Title: Thrown Through Time
Authors: R. Mason & Joanne Collins
Codes: C/P, C/P/M (Only once), M/I (Implied)
Ratings: G – NC 17 (depending on where in the story)
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mchakotayparis@yahoo.comSummary: See Chapter 1
Thrown Through Time
Chapter 33
The first thing Melody noticed was that someone had left the lights on; Momma was going to be mad again. Next thing was that her head hurt. As she looked around she remembered where she was. She was with Chakotay and Tom, she was safe. Sitting up slowly she saw the backs of the two men and moaned softly.
"Tom, Chakotay?"
Instantly both men were sitting beside her with equally worried looks on their faces.
"Don‘t worry, sweet one. Were both here," reassured Chakotay as he pulled her into his arms.
"Daddy, I‘m sorry...I didn‘t mean..."
"Shhh... Baby. Listen to me. You didn‘t do anything wrong. You know that don‘t you?" said Chakotay as he leaned her back to look at her face.
"It‘s not your fault, Mel," said Tom
"I know, it‘s just.... I should have told you about this before, but I forgot then when I..."
"It‘s all right, sweet one. Can you talk about it with us now?" asked Tom.
"I think so. What do you want to know?" she asked quietly.
"How often did it happen?" asked Chakotay.
"At least once a month, sometimes more if she said I‘d been really bad."
"How long did you have to stay in there?"
"All night long and sometimes longer. I don‘t think I can do this guys, I need to go back to Voyager," said Melody as she got agitated.
Chakotay pulled her into his arms holding onto her tightly. "Yes you can, sweet. Listen to me, don‘t think about that. Concentrate on now, think about us and Voyager," said Chakotay as he turned her face towards him.
"Mel, listen to us. We can help you through this but you have to stay here, OK? Can you do that?" asked Tom.
Melody looked at both men, then sighed deeply. "OK."
"That‘s our girl, now the first thing we need to do is to get you something to eat," said Chakotay as he helped her to her feet.
"Uhh, would you mind if I took a shower first?" asked Melody.
"Sure, Mel. You go take a shower and we‘ll fix you something to eat," said Tom
"Thanks guys, for everything," said Melody as she kissed each man then went to take her shower.
"Gods, I hope she can do this?" said Chakotay as he watched her retreating back.
"She can, Cha. As long as it‘s the three of us."
"I hope so."
A twenty minutes later Melody came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt.
"Here you go, Mel. Neelix sent some replicated meals that he knew you could eat," said Tom as she sat down and ate.
"Thanks guys, have you done the scans yet?" asked Melody as she started eating.
"Partly, we left some for you to do when you woke up," answered Chakotay.
"Good, when will the Captain check in?"
"She already has, she said she‘ll call back at 2100," said Tom.
"What time is it now?"
"Almost 1800," answered Chakotay.
"Then I guess I‘d better get busy," said Melody as she got up from the table. She still saw concern on both their faces. "Don‘t worry guys, I‘m OK for now," Melody went to the front panel of the shuttlecraft and sat down to start the scans.
Tom and Chakotay watched Melody as she quietly worked on the panel and smiled. With their help she would over this and become a stronger person. They just hoped that she believed in herself enough now.
At 2100 Janeway called again for a progress report.
"Voyager to shuttle craft two."
"Shuttle craft two here. Go ahead Voyager," answered Melody.
"How you doing, sweet?" asked Janeway as her face appeared on the small computer panel.
"I‘m doing better, Aunt Kathryn. How are Alaina and Garrick?"
"Samantha and Kes say they keep asking for you and daddy," said Janeway with a smile.
"Tell them that we‘ll be home in four more days."
"Melody, is this a new memory? Or one you‘ve remembered before."
"No, I remembered this when I was first working with Tuvok. I just hadn‘t thought about it in such a long time that I forgot. My bed on Voyager doesn‘t bother me."
"It was probably just the bunk in the shuttle craft, sweet. I guess we should have shown you it before you left."
"You couldn‘t have known what was going to happen, Aunt Kathryn. When I saw it I was hoping that I had overcome that and it wouldn‘t bother me either. I guess I still need a little more work?"
"Well we‘ll help you all we can, sweet. How‘s the scans looking?"
"Really neat, I think I‘m going to have fun analyzing them when we get back," responded Melody excitedly.
"Good, where are Chakotay and Tom?"
"In the back, hold on I‘ll get them," said Melody then she turned around and went over to the back bunk.
Tom and Chakotay were asleep, lying together with their clothes still on. Melody smiled at them then gently shook Chakotay.
"Chakotay. Captain Janeway wants to talk to you."
Chakotay jerked awake throwing Tom to the floor. Melody stood laughing at the two men as they both looked up at her with bleary eyes.
"What, what?" said Chakotay.
