The BLTS Archive - Better Late Than...
part of the 'Belated' universe
by Your Cruise Director (emwycedee@writeme.com)

---

The following story is a direct response to Michele Masterson's
"Belated", which got my Inner Chakotay all riled up. Don't blame me, I
didn't write  this; he just started narrating, even though it's not
even his POV. Warning: sap levels could cause diabetic coma. Paramount
owns Starfleet. Michele owns the setup and her story is a lot more
plausible than this one.

--

There was a message waiting on her terminal when she returned to her
rooms at Starfleet. A written notice, not in his voice. "Kathryn. I
need  to talk to you as soon as you get back. C."

The other shoe, she thought. Whatever he hadn't felt he could tell her
this morning--probably that he'd met someone else while he was away.
Or  that those rumors she'd heard about him and Megan Delaney,
implausible  as they had seemed during the last days of their journey
through the  Delta Quadrant, were true. He hadn't wanted to hurt her
any more this  morning by telling her, but knowing him he felt guilty
for misleading  her, and didn't want her to hear it anywhere else
first.

The easiest thing would have been to ignore the message, but if she
started avoiding him, she'd be hiding from her best friend. The only
one  she had left. She decided to reply before she became too
paralyzed to  talk to him and lost even that. She made the connection
audio-only.

"Kathryn? Where are you?" he demanded when the commlink was
established.

"I'm at home."

"I can't see you. Is your viewscreen on?"

"No, it isn't. What is it, Chakotay