When B'Elanna awoke, she was alone in sickbay. The Doctor noticed her stirring from his office and came out to greet her. "Good to see you awake, Lieutenant. How are you feeling?"

"Ok, I guess. My arm is a little sore," she replied, still feeling groggy.

"Yes," he said as he ran a tricorder over her. "You broke your arm in several places. It should be completely healed soon, but a little tender for a couple of more days."

He completed his scan and put away the tricorder. "Everything appears to be within normal parameters. If you don't use the arm for the rest of the day, I will release you to quarters."

"Where's Captain Janeway?" she asked.

"I released her several hours ago. She's no worse for wear."

The Doctor handed her the clean clothes Tom had brought by earlier for her. She noticed it was what she was wearing in the holodeck.

=/\=

"Come," Kathryn said when the door to her quarters chimed.

Tom entered carrying a duffel bag. "Harry and I cleaned up the holodeck."

"Harry was there?" she replied, noticeably uncomfortable at the thought of the ensign being present for the aftermath of her encounter with B'Elanna.

"Yeah, he'd been called down there because of the security lockout. He called me because he knew I'd transported the two of you out of there.

"Anyway," he continued, opening his bag. "Here's your stuff, I just recycled the things that weren't salvageable."

He pulled her clothes out of the bag and set them on her table. "Captain, may I speak freely?"

"At this point, by all means, go for it?"

"It's all over the ship. The transport to sickbay. What the two of you looked like in sickbay. People have been talking to each other and have been connecting the dots, they've come up with a fairly accurate picture. I just thought you should know."

Kathryn didn't know what to think, she didn't even know where she stood with B'Elanna and her crew already knew the gist of what had happened. "Tell me, what are my crew's thoughts on the matter?"

"Depends on who you ask. Most of engineering have known forever that their Chief had a thing for you. Some of them even suspected you had a thing for her. So, in Lieutenant Carey's words, It's about goddamn time."

Kathryn gave a small crooked smile at that.

"Now if you ask Security, they're more interested in why it seemed B'Elanna was in worse shape than you. In Ayala's words, Who needs a phaser when you've got Janeway to beat the shit out of everybody."

Kathryn let out a real laugh at Tom's words.

"Everyone seems okay with it, nobody's mentioned anyone preaching about rules or regs, or preferential treatment. I think you're okay on that front."

Kathryn moved closer to Tom. "I'm just going to drop the whole I'm the Captain and you're under my command thing for a minute. Are you okay with that?"

"Definitely."

She stood on tiptoes and kissed Tom on the cheek. "Thank you, Tom. From start to finish you've been a huge help. I appreciate what you've done."

"You're welcome, Kathryn," using her first name for the first time, "If you need anything else, all you have to do is ask."

"Only when we're alone," she smiled, Tom knew she was talking about the use of her name.

"Noted," he smiled in return. "You should also know, B'Elanna has been released from sickbay."

"Already!? I haven't even figured out my approach, yet. This could all easily go terribly wrong," her nervousness over the impending conversation she would need to have with B'Elanna was palatable.

"Let's see if I can help," he asked, trying to call her nerves, as he led her over to sit on the couch. He'd never seen Janeway look so unsure about anything. "First, I need to know what you want the outcome to be."

"First, I want her to stop thinking I did this because I'm the Captain and I viewed it as part of my job. And I want her to understand, really understand that I'm not put off by her Klingon side, that I don't think she needs to hide that side of her. All those things she hates about herself because she views them as too Klingon, they're all part of what makes her her, and she's absolutely lovely."

"Okay, the first part will be easy. The second part, that will be a work in progress for a while." Tom asked the next question, not because he didn't know the answer, but to make sure Kathryn knew the answer. "Now was this a one-and-done or a that was fun let's do this again sometime or a let's see where this thing takes us sort of thing?"

"Let's see where this thing takes us," she answered, though she could not believe she was having this conversation with a member of her crew.

"Okay, I've got half a plan. I'm going to go talk to B'Elanna. You just wait here for her to come to you."

"Wait a minute. What are you planning to say to her?"

"Not sure, I'm going to wing it. But I do know, she's probably pissed as hell at me right now for sending you to the holodeck. I know B'Elanna. She hates her Klingon side, and she's probably never been more Klingon than she was on the holodeck today. And now she'll be embarrassed that someone she really cares about saw her in such a fully Klingon state.

"I'll let her yell at me for a while. She can blow off some of the steam. I'll say some things about you.

"I'll prep her for a real conversation with you. Make sure she's ready to listen, instead of ready for a fight."

"Basically, you're going to go start a fight with a Klingon with no real plan."

"Yeah, basically," he agreed. "But, it'll work. I'm working on my angle right now."

Tom jumped up off the couch and headed for the door. "I'm putting my entire future in your hands. Don't fuck it up."

Tom turned around and grinned, "No pressure there."

"None at all."

"One more piece of advice about B'Elanna before I leave," he started. "Don't pull rank on her."

"Tom that's impossible, I'm the Captain."

"If it's related to ships business that's one thing, that's fine she'll expect it. In fact, I think B'Elanna would be really irritated with you if she thought you were cutting her slack because of a relationship. I heard the way you spoke with Chakotay in sickbay. You didn't want to have the conversation your 'friend' wanted to have, so you pulled rank and made him talk to the Captain instead of Kathryn."

