Title:  Changes P11
Author:  Cheryl Forbes
Fandom:  Star Trek:  Voyager
Pairing:  Chakotay/Tom Paris
Rating:  NC 17
Series:  11 of ?
Email for feedback: forbesc@skyia.com
Disclaimer:   Voyager and her crew are the property of Paramount and
not me.  Whatever.
 
 
Summary:   A not so 'welcome' welcome home.
 
 
"Where's Harry?"
 
With everything that had happened in the last day, he hadn't felt
this kind of bone chilling fear until now.  Searching the bio-beds
that lined Sickbay's walls, Tom looked again for his friend before
turning back to the doctor.
 
"Please, please tell me he's in stasis." Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
 
"He's not Mr Paris."  The EMH replied blandly as he began to remove
the violet tint from his eyes.  Tom grabbed his wrist eliciting a
yelp.  "Mr Paris!"
 
"Where the hell is he then!"
 
"On the bridge!"
 
"What?"  That was not the answer he was expecting, not that he was
disappointed, no not that.  It was just that when Harry hadn't been
in the last place Tom had seen him, he had assumed the worst.
Fatalism was another thing he'd have to work on.
 
"Well at least that was his destination when he left Sickbay."
 
"He's awake?"
 
"No he found you with his eyes closed, of course he's awake
Lieutenant."  The Doc tore his hand out of Tom's white knuckled
grasp.  "Now can I finish…-oof!"
 
In a burst of joy, Tom captured the patronizing hologram's face with
both his hands and kissed him full on the mouth.  Sputtering the EMH
pushed at his chest, seating him back further on the bio-bed,
breaking the contact.
 
"You found the cure. You're amazing Doc!"  He gave the EMH and
congratulatory punch in the arm.
 
The doctor rubbed his arm and rolled his eyes. "Yes Mr Paris.
However," Sighing, his cold holographic features melted.  "You did
help."
 
"I did?"
 
"Yes by giving me access to biological samples from both Corlearian
races, I was able to synthesize an antidote to the virus."
 
"You didn't need a fresh liver?"
 
"No, of course not."  His eyebrows rose indignantly.  "I'm a doctor
not a butcher."
 
"Yeah whatever.  So you made a serum?"
 
"I thought we'd already discussed this Mr Paris."
 
"Humour me."  He felt so good, that even the Doc's bad attitude
couldn't bring him down.
 
"Yes and an inoculation.  Nobody on Corlear should ever have to
suffer with the disease again."
 
"You're amazing Doc."
 
"Yes you said that."  The EMH raised the regenerator.  "Now can I
finish turning you back into your usual charming self?"
 
"After you see to Chakotay."
 
"The Commander?  His bruises are superficial and can wait.  I would
rather remove the," He stopped his impatient diatribe, understanding
dawning.  "Oh don't tell me, he's infected right?"
 
"It wasn't his fault."
 
"I didn't think it was." The look in his photonic eyes told Tom who
he thought was to blame.  He was right.
 
Switching from the regenerator to the medical tri-corder the doctor
spoke as began to scan his vitals.  "How long ago did you engage in
sexual intercourse with the commander?"
 
"About six or seven hours ago."  Tom couldn't help the grin that
accompanied his answer.
 
"Are you sure?"  The EMH's voice was puzzled.
 
"Oh yeah." The Doc gave him a disapproving look and Tom gathered his
face together trying to appear serious.  "It was in the forest when
we're escaping.   He didn't want to come inside of me but I sort of
didn't give him much choice."  He finished apologetically.
 
The doctor squinted at the tri-corder's readout.
 
"You're not infected Mr Paris."
 
"What?"  He grabbed the device from the hologram's hand to see for
himself.  "I have to be.  I felt him come."
 
This made no sense whatsoever.  The virus was aggressive and it
should have started to work its way through his system the moment
Chak had cried his name in release.
 
"That may be true but there's no sign of the virus in your
bloodstream."  Gently the hologram retrieved the tri-corder from his
numb fingers.  "If the commander is infected, it's possible he's only
a carrier and unable to pass on the contaminated enzymes.  He would
have to be Corlearian to be contagious."
 
