Hello!!  We've been here for a few weeks now, and I've finally convinced the Captain to do a talent show.  I just thought you might like to know about it.

Yeah, I know.  You want to know how we got here.  It's a long enough story that I can't figure out how to get it all down right, so you'll just have to wait, okay?  Great!!

Now, for the warnings!  Oh, OOPS!! there aren't any!!

Authors: Heather Jean B'Elanna Renae Paris Torres Irvine McNeill -- oh, and Pauline
Summary:  The Captain is making everyone on the ship participate in a talent show.  We see what a lot of the main characters can do that we don't know about.  Stand-up comedy, slight of hand acts, ice dancing, painting and singing included.  Sorry, Chakotay.  Yours was just STUPID!!!  I'm not gonna torture these poor readers to it!!
Rated: PT - 13 - for the suggestion that two people might actually be attracted to each other and ACT on it!  Otherwise, PT
Codes: P/T, J/C, K/7,
When during the series the story is set: I'm guessing right before Season five... when is it there???
Sequel/Prequel to: all the Hidden Talents stories are labeled.
 
 
 

Tom is sitting in the Holodeck.  We hear Elvis.  As he picks up a glass of yellow - green liquid and takes a sip, B'Elanna walks in.

P: Hi!  Glad you could make it.

He stands up, kisses her gently on the lips, and pulls a chair out for her.  She sits.

B: What's this?

P: It's an Elvis concert, at a 1960's diner.

B: Who's Elvis?  The name sounds familiar, but I can't remember.

P: He was a really famous singer in the 1960's.  He always was one of my idols, but I can't carry a tune worth a serving of targ fried rice spiced with some of Neelix's leola root, so I just listen.

B: He's pretty good.

P: Yeah.

He catches a waiter.

P: Two mountain Dews.

B: Mountain Dew?  What's that?

P: It's a late 20th century soft drink.  It's got absolutely no nutritional value, and lots of caffeine and sugar.  About three or four times two cups of coffee.  A lot of the foods then were like that.

B: How do you find food with so much natural caffeine other than coffee?

P: You don't.  It's caffeine - enriched.

B: Weird.  Why would anyone put extra caffeine in a drink?!?!

P: I have no idea.  But,

Looks at chronometer

P: I have to get to my shift.  See you later.

They kiss, and Tom walks out.

B:  Elvis and Mountain dew.  Tom has the WEIRDEST interests.

She begins to walk out

B: Computer, end program.
 

Tom is walking down the hall to the Holodeck, and sees B'Elanna.

P: B'Elanna!  Wait up!

At her name, she turned.  Tom catches up with her, and they kiss.  Pauline and Heather Jean are walking by, and they snicker, earning a glare from B'Elanna.  They walk past.

P: Did you hear about the talent show?

B: Yes.  And I can't believe that Captain Janeway is making everyone do something for it!  I mean, she practically ordered the crew to come up with something that (Impression of Janeway)  "absolutely no one, not even your closest friends, know you can do." And did you feel like she happened to be looking meaningfully at us at that point?

Tom laughs.

P: No, not really, why?

She shakes her head.

P:  Yeah, well.  I know what I'm going to do.

'Lanna looks at him in mock surprise.

B: What can you do that I don't know about?

P: You'll see.  Remember the rest of that order?  "Don't tell anyone"?

B: You're right.  As usual.  But what am I supposed to do?  I mean, I kept this a secret because my mother would never approve if she knew I inherited my human grandmother's-

Tom stops her with a kiss on the lips.

P: Don't tell.  Remember?  I'll be surprised with everyone else.  But I can tell you something.  We're 70,000 light-years from home.  It's ok to disobey your mother.  You did every Day of Honor, you can do it once more.

B: All right, Paris.  Now, I have to go practice.

P: OK.  Hey, our shifts end at the same time.  Want to have dinner afterwards

B: Love to.

P: Great.  Come to my quarters about an hour after we get off.  Dress nice, but comfortably, OK?

B: okay.  See ya then.

