Emotions Series 04 Rekindled Emotions Read online

  "What's wrong, Tom?" A voice brought him out of his thoughts.

  Tom blinked and saw B'Elanna standing in the doorway between her bathroom and the bedroom. She saw the spheres lying on the floor and she looked at him with a questioning expression on her face.

  "I found them in your dresser," Tom answered her unspoken question. "We found them at a market, didn't we?"

  B'Elanna's eyes opened wide. He remembered something. She didn't know what to say or do. She went to him and embraced him in a tight hug. She released him after a moment and stared into his eyes.

  "Yes, Tom. We bought them for our boys," she said, tears building in her eyes. "After that, you were taken from us. It was six months before we found you."

  Tom nodded, "I bumped into an alien. I remember that alien had a friend," the his voice lowered so she had to strain to hear him. "Then they sold me to a woman."

  B'Elanna hugged him again and let her tears fall. Tom brought his arms up around her--it felt right.

  "Do you remember anything else?"

  Tom shook his head sadly.

  "It'll come, Tom, this is a good sign."

  "B'Elanna, tell me about what happened after I was captured?"

  B'Elanna swallowed hard and withdrew from his embrace. She faced her husband with a Klingon's determination. "She made you have sex with her, Tom. She drugged you so that you would forget about all of us and so you'd be submissive. When we found you, you had no idea who you were or who we were. All you knew was that petaQ!" her voice cracked slightly recalling the memories. "I cursed her everyday, Tom, for taking you away from me!"

  Tom wrapped his arms around her again and comforted her as best he could. He stroked her hair then kissed her forehead, "I'm sorry, B'Elanna."

  B'Elanna looked at him, "For what?"

  "I'm sorry that you had to raise the boys all by yourself. I'm sorry I left you."

  B'Elanna smiled sadly, "It wasn't you fault, Tom. They made us think you were dead."

  Tom shook his head and hugged her again, "It must have been difficult to raise them alone."

  B'Elanna smiled, "It was but I had help. Harry, Alera, Janeway, Chakotay. Even Neelix. They all helped me."

  Tom chuckled, "I'm glad they've been such great friends to you and the boys."

  B'Elanna looked at him. She could see a slight expression of pain in his blue eyes and knew what he must be thinking, "They're your friends as well, Tom. They know that you've changed. They know that you are trying to remember."

  Tom nodded and embraced her again. He hugged her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

  "B'Elanna, you want to go to lunch with me?"

  She nodded and smiled.

  Chapter Six

  Harry bent his head and gave Alera a kiss before taking his place next to her at the dining room table. He looked around to make sure that Tom and B'Elanna hadn't arrived. "Well, according to the Captain, the plan is in place and going along on schedule."

  "I don't know about this, Harry. You know it may backfire on you," his fiancee.

  But we have to try something. It's killing B'Elanna, him not remembering.

  Alera nodded. "Well I suppose you're right. Something has to be done. I just wish it didn't have to come to this."

  ****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****^^^^****

  B'Elanna had been patient but Tom hadn't regained any more of his memories back since he had found the balls. She had been confident that that would be the catalyst that would cause him to remember, but it hadn't. She still saw her husband and he the boys.

  After their lunch together, he had taken them for the rest of the day. And now it was two hours after her shift had ended and she had been waiting for Tom to bring the boys back for over an hour. Finally, she couldn't wait any longer and decided that she was going to retrieve her sons.

  "Come back here you little scalawags!" Tom yelled. Were the first words that B'Elanna heard when she opened the door to Tom's quarters.

  Tom's cry was accompanied by a series of high-pitched squeals punctuated with numerous 'Dadas,' and overlying it all was bubbling laughter, coming not only from the twins but from Tom Paris as well.

  The first thing she saw when she entered the cabin was Tom's bed sheets draped over his chairs and dining table forming a type of impromptu tent. The second thing she saw was her twins running around the tent while Tom's arm shot of out the tent in a futile attempt to catch the two--as he called them--scalagwags. What exactly was a scalawag? B'Elanna mused.

