Red Dress Saga 03 Read online

  Red Dress Saga 03

  By Terri Zavaleta

  Ensign Harry Kim stalked into the messhall and plopped himself down into the

  seat opposite his best friend. Settling his elbows on the table, he stared

  pointedly as he asked, "Okay, what did you do now?"

  Lt. Tom Paris finished chewing the piece of fruit in his mouth, swallowed,

  and frowned warily. "What?" He narrowed icy blue eyes suspiciously at the

  younger man. It was obvious he was waiting for a punchline of some sort.

  "What are you talking about?"

  Harry sighed and slumped back a bit in his chair. If Tom really was guilty of

  anything, he'd have a perfectly innocent expression and a glib rationalization of his behavior already prepared. Harry should have known it couldn't be that easy. It never was with these two.

  "What's going on, Harry?" Paris speared another piece of fruit and inspected it as he awaited a response. "Have you seen B'Elanna today?" Kim retorted. He eyed Tom's half full plate of fruit with a covetous eye. He had skipped breakfast. His friend paused to think a moment. "Not really, no. She pulled a split shift yesterday and I did today. I haven't seen her, at least not socially, since day before yesterday. We had dinner together. Before we ran into that ion storm and I was called to the bridge to find a way around it. Why?""Because she's royally ticked off about something, and I thought---""You thought I'd done something to put her in a bad mood?" Paris completed the thought. "Well, I haven't done anything. So what's going on?"Harry shook his head. He reached over and plucked a blue, succulent grape-like fruit from Tom's plate and popped it into his own mouth. "She's on some kind of a major tear down in Engineering. They finally caught up with repairs from the ion storm, but Ms. Torres isn't happy with restoring everything to normal-Oh, no. She's going for 120% perfection.""She's always been a perfectionist, Harry. And so have you," the pilot replied somewhat defensively. He fended off another attempt to steal the food off his plate by slapping at the Ensign's hand. "Hey, if you're hungry, get your own tray. This is my lunch."At that moment, Neelix appeared at their table, tray in hand. "Here you go, Mr. Kim. I believe you need to refuel if you're going back to Engineering. I hear you're all as busy as can be down there." The Talaxian was oozing sympathetic concern."What is going on?" Paris asked, a hint of impatience ruffling the normally smooth tones. "The ship isn't on alert status. You said the repairs had been made. So what are you doing in Engineering?""Trying to keep B'Elanna from going overboard! She wants to totally realign the---"Paris held up a hasty hand. "On second thought, I don't want to know. If you two kids can't play nice together, Capt. Janeway will have to separate you," he said mockingly."I wish," Kim groaned. "Can't you go see if you can calm her down? I don't know what her problem is but maybe she'd talk to you."Tom mulled that over for a moment. "I don't know, Harry. I don't usually have a soporific effect on women, On the contrary.." He stopped as his friend turned a seriously pleading glare in his direction. "Oh, all right. As soon as I finish lunch."Taking Paris' assent as meaning Torres' Reign of Terror would soon end, Harry Kim dug into the contents of his lunch tray with fervor."What do you MEAN you can't find the tetralubisol?" The outraged cry came from the small cubicle that formed what was laughingly referred to as the Chief Engineer's office. "That lubricant is highly volatile!""Like our Chief Engineer?" remarked Paris laconically as he leaned against the door frame with crossed arms. He was unprepared for Torres' reaction to his appearance. She flinched. Visibly. Someone who didn't know her as well might not have noticed, but Tom Paris had made an art form of studying Lt. B'Elanna Torres for several years and it did not go unnoticed by him.Sparing him no more than a glance, she returned her attention to her communicator. "Find that tetralubisol---""Got it!" Joe Carey crowed triumphantly. "Someone put it in the wrong storage locker. Not a problem.""Fine. Get on with it," Torres snapped. She hesitated the barest moment then moved toward Paris and brushed by him, almost succeeding in escaping before he could react.With a speed that reflected trained and speedy reflexes of a pilot, Paris managed to gently take hold of her shoulder and stop her forward motion, though she refused to look at him. "B'Elanna, what's up?" His voice was gently concerned, with not a trace of humor or wisecrack."Nothing," she growled, staring out into the Engineering bay. "I have a lot to do. That's all." She tugged her shoulder out of his grip and marched away, disappearing from sight without a backwards glance."Damn," Tom muttered. "It couldn't be me. I haven't done anything." He turned and walked out into the corridor, heading for his quarters to get some rest before the next part of his split shift began. "Of course, that doesn't mean you won't get blamed for something, Tom. You should know that by now. Damn. I wonder what she THINKS I did. What are you looking at?" The last was irritably directed at a grease-covered Joe Carey who was returning to Engineering."A man who's talking to himself?" Carey ventured.Tom glowered down at him menacingly from his superior height. "Well, maybe I just talk to myself so I can have an intelligent conversation for a change." He stalked sullenly away before Carey could formulate a neutral response.Carey shook his head. "Great. Now she's got HIM crazy too. Love. What a pain. Oh, great. Now he's got me talking to myself.""Carey!!!" It was a bellow from the bowels of Engineering, not a communicator call."Yes, your majesty?" the lieutenant murmured before responding more loudly. "Yes, Lt. Torres?" It was going to be a long, long duty shift. Maybe Jenny Delaney would give him a back rub this evening."Harry!" Kim winced in anticipation of the next blast and tried to remind himself that B'Elanna was a wonderful engineer and a good friend. Most of the time. "You told Tom to come down here, didn't you?" It was somewhere between a purr and a growl. Time to face the music, Kim thought and turned to face her. Meeting her eyes and trying to stare her down, he said forcefully, "Yes, I did. I thought he could calm you down." Oops. Foot in the mouth that time, boy. He waited for steam to come out of Torres' ears---or venom from her lips."When did Tom Paris become a SEDATIVE?" she raged sarcastically.Harry tried a smile but couldn't quite pull it off. "That's sort of what he said. Did he help you at all?"In as rapid a mood change as Harry Kim had ever witnessed, B'Elanna Torres went from avenging Klingon warrior to-- anxious woman? depressed woman? He wasn't sure but it was a mood he'd never seen B'Elanna in before."No, I didn't let him," she admitted sorrowfully."B'Elanna, are you ready to talk about what's bothering you? If you'd like I could call Tom--" Harry began hopefully."NO! I don't want to talk to him." She almost sounded panicked. B'Elanna? Panicked? No. Couldn't be. But still... "Well, would you like to talk to me about it? Whatever it is." She began twisting the data padd she carried and fiddling with it to keep her hands busy as she thought it over. "Yes. I need to talk to someone and you know how to keep your mouth shut.""Thanks. I think. You haven't had lunch. Why don't we go down to the messhall? It shouldn't be very busy right now.""Fine." As if her moments of diffidence had never taken place, she strode out of Engineering, leading the way."Fine," he echoed in imitation of her and followed after her, trying to ignore the encouraging waves and 'thumbs up' gestures from every crewmember in the Engineering section, except, of course, for Ensign Vorik.Torres didn't speak at all until they were settled at a table with a lunch tray for her, liquid refreshments for both of them, and everyone but Harry was out of hearing range. "So what did you tell Tom?""I asked him what he'd done to upset you." Harry's light tone invited her to see the humor of his assumption, but she didn't find it funny."Why does everyone always think TOM is to blame for everything?" she snarled. "He hasn't done anything.""I know, I know," Kim replied placatingly. "That's what he said. You guys have been spending a lot of time together. You even answer questions the same way. So if Tom didn't do anything, why wouldn't you talk to him?""I
didn't want to have to face him," she blurted, her expression changing once more.He'd swear he'd just caught a flash of---guilt? "Why not?" She didn't say anything. Kim's mind began to formulate hypotheses. Before he could censor his words, he heard them tumbling out of his mouth. "Oh my god. Are you pregnant?"

