"Run away, but you can never hide,
From the shadow, that's creeping up inside you.
There's a magic running through your soul."
"So." Harry said as Tom once again lay down on the couch, lacking a shirt and gripping a cool glass of water.
"So." The lanky man answered, playing with Harry. The ensign rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. This was a game they always played when there was going to be a 'talk.' It served to ease both their tensions. Harry had already turned the room temperature back to normal and was now sitting with some juice in the chair opposite his best friend. The man he would do anything for, because he knew the loyalty would be, and was, returned. As it was now his friend looked tired. The slight tinge of green around his mouth had disappeared moments before, when Tom had finally felt safe to leave the toilet. The blonde man had claimed it was his condition that had made him throw up after Chakotay had left. Harry thought it was more personal than that.
"That was odd, finding the Commander hanging out in your bathroom. Is their some kind of in-the-closet relationship between you two that I'm not aware of?"
"If there was it would be more like an in-the-bathroom relationship." The pilot stated and took a sip of water. "He was checking up on me. It appears I didn't look to well leaving the planet's surface."
"You know he's figured out the reason for that don't you?"
"Kind of hard to miss isn't it?"
"I mean he's aware of the fact that you were set up." And Tom sighed; this time the sound was far from relaxed and calm.
"I know. What I'm worried about is what they're going to do now that they can't mess around with my away missions."
"I'm not so sure they'll try anything. And I know they wouldn't if you just told the Captain."
"Harry, you know I'm not a rat. Besides, if I did that I'd have to leave the ship for real next time." There was no humour in his voice and for a moment Harry's fears came to the surface. He was well aware of how difficult living on this ship was for Tom, even if he wasn't privy to all the details. He tried to help the man as much as he could but the truth was that as a green ensign, despite being on the senior staff, his opinions of the man had occasionally put him in the bad books of many a crewmember. Considering he only dealt with a tiny fraction of the hostility he only imagined what Tom had to put up with. What Harry was afraid of was the fact that Tom might one day make the decision that he really didn't want, or need, to put up with the crew anymore, and that he might leave permanently. If that happened Harry wasn't sure if he'd be staying on Voyager. He couldn't see himself living with people so closed minded that they'd drive off one of their best chances of getting home because of ancient angers.
"Tom, I think there's some news travelling around the ship that you might want to know." Tired blue eyes, more weary than they deserved to be, looked at him and Harry felt even worse for being his friend's bearer of news.
"Go on Harry, I'm not going to kill the messenger," And his right blue eye winked as if they shared a secret joke. Then again, most of their jokes were secret, because Tom wasn't one to share them with others.
"Somebody saw your scar and let loose that you had one. They're still trying to figure out what it is, but I've seen some rough drawings on napkins as I passed tables and they're getting pretty close to the right design." Tom sighed and leaned back, a chuckle escaping his lips that told Harry how fed up the man was with gossip.
"I knew it was only a matter of time. Ayala isn't one to spread gossip though, and I know it wasn't Chakotay. It must have been the other ensign, Sidor I think. Isn't it interesting how everybody's thoughts are always focused on a guy they don't like."
"What I want to know is why a simple scar matters so much." Harry looked at him, trying to get the point across that he was trustworthy. Tom looked at him, noted the serious gaze, and a laugh full of good humour burst from his lips. Harry must have looked confused, a look he used a lot when around Tom, because the man ceased his laughter and focused on him with 'that' look. The look Harry associated with trust, sincerity and truth. To be quite honest he'd never seen the look directed at anyone but himself, and though it was rare when he did see it, it always sent shivers down his spine.
"Harry, you know more about me than anyone on this ship. You've been my rock, one of the only reasons that I've hung around so long. I have, and will again, gladly place my life in your hands and lay my own down for you." Harry took a deep breath, and focused on not letting his eyes mist up at his best friends words. "The reason I've never said anything about what the scar really is, is because I didn't want your opinion of me to change," Harry opened his mouth to interrupt but Tom held up a hand, commanding silence. "I am also aware that you've known what the scar is for about a year now, and I therefore never felt the need to tell you the truth."
"You knew I knew?"
"I knew that you knew. And now you know that I know that you knew." Harry blinked and shook his head.
"And you never told me because?"