"So he can get sick but not make anyone else?"  He mumbled in
shock. "But I thought he could."
 
"And thinking that, you had sex with him?"  The doctor was
outraged.  "What you did was tantamount to suicide!"
 
"No Doc, it wasn't that."
 
"What was it then Mr Paris?"
 
"It was survival."
 
********
 
"I said sit Commander!"
 
Fighting the urge to slug her one across the jaw just as he had
Ulnae, Chakotay obeyed the captain's order and sat back down in the
chair in the doctor's office.   It would have felt damn good but it
wouldn't have made her a very receptive listener and right now he had
a few things he needed to say to his bitch of a commanding officer.
 
Ordering him into the EMH's office to tear a strip off of him was
inappropriate.  What she should have done is have the Doctor examine
them all, including Ulien and Ulnae. Sending the two Danai to the
brig without checking on their welfare was wrong.  Chakotay wasn't
the biggest fan of either of the men but that didn't mean they didn't
deserve to be treated humanely.
 
"Kathryn," He began as calmly as his turbulent emotions would allow.
 
"Oh don't you Kathryn me!"  She flew from around the other side of
the doctor's desk to perch on its edge across from him.  "What the
hell do you think you were doing down there!"
 
"Fulfilling my mission."
 
"How, by fucking my pilot?  Oh I don't think so."
 
That's what this was all about.  She was angry over his continued
relationship with Tom.
 
Initially he had taken her subtle warnings as friendly advice.  She
had been hurt by a Paris and didn't want to see the same thing happen
to him.  Knowing her history he had understood her concern and had
been genuinely touched by it.  They were good friends and her opinion
was important to him but she was crossing a line here.
 
As much as he loved her, he had no intention of justifying his
reasons for loving the pilot because his father had screwed her over.
 
"This conversation is over."  He rose to leave.
 
"What conversation? You haven't told me a damn thing."
 
"Because you haven't been asking the right questions Captain."
 
He stood and looked her square in the eye hoping his use of her
formal title would bring her back to her senses.
 
Kathryn pursed her lips at him and then lowered her head, exhaling
her breath forcefully.  Chakotay remained where he was and gave her a
moment to collect her raging emotions.  She would have done the same
for him.   When she looked back up at him, she seemed more in control.
 
"I hate that you're with him Chakotay."
 
"I know."  He said softly.
 
Using the heels her hands, Kathryn lifted her butt and sat back
proper on the doctor's desk.   Her rage was subsiding and it was
evident when she spoke.  Her voice was almost wistful.
 
"He gets his looks from his father, did you know that?"
 
Chakotay shook his head no and sat back down.  He relaxed his frame
and opened his body and his mind up to her.
 
"Sometimes when were on the bridge and he's done something really
spectacular with Voyager like skim along the event horizon of a black
hole or finds a tactical opening that keeps us from getting our butts
scorched, Tom gets this look."  She laughed a small laugh.  "His blue
eyes sparkle and his face glows."  She stopped and bit her bottom
lip.  "Owen used to do that when we made love."
 
Chakotay was well acquainted with the statement.  Only he hadn't
noticed it until recently.
 
"I know the look.  It's beautiful."  He took her hand.  "And it makes
you love them."
 
"Yes."
 
"And hate them when they take it away."
 
"Yes that too."  Kathryn gave him a halfhearted smile.  "He's going
to hurt you Chakotay."
 
"I know."
 
The words had seemed right and had flowed easily out of his mouth.
It wasn't something he wanted to admit to Kathryn and certainly not
to himself, but it was true.  Tom would hurt him.  It was a foregone
conclusion that the wild young man he'd come to love beyond all else
would eventually do something that would test his patience or try his
soul.  It was the price of loving him and it was one he was more than
willing to pay.
 
"You don't care do you Chakotay?"
 
"About what?"
 
"Tom is going to break your heart and you don't give damn."
 
"No I suppose not."  He admitted.
 
"Then you're more fucked up than I am."  She was smiling a cock-eyed
smile and Chakotay knew then that she had come to some inner peace
with the relationship within herself.
 
"You're telling me?"  He smiled back at her.  "I'm in love with a man
and I'm not even gay.  I'd say my neurosis beats yours hands down."
 
