A/N: The fic begins with the closing scene of Hunters, but substitutes the deleted lines from the Season 4 recap trailer (which is at youtube dot com slash watch?v=9LghbXH7Zm0 at around 24secs if you haven't seen it).

Accompanying fiddle is here pioneonezero dot deviantart dot com slash art/Cascade-480053282

"How are you doing?"

So they were going to have this conversation after all, Kathryn thought. She'd wondered whether, after Harry's interruption earlier, Chakotay would have let it drop. Apparently he wasn't going to, however, and she wasn't really sure how she felt about that.

"Me? I'm fine". Yeah, he's going to buy that Kathryn, well done. She silently berated herself.

"You'd say that if you'd just had your legs torn off by a Trakan Beast. Look what you've been through in the last few days. We finally make a connection with home and then it's ripped away from us. We manage to make another enemy who's going to try and hunt us down and destroy us, and on top of that..."

"It's all right. You can say it. On top of all that, I got a Dear John letter. It wasn't really a surprise. I guess I didn't really expect him to wait for me considering the circumstances. It made me realise that I was using him as a safety net, you know, as a way to avoid becoming involved with someone else". Did she really just say that? She began to wonder where exactly her subconscious was planning on taking this conversation.

"You don't have that safety net anymore".

He was leaving the ball well and truly in her court. But he wasn't running out of the room, which she took as a good sign.

"That's right..."

There was a heavy pause, the air thickened by the weight of unspoken words, and the temperature in the room seemed to increase by several degrees.

"Kathryn... Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" her voice broke as she formed the reply.

"When you say you were avoiding becoming involved with someone else... did you have anyone in mind?" His voice was almost imperceptibly shaky, as if he desperately wanted the answer and yet was afraid of what it might be.

She looked at him, incredulously.

"What do you think?"

"I see". He looked down then back up again, his expression endearingly shy but with a small smile. There was another long pause, as if neither of them was quite sure how to proceed. She sighed before continuing,

"We're both adults here, let's talk about this like adults. So what'll it be Chakotay? Indulge my feelings, hold fast to protocol, what?"

"We have plenty of time to think about it". She couldn't help the broad grin that spread across her face at his words.

The comm bleeped.

"Neelix to the Ready room. The party's about to begin and there are only two people missing"

"We're on our way", Kathryn replied.

He proffered his arm and she tensed with the thrill of the contact as she took it. They'd linked arms countless times before but now, it felt different.

Kathryn clung possessively to Chakotay's arm as they entered the messhall. Her heart was still beating somewhat quicker than normal - accelerated by the exciting potential that now lingered between them.

She accepted a glass of some sort of fizzy synthehol from Neelix, and thought about heading over to a small group of younger crew members that were gathered around one of the tables. Before she got the chance, however, they were intercepted by the Doctor.

"Captain, Commander, what wonderful timing - I've been researching Earth pastimes and I discovered on digging back through some of the ship's records that the crew of the Enterprise used to play a lot of poker together."

"Poker?"

"Yes Captain, it's an Earth card game..."

"I know what Poker is Doctor, it just surprises me that's all. The senior staff of the flagship of the Federation indulging in gambling."

"Ultimately, poker is a stimulating game which is about the ability to outwit your opponent. I believe the gambling aspect is largely to add to the tension".

"Especially if we play for replicator rations", Tom added from his position propping up the drinks counter. He was greeted by general murmurs of assent.

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay, who had pulled out a chair for her at the green baize table the Doctor had carefully arranged.

"You are up to the challenge aren't you Captain?" he asked with a raised eyebrow and provocative smile.

She sat in a deliberate fashion, kicking out the chair next to her and looking at him expectantly,

"I am if you are".

He sat, although looked a little nervous. Tom grinned broadly and took a chair, as did B'Elanna. After glancing over at Tuvok and thinking better of inviting the Vulcan to join them - after all who in the room could possibly have a better poker face - the Doctor beckoned Harry over and motioned for him to sit.

"So, the game is played as follows..."

"... and the rest of it we'll figure out as we go along".

"Well let's get started then". Kathryn appeared to have become much keener as the Doctor ran through his description of the rules - it seemed that her willingness to bend protocol was growing by the minute, to Chakotay's surprise and mild disquiet.

The Doctor dealt out cards to each of them.

"Ah I almost forgot". He fiddled for a few seconds with his mobile emitter and a translucent green visor appeared on his forehead.

The other five people seated at the table all stared at him.

"What are you wearing on your head Doctor?" Harry asked.

"I believe it's called a visor - people used to wear them to shield their faces from the other players so they could bluff more effectively", Tom commented.

"You seem to be taking this a little seriously Doctor…" Kathryn began.

"...well, Mr. Data always wore..."

"... enough said". Kathryn glanced at Chakotay with eyebrows raised, "As I said, let's get started".

She picked up her cards from the table and gave them an appraising look.

"I'll bet 2"

Beneath the table her fingers closed softly around Chakotay's arm, her thumb circling gently against the inside of his wrist. He shivered at the sensation and a shade of the response must have reached his face, because B'Elanna raised an eyebrow at him, then flicked her eyes to the Captain before continuing,

"I see your two, and raise another two."