"I wanted to make you feel guilty about being nosey enough to look for secret information about your best friend."
"It didn't work."
"I know. You wouldn't be here if it did." And Harry nodded at the truth of the words. He'd never had a relationship with anybody like the one he had with Tom. They didn't do the soul sharing talks very much. They just understood each other in a way that words weren't always necessary. It was a friendship that Harry treasured so much because of these reasons. He liked to think of it as a soul mate type of friendship, if there was such a thing. But sometimes they did need to talk about things, verbally work through problems and be there for each other. He'd never found someone so willing to listen and help as Tom, and it saddened him to think that Tom was this way because he'd "been there, and done that" to pretty much everything Harry had had to go through on this trip. In a selfish way Harry was glad that Tom didn't share this side of himself with anyone, he was afraid he might get jealous of them.
"Tell me something about it."
"It was made by a cattle prod type of poker." The man also had an extremely twisted sense of humour. Harry just waited a minute before Tom rolled his eyes, flipped the cloth on his forehead over, and continued. "The Cardassian's use it to stake their claim on the prisoners. We didn't get clothes so it was easy to see. They also put one on your chest. The real reason for it though, was to mess with our minds and make us 'feel' like property. We were all in the same prison, and the prison was pretty damn remote, so identifying where you belonged was kind of ridiculous."
"According to the database."
"Which was classified the last I checked." Tom grinned and kept his eyes closed. Harry continued.
"No one has ever been found with that marking alive."
"It's true, I think. The reason I'm still here is through luck and my extreme talents for acting." Tom took a drink of his water, and Harry didn't stop him from talking about it. He wanted to know, he wanted to understand everything about Tom that he could. He wanted to learn from the man, and if Tom didn't want to tell him this, than he wouldn't. It was as straight forward as that.
"You see, they grabbed me for two reasons: to get top Starfleet command codes, and to torture what they classified as Starfleet's finest. Sometimes I swear they're as stupid as they look. It took them about five weeks before they realised that I wasn't actually in Starfleet anymore, and had no idea of the codes. Although I think they figured that out after the first week, they just wanted someone to play with." His voice was hard now, cold and full of anger. Harry swallowed, images flashing through his head about what could have happened to Tom in the hands of the CianKa Adasta torturers.
"They kept cutting me up and putting me back to together with their best tools. I let them believe that I was breaking under their hands and couldn't take much more of what they were doing to me. In all honesty at the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to live or die. Then about half way through they began bringing in other prisoners to help 'convince' me to give them the information they wanted." Now he took a steadying breath and swallowed heavily. Sipping from his water he considered how to word this and Harry wanted to just hold him, to try and physically comfort him from the pain, the anguish, that he could see the man felt at what he was about to say. "They killed those people in the worst possible ways, literally ripping them apart in front of me. The kids, I thought I was going to die from the will of not wanting to exist when they brought the kids in. A little Klingon girl and Vulcan boy.
"These children, they looked at me, as if they'd been told that I was the only one who could save them and that I wasn't going to. And they understood. They had both, when they were brought in, looked at me and forgave me with their eyes for what they knew was coming. They knew I couldn't do anything! And I didn't do anything! I just watched. I didn't even protest, because I knew that protesting would just stretch the time they were forced to be alive in that room." Tom took a moment and reeled in his rage at their memories. Harry stared at the man with such horror and admiration that the two emotions warred with each other on his face.
"So when they'd all been killed and I'd been burnt a little more, they took me back to the 'infirmary' and left me alone and unrestrained with the doctor, they all thought I was mentally incapacitated." He laughed. "You don't grow up in the Paris house to end life in the state of a mentally vacant shell. I killed that doctor, and the three guards I met on my way to the shuttle bay. The stupidest thing I ever thought about prisons is the fact that they always have shuttle bays, which are extremely convenient to escapees. I disabled their other shuttles with some nicely placed phaser fire and flew out of there with no resistance. That is how confident those bastards were. I touched down at the nearest possible, partially friendly, planet, sold the ship, gambled one hell of a lot more credits and began the week long trip back to earth at high warp. And that is the abbreviated story of the abduction of Paris." He saluted with his glass and sipped a little more. Harry was floored. He'd never heard anything as painful as that, and then to top it off with nonchalance. He wiped his eyes and saw Tom grin slightly in acceptance of his emotion. It wasn't a mocking grin, just the statement that he acknowledged Harry's reaction to the painful memory.
