The BLTS Archive- Threesomes
#2: Twosomes: Coalescence
by Nyani-Iisha F. Martin (nfmartin@fas.harvard.edu)

---

Disclaimers: One of these days I'll just write a little song about how
these characters the good ship Voyager, and the entire Star Trek
universe  belong to Paramount, who would never do this with their
characters, unfortunately.

OTOH, we probably do a better job of it. *smile* What I've done with
these characters belongs to me, COPYRIGHT 1997 Nyani-Iisha F. Martin;
I have absolutely no intention of making any money from this story,
and I ask that nobody else do so either. Please ask me before
reprinting this story, archiving it, etc.

Oh, and, BTW, this is an NC-17 story. If you are under 18 or offended/
disturbed by explicit male-female sex, please find that 'n' key and
press it now, for all our own goods.

General introduction: Awhile ago, I decided to write three stories
about the three relationships that make up the threesome that is Tom,
B'Elanna, and Harry. I called them "twosome" stories while they were
unfinished, and the name seemed logical enough to me to keep. So, here
they are.

This story, the first of the three chronologically, is set right after
"In Triplicate", and before "Alpha Centauri". Harry's still in
Sickbay, but out of danger. So. Enough disclaiming. On with the story!

---

Tom was still surprised he didn't feel awkward about it all.

Admittedly, he thought, it wasn't as if he'd had a lot of time to
think since Harry and B'Elanna had cooperatively seduced him; the very
next morning Voyager had been attacked, Harry was still sleeping 22
hours a day in Sickbay, and everyone who wasn't recuperating with
Harry had been working double shifts, except for the Captain,
Chakotay, Tuvok and B'Elanna, who all seemed to be working triple. The
only time Tom had to think was in bed, B'Elanna asleep in his arms,
and, most days, by the time he saw either her or the bed he wasn't up
to much more than sleep himself.

But, this night, for a little while at least, he lay thinking, looking
down at B'Elanna's thick hair, which was splayed across his chest,
making him look all the paler next to her honey-gold. Part of the
reason he was awake was that his leg still hurt too much for him to
sleep again; she'd kicked him, hard, when she turned over. But part of
the reason, Tom thought, and smiled as he carefully draped an arm
around the sleeping engineer, was that this relationship was worth
losing a little sleep to think about.

Tom did think that he should, by now, have grown enough sense not to
run away from being happy, but he was still pleasantly surprised at
how natural the metamorphosis of their relationship felt, that he
didn't feel awkward or trapped, even though he didn't believe for one
second B'Elanna's speech about "not getting too serious". Instead, Tom
felt like he belonged with Harry and B'Elanna, and that was the end of
the story, because that was how B'Elanna treated him.  Not as if she
took him for granted, but with such frankness and lack of frilly human
games that he found himself unable to even think of acting diffident
or coy. With her, there simply wasn't time for such nonsense, and Tom
found that he didn't mind a bit.  He'd played games  and flirted
enough for one lifetime.  More than enough.

Tom's eyes, and thoughts, grew haunted for a moment, before B'Elanna's
sigh called him back to the happier present; cautiously, in case she
hit him in her sleep again, he touched his lips to the dark head on
his chest. Wrapping the other arm around her, and with his sore leg
subsiding to a dull throb, Tom closed his eyes and fell asleep. After
all, he did have a long day ahead.

---

When Tom came to Engineering that night B'Elanna was so exhausted she
actually drooped, almost all of her crackling vitality drained. Tom,
whose day had not been that strenuous compared to the last few, and
had been a cakewalk compared to hers, had to suppress a strong desire
to scoop her up and carry her home; but then, he thought, if he did
that, she'd probably break both his arms.

"Hey," she said in greeting, and smiled a little.

Tom smiled back. "Did you eat anything since breakfast?"

No, I was too busy. First, though, can we go to---"

"Sickbay? I was just about to ask you that."

B'Elanna smiled a bit more widely, and started walking down the
corridor; when Tom caught up to her she moved close enough to put her
shoulder firmly against his. It took him a moment to realize that she
was leaning on him;  his arm itched, as if to say, "put me around
her!". However, even aside of considerations of personal safety, Tom
didn't want to annoy B'Elanna, so they merely walked down the darkened
corridor together, Tom acutely aware of the warm pressure on his arm.

Then she tripped over the threshold of the turbolift, and if Tom
hadn't caught her she would have fallen to her knees; seeing just how
unsteady she was, he thought, _oh, to hell with it_ and didn't let go
of her once she was on her feet. Instead he pressed himself closely to
her and put his arm around her shoulders.

Startled, B'Elanna reached up to clutch his arm as she said, "I'm all
right," the tightness in her voice adding, "so let go of me."

Tom has his stubbornnesses, too. "I like holding onto you," he
replied. Feeling B'Elanna's shoulders stiffen, he feared for his ribs
for a moment; then she relaxed against him, and he could feel that it
was only force of will that kept her from slumping, as she chuckled.

