DISCLAIMER: Star Trek: Voyager and all its characters belong to Paramount Pictures; no infringement of copyright is intended. The story however belongs to me.

Time for Us
by Hester (hester4418)

I stand alone on the balcony, the darkened skies above me soothingly familiar with their myriad of stars. The stars of home. I can name them all, haven't forgotten a single one despite my long absence.

Out here, I feel like I can breathe again. The last few days have been such a whirlwind of meetings, debriefings and medical check-ups that I haven't had a single moment to myself. There was hardly any time to process what happened, or to grasp the reality that our daring plan actually worked. If it weren't for the stars of home, I might not believe that we really made it back to Earth.

The soft footsteps behind me are almost lost in the sounds from the party inside, but I long ago developed a sixth sense for Chakotay's presence. I don't need to smell his familiar scent, or feel the heat from his body as he comes to stand close behind me. I tried to keep him at arm's length for a long time, but he's always been much closer than that – under my skin, if not in my heart.

I'm wearing a dress, as black as my out-of-date uniform, cut high in the front but lower in the back, exposing skin that would be covered by my hair if it was still long. Maybe I should let it grow out again. I wonder what Chakotay would say – even after all these years I can still feel his hands sliding through my long strands with the touch of a would-be lover, a promise that has never been fulfilled.

My thoughts stumble when he touches me now, his fingertips stroking along the edge of fabric at my right shoulder and then following the curve of my shoulder blade. I feel goose bumps rising in the wake of the fleeting contact, chilling and warming me at the same time. He's never been this daring before, never deliberately touched my bare skin. No, that's not true. There was this one time, on New Earth...

We'd been flirting for weeks, trying to provoke each other into finally making the decisive move that would irreversibly mark our transition from friends to lovers. The conclusion seemed inevitable, just another small step in our journey together. And we both wanted to take that step, but what's the saying? Anticipation is half the fun. We had the rest of our lives to be together, so we enjoyed our teasing courtship. What was another week, another month in the grand scheme of things?

Then Tuvok called, announcing Voyager's return. That night, I took my last bath in the tub Chakotay had built for me. Afterwards, I was standing outside our cabin, wrapped in my towel, staring up at the stars much like now. Chakotay came up behind me and slowly stroked his hand across the back of my shoulders in an unmistakable caress. I turned and stepped back, smiling sadly as I shook my head. With Voyager coming to reclaim us, I wasn't able to make the leap.

But now, it's different. Voyager is home, as the celebration behind me testifies to in raucous splendor.

Chakotay's fingers move again, and now his whole palm warms my skin, gliding over my back and arm as I turn slowly. Once I face him, his hand comes to rest over my heart.

There are a million things I want to say, a hundred things I've rehearsed over and over, but words fail me as I look into his deep brown eyes. I see the same emotions I saw that night on New Earth – hope and fear. He hopes that the time for us is now, but he fears that I will not agree. Again.

I lift my hand and place it on his chest, a move achingly familiar to both of us and now a mirror image of his own posture. His heart is racing under my fingertips – is that a sign of apprehension or anticipation? Concluding that it's probably both in equal measure, I smile and step closer, leaving no more than a hand's breadth of space between us. It is all the encouragement he needs.

His hand slides up into my hair and I tilt my head into the long-missed caress. Then his free arm snakes around my waist, pulling me close against his body. I'm wearing high heels, so he doesn't need to bend all that much to bring his face down to mine.

When our lips meet at last, our first kiss is not the wanton rush of passion I always imagined. Instead, the feeling is much sweeter. Our shared love, finally freed from its constraints, wraps around us like a warm blanket and I can't help thinking that all the hardships we endured, all the battles we fought over the course of our seven-year journey, were all worth it because they shaped who we are today and brought us to this moment in time. A moment that is ours, and ours alone. Even after we stop kissing we continue to lean into each other, and I revel in the feeling of rightness and completion, of finally claiming what was meant to be ours for so long.

Chakotay steps back, his eyes catching mine, and I see my own joy reflected in his gaze. Neither of us has spoken a single word since coming out here, and there's no need. Our smiles say all there is to say. As I take his arm and we make our way back to the party, I know I won't be going home alone tonight.

The time for us is now.

-==/ The End \==-