It was several hours later when they finally decided to quit playing. Kathryn had a large pile of chips in front of her - it turned out she was excellent at bluffing. Chakotay glanced from the towering mound to his own meagre pile. He clearly wasn't cut out for poker, but Kathryn was so delighted at her landslide victory that he couldn't feel beaten for long. Someone was going to be well supplied with for coffee for a good while.

Everyone else had already left the table, and people from other parts of the room were beginning to drift off back to their duty stations or quarters. Standing up almost simultaneously with Chakotay, Kathryn guided him over to one side of the room.

"So, would you join me for dinner tonight?" The weight of the question hung heavily in the air. Yes, they had dinner together every week, but that was the regular scheduled Captain and First Officer professional dinner. This was "dinner", a new and nebulous concept that had no clear parameters. He swallowed.

"Yes. But I'll cook."

She reprised the grin from earlier - it lit her entire face and smoothed away the Captain's cares. It was truly wonderful to see, and a part of him was excited for what was clearly going to be their first date, but at the same time a thread of apprehension twisted his gut. Could they really take this relationship further? Were they ready? Could they make it work?

Chakotay retrieved dinner from the replicator and sat down at the table.

"Chakotay this looks wonderful. I always prefer it when you cook".

He grinned.

"Is that because when I cook it's edible?" His grin broadened into a devilish teasing expression that lit up his face. Damn him being too adorable for her to get angry.

"I'll let that go this once. But only because I'm in such a good mood". Kathryn took a sip of her wine, "Mmm and an excellent choice of vintage as well. Aubergine parmigiana, real wine… You really have surpassed yourself this evening - it's almost as if you're trying to impress me".

"Maybe I am trying to impress you". His look turned more impish. There was a nervousness about him, a hesitant vulnerability that was endearing but also a little frustrating.

She paused as she just took a few moments to really look at him. Her stomach was turning somersaults and she had no idea how she was going to be able to eat any of this delicious dinner.

She really was in love with him. It hit her, square between the eyes, and suddenly it was so obvious that she was questioning the intelligence of her former self. How could she not have known? Or even, how could she have known, but not acknowledged it?

She forced down a forkful of the meal, feeling guilty that she wasn't able to enjoy it as she should.

They finished eating over pointless small talk, mainly about the crew but carefully avoiding anything work related. The question of their relationship lingered perceptibly between them like the proverbial elephant in the room. She'd been hoping he would be the one to bring it up, but now they were sitting on the sofa with the dregs of after dinner coffee; just enough distance between them to avoid it being called intimate but certainly closer than friends.

"Well it's getting late and we're both on shift first thing in the morning, so perhaps I should go. Goodnight." He stood up and made towards the door before she realised what was happening. It took a few seconds of watching his disappearing back before she gathered herself enough to react.

She almost leapt up from the sofa to follow him,

"Chakotay, wait…"

He turned slowly, fixing his eyes on her as she moved towards him and pulled up a few inches short of invading his personal space.

"You said we have plenty of time to think about it… us. I don't think I want time to think about it".

He smiled - that smile tried to twist her into someone else; transported her to a different place, another time. She looked down guiltily, clenched her gut and prepared to fall backwards into the safety net of Mark, which always allowed her to resist him. And remembered it was gone.

In that split-second, as realisation hit her, she felt the wall between them crumble. Their relationship changed, in that infinitesimal fraction of time; hell, maybe even the nature of existence changed with the gravitas of it.

New eyes flicked back up to meet his gaze; she looked at him in wonder, as if she'd never seen him before. Unhurried, she touched his face, ran a thumb over his lips, his eyelids, traced the lines of his tattoo, brushed the salt and pepper dusting in his hair.

Then she kissed him. Slow, tentative, feeling the graze of his lips, softer than she'd expected and warm. When they parted willingly, his breath mingling with hers, she pushed into his mouth with her tongue, still leisurely in its sweeping exploration; allowing that first taste of him to linger - heat, spice and... Chakotay.

It was new and yet familiar; so very reassuringly him but more intense, more concentrated; like she had only ever caught the hint of his essence before and now she was hit by the full force of it. He was delicious.

As she rested her hands on his upper arms, one of his stroked over her hair, and the other ran down to the small of her back and pulled her flush against him. She gasped at the full body contact, every bit of him that was touching her firm, taut, male. It had been a long time.

His ability to be passive and allow her to set the lazy pace had clearly waned, and there was an insistence in the way he began to move his tongue against hers; she could feel his pulse rate rising along with her own, their two hearts pounding as one where their chests met. She only became aware that he was guiding her backwards when her back bumped against the bulkhead.

His thigh pushed forward with a bend of his knee; all she need do would be part hers a little and he would be pressing against her sex. Part of her urged her on, begged her to grind herself against him, answer her aching need. But another part of her was holding back, already a little afraid as she felt him beginning to stiffen against her - maybe it was too soon, too fast.

He must have felt her tense because he pulled back, broke the kiss and brought her head against his chest, both of them shaking, her arms grasping around his back. He stroked her hair until they both began to calm, planted a kiss on her forehead and said,

"Goodnight Kathryn".

With that he exited the room, leaving her with nothing to do but sink down the wall to the floor, legs unable to support the flushed soggy mess she had become. As first kisses went...

None of her previous ones even came close.