#obviously she’s not Christian but she’d find it hilarious either way

[byoldervine]

Here's the big question; would Persephone die for the Christian Baby?

She’d die laughing at the idea that she’s actually been approached by the Christian Baby

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #248

“i was unprepared for fame, then everybody knew my name.”

Are you more positive or a debbie downer? I don't think I'm either, honestly. I'm realistic. How many meals do you eat a day? Since getting a calorie & macro counting app, I try to aim for three, but sometimes I only manage two. I have to be conscious of how I'm spacing out what I eat. If you could have any talent in the world what would it be? Be realistic. Draw exactly what I see in my head. Do you brush your tongue with your tooth brush? Bitch you better brush your goddamn tongue. I didn't know until I saw this as a survey question a while back that there were people who didn't. How many times do you brush your teeth a day honestly? Once. What are you favorite type of jeans? I don't wear jeans anymore, but aesthetically, dark, skinny, torn jeans. Do you pop your bones, crack your knuckles? NO it disgusts me omg. There's this girl who sits in front of me in Women Writers class who cracks her back ALL the time and I have to fight cringing so, so hard. Do you eat your nails? YO NO. I may peel my nails when they get long (to me, anyway) but who the fuck eats their nails. Do you eat the ice in your drink? If it's that good cronchy type, fuck yeah. What do you order at Chic-Fil-A? I used to just get the classic sandwich and fries, but I stopped going there forever ago due to their connection to anti-LGBTQ organizations. By now I can't even stomach the thought of eating something from there. Damn are their sandwiches good, but I'm not giving them business. If you had to go to Mcdonalds what do you order? "Had to" lmao. I have no problem with McDonald's, honestly; you couldn't make me go, because I'd be quite willing. I love their cheeseburgers and, of course, their fries. But because I'm a fatass I have to at least get a double cheeseburger. Have you ever been addicted to cigarettes? No. Which do you use more? Facebook or Instagram? Facebook. Are you a student? If so, what classes will you take next? Yes. "Next," I don't know, considering I haven't chosen classes for next year. Currently I take Painting, Women Writers, Psychology, and Biology. Are you a good kisser? I don't know? How many real bf/gf have you had? Two. Did you enjoy your past relationships? Sure, save for the one with Tyler. That was pointless as shit. Would you ever get back with your ex? Sara, if certain conditions were right. Jason, I honestly don't know and hope I'm never put into the position to need to decide. Other exes, no. Do you like 80’s music? Rock and metal, absolutely. It was a great decade for the genres. Name a comedy that you like. Rush Hour 2 popped to mind first because we mentioned it in school yesterday. Do you like homework? ??????????? WHAT IS THIS QUESTION???????????????? NO??????????????? Something you want to buy real bad? Ugggghhhhh a lot. Being unemployed is a BLAST!!!!!!!!!! Something you would buy a friend as a gift? It depends on the person, of course. I try really hard to give very personal gifts, so what it would be would greatly vary. What is something that would be a good birthday gift for you? Donate Big Bucks to my tattoo fund and I'll give you smooches. Something you would gift yourself? Still tattoos lmfao. Favorite candle scent? Cinnamon rolls mmmmmmmmm. Do you watch beauty videos on YouTube? So here's the tea I genuinely love Jeffree Star and I'm digging NikkieTutorials lately LOOK idk I guess because I find makeup to be an art, I like watching that stuff. My YouTube interests have become seriously diverse lately. Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Ha ha obviously. What is the best thing about life? Man, that's a loaded question. I suppose having people in it that make it worthwhile and a true privilege to simply be here. What do you think will happen when you die? YO, HONESTLY, I don't know, man. I've even questioned reincarnation lately. I 100% believe we are not hollow bodies meant to just decay after death, but creatures with spirits that live on in SOME form or way afterwards. I don't believe in the concept of a "Hell," but I don't really think I accept there being a true "Heaven," either? I think there's just... something. What, I don't know, but guess I'll figure it out at some point. Are you superstitious? No. What kind of surveys do you like the most? Random ones, especially the ones that make you think. Do you go to church? No. Do you like Christian music? No. I get frustrated from just bad memories/associations. Have you ever skateboarded and failed at it? Never really tried. What show/concert have you went to that you didn’t like much? N/A Is sex a must in your life? Nah. Could you wait until marriage for sex? Lol I was the abstinent one years ago, so obviously I could, because I understand it. What do you think about weed? Medically, it's fantastic. Too much evidence of it being so to argue it anymore. For other use, I feel the same way about it as I do cigarettes: bad idea, but whatever. I personally don't care if it's made legal for recreational use or not, so long as it's treated similarly to alcohol, ex. illegal to drive while high. If you found a baby turtle on the side of the road, would you pick it up and keep it? With it being a baby, I'd probably take it to an animal rescue or something. Did you and your mum ever have a big fight that caused you to move out? I stayed at Dad's for a handful of days. Has the last person you kissed ever been to your house? Yes. Does anybody have a tattoo with your name on it? My sister has my initial, anyway. Who did you last see shirtless? My mom. Do you like to make the first move? NONONONONO I'M SHY. Do you think you will ever be married? Probably. If the last person you kissed saw you kissing someone else, would they be mad? I don't think she'd be mad, no. Do you understand football? Nope. Who last called you beautiful? Probably Mom. If you fell pregnant to the last person you kissed, what would you think? We're both female so like- Do you think the body is the most beautiful thing that was ever made? No. Name five things you did today? Stayed at the hospital for my beautiful niece to be born :'), slept far too little after getting home, and that's... kinda it. What kind of phone do you have? It's literally a Tracfone, BUT WAIT! I actually wanted it, ha ha. Mom has one and it is *genuinely* a good phone, so I got one for my birthday. Hell, it's cheaper than paying monthly, so I'm fine with it. When was the last time you talked to one of your siblings? 5 in the morning when we were all still with Ashley. Do you like fire? Sure, I like watching it. Have you ever been to a spa? Noooo, not my jam. Do you know how to do a cartwheel? No. Who’s the funniest drunk person you know? Ehhhhh. When he drank, my dad was either hilarious when drunk or hateful and short-fused as fuck. 50/50 shot. But yeah, if you got Version 1, he'd crack anyone the hell up. Now that he's sober and happy he's always like that. What would you do if your partner still kept pictures of their ex? Well, I'd say it depends on the picture's context. Like, a picture of you two kissing, then I'd be uncomfortable as shit. If you have prom pictures or stuff like that but don't like go looking through them regularly, idc. It was a special event. What if your partner went through your cellphone? BYE, CUNT. What if your partner was flirting with another girl/boy? BYE, CUNT. Is there really a difference between Coke and Pepsi? YES. I can absolutely taste it. Pepsi sucks. Are there any mistakes with your recent ex you wish you could have changed? Stupid and/or impulsive shit I'd said, sure, but for the most part, no. We had a good relationship. Has anyone ever been with you while you were throwing up? My mom always is if she's present. I am terrified of vomiting and even at my age still want her there, even though she can't do anything, obviously. I turn into a baby when I'm about to throw up. Background on your computer? My favorite picture of Teddy. Who has hurt you the most? Jason. Or hell, my own head, idk. Are you happy with where you are relationship-wise now? Sure. What language do you want to learn? I wanna be fluent in German. Who’s the last person that came to your house? A family friend. Is there anyone you would like to fight? God no. I'm not a fighter. Who did you dance with last? Sara. Who is your best friend(s)? Sara. Song playing? "It's A Raid" by Ozzy feat. Post Malone. The album's out T O D A Y , B O Y S. Who is your arch-enemy? I don't have one. What's the most attractive thing on the opposite sex? GODDAMN shoulderBLADES Do you want platinum or gold for your wedding band? Not normal gold, I know. Rose gold is my ideal one, but I really don't care much. Have you ever paid to have your eyebrows waxed? I mean my mom has, seeing as I didn't have an income then, either. Got that done regularly in high school. Not because I asked, but because it was just "normal" since my two sisters did it, too. Do you think that the tobacco companies should pay for people’s medical bills? No, it's not their choice to use the product. Sure, they're making it, but it's really too late to cease production of tobacco. It'd be catastrophic in terms of the job industry. Do you curse in average conversations? Yes; I have to actually make an effort to not curse if needed. Have you ever bought a shot glass? No. Do you have a therapist? Not anymore after my previous one that I loved and trusted gave me every reason to break her jaw. I kind of want another one, but also don't. I'm supposed to, considering my history and that I'm on a lot of medication, but I just do nooooot want to go through the whole trust process again. Do you ever fall for spam mail? No. What color do you wear the most? Black. Do you only eat cough drops because you like the taste? No. Have your parents ever walked in on you having sex? No. Do you like getting stoned? I've never been so and aren't interested in ever getting there. Have you ever gotten a bloody nose from snorting cocaine? YOIKES THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY lol no, I wouldn't touch coke with a ten-foot pole. Red, white, yellow, or pink roses? Pink. What’s the worst name your mom has ever called you? I don't know. She hasn't called me anything too awful that I know of. Have you ever done acid? No. Were you at a rave? Never been, definitely not my scene. Do you post pictures where you look good but your friends look bad? Well, I don't hang out with like... anyone, so, lmao. But I wouldn't. Are you friends with any of your exes? Yes. Would you ever dye your hair pink? ACTUALLY! Pastel pink is on my list. I tested some soft colors out in Photoshop on me and it actually looked really cute. I think I wanna be a smaller size first, though. Do you ever masturbate? I haven't since I came off that godawful birth control that drove me batshit insane in terms of libido. I still don't think it's a bad thing, my interest in that is just, gone. Are you embarrassed about your sex life or lack there of? No. Who’s the last person you said I love you to? My sister. Did you like your life when you were in middle school? Actually fuck middle school with a maul. If you went on American Idol, do you think you’d go through to Hollywood? Nope. Have you ever received an anonymous gift? No, I don't think so. What kind of laugh do you have? A loud and obnoxious one. Do you hoard anything? "Hoard" isn't the right word, no. Are you afraid of flying? I am, but I feel it's only a realistic apprehension. Especially going back and forth to Sara's a few times, you kinda have to get used to it. Most recent Facebook ‘like’? Shit man idk, I "like" a load of stuff. Have you ever camped out somewhere for an event the next day? No. Do you do anything regularly that could damage your body? Can someone please eliminate soda from the face of the earth???? What do you love most in the world? Those closest to me. What woke you up this morning? Ugh, the sun. I need to put my curtain back up after Roman tore it down. Who was the last person you rode in a car with? My mom. Is anything bothering you? There's always *something* bothering me to some degree, but nothing seriously at the moment. Are you in a good mood? My niece was born overnight and is gorgeous and healthy so I have to be. :') When were you the saddest in your life? 2016. Do you own more than one cell phone? Ha ha, I have two old ones. One I used for pictures because the camera was good, and the most recent old one, I just need to get some pictures and contacts from... but I'm lazy. Have you ever had a song written about you? No. What songs make you happy? Depends on what I'm feeling. Next concert? No clue now that Ozzy had to cancel his, bless his old heart. As a child, did you ever get the chance to go to Disney World/Disneyland? Yes. When was the last time you fought with your significant other, if any? I’m single. Do you know anyone, personally, who is in an abusive relationship? Are you? No, thankfully. When was the last time you were on a boat? Where did you travel on it? Not since I went fishing with my old best friend a few years back. We were just in a pond. Are you planning on going anywhere with someone, some time today? Probably not. Do you like cereal? What would you consider your favorite kind of cereal? Hell yeah. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is *maybe* my favorite? Idk, I like a lot. Are there any people you don’t like for your significant other/crush to talk to? This doesn't apply to me, but even if I had one, they're not my damn child. I'm not gonna police whom they talk to. I mean I guess there are exceptions, like, talking to a drug dealer to name one, but talking to most people, that's their business. Just don't hide it from me. Have you ever forgotten your birthday? Did you soon figure it out? No. What color are the curtains in your room if you have any at the moment? Maroon. Is there anyone you are currently trying to get out of trouble? Why? No. Have you ever wanted your significant other to get rid of a friend? Well, calling back to that other question, there was one in a previous relationship that I really couldn't stand, but it wound up working out. If you have siblings, have they moved out or do they still live with you? It's just me and Ma now. Do you ever go to Blockbuster? How frequently would you say you go? WHAT A CALLBACK!!!!! Omg did I love BB. Went like every weekend to rent a game, and sometimes we'd go there Fridays before a sleepover to grab a movie. Do you ever listen to music so you can actually change your emotion? Sure, sometimes.

[timeisacephalopod]

Without Romance

Have an ironpanther soulmate AU (where you see color when you meet your soulmate) in which Tony is aromantic and poor T’Challa is his soulmate and also confused by the Americans. Though Tony doesn’t use the word ‘aromantic’ because its not a term he’s ever come across before. But its pretty obvious that he’s aro.

Tony is trying to wrangle his damn cat back into her carrier but she’s not really having it when someone taps him on the shoulder. “I should have named you Jar Jar Binks instead of Leia because you are being annoying as fuck,” he hisses at the cat before he turns around to find a pretty attractive dude laughing behind him.

“Beautiful cat. Um. I think you’re my soulmate,” he says and tony snorts.

“Nope, don’t do that shit. Find whoever was behind me,” he says, turning back around and picking up the cat. She places her paws on either side of the carrier and Tony sighs as she does her best to resist going into the fucking carrier. “God damnit Leia, would you just cooperate for ten damn seconds, you don’t ever hate the carrier one you’re in it!” he tells her. He gets an annoyed meow in response.

“Um. There isn’t anyone else but you in this direction,” the guy behind him says and Tony looks up. Huh, that’s weird- turns out he’s right.

Tony shrugs, “doesn’t matter, I don’t to romance so that’s a fluke on your part. Get your eyes checked,” Tony tells him as he finally manages to wrangle the cat into her carrier. “Finally!” he says excitedly, shutting the door before the cat dashes out and he spends another half an hour jamming the animal back in there. This is why he avoids taking her to the vet.

Behind him the guy sputters. “I.. but... you... you must have seen in color when you saw me too,” he says and Tony shakes his head.

“Nope. Cat’s my soulmate. Fitting because like I said, I don’t do romance. Cat’s cute and fuzzy, romance is messy and jammed into fucking everything for no reason at all,” he says, shaking his head. He had desperately turned to the horror genre, a genre he hates on account of what asshole likes to be scared, only to discover that even killing the shit out of people has romantic subplots. He assumed stupidly that maybe the genre, being what it is, wouldn’t have couples and shit but holy hell even a bunch of people dying for some reason needs a romance in it. Tony is genuinely floored by the obsession though he supposes in this soulmate obsessed country he’s the weird one. But damn, just one time he’d like to watch something without that garbage in it.

Even advertisements have soulmates in them. When he’s buying soap the last thing he cares about is soulmates so why are they mentioned again?

“Oh. Well that’s certainly unusual. I... don’t think that changes you being my soulmate though,” the guy says and Tony turns back around.

“I’m going to be blunt with you here. I don’t do relationships, I don’t give a fuck about soulmates, I don’t understand the world’s fascination with them, and I don’t view it as some sort of reason to give shit about you. Not to be a dick but you seeing color means nothing to me and why would it? Its literally a chemical bath on your brain, how’s that supposed to mean anything to me?” he asks, shaking his head. Its not a good reason to start a relationship.

The guy gestures to the cat. “We both like cats. And Star Wars,” he says and Tony rolls his eyes.