"Thank you Tom." Was all he said. They sat and listened to quite music for the rest of the evening, Harry making sure Tom drank enough fluid to melt into a puddle, and Tom actually feeling slightly elated from telling his story to somebody other then Sandrine, and to have said someone not fall apart on him, or demand to talk through his feelings about the whole situation. The next morning he was feeling well enough to go back on shift, no doctor's note required.
-()-
One week later
"Hey Starfleet." The ships dominating engineer said as she sat in the seat beside him and began to eat her stew without question.
"Maquis. What brings you to the mess so early?"
"Forced lunch break. I think Carey was threatening to lead my engineers on a mutiny if I didn't leave them alone. I suppose I'm a little testy today."
"That wouldn't have anything to do with our current guests would it?" She gave him a pointed look and resumed eating. He grinned and took a drink of coffee, when one of said guests walked into the room and headed towards Neelix. Harry liked the five aliens travelling with them. They were called Widariats and they were a beautiful species. Their dress was familiar to Harry, a common suit of pants and moderately tight tunic. Each had a belt of a fine flat burgundy rope that had small twisted ropes winding through and around them. The colour of these ropes were the societies use of rank. The five beings travelling with them right now were all scientists, and apparently some of the top telepaths of their home world, though their entire society was generally telepathic. That was probably the general reason Torres's temper was a bit on the edge; she didn't trust people who could read her mind.
Harry recognized the male as Tirzri'wa, though seeing as most of the crew, including the captain, had trouble pronouncing the click in the proper manner he had shortened his name to Tirzri. Tirzri's flaming orange feathered main rose in interest during his brief conversation with Neelix, and then he continued to search for a seat. When his eyes met Harry's the ensign made sure he looked welcoming. He liked these people. They were honest, forward and had a sense of playful humour that, apparently, had won them a place in Tom's good books. Tirzri practically floated towards his table, smiling at each member who greeted him until he sat across from Harry and Torres.
"Thank you for welcoming me to share a meal, though I'm not sure I've ever consumed something of this.colour before." Torres snorted, despite her obvious unease.
"This is one of the more edible looking dishes." She groused and Harry couldn't help but step in to defend the ships moral officer.
"He tries hard, and there's only the occasional meal that actually doesn't wok out well.they mostly include a vegetable called Leola root."
"Yes, Leola root. I tried some of that, it tasted like a crystallized syrup we have on our home world, very sweet usually, but this vegetable was lacking in sugar." He replied, spooning his meal into the mouth on his neck as he spoke through the one located where most humanoids were, on his face. Harry had become used to seeing the Widariats eating methods at the meal the night before, B'Elanna however, had been realigning the turbulent coils on the sub-plasma ejectors and she was now staring in interest as their companion ate. Harry elbowed her not so subtly, and she sat straighter in her seat. Tirzri looked at her and seemed to focus a moment.
"B'Elanna Torres. Eating through places other than ones 'mouth' is quite common for species all over this quadrant. I'm surprised you've never come across one before.although you suspect the Duranians might have ingested food that way. Interesting." Harry saw her cheeks flame.
"I didn't mean to offend you Tirzri-" "I know." He interrupted and she looked worried a moment.
"How would you know? Were you reading my mind?" She demanded and Harry had to suppress a laugh at her worry. Tirzri pretended to be startled.
"Why are you so worried? Do you have something to hide?"
"Everyone has something to hide, and I'm not worried."
"You're afraid that I'll pry where I don't belong, figure out why you are the way you are." He commented, still eating.
"I just don't think you have the right to be prying at all! And as for the reason that I am the way I am." Her angry sentence trailed off as Tirzri grinned at her, flashing his perfect, bluish teeth. Then Harry could tell she focused on the sparkle in the beings eyes and she growled.and hit Harry on the arm.
"Ow. What was that for?"
"For not telling me he was leading me on."
"I didn't have to tell you, you figured it out all by yourself."
"You, Starfleet, have been hanging around a certain pilot too much."
"Ah, this would be Tom Paris, correct?"
"Yes."
"A fascinating man he is." Tirzri finished his meal and placed the dish aside, wiping his neck with a napkin.
