They unlocked arms and the Captain stood watching as Chakotay moved further into the room, stopping just ahead of her and smiling his sweet dimpled smile.
"I have something to show you, Kathryn." He said in an anxious voice. "This has been long in coming, and now I wish for you to see what I've kept from you for so long."
Her eyes brightened, her curiosity deeply pricked. "But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone what you see here tonight..." he whispered as she moved closer to him, leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner.
She slapped him playfully on the chest and grinned, nodding. He grinned back and they shared a small inside laugh. "Computer. Place a privacy lock on the holodeck and open program Chakotay 1."
Placing his hands on his hips, Chakotay seemed to beam with pride as a bright green meadow began to materialize about them. It was carpeted with tall, yellow sunflowers, and surrounded by rolling hills. The picturesque scenery was drenched with rays of sunlight from the golden orb set in a sapphire blue sky.
"It's...breathtaking," Kathryn remarked in wonder as Chakotay took her hand and led her further into the meadow. He continued his smile, moving away from the portion of the meadow with too thick of a carpeting of the tall sunflowers to allow him to do what he planned to. They stopped as they came into the shade of a massive oak.
He gestured for her to take a seat, and she did, settling at its base. He knelt before her, smiling as she looked up at him slowly. "I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time," he told her in a low, rough tone. "I wasn't sure when the right time would come...but I see that it's now,"he smiled.
At that he stood up and began backing slowly towards the great oak's trunk, leaving Kathryn to watch with curious eyes. He suddenly ran forward, speeding up as he reached the shadow's edge. She gasped silently as he tilted his body forward and a little sideways in mid-sprint; his feet leaving the ground to be substituted by his large strong hands. Then his feet were back on the ground, then in the air again, as he flew into a string of cartwheels through the golden carpets of flowers.
"Oh, my." Kathryn gaped, watching her beloved First Officer erupt into a fit of backflips which bore a disturbing resemblance to those of the character Catwoman in a popular film of the twentieth century.
In no time, the Commander had returned to the shade of the tall oak, where he stood drenched in sweat but still looking handsome as always.
"Oh, Chakotay..." Kathryn spoke in a hushed tone, "...if only you had told me about this earlier."
He smiled hopefully, awaiting the complement he knew had to be coming.
"...We could have brought the therapy under way much sooner."
This. From the woman he thought had understood him for all these years.
The End
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