by Melanie
"They secure, Aidar?" Chakotay asked, swinging himself up and into the shuttle before reaching a hand down to help Neelix back inside as well.
"Yes, Commander."
"Good, strap in you two."
Aidar covered the patients with the blankets to keep them warm then hurried back to her seat to strap back in for the return journey up through the stormy atmosphere.
-------
"Report, Doctor," Janeway demanded as she entered into Sickbay at a dead run.
The EMH glared impatiently at her for a second before he returned his attention to Tuvok. "They just got here, Captain! I'm a doctor, not a clairvoyant. You have to give me a moment or two to actually diagnose them."
After being gently nudged out of the way by an apologetic Sam Wildman, Kathryn stepped back a bit further from the two occupied biobeds. She worriedly looked from one patient to the other. Both men looked like they had been dragged backwards behind a shuttle through an asteroid belt. While the rain had washed the majority of the blood, dust, and rock fragments from their injuries, they still looked a mess.
"Captain, I am going to have to ask you to vacate Sickbay," the Doctor insisted.
"But-"
"I am going to have to operate on Mr. Tuvok. He has massive internal injuries on top of numerous broken bones."
"And Tom?"
"Mr. Paris is better off than Mr. Tuvok, but still is in bad shape. I have him in stasis until I have finished with Mr. Tuvok and can address his problems."
He frowned heavily at the results of the scans Aidar had taken on the planet. She had sent them to the ship once the shuttle was in range to beam the patients to Sickbay. The scans of the brain functions simply made no sense. He rescanned the patients. The same odd readings. Tuvok's brain activity was minimal but not like those of someone who had sustained massive brain damage. Tom's, on the other hand, was hyperactive, like his brain was in overdrive. 'No,' he realized, 'not in overdrive. There were two distinct patterns.' He separated the two. 'Oh, my,' he thought. 'What-?'
"Doctor?!"
Sam's shout was competing with the alarm on Tuvok's life-support. Setting aside his tricorder, he began firing orders at his temporary assistant.
Sensing she was superfluous, Kathryn reluctantly backed out of Sickbay and nearly ran into Chakotay, Neelix, and Aidar. Given their labored breathing, the three clearly had run all of the way from the shuttle bay. The two males she kept in the corridor with her while Aidar vanished inside. Even if the geophysicist could remember little of the medical knowledge she was supposed to be learning, she was another pair of hands for the Doctor and therefore not a total waste of space inside Sickbay.
"Captain, how are Tom and Mr. Vulcan?" Neelix asked, a little breathlessly.
"The Doctor has Tom in stasis for now and is going to operate on Tuvok," she answered in a hushed voice.
Chakotay touched her arm reassuringly. She was unable to return the sentiment. She was too worried.
"Lieutenant Torres and Mr. Kim," Neelix said, obviously trying to focus his mind on something other than the fear he felt for his injured friends. "Someone will have to tell them."
"Harry took B'Elanna down to the surface this morning," Chakotay informed them.
"I'll take care of finding them." The Talaxian hurried off down the corridor, leaving them to their vigil.
-------
There was a tense silence. The Chief Engineer and Ops Officer sat mutely side by side under a shade tree in the park, the remnants of their picnic lunch between them. They had not exchanged a single syllable since exiting the museum almost half an hour ago. Upon their leaving the building at the end of the tour, her stomachs had growled so he had suggested they get a picnic lunch from the little café they had seen earlier. Her only response had been a grunt of agreement.
He wanted to talk to her. He knew she wanted to talk to him. Unfortunately the topic he wanted to discuss was the one she probably would kill to never discuss again.
Finally Harry decided he had had enough. He decided to risk life and limb and sort this mess out whether his two best friends liked it or not.
"You two are the most frustrating people I have ever met."
He felt, not saw, her stiffen. Deliberately trying to appear non-combative, he continued nonchalantly watching the children splashing in the small reflecting pool a couple dozen meters across the park from them. Though recently the need for him to perform the role had waned, he had a lot of experience acting as mediator for his two best friends. The pair of them were so stubborn. Sometimes it took someone else to trick, cajole, force, use whatever tactic he thought would work to get them talking again.
