Some notes:
The name Benjamin comes from JoAnna Walsvic's story,
'Love Is Blind'. It was the name of B'Elanna's baby brother who died
when he was a baby. K'Ehyla is a name I made up. It's actually
Kayla, but I gave it a Klingon spelling. Kassandra is a name I have
always liked. It means 'prophetess'. Since Kes has psionic
powers, it would follow that her daughter would as well. I thought
the name was very fitting. The Seaquarium holodeck program comes
from the Seaquarium here in my home state of Florida. It's kind of
like Sea World.
This is only a puff piece, so don't expect it to
have a lot of action. As for the plot, life is the plot. This
story is about being together as a family, something I think that Tom and
B'Elanna, as well as Harry and Kes, would think is important.
Dedication: This fanfic is dedicated to the Parisites. Also
dedicated to Robbie McNeill and Roxann Dawson for bringing the characters
of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres to life, and to the writers for creating
such terrific characters.
Disclaimer: Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres, Harry Kim, Kes and everything
else in the Star Trek universe are owned by Paramount, but the words, ideas,
Kassandra Kim, Benjamin Paris and K'Ehyla Paris are owned by me.
Comments, good and bad, are welcome and appreciated at: Mara_J_Antilles@hotmail.com.
Archive, distribute, whatever, just keep my name and this disclaimer attached.
P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T! P/T!
P/T!
Family
~~~~~~~~~
By: Claire Daniels, (c) 1997
Tom and B'Elanna Paris sat in the Mess Hall, having
breakfast with their three-year-old twins, Benjamin and K'Ehyla.
They always made it a habit to eat their meals together, but especially
to have breakfast together every morning. Out in the middle of an
unknown area of space, lightyears from home, they never knew if the morning
they spent together would be their last, so they made sure that every minute
they spent together counted. Tom and B'Elanna had other reasons for
spending so much time with their children. They had both missed that
when they were growing up, and vowed that their children would always be
the most important thing and would always come first.
Benjamin was six minutes older than his sister,
and had dark hair and chocolate brown eyes like his mother. K'Ehyla
had blond hair and her father's cerulean eyes. Both children had
slight bumps on their forehead, the only evidence of their Klingon heritage.
Well, almost the only evidence. K'Ehyla may have inherited her father's
looks, but she had gotten the lion's share of her mother's temper.
Ben was the more laid back of the two. He took everything in stride
like Tom did. He also had his father's mischievous streak, but that
was part of his charm.
Tom looked at his children. Benjamin had a
handful of egg-like substance and was preparing to send it flying into
K'Ehyla's blond curls.
"Benjamin, put that down." Tom said in his sternest tone, "We
don't throw food."
Benjamin looked at his mother. One stern look
from B'Elanna was all it took. Benjamin put the handful down, and
the rest of the meal progressed without incident. Captain Janeway
had seen to it that all officers with children would get an extra day off
to spend with them. Tom and B'Elanna had promised to take the children
to see the new holodeck program that Tom had been working on. Harry
and Kes had also had the day off, so they planned to meet them and their
daughter, Kassandra, at the holodeck.
"Come on, Kids," Tom said, "we've got to get going. We
don't want to be late meeting Uncle Harry and Aunt Kes, do we?"
"No, Daddy." Benjamin replied.
"No, Daddy." K'Ehyla answered.
"Well, well, where are you off to today?" asked Neelix as Tom,
B'Elanna and the children passed him on their way out of the Mess.
"We're going to see Daddy's new holodeck program!" K'Ehyla and
Benjamin said excitedly.
"Excellent!" Neelix said in his forever cheerful voice, "Have
a good time!"
"See you later, Neelix." B'Elanna said, "Thanks for the breakfast,
it was good."
"You're welcome, B'Elanna." he replied, "Good-bye, Children."
"Bye, Uncle Neelix!" they said, and hurried to follow their parents
out of the Mess Hall.
"Hurry up, Kes, Kassy." Harry Kim called to his wife and daughter,
"We're going to be late."
"Almost ready." Kes called back from Kassy's room. They
emerged a few seconds later.
