"Well, you know him better, you should." B'Elanna exclaimed.

"Yeah but I stayed with Harry last time."

"What do you mean last time? We have never been married before?!"

Tom sighed. "I meant last time we had a fight."

B'Elanna prepared herself to retaliate but stopped when she saw the Captain stepping into the Turbolift.

"So what are you two fighting about?" She asked, as the doors closed.

"We decided that on the night before the wedding we would sleep separately, and not see each other until the ceremony." Tom started.

"So one of us has to sleep in Harry's Quarters, but we think it's too big a decision to just flip a coin, or play rock-paper-scissors." B'Elanna finished for him. "So we don't know what to do." The couple looked at the Captain expectantly and she laughed.

"Why don't you, have an I-love-you-more contest." The Captain beamed at her idea.

"A what?" Tom ask, bewildered.

"A love contest. Me and Mark did it all the time when it came to decisions. You get a friend to keep score, so for you guys Harry, and up until the night you compete doing really romantic gestures and Harry add up the points. If, for example, Tom is making dinner, and he replicates a roast dinner, Harry might rate that a four out of 10 so Tom gets four points. But if B'Elanna makes dinner and hand makes Tom a pizza, Harry might rate it an eight and B'Elanna gets eight points. At the end whoever has the most points, wins." The Captain walked out onto the Bridge and took her seat as B'Elanna and Tom stood just off the Turbolift finalising with Harry their new way to settle the decision.

"Be?" Tom asked, carrying roses through the doors.

"Yeah?" B'Elanna's reply came from another room, he made his way over but B'Elanna popped her head out of the door. "Don't come in yet." She said, ducking back inside. Tom waited patiently, after arranging the deep-red flowers in a vase and taking his shoes and jumpsuit off, leaving him stripped down to his undershirt and underpants. "Okay, you can come in now." Tom walked across the room but stopped at the doorway, he couldn't see B'Elanna anywhere, and there wasn't many places to hide, seeing as there was no furniture.

"Where are y-" He stopped mid-sentence after she did a site-to-site transport, directly into a kiss. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held one of her hands, pushing her up against the nearest wall, just like their first kiss. They stayed like this for a while, uninterrupted by the doctor this time, before he broke it off and looked around. "Be, did you do all this?" Tom asked, astounded at what he saw.

She stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned back into him. "Yeah, do you like it?" She asked, turning her head up to look at him.

"I love it babe, when did you do all this, you only got off duty an hour before me?" Tom said, admiring all the new baby furniture in the nursery.

"I got some help building it all, and I'm storing it all in Cargo Bay 2 with Seven until we have decorated it, I thought you might like to decorate it tonight?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"I'd love too, I have already pulled up some paint colour ideas on my PADD and I've replicated some brushes and rollers." She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into him. "Are you okay?" Tom asked, apprehensively, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head lovingly. She didn't reply, he walked her out of the room into their bedroom and sat her down on the bed, she just sat in his arms. "Be, are you okay, what's up?" He asked, giving her a little shake.

"Tom?" She asked after a few seconds.

"Yeah?" He replied comfortingly, hugging her tighter. He lay down, and she followed, lying her head on his chest.

"Why are you with me, when you could have any woman on this ship, when you have so much to offer, your so kind and sweet, romantic and funny, not to mention so handsome, but why are you with me, of all the girls who would do anything to be with you. You pursued me for so long before I finally let you in, and I'm so much to cope with, why?" She looked up at him but he was dumbfounded.

"Why….am I….with you?" He sounded confused. He felt her head nod against his chest. "Because I'm in love with you, B'Elanna." He replied, sitting back up and propping himself up against the bedhead, pulling her up onto his knee.

"Yeah but, why do you love me. I don't deserve you, yet you love me anyway, I'm so mean and argumentative and I never do anything romantic or loving for you, I'm home late for dinner half the time and you always do romantic things for me, and…and…" She faded out, looking up at him desperately for an answer. He leaned down and kissed her pulling her into him tighter.

"None of that matters to me. I don't care if you're late home, or if you argue with me, I don't care that you don't do romantic things for me, all I care about is you being here with me. You deserve so much better than me Be, I'm just some idiot, who, around a decade ago, was willing to sell out the marquis to get out of prison, so every day that I have with you I'm grateful for, I go to bed each night with you in my arms wondering what I did to deserve you. The question is, why do you love me, Be?" She looked up at him and ran her hand down the side of his face.

