ANGEL By Morticia 47/? ST: Voyager C/P Rating. SLASH, m/m NC-17 Archive: Anywhere, just let me know, please Disclaimer: Tom, Chak et al are Paramount's (lucky devils) Angel is mine (yippee!)   Part 47   CHAKOTAY The whole crew of Voyager seemed to be crammed into "Quarks" along with the staff of DS9, several news crews and seemingly half of the population of the de-militarized zone. Angel kept tightly to my side as we pushed through the throng and I was aware of the benefits of his large presence, even as I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the possessive way he kept an arm slung around my shoulders. When we finally reached the podium at the front of the crowd, where Janeway and Tuvok were holding court in front of several Starfleet Officials and an adoring audience, I turned to Angel and hissed at him to let go of me. He ignored me, if anything squeezing me tighter to his powerful body. "We have to look happy and relaxed together, Chak" He whispered quietly, "If they realise that you intend to go chasing after Tom, who knows when I'll get my ship back?" "So I'm supposed to let you cuddle me all evening to make everybody think I'm enough of a bastard to have forgotten him already?" I snarled incredulously "That's not very kind of you, Chakotay." Angel replied sadly "I don't deserve your abuse. You have no idea how painful this is for me, pretending everything is all right between us when I know you can't wait to get back to Tom." I was ashamed of myself. Angel was right. This had to be far more painful for him than it was for me. HE was the victim in this, not me. "I'm sorry" I murmured "You're right. I AM grateful" "Then let's get this show on the road" Angel replied and swinging me around to face him he gave me a huge kiss, right in front of the entire crowd. I was torn between the urge to push him away and the knowledge that we were being watched, and to be honest, there was also a part of me that responded to him. I may have decided in my head and heart that my future lay with Tom, but the rest of my body hadn't quite caught up with the realisation yet. So I let the kiss continue until my heart was racing and my knees were weak and my erection was burrowing into Angel's thigh and all I could think was how much I was going to miss him, although not one part of me regretted the choice that I had made. I kissed him in the knowledge that our relationship was over and I would never touch him again.  Unfortunately only a telepath would have been aware of my thoughts, since my actions were so contrary. I slowly became aware of the sudden and complete silence in the crowded room. Thinking that we were the focus of the attention, I pushed Angel away in embarrassment and looked sheepishly at the Captain. She wasn't looking at me, however. Her face had gone quite pale with shock and she was looking down the room towards the door. The whole crowd had turned to follow her shocked gaze and had formed a natural parting in the room through which I could clearly see the cause of the silence. I staggered in confusion. In the doorway of Quarks stood Tom. Unbelievably he was even thinner. He swayed like a skeleton in the doorway, his eyes burning brightly with an insane fury, his cheeks stained red with passion in a horrible contrast to his white face. "You bastard!" He hissed quietly, but in the deadly quiet room it sounded like a shout. I could feel the panic overwhelming me as I realised that he had obviously, unbelievably, come back for me, only to find me in Angel's arms again. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. He began to limp up the room towards me, the crowd opening up to allow his passage, their faces bright with gleeful anticipation. "Tom - I - " I said, trying desperately to find the words to explain my behavior "SHUT THE FUCK UP, CHAK" Tom snapped at me and I froze in confusion as he walked right past my pleading outstretched hands and up to Angel. "You BASTARD!" Tom howled and with a strength and fury that belied his skeletal frame he swung a roundhouse punch straight into Angel's jaw. As Angel collapsed to his knees in agony, I grabbed at Tom but he shook my hands off with a quick furious twist of his bony shoulders "Tom!" I begged, only to stop in confusion as he flashed his furious face in my direction. "I told you to shut the fuck up, didn't I?" He snarled at me, his pupils so huge that his eyes were an almost solid black. For a moment I actually believed that it wasn't Tom in front of me, it was some vengeful spirit, and yet it WAS Tom too. I actually felt reality shifting around me and for a moment I was back in the clearing in my dream forest, watching the beating wings of a fierce raptor as it swooped down on its prey and then I shook my head and was back in Quarks and it was just Tom who was beating his fists against Angel's head as he cowered on the floor. Firmly this time I grabbed Tom's shoulders and pulled him tightly back against me. For a second he struggled with an almost super-human strength and then he sagged bonelessly in my arms. As a couple of people rushed to help Angel to his feet, I could feel Tom's heart pounding furiously in his emaciated frame, my heart was thumping in sympathetic rhythm. Angel wiped at his split lip with the back of his hand, and looked warily at Tom but hovered safely out of reach. "What the hell do you think you are doing, Lieutenant?" Kathryn's voice rang out over the crowd as she marched towards us, her diminutive frame actually quivering in fury. It was only as she came face to face with Tom that she remembered the whirling cameras that were filming the whole scenario. "You are supposed to be on your way to Earth, Tom. " She said in a kinder voice, "to a hospital where the doctors can make you feel better" she added for the benefit of the audience and all around me I heard murmurs as people decided that Tom was obviously mad. I stiffened in fury but before I could speak, Tom replied in a dry humorous voice. "I forgot something" Kathryn smiled sweetly for the cameras "What did you forget Tom?" she asked in the tone of voice that she normally reserved for Naomi. "My husband!" He snapped "Chakotay is not your husband, Tom, you're very confused right now, why don't we go and discuss this somewhere quieter?" She said kindly, frantically signaling behind her back for help. I was already speechless, and when Tom suddenly snarled "Say I do" I just gulped