Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Kathryn knelt down and the Irish Setter puppy immediately climbed into her arms, wriggling happily and wagging its tail. Kathryn kissed the silken ears before looking up. "She's adorable, Mark. What's her name?"

"We call her Wigglewort right now," began Mark, but his wife cut him off.

"But her real name is Patty's Pride," Jennifer finished with a knowing smile.

Kathryn grinned in return. Mark's sister probably didn't appreciate the puppy bearing her name. "Wigglewort certainly seems appropriate for this little squirmer." She stroked the puppy's head. "As I recall, we went through the same 'nickname versus proper name' thing with Molly."

"You mean Bear," Mark corrected.

"You see?" Kathryn glanced around. "And speaking of *Molly*, I can't thank you enough for keeping her and taking care of her for me, even after I..." she paused, "I was no longer around."

"It was my pleasure," Mark said firmly. He added, "despite the fate of my nice white carpets."

"I really am sorry about that, Mark, but I always told you white wasn't a very practical color," Kathryn said. "Speaking of my dear dog, where is she?" Kathryn noticed the immediate frown on Jennifer's face and quickly added, "But as I said when I spoke to you earlier, I'm sure after all this time Molly thinks of this as her home and it wouldn't be fair to take her away, so you don't have to worry..."

Jennifer glanced sharply at Mark. "You didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Kathryn asked.

Mark knelt down next to her. "I'm sorry, Kathryn, I should have told you this earlier, but I just couldn't do it over a comm line. I thought it would be better in person." He took a deep breath. "Molly became really sick about two years ago. We did everything we could, but despite all the treatments, she was still suffering, still in a lot of pain. And so we decided it would be better to just let her go."

Kathryn looked at him in shock, unwilling to accept what he was saying. Molly, her beloved dog, was dead?

"She had a good life, Kathryn," Jennifer said softly. "Wigglewort is one of Molly's granddaughters. We kept a few of the puppies from each litter."

Kathryn's arms tightened convulsively around the puppy in her arms. "I see." She bent her head, feeling the sudden rush of tears into her eyes. She had been really looking forward to seeing Molly again, concentrating on that aspect of her reunion with Mark almost to the exclusion of anything else. Not just to cover the awkwardness of seeing her former fiancé married to another woman, but because she had truly missed her beloved canine companion.

Wigglewort whined and began licking Kathryn's jaw. She smiled briefly through her tears. Molly had also known whenever she was feeling particularly sad. The puppy eventually tired of the activity and, true to her name, wiggled off Kathryn's lap and ran to the door.

Mark held out his hand. Kathryn forced a smile as she took it and stood. "Thank you." She brushed off her uniform and began making her way to the door. "I really appreciate your inviting me over. It was good seeing you again."

"The same here, Kathryn," he said.

Kathryn turned to Jennifer. "And it was nice to meet you."

Jennifer smiled and nodded.

Mark slipped his arm around his wife and gave her a slight squeeze. "By the way, I understand congratulations are in order. I heard that you're getting married."

Kathryn smiled, a genuine expression this time. "Yes, Chakotay and I are engaged, but we haven't made an official announcement yet, or set a date. Considering everything else that's been going on recently in our lives, we decided to wait a bit."

"Politics, I know." Mark shook his head. "I know that not everyone was pleased to hear about the Maquis pardons."

"Yes, but now that it's an accomplished fact, they'll have to learn to live with it."

Mark handed her an album as they reached the front door. She looked up at him questioningly.

"This is for you," Mark said. "Jen and I put it together when we'd heard Voyager had returned."

Kathryn opened it and blinked several times to hold back a fresh wave of tears. The album was full of pictures of Molly, her puppies, and more puppies. "Mark, I can't thank you enough."

"No thanks are necessary," he said quietly. "It's the least I could do."

#

"Sorry I'm late."

Chakotay looked up as Kathryn slipped into the booth at the Night Owl. He frowned. After so many years, he could tell when something was bothering her. Without any preamble, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...really."

