The adventures of Proton Junior. Star Trek Voyager. It was supposed to be a quiet Saturday. Tom, Harry and Miral have a different kind of day planned for B'Elanna.
Because rikerssexblouse on Tumblr reblogged this post with my tags about Tom and Harry playing Captain Proton with Miral, and B'Elanna being forced to tag along, and told me that she would read it if a fanfic were to arise from the idea.
It was supposed to be a quiet Saturday.
But then, she should have know better.
She had it a long time coming, though; Miral's excited face had been a dead giveaway when Tom first broached the subject, and she had still been giddy with excitement afterwards. B'Elanna knew she should have it expected sooner or later.
Later, rather than sooner.
Damn you, Tom, for taking her to a holosuite.
Damn her for agreeing to move into a house just a transport away from a holoprogramming and entertainment facility.
"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" Damn.
B'Elanna sat perched on a stool by the kitchen counter, holding a large mug of coffee as the four-year-old bounced animatedly. For once, she had been looking toward a quiet weekend; Starfleet was pushing the Engineering Corps' deadline ahead for the new starship class they were working on, while also asking her team to increase warp velocity by yet another 0.005 to reach warp 9.995, and that left her with little to do than to come home feeling tired more often than not.
It was doable, she knew that. But now that they were getting very close to the transwarp threshold, B'Elanna couldn't help but be a tad weary. Better not induce hyper-evolution to the people inside the ship if something goes wrong and the ship goes to warp 10. She tried her best to suppress her groan at the memory of Tom's transwarp flight.
"Yes, Miral."
"You have to come with us, Mommy! And Uncle Harry is going to be there, too! Daddy says that it's always more fun when Harry is there to play Bust—Buster Kincaid." Miral looked at his father for confirmation. Tom nodded with a smile, clearly happy at his daughter's enthusiasm.
He leaned on the counter. "Come on, Mommy. Don't you want to spend time with Uncle Harry?" he teased.
She groaned into her mug as she took a sip. "Harry is spending the night here. It's not like I wouldn't see him if I didn't go with you."
He walked around the counter and stood by her side, running his hand down her back, while Miral hugged her leg from where she stood; she was trapped. "It'll clear your head a little. I promise I will take care of everything tonight and tomorrow. And I'll make it up to you next weekend," he added the last part suggestively.
"Say yes, Mommy."
B'Elanna looked down at Miral, still clinging to her leg. She was staring up at her mother with adoration in her beautiful brown eyes; B'Elanna felt her resolve melt.
She ran a hand over her daughter's head and threaded her fingers in the soft brown curls. Surprisingly enough, Miral's dark hair had gotten a bit lighter by the time she turned 2 years old, and unlike her mother at that age, Miral didn't seem to be bothered by the ridges on her forehead.
They were, after all, living in San Francisco. It wasn't Kessik IV, she had to remind herself.
"Say yes, Mommy," Tom repeated, kissing a spot just below her ear.
"Alright, you both win," she agreed, sighing for good measure and shaking her head as father and daughter high-fived each other.
It was a reunion full of laughter. Harry was literally glowing with excitement at being back on Earth with his friends and goddaughter. Between him and Miral, B'Elanna wasn't sure who was the most excited about this whole thing.
"You have no idea how dull it is on this ship," Harry said as they entered the entertainment facility. "I feel like it's all work and no play."
"Harry," Tom chuckled. "It's only been a week. How would you know?"
"Hey, remember how you already were permanent fixtures in the Sandrine program by week 1?" B'Elanna remarked with a smirk. "Playing pool and kissing holo-women."
Tom cleared his throat while Harry snorted. "Anyway. Why did they transfer you, anyway? Are you already tired of simple space exploration, Lieutenant?"
Harry shrugged. "They want us to get a closer look at the Hirogen relay network and where the Borg transwarp network used to be, because there's still some residual energy there. It has been quiet so far, but now that things are starting to look up again after the Dominion War, everyone seems a little twitchy of potential threats so close to Federation space. Since the Hirogen don't have a government and are scattered across the Delta Quadrant, it means that peace treaties with a faction doesn't mean it'll be accepted by others. And well, the Borg like to come and visit every now and then, so Starfleet wants to be really prepared this time."
"And here I thought we only had to worry about the Romulans," Tom grimaced.
