Disclaimer: I do not own Voyager or any of its characters.

Chapter 12

"She took quite a beating, her injuries were severe especially her head injury. She's also suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and exhaustion" The Tanasi doctor told Chakotay.

"But she'll recover"

"She will, she should also wake up any time" The doctor finished before leaving the room. Chakotay sat in the chair next to Kathryn's bed and held her hand silently as he waited for her to wake up.

It was only a few minutes later when he heard a small moan come for the bed "Kathryn?"

"Oh my head hurts" Kathryn said as she finally opened her eyes.

"I imagine a lot more than your head hurts right now" Chakotay replied with a small smile.

"True but on the bright side I can actually see now"

"I'm sorry it took us so long to come for you"

"It's not your fault, it's no ones fault but the Kanesh's and the Tanasi's if you want to get technical about it" Kathryn said before a concerned expression took over her face "What happened to Voyager?"

"Voyager's fine, she went to a repair station and is now back on course for the rendezvous point. Apparently we didn't lose anybody, there were some serious injuries but all our crew are alive and well"

"That's good, where are we?"

"On a Tanasi military transport on our way back to the science station I've been staying on"

"Are you okay, they haven't done anything to hurt you?" Kathryn asked suddenly needing the reassurance.

"They've been very good to me, I missed you though"

Kathryn smiled for the first time since Chakotay had found her "I missed you too, the whole crew did, it wasn't the same without you"

"Well it's good to know I'm wanted"

"Like you ever doubted it" Kathryn teased with a huge grin on her face.

"True, they love me on that ship"

"Yeah we do, some more than others, I do love you Chakotay"

"I do love you too Kathryn" Chakotay said before leaning down to gently kiss her lips.

As much as Kathryn had enjoyed the time she and Chakotay had spent on the science station together, she was glad to be back on Voyager and she knew Chakotay was too. The crew had welcomed them back excitedly and the ship showed no signs of the battle it had been in.

Captains Nal, Javess and Dalan stood in the transporter room with herself and Chakotay. These three men had been vital in getting them all safely across this region of space. Despite the fact that Captain Nal had lied to her about the rescue mission they had kept their part of the deal. Voyager had also been able to hold up her end, the work Chakotay had done with the doctors aboard the science station had led to a cure for the disease that was killing the Tanasi. Kathryn knew they had given the Tanasi an advantage in this war but frankly she didn't care. She knew they weren't as innocent as they seemed but the Kanesh were much worse. They had beaten and tortured her for weeks and the Tanasi had pulled out all the stops to rescue her.

"It has been an honour" Captain Nal said to Kathryn as Chakotay said his goodbyes to Javess and Dalan. She had seen the friendship that Chakotay had developed with the two men.

"Good luck on your journey home" Javess said before Kathryn gave the order to energise.

"So" Chakotay said turning to Kathryn "Feels good to be home"

"Yes it does, now since the Doctor has already ordered me off duty for three days how about we go and sleep through them"

"Sounds like a plan"

Kathryn and Chakotay walked out of the transporter room hand in hand and walked through the corridors toward their quarters. It really did feel good to be home again and to have them both there.

THE END