  B'Elanna still upset at the boys not being brought home at the agreed upon hour, dropped to her knees so she could peer in at the father of her twins. "Thomas Eugene Paris, Kyle and Lucas were suppose to have been brought back over an hour ago!" At that moment, the twins chose to launch themselves at their father. Tom grabbed them both and rolled over and out of the far end of the 'tent.' Look back through the opening with an exaggerated pout at B'Elanna, he replied, "but, B'Elanna, we have having so much fun."

  B'Elanna growled and crawled through the tent to join her men-- strike that boys--on the other side. "Tom Paris, I just don't know what to do with you!"

  "Well, boys, if she doesn't know what to do with your father, what should we do with her?" Two pair of blue eyes and one pair of dark brown eyes focused on the only female in the cabin, each pair was lit with conspiratorial joy. Tom sat up abruptly, grabbled his wife by her arms, and pulled B'Elanna toward him and his sons. Then, he started tickling her along her rib cage and the boys tried vainly to join in trying their hand at tickling their mother's ears and neck.

  It was now B'Elanna's turn to squeal and laugh. It had been a long time since she remembered laughing so hard. But the best thing of all was to see the blue dancing eyes of her husband beneath her. That thought stilled her laughter. The boys having tired of the game had left their now quiet parents and where playing on the other side of the room. Under her, all she could see and feel was her husband. She tentatively brought her lips down to touch his, hoping that he would reciprocate. It reminded her of the first time they kissed. The exploration of uncharted erotic territory. The uncertainty of how the other would react. To her relief he did indeed respond.

  When she brought her lips down to touch his own he couldn't believe that it was happening. He wanted to feel her lips against his own, to taste her sweetness. But what bothered him was the why. Why did he want to kiss her? Was it because she was an exotic lovely woman, or because he was starting to feel something for his wife again. Tom knew better than to reject such a wonderful gift, and he thought that just one kiss couldn't hurt, could it?

  They kissed, he pulled her closer, and their lips parted but just before their tongues touched the twins ran to them giggling and tumbled into their parents interrupting the tender moment.

  "Um, I guess, we should go," B'Elanna said ruffling her boys' hair and pulling them to her.

  "Do you have to?"

  "The boys need to get ready for bed, and I think I heard Harry saying something today when he was assigned to Engineering that he and Alera were going to come over and see you.

  "Well, I'm sorry I didn't get the boys back home in time," he lied.

  "Are you?"

  "Really? I guess not. I do love them, B'Elanna." She smiled. "And you are welcome to come play with us anytime."

  "Thanks," she looked up at him for a moment before the boys made their presence known again by pulling on her pant leg. "Come on, Kyle, Lucas, we have to go home."

  B'Elanna and his sons left and Tom picked up his cabin, putting the sheets back on his bed and the chair back under the table. he wondered.

  It was these thoughts that wove their way through his mind when his door annunciator rang.

  He spoke up. "It's open!"

  The door slid soundlessly open and Harry and Alera stepped int
o his cabin. As soon as Alera entered the room she could sense Tom's feelings, his sense of confusion and of his thoughts straying to other places besides the present.

  Harry saw the look of concern for his friend on his fiancee's face. "Tom, are you feeling all right?" he asked. "Is anything wrong?"

  "Wrong? No, not really. I wouldn't call it wrong. I guess I'm perplexed. Please, have a seat," he motioned to the sofa and he pulled out one of the dining room chairs and straddled it, it's back to his chest.

  Harry was curious. "Perplexed?"

  "Well, B'Elanna was just here. She came by to pick up Kyle and Lucas. I was goofing around with the boys and B'Elanna joined in too. Then one thing led to another and we...um...kissed," he added in a soft voice.

  Harry's eyes lit with elation. "That's wonderful, Tom!"

  "Is it?"

  "Of course, it is," he replied and then noticed that Alera still looked worried. "Isn't it?" he asked his fiancee.

  "Maybe. It could be, but I sense that Tom's confused," she concluded.

