Jupiter Station

"Ms. Torres, I'm Dr. Todd Jackson, the base Medical Director." He watched the medics walk in the anti-gravity stretcher. This was the woman they had been waiting to meet, yet today she was nothing more than a scared new mother. "As long as you cooperate with me everything will be beautiful."

"Is the baby okay?" The birth had left her tired and fatigued. The Klingon in her had been fully taken over by her human side. "My daughter's fine right?"

"Commander Paris is on his way here with the baby. And from what I saw on the monitor she's inherited the Paris family lungs, you have my condolences on that fact." He smiled at his patient genuinely. "Your mother-in-law will be invading within the next few hours. Medical orders do not apply to five star's, I can try to enact Doctor-Patient privilege, but it won't get anywhere. Julia will throw me in the brig and demote me to Cadet if I don't let her near her granddaughter."

"You're that Todd aren't you?" B'Elanna put on a weak smile as she realized who he was. "Of course you're going to have to save me; you don't need Tom whipping your ass for something else."

"I would've been dead if he wasn't halfway across the galaxy." Todd squeezed his patient's shoulder. "Though, in his mind I seduced his 18 year old green cadet sister. We were the 2 senior medical officers aboard a Galaxy Class Ship, it wasn't the way he believes it was. Now if it was Erika, Owen would've killed me before Tom even had a chance to find out."

"What are they like? I know they're both Admirals, but Tom's been sketchy on the details." She managed a weak inquisitive smile. "Are they the self righteous type that put their careers before everything else?"

"To an extent, the last few years they've changed. Tom being gone put things into a different perspective." He kept it brief. "Julia's become grounded. Granted once she realizes that she has a grandchild that she can hold, and not have withheld by a crazy daughter, she will do a total 180."

Three hours later, Maura leaned against the wall in her husband's office." Pacing doesn't do anything for you at all. It makes you look tense, nervous, and totally out of control."

"Nice to see that you're still using that degree, COUNSELOR." Tom looked at his sister emphasizing her medical certification. "Of course I'm nervous and tense. They wouldn't tell me anything about what complications she was actually facing."

"I'm taking off the pips and the medical collar. What I'm about to say is coming from me as your annoying sister." She gave him a stare. "She's going to be just fine Tom. Todd's one of the best doctors in the Fleet. Hundreds of troops would've died during the Dominion conflict if it wasn't for him. The man I married is a damn good officer, but his leadership skills are dwarfed by his talents as a surgeon."

"You really do love him don't you?" He gazed past his sister and focused on his newborn daughter. "I didn't want to believe it. My best friend and my sister, it just didn't seem plausible."

Maura let a grin escape. "You know, I was ready to pull out when Pops died. It had been less than a month since I lost Keith, I wanted out like you would not believe Tom. They had robbed me of my Academy sweetheart. Then Pops was gone. Todd picked my pathetic ass off the floor and held me until I came to my senses. He allowed me to open up everything I had kept bottled up inside of me."

"Maura, it took me months to get used to the thought. You two were already married by the time I got that news. It was the last thing I could've expected. You were head over heels for Keith from Academy Orientation. Todd dated more than I did." Tom sighed and walked over to the crib. "What's the situation with my rank? Obviously things have changed."

"Your official file has you listed as a brevet Commander." She sighed. "There's no question that you'll be reactivated, the fleet's desperate for experienced officers. The Columbia is scheduled for a refit next month. Brass has changed a lot with everything that happened."

"I'm not the cocky young thing I was Maura." He sighed and looked down to his sleeping baby. "I have other priorities now. I don't want to be like Dad."

"You won't be. Dad's a different case. Aunt Nikki actually told me that if he hadn't been Mac's son he would've never made Captain. You would've made it at a normal age if you weren't his son." She smiled. "The baby's adorable by the way, Mom's on her way up with Aunt Katie."

"Aunt Katie's coming up for Seven isn't she?" He knew. "She and Uncle Jake must be thrilled that they have her back."

