In the Arms of Family
Story by Janet and Christina
Written by Janet, Christina, Cybermum, Diane, Julie,Mary, Penny, and Rocky
Compiled by Janet
" 'The food stabbed you,' yes, it really was good," agreed Tom.
The *jabwI'* beamed. "It is an honor to serve such knowledgeable customers. I must tell you, when I first saw you, Paris, I questioned if you were worthy of your striking wife; but you have surpassed all my expectations. Your skills with the *bat'leth* are improve daily. Already you are worthy of most opponents. If you continue to practice, you will be a master of the art in no time."
"I thank you, Davulth. You are an excellent instructor. Voyager has a great Klingon battle program, but nothing beats having a true master for a teacher."
Davulth joyfully showed his teeth again. "So, Paris, will we meet again tomorrow on the field of battle?"
"Sure, if we're still on the station. Voyager should be leaving any time now."
"Understood. Duty always comes first. If you remain here on the morrow, I look forward to our combat. If not, you have only to look at the sign in front of our establishment to know my message to you! HaHaHaHaHahahahaHAH!" Tom stood up and clenched forearms with Davulth, grimacing sharply to approximate a Klingon smile.
B'Elanna cradled her forehead upon her hand for a second, stroking her ridges in a circling motion as if trying to banish a headache. Sighing, she rested her elbow on the table, moving her hand a few centimeters to enable her fist to support her chin. Upon making eye contact with Alicia, she murmured, "Bet you never expected your son to turn into 'Mr. Klingon,' did you?"
Alicia laughed lightly. "Oh, B'Elanna, I learned long ago the only thing a mother should expect from her children is the unexpected. That way, you're never truly disappointed. You'll see. Miral will teach you all about th...oh, dear."
"What's the matter?" B'Elanna asked.
"I promised myself I'd never fall into that old mothering trap of giving unsolicited advice, and here I go, doing it anyway."
"You're forgiven," B'Elanna laughed. "Compared to the way my mother gave advice, I hardly noticed."
Alicia patted B'Elanna on the hand resting lightly on the table, thinking what a shame it was she would never get to know the woman for whom her granddaughter had been named. "Well, I'll still try to remember to keep my place."
"Keep what place?" Tom asked as he took his seat at the table again.
"Trying not to be a mother-in-law who butts in all the time," Alicia said, eyeing Tom, who was rubbing his forearms lightly. "You're going to have bruises all over your arms again, Tom. You really should be more careful."
"People will think I'm beating you," B'Elanna observed.
"Nah. They'll think our daughter is. And they wouldn't be far wrong. She pounds on me all the time." Tom sipped his *raktajino*. "Whew. Strong stuff. Just the way I like it."
B'Elanna rolled her eyes but spared everyone at the table any more comments.
"Well, I *really* have to get going now," B'Elanna said, draining her mug of its last drop of prune-flavored coffee. "I've got to go. Dinner was great. I won't be home too late, Tom, but don't wait up if I get hung up."
Tom gave her a quick buss on the cheek as she scurried away. "I really should be going, too," Tom said. "The Doctor hinted he wanted to favor Haley with an aria or two, and Miral always cries when he sings." Tom winked at Icheb, who smiled back. "Stay as long as you like. Davulth will bring you a refill of your juice and tea if you want. They're on the house. On the 'House,' get it?" Tom chuckled at his own joke.
"I got it, head of the House of Paris," Alicia said, unimpressed. "Now you just hurry off and pick up my granddaughter. I'll want to play with her for a little while later, if she's still up when I get home from my date with my second son."
"Yes, ma'am!" Tom grinned at his mother and gave a hearty clap to Icheb's shoulder. "Oops. Sorry, Icheb. I get that way when I'm in here. See you later."
Once Tom had gone the restaurant seemed quieter, even though the restaurant's clientele and employees were interacting as they usually did. She didn't try to strike up a conversation with Icheb immediately, however; his mouth was too full of nuts for him to respond. Icheb was following Tom's advice on how to eat nuts the culturally correct Klingon way. naHletmey* should be chewed in their shells until the nutmeats melted away, at which point any remaining shards could be spit out. Icheb was using his service plate to dispose of the spent shells, Alicia noted. Bringing an extra dish for the cast offs wasn't the Klingon way.
After Alicia finished her dessert - it really was difficult to ruin a dessert made with pecans and chocolate, she decided - she sat back contentedly, dabbing a bit of chocolate from her chin, until Icheb could answer her. "If we're here tomorrow night, maybe we can try that Andorian restaurant. There's one in San Francisco. I'd be curious to see if this one is as good."
Icheb shrugged, spit out the last of his nut shells, and said, "If we're still here. We should be leaving any day. Like Tom said."
