Summary:   In answer to Isa's challenge on Jupiter Station.   Less
than 36 hours after Voyager's return to the Alpha quadrant, Tom
vanishes.  Why?  Was he alone?   Does anybody know anything about
it?   Most importantly, what will Chakotay do about it?   Let's see.
 

"I need to get myself a pair of these."

Chakotay exited the bathroom to see his husband strutting around the
bedroom in nothing but his brown leather pants.  On Tom, the Maquis
trousers were too short in the leg and bagged in the rear.  The
crotch area however, fit snugly but he was sure that was only a
transient effect.

"You'd look better in dark blue and a size smaller."  He remarked as
he tossed his wet towel on top of the one Tom had discarded after his
shower.

"So I'll get a blue pair."  His prancing lover turned, ran his hands
over his butt and wiggled his ass provocatively.   "Two sizes
smaller."

The cuffs would then be up around his shins but with that shapely
rear clad tightly in blue leather, who would notice?  Certainly not
Chakotay.

"Alright as soon as we reach Dorvan V, I'll buy you a pair but for
now can I please have my pants back?   It'll be a little hard for
Picard to take me seriously while dressed in only my vest and shorts."

In a little more than half an hour he had a meeting with Picard to
discuss his doubts about his uncontested release.  Wil had forwarded
his observations to his captain and that had peaked the older man's
interest.   It seemed the most honourable Picard wasn't fond of
subterfuge or half answers no more than he was.

"About that Chak."  Tom began stripping.  A tasty looking hard-on
popped out exposing the reason only one part of the leathers had fit
snugly.  "I can't go with you, not right away anyway.  I have to even
up with the parole board and then hand in my resignation.  If I'm not
in Auckland, that is."  He added mournfully.

"You won't be.  Your father wouldn't dare put you back there after
what you've been through."

"You know he arranged my kidnapping, don't you?"  Tom handed him his
pants and slumped down on the edge of the mattress.  His glorious
erection waned between his legs.

Actually he had suspected as much but didn't want to tell Tom that.
The admiral was his husband's father and although he was a bastard of
the worst kind, Chakotay had been loathed to be the one to destroy
the lofty image of the man in Tom's mind.  It wasn't his place.  Tom
had to come to that realization on his own if he ever wanted to get
from beneath his father's tyrannical thumb.

"There's no proof your disappearance was arranged, not pursued
properly perhaps but .-"

"No babe, it was him.  Somebody told Lutan I was available and my
father is the only one that hates the sight of me enough to do that.
He wanted me out of the way."

"Tom he could have just put you back in prison if he wanted to do
that.   Why go to such trouble as inviting a alien to take you?"

"I don't know neater maybe.   The press couldn't interview me if they
didn't know where I was.  It almost worked too."  Tom's sad mouth
curved slightly.  "I guess the old man didn't count on you."

"Now that part I can agree on.   He was none too pleased at the
prospect of us being involved romantically."   Chakotay remarked
knowing what he said was an understatement.   The admiral had
actually been disgusted and appalled to think his son was fucking a
man.

"I bet.  You'd have a hard time carrying the next Paris heir."  Tom
joked.

Chakotay threw his leathers to the side, sat down beside his husband
on the bed and knitted his fingers into the hand that sat limply in
Tom's lap.

"I think it was more than that Tom."   He said softly while rubbing
the palm of the delicate hand in his with his thumb.

The nature of the admiral's objections about their relationship was
one thing he wouldn't fudge on.  If Tom was to fight his father's
forced annulment successfully, he needed to know the man's
motivations behind it.  Tom's blue eyes narrowed.

"You think he's homophobic, don't you Chak?  But he couldn't be!  How
would he pass the Fleet psyche tests if he were?  How could he raise
me if that were true?  He knows I like men as well as women, that's
never been a secret.  How could he be a good father to me if he hated
gays?"

"But was he a good father Tom?"   His husband's jaw dropped.  "Did he
love you unconditionally no matter what mistakes you made?  Did he
stand by you when you were in trouble?"

Okay so he was trashing the admiral a bit with his questions but the
man was such a bastard it was hard not to.  At least he didn't come
right out and say `Tom, your father's a prick'.

"Oh fuck."  Tom pulled his hand away and stood.  "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
He screamed at the ceiling.

Chakotay reached out to stroke his flank but the younger man jerked
back from his touch and rounded on him.   His normally clear eyes
were clouded with hot tears of anger.

"I done everything he's ever asked of me but he hates me!   I lie for
him, I flush my career down the toilet to save his precious fucking
reputation, I then go to prison and still, he hates me!"  Tom began
to laugh.  Not the belly kind put the high pitch kind that hurt ones
ears and grated nerves.  "And all because I like fucking men!  Oh
shit, Chak can you believe it?  He hates everything about me because
I can love anyone.  How sick is that?"

