Author's Note: Many thanks to my hetero life beta Izzy and my husband for editing and input. This story was originally published on AO3 on July 3, 2014.

Pushed

B'Elanna was already annoyed as she walked into the Holodeck, bat'leth in hand. She had no desire to participate in a Klingon martial arts program. She had told Tom as much when he had asked her the first several times. But having to participate in this stupid program was her punishment for losing that stupid bet. Anodyne relays, god damnit!

Entering she saw Tom, already sparing with a holographic Klingon. This was not going to be fun. "Computer, freeze program," Tom called out. "Hey there, are you ready to start?"

"No, but I did lose this stupid bet…"

"That's the spirit," Tom joked, "Computer, reset to level 1, two opponents." He glanced at her, "Ready?" she nodded. "Computer, begin program."

An ugly Klingon appeared in front of B'Elanna. She had been forced to take bat'leth lessons as a child, so she immediately saw the flaw in the position of her opponent, as he lunged to bring the bat'leth into contact with her, all is weight was on his left foot. She easily sweep that foot out from under him, laying him out on the floor. Raising her bat'leth above her head, she swung through to deliver the deathblow. The hologram disappeared, defeated.

She shook her head, leaning on her bat'leth, as memories of years of being forced to do this… crap… flooded back into her head. She turned to watch Tom. He still had not taken out his opponent, even though the Klingon was making any number of easy to capitalize on mistakes. Why was she letting Tom push her into the doing this program? Why was she letting him push her into this… friendship? She huffed as he finally defeated the level one opponent.

"Wow, B'Elanna, you defeated that guy really quickly," Tom said, a bit out of breath. "You're a natural!"

She rolled her eyes, "Did you ever consider that I was raised by a Klingon mother… who wanted me to be a warrior… you know, she may have sent me to the odd Klingon martial arts class…"

Tom looked a bit embarrassed, "Well, that makes sense, I guess you didn't need to start at level one…"

"No," she said, but thought in her head, you certainly do…

"Well, how about you practice to your level, and me at mine. Ready to go again?"

"Whatever."

After a half an hour of disemboweling holographic Klingons and aliens, B'Elanna was furious. The problem with her being challenged at the higher levels was that Tom was now watching her after he finished his bout. And the man could not keep his mouth shut. He kept offering suggestions, most of the time incorrect. Why is he pushing me so much lately? What does he want from me?

Now he was yelling at her to deliver the deathblow, which wasn't going to work since she would have be opening herself up to an attack if she did that. "Computer, end program!" she yelled as she stormed out of the holodeck.

He came out after her, "Where are you going? You were doing great. You were in perfect position to deliver the death blow, all you had to do was follow through. Come on, let's try it again"

She was already walking away from him down the corridor as he mentioned that stupid death blow again. Trying not to yell at him, she growled, "Don't push me, Tom."

He laughed, which infuriated her further, and said, "I am not pushing you. I'm encouraging you."

She turned to face him, what little was left of her composure lost, "To do what?"

"Try something new. This martial arts program is the best workout I've ever had." As he continued, he laid his hand on her shoulder, despite the fact that she was still trying to walk away from him. "No, it's more than that, working with a bat'leth is an art. You have to use your mind and body, your movements-"

She stopped and faced him, interrupting, "Look, you may find all of this Klingon stuff really fascinating, but I don't." She began to circle him, waving the bat'leth that was still in her hand around for emphasis. "I'm not going to waste my time trying to disembowel a bunch of holographic monsters." Switching the bat'leth from one hand to another, the blade came within inches of Tom's face. "I only came down here because you tricked me into that stupid bet!"

"Watch it! You could take somebody's head off with that thing!"

Like I don't know exactly where this thing is, she thought as she paused, looked at the weapon. She slowly transferred it into both hands, offering the blade to Tom, "I have tried this, and now I am finished. Got it?"

Tom took a step forward and said, "Look, if you don't like the program that's fine, but why do you always have to get so hostile?"

Torres stepped back and yelled at him, "I am not hostile!"

Fuming they stared into each other's eyes. B'Elanna so mad, she didn't know what the next thing that was going to fly out of her mouth was. That's when they saw an alien appear at the end of the corridor.

Fin