"She needs the distraction." The Counselor realized that her brother didn't know. "Uncle Jake's in pretty bad shape. Aunt Katie's already playing the grieving widow."

Outer Banks, April 2379

After placing his daughter down for a nap, Paris sighed as he straightened himself out. It was time to come somewhat clean with his wife. He stood at the doorway of the sun room, watching her engrossed with her novel. "We need to talk. There are things that I should've told you ages ago and never did." He knew for the last two days she had been in shock as to the family history. From the look on her face, Paris could swear she thought the family was forcing him to divorce her.

"Tom you're not just an admiral's son." B'Elanna sighed. "Your father's a 5th generation admiral. You're mother is the fleet. Your family's been nothing but the firsts. I'm an Academy drop-out, my parents rarely traveled, and just look at this place, it is not a house it is a freaking museum. I'll never fit in with your family. And as sweet as your grandmother is, she'll never accept me—I'm not exactly the type of girl she pictured your being married to."

"This is about us, not them." Paris leaned back and decided to use his skills to find out how much his wife suspected or knew. He had lived the part for close to a decade; he was yearning to get out of it. "What do you actually know about the Caldick Prime accident?"

"As a junior officer you caused the deaths of 3 other officers and lied about it. You lost your commission and almost drank yourself to death. You became a mercenary to simply make any money possible in order to pay off your bar tab." B'Elanna knew he was hiding something. "You weren't a lieutenant?"

"I was a young officer, there's no question to that, I however was far from Junior." Paris sighed. "I was the commander of an elite test team based out of Caldick Prime. We were the ones that developed the gel pack navigation systems. The program was in its last week, when I decided to take the chance and put out one last major push. My engineer worked her ass off to create an engine that would travel the threshold. The flight should've gone perfectly."

"But it didn't. Three officers died the day you took it out." B'Elanna sighed. "You covered up the records to save your own ass."

"I covered up to save Mor's reputation. I was not going to have her death noted as an error on her part. She deserved more than that, I had been in love with her for the better part of 3 years, and me being as career driven and cocky as I was never got the chance to say it." Paris paused. "I lost what would have been my ship. They threw me in the headquarters brig for a few weeks, and then held me to a court martial."

"And the result of the court martial wasn't the actual result was it?" B'Elanna tried to take in what her husband was actually saying. "You're way beyond the rank of lieutenant aren't you?"

"My grandfather cut a back room legal deal." He sighed. "Officially I was brevetted. I went Section 31. It allowed brass the option of reactivating me to a command track if they felt necessary."

"They want you back out soon?" B'Elanna shook her head. "Did they give you offers that won't destroy our family?"

Paris tried to put on a meaningful smile. "A space posting that would allow for family privileges. I don't want to make any decisions without your input. Mac gave me a few weeks to decide."

"It's obviously a Senior Staff position." B'Elanna saw the negative reaction in her husband's face. "Are we talking base or ship?"

"The Columbia, she was slated to be mine a decade ago." He smiled. "She's scheduled to undergo a refit starting next month. I would be the one overseeing it."

"I thought I misheard when Todd referred to you as Commander, I was so out of it." B'Elanna tried to comprehend that her husband relayed the message that he was not some random lieutenant that screwed up. "You weren't trying to pay off a bar tab when you flew for Chakotay?"

"I needed to fly, that's all I actually cared about." He realized that he hadn't addressed his rank with his wife yet, he was stalling on that. "If I had known we would be out there for years, I would've pulled rank on Janeway and taken command within days of her destroying the array. I figured it would be a matter of months at most, and I wasn't going to blow my cover for that, my training had taught me better. After a while I got used to playing the part."

"I don't know the man I married." B'Elanna was near hysterics. "How am I supposed to know if you even ever loved me? How could you have not told me any of this 5 years ago?"

"My career always came first. You don't want to know how many times I was ready to walk on to that bridge, sit in the center chair, and give the command codes." He sighed. "I was not supposed to fall in love; every day I woke up next to you on that ship, it killed me that you had no clue as to who I really was."

"I need to think about this all." She let out a huge sigh. "It's going to take a while to comprehend what you just told me."