"We should be leaving, but who knows? It's up to the admirals in Starfleet. They can take their time when they want to."
"You're married to one," Icheb observed.
"I certainly am. And if there's one admiral who is screaming to everyone he meets that Voyager should be ordered home immediately, it's Owen!"
Icheb, his mouth full of juice, shrugged again in response.
"I guess you haven't had Klingon food too often, Icheb," Alicia said.
"No, it wasn't easy for Neelix to cook *gagh* in the Delta Quadrant, although he tried."
"It must have been impossible to find the ingredients."
"It was, but even if he had the right worms, it wouldn't have tasted like this. He likes to add Talaxian spices to everything. A little taste of home - as long as home is Talax." Icheb's smile was as sly as it was shy. Alicia smiled warmly back at him. One thing Alicia and Owen had worried about when they first discussed adopting Icheb was that the young man and former Borg might not have a sense of humor. Tom reassured them he did, and it had proven to be so. Icheb's humor was subtle and dry, but it was a pleasure to witness when it slipped out.
"Besides," Icheb went on, "B'Elanna isn't too fond of Klingon food."
"She seems to have enjoyed the food here."
"She says it's a lot better here than she remembered - or maybe her tastes have changed. She's not sure which."
"Klingon food is an acquired taste," Alicia admitted.
"Klingons like to be challenged by their dinner," Icheb observed. "It seems like everything either wiggles away from you, throws sparks at you, or tries to bite you back."
Alicia laughed heartily, with Icheb chuckling along with her. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him right there, but it didn't seem to be something she could do in any restaurant, let alone one catering to Klingon tastes. Not until she knew Icheb wouldn't be embarrassed by it. Young men could be so touchy about being touched sometimes! Even Tom had gone through a "no hugging" period.
When she got her laughter under control, Alicia said, "Maybe not everything, but some of it certainly is a challenge. There are a few Klingon restaurants on Earth, but this one has the best Klingon food I've ever tasted off *Q'OnoS*."
"You've been to *Q'OnoS*?"
"I've been to a lot of places, Icheb. An admiral gets to travel all over, and an admiral's wife needs to be ready to do her duty, too, even if it means traveling light years away from home as part of a diplomatic mission. That's the way life is in Starfleet. You need to understand that if you're going to be in the command track at the Academy."
"You'll be able to help me understand things like that," Icheb said earnestly. "Admiral Paris will, too."
"I'm willing to teach you anything you need to learn, Icheb. It will be a pleasure. I'm looking forward to showing you all sorts of places on Earth. I'm glad you'll be so close to home at the Academy. You can come home any time you like, even just for dinner if you don't like what they're serving in the Academy Mess Hall. You can bring your friends, too. I always got used to having a houseful of cadets around when Tom was there."
"Like Lieutenant Ro?"
"Oh, yes, like Ro. I always liked her. She's had so many sorrows so early in her life - and I'm sorry to say her sorrows didn't end then, but continue to this day- but she never seems to lose heart or stop fighting. That's always impressed me."
"B'Elanna is like that."
"I think she is, too, Icheb." Alicia hesitated, not sure if she should say anything to him, but it slipped out anyway. "And maybe you're like that?"
"I would like to think so." As he answered her, Icheb's expression was at once hopeful and wary, not that Alicia blamed him. It was understandable, after his experiences with his birth parents, that he would have trouble trusting anyone saying they wished to be his mother and father.
Alicia couldn't help thinking what a nice boy he was. He'd made an excellent impression upon her, and she knew Owen would be thrilled with him. How his birth parents could give him up twice as a sacrifice to the Borg was completely beyond her understanding. The first time, perhaps, Alicia could accept they could have set aside their love for their son and gone through with plans which, from what Tom had told her, apparently were the main reason he'd been born. After their first attempt failed, though, and by a miracle Icheb returned to them, how could they possibly have thought it would work if they tried again? The only conclusion Alicia could come to was that they really didn't love Icheb for himself. He was only a means to an end, a weapon.
It was one thing for a person to knowingly sacrifice their own life for a cause, but to place your own child into jeopardy, not once but twice - no, that Alicia could not accept.
All of this flashed through her mind as she watched Icheb solemnly drink the last of his juice of the *na'ran" fruit and set the empty glass upon the table. He licked his lips and then leaned forward. "Mrs...Mom." Alicia had insisted Icheb should call her either "Alicia" or a variant of mother, not Mrs. Paris. "I'm very grateful to you for all your kindness to me, but you know... you don't have to adopt me."
"Why not?" Try as she might, Alicia could not keep the hurt out of her voice at his unexpected statement.
