Comparisons
By T’PamDisclaimer:Voyager and all her crew belong to Paramount/Viacom. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit will be made, as this story is just for fun.
Part Eight
Tom could hear the whirring sound of a medical tricorder, as he struggled back to awareness. For a moment he thought he was safely back in sickbay until, attempting to sit up, he discovered he was strapped down.
"Lie still," a voice told him and he managed to focus on a figure standing beside him, waving the tricorder over his body. "This one will be no good for the tunnels, his hands are damaged. They’ll soon lose patience with him down there. He might as well stay here for organ processing."
Tom felt panic rising up within him as he recognized his captors. They were Vidiian. All they were interested in was harvesting body parts for their own disease-ridden bodies. He looked frantically around the room, but there was no sign of the other away team members.
Another Vidiian came over and peered at the tricorder readings and then at Tom. "Hmmn!" she said, running her hand down one side of his face. Tom shuddered and turned his head away. "This one will make an excellent source of raw materials. All of his organs are in prime condition. And his skin is so soft and smooth. We’ll be able to use it for many grafts."
Tom swallowed the bile rising in his throat. "Where are the others?" he managed to ask.
"All but one have been sent to the tunnels. When they can no longer work, they will be brought back here for organ processing. The other is in the laboratory next door."
Oh god!!! Had they already started organ processing on one of the others? "You cold-hearted leeches. Murdering swine." Tom struggled against his bindings, to no avail. "What is this? Some sort of processing plant? You go out and catch someone, kill them and strip them for their body parts? What sort of monsters are you anyway?"
"It is unfortunate, but necessary," the first Vidiian answered. "We are not monsters - just desperate. If you had experienced the devastation that this disease has caused, you’d be desperate too."
"I’d never be desperate enough to go out and slaughter people for their organs. You’re vile and disgusting."
"Our whole civilization is on the brink of being destroyed." The Vidiian bending over him straightened up. "We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that we survive."
"Well, from where I’m laying, you don’t deserve to survive," Tom muttered.
"You naturally will never understand," she answered, turning away from him. She handed the tricorder to the other Vidiian. "Take these readings into Sulan. Let him have a look at them. This one is fully human, so I don’t think he is of any use in the experiments. Sulan was only interested in the other one because of her other half - the Klingon. Let him decide however."
B’Elanna! It must be B’Elanna they were talking about. "What have you done with her?" Tom rasped out.
She turned back to look at him. "Doctor Sulan is one of our leading scientists. He has devoted his life to finding a cure for the Phage. The Klingon female has some interesting readings. He intends to separate her genetic material and then work with her. She could be very important."
Tom shook his head in disgust. "You make me sick."
She stepped back to his bed and once again stroked his cheek. "You are very good looking. I’m sure you’ve been told that before. If you behave yourself, I might let you live a little longer."
Tom clenched his teeth. "Just get it over with," he answered, wishing his mouth wasn’t so dry. All he really wanted to do was spit in her face.
"We’ll see," she said with a smile. "I like you. If Sulan doesn’t want you, I might fix your hands and send you down to the tunnels after all. They need all the manpower they can get. That way I can always send for you whenever I want to. It would be a pity to kill you quite so soon."
"Gee, thanks. You’re all heart," Tom said sarcastically. He wondered what she meant about fixing his hands. They were as fixed as they ever would be.
The other Vidiian returned. "Sulan says he doesn’t need him. You can do whatever you want with him."
"Really? That’s wonderful news. Isn’t it my handsome one?"
Tom shuddered. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he was sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
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B’Elanna slowly sat up. She felt weak and groggy and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Where was she? And what the hell was going on? Looking around the room, she realized she was in a medical facility of some sort and on a bed on the other side of the room was Tom Paris.
"Tom!" she cried, trying to go over to him. She really felt too weak to move. He didn’t stir.
"He’s still unconscious." B’Elanna turned around sharply at the voice. Her heart jumped into her throat as she saw the person walking towards her was a Vidiian.
"What’s going on here?" she demanded. Her voice was even weaker than she’d expected. "What have you done to us?"
"You will both be fine," the Vidiian woman answered. "You have both had surgery." She seemed to stumble over the last word.
B’Elanna felt fear wash over her. "S-S-Surgery?" she stammered. She remembered what they had done to Neelix. "W-W-What kind of surgery?" She couldn’t believe how frightened she was. Her heart was hammering so loudly that she wondered if the Vidiian woman could hear it.
