The BLTS Archive - Un series
#13: United
by Kiff (Kiff47@yahoo.com)

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---

Damn, this thing is heavy.  I probably should have made two trips, but
the less time I spend in the corridor, the better.  This way, there's
less chance of running into people I know, which means fewer questions
to answer.

Okay.  I'm in the turbolift.  "Deck eight."

So far, so good.  I still can't believe this is happening.  Chakotay
went to the captain yesterday and told her what was going on with us.
He said she was pretty surprised by the whole thing.  I'll bet she
was.  I wish I could have seen the look on her face.

He was in the Ready Room with her for nearly an hour.  When he came
back to the Bridge, he gave me the big thumbs-up, and I knew we were
okay.  Janeway was right behind him.  She looked at me, kind of shook
her head a little, and then smiled.  I was getting red in the face by
then, so I turned around.

So here I am now, with a huge case of my personal belongings, getting
ready to try things out with Chakotay on a semi-permanent basis.

Wait a minute.  I'm stopping too soon.  This is deck six.  Oh, shit.
Someone else is getting on.

It's B'Elanna.  Double shit.

"Tom!"  She's about ready to back out, but the door closes behind her,
so she's stuck with me.

"Hi."  I give her a half-assed grin and hope she doesn't see my stuff.

Fat chance.  The woman never misses anything.  "What's in the case?"

"Just a few things."

"More than a few."  She frowns.  "Stealing from the cargo bay, are
we?"

That pisses me off, so much that I decide to tell her the truth.
"Actually, no.  I'm moving to new quarters on deck eight."

She snorts.  "Likely story.  The only quarters there are the auxiliary
VIP suites."

"Yep.  Our new home."

"*Whose* new home?"

The lift opens, and I grab my case and get out as fast as I can, which
isn't nearly fast enough.  She's right behind me.  "Okay, hotshot,
what's the deal?"

"The deal," I say, not missing a step, "is that the Captain agreed to
let me and Chakotay have one of the suites, provided that we clean it
up ourselves."

She actually stops walking for a few seconds.  I, of course, keep
moving.  But she recovers quickly and runs to catch up.  "This is the
*worst* goddam joke you've ever pulled, Paris."

"No joke," I say lightly.  "Ask Chakotay yourself if you like."

Now she's royally pissed, and she grabs my arm and spins me around,
causing me to drop the case.  "What the *hell* is this all about?"
Spit hits my face.

I take a deep breath, wipe my hand across my cheek, and just look at
her for a moment.  I used to love this woman.  At least I think I did.
We had some good times.  We also fought like cats and dogs. 
Eventually we just got tired.

"B'Elanna," I say as calmly as I can.  "Chakotay and I are in a
relationship.  I know it's hard to believe.  I can hardly believe it
myself."

"He *hates* you!"

"Well, if he does, he's got a pretty funny way of showing it.  We've
decided to move in together for awhile."

She's quiet, considering the possibilities.  "No.  No, he...you..."

"B'Elanna, it's the truth."

"Shit!"  That's all she can say.  She leans her back against the wall
and closes her eyes.

"I didn't mean for you to find out this way," I say.

Now she's crying.  In the past I would have tried to comfort her, but
I don't think that's my place anymore.

"You've got to let go, B'Elanna."

"Get out of here," she whispers.

I do what she asks.  It's what I want anyway.

---

I go to the suite, key the combination Chakotay gave me, and step into
my new home.

Chakotay is on duty right now, so I volunteered to start the clean-up
operation myself until he can get here.  The suite is actually in
pretty good shape, but there is dust on the tables, and the carpet
could use a good shampoo.  Plus there's the bed to be made up, and the
closet to be arranged, and a few pet knickknacks to set out.

Since we've been on Voyager, this suite has been used exactly twice.
The main VIP suite is on deck two.  Our guests have stayed there for
the most part.  Voyager doesn't have any other quarters to accommodate
two people, so Chakotay settled on this option.  And the captain went
along.

I put my case into a corner, program the computer to play some of my
favorite music, and get to work.

The time passes quickly, and I'm nearly done with the dusting when
there's a signal at the door.

"Who is it?"  I ask, fearing it might be B'Elanna.

"It's Harry, Tom."

"Come on in."

The door opens, and Harry steps inside, looking around curiously. 
"You weren't answering your comm signal, so I asked the computer where
you were."

"Oh, I took it off while I was washing down the bathroom."

"So, what did you do to earn *this* punishment?"

I stare at him, then I laugh.  "No punishment, Harry.  I'm going to
live here."

"Come again?"

"These are my new quarters.  Mine and Chakotay's."

I love spooking Harry.  His eyes get so big.  "You -- and the
Commander -- are moving in together?"

"Got it in one, buddy."

"Does the Captain know?"

"Yep."  I go back to work.  Harry steps back to avoid getting hit in
the face by a cloud of dust.

"Hey, feel free to watch from the couch," I say.  "You can give me
advice on where to hang things."

"I think I'll leave that to you," he replies, but he does take a seat
on the couch.

"I'd offer you a drink, but I don't get fresh rations until tomorrow."

"It's okay," he says, and then he just watches me for a few minutes. 
I finish the dusting, then start in on the carpet.

The silence gets to me eventually.  "You okay, Har?"

"Sure."

But I'm not convinced.  "You still don't like the idea of me and
Chakotay together, do you?"