“Ninety percent of the world likes Star Wars and cats might have a lower population who love them but that’s still at least thirty percent of the world. Do better,” Tony tells him.

HIs companion smiles a little and Tony’s surprised he hasn’t been slapped. A couple people around them damn well look like they want to slap him and honestly they can fuck off. Its not his fault he’s right. “In my country there’s a word for people like you, the ones who seem to have no interest in soulmates,” he says and well okay, color Tony curious he didn’t expect this guy to actually do better.

“Uh huh. What country is that?” he asks. Accent isn’t familiar to him even if its certainly African. Probably closer to the south of the continent, but that’s about as good as his guess gets.

The guy smiles, “Wakanda,” he says and Tony lets out a loud snort.

“You mean the isolationist nation that hasn’t been involved in world politics since what, pre-colonial times? Buddy,” Tony tells him, shaking his head. Shit, he could have come up with a more believable country than that.

*

Rhodey watches as Tony proceeds with the most hilariously awkward encounter he’s ever seen him in. Sam sits across from him also watching for his own amusement. “The prince of Wakanda. Gotta admit I didn’t see that coming.”

“Honestly it was the cat I didn’t see coming. I think a prince of a nation we haven’t heard from in hundreds of years is honestly a lot less weird than his cat.” Tony had been ecstatic and honestly Rhodey genuinely thinks it didn’t occur to Tony that the implication of his soulmate being a cat was that he would have sex with it. Obviously that never happened but still, Tony was the only one who didn’t immediately think that.

Sam rolls his eyes at him. “Only because you have some weird assumptions about soulmates,” he tells him and Rhodey sighs.

“Yeah, you have a fancy degree or whatever but I have eyes. I know how soulmates work.”

“We don’t actually, and who can be soulmates with what degree of acceptance is entirely based on the time period we’re talking about. Like Jim Crow era America was not cool with interracial soulmates, but especially if one was black and the other was white. And gay people, and platonic connections, and familial connections- the further we get out of the accepted norms of romance the less accepted those connections are. Animal and human, for example, tends to be frowned upon because we assume soulmates look like only one narrow definition of romantic acceptability,” Sam tells him like he’s never said all this before.

“Then why are all the soulmates in America romantic?” Rhodey asks.

“They aren’t dingbat, the ones that don’t have that connection aren’t like Tony and flaunting it about. You think interracial soulmates were out there yelling about their soulmate being a black person? Probably not when they’d both get killed for being defective. Tony being famous and well loved probably saved his ass from worse speculations than cat fucking. Which is an absurd conclusion to come to, by the way.”

Uh huh. Sam can go on the way he does all he wants but Rhodey wants real proof, not two and a half people in a couple studies who claim that they don’t have a romantic connection to their soulmate. Though it is pretty clear Tony loves his cat in a not romantic way. But then Tony never really has done the romance thing.

Case and point, the poor bastard looks pinched across the table with T’Challa and he keeps shooting Rhodey ‘help me’ looks. “Should we go save him?” Rhodey asks Sam and he shakes his head.

“No. He stole that last dumpling last night and his pasty ass can suffer there,” Sam says, glaring at Tony. Rhodey snorts and starts laughing because Sam has always been a petty bastard but that has to take the cake.

*

T’Challa looks confused and Tony’s never met anyone who doesn’t assume all soulmates are romantic ones. “But Tony’s soulmate is a cat. Do you... do you think he has... relations with the cat? You don’t, right?” he asks, giving Tony a panicked look that disappears fast presumably because he looks so disgusted.

“No, T’Challa what the fuck?” He relaxes some, giving one of his guards in orange a relieved look. For a second her harsh exterior fades as she cracks just a bit of a smile before she goes back to looking like she’s ready to kill a man. Or woman. Or whatever, she doesn’t look like she’d be picky about it.

“No I don’t think Tony fucks the cat,” Rhodey tells him. “But he’s weird.”

“He’s not weird, this happens all the time in Wakanda. What do you do when soulmates are so far apart in age they can’t possibly hold a romantic interest in each other?” he asks, frowning.

“Assume the older one is a pedophile and throw them in jail,” Sam says. “Don’t look at me like that I shit you not that is an actual American law and will land you on the sex offender registry.”

That’s the most absurd shit Tony has ever heard and clearly everyone in the room, even romantic soulmate fan number one Rhodey, agrees with that.

“Americans are stupid,” T’Challa mumbles. “No offense,” he offers to Tony only.

He shrugs. “Yeah I mean. True. People printed stories about me and the cat for like four years consistently. Like sure, climate change is going to fuck us all but lets talk about that one guy who loves his cat and our speculations about it based on nothing but our assumptions of what soulmates need to be even though its obvious that’s not what’s happening here. It really is exhausting.”

“What about family members that are soulmates?” T’Challa asks. “Or soulmates who don’t share a sexuality that would inspire a romantic connection? Or people like you who don’t have an interest in romance at all but still have a soulmate?” He nods at Tony specifically. In Wakanda they have a word for it not that Tony can pronounce it. Apparently the loose translation is ‘without romance.’

“Oh list is longer than that depending on where we are. Pretty much anything that wasn’t a white heterosexual Christian couple was thrown right out of all research on the basis of being ‘perverted’ so uh. Yeah, here its romance or bust. We’ve gotten a little more lax with interracial pairings and gay people but they still get a bunch of shit. And people like Tony are basically unheard of.”

Tony frowns, “that’s not true, my Twitter feed is constantly lit up with people thanking me for saying that I have no interest in romance and soulmates because they feel the same way. We aren’t rare, people choose not to see us even when I’m literally yelling in their face.” Like with Rhodey, who really only seems to accept that Tony is different, not that his perceptions in totality are wrong. Even when Sam, his beloved soulmate, points out the flaws on Rhodey’s views he still doesn’t see it.

“In Wakanda we are aware that soulmate connections are as unique and varying as the people in the relationships. I assumed that romance thing was just the British,” he says, shaking his head. Because most of his travels outside Wakanda, Tony has learned, were to Europe though he stuck mostly around Britain in particular. He’s obviously been to quite a few African nations but he doesn’t seem to have stuck around long enough to get a lasting feel of their soulmate culture. Tony’s pretty sure if he had he wouldn't have concluded that only the British act that way with soulmates.

Sam shakes his head, “nah. I mean it’s a European idea and the wide spread assumptions about romance and soulmates being interchangeable did come out of European colonization but by now more of the world believes romance and soulmates are the same than not.”

Tony has no idea why Sam thinks that’s a useful area of study or why he chose that after the army but here he is. And apparently he loves his soulmate counseling job. Tony’s pretty sure he’d shoot himself if he were Sam.

“Why is it that ninety percent of the world’s useless ideas manage to come from Europeans shoving their culture down everyone’s throats?” T’Challa asks, irritated.

“In Europe’s slight defense if someone else off and colonized they’d probably do the same thing,” Tony says.

“But they didn’t, now did they? Regardless, American assumptions about soulmates are absurd. Imagine ignoring such obvious evidence the way you do! Throwing people in jail because their soulmate connection is not what you deem acceptable only because your definition is narrow and restrictive- absurd!” he says, shaking his head.

*

Shuri snorts and starts laughing. “Oh come on big brother, if you’re going to tell tall tales about Americans at least make them believable. No one would assume a man would have sex with his cat because the cat is his soulmate that’s ridiculous!” she says. Fuck Tony was born in the wrong damn country. Shuri looks between him and T’Challa and frowns. “He’s not lying, is he?” she asks him and Tony shakes his head. She lets out a long sigh and looks as lost and confused as T’Challa had when Tony first explained this all to him.

“So now we should expose him to proper soulmate culture because his culture has victimized him, teaching him there is something wrong with him because he didn’t have an interest in soulmates,” T’Challa says, shaking his head.

Truthfully he still doesn’t but he actually likes T’Challa and if nothing else no one else is allowed into Wakanda and the country is stunning. Might as well take advantage while he gets to know T’Challa better.

[heyyyharry]

Idol

(from the Flatmate!Harry Series)

...in which everyone’s obsessed with the new star on campus, and Y/N is no exception.

Warning: mention of sex, jealous Harry, and a bit fluff as usual.

Harry's not foreign to seeing people walking around campus with their face glued to their phones. It’s 2018 now and obviously everyone prefers social media than real life interactions, that’s fine by him. However, today as he’s walking to his favorite food court on campus to meet his friends for lunch, Harry finds it unusual as almost everyone he passes by are watching the same video on their devices. In fact, now he has the audio stuck inside his head and he hasn’t even watched that viral clip yet. 

Is this the part where everyone turns into zombies and he has to save the world on his own?

“What’s up with everybody today?” Harry asks the girl friend next to him while scanning his eyes around the room.

“Oh, some guy posted a clip of himself playing instruments and now the whole school is obsessed,” she replies, making him furrow his eyebrows in confusion. 

“What’s so special with that?”

“The fact that he plays 90 instruments and can sing very well,” the girl says then shows Harry the clip on her phone.

It’s a three minute cover of the song God Is A Woman by Ariana Grande, played by 90 instruments, and it was creatively arranged. Harry’s got to admit this guy is talented.

“But I still don’t understand all the hype for him, sure he’s good but...” 

“Okay, honey, Lemme educate you real quick!” The girl snaps her fingers as she clears her throat and sits up straight. “This man is anything but ordinary, he recently moved here from France, he was very popular there because he won a national talent show, got here on a prestige scholarship, blessed with a look of a Greek God but like...French, and he plays all kinds of instruments you can think of, and has a voice of an angel, most importantly, he’s an Aquarius, which is perfect for me!”

Harry widens his eyes whilst his mouth falls open, unable to believe she just said all that in only one breath.

“I don’t understand how you don’t get it, he has zero, ZERO flaw!”

“Who has zero flaw?” Niall returns with his tray of food and joins his two friends at their table.

“Layla’s telling me about this new French guy everyone’s obsessed about,” Harry answers, holding the straw between his teeth, smirking like what he just said was most ridiculous thing ever.

“Oh, so you’ve seen the clip then?” Niall sits down in front of them and nods his head knowingly. “Eliot Thériault, we had a class together this morning, cool dude, he’s hilarious.”

Layla rests her chin on her knuckles and her elbows on the table. Her eyes twinkle with excitement. “What class? I’m gonna take it, gonna be his new ‘study buddy’, if you know what I mean.”

“Jesus, calm down woman,” Niall chuckles before turning to Harry, who’s cringing at Layla so hard. “By the way, Y/N was in the same class with us, I think you should hold on to your girl, she’s one of the victims, like Layla here.”

“Oh please, Y/N’s not like that.” Harry snorts, but right after finishing that sentence, he hears his name being called from a few tables away. His girlfriend’s walking fast towards them with that familiar big smile on her face, which alarms him that she’s here with some news, it’s either really great or just severely terrible.

“I just met a Greek God, but he’s French!” Y/N announces once she stops at the table.

That is, apparently, all Layla has been waiting for just so she can shout out, “see??? That’s what I fuckin’ said!”

Harry facepalms himself, while Niall bursts into laughter, and Y/N finds it amusing though it’s not the first time she’s seen these reactions from the two of them simultaneously.

She takes a seat next to Niall and reaches forward to pat her boyfriend gently on the cheek as a loving gesture.

“C'mon, H, I had to fangirl a little bit,” she reasons. “It’s not every day that I’ve got to sit in class next to a viral star!”

“I second that!” Layla cuts in. “But please stick to Harry so I have a shot with a hot guy.”

“Wow, Layla!” Y/N chuckles at the girl’s statement. Most of Harry’s friends are not very supportive of his relationship with Y/N since the two of them are poles apart, so to hear his friend say something like that is a whole new experience to Y/N.

“That doesn’t make me your new best friend, princess.”

“How unfortunate.” Y/N rolls her eyes in a sarcastic way, which makes Harry snigger. He likes how sassy she is sometimes, as a matter of fact, her eye-rolling never fails to turn him on.

“Niall, have you told Harry?” she suddenly asks. No matter what that news is, she sure looks very eager for her boyfriend to know.

“Oh, right, Eliot has a live show tonight at a restaurant downtown, Y/N and I are invited but we’re allowed to bring some friends.”

“I’m gonna cancel my family dinner!” Layla immediately unlocks her phone and stands up right away which surprises the other three at the table, “mum, yeah, I cannot come tonight-”

“I think she hasn’t had sex in a while,” Niall admits once his female friend is gone, then he asks Harry if he wants to come as well.

“No, I’m good, I don’t even know the guy so,” Harry replies with a shrug, promptly given the look of doubt from his best friend and girlfriend.

“You sure, mate? Because I think he’s quite fond of Y/N.”

Niall’s assertion causes Harry to nearly choke on his water.

“I’m going,” he declares in less than no time. “I’m definitely going.”

...

Eliot is...nice. Harry was hoping he would be an asshole instead, but he looks exactly like the perfect human being his friends described, which makes him a lot more intimidating, because he could be faking his down-to-earth personality and nobody would know for how well he does it. 

“That was great, mate!” Niall compliments Eliot who just leaves the stage to another performer of the night.

“Merci! I’m glad you guys enjoyed it!” says Eliot in a thick French accent, and whilst Layla obviously swoons, Harry has to take a glance at Y/N to see her reaction. She has her usual smiley face on, but who knows what on earth she’s actually thinking about.

“And don’t worry about dinner. My uncle’s the owner of this restaurant. You don’t have to pay.”

“Looks like I’ve found my Christian Grey.”

“Damn it, Layla!” Niall cries out as he throws his head back and everybody else laughs, except for Layla, who rolls her eyes in a sassy way and tells Niall to fuck off.

“So Y/N...” Both Y/N and Harry flinch when her name is called. “Did you like my performance?”

“Yeah, I love it, I think it’s great, you’re so talented.” She sighs, holding both of her hands together. 

Layla slightly nudges Harry, then leans over to whisper to him, “if you’re secretly plotting his death, you gotta be more discreet than that murderous look on your face.”

“Shut up,” Harry says, though he cannot deny he’s been giving Eliot the death stare ever since their first met, just to clarify that his Y/N is untouchable. 

He has no idea whether it’s just his imagination playing tricks on him or he just thinks that way about every guy around Y/N, but Eliot’s been extra nice to her compared to how he treats others. This guy would always make eye-contact with only her when he speaks, only ask if she’d like some more water (as if nobody else drank water besides Y/N)! Then he would find some lame excuse to touch her in some ways, either it’s a supposedly ‘friendly’ hug or him brushing his fingers against her arm during a conversation. Harry’s not usually short-temper, but tonight he has to tolerate a lot!

He’s told her about it, but she shrugged it off as always, telling him that he worries too much. How can she blame him? He has a solid reason to worry. He knows what Eliot wants by the look on his face because, before Y/N, Harry himself used to look at the other pretty girls just like that. His instinct is never wrong.

As the group walk back to their cars parked a few blocks away, Harry has his arms secured around his girl’s shoulders and doesn’t let go for even one second. It’s apparent enough for everyone else, but he just doesn’t see why Eliot cannot stop coming for Y/N. Maybe the guy is not perfect, after all.

“I just can’t follow Dr. Friedrich’s lectures! Those concepts are so hard to grasp,” Eliot complains while looking at Y/N, who’s just awfully sweet as always (sometimes Harry hates how nice she is, ironically that what made him fall in love with her in the first place).

“If you don’t understand anything Niall and I can help.”

