Epilogue

Seven years later

"Love doesn't sit there like a stone. It has to be made, like bread; remade all of the time, made new."

Ursula K. Le Guin

"She's late…"

"She's supposed to be late."

"Not this late. What if something's happened? What if she's not coming?"

"She's coming."

"How do you know?"

"Because even with as long as it's taken you two to get to this point, I've still known her longer than you, and once B'Elanna's made up her mind, she's made up her mind." Chakotay smiled. "She'll be here, Tom. Stop worrying."

He watched as Tom Paris paced the length of the gym and back again, wringing his hands together. The younger man looked good in his dress blues, brass perfectly polished. Chakotay smiled again, remembering the first time they had met all those years ago, wondering at how so much could have altered and at the same time remained unchanged. He glanced at the old clock on the wall over the cluttered table at the other end of the room. B'Elanna was running a little late, it was true.

"Come on," he said. "Why don't we go outside? Everyone's waiting, you can talk to them while we do."

Tom groaned. "That's not making me feel any better."

Chakotay clapped him on the back and used the gesture to propel him towards the door at the same time. "Stop worrying."

"She's late."

"She'll be here. Where was it she was coming back from this time? Indonesia, wasn't it?"

"It was Vietnam," Tom said, as they left the gym and walked into the bright sunlight beyond. "Indonesia was last week."

"I lose track," Chakotay said, waving at Neelix, who had spotted them coming and was excitedly pointing them out to the group who had gathered to wait for them.

The garden had changed over the years, growing into itself as it matured and to accommodate various alterations that had occurred along the way. B'Elanna's first water reclamation unit had required a large footprint of land, but she and La Forge were on the Mark III now, which was far more compact.

Chakotay looked around the square at the old buildings that rose above them as they headed for the garden's open gate. They had changed, too. Gone were the broken windows and the crumbling walls, the peeling paint and cracked steps. One by one, starting with the building that had housed the new factory for B'Elanna's project, businesses had returned to the area. There was a bakery, an industrial laundry, even a manufacturer of parts for electric cars. With the industry had come jobs, and with those jobs came futures for the people of Maywood. Sure, there was still crime, there was a still a drugs problem. But the place was alive and flourishing, much like the garden where it had all started.

Chakotay watched, still smiling, as Neelix enveloped Tom in a bear hug that was then repeated by Harry, Kes, Franco and anyone else who could get close enough. No one had seen Paris for a while. His duties tended to keep him away for long periods. He came back whenever he could though, and not only because this was still where B'Elanna spent her time when she wasn't overseas helping implement one of the water projects her team had developed. It meant that whenever they were both home, the community turned out en masse to see them. Today, of course, was a particular cause for celebration, and Chakotay had helped Neelix and the others spend a long time preparing the garden. Space had been cleared and now two columns of white chairs lined up before a little platform that Franco had built specially for the occasion. The women who ran the florist store that sold some of the garden's flower and vegetable produce had produced beautifully tied bouquets of blooms that cascaded from terracotta pots lining the path. Chakotay himself had laced strings of fairy lights into the old iron fencing that still formed the garden's border, though they wouldn't be visible until much later into the evening. In fact, the whole square had been turned over to the wedding – from where he stood he could see flowers and lights in all the windows. Not everyone would fit into the garden at once, but later anyone who wanted to come had been invited to the wedding meal, which would be served on tables brought out onto the street.

"Chakotay."

He turned to find Owen Paris behind him and smiled warmly at Tom's father. "Owen. Good to see you."

"You too. I've had intelligence that the bride is en route as we speak."

Chakotay grinned. "Just as well. I think Tom's about to go into meltdown."

Owen chuckled. "I can imagine. Ah ha," he added, as a shiny black Cadillac slid into the square, "I believe this is her now. I'd better get to my post."

"Me too. I'll see you later," Chakotay said, and then watched briefly as Owen headed over to disengage Tom from his knot of friends.

"Places, people," he heard Owen say. "I think the show's about to start."

Music began to play, lacing through the air to link with the happy, hushed sounds of chatter and laughter.

