A/N: This is just something I thought of when I was watching "Drive", and I finally decided to get it typed and uploaded. Please review if you read.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story. They are the respectful property of Paramount; I just write stories about them.
Tom Paris sat at one of the tables in the Mess hall, staring blankly at one of Neelix's newest culinary inventions as he waited for B'Elanna to join him. He picked up the PADD that held his con report, and began to work on it again.
"Sorry I'm late." Tom was broken out of his reverie by his wife's voice. "We had a little dilemma in Engineering." She began to place her tray on the table.
Tom stood up. "No problem," he replied as he pulled the chair next to his out for her. He gently pushed it under her as she sat down. "Did you manage to fix it?"
"Not quite. For some reason the computer isn't allowing any diagnostics on the warp core to run. And we've tried everything." She took a bite out of her food.
"Maybe it's just some faulty wiring."
B'Elanna was about to dispute when Harry came over to their table.
"Mind if I join you?"
"No, not at all," Tom replied all too cheerfully.
Harry sat down. "So, what are you two talking about?"
"Well, B'Elanna was just telling me about a problem she was having. And I was just giving her some helpful advice."
"It's not helpful if it's wrong," B'Elanna retorted.
Harry smirked. He loved watching the two bicker, and from the looks of things, this was going to be good.
"And what's so 'wrong' about it?" Tom asked, turning to face B'Elanna.
"How about the fact that it just is?"
"Did you even check the wiring?"
"Twice."
"Did you manually check it, or did you have the computer do it?"
B'Elanna scowled, and she mumbled something as she turned her attention back to her food.
"What was that?" Tom inquired, a smug smirk ever present on his face.
"The computer," she finally admitted out loud, clearly unhappy that Tom now had the upper hand.
"So if the computer isn't running diagnostics in the warp core, then doesn't it make sense that maybe -just maybe- it might not be running diagnostics correctly on other systems?"
"Maybe. But I'm telling you, Tom: I'm ninety-nine percent sure that it's not the wiring."
"Then how about you just check it after lunch?" Tom's smirk grew smugger, if that were even possible.
"How about this: you are not an engineer; you will not attempt to fix this ship."
Tom's face fell, and B'Elanna's lit up. "I should have known that would come back and bite me in the ass."