"Are we ready now?" Harry asked.
"Yes," Kes replied, "all set."
Harry and Kes walked down to the holodeck with Kassy.
Her half-Human, half-Ocampan physiology made it difficult to measure her
age. She was about the size of a human two-year-old, and in order
to make it easy on themselves, they just went by human years. Kassandra
Kim had inherited her father's dark hair, but she had her mother's blue
eyes and elfin features. She also had her parents' easy going nature.
She was a shy, quiet child, and everyone on the ship loved her, even Tuvok.
When Harry, Kes and Kassy arrived at the holodeck,
Tom, B'Elanna and the kids were waiting for them. They had all dressed
in civilian clothes. All four of the adults were wearing shorts and
button down shirts, Ben was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and the two girls
both had on sundresses.
"Is everyone ready?" Tom asked.
"All set." Harry replied.
"Computer, run program, Seaquarium." Tom commanded.
The computer chirped.
"Program running. You may enter when ready."
They entered the holodeck and the kids' eyes grew
wide. They were standing underneath an overhang. There were
paths leading in several directions. Directly ahead of them there
was a huge tank.
"Daddy, where are we?" K'Ehyla asked.
"This is the Seaquarium. It was a place in Florida where
there were all creatures that lived in the water."
"Oh." K'Ehyla said, "What kind of creatures?"
"Dolphins, killer whales, sharks, seals, sea lions...all types."
"So?" asked B'Elanna, "What do you want to see first?"
"Dolphins!" K'Ehyla exclaimed.
"I wanna see dolphins too, Mommy." Benjamin said quietly.
"What about you, Kassy?" Kes asked, "Do you want to see the dolphins
too?"
Kassy nodded, her dark curls bobbing around her
face.
"Okay," Tom said, "the dolphins it is."
The seven of them walked to the dolphin tank.
The three children walked ahead of their parents, Kassy and K'Ehyla on
each side of Benjamin. Harry and Kes held hands, and Tom and B'Elanna
walked with their arms around each other. When they got to the dolphin
tank, they selected their seats. The children had wanted to sit in
the "splash zone", but B'Elanna and Kes had vetoed the idea, saying they
wanted the kids to stay clean for at least a little while. They still
had to walk around the rest of the Seaquarium. The children weren't
happy with this, and B'Elanna and Kes finally had to promise their pouting
children that they could sit in the "splash zone" for the killer whale
show. K'Ehyla was about to put up a fuss until her father explained
that the killer whales made a bigger splash than the dolphins did.
This seemed to appease K'Ehyla and they all settled down to watch the show.
The children sat as still as statues, watching the
dolphins perform their jumps. They were very impressed and couldn't
wait for the killer whale show. After the dolphin show was over,
the group began walking over to the killer whale tank.
"Daddy," K'Ehyla asked, "how do the dolphins know what kind of
jumps to make?"
"Well," Tom explained, "there are people who train the dolphins.
They make signals with their hands, and the dolphins know that each signal
means a certain type of jump."
"Oh." K'Ehyla said. She would have said more, but
they had reached the killer whale tank.
They selected their seats in the "splash zone" just
like B'Elanna and Kes had promised. The children were so excited,
they couldn't wait for the show to begin. Finally, the trainer came
out onto the platform in the middle of the tank. He greeted everyone
and welcomed them to the show. The children watched as he led the
orcas through a series of short tricks. Then, he called the whale
to the platform and got on it. Everyone watched as the trainer rode
the whale around the tank. Finally he directed the whales to jump
in the air to touch two red balls suspended high above the tank.
The whales jumped up and touched the balls, then landed back in the water
with a huge splash. The children shrieked in delight as the wave
of water splashed over them. The trainer made the whales jump a few
more times, and all too soon, the show was over. The seven of them
walked out of the amphitheatre, and B'Elanna and Kes stopped to wring out
the girls' dresses, while Tom took care of Benjamin's shirt and shorts.
"Who wants lunch?" Tom asked.
"Me!" Benjamin said.
"What about you, K'Ehyla? Do you want to eat now?" B'Elanna
asked.
"Okay." she replied.
