Looks Aren't Everything 
Author: Cait N. 
Series: VOY
Pairing: J/V, J/C 
Rating: PG 
Beta: Janet and Mariel
Archive: CaFF 
Feedback: please! Alicat@netdot.com 
Website: http://www.asstr.org/~CaitN/

Author's Note: Written for the first round of the CaFF.
Sak was nice <snort> enough to draw Vorik for me.

Summary: Just as Chakotay has decided it's time to tell
his Captain exactly how he feels about her, he catches her
in a very compromising position.

Disclaimer: TPTB were too busy staring at Jeri Ryan's
cleavage to do anything meaningful with the show, so I
borrowed their characters for a bit. Unfortunately
Paramount still owns everything but this story.

* * * 

"Looks Aren't Everything" 
by Cait N. 
Copyright March 2002


Chakotay whistled as he put the finishing touches on
dinner. A late night repast in his quarters was going to be
the perfect ending to what he hoped would be a perfect
evening.

He left his room and headed down the corridor, a wildcat
on the prowl for its mate. He smiled at the fanciful image;
he was acting like a lovesick fool, which, in fact, he was.
Well, the fool part definitely. It'd taken him over five
years to realize that he was in love with his Captain, and
no matter how many times he encountered the icy, cold-
shouldering, protocol-spouting side of her, his love wasn't
going to fade away. Every time he butted up against her
stubborn nature, every time he saw the fiery indignation or
fierce determination in her eyes, it only made him want her
more.  Now, he was finally going to do something about it.

His fingers sought the small leather pouch in his left
trouser pocket. It had taken him countless hours to fashion
the piece of jewellery (nothing replicated for his
Kathryn!) and he was filled with nervousness over how it
would be received. 

He reached Kathryn's quarters, but before he could ring
the chime the door opened. Wearing a puzzled frown, he
stepped forward calling out, "Captain?" The doors started
to slide shut on him, and he jumped back quickly to avoid
being smushed. He stood in confusion as the doors opened
and closed, opened and closed, completely at random. 

Chakotay tapped his combadge. "Chakotay to Engineering."

[Torres here.]

The commander was taken a bit by surprise; according to
his shift logs her shift should have ended four hours ago.
"There seems to be a problem with the doors to the
Captain's quarters."

[Tell me something I don't know,] she replied testily.
[There's a malfunction with the gel packs controlling the
doors on decks three, six and eight. We're working on the
problem now.]

"Why don't you take the doors offline until you get the
problem fixed."

[If we do that, then the doors will stay either
permanently open or permanently closed.]

"Permanently open, then, we don't want to have to pull
engineering or security crews to continually open doors for
people."

[Then I'll field all the complaints about privacy to you,]
she replied, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"I'm off-duty; Tuvok can handle the complaints."

[We'll have the problem fixed as soon as possible. Torres
out.]

Chakotay tapped his combadge to close the link. Kathryn's
door was now wide open. During the exchange with the chief
engineer, there had been no sign of the captain. Chakotay
stepped slowly inside her quarters.

"Kathryn?" His query was met with silence. The cabin was
dim and empty. Chakotay walked around a little, trying to
think of where she could be. He was about to ask the
computer for her location when a padd on the corner of her
desk caught his eye. He walked closer so he could make out
the words on the display. 

*I'll meet you in Holodeck 2 at twenty-one-hundred*

Chakotay frowned, wondering whom she could be meeting in a
holodeck, especially considering the lateness of the hour.

His mind quickly made up, he strode out of her quarters
and to the nearest turbolift. If he just happened to be on
that deck. . . and just happened to be walking by. . . and
with the gel pack malfunctions, the holodeck doors just
happened to be stuck open. . .

The lift deposited him on deck six. He started down the
corridor, his feet moving slower and slower as he
approached his destination. He didn't slow down enough to
draw attention to himself, but it was slow enough that he
wouldn't go flying past the door and not be able to see a
thing.

