Like Father, Like Son, Like Daughter
AN: This is a short (semi) story that I wanted to see happen at the end of Voyager, but was not shown. There are spoilers for Drive, Endgame, and a few various other episodes that have heavy P/T story lines. As usual, I don't own the Voyager characters or anything relating to Voyager because if I did then I would be a very happy woman… lol. Ok, insert standard "paramount own everything….no money for me….blah blah blah" disclaimer here…
And now…onto the story…
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Chapter 1
Beads of sweat started to appear on his brow as his concentration, as well as his stress level, increased. The Delta Flyer glided gracefully over the San Francisco Bay, heading toward her destination. To the untrained eye it would appear as if nothing was amiss; the ship's course was perfect, and all occupants were in fine health. However, B'Elanna Torres Paris' eye was well trained, and she had no problem spotting her husband's distress. She knew this would happen. It had to eventually. They were on their way to Tom's parent's house to meet them for the first time in person since Voyager's triumphant returned to the alpha quadrent. B'Elanna knew that Tom and his father didn't get along, but she didn't think Tom would be so nervous about it.
From the corner of his eye, Tom could see B'Elanna's worried looks and he knew she was concerned about him. 'She probable thinks I am worried about my father', he thought to himself. In reality, Tom was solely concerned with a single passenger on the Flyer. He was concerned about the most valuable thing currently in Tom's life…his daughter, Miral Paris. She was only four weeks old now, and still small enough to be held with just a single hand. Currently, little Miral was quietly nessled in her mother's strong arms. Tom had never in his life been afraid of flying before, but then again he never had his only child with him in a shuttle before either. Like every new father, Tom was overly concerned about his daughter. While she may look small and fragile, she was not going to break if the shuttle experienced any sort of slight shift, or course change; she probably wouldn't even wake up. Tom Paris knew this, but he didn't want to take any chances either. He was using all the tricks he knew to keep the Flyer steady. To anybody else, it would feel as if they weren't even moving.
B'Elanna caught him glancing back at Miral a few times and she smiled amusingly at him. 'So, that's it. I have never seen him so cautious before', she thought. B'Elanna's thoughts drifted back to the past, back when she saw that look of half fear, half concentration on Tom's face. It had been on the day of the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally. Tom and B'Elanna were in a race with the Flyer when they discovered sabatoge that threatened to destroy the ship. As Tom flew them into a space inversion that could absorb the core breach he proposed to her with "that" look on his face. He still had it on as he waited impatiently for her response after they survived. 'He really should do that more often… It's so cute', she thought at the memory. Pulling herself back to the present, B'Elanna carefully got up and, without waking Miral, made her way to Tom's side. She put her free arm on his shoulder and felt that all of his muscles were tensed with deep concentration. As if on cue, Miral made a small baby coo noise. Tom slowly let his muscles relax as he turned to look at his daughter.
Tom could stare at her for hours, and in fact he often did. When she was first born, he received the comm on the bridge from sickbay and heard her cry for the first time. He remembered going to sickbay in a sort of daze, but when he got there, when he saw her for the first time, he knew his life had finally meant something. At that moment he felt complete, like he had a purpose. Tom stayed in sickbay that night, but had no intention of sleeping. Voyager was being escorted back to Earth by nearly the entire fleet that had gathered at the transwarp aperture. Admirals were all over the ship talking to the crew and holding de-briefings. Tom's de-briefing was scheduled for 0800 the next morning. None of it concerned him in the least. Tom's attention was solely focused on watching this new life he created. He spent the entire night watching her, and giving her the early feedings the Doctor told him to. Tom listened to her breathe, watched her sleep, mentally traced her Klingon ridges on her forehead, and most of all he stared at her dirty blonde hair and remembered her piercing blue eyes. Klingon genes were dominant, but Miral inherited her hair and eyes from her father. Tom had no idea how this happened, but he didn't really care either, he was proud of it none-the-less. That night, while he watched his family sleep, he vowed to never let anything bad happen to his little girl, or his wife for that matter.
Back in the shuttle, Tom slowly took one of his hands off the controls and gently stroked Miral's cheek. She made a contented sigh-like noise and Tom sat back smiling proudly. The odds against Klingon-human conception were very high, but he had somehow beaten those odds. What man wouldn't be proud of that accomplishment? B'Elanna decided to stay next to Tom for the remainder of their short journey. Tom brought the Flyer over the Paris grounds and toward their private landing pad. Starfleet families had no need for mansions, or large estates in the 24th century, but like most of the famous Starfleet lines, the Paris Estate had been handed down for many generations. B'Elanna had never seen it before, and Tom never talked about it, but she was shocked at the size of it all.
The Paris Estate consisted of 3 main buildings. The first and largest by far, was the main house. This house could easily hold 15 or more people for weeks at a time without sacrificing comfort. The second was the guest house, slightly to the side of the main house. Why they would even need a guest house was beyond B'Elanna's understanding. The final building was odd. This one was long and thin and had two huge doors at the end. Tom explained to her that this was a horse barn and stables. Apparently, Tom's sisters, Moira and Kathleen, liked to ride horses and had several of the animals currently living in the stables. B'Elanna couldn't fathom why anybody would actually want to ride an animal, but she wasn't about to judge, at least, not yet.
Tom sat the Flyer down on the landing pad behind the buildings with the softest touch, clearly the work of a very skilled pilot. Tom leaned back and took a deep breath in anticipation. B'Elanna rubbed his back for support. "Well, here goes", he responded in a solemn voice. "You'll be fine, trust me" she replied warmly. Tom gathered their packs and baby supplies and headed to the hatch. B'Elanna was right behind him with Miral when Tom froze. On the other side of the hatch was a sight that Tom never expected to see. Tom's father, Admiral Owen Paris, was waiting for them outside dressed in a formal-like civilian outfit. At first Tom was confused. To the best of his knowledge, he had never seen his father out of uniform, and didn't recognize him at first. What happened next caused Tom to forget how to breathe. Owen looked at his son, then his daughter-in-law, finally to his grand-daughter, then back to his son again and smiled. 'What? He is smiling? He never smiles, well not at me anyway', was Tom's shocked thought to himself. Owen Paris addressed the group in a carefully chosen neutral tone, "Welcome, please, follow me inside. Your mother and sisters are inside waiting for you, and you know how impatient they can be". The senior Paris took several of Tom's bags and escorted the family inside. Unseen by Owen, B'Elanna took Tom's hand and squeezed it encouragingly at first, then almost broke a bone or two. At that point Tom finally remembered to breathe.
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That's it for chapter 1, more to come! Please, Please, PLEASE read and review!! Let me know what you thought… what sucked… anything at all. Thank you!!!
