"Are you certain it's safe?"Emily asked as the strange animal swung it's head towards her and made her jump back in fear. "This animal is much larger than Rowley." She looked closer at it's mouth "Does it bite?" Emily looked down under the animal. "Is it a boy or a girl?" Amelia was giggling almost more at Emily than just random baby giggles. "Stop that Amy, it's not funny. It's not as if you are the one who has to ride it." Emily snapped at her younger 'sister'.

"It's perfectly safe, I programmed this pony to have the same personality as the one I road as a young girl. His name was Pepper, a man named Mr. Wilks owned him, he kept a lot of horses but none as sweet as Pepper. I use to go to his farm every weekend to ride Pepper and brush him." Janeway patted the bay pony on the neck. "Never bit anyone in all his life."

Emily looked back at the pony a little less afraid of the animal now. Walking up she copied Janeway and patted Pepper on the neck. "He's very soft." Moving her hand to Pepper's shoulder she looked back to the captain. "If we got back to earth soon, would I be able to meet the real Pepper?"

Janeway let out a little sigh as the pony snorted. "Afraid not, he passed away of old age while I was attending Starfleet academy."

"Captain." Neelix's voice came over the com system turning everyone's attention to him. "Your presence is requested in the mess hall."

"Computer, end holodeck program Emily 1." Janeway ordered as the pony faded away along with the farmyard around them. For a moment Emily stood there with her hand raised awkwardly in the air petting nothing before she lowered her hand with a look of disappointment. "Come on Emily, you can be my backup, if Neelix tries getting me to help him plan another party on the holodeck you can swoop in and rescue me." Janeway smiled at the girl and walked over to pick up Amelia from the blanket she had been laying on.

Giving the captain a salute Emily gave a nod of her head. "Affirmative Captain." It was good to see Emily acting a little more her age and enjoying her time on Voyager. Emily followed behind the captain almost walking in her shadow. Lately it had been useful to have Emily spend more time with Naomi Wildman, some things an adult couldn't teach a child, one of those things being how to be a child. "Why would Neelix need you in the mess hall?" Emily asked holding her hands behind her back and clasping her wrist with her other hand much like Janeway did when she walked the halls. "And what would he need you for?"

"I don't know, I suppose that is what we shall find out." Kathryn spoke back to her.

"Don't you think he could have spoken to commander Chakotay about whatever it is?"

"It might be something important, I'm the captain after all, if he wants to do anything to improve the mess hall or change my ship he has to ask me."

"He could write a request and have you approve it? Formal requests are preferred since captains can be busy."

"And you ask a lot of questions don't you." She laughed as Emily picked up her face to walk beside the captain, her legs having to move a bit faster to keep up with an adults longer stride.

"I guess I get it from you." Emily smiled as she continued to match her own pace with the captains. They were very close to the mess hall now, Emily's attention falling to door ahead of them. "I feel inclined to agree with Amelia." Emily finally spoke up with a smile.

"I see your lessons with Tuvok have been going well."

Emily nodded her head again. "I still need the restraint to control my abilities at their fullest but I am able to finally hear Amelia's point of view on things. Did you know in the continuum Q only speak with their minds? I probably can't talk to normal Q's like Amelia can but I can talk to her and right now she says this seems a bit suspicious. I am inclined to agree with her. She would know better than me after all."

"Oh does she now?" Janeway looked at Amelia, the baby's big green eyes looking up at her mother. "I think Amelia is paranoid." Pausing in front of the mess hall door Janeway looked back down at Emily. "There is nothing to be concerned about. Believe me, as captain of the ship nothing happens without my permission." She smiled as the door slid open and the two stepped inside only to have Emily jump back and grab onto Janway's free hand.

"Surprise." The large group of crew members shouted as Emily clung to Janeway watching them with a wide emerald gaze.

"Happy Birthday." A familiar voice spoke out from the group and stepped forward holding a purple cake. It was Neelix, what was the meaning of all this?

Looking back up to Janeway Emily let her hand go and tried to straighten herself out again. "What's this?" Emily asked seeming rather confused by this whole situation.

"It's your birthday today, after looking over some records your father had left us I discovered this was the day they took you out of the biocell they grew you in, the day you were born. A birthday is a day celebrated by most species every year, on the day you came into the world. So Emily, it looks like today is your first birthday."

Emily looked back at the group of people filling the mess hall. She had heard of birthdays before, her father had left her one day to go home and celebrate his real daughters birthday. Emily guessed she didn't have a birthday since she wasn't a 'real' person and hadn't had real parents. Apparently now she was a real person, with real parents, and a real birthday. "I, I don't know what to say." Emily muttered feeling a little shy.

"How about you blow out your candle and make a wish." She watched the little girl look back at her and furrow her brow. "It's an earth custom." Emily looked at Janeway one last time before sheepishly walking over to Neelix and the bright purple cake with the single candle sticking out of the top. Emily paused as she stood in front of him and looked around at everyone as they watched her. This was rather nerve racking, she had never had this many people looking at her in all her life, which according to today had only been one year as of now.

"Go ahead, take a deep breath." Neelix spoke to her with a big smile. Taking in a deep and perhaps overly dramatic breath Emily puffed up her cheeks and blew the candle out with ease, jumping back from the cake as everyone started clapping. Why were they so impressed over something as simple as blowing out a fire? She wasn't certain she understood this earth custom. "As birthday girl you get the first slice." Neelix spoke up again and set the cake down on a table. "We didn't know what your favorite cake was so I went with one of my personal favorites, it's called red velvet cake." He smiled as he cut into the cake. "And Naomi here mentioned you liked the color purple."

