"I'll bet you it's an anodyne relay." Tom said. It was a few weeks later. After a few days to cool off they are managed to get back at least part of their previous friendship. It wasn't totally the same but it was something.
"No way. Plasma conduit," B'Elanna replied.
"Relay. I'm telling you I checked the conduit network."
"My point exactly. You're not an engineer," B'Elanna said.
"I'll bet you," he says.
"Name it.
"KIingon holodeck program." he said.
"Let's see who's right," B'Elanna said as she goes to see if its the Plasma conduit or the anodyne relay.
"Well.?"
"Well… go ahead and gloat," she said.
"The anodyne replays- who would've guessed?"
"Just a shot in the dark."
"And it hit the bull's eye," He said. "Tonight you pay up. Holodeck two Klingon martial arts program. No getting out of it this time."
"You're really full of yourself aren't you"
"I'll see you tonight," tom says, "BYOB."
"What?"
"Bring your own Bat'leth."
"Where are you going?" Tom said. They had just left the holodeck. "You were going great. You were in the perfect position to deliver the deathblow. All you had to do is follow through. Come on. Let's try again."
"Don't push me, Tom."
"Huh! I am not pushing you. I'm encouraging you."
"To do what?!"
"Try something new." He said.. "This martial arts program is the best workout I've ever had. No, it's more than that. Working with a bat'leth is an art. You have to use your mind and body, your movements.."
"Tom, you may find all this kinglon stuff really fascinating, but I don't. I'm not going to waste my time trying to disembowel a bunch of holographic monsters. I only came down here because you tricked me into that stupid bet." As she spoke she waved the blade around. It was getting dangerous close to Tom's face.
"Would you watch it! You could take somebody's head off with that thing."
She holds the blade straight. "I have tried this and not I am finished. Got it?"
He takes a step forward. "Look if you don't like the program, that's fine, but why do you always have to get so hostile?"
"I am not hostile!" she yells.
And alien appears right in front of them putting an end to their conversation.
Later in engineering B'Elanna and Harry are trying to figure out where these aliens are coming from. B'Elanna finds herself wondering if anyone else agrees with Tom.
"You don't think I'm hostile, do you?" B'Elanna asks.
"I, uh…" Harry said. "Wouldn't describe you that way, no."
"I know that I have a temper, but that doesn't mean that I'm always hostile, does it?"
"No, of course not."
"I am forthright; I speak my mind. That is very different from being hostile."
"Very different," Harry says softly.
"And if someone described me that way, they'd be way off the mark, wouldn't they?" she stands up and turns toward harry. He looks up.
"Way off." He stands.
"Then why do you look like you're afraid for your life?"
The computer finished its scan just then and Harry is saved from having to answer by being teleported off the ship by aliens.
Later when all of the crew has been teleported off the ship into a warm sunny artificial habitat B'Elanna has been given the task of altering the Doctor's mobile emitter to scan the surrounding area.
"How's your optical resolution," B'elanna asks the doctor.
"The caption sent me down to get an update." Tom said as he arrived on the scene.
"Well, we're just about ready. I've reconfigured the doctor's optical sensors. And as soon as they're aligned, he should be able to detect the microwave signature of the portals."
"Then I can begin my new career as a tricorder," the doctor said.
"About the other day," B'elanna said while facing the doctor. "I might have been a bit… oversensitive, uh, about the Klingon program."
"Don't worry about it," Tom says.
"That should just about do it," B'elanna said about the doctor's modifications. "I think we can start scanning now."
"Good. I'll tell the caption," Tom says. "um.. about the program… I-I didn't mean to push you."
"I know. You didn't. And I didn't mean to, um, lash out at you like that."
The doctor started to explain the technical side of things. "A typical defensive reaction using an aggressive outburst as a shield against a perceived emotional threat."
"That says it alright," Tom agrees.
"Oh that's funny coming from you," B'Elanna said.
