Disclaimer - Paramount own the names.
In response to the 1001 challenge; 'What J/C scene would leave you happy when all is said and done? You'll have to keep it clean enough for television, of course, and it will have to be a relatively short scene, because the final episode is going to be packed full of stuff.'.
She said short. Here it is.
*
He was sitting under a tree on the damp grass, simply watching the rain fall.
Simply watching.
That's all he ever seemed to do.
A large raindrop reflected off his head, causing smaller drops to sprinkle across his face. The action caused him to smile. It had been nearly a decade since he had felt the rain. It was not something he had anticipated missing.
Another drop hit his head, then another soaked the back of his top as the rain fell harder.
Chakotay laughed.
Stretching out, he slowly lowered himself until he lay on the grass, staring at the branches and the few glimpses of the sky he could see between leaves.
It was, in all senses, a wonderful day.
But what of him? He was a free person, but everyone seemed to have gone their separate ways with someone or to someone. Except him. Wasn't this how he always ended up? Wasn't there a small part of him that acknowledged what a martyr he was?
He was tired of being a martyr. He wanted - just once - for something he wished for to happen. Just once.
In a perfect world, when he opened his rain-covered eyes she would be smiling down at him, soaked, hair dripping wet but somehow looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her.
He was accustomed to existing in a less than perfect world. When he opened his eyes she was smiling down at him, looking more like a drowned rat than Kathryn Janeway.
She extended a hand towards him. He took it and - just once - they walked out into the pounding rain hand-in-hand, smiling at a future they knew nothing of.
~FINIS