by Cinder
---

Distribution: list archives. All others please ask.

Disclaimer: If they were treated right I wouldn't have found them shivering in my closet, now would I?

Spoilers for: "Drive" and "Repression"

Thanks to Choirboy, Spike, and Leigh for their great ideas and support.

Feedback: Feed the monster!

---

Laughing, Harry flopped back against the couch. "Stop! Stop! Uncle!"

"Chicken."

"Whatever. No more." He took a deep, shuddering breath. When he opened his eyes Tom was leaning over him, only an inch or two away. "Tom?"

"Mmm?"

"What are you – " He never finished his sentence. Tom captured those lush lips in a fierce kiss, devouring them with seven years of pent up passion. Confused, Harry raised his arms to try to push Tom away, but found himself clutching at the blonde's muscular shoulders. Moaning, he opened his lips, thrusting his tongue into Tom's mouth. Finally they had to pull apart to breathe.

"Tom?"

"Oh, wow." Tom shoved away so hard he fell off the couch. "Oh, gods, Harry. I didn't mean to do that."

Harry blushed and looked away. "Of course not."

"I mean, I've always wanted to, but. . ."

"I'm sorry. . . you've always wanted to?" Harry dropped to the floor next to Tom, pinning him down. "You've always wanted to kiss me?"

"Yes," Tom moaned pathetically.

"So, why didn't you?"

"It just never seemed like the right time. You know? And. . . You're too good for me, Har. You don't wanna get involved with someone like me." Tom smiled wryly. "I'd just bring you down."

"But, I love you," Harry whispered, shuddering when he realized he'd said it aloud.

"No, don't do that."

"I can't help it."

"I love you too," Tom whispered.

Harry's eyes flashed with anger. "I'm sorry, but if you're in love with me, how did you end up married to B'Elanna Torres?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

Tom sighed, his head in his hands. "It all happened so fast."

"Fast? It took five, six years. Half the time you don't speak." Harry shot to his feet and started pacing around the room. "I can't believe you. In fact, you talk through me. Me. And you couldn't have said anything? I just can't believe you. I've been pining for you all this time and you've been pining for me and that's just. . . " He gestured expansively, looking for a word.

"Pathetic."

"Yeah, that's about the size of it." Harry took a big breath, crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. "So?"

"Yeah?"

"What do we do about it?"

"Do? We have to do something?"

"Yes, when you're in love you generally do something about it."

Tom laid back on the floor. "I don't know. Everything always just happens to me."

"And, what? You're expecting me to just happen to you?"

Tom looked up rather pitifully, his eyes big and pleading.

"No, oh, no."

"What?"

"Those are the same eyes you give me when you want Buster Kincaid to wrestle slime monsters." Harry backed up as far as he could, considering he already had his back up against the wall, his hands held up in front of him defensively. "I am not facing down a raging Klingon woman for you, especially when you need to do this for yourself."

Tom stood, slinking over to Harry. "But, Har, you don't need to face down B'Elanna. We could. . . " He curled his long fingers around the back of Harry's neck.

Harry shoved him away so hard he landed on the couch with a thump. "How dare you," he hissed.

"Har?"

"I am not cheap! Get out! Get out right now!"

"But – "

"Out!" Harry screamed. Tom fled.


By the time he got back to his quarters he was a wreck. What had he just done? Barely a month married and already he was feeling caged in, looking to be unfaithful. "Yeah, Tom Paris," he told the empty air, "you are a pig."

In fact, truth be told, there was a lot of empty air in the Paris-Torres quarters. B'Elanna still spent the majority of her time with her beloved warp core. Yeah, sure, whenever he found something he liked to do his free time went out the airlock, but there were at least some lapses in between. Not so for the work-a-holic.

Tom stood and began pacing his quarters. "Face it, Paris, you blew it," he told himself. "You married her because it was the easy thing to do and now if you're not happy. . . " He threw up his hands. "What is Harry supposed to do, huh?" He walked into the bathroom and stared at himself hard in the mirror. "You can't drag the kid into this. This is your problem. And you. . . you're gonna do what you always do and avoid it." He splashed some water on his face. "Pig."

"Tom?"

He looked up. B'Elanna was standing in the doorway next to him. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in."

