When My Hope is Gone

Title: When My Hope is Gone
Series: You Give Me Love
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't make any money from my web site. I don't even *spend* money on my web site. Don't sue, please.
Archive: Ask first, then put it anywhere...as long as I'm credited as author, its cool with me.
Rating: PG-13 (Language....mild but still..)




Kathryn was looking at Tom, but he could see she was gone. Physically alive, emotionally lost to him forever, as she watched in horror as her ship and only way home crashed down into the planet, burning up as it went down. All but 4 of the crew made it. Among those not accounted for in the escape pods were Harry, and Tuvok. Kathryn and Tom knew Tuvok wouldn't be there, as he was the last to leave the bridge, he was caught in the explosion. Harry was beamed out at the last second, and probably hadn't checked in yet.

"Captain, my Mom isn't here. Neither is Neelix." Kathryn didn't
acknowledge the child. Naomi wiped the tears from her cheeks as Tom lifted the tiny six year old onto his lap, holding her as if he were her father now.
"Lt. Paris, have you seen them?"

"Yeah, Naomi. I saw them," Tom choked out. Naomi understood what he was
trying not to tell her and sobbed softly in his arms.

"Naomi Wildmen," Seven called, seeming to look frantically for the child. She let a sigh of relief escape her lips when she saw Tom with the girl in his arms. She frowned when she saw blood running from Naomi's arm. "Naomi, I've got the Doctor online. I want him to look at your arm. All Right?" No answer.

"Seven, I'll take her over in a while. Where is Chakotay?"

"He is assisting Lt. Torres in setting up the shuttles and escape pods to start a community. It will be getting dark soon, and they should provide sufficient shelter and protection if set up properly." Kathryn listened in, still not taking her eyes away from where her ship had crashed.

"Did they find Harry yet?"

"I believe he is with the Doctor having his injuries taken care of."

"Seven, I want a status report in 1 hour. I want to know about the replicators, shuttles, weapons, crew, supplies, everything." Kathryn's dead eyes locked with Seven's

"I have it ready now, if you'd like to hear it, Captain." Kathryn nodded." We've got all 50 escape pods, and all four shuttles, and the Delta Flyer 2. There are 60 replicators, 300 hand phasers, 100 Phaser riffles, and one Bat'Leth. We have no supplies other than what the pods are stocked with, which are being moved into one of the shuttles to be rationed. The terrain we've landed on seems to be safe for planting and the water nearby, clean. We are only missing three crew members, one presumed dead."

"Presume the other two as well, Tom and I witnessed all three."

"Aye, Captain." Seven turned to Tom and Naomi. "Naomi, are you all right?" Naomi looked up, eyes puffy and red. She squirmed loose and ran off into the woods.

"Seven, her mother is among the dead, as is Neelix."

"I am aware, Lt. Paris. I do not think I am capable of comforting the child, so you may resume when she returns."

"Do you have to be so damn cold, Seven?" Tom yelled. "She's just a kid, and the only father she has *ever* known just *died* along with her mother. Do you remember watching your parents be assimilated?" Seven's eyes squeezed shut, as if she were locking away the memory. Kathryn ignored the arguing and followed Naomi into the woods.

"Lt. Paris, I....fear....if I attempt to comfort her, I will fail and she will only feel worse. She is like my own child and I care deeply for her, but I don't know how to speak with her on this matter. Why does this concern you?" Seven hollered back.

"It concerns me because I know what she is going through. I was the same age as Naomi when my mother died. I wanted nothing more than for someone to tell me that it would be all right." Tom turned on a heel and stalked off to find Naomi.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kathryn found Naomi sitting on the edge of a large rock over the river trickling past. Huge trees provided shade for the lovely spot. Kathryn thought it resembled Glacier National Park in Montana.

"Naomi," Kathryn said softly, putting her hand on the little girl's shoulder. "I'm so sorry about your mother and Neelix." Naomi didn't look away from the river, now flowing with her tears. "Seven will be looking for you."

"Seven doesn't even care." Kathryn sat next to her on the rock and pulled her close.

"She does care, Naomi. Seven just doesn't know how to sympathize."

"Captain, who will I live with?" Kathryn thought about the question for a few minutes and made a decision.