"We have extracted all of your Klingon DNA. It will be quite useful to us in finding a cure for the phage. You are now fully human."
"What?" B’Elanna thought she would be sick. "That’s not possible." Her hands went immediately to her forehead. It was smooth, just as she’d always secretly wished it to be.
"We have the technology to make it possible. It was quite a simple procedure. You will now be sent down to the tunnels to work. You seem quite weak. I’m sure I will see you again, quite soon."
As B’Elanna was led away by two guards, she looked back at Tom, still lying unconscious. "What about Tom? What are you going to do to him?"
"He needs to stay here a little longer. If I were you, I’d worry about myself."
B’Elanna was surprised to realize that she was on the verge of tears. She didn’t even have the strength to resist the guards; she just let them lead her away. She couldn’t believe how weak and pathetic she was being, but couldn’t seem to help herself. She stumbled a little and one of the guards dragged her the rest of the way.
"Why are they sending this one down here?" he grumbled. "She’ll be lucky to last more than a day."
The other guard shrugged. "One days work is better than none."
She was dragged into a large darkened dormitory, where other prisoners were sleeping, and thrown onto the nearest empty bunk. By now she was feeling sick to the stomach and all she felt like doing was curling into a little ball and crying her eyes out.
She sniffed a couple of times and suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder. "Lieutenant Torres? B’Elanna? Is that you?"
B’Elanna looked up to see Ensign Palmer kneeling next to her bunk. "Janine!" she exclaimed, sitting up. "Is everyone else here?"
"Everyone but Tom. We don’t know where he is, but the other prisoners thought you’d both been taken to organ processing."
B’Elanna nodded. "We were there. Tom still is."
"Oh god! Does that mean that they’ve----?"
"He’s still alive. I don’t know what they’re doing to him though. You can see what they’ve done to me."
Janine looked her over. "You look human."
B’Elanna sighed. "I feel so sick. They told me that they’ve extracted all of my Klingon DNA. They’re experimenting with it or something."
"Hey you," a guard suddenly called out and marched quickly over to Janine. "Get back to your bunk. You need to rest, so that you can work a full shift in the tunnels."
"All right, all right," she grumbled. The guard pushed her roughly onto her own bunk and then stared back over at B’Elanna. "That goes for you too."
B’Elanna’s heart beat furiously and she lay down quickly. Shutting her eyes she tried to do as she was told.
___________________________________
B’Elanna lay as still as she could, listening for any sign of movement. When she was sure that there was nobody in the room with her, she tried once again to free herself. She felt stronger now. Testing the locking mechanism that held her down, she concentrated on snapping it open. If she could just get one hand free, she’d kill the lot of them.
The Klingon blood flowed strongly through her veins and she snarled in delight. She felt wonderful. Stronger than she ever had before. The Vidiians had no idea what they were dealing with. Somehow she would get free and then find the others. They were her responsibility. She was their leader.
A sudden noise from the end of the room; stilled her movements. "B’Elanna? How are you feeling today?"
She turned to study the doctor who had done this to her. If she could just get him to trust her, she may find a way to escape. "I feel strong. It’s very frustrating to be restrained like this."
"I sympathize".
"I don’t like being chained up like an animal."
The Vidiian shook his head. "I’m sorry. I wish there were some----"
"I’ve been thinking about what you said," she interrupted him. "It’s because of you, that I am Klingon and I like this feeling. In a strange way I suppose - I am grateful."
As the Vidiian scientist lent towards her, she continued. "Did you know that female Klingons are renown in the Alpha Quadrant, not only for their physical prowess, but also for their voracious - sexual - appetites as well." Sulan looked at her in surprise and she pressed her advantage, asking as she attempted to sit up, "Why not let you creation out of her harness? Study her in action." She smiled knowingly at him.
The scientist found it difficult to speak. "I wish it were possible, B’Elanna," he said wistfully. "But I’m afraid I can’t risk releasing you - just yet." He slowly reached out and stroked her face.
B’Elanna steeled herself as the rotting, flesh eaten hand came towards her; but flinched nevertheless.
Sulan jumped back as if he’d been burnt. "Forgive me."
She tried to keep up the pretense. "For what?"
"Please!" the Vidiian struggled to continue. "Don’t condescend. I may have a grotesque appearance, but I assure you my instincts are finely honed. And I do have feelings."
He came back to lean over her once again. "Hard as it may be for you to imagine B’Elanna, my people were once handsome and vigorous, like yours. And with your help we will be again. Perhaps, when that time comes, I will not disgust you quite so much as I do now."
