Cute, fun, really well written, lovely exploration of Toms past and a sweet af little ending. Wonderful!

This story is so cute! Yet, so plausible, thanks for the way you made the characters so believable.

I didn't read the other posts. Did somebody already mention the FOURTY-SEVEN sounds in the captains quarters? Hope the number was not coincidence but good Trekki tradition.
Sure you mean "When in ROME"? Believe the Sandrine is in Marseille/ France (sign short before janeway enter it first time).
Also I think Janeway at this time of the journey only would leave quarters in (part of) her uniform not old sweats. Nevertheless it's a shame with a nicer imagination and a little more irritation for Tom.
And the most important at the end: I really enjoyed this fresh story, especially when Tom guessed the 'nuts'-thought.

Aww! Love how you go between angst and fluff. Great story!

love it - it shows Tom as a gentle and compassionate man. Maybe a sequel where Janeway visits him and mickey again and they get closer? Mickey has to cover his eyes with leola root.

I wouldn't normally use the word "sweet" to describe your writing, but this (in places) was sweet, and not in a bad way at all, especially the last line.
I like the little details, such as how you mentioned Rollins: "the same man who had reflexively called an as-yet-pipless Tom Paris "sir" and had happily handed him the bridge" - I don't think that was ever explained on screen, why Rollins did that.
Amidst the humour and lightness there is Tom drinking three glasses for his three dead comrades, and J's insight that "if Tom Paris could be broken out of a bout of depressive self-hatred simply by being given a problem to solve, she would just have to find ways to keep him busy for the next seventy-odd years."
Love the idea of Tom having to discretely track down the mouse and enjoying J's dislike of mice a little too much. I'm not a fan of J and P as "J/P", but I did find the Freudian slip amusing, along with "Neelix' Pantry Of Delta Quadrant Horrors. A local rodent's idea of paradise" and the idea of Harry clearing up a rodent infestation by playing his clarinet!
Just great from start to finish.

Very nice story.

This could have been a hilarious B-plot in an episode. I'd loved to watch Paris chase a rodent through the Jeffries tubes! And you made it a beautiful character study although I find Paris at the very end a tinsy little bit OOC (too childlike).

Awwww... Once again, with feeling, awwwwww! What a marvelous character piece. I could hear Tom and Janeway's voices throughout. I'm on a Voyager marathon because of you. Hope you're proud!

That is so sweet.

Ro

I love it when people read my stories, and even more so when they pay attention to the little details I like to toss in to give them texture. Fan fiction thrives on these details, and getting them right is part of the fun, and part of the challenge. Like all other fiction writers who focus on the quality of their story writing, I make occasional mistakes with canon. (Confusing "up" and "down" when it comes to deck numbering, or having Riker play the sax instead of the trombone are but two shining examples of my failures in this regard.) Happy to have these pointed out to me, but when you do so, make sure the ground on which you stand on is solid ... ;-)

Several readers have noted - in reviews and via PM - that "Mark Johnson never went to the Academy" (so how could Janeway possibly be wearing his old Academy sweats?). Well, my little story doesn't actually mention which "Academy" Mark went to (I assume in the 24th century, there's more than one institute of higher learning ... we certainly know of the Vulcan Academy of Science, at the very least). But more to the point, there is no information anywhere in the series as to where Mark did go to college. The mere fact that he's in civvies when he comms Janeway in "Caretaker" is evidence of nothing except possibly what he wore to get Molly out of the kennel an hour before - certainly not of where he may or may not have gotten his schooling a couple of decades earlier. So, who knows where he graduated from, or whether he dropped out of Starfleet at some point to take up a civilian career? (Jeri Taylor, whose book I've never actually read, doesn't count.)

As for the origin of the famous Jeffries tubes, I would submit that it Tom Paris is unlikely to be familiar with the name of a production assistant from some 20th century TV show that never gets mentioned in Star Trek. The show itself certainly never mentions the guy, and last time I looked, production credits aren't part of canon ... Tom might, however, know a fictional 21st century engineer who created the fictional tubes in which he and other fictional characters are forced to crawl around on occasion.

It's the beauty of fan fiction that, when canon is silent on something, you can make stuff up to fill in the blanks.

I enjoyed this story, for the most part. However, there are a couple of inconsistencies: First, Mark never went to the Academy. Second, the Jeffries Tubes were named after Walter "Matt" Jeffries, who worked on the Original Series production team.

I do hope Tom went back and cleaned up the rodent droppings. Otherwise, the crew could have come down with the Delta Quadrant version of hantavirus, a disease that is potentially fatal.

I smiled as I read this entire story. ;)

I dunno. As the first of your pieces that I've read (as opposed to been read to by you), I must say your writing style is lovely. And this story is wonderful.

Thank you so much for writing it for me! :)

I read your stories and I find myself wishing you would write dozens more ... so many little ideas that pop into my head that I could not do justice to and wouldn't want to even try, but I feel would turn into written gold under your skilled metaphorical pen. I have to admit the fangirl part of me has re-fallen in love with Tom after rewatching Voyager - there are so many unexplored character nuances and circumstances that ought to to explored.

Random musing aside, this fic was fantastic; dark without being too much so; humorous without overdoing it. I always leave your fic with the impression you have fully captured the essence of Tom's character and fleshed out the glimpes Voyager's writers barely hinted at. I would love to see you write a New Zealand fic if you would be so inclined, and more of your Enterprise stories (though I admit I've been dragging them out because I don't want to go through them too quickly. I love the pairing of Tom and Riker.)

But enough rambling. :) Thanks for a wonderful diversion on a rainy morning.

Awesome. :)