Discussions
By Jane Griffen

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Tom Paris hesitated before ringing the doorchime on B‘Elanna Torres‘ quarters. She had asked him to come down via the comm channel, and hadn‘t offered any explanations. He had no idea what to expect. Shaking his head, he ran the doorchime, chiding himself for his apprehensiveness.

The door opened and he stepped in. Not noticing anything different, he called out. "B‘Elanna?"

B‘Elanna walked out of the bedroom, swinging a golf club in one hand, careful not to knock anything over with it.

"B‘Elanna, I-" Tom was cut off when he spotted the golf club.

Seeing the startled look on Tom‘s face, B‘Elanna laughed. "Will you calm down? It‘s not like I‘m going to wack you over the head with this!" she exclaimed.

Tom didn‘t reply. Instead he stayed in the doorway, a little wary.

B‘Elanna went over to him and murmered. "No. Not really..." she let her breath trail off. "But we do need to talk." With that she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
When it ended, Tom pulled back and nodded. "I agree." he paused. "If it‘s about Steth-"

B‘Elanna walked away with a soft frown on her face, considering.

Tom nodded, but his eyes followed her as she paced her quarters, lightly hitting her palm with the stick of the golf club.

B‘Elanna stopped and turned. "Do you know what this means?" she asked, holding up the golf club.
Tom raised his eyebrow. "Why, should I?"

B‘Elanna shrugged. "You tell me." When Tom didn‘t reply, she continued. "Never mind. But we need to set up some rules." At Tom‘s blank look, she expanded the sentence. "You know, guidelines, that sort of stuff."

Tom opened his mouth, meaning to say something, but then shut it, all the while confused at what she was getting at. At B‘Elanna‘s expectant look, he nodded cautiously. "If you mean no body/mind changing, that‘s fine with me."

B‘Elanna shrugged. "That, too." she paused, "First of all, you are not allowed to putt in my quarters."
Tom shot her a confused look.

B‘Elanna smiled at the look on the helmsman‘s face. "Then, you are not allowed into my quarters unless you have my permission or it‘s something that will have a positive outcome." *Bad choice of words.* she chided herself.

Tom got a coy look on his face and he raised his eyebrow. "And could you define ‚positive‘?"

"You‘re pushing it, helmboy." B‘Elanna growled, walking back to him.

She put her arms around his neck and tilted her head upwards. "I‘m just glad that everyone‘s back to who they are." she murmered, right before their lips met.

When the kiss ended, he grinned back impishly. "So am I..." he muttered as his lips met hers again.

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Paramount owns ‚em an‘ I just borrow them :-)
Copyright April 1998 by Jane Griffen. E-mail me at JaneG100@rocketmail.com