This is my second fan fic for Voyager and I have decided to stick with J/P I guess I find it more of a creative challenge than J/C and they can be a much more fun couple to write, I hope you enjoy. This is kind of an episode addition to season 2 investigations.
I own nothing, but I'm sure I can borrow them for a short while I promise to return them happy but undamaged.
A personal thank you
Tom was sitting back in his quarters. It was nice to be back on voyager. He knew accepting the mission to the Kazon vessel was going to be dangerous, and it had been a long time in the planning.
He and the Captain had been scheming for weeks behind closed doors, before their plan had come to fruition and he found now that he missed their late night secret communications. It was however nice not to be getting under everyone's skin any more either, he must have put quite a lot of noses out of joint while he was pretending to be an unhappy officer.
Although he had to admit he did quite enjoy the look on Chakotay's face was totally worth it. Getting up from his chair he decided that he should start his unpacking and he sighed as he hefted his large carry case on to his table and unzipped the top.
Just as he was pulling out his tooth brush and washing kit a chime came at his door. Cocking an eyebrow as the hour was late and it was unlikely to be Harry as he had the early shift tomorrow and he had just been with him in the mess hall Tom wondered who it could be. The chime came again and he realised he had not answered the initial call and he shook his head to clear his sleep deprived brain.
"Come!" He called and he looked up at the swish of the doors and almost had to sit down.
"Captain come on in." He said moving over to her and extending his arm showing her in to his rather bare quarters.
"Thank you Tom, I just dropped by to see how you were." Janeway said looking around the room and spying the boxes and bags still on the floor unpacked.
"I see you have not gotten too far." She smirked as Tom followed her eye line and he quickly steer her over to the couch.
"Can I get you a drink Captain, I seem to have saved myself some rations this week." He said and looked back over his shoulder and smiled at her.
"Thank you Tom coffee would be lovely." She said sitting on the couch and crossing her legs. She placed her linked hands on her knee and watched him look at the replicator and stroke his chin. He had managed to freshly save and Janeway was glad, she thought her looked much better without the beard.
"No I think a nice bottle of wine tonight Captain, after all this is a celebration." Tom grinned at her from across the room and Janeway folded her arms and arched an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yeah, and what are we celebrating precisely." She said a hit of humour in her voice and just a corner of her mouth rose along with her eyebrow.
"How about my safe return and a successful mission." He said brining over the bottle of chilled white wine to the table and handed her a glass.
"I can drink to that Mr Paris." Janeway said as she lifted her glass so he could fill it with the cool liquid that produced a healthy number of bubbles.
"To a successful mission." Tom raised his glass and clinked it gently with hers and they both took a sip as he sat down beside her. They were not touching, but hardly at opposite ends of the sofa either. Janeway turned her body towards his. He was lying back against the sofa and had his head tilted back and his eyes half closed. As if he sensed her eyes on him he looked up at her and offered her one of his less cocky grins.
"I am sorry about the loss of Jonas though." Janeway said, she had almost surprised herself at her own words and she clamped her mouth shut before anything else slipped out that she didn't want.
"Why, he was a traitor, he had been passing information to the Kazon for months about us, he could have gotten the entire crew killed." Tom said trying to keep his voice level, but failing miserably.
"I know, but it seems like such a waste of life." She replied deciding that she had started it so she did need to offer an explanation.
"What would you have done with him?" Tom asked then, he knew how she had dealt with Suitor, but that was different.
"I am not sure, what Jonas did was calculating and insipid, giving someone like that the freedom of their quarters would be out of the question, locking them in the brig for seventy years seems extreme, but what other options would be open, an execution?" She asked looking at him as she took a sip of her wine and noticed her glass was already half empty.
"Maybe what happened was for the best then, including for him." Tom said reaching out and patting Janeway on the knee in a friendly gesture.
Janeway looked down at where his hand had touched her leg and she could still feel the ghost of his fingers there. Pulling her focus back to the room she looked at him and closed her eyes for a second.
"Yes I think it was, best for both of us." She said and Tom did not need to here any further explanation from her, he understood the pressures of command more than most people on board and he had experienced first hand what a hard decision could do to a person.