"You're one sick puppy Chakotay."
 
"You bet your ass I am and I'm loving every minute of it."
 
"OK now we've established we're both nuts, let's say we get the
doctor to check out our prisoners.  I seem to remember you giving one
of our guests a mean right hook."
 
"A reflex."
 
"Yeah, uh-huh.  Shall we go?"
 
Getting up from the desk, Kathryn headed out the doors of the
doctor's glassed in office.   As she reached the exit she stopped and
spoke over her shoulder in a hushed tone.
 
"Off the record, I still don't like it Chakotay."
 
"Off the record, I still don't care Kathryn."
 
Chakotay saw the muscles in her back clench through her
uniform.  "Understood."
 
As they headed out into Sickbay's treatment area, Chakotay
anticipated their next argument.  He hadn't told her that he had
asked Tom to move in with him or that the pilot had accepted his
proposal.
 
Proposal, it was an interesting word.
 
********
 
"Tom?"
 
Harry cautiously ventured further into the cabin whose panels had
opened automatically at his bio-signature.  The room was dark and
held an eerie quality for him.   These doors should have never opened
for him and what's more, Tom should have never asked him to meet him
here.
 
"Tom are you here?"  He called again weakly.  There was no answer.
 
Maybe he hadn't arrived yet.  In his anxiety, Harry had shown up for
the meeting ten minutes ahead of schedule.  It was one his nervous
quirks and one that Tom was well aware of.
 
After beaming up the scrabbled he'd located on the planet, Tuvok's
security report had informed him that his friend had indeed been one
of the signals he'd locked on to.  A few excruciating hours later,
Tom himself had commed him on the bridge and had asked him to meet
here of all places.
 
Killing time, Harry gravitated over to the transparent shelving that
lined one of the walls of the diverse but tastefully decorated
cabin.  Brightly coloured woven rugs in block patterns adorned the
other walls warming the room and drawing the eye to the clutter of
holo images on the clear casing.  Somehow the simplicity of the other
features of the cabin brought the importance the pictures forefront.
 
"Pretty."  Harry said to no one in particular about a woman with big
dark eyes and long hair swept up like a crown around her head.  He
smiled and caressed the holo still with the tip of his finger gently
before moving on.
 
A man with big hat but a bigger smile filled the next frame.  Harry
didn't know who this guy was with the white fedora and laughing eyes
but he wished he did.  He seemed real, which was something he'd been
striving for these last few hours.  Harry was about to move on to the
next image when he heard a cry come from the next room.
 
Was that Tom?  It sounded an awful like him and it sounded like he
was in pain.  Forgetting the people on the wall, Harry bolted for the
bedroom.  As he neared the entrance the screams became louder, more
desperate and his panic rose.  Was Tom in trouble?  Like before, the
panels slid open at his approach.
 
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, yeah, oh yeah…ohhh!"
 
His world tipped again, as the first things he saw were the soles of
Tom's feet.  Which by themselves were pretty ordinary.  It was where
they were seated that caused his senses to swirl.  In the dim light
of the candle lit room, they glowed like two oblong beacons from the
tops of Commander Chakotay's wide shoulders.
 
Harry knew Tom had been lusting over the commander for what seemed
like forever but it was still a shock to see them together.  The
commander was a straight as they come, wasn't he?  What the hell had
happened to change that?  Harry began to entertain his alternate
universe theory again as he watched the two sweating bodies on the
bed moving together in passion.
 
"Spirits Tom, I have to come!  I have to, I have to…-"
 
"Not yet baby, not yet…" Wailed the man flat on his back.
 
Harry stood mesmerized as the well-sculpted ass and back facing him
contracted into molded relief and held still.  Shadows blended from
light to dark over the tightened muscles making the commander into a
work of art.  A priceless one and being a museum fanatic, Harry knew
from priceless.
 
Standing quietly on the inside of the door, Harry let the panels
close encapsulating him in the same room as the lovers.  Harry was
thankful that neither Tom nor Chakotay heard the quiet hiss.
 
