How To Save A Life- Chapter 4
Tom had gone through over fifty tries to save Jadzia. He had gone through almost all of the ideas in his head. He had died twelve times to save her; each time he died a horrible horrible death…every time at the hands of Dukat. Every time Tom tried, he just couldn't get Dukat to die and Jadzia to live.
Now Tom was at his wits end. He'd been up for almost 36 hours straight. And B'Elanna was probably freaking out because he wasn't there. Or maybe they didn't know he was gone.
"Do they know I'm gone?" Tom asked Q. They were standing near the windows on the upper level of the Promenade. "Voyager, do they know I'm gone?"
"Yes." Q answered. "They've been wondering, searching."
"I want them to know I'm okay, I want to go back for at least a couple hours." Tom said. "I need a break."
"If you go back, Paris, you lose your chance to save Jadzia." Q replied. "But I'll go to Voyager for you, tell them that you're okay. In the meantime you can go to Quark's Bar and take a break." Tom was about to protest, but Q snapped his fingers and was gone.
Voyager
Captain Kathryn Janeway had been up for a long time, she didn't even rest. Tom had been gone for almost a day and they didn't know where he went. He had just disappeared and hadn't been seen or heard of since. There was no evidence of a struggle, invader, or any use of shuttles or transporters in the last three days. Then that raised the question, what the hell happened to him?
B'Elanna was another story. She had been up for almost 18 hours before Tom disappeared and had been awake the whole day to try and find him. B'Elanna had to be pulled, literally, out of Engineering by Chakotay just to eat. Now she was on the Bridge helping Harry try to find her boyfriend. As Janeway sat in the Captain's chair, Q appeared in a bright flash and in that moment, everything made sense.
"It was you!" B'Elanna yelled. Harry grabbed her, holding her back from running and tackling Q. "You took Tom away!!"
"Well, that wasn't the warm welcome I was expecting, but yes, you're right." Q replied smiling. Janeway got out from her chair and walked up to Q.
"Why?" Janeway demanded.
"Because he asked me to." Q answered. "See, I just happened to show him a friend of his dying and for some odd reason…he wanted to save her." Q tried to make B'Elanna jealous, he knew that she would worry about Tom gallivanting around the universe trying to save some girl, especially with his background.
"Who is 'she'?" B'Elanna asked.
"Jadzia Dax, some Trill Paris knew long ago." Q responded. "But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you he's alive and to offer you something. I'm going to offer you the chance to keep an eye on Paris. I'm going to put what is happening on Deep Space Nine, where Tom is, on that viewscreen. You aren't going to run into anyone dangerous for a little bit, so you don't need the viewscreen that much, so why not make use of it? Everything he does, you will see, but you can't communicate with him and he won't know you're watching."
"Why are you doing this?" Janeway asked.
"Junior's getting boring and I'm feeling like a nice guy today." Q replied. "Even if you don't take the offer, I'm still going to put what's happening up on that viewscreen." There was silence. Q snapped his fingers and Tom appeared on the viewscreen at Quark's Bar with a glass of whiskey next to him.
Deep Space Nine
"I still think you look familiar." Quark stated to Tom. Tom was sitting in front of Quark in one of the chairs. He had his uniform jacket open completely showing his undershirt.
"I think we've met before." Tom replied. "A long long time ago."
"Well, glad you came back, I could use the business these days." Quark said.
Tom sat there and after a couple of drinks, the whiskey bottle was almost completely gone. He wasn't drunk, maybe a little buzzed. He was returning to his old ways, get drunk; be an ass, then wake up with a hangover.
"Quark, I have a question for you." Tom started. "If you tried so hard to save someone you cared about over and over and it never works, what would you do next?"
Quark stared at Tom. "Probably kill myself." Quark joked.
"That is an option, but I'm not willing to take it…at least not now." Tom said with a somber face. Quark looked at Tom oddly again.
"Though I would love to keep taking money from you, I think you've had enough." Quark grabbed the whiskey bottle, but so did Tom.
"I don't think I have." Tom stated.
"Well I think you have." Quark replied. They both held onto the bottle each pulling it towards themselves.
"And I still think I haven't." Tom said.
The two fought over the bottle for a bit longer trading insults in the mean time. Eventually, someone had called Odo who came running into the bar along with several other security guards. Tom knew that he probably wouldn't stand a chance against a shapeshifter, let go of the bottle. Quark was still pulling the bottle which flung him backwards making him hit the other liquor bottles behind the bar. Tom stood up and ran up the stairs to the second level of the bar. Odo and the security guards chased him up the stairs, right on his heels.
"Q, if ever, now's the perfect time to save me." Tom yelled.
Tom was on the second level of the Promenade now. But he apparently didn't run fast enough, because soon he was tackled to the ground. Odo was about to say something when everything went white. Then Tom was on his stomach on the second level of the Promenade, but no one was around him, except Q.
"Now who says I'm not there for you?" Q asked. Tom stood up and brushed himself off.
"Time to go save Dax." Tom said. He began to zip his jacket up as he walked down to the first level of the Promenade.
"You're drunk; do you really think that's a good idea?" Q asked as he followed Tom.
"I'm not drunk. And besides, if I were drunk, then I would be open to more ideas. I don't see any problem there." Tom replied. "Besides, I have good intentions."
"Don't good intentions take you humans to the darkest of places?" Q asked.
"Yep." Tom answered. "And I have no problem with that."