Affairs of the Heart by Laura Tew As I understand it, the disclaimer that says I am not delusional enough to think that these characters belong to me and I should get money for writing about the characters Paramount owns goes here. So, I suppose that's where I'll put it. Special thanks go out to Janet, Terri, PJ, Janine, and the entire AOL P/T Collective for their love, support, spelling help, editing, and patience with my story. This started off as a small scene for them, and with their help, just look where it went! Thanks should go to Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson for giving us characters who are so fun to write about. Most of all, Thanks go to my loving husband who puts up with all this nonsense. He is the love of my life and the joy of my soul; And a saint of a man for not throwing a fit when I stayed up until 5:00 every morning for weeks on end to write this. He understands me and my obsessions, and while it scares me a little, I could never ask for more. Affairs of the Heart by Laura Tew Kathryn Janeway was running around her quarters gathering up everything she needed for her afternoon meetings. She had gotten the rare opportunity to eat a leisurely lunch in her cabin, but she had gotten wrapped up in the novel she had read while eating and was very behind schedule. After a final once over, she went into the corridor. She had just gotten out of her quarters, when she heard someone sobbing and turned to see B'Elanna leaning against the wall and crying. "B'Elanna?" Janeway said quietly. B'Elanna looked up, but made no effort to hide her tears. * This must be serious.* Janeway thought. "Why don't you come into my quarters?" B'Elanna nodded and picked up a suitcase that Janeway hadn't noticed before. Once they got in, Janeway ushered B'Elanna toward the couch. "Now B'Elanna," She said when they were seated. " What is wrong?" B'Elanna looked at her, then burst in to fresh tears. "I've....I've left Tom." she blurted out. "Left Tom?" Janeway said feeling stunned. " But why?" "He... he cheated on me with...Jenny Delaney!" "Jenny Delaney? Oh B'Elanna, are you sure? "It's all over the ship. I heard it from Ensign Carey, and you know how far out of the rumor loop he is." "Well yes, but rumors are never reliable." "I know." B'Elanna said despondently. " But I saw them myself." Janeway's eyebrows went up. "They were in the mess hall, sitting close with their heads together. God, she was practically in his lap!! And he lied to me! He said he couldn't have lunch with me because he had to do work for you. Then I see him eating with HER!" Janeway put her hand on B'Elanna's shoulder. "I was so mad I didn't even say anything. I just went back to our place and packed my bags. I knew it was a mistake to move in with him!" "Where are you going to stay?" Janeway asked. "I don't know and I don't care. I'll sleep in Neelix's resort program on the holodeck if I have to, but I won't go back to Tom's quarters." Kathryn took a deep breath. " I can get your old quarters back, but it will take a while." "I don't care." B'Elanna repeated. " I just can't face him." This was bothering Kathryn more than she wanted to admit. Tom and B'Elanna had been together for over a year now. Aside from being one of the main family units that held Voyager together, they were her friends. She and Chakotay had gone on many double dates with them and had gone to their quarters for dinners. It felt like members of her family were splitting up. "Let me tell you two things, B'Elanna. One, You will stay here until you get your old place back. You can sleep on the couch. It's not great, but...." "I couldn't do that Captain." "You can, and you will. You are a friend and a fellow woman. Believe me, I've been where you are. And number two, as long as we are roommates, call me Kathryn." "I had a hard enough time getting used to that on dates. Thank-you Cap...Kathryn." "Does Ensign Carey have Engineering?" B'Elanna nodded. "Then I suggest you take the day off, and gather your thoughts. I'll see you tonight." With that, Janeway strode off to her bridge, but her mind was on the problems of her friends. Tom Paris leaned closer to Jenny Delaney. He would never have guessed that under that shallow exterior, was a person with such talent. "How long do you think it will take?" He asked Jenny scrunched up her face with thought. " Maybe a week." "And how many replicator credits? " "Well, for ones the size of mine....ten days worth." Tom thought about it. Ten days. If he went that long without using rations, B'Elanna would probably find out. Of course, he had five days saved up, and Harry said he'd loan him three. That would leave only two days worth. He could sneak that past her. "Let's do it," he said. "All right." Jenny said scanning her data PADD. " That is heart shaped earrings and a necklace to match. Good choice Tom. B'Elanna will love them." "I hope so. Thanks Jenny." "No problem," she said standing up. " I'll show you the sketches tomorrow." As she left the mess hall, Tom couldn't help but smile. B'Elanna would indeed love the gift he was getting her. He had stayed a few minutes longer than B'Elanna after breakfast this morning, and while his mind had been wandering, he had caught the conversation at the next table. "God Jen, where did you get those?" Ensign Rachel Flannders had asked. "You'd never believe it. " Jenny had answered " Lieutenant Matthews and I were testing the tensile strength of a new alloy we got off Thebra Nine. We put it in a pressure chamber and flooded it with gamma particles. There was a loud popping sound, and when the smoke cleared, this is what we found." "What are you going to do with them?" "I'm not sure. As a mineral, it's useless, but the light blue glow is enchanting." "Maybe you can make jewelry like yours. How many credits did it take?" "None." Jenny said. "I designed and set it myself." "Then you definitely should make more. Everyone will love it!" After Flannders had left, Tom had walked over to Jenny's table. "Hey Jen," he said. "I know you'll think I'm rude, but I overheard your conversation. Could I see the jewelry?" Jenny gave him a long look, then shrugged and pulled the hair back from her ears. Tom gasped. What he saw was breathtaking. She had little round clusters of glowing blue gems on her earlobes. B'Elanna would love it. It was the shade she always said his eyes were. "Are you really interested in making more?" Tom asked. "I'm not sure. It's a lot of work" "I'll pay you for them." "Pay?" "Yeah. I'll give you replicator rations, you make me the earrings. Deal?" "Well, let me sketch a little design, and get an idea of how much and how long they will take to make. Can we go over this at lunch?" Tom ate lunch with B'Elanna every day. " Let me check." "Paris to Torres." "Yeah Tom?" Came B'Elanna's voice over the commbadge. "I hate to do this, but could I cancel lunch today? I have got to get some work done for Janeway. I'm sorry." "You can make it up to me tonight Helmboy. I think I'm in the mood for a little Seuss." Tom laughed. " It's a deal. Love you. Paris out." "All right. " he said to Jenny. " Lunch it is. Do me a favor. Don't tell anyone. I want to surprise B'Elanna." "No problem. Here at 12:30. See ya!" The lunch meeting had gone well. He wanted heart shaped settings, and Jenny had suggested that B'Elanna might like a necklace to go with it,. After a little thought, he had agreed. Now, here he was an hour later, and he had secured a great " Just cause I love you " gift. He could just imagine the smile she would give him when she saw them. He checked the chronometer, and realized he had to get back to the bridge. He was whistling as he left. Megan Delaney sat at the desk in her quarters with a smile on her face. This whole thing had worked better than she had ever hoped for. When she had heard the conversation between her sister and Tom, she had seen the perfect way to get Tom for choosing that little half-breed over her. She had been the joke of Voyager for a few weeks as he got snugglier and snugglier with the beast girl. It was a plan that dropped into her lap. Tom was meeting Jenny for lunch. Tom lied to B'Elanna about it. If she could get it into the rumor mills, it could lead to quite an argument. Megan smiled down at her datascreen. She had not only got it on the rumor mill, but B'Elanna herself had caught the two. Megan had even heard that B'Elanna had left Tom over this. Was she good or what? She began to hum as she went back to her work. B'Elanna sat on the couch in the captain's quarters. She had tried to rest and she had tried to think, but all she ended up doing was getting more upset. She had trusted him; she had believed him when he had said he loved her. She should have known better. Now, she was alone again, this time with a broken heart. She didn't want it to be over. Somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with him, and all she wanted was to go back to their quarters and pretend this never happened. She could picture his face when he came home after his shift; the way the artificial lighting brought out the blue in his eyes; the look he gave her, with so much love. She could almost feel his arms around her; his soft breath on her ear as he whispered the events of his day to her. Her lips ached to feel his. "Damn!" she said angrily jumping off the couch. How could he affect her so much? She looked around Janeway's quarters. It wasn't too messy, but a quick clean up couldn't hurt. She began to wash and scrub just like her mother had taught her, taking out her anger on the dust. As hard as she worked, she could not out run the memories of the morning. After she had talked to Tom about lunch, she had done some work in the jeffries tubes, trying to get more power for the replicators. When she had gotten back two hours later, Ensign Carey was watching her every move like he thought she'd haul off and break his nose again. After a little while, she couldn't stand it. "Hey Carey," she'd said " What is the matter. You look like your waiting for me to blow up or something." "Well, " Carey said tentatively " After hearing about you and Tom, I must say, you are in a much better mood than I expected." "Me and Tom?" "About you two breaking up." "Breaking up? We didn't break up." " You mean you are still a couple and you don't care about his lunch date? God B'Elanna, I had your personality all wrong." "Lunch date? Tom is working through lunch." "No he's not. He's having lunch with Jenny Delaney. I heard about it from Brittany Carstairs in Stellar Cartography." "Oh come on Carey, since when do you hold faith in the rumor mill?" "Well, I wouldn't, but Freddie Bristow called me from the mess hall right before you got here and he said he saw them." B'Elanna felt her heart jump. "Oh, this is silly," she said " You know Freddie doesn't like Tom. He was probably exaggerating." "Look B'Elanna, " Carey said carefully, " If you want to go see for yourself, I'll hold down Engineering." She smiled at him. " That's not necessary., but Thank-you." She had turned to walk away, when Carey's commbadge chirped. "Bristow to Carey." "Yeah Freddie." Carey had said, glancing up at B'Elanna. "They had to have broken up. Paris and Jenny are practically going at it right here in the mess hall." Carey had shot a worried look at B'Elanna. "Look Freddie," Carey said. "Either eat or get back to work, but quite bothering me with the gossip report. Carey out." He walked over to B'Elanna and cautiously put a hand on her shoulder, praying she wouldn't rip it off. "Are you all right?" he asked B'Elanna just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "The offer to baby-sit your engines is still open you know." He told her quietly. She looked up at him, feeling unaccustomed gratitude towards him. "Thanks Carey. I'll be back in a little while." She had gone to the Mess Hall, feeling somewhere between confused and numb. She kept telling herself it was Bristow's idea of a joke. Tom loved her. He told her so several times a day and in creative ways. This morning when she had gotten up, she had found the words " I Love You B'Elanna" written on the glass shower door with soap. Knowing her fondness for chocolate, the one sweet she could tolerate, he had once spelled out " Love You Bella" with chocolate Kisses ( a favorite of hers) on the desk she always worked at. She always found caring and suggestive notes on her data PADD. Last week a note that said " Bella, you are my life, my happiness, my world. Up for some Cat in the Hat tonight? How about by candlelight with chocolates? See you tonight! All my love, Tom." had even popped up on her engineering console. He later explained that Harry had helped him hide it in the upload files. He just wouldn't cheat on her. That decided, she felt much more calm as she stepped into the mess hall. After a second she spotted him. It was hard to miss his soft blond hair and cheerful attitude. He was sitting at a corner table. And sitting with him was Jenny Delaney. They were talking and laughing. He put his head close to hers and she moved to be nearer to him. B'Elanna felt her chest constrict. She resisted the impulse to march over there and take their heads off. She just stood there, watching, unable to move. Tom lifted his hand and brushed the hair away from Jenny's ears. God! How could he act like this in front of everyone? He gently touched one of her now accessible ears. He smiled at her and said something. It was too much for B'Elanna. She couldn't stand seeing his devastating smile directed at another woman. She turned and marched out of the mess hall, never saying a word. She had stomped to their quarters, feeling the rage building up in her. Once she was