loss of her research. He wanted to say or do something to make things better for her, but he was at a loss.

“None of this is salvageable either,” she stated as she tried to hold back tears of defeat. “There's no way I can continue to do my research now,” Kathryn informed him sadly.

“I'm sorry,” he replied in sympathy. He truly felt bad for her and wanted to comfort her, yet he also hoped that she could move on with life on the planet now.

“Well, that's one way of letting go,” she stated as she tried to shake off her feelings of failure.

They heard a noise and turned to see what it was. It was their furry friend again.

“You’re back!” She said with a smile as she squatted down to the ape’s level. “You were trying to warn me about the storm weren’t you?”

He made a soft vocal sound and nodded as if he had understood.

“Thank you,” she replied with a smile. “You come to see if we are alright?”

“You still think he understands you?” Chakotay asked with a smile. ‘I love how she appreciates animals and she so damn cute when she talks to them. I wonder how she was with her dog.’

“Well, I think he was trying to warn me about the storm when I saw him last. I’d like to believe that at least.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was, but I don’t know if he can understand you.”

“Oh he’s a smart little monkey. I think he does,” Kathryn insisted with a smile. Then she addressed the primate again. “I’m glad to see you found shelter and are safe too.”

Once the monkey was sure his friends were fine, he ran back into the woods.

“Well, so much for that,” Kathryn said as she dusted off her dress.

“I don’t think you can domesticate him, Kathryn.” He was glad to see something finally bring a smile to her face.

“I don’t want to domesticate him,” she insisted. Then she looked around at the storm damage once more and the distressful look returned to her face. “Well, maybe I do, come to think of it or at least make a friend of him. There’s no sense in trying to find out what keeps them from getting sick from this virus now.”

“Oh, I think you’ve made a friend already,” Chakotay reassured her as he tried to hold back a chuckle. “He seems to like you.”

She smiled at him, “Maybe, but I think we need to begin cleaning this mess up.”

“Why don’t we clean up inside, have dinner, and call it a night?” Chakotay suggested. “We can always take care of this tomorrow.”

“You’re right,” she said as she cast aside a broken petri dish. Then she observed him. He too was wet and had a few scratches on his face and arms, but was otherwise unharmed. Finally, she added, “The important thing is, we are both alive and fine.”

After a nights rest, they began cleaning up after the storm. Kathryn appeared to be in better spirits, which Chakotay was glad to see. Yet there was still a feeling of loss as they picked up the remaining debris.

“I've been thinking,” Chakotay said thoughtfully as he admired her green cat suit. ‘Green suits her well,’ he thought before continuing, “There's plenty of wood available here. I could probably add rooms to the shelter; give us a little more living space.”

“How would you mill it?” Kathryn asked curiously.

“I could do a certain amount with a phaser, but I was actually thinking of logs.”

“As in log cabin?” She asked, as she seemed to be more accepting of their plight.

“I built a few of them when I was growing up. My father thought it was important that I learn how.”

“When I was young, my parents took us on backpacking trips. They thought we should all keep a connection to our pioneer roots. I hated it. No bed, no replicator…”

“No bathtub,” Chakotay added.

“No bathtub. I guess I was always a child of the 24th century.”

“Well, maybe those camping trips helped prepare you for life here.”

“Oh, no! Life here is much better than that,” Kathryn said with a smile as she thought, ‘It’s much better, because you’re here and making a home for us.'

“I think that's the first time I've heard you say anything positive about being here.” Chakotay was almost certain that Kathryn was finally accepting the fact they were on the planet to stay, possibly for a lifetime.

There was the sound of someone approaching and they both turned to see who it was. It was their furry little friend who had apparently come to check on them, at least in Kathryn’s opinion.

“Well, hello there,” Kathryn kneeled to greet the little primate. “I haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been?”

“Do you really expect him to answer you?” Chakotay asked as he kneeled down beside her.

“Not really. I just sense intelligence in him, and I could swear he came to warn me about the plasma storm,” she told Chakotay. Then she went back to talking to her little friend, “Come here, fella. Come on.”

“I doubt that he can be domesticated, at least not very easily,” Chakotay scoffed.

Satisfied that his human friends were fine, the creature went back into the forest.

Disappointed that their guest had left so soon, Kathryn sat down on a nearby rock. “Well, we have plenty of time; the rest of our lives,” she finally said.

“That's a long time. At least I hope so,” he smiled at her as he grasped one of her hands in his. ‘She is so beautiful, especially when she is relaxed and not concentrating so much on successful perfection.’

There was a brief pause between them as they stared into each other’s eyes. Both of them were yearning for the other’s touch, even for a moment.

‘God he smells good. I wonder if he’s wearing cologne or if that is the soap he uses.’

Kathryn finally broke the silence between them, “Well, I can't give you orders anymore but I can suggest that we get back to work.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Chakotay replied jokingly.

Part Two- PG Version

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Part Two- NC-17 Version

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