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Kathryn stretches her arms behind her head and sighs, breaking Chakotay’s concentration. “Explain it to me again.”
He groans, loathe to be distracted from his current activity. “Look, if you don’t want to—“
“I haven’t said that, have I? I simply find it hard to believe that anyone would be fooled by that ruse. We don’t look remotely alike.”
“You could be my half-sister,” he mumbles, closing his eyes and hoping she drops the topic. Fat chance.
“Are you sure you want to—“
“What I’m sure of,” he interrupts her, twisting his fingers just so and making her gasp, “is that I would very much like to help my best friend get rid of that creep of a guy—but I’d rather not discuss the issue now.”
His actions have clearly had the desired effect, for Kathryn presses her left heel harder into his hip and arches her back, presenting him with even more deliciously luminous skin to feast upon. “By all means,” she purrs, and nips at his earlobe, “do continue…”
–
It isn’t until much later, when they’re both lounging naked on the sofa and watching soap opera reruns on TV, that it occurs to Chakotay for the first time—if they do this, there won’t be a chance for them to be this free and uninhibited around each other for a long while.
It’s a good thing he loves Lanna dearly, or he would have called the whole thing off in a heartbeat.
–
The issue is this:
His best friend, Lanna Torres, is a strong willed, surprisingly kind-hearted and very lovely genius. The type that men worth their ilk fall for unconditionally.
She is also in a relationship with one Tom Paris, a very popular novelist, whose job takes him on tours all around the globe for quite a big part of the year. Lanna, being normally quite busy with her job at NASA (he didn’t just call her ‘genius’ for fun, you know), seldom has the time to join him—in fact, she claims that staying away from each other for certain period of time is precisely what makes their relationship a happy one. Chakotay cannot quite agree with her on that front, having done the long distance thing when Kathryn left to do a year of guest lecturing in Dublin (those Irish men are absolute creeps if anyone asks him) and feeling rather wretched with the whole idea—but whatever floats Lanna’s boat, he’s alright with.
Needless to say, newly transferred engineers flirting with her is not one of those things.
The newest PS (‘poor sod’, as dubbed by Kathryn after she picked up some slang during her yearly tryst in Europe) is called Vorik something-or-other, is a classic example of a slightly socially impaired nerd, and has it bad for Lanna. And there’s only that much gentle hinting and dismissing a guy’s attempts at ‘chance meetings’ and ‘spontaneous dates’ a woman can handle, apparently.
Hence the idea for Chakotay to stand in as her boyfriend, in hope of fending Vorik off.
Problem: Chakotay lives with Kathryn in her apartment just off campus, and there’s no way a person as accustomed to sleeping in—because her lecture hall is but a three-minute walk away—as Kathryn would willingly relocate for the duration of the ‘let’s make Vorik quit already’ plan.
Solution, as thought out by Chakotay and disliked by Kathryn: Lanna will move into their spare bedroom, and they will have to pretend to be siblings whenever Vorik is around. Which, hopefully, won’t be too long.
He places one last lingering kiss on Kathryn’s lips and steps reluctantly away, eyes roaming over her form—she’s looking particularly lovely today, in a forest green, off-shoulder sweater and skinny jeans. She pouts at him and plops down on the couch, reaching back for the book she’s discarded moments ago. “I still don’t like this idea,” she informs him grouchily, opening Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Impossible on a chapter on phasers and force fields. (He secretly loves how much of a geek she can be at times; he thinks himself a winner of the life’s lottery for having this beautiful, sexy, dangerously smart woman be with him, and willingly participate in all his impromptu Star Trek rewatches.)
“I believe in you,” he declares solemnly, pressing a quick kiss to the crown of her head. “You’re brilliant, and you shall therefore find a way to get through all this.”
“Watch me,” she mutters under her breath, but appears to be mollified somewhat.
The door opens, and Lanna’s unnaturally cheery voice sing-songs from the hallway, “Honey! I’m home!”
Kathryn groans and rolls her eyes as Chakotay, shoulders squared, heads over to meet her. “Hey there, beautiful,” he says in his best bedroom voice, kissing the very corner of Lanna’s mouth (they agreed some physicality was necessary, but enough is enough) and turning to the man hovering behind her. “You must be Vorik.”
The guy nods, stepping forward, and Chakotay has to bite down on the inside of his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. Ever since he met her back in college, Lanna has had a certain ‘type’ when it came to men; it wasn’t as much about coloring or character as it was about physicality: the way they’d tower over her ever so slightly, make her feel protected—for, despite all her brilliant feistiness, his friend is quite a bit insecure about life and her own inadequacy. Tom, tall and lanky and very committed to making Lanna’s life easier (despite any and all reservations Chakotay might have initially had about him), is therefore a perfect match for her.
Vorik, however, is quite the opposite. He’s barely the same height as Lanna, and thin as a string. His hair is dark and sleek, plastered to his skull and thus revealing a pair of unusually pointy ears. Add a pair of beady eyes, a pasty complexion of a person who barely leaves the house, and a sullen look on his face—and what you get in the precise opposite of a man Lanna would ever consider going out with.
He almost feels sorry for the guy. Almost.
They shake hands (if the limp, cold fish sort of a limb that Vorik presents to him could be called a hand in the first place, and proceed to the living room, where Kathryn is waiting, hands in her back pockets and bouncing gently on the balls of her feet with a mildly amused smile on her face. “Hi, Lanna!” she exclaims with fake amusement and presses a quick kiss to the engineer’s cheek. “And you must be Vorik?”