inside, she let loose a tirade, throwing things and breaking others. After about 20 minutes, her fury downgraded to anger, she had decided she could not be in the same cabin with him. Heck, she couldn't be on the same ship with him, but that couldn't be helped. She packed everything that was hers, and left. She had no idea where to go. She had started to wander, wondering who she could stay with. She didn't have a lot of female friends on the ship. She stopped to lean against the wall and think. How did this happen? How did she go from complete happiness to such empty despair in less than 2 hours? That was when the tears started. She couldn't stop the first few, and the next thing she knew, she was in the midst of full scale sobs. She tried to reign it in, but the tears had a will of their own. Suddenly, Captain Janeway was there, and before she knew it, she was in the captain's quarters telling the whole story. B'Elanna stepped back and looked at the place. She had done a great job. The cabin sparkled. She sat down to rest on the couch, and lay her head back on the cushions. This had been a long and miserable day. Her head began to crowd with thoughts of Tom. The pillow fights they had all the time; the surprise dinners he made her, the naked love on his face when he looked at her, his pet name of 'Bella' he called her. As the thoughts swirled around, they blended to dreams while B'Elanna drifted off to sleep. Tom stood in the turbolift, still a little confused about the last half of his bridge shift. He had gotten back from lunch, to find a sea of hostile faces staring at him. Everyone was curt and short- tempered with him. Chakotay was just this side of violent, and Janeway was barely civil. Even Harry shot him flaming death looks. Well, at least he was going home to his Bella. He was looking forward to curling up with her. Maybe they could read a novel tonight. He stepped into their quarters and stopped short. It looked like the devil himself had burst through here. Furniture was overturned, plants were torn apart, knickknacks were broken. After the initial confusion, he had a panicky thought; B'Elanna- What if she had been here when whatever had done this struck. "B'Elanna!!! Are you here? Are you all right?" He ran to the bedroom to find the same destruction, and no B'Elanna. "Computer, locate Lt. B'Elanna Torres." "Lieutenant Torres is in the Captain's quarters." Tom blinked a few times. The Captain's quarters? He took a closer look around. Things were missing. To be more precise, B'Elanna's things were missing. Baffled, he reached up to tap his commbadge, but thought better of it. This was something he'd better take care of in person. He marched up the hall to Janeway's quarters and sounded the chimes. B'Elanna stood on the deserted holographic beach. The sun was setting in the distance and warm waves lapped at her bare feet. A soft breeze ruffled her hair, carrying a tangy salt smell on it's wings. Strong but gentle arms encircled her from behind, and she felt Tom's lips on the back of her neck. She leaned back into his embrace relishing the sensations his touch awakened in her. She turned in his arms and lifted her hand to his face. She ran a gentle finger along his jawline, resisting the urge to bite him. He leaned in low and engulfed her mouth with his. Her lips parted and his tongue tentatively searched for hers. She started to lose herself in the sensations of him; The smell of his skin, the taste of his mouth, the softness of his hair as she ran her fingers through it. She wanted to give herself over completely to the moment. An obnoxious noise was starting to intrude on her thoughts. It was not loud, just irritatingly constant. She broke off her kiss with Tom and turned to scan the beach. The noise continued although there appeared to be no cause. She turned to ask Tom if he knew what it was, when a sudden feeling of falling overcame her. B'Elanna sat up on the couch with a gasp. The room was unfamiliar, and it took a moment for her to recall where she was. These were Janeway's quarters, and she was here because she had left Tom. Once her mind had put everything in order, she turned her attention to the annoying noise that had awakened her. The door chime was in continuous call mode. She took a deep breath to clear her head. "Come in." she called realizing as the words were leaving her mouth that she really had no right to answer the captain's door. The door slid open and Tom stepped in. He was relieved to see B'Elanna was all right. She had the slightly groggy look to her eyes that she always had in the morning, and her hair was tousled. He smiled. She had been sleeping. He felt a slight pang as he thought that he'd rather have just curled up with her instead of waking her. His gaze fell to the suitcase by the couch. He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by B'Elanna slamming him against the wall. From the fire in her eyes, he got the impression that this time it was not a good thing. "Uh, B'Elanna?" he gasped out of a throat constricted by the arm his beloved had pressed across it. The pressure let up, but only slightly. Her eyes still blazed hate. "How Could you? " she slowly hissed between clenched teeth. The pace stayed the same, but the volume rose to a deafening level. " I trusted you. I believed every word you said. You lied to me!" "B'Elanna, I don't have any idea what you are talking about, and if you don't get your arm off my throat, I'm going to pass out!" She regarded him for a moment, then stepped back, releasing him from his place on the wall. He rose to full height and rubbed his throat. She had turned her back to him, but he could tell from the way she was standing that she had her arms rigidly crossed over her chest and her jaw locked in intense anger. He stepped over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Even a year of living with her hadn't prepared him for the force of her rage as she rounded on him, slamming her balled-up fist at his face. Only the quick reflexes he had developed during his time in prison saved him from a badly broken jaw as he dropped to the floor to avoid the blow. "B'Elanna!" he yelled as he pushed himself up, " What the heck is going on?" "Don't play innocent with me Tom Paris! How could you? You not only met Jenny Delaney behind my back, but you lied about it!" So that was it. She had somehow found out about the earrings and was not happy he had kept it from her. "I'm sorry B'Elanna," he said quietly. " I guess I should have told you first." Her eyes widened. "TOLD ME FIRST!!" she shrieked. " You are not only a pig, but you are....." she stopped as her mind grappled for a word that was bad enough. Both her human and Klingon vocabulary fell short of the needed insult. She turned her back to him again. Tom stepped forward. "What? I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" She whirled to face him, her face a mask of fury. "What more do I want!?! You cheat on me and then you have the nerve to ask what I want? I don't know. Your head on a platter sounds good right about now!" Tom blinked as her words sunk in. "Cheated on you? What in Hades are you talking about?" "With Jenny Delaney. It's all over the ship. And don't even try to deny it. I saw you myself. " Her whole body started to tremble and she hugged herself tighter. Her voice dropped to just above a whisper, the hollow tone betraying her pain. " I saw the way you looked at her when you pushed the hair away from her face. I saw the tender way you touched her. And the smile you gave her; the smile I thought was just for me." "Oh B'Elanna." Tom said mentally kicking himself for causing her such pain. He went to her and reached out to comfort her, but she refused him, turning abruptly away. "B'Elanna," he started again, " It's not what you think. Yes, I was with Jenny at lunch. Yes, I lied to you about it. But I did not sleep with her, or anything else for that matter. It was strictly business." He could see that she was listening. The death-grip she had on her arms had loosened a little. He went on. "After you left at breakfast, I heard Jenny talking to Rachel Flannders about some jewelry she had made. I was curious, so I went and looked. They were earrings and they were beautiful. All I could think was how much you'd like them and how great they would look on you. I asked Jenny to make some for you, and we planned a lunch meeting to complete the deal. When you saw me push her hair back, it was to get an idea of the size. I smiled, because I could just picture them on you. It was business. That's it. End of story. I wanted to surprise you." B'Elanna was standing there with her arms crossed, looking intently at him. She wanted to believe him. Heck, looking into his guileless blue eyes, she did believe him, but for some reason, it did little to calm her anger. She had been humiliated in front of the crew, and had suffered more heartache in the last few hours than she had endured in her entire past. She hadn't realized how much she'd let herself love him. Still stinging from the torture of the past hours, she wasn't sure she had made the right decision to get so close to Tom; and she wasn't convinced she should make it again. He watched her face as she struggled with her warring emotions. He wanted to go take her in his arms and make everything right again, but he knew with B'Elanna, that would make it worse. "B'Elanna?" he finally asked. She turned her eyes to him. "I'm sorry if I hurt you." Tom said quietly. "And that is supposed to make it better?" she asked, a cold edge to her voice. " That is going to make the crew stop talking about me like the poor jilted wife? That is supposed to take away the emptiness I'm feeling? The betrayal?" "I did not betray you. And why can't I fill the emptiness? Wasn't I the one that did it before?" "And look where I am now." B'Elanna said before she could stop herself. She knew it was cold and uncalled for, but she just couldn't help it. Tom felt like she'd struck him. His whole demeanor changed. He had felt as if the entire misunderstanding were partly his fault, and had wanted to make her feel better. Now he just felt angry. It was the same cold, hard feeling he had gotten when he had to face his father. He had left that behind and he'd be damned if he was going to let her put him back there. He turned to face her, his eyes a steely gray and his jaw set. "I did nothing wrong!" he yelled at her. " All I wanted to do was give the woman I love a gift! If the entire crew thinks the worst of me, I can't help that! But I thought that you knew me better! I thought that you trusted me!" his voice dropped to a whisper. " I thought you loved me. I guess I was wrong." With that, he turned and walked out of Janeway's quarters leaving a stunned, silent B'Elanna behind. Tom stood in the corridor outside Janeway's quarters for almost two full minutes after he had walked out on B'Elanna. He didn't trust himself to walk to his own cabin. His whole body was trembling and his vision was blurred with unshed tears. He did not react well to stress on such a personal level. Arguments with his father had usually ended in him leaving the room and going to be physically ill. This was worse. He felt more for B'Elanna than he had ever thought possible. He had given himself to her body and soul; had told her everything about himself. He had trusted her with his heart, which was more important than his life. He had never even seen this coming. She was upset for something he appeared to have done! Women! Tom took a deep breath and decided to go hide in a holodeck simulation. As he walked down the hall, he tried to think of one that wouldn't remind him of B'Elanna. This was not going to be easy. It took nearly ten minutes for the shock of Tom's words to wear off and for B'Elanna to realize what she had done. She had just chased away the one man she had ever really loved because she'd had her pride bruised. What had possessed her to act so ridiculous? She decided to go apologize right now. "Computer, locate Lieutenant Paris." "Lieutenant Paris is in Ensign Jennifer Delaney's quarters." B'Elanna felt her heart stop. "Computer are you sure? Please recheck location of Lieutenant Paris. Lieutenant Tom Paris." "Location confirmed. Lieutenant Tom Paris is in Ensign Jennifer Delaney's quarters." B'Elanna felt the rage flare, but it quickly died. If Tom was there for more than business, then it was her fault. She had driven him off. Her legs felt weak and she sat on the couch. She had no idea how long she sat there lost in her own dark thoughts before Janeway and Chakotay walked in. Tom had finally decided on a holodeck program. It reminded him of B'Elanna, but he might enjoy it anyway. Besides, he had come to the conclusion that there were no programs that did not remind him of her. He was half way to the holodeck, when he realized he was walking right past Jenny Delaney's quarters. He stopped. After a long pause, he rung the chime. The door slide open and there was Jenny looking at him. "Tom," she said with a smile, " How nice to see you. Would you like to come in?" "I just stopped by to talk about the earrings," he said stepping into her cabin. "Do you still need them?" she asked gently. He turned to her, his forehead creased in a frown. "Why wouldn't I?" he asked. "No reason I guess. I just heard....rumors." That was too much for Tom. He started to pace her cabin, flinging his arms around. "What are these rumors and why does it seem that I am the only person on this floating cracker box who hasn't heard them yet?!" Jenny's eyes went wide as he began his tirade and she moved her head from side to side following his movements. "Are these the rumors that