TITLE: Sleeping Beauty Syndrome 
AUTHOR: Celeste M Strauss 
E-MAIL: CGAMS@aol.com 
SYNOPSIS: Tom contracts a mysterious illness while on an away mission. Does 
B'Elanna have the cure? Rating: PG(?)
INTRO: I wrote this story "just for fun" while trying to break writer's 
block. Keep in mind that this story is not to be taken seriously, and will 
probably take a great deal of suspension of disbelief. I didn't try to 
"clean-up" any of the science. 
Disclaimer: You know the drill--Paramount owns the universe, I am just a 
visitor. The characters belong to them, but they have insisted that I tell 
you the story is mine (they want no part of it!) No infringement on their 
rights is intended.
Sleeping Beauty Syndrome 
by Celeste M Strauss
"Ouch!" Tom Paris exclaimed, quickly yanking back his hand and putting his 
finger to his mouth.
     "Let that be a lesson to you to be more careful," B'Elanna Torres 
admonished, frowning.
     "Looks like there are even thorns in paradise," Tom responded, looking 
meaningfully at B'Elanna. 
     Harry turned quickly away to hide a grin. Tom and B'Elanna had been 
sparring the entire time the away team had been exploring the lush planet. He 
couldn't fault Tom's classification of the planet as paradise, however. In 
terms of materials and food sources needed for Voyager, it was a veritable 
gold mine. The weather was temperate and constant. There had been mild sunny 
weather for the three days that they had been here.  The landscape was 
glorious, the raw minerals plentiful and easily accessible, and the plant 
life was abundant and hauntingly beautiful-- which was probably the reason 
Tom had been unable to resist reaching out to that particular flower. The 
petals were the deepest, truest red Harry had ever seen. They were as soft as 
silk and just as luminous. The name "rose" jumped to his mind as he looked at 
it, but it really did not resemble a rose at all--except for the thorns.
     Harry glanced back at Tom and smiled again. Tom was still sucking on his 
injured finger while steadily looking into B'Elanna's eyes. A slow blush 
crept up her cheeks and she forced herself to look away and move forward. She 
found herself wondering what it would be like to take his finger into her 
mouth and taste the salt of....She shook her head forcefully and looked at 
Harry and then Tom.
     "Well, come on, you two, we have a lot of work to do. And Tom, stop 
making such a big deal about a little pinprick."
     "Don't you want to kiss it and make it better?" Tom teased. B'Elanna 
ignored him--with effort.

"I almost hated to leave this planet," Captain Janeway was saying to her 
First Officer as the last of the supplies were being transported up and they 
were preparing to continue their journey.
     "It does have a certain appeal," Chakotay agreed. "Maybe we should 
consider giving up our quest for home and colonize." Janeway looked at him, 
shocked.
     "You're not serious?" she exclaimed and then caught the twinkle in his 
eye. She was tempted to sock him on the arm, but restrained herself since it 
would definitely be conduct unbecoming an officer--especially the captain. 
Chakotay grinned at her and then looked forward.
     "Mr. Paris, take us out of orbit and resume our course."
     "Aye, aye, Sir." Tom acknowledged.
     "But it was beautiful," the captain sighed as the planet slowly 
disappeared from the viewscreen.
     "There was one anomaly that I found puzzling, however," Tuvok spoke up 
from the science station. "While there was abundant animal life on the 
planet, none of it was ever found in the highly concentrated areas of floral 
growth. While we were gathering food supplies we never encountered any of the 
native fauna." 
     "That's right," Harry put in. "There weren't even any insects buzzing 
around."
     "Perhaps it was the thorns," Tom muttered. Harry snickered. Tuvok merely 
raised an eyebrow.
     "While I recognize that Mr. Paris was being facetious, his explanation 
is not necessarily without merit. Many plant forms have natural defense 
mechanisms to ensure their survival as a species. I would have enjoyed the 
opportunity to study them further."
     "Well, whatever the reason," Captain Janeway mused, "I'm glad that some 
of the native flora proved to be safe for consumption. It will be good to eat 
something new for a change." Everyone nodded in agreement, thinking with 
distaste of the steady diet of leola root and reinin flour they had been 
subjected to for the past several weeks.

