Title: Babies
Author: Ky
Notes: Don’t remember what prompted me to write this…

***

”Out of all the females of all the species in all the galaxies, I have chosen you to be the mother of my child.”

She had thought she was going to be sick.

Her stomach had churned, the disgust circulating through her body until Kathryn had gotten a bad feeling that she was going to projectile vomit all over Q as he had stood before her with that smugly omnipotent look on his face.

Heh.

Now that would have been a way to say no.

There was a small – a very small – part of her that was just a little curious about his offer. She wasn’t considering it, of course, she hadn’t even entertained the notion of considering it. But the mechanics alone would have been enough to cause the scientist in her to jump up and down.

But, regardless of what her inner scientist was doing, the initial disgust alone was enough to convince her that projectile vomiting would have been preferable to anything that Q offered. Particularly if that slime thought that satin sheets, a bridge filled with roses and backhanded compliments would be enough to convince her to set aside the squick factor and mate with him.

“Stop thinking about it.”

Kathryn sighed. “Chakotay, he wanted me to have his babies. Babies!”

The man beside her huffed quietly, his voice still tinged with the last traces of sleep that she had disturbed him from. “So I recall.”

“Why are you so damn calm about it?”

“Because I know that you find him repulsive and I know that you wouldn’t do it.”

“Well, as I recall, you weren’t too impressed by it when I told you in the Ready Room.”

He poked her shoulder. “Was this before or after you told Q that there wasn’t anyone else?”

“What was I supposed to say?” She turned to face him. He was awake now, she could see the cloud of slumber fading from his eyes as he turned to face her, mirroring her position. “’I’m sorry Q, I can’t have your child because I’m sleeping with my First Officer and I don’t think he’d approve.’ Would that have been better?”

“It would have worked for me.”

“I’m sure it would have!” She huffed. “And don’t think that flashing dimples at me will help you.”

"Why are you still thinking about this, Kathryn? Does it bother you that much that he asked?"

She sighed. Apart from the sick feeling that continued to linger even hours after he and the female Q had left, there was no trace that they'd ever been there to begin with. "I don't know."

They’d had the 'children and family' discussion on new Earth, when their relationship first changed. Initially, they'd decided against children because, someday, their child would be alone. Or, if they had more than one, they would be sentence to a life of romantic solitude or incest, neither of which had been appealing.

Voyager had come back for them before they'd been able to really settle into their new life and, once back on the Ship, they had been forced to re-evaluate everything.

At first, they'd said goodbye to their relationship and agreed to just be colleagues, friends, shipmates.

They'd lasted almost a week on that one.

Even still, when she had gone to see him that night - under the guise of enquiring about the status reports they'd been working on - and their relationship had picked up where they'd left off, they had both agreed then that children was a bad idea for their current positions. When they made it back to the Alpha Quadrant, depending on how long it took them, they would consider the subject again.

Until then...

"You want children now, don't you, Kathryn?"

Damn psychic. "Yes."

"Want to have that conversation again?"

No, she absolutely did not want to have that conversation again. She was the Captain, he was the First Officer, they both had duties and responsibilities and a Crew to get home. There was absolutely no way that she could waddle around the bridge, eight months pregnant and barking orders. It would be unsafe for her, unsafe for their child and unsafe for the crew. He was mad to even suggest that they talk about it again.

Kathryn sighed once more. He might have been mad, but he certainly understood the way her mind worked, apparently. "Yes."

***

End