June 26, 2402

Starbase 47, alternate timeline

B'Elanna stepped into her daughter's quarters, with no regard for the door. Miral had to walk past her to press the button to shut it. "You weren't due back for another three months. What happened?" she quizzed, her voice rough and accusatory.

Having been away, compounded with the time traveling and looking at her father's face 16 years younger than he should have been in comparison, emphasized drastically how old B'Elanna truly looked. Her hair was long, probably too long for someone her age, longer than she had ever worn it when she was younger. It was more gray than brown with thick streaks of white in certain areas. She looked frail…at least as frail as a Klingon could look, relatively speaking. The overall grayness of her skin and her blood shot eyes were the outward manifestations of her troubles…her inability to deal with her own life.

Miral had grown to almost hate her mother, something that now shamed her when she thought of her father, hiding in the bathroom. She had been too young to understand what had happened to her mother when her father died, too young to empathize or feel pity. Without any example, she herself had grieved pathologically, and then resented her mother for somehow being less than what she needed as she grew. With her father here, somehow, she was less angry, more understanding than she would have been otherwise.

Part of it was the knowledge that this entire timeline would disappear if they were successful. Another part, she was sure, was because her father would never have berated her mother for her current state. He loved her, no matter what. It was ironic…the loss that had caused all of this now turned on its head was her potential salvation.

"Emergency leave," Miral lied.

"What emergency? What's going on?" B'Elanna asked, crossing her arms belligerently.

"It's work related. I don't want to talk about it now, Mom," Miral snipped, backing up further away from the door.

"Does Aaron know you're here?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "He's not in Ops."

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine," she said sarcastically. She knew intellectually that her mother cared, but her oversight for not asking still hurt. "And, yes, he knows. He left Ops for me when I arrived."

Her mother huffed quietly, but said nothing else.

Miral lowered her voice. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Not important," B'Elanna retorted dismissively.

"Doesn't Aaron have enough to worry about without you creating stress for him?" Miral scolded, their roles suddenly painfully reversed.

"He doesn't need to," B'Elanna replied, lifting her chin in defiance.

"He promised Dad he would take care of you," Miral said, tearing up as she said it, afraid her father could hear everything. "He just couldn't do it all…when you wouldn't help yourself in the slightest."

B'Elanna stood in front of her daughter, her fists balled up tightly as she trembled with rage. Without saying another word, she turned and stormed away.

Once she was alone, Miral rushed to the lavatory and opened the door. Tom was seated on the floor, cramped against the wall beside the sonic shower. His head was bowed down over his knees. "Dad, are you alright?" she asked softly, worried about how much of that exchange he could have heard.

His eyes were red and glassy when he lifted his head to look at her. "I know what you said," he answered. "I just…" He puffed out his breath in a long, shuddering sigh, unable to finish his thought. "I just can't accept that she would just give up like that."

Miral offered her hand and pulled him to his feet. "You said so yourself," she reminded him. "She was brave…but she feared losing you more than anything else. Maybe before you told her the truth, she thought it would be her personality that drove you away. Once that fear became realized, through no fault of her own, she just…didn't know how to keep going."

He shook his head bitterly as he moved past his daughter. "A part of me was angry at her…for what she did. For what she chose," he said softly. "Until Admiral Janeway made me understand that…she chose that because she wanted me to live. Which is exactly what your father did, why he did what he did. You have to know that he…I…would never have thought your life would have been as hard as it was…is…because of those choices."

She focused intently on his face. "You and Mom were Starfleet officers. I'm a Starfleet officer. I know what that means. The lives of over a thousand people were yours to protect, your crew and personnel and innocent civilians as well. You didn't have any other choice. And neither did she. It had to be one of you." She sneered. "What she did choose was to give up. I understand why. But it doesn't make it hurt any less."

He looked at her with sympathy. Anything additional he would have added died in his throat when the door chimed again. Miral sighed in frustration, shoving him back inside the lavatory and shutting the door. "Who is it?" she called.

"Miral, open the door."

She gasped as she recognized her best friend's voice on the other side of the door.

}LS{

The lights in the cargo bay were dim as they moved through the organized blocks. Each section of the large area was delegated to a specific purpose, mostly supplies and equipment needed to run the station. The personal storage area for station personnel was far in the back of the space, so the two moved carefully in the darkened and deserted bay. Aaron was leading, walking with a sense of purpose instead of the curious scanning that T'Lassa found herself doing. He stopped at a waist-high stack of storage crates arranged in a rectangle. He stooped and lifted a medium size crate and turned, spinning to deposit the box in front of T'Lassa.