"Naomi, would it be all right if you if I became your guardian until the crew gets settled in and a family could take you in?"

"Really, Captain?" Naomi smiled through her tears and hugged her new foster-mother.

"I think under the circumstances you can call me Kathryn. I can't exactly be a Captain if I don't have a ship, now can I?" Naomi sniffled and thought about the question.

"You're still their Captain, Kathryn. They'll follow you no matter where you want to lead them...."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"KATHRYN!" Tom called, searching for his Captain and the missing child. It had been 6 hours since the crash, and 3 hours since the two had last been seen. Kathryn had conveniently left her comm badge behind. Tom walked another 20 yards before he came to a clearing where he saw two people, sleeping peacefully against a rock near the river. Kathryn and Naomi had fallen asleep, Naomi protectively in Kathryn's arms. "Harry," Tom whispered. His friend looked down at the two and smiled.

"Should we wake them?"

"Nah, you take Naomi, I'll get Kathryn." Tom lifted Naomi over to Harry, and then lifted Kathryn into his arms. She stirred and moaned lightly. "Shhhh, its all right Kathryn, go back to sleep." Kathryn obeyed her carrier's order.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kathryn, vaguely awakened by the light, felt around for Naomi, who was supposed to be asleep on her lap. When she wasn't, Kathryn snapped awake.

"Naomi?" she called, frightened. Kathryn sat up. This wasn't the rock they'd been sitting against

"She's sleeping, Kat." Tom said, moving across the room to sit next to Kathryn on the bed. "She's all right. Its all right, lay back down." Kathryn closed her eyes, gently pressing her face into Tom's hand as it caressed her tenderly. "When she woke up earlier, I had the Doctor fix up the cuts on her arms. She's with B'Elanna and Harry a couple of pods over. She fell asleep after helping set up sickbay."

"How is she?"

"We talked a little while. She's gonna be just fine after a while. I mean, with the Captain as her adoptive mother and all." Tom smiled softly. "You both had quite a day yesterday." He mopped her forehead with a wet, cool cloth, and brushed the hair from her face.

"Yesterday! How long have I been sleeping?"

"Nearly 14 hours now. Relax, Chakotay has been *waiting* for you to take a break and leave him in command for the last seven years." Kathryn managed a smile. "Can you believe we've been in the Delta Quad 7 years? I was barely twenty when we left, and you were a new Captain. First mission, if I recall." Her eyes narrowed.

"I'm still you're CO, Tom," she said, grinning.

"I hate to break such a light hearted moment; Gods know when there'll be another, but I was about to wake you. Services for Tuvok, Neelix and Samantha are in a little over an hour. Chakotay insisted he say something instead of you, since you ran off yesterday." Kathryn nodded sadly. She felt Chakotay was better with words at times like these, so maybe it was for the better that she be with Naomi at the funeral.

"Can you send Naomi in after I'm a little more...together?"

"You look fine, Captain." Kathryn rolled her eyes and climbed out of bed. She pulled her boots on and tried to fix her shoulder length hair from falling in her eyes, but was completely unsuccessful. Tom stood behind her and pulled her hair away from her neck as he ran his fingertips over the soft skin. "You look fine, Kathryn."

"Tom, we can't do this. I'm your CO." Tom frowned.

"On what ship?" Kathryn swung around to meet his face with her hand. There was a loud smack.

"Lt. Paris, consider yourself on report, now, get the hell out." Her voice was cold and unforgiving. Tom rubbed his cheek gently and turned to leave. Kathryn held the tears back until his was almost at the exit from their escape pod.

"You know Kathryn, you weren't the only one who lost their only way home. There are 146 people out there who are *never* getting home, just like you, So don't pretend that you are the only one who feels lost right now. There is one little girl down the path right now who lost everything she has ever known, and you lost your precious ship. Well, we're all *so* sorry, *Captain.*" Tom was about to leave when he heard a sob escape from Kathryn's lips. He paused before he turned back to her and let her fall into his arms and cry. "I'm sorry, Kathryn. I didn't mean it." After a minute, the sobbing stopped and Kathryn looked up at him. "I shouldn't have said it, Kathryn."

