Just some nonsense I was playing around with. What if the tranwarp conduit in Endgame had taken them back to the Alpha Quadrant? Just a silly little what if. Please review, you know I love it.
Disclaimer: When you abuse your children, social services takes them away, and I don't think they make money off of it. I'm not making money, I don't plan to make money, and you can have them back. But I still say Paramount and all them are naughty, naughty parents to Voyager! Bad Paramount!
Boosters
By Aislinn Carter
She had always been there. He didn't remember meeting her. He didn't remember the first time they were together. He couldn't have, because she had always been there, since before he knew his own name.
When they were five, he would chase her around the ship. Her long dark auburn hair would fly behind her as they ran down the corridors, laughing and giggling before collapsing breathlessly in the holodeck. Naomi would usually not be far behind, collapsing just as breathlessly as she glared at the two of them and they smiled sweetly.
When they were ten, he kissed her.
It was just a small kiss. They were alone in the holodeck. Naomi didn't watch them by then. She had her own duties now, and they were old enough to be unsupervised. The other children were still too young, and were usually in the nursery with Tal Celes. It was just the two of them, as he always thought it should be.
The days of Flotter were past, and instead they were playing a pirate game. She was the damsel and he was the swashbuckling rogue come to save her from the bad pirates. His father had designed this program, and it had always been a favorite of theirs. Now, it would hold a special memory, because as he fought off the pirates with her at his side, he realized he wanted to kiss her. And he did, a few minutes later, as they hid in the shelter of a cave. He leaned over and caught her lips with his own, briefly, and when he pulled back, she was smiling.
Taya's father was the Commander. He was second in command of this ship, and Owen knew that when it was time to take Taya on their 'first date', that he was going to have to ask her father. It was intimidating, and he was nervous, but she told him that she couldn't go on a real grown up date unless he asked Commander Chakotay.
So he asked for an appointment to see him in his office. The older man stood up and shook his hand, his eyes twinkling, treating him with a formality he hadn't received before today. Chakotay had tossed him in the air along with his own children as a child; he blew up evil aliens in the holodeck with them, he joined Owen's father in teaching him and Taya to fly. Now, he acted like a stranger, waiting for what he knew was coming since the two were infants.
"I can't believe how sweet they look together," B'Elanna had said when they were babies, as she and Chakotay watched the two sleeping together in Owen's crib. "He cries so much when she's not around."
"She does the same." He said. "I think we might have a problem, one day." He said with a grin.
Five years later they were saying it again, as they walked through the ship together and saw Owen flying after Taya. "Hey, hey there buddy," Chakotay grabbed Owen's arm and B'Elanna held onto Taya. "Where's the fire?"
"Sorry, Commander. We're just having a race to the holodeck."
"I'm not sure how I feel about you chasing after my daughter, Mr. Paris." Chakotay said with mock sternness. B'Elanna stifled a snort, but the kids just looked puzzled.
"It's okay, Daddy. I like him chasing after me."
Chakotay had opened his mouth to say more when he saw Naomi trudging towards them. She was breathing heavily and glaring at the two.
"I'm sorry Commander, Lieutenant. They got away from me again."
"Don't worry about it, Naomi. Taya, I want you and Owen to walk to the holodeck today. Naomi has her physical training to deal with and I don't want her worn out." He said, pressing his lips together to keep from laughing. This time, Naomi glared at him.
"Okay, Daddy. Come on, Owen." She grabbed his hand and continued on her way, Naomi following.
They watched until they turned a corner, then Chakotay frowned at her. '"I like him chasing after me, Daddy?'"
B'Elanna shrugged. "The girl's got taste."
At ten, Chakotay had really started to worry. One night, he and his wife were walking towards their quarters when they saw Taya and Owen exit the holodeck, holding hands.
"What it that?" he hissed.
She looked at him. "I fail to see the problem."
He gazed at her in disbelief s they trailed at a safe distance behind the two children. "You fail to see the problem? That Paris brat is making the moves on our daughter!"
"Chakotay, you are being irrational. They are children. Children are affectionate with one another. I hardly think them holding hands can be considered 'making moves'. Incidentally, that is not the correct phrase."
"What?" his jaw dropped open. "Our daughter is about two seconds away from being seduced by Paris' spawn and you're concerned with terminology?"
"First of all, Lieutenant Paris has termed that phrase as being 'putting the moves on', not making the moves," she said, ignoring his growing temper. "And second of all, Owen is not just his spawn, he is also the spawn of one of your closest friends. Try to remember that. Thirdly, they are ten." She raised her eyebrows at him.
"So?"
Now her eyebrows went up even higher and she pressed her lips together to hide a smile. "Well, I'll take that to mean you think a ten year old is capable of seduction. And if you think that, I'll take it to mean that at the age of ten you were-"
"Never mind, she's in safe hands." He said quickly.
Now, he sat calmly in his chair, watching as Owen Paris squirmed in his. He appraised the young man silently. At fourteen, Owen was nearly as tall as his father, and getting taller. His lanky body had finally caught up to itself, and instead of being awkward as he had been last year, he now walked with the confidence of a boy who was becoming a man. He had filled out, and his physique reminded Chakotay of his own when he was at the academy. Aside from his younger sister, he was the only blonde haired, blue eyed child in the Paris family, and his sister's hair and eyes weren't as light as his anyway. His skin wasn't as fair as Tom's, but it was lighter then his mother's, and the only indication that he was part Klingon came from a light outline of two ridges on his forehead. He was, as B'Elanna jokingly called him at birth, a 'little human baby'. His older sister Miral, his younger brother T.J. and his younger sister Julia all had some clear indication of being Klingon, but at first glance, Owen just looked human. And, Chakotay thought grimly, he was a very attractive human. He knew his daughter wasn't immune to that.
"You wanted to see me, Mr. Paris?"
"Yes…I, um, I thought your wife might be here, sir."
"She's busy with the other children, Owen. What is this about?"
He looked ready to explode, his face was so read. But he managed to clear his throat and push the words out. "Well, Commander. Um…I came here to ask you…That is, to say…I wanted to know if I could take Taya on a date." He said quickly, then looked down.
Chakotay sighed inwardly. To him, it still seemed as though he were gazing down at Taya and Owen in their cribs. He had always known this day would come, but it seemed to have come so soon. Time had flown by, and Taya wasn't his little girl anymore. But then again, she never really had been. From the moment she was first laid in a crib with him, she had belonged to Owen Paris.
"Well, Owen, I can't say I'm thrilled about this. Taya is my firstborn, and I have to make sure…" he searched for the phrase his father had once used on a young man come to see his sister. "I have to make sure your intentions are honorable."
Owen frowned. "With all due respect, Commander, how could they be otherwise? Taya has been my best friend all my life. I want to marry her one day. I've always wanted to marry her."
