Cruel and Unusual Punishment

By mizvoy

Part 4: Warnings

April 2378 (One month after the C/7 wedding)

“Katie, when you told me to prepare for a wedding reception, I was hoping it would be for your wedding, not someone else’s.” Gretchen Janeway stood beside her daughter as they watched nearly a hundred people gather around dozens of tables in the sprawling yard of the Janeway family home. It was a glorious spring day with warm sunshine and cool breezes, perfect for an outdoor party.

“Me?” Kathryn smiled at the thought of it. “Mother, you must be joking.”

“Why not you? You always managed to balance a Starfleet career and a private life before. There was Justin, and you were engaged to Mark when Voyager got lost in the Delta Quadrant.”

“And look what happened to both of those relationships. I’m destined to be an old maid, Mom. Two perfectly good engagements have been ripped out of my hands, and my poor old heart can’t stand losing a third fiancé.”

“Who says you’d lose him? Anyway, I can’t imagine why you insisted on being alone for seven years.”

“What was I to do? I couldn’t become involved with one of my subordinates on the ship.”

“Well, maybe not, but that’s done now. You’re home, and you have nothing to keep you from finding someone.”

“We’ve only been home for four months.”

“My point exactly! You’ve been home long enough to start dating again.”

Kathryn turned to her mother with a look of astonishment. “Did you expect me to step off of the ship and grab the first eligible bachelor I found?”

“Of course not, but you could go out on a date or two. Owen Paris tells me that there are plenty of eligible bachelors interested in spending time with you, but you’re ‘too busy’ to bother.”

Kathryn frowned as she recalled several of the men who had approached her since Voyager’s return. None of them had appealed to her, at all, and she’d decided that her enforced celibacy had, in some way, become her natural state of being. She wasn’t used to dating and really didn’t miss it.

“Admiral Paris is right. I have been too busy. And, besides, I’m pretty sure I’m beyond all that.”

“Beyond all that? You mean men?” Gretchen laughed, giving her daughter a wicked grin. “Darling, you must be kidding. I’ve got thirty years on you, and I’m still not ‘beyond all that.'”

Kathryn rolled her eyes. “Mother!”

“I need intimacy and affection as much now as I did when I was younger, and I’m sure you do, too.”

“Are you referring,” Kathryn whispered, “to your ‘friend’ Admiral White?”

“Actually, Katie, the nature of my friendship with Keith is none of your business,” Gretchen whispered back, giving her daughter a wink. “However, I will admit to having an understanding with the man.”

Kathryn grinned. “Well, well.”

“Oh, stop, Katie. Your father died when I was still a young woman, not much older than you are now. If I wasn’t willing to give up male companionship then, I wonder why you are now.” She studied her daughter’s face. “You can’t just dry up at your age.”

“I’m not drying up, Mother. I’ll get around to it sooner or later. Maybe.”

“I just want you to be happy, that’s all.”

“And having a man in my life will make me happy?”

“It’s always cheered me up,” her mother chuckled with another exaggerated wink.

They sat down on a porch swing and watched as the reception unfolded. It was not really a wedding reception, since Chakotay and Seven had been married for a month and had returned two weeks earlier from their Risan honeymoon, but it allowed the rest of Voyager’s crew a chance to celebrate with the couple and get used to the idea of their being together once and for all.

The older woman spied the newlyweds and sighed, shaking her head. “Such an unlikely match,” she commented. “They’re so completely different.”

“A study in contrasts,” Kathryn agreed. “One with blond hair, blue eyes, and a slender build, the other a combination of dark hair, brown eyes, and a large muscular body.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about the physical differences, Katie, although there are striking contrasts. I meant their personalities, their values, their interests, their temperament. You name it.”

Kathryn blinked and shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on. I have talked to Chakotay often, and I find him an interesting combination of science and mysticism. I mean, he goes on spirit walks, for God’s sake, and talks to an animal spirit guide. He’s a spiritual conundrum with dimples, and I think he’s much better suited to you than he is to Seven of Nine.”

