Of Akoonahs and River Stones

following "Twin Torment"

by

vanhunks

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the lot; the twins are mine!

NOTE: The second short story in the new 'Twin Torment" Series.

SUMMARY: What are the Janeway twins up to this time?

****

OF AKOONAHS AND RIVER STONES

Chakotay bent down on all fours and lifted the frill of the bed. Leaning down even further so that his cheek kissed the floor, he peered under the bed. On the other side of the bed he saw two boot clad feet.

"Found anything?" Kathryn asked. The boots moved away; a second later Kathryn watched him come up again. Chakotay glowered as if he suspected her of something.

"Not yet," he bit out. "Maybe you should stop playing observer and help me search."

Kathryn looked around her in their double quarters. "It seems you didn't need any help, honey."

"Don't you 'honey' me now. I'm not falling for that again. Making me forget..."

"Honey, what exactly are you looking for?" Chakotay winced at the endearment. Kathryn walked round to him and pecked him on the cheek. "Our quarters is a mess, if you must know..."

"My akoonah. You haven't seen it by any chance?"

"It looks like a tornado sprinted through the place," Kathryn retorted as if she didn't hear his question. She  looked around her again and grimaced. "Have you looked under the bed?" she asked him.

She was standing close to him - the kind of closeness that made him feel constantly breathless. But Chakotay hardened his heart against Kathryn's wiles; he scowled again, just so she could see he wasn't wheezing at least. Then Kathryn smiled; Chakotay found the smile irresistible, relented a second as his chest constricted; then his face returned to the angry look.

"You know I have," he mumbled. "I've got to find it. It belonged to my father, you know that,  Kathryn. The children - "

" -are in class this morning. Seven of Nine is conducting lessons. Miral is with them as well as Jamie Hamilton and little Ahn-Li Kim..."

While Kathryn spoke, Chakotay had taken a chair and pulled it to the wardrobe. Standing on the chair, he looked on top, gave a frustrated sigh and climbed down again. He turned to face her.

"Kathryn, I swear by the spirits! Your daughters - "

"My daughters?"

Chakotay backtracked.

"Yes, er, well, our daughters...you know they may have hidden it."

"Yes, er...well, Chakotay," Kathryn imitated him. "By the looks of it, it must be pretty well hidden in our quarters."

Kathryn  surveyed the carnage of opened drawers, contents strewn all over the floor, a bed with rumpled sheets, the children's section completely overrun by two tornados and clothing lying everywhere. She shrugged as she looked at the main couch. It was overturned so that Chakotay could look properly under it. The contents of Chakotay's medicine bundle lay spread out on their bed. The feather was there but no  river stone, no akoonah. Chakotay ran his fingers through his hair in a jerky movement and let out another cry of frustration. Then he pointed a finger at Kathryn.

"It seems you know something. I was going to go on a quest in fifteen minutes. You know that. I could have gone off the vessel in a shuttle somewhere to meditate, but you've forbidden me that little joy. Why are you smiling, Kathryn Janeway? Are you in cahoots with Andrea and Katya?"

Kathryn's eyes narrowed as she approached him and placed her palm firmly against his chest. Chakotay felt a wheeze coming. Kathryn's breath was enough to turn him to putty.

"I have conquered the Borg," she hissed, "outwitted Kashyk, managed to overcome species 8472  and married a very angry warrior. You think I'd be in cahoots with the children?"

"You're capable of anything, Kathryn," Chakotay replied as he pushed her away from him and tore through her wardrobe, pulling out previously neatly folded clothing items. Then he turned to her and pointed a finger again. "I wouldn't put it past you. You and those girls. You – "

Kathryn smiled again. She reached on tiptoe and kissed his forehead this time. One more minute and he'd have to give up.

"Chakotay," she breathed airily, "just count slowly to fifteen minutes, will you?"

"Why should I, Kathryn? Why, what are you - "

Chakotay was stilled as Kathryn's mouth locked with his. He saw exploding stars and Kathryn counted to fifteen...

*** 

Jefferies Tube 32.

The akoonah appeared too large as a small hand spread small fingers over it. Another hand covered the first.

"Akoo-chee-moya..." began Andrea, the dark haired twin.

"We are far from the scared places of our grandfathers..." added Katya, who had blonde hair.

"It's sacred, dummy."

"We are far from the sacred places of our grandfathers..."

"We come in peace," Andrea's voice sounded in the Jefferies tube.

The akoonah started vibrating. Little fingers appeared to lift off the instrument. The girls gasped.

In the next moment, they found themselves in an opening of a glade. They looked at one another in total amazement and gasped again. It was quiet. Not a sound cracked the deadly silence around them. Katya felt the hairs at the back of her neck rise. A chill went down Andrea's spine. Two pairs of blue-grey eyes met.