And he had to get them talking. He owed Sue Nicoletti a favor and his talking B'Elanna and Tom into a cease-fire was the only repayment she would accept. The Engineering staff had no idea what the problem between the couple was this time, but this treating the Chief with kid gloves was wearing them out. They did not care how he did it. Lock them in a room together. Temporarily strand them in the wilderness of this planet if necessary. Unless peace broke out immediately, the Engineering staff was going to take matters into their own hands. Harry did not know what they were going to do and they did not either, but they were the engineers of the U.S.S. Voyager. Necessity had taught them how to be a creative bunch. They would think of something. If worse came to worse and the well of creativity was dry, Sue had hinted they would fall back to Plan B -- The Delaney twins.
That had Harry worried and a bit desperate. The Lts. Delaney were capable of anything. For the sake of the ship, he had to broker an armistice. He probably would get a broken nose or a severe tongue-lashing for his trouble, yet if it kept the Delaneys out of it, it was worth the physical or emotional pain.
"Tom loves you, B'Elanna, and you love him."
She made a sound something like a snort of disgust yet did not openly refute his words. That was a good sign... he hoped.
"You two need to hash this out, for your sake and everyone else's." He swallowed and mentally prepared for her explosion. "Your staff is running scared of you again, B'Elanna."
"What does that mean?!" she demanded in a dull roar.
Thankfully the shouts and squeals of a group of children on some playground equipment not far off covered most of her outburst so they did not attract much attention.
Harry's courage very nearly failed him at this point. He had never liked confrontations. He was not used to them and did not like fighting as Tom and B'Elanna did. He was not a coward. He merely preferred calm, rational discussion to noisy, verbal, and sometimes physical, brawls.
Then he remembered the Delaney threat and pressed on.
"You are taking your mood out on everyone around you, B'Elanna, except for the one person who may or may not deserve it. Tom."
"What do you mean, 'may or may not deserve it'? You know what he did to me."
Slowly, he turned to look at the woman next to him. "No, B'Elanna, tell me what he did to you. I want to know what you think he did."
"'Think he did'?" she spluttered. "You heard Tuvok's report. Tom was leaving me, or rather he was getting me to leave him. He was going to let me leave Voyager thinking he was going to rendezvous with us at his secret base. He expected Chakotay to tell me later that he wasn't going to keep his promise to me. He lied to me. He took the coward's way out and couldn't tell me to my face that he didn't want me now that Voyager had made it back to the Alpha Quadrant."
"You really ought to watch the record of his conversation with Chakotay, B'Elanna. It wasn't as cut and dried as all that."
"Of course it was. He thought we were back in the Alpha Quadrant and he didn't have to settle for the half-breed anymore."
"B'Elanna!"
She continued on as though he had not spoken. "There was a chance of getting rid of me with little fuss and he leapt at it. My choosing to leave Voyager with the others was a relief for him. He didn't have to come up with some excuse for why he was dumping me. He could just not show up."
/>
"You don't believe that garbage any more than I do, B'Elanna Torres."
There was no response.
"I convinced Chakotay to let me see the recording, B'Elanna. I saw the look on Tom's face when he admitted to Chakotay that he was not going to meet you later. That was not relief. It was heartbreak. I honestly think he was telling the truth when he told Chakotay it would be too dangerous for you for him to come with you. I think Tom thinks there are people back home who want him dead so badly they won't stop until they get him. And maybe he's right. I don't know."
He could see from the look in her brown eyes she desperately wanted to believe him, but part of her could not permit herself to risk the possibility he was wrong.
"At least read the letter he gave Chakotay. Tuvok has it as part of the file. I don't think anyone other than Tuvok and maybe the Captain have read it, but they did keep it. Ask them to let you read what Tom said. If you still think you're right and he is the biggest jerk of all time, then fine, go have it out with him. Don't keep torturing your staff and yourself." He lifted a hand and cupped her shoulder. "But if you're wrong and he did mean every word he said, don't let him get away. You two worked too hard at getting this right. Don't sacrifice it because of what may be a misinterpretation of the facts."
