Look After You-Chapter Eleven
A/N: References to Initiations in this chapter.
***
The next day, Tom was the first to arrive for their senior meeting. With a grin on his face, he waited for the rest of the staff to attend. As predicted, B'Elanna and Harry arrived last, looking particularly flustered. Harry looked incredibly sheepish and B'Elanna looked like she might kill someone. Judging by the fact that she was glaring at him, he strongly suspected that that person was him. But then again, he was the reason why their hair was now a vibrant shade of blue.
B'Elanna and Harry took a seat either side of him, and as soon as she had sat down, B'Elanna's foot stomped on his, and hard.
He winced. "Someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning," he mused.
"And once I'm through hurting you, someone's not going to be able to get out of bed ever again," she hissed.
He was just about to mutter something about innuendo when Harry uncharacteristically elbowed him in the side.
"I can't get this stuff out of my hair!" he exclaimed. "And I don't know how you did this Tom but you're going to-,"
"Alright," the captain interrupted, clapping her hands together. "Let's being."
She cast a gaze around the room, before stopping to look at Harry and B'Elanna. She looked at them in confusion, but didn't say anything. She wasn't the only one who had noticed the two either. Chakotay initially looked surprise, and was now giving Tom his patent glare, figuring that he was to blame. Neelix, on the other hand, looked fascinated by their new appearance. Tuvok acted like nothing was amiss.
"First of all, I would like to thank all of you for not deciding to leave Voyager. Though I'm sure some of you were tempted by it, you have no idea of my relief that none of you, or indeed the entire crew, decided to go. Seeing this planet has only ignited my desire to return home further. I know that it may not seem like we'll ever get home, but we will get there, to whatever end. I don't want any of you to give up." She cast a meaningful glance at Harry. Apparently even she knew of his diminishing faith. He had the grace to blush, and Tom noted that this was highlighted by his new hair colour.
The captain continued to talk further about their agenda, and then questioned the others on ship reports.
As the meeting drew to an end, she dismissed them, not before asking B'Elanna and Harry to stay behind.
With another grin, Tom stood up to leave.
"You can stay behind too, Mr Paris," Janeway added.
Tom sat back down.
As Neelix walked by, he stopped by Harry. "I love your hair you two! I think it looks fascinating. Is it part of some cultural ritual I don't know about? Maybe I should check my database…" and with that he wandered off.
The captain raised an eyebrow at Neelix's comments, and rested her chin in her hands. "Interesting new hairdos you have Torres and Kim," she began. "But I do hope you realise they're against Starfleet regulations." She said, with a slight quiver of her lips.
"We realise that captain," B'Elanna said. "And this wasn't our fault."
Tom could almost feel her eyes burning through his skull.
The captain turned her eyes on him. "As always, it has to be you Tom."
He gave her his most dashing smile.
"Can you tell me why you did this, lieutenant?"
Somehow, he didn't think she'd accept the 'they started it' argument.
"I thought they could do with a change," he answered.
Harry gave him a look.
"Well in future Tom, try to do something a little more discreet. I'm going to have to start taking away your rations if you continue with these pranks. They're starting to give me a headache. And B'Elanna and Harry? I want you to find a way to get your hair back to normal."
"We've tried, Captain," Harry said. "Nothing's worked."
"I'm sure Tom can find a way."
She gave them all a 'what- will- you- kids- do -next' smile and dismissed them.
The three of them walked out of the room and started walking to the turbolift.
"Are you going to tell us how to get this stuff out of our hair?" B'Elanna demanded.
Tom thought about it. "No."
"If you don't tell us, I'll beat the answer out of you."
He wasn't fazed. "But your hair brings out the colour of your eyes."
B'Elanna glared at him, realising that he was throwing her words back at him.
Whatever comes around…Tom thought.
"Seriously Tom, we can't go around like this forever," Harry interjected.
Seeing Harry's obvious discomfort, he relented. "Relax," he told them. "The colour will fade."
"Oh yeah? And how long will that take?" B'Elanna asked.
Tom shrugged. "About two weeks."
"Two weeks!" Harry cried, and Tom could tell Harry was trying to calculate the negative points he'd get for not abiding by Starfleet uniform regulations.
