Title:  Changes P10
Author:  Cheryl Forbes
Fandom:  Star Trek: Voyager
Pairing:  Chakotay/Tom Paris
Rating:  NC 17
Series:  10 of ?
Email for feedback:  forbesc@skyia.com
Disclaimer:  Voyager and her crew belong to Paramount and not me.
Whatever.
 
Summary:  While on the run, Chakotay and Tom stop to refuel.
 
 
"Would it help if I said you looked really cute when you're mad?"
 
"No it wouldn't.  Now shut up and eat your stew so we can get the
hell out of here."
 
Blowing his breath out over his top lip, Tom took another mouthful of
the hash that was bad enough to make him think fondly of Neelix's
layola root surprise.  Swallowing without chewing, he looked from his
pissed off lover to take in the atmosphere of he inn they had found.
 
It was dark, smelly, totally lacking in style and he loved it.  It
was a lot like the real Sandrine's before he had put a spit and
polish on it. Unlike the holoprogram, this armpit of an establishment
made him feel safe.  Catching Lynda's, the proprietress of this
humble watering hole glance behind the bar, Tom winked and blew her a
kiss.  It was her good graces and wandering eyes that had provided
them with the nourishment they were now imbibing.  Suffering another
swallow, he looked from the comely owner back to his disgruntled
dinner companion.
 
Chakotay hadn't said more than two civil words to him since they had
made love in the forest four hours ago and found this small town's
hotel.
 
Tearing Ulien's black bed sheet in squares, they had fashioned a
small loincloth for him and a toga for the old man.  The scant
coverings had been enticing enough for Lynda to admit them into her
bar and offer them refreshments free on the house.  They had been
lucky to find someone so generous and Tom had hoped their fortuitous
find would improve Chakotay's mood.  It hadn't.
 
"What if I said I wanted you so much that I didn't care you might
infect me as long as you touched me?"
 
"Then I'd say you're a fool.  We should have waited until we returned
to Voyager."
 
"But I couldn't because I'm in love with you."
 
The big beautiful man across the table from him closed his eyes and
rubbed the heels of his palms over his face.  Chak then stared at his
hands, at the ceiling of Lynda's and back at him.
 
"I love you too but," Chakotay stopped talking and reached over the
scarred table to take one of his hands.  "What we did Tom endangered
your life.  By now you are probably infected with the virus as much
as I am."
 
"Yeah whatever."
 
"Tom!"
 
"Look Chak if we don't get the serum, you're going to die and Harry
is going to die.   What makes you think I want to be around after
that?"
 
"That's not the point."
 
"Oh yeah it is.  Both of you together are my heart and my mind.  So
if you leave me, there won't be any reason for me to stick around.
If there's some kind of great beyond, I'll meet both of you there."
 
"We're not going to die Tom."
 
"Promise?"
 
"Yes."  Chakotay's voice was so firm, Tom had no choice but to
believe him.
 
"Are you still mad?"
 
"Yes Tom but at both of us."  He believed that too.
 
"Well then can I interest you in a little under table action to make
it up to you?"  He slid his bare foot up the irate commander's leg.
Chakotay moved out of the way of his questing toes and let go of his
hand.
 
"No more sex until we get home." The determined commander sat back
and gave him what was supposed to be a cold glare.  It was anything
but.  "Understood?"
 
"Understood."  Tom said to please him as he crossed his fingers
behind his back and suppressed a giggle.
 
Life was funny.  Here he was very likely infected with a deadly virus
and the most important thing to him right now wasn't obtaining a cure
for his fatal disease but his boyfriend's approval.  Tom would die a
happy camper if he knew Chakotay wasn't angry with him.
 
Man, he really was a fucking basketcase but instead of hating it, he
loved it.  He was crazy in love with Voyager's first officer and
that, no matter how nuts it made him feel, was OK.  If Chakotay could
suffer through it, so could he.
 
"You're fucking babe.  Do you know that?"
 
"Tom, I thought we'd just agreed no sex."  Chak's dark ebony orbs
leveled at him with total seriousness and it drove him wild.
 
He threw his hands up.  "Am I touching you?"
 
"No but…-"
 
"But nothing and speaking of butts, yours it so tight and firm it
makes me want to work it with my fingers and make it soft and pliant
enough so that my dick could slip right in."
 
"Tom!" The voice was outraged but the eyes were darkening and that
was a good thing.
 