"Oh Tom, I love you, for being you. You're so cocky, and funny, and romantic, you're handsome, and annoying and sexy, your kind, and loving, and so caring. I've never had a partner who would just sit and listen to my problems or arrive at my work with a picnic because I don't have time for lunch. You're so clever, and strong and you love me for me, not me for being a Klingon mate prize, you love me, and I love you, and don't ever let me go, Tom, don't ever leave me, please." She looked up at him and let the tears that had been building in her eyes run down her face, he was already crying.

"Never, I'm never letting you go no matter what, Be. You're the most precious thing in this world to me, I'd die before letting you go, before letting you get harmed." B'Elanna turned around and sat in his lap, leaning back into him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and brushed her hair off her neck, placing kisses gently along it, until her reached the bottom of her face, she turned around and kissed him. "I don't say it enough Be, but I want you to know how much I love you. I love you." He said, kissing her again. She broke it off and looked deep into his eyes, turning around and sitting in front of him.

"I love you too, but I love you more!" She said, laughing slightly.

He sat up fully and wrapped an arm around her, quickly pulling her back down. "That's not possible, there isn't words for how much I love you, no one loves any else anywhere, ever as much as I love you." With that said he kissed her intensely, and she kissed back, stronger. He broke it off by sliding her off to next to him and grabbing data PADD. "Seeing as were painting the room before we know what gender the baby is going to be, I thought we should paint it yellow?" Tom passed her a PADD and she looked at it briefly and handed it back.

"Whatever colour you want flyboy, I know I'll love it." She took the PADD back out of his hand and send the data over to the replicator, she watched as two buckets of paint replicated, she stripped down to her underwear and threw her uniform into the refresher. "Did you replicate something to wear while we paint, I don't wanna get any paint on my clothes?" She said while carrying the paint and all the equipment through. "Tom?"

"Yeah, here." He was directly behind her and it shocked her.

"You scared me!" She said, swinging a punch at his shoulder, but he grabbed it and kissed her instead. He handed her his pyjama top and she pulled it on. "You'll have to get new pyjamas out later, these are gonna get filthy." B'Elanna tried to open a can of paint but couldn't, so Tom took the can, opened it and handed it to her. She poured some out into a roller-tray, covered it in paint and created a large patch of colour on the utterly grey walls. "I'll do this one and you do that one?" She suggested, handing him a roller and a tray of paint.

"Okay, we'll meet up in the middle there and do the end one together." He carried the tray over and began work. After a few minutes Tom began to think it was rather quiet. "Computer, play music Paris-Alpha-Two" Quiet music began to play and B'Elanna began to hum along. "Recognise it?" He questioned her playfully.

"The song selection from our first date. I would never forget it." She responded quietly.

After a while the whole room was painted a beautiful pale yellow and Tom was painting the ceiling a very dark blue. He had special stickers that looked like a night sky, he had finished just after B'Elanna had finished in the shower. "Be, come look, I finished it!" She wandered through and she was captivated by how beautiful it looked.

"You're a real handyman aren't you?" She replied hugging him and looking around. "Let's get the furniture in then?" She began programming the site-to-site transport and waited as is materialised. All the furniture was white and shiny, they arranged it with the crib in the corner, and a small sofa-chair next to it. Tom attached the mobile to the wall and tested it, watching as the mini-voyagers span round and round, while quiet music played. A small table was set up at the other side of the crib with two baby monitors on. Against the opposite wall was a small set of drawers, ready to be filled with baby clothes. Next to it was a baby-changer, with more drawers underneath, filled with wipes, nappies and talc powder. Once all the furniture had been arranged, Tom stuck up all the wall stickers, one above the crib with a short lullaby written on, one above the baby changer with 'Clean and tidy, makes a happy baby!' written on and one on the door saying 'Shhh! Baby sleeping in here!' Finally, Tom hung up a large, empty holo-picture frame. "What's that for, sweetie?" B'Elanna was puzzled as to why he had put up an empty frame.

"For a picture of us all once it's born." Tom replied softly, smiling at her. "Now, it's pretty late, let's get to bed." He took off the pyjama pants he had been wearing and threw them in the recycler as he walked past it, getting a new pair out the drawer and handing her the top.

