Arianna giggled. It was her 5th birthday today. They were going to have a party. With presents, and a Leola root cake. For some reason when she told him what kind of cake she wanted her Daddy had muttered, “Can’t believe my daughter likes Leola root.” Sometimes Daddy said things that didn’t make much sense. But she loved him anyway.
“Computer, time.” she said quietly.
“0700" the computer’s dispassionate voice replied.
“Yippe!!” She squealed. Her Daddy had forbid her to wake him before 7 for anything less than a red alert. But now she could start the day. Her birthday. Running to her daddy’s bedroom she rushed through the door and jumped, landing, as usual, right on her daddy’s stomach. “Wake up Daddy!” she caroled.
Tom let out an oof as his daughter landed on his stomach. He opened his eyes and focused on the cheerful five-year old on his stomach. He couldn’t wait until she grew out of this.
“Morning Aria,” he croaked, still half asleep. Gods he hated mornings.
“Guess what day it is today Daddy.” Arianna ordered
Tom feigned confusion, “umm.... are we cleaning today?”
“No!”
“Uh... let’s see... is today....my day off ?”
“No! Today’s my birthday!” the exasperated 5 year old announced.
“No. You’re birthday? Now how old would that make you?”
“5!5!5!”
“Hmm... let’s see are you 4?”
“No Daddy! Stop being silly! I’m 5!”
“5? No you can’t be 5.”
“Yes I am! I am!”
“Really? 5? Wow. Well if you’re 5 I suppose you deserve a present of some sort.” He got up and pulled out a carefully wrapped bundle. “Like this one for instance.”
Arianna clapped her hands in delight as he handed the package to her. Gleefully she tore the paper off of it. And gasped. It was a doll. The most beautiful doll she’d ever seen. It was modeled after her. Long, whiplike tail, batwings, but it was done in shades of blue and white. Her hair was silvery blue and done up in an elaborate hairdo. A crystal crown was perched on her head. “She’s beautiful.” She murmured.
“She’s an ice princess,” Tom explained
“Does she have a name?”
“She’s yours, I think you should be the one to name her.”
“What should I name her?”
“Whatever you think fits her.”
“How about Charina?”
Tom kissed her, “Perfect, now go get dressed and we’ll go to the messhall and get some breakfast.”
“Ok,” She ran into her bedroom.
Chuckling fondly Tom Paris began changing into his uniform.
****
“Aunt Kathy?”
“Yes sweetheart?”
“Are Uncle Chak and Daddy friends?”
“Not exactly. Why?”
“‘Cause whenever Uncle Chak’s near or someone mentions him Daddy’s inside changes. His heart speeds up, and sometimes I feel something from him. Like how he feels about me, but different. And I can’t figure it out.”
“That I think you’ll find, is love.” As she said it Kathryn Janeway mused that this would explain a lot about her Chief Pilot’s behavior.
“But love is nice, this makes Daddy sad.”
“That’s because he doesn’t think Uncle Chak loves him back.” Janeway explained, it was the only explanation, and, given their history, a sound one.
“But if Uncle Chak doesn’t love Daddy why does he always stand near him and touch him? And why is he always more upset when Daddy gets hurt than when anyone else does?”
“Huh.” How had she missed all this? “Because maybe he does love your daddy, but he’s afraid to tell your daddy.”
“Why should he be afraid?”
“Love can be scary, he might be afraid your daddy doesn’t love him back.”
Arianna sighed in exasperation, “Well this won’t do. Why should they both be sad when they love each other?”
“You’re right. And I know just what to do.”
Arianna jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “What?”
“We’ll fix them up. You and I, we’ll force them to confront each other about the way they feel.”
“How?” Arianna asked. Captain Janeway pulled her god daughter to her and began to quietly explain her plan.
****
Tom entered the turbolift along with Chakotay. The older man looked good enough to eat, and Tom had to carefully keep his eyes on the wall of the turbolift. “Computer Bridge.” Chakotay ordered. Commanding, but not overpowering. Tightly controlled. Oh yeah, Tom had it bad.
The turbolift stopped unexpectedly, somewhere between floors. “Computer, restart turbolift.” Chakotay ordered. It didn’t respond. Tom moved to activate the manual override, it had no effect. What the hell was going on?
“Chakotay to engineering.” no response. “Chakotay to bridge.” no response. “Chakotay to anyone listening, can anyone hear me?” no response. For the first time since entering the turbolift the two men looked at each other.
“Com line must be malfunctioning.” Tom offered cautiously.
“We’ll just have to wait until someone notices and fixes it.” With that Chakotay fixed his eyes back on the turbolift wall.
Nodding Tom did the same. He hoped someone noticed soon. Chakotay’s proximity was lighting his nerves afire. Damn, he’d need one cold shower after this. Stop Tommy-boy, stop thinking of ways to pass the time with a studly Commander. That’s not happening, he doesn’t care about you that way. Get over it already. But his damn hormones were not listening.
****
Captain Janeway sighed in exasperation, “I can’t believe it, 2 hours trapped in a turbolift and they said all of 5 words to each other.”
“Daddy and Uncle Chak are stubborn.” Arianna offered.
“Very stubborn,” Captain Janeway agreed, “Well, I suppose we’ll have to do something less— subtle.” She told her young co-conspirator.
“Holodeck?” Arianna suggested.
“Perfect.”
****
[chime]
“Come.” Commander Chakotay called, not looking up from the reports he was working on. The door opened and Arianna stepped through.
“Uncle Chak, someone asked me to give this to you.” She offered a PADD to him.
“Thank you.” He took it. “Who gave it to you?”
“Not supposed to tell, just supposed to tell you it’s important you read it soon.”
“Alright.” His curiosity was piqued. Who had given this to Arianna? And why ask her to deliver it? If they didn’t want their identity known there were better ways to get the PADD to him. “I’ll read it right away.”
