Chapter Text
Her eyes flutter open as the lights in Tom’s quarters come up. She turns to look at him, and he’s sound asleep, looking far younger and more innocent than he has any right to. Damn, he’s cute.
He’s also going to wake up soon, and if B’Elanna knows what’s good for her, she needs to leave before that happens. It doesn’t matter what he said yesterday. It’s just a roll in the hay for him, and that’s fine, but let’s not pretend it’s anything more, she tells herself. Human men think that Klingon women are hormone-crazed sluts who just need to bang it out every so often and don’t care about feelings. And that goes double for a flyboy like Paris, who’s probably had women throwing themselves at him left and right ever since the Academy.
She starts to sit up, and then Tom opens his eyes and smiles at her. “Morning, beautiful.”
“Uh… morning,” she stammers, hoping he doesn’t realize what she was about to do.
He leans over and chastely kisses her forehead.
Not just her forehead. Her ridges.
No other human ever kissed those.
“I’m not on until Beta shift,” he murmurs, still in a sleepy haze. “How about I replicate us some breakfast?”
“Um… yeah. That’d be nice,” she says bashfully.
“Okay,” he beams at her. “Waffles?”
“Sounds delicious,” she smiles back at him.
A few minutes later, they sit down with their syrup-laden waffles. Tom takes a bite and a boyish grin spreads across his face. “Almost as good as Mom’s,” he declares.
“Did your mom make these a lot?”
Tom nods and swallows another mouthful. “When my father was in space, my mom would make waffles every Saturday for whichever kids were home – usually just me because my sisters are a lot older – it was kind of like celebrating him not being there.” After a pause he adds, “What about you, any favorite foods from your childhood?”
B’Elanna tentatively says, “Banana pancakes. My grandmother made them a lot, and they always make me think of her.”
Tom takes her hand and says, “Well… next time it’ll be banana pancakes.”
“Okay.” B’Elanna smiles at him. Next time. Yes, there will be a next time.