“Oh, leave Nialler out of this please. All I did was sleep in that class,” Niall’s response makes Layla snort.

“Then I think you’re my only hope now, Y/N.”

“It’s an easy course,” Harry speaks up all of a sudden, watching in amusement as Eliot’s expression hardens. “I mean, I don’t even need to attend those classes to understand what’s in the text-book.”

“I find it more challenging to learn something entirely in English.”

“Really? Did you get your scholarship by doing an entrance exam in French?”

Niall hurriedly steps in between the guys, holding up his hands in the air as he tells them both to chill. “Are you guys seriously gonna fight over a university course?!”

"They’re fighting for Y/N, actually,” Layla corrects and all eyes are on her. Y/N looks utterly confused and surprised, but ironically now neither of those two guys pays attention to her.

“I was speaking to Y/N, do you know how rude it is to interrupt people, Harold?” Eliot asks with a smirk, clearly starting a war for saying so, and Harry’s just so fed up right now.

“Do you know how rude it is to flirt with someone’s girlfriend right in front of them?”

“Not when your girl is thirsty for a bit of my attention.”

Just as Eliot finishes that sentence, Harry’s fist knocks him onto the ground! Y/N and Niall have to hold Harry back from causing more damage to the other guy’s face, and if it’s not for them, Eliot would probably end up in the hospital for what he said.

“Harry, leave him!” Y/N tugs on her boyfriend’s arm and looks worriedly at Eliot sitting on the ground, painfully cupping his bruised eye. She’s not worried for him, she’s worried for Harry, if his fans know Harry did that to him, she’s afraid something bad would happen. But Harry doesn’t seem to give a damn, he turns to Y/N, asks if she’s alright then tells her he’ll take her home.

“Are you fucking filming this?” Eliot asks as he sees Layla pointing her phone at him. 

She gives him a smirk. “The new viral star getting punched in the face for being an asshole, that, I would pay to watch.”

“What the-”

“Sorry, handsome. If I had to pick between you and Harry, you wouldn’t stand a chance.” Layla puts her phone away and walks off, leaving Harry and Y/N shocked as hell. Niall, on the other hand, looks particularly impressed as he hurries up to catch up with Layla.

...

“Are you mad at me?” Harry finally dares to question when he follows Y/N into their shared flat. She throws her bag onto the couch as well as herself before turning her head to him.

“Not at you, at myself!” she answers.

Harry takes a seat next to his girlfriend then asks her why she said that when she didn’t even do anything wrong, it was him who punched someone in the face.

“I’m so easy to be taken advantage of! It seems like everyone’s an asshole to me and I just let them!”

“That’s not true, he kind of had Layla and Niall fooled too.”

“Not just him. Everyone! And every time you warned me about it, I just completely ignored, now I’ve got you in trouble! How can you walk around campus tomorrow if Eliot tells his fans you hurt him?”

Harry chuckles at her facial expression. “Baby, I don’t even show up at school to begin with.”

“Are you seriously making a joke right now?”

Harry laughs as he apologizes and lies down on the sofa with his head on her lap like a little boy. Sometimes it’s still overwhelming for Y/N that Harry can just go from the guy who’s willing to punch anyone he dislikes, to the guy who lets her paint his nail and cries while watching rom-com, and it makes her feels like the luckiest for she’s the only person who gets to see the soft side of him.

“Thank you for looking out for me,” she breaks the silence between the two of them after a while, fingers gently running through his dark locks. “You’ve been doing that ever since we met, I know you don’t have to, but you do it all the time.”

“What do you mean I don’t have to? You’re a baby.”

“Said the one lying on my lap so I can stroke his hair.”

“Alright, I’m gonna let you win this time, only because I’m enjoying this.” Harry closes his eyes and chuckles when Y/N leans down to kiss him on the cheek. 

“But you’ve got to learn not to trust everyone you meet, for when I’m not around.”

“Then I have to make sure you’ll always be around,” she tells him, her eyes flicker with joy, but Harry doesn’t say anything back.

He just hopes she doesn’t notice how his smile slowly fades away.

...

Y/N wakes up way too early the next morning because of Harry’s alarm. Somehow he never wakes up before 9 o’clock but always has his alarm set at 6 AM. 

Harry’s still deep in his sleep to be bothered by that annoying sound. He has one arm locked around her waist, both of them naked, tangled up under the wrinkled sheet as a result of their crazy night. 

Careful not to wake Harry, Y/N reaches over him to grab his phone on the bedside table on his side. She turns the alarm off, then it hits her like a train when she sees multiple notifications on his locked screen, all tagging and mentioning him in an Instagram post. Quickly, she grabs her own phone to check if she’s received any notification as well; and she has. 

Apparently, Layla wasn’t kidding when she said she would post that video.

“Harry, wake up!”

“What?” Harry groans and buries his face into his pillow, but Y/N shakes his shoulders even harder.

“Wake up! Harry, you’re famous!”

“Nice try.”

“No, I’m serious, Layla posted the video!”

Harry immediately sits up straight and his eyes bug out when he looks at the screen of his phone. Holy fuck, Layla!

“Ugh look at these angry people. Eliot’s so canceled.” Y/N cringes when she scrolls down the comment section on the clip.

“No, look at all these girls calling me hot, I guess I don’t mind being famous.” Harry gives Y/N a toothy grin only to have his girlfriend skew up her face at him.

“Not funny!” She curls her lips. “Well, but at least they’re in love with you not hating on you so I think that’s good.”

“Aww, look at you being supportive.” 

Harry laughs and goes ahead to check the rest of the notifications. That’s when he realizes how lucky he is that Y/N hasn’t seen all of them, because there’s a new message from Niall earlier this morning, which would get him in so much trouble if she was to find out.

Congrats on that internship! But how are u gonna tell Y/N that you‘ve got to be in Japan for 6 months?

[starsinursa]

Questions for Grown-Ups

No one tagged me but I’m doing this anyways, sorry, not sorry

Tired of those surveys made by high school kids? “Have you ever kissed someone? Missed someone? Drank alcohol?”

Here are 35 questions for Grown Ups:

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?: Probably student loans. I just have so much student loan debt. I will seriously be paying on those loans for the next ten years. 2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?: …does…does by myself count? Because I took myself out for a nice steak dinner and sipped on some delicious margaritas about five months ago. I just take a book with me and read while I eat.

3. What do you really want to be doing right now?: I’m pretty content at the moment. I’m off work, in pajamas, lounging on my bed with the puppers and the kitty. 

4. How many colleges did you attend?: Two. I attended the same university for all four years of my undergrad and I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Psychology, and then I took grad classes in Counseling at another college for a couple of semesters. Didn’t end up finishing the graduate program though because there was a super intensive field practicum required to complete the degree and I was already working full-time at my current job, and I really don’t want to quit my job so I can get the degree, turn around, and then have to find another job. 

5. Why did you choose the shirt you have on now?: …it’s a gray T-shirt with a cartoon cat and it says “R U Kitten Me Right Meow?!” 😂 I picked it because it made me laugh? 

6. Thoughts on gas prices?: Not terrible at the moment, currently $1.99/ gallon here. And I saved $0.30/ gallon the other day by using my Dillons gas card. WOOHOO, saving money on gas like an ADULT!

7. First thought when the alarm goes off in the morning?: “Fuckkk…. if I sleep for a while longer and show up late to work, how late is ‘too late’?”

8. Last thought you have before you go to bed?: “Goddamnit, Tera, you said you were going to bed at 9:30 tonight and now it’s 1 a.m. Are you happy now? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?”

9. Do you miss being a child?: Nah. Besides paying bills, I LOVE being an adult. Some people say high school is the best time of your life, some people say college is the best, but my 20′s have undoubtedly been the best so far. Living on my own, doing what I want to do, disposable income, no homework… yes, please.

10. What errand/chore do you despise the most?: Washing dishes. I don’t have a dishwasher at my house and I loathe washing dishes by hand. I hate it so, so much. I literally only use paper plates, styrofoam bowls, and plastic silverware. I just throw everything away when I’m done so I never have to wash dishes. Yes, I hate dishes that much.

11. Up early or sleep in?: Sleep in. I love sleeping in but just never get the chance… or if I do, I wake up early anyways!

12. Found love yet?: Not yet, I am a single pringle. Probably staying that way for a while, too, because all I do is work and then go home, I don’t go anywhere to meet new people. Occasionally I sign up for a dating app, but then I panic and immediately delete it.

13. Favorite lunch meat?: Turkey. Actually, that’s like the ONLY lunch meat I like. I don’t like ham, roast beef… but surprisingly, I do like bologna!

14. What do you get at the grocery store every time?: I’m always stocking up on frozen meals to take to work. I am a lazy cook… as in, I don’t cook. I CAN cook, but I don’t. Cooking for one person is just too much effort.

15. Beach or lake?: Beach. Although, considering I’m in Kansas, there are zero legit beaches around here. Unless you count lake beaches?

16. Is marriage outdated?: I mean, not to me? I’d still like to get married someday. I know it’s not necessary and just a social construct and blah blah, but I still really like the idea of it, at least for myself. Under my sarcastic shell, I am a big soppy romantic at heart. No judgment on anyone who doesn’t wanna go that route though, live and let live. 😊

17. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?: Misha Collins, obviously, because he would be hilarious and adorable. Or Keanu Reeves. Or I would really have loved to meet Leonard Nimoy before he passed away. He just seemed like an amazing man and I bet he had some really great stories and life perspectives to share.

18. Ever crashed your vehicle?: My vehicle has been crashed, yes, but it wasn’t me who crashed it, thank you very much. I’ve been hit by other drivers a couple of times. Not in my new car, thankfully.

19. Do you have any regrets?: I mean, nothing that I would go back and change. I have some small things I wonder about occasionally, but I’m pretty content with the course my life has taken. Even the rough patches have helped me learn. I’m happy where I am, so that’s all that matters.

20. Strangest place you’ve brushed your teeth?: In an airport bathroom. Hey, those layovers can be excruciating, and I’d hate to subject my fellow flyers to my airport breath.

21. Somewhere you’ve never been but want to go?: Ireland. It’s on the bucket list, but I’ve decided to see some other places first. Thailand, here I come!

22. At this point, would you want to start a new career?: No, and that’s part of why I didn’t finish getting my graduate degree. I really enjoy my work (most of the time) and working with adults with disabilities actually lets me feel like I’m making a difference every now and then, so I’m not looking to change careers.

23. How old are you?: I’m on the downward slope of 25 (26 in two months, how do I stop this whole ‘getting older’ thing?)

24. Do you have a go-to person?: Probably my aunt. She works in a similar career as me, so I can talk to her about work problems or get advice. We’re also a lot alike, including being single with no kids, rescuing animals, etc., so we have a lot in common and use each other as a support system.

25. Are you where you want to be in life?: Actually, yeah, I’m pretty content. I would still like to get a Master’s degree someday (if I could find a degree without a practicum so I wouldn’t have to quit my job) and I’d eventually like to buy a house instead of just renting, but otherwise, I’m good.

26. Growing up, what were your favorite cartoons?: Rugrats, Hey Arnold, The Wild Thornberrys, and The Fairly Oddparents

27. What do you think has changed about you since you were a teenager?: Oh my god, sooo much. I feel like I’ve come out of my shell a lot, and also become a lot more at peace with who I am. I don’t worry so much what people think of me anymore. I mean, I’m still super introverted and I’ve still got all my faults, but I beat myself up less about all of it, y’know?

28. Looking back at high school, were they the best years of your life?: Pffft. PFFFT. Yeah right. High school was…not bad, I had my little group of friends and went to a really small school where everyone was pretty chill, but I do not miss the teenage hormones and insecurities and constant worry about the future. 

29. Are there times you still feel like a kid?: Sometimes. Well, not really like a ‘kid’, but sometimes at work I’ll notice my age and feel weirdly young if I’m in a meeting with coworkers who are a lot older than me. And even if they aren’t too much older than me, almost all of my coworkers have kids, so it’s hard to find things in common sometimes. 

30. Did you have a pager?: No, I’m not that old, haha. But I did have one of those old-school flip phones that couldn’t even text.

31. Was there a hang-out spot when you were a kid?: Yeah, there were a few. Out at the old Union Pacific railroad bridge. Downtown. A couple of party houses.

32. Were you the type of kid you’d want your children to hang out with?: Depends on my age. 😂 I was mostly a decent kid who got good grades and didn’t get into much trouble, but I went through my crazy, rebellious phase too… drinking, smoking, truancy, sex… ah, yes, being 16 was an interesting time for me.

33. Was there a teacher or figure that stood out to you?: I had a really fantastic school counselor when I was going through that rebellious phase. I was forced to see her and wasn’t happy about it, but she turned out to be awesome. A lot of times, she didn’t even make me talk about school or home, she’d just let me ramble on about things I liked, the books I was reading, my favorite movies, etc. She’d just sit and bullshit with me and didn’t treat me like a kid or talk down to me. I first became interested in psychology and counseling because of her.

34. Do you tell stories that start with “when I was your age”?: Definitely. Kids these days! When I was their age, I was already washing dishes in a restaurant. I started working at age 14 and have never stopped. And my parents didn’t buy me a car, I had to save up and bought my first car by myself for $500. And my parents didn’t pay for my college either, I had to take out tons of student loans and work 30 hours/ week on top of a full course load so I could pay all my own bills (I’m a bitter old woman, can you tell? 😌).

35. Are you religious?: Umm…I used to be, not so much anymore. My step-dad is a pastor though, plus my sister is really religious and attends a private Christian college, so I’m still around it quite a bit. Needless to say, there’s a few things they don’t know about me, including the fact that I work part-time at an adult store.

Tagging: all my “grown-up” friends who would like to do this! Dooo it!

[aviationfiction]

Feed back

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She is not fair to the human race. She is the cause for a war; serving as the undeniable demise of a million men. Her sun kissed skin gleams brighter than the finest gold and her intoxicating olive and honey eyes, serve as her weapons; weakening all who dares to stare into them for a lengthy period of time. Every aspect of her body is sculpted to perfection. She serves as a paragon of the higher power’s capabilities and showmanship. She is the personification of his excellency.

Yoooo this if I wasn’t blown away with the way he described her. Like I love reading from his pov because his words are like poetry. The way he describes and pay attention to every little intricate detail that is Autumn is absolutely amazing.

The way he looks at her is fascinating, especially because she doesn’t even know nor does she view herself in that manner. If Autumn could magically hear his thoughts, she’d either he baffled or embarrassingly amused by how enamored he is with her beauty. He notices every damn thing she does; even the things that wouldn’t matter to her or anyone else.

The bouncing of her ponytail was nothing in comparison to what was happening below her waistline and I nearly tripped myself as I purposely sprinted ahead of her to end the visual and cease those thoughts.

I laughed so hard tears where coming out. I can actually picture him doing this. Lol son Autumn had this nigga mind all in the gutter and I loved it, because he tries so hard for it not to go there. Especially with her.

He’s embarrassed by those type of thoughts because he doesn’t want to objectify her. That’s typical male behavior and he’s not trying to fall in line with that type of gawking but he can’t help himself. No matter how much he tries not to, he’s going to look and think about it. It’s natural behavior. He shouldn’t fault himself for that.

