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Kathryn walked down a corridor in the science wing of Starfleet Academy, looking for an office. Although she was dressed in her newly acquired Vice Admiral uniform, this was to be a personal visit.
As she sighted the names and numbers on the office doors, hope from the deepest, most personal place, welled up inside her. It was different to the hope and determination that drove her to get Voyager home. Kathryn had had a responsibility to her crew, but this was something solely for herself. Hope she could rekindle a lost romance. Not with her former fiancé, but the woman who used to be her best friend. Her soulmate. The one she gave away to be with Mark. Alison.
~
After they had broken up, Kathryn had shut away the part of her that had still loved Alison. She had been determined to focus solely on Mark. But then, Voyager was flung into the Delta Quadrant and all contact with Mark severed.
On Voyager’s journey through the previously unexplored (by Starfleet) quadrant she had flirted and been attracted to others, she couldn’t deny that, but was still very much in love with Mark. The devastating news, outwardly handled stoically and with acceptance, that Mark had married someone else, had released her. Released her heart and allowed her to think of Alison. And with, it hope against hope, to see her again.
~
Kathryn had found the office in question. ‘Professor Alison Harkins, Chair of Exobiology’ on a metal plaque on the office door met her eyes.
This was it. Kathryn knocked on the door, her heart in her throat.