All right, this is the story that every author eventually writes.  Voyager's 
return home story.  I decided that I didn't like the way other authors had 
portrayed the characters feelings upon returning, that should they get home, 
who's to say that they'd be happy?  Wouldn't they be suffering some separation 
anxiety?  Anyway, here it is.  


Oh, and they don't belong to me!!  Paramount and TPTB own 'em.  I just did what 
they didn't do yet.


"Stars"
By Dana Quell

    Stars.  There were so many goddamned stars.  Of course, logically 
she knew that there should be, that there always were, but this night she 
actually took notice of the many billions there were.  They all shone brightly, 
clearly, and she thought of how they reminded her of her crew.  They all shone 
as clear and as bright as those stars.  
    She shook her head, to clear it of thoughts of the crew.  She didn't need to 
be thinking about them anymore; after all, she had fulfilled her promise.  She 
had gotten them home.  After nine years in the Delta Quadrant, she, Captain 
Kathryn Janeway, had gotten her crew home.
    Yet how could she stop thinking about them?  They were, after all, her crew.  
Were.  That was the keyword there.  They were her crew.  Not anymore.  Some 
would be assigned to other ships, while others would take time off to catch up 
with their estranged families.  Nine years was a lot to catch up with.  Kathryn 
herself was finding it hard to believe that Phoebe had gotten married and had 
two kids already.
    She longed for the days back on Voyager, though.  Suddenly she realized that 
over those nine years, Voyager had become all their homes, and they had been 
ripped away (never mind that they did it on purpose this time) from it once 
again.  As Seven of Nine would say, they would adapt.
    Seven.  The ex-Borg had turned out to be an asset to the crew.  On the last 
attempt to get home, Seven had sacrificed herself, so the crew might actually 
see their families again.  Kathryn would hold her in her memories forever.
    Suddenly there was a knock at the door.  Kathryn got up, wondering who it 
could be, since she hadn't told anyone where she was going.  All she had told 
Starfleet was that she would have liked a couple of weeks to reflect on what had 
happened.  So they granted her request, and off she went into the Appalachian 
Mountains.  
    So she was surprised when someone knocked at the door to her little cabin.  
Opening it, she found her former first officer.
    "Chakotay?  What are you doing here?" she asked.
    He gestured to the door.  "May I come in?"  She nodded and moved out of the 
doorway so he could come in.  "I was worried about you, Kathryn.  I wanted to 
make sure you were all right."
    "I'm fine.  Really, Chakotay."
    "Physically you are, but what about emotionally?  You got us home, which is 
what you had hoped for, you kept the Maquis out of jail, and now you're with 
your family again.  But you must feel a bit sad that the Voyager crew won't be 
together anymore."
    She looked him straight in the eye.  "You're right.  I am a bit sad.  We'd 
grown to be one big family those nine years, and I don't know how I'm going to 
deal without that.  But people have to move on.  They go through different 
phases of life, meeting people, losing people.  This can't be any different.  We 
just have to adapt, as Seven would have said."
    He moved closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, knowing that the 
tragic loss of Seven had hit her hard.  "We will adapt."
    She nodded, then removed his hand.  "I know, yet sometimes...sometimes I 
just wonder."
    His puzzled face told her that he didn't understand.  "Wonder what?" he 
asked, unnecessarily.
    "Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it.  The long journey home.  The 
sacrifices that some individuals had to make.  And for us to grow close together 
in the situation, and know each other, and love each other.  To be a family, and 
then be torn apart from each other once we got home.  But this isn't home 
anymore, is it?  Home is Voyager, Chakotay.  And I miss home."
    "I miss Voyager, too, Kathryn, but even though Voyager was home to us for 
nine years, it wasn't where we came from.  It wasn't where our roots were."
    "And what about the children who were born on Voyager?  Naomi, and all the 
others?  Voyager was where they came from.  Voyager was their roots.  And now 
that's been taken away from them, and they don't understand why."  Kathryn 
sighed, trying to express her exact feelings to him, so that he might possibly 
understand what she was going through, why she had to get away from Starfleet, 
and so quickly.  "Maybe we should have settled on some M-class planet somewhere 
in the Delta Quadrant.  Maybe we should have never tried to get home.  Maybe we 
should have wandered the stars, just like that generation ship.  Maybe..."
    "Maybe you should stop wondering what could have been, and look forward to 
what could be," he replied carefully.  "Kathryn, I'm going through the same 
feelings, too.  Voyager was my home for nine years, the best nine years of my 
life.  And now that we've come to the Alpha Quadrant, what we've wanted for so 
long, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself."
    "I thought you were going to teach at the Academy."  And leave her behind to 
command a ship that she no longer wanted.
    "I've thought about it, but I don't think that I really want to teach.  It's 
not what I want to do with my life.  Besides, I was kind of hoping that you'd 
request me as your first officer on your new assignment."
    "And what new assignment would that be?" 
    "The one that Starfleet handed to you before you left for this mountain 
range."
    She glanced up at him, surprised.  "How did you know about that one?  It was 
supposed to be classified information?"
    He smiled at her secretively.  "I have my sources."
    "I want their names and addresses.  They sound very reliable," she responded 
with a smile of her own.  "So, smarty-pants, what new assignment would I be 
considering?  What new assignment did Starfleet hand to me?"
    "Being captain of the Voyager-B," he stated simply.  Her smile faded fast.
    "So you do know," she said, sinking to the couch in the cabin.  "I don't 
think I'm going to accept the position.  I'm probably going to resign."
    Alarm flashed across Chakotay's face.  "Why, Kathryn?  Why would you throw away a promising career?"
    She sighed, glancing out the window again to look at the stars.  "Why?  
Because, Chakotay, it's no longer what I want out of life.  I want to be back on 
Voyager, exploring the Delta Quadrant.  I want to have the same crew.  They were 
so good to serve with.  But that'll never happen because some of them have 
resigned already.  So I think I'm going to resign."
    "Kathryn, you can't."
    She glared at him.  "And why not?  Because you don't want me to?"
    "It's a reason, isn't it?" he asked in return.  He moved to sit next to her 
on the couch.  "And also because I love you, and I don't want to see you make a 
mistake like that."
    Kathryn's glare faded, and softened.  "You love me?  Why didn't you tell me?  
How long have you loved me?"
    He smiled, and allowed himself a small laugh.  "Yes, I love you.  I didn't 
tell you because it would have interfered with the way Voyager was run; how we 
interacted with each other.  And I wasn't sure how you felt, or how you'd react.  
I thought you might not return the feelings."
    She gave him a lopsided smile.  "Well, I do.  I love you, too, Chakotay.  
But you didn't answer my other question.  How long have you loved me?"
    "I'm not sure.  I know only that I woke up one day, and I realized that I 
loved you."
    Looking deep within his eyes, she could see that all he said was true.  She 
reached up and wrapped her arms around him, then gave him a deep passionate 
kiss, which he returned as enthusiatically as she.  Breaking apart for a breath, 
she spoke.  "You know what?  I think I may take that position after all.  But 
only if you'll be my first officer."
    He smiled.  His mission had been a success.  "Of course Kathryn.  I'll be 
your first officer, always and forever."  He glanced out to the window to see 
what she had been staring at for so long.  "As long as there are stars in the 
sky."

The End :)