He knew he shouldn't be here and should leave, but couldn't.  With
all the wacky things that had been going on since he'd woken from his
supposed coma, this was the only thing that made sense and he found
comfort in it.  This was familiar even if his friend's bed partner
was a little surprising.  Watching Tom fuck was one his favorite
pastimes.  Harry slipped his hand into his pants.
 
Falling back deeper into the shadows, he observed the commander's
controlled movements as he tried to stem his orgasm while bringing
Tom closer to his.  A broad fist stroked the pilot's cock furiously
as dark buttocks flexed and pushed in slower contrast against moaning
blond's ass.  Talk about your hand eye coordination, Harry chucked,
quickly slapping a hand over his mouth.  He was beginning to realize
that this wasn't a simple fuck for his friend and that maybe his
presence wouldn't be appreciated.
 
For one thing Tom was bottoming, which was something Harry had never
seen him do.  In all the parties both small and large they had
attended, the pilot was always the one doing the taking.  Many night
Harry sat back in a quiet corner satisfying himself while watching
Tom top everyone in the room both male and female.  The pilot hadn't
minded him being the voyeur then, in fact he got off it but this time
might be different.
 
"Love you Chak, love you, love…oh fuck!"
 
Oh yes definitely different.  Shit, he had to get out of here.
 
"Now baby?  Please tell me, now?"  The strain in the gravely voice
contrasted markedly from the commander's monumental physical
control.  Harry blew his breath out over his teeth in admiration.
 
"Yes!"
 
Harry jumped at the pilot's passionate cry but made no move to leave.
Instead he stroked his bursting penis faster and watched the
beautiful love play unfolding before him.
 
The commander had fallen forward over Tom bring the lanky blond's
legs down around his waist.  From his angle at the end of the bed,
Harry could see the way their bodies molded seamlessly together.
Chakotay' cock was so deep in Tom's ass, they seemed like one
person.  When the bigger man began to move, only brief flashes of
candlelight pierced the space between their forms.  It was like
everytime the commander pulled out, he couldn't wait to get back in.
Harry wished he knew what that was like.
 
Pulling harder on his dick, he imagined himself Chakotay.  Leaning
back on the wall, he closed his eyes and listened as Tom reached his
orgasm.  If he had known that this was what the promiscuous pilot
really liked, he would have done something more than just watch.
Letting his own release spill over his fingers, Harry slid in a daze
down the wall beside the door.
 
"I love you."
 
"I love you too, old man."
 
Sounds of wet kisses and rustling sheets brought Harry out his
stupor.  Crawling on his hands and knees, he exited the bedroom
hoping the two men on the bed were still too into each other to
notice the muted light from the other room.
 
"What was that?"
 
"Nothing Chak, come here."
 
Harry heard as the panels slid closed.  Getting up from the floor, he
did up his trousers and headed for his quarters to clean up.  He was
going to miss his appointment with his friend but at this point it
didn't really matter.
 
Harry had just seen everything he suspected Tom wanted to talk him
about and the pilot wouldn't be angry with him for skipping the
meeting because in truth, he hadn't.
 
Tom had known all along that he was in the room.
 
********
 
"How was you little home 'coming' party?"
 
"Kathryn I thought were here to talk about the Danai in our brig."
 
"We are, we are.  I just wanted to make sure you were feeling better
after your brush with death."  She said over her shoulder after
grabbing a coffee from the replicator and sitting on the lounge.
 
"I am."  He said calmly not resenting her bitter remarks this time
around and following her to the couch.
 
After finding out he'd been infected by the virus, she had gone
ballistic and rightly so.  He should have told her about Ulien's
crime in the Doc's office but had been too intent in focusing on her
lack of protocol to remember his own.  Well that and trying to figure
out how to tell her he'd asked Tom to live with him.  So now in
repentance, he allowed her a few cutting jibes.
 
"Thank you for allowing Tom and I some time alone before this
meeting."
 
She waved him off with her hand. "I needed some time to think."
 
"So what have you decided?"
 
"Besides getting the hell out of here, not much."
 
"May I suggest releasing Ulien and Ulnae into Etien's custody."
 
"And not Aulnoy's?  He does represent the governing body and in
effect the law on this god awful planet."
 
"True but I think we should leave the Danai to the Danai.  They would
know better how to deal with one of their own and I expect would do
so in a more human manner than the closed minded Corlearians."
 
