Anson, Iva, Rory and the baby.
by Amelia Elizabeth

I don't own them because if I did, things would have ended up just like this.

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Kathryn smiled as she gazed up at her husband. He held her close in his arms, the deep blue satin of her gown softly rustling against his tuxedo as they slowly moved across the dance floor. She hadn't wanted to come; she'd been feeling rather lousy all day but her husband finally convinced her to come. He said it would be good for her. She said none of her dresses fit anymore. He said replicate a new one. She said her feet were too swollen for shoes. He said then go barefoot. She said that she was too huge and pregnant for all this. He just dragged her out the door.

He'd been right of course. Coming to the annual crew New Years Ball was a wonderful chance to see almost all of her offices in a much more relaxed setting. She'd smiled and laughed as they all shared their memories of the year before and their hopes for the future. And Kathryn proudly let them all touch her swollen belly to feel the movements of their newest crewmember.

A sharp kick from the baby brought her attention back to her stomach, which, as her husband had noted, was warmly snuggled between the two of them as they danced. Kathryn winced as another tiny foot jabbed her bladder, which she was just beginning to realize was incredibly and uncomfortably full. She grimaced and her husband gave her a knowing smile as she quickly made a beeline for the bathroom. It never fails, she thought.

When she came back into the mess hall a few moments later feeling quite relieved, she saw that her dance partner had been taken. In her husband's arms was their four-year-old daughter, her head sleepily resting on his shoulders and her arms grasped tightly around his neck. The ruffles of her party dress were slightly rumpled as she wrapped her chubby little legs around her strong father. Her hair, which her mother had painstakingly pulled into a tight bow, had fallen out of its fastener and now cascaded down her shoulders in soft reddish brown waves. She looked up at her father with a look of pure adoration.

On her husband's other side was their older daughter, a very precocious eight, who held on to her father's hand as he twirled her around the room, careful not to disturb the little one. Like her sister, she had on a ruffled and layered white dress and she loved how it flared out as she spun around and around. She swung her father's arm back and forth, running under it and always turning back to make sure that he was still there. He was of course. Kathryn could tell without even seeing his face how happy he was.

The little one saw her first. "Mama!" she cried as Kathryn made her way slowly over to them. The little girl held out her arms for her father and Kathryn gave her a tight squeeze but did not lift her from her father's shoulder. The girl looked disappointed. "I want to go up, Mama," she said.

"I know, sweetheart," Kathryn sighed. "But Mama has a baby in her belly," she guided her daughter's small hands to the rounded curve of her baby bump, "and so I can't pick you up right now. Daddy can, though and I can give you lots and lots of hugs."

Rory Janeway pondered this as she ran her fingers along the pleats of her mother's gown. Unlike her older siblings, Rory had never seen her mother pregnant before and was not quite sure what to make of things. She always wanted to be held, but at four years old, she was just too big for her expectant mother to lift.

"Can I have another hug since you can't pick me up?" she finally asked.

"Of course you can," Kathryn said as she held her daughter close. She brushed a lock of hair behind the little girl's ear. Rory in turn reached up and pulled a stray wisp of her mother's hair back behind her ear. Kathryn held her daughter's hand and kissed it.

"Mama! Mama! Did you see me spinning out there?" her older daughter Iva asked. If Rory had become more clingy during this pregnancy, than Iva had become much more assertive, Kathryn thought. She seemed determined to make sure that both her parents knew exactly what she was doing at all times.

"I did, honey, and you looked so beautiful," she smiled.

"Daddy said I had to dance with him since you were too pregnant," Iva said matter-of-factly.

"Did he?" Kathryn laughed as she caught a sheepish grin from her husband.

"Uh huh," Iva continued, "he says the baby is always making you go to the bathroom and sneeze and not sleep well and not dance and…"

"Iva…" her father cautioned.

"And he said you look really beautiful tonight."

"I'm sure he did. What do you say, Daddy, you want to be pregnant for the rest of the time with this one?" she held her belly protectively.

Before Chakotay could respond, Iva chimed in again. "Mama! He can't hold a baby in his tummy. Only you can. Only mamas can have babies. Everyone knows that."