"You're a little young to be set on marriage. Most teenage boys want to date and play the field. They most definitely do not want to get married. Perhaps our circumstances, being what they are, have led you to choose Taya because she's really the only option for you."
"You can make that argument sir, but I firmly believe that even if we had grown up in the Alpha Quadrant, Taya and I would have found our way to each other. Don't you believe in destiny, Commander?"
Chakotay smiled, thinking of his wife. "Yes, I suppose I do. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into. Once you get involved with your best friend, you can't ever return from that. Trust me."
"I do trust you, sir. Now I'm asking you to trust me." Owen broke into a grin. "I am only fourteen, Chakotay. I'm not likely to ravish her when she first turns her head."
Chakotay's mouth dropped open, then he shook his head. "You spend way too much time with your father."
"That's what my mother says. So, do I have your permission?'
He gazed at him for a moment. "Owen, I accept the fact that you will quite likely marry my daughter one day. I even accept the fact that you and she will…become intimate at a young age. I'm not hypocritical enough to deny that. Most people I know lost their virginity by sixteen or seventeen. But I will not allow that to happen now. I remember being fourteen, Owen. Your thoughts aren't as innocent as you might claim, but I trust you and I do trust my daughter. You are too young to be in an intimate relationship. I accept that one day – probably one day soon – you will be, but it had better not be now. Do you understand? And I think you know that women aren't able to begin boosters until sixteen. That means if you do…anything…and she gets pregnant, there'll be a baby. Do you understand that?"
Owen frowned. "Chakotay, I just asked to take her on a date. And believe me, I don't want a baby anytime soon. With all due respect, you're being a little paranoid."
Chakotay relaxed a little. "Tell me that when you have a daughter…in ten or twenty years."
Owen grinned. "Yes, sir."
"You have my permission. But her curfew remains. Any later than 2200 hours and I break out the compression phaser rifles."
"Understood."
Chakotay stood up. Owen followed. "You're dismissed, young man." He held out his hand to his friend's son. "You'll make an excellent officer one day, Owen. And you'll make an excellent son-in-law." He gripped Owen's hand and leaned down, looking into his eyes. "One day." He said emphatically.
"Thank you, sir. I'll take her out tonight, if it's all right with you."
"That's fine. I have work to do here, but I'll be waiting when you bring her home."
Owen nodded and left to tell Taya the good news.
He had always loved her. He didn't remember when he didn't, so he knew he always had. And he knew she always loved him, even if she made him work for it. She would giggle and babble about other things whenever he tried to get too deep. She acted frivolous about feelings, but Owen knew Taya felt things more deeply than many others, more deeply than him, even. But she liked to tease him, so she would often evade him.
When they started dating, all the other crewmembers thought it was 'adorable'. Even Naomi, who had once gone through the same nonsense when she began to date Icheb, would gush about how adorable it was. After time, everyone got used to it. It wasn't much different, really. Owen and Taya had always been together. They always would be. It was just the way of it.
They kissed a lot more now, and then kissing turned into even more than that. By the time they were sixteen, Owen was frothing at the mouth for those boosters. He was already on them, but he was terrified that just his dose might not be enough. So he waited patiently until she turned sixteen, one month after he did. Waited until one day her mother brought her to the Doctor. Waited until Chakotay reluctantly allowed them to leave that night. He knew, and Owen knew he knew, and they both knew what was going to happen soon. Taya knew, and Owen knew she knew and she knew he knew that she was going to drive him crazy about it, teasing and taking her time and making him work for it as he'd had to work for every crumb of affection for sixteen years. She was different from her mother though. She wasn't afraid to express her feelings, she just got her kicks out of keeping them from him. He knew she loved him. That was all that mattered.
It didn't happen that night, mostly because they were both worried Chakotay would have the sensors calibrated to them and would know. It didn't happen the night after, either. It didn't happen for many nights. Then they entered a region of space where they had to fight for every parsec, and it definitely didn't happen there.
Then it all went to hell. Harry Kim started dating his older sister Miral, and it all went to hell.
Miral was three years older than him, nineteen. She was beautiful, even he could admit to that. She shared blue eyes with him and their sister Julia, but hers were a deep navy blue, so blue they were almost black. Her hair was light brown, her skin smooth and caramel colored, and her ridges the most prominent of the Paris children. She was fiery and sarcastic like her mother, but also just as brilliant, and she was becoming a highly trained engineer. She took Starfleet Academy courses just as Icheb had, and she was a few months away from completing them and becoming an ensign. They were getting pretty close to Federation space now, and Miral was excited about reaching Earth and joining the engineering corps. It was still a few years off, but she was determined that would be the first thing she did.
For a while though, Miral had been working on a project with Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, and B'Elanna. Both Seven and B'Elanna caught a virus some of the crew picked up on their last shore leave, and due Seven's unique biological systems and B'Elanna's redundant stomach, it hit them harder than the others who had it. So it was just Miral and Harry working on it and one thing must have led to another, because…
"You want to what?" Tom erupted as he flew off the couch.
Harry stood his ground, both he and Miral gazing defiantly at her parents. "We want to get married." Harry said, determined. "We're in love."
"Oh, no you're not!" Tom shouted. "You are not in love with my daughter, whose diapers you used to change and who is a good thirty years younger than you!"
"Age doesn't matter to us."
"You're her uncle! Her uncle! Do you know how wrong this is? Do you have any idea how disgusting this is?" Tom blazed. "B'Elanna, say something!"
"Harry, this is completely inappropriate." B'Elanna said, a little calmer than her husband. "You watched Miral grow up. You're old enough to be her father."
"I don't remember anyone saying all this when Chakotay got together with Seven." Harry said.
"We were saying it, you idiot, we just weren't saying it to him!" Tom shouted.
"She's our daughter, Harry, you can't marry our daughter!"
Owen, who was sitting on the couch in shock, suddenly remembered something. "Actually, he has before."
His parents turned to him, their mouths open. Harry and Miral looked puzzled.
"It's something Taya told me a long time ago, about a different timeline that Kes experienced when she was here."
"Different…Ohhhh." B'Elanna nodded. "Yeah, the one where Captain Janeway and I died. But what has that got to do with this?"
"You never got the whole story on that? Well, Captain Janeway told Taya about it. Apparently, after you died Mom, Kes became a friend to Dad, to help him through his grief. They ended up getting married, and having a daughter. You really didn't know this? Kes made a full report."
"Go on!" B'Elanna barked.
"Well, their daughter grew up in a few years, and she married Harry. They had a son. According to Kes, you were all one big happy family."
There was silence.
"This is completely different!" Tom exploded. "Ocampans grow up in a few years. By one she would have looked like an adult. And plus, it didn't happen. This is happening! B'Elanna, you better get him out of my sight before I do something I regret! Our friendship is over, Kim! You seduce my teenage daughter? You're sick! After all the women you've been through, I wouldn't let you marry my promiscuous cousin Jenny, let alone my Miral! I'm going to the captain about this! This has got to be a breach of protocol…"
"Tom, stop." B'Elanna said, her eyes on Harry and Miral. He was gripping her hand.
