Disclaimer: The characters of Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, and the Doctor aren’t mine...just borrowed them. Christine, however, is my own invention. I’ve kind of put a twist on the novel Mosaic. Also, I’ve assumed that for my story, Kathryn and Chakotay have begun a relationship. (TPTB really need to learn that it’s inevitable <G>) This is my first attempt at Fan Fiction to ever wind up in print. Usually they just swim around in my mind frustrating me by my inability to get them on the computer screen. So please bear with me if it stinks. Feedback is welcomed. Please be kind but constructive.
Christine
by Ris (not to be confused with another author on the net by the name of Riss)
January 1999
The promenade of DS9 was loud with celebrating crewmen. The young girl watched from a distance. Her attention was focused on a woman with auburn hair and gray eyes. She was being lifted and swung around in midair by a dark haired man with a tattoo on his forehead. Voyager had come home!
“Chakotay! Put me down!” Kathryn laughed.
“Can’t help it, we’re home and I feel like celebrating.” He replied.
With a wicked grin, Kathryn replied, “Oh? Care to take the celebration somewhere a little more private?”
“As much as I’d love to, I think maybe we should wait until a little later. I think the crew needs the Captain present for a more public celebration.”
“Damn, let’s let Tuvok be Captain for a while so we can escape.” She grinned.
“As if you’d even think about letting someone else take your place as Captain, especially today of all days.” Chakotay paused, “Kathryn we’re really home.”
Voyager had come upon a wormhole earlier that afternoon. When they sent a probe through it showed a passageway to the Alpha Quadrant, more specifically, close to DS9. The probe showed the wormhole to be stable so Voyager passed through. Two hours later they were docking at DS9, and the party had begun.
The young girl slowly came closer. Her eyes never left the older woman. She watched as Kathryn and Chakotay began to mingle with other crew members, sharing smiles and good wishes. She waited until they were again alone before coming to stand directly behind Kathryn. She couldn’t believe she was finally this close.
Chakotay noticed her out of the corner of his eye and started to turn. Then she spoke.
“Kathryn Janeway?”
Kathryn tuned, “Yes? Can I help you....” When she saw the girl her voice trailed off.
“My name is Christine, I’m your daughter.”
Kathryn was stunned. For once in her life she was speechless, but her mind was racing. Who was this girl? What game could she possibly be playing? She knew that her claim was impossible. She’d never had children. But there was definitely a resemblance.
Chakotay was stunned. How could Kathryn not have told him she had a child? He tried to guess her age and placed it as around fifteen or sixteen. There was no doubt in his mind that the girl was speaking the truth. She looked exactly like Kathryn. Her hair was a little darker, but they had the same face, the same chin, cheekbones, and definitely the same eyes.
Just as Kathryn was about to get her voice back and start voicing her questions, Chakotay spoke up. “Let’s take this somewhere a little more private.” He had noticed that they were receiving quite a few curious glances from nearby crewmen and he knew that Kathryn would not want whatever was about to happen made so public.
Kathryn apparently agreed, because turning and motioning for them to follow her, she headed back to the ship. They were all silent as they made their way to her ready room. The ship was deserted, all the crew were currently on DS9, so they didn’t have to endure anymore questioning looks. Once they were safely in her ready room Kathryn turned to Christine.
“Who are you, and how the hell do you get off making a claim like that?” she angrily demanded.
“Look, I know this is hard to believe, but just hear me out, ok? Please?” she pleaded. When Kathryn showed no signs of calming down, Christine turned to Chakotay. “Please, she needs to hear this.”
Chakotay looked into those eyes that were so like Kathryn’s and said, “Kathryn, what can it hurt to listen to her.” He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
Kathryn visibly relaxed, she directed her next words to Christine “All right, I’ll listen. But you should know that this is impossible, I have never had a child.”
“No, you never gave birth, but you were pregnant once.” When Kathryn was about to interrupt, Christine held up her hand, “Please, you promised to listen.” Kathryn sank down onto her couch and motioned for the others to be seated as well.
When everyone was comfortable, Christine continued, “I was raised by a Dr. Steven Blake and his wife Carol. For the first years of my life I thought they were my real parents but recently I found out they weren’t. Carol died about five years ago, on an away mission, and a few months ago just before Steven died from an illness he told me my story.”
