Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Paramount. I only own my imagination.

Spoilers: Warlord. If you haven't seen it, this won't make much sense.

Author's Note: I have the ambition to keep these coming, but I also have a real life which can mess with me. Time have a tendency to slip by and it's not just something I have found out, but it's what Tom has too. This has been sitting half-finished on my computer for two months, but now I'm finally done with it.


"I thought you said you were going to start living your life!" Harry shouted and hit the ball hard.

"I am!" Tom responded and whacked the ball back to his opponent.

"If you call playing squash three times a week with a friend... " Harry returned the ball, "living life... " he left the sentence unfinished.

Tom hit the ball with the clear intention of making things difficult for Harry. "Talk less, play more," he retorted as the ball hit the front wall and bounced on to the side wall before shooting back towards the players. It sent Harry scrambling over the floor to try to save it. Only just, he managed to force the ball back towards the large wall in front of them.

"Foul play!" Harry shouted as he hurried back to position.

Tom hit the ball with held back aggression, again in a manner which would send Harry struggling. "It was not," he calmly replied and watched Harry again sacrifice himself to reach the ball. "Out!" he shouted as the ball hit below the tin line with a metallic sound.

Harry stood leaning his hands on his knees panting heavily. "Damn!" he hissed under his breath and stood and looked at the other man in the room. Tom grinned back at him. "If you had been a farm boy growing up in the Carpathian mountains I would believe you if you said this was living life, but you're not. You're Tom Paris, son of an admiral who flew the outskirts of Federation space for years, when you didn't hang out in shady places gaming and drinking too much. This," Harry waved around the bare room, "is exercise. Not living." He turned to go after the ball. "So what's happening?" he asked as he picked it up.

"I'm running too!" Tom defended himself. "I've got a nice little woodland running program. It's really nice, with soft paths, shady canopies... " he stopped as Harry glared at him with his hands on his hips.

"It's been 2½ months," Harry said with emphasis.

Tom shrugged. "How time flies."

"It sure does. Got any plans yet?" Harry asked and threw the ball to Tom.

"I wasn't going to make any plans. Plans get wrecked. I was going to think of a vision," Tom replied calmly and put his foot on the line to the service box, getting ready to serve.

Harry snorted loudly. "Right. Visions. So do you have any visions then?" he pressed on.

Tom served. "Of course," he said and watched Harry return the ball. They played in silence for a short while until Harry decided to turn the table on Tom and try to outmanoeuvre him the same way he had with Harry. Tom scrambled but managed, once, twice but the third time he couldn't make it.

"Out!" Harry cried as the ball shot straight in to the wall and then bounced on the floor. Tom crawled up from the floor where he had fallen.

"Damn, this is a horrible sport. Remind me, why did I agree to play this again?" he asked Harry.

"Because you bragged about your superior reaction times?" Harry replied grinning widely.

"They are superior," he said sourly. "I never said anything about being superior when it comes to handling a racket."

"It's good for you," Harry reminded him and clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. We're not done yet!"

Tom picked up the ball and threw it over to Harry. They continued to play and as the ball bounced back and forth the two men became more and more silent. This was certainly a painful game, Tom thought. No time for dwelling and no strength for talking, which in all honestly suited him just fine. Harry's prodding was becoming difficult to evade and he didn't want to shut his friend up by being rude. He just didn't want to admit that he didn't really know what to do, that his vision had stopped at being a vision without a plan on how to get that vision. Parts of it had been easier to handle. He had worked on his general relationships with other people and even seen some progress with Chakotay. The past couldn't be changed but he wanted to make sure Chakotay knew he really was a professional, and it seemed to be working. And then there was B'Elanna. All he had done was to try to be anything but what he once had been, letting time pass and hopefully put the past where it firmly belonged, and hopefully wear off the edges of any memory of his previous poor behaviour.

"*Neelix to Paris! I have been working on something on holodeck 2 and I was hoping you would like to come and have a look on it!*" Neelix cheerful and expectant voice was heard over the comm. system.

Tom stopped and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath before answering. "Paris here. Sure, I could look at it. Harry and I was just finishing up a game of squash. I'll just take a shower and I'll be right with you," he answered, trying to keep his breath under control.

"*Oh, Mr. Kim! Please, if you have time to join Tom I'd be happy to show you too!*" Neelix exclaimed.

Harry threw Tom a glance. "Okay, I'll come as well. We'll be there shortly," Harry said and cut the communication. "So what do you think this is all about then?" he asked Tom.

Tom shrugged and straightened out. "I have no idea. Holodeck 2 probably means he has given holo programming a shot and feels he needs some input."

Harry made a face. "That much I could figure out myself." he replied and started walking towards the door.

Tom grinned. "You asked!" he said. "Computer, end squash program," he ordered as he followed Harry.

Harry stopped and turned towards his friend. "Then I'm going to ask another obvious question. What are you going to do about your fine vision then?"

Tom stopped abruptly. "I'll figure something out." He put his hands on his hips and glanced away from Harry. "Eventually."

Harry looked pointedly at Tom. "You really need to start figuring it out. I've kept my eyes open and can tell that there are others who are eyeing B'Elanna. She likes you, though she won't actually tell you. You just need to... you know," he tried to explain.

Tom raised his eyebrows. "No, I don't know," he replied calmly.

"Just tell her, okay?" Harry said and threw out his hands.

Tom crossed his arms over his chest and tried to straighten every inch of himself to be able to look down on Harry. "Yeah, that'll make her enthusiastic."

"Perhaps more enthusiastic than you think. You know she won't throw herself at you, if nothing else because she's not friends with her Klingon side, " Harry pointed out. "That doesn't mean she couldn't be interested."

Tom was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. "I just don't want to come across as a blabbering idiot," he sighed and looked down.

"Keep away from dating proposals then," Harry said drily. "Look, just tell her. Leave it at that and let her digest it. If she isn't interested you'll know. I'm pretty sure she won't turn you down though."

Tom sighed. "And then I'll do what, exactly?"

"I think you'll figure it out. Just stay away from Lake Como, okay?" Harry grinned.

Tom snorted and reached out and put his hands on Harry's shoulders, turned him around while gently pushing him towards the door. "Come on, we're keeping Neelix waiting," he said. After a moment's silence he continued. "I wonder why she's uncomfortable with her Klingon side. I mean, it makes her stronger in every way and enables her to think in situations when the rest of us have to fight off panic first. That anger isn't always a bad thing," he mused.

Harry glanced at Tom. "Perhaps you should freshen up on Klingon physiology, Tom. Those are the obvious traits that looks advantageous to us, but I can think of a couple of things which is making her uncomfortable. Especially since she's only half-Klingon and lives in a mainly human environment," he replied calmly.

Tom nodded. "I just don't get why people are intimidated by her," he mused. Harry snorted but didn't explain what he thought was so funny. "I like strong women," Tom continued.

Harry nodded and tried to keep his face straight. "It's a good thing you do, Tom," he replied.

Tom glared at Harry. "Well, I do. Stop grinning like that!"

"I said it was a good thing! Now, come on Tom. Neelix is waiting," Harry said and continued walking. Tom followed reluctantly.