have us in a torrid affair, or are there new ones?" he continued. "Those are the ones I heard." Jenny said quietly. "And unfortunately those are also the ones B'Elanna heard!" Tom raged as he continued to pace "Oh Tom." Jenny exclaimed. " Is she....upset?" "You could say that. She tried to break my jaw and she never wants to see me again, so, yeah, I guess she was a little miffed." "But you didn't do anything." Jenny protested. "But the whole ship thinks I did." Jenny let out a frustrated sigh. "What I want to know," she said " Is how this got spread all over the ship in the first place. There were people in the mess hall at lunch who just came to see us together. How did it get out that we were having lunch at all?" Tom stopped his pacing mid-stride. "People knew before we got there?" he asked. She nodded. " Brittany Carstairs cornered me after lunch to grill me, but I ended up grilling her instead." Tom looked at her intently "Would you do me a favor an tell me what you heard? I have no idea what people told B'Elanna." Jenny nodded and sat at her table. "According to Brittany, right after breakfast word started circulating that you were sick of B'Elanna and that you and I had a little thing on the side." Tom's jaw tightened, but he nodded for her to go on. "It was rumored that we were going to take our affair public by having a lunch date. Then after lunch, It went around that B'Elanna had caught us and you two were finished. That's all I've heard." "Well" Tom said exasperatedly " B'Elanna did see us. She heard the rumors and I guess she wanted to see for herself. Now she's barely speaking to me." "You know," Jenny said. "The weird thing is how fast this rumor went. Even if someone overheard us at breakfast, it would have to have been deliberately spread to get so far so fast." Tom looked at her. "But why would someone do that?" "I don't know. I'll ask around though. What are you going to do about B'Elanna?" "What can I do? She won't accept my apology. She won't even talk to me." "Give her time. She was badly hurt. I know if the man I loved cheated on me, I might never get over it. She had to live through a day of thinking she lost you. It will take time to lose the sting. Just keep loving her and she'll come around. She really loves you. I can see it in her eyes when she's with you. You two belong together. True love should be valued." Tom looked down at Jenny. He hadn't expected such depth in such a shallow seeming woman. "Thanks, Jenny. Will the earrings be ready on time?" "Tell you what," she said with a smile " I have some free time, so come by tonight and I'll have them ready." He gave her a bewildered look. "I'm a sucker for romance," she said. "I've read Romeo and Juliet about a hundred times." "Thanks again Jenny, I'll see you tonight." He resumed his trek to the holodeck, a plan running around his head. Kathryn Janeway came to a dead stop in her doorway, but took an involuntary step forward as her first officer ran into her from behind. The two had been enjoying a light meal in the captain's ready room and when they had finished, Chakotay thought it would be a good idea to check on B'Elanna. "What did you stop for?" Chakotay asked as he peeled himself from her back and leaned around her to see what the problem was. Upon seeing the shell-shocked look on B'Elanna face, he stepped around Kathryn and quickly went to his ailing friend's side. "B'Elanna?" he asked gently, kneeling by the couch. She blinked and her eyes turned to focus on him. The haunted, dead look he saw in those eyes sent a shiver through him. He felt a growing rage building in him and the focus of his anger was one Thomas Eugene Paris. He moved closer to B'Elanna and put a hand on her knee, She looked at him again, and tears started to run down her face. "B'Elanna, what happened?" Kathryn Janeway said from behind Chakotay. If possible, B'Elanna looked worse than when Janeway had left. "I drove him away." B'Elanna said quietly. "I don't understand." Chakotay said gently. "Tom came here to explain and apologize and I tried to break his jaw and I drove him away." B'Elanna said in a strained but unwavering voice. "After what he did to you, it's better he's gone." "That's just it." B'Elanna said despondently. " He didn't do anything wrong. I was all a big misunderstanding that was made worse by the rumor mill. He didn't cheat on me." "But you said you saw him with her at lunch." Janeway said. "He was talking to Jenny to get a gift for me. I never even gave him the chance to explain before I lost it and tried to kill him." "Well if there is no problem, then why are you here alone and crying?" Chakotay asked. "There is a problem. " B'Elanna said. "I told him I could never forgive him for letting the rumor get started in the first place." "Well, that wasn't his fault; was it?" Janeway put in. "No, it wasn't. But I was angry and he was the only target around. I hurt him and he left. I was going to apologize, but when I asked the computer where he was, it said he was in Jenny Delaney's quarters." Chakotay's jaw clenched. "I think it's about time I had a talk with Mr. Paris," he said. "Don't hurt him." B'Elanna said. "I won't." Chakotay said as he stormed out the door. Janeway sat down on the couch next to B'Elanna and put an arm around her. "Will he keep that promise?" she asked B'Elanna. "He'll try to." B'Elanna replied with a tired smile. Dark thoughts of just what he was going to do to Paris swirled around in Chakotay's head as he stalked through the corridors of Voyager. He had never liked the boy. If there was ever any trouble amongst the crew, you could usually trace it back to Tom. He was rude, self-centered, arrogant, and impetuous. Chakotay had never understood what B'Elanna saw in him. He stopped in front of Jenny Delaney's quarters and sounded the chimes. After a minute, the door slid open to reveal Jenny clad in an oversized smock, with gloves on her hands and dark glasses. "Can I help you Commander?" she asked pleasantly. "Uh.. I was looking for Tom Paris." "Tom? " her facial expression was one of confusion. " He's not here. I have no idea where he is." "The computer said he was here." Chakotay said "He was here earlier, checking on a gift he asked me to make for B'Elanna, but he left about 20 minutes ago. I'm sorry Commander, but I can't help you and I really need to get back to work." She let the door slide shut on him, leaving Chakotay in the hall, wondering what just happened. "Computer," he said " Please tell me the location of Lieutenant Paris." If he was in Jenny Delaney's quarters, Chakotay was going to rip him limb from limb. It would be the last time Paris ever hurt B'Elanna. His anger was boiling faster and faster when the computer answered and stoled his thunder. "Lieutenant Paris is in Holodeck one." Chakotay blinked for a minute, then turned and started off for Holodeck one. If Paris thought he could hide out in the holodecks to escape Chakotay's wrath, then he had another thing coming. The door to Holodeck one slid open to reveal a large wooded area over which towered the largest mountain Chakotay had ever seen. He stepped in and looked around, trying to determine the best way to find Paris without having to end the program. He saw a path that led into the trees and decided to follow it. After about five minutes of walking, Chakotay came out into a massive clearing with a pond in the middle. It was extremely relaxing just to look at. Chakotay walked over to a boulder at the side of the pond and sat down. He took a deep breath and felt his anger start to wind down. From this spot, he had a good view of the rocky face of the mountain. After a minute, a movement on the mountain caught his eye. He squinted for a better look and saw that it was Tom. He was on his way down the side of the mountain. Chakotay settled back to watch the other man's descent. They could talk in a while after Tom was done. Tom relished the sensations of the cold air biting his face and the sharp rocks under his hands. He had learned at a young age that the best way to escape a problem was to lose himself in the task of conquering an impossible climb. Up here it was just him, the wind, the mountain and his thoughts. He had gotten skilled in climbing techniques while living with his father. After one of their 'disagreements', Tom would pack up his climbing gear and disappear into the mountains for a while. This climb had gone well and it had served it's purpose, allowing him to work out this thing with B'Elanna while he went. It had not been his fault. But he loved her, and didn't want to lose her. Of course if she didn't trust him more than that, what kind of relationship would they have? Then again, she had been hurt, and maybe that had caused her to lash out. Nevertheless if she trusted him, she would never have been hurt in the first place. But her self esteem had always been low. Maybe she still believed no one could love her. Heck even her own father had abandoned her. Of course, his father had all but abandoned him, and he trusted her with his heart. Maybe he was just stronger than she was. Countless arguments and counterpoints ran round his head. When he reached the summit, he stood and looked out over the holographic valley below. The view was breathtaking. As he drank in the scenery, he came to a decision. He would get the earrings from Jenny, and then talk to B'Elanna. Maybe after all this time she'd have cooled down enough to apologize. The decision made him smile. He took a last look at the wooded area below him and started down. The trip down was not only faster, but more enjoyable for Tom. He loved rappelling even more than climbing, and now that he had worked out his problem, he was free to enjoy the experience. He felt a moment of regret when his feet touched the ground, but her knew he couldn't spend all night in here. He had packed up all his gear and was just starting into the woods, when he ran into someone who was walking out of the trees. After a second of startled confusion, Tom realized he had collided with Commander Chakotay. "Commander, I'm so sorry." Tom said trying not to look embarrassed. "That's all right Tom. I was just looking for you anyway." "Me?" Tom said, wondering what the first officer of the ship could want with him in the middle of the night. "I was coming here to beat you senseless," Chakotay said. At the sight of Tom's wide blue eyes, he continued." But after giving it some thought, I think I want to hear your side of the story first." "Story?" Tom asked, wondering what ships system he had screwed up now. "Yes, story. Your side of this thing with B'Elanna." "Oh." Tom said finally understanding. He sometimes forgot how protective of B'Elanna Chakotay was. Of course she would have talked to him. No wonder Chakotay had a death wish for him. "What is there to say." Tom said. "I wanted to surprise her. I didn't think it through. She misunderstood, and I hurt her. End of story." "If it was the end of the story, you wouldn't be here." Chakotay said. "Why don't you tell me the rest." Tom looked at the older man. Chakotay knew B'Elanna very well. Maybe he could give Tom an idea of how long this was going to take to blow over. Tom drew in a deep breath. "She won't even talk to me." Tom said, plunging into the conversation, against his better judgment. " I didn't do anything wrong. Why am I the bad guy? I just want this to be over." Chakotay looked at the young man in front of him. What he saw surprised him. Gone was the cocky, annoying Tom Paris. What he saw was a man whose heart was breaking; who honestly wanted to fix things with the woman he loved. Seeing this side of Tom, Chakotay found himself taking pity on the poor pilot. "Well, " Chakotay started gently. " You are going to have to make the first move." "Me?" Tom said sounding shocked " But I didn't do anything!" "That doesn't matter. It's not whether you are right or wrong Tom. You have to ask yourself two things. Do you love her?" He paused and looked at Tom. "More than life." was the young pilot's response. "And two- What would you do to get her back?" Tom mulled it over for a minute. "I guess, anything." "Then why should apologizing to her be such a big thing?" Tom blinked. He hadn't thought of it that way. If all he had to do was say he was sorry for something that wasn't his fault to get his B'Elanna back, then what was he waiting for? "Thank-you Commander. I never looked at it that way." "You'll get used to thinking that way. " Chakotay said with a wry smile. " It's part of being a man." "I don't get it." Tom said. "When you're a man, it doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. When you have a fight with the woman you love, you have two choices. Apologize now, or grovel later." Tom burst out laughing. "It's a sad fact of life." Chakotay went on. " Woman can get along fine without us, but we need them to feel whole. It always makes me laugh when I read old Earth literature that calls them the weaker sex." Tom looked at Chakotay, feeling a strange closeness to him. He could see from Chakotay's expression, he was feeling it to. "Is this what they call 'Male Bonding'? " Tom asked with a smile. Chakotay laughed. " Just my luck. 70,000 light years from home, and I bond with you." Tom's grin got wider. "Thanks Chakotay. I think I know what to do. You really helped." "Glad to be of service." Chakotay said amiably. " Care to share your plan with me?" "Why not." Tom said. He detailed his plan as the two men wandered to the door of the holodeck, while Chakotay listened thoughtfully and nodded. B'Elanna sat up on the couch with a start. Her eyes sought out the chronometer. 