"I heard you say something, but I couldn't hear what."

"Just talking to myself. So, how did everything go? Want some dinner?"

"Nah, I got something earlier. I'm beat." She stretched alluringly and Tom smiled. "Let's just go to bed."

"Sure you don't want some wine or anything?" He shot her one of the patented Paris grins.

She returned the look with the standard, amused tolerance smile. "Not tonight. I really have to get some sleep. Coming?"

"Yeah, I guess."

He tried to sleep that night, but the reality of his marriage kept coming back to haunt him, especially with B'Elanna's warm body cuddled up to his back. What was he going to do? Couldn't someone please take this decision out of his hands like so many others? Toward dawn he finally drifted off, no closer to a solution.

---

The next morning he felt like he had sand in his eyes. He stumbled around like a zombie. Luckily B'Elanna had already rushed down to engineering, something about warp coils, so she didn't see his oh-so-graceful display.

At breakfast Harry cautiously sat down across from him. "You look awful."

"I'm fine."

"You sure you're going to live through your shift?"

"Where is all this concern coming from?" Tom snapped.

"Geeze, take my head off. You just look about to drop, that's all."

"Last night you won't even talk to me and now you want to play mommy?"

Harry snorted, stabbing at his food. "Far be it from me to try to make up. The great Tom Paris is obviously above such things."

"I'm sorry. I just had a bad night."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Tom tried to smile for Harry's benefit. "No. Thanks though." He stabbed at his own food. "I'm gonna work all this out. I promise."

Harry nodded.

So, Tom tried to work it out. Really, he did, but the snowball had already rolled so far. The situation seemed hopeless. He snapped at B'Elanna. He snapped at Harry. He snapped at Chakotay. He got put on report.

Finally, he came to a decision. He had made his bed and he was going to lie in it. He'd spake unto B'Elanna the words 'until death do us part.' Those words meant something. It was up to him to make them mean something. Harry would understand. He always did. Tom smiled to himself. It was one of the things he loved so much about his best friend. One among many. Harry would respect that Tom needed to keep his word. And, in the end, wasn't it for the best? Then Harry would move onto someone better for him, someone who truly deserved him.

So, first Tom arranged some time on the hollodeck. He built a special program just for the occasion, something clever and new, something he enjoyed and wanted to share with her. Snagged a few flowers from the aeroponics bay. Then he went down to engineering and nagged her until she finally gave up working and accompanied him on their date.

It was all going just fine until Tabor fucked it up. No, that wasn't fair. It wasn't Tabor's fault. Still… Now B'Elanna divided her time between being Chief Engineer and monitoring the investigation. Tom didn't see her at all. Frustrated, he did the only things he could do, he went to Harry.

"I'm sorry, but you want me to find a way to speed up the investigation so you and B'Elanna can get back to the happy marriage thing?" Harry asked. They sat together in the mess hall poking at their dinners. "I think I'm confused."

"I'm a pig. Can we leave it at that?"

"No." Narrowing his gaze, Harry spoke slowly and softly. "We cannot do that because you are not a pig. I know that. So, there must be some reason you came to this decision despite. . . our earlier discussion. I want to hear it."

"There are a lot of people on board who would argue with you, Har."

"I think you'd be surprised. Spill."

"I said 'until death do us part.' A person doesn't go breaking promises like that."

"Even if that person is unhappy?" Harry whispered.

"I have a responsibility to try before I give up."

The not-so-young, not-so-naïve anymore Ensign sat back and regarded his friend. "You're right, and I'll help," he finally said.

"Thanks."

"That's what friends are for." Harry tried to smile. "So, you have an idea or what?"

Tom did indeed have an idea, about imaging and the holodeck and other sundry complicated things. In truth, it was just great to work with Harry again. Everything settled back into a sweet comfort zone. "This is better," he rationalized to himself. "I'd just mess up our friendship with my classic romantic notions, like commitment, gods, run away, run away."

---

"Did you say something, Tom?"

"Hand me the spanner?"

"That distinctly did not sound like 'hand me the spanner."

"Maybe we should have the Doc check out your hearing."

Harry shoved the spanner into his hand. "You know," he commented casually, "we would have won that race."

"What about the bomb?"

"Would have found that too."