"Not the way I would describe him, but he has his moments I suppose."
"That has got to be the nicest thing you've ever said about me." Tom's voice came from behind her and she turned to glare, then she looked back at Tirzri who once again had that glint in his eye. Jokers surrounded her.
"Don't get used to it." She stood and picked up both her and Tirzri's dishes, said good-bye, and left the table.
"She's a fireball that one." Tirzri commented as a grinning Tom sat next to Harry.
"Just don't get in her way or she'll show you just how much fire she packs."
"I see you have first hand knowledge on this subject." The feathered being commented and Tom chuckled at some old memories.
"I deserved it both times."
"Tom has a way with the ladies. Humans like to call it 'charm.'" Tom faked surprise at the comment.
"Harry, I'm hurt that you would down play my skills in that area. Besides, I seem to recall you ending up on the floor by our engineer once as well."
"Yes, but that was an accident."
"If you say so Har." Tom looked at the line up for the food and sighed. "I'm going to go get some grub. I'll be back in a moment." He stood and in fewer steps than it would have taken Harry, he reached the end of the line.
"If you don't mind me asking but, why was he weary of approaching the food? Certainly he's not that afraid of Neelix's cooking."
"No, I think he's just.had a tiring day."
"I see." Tirzri looked at the line and frowned as he noticed a quite conversation taking place between Tom and another character. Harry glared at the line but when Tirzri looked towards him he averted his eyes and took a drink of his water.
"It seems there's more than just food selection taking place in this room."
"Well, I don't know about anyone else but today's meal actually looks edible." Tom sat, delicately placing his tray down. His shoulders were slightly tensed but his features were completely normal. Harry instantly knew his friend was once again annoyed, but he obviously didn't want to complain about it in front of their guest. The pilot took a bite, and seemed satisfied, his mood improving instantly. His ability to get over things was incredibly fast. He looked at Tirzri.
"So, Tirzri'wa," he pronounced the difficult name effortlessly, "Rinkin'an was saying that you're people typically live in tree houses. Have you always done this, or have you recently taken back to living in the trees?"
"At one time my kind chose to live on the ground or in space, consuming more resources than we needed and slowly destroying out planet. Finally the Widarians realized they were killing their planet, and that in the end it went against everything we believed in. The forests were replanted naturally and protected by all, growing our planet back to full health. About five hundred years ago, when the trees became numerous and large enough to live in, we moved back into them, which was how we lived before we discovered space flight. You haven't seen the trees on Widar, which is a large planet compared to your earth. As I'm sure you've already partially compared us to your home planet's 'birds' due to our feathers, it is not an illogical place for my kind to dwell."
"You know, for being on our ship for two days you have an amazing memory of earth and human culture."
"Our advanced minds make it easy, and seeing as we require sleep only once every three of your days, I've had extra time to go through your data banks. Now, perhaps you can answer some questions about your home for me." and that's how the conversation went for the next half hour, until Tom returned to his shift. Through that time Harry was acutely aware of how interested in the Widariats society, and the people themselves, that Tom was. This last year Harry had become increasingly worried about every friendly society they came across, because they just might be kind enough to convince Tom to remain with them instead of on Voyager.
"Do not worry Harry, while I'm not reading your mind I can sense your trouble. Everything that bothers you should work out well in the end. You have a long journey to make things right." Tirzri then stood and went to meet with the Captain and his fellow companions. Harry sat glumly for a moment and mulled over the comment. While he respected Tirzri, he wasn't so sure that Voyager had as long as they needed to make things right with Tom. A slow sense of dread began to settle in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it as best he could and went on with his day. The Widariats would be gone in two weeks and the threat of their society towards seducing Tom would be gone.
-()-
".but you can't have it all. Whatever you do I'll be two steps behind you. Wherever you go I'll be there to remind you, That it only takes a minute of your precious time, To turn around, I'll be two steps behind." -Def Leppard
Note: All of your reviews have been so encouraging! Thank you! Now I'm worried I won't be able to end this story right, but I suppose when the time comes you'll let me know. ( To answer Tabby's questions (sort of) there will be a public confrontation.however I haven't yet decided how or when or whether it will be public at all... However, the fact that you all seem to enjoy them as much as I do is encouraging! Please keep your eyes out for more!