09:30? How had that happened? She and Janeway had waited for Chakotay to come back until they had both fallen asleep on the couch. Sometime around 03:00, B'Elanna had jumped awake, sending Kathryn falling to the floor with a thump. The Captain had decided that the boys were still working out their differences and that she and B'Elanna would be better off going to bed. After Janeway had gone to her sleeping quarters, B'Elanna had lain on the couch in the blackness, staring at a ceiling she couldn't see, dark thoughts running through her head. What could they be doing? What if one had hurt the other? She resisted the urge to call sickbay or security, turning over and burying her face in her pillow. This was all her fault. Why was she being so childish? Why was she so ready to think the worst of Tom? *It's not Tom you are ready to think the worst of.* her mind whispered to her. She had not wanted to face this part of her subconscious. But now, she could not turn away. It was right. If even her own father could not love her, what would make her think Tom could? Why would he want her with her Klingon ridges and Klingon temper, when he could have someone like Jenny Delaney? How could someone so human love someone who was so definitely not? Although her father had loved her mother. * No he didn't * that dark part of her mind taunted. * He was intrigued by the sex, but he was embarrassed by her Klingoness. He was embarrassed by your Klingoness.* B'Elanna was startled by the tears this thought brought to her eyes; by the feelings of abandonment it held. * What makes you think Tom would be any different? * the voice asked. But Tom was different. He loved her for her. It wasn't the sex and it wasn't her race. It was Tom loving B'Elanna. He talked about her Klingon attributes, but she got the idea it was to make her see that he loved all of her. When they made love, he always kissed her forehead ridges or ran his fingers over her slightly protruding back ridges. He said ridges were sexy. She told him he was crazy. " Crazy about you B'Elanna." he always said. "Especially those ridges!" But when it was just her, standing in front of the mirror, she saw nothing sexy about it. She could still hear the taunts of the other children at school; still remember the way boys looked at the ridges; still remember the way her father had looked at her on the day he left. If even he couldn't love her, his own daughter, how could Tom love her? * Because he knows that love comes from the heart and soul and you have no ridges there.* a new voice in her head responded. B'Elanna thought about that. Tom had often asked her how someone as wonderful as she was could love a loser like him. His father had never left, and he'd never called Tom ugly, but he had rejected Tom just as surely as B'Elanna's father had rejected her. He had told Tom that he was a disgrace to the Paris name and no son of his. Wasn't that the same thing? Having been judged for what he was not, maybe Tom had learned that the best things were beneath the surface. Maybe in never getting love, Tom had learned how to give love, unconditionally. * He has been with you a year.* the new voice went on. * The love in his eyes is still burning strong. Do you really think he'd hurt you?* B'Elanna let that sink in. This was silly. She was silly. She KNEW Tom loved her. She felt it whenever he was with her. Even on the bridge with everyone else around, he could catch her eye and give her a smile that said everything. She saw the love in his eyes when he looked at her, and she liked the feeling. He made her feel that she was good enough; that she was beautiful; that she was smart. The funny part was, she hadn't changed for him. She was just the same B'Elanna she had always been. But somehow, that was good enough for him. His acceptance carried over into her life away from him. She was more willing to go out on a limb with an idea for her engines or the ship. It wasn't because of him, per se, but he made her see what had always been there. And seeing that, made all the difference. She had done her best to make him see that his father and Starfleet had been wrong about him. He was smart and good and not the waste of a human life he thought he was. Harry had told her he could see the change in Tom. Tom was seeing what she was seeing. They helped each other and gave to each other, and wasn't that what love was about? And she had almost thrown it all way because of some left-over insecurities. She reached up her hand to tap the commbadge to apologize to him, but thought better of it. If he and Chakotay were fighting it out, she would only make it worse. And her current foggy state of mind which had her hearing voices wouldn't help either. She would wait until morning to talk to him. Now morning was here and B'Elanna was determined to wait no longer. She was going to apologize in person. "Computer, Location of Lieutenant Paris." "Lieutenant Paris is on the Bridge." She made a frustrated face. She hadn't thought it through or she'd have known that. She'd meet with him at lunch. But first, she was going to move back home to their quarters. Home; Their quarters. She liked the sound of that. She picked up her suitcase and headed out the door. She had taken one step into the corridor when she stopped dead. There on the wall opposite Janeway's door was a note. An honest to goodness written on paper note. And it had her name on it. She reached out and pulled it down. "B'Elanna," it read " I know I hurt you, but will you please do me the honor of meeting me for dinner at 17:00 hours on Holodeck one? Send your reply to my bridge station. I eagerly await your answer, Your loving servant, Thomas Eugene Paris." She smiled as she went back to their quarters. What did he have up his sleeve? She stepped into the cabin, and was surprised at how good a job he had done cleaning up her mess. She put the suitcase down and went to her data console. Her reply had to be just right. After messing with it for fifteen minutes, she decided it was as good as it was going to get. She had the day off, so she decided to take a shower and plan out her day. She was humming as she stepped under the water. Up on the bridge, a message popped up in the corner of Tom's data screen on the Conn station. "Mr. Paris, " It read. " I suppose I can meet you for dinner tonight. But please don't be late. I have big plans for the night, and I'd hate to be behind schedule. See you at 17:00 hours. Sincerely, B'Elanna Torres." Tom read the note, feeling confused. "Now what did she mean by that?" he asked out loud. "Something wrong Mr. Paris? " Janeway asked from behind him. "What? Uh.. I mean no Ma'am. Just thinking out loud." "Very good Mr. Paris. And Tom, Please keep your mind on your work." Tom's face turned a deep red. "Yes, Ma'am," he said. B'Elanna smoothed her dress as she took a long look in the mirror. She had to admit it looked pretty good. It was a black dress with thin straps that showed off her shoulders and cleavage well. It clung to her body, leaving little to the imagination, the short skirt, coming to mid-thigh. The black heels she had replicated accentuated the curves of her legs. She had spent an hour on her hair, finally opting to let it fall loose around her shoulders, and she had spent half an hour on her make-up, wanting every detail to be perfect. All-in-all, she decided it had been worth all the replicator rations for the dress. She was actually happy with how it had turned out. She checked the chronometer. 15:00 hours. She'd better get her stuff and get back to Janeway's cabin before Tom got home. She walked to the bed and gathered up the stuff she had replicated for tonight. With all these extras, she would be eating Neelix's cooking for the next month. She pulled the now empty suitcase from the closet and put her supplies in it, doing a mental inventory: four vanilla scented candles, one burgundy colored lace negligee, a box of chocolates, her Cat in The Hat book, and a bottle of vanilla massage oil. She had saved just enough replicator rations to get a chilled bottle of champagne and two glasses. Smiling, she closed the suitcase and stashed it at the back of the closet. Tom would never find it there. That task accomplished, she hurried out the door and down to the Captain's quarters to wait for 17:00 hours. Tom stood in front of the mirror, doing the final adjustments to his outfit. He was wearing a collared white dress shirt with a vest and dress slacks. B'Elanna loved the way he looked in this outfit. He straightened his vest, and smiled. Not a bad effect. But something was not right. He unbuttoned the top shirt button. Much better. He checked the chronometer for the fifth time in twenty minutes. 16:00 hours. That would give him just enough time to finish setting up the surprises he had planned for B'Elanna. If this didn't win her over, nothing would. He took a last look, smiled, and started to whistle as he headed for the holodeck. B'Elanna stood in front of Holodeck one. It was 17:00 hours, and Tom was nowhere to be seen. She started to pace, running through her plan for the night. Despite her best efforts, she could not keep a smile off her face when she thought about it. She had just turned to start the next leg of her pacing, when she ran almost literally into Harry Kim. He looked at her with a smile. "Hi, B'Elanna," he said cheerfully. " You look great." "Thank-you." she replied, feeling awkward. She hadn't really counted on anyone but Tom seeing her dressed like this. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Harry said " I am supposed to give this to you." He brought something from behind his back and handed it to her. It was one of Kes' Mandorian wedding roses. B'Elanna had seen them the few times she was in the Hydroponics bay. It was a single main stem that had two roses on vine-like sub stems that wrapped around each other to bring the actual blossoms at the top together in what looked like one beautifully formed rose. But B'Elanna had never seen one that looked like this. The two blossoms were different colors, one a light purple and one a soft pink. It took a minute to get used to, but she decided she liked it. She looked up at Harry. He was watching her. When he noticed her looking at him, he jumped a little. "Oh, almost forgot this!" He said, handing her a note. " Have a good evening B'Elanna." He walked away, leaving her standing alone in the corridor. "Might as well read the note." B'Elanna said out loud to herself without realizing it. She unfolded the paper . "My dearest B'Elanna" It began. " When Kes told me about the new rose bush she had grown, I had to have one for you. Mandorian roses have fascinated me since Kes first explained how they grew. The two blossoms are separate flowers, each with their own vine-stem. When the stem gets to a certain length, the gardener starts to bind them together. As they grow, they send out attachments from the vines, so they can draw nutrients from each other, and securing them together. By the time they are four months old, they are inseparable. They depend on the other for nourishment and support. Kes says they are hard to grow. Some of the flowers kill each other off, competing for the same food and light until they strangle each other. Some won't bond, and as the stems wind round, they are cut off from the food source, and they can't hold each other up; they died because they didn't support each other. The ones that survive are an exquisite example of true partnership. The blossoms are always the same color, but Kes put two plants too close together, and this is the result. I saw it and it reminded me of us. Two separate blossoms, neither fitting in to it's surroundings, intertwining, supporting and loving each other, to form something not quite conventional, but amazing nonetheless. I will be with you shortly. Please go into the holodeck and wait. Your loving Tom." B'Elanna looked at the flower. It was quite beautiful. She brought it to her face and felt the soft petals kiss her cheek. He had put a lot of thought into this. She smiled and went into the holodeck. The doors opened on a large balcony with a wire railing around it. There was a table in the middle of the gallery, and B'Elanna went over to it and put the rose down. She could hear a noise from beyond the railing, and went to look over it. The balcony looked out over a beach and the waves broke softly on the shore below her. The moonlight reflected off the water in shimmering patterns. It was breathtaking. She turned and went back to the table. It was set with fine china and sculpted white candles that threw their soft illumination off the cut crystal water glasses to form delicate designs on the tablecloth. Somewhere in the background, soft violin music drifted on the air. B'Elanna sat down, wondering how long it had taken him to program this. She had not even been seated a minute, when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and was startled to see Commander Chakotay instead of Tom. Smiling, he walked and handed her a small box. She arched an eyebrow at him. "Kathryn and I had given up on you," she said with a grin. " We decided you two had killed each other off and that we would have to find new men." Chakotay laughed. " Nah. I was going to kill him, but then I remembered I owe him my life, so I made him collect." Now B'Elanna laughed. "Tom will be right out." Chakotay said as he turned to go. He stopped and looked back at her. "He put a lot of thought into this. Be nice." With that, he turned and left. B'Elanna looked down at the box. It was wrapped in gold foil. She carefully opened it, not wanting to ruin it's exquisite appearance. Inside was a note and six delicate chocolates. She unfolded the note and read. "My Beautiful One, " it started, " These are Fleraidian Chocolates. Harry and I discovered them on Pruarius Two last month when we were on that away team to the diplomatic conference. They reminded me of you, and I got them to save for a special occasion. You are probably thinking they reminded me of you because you like chocolate, but you would be wrong. The Fleraidians have a lengthy process that provides the candy with a hard shell that is richly decorated, resulting in a breathtakingly beautiful confection that is almost too pleasing to eat. Once you bite through the hard exterior, the rich chocolate flavor explodes in your mouth, setting your senses on fire. I know. You are saying where do you come in. You are the most attractive woman I have ever met. You don't see it, but you turn the heads of every man on Voyager. You also have a habit of coming off gruff, to protect yourself from heartache. ( Your own hard shell perhaps?) But once I got inside, I found someone so amazing that she took my breath away and set my senses on fire. I don't think I'll ever be the same. I am working on the last of your surprises, so be patient. I'll be with you soon. One who worships you." B'Elanna shook her head. He really had gone all out. She touched a gentle finger to one of the chocolates, feeling it's cool, firm exterior. Should she eat one? She picked up the box and brought it to her face. She inhaled deeply, savoring the rich chocolate aroma. She really wanted one, but maybe it would be better to wait for Tom. Just then she heard a noise and turned to find Neelix standing behind her. She abruptly put the box down. "I'm sorry if I startled you." Neelix said, smiling. " I was just bringing this out." He had wheeled a cart loaded with covered dishes out of a back room. She looked at him suspiciously. He caught her expression and laughed. "Don't worry, Lieutenant," he said as he placed dishes on the table, " I did not make this." B'Elanna felt herself blush. She hadn't meant for him to see that look. