No Regrets - Part 10
by T'Pam

Please see part 1 for disclaimer, codes, summary, etc.

~^~


*Tom's POV*


I have no idea what just happened between the Captain and
Chakotay, but he looks like he's seen a ghost. They'd been
talking rather intimately and then she'd left, leaving him pale
and shaky.

His gaze locks onto mine for a few seconds and I discover it's
impossible to turn away. I can see the flush creeping over his
face and I find myself blushing in return. He suddenly jumps up
and races away.

I watch him, as he runs out behind the Captain, wondering what's
going on. I can't believe that he's still chasing after her.
Didn't he get the message a long time ago? She's just not
interested in a relationship.

I find the corners of my mouth turning up in disgust. What had
he been doing in the lift? Pretending I was her? The thought
makes my blood boil and I envision taking his neck between my
fingers and squeezing tightly.

The anger drains out of me suddenly and in its place is a hard
knot of pain. My eyes burn, and I force myself to push it all
away. I don't care. He can go to hell. As quickly as
possible.

Vaguely I can hear B'Elanna talking to me. She's saying
something about last night, but I can't concentrate on her
words. All I can think about is how stupid I was in that lift.

"I'm sorry, Tom. I can be a real Targ at times."

I nod absently and she hesitates before continuing softly. My
thoughts drift away immediately as I remember the lift.

I must have known what I was doing. I can't keep telling myself
I was out of it and didn't know what the hell was going on. A
part of me - a big part - must have wanted it, or it wouldn't
have happened.

And that's a shocking thing to admit to myself. What the hell
is going on with me? Am I attracted to Chakotay? That's not
possible, because... well, because it's not. Anyway, I have
B'Elanna.

She's still talking and I force myself to listen. "I think it
might be a real problem, because it's just not going away."

I take another sip of my coffee and murmur in agreement. The
problems between us aren't going away. This whole business with
Chakotay is just making it worse. And I have to stop thinking
about Chakotay.

I know things aren't right between B'Elanna and me, but I've
never looked at anyone else since I've been with her. It
wouldn't have been right.

A stab of guilt pierces through me. Until the lift. I did more
than just look. Shit! I have to stop thinking about it.

B'Elanna's curse brings my eyes back to her. "Have you even
heard a word I've said?"

"Sure," I answer absently.

"Here I've been apologizing to you for the last five minutes and
you can't even be bothered listening to me anymore, can you?"

My thoughts are still with Chakotay. "I'm sorry, did you say
something?"

B'Elanna's fork comes crashing down between my splayed fingers.
Luckily, I'd been too slow to move. I wince at what might have
happened.

"T'ruk-D'h. Gir'nak tovo'sor. Ji'ko to'val."

"Hey!" I yell, cutting off her rather colorful outburst. "What
the hell's the matter with you? Are you goddamned crazy?"

"I must have been, to try to make things work with you," she
shouts in return.

Everyone in the mess hall has stopped eating and they're all
staring at us with wide eyes. "I've had about all I can take,"
I say furiously, standing up so that I can tower over her.

"*You've* had all you can take?" She stands up too. "I knew
I shouldn't have given you another chance."

"I didn't ask you for another chance," I say through gritted
teeth. "So guess what? We're through."

Her fist comes up and hits me square in the jaw. The blow sends
me crashing backwards into my chair, which topples over. I find
myself in an awkward heap on the floor, my jaw thumping and my
butt smarting.

There are shocked gasps from all around us, but I have no time
to gather my thoughts. A furious whirlwind of energy throws
itself on top of me, pounding me mercilessly. Screaming
obscenities at me, she knees me in the groin, effectively
stopping me from fighting back.

Things go a little hazy and then I realize that we're rolling
around, hitting table legs and knocking over chairs as we go.
People are screaming and yelling and jumping out of the way, as
we continue to thrash our way across the room.

