Chapter Text
The Gage
Kathryn studied her new uniform in the mirror. She had to admit, she quite liked the new turtleneck and jacket combination. Glancing at the reflection of the man entering the bedroom of their new shared quarters, she decided she quite enjoyed the look of the new uniform on Chakotay also.
Just as she began pinning her pips in place, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. Distracting from the delicate operation with kisses to the other side of her neck.
"If you keep doing that, I'm going to be late for my first shift on the bridge."
Chakotay doubled down on his efforts, a hand gliding up from her stomach to brush against her breast through the jacket. "I'm sure the first officer won't mind."
"Captain Freeman might," she insisted, stepping out of his hold and turning to glare at him.
He grinned.
"You're a terrible influence," she admonished, walking past him to the main living space.
He followed after her, "You're certainly more fun to influence than the previous XO."
Kathryn rolled her eyes.
Leaving their quarters, and heading for the bridge, Kathryn was quietly thankful that Chakotay kept his hands to himself in the turbolift. Usually she enjoyed his affections wherever they were, but she was nervous enough about her first day without his distractions.
"Commander Janeway, reporting to the bridge," she presented herself to the ship's captain.
Alonzo Freeman stood from his chair, his lips spreading into a wide smile as he greeted her. "It's a pleasure to have you onboard, Janeway," he said, and then with a knowing glance at his chief tactical officer added, "And good to have you back too, Chakotay."
"Good to be back, sir," Chakotay agreed as he took his station.
"How was the honeymoon?" he asked, with a knowing smile towards tactical.
"I brought back a souvenir, Captain. I hope you don't mind," Chakotay joked.
The bridge chuckled, but Kathryn could have throttled her husband; it was going to be difficult enough maintaining professional boundaries serving on the same ship together, without Chakotay's candour.
Freeman didn't seem to mind, a smile still present on his lips, as he turned back towards Kathryn and invited her to join him in his ready room.
She followed him across the deck to a side corridor which led to both their offices.
"Can I get you a drink?" he asked before the doors had even closed.
"A black coffee would be lovely," she admitted, and following the gesture of his hand, took up a seat on a couch by the port hole.
"How are you settling in?" he asked.
"I've just about unpacked."
Freeman carried two hot drinks over and sat beside her; she silently noticed his preference for tea.
"We were quite lucky to secure you in this post," Freeman said conversationally. "Chakotay has always spoken very highly of you, but I have to admit, I hadn't read your file until you were suggested for the role. Quite frankly I was impressed."
"Thank you," she said politely.
He took a sip of his tea. "I understand you applied to be my head of science, but the application was rejected before it even hit my desk."
"My background is in the science track; I thought I would enjoy returning…" she began to explain.
He waved her explanation away, "I know the desire to find a posting together with a spouse. My wife Carol and I, have needed to make similar decisions over the years."
"I understand your wife was the ship's previous first officer," Kathryn entered cautiously, feeling out the boundaries with a new captain.
He smiled fondly over his cup of tea. "For the last two years," he said proudly. "As such, this crew is accustomed to serving with senior officers who are married. You and Chakotay will fit right in."
Kathryn relaxed a little. "I hope so. This will actually be our first time serving together."
Freeman raised a curious eyebrow. "You didn't meet aboard the same vessel?"
"No. We met on Earth," she said, remembering her sister's gallery opening, and their chance encounter. She decided against mentioning the one night stand which had transformed into a fling when they'd found themselves on the same command training course.
"Well, in that case I'm going to offer you some advice, Commander…" Kathryn braced herself. "Relax."
At the word she raised an eyebrow, as the man across from her let out a light chuckle.
"This is a family ship, Janeway," he said lightly, as he pointed to a photo on the side of a teenage girl and older woman. "My daughter lives aboard with me, along with nineteen other children and families. We perform our duties to the best standard, but this crew is a community, and we try to have some fun whilst we're working."
Kathryn's mind wandered back to her last posting on the Billings. The smaller research vessel barely had enough room for couples quarters, let alone children. Gage was a galaxy class vessel, with a crew complement of over a thousand. It would be somewhat an adjustment.
"Give me a few days to get my bearings, and I'll do what I can to… loosen up," she said, with a small smile.
Freeman placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "See that you do," he agreed.
Sensing that Freeman was ready to dismiss her, she drained the last of her coffee and stood.
"And Janeway…" he said, before she could make for the exit. "Sometimes it's difficult to find the right balance between professional and personal interactions. The easiest thing is to over compensate, and be harder on those we're close to. But it's okay to have favourites, just as long as when it's crunch time, you have your priorities straight."