Hidden Talents, part three: The Picnic
 

50 minutes after their shift:
B'Elanna is wearing a non-too-modest black, gauzy, floor length, strapless, zip-up all the way dress.  Tom is wearing a blue, collared shirt the same color as his eyes, with small black stripes, and black slacks.

The door chimes.  Tom's back is to it.  He's putting the finishing touches on a picnic.

P: Come in.

The door opens, and B'Elanna walks in.

P: You're early.

B: Well, I was curious to see what you would have set up.  And it's better than being late.

She smirks.  He turns to her, and his jaw drops.

P: You look beautiful!

She blushes.

B: You don't look too bad yourself.

Tom gestures to the picnic.

P: Have a seat.

B: Love to.

She sits on the blanket, next to a place setting.  He sits across from her, next to another setting.

P: Computer, play music Paris Alpha 103.

Music starts.

P: Perfect dancing music.

He stands up, and offers his hand to her.

P: Would you care to dance, Mademoiselle?

B: I thought you'd never ask.

They dance for a while.

B: We'd better eat.

Tom sits on the blanket, and starts to serve her.  She sits, they eat, pick up the picnic stuff, and recycle it.

B: I'd better go.

P: One last dance?

She smiles.

B: Sure.

P: We could do more if you want.  My next shift is the same time as yours -- tomorrow.

B'Elanna looks at his chronometer.

B: But it's still getting late.

The song ends.

B: I'd better go.

She kisses him, and tries to pull away.  He pulls her back.

P: B'Elanna?

B: What?

P: Don't leave.  We have a while.

She starts to nip his neck.

P: B'Elanna?

B: Hmm?

He kisses her.

P: I love you too.

She un-buttons his shirt, and he takes it off.  He unzips her dress, and makes the way to his bed, where they fall in.

           Hidden Talents, part four: The Shift
 

The next morning, on the bridge.  It's the beginning of a new shift, and Tom isn't there.

J: I don't understand.  It's been 15 minutes.  Where's Tom?

Ch: I don't know.  I figured he'd be here by now.  Ensign Kim, do you know?

Harry coughs.
H: Um, no Commander.  He had a time slot reserved on the Holodeck right after B'Elanna's last night, but apparently neither showed up.

Pauline speaks up from Ops, where she's working with Harry.

Pew: Captain?

J: Yes, Pauline?

Pew: Heather Jean and I -- well, we weren't spying, exactly -- but we saw -- I mean, we heard- I mean-

Harry elbows her from behind.

Pew: OW!

She turns to hit him, and does as if she were hitting a big brother.

J: Cadet!

Pauline blushes.

Pew: Sorry, Captain.

J: Spit it out.  Now.

Pew: They were meeting in Tom's quarters after their shift yesterday.

J: Thank you, Pauline.  Chakotay, in my ready room.

In Janeway's ready room.

Ch: After their shift.  Quite a long while ago, too.  That'd be 16 hours.

J: I know.  But stop speculating.  Knowing Tom and B'Elanna- Oh.  I see what you mean.  Should we let it go?

Ch: No.  I want to get back at him for quite a few things.  Let's give him 10 minutes to get down here, even if he only did sleep in.  It takes that long to get here, not to mention having to get dressed.  It'd be a riot.

J: That's what I'm afraid of.  Very well.

They walk out to the bridge, and everyone stops talking.

J: Computer, locate Lt. Paris.

C: Lt. Paris is in quarters 5-B8.

J: Who is currently assigned to those quarters.

C: Lt. Thomas E. Paris.

J: Janeway to Paris.

We hear a gasp.

P: Uh... Paris here, Captain.

We hear a murmur in the background.

P: SH!

J: Your shift started 15 minutes ago, Lt.

P: OOPS!  I guess I lost track of the time.

Giggling in background, which is quickly muffled.

J: I want you down here in 10 minutes.

A little dejectedly, but as if he's in a hurry,

P: Aye, Captain.

B'Elanna in the background as if hoping for the Captain not to hear her.

B: By Kahless.  It takes that long to get there.  We'll never make it.

J: Tom?

P: Yes Captain?

J: Who's there with you?

B: It's me, B'Elanna, Captain.

J: Oh.  I see.  Tom?

