Look After You- Chapter Thirteen
A/N: References and direct quotes from the episodes Non Sequitur and Twisted, the rights of which Paramount hold. Thanks again to Pepper for the beta, and comments will be appreciated.
***
About a month later, the trio found themselves enjoying a drink in Sandrine's. It had been a while since all of them had gathered together after duty, with one or more of them either busy or pulling a different shift.
Harry was giving Tom a strange look, as if he was seeing him for the first time.
Tom put down his beer. "What is it, Harry? You've been looking at me strange ever since you got back from your mission."
B'Elanna grinned. It was true. She watched as Harry gave a sheepish smile, and listened intently as he told them of his experience in an alternate timeline. He focused again on Tom when he told him about meeting him in the bar, and how he had been disappointed in Tom's behaviour; then how Tom had surprised him by coming to his aid when Harry was fleeing Starfleet.
"I never imagined what life was like for you before Voyager. I never considered what you were like. I've never seen you as anything more than honourable, so it was weird seeing you as anything but that. But then you went ahead and proved that you were anyway."
Tom didn't say anything for a while. "I think back to those days, and I hate the person that I was. I've often wondered if I would have been more than a scoundrel if it weren't for Voyager, and I always thought that I would have always been a misfit. I guess I needed someone to believe in me." At the risk of sounding too sappy, Tom punched Harry in the arm. "Thanks, buddy."
Harry winced. "No problem."
B'Elanna looked at them both warmly. It was good that Harry was also shedding light on Tom's past, too. She'd met him back then, and aside from saving her, he had pretty much fit the picture Harry had painted of him. Her low expectations of him had been affirmed when he had left the Maquis not too long after he had joined, an act which for a long time she thought was of betrayal. But he had been trying to save their ship, and had got caught in the process, which spoke volumes of him.
"What were you like in the Academy?" B'Elanna asked with curiosity. He had told her when he had first met her that they were at the Academy at the same time. He'd made some remark about him knowing of the only half-Klingon there, and his categorization of her had angered her. That, and she'd not been aware of him at all during her brief time there.
Tom shrugged. "Oh, you know. The usual. Charming. Studious. Gifted. A straight A+ student. Wonderful in everyway."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Were you also egotistical?"
"Me? Never!"
"Since when were you ever studious, anyway?" Harry asked.
"What happened to your unrelenting faith in me?" Tom inquired.
"No offence, Tom but I can't imagine you as the academic sort. I bet you were one of those annoying types who never had to study to get a good grade; you just did, naturally. Grr, I hated those types! I used to have to slave away to get a decent grade, and some schmucks would just roll on into a test and roll out again, ace it, without even reading a book," B'Elanna ranted.
"Ah, yes, I loved being one of those schmucks. We didn't need a book, B'Elanna. All we needed was right here," Tom said, tapping his temple.
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. You occupied your study time, by 'studying' the female students."
And just like that Tom's expression turned sour. "I wasn't a dog back then, B'Elanna." He stood up. "I've got to go. I'll see you guys later." With that, he walked off, and almost ran over Susan Nicoletti in the process.
"What was that all about?" B'Elanna asked, as she saw Tom catch Susan, and apologize.
"I don't know. He's never said it, but I think he was involved with someone then, and that something bad happened to her."
She watched as Tom kept his hands on Susan, and by the look of it, was beginning to sweet-talk her.
"Do you think the girl may have been involved in the crash?"
Harry shrugged, as Tom walked out with Susan. "Could have been."
"Wow," she said softly.
Tom's life was a lot of things, and complex was definitely one of them.
***
A couple of weeks passed without incident. Tom didn't bring up the episode of his outburst, and Harry and B'Elanna didn't mention it, nor did they do anything that might provoke him, including play pranks on him. Not that they had seen much of him anyway; from what B'Elanna heard, Tom was busy chasing after a very keen Susan.
B'Elanna and Tom found themselves in the holo-deck, waiting in the dark for Kes to turn up for her surprise birthday party.
"What did you get her?" B'Elanna whispered to Tom, who was crouching down beside her.
"I got her a book on fairytales."
"A book?"
"Yeah, she likes that kind of thing. What did you get her?"
"Harry and I got her something together, since I'm not exactly good with this kind of thing. We got her a box."
"A box?"
"You know, one of those pretty boxes, which you put personal things in. Harry's idea not mine."
She could practically see Tom grinning in the dark. "I'm sure she'll like it," he assured her.
At that moment Kes came in, and after a minute of her wandering around in confusion, they all jumped up and shouted, "Surprise!" Almost giving the poor girl a heart attack.
They showered a very surprised Kes with presents and her cake, and B'Elanna smiled at how overwhelmed she looked. Sometimes she wished that she was that awed by life as Kes was.