"Take your time." Paris kissed his wife on his forehead. "I've been called in for a meeting. I'll hopefully be back in a few hours."

Starfleet Medical

"Why don't you come on in?" The Admiral put on his doctor's cap. "I gave my assistant the afternoon off. I figured you wouldn't want the spectacle. Plus, I've been on the receiving end of Jake's temper. It's not a pretty sight."

"He seems mellow, I couldn't see him ever losing his temper." Seven looked at her godfather. "Did you get my records Admiral?"

"Yes I got your records. And it's Brian—I'm technically your legal guardian so we can cut the rank crap." Rosen smiled at her. "How are Katie and Jake treating you?"

"I know they mean well, but they can be a little bit overprotective." She sighed. "I wasn't exactly expecting that, especially with all the time they each spent as Starfleet officers."

"It's their nature to be overprotective" The Doctor looked at her. "Katie, tends to be the extremely maternal type—she raised Mac, not the other way around. It's actually a good thing for you especially. Those two will make sure you're not totally taken advantage of. There are a lot of people who care about you here Annika."

"I've gotten that impression Brian." Seven allowed a smile to escape. "You didn't just bring me in to discuss the surgery did you?"

"We can do the surgery, it won't be pleasant and you'll be in massive pain for a few weeks." Rosen nodded at her. "Nikki suggested that I check up on you. Plus after 42 years together, I know better than to doubt my wife."

"You two really care about my overall well being?" Seven looked at him in shock. "I'm still trying to get used to people worrying about my emotional health as much as my physical health."

"You're now officially surrounded by busy body yentas. They'll only want to know if you're happy and well fed." The Admiral smiled. "Though I will give you fair warning, that Erika and Mel will be trying to pull something. I'd go along with it—they typically know what they're doing."

San Francisco, May 2379

B'Elanna kept on her pained smile as they walked into the reception hall; it was the smile of a woman still attempting to digest everything that had happened in the last three weeks. Her husband was no longer the man she married, she didn't know who this man was. To her, Starfleet special forces and their mythical powers had always been just that—mythical. Yet, there she was holding the hand of a man who wore the black collar.

"I suggest you get yourself a rather large glass of wine." Paris smiled down at his wife and squeezed her hand. "These things are fully unbearable, you'll need it."

"I'll consider that your first official order Tom." She allowed to herself to be remotely genuine. "Now before you get bombarded, I need to know—this urban legend that's your life, how many of our crewmates know of it?"

"Tuvok, and that's only because his mother was the Admiral in charge of the division for almost 40 years." He sighed. "The explanation is a little too complicated for tonight. I can guarantee you'll see more shock over the black collar than anything else. A lot of officers can go a career and not once deal with special ops. There's less than 100 officers in the division, it's not like we're on every ship."

"I'm playing dumb to the fact then." B'Elanna squeezed his hand tightly. "You going to be okay with being addressed by your actual rank, not for nothing it just sounds strange."

"No kidding, I haven't for close to a decade." The Captain smiled. "But Captain Paris sure sounds a hell of a lot better than Ensign Paris."

Kim approached Paris cockily. The helmsman's uniform news spread through the room like wildfire. "Your father and the rest of the brass will throw you in the brig when he sees the practical joke you're wearing."

"It's not a joke Harry." Paris smirked. "Bet you never knew any of us actually existed. Let alone that I was towards the top of the ladder. It would've changed a lot if everyone knew when we were out there."

"No shit Tom." Kim knew very little about the whole notion of the black collar, what he did know was that their officer's could take a ship at anytime. "How many times did you almost take command when we were out there?"

"Only a few, the original ship's doctor was one of my people, if Scott had survived, I would've called it the minute she started talking about destroying the array." Paris sipped his drink. "However I sort of like spending a few years just flying. And it wasn't like anything I did out there was going to have any effect on my rank whatsoever."

"How long has B'Elanna known?" The Lieutenant stared down the man that he thought was one of his best friends. "She walked in with you, she had to have notice a black collar with 4 freaking pips on it."

