Footprints in the sand led to the deep blue ocean. Footprints on a beach they had long wished to see. Two sets of footprints, side by side on an ocean beach in the quiet of an old California town just outside of San Francisco. Footprints that stopped where two bodies lay, clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it. Footprints, she thought, that showed us the way to where we belong.
    “Chakotay,”
    “Kathryn,”
    “What do you plan on doing, once everything is settled?”
    “I’ve seen many places in the galaxy, but almost none of them on Earth,” He answered plainly. “What will you be doing?”
    She smiled. “I’ll visit my mother and sister in Indiana. I may even go sailing on the real Lake George!”
    “That would be nice.”
    “Yes, it would. Perhaps you can visit sometime.”
    “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He reached over and kissed her gently.
    “Good,” She replied quietly.
    “Good.”
    As she drifted off to sleep, she whispered, “I love you, my Chakotay.”
    “I love you, too, Kathryn.” He, too, fell asleep holding her, and then all that could be heard, was nothing.
    Nothing.