Tom entered the mess hall and saw Harry and B'Elanna sitting at a table with 
Rahila Zajac, from medicine, and Lt. Carey. He gathered his tray and went to 
join them. 
     "Hi, Tom," Rahila smiled as he sat down at the table. "Oh, you should 
have tried the stir-fry. It's delicious!" she added after noting the contents 
of his tray. He had only picked up a roll and some coffee.
     "I will later," he smiled at her. "I'm just taking a quick break, right 
now." He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he had found himself 
getting very drowsy at the helm. Finally, he decided to get some coffee, or 
what ever it was that Neelix was passing off as coffee right now. He had 
turned the helm over to Ensign Sununu, promising to be back shortly.
     B'Elanna was looking at Tom, intently. "You don't look too good, Tom. 
Are you feeling all right?"
     "I'm just a little tired," Tom reassured her.
     "All those late nights of revelry catching up with you?" Lt. Carey 
teased. Tom grinned at him and B'Elanna frowned. She wondered what Joe was 
talking about. She had been working overtime in engineering doing refits. 
What had Tom been doing? Harry saw her expression and decided to take pity on 
her.
     "If you can call cataloguing medicinal supplies 'revelry'," he said. 
B'Elanna looked at him questioningly. Before he could answer, Rahila spoke 
up.
     "Tom and Harry have been helping us down in the medical lab. Our visit 
to the Paradise Planet may have been a bonanza, but now we have to refine, 
organize and store.  Tom and Harry have been very helpful, giving up their 
time off to us."
     "Oh, I see," B'Elanna replied thoughtfully. So that was why Rahila was 
so friendly with Tom. B'Elanna felt the stirrings of jealousy. She looked 
resentfully at Tom.  Why did he make her feel this way? He kept her 
completely off balance. Sometimes she was sure that he wanted their 
relationship to be more than just friendship, but then he always seemed to be 
flirting with other girls on the ship. She knew that she wanted more than 
friendship from him, but she was afraid to take a chance. She didn't think he 
was capable of engaging in a serious relationship.
     *Uh oh,* Harry thought as he caught B'Elanna's glance. *That didn't work 
out too well.*  He looked at Tom who was gazing abstractly into his coffee. 
*I'd better fix this before Tom doesn't know what hit him.*  "Tom was eager 
to help when I asked him to join me," Harry spoke up quickly.
     "Oh, I see," B'Elanna repeated. *Well, that helped,* Harry thought 
wryly. Tom looked up at that and caught B'Elanna's stare.
     "Nothing else to do, with you working overtime," he said, sweetly. 
B'Elanna was caught off guard and blushed. Now she didn't know what to think. 
"Well," Tom continued, "I better get back." He drank down the last of his 
coffee and stood.
     "Are you available for dinner tonight, B'Elanna?" he asked. B'Elanna 
shook her head reluctantly.
     "No, I still have a lot of work to do in engineering--and so do you!" 
she added, looking pointedly at Lt. Carey.
     "Slavedriver," Joe grinned back. 
     It was Tom's turn to feel jealous. He merely nodded and said, "Okay. 
I'll catch you later." He disposed of his tray and left the mess hall.
     "I don't know why you turned him down, B'Elanna," Rahila said 
innocently. "I'd go in a minute and let the engines go h...."
     "Oh?" B'Elanna and Harry said together. Rahila blushed then and decided 
to get out before she got in too deep. "Are you coming back this evening to 
help?" she asked Harry.
     "I'll try," he said, looking at her thoughtfully. Maybe it had been a 
mistake to ask Tom to join him. Rahila seemed a little too interested in the 
wrong guy. Now it was Harry's turn to feel a little jealous.

On his way back to the bridge, Tom was overcome with a wave of vertigo. He 
leaned against the wall until it passed. "What is the matter with me?" he 
muttered. He was beginning to feel very hot and flushed. When he stepped into 
the turbolift he gave the order for the bridge and then leaned his forehead 
against the cool wall. *This is more than just being tired,* he thought. *I'd 
better go see Doc.*  But before he could give the order to change the lift's 
destination, he sank slowly to the floor into a well of darkness.
     When the doors to the turbolift opened on the bridge, the security guard 
turned to see who was arriving.
     "Captain!" he exclaimed when he saw the body on the floor. Janeway and 
Chakotay both turned and Chakotay jumped to his feet.
     "Who...?" Janeway began.
     "It's Paris," Chakotay responded as he reached the fallen officer. He 
stooped to feel for a pulse. "He's burning up with fever!" Chakotay 
exclaimed. He quickly tapped his combadge. "Emergency medical transport," he 
barked and the two of them disappeared in a sparkling array.
     When they materialized in sickbay, Chakotay lifted Tom onto the biobed 
and called out, "Activate Emergency Medical Holo..."
     "I'm already here, Commander," the doctor responded. "What is the nature 
of the medical emergency?"
     "Mr. Paris collapsed in the turbolift and seems to have a high fever."
     "Hmmm," the doctor said as he began checking the readings. "He is 
suffering from some kind of systemic infection. I'll give him a broad 
spectrum antibiotic as a precaution and then I'll have to run some tests to 
discover the cause." He moved around the biobed and administered the drug at 
the same time that he pressed his combadge.  "Ensign Zajac, please attend me 
in sickbay."
     "On my way," came back the immediate reply. The doctor looked up and saw 
Chakotay watching him. "Was there something else, Commander?" he asked, 
puzzled. 
     Chakotay shook his head. "Please keep us informed," he commanded as he 
turned to leave sickbay.

