Fine Grace

Title: Fine Grace
Author: Ky (venom69)
Fandom: Star Trek: Voyager
Rating: Teens & Up
Summary: Fluorescent death shined from above her and she glared at it.
Character/Pairing: Janeway/Chakotay
Spoilers: None… the show’s ended!
Warnings: None, really.
Prompt Number for fic101: 34 - Light.
Author’s Notes: Song belongs to Hoodoo Gurus.
Disclaimer: Usual guff. Not mine, promise to put them back where I found them.
Date: 17/03/07

***

And another thing
I’ve been wondering lately
Oh baby
Tell me, where have you been?

***

A kaleidoscope of color swirled behind her eyelids.

Dots and lines danced, twisted and twirled before her and Kathryn couldn't focus on one specific shape or color, but she knew that they were there.

Her eyelashes felt as though they were stuck to her skin and opening her eyes took more effort than normal, her groan attesting to that fact. The light burnt her eyes a little, too bright on her sensitive retinas.

Fluorescent death shined from above her and she glared at it.

Glaring only made her pupils focus on the evilness of Sickbay's lighting, so she averted her gaze but was stuck with little dots of color floating around before her and the brightness of the light didn't change anyway.

Kathryn sighed and closed her eyes again.

"You're awake."

God I wish I weren't. "Yes..." Her throat was hoarse, her words coming out through her parched lips. A straw was pressed to her lips and she sucked in the water gratefully, not caring that it's not coffee on offer. "What happened?"

"We were attacked."

"I'm assuming that Voyager is still in one piece, since I am?" The words came easier the time, but she had trouble hearing Chakotay's reply over the pounding in her head and the racing of her blood.

Her body didn't appear to be happy with the arrangement of being awake any more than her eyes did.

"The Ship is fine, the crew is fine..."

"...The Captain feels like death." She finished for him.

Chakotay huffed. "We were worried about you."

'We' actually meant 'I' and they both knew it.

Moving brought about a sharp pain in her ribs and Kathryn had a sinking feeling about her ability to sit.

She didn't bother to try. "Why do I feel like I went ten rounds with a Klingon and lost?"

"You fell when the first blow got us. Somehow, you went backwards over your chair and hit your head on the console against the wall."

Kathryn could imagine the acrobatics behind that maneuver. "Explains the head."

"The Doctor says you'll be out of here soon."

"Good. I need coffee."

"A sure sign that you're starting to feel better." Chakotay smiled and touched her hand. "Repair crews are already at work. We took a few bad hits but once the other Ship saw what we were capable of, they backed off. We're fine, now."

She turned her head and smiled at him. "Yes, we are."

***

Kathryn sighed as she eased her tender and freshly-healed body down onto the sofa in her Quarters.

According to the medical report that the Doctor had - under sufferance - let her read, her rather amazing stunt on the bridge had broken a few ribs and cause some swelling on the brain from when she'd knocked herself out.

As she'd read the report, a mild blush had spread across her cheeks.

Surely there has to be a more graceful way to knock ones self unconscious? She'd thought, and then laughed at the idea.

Grace wasn't a word that she'd use to describe herself at the best of times, let alone when she was sailing across the bridge and moving head-first towards oblivion.

Propping her feet up on the coffee table, cup in hand, she scrolled through Tuvok's analysis of the situation and the potential threat posed by the alien ship that had fired on them.

His report, while accurate, was boring as hell right now and she found herself unable to concentrate. Her eyes kept darting around the room, looking for a distraction and she just couldn't bare to stare at the PADD in her hands, regardless of the importance.

Her head was still pounding as she laid it backing against the arm of the sofa, closing her eyes and sighing again.

Chakotay was in the shower - and singing rather badly - and she let the sound of water circulate through her mind as a distraction to the beat of her pulse.

A list of things to do when she went back to work tomorrow - apparently unconsciousness earned her two whole days off. It was a little tempting to bash herself on the head at least once a month - began to run through her mind.

Before she started her duty shift in the morning, she wanted to have her own report of the incident ready to be filed.

It would be an interesting report, she was sure.

"Alien Ship approached. Ship fired. I flew. Bright lights in Sickbay. The End."

The sound of water stopped and she could hear Chakotay moving about as he got out of the shower.

When Kathryn opened her eyes, the view that she got pretty much pushed all thoughts of work far from the forefront of her mind.

She smiled as he padded into the living room with a towel slung low on his hips. Kathryn's eyes lit up as she watched him. "Hello there."

Apparently he could read her thoughts just by looking at her.

"You're not well enough." He said, moving to replicate some tea.

"I think I should get to be the judge of that." She countered, watching as the drops of water slid down his back. Yum!

"And I think that the Doctor would kill me." Cup of tea in hand, he moved back towards the bedroom.

Pouting, Kathryn looked back at the PADD in her lap.

Boring report... seducing Chakotay. She grinned and threw that PADD back on the coffee table. There's a tough decision.

***

End