G'Day! Well, this is just a short piece with no plot, and not much of anything else either.

Oh, and to accept this story you kind of have to believe that Janeway and Torres might occasionally have a conversation that isn't about the ship. I'm not saying they're best friends, and have sleepovers and talk about kissing and makeup and stuff. I'm just saying that even though it's never really shown on the show, after four years they're obviously going to be close enough to be able to have the kind of normal conversation that two women like them could have.

Disclaimer: The Star Trek universe and all therein belongs to Paramount, not me. No infringement of Copyright is intended.

Heat.

Warming, surrounding, encompassing, embracing heat.

She focused on the heat, letting it seep into her bones. She relaxed into it, breathing deeply of the fresh salt air. And she concentrated on not moving. That was most important - the stillness. Just lying, and breathing, in the sun.

It was so peaceful, this state of complete relaxation, that even the noisy sounds of the fifty-odd rowdy crewmembers that were spread up and down the beach around her did nothing to disturb her. Rather, it was comforting to listen to the sounds of so many familiar voices laughing and shouting. There was Naomi squealing with excitement... and that was Neelix's laughter... and that overly indignant yell was obviously one of the Delaney sisters...

She would have smiled, but it would have been too much trouble.

So, with the sounds of her crew relaxing around her, she herself was able to relax. Sometimes out here in the Delta Quadrant it seemed like she'd forgotten what it was like to be completely carefree. With all the work and the worry and the endless problems, and the scrounging and scraping to make ends meet, and the fighting over every light year travelled, and the deaths that hung over her head like a shroud... She never had the time to just simply... breathe.

But here, lying on the beach, on this cosy little planet tucked away in a lonely system in the middle of nowhere - with the sun suffusing the air around her until all she knew was warmth - here she could regain some small semblance of calm. And she could breath.

*****

Somehow she'd fallen asleep. Hardly surprising considering her current feeling of goodwill, safe in the knowledge that she was surrounded by people she cared about. And, of course, there was the fact that her present level of lethargy had no doubt broken some sort of record. So it was no wonder she'd fallen asleep. But now she was awake.

She was awake, because somehow there was cold water dribbling on her bare feet. She shifted slightly but didn't open her eyes, wanting to ignore the intrusion. But then the water started dripping on her face. She came fully awake with a start, to find herself looking into the face of her first officer. Her wet, tousled, bare-chested first officer. He was grinning at her.

"Commander, what are you doing?" she demanded, swiping the water from her face with the back of one hand. "You'd better have a decent reason for waking me up."

"Actually I do. I wanted to know if you'd like to come and play volleyball with me against Tom and Harry. I think we'd make a good team."

She looked at him incredulously. "Volleyball? That's why you came and threw water at me? And would you mind? You're blocking my sun."

"It was only a few drops, Kathryn, and they were hardly 'thrown'," he told her, and then squatted next to her deck chair so their faces were level and her sun was restored. "So will you play?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Chakotay. I'm perfectly happy where I am, thank you."

"Are you sure? You've just been lying here all afternoon. Don't you feel like getting up and doing something?"

"Quite sure. Why don't you ask B'Elanna to play?"

"Tom already asked her. She doesn't want to either," came his rather despondent reply.

She sighed. Why did she feel like she was talking to a seven-year-old? "Well I'm sure someone else will want to play. What about Kyoto? Doesn't he like volleyball?"

His eyebrows raised a little at her placating tone of voice, and he just looked at her for a moment, in that way that he had. Finally he spoke.

"You know, you're going to have to move sooner or later, Kathryn," he reproached.

She closed her eyes by way of dismissal, and answered, "Yes I know, Commander, but that doesn't mean I can't put it off for as long as possible."

She couldn't see it, but she knew he was smiling at her. And then she heard him stand and walk away, his bare feet scrunching the sand.

A few minutes went by then, during which Janeway seriously contemplated the merits of going back to sleep. A sound to her left caused her to open her eyes again.

"Mind if I join you, Captain?" B'Elanna Torres asked as she dragged one of the many deck chairs scattered around next to her own and flopped down into it.

"Not at all, B'Elanna," she replied easily.

She glanced down the beach a little way to where the volleyball game was starting. Chakotay had found a partner in Ed Rollins, and the game against Tom and Harry had drawn a small crowd of spectators. B'Elanna followed her line of site.

"You didn't feel like playing either?" the chief engineer asked.

"No, I prefer to just lie here and relax."

"I know what you mean. It's nice to just lie here in the sun. I took a swim before and raced Freddie out to those rocks and back," she said, gesturing vaguely, "That's more than enough exercise for me today."

"Who won?" she asked, though she would have bet on B'Elanna any day.

"I did," the Lieutenant replied with a grin. "You'd think he'd be used to it by now, but ever since I beat him at Parisees Squares he's had this competition thing going."

"I've noticed that about Mr Bristow," she said, "He has a very strong competitive side."

