Daddy Daycare

Star Trek Voyager

Season 7 AU

T/P with child

No warnings – PG13

Summary: Tom is left holding the baby and has to fly voyager out of danger with his infant on the bridge

Genre: drama/humour/fluff

Disclaimer: shocking I own nothing… I just like to play! Lol

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My first STV fic, please be kind… I'm in new territory and am unsure of what the heck I'm doing! Hehehehe

Also, I'm not entirely sure what direction I want this to go in…as I said new to the whole thing so any feedback…advice, tips etc. would be lovely.

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A shrill cry tore him from his slumber. "Please let daddy sleep just a bit longer," he grumbled, rolling over and pulling the covers over his head. The crying continued until he could no longer ignore it. "Alright, alright! I wasn't enjoying that dream anyway! Jeez, who knew babies were such hard work?"

It was 04:23 and B'Elanna was working the night shift in engineering. Tom had finished his duty shift at 20:00 strolled back to the quarters he shares with his wife and beautiful baby daughter, to be greeted by the love of his life practically throwing the infant into his arm, peeking him on the cheek - "There's a warm bottle on the table and her teddy is on the chair. Love you, bye!" – Before running out the door. Tom was beginning to wonder if he'd ever hold his wife in his embrace again. normally, Chakotay was pretty good with the duty roster but a near miss with an alien squid creature two weeks ago meant that everyone on board was expected to do longer shifts at unsociable times; regardless of family status.

Cradling his child against his bare chest, Tom slowly paced around the room. He allowed his mind to wander as he held her tight, tiny puffs of air raising the blond hairs across his Pecs. He was so unbelievably tired, his eyes were dry and every muscle ached. He'd spend the day crawling around Jefferies tubes with Harry fixing gel packs. Fun was not the word. 'Little one' began to stir so he cooed and whispered nothings in her precious ear hoping she'd drop off and that he could get a few more hours shut-eye until his next shift.

He'd never really thought about being a father. The only example he had to learn from had been… well… lacking. B'Elanna had her 'I'm-going-to-be-a-mother-freak-out' quite early on in the pregnancy. Tom had saved his for later. In fact his 'oh-my-god' moment happened on an away mission and poor Harry was left having to fend of enemy soldiers and keep his best friend calm. Fortunately Tuvok arrived at just the right time and Tom went home and told his wife his fears. He couldn't handle the idea that he'd be like his dad. Tom keep walking as he thought, reliving the best moments with B'Elanna.

The quiet times when they snuggled and comforted each other; the rough times when they wanted to strangle every last breath out of each other and scream like tomorrow would never come. On the outside they appeared to be such as odd pair. He didn't care what people thought; in B'Elanna he had found the one person who can take him - warts and all, and not judge because she was just as messed up in the head as him. They were together; perfect. Tom was dragged from his thoughts by Neelix, "Er, Tom… not that it's not nice to see you but… shouldn't you be wearing a top?"

"Huh? What?" Tom looked around him and was shocked to find himself in the messhall with a sleeping baby drooling down his arm. "I… erm… well… I was just er… going. Yes… must be off, see you in the morning Neelix!" ignoring curious glances from fellow officers Tom Paris flew out of the room and back to his quarters.

By 07:00 Tom was showered – so was the baby – he was dressed – baby too – and ready to hand his daughter over to his exhausted wife. "Where is she, Hum? Where is that Mummy of yours?" it was getting late. If she didn't arrive soon he'd be forced to take Miral to the bridge with him and then what would the Captain say? He smiled, amused when his pictured Janeway's bewildered face.

By 07:10 Tom was starting to panic, "Paris to B'Elanna?"

"Oh Tom!" she exclaimed, "I forgot to tell you, the warpcoil manifolds are giving us some serious trouble and if I don't fix this then we'll be dead in the water! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry, I'll ask Harry to baby sit. Love you, Paris out."

"Yeah, no problem," Tom mumbled to his darling daughter. "Paris to Kim,"

"Kim here,"

"Harry! I need a favour, you're good with diapers aren't you?"

"Oooh no, not this time, Tom! This is my first day off in weeks and I am not spending it babysitting your daughter!"

"Your goddaughter needs you Harry!"

"No, Tom! Not this time,"

"Fine! You go, have fun. I'll just have to take your goddaughter to work with me! You'll like that won't you darling? Yes, daddy, that'll be fun watching you fly Voyager, being bored, crying my eyes out and generally irritating the Captain!"

"Tom!" Harry warned. Tom knew he was going a bit too far but damn it, what else what he supposed to do?

"You could always ask the Doc?" His friend tried to placate him.

"Nah, remember last time? The poor kid couldn't sleep for weeks! And that was just the Doc! The man's more of a hypochondriac than Neelix!" Resolved to finding another way, Tom sighed.

"True. You wanna play pool later? I've been practicing my doubling." Harry said excitedly.

"I can't. B'Elanna's got tons of work on what with the warp manifolds or something. Another time?"

"Sure, Kim out."

End part one of… not sure. Some! Lol