Harry sat staring dreamily at Seven-of-Nine doing her work. Paris couldn't help smiling a little himself when he eyed the very form-fitting silver jumpsuit Seven was wearing. Harry sat on the floor with his legs crossed. His chin rested in his hand, and his elbow sat on his knee.

"Harry, can i see you a moment?" Paris asked, offering Harry his hand. Harry blushed, and stood up with Paris' help.

"What?" he asked when they were in the corridor. His stomach still hurt, and he made a mental note to go back and see The Doctor, ASAP.

"You know what, Harry," Paris said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He leaned against the wall.

"Tom, she's the girl of my dreams," he insisted dreamily.

"Harry, she's the girl of every man's dreams," Paris replied drily.

Harry glared at him. "Oh, how could i expect someone who still likes the captain to understand?" Paris' eyes widened and he looked at Harry.

"How did you-"

"Tom, everyone knows," Harry interrupted, patting Tom on the shoulder. He smiled smugly and went back into engineering.

Captain Janeway glanced at her operations officer. "On screen Mr. Kim," she ordered. Janeway turned toward the viewscreen. The same shadowy figure flashed onto it. "How can we help you?" she asked with a smile.

"Give us the girl. Beam yourself and the child down the the planet immediately," he demanded in a harsh voice.

Janeway glanced back at Chakotay, who rose and took his place beside the captain. "But you said-"

"I am aware of what i said, Janeway. I said give us the girl." his black hands balled into fists and his eyes flickered.

"Very well, we'll-"

"She's not going anywhere," Chakotay interrupted Janeway. All activity on the bridge stopped, all eyes turned to Chakotay. Paris actually turned in hisseat to stare at the first officer. Janeway looked up at him, not believing what he had done.

Harbade seemed not to notice the sudden outburst of the man. "You have one day," he announced, ending the transmission.

Janeway looked up at her first officer. "Tuvok," she said, not removing her gaze from Chakotay, "You have the bridge."

"Aye, Captain," he responded calmly.

"Chakotay, i would like to see you in my ready room. Now." She turned and walked into the room. Chakotay winced slightly, took a deep breath and followed the captain. Kim and Paris watched him leave in silent dignity.

After they were alone in the room, Janeway stared hard at Chakotay. "What do you think you were doing out ther, Commander?" she demanded.

Chakotay looked her straight in the eyes and responded, "Possibly saving Kayla's life, Captain." He kept his hands behind his back.

"Explain," she said shortly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Captain, i'm sure that if you'd heard the same story Pairs told me, you would have done the same thing," Chakotay insisted.

"And what, exactly, is the story?" she asked.

"You should let Paris tell you that, Captain. He knows the entire story." Chakotay's arms fell to his sides.

Janeway considered this for little more than a second. She tapped her combadge. "Janeway to Paris."

"Paris here, Captain, go ahead," came his reply.

"Mr. Paris, would you report here as soon as you're available, please?" It wasn't really a question.

"Aye, Captain. I'm on my way now." he answered. Moments later the chime sounded indicating someone was waiting outside the door.

"Enter," Janeway barked. The doors swished open and Paris entered the room.

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" he asked professionally.

"Yes, Mr. Paris. Chacotay has told me that you've spoken to Kayla and you have an interestinf story to tell," Janeway replied.

Paris looked a little uneasy and he shifted back and forth from foot to foot. "Well, we ate lunch and she told me why she ran away," he said finally.

"Why?" Janeway asked curiously.

"Captain, it's a long story," Paris said reluctantly.

Janeway motioned to the couch lining one wall. "We've got twenty-four hours, Mr. Paris," she said, with a reassuring smile.

"You just ask it to do something, and it does it," he had explained. "He had told the computer to locate Ensign Kim.

"Deck six, starboard," The computer had replied.

She had seen the relicators that made food and clothing and other things. Tom Paris warned her about trying to order hot, plain, tomoto soup.

Kayla looked at the pad in her hands. ToTo leaped up on the bed and snuggled up to her. She stroked his rough black fur, and he fell asleep while she rubbed his stomach. Kayla turned on her pad.

After about an hour and a half of looking through all the pads, she had finallly chosen The Wizard of Oz She remembered her fatther telling her that story hundreds of times. That was why's they'd named her dog ToTo. She'd been to Emerald City so many times that she knew it by heart. She rolled over on her back and started reading it.

Her father's face flashed into her mind. She turned off the pad and threw it on a nearby table. She stared up at the ceiling. "I miss you, Daddy. And you, too, Mama," she whispered. Something chimed softly and Kayla say up quickly. "Computer!" she said, looking around the room. "What was that sound?"

