Tom Paris comes from a family of Starfleet legends. His father, aunt, and great-grandmother were all admirals. Tom tried his hardest, but his father couldn't accept a less-than-perfect son. Everything finally came crashing down when the accident on Caldik Prime occurred, killing three officers. At first, Tom lied, to protect the Paris reputation. But eventually, the guilt began to get to him and he confessed, getting him kicked out of Starfleet. He wandered about for a while, then joined the Maquis and was caught on his first mission, which landed him in the Federation prison in New Zealand. A while later, Kathryn Janeway pulled him out of prison so that he could help track down a Maquis ship. They followed the path left by the Maquis ship into the Badlands, where they encountered the Caretaker's beam, which brought them into the Delta Quadrant. And the rest is history....
B'Elanna Torres had a human father and a Klingon mother. Her father abandoned her and her mother when she was only five, and her mother placed the blame on her, saying she didn't look human enough to please him. She and her mother were the only Klingons on Kessik IV, her home, and all the other children on Kessik had been taught prejudice from birth. At school, B'Elanna was teased endlessly. At first, it caused her to cry, but when her mother criticized her for being weak, she began to lash out at those who made fun of her, causing her to get into more trouble, since the teachers usually believed that everything was her fault. When she was old enough, B'Elanna left Kessik for the Academy. Her teachers thought her a promising cadet, but more prejudice and her inability to control her temper eventually got her kicked out. She eventually met Chakotay, who convinced her to join the Maquis. While fleeing a Cardassian ship, the Caretaker brought the Maquis ship to the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay sacrificed his ship to save Voyager and Janeway allowed the Maquis to join Voyager's crew....
Of course, when they first met, B'Elanna had heard about Tom, but it was all from Chakotay and as we know, Chakotay wasn't particularly fond of our loveable pilot. That and Tom's "playboy of Voyager" reputation seemed to add up to these two being the last pair that would ever get together.
But they say opposites attract......
Third season's "Blood Fever" rolled around. Vorik, the young Vulcan ensign from engineering, entered his first time of pon farr and dragged B'Elanna right along with it. In short, he tried to mind meld with her (though it wasn't for very long) and that 2.5 seconds of mind meld got B'Elanna's blood fired up in the literal sense. When she was on an away mission on the Sakari homeworld with Tom, her hidden feelings for him began to arise--though not in the way that either of them had planned. Tom finally had to admit that he was interested in B'Elanna, but wasn't going to take advantage of her in her mind-muddled state. He also told her he knew that she didn't feel the same way he did and he had to accept it, which was when she finally admitted that she did have feelings for him, but had been afraid of admitting it.
Vorik showed up, purely enraged, and challenged Tom for possession of B'Elanna. B'Elanna took the challenge herself and whipped Vorik good, which purged the Blood Fever from both of them.
Later, in what is known as the "turbolift scene", the two try and talk about what happened. Tom says that her "big, bad Klingon side" wasn't all that scary, and it wouldn't bother him to see it again. B'Elanna thought this over, and as she walked out of the lift, left Tom with one thought:
"Be careful what you wish for, Lieutenant."
Well....Tom got his wish. "Day of Honor", the third episode of this season, came, and with it, the worst day of B'Elanna's life. First, Seven wanted to work in engineering. Then she had a fight with Tom. Then the warp core got a breach and they had to toss it. Then she and Tom had to go chasing after it. Then their shuttle blew up, leaving the two floating in space in the EVA suits from "First Contact". Then the oxygen started running out. And finally, on the brink of death, B'Elanna could no longer hold back her feelings. She whispered the words we (and Tom) have long been waiting to hear:
"I love you."
Then came "Revulsion"--fifth episode of the fourth season. Tuvok's promotion dinner was three days after the Day of Honor and the two hadn't said a word to each other in those three days. Deciding that they had to talk about it, Tom cornered her after the dinner. She told him that she meant it when she said she loved him--but getting nervous, she told him that he didn't have to reciprocate if he didn't want to. Being Tom Paris, he told her in no uncertain terms to shut up and kissed her. :)
More to come....
