A/N : The challenge for me in writing this was to keep Tom and B'Elanna in character, while allowing for time and circumstances to have affected them. I would appreciate any comments people may have about this balance.
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs either to Paramount or CBS - either way, not me.
Once More Into the Breach
Prologue
"Anything else?" asked Tom, glad as always that Miral had commed, even if she only had ten minutes. She'd been at Starfleet Academy for half a semester, but he and B'Elanna were still adjusting to her being on Earth. Granted, San Francisco wasn't terribly far from New Berlin, but they missed having Miral home.
"There is one thing," she added, looking suspiciously as though she'd saved this news for last. "I have a date Friday night."
"What's his name?" he asked, wondering why this would be mentioned last. She'd had dates in high school, and he thought he'd handled his daughter's dating rather well.
Miral smiled that just-met smile. "Koraq."
"Koraq?" repeated B'Elanna. She sucked in her breath. "He's Klingon?"
Miral nodded. Tom held his breath, waiting for B'Elanna's reaction. "Well, three-quarters Klingon," amended their oldest.
"Have a good time," said B'Elanna after a moment. "Let us know how it goes, okay?"
"Don't do anything we wouldn't do," added Tom.
Miral rolled here eyes. "I've got to go."
"We love you," said B'Elanna.
"Love you guys too."
Tom waved. "Bye."
Miral closed the link. B'Elanna exhaled loudly and sagged against Tom's shoulders. "Koraq. Three-quarters Klingon."
"I guess this means we did a good job teaching her to embrace her Klingon heritage," said Tom. He knew that wouldn't be exactly how B'Elanna saw it.
"Too good a job," she moaned
"He's a quarter human. They balance each other out."
B'Elanna scowled. "I'm not even going to worry about this. It's one date."
Tom let her go. One thing he'd learned in nineteen and a half years of marriage was when to let B'Elanna have her space. This was definitely one of those times.
Somehow, though, he didn't think this would be the end of it.
Chapter One
Tom sighed. "He's able to understand, though. All of those things about being part Klingon, he can relate to."
"I always figured the kids would marry humans. This never even occurred to me!" B'Elanna, after hearing about Miral and Koraq's successful seventh date and pending weekend visit after the semester ended, was pacing the living room.
"It's very gentlemanly of him to make arrangements to stay somewhere else for the weekend," offered Tom from his perch on the couch. Gentlemanly. He liked that. His daughter deserved no less. Miral wanted her parents to meet Koraq, who apparently had a cousin who lived just outside of New Berlin, so he wouldn't be staying with them.
"Gentlemanly! Don't tell me you approve of this?" Tom knew that look, and he knew it meant he'd better clarify his statement and deflect her anger.
"I haven't met him, so I can't tell. Neither have you," he observed.
"Tom," B'Elanna said in her warning voice, "I have worked hard to get over my problems with everything Klingon."
"You know I'm proud of that," he said softly.
"I even brought the kids to Q'onoS and endured an entire week with my mother's family." That was hard to forget. Tom thought it was the most memorable vacation they'd ever taken. It was the only time in his life he'd desperately wished to meet a vegetarian.
"But this is…it's…argh!" Lacking a suitable adjective, B'Elanna balled her fists and started pacing even faster. "Our daughter is trying to kill me!"
"You know that's not true."
"Alright. So I exaggerated. But not by much!"
"Can you at least admit I have a point?" he asked.
"Remind me again."
"He can relate to the complications of being part Klingon. We've obviously done a good job raising the kids if Miral is happy with this Koraq."
"I knew that trip to Q'onoS was a bad idea!"
"B'Elanna."
She stopped pacing and looked at him. "Fine. You have a point. It's all just my problem, then." The pacing started up again.
"I didn't say that."
"Will you please say what you mean?"
"I mean that Miral is healthy and well-adjusted. I don't mean that you have to face your anxieties alone. It falls under 'for better or for worse.' We've made a pretty good team so far, and we'll get through this too."
B'Elanna sunk onto the couch and leaned back. "You're the pilot. How do we navigate this?"
He reached over and pulled her towards him. "Without Klingon entrees, preferably."
A small smile made its way to B'Elanna's lips. "I guess that's as good a start as any," she replied.
Chapter Two
"I liked it better when Miral came home by herself," muttered Jeff. "It didn't matter if my room was a mess."
