Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Paramount. I only own my imagination.

Spoilers: Manoeuvres. If you haven't seen it, this won't make much sense.

Author's Note: I have the ambition to keep these coming, but I also have a real life which can mess with me.


The sun was baking on the two senior officer's backs as they sat on the steamboat deck. Behind them was a pile of jackets, shirts, shoes and socks which they had removed to feel more comfortable in the humid warmth. The air was filled with sounds from the mostly unseen inhabitants of the bayou surrounding the boat.

"You've done a great job, Tom," B'Elanna said. "With the sound it's so real. I love it." She turned her head to look at the program creator beside her. "I also love the fact that there are no stingy biting creepy crawlers. That would have taken realism a bit too far."

Tom chuckled. "I considered it." He paused for a moment before glancing at her. "Just kidding. I don't like them either," he smiled.

B'Elanna was quiet for a moment watching the surrounding greenery. "I don't think we'll have much time hanging around here for a while though. Seska is not going to just disappear magically now when she has turned up again. I heard she had left Chakotay a message," she said and threw Tom a quick look before returning to nature gazing.

"You should have seen her. Scary movie light in some sort of green shade and those Cardassian ridges. She certainly have a flair for the dramatic," he replied. "The whole bridge went silent when she said that she had extracted his DNA and impregnated herself." He sighed. "His decision to not take that message in his office was perhaps not the best one. I know it's difficult to keep things a secret on a ship this small, but the rumour mill can create a pretty tense situation. I mean, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who leaves a kid behind so where does this mean to the rest of the crew? Will we lose him, will Seska make a return, how will the captain handle this, does the commander need backing? All sorts of questions stirring the pot."

B'Elanna moved her feet slowly in the water. "I don't understand it. Why would she do it? Does she actually think she can persuade him to... forgive her? Come with her? I don't see the captain welcoming her aboard, and I know the Maquis definitely won't." She looked at the conn officer squatting by her side.

"I'm not sure about what it is that she wants but I have a sneaky suspicion she isn't imagining herself being the First Maje Culluh's woman for very long though." He looked back at her. "I think she's as desperate to go back to the Alpha quadrant as the captain is. This pregnancy has to be part of a plan to get her home."

She broke eye contact and looked back at the bayou. It was so peaceful and felt so far away from the world they were actually living in. "I think she's still in love with Chakotay. I think she genuinely fell in love with him when she infiltrated us," she mused.

"That would explain a lot," Tom said. "Poor man. I can imagine how hard it must have hit him."

B'Elanna nodded. "Well, she'll be back. Question is when," she said with a flat voice.

"Soon, very soon. Since she's manipulating the Kazon I think we'll see a lot more of them than we have recently." He paused and shuffled closer to the side of the boat and dipped his feet in the water just as B'Elanna. The cool water surrounded his feet and he let out a sigh. "I wonder what the captain is thinking about all of this. It's ultimately going to be her decision, how to deal with this. I assume Chakotay won't jump ship just like that again," he continued and turned to look at B'Elanna.

"She put him on report," she replied and looked down at the water flowing over her feet.

Tom nodded. "Nothing else she can do I guess. The Maquis would be pretty upset if she threw him in the brig, and quite frankly, we need him where he is."

"I went to see the captain after Chakotay had left. I understood why he did what he did and I felt I had to say something, explain how he works. He's such a private person. Even now, after almost a year out here, she just don't know him. We've not been through enough, and we're not Maquis either." She kept her eyes on the scenery in front of them.

"It strikes me as not the most thought through plan to go after Seska alone like he did," he muttered.

B'Elanna turned her head and looked at Tom. "Oh?"

"Because he did that, he managed to deepen the problem we have out here. I know it wasn't his intention, but it is the result." He sighed again.

She nodded but said nothing, just turned to look down in the water at her feet again. What was there to say? Nothing. Chakotay was to become a father and even though it was because a woman who had turned out to be the enemy had impregnated herself without his consent, it was his child. Where this would lead them, and in particular Chakotay, she did dare guessing What she did know was that he would need her support. Support from friends who wouldn't complicate his life.

