SUMMARY: Events following "Thirty Days". Ah, alright! I know it's been done before. But this approach is really different. Really! And yes – it's a prequel to my "Twenty Days After" – and yes – there will be a prequel to this one – as in "Thirty Days" the way I thought it was (or could have been). So it's all slightly different than it was in the show. You may consider it AU – Tom is a bit more angsty about being confined and he is not returned to his post – he serves gamma shift at the helm…
WARNING: Mild sexual content in this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any Star Trek contents.
NOTE: Yes, I like reviews, just like you do. So if you feel like writing one – don't hesitate :).
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AFTER THIRTY DAYS - by YANNIK.
Chapter One – B'ELANNA.
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She waited anxiously. God, she missed him! Thirty days… She was unable to believe that it was that long since she last saw him. It was long, and not long at the same time. Weird feeling you get, when you wait for something to happen – wait really badly – and then it comes. At first you hadn't even believed it would. At first you'd thought it was going to take eternity. But time passes – as it always does. And then eternity ends and you face your dream come true.
Thirty days have passed. B'Elanna was about to face Tom Paris. Yes, she saw him on the bridge earlier, but it was not the same. Now she was going to see him for real. To examine every wrinkle on his face, every fair hair of his. His blue eyes. To see if he's changed. He seemed a bit thinner, but maybe it was that light… whatever. Thirty days in a brig must have had it's toll on him. When would he come!
Door-chime startled her. Though she was prepared!
"Enter" she said. Almost exclaimed.
And then she saw him. Eerie mixture of emotions overwhelmed her. She was completely at a loss, she didn't know what to think. First – there was this joy to see him. Then surprise, almost anger, that he was in his uniform. Khales, she wore her best dress, to greet him! Then sorrow, because she now saw for sure, she was not wrong thinking he got thinner. And he had dark shades around his eyes. And he looked like hell overall. Then she could barely stop herself from running to him, flunging herself into his arms. Then she didn't do it because she saw how hesitant he was. How reluctant. And that was yet another bout of surprise and anger for her. And it all in just one split second. But joy was above it all, whatever he did. They started speaking at the same moment:
"It's so good to have you…"
"Lieutenant…"
She stopped in midsentence. He took it seriously? She gasped in bare shock. Then he really must have changed. She was sure Tom Paris she knew, would get the joke.
"Tom…" she hesitated. "Stop fooling around. I was joking, okay? Come on in." She motioned. And he stepped inside. They stood before each other, looking in each other's eyes. God, she missed him!
She smiled. She reached, and touched his face. His lips slightly trembled, and then she just couldn't stop her instincts. She embraced him wildly, and pressed her lips to his. He kissed her back. They started kissing so violently, that she almost started fearing for her beautiful dress. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. Only him. His lips. His arms. She unzipped his uniform. He unbuttoned her top. His skin. His chest.
God, they were supposed to eat dinner!
His hands on her breasts. She could not breath. She didn't want to breath! She only wanted to taste him, feel him, love him.
God, she missed him!
The world spinned. Spinned out of control. But who would want control? Who would want…
Oh!
…anything but this…
She trembled in his embrace. Breathed heavily, laying on the rough carpet on the floor. Her skin got so sensitive. She could almost feel the softness of light. Forty percent. Not to bright, not too dark. He continued moving. Deep, strong, firmly. No, she didn't have enough, she just started.
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How long was it? She was more than satisfied, yet she wanted to remain in his embrace forever. But she realized something was not exactly right. His breathing got labored some time ago, but he still continued loving her. She was grateful – at first – that he did not think about himself only, that he didn't do it quick – though she suspected he would, after one month of fasting. But she was slowly beginning to think there was more to it.
"You okay?" she whispered, stroking his back.
"Yeah" he spluttered.
Now she knew he wasn't.
"Tom." She waited a moment, but he did not respond. "Let's stop. Let's get some rest, and return to it later. Okay?"
He just got off her. He sat with his back to her, and heaved a sigh. She joined him.
"Something's wrong?"
"No."
Too quick. Too sharp.
