by Amiroq
---

Disclaimer: Character theft? Me? Never!

Notes: Edgar Allan Poe, anyone? :) Yeah, I stole the title from "The Raven" Since when do I not steal a title? Doesn't really fit the story, but that's hardly new either, and I like it anyway.

---

Tom leaned back on the couch, enjoying the feeling of spending an entire afternoon with Harry, without once hearing B'Elanna's name. Oh, he was sorry they'd broken up. Well, a little. They'd didn't spend a lot of time together anymore, the three of them, and B'Elanna seemed more pissed off at him than ever. He was pretty sure she'd stopped talking to him, except that she avoided him enough that he couldn't really tell, not for certain. Harry had spent all the first evening talking about her, then most of the next day, and then a bit of the second day. Today was the third day, and since they'd gotten off work at 1500, he hadn't once brought it up.

"Tom," he asked eventually, "if you could have sex with anyone on the ship, who would it be?"

"You," Tom replied, a little surprised.

Harry grinned some. "Stupid question, huh?"

"What about you? Who'd you pick?" He was half-scared Har'd pick B'Elanna, and relieved when he actually stopped to consider the question. Okay, he wasn't over Torres, you could tell that everytime he looked at her and half the time in between, but at least he was thinking about it.

"I don't know. I mean, on the one hand, there's B'Elanna. But on the other hand, I'd want it to be someone who would trust me a bit more. And it would have to be someone I know pretty well, because I wouldn't want to sleep with a near-stranger that I'd ctually have to see again. . . So I guess the other option would be you."

"You'd have sex with me?" Tom frowned. Okay, it was nice-- more than nice-- hell, it was incredible that Harry had picked him, but he didn't really want to be a product of the process of elimination. Besides, he'd still said B'Elanna first. He was always gonna say B'Elanna first, and he was just going to have to get used to that.

"Yeah, I would."

Tom turned his head to look at Harry properly, and was surprised to find how close he was. "But I thought--"

"I never said I wouldn't. I said I was involved with someone, but I'm not now."

That sounded too much like an invitation to be anything else. "Look, Har. . ."

"'Look, Har' what? You just said you wanted to? So, do you or don't you?"

"Of course I want to. But I only want to if you actually, seriously want to as well, and as long as you're on the rebound you can't convince me of that. Ask me again when you're completely over her, and I swear I'll jump."

"Well, fine, if that's how you're going to be. I'll see you on the bridge tomorrow." He jumped up and stormed toward the door. Jesus mother of Christ. . .

"Harry!"

Too late. The door closed behind Harry, and Tom sighed. Great, just fucking great. B'Elanna wasn't talking to him, Harry had never showed any interest in him, and now that he did, it was purely a rebound thing. He sometimes wondered why he bothered.

---

End