Kathryn didn't say anything. She knew he was right, she often pulled rank with Chakotay when he tried to discuss things she didn't want to talk about, or things would become uncomfortable. She kept doing it because he kept letting her.

"B'Elanna's not Chakotay," he continued. "You might get lucky and get away with it one time. But most likely she'll yell, throw things and walk out. But she won't come back."

Tom turned towards the door and moved into censor range, as the door opened he turned around to face her. With a grin on his face, he said, "Time to go start a fight with a Klingon. Wish me luck."

Kathryn smiled after him.

=/\=

Tom found B'Elanna in deflector control, swearing and bashing her hyperspanner against various inanimate objects. She didn't appear in the best mood to try to start a conversation with. Of course, he knew he'd find her like this before he got here. It was time to pick a fight, so she could let out her rage. Hopefully, then she'd be ready to listen.

"I was told you were in here re-aligning the dish," Tom started. "If I recall the textbook correctly, this is not how it's done."

"Get out! Or the next thing I hit will be your face," she growled.

"Come on, B'Elanna," he chided. "There's no need for that."

"Leave now, I have work to get done."

"Routine re-alignment is not the Chief's job. You're hiding."

"I am not hiding," she said defensively. "I do not hide."

"Liar. You're hiding from Janeway," It was time to take some jabs at her and piss her off. "You know she won't come down here while you're working to have a personal conversation."

"The Captain and I don't need to have a personal conversation," she said pointedly. "And neither do we, so get out."

"You can't be serious," he gaffed. "You don't think the two of you should talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about," she said as she continued to work, refusing to look at him. "Janeway was just doing her duty, as the Captain. End of story."

"I could be wrong, but I don't think participating in Pon Farr falls under the heading of Captain's Duties ."

"You PetaQ," she yelled, whirling around to face him.

She threw the hyperspanner at him. It hit the wall behind him. He knew if she had wanted it to it would have hit him squarely between the eyes. She had meant to miss. 'Probably so she can use her fist,' he concluded to himself.

"Why did you send her? Why, Tom? Did you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of it?" she demanded. "You should have stayed out of it. You should have let me handle it."

"I was trying to help."

"Help... Help! How was tricking the Captain into going to the holodeck helpful?" She nearly yelled at him. "It sounds more like one of your juvenile pranks. A prank that ended very badly."

"Wait a minute. I didn't trick her into doing anything. She wanted to go."

B'Elanna deflated, "How could you do that to me, Tom?"

Tom was finding it hard to believe her anger had already petered out. Usually, B'Elanna could rage for an hour or more, if she was really mad and someone would engage with her. Now she just sounded sad and defeated.

"B'Elanna," he said softly, moving towards her cautiously.

When she didn't make a move to attack him, he continued, "I know how you feel about her."

B'Elanna looked up at him, "It doesn't matter how I feel about her. Not anymore."

Tom continued, "And I know how she feels about you. I figured it was what you both would want."

"Why she would want!" her anger flared slightly at his statement. "How could she have wanted to be attacked by a Klingon? How could she have wanted any of that? You saw what I did to her! She'll never be able to look at me again and not see a Klingon."

"I saw what you both did to each other, it wasn't a one-sided event. She could have sent a security team in there, locked you in the brig until the doctor figured something out, but she didn't. She went in there knowing full well what would happen. She wanted to be there—for you."

"How could she have wanted that? Why would she let me do that to her?"

Tom tried to break through her disgust with how fully her Klingon nature had been displayed in such an intimate way. "She wanted to be there for you. She still wants to be there for you."

B'Elanna didn't say a thing.

"And let me be clear, you're wrong about her. She doesn't just see a Klingon and she won't just see a Klingon from now on. She sees you. Kathryn Janeway sees all of you. And she likes you, Klingon side and all."

B'Elanna could not—would not—believe Kathryn had any real interest in her. She was sure the only interest Janeway had in her was captainly interest, no matter what had happened earlier. "Yeah, she thinks I'm an amazing engineer. She told me herself, today on the holodeck."

"Could you stop with the self-loathing for just a minute and listen to me?"

She gave him a menacing look and he was certain if she could have gotten away with it she would have killed him right there. But, she didn't say anything. "This isn't about your engineering skills. She thinks you're an amazing person. Period. You need to talk to her."

"Whatever, that's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard come out of your mouth. As long as I'm capable of keeping her engines up and running, she doesn't give a shit about me."

Tom was finding her to be absolutely infuriating. Why couldn't she see what was right in front of her face? How was it even possible she didn't see Janeway's true interest in her?

"Fine, have it your way. Don't talk to her," he finally said. "But, I think you should know she kept it."

"Kept what?" she had no clue what he was talking about.

He played his figurative Ace of Spades to win the game. "Your mark," he said matter-of-factly, "Kathryn Janeway kept your mark on her shoulder. She wouldn't let the doctor remove it."

B'Elanna stared at Tom in shock. He let his words sink in for a minute.

"However you feel about what happened. It meant something to her," he finished and then walked out.