by Marleena
understand they almost called him 'Thomas'. All thanks to my
little bit of mischievousness."
"Tom, you're just terrible," she said with glee as she poked him
in the chest which elicited a giggle from the pilot. Intrigued
by the response, she tried it again, and he giggled again only
harder this time. "Thomas Eugene Paris, I do believe that you are
ticklish," she stated, and proceeded to poke and tickle the pilot
until he reached a point where he was laughing soundlessly.
Suddenly, he tumbled off the bed and landed with a thud on the
floor which made a grinning B'Elanna laugh herself.
Finally, the laugher died somewhat, and she reached down from the
bed to pull Tom up to join her. What had originally been
intended to just bring him up on the bed, ended with her pulling
him toward her until her lips met his. The kisses they had
shared in the past had been kisses of desperate, unbridled
passion. This one was different. It was a slow savoring sensual
kiss that bespoke of promise of what was to be. "Mr. Paris," she
murmured huskily, "my back itches, would you please scratch it?"
* * * * * * *
The next morning after Tom left, B'Elanna slowly got up out of
bed and when she saw the still warm cup of herbal tea he had left
her she smiled. Thoughts of last night swam through her mind as
she sipped the tea on the way to the shower. She remembered, and
would always remembered them talking and laughing in bed; the
kiss they shared after the tickling session; having sex with him,
and after how tenderly he held her until she fell to sleep. She
also recalled how she woke up around midnight craving another
slice of leola root quiche, and how he had snuck down to the Mess
Hall to bring her back a slice without so much as a grumble.
But, one of the most special moments came early that morning when
she shook Tom awake, and placed his hand upon her belly. His eyes
grew wide with amazement as they shared the experience of the
babies' first movements inside the womb. Then her thoughts
turned to how much she had come to care for the handsome pilot.
How all she thought of during the day was the time she would
spend with him at night.
you're in love with him.>
B'Elanna wasn't even going to argue with herself this time, it
was useless. It was true, she admitted, she had fallen in love
with Tom Paris.
* * * * * * * *
It was crowded in Sandrine's with most of the crew of Voyager
wanting to know the latest rumor about B'Elanna's pregnancy.
Everyone had given up on the father being Harry, for he boldly
and honestly denied it. They still didn't know who's it was, but
two other people were soon excluded from the list. The two being
Ensign Vorik and Commander Chakotay. Both were denying it and the
Vulcan saying it couldn't be done.
Tom Paris was sitting alone at a table sipping his drink as he
listened to the rumors going on around him. He had to smile at
all of it, even if very few people believed he was the father.
*All the better,* he thought, *I doubt B'Elanna would be thrilled
if everyone knew I was the father.*
Tom looked around the room, and saw many people gathered in
groups talking. He smiled and sipped his drink. It was quite
interesting to know that B'Elanna was the topic of the rumor
mills. He knew that if she knew what people were saying, she
would personally strangle each and every one of them.
He looked at the chronometer, and saw that it was time to see the
object of his thoughts. He quietly stood up and made his way to
the exit. He passed by a table were Ensign Terre was playing pool
with three of his friends.
Terre watched as the pilot strode out of Sandrine's fifteen
minutes earlier that he normally did. He looked at his friends who
were still talking about B'Elanna's' pregnancy.
"I still believe it's artificial insemination," Dan Starks said
to Lt. Marris, "She doesn't see any male on this ship as a
potential mate."
"Forget that, Dan," Terre stated, taking his shot, "Lt. Paris
just left fifteen minutes earlier than usual."
Marris nodded, "Paris left at the same time two nights ago. Where
do you think he would go?"
Starks smiled, "Knowing him, it's probably a woman he's seeing in
secret. Maybe Lt. Sara Davis in Data Retrieval. She's had her eye
on him for awhile. Maybe she finally caught his."
Terre shook his head, "She doesn't seem his type. For one, she's
blonde."
Ensign Patrick Ness piped up, "What about Megan?"
Terre laughed, "Even I know that was a show. They've been friends
since the Academy. She just wanted to help him out."
"Well, if it's not her then who" Starks asked, looking around.
Terre shrugged and lined up another shot, "I don't know. Maybe
Sue Nicoletti?"
Marris laughed, "She's seeing Lt. Marion," he said eliminating
that option. "Maybe he's not seeing anyone."
Starks stared at him, "What do you mean?"
