Harry rested his head in his palm while he stared at the padd in his other hand. He had hoped coming to the empty, dimly lit mess hall would get the creative juices flowing. Instead, he found his eyes growing heavy, and his hand lolling out of hand, startling him into an upright position. He shook his head.
"Hey, Starfleet, it's 0200. What are you doing?"
He turned to see B'Elanna approaching. "I could say the same," he replied, "what are ypu doing here?"
She sat down across from him, "I just got off. I was going to grab a couple of banana pancakes before hitting the sack. Back to you. Whatever you're doing can wait, you're practically falling asleep here. Go to bed, I'd like a drool free table to eat at."
"I don't drool!" he said defensively.
She snorted, "Yeah, and I didn't break Carey's nose." She smirked.
He looked at her, and began rubbing his eyes, "Ugh, you're just screwing with me."
She chuckled, "So, what are you doing?"
"I've been trying to figure out a way to get back at Tom for turning Maggie into a cow on our date."
She raised a confused eyebrow in a surprisingly Tuvokian manner. "The redheaded flower cart girl in Fair haven," he explained, "but I haven't been able come up with anything."
The whole Fair Haven debacle had annoyed B'Elanna to no end. "You know," she began, "Tom and I were supposed to have a date tomorrow night. I'd be willing to give it up to help you. And as far as what to do, we'll just do what he did to you with a few, shall we say, modifications?" He looked at her with a smile.
1350 Hours
"Why do you need my mobile emitter?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"We're going to pull a prank on Tom," Harry answered. The Doctor looked thoughtful, "Would it be possible to watch said prank?"
B'Elanna smiled, "Absolutely. Just be in the holodeck at 1830 tomorrow night."
1830, THE NEXT DAY
The senior staff gathered around a console in engineering, with the exception of Tom.
"Who'd you choose, Harry?" B'Elanna asked.
He answered with a devilish grin, "You'll see."
B'Elanna exchanged glances with both the Captain and Chakotay.
They looked to the monitor to see Tom entering the holodeck with a holohraphic B'Elanna, who was wearing a dark blue cocktail dress with a black shawl covering her shoulders and arms. Tom, for his part, was dressed smartly.
The program was a small cafe in Paris along the Seine. The tables in the cafe were positioned around a small dance floor with a platform ahead of it where a piano sat. The couple sat down at a table near the piano when Tom noticed the Doctor siting at the table adjacent to them.
"Doc, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Ah, Mr. Paris, a pleasure to see you, and you as well, B'Elanna," the Doctor said, "but to answer your question, I'm performing tonight of course. La Vie En Rose."
"Ah, I should've known."
The evening continued with Tom regaling the holographic B'Elanna with a piloting stunt he'd performed when he was thirteen. It had resulted in him being grounded for three weeks. Fortunately, it wasn't a terribly long story.
While listening to the story Chakotay couldn't help but remark, "Wow, he must've been a troublemaker ever since he came oit of the womb."
She took a sip of her coffee to hide her smirk, but the Captain still playfully hit Chakotay's chest.
With his story done, the Doctor went to stage and began to sing.
"Get ready," Harry said.
The holographic B'Elanna asked if Tom wanted to dance, and not wanting to disappoint, he escorted her to the dance floor where they began to slowly dance to the music.
"Ok, Starfleet, he's getting ready to kiss her, er, me, er, whatever," B'Elanna said.
With Tom's eyes closed, Harry entered the command and the hologram shimmered into someone else.
The first thing Tom noticed was that B'Elanna seemed to have very suddenly developed a serious case of 5 o'clock shadow. He pulled away and opened his eyes only to stand there dumbfounded.
In engineering, the Captain had all but spit her coffee all over the monitor. Chakotay was snickering, patting her back while she tried to get her combination of laughter and coughing under control. Tuvok raised an eyebrow. Seven was just as stoic, but commented, "It's still frivilous activity, but at least it's better than a cow." Neelix was chortling.
B'Elanna stared at the screen, "I should probably be a bit offended, but that's awesome, Starfleet, good job." Harry sat proudly at the console.
Tom was still standing in place staring the hologram who was now taking the form of Kahless.
"What's the matter, Flyboy?" the hologram asked.
Tom stuttered, and then saw a flash of silver under the hair and beard. The mobile emitter. Without thinking he ripped it from the hologram, but realized it would have no effect on the holodeck.
He threw it towards the Doctor like it was a hot potato, and began trying to vigorously wipe his mouth and tongue with his hands, before running out of the holodeck screaming, "HARRY! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
Holding his mobile emitter, the Doctor quipped, "Oh, that just made my matrix so glad."
Having recovered in engineering, all the Captain could do was say, "Run, Harry, run!"