When the pitch of the hysterical laughter went up another notch,
Chakotay rose and folded his husband into his arms.  Tom fought him
at first, screaming out curses about his father and beating his fists
against his bare chest until finally, he wore himself out.  Sobbing
quietly, Tom wound his arms around his neck and buried his blond head
into his shoulder.   Chakotay rocked him and kissed his sweat
dampened temple softly until the tears died away.  Tom pulled his
head up and wiped his face with his forearm.

"I still have to go back."  Tom said between sniffles.

"No you don't, Picard will find out the decision of the parole board
this morning and your debriefing, like mine can be handled remotely
on Dorvan V.   There's no reason for you to go back to Earth."

"Except to resign from Starfleet Chak."  Tom said with resolution.
It was obvious from the determined set to his mouth and the hard
glint in his eyes, they were more gray than blue now, that he would
not take no for an answer.

This was a Thomas Eugene Paris that could not be bent or broken by
anyone, anymore.  Not even by his husband, not that he would try.
Hadn't he himself found the need to hand in his resignation
personally?   Chakotay would not deny Tom that satisfaction.

"Alright, we'll both go back."  He said finally.

"No you don't have to, this is between me and him.  It's about just
the two of us.  Understand?"

"No.  You're not alone anymore Tom Paris and its time you got used to
that.   You can do the talking but I `will' be there with you."
Chakotay took Tom's chin in two fingers and looked deeply into his
eyes.   "Now do you understand?"

The softer gentler Tom Paris resurfaced, gave him a half smile and
rolled his delft blue eyes.  "Yeah, because you love me."

"Yeah, because I love you."  Chakotay returned just before he kissed
the silly grin off his beautiful face.

********

"Is there anywhere else you'd like to go before we reach Earth
Chakotay?  Troyius?  Risa for a honeymoon maybe?"

"Wil," Chakotay warned as he sat beside him on the lounge with his
coffee.

The meeting with Picard was over, and Tom had gone to meet Harry in
Ten Forward while he and Wil had adjourned to the first officer's
cabin.  This time Wil was serving caffeine instead of alcohol.

"Oh I know," His friend's mocking tone got worse as he tipped his
head to the side.   "Why don't we ask golden boy where the hell he'd
like the Enterprise to take him next?"

"Shut up Wil!   It's not like either of us really wants to go back.
Can't you see we don't have a choice?"

"No all I see is that as usual, Tom Paris has gotten what he wants.
He wanted freedom and the parole board granted him that, he wanted
you, somebody that isn't even supposed to like men by the way and
tada, he got you too."

"Is that what this is about?"  Chakotay put his coffee down before he
doused his supposed best friend with it.  "Me?  Look Wil the blowjob
in the bathroom was just,-"

"No!"  Wil shouted, his own coffee spilling down the front his
uniform.  He put his cup on the low table and then shook the excess
liquid from his hands.  When he spoke again, his voice was
contrite.  "I'm sorry Chakotay.   It's not about that.  It's about
something no, actually somebody else."

"Who?"

"It's about Harry Kim."

"Harry?   You're mad at Tom because of Harry?  Why?"

"The guy's driving me nuts."

"Tom?"

"No Harry!"  Wil reiterated and then sighed loudly.  "Last night
after dinner I brought him back here to you know feel him out about
Tom, for you of course."  He waited for a nod before going on.
Chakotay gave him one.  "Well once I mentioned golden boy's name, the
flood gates opened.   It was Tom did this and Tom's done that.  Shit
Chakotay, the only way I could shut him up was to kiss him."

Spirits, Chakotay thought, what he would have given to see that.
Harry must have gone three shades of purple before choking on his
tongue.

"And after you picked poor Ensign Kim up off the floor, then what
happened?"

"Actually he had to pick me up."

"What?"

"As soon as my lips touched his, he was all over me.  Pressing me
into the couch with that wiry little body of his, groping me and
kissing me back with enough enthusiasm for two ensigns."

"Harry mauled you?"

"Yeah and that wasn't the worst part.  After I peeled him off of me,
he apologized and asked if he did it right?  Oh christ Chakotay, if
he did it right."  Wil repeated as if trying to make himself believe
it.

"Did he?"

"Not bad but that's not the point.   He's a virgin Chakotay, a goddam
virgin and he wanted me to take him."

"Okay Wil I'm not seeing a problem here.  I thought you liked playing
the conquering hero."

"Normally yeah but shit Chakotay, he so bloody sweet `and' he's also
incredibly smart.  That's a killer combo for me.   During dinner, I
actually found myself listening to what he was saying and not
picturing him naked."  Wil was shaking his head in amazement.  "And
he likes jazz.   He says he plays the clarinet, did you know that?"

"I've heard him.  He's good."