"Oh come on guys, neither one of you are bright enough for a light bulb right now. Captain Janeway, wants to talk to you," Said Melody as he helped Tom to his feet.
"Very funny, young lady," said Chakotay as he staggered to the front chair.
The laughing face of Captain Janeway greeted him. Melody had left the video and audio comlink open, and she had seen the whole thing.
"Evening, Captain," said Chakotay stoically.
"Good evening, Commander. Enjoy your little nap?" asked Janeway with a smile.
"Yes, thank you. What can we do for you Captain?"
"I just wanted to check in with you about, Melody. She seems fine, but..."
"She‘s doing better now, she gets agitated when there is nothing to do but I think if we can keep her busy and she‘ll be all right."
"Good, if you need anything let me know."
"We will, Captain. Shuttle craft two out," said Chakotay as he closed the COM link and went back to where Tom and Melody were.
"How about we play some cards for a while, Mel?‘ asked Tom.
"Guys, you don‘t have to pretend with me. Why don‘t you two go to bed, I think I‘ll stay up for a while."
"Mel if..." started Tom, but he stopped when he saw the look on her face. She was not going to let them talk her out of this and they both were dead tired.
"OK, Mel. You win, come on Cha. Let‘s go to bed."
Chakotay looked over at the young woman then smiled. She had that determined look on her face and there was no use arguing with her. He leaned over and kissed her forehead gently.
"Good night, Melody."
"Good night, Tom, Chakotay. Sleep well," said Melody as she went and sat down in one of the front chairs.
When she looked back at the bunk both men were naked and already asleep. She smiled at them and plugged in the private earpiece to the computers entertainment database. Looking back once more she activated the shuttles privacy screen. They may be asleep now, but she had a feeling they weren‘t going to stay that way all night. And wither they admitted it our not, they deserved a little privacy.
Melody turned back around and went back to sketching on her latest drawing. She hopped B‘Elanna and Harry would like them.
Two days later Melody reciprocated the favor to Tom and Chakotay and it was just Melody who answered the Captain‘s COM link.
"Voyager to shuttle craft two."
"Shuttle craft two here. Go ahead Voyager."
"Melody, where are Chakotay and Tom?" asked Janeway as she noticed that Melody was alone.
"Their still asleep, I thought I‘d be nice to them and let them sleep in today since I disturbed their sleep two days ago," said Melody as she turned chair and looked back. Janeway could see the privacy shield up around the back bunk.
"That‘s nice of you, sweet. But what about the return flight?"
"Tom has already set the course in so all I have to do is set the autopilot and were on our way home."
"You‘re a smart girl. How you doing?" asked Janeway with concern.
"I‘m doing OK. It still bothers me a little when I‘ve got nothing to do, but I‘ve been working on some sketches. Would you like to see them?" asked Melody.
"Yes, I would," said Janeway anxiously. Melody was a wonderful sketch artist.
"Aunt Kathryn, are Harry or B‘Elanna there?"
"Harry is why?"
"Well, it‘s sort of a surprise for them and I don‘t want him to see them before I‘m finished."
"I understand. Hold on, Melody," Janeway turned towards Harry smiled. "Ensign Kim, would you take this PADD down to Lt. Torres for me in engineering please?" she asked as he stood in front of him.
Harry looked at the Captain then at the PADD in her hand. "Uhh...Oh course, Captain," Harry took the PADD then left the bridge.
Janeway smiled at the bewildered Ensign then sat back down in her chair. "He‘s gone, Melody. Show me what you‘ve done."
Melody reached down under the console and retrieved her sketchpad, then turned it to face the computer panel. On the paper was a perfect rendition of Harry Kim at their last party on the holodeck. It wasn‘t quite finished yet but you could defiantly tell who it was. Melody turned the page and was a head and shoulders portrait of B‘Elanna Torres.
"Those are beautiful, Melody. You are getting better all the time."
"Thank you, Aunt Kathryn."
"Well, I had better let you go before you‘re two sleeping beauties wake up. Voyager out."
Melody looked back at the privacy shield and smiled, those two should be waking up soon. Melody retrieved her colored chalks from her bag and went to work on finishing Harry and B‘Elanna‘s pictures.
Melody didn‘t know it but Tom had been awake for quiet some time now. The first thing he saw when he woke up was that the privacy shield was up. He realized what that meant; Melody was giving them some time alone by themselves. They could see and hear outside the shield but Melody couldn‘t see or hear inside. So for all practical purposes they were alone.
Tom took this opportunity to examine his husband/lover of two years. Chakotay still had the body of a younger man even if his hair was turning a little salt and pepper. He felt his passion for the older man stirring and gently bent down to run his lips across his chest. Chakotay stirred beneath him until he heard a moan of pleasure.
"Tom, what are you doing?" asked Chakotay as he looked down at the young man on his chest.
