Reality Check- Chapter 4

Voyager

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Tom Paris asked Odile.

"No, its okay, I was going to get up soon anyway." She replied and kissed Tom sweetly. That kiss…Tom thought. Even though he didn't remember pretty much anything from his life here, he remembered that kiss well. When they finished kissing Odile squeezed by Tom to get into the bathroom.

That's when he noticed her large stomach. She was pregnant…probably with his child, too. Tom gave her a weak smile and then quickly left the bathroom, letting her get ready. He walked over to the desk where the computer was and began to read about himself and his life.

There was just something wrong about this whole thing, yet it sort of felt right to him. He was only able to read a few things about himself when Odile walked out dressed in her uniform. Tom quickly changed what he was looking at to some random ship schematic.

"What're you doing?" She asked coming up and wrapping her arms around him.

"Just looking up a few things." Tom replied and looked up at her.

"Well, don't be late for your shift; I have a doctor's appointment soon, so I have to go." Odile said. "I'm sorry we can't have breakfast together."

"It's alright." He responded smiling. "We should meet for lunch, then."

"That's great; I'll see you at the Mess Hall when your shift ends, okay?" She asked.

"Got it." Tom said. Odile kissed him on the forehead and then left after they exchanged 'goodbyes.'

Odile strode out the door and Tom decided to get up and get changed. To him, it seemed that everything was perfectly fine, except for the fact that he had pretty much no idea of who he was. After he took a quick shower and changed into his uniform, Tom left his quarters and walked down the corridor.

Tom began to walk towards the Mess Hall and eventually arrived there with no problem whatsoever. It wasn't until he stood in line to get his meal did he find it odd that he knew almost exactly the layout of the ship, but knew practically nothing about his own self.

"Why hello, Tom, it's good to see you this morning, how are you?" Came the all too happy voice. Tom looked up to see a furry alien smiling at him, obviously where the voice had originated from.

"Uh, I'm fine, yourself?" Tom asked and walked up to the alien who was behind the counter, serving food.

"Well I am doing quite fine." The alien replied. Who the hell is this guy? Tom thought. "Is Odile here with you?"

"Uh, no, she has a doctor's appointment; she'll probably be along later." Tom answered. Seriously, who is he?

The alien took out a tray and started to fill it with some extremely nasty looking food. "That's good, it's important that she doesn't miss any meal, she is eating for her and the babies after all." The alien said.

Babies? Tom thought. Babies, as in…more than one? "Uh…" Tom said, unsure of what to add. "Don't worry…" Neelix! That's his name, Neelix! "…Neelix, she's almost always hungry so it's kind of hard to keep her away from food." Tom joked and offered a weak smile.

Neelix smiled back at Tom and let out a small laugh. "You're right; enjoy the meal." Neelix said and handed Tom the tray of gross food.

Tom nodded his head goodbye and walked away from the counter. I definitely remember this food. He thought. He sat down at an empty table nearest the door and began to pick around at the food. After a few minutes by himself, there was a friendly pat on the shoulder and when Tom looked up, he saw another beautiful woman looking back at him. She had brown hair, brown eyes, had an alien-like forehead, and was dressed in a yellow uniform.

"Mind if I sit with you?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer and sat down anyway.

"No…" Tom replied. Alright, now I've definitely seen her before…Tom thought.

"How's the wife?" She questioned and picked at her food, deciding whether or not to eat it.

"She's fine; she's visiting the doctor as we speak." He answered. I know her name, it's…Torres. Tom thought. Wait, who would name their kid Torres?

"It's only a month until she gives birth, right?" Torres asked.

"Yeah, only a month." Tom responded and took a bite out of some of his food. Woah, only a month? Wait…B'Elanna, that's her first name.

"How bad is it?" B'Elanna asked referring to the food.

"It's not that bad, but not the best." Tom answered. He took a few more bites and then decided to leave before she could ask him any more questions. Of which, he would probably not know the answer to any of them. "I better go, my shift starts soon." He started to get up and grabbed the tray.

"Nice talking to you, Flyboy." B'Elanna called after him as he walked away.

Tom let out a small smile and put the tray in the recycler and walked out of the Mess Hall. He stopped outside of the Mess Hall for a second or two thinking of what to do next. After thinking for a bit, he decided to head towards Sickbay. That way, he could probably tell the Doctor that he had no memory of what was going on and he would get out of doing his duty shift.

Like his body knew what to do, he started to walk towards Sickbay. When Tom reached the turbolift he waited for everyone to get off and then he walked inside. The second he turned around to look at the turbolift doors he saw a different picture than the turbolift doors themselves.

What Tom saw was several motionless people hanging from chains in a dark room. Each person was hanging with by their arms, enough so that they were at most two centimeters above the ground. He immediately turned his head away in shock of seeing the vision. When Tom turned his head back to look at the turbolift doors, the image of the motionless bodies was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Tom asked himself. There was no one else in the turbolift to see the image that Tom saw, but he started to believe that it was just all in his head.

Then Tom started to think about…well, everything. It seemed to him that the second he saw the image of the bodies, he remembered everything. And that means everything.

Tom Paris remembered his life on Voyager, his real life on Voyager, not this fake one that he was in now. He remembered Cadlik Prime and how Odile was supposed to be dead; but here, she wasn't dead. He also remembered that he and Lieutenant Woods was attacked by some aliens before he woke up back on Earth next to some girl he had never met. And then when he told her he didn't belong, that he was from a different reality, he appeared on a Federation Naval Ship. Then the same happened when he told the very same girl the exact same thing again.

He needed to get home, back to Voyager, his Voyager. Tom knew that all he had to do was go to Sickbay and tell the Doc what was going on. Then the rest of the senior staff and him would figure out what to do next. But what stopped him was Odile.

She had died at Cadlik Prime and this was a completely different reality, she wasn't his Odile, but she still seemed to be exactly like the one he knew. It was his fault that Odile was gone, if he hadn't convinced her to join him, then she would still be alive. And here she was, alive as anything. He felt her touch, felt her kiss; she was real, this was real. He had loved her every single day of his life when they were together and the pain he felt when she left was immense.

"I can't let her go again." Tom muttered to himself. "Computer, Bridge." The turbolift began to move and Tom stood there thinking about his decision.

He remembered the pain he felt when she died. But his life on Voyager wasn't even half as nice as it was on this Voyager. People liked him here; unlike on the other Voyager where he had so few friends and the majority of the crew hated him. This Voyager was everything he could have ever wanted, why should he leave?

The turbolift stopped at the Bridge and Tom exited. He smiled at Tuvok, but the Vulcan showed no emotion back. Tom walked past Chakotay and the Captain and sat down at the helm. His life was practically perfect, he was liked, had Odile back, had children on the way, and it was everything he could've ever asked for.

I'm never going to leave. Tom thought smiling to himself. It's just perfect here.