B'Elanna was silent for a second then raised a hand. Harry barely concealed the fear she was going to hit him. He visibly relaxed as she laid her palm against his soft cheek and stroked it with her thumb.
"Why couldn't I have fallen for someone like you?" she murmured. "Someone who'd never put me through anything like this."
Harry smiled. "Someone about, oh, six months or so after you came on board actually asked if we were secretly involved, you know."
"What?" she laughed.
"Yeah. I forget who it was, but the two of us were working on some project together and this person thought since we always seemed to be seen with our heads together we must be carrying on some secret grand passionate affair."
She laughed again. "Like anyone can keep anything like that a secret for long on Voyager."
He grinned back.
"It would make sense though," she mused. "Shared interests. Tendency to think on the same wave length at times."
"Opposites in temperament though."
For once she did not contradict the implication she was anything less than as even tempered as he was. "Opposites do attract, or so the saying goes."
Harry leaned closer so their noses were scant centimeters apart. "You'd be bored with me within a week. That's why you and Tom make so much sense. He can fight you. He's not scared by your temper. In fact, he seems more alive when you two are sparing. Both of you do. You two finally found your perfect match, B'Elanna. You can't give up on each other, B'Elanna. You have to fight for what you want. And you and I both know what you want is a certain cocky, reckless, moody, sarcastic -- I could go on -- pilot."
B'Elanna looked inward for a moment then smiled at him. 'Harry was a good friend,' she thought to herself. 'Maybe there wasn't any harm in doing what he suggested.' A little glimmer of hope flared deep inside her.
"You win," she smiled. "I'll talk to Tuvok when we get back."
Harry's grin broadened infectiously. As hers grew to match his, she did something she never had done before -- she gave Harry a kiss on the lips.
What had been meant as a show of gratitude quickly evolved beyond that. Whether it was because of their talk about how, on the surface at least, they seemed like such a good match, or mere curiosity, or something more, they later would not be able to say. At that moment, however, all they knew was what had started as a little peck suddenly became a full-fledged exploration of each other's dental patterns.
"Neelix to Kim and Torres."
The pair leapt apart as reality intruded once more.
After one brief collision of their startled gazes, they could not meet each other's eyes. Harry shakily cleared his throat and slapped his combadge.
"Yes?" he said in a rough voice.
"Oh, you've already heard. I hoped to tell you before anyone else did."
"Tell us what, Neelix?"
"About Tom and Tuvok."
B'Elanna jerked. "What about Tom and Tuvok?"
"About them being in surgery."
"What?" the pair ejaculated.
"You really didn't know? Oh, no. I am so sorry. You sounded upset. I thought you knew."
The two officers jumped to their feet.
"Kim to Voyager. Two to beam up."
-------
On a bench a few meters away from the spot where Harry and B'Elanna had eaten their picnic, Ensign Nozawa sat in stunned silence next to an open mouthed Jenny Delaney. They were still in that position when Jenny's sister, Megan, walked up to them two minutes later with Gerron Tem in tow. Standing to one side of the bench, the newcomers followed the stunned pair's line of vision, saw nothing, then exchanged puzzled looks and shrugs. Megan placed a hand on her twin's shoulder and shook her slightly.
"Jenny?"
"B'Elanna Torres kissed Harry Kim," Jenny said in a dazed voice.
Gerron laughed, thinking it all some sort of a joke. Megan knew her sister better than that. The identical twins knew when each other was kidding around and this was not one of those times.
"On the cheek," Megan tried to clarify.
Her sister slowly moved her head from side to side.
"On the lips?"
The head went up and down just as slowly.
"Oh my God."
The head continued.
"Torres and Kim?" Gerron shook his head. "No way. The sun must have been in your eyes. They wouldn't be... Harry Kim is interested in Seven of Nine. Torres is nuts over Tom Paris."
