He had asked her if she knew how to Tango. B'Elanna was scared at what Tom would concoct next . She stepped into the marble ballroom. He had really put alot into this holo program. There were hauty people placed liberally around the dance floor. Their glittering clothes seemed to dim next to her simple red gown. The silk and velvet dress made her feel elegant. She stood awkwardly towards the side waiting for him to show himself. He would be here already, he would want to see her off balance.
Across the room she saw the Commander and the Captain dancing in a very old fashion way. It was the old ballroom Foxtrot. The doctor had a holo projection of the lovely Dr. Pell, they were dancing cheek to cheek. There to the right, Kes and Harry were laughing at Harry's attempt to teach Kes the fine art of the ballroom dance. B'Elanna stifle a giggle when Kes took off her heels and stepped onto Harry's feet like a daughter would with her father. She vaguely remembered doing that with her father. *That was an unusual side tract,* she thought to herself. *I hardly ever think of him nicely.*
She jumped when a rose appeared in front of her. The crimson color matched the red in her dress. *Now, how did he do that?* She took the rose and turned. Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed into his twinkling blue eyes. The song ended and the dance floor clapped sedately. An old man appeared on the stage. His ugly Blue tuxedo clashed with the delicate and massive surroundings.
"This song is for lovers only." His deep tenor rang out across the crowd.
"I believe this is our song." Tom's voice cut through the silence. Taking her hand, he led her to the center of the floor. The music started and he brought her body to his. She felt the heat from his body come through his tuxedo and her dress, it was as if they were naked, almost. She began the steps and relaxed into his embrace, she realized that there were words to this tango music. Tom began to sing them to her softly.
I ache for the touch of your lips dear
But much more for the touch of your whips dear
You can raise welts
Like nobody else
When we dance to the Masochistic Tango
She threw her head back and howled. The song was so hilarious. Toms face lit up and a smile spread across his features. Tears started to leak down her face as her laugh died to an occasional chuckle. In the back of her mind she could hear Chakotay laughing with the Captain and Kes' faint giggle.
Let our love be a flame not an ember
Say its me you want to dismember
Blacken my eye
Set fire to my tie
As we dance to the Masochistic Tango
At your command
Before you here I stand
My heart is in my hand (yuck)
Its here that I must be
My heart entreats
Just hear those savage beats
And go put on your cleats
and come and trample me
Your heart is as hard as stone or mahogany
Thats why I'm in such exquisite agony
My soul is on fire
Its aflame with desire
Which is why I perspire when we Tango
You caught my nose in your left castanet love
I can feel the pain yet love
everytime I hear drums
And I envy the rose that you held in your teeth love
With the thorns underneath love
sticking into your gums
Your eyes cast a spell that bewitches
The last time I needed 20 stitches
To sew up the gash
you made with your lash
As we dance to the Masochistic Tango
Bash in my Brains
And make me scream with pain
Then kick my once again
And say we'll never part
I know to well
I'm underneath your spell
So darling if you smell
something burning its my heart ::::Hick up::::
Take your cigarette from its holder
And burn your initials in my shoulder
Fracture my spine
And swear that your mine
As we dance to the Masochistic Tango
The music died away. The dance floor was cramped with people, B'Elanna leaned close to Tom's ear. "You must have a deathwish, helmboy."
He chuckled and then sobered. "No. B'Elanna, the only wish I have is to be with you forever." He lean down and kissed her, as he pulled away she bit his lip. His smile said, *I know what your thinking.* He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the exit.
On the dance floor, Harry grinned down at Kes. Her smile made him laugh, it was a communication she knew what they were thinking too.
Tom pulled B'Elanna out of the holodeck. As they reached the cooridor they encountered Simms and Janie Lamount. "Oh Lts. we wanted you guys to be the second we told. We're engaged" The couple smiled at B'Elanna and Tom. "We just had to tell you right away because...well you guys kind of were there every step of the way. Without you guys I would never have told her I loved her." Simms looked slightly embarrassed, but was smiling nevertheless.
"What were you guys going to do. Perhaps we could join you." Janine looked hopeful. Paris stiffled a laugh.
"Actually we were on our way to get some coffee from the mess hall." B'Elanna looked up sweetly at Paris. His smile could have killed a fat cat on the spot. She laughed to herself.
Coffee was a quiet affair. B'Elanna was torturing Paris by leaning against him while she drank her coffee. Paris's hand kept tapping her stomach with his long fingers, sending her heart thumping. The other couple just seem to enjoy their own company. They talked animatly but would occassionally break off to kiss one another. After an hour of meaniless small talk Simms and Lamount got up to leave. As the door swished behind them, Paris pulled B'Elanna into his arms
"And you think I have deathwish. What were you thinking, 'we were going to get coffee.' Ha." His mocking tone was harsh , but he cut it off with a slight peck on her lips. "What were we going to do again?" He asked as he deepend the kiss.
