Second Chances: Chapter 74

Stardate 54479
November 2377
U.S.S. Voyager
Sol System

"Entering the heliosphere, Captain," Lt. Tom Paris announced as he increased the shields to pass through the helipause. He decreased to warp 3. "We'll be at Jupiter in eight minutes."

"Very good, Mr. Paris," Captain Janeway said. He could hear the smile and barely contained excitement in her voice. "We're scheduled to make our entrance in San Francisco at 1300, so we'll hang tight around Jupiter for a while."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. He couldn't believe it, either, couldn't believe that in just a few hours, they would be beaming down to San Francisco and he would be seeing his mother and sisters again, that he would be going to bed that night in an apartment in Hawaii instead of his quarters.

"Jupiter Station has approved our orbit, Captain," Harry said from the back.

"You heard him, Mr. Paris," the captain said. "Once we're in orbit, I don't think we need you here on the bridge until a few minutes before we begin the last leg toward Earth."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said again, grinning.

Once he set the orbit, he turned the controls over to Chakotay. "Try not to crash it into the big planet," he joked.

"Even I can manage a standard orbit," the commander replied, but he was smiling.

Paris headed to his quarters, where he expected to see his belongs reduced to one trunk and one duffel—B'Elanna had been harsh with the recycler the night before, which he should have expected, given their previous arguments when it came to decorating—and his wife and daughter before they and his father headed back to Earth on the Mackay in advance of Voyager. He did see the trunk and duffel, as well as the wife and daughter, but they appeared far from ready to head to the runabout. Izzy had adopted a stance that left no doubt that she was B'Elanna's daughter, her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. B'Elanna looked similarly frustrated, massaging her temples with both hands. Belatedly, he realized that his father was also in the room, sitting in the chair and seemingly unaware of the tension between mother and daughter as he thumbed through a PADD. "I want to stay with you!" Izzy exclaimed, throwing herself at Tom's waist.

"I missed something," he said slowly.

"Somebody feels the need to be difficult," B'Elanna replied, as if he couldn't figure that out already.

"I don't want to go back on the Mackay!" Izzy exclaimed. "I want to stay with you on Voyager!"

"Izz—" he started.

"Izzy, we don't have time for this," B'Elanna interrupted. "We need to get to the shuttle."

Izzy's eyes narrowed and her jaw took a very familiar set. "It's not fair!" she exclaimed. "Naomi gets to stay on Voyager!"

"Naomi was born on Voyager," B'Elanna replied.

"So?" Izzy demanded.

"So you weren't," B'Elanna said. "And you need to go back to Earth on the Mackay with me and your grandfather."

"Why?

"Because that's the way it works, kiddo," she said. "Don't make me carry you to the shuttlebay," she added warningly, and Izzy's eyes narrowed further.

"I'm staying!" she said stubbornly.

"You're not, and that's final," B'Elanna replied, just as stubbornly.

"I can stay with Dad!"

"Isela Miral Paris," B'Elanna said in tones that made the hairs on the back of Tom's neck stand on end. He knew that tone and knew how dangerous it was to be at the receiving end of it.

Tom still had to learn their argument dynamic, but B'Elanna's previous statement was accurate, and they really didn't have the time for him to learn it now. He knelt down to eye level with his daughter. "Izzy," he said gently. "I have to go back to the bridge. You can't stay with me."

"I can go with you," she said. She had completely changed her demeanor; gone was the angry six-year-old she had been only seconds before, her voice now soft and pleading, her eyes wide as she looked up at him. He knew that look; he had used it against his parents and sisters when he was her age.

Oh, he was going to be in trouble.

"You can't," he said, wondering if he got that mix of gentleness and forcefulness right. "Not on the bridge."

"I can stay with Naomi," she attempted, but he shook his head.

"Ensign Wildman is going to be busy," he said. "I don't want you to get lost in the shuffle, Izzy. I will come find you, first thing when we beam down to Earth. We're just going to be a few hours behind you."

"Promise?" she asked, and he hesitated. He didn't make promises; his refusal to do so even made it into his wedding vows. His father had made and broken too many promises when he was a kid, and the last thing he wanted to do as a parent was repeat his father's mistakes. It would be an easy promise to make and keep; he guessed technically something could go wrong between Jupiter and Earth, but tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of ships and shuttles made that journey every year without incident.

"I will find you," he said instead. "And you're going to have a very important job," he continued. "I haven't seen any of your cousins in almost seven years, and I doubt I'm going to recognize any of them. So I need you to round them all up for me and make sure I get their names right. Can you do that for me?"

Izzy fixed him with a long look, as if trying to decide if he was being serious or not. He tried his hardest to keep a sincere expression on his face, but the smirk on his father's that he saw out of the corner of his eye almost did him in. "Okay," she finally relented.

"Thank you," he said. "Now. Let's get you to the Mackay so you have time to get everyone there." The Mackay was also taking his stuff back—less chance of it getting lost with the rush of 150 people also dealing with their stuff—so he grabbed his duffel and B'Elanna helped him with the trunk, and they headed to the shuttlebay.

Tom gave his wife a kiss once the luggage was stowed and pre-flight checks were complete. "Fly safe," he said. She smirked.

"You too, Flyboy," she replied. "Try to get to the right place this time."

"I'll do my best," he said. "I love you." He looked into the Mackay, where Izzy was already getting settled in the back. "I love you, too, Izzy. Don't forget to round up your cousins for me."

"I won't," she said, barely glancing up from the PADD she was reading. He waited for something further, which he apparently wasn't going to get.

"See you soon," he finally said. He straightened to see his father waiting to enter the roundabout.

"You did good, Tom," Owen said, clasping him on the shoulder before stepping past him to enter the Mackay. Tom watched the door close behind his father before he stepped to the other side of the forcefield to watch them leave.