“No one’s home. My father’s in D.C. for something work related and my mother is out there for some type of summit or conference at Howard University. I’m assuming they’re most likely going to stay an extra day or two to do their romantic thing and return home. So yeah, it’s just me here today.” As we walked along, she snickered. “Why am I making it sound like I’m sneaking you in? I’m sounding so hot in the pants teen right now.” “Well. Are you sneaking me in?” I teased her and smirked when she widened her eyes at the question. She then lightly smacked her hand into my arm. “No. It just makes me think of the movie ATL when Lashonate’s character Tonya says to T.I.’s character Rashad look my momma not home, you want to give me a ride? And then Rashad says man your momma ain’t never home. You remember that?” I haven’t heard of the movie nor seen it. I knew Tip was into acting but I never had an interest in seeing him do it. I’d rather be a fan of his music; mostly the earlier work. This is the second time I’m hearing that Lashonte name from someone. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything she’s acted in before. “No. I’ve never seen that.” “My God, Dante. What do you watch when you’re at home chilling? You better not say House Of Cards either.”

For her to not only offer to cook for him, but for her to invite him into her home. Says a lot. That whole little exchange was so cute, because every time she finds out that Dante haven’t seen a movie or a tv show, baffles her, and I think that’s really cute that she’s tryna put him up on things.

She’s comfortable with him and she’s building a trust level with him that allows her to continue to allow him to come even further into her world. She trusts the respect that he’s shown her thus far and that’s what’s really important when it comes to those two.

I also love and find it hilarious how out of touch Dante is when it comes to films and popular culture overall. He really does live in his own little bubble. Autumn’s going to have to school him, because Stacey isn’t getting through to him.

Three reasons. Faith. I’ve always believed that we as human beings put a bit too much faith in God when it comes to every single thing. I don’t know why, but it felt like such a lazy approach. Around that time, honestly, I felt like I had nothing but him to cling to. It was the first time I put it all on him and firmly believed that he’d make sure I made it through it all in some type of way. I’m standing here and I’m functional so those blessings were gifted. The second is hope. I’ve been one hell of a pessimist over these past couple of years, so I had to work on becoming hopeful again. I’m still working on it but I’ve progressively gotten better. Lastly, myself. I don’t know what the hell the future holds for me. It scares me to think about it but I have to believe that everything’s going to work itself out positively for as long as I work on it.” “Faith. Hope. Self. I like and highly respect that. You know, a lot of people usually name their family or something completely outside of themselves as reasons for living and that’s cool but ultimately, I believe that you have to want to live for yourself before you can have the desire to live for anyone else. That falls right along the lines of needing to love yourself before you can attempt to love someone else.” “Exactly. You get it. It’s not a selfish way of thinking. It’s simply the way things should be.” Suddenly, she turned and swung open the fridge’s door to examine the contents inside. “You said French toast is your favorite right?”

This was so heart breaking for me to read. But for her to still be able to pick up the pieces and move on, had me yelling go sus. And I just think it’s so awesome that they’re both completely comfortable with each other to divulge things to each other that they normally wouldn’t.

Her strength is admirable and her ability to speak about it and be informative when it comes to his own story is beautiful. Her life is important and it’s good to know she realizes that and also that she’s found outlets to restore her faith in God and in herself. The rawness between the two of them is one of the driving forces of their friendship. The open honesty continues to draw them closer to one another and it serves as an outlet and escape from what does pain them in their individual lives.

“Yes. It’s just television sweetheart.”

I smiled so damn hard at this, even tho it was a slip up. I was like yes Dante

LMFAO! A slip up that had both her........and him shook!

When she caught him peeking, he was so damn embarrassed, but it was so cute.

My famous southern fried chicken, a vegetable omelette, and cinnamon French toast with a homemade bourbon peach sauce smothered over them.”

Well damn Olga I felt like I was watching an episode of Chopped lol. Shorty threw down in the kitchen. And for her to keep him company while he ate. And for it to seem so natural. I just love how comfortable they are with each other.

She made her time in Miami useful in that manner. Though it was to appease Andreas, her cooing skills do come in handy and Dante was able to get a taste of what she spend a lot of her leisure time doing. If he sticks around, one thing he won’t complain about is being hungry, because she’s sure to fill his stomach up upon request.

No. I was only asking because I wanted to know if you’d like to hang out with me today? I have a few things to do but it’s sort of a loose day for me. First I need to head home to freshen up and change. If you get ready while we’re here, you can just go with me. I have to stop by my office to wrap something up. What time is your appointment?” “It’s starts at five. It’s later in the evening because she’s coming into the office late today.” “I can drop you off. I’m supposed to check out a property around five thirty, so I can drop you off and pick you back up. Tonight, Diddy’s hosting a party at the club to celebrate some new flavor of Ciroc. It should be fun. He always brings a crowd and tons of special guests with him. Are you up for it?” Though I wanted to finish it all, I couldn’t eat another bite. After having swallowed down the last bit of French toast I had left, I tossed in the towel on the half of omelette and piece of chicken I had left.

Okay Dante I see you boy. Don’t wanna leave her. I was surprised she agreed tho. I kinda felt like she wasn’t thinking that would be doing to much, but obviously she’s more opened to them becoming better friends.

She’d already spoiled him with the breakfast and the company, so he wanted to keep that going for the remainder of the day. It’s surprising for someone who tends to always be by himself to desire an entire day worth of company, but again, that attests to how close the two of them are becoming and how much he already values her presence.

“And your closet damn near made me pass out. It’s amazing and that mirror that you have in there? Whew! Your closet is very Christian Grey.” “Very who?” I pressed send on the final e-mail that I needed to send over the Hakkasan group and glanced over in her direction. It was one hell of a gamble, but I was able to secure him an extended three year partnership with the group as a disc jockey and music consultant. He’ll be the resident DJ at Hakkasan nightclub once it has it’s grand opening, Wet Republic, and also at Omnia nightclub inside of Caesar’s Palace. “You’ve never heard of Christian Grey?” Her giggle was sheepish and her face suddenly turned a slight hue of red as her body shifted on the chair. “No. Who is he?” “Nevermind.” She couldn’t cease the laughter at my lack of information about whomever she was referencing to so I did what anyone would do. I immediately opened up another tab and typed the exact name into Google. When the results appeared, I clicked the first link available. “Christian Trevelyan Grey is the male protagonist of the trilogy, Fifty Shades of Grey. To the outside world, he appears to be a handsome and attractive young man in the business world. However, he has a hidden face: he is adept of BDSM.” It was my turn for my face to flush in embarrassment as I skimmed through more of the synopsis about the man. Fredrick’s talked about his weird interest in BDSM enough for me to know exactly what it is and what it entails. Autumn couldn’t contain her laughter no matter how many times she attempted to do so and the smirk on my face was by followed my narrowed eyes as I pondered how she made the connection between myself and this character. “How is my closet very Christian Grey?” “Because it’s very sleek, masculine, and it’s filled with suits, dress shoes, and you have those pull out draws with your ties neatly folded inside of them. That’s how Christian is described. He’s a business man, just like you are.” “But why do I have to be compared to the kinky ass business man?” “I’m not saying that you’re kinky. I’m just comparing your styles in terms of business attire. I wouldn’t know if you’re into BDSM or not unless I asked Samira or that three month girlfriend from college.” “Or you can just ask me.”

I cackled so damn loud my coworkers were looking at me crazy. And for her to say she would only found out by asking one of his exs and for him to boldly reply or you can just ask me. Phew chile. I can picture Dante dominating Autumn or the other way around. Hell for the right person you’ll get kinky for them.

LMFAOOOOOO! Dante decided to test the waters with that response and he cannot deny that even if he tried to. He wanted to see just how much she’d flinch or if she’d actually go there and open up the floor for that invasive but obviously intriguing conversation.

You think Dante’s dominant in the bedroom? Hm. Her too? Well, you’re definitely right about people bringing out all the works when it’s with the right person.

“Okay, Google Images does you no justice. Don’t get me wrong, you’re beautiful in those photos, but damn, you’re fine as hell.”

I freaking love Stacey man. I just love her.

Stacey is a mess, but we have to love her. She can’t help but to be her loud and obnoxious self and that is by far what makes her so damn great. She makes Dante squirm and he needs that.

I’m not done with my feedback but I’m at work so I def will be leaving the rest later on tonight.

Thank you so much. I truly appreciate that and I’m glad you’re enjoying it thus far.

[voyagerafod]

Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion: Part 4 of 4: Hotter Than Hell: Chapter Six

The ship shuddered a second time as Captain Janeway left her ready room and entered the bridge, the red alert lights already on, and the stars in the viewscreen shifting to indicate that Tom Paris had already started evasive maneuvers.     “Report,” Janeway said as she moved towards her seat.     “A ship just de-cloaked off our port-stern,” Tom said.     “Can you identify them?” Janeway said.

    “They re-cloaked before I got the chance,” Harry said.     The ship shuddered a third time.     “The energy signature of the weapon suggests a Klingon disruptor beam,” Tuvok said.     “Are you sure?” Janeway said, looking incredulously as Tuvok.     “Continue evasive maneuvers,” she said. “Hail them.”     “No response,” Tuvok said.

    “They’ve de-cloaked,” Harry said. “It’s definitely a Klingon ship. An old one by the looks-”     The latest volley from the Klingon vessel hit Voyager hard, the ship shaking more violently than the last few volleys.     “Not old enough that they can’t hurt us apparently,” Janeway said.     “Port shields are weakening,” Tuvok said.

    “It looks like an old D7-class cruiser,” Chakotay said, looking at the monitor in the arm of his chair. “They retired those decades ago. We can use a metaphasic scan to penetrate their cloak, easily.”     “Do it,” Janeway said.

    “Bridge to astrometrics,” Chakotay said, “initiate a metaphasic sweep.”     “Aye sir,” Megan Delaney’s voice replied. After a few seconds she spoke again. “Got ‘em. Transferring the data to tactical.”     “I have them” Tuvok said.     “Fire phasers,” Janeway said. The viewscreen switched to a rear view, the aft phaser banks firing at what at what would’ve seemed to be empty space had Janeway not known better. The first blast struck true, and the antiquated Klingon cruiser quickly became visible. A second and third blast hit.     “Their shields are down,” Tuvok said.     “Hail them again,” Janeway said. She didn’t doubt for a second that the rest of the bridge crew was as curious as she was as to what an old Klingon ship was doing out in the Delta Quadrant. The age of the ship suggested the Caretaker had had nothing to do with this. Likely this was a ship that had come from the opposite direction. But why had a Klingon crew decided however many decades ago it was to head this way?

    The face of the Klingon ship’s commander appeared on the viewscreen.     “This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager    “This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. Stand down.”     “We will not surrender to sworn enemies of the Klingon Empire,” the Klingon Captain said.     Well, that gives me a vague idea of how long they’ve been out here, Janeway thought.     “The Federation and the Klingon Empire signed a peace treaty over eighty years ago,” Janeway said. “A few... hiccups aside it’s still in effect.”     “You’re lying,” the Klingon Captain said.

    “I’m not,” Janeway said casually, “but even if I were, your ship is no match for mine. I suggest we discuss this.”

    “What is there to talk about?” the Klingon Captain shouted.

    “The treaty for one thing,” Janeway said. “You can have access to our database. You’ll see it’s the truth.”     “Databases can be falsified.”     “Fair enough. How about the fact that I have a Klingon serving aboard this ship?”     “Impossible.”     “She’s my Chief Engineer,” Janeway said.     The Klingon Captain’s brow furrowed, seeming unsure what to do with this new information.     “I will meet this chief engineer,” he said.

    “We’d be honored to have you as our guest, Captain…”     “Kohlar.”     “I look forward to meeting you in person, Captain Kohlar,” Janeway said.

    The viewscreen cut off.     “So much for a ‘you’re welcome,’” Tom said. “Obviously I’ll want to be there when he meets B’Elanna, Captain.”     “Now, Tom, there will be security there, no need to be overprotective of her,” Janeway said.

    “What? No, not like that. I just mean it’ll be hilarious to watch her kick his ass if he tries something,” Tom said, smiling.

    Janeway couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sure Mister Kohlar would not want to share that story with his crew. He wouldn’t want to admit that he got beat up by a pregnant woman.”

    “Do you expect violence, Captain?” Tuvok said.     “Expect? Not really. But we should be prepared for it, just in case.”

---

    B’Elanna Torres looked down at her stomach as she rode the turbolift up to the bridge, where she’d then be going to the briefing room to meet with this Klingon Captain who had had the nerve to open fire on her ship right in the middle of a routine dilithium matrix realignment.     “Barely three months in and I’m already showing,” she muttered. “I suppose I should be grateful that this is going to be relatively quick.”     “I wonder if Samantha Wildman is at all jealous,” Lieutenant Ayala, who was going to the meeting room with her, said. “She was pregnant for, what, a year?”

    B’Elanna chuckled. “Just about. I guess you never know what you’re going to get when you cross species like that.”     “If I ever have kids,” Ayala said, “I should look into the data on that, figure out what combination would be the fastest.”     B’Elanna was prepared to lecture Ayala on how speciesist that sounded, but she saw his smirk and held back.     “That was a terrible joke,” she said, but she was smiling in spite of herself.

    The turbolift reached the bridge, and the two headed for the briefing room. When they entered, Kohlar, flanked by Captain Janeway and Tuvok stood up, and with visible shock on his face looked at her stomach.     Already with this? she thought.     “You are with child,” Kohlar said.

    Janeway gave her a look that showed she had no idea where this was coming from either. Tom Paris, seated on the opposite side of the table, tilted his head in confusion.     “Yeah,” B’Elanna said. “So?”

    “Did you conceive during the holy month of nay’Poq?”     “That’s kinda personal isn’t it?” Tom said.

B’Elanna decided to humor this man, more amused than insulted at his apparent fascination with her baby. She held up her hand to let Tom know that she had this.     “I have no idea,” she said.     “It would have been fourteen or fifteen weeks ago,” Kohlar said.     “Sounds about right, though I wonder why you think that’s any of your business.”     “I’m curious about that myself,” Janeway said.

    “I must return to my ship,” Kohlar said suddenly.     “Aren’t you interested in learning about the treaty?” Tuvok said.     “Here’s a copy of the Khitomer Accords,” Janeway said, handing Kohlar a PADD. He took it and glanced at it.     “Yes, fine, seems to be in order,” Kohlar said after barely even glancing at it. “I must return to my vessel.”     Why is he in such a hurry to get out of here? B’Elanna thought.     “Not until I have your assurance that you won’t fire on my ship again,” Janeway said.     Kohlar looked at B’Elanna’s belly for a few seconds. B’Elanna and Ayala shared a look, her crewmate and fellow former Maquis fighter appearing to be as confused as she was. She looked at Tom, who didn’t seem to know how to react to any of this.     “You have my word,” Kohlar said, his voice dead serious, as if he was afraid he wouldn’t be believed.     One minute he’s shooting at us, now he’s talking like he would be personally offended if we got blown up. What the hell is going on? B’Elanna thought.

    Janeway nodded. She turned to Tuvok. “Escort Captain Kohlar back to the transporter room,” she said.     “Aye, Captain,” Tuvok said.     As soon as the two men were gone, Janeway looked at B’Elanna.     “Any idea what that was about?”     “Not a damn clue,” B’Elanna said.     “Wanting to know when the baby was conceived,” Tom said, “using the term ‘holy month,’ how quiet his tone got at the end of the meeting… If he were human, I’d think that he thinks our kid’s the second coming of the Christian messiah.”     “I don’t know much about Earth religions, Tom,” B’Elanna said. “You’ll need to explain that one to me.”