Chakotay walked swiftly back up the path as the car pulled to a stop outside the garden gate. He nodded to the driver and opened the back door as the driver did the same on the other side. Chakotay held out a hand. B'Elanna gripped his fingers for balance as she stepped out to stand in front of him. Unexpectedly, a lump lodged in his throat. She was dressed in floor-length white silk, a dress that was as no-nonsense and as honestly beautiful as the person wearing it. Its sleeves were capped over her shoulders, its neckline cut in a v shape to show the single diamond that sparkled at her throat. The skirt was cut close yet had a slight train that glinted with the soft shine of the tiny pearls stitched into an intricate pattern. B'Elanna's hair had been rolled back from her face and pinned to hold flowers from the garden she had helped to make possible, and she carried a handful of the same.

"B'Elanna," he whispered.

She reached up and kissed his cheek, smelling of spice and sunshine. "Chakotay."

"Tom's a lucky man," he told her. "Ready?"

B'Elanna took a deep breath and nodded.

"Hold on just a moment," said the maid of honour, busying herself with making sure the bride's train wasn't about to be crushed. "There. Perfect."

Kathryn straightened up. As she did so she looked at Chakotay. He felt her gaze travelling up his body from his toes to his chest to his face as she took in the tuxedo. He hadn't worn one in a long time. When she finally met his gaze her eyes were alight with that spark of hot mischief he had always loved so much. Kathryn arched an eyebrow and poked her tongue into her cheek, just for a second. The expression was so suggestive that Chakotay very nearly laughed aloud. If he hadn't had an extremely important job to complete just then, he would have whispered something in her ear that would make her blush the way he knew he must be himself.

"Ready now?" he asked B'Elanna, instead.

"Yes."

Chakotay took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. A hushed murmur started up as they walked along the path towards Tom, who was staring at his wife-to-be with a look of utter awe.

It took a long time for the sun to set and when it did the night sky was lit with laughter as well as stars. The square echoed with the sound of chatter and music long after the last bite of food had been eaten. The day had been so perfect that no one really wanted to go home and end it, and so they lingered, happy in each other's company and in this place that had somehow managed, against all odds, to become a home away from home. B'Elanna and Tom hugged their friends and held each other, smiling, so happy with the simplicity of this next new beginning, this new life grown from the roots of two others.

Chakotay sat watching the assembled party, thinking of everything that had happened in the past seven years. There had been so many changes – so many departures and arrivals, so much laughter and yes, so many tears, too. But this small, inconsequential corner, this patch of land that had once been little more than a battleground in a larger war… it had survived. More than that, it had held them all together within it. If he thought back now, it was hard to remember the wasteland the garden had been when Kathryn Janeway had first stepped onto it, how bare and basic, how neglected and overlooked.

He searched for her in the crowd and found her standing under the light from the stars he had helped to hang. She was with Phoebe, one hand on her sister's arm as she laughed at something the younger woman had said. Chakotay remembered the first time he'd seen her laugh, so long ago now but so indelible in his memory. He'd already thought she was beautiful, but that laugh had made her a superlative that there was no word for. The same was true today. B'Elanna had chosen a dress of the thinnest pale green silk for Kathryn to wear. It hung from her bare shoulders on straps as thin as embroiderer's thread, holding close to all her most delicious curves before flowing to skim the floor in an expanse of colour that shimmered gently as she walked. Kathryn had been aghast when she'd first brought it home. I can't carry this off, she'd told him, as she'd put it on for him to see. Does B'Elanna think I'm still in my 20s? Maybe if I got a wrap for my arms… He'd found a way to stop her speaking such nonsense then, and was reasonably proud of himself for having just enough control not to ruin the dress as he'd divested her of it in the swiftest manner possible.

Kathryn left Phoebe with a swift hug and walked towards him. Chakotay watched as she moved with a grace that still took his breath away. He didn't stand as she approached, instead preferring to look up at her as she stood over him with a smile that told him she knew exactly what he was contemplating.

Kathryn held out a hand to him. "Take a turn around the garden with me?"

