Disclaimer: All Star Trek Voyager characters belong to Paramount. The story idea, however, is mine. This story is just for fun and to amuse myself and hopefully all you wonderful readers as well! Hope you like it! :-D Please e-mail me with any and all comments! The Ice Cream Incident by Timina@aol.com 6/7/97 B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer of Voyager, sat on a couch in Tom Paris' quarters wondering what surprise he was cooking up. He had promised her something special and she was getting quite intrigued. "Ready for your surprise?" she heard Tom call out. "Yes!" B'Elanna yelled back. "Close your eyes." Tom peeked at B'Elanna sitting primly on his couch. "C'mon 'Lanna, close your eyes or you won't get your surprise." B'Elanna, burning with curiousity, finally closed her eyes but warned him, "This had better be good." Tom smiled to himself as he brought out a tray from behind the door, walked towards the coffee table and with flourish set down his surprise in front of B'Elanna. "Now you can open them!" B'Elanna was greeted by the sight of a dish overflowing with vanilla ice cream smothered with chocolate syrup. "Ice cream!" "Do you like it?" Tom was inordinately pleased to see B'Elanna's smile of pleasure. He sat down beside her on the couch and handed her a spoon. "Remember that night in Sandrine's with Harry? We got to talking about our favorite desserts and you mentioned that you haven't had ice cream since you left the Academy. I thought you might enjoy tasting it again." "This is the sweetest thing anyone's done for me in a long time." Their gazes locked for a moment, the ice cream momentarily forgotten. It was, however, B'Elanna who looked away first, nervous at the intensity of feelings she saw in Tom's blue eyes. Awkwardly, she tried to change the subject to lighter topics. "How many replicator rations did this take?" she asked, scooping up some ice cream. "Not too many," he replied. Truth was, he had to borrow some rations from Harry and Kes. The ice cream used up a lot of replicator rations. *You idiot*, he scolded himself, *take it slow or you'll scare her away.* Their relationship up to this point had consisted mostly of lunch and dinner dates but nothing serious. Tom knew that B'Elanna was still unsure about how to proceed with the relationship and wanted to take things slow. Although he himself felt ready for a more serious commitment, he was willing to follow B'Elanna's pace. B'Elanna nodded then scooped up another spoonful of the ice cream. The cool melting sensation in her mouth was indescribable. She had forgotten how good ice cream tasted. "This is great!" Tom smiled. *I'd better save up more rations for her*, he thought. As B'Elanna took the last spoonful of ice cream an idea for a prank came to her. A ghost of a mischievous smile appeared on her face but she quickly composed herself before Tom could suspect she was up to something. "Here, you can have the last of it," she offered generously, holding up the spoon for him. Tom shook his head. "That's okay. I made it for you." B'Elanna groaned inwardly as she saw her plan of teasing him going awry. It had all depended on Tom accepting the ice cream. "C'mon Tom. Better eat it. It's melting already," she cajoled. Not wanting to waste perfectly good ice cream and dying for a taste anyway, Tom leaned down towards the spoon and as he did, B'Elanna "accidentally" flipped the spoon so that the ice cream splattered on Tom's nose and cheeks. B'Elanna laughed aloud at Tom's incredulous look as ice cream dripped off his nose, congratulating herself on her perfect aim. Tom leveled a playful "vengeful" look at her. "Come here B'Elanna my d arling," he cooed as he moved to catch her. B'Elanna scooted over to the far end of the couch but Tom got his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He moved so that she was partially pinned down under him. The ice cream was streaking down his chin already. Tom reached up and wiped part of it off with his finger. "Care for some more ice cream B'Elanna?" B'Elanna looked horrified as Tom brandished his finger that had the remnants of the ice cream near her face. "You wouldn't dare!" Tom was enjoying himself. He hadn't had a "food fight" in years and best of all, he had B'Elanna pinned down on the couch. Although, as he looked down at her, he knew she could have easily fought him off because of her Klingon strength. "Tell you what, if you give me a kiss, I'll forget you smeared ice cream on me." B'Elanna looked up at his laughing blue eyes but saw a hint of seriousness behind it. *Gods, he means it too!* But she was enjoying this playful mood and didn't want to spoil it. And with Tom's face mere inches away from her she had to admit to herself that she did want to kiss him. "Well?" Tom tried to look nonchalant but his heart was hoping that she would choose to kiss him instead. B'Elanna paused to consider. "Let's see. Kissing you or being smeared by ice cream....Hmmm...are those my only two choices so you'll let me up?" "Afraid so." B'Elanna closed her eyes in resignation. "The ice cream then." She stifled a giggle as she felt Tom's finger spreading the cold sticky melting ice cream on her cheeks. But when his finger began to trace ice cream on her lips, her heart began to beat faster and her eyes opened to fasten on his lips where a trace of ice cream trickled from his cheek. Without thinking about it, B'Elanna's arms closed around his neck and pulled him closer. She raised her head and met his mouth with her own. She tasted the sweet ice cream on his lips and ran her tongue over them, savoring the softness of it. Tom didn't hesitate when B'Elanna's arms pulled him down. His arms tightened around her. B'Elanna was overwhelmed by the onslaught of passion his lips on hers u nleashed. Their kisses before had been quick and of the friendly kind. But this time....this time it was different. He started kissing her eyes, her nose, her forehead, behind her ears but would always return to her mouth, bruising her tender lips with the force of his kisses. Her hands traveled down the length of his back, loving the feel of him against her. "B'Elanna, I want you," Tom whispered as they broke for air, burying his face in her hair. "I want you too," B'Elanna breathed. She kissed the same spot that she had bitten when they were in the Sakari caves and Tom smiled. *If I remember my Klingon customs, biting someone on the face means...,* the words floated inside Tom's mind and he remembered B'Elanna's response, *I know what it means.