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jesterladyficTitle: Tie Your Heart to Mine
By Jesterlady
Pairing: Tom/B'Elanna
Rating: PG-13
Summary: An extended version of Drive.
Disclaimer: I don't own ST Voyager. Some lines are from the show. The title is by Pablo Neruda.
Tie Your Heart to Mine
B’Elanna raised her head, breathing heavily, unsure of exactly what had happened.
Tom said her name somewhere next to her and she felt relieved.
“Guess we lost,” she said wryly.
“That depends,” he said, helping her to a seated position.
“On what?”
“On how you answer my question,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She stared at him for a second, trying to switch from near death experience to marriage proposal as easily as he apparently had.
“I thought you only asked it because you thought we were about to explode,” she admitted.
“Well, we’re still alive and I’m still asking,” he said, leaning in closer to her.
“How come you never asked me before?” she asked.
“How come you’re still avoiding the question?” he rejoined.
Somehow she thought he was the one avoiding the question.
“I’m thinking,” she said.
“Think faster,” he said, lazily smiling.
It was the smile that always made her feel like her insides were butter and no matter how many stomachs she would ever have, all of them started fluttering.
“Why? You going to withdraw the question?”
“No, but I might start to beg,” he murmured, about an inch away from her mouth. “Could get embarrassing.”
She let him kiss her and she enjoyed it thoroughly, but her brain was still processing. Half of her was feeling like all her doubts had been answered, and the other half was still skeptical, perhaps kept alert by their recent adrenaline rushed warp core ejection.
She broke the kiss and leaned forward, her forehead against his.
“I accept on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We still continue the discussion we were having before the ship decided to kill us.”
“Are you still worried?” he asked, pulling back and frowning.
“I just don’t want to push you into anything that you’re not really ready for simply because you feel like I’m giving you an ultimatum.”
“You think I’m just doing it to get you off my back? Wouldn’t it be easier to let you end the relationship?”
“You might have enjoyed being challenged?” she said somewhat weakly.
“What’s the real reason, B’Elanna?” he asked, looking worried. “Do you think I don’t love you, or that I don’t show you enough? Are you still worried about my priorities?”
“The fact that you deliberately lost this race shows me you care,” she said. “But that still doesn’t mean you’re ready to get married.”
“I was ready to marry you years ago,” he said. “I think we’ve been the victims of serious cultural differences. I thought you didn’t want me to hold you back.”
“I thought you wanted to keep your options open,” she said.
“Nothing could be further than the truth,” he said. “Let me get very mushy on you, okay?”
“I’ll allow it,” she said.
“I meant it when I said you’re the most important person to me and when I said I only want to be the guy you love. If that isn’t the case…I don’t know what will happen to me, but I won’t be Tom Paris anymore and I won’t be whole. You are everything, B’Elanna. At the risk of appearing needy and desperate I am begging you to marry me, to stay with me even when I don’t deserve you, to drag me up when I fall down, and to remind me when I’m being stupid. I need you so much it’s not even funny. Maybe it’s selfish to want to tie you to me, but I can’t help it. Asking you to marry me is the best idea I’ve ever had and I only wish I’d had it sooner so we could already be married and you could have been spared doubts about how I feel.”
“Oh,” she said, not quite knowing what to say.
“Remind me to make you speechless more often,” he said.
She wasn’t that great with words. He was the one who could talk down anyone, yapping till his throat swelled up. She couldn’t top what he had to say, but it made her feel better, removed her skeptical side, relieved her fears, and assured her that her answer would be an unequivocal yes.
She moved forward and kissed him slowly, gently, marking every dip in his mouth, every curve of his smile.
“My answer is yes,” she whispered. “Everything you said, that’s how I feel.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no.”
“How could I resist such a flyboy?” she asked, kissing him again.
“No idea,” he muttered, seemingly more interested in kissing her, then in continuing their conversation.
She was in complete agreement with that plan.
She wasn’t quite sure how much time they would have gotten to themselves if the com hadn’t activated just then, everyone wondering what had happened and where they were.
It was big bustle of activity then, getting the Flyer back to Voyager, finding out what Irina had done, getting Harry’s side of the story, debriefing with the Captain, and meeting with the race officials. The whole time Tom stood close to her and kept finding excuses to touch her, grinning like an idiot. She couldn’t be sure that she didn’t have her own grin.
Finally they were left with the Captain, Chakotay, Tuvoc, and Harry.
“What I want to know is why you guys stopped if you didn’t figure out what Irina had done?” said Harry.