With that he walked away and B’Elanna lay still for a moment feeling a little guilty and more than a little sorry for these people. That didn’t excuse what they did however. They were a dishonorable people and she would not help them willingly. With that thought she struggled harder to snap open the locking mechanism around her wrist.
________________________________
Tom awoke to see another Viddian staring down at him. This was somebody different. "This face is very handsome. It will do nicely," the Vidiian stated.
"Sulan! No - not this one. I’ve just spent a lot of time working on his hands. It would be such a waste."
"Why did you do that in the first place, Saleem? Why waste time like that?"
"It was a challenge. The nerves were destroyed. I wanted to see whether I could fix them."
"And could you?"
"I don’t know yet. That’s why I want to keep him a bit longer."
"Well all experiments are important of course, but mine must take precedent. B’Elanna finds it difficult to work with me, looking like this. This face would be perfect."
Tom struggled to sit up. "You disgusting animals," he yelled. The Vidiian woman, Saleem injected something into his neck and he fell back down again.
"I do not believe that this face would fit you very well, Sulan. Perhaps another of these humans has a better fit."
"Very well, I’ll see. But if not, I’ll be back for him."
Tom found that he could no longer stay awake and finally submitted to the darkness, hoping and praying that he would wake up again.
________________________________
B’Elanna looked in shock at Pete Durst’s features grafted onto Sulan’s hideous face. She shuddered in revulsion. "Durst!"
"I thought that perhaps this face might make you more comfortable with me," the Vidiian said with a smile.
"You’ve killed him," B’Elanna ground out angrily.
"Yes B’Elanna, but his organs will save more than a dozen lives."
B’Elanna growled in anger and with one final surge of strength managed to break free from the restraints holding her down. Sulan backed off in fear. Jumping off the bed quickly she grabbed Sulan around the neck, before he could get away, and squeezed with all her might.
Sulan started to choke, but she didn’t let go - she squeezed all the harder. This creature deserved to die. A sudden noise from the other room alerted her to the fact that someone was coming and she threw him away from her in disgust. She didn’t want to get caught now that she was finally free. Hurrying from the laboratory, she wondered where the others were being kept. She had to find them and get them out of here, before what had happened to Durst happened to any more of them.
________________________________
Tom woke up to the sound of alarms ringing and sat up slowly. He was still in the medical facility, but at least he was still alive. There was a mad scrambling going on in the next room, but before he could work out what was going on the two Vidiian doctors came back into the room. They were supporting the scientist named Sulan between them.
"She tried to strangle me," he was gasping. "If you hadn’t come in when you did, I’d be dead now."
"Sit down and let us see to you," Saleem told him, running a regenerator over his bruised neck.
Sulan shook his head in amazement. "Her strength is breathtaking. She is even stronger than we thought. A marvelous, marvelous creature. We must get her back. I cannot complete my work without her."
"Don’t worry, the guards will soon have her."
"If she goes down into the tunnels it will be hard to find her."
Tom listened in amazement. It sounded like B’Elanna had escaped. Hope surged through him. B’Elanna was still alive and with any luck she may find a way out of here and contact Voyager. He chuckled softly. "So B’Elanna got away from you, did she? What a shame."
Sulan jumped up and glared at him angrily. "You shut up."
Tom looked at him in horror. He’d just gotten a good look at his face. "P-Pete? Oh god! What have you done? OH MY GOD!! YOU ANIMAL!!!!" Tom struggled with all his might to get free, anger giving him extra strength. He wasn’t locked in the way B’Elanna had been; his bindings weren’t that strong. As one strap snapped, Saleem hurried over and injected him once more.
"You’ll have to go down to the tunnels. You can’t stay here if you’re going to cause problems," she told him. "I’ve done all I can anyway. I believe the surgery was a success."
Surgery? What surgery? Oh god! What had she done to him? The blackness descended again as he was still trying to breathe.
____________________________________
"Tom! Tom! Wake up!" He turned over and groaned. Someone was shaking him, but all he wanted to do was sleep. He was so tired. Too tired to open his eyes. "Please Tom!" The voice was soft, but urgent. He groaned again.
"Leave me ‘lone," he managed to mumble.
"I’m so scared. Please Tom! Wake up." The voice caught on a sob. "They’re going to take me back to organ processing. I just know they are."