"So." Harry said as Tom once again lay down on the couch, lacking a shirt and gripping a cool glass of water.
"So." The lanky man answered, playing with Harry. The ensign rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. This was a game they always played when there was going to be a 'talk.' It served to ease both their tensions. Harry had already turned the room temperature back to normal and was now sitting with some juice in the chair opposite his best friend. The man he would do anything for, because he knew the loyalty would be, and was, returned. As it was now his friend looked tired. The slight tinge of green around his mouth had disappeared moments before, when Tom had finally felt safe to leave the toilet. The blonde man had claimed it was his condition that had made him throw up after Chakotay had left. Harry thought it was more personal than that.
"That was odd, finding the Commander hanging out in your bathroom. Is their some kind of in-the-closet relationship between you two that I'm not aware of?"
"If there was it would be more like an in-the-bathroom relationship." The pilot stated and took a sip of water. "He was checking up on me. It appears I didn't look to well leaving the planet's surface."
"You know he's figured out the reason for that don't you?"
"Kind of hard to miss isn't it?"
"I mean he's aware of the fact that you were set up." And Tom sighed; this time the sound was far from relaxed and calm.
"I know. What I'm worried about is what they're going to do now that they can't mess around with my away missions."
"I'm not so sure they'll try anything. And I know they wouldn't if you just told the Captain."
"Harry, you know I'm not a rat. Besides, if I did that I'd have to leave the ship for real next time." There was no humour in his voice and for a moment Harry's fears came to the surface. He was well aware of how difficult living on this ship was for Tom, even if he wasn't privy to all the details. He tried to help the man as much as he could but the truth was that as a green ensign, despite being on the senior staff, his opinions of the man had occasionally put him in the bad books of many a crewmember. Considering he only dealt with a tiny fraction of the hostility he only imagined what Tom had to put up with. What Harry was afraid of was the fact that Tom might one day make the decision that he really didn't want, or need, to put up with the crew anymore, and that he might leave permanently. If that happened Harry wasn't sure if he'd be staying on Voyager. He couldn't see himself living with people so closed minded that they'd drive off one of their best chances of getting home because of ancient angers.
"Tom, I think there's some news travelling around the ship that you might want to know." Tired blue eyes, more weary than they deserved to be, looked at him and Harry felt even worse for being his friend's bearer of news.
"Go on Harry, I'm not going to kill the messenger," And his right blue eye winked as if they shared a secret joke. Then again, most of their jokes were secret, because Tom wasn't one to share them with others.
"Somebody saw your scar and let loose that you had one. They're still trying to figure out what it is, but I've seen some rough drawings on napkins as I passed tables and they're getting pretty close to the right design." Tom sighed and leaned back, a chuckle escaping his lips that told Harry how fed up the man was with gossip.
"I knew it was only a matter of time. Ayala isn't one to spread gossip though, and I know it wasn't Chakotay. It must have been the other ensign, Sidor I think. Isn't it interesting how everybody's thoughts are always focused on a guy they don't like."
"What I want to know is why a simple scar matters so much." Harry looked at him, trying to get the point across that he was trustworthy. Tom looked at him, noted the serious gaze, and a laugh full of good humour burst from his lips. Harry must have looked confused, a look he used a lot when around Tom, because the man ceased his laughter and focused on him with 'that' look. The look Harry associated with trust, sincerity and truth. To be quite honest he'd never seen the look directed at anyone but himself, and though it was rare when he did see it, it always sent shivers down his spine.
"Harry, you know more about me than anyone on this ship. You've been my rock, one of the only reasons that I've hung around so long. I have, and will again, gladly place my life in your hands and lay my own down for you." Harry took a deep breath, and focused on not letting his eyes mist up at his best friends words. "The reason I've never said anything about what the scar really is, is because I didn't want your opinion of me to change," Harry opened his mouth to interrupt but Tom held up a hand, commanding silence. "I am also aware that you've known what the scar is for about a year now, and I therefore never felt the need to tell you the truth."
"You knew I knew?"
"I knew that you knew. And now you know that I know that you knew." Harry blinked and shook his head.
"And you never told me because?"
"I wanted to make you feel guilty about being nosey enough to look for secret information about your best friend."
"It didn't work."