"I‘d thought you have figured that out by now, Cha," answered Tom seductively.
"Ohhhh... I have. But what I meant was why are you doing it. Melody is just in front."
"Nope, she‘s activated the privacy shield. It‘s just you and me for a while, Chief."
"Why that little...."
"Oh come on, don‘t tell me you didn‘t expect it. After all she interrupted our sleep two nights ago. You know how she feels about repaying us for the little things we do for her."
"Yeah, I know. Sometimes she thinks of other people more than herself."
"Well that‘s what she‘s got us for, to watch out for her and make sure that no one takes advantage of her or hurts her."
"I guess your right. Now what should we do about all this extra time on our hands," asked Chakotay suggestively.
"Well...these damn bunks are too narrow for what I‘d *really* like to do. I can‘t take you the way I am going to as soon as we get back to our own bedroom. So I guess we have to improvise," Tom grinned.
He laid his body over Chakotay‘s, skin touching skin everywhere, and brought a hand to Chakotay‘s hardness. Chakotay gasped as Tom‘s fingers began moving on him, and he began a matching rhythm on Tom‘s hardness. The hands moved faster and faster, each man bringing the other to the pace they needed for release. Tom exploded first, then Chakotay, and they curled up in the narrow bunk, wrapped in each other‘s arms, and fell asleep.
After the shuttle returned to Voyager Tom, Chakotay and Melody‘s life fell into a pattern with the occasional alien attack. The next five years were marked by many changes for Chakotay, Tom and the crew of Voyager. Alaina and Garrick started school, encountering the Borg and rescuing seven of nine, plus various and numerous alien attacks. But the hardest for Melody and most of the crew was losing Kes. For the most part Melody had adjusted to life aboard Voyager and had become a valued part of the crew but losing Kes shook Melody hard, sending her back to her old ways of withdrawing into herself.
Over the years Melody and Kes had become as close as two women could be and not be related. Several times Melody talked Kes into going with her to several of her holodeck programs that Melody wrote. In their own ways Melody and Kes were both becoming very proficient in the culture of the twenty-century. Melody‘s favorite was a county and western dance club, where she could let go and have fun without anyone seeing her. She was still self-cautious in large groups so most of the time it was just she, Kes and the holodeck characters.
She and Kes spend many nights watching and dancing, until Kes accompanied her less and less. Melody had noticed that Kes seemed to be getting tired easily but just figured that it had something to do with all the activity that was going on aboard Voyager.
It finally became clear to her that something was wrong when Tom and Chakotay found her in the holodeck one night after working a shift in sickbay. She had settled the children, and was waiting for Kes when Tom and Chakotay entered.
"Melody, we need to talk to you about something?" said Chakotay as he came over and sat down beside Melody.
"What‘s wrong Chakotay? Is something wrong with Alaina or Garrick?" asked Melody
"No, the children are fine. It‘s something else; as a matter of fact it‘s Kes. She‘s gotten very sick." Answered Tom as he came over and sat down beside her
"How sick?" asked Melody anxiously.
"Well the doctor thinks that Kes is nearing the end of her life cycle."
"But that means that she is dying?" exclaimed Melody as she ran out of the holodeck. Tom and Chakotay watched her leave then shut down the program and followed her.
Tom and Chakotay arrived a few seconds after Melody just as she arrived beside Kes‘s biobed. Melody stood looking down at the second most important woman in her life. Captain Janeway had become her mother figure while Kes was her sister. She had learned a lot from Kes during her time on Voyager and hated to see her hurt or sick.
As she moved to stand by Kes‘s head she could tell how much Kes had changed. Over the years she had hardly noticed the signs of Kes getting older but now stand over the women she now noticed them clearly. The graying of her hair, the wrinkling of her skin, and the slight stooping of her shoulders.
"Kes? Can you hear me?" asked Melody as she leaned over her.
Kes struggled toward the voice, then slowly opened her eyes. "Melody"
"Oh Kes, why didn‘t you tell me something was wrong?" asked Melody as she took Kes‘s hand.
"Because you would worry, and there is nothing you could do. The Ocompan race only lives for 9 years and my time is up," replied Kes weakly
"But surely the Doctor could..."
"No Melody! There is nothing the Doctor or anyone can do. My time is up, you must except it," said Kes weakly
Melody looked over at the Doctor then at Tom and Chakotay. The looks on their face told her all she needed to know. Kes was dying and there was nothing they could do. After working a very long shift in sickbay and then hearing of Kes‘s illness Melody was on emotional overload so she did the only thing she could at the moment. She ran to the safety of her holoprogram.
"Melody!" called Tom and started to go after her.