"Like I said, Starfleet wants to be prepared. Right, B'Elanna?"
B'Elanna only nodded. Both men knew that the new class the Engineering Corps was working on wasn't simple exploration vessels. Tom wasn't sure he liked what it meant.
"The Doctor said Seven was going, too?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, they wanted people from the Voyager senior staff for this mission, since we encountered both several times."
A plaintive voice sounded just then, and a small hand tugged on Tom's fingers. "Daddy, we need our badges," Miral said seriously.
Tom rested his hand on top of her head. "You're right, sport. Let's go get them."
Harry and B'Elanna watched them go to the reception deck. "So, how does it really feel, being on the Intrepid?"
He sighed. "A little strange, actually. I mean, I've been pretty much out there every since we came home, but it looks like I'm back on Voyager, except I'm not? Everything looks the same, except I don't have my best friends at the helm or in Engineering. And seriously, the mess hall lacks in character," he added cheekily.
B'Elanna laughed, locked an arm around his and bumped his shoulder playfully. "While I do miss Neelix, I can't say the same for his cuisine, thank you very much."
They were interrupted, still laughing over some of Neelix's most colorful attempts when Tom came back with their badges, Miral in tow. "And here you are," Tom said, handing them both badges that held their names and the number of their allocated holosuite, and which also allowed communication. "What are the two of you laughing about?"
B'Elanna stroked his arm and shook her head. "You don't want to know."
"Your favorite meal, actually," Harry cut in, pausing for effect before going in for the kill. "Leola root."
"Oh come on, Harry!" Tom groaned. "That joke is seriously getting old." He checked the chronometer on the far wall, then nodded toward a corridor going east. "Okay, the clock's ticking. Let's go and get changed."
B'Elanna had been relieved to learn she wasn't going to play the part of Constance Goodheart, which only consisted in looking pretty and screaming. A lot.
You wound me, Tom had told her, a hand over his heart.
She watched as he retrieved their Proton clothes from an oversized sports bag. Smiling despite herself at seeing her daughter play a mini-Proton, from the leather jacket down to the goggles, she was surprised when Tom handed her a leather jacket as well.
"Don't make that face," he laughed. "It's for you, Mrs. Proton."
"Mrs. Proton...?" She let that sink in. And then understood. "Is this the secret project you've been working on for the past couple of months?"
Tom nodded, shrugging a little. "I'm making a family version of Captain Proton. I thought it'd be fun for families to go in and have a good time as Defenders of the Earth. I mean, ever since Miral was born, I knew I wanted to bring her along and play with her. That's why I've been re-working the whole thing. I mean, Naomi joined us from time to time on Voyager, but I didn't specifically programmed it for kids. And she was older."
B'Elanna tried very hard to hide her smile. He'd been pretty secretive on the nature of the holoprogram he'd been working on, and frankly, she'd been scared that he had taken to go back to Fair Haven. She was relieved to know that he hadn't.
"Miral loves it already, but I wanted you to come with us today, tell me what you think of it. I know it's not your thing, but I wanted your opinion."
She smiled, put her hand on his neck so that he would lean down. "It's alright, I still love you," she said with a wry smile, before kissing him softly. "So. I'm Mrs. Proton. I do what, exactly?" she asked after she pulled back and started removing her flats for a pair of what looked to be old combat boots.
Tom bent down to help Miral with fastening her small leather jacket. "You're the chief engineer of the rocket ship. You obviously keep the engines running and have your fair share of fighting the scroungers of the cosmos with your dashing husband."
B'Elanna bit her lip very hard.
"And I'm Proton Junior! And last time, Daddy let me fly the ship!" Miral cut in, bouncing up and down in anticipation.
Just as B'Elanna was putting her leather jacket on, the doors to the holosuite suddenly opened and Harry, already in his Buster Kincaid attire, peeked in the changing room. "What are you doing, guys? I'm waiting!"
She didn't sign for this. How in the hell do these ray guns work anyway?
A loud squeal caught her attention and she turned to see that they were trapped by a half-dozen soldiers of Chaotica's Army of Evil, and that the robot—what was its name again? Satan?—had Miral between its clutches. She was laughing loudly.
"Do not move or I will tickle her to death!" the robot warned and Miral's squeals doubled, her booted feet kicking in the air as she squirmed.