  Tom rose from the chair and began to pace trying to release some restless energy. "Alera's right. I don't know if I'm falling in love with her for the first time, or if I'm remembering when we were in love before, or if it is something different altogether."

  "Does it matter?" Harry questioned.

  "To me it does, Harry. It doesn't mean that I don't care for her, but it would be good to know if my memories were actually coming back. Am I assuming it is love because I feel that I am obligated to love her, or are the feelings true either from falling in love with her again or remembering the love we had before?" Tom sat back down in his seat. He was silent with his thoughts for several minutes before he realized that no one had said anything for quite a while. "I'm sorry to have dropped all this psychological stuff on you. What was it you came down to see me about? I know it wasn't just to listen to me power whine."

  "Gee, Tom, if you can't power whine to friends, who can you whine too?" Harry said with a grin which made Tom chuckle and Alera smile in agreement.

  "Thanks. But tell me what you came down to see me for, I can tell you have something you want to share."

  "You're right. It's like this. Alera and I finally set a date for the wedding."

  Tom smiled for the pair. "That's wonderful, when is it?"

  "We just came from the Captain and we set a date for a week from tomorrow, but we have a little problem," Harry told him.

  "Problem? Is it something I can help you with?"

  "Could be. How would you like to be my best man?"

  Tom smile widely. "I'd be very honored. Thanks for asking me."

  "You're my best friend, who else would I ask?" Tom smiled.

  Harry and Alera left Tom behind with the advice to not think about his feelings for B'Elanna so much or it would just tear him up inside. When they left the cabin Alera turned to Harry.

  "Maybe you don't have to go through with the plan to get them back together?" she asked.

  "Maybe. Could be that little push we gave Tom did the trick. At least we can hope."

  Their next stop was B'Elanna's cabin. When the entered the cabin, B'Elanna was alone having just put the kids down for the night. Alera asked her to be her Matron of Honor and B'Elanna of course was delighted to accept.

  Chapter Seven

  Harry and Alera were eating in the Mess Hall when Janeway and Chakotay joined them. The two asked the ensigns about the progress of Tom and B'Elanna.

  "Tom admitted to us that he is starting to have feelings for B'Elanna again, "Alera mentioned. "He's confused, though."

  "Confused about what?" Janeway asked, concerned.

  Harry pushed his tray aside and answered, "Tom doesn't know if he always had these feelings and they're resurfacing or is he's falling in love with her for the first time."

  Janeway and Chakotay looked at each other. This was progress, but they knew Tom would not admit it to B'Elanna. He was too confused. He needed something to boost his confidence.

  "If Tom is admitting that he has feelings for B'Elanna then maybe if we can get him alone with her..."

  "He'll admit it to her," Harry finished Janeway's thought.

  The matchmakers nodded. Now they had to think of a way to get the two alone together. Harry and the Captain had the answers.

  "I can trick Tom into playing a game of pool," Harry said.

  "And I can ask B'Elanna to attend your wedding shower," Janeway added.

  Alera and Chakotay nodded in agreement, "Good idea. I assume you have a program already in mind?" the Commander asked.

  Harry nodded, "A beautiful one. Alera and I will watch their progress in the shadows, that way if things start to backfire we can create a diversion or something."

  Chakotay smiled, "Just make sure they don't see you."

  Alera laughed, "If all goes well, they won't even notice they're on the holodeck."

  *******

  At about 1900, Harry paged Tom and asked him if he wanted to play a game of pool in Sandrine's. Tom accepted immediately adding that he needed a break from his reports.

  "Reports?" Harry asked.

  "Yeah. After two days of messing around with the nav controls in Engineering I know have two days of reports to do. On top of that, reports from the other pilots came in that need to be reviewed. I've been reading them for three hours. I need a break."

  Harry chuckled, . "Glad I can be of help. Meet me in Holodeck Two."

  "I'm there. Paris out."

  Harry closed the link and contacted Janeway. "It's your turn, Captain."

  Kathryn smiled, "Thanks, Harry. Janeway to Torres."

