Chakotay was well aware of the fact that he should have known better. When Kathryn agreed to go on the Doctor's suggested walk he should have known she was up to more than a walk. The slow and tortured walk had lead them to the brig; she had lead them to the brig. She pushed her aching body along the corridors and to the turbo lift attempting to hide her discomfort and stiff movements, ignoring Chakotay's suggestions of returning to sickbay. She arrived in time to listen to the last of Tuvok's interrogations of the three incarcerated crewmen. Chakotay and Tuvok both momentarily considered that maybe the Doctor was right; she did seem to think she was an indestructible super hero.

After being briefed as to the contents of the three versions of the "mess hall incident" she and Tuvok agreed that Neelix, having never thrown a blow of any kind, could go free. The rest of the crew members involved would be required to report to the mess hall as soon as any injuries they sustained were treated.

Kathryn was noticeably fatigued by the return trip to sickbay and reluctantly agreed to Chakotay's supportive hold on her. By the time they reached sickbay the aches in her body, most notably in her abdomen, were almost unbearable. Chakotay noticing her obvious struggle picked her up and carried her the last few feet across sickbay to her biobed where she refused to lay back. She took a moment to compose herself before demanding the attention of all those who currently occupied sickbay. She informed her security team that they were to take all those involved in the "mess hall incident" back to the mess hall after treatments were complete. Tuvok would be waiting there with details on their punishment. She also informed B'Elanna that any punishment Tuvok felt necessary to enforce would be in addition to the month of mess hall shifts she had already ordered.

Three hours later Kathryn was resting in a relatively quiet sickbay, nursing her daughter. Chakotay watched his two girls in amazement and with a loving smile.

"What is it Chakotay?"

"It's just so amazing. You're all she needs right now; you give her everything, comfort, warmth, nutrition; you're bonding with her in a way I never could. It's wonderful but I must admit I'm a little jealous." Whispered Chakotay.

"You do realize this hurts, right? The Doctor says the pain will go away after a couple of days but as of right now it is painful for me when I nurse her. As for bonding you can bond with her, hold her, talk to her, you can even feed her. I can pump some milk and you can feed her from a bottle. She may as well get used to it now; when I go back on duty she'll have to drink from a bottle anyway." Kathryn said in a matter of fact manner.

"I thought breastfeeding was best for her, especially since she was premature! Isn't that what the Doc said? Tuvok and I can handle things for a while, Kathryn. I think you should consider taking leave until she's stronger. Stay home and nurse her." In Chakotay's mind he was just trying to look after his girls. Kathryn looked at him as if he had just suggested she let the Vadillans take Voyager for a spin. In Kathryn's mind, well, he was out of his mind; she just wasn't stay at home mom material. She loved her daughter and wanted to do everything she could for her, but she wasn't about to lose herself either.

"Working mothers have been pumping breast milk to leave with their infants since the 20th century. There is even evidence to suggest that women may have done it even further back in history. The Doctor said I need to take three weeks off to recover, let's see how long he wants to keep the baby. Her body may take longer to regulate itself after the transplant considering the fact that she is so small. I'll stay home with her as long as he says it is necessary, but don't expect me to spend the next 6 months or more in our quarters. It just isn't going to happen." There was no way Kathryn Janeway could sit still that long. She needed to work. Chakotay agreed to her terms and changed the subject, knowing that pushing the issue would only cause a fight.

"So how do you think the mess hall brawlers are taking their punishment?" He asked lightheartedly.

"I think they should be pleased to avoid brig time, and we should see a very clean ship in the near future." She, along with Chakotay and Tuvok had agreed that all parties involved would have to repair, repaint, and redecorate the mess hall, lose a month of holodeck time, with the exception of public use time, lose three weeks of replicator rations and spend one month of double shifts with the second shift being maintenance, repair, and custodial duties with most efforts concentrated on cleaning and custodial duties of the most unpleasant kind. B'Elanna, being the instigator of said incident, would of course have to pull her doubles in the mess hall first before being allowed to complete her scrubbing duties.

"There's just one thing, Kathryn. What about the naming ceremony for the baby and Tom and B'Elanna's engagement party? We can't expect them to miss those events."

"No. I suppose we can't, they can have those two days off of doubles, and Tom and B'Elanna can have the day after their engagement party as well. Adjust the duty rosters please, Chakotay."

"Of course my love."

XXXXXX

B'Elanna walked over to return the infant to her tiny biobed. She would be only a foot or two away from Tom. She steeled herself for what was to come. B'Elanna knew she had to apologize, but humbling herself just didn't come easy to her. As she settled her goddaughter down she couldn't help but feel Tom's eyes on her. She felt so ridiculous for having thought he could have anything to do with the Captain, but what was she supposed to think when she didn't have all the facts. She was ashamed of herself and that brought an embarrassed flush onto her face. Not being good at dealing with her feelings she lashed out in anger.