"…be spending the rest of your life in the brig, pal. And Miral, I don't blame you, honey. He's obviously brainwashed you. Used his rank, that's what he did! Honey, don't you worry, he'll be in the brig for a long time and once the doctor finds out…"
"Tom."
"…space you! That's right, out an airlock with your ass, Kim! Holograms, Borg, dead girls...is this the kind of league you want to be in, Miral? What's wrong Harry, run out of glowing alien babes to seduce? Decided to try being a pedophile for a while? I oughta kick your ass, you disgusting…"
"Tom."
"…can't believe I was there for you all these years. This is how you repay me? You are never marrying my daughter! Do you understand? You stay the hell away form her! I swear, I-"
"Tom!" B'Elanna screamed. He stopped and looked at her in surprise.
"What?" he snapped.
"Look at them." She said softly.
Tom and Owen both looked at Miral. Miral had silent tears streaming down her cheeks, and she was holding tightly to Harry's hand, almost as if it were a lifeline. She was snuggled into his side, and he had his right arm around her while his left arm reached across to hold her hand. His eyes were also filled with tears as he stared with horror at the man who had once been his best friend, his brother.
"I realize this must seem sordid to you," Harry whispered, his voice choked. "But I wish you would believe me when I say I love her. I've loved her for a while now, but I knew I couldn't do anything about it. I knew it was wrong, But you see, it's not wrong. How can love be wrong?"
"How long has this been going on?" Tom asked quietly, his voice laced with venom.
"Six months." Miral said softly, wincing.
"Six months." Tom's mouth hung open. 'Six months. Well, you've hid it this long, I don't see why you felt the need to even bother telling us. What could possibly…" He trailed off, his eyes widening. "Oh my, God." He looked at his wife. "B'Elanna, she's pregnant!"
Now B'Elanna was no longer willing to make concessions. Her eyes widened as well, and a vein throbbed on her forehead. "Starfleet, you bastard!" B'Elanna hissed.
"We were both on our boosters." Miral said shakily. "Originally, we had no intention of telling you until I was twenty-one."
"We would have had the same goddamn reaction!" Tom shouted, his face now bright red. "I can't even believe this! Did our friendship mean nothing to you?"
"It meant everything!" Harry finally shouted back. "When I realized Miral felt the same way, don't you think I felt sick inside? Don't you think I tried to diffuse it? Once we were together, I constantly justified it by thinking that you were my friend and would want me to be happy, but don't you think it made me sick to know that the only woman I've ever loved this much is your daughter? Do you think I was happy about that, that I got some cheap thrill out of it? Do you think I really would have jeopardized our friendship if I didn't really love her?"
"Miral, you're terminating the pregnancy." Tom declared.
"The hell I am!" she screamed at her father. "We don't need your permission, but Harry wanted it! Well screw you! We'll have the captain marry us and you can just stay the hell away! Come on, Harry."
"Miral I really think we should try to work this out-"
"He just told us to kill our baby, Harry. There is no working it out." Miral stormed out of the quarters, and after one last desperate look, Harry followed her.
There was silence.
Finally, Owen spoke. "To be honest, I feel bad for him. To be stuck with Miral…" he trailed off as his parents looked at him. He chucked weakly.
Tom sat on the couch. His breath hitched, and he put his head on his knees and began to sob.
Owen stared in shock as his mother, also crying, sat next to Tom and held him. He had never seen either of his parents cry, ever. And they weren't just crying. Tom sounded like someone had killed his best friend, and Owen supposed someone had.
"How could he…our daughter…" he heard Tom mumble through his tears.
Then Owen suddenly realized there was one phrase in that whole argument that hit him when it was said. Remembering it now made his skin go clammy and his heart skip a beat.
"We were both on our boosters…"
"I thought boosters prevented pregnancy."
Dr. Zimmerman looked up as he entered sickbay. 'Well, hello to you, too, Mr. Paris." He said sarcastically.
"Well?"
Dr. Zimmerman – or, the Doctor, as he was still known – frowned sympathetically. "I know Miral and Ensign Kim talked to your parents yesterday. The situation is…difficult. I'm a bit appalled myself, but I do know he loves her very much. Your parents shouldn't worry about it so much."
"I'm really not concerned with that. I'm concerned with how she got pregnant if they were both on boosters."
"Well, no form of birth control is one hundred percent infallible. Still, it is highly unusual. No one on this ship has ever gotten pregnant while on boosters. I started to research it, and I think I may have found the culprit. A few weeks ago, your sister was one of the crew to complain of stomach upset after eating a fruit on an uninhabited M-class planet we stopped at."
"Yes, I remember."
'Well, the fruit had odd properties. It increased the amount of progesterone in females. I'm not entirely sure how that would have affected the boosters – they are quite powerful – but that may have been it."
"Is any of the other crewmembers who ate the fruit pregnant?"
"Well, only Ensign Wildman, but she wasn't on boosters anyway."
Owen groaned. "Naomi is pregnant again?" Naomi, who had reached an appearance and mentality of adulthood by the time she was thirteen, thanks to her Ktarian genes, had married Icheb almost ten years ago. They had three children so far, and all three were just about as rambunctious as the Paris children had been. Owen was not looking forward to another one.
"Cheer up." The Doctor said brightly. "I'm sure you'll be exempt from baby-sitting since you're so busy with your academy courses now. Plus, look at the bright side. Icheb is so much more personable when he has a baby in his arms."
The news spread like wildfire around Voyager. After a brief audience with the Captain, she married Miral and Harry. There wasn't much she could do about it, and while she disapproved of Harry's behavior, she could also see that he and Miral were very much in love, and she told Tom and B'Elanna as much when she came to see them about it.
Owen sat with the adults, waiting for Taya to arrive. His brother and sister, at ten and six, were off playing with the other children. He wished he could be with them, because being around his parents lately was anything but fun.
"Look, what did you want me to do? Space Harry? Drag Miral to the Doctor and reprogram him to abort it? That's a bit much, Tom."
"You don't understand. He seduced my daughter. He violated protocol!"
Captain Janeway sighed. "Tom, he would have only violated protocol if he made unwanted advances on her. But from what she says, she made her interests known first."
"That's a lie!" Tom exclaimed. "He's brainwashed her."
"Tom." Kathryn met his eyes. "Tom, think about what you're saying. You can't see this clearly because Miral is your daughter. You know Harry. You know he's an honorable, good man. If he says he loves Miral, I'm inclined to believe him."
"Harry has said he loves a lot of women, Captain." B'Elanna said, "I don't want my daughter to be just another one in a long line of Kim conquests."