"Yeah, probably. B'Elanna and I were a bit occupied." He smiled. "You really came through for us." Standing, he dusted himself off. "Try it again."

Harry punched a few buttons on the terminal. An ghosty outline of four figures appeared. "Got it."

"Oh, man, can we clean that up?"

"Trying." Harry punches buttons for a while. "This is going to take a while. Do you want to bring the Captain down here now or wait until we know more?"

"We'd better call her."

After dragging the Captain and Tuvok down to the Holodeck and showing off their progress, they were left blessedly alone again. . . until B'Elanna raced into the room.

"I heard you found something!"

"We've found the image resonance of another person," Tom told her, "nothing more than that."

"We need to find out who it is."

More than slightly irritated, Harry leaned over the terminal. "We thought of that."

"I guess you don't need me then," she pouted.

"No, I don't think we do," Harry all but hissed.

"Me-ow! Hey, guys, break time!" Tom called out. "I think we're all just tired here. Har, why don't you let B'Elanna have a look at the readings. While she does, we can catch a snack." Harry hovered over the console. "Har?"

"All right." He tore himself away. "Coming?"

"Can you get me something? I need to chat with my old lady."

"Old lady," B'Elanna huffed. Harry smiled.

"It's a twentieth century expression."

"I don't like it."

"Aww." He leaned in for a kiss. She nipped at him playfully. "I'm so sorry. I'll never call you a lady again. Promise."

"You think you're so funny, Paris." She turned to the readings.

"No, I know I'm funny. C'mon, just one kiss."

"What if we lift the EPA levels." She tapped a few buttons.

"We tried that," Tom told her dryly. He stared for a little longer, but when it became obvious he wasn't going to get anything more out of her, he shook his head and backed off. She lifted the EPA levels. The image got fuzzier. Tom wandered over to where Harry had taken a seat in the front row.

"Well, that was a bust," he told his friend.

"I don't think I can do this, Tom."

"What?"

Harry's voice dropped to a confidential whisper, his eyes big and sad. "Watch you with her. Knowing what I know, I just can't."

"Oh, please, Harry. Don't let me have fucked up our friendship. Please!"

"Maybe I just need some space."

"Space. It's a small ship, Har, but I'll try."

Just then Harry's combadge beeped. "Kim."

"Mr. Kim, please come to the security office," Tuvok's voice ordered.

"On my way." He turned back to Tom. "We'll talk more when I get back." With a lingering brush of his hand he was up and out the door. Tom looked up. B'Elanna was staring at him.

"What?"

"Nothing." She looked back down at the console. Strained silence reigned for several minutes while Tom tried to figure out what was going through B'Elanna's head.

"I've got to get back down to Engineering," she finally announced.

"Okay."

"I'll see you later."

He thought about trying to make some sort of plans for dinner or something, but she didn't look very receptive. "Later," was all he said. Nodding, she left. He went back to the console and tried to contemplate the problem, but all he could think about was the odd look on her face after Harry had left. What had it meant? He was still lost in thought when Harry stomped back into the room.

"I cannot believe him!"

"What?"

"Tuvok has been reading my mail! MY MAIL! He thinks I did this!"

Tom laughed. "You've got to be kidding me. You'd never hurt anyone."

"Tell Tuvok that," Harry snarled.

"I will if you want. I mean, remember that war memorial we ran into? When you just thought you had killed someone, you just about lost it. Tuvok knows this. What is he thinking?"

"Who knows." Harry flopped down in a front row theatre seat. "I thought Tuvok was my friend."

"That's not fair, Harry. He's running an investigation. He can't just eliminate people from suspicion because, hey, this person is my friend. I mean, logic says you didn't do it, I think, but that might just be me."

"You're right." Taking a deep breath, Harry stood. "Let's get this case solved before they throw me in the brig."

"Now I know I've taught you something."

They both laughed.

They worked without sleep as other crewmembers fell ill. Janeway excused them both from their shift in order to keep working on the puzzle. Only the call from sickbay would tear Tom from Harry's side, the call that B'Elanna was now a victim.

"Harry," he begged before dashing off, "you've got to keep working on this."

"You can count on me. You know that."

"Yes, I do." And then Tom dashed off down the corridor.

B'Elanna was laid out on the biobed like a bier.