"And then I'd blow myself while I blew your mind.  Can you imagine
how great that would be?  Oh fuck, I can."
 
"I hate you Tom Paris."
 
"Yeah well that's OK as long as you love me too."
 
"I do."
 
Tom stared across the table and as he did so, a grin so wide cracked
his face he thought his head would split.  Holy fuck how he loved
this contrary man. Bad assed aliens, deadly diseases and life on the
run aside, he had never been this happy.  He could die right now in
this seedy bar and consider his life well spent because Chakotay
loved him.
 
Tom was finally getting a chance to dance along the light of day
instead of the edge of darkness.  It was euphoric and made him feel
like he was made of photonic energy.  He was real but nothing could
touch him.
 
"Tom it's time to go.  Are you ready?"
 
"Yeah babe, for anything."
 
Chakotay caught his mood and smiled, doing his famous triad with his
dimples. "Good, but how about we just start with the door?"
 
"What ever you want, babe."  Tom said again adding emphasis to the
last word.  He liked it.  Some how the endearment made him feel as
sexy as his lover was. "You lead and I'll follow."
 
Chakotay stood up.  "Oh how I wish I could get that in writing."
 
"I'll vow to anything you ask me to old man."  Tom said using the
more familiar honorific and still liking it too.
 
"One of these days Tom Paris, I might just ask you do that."
 
"Oh?"
 
"But right now we have to go.  Somebody in this god forsaken town
must have access to a comm device."
 
As helpful as she'd been, Lynda was unable to direct them to anyone
who had what was probably termed around here, a radio.  Corlear
really wasn't that regressive of a planet, but this backwater town
didn't venture out much into the world.  It was pretty isolated which
was probably why Ulien had chosen the area for his home.  Grabbing
Chakotay's hand, he said good bye to his hostess and walked with him
towards the door.
 
As they stepped side by side into the darkness of the street, Tom saw
nothing but his future with Chakotay.
 
It's brightness guided his way.
 
********
 
"Hold still Tom."
 
"What?"
 
"Don't move."
 
Keeping a tight hold on his love's hand, Chakotay scanned the
perimeter of the streetscape.  It seemed quiet enough but he could
have sworn he'd seen a flash of white much like his lover's current
hair colour on the other side of the road.
 
"Tom listen very carefully.  We're going to move very slowly to the
left to the alleyway.  You will, without argument stay behind me
until we reach the alcove at which point you will fade back and look
for an alternate exit."
 
"OK but what will you be doing?"
 
"I said without argument." He tore his concentrated gaze from the
street and chanced a quick look at Tom.  "Didn't you hear me,
Lieutenant?"
 
"Yes sir, I did."
 
"Good now move."
 
Bleeding into the few shadows the bar's veranda afforded, they
slipped along its front to the vacant back street that lined its
side.  During their progress Chakotay saw another flash of white and
knew they definitely weren't alone.
 
"Go Tom."  He hissed out the corner of his mouth.
 
"What and leave you here?  No fucking way."
 
"Remember yourself Lieutenant.  I'm giving you a direct order and
disobeying it is only going to get yourself and me into deeper
trouble."
 
"But Chak…-"
 
"Stow it and move your ass Mr Paris.  I need an exit and I need it
now!"
 
"Yes sir!"
 
Hearing the retreating footfalls, Chakotay relaxed a small portion of
his protective stance.  Squinting his eyes and wishing he had Tuvok's
infrared sight, he leaned into the corner of the bar and scanned the
darkness for hostiles. He saw nothing but that didn't mean they
weren't there.  The same sixth sense that alerted him to danger when
Voyager was in trouble told him they were.  Another blink of blond
caught his eye.
 
Who ever it was, were moving closer and they were becoming bolder.
Soon they would be near enough to corner him and Tom.  Chakotay
wished briefly for a phaser and then shoved the unproductive thought
out of his mind.  He was unarmed and it was better to think around it
than to think about its disadvantage.
 
Crouching low, he moved away from the alley's opening, hoping to
catch his enemy off guard if they entered it.  He was also moving
away from Tom, but that was only another thought to be pushed aside
in the name of survival.  Sitting on his heels, Chakotay flexed his
fingers in readiness and waited for something to happen.  He didn't
have to wait long.
 
A long slim figure, much like his lover's scooted across the street
to stop on the other side of the alleyway.  Chakotay had barely
registered the first invader when two more followed in his wake and
all three were slipping into the dark passage.  Knowing he had the
advantage of surprise, he advanced behind them.
 