Kathryn stiffened slightly and gave her mother a quick frown. “He’s my first officer, Mother.”

“I’m aware of his former position, sweetie, but that’s all in the past.”

“It’s too late for us, anyway,” Kathryn disagreed. “We let our chance slip by. The Klingons have a saying that describes it: ‘Half burned wood resists the fire.'”

“Half burned, hmm? So you admit that there was something smoldering between you two in the past?”

“Not really.” She blushed and toyed with the arm of the swing. “Years ago, maybe, but the give and take of command took all the heat out of it. Now, we’re each other’s best friends.”

“Perhaps you are. But that can change, mark my words.”

“I will never interfere with his marriage, Mother.”

“Oh, I know that. What I meant was that you’ll lose the intimacy that you have with him and with Seven, too, now that they’re married. Most married couples become each other’s best friends.”

“To a degree,” Kathryn replied, feeling slightly sick at what her mother predicted. “Seven is my protégé, and I have every intention of staying close to her. And Chakotay and I are not only continuing to work on Voyager’s debriefings, we’re team-teaching a class at the Academy next year. I can’t imagine why our relationships would change.”

“Because three’s a crowd, and you’re the odd ‘man’ out.” When Gretchen saw the scowl on her daughter’s face, she laughed and added. “Marriage is between two people, unless-.” She paused, giving her daughter a closer look. “You aren’t attempting a menage a trois, are you?”

“It’s not like that, Mom.” Kathryn could feel her face grow warm with a blush. “I’m best friends with both of them, and that won’t change.”

“So you say,” her mother replied, her eyes troubled as she sought out the bride and groom in the crowd. “Someone is bound to get hurt, and I just don’t want it to be you.”

“Mother, trust me on this one—no one will be hurt.” With those words, Kathryn rose from the swing, descended the stairs, and made her way toward the newlyweds, anxious to end the conversation before her mother went made her lose her temper.

Gretchen Janeway had a way of finding her daughter’s most sensitive nerve and then standing on it until Kathryn wanted to scream. All throughout her childhood, she had seen through Kathryn’s efforts to hide her feelings and had cut quickly to the heart of whatever troubled her. Her deft touch was still there, but Kathryn was determined to hide the truth from her this time.

When the admiral from the future had told her about Chakotay and Seven’s marriage, Kathryn had been shocked and dismayed. She had held on to the faint hope that she and Chakotay would be together when and if Voyager returned, a hope that she would have to forget, if the admiral’s smug expression was any indication. It didn’t take long for her to confirm that the relationship had already begun and that Seven was the reason for Chakotay’s recent unavailability for lunches and dinners.

Once they were home, she had two choices: she could distance herself from both of them or find a way to cope with the situation and stay close friends. Seeing them together as a couple had been difficult at first, but she had managed to maintain her captain’s mask while she was in the public eye. It had taken a few weeks for her to see them without a painful wrench in her gut, but she had finally managed to give them genuine smiles and wish them the best without gritting her teeth in the process.

She told herself that she could deny her feelings forever, if she needed to. For seven years, she had used her position as captain to keep her from becoming involved with Chakotay. All she needed was another taboo to keep her from approaching him in the future. She soon realized that his marriage to Seven of Nine would put Chakotay beyond her reach, for she would never commit adultery, nor would she do anything to hurt her former Borg protégé. Knowing that, she could continue to work with him, secure in the knowledge that they would remain friends, very close friends, and nothing more.

Right now, the balance was tenuous, and the last thing she needed was for her mother to confront her with it. And so Kathryn left her standing on the porch and plunged into the celebration.

Meanwhile, Gretchen Janeway remained on the fringes of the party and watched as her daughter put an arm around Chakotay’s and Seven’s waists and posed for a picture. With a shake of her head, she murmured, “Oh, Kathryn. No one is blinder than she who refuses to see.”

Later that night, as the party was winding down, Chakotay escorted Seven to the local transport station so that she could beam to Voyager and utilize her alcove for a much-needed regeneration cycle. Once she was gone, he returned to the party to thank the Janeways for their generosity before he returned to his apartment in San Francisco.

