Harry signalled B'Elanna's door as soon as he knew that both Chakotay and Janeway had retired to their quarters. She opened the door immediately. "Are you ready, Starfleet?" she said with a grin. Harry nodded excitedly. "All right, let's go," she said leading the way out of her quarters, "You owe me one."
"Thank you so much," he said, "you have no idea how much this means to me."
"I think I do," she said, "and you'd better hope the captain does too when this shows up on the transporter log tomorrow."
He nodded, "How'd you get it to work?"
"A little engineering voodoo that I'll explain to you when we get out of here," she said, winking at him, "You're lucky I can do it at all and it's a one-shot thing. It wouldn't even work to get Tom and Tuvok back here. Just you."
"B'Ela..."
"I know, I know, I have your undying gratitude and all that. Well, I may call it in one day, but not now. Enjoy your little trip, Harry." The reached transporter room 2 and went inside.
"I intend to."
"And I expect a full report when you get back." Harry stared at her and blushed deeply, "No leaving out the juicy bits!" Then she laughed softly, "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be." B'Elanna worked the transporter and Harry was instantly on his way down to Earth.
Harry materialized under a tree near a deserted parking lot. He took out his tricorder from his jeans pocket and searched for Tom's comm signal. There is was--coming from that parked van. B'Elanna's predicted coordinates had been almost dead on. He put the device back into his pocket and walked over to the van, peering inside and tapping on the window. There were three people inside--Tom and Tuvok he recognized and there was a woman with them. Must be that astronomer they hooked up with. Kinda pretty he thought, fighting back a wave of jealousy. He tapped on the window again, praying that Tuvok wouldn't be the one to hear it.
Tom's eyes blinked open and he looked around, trying to locate where the noise was coming from. When he saw Harry's face on the other side of the window, he almost jumped up before remembering where he was and who he was with. Thank the gods you're a light sleeper thought Harry.
He quietly got up and left the van, sliding the door shut behind him. Tuvok woke up at the sound and looked directly at Tom, not seeing Harry who was shielded by darkness and the fact that he had backed away a few steps. "I gotta piss," whispered Tom. Tuvok seemed to accept that and closed his eyes again.
Tom moved the few steps and was soon in his lovers arms, then he was kissing him passionately. "What are you doing here?" he whispered.
"I'm here to see you," said Harry, "And I'm here to see Earth one last time before I'm old. Let's take a walk."
Tom took Harry's hand into his own and started towards the beach. "We have to be careful here," he whispered.
"Don't worry," he said, "I didn't bring anything that could contaminate the timeline except my tricorder, and I don't intend to leave that behind."
"That's not what I meant," said Tom, "In this century they had an irrational prejudice against romantic relationships between members of the same sex."
Harry looked at him curiously, "Really? Why?"
Tom shrugged, "I don't know. They just did. I don't want anything to happen to you, so we have to be careful."
Harry didn't let go of his hand, "I can take care of myself...and you to boot. There's hardly anyone around at this time of night anyways." Tom smiled and kept walking until they reached the edge of the sand.
"I can't believe you came," whispered Tom.
"I couldn't let you have all the fun," he said, grinning at his lover, then becoming serious, "I had to come, Tom, I had to be here. I had to touch the Earth again--it's still the same planet it will be 400 years from now."
"I know it is," said Tom, "I was thinking that too. We're pretty close to San Francisco here now, you know. I sure would have loved to have a chance to see that..."
"We...we don't have much time," said Harry, "B'Elanna's only giving me two hours maximum. Is there anywhere we can go to..."
Tom grinned, "Follow me," he said and began walking faster along the beach with Harry in tow, "I think I know just the place. They walked for a few minutes and came across a rockier area, a bit more cut off from the rest of the beach. Tom stopped, "I think we'll be alone here," he said, putting his arms around Harry's neck and pulling him into a kiss.
"I don't care if there's a whole throng of insult- hurling observers," said Harry vehemently, "I still want to make love to you on Earth." That spurred Tom into action, pushing himself against Harry and nibbling at his lips. Slowly they both sank down into the sand, their bodies melting into one another. He pulled Harry's T-shirt off over his head and began working on the button of his cut- offs. Harry was anxious to help, shedding his shorts and helping Tom with his own jeans until they were both quite nude and quite covered in sand.
