Chapter 11

Tom was just exiting the turbo lift on his way home when he heard running feet coming towards him. By the sound of the running feet, he knew they belonged to a child, and he was sure he knew who it was, so he stopped and waited, his arms crossed. He tried to look stern, but the twinkle in his blue eyes didn't match the look on his face.

The small body that came around the corner ran right into him and he heard an oomph, as the child sat down on his backside. The boy, who had a blond mop of hair and bright blue eyes looked up and gave Tom a broad grin and said

"Daddy, I can run fast and Joy can't catch me!"

The boy jumped up and was about to take off again, when Tom reached down and scooped up his five year old son and said

"And why are you running through the corridors?"

Before the boy could answer, Tom heard another pair of feet coming and Joy appeared.

"Dad, I'm sorry, Tommy just got out. I only turned my back for a moment, and he ran out."

Joy was their oldest daughter and at sixteen, she was turning into quite a beauty. Her long blond hair was up in a ponytail and her intense green eyes showed her exasperation at her youngest brother. Since Tom and B'Elanna had been married, they had been blessed with three additional children. The twins had the faintest traces of Lanna's forehead ridges, but their youngest, Tommy had none. He had completely taken after his father, same mop of blond hair and the same clear blue eyes. Even his personality was all Tom's, same sunny disposition and if you looked closely into his eyes, the same mischief. The twins, Michael and Katie took more after their mother, same hair and eye color, and both had the hint of the ridges.

Now, Tom looked at his youngest and said

"How many times have we told you not to go out on your own?"

He raised his eyebrows at his son, who suddenly looked contrite.

"I'm sorry daddy, but no one would play with me. Mikey and Katie were too busy with their school project, and Joy wouldn't play with me either!"

He looked at his sister with stormy blue eyes.

Now Joy began to protest

"Dad, I told him I would play with him as soon as I finished my homework, but he wouldn't listen."

In the last ten years, more crew had paired off and gotten married and there were several children on board now. Three years ago, they had started a school for the education of these children. The first child to be born on Voyager, Naomi Wildman, who was now in her mid twenties, had volunteered to teach the school.

Tom now looked at his youngest and said

"You know your sister is in charge while your mother and I are on duty, and we can't have you running around the ship by yourself. And, where is your communicator?"

Tommy looked down and said shyly

"I forgot it...it was on my other..."

Before he could continue, Joy spoke up and said

"It's my fault dad, Tommy spilled his drink and I got him changed, but I forgot to switch his communicator and...oh..."

It was plain she was upset with herself for the oversight. She took her role as big sister to her siblings quite seriously and she was very protective of them.

"I'm sorry daddy, I won't do it again."

Tom smiled at him and said as he began to walk towards their quarters

"Well see that you don't."

He tried to sound stern, but he couldn't. His kids meant everything to him and he was quite content to be a husband and father.

"Now what do you say we get home and I'll read you the next chapter of Treasure Island."

He shifted Tommy to his right hip and he put his free arm around his daughter's shoulders and together they walked back home as Tommy happily told his dad all that had happened from the moment he had left for his shift till now.

B'Elanna had had a long day in engineering and was tired and looking forward to a hot bath. They had, for the last year, been working on modifications on the warp engines and it looked like they were close to getting it to work. If they could generate the extra power, even at short bursts, it would propel them forward like being in a fast current of water, and cut years off their journey home. She, Harry and Joe Carey had been working almost night and day, and she was sure it would work. But now all she wanted to do was take that hot bath and go to bed.

As she approached her quarters, she smiled as she thought of her family. She and Tom had been married for ten years and in that time they had added to their family. They had four wonderful children. She smiled to herself as she thought back to the moment she had told Tom she was pregnant. He had scooped her up and twilled her around and said how happy he was. And when they had found out it was twins, he had told her he was doubly happy. She'd had no doubt that he would be the perfect father, as he adored Joy, and Joy had been ecstatic to learn that she would be a big sister.