* *Too fast. We're going too fast,* Tom realized. B'Elanna was surprised when Tom released her. He sat back and tried to catch his breath. B'Elanna also was sitting up, not understanding why Tom had stopped. Looking at B'Elanna with an apology in his eyes, "I'm sorry B'Elanna. I wanted this to be a fun afternoon by surprising you with the ice cream and not a seduction scene." "Tom," she started but Tom held up his fingers to her lips. "I know you want us to take things slow. Let things develop naturally and see where it leads us." Tom felt that he just had to say these things that were in his heart. "I love you and I want you to know that I'm ready for a serious commitment with you." He stroked her soft black hair. "You're so beautiful. Sometimes I can't imagine whatever you saw in me. I guess that's why I'm so scared of losing you. I don't want to do anything you're uncomfortable with." The words were spoken quietly but there was no doubt of the sincerity of his feelings. B'Elanna reached out and entwined her fingers with Tom's hand. Whatever left-over doubts she had had about their relationship diminished greatly when Tom said he loved her. With a sudden realization, she finally acknowledged to herself that this was right. Her and Tom being together. At that minute, she knew she loved him and would gladly be his if he asked her. She put her hand to his cheek. "Tom," she said gently, "I do love you and I love the fact that you're willing to take things slow for me." Tom's face lit up at B'Elanna's words. "I'd do anything for you B'Elanna," Tom confessed. He was surprised at the depth of his feelings for B'Elanna. Even with his ex-fiancee he didn't feel this much emotion. He slowly stroked the ridges on her forehead then planted a kiss on it. They both knew that they had just taken a significant step in their rela tionship. This was beyond the mere dating stage already. Although she was still a little afraid, she knew that she was ready for something more. "Tom," she said softly, "I'd love to be your girlfriend." Speechless, Tom merely put his arms around her and held her tight. It was like all of his dreams were finally coming true. When his fiancee broke off their engagement after the Caldik Prime tragedy, he had despaired of finding someone who could love him despite of all his faults. So lost were they in the embrace that they didn't hear the door chime at first. "Were you expecting anybody?" B'Elanna asked. Tom shook his head. "Not that I know of. Must be Harry. Let me get rid of him." After he disengaged the privacy lock, the door opened and sure enough it was Harry. "Hey guys! I was looking for B'Elanna and the computer said she was here," Harry strode in without waiting for Tom's okay. Then he seemed to notice the white filmy stuff on Tom's face. "Ugh! What is that?" Tom laughed. "Me and B'Elanna were having an 'ice cream fight'." Harry wrinkled his nose at the thought. "I'm glad I missed that." "You said you were looking for me?" B'Elanna asked, anxious to find out what Harry wanted so he could leave and she and Tom could get into some serious kissing. "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask if I could borrow some holodeck time from you for my date with Jenny Delaney tonight," Harry wriggled his eyebrows at them suggestively. He clapped Tom on the shoulders. "This guy here used up all his holodeck time already and I don't have anymore either," he admitted sheepishly. Tom laughed. "So can I?" Harry prodded. B'Elanna nodded. "Sure Harry. Have fun." Harry was about to leave when he noticed Tom looking at him, like he was bursting to tell Harry something but wasn't quite sure if he should. "What is it?" Harry looked at Tom and B'Elanna, who both seemed to have unaccustomed grins on their faces, now that he was paying closer attention. Tom raised his eyebrows at B'Elanna in question and B'Elanna gave him an answering nod. *These two are up to something,* Harry thought. Tom put an arm around Harry's shoulders. "Harry, my friend, I want you to meet somebody." "Who?" "My girlfriend." Harry's eyes widened as he caught Tom's meaning. "You mean you and B'El anna...." "Yep. Me and B'Elanna are officially a couple." Tom sat down beside B'Elanna and put an arm around her shoulders and she snuggled a little closer to him. "Well it's about time you guys!" B'Elanna smiled delightedly at her friend. "Don't tell me you knew all along that we were going to be together." Harry nodded, "Oh sure. I said to myself, 'Harry, those two are just meant for each other. They just don't know it yet.'" Harry was truly happy for his friends. "So, do I hear wedding bells soon?" Harry teased. He cocked his head, trying to remember an ancient children's song he had heard about and then he grinned as he remembered the words and he started singing, "Tom and B'Elanna, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g..." "Harry stop it," Tom warned but he was laughing anyway. Harry continued singing, "First comes love, then comes marriage..." "Tom, do you still have any of that ice cream left?" B'Elanna asked. "Then comes baby in a baby carriage," Harry finished his little ditty, feeling pleased with himself but quickly ducked for cover when he felt a big glob of gooey ice cream hit his head. "Hey guys, I was only kidding," he pleaded as B'Elanna took another careful aim with her spoon. Good-natured laughter filled the room as the three friends enjoyed a momentary respite from the rigors of their Starfleet duties. The End