"But hasn't he always truly loved those women? Has he ever just been toying with them? Couldn't it just be that Harry was unlucky in love until now? Some people don't find their soul mate when they're young, you know. Some people have to wait a long time, and go through a lot of failed relationships. I speak from experience. Can't it just be that the universe was waiting for Miral to grow up, and that's why it kept throwing duds at Harry?'
Tom and B'Elanna were silent. Owen jumped up in relief when the door chimed.
"Come!" he said hoarsely.
Taya breezed in, her eyebrows rising as she took in the adults. "Having a pow-wow?'
"We're just talking about my wayward daughter and ex-best friend." Tom seethed.
"Ah. Well, I wouldn't get all worked up about that one. Miral's had a crush on Harry since she was ten."
All three adults looked at her in shock. Owen groaned.
"What?" Tom yelled.
"Oh, yeah. She used to write Mrs. Harry Kim all over everything. I can't blame her. For an old dude, Harry's pretty hot. If there were no Owen, I might have gone after him myself." She wrapped an arm around Owen's waist and grinned at him.
"Did Harry know about that?" Kathryn asked quietly.
Taya snorted. "Please, if Harry had known, he would have run away screaming. He was completely reluctant about this whole relationship. But she made him fall in love with her. They're very happy together, and you should be happy for them."
"You knew about this? About their relationship?"
"Um, yeah. Where have you been for six months?"
Tom's gaze turned from her to Owen. "Did you?" he demanded.
"I actually did not. I'm not in the girly girl inner circle."'
"And I'm a really good best friend and I never say anything." Taya said sweetly.
Tom turned to B'Elanna. "You know, I liked her a lot better when there was an age gap between her and Miral and they didn't care for each other at all."
"Times change, Grandpa. Don't wait up for us."
Tom buried his head in his hands. "Grandpa," he moaned.
"If you see Dad, tell him not to come after Owen with a shotgun. We're going to a movie marathon on the holodeck, and it'll be a little late." Taya told the Captain.
"If I see him, I'll tell him."
"Thanks. Toodles." She flashed a grin and pulled Owen out of the Paris quarters.
"Did you really know about Miral and Harry?" He asked as they headed towards the holodeck.
"No. I would have told you if I did. But she really did have a crush on him, and I spoke to her about all this yesterday, so everything I said is true."
He stopped walking and pulled her towards him. "You're a good friend, Taya."
"I hope I'm a good girlfriend, too." She teased.
He kissed her. "The best."
Eventually, Owen could stop being paranoid about the boosters. But the opportunity still failed to present itself, and the ship was incredibly busy over the next few months. His parents stayed away from Miral and Harry, and after a while of seeing them together, the crew came to accept it. They had already been married by the time the crew found out, and while it was a huge shock and not altogether accepted at first, what could be done?
Owen, of course, wasn't about to shun his sister. He saw her and Harry regularly, and he and Taya even helped her rearrange Harry's quarters when she moved in. He let her show him holos of the baby, and listened to endless chatter about the baby, and watched with horrified fascination as Taya and Miral gushed about the baby, until he realized that he really, really didn't want to have sex. Really.
And then there was a baby, a little baby boy with his father's slightly tilted eyes and his mother's faint forehead ridges, and oddly enough, the same blue eyes as Tom Paris. They named him John, after Harry's father and Miral's grandfather, and he was just as sweet and adorable as any baby Owen had seen before. He was quiet, and had a way of staring up at a person that made them feel warm and fuzzy and loved.
He argued with his father about it. His mother had caved months ago and finally visited the Kim's. While she said she was still terribly hurt by the whole thing and couldn't ever understand it, Miral was her daughter and Harry was the father of her grandchild, and that was that. And considering that the common consensus of the crew was that Harry and Miral was blissfully happy, who was she to judge?
Tom refused to go see the baby, though, no matter how many holos they brought home for him or how many times Owen and B'Elanna gushed over the baby. It wasn't until one day, a month after John was born, that B'Elanna took things into her own hands. She stormed onto the bridge holding the baby, marched up to the helm, and deposited him into a stunned Tom Paris' arms.
"Here's your grandson!" she exclaimed. "He's Harry Kim's son and your daughter's son. Get over it, and welcome him into our family!"
Tom gazed up at her, troubled. She exhaled sharply and grabbed his face, forcing it down to look at the baby.
Harry and Miral had followed her, as she had grabbed the baby from them and run off with him. They hadn't seen Tom since they asked for his permission to get married, as Tom had made sure Chakotay never scheduled him on the same shifts as them. Now, they hovered at the back of the bridge as the rest of the bridge crew looked on in amused disbelief at the scene in front of them. Even the Captain and Commander looked on from their chairs, anxious to see what would happen.
Tom looked down at the baby. He looked like Miral, but he also looked like Harry, and his weight was warm and heavy in Tom's arms. He remembered looking down at Miral like this, and Owen and T.J. and Julia, and just like them, this baby was of his blood. He couldn't reconcile what Harry had done. To him, it was just as bad as it would be if Tom married Naomi or Taya. It was disgusting. But this baby hadn't done anything wrong. And this baby was Harry Kim's son. This baby was his grandson. That was just something he couldn't deny anymore.
He gasped as the final defense of his resolve crumbled. John opened his eyes and looked at Tom, and that's when he realized that his grandson shared the same eyes as him.
"Oh, My God," he whispered, and B'Elanna smiled softly. He looked up at her. "He's our grandson."
"He is."
"He's Miral's baby. She has a baby."
"She does."
"But she's so young." He whispered.
"Not much that can be done about it now." She leaned close so that only Tom could hear her words. "This is the baby you wanted her to kill," she said softly. "You should remember that before you hold grudges against his parents. And you should also remember that if Miral weren't our daughter, you would be happy for Harry."
Tom continued to look at his grandson. Finally, he looked up and spotted Harry and Miral behind the command chairs. They were clutching each other, looking very apprehensive.
"Damn you, Harry Kim," he said evenly. "For making me a grandfather before my time."
Everyone on the bridge let out a sigh of relief. Harry smiled weakly.
"Sorry about that." He said.
Tom nodded. "B'Elanna, take the baby so I can finish my shift. I'll come see him after." He looked at Miral and Harry. "All right?"
Miral nodded in relief, and took John from B'Elanna. The three of them left the bridge, and B'Elanna winked at him before getting on the turbolift.
The bridge was quiet for a moment, but Captain Janeway broke the silence. "You did a good thing, Tom." She said quietly.
"Takes more energy to hate, Captain." He turned back around to look at her. "You taught me that."
She grinned. "So I did."
"So you're saying it was definitely the fruit?"
"Mr. Paris, if you're so afraid of getting your girlfriend pregnant, then I'd advise you to not have sexual relations with her."
"Yeah, but that's the thing. We really, really want to. Doc, I'm gonna be seventeen in a few weeks, and this was supposed to have happened almost a year ago." Owen said desperately.
