Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game

Star Trek Voyager: The Loving Game (Chapter 63)

A/n: The “memories” are in italics.

The sweat dripping from his brow in rivulets seeped into his straining eyes and made them sting but he ignored that as much as the numbing effect carrying his rifle was having on his arm and just kept going, the adrenaline of the pursuit fuelling his exhausted muscles. He smiled as a burst of flame lit the sky above him, strafe fire bombing always made them flee from their homes like rats, the hypocrites. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t burned down a settlement or two, he’d seen their cruelty for himself. Familiar hate and rage bubbled within him and his eyes groped around for an outlet. Suddenly he saw the undergrowth in front of him ripple and instinctively pounced. The other man’s weapon was knocked out of his hands immediately but that didn’t stop him fighting back, scratching and shoving and biting as he struggled to pin him down…

“Chakotay! Chakotay, wake up!” Seven cried out desperately as she struggled to avoid her husband’s violent thrashing around in their bed, his eyes open, but glazed and unseeing. “Chakotay…” She murmured soothingly, reaching out of his arm to shake him awake. He reacted to her touch like a wild animal would, his face contorted with a panicky rage as he seized her in a vice like grip and pinned her to the bed. Her gasp of shock and pain seemed to drag him back to himself, his dead stare becoming confused, then fearful and guilt ridden as he read her face.

He let go of her immediately, on the brink of tears as he stroked her rapidly bruising skin. “Seven?” he choked out as if unable to believe his eyes. When she nodded, his head bowed weakly into her shoulder, his chest still heaving. “Did…Did I hurt you my love?” he asked in anguish.

“No, no of course not.” Seven assured him hurriedly, “I know you’d intentionally never hurt me.” She said softly as she ran her hand up and down his quivering cheek, disturbed to feel, and see, the cold sweat that coated his entire body. “What happened?”

Chakotay gulped repeatedly, his hands gripping the damp sheets as he struggled to vocalise what he had just experienced. “I…I don’t know…” He muttered brokenly. “A nightmare?” The pleading look in his eyes as he asked this made Seven’s heart twist. Both of them grimaced as they heard Celeste’s newly awakened cries of confusion. “It was so real…” He whispered, utterly dumbfounded as he moved away from his wife and sat on the edge of the bed, every muscle in his body taunt and shaking.

“I know.” Seven murmured as she got up, brushing a reassuring hand against his face before heading hurriedly into Celeste’s room.

The toddler was already standing up in her cot, tears of fright streaking her pale little face. “Mama…” She whimpered, “Monsta get Papa!”

“No, no, no baby….” Seven murmured, picking her up and cuddling her to her chest as she continued to sob fretfully. “Now Celeste…” She said seriously, “Would Mama ever let a monster get you or Papa?”

“No…” Celeste sniffed into her neck.

“That’s right, I certainly wouldn’t.” Seven confirmed, “Papa’s just had a…” She paused as she looked at Chakotay over their daughter’s head. He still sat on the bed, completely unmoving other than the involuntary shaking and she could hear his teeth chattering from his, his gaze unfocused and withdrawn. She swallowed hard; this couldn’t be just a nightmare. “Papa’s not feeling well angel, we’re going to have to take him to see the Doctor.”

“Good.” Celeste mumbled in agreement, eyeing her father unhappily before glancing back at her mother, “You make him supp too?” she asked seriously.

Under other circumstances Seven might have laughed at that, remembering that she’d made Celeste soup last time the girl had had a cold, but now she just grimly tucked her up in a blanket as she hurriedly threw on her dressing gown and shoved her bare feet into a pair of shoes, not caring about appearances. “I’ll make him soup later if he wants it baby.” She assured the still upset child as she carried her back with her into the main bedroom. “We’re going to Sickbay.” She announced firmly as she handed him a shirt and a pair of shoes.