"I know. You wouldn't be here if it did." And Harry nodded at the truth of the words. He'd never had a relationship with anybody like the one he had with Tom. They didn't do the soul sharing talks very much. They just understood each other in a way that words weren't always necessary. It was a friendship that Harry treasured so much because of these reasons. He liked to think of it as a soul mate type of friendship, if there was such a thing. But sometimes they did need to talk about things, verbally work through problems and be there for each other. He'd never found someone so willing to listen and help as Tom, and it saddened him to think that Tom was this way because he'd "been there, and done that" to pretty much everything Harry had had to go through on this trip. In a selfish way Harry was glad that Tom didn't share this side of himself with anyone, he was afraid he might get jealous of them.
"Tell me something about it."
"It was made by a cattle prod type of poker." The man also had an extremely twisted sense of humour. Harry just waited a minute before Tom rolled his eyes, flipped the cloth on his forehead over, and continued. "The Cardassian's use it to stake their claim on the prisoners. We didn't get clothes so it was easy to see. They also put one on your chest. The real reason for it though, was to mess with our minds and make us 'feel' like property. We were all in the same prison, and the prison was pretty damn remote, so identifying where you belonged was kind of ridiculous."
"According to the database."
"Which was classified the last I checked." Tom grinned and kept his eyes closed. Harry continued.
"No one has ever been found with that marking alive."
"It's true, I think. The reason I'm still here is through luck and my extreme talents for acting." Tom took a drink of his water, and Harry didn't stop him from talking about it. He wanted to know, he wanted to understand everything about Tom that he could. He wanted to learn from the man, and if Tom didn't want to tell him this, than he wouldn't. It was as straight forward as that.
"You see, they grabbed me for two reasons: to get top Starfleet command codes, and to torture what they classified as Starfleet's finest. Sometimes I swear they're as stupid as they look. It took them about five weeks before they realised that I wasn't actually in Starfleet anymore, and had no idea of the codes. Although I think they figured that out after the first week, they just wanted someone to play with." His voice was hard now, cold and full of anger. Harry swallowed, images flashing through his head about what could have happened to Tom in the hands of the CianKa Adasta torturers.
"They kept cutting me up and putting me back to together with their best tools. I let them believe that I was breaking under their hands and couldn't take much more of what they were doing to me. In all honesty at the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to live or die. Then about half way through they began bringing in other prisoners to help 'convince' me to give them the information they wanted." Now he took a steadying breath and swallowed heavily. Sipping from his water he considered how to word this and Harry wanted to just hold him, to try and physically comfort him from the pain, the anguish, that he could see the man felt at what he was about to say. "They killed those people in the worst possible ways, literally ripping them apart in front of me. The kids, I thought I was going to die from the will of not wanting to exist when they brought the kids in. A little Klingon girl and Vulcan boy.
"These children, they looked at me, as if they'd been told that I was the only one who could save them and that I wasn't going to. And they understood. They had both, when they were brought in, looked at me and forgave me with their eyes for what they knew was coming. They knew I couldn't do anything! And I didn't do anything! I just watched. I didn't even protest, because I knew that protesting would just stretch the time they were forced to be alive in that room." Tom took a moment and reeled in his rage at their memories. Harry stared at the man with such horror and admiration that the two emotions warred with each other on his face.
"So when they'd all been killed and I'd been burnt a little more, they took me back to the 'infirmary' and left me alone and unrestrained with the doctor, they all thought I was mentally incapacitated." He laughed. "You don't grow up in the Paris house to end life in the state of a mentally vacant shell. I killed that doctor, and the three guards I met on my way to the shuttle bay. The stupidest thing I ever thought about prisons is the fact that they always have shuttle bays, which are extremely convenient to escapees. I disabled their other shuttles with some nicely placed phaser fire and flew out of there with no resistance. That is how confident those bastards were. I touched down at the nearest possible, partially friendly, planet, sold the ship, gambled one hell of a lot more credits and began the week long trip back to earth at high warp. And that is the abbreviated story of the abduction of Paris." He saluted with his glass and sipped a little more. Harry was floored. He'd never heard anything as painful as that, and then to top it off with nonchalance. He wiped his eyes and saw Tom grin slightly in acceptance of his emotion. It wasn't a mocking grin, just the statement that he acknowledged Harry's reaction to the painful memory.