---

    “It’s the truth,” Kohlar said to his crew, keeping his firm but not shouting. The last thing he needed right now was a fight. Most days he’d love a good brawl, it was a great way to relieve the tension of the long journey, but today was special.     “How can you be certain?” the ship’s second-in command, T'Greth, said, skeptical.     “The scrolls say; ‘You will find me after two warring houses make peace,’” Kohlar said, waving the PADD with the Khitomer Accords on them. “Our people and the Federation, our greatest enemy, are at peace.”     “So the humans claim,” T’Greth said. “These Accords may be a deception.”

    “The other signs are present,” Kohlar said, smiling. “‘You will know me, before I know the world,’” he added, quoting the scrolls once more.     “The child is unborn,” one of the other crewmembers said, awe in his voice. “It does not know the world.”

    “You interpret the scrolls well,” Kohlar said.

    “We need to verify the evidence,” T’Greth said authoritatively. Kohlar normally respected his second-in-command’s skepticism but today it was terribly inconvenient.

    “Your skepticism darkens my heart, T’Greth,” Kohlar said, regretting insulting his friend in front of the rest of his command staff, but as much as he disliked humans, they had the perfect saying for such things; Desperate times call for desperate measures. “What evidence did our ancestors have when they began this journey? Nothing, but their faith.”

    Some of the other crew muttered to themselves. Kohlar could see he was already winning them over.     “Tell the others to prepare,” Kohlar said, moving up to the step that his command chair rested on, making him taller than the rest of his crew. “The Day of Seperation has arrived!”

    The rest of the crew on the bridge, including a visibly reluctant T’Greth, got to work.

---

    An alert sound from his console grabbed Harry Kim’s attention.     “Captain,” he said, “the Klingon ship’s warp core is going critical.”     “How is that possible? Hail them,” Janeway said.     Kohlar’s face appeared on screen, his bridge’s own alert lights own, consoles sparking in the background.     “I salute you, Captain,” he said. “You did more damage to my vessel than my engineer thought.”     He seems awfully mellow about this, Harry thought.     “We can send over a team to help you establish a containment field,” Janeway said.     “There isn’t time,” Kohlar said, his voice lacking the urgency one would expect to hear from someone uttering that phrase. Harry checked his console, but calm or no, Kohlar wasn’t lying.     “He’s right,” Harry said. “Their core’s going to breach in less than thirty seconds.”     “I’m requesting emergency transport,” Kohlar said, not even flinching when a console near the back to the Klingon bridge exploded.     “Captain,” Tuvok said quietly, but not so quietly that Harry couldn’t hear him, which likely meant the Klingons could hear him too. “Their crew compliment is two-hundred and four.”     Janeway sighed. “Erect force fields around the shuttle bay and transport them there,” she said to Tuvok. To Kohlar, she said, “Prepare your crew for evacuation.”

    “Fifteen seconds to breach,” Harry said.     “If our shields are still down when their core goes up…” Chakotay said.     “Go to warp as soon as the Klingons are aboard, don’t wait for my order,” Janeway said.     “Yes, ma’am,” Tom said.     “Five, four, three…” Harry said.     “We have them,” Tuvok said.     The stars on the viewscreen streaked as Voyager moved away from the exploding Klingon cruiser. As they did so, Harry went over the scans of the Klingon ship from before it exploded, and thought he spotted something odd. He forwarded it to Tuvok’s tactical console right away.     Something’s off about this, Harry thought.

    “Commander Tuvok,” he said, “could you give these sensor logs a second look? I could be wrong, but it looks like Captain Kohlar was lying about why his warp core went critical.”     “Why would he do that?” Chakotay said.     “I will review the logs,” Tuvok said. “If you are correct, Lieutenant Kim, Mister Kohlar will have a number of questions to answer.”     “That’s putting it mildly,” Janeway said.

---

    Janeway stood as a security officer escorted Kohlar into her ready room. Tuvok stood by her side with a PADD.     “You spare us a dishonorable death,” Kohlar said,     Tuvok wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter.     “Sensor logs indicate that the containment failure was not caused by our weapons,” Tuvok said, handing the PADD to Kohlar.     “You activated a self-destruct sequence,” Janeway said, glowering at the Klingon captain. “I want to know why.”     “It was the only way to get us aboard Voyager,” Kohlar said.

Janeway had not expected this much honesty that quickly. She also found it odd how completely non-defensive Kohlar was. He didn’t try to deny it, but nor did he seem too apologetic about it. If this was some sort of plot to hijack Voyager, so far it had been the most polite hijacking she’d ever seen.     “Why is that so important?” Janeway said.     “It’s our sacred duty to be here,” Kohlar said, sounding more like a preacher than a Klingon in that moment. She looked at Tuvok and could tell that he was as perplexed by all this as she was.     “I don’t understand,” Janeway said.     “More than a hundred years ago,” Kohlar said, “my great-grandfather was part of a sect which believed that the Empire had lost its way. They discovered a sacred text. It told them to embark on a journey to a distant region of the galaxy.”     “You’ve been travelling for four generations?” Janeway said.     “My people have always known the voyage would be long and difficult,” Kohlar said, “but the Scrolls said we would be rewarded.”     “How?” Janeway said, unable to suppress her curiosity. Religiosity was not an attribute she was used to seeing in Klingons, not even those who believed that Sto’Vo’Kor was real.

“We would find the kuvah’magh, the savior of our people, the one who will lead us to a new Empire. The Scrolls instruct us to follow them wherever they go.”     “This is all quite fascinating, but what does any of this have to do with Voyager?” Janeway said.     “I believe the kuvah’magh is the unborn child of B’Elanna Torres,” Kohlar said.     Janeway mentally kicked herself for not putting two and two together sooner. The way Kohlar has looked at B’Elanna when he first came aboard, his unusual behavior after seeing her pregnant, the questions about the conception…     She is not going to like that, Janeway thought, wondering how she was going to tell B’Elanna about all this.     “Tuvok,” she said, “have the rest of the senior staff report to the briefing room.”

---

    “You have got to be joking,” B’Elanna said, still having trouble processing what the Captain had just told her about Kohlar and his beliefs regarding her baby. She looked at Chakotay, Tuvok, Harry, and The Doctor, to see if they had as much trouble understanding all this as she did. “This has to be a joke.”     “Considering they blew up their own ship,” Tom said, “if it is a joke the Klingons are very dedicated to it.”     “From what I can tell,” Janeway said, “they take their beliefs very seriously.”     “Couldn’t they have just followed us?” Harry said.     “Apparently,” Janeway said, “their sacred text told them to cast off the old ways as soon as they found this kuvah’magh.”     “They saw their vessel as the last vestige of the corrupt Empire,” Tuvok said.     “I was hoping our daughter would be special,” Tom said, “but I never would’ve guessed she’d be a messiah.”

    “This isn’t funny,” B’Elanna said. “They might be dangerous. What if they want to hurt her?”     “To them your baby is sacred,” Chakotay said. “It’s unlikely they would want to hurt her. But we can always provide you a security detail if that would make you more comfortable.”     “It would,” B’Elanna said. “Especially since I’m guessing booting them off the ship isn’t an option.”     “Regardless of their intentions,” Tuvok said, “the sheer number of Klingons aboard present a potential security threat. I would suggest we keep them confined to the shuttle bay until we can find a suitable home for them.     B’Elanna was inclined to agree, but Tom shook his head.     “That will bite us in the behind if we have to use a shuttle or the Flyer at any point before then,” Tom said.

    “There are children and elderly among their number,” The Doctor said. “We can’t just lock them up.”     “I agree,” Janeway said. “Assign extra security to every deck, and make sure the Klingons know and abide by the rules. The bridge and engineering can remain off-limits. Cargo bay 2 as well, though in that case I’m more concerned about the Klingons accidentally harming themselves than us if they try to mess with the Borg equipment down there.”     “I’m sure Seven of Nine would be grateful to not have her regeneration cycles interrupted as well,” Chakotay said.     “Here’s another big question,” Harry said. “Where are they going to sleep?”     “We can have some of our people double up in quarters,” The Doctor said. “Others can take in Klingon roommates as well if they’re willing. Also, there are some empty quarters as well that we haven’t been using since, well… Oh, and there are of course the extra quarters we have on hand anyway for occasions such as evacuations of other ships, or for diplomatic entourages. It will still be cramped, but I believe we can manage.”     “I’m putting you charge of the arrangements then, Doctor,” Janeway said.     B’Elanna sighed. She still was having trouble accepting what she was hearing.     “I know this is going to be a pain in the butt,” Janeway continued, “but until another option presents itself, we’ll do what we can to make them comfortable. Dismissed.”     Everyone else started getting up, except for B’Elanna who just stared at the table.     “You okay, B’Elanna?” Tom said.     “Not really,” B’Elanna said, “but unless we get lucky enough to stumble across an abandoned ship Kohlar and his little cult can use I’m going to have to get used to this. I would suggest just dropping them off on the next M-class planet we find, but something tells me these people wouldn’t want to be separated from their chosen one.”     Tom gently squeezed her shoulder.     “I get that this is weird for you,” he said. “I’m a little worried to. But I’m sure everything will turn out fine. After all we’ve been through these past six years, an obscure Klingon religious sect doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.”     “Yeah, you say that now,” B’Elanna said, “but don’t get complacent. We’ve survived the Borg, Species 8472, the Hirogen, etcetera. But that just means we have to be more aware of the smaller threats. With our luck it would be someone who doesn’t even mean to hurt us who ends up doing us in the way the people who’ve wanted to couldn’t.”

    B’Elanna let Tom help her stand up even though she didn’t really need that kind of assistance. Not yet anyway. Her stomach wasn’t that far out. But she knew it made him feel more useful.

---

“Well, all it took was two-hundred Klingons coming aboard,” Samantha said as she maneuvered her bed into place near Seven’s alcove, “but we’re finally properly moving in together.”     Seven almost laughed.     “At least we’ll have some privacy thanks to the adjustable partitions,” Seven said. “I doubt Naomi and Icheb will like having their beds out in the open.”     “Well, there’s only so many panels,” Samantha said. “Besides, it won’t be that different from when we were using my quarters. We can still send the kids to the holodeck if we need some alone time.” Samantha added a wink.     Seven smiled as she shook her head.     “You do realize they know full well what we’re doing when we ask them to leave us alone,” Seven said.     “Definitely,” Sam said, “but as long as they don’t ask for details, I’m good. I’m perfectly willing to have ‘the talk’ with both of them, they just don’t need to know the specifics about you and me.”     “A wise course of action,” Seven said, as she finished getting Naomi’s bed in place and started re-assembling her table and cabinet.     “Speaking of our kids,” Sam said, “are Icheb and Naomi spending any time with the Klingon children yet?”     “No,” Seven said. “Icheb believes it would be best to wait until the situation with the quarters are in order, and Naomi agreed.”     “And you?”     “Icheb’s thought process is a logical one,” Seven said. “I have not experienced moving homes on quite the scale the Klingons are right now, but I imagine it must require an adjustment period.”     “Makes sense,” Sam said.     Seven watched Sam perform her tasks, and wondered if now would be a good time to bring up a topic she’d been thinking about of late, ever since B’Elanna’s pregnancy had been made common knowledge aboard Voyager.

She started to say something, but then held back. She needed to speak with The Doctor first. She needed to be sure that what she was thinking of was even plausible before bringing it up with Samantha.     “Oh, hey, Annie,” Sam said, “I just realized, don’t you have a bridge shift today?”     “I do,” Seven said, “but it’s not for another hour. I believe I can accomplish at least one of the tasks I am currently focusing on before I need to leave.”

---

Captain Janeway walked into the mess hall, not surprised that it was more crowded than usual, but pleased that so far everything seemed to be going so well. As far as she could tell, the Klingons were doing a good job of adjusting to their new situation. She imagined their faith played a role in that, though wondered if that would hold forever.

“Captain,” Neelix said, smiling as he walked over to her with a bowl of Klingon food, “You must try the gagh.” Janeway chuckled, glad that Neelix was proud of his ability to recreate Klingon cuisine with limited resources.     “I’ll pass, thank you,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’re getting into the spirit of things.”     “Well,” Neelix said, “I’ve been fascinated with Klingon culture ever since I first read about them. I’ve asked B’Elanna to talk with me about, maybe teach me something that the books just can’t, but she made it clear she wasn’t interested in having that conversation. I look at this as a learning opportunity.”

“Thief!” Janeway heard one of the Klingons yell. She looked over and saw a female Klingon grab the collar of the male sitting across from her. “Touch my food again and I’ll kill you!”

“Okay everyone, let’s calm down,” Harry Kim said. Janeway wondered if she’d missed him when she walked in, or if he had come in after her, but he and Lieutenant Ayala were positioning themselves to intervene if the two Klingons came to blows.     “He took gagh from my plate,” the Klingon female said, before lunging at the male. Harry quickly got in between the two and grabbed the female by the shoulders holding her back.     “That’s enough,” he said.     The Klingon female at first looked like she was getting ready to strike Harry, but then she got a different look on her face; arousal. This actually made Janeway more worried.     “You have a fiery spirit,” the Klingon female said. “You will make a worthy mate.”     “Oh dear,” Neelix said.     “We should probably do something,” Janeway said.     “Like what?”     “I’ll get back to you on that.”

---

    B’Elanna Torres was dragging out her work as long as she could get away with, but she knew there was only so slow she could get before her engineering team would figure it out. She didn’t want to admit that she was nervous to walk the halls, but it wasn’t her life she was in fear for. She simply did not want to deal with the reverent stares of the Klingons. Or rather, the staring at her belly. The more she thought about the idea of her child being a messiah, the less she liked it.     “Paris to Torres,” Tom’s voice said over the comm.     “I’m almost finished,” she said in reply.     “You said the same thing over an hour ago,” Tom said. “C’mon, you need your dinner, then your sleep.”     “Fine,” B’Elanna said, finally surrendering more to her own hunger and sleepiness than to her husband. “I’ll be there in a minute.”     She picked up a handful of PADDs and handed them out to the rest of the engineering staff.

    “Have Gilmore take a look at the replicators,” she said, heading for the door as she walked. “They’ve already gone down once today.”     “Yes, ma’am,” one of the ensigns said. The fact that she couldn’t remember his name right off the top of her head only further cemented how tired she really was.     “Alright,” she said to the security guard assigned to follow her. She made it to the door, and nearly walked face first into a crowd of about half a dozen Klingons. One them gasped when he saw her.     “It’s her,” he said, and B’Elanna was afraid he was going to start genuflecting right there in the corridor. The others began chattering. She quietly stepped back into engineering until the door closed.     “On second thought,” she said to her guard, “I’ll take the shortcut.” She walked over to a nearby console, and initiated a site-to-site transport, materializing just as Tom was putting out the silverware.     “When you said ‘be there in a minute’ you weren’t kidding,” Tom said.     “A group of Klingons ambushed me outside engineering,” B’Elanna said. “I decided transporting myself would be easier than running the gauntlet of the devout.” She went over to the couch and sat down, groaning at her sore back. “I’m starting to feel like a zoo animal for everyone to stare at.”     “Well, at least you have a handsome cage mate,” Tom said.     “How much longer do you think they’re going to be onboard?” B’Elanna asked.     “I thought you’d be glad to have other Klingons around,” Tom said.

    B’Elanna scoffed, but Tom continued.     “You’ve always told me how uncomfortable it is being the only one.”

