White Lace
by Amiroq. aka Gypzy

Teaser: Sequel to Seema's "Red" which is the sequel to Jenn's "Heels".
Janeway's take on the whole thing.

Disclaimer: no $$$. I'm just scared that I went and put the big P/T label on a story. <starts crying> Jenn!! What did you *do* to me???

On the plus side, I do still hate it. Thank god, I'm still vaguely sane! :) Uh, no offence, hey? Oh, and Jenn, you owe me a story. And I won't be nice. <eg>


******************


I don't know when I fell for him. God, it could have been anytime. Maybe, like in the romance novels, it really was the first time I saw him. Anyway, I only acted on it when I saw that way you were looking at him, and Harry, and B'Elanna and every other goddamned crewmember on
this ship. Mainly you.

It could have been jealousy. You'd been pushing me, so maybe my subconscious only wanted Tom so that I could have what you wanted. I guess it didn't quite work out that way, did it? But I would really lay it on thick when some of you were watching. You know, little things, like touching his shoulder when he was at the conn, just a little longer than needed; or just looking at him like a hawk watches a lamb; when I spoke to him I would make my voice low and sultry.

It could have been a mid-life crisis.

It finally happened the night after he beat me at pool. So, I let him win. I let him give me a drink, too, a celebratory one. I think I knew, even then, what his game was. I'd seen him looking at the Delaney twins, and I knew that he'd gone off one night with Jenny. And everyone knew about him and B'Elanna, though it wasn't anything serious yet, just little glances every now and then. He bought me a drink, then another. I know what you're thinking. Get the girl drunk, then take her to bed. That's not how it happened.

No, he dropped me off back home, tucked me in and then went off to God knows where. It was only the next day, after I was over my hangover, when we went into the Jeffries tubes to repair a relay that B'Elanna hadn't had time for. Cross training, you know. He was sitting behind me, leaning over to get a good look at what we were doing, so as not to mess it up I suppose. You know how B'Elanna gets when something breaks. You should. You were sleeping with her.

I could smell him, you know how he smells, the cologne he uses and the underlying musky scent that's always there no matter what he does. And pretty soon, we'd forgotten about the relay. I don't remember who kissed who, but we ended up lying in the enclosed space and he was kissing me all over, you know that way he does. I suppose I don't need to tell you that his lips are as soft as they look.

Clothes were a barrier, but we didn't worry about getting them all off, so when we finally hit home base, for lack of a better term, I was still wearing my bra, a little piece in white lace and embroidered with red roses, and his pants were down around his knees. Not the most romantic situation, but methinks our Lieutenant Paris doesn't go much for romance.

I don't know what happened, but half way through he suddenly started acting as if he were looking at something else, like he was only half there. He put on a real show of it, too. It was fun while it lasted, though afterwards I was sore for days. When we get home, remind me to suggest they change the grates on the Jeffries tubes floors to something else.

* * * * * *

A few days later, we were in Sandrine's talking about crew morale. I don't think you were listening. You were looking at B'Elanna. She was wearing that red thing, I'm sure you remember, the one some people would call a dress. Not something I'd be wearing at my age, anyway. You
weren't the only one watching her, as I recall. Tom was, too. I felt like a kicked puppy, the same way Harry looked for months after the Akritarian incident. For the same reason, too.

Of course, not now, because he was sitting with her while she drank with his arm around her waist like they were an item. A few years ago, when we first started out, that I could have believed, but not now. Not after Tom came along and seduced the entire senior staff. You watched as she got up with him - Harry, I mean - and pulled him onto the dancing floor,
laughing too much and too loud. He pulled her closer, and she wasn't arguing. I think that was just the alcohol. Hell, they'd have probably gone home together if Tom hadn't intervened.

Maybe he just doesn't want to see anyone else get the girl. Or the man. He doesn't seem to have much of an idea about friendship, anyway. Harry's too good for him. He sure did look crushed when Tom took over, anyway, and spent the rest of the night glaring at him. Who knows? Maybe
there is a chance for him and B'Elanna. Or, was. Maybe if Tom hadn't been there that night it would be those two on a honeymoon right now.

That's not how it worked out, though, is it? Because he *was* there, and after she sat down he pulled her up again and danced with her for a song or two, oblivious to the dark narrowed eyes boring into his back from the bar. And when it was over, he handed her back like a doll and walked out as if nothing had happened. I could swear, though, that he looked at me as he left, and his eyes, wide open and sparkling blue, seemed to say "What are you going to do about it?"

* * * * * *

I was angry at you, I'll admit, when I heard you'd sent Tom and B'Elanna off alone on Sikari. It was irrational. There wasn't much else you could have done, in the circumstances, or B'Elanna would have died. But I was still angry, and relieved when it didn't happen. It was inevitable, but
I could hope, and even though I knew deep down it would happen sooner or later, I was hoping for later.

I used to watch them in the messhall, everyone watching Tom watch B'Elanna. And so I wasn't surprised when it happened. I was surprised that he stayed with her, that everytime she wore that shred of red silk he'd follow her, practically licking the dirt off those ridiculously high heels, right back to whoever's quarters they'd be in that night. I, too, watched them after the Maquis announcement, and when I went back to my empty quarters I always feel asleep with a smile on my face.

You know, maybe I was too hard on him after the water planet. Alright, so I was still mad at him. Who wouldn't be? Alternately angry and swooning, I demoted him and gave him a month's solitary. And I never once let B'Elanna visit, although Harry managed to persuade me to let
him in. That was probably because I knew he'd never get Tom back, either, though he sure did try. We were in the same boat.

But the look on Tom's face when I took his pip was worth it. He knew why. Because, after the Maquis announcement, when B'Elanna spent all her time on the holodeck and he did those "re-runs" as you called them, he never came back to me. Harry, Megan, Sue, Freddy, but not me.

* * * * * *

I guess that's it, then. I know your story, you know mine. Granted, mine isn't nearly so long as yours, but you know how it is, being Captain. And you never know, maybe they'll tire of each other. Already, I'm hearing people saying he only proposed because it was the only way to fix the relationship without actually doing anything. Although, that may just be the grumbling of jealous conquests.

And no, I'm not happy that they finally did it.

FINIS