Title: There's Something About Harry
Author: starstruck
Rating: PG-13 for later chapters
Pairings: K/7, P/T, some J/C
Author's Note: My Voyager obsession is back. I went two months without watching Voyager (isn't that horrible?), and then, all of a sudden, I'm obsessed again.
Anyway, as an avid K/7er, I'm disappointed by the lack of K/7 endgame- fixes. I've heard people say that Seven needed to be with Chakotay before Harry, but alas. we have many J/C fix-its and no K/7 ones.
Truthfully, though, I've never written a K/7 story before. P/T is my primary pairing, but I just felt... compelled to write this.
Anyway, I'm sure it's a leetle bit farfetched, but just give it a try. I tried to keep the characterization on, so that's... good?
&&
It had taken four hours to convince the Doctor to let Tom take B'Elanna and Miral home. And practically as soon as she had gotten into bed, B'Elanna had gone to sleep, leaving Tom alone with his newborn daughter.
And then she started crying.
Even after months of preparing to become a father, the noise still made Tom jump. Still, he had been trained well, and he checked to see if she was hungry, cold, or dirty.
She wasn't.
So Tom resorted to the only other thing he could think of - pacing the halls with his yelling daughter. And it worked fairly well - she was calmer.
Still, it was a little surreal, carrying a whimpering baby back and forth in front of his quarters, watching various Voyager crewmembers and Starfleet visitors pass by. After seven years on Voyager, anything unusual was the norm, so the Voyager crew tended to just give Tom a smile as they passed by, or if they were off duty, stop and meet the baby, but the Starfleet diplomats were obviously ruffled upon seeing Tom and Miral pacing the halls. In any other situation, Tom would've laughed at their expressions, but he was still finding his daddy legs (as the doctor so aptly put it), making his primary concern his daughter's only slightly diminished wails.
Alpha shift had been over for a few hours, and only Harry had been down to meet Miral, which Tom found distinctly odd. He supposed Tuvok was getting prepared for the fal'tor'voh, but still, he would've expected Chakotay to come meet Miral, he had been in contention for godfather. And he and B'Elanna had been friends for a long time. And the Captain - well, he had expected her to visit them, but he supposed that was a bit presumptuous of him, considering they had just arrived in the Alpha Quadrant. And Seven...
...was striding right towards him.
That was kind of odd.
"Lieutenant Paris."
"Yeah, Seven?"
"I wish to speak to you," said Seven impassively as she fell into step next to him.
"Okay," said Tom, a little bewildered. He had been expecting Seven to come to see Miral, not him.
"You are Ensign Kim's... best... friend," she said, spitting out the last words as if they were some vile poison.
"Yeah..." said Tom, wondering what she was on about.
"I wish to acquire more information on the subject of Ensign Kim," said Seven.
"I wish to inquire where the hell this conversation is going," replied Tom.
Seven took a deep breath.
"As of late, I find myself... interested... in Ensign Kim," said Seven.
Tom blinked.
"Romantically," added Seven.
"What happened to Chakotay?" said Tom, confused.
"We mutually decided to continue our relationship as... friends," said Seven after a slight pause.
"In other words, you dumped him on his ass," said Tom, unable to hide a grin at Seven's uncharacteristic indirectness.
Another pause.
"Yes," confirmed Seven.
"Don't you think that's a little... harsh, Seven?" inquired Tom.
"No," said Seven. "I believe it is the correct choice. Voyager has returned to the Alpha Quadrant, and he is now free to pursue a relationship with Captain Janeway. To continue our relationship would be more... harsh."
Tom grinned. Ha. So Seven agreed with him. Maybe he wasn't as hopeless a romantic as Harry and B'Elanna made him out to be.
"Lieutenant Paris?"
"Wait, Seven. Let me get this straight. You decided you wanted to explore human behavior and... date someone. So you choose Chakotay. But we get back to the Alpha Quadrant and you decide it would be inappropriate to continue your relationship. So two hours after your tragic breakup - "
"Three point seven," corrected Seven.
"Three point seven hours after your breakup," said Tom, "you decide you're interested - romantically - in Harry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like Harry's just a second choice. And I don't think that's fair to Harry."
"Your recollection of the events is not complete," said Seven. "While I was considering crewmembers for my... relationship... Ensign Kim was my primary candidate. However, I was discussing the matter with Mr. Neelix - and he was able to persuade me otherwise. He believed that Commander Chakotay would be a better choice."
"Wait - you went with Chakotay instead of Harry because Neelix told you to?"
"Mr. Neelix was very kind to me during his time on this ship," said Seven. "I saw no reason not to accept his advice."
"Look, Seven - Neelix is a great guy, and he's got his heart in the right place," began Tom. "But he's not... he doesn't... he has a very bad feel for what relationships would work well."
"Explain," said Seven, tilting her head to the side.
"There's no - explanation," said Tom. "You just don't take romantic advice from Neelix."
Seven seemed about to question this, but thought otherwise.
"I... understand," she said.
"Good," said Tom. "But I still don't see why I should believe your interest in Harry is genuine."
"I assure you," said Seven, "As much as I wish I were not, I am indeed romantically interested in Ensign Kim. If I were not, there would be no reason to pursue him. Now that we are in the Alpha Quadrant, my spectrum of potential partners had widened considerably."
"No kidding," said Tom. "But why Harry? Why not... the Doctor? He'd be interested, certainly."
"I am... uncertain... as to why Ensign Kim is my primary choice."
Really, it was that answer that reassured Tom more than anything. After all, did anyone ever choose who they had a crush on? Harry was a prime example. A hologram, the wrong twin, a terrorist, a dead crewmember , an ex-borg - only, now, it appeared that the ex-borg was back for round two.