B'Elanna's still shouting curses into my ear and I'm yelling for
some limey-livered, yellow-bellied, son of a Denebian slime
devil to get the bitch off me. It's absolute pandemonium.

All of a sudden B'Elanna's weight is lifted from me and I'm
looking directly into concerned brown eyes. I can hear B'Elanna
still struggling in the background.

"Shit, Tom," he says softly. "I take it you told her what
happened in the lift."

With that, the blackness descends.

~^~


*Chakotay's POV*


I hurry after the Captain, absolutely horrified at the
conclusion she's jumped to.

"Captain," I call, as she heads down the corridor. I sprint to
catch up.

"Captain... wait."

Finally, she stops and turns around. "Chakotay? What is it?"

She takes in my rather breathless appearance and her eyes turn
dark with worry. "What's the matter? What's wrong?"

I take a moment to catch my breath. "You can't speak to Harry.
You've got it all wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry and I..." I start to say, but two crewmembers walk up to
us and I stop myself abruptly.

They smile and nod in greeting. "Captain. Commander."

"Good morning," Kathryn answers with a smile.

I bite my lip and nod politely. Waiting until I'm positive
they're out of earshot, I try again. "You misunderstood,
Kathryn. Harry is mad at me, yes, but it's not because we slept
together. We..."

There's a giggle behind me and I turn around hastily to see
young Naomi Wildman standing there. "Good morning, Captain.
Good morning, Commander. You didn't see me sneaking up just
then, did you? I've been practicing being stealthy. Seven
told me that all good officers needed to know how to move around
quietly. Do you think I was quiet enough?"

"You certainly were, young lady," Kathryn says with an indulgent
smile. "Now, how about if you go and sneak up on someone else?"

"Okay," the little girl answers with a grin and then skips off.

Kathryn raises her eyebrows at me. "I don't think this is the
best place to be having this conversation. We need to go
somewhere a little more private."

I nod and start to follow her to the lift.

"CAPTAIN!" a voice screeches behind us and we turn around to see
Neelix running towards us. He looks completely flustered and
he's wiping his apron over his face repeatedly.

"Captain... Commander! Come quickly. It's terrible. Terrible!
Oh my, oh my."

He turns around and races back the way he came and then
disappears into the mess hall.

We race along after him and even before the doors open, we can
hear screaming and yelling coming from inside the room.

We enter into a madhouse. There's so much noise that you can't
hear yourself think. Kathryn says something to me, but I have
no idea what. I can see her lips moving, but it's impossible to
hear anything.

"What?" I yell in return.

She pushes her way through the crowd and I gamely follow.

My heart sinks as I see Tom and B'Elanna wrestling on the floor,
people gathered around them cheering. The noise level quickly
drops as more and more people spy the Captain.

B'Elanna is still swearing at the top of her lungs and Tom is
yelling about yellow-livered dung beetles or something.

"Get this bitch off me," he cries out distinctly and B'Elanna
retaliates with a right hook that leaves me reeling in sympathy.

I'm surprised that Tom's still conscious, as he continues to
struggle. I bravely hurl myself into the fray, nodding to some
of the interested spectators to give me a hand. We manage to
pull B'Elanna away and they hold her back as I kneel beside Tom.

He's a bruised and bloody mess as he stares up into my face.

"Shit, Tom," I say softly as I attempt to help him sit up.
"I take it you told her what happened in the lift."

I keep my voice down so that only he will hear. His eyes open
wide in horror and then he collapses into my arms. Cradling him
against me, I call for an immediate transport to sickbay.

As the beam engulfs us, I see Vorik staring at us thoughtfully.

~^~

"Vorik... Vorik."

Tom mumbles restlessly, continually muttering the young Vulcan's
name as the Doctor works on him.

Realistically, I couldn't really expect him to call for me. But
still... Vorik? Vorik?

Is that why B'Elanna pummeled him into the ground like that?
Not because he'd confessed what happened between us in the lift,
but because she'd discovered he'd been playing around with
Vorik?