"This is what I saved for your daughter," he said.

She crouched down, dropping onto her knees and undoing the latch that held the lid closed. "An entire life…just a box this small," she murmured to herself, remembering that her Aaron had almost nothing worth saving, nothing that had any sentimental value. He had kept his dead wife's wedding ring. T'Lassa had made sure that was sealed in his casket with him.

She pulled the lid off and set it on the floor. Peering inside, she saw mostly holo photographs. There were a few articles of clothing and a few pieces of jewelry, as well as a tiny vase and several leather bound books. Half of the content inside was the hard case that she had kept all of the things her grandmother had left for her. T'Lassa lifted the box out and set it on the floor in front of the crate. Before she opened the smaller box, she looked back inside. "Where is her wedding ring?" she asked. She couldn't shake the need to see it, touch it…to prove to herself that it was real, that it had been real, at least somewhere.

He didn't answer, just cleared his throat. She looked up at him, craning her neck as she gazed up to his face all the way from the floor. He unzipped the collar of his uniform and reached inside, pulling out a chain on which a silvery band was strung. "I wanted to keep it with me," he whispered.

She could feel his emotion before she could sense his thoughts. She struggled to hold her shields in place and not succumb to that same urge that she could barely control…to just submerge her mind in his. She forced herself to focus again on the box in front of her.

That lid was sealed, but she opened it by touching it. Her DNA acted as the key, as would her daughter's had she ever come looking for this. Just as she recalled, inside the box were three things—a compressed data padd that contained all of T'Pol's personal logs, an ancient small black embroidered cloth purse…and a circular metallic device, Daniels' database, complete with the small edge that indicated the temporal seal was intact.

"This is what Miral was looking for," T'Lassa told him. "A history of the future…as it was before any temporal incursions occurred. The temporal lock protects the data inside from being altered if events affect the timeline."

"Alright then," Aaron sighed as he adjusted the collar of his uniform, tucking the ring on the chain back inside. "Let's get this back to her."

She stood, holding the database carefully. "Oh, no," she muttered.

"What?" he asked. Her face had gone blank.

She shook her head slightly. "I have made an error…a miscalculation," she admitted. "I didn't account for T'Mira…being able to sense me, because I am her mother. The same thing you and I sensed. And if she senses me, she senses Miral."

"Damn," he sighed, knowing she was correct, cursing himself for not having thought about it. He had been so distracted by her his logical thought processes were delayed. "We may have to do some explaining…some pretty serious explaining."

"Let's go," T'Lassa said, her voice tight with urgency.

}LS{

Miral's heart was in her throat as she opened the door. Before she could even react, the petite Vulcan woman immediately closed the distance between them and grabbed Miral in an embrace. Anything she had wanted to say disappeared as she instead swallowed the lump in her throat. It hit her full force…how much she truly missed her friend.

"Why are you here?" T'Mira asked, not letting go. "Not that I'm complaining. I just thought—"

"It's a long story. How did you know I was here?" Miral asked.

It was only then that T'Mira pulled back so that Miral could see her. Her cerulean blue eyes were sad, blood shot…as if she had been crying. Aaron had done his best to raise her, trying to help her find her way between both of her worlds, and she had grown to be a logical woman who displayed her emotions with her closest family and friends.

"What's wrong?" Miral asked, ignoring the first question.

"I'm not certain," T'Mira replied. "I was going to tell you I sensed you here. But before that…before that…I kept feeling like I was…I was sensing my mother."

Miral left her hands on T'Mira's shoulders, as if somehow comfort could be made to flow through her hands to calm her friend. Her gut instinct had been to shield T'Mira, considering how painful the entire situation could be, compounded with the fact that T'Mira was so sensitive. The thought that T'Mira might already know seemed to lessen Miral's concerns. What won the argument in Miral's head was the same thought that had been fortifying her all along–all of this would cease to be, would never take place, if they were successful. T'Mira was intelligent enough to be of assistance. Also, Miral hated the idea of lying to her like she would now have to do after her presence had been detected.

Miral sighed. "You were." T'Mira's eyes stayed wide and fixed as she awaited a better explanation. "I should just show you. It'll be easier to explain," Miral said.