If he were lucky he'd take out two of them before they reached Tom
but that was only if they had no more weapons than he did.  Praying
Ulnae's affection for phasers was an aberration, Chakotay creeped
behind the trio using all the stealth his Maquis training had
afforded him.
 
Breaking his crouch he moved against the three men and the odds.
Molding his body to the corner of the inn and then behind a large
pile of discarded waste and rubble further down the dark passage, he
surveyed the terrain.  The three bodies spanned out to cover the
width of the alley and what he saw now in panic was a dead end.  Tom
was trapped.  Wiping his palms on the front of his make shift tunic,
Chakotay offered one last prayer to the spirits and then stood ready
to pounce.
 
"I think this way is better old man."
 
Chakotay spun on his heels to see his lover standing behind him.  Tom
had disobeyed his order and had stayed at the alley's entrance.
 
"You didn't go." He said stating the obvious.
 
"Ah no Commander." The pilot shuffled foot to foot. "It's been my
experience, and I've had a lot of it, that places like this never
have a back way out."
 
"Why the hell didn't you say so?"
 
"Would it sound stupid if I said you didn't ask?"
 
"Yes."
 
"OK then, let's say that I scanned the perimeter and found it had no
exit and then returned to my original position Sir, Commander Sir."
 
Tom smiled broadly, then saluted him.
 
"We'll talk about your failure to observe proper protocol later
Lieutenant.  Right now I think we'd better get our butts out of here
before those three Danai at the other end of this alley come to the
same conclusion you have."
 
"You got it babe, let's haul ass."
 
Wincing inwardly at Tom's new pet name, Chakotay slipped his arm
around his lover's waist and steered him out of the back street. As
they crossed the medium into the main thoroughfare a cold voice
halted them in their tracks.
 
"Going somewhere 'babe'." A voice cackled.
 
A red and black tattooed man in a long dark robe, who Chakotay
suspected was Ulien, blocked their exit.
 
Now he really truly hated the endearment.
 
********
 
"Harry give me something."
 
"I think I've got them Captain."
 
"You think?"
 
"Well it's hard to tell for sure, their life signs seem to be melded
together.  I think it's the commander and Tom but why would they be
so close together?"
 
"Oh damn, it's them.  Get a lock on our errant Romeo and Juliet and
beam them up."
 
"Ma'am?"
 
"Just do it Ensign."
 
"Ma'am, yes ma'am."
 
This was getting weirder and weirder.  Maybe he'd woken in an
alternate universe.  It wouldn't be the first time.  Playing his
station at Ops he brought his best friend and first officer up from
the surface of the planet and beamed them directly to Sickbay as per
his standing orders.
 
"We have them ma'am."  Well they had somebody.  Harry wasn't sure how
many somebodys but he was almost positive Tom and the commander were
in the mix somewhere.
 
"Good work Mr Kim and Ensign,"
 
"Yes ma'am?"
 
"Call me that again and I'll give you a new set of wisdom teeth.
It's either Captain or Kathryn, got it?"
 
Yep OK he was definitely in a realm that was not his own.  The only
hope he had in this whacked out universe was that Tom Paris was the
same man.  He had been in the last two, so Harry was pretty sure that
he would be in this one.  The cocky pilot never changed.
 
"Got it Captain."
 
His towed head superior officer only nodded as she headed for the
lift with Tuvok in her wake.  Harry was about to ask to accompany her
to Sickbay but after running his tongue over the inside of his mouth,
rescinded his thought. His curiosity could wait.  As much as he
wanted to know what the hell was going on, he was loath to get
anywhere near the spitfire of woman his captain had become lately and
besides that, Harry blew outward,
 
You couldn't play clarinet without teeth.
 
********
 
"How's it hanging, your royal mustiness?"
 
Tom knew he should be more contrite what with three Danai at his back
and another really angry looking one in front with a shiner as
colourful as Chak's, but fuck he couldn't help it.  This guy really
pissed him off.
 
"Tomai.  How nice to see you." Ulien stepped within spitting distance
and Tom was dearly tempted but held off.  That might be going a too
far.  "And I see you found your friend."
 
"My lover, and yeah we met up after our little visit."
 
"Ah I'm glad you remember our chat because the offer still stands."
 
"Does it?  Well I'm afraid I'll have to turn the first part of it
down, and the second," Tom leaned into Chakotay and kissed his
bruised tattoo softly.  The big man smiled and let him direct the
show, understanding his need for payback.  "I've already taken care
of myself."
 
