TITLE: Cause and Effect

AUTHOR: Alice Max

EMAIL: alicemax@dynacomm.ws

PARING/CODE: P/T

RATING: NC-17 (graphic descriptions and sexual situations)

DATE POSTED: 8/31/02

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns these characters but the story is mine.

SUMMARY: Set after "Revulsion” and just before “Scientific Method.” This is a continuation of my fan fiction entitled “Made For Each Other.”

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Leaning his body against the wall of the sonic shower, Tom released a long, thunderous sigh as he felt the spray moisten his entire parched body. He closed his eyes to further absorb the wonderful steamy sensation and allowed his senses to take flight. The Chief Helmsman envisioned himself soaring high above his quarters, beyond the confines of Voyager (and the endless number of conduits he was repairing today) to become one with space. His breathing slowed to an almost stillness, allowing himself to become momentarily liberated from his nude statuesque shell. A surge of fresh air gave life to his body again causing him to wrap his arms around himself in a ‘welcome home’ gesture. Upon exhaling, a smile rushed to his face as he slumped lower down the shower wall.

Tom felt revitalized but there was something missing to his contentment. He wanted to share this moment with B’Elanna. His mind reached out and held onto an image of their naked bodies huddled together in the corner of the sonic shower. Tom continued to smile as he remembered the events that lead up to that unforgettable image. It happened on their first official date together. Tom recalled feeling a sort of restless energy all the way to her quarters that night. The anticipation of making love to the woman he fantasized about for years made him feel like a schoolboy again. He smirked remembering how he heard his voice crack as he rehearsed his dialogue to a bouquet of fresh violets from the Aeroponics Bay. The smirk escalated to a snicker when he started to re-live his rather swashbuckling attempts to avoid being seen by any crewmen on his way to claim his treasure. He was relieved to discover that B’Elanna was also experiencing a similar tension that evening. She was anything but prepared for their date – appearing at the door to her quarters donned only in a bath towel. That was definitely an unexpected but pleasant greeting and the best ice-breaker he could have possibly wished for on a first date. She showed just enough skin to warrant that they skip dinner and go straight for the desert. He knew she was quite embarrassed about the entire situation as he thought about how quickly she retreated to the bathroom to resume getting dressed for their date. He remembered rushing into the shower to help her with a panic attack by holding her trembling naked form when she tried to catch her breath. It was a closeness he had only dreamt about but never thought he would experience. She finally stopped hyperventilating and relaxed in his arms. It was at that point, Paris realized he not only wanted to protect her but to possess her. All of her from the tip of her cranial ridges to the bottom of her shapely long legs.

Everything about her was quite an enigma that night: the sensuous way her bony spinal ridges felt when she brushed up against his chest to the velvety touch of her skin when he stroked her from head to toe. She was helpless and vulnerable one minute then aggressive and passionate the next. For the life of him, Tom didn’t know which was more exciting. All he knew was that the memories of that evening aroused him enough to make him unaware that he was touching himself. Smirking at his growing erection, he called a halt to his lust for the moment and ordered the sonic shower to stop. He fantasized about various females he had before but this one was special. B’Elanna Torres was an enigma all right. But the greater mystery was why he experienced this emptiness when he was not with her. It had only been a couple of weeks since they started seeing each other and, according to ‘The Tom Paris Dating Rulebook,’ it was too soon to depend on one female to fulfill all of his sexual desires. Tom had learned very early in life to play the field and abide by the old saying “not to put all of your eggs in one basket.” Still, the more he fantasized about the opposite sex, the more frequent B’Elanna appeared in his fantasies.

Tom reached for a towel to wrap around the lower portion of his muscular frame. Shaking his head, he tried to clear his mind of wild thoughts before they became too much for him to handle. Blinking to focus on the handsome, fair-haired man in the mirror, Tom rubbed his face and decided that he had enough time for a shave before his date with B’Elanna tonight. Paris made his first stroke with his razor when he heard the door chime sound. He instinctively said, “come in” without inquiring who was at the door. Realizing what he had done, he then instructed the visitor to “be patient and remain there” and that he would “be out in a minute.” Hurrying to finish, Tom flinched as the bathroom door swished open.