Marris shrugged, "Last week, I saw him in Sickbay looking at some
datapadds. I asked him what they were, and he say they were
medical texts. He said he's studying to be a med tech for the
Doc. Maybe that's where he went; to study."
"I still think it's a woman," Terre argued, "I saw him a week ago
carrying his duffle bag. I asked him about it. He just smiled and
entered the turbolift."
"What did you ask him?" Starks asked.
"I asked him who he was seeing. He said he was not telling. He
neither denied seeing anyone nor confirmed it."
Marris shook his head, "He's been a whole lot happier since Harry
and B'Elanna called it off. Do you think he's seeing Torres?"
They all stared at him as if he had three heads. He looked back
at them surprised.
"I guess not," Marris said softly.
The three then went back to their game. They continued to
speculate all through the night, but none of them came up to why
Tom had left Sandrine's so early.
Chapter 15
More time passed, she was almost in her third trimester, and
B'Elanna continued to swell as the twins grew. Tom still snuck
into her quarters every night to join her in bed, when they
weren't making love and they'd spend time perusing datapadds on
childbirth or just talking. But one thing had changed recently,
it started a few days before, she noticed that her itchiness was
starting to diminish as well as the morning sickness. Worried
about what it might mean, she kept the information to herself,
and went to the Doctor on her free afternoon and asked him what had
happened.
The Doctor performed a careful examination on the nervous half-
Klingon mother-to-be.
"B'Elanna, it appears that the itchiness and morning sickness
have lessened considerably. As far as I can determine, the human
hormones that caused the morning sickness also provided a
catalyst to the Klingon genes to induce t
he itchiness. Thus when
your nausea decreased so did the itching sensation. Typically in
humans, the morning sickness stops by the time the second
trimester starts, but with your genetic makeup it just hung
around longer than usual."
"So is everything all right?" she asked as she held her stomach
with her hands. "Are the babies okay?"
"Everything appears to be fine. The babies are healthy. You're
sure you don't want to know their sex?" he asked and B'Elanna
shook her head at the often-asked question. "You're healthy -- in
fact you're so healthy I don't think Mr. Paris needs to ah . .
.scratch your itch anymore," he informed her with a self-
satisfied smirk on his face. "Do you want to do the honors, or
would you like me to tell him, Lieutenant?"
B'Elanna narrowed her eyes and raised her fist at the EMH. "If
you so much as utter one word about this conversation to *anyone*
I will personally see to it that you'll never leave Sickbay
again," she threatened.
This response amused the good Doctor. "Could it be, Lieutenant,
that you've enjoyed the past months with Mr. Paris?"
She looked at him in confusion, not knowing quite what to say and
lowered her raised fist. "Um--let's just say it hasn't exactly
been what I--um--expected." A little smile snuck up on her
before she could stop it.
The Doctor pocketed his tricorder with great care as he observed
the Chief Engineer, carefully considering what to say. "Lt.
Torres, I think you had better talk with Tom, and tell him how
you feel."
The Klingon defenses were back up and she snarled, "What do you
mean how I feel?"
"You obviously care for Mr. Paris . . ."
"Of--of course I do Doctor, he *is* the father of my babies."
"I think it's time for you to be honest with yourself, B'Elanna.
Or are you afraid of your feelings?"
"I don't know. All I do know is that I never intended for this
to happen, Doctor," she admitted finally. "I never knew that I
was capable of feeling just strong emotions for anyone. Tom has
allowed me to express not only my human side, but my Klingon as
well."
"Talk to him, B'Elanna. Tell him."
"But what if I tell him about the itching going away and he
leaves me?"
"Don't underestimate Mr. Paris. I wouldn't be surprised if he
didn't share your feelings."
"Do you . . . " she started to say but at that moment two crewman
from Astrometrics came into Sickbay.
after we make love,> she decided.
be with him one more time before he leaves.>
* * * * * *
Tom Paris paid his customary visit to Sandrine's to join Harry
For a game of pool that same evening before he went to B'Elanna's.
When he got there, Harry was already playing a game of eight-ball
with Joe Carey, so he wandered over to the bar, and asked
Sandrine for some synthenol before he joined them.
"Eight ball in the side pocket," Joe announced and deftly sank
the black ball. "Cough it up, ensign," Joe said smugly as he ran
the chalk over the cue's tip."
Harry tossed a couple of rations towards the engineer as he shook
his head. He was sure he could beat Joe this time, he had been
practicing quite a bit with Tom lately and had been told he had
improved.