"OK, Paris, have it  your way," B'Elanna said, but she put her hand
over his where it rested on her collarbone, and they rode the lift in
companionable silence.

---

Harry was still pale, and he still had these....these bandages on the
side of his head, where his skull had been knocked in. And he was so
*pale*. Tom sat on one side of him, B'Elanna the other, and they held
his cold hands in theirs and talked to the pale face, hoping that he
heard them in his sleep. Harry had come out of the unrousable coma the
previous morning, and the Doctor had said that he would be all right,
but his body was so battered he still slept nearly round the clock,
and he was so pale and still....

Tom put his hand to that gold-over-snow cheek, and found himself
relieved to feel warmth there.

"When I first heard," B'Elanna said, in a low voice, looking down,
hiding her face with her hair. Tom looked up at her, then looked down
again, realizing with sympathy that she might speak more easily if he
wasn't staring at her. "When I first heard Harry was hurt...that he
was nearly killed, that they weren't sure he'd live, all I could think
was 'not this time, not again'. We lost him once already, and that was
too many."

Tom remembered that, remembered the twinned ships...in order to
function, in order to not die for grief, he hadn't let himself believe
Harry was dead, and then before he had to face the awful truth Harry
was back, and Tom could just forget that his friend had died, forget
the abyss that had yawned open before him for that terrible moment. He
and B'Elanna had never talked about it; they both had just been glad
to have Harry back, glad to forget the time he was gone, and she had
acted on that second chance. B'Elanna knew how to take second chances,
Tom thought. She was excelling in her second Starfleet career, and had
snatched up the resurrected Harry as soon as she could. _I really
should tell her how much I admire her for it._

Throughout her speech and her pause B'Elanna hadn't moved. Now she
did, and Tom looked up to find her staring at him, her dark eyes wide;
the thought of what might not have been, what they might have lost,
ran cold in his veins, as he could see it did in hers.  "I told him we
could die anytime, so we should live now. I said that so casually, as
if I didn't care....but when I heard he might die...." A tear slid
down her cheek, and she bit her lip. "But he won't. He's going to
live. I didn't cry then. I don't know why I want to cry now."

Tom reached across to stroke the tear off of B'Elanna's cheek,
touching his fingers gently to her face, and she smiled faintly. "I
don't know either," he said softly, hoping his words helped. "I just
know that Harry will be fine."

B'Elanna smiled a bit more, then turned her head and kissed Tom's
fingers. He jumped a bit, startled, and she actually grinned before
she looked back down at Harry. "Get better," she said to him, and
growled to make Tom smile; when she added, "or I'll kill you", Tom
couldn't help but grin.

Then she touched her lips to Harry's forehead with deep tenderness,
and stood up, leaving Tom with him. Tom put his hand back on that
pale, pale cheek and whispered, "Hey, good-night. B'Elanna needs
you....we---shit, I need you. Get better soon," and added his kiss to
hers.

Tom looked in B'Elanna's direction to see her standing in the doorway,
leaning against it; when he joined her she reached out and took his
hand, and held it tightly the entire way back to his quarters, as if
the feel of his hand in hers gave her strength. Tom hoped it did.

---

After a brief and tasteless dinner of ration packs, B'Elanna turned on
the sonic shower to get it to warm up; water was still being rationed.
"I have got to sleep in my own bed sometime," she said as she sat on
the bed and took off her uniform.

"Hey, you said my quarters were nearer to Sickbay *and* Engineering."
Tom pulled his off and went to help B'Elanna with her boots; her feet
were so swollen from her long day that they were sticking. "If you
don't get some rest soon you'll end up in one instead of the other."

"I can rest when Voyager is fixed," B'Elanna said, and attempted to
growl. It came out rather like a purr, and Tom smiled at her. "You
look  so tired; I should carry you to the shower."

B'Elanna stood right up at that, so quickly she swayed a little.
"When I can't walk, Paris, *then* you can carry me", she said, and
strode as firmly as she could into the bathroom, despite her sore
feet; admiring both her attitude and her behind, Tom grinned and shook
his head as he followed her.

---

B'Elanna was out of the shower before Tom, and then he washed his hair
in the sink; it took him so long to find the special water-recycling
towel to dry his hair that he was sure she'd be asleep when he
emerged, but she lay open-eyed, head propped up on one arm. "Come
here,"  she said matter-of-factly, holding out the other, and he
smiled as he threw the towel down, asking, "Hey, why aren't you asleep
yet?"

"It's cold in here." When Tom slid into bed B'Elanna wrapped her naked
arms and legs around him, pressing herself against his side, and he
had to remind himself that they were tired. "What happened to the
Battle Jammies?"

"You're warmer." B'Elanna laid her head on Tom's shoulder as if to
say, "this discussion is over"; fearing that any further questions
would be met with a "shut up, Paris" or worse, Tom hugged her a little
tighter and kissed the top of her head.

"Goodnight," he whispered, and smiled to hear gentle snores.

