Title: Absumption 4/5
Author: The Emu
Email: emu@zip.com.au
Size: 14K
Rating: R
Codes: Au of 'Timeless', A; J/P
Summary: 'Timeless' could have been worse. Someone might
have survived.

	=/\=

Harry was waiting for him. "Do you think the Doctor was left
on his mobile emitter?"

Chakotay didn't answer. He didn't want to imagine living
alone in this tomb for fifteen years. Better that someone
raided the empty ship.

They pulled the door open together, jaws dropping as light
poured through the crack and a warm breeze flowed around
them. They exchanged a glance, and slowly moved inside.

A cord of lights ran down the centre of the ceiling, lights that
had clearly been scavenged from somewhere else in the ship.

From somewhere ahead came the low drone of quiet voices.
Harry pulled out his tricorder, scanning the corridor.
"Lifesigns."

"I told you, I didn't leave the door open!" It was a boy's voice,
moving quickly towards them, until he came around the
corner and pulled up in amazement.

He was a teenager, twelve or thirteen years old, with a slight
build and brown, tousled hair. His blue eyes were wide,
terrified.

Chakotay took a few steps forward, and the boy inched back
against the wall.

"It's okay, we're not-"

"Dad! Dad!"

Chakotay spared a glance for Harry. He looked like he was
about to throw up.

"Callan?" That voice... The boy swung to meet its
approaching owner, clamping himself to the taller figure who
raised his arms in surprise. "What is it? Cal?" He nudged at
the boy's shoulder, never looking up.

"Tom?" Harry asked, shakily.

Tom Paris's head jerked up, shock spreading across his
features. For a moment he just stared, from one to the other,
mouth opening and closing. Finally, he licked his lips. "Harry?
Chakotay?" He waited for confirmation, for Chakotay's nod,
and then peeled the boy off and met them halfway, throwing
his arms around them both. "You made it?"

Harry pulled back, the familiar loathing filling his voice. "All
the way."

Chakotay grabbed Tom's arm. "How many? How many
survived?"

"There were seven of us. A few more survived the crash, but
we didn't have the resources to save them. We've been living
in the mess hall. We knew you'd come back for us." He
looked around until he saw the boy, who'd slipped past them
to close the door. "Callan? This is Harry Kim and Chakotay."

His mouth formed a small 'o'. "You were on the Delta Flier."

"That's right."

He looked exactly how Chakotay might have imagined Tom
and B'Elanna's child would look, if a little shy. For a long
moment they all just stood there, looking at each other, and
then Tom tugged their sleeves.

"Come on. You have to see everybody." A smile touched his
eyes. "Everybody has to see you."

Callan led the way down the corridor, throwing frequent looks
over his shoulder at his father's friends. Father... hell.

Tom watched him affectionately. "He's never seen strangers
before. And your names come up frequently." He smiled at
each of them. "We always believed you made it."

Callan stepped into the mess hall a few seconds ahead of
them. "Everybody. It's Harry Kim and Chakotay!"

The mess hall was almost unrecognisable, most of the
furniture gone and replaced by one large, round table where
Kenneth Dalby and Vorik were staring, unashamedly. Brad
Harrison was at the serving counter, soup ladle dripping. A
boy no older than ten and a toddler in a pink suit were
watching warily from a blanket in front of an empty fireplace
in the far corner.

Vorik moved first, standing awkwardly. "Commander.
Ensign. It is... a pleasure to see you."

"A pleasure, hell." Dalby pushed his chair back and circled
the table to clap them both on the shoulder, hesitating, and
then hugging them both. "It's fucking wonderful."

Callan picked up the toddler and brought her over, the boy
trailing close behind. He looked over Chakotay's shoulder to
seek Tom's approval, and then lifted the girl up to show her.
"This is Kit. That's Toby."

Chakotay went down on one knee. "Hello, Toby."

Toby backed up behind Callan, who turned around, shooing
him forward.

"This is Chakotay and Harry. From the Delta Flier."

Toby wasn't impressed.

Dalby swept the boy up in his arms. "We're going home,
Toby." A kiss on the nose. "Home!" He settled him on one
hip and then guided Chakotay and Harry in, pulling off their
coats without ceremony or regard for the child in his arms,
and shoving them towards the table. "Come in, come in. You
have to tell us everything. What was the homecoming like? Is
the war over? Is anyone with you?"

Vorik sat back down, leaning heavily on the table. "May we
presume you completed your journey?"

Chakotay flashed a smile. "All the way into Federation space.
We didn't know where you came out. We've both-"

"Harry?" They all swung around in time to see Jenny Delaney
bound, shrieking across the room, leaving the Doctor agape in
the doorway. She wrapped herself around him. "I don't
believe it! You found us!" She didn't let go of Harry, but
Chakotay did receive a wide smile.

The Doctor wandered in, hands clasped behind his back.
"We'd begun to think you weren't coming."

"Speak for yourself, Doc."

"So where are we?"

"What have you both been doing for the past fifteen years?"

"Have you seen any of our families?"

"What's been keeping you?"

Chakotay stared around the room, smiling. "You look damn
good for a bunch of dead people."