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Neelix," she started. He held up a hand to stop her. " Don't worry about it. I understand. Mess hall meals are all right for everyday, but for something this special, it is better to order out." B'Elanna laughed. The Talaxian had put all the dishes on the table but one. This one he handed to B'Elanna. "Have a good evening Lieutenant," he said as he left the room. The covered dish was light and it had a tag on it that said "Open me first." She set it down and lifted the lid. A small velvet jewelry box sat on the plate. She opened it and inside was yet another note and the most exquisite earrings she had ever seen. They were heart shaped and the same breathtaking shade of blue as Tom's eyes. She opened the note. "B'Elanna, here they are. This is what started the whole mess in the first place. I never meant to hurt you. I only wanted to give you these. I never even thought what it might look like for me to be eating lunch with Jenny. Please say you will forgive me. Forever yours, Tom." She looked at the earrings again. They really were pretty. It was sweet of him to get them for her. She wanted to tell him, but he wasn't here. She stood up and started walking around the room, looking for a door to take her to him. Tom had been at the door to the kitchen watching her the whole time. When he had seen the dress, he had let out a little gasp. Chakotay, who was standing behind him, had let out a laugh. It had been nice of the Commander to help him pull this off. After their talk the night before, Chakotay had helped him work out the details of his plan. Now he saw her rise from the chair and decided it was time to join her. He stepped into the room and watched her unnoticed for a moment. She took his breath away and made his heart beat faster just by being in the room. She turned and saw him. A smile graced her features and she walked over to him. He looked wonderful. She loved this outfit on him. And that one unbuttoned button sent a little shiver through her. "Do you like it?" he asked. She nodded. "I am sorry." "I know," she said softly. " Thank-you for the gifts." He gestured to the table. "Shall we eat?" he asked tentatively. Wordlessly, she sat down. When the plates were uncovered, she saw a pasta dish and a green salad. "I hope you like it." Tom said. "I made it myself. No replicator involved." Her eyes widened. "I didn't know you could cook. Why didn't you tell me?" "It never came up." The rest of the dinner went well as they ate and talked of light subjects. When they were done, Tom rose and held out his hand. B'Elanna looked confused. "Would you dance with me?" he asked with a smile. "Oh Tom, I'd like to, but I'm running behind schedule. I did tell you I had plans." "That's it? You're just going to leave?" "I'm sorry," she said as she headed for the arch. " These are very important plans. Thank you for a great evening." And then she was gone. Tom sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands. He'd lost her. The thought brought a knot to his stomach. The one woman he had let himself love and he had lost her. He slowly rose from the table, feeling tired and defeated. It was time to retreat to his bed. Maybe he'd stay there for the next week or so. He headed for the arch and called over his shoulder, "Computer, end program." B'Elanna literally ran down the halls to her quarters. She knew she only had minutes before Tom came back. She was out of breath by the time she got home. It was the darn heels she decided, kicking them off and tossing them into the closet. She pulled out the suitcase and went to work. She placed the candles around the bedroom and lit them. Next, she pulled the dress off and slipped into the negligee. She ran to the replicator and ordered the champagne. It shimmered into view on a tray. She took the tray and went back to the bedroom. She set the tray on Tom's night stand and added the chocolates, the massage oil, and the Dr. Seuss book. "Computer, play some 20th. century Earth soft jazz music at level 2 please." The music was low and sensual. Perfect. She took a deep breath and lay down on the bed to wait for Tom. Tom slowly walked the halls of Voyager. His whole world seemed gray. She had something she deemed more important than him. He looked down at the floor as he walked. He got to his quarters and let out a deep sigh as he went in. He forced himself to walk to the bedroom instead of just collapsing on the couch. He stepped into the bedroom and his heart stopped. He blinked a few times, sure this was a hallucination. "Are you just going to stand there staring, Helmboy?" B'Elanna asked seductively. "I don't understand," he said. "You said you had something important to do." "I did. " she said rising from the bed and crossing to him. " This. You set up the dinner to apologize to me. But you didn't do anything wrong. I guess I still have a hard time believing someone as wonderful as you could love me. I thought the worst of me, and that made me think the worst of you. I'm sorry. I do trust you. And I do love you. Can you forgive me?" He wrapped his arms around her. "There is nothing to forgive." he whispered in her ear. He could not believe how good it felt to hold her again. He tightened his grasp, not wanting to ever let go. "I'm sorry if I made you think I didn't care when I left the dinner," she said softly. "It's all right," he said " Just as long as you are here, everything is all right." "No it's not," she said, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. " And I intend to make it up to you. How does a massage with vanilla oil sound?" "Like heaven." Tom said He swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. B'Elanna felt something tickling the side of her face, pulling her from the depths of sleep. She lifted a heavy hand and swatted at the invisible offender. The sensation stopped and sleep was just starting to claim her tired mind once again, when the annoying tickling started once more. B'Elanna opened her eyes, squinting against the light in the bedroom. She found herself looking up at Tom, who was running a Mandorian rose along her jawline. His hair was sleep tousled, and he was wearing just a pair of sweat pants. She looked at his lean body and well muscled bare chest, admiring the view, and noticing the teeth shaped bruises that were turning a deep purple on his shoulder. She reached a gentle hand out and traced the bruise with a light finger. Tom smiled. "Don't frown like that," he said, noticing the crease of her brow as she mentally chided herself for getting carried away and biting him. " I like it. It really doesn't hurt, and I think it's nice to have a reminder of you. And it's not as if I'm not getting used to it. At least it's not on my face." B'Elanna looked at his serious expression and laughing blue eyes and couldn't help laughing herself. "I wanted to give you breakfast in bed." Tom said moving the rose lower to trace her collarbone, " but I used all my replicator rations last night." She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensations as Tom ran the flower across her shoulder. "I wish I could help, " she said, " But I used all mine last night too." "Well, " Tom said, moving the flower to run it around her bellybutton, and smiling when she jumped. " That leaves us with two choices. We can go to the Mess Hall and eat breakfast or " He lowered himself to kiss her stomach. " we can just skip breakfast." B'Elanna was having trouble catching her breath as Tom began to run his tongue around her navel. With a great effort and much regret, she pushed him off and sat up. "As tempting as this is, if I skip breakfast, I'll be impossible to live with in Engineering. We should get dressed and get some food." "Ah, Carey can cope." Tom said, trying to pull her back down on him. "Tom," She said trying to make her voice sound stern, " If you don't let me go I'm going to have to hurt you." "Promise?" Tom asked his eyes full of mischief. "Tom Paris, you are impossible!" Tom grinned a rakish grin . "I'll let you go on one condition. You kiss me first." B'Elanna rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "If I must," she said. She lowered her face to his, and caught his mouth with hers. His lips parted slightly, and she let her tongue slip into his mouth and tease his. Her arms slipped over his shoulders as she lowered herself onto his lap. After almost a full minute, she broke the kiss, leaving him gasping for air. "Now get dressed you goof ball," she said rising from his lap. Tom fell back onto the bed, his heart racing and his breath still coming in ragged gasps. "You are a cold woman, B'Elanna," he called out to her. " A cold, cold woman." When Tom and B'Elanna walked into the mess hall, almost everyone turned to stare. B'Elanna was laughing and Tom had his arm around her waist. After a few raised eyebrows and whispered questions, the crew went back to it's morning meal. Tom chose a small table in the back, and they sat close together. concentrating on each other rather than the strange purplish grainy stuff on their trays. "So, " Tom asked " Are we back to the regular schedule, or do I have to beg you to eat lunch with me?" "I was thinking it was the regular schedule, but if you want to beg, I won't stop you." "Have I mentioned before that you are a cold woman?" "Once or twice. Have any good ideas for fixing that?" Tom was about to lean over and tell her in detail his plan for heating her up, when a shadow fell across the table. Tom looked up to see Jenny Delaney standing there. After a quick glance at the rest of the room, he knew he wasn't the only one. He smiled at Jenny. "Hi Jenny," he said, " Would you like to join us?" Jenny was looking at B'Elanna who had a tight smile on her face. "I don't know if I should." Jenny said. "Please," B'Elanna said, feeling a little sick. " Sit down." Jenny hesitated a moment, but sat down. "I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but I had to talk to you," she said, skipping the normal pleasantries. She leaned over the table and looked at Tom. " I told you I'd look into the rumors, and I did. I think I found out who started them, but I don't know what to do about it." "Who was it?" Tom asked. Jenny looked from Tom to B'Elanna to the table top. "My sister Meagan," she said quietly. "Meagan?" B'Elanna asked sounding surprised. " But why?" "Most people can't tell, but she never got over Tom." "Over Tom?" B'Elanna said, her eyes wide. " When were they together?" "Right before Tom took an interest in you." "We were NOT a couple. " Tom said sternly. " We went out a few times with you and Harry. That was all there was to it." "That's not how Meagan saw it." Jenny said. "She really fell for you and was hoping you'd fall for her. But then things got started between you and B'Elanna, and she kind of felt jilted." "That was almost two years ago." B'Elanna pointed out. "That's why I never even thought about her as the culprit, but I talked to a few people in Stellar Cartography, and it all leads back to her. I tried to talk to her this morning, but she wouldn't even let me in her quarters. She just called through the door that it wasn't her fault if there were problems between Tom and the beast girl." "Beast girl?" B'Elanna asked a hard edge to her voice. "I'm sorry ." Jenny said, " but that is what she always calls you. I just don't know what to do. I'd write this off, but if she'd do something this mean, what else is she capable of?" Tom was chewing his lower lip, lost in thought. "Let me talk to her," he said. "Is that such a good idea?" B'Elanna asked. "I don't think so." Jenny said. "Do you have a better idea?" he asked. At the two women's silence, he rose from the table. " I'll go talk to her and see what I can do. If I'm not back in an hour, send Tuvok after me." He bent and kissed B'Elanna and left. "What do you think will happen?" B'Elanna asked. "I don't know. " Jenny said. Her voice was calm, but B'Elanna saw the worried look on her face. Tom stood in front of Meagan's quarters, getting up the courage to sound the chimes. He felt silly being afraid to talk to a woman, but there was something about the situation that made him nervous. He had almost talked himself out of even coming here on the turbolift. * Why am I doing this? * he had asked himself. * It was only a piece of gosip.