“Almost sixteen years ago they were stationed on the starship _______, when it responded to a distress call from Tau Ceti V. A shuttle had crashed killing two people and the third was in need of medical attention. She was beamed to sickbay and Steven tended to her.”
Kathryn shifted uncomfortably, she knew this part of the story a little too well. Chakotay watched her, she had told him about the accident on the Terra Nova when they began their relationship. It explained to him why she was so hesitant to get close for so long.
Christine continued, “Dr. Blake healed the woman’s injuries, but there was one thing he couldn’t fix. She was two months pregnant and wasn’t safely able to carry the baby. Her injuries had been too severe.” Kathryn’s eyes widened at this but she continued to say nothing. “Steven and Carol had not been able to conceive a child together despite trying for several years, so Steven transplanted the baby to Carol’s womb. Carol believed that the young woman didn’t want her child, but he told me that she never knew she was pregnant.”
“That woman was named Kathryn Janeway and I was that baby. After Steven died I came here. Everyone in the Alpha Quadrant knows the story of Voyager and her Captain. I came here because this is the last place that you had been before Voyager disappeared. I wanted to see if I could find out anything about you. I planned to go to Earth soon to try to find your family. Before I could do that we got the word that Voyager had just come out of a wormhole and you were back.”
Kathryn was once again speechless. She thought about the girl’s story and despite herself she found herself believing her. She remembered back to the accident. She remembered not feeling well that morning and Justin having to drag her out of bed. She teased him about keeping her up late for too many nights in a row. When she got sick she rationalized it as fatigue. She had never even thought that she could have been pregnant with Justin’s baby. *Justin’s baby. His baby and mine.* Her eyes widened and her face paled as she looked at the young girl before her. Her hair was almost as dark as Justin’s had been, and her facial expressions were familiar. She remembered seeing some of those same looks on Justin’s face. But this face looked just like hers.
Chakotay could see the war she was fighting with herself. He leaned closer to her, “Kathryn, there’s one way to know for sure. We could have the Doctor run a DNA scan. That would tell us if she’s your daughter.”
Christine looked at Kathryn, “I’m willing if you are.”
Kathryn thought about it for a few moments and then decided, “Fine, let’s call the Doctor back to the ship and then get to sickbay.”
Christine sat on a biobed as the Doctor ran his scans. Kathryn and Chakotay stood apart discussing the situation.
“Chakotay, what’s your opinion on this? Do you think she’s telling the truth?” Kathryn asked.
She still didn’t want to believe that this could be true. Chakotay looked into her eyes, “I think she’s telling the truth, Kathryn. There’s something about her that seems sincere, and there’s no denying that she looks just like you.”
“I know. I see it too. I see Justin in her too. I guess I know that she’s telling the truth, I’m just not sure how I feel about it. Chakotay this is overwhelming. I created a child almost sixteen years ago, and now that child has shown up in my life. What are we supposed to do? How do we deal with this? What does this mean for us? I have so many questions and I don’t know any of the answers” she looked at him with tortured eyes.
“Kathryn, ask yourself this, if you had known you were pregnant then, how would you have felt about it? Would you have had the baby if you’d had the chance?”
Kathryn was silent for a few minutes as she thought about his questions. She remembered how she had felt about Justin and how she felt after the accident. It had nearly destroyed her. She had loved him so much. She suddenly knew that she would have loved their child. She still had that chance. She looked at Chakotay and said just one word, “Yes.”
Christine had been listening to their conversation. They thought they were out of range but she had excellent hearing. When she heard that one word tears welled up in her eyes.
The Doctor finished his scans, “Captain, my scans show that Christine’s DNA is a complete match between yours and that of Lt. Justin Tighe. There can be no doubt that she is your child.”
Kathryn looked directly into Christine’s eyes and saw the tears that were gathered there. She realized that the girl must have heard the conversation between her and Chakotay. She knew that there were similar tears in her own eyes. “Well, I guess that settles it. Shall we go home? You have a grandmother and an aunt to meet. They are going to love you. I have a feeling that I will too.”
Before she could even finish speaking, the tears had spilled over on Christine’s cheeks. She was off the biobed and in Kathryn’s arms instantly.
For a few minutes they held each other and then Kathryn heard her words echoed back to her softly, “I have a feeling that I will too.”
The End