What Goes Around, Comes Around

"Calm down, Kathryn."

"I am calm," she shot back, a petulant note slipping into her voice before she continued to pace a hole in the carpet of her Ready Room. "I'm perfectly calm. Why wouldn't I be calm when a member of my crew is injured?"

Chakotay sighed inwardly. She was overreacting slightly, but he tried his best to ignore her. He knew she was pissed off merely because someone had had the guts to harm her surrogate son. He couldn't help grinning at that. Harry would probably be the happiest man alive, once he'd come to in Sickbay. Ensign Kadi, on the other hand, was going to be dead meat, from the looks of it. Kathryn was getting carried away with her rant, and the carpet was becoming thinner and thinner. Chakotay was also getting dizzy from watching her.

This had to stop, Chakotay decided. "Kathryn!" he snapped at her, momentarily losing his cool as she quickened her pace. "Calm. Down."

"I am calm, damn it!" She didn't even spare him a glance.

Chakotay, having had enough, resorted to more drastic measures. Waiting till she passed him by yet again, he got hold of her arms and pressed her down on the couch. He used his superior strength to keep her immobilized until she ceased her struggles somewhat. In the end, he was rewarded with her undivided attention, which unfortunately included her trademark death - glare, which was kind of a let down.

"That's better," he allowed, grinning at her defiant expression despite the faint chill her look was causing. Oh yes, he'd pay for this later, and he knew it. She was probably coming up with something nasty and decidedly painful to get back at him at that very moment.

Chakotay didn't particularly care; he had a life to save after all.

"Now get a grip and listen," Chakotay began, briefly wondering if he had a death wish talking to her like that. "The Doctor said that Harry was going to be fine, no permanent harm done. He'll be sore, no doubt about that," he added when she so much as opened her mouth, "but fine."

"I'll space her."

"What part of 'fine' was lost on you?" Chakotay asked in exasperation. His cool had deserted him altogether, it seemed. "Harry's a grown man, Kathryn. If he decides to sleep with Ensign Kadi, that's his prerogative. I'm sure he must have known of the possible consequences. Besides," he added, his eyes pleading with her to let the matter go, "it's not as if she forced herself on him." Kathryn raised her brow at that. "Well, okay, let me rephrase: she didn't rape him. I'm willing to bet a months worth of replicator rations that she made him beg beforehand, though, just to get a kick out of it."

Kathryn pulled a face. "Now that's just sick, Chakotay."

"I'm also willing to bet seven years worth of replicator rations that this was just your deprivation speaking," he replied, wondering just what his brain was doing today as his own words registered with him.

Kathryn's eyes grew to the size of saucers before they narrowed dangerously. "That's it, Mister. Just for that one, I'll space the both of you."

*

"Mind if I join you, Ensign?"

Kadi looked up from her yet untouched plate, and into the troubled eyes of Voyager's First Officer. "Not at all, Commander." Well, she wasn't stupid, now was she? No one, with the possible exception of one redheaded Captain, would decline such an offer. Kadi's slightly warped mind made her add: "Misery loves company."

Chakotay mutely blinked at her, then slumped onto a chair. "Are you still in the pre - stages of terror, or has she actually talked to you yet?"

Despite all, Kadi grinned. "I'm still waiting for the Captain's call. In the meantime, I'm preparing to receive my death blow." She shook her head. "Why this is any of the Captain's business is beyond me, though."

"Let's see . . ." Chakotay replied dryly, using his fingers to count off fact. "You and Ensign Kim become - intimate. You make a public display of it at that. And," he added, staring her down, "on top of that, he ends up in Sickbay. I can see how Captain Janeway may not be thrilled overmuch by that, seeing as Harry is something of a pet project to her."

"Well, when you put is that way," Kadi sighed, her grin fading. "But what did you do? You have that haunted look in your eyes, almost as if you've just escaped the Grim Reaper."

"You're not that far off, either," Chakotay retorted, closing his eyes for scant seconds. "Actually, I pleaded for mercy on your behalf - "

"Awwwwww, that is so sweet!"