* But the rational part of his mind had responded that it was a malicious rumor that was calculated to split up him and B'Elanna, and it had almost worked. If the girl was that spiteful, there was no telling what she would try next. Now here he was, trying to come up with something to say to Meagan. He reached out and tapped the door panel, setting off the chimes. "Who is it?" a feminine voice called out. "It's Tom." he responded The door slid open revealing a smiling Meagan. "Tom, " she said sweetly " How nice of you to come see me. Would you like to come in?" Tom smiled and stepped into her quarters. It struck him how much like Jenny she looked. * They are twins. * the voice in his head replied. He knew that, but it was still a little disconcerting to him that the only way to tell the two apart was the way they did their hair. Meagan's waist length hair was hanging in a loose tumble of curls; a sharp contrast in Tom's mind to Jenny's shoulder length hair that had been neatly pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. "What can I do for you? " Meagan asked as she gestured for him to sit on the couch. Tom remained standing. "Meagan, we need to talk." "About?" "I think you know." "If it's about that nasty little rumor about you and B'Elanna, I have nothing to say. I know my sister thinks I'm responsible, but why would I do something like that?" "To break me and B'Elanna up?" Tom said pointedly. "But why would I want to do that?" "So you could have me." "Your ego's not out of control or anything." Meagan shot back. Tom blushed furiously. "Look, I don't know why, and I'm not here to accuse you. I just want these rumors to stop." Meagan nodded. "I understand B'Elanna is taking the break-up well," she said conversationally. "Haven't you heard? " Tom said, gauging her reaction. " There was no break up. We worked it out." "Oh Tom, that's wonderful." Meagan exclaimed , genuine pleasure in her eyes. " You two are the cutest couple on the ship. I thought it was just terrible that you broke up." Tom really didn't know what to make of this. She really seemed happy that he and B'Elanna were still together. Maybe Jenny was wrong. "Well, " he said turning toward the door, " I'd better go. If you hear any more rumors, would you let me know?" "Of course." Meagan said with a sweet smile. " And give my best to B'Elanna." Tom started down the corridor, feeling completely confused. Meagan stood there for a few seconds after the door closed. At least Tom hadn't figured out it was her who had started the rumors. Looking back on it, she couldn't even remember what had caused her to do it in the first place. At least no harm had come from it. She turned and started for her bedroom to get dressed. She had the day off and was planning a holodeck adventure with Bill Clapton from Security. She stopped suddenly, her hands flying to her head. The pain was excruciating. These headaches were getting worse as well as more frequent. Maybe she should go to sickbay. The next wave of pain drove her to her knees. Her head was swimming and she thought she might lose consciousness. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the floor in her quarters. Flashes from an earlier conversation with Tom exploded in her mind. So, he was still together with the beast girl. Plan A was a failure. Now it was time for plan B. This time she wouldn't fail. She would have her revenge for what they did to her. It was just too bad it had to be this way. She went into the bedroom to get ready for her day. "It was just the weirdest thing." Tom said as he and B'Elanna strolled down the hall together. " I was looking at her eyes when she said she was glad we were still together, and I swear to you she meant every word of it." "Well, maybe Jenny was wrong about it being her." B'Elanna said. "Of course, if it wasn't her, then why did she call me ' beast girl ' ? " "She was nothing but polite when I was there. And she had nothing but good things to say about you." "Maybe Jenny misunderstood." "There is one possibility we haven't thought of." Tom said, his brow furrowed in thought. " Maybe it was Jenny who started the rumors and she lied to make it seem like Meagan." "But why would she do that?" B'Elanna said incredulously. " She has no reason to break us up." "I don't know." Tom admitted. " It was just a shot in the dark." They rounded the corner to Engineering. "This is my stop." B'Elanna said with a smile. " I'll see you at 13:00 hours for lunch." "Sounds good." Tom said. "You just be nice to Carey." B'Elanna made a face at him, and he leaned over and kissed her briefly, then headed down the hall to catch the turbolift to the bridge. B'Elanna stood for a minute and watched him go, then turned and went into Engineering. Meagan stood in front of her bathroom mirror looking at the damage she had done to her hair. What had ever possessed her to cut it? She looked at the reflection that stared back. Her long auburn tresses were gone. She had chopped them to shoulder length. Not only did she hate it, but Jenny was going to have a fit when she saw that Meagan had violated the agreement they had made. Meagan had promised not to cut her hair, so that people could tell them apart. Now, with her hair this length, she looked just like her sister. * Maybe I should just cut more off. * she thought. * I could do it in a short little pageboy cut. It would be cute and people would know who was who.* That decided, she picked up the scissors to cut more off. The pain shot through her skull like a bullet, causing her to drop the scissors; they clattered noisily into the sink. She really was going to sickbay. She reached out and grabbed the counter as the next wave of pain took her breath away. The room started to dim. She found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. Not bad. She put a hand up to touch the short curls that rested on her shoulders. Not bad at all. Just a few finishing touches, and she would be ready. She reached up, and pulled her now short hair in to a ponytail, which she twisted into a rather severe bun at the back of her neck. All she had to do was get her uniform on and she would be done. She started humming tunelessly as she got dressed. Ten minutes later, after one last check in the mirror, Meagan was walking down the hall to the turbolift. "Hey Jen!" a voice called from behind her. She turned to see Stella Reese from Geo-sciences jogging towards her. They got on the lift together. "Deck nine." Stella said. "Engineering." Megan told the computer. "I thought you were working in the biolab today." Stella said. "No." Meagan replied. " I have a special project I'm working on with Lieutenant Torres today." "Oh. Sounds like fun. Are you and Harry going out tonight?" "I'm not sure." Megan said. "Probably." The turbolift came to a halt. "Here's my stop." Stella said as she started for the doors. " I'll see you later Jen." Meagan nodded at her. When the doors closed, she smiled. This was going to work out even better than she'd hoped. When the lift stopped she strode down the hall to Engineering with one purpose in mind. She was going to make B'Elanna Torres pay for taking Tom from her. B'Elanna stood in front of her console in Engineering. It was a good day. Nothing had blown up or shorted out. No alien beings had ambushed the ship and done harm to her engines. Everything was running smoothly. It might be a good day to continue her energy reclamation experiments. She turned to Ensign Carey. "I'm going to do some work in the jeffries tubes. You've got Engineering. If anything comes up, just call me." "Yes, Ma'am." Carey said with a smile "Oh Carey, " she said as she turned to go. " If anything happens to my engines, you're a dead man." She climbed the ladder to access panel EP-455. She had a bag slung across one shoulder that contained her instruments and some wire. With one hand holding the rung, she began to configure her hand link to the precise plasma relay numbers with the other. If her idea was right, she might just get the extra energy the ship needed. It would just take some time and a little tweaking. She had been tweaking for about forty-five minutes when her commbadge went off. "Carey to Torres." "What is it Carey?" "I am getting some really strange numbers from the EPS plasma by-flow system." "What do you mean strange?" "Well, the standard readings should be 54.59 kilopascels per minute; right?" "Yes." "The last reading I took was 139.97 kilopascels per minute." "It sounds like it's in the middle of an overload." "That's what I thought, so I ran a biteron analysis. It came back that the whole by-flow system is down." "Down? That's impossible. If the by-flow system was down, we'd have a warp core breech." "I know. I just don't know what the real problem is." "I'll be right there. Torres out." She packed up her gear and closed the access panel. The experiment could wait. She climbed down the ladder rungs and stepped back into Engineering. Carey was standing in front of her console making a face. He looked up and saw her coming. "This is making no sense," he said exasperatedly. " the readings are up to 227.97 kilopascels. If we don't find the real problem soon, we may have that core breech anyway." B'Elanna stepped over and scanned her data screen. These numbers made no sense at all. "Have you run a systems scan to see where the data is coming from?" she asked. "I did a level 2 systems check. It came back normal." "Let's try a level 5 operating trace and see what that turns up." She pushed a few buttons and stood back. After a minute the screen started beeping. "There," she said pointing to the screen. " Junction RS34 is coming back inoperative. That might account for these readings." She grabbed her bag and headed for the lift to the upper level. "I'll let you know what I find." she called over her shoulder. She stepped off the lift and followed the catwalk around to an alcove set into the wall. She stepped in and stopped short. The screens were up and running, but... "Torres to Carey." "Yes, Lieutenant?" "Did you have a team up here earlier?" "No. Why?" "The junction panel is open." "Open? I wish I could help you, but I have no idea why it would be open. Do you want some help?" "No. I can take care of it. Torres out." She was going to have a staff meeting about this. It was sloppy work to leave a junction panel open. She stepped over to the junction and assessed the situation. It looked fine at first glance, but as she looked closer, she noticed something strange. "What the....?" she said out loud. This made no sense at all. She reached up and tapped her commbadge. "Torres to...." She didn't finish as something slammed her into the wall. She felt her shoulder burn as she made contact, but ignored it to turn on the unknown force. She found her self facing Jenny Delaney. "Jenny?" she said, her mind struggling to make sense of this. Jenny walked forward slowly. "Why couldn't you just take the hint?" She asked. "Hint? " B'Elanna said, completely lost. "I tried to be nice." Jenny continued, still advancing on B'Elanna. " But you just couldn't leave him alone. Now I'm afraid I'll have to be a little more... forceful." As she finished her last word, Jenny pulled a large metal bar from behind her and swung it full force at B'Elanna's face. B'Elanna was caught off guard, but managed to step back, catching only the last of it on the jaw. She felt her jawbone crack, and tasted blood. Before she could get her wits about her, Jenny was on her again, slamming the bar into her left knee. Pain shot through her, causing her to drop to the deck. "Jenny, " she said, her mind not able to grasp the situation. " What the heck is going on?" Jenny walked forward and looked down at B'Elanna. "Are you as stupid as you are ugly?" she asked venomously. " Can't you even tell one sister from the other?" B'Elanna blinked, grasping what the other girl was saying. "Meagan?" "Very good B'Elanna. Maybe there's hope for you yet." "Why are you doing this?" B'Elanna asked. She was hoping to distract the girl while she eased her hand to her commbadge. Meagan was not so easily fooled. She swung the bar like a golf club and sent B'Elanna's badge skittering across the deck. "Do you really think I'm that stupid?" Meagan asked. Without waiting for an answer, she went on. " I wasn't asking for much. I only wanted Tom. Was that so hard? I would have given him back when I was done. I just needed the helmsman. Why did you have to make it so difficult?" Her voice was rising in pitch at each question, nearing hysterical. "If you had just stepped aside, I would be done with him by now. Instead, I'll have to kill you. It wasn't what I wanted, but when Tom learns of your death, he'll be so upset. And guess who will be there to comfort him. I really didn't want to hurt you, but you left me no choice. I must have the helmsman. Oh well. Any plan in a storm." Meagan started to raise the bar again, and B'Elanna sprung into action. She put all her weight on her right leg and launched herself at Meagan. She had no plan, she was just working on instinct