LOVE AROUND EVERY CORNER
By: Lauren Taylor

        B'Elanna rushed into the mess hall. She was supposed to meet
Harry and Tom for dinner, but she got into a conversation with Carey on
her way out of engineering, and couldn't get him to shut up. She was now
15 minutes late.
"Well, here she is, Mrs. Punctual!" Tom exclaimed with a smile when he
saw B'Elanna sit down.
"Very funny, Paris. I was talking to Carey. The man never stops talking."
she explained to her friends.
"And what fascinating subject was he rattling on about now?" Harry asked.
"He's getting married." she said, casually.
Tom nearly choked on his, well, whatever that was that Neelix had made,
and Harry froze in shock, staring at the chief engineer.
"Who's Carey marrying?" Harry asked.
"Hell, who would marry him?" Tom joked.
"Mullins. Andrea Mullins. She's an engineer. They've been dating for
about two months, from what I hear. I don't know much about her, I've
never really talked to her." B'Elanna said, "Oh, and the entire senior
staff is invited to the wedding, and must have dates." she said, rolling
her eyes.
"Um, well, tell Carey I'm happy for him. I've got to go." Harry said,
seeming a bit distracted, as he got up and left.
"What's with him?" B'Elanna asked, seeming a bit confused.
"He's nervous about having a date. I know who he wants to ask. Question
is, will he work up enough nerve to?" Tom told her.
"Who's he want to go with? I didn't even know he liked anyone. God, I
need to keep up with people's lives."
"I don't think he wants me to say. So, who are you going to ask?" he
said, with a mischievous grin on his face.
"I don't know. Maybe one of the engineers or something." she told him,
shrugging it off.
"Well, I know who I'm going to ask." Tom said, sure of himself.
"And who's the lucky Delaney?" she asked, jokingly.
He grabbed her hand across the table, and looked her in the eyes.
"B'Elanna Torres, will you be my date at Carey's wedding?"
********************************************************
        Carey was getting married. God, this was a shock. Janeway never
even knew he was seeing anyone, and now his wedding was two weeks away,
and she needed someone to go with. She stifled a laugh as she realized
that she sounded like a high schooler, thinking about prom. She would
probably go with Chakotay. He was the only person she could see herself
dancing with at the reception, sitting next to during the ceremony, and,
the only one she even wanted to go with. She would ask him later, there
would be time later. 
*Who are the others going with?* she thought to herself as she walked
across her ready room to the green couch. That was easy for a few people.
Paris would ask Torres, there was no doubt about it. Now, the others.
Harry, for example...
**************************************************
        How could he ask her to the wedding? She'd laugh in his face. No,
she's not like that, she'd say yes, but just to be nice. Harry paused as
he stood outside sickbay.
*I can't do this. I'll ask someone else.* he told himself.
*Harry, who will you ask? B'Elanna's probably going with Tom, and who
else is there?* he argued with himself.
        He took a few deep breaths, and walked into sickbay. Kes was
putting some supplies away, and the doctor was nowhere to be seen.
Perfect. 
******************************************************
        Tom and B'Elanna walked out of the mess hall, hand in hand. Just
on the deck above them, the captain and Chakotay were laughing and joking
in her ready room, and on deck six, Kes quietly said the word 'yes'.

TWO WEEKS LATER

"May I have this dance?" Tom asked B'Elanna, with a hopeful smile on his
face.
B'Elanna smiled back, and stood up to dance with the man she'd grown to
love. Not love as a friend, or as a brother, but love as someone she
wanted to spend the rest of her life with. As they moved out onto the
dance floor, the two spotted Janeway and Chakotay dancing very close, and
Kes and Harry, still not dancing that close. This day was turning out to
be the best day of Tom's life, although that wasn't saying much. He'd had
a pretty rotten life, but Voyager was changing that. He had friends, more
than he'd ever had in his life, and now he had B'Elanna.
        Harry was in heaven. He never thought he'd find happiness with
Kes, she'd always been with Neelix. There was something about her,
though, something he couldn't describe, that drew him to her. He hoped
that this newfound love would grow into something very special.
        Janeway and Chakotay danced into the night. Janeway was amazed at
the love that had been found that night, Tom and B'Elanna, but especially
Harry and Kes. The night was a night of romance, for more than just the
newlyweds. Life on Voyager was going to get very interesting from now
on...

THE END

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