"What are you staring at Tom?" She snapped.

"The love of my life; awoman who for some reason has been very angry with me but hasn't told me why. I know I screw up a lot B'Elanna, but if you tell me what I did I'll do my best to never do it again." Tom responded honestly. The guilt threatened to overwhelm her. Here was a man who had done nothing wrong but was assuming he had. He obviously believed that he was a screw up, just as his father had always told him. It wasn't true, however, it was she, B'Elanna, who had made the unpardonable error in judgment this time and the realization of how badly she had contributed to his hurt cut into her like a dull blade.

"You didn't do anything wrong Tom, your jackass self-righteous father did, and I did too. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve any of this." B'Elanna hated to admit she was wrong.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard you were the donor for the baby, I also heard that the donor had to be a parent. I never thought you and Janeway could be related. I thought that you and the Captain…" She couldn't finish but she knew he understood.

Tom stared at her for a moment before he started to laugh. "Oh B'Elanna, even before I knew she was my sister she kind of felt like a sister or an aunt or some kind of family type figure to me. I don't know if we're programed to recognize family but I couldn't ever… Oh God No! I couldn't think of her that way, ever, and now that I know, it makes sense. Maybe that's why she's always been protective of me and given me the chances no one else would give me."

"I don't think that's it, Tom, I mean about the chances. Your father obviously didn't give you the opportunities to prove yourself that the Captain gave you. I think she's just a pretty amazing person, after all she made me chief engineer and I'm not related to her. She's given us both opportunities no one else would have. Your sister is pretty amazing fly boy." She finished up with a grin.

"She is isn't she?" He responded "Now I think you owe me some comfort for these broken bones you gave me." He smiled as he pulled her into his arms. She lowered her head to kiss him and just as their lips were about to meet the Doctor cut in.

"Ok, I'm ready for you now Mister Paris. Unless you'd prefer for me to come back after I'm done with all my other patients."

"No, Doc that won't be necessary. You can start." Paris responded as B'Elanna moved back away from him. Then turning to B'Elanna he said "We'll make up later tonight, my quarters."

"Great…" mumbled the Doctor, "so you'll be back here with more bones to be mended before the start of alpha shift tomorrow morning."

XXXXX

The Doctor insisted that the four pound Baby Janeway remain in sickbay for at least two weeks and suggested her mother keep her home and away from any undue excitement or germ contaminated child care centers, as if Voyager had more than one, for at least three months. This suggestion had more to do with the bone marrow transplant than the fact that the baby was premature. Captain Janeway negotiated him down to six weeks. She had successfully argued that considering that the child care center currently only had one other child the baby was safer in the child center then she was in the mess hall or on the bridge. The Doctor looked appalled at the suggestion of taking the preemie out into the mess hall. Kathryn quickly reminded him that sickbay had recently been inundated with the entire crown of mess hall brawl participants and, again, the baby would have been exposed to fewer germs in the child care center. The Doctor gave her an annoyed, "hurumph!" and reluctantly agreed to Kathryn's six week suggestion. When Chakotay came by for a visit after his shift it simply seemed that Kathryn was going to willingly follow the Doctor's orders of keeping the infant home for six weeks.

Two days later Kathryn was able to return to her quarters making the necessary trips to sickbay to visit with and feed her daughter. As much time as she spent in sickbay she almost felt as if she hadn't been released at all. Thankfully the Doctor suggested that she provide him with the necessary bottles of breast milk to feed the infant overnight himself, and that way Kathryn could get a full night's sleep, at least until they took the baby home.

Two days after the Doctor released the Captain, she and Chakotay convinced him to allow the baby out of sick bay for a few hours in order to perform a naming ceremony. He began to object but stopped once he was assured that he would be one of the few invited to witness the ceremony, and he would be able to monitor her at all times.

The ceremony was simple. Chakotay spoke the words which asked the spirits of his ancestors, and of his father in particular, to watch over and guide his child who would be known as Xochitl Ciaran Janeway, as B'Elanna held the baby and Tom held B'Elanna. "We name you Xochitl, which means flower, the name originated from the Native American Aztec language but spread throughout the American continents to be used by other tribes and other peoples as well. We name you Ciaran, which means dark haired beauty; this name comes from the Irish language. In this way we honor both of her parent's cultures. Lastly she will have the surname Janeway, in honor of the man who loved, raised, and educated her mother. So friends and family I present to you Xochitl Ciaran Janeway. B'Elanna held Xochilt up for a moment then the child was passed around through the small crowd of those who were closest to the command duo. She was quickly given the nickname Xoe (pronounced the same as Zoe) by most of the crew, but Tom would hold fast to the name Spitfire and it would eventually win out over the other.