The doors loomed ahead on his left. He casually stuck his
hands in his trouser pockets and walked slowly by. His head
turned to the left, looking through the stuck-open doors
into the holodeck. . . 

His feet froze, his eyes unable for a split second to
comprehend what he was seeing. There was Kathryn. . . his
captain. . . his love. . . kissing Vorik. Not a chaste kiss
on the cheek, as one might give a close friend, or a valued
crewmember; this kiss was on the lips and looked like it
had no signs of stopping.

He must have made a noise, though afterward he couldn't
remember doing anything other than standing and staring. 

The couple broke apart, both turning to look in Chakotay's
direction. "Chakotay?" Janeway said, approaching him. 

Chakotay turned on his heel and walked back to the
turbolift, not looking back, even when he heard her
footsteps running to catch up with him. 

"Chakotay!" she called out, but he kept on walking.
"Commander!" came next. There was no mistaking her "I'm in
command and not going to let you forget it" voice. He
stopped, not even bothering to turn around to face her. If
she wanted to talk to him, let her go the extra yard.

She stalked around him, her hands on her hips. "What is
your problem, Commander?"

"You don't know?" he asked incredulously. He had a hard
time believing she was that dense.

"No, I don't," her smile was tight and not very friendly,
"so why don't you enlighten me?"

"Here's really not the place."

"Your quarters then, now." Janeway turned and gestured to
the turbolift down the corridor. 

Chakotay, his face an unreadable mask, proceeded to walk
with her to the turbolift.  

He remained silent throughout the ride in the turbolift,
and she did the same. 'How could she pick him over me?' he
thought. Being honest with himself, he admitted that he and
Vorik were about equal in the looks department; there were
some that found the Vulcan's pointed ears a turn on, and
he'd been told on more than one occasion that his tattoo
was erotic. They were of the same height, though he was a
bit broader through the shoulders. Chakotay sighed inwardly
as they exited the turbolift and turned towards his
quarters. He knew exactly what the attraction was - Vorik
was intelligent, dedicated to his work as well as the
ideals of Starfleet, hardworking - all the same qualities
that Chakotay admired in the captain. To Chakotay's way of
thinking, it was only logical that she chose someone who
exhibited the same qualities that she did. It did nothing
to lessen the sharp ache that filled his heart.


The door to Chakotay's quarters was closed when they got
there, but opened up for him. He walked through hesitantly,
half expecting them to close on him before he got all the
way through. To his surprise, they were functioning
perfectly; B'Elanna must have worked her crew like ants to
get the repairs done. "Computer, lights," he ordered.

Janeway followed him through the door, stopping when she
caught sight of the now-cold dinner for two on the table.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter now," he answered taking a defensive
position on the other side of the room.

Fire flashed in her eyes. "Okay, Commander, just come
right out and say it - what is your problem?"

"I went by your quarters to see if you wanted to join me
in a late night dinner." He folded his arms across his
chest. "I saw the padd on the corner of your desk."

"The padd?" she asked in momentary confusion, then
realization dawned on her face and she continued, "Oh, the
padd about being in the holodeck tonight."

"Yes, that one."

"And so you went to find me and saw me kissing Vorik." 

"Yes," he said through tight lips.

"I still don't see your problem."

He sighed, resigned to the fact that her synapses weren't
working right and he'd have to literally spell it out for
her. "You - and Vorik. . ." He let the sentence trail off
so she could infer what she wanted.

Realization dawned again. "What? You think that Vorik and
I are involved?"

"Don't tell me you aren't," Chakotay said, trying to keep
the hurt from his voice. "I saw you kissing with my own
eyes."

"Of course we were kissing, we were rehearsing a scene for
play."

"A play?" he parroted. 

"Yes, Neelix has been bugging Samantha for months to help
him stage a play. She is admittedly very unorganized so she
asked Tuvok for help. He suggested Tysanius's  'Scientist,
Officer, Ambassador, Statesman'. It's based on the life of
Ambassador Spock; Vorik is playing his father, Sarek, and
I'm playing the part of his mother, Amanda." 