"Geez, Doc, you're sure they're going to wake up?"

"Everyone else has, Mr. Paris."

Tom nodded, smoothing B'Elanna's hair around her face. "This is what a good husband does, right?" he asked her. There was no answer.

While she slept on Tom took advantage of his position in SickBay to sit vigil by her side, contemplate her face, and wonder why this really wasn't working. Who was he hurting most? Himself? Harry? B'Elanna? Would she realize that he didn't love her? Would she care?

"A month married, Paris, and you're already running for the hills." The empty room made no reply.

He called the Doc on-line when B'Elanna and Chakotay finally woke. Joy was short lived, however. Chakotay turned on him with a phaser. A burst of light and then blackness. Before he knew it he was waking up on the floor. B'Elanna stood over him, phaser rifle in her hands.

"Up," she told him.

"Good. We've got to stop Chakotay. He's - "

"Shut-up."

"B'Elanna?"

"You're the last one, Paris. Time to go to your quarters."

"What? Why? We have to stop Chakotay." He pushed himself to his feet. She kept the rifle trained on him. "Lanna?"

"Oh, don't pretend I've ever had a cute little nick-name like your Harry," she snarled. Gesturing toward the door with the rifle, she ordered, "March."

"Okay." He marched. "So, you're doing this because?"

"Because I'm Maquis, traitor."

"Excuse me, but I thought we worked all that out, Seska and - "

"Keep marching."

"I am your husband, B'Elanna. You can't do this to me," Tom argued.

"What's done can be undone."

"Excuse me?"

"Like I would want to be married to a Maquis traitor. You never believed in the cause, Paris. I am Maquis. You're just a mercenary and that's worse than a traitor. I can't abide the sight of you. You make me sick. So, we have three options," she purred, prodding him into the lift, "divorce, annulment, or you can die."

"Annulment," he spit out in a rush.

"That was quick."

"I like my life."

She smirked. "Deck - "

"Please, don't lock me up in that room. You know I'm claustraphobic. I hate prisons."

She arched a brow. "What do you suggest?"

"Deck six. Put me in with Harry. He'll keep me from climbing the walls too badly. And hey, if he's handling the Paris basket case, he won't be pondering all those escape plans that you just know are going through his mind right now. Please, B'Elanna, I'm sweating just thinking about being locked up." He tried to look wide eyed and paniced, not that that was much of a stretch. The Paris brain was already chasing itself in circles. B'Elanna had just broken off their marriage.

She marched him down the hall to Harry's quarters and shoved him inside. "Enjoy your stay." The door shut and locked behind her.

"Tom?" Harry was standing off to the side, the door panel already in pieces on the ground. He sure hadn't wasted any time.

"Hey, Har. She put me in here so I wouldn't go crazy from claustriphobia." He scuffed his toe against the carpet and leaned back against the wall. "I see you've been busy," he said, gesturing to the panel pieces on the floor.

Harry kicked it. "It's not working. Every over-ride I try is counter-manded. This ship was built too well." He leaned against the other wall. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I will as soon as we get out of here. Any other ideas?"

"You could pretend to be sick and I could call for the guard."

"That's the oldest trick in the book."

Harry grinned. "Oldie but goodie."

Tom shook his head sadly. "I don't think they'd come."

"Oh." He frowned. "This is so fucked," kicking the panel again in frustration.

"Calm down." Enfolding Harry in his arms, he murmured, "I know these people were your friends. I know you respected them, but we have to accept that they've betrayed us and set about stopping them."

"I hate them."

"I know." Rubbing Harry's back, Tom reveled in the closeness. "B'Elanna wants to annul our marriage."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. She's decided she doesn't want to be married to a traitor." Tom finally pulled away and plopped down on the couch. "I disgust her, Har. I could hear it in her voice."

"I'm sorry."

"I. . . A big part of me feels relieved. That's not right, is it?"

"Well, probably not indicative of a strong marriage. It does solve your dilemma though, doesn't it?" Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the wall again. "I don't think you owe that bitch a thing."

"You're really upset, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?"

"Kinda numb." They sat for a while in silence. Tom rubbed his arms, trying to drive away the prickles of claustrophobia. Harry's fingers tapped rhythmically against the wall, loud and agitated. Suddenly, Tom looked up and grinned. "What systems can you reach through that panel?"

