Enigmatic Smile
by VoyWriter
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Enigmatic smile. Chakotay grinned inwardly at the description. He’d always loved
a mystery. Better yet to propagate one. And it served.
Observer was more like it. He observed. People. Situations. Events. The smile
only served to keep others busy while he took things in and rolled them around in
his mind.
This morning in the briefing. Kathryn. Yes, Kathryn. Here, anyway. His mind. His
choice. Verbal and non-verbal. Body language. An unconscious motion of the
hips. The brush of her hand against his sleeve. Talking to him. Contact.
Propositioning. Challenging, at least. This he would answer. Later. Though he
allowed a glance. Acknowledgment. Familiar rhythms.
He could almost feel his hand sliding down her back, against the small of it,
proprietary against her rear. Cupping. And her arms reflexively meeting around
his neck. Hips pressing forward. Hard and soft. Both of them.
Still the smile. Practiced. Experienced at least. Even his father never knew what
went on behind it. And he had tried to get inside.
Dynamics. He watched the dynamics of the senior staff. Saw it changing.
Shifting. Subtle. But motion/movement nonetheless. Young Kim, a bit more
confident, still a bit in awe. Taking hold of himself, though. Coming along.
Growing. Still leaning into every word she had to say. She. Kathryn.
The hub. The focus. The rest of them – spokes on a wheel. Turning around her.
Helping her to turn.
Practiced nonchalance. That was Paris. Talk about a game face. What was on that
surface bore no resemblance to what carried underneath. Careful, careful man.
Despite appearances to the contrary. Wary. And with good reason. But now there
was the trust. Her trust. She knew which gift to give. And to whom. And when. A
knack. A skill. Intuitive.
She saw behind that cockiness. A pearl. The ugly ducking. Swan potential. She
always saw potential. It was a good balance for his cynicism. His. Not Tom’s.
You balance me, Kathryn. Balance the demons. Balance the anger. Challenge the
good in me I thought I had lost.
A form of worship. Not hero. Something else.
Enigmatic smile. Unrevealing. Revealing all. What is not there tells us more than
what we see.