"Its not that. You were right. You weren't the one who got us stuck in the Delta Quadrant, but it wasn't your orders. I made the call. Its my fault Tom. If I hadn't been the one to get us stuck here and let the ship get destroyed, we'd all be back home right now. Every time a crewman dies, I have to ask myself if the Ocompa were worth me getting us stuck here."

"I don't think you could have allowed one species to be annihilated just so we could live on Earth. You know that it was the only choice we had. Don't be so damn hard on yourself. We're already working on a plan to get home. Chakotay wants to send the Delta Flyer II into another slip stream. When they get home, they'll give out technology to star fleet to build a rescue ship. It will work and we can make it home in about 20 years.....its going to take that long to build the Delta Voyager. All we need is your word." Kathryn was still snuggled tight in his arms. "Kathryn, you know how I feel about you," Tom looked into her eyes and brushed the hair from her face. "Give me a chance, please, Kathryn. I love you, you know that. You've known for at least 5 years.......please Kathryn.

"Tom, I...." Kathryn closed her eyes and fought no longer as Tom leaned down and kissed her softly.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The staff meeting in Kathryn and Naomi's pod was set to begin 10 minutes ago, but Kathryn was waiting for Chakotay, who was bringing water to the "village." It had been nearly 2 months ago that they crashed. Everyone had pitched in and cleared away a few trees and built the small community. There were 10 Pods in each group, near a needed area. The first set was near water. The next circle, starting 10 yards away, was planting food. The third was working on a new mess hall, the fourth was building three of the pods into a small infirmary, and the last was where the Delta Flyer 2 was being prepared for its journey. It was only the last week that anyone had time to explore and map the terrain.
Chakotay jogged into the Captain's pod in Group 1, and took his seat. Kathryn smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Okay, now that we're all here-"

"Most of us are all here," Tom said, tapping his head towards Harry.

"Tom, shut up," Kathryn said, grinning. "Okay. Here is the plan. Harry, you and Seven are going to take the 'Flyer into subspace and ride the slip stream to the Alpha Quad and bring the schematics for the subspace drive to Star Fleet, with the orders for a rescue ship. There is a message from me already recorded in the shuttle for you to give Star Fleet Command. You leave at the end of the week when the 'Flyer is ready. Its going to take you about 6 months to get there, and about 15 years to get the ship built and ready, and the ship will take two years to get back. If you spend more than about 10 minutes in the slip stream, you may have some serious hull breaches in the shuttle. The ship can only undergo five minutes in the stream at a time. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Why is it going to take 15 years to get a ship ready?" Harry asked. "It only took us a month to modify a shuttle into a new Delta Flyer.

"There are new variations. The ship has to be able to take on 150 new crew members. You know a chip the size of the Enterprise would be the only one big enough to carry a crew to get here and then take on another full crew, plus their families. The new technology has to be built into the ship, and this is Voyager Delta Quad technology. No one in Star Fleet has ever seen what we've done. While this is easy for us, they've never seen it, Harry. You are going to be building a lot of the ship yourself. Now do you understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Harry said, smiling at the thought of a mission. He wasn't 'Nature-boy' like Chakotay, and couldn't wait to leave the little planet, named Jagon 4. There were 15 planets in the system, only one without life, Jagon 4. The first 3 were occupied by people who hadn't even done much space travel before. Their planets were not crowded, but weren't to thrilled about the idea of visitors for an extended length of time. The leaders of the planets agreed that the fourth planet could be theirs alone and they could trade back and forth.

"All right. Any news?"

"I've got the communication array working. When the Delta Flyer and rescue ship return, they'll be able to hail us. But there will need to be someone on watch 36 hours a day."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to 36 hour days. Eighteen hours of light, then 18 more of dark. I'll be glad to get back to 24 hour days when we're back on Earth or a ship...or....."

"Tom-"

"I know. I'm shutting up, but do you want my report or not?"

"Tom, grow up. Give me the report."

"Okay, the Flyer is almost ready to leave, and I acquired some good tips from Jagon 6. They've given us some seeds for plants on they're planet in exchange for some seeds from Earth. I replicated an apple and now they have apple trees growing. The Doctor has a few apple tree sprouts that he's tried a new fertilizer with. In about a month, we'll have red apples hopefully."