    “I guess I should be careful what I wish for,” B’Elanna said.     “Maybe you should talk to some of them,” Tom said. “Give them a chance.”

    “You can’t be ser-”     The door chime cut B’Elanna off.     “Enter,” Tom said. B’Elanna wished he’d asked who it was first, even if there was a guard posted outside. She was surprised to see Captain Janeway enter. Tom started to help her to her feet so they could both stand at attention, but Janeway motioned for them to stay seated.     “Sorry to bother you, B’Elanna ” she said, “but I need your help. Ten of the Klingons have started a hunger strike. They say they won’t eat until you meet with their Council of Elders.”

    “That’s ridiculous,” B’Elanna said, rolling her eyes and very badly wishing she could be anywhere else right now.     “Their faith is obviously very important to them,” Janeway said. “Just talk to them. Hear what they have to say. I’d rather not have people starve to death on my ship.”     “You can’t just force feed them?” Tom said.     “That would be against the law, Lieutenant,” Janeway said.     “They think I’m something I’m not,” B’Elanna said. “I don’t want to feed their delusions.”     Tom sighed. “We’re going to be with these guys for a while. We can’t avoid them forever.”

    “I can try,” B’Elanna said.

    “Would it make you feel any better if I went with you?” Tom said.     B’Elanna put her hand on her forehead, feeling a stress headache coming on.     “Fine,” she said, her tone making the ‘but I don’t have to like it’ implicit.

---

    Tom heard the chanting as soon as he entered the cargo bay 1.     “mobaR, DoH’lo maj, Qo-vuh’makh,” they kept chanting over and over again, eyes closed, around an open flame. Tom wondered if they’d gotten permission for the makeshift camp fire, or if they had found a way around the fire suppression systems. B’Elanna let out a heavy sigh, and stood there, waiting for them to acknowledge her presence. Tom looked at her, at Captain Janeway, and back at the two security officers behind them. Even with all of them there, and none of the Klingons armed, he still felt nervous. And if he was nervous, he couldn’t begin to imagine how B’Elanna must feel.     One of the Klingons stood up and turned around. It was Kohlar, wearing an ornate robe over his standard Klingon uniform.

    “You honor us with your presence,” Kohlar said.     “Look at her ridges,” one of the other Klingons, an older one, said, finally looking in their direction as well. He sounded angry. Tom took a step closer to B’Elanna, ready to step in if things went sideways.     “Morak was right,” the older Klingon said. “Your blood is not pure.”     “No,” B’Elanna said. Tom wondered if this meant she was off the hook for all the religious reverence she’d been getting. She certainly sounded like it to his ear. “My father is human.”

    The rest of the Klingon began murmuring to each other, many of them sounding angry.     “Couldn’t you see this for yourself?” the older Klingon said to Kohlar.     “Yes, T’Greth, but-”     T’Greth cut Kohlar off. “Why didn’t you tell us?!”

    “It wasn’t important,” Kohlar said.     “Not important?” T’Greth said, sounding offended. Tom was less worried for B’Elanna’s safety right now than he was that a small scale holy war was going to break out between T”Greth and Kohlar.

    “We destroyed our ship because you said she was the mother of the kuvah’magh!” T’Greth said.     Kohlar took a step forward towards T’Greth, an apparent show of dominance, and yelled at him.

    “Show me where it’s written that the kuvah’magh must have pure Klingon blood!”     “The prophecy wouldn’t lead us to a mongrel child,” T’Greth yelled, turning towards B’Elanna as he said the word ‘mongrel.’ B’Elanna seemed to take it all in stride, but now Tom was angry.     “Hey,” he said, “take it easy.” Tom said as he moved to stand right next to B’Elanna.     “Tom, what’re you doing?” B’Elanna whispered.     “Who are you? T’Greth said.     “The father of that ‘mongrel’ child,” Tom said.     “More human blood,” T’Greth said in an insulting tone. He turned back to look at Kohlar, disgust on his face. “Your kuvah’magh isn’t even half-Klingon.”     “I’ve spent half my life interpreting the scrolls,” Kohlar said. Tom had to admit he was impressed with the Klingon captain’s composure.     He’s actually more calm than I am, Tom thought. I’m about ready to punch T’Greth if he insults my unborn daughter again.

    “I say that all the signs of the prophecy are here,” Kohlar continued.     “Liar,” T’Greth said, sounding as sad as he was angry. Tom felt a tinge of sympathy for him, even if he had just insulted his wife and child right in front of him. “You’ve led us to a false savior.”     T’Greth headed in their direction, and Tom reflexively reached for his phaser, forgetting he didn’t have one, but instead T’Greth just pushed past him, dejected, heading for the exit.

    “Well, that could’ve gone better,” Tom said.     “Let’s go,” B’Elanna said. As she, Tom, and Captain Janeway entered the corridor, B’Elanna shook her head. “I knew coming here was a mistake.     “Lieutenant,” Tom heard Kohlar’s voice say. He and B’Elanna both turned around. “I need your help.”

    “Any more ‘help’ from me and you’re going to have a holy war on your hands,” B’Elanna said.     “That’s what I’m trying to prevent,” Kohlar said.     “Come again?” Tom said, wondering where this was going.     “Is there someplace we can speak privately, away from the rest of my crew?” Kohlar said.     “Briefing room,” Janeway said. “You two,” she added, pointing at B’Elanna and Tom, “follow me.”     “Aye, Captain,” Tom said, still wondering where this was going. He looked at B’Elanna, and knew her expressions well enough to know she was thinking the same thing.     As soon as the four of them went into the briefing room, the guards waiting outside, B’Elanna sat down and spoke first.     “My baby’s just a baby,” she said. “Why do you keep doing this?”     “You may be right,” Kohlar said, shocking Tom.     “What?” B”Elanna said. “Then why-”     “We must convince my people that your child is the savior though,” Kohlar continued, looking ashamed.     “So, why?” Tom said.     “We’ve travelled more than 30,000 light years in search of this savior,” Kohlar said. “And in more than one hundred years we’ve found nothing. Nothing except for hardship, and isolation. When I saw Lieutenant Torres, when I saw that she was with child, I didn’t know if I was looking at the mother of the kuvah’magh or not. Perhaps she is. But what I am certain of is I saw an opportunity to end this wasteful journey.”     “So, you have doubts about the prophecy?” Janeway said.     “I believe my people have suffered enough,” Kohlar said, looking at Janeway. “If they accept B’Elanna’s child as the kuvah’magh, she will hold great influence over them.” He turned to face B’Elanna again. “If we find a suitable planet, you can tell them it’s our new home and lead them there. They will follow if they believe.”     “I’m not going to lie to them,” B’Elanna said. Tom started to think of something to say to try and get her to change her mind, thinking that it would be for the best as much for her own sanity as for anything else. but Kohlar spoke first.     “What’s the alternative?” he said. “My people staying aboard your ship? Draining your resources?”     Maybe you should’ve thought about that before blowing up your own ship, Tom thought.     “I agree with B’Elanna,” Captain Janeway said. “I don’t feel comfortable deceiving your people based on their faith.”     “Didn’t we do that with a couple of Ferengi several years ago?” B’Elanna said.     “That was different,” Janeway said. “The Ferengi were taking advantage of those people’s beliefs to exploit them, and we put a stop to it. This would basically be doing the same thing.”     “Perhaps you won’t have to lie to them to convince them,” Kohlar said, “not really. B’Elanna, if you study the scrolls with me, we may be able to interpret them in a way that appears consistent with the events of your life. Then we’ll bring those consistencies to the council of elders.”

    “Well,” Tom said, “wouldn’t be the first time holy texts were creatively reinterpreted to serve someone else’s needs.”     “You’re not making me feel any better about this, Tom,” Janeway said.     “It is possible that the sacred scrolls were scribbled by a mad man in cave, or perhaps they were truly divinely inspired. I do not claim to know,” Kohlar said. “Either way, they’ve guided us for over a century. If my people start to believe that the scrolls have led them astray, there may be violence. That much I am certain of. This is not a threat, it is a concern.”     “I see,” Janeway said. Tom figured it was an easy choice to make, and he wondered why both her and B’Elanna were so reluctant.     “You’re doing everything you can to get your people home, Captain,” Kohlar said. “That’s all I’m doing for mine.”

    “Alright,” B’Elanna said. “We should get started.”

---

    “The more I read these,” B’Elanna said, stifling a yawn, “the more convinced I am that I’m not the mother of your messiah. According to this, ‘the kuva’magh will be descended from a noble house.’ I don’t come from one, and I’m pretty sure my husband doesn’t either.”     “Hey,” Tom said from the couch.     “We all have nobility in our blood if we go back far enough,” Kohlar said.     “So these scrolls can mean anything you want them to,” B’Elanna said.

    “It is written that the mother of the kuvah’magh would be an off-worlder. Weren’t you born on a Federation colony?” Kohlar asked.     “A lot of Klingons are born off-world,” B’Elanna said, rubbing her eyes. “Interstellar empire, remember?”     “It also says you would’ve lived a life of solitude,” Kohlar said. “And endured many hardships.”     Tom whistled. “That does sound a lot like your life before Voyager,” he said.     “Yours too,” B’Elanna pointed out. She picked up one of the Klingon data pads scattered across her dinner table. “According to this one, I’m supposed to have won a glorious victory against an army of ten-thousand warriors. We haven’t encountered ten thousand warriors.”     “Unless you count the Borg,” Tom said.     “That’s a stretch, Tom,” B’Elanna said.     “Nah, if I really wanted to stretch I’d bring up all the times you and Seven of Nine ran your favorite combat simulations on easy mode.”     “Low difficulty setting,” B’Elanna said, “and that was to help her work out her grief over losing Edwin, not for fight training.”     “You mentioned the Borg,” Kohlar said. “I read about them in your databanks. Did you not help destroy one of their vessels?”     “Me and everyone else on the crew,” B’Elanna said. “By that logic Marla Gilmore or Captain Janeway are better fits to be the mother of the kuvah’magh.”

    “That could still count as your glorious victory,” Kohlar said. He looked around her and Tom’s quarters as if he was deciding where to put furniture. It was the first time he’d taken it in since he’d arrived. It was a wonder to B’Elanna he hadn’t tripped over an ottoman or a chair yet. “Where are the images of Kahless? Where is your family crest?”     “They clashed with the carpet,” B’Elanna said.     “Don’t you honor any of your family’s traditions?” Kohlar said.     “We do the Day of Honor,” Tom said.     Kohlar nodded. He looked over the chronometer and smiled.     “There is one tradition we can honor together,” Kohlar said, laying out his robe on the floor. “It is midday. It is time to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors. You can join us if you wish, Mister Paris.”

    “I don’t think-” B’Elanna started to say, but Tom stood up.     “I’d be honored,” he said. B’Elanna frowned. It was a source of annoyance to her that her husband seemed to care more about the history of her people than she did. The first Day of Honor they had done together, coincidentally the day they admitted their feelings for each other, had been his idea in the first place.     “Haven’t you made a Plea for the Dead before?” Kohlar said.     “Not since I was a child,” B’Elanna said. “And Mom, she didn’t do it every day. I don’t think it’s been a daily ritual for our people for decades.”     “The dead can’t rest in Sto-Vo-Kor if the living don’t honor their memory,” Kohlar said. He went down on one knee on the robe. Tom copied the gesture without being asked.     “Perhaps there is someone I can plead for on your behalf,” Kohlar said. “Who did you plead for as a child?”     “My grandmother, L’Naan” B’Elanna said, remembering the ritual now, despite not having performed it in nearly twenty years. “She died fighting the Tholians.”     “Mister Paris?” Kohlar said.     “I don’t have any names,” Tom said, “but I’d like to honor the thousands of Klingons who died helping us fight the Dominion, back in the Alpha Quadrant. B’Elanna and I might not have a home to go to if our peoples hadn’t been fighting side by side.”     Kohlar smiled.     “I believe that,” he said. “It would seem that when our people work together no force in the galaxy can stand against us for long.”     Kohlar took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.     “Kahless,” he said, “We implore you to remember those warriors who have fallen in your name. Lift them out of the cavern-”     “Of the cavern of despair,” B’Elanna said, surprised that she remembered the words. The two Klingons continued speaking the words, while Tom remained respectfully quiet.     “And reveal yourself to them in all your glory.”     “Remember Kolax, son of Amar,” Kohlar said. “Remember Talij, daughter of K’Rene.”     “Remember L’Naan,” B’Elanna said, “daughter of Krelik.”     “Remember,” Tom said, “the thousands who died in battle to save an entire quadrant of the galaxy from oppression and genocide.”     “Well put,” Kohlar said.

---

    Seven of Nine walked into sickbay, just in time to see Harry Kim leaving with a bandage on his cheek, but not seeming to mind it was there.     “Hi,” he said. Seven pondered asking him what had happened, but then remembered there were Klingon females aboard, and decided it was best that she knew as little as possible.     “Ah, Seven,” The Doctor said. “I completed that analysis you requested.”

    “I appreciate that Doctor,” Seven said, “howev-”     “There is some risk involved,” The Doctor said, seemingly not having heard all of what Seven had said. “However, if you and Sam do decide to go this route, I do not think your child will have any nanoprobes in their system. The risk is more in the delivery.”     “Doctor,” Seven said, “you’re getting ahead of yourself. I asked because I was curious. Samantha and I have not discussed having a child together.”     “Oh,” The Doctor said. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize-”     “I’ve come to realize that my contemplation of the matter stems from curiosity sparked by B’Elanna Torres’ pregnancy,” Seven continued. “I am uncertain that it is truly something I desire for myself, and even if I did I would not do it without Samantha’s consent.”     “Well obviously,” The Doctor said. “Adjusting her DNA would be simple, but I can’t do it without her permission.”     Seven nodded.     “In addition,” she continued, “there is admittedly a selfish reason as well as the practical ones. Sam and I have had some difficulties finding time together of late. Raising both Naomi and Icheb are the primary factors in that. I bear no resentment towards them, it is simply the reality of the situation.”     The Doctor smiled. “You wouldn’t trade away any of it though, would you?”     Seven nodded. “Correct. Perhaps once Icheb has fully matured, and Naomi is more capable of full independence, I will discuss the matter with Samantha. Until then, I think it best we keep this confidential.”     “I would do so,” The Doctor said, “even if you two were trying. After all, the DNA treatments don’t always take on the first try.”     Seven nodded once more.     “I apologize if I wasted any of your time,” she said.     “Oh not at all,” The Doctor said, smiling. “In fact, it proved to be a fascinating bit of research, trying to determine what effect pregnancy might have on you and your Borg implants. I started by-”

    “I don’t need to know the details,” Seven said. “Not now anyway. Later, perhaps?”     “Certainly.”