"Oh well that's just terrific."  Wil collapsed backward on the lounge
in exasperation.  "Just terrific."

Yes it was.  Chakotay couldn't remember his old friend being this
bowled over by anybody.  Maybe it was because he was happy and in
love, that he wanted his friend to be too and to have it be Harry,
well that was just the icing on the cake.

Besides keeping the young ensign's hands busy and far away from
Tom's, it would be nice to have another male couple to hang out
with.  It somehow helped to legitimize his own relationship.
Legitimize?  No, that wasn't right. Chakotay loved Tom but having a
man as a life partner was still new and needing getting use to.
Having another couple around he was familiar with would help do
that.  Feeling pleased he turned to Wil.

"So didn't you fuck him, you talked then or did you end up sending
him home?"

"No, no we fucked."  Wil said with a flip of his hand.

"What?"

"Well I had to do `something' he hadn't already done with golden
boy.  A guy has to have an edge Chakotay if he wants to compete."

"Please tell me this wasn't just a one night stand."

Wil sat up straight on the couch and said somberly.  "I hope not."
And then let loose with a classic Riker smile.  "He did promise me
dinner."

********

"Oh geez Tom, your own father?"

"Yeah, what a bitch eh?"

"I'll say.  What are you going to do about it?"

"Besides throwing my resignation in his face, I'm not sure there's
anything I can do.  There's no proof he set me up with Lutan and now
that he's being all nice, nice, I'm not sure authorities would
believe me anyway."

"Nice, nice?"

"Yeah, he played the loving father with Starfleet and fixed things up
with the parole board, although that probably has more to do with
saving his own ass than mine.  Not that it matters, after his
performance he's got the press in one pocket and the Fleet brass in
the other.  Nobody's gonna believe he would sell me out only to save
me later."

"But what about the annulment?  Taking it upon himself to trash his
son's marriage.  Certainly that can't look good on him."

"Extreme duress the petition said.  I wasn't of sound mind or some
other such bullshit when I agreed to marry Chakotay.  It's all very
legal Harry and totally on the up and up."

"But doesn't he know how much you love the commander?  Wait," Harry
backpedaled.  "You do want to stay married to him, right?"

"Forever Harry.  If he wasn't already my husband, I'd ask him to
marry me."

"So just tell your Dad that."

"He doesn't want to know.  In fact I don't think he wants anybody to
know that his son's in love with another man.  It embarrasses him."

"That's nonsense.   There's nothing wrong with it.  Two guys together
can be really great."

Harry was sticking up for him, being the best friend Tom knew but
there was more to this ferocity than friendship.   It was time to
switch love lives.

"And with that ringing endorsement, I take it you did more than kiss
on your date last night?"  Tom slid in.

Harry blushed hotly and in an instant, turned from vehemence into
vestal.

"He let me do him Tom."  He whispered.

"You're kidding?  Riker bottomed?  Oh fuck, I didn't expect that."

His friend squinted at him. "Why not?  You said age and size had
nothing to do with it."

"Yeah but," Tom stopped and looked at Harry.   Yeah, why not?

Because of his own prejudices, he had seen Riker as an overbearing
bastard who probably thought having dick up his ass was unmanly or
something.  Tom had truly believed that when presented with such an
innocent as Harry, he would have simply flipped him over the couch
and fucked him blind.  But maybe he'd been a little too quick to
judge and for someone who was usually at the wrong end of that stick,
he should have known better.

Letting a newbie take you for the first time spoke of patience and
sensitivity, qualities he hadn't thought the first officer possessed
but apparently he'd been wrong.

But even with that earth shattering revelation, Tom wasn't quite
prepared to go so far as `like' the swaggering man.  He was still the
guy that got a little too touchy feeling with his husband, however it
was apparent by Harry's defensive attitude that he did.  So he sucked
it up.

"So what did you think?"  Tom asked, skipping Harry's question for
one of his own.  "Good or bad?"

"Well kissing someone with facial hair was new but the lips were
still soft.  So that was good.  And then he got naked and geez there
was more hair, and I mean everywhere Tom.  The guy's a bear."

"So that wasn't good?"  He asked cautiously.  Some people, both men
and women were turned off by fuzzies.  Personally, he didn't care but
had as of late acquired a predilection for smoothness, a silky bronze
smoothness to be exact.

"No, no it was okay, different but okay.  When I ran my hands over
his chest and down his stomach it felt like I was petting a
tribble."  Harry said with a funny little smile.  Oh yeah, Tom
thought as he watched his friend, that was one for the `good' side of
the list.

"And I bet he purred like one when you did that."

"No, that didn't happen until I touched something else."  Harry
lowered his voice.   "He's huge Tom.  Way bigger than me."

"So he's hung, big deal."  The remark came out before he could stop
it.  Tom gave himself a mental kick and then apologized.  "Sorry Har,
go ahead."

