The BLTS Archive- The Core of Things
by Nyani-Iisha F. Martin (nfmartin@fas.harvard.edu)

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Disclaimer: I own the plot. Paramount owns the setting and characters.
There is an implied m/m/f relationship; beware. There we are.

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B'Elanna put her feet up on the railing as she gazed into the
pulsating blue light of the warp core. It was late in Beta shift, and
she was alone in Engineering, running a final diagnostic....

....and enjoying the solitude. She leaned back on her hands, arching
her back, and smiled ruefully at herself. _Be honest, B'Elanna. The
rest of Engineering's all asleep; you're here because you feel like
being an only child for a couple hours._ One benefit and bane of
having no siblings was the solitude; being half-Klingon in a Human
colony didn't bring company running, either. So B'Elanna had
eventually acquired a taste for being alone, at least every once in
awhile; after Voyager's most recent fight, which had left her first in
Sickbay and then in Engineering 24/7, this was the first chance she'd
had in two weeks. It was certainly better than being stuck with that
officious Holodoc.

Not that she really was alone here, she thought, as the waves of blue
light washed over her. The warp core....sometimes she thought of it as
alive, almost. As the core of this ship that carried them on their
journey, away from enemies and towards resources, discoveries,
friends, that needed them to tend and care for it and gave them so
much  in return. She reached out a hand and watched the light stream
over her skin; she could almost feel it, flowing like water, soaking
into her....

....something beeped. A blocked coolant conduit, down at floor level;
two minutes' work and it was like new. But B'Elanna lay down for a
little while longer; lying on her stomach, she could feel the light
surrounding her, pouring over her entire body, even when she closed
her eyes....

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"Engineering?" Tom paused in zipping up his uniform to repeat the
question, as if the answer didn't make sense. "It's---"

"2345," said Harry, who had less trouble believing that B'Elanna was
still in Engineering at that hour. As he pulled on his second boot he
thought, _I hope she had dinner, at least._

Tom rolled his eyes as he pinned on his badge. "She *would* be there.
Well, let's go find her, I guess."

When they got to Engineering B'Elanna was curled on the floor next to
the warp core, one hand extended towards it; Tom gasped, horrible
thoughts of cerebral hemmorhage and internal bleeding racing through
his head, but a gentle check showed that she was merely asleep. Harry
tucked one arm under her head and B'Elanna stiffened, fighting her way
up to semiconsciousness; she cracked one eye suspiciously, smiled
fuzzily as she recognized them, and slumped back into sleep again.

"I told her she couldn't stay up three nights in a row," Tom whispered
triumphantly.

Harry flashed a grin in place of a laugh and whispered, "I guess we
might as well carry her, then", even as Tom slid his arms under her
knees and back; on a count of three, they got to their feet together,
holding their beloved engineer between them. Harry slid her into Tom's
arms, but kept a hand in to help.

The halls were nearly deserted; after the draining events and
extensive repairs of the last fortnight, it was finally a quiet night
on Voyager, and everyone who wasn't on duty was probably asleep.  Tom
and Harry walked back to Harry's quarters in companionable silence,
having just relearned together how much could be said without words;
at the door, B'Elanna barely stirred when Tom eased her into Harry's
arms, her head over his heart.

"I have to get going," Tom said. "It'll look bad if I'm late for a
shift I'm in charge of, even if it's Gamma."

"I'll see you in the morning?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Tom leaned forward to kiss Harry goodbye, then
kissed B'Elanna lightly on her temple. "Can you get her to come to
breakfast for once?"

"I can try, or you can come find us," Harry whispered with a wicked
little grin.

Tom grinned back and kissed him again, just a little bit  harder, then
headed down the hall as Harry carried B'Elanna in to bed.

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The End