It suddenly dawned on Tom that it was B’Elanna shaking him, but she sounded so different. Something tingled at the back of his mind. Hadn’t she escaped? Oh no! They must have caught her again. He struggled to open his eyes.
"B’Elanna?" he moaned.
"Yes. It’s me," she said breathlessly.
Tom’s eyes focused on her face, but something was different. She looked different. And it wasn’t the fact that she was crying, although that fact was startling in itself. Her forehead was smooth. The Klingon ridges weren’t there anymore.
"What have they done to you?" he gasped as he managed to sit up.
"They’ve made me human Tom. I didn’t think it was possible. But look at me."
"How do you feel?" he asked as she dried her eyes.
"Sick. And weak. So weak. I haven’t any strength at all. If this is how humans feel, I don’t know how you do anything. And I’m scared Tom. Really scared. I’ve never been so scared in all my life."
Tom nodded. "It’s a pretty scary place." He ran his hands over his face and then checked his hands and arms.
"What are you doing?"
Tom gave an embarrassed laugh. "Checking myself. They did something to me, but I don’t know what. I know I had surgery of some kind. Do I look any different?"
B’Elanna shook her head. "They wouldn’t tell me what they were doing to you. But you still look the same."
"They must have taken out one of my organs. It mustn’t have been anything vital. I still feel the same." He ran his hands through his hair. "How’d you get caught?"
B’Elanna looked at him in surprise. "They snuck up on us. We didn’t even know they were there until it was too late."
It was Tom’s turn to look surprised. "No. I meant today. This morning. I know you escaped from the Lab. I was hoping you might find a way to contact Voyager."
"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was in the tunnels this morning. I couldn’t work any longer, so they brought me back here to rest. When I woke up, you were here on this bunk."
Tom looked at her in confusion. "But you were in the Lab this morning. With Sulan. You tried to strangle him."
"God! What the hell have they been giving you? You must have been hallucinating."
Tom shook his head stubbornly. "No. It happened. I didn’t see you, but they were all talking about it. Sulan says he can’t finish his work without you."
"Tom! I wasn’t there. I don’t even know a Sulan. What’s going on?"
"I don’t know. Sulan’s a Vidiian scientist that’s trying to find a cure for this phage. He seems to think that you can help." He screwed up his face as he tried to remember. "They told me that they were separating your genetic material so that they could work with you."
"When I woke up they told me that they had extracted all of my Klingon DNA. Then they sent me down here. They told me that if I’m no stronger tomorrow, I’m going back to organ processing. I’m no use to them in the tunnels. I’m too weak. I’ve certainly never been in any lab or met this Sulan."
"I’m not sure how or anything, but there must be two of you. It doesn’t make sense otherwise. He was saying how strong you were."
"Well that’s certainly not me. You think they’ve made two of me? A Klingon me and a human me?"
"I - I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s possible."
"I’m only half a person really. That’s why I feel so bad." Tears rolled down her face. "They’re animals. Experimenting on us."
Tom swallowed. "I know. They’ve killed Pete."
B’Elanna moaned. "They took him this morning. I was too scared to stop them. They’ve processed his organs?’
"It’s even worse than that. Sulan grafted Pete’s face onto his. It’s hideous. Sickening."
B’Elanna rocked back and forth. "Oh god! What are we going to do? I’ll be next. I’m getting weaker Tom - not stronger."
"It’s all right B’Elanna. I won’t let them take you," Tom promised, although how the hell he could stop them he had no idea. He pulled her onto the bunk next to him and held her as she cried. He was becoming really worried about her. This wasn’t like her at all.
"I’m sorry," she sniffed suddenly. "I don’t know what’s wrong with me."
He hugged her tightly. "It’s all right. I’m scared too."
"Maybe. But you’re not letting it get to you the way I am."
"Hey, give me time," he joked. "I could be under the bunk, bawling my eyes out in just a few minutes." When she didn’t say anything, he sighed. "It’s okay to be scared."
"I’ve never been scared like this though Tom. Never. I think they’ve turned me into some kind of coward. The strong, fearless me was the Klingon part of me and now that’s gone."
"B’Elanna, sometimes fear can be a good thing. It stops you from taking unnecessary risks. Courage doesn’t mean you don’t have fear. It means that you have learnt to overcome it. And I know you have the courage to hang on till we can get out of here. If there is another you running around somewhere, maybe she’ll be able to get us out of here. We just have to stay positive." He squeezed her arm as tightly as he could.
"T-Tom, you’re hand is hurting me," B’Elanna stammered.