That makes more sense, of course, and anything's possible. If
he'd told B'Elanna about us, it's me she would have attacked.
And I have heard the young engineer speak of Tom more than once
in what could only be termed glowing terms for a Vulcan.

I know I should leave. After all, Tom's injuries are not life
threatening. I should go back to the mess hall and help the
Captain. I suppose I should find Vorik and reassure him that
Tom's all right.

To hear Tom calling for the Vulcan ensign, hurts. I turn away
slowly. "I'll be in the mess hall," I tell the Doctor.

"Chakotay... Vorik," Tom calls and I wince. In his delirium, is
he getting us confused? Spirits, this hurts. I make my way to
the door.

"Mr. Paris... hold still," the Doctor grumbles.

"But Vorik heard," Tom cries out, causing me to turn back
quickly. I remember the way Vorik was looking at us as we
beamed out now. "Chakotay, stop him. He'll blab."

I go back to the biobed and look down at his agitated features.
"What do you mean... he'll blab?"

Tom tosses and turns in frustration, causing the Doctor to sniff
and mutter under his breath. "He's the biggest gossip on
board," Tom gasps out. "He'll work it out. You have to do
something."

"Vorik?" I say, in disbelief. "Gossip?"

The Doctor puts down his regenerator with an impatient sigh.
"Yes, Commander. Ensign Vorik. Even I'm aware of the young
Ensign's propensity to, as you say, spread the word. You really
should get with the program."

I decide to ignore him. "So you and he aren't... together?"

Tom looks at me as if I've lost my mind. Which, of course, I
have.

"So you *did* tell B'Elanna what happened?" I ask.

He shakes his head vigorously. "You'd be lying here next to me
if I had. I broke up with her. I didn't do it very nicely and
she didn't take it very well. And if she's in a bad mood now,
imagine how much worse she'll be if Vorik says anything to her."

"I really think I should speak with Lieutenant Torres and
explain to her in medical terms what happened," the Doctor says.
"In that way I can help diffuse any potential dramas."

"Thanks Doc, but I don't think that will help. Chakotay, you
have to stop Vorik."

I nod and run from the room.

~^~

The computer tells me that Vorik is in engineering, so I hurry
there as fast as I can. When I enter, all is quiet. Sue
Nicoletti appears to be running things. There's no sign of
B'Elanna, or more importantly to me at the moment, Vorik.

"Commander," Sue calls out as she sees me. "How's Tom?"

"He'll be fine. Do you know where Vorik is?"

"Vorik? He was here a few minutes ago. I think he wanted to
speak with Joe in private. They're in B'Elanna's office."

My heart plummets. There's only one reason why he'd want to
speak with Joe. I make my way over to the office.

I can hear Joe hissing angrily. "Just don't say anything to
anyone. You got that? B'Elanna's not too fussy who she runs
over when she's in a rampage. If she finds out you've been
gossiping..."

"Lieutenant, I hasten to assure you, I will not gossip. I was
merely asking your opinion on exactly what it was that we
inadvertently heard. I am attempting to gather and impart
knowledge in a logical endeavor to better understand my fellow
comrades."

"And I'm telling you, you're gossiping. And you're wrong. I
spoke with Tom the morning after, and he..." he breaks off as he
sees me standing in the doorway.

"Don't let me stop you," I growl.

"Commander!" Joe turns bright red, but Vorik just raises his
eyebrows a little.

I attempt to stare him down, but I should have known better.
He continues to face me, his eyebrows rising higher and higher
in inquiry.

I give up. "If you'll excuse us please, Joe, it's time Ensign
Vorik and myself had a little talk."

Joe scuttles away and I explain to Vorik just why whatever it
was he inadvertently heard is none of his business. I also
explain exactly what will happen to him if he logically
endeavors to impart or gather any further knowledge of anyone
on board the ship.

I'm firmly convinced, as I leave engineering, that I've made my
point.


To be continued in part 11.