in confusion so he swung his bony elbow fiercly into my gut. "Say I do" He demanded again and as I gasped for breath I finally understood what he was saying "I DO," I shouted out and the crowd milled in confusion but Kathryn's bright eyes flashed in sudden understanding "Too late" she hissed as Tuvok approached with Commodore Benson and a couple of large security guards. "No it's not, Captain" Harry piped up out of nowhere, "The ceremony was complete except for those two words. Now he's said them in front of you and everyone. They're married." He said bravely "oh and congratulations" he said to us over his shoulder as he moved in between the advancing guards and us. "Ensign, get out of the way. Lieutenant Paris is obviously ill; we are just trying to get him the help he needs. Don't ruin your own career." As the guards began to push Harry out of the way, Tom sagged in my arms, having evidently achieved what he wanted; he lost his battle against his exhaustion. Realising that we would have to fight our way out of the room, I thrust Tom into Angel's arms "Quick, Angel, get him out of here" I begged Angel swung Tom's limp body up easily into his arms and met my eyes sadly and in that instant I knew what he meant to do. "NOOOOO" I yelled and jumped forwards, but too late. Angel moved quickly behind Kathryn and Harry and handed Tom to Tuvok before turning back to meet me. "I'm sorry Chak." He murmured "You FUCKER" I screamed and the roundhouse that I gave him didn't just put him on his knees, it knocked him to the floor unconscious. All around me I could see my old Maquis crew rallying to my help. Harry had been knocked to the floor by one of the security guards so had taken the opportunity to wrap himself around Tuvok's ankles. The Vulcan was trying to hold Tom in one hand and batter Harry off with the other. I ran forwards to help him only to be knocked to my knees by a blow to my temple. I looked up in a daze and saw my attacker was Benson. "I've waited a long time to do that!" He hissed with a vicious grin and kicked savagely at my ribs. I grabbed his foot before it connected and yanked. He landed with a crash on his butt, howling with such pain that I figured he had fractured his coccyx. "Yeah? Well I've waited a long time for this!" I smirked and punched him in the face. As his nose broke, my face was splattered with blood and I licked at the coppery taste.  It seemed to awake some primal instinct in me. I leapt to my feet with a howl and launched myself at Tuvok. Harry was still hanging on for grim death and my Maquis had stopped any more guards coming to Tuvok's rescue.  The density of the crowd was preventing re-enforcements from being beamed in. I hadn't the faintest idea of how Tom and I could get away, but at that moment, all I could think about was getting Tom back into my own arms. I wrestled with Tuvok for Tom's unconscious body. His strong Vulcan arms refused to let Tom go. "I am stronger than you Commander" Tuvok said unemotionally "you can't beat me in a fight." He was right; I couldn't beat him in a fair fight. So, I stopped trying to wrestle him for Tom and broke his nose instead. Tuvok gave a decent impression of emotion as he dropped Tom and howled in agony. Grabbing Tom before he hit the floor I turned like a cornered animal and sought desperately for an avenue of escape. It was hopeless. I was completely surrounded by two hundred people having an all out battle amongst themselves. As I hesitated, I was almost knocked to my knees as a furious body hurled itself onto my back, kicking and punching. A hand grabbed my hair and pulled sharply then snaked around my head to gouge at my eyes. I had no option but to drop Tom and struggle with my attacker. Reaching my hand around my back I hauled the figure off, only to let it go in amazement. It was Kathryn. She reached for her phaser and I chopped at her hand viciously, knocking the phaser to the floor. "Get out of my way, Captain" I hissed "NO" She spat. I raised my hand but she barely flinched "I know you too well, Chakotay. You'd NEVER hit a woman!" She spat in triumph. She was right; of course, I had never even struck Seska. Of course I had killed women, when there had been no other choice, but actually punching one was against everything I believed in "Give it up, Chakotay. There's nowhere to run!" She smiled smugly. So I hit her. And actually, it felt pretty good after all. I stepped over her unconscious body and reached down for Tom. The fall had woken him up and he was looking around in dazed sorrow as the hopelessness of our situation sank in. I gathered him into my arms and hugged him to me in the eye of the storm. The fighting was beginning to peter out; DS9 security was starting to break through the crowds. We only had seconds before we were ripped apart, me to a jail, Tom to a mental hospital. "I'm so sorry babe" I whispered "Shush." He replied, "I love you, we're together. Nothing else matters." That's when he handed me the knife. I looked down in disbelief at the long ceremonial blade. "How the hell did you get this?" I gasped "It doesn't matter, Chak. Nothing matters. Just us. Together. Forever." I looked into his tear-filled eyes and I nodded. "Just us. Forever, my beloved" I whispered and pulled him tightly towards me so that our hearts were beating together and pulled my arm back to strike the blow. I heard screams from the crowd, as they understood my intention and a pounding of feet as the security guards raced through. "Goodbye my chiya" I whispered And that was when I felt the transporter beam catch us both and we materialised in Angel's ship in front of the grinning eyes of Neelix and the Doctor. Their smiles faltered at the sight of the knife. I let it clatter to the floor and pushed Tom into a seat. "Wha-?" he said in blinking confusion. He had closed his eyes in anticipation of the knife's blow and was completely disorientated by our miracle escape. "Later babe," I murmured "We've got to get the fuck out of here first." "I started her up" Neelix said " But I couldn't figure out how to get the cargo bay doors open" "That's easy" I replied, and raising shields I launched a torpedo which blasted us a hole right out into space "Let's blow this joint" Tom urged I was unfamiliar with the phrase, but looking into my husband's grinning face I had little doubt of his meaning. "Sure, Babe, anything you say." I grinned back and engaged forward thrusters. TBC