She released T'Mira's shoulders and walked to the lavatory door, pressing the button while her back was turned. She murmured something quietly that T'Mira couldn't discern. Miral turned and stepped aside. T'Mira staggered on her feet at the sight in front of her.

"Commander Paris!" she shrieked, steepling her hands over her mouth in shock.

"It's Captain," he said with a crooked smile. "My god, you look exactly like your mother, T'Mira," he gushed. He felt the air rush out of his lungs as the young Vulcan woman launched herself into him and squeezed him tightly.

"How is this possible?" T'Mira asked weepily.

"Your mother is here as well. It's quite a story…and we will explain. But we could use your help," Miral explained.

They were all occupied and never heard the door of Miral's quarters as they opened. "I was so distracted by all of this…I forgot hiding my presence from you would be near impossible," T'Lassa said softly as she stood in front of the door. T'Lassa was alone.

"Mother…" T'Mira choked, barely a whisper, as she spun away from Tom's arms.

T'Lassa marveled at the young woman standing before her, older and more mature than the young girl she felt she had just left behind on her world. It was like looking in a mirror from long ago, she thought, seeing more of herself in her daughter than was apparent when T'Mira still displayed her young, undefined features. Funny how she had never noticed the slight bow to T'Mira's lips was a trait of her father's.

T'Mira staggered forward again, hesitating, until T'Lassa closed the distance, sensing the younger woman was on the verge of breaking down. The rest of T'Mira's words were lost in a high-pitched keening that began when the woman who could have been her mother, was her mother in almost every aspect, took her in her arms and held her. Her adult daughter's weight shifted against her, but she held on, even as they swayed.

"Where is Aaron?" Miral asked, hesitating, afraid to break the spell of emotion heavy in the room like perfume.

T'Lassa gasped uncharacteristically, pulling abruptly away from T'Mira. "Miral," she started to say, almost breathless. "Your mother…Aaron had to distract her so she wouldn't see me on the way back."

"She was already here," Miral replied quickly. "Are you sure she didn't see you?"

"I ducked into an unoccupied room," T'Lassa explained. "They were arguing…rather loudly. I waited until they moved away."

T'Lassa hadn't finished her sentence when they began to hear it from the corridor. It was the sound of an argument. The closer and louder it became, the more definition to each voice became apparent. There was no doubt that it was Aaron and B'Elanna.

Miral was exasperated. If the situation weren't so dire, it could have been comical. She seemed to not know where to start, who to move or where to put them.

"Should I just…you know…pull the desk into the bathroom or–" Tom said, grumbling sarcastically. He grabbed T'Lassa by her wrist, ready to pull her into the bathroom with him. She was in the process of retrieving the database from the table top, attempting to safeguard it in a tight grip against her body.

Miral was striding back towards the door when the argument on the other side of the door became deafeningly loud. They were shouting over each other, so Miral couldn't hear any words. The door swished open somehow. Miral saw her mother's hands on the control panel, thinking she had overridden the lock. Aaron was almost physically confronting her, like she was reaching around the barricade he had created with his body.

"I don't know what is going on here, but damn it, someone is going to tell me!" B'Elanna screamed as she stormed into the center of Miral's quarters. She looked questioningly at T'Mira, teary-eyed, hunched at her shoulders and seated on Miral's bed. Aaron rushed in behind her and shut the door, quickly scanning into the corridor before he did so.

B'Elanna pushed her daughter aside, almost making her stumble. Her finger raised, she charged at Aaron, her face contorted with rage. "You tampered with the computer," she growled. "What are you trying to hide?"

"Why are you even trying to access the computer?" Miral demanded. "You're a civilian, Mom."

Calmer, never far from his place of empathy, Aaron was gentler. "I'm not having this discussion with you now…like this. When was the last time you saw the doctor like you're supposed to?" he asked. Her consistent refusal to take care of herself was a constant battle between them.

Tell her the truth, Aaron heard in his head. T'Lassa had to have heard what was going on.

About Tom? Las, I can't, he thought back to her.

Being without him has caused all of this. And as Miral already explained, we are going to repair this. I'm asking you to trust me. Let her see him again, T'Lassa implored, speaking to Aaron even as she made eye contact with Tom as he stood almost pressed against the front of her in the tiny, closet-like room.

B'Elanna's eyes went wide, almost wild as she stared at Aaron. "I know that face…you…you used to look like that…" she stammered, recognizing the ghost of the expression Aaron wore. When he had been communicating telepathically…

Las…he thought, calling out to her. Just her name but a question, a plea, an almost desperate ask for help, for guidance in what to do.