“B’Elanna! You’re early,” he exclaimed, catching a glimpse of her in the mirror in back of him.

“You know my mother used to shave my father with a knife,” she commented as she observed Tom using an old-fashioned 20^th Century barbershop razor to shave his face. “Here let me finish that for you,” she said reaching out to take the razor from his hands.

Tom let out a nervous laugh and fought to keep control of the razor. “That’s….that’s OK B’Elanna. Let me finish this. I’ll meet you in the dining area in a few minutes, OK?”

“Are you afraid I’ll cut you,” she teased, running her nails lightly up and down his naked back.

“No,..that’s not what I meant,” replied Tom as he cleared his throat. “Hey, I know you’re just being polite about helping me out here. This can’t be of interest to you!”

“For some reason I’m strangely interested in how it feels to shave you,” she purred as she gently took the razor from Tom’s hand. She snuggled up behind him while propping herself on her toes to reach his face and began slowly shaving off the light stubble.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.”

Tom caught a glimpse of her wicked smile in the mirror and that was enough to tense his body slightly with each she stroke made with the razor.

“There now,” she purred as she brushed his face with the back of her hand, “smooth as a baby’s bottom. See I promised I wouldn’t hurt you.”

“OK,” Tom said hesitantly. “That was fun – now can you give me a few minutes to get dressed?”

“Are you sure you want to get dressed,” she asked as she wrinkled her nose at him in the mirror.

Tom raised his eyebrows and smirked in the mirror at her. “Maybe I shouldn’t. And maybe you’re a little overdressed for dinner tonight,” he said hoarsely as he started to turn around and face her.

B’Elanna stopped him cold and placed the razor near his throat. “We’ll see about that.”

“OK B’Elanna, that was pretty funny,” Tom blurted out with another nervous laugh. “You can stop the act and put the razor down now.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I want to..yet. It feels pretty good to be in control of your every move.”

“Look B’Elanna. This isn’t funny anymore. Someone is going to get hurt if you don’t put that razor down,” Paris insisted.

B’Elanna responded to his warning with a wicked laugh. “You’re not going to get hurt Tom. . . unless you ask for it. All you have to do is honor my requests. . .”

“Don’t you mean orders,” he interrupted as he tried to look back in her direction.

“Eyes to the front Paris,” she ordered. “Alright now step back from the mirror and walk toward the shower stall. . .that’s right all the way in. Now put both hands on the wall. . .I said BOTH hands.”

“You’re really enjoying this aren’t you,” he questioned, trying to find out if she was serious about this little game or not.

“Not quite,” she replied as she ripped the towel off his body. “But I’m getting there.”

Paris flinched, then gasped, when he felt the cold steel of the razor’s blunt end travel down his back until it reached his backside. B’Elanna then took the side of the razor and gave Paris a little spank on the fleshy part of his left cheek. Paris jumped and waited, breathing shallowly, for Torres to make her next move. His body twitched as he felt a hand caress his buttocks and pinch the fleshy part of his cheek. The other hand joined in causing Paris to lower his head to muffle a moan. The moans became louder as Paris responded to the provocative way Torres’ was squeezing and fondling his cheeks. It was just the kind of “lowbrow” technique he would have used on her if the situation were reversed.

“You’ve got a nice ass Paris.”

“Ahhhh, that’s nice of you to say so,” Tom shouted as he felt her nails sink into the fleshy part of his cheeks. “But will you respect me in the morning?”

B’Elanna spun him around to face her then began her assault on his body by slowly lowered herself down to his growing erection.

“Don’t move.”

Paris stood motionless and watched the blunt side of the razor snake a cold trail down his body. The dull side switched on occasion to its razor sharpness to shave an area of hair from his chest, around his navel, and inside his thighs. Tom’s breathing pattern became erratic with each unpredictable move B’Elanna made shaving sections of hair from his skin. She was about to shave a patch of hair from the base of his erection when Paris jumped causing her to nick the tip of his shaft.