"Tom, tell me. I want to…"
"I'm out of my confinement! Do you expect everything to just snap back into place? To be as it was a month ago? It's not that simple!"
She wanted it to be simple. But he was right. Of course.
"I know Tom. That's why I want to talk…"
"There's nothing to talk about!" he snarled, and started putting on his uniform.
"What about dinner?"
He stopped and looked at her. She could almost swear he was thinking about the 'order' she gave him. She had to ease up the tension.
"You may choose anything you like. Pizza, tomato soup, something fancy, with the most expensive wine 'Voyager' has. Whatever. Month's replicator rations just for one night to spare."
"Right" he mocked. "You forget the rules – replicator rations are for those useful to the community. While at the brig – I was not!"
"So?" she did not understand.
"I don't have month's replicator rations!"
"I do." She gasped at the bewildered look upon his face. "I wasn't using replicator over the last month" she explained quietly, suddenly unsure how he would take it. "Only in emergency situations, but I tried to make sure they didn't happen. So I collected quite a lot. Just for this night."
His face was so vulnerable at this statement. She almost feared he'd cry! And then he looked at her with love. With gratitude.
"You're the best" he choked out, unable to say more.
God! What happened to him in that brig? He certainly wasn't behaving like himself.
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But within an hour, and almost three large pizzas later, Tom was his old self again.
"I'm full" he mumbled patting his belly with gentleness worth something more delicate. "If I have one more bite, I'd explode" he added eyeing one last slice. B'Elanna felt the same, though she only helped him with one half of one pizza. She had just enough strength to nod. "I mean literally" Tom continued. "Have you seen 'Monty Python's Meaning of Life'?"
"No."
"Well. You'd know what I mean… I feel like a pig."
That made B'Elanna laugh.
"You are a pig, Paris!"
"Right. I almost forgot" he grinned. Then he leaned to her, despite his full stomach, and kissed her lightly. "The dinner was delicious. Thank you."
"Am I better cook than Neelix?"
"Oh, definitely. Leola root…" he shoke his head, and that was enough for a comment. "Y'know that I threatened them with hunger strike if they didn't give me something else?"
B'Elanna giggled.
"Did it work?"
"Nay. They had to spoon-feed me in the end."
She laughed out loud now. She loved his sense of humor, and she missed it so!
"It's so good you're back."
"Ohhh, I know."
He stretched his back, and got up. Took her hand and lead her to the bed. There they lay flat on their backs, and didn't make a move for at least half an hour. Then she shifted closer to him, and embraced him. She was satisfied in every field, but she remembered, that he didn't come. She wanted to give him that joy as well.
She started kissing his neck lightly, kissing his ears. He murmured, and smiled with obvious pleasure. So she continued. Soon his unzipped uniform lay on the floor, and she was sitting on his stomach, caressing his chest with kisses and gentle strokes. He opened his eyes and looked at her with their blue depths. She caught herself astounded by that color again. Being Klingon – well half, but still – she was more accustomed to black or brown eyes. Humans were so different. And Tom Paris was the most stunning of them all.
She kissed his eyelids, his nose, cheeks. His lips. He enveloped her in their wet warmth. His palms were on the back of her head, on her spine… And then the current flew. She felt excitement all over again. Excitement and longing. She started making love to him. Deeply. Passionately.
Oh, and he loved her! His hands were wondering around her bare skin, his lips kissing, his teeth biting. She shivered with craze, and plunked her nails in his arms. They joined in furious ecstasy, and raced ripples of wilderness. Time stopped, space didn't exist anymore. There were only them – as one body, one soul.
Until Tom stopped. He wasn't sharing it with her!
"What?" B'Elanna was still immersed in passion.
Tom stopped moving.
"Please, go on. Tom?"
She heard him sigh, and rose her head to look at him. He held his palm to his forehead, his eyes closed.
"What is it?"
"I don't know!" he snapped, and crawled out from beneath her.
"Tom?"
"I gotta go."
„What?"
„I'm tired B'Elanna. I don't know… maybe I need a moment more. I can't just… I gotta go."
With that he got up, got dressed, and left her quarters. She stayed behind bewildered and angry, her passion not fulfilled.
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t.b.c.