"Please, Kate, I didn’t mean to hurt you."

Paris stopped, too surprised to remember to finish his step.

Kim’s voice came again. "Please, just come out from under there."

Paris ducked back out to check the name on the door.

"Your tail will grow back soon, I promise."

"Tail?" Paris echoed.

There was silence for a moment, then Kim emerged, blushing. "When did you get here?"

"‘Please, Kate, I didn’t mean to hurt you,’" Paris mimicked. "Harry, Harry, Harry. Who have you got in there?"

"Just my… my pet lizard."

"You have a pet lizard?"

Kim blushed again - if, indeed, he had ever stopped. "Her name’s Kate."

"I heard," Paris remarked dryly. "I almost thought you had the captain in there - until you mentioned tails."

"Yeah… well, um, it’s not the captain."

Paris blinked. "Harry?"

Kim hesitated. "You remember when you… and the captain…"

"You didn’t."

Kim kept a straight face for nearly half a second. "Would I do a thing like that?"

Paris relaxed. "Harry, I didn’t know you had it in you. But, don’t you think the captain should be notified you have a pet on board?"

Kim’s wicked grin matched his. "Care to join me?"

"I wouldn’t miss it." Paris waited as Kim ducked into the bedroom.

Janeway smiled in agreement, yanking on her uniform and pulling dust bunnies from her hair. "Look for me on the bridge," she whispered back. "I’ll be in Sandrine’s."

"Aye, sir," Kim teased. "Come on, Kate," he loudly told the log in his terrarium, "you’ve got to come out from under that log to meet the captain."