Roses, Brambles and Tears by Kirsten Clemmensen "Where is he?!?" B'Elanna demanded of the alien who had just boarded the ship in order to talk with Captain Janeway. Ship-to-planet communications were impossible because of a natural field that blocked them and transporters. B'Elanna hadn't seen Tom in an entire week, as he had been sent to the planet on an away mission. The alien looked upon her with sadness, but turned to Captain Janeway, "I am sorry to say that fighting broke out during Lieutenant Paris's stay with us. He was captured, and shortly, he died." B'Elanna couldn't believe it. Captain Janeway couldn't either, "Died?" "Yes. We will return the body." The man added. "Perhaps it would be better to discuss it in private." Janeway looked extremely upset, but so did everyone else on the bridge, "Yes, that would be appropriate." "But first," the man said, "I was instructed by Lieutenant Paris on his death bed to give something to a person by the name of B'Elanna Torres. Is she here?" B'Elanna was startled, "I-I'm B'Elanna Torres." "This is for you." The man handed her a letter, and a rose. It looked exactly like a rose from earth, and it was even more beautiful than the rose that Tom had replicated for their last date together before the away mission. She almost forgot about the letter, the rose made her so sad. But at last, she ventured to open the letter. It was in the native writing of the planet, but with her tricorder, she was able to read the translation. This is what she read: "Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, I am very sad that Lieutenant Paris, or Tom as he insisted that I call him, died in a prisoner-of-war camp on our planet. He was captured by the opposite side while saving one of our children from the battlefield. The child lives, and she will never forget the incredible man who saved her life. I was in that war camp with Lieutenant Paris and I was with him when he died. He asked that, along with informing the captain of his impending death, I was to write a letter to B'Elanna, as he kept saying. You may notice the "rose", as Tom calls it, that came with this letter. Directly before his death, Tom was holding this rose, and he said the following words: "B'Elanna is like a rose. B'Elanna is sometimes rough, closed off, and quick-tempered. If you catch her in a bad mood, she'll snap at you. If you try to show affection, she just might close-up. But if your careful, and if your love for her is great, she will flourish, she will grow. She is beautiful, like a rose, but distant, like a rose." Tom acquired the rose for you. In the prison camp, there is a bramble bush that climbs up a tall fence, a trellis fence, just like at home. There are no blossoms at the bottom of the fence, they were all smashed or broken. My fellow inmates are not kind people. they just love to shove people against the brambles. It hurts, I know, I've been there once or twice. Tom was there much more often, being the alien, but he bore it all like it was nothing. It really isn't bad, it just left scratches. One night, Tom sneaked out of the sleeping house. He climbed up the trellis, to where the roses were not broken. He cut his hands and feet on the brambles on the way up. But he said "That isn't what's important." It was dark, but he managed to find the most beautiful rose of them all. He sneaked back in and whispered to me, "When I get out of here, I'm going to give B'Elanna this rose and ask her to marry me." But he also said that if he didn't make it, I was to find some way to get it to you, with a letter, explaining it all. I'm sorry that it is his latter choice, because he was very much in love with you. The only other thing that he had to say was this: "Tell B'Elanna to get the ship home, and to have a good life. I'll miss her, and tell her that I love her so much." My deepest sympathy, Major Puchtektokan" B'Elanna could hardly finish reading the message. She couldn't even move from her spot in the center of the bridge. And she didn't care that the entire bridge crew could see her crying. The End. Copyright © 1997 by Kirsten Clemmensen! You can use it for non profit purposes.. keep disclaimers on it, and my name.... Star Trek'n'company belong to Paramount, I'm just playing with it a bit... E-mail me with comments, complaints and suggestions at my address: Kirsten@Clemmensen.ShireNet.com