"Oh god! Sorry." He hurriedly pulled away from her.
"NO! You don’t understand. Your hand. It squeezed. Hard. Really hard."
Tom looked at her puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Give me your hands," she said excitedly. She squeezed them as tightly as she could. "Can you feel that?"
Tom nodded. "A little."
"Damn! If I only had my Klingon strength, you’d know what I mean." She suddenly grabbed one of his fingers and bit it as hard as she could.
"Ow!!!! What’d you do that for? That hurt. That really - hurt." He looked at her in amazement "It - It stings." He said slowly. He curled his hands into fists and looked down at them in wonder. "I can really feel them. I mean properly." He jumped up off the bunk and wriggled his fingers. "I don’t believe it. She said she was going to fix my hands, but I didn’t know what she meant. I remember her saying that she had been working on them now. I didn’t realize. Oh my god! She’s fixed my hands."
"Properly? Are they the same as they were before? Do they feel the same?" B’Elanna was as excited as he was.
"I don’t know. But they’re better. Much, much better. She said she thought the surgery had been successful, but I didn’t know what she was talking about."
"Why would they do this Tom? Why would they help you? We’re just replacement parts to them."
"She said it was a challenge. I guess she wanted to know if she could do it or not. They wanted me to work in the tunnels. I couldn’t with my hands the way they were. Oh my god. B’Elanna! They’ve healed my hands." He laughed in delight and pulling her off the bunk spun her around the room.
"Well, I’m glad to see you’re both feeling better." Two Vidiian guards were standing behind them. "You can both get back down to the tunnels. There’s work to be done."
Tom cursed. "Of course, we have to get out of here, if this is going to be good news."
The guard eyed him suspiciously. "Get moving," he ordered, waving his phaser in the direction of the doors. Tom started to walk slowly forward, B’Elanna behind him, when the doors opened in front of him. He stopped in astonishment. B’Elanna stood there. At least, it was B’Elanna, but it wasn’t. She was fully Klingon and growled as she took in the situation.
"Paris, get out of the way," she snarled. Tom reacted instinctively, throwing himself sideways and pulling B’Elanna - the human B’Elanna with him. The guards stood in total shock, and before they could react the Klingon B’Elanna had charged, knocking them both to the ground. They were unconscious before they had even realized what was happening.
Klingon B’Elanna helped human B’Elanna to her feet and they stood looking at each other for several seconds, before human B’Elanna fainted. Klingon B’Elanna caught her before she could hit the ground and threw her over her shoulder.
She turned to Tom, who was still picking himself up off the ground. "You all right?" she asked gruffly.
Tom shook his head. "No. I think I’m seeing double."
B’Elanna growled in response. "Come on. We’ve got to get out of here. There will be more guards here any second."
Tom nodded, still finding it hard to believe what was happening. "Wait. I’ll just grab the guard’s phasers. I think we might need them."
"Hurry up!" B’Elanna made her way to the doors, still with her human counterpart slung effortlessly over her shoulder. Tom quickly picked up the two phasers and hurried after her.
________________________________
"There you go again. Out of control. Leaping into action without thinking things through."
Tom sighed heavily, but didn’t comment. He’d tried to intervene before only to have Klingon B’Elanna threaten to tear him limb from limb. He decided to let them argue, while he thought of a way out of here.
Not that anything came to mind at the moment, and it was difficult to concentrate with the two of them arguing all the time. Human B’Elanna was right. They were arguing with themselves. If the situation weren’t so serious, it’d be funny.
They had to find Janine and Brian and then find some way to contact Voyager. He stood up suddenly and walked over to them. "At the risk of getting my head caved in - this isn’t helping." Both B’Elanna’s turned to glare at him. "We have to work together. You know - teamwork. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hide in these tunnels, before they find us. We need to do something - now."
"My point exactly," Klingon B’Elanna growled. "We should go and get the others from the tunnel they’re in."
"There are too many guards. We’ll never get away," Human B’Elanna said at once.
"We have weapons. We will kill as many as we can. I know we can do this. If you are too afraid, then stay here," Klingon B’Elanna practically spat the last bit.
"I think Janine and Brian will be back in the prison barracks by now. I don’t think we’ll be able to get near them. They’ll have guards everywhere," Tom said thoughtfully.
Klingon B’Elanna looked at him carefully. "You are right," she finally said.
"We need to find a computer terminal," Human B’Elanna said then. "I may be able to find a way out of here."
"Oh? How?" The question was a snarl.
