Epilogue

4 years and 3 months later – on the edge of the Badlands

Voyager is sitting at the edge of the Badlands waiting to see if the Caretaker sends a displacement wave at the Delta Flyer positioned 200,000 kilometers inside. We started our wait on the same day that The Val Jean disappeared in the other timeline, but no waves were present. If nothing happens today, we are heading back to Earth.

"How much longer am I staying out here Captain?" Paris says from the Flyer. "B'Elanna keeps complaining that Carey is destroying her warp core."

"Let's give it another hour. If nothing happens before then, we will begin – "

"Captain?"

"What is it Harry?"

"Something is appearing on sensors."

"Tom, get out of there."

Before long, the Flyer is docked back aboard Voyager.

"What are the sensors reading now?"

"I don't think it's a displacement wave, Captain, but I have never seen readings like this."

"Let me see," I reply as I head to Harry's station.

The readings are familiar. I have seen them one time before, but I don't know what to make of seeing them now.

Before I can say anything to prepare them, a ship appears suddenly right in front of us.

"Shields raised." Chakotay shouts.

"Belay that order, Tuvok." I state calmly. "Open a hailing frequency."

The view screen takes a second to clear after the hail is answered, but when it does it's a welcome sight that greets me.

"Kes. Neelix."

"She was right." Neelix says with a voice of wonder.

"Kes. I've missed you. I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised that you somehow knew."

"I missed you, Captain."

"I'm happy to see you both, but I was sort of expecting a displacement wave."

"You can stop expecting that. Without Krenim interference, the Caretaker never disturbed the Ocampans, and we never lost our mental abilities."

"Incredible."

"You didn't think your life was the only one changed, did you?" Kes teases.

"Of course not. Why don't you land in a shuttle bay, so I can greet you properly?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Kes says with an impish smile.

Ten minutes later, I meet them both at the doors to the shuttle bay and immediately give them the hugs I had promised.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," I say putting my hands on either sides of Kes' face. "For so long, you were the only daughter I ever knew. You will never know how hard it was for me to let you go." With that I pull her into my arms again and give her a hug resembling the one I gave her on her farewell.

"And Neelix, I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I miss how you fix leola root." Neelix gives a toothy, very pointedly toothy, grin in reply.

"Why don't we take this to my ready room?"

As we walk along the corridor, I keep sneaking glances of my two prodigal friends. Neelix is enthralled by this brand new experience, but Kes looks at Voyager like an old friend.

The first thing Kes does when she enters my ready room is pick up a family holo Chakotay and I had made a month before.

"Your family is beautiful."

"That little man there is Edward Kolopak. He's seven, and that sweet angel is Elizabeth Kes. She's three." I say pointing to my two children. "And you know Chakotay."

"I'm honored that you named your daughter after me."

"There was never any doubt. Now I'm glad she can meet her namesake. You are coming back to Earth with us, right?"

"Absolutely. I can travel back to the Delta Quadrant any time I want. I would like to see what the planet, that you were trying so hard to get back to, actually looks like."

"What do you mean you can get back anytime you want?"

"Delta Quadrant technology is far more advanced than it was when you were there. The Phage never happened, so the Vidiians could focus on more technological pursuits. The Kazon are still the Kazon, but they have moved deeper into the Delta Quadrant. With your hit to the Borg, that space was open for colonization. I can give the Federation the technology. I'd love you to come visit."

I nod while giving my signature half smile.

…..

The past 13 years have been an incredible experience. An experience only eclipsed by the one that ultimately led me here. My years in the Delta Quadrant gave me a perspective on life that has allowed me to spare a lot of heartache, none more so than my own.

I imagine that if someone were to view my life as a series of chapters, the heartache of my former life would've seemed rudely unfair. I probably would've continued to be miserable and self-destructive, and in the end, I would've lost everything. I would've become an empty shell of a woman, hell bent and guilty.

Instead, I look at the picture Kes picked up from my desk, and I see a happy woman in the arms of her soulmate with her two beautiful children sitting on her lap. In another picture, I see my parents looking deeply into each other's eyes while Phoebe and I make bunny ears behind them (35 isn't too old to have a little fun). In yet another, I see Kolopak and Yatzil renewing their bond at Anam with Sekaya, Chakotay, me, Kole, Elizabeth, and the rest of the tribe surrounding them. All these things could've been lost – had been lost in another time and place.

The choices I have made have dramatically changed the universe that I am living in. Instead of misery, I have been given joy. Instead of loneliness, family. Instead of destruction, restoration. Instead of hopelessness, optimism.

But in all this, there is one constant that remains: I am Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway, Captain of Voyager.