Author:
Jeanette Kofoed. The Forbidden Kiss Tom couldn't remember how he had gotten home that day, and he didn't care. Right now he was on Caldik Prime, where he could just be left alone and finish his pilot´s exam. He hadn't even been stationed here more than two weeks before all hell broke loose. Under a routine flight, the shuttle Tom was flying lost it's dampers. It wouldn't have been a problem if the environment had been different but no, they had to fly directly through an ion-cloud as it happened. Tom still couldn't remember how he had gotten the shuttle under control. Controlling the shuttle was one thing, but it certainly didn't help that the passengers kept screaming their lungs out, telling him to save them. And he had. Now all he wished was that it had been on someone else's shift, then they would be the ones getting on the news and having their private life interrupted. All he wanted was to be left alone. Couldn't they see that? Julian turned the screen off. Tom had been on the news. Apparently he had saved a shuttle full of passengers with his amazing flying skill, as the reporter had said. Julian missed Tom. Why couldn't he be here, with him on DS9? And why hadn't he told him, that he was going to Caldik Prime? Julian thought back to the day that he was supposed to meet Tom. He recalled how Brianna, his traveling partner, had practically attacked him in that store room, kissing him and turning him on. It had been a while since he had been with a woman and for a moment he forgot all about Tom. Now he regretted it. Just like he had all those other times he had cheated on that beautiful, golden haired youngster. He only wished he could get the chance to find out what had went wrong, surely Tom hadn't found out about his flings. Or had he? Julian was pulled out of his thoughts as the door chimed. "Come in," he called out, not really in the mood for company. He quickly stood up as he saw who it was. It was Sisko and some female Captain he hadn't seen before. "Dr. Bashir. This is Captain Janeway, she has a proposition for you." An hour later Julian walked down the promenade, smiling. Captain Janeway had offered him a job onboard the U.S.S Voyager as a doctor for a couple of weeks. They were meant to hunt down and catch a certain Maquis ship, The Crazy Horse. Julian had heard of it, or more correctly, he had heard of its Captain. The Maquis Chakotay, a freedom fighter fighting for his home world Dorvan V. Julian needed something exciting, something to help him through these next weeks, something that could keep his mind of a certain blue-eyed youngster. This might just do the trick. And then when I'm done I can go visit Tom again and find out what's wrong.' Julian quietly mused to himself before leaving on the small shuttle that was to bring him to Voyager. Tom had declined at first but both his father and his sisters, especially Katherine, had insisted on this being good for him. The shuttle incident had gotten him promoted to Ensign and now he was free to be assigned to ships throughout the Quadrant. Strangely enough his father had insisted that he take the job on Voyager, but Tom suspected that it was because he knew his future new Captain. As Tom started packing he stumbled across some old pictures of Julian and him. He stared at them for a long and then turned around and threw them in the waste paper basket. He finished packing and was about to leave when he turned around, looking at the paper trash intensely. Without thinking he went back to it and picked up the pictures, carefully stashing them away in his luggage. His father took him to Starfleet Headquarters and said goodbye to his son. Tom watched his father drive away and stood there waiting for his flight to Voyager. He heard someone move behind him and turned around. A young Asian man, approximately his own age, stood there smiling at him. "Ensign Kim, Harry Kim," he introduced himself. Tom smiled back and reached out his hand. "Ensign Thomas Eugene Paris at your service." The two walked together towards the transporter as they were informed that their ship had arrived. They looked at each other and smiled, then stepped onto the pad and shimmered out of view. Julian walked down the corridors of Voyager, enjoying the beauty of the ship. He wished Tom could see it, he would definitely have liked it. Hell, Tom loved anything that could stay in the air for more than three seconds. Suddenly Julian stopped dead in his tracks, not believing what he saw, who he saw. There in the hallway Tom stood together with an Asian Ensign. There had to be a mistake, Tom would have said something, or maybe not. 'I certainly wasn't told about his reassignment to Caldik Prime.' Julian was about to go over to talk to Tom as he saw the two men move in for a hug. It pained Julian to see, it made him jealous, it was he who should be holding Tom, hugging him. With growing anger, Julian turned around on his heels and disappeared before the two could see him. Tom gave Harry one final squeeze before releasing him. He really missed being in the arms of a man but it wasn't Harry who he longed to be held by. He missed Julian. Harry had seen, as the good friend he had shown himself to be, that Tom was sad. He could only think of one thing and that was to give him a hug, maybe that would help. As soon as all crew members were onboard, Voyager started it's mission. Tom knew that every crew member had to be checked by the doctor. However after Tom had heard who the doctor was he was determined not to see him. But the time came and there wasn't anything he could do. Slowly he walked down the corridor to the sickbay doors. He stood there for a few minutes before walking in. Julian watched as Tom stepped through the door - he had only seen him from a distance and was momentarily stunned over the silent beauty Tom was. He had really missed him. However Tom showed no sign of recognition and only said a formal greeting before taking his place on the biobed. After being halfway through his examination Julian couldn't take the silence anymore. "Tom why won't you talk with me? Why did you leave? You could have said where you were going before just disappearing like that." If any eyes could have started a fire, it would have been Tom's. Julian took a step back, surprised by the hurt and anger lying beneath the cool surface. "What do you think I am, stupid?" Tom practically spat out, "I saw you with her, I know what you did, Julian. You slept with others during our relationship, if it even was a relationship. Wasn't I satisfying enough or what?" Julian paled at Tom's words. He had never expected to get caught but he had. He felt a sickening taste in his mouth and barely registered the fact that Tom had left. What would he do now? Tom knew he had been with others. How could Julian explain when he wasn't even sure what was going on himself? How could he tell someone he loved them when he wasn't even sure what love was? Suddenly the ship rocked and Julian felt himself stagger. He caught onto a biobed and stayed there until the movements stopped. Before he knew of, injured people were beamed into sickbay and Julian soon forgot about Tom as he started treating the injured. End Part Two Continued in Part Three June 2000 Jeanette Kofoed |
Return to the TPD
