MISLEADING MEMORIES
By T'PamDisclaimer: Tom Paris, Captain Janeway and all the Voyager crew belong to Paramount. No profit will be made from this story as it’s just for fun.
Part Three
She sat sipping her coffee, and waiting patiently for him to appear. For the last four mornings in a row, she had managed to time it so that she was already seated by the time he came in. If Neelix wondered why all of a sudden the Captain was one of the first crewmembers in the mess hall for breakfast, he didn’t mention it. It was her usual habit to grab something to eat whenever she remembered to and never at the same time two days in a row.
With all the repairs and everyone working double shifts, she thought Neelix was probably too busy to notice. That was one good thing. He hadn’t been able to spend anytime with ‘her’, as ‘she’ had been so busy the last three days. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she chastised herself. She liked B’Elanna. She really did. And she wanted him to be happy. Didn’t she?
Just then he entered the room and she was able to study his face for a few short moments before he started to look around. She quickly averted her gaze, so that he wouldn’t think that she’d been staring at him - again. He looked tired and pale. Even from this distance she could see the dark circles under his eyes.
He wasn’t sleeping properly, that was obvious. She remembered all the times that they had slept entangled around each other. He never had any problems sleeping, when he slept with her. She pulled herself up short. That wasn’t real. They had never slept together. Never! Her hand trembled as she brought the cup up to her lips. She had to stop this.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he sat down with his back to her and Harry slipped into the seat across from him. They seemed to be talking quite animatedly and she wished she could hear what they were saying. She remembered all the wonderful breakfasts that they had shared - Harry glanced up and caught her eye.
Damn! Smiling and mouthing ‘good morning’ she turned away.
She had to stop this. She just had to.
*****
"Um! Don’t look now but the Captain was staring at you again."
"I know Harry. You didn’t let her see that you saw her did you?" Tom’s voice was slightly panicky.
"I’m not sure what you mean," Harry said confused.
"Did she see you seeing her looking at me?" Tom asked urgently.
"Oh! I - well - I just kind of glanced up and she was looking at you with this funny look on her face and then our eyes met and she flushed. She mouthed good morning to me and then looked away."
"Damn it Harry. I can’t believe you did that."
"What? What’d I do?"
"You just embarrassed the Captain."
"I embarrassed - hey! It wasn’t my fault. I just looked up."
"Well, you shouldn’t have." Tom shook his head in disgust.
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Not look up," Tom answered simply.
"Yeah, right! This is all my fault. The Captain, who by the way is coming this way, is embarrassed because I looked at her." Tom swallowed and sat up straight. "Captain," Harry greeted her as she stopped by their table.
"Harry," she smiled warmly at him. She then turned to Tom. "Tom, how are you?"
"Fine Captain. Never better," he lied. "How about you?"
"I’m getting there. Chakotay has been a wonderful help."
"That’s good. I’m glad."
"Tom, I know you have first duty shift in sickbay this morning and I think it would be a good idea, while you’re there, to have the Doctor check you out."
"Me? Why? I told you, I’m fine."
"You don’t look it. That’s an order Tom."
"Yes Ma’am," Tom answered quietly. With a brusque nod, Janeway hurried away.
Harry studied Tom’s appearance carefully. "She’s right you know. You don’t look too good. Have you had any sleep?"
Tom shook his head. "Not much. I keep having these nightmares."
"Of what? The Mostreterians?" Tom nodded. "Maybe you should talk to Chakotay." At Tom’s snort, he continued. "No, I mean it. The Captain’s just said what a great help he’s been to her. He could probably help you too."
"I don’t need help. I’m fine. The nightmares will go away in time, they always do." As Harry started to say something he interrupted. "It’s true Harry. Really! I think I’m more worried about what the Captain is dealing with actually. I feel so guilty."
"Why? None of it is your fault. What were you supposed to do? Pretend you really were married?"
"Of course not. It’s just that I should be doing something to help her through it all."
"Like what?"
Tom ran his hands through his hair and sighed in frustration. "I don’t know. But there must be something I can do. She has to try and forget three years of memories, all concerning me. I can’t help feeling weird about it."
"Just so long as you don’t blame yourself," Harry told him.
"I don’t - not really. I just want to help her. There has to be more I can do than just letting her stare at me and pretending not to notice."
Harry grinned. "I don’t know how you can. I’d have to look up or turn around or whatever."
"It’s not easy, let me tell you." He drained his coffee cup.
"Have you spoken to B’Elanna about any of this?"
