Janeway stripped off her bloody uniform and stepped into the shower, water was on ration but she didn’t care, turning the manual regulator to full she stood under the flow. As the warm liquid cascaded over her naked form and into the lacerations that criss-crossed the length of her body she screamed with pain.


Paris pressed the call panel of Janeway’s door that would activate the chime and waited. He was about to press it again when a voice came over the speaker.

“Who is it?”

“ Paris ma’am.” He replied. “I’ve come to treat your injuries.”

Janeway tied the knot of her towelling dressing gown tight before ordering the computer to open the door. “Shouldn’t you be assisting the doctor with the others?” she asked Paris as he stepped into the room and allowed the door to close behind him.

The only light came from the bedroom doorway that she was standing in front off so Paris couldn’t see her very well; however he sensed from the inflictions in her voice that she was in pain. He’d only seen her briefly in sickbay before she’d left for the bridge but if the three casualties he’d left with the doc were anything to go buy she was in need of medical treatment and he wasn’t going to leave until she complied.

“Klockner and Munday are stable and Seven is helping the Doctor operate on Sherwin.” Moving forward as he spoke Paris was able to get a better view of Janeway and he didn’t like what he saw. “It’s your turn now to get fixed up.”

“I’m ok.” Janeway lied, her whole body felt as if it was on fire. “Nothing I can’t handle myself.” Suddenly the room began to spin and she found herself falling forwards.

Catching her wasn’t difficult, looping his arm around her waist so that she fell against his shoulder Paris took Janeway’s weight. The problem was holding onto her, the wounds to her body from the ‘sniper bugs’ were so numerous no matter where he held her she whimpered with pain.

“I beg to differ.” Paris said softly while guiding her to the edge of the bed and setting her down. Even sitting on the soft covers caused her pain and now in the bright light he could understand why.

Her hands and legs looked raw from the many cuts that he could see, but her face was the most shocking.

A slash ran from her right temple across her left eye and cheek then down her neck where it vanished beneath her dressing gown. Another ran down the right hand side of her face and across her mouth splitting her lips open like ripe cherries. Smaller cuts could be made out everywhere, adding to the mess. It was as if she had put on some horrible Halloween mask.

“Not a pretty sight am I?” Janeway said trying to catch Paris eye.

He was too busy though removing a hypospray from his med kit to notice. “This will help with the pain.” He said gently brushing the wet hair from her neck and searching for a piece of uninjured skin to press it too.

As the contents of the hypo penetrated her blood system Janeway let out a sigh of relief.

“I’d like to give you more but you’ve lost too much blood.”

“It’s enough.” Janeway responded her voice heavy with fatigue.

Sitting on the bed beside her Paris took out his tricorder and slowly ran it the length of her torso.

“How bad?”

“You have 67 separate cuts and lacerations, none life threatening but together they are quite serious.”

Putting the tricorder away and reaching for his dermal regenerator Paris considered where he should start. There were deeper cuts across her back but the ones on her face worried him the most. “I’ll do you face first.”

“Too much to look at?” Janeway commented trying to judge the expression on Paris face, if he did find her injuries repulsive he was doing a good job at hiding it, the only thing she saw in his blue eyes was concern.

“Not at all.” Paris replied, “I’m just worried about your eye.”

“Oh.” Was all Janeway replied, knowing that she should have not expected any thing else, after all he had visited her in his capacity as a medic not a friend.

“I’ll need you to close your eyes and keep then shut until I say it’s ok to open them.”

Janeway nodded and complied, sightless she could feel him shift his weight on the bed, move closer, then gently sweep the hair from her face before slipping his hand behind her head to hold it steady.

“Here goes.” Paris said holding the instrument over the edge of the wound and activating it.

In the dark and with her head still fuzzy from the pain, the hum of the regenerator reminded Janeway of the sound the sniper bugs made and she involuntarily flinched back away from it. Paris felt her move, he also felt her reach out and grab his leg just above the knee, then as if realising what she had done was improper, pull back.

“It’s ok.” He said softly pausing for a moment until she had gathered herself.

Comprehending the meaning in his words, Janeway returned her hand to Paris leg and clutched it. No one watching would have understood but that small contact was all she needed to keep her composed while the regenerators blue light repaired the damaged tissue then sealed the torn skin on her face.

The gash trailed off down her neck and onto her shoulder, which is where Paris followed it, tenderly moving aside the blood stained towelling robe as he progressed along her collarbone. It was hard not to notice as he readjusted the cloth to see the other cuts that disappeared beneath it and down to her breasts.

