Title: The Effect You Have On Me
Author: Isabelle S.
Series: Voyager
Pairing: P/f, All
Parts: 1/4
Rating: R for language & adult matter subject(nothing graphic).

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager doesn't belong to me. It never
did, it never will. It belongs to Paramount

Archive: Sure, just tell me where.

Author's note: Just to let you know that in this story the HOW
things happen is not as important as the WHY things happen.

Synopsis: A dangerous acquaintance of Tom's shows up on Voyager.

The Effect You Have On Me
By Isabelle S.
synbou@hotmail.com

***

I didn't need to be the empath that I was to sense that Commander
Chakotay was attracted to me. In fact, he wasn't the only man
who was, but Tom surely wasn't the one.

"You still haven't told us how you managed to find your way into
the Delta Quadrant, Ms Danya," the Native American reminded me
with a smile.

"That's easy," came Tom's voice more icy than anyone in this room
had ever heard. "She made a pack with the Devil. Here to finish
the job?"

"Sort of," I replied.

Voyager's senior staff looked from Tom to me stunned by his
comment. The commander stiffen beside me. I felt Janeway's
growing concern and her sudden need to be protective of Tom.
Torres was getting defensive. Young Harry was still unsure of
how to feel. The Vulcan was ready for anything. However, they
did not know that it was impossible to interfere with my work.

I stepped closer to Tom. He was holding my gaze with a placid
face. His crystal blue eyes were as cold as winter. Hell had
frozen over, burying a good and decent young man under its icy
surface. Sadly, I was partially responsible.

In the drama that I was creating in the middle of Voyager's
bridge, he and I took center stage. He was standing tall with a
sense of self-respect which he certainly didn't have the last
time
we'd met. With a glare as dangerous as an icepick, he hushed
our audience to be quiet. This was between him and I.

"Do you know how much the *Devil* offered me all those years
ago?" I challenged him.

Tom didn't reply. I wasn't expecting him to do so.

"He offered me 250 000 credits for me to kill you. I was able
rise the bid to half a million. When I found you at Sandrine's,
I realized that I would even have the pleasure of fucking that
beautiful sensual body of yours all night for the same price."

As I circled around him like vulture, I took in a deep breath and
allowed myself a short laugh at the irony of the situation that
*I* had complicated.

"When the critical moment came, I found myself with a bit of a
problem because there was *one* thing that I hadn't expected. I
hadn't expected to find such a gentle soul in you, Tom Paris."

He snorted.

Aside from the confusion and the concern they were feeling, I
sensed a common sadness in his colleagues and friends in the face
of his reaction. They knew what I was talking about. Of course,
Tom wouldn't take my word for it. I couldn't blame him. Still,
I went on with my confession nonetheless.

"As we laid in bed, I let you fall asleep. There were no need
for you to be awake for what I had to do anyway. Even more
compelling, I felt that you didn't deserve to be. I caressed
your warm cheek as I enjoyed the sight of your handsome face for
a few more minutes. It got me thinking -- a big mistake, I know.
But I couldn't stop myself.

"There, in my arms, was laying a young man whom I was there to
kill, who was ready to return ten times over the smallest amount
of comfort he could ever receive. I could feel his fears, his
doubts, his overwhelming sorrow, his self-hatred... It touched a
part deep down inside me which I had forgot was there. How could
someone so young and so beautiful could be broken like this
already? Why had I been offered 500 000 credits to kill this
troubled but sweet kid?

"Why was I feeling this way? What was it about you that was
making you so different from the others. You had triggered
something in me which I hadn't felt in almost thirty years.

"Actually, I think it was closer to twenty-five years. It
doesn't really matter. The point is that at the time I had made
a mistake. A nearly fatal mistake. I had got myself caught by
one of my target's gaze. I had froze under his assertive
scrutiny. His blue eyes were piercing through the dark. They
were full of life which his fear was only slightly dimming their
light.

"As chaos broke through his house, his attention was directed
elsewhere. I took that moment to flee, leaving behind the cries
of children and the shining beams of firing phasers. *I* fled too
scared to even think about what had just happened to me.

"From that moment on, I made sure that I would never make a
mistake like that again. A promise that I had kept until that
night.

"You stirred and you looked up at me. I sighed with irony as I
understood. *Your* blue eyes were the ones that had reached the
little humanity still inside me. Although, the light, which I
had seen in them, had became a barely self-sustainable flame.

"'Damn your eyes, Tom Paris' I cursed bitterly. 'They set me
off-balance.' You smiled at me. You were real proud of yourself
and I felt the urge to bite back. I put my hand around your
throat and held it thigh. "'I've been sent here to kill you, Tom
Paris. But now, I'm not quite sure what to do'.

"You stared back at me with shock and pain. I let you go. You
rolled away from me and sat on the side of the bed. 'You're not
so surprise,' I voiced, a bit taken aback by your reaction.
You shrugged. 'I have the uncanny ability to bring the worst out
of people,' you replied. 'Believe it or not,' I challenged.
'You also have the uncanny ability to bring the best out of
people too.'

"You looked at me with disbelief as you're doing now."

I stopped walking and faced him. Again, we had one of those
staring matches.

"Don't you understand? You're my ticket to redemption and I'm
ready to use it."

"Fuck you, Lady."

"I'd loved to, but it isn't gonna happen," I spitted back in his
face before he had the chance to say anything else. "The clock
is ticking and our *train* is about to leave. One doesn't live
561 years -- hell, one doesn't survive 345 of those years in my
line of work -- without knowing a few things by the rules of time
and how to go around them."

"I don't owe you anything," Tom pointed out.

"You don't have to," I replied.

In two quick movements, I viciously brought him down to his
knees. I put my hands on his temples and summoned my empathic
powers.

"Remember," I ordered him. I felt him tremble as his mind was
invaded by a nightmare long forgotten "Look. This is how we
first met. This is what you saw. Those are *your* memories."

I was ready to catch him as his body slumped forward.

"What do you want from me?" Tom asked just above a whisper.

I lifted his head so that I could meet his haunted blue eyes.

"That night, in Marseille, we talked. I asked you if there was
something that you would have been ready to live for. You told
me about this promise that you had made to yourself a long time
ago. You had tried for years to live up to it but it seemed at
one point that the harder you were trying, the worst your choices
were becoming. And yet, you would still be willing to give it
another try if you had a chance to do so."

I swallowed hard.

"But what I really learned from you, Tom Paris, was that it's
never too late to change one's mind. I can help you live up to
that promise of yours. I did it before. Please, let me help
you," I finished with a cracked voice.

His hand reached up to my cheek and he cast away a tear which I
had never felt coming. Was I really crying? I couldn't
remember the last time I had.

"Don't make me beg," I pleaded. "Please, don't make me beg."

Tom nodded and we boarded the *train of time* not a moment too
soon.

***

TBC,

Thanks to Louise and Monica for beta-reading.

Thanks for reading
Isabelle S.
synbou@hotmail.com

Copyrights @ September 2000.