In the hours since the twins were born, Chakotay had sent Tom and B'Elanna a message telling them the good news.
With a tired smiled Chakotay explained that the twins had been born early that morning. In the interest of getting some sleep, he also asked them to wait until late afternoon to early evening to bring Kaya and Miral. He also told them that Tom could announce the winner of the pool when they sent out the birth announcement the next day.
Tom took a sip of coffee, and smiled when B'Elanna came out of the bathroom.
"We should wait until we're ready to go to tell the girls," she said.
"Agreed. You feeling any better?"
"I've been better, but I'll be fine. I think I'll just have some toast and a little something for my headache, though."
"I'll take the girls today then. I'm sure they'd like to go to the zoo."
"I knew there was a reason I love you."
He got up and kissed her, "Well, they're still asleep, so eat your toast and go back to bed."
The girls woke at nearly nine o'clock, and eagerly devoured the French toast Tom made for them. By ten-thirty, they were at the zoo.
"Daddy, look!" Miral said. They approached the wolf habitat.
"They have babies, Uncle Tom!" Kaya exclaimed, "Lots of them! More than mama!"
Tom smiled, "They sure do. Let's count them."
"One, two, three, four, five."
"That's a lot!" Kaya said.
"Yeah, but they're cute, aren't they?" Tom asked.
The girls nodded.
They spent the rest of the morning wandering from habitat to habitat. The girls were enthralled by lions, and tigers, and bears. In fact, the three habitats came one after the other. Whoever designed the zoo had a sense of humor, and a 21st century one to boot.
If he didn't think Kaya would be a little scared of the movie, he would've taken them to see it after lunch. Instead, he decided a nap followed by some adventures with Flotter would be better.
Kaya excitedly told Flotter and Trevis about the impending birth of her little brother and sister. It led to Trevis telling stories of his hundreds of brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and cousins.
Miral explained that she didn't have any brothers, or sisters, or cousins.
Much to Tom's amusement, the girls huddled up with Flotter and Trevis, and began conspiring how to get Miral a younger brother or sister. B'Elanna would no doubt get a laugh from this. Although, ironically, Miral did have siblings. What had happened to those lizard babies? Did the lizard babies make Miral and Kaya sisters? The logistics of what he now realized was a very bizarre family confused him as he pondered it.
But it was now time to go get B'Elanna and tell the girls the twins had been born.
They were now waiting for B'Elanna so they could head to Indiana.
Kaya sat on the couch with a slight frown on her face.
"What is it, Ky Ky?" Tom asked.
She looked up to him, "Where do babies come from, Uncle Tom?"
His mouth dropped open slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw B'Elanna turn and quietly reenter their bedroom with a smirk on her face.
This was a conversation he was dreading the likelihood of having to take place in ten years with Miral. He certainly didn't want to have it with the Captain and Admiral's three-year-old daughter. He could swear he just barely heard B'Elanna snickering.
"Well, um, when a mommy and daddy really love each other-"
"No, no, no," Kaya interrupted, "mama and daddy already told me that."
He cleared his throat, "They did?"
"Yeah, they said that when a mommy and daddy love each other, they go kiss each other for a while, and sometimes when they're done, they have a baby."
"Sounds about right."
"But they said the babies were in mama's tummy. How did they get out?"
Oh, why did B'Elanna have to leave him hanging now? He could swear there beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
He stammered, "Uh, w-well, you-you see-"
B'Elanna mercifully cut him off, "There's a secret exit just for babies, sweetie."
"Oh," Kaya said, "thanks Aunt Lana." Tom now thanked his lucky stars for his wife and the fact that Kaya didn't question how it could be a secret if they knew about it.
With the conversation over, Miral and Kaya made one last pit stop before going to meet the twins.
"You could've stepped in a lot sooner than that," he told his wife.
She laughed, "No, you need to get used to it. Between her and Miral, we'll probably get a few of those questions over the next seven months."
"No! I didn't think of that!"
She patted him on the shoulder, "Cheer up, Flyboy. At least, you're not having to explain lizard babies yet."
MAY 14 10:00 AM
VIDEO MESSAGE
FROM: ADMIRAL KATHRYN JANEWAY AND CAPTAIN CHAKOTAY
TO: ALL FORMER VOYAGER CREW
Chakotay's face filled the screen.
"Good morning all. I'm sure you've all heard rumors by now, and I'm here to put them to rest." The camera panned over to the couch, where Kathryn and B'Elanna sat on either side of their daughters helping them hold the twins. The camera panned back to Chakotay.
"As you can see, the twins were indeed born. They were born early morning May 12th, with Shannon weighing 6 lbs. 5 oz. at 19 inches, and Kole at 6 lbs. 10 oz. 20 inches. We will be staying in Indiana for the next week. Anyone who would like to visit is welcome, but please call first, otherwise you'll face something scarier than the Admiral herself: her mother."
A small stuffed animal hit Chakotay in the face, "I was kidding!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kathryn said off-screen.
"I should probably turn this over to Tom before I get in anymore trouble," Chakotay said.
Tom laughed and sat in front of the camera.
"All right, I'm here to announce the winner of pool. The winner is Vorik. I also have some more news which the Admiral and Captain have graciously allowed me to include in this message. There is a new pool now open for the next member of the Paris -Torres family. He or she will be due in approximately seven months. Until then, our utmost congratulations go to the Admiral and Captain."
The camera panned back over to couch, where Chakotay also now sat next to Kathryn. They all waved.
END TRANSMISSION