P: Yes Captain?

J: Make it 20.  Janeway out.

The bridge busts out laughing.  When it dies down a little, Harry speaks.

H: I think I know why they didn't show up.

He chuckles a little, and Janeway chides him gently.

J: That is none of our business, Ensign.  I wouldn't have cared except that it interfered with their work.  Now, if I remember correctly, B'Elanna has her shift up here as well.  Leave them alone.  Does everyone understand?

Everyone nods, and Janeway smiles slightly.

BACK IN QUARTERS 5-B8

From the bedroom,

P: We'd better get going.  We're going to be reprimanded badly, now.

From the other room,

B: Uh-oh.

He walks in.

P: What?

B: You ripped my dress.  I can't wear it back to my quarters.

P: Wear my bathrobe.

He tosses it at her.

B: But then everyone will know.  No, I can't.

She hands it back.

P: B'Elanna.  They already will.

He runs his hand over the teeth marks on her neck.  She runs hers over the ones on his cheek, neck, and chest.

B: I don't have time to go back.

She replicates a new uniform, and starts to put it on.

B: I needed a new on anyway.

P: Good.  I'd better finish getting dressed.

He walks back into the bedroom, and B'Elanna sits on the couch.

B: I'll wait for you.  My shift's on the bridge too.

P: O-Kay.

A couple of minutes later, he walks out to see B'Elanna, curled up and asleep on the couch.  He shakes her gently.

P: B'Elanna?  Wake up.

She groans.

B: I just realized that I've been up all night.  Help me up.

He does, and she walks into the bathroom.

B: Be out in a minute.

When she comes out:

P: All right.  Let's go.

They walk into a turbo lift.  He says "Bridge".  After a moment,

P: 'Lanna?

She opens her eyes and looks at him.

B: Hmm?

P: I love you.

B: I love you, too.

They kiss.  When they stop, Tom chuckles.

B: What?

P: Your collar's-

He unrolls her collar in the back.

P: There.

She tugs on his sleeve, as if to straighten it.

B: Thanks.

The turbo lift door opens, and the whole bridge looks at Tom and B'Elanna.  Both start towards their stations, when Tom puts his arm on B'Elanna's.  He turns to Janeway.

P: Please excuse me, Captain.  I-

He looks at B'Elanna, and rubs a bite mark on his cheek.

P: I'm sorry I'm late.

Janeway smirks.

J: Sit, Mr. Paris.  And don't let it happen again.

She looks at B'Elanna, who blushes.

J: Either of you.

Both: Aye, Captain.

AT THE END OF THE SHIFT:

J: All right, people.  The "Hidden Talents" show begins in 2 hours.  I hope to see you all there.  Chakotay, you have the bridge.  I'll be in my quarters.

Tom starts towards the turbo lift, and stops by B'Elanna.

P: Coming, 'Lanna?

B: I'll see you after I perform.  I need to finish here, then get ready.

P: All right.  See ya then.

He walks into the turbo lift with Janeway, and the door closes.

          Hidden Talents, part five: Hidden Talents
 

On the Holodeck, a theater program is running.  Neelix is on stage, as the announcer.
N: We have Mr. Tuvok, doing an old Earth magic act.

Tuvok walks up on stage.  He starts talking with a Brooklyn accent.

T: How are ya all tonight?

Audience: Great!

T: Wondaful wondaful.   Well, I feel kind of.... how do you say, uh... colorful tonight.  How about you?

A: Good!

T: Great, Great.  Well, I got this corsage for my girlfriend, ya see.  Here, come up here and smell this, baby.

Points to an ensign from Stellar Cartography.  She says, "ME?"

T: Yeah you! Come here!

She steps up on stage.

T: Smell this.

She leans in and smells the rose on his jacket.  Water squirts out.

T: Oh, I'm so sorry! Come here, let me wipe that up for you there.

He pulls out a handkerchief.  And another comes out.  He does the whole string of handkerchiefs joke.

T: Thank you, thank you.

His face goes stoic, he bows, and walks off stage.

N: Thank you, Tuvok, for that . . . interesting act.  And now, our own Captain Janeway, doing a 20th century standup comedy act.  Captain?

