RIVALRY By Morticia 1/1 (Sequel to "Re-education") C/P Rating: NC-17 Disclaimer: Tom, Chak et al belong to Paramount. I am only playing with them and promise to put them back relatively unscathed.     Saturday’s staff meeting was both tense and extremely short. Almost all of the Senior Officers were surprised at the speed with which the Captain discussed the day’s forthcoming events and then summarily dismissed them. Only Chakotay and Tom suspected that her haste was due to her uncontrollable urge to scratch her unmentionable itching. Chakotay maintained his stoic expression, despite his urge to howl with laughter at Kathryn’s evident discomfort. Tom, on the other hand, kept his face down and eyes averted from everyone. To be honest Chakotay had been appalled at the sight Tom had presented that morning. His eyes were blood-shot and sunken in deep pools of exhaustion. Last night, Chakotay had set a perimeter alarm around Tom’s quarters, to advise him of any nocturnal prowling, and then had gone to sleep. Obviously the same couldn’t be said of the young pilot. He looked as though he had been awake all night. Chakotay had an overwhelming urge to throw all of his plans out of the window and sweep Tom into a loving hug. The blonde was so forlorn and dejected this morning that Chak could actually feel himself aching in sympathy. But he couldn’t stop now. If he let Tom off the hook, all of his suffering so far would have been in vain. Besides, the snide way in which Kathryn had publicly called Tom on his state of exhaustion and pointedly suggested that he was relieved of his helm duties to visit sickbay "for a complete medical check-up", steeled Chakotay’s resolve. The way in which everyone either turned on or away from Tom in moments of crisis just confirmed that none of them actually gave a damn about him. The only thing that really concerned Chakotay was that he couldn’t excuse himself from the bridge for two days running and therefore, after his visit to sickbay, Tom would be loose on the ship with hours in which to find a fuck-buddy. ~~~~~ "You are suffering from exhaustion, Lieutenant. Too many nights with not enough sleep. I have warned you to curtail your sexual adventures." The doctor snapped "Chance would be a fine thing" Tom muttered "And you have some interesting bruises. Would you care to explain them for your medical record?" "No I bloody wouldn’t" The Doctor hid his amusement "But other than that you are in A1 physical condition, Mr. Paris." Tom looked at the Doctor in bewilderment "There's – there’s um – nothing else wrong with me?" He asked in amazement, a deep blush spreading right to his ears "Did you think there would be?" The Doctor asked innocently "Something specific?" Tom’s face grew hotter. "Um – no – no – I guess not" he mumbled in confused embarrassment. "Well you are medically fine, Mr. Paris. I prescribe eight hours in bed. Preferably your own bed. Alone." The Doctor sniggered "Can I go then?" "Unless you would like to help me calibrate a few instruments?" The doctor asked but Tom was out of the door before he had finished speaking. ~~~ Tom marched down the corridor in fury. He had been up all night in terror of whatever disease he had infected the Captain with, only there wasn’t a disease, he hadn’t done anything, he hadn’t got anything. He hadn’t been angry before, he had been guilty and frightened and sad. Now all he could think about was the way she had slapped him and called him a "diseased little SLUT". It was the word slut that hurt him the most. He knew that he was more promiscuous than most of the crew, okay, all of the crew, but he had never imagined that they despised him for it. He had put Chakotay’s objections down to being moral anal-retentive crap, now he wondered whether the Commander was actually the only person who was being honest with him. If only Chakotay had been off duty he would have gone to him. He couldn’t think of anything better than being held in Chakotay’s strong arms. Well, actually he could think of a better thing or two to do with Chakotay. Or anyone who was currently available, actually, come to think about it. ~~~~ After dismissing the senior staff, Captain Janeway ran into the ready-room bathroom as fast as she could hobble with one hand between her crotch. Locating the medical tricorder she pulled down her trousers and stuck it onto the red burning skin. When she pulled it out and read the diagnosis she nearly fainted with mortification. "Thrush" the tricorder said Shit, it wasn’t a disease at all. It wasn’t even a sexually transmitted infection. It was just bloody thrush! Quickly programming a cure, she wondered whether anyone would notice her absence if she slipped out for a