"Oh, poor Tom." Megan and Tom had dated off and on for a few months during their first year on Voyager and she considered him a friend, in spite of B'Elanna's resentment of her continuing, albeit limited, presence in Tom's life. He truly loved Torres. It was obvious to anyone who saw them together or heard him talk about her. And Harry Kim was his best friend. If they were fooling around behind his back.... Tom was going to be devastated.
"Tom's going to be devastated," Jenny unconsciously echoed.
"Which is why he's never going to know about this," Megan insisted. She rounded the bench and put a hand on each of the catatonic officers. She firmly shook each of them until their eyes met hers. "You are going to forget you ever saw any of this. You had a pleasant day and didn't see anyone from Voyager other than Tem and myself."
Her firm tone jump-started their brains once more.
"Didn't-" Jenny began uncertainly.
"Didn't see anyone from Voyager except us."
"But-"
"It never happened, Jenny! You never saw anything."
"But-"
"This is Tom Paris we are talking about here. Our friend. The first real one we had on Voyager. The man who has gotten us out of more entanglements than either one of us can remember. He loves B'Elanna. We know that. Everyone knows that. If he finds out about this it will kill him."
"Maybe he already knows about them," Nozawa whispered. "Maybe that is what's been going on with him and the Senior staff lately."
"No. No, I don't believe that. If she had been cheating on him or outright dumped him, Tom would not be acting like this. He would be a wreck, not trying to act like everything's normal. I know he usually puts on a poker face and hides things, but even he couldn't hide his reaction to that sort of betrayal. No, this is different. This is... I don't know what this is, but I don't think this is that. Now, both of you forget all of this."
The fierce protectiveness in Tom's former girlfriend's tone made Gerron shift uncomfortably. She seemed to sense it and turned on him.
"You neither heard nor saw anything either."
The indications of jealousy manifesting in her lover made her soften her tone slightly.
"I know you don't like the fact Tom and I are still friends, Tem, anymore than B'Elanna does, but we are a
nd you'll have to live with that fact. He and I will remain friends no matter what anyone else says. He was very good to me when we were together and since. It never was the type of affair everyone has speculated it was. Neither one of us ever confused it with anything more than what it was. We were two people enjoying each other's company. That's all."
Eyes pleading for understanding, she laid a hand on his arm and stared up at him. "That's why we have to protect him now. He's a good man, Tem. A good man who's never had a lot of happiness in his life. He doesn't deserve to have all this blow up in his face."
"He ought to know, Megan. If he doesn't already."
"We don't know for certain what Jenny and Nozawa saw any more than we know for certain they haven't already broken up. I'll talk to him, sound him out about what is going on between the two of them. If it becomes absolutely necessary, I'll go to B'Elanna and talk to her about it."
"She won't talk to you. You know she resents you. I'd better do it."
"Only if it becomes necessary," she reminded him. "I'll tell you if it does."
He nodded as she stroked his jaw. 'Somehow I always found myself caving into Megan's point of view,' he sighed to himself.
"Good." She looked at the other two. "Jenny? Nozawa? Your words this will not go any farther?"
Both nodded.
'Hoping she was doing the right thing,' Megan sighed to herself.
-------
B'Elanna and Harry found the Captain and Chakotay still outside Sickbay, quietly talking. The Commander barred their entry when the friends made a move to rush inside.
"The Doctor is operating on Tuvok right now," he told them. "No one's allowed in."
"What about Tom?" B'Elanna demanded.
"He's in stasis until they're done with Tuvok," the Captain answered. She held up a hand to forestall their objections.
"Tom's bad, but Tuvok is worse. Tom can wait."
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Tom went mountain climbing this morning. Tuvok went along to keep an eye on him, not that Tom knew that was the reason. Apparently they had reached a wide ledge that actually was the roof of a cavern. It gave way under their feet and they fell. Tom was still on the safety line. Tuvok wasn't and fell the entire distance to the cavern floor."