In horror, B’Elanna immediately dropped the razor and exclaimed, “Oh, no Tom…. you’re bleeding. I didn’t mean to…”

Tom took hold of B’Elanna’s face and pushed her lips to the tip of his shaft. Torres inhaled the sent of his blood and felt compelled to honor his physical request by taking the tip of his shaft into her mouth. Paris groaned loudly as B’Elanna began to move her lips up and down his shaft tasting the saltiness of his blood. Her ministrations introduced yet another taste to her palate consisting of a mixture of Tom’s own blood and seamen. This combination was extremely erotic to her and she labored around the tip relishing every drop of the aromatic blend. Within moments, Tom winced an explosion into her mouth and groaned at the end of his release as he slowly slid down the shower wall. B’Elanna noticed he was in agony and undid her hold on him. As she moved away from his body, she observed blood still oozing from his erection.

“Tom, you’re hurt. Where’s your Dermal Regenerator?”

Unable to rise from his present surrounding, Tom grunted its location.

B’Elanna frantically raced toward his bedroom, retrieved the instrument from his nightstand and rushed to where he was laying on the floor. She passed the regenerator over the injured area several times and was astonished that it had little effect.

“Tom, the Dermal Regenerator doesn’t seem to be working. You’re still bleeding,” she exclaimed, trying to stay as calm as she could.

“Here let me see it,” he grimaced and proceeded to inspect the piece of equipment.

“I’ll contact Sick Bay and have the Doctor help us,” she said touching her Comm. Badge.

“Wait B’Elanna,” Tom cried reaching out for her hand. “There’s another way to stop the bleeding. My ‘Med Kit,’. . .it’s in the top dresser drawer in my bedroom. Get it for me, will you?”

Without hesitation, Torres ran into Tom’s bedroom again to fetch the Med Kit. She raced back to the bathroom and placed it in his outreached hand. Tom searched through the kit while B’Elanna wrapped his towel around the injured area. “Tom, if this doesn’t work let’s notify the Doctor.”

“This should work,” Paris assured her and pulled a hypospray from the kit. “I’m not about to think of the Doc as an option at this point,” he retorted with a forced smile. While Tom focused on filling the hypospray, he lectured to B’Elanna. “I’m filling this with a compound that will promote immediate clotting of the blood. You’re going to have to give me the injection though. Everything’s kind of blurry to me right now.”

Tom handed her the hypospray and muttered instructions on how to proceed. He could see that she was rather frantic about the chain of events not to mention riddled with guilt so he tried to make light of the situation.

“B’Elanna I’ll be fine. It’s just a little gash,” he groaned and tried to position his body for the shot. “The alternative would be more painful. Hey Doc, Tom here, I got this nick on my dick from B’Elanna trying to shave me. Thanks but no thanks. I think we’ll be able to handle this ourselves,” he nodded to her.

Tom closed his eyes and felt a sharp stab of pain originating from the tip of his shaft.

“OWWWWWWWWWWWW, Ahhhhhhhh,. . . how does it look now,” he winced, still keeping his eyes closed.

“Tom I didn’t even inject you with the hypospray yet,” exclaimed Torres.

Tom opened his eyes in disbelief as B’Elanna added, “You’re not going to believe this but the bleeding stopped.”

“Good work Chief,” he moaned with a sigh of relief.

“Tom,” she shouted, “I didn’t DO anything. The bleeding just stopped all of a sudden.”

“Try the Dermal Regenerator now.”

“It’s working,” she announced. “But I’m still puzzled about why it didn’t work before.”

“Maybe you weren’t using it correctly.”

“Tom, I KNOW how to use a Dermal Regenerator! No, there’s something so very odd about all of this,” she mumbled, shaking her head as she stood up.

Paris gazed at her from head to toe and smirked. “What’s odd is that the lower portion of your uniform is completely wet.”