"What does Taya say about all this?"
"She understands, but she says I'm taking it too far. But her sister didn't accidentally get impregnated by her father's best friend!"
"I assure you, Owen, it was most definitely the foreign fruit that negated Miral's boosters. I've studied it thoroughly, and I'm just grateful that no one else got pregnant because of it. The childbirth rate on the ship is increasing by leaps and bounds."
"Naomi's not pregnant again, is she?" Owen asked fearfully. Her newest baby was quite the crier.
"Naomi hasn't even been given medical clearance to- Never mind! Mr. Paris, the odds of Taya getting pregnant with you both being on boosters are infinitesimal. But I'll say again, if you're this concerned, maybe you're not ready for it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot to do." The Doctor rolled his eyes at him one last time and marched off to his office.
Owen stood in the middle of sickbay. Finally, he sighed and turned to leave.
He ran into Chakotay in the corridor. "Hey, Owen. Where are you off to?"
Owen shrugged.
"Why were you in sickbay?"
"I had something to discuss with Doc."
"Everything okay?"
"I guess."
"Is it about Taya?"
Owen looked at him. "You don't want to have this conversation with me, Commander."
Chakotay raised an eyebrow. "You know, when my wife and my daughter are having girl talk, they're not as quiet as I would like them to be. I have to admit, it'll be a relief when Taya gets her own quarters. I know I'll just have to go through it all over again with my other daughters, but not for a few years yet. I'm sure it'll be a relief to you as well."
"What will?"
'Taya having her own quarters."
Owen broke out into a cold sweat at that thought. "Not so much." He mumbled.
They entered the turbolift. "Deck eleven. Listen, Owen, like I said, I hear my daughter and her mother talking. I think I know what this is about. And while I'm reluctant to talk to you about it, I know that in your father's present state of mind, he's probably not going to want to discuss this with you. And I can tell you're upset. So why don't you think of me as a friend for the moment, and not as your girlfriend's father."
"Chakotay…"
"You're afraid to have sex with Taya."
Owen gaped at him. "How do you know that?"
"I told you. Taya is very close to her mother, and they're very loud. I know that you're apprehensive after what happened to your sister."
"The doctor says my sister got pregnant because she ate something that negated her booster." Owen burst out. "But if a food can negate them there's no telling what other foods can do it!"
"Computer, halt lift." He gazed at Owen. "Did I ever tell you that Taya was unexpected?"
"No."
"Well, she was. We thought we couldn't have children. We didn't prevent against it, because we didn't think we had to. She was a complete shock, and her siblings were as well, but to a lesser degree." He sighed. "Maybe I scared you too much with that conversation we had three years ago. Look, you're older now. I think we're all pretty sure that you and Taya will be married within a few years. Children just seem to grow up faster on this ship, Owen. In the Federation, on Earth in particular, kids don't pair up so young. They date a lot, they break up with a dozen or more people before they find the one. And they don't get through school as quickly, either. Most people don't graduate the academy or college until 22, and then they concentrate on their careers. But here, you kids don't have as many distractions from school, and you get through quickly. You don't have as many mates to choose from, so you choose someone who you can be mated to permanently. You don't have to worry about a career, because you're guaranteed one. Getting married young and having children young is, I think, going to be the norm among your generation. And hopefully, you'll be the last generation to have to grow up here. We're looking at being home in under a decade. Then, the kids will have to learn new rules and the adults will have to adapt to a world they haven't known for …wow, we're going on twenty-seven years here. But here and now, Owen, we're not in the Federation. You and Taya are far more grown up and know much more than I did at your age. If you love each other, I see no reason why you can't take the minimal, tiny, itsy risk, and be together in that way. And if something should happen, we'll deal with it. But I know my daughter loves you and I know she's…frustrated." Chakotay said through gritted teeth. "So you have my permission. Don't worry about consequences with Taya. You'll be married in a few years anyway."
"You really hated saying that to me, didn't you?"
"Not as much as I love my daughter. Computer, resume." He smiled at Owen. "We never, ever repeat this conversation again, am I clear?"
"As crystal, sir"
And it wasn't long after that he and Taya finally did what they'd been wanting to do all year.
He had always loved her. Always. She was the only one he could imagine being with at this moment. He stood with her as the planet of their ancestry came into view, closer and closer, the swirling clouds and blue oceans vivid against the black of space.
"It's more beautiful than I ever imagined." She said tearfully.
He held her tighter. "I can't believe we're seeing it."
"Thirty years." Taya wiped her eyes. "Thirty years the captain spent, determined we should see this."
"She must be in her glory. Your father, too."
"They're nervous. My parents have sequestered themselves in their quarters."
He chuckled. "I'm sure they're not in there because of nerves."
"Ew."
He laughed. "Come on. They're still so in love with each other after twenty-something years. That's saying something. I hope we're as happy when we're old."
She smiled faintly. "Did I ever tell you about them? About how they got together?"
"I've heard rumors."
"It was after the most crushing blow this crew had ever received. An Admiral Janeway from the future came to help them get home, and it looked like it was going to happen. It involved the Borg. They were going to have to travel through a transwarp conduit, and try to obliterate a tranwarp network in the process. But they were all so hopeful." She was quiet for a moment. "The Admiral told the Captain about the Commander and Seven of Nine."
"I've definitely heard about that. My mother had no respect for it whatsoever. And I remember my father telling me about that time. It was a pretty dark time for everyone, even though Miral had just been born. In fact, my father said, if it hadn't been for her, things would have seemed a lot worse."
"Something went wrong, and they ended up destroying the transwarp network, but exiting back in the Delta Quadrant. It was terrible. The captain was distraught. She locked herself in her ready room and refused to come out. Meanwhile, Commander Chakotay was involved with Seven. The Admiral said they would get married, but that Seven would die, and they were both determined that this time around, they would be able to have a long, happy life together.
"Finally, B'Elanna went to see Chakotay. She had just had Miral, and so she should have been a little weak, but she wasn't. She was enraged. She stormed into his office, cursing at him in Klingon and telling him what a fool he was…
"P'tahk!" she shouted. "How can you be all happy with your little drone when the woman who loves you is falling apart?"
"Well hello, to you, too, B'Elanna. I see motherhood is agreeing with you.' He glanced up from his desk.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind? How could you do this to the captain, especially at a time like this?"
"B'Elanna, this is really none of your business."
"The hell it isn't! It's the business of the entire crew if the command team is falling apart because the commander is thinking with his-"
"That's enough, Lieutenant." He said sharply.
"Captain Janeway loves you!" she wailed. "How can you do this to her?"
"Let's get something straight. Kathryn Janeway loves protocol. She loves
Starfleet ideals. She loves being a martyr, and she loves being a captain. She does not, and has not, and will not love me." He glared at her. "I'm happy with Seven. I'm tired of waiting for a dream, so I'm going to make my own dream."
