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It still felt surreal—having Chakotay on board, after so much time. And yet, there he was: still dressed in a mirrorverse attire, the evil goatee just wiped from his face, which looked tired from the countless adventures he’d lived before getting home, to Voyager A; to her.
“Tea?”
“Please”, he accepted her suggestion, and she felt his eyes fixed on her as she moved to the replicator to get the drinks.
Kathryn returned with two cups of tea in her hands and sat next to him, so close that their knees touched. But she couldn’t help it: she needed to feel him, to take a second to appreciate the familiarity of his touch, to enjoy the closeness they had been deprived of ever since he disappeared.
“I had almost forgotten that the Doctor ordered you to drink less coffee”, Chakotay said when he realized she was drinking the same beverage as him.
“I’m starting to appreciate tea, but it could never compete with a nice cup of coffee”, Janeway answered and smiled, looking at Chakotay in the eyes and getting lost in them, as if they were a brown cup of coffee for her to enjoy. “So,” she began after they’d settled comfortably on the couch with their teas, “you had a run with the mirrorverse?”
“I did”.
“Was I there?”
“Of course you were. Who else could captain the ISS Voyager?”
“Ah, you never know, I could have easily been murdered by anyone. Like, maybe… your evil version?”
“Oh, believe me, those two were just as close as we are. Only they were much more overt about their relationship”.
“Hmm, so I guess no matter the universe, some things don’t change, just the package they come in”.
“That’s a nice way of putting it”.
“Come here, Chakotay. It’s been so long”.
She didn’t need to say anything else. It had indeed been too long. Chakotay placed the cup on the coffee table and finally embraced Kathryn and kissed her. He had been dreaming about that moment for years—it almost still felt like a dream. But this time he knew he wouldn’t wake up frustrated and alone. He was back to her. They had found each other once again, against all the odds, and he would never let go.
As he enjoyed the reunion kiss, he spared a thought for Kathryn Janeway’s mirror counterpart, who had seen in his eyes that he was sincere, and that the Loom were a bigger threat to the universes than he could ever be. Besides, Chakotay felt that that Janeway had seen in him another thing: the unconditional love for her that governed him; and the necessity to be reunited with his own Kathryn Janeway.
Whatever it was, he was grateful.