#Janeway being very much in love with Mark as a huge factor of her not wanting to get with Chakotay despite her feelings is

[bumblingbabooshka]

EDIT: AH I meant to say something about how even though there's something pre-existing in the sisko-jadzia relationship - there's still something 'starting from scratch' about it bc Jennifer recently died (starting a new chapter of his life) and Curzon too, giving rise to Jadzia. Meanwhile Tuvok and Janeway have no such 'new chapter' to their relationship with each other or to their significant others other than the whole Delta Quadrant thing. If that makes sense???

The T'Pel/Tuvok - Janeway/Mark relationship web is so interesting because it is NEVER explored but I don't think we have many Star Trek relationships where like, the characters have strong pre-existing bonds that go beyond canon. Jadzia-Sisko comes to mind but Jadzia as 'Jadzia' Dax is (I believe) still new to Sisko since he was friends with Curzon, not her, even though they pretty much pick up where they left off from what I recall. It's hard to articulate what precisely I mean...it's like, in TOS Kirk and Spock are obviously good friends and trust each other with each others lives already, no one's meeting anyone else for the first time but Kirk didn't know who Spock's parents were etc. Same with Dax and Sisko, they're even more playful and friendly with one another than Spock and Kirk are in canon but...and I haven't watched much DS9 so please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm unsure if Sisko and Curzon had a sort of co-mingling of lives which is implied by Janeway and Tuvok's relationship. I'm wondering now (this might be answered if I watched DS9 but let me just muse aloud for a second) if Curzon and Jennifer ever had dinner together. Did Curzon ever babysit Jake or visit Sisko's father's restaurant? How different is Sisko's relationship with Curzon the mentor/friend from Jadzia the subordinate/friend? I believe the only hints we see towards how close Janeway is with Tuvok's family are in the first episode when she says she went to see them before the mission and promises Tuvok that she'll get him back to see them + that episode I can't remember right now where she says she was at his daughter's kolinahr. To me, both (but especially the latter) imply that she's EXTREMELY close with not just Tuvok but his entire family AND because she herself has a spouse (fiancé but whatever) I think it's safe to assume that he was ALSO close to Tuvok's family. Having FOUR people involved that've known each other for so long is so interesting...especially trying to imagine what that dynamic might look like upon reaching the alpha quadrant again. While Voyager was missing and everyone was presumed dead, did Mark and T'Pel lean on one another? What was it like when Mark fell in love with someone else? What it was it like when Voyager sent word that they were alive? And when Voyager touches down to Earth again, how do you navigate it: T'Pel and Mark are perhaps closer than ever, maybe she's even forged a friendship with Mark's new wife - Tuvok's children are potentially also close with Mark, some of them have probably known him their whole life and now Janeway's back and hell, just for fun, we can throw Chakotay in there too. See? It's MESSY!! There are so many different interpretations you can have of it all too since canon wasn't interested at all in it: Tuvok and Janeway's closeness is less and less focused on as the seasons go on (he doesn't have ANY shown reaction to Mark giving Janeway a 'dear john' letter - instead they have Chakotay being told bc he's her love interest but seriously wouldn't it be SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING for Tuvok to be the one being told since he, Mark, and Janeway actually have HISTORY? Chakotay doesn't know the man!) + Janeway and Mark's relationship isn't really explored at all beyond the fact that she's obviously deeply in love with him, same with Tuvok and T'Pel's relationship. Anyway. I don't think there's a point to this ramble (other than complaining that I wish there'd been more in Voyager's canon about these four people and how they relate[d] to one another) - I just think that pre-existing and pre-canon relationships are fun to think about, it's a special thing isn't it? Forging a new relationship is obviously exciting and fun to watch unfold but it's also intriguing thinking about how these old relationships might change due to things that happen in canon!