"I thought we were celebrating Mr Paris, this conversation has gone a little sad for my liking, now what about your little foray into being a bad boy." She said adding a cheeky grin to her face so he would know she wasn't too serious.
"Ha well been there done that Captain, but I have to admit some small part of me enjoyed winding Chakotay up." Tom said as he finished off his glass of wine and he re filled his own glass and toped up Janeway's. She realised that with Tom she seemed to automatically relax, and it had something to do with the way he treated her. He was respectful but in a non ridged way. He had a quick smile and a good amount of wit and she realised that's just what she had needed tonight, and was why she had probably found herself outside his door on the pretext of coming to see if he was ok.
She let him top up her wine and shook her head slightly.
"Only a small part of you Tom?" She questions as he settled back down and Tom let out a small laugh.
"Ok it was fun, but only because I knew none of it was for real, I would never disrespect the Commander like that." Tom said his tone turning serious for a second.
"I know you never would Tom, and I was very impressed with the way you handled yourself over the last few weeks, it takes a certain amount of courage to pull something like that off, not to mention the actual mission." Janeway said as she leant forward slightly and patted his knee in an echo of what he had done earlier. Tom looked down at her hand then up into her eyes. He couldn't help himself, she was so beautiful, he had noticed that from the moment she stood before him and offered him this job. He had filed that information away though and categorised it in the no chance in hell and took what he could get from her, by way of a look a friendly touch and the occasional glass of wine.
He was under no illusion of why she had come to see him tonight, she had wanted to be Kathryn for a little while and he allowed her to do that, without asking her for anything in return.
"Chakotay came to see me about you you know." She said lowering her gaze from his and looking into her wine glass as she took a sip.
"Oh yeah what did he say?" Tom asked leaning forward now his interest peeked.
"He wanted to know if I could speak to you about your behaviour seeing as you were my reclamation project." Kathryn kept her voice light so she didn't offend her helms man.
"Ha what did you say?" He asked quickly the light dancing in his eyes and his happy mood soon caught on.
"What could I say, I told him whatever he did I would support, what was I supposed to do get you in far a little chat whilst we actually played penuckle." Kathryn said smiling broadly now and Tom chuckled to himself.
"So do you think of me as your reclamation project?" He asked almost suddenly but Kathryn had been expecting the question as soon as she brought it up. She had wanted him to know the answer for a long time now but had never found the right situation to bring it up in.
"No tom I have not thought about you as that since our very first mission with the caretaker. You more than proved yourself to me and this crew on that day and many others following it. If you ever were my project then you are my shining example of success." She said her voice soft and her face open and Tom hand an almost overwhelming urge to kiss her. Kathryn saw the look on his face and then it was gone and was replaced by an uncomfortable look and he lent back away from her and cleared his throat.
"Well I am not so sure about that Captain but I thank you anyway." Tom darted his eyes about looking for a quick change of topic but he was saved by Kathryn.
"I heard that Jenny Delaney was very upset when she first heard of your departure, is there something going on there Lieutenant?" Kathryn asked with an evil glint in her eye and it quickly sapped the tension from the room and left Tom blushing.
"Not that I know of Captain, but who is to really say, there are plenty of women on Voyager and I have a long time to choose." He flashed his smile at her and she backhanded him across the shoulder and he had a mock hurt look on his face.
"With talk like that you will be lucky if I don't review the fraternisation policy right now." Kathryn said but it was an idol threat and he knew it.
"You would never do that to your crew, to yourself yes, but not your crew." Tom spoke quietly and Kathryn had to lean forward to here him and she was shocked with what he had said.
"I am not sure what your trying to get at Tom." She asked confusion and sharpness in her voice at the same time and Tom took a deep breath realising that the cat was well and truly out of the proverbial bag now and he might as well say it.
"Everyone on this ship is entitled to a relationship with whomever they want, your riles right because I where we are, so people wont get lonely or feel like they can't create a family here on Voyager, that is everyone except you." He said and he took a chance and looked up into her eyes and saw that she was not looking at him but out at the stars streaking past.