Tom had tried to convince B'Elanna to come and join them when they were still aboard Voyager, but she'd always thought the idea silly; but now she had to concede her daughter was having a good time. The worst of it, though, was that she was having a good time, too.
She still thought the whole thing was silly, but seeing her daughter bouncing from one control console to the next, basically telling the adults in the room what to do was a sight to behold.
Her little lady.
"Let her go or I will shoot you!" Harry replied grandiloquently, pointing his ray gun at the robot.
"Now, now, Kincaid. You don't want anything to happen to Junior, do you?" Chaotica chastised and went into a tirade, his minion nodding relentlessly beside him.
Not having a clue about what she was supposed to be doing, B'Elanna slightly turned toward Tom and whispered, "what do we do, now?"
He smiled, looking like a fish in water. He had written the program, after all. "Up to Miral, now," he whispered back, then tried to get their daughter's attention. "Miral, baby girl. Look at me." When she did, he patted the middle of his chest, palm open.
B'Elanna couldn't help her snort when Miral patted her tiny chest, mirroring her father.
Tom shook his head, and tilted his chin up several times.
"Am I boring you, Proton?" Chaotica's voice boomed in the fake cavern.
"No, please continue," Tom replied candidly, and it did the trick, Chaotica rambling on and on about being the ruler of the cosmos, and how Earth was finally going to be his.
B'Elanna watched as Tom repeated the gesture. Miral blinked slowly, then tried to turn in the robot's clutches, a comic sight and B'Elanna had a hard time not to laugh.
Miral glanced at her father. He patted his chest again, nodding.
B'Elanna watched her daughter pull back as much as she could, her arm high in the air, before she smacked the red button on the robot's central control panel. She kept banging on it until the robot swaggered and let go of Miral. It started for the nearest wall, banged against it before it turned against its master and wrestled with him, effectively silencing him while Harry and Tom neutralized the soldiers.
Chaotica's anguished cry of defeat made B'Elanna wince, but her baby girl's victorious laughter more than made up for it.
"Pew, pew, pew! I'm not tired, Mommy," Miral protested even as she stuck her thumb in her mouth and brought her pet targ closer to her face.
"Even champions need their sleep, baby girl, and you're all set to go," B'Elanna countered as she swept her up and into her arms. "Now, you say goodnight to Uncle Harry and Daddy."
"Hey there, little monkey. Don't fight your toys in your sleep," Harry told his goddaughter as she soundly kissed his cheek.
Tom stepped in close, brought his lips to the top of her head. "Did you have a good day, sport?"
She nodded vigorously, beaming at him. "Yes, Daddy."
"Good. 'Night, munchkin."
"'Night, 'night!" She waved her pet targ over B'Elanna's shoulder as they made their way upstairs.
Despite her protests, B'Elanna knew Miral wasn't going to last very long, all the excitment of the day finally catching up with her. Tom had offered to put their daughter to sleep as part of the deal, but B'Elanna had insisted it was her night to do it.
She was actually looking toward a quiet moment with her baby.
She gently lowered her on her bed and pulled the dusty pink duvet over her small form. Miral was still small, but B'Elanna knew it wasn't a problem for her vivacious child. She sure was adventurous already and a bundle of energy, and very little prevented her from climbing on furniture and pretend she was a pirate, much to her parents' dismay, especially after a long day.
Her thumb stuck again in her mouth, she was staring sleepily at her mother. B'Elanna brushed a few stray strands of hair off her forehead and couldn't help the pang in her chest as her fingers followed the ridges here.
But Miral only giggled sleepily. "It tickles, Mommy."
She let go of her fluffy toy and, with her free hand, tried to reach for her mother. B'Elanna leaned toward her and Miral touched her forehead, doing what her mother had done seconds ago. "You're so pretty, Mommy."
B'Elanna's chest constricted at her child's innocence and acceptance. "No, you're the pretty one, baby girl. The prettiest in the galaxy," she told her, and Miral buried her face in her pillow, as if both pleased and embarrassed. The sight of her, so carefree and accepting of that forehead B'Elanna had hated as long as she could remember, made her feel like the weight of that Klingon heritage was lifting, if only a little.
In that moment, she swore that her daughter wouldn't have to go through what she did as a child.
She hummed quietly until Miral's breathing evened, and watched her as she slept.
It had been a very good day.
(the best.)
—end.