De-activating the regenerator, Paris raised his eyes to inspect his handy work. There was no scar, no skin discoloration, no visible signs that the ugly wound had ever been there.

“One more.” He said, taking hold of Janeway’s chin and gently turning her head to get a better angle on the slash across her right cheek.

This one traversed her mouth as well and as he approached her lips, he used his fingers to hold them steady. The delicate flesh plumped under the blue beam but soon smoothed out, just to be sure though Paris ran his thumb firmly over the new skin to check its strength.

Janeway found his touch most sensual and could not resist the urge to skim her tongue against the roughness of his flesh. It tasted salty from his sweat and antiseptic from his work in sickbay.

Paris was startled by her move but didn’t show it, he just cupped her cheek in his warm hand and said, “You can open your eyes now.”

Fluttering them, Janeway attempted to dispel the tears that were forming in the corners but failed and two glistening droplets escaped. Paris caught one with his already moist thumb the other fell onto the cloth of her dressing gown.

“Hey… Shhh!” Somewhat shocked at the sight of his captain crying but understanding that she herself was probably in shock from what had happened, he drew her close and rested her head against his shoulder. Looking down at the regenerator in his hand then remembering the 65 wounds he still had left to heal; Paris couldn’t help but wonder if he shouldn’t take her back to sickbay. “This would be easier in sickbay.” He said softly. “The doctor could…..”

“NO!” Janeway raised her head. “No, please Tom, I wont you to do this.”

Swallowing hard and chewing on his lip Paris tried to persuade her otherwise. “This is going to take hours and…and some of these cuts are….” Pictures of her breast slashed red raw crossed Paris mind.

“It’s ok.” Janeway said managing a small smile for him then squeezing his leg firmly. “I trust you.”

Understanding her words as she had his, Paris gazed into her tearful eyes, returned the smile and said softly. “I’ll be as gentle as I can.”

“It’ll probably easier if I was lying down.” Janeway suggested, wiping the remaining tears from her cheek.

Nodding in agreement, Paris stood to allow her room to lift her legs and slide up the bed until she was resting in the middle with her head on the pillow. Moving the blood stained robe aside and exposing the lacerated flesh of her legs, Paris sat back down beside her and quietly commenced the lengthy task of repairing the damage the sniper bugs had done.

“Talk to me Tom.” Janeway said after ten minuets of silence. “It’s too quiet in here.”

“You could put some music on.” He suggested. Not sure if there was anything he could say right at that moment which would take her mind off the fact that he was running a dermal regenerator up the inside of her thigh towards the apex of her legs. This wasn’t exactly the time for small talk.

Janeway sighed deeply then spoke to the computer, “Classical selection 4”. The music was soft and dreamy enough to mask the hum of the regenerator but not loud enough so that they couldn’t talk if they found anything to talk about.

She let the music play for a while longer until Paris has finished with her legs and moved onto her hands and arms.

“At least I still have all my fingers.” Janeway said inspecting the injuries on the opposite hand. “ Alice lost two of hers.”

Alice Munday was the young yeoman she had taken down to the planet with her and was now lying in sickbay seriously wounded. Chakotay had suggested that crewmembers from the lower ranks would benefit from chances to join landing parties. To which Janeway had agreed, unfortunately the first opportunity to do so had turned out so disastrous that she was reconsidering it for the future.

“Do you think the doctor would have let you leave sickbay earlier if you had had any appendages missing?” Paris commented glancing over at her before returning his eyes to the delicate work of repairing her little fingers nail.

She didn’t speak again until Paris moved closer and began untying the belt of her dressing gown.

“They don’t hurt so much anymore.” She said, ‘they’ being her breasts. “So it’s ok if you need to touch.”

Paris didn’t immediately respond, what he saw was nothing like what he had imagined earlier and words briefly failed him. The snipers had cut deep into her soft flesh leaving slashes that resembled those left by an Antarium bears claw than the thin blade of a tiny insect’s wing.

Clearing his throat of the bile that rose and swallowing back the pity she would not want to see, he calmly asked. “Do you need anything else for the pain?”

Janeway shook her head “No, I’m ok.”

He was sitting very close and able to look down into her weary eyes. “Just relax.”

“H…How?” Janeway’s lips quivered as she spoke.

Paris smiled, but his eyes were full of sympathy as he brushed the hair from her face then gently closed her eyelids. “Close your eyes.” He whispered. “Picture yourself somewhere special, somewhere the darkness can’t get you.”

