Second Chances: Chapter 69

Stardate 54477
November 2377
U.S.S. Voyager
Alpha Quadrant

The holodeck was already buzzing when Tom entered Sandrine's with B'Elanna and Izzy. Izzy immediately ran in to search for Naomi, leaving her parents to fend for themselves. "I thought I'd get at least a few years before she was ditching us at every opportunity," Tom observed.

"Just wait until she wants something," B'Elanna replied dryly. "Then she won't let you out of her sight." He didn't bother to explain that he was looking forward to that.

They ended up finding an empty table near Joe and some of the other engineers. He knew B'Elanna was different now than she had been when at the Academy and when they first got married; she had been reserved, hesitant, always ready to defend herself from a perceived attack. But now here she was, looking relaxed in her off-duty clothes, joking with the engineers about something that had happened in engineering earlier that day. She was self-assured, confident. Grown up. She had become the officer he had always hoped she would become, since those first few weeks of her plebe summer, and he had missed it happening.

The admiral and Captain Janeway entered Sandrine's, both in off-duty clothing. The captain was smiling, circulating amongst the crew, greeting people and laughing. Owen smiled politely at the crew as he walked through the holographic bar, but even in civilian clothes, the sight of an admiral after more than six years away from Starfleet brass made people straighten up slightly in their seats, and he headed straight for Tom and B'Elanna's table. "It's been almost a week in the Alpha quadrant, and I still can't believe we'll be on Earth tomorrow," Tom admitted as his father sat down.

"I hope you're prepared to be overwhelmed," Owen replied. "Your mother has been planning this party since B'Elanna's first successful test of the artificial singularity."

Tom grinned at the thought of his mother's parties and the way Owen barely tolerated them. He could already imagine it: the champagne will be flowing freely, with Nicki and Jason drinking more than their fair shares. Sydney would be looking disapprovingly at people, Jens would be having a conversation with a wall, Owen and B'Elanna would grab a bottle of whiskey and some tumblers and sit out on the porch, away from the crowds. From B'Elanna's stories, he guessed Ainsley, Kajsa, and Navi would try to sneak real alcohol, but he couldn't picture that. To him, the three were still prepubescent girls; he couldn't picture them as a Starfleet cadet and two prep school seniors. "I haven't heard anything from Mom," he said, frowning at the realization. Most of his crewmates were talking to family members back home and making arrangements, but he hadn't gotten anything from his mother or sisters.

"I asked her—and your sisters—not to bother you," Owen admitted. "There will be plenty of time for them to overwhelm you with attention. The least they could do is give you a few days with just B'Elanna and Izzy."

"And we all know Nicki is much more annoying in person than via comm," B'Elanna chimed in. She turned to Owen. "Alicia asked if we can have the party at our place instead of yours. As much as I love hanging out in San Francisco in November—" Tom snorted at that; B'Elanna hated cold weather and San Francisco was never warm enough for her, "it's always nice to hang out at the beach."

"It's your party," Owen said to Tom.

"I like the beach," he offered. Owen smiled at that and turned back to B'Elanna.

"I know Alicia will bring the champagne, but do you need me to bring the whiskey, or do you have some?"

She snorted. "I can't keep alcohol at the apartment," she said, "not with Kajsa and Ainsley hanging out there."

"I think you mean Ainsley," Owen said with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh, don't count Kajsa out," B'Elanna said warningly. "Ainsley instigates, but Kajsa is perfectly happy to go along with it. And now that Navi is mostly locked up at the Academy and Stephanie is back, she gets to play along when they let her. And she's even more devious than Ainsley."

"Sweet little Stephanie?" Tom asked in disbelief.

"Sweet little Stephanie is almost fifteen," B'Elanna pointed out. "If Izzy turns out like any of her cousins, I think we should ship her off to boarding school when she hits prep school." He really couldn't wait to see his nieces and nephews now, because he was having a hard time reconciling these stories with the children and infants he once knew. And he hadn't yet met his youngest nephew, who had the awkward misfortune for being named after an uncle who wasn't really dead.

"Given that Stephanie's parents are Syd and Jens, I wouldn't have pegged her for someone with a personality," Tom commented.