T'Lassa touched Tom's hand, offering him silent support. She felt his muscles tense and shake as he waited. "Trust me. This will be alright," she whispered. Then she opened the door.

B'Elanna didn't even turn all the way around. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she pitched forward, straight into Aaron's arms.

}LS{

Aaron lowered B'Elanna's limp form slowly to the floor. Miral rushed forward, leaning over Aaron's arm, pulling her mother's hair back and away from her face. The commotion in the room increased, Miral sensed, as T'Mira, T'Lassa and Tom moved around in the background.

"What are you doing?" Miral hissed angrily, sensing the conspiring that seemed to have gone on unspoken around her.

"The same way that T'Mira knew you were both here," Aaron said tightly as he shifted to move B'Elanna to a more comfortable position. "We can communicate telepathically. Just like I could with…with my wife," he added, feeling how strange it was to say this woman here was anyone but his wife. In his heart and his head, they were the same.

Continuing where Aaron had left off, T'Lassa explained further. "I know your desire was to shield her, believing her incapable of dealing with all of this emotionally. I understand your bias, believe me. But this…erosion…of her we have seen could only be bolstered if she was to be told the truth. I know this."

MIral was poised to fight, the anger still flashing in her eyes…until she saw her father. He rested on his knees in front of her mother, his hand hovering close to her face, hesitant yet yearning to just touch her. His cheeks were wet with tears. Instead, he reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly in his own before he released it. "You should explain it, Miral," Tom said quietly. "T'Mira needs to hear it too."

The sound of his voice, even whispered as it was in her unconscious state, was enough to make her stir. "Tom?" she breathed, half conscious, shifting uncomfortably as she rested on Aaron's knees.

Tom moved to stand, but Aaron grabbed his wrist and held fast, urging him to stay exactly where he was. Aaron pleaded with his eyes, trying his best to convey his opinion that just talking to her would help. The hand that ached to touch her reached for her face, caressing her cheek as she edged closer to consciousness. "B'Elanna," he said, loving the sound of her name as it spilled from his lips, too aware of how long it had been since he'd said her name out loud.

Tom speaking was like flipping a switch. One moment he was touching her face and the next he was pinned to the floor underneath the weight of her, missing the motion of her waking and leaping from Aaron's grasp against him. His arms were pressed against his sides, encircled with her arms around him. He could hardly breathe, but her weight pressing against his chest was the most pleasant sensation he could remember. Her breathing was ragged, strained, like she was crying but making no other sound. He knew she didn't understand, couldn't begin to fathom why he was here, like this. But she didn't care, he knew that too. She just knew that he was here…and that was enough.

The peace he felt as he finally extricated his arms to just hold her, return the embrace, washed over him, rinsing away everything else. I missed you, he thought, unable to speak it, but hearing it, the loudest thing inside his head. He pulled himself up to a sitting position, still holding her against his chest. There was no hesitation at all when B'Elanna lifted her head and kissed him, full on the mouth, cupping his face in her hands. Oblivious to the audience, he kissed her back fervently, moaning quietly against her lips.

Finally, she managed to pull away and opened her eyes to actually look at him. She touched his cheek. "How…how…are you here…how did this happen?" she asked.

"Miral will explain, I promise," he said, smiling gently. It was the first genuine smile he recalled in a very long time, and it made the muscles in his face hurt for lack of use.

"My presence as well," T'Lassa said quietly as she sat in the half circle of bystanders watching the emotional reunion. It was almost physically painful for B'Elanna to pull her eyes away from Tom, but she did, regarding the Vulcan woman with an equal amount of awe.

"It involves time travel and parallel universes and such, which you know gives me a headache," Tom said as a hint of a smile played on his lips.

"I do," she said in wonder, gazing at him again. Then she laughed. Her face was radiant as her cheeks flushed and her brown eyes sparkled. The sight brought tears to Miral's eyes…the long forgotten sight of her mother's face suffused with joy instead of sorrow. "You look so young," B'Elanna added.

"Not half as young as you just made me feel right now," Tom replied with an equally wide smile.

The broken down feeling of age, beaten into his bones by grief and misery, he could barely feel any longer. He had come here, done all of this, because Miral had told him he could fix this, reverse this awful pathway of events. For the first time since it had all begun, he actually had hope that they would succeed.