and anger. She hit the smaller girl around the middle and sent her slamming into the wall. Meagan's face was a mask of fury as she sprung forward to meet B'Elanna's assault. B'Elanna was ready for her, bringing her fist up to slam it into Meagan's nose, adding the other girl's momentum to her sheer rage. Meagan's nose exploded, sending blood everywhere, but not slowing her down at all. Meagan grabbed B'Elanna's hair and slammed her face first into the console. B'Elanna choked on the rush of blood that ran down the back of her throat from her newly broken nose. She gasped a couple of times, and caught her wind. Ignoring her swollen knee, she stepped forward and brought her fist up to catch Meagan's jaw. She heard the satisfying sound of bone breaking, and Meagan stumbled back a step. B'Elanna closed her mind to the white hot pain as she put all her weight on the bad knee and brought her other leg up to deal a swift kick to Meagan's mid section. Meagan doubled over as all the wind went out of her. B'Elanna seized on the opportunity to deliver a double fisted blow to the back of Meagan's head. Meagan went down on her knees, blood dripping from her broken nose. She didn't try to get up. A chirping sound caught B'Elanna's attention. "Carey to Torres. Please respond before I send out a search party." B'Elanna wondered how long he had been trying to reach her. She limped toward the commbadge. She was almost there when she was tackled to the deck. B'Elanna felt the deckplates biting into her face as Meagan sat on her back. "No more games." Meagan spat. " A nice trip over the railing should take care of you." B'Elanna threw all he weight to the side, throwing the lighter girl off. B'Elanna launched herself at Meagan and landed on top of the girl. Meagan swung a fist sideways at B'Elanna's head, but B'Elanna caught it. She realized the only way she was going to get out of this without plunging to her death was to beat the other girl to unconsciousness. "I am sorry Meagan," she said. The other girl tried to wriggle free, and B'Elanna began to pummel her with her fists. She landed blow after blow to Meagan's face. She realized she had achieved her goal when Meagan stopped struggling. She pulled herself off of the comatose girl and collapsed on the deck plates. Her head was throbbing and her knee was tremendously swollen. She pushed herself to a sitting position just as Ensign Carey and two security officers came around the corner. "B'Elanna!" Carey called out as he ran to her side. " What happened?" "I'm not exactly sure." B'Elanna said. "All I know is you really need to work on your timing." "I'll get right on it." Carey said with a smile, relieved she was coherent enough to joke. " After we get you to sickbay." "Normally I'd argue." B'Elanna said quietly. " But I think I'm going to pass out if I don't get this knee fixed." B'Elanna was laying on a biobed in sickbay tapping her hand impatiently on the blanket. She had been in sickbay for an hour and a half and was ready to get back to work. The doctor walked back over and re-examined her biostats, making an annoyed face and muttering to himself. "Would you please lie still Lieutenant. You are making the readings fluctuate." he scolded her. She rolled her eyes at him, but stopped her fidgeting. She turned her head to the side and looked at Meagan Delaney who was lying unconscious on a biobed across the room. Carey and the security men had helped B'Elanna and Meagan to sickbay, where after a somewhat lengthy lecture from the Doctor about playing nicely, Kes and the Doctor had patched the girls up. B'Elanna was feeling like her old self again, but Meagan hadn't yet regained consciousness. "Is she going to be all right Doctor?" B'Elanna asked "That's a strange thing to ask about someone after you have just beaten them senseless." The Doctor snapped irritably. "I already told you. She attacked me. I was just defending myself." The Doctor looked at her over his data PADD. "That girl is no match for your Klingon strength," he said evenly. The doors to sickbay slid open and Captain Janeway walked in followed by Commander Chakotay, Tom, and Jenny Delaney. "B'Elanna are you all right?" Tom said rushing to her side, concern touching every feature on his face. "I am fine." B'Elanna said directing an angry look at the Doctor. " HE just isn't done torturing me yet." "What Lieutenant Torres is trying to say is that we still have some tests to run." the Doctor said with a tight smile. "What about Meagan?" Jenny asked from her place leaning against a wall. "Lieutenant Delaney has not yet regained consciousness. I am going to run another brain scan just as soon as I finish this scan of Lieutenant Torres' shoulder." Captain Janeway stepped over to B'Elanna's biobed. "What happened?" she asked. "I'm still not sure." B'Elanna said. "I was working in Engineering when the computer registered a problem in the system. We narrowed it down to Junction panel RS34. I went to check it out. When I got there, the panel was open. On further examination, I saw that someone had inserted some metal disks into the panel. They had caused a power reroute and had melted some of my relays. I was just about to call Carey and his team up when Meagan came out of nowhere and attacked me with a metal bar. She kept swinging it at me and babbling on about my getting in her way and her needing Tom. I was trying not to hurt her, but she threatened to kill me, so I had to fight back." Janeway was nodding that she understood. She turned to Jenny. "Is there any reason for your sister to behave so irrationally?" "I knew she felt bad about Tom choosing B'Elanna, " Jenny said quietly, " but I never thought she'd go this far." "Hey Jenny," B'Elanna said suddenly. " Why did you two decided to do your hair the same?" "Do our hair the same?" Jenny asked looking at B'Elanna like she was speaking Cardassian. "That was how she got close enough to hit me with the bar in the first place. I thought she was you. I tried to talk to her, and she came after me." Jenny looked confused and walked over to her sister's biobed. She reached out a gentle hand and touched Meagan's now short hair. "I didn't know," she said softly. " I didn't even know she did it." "That's really strange." Tom said. "I remember that she liked her hair long. Why would she cut it? It doesn't make sense." "None of this makes sense." Chakotay said from behind Janeway. " What happened after she first hit you B'Elanna?" "It gets a little fuzzy." B'Elanna said, closing her eyes in an effort to remember. " She hit my knee with the bar and I went down. She kept talking to me. She wasn't making a lot of sense. She said all she wanted was Tom. She said I got in the way and she'd have to get rid of me." "That makes sense." Tom said. "In a twisted sort of way. " B'Elanna replied, opening her eyes. " The part that confused me was when she said She'd give Tom back when she was done." "Done with what?" Janeway asked. "I don't know. She just said she'd give him back. Oh, and she kept calling him, ' The helmsman'. It was just really strange. Then she came after me with the bar again, and I had to fight back. I figured one good punch should take her down, but you Delaneys must be stronger than you look." Jenny looked at her confused. "What do you mean?" Jenny asked. "I hit her right in the nose and broke it. Blood went everywhere, but she never even slowed down. Even I'd be hard pressed to take a hit like that without flinching. I kept hitting her with everything I had and she kept coming back. I really didn't think she was that strong." Jenny's face registered more confusion. "That doesn't make sense." Jenny said. "She has never been good at dealing with pain. If she breaks a nail she practically has to go to sickbay." "This is getting stranger by the minute." Chakotay said quietly. "We are getting plenty of questions." Janeway said. "I'm ready for some answers." "And I can give them to you." The Doctor said as he stepped over to them. " I just finished Lieutenant Delaney's second brain scan. " He walked over to a medical console and snapped on the viewscreen. "What is that?" Janeway asked looking at the image. What she saw was what looked like the landscape of a brain, but running over the surface was a thick black coating. "That," the doctor said crisply, " Is a parasitic life form." "A parasitic life form? " Janeway asked incredulously " Why didn't you discover this before?" "Well, it appears to be in a subphased state. It would only show up on our scans when it was in this dimension. That would explain why it did not show up on my earlier scan." "Subphased?" Tom said " Just what kind of life form are we dealing with here?" "And how did it get in Meagan?" Jenny asked. "Please." The Doctor said. "I'm a doctor, not a psychic. I will tell you when I have more answers. Now, if I am ever going to finish my work, I need space to work in." "But Doc..." Tom started. "Mr. Paris, are you ill?" "No." "Then I suggest you return to duty." Tom made a face, but then turned and kissed B'Elanna and followed Janeway and the others out of sickbay. * * * * * * * * * * Two hours later, the Doctor was nearing his holographic wits end. There just were no answers. He had run test after test on the new life form, but had turned up nothing. He had not been programmed with a lot of patience and he did not take failure well. This problem only served to make his normally bad humor worse. "Kes," he snapped " I need you to run a level four transcellular scan." "Yes Doctor." The young Ocampa said, ignoring his gruff tone. She was used to his "mood" swings. The Doctor went back to studying the results from previous tests, while Kes took a medical tricorder over to Meagan Delaney's biobed. Sickbay was quiet. B'Elanna had been released an hour ago and Meagan still had not regained consciousness. Kes held the tricorder over the sleeping girl's forehead, stopping periodically to check the data flow. She had been working on the scan for about ten minutes, when Meagan began to stir. Kes leaned in and put her hand on Meagan's, checking for signs of consciousness. Meagan's eyes began to flutter. "Doctor," Kes called " She's waking up." The Doctor quickly came to the patient's bed. "Well, Lieutenant," He said with his normal forced cheerfulness, " It is good to see that you are feeling better." Meagan looked up at him, a confused look on her face. Her eyes strayed to Kes, standing just behind the Doctor. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Computer," Meagan said in a strained voice " Deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram." The Doctor's face barely had time to register outrage before he disappeared from sight. Kes stepped forward, concern on her face. "Meagan?" "I'm sorry." Meagan said softly. " He was scaring me. Can't you help me?" Kes looked doubtful for a minute, but seeing the need in Meagan's eyes, she leaned over her and smiled. "Of course I'll help you." "I was hoping you'd say that." Meagan said, suddenly sitting up and grabbing Kes' face between her hands. Kes tried to back up and pull lose, but Meagan's grip was strong. "What are you doing?" Kes cried as Meagan pulled her closer. "Just trying to get home." Meagan said as she moved Kes' face to hers and placed her mouth over Kes'. * * * * * * Half an hour later, Kes walked purposefully out of Sickbay. Things had definitely worked her way. Since she couldn't get to the Helmsman, she would just find another way to get home. She had an idea already. As she headed for the turbolift, she started humming. The lift opened and Kes got on. "Shuttle bay three," she said. This idea really had potential. On the Bridge, Captain Janeway leaned back in her chair. It had already been a long shift. She was looking forward to a quiet evening in her quarters. She shifted a little, her mind going back to the problem in her Sickbay. She wondered if the Doctor had made any progress in figuring out just what the life form was and what to do about it. She was a disciplined woman, but not knowing was starting to get to her. She reached out and hit the commbutton on her chair. "Janeway to Sickbay." There was no answer. "Janeway to Sickbay, come in Doctor." There was still no answer. "Computer, Location of Emergency Medical Hologram." Since he acquired the Mobil Emitter, She had a hard time tracking him. "The Emergency Medical Hologram has been deactivated." "What?" Janeway said sitting up strait. "The Emergency Medical Hologram has been..." "I heard you." Janeway snapped cutting the computer off. " What I want to know is why." "Insufficient data. Please restate the question." "Never mind." Janeway said curtly. She rose from her chair, motioning to Tuvok to join her, when Harry Kim called to her. "Captain, we have an unauthorized shuttle launch." Janeway whirled to face him. "Get a tractor beam on it." "I can't get a lock. There is some sort of scattering field around it." "Can you tell me who is on it?" Harry tapped some buttons, then his face got a confused look. "Affirmative," he said, sounding like her didn't believe what the screen was telling him." One occupant identified as...Kes." "Kes??" Janeway said, her eyes widening in disbelief. " Beam her out of there." "I still can't get a lock. That scattering field is jamming our instruments." "I want the shuttle on screen." The viewscreen suddenly showed the tiny shuttle moving slowly away from Voyager. "Hail her." Janeway said. "No response." Harry shot back." She is powering her warp engines." Suddenly the shuttle shot away. "Plot a course to follow her." Janeway said. "Yes, Ma'am" Tom called out. She turned to Tuvok." Mr. Tuvok, you're with me. I have a feeling the deactivation of the Doctor