"Thank you Tom." Was all he said. They sat and listened to quite music for the rest of the evening, Harry making sure Tom drank enough fluid to melt into a puddle, and Tom actually feeling slightly elated from telling his story to somebody other then Sandrine, and to have said someone not fall apart on him, or demand to talk through his feelings about the whole situation. The next morning he was feeling well enough to go back on shift, no doctor's note required.
-()-
One week later
"Hey Starfleet." The ships dominating engineer said as she sat in the seat beside him and began to eat her stew without question.
"Maquis. What brings you to the mess so early?"
"Forced lunch break. I think Carey was threatening to lead my engineers on a mutiny if I didn't leave them alone. I suppose I'm a little testy today."
"That wouldn't have anything to do with our current guests would it?" She gave him a pointed look and resumed eating. He grinned and took a drink of coffee, when one of said guests walked into the room and headed towards Neelix. Harry liked the five aliens travelling with them. They were called Widariats and they were a beautiful species. Their dress was familiar to Harry, a common suit of pants and moderately tight tunic. Each had a belt of a fine flat burgundy rope that had small twisted ropes winding through and around them. The colour of these ropes were the societies use of rank. The five beings travelling with them right now were all scientists, and apparently some of the top telepaths of their home world, though their entire society was generally telepathic. That was probably the general reason Torres's temper was a bit on the edge; she didn't trust people who could read her mind.
Harry recognized the male as Tirzri'wa, though seeing as most of the crew, including the captain, had trouble pronouncing the click in the proper manner he had shortened his name to Tirzri. Tirzri's flaming orange feathered main rose in interest during his brief conversation with Neelix, and then he continued to search for a seat. When his eyes met Harry's the ensign made sure he looked welcoming. He liked these people. They were honest, forward and had a sense of playful humour that, apparently, had won them a place in Tom's good books. Tirzri practically floated towards his table, smiling at each member who greeted him until he sat across from Harry and Torres.
"Thank you for welcoming me to share a meal, though I'm not sure I've ever consumed something of this.colour before." Torres snorted, despite her obvious unease.
"This is one of the more edible looking dishes." She groused and Harry couldn't help but step in to defend the ships moral officer.
"He tries hard, and there's only the occasional meal that actually doesn't wok out well.they mostly include a vegetable called Leola root."
"Yes, Leola root. I tried some of that, it tasted like a crystallized syrup we have on our home world, very sweet usually, but this vegetable was lacking in sugar." He replied, spooning his meal into the mouth on his neck as he spoke through the one located where most humanoids were, on his face. Harry had become used to seeing the Widariats eating methods at the meal the night before, B'Elanna however, had been realigning the turbulent coils on the sub-plasma ejectors and she was now staring in interest as their companion ate. Harry elbowed her not so subtly, and she sat straighter in her seat. Tirzri looked at her and seemed to focus a moment.
"B'Elanna Torres. Eating through places other than ones 'mouth' is quite common for species all over this quadrant. I'm surprised you've never come across one before.although you suspect the Duranians might have ingested food that way. Interesting." Harry saw her cheeks flame.
"I didn't mean to offend you Tirzri-" "I know." He interrupted and she looked worried a moment.
"How would you know? Were you reading my mind?" She demanded and Harry had to suppress a laugh at her worry. Tirzri pretended to be startled.
"Why are you so worried? Do you have something to hide?"
"Everyone has something to hide, and I'm not worried."
"You're afraid that I'll pry where I don't belong, figure out why you are the way you are." He commented, still eating.
"I just don't think you have the right to be prying at all! And as for the reason that I am the way I am." Her angry sentence trailed off as Tirzri grinned at her, flashing his perfect, bluish teeth. Then Harry could tell she focused on the sparkle in the beings eyes and she growled.and hit Harry on the arm.
"Ow. What was that for?"
"For not telling me he was leading me on."
"I didn't have to tell you, you figured it out all by yourself."
"You, Starfleet, have been hanging around a certain pilot too much."
"Ah, this would be Tom Paris, correct?"
"Yes."
"A fascinating man he is." Tirzri finished his meal and placed the dish aside, wiping his neck with a napkin.
"Not the way I would describe him, but he has his moments I suppose."