Tom glanced briefly in B'Elanna's direction, curious of what was going through her mind. She had been really troubled by the commander's little excursion, and he was not at all surprised to learn she had seen the captain to speak on behalf of Chakotay. Seska's latest move was a shock to them all, but he suspected it had been even more troubling to those close to Chakotay. Even though the Maquis had accepted being on Voyager he had a hunch that to some Janeway was mostly the captain on paper. Chakotay was their real captain. This had the potential to become a nightmare for their captain as it could be expected that the Maquis would side with Chakotay if Janeway didn't handle this with delicate situation well. For a fleeting moment he wished he could talk to Janeway about this. He was struck by the realisation how lonely it had to be to captain Voyager, how difficult it must be in a situation like this when in effect the only one she could turn to, that she had turned to before, was Tuvok. Tuvok's logic was excellent, but Tom didn't think he quite grasped the complex situation rearing its head.

B'Elanna looked at him and found him gazing at the shoreline across the water. "A darsek for your your thoughts," she said.

Tom started and and turned to look at her with eyes wide of surprise. "A darsek?" he echoed.

"What are you thinking about?" she clarified.

"Oh I got what you meant, I was just surprised that you changed the currency," he smiled.

"I figured a penny would be a bit dated," B'Elanna joked. Tom nodded but didn't seem to want to disclose his thoughts. "So what are you thinking about?" she pushed on.

He gave her a quick glance before looking down. "I was just thinking about how difficult this situation is for the captain. She has to handle this the right way or she could end up with people questioning her. It'd be difficult in any situation, but back home support is usually not more than a subspace call away. Here she has... Tuvok."

She nodded. It hadn't occurred to her that captain Janeway could be in need of support or someone to discuss tricky situations with, but she realised Tom was right. "You could talk to her," she suggested calmly.

Tom looked at her with unease. "I don't think I can," was all he replied. It was clear he was not warming to the idea.

"She listens to you, I know she does." Quickly B'Elanna debated with herself if she should disclose what Harry had told her, that he was sure Janeway had a soft spot for the conn officer for several reasons, one being that he was his father's son. "Tom, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm pretty sure she is inclined to listen to you, more than to most, because she had your father as captain."

His eyes darted away when his father was mentioned. "My father is my father. I'm just Tom Paris, the Paris failure who got a second chance."

"It's not that simple. She has a soft spot for you, even I can see that and Harry has said he is certain she is aware of it even though she's not mentioning it to you. He has a better viewpoint than you and he is observant, you know," she replied. "Besides, you are number three on the bridge. That has to carry some weight. If I can talk to her about Chakotay, I'm sure you can talk to her too."

Tom sighed and looked down in to the water. "I'll think about it," he eventually replied.

"Don't think about it too long," she warned.

"I know. Seska won't wait," he said and looked at her again. "I feel like bathing," he continued turning the subject abruptly.

B'Elanna looked at him with horror. "Bathing?" she croaked.

"Yeah, you know, jump in the water, splash around some," he explained.

"Oh I know what bathing is, but I don't have any swimsuit," she retorted.

"We have a replicator on this deck we could use," Tom suggested and almost started to laugh at B'Elanna's look of desperation.

"Ah Paris, I have some engineering issues I should take a look at and I'm really tired..." she started saying. Tom started laughing.

"B'Elanna, if you don't want to take a bath, it's perfectly fine," he said when he finally could talk again. She gave him a dark look but didn't respond. "And you're right, it's late. You get fooled by this sunlight," he said and turned to squint at the sun. "Come, I'll walk you," he said and started to pick up his clothes.

"You don't have to walk me. There are no lions or thugs around here, you know," she said reluctantly smiling.

"But there are Kazons," he replied. "Just to the turbolift. We're taking the same lift after all." He got on his feet and helped her up. As they started walking he turned and looked down at her. "We could plan a dip. What do you say, an evening camp fire, some beer and marshmallows?"

"In the dark?" she said trying to make her voice sound even.

"It's the whole point of a camp fire," he replied and amusement seeped in to his voice.

"Maybe," she replied coolly.

"How about Wednesday?" he asked.

"I said I'll think about it," she replied.

"And I'm simply suggesting suitable days," Tom said.

"Thursday is a better day. I'm running scheduled diagnostics on Wednesday and they always seem to yield results I have to deal with at once. That shift will probably end late."

"Thursday it is. I'll talk to Neelix to see if he has some fruit we could have and I'll ask Harry to replicate marshmallows. He's got more rations than I have," Tom decided.

B'Elanna looked up at him and hesitated. "You are going to invite Harry too, aren't you?" she asked.

Tom laughed. "Of course I am." He met her eyes. "Figure out a couple of people you would like to see there and talk to them, okay?"

She nodded and they both left the holodeck.