"I‘d let her alone for a while Lt. She worked a double shift in sickbay today and after the shock she just had she will need some time alone to adjust to the news. I will have the computer monitor her and if there is any change in her vital signs I will contact you or Lt. Paris," replied the Doctor
"All right, agreed. But watch her carefully Doc, I have a feeling Melody is taking this harder than we suspect." Said Tom
"Agreed, Computer where is Melody Chakotay-Paris?"
"Melody Chakotay-Paris is one holodeck two," replied the computer
"Monitor her movements and vital signs and inform me of any change."
"Acknowledged"
Tom and Chakotay took one last look at the door then at Kes "Don‘t worry Kes, we won‘t let anything happen to her," said Tom as he looked down at the woman and smiled.
"Thank you, Tom," sighed Kes then closed her eyes.
For the next several days Melody worked her regular shifts, then spent several hours each night in sickbay with Kes. Sometimes reading to her, sometimes just watching her, and when the older woman was awake talking and reminiscing about their years together aboard Voyager.
At night Melody would help get dinner for everyone, then help the kids with any homework they or and Tom and Chakotay with their reports. When everyone was settled for the night Melody would either retreat to the holodeck or her room.
Then her long nights began, the first two nights she really did try and get some sleep but when the nightmares started she just gave up and spent the night either working on reports, reading or sitting up staring out the window.
By the fourth day everyone had noticed how Kes‘s illness was affecting Melody. Tuvok tried talking to her but all she would tell him was that she was fine and then beg to be excused. Janeway and B‘Elanna tried to get her to spend so time relaxing in the holodeck but she could only spend about five to ten minutes there then she would break down and run out of the holodeck crying.
On the fifth day Kes passed quietly away with Neelix by her side. Melody was working a replacement shift in Engineering when Chakotay came to tell her about Kes. She was working at a small station off to the side of the core when Chakotay came in and saw her. Her shoulders were slumped and her head was down but she persisted and worked on. Chakotay watched her for a while then went over to B‘Elanna.
"How is she doing, B‘Elanna?" asked Chakotay as he approached her.
B‘Elanna looked over at Chakotay then back to Melody, with a sigh she shook her head.
"She‘s working herself into exhaustion, Chakotay? I‘ve been watching her and trying to get her to slow down but you know Melody..."
"It‘s all right B‘Ela, we have been watching her too. But I‘m afraid it‘s over now, Kes is gone." Replied Chakotay as he looked once again at Melody.
"Oh gods, poor Melody,"
"Well we promised not to keep secrets from her, so I‘ve got to tell her"
"Do you want me to go with you?" asked B‘Elanna as she looked over at Melody.
"No, thanks B‘Elanna. I‘ll tell her myself," said Chakotay.
He looked once more at B‘Elanna then went over to Melody. She was slumped over the console with her head in her hands but still she worked on. At Chakotay‘s hand on her shoulder Melody jumped, turning around to face her older father.
By the look on his face she knew the news was bad. Kes has died; once again someone she cared for had gone.
"It‘s ok Daddy, I understand. It was her time"
"Melody, I..."
"It‘s ok, Daddy. Really. I‘ll just finish my shift and then go to sickbay and say my goodbyes"
"Are you sure Mel?"
"Yes daddy, I‘m sure. I‘ll be all right," said Melody as she turned back around to her console and continued her work.
Both Chakotay and B‘Elanna stood looking at the young women the walked away shaking their heads. When they were out of ear shot B‘Elanna pulled Chakotay over.
"Don‘t worry, Chakotay. I‘ll look after her,"
"Thanks, B‘Elanna" replied Chakotay then left.
At the end of her shift Melody made her way to sickbay, she entered to find Neelix standing beside the biobed containing Kes‘s body. Melody slowly walked over to the bed and placed a hand on Kes‘s arm.
"I‘m so sorry Neelix," said Melody as she hugged him
After a few minutes Neelix pulled back and looked down at her.
"It‘s all right sweet one. We knew her time was up and she was ready. She is without pain and in a better place now"
"May I tell her goodbye privately?"
"Sure sweet one, we have said our goodbyes" said Neelix as he gave her one last hug then left the room.
Melody stands there beside the body of the young women, after a few minutes Melody pulls the cover back to show Kes’s face. Slowly she raises her hand to the withered check of friend.
"Oh Kes, what am I going to do now!" cried Melody then put her head down on the bed beside her and finally let got of the tears that she had been holding back for the past five days. Twenty minute later Neelix returns to find Melody asleep on the bed beside Kes’s body.
"Neelix to Commander Chakotay,"
"Chakotay here, Neelix"
"Commander, Melody is here in sickbay with Kes. I believe she has finally fallen asleep."
"Good let her sleep for as long as she can but ask the Doctor to watch her please?"
"Yes commander. Neelix out," said Neelix as he closed the COM link.
He went over and gently placed a blanket over Melody then went to speak to the Doctor.
TBC