"It isn't necessary," he said quietly. "You have already made me feel at home and welcome in your family. Tom and B'Elanna have, too. But I know you always made Lieutenant Ro a member of your family during the holidays. You can do the same for me, if you want."
"Don't you want us to adopt you, Icheb?"
He was silent for a several seconds, but finally, he said, "I don't want you to feel you have to just because Tom asked you to."
"Tom never suggested anything at all to us about adoption. That was my idea, and Owen's. I'm not sure who actually brought it up first, but it doesn't matter. We really want you to be our son. You know, I always hoped to have a bigger family, but after Tom, somehow we got swept away with other things and it never happened. Now I wonder if I didn't have any others because you were always meant to come into our family."
Icheb said nothing; he didn't seem to know what to say. Alicia wasn't sure she could say or do at that moment to convince him of her sincerity, either, until she recalled something she'd meant to tell him when she first came to Deep Space Nine, something that had totally left her head in the excitement of meeting him and seeing Tom and the rest of the family. She knew it was time.
"I know I told you there was going to be a court hearing in February about the petition for adoption. Did I also tell you that you'll be interviewed by people from the courts before the hearing?"
"No."
"Well, you will. It's a rule. You're not a little baby - you're grown up, really. You have the right to express your opinion about whether or not you want to be adopted by us, and the adoption can't take place unless the courts are assured it's something you want." Knowing how important it was for him to understand how much this meant to her, Alicia said, "I want you to be my son, Icheb. Owen does, too. I wanted it before I met you, and now that I have..." Alicia felt tears sting her eyes but plowed onward. "...now that I have met you, I want it even more, if that's possible! But if you don't feel you wish to...to be our son...officially...we'll still love you anyway."
Icheb picked up her hand, which she had unconsciously stretched out towards him. "It's not that I don't want to be your son. I just don't want you to feel forced into doing anything."
"Oh, Icheb! Nobody *forces* Owen Paris to do anything. Orders from a superior officer to send out a ship, maybe, but never anything as important as adopting someone into the Paris family! And nobody tells me to do anything like this, either!"
"Isn't admiral the most superior officer?" Icheb said, a hint of his sly smile coming back to his lips."
"There are admirals over admirals, Icheb...but wait, you've been studying under Commander Tuvok for long enough to know that..."
He nodded his head shyly. Alicia squeezed the hand she held and threw her other arm over his shoulders. "Let's get this straight, young man. No one, not even Tom, told us we should adopt you. We thought that one up all by ourselves. Now it's up to you. Are you with us? Or agin' us?" Even as she said it, she knew, with an overpowering feeling of joy, what his answer would be. She refused to believe it would be anything else.
"I guess I'm with you then...Mom..."
Alicia put both arms around him and hugged him within an inch of his life. The scamp! Or perhaps he had to test the depths of her feelings, which turned out to be so much greater than she had ever suspected.
She couldn't help thinking how wonderful it would have been if Icheb had been with them when Tom was growing up. The pressure to be a Paris would have been so much easier for her sensitive Tom to bear if it had been shared with a brother. Owen had accepted his daughters making plans for futures that did not include becoming a Starfleet officer, but Tom had always accepted his father's expectations.
If there was one thing about Tom's childhood she regretted now, it was not being more vocal when Owen came down too hard on Tom. Discipline is all well and good - essential to the development of self-direction in a person - but there were times when there was too much focus on discipline and not enough on letting Tom be his natural, humorous, caring self. Fortunately, she didn't worry about Owen making the same mistake twice. Icheb would have it easier - as the youngest child always seemed to. It wasn't fair, but there it was.
Alicia loved seeing how easily Tom had adapted to the role of Icheb's big brother. Her family was complete in the way she had always wanted but had been denied until now, with a pair of daughters and a pair of sons Alicia hoped would always care about each other and support each other, from one generation to the next, as well.
She wasn't sure how long she wallowed in her happy thoughts of the expanded Paris family, but when her eyesight cleared, she looked up to see Davulth staring at them. She didn't know what to say at first, but then she scolded, "This is my son, and I love him! So I'm hugging him! Is that all right with you?"
She was afraid her tone was a little belligerent until she realized, almost to the point of laughter, that it was very difficult to be too belligerent around Klingons.
Sure enough, Davulth grinned at her proudly. "Of course it is 'all right' with me," he said. "He is your son! No other explanation is necessary!"
As they walked out of the *Qapla'* and ambled down the Promenade towards Quark's place, Icheb said, "I was really nervous about meeting the admiral. Now I can't wait to meet him - but I'm still a little nervous."
"You don't have to worry about the admiral - your father - he will be as happy to see you as he will be to see Tom. And that is very VERY happy, Icheb. Losing Tom taught Owen to treasure every moment with his family, something it's too easy to forget sometimes when we get caught up in daily life. Finding out Tom was alive made a tremendous difference in him. He's really looking forward to having you be part of our family, too."
