Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager and all characters therein are the property of Americans who are not me. No infringement of copyright is intended.
NB: This story is set approximately around Season 5-7, but not particular spoilers other than this happens after Thirty Days (but after Tom re-makes it to Lieutenant again) and before Drive. Rating T/PG14
OF RYALS & RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 5 – Attack of the Green-Eyed Monster
"Tom!" Harry made the protest even though he knew it was futile as he managed to keep up with the miffed blond as he stalked through the bustling market.
Many of the traders, now aware that none of Voyager's Beryllium would be lining their koufas, shot them dirty looks, but the pleasure and recreational facilities on Ryzak were still maintaining their love affair with Voyager's crew. In fact, Harry and Tom had come down here supposedly with Crewman Jor, Lt Tabor, Ensign Vorik, Lt Ayala, Ensign Wildman and sundry other crew for an afternoon at one of the "sports centres". Tom and Harry had spent an hour playing 'squash' (one game won each) then half an hour swimming, followed by a massage by an alien creature that didn't talk but which possessed divine paddle like appendages that worked miracles on aching muscles. Then they'd steamed and finished up with a light snack meal that contained not a single familiar item but which was very nice.
Unfortunately the meal had been accompanied by a pot of Zerin, and Harry had watched Tom flick instantly from affable to brooding again and felt his heart sink. He had had his ear bent by Tom virtually all their previous duty shift and it had taken him a solid hour of talking to persuade his friend that he was overreacting. That was the trouble with Tom; he was intelligent but mercurial most of the time, his mind jumping from idea to idea in a way that the plodders could only envy, but when he did get mired in some sinkhole of brooding or fixated on some obsession he took some pushing to get him moving on again.
Harry was the one person who knew the right tricks of when and how to exert pressure to 'flick' him out again or how to coax him forward once more; trouble was, Harry knew his methods for the 'care and feeding' of Thomas Eugene Paris took time. Back on Voyager, with several solid hours of being able to listen and advise and persuade, Harry would have had no problem in calming Tom down. But right now Tom was clearly in full anxiety mode and obsessing big time.
So Harry did his job – he was the faithful sidekick; his role was to have Tom's back, provide support/aid, initiate what damage control he could and if the worst came to the worst, save Tom from himself – though the last one wasn't always possible, as evinced by the brief period where Tom had got himself broken to Ensign before making Lieutenant again. As he walked beside Tom towards Jeren's store, Harry ruefully reflected that it was typical of his luck that of all the females aboard Voyager, Jeren had to home in on the only one Tom Paris was romantically involved in.
Thankfully Tom didn't have that many things he obsessed about or got hung up over. There was his being a pilot and the inherent competitiveness which made him want to be the 'flyboy' in the Delta Quadrant as he had been in the Alpha Quadrant, but now he had a star-ship literally at his fingertips and Janeway had allowed him to create the Delta Flyer, that obsession was usually channelled into upgrading his 'baby'.
There was Chakotay and the Captain; she had seen past the self-protecting arrogance and indifference to the deeply hurt man beneath and given him the opportunity for redemption. As for Chakotay…it was a complex relationship, marred by beliefs of betrayal and mutual antagonism, but…that little three-letter word that was so profound. Harry wasn't quite clear on the details of how Chakotay's life belonged to Tom, as it was one of the few things the blond absolutely never discussed - although to Harry's admiration, since it had said a lot for Tom's fledgling emotional maturity that he had not openly gloated over Chakotay's debt of honour to him. Often the exchanges between the two had a sharp edge and there was frequently a challenging subtext, but when the chips were down Tom never failed to treat Chakotay with the deference due the position of First Officer regardless of who wore the pips, and had often supported Chakotay when others had rebelled, challenged or unfairly maligned the man.
Penultimate there was Harry himself. He realised initially it had only been bored amusement that made Tom take the innocent lost lamb that was Ensign Kim under his wing. But after that alternate reality when he had been caught in the alien time stream and found himself back on Earth with Danny Bird lost aboard the Voyager, Harry had had an epiphany and realised that he had an extraordinarily subtle but massively profound and important role to play in Tom Paris's existence. 'Looking after Harry', 'setting an example for Harry', 'meeting Harry's expectations', all were a defining part of how Tom Paris looked at the world, and without hubris, Harry knew he made Tom a better person. Only he alone now remembered that alternate reality, and the pity he had felt for that Tom Paris, a drunken drifter spending his life in the darkness, moving from pool hall to pool hall as long as anyone would pay his bar tab, directionless and purposeless.
But that had been because that Tom had nothing to live up to, he had no Harry to make him ashamed to drink on duty (oh yes, Tom didn't know he knew about those early slips and never would); nobody who Tom didn't want to be disappointed in him when he was foolish or insolent. On the shuttle, when Tom had sacrificed his own life to send Harry back to the 'real time', that had been the real Tom Paris, in his element when he had someone that needed him, that depended on his skills and his quick thinking. Shortly after B'Elanna and Tom had finally got it together, Harry had realised Ensign Orlando was depressed and homesick and since he was the same age began to spend more time with the man in an effort to cheer him up. But regardless of his budding relationship with B'Elanna, Tom had acted deviously and ruthlessly to hook Orlando up with another group of friends and monopolise Harry's attention for himself. Orlando had taken the 'he's my friend' hint.
