It's The Same Old Dream

By Coral and Rebecca

Mail Us ~ Coral's Stories ~ Rebecca's Stories

Disclaimer - kind of!:

When it's Resolutions Day,
All the J/Cer's come out to play.
Monkey, baths and legends too -
It's the one day when Paramount just can't sue!

Well, this was the product of a depressing Resolution's Eve and finding the sheet music of "It's The Same Old Dream" from the MGM movie "It Happened In Brooklyn". Appropriately enough, one of the stars was called 'Kathryn', but there you go. The song is copyright 1947 by Sinatra Songs, and the words were written by Sammy Cahn.

She was his. Her long hair hung free and loose, her blue-grey eyes held a light of their own, and her smile was bright enough to illuminate a black hole. All thoughts of protocol had long since disappeared from their hearts and minds, leaving a clear path ahead to their future, a path they would walk together, forever. United in their love and happiness. Every fibre of his being was absorbed in watching her, committing every movement, every word, every breath to his memory in painstaking detail.
He had to remind himself to breathe as she walked across to him, hips swaying captivatingly as she moved. The light blue dress that accentuated her eyes clung to her body in all the right places, and flowed gently everywhere it should. She was a picture of perfection in his eyes.
"Kathryn, you look - stunning," he managed to say when his mouth and tongue finally remembered how to form words. She blushed slightly, her cheeks reddening a little. If possible, it made her look even more beautiful, just the hint of soft pink like roses colouring them.
"Thanks," she whispered softly, her husky voice reminding Chakotay of the wind through the trees on New Earth, and the rippling of the river. "You don't look so bad yourself," she added with another dazzling, synapse-frying smile.
He cupped her face in his hand and kissed her gently. "I love you, Kathryn, I always will."
"I love you too," she whispered back before returning his kiss. Chakotay's body felt as if it were melting under the heat of that kiss - or, more accurately, evaporating. Evaporating and floating up to heaven like-
"Commander!" a harsh voice admonished him.
Chakotay was pulled rudely out of his daydream fast enough to give him whiplash.
"Commander, I'd prefer it if you actually paid attention to the briefing, rather than letting your mind wander. Understood?"
"Perfectly, Captain," he answered smartly as his heart sank. In front of him stood Captain Janeway, a frown on her face that Chakotay thought marred her beauty, a frown that he never associated with Kathryn. It belonged o the Captain, to the transformed creature standing before him. The one with short hair, dull eyes and no smile on her face.
"Dismissed."
Chakotay left the room with a heavy heart and body, barely making it to the turbolift, the weight on his heart was so crippling. The Kathryn he loved was gone, possibly forever. Her moments were becoming fewer and far between, suppressed as much as possible by the Captain. Kathryn was gone.
Only his dreams remained.

*********

"Why do dreamers dream the dreams they dream
When they know that they can't come true?
I know why dreamers dream the dreams they dream.
What else can a dreamer do?
I can see a steeple surrounded by people.
Oh, how real it all starts to seem!
Just as the choir is singing, my alarm starts ringing
It's the same old dream.
And then my thoughts inspire, a scene by the fire
In a cottage close by a stream.
I know it all by heart now, we're about to part now,
It's the same old dream.
If you but knew how many times I pretend I'm with you,
I'm sure your heart would unbend
You'd see me through until my dream had a happy ending.
And I can picture clearly, the things I love dearly;
In the centre you reign supreme.
We kiss and I discover, I'm a lonesome lover.
It's the same old dream."