The guy gives her a thorough onceover that makes Chakotay want to growl. “Lanna told me her boyfriend had a sister, but you two don’t look alike.”
She doesn’t let the remark ruffle her, giving Vorik an exaggerated wink. “Mom used to be a hippie. She hang by the reservation before she met my dad. A very generous man, very loving. You understand.”
Vorik nods, obviously satisfied with the response—which couldn’t be said about Chakotay, whose blood pressure is rising rapidly. They never discussed their “family history” in case Vorik asked—but this was not what he’d expect her to come up with. Anyway, it seems to have worked, and he needs to muddle through it: for now, with a shrug and a self-depreciating smile. Vorik notices neither reaction, following Kathryn to the table (which Chakotay himself have set, after making dinner). He shares a look with Lanna, who mouths an apology and joins the other two. Kathryn serves the salad, leaving the wine to Chakotay.
“So—Vorik,” she asks casually, twirling the blood red liquid in her glass, “what is it you do, exactly?”
“I’m working on building a new range of radiotelescopes,” he mumbles around a piece of bread, looking sideways at Lanna, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention. “You probably don’t want to hear about it—“
“Are you trying to find a better way to measure the gamma radiation bursters?”
Everybody stares at her openmouthed, but Vorik is the most impressed. “You know about those?”
Kathryn shrugs and gives him a cute, little smile, the one that always makes Chakotay go all gooey. “I try to keep myself informed about the things that matter to Lanna. After all, she will be my sister-in-law one day.” Her smile grows, warm and kind, and Chakotay feels he could kiss her.
The feeling is gone a few moments later, when she continues, pushing the food around her plate and keeping her eyes fixed on Vorik, “Of course, I do have some scientific background myself. I majored in psychology, but my minor was biochemistry.” She takes a sip of wine, and licks her lips. “I study the effect of hormones and changes in the body’s biochemistry on human behavior, and the reverse: what happens to the system, biologically speaking, when a person feels threatened, loving, or jealous, to name but a few emotions.”
“Fascinating.” Vorik puts down the cutlery and leans on the table with his elbows. “Would you care to elaborate?”
–
He really hates this guy.
And from what he can tell, his body’s chemical balance has long been lost.
As soon as dessert plates are cleared, Kathryn and Vorik move to the sofa, continuing their discussion, and leaving Chakotay with an uneasy task of pretending to be doting upon Lanna and not noticing that the guy is clearly hitting. On. His. Girlfriend.
And she’s enabling him.
It’s all Chakotay’s own fault, really. He did tell her to try and find a way to enjoy this situation. Apparently, riling him up seems to have done the trick.
He pretends to be completely enraptured by Lanna, all the while observing the other couple out of the corner of his eye. The very idea that he’d found Kathryn’s outfit nice rather than outrageously provocative seems insane. Why does she have to look at him like that? Why does she keep touching her neck? And what could possibly be that fascinating to make her laugh like that?!
“Chakotay.”
“What?” he growls at Lanna, stopping himself at the very last moment from throwing her hand off his shoulder. This whole thing is getting ridiculous. “Sorry. You were saying?”
“Vorik is leaving.”
He looks up to find her guest—their guest—standing in the hallway with Kathryn, leaning way too close into her. “Maybe we could continue this conversation over coffee,” he asks, apparently having lost all his interest in Lanna. “Day after tomorrow?”
“We’re going out of town,” Chakotay replies, miraculously finding himself right next to Kathryn, with an arm thrown casually around her shoulders. “Family business. How about she lets you know when we get back?”
Vorik gapes at him, apparently astounded by his behavior. “I have never seen a pair of siblings that have formed such a close attachment. Very commendable.” He puts his jacket on, nodding at everyone. “I will see you at the lab, Lanna. Nice to have met you, Chakotay. And Kathryn—I do hope you call me.”
She gives him another brilliant smile, and Chakotay pinches her arm gently. She elbows him in the side over the cover of Lanna closing the door behind Vorik.
“I am so grateful to you guys,” Lanna says, getting her own coat from the hanger. “Kathryn, you were absolutely golden. I guess this one is off my case for good. I shall come over for my stuff tomorrow after work, if that’s okay.”
“Why not pack up now?” Chakotay asks, because it’s appropriate—but hopes she won’t take him up on the offer. Clearly, he’s been right in having made a best friend out of her.
“Tomorrow,” she insists with a wink. “Late in the evening.”
As soon as the door closes behind her, Chakotay has Kathryn pressed up against the wall, nosing at a soft spot under her ear. “You minx.”
“I did solve our conundrum, didn’t I?” she insists, letting him lift her off her feet and pulling his shirt off in one well-practiced motion. Her lips latch on to his right collarbone and she bites down, hard. “Too bad you didn’t like it. You should try taking one for the team every once in a while, Chakotay.”
“Not when you’re concerned,” he declares solemnly, walking towards the bedroom in long, steady strides. “The very thought of you with this guy; I just—“
“Turned into a proper caveman,” she finishes for him, shimming out of her underwear as he throws his jeans at the wall and joins her on the bed, breathing in the smell of her hair and closing her in his arms, the urgency temporarily forgotten. “I kind of liked it.”
“Let’s never do this again,” he pleads, kissing her temple. “Let’s never end up in that situation ever. Again.” He raises his head, kisses the tip of her nose. “Let’s get married, Kathryn.”
She’s silent for a few moments, before pulling him to her—into her—with a giddy smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
/end