B'Elanna picked up a paperweight and threw it at the wall behind him. "You're blind!" she screamed. "You're an idiot! You're going to destroy this ship because of a mid-life crisis! You're responding to flattery, plain and simple! You're going to give up the best thing you ever had for the sake of an emotionless, twelve-year old automaton!"
"And here my mother always said they were very supportive of Chakotay during that time."
Taya laughed. "Hardly. But he wasn't about to take her abuse sitting down…"
Chakotay stood up, his face red with rage. "Stop it, B'Elanna!" he shouted. Then he took a deep breath. "Look," he said with deadly calm. "I'm not giving up the best thing I could ever have. I don't have it. I never had it. I never will. I'm giving up nothing but loneliness."
B'Elanna glared at him. "If you don't get in there and talk to her, than you're a bigger fool than I thought. Her heart is being torn into shreds, and you're the one doing the tearing."
And she left.
So he went to the ready room. They were going to settle this and they were going to settle this now, and then he was going to decide what to do with his life. If he had to, he and Seven could leave the ship and settle down somewhere else.
She wouldn't let him in, so he used his override code. Everyone on the bridge was staring at him, shocked that he would do that, but he was tired of playing games. He entered her ready room, and it was pitch black. A glass was thrown at him and crashed into the wall behind him. That's when he realized the Captain was drunk.
"What the hell do you want?" she screamed. "I said I wanted to be left alone."
"And I am getting a little sick and tired of things being thrown at me today. Kathryn, why are you doing this? What are you hoping to gain? Is this the void all over again?"
"No, Chakotay, this is me failing again. Now kindly go so I can drown my sorrows." He could see her outline now, near the window. She took a swig of something. "You're one of them, anyway." She muttered.
He heard her. Enraged, he made his way over broken bottles until he reached her. He grabbed her shoulders and forced the bottle out of her hands.
"What the hell is this? Bourbon? What the hell are you doing, Kathryn? Is this what you're going to spend your rations on now?" he threw the bottle to the floor.
"You bastard! Haven't you done enough?" she fell to the floor in an effort to save the alcohol, but he thwarted her. He held her straight up.
"What have I done, Kathryn? Tell me, what have I done?" he shook her.
"You know." She hissed. "Why don't you go back to your blonde bimbo. What is it with you and blondes, anyway? But you go. Have fun with your little girl, I'm sure she'll know how to please you." She tossed her hair. "I have heard, Commander, that the most sensual pleasure point on the male genus of human is the prostate. Is my research correct? Shall we initiate an experiment to prove this hypothesis?" Kathryn laughed maniacally. "Hell, there's foreplay for you!"
He shook her again, more violently this time. "What the hell do you want from me? What? I've waited! All this time I've waited, and you've pushed me away. Am I supposed to wait forever?"
"When we get home-"
"We're not getting home!" he roared. "This is it, Kathryn! Here and now, that's all we're ever going to have. Out children will get home, but we won't and if we do, it'll we too late for us to live. I'm not waiting for you anymore. I didn't sign on to live this hopeless existence. I am tired of being alone."
"So you'll take the first blonde piece of ass you can get? Typical." She pulled herself closer to him until their faces were inches apart. "You made me Admiral Janeway." She said softly. "You turned me into that cynical, bitter bitch. Not the Delta Quadrant, you! You couldn't forgive me for your precious wife's death, and you ruined us." She stared unto his eyes. "And it will all happen again. I won't keep her from missions just because she's your wife. No one gets special treatment. Certainly not her."
"Why don't you just put a phaser to her head, then?"
"Why didn't you just blow her out the airlock?"
"You wouldn't let me. This is your doing, all of it. You've wasted our lives."
"You think I don't know that?" she screamed shrilly. He winced. "And I've done it again! I should have just said the hell with the network, but once again, I put everything else above this crew, and once again I kept them away from home!"
He stared at her. "That's not what I meant. You wasted my life and your life. You did the right thing as far as the transwarp network goes. Everyone agrees. You've made earth safe for their families. It will be a very long time before the Borg can attempt to invade Earth. We dealt them a very crippling blow. You did the right thing."
"And yet, Seven still wins, She still gets you."
"Why this sudden preoccupation with me, Kathryn? You've never wanted me for yourself, and if you do, then you'd better speak up. This is your last chance."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, I'm telling you flat out. I'm going to pursue a relationship with Seven, and if it doesn't work out with her, I'll keep pursuing relationships until I find one that works." He stared at her. "But if it helps you any, I know that no woman will ever complete me the way you do. But this is your last chance. I won't let you rule my heart anymore if you don't want it."
She blinked back tears. "We can't…the crew…I'm the captain."
He shrugged. "And?"
"And what if…what if something should happen to one of us? Our judgment might be clouded…"
"If it's going to be clouded, it already is. How do you feel about me?"
"Chakotay, this is-"
"How do you feel? I love you, but I can tuck those feelings away. I'm tired of this, of these games, of you hiding from yourself. Do you realize what you've become? You're wrong, Kathryn. I didn't make you the Admiral. You did that on your own, by hiding behind your captain's mask and refusing to show Kathryn to the crew." He tucked a strand of messy hair behind her ear. "You aren't like the woman you were. You were happier. You were more willing to be a family with the crew. You were more willing to have fun. Now, everyone has made lives for themselves here except you. You're not setting an example, Kathryn. You're isolating yourself. You need to be a friend to them now. There's no sense in continuing to maintain a Starfleet hierarchy. Be a friend to the crew, Captain. Be more than a friend to me. Or you're going to lose us all."
She continued to stare at him. "You said you love me."
Despite the situation, he smiled. "That's the only thing that sunk in, huh?"
"No, but it made the biggest impression. You've never said that before."
"You would never let me. I wanted you to come to me on your own but you never did. I had to give up on you Kathryn, or I would go insane. And I will give up on you if you don't give me a reason not to. You're not being fair."
"What about Seven?" she asked softly. "Which, by the way, I'm still mad at you for. That was a complete slap in the face."
He shrugged. "Hey, if it was what you needed to open up your eyes, then I'm not sorry."
"The admiral said you married her."
"Yeah, the admiral also said you give up coffee. I'm sorry, but that alone made me think she might be an imposter." He smiled when he saw she was smiling. "Besides, the future is different now. It doesn't have to be the way she lived it." He leaned closer to her. "You don't have to be Admiral Janeway. But only you can make that decision, Kathryn. Only you can make that choice. I can't choose for you. And I can't be responsible for what happens, whatever you choose."
"So?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? You know who my mother is."
"I can't believe that's how they got together. He gave the captain an ultimatum, and that's how your parents ended up married?"
"Well, she made her choice."
"Taya." They turned around to see her parents walking towards them. "There's a party in the mess hall. Why aren't you there?"