Tom shrugged. "I’ve barely seen her the last three days. She’s been tied up in Engineering with all the repairs. Why? Do you think she might be able to come up with some ideas?"
"No, I wasn’t thinking that. I was just wondering how understanding she’s going to be about the whole thing."
"Why wouldn’t she be? Neither the Captain nor I have done anything wrong."
"I know that. It’s just the way the Captain keeps looking at you."
"She can’t help that."
"I know that too.
******
Tom kept going over in his mind what Harry had said at breakfast that morning. He had enough problems as it was, without B’Elanna pulling some sort of jealous act. Surely she wouldn’t.
Tom found his mind wandering more than once as he sat at the helm that afternoon. For once he really didn’t notice the Captain staring at the back of his head. He was sure Harry was wrong about B’Elanna. She understood what had happened. They had talked about it the first night of his return and she’d agreed with him about how strange it all was.
They’d talked for hours about it and she had been upset, yes. But at the Mostreterians for the way they had treated him. Of course, he hadn’t spoken to her since finding out that the Captains false memories couldn’t be erased. He was sure she would be totally understanding about the whole thing. That’s why it came as such a shock to him when he got her abrupt message.
She had managed to send it to him through one of his conn panels. ‘Meet my quarters 19.00. NEED to talk.’ He thought about the message again. He was just imagining that she seemed upset.
The hand on his shoulder made him jump. "Tom?"
"Huh?"
"Did you hear any of what I just said?"
"Sorry Commander. What did you just say?"
Chakotay sighed. "I was asking you if you thought we needed a course correction. I somehow suspect that you haven’t even noticed the asteroid field we’re approaching."
Tom paled as he looked down at his long-range sensors. Gods! How could he have missed that? "Sorry Commander. I’ll just do a quick assessment." His fingers flew over the board. "According to my calculations we should just bypass it."
Chakotay looked over his shoulder and nodded. "Move us a little over to port, just to be sure."
"Aye sir."
"And Tom. Try to stay focused. Your mind’s been wandering all afternoon."
"Sorry sir."
He flushed as he stared intently at his readouts. He heard the Captain ask softly, "Is he all right?" and Chakotay answer, "I’m not sure." He strained to hear more as they talked softly between themselves, but a beep from one of his monitors reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing, and he quickly turned back to his task.
As soon as Hamilton arrived, Tom quickly handed the conn over to him and hurried from the bridge. Just as he was about to enter the turbolift, Chakotay called out to him. "Tom, can I see you in my office in ten minutes please?"
"Why? What have I done now?" Tom flinched inwardly when he realized he’d said that out loud.
Chakotay frowned over at him. "You’ll find that out when you report," he answered shortly.
"Yes sir." Damn it! As he stepped into the turbolift, Harry jumped in next to him.
As soon as the doors closed Harry turned to him. "You’ve done it this time Tom. Chakotay looked like a thundercloud. Why do you always have to push his buttons?"
Tom shrugged. "It breaks the monotony."
"Yeah! Well I hope it was worth it. He’ll probably take you off the conn for a couple of days."
"Damn it! I hope not."
"Well, you’ve only got yourself to blame. You were totally distracted all afternoon."
"That was your fault. I’ve been worrying about B’Elanna ever since your comment at breakfast. She sent me a message. She wants to see me at nineteen hundred hours. The message was kind of abrupt."
"That might have just meant that she was busy. It probably doesn’t mean anything. Don’t go looking for trouble. You get enough as it is."
"What can I say? It’s a gift."
Harry snorted and punched him lightly on the arm as they stepped out of the lift. "Well good luck. I don’t know about B’Elanna, but you’ll need it with the Commander."
*****
Chakotay gestured to the sofa in the corner of his office. "Sit down Tom."
"Is it going to be that bad?" Tom tried to joke.
The Commander gave him a warning look, so he perched on the end of the seat. As Chakotay pulled a chair up and sat opposite him, Tom tried to hide his surprise. He’d come here expecting to be reamed out - totally and completely. Chakotay looked as if they were about to have a serious discussion. He swallowed nervously. Uh oh! This could be a lot worse.
Tom concentrated on looking at the wall behind Chakotay’s head as he waited for him to speak. The Commander however, seemed perfectly happy to just sit there watching him. Finally, he could take it no longer. "You wanted to see me Commander?"
Chakotay sighed and leaned forward. "Yes. We need to discuss your behavior on the bridge."
"I know." Tom stood up quickly and stood at attention. "You have my sincere apologies Commander. It won’t happen again."