"We were heading to any quarters that were close ." She said has she hauled him to his feet. Wrapping his arms around her he pulled her to him for a kiss. The doors suddenly swished open, as a liplocked Kes and Kim stumbled into the room. Paris looked down at B'Elanna, severly amused. She stiffled a laugh as her sides stared to quake. Before either knew what was happening, they burst out laughing. Harry and Kes pulled apart, their faces the exact shade of red of B'Elanna's dress.
"We thought you two would be into other activities by now." Harry stammered.
Paris calmed down. "So did we. We got slightly sidetracked." Tom sent a meaningful look in B'Elanna's direction. "We'll go now, but may I remind you that this is a public place you two." Harry and Kes's faces turned even redder.
"Please don't go. I'm sure we can find something to talk about. Why don't I get us some coffee." Kes was always the gracious host. Another hour of akward conversation and another 4 cups of coffee later, Harry and Kes got up to leave. "See ya tommorrow guys."
As the doors close behind the other couple, Paris and Torres ran for the door Paris yelled out, "Last one there is a rotten egg." He turned to look at B'Elanna and ran right smack into the commander. "Sorry." He looked apologetically at the commander who nodded. "Hi Captain. Let me guess, don't run off you want to talk to us. Coffee anyone?" He walked over to the replicator and ordered four cups of coffee. Yet another hour later, The Captain stood up and stretched.
"Computer time." The calm female voice chirped back.
"It is 03:34 hours."
"Don't forget everyone. Staff meeting at 6 tommorrow." With that cheerful news she and the Commander left the mess hall.
"Lets Go." Torres grabbed his hand and ran promtly into a table and twisted her ankle. "Ouch, stupid table. Who put it there." Paris chuckled scoped her up, ignoring her protests.
"Paris to Doctor, could you meet us in Sickbay please." Tom thought *this is not our night.*
"Alright, your ankle is all healed up, Lt. May I remind you, it is not good for your health to walk into tables."
"Yes Doc. Can we go now."
"Yes, go, be gone." They hurried out of Sickbay.
"Computer time." B'Elanna called. "It is 04:15." Less than 2 hours, can you handle it helmboy." Her eyebrows perked up. Her dark eyes were daring him.
"2 hours?.....Hum, I might be able to.... given a little help." His smile was all innuendo. "Don't tell me that was phaser fire I heard." He groaned. Sure enough down the hall someone was firing a phaser.
"Lets go." Up ahead there was a a few drunken guys, one was very carefully holding a firing phaser.
"Lts. it won't stop." Tom tackled him while B'Elanna pulled the phaser from his hand.
"Jackson, for it to stop you have to take your finger off the trigger." Tom sounded slightly mad. Security showed up then along with Tuvok. As always Tuvok looked faintly annoyed and pissed as all that.
"Lts. since you are already awake. I would like your reports in my hands for tommorrows breifing." With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. Tom and B'Elanna looked at each other and laughed.
"Now we're bad. When we laugh at having to do reports. What happened to our wonderful night together?" B'Elanna asked suddenly sad.
"I guess it got postponed. Come on, reports await."
Janeway looked around the conference table. The commander was his usual serene self. Harry had a huge smile on his face, but was slightly red too. Kes kind of glowed. B'Elanna looked extremely annoyed and buzzed. Her face had lines of exhaustion and she fidgeted every few seconds. Paris sat next to her, his face was pale and drawn and he sat perfectly still. There was something unnatural about him. She realized then that Paris hadn't blinked in quite a while. His eyes were open large, in fact she could see the white part of the eye all around the blue irises. Tuvok of course was calmly sitting next to her.
"Well, lets get this going." She slammed her hands down on the table. Paris' head fell to the table. Whamp. B'Elanna nudged him. He started to snore. There were snickers from around the table. The Captain looked at B'Elanna with a smile and said, "B'Elanna next time you and Tom engage in other activities make sure he gets enough sleep." The snickers grew into laughs.
"If we EVER engage in other activities I'll keep it in mind." The group looked at her, their eyes asking a question. "I don't think either of us reached our quarters until 05:45." Paris woke up suddenly terribly embarrassed.
"Sorry Captain, I have an unusual reaction to too much coffee." The group laughed.
B'Elanna was outside of Tom's quarters, she could hear the tango from inside. She rang the bell. Tom reached out and pulled her in. "Engage privacy lock, cut off all communications to this room, authorization Paris Omega 469." Tom started to kiss B'Elanna deeply. The doors swished closed...