“’Kay, bye Uncle Chak.”
“Bye sweetheart.”
Activating it he read,
Meet me in Holodeck 4 at 0452
Come alone
I have something important to tell you
Wear something romantic
****
Captain Janeway suppressed a chuckle, “Looks like you have an admirer Commander.”
“So it would appear.” He agreed, “What do you think I should do?”
“I think you should go, find out who it is.”
“You’re right, to tell you the truth I’m more than a little curious. Especially since whoever it was sent it to me through Arianna.”
“Hmm. Interesting move.” One down one to go. Janeway thought gleefully
****
Harry looked at his friend curiously, “What’re you reading?”
Tom looked up, “It’s something that was given to me this morning. Someone asked Arianna to give it to me.” He showed it to his friend
Meet me in Holodeck 4 at 0452
Come alone
I have something important to tell you
Wear something romantic
“Huh,” Harry mused, “I wonder who she is?”
“Or he. I suppose I’ll find out at 0452.”
****
The program was of a lavish bedroom, red silken sheets covered a large bed. Subtle much? Tom thought with amusement, looking around for the mysterious designer of this little holoprogram. The door opened and in stepped– Chakotay?
In surprise they chorused, “You!?”
“What do you mean me? You’re the one who gave Arianna a note asking me to come here.” Tom protested.
“Me? You sent Arianna with a note to me to meet you here.” Chakotay protested.
The two men looked at each other in surprise.
“What the hell is going on?” Tom murmured
****
“Ok, first we get stuck in a turbolift alone together for two hours, and the Com system malfunctioned. Now we both get identical notes asking us to meet someone here, delivered by Arianna, and we find ourselves in a holoprogram obviously designed for— a liaison, so what does this suggest is going on?” Tom was pacing.
Chakotay stood uncomfortably by the wall, doing his level best to ignore the bed. “We’re obviously the victims of a conspiracy.”
“One involving my daughter, and at least one other person.”
“But who? And why?”
“Someone who had the authority to hijack the turbolift. B’Elanna maybe.”
“Or the Captain.”
“The Captain?” Tom looked at Chakotay in surprise, “But why?”
“She always wanted us to get along better, this might be her way of doing just that. What I want to know, is why Arianna got involved in this.”
“Because she’s 5 years old, innocent, and doesn’t understand.”Tom muttered
“Doesn’t understand what?”
Tom blinked in surprise, not having realized he’d spoken aloud. He blushed, “Uh... why we don’t get along.” He improvised quickly. Great Tommy boy, lock you in a romantic holoprogram with the man of your dreams and you loose what little sense you have. Of course it would have been easier if said man wasn’t so damn gorgeous. Especially in a tan shirt and brown pants. Yum. Nope. Stop that. Think about something boring, like quantum physics. Yes that’s it, don’t think about large, muscular bodies, warm brown eyes, sexy tattoos and dimples. Oh damn.
Chakotay could barely tear his eyes off the slender figure before him. He was agitated, pacing almost nonstop, long legs covering the distance quickly. To make it worse he was wearing one of his ‘come fuck me’ outfits, tight black pants, button down blue shirt. And damn if Chakotay didn’t want to fuck him, to grab him, to shove his tongue into that smirking mouth. Only he wasn’t smirking now, he had this vulnerable expression on his handsome face, and damned if that didn’t make it even worse.
****
Neither knew who initiated it. They both seemed to crumble at the same time, grabbing each other and kissing passionately. They fell onto the bed, entangled, clumsy in their need to touch each other, everywhere, now. Seven years of trying to ignore their desire for each other boiled over into unadulterated passion.
****
They woke up, snuggled in each others arms. Chakotay opened his eyes, and found himself gazing into frightened blue eyes. He smiled reassuringly up at Tom who responded with a shy smile of his own. “Good morning beautiful,” he murmured, reaching up to caress Tom’s cheek. Tom murmured back, “Good morning handsome,” and carefully, leaned down to kiss Chakotay on the lips. Chakotay sank into the kiss, marveling at this man who could range from passionate, to playful, to romantic, in a short span of time, how had he ever lived his life without him?
*******
When the two walked into messhall holding hands they got a roomful of open mouthed stares and applause from two conspiring ladies. Chakotay smiled at Tom, “I told you it was the Captain.” Sighing, Tom admitted defeat.
****
Arianna giggled. “What’s so funny impling?” her Uncle Harry demanded.
“Did you know you’re yellow Uncle Harry?”
“What?” He asked, confused.
“The pretty cloud of light around you is yellow.”
“Pretty cloud of light?” Harry repeated, dumbstruck.
“Yup.”
“Does everyone have a pretty could of light around them?”
“Yup. Aunt B’El’s is red&black. Aunt Kathy’s is pink&black, Uncle Tuvok’s is gray, Uncle Neelix’s is purple, Uncle Chak’s is green&brown but Daddy’s is the prettiest.”
“Is it?”
“Yup. Daddy’s is gold&blue.”
Just wait till I tell Tom this. Harry thought to himself.
****
“So, you and Commander Chakotay?”
“Yup.”
“Wow, didn’t see that coming.”
Tom regarded his best friend in amusement. Poor Harry, he couldn’t grasp that superior officers had relationships like normal people. At least he was more accepting then some others on Voyager. He was genuinely happy for his friend.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I had the most interesting conversation with Arianna while I was babysitting her today...”
**Unbeknownst to our love struck hero**
In a shadowy room a group of cloaked figures gathered.
“The One Who Will Become Many has discovered The Sight.”
“Soon she will Return.”
“The Guardian has gotten a mate.”
“The Protective One. He will cause problems later.”
“Still he might come in handy if anyone threatens The One Who Will Become Many.”