Disclaimer: Not mine, theirs!
By Mindy
“. . .this line here, which is the longest on your hand, represents your life. I’d venture to say, if you gave up the coffee, stress and lived it up every once in a while, you can expect to have a long life.” Chakotay said, turning Kathryn’s hands over and giving it a pat.
“Anything else?” Kathryn asked. She didn’t know that Chakotay had learned this ancient of Earth customs. Chakotay smiled and turned her hand back over.
“Oh, this is bad.” He shook his head with a mournful grimace settling on his mouth.
“What! What is it?”
“Well, according to this line, you’ll either be caught in a compromising situation or eaten by a big, green hairy monster.” He looked up and caught her eye. “Have a nice day.” And for a moment, they stayed that way, just looking at one another. He’d been sitting on her side of her desk, in her domain. Just as things began looking like they were going to get serious, the door to her ready room chimed.
“Just a minute.” Kathryn croaked. She panicked and looked up to Chakotay. “Under the desk,” She hissed. “Quickly!” Chakotay dove under her desk as Tuvok and Tom entered her ready room.
“Yes, gentlemen?” She asked sweetly. Chakotay sat quietly, not moving.
“You wanted to meet with us concerning procedure for the area of space coming up.” Tuvok said.
“All right.” Kathryn said. For a while, the meeting progressed smoothly and after a bit, Kathryn forgot that Chakotay was on the floor under her desk.
Chakotay, in the meantime, wasn’t having much fun. He was about to go out of his mind, listening to Tuvok drone on about safety precautions and drills. He was about to go to sleep when he had an idea. “You’ll be caught in a compromising position.” He’d told her. Well, Chakotay was getting cramped and tired and he decided to maybe help along the meeting. Besides, he was in perfect position. Under her desk, with half her invisible to Tuvok and Tom.
The devilish idea came to him.
“. . .run your drills. But I don’t want the ship on total drill. Do one sec—“ Kathryn stopped mid-sentence.
“Something wrong, captain?” Tom asked.
“Uh, no.” She said and kicked her leg. “My. . .uh. . .leg just—uhm fell asleep.” Kathryn tried to kick Chakotay, but he grabbed her leg instead. He trailed his fingers lightly over the fabric, just enough to make her squirm in her seat. She moved, trying to get away from the sensation, moving, jerking, straightening herself, kicking at Chakotay, crossing her legs, anything to make him stop.
Tuvok and Tom were watching her, unsure of what her problem was. Neither realized the commander was under her desk, making her do all this. However, Tom had his theories and decided to voice them.
“Tuvok, I think we can wait to tell the captain the rest of this later.”
“Mr. Paris, I see no reason for us to wait on the rest of this matter.” Tom gave him a dirty look and directed his attention back to the captain, who was trying to maintain her decorum, but failing miserably.
“Tuvok, isn’t it obvious. You’ve been droning on for so long and she’s been drinking a ton of coffee. Use the muscle between your ears and realize that she needs to use the bathroom.”
Chakotay heard that remark and snickered, a little too loudly. Kathryn cleared her throat in an attempt to cover his outburst. “Uh, yes gentlemen, that’s it. Tuvok, could this possibly be held off until tomorrow?”
“Of course, captain.” Tuvok said rising. Tom followed suit. They left. As Tom passed through the door, Kathryn pushed off her desk and hit the wall with a resounding thud.
“You ass!” She hissed. Chakotay crawled out from under her desk, a wide grin on his face.
“Well, there is only so much of Tuvok one can listen too.” He said, getting to his feet and brushing off his uniform. “Besides, it was fun. Watching you fidget. ‘She needs to use the bathroom.’ I think you owe Tom a big one.” He said.
“You better watch yourself, commander. I will have revenge for this.” Kathryn said.
**
On the bridge, Tom tried a theory. “Computer, locate Commander Chakotay.”
“Commander Chakotay is in the ready room.”
Tom smirked to himself. ‘Well, that’s one way to get Tuvok to shut up.’ He thought.
**finish**