"All right. Sounds delicious. Chakotay, report."

"The water from the river is pure. There is no lead, no poisons, no pollution, but no fish. I hiked up stream about 20 miles a few days ago and found a heated lake. The water was clean and safe, but it was near 120 degrees F, which explains the lack of fish. If its heated further up stream than that, I suggest we send a shuttle to scan for volcanic activity. Tomorrow I'm going down stream, since the water cools as it moves. I'll be gone 2 days."

"Have a good hike, Chakotay. Take a few people. There are some people who've been working inside nonstop since we crashed, and they could probably use the fresh air."

"Like you Kathryn?"

"Hell no! I have gardens to plant. Take B'Elanna and Harry." B'Elanna raised an eyebrow. "B'Elanna you need a break. Its a hike for 2 days.You'll enjoy the quiet. Besides, if you go running after Harry with the Bat'Leth through my gardens again, I'll be after you with a phaser-riffle. Understood?"

"Yes, Captain."

"Very good. Dismissed." Everyone left, but Tom. He stayed in his seat. "Can I help you with something, Mr. Paris?" she asked, sitting on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Why can't I take the 'Flyer, Captain? I'm the best pilot you've got."

"You aren't going *becase* you are the best. We need you here for the next 20 years to handle trade and take shuttles to other planets in the system, and other nearby systems." Kathryn got up and went to a "window" and peered out at the sunrise. It was a glorious morning already. It was going to be a cool, comfortable day. Perfect for gardening. "And I don't want to go that long without you, Tom. I can't." Tom moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waste.

"How is Naomi?"

"She is handling it a lot better than I would have if I were 6 years old and my parents died."

"Any more nightmares?"

"Yeah. The Doctor has been great about telling her bed time stories when I was asleep and she didn't want to wake me. She really misses Samantha though."

"Do you want me to spend more time with her? Y'know, as like a father figure? Chakotay is always on hikes and always with B'Elanna. She needs someone else to talk to, other than you and a HoloDoc, and I really want to be a part of her life, like I would with our three children." Kathryn smiled sadly at the memory of the three they left behind. The doc couldn't change the salamanders into human, so Kathryn and Tom told their Darlings good-bye and left them on a nice planet. "She's a great kid."

"Yes, she is amazing, isn't she." Kathryn turned around and smiled at Tom. "I'd be honored."

"Did Tom just ask you to marry him, Kathryn?" Naomi asked sleepily as she exited the tiny sleeping area.

"Naomi-"

"Yeah, I did." Tom looked down into Kathryn's eyes, as they filled with tears. "I just asked you to marry me, Kathryn. Are you going to answer?"

"Tom," Kathryn said hugging him tightly, and wiping tears from her cheeks. "Yes, I'll marry you. Of course I'll marry you, Darling." Tom leaned down and kissed Kathryn passionately. The door hissed open and Chakotay entered. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Commander Chakotay!" Naomi grinned at the commander. "Can I tell him Kathryn?" Kathryn nodded. "Tom and Kathryn are getting married!" Chakotay's face formed a fake smile. Kathryn could see he was hurting.

"I wish you both well, Captain Janeway. Lt. Paris, can I speak with you a moment?" Tom swallowed hard as he stepped outside behind Chakotay. The commander lifted him up by his ears and pushed him against the outer hull of the pod. "If you hurt her, Fly Boy, you will wish you went down with Voyager. Got it?"

"Your tearing my ears off! Dammit, Chakotay! This hurts!" Chakotay dropped him. "I love Kathryn. I would *never* hurt her, which means I can't kill you. She cares about you too much, Nature-boy. Go back to your own damn pod and stay the *hell* away from mine."

"Thomas Eugene Paris! Chakotay! What the *hell* is going on?"

"Fly boy and I needed to make a few guidelines clear."

"Nature-boy is about to have his head cut off, and I'm not sure which one I'm gonna start with." Kathryn stepped between the two, Pushing Tom back inside the pod.

"Chakotay, what is the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry Captain."

"You damn well better be. Its my life and my choice. I love Tom. So either you get over it or you can stay angry at me. Either way, I'm still marrying Tom. Go on your hike tomorrow and cool off. If not, I'll launch you on the Delta Flyer instead."