Chakotay smiled and laced his fingers through hers, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

"It's been a wonderful day, hasn't it?" she said, once their feet were on earth instead of concrete.

"It has," he agreed. "I don't know how it could have been better."

She smiled at that but said nothing, lifting her chin to watch the fairy lights blinking on the fences. "I think they look good up there, don't you?" Kathryn observed, after a moment. "Perhaps we should leave them where they are."

Chakotay nodded, slipping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close as she wrapped her own arm around his waist. "Good idea."

They strolled quietly for several minutes, slowly making for 'their' bench. Over the years this was the mantel it had acquired between them. For some reason, since that day when he'd decided not to go to New Mexico without saying goodbye, they had always gravitated to the same spot, until in their minds it had become 'Kathryn and Chakotay's bench' and sitting anywhere else simply felt wrong. The persimmon had grown sturdy and strong over it, forming a natural bower they both enjoyed.

Instead of sitting, though, this time Kathryn stopped them before they reached it, turning in his arms to put a hand over his heart. Chakotay looked down at her face, at the light and shadows dancing across it. Her mouth was curled in a slight smile, but her eyes were fixed on his chest. He pulled her closer, kissing her forehead.

"Everything all right?"

"Yes," she said, her voice husky. "Very all right."

He waited her out. He'd become good at that, over the years.

"I have something to tell you," she said, quietly. "I found out yesterday but I didn't want to take the attention away from B'Elanna and Tom." Kathryn glanced up at him. "And once you know I have a feeling you're going to find it hard to keep those dimples of yours showing for all and sundry to see."

Chakotay felt his heart give an uneven jump. "Okay…"

Kathryn took a breath. "I'm pregnant."

He wasn't sure, in that moment, quite what was showing on his face, but whatever it was made her smile and laugh and seem, somehow, brighter than any star he had ever seen. Chakotay pulled her against him, wrapping her up in his arms and muffling her next words against his neck.

"You never would have asked me," she said. "You were waiting for me to get there myself, just as you always do. And time was passing and I know you, Chakotay. I've seen how wonderful a father you have been to all those kids who never had one, and I know how you've wanted your own. I wasn't sure I could do it. I wasn't sure I could ever let myself create something that I know I will love so much, with so much of myself." She pulled back, reaching up to cup his face in her hands. "But that's already how I love you. I'm already there, Chakotay. I have been for a long time."

He laughed a little and cried a little and kissed her, soundly, over and over, until she put both hands on his shoulders and pushed back a little to look him in the eye.

"There's something else," she said.

"Okay."

She glanced down at his chest and he felt her tense, very slightly, before looking back up at him again. "Want to follow Tom and B'Elanna's lead and get married?"

"Yes."

Kathryn stared at him with solemn eyes. "I don't want an engagement."

"We can drive to Vegas right now if you like. It's just occurred to me that I haven't seen you drink a single drop of alcohol all night."

She laughed and shook her head. "No. It has to be here, don't you think? Where it all started. Where we first met." Kathryn looked down. "Where you reminded me how it felt to love."

Chakotay crooked one finger under her chin and tipped her face back up to meet his eye. They looked at each other. Not for the first time he was amazed at how the universe worked: that two such people could cross paths despite the odds of doing so being so astronomical and yet for it to be so completely the right thing to happen. Because it was right. Despite the complications, despite the pain and the difficulty and the long, convoluted meander their relationship had taken, they had been together since the day she had first walked onto this patch of land with her chin up and her hands on her hips.

"Just tell me when," he said. "I'll be here, Kathryn Janeway."

[END]

A/N: I can't believe that I've been writing this since May, and that so many people have stuck with it along the way. I really didn't expect it to be of interest to anyone but me when I started. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing – it means such a lot to know that I have managed to entertain at least some of the people some of the time. I know that there are a million other things that could – and probably should – have gone into this story, but my small brain can only really cope with one thing at once and now, after a very tough year in which the telling of this story has often kept me going, I need to move on to other things. Much love to MissyHissy3 for her expert beta reading and encouragement, and huge virtual hugs to everyone who came along with me for this slightly odd ride.