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AN: Thanks to all who reviewed. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Unbroken

Fourteen months later

Chakotay twined his fingers through hers, and smiled. I love you, she felt it in his eyes, although he did not speak. She looked up at him, returning the sentiment, and rested her head briefly on his shoulder, in a kind of quasi-embrace. She stroked Kaya's raven hair idly with one hand. Dimly, they were aware of Tuvok's stolid, reliable voice going through the traditional marriage ceremony, but the focus of their attention was elsewhere.

It had been a rough year for them in many ways. Chakotay had been right; there was much baggage, and it seemed to rear its ugly head unexpectedly at the most vulnerable moments. Chakotay had been very much wounded by her furtive behavior regarding Kaya. And Kathryn still fought guilt over his marriage, seeing it as more of her failure than his. Even after his and Seven's divorce was finalized, they had taken things between them in a tentative fashion.

The first night he came over for dinner after Kaya was able to return home, Kathryn had introduced him, somewhat awkwardly, as her father. Kaya had shaken her head, in a voice much too mature for 5, and said,

"No, because I don't have a father."

Chakotay had nearly hit the ceiling. He had taken his little girl to a mirror, showing her how they looked alike, and how her dark skin and eyes were a trademark of his people. When Kathryn had checked on them later, he had her in his lap, enthralled with a story about Coyote and the foolish warrior. Later on that night, his anger had surfaced again at her, along with regret at the 5 precious, wasted years.

Chakotay's divorce had made headlines...especially once the knowledge of his illegitimate child with Admiral Janeway, formerly of Voyager, got out. Lurid, and not always accurate, details were plastered all over the press. Kathryn writhed with guilt and mortification.

The last Voyager reunion had been a nightmare. She and Chakotay had arrived separately, and tried to avoid each other the entire time, which actually garnered more attention than acting normally would have. Seven had arrived on Axum's arm, looking absolutely stunning, and had given Kathryn a look that could have melted tritanium. Kathryn had weathered it with grace, thinking it was less than what she deserved.

But then, Seven saw Kaya. The little girl was playing with Miral and Jonathan, her long black hair streaming down her back nearly to her waist, the late afternoon sun slanting in through a window and tinting her skin a glowing gold.

"No, Jonathan. If it is hurani, it goes this way..." she demonstrated the proper position of the toy, her childish treble peppered with Chakotay's native language, which she had picked up in an astonishingly short time. Chakotay had watched Seven watch Kaya, and several different emotions had played across the former drone's features. When her eyes brimmed with tears and she bolted from the reception hall, Chakotay had gone after her without thinking.

They had shouted at each other out on the veranda, and their voices had carried. Chakotay's voice was low and angry, but Seven's higher-pitched voice was easier to distinguish. By the time the phrase "sleeping with the captain" drifted into the room, it was deathly quiet. Kathryn had quietly gathered up Kaya and beat a hasty retreat, not stopping until she reached her family's vacation home in Maine.

She didn't call Chakotay for two weeks after that.

But they had weathered that as well. Their love for each other was no longer an ethereal breath-taking thing, but tough and strong and durable. It had been baptized by fire, but remained intact. They had married in a private ceremony, 4 months after the reunion.

"She looks happy. Don't you think she looks happy?" Chakotay whispered, snapping Kathryn back to the present. She peered down at the throng from their vantage point on the balcony.

"She looks radiant," Kathryn answered honestly. His ex-wife's blond hair shimmered in the sunlight, as she smiled at her husband-to-be.

"I hope she's happy. She deserves it." He said, in a choked voice. Kathryn squeezed his hand.

"She will be."

"And one day, these relationships will be restored." He smiled at her comfortingly, knowing how much this rift in their little Voyager family bothered her.

"Good. I don't like sneaking into people's weddings," she replied.

"Well, the next Voyager reunion isn't too far away. We'll see everybody then."

"No, we probably won't be there then," she answered absently, placing her hand on her flat abdomen. Chakotay saw her gesture and stared, his eyes darkening with realization.

"Kathryn?" he ventured. She smiled at him mistily.

"I want a boy... just like you." His own eyes had filled with tears then, and she knew he regarded this child as a precious gift, a second chance to see life he helped create from the very beginning, an opportunity to atone for what had been done wrong the first time.

Cheers and music rose up from the crowd below, as Axum gathered Seven into his arms and kissed her tenderly. Their actions were mirrored by the couple high above them, each now blissfully unaware of the other.

A brighter future awaited them all.

Fin