"Maybe that would be a better idea if I *did* go."

"We need you here, Chakotay. You know how to live on a planet with nothing but woods. You can hunt and fish. No one else knows how to do that." Kathryn paused and collected her thoughts. "I am going to say this only once, Chakotay. I love Tom, and nothing you say or do will *ever* change that, so learn to accept it. I may not have a ship, but I *am* your CO. No disrespect will be tolerated. That goes for Tom also. But if he says anything, *I* will take care of it. Is that clear, Commander?"

"Yes, Captain." Chakotay walked off, punching a tree as he passed it. The tree, almost 6 inches thick, splintered where his fist crashed into it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom dropped himself into the chair in the newly finished mess hall. He had helped build it, and just spent all day fixing a leak in the roof where a "tile" hadn't been glued properly. The structure was made from logs that had been the trees they cleared out for the community. They replicated some of the raw materials needed to build the cabin mess hall, but the rest had been down by hand with the help of the entire crew.

"Hey, Fly boy, may I sit down? Kathryn asked me to speak with you," Chakotay said, eyes narrowed at the man who was eating alone at a table.

"Sure....have a seat." Tom pushed the chair out across from him with his foot.

"What's up, Nature boy?"

"Give it a rest, huh?"

"Sorry, Commander. What can I do for you?" Tom wanted to reach across the table and give Chakotay a good smack.

"Well, while the pods are nice to stay in for short periods of time, the captain thinks we need more permanent structures, and you and I *get* to design them."

"What? We're not engineers. I'll talk to Kathryn. Maybe we can get B'Elanna in on it."

"She has B'Elanna working on a power source that'll last 20 years. As it looks now, we're only going to have enough power for 10 years, max." Chakotay leaned back into his chair. "Unless you've got a better idea, we are stuck working together."

"Okay, what do the cabins need? We have a mess hall. How about if we build cabins for 3 or 4 families? Four large bedrooms, one on each side of a living area, and 2 or 3 smaller bedrooms if they have kids? The kids can bunk together after a certain age."

"What about the 75% of us who *aren't* married...or engaged?"

"A large cabin with small bedrooms off the living room? We could house at least 20 people in a 2 level cabin like that. It would save space and materials. We build 5 big cabins like that, and 5 of the other cabins. We can use the pods and replicators for materials to minimize what we cut down. It'll take about a year to build it all if we all work on them."

"Before we start replicating anything, we need to find a back up replicator source," Chakotay said, thinking about the problem.

"I don't see why we can't take a shuttle and gather power from the clouds right outside the system. B'Elanna could *easily* modify a shuttle to get it to work," Chakotay said as he munched down on a carrot like vegetable. Tom noticed Kathryn in the window, fighting off a smile. He gestured to the window. Chakotay turned in time to see Kathryn duck. "Well, Nature-boy. It looks like Kathryn set us up. Wanna get her? You know the river behind the mess hall is pretty cold......" Chakotay grinned.

"Let's go. You go right, I'll go left."

Kathryn peered back into the window. The two men weren't at the table anymore. Suddenly, two sets of hands grabbed her from the crate where she was standing. Before she could call out for help, she was up to her neck in icy cold water, sitting on someone's lap in the river.

"TOM!" she screamed. He and Chakotay laughed and splashed her face. The three of them were having a full blown water fight. members of the crew looked up from their tasks and decided to join the party. Harry watched from the river bank.

"Come on in Harry!"

"Noooo thank you, Tom. I like being dry." Tom and Chakotay splashed the Ensign. "Agh!"

"C'mon, after tomorrow, you'll be spending two years in a damn shuttle."

"You have a point." Harry dove into the freezing water and yelped loudly. Everyone was splashing around and laughing when the Doctor walked over.

"All right, everyone. What is going on? You people *enjoy* being sick."

"Oh, come on, Doc. We're just having a little fun."

"Lt. Paris, Captain Janeway, I need to speak with you."

"Where is Naomi, Doctor?"

"Not to worry, Captain. She's found a small animal to play with. I've checked it out. Perfectly safe." Tom and Kathryn walked next to the doctor. Kathryn was snuggled under Tom's arm.

