Home World
By: Amy Michelle Bitter

Star Trek and it's characters are owned by Paramount, Inc.  I own the rest!

                                =/\= Chapter Eight =/\=

        B'Elanna sat in her quarters, her head buried in her hands.  The tears
streaming down her face. *Why did this happen?,* she wondered. *Why
Chakotay?*  There was so much left to his life still.  He wouldn't be able
to see her marry Tom, he wouldn't even get to see Voyager make it back home.

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***

        "Janeway to Paris."
        "Paris here,"  Tom said pressing his commbadge.
        "Please report to my ready room," Janeway said.
        "Yes ma'am," Tom answered.
        "Can I go, Doc?" Tom asked the EMH.
        "Yes, you can go.  Fortunately, it was only a minor phaser burn,"  The EMH
said.
        Tom walked slowly out of Sickbay.  He knew what the Captain wanted to talk
about, and he wasn't very anxious to hear what she had to say.

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***
        
        "Do you have any idea how disappointed in you I am?"  The Captain asked
Tom in a firm tone of voice.
        "Captain, I'm sor-" Was all that Tom managed to get out before she
interrupted.
        "I'm not interested in your apologies, Lieutenant.  You put the lives of
the entire crew in jeopardy.  You could have been killed.  I thought you
had seriously changed.  I was ready to recommend you to Star Fleet as soon
as we got home.  Now, I question whether or not you're ready for that
responsibility."
        Tom stared at the Captain. Everything she was saying was true.  All the
doubts he had in himself had just been confirmed. *Seems like you've
screwed things up again, Tom,* he told himself.
        "Dismissed." Janeway said.
        "Tom stood up and walked towards the door, but stopped and turned around.
        "Permission to speak freely," Tom requested.
        "Granted,"  The Captain said.
        "I know I've let the entire crew down," Tom started.  "I take complete
responsibility for that.  I'm sorry I let you down."
        He turned around once more to leave, but the Captain stopped him.
        "Tom,"  She said.
        He turned around. "Yes, Captain?"
        "One good thing about mistakes, Mr. Paris, is that you always get a second
chance."

                                =/\= TO BE CONTINUED =/\=