Author's note: Where did this one come from?? I dunno. Except I was
inspired by Sting's music. Yeah, that's it. I guess... )

Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything except right to my thoughts.
Because until Kate sees the light, I'm gonna keep writing. The song
belongs to Sting. All that's mine is the story.

Rating: PG. Major mush alert!! If you don't like sweet, sappy
stories, then this isn't for you.

Dedication: To Anneke and Ute - for no real reason. )

Fields of Gold
by Cheile

So much time has passed.

It seems only yesterday that Voyager found the rift in the Beta
Quadrant whose other end opened near Betazed. That was after eight
years in the Delta Quadrant, eight long years separated from our
families and homes. Eight long years I emotionally kept myself at a
distance from the person who I knew cared for me, afraid of losing
him--afraid of giving of my heart only to have it ripped out if he were
taken from me.

Even when we were safely home, I still held onto the fear. I now know
that it was for naught.

Three months after we had gotten home, I invited him to my family's
home in Indiana. After we had dinner and he complimented my mother,
bantered with Phoebe and played with the labs, we took a walk out to the
agricultural park, to the vast fields of corn, barley and wheat that
from a distance looked like a carpet of gold stretching to the horizon
and beyond.

"You'll remember me when the west wind moves
upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun--in his jealous sky
as we walk in fields of gold.

"They've expanded the fields since I left," I said quietly.

He nodded. "It is beautiful in its own way." He paused briefly, then
gave me a meaningful look. "Like you."

That remark made me blush, to my shock. But he merely smiled and held
out his hand for me to take. I did and we continued our walk. A breeze
from the west blew through the stalks and lightly pulled out strands of
the loose bun I had my hair in. Having been too used to long hair, I
let it grow back out to its original length.

"You missed this, didn't you?" he asked me.

I sighed. "I had made a holodeck program, but it's--"

"Not as good as the real thing?" he finished.

I laughed softly. "Exactly."

We continued to walk--and I realized how close we had become in the
past eight years. From enemy captains to almost best friends. And
there was even a small part of me that wanted something more--but I
wasn't sure if it was right.

It was then that he stopped and turned to me. He looked nervous and I
wasn't sure how to reassure him. But then he spoke.

"Kathryn, I've waited for a long time to ask you this--you know that I
love you, but it's much more than that." He stopped and looked away for
a minute, then locked his gaze with mine. "Will you marry me?"

I had expected him to ask that we be together, but nothing like this.
All I could say was "Oh Chakotay..."

"Will you?" he said softly. "I want to be with you--for always."

"Nothing would make me happier," I answered, feeling tears in my ears.

His eyes brightened and a huge grin lit up his face. Before I knew it,
he had swept me up in his arms and tossed me up in the air, catching me
as I came down, my hair falling out of the bun and tumbling down my back
as we laughed. He tossed me up again, but this time, he didn't catch me
right and I came crashing down atop him, knocking him to the ground.
First he groaned, pretending to be in pain, then kissed me, pressing me
close to him as we lay there in the field.

"So she took her love--for to gaze awhile
upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell--as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold.

Will you stay with me?
Will you be my love?
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
as we lie in fields of gold.

See the west wind move - like a lover's soul
among the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
among the fields of gold."

Not wanting to wait very long, we were married in six months--a small
ceremony with our families and closest friends. Phoebe was my
maid-of-honor; Tom gave me away. My only regret was that my father
wasn't there to see it.

Two months later, Starfleet assigned Chakotay to a top-secret,
extremely dangerous mission in Cardassian space. He would be gone for
four months. I knew he had to go, but I was still worried for him.

"What if you're captured or killed?" I said.

"I'll be careful, Kathryn, I promise."

I sighed. "I know. I'm just afraid that I'll lose you."

He pulled me close, kissing my hair. "Kathryn, I can't promise that
nothing will happen out there, but I promise you I will return safely.
You can count on that, love. I'll come back to walk in the fields with
you."

We held each other till he had to leave. "Remember what I promised,"
he whispered, kissing me good-bye.

"I love you, Chakotay."

"I love you, too."

Then he was whisked away by the transporter beam.

"I've never made promises lightly
and there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
we'll walk in fields of gold."