"We were enjoying the view." She smiled at the picture her parents made. Even after all these years, they really were still so in love. After the rocky start of their relationship, after five children, they were still partners in every way. "Shouldn't you two be on the bridge right now? I'd imagine the captain being in rare form."
Her mother laughed. "Well, the captain had to deal with something first."
"Let me guess. Four somethings?"
"Something like that." Her father quipped.
"Are they being bad?" Taya teased. "Don't you wish you had stopped with your perfect first daughter?"
"Well, Justine is in her room pulling all of her clothes out of the closet. She thinks she's going to meet a sexy hunky Starfleet officer, as she puts it, and live happily ever after. Naturally, she needs the perfect outfit."
Taya bit her lip to keep from laughing. Justine was seventeen, and completely obsessed with her appearance. Her parents had been surprised when she was born, after being grateful they could even have one child, but she had been very welcome. When the twins, Kessa and Kola, were born three years after that, they had been somewhat baffled, but of course, just as enthused. Then, a year later, Edward was born. And they started taking their boosters again.
The twins are arguing with Edward about who is going to have a dog and who is going to have a cat. They didn't even listen to me when I said that no one is going to have anything unless they stopped arguing. Their arguing is only being added to by Justine's screaming that they're interrupting her 'work'." Her father grinned. "We left just to keep our eardrums intact."
Taya looked at her mother, who was staring out at Earth. "I never thought we would get here." She whispered.
Chakotay squeezed her. "I always knew you would get us here."
"It took longer."
"Those extra years were worth it."
Kathryn gazed at her daughter. "They were. They really, really were."
In the end, there hadn't been 22 crewmembers lost, and Tuvok hadn't suffered from a neurological disease. The transwarp corridor had deposited them the opposite side of the Delta Quadrant from where they were. This time, they were going through territory that they wouldn't have gone through even if Admiral Janeway hadn't showed up. They met their share of hostile species, but they also met friendly ones, and one friendly species happened to be a race of people dedicated to knowledge of the brain. The human brain, the Vulcan brain, the Kazon brain, they didn't care. Immediately, Kathryn arranged for Tuvok to be examined on their planet, to his protests, of course, and the friendly species called the Spo'cana, laughed at how simplistic Tuvok's disease was. She was pregnant with Taya at the time, but she accompanied Tuvok and waited while he received treatment. The disease never came back. To this day, he was her chief of security.
As for Seven, she had been disappointed with Chakotay's decision, but she understood. "To be honest, I wondered if perhaps it was unwise to enter into a relationship with someone who the crew claimed you had intimate feelings for, Captain." She said when they both went to talk to her about it. "But it didn't seem as though you were going to act on those feelings, and since you did hold him in such high regard, I thought he would be an adequate choice. I thought you would be pleased that I valued your taste."
"That's very…flattering, Seven. But you should develop your own taste."
And so she had.
And she and Dr. Zimmerman were very happy together.
Three people had died in the twenty years since Admiral Janeway's visit, and all three had been natural health issues that couldn't be avoided. Thanks to the advanced shielding and armor the admiral had given them, they remained in excellent shape. And now, thirty years after she set out to capture the Maquis, she came home with her family.
"Grandma is going to eat you up." She said to her daughter.
":I can't believe Grandma is still alive, to be honest. All these years I waited to get that letter from Aunt Phoebe, but that old broad just keeps on kicking."
Owen winced. "You really send too much time with my father."
The party was in full swing.
The ship was practically on autopilot, being escorted by several Starfleet ships to Earth. They had made it back to earth the hard way. There were no spatial anomalies, no wormholes, and no transwarp conduits. They made it one light year at a time, although they got back a bit earlier than previously calculated, thanks in part to the enhanced warp drive B'Elanna and Harry developed. They actually made it to the outer reaches of the Alpha Quadrant several years, and of course there had been a huge celebration then. But the Alpha Quadrant was big, and it had taken a long time for them to get to Federation space. They had continued to refer to the space around then as the Delta Quadrant. To them, they wouldn't be in the Alpha Quadrant until they reached the Federation. Halfway there, there was an armada of Starfleet vessels to greet them.
"Captain Janeway," the smiling face of Will Riker shone down on her from the viewscreen. "It has been a very, very long time."
"It has indeed, Captain Riker." She grinned. "I'm surprised you deigned to make an appearance here at the outer reaches of the quadrant. I would have thought this sort of thing beneath your notice."
"Believe me, my dear Kathryn, the return of Voyager isn't beneath anyone's notice." He glanced to his right, at his first officer, whom Kathryn knew was his wife, Deanna. The irony of the situation didn't escape her. While she had been struggling all those years with her feelings for her first officer, Will had gone and made his own wife his. And Kathryn was so grateful to Deanna. She had become heavily involved with Project Voyager at the Pathfinder lab, and she had been available for counseling via the Midas array after the tranwarp debacle. Kathryn had spoken to her many time over the years, and she felt like she was looking at a friend.
"We've been waiting a long time for you," Deanna said tearfully.
Will grinned. "Starship Voyager, welcome home."
She could only grin and grab her husbands hand as the crews of Voyager and the Titan broke out in cheers at Riker's words. She looked at Chakotay, both of them almost oblivious to the din around them, and he wiped the tears falling from her eyes.
"You did it," he whispered.
She shook her head. "No. We did it."
By order of command, no one on the escort vessels was to transport to Voyager, nor was anyone on Voyager to transport to the vessels. "Think of it as quarantine," Admiral Paris, his mind still sharp despite his advanced age, told her over subspace. "You've been gone thirty years. We need to make sure you haven't brought back anything. And…" he smiled. "Well, to be honest, it was my idea. I want your crew to have this time with each other. I know you've all made that ship your home."
So here they were, enjoying one last party before docking at McKinley and being boarded by Starfleet. One last party before their home was broken up. They knew what coming home meant. They knew it meant the end, but they also knew it meant a beginning.
Taya and Owen walked into the mess hall, followed by her parents. As soon as the command team was spotted, a roar went up around the hall. Everyone was clapping, grinning at them. Kathryn took the time to look around, to make eye contact at each and every one of them, to smile at all of them. She and Chakotay walked around the room, talking to everyone ad shaking hands and giving hugs. Kathryn knew she was going to lose a lot of these people, but not forever. Never forever.
She remembered the sparse reunions the Admiral had told her about. Mere dozens, she had said.
Now, there were hundreds.
