Disclaimer: No infringement on Paramount's copyright intended. 'Night', 'Counterpoint', and Star Trek and it’s characters are not mine, but Ana Vor and R’mor are my creation and so is the rest of the story. The story revolves around a relationship between women beyond friendship. If this bothers you, please look elsewhere for your fan fiction.

Author's Note: This continues to be challenging saga that started out to be another one of my short stories. I hope you enjoy reading it.

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It was the annual Prixin celebration on Voyager. Tom and Neelix had worked hard to create quite a festive atmosphere.

This was the first year that Kathryn had not been assumed to be Chakotay’s date. Over the last year, the platonic aspect of their relationship had gotten stronger and physical attraction was no longer an issue.

Kathryn, dressed in a pair of maroon slacks and a beige sleeveless tunic, arrived at the party 45 minutes late. She mingled among the crew, participating in a few conversations, but mostly found herself leaning back against a wall, drinking a glass of wine, and watching the crew relax and enjoy themselves.

"Enjoying the party, Captain?"

Kathryn turned her head to see Lieutenant Ana Vor standing beside her.

"Actually, Lieutenant, I am."

Ana smiled, but Kathryn sensed a sadness behind the smile.

As much as Kathryn tried to get to know the crew, there were many whom she did not know. Ana Vor was not a crew member that stood out in the crew. She was not a discipline problem and usually kept to herself and did her job. Kathryn hadn’t had to opportunity to talk to Ana before and she wondered why Ana had made this attempt at conversation with her now.

"How about you?" she asked, returning Ana’s smile.

"I suppose."

Kathryn decided not to press any further. She liked to be available to the crew but did not like to intrude.

They fell silent and stood side-by-side, watching the celebration. Kathryn noticed that Neelix had somehow convinced B’Elanna to dance. She turned to Ana to comment but stopped when she saw the tears on Ana’s face. Before she could say anything, Ana excused herself and quickly left the room.

Kathryn watched Ana leave. In the few moments of their brief conversation, Kathryn found herself intrigued by this woman. A woman, before this day, she had only dealt with through necessity concerning Voyager. But now, Kathryn found herself wanting to go after her and make sure she was ok.

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Ana cursed to herself as she hurried down the corridor. She knew she shouldn’t have gone to the party, but this year, she wanted things to be different. She made it to her quarters in record time.

After the doors closed behind her, Ana sank to the floor, buried her face in her hands, and cried her annual tears. Sometimes being apart from her sister hurt so bad, it was all she could do to hold it in until she was alone. Consumed by her pain, Ana did not hear the doors to her quarters open and close. A pair of hands pulled her around and into an embrace. Ana wrapped her arms around the smaller woman who held her, spoke in soothing tones and rocked her as she cried.

As Ana relaxed in her arms, Kathryn’s mind was raced. She didn’t know how she ended up in Ana’s quarters, but for some reason, providing comfort to this woman had become a sudden concern to her. Returning her focus to Ana, Kathryn closed her eyes as she stroked Ana’s hair.

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Ana woke up disoriented, an arm thrown across her chest and a leg intertwined with hers. Her eyes finally focused and saw the sleeping form of Kathryn Janeway beside her. Panic ran through her veins… She looked around the room as if searching for answers. Kathryn stirred beside her. Ana froze, regressed to her adolescence by closing her eyes, pretending to be asleep.

Kathryn woke up slowly. She felt the warmth of a person beside her. She opened her eyes to see a dark-haired Ana, obviously trying too hard to pretend to be asleep. Refusing to acknowledge the comfort she felt lying next to Ana, she wordlessly untangled herself from the woman beside her, quietly got up, and without looking back, left the room.

Ana opened her eyes in time to see her Captain exit the room. She was almost hurt by Kathryn's lack of acknowledgement, but knew she was just as responsible.

Kathryn had a lump in her throat as she walked into her quarters. "Computer, what is the time?"

"The time is 0739 hours." Kathryn sighed in relief as she realized she wasn’t late for duty. She had just enough time to freshen up before her shift began. She would deal with last night later.

Ana sat in the middle of her floor where Kathryn had left her, almost stunned. It had been 2 years since she’d gotten over her crush on the Captain, and in less than 10 hours, she felt those familiar emotions flood through her and that scared her. Having a crush on the Captain was not healthy. She knew that. It had happened to her before, only she hadn’t handled it so well. Before she could reminisce any further, the Computer sounded her wake up. Ana stood up and got ready for duty. She would have to deal with last night later.

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Kathryn sat in her ready room with Chakotay. They were going over duty assignments for the upcoming months, but Kathryn’s mind kept returning to last night.

"Captain."

She looked up at Chakotay, slightly startled.

"What?"

"You look like you’re a million miles away."

Kathryn smiled. "No, not a million."

"We could continue this later…."

She blinked her eyes. "What? Oh… no…" Kathryn once again focused on the PADD in front of her." "Let’s finish."

Over the next hour, Kathryn made a concerted effort to keep her attention on the work at hand.

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Their work done, Kathryn and Chakotay sat talking… he, sipping his tea, and she, sipping her coffee. This had become their routine. It allowed them a relaxing moment during the day to vent about things other than ship’s business. But this time, Chakotay found Kathryn strangely quiet.

"Are you OK?" he asked quietly.

"Sure. Why do you ask?"

"I don’t know. You just seem…" He was interrupted by the door chime.

"Come in," called out Kathryn.

The doors hissed open and Lieutenant Vor entered the room. Kathryn instantly straightened her spine upon seeing her.

Ana looked flustered. "I…I didn’t mean to interrupt…."

Chakotay stood up. "It’s all right, Lieutenant. I have some other things I need to take care of." He glanced briefly towards Kathryn, but she had gotten up and was walking toward her desk. He nodded at Ana and left the room.

Kathryn sat behind her desk, leaned back, and looked at Ana. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

Ana stepped closer to the desk, holding her hands behind her back. "I…um… thank you for last night. I just wanted to say that to you in person."

Kathryn looked into Ana’s grayish-green eyes. "You’re welcome, Lieutenant. I was glad I could help."

The next moment of silence seemed to hang between them like a cloud of mist. Finally, Ana took another tentative step forward and spoke, "Um…why didn’t you say anything before you left?"

Kathryn countered with a question of her own. "Why did you pretend to be asleep when I woke up?"

Ana felt her face get hot. "I…."

Kathryn stood up and walked around her desk toward Ana. "I … guess neither of us knew what to say."

Ana backed up as Kathryn moved toward her, eventually stopped by the wall. After a brief moment, she was able to tear her gaze away from her captain. "Yeah, well…I just came in here to say thanks."

Kathryn continued to stare at her. "You’re welcome. I try to make myself available to the crew, but that’s not always possible. I’m glad I was able to be there for you."

Ana returned her eyes to Kathryn’s face. The face of a woman she had been enamoured with for nearly 3 years. It had only been a year ago that she had been able let go of those feeling and move on… but waking up next to her this morning had rekindled old feelings and stirred up some new ones. She felt like Kathryn was a woman she could confide anything, but now was not the time. She turned to leave.

"Ana." Kathryn said softly.

Ana turned around hesitantly. "Yes, Captain?"

Protocol made Kathryn keep the crew at arms length. After 4 years in the Delta Quadrant, it had become more of a habit, and she knew it. The woman standing before her challenged all of that.

"Are you going to be okay?"

Ana studied the captain’s face. The mask of command seemed to briefly fade away and she caught a glimpse of the woman behind the mask. She nodded her head and gave a small smile.