“About that,” Tom began, but B’Elanna interrupted him.
“We’re getting married!”
It was probably the most excited she’d ever been and had no problem showing it.
Everyone’s faces were worth her outburst.
Harry looked like he was going to burst himself, his grin was so huge. Tuvoc showed no expression whatsoever, but Chakotay and the Captain smiled and immediately congratulated them.
“I guess she’s happy I asked,” said Tom.
“Hardly the most appropriate time for a marriage proposal,” said the Captain, “but I guess this is appropriate compensation for losing the race.”
“It was now or never,” said Tom. “I voted for now.”
“Good thing too,” said B’Elanna.
“When are you planning on doing it?” asked Chakotay.
“Right away,” they said together, then Tom reached for her hand and grasped it tightly.
“We’ve waited too long, Captain,” said Tom. “Permission to marry and whisk away your Chief Engineer on a long overdue honeymoon?”
“Well, I guess we’re going to be here for awhile,” she said. “Permission granted.”
“When are you free?” Tom asked, turning to B’Elanna.
“Give me a few hours and I’m yours,” she said.
“Neelix is going to need a bit more than that,” said Harry.
“No big ceremony or reception,” B’Elanna said. “Just the senior staff and then we leave right away. We’re…” she turned to Tom, “what’s that word again?”
“Eloping,” he said. “We would like permission to elope, Captain.”
“Granted again, Mr. Paris,” she said. “Somebody go tell Neelix so he can get something together. Chakotay, rearrange duty rosters as needed. Harry, would you mind awfully letting the Doctor and Seven know what’s going on?”
“I’m on it, Captain,” said Harry, clapping Tom on the back on his way out of the briefing room.
“Hey, best man,” said Tom, after him. “Get the Delta Flyer ready, would you?”
“No shuttle with a warp core?” asked Harry.
“She’d be wounded if she wasn’t the one to take us. Besides, for once I don’t plan on rushing anything,” said Tom.
B’Elanna rolled her eyes at him.
Harry and Tuvoc left, Tuvoc gravely offering them congratulations on their planned nuptials. Chakotay made to follow them but B’Elanna caught his arm.
“Before you go rearrange anything would you mind letting me know if you’ll stand beside me?”
“I’d be offended if you asked anyone else,” he said, squeezing her arm and smiling warmly.
He and the Captain left leaving Tom and B’Elanna standing there, staring at each other.
“Rings, we need rings,” he said.
“If you’ve used up your replicator rations I’ll wring your neck,” she said.
“I was saving them for something,” he said. “So…I think I’ll be fine. Nothing too flashy for me, okay? I’m settling down.”
“What about vows?” she asked.
“I know what I want to say, how about you?”
“I think I have an idea,” she said.
“Anything else on your mind?” he said.
“Meet you in a few hours,” she said, pulling him closer and kissing him. “Dress uniform.”
“I can’t wait,” he said.
B’Elanna went to her quarters and turned on the sonic shower before getting her dress uniform on and pausing to look at herself in the mirror. She normally didn’t spend that much time on her appearance except for making sure her hair was straightened, but she couldn’t help but want to look different today. She sat down in front of the mirror and thought for a moment before slowly grabbing the strands of hair on the sides of her face and painstakingly beginning the weaving process she remembered her cousin showing her over and over again when they were younger.
When she was finished she looked at herself in the mirror and was satisfied. There was nothing fancy about it, but it was different than how she looked every day and that’s what she wanted.
Someone signaled at her door and she opened it to reveal Chakotay in his own dress uniform.
“You ready?” he asked. “You look ready.”
“Do I?” she asked.
“You look beautiful and ready,” he said, offering her his arm.
She took it, feeling a little bit nervous, but very happy.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I’m very happy for you,” he said. “But I reserve the right to break his nose if you aren’t.”
“I would expect nothing less,” she said. “Is everyone ready?”
“All gathered in the mess hall which has been cleared for the occasion,” he answered. “Neelix somehow put up flowers from the airponics bay everywhere and produced a cake. In between getting the Flyer ready and looking rather handsome in his dress uniform, Harry managed to upgrade the Doctor’s appearance to include a dress uniform of his own, and the Doctor somehow was able to convince Seven into wearing her hair down as part of her social lessons.”
“All that for us?”
“All of that for you,” he said, pausing in front of the mess hall. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” she said, passing him the ring that she’d replicated before her shower.