Kathryn smiled as her daughter proudly stood in front of her, arms folded and giving her father a death glare. Kathryn wrapped her own arms around the little girl and bending down as gracefully as she could to give Iva a kiss on the cheek. "Of course you're right. What was I thinking?"

"Mama's got a baby in her brain!" cried Rory. Kathryn made a mental note not to talk so much about having pregnancy brain, something she admitted was happening more and more this time around. The girls were bound to pick up and repeat anything they heard, often and loudly.

In fact, when Kathryn had found out that she was pregnant eight months earlier, she and Chakotay hadn't bothered to even make an announcement to the crew, beyond telling their closest friends. Instead they told Iva, Rory and their older brother Anson who then proceeded to race through the ship screaming with glee, "Mama's having a baby!" Everyone knew in less than 30 minutes.

Her husband caught her gaze briefly. "Feeling better?" he asked sympathetically.

"Much. Although give me time," she sighed, "and I'll be back in the bathroom again."

He bent down to set Rory on the ground and she and her older sister raced away, leaving their parents in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by dancing couples.

"Would you like to pick up where we left off?" he asked, extending a hand.

"I'd love to," she said as she settled into his arms, one of her hands on his shoulder, the other lightly clasping his. His other hand rested on the small of her back and the swell of her belly gently nudged his flat abdomen.

"Did you really tell the girls that I was too pregnant to dance?" she asked mischievously.

"I did," he grinned. "Iva saw you leave so suddenly before that she thought something was wrong. I turned it into a joke to calm her down. She seemed to think was hilarious that you couldn't dance without running off to the bathroom."

"Is she very worried about all this?"

"She isn't sure what to expect. I think she just doesn't want to miss anything important."

"Well if this one is anything like her siblings, she'll take her sweet time getting here." Kathryn sighed as she remembered being overdue with both Anson and Iva and struggling through twenty-hour labors with each. It had been absolutely exhausting but so incredibly worth it when she held each of her children in her arms for the very first time.

"Still convinced this one is a girl?" her husband mused.

She nodded. "She's a kicker like Iva was and she's making my feet swell up like balloons." She tried to look down at her bare feet but she couldn't see past her belly. "I'm huge and I'm emotional and I've been sick for 37 weeks. Face it Commander, you are still going to be outnumbered in three weeks."

That's the way I like it," he kissed her on the forehead. Without her heels, she barely came up to his chin and she was in no condition to stand on tiptoes.

"Speaking of boys," she smiled, "where is ours?"

"Over there," her husband nodded to where one of her helmsmen stood with her eldest balanced on his shoulders. The pilot looked like he was enjoying himself just as much as her nine-year-old son as they danced. If the girls were inquisitive and adventurous like their mother, then Anson with his dark hair and kind eyes was all his father, in temperament and in looks. Anson was their peacemaker. He romped with his sisters but he was always looking out for them and more than once he had told his mother how excited he was for their newest sibling to arrive. He had been the sweetest, easiest child and Chakotay had liked to joke that their son had completely spoiled them by being an utterly perfect toddler. Maybe that was why they had had Iva so soon after Anson and Iva was why there was such a large gap before Rory.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Kathryn asked quietly as Anson let go of his hold on the pilot. His hands were now free in the air and he waved a big hello over to his parents. Chakotay waved back.

"Katie, he's fine. This crew knows how to take care of our children. They've been doing it for nine years," he smiled. "They also know not to mess with a heavily pregnant captain."

"It took them three pregnancies to learn that one."

"Accidentally knocking out power to seven decks during your first trimester with Rory isn't what I'd call messing with you," he mused, "but secretly stashing spare parts to build a new flyer may have been pushing it."

"They are a good crew, aren't they?" she said, looking from her laughing son to where her daughters were spinning around in the arms of two engineers, their smiles as wide as could be.

"Yes they are."

"And they are going to love this baby whenever she gets here?"

"Yes they will. And so will I." He placed his hands on her belly and began rubbing it in small circles. "Even if she makes my wife uncomfortable and beautiful and round. I love her already."

"And you'll love me even if I had to interrupt our dancing again to go to the bathroom?" she asked looking up at him.

"I'll love you even if you have to interrupt our dancing again to go to the bathroom," he said with a laugh.

"Good, because I'll be right back."

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