"Captain, please turn to your medical holographic channel." Janeway jumped 
and quickly complied. It had been over an hour since they had heard anything 
about Lt. Paris' condition and she was becoming very concerned.
     "What is it, doctor? How is Tom?"
     "I am afraid I mis-diagnosed his condition earlier. There is no evidence 
of an actual viral or bacterial infection. However, his blood contains 
massive amounts of an unknown toxin. I am giving him broad spectrum anti-
toxin and his fever has abated. But it would help if I knew the source. Can 
you tell me what injury he sustained? Was he bitten by anything? Cut?"
     Janeway looked at her First Officer. He shook his head. "I'm not aware 
of his having suffered anything like that, Doctor. Can't you ask him?"
     The doctor sighed. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. He is still 
unconscious.  Please discover if anyone knows anything helpful. We will 
continue to analyze the toxin.  Perhaps we'll get lucky." He broke the 
connection.
     "I want a meeting of my senior officers in 10 minutes," Janeway said to 
Chakotay.  She got up and went to her ready room. Chakotay, looking 
thoughtful, immediately notified the staff.

"Harry, you are his closest friend," Janeway began when they had all been 
apprised of the situation. "Can you think of anything that happened to him 
which might be the answer?" Harry concentrated on the past several days.
     "Of course, I haven't been with him constantly, but ...the only thing 
that I can think of is that we have been working with Rahila Zajac in the 
medical lab, helping her to refine some of the herbal medicines that she is 
developing. I don't remember any accident, though."
     "We are following that line of investigation," the doctor interjected. 
"Ensign Zajac has already informed me of that possibility. But so far it has 
come up negative."
     "Does anyone else have any ideas? B'Elanna?" the captain asked.
     "Um, Captain, I haven't really been spending much time with him since we 
left Paradise Planet. I've been pretty busy in Engineering."
     "All right. I want everyone to ask around in their departments. See if 
anyone can come up with an answer. Someone must have seen something."
     "Keep in mind," the doctor added, "this doesn't have to be anything 
major. It can be as simple as a pinprick."
     "The thorn!" Harry and B'Elanna exclaimed simultaneously.
     "What thorn?" the doctor asked.
     "When we were on Paradise Planet," Harry began, "Tom tried to pick a 
flower.  He pricked his finger on a thorn."
     "That could be it," the doctor replied. "What flower was this? Did we 
bring samples?"
     "I don't think so," B'Elanna began slowly. "This particular flower was 
judged to be purely ornamental, with no particular medicinal or nutritional 
value for the crew. We could check in Botany, however."
     "Do that," the doctor ordered, "and get me all of the scientific records 
we have on this flower."

"Have you made any progress, Doctor," Captain Janeway asked when she visited 
sickbay to check up on Tom's condition.
     "Well, yes...and no," the doctor shrugged. "Lt. Torres and Ensign Kim 
were correct in identifying the thorn prick as the source of the problem. 
That particular flower has a chemical secretion from its thorns that appears 
to be an enzyme which promotes the production of gamma aminobutyric acid.  
GABA is a neurotransmitter, naturally occurring in the human brain, which is 
responsible for inducing sleep. As you know, an enzyme facilitates a chemical 
reaction, without being used up in that reaction."
     "And the bottom line is...?"
     "Lt. Paris is not in a coma, he is asleep. Unfortunately, the increased 
production of GABA is keeping him asleep. We can't awaken him. I have tried 
stimulants, but to no avail. And I have not, as yet, been able to discover a 
way to block the enzymatic action.  Destroying it is even more problematical.
     "However, Ensign Zajac and I have synthesized the enzyme based on the 
tricorder studies done on the planet. It would be better if we had a real 
specimen to work with, but Lt. Torres was right--none were collected." he 
sighed.
     "Doctor, what does this mean for Tom?"
     "Well, he is in no real danger at the moment. As I said, he is just 
asleep. He is even dreaming. We can take care of all of his bodily needs 
while he is sleeping, for quite some time, without there being an adverse 
affect."
     Janeway looked tenderly at Tom. He looked so peaceful and innocent, 
lying there sleeping, oblivious to everything around him.
     "Okay, Doctor, do your best...and keep me informed."