"That has got to be the nicest thing you've ever said about me." Tom's voice came from behind her and she turned to glare, then she looked back at Tirzri who once again had that glint in his eye. Jokers surrounded her.
"Don't get used to it." She stood and picked up both her and Tirzri's dishes, said good-bye, and left the table.
"She's a fireball that one." Tirzri commented as a grinning Tom sat next to Harry.
"Just don't get in her way or she'll show you just how much fire she packs."
"I see you have first hand knowledge on this subject." The feathered being commented and Tom chuckled at some old memories.
"I deserved it both times."
"Tom has a way with the ladies. Humans like to call it 'charm.'" Tom faked surprise at the comment.
"Harry, I'm hurt that you would down play my skills in that area. Besides, I seem to recall you ending up on the floor by our engineer once as well."
"Yes, but that was an accident."
"If you say so Har." Tom looked at the line up for the food and sighed. "I'm going to go get some grub. I'll be back in a moment." He stood and in fewer steps than it would have taken Harry, he reached the end of the line.
"If you don't mind me asking but, why was he weary of approaching the food? Certainly he's not that afraid of Neelix's cooking."
"No, I think he's just.had a tiring day."
"I see." Tirzri looked at the line and frowned as he noticed a quite conversation taking place between Tom and another character. Harry glared at the line but when Tirzri looked towards him he averted his eyes and took a drink of his water.
"It seems there's more than just food selection taking place in this room."
"Well, I don't know about anyone else but today's meal actually looks edible." Tom sat, delicately placing his tray down. His shoulders were slightly tensed but his features were completely normal. Harry instantly knew his friend was once again annoyed, but he obviously didn't want to complain about it in front of their guest. The pilot took a bite, and seemed satisfied, his mood improving instantly. His ability to get over things was incredibly fast. He looked at Tirzri.
"So, Tirzri'wa," he pronounced the difficult name effortlessly, "Rinkin'an was saying that you're people typically live in tree houses. Have you always done this, or have you recently taken back to living in the trees?"
"At one time my kind chose to live on the ground or in space, consuming more resources than we needed and slowly destroying out planet. Finally the Widarians realized they were killing their planet, and that in the end it went against everything we believed in. The forests were replanted naturally and protected by all, growing our planet back to full health. About five hundred years ago, when the trees became numerous and large enough to live in, we moved back into them, which was how we lived before we discovered space flight. You haven't seen the trees on Widar, which is a large planet compared to your earth. As I'm sure you've already partially compared us to your home planet's 'birds' due to our feathers, it is not an illogical place for my kind to dwell."
"You know, for being on our ship for two days you have an amazing memory of earth and human culture."
"Our advanced minds make it easy, and seeing as we require sleep only once every three of your days, I've had extra time to go through your data banks. Now, perhaps you can answer some questions about your home for me." and that's how the conversation went for the next half hour, until Tom returned to his shift. Through that time Harry was acutely aware of how interested in the Widariats society, and the people themselves, that Tom was. This last year Harry had become increasingly worried about every friendly society they came across, because they just might be kind enough to convince Tom to remain with them instead of on Voyager.
"Do not worry Harry, while I'm not reading your mind I can sense your trouble. Everything that bothers you should work out well in the end. You have a long journey to make things right." Tirzri then stood and went to meet with the Captain and his fellow companions. Harry sat glumly for a moment and mulled over the comment. While he respected Tirzri, he wasn't so sure that Voyager had as long as they needed to make things right with Tom. A slow sense of dread began to settle in the pit of his stomach, but he ignored it as best he could and went on with his day. The Widariats would be gone in two weeks and the threat of their society towards seducing Tom would be gone.
-()-
".but you can't have it all. Whatever you do I'll be two steps behind you. Wherever you go I'll be there to remind you, That it only takes a minute of your precious time, To turn around, I'll be two steps behind." -Def Leppard
Note: All of your reviews have been so encouraging! Thank you! Now I'm worried I won't be able to end this story right, but I suppose when the time comes you'll let me know. ( To answer Tabby's questions (sort of) there will be a public confrontation.however I haven't yet decided how or when or whether it will be public at all... However, the fact that you all seem to enjoy them as much as I do is encouraging! Please keep your eyes out for more!