The doors opened and music started, Harry playing his clarinet, she saw. The Doctor was posed with his holo imager and Seven beside him. The Captain stood behind an arch and Neelix was beaming in the background, nudging Tuvoc with his elbow, who stood ramrod straight, his uniform crisp and perfect.
B’Elanna simply saw Tom who was staring at her like she had two heads.
Chakotay brought her to the front and then stepped back, while Tom took her hands. His palms felt warm and slightly sweaty and she wondered just how nervous he was. He looked steadily at her, however, and she looked him right in the eyes.
The Captain spread out her hands and Harry stopped playing, passing off his clarinet to Neelix and stepping up to stand beside Tom.
“Friends, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of two of our friends. Tom and B’Elanna have asked to make this a quick ceremony so I shall let them speak their own vows. Mr. Paris?”
Tom nodded at the Captain and then gripped B’Elanna’s hands a little tighter.
“I still don't know what I've done to deserve you but…but whatever it is, I'll try to keep doing it, to make sure you know that you are always my first priority. And I promise to stand by you, to honor you, till death do us part.” Harry produced a ring and Tom placed it on her finger. “May this ring be the symbol of our eternal love.”
B’Elanna sucked in a breath and tried to put her feelings into words, to be as articulate as he had been.
“You stood by me when most people would have run for the nearest airlock. You were willing to see past my shortcomings, and to take all the bumps and bruises that came along with it. You made me a better person even though I put up one hell of a fight. I look forward to our journey together.” She took Tom’s ring from Chakotay and placed it on Tom’s finger. “May this ring be the symbol of our eternal love.”
Tom smiled and slid his hands up her arm, stepping in closer even while the Captain started speaking again.
“Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: with the power vested in me by Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
Tom’s lips were on B’Elanna’s before the Captain had finished speaking and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.
Everyone cheered around them and Neelix started throwing rice that he’d gotten from who knows where. B’Elanna barely noticed anything else, because her heart felt like someone had pumped her full of adrenaline and she wanted to scream to let out the excess energy. Instead she concentrated on kissing Tom back and that was really the best decision she felt capable of making at the moment.
“Bravo!” said the Captain. “Now, if you two can bear to separate for two minutes we’ve prepared a little send off before we enjoy your reception.”
“Pictures first, Captain,” piped up the Doctor.
“Yes, pictures!” said Harry.
Tom pulled away from B’Elanna with some reluctance but she could see how happy he was.
The Doctor framed the two of them under the arch Neelix had created and then snapped some shots of them, then with the Captain, then with Chakotay and Harry, and finally with all of them. B’Elanna was exhausted thinking about it, but she was fairly sure she’d want to have pictures of today so she only contemplated kicking the Doctor a few times.
“It’s not eloping if we hang around,” protested Tom finally.
“Get out of here,” said Chakotay. “Your bags have been packed and we’ve plotted you a nice, boring course.”
“Oh, it won’t be boring,” said Tom, winking at Harry.
B'Elanna dug her elbow into his ribs and he wrapped his arm around her.
“Safe travels to you both,” said the Captain, hugging them.
There was a lot more hugging and everyone lined up on either side of the door while Tom and B’Elanna passed through it.
They went instantly to the shuttle bay and Tom laughed when he saw that Harry had written Just Married across the Flyer.
“It must be true then,” he said.
They boarded and Tom took them out of the shuttlebay, impulse drive slowly carrying them away from Voyager.
Tom laughed again when they saw that the small cots had been pushed together in the quarters, a bucket of champagne next to them.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked when he just stood there.
“My wife,” he said.
“I’m here,” she said.
He pulled her close, taking his time to kiss her face, grazing his lips across it, while his hands tugged at the back of her uniform.
“I like your hair,” he whispered.
“Yours looks good too,” she said.
He chuckled softly, blowing warm air down her neck, sending shivers down her spine.
His lips were making her gut twist and spasm in anticipation, heat rising from her belly. She was pretty good at clamping down on her emotions, well aware of how inappropriate they could be for whatever reason. However, tonight there was no reason to hold back and she bit into Tom’s neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to let him know she was absolutely ready to stop playing around and consummate this marriage already.
He pulled back and took her uniform off, before moving back in to kiss her again, harder this time.
“Impatient?”
“Just ready,” she said. “Hurry up.”
He shed his own uniform and pushed her back against the wall, holding her arms above her head, while he nipped at the flesh of her neck. She growled, low in her throat, and pushed against him, needing more friction.
“You asked for it,” he said.
“You going to give it?” she said.
“Eternally, as it turns out,” he said.
She liked the sound of that.