"Not any of the major ones. Why?"

"We could trip the fire alarm." He grinned like a school boy.

Harry's mouth dropped open. "The doors would automatically unlock. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You're a good little boy?"

"Stuff it!" Harry picked back up the panel and started poking around. "This is going to be so easy. You ready?"

"Wait. We need some kind of weapons."

They both looked around wildly for anything they could use a weapon. Tom hefted Harry's music stand, swung the clarinet for a few tries, got a glare that could irradiate steele and put them both down. Harry tested the table and the chair next to the desk.

"Anything in here?" Tom asked, going into the bedroom.

"The ray gun," Harry blurted out, running over to his desk.

"The what? Where?"

"I've been working on a ray gun. Over here." He grinned, holding up a sleek, metal gun body. "A pair, actually. I wanted to see if I could make it work."

"That's brilliant, Har. I knew there was a reason why I kept you around."

Harry blushed. "Don't thank me yet, Captain. I haven't actually gotten them to shoot yet, but everything is here. . . " He started assembling. "I'm having some trouble with the crystal alignment."

"Let me see." Tom sighted it down the barrel. "I think – " He blew on it. "I think that red wire is falling into your mirror path." Harry offered him a piece of electrical tape. "All right." Tom taped it down. Aiming at the opposite wall, he pulled the trigger. An explosion of light blasted into the wall. The kick knocked Tom on his ass.

"Wow." Harry grabbed the weapon and turned several screws. He tested it again. The beam was much smaller.

"Come on," Tom ordered, picking himself up off the floor and brushing himself off, "let's get the other one built and kick those Maquis traitors off this ship."

Grinning, Harry threw together the other ray gun as fast as he could. He finished in record time. "Okay, let's do this."

"You trip the alarm," Tom ordered.

"Why?"

"Because everyone should once in their lives."

"I assume you already have."

"You assume correctly."

Harry tripped the alarm. Every door on Voyager slid shut and unlocked simultaneously. Foam rained down from the ceiling.

"Oh, yeah," Harry whispered, delightedly, "I should have done this years ago."

Tom pulled him into a quick kiss. "For luck."

Harry grabbed two fistfuls of Tom's uniform and ravaged the blonde's mouth. "Better luck."

"Let's get out of here before we. . . don't get out of here."

Grinning madly, they both scrambled for the door and shoved it open. Not as easy as it sounds, slipping and sliding around on all that foam, which was still falling from the ceiling. Outside, in the corridor, there was still more foam. Claxons beeped and whirred up and down the hall.

"It thinks there's a fire raging all through deck six," Harry shouted by way of apology.

Tom nodded. "Start banging on doors. Let everyone know they're unlocked."

The foam was knee-deep now and they slogged through it, getting everyone together. Most people came to their doors because of the alarm.

Three Maquis came running down the corridor. Tom fired. One, two, three. They went down. He wasn't sure if he'd hit them or they'd slipped on the foam in their surprise. "Get their weapons!"

Everyone started pawing through the foam, which was now hip deep, in search of the bodies.

"Are we going to drown in this?" Tom asked.

"It should shut off pretty soon. Or some of the foam will evaporate." Harry suddenly tripped and fell face first into the drink. "Found one," he muttered, surfacing. He now bore an uncanny resemblance to a marshmallow. "Let's – " He spit some foam out of his mouth. "Let's prop him up against the wall so he doesn't drown." They pulled Dalby out and put his back up against the wall.

"Can we put him back?" Tom asked.

"And skip the hanging?"

Tom frowned. "Careful, Har. Don't let your anger get the better of you."

"I'm okay. Promise."

"Have we found them all?" Tom asked, handing the phaser rifle to Crewman Sinclair.

"Check," Crewman Celes called back.

"Good. Then let's take this ship back!" Tom turned and led the way to the turbo-lift. And ran, smack, into a force field. "Damn!"

"Let me work on it." Harry started pulling the computer panel apart. "If I can just get into - "

"Uh, Har?"

"What?" he asked distractedly.

"Maybe you shouldn't be playing with electrical wires while standing in what ammounts to water."

