Owen and Annalise Paris waited anxiously for one of the Parises on Voyager to answer their call. They were just about ready to give up and record a message when they were answered.
B'Elanna Paris stared back at them, her dark brown eyes wide. Annalise could tell that the exotically beautiful woman had not expected to see them on her com. The silence on both ends was interrupted suddenly by an unusually low peal of childish laughter.
Annalise came to herself with a start. "Hello, B'Elanna. I'm Annalise Paris, Tom's mother. We were hoping to speak with you both," she said warmly.
B'Elanna turned her head slightly. "Tom?" she called.
"I heard, 'Lanna," Tom said. He was already halfway across the room.
When Annalise saw her son, she nearly started crying. He looked so much older, more mature. In fact, he looked a lot like his father had when she had married him.
Tom stared at his parents. He was very surprised at the changes in his mother. Her dark blond hair was mostly silver, and there were many fine lines around her eyes and mouth.
"Hi, Mom, Dad," he said quietly.
"Oh, Tom-" was all Annalise could manage. She smiled at him through her unshed tears.
"Hello, son. I tried to tell you this earlier, without actually saying it in front of your colleagues. I'm sorry. I just kept holding in all of the positive emotions I felt and letting out the negative ones. At least, that's what my counselors told me eight years ago," Owen said. His face took on a pained expression. "I realized after Voyager went missing how much I had lost by pushing my family to a distance. I feel ashamed of what I did."
Tom knew how hard it was for his father to admit all of that to him. "Don't, Dad. Captain Janeway told B'Elanna what had happened in that Cardassian prison, and B'Elanna told me. Knowing that, it's easy to forgive you," Tom said with the comforting voice he often used to soothe A'Lehsen , S'Ehra-or B'Elanna.
Owen nodded. He quickly changed the subject. "Your mother knows all about your family, Tom. She-"
"Your mother," Annalise interrupted reprovingly, "can speak for herself. I wanted to meet your wife and daughters, Tom. Your girls are our first granddaughters. Lizbeth and Jesica each have a son."
"I'm happy for them," Tom said. He had a hard time imagining his sister Jesica with a son, though. She had never even wanted children! But the, until he had fallen in love with B'Elanna, neither had he.
Just then, A'Lehsen and S'Ehra wandered over to their parents. A'Lehsen tugged on B'Elanna's sleeve.
"Mommy, who are you talking to?" she asked.
B'Elanna picked her up, and Tom picked up S'Ehra. "Girls, these are your grandparents," B'Elanna told them.
A'Lehsen frowned in confusion. "Grandparents?"
"My mom and dad," Tom explained.
A'Lehsen turned her big blue eyes to her grandparents. "What's their names?" she asked her mother in a whisper.
"You can call me Nana, dear. Tom, which one is which?" Annalise asked.
"I have S'Ehra, and B'Elanna has A'Lehsen," Tom said.
"They are so beautiful," Annalise said. She smiled at them.
"What do we call him?" S'Ehra asked, pointing at Owen.
"You call me Grandfather, little one," Owen said gruffly, a suppressed smile making his mouth twitch.
"Where are you?" A'Lehsen asked in curiosity.
"We're on Earth. We'll be meeting you when you get here," Owen said, not just to her but to Tom and B'Elanna also.
"That's good. Do you know if the families of the other crewmembers have been contacted?" Tom asked him. He thought of Harry and how much his friend was looking forward to seeing his parents again.
"Yes, it's standard procedure. My aide took care of it while I was talking to you earlier," Owen informed him. "You have friends with family on Earth?"
"Yeah, our best friend, Harry Kim, the Ops officer," Tom replied.
"Uncle Harry's going to marry Lieutenant Nicoletti," A'Lehsen said seriously.
Owen smiled at her. "If you're lucky he'll ask you two to be flower girls," he said. "That's a very important job in a wedding."
"He did ask us. And Mommy's going to be the madon of honor, and Daddy's going to be Uncle Harry's best man," S'Ehra said.
"Matron of honor, S'Ehra. It means a married woman who is a special part of a wedding," B'Elanna corrected her.
"Matron of honor," S'Ehra repeated with the frown that meant she was memorizing the information.
"Well, I'm very happy for your friend," Annalise said. "He couldn't have picked a better family to be his wedding attendants."
There was a pause, then Tom set S'Ehra down. "Honey, why don't you go play in your room," he said. It was more of an order than a request.
B'Elanna put down A'Lehsen. "Yes, you two should go play." She knew what Tom was going to ask.
The girls nodded. "'Bye, Nana, Grandfather," they said in unison. After quick waves they ran back into their room.
Tom turned back to his parents. His expression was serious. "Dad, tell me the truth. What do you think the chances are that Starfleet will accept us?" He didn't need to elaborate.
Owen sighed. "Tom, you don't realize how awful the Dominion War was. Although in the end it was the Cardassians who helped us win, the fact that they were the ones who brought the Dominion into the Alpha Quadrant was never forgotten," he said. When Tom frowned, he said, "I'll explain another time. It's too complicated to get into now. The point I'm trying to make is that the Maquis were regarded as heroes after the war began. Not all of them were killed, and the survivors helped us with information and strategies they had found useful. That will be in your favor, B'Elanna. Tom...it hurts me to admit this, but I could have gotten you out of jail, and probably accepted back into Starfleet, if I had tried. I'm willing to do that now, use the contacts I have to make sure you keep your rank and aren't reprimanded or anything. I'll have to call in a lot of favors, but I'm willing to, if you'll accept my help." Owen lowered his eyes in shame.
Tom smiled sadly. "I suspected that even back then. I'd be very happy if you would help me," he said. After a moment, he added, "If you had offered me that six or seven years ago, I would have told you-well, I'm sure you can guess. Now, I have a family, and I know that it doesn't hurt to let someone else support me." He glanced at B'Elanna and smiled. She smiled back, and for a moment they were in their own little world.
Owen cleared his throat, hiding a smile. "All right, I'll get on it in the morning. I don't know about you, but it's night here, and I'm tired," he said.
B'Elanna nodded. "I have to get to engineering early in the morning. It's going to take some work to get Voyager into the condition I think it should be in when we get to Earth, but we'll do it," she said. Her determined expression relayed that she would see to every repair personally if that's what it took.
Annalise smiled. "Before you go, I forgot to ask about the new ones," she said.
"New-oh, the babies. They're fraternal, we know that. One boy and one girl. We plan on naming them Kyle and K'Ehtra," B'Elanna told them.
Annalise's smile widened. "Those are wonderful names. I can't wait to hold another baby in my arms!"
"It won't be too much longer," Tom said. He patted B'Elanna's stomach affectionately, and she slapped his hand away.
"Tom, if you don't stop-oh, never mind, I need something to eat," she mumbled. She smiled at Tom's parents. "I'll see you soon," she said.
"Goodbye, B'Elanna," Annalise said.
"You take care of those babies," Owen said. He smiled, too, and didn't elaborate on which "babies" he meant.
B'Elanna went over to the table and opened one of the containers of food. 'Mmmm, leola-root and chili,' she thought, and began to dig in.
"I should go tuck in the girls. Goodbye, Mom, Dad," Tom said.
"Goodbye, son," they answered. Owen reached forward and ended the transmission.
Tom turned to B'Elanna. She was watching him as she ate, and she raised her eyebrows. "Happy?" she asked between bites.
"Very. I wasn't sure how I'd react, even after talking to him on the Bridge," Tom said as he took a seat beside B'Elanna.
"I knew you'd get along all right," she said confidently.
Tom grinned at her, tugging on a lock of hair. "Well, once again, you were right!"