Authors Note – I don't own the ship, the characters, or anything at all.

Chapter 11 – An Old Friend

A girl appeared from the flash of light, she didn't look very happy to be on voyager. The whole bridge crew were gawping at her, apart from Tuvok of course, who merely stared. She looked around, anger eminent on her face, before turning back to Q.

"You promised me you'd take me home, not to the voyager", she said, keeping an even tone.

Q still grinning replied, "This is your home."

"Hmmmm…. Of course, how could I forget, I've never set foot on this damn ship in my life", she said, letting out a long sigh.

"It's where your family are, which means you belong here", Q said smugly.

"Like hell it does. Take me home now", she said, angrily. "Tom's the only family I have here, and you know it."

"I know more than you do. Excuse me", he said, disappearing in another flash of light.

"What the hell?", she whispered.

Chakotay stood stock still for a moment, replaying what had just happened over in his mind. Every member of the bridge crew was silent, staring. Chakotay couldn't believe what was happening, she was dead, but yet here in front of him thanks to Q was Cadet Elizabeth Paris.

"Err…what is your name?" he asked, wanting to make sure it was definitely her. She stared at him, as though wondering whether to answer or not.

"Elizabeth Paris, I presume you're Commander Chakotay", she said, hastily. At that moment Tom stepped out of the turbolift, looking at the floor. He walked past tactical station before, looking up. Taking in the scene before him, he went deathly white. He grabbed hold of the edge of the tactical station, tears sliding down his cheeks, as he stood perfectly still, staring at Elizabeth. He thought, this cant be, I'm hallucinating I must be.

"Tom", she said. Going to stand next to him and taking his hand in hers. "Its real", she whispered. He just stared at her, unmoving.

"See", she smiled, squeezing his hand. "I'm alive."

He snapped out of it, pulling her into his arms, "How?" he muttered.

She returned the hug eagerly, "It's a long story. I've missed you." Tom didn't speak he just held her tightly, as though reassuring himself she was really there.

Q reappeared sitting on the tactical console, much to Tuvoks disgust. "Well, Voyagers not so bad is it?"

Elizabeth drew away from Tom immediately and was on the defensive. Curbing her instinctive answer of 'Not as good as the Enterprise.' She bit her lip, and glared at him.

"Why Q?"

"I told you, your family is here, so you belong here." Jumping off the tactical console, he stood in front of her.

"Tom. What about everyone back on earth, Dad, Deanna, Reg and all my friends. Q you can't do this, you promised", she said, ending on a desperate plea.

Tom went to stand beside her worried she might disappear. He had his little sister back, his best friend. Q just stood watching the two of them, the grin on Toms face. He smiled, "Fly boy here is glad to have you here. Kathy will be ecstatic, when she finds out. After all you are her gift", he said in a happy tone.

"Her gift. I am no-ones gift Q. How dare you presume to rule my life. Why the hell, didn't you let me die, anyway?" her face contorted with anger.

"She did me a favour, I did her one", he said, grinning at her confused expression.

"Q, I don't understand. You mean Captain Janeway, I presume?" she said, her anger replaced by confusion. A confusion, which was shared by every member of the bridge crew, except Tom.

"Of course, I mean Captain Janeway", he said exasperated. With that he disappeared again. Elizabeth turned to Tom, who pulled her into another hug. "Its okay now", he whispered.

"No, its not. What about Dad, Deanna, they both care for me far more than Captain Janeway, and yet Q saves my life for her. I don't get it, I just don't get it."

Tom sighed, and was about to speak before Q cut him off, this time he didn't reappear, but his voice was there, "No, they don't. She will always love you more than anyone else ever could."

"What? I haven't seen Captain Janeway in eight years, and even then she only came over a couple of times. Yet your saying she loves me more than they do. I don't believe you." she said, regret obvious in her voice. Angry tears welling in her eyes, thinking of all the people she loved at home. All the people she knew loved her, and her death would have upset them very much, which she found unbearable.

"Don't believe me then, you'll see."

"I doubt it." She sighed, letting a few tears slip down her cheeks.

Chakotay stood still for a few moments, watching Tom and Elizabeth, holding each other so tightly, both afraid to let go in case they got split up again. He smiled; maybe everything would be all right, now. Still smiling, he walked over to them, "Tom take the rest of the day off."

"Thanks", he smiled.

"Stop by sickbay, as soon as possible. I'll inform the doctor, of the erm.. developments", he said. He wanted to go to sickbay himself, tell Kathryn, see her, and get their friendship back on track. However, he thought it was best to let Elizabeth go first, although he noticed she seemed as clueless as he was, as to why the captain would be so devastated by her death.

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Tom kept his arm around Elizabeth as they walked to the turbolift, still afraid he was dreaming and she would disappear in a puff of smoke. Once inside, away from the gawping gazes of the bridge crew, barring Tuvok who had remained perfectly calm as usual. Tom let out a sigh of relief. He looked down to see his sister gazing up at him she was smiling.

