The Power of the Q- Ch. 16- Loose Ends
"I was wrong, Tom." Janeway said to me. It was her time to luckily leave Sickbay and hopefully never come back. Lucky her, I'm going to be stuck here for another day.
"About what?" I asked; we stood next to each other leaning against my biobed.
"You are nothing like your father." Janeway answered; she looked down at her shoes then faced me again. "You're the more emotional Paris, the funny one, the one that'll comfort you. Tom, I never should have been so presumptuous a couple days ago and I'm sorry for that."
"Kathryn," I started. "you have your opinions and I have my opinions. Opinions change and I'm glad that these last couple of days that I've convinced you that I'm not like him." She knew 'him' meant my father. "And let me just say, Kathryn, that you are probably one of the best people that I've ever met in my life."
"Thanks, Tom." She started to leave, but stopped. "Oh, and Tom, if you call me 'Kathryn' on the Bridge, you'll be making sure every centimeter of this ship is clean." We both smiled and Janeway left.
The Next Day…
"Well, I am happy to say Mr. Paris that you are able to leave now." The Doctor said happily. "I am, however, sorry that I couldn't find a way to remove the Borg nanoprobes. But if you do want them removed, I'm sure you wouldn't mind having every part of you dissected and removed."
"Considering the alternative, I prefer to have the nanoprobes." I answered. "And don't worry, Doc, you have roughly 70 years to get these nanoprobes out of me. I'm sure you'll think of something." I smiled and walked out of Sickbay happily. I had my own uniform on and not the ugly Sickbay blues.
I walked towards my quarters, but realized that I was starving. Hmmm, I have about three days rations saved up, I thought. That means no Neelix food!
'You should be a lizard more often.' Tameth said happily.
I set myself up for that one…I walked towards the turbolift and once there I got inside. But I soon found out that I wasn't alone. I called for my deck and smiled at the person next to me. B'Elanna didn't smile back. The 'lift started and we stood in an awkward silence.
"Listen, B'Elanna," I started and looked at her. "the Captain told me what happened and I want to say that I'm sorry. I know I didn't do anything, but I just want you to know that I don't like what the alternate me did to you."
B'Elanna didn't say anything. So I continued. "And I for one am happy that you broke his nose in three places." I smiled and so did B'Elanna. Then she turned to look at me.
"You know what, Paris?" she asked. "I had a feeling that the guy who kissed me wasn't you. And if it was you, I would've killed you on the spot."
And with that, the turbolift stopped at B'Elanna's deck and she got out. Which left me with my mouth wide open staring after her. The 'lift started again and I kept staring at the door with my mouth open.
Now I have to go after her! I thought.
'I'm taking bets!' Tameth said. 'Will B'Elanna kill him or…will she kill him?'
'I'll go for the first choice!' Jack replied. 'Sorry, Tom, but the chance of you and B'Elanna getting together is less likely than Tameth and Janeway together.'
'Thanks for that!' Tameth happily said. 'Now since Tom wants B'Elanna, I get Janeway!'
Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. The 'lift stopped at my deck and I got out walking towards the Mess Hall. As soon as I got there I ordered Hot, Plain, Tomato Soup from the replicator and looked around. Sam was sitting in a corner alone. I walked over to her.
"Mind if I join you?" I asked her.
"No, please." Sam replied. I sat down across from her.
"Did you find out how much damage the alternate you did?" I asked.
"I didn't find out anything!" Sam answered frustrated. "Joe seems to avoid me everywhere I go. I swear I saw him running away from me when I went after him!"
I smiled. "Well, at least you don't have two people on the senior staff to try and reconcile with. Janeway was fine with me after awhile, but she didn't tell me what the alternate me did with her. But I did find out that the alternate me decided to kiss B'Elanna, but got a fractured nose for it."
Sam started to laugh. "You can't be serious!" she said between laughs.
"I am." I replied smiling. "And here's the ringer, when I got into the turbolift earlier, B'Elanna was there. I told her I was sorry and all and you know what she said? She said that if I kissed her, I would've been dead!" Sam laughed harder.
And the conversation pretty much talked about B'Elanna and me. Some of the crewmembers passed by and nodded or said hello. Eventually Harry entered and joined our conversation. Life was getting a little better it seemed. But there's the concern in the back of my head of the nanoprobes and what trouble they might or will cause in the future.
And hopefully B'Elanna and I will get together very very soon…
'Over my dead body.' Tameth muttered.
'You just proved his point.' Culnac answered.
The End?
Heck no, I'm going on vacation for 10 days and as soon as I get back I will have a new story for you to read in the series. It'll be rated T because it's darker, but no language so I would say read it. It might actually be one of my favorites…