"She's barely talking to me at the moment if it's any consolation. Seven is also on the Tom is evil band wagon, so she has a major ally." Paris smiled. "You're more than welcome to join those two if you want. Just keep in mind there's talk of transferring me back into command—you just might not to be one of my enemies if you want another space posting."

"You're an evil man." Kim tried to suppress a laugh. "Which admirals have had Captain Janeway's ear for the last half hour, she's not escaping from those women at all."

"Archer and Reed-Archer. I've been subject to their tangents, you don't escape them." Paris read Kim's face. "As a tag team they can hold onto anyone. It's one of their ultimate gifts. If Janeway wants to make Admiral, she has to be in their good graces, they have the pull to pretty much end someone's career with just a nod."

"Thank-you." Janewayjoined her helmsman at the edge of the room. "I don't want to know what type ofpurgatoryI had you in for seven years Tom. I know hardly anything, but I do know that you could've called rank on me, thank-you for allowing Voyager to remain my ship."

"It would've been a little tough to explain." Paris looked at her with a stare. "Scott Fitzgerald was one of mine. Ifhe hadn't died it would've been differentthough I would've loved to see him dig his way out of the trash talking.I wasn't going to take command with no one having my back. I'm not that brazen and daring."

Outer Banks, June 2379

He sat on the balcony pouring over yet another pad of the new schematics, she was going to be a beautiful ship once the refit was done. Tom looked up to see his wife standing at the doorway. "That look can't be good."

"Tom, I've been thinking the last month." B'Elanna leaned on the doorframe. "I still can't grasp everything that's happened since Miral was born. I think I need time away from it all. I spoke to Anna this morning, Miral and I are going stay with her for some time."

"Okay." He was expecting this. "I know you need time to process everything that's gone on in the last three weeks. To be honest I would be doing the same thing if we were in opposite roles."

"No you wouldn't. We would never be in the reverse roles." She sighed. "And frankly I don't want to know about what you're not telling me. I know there's stuff your parents don't know, and that's what scares me the most. You don't want a wife tied down to officer candidate school as you command one of the top ships in the fleet. Don't give me the BS that I would be in your engine room. Tom I don't fit into the life I didn't know you had."

"Don't say that." The Captain sighed. "You and Miral come first now, I'm not going to say that I ever expected to have a family and a ship. My life has changed drastically over the last eight years. I'm not the officer I was."

"I need to evaluate that without you around." B'Elanna turned to start her packing. "You might not be the officer you were but you are not the man I married Tom. I've tried for the last month, but I can't fully live like this for now."

London, January 2380

Harlot looked up from her desk to see the Captain standing over her. "How'd you do it Matilida? Why am I three years younger than my twin?"

"I wish I could explain it Maura." The op let her vulnerable side show. "I was nineteen, I had only been accepted into the covert ops program days before. Then when Brian did the scan and I was carrying triplets, I guess I lost it. He offered to put two of the embryos in stasis, I said yes without even thinking about it. I wasn't ready to be a mother, let alone a mother of three."

Maura took in the news. "Mom gave birth to me, I'm assuming that was a simple implantation, and Dad never had a clue did he? The third child, what happened?"

"It was your Mom's insistence. She could care less if you were hers biologically or not. Brian just said that Tom had a twin. It gave you the opportunity to grow up with your brother, which is all I wanted. Obviously she didn't treat you any differently than she did her biological daughters." Harlot sipped her coffee. "I gave birth to your other brother when you and Tom were in grade school. I was living in a role for the better part of a decade, so it allowed me to be part of his life for the first few years." She sighed. "He went to the Academy then had some issues so he never finished. I wish I could say that I was able to take him in, but we weren't."

Maura struggled to keep her composure. "Locarno, I did his psych evaluation after the incident. All I thought was dammed this kid is so much like my brother. That's the third of us isn't it? I mean does Tom have any clue?"