"Be nice to your sister," Owen said mildly. "What can I expect for this dinner?" he asked, clearly changing the subject.

"Expect the unexpected," Tom replied. "And leola root." He knew 'starting a restaurant' was on Neelix's list of things that he wanted to do back on Earth; he hoped for the sake of the Federation that someone destroyed his breeding stock of leola root before that happened.

Izzy reappeared with a plate full of desserts at one point; Tom was still new to the parenting thing, but he was pretty sure from his time as a child that that didn't constitute a balanced diet. B'Elanna had rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, and he figured that if it was fight she wasn't willing to have, it wouldn't be worth it for him to have it, either.

Harry and Sue were providing background music; Captain Janeway relieved them and told them to get something to eat when she took over the dais. "I'll be brief, because we're all going to be subjected to a lot of ceremonies in the coming weeks," she said. "I've said it before, and I'll undoubtedly say it again, but it has been an honor to serve as your captain for the last six and a half years. This wasn't the mission any of us signed up for, but I wouldn't have changed a minute of it for anything. Each and every one of you has made me proud to be a Starfleet officer.

"A lot is going to be happening in the next few weeks. There will be ceremonies, there will be promotions, there will be inquests. I'm not going to lie to you; not everyone is in for a smooth ride. But I give my word to each and every one of you: I will be right there with you, every step of the way. We have faced a lot in the last six and a half years, and we've succeeded every time, because we've stood together, as a family. This will be no different.

"But that's tomorrow," she said, a smile developing on her face. "And tonight, we have this family, and this party that Mr. Neelix and Mr. Paris put together for us. Thank you, Harry and Sue, for our entertainment during dinner. I believe the Doctor and Seven promised a performance later tonight as well."

"Are we going to see a re-enactment of the Dying Swan?" Chakotay asked with a grin. Janeway chuckled.

"I think once a journey is more than enough for that," she joked back. "Mr. Neelix. Let the party continue."

There was more music, more drinking, more eating, more dancing. Tom got B'Elanna out onto the dance floor; he had forgotten how that had felt, to dance with his wife. She still had that easy grace she had always had, that way of moving that reminded him of watching her on the track, even the first time they danced. He frowned, wondering when that was. "What?" B'Elanna asked.

"Hmm?"

"You look lost in thought."

"I was trying to remember the first time we danced."

"You don't remember?" she asked with a teasing smile. "You took me out to dinner the last night of seconds year and dragged me out onto the dance floor."

"That's right!" he said. He laughed and held her closer. "You were wearing that green dress and were in a really good mood."

She laughed as well. "I think I made a joke about Reyana being out of the room for the night. Or, at least, I thought it."

"No, you said it," he assured her. He grinned down at her. "That was the first night I thought I might actually have a chance."

"I was scared to death of you," she informed him. That made him frown.

"Of me? Why?"

"Not of you, really," she corrected. "Of me. Of how I felt about you. I was trying so hard not to fall in love with you."

"Good thing I'm so irresistible," he joked. She chuckled and smacked him lightly where her hand rested on his shoulder.

"I'd never had something I loved that wasn't taken away from me," she said a minute later, serious again. "I loved my father and he left. I loved running and got bitten by a damn snake. At that point, I didn't know if I'd be able to compete again," she reminded him. "I worried that if I let myself fall in love with you, that I'd lose you, too."

"And then you did," he said softly. He squeezed her hip; he would always regret that he did that to her, that there were four years when she thought he was dead.

"And then I did," she agreed. "I think I found myself when I lost you," she said after a long pause. "Navi told me once that human brains aren't fully developed until around the age 25. I don't know about Klingon brains, or my brain in particular, but I know I did a lot of growing up after you disappeared. I don't know what our lives would have looked like if we didn't have Voyager." They probably would have stayed on Mars, but would she have ever been a company commander and then project officer, or would she have stayed on the research track? Or would they have gone together on a ship? Would either of them or both have served in the Dominion War? Would they have survived the Dominion War?

