Room Mates - Part 28.
By T'Pam
With a click of her fingers, she was gone. Q clenched his teeth
together. "You can run, Q, but you can't hide!" he yelled.
Determined to find her, no matter how long it took, Q snapped
his fingers also.
He disappeared just as a voice called out. "Mother? Father?"
A teenage boy flashed into existence. "Where are you? Mother?
Hey, Mom!!! Hey, Dad!!! Where *is* everybody?"
The boy sighed loudly. "It seems I'll have to find somebody
*else* to play with." He waited expectantly for one of his
parents to appear, but nothing happened.
"This is unbelievable," he whispered. "I'm all alone. They've
left me all alone." It took a few moments for the concept to
sink in. He'd never been left on his own before. Never!
Somebody had to be with him at all times.
But now he was. His parents had gone. There was nobody here
except him. What would he do? Who would look after him?
A small smile crept slowly over his features. It grew bigger
and brighter. Party time!!!!!!!
~^~
Meanwhile, back in the Captain's quarters aboard Voyager:
"Chak? What happened?" Tom repeated, wondering why he was
lying on the floor, with the big man's arms wrapped around him.
"It's all over now, Tom. Everything's fine."
"I don't feel fine. I feel weird."
"What do you mean?" Chakotay asked in alarm, helping him to
sit up.
"I don't know exactly; I just don't feel right."
"Maybe I should take you to sickbay," Chakotay said worriedly,
watching Tom shake his head vigorously. "It's probably been
more of an adjustment for you than the rest of us. Being changed
into a dog might have..."
He stopped abruptly and gazed in amazement as Tom began to
slide along the floor from his sitting position, using his hands
for support. "What are you doing?"
"My ass is itchy."
"I really think I'd better take you to sickbay."
"I hate sickbay. Besides, there's no need. All that's wrong
with me is an itchy ass." He growled suddenly. "And something's
biting at my ear."
Chakotay watched incredulously as Tom lifted his leg up and
began to brush furiously at the back of his ear with his foot.
"That's it. We're going to sickbay," Chakotay announced, all the
while marveling at how flexible his lover was. Spirits! If Tom
could get his leg up like that, just imagine some of the things
they could do, some of the positions they could try!
His dreamy smile disappeared when Tom whined and then, on all
fours, crawled his way back across the floor to him. "Do we
have to?"
He nodded as Tom scampered up onto his lap and licked his face.
"I'm sorry, my love, but you're acting a little strange.
You're..." he broke off in horror. "Tom... Tom, what's...
what's that... lump?"
"Lump?" Tom licked his face once more.
"There's a... a lump... in your pants."
Tom laughed softly and snuggled against him. "Well, it's not my
phaser, if that's what you think."
"No, Tom. I'm not talking about that. I can feel a lump in your
pants, rubbing against my thighs."
"A-a... I... I... Oh shit!!!!" Tom scrambled off of him and
half crawled, half staggered to the bathroom. "No!" he screamed
a few moments later.
Chakotay hurried over to the closed bathroom door. "It's all
right, Honey," he called out. "You were unconscious at the
time, you couldn't help it. These things happen."
Tom screamed again. "No!!!!!!" and began to sob loudly.
"That's it, I'm coming in," Chakotay shouted, opening the door
and hurrying inside.
Tom was standing in the middle of the bathroom, his pants down
around his ankles, crying hysterically.
"Chak, look," he cried, turning around to show him his ass.
Chakotay screamed louder than Tom.
~^~
B'Elanna made her way to the Captain's quarters and, as she
opened the door, was met with an ear-piercing scream.
"Chakotay?" she cried, running towards the sound. She stood
in the bathroom doorway and just stopped herself from
screaming as well.
All she could do was stand there and gape in horror, while
Chakotay covered his face with his hands and Tom continued
to cry and wiggle his ass around in the air.
"Do something," he screeched.
Tom had a tail. It was a stub of a thing to be sure,
protruding from just above his anus, but a tail nevertheless.
B'Elanna hit her commbadge. "Three to beam directly to
sickbay."
~^~
"Why wasn't I informed of this body switching?" the Doctor
asked huffily. "There could be all sorts of side effects."
"We're informing you now," B'Elanna hissed, reaching down to
readjust her groin and realizing, with a disappointed sigh,
there was nothing there anymore.
"Doctor, can you help him?" Chakotay asked, his hands still
covering his face.
"Removing the tail is a simple procedure," the Doctor answered
and Chakotay risked peeking through his fingers at him. He
avoided looking anywhere near the biobed and Tom's naked ass.
"That's wonderful news. Do it... and hurry."
"Not so fast, Commander. We may have a small problem."
"You mean his ass will be scarred?"
"Of course not. I pride myself on my cosmetic abilities."
Chakotay sighed in relief.
"Will you stop gasbagging and get rid of this thing, Doc?"
Tom whined from his prone position on the bed.
"As I said, it may not be that easy."
"I thought you said it was simple."
"That part of it is, but removing the tail will not
automatically fix the rest of your problems."
"What problems?"
The Doctor sighed and stood beside him. "Let me demonstrate."
He scratched behind Tom's ear, causing him to make a whining
noise in the back of his throat and begin to move his leg in
tandem with the Doctor's scratching. As the Doctor's fingers
sped up, so did Tom's leg.
As soon as the Doctor stopped, Tom sat up and immediately
brought his leg up to continue the scratch. B'Elanna gaped at
the sight while the Doctor watched smugly. "I rest my case."
"What's the matter with him?" B'Elanna gasped.
"Bloody Q turned him into a dog," Chakotay said angrily. "He
thought he was the Captain at the time, but even so..."
"But he changed us all back," B'Elanna protested. "Why's Tom
still acting like this?"
"Tom sucker-punched Q. I think this is his revenge."
Tom whined pathetically and began to sniff the Doctor.
"Lay," the Doctor ordered and Tom laid on his stomach once
more.
The doors whooshed open and the Captain bustled in. "What's
happened? What's wrong with Tom?"
"What's right with him?" the Doctor mumbled.
Chakotay raced over to her. "You'd better not look, Captain.
It's horrifying. Too awful to imagine."
Kathryn stepped around him and hurried to the biobed.
"Oh my God!"
"Doc, why the hell haven't I got a blanket or something?"
"After your little display earlier, Mr. Paris, I find myself
asking - what's to hide?"
"How did this happen?" Kathryn asked in shock.
"Q!" Chakotay came to stand next to her and explained what had
happened, carefully keeping his eyes averted from Tom the
whole time.
As soon as he was finished, Kathryn bellowed, "Q!"
There was no answer. She turned to the Doctor. "Can you do
anything?"
"As I've said before, I can remove the tail, but I can't do
anything about the obvious behavioral problems. I'm hoping
they're temporary and will gradually wear off. Now, if you'd
all excuse me, I'll prep him for surgery."
"Chakotay!" Tom cried, and they all winced at the howl that
accompanied the cry.
"I'll wait in the Doctor's office, Tommy." Chakotay said
quickly. "That's if the Doctor doesn't want me to do anything?"
"Actually, Commander, there *is* something."
Chakotay waited in dread, hoping and praying that, whatever it
was, he wouldn't have to look at Tom's ass to do it.
"Can you please replicate some newspapers?"
"Newspapers?" Chakotay's voice rose in confusion.
"We don't know if he's house trained."