By Kay Shadow
Disclaimers: Paramount owns the universe but I�m the owner of Shane.
Author's note: for the sake of the story, I'm assuming Kathryn and Chakotay are married and they have a little girl named Shane.
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Kathryn Janeway was strolling around her ship, completing her weekly tour. She was now on her way to the Children�s Center to pick up her four-year old daughter, Shane. Kathryn still had shivers running down her spine as she thought about the evening before.
Chakotay had arrived home and told her that Shane would be arriving a little later. Together they had almost literally jumped at a chance to make love without needing to be concerned that their daughter would be overhearing them. But, things rarely work the way you plan them to as Kathryn and Chakotay had been forced to realize. As it was, Shane had arrived just a few minutes too early and had caught her parents� well, in action.
Later the three of them had had a serious talk about grown-ups and about the things that happened behind (usually) closed doors. The most difficult moment had been when Chakotay tried to explain Shane that just because mommy was screaming, it didn�t mean she was hurting. At that point Kathryn had been beyond words. She had been planning on telling her daugher these things, yes. But maybe 20 years from now.
In the end, they had sworn Shane not to tell anyone. They both knew that the girl was a bigger blabber mouth than the Doctor, and he was once known as the biggest gossip on the ship.
After Shane had been put to bed, Chakotay had tried to reassure Kathryn that one day they�d look back and laugh at this whole thing. Well, maybe. But so far she didn�t find it amusing at all.
Reaching the Children�s Center Kathryn pushed these thoughts to the back her mind and stepped inside where she was immediately greeted by 9 of Voyager�s now 10 children and Samantha Wildman.
"Hello, Captain." Samatha had to raise her voice to be heard above the noise.
"Hello, Sam." Kathryn grinned. "Has Shane been behaving today?" she asked, knowing what a trouble maker the girl could be at times. Chakotay often joked that Shane must be Kathryn�s clone, so much they were alike. Had Shane not had her father�s color of skin and hair, Kathryn probably would have believed it herself.
"Shane was just great, Captain. Though Nathan�s been sulking the better half of the day when Shane said she had a secret she wouldn�t share with anyone. I think it�s their biggest fight yet." Samantha was clearly amused.
Kathryn gave a shallow imitation of a smile and wondered just how much of this �secret� had been told.
"Mommy!!!"
Kathryn opened her arms, welcoming Shane into a big hug. "Hello, goldenbird. Mommy missed you. How was your day?"
"Great. We got to paint with water colors and I painted the forest from Sekury IV and�" as Shane continued listing the days events as Kathryn took her hand and lead the way out, nodding to Sam on her way.
"Mommy? I want to see Flotter today!", Shane said.
"Honey, remember that we�re having your uncle Harry and aunt Seven over for dinner tonight. We can go and see Flotter tomorrow, ok?"
"No! I want to see Flotter today!" The �Janeway voice� was more than evidently there. Not about to back down. "Tomorrow you might be too busy!", Shane insisted.
Kathryn felt a pang of guilt at the child�s words. It was true that too many times their family moments had been either cancelled or interrupted because of ship�s business. Sometimes it was still hard for Shane to understand why Mommy couldn�t just reschedule red alert just like she could almost everything else.
"Sweety. We invited Harry and Seven a week ago. We need to keep our promises the best we can. And I promise you that I�ll do everything in my power to make sure we�ll go see Flotter tomorrow, ok?"
"But Mommy�" Shane tried once more.
"Shane Kiernan Janeway. I said no." Kathryn said seriously. The girl�s face showed reluctant acceptance.
"Tomorrow, then? Promise?"
"I already said yes. Maybe daddy�ll come too." Kathryn suggested.
A wide smile spread across Shane�s face at the thougth of her dad joining them. "Yeah!" Then noticing that they were not on their way to the messhall nor their quaters Shane asked where thery were going.
"Mommy needs to pick up a report from the bridge. It won�t take more than a few minutes." Kathryn promised. "After that, we�ll go home and hopefully daddy will have our dinner on the way."
Immediately after arriving to the bridge, Shane wriggled her hand away from her mother�s grasp and ran to the helm.
"Shane, no running on the bridge!" Shane could hear her mother�s voice raising with a notch, but paid only little attention. Sometimes all Kathryn wanted to do was to throw her hands in the air and call it quits. Let the girl have her fun. Voyager would be unsalvagable in less than a week.
Looking at Shane now, Janeway felt a smile tugging the corners of her mouth. Shane was asking a whole bunch of questions from Tom, naturally expecting easy answers to them all.
Suddenly Shane bounced from Tom�s lap and ran up to the Engineering station. "What�s this one for?"
*I swear she�s being more reckless today than ever before. * Aloud Kathryn said, "Shane! This is your last warning. No more running on the bridge!"
Shane looked up at her mother and nodded. "Okay. But what�s this one for?"
Kathryn moved closer to see to see exactly what the girl was pointing at. "That one controls the energy distribusion. Makes sure every place has enough energy so that Voyager can run smoothly."
"What happens if I push this one?" Shane asked, pointing at another light at the panel.
"That would cut the plasma flo in the warp core." Janeway explained.
"Can I try it?"
