The Gambler - Voyager

Title: The Gambler
Author: Ky (Venom69)
Fandom: Voyager
Category: Sluuuuuuush
Pairing: J/C P/T
Summary: Chakotay can make out are the words 'kill' and 'husband.'
Rating: Age Friendly
Archive: My site. Anywhere else, sure, just let me know where so I can come visit.
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, never will. Promise to put them back in the state I found them. Song’s not mine either.
Author’s notes:

cassievalentine gave 3 things to put in here, I'm to blame for the rest. I get the feeling this will be happening a lot more often.... I'm easy, we all knew that. ;-)
Date: 03/02/06
Copyright © to Venom, 2006

***

You got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run

***

It had been Tom's idea that he and Kathryn baby-sit Miral.

Despite having been back on Earth for almost four months now, Tom still seemed to have a vested interest in their relationship and it's progression.

For some reason, the cocky young lieutenant seemed to think that the lure of a baby in the immediate vicinity would dissipate any barriers that remained between them.

As far as he knew, Kathryn wasn't a particularly 'clucky' woman. She liked kids, and he was pretty sure she wanted some, but nursing Miral for a few hours was unlikely to make her more inclined to neutralize her booster and offer herself on a platter.... not that she hadn't done something reasonably similar about an hour after they arrived in the Alpha Quadrant.

Not that Tom knew that.

It wouldn't surprise him if the young man still had a betting pool going about them - for something a little more substantial than replicator rations.

The Voyager crew may have been scattered here, there and everywhere now that they had seven years worth of debriefings done and dusted, but Chakotay had no doubts that a little thing like geography wouldn't put Tom off.

They stand in the living room, watching as B'Elanna searches for her - apparently missing - shoe that she swears is hidden among the bombsite known as Miral's toy box.

Tom hovers impatiently by the door. "Are you ready?"

A muttered curse is issued from his old friend's lips. Half Klingon, half standard, all Chakotay can make out are the words 'kill' and 'husband.' "Yes!"

There is a wistful smile on Tom's face, a slight twinkle in the bright eyes. "Smile, it wont be that bad! Just think, a whole evening dedicated to history's finest transportation vehicles."

He is clearly excited with the prospect of spending hours looking at everything from the horse and carriage to the latest hovercar. As much as he hates to admit it, Chakotay is impressed that Tom managed to convince his wife to go along.

B'Elanna's deadpanned response comes quickly. "Please, allow me a moment to put on my excited face."

The banter is so easy between them that he can't help smiling. For all of their fights and their trials and tribulations, even the cynical side of him has to admit that they seem happy together. They play the 'old married couple' perfectly,

For Chakotay, there's a slight amount of longing associated with watching them together. A part of him that screams, you could have had that! You should have pushed harder! Done more!

Not that what he does have now isn't damn close to perfect.

He feels, sometimes, that despite all of the years that he and Kathryn spent as friends, there is still a large amount of awkwardness between them.

Shallow as it may makes him sound, Chakotay thinks that has a lot to do with the fact that they've only been sleeping together for a reasonably short time. Things change once you've been naked with someone.

And he wont think about that for too long in the present company.

Once the shoe has been successfully located, B'Elanna stands at her husbands side, all anger apparently forgotten as she automatically takes his hand. "We wont be late."

Kathryn smiles. "Have fun."

"Now, listen kids, we're leavin' you in charge here. I don't want to come home and find you two on the sofa makiiii..." Tom stops, looking to his wife with a slightly pained expression on his face. "Honey, you're crushing my hand."

B'Elanna looks the picture of innocence. "I'm aware of that. Let's go."

Kathryn watches them leave and, dutifully, doesn't start laughing until the front door swishes shut quietly behind them. Her laughter is mildly infectious and he can't help his own amusement coming through. "They're quite a pair, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are." He nods in agreement, thinking back to a time when he would have quite happily watched B'Elanna rip Paris' arm off and beat him to death with it if he had so much as looked at her for a second too long.

Ah, the good old days.

They move to the sofa - he will not think about what Paris said - and she curls her legs up under herself, the soft fabric of her dress bunching up around her. "They're cute together."

Even he has to admit that they make a good couple. "I don't know if that's the word for it, but they do seem happy."

"It's nice to be happy." There's a pensive smile on Kathryn's face and a slight blush has started in her cheeks. He wonders what she's thinking about, but doesn't really need to ask.

Keeping their relationship a secret hadn't really been a conscious decision that either of them made - though it was nice to actually have a secret worth keeping - that was just how it worked out. He was more than a little surprised that the press had yet to get wind of it as yet, big celebrities that they supposedly were now.

Kathryn's family - who had all but adopted him on sight - knew, of course. His sister and a few people they worked with. But very few people outside of them did.

Occasionally he would see an article on one of the less reputable news programs that would report on a dinner that they shared in public, or a walk in the park, the occasional kiss, but it didn't seem to go very far beyond that.

His thoughts are interrupted by her voice. "You want a cookie?"

"What?"

"I feel like a cookie. Chocolate chip, preferably. And I know B'Elanna has some." Chakotay chuckled quietly and shook his head.

Miral fusses a little from her cot and he tends to her while Kathryn goes in search of the cookie - and coffee, no doubt - stash.

***

Tom smiled at his wife as they walked leisurely down their street. "You had fun, admit it."

Their evening spent in a gallery had been his idea - those cars were so cool! - but the primary reason behind it was to get two old friends together.

Despite all of her protesting, and there had been a lot, B'Elanna was fully in support of his attempt to play matchmaker.

She wasn't so thrilled about the inter-planetary betting that was happening about it, but Tom was sure that he could talk his way around that.

"It wasn't as bad as I expected, I admit it."

"So you want to do it again next week then?"

B'Elanna stops, her hand poised over the control panel to their front door, a warm glare in her eye. "Don't push it."

"Yes, dear."

He dances away from her playful slap as they enter. The house is silent and Tom automatically heads for the living room.

Upon finding the babysitters on the couch, he stops dead. They are in exactly the position that he had hoped for. On the sofa, mouths locked firmly together and is it his imagination or is Chakotay's hand under Kathryn's dress?

When he speaks, his voice comes out as little more than a shrill noise. "I was right!"

"Tom, shhh!"

"I told Harry this would happen. All they needed was a little baby magic around them and look!" He gestures blindly in the general direction of the couch.

"Tom!"

His voice is only marginally softer. "But I was right!"

It takes a few moments for the noise to penetrate his brain, but eventually, he knows with absolute certainty that he can hear laughter. Muffled laughter, to be precise.

The satisfied grin slowly slips from his face.

He knows without a doubt that he has been had.

Mentally, he tries to work out exactly how much he's lost after the rather enormous wager that he placed on them getting together tonight.

The occupants on the couch - who, interestingly enough he thinks, have not bother to separate themselves - just laugh at him.

***

Ende