"Well then we moved into the bedroom.-"

"You got naked in the living room?  Damn Harry, he must have been hot
for you."

His friend blushed.  Curiously it was only the second time since the
conversation had begun.   Usually Harry turned red just at the mere
mention of the word sex but yet here he was talking about it openly.
It occurred to Tom that maybe his young wet behind the ears buddy had
matured some.

"Yeah well, `he' was naked.  I guess I was a little hot for him."

Ah, that was the reason for the crimson hue.   Harry was embarrassed
because he'd been the one to take initiative.  Tom guessed that being
the aggressor in a sexual encounter was harder for the younger man to
assimilate than the act itself.  Maturity indeed.

"Harry you're such a slut." Tom laughed.

His friend grinned joining his good humour. "Yeah I know."

"So after you threw him over your shoulder and whisked him into the
bedroom, you what?  Threw him down on the bed and ravished him?"

"Almost or at least I wanted to, geez Tom I was tingling all over but
didn't have the first clue what to do about it.   Wil slowed me down."

"How?"

"He laid me down on the bed and only using his mouth, he stripped
me."  Harry's eyes sparkled.  "It was incredible Tom.  I didn't know
a person could do that."

Big deal.  One person's incredible was another's showing off, Tom
thought but didn't say so.  It wasn't fair and would have cheapened
both of them.  Shit, he had to get a handle on this jealously thing.

"Sounds wonderful, I'll have to get Chak to do that to me."  He said
instead, making a concentrated effort to be more gracious.

"Oh it was." Harry said a little breathlessly.  "And then he started
to kiss my face, not just my lips but my cheeks, my eyelids and even
my ears." He paused and winked.  "Good again by the way."

Tom was still trying to process the uncharacteristic wink as Harry
fazed out on him.   His eyes lost their focus and staring out the
view port, he spoke in an awed whisper.

"That went on for quite awhile, the kissing I mean and then with his
hands, he began caressing me.  Not anywhere new, but in way that felt
new." His brown eyes flickered.  "It's hard to describe."

He didn't have to.  Tom knew what he was talking about.  He felt it
every time Chakotay touched him.  Riker had been making love to Harry
not simply preparing him to be fucked.  Tom's estimation of the first
officer went up a notch.

"And the next thing I knew I was coming into his hand.  I don't even
remember being that close and all of sudden I was.  For a moment I
was sort of embarrassed for you know, not waiting but Wil just kissed
me harder and then, then,"

"Came all over you."  Tom stifled a wistful sigh.  "Oh fuck Harry,
don't you see?  That's what he wanted."

"He did?"

"Yeah to bring you off first.  I don't know he meant to do the same
for himself but I imagine after watching you, he didn't have much of
a choice."  He gave Harry a playful knock in the arm.   "Lying there
all sweaty and sated, you probably made a pretty picture."

"Tom!"  Harry wailed.

He was smiling so Tom figured he was only marginally outraged by his
comment.  Harry was mostly pleased and flattered but since they
didn't usually compliment each other's appearance, Tom describing
what he looked like after an orgasm was still a bit awkward for
Harry.  Tom had a feeling it wouldn't be that way for long.  Their
friendship was changing.  It was loosening up and becoming more equal
and that `pleased' Tom.  He put his elbows up on the table and tested
his theory.

"So when did the fucking start?  Or was that it?"

"B'Elanna's right, you are a pig."  Harry replied barely flinching or
blushing.  Yep, the man was growing up.

"Yeah, so?" Tom raised his eyebrows at his friend.

"Okay, okay.  So where was I?  Oh yeah and then we slept."

"That's it?"

"No, and then we woke up, talked a bit, Wil likes to talk about
music, jazz actually.  Did I tell you he plays the trombone?"

"You're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Do you want to tell me about you and the commander in bed?"

"I did yesterday."

"No, you told me how he made you feel, you didn't give me details,
like what he yells out when he climaxes or how long it takes before
he does."

"Shit Harry, why didn't you tell me you liked him that much."

"I guess because I didn't know until right now."  Harry's eyes flew
wide and he grabbed his arm.  "Oh no Tom, what am I going to do!"

Tom pried his panicked friend's fingers from his forearm before they
bruised.  It was nice to see him shook up about someone.  It was not
the first time, shit no, Tom couldn't count how many times Harry had
fallen in love on Voyager but it was the first time the relationship
had a chance.   Riker might be a bit of a buffoon but he wasn't
hologram, from another timeline or some weird unattainable alien.
He was real and Tom ruefully admitted, right for Harry.

"How about asking him out?"  He suggested.

"We already have a dinner date but what happens after that?  We'll be
in orbit around Earth in another day."

"One word Ensign Kim."

"What's that?"

"Transfer."
 
 

TBC