"You okay?"

  "Damn stubborn fool! She can't see what's she doing!"

  "K'Leena?"

  "Yes, K'Leena. Who else would I be talking about?"

  "Can't imagine," Tom said dryly.

  B'Elanna's eyes narrowed, she stopped pacing and looked at her husband.

  "You don't seem too worried about this."

  "I'm not."

  "Why?"

  "They'll work it out."

  "How can you be so sure?"

  "Because I am. I've had plenty of experience dealing with stubborn Klingons. Lucas can handle her."

  "Uh huh. You know something."

  "Maybe."

  B'Elanna advanced on him. Predatory. She came to stand in front of him.

  "Care to share this inside information?" She straddled his hips and lowered herself onto his lap. He held her by the waist.

  "Sorry, it's privileged."

  She brought her hands up to the edges of his uniform jacket. With a practiced ease she slipped it off him, then his turtleneck. He did the same to her.

  "You can trust me." She traced patterns through the hair on his chest with her fingernail.

  "Since when?" He cupped her breast and stroked the hardened tip with his thumb.

  "You don't trust me?" B'Elanna asked guilelessly. All the while grinding her hips in small circles against him.

  "Not for a second." Tom growled as he crushed his mouth to hers. She tasted blood when he cut her lip against her teeth. Maybe this conversation could wait until later.

  *****

  "Going somewhere?" Lucas asked with deceptive calm.

  "Ye...yes. I'm transporting over to the Hood. They're on their way back to Earth." She stepped back into the room as he walked toward her. The door hissed closed behind him.

  "You were going to leave without telling me?" Again, calm and collected. He was making her very nervous.

  "Sure," she shrugged. "I've got to get back to Command."

  "Coward."

  "What?" That surprised her.

  "I said you're a coward."

  "Really? How so?"

  "Why wouldn't you meet me tonight?" No emotion.

  "I was busy. I had to file my report with Starfleet Command before I left and have dinner with my parents."

  "Don't you think this is a little more important than a report?"

  "I'm not sure what you mean." She put her bag down and walked behind the table.

  "Why are you leaving?" That damn calm voice again, it was really starting to annoy her.

  "I told you, I'm returning to duty. What's the big deal?"

  "The 'big deal' is you're running out on me. You are my -mate-, K'Leena! Or had you forgotten that?" Lucas' self control slipped. K'Leena looked into his eyes for the first time since he arrived. It wasn't calm indifference she found there, but blind fury. A cold shiver raced down her spine.

  "Your mate?" Kahless, it hurt to hear him say that. "We had one night together, Lucas. It was nice, but it doesn't make us mates." She was getting good at this.

  Liar.

  She started when the word touched her mind.

  Can you hear my thoughts, Imzadi? I can hear yours.

  Her eyes went wide. Damn telepaths. He didn't know.

  I do know.

  "Lucas you don't..."

  "Yes, I do!" His self-control snapped. How could one woman be so stubborn? "You're the one who doesn't understand! I knew what I was doing from the start. I claimed you as my mate. When you bit me back, you accepted that claim. You became mine and I became yours. Tlqwlq. Of one heart. How does the legend go? When Kahless took his mate they became more powerful than the gods that created them, they were able to destroy them. Nothing can stop the beating of two Klingon hearts, not the gods themselves, not even you, K'Leena."

  She closed her eyes, wondering how to convince him he was wrong. She couldn't allow anyone to get to him through her again. She couldn't let him love her.

  Lucas' expression softened, finally the truth. He walked over to where she was standing.

  "It's too late for that, Imzadi. I already do."

  "No," she sobbed. "I won't be a liability to you, I won't put you at risk."

  His arms were around her before she was done. She loved him so much. It was killing her to push him away.

  "Never. You could never be a liability to me."

  "I don't want them to use me again, Lucas."

  "Then don't let them win," he said fiercely. "We are stronger together than we could ever be apart. Remember? Two hearts that beat as one. Everything I am is for you. I am your mate, your husband, father to your children. Through all eternity." Lucas felt her resistance weaken.

  "Lucas..." she tried to pull away but he tightened his embrace.

  "You can't leave me. We are timeless, no matter where you are, I will find you."

  There was a long silence before she spoke. A million reasons for not listening to him ran through her mind, and were all dismissed for one thought. She loved him. It was as simple and as complicated as that. Lifting her head K'Leena looked into his eyes. Kahless, she hoped he was right.

  "Promise?"

  "Promise."

  *****

  "You know...I've always had my heart set on a traditional Betazoid wedding." Lucas said straight-faced as his finger drew circles on the small of her back.

  K'Leena pulled herself up onto her elbows and looked at him with an eyebrow raised so high it would have done her Aunt Ani proud. He couldn't be serious.

  "It'll never happen," she told him after a moment of silent contemplation. "Daddy doesn't take his shirt off in public for -anything-."

  "Why not?"

  "I have no idea."

  "Have you ever asked him?" Lucas wondered.

  "Only when I need a good laugh," she chuckled.

  "Huh?"

  "The -last- time I asked him he told me it was because he was once attacked in Sandrine's after someone spilled a drink on him and he took off the wet shirt. According to him a bunch of sex starved women threw him to the ground and had their way with him. Even stole his chest hair so they could clone him. My father has a very twisted sense of humor."

  *****

  "You're just too soft hearted. I don't know -what- you see in these tiny beings."

  "They amuse me."

  "They must, you spend a great deal of time playing with their lives."

 

 

  Tracy Sobieski, Klingon Hearts 08 Timeless - I Will Find You

 

 

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