"I think you�re Aunt B�Elanna would be happier if you didn�t," Tom put it his two cents.
As Shane frowned Kathryn added, "You see we�d stop right here and it would take a lot of time for B�Elanna to fix it. And right now, I�m sure she�d be happier if she got to spend time with Josh than with the engines."
"Okay." Shane seemed to accept it and was up and heading for the Ops. Again, running. This time Kathryn caught her arm and stopped Shane in the middle of the Command Center. "That�s it! Shane Janeway, if you can�t behave for 10 minutes you�re off the bridge!"
Shane was about to protest but Kathryn grabbed the two PADDs she�d come to collect from Tom and headed for the �lift. They almost made it inside the �lift before Shane said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Well, you still have to keep your promise about Flotter tomorrow or I�ll tell the Doctor about how I came home last night and daddy was on top of�"
Shane never got to finish as her mother, the great Captain Kathryn Janeway literally shut the girls mouth with her hand and ushered her inside the turbolift. As the doors closed she could hear Tom�s snickering. Great! Just great!
"Deck five, Captain�s quaters." Janeway leaned against the wall of the �lift, covering her face with her hands.
"Mommy are you ok?" Shane was a bit worried. Maybe she�d crossed the line.
"Umm� I�m ok, sweety. Just ummm� I�m ok." Kathryn couldn�t believe Shane had said what she had. And on the bridge! With Tom there! Granted he�d learned to keep his mouth shut about a lot of things, but this was one of the things he liked to call �too delicious to pass up�. She�d be hearing about this for weeks! Not to mention everyone else would know too.
"Mommy?" Shane was nudging her mother. "Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"If you and daddy don�t want anyone to know about what you did, then why do it?"
Kathryn gaped at her daughter. Only Shane could ask a question like that, she was sure. Kathryn was speachless. How do you explain a 4-year old why sex is not a subject you bring up at a regular conversation at dinner table?
"Computer halt lift." Taking a break she thought carefully what to say. "Shane, some things.. like what daddy and I did last night, are things that are meant to stay between just two people."
"But *why* did you do that?" Shane insisted.
"People who love each other do that. It�s a way to show how much you love someone."
"Is that how babies are made?" she asked innocently.
"Ummm�Yes." Janeway said, hoping it would be enough. Where did the girl get her information from? She�d need to have a talk with the good Doctor. To Kathryn�s relief this bit of knowledge seemed to ease Shane�s curiosity, at least for now.
"Ok. Can we go home now? I wanna see daddy." The topic was obviously closed and Kathryn sighed as she told the computer to continue the ride.
After reaching their quaters Kathryn slumped down on the couch and gave a deep sigh. What a day! A smile spread accross her beautiful face as her husband came in from the bedroom. "Hi honey. How was your day in astrometrics?"
"It was ok, nothing unususal about it. How was yours?" Chakotay moved to the couch, taking a seat next to her.
Kathryn groaned. "I�ll tell you about it later. After Seven and Harry are gone. But boy that daughter of yours.."
"What is it now? And how come she�s always *your* daughter when she�s playing nice and *mine* when we�ve caught her from doing something bad?" Chakotay smiled, letting her know he was only kidding. Looking at her he saw she wasn�t amused at all. She had her hands on her face and her chin muscles were tight.
"Chakotay she put me on a pretty tight spot on the bridge. About last night." She said, not wanting to get into it right now.
"Aahh, I see. How far did she get?"
"You don�t want to know. Believe me." Kathryn looked at her husband from behind her fingers.
"That bad?"
They were interrupted by the door chime. Chakotay looked at his wife. She was nodding at him as an answer. *That bad.* he thought. "Tell me about it after dinner. And after we know Shane is asleep for sure." They rose from the couch, Chakotay heading for the door and Kathryn for Shane�s room.
Kathryn could hear Harry and Seven exchanging greetings with Chakotay and hoped Shane would behave for the next two hours or so. *I swear mother, if I�d known it was like this I sure would�ve listened to you more.*
"Shane, sweety. Are you ready?" She asked.
"Yes, mommy." Shane came out of her room wearing her new dress. "Is it pretty?"
The dress was green and and very simple in design, but it reminded Kathryn of Chakotay�s stories of the ancient Native Americans. It had a belt in the middle and it was tied behind her. Kathryn grinned. Who would�ve thought a few years back she�d have a daughter looking like a 19th century Native American. Only the hair could do with a few strokes from a brush.
"Yes, it�s very pretty. Come here, let mommy do your hair." Reaching for the brush on the near table Kathryn stroked the raven black hair so that it was shining and then tied it up with a ribbon. "Now let me take another look at you."
Shane turned around smiling and her mother smiled with her. "You are so beautiful, my goldenbird. So very beautiful." Kathryn praised.
"As pretty as the dress?"
"Much prettier. Now come on, let�s go get some dinner, OK?"
Shane reached for her mother�s hand and nodded. "Let�s."
The rest of the evening passed without any big events and as the time was getting closer to 2200 hours Kathryn and Chakotay got ready for sleep.
"So what exactly happened on the bridge today?" Chakotay asked, wrapping is arms around her.
Kathryn chuckled. "Wait, till you hear this! We were making a brief stop�."
The end