"I'm sure it'll be okay this once not to look exemplary."
"Says the person who gets up extra early to make sure he looks like he just stepped out of a Starfleet recruitment brochure," B'Elanna said scathingly.
"Hey! I'll let you know that I get up early so that I look good. And I look good in this uniform," Tom remarked.
B'Elanna rolled her eyes.
"Consider this karmic intervention. Oh, and I wouldn't try and dye your hair or anything. It just makes it worse."
B'Elanna spun round and stopped in front of him.
"You're dead," she told him, jabbing him hard in the chest.
All he could do was smile at her.
***
Almost two weeks later, Tom found himself in Sandrine's with B'Elanna. He watched as she typed furiously away at her data padd, not for one moment stopping to take a break. He grinned when she moved her head and a strand of her blue hair fell in her face. The colour had settled into cobalt blue and still made her stand out somewhat. He liked how it made her appear almost elfin and most definitely cute, something he knew she'd hate. He also knew that the blue hair made her less intimidating, which she wasn't happy about as her staff couldn't seem to take her threats seriously. Even though he loved her natural brown hair, he'd miss this new shade when it would fade in a couple of days.
As if she could feel him staring at her, B'Elanna looked up. "What?" she asked.
He grinned again. "Nothing. Just admiring your hair."
She rolled her eyes. "I swear if you make one more hair joke I'll poke your eyes out."
"With what?"
"My fingers."
He winced. "That would really hurt."
"I'm counting on it." She put her padd down. "Where's Harry? I thought he was joining us."
"Oh he was going to. But then Ayala found out that Harry plays the clarinet, and wanted him to join his band."
B'Elanna gave him an incredulous look. "His band?"
Tom nodded. "Yeah, Ayala plays the saxophone, and he's creating a band."
"Don't you mean orchestra?"
"No, I'm pretty sure he's forming a band."
B'Elanna sat back in her seat. "I didn't know Ayala played the saxophone, and I've known him quite a while."
"Obviously you were focused on his other attributes."
She adopted a dreamy expression on her face, which Tom noticed she seemed to do whenever the topic of men she found attractive came up.
"Yeah, I'd say," she said with a grin.
It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"Anyway, he and Harry are auditioning other crewmates for their band."
B'Elanna snorted. "Are Joe and Sam trying out?"
"I don't know. I hear Joe plays the triangle."
"A triangle?"
"Yeah, you know, a triangle." He made a triangle shape with his fingers. "You hit the triangle with a metal rod and it makes music."
"I don't know it. How about Sam?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe she can sing. Hey, maybe I can try out for singer."
B'Elanna burst out laughing.
"I was being serious, B'Elanna."
"Oh. Sorry."
He glared at her.
"So anyway," she started, changing subjects. "What was it like acting as captain today?"
He momentarily thought back to his brief stint as captain, a role he had taken on when Chakotay had been captured by the Kazon and both the Captain and Tuvok had gone to rescue him.
"It was a strange role," he decided. "I didn't feel like I had the right to be giving orders at all. But it was definitely interesting."
"Thinking of becoming a captain of your own ship one day?" B'Elanna asked with a grin.
He gave a bitter laugh. "God no. I bet my father would love that. He always expected me to be a carbon copy of himself. He never wanted me to do what I wanted."
"Look at you now," she said softly. "You've really made a name for yourself."
"Though not always in a good way," he said glancing at her hair again.
She saw where he was looking and she tugged at her hair. "You know, I'm actually starting to get used to this colour. Maybe I should keep it."
"Careful. I hear the more interesting-looking races aboard this ship are starting to become enamoured by your new look. Chell especially loves it."
B'Elanna burst out laughing again, and he watched as her eyes crinkled and her face radiated joy, something he wasn't privy to see often. He loved it when she laughed like this; loved the way she did it so freely, without holding any of herself back. B'Elanna wasn't extremely beautiful or attractive as the likes of the Delaney sisters or Susan Nicoletti, but she did have her own unique look about her, and when she laughed in such an uninhibited way, his heart clenched at the sight. And this troubled him.
"Maybe you should ask him on a date," he teased.
B'Elanna snorted. "Think of the children."
He grinned at the image.