Emily smiled and looked over at Naomi. "Thank you Naomi." Walking over to the table she nodded at Neelix. "I don't think I have ever had cake before."

Putting her slice on a plate he handed it off to her with a fork. "Well I hope you like it then."

Q pulled out a chair for Emily over at another table and waited for her to sit down before pushing her into place. "I see Kathy was able to keep you distracted long enough for us to get this put together."

Emily felt strange being the center of attention, it was uncomfortable for her but she tried to be happy. "We were playing with a pony named Pepper on the holodeck." Emily took a bite of her cake and shifted in her chair a little.

"We should have gotten coffee flavored for her, oh wait that is going to be Amelia." Q joked as Emily slowly got around to scarfing down the cake. "Slow down their Em, you are going to choke yourself."

"This is good...can I have more?" She finally cake up for air with half her slice already gone."

"I think one is enough for you, you haven't had that many sweets, you could get sick." Janeway mentioned always acting as the responsible parent.

"Eh, it's her birthday, let her eat cake I say." Q answered back. "If she gets sick the doc is right over there."

"Does Amelia get cake too?" Emily asked looking over at you younger 'sister' or twin 'sister', it wasn't very clear.

"She's a little too young yet to eat cake." Janeway replied.

Emily got a big smile on her face then, "I can eat her slice then."

"Looks like someone is enjoying her cake." Neelix added with a smile.

"Just a little too much." Janeway commented taking a slice for herself as it was handed to her by Neelix. By now Emily had already cleared her plate and scraped off whatever frosting was left. She couldn't help but crack a little smile, glancing back at Emily with purple colored lips as she sucked on her fork to get whatever sugar was left. Honestly this had been only the second time she had something overly sweet in her life, the first time being when Janeway replicated her some coffee ice cream to eat after Emily showed interest in what the captain had been eating. Of all the things Emily would hate it had been coffee ice cream, her own flesh and blood. "You have something on your face right there." Janeway pointed towards Emily's purple stained lips. Almost instantly the little girl was brushing her sleeve over her mouth, a habit she had before coming to Voyager. Clearly using napkins wasn't common in those Vidiian labs, or Q was correct and it was just a byproduct of Emily being a little girl. "I think you got it." She laughed still watching Emily brush her sleeve over her lips a few more times just to be sure.

Amelia turned her attention to Janeway while her mother ate her slice of cake looking rather envious of all the older people and their ability to chew food with teeth. Her eyes flickered over to her 'sister' Emily, the girl snickering as if someone had just told her a joke. "I'm sorry Amy, maybe next time." Emily taunted with a playful tone.

"I know everyone wants to wait to give you your presents but I have one for you now." Q was always impatient about giving people things. Besides when he was sitting on a gift like this he just HAD to hand it off to the proper owner. Setting a box on the table beside Emily he smiled down at her. "Happy birthday Emily."

The little girl hadn't expected gifts, she hadn't expected a birthday party either. "Thank you Q." Emily spoke up sounding a little shy.

"It's not just from me, actually it was Kathy's idea." He corrected her.

Carefully Emily took the wrapping paper off the box being more methodical about removing it than most kids who would have torn it apart. Opening up the box she looked down at a gold locket with the letter E written on the front of it in a rather lovely elegant font. In fact, it hadn't been much different from the one Captain Amelia Janeway had worn. Pulling it out she turned it over in her hands and opened the locket up. "It's empty."

"I thought we would let you decide what you wanted to put in it." Janeway responded figuring she would try to hunt down a picture of her father to place inside and if that was her choice, what made her happy then so be it.

Emily looked back up with a little smile, "Thank you Kathryn, Q." Opening the clasp on the chain she put it around her neck and secured it in place. She sat there for a moment, her face twisted from her happy little smile to a look of sorrow. Emily sat there a moment longer fighting back tears before she covered her face crying quietly. handing Amelia off to Neelix Janeway rushed to Emily's side placing a hand on the crying girls back.

"What's wrong?" She asked with an air of concern.

"It's just..." Emily continued to cry brushing her eyes and refusing to look at the captain. "I, I have never had anything that was just mine before." Not even the clothes on her back had belonged to her, she normally wore white lab clothes that belonged to the lab, she had the black armor that belonged to the weapons department since it had been a testing set they were working on for Vidiian harvesters, and even the dress she got to wear once when going outside the labs had belonged to her fathers real daughter and had to be returned. This locket was her first possession. The only thing anyone had even given to her before.

"Well get use to it, you are my kid too, that means you are going to be a spoiled brat in no time." Q smiled at Emily. He already spoiled Amelia rotten, Emily would be no different.

Janeway on the other hand had to think about Emily's life before her father had rescued her from the lab. It was a grim reminder of where Emily had come from. Things that couldn't be forgotten or undone but she could always make a better life from this point on, here on Voyager. "I suppose you have had a lot of firsts on Voyager already, your first real family, your first birthday, your first belonging, lets not stop at that shall we."

Emily closed her eyes again and wrapped her arms around Janeway's torso as she rested her head against the captain. "Thank you Captain." Emily whimpered quietly. Perhaps the most sincere the girl had ever been.