The Power of Love: Settling In By Erin Alpert   Howdy! I wanna say hi to Chris, who knows when she'll get this, but, anyway! Hi Chris! BTW Chris, if you get any ideas, lemmie know... And as for the title... Forever Maquis! aggg! Oh, and Lauren, and her friend Jessica, and their crazy scheme. You two know what it is, and something like that is in here... hehehe.... not exactly....   Torres leaned in closer, "I know." Paris smiled, "You better get some rest, tomorrow, we can look for some bigger quarters." "Mmmm," she smiled too, feeling his lips against her cheek, forming that silly grin of his, "That would be a good idea."    But B'Elanna didn't get much sleep that night. Who would have? Finally moving in with the man you've loved for around 7 years is quite a feat. And when she did sleep, it seemed like she awoke immediately. She got up, grudgingly pulled on some clothes, and stepped outside. She walked over to the next door, and knocked several times. There was no answer. But finally, Tom came to the door. " `Lanna," he said, obviously not expecting her. He had wet hair, and a bathrobe on. "Oh, I'll come back later," she said, not expecting him to look like that. "No, it's okay, you're already here. Come in. I need to get dressed anyway, I have work." Torres stepped in, "Oh yeah, work, I forgot." By now, Paris was in the other room, so he called, "why'd you come here?" "I thought we were going to look for quarters." "Oh, that. After work. Okay?" "Oh, yeah. I guess, that'll work." Paris emerged from the door, dressed in the new Starfleet uniform. Well, actually, it wasn't that new. It was about 5 years old, but, Voyager's crew had never worn or even seen them since about a week ago. "So, how do I look?" he asked. "Um... different," Torres replied, staring at the gray shoulders, and red turtle-neck he wore. "Different? That's it?" "Well, it looks... nice.. I guess." "Come on, it can't be that terrible?" "Well, I'm just not used to seeing you in that," she smiled, and walked over closer to him, "You look fine." Paris put his arms around her, "Really?"  "Really." "Good, because I gotta go now, bye," he gave her a quick kiss, and scrambled out the door. "Bye."   There was nothing like a stroll on the Promenade to ease your mind. But, it didn't ease B'Elanna's, so nothing probably would. She spotted a small, strange looking man bent next to a console. He was cursing furiously at it. He was also wearing some type of uniform. "Do you need some help?" Torres asked. "Um.... yeah.. but, I don't think there's anything you can do," the man had a funny voice, a Ferangi.  "Well, my name is B'Elanna Torres," she offered, hoping that the man would know her name. "My name's Rom," the machine spurt out a blaze of sparks, and he cursed once more. "Let me see that," Torres bent over. "I don't think there's anything you can do about it," he coaxed "Ahh.. there's you problem," she explained everything to him, with a clarity he had never heard before. "Who are you again?" he asked. "B'Elanna Torres, chief engineer of the Starship Voyager," she beamed proudly. "Voyager? Wow, are you gonna join Starfleet again?" "Not for a while, I think." "Ohh.. I'm going to recommend to Sisko that you be a engineer here, we could really use you. I'll get you an appointment to talk with him." "Thanks," she said. " `Lanna!" she heard someone calling her name, and turned around to see Paris. She stood up, "Hi Tom." "C'mon, let's go talk," he beckoned for her to follow. "Okay. Bye Rom," she called as she left with Paris.   "So, what's up?" she asked. "I got the quarters." "You did? But I thought we were gonna decided." "Yeah, but there was only one two person left, I had to get it." "I forgive you. Now where is this place?" "I'll show you."   And actually, it didn't take them that long to find it, and get settled in.   To Be Continued :+)        Legal junk. Viacom owns characters, I own story. Comments on my second section of my first real series go to Eraalpert@aol.com.