" - but I wasn't careful enough," Chakotay finished as if Kadi had never interrupted him. "If she was pissed before, she's mad as hell now." He paused, letting his gaze wander over the deserted Mess Hall for a moment and sighing again. "If I were you, Ensign, I'd just nod and agree to anything she yells at you. At the moment, she's settled for simply spacing us both. It's painful, considering the sudden decompression, but also a quick death. Don't do anything stupid," he warned. "Meaning don't you dare speak up or defend yourself, or she just might change her mind and come up with something more slow and painful. Far more painful."

"Understood, Sir," came the prompt reply. That had been far too quick for Chakotay's liking, and the evil gleam in her eyes didn't help matters, either. Perhaps, he thought, he'd just go right ahead and kill himself, whether that was honorable or not.

Honor was overrated.

*

Kadi gulped several times before she could summon up the courage to trigger the door chime to Janeway's Ready Room.

An ice - cold voice bid her inside almost instantaneously.

Oh yes, this was going to go well. Perhaps she'd take Chakotay's advice after all and keep her mouth shut. The resolution flew out the next airlock, though, when the doors slid shut behind her. Seeing the barely disguised anger in Janeway's eyes only served to stir up her own. How dare the Captain treat her as though she'd just broken the warp core?

Well, the mind - blowing experience with Harry had certainly amounted to that, but still . . .

Kadi snapped to attention as Janeway's voice finally registered with her. ". . . and I have to question your recent conduct." Janeway was being decidedly uptight about this, her voice dangerously low.

Kadi shuffled her feet. "Uhm . . ."

"I don't normally pry into the personal lives of my crew," Janeway continued, trademark glare in place, "but you two have been making enough of a public display that half the ship is gossiping about it."

"That wasn't our intention . . ." Kadi began, but was cut off.

Janeway's voice rose. "I do expect you to maintain a certain standard, Ensign. Especially because Harry Kim is a senior staff member. Do I make myself clear?"

Kadi had had enough by now, her anger quickly rising. "Permission to speak freely, Captain?" To her utter surprise, the request was granted, and Janeway expectantly looked at her, hands on hips.

"Despite Commander Chakotay's explanation, I still fail to see how this is any of your business," she began, pacing the room in true Janeway - style. "What Ensign Kim and I do during our off - duty hours is none of your concern, as long as it is in accordance with ship's protocol. The only thing I may need to apologize for is Harry's being in Sickbay, but seeing as you're getting worked up over a simple accident, I'm just not going to." And then, in a moment of complete dementia on Kadi's part and stunned silence on Janeway's, she added, "You haven't found Chakotay's g - spot yet, have you, Captain? That's about the only explanation I can come up with that would warrant your strong reaction to something this unimportant." Janeway's eyes grew wide, shining not with anger, but shock. "Perhaps you should try to get it on with him and see what the result is going to be, before you go around chewing my ass out for being happy!"

With that out of her system, Kadi stopped to level a scary look at Janeway, eyes blazing and nostrils flaring. Janeway could see how Ensign Kadi had earned the nickname "Green Dragin."

Janeway's eyes narrowed dangerously, her back going rigid. "Dismissed. And you'd better be gone before I've finished this sentence, or I'll personally kick your sorry little ass out of here."

Kadi, being Kadi, hadn't even waited for the dismissal, but turned on her heels and stormed out, leaving a furious redheaded Captain behind.

*

A lazy grin spread across Harry Kim's face even before he fully regained consciousness, accompanied by a dreamy sigh. Then he moved, and his sore muscles immediately protested against the action, waking him up way quicker than any hypospray could. He grimaced, his grin fading somewhat.

"Hi there."

Odd, Harry thought, that sounded like Ensign Kadi. What was she doing in . . . where was he anyway? Opening his eyes, he blinked a couple times against the bright illumination before two things registered with him: one, he was on a biobed in Sickbay. Two, Ensign Kadi was on a chair next to him, a hand possessively placed on his right thigh.

His grin returned, blooming. "Hi, Kadi."

"It's about time you came to," she playfully chided him, seeing as he didn't seem to mind having ended up in Sickbay. "I was beginning to think that I've done permanent damage."

"To my reputation maybe."

Kadi lifted her brows. "Well, I certainly hope so! I'm neither an alien babe of the week, nor do I intend this . . . liaison . . . to end anytime soon."

Harry watched in fascination how Kadi's hand began to slowly move upwards, drawing lazy circles on his thigh in the process. He gulped, his voice cracking. "What's happened while I was out of it?" he asked by way of distraction.