  She certainly didn't like those words. With a look of outrage she whacked him

  across the bicep---hard, as only an infuriated Klingon can, with a backhand

  blow. "Certainly not! And if I was it's none of your business! Tohzah, would

  I be talking to YOU if that was the problem?!"

  Her raised voice drew Neelix's attention but Kim signaled him to leave them

  alone when it looked like the Talaxian wanted to make inquiries.

  While she sipped her drink and got her temper back under control, he began to

  rub the sore spot on his arm. "Ow." It was more a bid for sympathy than an

  actual complaint.

  Still angry she glared at him. "For a smart man, you can be pretty dumb,

  Starfleet."

  "Well, face it, B'Elanna, you're not giving me a lot of help here. So if it's

  not THAT and Tom hasn't DONE anything, what is it?"

  "The ion storm." The first three words were all that were intelligible.

  The others dwindled into incomprehensibility.

  He leaned across the table and ducked down to catch her eye. "What?"

  She straightened, put her hands on the table and locked her fingers together.

  Harry thought she looked like she was facing a court-martial. "The ion

  storm when it hit, Tom and I were finishing dinner together. It was kind

  of a special occasion. It was the anniversary of the first..Never mind. It was

  a special occasion." She hesitated and took a deep breath. "So I dressed

  up."

  Harry Kim had absolutely no clue where this was going, but he was determined

  to hang in there. "Dressed up? Oh, did you wear the red dress?"

  Her lower lip trembled. He'd swear it had trembled before her teeth came out

  and grabbed it and forced it into stillness. She was having trouble saying

  it.

  Maybe he could guess? But just in case, he moved his chair back a bit so

  he'd have a warning, and possibly time to dodge, if she launched another blow

  in his direction. "Does this have something to do with your red dress?"