B'Elanna awoke in the middle of the night, she reached across and got Tom's drink from nightstand, finishing it off, she placed it back where it was and sat up, watching him sleep. She loved watching him sleep, she thought he looked really attractive when he had just woken up, probably because he looked all rough and untidy. She gently placed a kiss on his lips, he didn't kiss her back, but he stirred a couple of seconds later, so she kissed him again. He kissed back this time but that wasn't the reply she wanted, she ran her hand along his bare chest under the cover, but he ignored her. Rather infuriated at his lack of response, she tore the cover off his chest and began to kiss her way down his chest, by the time she reached his naval she could see he was up for it through his pyjama pants, but he was playing hard to get, she looked and there was a slight smile on his face. She gently lifted his top off her body, which was the only thing she was wearing, and lay on his bare chest, she could tell it was getting hard for him to resist, especially by the feel of him pressing into her belly. She was really angry now. She bit his side hard, making him flinch, she licked the blood away, but still, he lay idle. She knew she had one last trick that might work. She lowered herself slightly and ground against him, she did this several times before being suddenly flipped over with her hands pinned above her head. She opened her mouth to speak but he delve down into a deep long kiss. He weakened for a second and she flipped him over taking off his pyjama pants and dumping them on the floor.

"I can't….believe….you woke me….up….for sex." He laughed, but she looked at him seriously and then broke out in a huge grin.

"Well flyboy, you look your best when you first wake up!" She retorted, as he flipped her back over and readied himself.

=/\=

Tom woke up in the morning, but B'Elanna wasn't there. He could hear the sound of the shower so he wandered through and watched her for a minute before she realised he was there. "Are you just watching me shower?" She quizzed, watching him blush and look to the floor. She turned off the shower and stepped out, he wrapped a towel around her and she held his hand they walked back through to the bedroom. "How long were you there?" She said dropping the towel and drying herself off.

"Not long, I'm barely awake."

"I know, you look really sexy, flyboy."

"As sexy as last night?" He teased, smirking.

"I'm so sorry by the way, I don't know what came over me." She said embarrassed.

"Don't be." He pulled her into a lustful kiss. Her fingers played with the red-blonde hair on his chest and ran her hands down her belly. He shivered as her hands reached their intended destination. How is it you have so-o-o many ways to get me but I only have a fe-ew to you." He panted for breath.

She pushed him down on the bed lay on top of him, watching as he panted, clearly desperate. It was her turn to play hard to get. She rolled off him, to his disappointment and walked away, smiling playfully. He jumped up and followed her through, she got a tub of jam out the fridge and put some bread in the toaster.

"You want some toast, flyboy." She grinned at him but he was still panting, trying to resist the urge to leap on her.

"No." He relied calmly.

"Well, what do you want?"

"I…want...you!" He said lustfully, glaring at her as she tapped her fingers next to the toaster, ignoring him like he had ignored her. She sat on a stool and spun around on it until her grabbed her thigh and stopped it. He ran his hand along her thigh and it sent shivers running down her body, she didn't know how long she could hold it up for.

"Well, what do you want for breakfast?!" She said impatiently. She could tell he was getting tired, and decided she wouldn't be able to hold off much longer anyway.

"You!" He roared, throwing her onto the sofa and pinning her. He opened the jam jar and smeared jam across her core, licking it of as she writhed underneath him, she kissed and licked the jam off his fingers until he met eye to eye with her.

"All…yours!" She panted, wrapping her legs around his waist.

=/\=

Harry arrived at Tom and B'Elanna's quarters, but they didn't reply. He tried to get their attention once more but it didn't work. He listened carefully, but wish he hadn't. He quickly backed away from the door and walked away, feeling like he had invaded an intimate time. He was on his way to the Mess Hall when the Captain stopped him. "Harry, let's talk." They walked along together for a minute before actually speaking. "I hear you've set up a betting pool on Tom and B'Elanna's 'I love you more' competition. Is that right?" She looked at him, pressing him for an answer.

"Er…er…yes, Captain…I…" Harry stammered. Fearful of being shouted at.

"Great, I'd like to place a bet." The Captain replied cheerfully, laughing at Harry's sigh of relief.

"On who Captain?" Harry asked, bringing up the records on his PADD.

"Tom."

"And how many point do you think he'll get?" Harry asked, typing down all the data.

"Er…28?"

"Okay, that's two replicator rations."

"I'll get them to you later." She said, walking over to join Chakotay at a table. Harry nodded in response, walking over to get some food.

"Hey Kat, what were you talking to Harry about?" Chakotay ate some more from his stack of pancakes and waited for a reply. She laughed and he fed her some pancake.

While Kathryn ate, she watched him get her a black coffee, just the way she liked it. He set it down just as she swallowed and kissed her lightly, sitting back down. "Harry's started a betting pool, on Tom and B'Elanna. Do you know about it?" She sipped her coffee.

