Another Place

Missing Scenes 2

The 44th Time Around…

"Wow." Q said smiling.

"Yeah." Tom replied. "This is…interesting."

"I think we might've gone too far." Q responded.

"There's no such thing as too far." Tom said. "But there is such a thing as exceeding limits. This…well, this isn't even going near the limit." Tom and Q stared at what they had done in shock. Neither could believe what they had done.

"I didn't think we could do it." Q stated.

"Neither did I." Tom replied.

What was staring back at them was the smiling form of a Vulcan. Tuvok had smiled! He had laughed and then smiled at the sight of Chakotay's attempt at dancing. The sight of a smiling Vulcan was both scary and funny.

"Wow." Q repeated.

"Wow." Tom echoed.

The 63rd Time Around…

"I don't think so." Q said to Tom.

"Oh c'mon! It took me twenty of these rotations to learn this, you're gonna learn this." Tom replied. They were in the Holodeck with a drum set in the middle. "I always wanted to learn this and it's just fun."

"I'm not going to do it." Q stated. "End of story, I'm not going to learn. What else?"

"Okay." Tom said giving up. "We'll do something else since you're too scared to try this."

"Good I'm-" Q stopped. "Scared? You think I'm scared?"

"Well, why else wouldn't you try this?" Tom asked. "Don't worry it's a perfectly human response."

"I'm not human." Q shot back. "And I'm not scared."

"Okay, sure." Tom said.

"You're giving up that easy?" Q asked.

"I've learned to give up before there's a fight with women." Tom replied.

Q stood there for a moment as Tom started to leave the Holodeck. "Okay, fine, teach me." Q responded.

Tom was standing in the doorway smiling as soon as Q decided to let him teach her how to play the drums. It was his angle all along, pretend to think they're scared and they'll try to prove you wrong. Tom didn't know if it would work on Q, but he might as well try. It had, after all, worked on B'Elanna and the Captain several times. Tom turned around and smiled.

"Okay then, let's get started." Tom said.

The 75th Time Around…

"And it's the final period here on the Holodeck." A voice came over the speakers. "With three minutes left to go, will the Avengers come back from a 2 to 5 game that they are losing. Or will the Ravens keep the team at bay and win the game? To recap, Avenger center Tom Paris is currently in the Penalty Box along with Ravens right wing Larry Stiles for fighting. Both have thirty seconds left in the box until they come back out. Now, let's get back to the action!"

Tom had created a holodeck program of ice hockey and had convinced many people that they had said they were going to play a practice game. All said that they don't remember saying anything of that nature, but Tom 'recalled' the almost exact conversation when it happened. The teams had no clues what they were doing, but apparently, the Ravens were faster learners than Tom's team the Avengers.

After two and a half minutes on the ice, the game was quickly coming down to the wire. Tom had made two goals while Harry Kim had made one for the Avengers. The game was tied at 5 to 5 and it was getting closer. Soon, time had passed, penalty's had been called several times and only 3 seconds was left. Tom was skating like hell down the rink towards the opponent's goal.

Since time was running out, at the half way mark, Tom shot the puck directly at the opponent's goal. Tom knew it wasn't going to go in, hell, in overtime his team would probably lose after coming so close. But what did happen was a miracle. The puck went into the net milliseconds before the buzzer went off signaling the end of the game. The Avengers had won 6 to 5 with a buzzer beater! After half an hour of celebrating, Q walked up to Tom.

"Now can we go?" Q asked.

"What, wasn't that cool?" Tom asked.

"No. I'm going to turn back time, now." Q replied and turned around then started to leave the holodeck

"You're no fun." Tom shot back.

"It would be more fun if it was in the corridors." Q said. Q turned around and smiled to Tom and he returned the smile.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Tom asked.

The 76th Time Around…

"I never knew pucks could fly so fast." Q said as she and Tom were skating down the corridors at top speeds.

"I didn't either, but it's never good when one hits Chakotay and that extra one hit Tuvok a bit later." Tom replied. They were skating away from Tuvok, his security team, several crewmen, and Chakotay.

"Good thing I added ice." Q stated. They turned around just in time to see Chakotay slip and fall, bringing down the others behind him which subsequently caused a pile up. "Funny as hell, too."

The 81st Time Around…

Tom and Q were walking down the corridors trying to decide what to do next. Tom wanted to watch a horror movie while Q wanted to try playing ice hockey again in the corridors. Tom peeked over his shoulder because he thought he heard something, like someone calling his name.

"What, what is it?" Q asked. She followed Tom's gaze behind them only to find no one there.

"I swear I heard someone call my name." Tom replied.

"I didn't hear anything." Q responded and started walking the direction they were going. She soon stopped after noticing that Tom was going in the opposite direction. "…But let's check it out anyway."

"I swear it sounded just like…" Tom started.

"Like…?" Q prompted him to go on.

"Kes." Tom continued. They had turned a corner and in front of them was the former Voyager crewmember.