Chakotay closed his eyes and put his hands together. Tom spun around.
"Well, Chakotay, I'm not expert, but I'm almost sure that's not the way to contact Engineering."
"No, Tom. I'm just contacting my people."
"I'm listening. Oh wait- you mean those people…those akutchemoya guys, eh?"
"Shut up, Tom."
"Well, why are you contacting them, Commander?" Janeway emphasized "commander".
"I'm praying for the Borg to appear on sensors."
"So am I, Commander, so am I."
"Really Harry? Why I was praying for some nebula, or something difficult to pilot through."
"Why? Getting assimilated by the Borg doesn't seem exciting enough?" Janeway teased.
"Nah, that's too regular- I mean, in the morning I'm half expecting to see a drone staring me in the face when I wake up."
"B'Elanna hardly resembles a drone."
"Shut up, Chakotay." Chakotay grinned.
"It's these days I enjoy."
"Is that so, Commander? 'Cause it's these days I dread. You know what I'm in the mood for? Coffee." Janeway tapped her commbadge. "Neelix, could send up some coffee? Wait- belay that order. I'll take walk."
"We'll miss you, Captain," Tom said.
"The feelings are mutual."
~~ 5 MINUTES LATER ~~
"OK, I am bored- isn't anyone bored?"
"No, Lieutenant, we are accustomed to doing are jobs."
"GOOD combat, Tuvok!" Harry rolled his eyes. "Tom, you really need to teach him some of your lines." Paris grinned.
"No- wait. Does the Chief of security find staring at his console with nothing new appearing on the screen interesting?"
"No, Mr.Paris, I lied."
"Well, I always knew we'd catch you somehow!" Janeway quirked. Everybody spun around- well, except for Chakotay, because, in his case, if he spun around half the ship would fall apart.
"Captain! You're back so…soon!" Tom said.
"I went to get coffee, Tom, not to go find the Alpha Quadrant."
"And we know how much you love your coffee, Captain."
"And we know how much you love your Captain, Chakotay."
"Paris!"
[Ship gets slightly out of focus as it starts to move away.]
"What, you don't love me anymore, Commander?" Janeway asked innocently.
"Now this is a regular day," Harry said, satisfied.
All the bridge officers, except for the Captain, she was too busy teasing Chakotay, were laughing, arguing, and making side comments, except for Tuvok, as Tom will later say when he refers the story to B'Elanna.
* * * *
"I'm telling you, B'Elanna! I could have sworn I saw him smiling!"
"Tom, how many times do I have to say this to you, how many different languages- and don't ask me to say it in Klingon- to get his into your head? Tuvok DOESN'T smile, WON'T smile, and WILL NEVER smile!"
"Well, are you sure Neelix didn't finally get to the Doctor about changing Tuvok's facial expression to make him smile?"
"If you really want Tom, I'll ask the Doctor about it tomorrow."
"Thank B'El!"
"Welcome."
"But you know what else?"
"What?"
"I could have sworn that Chakotay was about to kiss the Captain!"
"Tom."
"What?"
"Dream on."
[End Voyager Theme Song]