"But that kiss!" He gestured with his hands. "Vulcan's
don't kiss like that!"

"Not in public, maybe, but that doesn't mean we can say
for sure what goes on behind closed doors." Janeway put her
hands on her hips and tilted her head to one side. "The
script calls for one kiss between 'Sarek' and 'Amanda'.
Vorik expressed concern that he wouldn't be able to. . .
perform. . . the kiss in front of an audience. I offered to
help him practice the scene. End of story."

Chakotay snorted. "That was some performance I saw."

Her eyes darkened. "Just what are you so upset about,
anyway? That you thought I was involved with Vorik, or that
I was involved with someone period?"

It was Chakotay's turn to look uncomfortable. Now that the
moment was upon him, he found himself reluctant to put his
heart on his sleeve. She'd explained the kiss and he
believed her; the captain had always been brutally honest
with him.

"Chakotay?" she asked in a quieter voice. She walked up to
him and put her hand lightly on his sleeve.

He reached into his pocket and took out the soft leather
drawstring pouch. "I made this for you. I really came by
your quarters earlier to give it to you." He placed the
pouch in her palm.

Janeway looked into his eyes for what seemed to him for
like forever, then ducked her head and slowly opened the
leather ties on the pouch. She upturned it into her palm,
and gasped, as the silver caught the light. 

It was a necklace, the links tiny and slightly uneven,
attesting to the fact that it was handmade. On the end
dangled a small triangle to which three silver charms were
attached.

"The coffee is, because I hope that your 'cup always
runneth over'," Chakotay started to explain in a low voice.
"The bathtub is to remind you of the time on New Earth, and
to remind you that I'll always be here to pamper you, when
you've had a stressful day and want to unwind. And the
handcuffs are, because I never want to let you go," he
finished. He held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

Janeway held the necklace out to him, looking into his
eyes again. "Please?" she asked.

Chakotay let out the breath he'd been holding and smiled.
He took the necklace and unfastened it while Kathryn turned
and presented her back to him. He gently placed the
necklace around her neck and fastened it back. Unable to
resist, he dipped his head to nuzzle in the corner of her
neck and breathe in the fresh, flowery scent of her hair.
He'd dreamed about doing that again, ever since they'd left
New Earth. 

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Her voice was low
and laced with desire.

"I tried, Kathryn, I honestly tried, but I can't do it,"
he admitted. "I can't just pretend this attraction doesn't
exist. I can't do it, and to hell with protocol and
Starfleet regs." He turned her around to face him, his eyes
caressing her face. "We're out here, light years from home.
I don't think there's anyone on this ship who wouldn't
understand."

"I. . ." She hesitated, and he steeled himself for her
rejection. He would not cry in front of her, he wouldn't!
"I think we should take things slow, actually go on a
couple of dates and spend more time together, off duty."

Chakotay felt his knees threaten to buckle. "Does this -"

"Yes," Janeway answered, cutting him off. Her soft
fingertips caressed his lips. "I think we should start
seeing each other romantically."

He smiled, closing the short distance between them, intent
on doing for real what Vorik had been acting at earlier.
"Kathryn, my love," he whispered as his lips touched hers,
"you've made me the happiest man in the Delta Quadrant."

"Because I said 'yes'?"

"Because Tom owes me twenty credits now for winning the
pool," he answered, laughing.

"You ass!" Janeway said, pushing ineffectually against his
chest.

"I'm only kidding," Chakotay said, pulling her closer and
nibbling at the corner of her lips.

"Um-hmm," she said, kissing him back. "Just remember I
deserve half of those credits."

"I can't fool you for a minute, can I?" His lips traveled
down the smooth expanse of her neck.

"Chakotay, I know you by heart." Her words trailed off on
a moan as his mouth caressed the hollow of her throat.

"Oh really?" he teased. "So what am I thinking right now?"

"That you want to kiss me again." Janeway pulled his head
back up for another kiss.

"Yes, ma'am." Chakotay was only too happy to comply.

THE END