"Voyager must be looking for us by now. They would have beamed us out if they could. I think there must be some sort of forcefield around these tunnels, blocking the sensors. That’s why we didn’t pick up any of this before we beamed down."
"If we can lower the forcefield, Voyager can get a lock on us and Janine and Brian too," Tom put in excitedly.
"There was a security console in the lab where they were holding me," Klingon B’Elanna said slowly. "It’s the last place they would think we would go."
"Show us," Tom said in excitement.
______________________________________
Tom walked briskly down the corridor towards sickbay. His step was light and he wondered if anyone would mind if he danced the rest of the way. The Doctor had said that he could resume his normal shifts at the helm as soon as he was ready to and Chakotay had already had him flying simulations in the holodeck. His response time was a little below average, but he knew it wouldn’t take long until he was back to his normal self.
His hands were completely healed. He still found it hard to believe. It was a dream come true for him and it was all thanks to the Viddians. His smile faded a little and his step faltered as he thought of Pete Durst. They had held a full military funeral for him the afternoon before and Tom had stood up and said the eulogy. He hadn’t really known the Lieutenant that well, but thought it was the least he could do under the circumstances.
They had been lucky that he had been the only casualty in the end, although the Klingon B’Elanna had been killed also. The Doctor had been forced to replicate her Klingon DNA and reintegrate it back into the Human B’Elanna’s cellular structure, when it became apparent that she could not survive without it. B’Elanna was now almost back to her old self again.
He entered sickbay and smiled as he saw her sitting up on the biobed reading a data padd. "I bet that’s something to do with your engines," he said teasingly.
B’Elanna frowned up at him. "They’re having a bit of a problem down there. Carey asked me to help."
Tom held up his hand. "Spare me," he said with a laugh. "It’s a wonder they didn’t have your biobed wheeled down to engineering."
"Well, I did ask the Doctor to let me out for a little while to have a look for myself, but he wouldn’t let me."
The EMH appeared around the doorway of his office. "Mr. Paris. It is not regular visiting hours."
Tom looked over at him in surprise. "Regular visiting hours? Since when did we have set visiting hours, Doc?"
"Since every Tom, Chakotay and Harry decided to visit Ms. Torres whenever they feel like it. There has been a steady stream of visitors the whole time she has been here."
"And that’s a bad thing?"
"It interferes with the efficient running of this facility." There was a definite sniff in the EMH’s voice.
Tom laughed. "Come on Doc. It’s good for patient morale."
"Patient morale is not my concern," the Doctor said huffily. "I leave that to Kes and yourself. Although, of course, now that you can return to the helm full time, I believe I will have to find a replacement field medic."
"Um, that’s why I’m here actually. I’ve already spoken to the Captain and Chakotay and they are agreeable. I’m only going back to the helm part time. I’ll still be chief conn officer and everything, but the other pilots will be flying a lot of the time. I’ll be on call for the tricky flying and training the others. I’m still your nurse/field medic. Part time anyway. You don’t really need me in here full time anyway."
"I see. Well it would have been nice to have been consulted about these arrangements," the EMH sniffed. "I am gratified that I do not need to train somebody else all over again, I suppose."
"Well don’t sound so enthusiastic Doc. I thought you liked me."
"You are a very annoying person Mr. Paris. I am sure I have told you that before."
Tom pretended to clutch his heart. "Doc! You wound me."
The Doctor made a small harrumphing noise. "I suppose I can put up with you if I have to. Now since you are here, you can get straight to work. The first order of business is a sponge bath for Lieutenant Torres."
"What?" both Tom and B’Elanna said at the same time. B’Elanna, who had been listening to the conversation with a huge grin on her face, jumped off the bed in agitation. "There is no way in hell, he is doing that. I am perfectly capable of bathing myself thank you Doctor."
The Doctor smiled evilly. "Ms. Torres, I have found you to be a very troublesome, tiring patient. Please do not make the situation any worse."
Tom turned on the EMH, his face a fiery red. "And this is your way of getting her back? And me too, I suppose?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Your sense of humor has rubbed off on me Lieutenant."
"You are an evil, twisted man. And I love it," Tom laughed.
The Doctor beamed. "Thank you. Now, carry on. I’ll be in my office if you need me."
Tom turned back to B’Elanna. "Well, you heard the Doc," he smiled.
"Paris! You come one step nearer and I’ll - I’ll - You’ll be the one needing the biobed."
Tom stepped closer.
The End
T’Pam December 1999.
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