[posted: 6/2/99]
                                                                           
A YEAR IN THE LIFE 
Part Five: September By: Lauren Taylor

^In midnights 

In cups of coffee^ 

"Number nine in the corner pocket." Harry said as he prepared to hit
the pool  balls. Tom stood smugly, holding his cue, admiring the table
which clearly  showed
that he was winning. 

The nine ball richocheted off the side of the table, and ended up
knocking  three balls, and itself, into pockets, putting Harry as the
winner. He turned  to Tom with a
proud grin on his face as the crowd gathered around cheered and 
laughed.

"Aw, come on! It's your birthday, I let you win." Tom explained. Harry
just  nodded, and headed over to a table where B'Elanna was sitting. 

"B'Elanna, it amazes me how Tom can think that I will be surprised
when he  throws me a  party every year. Can't you talk some sense into
your husband?"  he said
as Tom sat down with them. 

"Admit it, Starfleet, you were surprised." B'Elanna told him. 

"Only because he threw the thing a week early! Tom, today is September
tenth.  My birthday isn't til the eighteenth." Harry explained to him. 

"Excuse me." B'Elanna said quietly as she sat up from the table and
walked  out of Sandrine's. She stood against the cobblestone wall of
the French pool  hall, and
took in a few deep breaths. She wiped her face from the raindrops 
that were falling steadily, and brushed back her hair. 

"B'Elanna? Are you all right?" Tom asked as he came up to her. 

"Today's the tenth, Tom." she reminded him. 

"So?" he questioned. 

"Stop acting like none of this matters to you." she murmered, "That
leaves  eight months."

"B'Elanna, it doesn't matter. Eight months, eight years, I don't
really care  how long I have. Right now, I have everything I ever
want, and I doubt I can  lose all that in
just eight months. I can die happy." 

"Stop talking about dying!" she shouted. 

"Are you sure you're all right? None of this seemed to bother you this
much  until now. Is something wrong?" he questioned, taking her hands
in his.

"Come with me." she ordered as she pulled him out of the holodeck and
into  sickbay.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on?" he asked when the arrived in
the  dark and deserted sickbay. 

She picked a tricorder up from one of the Doctor's workstations, and
handed  it to Tom. She then sat down on one of the biobeds, and
ordered him to scan  her.

He scanned her, and didn't notice anything. 

"B'Elanna, what is the point of this?" he questioned. 

"Scan again." she ordered. He sighed, and passed the tricorder over
her once  more. As he got to her abdomen, he began to notice what she
was pointing out. 

"You're... you're pregnant?" he whispered. 

"Yeah. The due date is May 30th." she explained. 

"May 30th..." he said to himself. 

"However..." she began, "The Doctor informs me that the baby has been 
infected with the chemical. The baby has until about the end of next
month."

* 

"I don't really feel like going to a party right now, B'Elanna." he
said as  she tried to bring him back to the holodeck.

"Well, everyone's going to notice something's up if Harry's two best
friends  who planned the party leave for no reason and don't come
back." she  explained. 

"So do you want to tell people about the pregnancy?" he asked before
they  entered the holodeck.

"No! No one but me, you, and the Doctor needs to know." she hissed. 

Tom didn't say anything, he just followed B'Elanna back into
Sandrine's,  where she explained to everyone that she was just had a
headache and wanted  to get
outside for a bit. 

He noted, as he watched B'Elanna talking with Harry and Chakotay, that
she  was putting on a good front, despite what she had just informed
him of, but  something
just seemed fake about it. He, knowing her better than anyone else  on
the ship, was the only one who could notice it. He never thought she 
wanted a child, and he
knew for certain that she didn't want one that she  would have to
raise by herself. 

Someone else killed from what those jerks did to him. He knew it would
only  take his life, but, after what B'Elanna had said as they stood
outside of  Sandrine's,
and now the pregnancy, he realized something. The Hygans didn't  just
kill him. They were killing everyone around him.

TO BE CONTINUED 

Paramount owns Voyager, and all the people, I own the story, Jonathan
Larson  owns the lyrics to "Seasons of Love"

Comments to fiddleritw@aol.com or sharibobbins@yahoo.com