Part the Seven – Where in Tom wears a path in the carpet, B'Elanna takes an unscheduled nap and the author has forgotten what she was going to do to Harry!
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Waking in his darkened quarters Harry Kim surfaced from eight hours of healing sleep. Slowly rubbing the collected sleep from the corner of his eyes he sat up, privately pleased that his head felt normal, no dizziness or blurred vision greeted his movements. Yawning the young man stretched both arms high above his head, joints popping satisfactorily as he reached the apex.
Still half asleep, he shuffled from the bathroom into the main living area, calling for the computer to raise the lights to forty percent as he did so. With one hand raised scratching at the nap of his neck Harry blinked in the soft illumination. Against the far wall, his computer console beeped, calling his attention to a waiting message.
As he hit the playback request, his stomach quietly rumbled, reminding him that he had not eaten anything since breakfast. The screen before him altered to display the worried features of B'Elanna Torres, "Harry, I need to speak to you, can you contact me as soon as is convenient."
The chirp of the computer chimes cut across the harsh sounds of combat echoing through the holodeck from B'Elanna's workout.
"Chakotay to B'Elanna Torres."
"What?" the half Klingon woman practically snarled in reply.
There was a slight delay while Chakotay adjusted to the harsh tones of the angry engineer. "I'm sorry for interrupting B'Elanna, is this a bad time?"
Calling to the computer, B'Elanna paused the holo-programme. Leaning forward she braced her hands against her knees deeply drawing air into her lungs as the effects of the rough workout made their presence known, fatigue muscles burning throughout her aching limbs. "Go ahead Commander."
Through a long association, Chakotay knew that addressing him by rank was not a good sign. "Could you come to my office? There is something we need to discuss."
Despite her anger, B'Elanna read mixed signals in her friend's voice, and it was as her friend that he spoke, not as Voyager's First Officer. Although phrased as a question the request to meet in Chakotay's office was more of a command, the setting indicated an official request rather than a more casual, friendly overture.
"Acknowledged, on my way."
Elsewhere Harry Kim, in response to a similar communiqué was making his way to the Captain's readyroom. Both the Captain and her First Officer acting on behalf of the voiceless Tom, had agreed to advise his lover and best friend of the usual situation that his own current lack of vocal ability prevented him doing so in person.
Harry, Tom knew would have the patience to read a message, had Tom decided to prepare a PADD, but this had seemed too impersonal and he knew that was no way B'Elanna would appreciate that approach. News of this magnitude needed the interpersonal skills of Voyager's ranking officers.
Meanwhile Tom waited, trying to relax in his quarters, having chosen to retire to more comfortable surrounds rather than remain in sickbay where he stood a high probability of being seen by the crew before he was ready. The chance of being revealed before then, a risk he was not willing to take.
The Doctor for one had been happy to release the blond, happy to have his domain back fully under his control and Tom Paris free the moment the Captain had remove the security lockdown. Despite being unable to talk, Tom had easily communicated his displeasure at once again being trapped within the confines of sickbay and had soon found new and interesting ways to annoy the EMH.
It was much easier for the Doctor to concentrate on the puzzle of the pilot's transformation without the person in question constantly hanging over his shoulder, both physically and metaphorically. At one point, before the Lieutenant's departure, he was sorely tempted to give into the urge to disable the PADD which comprised the officer's only means to 'verbalise' but the mental image of Tom, arms and hands waving trying to communicate like some bizarre game of charades was just too horrifying to risk and so the PADD stayed and the Doctor did is level best to ignore the source of his irritation, however his acerbic tongue and dry whit worked overtime to compensate.
Restless Tom had long since given up trying to rest quietly and resorted to pacing his quarters, striding across the width of his living area from the door to the window and back again, over and over, his feet following the same path time and again. Even the stars hanging in the tapestry of space, glinting like frozen diamond chips on darkest velvet unable to divert his attention while he waited.
Eventually his pacing was interrupted by nervously anticipated sound of the door chime, without thought he opened his mouth to call out for his visitor to enter. Tongue and lips formed the words without effort but no voice broke the silence of the room. Brow creasing in frustration as the effort failed Tom turned on his heel, to face the entrance he had to resort to manually releasing the door.
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Minutes before ringing the chine to Tom's quarters, B'Elanna found herself standing alone in the corridor outside. Having informed Chakotay she was able to face Tom without the need for backup, now that she was actually there, facing Kahless knew what inside she found that the urgency to see Tom; to reconnect with her mate, swiftly draining away, replaced her earlier feelings of worry and anger with uncertainty; the feeling creeping unpleasantly up her spine to lurk at the base of her skull, its' cold fingers brushing the back of her neck.
Despite his best efforts, Chakotay had done more to increase the half-Klingon woman's tension than eliminate it. Informing his fellow Marquis colleague that some unexpected and potentially permanent change had befallen her man, he had tried to carefully explain to the fiery engineer that mentally Tom was the same man but physically no man at all, it had taken considerable effort to keep his attention on B'Elanna and not the memory of soft flesh beneath his palms. His skin of his hands seemed to itch with the memory, the sensation burned eternally into his mind.
B'Elanna knew she had feelings towards Tom, considered him her mate, the relationship though only fairly recent had progressed past base attraction and into more emotional realms, and what were the first stirrings of an emotions she hesitated to label romantic love.
Could she come to love another woman? B'Elanna was not sure, she had not really stopped to consider that her Tom was not her Tom any more and that this worried her greatly, could their fledgling feelings survive what was to come?
What she also failed to stop and consider was that in likelihood, she was experiencing a form of shock, the news had not really had a chance to sink in yet, and so she stood, in the corridor, facing the door to her mate's quarters, alone with her thoughts.
Almost of its' own accord her right hand slowly rose, her fingers finally brushing against the sensor plate, activating the computer and sounding the door chime to announce her presence.
Realising, after the fact, what she had done the engineer's fingers jerked back as if burnt by the sensor, she stared at her own hand, looking at the limb as if betrayed by her own body. However, as the seconds tick away disbelief turned to worry as the chime went unanswered.
Chakotay had made sure to let her know that Tom was at home, welcomed her company, expecting it, had specifically asked her visit him once the Commander had explained the situation he now found himself in. So why was she standing there facing the still firmly closed door?
Just as her fingers reached forward towards the sensor, intending to ring the chime again the door slid open, leaving her face to chest with the man in question, or rather that should have been face to breast, umm…. Make that breasts, there were two breasts just inches from her face.
Tom barely had time to brace himself on still shaky legs before he caught the fainting form of his Klingon mate as her brain chose to take the quickest way out, it was either shut down temporarily or break something, someone, uncharacteristically it chose to shut down over a display destruction.
Defiantly not the reaction Tom had been expecting!
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