B'Elanna and Tom picked up the girls and took them to the Mess Hall for some dinner. Neelix was beginning to really experiment with Alpha Quadrant foods, past and present. On the day's menu was barbecue chicken, Vulcan lentil salad, and a Bolian tongal-fruit pie for dessert.
"Mommy, why did Neelix make such strange things tonight?" S'Ehra asked as she eyed her chicken warily.
'Poor thing,' B'Elanna thought. 'She's been eating Neelix's cooking all of her life. She doesn't know what she was missing.' In fact, B'Elanna was a little unused to "normal" food herself.
"This is the kind of food Daddy and I ate when we were younger," B'Elanna told her daughter.
"Why?" A'Lehsen asked. She took a bite of the salad and wrinkled her nose.
"Well, we didn't have any of the foods Neelix cooks. They don't grow in the Alpha Quadrant," Tom said, anticipating another "why?", or so he thought.
"Why didn't you just go to the Delta Quadrant and get some?" A'Lehsen asked with a puzzled frown.
B'Elanna silently asked for help from a higher power, but none came. It usually doesn't for the parents of young children who have just learned that "why?" can open the universe to them.
"It would have taken too long, A'Lehsen. In fact, after Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, we weren't sure that we would get back in our lifetimes. Since Seven and I fixed the engines to make them go faster, we have gotten to the Alpha Quadrant much more quickly," she told her.
A'Lehsen thought about that for a few minutes. Peace and quiet reigned until she piped up again. "Did you always live on Voyager?" she asked her parents.
"No, I grew up on Earth, in San Fransisco, where Starfleet Headquarters is located," Tom said.
"And I was raised on Kessick IV, a colony planet," B'Elanna added.
"You mean you were both raised planet-side?" S'Ehra asked. She seemed half-scornful, half-horrified. A'Lehsen wore a similar expression. They stared at their parents with wide blue eyes.
B'Elanna and Tom glanced at each other in alarm. They had never guessed that their children might become prejudiced toward planet-bred people. Did the other Voyager children share this way of thinking? If so, no one had ever mentioned it. Janeway would have to hear about this before they got to Earth. The children might need some counseling.
B'Elanna decided to take control of the situation before it got any worse. She frowned fiercely at her daughters. "There is nothing wrong with that. Planets and space are equally nice places to grow up. Never forget that!" she told them with every ounce of motherly command she possessed.
An observer might have found the scene amusing: three hard-headed, hot blooded females, one-to-two, glaring at one another. Age did not matter, just strength of will. In the end, B'Elanna's will won out. The twins glanced away first. They looked at each other and became shame-faced.
"We're sorry, Mommy," they said meekly in unison. Their little lips trembled, and their big blue eyes, so like their father's, filled a little with tears.
"We won't ever do it again," A'Lehsen added.
"Are you still mad at us?" S'Ehra asked.
B'Elanna felt her face soften, despite her resolve to remain firm. "I'm a little mad. I didn't like hearing such things from you girls. Everyone is important, no matter where they live or have lived," she told them.
A'Lehsen and S'Ehra nodded. S'Ehra smiled, and looked relieved when her mother smiled back.
The family went back to eating. Then Tom, knowing his wife's habits, went to Neelix to collect the two unbreakable containers filled with leola- root based foods. He went back to their table. B'Elanna had cleaned up the girls, and they were all ready to go.
They walked slowly to their quarters. This was partly for B'Elanna's benefit. Her gait had gone from smooth and brisk to a waddle. Fortunately, her staff knew better than to make jokes; otherwise, one of them might have ended up in Sickbay. Tom needed the slow pace as well; those containers were very full!
When they got home, A'Lehsen and S'Ehra ran to their room. Tom sat the containers down on the table, and then he and B'Elanna collapsed simultaneously onto the sofa. They listened to the girls play with their favorite dolls.
They were just relaxing, trying to conserve their energy, when the communication console beeped. It was such an unusual sound that they both jumped. Then they smiled at each other sheepishly.
"The worst part about being back in the Alpha Quadrant is that we'll have to put up with calls we don't want at times that are inconvenient," Tom commented wryly.
"We don't already?" B'Elanna asked with a pointed look towards their daughters' room.
Tom chuckled, then closed his eyes in frustration when it beeped again because he really felt too tired to move. B'Elanna smiled a little and stood up slowly. She had perfected the art during her last pregnancy, and it seemed she hadn't forgotten anything.
When she mad it across the room to the console, B'Elanna pressed the receive button.