Tom stood close to Harry, obviously worried by his old
friend's distance, but by something else, too. "Jen-"

Delaney smiled at him. "She was right behind us. She just
stopped to check the fuel levels on the generator."

Harrison finally made his way over to sit a couple of seats
away from Chakotay, putting a bowl of soup in front of him.
He smiled at Chakotay's questioning look. "Turns out the
Doctor has quite the green thumb. The hydroponics bay has
been thriving."

The soup was good - a blend of tastes he hadn't remembered
in years, even... yes, that was leola root. "We noticed a forest
about twenty kilometres west."

"Good for firewood, but there's not much to eat." A pause.
"It's good to see you, Commander."

Chakotay took another spoonful. Leola root wasn't anywhere
near as bad as he remembered. "I haven't been Commander
for a while, now. It's just Chakotay, these days."

"You resigned your commission?"

"It was more a matter of..." Chakotay caught the pinched
look on Harry's face. "Yeah, we resigned."

Dalby came closer. "And the homecoming?"

Harry folded his arms. "Antimatter fireworks, long-winded
dignitaries, a Vulcan children's choir. We got medals pinned
to our tunics. Chakotay gave a speech commemorating you
all. Brought a tear to everyone's eye."

The silence stretched a little longer than Chakotay liked.
"You're in the Tecarus Sector, just outside the Alpha
Quadrant. You can be home in a couple of-"

His eye was caught by a figure in the doorway. Kathryn.

She was grasping the doorframe, unmoving. She'd let her hair
grow long again, catching it behind with a pony tail that
flipped over her shoulder. There was a hint of grey in her
hair, frosting like the ship outside, and lines had settled gently
into her face. She was smaller and more beautiful than ever.

"Mom!"

Mom?

Callan walked over and took her hand, pulling her into the
room. "It's Harry Kim and Chakotay. They came back."

Kathryn let herself be led, eyes playing over her planet-bound
family. She found Tom and he smiled reassuringly.

Chakotay stood and moved to meet her halfway. "Kathryn."
When she didn't react he looked at Tom, who was watching
sadly. Tom gave him a nod, and Chakotay pulled her into his
arms, choking in relief when she hugged him back, hard.

"Tessa to Chakotay. Are you going to give me an update?"

Chakotay pulled back and took the comm badge Harry
passed him. "We're here."

"Chakotay, we have trouble. There's a Federation ship on
long range sensors. If we want to get this done, we'll have to
get moving."

"There's a change in plan. We found them. There are
survivors." His hand slipped around Kathryn's cheek and her
lip tilted. Just barely, but he knew the beginnings of her smile
as well as he'd ever known anything.

"Survivors? There's still-" Tessa stumbled, disbelieving. "I'm
going to move behind the moon to evade their sensors.
You've got six hours at best, Chakotay; let me know when
you've got a plan."

The comm signal cut off, and Chakotay rolled his gaze over
the assembled faces. Dalby was standing - close - behind
Harrison's chair, grinning stupidly and clutching the girl while
Harrison watched Chakotay, hopeful but restrained. Vorik
was seated beside him, with a spark in his eyes that Tuvok
would have disapproved of entirely. The Doctor was standing
by the counter, arms folded, doing his best to look
unimpressed. Jen Delaney was still clinging to Harry.

Only Tom seemed to have noticed something unusual in the
exchange. "The Federation ship isn't a good thing?"

Chakotay let his hand fall, but didn't move away from
Kathryn. "We're not too popular with Starfleet right now."

"Galaxy's most wanted," chimed in Harry. "We're wanted on
two counts of treason and one of conspiracy to violate the
temporal directive."

Tom looked at his friend as though he'd never seen him
before. Which he hadn't - not like this. "You care to explain
that to us, Harry?"

Chakotay jumped in. "We stole a Borg temporal transmitter
from Starfleet. We were going to send Voyager new
coordinates, change the timeline."

Harry stepped forward, out of Jenny's grasp, a familiar fear
washing over his face. "So what's changed?"

Every set of eyes swung around to stare at Harry. Even
Chakotay was speechless.

Harry crossed to him, pulling his arm until they faced each
other. "One hundred and forty people are still dead!"

"Harry-"

He turned to the rest of the crew. "Don't you wish you could
undo what's happened? I can stop it, I can bring the entire
crew home safely!"

Harrison spoke, softly, "What about Toby and Kit? And
Callan?"

Toby wasn't old enough to understand more than the fear, but
Callan looked terrified. "What would happen to us? Dad,
what would-"

"It's okay." Tom put his arm around the boy. "We won't let
anything happen to you."

We. It was starting to sink in who Callan was. Son of
Kathryn and Tom.

Chakotay wondered how long it had taken them to pair up.
Not long: Callan looked almost thirteen. How the hell did they
decide to raise children in this mausoleum?

Kathryn put a hand on each of them. "I think changing the
timeline is out of the question." He almost had to lean into
hear her.

Harry heard her perfectly well, spun around to shove her
hand away. "Who the hell are you to decide that? You
wouldn't even know what was gone!" He bolted from the
room.

===
end 4/5

-- 
The Emu's Feathers
X-Files and ST:VOY fanfiction
http://www.zip.com.au/~emu/genfic.html