Recently-promoted Starfleet Commander B'Elanna Torres stood on Professor Mark Johnson and Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway's balcony and watched a squall form on the Pacific Ocean horizon. The breeze was kicking up, slightly uplifting the hem of her summer red dress and briefly exposing her shapely dancer legs and black silk panties. She pinched a corner of the skirt and held on. Cotton fabric. Hard to get used to this.
She sipped her cocktail and counted her blessings. Along with Voyager's crew, she and her husband Tom Paris had been back from the Delta Quadrant for five years now. Life had been simply miraculous.
Their daughter Miral was born on Voyager the day they returned, although no one was sure if she was a resident of the Alpha or Delta Quadrants. And Michael Owen Paris had joined them two years ago. Tonight both children were with their grandparents, retired Admiral Owen and Julia Paris, which allowed Tom and B'Elanna to have a free night to attend Voyager's five year reunion.
She heard the French doors swing open and knew exactly by scent who that was even before strong hands slipped around her waist and a wet tongue licked her ear. She leaned back into her husband, grabbing his arms after letting go of her skirt. Spinning in place, she gave Commander Tom Paris what she knew he deserved for doing that to her, one hell of a passionate kiss.
"Maybe you two should find a hotel room?" That came from Admiral Janeway who had followed Tom outside.
B'Elanna smirked. "'Sorry, Admiral! Tom's only been back a couple of days and we're sort of making up for lost time."
Janeway gave a brushing motion with her hand. "Just kidding, Commander! Or should I say 'Doctor' Torres? Congratulations on your doctorate in Quantum Space Engineering. I read your doctoral dissertation on slipstream warp drives. All I can say is 'brilliant.'"
"Thanks. Only forty-two pages of proofs and theorems but I hope to make a difference. I noticed that events from the past do not necessarily become the future. And for some reason events that are supposedly in the future can become the past. Time is not linear; it is a corkscrew that overlaps, folding back on itself occasionally. Thus slipstream warp is possible; you manipulate the overlapped areas to advance an object in time and space; in this case a Starship."
Janeway gave B'Elanna a look that was supposed to indicate comprehension. Since they had returned to the Alpha Quadrant her former chief engineer had become obsessed with explaining time.
B'Elanna saw that look on Janeway's face. Some of her doctoral committee members had given her the same one until they understood exactly what she was saying. It wasn't easy.
"For some reason how to bend time became a natural thought process to me and it was then a simple matter of finding a way to express it mathematically." She smiled.
Tom scoffed. "Simple? For B'Elanna Torres, yes! For the remaining billions of mortals of the Alpha Quadrant, impossible. But that is one reason I married her. Smart officer. Clever woman. Best damned engineer I have ever met and would ever want to meet. And, of course, so damned hot!"
B'Elanna gave her husband's arm a playful smack.
"Flatterer."
The doors opened once again to reveal Lieutenant Commander Sue Nicoletti and her husband Commander Walter Baxter. They had taken the opportunity to bring along their children, Walter Thomas Baxter and Myra Susan Baxter. Walter was four and Myra barely over three months. Both parents were beaming.
"We were just leaving and wanted to say goodbye. We just heard about B'Elanna's degree and wanted to say congrats. Also, Tom, we hear congrats are in order for you, as well. A very rapid promotion to Captain and command of the USS Orion during its shake-down cruise! Quite the honor to be the first captain of a slipstream-equipped Starship built from the ground up!"
Tom nodded his thanks. "And to have the right person maintaining it. I know the chief engineer personally." He hugged his wife.
The storm was rolling in and a few drops started to hit the ground. The group adjourned to the living room to say their goodbyes.
Tom and B'Elanna checked the wall chronometer. They had to pick up the kids in a couple of hours. But first they wanted to stop by the local café for raktajino. Admiral Janeway drank the stuff by the gallon and San Francisco only had a few places that served it fresh. The place called 'Time to Grind' was one of them, and she highly recommended it.
They then said their farewells to Chakotay and his wife, Annika Hansen, the former Seven-of-Nine. She was expecting their first child, a little girl. And Neelix and his Klingon wife Ch'rega waved; they would return to Q'onoS in the morning where Neelix was a very wealthy merchant and Ch'rega a Foreign Service diplomat. It was too bad Commander Harry Kim wasn't there. He was captain of the USS Rhode Island and off in the Beta Quadrant.
Tommy and B'Ella took the turbolift to the ground floor and exited as the rain began to fall in sheets. Grabbing his wife's hand, the two skipped around the puddles and ran breathlessly into the coffee shop.
Then Tom brushed back B'Elanna's wet hair and kissed her forehead ridges. "You know, after coffee we will just have enough time to get home before we pick up the kids. For some long-overdue family…umm…interactions."
B'Elanna played the fool. "Why, Captain Torres, are you planning on having your way with me? Are you thinking about ravishing me? Humm?" She batted her eyes seductively and giggled.
Her husband smirked and then kissed her. "That, Doctor Paris, is exactly what I have in mind."
They laughed and ordered their coffee and, for some impulsive reason, sweet rolls. They moved to a booth in the corner. It was early morning and no one was around but them.
The owner showed up with their tray, looking at the obviously so-in-love couple who were holding hands across the table. Just like being with my Pam. Thank you God, for curing her cancer.
Tom and B'Elanna tasted their steaming hot coffee. It was perfect and brought back so many memories of their home on Voyager. They talked about nothing really, just two people who had not seen each other in six months. They enjoyed the coffee and pastry but were eager to get home to spend an hour or so in the sack before parental duties took over once again.
They finished and knew that their hover-bus would arrive soon. Dropping some latinum on the table, Tom led B'Elanna to the door by the hand.
"Still raining, B'Ella. We should not stand out there at an exposed bus stop."
Suddenly he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. He turned to see the proprietor offer him an umbrella. "Here, mister. A few years ago some guy left this and he never came back for it. I think you could use this more than him right now. Big enough to keep you both dry. Go ahead, take it."
Tom nodded his thanks. The two left the coffee shop arm-in-arm under the canopy and walked over to the bus stop, very thankful to be warm and dry in such a torrential storm. B'Elanna reached down to grab Tom's hand again but instead touched the umbrella's wooden handle. Looking down, she noticed there were initials carved into it.
"Tom?"
"Humm? What, honey?"
"It looks as if the previous owner had it monogramed."
Tom stared in disbelief. There engraved in the old oak wood were the initials 'TEP.'
He looked stunned, as if his mind was recalling something. It was there, just like a shadow. Two people, much older, desperately wanted a second chance at something. Then it was gone.
He looked at his wife in amazement. "B'Ella, have you ever looked into déjà vu? I think I just experienced it. These are my initials and I think I have been here before with someone. Someone very special to me."
The bus showed up and the door opened.
B'Elanna thought a bit. "Someone like me certainly! And, well, how many Thomas Eugene Paris' can there be in the universe, Tommy? One? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? But as far as I am concerned, the one looking at me right now with those blue eyes of his is the only one I need. Captain." She kissed him.
The bus driver blew the horn.
Tom collapsed the umbrella and swung the handle over his arm. "You're right, B'Ella. You always are. That is why you are my brown-eyed girl."
The two boarded the bus and headed home, holding each other tightly in their arms.