---

Tom floated in a warm, silent darkness, threaded with arousal, with
B'Elanna's heartbeat; she was atop him, wrapped around him, but he
couldn't find her, couldn't touch her. B'Elanna was making love to him
somehow, but he couldn't put his arms around her, and all the time the
arousal was building, growing. He tried to call out to her, and the
words wouldn't come out of his mouth; he drew in a deep gasp as his
penis throbbed---

---and he was awake, his heart pounding, his body tense with
sensation, a warm mouth wrapped around him. Tom opened his eyes to the
banally ordinary ceiling lights and raised his head....and B'Elanna
winked at him, her hand cradling his balls, her mouth a perfect 'o'
around his erection, her tongue rasping upwards so delightfully it was
almost painful. Tom gasped with arousal and surprise, and then tried
to close his mouth long enough to smile, but B'Elanna winked once more
and ran her front teeth not-so-very gently over his glans, and he
groaned as fire shot through him, arching his back and flopping back
against the pillow.

_Oh, God and Goddess, B'Ela..._ Tom felt he had to say *something*
witty in greeting;  for crying out loud, B'Elanna had woken him up
this wonderfully, he should say more than plain "Good Morning". But it
was really not easy to think, to say the least, what with the wet
sucking heat and her fingers stroking over his balls; clenching his
fists, Tom was trying his very hardest when B'Elanna reached up to run
nails down his side, leaving trails of electricity in their wake, and
a flush of heat surged through his mind so that he moaned, bucking up
towards her; the last broken bits of thought were swept away as
B'Elanna's chuckle vibrated through Tom and made him moan again, the
world imploding to the blood throbbing behind his eyes and what she
was doing to him.

_Oh God o god o god!_ Tom arched his back, moaning, clutching the
sheets, utterly defenseless as B'Elanna rasped him with her tongue
like a cat, her fingers stroking the skin under his balls, lighting
his nerves like fuses, setting off fireworks in his head. But the
helpless pleasure wasn't just physical: it wasn't just being awakened
this wonderfully; it was also that by starting while he was asleep,
she'd gotten to him before he could have raised any shields....but,
then, he realized with a jolt, he wouldn't've wanted to put up his
defenses, not for her. This was B'Elanna, who he trusted, who he
really did love.

_Oh, shit, I really do love her._ With that disturbing, joyful
thought, Tom pushed himself up on one elbow, though another wave of
arousal threatened to knock him back down. "B'Ela," he managed to
choke out, reaching towards her, wanting to pull her up into his arms,
bury himself in her, tell her and show her he loved her. She looked up
at his face for a moment, almost tenderly, then winked again and ran
two fingers down to his ass.

Tom groaned and writhed so hard he fell prone off his elbow, knowing
exactly where she was going. Trying to say, "don't do that, I'll
come", he'd gotten as far as incoherent gasping when she caressed his
balls with one hand and slid one finger of the other up into him, and
that was the end of that. Tom screamed and bucked as his nerves flamed
with sensation; B'Elanna rotated the finger, and all thought vanished
in one wonderful flash of sweet fire.

Tom was still trembling, and not quite thinking in words again yet,
when he felt the bed shift as she got up; he heard the snap of a glove
being pulled off, before she sat down beside him, putting a hand on
his chest over his heart; he opened his eyes to her smile.

"Good morning", B'Elanna said dryly.

"Oh, yeah!" replied Tom, smiling back with all his heart, as he
reached up to pull a laughing B'Elanna down to him, tasting himself in
her kiss; he pulled her into the bed, rolling her underneath him, but
she laughed and rolled them both over again, pulling away from him to
kneel astraddle him, pushing his hands down to his sides as she sat
straight up. "We have to get up and dressed, you know."

Tom groaned even more exasperatedly than he felt. "So I get to be the
only one staggering off to duty unsteady with pleasure?" he sighed,
and B'Elanna laughed at him as she let go of his wrists and got up.

"Yeah," she replied, feigning dispassion. "One of us has to be alert,
after all."

At least, Tom _hoped_ she was pretending she didn't care; she did do
an awfully good job of acting as she sauntered off to the bathroom, so
good he gave up with a mere roll of his eyes and followed. And she
kept it up the entire time they got dressed; every time he snuck a
glance at her, she was concentrating on her pants or her shirt or
combing her hair, steadfastly ignoring him. Tom watched her
disbelievingly as she went to the door, following her closely as if
she might snap out of this cool persona and kiss him or something.

And then she looked over her shoulder with the tiniest smirk, for one
galvanic moment before Tom found himself pinned against the wall,
B'Elanna kissing him hard and hotly, her hands warm on his shoulders,
her body pressing into his. She pulled her head back to smile at his
stunned expression and say "if you get any time to think, think of
what we can have for lunch", kissed him again before he could reply,
and was gone before he could even move.

Tom shook his head to clear it, which didn't work, since most of the
blood was a bit lower down. _Wow_, he thought, and then grinned. _To
think I'd thought B'Elanna didn't flirt.

_And she's pretty damn good at it, too._

---

The End