Harry looked down sheepishly. "Damn. I didn't even think about it." Disgustedly he fell back against the wall again. "I'm sorry about this. It's my fault. If I hadn't told the alarm there was a fire on this deck - "

"It's stopped falling. Maybe it will dry up soon. Meanwhile we're out, we're about and we're armed. This is good. And if they come gunning for us we have someplace to hide."

"Great," Harry muttered sarcastically.

"Hey," Tom lifted Harry's chin with his finger, "we're doing good here. You haven't done anything wrong." They stood so closely that their nipples brushed against one another, their breath mingling, their gazes locked. Unable to resist, Tom finally leaned in for a long, passionate kiss, their tongues tangling. Cheers and gasps broke out all around them. Tom's head snapped up, guilty.

"I can't believe them," Celes was murmurring to their right.

On their other side Wildman was telling the woman next to her, "I always said they belonged together. I have no idea what Tom was doing with B'Elanna."

The Delany twins chipped in a simple, "Finally."

"I think this is where you tell them B'Elanna dumped you," Harry told the blonde, his lips curled in a little smile.

"Dumped him?" Megan Delany squeaked. "B'Elanna dumped you?"

"For the Maquis," Tom told the general crowd around them. "She doesn't want me."

"Well, I do," Harry announced loudly. "You're mine now, just so we're clear."

"Uh, we're clear." Tom felt like adding a 'yes, sir' at the end. Harry didn't give him a chance. He pulled his man into another passionate kiss to the accompaniment of only cheers this time. Suddenly the forcefield next to them dropped and foam spilled out onto the floor beyond.

"Well. . . " Harry just stared, unable to find anything else to say. At the end of the corridor the doors slid open and B'Elanna, Chakotay and Captain Janeway spilled out. They hefted weapons just in case.

"Don't shoot," the Captain called out. "Everything is all right."

"Begging your pardon, Captain," Tom called back, "but those are Maquis." He didn't lower his weapon.

"Stand down, Lieutenant. That's an order."

He slowly lowered his weapon. B'Elanna rushed over to him. "Oh, Tom, you're all right, aren't you?" Which completely rendered him speechless. Why should she care? "I'm so glad I didn't hurt you. Oh, Tom." She leaned up for a kiss. He jerked back, hitting the wall, barely missing Harry. "What's wrong?"

"What happened to getting the marriage annuled?"

"Annulled? Oh. That wasn't me. That was the mind control talking. I love you. You know that."

"Mind control?" Harry asked sourly.

"Mind control." She proceeded to explain how they had been controlled by the Bajoran priest. "See, it wasn't us at all. Not me." She leaned in for another kiss. Tom pulled back again.

"I think you're too late," Harry hissed, pushing her away.

"Late?"

Murmurrs ran through the crowd around them, differing opinions on who should have Tom, bets on who would get him in the end.

"Yeah, late. You dumped him. I picked up the pieces. Granted, it all happened a bit fast because of the escape stuff and all, but it's too late now. He's mine."

"I don't think so." They squared off, eyes flashing. Tom was sure it was going to come to blows if he didn't put his hand in. Sighing, he reached between them and pushed them apart.

"Perhaps we should solve this in private."

A groan went through the crowd. Tom didn't give in, however. Once the three Maquis they'd taken prisoner were beamed to sickbay and the Captain dismissed them all, he gestured toward Harry's quarters.

"Come on. We need to hash this out."

"What is there to hash out?" B'Elanna complained.

"Inside," Tom ordered. His voiced brooked no argument.

The Captain caught his arm before he disappeared. "Nice work, Mr. Paris." She gestured up and down the corridor.

"Uh, thanks, Captain."

"I take it you and Mr. Kim will be cleaning up the mess?"

"Of course."

"Good man." She dismissed him with a pat on the shoulder. He looked after her for a moment, wondering if he could get out of this a little longer by claiming it was the Captain's orders. No, it would have to be now or he'd lose his nerve. Squaring his shoulders, he marched into Harry's quarters. Icy silence reigned inside. Harry leaned against one wall, his arms crossed. B'Elanna was as far away from him as she could get, her back against the wall, her arms also crossed.

"Okay." He rubbed his hands together. "Umm, where shall we start?"

"Too late?" B'Elanna growled.