"I'll say. Oh, before I forget, Captain, I contacted Lieutenant Carey a little while ago. He says the matrix realignment is going well. They'll be finished in a few hours."

"That's good to hear. I'm surprised you didn't want to supervise it yourself."

"Well, I had to take either today or tomorrow off, and since tomorrow we're conducting the external repairs to the deflector array, this seemed like the best arrangement."

Janeway nodded. After that, the two fell into an easy silence, both of them enjoying the sun. She closed her eyes again, and was almost asleep again when the woman beside her spoke up.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," B'Elanna commented dryly.

Janeway opened her eyes to see what she was talking about. The sight of Neelix walking past was more than enough to widen her eyes. He was wearing what obviously passed for a bathing suit on Talax, which consisted of tiny skin-tight shorts.

"No, definitely not something you see everyday," she agreed.

"Not that you'd want to," Torres added.

She had to cover her mouth to hide her amusement. It was really very impolite to laugh. She tried to send the Lieutenant a disapproving look, but was unsuccessful.

"Still," B'Elanna continued, "Being here at the beach has given some people an even better opportunity to look and be looked at than at Tom's resort. And that was bad enough."

As one the two women glanced over to where Megan and Jenny, wearing minuscule bikinis, were flirting with three or four young men.

"Well," Janeway spoke tolerantly, "There's certainly no harm in that."

"The looking, or being looked at?"

"Either. Or both. It's nice to be looked at, sometimes. And of course the looking can be just as nice."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw B'Elanna smile in agreement as her eyes drifted towards the volleyball game, or more specifically, Tom Paris. Following the younger woman's line of sight, she couldn't help but let her own gaze wander and settle on the form of her first officer. He really was very attractive... And there was no harm in looking... Except when she tore her eyes away and realised B'Elanna had witnessed the whole thing. Trying not to look embarrassed, and glad that her skin was already flushed by the heat, she closed her eyes.

B'Elanna couldn't help but grin to herself, having caught the appreciative look on the Captain's face as she eyed Chakotay.

"Yes, it's definitely nice to look sometimes," she said, hoping to let her commanding officer know she understood, "And around here there's plenty to see." Janeway beside her remained silent, her eyes closed, so she continued. "Of course, I'm not biased in any way, but that sorry excuse for a pilot over there is a top contender."

Janeway couldn't help but smile at that. Of course B'Elanna wasn't biased. She didn't comment, and the other woman continued.

"And you know, some of the guys from Security - take Dalby, for example - they take very good care of themselves."

There was a pause then, and Janeway thought B'Elanna might have finished, but she spoke yet again, and there was a smile in her voice.

"And then, of course, there's Chakotay..."

She tightened her lips slightly. Her chief engineer was obviously baiting her. She sighed, and decided to play along.

"Yes," she said mildly, "I wouldn't blame anyone for looking at Chakotay without a shirt on."

"I can't tell you how flattered I am to hear that, Captain."

Her eyes flew open in shock to find her first officer standing before her, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was carefully neutral, but amusement was sparkling in his eyes. She pressed a hand to her face, absolutely mortified. Beside her, B'Elanna laughed, delighted at having been able to set her Captain up like that. She thought it wise, however to make a quick exit before Janeway recovered.

"Uh, I think I might go see what Tom's doing..." she said as she jumped up and hurried away.

Janeway barely noticed. This was so incredibly embarrassing... Wishing the sand would just open up and swallow her, she removed the hand from her face and gripped the arm of the chair with it. She watched as Chakotay, grinning openly now, took B'Elanna's place on the now empty deck chair beside her. She waited for him to speak, knowing he wasn't going to let her get away with the comment easily.

"So Captain..." he paused, drawing it out.

She tried not to cringe.

"If you'd like, maybe I could switch to going topless on duty. Though, of course, I'd have to find somewhere else to pin my communicator. Do you have any suggestions?"

She pursed her lips to keep from telling him just where exactly he could stick his communicator. Instead she said, "You know it's very rude to eavesdrop on people, Commander."

"I wasn't eavesdropping, Captain, I was in plain sight. Well, B'Elanna could see me, anyway."

"Yes, well I'm going to have a little talk with her later."

"Kathryn," he said, turning serious, "No one thinks any less of you for being human. Least of all me."

She looked out at the ocean, and didn't say anything.

"And if it makes you feel any better, I've thought the same thing about you from time to time."

"I know," she answered softly. And she knew, as did he, that they weren't really talking about looking at each other in bathing suits anymore.

He reached out and took her hand, and let them hang together in the space between them. He understood that she wasn't ready. He understood and accepted it. But he knew that one day she would be. It was just a matter of time.

They smiled at each other then, the understanding passing silently between them. And then they lay back, closed their eyes, and enjoyed the sun. Both thinking lazy thoughts about the other. Both feeling completely lethargic. Both dreaming of a time when they could be together.

The End.

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