Making Up is Hard to Do
Chapter 3
"Personal Log Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris, Stardate 54023.7. So computer, I am just great. Never better. I have been hanging around with Freddy Aubrey as a friend and she is so nice. We share stories about Starfleet and have really hit it off. Sort of. I mean I do not dream about her, only about a certain engineer. But she has her Sean now. They really seem to be together a lot. It won't be so bad. I have avoided Torres for weeks now and can do this for as long as I have to do it. Lots of Jefferies tubes to crawl around in. Pause. Who the hell am I kidding? B'Elanna, I miss you so much. I can't stand it. Computer, just end this thing. Encode Paris Alpha Beta Six."
"Personal log Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres Stardate 54024.4. I never should have started seeing Murphy. He is too young and too aggressive for me. He is becoming pushier all the time and really trying hard to seduce me. I don't want that at all. I needed male conversation, not this. But I will never get back with Tom. I never see him anymore except at staff meetings and it is like I am not even there. So ice cold. He has Aubrey and they have a lot in common. I am going to be alone for the rest of my life aboard this Starship. There is no one but Tom. No one. End log, encode Torres Omega Micron Three."
/
After six weeks apart from B'Elanna, Paris's love for Torres had not waned. Her love for him remained as strong as ever. But neither one was ready to reconcile just yet.
What began to happen to them weeks after they separated was a combination of their deep feelings for each other and simple biology. Paris's body began to physically ache with an overpowering yearning for her that he had not experienced since Sakari IV nearly four years ago. He dreamed about her at night and thought about her during the day. Self-relief did nothing to ease his pain or his desire for her.
B'Elanna also dreamed of Tom and missed his touch. Her body also ached for him. She wondered where he was and what he and Aubrey were doing together. Something was not quite right to his being so close and yet so far away. She could feel her blood rise whenever she thought of him and took more than her share of cold showers and sought self-relief. One day she passed him in the corridor on Deck 3 and caught his scent. She went crazy and nearly jumped him. Nothing worked to ease her frustration.
/
At the beginning of week seven since breaking up Tom had enough and went to engineering to beg forgiveness. After all, he had as much to do with the current situation as she did so he would take the higher ground and man up.
Entering engineering with a single, Tarktanian red rose in hand, Paris looked for B'Elanna who was not in the main work area. He searched the numerous engineering decks to no avail. A number of her crew saw him and averted their eyes by staring into their PADD's. Something was going on.
He could have used the computer to find her but thought better of it. Thinking that B'Elanna might be in a Jefferies tube, he went back to main engineering and asked Lieutenant Joe Carey where she was. Carey stared at him then indicated with his head that Torres was in her office.
"Tom, I don't think you should…." Tom looked at him quizzically and then rounded the corner. The office door opened. There was Sean Murphy standing between the legs of his former lover who was leaning back on her desk with her hands gripping his shoulders. They were in uniform but the scene was obviously sexual from his viewpoint.
Paris's mouth opened and his heart sank. He turned around and quickly ran from engineering absolutely despondent and holding back tears. He dropped the flower onto the floor as he left. Carey winced.
B'Elanna had not heard her office door open or seen Tom. And Paris did not hear her say, "Back off Ensign or I will castrate you right now!" Murphy decided to comply. There was plenty of time on Voyager to conquer her.
After Murphy left, B'Elanna composed herself and straightened her uniform and hair. She got up and walked out of her office as if nothing had happened although the image of Murphy leering at her remained. She was more than angry.
As she walked over to check an inertial guidance panel her eye caught a red object on the floor. There was the Tarktanian rose; Murphy had apparently stepped on it on the way out. Bending over, she carefully picked it up and caught two scents, the wonderful smell of her favorite flower and her mate Tom Paris. She smiled as her eyes began to tear up.
/
Now two full months into the Paris/Torres breakup, Commander Chakotay sat in the command chair and accessed his PADD. Alpha shift was in full swing with nothing of importance happening. Another lovely day in the Delta Quadrant.
The ship's social atmosphere was still not quite normal. He recalled the unabated tension at staff meetings between Paris and Torres who obviously avoided each other. If Torres came on the bridge, the place immediately turned ice cold if Tom was there. They had apparently moved on despite numerous intervention attempts by himself, Harry Kim, Captain Janeway, and even Tuvok to get them back together.
Long range sensors were picking up the normal subspace debris but Lieutenant Tom Paris easily avoided it as he worked the helm controls like a skilled pianist. He played the piano both for relaxation and helm practice. But he also played to serenade B'Elanna privately when Chez Sandrine's was closed. That memory of her joy and their kisses brought a smile to his lips. Then he thought about B'Elanna and Murphy on her desk in her office. He became angry.
The pent up resentment within him momentarily broke his concentration ever so slightly, something that had never happened to him when flying Voyager. The normally sharp pilot was under so much emotional stress that he now miscalculated what should have been a routine incident.