He arrived to find that the few guests who remained were dancing to the music of Harry Kim and the Kimtones. Gretchen Janeway was nowhere to be seen, but the captain was dancing with Tom Paris, and so Chakotay looked around for someone to talk to until she was available. He spied an exhausted B’Elanna Torres slowly rocking Miral on the porch swing, and headed in that direction.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, sitting down in the rocker next to her.

“Please do.” She shifted Miral to her other shoulder and then glanced out at the back yard where the dancers slowly turned to a favorite song. “I’d say the Janeways went all out for you two.”

“Kathryn did this for Seven, not for me,” he disagreed. “She thinks of Seven as a surrogate daughter, especially since the Hansens have decided not to be in the picture.”

“I still can’t believe they did that. I thought her Aunt Irene would be willing to take her in.”

“She was, but she passed away just a few days before Voyager returned. She was the last of the family who was friendly with Seven’s parents and remembered meeting her as a child.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It may still work out. But the initial family meeting was less than happy.”

“I understand how that can be.” She looked around the yard, noticing for the first time that Seven was gone. “Is Seven regenerating at last? She looked exhausted.”

“Yeah, she was worn out. The portable regeneration device that the doctor designed for her really doesn’t work as well as the real thing. She used it on our honeymoon, but I think it will be two months before she recovers from that experience.”

“It’s a shame that she’s so tied to it,” B’Elanna agreed, giving her friend a sideways look. “Chakotay, I’ve been waiting a month to ask you a simple question, and I’m thinking there’s no time like the present.”

He looked at her warily. “Go ahead.”

“What in God’s name are you thinking, marrying Seven of Nine? Have you lost your mind?” Miral sensed her mother’s passionate emotions and began to whimper.

Chakotay gritted his teeth. “She’s a beautiful woman, B’Elanna. Not only is she brilliant, she has a disarming sense of humor.”

“And she’s built like a brick outhouse—with real plumbing in her head.” B’Elanna glared at him as she struggled to calm down her baby. “Before you started seeing her, she’d had one date in her life, and he ended up in Sickbay! So, you two have three or four dates and get married.”

“We’d been together for over three months.”

“Oh, pardon me. I had no idea it was such a long-term relationship.” She took a deep breath as Miral burrowed into her neck. “It’s just that when I see a friend making the biggest mistake of his life, I feel compelled to speak up.” She patted Miral’s back, and the child settled back in for a nap. “Who came up with this half-baked idea? Seven?”

“We got to know each other better in the last few months on Voyager and quietly started seeing each other. Seven approached me and suggested that we date. I didn’t see any harm in it.”

“You must be kidding. What about the captain?”

“What about her?”

“Oh, come on.” She rolled her eyes. “You knew that your dating Seven would hurt her feelings.”

“Actually, I was pretty sure she’d approve.”

“And that’s why you didn’t tell anybody about this until after we were home?” B’Elanna shook her head in dismay and then stood up to pace, jostling Miral gently. “What was her reaction when you broke the news?”

“She already knew. The admiral told her.”

“So that’s what the captain meant when she said that the admiral blackmailed her.” B’Elanna stopped and stared at him. “You didn’t see her real reaction, did you? She had time to get used to the idea ahead of time.”

Chakotay frowned. “I suppose so.”

“And you know perfectly well how tightly she can control her emotions. She can smile and nod her head in approval even though she feels like throwing up.”

Chakotay laughed. “Don’t tell me you’ve started believing the rumors about Kathryn and me?”

“Tell me the truth,” she demanded, stopping right in front of him. “You love the captain, don’t you?”

He paused for a moment, and then gave her a rueful grin. “I admit that I loved her once, but when I finally accepted the fact that she didn’t love me in return, I moved on.”

“Didn’t love you, or couldn’t?” B’Elanna resumed her pacing. “So she finds out that you’ve moved on, and in her usual, self-sacrificing way, Janeway allows you two to get married.”

