The drawer to the stasis bay opened. Another click and it pulled forward. Tom slide down the top of the tube, opening it.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" She asked. The room was now an operating theater. Tom had recreated his own laboratory in the cargo bay. A large console resembling an old fashioned battery covered with touch pads along one side took up most of the space on the table. Clear cable filaments were plugged into it, large and thick when attached to the box but they dwindled down in size until they were little more than threads. This was the method that was going to deliver the 'shocks' to B'Elanna's system.

"You've never been afraid of stasis before. We spent a whole month in one of those tubes, remember?" he asked. He placed small nodes on her arms that were to act as conductors for the power impulses that would soon travel through her system.

"Well, I spent a month in one. If Seven is to be believed you spent most of your time breaking out of yours. These things are cold."

"Sorry. Just get in and get comfortable. You'll be taking a very short nap. Not even for a full hour. You won't feel a thing."

"You won't accidentally shock yourself, will you? Then what will happen to me?"

"The Doctor made provisions for that contingency. The fail-safes have fail safes. The quicker we get this done the quicker we can find out what is going on back at Voyager."

"There is that." She said. Climbing inside she did her best to lie still as Tom hooked up the cables and placed a cortical monitor on her forehead. He began to untangle the cords connecting them to her. The ends that went into her nodes were barely more than strings which enabled him to shut the cover of the tube easily.

"Sweet dreams." He said. Their eyes met and held for a moment.

He shut the cover and waited. She immediately closed her eyes. Staring at the monitor he waited until she was completely out and then began the process. Turning on the machine he watched as it powered up and then stepped back. The display was big enough so he could easily read her vitals at this distance. Small dots of light traveled from the box down the transparent cords to B'Elanna. He half expected her to jerk or moan in her sleep because that was a common reaction but she remained still. Her Klingon genetics were probably helping her with that. This would go on for another fifteen minutes. Her vital sounds were good. Her brain patterns were slightly erratic but that was normal with this procedure. The Doctor had alerted to him to every possibility.

After a few minutes, he relaxed, confident that the Doctor's instructions had been accurate and that he had followed them correctly. The pulses carried on in an almost hypnotic manner. He kept his eyes on the console but his mind insisted on wondering. He worried about Chakotay's cryptic message and the single-minded pursuit of B'Elanna by Matev. Part of him hated him and part of him almost felt sympathy for him but only because he knew what it was like to become fascinated with B'Elanna but was he holding Voyager hostage? Was he looking for B'Elanna at this very moment? As soon as she was through with this treatment he was going to move their position. There was a nebula not far away. Between that and the modulating shield frequency they should be safe for a while. He decided to suggest a deadline if they didn't hear from Voyager again. His mind went to a strange place of him here on the Flyer, alone with B'Elanna in the Delta Quadrant if they lost contact with Voyager. Would they continue on their journey? Would they find a nice place to just settle down? He couldn't think about that now…

A soft alarm beeped from the console. The fifteen minutes was over. He opened the tube and gently disconnected the nodes. She woke up and their eyes locked again. She sat up.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like I just drank a couple of liters of chamomile tea. Was that it?"

"That's all there was to it. I should tell you that you might feel a little tired and will probably experience more fatigue as the treatment goes on. It might last for a while after the last treatment ends but in time things will return to normal,or they should. Records show this has never been tried on a Klingon before so we're in new territory." He pulled the nodes off her skin but left the filaments in place to save time.

"I do feel tired but I thought it was from lack of sleep." She had a scowl on her face. Tom knew instinctively knew it was not directed at him. It was her 'I'm mad at the world' expression.

"Stay in there if you want." He walked to the other side of the room picking up the alien transporter as he did. Turning it on he waited for the now familiar signals. Walking over to B'Elanna he noted the intensity and volume of the beeps were not as strong as before.

"It's working. You can lay back down if you like. I'm going to move the Flyer. There's a nebula not far away. I don't know if it will shield us or not but it's worth a try."

"I don't want to stay here. I'll go up with you."

"Fine," he said. He tried to not read too much into her desire to stay by his side. Maybe what had happened in his room had gotten to her. Had that just been a few hours ago?

After crawling out of the tube she stood up. She stayed in position for a full minute, not moving a muscle.

"Got up a bit too quickly.' She said. "Bit Woozy."

"That's normal." He motioned for her to go first. If she fell he planned to catch her.

