The Promise
Summary: Sentence prompt: "They had a pact; a single kiss given for every troubling moment. Innocent pecks but nothing more, simply to remind them that they always had each other."
Characters: Janeway, Chakotay
Codes: Janeway/Chakotay
Disclaimer: Characters are Paramount’s. No infringement intended.
Rated K
It started almost by accident, late one night in her quarters after a battle in which they lost two people. He held out his arms and she barely hesitated before walking into his embrace. She felt him press a kiss to her hair, and as she pulled away she reached up to touch her lips to his cheek.
His involuntary smile produced an answering one from her, and as he left her quarters his step was light.
Two weeks later the ship was almost destroyed, and in the aftermath she held her hand against his face, grateful he was alive, and he kissed her palm.
It became a habit from then on, something shared between the two of them. A silent pact of understanding, of gratitude that they were both alive, of comfort and support through the dark times. Always sweet, always chaste. Always on his cheek or her forehead, or the back of her hand.
Until one day when they both turned to each other at the same time and their lips met.
In that moment their kisses became so much more than a reminder that they always had each other. They became a promise that they always would.