"What!"  Oooh that broke the slimy man's cool exterior.  "You let the
infected beast touch you!"
 
"I let him make love to me Ulien.  There's a difference."  He hooked
his arm around the waist of the dark beautiful man beside him.  "And
besides, were both beasts.  Your own medical staff told you that.  I
am not Danai."
 
"No!"  Came a scream from behind Ulien.  "You are Danai!  He said so!"
 
Turning calmly, Ulien's voice regained its previous slickness as he
spoke to the green and orange Danai standing outraged behind him.
 
"Ulnae, Tomai is lying.  He is a true Danai and is going to rid us of
the troublemaker Etien."
 
"But Etien is Danai too."
 
"Sometimes death is necessary Ulnae."
 
"Yes you told me that when I came to you for a cure.  I infected a
beast for you because it was necessary, but this is different.  I
will not allow you to force Tomai into doing something 'necessary',
especially to one of our own."
 
A weapon, previously hidden in the folds of Ulnae's green silks rose
and was leveled in Tom's direction.  Fuck, wasn't that thing supposed
to be pointing at Ulien?
 
"I will not let him suffer the hate I have to live with every day.
It is unnatural state of being for a Danai."
 
Tom watched in slow motion as the troubled man's inked finger
positioned itself over the weapon's firing mechanism.  Hunching his
shoulders forward, he tensed himself for the bolt of pain that would
soon be hitting his chest.  When it came he was almost relieved.
Falling backwards, he caught a glimpse of Chakotay lunging forward
and grabbing Ulnae's wrist.  The impact sent the phaser flying into
the alley and Ulien after it.
 
Still conscious and amazed that he was, Tom shot his legs out,
tripping the mad Danai mid dash.   Ulien fell into a graceless heap
at his feet.
 
"Hi." Tom said to the stunned man in his lap, still not understanding
why he wasn't dead or at least out cold.  His confused musings
stopped when he saw Ulien's claw like hand reach for his balls.  Oh
shit if he didn't move fast, he had a feeling that in a few moments
he was going to wish he were dead.
 
As he braced himself on his elbows, a tingling sensation swarmed
through his body.  Blinking eyes rapidly for orientation, Tom could
have sworn he saw the Doc's face just before he finally did lose
consciousness.
 
********
 
"Open the goddam door Tuvok!" She kicked the panel in frustration.
 
"I am attempting do so Captain."  The security officer's fingers
played the computer console outside of Sickbay.
 
"Well?"
 
"The cabin is repressurizing.  We should have access momentarily."
 
"There's no life support?"
 
"No.  It would seem the doctor disabled it for a short time."
 
"Why the hell would he do that?  The loss of atmosphere would render
Chakotay and Tom unconscious."
 
"Unknown.  Perhaps you should ask the doctor."
 
"You bet your ass I will."
 
Kathryn was about to give the door another swift kick when the panels
to Sickbay slid open.  Rushing in, she was stunned at the scene that
was presented to her.
 
Strewn about the medical facility's floor unmoving, were her missing
officers and two Danai.  Voyager's holodoc strode out from his office
a moment later.
 
"Ah Captain, Tuvok.  I'm glad you've join us."
 
"Explain Doctor."
 
"They were fighting so I stopped them."  He said simply.  Behind her,
she heard Tuvok draw his phaser and call for reinforcements.
 
"By cutting off their oxygen?  Are they all right?"
 
"Yes for the most part.  The Danai are fine but my preliminary scans
showed impact injuries to Commander Chakotay's face and Mr Paris'
chest but nothing serious.  I'll examine them in more detail when
they wake."
 
"And when will that be?"  As the question left her lips the men on
the floor began to stir.
 
"I'd say now."  The doctor replied redundantly.
 
In a furry of activity Tom bucked the prone man in his lap from his
body, Chakotay slammed his fist into the face of the Danai at his
side and Tuvok's security men entered Sickbay.
 
"Stop!"  She screamed at the top of her lungs getting the attention
of every male in the room.
 
"Tuvok take the Danai to the brig, Tom get your ass on a bio-bed and
you, Chakotay," She scowled at her first officer.  "The doctor's
office now!"
 
If she weren't so pissed off at all the testosterone bouncing off the
walls of Sickbay, she'd be having fun.  It wasn't everyday she had a
bona fide excuse to be a hard assed bitch.
 
It was a nice change.
 
TBC