"Cheer up, Harry," Tom said as he slapped him on the back.
"Joe's been playing a long time. Even longer than me. But you're
doing better. Really."
"Hey, Paris, is that some crack regarding my age?" Carey
countered with a laugh.
"Of course not. I just assumed that you started playing while you
were still in diapers," the pilot said, trying to backpedal.
"Come on, let me buy both of you a drink, and you two can bring
me up to speed on all of today's gossip," Tom offered as he clasped
Harry around the shoulders with one arm, and motioned for Joe to
follow them to an empty table.
"So Harry, I understand that you and Alera have set a date," Tom
commented as they all sat down.
"Yeah, well a tentative date. We're thinking of maybe six to
eight months or so. We are really in no rush, we know we'll be
together for a long time," he revealed as he took a swig of his
half-filled mug. "Joe, I understand things seem to have quieted
down in Engineering lately."
Tom's ears perked up when he heard the reference to Engineering,
B'Elanna hadn't said anything to him about what had been going on
down there lately.
"Yep, we are back to normal down there. Well, as normal as we can
get with B'Elanna being pregnant. I don't let her crawl into the
Jeffries tubes anymore. If she gets stuck in there, I don't want
to have to be the one to pull her out."
"Come on, Joe, she's not that big, yet," Tom said, protecting the
mother of his children.
"No, not yet, Tom, but I swear she's grown so fast lately, I
think there might be twins in there."
At that comment, Tom swallowed his drink too quickly, and ended
Up coughing until his eyes watered while Harry reached around, and
slapped him on the back to help him stop. "I'm okay, Harry,
really, just went down the wrong way."
"Gee, Tom, if I knew that talking about the possibility that
B'Elanna might be carrying twins was going to have that affect on
you, I wouldn't have said anything. Believe me, it's pure
speculation. B'Elanna seems to be doing just fine. She's taking
good care of herself and her precious bundle. Though, she still
won't tell anyone who the father is." Tom and Harry exchanged a silent
knowing look across the table. Just then Alera came in and waved
to Harry to join her.
"Sorry guys, but Alera wants me to join her. I'll catch up with
you two later."
"He's not even married, and she has him jumping through hoops,"
Joe said with a sad grin, remembering his wife he left home in
the Alpha Quadrant.
"So, Joe, it's been quiet down in Engineering, huh?" Tom said
trying to divert Carey's attention away from the past he had left
behind.
"Yep, after that experience with the Hirogen, things quieted down
considerably. Even B'Elanna hasn't been quite so demanding
lately."
"What do you mean?" Tom asked as he took another sip of his
drink.
"Well, ever since she became pregnant, she's been hounding the
entire staff to scratch her back, then about three weeks ago,"
Carey snapped his fingers, "nothing. Apparently, the
Back scratching thing is all over with. Can't say that I'm going
to miss it . . ."
Carey kept right on talking, but Tom didn't hear.
hasn't been itching lately. Come to think of it, her morning
sickness seems to have quieted down considerably as of late as
well. Why didn't she tell me? I guess it's time to have a
talk with her.>
Tom got up from the table in a daze, murmured some excuse to the
engineer, and headed for B'Elanna's cabin. When he arr
ived,
B'Elanna hurried to greet him as she usually did, with a half a
tackle and passionate kiss before she started undoing the
fasteners on his uniform.
But this time, Tom didn't cooperate. He stood there woodenly
looking down at the woman he thought that he had come to know so
well during the last several months.
"Come on, Tom, help me out here. I'm not has nimble as I was a
few weeks ago. I need some help," she pleaded as she tried to keep
things light.
"Why didn't you tell me, B'Elanna?"
She laughed as she tried again to get him to undress, "What do
you mean, tell you what?"
knows. If the Doctor told him, so help me. . .>
"Stop it, 'Lanna! Just stop it!" he said as he pulled away from
her. "I want to know why you didn't tell me you were no
longer having a problem with the itching. According to Joe Carey,
you haven't asked anyone in Engineering to scratch your back for
weeks!"
"I tried, Tom, I did, but . . . I didn't know . . .I didn't want
. . ."
"Didn't want what, Ms. Torres? Didn't want me to stop coming over
to warm your bed, get your tea, and fetch and carry for you?
What?"
"No, Tom, you don't understand!" she pleaded. She was almost on
the verge of tears as she turned away, and hugged herself tightly