B'Elanna sat on the bench in the park waiting for Tom and the older children. B'Elanna held on to her three-year-old daughter, Selena. B'Elanna had a meeting with her advisor and Tom had wanted to take the children to see Aunt Kathy or Janeway. They decided to meet at the park so they could go to lunch. Selena was to go with Tom, but she screamed until B'Elanna had Selena in her arms. She didn't let go of B'Elanna when they were in the meeting. After the meeting, B'Elanna held on to Selena as they made their way to the park. Selena had her head on B'Elanna's shoulder.
"Selena, sweetheart, why are you holding me?" B'Elanna asked.
"So, you won't leave me," Selena mumbled in her neck.
"I would never leave you," B'Elanna had to think about a reason that Selena would hold on to her. Yesterday Selena was running around with her brother and sister. Something happened between last night when Tom and B'Elanna put her to bed and this morning when she ran into B'Elanna's legs. "Sweetheart, did you have a bad dream," Selena nodded. "Tell me."
Selena looked up B'Elanna with her blue eyes. She got those eyes from her father. "I woke up and you were gone."
That didn't explain a lot. "Was Daddy there? Or Xavier? Or Miral?"
Selena nodded. "They weren't looking for you," Selena placed both hands on either side of B'Elanna's face. "I was the only one looking for you." B'Elanna didn't know what to say. Before she could say anything, she heard.
"B'Elanna Torres," B'Elanna turned to see a blond hair woman dressed in Starfleet uniform. The woman looked around B'Elanna's age. "Sarah Lawson," B'Elanna still looked confused. "We went to the Academy together."
Selena buried her head into B'Elanna's chest. "Oh, I'm sorry if I don't remember you. I left in my second year."
Sarah nodded. "I remember. We only shared a couple of classes, but I remember a smart woman that would state her opinion with any professor," B'Elanna smiled. If Sarah only knew what she did now. Selena looked at the woman with one eye. Sarah smiled. "Who do we have here?"
"This is my daughter, Selena," B'Elanna rubbed Selena's back.
"She's cute," Sarah smiled.
"And mischievous," B'Elanna mumbled and saw a smile on Selena's face.
"Do you have any more?" Sarah asked. "I only have a son."
"Another daughter and a son," B'Elanna said.
"How do you do it alone? I have a hard time just doing it with one." Sarah said.
B'Elanna frowned. "I don't do it alone. I have a husband. Trust me if he left, I would have killed him, and you wouldn't be able to find the body."
Sarah laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just thought that you would never marry."
"I understand. When I was in school, I didn't think that I would marry and have three children." B'Elanna smiled. "How old is your son?"
"Thirteen and nothing I do will stratified him." Sarah smiled.
"My oldest is eight and she is already a terror. Put this one and her brother with her and my husband and I defeated. So, what do you do in Starfleet?" B'Elanna asked.
"I work at Starfleet command. What are you doing when you are not rounding up your children?"
"I'm a professor at the Academy and I working on my doctorate." B'Elanna saw Selena close her eyes. She knew the little girl needed a nap. B'Elanna started to rock in her spot.
"Wow. The person that told professors what for is one herself," Sarah didn't know what to make of it. B'Elanna smiled.
"After seven years of running my own engineering team, I found out that I like telling people what to do right." B'Elanna heard the soft snore of Selena. B'Elanna glanced down at the little girl to see that she was sleeping.
"That's right you were on Voyager for eight years," B'Elanna nodded. "You were Chief Engineer. I heard that you were young when you got the job."
B'Elanna smiled. "Yeah, Captain Janeway and I had to earn each other trust out there. She became an incredibly good friend. My husband and my other children went to see her today."
"I guess after eight years with same people you become close," Sarah had a look in her eyes that had B'Elanna wondering what had happen in her life.
"Your very life depends on it. I didn't like my husband at first, but he saved my life one too many times and became a friend. Over the years I fell in love with him. If it wasn't for him and our other friends in the Delta quadrant I wouldn't be here. I had to grow up out there. I was responsible for the people under me. I had to respect them, and they had to respect me."