"Somehow I doubt that." Chakotay sighed again. "Tom, please sit down. Try to relax. This isn’t a formal meeting."
Tom sat back down, but didn’t relax. "It isn’t?"
"No. You’re not in trouble."
"I’m not?"
Chakotay shook his head. "We need to talk about what happened though."
"We do?"
Chakotay hesitated before continuing. "Yes, we do. It’s obvious this whole situation with the Captain is affecting you too."
"It is?"
Chakotay frowned at him and then nodded. "The Doctor reported that you haven’t been sleeping."
"He did?"
Chakotay’s frown grew and he drew a deep breath. "I can see that from just looking at you."
"You can?"
Chakotay positively glared. "You look like death warmed over," he ground out.
"I do?"
"Okay, that’s enough. You’re not funny you know. This is a serious situation and I was hoping we could discuss it, seriously. Obviously not."
Tom stared at him in confusion. "What’s wrong?" The look of bemusement on his face was completely genuine.
Chakotay calmed down a little. "You’re answering everything I say in two word sentences."
"I am? I mean - gods - I am! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to."
"All right then. Where was I?" He thought for a moment. "Your behavior on the bridge earlier indicated that the pressure the Captain is unwittingly putting on you is beginning to show. You were distracted and jumpy."
"I had some stuff on my mind, but it had nothing to do with the Captain. You’re right though. My behavior was completely unprofessional. I should never have let it affect my work."
"I can hardly blame you. I know you must be feeling terribly uncomfortable with the Captain continually staring at you. She doesn’t mean to. She doesn’t even realize she’s doing it at the time."
"I know that, Chakotay. I don’t mind really. She’s got a lot of things to work out and if staring at me while she’s thinking helps, then I don’t want to stop her."
"That’s very considerate of you, but if it’s affecting your concentration---"
"It’s not that," Tom broke in. "Well at least not most of it. It’s just that whenever she looks at me I see something in her eyes, a light - as she remembers something that we did together or that I did - but I didn’t do it, did I? It never really happened. And there’s so much pain there as she realizes this. It makes me feel so bad for her. It makes me wish---" his voice trailed off as he realized he didn’t know how to put into words what he wanted to say.
"Go on," Chakotay urged.
"I can’t. I’m not making any sense. I want to help her, but I don’t know how. The memories she has aren’t real. They’re not of the real me. They’re of some mythical man that the Mostreterians made up for her. I wish---" he trailed off again and jumped up from the sofa in agitation.
Chakotay watched him with concern. "What do you wish Tom?"
"I wish - I wish that they’d given me the memories too. That way she wouldn’t be so alone."
"I see," Chakotay said slowly.
Tom started to pace as he spoke. "I don’t understand what I’m trying to say, so I don’t know how you can."
"I’ve had plenty of practice. Tom, come and sit down again." As Tom relaxed back into the sofa, Chakotay continued. "You’re lack of sleep is making it hard for you to see things clearly. The Doctor says you’re suffering from nightmares. Do you want to talk about them?"
Tom shook his head. "They’re not a problem. They’ll go away soon."
"They’d probably go away sooner if you talked about them."
"There’s nothing to say. It’s just more of the same old, same old. The Mostreterians breaking another one of my bones, them laughing sadistically at me while I scream in agony and the Captain yelling at them to stop. Believe me. I’ve had experience with nightmares before. They’ll fade away, until I only get the occasional one every now and then."
"Tom. Nightmares are not a normal part of a persons sleeping pattern."
"They are for me. Don’t worry about it Chakotay. The Doc’s given me something to help me sleep for the next few nights. I’ll be fine after that."
Chakotay shook his head. "I think it would be best if you kept off the bridge for the next few days. Get some rest."
"Damn it! Harry said you’d do that. It’s a suitable punishment I suppose."
"Tom, it’s not meant as a punishment. I just think that you and the Captain need some time to adjust. You can do some more work on that new pilot training program you were setting up, and also some more shifts in sickbay. The Doctor says you’re becoming a quite able assistant. High praise indeed."
"Don’t try to butter me up. It won’t work."
Chakotay smiled. "I wouldn’t dream of it."
*****
B’Elanna hurried along the corridors swearing under her breath as she went. She only had five minutes before Tom was due to arrive, and she’d wanted to greet him calmly and coolly. She felt anything but that at the moment. Last minute hitches in the repair of the auxiliary deflector meant that she had only just been able to get away. There was no time for even a relaxing shower, let alone anything else.