J: Thank you, Neelix.  And may I say, what a lovely tie you're wearing tonight.

N: Tie?  What tie?

He looks confused, looks at his shirt, and turns back to Janeway.

N: Oh.  I see.  I'm the butt of another joke.  I feel SO honored.

He walks off stage, and Janeway goes through a combination Seinfeld/Jim Carey routine.

N: Thank you, Captain.  Wonderful.  And now, we have Harry Kim doing an imitation of the Academy's painting class.  Harry?

Harry, in a french painter's outfit, and with a <very fake> french accent.

H: You peeck up your pon-ceel, ond draw your ootleen.

<Translation: You pick up your pencil and draw your outline.-HJW>  Harry does a painting.  <And pretty good I might add. But not as good as Tom's act!  Read and find out.>

N: Beautiful, Harry.  Beautiful.  Tom Paris . . . Ice dancing.

P: Thank you, Neelix.  Computer, play music Paris Beta 583.

Music starts, and Tom goes through a Scotty Hamilton routine.  <I'd say better, but NOBODY's better than Scotty! -- HJW>

N: WOW!! Thank you, Mr. Paris.  And now, last but not least, B'Elanna Torres.  She refuses to disclose her talent, so here she is.

B'Elanna walks on stage, dressed in khaki pants, brown boots, white tank - top, rust - brown beret, and trench coat.  Tom starts shaking his head, because he, of course, recognizes the costume.  <It's Eponine, from Les Miserables.  If you've ever seen it, you know what 'Lanna's about to do.>

B: Thank you, Neelix.  This is from a 20th century play, made from the book written by Victor Hugo in 1862, "Les Miserables".  This is dedicated to Tom Paris.

Tom blushes, and shrinks in his seat, much to Harry's delight.

B: Computer, play music Torres Alpha 309.

The music starts, and B'Elanna begins to sing:
------------------------
And now I'm all alone again
No where to turn
No one to go to
Without a home without a friend without a face to say hello to
But now the night is near
And I can make believe he's here

Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy with the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head

On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone
I walk with him 'till morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me

In the rain
The pavement shines like silver
All the lights
Are misty in the river
In the darkness
The trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me forever and forever

And I know
It's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself
And not to him
And although
I know that he is blind
Still I say
There's a way for us

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life
I've only been pretending
Without me
His world would go on turning
A world that's full of happiness that I have never known

I love him
I love him
I love him
But only
On my own

-----------------
When the music stops, the whole room is silent.  Then, slowly, someone starts to clap.  Then another, and another.  The holodeck thunders with applause.

P: Encore!

Everyone joins in.  B'Elanna, with tears streaming down her face, smiles, and says:

B: All right.  One more.  This one is a 20th century love song.

-------------

Everyone looks for their calling in love
But I always find it surprising
The way people say that they're falling in love
When I always felt I was rising
Floating right off of the ground and reaching
Something I only have dreamed of
I'm not falling at all
I am rising in love

Everyone talks about tying the knot
But I have a hard time agreeing
With the way that we bind up the love that we've got
When the feeling of love should be freeing
Lifting each other up
Instead of giving one another a shove
We won't be falling at all
We'll be rising in love

How do you let love grow
You've got to give it a chance when you've found it
A bird in your hand will stay until
You start to close your fingers around it

Love is the river whose waters we test
In a measure of where we are going
But you never can step in the same river twice
For the water is constantly flowing

But the deeper the river the greater the trust
And the more that we're rising above
We won't be falling at all we'll be rising
I'm not falling at all
I am rising
I'm not falling at all
I am rising
I'm not falling at all
I am rising In love
I'm rising in love
I'm rising in love
I am rising in love
---------------------
For 8 more songs, B'Elanna would finish, and the crew would beg for more.  Finally, B'Elanna says:

B: Heather and Tom, come up here.

They do, and she whispers:

Do you know "In My Life" and "A Heart Full of Love" from Les Miserables?

He looks surprised, pleased and stricken, all at the same time.  Heather Jean just nods. A moment later, he replies with a whisper:

P: Yeah.  But I can't sing.  You've never heard me, but I suck majorly.