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Well you're hardly one to talk about being defensive."
"And why is that exactly?"
"Well, you just pretend that nothing bothers you and then you turn everything into a joke."
"That's a valid observation. Defense mechanisms come in many forms." The doctor said.
"That's ridiculous," Tom said. "I am an easygoing person." –she laughs—" who is just trying to be friendly to someone who is obviously terrified of having someone care about them."
"Fear of intimacy is common indication of low self-esteem. Perhaps if you stopped to analyze the root cause, you might…" B'elanna mutes the doctor.
She leans forward till she is right up close to Tom, "If you find it so difficult to care, then why keep trying?"
"That's a good question," Tom said. "I think I'll stop wasting my time." Tom leaves the room. Who was he kidding. He didn't just wanna be her friend. Prolonging his...whatever it was is only hurting him.
B'elanna takes some deep breaths and the doctor demands to be unmuted.
Tom and B'elanna get assigned to deal with the current crisis together personal issues aside. To escape the aliens following them they run into a cold habitat. There previous experience with his race being that they hate the cold.
"Maybe coming in here wasn't such a good idea," B'Elanna said.
"Let's hope it's worse for them than it is for us." Tom said.
Tom and B'Elanna continued farther into the cold tunnels.
"They can't last much longer," B'Elanna says. "We've just got to stay one step ahead of them."
"We don't want to get too far away from the portal. Maybe we should find a place to hide." Tom sees a cave and B'Elanna follows him. They sit down.
"Let me see the phaser," B'Elanna said. He hands it over but she drops it.
"My hands are completely numb," she said.
"Here," he said and put his hands over hers. "I would have thought all that hot Klingon blood would have kept you warm." He breathed over both their hands to warm them. Even in the chaos Tom can't help but be effected by holding her hands.
"Shows how much you know about Klingons," she said. "They have much less tolerance for the cold than humans do."
"Really? I thought that was Cardassians."
"No they just complain about it more."
"Better?" he asks about her hands. He hands her the phaser again.
She repairs the phaser and the last of their pursuers collapses from cold.
"Now let's get out of here before we freeze to death," Tom said.
"I didn't think we went this far from the portal," B'Elanna said, after a few minutes of moving from their cave.
"I don't think I can go on any farther." She slipped and doesn't get up.
"You have to keep moving." He half carried her a few more steps.
"Oh, I'm so sleepy," B'elanna sits down.
"No, B'Elanna, get up!"
"No, you go on. I'm just going to rest here."
"If you do that, you'll die."
"No, I'll be fine. I just have to close my eyes for a minute."
"Oh, no, I am not going to let you do this." He pulls her up. "On your feet now, Torres. That's an order!"
"You can't give me orders. We're the same rank." She says while he half carried her on.
"Forget rank," Tom yells. "I am not letting you die here like this." She almost falls and he catches her.
She looked up touch for a moment before she remembered all she wanted was to sit down and stop moving.
"On your feet, now!" he said and holds her up. "Come on. You been wanting to take a swing at me for days. Now's your chance."
"Why do you fight so hard," she said. "Let me go." He ignored her.
"You will keep moving or do I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry you out?"
"Don't even try it." She said mad at the indignity of it. He grabs her with the intention of carrying her out of there. Suddenly they are back in the human habitat. Janeway beamed them out.
The crisis is resolved and the crew returns to the ship.
Now back on the ship Tom is on the holodeck enjoying a beach resort program. B'Elanna slowly walks up to him and sits in the chair next to him.
"Nice day," she said.
"Beautiful," he agreed.
"Things were pretty chilly there for a while."
"I guess they were," he said, not sure if she meant more than just the temperature.
"Feels good to be warm again," she said. She closes her eyes; he looks over at her and thinks of all the things he would like to tell her but keeps his mouth shut.
"Yeah," he says. "It sure does." He sighs. Deciding to leave the moment as it was. Nothing had changed.