"Looks good, Jeff," said Tom after surveying his son's room. It wasn't exactly clean, but the clutter than filled a normal fifteen-year-old boy's room was at least somewhat orderly. "Do you want to help me get the grill ready?"
"Sure," replied Jeff. He enjoyed the old-fashioned barbeques that Tom relished, and was in fact learning many of his father's tricks. "I bet this Koraq's never been to an authentic barbeque before!"
Meanwhile, B'Elanna was trying not to mess up dessert and not let Kate on to her apprehension. Although she was only twelve, their youngest was adept at reading emotions.
Kate, fortunately, was preoccupied with the idea of meeting her sister's boyfriend. She was at just the right age that the idea of a boyfriend appealed to her, but the idea of her sister having a boyfriend seemed somehow off. According to Tom, this was a perfectly natural thing in sibling relationships.
"I'm an engineer, not a chef!" exclaimed B'Elanna after dropping eggshell in with the egg.
"And these are just brownies!" giggled Kate.
"Your father knows better than to ask for lemon meringue pie," retorted B'Elanna. "Although I can't taste any difference between homemade brownies and replicated ones."
"Don't worry, Mom. I won't let you spoil the brownies."
B'Elanna laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Kate was uninterested in cooking meals, but she loved baking. Her current ambition was to be a pastry chef, and there was little doubt she'd be good at it. Deftly folding the eggs in with the flour and sugar, she looked out through the screen door to the patio where her father and brother were preparing the grill. "I just hope Koraq likes cooked meat."
"If he doesn't," called out Tom, "he should pretend to anyway. It's one of those things you do."
"Aren't you glad you and Mom were already married when you met Great-Uncle Hegha?" asked Kate.
Tom made a face. "Very glad."
"If he doesn't like cooked meat," observed Jeff, "I bet they don't go out to eat on their dates." That was a good point. Miral was quite accepting of her Klingon heritage, but she flatly refused to eat live or raw meat.
Kate slid the brownies into the oven, then exclaimed, "We should make a nice light ganache!"
B'Elanna smiled at the enthusiasm of her youngest. "Go ahead. Just don't expect much from me."
"Oh, I'll take care of it, Mom. You can…" she trailed off, at a loss.
"Change?" suggested B'Elanna. "I don't want to meet Koraq in my cooking clothes."
"Right. Change." Kate was already absorbed in her ganache, flipping through recipes on the computer. "This one should be good!"
Tom left the grill in Jeff's capable hands to check on B'Elanna. He found her wearing the blouse she'd bought and sitting on the bed looking pensive.
"I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.
"Of course you can," he said, sitting down beside her. "You've survived a week on Q'onoS. You can handle this."
"Q'onoS was different," sighed B'Elanna. "We came back and left the Empire behind."
She frowned and pulled an imaginary piece of lint off the bed. "I'm not good at this kind of stuff."
"Come on," said Tom, pulled her up, "we'll do it together."
Chapter Three
B'Elanna was thrilled to hug Miral. It was the part that came next that terrified her.
"Mom, Dad, this is Koraq. Koraq Skillman."
"An interesting name, I'm aware," said Koraq. His voice was the traditional deep tone of Klingons, but smoother. "My father was half human. It's nice to meet you, Captain Paris, Captain Torres."
"You know our ranks?" asked Tom while shaking his hand.
"It's hard not to!" replied Koraq.
Tom laughed. "Well, we're not at work. Call me Tom."
B'Elanna held out her hand and tried to sound more confidant than she felt. "B'Elanna," she said, sounding to Tom quite nervous. "Captain makes it seem like there's a problem that I need to fix."
Koraq smiled.
"Come in," said Tom. He noted with pleasure that Koraq was carrying Miral's bag. Gentlemanly indeed.
"This is Kate, in the kitchen," said Miral by way of introduction. "Kate, this is Koraq."
Kate greeted Miral with a hug and shook Koraq's hand properly. "I hope you like ganache."
Miral tried not to laugh. Koraq, meanwhile, looked confused. "Ganache?"
"It's similar to a frosting, only richer."
"I've never had ganache, but I look forward to trying it."
Jeff didn't wait to be introduced. "I'm Jeff."
"Hello, Jeff. I'm Koraq."
Introductions over, everyone but B'Elanna relaxed as Miral took Koraq on a brief tour. "That went well," said Tom when he got B'Elanna alone in the living room.
"I guess so."
"How are you holding up?"
"Alright. He's polite."
