Work Text:
It was what she'd wanted for seven years. Seven long, draining, pain-filled, violence-filled, fear-filled years.
Now she was home.
How she'd dreamed, during that time, of what it would be like to return home. How everything would be perfect. She would see her family again -- her mother, Pheobe... Maggie. She had missed them.
And yet...
Now...
Life wasn't so perfect.
She smiled, more fake than she ever had on Voyager. She gulped champagne, she drank the irony, celebrating the loss of her life.
She had realized something, between the parties, between the promotions -- two within one week, between the faces and voices, blurring together. She had realized that not everything lasts.
Voyager's journey.
Her captaincy.
The relationships she'd formed with her crew.
It was all over.
But the one thing she mourned the loss of most, was the loss of her dream.
To come home.
She was home. But home wasn't quite as... perfect. Wasn't quite as... fulfilling.
Her dream... fleeting.