---

    The next day, B’Elanna Torres, after a full night’s sleep, felt she was as ready as she was ever going to be to make her, or rather Kohlar’s, case to the council of elders. She would’ve preferred to spend at least one more day with the scrolls, seeing as it wasn’t as though Voyager was in danger of leaving the Klingons behind at the moment, but Kohlar was worried that making them wait too long would cause problems not unlike the ones he’d hoped to avoid.     She passed by Harry Kim in the corridor as she headed to the mess hall, wearing traditional Klingon garb.     “Harry,” B’Elanna said, “what happened to your face.”     “Ch'Rega,” Harry said casually. “She initiated a Klingon mating ritual last night.”     “Oh, Harry,” Tom said, “Sorry to hear that.”     Harry shrugged. “Eh, I’ve had worse,” he said, pointing to the bite mark on his cheek. “At least she understands what ‘take it easy’ means.”     B’Elanna sighed. “Please tell me you’re not in lo-”     “It’s not serious,” Harry said, crossing his arms. “Not that it would be any of your business if it was. We’re all consenting adults here.”     B’Elanna raised her hands in a gesture of apology. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I just figured… You know, Libby.”     Harry nodded. “We’ve been communicating through Pathfinder,” he said. “She’s been seeing other people too. Nothing serious there either, at least not yet. I wish her all the best though if she does find someone. Right now we’re still looking at thirty years before we get home. I’m not going to be an asshole and expect her to wait that long, and she doesn’t expect me to either.”     “Well, hey,” Tom said, smiling. “I’m glad you two are having fun. You know, if this whole thing with the scrolls works she’ll probably be leaving us soon.”     “I know,” Harry said. “And so does she, sort of. Ch’Rega’s convinced they’ll find a planet to settle on fairly soon. She’s never been planetside her entire adult life. I think she’s looking forward to the change of pace. The last time she left the Klingon ship before Kohlar blew it up was a food gathering mission. Anyway, good luck with your stories, B’Elanna.”     With that, Harry went on his way, while B’Elanna and Tom met up with Kohlar outside the mess hall.     “Ready?” Kohlar said.     “As I’ll ever be,” B’Elanna said. The three of them walked in, and as soon as the formalities were out of the way, she began the prepared stories Kohlar had asked for, embellishing some of her own accomplishments aboard Voyager over the past six and a half years. And in other cases just making stuff up.

    “..and that’s when they beamed aboard the Flyer, weapons firing,” B’Elanna said, walking around the table as she spoke, “Tuvok and Neelix fought valiantly, but there were too many Hirogen. I had to face ten of their fiercest hunters alone.”     Most of the crowd seemed to be going along with it, though she couldn’t tell if they believe her outright, or figured she was exaggerating but just didn’t care. Hell, some of them had probably done the same.

    “My phaser was shot out of my hand,” B’Elanna said, finishing the story, “forcing me to take down the last hunter in hand-to-hand combat. It was a glorious fight.”     “Indeed it was,” Neelix said, as he poured blood wine into one of the elder’s cups. B’Elanna silently thanked him for going along, wishing she’d had time to let him know what she was planning to do.     “Your ancestors would be honored,” Kohlar said, smiling. He began pounding his mug on the table, and many of the other Klingons joined in. Tom did as well.     “You tell a good story,” T’Greth, one of the Klingons who didn’t join the pounding, said. “But that’s not why you’re here. Some say you are the mother of the kuvah’magh, the one who will guide us to a new homeworld.” It was clear in T’Greth’s tone that he didn’t believe it. As much as B’Elanna wanted to agree with him, she knew that she couldn’t. Not out loud anyway.

“Has your unborn child told you where it is?” T’Greth continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and a few of the other Klingons muttering in agreement with T’Greth’s vocal skepticism. He laughed, and the muttering Klingons joined him. A few others did too. B’Elanna felt like she was, as one of those old Earth comedians Tom liked might say, losing the room.     “The Scrolls say,” B’Elanna said, hoping her voice had the conviction that she personally lacked, “‘You will follow in my footsteps before I have made them.’ Yesterday we changed course. We are now heading towards a planet very much like Qo’Nos. So in a manner of speaking, you are now following my child to a new home.”

Some of the Klingons, the majority as far as B’Elanna could tell from where she was standing, were nodding.     “You deliver the words we want to hear,” T’Greth said angrily, “but it’s Kohlar who gives them to you. Are you his puppet in the bedchamber as well?”

“Watch it,” Tom said, standing up. “That’s my wife you’re talking about.”     “He speaks!” T’Greth said with mock amazement. “I didn’t think he had tongue.”     “Oh, I’ve got one all right,” Tom said, “and I use-”     “Tom, don’t you dare finish that sentence,” B’Elanna grunted.     “You see how he hides behind his female?” T’Greth said, riling up the crowd. The crowd murmered in agreement.     “Now wait just a damn minute-” B’Elanna started to say, before T’Greth cut her off.     “It is also written that the father of the kuvah’magh will be an honorable warrior.”     “I’ve led a few commando raids in my time,” Tom said. “That honorable enough for you?”     “Ha!” T’Greth said. “Would an honorable warrior refuse a challenge?”     “What challenge?” Tom said, crossing his arms. “You have to make one before I can accept it.”     “I haven’t made one yet,” T’Greth said, smiling in a way that made B’Elanna very nervous.     “That’s right,” Tom said, “you haven’t made a challenge. Just insults. And not very good ones at that.”     Half the Klingon’s laughed, and a few even applauded at Tom’s comeback, but that wasn’t a good sign to B’Elanna at all.     T’Greth did not seem offended in the slightest. In fact he smiled even more.     “True,” he said, “you have me there Mister Paris. So I will make my challenge now.” T’Greth picked up a carving knife from the table, and B’Elanna was ready to punch him in the face if he made a move against Tom. Instead, he stabbed the table. “You and I. To the death.”     There’s no way Tom’s going to-     “I accept,” Tom said, pulling the knife out of the table.     Goddammit.     Many of the surrounding Klingons cheered, pounding their mugs on the tables. The only exceptions B’Elanna could see were Kohlar, who looked sad, and T’Greth who kept grinning. B’Elanna wanted very much to smack that grin off his face. She also wanted to punch her husband for having done something so stupid. If she wasn’t pregnant, she imagined she could easily do both.

---

Captain Janeway rubbed her temples, trying to will her headache away as she listened patiently to what Tom and B’Elanna were telling her.     “What was I supposed to say?” Tom said.     “How about ‘no?’” B’Elanna said.     “They were all watching,” Tom said, defensively. “There would’ve been a riot if I’d refused.”     Janeway hated to admit it, but Tom was right on that point. That unfortunately meant that she had only two options; let Tom fight and probably get himself killed, or find a way to put a stop to this without offending the Klingons, who had her crew nearly outnumbered, and certainly outmatched in terms of physical strength and experience. The latter was the least likely.

“What makes you so sure I’d lose?” Tom said. Janeway for a second thought he’d somehow read her mind, but realized that while she was thinking B’Elanna had been talking. Janeway mentally kicked herself for missing that.     “Oh please,” B’Elanna said.     “Look,” Tom said, “I have no intention of fighting anyone to the death, but wasn’t the whole point of this to get them to believe that we are the parents of their savior?”     “This has gone too far,” B’Elanna said, turning to face Janeway now. “We need to put a stop to this.”

“I intend to,” Janeway said. She tapped her comm badge and asked Tuvok to find both Kohlar and T’Greth and bring them to the briefing room. She had an idea. It was a longshot, but with any luck, when it was all over, T’Greth would be too angry at her to think about killing Tom. That came with its own set of problems, but as her grandfather used to say, “We’ll burn that bridge when we cross it.”     When both Klingon men walked into the briefing room, Tuvok standing behind them, Janeway stood up and began speaking.     “Gentlemen,” she said, “I’m afraid Lieutenant Paris had no authority to accept your challenge. If you want to fight, you’ll have to do it somewhere else. And seeing as we’re a good long ways away from anyplace with oxygen-”     “I told you this pahtk was not the true father,” T’Greth said to Kohlar in a dismissive, insulting tone.     “Want a blood test, you drunk piece of-” Tom started to say, but Janeway cut him off with a handwave.

“There will be no death matches aboard my ship,” Janeway said. “I don’t care how badly either of you want it.”

“The father of the kuvah’magh wouldn’t let a woman speak for him,” T’Greth said.     “Have you forgotten we have women on our crew, old friend?” Kohlar said. “Each one as brave in battle as you.”     “Klingon women,” T’Greth said.     “So?” Kohlar said. “You did not specify that when you insulted Mister Paris.”     “You knew what I meant,” T’Greth said through gritted teeth.     “We cannot have a battle to the death,” Kohlar said, “but we can still settle this matter like warriors.”     Janeway did not like the sound of that, but she knew she had to let this play out.     “What are you talking about, Kohlar?” T’Greth said.     “There is precedent for an honorable compromise,” Kohlar continued. “A non-lethal bout with blunted bat’leths. Victory goes to the first warrior to knock his opponent down three times.”     “Seriously?” Tom said, sounding offended. Janeway hoped that was an act and that Tom wasn’t going to undo Janeway’s effort to stop this fight altogether. “Where did that idea come from?”

“A coward, no doubt,” T’Greth said. “Even the human-”     “Was the Emperor Mur’Eq a coward?” Kohlar shouted, looking at both Tom and T’Greth with a look of deep offense.     “Emperor Mur’Eq?” Janeway said, genuinely curious.     “He was the one who instituted the rules,” Kohlar said, “to insure that his warriors would kill their enemies and not each other during a time of great war, when the enemy outnumbered us by legions. Mur’Eq could not afford to let an individual warrior’s pride to cost him a single man in that war, but he knew that honor must also be satisfied.”     T’Greth nodded. “Mur’Eq was one of our greatest Emperors, during the glory days of the Empire. I did not mean to dishonor his memory.”     Janeway sighed. She’d hoped to prevent a fight altogether, but she supposed this was the best she could hope for. The rest of the senior staff might think she could’ve done more, but as she found herself thinking a lot in recent years, she didn’t want to push her luck.

“Very well,” she said. “Tom?”

“I agree to these terms,” Tom said, looking at Janeway. He then turned to face T’Greth. “I’ll see you on the field of battle.”     T’Greth quietly growled his response. “I was about to say the same thing.”     He then turned around and left.

“That could’ve gone better,” B’Elanna said, “but I guess it could’ve gone worse too.”     “I will train you myself, Lieutenant Paris,” Kohalr said.     “I know how to fight,” Tom said.     “I don’t doubt that,” Kohlar said. “But I’ve known T’Greth my whole life. I know how he fights. I know his tells. You will need that to win. I take no pleasure in this, but in order for my crew to survive, I must dishonor my right-hand man.”     Tom nodded. “There’s no dishonor in doing what’s best for your people,” he said.     Captain Janeway nearly winced when she heard that, reminded of the things Captain Ransom had said to her to justify what he had done for the crew of the Equinox. She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.     “Lieutenant,” she said, putting a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “In the future, talk to me before accepting any death matches.”

“I assume we will be using one of the holodecks for the arena for this fight,” Tuvok said.     “I’ve got some old Klingon battleground locations in my collection,” B’Elanna said. “Never used most of them, my Mom gave them to me. Might as well put them to good use. Well, to use anyway.”     “Look,” Tom said, “I know you’re not happy I accepted T’Greth’s challenge but-”     “Let’s have that conversation later,” B’Elanna said, starting to head towards the door. “I’m not in the mood right now.”     Tom sighed as she left, and turned to face Captain Janeway.     “I really did step in it this time, didn’t I?”     “At the risk of sounding mean, Mister Paris,” Janeway said, “I can at least say this isn’t the worst thing you’ve ever done.”     “Thanks. I think.”

---

B’Elanna watched as people started filing into the holodeck, the technology of the room managing to make people look further apart than they were. Crowding was still certainly going to become a problem though. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see The Doctor.     “Surprised to see you here,” she said. “I thought you hated this kind of thing.”     “I do,” The Doctor said. “I’m here in an official capacity. You’d be surprised how much damage even a blunted bat’leth can do.”

“Nah, I know,” B’Elanna said. “My Mom taught me how to use bat’leths with a blunted one.”     “I was under the impression that wasn’t standard practice,” The Doctor said.     “It’s not. It was her compromise with Dad,” B’Elanna said. “She didn’t seem to mind though. I forget sometimes that the two of them actually did love each other at one point.”     “Warriors, assemble!” Kohlar shouted. B’Elanna sighed, and handed the bat’leth she was holding to Tom, who was now dressed in standard Klingon warrior garb. Were the situation not so serious, she would probably be teasing him about he looked in it. She knew of some humans who could pull off Klingon fashion well, but her husband was not one of them.

“Today would be a very bad day to die,” she whispered to Tom.     “I’ll try to remember that,” Tom whispered back.     “Let honor guide you,” Kohlar said, holding his fist over his heart as both Tom and T’Greth took their positions. “Tagh!”     T’Greth began twirling his bat’leth around. It was a showy move, but terrible for fighting. If Tom had wanted to he could’ve struck right there, but Tom was holding a defensive stance with his weapon.

“I see fear in your eyes, human,” T’Greth said.     “The only Klingon I’m afraid of is my wife after she’s worked a double-shift,” Tom said.     I will make you pay for that one, B’Elanna thought.     T’Greth attacked, several times, but Tom managed to block each blow with surprisingly little effort. B’Elanna worried for a moment that T’Greth was holding back to lull Tom into a false sense of security, but T’Greth’s already sweaty face suggested otherwise.

A couple of times T’Greth broke though Tom’s blocks, but Tom managed to dodge each swipe of the blade, ducking and jumping at just the right times. The battle went on for a few minutes, neither opponent gaining any apparent ground. T’Greth was starting to look tired. She glanced at Kohlar, who seemed to notice it to, as the Klingon captain watched his second-in-command with unexpected concern.     Tom must’ve realized it to, because he finally went on the attack. T’Greth blocked every single one of Tom’s strikes, but only barely, and even managed to stumble once. He took a swing at Tom that, had it come from a healthy Klingon, probably would’ve taken Tom’s head off, blunted weapon or not. Except it was increasingly obvious that T’Greth was not healthy. Tom easily ducked the attack and pressed his own driving T’Greth to his knees. T’Greth’s labored breathing was loud enough that B’Elanna could tell looking at the crowd that everyone else heard it too.

T’Greth got back up, and took another swing at Tom, one so slow and sloppy that Tom didn’t even have to step back to avoid it. After that, T’Greth stumbled backwards, and collapsed. Tom immediately dropped his bat’leth and went to T’Greth’s side.     “Doc!” Tom yelled, as The Doctor was already pulling out his medical tricorder.

“It’s begun,” Kohlar said.     “What are you talking about?” The Doctor said.     “He’s dying,” Kohlar said.     “Typically I’m the one to make that kind of prognosis,” The Doctor said, clearly annoyed at Kohlar standing over his shoulder.     “It’s the nehret,” Kohlar said, “It kills all of us who aren’t fortunate enough to die in battle.”     “I’ll have T’Greth beamed to sickbay,” The Doctor said. “You can explain more there.”     B’Elanna touched Tom on the arm. “We should go too,” she said. “I have a terrible feeling about this.”     “I do too,” Tom said.

---

    “It’s a retrovirus that destroys the cells by attacking the cytoplasmic membranes,” The Doctor said, pointing to an image on the console next to the bio-bed where T’Greth lay, still unconscious.     Captain Janeway, Kohalr standing right next to her, looked at image with concern. Virology was not her field of expertise, but she’d seen enough images like these from her chief medical officers over the years to know that this was a particularly nasty virus.     “Shouldn’t our bio-filters have detected it?” Janeway said.     “This is an insidious virus,” The Doctor said. “It didn’t come up when I scanned some of the Klingons who came aboard after their ship blew up. The ones who would let me anyway. The point is though, it lies dormant and disguises itself as inert genetic material. It could fool anyone right up to the moment it becomes active.”