  At about 1925, Tom Paris strode onto Holodeck Two. He stopped almost at once. He looked around at his surroundings completely confused if not angry.

  "Harry, what is this!?" Tom shouted.

  The pilot stood in the middle of an Nineteenth Century casino complete with bar and poker tables. He heard the silent churning of water, and looking out through the windows to the moon-dappled water, he knew that he was on a riverboat. The large room had a dance floor off to his left as well as a large mirror behind the bar. Except for his clothing, he could almost say that he was in the Nineteenth Century.

  Tom sighed and made his way to the bar. He was curious as to why Harry had changed the program. He was beginning to think that he was set up, but he couldn't understand why?

  "Harry, you can show yourself now!" Tom shouted to the room.

  Tom turned back to the bar and stared into the mirror, thinking that maybe he could spot Harry in it. The mirror though only showed his reflection and the tables behind him. Then he spotted a wide staircase which led up to the next floor. Thinking that Harry might be hiding up there, he headed for the stairs.

  Just as he placed his foot on the first step, he heard the holodeck doors slide open and close. Tom turned around and saw the very person that had been giving him all the confusing feelings lately.

  B'Elanna stared at him, stunned. She thought she was going to a wedding shower so she did not expect to see Tom.

  "What are *you* doing here?" she asked, hoping that she didn't sound rude.

  Tom shrugged, "Harry called me and asked if I wanted to play some pool. I came here and found this. So I thought he changed the program. What are you doing here?"

  B'Elanna smiled. They had been set up. She sighed and answered, "Alera called me and invited me to her wedding shower. I guess we were both tricked."

  "I guess so," Tom whispered, but not low enough that she didn't hear him.

  "Buy you a drink?" B'Elanna asked, heading for the bar. she thought .

  "Of course," Tom answered and sat down beside her.

  The two took their drinks of synthehal wine and sank into their own thoughts. In the shadows of the program, Harry and Alera watched the two. The ensigns smiled at the progress that they saw and hoped that this would be the beginning to
their friends getting back together.

  B'Elanna watched Tom from the corner of her eye. The incident with the boys yesterday was both wonderful and a surprise. They had kissed and she felt that familiar rush of excitement as she stared into his blue eyes. She could feel that same rush flowing from him as well. It was an intense feeling which surprised her. She didn't think she would ever feel such feelings from him again.

  Tom was deep in his own thoughts. He stared into his glass as he recalled the day he found the spheres. It was a break-through for him, and for her, he knew. He had remembered when and how he was taken from her and the boys. It was a terrible memory for both of them. The pilot knew that there would be more horrible memories to come, if what she told him was true. He didn't think he would want to remember those at all.

  The pilot looked at B'Elanna. She was starting at the mirror across from them. She caught him looking at her, and she smiled. He returned the smile and an idea came to mind.

  "Computer, replicate B'Elanna a costume concurrent with the time of Nineteenth Century Mississippi. Create a matching costume for me."

  At once, B'Elanna's uniform was transformed in to a beautiful cream color gown. It had a tapered waist and the skirt flowed fully out around her to just brush the floor. The elbow-length sleeves were full and puffy and a V-neck showed just a little of her cleavage.

  Tom took in a breath as he gazed at the vision before him. The light color of her dress accentuated her tan skin and dark hair. It also brought out her dark fiery eyes that seemed to pull him into them.

  *Gods, she beautiful,* Tom thought as he felt his temperature rise at the sight.

  Tom's uniform was transformed as well. He wore a light colored suit that almost matched his hair. There was pale blue vest underneath the jacket of the suit. The silk shirt that he wore was also a pale blue that brought out his sky blue eyes. The slacks fit just right and they tapered over fawn colored boots.

  B'Elanna couldn't take her eyes off of what she saw. She was finally able to stare into his eyes that seemed to pierce her soul. She smiled shyly.

  "You look perfect," she whispered almost afraid that her voice would break the mood.

  Tom smiled and extended his hand, "So do you, B'Elanna. May I have this dance."