THE CAPTAIN'S APPETITE (PG-13) ~*~ Chakotay entered the ready room to deliver a report and found exactly what he had expected. Kathryn sat her desk, which was littered with numerous padds and several empty coffee mugs, her head bent over a report. Leaning on the desk with one hand he dangled the padd in his other and softly cleared his throat waiting for her to look up. "Just put it in a pile. Any pile." she said with a crooked grin as her eyes returned to the report in her hand. "I'll get to it eventually." When Chakotay didn't move she reached for the padd without looking up and placed it among the others. "You've been holed up in here for hours and I'd bet a month's replicator rations that you haven't eaten." His grin broke through when Kathryn's stomach growled as if on cue. "I rest my case." She put aside the report, planted her elbows on the desk and her chin in her palms gazing up at him. "Have you always been this pushy?" "Come," he said holding out a hand. "We'll get Neelix to make you something." Kathryn took the offered hand but protested. "Why can't I just replicate something here?" "No." He moved around the desk and tugged her to her feet then held her hands against his chest. "We're going to the mess hall. You need to get out of here for a while, stretch your legs, interact with people." Kathryn's expression was pure mischief as she leaned into him and tilted her head. "You've definitely gotten more pushy. First you come to my bed, then you come in here bossing me around." "You don't respond to requests," he answered then leaned closer, "and as I recall, there was an invitation to your bed." "Was there?" Kathryn asked as if she didn't remember. "Alright, not a verbal one, but it was there all the same." He rested his forehead against hers. "In those eyes." Kathryn pulled her hands free and slid her arms around his neck as his hands slid down to rest at her waist. "That doesn't mean you can come in here and order me about," she said. "I suppose I could get on my knees and beg." Rising up on her toes she brought her lips very close to his. "That won't be necessary." she whispered then kissed him tenderly. For a moment Chakotay was lost in the kiss...until Kathryn's stomach growled again. Breaking the kiss he held her a safe distance away and licked his lips. "Food. You need food, Kathryn." He was almost to the door when he stopped and looked back at her. "Aren't you coming?" "What's the hurry?" Chakotay sighed. He wished he had a credit for every time Kathryn had made him sigh. "If you don't eat something, you won't have energy for the evening's...activities." Grinning and again moving toward the door, he added, "But it's your call." "Well," Kathryn said as she quickly followed, "when you put it like that..." ~ end ~ -- Camryn, December 2005 Flip back to the Poems & Prose Index page!