Back in the cockpit, she sat down at the Ops station. He powered the Flyer up, traveling at Warp 1 to the small Class Two nebula that was a few light years away.

"How long do you think we should we wait until we hear from Voyager?" She asked as the small craft took off.

"I was thinking tomorrow at this time. By then you should be through with the treatments. Sound ok to you?"

"Hmm...I just realized, someone has to be in command of this little excursion."

"You outrank me of course, but there is the whole 'I'm a medical officer and can relieve you of duty' thing because you are slightly...incapacitated at the moment and believe it or not, I can do that. I won't though if you think you can handle it."

"How about you are in charge until we get these 'things' out of my body and if we're still out here then we'll revisit the command structure again?" she asked. "Although I don't know that I would be handling things any differently than you are at the moment."We are approaching the nebula." She said. "Sensors read that everything is within accepted parameters."

He turned his attention back to the business of flying. Once safely inside the nebula, he brought it to a full stop.

"So now we wait." He said turning around to face her. They were running away from an unknown enemy, Voyager was in trouble and they could not help her. What was happening to them back there?

"Now we wait." She repeated.

She wasn't normally so needy. Maybe needy wasn't the best word for it but B'Elanna did all she could to keep Tom in her line of sight at all times. Not because she wanted anything from him but the idea of being separated from him bothered her but she didn't know why. Extensive away missions had never been a problem. Why now? Maybe it was some residual post-traumatic stress thing left over from when she was running blind through those unmarked corridors alone. Whatever it was she couldn't take the time to analyze it. Right now all that mattered was they stay together. If they had been together at the reception the other night none of this would have happened.

"I need to go check the power levels on that generator. The Doctor said that the energy levels in replicated instruments can fluctuate." He said. He got up and stretched himself reminding B'Elanna that he had hardly had any sleep for the past twenty-four hours. He was starting to tire although he would not say anything about it but she could see the signs.

"We really should eat something." She said. It was true and a good a reason as any to stay with him.

"Sounds good." He agreed. She followed him down the steps. He immediately began running a diagnostic on the console as she considered their food choices. Her mind went back a few days to the dinner they were supposed to have. The dinner that he never showed up for. She had a right to be angry. Her temper dissipated as slight nausea took over. She considered forgoing food altogether she needed to keep up her strength. She settled for some soup for both of them. She made him a toasted cheese sandwich to go with his portion and some tea for the both of them.

"Plain hot tomato soup?" He asked looking at her selection.

"I've developed a taste for it." She said. It was true but the fact was it would probably lay easier in her stomach than anything else.

They ate in silence.

After finishing the diagnostic Tom pulled two cots out of the storage unit. There wasn't much space for them but he managed to squeeze one in on one side of the power generator and on the other side.

"Unless you would like to sleep in the tube." He offered. She shook her head. She didn't have the fear of them that Tom had but now she was associating it with sickness and treatment. She started to pull out the blankets and pillows but found herself overcome by a great weariness. Tom noticed and hurried over to help her with the task.

"Two more treatments?" She asked.

"I'm afraid so. The next one will be in about thirty minutes. Then we wait two hours and do it again. That should be it."

"I hate this!" she said. "I hate feeling helpless."

"I know you do," He said. Of course, he did. He knew her, understood her. Why had she been so mean to him? He didn't deserve such treatment. "We'll get those things out of your system…" He started to reach out and touch her but pulled back.

"And then what? We have no idea what's happening back on Voyager." She snapped. After all, he was doing for her she was acting like a grouch. She needed to calm down but there was no safe place for her to mentally retreat to.

"I know. But we can't worry about that right now. All we can worry about is getting you taken care of." His voice was soothing. His understanding irritated her. It was irrational but something she couldn't control.

"I'm sorry. I'm starting to feel…jumpy," she said.

"It might be a side effect of the treatment on Klingon physiology. I'll make a note of it to the Doctor."

"You've not said one word about how all of this is...my fault," she said. She couldn't lie down. She couldn't do anything but sit here and rage at herself.

"What do you mean, your fault? Don't be ridiculous. This all started because I was off being me again."

"But I didn't have to…" Even though she was feeling irritable it was good that they were finally going to talk this thing out. She opened her mouth to continue but started to feel a weird tingle. An energy field was enveloping her. It felt similar to a transporter beam but somewhat different. She was being beamed away. Her last memory was Tom fading from her view.