"Look, I've been trying to save things since before we got married. And whenever I've given up you've suddenly scrambled to put it all together and we go back and forth like that. Is that a real relationship? Or is it just comfortable?" Tom paused for breath. "Doesn't this all seem so flat to you?"

"We just got married, Paris."

"I'm a pig. We can agree on that, right?"

"I don't think so," Harry cut in. "Neither one of you is completely blameless here. You both let a relationship you know is rocky get all the way to marriage because. . . it was easier than breaking up?"

"I have never seen anything rocky about our relationship," B'Elanna snapped.

"Oh, come on. How many times have you come to me whining that Tom isn't paying enough attention to you? How many discussions have you dragged me into discussions late at night about how passionless you think it's all become?"

"Passionless?" Tom asked.

"So, you thought you'd just swipe my man from under my nose?" She asked Harry, ignoring Tom's outburst entirely.

"It didn't happen like that."

"Passionless?" Tom dragged her attention back. "Passionless?"

"Well, we don't exactly have the fire we used to," B'Elanna defended.

"I'm sorry, I saw lack of broken clavical as a good thing. Our relationship was fucked up because the sex wasn't good enough for you?"

"Broken clavical?" Harry asked.

"We were enthusiastic," B'Elanna defended. "It only happened once." Harry didn't look appeased. "We don't need your approval." Harry pursed his lips, but didn't reply.

"I think we're back to the pig principal. I let this happen, B'Elanna, and I'm sorry. This is my fault. I've been in love with Harry for a long time. I just.. I never thought he'd love me back."

"You never loved me?" she asked.

"Not the way I should."

"And you?" she asked Harry.

"I love Tom. I have for a long time."

"I blame you both for not coming to me sooner," she told them. She paused for a deep breath. "All right, you can have your annullment, Mr. Paris. But, you do this to Harry and I'll break your legs." Harry laughed.

"No worries," Tom murmurred. "You know, you can go sob all over Chakotay."

"Who says I still want him?"

"He wants you," Harry offered. They both turned to stare at him. "What? The two of us got drunk after the wedding. It seemed appropriate."

Tom started to reply, but then thought better of it. Instead he turned back to B'Elanna. "You're going to be all right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. StarFleet here will make you happy, right?"

"Yes, he will."

"I like for my friends to be happy."

"Not dismembered?"

"Tempting, but no." She grinned. "Might stomp around for a while to gain. . . " She searched for a word.

"Sympathy?"

"Allies," she snarled.

"Of course." They stood awkwardly for a moment, Tom rocking on his heels. It stretched out uncomfortably. Tom could hear the breath rattle in his chest.

"Yes, well, have to go," B'Elanna suddenly announced and slid out the door.

Harry let go of a breath he'd obviously been holding. Tom held out his arms and his beautiful young friend slid into them like it was the only place in the universe for him. How long they stood like that, he didn't know, but he didn't want to leave. There was more love in Harry's arms at that moment than he'd experienced in the whole rest of his life before. And there was much more to come.

"Tom?"

"Hmmm?"

A very horny, young Ensign rubbed up against his lover's thigh. "Could we move this someplace cozier? I'm going to burst if I don't have you soon."

"Have I ever denied you anything, Har?"

"No, never."

"Well, don't let me start now."

Kissing passionately, they twined about one another like a bit of ivy on a trellis. Harry's fingers climbed their way up Tom's back until they tangled in his hair. He pulled Tom's head away with a moan. "Masochist," his inner voice whispered. Tom simply wrapped himself around Harry's neck and kept kissing.

"We've got to. . . ummm, yeah. . . we've got to. . . got to clean up the corri-" He broke off in another moan when Tom reached that patch of skin right behind his ear.

"All work and no play, Har," the blond whispered. His lover threw back his head, compliantly, helplessly. Tom immediately decided that he loved making Harry, who was always so adamant, stalwart, quiver in his arms. He grasped the ensign's zipper.

"Mr. Paris!" rang out over his cabin's com.

Groaning, they tore themselves apart. "Yes, Captain?"

"Lieutenant Torres has left your quarters. I believe your discussion is finished. You have a corridor to clean up."

"But - "

"No buts, Lieutenant. Now."

Harry started laughing.

"What?" Tom growled.

"Next time we pull the fire alarm, let's at least get away with it."

---

End