"Fiona!" Tom called to her as he caught sight of his cadet in the hallway on the way back from Engineering. "Fiona wait!"

"What do you want, Lieutenant?" She replied coldly, halting in her tracks but refusing to turn and face him.

He caught up with her after a moment. "Listen, about yesterday. It was just a joke."

"Hilarious," she deadpanned with a nod and a fake smile, walking with him down the corridor.

He sighed loudly. "Fiona!"

She turned and glared daggers at him. He saw the anger in her eyes and almost laughed. It was like seeing a mini-B'Elanna standing before him. But right now, Fiona's temper seemed more normal than his own girlfriend's.

"Alright," he muttered. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Fiona huffed and folded her arms. She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. She could tell he was honest but part of her didn't care. She noted that Harry came up behind Tom and she decided to make use of this moment.

"Lieutenant Paris. You're a wonderful pilot, and a good friend- usually." She noted he paused, and she continued. "But yesterday you crossed a line. And honestly, I don't want to be around you right now. So if you order me to do training, I'll do it. But that's about it."

Tom looked somewhat defeated. Harry, still not sure what went down between the two, merely cocked an eyebrow and watched as Fiona turned tail and left.

"So," Harry asked, placing a hand on Tom's shoulder, "what exactly did you do?"

Tom brushed his hand off and shook his head, crossing his arms. "I made a little joke when B'Elanna and I ran into Fiona and Tabor kissing."

Harry pinched his nose. "Oh, Tom."

"What?" He protested. "It was funny!"

"That was stupid!" Harry insisted. "You should know better."

"Alright, alright," Tom nodded with a sigh. "So I screwed up. I get that."

"You really screwed up," Harry chuckled. "Well, come on. Captain Proton awaits."

"Without Lady Celestial?" Tom smirked and shook his head. "She's already mad, I don't want her to kill me."

"Good point," Harry nodded with a short laugh. "Let's go see how the probe is coming along."

"Great," Tom muttered. "I think Tabor's on duty right now."

Harry chuckled and patted Tom on the back. "Out of the frying pan, into the fire."

As it turned out, the probe was coming along nicely. It would be ready to launch in one day. B'Elanna wasn't in engineering, which Tom found odd. He figured she would be working overtime on the probe.

"Hey Tabor," Tom waved to the Ensign as they arrived in Engineering. "Come over here a second."

"What do you need, Lieutenant?" He asked coolly.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend either of you," Tom murmured to him, keeping his voice low.

Tabor glared but relented in the end. "Apology accepted."

With a relieved sigh, Tom continued. "Any idea where B'Elanna is?"

"No," the Bajoran Ensign shook his head. "She left about an hour ago."

Tom fell deep in thought. Why did he feel something was amiss? Why did something seem off.

"Computer, locate Lieutenant Torres," he said.

"Lieutenant Torres is in her quarters."

"I'll see you later," Tom told Ensigns Harry, Vorik, and Tabor.

Tom walked through the halls and rode a turbolift up to Deck Two. He found Myral and Shara leaving the mess hall and nodded his greeting without speaking.

Buzzing B'Elanna's door, he was actually surprised to see her come to the door.

"Hey," he smiled, leaning against the door frame.

She nodded. "Hi."

"So," he sighed, hesitating. "Uh, how's the probe coming along."

"Pretty well," was the response he got.

Tom looked at her carefully. Why was she not speaking to him? It had been like this for several days, and had worsened over the past two weeks.

"Tom, I really need to work on something. I'll see you later," she nodded.

Tom looked slightly hurt but nodded. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."

"I won't. Don't worry," she said with a decidedly fake smile.

When the door had closed before him, he stepped back and crossed his arms. What was going on? At least he knew why Fiona wasn't speaking to him.

He was thankful that by tomorrow she was. She still wasn't entirely happy with him, she made that perfectly clear. But she wasn't furious. Just annoyed. After their training session the next day, he even saw her laugh.

And then he had great news.

"Cadet Bishop, report to Holodeck 1."

She was in the middle of dinner that day when Tom ordered her to the holodeck. With a sigh, she stuck her plate back with Neelix and Shara before nodding farewell and heading to the holodeck.

"On my way," she responded.

When she arrived, she was surprised to find a small scale model of a shuttlecraft of some sort floating, surrounded by Seven, Tom, Harry, Tuvok, and B'Elanna.

"Reporting as ordered," she smiled and nodded to them.

"Remember the design plans I told you about for the new shuttle?" Tom excitedly came towards her.

"The… Delta Flyer?" Fiona nodded, walking towards the holoprojection.

Tom grinned and nodded. "Well, we need to build it."

Fiona's face lit up. She had built ships in the past, but the designs she knew Tom had drawn up were far beyond her expertise.

"Are we planning to integrate the multi-phasic shielding and Borg weaponry?" She asked immediately, walking around the projection. "What are we using to reinforce the hull?"

"I thought you'd want to help," Tom smirked. "Now. Let's get to work."

They worked for about an hour without any incident. But soon enough, Tom's design came into conflict with Tuvok's logic.

Tom walked near the projection. "Computer, add dynametric tail fins to the nacelles."

Fiona nodded slightly. She approved. But evidently Tuvok did not.

"Computer," Tuvok said, "delete dynametric tail fins."

Lieutenant Paris scoffed. "What'd you do that for?"

The chief security officer shook his head. "We are not designing a 'hot rod', Lieutenant."

Fiona chuckled, standing beside Harry, as Tom laughed humorlessly. "That is exactly what we're designing. A twenty fourth century, warp-powered, ultra-responsive hot rod."

"Your embellishments are purely decorative. They serve no practical purpose." Tuvok was still unconvinced.

Tom argued with him. "I beg to differ. If we make this thing look mean enough, other ships are going to think twice before taking us on."

Seven interrupted them. "I suggest we return our attention to the matter of structural integrity."

"Agreed." Tuvok nodded.

"Lieutenant Torres' hull design is flawed." Seven looked matter-of-factly at the chief engineer. "We should be using tetraburnium alloys instead of titanium."

Everyone froze. Surely B'Elanna would argue? If not outright have a verbal fight with Seven of Nine. But instead she looked distracted.

Harry spoke up. "Er, B'Elanna?"

"Sounds fine to me. I'm going to finish up the thruster specs." B'Elanna left the room.

After several moments of surprised silence, they continued their work. Fiona walked over and looked at the model.

"She's gonna be a beauty," Fiona smiled.

Tom nodded. "I'm even planning on adding physical buttons and levers like Captain Proton."

"It'd be nice to be able to feel the ship," agreed Fiona as they, together, walked around the model. "Touch pads are nice. But they lack substance."

Everyone had left, leaving the two pilots to finish up the last design elements on the inside. A small model of the inner side of the Delta Flyer was floating where the outside had once been.

"Listen," Tom stopped what he was doing. "I am sorry."

With a sigh, Fiona finished up editing a console design. "I know. It's fine."

They both returned to their work before Tom stopped again.

"Have you noted anything odd about B'Elanna during your occasional engineering shifts?" He saved and shut down the program as they left the holodeck.

Fiona nodded. "Yes. She's been… frozen."

Tom was worried.