Thomas Eugene Paris grew up under the stigma of being a Starfleet Admiral's son. His own career in Starfleet came to an end with an accident that caused the death of three other Starfleet officers, and his subsequent attemt to cover up his role in the accident. When his concience got the better of him, he confessed and was drummed out of Starfleet. He eventually joined up with the Maquis, a motley band of renegades fighting the Cardassian Empire as well as Starfleet to get back their home planets, taken from them by a treaty between the two. On his first mission, he was captured, tried, and sent to the Federation Penal Colony in New Zealand. Two years later, he was met and enlisted by Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager, who asked his assistance in finding and detaining the crew of a Maquis ship lost in a region of space known as the Badlands. He agreed and joined the crew of Voyager as an official "observer". After Voyager was ripped from the Alpha Quadrant into the Delta Quadrant, some 70,000 light years away, Janeway commissioned Paris once again and gave him the rank of Lieutenant. He now pilots the starship on their quest to find a way back to their home.
B'Elanna Torres was born to a Klingon mother and human father, and trained at Starfleet Academy for two years, before her unpredictable temper led to a mutual agreement that she leave the Academy. She later joined up with the Maquis, and befriended Chakotay, who became her mentor. While B'Elanna possesses few social skills, she is a genius when is comes to Engineering. After being chased into a plasma storm by a Cardassian ship, her ship is abducted by the same being that later abducts Voyager. The remaining Maquis crew joined forces with Voyager, and B'Elanna became Chief Engineer.
*Warning: Plot spoilers ahead, including Season Four. Proceed with care...
Since the beginning of their voyage through the Delta Quadrant, many interesting things have developed in their relationship.
When B'Elanna, Tom and Lt. Durst were captured and imprisoned by the Vidiians (Faces - Season 1), B'Elanna's DNA was split into two different individuals, one fully Klingon, the other fully Human. Tom comforted both sides of B'Elanna.
He would often banter with her, a fact pointed out by Janeway (Coda - Season 3). When the crew attended a Hawaiian Luau given by Neelix, Voyager's Morale Officer, Tom wasted no time pointing out how "ravishing" B'Elanna looked in her flower print dress. Later, he came to her rescue when an alien took control of the holodeck and attempted to kill her(Alter Ego - Season 3).
Then came a bombshell: a Vulcan crewmember began his Ponn Farr, and attempted to mate with B'Elanna. She resisted, breaking his jaw, but began to show signs of a chemical imbalance similiar to Ponn Farr. It was not until she, Tom and Neelix were on an away mission that she began her Blood Fever. She bit Tom, choosing him as her mate, and after an earthquake the two were stranded alone in a network of caves. She tried to seduce Tom, getting him to admit he had feelings for her, and they began to kiss. But he broke it off, telling her, " I hope someday you say that to me and mean it." They were rescued by Chakotay and Tuvok, but the transporters were down, and shuttle craft disabled, so returning to Voyager was out of the question. Tuvok, concerned about the progression of her symptoms (it could be lethal), told Tom that he had to help her or she would die. They attempted to mate, but Vorik (the Vulcan in Ponn Farr) showed up and fought with B'Elanna, purging the Blood Fever.
Presumably a few days later, Tom and B'Elanna met on the turbo lift, and spoke about it, she wanting to forget the whole thing happened, and he wanting to see if they could work it out. He let her know, in no uncertain terms, that he was definitely interested. She walked off the lift, saying, "Be careful what you ask for, Lieutenant."(Blood Fever - Season 3)
Since that time, B'Elanna has begun to warm to up to Tom, flirting with him on occasion. More recently, they had their first big fight, in which the two hurt each other's feelings, and it looked like ENDSVILLE for the P/T relationship. But they forgave each other, in a touching scene on the holodeck, where they let each other know that they had made mistakes and wanted to work it out. (Displaced - Season 3).
Season Four is upon us, and so are new developments in Tom and B'Elanna's relationship. B'Elanna experienced the worst day of her life (Day of Honor) in which she almost lost her ship, her sanity, her life and most of all, Tom. After being attacked by some scavengers trying to salvage Voyager's ejected warp core, they were forced to beam out if their shuttle just before it exploded. With only their EVA suits to protect them from the vast vaccum of space, Paris and Torres discovered their oxygen supply was quickly running out, and not much time was left for them to say some things that had to be said. After some soul searching, B'Elanna decided to confess her feelings to Tom, realizing that it might very well be the last time she would see him. He responded in a subdued manner, as the last bit of breathable oxygen ran out. Just then, as they slipped in unconciousness, Voyager appeared, and beamed them to the ship. (Day of Honor - Season Four)
Three days later (Revulsion - Season Four), after a promotion ceremony for Tuvok, the two decide that it's time to discuss these events. Tom gives her an out, saying that since she was close to dying, she probably didn't mean those three words she uttered, gasping in her final breaths. But she said no, that she most definitely meant them, but that she didn't expect Tom to reciprocate, in fact, they should just forget that she said anything at all. Tom gently pushed her against a wall, told her to shut up and pulled her into his arms, kissing her soundly. Unfortunately, they were interrupted (once again), this time by The Doctor. Later, after an adventure in which B'Elanna is nearly killed by an insane hologram on a stranded ship, B'Elanna invites Tom back to her quarters. We can assume he took her up on her offer...
Rumor has it that the 4th Season will show many more exciting developments in their relationship.
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