"Okay," sighed Tom. "I'll help you, Seven. But this is going to be on my terms."
Author's Note: My Voyager obsession is back. I went two months without watching Voyager (isn't that horrible?), and then, all of a sudden, I'm obsessed again.
Anyway, as an avid K/7er, I'm disappointed by the lack of K/7 endgame- fixes. I've heard people say that Seven needed to be with Chakotay before Harry, but alas. we have many J/C fix-its and no K/7 ones.
Truthfully, though, I've never written a K/7 story before. P/T is my primary pairing, but I just felt... compelled to write this.
Anyway, I'm sure it's a leetle bit farfetched, but just give it a try. I tried to keep the characterization on, so that's... good?
&&
It had taken four hours to convince the Doctor to let Tom take B'Elanna and Miral home. And practically as soon as she had gotten into bed, B'Elanna had gone to sleep, leaving Tom alone with his newborn daughter.
And then she started crying.
Even after months of preparing to become a father, the noise still made Tom jump. Still, he had been trained well, and he checked to see if she was hungry, cold, or dirty.
She wasn't.
So Tom resorted to the only other thing he could think of - pacing the halls with his yelling daughter. And it worked fairly well - she was calmer.
Still, it was a little surreal, carrying a whimpering baby back and forth in front of his quarters, watching various Voyager crewmembers and Starfleet visitors pass by. After seven years on Voyager, anything unusual was the norm, so the Voyager crew tended to just give Tom a smile as they passed by, or if they were off duty, stop and meet the baby, but the Starfleet diplomats were obviously ruffled upon seeing Tom and Miral pacing the halls. In any other situation, Tom would've laughed at their expressions, but he was still finding his daddy legs (as the doctor so aptly put it), making his primary concern his daughter's only slightly diminished wails.
Alpha shift had been over for a few hours, and only Harry had been down to meet Miral, which Tom found distinctly odd. He supposed Tuvok was getting prepared for the fal'tor'voh, but still, he would've expected Chakotay to come meet Miral, he had been in contention for godfather. And he and B'Elanna had been friends for a long time. And the Captain - well, he had expected her to visit them, but he supposed that was a bit presumptuous of him, considering they had just arrived in the Alpha Quadrant. And Seven...
...was striding right towards him.
That was kind of odd.
"Lieutenant Paris."
"Yeah, Seven?"
"I wish to speak to you," said Seven impassively as she fell into step next to him.
"Okay," said Tom, a little bewildered. He had been expecting Seven to come to see Miral, not him.
"You are Ensign Kim's... best... friend," she said, spitting out the last words as if they were some vile poison.
"Yeah..." said Tom, wondering what she was on about.
"I wish to acquire more information on the subject of Ensign Kim," said Seven.
"I wish to inquire where the hell this conversation is going," replied Tom.
Seven took a deep breath.
"As of late, I find myself... interested... in Ensign Kim," said Seven.
Tom blinked.
"Romantically," added Seven.
"What happened to Chakotay?" said Tom, confused.
"We mutually decided to continue our relationship as... friends," said Seven after a slight pause.
"In other words, you dumped him on his ass," said Tom, unable to hide a grin at Seven's uncharacteristic indirectness.
Another pause.
"Yes," confirmed Seven.
"Don't you think that's a little... harsh, Seven?" inquired Tom.
"No," said Seven. "I believe it is the correct choice. Voyager has returned to the Alpha Quadrant, and he is now free to pursue a relationship with Captain Janeway. To continue our relationship would be more... harsh."
Tom grinned. Ha. So Seven agreed with him. Maybe he wasn't as hopeless a romantic as Harry and B'Elanna made him out to be.
"Lieutenant Paris?"
"Wait, Seven. Let me get this straight. You decided you wanted to explore human behavior and... date someone. So you choose Chakotay. But we get back to the Alpha Quadrant and you decide it would be inappropriate to continue your relationship. So two hours after your tragic breakup - "
"Three point seven," corrected Seven.
"Three point seven hours after your breakup," said Tom, "you decide you're interested - romantically - in Harry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like Harry's just a second choice. And I don't think that's fair to Harry."
"Your recollection of the events is not complete," said Seven. "While I was considering crewmembers for my... relationship... Ensign Kim was my primary candidate. However, I was discussing the matter with Mr. Neelix - and he was able to persuade me otherwise. He believed that Commander Chakotay would be a better choice."
"Wait - you went with Chakotay instead of Harry because Neelix told you to?"
"Mr. Neelix was very kind to me during his time on this ship," said Seven. "I saw no reason not to accept his advice."
"Look, Seven - Neelix is a great guy, and he's got his heart in the right place," began Tom. "But he's not... he doesn't... he has a very bad feel for what relationships would work well."
"Explain," said Seven, tilting her head to the side.
"There's no - explanation," said Tom. "You just don't take romantic advice from Neelix."
Seven seemed about to question this, but thought otherwise.
"I... understand," she said.
"Good," said Tom. "But I still don't see why I should believe your interest in Harry is genuine."
"I assure you," said Seven, "As much as I wish I were not, I am indeed romantically interested in Ensign Kim. If I were not, there would be no reason to pursue him. Now that we are in the Alpha Quadrant, my spectrum of potential partners had widened considerably."
"No kidding," said Tom. "But why Harry? Why not... the Doctor? He'd be interested, certainly."
"I am... uncertain... as to why Ensign Kim is my primary choice."
Really, it was that answer that reassured Tom more than anything. After all, did anyone ever choose who they had a crush on? Harry was a prime example. A hologram, the wrong twin, a terrorist, a dead crewmember , an ex-borg - only, now, it appeared that the ex-borg was back for round two.
"Okay," sighed Tom. "I'll help you, Seven. But this is going to be on my terms."