"And if the Corlearian government knew about Ulien's transgressions,
it would give them another reason to hate the Danai.  You want them
to make love not war.  Is that what you're trying to tell me
Chakotay?"
 
"Yes and with the gift of the synthesized serum, it should go along
way in uniting the planet's two races."
 
"But there's no guarantee.   They've hated along time Chakotay."
 
"People can change their feelings."
 
"Are you talking from personal experience?"
 
"Yes I suppose I am."
 
He could see by the doubtful look in her eye she wanted to ask whose
feelings had changed his or Tom's and gave her credit for not asking.
 
"OK, cut'em lose and call your boyfriend to the helm.  We're getting
the hell out of Dodge."
 
"Aye, aye Captain."
 
He was really was going to have to talk to her about spending too
much time in holo novels.
 
********
 
"What's up your holy putridness?"
 
"Tomai.  My fallen angel."
 
"Your failed assassin, you mean."  Tom stood uncomfortably in front
of the disposed master.  The hair on the back of his arms bristled
and he wasn't sure if it was from standing too close to the force
barrier of the brig or the black and red Danai's piercing stare.
 
"What do you want?"
 
"I wanted to apologize."
 
"Oh fuck that's rich.  I think it's a little too late for that
Ulien.   You tried to kill my lover and that's not in my books, a
forgivable offence."
 
"That was war and I do not regret my actions."
 
"Then what then?  I really do have better things to do than speaking
to you."
 
"I'm sorry for what my lieutenant did to your Chakotay."
 
Tom looked over the slimy man to Ulnae who was huddled in the back of
the cell.  The green and orange inked Danai seemed familiar but Tom
could quite place his face.
 
"What did he do?"
 
"He raped him."  Ulien said with the barest hint of satisfaction.
 
"You're lying."  Tom said deadpan.  Ulien had to be bluffing.
Chakotay would never let something so horrible happen to him.
 
Stepping back, Ulien arched one black silk draped arm towards the
simpering man behind him.  "Ask him."
 
Looking away from the twisted grin, Tom spoke in a hushed tone to the
man Ulien's hate had twisted.  "Did you?"  Was all he could manage.
It was hard enough for him to think the "R" word, let alone say it
out loud thanks to his experiences in Auckland.
 
"No but I wanted to take him and…and he offered.  He was beautiful
and he was yours, but I didn't touch him."  Ulnae sobbed.  "Not with
my flesh anyway."
 
Terror struck Tom's heart.  "With what then?"
 
"My phaser.  I'm sorry.  I was hurting so badly, I needed someone to
hurt as much as I was and he was there.  I could have taken him and
he would have let me but it wasn't what I needed.  I'm so sorry
Tomai."
 
Oh gods. Chakotay had tried to seduce his jailer to save him and it
had gone wrong, terribly wrong.  Tom needed to get to him now, not to
talk about the incident, but just to hold the amazing man.  Despite
his ordeal, Chak had seen to only to his needs and had even made love
to him in the forest.  It must have been incredibly difficult to
allow such intimacies after his violent assault.
 
It had taken years before sex had become more than a reflex for Tom
after his incarceration at the penal colony and yet after only a few
hours, Chakotay had fucked him with passion and love.  His lover was
now his hero in more ways than one.
 
"So do you accept my apology Tomai?"
 
"Yes."  Tom was surprised at his answer but not as surprise as the
creepy alien on the other side of the force field.
 
"What?"
 
"You just made me love him more.  Thank you."
 
"But Ulnae raped him!"
 
"Yes I know but he didn't permanently damage him or me."
 
It was true.  The assault had nothing to do with how he felt about
Chakotay or how Chakotay felt about him.  There was trauma yes, but
like any other injury, over time it would heal.  Tom would make sure
of that and be with the old man at every step of the process.
 
"I have to go now your royal mustiness.  It was a slice."
 
"But, but…-" Ulien sputtered.
 
Leaving the frustrated Danai in the brig, Tom calculated how many
ways he could apply first aid to the big bear of a man he now shared
a home with.  He only came up with one.
 
He would kiss it better.
 
TBC