B'Elanna entered the mess hall on a quest for coffee and found Harry and 
Rahila sitting at a side table, talking quietly. She went over to join them. 
It had been three days since Tom had collapsed and she wanted to know how he 
was doing. Rahila would have the answer.
     "Hi, B'Elanna," Rahila greeted her. "I guess you want to know the latest 
on Sleeping Beauty?"
     "What?" B'Elanna asked. "Who is Sleeping Beauty?"
     "Sleeping Beauty is a princess in an old Earth fairy tale," Harry jumped 
in quickly, with a frown at Rahila. "The story goes that under a curse, she 
pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fell into a deep 
sleep which lasted a hundred years.  Finally, she was awakened by the kiss of 
a prince, who was her true love."
     "True love's kiss," Joe Carey said from behind B'Elanna. "Potent 
medicine. I wonder why the doctor hasn't tried that solution."
     B'Elanna was beginning to feel a little angry. Obviously they were 
turning Tom's condition into a joke. "I take it, you were referring to Tom as 
the Sleeping Beauty?" she began ominously.
     "Well, he is asleep," Rahila began, defensively.
     "And he is a beauty!" Meagan Delaney sighed as she walked past the 
table.
     "And he did prick his finger and fall into a deep sleep from which he 
can't be awakened," Carey finished, triumphantly.
     "Are you the one who started calling him Sleeping Beauty, Rahila?" 
B'Elanna asked in what she hoped was a sufficiently calm, curious voice.
     "No, I don't know how it got started," Rahila answered. "But it is all 
over the ship. However, the Doctor and I have started referring to his 
condition as the Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. It fits."
     "Rahila," Carey joked. "Why don't you go give him a kiss and see if it 
works?"
     
     Before Harry could protest, Rahila smiled at him and answered Carey.
     "I think we are going to need a more scientific solution," she said 
calmly.
     "Oh, I don't know," Meagan piped up again. "Your scientific solutions 
don't seem to be working. Maybe we should try a different approach. I'd do it 
in a minute, if I thought it might work."
     "But, remember, it has to be a kiss from his true love," Neelix 
reminded, as he came over to offer refills on the coffee.
     "This is a stupid conversation," B'Elanna hissed as she got quickly to 
her feet.  "I'm going back to engineering. Are you coming?" She looked at 
Carey. He smiled, apologetically.
     "I'll be there in a minute. I just want to finish my coffee."
     "Fine!"
     "Wait, B'Elanna," Harry called. "I'll go with you. I'm due back right 
about now."  He quickly joined her as she left the mess hall. Gauging 
B'Elanna's mood correctly, Harry decided to try to take some of the sting out 
of the joking that had gone on at the table.
     "They're not really being as irreverent as it may seem, B'Elanna," he 
began. "Over the years, the term 'sleeping beauty' has come to mean anyone 
who is in a deep sleep."  B'Elanna was silent for a few minutes and then she 
sighed.
     "Okay, I guess I did overreact. To me, it's not a laughing matter. But 
I'll tell you this, Harry," B'Elanna added, beginning to burn again, "if any 
of them dare to touch him..." She stopped, realizing how much she was giving 
herself away. Harry just smiled sympathetically.

The lights were dimmed and all was quiet when B'Elanna walked into sickbay 
late that night. Tom was the only patient, at the moment. The doctor was 
working quietly in his office and did not notice her come in. She wanted to 
keep it that way. She walked quietly over and stood beside Tom's bed looking 
down at his sleeping form.
     *He is a beauty,* she thought to herself, deliberately echoing Meagan's 
words.  *He looks so sweet and vulnerable. I wonder... Don't be ridiculous,* 
she chided herself.  *It's only a fairy tale! Still...* As she stood there 
gazing at Tom her eyes were drawn to his lips. She sat down on the side of 
the bed and gently caressed his face.  Her face drew closer to his.  *But if 
I do try,* she thought as she gently traced the line of his mouth with her 
finger, *and it doesn't work...Does that mean that it's just a fairy 
tale...or that I'm not really his true love? Do I dare?*  She shook her head, 
slowly. *No. I won't do it.* She moved even closer and took a deep breath. 
*It's just a fairy tale.*  Then she softly brushed his lips with hers. She 
sighed. The scent of him, the feel of him was too good. She moved her mouth 
back onto his and drank in the exquisite taste. 
     Tom stirred and moaned, softly. Then his eyelids fluttered. B'Elanna sat 
up quickly. Tom opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. Then his eyes 
focused on B'Elanna and he smiled. She smiled back.
     "Well, Mr. Paris, it's good to see you awake," the doctor said from 
behind B'Elanna. She jumped. *How long has he been there,* she wondered, 
blushing furiously.
     "What did you do, Lt. Torres?" the doctor asked.
     "Nothing!" B'Elanna answered, a little too quickly.
     "Hmmm," was the doctor's reply. "I'll just run a few tests to determine 
your condition," he said to Tom. B'Elanna stood up and turned as if to go, 
but Tom reached out and grabbed her hand. She turned back to him.
     "Don't go," he said. She smiled. 
     "Well, I'll just report to the captain," the doctor, muttered, leaving 
them alone.  "That new treatment I started this evening must have worked."
The End