The moment was interrupted by a weird, ringing sound that threatened to blast out their eardrums. From then on, B'Elanna knew that Kes wasn't going to be entitled to have a normal birthday party.
One spatial distortion, one massive headache and one long trip of wandering aimlessly around Voyager later, B'Elanna found herself in the turbo-lift with Tom, trying to get to Engineering.
"Are you okay, B'Elanna?" Tom asked, as B'Elanna furiously rubbed her fingers against her temple.
"Not really. I get one day off to relax at a party, and what happens? This!"
"Tell me about it. I really wanted to try Neelix's cake."
"Really?"
"Well, it looked good, didn't it?" he said, tapping away at the control panel. "And I figured as a rule, if Neelix's food looks bad, it usually is. So the reverse has to be true."
"As ever, your logic is irrefutable." B'Elanna leaned towards Tom, and in the confined space, she was practically leaning against him. "Are you sure this is how you got there before?"
Tom twisted to look at her. "Relax will you?" he said, and B'Elanna tried to ignore the tingling feel of his breath against her skin. "So far we're right on schedule. The next stop should be… Voila! Engineering."
"One gold star to you, lieutenant," she said with a grin, as she darted off, giving out orders.
Her biggest surprise came when she was headed off to reset the pattern buffer controls, and instead of heading out of Engineering, found herself gazing into the quarters of Ensign Nozawa.
B'Elanna's jaw dropped at the sight of the well-built man dressed only in his boxers.
"There's…an…emergency si-situation aboard ship," she stuttered. "Just stay right where you are. That's an order."
He gave her a nod, not seeming too surprised to see his superior at his quarters.
B'Elanna closed the door and leaned against the wall, wincing in the process.
Tom chose that exact moment to come up to her side.
"I think you handled that very well, lieutenant," he said with a pat of her shoulder.
She resisted the urge to punch him in the stomach.
***
"Yet another weird day on Voyager," Harry surmised, as the three of them sat at a table in Sandrine's, enjoying the resumption of Kes' festivities.
"I'd say so," Tom said, as he dug into his piece of cake. "Wouldn't you say so, B'Elanna?"
B'Elanna glared at him. "It's been a long day, and I'll be glad when it's over," she said.
"B'Elanna got the pleasure of seeing Ensign Nozawa nearly naked," Tom added.
B'Elanna upped her glare to a death-glare. "Do you know what discretion means, Tom?" she demanded.
Tom shook his head. "I don't think so."
Harry laughed. "It must have been quite a sight."
B'Elanna shrugged. "Let's just say that Starfleet uniform conceals a lot."
"As opposed to the Maquis uniform, which is very figure hugging," Tom quipped, his elbow playfully nudging B'Elanna in the side. "So, are you going to be pining after him now?"
B'Elanna elbowed him. "I don't think so, Tom. Unlike you, I don't see an attractive body, and find my pheromones spiralling out of control."
"How is your pursuit of Susan going, anyway?" Harry inquired.
Tom grinned. "Oh, it's going well. She hasn't actually agreed to go on a date yet, but she hasn't made any excuses to leave me when I start talking to her."
"Maybe she has an ear infection and can't hear you very well. I'll tell her to go and see the Doctor," B'Elanna said.
Tom gave her a look. "Oh, you're hilarious, B'Elanna," he said as he took another bite out of his cake. "You're just jealous."
She gave him a mock look of surprise. "How ever did you guess? I've always wanted a man to sweet talk me like he's reading lines straight out of a flirting-manual."
Tom frowned. "I don't do that."
"Oh really?" Harry asked.
"No. I use my natural born charm."
B'Elanna snorted.
Tom fixed her with another look. "What would you rather have me do, B'Elanna? Buy her flowers? Write her love notes? Compose poetry?"
B'Elanna shuddered. "Not unless you want her to die of a sugar overload. If a man composed poems for me, I'd shove him out an airlock."
"You don't like poems, B'Elanna?" Tom asked sweetly.
"Not love poetry. Unless I feel the need to throw up."
"I thought Klingons were big on poetry as part of their courtship rituals," Harry said.
"Ah yes, the age-old ritual where the women instigate violence, and the men counteract it with sappy poems."
"Not quite your thing?" Harry grinned.
"It doesn't exactly make my heart quicken."
"So mighty warriors who expose their tender side to the women they love by reading poetry, doesn't make you weak at the knees?" Tom inquired. "I'll add that to the long list of things you despise."
B'Elanna took a bite out of her cake, and found it not to be too bad. "I like my men like I like my Alvanian brandy. Strong. None of that wimpish, sappy stuff."
Tom raised his eyebrows and Harry beamed.
"We'll add to that short list of stuff you do like," Harry said, a twinkle in his eye.