Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres – Settling Down
"Tom, how much longer will it be before I get to see this 'surprise' of yours?" B'Elanna had spent the last twenty minutes blindfolded while Tom flew her and baby Miral to some unspecified location in a hovercraft. She was starting to get agitated.
"Just a couple more minutes," Tom assured her from the pilot's seat to her left. B'Elanna felt the craft swing into a right turn and begin a slow descent to the ground.
"This had better be good," she warned her husband. She didn't like being left in the dark, figuratively or, as in this situation, literally.
"Trust me," Tom said, a grin evident in his voice, "You'll like it. And…here we are!" The hovercraft's engines powered down, and B'Elanna heard the driver and passenger doors lift up. A breeze came in through the open doors, carrying the faint scent of leaves and the twittering of birds. She felt more than heard Tom rise from his seat and climb out of the craft. Then she heard the sound his feet crunching on leaves and twigs as he walked around the front of the craft.
"Just let me get Miral," he said as he went to the back door. B'Elanna sighed impatiently as he unbuckled the baby from her seat. Then at last he came to her door and took her hand to help her out of the craft. She stepped carefully out of the door, feeling and hearing the crunch of leaves beneath the soles of her shoes.
"Here, you take Miral," Tom said as he carefully handed the baby to B'Elanna. "I'll need both hands to take the blindfold off."
"Finally," B'Elanna muttered as she held her daughter in the crook of her arm. Now she'd get to see what this was all about.
Tom took her by the shoulders and gently turned her about ninety degrees to the right. "Okay…" B'Elanna felt his hands undoing the knot of the blindfold at the back of her head. When he had the knot untied he held the blindfold in place for a moment, building the suspense, and then with a triumphant "Ta-da!" he whipped it off her eyes.
B'Elanna couldn't believe her eyes for a moment. "Tom," she said, in an awed whisper, "You got us a house?"
It was a two-story cottage whose gray stone walls were festooned with ivy. Two chimneys sprouted from the shingle-covered roof. The front yard was almost completely covered with beds of flowers, except for the flagstone front walk that connected the leaf-dusted dirt road they were standing on. If there were any other buildings nearby, B'Elanna couldn't see them – the house was screened in by a profusion of trees.
She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "It's beautiful," she said. Tom came to stand by her side and put an arm around her shoulder. She smiled up at him. "Thank you."
He grinned. "Actually, you can thank my dad. This used to be the Paris family summer house, but he gave it to us. He said that if I was finally starting to behave responsibly, he would do everything he could to encourage me."
B'Elanna gave him a skeptical look. "He didn't really say that, did he?"
Tom waved his free hand in a dismissive gesture. "No, of course not! But I think that's why he gave it to us." He looked at the house and sighed, his levity clouded over with concern for just a moment. Then his smile returned, and he looked at B'Elanna affectionately. "But, whatever his reasons were, I'm glad he did it. After all, if I'm going to settle down, I'll need all the help I can get, right?"
B'Elanna was about to make a teasing reply, but she realized from the way he'd said those words that, while he hadn't been quite serious, he hadn't exactly been joking, either. There was an edge of fear to his words that he hadn't quite managed to cover up with his usual joviality. B'Elanna turned to face Tom and adjusted her hold on Miral so she'd have a free hand to put on her husband's shoulder. "Hey," she said softly, "You piloted Voyager through the Delta Quadrant. I think you can handle a little domestic responsibility."
Tom chuckled, but it sounded forced. "I know how to pilot a starship…" Then he looked down at Miral slumbering peacefully in B'Elanna's arms, and put a gentle finger on her chin. "…But I don't know how to be a father."
There was an uncomfortable pause while B'Elanna tried to think of something to say. "I don't know much about being a parent either," she admitted. "But we'll do what we've always done: figure something out. It may not be like piloting a starship or fixing a warp core, but with some ingenuity and a little luck…" She trailed off, not quite knowing how to conclude.
It was a great relief to her when the smile returned to Tom's face. "…we just might make it," he finished for her. "You know," he said conspiratorially as he put an arm around her shoulder and drew her close, "I think we might even enjoy it."
"I'm sure we will," B'Elanna agreed. She kissed him for a few moments, but had to draw back when Miral woke up and started fussing. "Hmm. I think someone's hungry," she observed.
"Then let's go into the house so 'someone' can have her lunch," Tom suggested as he steered B'Elanna to the flagstone pathway. "And then I'll give you both the grand tour. How does that sound?"
"Absolutely perfect," B'Elanna replied with absolute sincerity as they stepped up onto the front stoop. Miral's fussing had developed into full-fledged wailing. She wasn't a very patient child.
Tom opened the door and gestured for her to go in first. "After you," he said, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the baby's protestations.
With a smile and a curious feeling of mingled joy and anxiety, B'Elanna stepped through the front door into her new house and her new life.