"I am...relieved. Do you think the admiral would mind if I called him?"
"Of course he wouldn't mind! He'd love to hear from you again. You know, you never told me what he said when the two of you called the first time."
"First time? You mean from the Delta Quadrant?"
"No, I mean, after I arrived at Deep Space Nine and told him how upset Owen was that he couldn't come. Weren't you there when Tom called his father then?"
"I don't think Tom's called him yet. I know he hasn't when I've been with him," Icheb replied.
Alicia strode down the Promenade for a few minutes, her short legs keeping stride with Icheb's long ones far better than they normally would. She tried to control her agitation. It was difficult. Fortunately, by this time Icheb was comfortable enough to keep his end of the conversation going with minimal input from her. He chatted amiably, pausing only when he took the time to wave at several members of Voyager's crew passing them on the Promenade.
When they arrived at Quark's, Icheb reminded Alicia he was supposed to meet Sam and Naomi at Vic's. "Do you wish to come, too? Vic is a very good singer. The Doctor doesn't think so, but I think he's jealous of Vic."
Alicia tried to make her laugh sound natural. "No, dear. I have something I need to do. Run along and have fun."
The crowd inside Quark's seemed to be getting rather raucous. Alicia almost decided to go into the club for a short time with Icheb after all. From where she stood by the door, she could see Icheb disappear safely into the holographic nightclub, however. As soon as Icheb was gone, she bolted for a comm booth.
"B'Elanna?"
::Yes...Alicia? Is something wrong?::
"You'll have to tell me. Has...are you alone?"
::For the moment. Joe went to get some coffee in the Mess Hall. Something's wrong, I know it. What's the matter?::
"Has Tom called his father yet?"
The pause gave Alicia her answer before B'Elanna answered, ::Not that I know of, and I'm sure I would.::
"Why hasn't he called him? I gave Tom some very broad hints about what prevented his father from coming to Deep Space Nine! I'm not even supposed to know some of this stuff! Tom's been around Starfleet long enough to know how to read between the lines!"
::I wouldn't be sure of that.::
"Really?" Alicia was flabbergasted. How could someone raised in a Starfleet family not learn how things were done? But then she stopped and considered her son and his nature. "That's hard to believe..." she added, but her voice wobbled uncertainly.
::Believe it. Tom is *great* at nagging at you until you break down and admit something is bothering you. He tells you the truth the way he sees it - which is usually pretty accurate. And he's always sharing those little 'life stories' of his that make you feel you weren't the only one who was on the outside looking in. He's really good at that.::
"Life stories..."
::Yeah. You know. About spending a lot of time in his room when he was a kid, reading books - crashing the family flyer into Lake Tahoe because he was joy riding - hiding his head under hats because he hated how short his hair was cut - the time his father let him take over the controls of a ship for the first...::
"Haircuts? He's still talking about the haircuts? I only let Owen scalp him for two summers before I put my foot down! Isn't Tom over that *yet*? It was only hair! It grew back!"
::It's about a lot more than just hair. Tom thinks his father feels he's never measured to his father's expectations, especially after Caldik Prime.::
"Ah," Alicia sighed, " Owen may have made things worse for Tom at Caldik Prime. He was so adamant about finding out the 'true cause' of the accident that almost killed his son, I was amazed Tom ever was able to admit it was his own error. By then it was too little, too late. And Owen definitely overreacted to Tom's joining the Maquis."
::And now he's got a Maquis for a daughter-in-law. I'm sure he's thrilled...::
"B'Elanna, I must tell you, Owen now sees Tom's joining the Maquis - for whatever reasons Tom may have thought he was doing it - as the first stage in Tom's redemption after he was forced out of Starfleet. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't only thinking of himself. Since the outbreak of the Dominion War and all that's happened in the DMZ, Owen's told me many times how sincerely he regrets his own position early on concerning the Maquis. The Federation should have listened to what they were saying, he says now."
::I'm glad he can say that, even if it is a little late for too many people.:: From her tone, however, B'Elanna was somewhat mollified.
"That's a subject we're sure to discuss, ad nauseum, once Voyager gets home, B'Elanna."
::I'm sure. Joe just came back in. Is there anything else you want to ask?::
B'Elanna would no longer be able to speak freely, but it was just as well. B'Elanna wasn't the one Alicia needed to speak with anyway. "Do you know where Tom is?"
::He's in our quarters, taking care of Miral. Do you want me to contact him?::
"No, that's okay. I'll find him. Thank you, B'Elanna - I'd...well, I'll tell you later, when it's just us."
::Good idea. Torres out.::