He raised an eyebrow but decided not to pursue it. "How was your meeting with Mark?"

"It went well." Chakotay was glad to see her relax as she went on, "Of course, it was a little strange seeing him again, but any awkwardness was quickly smoothed over. After all, we were friends for a long time before we became romantically involved."

Chakotay nodded. "That's good to hear."

"His wife, Jennifer, is very nice and they seem very happy. She's a psychologist, by the way."

He nodded again. "And how are the dogs?"

"They have the cutest puppy. Looks just like Molly did at that age..." Her voice faded away. Chakotay waited, knowing instinctively that whatever was bothering her would come out now. "But Molly...she died two years ago. Damn it, Chakotay, she was only nine...only nine years old." She blotted at her eyes and then said wistfully, "I just wish I could have seen her again."

He reached out across the table to her and patted her hand comfortingly. Kathryn tried to smile as she placed an album on the table top. "Mark and Jennifer put this together for me. It's pictures of Molly and her puppies." She pulled her hand away from his and opened the book to the last page. "This is Wigglewort."

"She's very cute." Chakotay hesitated. "Do you want another dog, Kathryn?"

She shook her head. "I should never have gotten Molly in the first place. She deserved better than a Starfleet captain who was away most of the time. I couldn't even be there when she died."

Chakotay got up and slid around the bench till he was next to her. He put a comforting arm around her. "I know you really wanted to see her again, Kathryn. Besides the fact that you loved her so much, she was your link to your past. Of everything you'd had before."

"Yes." Her voice was muffled against his chest.

He fell silent, suddenly reminded of the legend of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, who was away from home for ten years to fight the Trojan War, and then spent another ten years trying to get back home. After many trials and tribulations, he was finally reunited with his wife Penelope, and all he'd lost was restored to him. Even his hound Argos lived just long enough to see him return. But as similar as Voyager's journey was to the epic tale, Mark's marriage had meant Kathryn's own odyssey would not end with a Penelope waiting faithfully for her return. And now, with Molly's death, she didn't even have the comfort of an Argos.

But he didn't say any of this out loud. Kathryn Janeway was not given to self-pity and would certainly reject any comparisons or talk of heroism. Instead, he said, "You could always take a new dog with you on your next assignment. Dogs have a long history in Starfleet, you know."

She sat up abruptly and busied herself with the menu. "If you're referring to that apocryphal story about Jonathan Archer and his beagle on the first Enterprise...anyway, Molly hated space flight. I took her with me once to Luna City and it was not a pleasant experience. And it's a good thing she wasn't with me on Voyage-. I'm sure she would have hated leola root."

Chakotay chuckled. "That only proves she had good taste. But think about it, Kathryn-maybe one of Molly's grandpuppies would be different?"

"We'll see," she said briskly. "In the meantime, of course, this whole discussion is moot, as I'm assigned to teach at the Academy till further notice."

"Admiral Hayes said six months," he reminded her. "You'll be back in space one day." He flashed her a grin. "I guarantee it."

She smiled, but waved his words away. "Are you ready to order?"

"Sounds like a good idea." He glanced at his chronometer and added ruefully, "as a matter of fact, I have to leave within the next five minutes if I'm going to be on time for my interview."

"You certainly don't want to be late. One of the things I heard about Dr. Jones, aside from his fascination with Sherman's Planet, is that he's a stickler for punctuality."

Chakotay smiled. "We'll talk later, I promise. And remember, tomorrow we're having dinner at your mother's house."

"How could I forget?" Kathryn said. She stood to kiss him goodbye. "I still don't know why anyone would want to go to Sherman's Planet...the only thing there is wheat."

He laughed. "It's not just any wheat. Quadrotriticale--it's a special hybrid. And there are some fascinating ruins beyond those wheat fields."

"Point taken." Kathryn reached up and lightly traced the tattoo on his temple. "Chakotay, thank you."

"For what?" he said with a smile.

"Just for being you. My life may not have turned out the way I envisioned it all those years ago, but I've been very lucky all the same."

The End