A few seconds passed and Janeway’s brow creased once before smoothing out. “I’m back on earth at the Academy.” she said. “Sitting on the grass, beside a rose bed.”

“What colour are they?” Paris asked.

“Red and white tea roses, Boothby is humming as he prunes them.”

“Is anyone else there?”

“No,” Janeway breathed deeply and her breast brushed against the skin of Paris arm where he had rolled up his sleeve, but she didn’t even notice.

“Ok,” Paris said, his eyes wandering down to the still arousing sight of her firm breasts. “Concentrate on what’s Boothby’s humming and the colour of the roses; just keep them focused in your mind.” As he spoke, Paris began working on the deepest of the wounds. He had almost finished the second one before he found a need to touch her; the gash ran awkwardly beneath the swell of her right breast, meaning he had to move it to proceed. Making sure his hand was warm and Janeway’s attention was still on Boothby’s roses he cupped the smooth roundness and tenderly raised it.

She felt him touch her and then something happened, a tiny hot shimmer of pleasure awoke in her and she was forced to take a sharp breath to quell it.

“Focus on the roses.” Paris whispered thinking that the sharp breath was a reaction to pain, if he had know other wise he may not have done what he did next.

The third slash had sliced her left nipple in half and after running the regenerator over it, he was worried about possible nerve damage. The sensible thing to do would to have been to scan her with the tricorder but instead he took a more direct approach and ran his thumb over the tip. It immediately roses to a firm peak but this time Janeway’s reaction was unmistakable.

Gasping aloud and opening her eyes wide she slapped Paris across the face, then realising what she had done she sat up and touched her fingers tenderly to his scarlet cheek.

“I guess I deserved that.” Paris said holding his hands up in case he should accidentally touch anything else.

“I’m sorry Tom.” Janeway apologised. “You just took me by surprise.”

I’m the one who should apologies.” Paris said taking hold of her hand and resting it on his knee where it could do no more harm. “I shouldn’t have done that it wasn’t very professional of me.”

Gripping his knee Janeway smiled mischievously. “No it wasn’t, but you’re forgiven.”

The rest of the repair work went without a hitch. Even when sealing the cuts across her buttocks Paris kept his hands to himself and managed only the briefest brush of her hips before dropping a sheet over her shoulders and whispering into her ear, “get some rest, I’ll be close by in case you need anything.”

By this time, she was so tired that she had fallen asleep before he had time to cross to the doorway and order the computer to lower the lights.

After updating the doctor on Janeway’s condition and hearing that the other on the away team were going to be ok, Paris settled himself down on a couch in her quarters for some rest of his own. However he found it difficult to chase the images of his captains slashed body from his mind and sleep eluded him for sometime.


His eventual slumber was broken by a scream, following the sound of crying across the darkened room Paris hastened to Janeway’s bedside. There he took her trembling form in to his arms and pulled her close.

“It was just a nightmare, your safe now.” He said soothingly.

Lifting her head from Paris now damp chest Janeway spoke through her tears. “We were running as fast as we could but they were faster, they kept cutting us off. Karen was in front, we could see the shuttle in the clearing. J…Just a few more yards….” Janeway stopped to Take a deep breath and quell the shakes that made her voice quiver. “I ducked beneath another flock of the bugs, then catching my foot on something S….stumbled…..”

All the time she was talking Paris held her watching as she fought to remember what had happened to them. His heart was aching to see her in so much mental pain.

“It was her head!” she blurted out, “They had sliced her head off. I could see her eyes…the fear….I think I screamed.” Probably as she had just done. “We were surrounded; I could no longer see the shuttle through the mass of bugs. Then the others, they pushed me to the floor, covered me with there bodies…..they sacrificed themselves to shield me, but it was my fault they were in danger.”

“No, you couldn’t have known. No one could have.”

“I chose them; I picked the search area, I…..”

“Stop!” Paris almost shook her, as he gripped her arms firmly and forced her to look at him. “Karen was an unfortunate accident, your not to blame, Alice, Powel and Gordo are going to be ok, and they only did what anyone on this ship would do, what I would have done, protect their captain.” He was going to say, ‘protect you’ but that would have sounded too personal. The thought was chased from his mind as Janeway began crying again. Wrapping his arms back around her shoulders he positioned her against a dry area of his uniform and held her tight.

His warm hands caressed the smooth flesh of her naked back sending small shivers through her body between the shaking sobs. She didn’t seem to either notice or care that the thin sheet covering her modesty was wholly inefficient. The points of her breasts felt like two sharp needles piecing his chest and the curve of her buttocks were just a fingers stretch away from his hand.

