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Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: REPOST: "In the Space of One Breath" by Marcia Elena, Voy, P/T, 1/1
From: royvered@netvision.net.il (Vered & Roy)
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 15:30:39 GMT

SPOILERS FOR "Day of honor"! Read it at your own peril!!!

Hello...
I’ve been pining for a Tom/B’Elanna romance since I first saw "Caretaker", simply because these two were my favorite characters from the start... and also because I thought they *belonged* together, needed each other to be complete, to help heal one another and overcome their troubled pasts. They’ve both come a long way since that first episode... and I’m happy that they’ve finally arrived at the point I’ve been expecting so impatiently. So here’s a short vignette that takes place during the final minutes of my
dream-come-true-episode, "Day of honor"...
Hope you’ll enjoy!

Oops! Almost forgot!!
DISCLAIMERS: Star Trek: Voyager is the property of Paramount, and
there’s no infringement intended on my part. I just like to write
about them sometimes. Okay? Good.
     
Bye bye... see ya next time...

                                     Marcia ; )



In the space of one breath
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
by Marcia Elena



     They were adrift in an endless sea of stars.
     Alone. With nothing to hold on to but each other.
     B’Elanna’s eyes were also full of stars. "I love you," she said.  Three words. So simple, and yet so profound.
     Looking at her, Tom could see infinity lying in wait within her.  Her soul, forever linked to his own, lifetime after lifetime. A sacred bond of Love remembered across the gulf of Time.
     Too late now.
     "Say something," she pleaded. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes, and he wanted to kiss them away. Touch her face and feel the warmth of her skin beneath his fingers, her lips on his, sharing a passion that had been denied for too long. She was so close to him, he could almost reach out and do it. 
     Almost.
     Sorrow emanated from him. "You picked a great time to tell me." No bitterness there, no recriminations. Just... sorrow.
     In her gaze, he saw the same thing. And still they went through the motions, trying, *needing*, one last time, to touch. Impossible. The helplessness of their predicament was too overwhelming. Too heartbreaking.
     Their oxygen was all but gone. She closed her eyes and leaned on him, and he wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could. His head swam, and the vista that surrounded them became blurry, indistinct.  he thought darkly. Good to know he hadn’t lost his sense of humor.
     He closed his eyes, feeling his consciousness begin its long downward spiral towards oblivion. A tingling sensation coursed through his body as he recalled the time of B’Elanna’s pon-farr, and the fiery kisses she had given him.  his mind screamed, rebelling against the oncoming darkness. Not... enough.
     He wanted more.
      he urged her silently; urged himself. 
     *Breathe*.
     In...
     
     
     
     <...Live!!>
     He saw what could’ve been. What should *be*, NOW... always:
     *...Peals of laughter. Whispers in the night. Hands, touching. Mouth on mouth. Breathing with her. Breathing into her. Loving. Feeling their children quickening inside her. Growing old with her. Dying in her arms...*
     ...Out.
     
     Then, suddenly, a call. "Voyager to Tom Paris. Tom, do you read me? Respond."
     Slowly, he dragged his eyes open.
      For a moment, he couldn’t even speak; his emotions were too strong. "We’re here," he finally rasped.
     "Prepare to beam aboard," came the prompt reply.
     
     Another breath now. Together.
     In...
     The transporter took them.
     There would be plenty of time before ‘out’.

        


*********THE END*********