As Miral's small shrieks entered the ears of Lieutenant Torres, she let out a slight grumble and pushed Tom. "It's your turn, flyboy. I fed her an hour ago."

Tom Paris turned to face his wife. "Those things don't stop going off like a phone or something, do they?" he retorted while beginning to pull himself out of bed. He knew he couldn't win a fight against B'elanna, so he didn't even make the effort. "What do you think it is?"

His wife let out her patented 'up to no good' grin. "Well it's probably a dirty diaper considering she was fed recently. Think you can handle that one?"

It didn't take but a couple seconds of Tom holding the infant to confirm B'elanna's guess. "I bet you think this is funny," he spat with a playful sneer in his voice. He was actually glad in a way that B'elanna was awake to see him change Miral's diaper, as he had spent some time in the holodeck practicing the proper way to change a diaper. He quickly made the change and held up the infant to B'elanna for approval.

"Ahh, you've been practicing." B'elanna mused.

"Well you may practice on your batleth, but I've found something new to practice on the holodeck."

"Good news for you, flyboy, you won't have to use holodeck time to practice anymore, you've got the real thing waiting here for you." B'elanna responded while removing Miral from Tom's arms and gently rocking her. Looking at the clock and realizing it was only two hours before Tom's duty shift would begin, she noted, "I guess I would consider us 'awake' now?"

"I suppose so," Tom answered, wiping sleep from his eyes. "I fully suspect we'll have a full day. Will you be up to it?" he asked while placing a tender kiss on B'elanna's cheek.

"I'm sure the Doctor will keep me from exerting myself all day. He'll probably follow me around if I even think of entering Engineering," she said with a hint of disgust.

"You know he means well, B'elanna," Tom attempted to comfort her.

"Oh I do," B'elanna admitted. "But it's hard to deny instinct. Although I must admit that now I have a real reason to make sure I stay healthy," she added while snuggling the small bundle in her arms.

"It's kind of nice," Tom blurted out without thinking.

"Nice what?" his wife queried.

"Seeing you be so affectionate. I feel selfish at times that I get to see this wonderful side of you that no one else does. Most people half a hard time getting past that Klingon attitude when they deal with you, especially if bringing you bad news," Tom finished with a laugh. Although he wasn't sure that was the best thing to admit, he could tell by B'elanna's facial expression that she understood what he was saying without taking it as an insult.

"And maybe Starfleet will see you as less of a threat with a new family." B'elanna added, mostly in jest, but with a touch of truth to it. "From what I understand, family values are the new 'thing' in Starfleet."

"Even with that, I don't know if I'll ever make poster boy for Starfleet," Tom replied while zipping up his uniform and putting on his pips. "I wonder if I'll get to keep these," he asked aloud.

"Don't be silly, Tom. Everything will be alright, you just wait and see." She carefully placed Miral down in the crib and began to head toward the kitchen. "Besides, you'll always be my poster boy," she offered with a grin on her face.

At that point, the voice of Captain Janeway came over the comm link. "Good morning Paris-Torres clan. I assume you slept well?" the smirk could be heard clearly in her voice.

"Good enough, Captain," B'elanna responded. "What's our status?"

"Everything is running perfectly, Lieutenant. There's a mandatory senior staff meeting in 30 minutes. I trust Tom will be there but I was wondering if we needed to plan on patching you in?"

"I assure I'm well enough to sit through a staff meeting, B'elanna responded. It would be annoying to sit in here and watch you have all the fun."

"Well I trust on seeing you both there. Janeway out."

B'elanna shoved a piece of toast into the toaster. The idea of a toaster was very much 20th century, but Tom had insisted they had one. He was certain that the replicator rations would even out to where it would be beneficial. While waiting for the coils to brown the bread, B'elanna went to the bedroom to dig out a non-maternity uniform. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but she didn't really see a reason to replicate a new one, it wasn't like she would be wearing Starfleet uniforms very much longer. Although Tom was likely to receive a nice pardon, Starfleet still seemed bitter about the Maquis members of the crew. She sighed and combed her hair before returning to the kitchen to retrieve her toast. When she walked through, she saw Tom had beaten her to the punch, and had the toast ready for her, just the way she liked it.

"No one knows how to make my toast like you do," she complimented him with quick kiss.

"And I know how important it is to keep my half-Klingon happy," Tom sent back with a smile. "What are we going to do with Miral?"

B'elanna smiled. "I'm sure the senior staff wouldn't mind seeing her. She's sleeping, it will be alright."

"As long as she stays that way," Tom replied. "I doubt the Captain would really get onto us for this one anyway," he added with a smile. "Maybe she could send us to the brig?"
Wrapping up the infant and placing her in a stroller some crew members had given them, B'elanna, in typical engineer fashion, ran a mental check list before announcing to Tom they were ready to proceed to the meeting.

Tom, as always amazed by B'elanna's attempt to be so organized, walked to the door and insisted, "Ladies first."

"Let's see how earth chooses to remember us," B'elanna said, in nervousness and excitement at the same time.