Harry giggled and began to brush the sand off his lover's chest, "accidentally" teasing his nipples in the process. Tom moaned softly and grabbed Harry's hands, entwining their fingers and letting their chests press together. From beneath he began moving his hips, so that the were rubbing together. Harry didn't think he could get any harder. He felt so...naughty. He couldn't help himself. He giggled.
"What's so funny?" whipered Tom.
"It's just...did you ever imagine we'd be here...doing this???"
"Never," said Tom, kissing the corner of his mouth, "but then I never imagined being with someone as wonderful as you in the first place. Every day with you just gets better, Harry. No matter what we go through."
Harry blushed. Tom couldn't see it, but he could feel the heat coming off of Harry's face. "You're right," whispered Harry, "It does." He pressed against his lover insistently and Tom remembered that they didn't have much time. Sensually, he moved out from underneath and began kissing the insides of Harry's thighs, getting ever closer to his erection. Finally he wrapped his lips around it and took it deep inside his mouth. Harry gasped at the sudden hot wetness of it and arched his back. Tom continued his assault until Harry was moaning loud enough to attract attention. "Tom...oh gods, Tom!" Tom knew his lover well enough now to know when he was coming. He sucked hard and snuck a finger around behind him, pushing it inside Harry's ass the moment before he came. Harry had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.
It was Tom's turn to giggle as he kissed his way back up Harry's body. Another time Harry might have been offended, but he realized that Tom was feeling what he had been. This whole situation was so impossible that it was...a joy. It was incredible. He smiled at his lover as he tried to catch his breath and reach his fingers down to stroke him. "What do you...?"
"What you're doing is just fine with me," whispered Tom, "I want to lie here and stare into your eyes and hear the ocean next to us and pretend that we're back home we have our whole lives ahead of us...together."
"We do," said Harry, "Wherever we are Tom, that's where home is. As long as we're together, we're home."
"Harry?" Tom was amazed to hear those words come from his lover's lips without tears to accompany them.
"I mean it. You're my life, Tom Paris." Tom could feel the tears come to his eyes and shivers go through his body that weren't entirely the result of Harry's hand continuing to stroke him.
There were no words that he could say that could express how he felt. He could only hold Harry close and kiss him and let his own tears fall onto his lover's cheek. Harry let go of Tom's erection and simply held him. That was the lovemaking that they needed right now, not just sex. He lazily let his fingers stroke up and down Tom's back as he cried in his arms. It wasn't so long ago that he had done the same, and it was overwhelmingly wonderful that this time, the tears were tears of joy.
They stayed there together as long as they could, passing murmured endearments back and forth but mostly just kissing and letting their silence speak louder than words ever could. Finally, though, they had to dress again and head back to the van. Tom slipped his hand into Harry's, this time without a word about the consequences. He was in love, and the people in this time had to learn tolerance somehow.
When they arrived back he gave Harry a brief kiss before noticing that Rain was not only awake but sitting just inside the door of the van watching them. He looked at her a little sheepishly but didn't offer a word of explanation except, "Rain, this is Harry. Harry, Rain."
"Nice to meet you," she said, raising her hand in a half-hearted wave.
"Tom," whispered Harry, "It's time."
"Rain, excuse us for just a moment," he said, and walked Harry around to the other side of the van. "I love you," he whispered, holding him close once again.
"I love you, too," he said, backing away and then vanishing as Tom watched. He looked at the spot where Harry had been for a moment longer, the walked back to where Rain was waiting for him. He squatted down near her.
"Harry," he said, "he's my...umm...."
"Significant other," she finished for him, her voice rough with exhaustion, "I got the picture. You know, you could of just told me you were gay. It doesn't matter."
"I didn't think it would come up," he admitted, "Go back to sleep, Rain."
She yawned, "Do you love him?"
"Yeah." He couldn't hide the goofy grin that spread across his face, "I love him."
"Good." She stretched her arms and lay back down inside the van, "I'd hate to lose to someone you didn't love. Good night, Tom."
"Good night, Rain." She was asleep within seconds and he was reasonably certain that she wouldn't remember waking up in the middle of the night.
He, too, felt weary but before getting back inside the van he looked up at the sky. "Good night, Harry," he whispered, "I'll see you soon."