"Life does throw you curves. Jake's father," B'Elanna gave Sarah a look. "My son," B'Elanna nodded. "Didn't want to be father and I raised my son by myself. I thought that I would be on ships, but having my son made me rethink that. I was all he had. So, after I had my son I got to work at Starfleet command."
B'Elanna gave a small smile. She didn't know what she would have done without Tom. "My husband and I could still be on ships right now, but we wanted to raise our family."
"Really," B'Elanna nodded.
"After spending eight years on one ship, we wanted some solid ground to raise our kids on. We could have gotten on any ship we wanted. Tom could have commanded a ship if he wanted. I could have been his Chief Engineer, but when I was pregnant with our son, we decide to find a home on Earth. I wanted to finish my schooling and Tom was tired of flying ships, he had other dreams."
"What does your husband do now?" Sarah asked.
"He's a holodeck novelist," B'Elanna smiled. It was something that Tom was scared about starting but he was good at creating worlds for all generations.
"Really. Have I heard of him?" Sarah asked.
"Probably, have you heard about Captain Proton?"
"Yes, my son loves those stories." Sarah's eyes widen. "Your husband is T.E. Paris," B'Elanna nodded. There were others that Tom had done but those were Tom's most popular ones.
"Mom," B'Elanna looked up to see Xavier running towards her. "Aunt Kathy has invited us for dinner. Uncle Harry is in town with Uncle Chakotay and Aunt Seven. Aunt Kathy also invited the doctor too." Xavier looked over to Sarah. "Hi, I'm Xavier Paris," He held out his little hand.
"Nice to meet you, Xavier, I'm an old friend of your mom's," Sarah smiled at the young boy. His blond hair was in disarray and his blue eyes were bright. The only thing that Xavier got of his mother were his ridges. He was going to be a very good-looking boy.
"Where is your father?" B'Elanna asked. She couldn't see Tom anywhere.
"He's helping Miral tie her shoes," Xavier smiled a secret smile.
B'Elanna gave a look and was ready to say something when she heard. "Xavier Thomas Paris," B'Elanna looked up and saw her husband holding Miral's hand as he looked for his son. Tom didn't look happy when he saw his son standing next to his wife and another woman. Tom took a breath before making his way over to the women.
"Hi, Dad," Xavier smiled at his father. "I found Mom."
"I told you to stay next to me while I helped Miral," Tom had to control his anger.
"I want to find Mom," Xavier could tell his dad was about to lose it.
"Xavier," B'Elanna sighed. "You could have been lost or worse taken. Your dad and I would have missed you very much. You were lucky that you found me," B'Elanna looked at the sleeping child to make sure that she was still sleeping.
"Sorry," Xavier mumbled to his mom.
"You should be saying that to your dad," B'Elanna pointed to Tom.
Xavier looked up at his dad with the same eyes as his father. "I'm sorry, Dad."
"Next time do as I say," Tom sighed, He turned to the other woman.
B'Elanna smiled. "Sorry, Sarah about this troublemaker. This is my husband Tom Paris and our oldest daughter, Miral. Tom this is Sarah Lawson, we went to the academy together."
"Are you the Tom Paris that went to Starfleet Academy that was probably a couple years ahead of us?" Sarah asked.
Tom smiled. "Probably, had to go to the Delta quadrant to find my wife."
"Tom," There was warning in B'Elanna voice.
Sarah laughed. "It was nice seeing you, B'Elanna," Sarah stood and waved to the family before heading back to Starfleet Command.
"What was that about?" Tom asked as he reached for Selena. B'Elanna shook her head.
"Just a way to see how life throws you curves and how you deal with them," The family headed out of the park to a pizza place for lunch. Tom still looked confused but nodded anyways. "Also, someone will be sleeping in our bed tonight." Tom stared at his wife. B'Elanna only smiled before asking the children a question.