Life With a Paris: Hitting Bottom "But how does he keep doing it?" "I don't know, Tom! He just does." "The Captain is not going to like this one bit. This was the last thing we could come up with to keep him out of those beans!" "Yea, well, hand me the.. yea." B'Elanna leaned further into the field projector. "She'll be here any minute, and if I can't get him out of there before then, she's going to have a meltdown." "Take away the woman's coffee for a few days..." "Now's not the time, Tom. Grab this.. yea.. and push it.. you got it. Okay, well, that should work. I hope." "This won't hurt him, will it?" B'Elanna shrugged. "I don't know. It *is* unprecedented after all." Tom sighed. "Ready?" A nod. "On three. One. Two. Three!" Each pressing the proper buttons, Tom and B'Elanna stepped back, surveying the scene in front of them. Delta was suspended in mid air, seemingly frozen in time, caught in mid lunge by the stasis field the captain had ordered to protect and preserve the last of her coffee bean supply. The force of his leap into the field had left him mere inches before the last precious bags of beans, freezing him instantly to be discovered red-handed by his worried parents. "The override should come into effect in five... four... three... two... one... now." On now, the field shimmered and the dog fell to the floor. Delta whimpered pitifully, staring up at the beans, gathering his muscles to jump just as Tom caught his collar and snapped his leash into place. "Not this time, Delta." The dog whimpered louder, but resigned himself to being pulled away by his daddy. B'Elanna pulled the hatch off a nearby Jefferies tube, and gestured for Tom and Delta to slip inside. She quickly gave Tom directions to reach their cabin unnoticed, then latched the screen back into place. Moments later, Janeway walked into the room. "B'Elanna?" "Sorry, Captain. There was a minor fluctuation in the stasis field. I'm just resetting it.... now." The field shimmered back to life, the beans once again protected from the addicted puppy. Janeway nodded, and the women turned towards the cargo bay door. "By the way, B'Elanna, how is the puppy?" B'Elanna glanced towards the Jefferies tube. "He hasn't changed since the last time you saw him, Captain. Trust me." End.