It was such a wonderful relationship when it started. They went to the holodeck and each day he would learn something new about the woman he loved. So what did go wrong? What caused B’Elanna to push him away so much? These were questions Tom could not answer. All he wanted was for her to let him in. He needed to know that she still loved him. He still loved her, that was for sure.

Before *The Fight* B’Elanna had been growing further from him. He hardly saw her, much less talked to her. She would hide out in her quarters and not go anywhere but work. Whenever he confronted her she brushed him off. It hurt Tom every time she did, and finally he had enough. He stood up to her and tried to force her into telling him what was wrong. He didn’t get an answer though. It only served to light a fuse that was already very short. She blew up in his face. All he said was that she needed to let him and she told him that it was none of his business.

Tom had enough and called it off. He could not be in a relationship with someone who hid what she was feeling from him. A relationship was made up of two people. If their was no communication it could not work. He couldn’t just go on pretending that everything was peachy keen when the woman he loved was just growing further away from him. He couldn’t be the only one registering any feelings, holding onto the rope from his end while she was dropping it.

“It’s for the best,” he told himself out loud, trying to convince himself that breaking up with her was the best thing to do. In his heart he wasn’t so sure about it. She needed help. After all her Maquis friends had been killed she went into a depression. She nearly killed herself in all the holodeck programs she had been using, including the one he made her. Chakotay had forced her into facing reality, into recovering, but Tom wasn’t so sure she did recover fully. She never came and talked to him after. She just kept brushing him off. He could tell that she was feeling again, but she still wasn’t herself. So he gave her some space so that she could get back to her normal life.

*That was the mistake,* Tom thought, *Giving her room to back off.* He should have helped her when he had the chance. He should have confronted her after Chakotay had, been there for her so that she couldn’t keep pushing him further and further away. It as over now, and there was nothing he could do about it. Even though it hurt, he had to get over it. He loved B’Elanna as much as he always had, but if she couldn’t love him back he couldn’t stay with her. The last two days when he saw her he wished he ould make things right. Talk to her, tell her that he was there for her. Foolish pride got in the way, though. He was to damn proud to walk up to her. After all, it was her fault the relationship was over, wasn’t it? She was the one who couldn’t face up to reality. But the more he thought about it there were some things he could have done to help her. It wasn’t her fault that they didn’t have a ship’s counselor.

Tom sighed and sat down on the couch. He needed to talk to her. There was only one thing standing in his way... pride.