By Jesterlady
Pairing: Tom/B'Elanna
Rating: PG-13
Summary: An extended version of Drive.
Disclaimer: I don't own ST Voyager. Some lines are from the show. The title is by Pablo Neruda.
Tie Your Heart to Mine
B’Elanna raised her head, breathing heavily, unsure of exactly what had happened.
Tom said her name somewhere next to her and she felt relieved.
“Guess we lost,” she said wryly.
“That depends,” he said, helping her to a seated position.
“On what?”
“On how you answer my question,” he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
She stared at him for a second, trying to switch from near death experience to marriage proposal as easily as he apparently had.
“I thought you only asked it because you thought we were about to explode,” she admitted.
“Well, we’re still alive and I’m still asking,” he said, leaning in closer to her.
“How come you never asked me before?” she asked.
“How come you’re still avoiding the question?” he rejoined.
Somehow she thought he was the one avoiding the question.
“I’m thinking,” she said.
“Think faster,” he said, lazily smiling.
It was the smile that always made her feel like her insides were butter and no matter how many stomachs she would ever have, all of them started fluttering.
“Why? You going to withdraw the question?”
“No, but I might start to beg,” he murmured, about an inch away from her mouth. “Could get embarrassing.”
She let him kiss her and she enjoyed it thoroughly, but her brain was still processing. Half of her was feeling like all her doubts had been answered, and the other half was still skeptical, perhaps kept alert by their recent adrenaline rushed warp core ejection.
She broke the kiss and leaned forward, her forehead against his.
“I accept on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“We still continue the discussion we were having before the ship decided to kill us.”
“Are you still worried?” he asked, pulling back and frowning.
“I just don’t want to push you into anything that you’re not really ready for simply because you feel like I’m giving you an ultimatum.”
“You think I’m just doing it to get you off my back? Wouldn’t it be easier to let you end the relationship?”
“You might have enjoyed being challenged?” she said somewhat weakly.
“What’s the real reason, B’Elanna?” he asked, looking worried. “Do you think I don’t love you, or that I don’t show you enough? Are you still worried about my priorities?”
“The fact that you deliberately lost this race shows me you care,” she said. “But that still doesn’t mean you’re ready to get married.”
“I was ready to marry you years ago,” he said. “I think we’ve been the victims of serious cultural differences. I thought you didn’t want me to hold you back.”
“I thought you wanted to keep your options open,” she said.
“Nothing could be further than the truth,” he said. “Let me get very mushy on you, okay?”
“I’ll allow it,” she said.
“I meant it when I said you’re the most important person to me and when I said I only want to be the guy you love. If that isn’t the case…I don’t know what will happen to me, but I won’t be Tom Paris anymore and I won’t be whole. You are everything, B’Elanna. At the risk of appearing needy and desperate I am begging you to marry me, to stay with me even when I don’t deserve you, to drag me up when I fall down, and to remind me when I’m being stupid. I need you so much it’s not even funny. Maybe it’s selfish to want to tie you to me, but I can’t help it. Asking you to marry me is the best idea I’ve ever had and I only wish I’d had it sooner so we could already be married and you could have been spared doubts about how I feel.”
“Oh,” she said, not quite knowing what to say.
“Remind me to make you speechless more often,” he said.
She wasn’t that great with words. He was the one who could talk down anyone, yapping till his throat swelled up. She couldn’t top what he had to say, but it made her feel better, removed her skeptical side, relieved her fears, and assured her that her answer would be an unequivocal yes.
She moved forward and kissed him slowly, gently, marking every dip in his mouth, every curve of his smile.
“My answer is yes,” she whispered. “Everything you said, that’s how I feel.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I don’t know what I would have done if you’d said no.”
“How could I resist such a flyboy?” she asked, kissing him again.
“No idea,” he muttered, seemingly more interested in kissing her, then in continuing their conversation.
She was in complete agreement with that plan.
She wasn’t quite sure how much time they would have gotten to themselves if the com hadn’t activated just then, everyone wondering what had happened and where they were.
It was big bustle of activity then, getting the Flyer back to Voyager, finding out what Irina had done, getting Harry’s side of the story, debriefing with the Captain, and meeting with the race officials. The whole time Tom stood close to her and kept finding excuses to touch her, grinning like an idiot. She couldn’t be sure that she didn’t have her own grin.
Finally they were left with the Captain, Chakotay, Tuvoc, and Harry.
“What I want to know is why you guys stopped if you didn’t figure out what Irina had done?” said Harry.