"Oh, just what was to be expected," Kadi said lightly, her eyes shining brightly when she remembered her encounter with the Captain. That had gone remarkably well, seeing as she was still alive and free to go wherever she liked. Somehow that struck her as odd, but she didn't dwell on it, because a certain Ensign was supposed to be having her undivided attention. "There was some . . . unpleasantness, but nothing I couldn't deal with."

Harry mutely blinked at her.

"Well," Kadi began, growing slightly uncomfortable, "the Captain reacted with less than optimal restraint when she heard the news of you being here."

"Do I really want to know?"

Kadi smiled sweetly - too sweetly. "Probably not, but I'm going to share anyway." She then proceeded to tell him in detail what had happened in the Captain's Ready Room, watching in amusement when his eyes grew wider and wider, threatening to pop out.

"I knew you were insane," Harry squeaked, shaking his head at the audacity, "but this . . . this . . . Oh, hell. How am I ever going to face her again?"

Kadi hung her head, looking away. "Sorry," she mumbled and got up to leave.

Harry's right hand latched onto her arm to stop her. "Don't be," he gently said. "You were basically right, Kadi, I just wish you had chosen your words more carefully. I fear Captain Janeway's revenge."

"Perhaps she's indeed thinking about my words instead of plotting revenge. Lord knows she should just grab the big Indian and make up for seven years of celibacy."

Harry opened his mouth to point out that Janeway had spent a lot of time on the holodeck in the Fair Haven program, but Kadi could obviously read his mind, and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Don't say it. SEVEN years of celibacy, you hear me?"

Rubbing his ear, he nodded. "Loud and clear, dear. Very loud and clear."

*

One arm draped over his eyes, Chakotay was relaxing on the couch in his quarters. This day was one worth repression, and that's what he'd been trying to do for the past two hours, but somehow it wasn't working.

After her talk with Ensign Kadi, Kathryn had behaved oddly, to say the least. Apart from obviously being royally pissed, she'd also cast brief glances at him every once in a while, then blushed furiously. Chakotay figured that this was probably the reason why she'd left the bridge only ten minutes later, fleeing rather than gracefully departing.

He'd sure like to know what was going on.

He'd also like to know why Ensign Kadi and he were still alive. Not one to question his luck, though, Chakotay went back to trying to repress the memory of this day, when the door chime startled him, making him fall off the couch in surprise. "Come," he called out while picking himself up.

Kathryn Janeway entered, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Am I interrupting?" she asked when she saw him bending at an odd angle.

Straightening up at once, he discharged his dimples, more out of embarrassment than anything else. He probably shouldn't have done it, though, as Kathryn immediately blushed again, blurting out, "Is that your only set of dimples?"

He looked at her aghast. "Okay. Who are you and what have you done with my Captain?"

She lowered her gaze. "The question should be: what has Ensign Kadi done to your Captain."

"Kathryn?" he questioned, confused.

"Well, you see . . ." she trailed off and walked up to him, whispering the details in his ear.

Chakotay blinked once . . . twice. "You're saying you want to have wild, animalistic sex with me?"

She nodded.

"Because Ensign Kadi gave you a piece of her mind?"

Another nod.

"Remind me to thank her," he replied with a huge grin, before he pulled her against his body, his mouth crushing down on hers.

Kathryn sighed happily into his mouth, then, and all coherent thought fled her mind as his hands took slow inventory of her uniform - clad body. Gasping when his hands found her buttocks and pinched them, her tongue snaked out to caress his lip, nibbling at it. She was ready to surrender completely to him when Chakotay suddenly stopped his ministrations and looked down at her.

"What is it?" she panted.

"Promise me one thing," he told her. "Leave Kadi and Harry alone."

A confused look crossed her face. "We're in the midst of eating each other alive, and you're thinking of those two? I feel insulted."

"Just promise," he pleaded with her, trying for his best puppy eyes.

Kathryn had rarely been able to resist those, and nodded. "I promise."

"Now where were we?" he grinned.

Pushing him down onto his couch, Kathryn proceeded to show him precisely where they had been, but made a mental note to thank Kadi later and say goodbye to her surrogate son. But then Chakotay found the sensitive spot behind her ears, and her mind went blank.

THE END

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