A rustling sound behind them as large fronds and braches were parted. They swerved round.

The girls screamed in unison. Little hands covered ears and red lips pouted in perfect O's as they let out their combined yells.

The man approached them and they backed away, step by step. The broad trunk of a tree stopped their movement. Their yells stopped.

The man looked tall. He wore an eye patch over his left eye. They couldn't see his hair. A bright yellow and red bandana covered his head. Two very large hoops pierced each ear lobe. His left leg was a wooden stump, and round the top of the stump, near the knee, another bandana was tied. The man didn't smile, but his face looked like he was smiling all the time. Long dimples ran down each cheek.

A large green-yellow-red-orange-blue parrot perched on the man's shoulder.

"You're not our grandfather," whispered Katya who appeared braver.

"Who - who are you?" asked Andrea.<

"What did you expect?" squawked the parrot. "What? What? What?"

Then Katya let out a cry, followed by Andrea who screamed in sympathy with her sister.

"And who might you two be?" asked The Pirate.

"No one's children," they lied in unison.

"A-ha!"

"Go 'way little girls!" the parrot squawked again.

Andrea pointed to the parrot; she was gaping like a guppy.

"Stupid girls! Stupid girls!" the parrot cried.

"Shurrup, Mimi."

"Shurrup! Shurrup!"

The Pirate came closer to them.

"Eeeeh!" Katya cried as The Pirate peered at her.

"Eeeeh!" Mimi mimicked. In the next moment the pirate shoved the parrot off his shoulder.

"Shurrup, you!" he shouted at the bird who flapped his wings and perched on The Pirate's shoulder again.

"Shurrup, you! Shurrup, you!" Mimi squawked. The Pirate patted Mimi's feathered back.

"This here is my parrot, Mimi."

They shook their heads so vigorously that The Pirate laughed out loud. It was a long bout of laughter. The girls squirmed closer to one another, their little backs against the hard trunk. When the bout of laughter stopped as suddenly as it started, The Pirate bent down and his face came very close to theirs. Black eyes stared into two pairs of blue-grey eyes. Mimi's neck craned towards them too.

The Pirate fumed.

"Shoo!"

"Ma-a-a-a-a-a!!!

*** 

Kathryn's lips broke from Chakotay's mouth on the count of twelve. They heard a protracted scream outside in the long corridor.

"Thirteen..."

"Fourteen..."

"Fifteen!"

Right at that moment the doors of the cabin swished open and two wide-eyed girls came screaming and skidding to a halt in front of them. Bangs flew and hair fanned. Rosy lips trembled and cheeks were flushed. Then they stared at their parents; the girls were breathless from the exertion of their cries and running all the way from Jefferies tube 32.

"See? I was right, Chakotay," Kathryn said as Katya clung to her and Andrea clung to him.

"What's going on?" he asked as he lifted Andrea up.

Andrea just gasped and kept pointing to the doors while Katya's mouth gaped noiselessly.

"Have you seen something? A ghost?" Kathryn asked the girls.

"Mommy - "

"Daddy - "

They spoke together, then Andrea got the first words in.

"There was a - a pirate!"

"And he had a parrot called Mimi!"

"With a peg leg and a patch!"

"Mimi?"

"No, the pirate, Mommy!"

"The parrot was mad, Mommy!"

"And you used Daddy's akoonah to see them?"

Their heads almost rolled off their necks as they nodded.

"You two went on a vision quest?" Chakotay asked, outraged.

The nodding continued.

"We wanted to see Grandpa!" they chorused.

Chakotay put Andrea down, glared at the two girls; the fumes started coming out of his ears. Kathryn saw the danger signals and shooed the twins towards the door. They remained, standing on attention. Evenly cut bangs fanned smooth foreheads, hair just touching their shoulders. Eyes wide, innocent, lips quivering. Chakotay was not amused by their play of innocence. Kathryn stood hands on her hips and addressed their daughters.

"Seven of Nine is waiting for you. You'd better report!" she ordered sternly.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Aye, sSir!" Andrea chorused.

In the next moment, they vanished through the doors and all Chakotay could hear was the soft thudding of feet as they ran towards the first turbolift.

Kathryn turned to face Chakotay and gave him one of her inimitable smiles. The fumes stopped like magic.

"Kathryn," he asked as he took her into his arms and  ignored the wheezing in his chest as she melted into him, "what have you done with my father?"

"Your father?"

"Yes, my father..."

"Kolopak the Pirate?"

Sigh.

"Yes, the pirate who apparently has a parrot called Mimi."

"And don't forget the peg leg and eye patch."

"Yes, the peg leg and eye patch."

"Oh, I just told him to be on the lookout for a pair of twins who shouldn't be in that forest glade in the first place."

"Spirits!"

** 

END