Chapter Two

"What's this," Harry asked, pointing to his friends combined digits.

Ensign Kim worked through lunch, crunching the data from Tom's trans warp test flight while still at the operations station on the bridge. The Captain wandered to the upper deck occasionally and watched his progress. At the end of his shift Captain Janeway suggested, in that tone indicating an order, he present himself to sickbay and relieve Lt. Torres. Walking in Harry understood why. Pointing to B'Elanna's trapped hand and frustrated expression, his grin widened.

"Apparently," she answered hostilely, irritated by doing nothing but watch Paris sleep, "Tom loves me and won't let me out of his sight or grasp."

"No secret there," Harry laughed. It turned into a snort as he forced a neutral expression onto his face. If looks could kill, he'd be a very dead Ensign.

"What do you mean, no secret," B'Elanna demanded. Even with her Klingon ire, sleeping Tom refused to let go. Only she knew he wasn't sleeping any longer.

What have you said?

Nothing.

Really? You know how much I love people talking about me.

Come on! This place is a fish bowl. If there isn't a rumour spreading by ten hundred, then start one.

Every rumour has a basis in fact.

How much time have we been spending together?

We're working on a project, as a team.

Semantics.

I give up!

Grinning and oblivious, Harry teased, "didn't you get the memo." It didn't quite get the response he was looking for as B'Elanna ignored him in favour of Tom's sleeping form.

Let. Me. Go. Tom.

Do I have too?

Yes. Right now.

Spoil sport.

"What just happened," Harry looked perplexed. He'd watched B'Elanna give his friend a death stare. If looks could form a conversation, he knew exactly what occurred between the two. Then Tom let go with a sigh and opened his eyes.

"Hey, Harry," he said but the tone lacked his usual joviality. "Come to give B'Elanna a break."

"Something like that," Kim responded, his gaze switching between his friends. There seemed to be a strange sort of aura surrounding them. Their physical contact ended, Torres moved as far way from Paris as possible. "Have you two been arguing? There's suddenly a chill in the air."

"What gives you that idea," Tom joked. His eyes watched B'Elanna as she edged in the direction of the exit.

"I'm going to burn off some energy," Torres threw over her shoulder, "get cleaned up and then eat."

Harry gave her a compassionate look. If there was one thing B'Elanna hated, it was sitting around doing nothing. As far as he could see, she didn't even have a PADD to distract her.

Promise you'll come back. You can even bring some work.

That's big of you.

Smugly, I thought so.

You're a pig, Paris.

It's my lot in life, Torres, according to you. And yet I could be so much more.

Give me a couple of hours. But, I can't stay all night.

And I was so looking forward to cuddling up.

Snort. I rather cuddle my warp core.

Sighing, you love your engines more than you love me.

"I give up," B'Elanna threw her hands in the air and stalked out of sick bay muttering, "you see what you can do with him, Harry. He's impossible."

"What the hell just happened," Kim took the seat vacated by B'Elanna before looking into his friends blazing eyes. The ram rod straight spine of their chief engineer displayed her anger. Yet Paris' gaze continued to look at the door long after she'd disappeared.

"Telepathy, Harry," Tom smirked, before closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.

Shaking his head, Harry didn't quite know how to take his friends comment. Everyone knew neither Tom nor B'Elanna had that mental ability. Besides, Kes had been in and out of the room and didn't look like she was picking up any unusual mental activity. Tom's irritable behaviour didn't bode well for the remainder of the visit. Noticing the atmosphere change, Kes came out of the office to conduct her half hourly patient check.

"Harry," she offered in her soft, calming tone, "it's good to see Tom's friends stop by. I'm sure B'Elanna appreciates the chance to take a break."

Smiling, Harry nodded. "She seemed pretty wound up when she left," he agreed. Sensing the Ocampan might have some insight, he stated, "Tom mentioned telepathy."

Confused, Kes seemed to draw into herself for a few moments. "I'm not sensing any mental communication," she offered.

"It strange," Harry confessed, "when I came into sick bay, it seemed like Tom and B'Elanna were lost in each other. They were glaring but the looks on their faces; well it was like they were having one of their usual conversations. You know, winding each other up. Only neither of them said a word. It reminded me of the time B'Elanna and I were in the Ocampan city. Everyone was so silent."

Considering Harry's words, Kes waved the tricorder and probe over Tom. A concerned expression covered her face as she noticed the serotonin levels had once again risen. Placing the equipment on a table to one side of the bio bed, she laid a hand on Tom's shoulder.

Nothing. She felt nothing. If Tom was developing telepathy, she couldn't read anything from him.

"Tom?" Kes questioned in a soft voice, leaning over him, "how are you feeling?"

"Strange," he commented. "Like I'm floating outside my body but I'm still me."

"Do you still have your headache?" Kes enquired.

"Yes," Paris responded. "It never really went away."

"I'm going to get you something for the pain," she stated.

"Don't bother," he muttered, "it didn't help last time."

"I'll be back in a minute," Kes promised both men with a reassuring smile, returning to the doctor's office.

The EMH had been monitoring the exchanged from his console. "I see Lt. Paris' serotonin levels have risen two percent since Lt. Torres left. I cannot account for the reason that our engineer's company stabilised his condition."

"I have an idea, Doctor," Kes offered, "but I don't think you will like my conclusion."

His expression demanded she continue.

"As I understand it, the trans warp test flight allowed Tom to be everywhere at the same moment in time," Kes stated, watching the Doctor's response. He nodded. "That amount of information would be difficult to process. Do you think it's possible his neural pathways have been damaged by sensory overload?"

"Very possible," the EMH reflected. "The last neurological scan showed increasing activity in all areas of Lt. Paris' encephalogram. But if he experienced trans wrap for a few seconds, I'd have expected his brain to be repairing itself. This is something else, almost a state of hyperactivity."

"Maybe Tom's mind is changing," Kes theorised. "I couldn't hear him telepathically. Harry seems to think Tom and B'Elanna are communicating nonverbally."

"Run a DNA scan and see if there has been any subtle changes we missed initially," the EMH ordered. "Physically Lt. Paris' brain is as it always was. Electrically, that's a different matter entirely."