As she rounded the corner she groaned inwardly as she saw that Tom was already waiting by her quarters. "You’re early," she growled as she entered her room.
Tom followed her in. "Do you mind? I couldn’t wait any longer." He smiled at her tentatively and she felt her insides melt. He was looking especially handsome at the moment, wearing a pair of tight fitting brown pants and a cream colored shirt.
"I suppose I can put up with you," she said playfully. "I’ll just get out of this filthy uniform and have a quick shower."
"Hey, now that’s what I call entertainment."
"Very funny. Why don’t you get us both a drink? I won’t be long."
"Okay. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a dinner date or not."
"I had all sorts planned, but as you can see, I haven’t had time to prepare anything."
"That’s all right - let me. By the time you’re changed there’ll be a sumptuous meal awaiting you."
"You’re on."
She raced into the bathroom and quickly stripped. Stepping into the shower she reflected on all that had happened that day and tried to put it into its proper perspective. As the warm water hit her aching shoulders she thought about what she had overheard most of her engineering team discussing this morning.
They hadn’t realized she was still in engineering as she had told them she was going up to the bridge. Just as she had been about to leave however, she suddenly remembered some last minute corrections she wanted to make to a console in one of the side offices near the warp core. She had slipped in there unobserved.
As the discussion became louder and more and more of her crew joined in, she felt her anger growing. They were laying bets on whether there would be a catfight between herself and the Captain when their chief realized what was going on. Janeway was apparently staring continually at Tom when he wasn’t looking, so much so that everyone was noticing.
The gossip - which she didn’t believe for a moment - was that he would often smile back at the Captain flirtatiously, and there was all sorts of speculation on what went on down in the Mostreterian prison camp. B’Elanna, of course, knew exactly what had happened, because Tom had told her everything. Only the senior staff was allowed to know the full story, to protect the Captain’s privacy as much as possible. The rest of the crew was left to jump to all sorts of conclusions. One of which was that the Captain and Tom were having an affair behind her back.
B’Elanna turned off the shower and reached out for a towel. As she briskly dried herself, she smiled as she remembered how her crew had looked when she’d stepped out of the office. You could have heard a pin drop. She’d given them all a tongue-lashing, which they’d never forget and enough work to keep them busy for a week - all to be finished before they went off duty.
Dressing quickly in an off the shoulder, navy top and matching slacks, she hurried out of the bathroom. Tom looked up at her and smiled. "You look nice."
"Thanks." She sniffed the air appreciatively. "That smells nice."
"Wait till you taste it. Pasta - a la Paris. It’s my Mom’s recipe actually."
"I can’t wait to taste it."
All through the meal they kept the conversation light and mainly discussed how the repairs were coming along. Tom told her of some amusing happenings on the bridge, but B’Elanna didn’t tell him what had happened in engineering that morning. She didn’t want to spoil the mood just yet.
As soon as they had finished eating and cleared away the mess, however, she knew she couldn’t put it off any longer. "Tom," she said sitting down next to him on the sofa and taking one of his hands in hers. "We need to talk."
Tom nodded. "You said that in your message. To tell you the truth, I thought something was wrong. Your message was kind of abrupt."
B’Elanna sighed. "When I sent that, I was feeling pretty angry, but I’ve cooled off considerably." As Tom eyed her worriedly, she hurried on. "I wasn’t angry at you. I was just angry at my staff and all the gossip that goes around the ship."
"Gossip?"
"You wouldn’t believe what they were saying."
"Try me. I take it; it has something to do with me. No-one’s said anything to me of course."
B’Elanna nodded. "I’ve been sort of out of the loop, what with all the repairs and everything, or I might have heard something before now. It’s about you and the Captain. The wildest story is that you’re having an affair."
Tom snorted and rolled his eyes. "I hope you don’t believe that."
"Of course not. I don’t even believe that you’ve been flirting with her. But everyone’s saying that she’s staring at you all the time. Have you noticed anything?"
Tom sighed softly and leaned his head back against the sofa cushions. "It’s been kind of hard not too. She doesn’t mean to and I’m sure that once she’s adjusted properly she’ll stop doing it."
"I’m sure she will. But how do you handle it, when you feel she’s staring at you?"
Tom shrugged. "I try to ignore it as much as possible. Pretend it’s not happening, but every now and then our eyes seem to meet. She always looks so embarrassed, so I usually smile at her to let her know I don’t mind."
"I see. Well that’s probably where the problem is."