"Well, doc? What was it you wanted to talk to us about?"

"You two kids are going to be parents. Captain, you are exactly 3 weeks pregnant. Congratulations!" Tom stopped dead. Kathryn turned to him.

"Tom, what's wrong?" Tom lifted her into his arms and kissed her passionately.

"Kathryn, I love you so much," Tom whispered into her ear. He kissed tears of joy off her cheeks. He released her and knelt down to he stomach and kissed it softly. "I love you, too, Angel."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Seven, I'm dead tired. I'm going to bed, all right?" Harry said as he got up from the console. "Wake me up before we have to go into the slip stream again."

"Sleep well, Ensign Kim."

"Y'know, you *can* call me Harry now." Harry bent down and placed a kiss on her cheek. Seven smiled softly at him. "Goodnight, Hon."

"Good night, Harry." Harry grinned and walked towards the sleeping area.

"Oh, Seven, by the way, Captain Janeway is pregnant." Harry didn't catch Seven's respose before the door slid shut, but he had a feeling it would be sliding open *any* secoond now....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom gazed into the star filled sky from the roof of his and Kathryn's cabin. This was his nightly ritual since the day the Delta Flyer II left, almost 7 months ago. He concentrated more or less on the same star. It was the equivalent of Earth's North Star, Polaris. The North Star had always amazed Tom. He never could get over it. One star could be seen from almost anywhere on the same planet year round. Amazing.
Most of the cabins were finished being built, and the Voyager crew was getting settled on the planet nicely. Everyone had a job to do, and was glad to work on whatever they were asked to do. If it wasn't building the last of the cabins, there was a roof to repair, meals to cook, fish to catch, apples and berries to pick, gardens to keep, and furnature to build.
Near the river and mess hall, the crew had a nice fire going and everyone roasted ancient Earth foods called hot dogs and marshmallows. Tom enjoyed the solitude.

"Tom?" Naomi called. Tom had a feeling that Kathryn had sent Naomi to find him. He never could say 'No' to Naomi.

"Up here, Munchkin."

"Kathryn is worried about you. She sent me to tell you that if you don't eat, she won't." Tom smiled and climbed down. He lifted Naomi up on one shoulder and hiked down the small hill to the fire where the crew was eating.

Kathryn was sitting on a log eating a marshmallow from a stick, getting the warm goo on her uniform. Chakotay sat behind B'Elanna and rubbed her shoulders gently. Tom thought the two should stop and look at their friendship carefully. He knew Chakotay loved he and that she felt the same about him. Neither one would ever admit to it thought.

"Tom, I saved you a hot dog," Kathryn said, holding up a plate with a hot dog, with chilly and cheese on it. Tom lifted Naomi down and took his place next to Kathryn. Naomi settled on the blanket on the ground right in front of them and ate her dinner. "Enjoy your star gazing?" He chuckled softly in response.

"Yeah, it was nice." Tom pulled Kathryn to rest on his chest, her back to him. He placed his hand protectivly over her rounded midsection, and kissed her neck. "Two more months, Darling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While the rest of the crew weren't looking, Chakotay and B'Elanna snuck off to the lake for a late swim. The darkness and warm water was very pleasent, and the quiet very satisfying.
B'Elanna stepped into the heated lake. Her black bathing suit showed her curves more than the uniform would usually allow. Chakotay dove in towards the colder side by the icey stream, splashing her with cool water. She shrieked before lunging after him. She dunked him under water, and he disappeared from under her hands. He surfaced a meter away.

"Dammit Chakotay! Hold still so I can drown you!" she called as she swam towards him. When she reached Chakotay, he pulled her under the warm water. B'Elanna kicked her way up to the surface. "Is this your way of flirting?"

"No, this is." He pulled her into a lusting kiss. B'Elanna tried to fight it at first, but gave up, allowing herself to be held by him.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you not being able to be with Captain Janeway, does it?"

"No, it just took Tom and her getting married to make me realise it wasn't Kathryn I was in-love with." He kissed her again with more gentle love than the passion in the first kiss. "I'm sorry I never saw you this way before, B'Elanna. Forgiven?" B'Elanna smiled and kissed his forhead softly.

"Forgiven."


The Beginning