Look After You- Chapter Ten
A/N: This chapter is set during the episode The 37s. Thanks to Pepper for the beta as always.
***
The next day, B'Elanna was waiting impatiently for the turbolift.
When it came, the doors slid open to reveal Tom.
Oh great, she thought.
She went to join him in the lift, uncertain of what to say to him. This was the first time she'd seen him properly since their away mission, and she was still feeling uncomfortable.
Tom cast her a look, evidently eyeing her discomfort.
"I hope you're going to apologise," he said finally.
She looked at him in surprise. "For what?"
He gave her a mock glare. "For what? For vandalising my ship!"
She grinned, suddenly remembering yesterday's events, and just like that her uneasiness faded. The lift reached their stop, and they both walked off, heading to the briefing room.
She turned to face him. "That ship needed improving and if you ask me, Harry and I did a pretty good job."
"Somehow I don't think a pink ship is a good idea," he said, pretending to be annoyed.
"I think it goes well with the colour of your eyes," she said sweetly.
"Oh really? How nice of you to think so. And what about the picture? Did you think that was an accurate representation of what I look like?"
She considered this. "I'd say so, yes."
"Uh-huh. You picked a picture of me looking completely bewildered and gormless."
She looked at him in feigned confusion. "But I thought that's what you looked like all the time."
The glare he threw her was deadly, but not deadly enough. "With friends like you, who needs enemies?"
She patted his shoulder. "One day Tom, you'll understand that we did this because we care for you."
"Oh really? It looks like you cared so much that it's impossible for me to remove these 'additions.' It took me hours to find a way to remove those nuns, and I only managed to turn the ship a brighter shade of pink."
B'Elanna tried to suppress the urge to laugh. He wouldn't be able to restore the ship to its original form; she and Harry had made sure of that.
"Well lieutenant," he said as they reached their destination. "I hope you and your little ensign are watching your backs, because if there's one thing you can count on, it's that I will be enacting my revenge."
***
B'Elanna followed Harry's gaze to the "37s", eating their lunch at a near by table.
"So, do you think you'll stay on Voyager, or settle on this planet?" she asked him with curiosity.
Harry pushed his food around his plate. "I don't know," he admitted. "Part of me wants to stay here on Voyager, but I'm tempted not to."
B'Elanna's eyes widened. Of all people, she expected Harry to stick resolutely to a life as a Starfleet officer. "But you're Starfleet! You're the embodiment of what all their poncy rules and regulations stand for."
"I love being part of Starfleet. But day in day out, for God knows how long? I miss home, especially my family and Libby. But this planet is so like Earth, and we may never get home. This could be the next best thing. And whilst I wouldn't change my experience on Voyager for a thing, I can't help but feel that life on this planet could be great."
B'Elanna's eyes grew wistful. "It's definitely a curiosity," she agreed. "I wonder how advanced their civilisation is. It would definitely be interesting to see how much it parallels our own, or whether it's gone on a completely different tangent. And maybe they're looking for an engineer who can help them advance their technology."
"You'd hate it," came a voice from beside them. Tom appeared at their table, carrying his lunch-tray. "Mind if I sit?"
Harry nodded. Tom had only just started joining them for their meals again, although Harry never did understand Tom's sudden, awkward behaviour, and found it somewhat ironic that it took a revelation of a prank to get his ass back in gear. A prank that he had yet to get them back for, though Harry did not doubt that Tom was meticulously planning his revenge into the late hours of the night.
B'Elanna raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
Tom dragged a chair over, and sat down. "Because I know so. Oh you'd love it on that planet…for all of about a week. Sure, the technology would be interesting enough for you to sink your teeth into. But after a while even that will become boring. You thrive on adventure. Live for it. You wouldn't want to be stuck on a planet where you'd become gloried for constructing some engineering masterpiece. You'd rather be stuck on Voyager, under-appreciated, over-taxed and working yourself to death, because you love the uncertainty of it all and the drive it gives you. Above all, you love knowing that you're the glue that keeps Voyager flying. Your heart belongs in the stars, battling the unpredictable, not on a planet where life could become even slightly boring." Tom said all of this in a matter-of-fact way, and Harry noted that B'Elanna's face had surprise written all over it. Evidently Tom was right, and Harry knew the surprise was because B'Elanna was certain she hadn't spoken about these feelings, and here Tom was pointing them out as if she was as easy to read as a flight manual.
Harry watched as B'Elanna's face transformed from surprise to confidence. "Well, I can guess what you'd want to do."
Tom looked at her with a flicker of amusement. "Is that so?"
"You want to stay on Voyager because you love the satisfaction that being our best pilot gives you. You also feel indebted to Janeway for giving you this opportunity in the first place."
Harry looked to see Tom shrugging. "Nothing revelatory there."
"But," B'Elanna carried on. "Part of you is tempted to stay."
With great satisfaction, Harry watched Tom's face fall.
"You love being our star pilot, but I bet even you will tire of it after a while. You've loved doing this job the last year, and you'll love doing it next year and maybe the year after that. But you know you can't do this job forever. Your reflexes will start to slow after a while, and as time goes on, your navigation skills will start to fade. Your whole life has been dictated by Starfleet, and you need to know you're more than that; more than a pilot. You're tempted by this planet because you can start over completely from scratch. You can build a real boat or ship and experience real sailing. You can try real wine and real food, and immerse yourself in a culture that stems from the period you love. You're curious too as to how much they've evolved or whether they still retain the authenticity of 20th century Earth. You see this planet as a place you've only dreamt of, and the temptation to stay is incredibly strong."
By the expression on Tom's face, B'Elanna was scarily accurate and seeing this, a big grin spread on B'Elanna's face.
"Not bad," Tom mused. "But you're wrong one on count: the most tempting thing would be the women and how much they differ to the ones back home."
B'Elanna's fist came crashing down on Tom's hand, which was flat against the table.
"Ow, B'Elanna! What was that for?"
"My hand slipped," she answered back sweetly.
"You really know how to hurt a man," Tom muttered.
"I see no man around here. Just a pig."
The two of them started bickering and Harry watched with amusement the transformation from uneasiness that someone knew them better than they were comfortable with, to familiar but pointless arguing.
Next time he was bringing popcorn.
***
The three of them watched from the viewport in Tom's quarters as Voyager took off from the planet and descended into space. None of them said anything; instead they watched the colourful planet getting smaller and smaller until it was nothing but a tiny point of light and distant dreams.
Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.
"How come you decided to stay, Starfleet?" B'Elanna asked after a while, her voice extremely quiet.
"Because somehow, being anywhere but on Voyager felt wrong," he replied, his voice just as quiet.
They turned away from the viewport and walked over to the couch. Wordlessly, Tom replicated a bottle red wine and poured them each a glass, and for a moment they all stared into their glasses, trying to console themselves with the fact that they'd made the right decision.