"Problem? What do you mean?" Tom sat forward abruptly.
"Why people think there’s something going on. You’re going to have to stop smiling back at her. Let her see that it’s bothering you. She’ll probably stop it a lot quicker that way."
"I can’t do that" Tom’s voice was incredulous. "The Captain would be mortified."
"It’s for her own good. She’ll get on with her real life a lot faster, this way."
"I won’t do it." Tom’s voice was stubborn. "Anyway, it’s not bothering me. Not really."
B’Elanna frowned at that. "Well it should be."
"Why? I understand how hard it must be for her. I thought you would too."
"I do. But pandering to these false memories is not the way to handle it."
"How would you feel if you found out that the last three years of your life weren’t real? We weren’t really having a relationship, and that all of your memories of us together were false. I can imagine it and it’s not pleasant."
"I’d get over it and get on with my life."
"Just like that?" Tom said disbelievingly.
"No, not just like that. It would take some adjustment, but I could do it."
"I don’t believe you. It would be a lot harder than you imagine."
"Of course it would be hard. I didn’t say it would be easy." B’Elanna growled a little.
"But you’d still be able to get over me in just a few days?"
"I’d be able to act normally and not stare at you every ten minutes."
"The Captain doesn’t stare at me every ten minutes. Anyway I still don’t think you could be so unaffected after such a short time. You’re kidding yourself."
"Do you know how conceited you sound?" B’Elanna’s voice had risen. "Do you honestly believe that you’re so wonderful that you’re impossible to get over?"
Tom frowned fiercely. "That isn’t what I meant. You’re twisting what I’m trying to say."
B’Elanna jumped up off the sofa and glared down at him. "Why are you so defensive of her?"
"I wasn’t aware I was. I’m just trying to be compassionate."
"Compassionate? Is that what you call it? I think you’re enjoying all the attention. It feeds your ego."
Tom jumped up off the sofa as well. "What are you so snitty about? Are you jealous?"
B’Elanna’s eyes glittered dangerously. "Why are you picking a fight with me?"
"I’m not. You’re the one that seems to want to fight. You’ve just told me, that I don’t mean much at all to you. That you could get over me, just like that." He clicked his fingers.
"I did not say that. Now you’re the one twisting my words."
"Hey, I know what you said and the way you said it."
B’Elanna took a deep breath and tried to calm down. This wasn’t the way she had wanted to handle it. Her temper always got the better of her. "All I’m trying to say is that the Captain will get over the whole thing a lot easier if you stop encouraging her."
"Encouraging her? I’m not encouraging anybody. All I’m trying to do is make her feel a little more comfortable. Is that so wrong?"
"Yes. If you smile at her the way I think you probably are."
"That’s it. I’m out of here." Tom walked towards the door. Turning around he said angrily. "You know, you would have to be the most uncompassionate person I’ve ever known. Seven looks like Neelix, compared to you."
B’Elanna growled angrily and picking up the glass ornament that was sitting on the coffee table near her hurled it straight at his head.
Tom ducked just in time and it crashed against the door, breaking into a thousand pieces. "Hey, I gave you that. Obviously it means as much to you as I do." He stalked out of the room, leaving B’Elanna to throw herself on the sofa, wondering what the hell had just happened.
*****
"Commander, I was hoping I could speak to you before the staff meeting," Tuvok hurried to catch up with Chakotay, as he was about to enter the briefing room.
"What’s wrong Tuvok?"
"There have been some new developments in the situation we have been monitoring."
"What sort of new developments are you talking about? Has the Captain done or said something?"
"No, the Captain has kept to herself, as far as I can ascertain. I am speaking of Lieutenant Torres and Ensign Paris. They have had a disagreement. A little more serious than their usual altercations. The Lieutenant must have thrown something at Mr. Paris, as I heard the sound of glass breaking and loud voices coming from her quarters last night."
"Is that so unusual?" Chakotay asked with a grin.
"This was not the usual noise of their mating. The voices were definitely arguing. Mr. Paris left Ms. Torres’ quarters shortly after the sound of the glass breaking and he looked extremely upset."
"I see. I don’t suppose you were able to hear what they were arguing about?"
Tuvok looked affronted. "I am not in the habit of eavesdropping Commander. My superior hearing enabled me to hear the sounds of the disturbance but I did not listen to what was being said."
"Of course not. I’m sorry if I offended you."
Tuvok shook his head. "You did not offend me Commander. Vulcans do not take offence."