“About that,” Tom began, but B’Elanna interrupted him.
“We’re getting married!”
It was probably the most excited she’d ever been and had no problem showing it.
Everyone’s faces were worth her outburst.
Harry looked like he was going to burst himself, his grin was so huge. Tuvoc showed no expression whatsoever, but Chakotay and the Captain smiled and immediately congratulated them.
“I guess she’s happy I asked,” said Tom.
“Hardly the most appropriate time for a marriage proposal,” said the Captain, “but I guess this is appropriate compensation for losing the race.”
“It was now or never,” said Tom. “I voted for now.”
“Good thing too,” said B’Elanna.
“When are you planning on doing it?” asked Chakotay.
“Right away,” they said together, then Tom reached for her hand and grasped it tightly.
“We’ve waited too long, Captain,” said Tom. “Permission to marry and whisk away your Chief Engineer on a long overdue honeymoon?”
“Well, I guess we’re going to be here for awhile,” she said. “Permission granted.”
“When are you free?” Tom asked, turning to B’Elanna.
“Give me a few hours and I’m yours,” she said.
“Neelix is going to need a bit more than that,” said Harry.
“No big ceremony or reception,” B’Elanna said. “Just the senior staff and then we leave right away. We’re…” she turned to Tom, “what’s that word again?”
“Eloping,” he said. “We would like permission to elope, Captain.”
“Granted again, Mr. Paris,” she said. “Somebody go tell Neelix so he can get something together. Chakotay, rearrange duty rosters as needed. Harry, would you mind awfully letting the Doctor and Seven know what’s going on?”
“I’m on it, Captain,” said Harry, clapping Tom on the back on his way out of the briefing room.
“Hey, best man,” said Tom, after him. “Get the Delta Flyer ready, would you?”
“No shuttle with a warp core?” asked Harry.
“She’d be wounded if she wasn’t the one to take us. Besides, for once I don’t plan on rushing anything,” said Tom.
B’Elanna rolled her eyes at him.
Harry and Tuvoc left, Tuvoc gravely offering them congratulations on their planned nuptials. Chakotay made to follow them but B’Elanna caught his arm.
“Before you go rearrange anything would you mind letting me know if you’ll stand beside me?”
“I’d be offended if you asked anyone else,” he said, squeezing her arm and smiling warmly.
He and the Captain left leaving Tom and B’Elanna standing there, staring at each other.
“Rings, we need rings,” he said.
“If you’ve used up your replicator rations I’ll wring your neck,” she said.
“I was saving them for something,” he said. “So…I think I’ll be fine. Nothing too flashy for me, okay? I’m settling down.”
“What about vows?” she asked.
“I know what I want to say, how about you?”
“I think I have an idea,” she said.
“Anything else on your mind?” he said.
“Meet you in a few hours,” she said, pulling him closer and kissing him. “Dress uniform.”
“I can’t wait,” he said.
B’Elanna went to her quarters and turned on the sonic shower before getting her dress uniform on and pausing to look at herself in the mirror. She normally didn’t spend that much time on her appearance except for making sure her hair was straightened, but she couldn’t help but want to look different today. She sat down in front of the mirror and thought for a moment before slowly grabbing the strands of hair on the sides of her face and painstakingly beginning the weaving process she remembered her cousin showing her over and over again when they were younger.
When she was finished she looked at herself in the mirror and was satisfied. There was nothing fancy about it, but it was different than how she looked every day and that’s what she wanted.
Someone signaled at her door and she opened it to reveal Chakotay in his own dress uniform.
“You ready?” he asked. “You look ready.”
“Do I?” she asked.
“You look beautiful and ready,” he said, offering her his arm.
She took it, feeling a little bit nervous, but very happy.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I’m very happy for you,” he said. “But I reserve the right to break his nose if you aren’t.”
“I would expect nothing less,” she said. “Is everyone ready?”
“All gathered in the mess hall which has been cleared for the occasion,” he answered. “Neelix somehow put up flowers from the airponics bay everywhere and produced a cake. In between getting the Flyer ready and looking rather handsome in his dress uniform, Harry managed to upgrade the Doctor’s appearance to include a dress uniform of his own, and the Doctor somehow was able to convince Seven into wearing her hair down as part of her social lessons.”
“All that for us?”
“All of that for you,” he said, pausing in front of the mess hall. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” she said, passing him the ring that she’d replicated before her shower.
