by Lizzie
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DISCLAIMER: Rah rah, Paramount, owner of all the good stuff. I cower in your general direction. (Actually, tell me--all those Tom and Harry clones running about, who do they belong to? Not Paramount, surely?)

Rated G because nothing happens (all the good stuff gets talked to death here, hence the title), but this is about two guys when you get right down to it, so please don't sue me if you read it and it corrupts you. (In fact, don't sue me at all -- the only item of value I have is my hamster Merle, and she means the world to me.)

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Main Engineering

"Hey, B'Elanna, can I talk to you?"

"Now? Can it wait?"

"I don't think so. Come on, it'll only take a sec. And you don't even have to stop working; I'll talk and you listen."

"Fine, go ahead."

(pause)"Here?"

"Where else, Harry? Look, I do have work to do, so please, let's get this over with."

"Can't we go somewhere a little more private?"

"Fine! All right! We'll go to one of the Jefferies tubes. I need to check out some readings coming from Jefferies tube C anyway."

"Thank you."

"This better be worth it."

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Jefferies tube C

"All right, Harry, we're private. What did you want to talk about?"

"Um. . ."

"Look, you dragged me up here, so if you're going to talk, you'd better do it before I finish this diagnostic run."

"Yeah, okay, I know. I'm sorry, B'Elanna. I'm just having some trouble getting started."

"Well, what's this about?"

"Do you remember that conversation we had two weeks ago, when we were working late in Engineering one night?"

"Two weeks ago? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No, I'm sure you remember. I told you. . . Do you remember, I told you how I felt about Tom?"

"Oh. That conversation."

"Yeah."

"Okay, so what about it?"

"Well. . . uh. . . I told Tom too."

"What?"

"I told him. I told him how I feel about him."

"When did this happen?"

"Yesterday."

"I see. So what exactly happened?"

"Well, we were in his quarters, as usual--have you seen them since he redecorated?"

"He redecorated?"

"I guess you haven't. Well, he just moved around the furniture a bit, no major changes, but he got a new dining table and so the corner next to his replicator is really different."

"And this is important because . . ."

"I'll tell you; hold on. The table he just got is long and narrow, and he's lined it up parallel to the replicator wall. There's a gap between it and the wall, not much, maybe two feet, just enough to be comfortable when getting to the replicator. There are three chairs along the table, on the living room side, facing the wall. I haven't lost you, have I?"

"I am enthralled by his flair for interior decorating."

"You don't need to make fun of me. This is important to the rest of the story." "Okay, I'm sorry. Long table, narrow gap, chairs facing replicator. Got it."

"Exactly. Now, I don't know if you remember what was for lunch yesterday. . ."

"That blue stuff? I don't think I could ever forget that."

"Yeah. Well, Tom didn't eat any of it--"

"I don't blame him."

"Would you stop interrupting?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Go on."

"Fine. Well, he didn't eat any of it, so by the time his shift was over, he was starving. We wound up back in his quarters, and he decided to splurge on some real food before we went down to the holodeck together."

"Uh huh."

"So he's sitting at the table, and I'm standing across from him, in that narrow gap I mentioned earlier, just watching him eat. Do you know, I have no idea what he ate because I was so busy watching him?"

"How sweet."

"Yeah, yeah, scoff all you want. Anyway, he finishes, and he gets up to put his plate in the reclamator--which is right next to the replicator, you recall."

"I do."

"So he gets up and he comes around the table to where I'm standing, and to get to the reclamator he has to get by me. So he squeezes by me, and for one absolutely blissful moment, that's all I can feel. It's just him and me, side by side, and my entire world narrows so that he's all I can possibly focus on, so that he is my world for that one brief moment. Just him and me."

(pause) "Very touching."

"Stop being so snide! If I'm boring you, just tell me and I'll go. I don't want to tell you if you don't want to know."

"No, Harry, I'm sorry. Don't go. I promise I'll pay attention."

"And I don't want you making fun of me either."

"I promise."

"Thank you." "Okay, so it's just you and him, up close and personal. What happens next?"

"Well, nothing. He steps toward the reclamator, and it's gone. He's gone. I was stunned, I remember; it felt so. . . I felt so lost without him there. (pause) So I told him. Without thinking, I confessed. I just opened my mouth, and out comes, 'Tom, I love you.' "

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing. He looked at me for the longest of times, and then he started laughing."

"What?"

"He started laughing."

"He what? I can't believe... How could he do that to you? Did he say anything?"

"Nothing, he said nothing. When he stopped laughing, he set his plate down very carefully in the reclamator, and slowly, deliberately, pressed the buttons telling the reclamator what to do. He didn't look at me at all--his entire attention was focused on telling the reclamator what he wanted it to do. When he was finally satisfied, he looked back up at me. I was t