She reached their quarters and keyed in the code and the doors opened, and as she walked in quietly, she saw her husband and youngest on the couch,both asleep. Tom was cuddling Tommy and she saw the book open on his chest. She smiled as she looked at the scene. A warm feeling overtook her as she watched her two guys,one her soul mate and he other her little boy. Her little Tommy...he looked like she imagined Tom had at that age. Right now he looked so angelic, but she knew he had a mischievous streak a mile wide and from what Tom said he was just a chip off the old block. She smiled even more as she thought of her husband as a child.

She tip toed over and gently shook her husband's shoulder. He stirred and then opened one eye and looked up at her. Gently she took her son and, as she did, he mumbled something about not being sleepy and not wanting to go to bed, and she knew he had again wrapped Tom around his little finger. Quietly she went into the other room to put her son to bed. After a moment she returned and sank into the couch next to her husband, who had now sat up. He took her in an embrace and softly said

"How'd it go today in engineering? You look beat."

"I am..."

she was silent for a moment,just enjoying the closeness with the man she loved, then she said

"I think we are close Tom...very close."

She snuggled even closer and Tom laid his head against hers. After a moment, he said

"I'm glad to hear that Lanna, I know you guys have been working hard on it."

She sighed her contentment at being held by him and said

"Yeah, we have. I'm glad you decided to get all that information from Joy's ship. Their warp technology was way more advanced than ours."

Tom had scanned all he could of the ship that had brought his little sweet pea to him in the hopes of learning more about her people and the schematics of their ship was interesting, but most was over his head as he was not an engineer, so he just stuck to the things he understood. He had learned her people were a peace loving species and had been very technological but not much more. With his limited UT he could only get bits and pieces of the info and had settled for that. When Voyager had found them, he had remembered the ten padds of info and made sure he took them. He hadn't left anything important behind...even the dogs. They had lost Katie first, and then two months later, Harry. The Doc had tried to help them, but it had been inevitable. When Katie had passed, Joy was ten and Lanna had been eight months pregnant with the twins , and his little sweet pea had cried in his arms for her loss. When Harry died, Joy had cried again and later when Tom and B'Elanna were alone in their bedroom, Tom had cried on her shoulder for the loss. The dogs had kept him sane those four years before Joy had come into his life, and he dearly missed them.

He lightly kissed her temple and said

"I'm just glad you and Joe were able to figure it out...it didn't make much sense to me and I just filed them away."

B'Elanna smiled as she thought of him trying to unravel the mechanics of the alien ship. He was an excellent navigator and his piloting skills were unquestionably better than anyone she'd ever seen, but when it came to engineering skills he was like a kid.

"Well it took us a while, but we finally got the new coils it work properly."

In truth it had taken them over five years of work to get the technology to work with her beloved engines. They had been able to replicate a few of the materials but most had been built the old fashion way, with blood,sweat and tears. They had to wait many times till they could find the right materials and sometimes that had meant having to put aside the project till they did, sometimes for months.

"I think we're ready for our first test. Joe and I are going to present our report to the captain tomorrow at the briefing."

She moved to stretch and Tom got up and turned to take her hand to help her up.

"In the mean time, I think you need your rest...come on, lets go to bed."

She took his hand and stood up next to him and said

"First I need a hot bath, then bed."

He got a sly smile on his face and said

"Room for two in that bath?"

He raised his eyebrows at her and she just smiled at him.

They leaned in to each other, his arm around her shoulders and her's around his waist, as they quietly walked to their bedroom.

TBC

A/N

So sorry for the long delay on this. With everything that's been happening in my life, I haven't had much time to write. I promise to finish this story as I have said before nothing irks me more than to get into a story never finished. For anyone who is also reading my Enterprise story, that will be updated soon. Big mistake to be writing two stories at the same time lol. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed. It is greatly appreciated