and the stolen shuttle are part of the same problem. Mr. Chakotay, you have the Bridge." *************************************** Janeway and Tuvok stepped into a completely deserted Sickbay. Tuvok, his phaser drawn, began a security sweep of the room as Janeway went to the computer to review the logs. "Computer, Activate Emergency Medical Hologram." Janeway said as she tapped a few buttons to bring up the visual logs. "Please state the natur..." The Doctor started as he shimmered into view. He saw Captain Janeway and stepped over to question her. " Captain, what is going on here?" "That is just what we are trying to find out." Janeway said as she scanned the log. "Captain." Tuvok said from the doorway of the Doctor's office. Janeway and the Doctor walked over to the office and looked to where Tuvok had gestured. Huddled against the wall, hugging her knees and slowly rocking back and forth was Meagan Delaney. Janeway slowly made her way over to the girl and crouched beside her. "Captain." Tuvok said. "May I remind you that she was the host to a potentially dangerous life form. We do not know her current state of mind. I suggest caution is warranted." "Duly noted Tuvok," Janeway said quietly, " But she doesn't even seem aware that I'm here." Janeway reached a gentle hand out and placed it lightly on Meagan's arm. The girl's eyes widened and she pulled back, drawing in panicky breaths. "It's all right ." Janeway said trying to calm the frightened woman. " Meagan, you are safe now." As she talked, Meagan began to calm down. Soon, she locked eyes with the captain, and her whole body relaxed. "Are you all right Lieutenant?" Janeway asked. Meagan nodded. "Captain, the creature...." "We know." Janeway said calmly. " It went from you to Kes. Now Kes has stole a shuttle." Meagan looked at her a nodded again. "I know. When it blended with my mind, I knew everything it knew." "Everything?" "Yes. I could see everything about where it was from and what it thought." "That gives us something. Report to my ready room." "But Captain, I think I should warn you." Meagan said. "It works both ways. It knows everything about us from my mind." Janeway frowned. "We should be able to get around that." "Captain," Tuvok interjected, " May I point out that Lieutenant Delaney has not been cleared for duty." "I'd forgotten that." Janeway admitted. She turned to the Doctor. " Please run whatever tests are necessary to clear Ms. Delaney for duty. Mr. Tuvok, as soon as she is discharged, please escort her to the conference room." With that Janeway strode out of Sickbay. The senior staff sat around the conference table, listening to Janeway explain the situation. Meagan Delaney sat quietly off to the side, staring at the top of the table. "We have gotten some new information on the life form." Janeway said. "Lieutenant Delaney will explain what she knows, then answer any questions we have. Lieutenant." Meagan stood up and walked to the table. "Well, " she began," There's not much to say. It is a life form native to Rekatie nine. I picked it up when I went down with Neelix's food gathering detail. I sort of violated the rules and was snacking on berries while we were on the planet. Apparently the creature was in an almost embryonic state on the fruit." "That means our food supply is contaminated." Neelix interjected. "No." Meagan said. "They don't normally live on plants. This one was not sure how it got there. Besides, if it hadn't been in my stomach, the biofilters most likely would have gotten it. Once it was in my system, it used the phase ability to get from one part of my body to the other over the last six months, until it arrived at my brain. It is now in it's adult form. It wants to get home. These creatures are like Earth's salmon. They MUST get back to their homes to mate." "So the whole planet is a giant breeding ground for parasites?" Tom asked "They're not parasites. They have parasitic abilities if they need them, but on their world, they don't have hosts. They live in caves and exist in group units like families. " "Will they hurt Kes?" Harry asked. "They are not malicious. They are happy on their planet and have no desire to leave. The one that was in me was not aggressive, just scared. It just wanted to go home. It wanted Tom to use Voyager to get back to the planet." "Why did it move to Kes?" Tom asked. "Once I was injured, I couldn't help it home. It saw a new opportunity in Kes ." "What is your assessment of the situation?" Janeway asked "I think it will use Kes to get home, then let her go." "All right then," Janeway said." Unless anyone has further questions or comments we will go with Lieutenant Delaney's recommendation. Tom, set a course for Rekatie Nine, warp 7. Mr. Tuvok, assemble an away team to retrieve our shuttle and Kes. Dismissed." Tom blinked as the landscape of Rekatie Nine coalesced around himself and the rest of the away team. He had been a part of the original food gathering expedition, and had volunteered to help Tuvok's team find the missing Ocampa girl. They had materialized next to the abandoned shuttle and began searching the area. "I'm picking up Ocampan life signs from that direction." Harry said from somewhere behind Tom. The away team followed behind Harry as he lead them towards some mountains that were not too far off. Tom smiled as he thought how Harry had also volunteered for this mission. There was just something about Kes that brought out the chivalrous side of almost every man on Voyager. "I'm reading caves ahead." Harry said, tension in his voice. " And Kes' readings are coming from one of them." As if on cue, the entire away team drew their phasers and followed Harry into the cave. It took a minute for Tom's eyes to adjust to the almost complete darkness. Even the flashlights he and Tuvok's two security guards carried did little to dispel the blackness. They were about twenty meters into the cave when they heard a strange noise in the distance. "Kes?" Tom called out. "Mr. Paris, " Tuvok said sternly, " Might I remind you that we are not sure that is Kes." "We're not sure it isn't either." Tom said. "Kes!" "Mr. Paris, If you cannot...." "Tom? " Kes' voice drifted out of the gloom, cutting Tuvok off. Tom shined the flashlight further down the trail, which opened into a cavern of some sort. There in the faint light, he saw Kes. She was on her hands and knees, making painful retching noises. Tom ran to her. "Kes," he said trying to help her, " are you all right?" Kes began to thrash in his arms. "Let me go!" she screeched. "Kes, it's me. it's Tom." He tried to soothe her. "Let me go!!" She pulled her arm loose and grabbed his phaser from it's holster. She aimed it at Tom's chest. "Back off!!" Kes screamed. " Back off or I'll shoot!" Tom put his hands up and backed up a few steps. "All of you just leave me alone!" Kes yelled, waving the phaser at the rest of the away team. "Kes, " Harry called." It's all right. We are here to help you." "I said go away!" Kes shrieked angrily. Tom saw that her attention was no longer on him and decided to take a chance. He lunged for the phaser. Kes turned and saw him coming and fired at him. Tom felt pain explode in his shoulder. He heard himself cry out and the darkness of the cave seemed to swallow him as he crumpled to the ground. Harry saw Tom fall after Kes shot him. He took a step forward to help, but Tuvok reached a hand out and restrained him. Kes let out a loud gasp and dropped the phaser. "Kes!" Harry called out. She looked at him and he could tell she was frightened and in pain. "We have to help her." Harry said to Tuvok. "That is not advisable, Ensign." Tuvok said dispassionately. Kes suddenly doubled over and fell to her knees. The retching sounds she had been making when they arrived, resumed. Abruptly, her whole body shuddered and Harry watched in horror as with a last violent heave, a black creature about a foot long oozed out of Kes' mouth and scuttled into the shadows. Kes collapsed unconscious. Tuvok walked over and checked Tom and Kes. Without comment, he stood and hit his commbadge. "Six to beam directly to Sickbay." Tuvok said in his calm voice. As the air around him began to shimmer, Harry wished he felt that calm. Tom walked down the halls towards his quarters. It had been a long day. He had spent the last four hours in sickbay, having the Doctor poke and prod him in numerous places to be sure that the phaser burn was the worst of his injuries. Now, after being declared fully recovered and parasite free, he was on his way home. He just wanted a long hot shower and a good nights sleep. Well, that and maybe something to eat. If it wasn't too much trouble. "Tom!" a voice called out from behind him. He turned to see Meagan Delaney walking towards him. "Tom, I'm glad I found you. I just wanted to say...I'm sorry." "For what?" "For everything. For the rumors. For the problems. For what I did to B'Elanna." "I understand it wasn't your fault. Besides, the person you want to apologize to is B'Elanna." "I already did." Meagan said with a shy smile. " She said the same thing you did. I really am sorry. I didn't want to do those things. It was like watching from someone else's eyes. I guess I just wanted to say I hope we can still be friends." "Of course we can." Tom said with a smile. "Great. Oh, how is Kes?" "A little disorented, but she'll be all right." Tom looked intently at Meagan. " But I'll bet she would do better if she could talk to someone who had been through it too." "Maybe you're right." Meagan said quietly. " I think I'll stop by Sick Bay and see how she's doing." "That's a very good idea Meagan. Just don't let the Doctor push you around." "I won't. Well, I'll let you get home. Have a good night and say hello to B'Elanna for me." "I will." Tom said as he watched her head down the hall. He took a deep breath and continued on his way. As the door to his quarters slid open he decided that food would be too much trouble. He was just to tired and achy. He stepped in and felt slightly disoriented. The room was dark except for a small circle of light by the table that came from candles that were set among plates of steaming food. "I'm glad you're home." B'Elanna said from somewhere in the blackness. " I was starting to worry." "Computer, standard illumination." Tom said, not wanting to be in the dark at the moment. B'Elanna was sitting on the couch, wearing a silky lavender nightgown. She stood up and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "Are you all right?" she asked, noting his pale color and tired expression. "I'm fine. It's just been a long day." "My poor Helmboy." B'Elanna said softly into his ear. " You really need some sleep." Tom felt the soft material of the nightgown against his fingers and her warm breath on his neck. He began to get the feeling that sleep might still be a ways off. He ran his hand up her back and pulled her to him. With gentle passion, he kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss, parting her lips to ease her tongue into his waiting mouth. Tom felt his breath catch in his throat as B'Elanna ran her hands across his back, her lips massaging his. Wordlessly, he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed, his lips never leaving hers. * * * * * * Tom lay back on the pillows feeling drowsy. Their lovemaking had been slow and tender; just what he had needed. Afterwards, he had gotten the long hot shower he wanted. B'Elanna had joined him and massaged his back and somewhat bruised shoulder. Now he was snuggled under the covers, trying to stay awake. He felt B'Elanna get in the bed. "Tom?" She said quietly. "Hmm?" "Here. I brought you your dinner." "Oh, Honey, I'm too tired to eat." "You need food. Here, I'll feed you." He turned to give her a strange look. She was sitting on the bed, wearing her robe and holding a plate in one hand and a fork full of food in the other. "Open up," she said with a smile. "You're serious." Tom said. "Yes, now open. Come on. Open your mouth. It's good." "I'm not two, B'Elanna." "Then open." Tom opened his mouth and she fed him the bite of food. "Why are you doing this?" He asked around the rice in his mouth. " Practicing for kids or something?" She smiled. " You need nourishment." "Couldn't I just eat in the morning?" Tom asked, his eyelids drooping. "All right, but don't think I won't make sure you do." "Thank-you Sweetheart." he murmured settling deeper into the pillows. B'Elanna took the plate into the small kitchen area. When they had moved into the larger quarters, they had invested in a small refrigerator. As B'Elanna slid the leftover food into it she was glad they had. It would really come in handy when they had children. Children. the thought was coming into her mind more and more. She walked into the bedroom. "Tom?" "Hmm?" "I've been thinking about something. You said something earlier about practicing for children. What would you say if I said that might not be a bad idea?" Tom didn't say anything. "Before you say no," B'Elanna rushed on " think about it. We have a lot to offer a child. We have a great relationship. I know you would be a great father. We may never get back to the Alpha Quadrant. We should go on with our lives here. Our lives are you and Me. It's a big decision, but I think I'm ready. What do you think? Tom?" Tom let out a little snore. B'Elanna laughed. "My poor baby," she said, crawling in next to him and pulling the covers around his chin. He put an arm around her and she settled in. "Good-night Tom" she said softly. "Mugh urgh gugh." Tom mumbled sleepily, kissing in her direction. She snuggled deeper into his arms. "I love you too Tom," she said as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. THE END