How To Save A Life- Chapter 3
Tom Paris had tried three more times to save Jadzia Dax's life, but had failed again and again. Either Jadzia died or someone else died when he tried to undo the horrible thing that happened. It had been almost three hours since Tom left Voyager and now he was beginning to wonder if they even knew if he was gone. He had gotten a new uniform to make sure he didn't stand out as he walked along the Promenade. Tom was up for another shot, this time; he would try harder than before. He made his way towards the Bajoran shrine and walked into it.
In front of the orb, Jadzia was thanking the Bajoran prophets. Tom ran up to her and grabbed her. He began to pull her out of the shrine, but she resisted.
"Jadzia, I don't have time to explain!" Tom said to her.
Jadzia stood up and stared at Tom. She was about to say something, but Gul Dukat transported himself into the shrine at that moment. Tom pushed Jadzia out of sight so Dukat could only see him instead. It was at that moment Dukat looked over at Tom and saw him standing there alone.
Tom was about to say something, but Dukat moved his hand and an orange reddish beam hit Tom. It lifted him off the ground and he was in mid-air in agonizing pain. After being suspended in mid-air for a few more seconds, Tom fell to the ground. Dukat went over to the orb and opened it. Jadzia stood up from where she was hiding and fired her phaser at Dukat. He turned around and was shot at again. Dukat tapped his arm and transported away, unable to finish what he had came here to do.
Jadzia went over to Tom and kneeled down next to him. She called for a medical team to her position and felt his pulse. He wasn't breathing and Jadzia began to panic. Even though the probability of this actually being Tom was slim to none, she had to try and save him. She began to give him CPR, breathing into his mouth. She continued to do so until the medical help arrived.
30 Minutes Later…
Tom slowly opened his eyes; he felt some pain, but not a lot. The person standing next to where he was laying stood up and came into his field of vision. Jadzia was leaning over him smiling at him.
"Hey." Tom said. It was all he could manage to say, he was beginning to feel very weak.
"Hey, Tom." Jadzia replied. "Are you in any pain?"
"No, only a little." Tom answered. "I'm dying, aren't I?"
"You're going to be just fine." Jadzia responded.
"You're lying." Tom whispered. "I know when you're lying, Dax."
Dax looked away for a little bit. "It's really you…" Jadzia whispered back to him. "You saved my life. I can't believe you're back and now…now you're leaving." Jadzia wiped away a stray tear on her face. "Don't die, Tom. Please don't die."
"I came to save you." Tom murmured; he wanted to close his eyes so badly. "I'm sorry." That was the last thing Tom said before he closed his eyes. Jadzia continued to cry over Tom's body.
"Congratulations, Tom." Q said as he appeared next to Tom on the biobed. Time had stopped and Tom was still laying on the biobed, though he was feeling much better. "You saved Jadzia and stopped Dukat from closing the wormhole."
"But I died." Tom added.
"True." Q replied smiling. "But you saved Jadzia, just what you wanted."
"But I died." Tom repeated.
"I'll give you a choice." Q started. "You can both die and let Jadzia live. Or, live and try again to save Jadzia."
"I don't want to die." Tom replied. "I don't want her to die either. But I don't want to die, at least not like this."
"Fine, let's go again." Q said.
Q snapped his fingers and he and Tom appeared on the Promenade. He looked around feeling better than he had half an hour ago, but now, now he had to try and fix it. No matter how much it hurt, he would try and try again to save Jadzia. Q was standing next to Tom smiling at him.
"Why are you so happy?" Tom asked with a hint of anger in his voice.
"I didn't expect you to take my offer." Q answered. "I actually expected you to let her live and sacrifice yourself."
"Sorry to disappoint." Tom muttered.
"Oh no, this is going to get more interesting now." Q smiled.
Tom looked at Q angrily and walked towards an empty or secluded place. Q followed him and once reaching the place, Tom turned around. He pushed Q against the wall and held him there.
"You think this is some kind of game?" Tom yelled anger evident in his voice. "Do you think that watching someone I care about die over and over is…is…is interesting?"
"Are you finished, yet?" Q asked, as if this didn't bother him.
"No, I'm not!" Tom responded. "Why won't you help me save her?"
"I am, I'm taking you back in time over and over, and I'm the one who gave you this chance!" Q answered. He was beginning to have some anger in his voice, too. Q pushed Tom's hands off of him. "If it weren't for me you wouldn't even be here!"
"Oh, gee, thanks!" Tom said sarcastically. "I'm so incredibly happy that you were able to let me watch Jadzia die over and over. I'm so happy you're able to let me go through that."
"Don't patronize me, Paris!" Q yelled. "I gave you the chance to save someone you care about! Anyone of your people, of your universe would love to have this chance, but I didn't give it to them! I gave it to you! You arrogant fool! Right now you could be saving her or attempting to save her, but you aren't!"
"Why won't you help me then?" Tom asked. "You can save her, stop Dukat, and not let anyone die! If you want me to save her, then help me!"
"I can't!" Q replied. "I've already gone against the Q Tribunal enough already by bringing you here and showing you how Jadzia died. If I do anything else, I risk losing my Q powers…again."
"What the hell is a Q Tribunal?" Tom said, though it took him off-track from his point. "Wait, don't bother."
"Listen, Paris." Q started. "I'm helping you because I want to."
"I highly doubt that." Tom muttered.
"Fine, believe what you want." Q responded. "But I am going to help you."
"I can tell you have ulterior motives, Q." Tom replied. "I don't know what they are, but I'm betting it's something interesting. For now…I'm going to forget that you have those motives and I'm going to help my friend."