He decided that there was no point on dwelling on that; they had had Voyager, they had those years apart, and they were now back together. That was all that mattered. She had figured out how to get their family back together, and now they had to figure out how to stay together and raise Izzy—and maybe another kid, or a few other kids—together.

"Hey, Tom." He turned to see Joe holding up a PADD, a grin on his face. "It's time." He grinned and gave B'Elanna a quick kiss before he took the PADD and headed to the front of the room.

"It's our last night all together," he said. He watched B'Elanna return to the table with his father and shrug a shoulder in response to Owen's question. "Which means it's the last night for a time-honored tradition." He held up the PADD and was met with chuckles of people who knew what this was about. "All pools close as soon as we enter the Sol System tomorrow, so get in your bets now."

"What're the stakes?" someone asked.

"Replicator rations," he replied automatically. "Don't spend them all in one place." He grinned at the laughter. "We'll be checking the results exactly one year after we arrive on Earth. Last chance to submit bets will be tonight at 2300. We've got a lot of bets going on. So far, we have," he cleared his throat dramatically as he activated the PADD. "Number of marriages. Number of divorces—wow, that got dark quick—number of shuttles Commander Chakotay destroys. C'mon," he said, looking up. "One look at our shuttle record, and there's no way anyone's going to give him a shuttle."

"I think you took out more than I did," Chakotay chimed in.

"Destroying shuttles is literally in my job description," Tom replied. "Besides, it's fun." He grinned and looked at the PADD again. "Next bet: stardate that Lt. Commander Torres shoves Lt. Paris out an airlock. Hey!"

"Who has five minutes from now?" B'Elanna asked.

"Thanks, honey," he replied. He winked at her and resumed his reading. "Stardate that Admiral Paris shoves Lt. Paris—okay, guys, that's redundant," he said. "It's clearly going to be a joint effort. Stardate that Captain Janeway gets promoted to admiral. Number of babies. We need a clarification on this one," he said, looking up. "Is that number of babies born, or do pregnancies count?"

"Well, if it's babies born, there will be one in about six months," Harry said with a grin on his face, and the news was met with cheers and congratulations. Tom grinned and clicked a few controls on his PADD.

"Which brings us to another bet. Current stardate is 54477.53, which means that the winner of the 'when will Harry or Sue announce the pregnancy' pool is… Lt. Joe Carey. Congrats, Joe. Enjoy your replicator rations."

"I'll use them for the baby shower gift," he said with a grin.

"Wait," Harry said. "You knew? Who knew?"

"We all knew, Harry 'read-me-like-a-book' Kim," Tom informed him. He neglected to point out the obvious, which was that Sue had told Joe—her supervisor—when she found out. And Joe was a bigger gossip than the Delaney twins put together. "Congratulations, seriously."

Harry was grinning the grin he had been wearing for the last two months. "Thanks," he said. "It's a girl, by the way."

"If you want to practice parenting, I know a six-year-old you can borrow," B'Elanna offered. "For as long as you need."

"Hey!" Izzy protested.

"Hey!" Tom echoed. "I need the parenting practice, too."

"Oh, you'll be getting that," B'Elanna promised.

"Looking forward to it," he said cheekily. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him. "Last few bets: number of resignations from Starfleet, and first person to volunteer to go back into space. Ensign Harry Kim is currently the overwhelming leader; in light of the recent news that we all knew already, if anyone wants to change their bets—"

"Are you kidding?" Sue interrupted. "I'm married to him, and I think he's going to be itching to get back on a ship by Friday. He's just going to have to find one that needs an engineer and is okay with babies on board." She smiled over at her husband and kissed him on the cheek. "You are predictable, babe."

The party continued for a few more hours, and it just struck Tom as he left the holodeck, a sleeping Izzy in his arms, that that was the end of an era, and the next day, a new chapter of his life would begin. "You okay?" B'Elanna asked. He smiled over at her.

"Stockholm syndrome," he joked. She smiled in return. "What happened after you found us again?"

"You know most of it," she reminded him. They had established regular connection through the MIDAS array, and between his letters and their video conversations, she kept him fairly up to date on the events of her life. "The war ended, we were able to focus on getting you home, and now here we are."