The BLTS Archive - Nightmares invade Reality
by Riss (usc_mam@yahoo.com)

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Warning - Character Death. Continue on at your own risk!

Disclaimers - Paramount owns Star Trek. What, you didn't
know that? I'm just a humble fan borrowing the characters
for fun. While Paramount owns the characters, the ideas are
mine, so please ask permission before using them, and always
keep my name attached to copies of this story.

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It appeared to be another typical morning as Janeway entered
the Bridge two minutes before her duty shift. As usual,
Tuvok and Chakotay were already at their stations.

Chakotay gave her a quick status report from the previous
night. His smile seemed forced however, as he told of a
minor problem with the helm controls.

"Was Lieutenant Carey able to fix the problem?"

"Yes, but it took quite a while since B'Elanna never told
him where she put her tools."

"What?"

Before he could answer, the next turbolift opened to reveal
Harry, who quickly went to his station. He barely looked at
her. As he concentrated on the controls, she could see tears
in his eyes.

As she looked back towards Tuvok, she noticed something was
amiss with her old friend. His normally calm exterior was
broken as his eyes glazed at her, filled with accusation.

The turbolift opened again, this time no living being came
out. Instead, B'Elanna's deformed corpse stalked out, headed
straight for the Captain. "I'm not even dead a few hours and
you betray me. You steal him from me. You wanted me dead to
get to him. Now enjoy what you have wrought!"

Turning away from B'Elanna with a scream, she saw that it
was now Tom who sat beside her in the First Officer's chair.
He reached out his hand and caressed her face. He leaned
down to kiss her. Blue eyes stared deep into gray as he
declared his love, "I love you B'Elanna."

---

"NO!"

Kathryn Janeway awoke with a start. She fell off the couch
where she had fallen asleep, shocked into full wakefulness
by the horror of her nightmare. Attempting to banish the
images in her mind, she rushed to the bathroom and splashed
cold water on her face. But all it took was one look in the
mirror. One look at the gray eyes which had seen him declare
his everlasting love of another woman and her thoughts were
spinning again.

What had she done?

Yesterday, B'Elanna Torres died in a engineering accident
during a war she brought this ship into. She caused the
death of Tom Paris' lover. Then, to make things even worse,
she brought him back to her own quarters to console him. How
could she let him fall asleep in her arms? How could she
betray the dead, the one she had wanted dead, and kiss him?

Quickly she discarded her dirty uniform and stepped into the
shower. Rather than save her rations for a cup of coffee,
she tried to cleanse herself with a real water shower. As
she stepped out later she felt no cleaner, just cold and
wet.

With a quick glance at the chronometer to convey the bad
news that she didn't even have time to grab a cup of
Neelix's latest attempt at coffee. She quickly threw on a
clean uniform, a quick brush of her hair and she was on the
way to the Bridge.

But, as it had been in her nightmare, something was amiss on
the Bridge. The smile which Chakotay sent her as she walked
onto the Bridge was not exactly the friendly one she was
used to. Looking around at the rest of the crew, she could
see the pain from the previous night clearly etched on their
faces. Before she could reach her command chair, Chakotay
intercepted her.

"Captain, can we speak?"

"Certainly."

"In private."

Inclining her head towards her Ready Room, she started off.
"Tuvok, you have the Bridge."

Rather than tell her why he requested the meeting as soon as
the door closed behind them, Chakotay went to the upper
level of her Ready Room and sat down. Only when she joined
him on the couch did he broach the subject that was
obviously troubling him.

"This is a small ship and news travels fast. Usually I try
to avoid the rumor mill, but this morning something was
brought to my attention that concerns me."

"What is the word in the Mess Hall this morning?"

"Actually, I heard this on the Bridge."

"What?!" Janeway practically yelled as she stood up to pace.
"I have let the gossip continue since it took place in off
duty hours and provided a source of entertainment for the
crew. But, I will  not stand for it on my Bridge. Who?"

"I think that is besides the point. The rumor concerns you
and..."

"I want to know who started whatever falsehood is going
around now."

"Captain... Kathryn, I think that is besides the point."

"Why, because I'm now involved?"

"Kathryn, what was Tom doing in your quarters at midnight?"

As she stood speechless before him, Chakotay watched in
horror as first betrayal then guilt and finally shame washed
across her features. Even though he had realized long ago
that she would never fall in love with him he still held out
hope. The idea that Tom had been in her quarters the
previous night and she had something to feel guilty about
was like a knife stabbing through his heart.

For her part, Kathryn was not just standing there staring at
Chakotay. Millions of scenarios were running through her
head ranging from erotic to suicidal. Finally she realized
that she might as well own up to her mistake of the previous
night. If the gossip had made it all the way to the Bridge,
it was certain to have spread to the rest of the ship as
well.

Bringing them both back to reality after a few minutes of
private contemplation, Kathryn's voice broke the silence. "I
brought Tom back to my quarters to talk. He fell asleep on
my couch and left shortly after midnight."

"The other part of the rumor was," Chakotay paused for a
second to figure out how to phrase it correctly, "Well, that
it looked like something else was going on."

"What are you implying,  Commander?" "They said that his
clothing was messed up..."

"Have you ever looked in the mirror after sleeping on a
couch. The one in my quarters really isn't that big."

"And, that he had lipstick on his lips."

Kathryn paused a moment to take a deep breath and plan her
strategy. "Are you implying that Lieutenant Paris went into
my bathroom and started using my cosmetics?"

"No, that wasn't..." Chakotay paused as they both laughed at
that idea. The tension in the room dropped as they imagined
scenarios of Tom dressing in the Captain's clothes. Chakotay
again wondered about the validity of the rumor and decided
to just let the matter drop for the moment. Finally he
recovered enough to continue. "The rumor implied that
something physical had occurred in your quarters."

"I see. So everyone seems to think I seduced a despondent
crew member."

"I will attempt to contain the once again overactive rumor
mill."

"Thank you Commander."

Kathryn stood up and went over to the window as Chakotay
left her Ready Room. What was she going to do? The entire
ship knew about what had happened the previous night. And
despite her jokes to Chakotay, not all of the crew would
believe it was just a vicious rumor or misinterpreted facts.

Finally, after she had gathered her thoughts, she left her
Ready Room for the Bridge. While she expected it to be quiet
after the previous day's events, she did not expect the
absolute silence that pervaded the room. As she drew closer
to her command chair she discovered the reason. Instead of
the replacement she expected to be manning the helm, Tom sat
in his usual seat, total concentration focused on the
controls. The rest of the Bridge crew was looking down at
him with varying levels of sympathy and pity, or in Tuvok's
case, a slightly less stotic expression than normal.

Steeling herself, she sat down in her chair and stared
forward at the back of his head.

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The End