True to his word, he came back safely, though two others on his team
did not. I felt for their families, because I knew that it could have
just as easily been Chakotay.

Three months after he returned, I found out that I was pregnant with
twins. Chakotay, of course, was delighted, as were our families. My
mood went back and forth during my pregnancy--at times, I felt that time
was passing too fast, at other times I wished it would hurry up. I grew
bigger and bigger until I couldn't even stand my own reflection.
Chakotay laughed at this, but was always loving and helpful, no matter
how demanding and cranky I got. And of course, we took many walks in
the fields.

When I was nearing the end of my eighth month, on our usual evening
walk, that my labor began. I was stopped suddenly by a searing pain
that shot through me. Then another, leaving me breathless.

"Love, are you all right?"

I smiled weakly. "I think the twins want to join us for our walk."

Chakotay's face turned absolutely white, and he quickly scooped me up
and dashed for the house, carrying me all the way home so he could get
me into the hovercraft to take me to the hospital.

And so eighteen hours later, Dr. Koberstein, the daughter of the doctor
who had delivered my sister and I, delivered our son and daughter. They
were both healthy and beautiful. I cried, Chakotay cried, the babies
wailed, and we finally laughed.

The twins were the only children we had, and I admit--I spoiled them.
They had their own unique personalities, and some of us, too. Kolopak
Edward, the elder and named after our fathers, looked and was very much
like Chakotay, but for his gray eyes that had been his grandfather's.
Lorrie Ute, named after Dr. Koberstein, had my red hair, fascination
with the sciences and Chakotay's love of nature, but also my father's
eyes.

The twins grew up fast--a lot faster than it seemed. Only yesterday,
they had been little, going with us to the fields as my father had taken
me, Kolopak running ahead as always, Lorrie keeping step with Chakotay
and I--talking a kilometer a minute. Now they were grown and had
families of their own. Kolopak had married Tom and B'Elanna's daughter
Adrienne and they had three children. Lorrie married Matt, the son of
Will Riker and Deanna Troi and had command of her own ship, the Libya.
They were sent on deep space missions and we only got to see them a
couple times a year. But she was happy, as Kolopak was content,
teaching at the Academy Institute and living near us--and that was what
I wanted for my children.

It's been a long time. Things have changed; times have changed. The
weather is turning again. It's almost autumn. And the rest of the
family is with me--Kolopak, Adrienne, and their girls, and Lorrie, Matt
and their sons, home for a month from another mission.

"Are the kids still outside?" Adrienne asked, resting her hands on
her distended stomach-- she was due in three weeks. "I figured they
would have come in by now."

"Why don't you go call them?" Kolopak said. "Dinner's ready."

Adrienne started to push herself up, but I shook my head. "Stay there,
Adrienne. I'll get them."

"Are you sure, Mom?" Lorrie asked me. "Your voice isn't what it used
to be."

"Don't you worry about it, miss," I said, playing along. "I won't even
have to call. They'll see me and come running."

Everyone laughed quietly as I headed for the door.

I pushed the screen door open and stepped outside. The sun was
beginning to set and the fields looked like a gold carpet spread out to
the horizon. But soon, I was able to spot the five small figures moving
through the barley stalks. There they were.

A few minutes later...

"Grandma!"

At this cry from Lisse, the eldest of Kolopak's daughters, the other
four spied me and happily came running toward me. As they got closer, I
was able to tell who was who.

Lisse, much like her mother, with dark hair and blue eyes. Scott and
James--mirror images of Lorrie with Matt's eyes. Anneke, with her wheat
blond hair and dark eyes. And lastly little Claudia, a mirror image of
the grandfather she never knew.

That thought saddened me a little. Chakotay had died three years ago,
only a few months before Claudia was born. I still missed him terribly.

But he was still with me--in spirit and in my heart. I could feel his
presence every time I walked through the fields. And I still had the
memories. Those no one could ever take away from me.

"Many years have passed since those summer days
among the fields of barley.
See the children run--as the sun goes down
among the fields of gold.

You'll remember me--when the west wind moves
upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
when we walked in fields of gold."

Legal stuff above. Paramount owns the lot, Sting owns the song--story
is mine!! ) Comments and anything chocolate, send to