Just a few more hours, he told himself, and then there would be some speeches and he would get to see them again. And his mother, and sisters, and, as B'Elanna put it, a whole bunch of very, very blond nieces and nephews.

It was going to be a long few days. But at least it would be a long few days with B'Elanna and Izzy.

He returned to the bridge after the shuttlebay doors closed behind the Mackay, relieving Chakotay—as if a stable orbit around a gas giant really required having anyone at the helm—and turned to monitoring the Mackay's progress on his console. They were going faster than the trip usually allowed—they probably had the presence of an admiral in the runabout to thank for that—and fifteen minutes after they left Voyager's shuttlebay, they were docked at McKinley Station.

And at 1230, they were on their way to join them.

He had started his Starfleet career as a test pilot and spent the last six and a half years navigating the Delta quadrant and the various challenges that both friends and foes had thrown at them. He had flown a ship through an artificial singularity that connected the Delta and Alpha quadrants, but this was the half hour of flying that he had been looking forward to the most.

As a cadet, he certainly hadn't thought he'd ever get excited to see that asteroid belt again. He could still remember the first time he had flown through it when he was a kid, terrified that he would mess up and end up ramming the shuttle into an asteroid, but by the time he graduated from the Academy, he had done that flight so many times he joked he could do it blindfolded and without shields.

And then they were through. Mars wasn't in their path, but he glimpsed at the red planet through sensors before it was time to drop out of warp. "Mr. Paris," the captain said behind him, her voice thick. "Make our approach for Earth."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "Entering the atmosphere." They would dock and beam out of McKinley Station, but the flight plan that Starfleet approved involved a fly-by of the Golden Gate Bridge and over the Presidio. A kids' dream, and, well, it wasn't like he had grown up all that much.

He was still grinning when they docked at McKinley Station. "Well done, Mr. Paris," Captain Janeway. "Everyone, let's get to the transporter room."

Harry's smile was so wide that Tom was sure his face was going to break, so excited that he was bouncing on his toes. Tuvok looked as composed as ever. Chakotay had that slight smile he often had as he joined them in the turbo lift. And right before the captain joined them, she turned back one last time to her bridge. When she turned back to step into that turbo lift, there was the shine of tears in her eyes.

Honestly, Tom couldn't remember a single word either Captain Janeway or his father said to the gathered crowds and crew once they had beamed down. He was just thankful that, contrary to everything Starfleet did, the welcoming ceremony was brief.

And then it was over, and he found Izzy again.

He lifted his daughter from the ground in an embrace and kissed her temple. "I told you I'd find you," he said. He gave B'Elanna a kiss before he set Izzy back down. "Now," he said to Izzy. "Where are your cousins and grandmother?"

"I rounded them all up for you," she said proudly. "Come on!"

His mother wrapped him in an embrace before he could register what was going on. "Oh, Tom," she said. "My baby."

"Hi, Mom," he replied. "I love you."

"I love you, too, baby," she replied, and when she pulled away, she was crying. "I can't believe you're actually here. It's been so long..."

"I know, Mom," he interrupted. "To be honest, I can't believe I'm here, either."

"Baby brother!" That was was Nicki, and she was on him in a blur of black and gray and teal, and he laughed.

"Hi, Commander Sanders," he teased. "I think I might have ended up in an alternate universe of some sort, because that's the only explanation for Nicki Sanders being in uniform."

"I think your wife did enough exploration of alternate universes for the lot of us," Nicki replied, her blue eyes twinkling.

"Dad!" Izzy interrupted. "You haven't seen my cousins!"

Ainsley looked enough like her mother that Tom did a double take, remembering his own sister at 17. Kajsa more resembled Jens than Sydney, but he still couldn't believe that this composed teenager was the shy ten-year-old kid he remembered. Stephanie had more of her mother in her, but there was no way that Syd ever would have ever had bright blue streaks in her blond hair. He certainly didn't recognize Christopher or Drew, and he had never met Alex or Tommy.

He wasn't exactly sure when the party had moved from the parade grounds at the Presidio to the beach outside B'Elanna's—their—apartment, but as promised, the champagne—real stuff, from France—was flowing freely. Navi was there; he briefly saw the teenager in a teal cadet's uniform before she changed, and to his surprise, John Torres and T'Pana Tulon. It was overwhelming, these people he should recognize but didn't, who he should know but didn't, this life his should have had but didn't.

It was after midnight when B'Elanna found him sitting on the beach, his bare feet in the ocean, his eyes fixed on the stars. "Running away from parties is my trick," she teased as she joined him. "We're going to have to set some rules for this marriage if you start butting into my territory."

"I just... got overwhelmed," he admitted. She laughed.

"Kahless, they're a lot," she agreed. "Your family is too much."

"Your family," he corrected. She tilted her head in acknowledgement. "I'm the stranger here."

"You'll get your land legs soon enough," she said with a confidence he wished he felt. "You want me to send them away? I'll do it."

He chuckled at the mental image. "No," he replied. "Let them enjoy the return of the prodigal son."

She leaned her head against the shoulder. "I'm glad I got to come out to Voyager," she said. "I'm glad I didn't have to share our first few days together with everyone else."

"I'm glad you were there, too," he said. "I'm glad for all of it. I'm glad you were in my company. I'm glad you stopped by my apartment on Mars. I'm glad I convinced you to marry me, that we had Izzy, that you didn't give up on me."

"I could never give up on you," B'Elanna replied, "because you never gave up on me." He turned his head to give her a kiss.

"What happened after you got back from Qo'noS?" he asked abruptly, and she returned her head to his shoulder.

"Navi started at the Academy," she said. "I had a new cadet, and then I found another new cadet, and then we got you home."