"How 'bout you, Kassy?" Harry asked, "Are you hungry?"
"A little." she confessed.
"Come on." Tom said, "let's go get something to eat."
Tom led them to a little cafeteria. Kes and
the kids volunteered to find a table while Tom, B'Elanna and Harry got
the food. The three of them came to the table a few minutes later
carrying trays of food. Tom set a plate in front of each of the children,
then passed Harry and Kes their food.
"What's this?" K'Ehyla asked, looking at the thing on her plate.
"It's a cheeseburger." Tom replied.
"Oh." K'Ehyla said, "What's a cheeseburger?"
"It's a type of sandwhich." Tom replied, "It was very popular
on Earth."
"Mmmm, good." Benjamin said, as he swallowed the bite he had
taken.
"What are these, Daddy?" Kassy asked, as she picked up something
long and golden.
"Those are french fries." Harry explained, "They're traditionally
eaten with cheeseburgers."
"Oh." she said, nibbling at a french fry.
"Well," Kes asked, "what do you think?""
"Good." said Kassy, taking another bite of her cheeseburger.
"What's this, Daddy?" Benjamin asked, pointing to his cup.
"It's soda." Tom replied, "It was a popular Earth drink.
It has little bubbles in it, and if you drink it out of a glass with no
lid on it, they tickle your nose."
The three children took the lids off of their cups and
sipped from them. They started to giggle as the bubbles tickled their
noses.
"Okay." B'Elanna said, "Put your lids back on so you don't spill."
They replaced their lids and finished their lunch.
Amazingly, all three children had managed not to get any food on them.
They cleaned up their trash and headed outside to see the next attraction.
"Well, where to next?" Harry asked.
"I wanna see the sharks, Daddy." Benjamin said.
"What's a shark?" Kassy asked her father.
"A shark was a fish with lots of teeth. It ate other fish
and it sometimes attacked boats," Harry explained, "but it usually only
attacked if it was provoked."
"They sound mean." Kassy said.
"They do," K'Ehyla concurred, "but I still want to see them."
"Do you want to see the sharks, Kassy?" Harry asked, "If you
don't, we can wait here for the others."
"I'll see them, Daddy." Kassy said, curious about how an animal
with so many teeth would look.
"If we hurry, we can see them get fed." Tom pointed out.
The seven of them headed over to the shark tank.
The feeding show had just begun. A woman was lowering a fish on a
rope into the tank. Tom picked up K'Ehyla and put her on his shoulders
so she could get a better view. Harry and B'Elanna did the same with
Kassy and Benjamin. The children watched as the woman explained that
sharks like to kill their prey, so she was moving the fish around to make
the shark think it was dying. She also explained that sharks are
attracted by the scent of blood. Kassy flinched as a shark
came up out of the water and grabbed the fish with its huge, powerful jaws.
The woman fed them a few more fish and explained some more things about
sharks. She told them that sharks are cold blooded and that there
are many different types of sharks. The ones they were feeding were
Bull sharks. Finally, the shark feeding show was over.
"So, what did you think?" Tom asked.
"Sharks are mean." said Kassy, having made up her mind after
seeing the shark eat the fish.
"Well, where do we go next?" B'Elanna asked Tom.
"We could go see the sea lions." he suggested, "They should like
those."
"Come on, Kids, let's go see the sea lions." Kes said.
"What's a sea lion?" asked Benjamin.
"It was a mammal that lived on Earth many years ago." Tom explained,
"Come on, we're going to miss the show."
They went to see the sea lion show. Kassy
decided that she liked the sea lions much better than the sharks.
The sea lions were cuter. The trainer made the sea lion do tricks.
It balanced a ball on its nose while it danced around the stage.
Then the trainer asked for a volunteer from the audience. He picked
Kassy and asked her to go up to the tank. Kassy looked at her parents.
Harry nodded, and Kes gave her an encouraging smile. She walked up
to the tank and followed the trainer's instructions. The sea lion
kissed her, and Kassy giggled in delight. She felt very special to
get a kiss from the sea lion. Soon after, the show was over and they
exited the seating area.