But his ultimate obsession was of course B'Elanna Torres. Harry bit back as sigh as Jeren's store came into view as the crowds thinned. Incredibly considering the packed markets, the store seemed to be empty at the moment; Harry mentally groaned – a bevy of customers would have forced Tom to be on his best Starfleet Lieutenant behaviour. He would never risk Captain Janeway's ire – or her disappointment – by damaging the repute of the Federation in front of an already hyper-critical audience. There was no point trying to talk sense into Tom, he didn't have any where B'Elanna was concerned.
Okay, that was a little harsh, but sometimes…in the early days Harry had certainly wanted to knock their heads together, at least once he'd got over the shock that Tom was genuinely interested (definition of same being 'more than a one night stand') in B'Elanna. Tom was a handsome man always ready to enjoy a little female company and there were far more pleasant females aboard Voyager than the often almost-psychotic half-Klingon who, at least in the early days, only Chakotay could control.
Maybe that had been the initial pique of interest – Tom's desire to dominate and manipulate Chakotay translated into an urge to be the only other male aboard who could exercise any control of B'Elanna's actions. However, it had rapidly become more than that. Harry had watched Tom's initial purely sexual interest deepen and grow into a fixation on B'Elanna that precluded anything else. Incredibly it was a relationship that worked; Harry had often secretly wondered about how the doctor's psycho-sexual report on Tom would read, for at first he himself had been very sceptical of the affair's longevity. He had never thought a human male of Tom's self-confidence and sexual assuredness would tolerate being the submissive mate once the novelty of that initial 'my very own dominatrix' had worn off. Harry knew several people were astonished that Tom Paris had never had any apparent problem being the submissive sexual partner, though he had quickly slapped down any rude enough to try and get gossip out of himself on the issue. Indeed, for all their fights and passionate sparking off each other, B'Elanna was the centre of Tom's universe.
Which was what made him so dangerous at times like this, when a clear and present danger to one of his few obsessions hove into view. Tom immediately tended to go into Attack Pattern Alpha mode and prepare to fire all photon torpedoes – and damn the consequences. The more deeply Tom felt something, the more extreme his reactions were about anything that affected it.
B'Elanna was oblivious to the approach of her mate as she talked with Jeren, who had been charmingly apologetic that morning when she arrived for any embarrassment he'd caused her.
"That's it for today, but I should be finished in two days tops and you can sell it as new by the time I've done with it." She told Jeren.
He smiled gratefully, then reached out and placed one hand on her forearm as she would have turned away to gather her tools. His hand was particularly warm through the sleeve of her uniform. "I do appreciate your kind help B'Elanna, and without wishing you to be uncomfortable in any way, I just want you to know that I am very grateful."
B'Elanna felt her cheeks heat and not just because it was suddenly rather warm in the store. It had been forever since she had been looked at, even by Tom, with that definite hint of male appreciation, and for once she was just going to enjoy being given a compliment by someone who was so thoughtful and appreciative of her efforts.
"B'Elanna!"
The sudden shout made her jump up and back slightly and she was unaware of Jeren removing his hand hastily from her arm at the noise; she was thus oblivious to the guilty overtones the tableau seemed to portray to the suspicious imagination of one Tom Paris.
"What's wrong?" B'Elanna blurted, her head filled with sudden fears of warp core breaches and other catastrophes.
"What's wrong? Why don't you tell me? I arrive to find you…canoodling." Tom spluttered; behind him Harry winced.
B'Elanna stiffened and somehow seemed to swell slightly, both at the tone and the phraseology. Human outrage over his suspicious assumptions mingled with Klingon defensive guilt over the fact that she had enjoyed the compliment from a male who was not her mate. As always when B'Elanna was threatened, she attacked. "Get your mind out of the gutter, human, not everyone is as mentally dirty as your brain obviously is?"
"You're coming back to Voyager with me, right now!"
"What? Why stop there, why don't you just try and hit me over the head and drag me back to your cave, P'targh!"
"Good idea! Harry, pass me that me that pipe."
"Try it you pathetic man and I'll break both your legs."
"You won't be able to if I break your arms first!"
There was a high-pitched shrill and a mini-dust-cloud as Harry's phaser blast into the ceiling brought bits of it down on Tom and B'Elanna.
"Enough!" Harry censured. "Tom, our duty shift starts in one hour and if you make us late, I'll hit you over the head myself. B'Elanna," he softened his tone.
"I'm going shopping with Seven and Sam and Naomi Wildman," B'Elanna interrupted, "and I won't see you later, Paris."
"Good." Retorted Tom, thoroughly infuriated. "Come on, Harry, we're leaving."
With an apologetic glance at Jeren, Harry followed his friend out. Somehow, he didn't feel like laughing at the pair of them right at this moment.
To be continued…
© 2005, C D Stewart