"Tired?" she asked, gently.

"Yeah, I haven't slept in say the last two weeks", he said. Grinning he added, "I'll sleep tonight."

She smiled, a little concerned, "You better."

"Why are we going to sickbay?" she questioned, anxious to find out what was going on.

"We're not, well not for a little while anyway. I want to take you on a tour of the ship first", he smiled it was nice to be around her again. She had this atmosphere around her, just like someone else he knew. Only with her the atmosphere was of pure happiness.

"Are you going to show me my quarters?" she asked.

Tom paled a little at the thought of her being alone, "Well, I thought you could move into my quarters for a while. Q might play up or something."

She grinned, knowing he was just scared to let her out of his sight. She didn't really want to be alone right now anyway, so she agreed.

"So, where are you taking me?" She was very excited at the chance of exploring the great voyager; this ship was one of the most famous in the fleet. Every class was taught about it at one time. The voyager was the talk of the federation, the crew were famous every cadet's dream was to be like a member of the voyager crew. She herself had always wanted to be like Captain Janeway, even before voyager had gotten lost in the delta quadrant. She was looking forward to seeing her again, it had been long time. One thing worried her, what had Q meant, she was a present for the captain, it just didn't make sense. Dismissing the thought, she turned her mind back to the voyager crews fame back home. The crew of this ship had accomplished so much. Their journey had changed Tom, that was obvious enough, but he was still the brother she once knew. It was weird; it had been a long time since she had done anything with him.

"The mess hall", he grinned, adding "I hope your ready to push your taste buds to the limit."

Grinning back, she said "Mr Neelix."

"You know a lot about us" he said interested.

"You're talked about a lot, everyone gets to know stuff about you. However, because of dad, I got involved with pathfinder." She smiled, not wanting to elaborate.

The turbolift stopped and they got out. Walking towards the mess hall they got some strange looks. Elizabeth admired the ship as she went along, its smooth, sleek design. She wondered if this tour would entail stopping by engineering, what she wouldn't give for a good look at the heart of this ship.

The mess hall doors slid open, Tom and Elizabeth stepped through. Mr Neelix immediately came up, well more bounded up, looking very excited.

"You must be Elizabeth", he said offering her his hand. She gladly shook it. So he was just as enthusiastic as he was portrayed to be.

"Yes, nice to meet you Mr Neelix", she smiled.

He looked very pleased that she knew who he was. Beaming, he asked, "What can I get you two?"

Elizabeth smiled, "A coffee, please."

"Pizza" Tom said.

"Coming right up."

The two of them made there way to a quiet corner of the mess hall. Liz smiled, as she slid into her place, she whispered, "So you're still a pizza fanatic."

"Of course, you mean you aren't", he laughed.

"Just try and stop me, I'm a self confessed addict", Elizabeth said, laughing too.

Neelix came with the food then, however, he didn't stay to chat long as the mess hall was starting to fill up. The more people that filed in, the more uncomfortable Elizabeth felt. Their eyes were burning holes in her back.

"Aren't you going to have some", Tom cut into her train of thought, indicating at the pizza.

"Oh, sure", she said quietly.

"Where did you go after the accident?" Tom asked after a while.

"Oh, I was injured so Q took me to a medical facility, and then he showed me different planets in the Alpha quadrant. That's the short version; he promised that he'd take me home after we visited the planets he wanted to show me. It was weird; he said he wanted to get to know me. God only knows why. I sure as hell don't know. Anyway then he brought me here, and here I am." She finished with a grin.
Tom had listened to her tale intently, he was sure they had a lot of catching up to do. However, it looked as though they would have long enough. Now there were more pressing matters to be taken care of, such as the captain.

"Tom", Elizabeth's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry."

"It's okay. I was just wondering where the captain was. When can I go and see her." She asked perfectly innocently.

Tom was silent for a minute thinking what to say, then he said, "We'll go and see her soon."

"Ok, can we head out now? People are beginning to really stare", she said uncomfortably.

"Right, lets go. First stop engineering, there's someone I want you to meet."

"B'Elanna?"

"Yeah, we've been going through a rough patch recently", he said regretfully.

"Oh, I'm sorry", she said guiltily. Oh, god, had Tom fallen out with B'Elanna because of her, or her apparent death to be more precise.

"It's not your fault. She'll be ok. She really wanted to meet you, you know, now she'll have the chance. I told her a lot about you."

"Only good, I hope", she said teasingly.

"Of course." With that the two exited the mess hall and made their way to engineering.

-Fin-

Please, please, please review. That's if you want to know what transpires between Elizabeth and the Captain, and generally what the hell is going on, how they fit, etc.

It'll be good, I promise.