couple of hours to satisfy her OTHER itch. Remembering Tom’s tearful escape from her quarters and his sad forlorn resentment this morning, Kathryn Janeway realised that she might have to make the apologies of all apologies to the young man. But then again, he wasn’t too bright and he was always so desperate for a fuck that he would probably just give in right away. She smirked in anticipation and started towards the door only to suddenly freeze in disappointment as she remembered that Saturday was B’Elanna’s day. It didn’t matter that the Chief Engineer was more interested in the warpcore than Tom and rarely found more than an hour to spare the pilot, she was still so bloody Klingon about HER day that no one else was allowed to go near him on a Saturday. Kathryn might be the Captain of Voyager and undisputed Queen of all she surveyed but even she wasn’t foolish enough to offend B’Elanna’s peculiar sense of honour. She considered morosely for a few minutes and then shrugged and tapped her COM badge. "Mr. Kim, please come to my ready room" Maybe Harry one-shot was worth another try after all.     ~~~~~ Having been informed by the Doctor that Tom had high-tailed it out of sickbay, very discretely Chakotay asked for a location check on the pilot. "Lieutenant Paris is in the cargo bay." The computer replied "Who else is in the cargo bay?" "Seven of Nine." The computer replied Shit, Chakotay thought. Tom and the barbie-borg. Alone. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. And there was nothing he could do about it. ~~~ "My regeneration cycle is incomplete," Seven said dispassionately "So you don’t wanna do it?" Tom asked in disbelief, wondering what alien race had taken over the crew when he wasn’t looking. "It would be more efficient to combine the two activities" Seven clarified "Are you capable of performing sexually in an upright position?" At this point, Tom was positive he would be able to perform sexually if he was hanging upside down off the port nacelle. His cock surged with anticipation and battered angrily at the front of his uniform pants. "Sure" he gasped, quickly loosing his uniform and launching himself at Seven. He delved into her tight jumpsuit, freeing the trousers and sinking to his knees on the alcove floor to nuzzle her golden curls hungrily with his tongue. He was completely unaware that his additional weight in the alcove would cause a warning light to flash in engineering. ~~~~ "Commander, could you please come to Sickbay" The Doctor requested quietly over Chakotay’s com-badge "What’s the problem, Doctor?" Chakotay asked worriedly, wondering whether their activities of last night had been somehow discovered. "I think you’d rather see for yourself, Commander" the doctor whispered back with what sounded suspiciously like a giggle. Since the Captain and Ensign Kim were still entrenched in their ‘meeting’, Chakotay handed the bridge to Tuvok and hurried to Sickbay. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the sight that met his eyes. Tom was lying face down, buck-naked on one of the beds. In the middle of his left butt check was the swollen red impression of a full set of Klingon teeth. "What the hell?" "B’Elanna apparently caught the lieutenant in a compromising position. " The Doctor replied solemnly, although his lips twitched suspiciously. "What is this, are you selling bloody tickets?" Tom howled in embarrassment as he turned his head to find out who was witnessing his humiliation, only it was difficult to focus with his two swollen black eyes. "I take it Saturday is B’Elanna’s day, then" Chakotay said mildly, trying to mask his horror at Tom’s battered face. "The bite is apparently a Klingon way of saying "this ass is mine"" the Doctor muttered disapprovingly "What did she do to Seven?" Chakotay asked worriedly Tom was too shocked by the whole fiasco to wonder how the Commander knew who the third party had been. "Nothing. It was me she was mad with" Tom mumbled plaintively "I don’t understand why though." He added in genuine bewilderment "Didn’t Seven try and stop her?" Chakotay demanded "She said I was irrelevant" Tom replied and then sank his head back onto the pillow and sobbed. Chakotay’s heart twisted and he clenched his fists in fury. Reality was hitting home to Tom and it was a terrible and painful experience for the pilot. Gently he rubbed Tom’s heaving shoulders. "You’re not irrelevant Tom." He whispered soothingly, "If you were, I wouldn’t love you." It took a few minutes for Chakotay’s words to penetrate Tom’s stunned brain. "YOU love ME?" he finally gasped but there was no reply. He raised his head and turned to look at the Commander, but Chakotay had already slipped quietly away. TBC