"Let's go and see the manatees." Tom said.
"Manatees?" K'Ehyla asked.
"Yes." Tom replied, "Manatees were mammals that lived on Earth
a long time ago. They were called "Sea Cows", and they eventually
died out because people didn't watch where they were driving their boats."
They arrived at the mantaee tank. There was
no show to see, only the animals. K'Ehyla looked down into the tank
and saw a baby manatee.
"Look at the baby, Mommy. Isn't it cute?"
"It's adorable." B'Elanna said, agreeing with her
daughter.
"Can we get a manatee, Daddy?" Benjamin asked.
"I'm afraid not, Champ." Tom replied.
"Why not, Daddy?"
"Manatees get very big." Tom said indicating the size of the
manatees in the tank, "Where would we keep it?"
"You're right, Daddy. I didn't think of that."
"I know you and your sister want a pet," Tom said, "so your mother
and I will talk to Aunt Kathryn and see what we can do. Okay?"
"Okay, Daddy." Benjamin said.
"Come on," Tom said, "we've got one more thing to see."
Tom led them to a building where there were aquariums
filled with all different kinds of fish. They spent a long time looking
at all of the fish. Finally, it was time to leave.
""Well," asked Tom as the seven of them were having dinner in
the Mess Hall, "what was your favorite animal that you saw today?"
"The manatees!" exclaimed Benjamin.
Tom shared a look with B'Elanna. *How'd I
guess?* he thought.
"What about you, Sweetheart?" B'Elanna asked K'Ehyla.
"The dolphins!" she replied with as much enthusiasm as her brother.
"Well, *I* liked the sea lions." Kassy said, not waiting to be
asked.
"So," Neelix said as he came to the table to greet them, "you're
back from your holodeck adventure, are you? Where did you go?"
"We went to the Seaqu-arium." Benjamin said, struggling a little
over the word.
"We saw a lot of animals." said Kassy.
"We had a lot of fun." K'Ehyla added. Tom was thankful
she didn't mention the cheeseburgers they had for lunch. He didn't
want Neelix's feelings to be hurt.
"I'm glad you had fun." Neelix said cheerfully, "I'll see you
all at breakfast tomorrow!" he said as he hurried off to greet Samantha
Wildman and her daughter, Christine, as they entered the Mess Hall.
"Well," B'Elanna said as she saw Benjamin stifle a yawn, "I think
it's time for you kids to turn in."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, "It's Kassy's bedtime too."
They said their goodnights and headed for their
respective quarters.
"Goodnight, Princess." Harry
said as he tucked Kassy in with her favorite teddy bear. It had been
a gift from Neelix.
"Goodnight, Daddy." she replied with a sleepy yawn.
"Goodnight, Angel." Kes said as she placed a kiss on her daughter's
forehead, but Kassy didn't reply. She was already fast asleep.
In the twins' room, Tom and B'Elanna were busy tucking
in their exhausted children.
"Goodnight, Champ," Tom said as he kissed Benjamin's forehead.
"Goodnight, Daddy," came his sleepy reply.
"Goodnight, Tiger," B'Elanna said as she pulled up the covers
and placed a kiss on Benjamin's forehead as well.
"G'night, Mommy." Benjamin replied as his eyes drooped closed.
"Goodnight, Doodle-bug." B'Elanna said, placing a kiss on K'Ehyla's
forehead.
"Goodnight, Mommy," K'Ehyla said. She didn't have to worry
about being quiet, Benjamin could sleep through anything.
"Goodnight, Cupcake," Tom said, bending down to place a kiss
of his own on K'Ehyla's forehead.
"Goodnight, Daddy," K'Ehyla replied yawning. Tom straightened
up and was heading out the door when K'Ehyla's sleepy voice stopped him.
"Daddy?"
"What, Cupcake?"
"What are we going to do tomorrow?"
"I'm not sure yet. Get some sleep."
"'Kay," she said, as she lost the battle to keep her eyes open.
Tom shared a look with B'Elanna as they exited the
twins' room. She knew exactly what he was thinking. Life on
Voyager was definitely going to be interesting.
The End
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