Chakotay kept closing his eyes and opening them again. He reached out to touch Kathryn, who wasn’t beside him as he had expected her to be. Letting out a frustrated sigh he got out of bed and walked tot the living room “computer lights twenty percent” he said, looking around whole the room quickly brightened but Kathryn wasn’t there.
Rather than asking the computer to locate her, he put jacket on over his pyjamas, leaving quarters he made the short walk along the corridor to Kathryn’s hoping that she’d be there. Using his override code he entered, looked around but still couldn’t find her. Her comm badge was on her desk where she’d left before they had dinner together.
He left the empty living space, opting to stroll around the ship, hoping that he’d find Kathryn engrossed in an engineering task that B’Elanna had left for her, like she often did before their time on New Earth.
~
Approaching the mess hall, chakotay spotted a lonely figure in the far corner with their back to the viewport and feet resting against a chair, enjoying a late night drink.
“So this is where you’re hiding?” he said trying to keep the obvious relief out of his voice.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Kathryn looked at the source of the intrusion to her alone time. “Did I wake you?”
Chakotay shook his head. “No, I didn’t even hear you get up.” He glanced at her partially drunk beverage, before moving her feet from the chair and sitting down, placing her feet on his lap. “What are you drinking?”
“Cranberry and mint tea,” Kathryn replied, trying to forget about the sickness bug she had while they were on New Earth and couldn’t keep anything down apart from fruit infused teas for several days. “I thought it might help me sleep but all I keep thinking about Is New Earth and what we’d be doing with our day especially as it was coming into spring.”
“Homesick?”
Kathryn nodded, wiping the threatening tears with the back of her hands. “Something like that but it’s more that I feel like..” she gestured around the room “I’m just a guest on this ship.”
Chakotay gently rubbed Kathryn's feet. “I know what you mean. I keep thinking that I’ll wake up and we’ll be back there. Making love, working on our projects, exploring our home and just trying to make the best of it.”
“I’ve been tempted to do something rather ridiculous,” Kathryn stated, eyes sparkling as she got the hidden thought out of her head. “Stealing one of the shuttles and going back to the planet.”
Chakotay let out a soft laugh. “I’ve had the same thought myself. As much I came to love our life on the planet, I love our life on Voyager more.”
Kathryn smiled at the sentiment of his statement. “Maybe we should try to get some sleep, we’re on duty soon and we’ll need breakfast.”
Chakotay removed her legs from his lap, standing, he held out his hand to her. She accepted the offer, linking their arms they made their way out of the mess hall to the turbolift to go back down to their quarters.