"Tom, you can be involved with anyone you want to be.  I'm your
friend.  I'm not about to stand in the way."

There's something plaintive in how he says this, and now I understand.
He's worried that he's losing my friendship, especially now that I
will be living with another man.

I put my cleaning equipment down and sit down next to him.  "Harry.
Stop worrying.  We're still best friends.  We always will be. 
Chakotay and I are lovers.  We're not much more than that yet.  Maybe
we will be someday, who knows?  But nothing's changed between you and
me.  I'm still going to beat your ass at pool every week, and you're
still going to be Buster to my Captain Proton.  Get it?"

A grin starts on Harry's face.  "Got it, Tom."

"Good."

The door opens.  It's Chakotay.

Harry jumps off the couch.  "Commander!"

Chakotay looks at Harry, then at me, then he smiles.  "At ease, Harry.
So you've found out our little secret."

"Sir, I was just looking for Tom and...."

"*At ease*, I said.  You're welcome here any time, Ensign."

"Well, not *any* time," I say with a wink.

Harry reddens.

Chakotay laughs.  "Well, if you have any doubts, just use your
commbadge."  He takes a look around the room.  "Big improvement, Tom."

"I just have the carpet to go, then I think we can start unpacking."

"Right.  My things are outside.  Let me change out of my uniform, and
then I'll give you a hand."

As Chakotay steps out to collect some civilian clothes, Harry stands
up.  "Well, I probably ought to go now."

"You sure?  You're not in the way."

"I know.  I'm okay with this, Tom.  I really am."  As Chakotay comes
back into the room, Harry turns to him.  "Sir, I -- I just want to say
that I hope things work out for you and Tom.  He's a great guy, but if
he gets out of line, let me know."

Chakotay smiles.  "I'll do that.  And I appreciate the good wishes."

Harry nods.  "See you later."  And he's gone.

Chakotay looks at me.  "I'm glad he approves of us."

I sigh.  "He's the easy one.  I ran into B'Elanna on the way here, and
she didn't take it well at all."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that."  Chakotay is stripping his
uniform off as he speaks.  I try not to watch too much, as I'm just a
little tempted to take off the rest of his clothes at the moment.
Gods, I love his body.

"Could you talk to her?  Do you think it would do any good?"

"Probably not right now.  But I'll give her a few days, and then try
to approach her then.  We go back a long way.  If she won't listen to
me, then we'll just have to wait her out."

"You don't think she'll do something stupid again, like with the
holodeck programs...."

"I hope not."  But Chakotay looks grim.  "I'll ask some of the other
Maquis in Engineering to keep an eye on her."

"I'm sorry about this, Chakotay.  If I hadn't run into her like
that...."

He waves it off.  "Better she hear it from you than from the
grapevine."

"Okay, I guess you're right."

"I am.  Usually.  Now, let's get to work."

--- Two hours later....


"What the *hell* is this?"

"Don't you like it?"

"Dogs smoking and playing cards?"

"Hey, it was a very popular theme in the twentieth century, Chakotay."

He snorts.  "Okay, but it does *not* go on this wall.  Put on the same
wall where the door is.  That way it won't scare off the guests."

I put a pained expression on my face as I do what he says.  "Nobody
appreciates art."

He's laying out some kind of Indian throw rug in front of the couch.
"Art, hell.  "*This* is art."

I walk over.  "Art that you step on and get dirty?"

"Heathen."  He cuffs me playfully on the arm.

"Snob."

I expect another retort now, but Chakotay just grabs me and pulls me
to him in a big bear hug.  I put my arms around him in return; he
smells good.  After a few moments, he lets go a little but keeps his
hands on my shoulders.  "I'm glad you're here with me," he says.

"I'm glad to be here," I reply.

He reaches up, brushes aside some hair that has fallen over my
forehead.  "You know, I think this will work out.  I just have a good
feeling about it."

"I do, too."

We stare at each other for a moment.  Only days ago, we were strangers
with not much in common except mutual lust.  Now we are -- what?
Partners?  Lovers?  Friends?  Some combination of these, I suppose.

Chakotay leans in and gives me a quick kiss on the mouth.  "I've just
got a few more things to unpack."

"Okay," I say, thinking that maybe he's planning on trying out our new
king-sized bed.  Sounds good to me.

"Janeway to Chakotay."

We both jump.  Chakotay looks at me, smiles, shrugs, and answers.
"Chakotay here, Captain."

"I apologize for the intrusion, Commander."

"Not at all."

"I need to meet with you for a few minutes about the upcoming away
mission.  Right now, if it's not inconvenient."

"I'll be right there, Captain."

"Please," and I can hear the hint of a smile in her voice, "please
tell Mr. Paris that I won't keep you a second longer than is
necessary."

"Very good, Captain."

"Janeway out."

Chakotay looks at me.  "You okay to finish up?"

"No problem.  I'd even get a snack ready, except that I'm out of
rations."

"I'll see what Neelix has in the Mess Hall."

"Good enough."

Chakotay heads to the door, turns, and gives me a broad smile.  He
doesn't say anything.  He doesn't need to.

The door closes behind him.  I look over the rest of my stuff and
decide that it can wait for another day.  I throw my case into the
closet.  Then I turn around and look at my new home.

I like it.  We've done well.

I go to the couch, lie down, and change the music to something
different.  Something quiet and mellow.

Yes, I think I'll stay here awhile.

---

The End