"Yeah, I placed a bet early, on Tom." Chakotay said, eating more pancake.

"Me too." She sipped her coffee and helped herself do a knife and fork, sharing his pancakes.

"Hey Cupcake." Harry kissed Seven on the top of the head and sat opposite her.

"Hey. What happened with Lieutenant Torres and Lieutenant Paris?" She asked.

"They…er…were…" Harry stammered out.

"Copulating?" Seven said confidently.

"Yes." Harry blushed immensely, and ate his pancakes.

After finishing his pancakes he tidied away all the pots and walked back over to Seven. He linked his hand to her hand and they exited the mess hall.

"Do you want me to walk you to Astrometrics?"

"I am working in Engineering first. Are you on the Bridge?"

"Yeah. I'll walk you to Engineering."

"Cup-" Harry tried to speak but Seven was kissing him relentlessly. "Seven." The bluntness of his tone brought her to attention.

"Sorry One, I'll see you later. Love you!" She said walking through the doors to engineering, whilst Harry made his way to the Bridge.

Tom walked onto the bridge and the whole room went silent and looked at him. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around.

"Mr. Paris, your 33 minutes late to your duty shift, as is Lieutenant Torres, and you've both received a warning for…your uniform." The Bridge remained silent as Tom straightened out his uniform, smoothed his collar, flattened his ruffled up, extremely messy hair and arranged his pins. He walked over to the helm and sat down, the chatter continued. After a while, Tom realised him and his lover were definitely the topic of the conversation.

"Captain, what do you mean I'm ahead?" Tom was puzzled and looked around for answers.

"Harry's betting pool." Chakotay replied.

"Betting pool for what?"

"You and B'Elanna's love contest." Chakotay laughed as Kathryn elbowed him.

"WHAT?!" Tom glared at Harry across the room, who busied himself. Tom calmly walked across the room and approached Harry. "Is my personal love life with B'Elanna something for you to make money off?"

"I…er…thought I would make some money? Err…I thought…I thought…I'm so sorry. Tom?" Tom stormed off the Bridge.

"Harry!" The Captain shouted across the Bridge. "You know the rules about betting, only if you had permission, you didn't even ask them?!" The Captain was very upset, especially seeing as she had placed a bet, unaware it was against their will.

Tom arrived at Engineering and stormed straight through, attracting everyone's attention. "Vorik! Where's B'Elanna" Tom roared across Engineering, silencing everyone.

"In her office, sir." Vorik looked down at his work and continued. Tom raged across the rest of Engineering and into B'Elanna's office.

"Computer, engage door locks authorization Paris Beta four."

"Doors are locked." The computer replied. Tom hit his back the far wall as B'Elanna came rushing, his sank his way down and landed with his hands in his head on the floor. She sat down next to him and pulled his head to lie in her lap. He lay down and breathed deeply to calm himself while she gently stroked his hair.

"Babe, what's wrong?" She looked down at him.

"I had a fight with Harry. Because he made our Love Contest into a bet. Now the whole ships knows about it and is betting on who will win." He stared at B'Elanna's angered face.

"Harry did that? HARRY?!" She screamed. He jumped up and held her tight in his arms until she had calmed down. "Why?" She held onto him tightly and buried her face into him.

"He wanted to make some money." They held each other for a while until someone was trying to get in. "Computer, unlock doors." Harry came stumbling in. Tom had his back to the door, but B'Elanna, with her head over his shoulder saw him and lunged at him, fortunately, Tom was holding onto her tight. He spun round to see the point of her anger and he was enraged. "You have the nerve to do what you did, then come down here? What do you want?!" Tom spat at him.

"I…I…I did it so I could buy you a wedding gift! I ran out of replicator rations and I was earning money to buy you a wedding gift." Harry stammered his words and stormed out.

"I can't believe him!" B'Elanna ran straight into Tom's arms, knocking him over backwards, to anyone else it would of hurt, especially when B'Elanna landed on top of him, but he was used to it, it no longer hurt. He lay on the floor with his arms around her. She sobbed into his chest and he kissed her cheek every time a tear ran past. She loved it when he did that, when she was upset, he would wipe away the tear and kiss the patch, then when she was done crying he would stroke her hair and make her dinner, or rock her to sleep, or even just play music and sit with her. "What are we going to do?" She said eventually. "Should we forgive him?" B'Elanna asked.

"I think we should just forget it, but it's not going to be the same for a long time, if ever. He violated our trust." They sat together for a long time.