She did not answer him for a few moments and Tom thought she might just get up and walk away but she slowly turned her head and met his eyes.
"Do you know why I came here tonight Tom, why I didn't just go straight to bed and catch you on the bridge in the morning and thank you publically for doing what you did?"
Tom was taken off kilter for a moment he didn't expect this level of openness from her and he had to take a deep breath and think for a second.
"I guess because you can be Kathryn with me, too an extent anyway, more than anyone else on the ship, I think." He said finally and Kathryn nodded her head.
"Another reason I came here to just be in the company of a friend who knows me a well enough not to mention that fact and who is just happy to talk with me about anything and everything." She said waving her hand in a high arch as she indicated out of the window. Tom followed her gaze once more and looked at the stars and thought if she only knew the half of it.
"I guess so Captain, but you must be lonely, I mean look I am sorry that came out wrong." Tom stuttered but the fact was it hadn't come out wrong it just sounded wrong being said to her.
"It doesn't matter as long as I am a good Captain what does it matter if I am lonely or not." Kathryn said levelling her gaze at him and Tom saw the challenge in her eyes but he was not backing down now.
"Of course it matters, a happy Captain is a productive Captain, we could be out here a very long time Kathryn are you going to be alone all that time?" this time his question was full of the emotions he had been keeping in check since she walked into his quarters and Kathryn noticed the sift in his mood and she felt for the first time decidedly uncomfortable.
Tom caught on to her thoughts as he noticed her body stiffen and her eyes darted around the room, not settling on him for a second. He stood up and emptied the wine bottle into their glasses and he looked down at her and offered her a out to this awkward situation he had created but he secretly wanted her to confide in him.
"Are you trying to get me drunk Mr Paris?" She said taking the out he had offered her and he hid his slight disappointment but he was glad she was going to stay.
Kathryn knew that he was trying to get her to stay for a bit longer and she realised that she did not want to leave quite yet either.
"I am happy Tom." She said suddenly as though she was compelled to answer his earlier question even though he had let her change the subject.
"I know you are, but tell me that in ten years." Tom said his words were slightly prophetic and Kathryn thought he was talking now more about himself.
"You think I will still know you in ten years."
"I am placing a bet on it as we speak." He grinned and Kathryn pursed her lips.
"Don't think I don't know about your little gambling ring Mr Paris, you are lucky that its good for moral or you would have been scrubbing the plasma conduits for a month by now." She said her mouth curling into a half smile and Tim placed his hands over his heart.
"Moi, well ok but we never bet on anything important, or anything that can be fixed, really it's all above board." He said as she lent forward placing her elbows on her thighs and looking him deep in the eyes and biting her bottom lip slightly.
"I know I won the last one." Tom almost fell off the sofa and he had to place his free hand on the back of it to support himself.
"Kathryn Janeway you are always able to surprise me." He said as he waggled his finger at her as she lent back against the sofa and sipped her wine which she realised was almost empty.
"Computer time." She asked quickly knowing that it had been late when she had arrived and she had an early shift tomorrow.
"The time is 01:25 hours." The computers monotone voice replied as Kathryn almost shot up off the sofa.
"Oh god its so late I'm sorry to have kept you up this long Tom." She said placing her glass on the table and headed for the door.
Tom stood up quickly and reached out for her hand. He suddenly had the overwhelming urge to make her stay, that he had gotten so close to her opening up to him, that if she left now she would be able to replace her veneer and he would never get this chance again.
"Kathryn stay."
Ok this is pt 1 what do you think, I have two different ways this could go. Either she does stay or she doesn't fairly obvious that one, but whatever happens this is a J/P fic and I like to have a happy ending to my stories so if you have an opinion on which way you would like this to go let me know.
If she leaves we are looking at an angst piece of cat and mouse and if she stays a fluffy piece of Janeway finally letting Tom to save her from being lonely.
As always reviews are appreciated and welcomed I never have a problem with constructive criticism but flames will be ignored as I cry easily.
Thank you for reading.