Although he was a man who normally let temptation rule his actions this time he resisted and whispered softly to her, “Nightmares not withstanding you need to rest.”

Turning to face him, Janeway whispered back. “Stay with me,”

“I’m not leaving you.” Paris replied before thinking.

Fixing her eyes on his in the darkness Janeway asked. “Stay here, lie beside me, hold me?”

She almost said ‘make love to me.’ If she had been a little more confident that Paris wanted her as much as she wanted him, she might have. She might have lifted her head and placed her salty damp lips to his and shown him. However she was too scared to reveal her desire and instead pulled away from his embrace and tugging the cover up to her chin lay back down.

Held in a state of unbelief Paris hesitated to respond, he was uncertain as to what she was asking. ‘Lie with her! Hold her! Then what? Sleep? If only she wasn’t his captain, it would be so much easier. Swallowing air to feed his brain, Paris slipped out of his shoes, he considered slipping out of his clothes but that would have been unprofessional. Moving on top of the covers he stretched out beside Janeway’s tiny frame, allowing her to inch closer then snuggle into the crook of his arm.

He was shocked at first by how good it felt to lie with her against him, then he relaxed, letting there breathing sync into a comfortable rhythm. She had stopped crying by now and her eyes were closed so Paris closed his, as he drifted into a dreamless sleep he felt her snake her arm around his waist.


Upon waking he was disconcerted to find her gone, and sat up quickly. The sound of the sonic shower alerted him to her whereabouts and he thought of sneaking out while she was occupied. But then he saw the two fresh uniforms laid out at the bottom of the bed, one for her and one for him. He was still sitting their on the bed when she emerged from the bathroom with a towel clutched in front of her.

Allowing his eyes to drift the length of her body he couldn’t help but appreciate how beautiful and sexy she looked. From the tousled hair and pink blushed cheeks, to the swell of her right breast escaping from the towel down to the shapely length of her exposed legs.

“You should freshen up.” Janeway said aware of how he was looking at her, she had seen that look before in Marks eyes.

Paris rose and without saying a word walked around her to the bathroom, once inside he let out the deep breath he had been holding.

Kathryn knew she should have dressed and left before he returned but she heard the shower activate and began imagining Tom, standing naked in the tiny cubicle, then she pictured herself standing with him. The imagery made her feel warm inside and she couldn’t resist moving to the open doorway and peering around the edge.

He was standing with his back to her, one hand resting on the wall the other holding his head, he appeared to be upset. She wanted to go to him, touch him but her feet wouldn’t move, then almost as if an invisible force had pulled her she was stepping into the shower behind him.

She’d hardly made an audible sound but he knew she was there and he knew why she was there. The moment he turned around, she threw her arms about his neck and crushed her mouth to his. Wrapping his flesh around hers he returned the kiss with passion and vigour.

Kathryn felt like she had been electrocuted, flashes of pleasure struck her like lightning overwhelming her until she could no longer tell if she was standing, lying on the floor or floating in space. The only thing she knew was that the tongue delving into the back of her throat was not her own. That the two strong hands lifting her up meant her no harm and that the flaming arrow piercing her flesh was just Tom inside her, making love to her.

Moving his mouth from her swollen lips Tom greedily devoured her throat, breathing raggedly against her neck as he rammed his scorched shaft into her over and over again, burning her with each thrust, sending her body into fluxes of ecstasy with each withdrawal, until she rode the waves of her climax panting and screeching his name. Adding his own raptures screams to hers he released his liquid seed deep within her secret chamber. Then exhausted and gasping for air they sank to the floor together.

“I love you.” Tom said his mouth dry and horse, while tears mingled with sweat ran down his face. “Let me love you?”

“I…I guess I always loved you.” Kathryn’s eyes roamed his face, from the sandy hairline to the flawless chin back to the deep blue of his eyes. “Take me back to bed.”


It was late in the morning before they both reported for duty. Paying a visit to sickbay first, where Janeway was greeted with smiles from her recovering crew, and accepted without complaint the doctor’s insistence of checking her over before joining Paris on the bridge.

“Captain on the bridge.” Kim called and then smiled as she nodded in his direction.

Chakotay rose as she approached him. “Good morning Captain.” He said, only sitting again once she had done so.

Blushing a little she nodded at Paris who had turned briefly from his duty at con to acknowledge her arrival.

He nodded back and smiled. Things were not over between them, not by a long chalk, what ever that meant?

The End