“Allowed? It was pretty much her idea. She suggested that we might as well get married sooner as later, especially since neither of us has family on Earth. She even took care of all the details.”

“Surely she can see what a bad match you two are.”

He bit back a caustic reply. “Just because you don’t get along with Seven doesn’t mean she’s a terrible person. She’s come a long way in the last year or so.”

“And she has a hell of a long way to go, too.” She saw the flash of anger in his eye and paused to put Miral in her stroller before she sat down beside him, putting a hand on his arm. “Don’t get mad at me, Chakotay. It’s just that most of the crew always thought you and Janeway were perfect for each other, and I can’t help but wonder if you can be happy with someone else as long as that question remains answered.”

Chakotay looked away, but not before B’Elanna saw a glint of unshed tears in his eyes. “I think I have the answer, B’Elanna, don’t you? Would she let me marry someone else if she cared?”

“If you’d married anyone but Seven, I’d say no. But, she isn’t going to do anything to hurt her precious drone.”

“B’Elanna, you’re being unfair.”

“Am I? I think if you’d been involved with anyone else from the crew, Janeway would have spoken up.”

“You’re assuming that she loves me.”

“Yes, I am.” B’Elanna sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “It seems to me that you’re marrying the captain’s surrogate daughter as a way to remain as close to her as you were on the ship.”

He started to deny it, and then shook his head. “What if it does? Friendship has always been enough for us.”

“On the ship, yes, when you were operating as the command team. But we’re home now, and you aren’t her first officer any more. Can you really give up hope without knowing for sure how she feels about you?”

“What choice do I have?” He rubbed his face, suddenly tired. “I admit that I’ve wondered whether Kathryn and I could make a go of it, but then she told me about my marriage in the other timeline, and I could see that she would never take me seriously again.”

“You love the captain so much that you’ll marry the drone to stay close to her?”

“You make it sound worse than it is.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” B’Elanna sighed and looked back out at her husband, grateful that they had finally spoken up about their feelings before it was too late. “Well, you’ve made your choice, so, for God’s sake, do whatever it takes to make it work.”

“I live up to my promises, B’Elanna.”

“I hope so. Seven isn’t as invulnerable as everyone thinks she is. She desperately wants to fit in, even more now that we’re no longer on the ship, and to be betrayed by the two people she loves most would literally destroy her.”

“Are you implying that she’s marrying me because she’s afraid to be alone?”

“I hope not, but I have to admit that the idea has occurred to me. Her ‘collective’ on the ship is gone, and her biological family has rejected her. She’s seemed terribly depressed about never being able to get rid of the rest of her implants and be like everybody else. What if her marriage fails, too? How much rejection and failure can one drone endure?”

“You have a point.” He studied the ring on his finger, turning it round and round. “She complained about the alcove every day on Risa and was still complaining when she left for the ship tonight. But the doctor says it’s impossible for her to live without the remaining implants, and she’s going to have to accept that.” They looked up as Janeway and Paris gestured for them to come to the dance floor. Chakotay pulled B’Elanna’s arm through his as they left Miral sleeping soundly on the porch. “It will all work out.”

“It had better work out, Chakotay, or someone is going to be hurt. Seriously hurt.”

They arrived at the dance floor, where Tom grabbed his wife and swooped her away. For a moment, Janeway and Chakotay stood awkwardly amongst the dancers and then turned to each other with a laugh. Janeway took his arm and led him toward the refreshment table for a glass of punch.

“You know,” Tom whispered into B’Elanna’s ear, “I think Chakotay might be getting two birds with one stone by marrying Seven.”

“Don’t even imply such a thing,” she hissed back. Tom laughed and whirled her away, but she kept her eye on the other couple, noticing how they whispered and laughed as they shared their drinks. She remembered a Klingon saying that her mother often quoted about star-crossed lovers: “True love ignored becomes a bloody sword.”

She hoped Janeway and Chakotay didn’t pay too dearly for ignoring the love they obviously felt for each other.