Their conversation was cut short when Miral and Koraq came back downstairs. "The chicken should be done in a couple of minutes," said Tom. "Come on out back."
Seated across from Koraq, B'Elanna was better able to observe him. He looked like a full-blooded Klingon except for the soft angle of his cranial ridges, but you couldn't see that until you were close. While Miral chose boneless chicken, as usual, Koraq ate drumsticks with gusto. He seemed to enjoy the cooked meat, much to everyone's relief.
"So, where are you from?" asked Tom casually. B'Elanna wished that she could take this as easily as her husband.
"I was born on Galo VI, but we moved to Feylas Minor when I was eight. My parents started a business there, giving fishing tours."
The Feylas system was one of the worlds that had opened up after the size of the Neutral Zone between the Federation and Klingon Empire had been halved. Feylas Major and Feylas Minor had joined the Federation two or three years later, as B'Elanna recalled.
She forced herself to eat potato salad at a normal rate, although she wasn't very hungry. Koraq seemed like a nice young man, and Miral was happy. That was what mattered. Not her own insecurities.
As the dinner passed, B'Elanna found herself less anxious. It probably helped that Koraq was in exobiology – the kind of career that few Klingons willingly opted for, but he was enthusiastic about it. He was also, Miral proudly informed them, the two-time martial arts champion of his sector. (Unfortunately for Koraq, Starfleet hand-to-hand combat training made him ineligible to compete again.) That was more traditionally Klingon, but the best fighter B'Elanna had ever known was also the most serene: Tuvok. Actually, she could picture Tuvok and Koraq having a discussion about orchids, and somehow that went a long way towards easing her anxiety.
"We actually met because we happened to sit next to each other in Federation History," said Miral. "After the first class, he just kept sitting next to me."
B'Elanna smiled. Things weren't going so badly after all.
Chapter Four
"Well?" asked Tom after Koraq had left, the kids had gone to bed, and he and B'Elanna were safely ensconced in their bedroom.
"That wasn't so bad," she admitted. "I actually started to relax a little toward the end." In fact, she had found that she liked Miral's boyfriend far more than she'd anticipated. He was three-quarters Klingon, but that didn't define him. It helped that he didn't act fully Klingon, except in the ravenous amount of food he managed to eat.
"Those were good stories. Who knew fishing tours could be such an amusing business?"
She grinned. "He seemed to enjoy hearing about that Captain Proton incident."
"Everyone does," noted Tom. The story was always a hit.
"Of course, the best part was Kathryn's outfit."
"Too bad she won't let us tell that to people."
B'Elanna grinned as she slid into her pajamas. "Hey, I don't blame her. I would want that part left out if it were me." After a minute, she reverted to their original subject. "Koraq really does seem nice," she sighed. "I don't want to let my problems get in the way."
"I think you're doing a great job. You've come farther than you think."
"Remember what Aunt Jakel told me before we left? She said that she hoped someday I would not be uncomfortable among Klingons, that I would be confidant in myself in whatever company I found myself in."
"I remember."
"Maybe I'll learn that from Koraq."
"I am so proud of you." Tom was leaning in for a kiss when he heard a sound across the hall.
He walked over and knocked on the door to Miral's room. "Who is it?" she called out.
"Me."
"Come in." She was placing a holo of herself and Koraq on the wall across from her bed. "Hi Dad. Can you hold this for a minute?"
B'Elanna walked over to observe them. "Great, you're here too." Miral stepped back to check the holo, then nodded. Tom let go. "I didn't want to say this in front of Jeff and Kate, but Koraq was nervous about meeting you two. Poor guy – the idea of meeting the famous Captains Paris and Torres really shook him up."
"I hope we cured him of that," remarked Tom.
"He relaxed a lot. And I know he's going to love the botanical gardens tomorrow. He's going to wish his shuttle didn't leave Sunday morning. Exobiologists, you know. Let them near anything alive and they're fascinated."
"This should be interesting," remarked Tom.
"Mom, you're going to make Dad behave, right?"
Tom looked at his oldest with indignation while B'Elanna laughed. "Of course. I wouldn't want to mess anything up with you and Koraq."
"Great. I'll see you in the morning."
"I behave!" protested Tom as they went back to their room.
"Come on, flyboy. Let's go to bed. It sounds like we'll be at the gardens a while tomorrow." She smiled. "You know, I'm almost looking forward to it."