Notes: Written in response to a challenge which required you to produce your own version of the very last J/C scene in the very last episode of Voyager.

Disclaimer: The Voyager universe, and all therein, belongs to Paramount and a lot of Very Rich People -- definitely not to me.

He found her precisely where he expected her to be. Standing at the viewport in her ready room, gazing out over the planet below. He stepped up beside her, but at first she didn't react to his presence.

He wasn't really in any hurry, so he simply joined her in her silent vigil. Earth. It wasn't his home planet - wasn't even very similar to it at all. Still, there was something appealing about it. Something that had nothing to do with the deep blue of the oceans, or the tasteful white cloud cover. Something he couldn't quite place his finger on...

"Was it worth it, do you think?"

He was caught up in reverie, and her words almost startled him.

"Hm?"

"Was it worth it," she repeated. "Everything, I mean. Was it *worth* it?"

She wasn't looking at him, but the seriousness of her question was obvious. And a little puzzling.

"You're doubting that it was?"

"Well of course I am. I couldn't doubt it while I was actually doing it. Now that I've *done* it, all that's left is to question."

"And what, exactly, are you questioning?"

There was a pause, then, "Everything. I'm questioning everything, Chakotay. I know it's not... logical... to dwell on what we can't change, but... All that time I spent telling myself, that all that mattered was getting everyone home in one piece. All crewmembers more or less physically and mentally sound. And now..."

"But that's what you did. What's so bad about that?"

"It's not a question of good or bad. What I want to know is... whether it was worth it. All that we went through. All the blood that was shed. All the lives that were lost."

He chuckled. She glared.

"You're asking me?"

"I don't see anyone else here, do you?"

"Well *don't* ask me. Please. I've left the melodramatic introspection up to you all these years. I don't intend to get into it now."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me melodramatic?"

"Kathryn." He sighed. "You wanted to get us back to the alpha quadrant. We *all* wanted you to get us back to the alpha quadrant. Now, we're here. Does any of it really matter anymore?"

She turned from him to look back out over the glowing blue and white orb below. She didn't answer, but after a few moments, the grim set of her lips and shoulders shifted, just a little. He took that as a good sign.

"It's just nice to be home," he added after a few more seconds of silence had past.

Another pause. He wondered whether she was going to respond at all. But...

"Amen to that," she said.

And they both smiled.

The End.

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