Kathryn hadn't thought about it that way before. It certainly gave her food for thought. She could see why Chakotay liked Freeman, and serving aboard the ship.
****
Weeks passed, and before they knew it, six months had gone by. Kathryn and Chakotay settled into a familiar routine aboard the Gage. It was difficult at first, to find the right balance, but when they found it, it felt like striking gold. Everything was so easy between them.
No longer did they need to worry about falling out of subspace range, or coordinating their next shore leave together. He was there at the end of every shift, cooking dinner whilst she finished reports. Off duty they shared holodeck time, and socialised with the crew. Chakotay's tight group of friends became hers, and the friends she made became his.
Kathryn thought she'd found contentment when she'd met Chakotay, but living together in space was another scale of wonderful.
Creeping into their quarters after a Beta shift, Kathryn quickly slipped out of her uniform, and climbed into bed beside her husband. He barely stirred in response to her presence, so she reached for him, smoothing her hands down his bare back and spooning up behind him.
Lifting onto an elbow, she raised up just enough to press her lips to the side of his neck, then his jaw line, before moving onto his shoulder. She grazed the flesh with her teeth. That got his attention . She heard a quiet grumble from him, but he remained insistently asleep.
Kathryn slipped her hand down, beneath the covers, grabbing his hip, before reaching for his ass.
"Kathryn…" he gave a sleepy complaint.
"I'll do all the work," she whispered against his cheek, her hand drifting around to find his manhood.
"I thought you might have been satisfied from this evening's- ah," he let out a shuddery breath as her palm moulded around his growing erection.
"I can never have enough of you," she insisted.
Chakotay rolled onto his back, seemingly happy to encourage her gentle strokes.
With her husband now ready and in position, she swung a leg around his torso, and moved to straddle him. With hands braced on his smooth, broad chest, she leant down to kiss him, her hair falling to tickle his cheeks.
Needing the friction, she rotated her hips, rubbing the edge of her clit along his shaft. Chakotay let out an agreeable sound, so she sat up a little more, and reached around to take his penis in her hand, to guide it to her entrance.
Sensing what she was about to do, Chakotay grabbed hold of her hips to still her advance. Kathryn looked down and met his gaze with a questioning smile.
"Do you need me to help get you ready?" he asked, explaining his hesitation.
She offered him a knowing grin. "No, I'm ready for you," she breathed, as she encouraged his hands to relax and took back control of their movements.
She'd known she was wet, but it wasn't until his tip began to part her folds that she realised exactly how ready she was. In a single, slow motion, she had engulfed his entire shaft within her vagina. They both let out satisfied grunts at the welcome feeling of their joining.
Kathryn waited only a moment before she began to move against him. Lifting herself up and down, impaling herself repeatedly on his hard dick.
They built up slowly, neither in any rush, knowing that the reward would be even greater with some patience. The room filled with only the sounds of their staggered breathing, and the wet friction of their joining.
It was Chakotay who called out first, a gentle warning that he wouldn't last much longer. In response, Kathryn increased her speed and the pressure to her clitoris, until they were both fighting back orgasms.
They came simultaneously, in a sudden swirl of ecstacy. His ejectulation timed with the fluttering of her vaginal walls.
"Spirits, Kathryn," he said breathlessly as she collapsed against him, "You can wake me up for that anytime."
Curling against his side, she slipped an arm around his middle, smiling triumphantly to herself through the darkness.
The dynamic between them had been everything she'd hoped for, and more. The sex especially. Serving with Chakotay had proved an experimental success, and laid the foundations for what she hoped would follow.
"What if you were woken in the night for other reasons?" she probed tentatively.
She could almost feel his frown. "What other reasons do you have in mind?"
Kathryn lifted herself up a little, so that they were face to face. She wanted to gauge his reaction to the proposal she had been mulling over for weeks. "I wondered if you might like to try for a baby?"
Chakotay's jaw dropped, and she realised she had caught him completely unawares. Had she really edged so far around the idea that it should come as a complete shock to him?
"A baby?" he repeated carefully.
Suddenly Kathryn doubted herself; doubted his intentions within this marriage. "Only if it's something you want," she quickly offered him an out, "If you're ready?"
Chakotay reached up and affectionately cupped her face in his palm. The small smile which curved at his lips was the first giveaway that this was something he might be agreeable to. "Of course it's something I want," his grin deepened to reveal two gorgeous dimples, "I'd love to have a baby with you."
In a single swift motion, Chakotay rolled them over, so that he was on top, braced above her on two forearms. He leant down for a long languid kiss, before pulling back to smile at her again.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Kathryn nodded earnestly. "Yes, I'm sure," she assured him, having never been so certain of anyone or anything in her life.