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“This is just great”, Kathryn said to the Doctor, wanting to strangle him and angry that he was made of photons and she couldn’t.
“I’m sorry, Captain”, the EMH didn’t seem bothered at all by her anger, “but there’s nothing we can do about it. You should try to take it easy, like the Commander over there. He seems fine, despite the circumstances”.
And it was true: Chakotay was perfectly content with the fact that he needed to spend the next twenty hours stuck in sickbay with Kathryn Janeway.
And the Doctor.
That was the only issue, really. The rest, he was fine with.
It wasn’t as if the illness was going to kill them, anyway. It was only highly contagious and potentially lethal for telepathic species which, thankfully, neither of them were. But they couldn’t risk Tuvok or any of the Betazoids aboard to catch it.
Sure, they had a slight headache, and some nausea, but that was the extent of it. Thus, Chakotay was taking it in stride, sitting on a biobed, waiting for Kathryn to do the same.
But it seemed she was too busy arguing with the Doctor that she could be transported directly to her quarters and not need to spend the time in sickbay. The Doctor was quite adamant that she would not leave his domains, as he wanted to monitor any changes that could happen in their physiognomy.
And in this back and forth, Chakotay observed them amused.
He actually found Kathryn quite cute, pouting like a child. He would never confess it to her, not in a million years, but it was true.
Both Kathryn and the EMH were just as stubborn, so the argument lasted for several hours, until she was too exhausted to continue. Perks of being photonic.
Defeated, she sat down next to Chakotay. The heat her body exuded transferred to him. Or perhaps it was just the proximity of having her so close to him. In any case, he suddenly started sweating so the Doctor suggested that he take off his jacket.
Chakotay didn’t miss the way Kathryn looked at his biceps, and it made him blush. He knew she was attracted to him, just as he was attracted to her. If they had never acted upon it, it was only because of an incredible restraint on their part.
Restraint they didn’t seem to be having at that time—was it the sickness that made their inhibitions lower?
It wasn’t too clear.
The truth was that they were suddenly finding it hard not to touch each other. Sure, they had always had quite a touchy relationship, but at that moment, they just could not stop. The caresses were quickly turning into heavy petting, much to the Doctor’s horror and dismay, and it seemed nothing could make them stop.
Perhaps the neurological sickness had more to it than what the hologram had discovered.
When they got out of sickbay, Kathryn swore the Doctor to secrecy, and made Chakotay not sleep in his quarters that night.