Two large asteroids collided within short range sensors and broke apart. The pieces were large and easily avoidable if the shields had been up. But they weren't operational due to maintenance. Two chunks of rock were each about the size of a shuttlecraft and came at Voyager at two different angles at warp speed.
Tom saw them in time. Normally he would have bypassed them as if nothing had happened. But now he hesitated but for an instant. When he decided which way to move the ship at warp three it was a jerky reaction instead of his typically smooth maneuvering.
Voyager responded but the inertial dampeners could not keep up with the maneuver. Crewmen went flying within the 700 rooms, fifteen decks, numerous latrines, the mess hall, and corridors as one object struck the hull. Injury and damage reports soon flooded the tactical comms but thankfully no one was killed.
The collision claxon sounded immediately. Captain Janeway stumbled from the conference room onto the bridge. "Chakotay report. What the hell just happened?"
"We've hit an object, Captain, probably a large chunk of asteroid. Tom? Tom!"
Paris did not respond. His mind churned over what had just happened. He held up his hands and stared at them. He was shaking terribly. Thoughts of Caldik Prime years ago flooded his mind. Are these my hands? Can I fly anymore? What do I do? What is wrong with me?
Janeway pushed Paris aside and took over the helm. She dropped the ship into impulse drive and then a full stop. Spinning Paris's chair around, Captain Janeway could not believe what she saw. Here was a frightened officer who was ghostly white and shaking despondently. He had made a serious error. He might have killed people. He was shocked.
Oh God! Janeway motioned to Chakotay who came over and helped Tom out of his seat. Paris struggled a bit but then stood up. The Commander could not believe that he was feeling more bones than muscle through Tom's uniform.
"Ensign Baytart, take over the helm," Janeway ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am." Ensign Pablo Baytart assumed the helm controls.
"Mr. Paris, come with me," said his Captain. "Chakotay, help Tom."
The three entered the turbolift together and headed for Deck Five and Sickbay. Tom vomited on Chakotay as he held him up.
Operations officer Harry Kim stared in disbelief. He wanted to go to B'Elanna and tell her what happened but he was on duty. He settled instead for sending a PADD message to her in engineering.
/
Just before the collision, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres was running a level two diagnostic in engineering. She had also lost weight which helped her to contort her body to access a normally tight console panel. She was using a hyperspanner to adjust the field flow to several conduit links. As she made the adjustments, she suddenly felt two arms go around her waist after gently patting her rump. Tom! He came back to make up!
She carefully extracted herself, turned, and smiled only to see Ensign Sean Murphy grinning at her. He gave her an unwanted kiss on her cheek. "Hi beautiful! Thought I would drop by and see if you were up for lunch today."
The entire engineering staff just witnessed Ensign Murphy groping their chief and a superior officer to boot. But they averted their eyes and awaited the inevitable medical emergency where Murphy would have his nose or jaw broken.
B'Elanna was furious but surprisingly did not strike out. "Take your hands off me, Ensign. This is not the time or the place." If it was Tom, there would not have been any problem because it was always the time and the place. But this was not Tom. And she did not mean to say what she did quite that way because Murphy took it as encouragement.
"Sure, Lieutenant," he purred. "Just name when and where. Maybe Holodeck 2, tonight? Or perhaps my quarters?" His smirk was as broad as it was uninviting.
Before she could respond the collision occurred and the claxon sounded. Engineers went flying and B'Elanna was flung forward into Sean's arms. They collapsed together and slid across the deck into a work station with B'Elanna on top. Although they were okay, Murphy took the opportunity to push Torres upwards and feel her breasts. Nice and firm. "Hey, are you okay? Good thing I was here to catch you when you fell." The innuendo was obvious.
B'Elanna was not amused. "Pig! How dare you touch me like that! I should put you on report!"
Murphy feigned that he was offended and held up his hands. "So oink, oink. Look, B'Elanna, you fell on me and I pushed you off. That's all it was." From the more than obvious stirring in his uniform, however, she knew it was not true. But she could not prove it.
The chief engineer got up and began barking orders for her crew to assess the damage. "You better leave. I have work to do here."
"Dinner?" He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around so she could see his determined face.
B'Elanna had to get rid of him. "Fine, fine. Let me know when. Now leave me alone." He spun away and strutted out with thoughts of yet another romantic dinner with one very exotic woman. And he also dreamed a bit about what that might bring after months of trying.
Torres accessed the operations report on her PADD. The ship was at an emergency stop and an away team was examining the hull. There definitely had been a collision with a large object at warp three but so far there was no detectable damage other than a large repairable scrape.
Who the hell was flying this thing? B'Elanna read Kim's report and personal message to her and could not believe it. Tom Paris! He's been relieved at the helm and taken to Sickbay. I must go to him. Engineering was under control. No reported damage and her crew was okay less some bumps and bruises. She left like a launched Photon torpedo.