Last Time
By Coral
This was written in answer to the following challenge. I'm not sure how well I did in actually fulfilling this but, hey, what can I say? Braga's a hard master, and most definitely not lenient…
You're sitting on your couch, just minding your own business (whatever that may be), and the phone rings. You answer it. It's Brannon Braga! Carefully, deliberately, you bite back all the scathing things you'd like to say to him, including the snide 'How's Jeri?' because, naturally, you're curious. What could he possibly want from you? He says, "So [insert your name here], we've read all of your fabulous fanfics on the internet and would like your help writing Voyager's final episode." Well, he rambles on and on, and you negotiate, and eventually a deal is hammered out. He's had a change of heart. He wants to put a short J/C scene in the final episode to reward the J/C ers for their patience and congeniality. And he wants you, [insert your name here], to write it. What would you write? What J/C scene would leave you happy when all is said and done? You'll have to keep it clean enough for television, of course, and it will have to be a relatively short scene, because the final episode is going to be packed full of stuff. Assume that Voyager gets home and that there's trouble for the Maquis, but Janeway stands by her crew and convinced Starfleet to drop all charges. Or don't assume that - but keep the scenario close to something you think TPTB might do. The idea is to have a collection of alternate J/C scenes for all of us to fall back on if, God forbid, TPTB decide to do nothing at all with J/C in the final episode.
Disclaimer: If they'd write these scenes, we wouldn't have to do their jobs, would we?!
Kathryn Janeway - until about ten seconds ago, Captain of the Starship Voyager - looked around at the seemingly alien planet she had just materialised on. She was in a building, a large one with windows, and out of a window, she could see a perfectly blue sky, marred only by a few cottonwool clouds. On the horizon she could see trees and houses, perfectly intermingled, and two shuttlecraft swept through the sky. Inside the building, people laughed, people cried, people waited expectantly and some people... just existed. Information was being distributed via an intercom system and display consoles; information on transports, delays, and even weather reports. The floor was a plain grey colour, reminding her of the carpets on Voyager, and the walls were a beautiful white that never seemed to get dirty. Sunlight streamed in from the windows, and the room had an airy feel, and a busy one, with people constantly coming and going.
She was home.
Strange, it didn't feel like home. She expected - well, she'd expected to feel somethinng, anything, but her mind couldn't accept the fact that it was over, finally over, and that she was standing on Earth. Had the past seven years numbed her feelings that much? Or could she simply not accept the fact that she was finally here... finally back on Earth... finally...home? Unbidden, her eyes looked upwards, to where Voyager was still in orbit. The ceiling barred the way, but she could picture her ship sweeping effortlessly through space, carving a perfect arc around the planet. No, not her ship anymore. Starfleet's ship. Not her home anymore. Starfleet's ship.
She scanned the crowd. She knew that somewhere here, other members of her senior staff were also trying to regain their sense of equilibrium. Somewhere - was Chakotay. She grimaced. Being small definitely had its disadvantages, and this was the main one. She couldn't pick out individuals in this crowd at all, just a mass of heads and shoulders, most of which she couldn't see beyond.
What wouldn't she give for a tricorder, just something to tell her where Chakotay and Tuvok were! She felt most awkward alone, with a pile of bags, but at least no one had recognised her yet. Their pictures would be splashed all over the media before the day was out, or her name wasn't Kathryn Janeway. Did every lost lamb get this much attention?
"Captain?"
She turned to see Tuvok behind her, Vulcan non-expression firmly in place on his paradoxically expressive features. "Tuvok, thank heavens!" she sighed.
He raised an eyebrow and she grinned. "At least some things don't change," she said. "Have you seen Commander Chakotay?"
"Here I am, Captain. I was on the Comm to Starfleet. I'm a free man-"
"-And you're going to get the hell out of dodge as soon as possible," Kathryn finished for him.
"Six hours debriefing then, barring any problems, I'll be off this planet," Chakotay smiled. "I've got a few friends and relatives I'd like to track down."
"So, I guess this is goodbye," Kathryn managed to say with a slightly watery smile. "I'm not in for debriefing until tomorrow, and I'm going home now, back to Indiana."
"I'll miss you, Kathryn," Chakotay said, soulful eyes fixed on her face. "Perhaps we'll meet up again soon - I'm sure there'll be an Admiral's banquet or something that we both get invited to."
"Counting on it," Kathryn murmured, and, dropping her bags and throwing her inhibitions away for once, she embraced him.
"See you sometime," he whispered into her ear, hugging her back with all the love he'd once had.
"Until then," she affirmed, pulling away with tears sparkling in her eyes.
He nodded, and Kathryn wiped her palm across her eyes, brushing away the moisture rapidly building there.
The last she saw of him was his head, enveloped by the crowd and heading for the exit.