B: Try.

Then, to the audience:

Tom says he can't sing, so bear with this.  Two more, and that's it.

They sing the two songs, Tom singing Valjean and Marius, B'Elanna singing Coset and Heather Jean singing Eponine.
------------
Coset:
How strange, this feeling that my life's begun at last
This change, can people really fall in love so fast
What's the matter with you Coset
Have you been too much on your own
So many things unclear
So many things unknown

In my life, there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong
In my life there are times when I catch in the silence the sigh of a far away song
And it sings of a world that I along to see
Out of reach, Just a whisper away, waiting for me
Does he know I'm alive, do I know if he's real
Does he see what I saw, does he feel what I feel
In my life I'm no longer alone, now the love in my life is so near
Find me now, find me here

Valjean:
Dear Coset, you're such a lonely child
How pensive, how sad you seem to be
Believe me, were it within my power, I'd fill each passing hour
How quiet it must be, I can see
With only me for company

Coset:
There's so little I know that I'm longing to know
Of the child that I was in a time long ago
There's so little you say of the life you have known
Why you keep to yourself, why we're always alone
So dark, so dark and deep
The secrets that you keep

In my life I have all that I want
You are loving and gentle and good
But Papa, dear Papa, In your eyes I am just like a child who is lost in a wood

Valjean:
No more words, no more words, it's a time that is dead
There are words that are better unheard, better unsaid

Coset:
In my life, I'm no longer a child and I yearn for the truth that you know
Of the years, years ago

Valjean:
You will learn, truth is given by God to us all in our time
In our turn

Marius:
Im my life, she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun
And my life seems to stop as if something is over
And something has scarcely begun
Eponine, you're the friend who has brought me here
Thanks to you, I am one with the Gods, and Heaven is near
And I saw through to a world that is new that is free

Eponine
Every word that he says is a dagger in me
In my life, there's been no one like him, anywhere, anywhere, where he is
If he asked, I'd be his

Marius and Eponine:
In my life, there's been someone who touches my life

Marius:
Waiting near

Eponine:
Waiting here
------------
M: A heart full of love, A heart full of song
 I'm doing everything all wrong
 Oh, God, for shame, I do not even know your name, dear Mademoiselle
 Won't you say, Will you tell?

C: A heart full of love, no fear no regret
M: My name is Marius Pontmercie
C: And mine's Coset
M: Coset, I don't know what to say
C: Then make no sound
M: I am lost
C: I am found

M:  A heart full of light
C:  A light bright as day
M:  And you must never go away
 Coset, Coset
C:  This is a chain we'll never break
M:  Do I dream
C:  I've no way

M:  A heart full of love
E:  He was never mine to lose
C:  I love you
E:  I regret I love him
M: And I love you
E:  These are words he'll never say
 Not to me, not to me, not for me
 His heart's full of love
------------
Finally, B'Elanna croaks:

B: No more.  I can't do any more.

Silently, the crew starts to file out, and B'Elanna starts to fall to the floor of the stage.  Tom, of course, catches her and lowers her gently.  (The auditorium is empty now, by the way.)  She buries her face in his chest.

P: B'Elanna?

B: Oh, my God.  By Kahless, I didn't know I was THAT bad!

Tom looks surprised again, then confused.

P: What do you mean?  You were great!  I wasn't, but you were.

B: I was horrible.

B: She leans on him more, and he squeezes her.

P: If you were that terrible, then why did they yell "Encore!" and make you sing 12 times?

She thinks about that for a minute, then relents and says:

B: Maybe you're right.

P: Of course I am.

B'Elanna starts to sit up.

B: Tom?

They look at each other.

P: What?

B: I love you.

P:  I know.  I love you too.....

=/\= * =/\=

Feedback is appreciated, especially complimentary feedback . . . (hint, hint!)  Just remember the one Netiquette rule I adhere to under all circumstances: NO FLAMING!!!
 
 
 
 
 

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Hope to see yer comments soon!!

*gone in a whisp of smoke and a few stray tears for her long lost life in 1998...*

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