    “The nehret always comes without warning,” Kohlar said.     “Is it contagious?” B’Elanna said, her hands covering her stomach protectivly, Tom holding her hand.     “Now that I know what to look for,” The Doctor said, “I went over the data collected on the Klingons when they were beamed aboard. They’re all carriers.”

“Why didn’t you tell us your people had a disease?” Janeway said, looking at Kohlar angrily.     “And why have I never heard of the nehret before?” B’Elanna said. “I imagine Mom would’ve told me about something like this.”     “We do not think of it as a disease,” Kohlar said, “It’s more like old age.”     Janeway shook her head, annoyed at Kohlar’s calmness in the face of all this.     “Going back to B’Elanna’s question,” The Doctor said, “I’m afraid the answer is yes, it is contagious, but only to Klingons.”     Janeway looked over at B’Elanna, and was saddened by the worried look on her face as Tom tried to quietly reassure her.

    “I would like to examine Lieutenant Torres,” The Doctor continued. “If you could give us some privacy, please?”     “Of course, Doctor,” Janeway said. She grabbed Kohlar’s arm with as much force as she could manage, even though she doubted he felt it, and all but shoved him towards the exit. She looked back over her shoulder as Tom and B’Elanna moved closer to The Doctor and began speaking to him.

    She also thought she saw T’Greth’s eyes opening, but figured it best to let The Doctor handle that.

---

    T’Greth felt somewhat better after he left sickbay. He had convinced The Doctor to let him leave to prepare for his journey to Sto-Vo-Kor. Despite his medical concerns, the hologram had agreed to honor T’Greth’s tradition. T’Greth did feel a little bit like a dishonorable liar, but he had been partially truthful. He was ready to go to his people’s afterlife. But that was not why he wanted to leave sickbay when he did.

    While there, he’d overheard The Doctor tell B’Elanna Torres that she and her child had the nehret as well. When he had struggled to get out of the bed he’d been put in, she had yelled at him, as if it were somehow his fault that Kohlar, his captain, had failed to inform Captain Janeway of the illness he and the rest of his crew carried.

    He entered cargo bay 1, where the council of elders resided, and wasted no time once he had their attention.     “The child,” he said, “is not the kuvah’magh.”     “But the father accepted your challenge,” one of the council said, standing up. T’Greth found it amusing that this man who was younger than him served on the ‘council of elders.’ The humans called it irony, he just called it an accident of birth. “He defeated you.”     “I was defeated by the nehret,” T”Greth said. “B’Elanna Torres and her child will fall victim to it as well.”

    “Impossible,” the younger elder said.     “They both carry it,” T’Greth said. “I heard from her own mouth, and that of their doctor as well. I will kill anyone who makes it known that I said this, but this hologram is by far the most competent medic I have ever met. I would be honored to let him dress my wounds and send me back out onto the field of war. If he says it is true, then it is true.”     “The Scrolls say the kuvah’magh is younger than old age,” the younger elder said. T’Greth sighed. Clearly this one had bought into Kohlar’s stories more than the others, who merely listened quietly. As elders should. They would hear what he had to say, and they would decide what to do next. Though hopefully, they would listen to his suggestion on that matter.     “And stronger than sickness,” T’Greth said, wanting to be angrier at Kohlar than he was, but finding he lacked the energy for it. “I remember. This means she cannot be our savior.”

    The council members all leaned close to speak to each other, T’Greth wishing he could hear their whispers, but not wanting to disrespect them by moving in close enough to do so.

    “We should resume our search,” one of the elders said.     “Kohlar and many of the others will not agree,” the younger elder said.     “Then we must act alone,” T’Greth said. “For the good of our people. We will wait for our moment, and when it comes, we will seize Voyager.”  

---

    Seven of Nine wondered why T’Greth had decided to come to astrometrics, but T’Greth assured her that he was there to check on the progress of the search for a new homeworld.     She wondered why now of all times, especially with T’Greth being ill, a fact she couldn’t avoid learning about even though she didn’t feel it was any of her business. She shrugged.

    “Very well,” she said, and went to the main console to pull up data on two planets she had just recently scanned as potential settlement sites. She had intended to present these to the Captain first, but saw no harm in sharing with the Klingon.

    “On this planet,” she said as the computer generated image of an M-class planet filled the screen, “we found two potential sites for colonization on the southern hemisphere. I can prepare more detailed topographical scans once we’ve gotten a few light years closer.”     “I think I should join the survey team,” T’Greth said.     “Is that advisable,” Seven said, “given your current condition?”     “I do not wish to die inside these walls,” T’Greth said. “I want to spend my final days in honorable pursuits.”     Seven nodded.     “Understandable,” she said.     T’Greth laughed. “Not the response I expected from a human. I figured you would try to convince to me to keep fighting, to try and hold on no matter how much damage my illness did to me.”

    “Seeing as it is your illness,” Seven said, “how you choose to deal with it is between you and your doctor. How I feel is irrelevant.”     “Would you keep trying to survive?” T’Greth asked. “If you were faced with a slow death from a virus?”     Seven thought about that for a moment.     “That would depend entirely on the context. What type of virus, the severity of the symptoms, the odds of treatment success… and how old my children were.”

    “Ah, yes,” T’Greth said. “I have not met them but I heard there were children aboard. Both are yours? You seem rather young for a human to have two offspring already.”     “Well,” Seven said, wondering just how much she should share with this man she had only met today, and who just a few days ago threatened to kill Tom Paris. “They are not mine by blood. I still care for them as though they were, of course.”     T’Greth nodded, looking back at the screen. “I see we will be in transporter range of this planet fairly soon. I should prepare. Thank you for your time, Seven of Nine.”     Seven nodded politely as T’Greth walked away. On his way out he nearly walked into Samantha, who walked into the lab carrying a PADD.     After exchanging a polite but brief greeting with T’Greth, Sam walked over to Seven.     “Make a new friend, Annie?”     “Perhaps,” Seven said. “He is certainly more… complex than his attitudes towards Lieutenant Torres and Paris would suggest.”

    “Hmm,” Sam said. “Well, both Naomi and Icheb have been peppering me with questions about Klingon culture. Perhaps I should have them talk to him. Unless you think he might try anything like a fight to the death again.”     “I doubt he would do that if he wanted to,” Seven said. “He seems fairly certain his illness will claim his life fairly soon.”     Sam frowned. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I hope The Doctor can come up with a treatment of some kind. At the very least we could save the other Klingons. And B’Elanna and the baby of course.”     “I believe he will,” Seven said. “I imagine in a few years Naomi will have a new playmate. Now, about this PADD you brought me.”

    “That, yes,” Sam said, smiling. “Naomi has taken it upon herself to make plans for your birthday in a few months a little early. I figured you should know what she was up to so you wouldn’t be too put out. I explained to her you don’t like surprise parties, but…”     “There are very few things I would use the adjective ‘hate’ for,” Seven said, “but surprise parties definitely fall under that rubric.” She took the PADD and kissed Sam on the cheek. “Thank you for the warning.”

    “Well,” Sam said, putting her hand to her head in an overly dramatic fashion, “I don’t like going behind my daughter’s back, but sometimes being a parent is about making hard choices.”     “Do you want me to get your fainting couch?” Seven asked, with a wink and a smile. Samantha laughed.     “I should let you get back to work,” she said, wrapping her arms around Seven as she spoke. She kissed Seven on the cheek and whispered an innuendo in her ear before leaving astrometrics.     “I think I am going to have a very happy birthday this year,” Seven muttered to herself as she watched Sam leave. Once she was gone, Seven returned to her work scanning the planet.

---

    B’Elanna’s fingers twitched nervously as she entered sickbay, having been called there by The Doctor. He’d said it was urgent, but he didn’t sound panicked at all. Perhaps it was good news. Not that thinking it could be good news did anything to calm her nerves.

    “You said it was urgent?” she said to The Doctor, not waiting for him to acknowledge her entrance.     “I need to conduct a more detailed bio-scan of your baby,” The Doctor said, getting straight to the point, something B’Elanna wished he would do more often. If he hadn't been smiling in that moment, B’Elanna wasn’t sure how she’d react. But he was.     “You’ve found a cure? Already?”

    “Perhaps,” he said. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but what I’ve found looks very promising. Even if it isn’t a cure, it might be a treatment. And that’s always a step in the right direction.”     B’Elanna nodded. “Okay, do what you have to do.” She walked over to the nearest bio-bed and slowly got herself into it, right when the yellow alert lights went on.     “What the hell?” she said.     “Doctor to the bridge,” The Doctor said, tapping his comm badge, “what’s going on?”     “The Klingons have taken over transporter room 1,” Janeway’s voice replied. “They’re trying to beam the crew down to the planet. We haven’t been able to stop them yet from up here but we’ve slowed them down, trying to buy time for Tuvok and security team to get down there. Sickbay is secure right now, but disconnect your mobile emitter just to be safe so they can’t beam you off too.”     “I’m not wearing it right now, Captain,” The Doctor said.     “Good to know,” Janeway said. “Stand by. I’ll get in touch with you once the situation is resolved.”     “I should go,” B’Elanna said, trying to get up. “If they’ve cleared out engineering-”     “No,” The Doctor said, “I need to do these scans. If I can fix this nehret situation maybe that will help resolve this.”     B’Elanna sighed, and looked down, needing the physical reminder that she wasn’t in much condition to fight right now anyway.     “Fine,” B’Elanna said. “Make it fast.”

---

    “Captain,” Tom said, “a bunch of Klingon just materialized outside the bridge.”

    “They couldn’t beam us off so they’re going to try and get at us the hard way,” Janeway said, standing up and pulling out her handphaser. “Arm yourselves.”     Janeway saw Tom stand up and pull out his phaser. She glanced around quickly and saw Lieutenant Ayala had his out and was already aiming at the turbolift doors. Two other gold shirted officers had their phasers out too, one at Harry’s console, and the other at the main science station.     As the Klingons shoved their way through the doors, Janeway and Ayala each got off a shot that stunned one of them, his body falling in a way that blocked the two behind him from getting through. Ayala quickly moved to stun them, while Janeway turned in time to see T’Greth lead two more Klingons through the other entrance to the bridge, managing to duck the shots of the gold shirts, neither of whom were from security. Tom ducked behind his seat to avoid a phaser blast from T’Greth, firing back quickly. He missed T’Greth but struck and knocked down one of the Klingons behind him. Janeway fired her own phaser striking T’Greth in the chest. The last Klingon standing was taken down by a blast from each side by the two goldshirts. The fight for the bridge was over so quickly Janeway was pretty sure she hadn’t broken a sweat.     “Bridge to Tuvok,” she said.     “We have retaken the transporter room,” Tuvok’s reply came quickly. “There was only one Klingon manning the station, and there is no sign he had any other assistance besides the ones he beamed to the bridge.”     “We took care of them,” Janeway said. “Doesn’t look like this was a large scale takeover attempt. T’Greth and a half-dozen, tops.”     “That’s barely one percent of all the Klingons aboard,” Tom said. “I guess Kohlar and B’Elanna’s stories had a bigger effect than I thought.”     “Speaking of B’Elanna…” Janeway tapped her comm badge again, this time to call sickbay.

---

    B’Elanna stood back and watched as The Doctor pressed the hypospray to T’Greth’s neck. Kohlar stood next to her, while two security officers stood even further back, ready to move at a moment’s notice if need be, and Captain Janeway standing next to The Doctor.     “Why am I not in Sto-vo-kor?” T’Greth said groggily as he sat up in the bio-bed.     “Because you are as healthy as a targ,” The Doctor said.     I’ll correct him on his pronunciation of that later, B’Elanna thought.

    T’Greth looked confused. “The nehret?”     “Gone,” The Doctor said.     “We have B’Elanna Torres’ child to thank for it,” Kohlar said. T’Greth’s mouth hung open in shock.

    “The fetus has hybrid stem-cells,” The Doctor said. “They contain Human and Klingon DNA. I used them to synthesize an antivirus.”     “The child cured me?” T’Greth said.     “Well,” The Doctor said, smiling, “I was the one who devised the treat-”     “Doctor?” Janeway said.     “Yes,” The Doctor said, “of course, the child cured you.”     “The kuvah’magh has healed all of us,” Kohlar said with unbridled excitement. If there had been some doubt before, it was long gone now. “She truly is our savior.”     B’Elanna decided it was best to keep her mouth shut. She still didn’t believe that her baby was part of some prophecy. But if T’Greth believed it, and that belief would get him and the rest of Kohlar’s crew off her ship…     T’Greth had no response. He simply looked at B’Elanna, awestruck. B’Elanna didn’t like that any more than he had looked at her with disdain and skepticism, but she accepted it.     “Kohlar, old friend,” T”Greth said, “I am so sorry I-”     “That you knocked me unconscious and beamed me off the ship?” Kohlar said. “I think I will let that slide, T’Greth. Sto-vo-kor is not ready for you yet.”     “But I acted so dishonorably, I-”     “Let’s call it a crisis of faith,” Kohlar said. “All is forgiven. Come, I want you at my side when we settle our new home.”

---

    Seven of Nine, leaning against Samantha Wildman on one side of a mess hall table, listened to Tom and B’Elanna who were holding hands on the other side.     “So he gave B’Elanna a bat’leth that had belonged to his great-grandfather,” Tom said, speaking of the recently departed Kohlar.

    “That’s… nice. I suppose.” Sam said.     “Hey, honey, how come you never give me a weapon as a present?” Seven said jokingly.     B’Elanna snorted, “Dammit, Seven, don’t do that when I’m drinking something.”     “Sorry,” Seven said, genuinely apologetic.     “Well, anyway, like Tom said he gave me the bat’leth, but as a gift for the baby when she’s older,” B’Elanna said. “He made me promise to tell her all about him, and about Klingon history and culture.”     “Like that was ever in doubt,” Tom said. “Even if we hadn’t met him. I think I’d be a pretty lousy father if I didn’t make sure my kid knew where she came from.”     “Good for you,” Sam said.     “You know,” Tom said after taking a sip of his coffee, “this is one special kid we’re going to have.”     “You’re just figuring that out?” B’Elanna said.     “If you don’t mind my asking,” Sam said, “has this little adventure given you any ideas for names?”

    “We have a list,” B’Elanna said.     “Maybe something with religious significance,” Tom said. “I mean, she is already the savior of an entire race.”

    “Okay,” B’Elanna said, “one, not a whole race, just a warship crew. Two, you don’t actually believe that do you?”

    Tom shrugged. “There are an awful lot of coincidences to explain.”

    “I think he’s got a point, B’Elanna,” Sam said.

    “Oh don’t you start,” B’Elanna said to Sam. She looked at Seven.

    “Leave me out of this,” Seven said.

    “I was going to ask you about baby names, smartass,” B’Elanna said.

    “I was thinking either Sofie or Lucia,” Seven said.

    “You just happened to have those on the tip of your tongue there, sweetie?” Samantha said casually, gently stroking Seven’s arm.

    “You two have never talked about maybe having a kid together?” Tom said.

    “No,” Samantha said. “I’m not dead-set against it mind you, it’s just that even if either Annie or I were talking about it, now is just not the time for a third kid in the mix.”

    “Agreed,” Seven said. “Though i suppose I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it.” She looked Sam in the eyes. “Sorry I didn’t mention that earlier, Sammy.”

    Sam looked perplexed. “No need to apologize. I’m willing to bet that you were thinking about it lately because of B’elanna, am I right?”

    “Do you know me that well,” Seven said, “or am I just that predictable?”

    “I thought Borg liked routine,” Tom said.