  She nodded tersely. He looked positively blank. "Did you get it dirty?" Her

  eyebrows lowered. No, guess not. "B'Elanna, I have no idea. You're going to

  have to tell me."

  She dropped her eyes to her folded hands as she clenched them tightly. "When

  Tom left to go to the bridge to get us out of the ion storm, I took off the

  red dress and I put it in the refresher." The refresher was the cleaning

  device for clothing that wasn't recycled into the replicator system.

  "And?" Kim asked.

  She threw a look of exasperation in his direction. "And the ion storm

  affected the refresher system and..."

  "And what?" Harry said impatiently.

  "It ruined my dress," she stated with exaggerated enunciation then stared at

  him.

  Harry waited a moment. There had to be more to it than that. She didn't say

  anything. "So you're this upset because a dress got ruined?"

  Her glare seemed to say he was functioning at 'moron level IQ'. "It's not A

  dress, Starfleet!! It's THE dress the one Tom gave me---the first birthday

  present he EVER gave me."

  Kim was definitely in unfamiliar territory now. "Well, you could replicate

  another one?"

  Her glare deepened. He had sunk to 'idiot level IQ' in her opinion. "No, I

  can't. Tom was the one who had the original replication program. I don't

  know if I can duplicate it. That's not the problem."

  "Then what IS the problem?"

  "I don't want to have to tell Tom that I ruined the gift he gave me,"

  B'Elanna admitted. "We have a lot of fond memories wrapped up in that dress.

  He'll never forgive me for being so careless. I was so stupid... I knew the

  ion storm could affect the ship's equipment."

  "B'Elanna, it was just bad timing. Tom will understand. Believe me. He might

  even replicate another dress for you."

  "It won't be the same." That was dangerously close to a whine, but then she

  was very tired. She hadn't slowed down for more than a few minutes in the

  last 24 hours. "I just can't tell him." She turned big brown eyes on Harry

  Kim.

  He stared back at her for a moment. "Oh, no. Don't put me in the middle."

  "You already did that when you sent Tom down to Engineering," she reminded

  him in a silky voice. "So now you owe me one. Please, Harry? You tell him."

  With a sigh, Kim surrendered to an obviously stronger will. "Fine. I'll go

  tell him now. He still has a couple of hours before he goes back on duty. But

  where will YOU be if he does want to talk to you?"

  Torres stifled a yawn. "In my quarters. I haven't gotten to clean it up much

  since the storm."

  "Okay. Fine." Harry Kim trudged off to find his best friend.

 

  "She was upset about WHAT?" Tom Paris could be heard in the corridor even

  through the closed door.

  Harry sank onto the couch and prepared to endure a tirade. He braced himself

  in vain, for as quickly as Tom's temper had risen, it fell again into a sort

  of wistful nostalgia.

  "Damn, I really liked that dress. B'Elanna looks REALLY good in red."

  "So what are you going to do about it?" Kim inquired, staring up at his tall

  friend.

  Tom smiled at him with fond exasperation. "Harry, Harry, Harry. You just

  don't get it, do you?"

  "No, Tom, I guess I don't," he admitted wryly. "So educate me."

  "Women are more sentimental than men about things like this. You just have

  to learn to deal with it. They get emotionally attached to things that bring

  good memories. For B'Elanna that red dress is the first birthday present I

  ever gave her. The first present I ever gave her period. It's what she was

  wearing on our first real date. When we first danced together---you

  know---that kind of stuff."

  "Uh-huh. And to you?"

  Paris flashed a grin. "To me, it's a dress B'Elanna really looks hot in! There's just something about a woman wearing red." He drifted off into a haze of memories that brought an even broader smile to his face."So what are you going to do?" Kim asked, a bit impatiently."Isn't that obvious? I'm going to replicate another red dress---not exactly the same--because it won't BE the same dress---that's important to remember, but one that's similar enough to evoke the same memories.... and THEN I'm going to take it to her and accept her apology."Kim stifled a guffaw. "You expect B'ELANNA to apologize? Have you lost your mind? It's like trying to house train a targ to get her to say she's sorry!!""I didn't say she'd apologize with WORDS, Harry," Paris purred with a smirk. "There are other methods which get the point across very well---"Harry jumped to his feet, waving his hands. "Never mind. Enough. I don't want to hear it. I'm officially stepping out as the middleman in this dispute. Go. Accept her apology--if you get one. But leave me out of it." "Whatever you say, Harry." Paris walked over to the replicator and started work.Within the hour, the ship's grapevine already knew that Tropical Storm Torres had blown itself out. When Tom Paris reported for the second part of his split shift, his smug grin and irrepressible high spirits irritated the night shift crew almost beyond bearing.

  The End.

&nbs
p;

 

  Terri Zavaleta, Red Dress Saga 03

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