The doors opened and music started, Harry playing his clarinet, she saw. The Doctor was posed with his holo imager and Seven beside him. The Captain stood behind an arch and Neelix was beaming in the background, nudging Tuvoc with his elbow, who stood ramrod straight, his uniform crisp and perfect.
B’Elanna simply saw Tom who was staring at her like she had two heads.
Chakotay brought her to the front and then stepped back, while Tom took her hands. His palms felt warm and slightly sweaty and she wondered just how nervous he was. He looked steadily at her, however, and she looked him right in the eyes.
The Captain spread out her hands and Harry stopped playing, passing off his clarinet to Neelix and stepping up to stand beside Tom.
“Friends, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of two of our friends. Tom and B’Elanna have asked to make this a quick ceremony so I shall let them speak their own vows. Mr. Paris?”
Tom nodded at the Captain and then gripped B’Elanna’s hands a little tighter.
“I still don't know what I've done to deserve you but…but whatever it is, I'll try to keep doing it, to make sure you know that you are always my first priority. And I promise to stand by you, to honor you, till death do us part.” Harry produced a ring and Tom placed it on her finger. “May this ring be the symbol of our eternal love.”
B’Elanna sucked in a breath and tried to put her feelings into words, to be as articulate as he had been.
“You stood by me when most people would have run for the nearest airlock. You were willing to see past my shortcomings, and to take all the bumps and bruises that came along with it. You made me a better person even though I put up one hell of a fight. I look forward to our journey together.” She took Tom’s ring from Chakotay and placed it on Tom’s finger. “May this ring be the symbol of our eternal love.”
Tom smiled and slid his hands up her arm, stepping in closer even while the Captain started speaking again.
“Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: with the power vested in me by Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
Tom’s lips were on B’Elanna’s before the Captain had finished speaking and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.
Everyone cheered around them and Neelix started throwing rice that he’d gotten from who knows where. B’Elanna barely noticed anything else, because her heart felt like someone had pumped her full of adrenaline and she wanted to scream to let out the excess energy. Instead she concentrated on kissing Tom back and that was really the best decision she felt capable of making at the moment.
“Bravo!” said the Captain. “Now, if you two can bear to separate for two minutes we’ve prepared a little send off before we enjoy your reception.”
“Pictures first, Captain,” piped up the Doctor.
“Yes, pictures!” said Harry.
Tom pulled away from B’Elanna with some reluctance but she could see how happy he was.
The Doctor framed the two of them under the arch Neelix had created and then snapped some shots of them, then with the Captain, then with Chakotay and Harry, and finally with all of them. B’Elanna was exhausted thinking about it, but she was fairly sure she’d want to have pictures of today so she only contemplated kicking the Doctor a few times.
“It’s not eloping if we hang around,” protested Tom finally.
“Get out of here,” said Chakotay. “Your bags have been packed and we’ve plotted you a nice, boring course.”
“Oh, it won’t be boring,” said Tom, winking at Harry.
B'Elanna dug her elbow into his ribs and he wrapped his arm around her.
“Safe travels to you both,” said the Captain, hugging them.
There was a lot more hugging and everyone lined up on either side of the door while Tom and B’Elanna passed through it.
They went instantly to the shuttle bay and Tom laughed when he saw that Harry had written Just Married across the Flyer.
“It must be true then,” he said.
They boarded and Tom took them out of the shuttlebay, impulse drive slowly carrying them away from Voyager.
Tom laughed again when they saw that the small cots had been pushed together in the quarters, a bucket of champagne next to them.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked when he just stood there.
“My wife,” he said.
“I’m here,” she said.
He pulled her close, taking his time to kiss her face, grazing his lips across it, while his hands tugged at the back of her uniform.
“I like your hair,” he whispered.
“Yours looks good too,” she said.
He chuckled softly, blowing warm air down her neck, sending shivers down her spine.
His lips were making her gut twist and spasm in anticipation, heat rising from her belly. She was pretty good at clamping down on her emotions, well aware of how inappropriate they could be for whatever reason. However, tonight there was no reason to hold back and she bit into Tom’s neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to let him know she was absolutely ready to stop playing around and consummate this marriage already.
He pulled back and took her uniform off, before moving back in to kiss her again, harder this time.
“Impatient?”
“Just ready,” she said. “Hurry up.”
He shed his own uniform and pushed her back against the wall, holding her arms above her head, while he nipped at the flesh of her neck. She growled, low in her throat, and pushed against him, needing more friction.
“You asked for it,” he said.
“You going to give it?” she said.
“Eternally, as it turns out,” he said.
She liked the sound of that.