B’Elanna looked down at her drenched inseams and blushed at what she saw.

“And I was absolutely sure that I would make your entire body wet from excitement,” Paris remarked in a sexy voice while he stared at her crotch.

“You may have lost some blood but I see you didn’t loose your conceit,” she said sarcastically as she inspected her uniform. Anyway, you can’t blame a girl for her actions when she’s in the throws of passion.”

“Oh, so that’s what that was,” he inflected. “I thought you were just trying to get even with me for something I did the other day.”

“If I was mad at you, you would know it by now,” she retorted.

“You’ve got a point there, Chief. Now help me up.”

Tom reached for his robe hanging on the hook next to the shower stall. As he put on his robe, he motioned for B’Elanna to join him in the bedroom. He studied her form for a moment then ordered a silk robe from the replicator. “Why don’t you get out of those wet clothes then meet me for a drink on the couch?”

B’Elanna smiled an acknowledgement to Tom as he left the room. She picked up the robe from the replicator, got quickly undressed then put the robe on. Curious to see how she looked in it, B’Elanna went over to the mirror and smirked at her reflection. The robe barely covered her backside and the material was silky sheer enough to accurately display the silhouette of her nipples through the fabric. She walked out of the bedroom to find herself being greeted by Tom’s Cheshire cat grin handing her a glass of wine.

“Wow, that’s a perfect fit,” Tom nodded with approval.

“That depends on what occasion it’s a perfect fit for,” she smirked. Slowly sipping her wine, she looked directly at him and eagerly awaited his next response.

Tom gulped his wine then took the wine glass from her and set them both on the nearest table. He came toward her, ogling and smiling at her as he drank in her beauty. With one smooth motion he grabbed for her and lifted her into his arms.

“I think you know,” he whispered to her then carried her to the couch.

B’Elanna knew all to well that their intimate signals and repartee was an essential part of the ‘Tom Paris Dating Experience.’ And as for the ‘perfect fit’ - she knew it was about to mean more than finding a comfortable position on the couch.

“So you’re OK now,” she questioned with an innocent look on her face.

“Never better,” he said hoarsely as he removed his robe.

***

Takar was making the final adjustments to the probes using the buttons located on the PADD. With each adjustment, the alien glanced at the two lovers and recorded the findings on the PADD.

‘. . .the male is now taking control of the mating ritual. The subject has blocked all awareness of the surrounding area and has focused most of his concentration on his genitals. The female, however, has exhibited an increased awareness of her surroundings when properly stimulated and has picked up our frequency on several occasions during this activity. When she confronts the male with her observations, he supplies her with false information thus allowing them to both resume the mating ritual. . .’

Alzen entered the room to oversee the situation.

“How are the experiments proceeding?”

“It seems that the organic energy and the overall well being of most of the species on board this ship revolves heavily on a concept called “love.” It also seems that the majority of males studied on the ship concentrate on the concept of “sex” more than “love.” I’m studying this male in particular who seems to devote a great deal of his time concentrating on this concept.”

“Does this concept have anything to do with life prolongation?”

“Possibly.”

“Continue with the experimentation and report to me if you uncover any breakthroughs.”

Takar nodded an acknowledgement and continued to record observations into the PADD:

‘. . .with the female now properly conditioned to respond favorably to pleasure her mate, the male responds verbally to the stimulus and reciprocates, stimulating the female in certain areas of her body. The male subject now signals to his mate that he is near the end of the ritual. The female, however, indicates that she needs to continue by initiating contact with the male’s cheek using her teeth. They reach a compromise regarding the ritual’s end by sending a combination of non-verbal and verbal signals to each other. It is my observation that their ultimate goal is to end the ritual together. I’m curious to find out what will be the end result of reaching such a goal.

This concept requires further study. I understand that this experiment will involve a great deal of record keeping since this male and female seem to interact with each other quite frequently. Both the male and female have been tagged for study regarding the subject’s cause and effect. The subject of this experiment: The concepts of love and sex.