"Someone desires entry to this room," The computer explained.

"Oh," Kayla said breathlessly. "Who?"

"Commander Chakotay."

"Oh." Kayla said again. "Come in," she added, somewhat bitterly.

The doors opened and Chakotay took a few steps into the room. "Hello, Kayla," he said.

"What?" Kayla demanded.

Chakotay refrained from rolling his eyes at the young girl. "Well, if Paris had given you this like he was supposed to, we could have just called you to the bridge." He held out his hand and Kayla took the object he offred.

"What do i do with it?" she asked, examining the little triangle.

"Here." Chakotay took it from her and slapped it onto the left side of her chest, just above her heart.

Kayla looked down at it, and then up at Chakotay. "Um, alright. What does it do, exactly?" she saked.

"Well, it allows anyine on the ship to contact you." He didn't mention that it also allowed the ship's computer, because he knew she'd never wear it then.

"Oh," she replied. She scooted herself off of the bed, and ToTo sprang to life. He jumped off the bed and began to run circles around Chakotay's feet. He hopped on his back legs, and then sat down, panting from all the activity. Kayla laughed at her silly dog, and Chakotay smiled at him.

"Kayla," Chakotay said. His smile faded, but his eyes remained warm and friendly. "The captain would like to see you on the bridge." He looked down at her.

"Um, ok. Uh, yeah." she replied, slightly startled. She bent down and looked at ToTo. I'm gonna leave you for a little while, ok? I want you to be a good boy. You'll make me proud, right?" ToTo seemed to grin in response. Kayla smiled, and ruffled the fur on the little dog's head.

Chakotay hadn't realized until not just how much that little dog meant to Kayla. After considering it, however, he began to understand. After Kayla's father had dies, it was just Kayla and her mother. And the puppy he had given her for a birthday present. It dawned on Chakotay that this was the same puppy. After her mother had died, the puppy was all that Kayla had left.

"Let's go, Chakotay," Kayla's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Alright." They left the room and began to walk down a hallway. They were all long, and this one was no exception. "Kayla," he said, after a few moments of awkward silence. "Do you remember where you got ToTo?" He hadn't really meant to remind her like that, but it had been done.

"Yes. You gave him to me for my third birthday," she replied casually. "I named hi ToTo because of my father."

"Your father?" Chakotay prompted

"Yeah. His favorite story had a little black dog named ToTo in it," she explained.

"Oh," was all that Chakotay said. A picture of Michael Weber lying on the floor of their small maquis ship with his daughter crying over his body flashed into Chakotay's mind. He didn't want to upset Kayla, but he had to talk to her about it. "Kayla," he said softly, gently touching her arm so that she would stop walking.

Kayla jumped slightly and turned to Chakotay. "What?" she asked.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," heblurted. "But it happened, Kayle, and i'm sorry. If i could change it, i would, i swear i would. But i can't change it, wither."

Kayla stared at him. Her expression hardened and her eyes grew angry and upset. "You left us with no father, Chakotay. You left my mother to take care of me with no help. You left our hearts ripped open, and you didn't even offer to help. You just handed me over to Mother and left again. I could forgive you for what you did to my father, Chakotay, but what you did to Mother was even worse. You killed her, too, when you left in the middle of the night without even saying good-bye." She looked as if she might cry, but no tears were shed.

"Kayla, I-"

"I respected you. I looked up to you. I loved you! And you ruined it all!" Kayla began running from him. Tears stung her eyes. She heard Chakotay calling her name, but she ignored him. Startled officers jumped out of her way as she ran down the hallway again. Someone stepped dileberately in front of her, causing her to skid to a halt.

"You know, Kayla," he said, "We really have to stop meeting like this." It was the same Ensign as before. She put her hands on his chest and shoved as hard as she could. The startled young man smashed painfully against the wall. Kayla shouted a belated "Move it!" and ran past him.

Chacotay shouted something, and she could hear someone close on her heels. If she could just make it into the turbolift directly in front of her... Yes! The doors swished shut behind her. She leaned against the curved wall.

"Computer," she ordered, "Locate Kes and take me there." The computer chirped, and the turbolift sprang into action.

"Kim to Kayla," a voice said. "Kayla, i know you can hear me. We've locked onto your commbadge and we're coming after you." Kayla realized that it was the voice of the Ensign that she had seen, and hurt in some way so many times. The voice was coming from the little triangle Chacotay had given her. Kayla ripped the triangle off her shirt and threw it angrily at the wall.