Once the crew saw her and Chakotay starting a relationship, and having children, they felt relieved. It was tantamount to her giving them her blessing in their own personal lives. Suddenly, she was inundated with marriage requests and baby showers. Dozens of children were born in the last twenty years, so many that they'd had to ask that someone in the crew give up their job to be a teacher. Tal Celes was only too happy to comply. She cared for the children – her own included - the majority of the time, and several other crewmembers contributed their own lessons in their area of expertise. Voyager was returning home with several more officers than it left with. There were new babies; Miral and Harry now had a daughter, baby Melissa, and while Tom was still a little uncomfortable about his best friend and his daughter, it didn't stop him from spoiling his grandkids rotten and accompanying Harry to take Johnny to the holodeck for Captain Proton. Although, as Miral and B'Elanna both said, Johnny was only three. He didn't really get it. But, B'Elanna said, at least Tom could take comfort that he had a son-in-law he liked. Not many men had that luxury.
Naomi and Icheb and their own personal nursery school of children ran to greet Kathryn and Chakotay. Another child had been born over the past three years, making their brood five with little Sabrina. Kathryn was especially fond of the dark haired little girl, and felt a pull towards her that she couldn't explain.
And there was Tuvok, her old friend. She stopped in front of him, and smiled softly, holding up her hand.
"Live long and prosper, old friend?"
He held up his hand as well. "Peace and long life, old friend."
She nodded and pulled him into a brief hug, which he returned. "I thank you for your counsel these long years." She whispered in his ear.
"It was given freely and proudly, Captain."
She pulled back and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Pride, Tuvok? I wasn't aware that was a Vulcan vice."
He raised an eyebrow even higher than hers. "I speak facetiously."
"Oh, of course." She said knowingly. Smiling, she moved on.
Taya and Owen stood in the corner by the window, the view of Earth also outside of this one. They stared at it together.
"What will you do now?" she asked softly.
"Well, I'm going to meet my grandparents, and my aunts and cousins and all the family I never met in person. How about you?"
"My grandmother was holding on to meet us. I want to spend as much time with her as possible. And Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Paul and all their kids. I've got twenty years to make up for."
"And after that?"
She shrugged. "Well, I'm already an ensign. I guess a ship posting would make sense, but I can't imagine being on any ship other than Voyager. I think that being introduced to Federation society will be really important. My mother said there'll be a lot of discrepancies between the way they act and the way we do. But I'm not really worried about it."
"I've got an idea."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I don't know what I'll be doing, but I know who I want to be doing it with." He looked down at her, loving her more than he ever did. She was so beautiful, with her dark auburn hair, her creamy golden skin, and her big green eyes. How did I ever get do lucky?, he thought. "I'm not going to let you get swept off your feet by some Starfleet hotshot. I want you to marry me, Taya. Today. Right now, actually."
"Now?" she gasped. "But, Owen-"
"We're all here. I love you. I love you more than anything, and I always have. Ever since we were babies and slept in the same crib. I never want us to be apart. We have something rare, Taya. I'll understand if you just really don't want to get married yet, but I would really like it if you would. Look, I even have a shiny ring with which to tempt you." He reached in his pocket and, out of the view of the others in the room, opened a small box. Inside was a sparkling stone with two green stones on the side.
"Owen, what is that?" she exclaimed.
"What does it look like?"
"It looks like a diamond ring, you fool! You can't waste your rations-"
"Ah-ah-ah, young lady. No more Delta Quadrant, no more rations." He grinned.
Her eyes widened. "That's right. Well, it is tempting me. It's oh-so-sparkly and pretty, I don't know how I can resist."
"That's really good, because I already wasted more of my rations on two wedding bands. So it'll be a real waste of non-essential rations for this poor fool if you say no."
She smiled and allowed him to slip the ring on her finger. "Did you think I wouldn't say yes?"
"I had a brief, hideous moment where I vaguely considered it."
She caught sight of her parents with her sister and brother. "Well, I guess Mom has just one more duty before she hands this ship over to Starfleet."
"And that is how Grandma and Grandpa got married." Admiral Owen Paris (the second) smiled at Lanna and C.J. as they stared at him wide eyes. He loved all his grandchildren, but it was his first child's kids who really tugged at his heart.
"I think you confused them, Dad." His daughter Gretta laughed.
"I wanna hear more about Voyager!" Six year old Lanna shouted.
"Or enticed them." Owen chuckled.
"Come on, Grandpa! We have to learn about Voyager in school!" C.J. whined. "I wanna be able to tell everyone cool stories about it!"
"I just told you a cool story."
"You told us a love story." C.J. said with disgust.
"It was loverly." Lanna sighed. "But did Great-grandpa really almost marry a Borg?"
"Not really. He always loved your Great-Nana Kathryn."
"Okay, come on. It's way past bedtime." Gretta picked up Lanna and held her hand out for C.J. "Say good-night to Grandpa." She held Lanna out to kiss Owen's cheek, and C.J. gave him a hug.
"Night, Grandpa, love you!" C.J. said, then raced to his room.
"I love you Pop-pop." Lanna smiled, and kissed him.
"I love you, too, munchkin. Sweet dreams."
He heard Gretta tucking them in, and was startled when he heard a chuckle. Turning his head, he frowned.
"How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know that you're still a hopeless sap." Admiral Taya Janeway-Paris opened her uniform jacket and sat next to her husband. "Three kids, seven grandkids, and more years together than I care to admit to, and you're still a hopeless sap."
"Yeah, love you, too honey." He said sarcastically.
"I noticed you edited the story somewhat."
"Well I wasn't going to tell them about your dad and his sex talks. I had to make it kiddie friendly."
"By the way, we're going over there this weekend."
"Oh yeah? Maybe I can give him a sex talk this time."
"Oh, honey, my parents are old," she giggled.
"They really are. My parents, too. What is it about Voyager people? They all produce like rabbits and live long like sea turtles. And let me say, so much for those boosters. I've never seen a self-contained society that reproduced the way ours did on Voyager."
"You know, we're kinda old, too." She said thoughtfully.
"Maybe you are. I'm at my peak, darling."
"Sure you are." She grinned. "Wanna know why I was late?"
"Sure."
"I had a meeting at command. Apparently, a convoy of Talaxians showed up on our doorstep."
"Really? Well, I know Neelix died ages ago, but did you meet any of them?"
"I met his granddaughter. Lovely woman, really. I always felt awful that I never got to meet Neelix, but after meeting her, I can see why everyone was so fond of him."
"So the Delta Quadrant comes full circle, does it?'
She wrinkled her nose. "As long as no Kazon come calling, or Hirogen, or – I shudder to think – Borg, we should be good." She grinned at him. "You incurable romantic, you. I can't get over how you tell that story."
"Well, I mean every word of it."
She looked into his eyes. "And you'll love me forever?" she whispered.
"You've always been there. I can't remember when you weren't." he said softly. He cupped her cheek. "I've always loved you. I can't remember when I didn't."
"Even before we knew our own names?"
"Even before we knew our own names," he kissed her. "And until after we forget them."
She laughed, and kissed him back. "You wonderful, old fool.".
The End
Like it? Love it? Hate it? I hope not. I hope you enjoyed, please review and let me know. Sequel? Maybe? Companion piece? Let me know!