‘You could have fooled me’, Chakotay thought to himself, but didn’t voice it. "All right. Let’s hope whatever it was about has all blown over. We’d better get in there, or we’ll be late."
As soon as they entered the room, Chakotay realized his hopes were in vain. Tom and B’Elanna were sitting as far away from each other as they could and the air was decidedly chilly. Harry was sitting next to Tom and sending bemused looks down to B’Elanna, as if to say ‘what’s going on?’ B’Elanna simply shrugged and turned away. Neelix was looking backwards and forwards as well, a puzzled look on his face. Perhaps something had been said before he and Tuvok had entered the room.
Sighing Chakotay sat down in his usual spot and Tuvok sat between he and B’Elanna. Janeway looked up from the data padd she had been studiously reading. Chakotay couldn’t help wondering if she even knew what the thing said. "Now that everybody’s here, we can start. B’Elanna, we’ll start with you. Can you please bring us up to date on the repairs?"
B’Elanna sat looking at the floor, and Neelix, who was sitting on the other side of her, nudged her sharply. "Huh? What?"
"Lieutenant, I asked you how the repairs were coming along." Janeway’s voice was a little colder than usual.
"Fine," B’Elanna answered shortly, glaring over at her.
"That’s all you have to say? Fine?" The Captain was definitely ticked off now.
"It’s all in the report you’ve just been reading." B’Elanna’s tone was definitely insolent.
Chakotay berated himself silently. He should have been sitting next to the fiery engineer or across from her. Somewhere that he could reach her and give her a warning- either by a quick nudge in the ribs or a swift kick in the shins.
If Harry had been sitting across from B’Elanna, he might have been able to silently tell him to do it, but Seven was. If Seven kicked the half-klingon -assuming she would even understand his gestures - in the mood B’Elanna seemed to be in at the moment - all hell would probably break loose.
He tried sending her a warning glare, but B’Elanna didn’t even look at him. She was watching Tom instead, who was busy staring at the top of the table intently. He didn’t look up.
"Well perhaps you could enlighten the rest of the senior staff, as they haven’t had the benefit of reading it," Janeway said icily polite. If B’Elanna had any sense, she’d back off - right now. "I’ll overlook your rather churlish attitude for now Lieutenant, as I know that you especially have been working extremely hard to get Voyager repaired."
B’Elanna had her eyes fixed on Tom. Chakotay watched as Harry, who must have realized that somebody had to give her a push in the right direction, practically slid under the table as he reached his leg out to give her's a friendly nudge. B’Elanna gave a small start and glared at Harry instead.
"Of course Captain," she answered quietly and then proceeded to give her report in detail.
As soon as the meeting was over, Tom jumped up from the table and hurried out of the room. Harry, with a concerned look, quickly followed. Chakotay waited until everyone had gone before turning to the Captain. "Are you all right?"
Janeway sighed. "I think so. That was a fun meeting, wasn’t it? What the hell was the matter with B’Elanna? And Seven? Does she even know the meaning of the word tact?"
Chakotay smiled. "That was Neelix’s fault. He should never have brought up the subject of crew morale. It was only natural for her to comment that B’Elanna seemed to be overreacting to all the strain of repairs."
"I thought B’Elanna was going to throttle her, when she suggested taking over," Janeway smiled. Her smile soon faded however. "B’Elanna wasn’t the only one in a foul mood. Tom was furious as well."
"Tom? He was very quiet. Didn’t say anything really."
"No, he was angry. I can tell. He always goes quiet like that, when he’s really furious. I remember the time when we ----" her voice trailed off. "Sorry. I’ve got to stop doing that."
Chakotay smiled understandingly. "Give it time Katherine. It’s only been five days."
She nodded. "You don’t suppose they’ve had a fight, do you? They both seemed to be in such bad moods."
Chakotay wondered whether he should tell her, but the look on his face must have given it away. "They have, haven't they?"
Sighing he nodded. "Tuvok heard them arguing last night. He doesn’t know what it was all about, though."
Janeway sat back down in her chair. "I hope it wasn’t anything to do with me. Do you think it was? She seemed so angry at me this morning."
"I don’t know Katherine. It could have been about anything. Try not to let it worry you."
"I can’t help it. I can’t bear the thought of causing trouble between them. He loves her so much."
Chakotay pondered to himself. The man that he had spoken to the evening before was torn. Tom couldn’t see it for himself, but he definitely had feelings for the Captain. I don’t think he loves B’Elanna quite as much as the Captain thinks he does.
End Part Three