And now the man in the middle seat
recites his times tables audibly
but I know he means
If you feel like dancing
dance with me
dance with me
dance with me

Seven

"Can't say I'm really looking forward to this," B'Elanna muttered, as she and Chakotay followed the crowds of Voyager crew making their way into the holodeck. "How long is it going to go on for?"

"With an attitude like that, it's bound to feel like forever," said Chakotay. "Come on – it could be fun."

B'Elanna snorted. "Say that again in three hours' time and let's see if you mean it."

Chakotay wasn't really any more enthusiastic about attending talent night than she was, but he wasn't going to let that show. After all, his reasons for reticence towards the event were distinctly different. "The participants have all worked really hard on this," he pointed out, mildly. "Least we can do is give them the courtesy of our time, wouldn't you say?"

Torres gave an exaggerated sigh as they entered the holodeck. "All right, all right… but I've told the guys in engineering to call me the second anything happens down there that might get me out of here."

Chakotay looked around, impressed by the large room in which they found themselves. Paris had designed it to look like an old-style music hall. Raked seating upholstered in plush red velvet matched walls of the same colour and lead down towards a sizeable stage set beneath ornate gilt surrounds. Ushers and usherettes in matching uniforms directed the crew to their seats while vendors in similar outfits stood here and there with trays, selling little tubs of ice cream.

"Tom and Neelix have done a good job," he observed. "Where do you want to sit?"

B'Elanna looked at him in surprise. "I figured you'd be down the front with the Captain. She's probably saved you a seat."

Chakotay avoided glancing in the direction that B'Elanna indicated, smiling as he said, "I'm sure she's tired of sitting next to me all day. I'm happier sitting further back, anyway."

The past day or so had been a little awkward for the command team. It wasn't that they needed to clear the air – they had done that pretty effectively at the time and probably in more ways than one. But Chakotay had found that it was taking a while for the dust to settle. He hadn't slept much. As hard as he tried, his mind kept slipping back to their encounter, replaying it in his head even as he told himself he really had to stop. From the amount of times he'd caught Kathryn's gaze sliding away from him as he looked towards her, he suspected the same might be the case for her. So it would be easier to avoid close proximity for a while, that was all. Except that for obvious reasons, given their respective roles, that was pretty difficult. They were both professionals and they would work through it – indeed, they would work perfectly well together even while working through it - but there was no need to rub salt in the wound.

The lights began to dim as he and B'Elanna made their way towards two empty seats.

"Ladies and gentlemen," boomed Neelix's excited voice. "Please take your seats for the inaugural Voyager Talent Night Extravaganza!"

All in all, the evening's entertainment wasn't too bad. Harry's clarinet solo, for example, was actually very good, and Chakotay had had no idea that some of the crew were such genuinely funny people. Nevertheless, by the time they announced the final act (Ensign Jordan's Distinctly Rude Puppets, now there was a revelation), Chakotay was beginning to tire. His legs were cramped and the seats, while initially feeling very comfortable, were now proving anything but.

Ensign Jordan took her final bow, and the crowd were ready to get on their feet. Tom Paris appeared to an enthusiastic ovation. He walked to the centre of the stage and then stopped, looking around as if he'd suddenly realised something was missing.

"Neelix?" he called, into the darkness. "Where are you?"

Something seemed to be happening in the wings.

"Uh – just hold on a moment, ladies and gentlemen…"

Tom dashed back off stage for a second, and then reappeared looking a little flustered.

"Um, it turns out we have one more act! So, uh - please take your seats…"

A murmur went around the crowd, but they did as they were told. The lights on the stage dropped completely, and then a single spotlight appeared. A few seconds later, someone walked into it.

Chakotay's heart turned over as a collective gasp washed around the auditorium. He felt B'Elanna's hand clamp itself to his forearm.

"Is that the Captain?" she hissed.

Chakotay didn't answer. He was too transfixed by the figure on stage. She looked small in the spotlight, the darkness outside her tiny illuminated circle threatening to swamp her entirely. Into the now utterly silent room rose the haunting sound of an orchestra, and Chakotay knew exactly what it was he was about to see.

Kathryn had chosen to forego the traditional costume. There was no white leotard and matching tutu, no feathered crown. Instead she was wearing the outfit she had replicated for their dance, complete with the heels. After all, she'd already told him she didn't think she could manage the en pointe.

Not the standard Dying Swan, then, he thought to himself somewhat numbly as she began to move. But then, how could it ever have been, with this woman dancing it?

Kathryn lifted her lithe arms, their tone softly delineated by the light overhead. She turned, slowly, gracefully, and as she did so she transformed into the doomed swan with a lightness of being that was stunning in its simplicity. Dressed in black as she was, she faded in and out of the shadows around her: barely seen, barely there - as much a fairytale figure as the one she was using her whole self to create. The story she told was a triumph of duality – beauty with tragedy; light with darkness; restraint with abandonment; passion with despair, tender but resolute: simple and yet at the same time almost incomprehensibly complex.

This is Kathryn, Chakotay thought, as he watched her move. It is everything she is.

And he knew, with as much certainty as he had ever known anything, that at that moment she was dancing only for him.

The following morning, Chakotay found himself riding the turbolift to the Bridge alongside a buoyant Tom Paris.

"Morning, Commander."

"Lieutenant," Chakotay nodded in greeting. "Good job on last evening's entertainment. It went well, I thought."

Paris grinned with a nod. "Thanks. Everyone seemed to have fun. Neelix and I are already talking about another one."

Chakotay clasped his hands behind his back. "Well, as long as you don't try to rope me in. The answer will still always be no."

Tom shrugged. "Oh, well. Kind of looks like we have another dancer in the mix anyway, doesn't it? Can't tell you how shocked we were when the Captain appeared in the wings. She didn't so much as drop us a hint beforehand."

The first officer smiled. "I'm glad she decided to join in."

"She was something else, wasn't she? I've never seen ballet danced like that before. If I had I might actually be more interested in it…"

"Paris…" Chakotay warned.

"In fact," Tom went on, "it kind of felt like more than ballet to me. As if there was something else mixed in with it. Another style, maybe. Do you know what I mean?"

"Hardly ever, Lieutenant."

Paris sighed, an expelled breath that seemed too heavy to just relate to their current conversation. Chakotay looked at him with a frown.

"What?"

The younger man shrugged a little. There was a slight pause and then he said, "Can't be easy. I'm… sorry, I guess. That's all."

Their gazes met as the 'lift slid to a halt. The doors opened.

"Still no clue what you're talking about, Mr Paris."

Paris nodded. "Aye, sir."

The lieutenant walked out ahead of him onto Voyager's humming Bridge. Chakotay hung back, just for a moment. Then he followed.

[END]

Some things:

1) The song quoted here is the wonderful 'Flight 180' by Bishop Allen. Buy it, listen to it, love it.

2) MissyHissy3, for whom this story was written, dances Cuban salsa.

3) So does Robert Beltran.

4) I've always felt that the idea of Janeway dancing the Dying Swan in front of the crew of Voyager needed some pretty serious rationalisation. This is mine.