"No, though I'm sure if we were to ever sit the two of them in the same room it would be quite an experience." Harlot sighed. "He thinks I simply left when he was five, because I couldn't handle the pressure of being a wife and mother. Obviously we know I'm not a quality parent here."

"You did what you had to do, it's the life that we live. I'm lucky in the sense that I'm a genius shrink it keeps me from being forced under." She struggled to regain her composure. "Thankfully Todd and I have skills that are needed in the public scope, but we're ready to go under if needed, we always have been. It's the one concession that I've always made."

Outer Banks, June 2381

Todd stared his brother-in-law down as the two Captains ran the beach. "Go talk to your wife. This total indifference thing is not healthy Tom. Maybe if you had told her some of it in the beginning you wouldn't be going through this disaster."

Tom picked up his pace. "You're around your wife way too much. Last I checked you never passed the psyche boards Todd. And do you know how much I would compromise if I even told B'Elanna a quarter of it all?"

"You got soft out there—mentally and physically. Neither of us was cut out to be the marrying type, our lives don't work for that." He sighed. "And I passed the psyche board's years ago. Do you really think Mac would've let a physician with no psyche training serve as the medical officer for a test team full of reckless pilots?"

"True, I guess it's the same way Maura never practices general medicine." Tom smiled. "So your marriage to my sister-it's all an act for appearances sake?"

"You only wish." Todd held up his wedding ring. "Would we be married if we didn't do what we did? No but she would also have never lost Keith. So of course with you being an overprotective big brother, you would assume that it was a sham. Now truthfully were you angry about me making Captain or our marriage?"

"The rank thing, I knew you deserved it, but there I was serving as a mediocre lieutenant. Then the demotion to Ensign, that really nailed it. Even Mike was making me address him as Sir." Tom sighed. "Yeah, I regret not calling it."

"Maura was ready to declare you insane from a far. But I understand why you chose not to call it. There are days that I want to do nothing but practice medicine." Todd smiled. "Seven years, Tom, seven freaking years and a tour as Ensign. Your desire to do nothing but fly lasted at most six months."

"And what good would it have done for me? I mean I had Mike and that was it, and there was no way possible that I was outing the both of us at the same time. Plus, if I did it in the beginning, with the Cardassian Op still aboard, it would've been a major disaster." He sighed. "Even if Scott wasn't killed, well the trash talking he gave me. I would've been entertained for weeks as he tried to get out of it. 149 people that didn't like or trust me, it would've taken all of 3 days for me to be faced with a mutiny. That would've been worse than playing the screw-up son of Admirals."

"Yeah, that plan would work, until your mom got smart and gave you that ship. You would've had that mutiny in 3 hours. Seven years of lies and poof Captain Thomas Paris in command." Todd cracked up. "The looks would've been classic. Especially from one Harry Kim, who I'm sure you're regretting bringing to Erika's opening."

"If it was meant to be it was meant to be. Harry has such a history of ending up with a wrong girl I give them at most another six weeks. I'm not that worried that it'll be permanent." Tom smiled. "Plus he's no you; I could probably take him down in about two seconds if he ever hurt Erika. Harry knows that too."

"You're staringat him Maquis." Kim stood aboveher beach chair. "You do remember thatis theman you're in the process of divorcing?"

"I never fell out of love with my Tom.It's just that my Tom got taken over by that Tom." B'Elanna sighed as she looked out to see her husband running the beach. "Part of me would like to get to the know the man I didn't fall in love with.Maybe I should've given him the benefit of the doubt."

"Trustme;he's not anything likeour Tom. I'm contemplating asking for a transfer, that's how unbearable he can be."He looked at her. "But then again, I got so used to Janeway, and she's probably nowhere near how they're supposed to be."

"Like you should be talking Harry. You were the one who couldn't wait to get back out there. Now, you're contemplating passing up a flagship." B'Elanna laughed to hide her disdain. "Is Captain Tom that bad?"

"He's the polar opposite of our Tom. The man's a psycho who runs the decks for two hours a day. His office ispristine;the man's pips are always perfectly aligned." Kim tried to hide his agitation. "He puts in 20 hour shifts all the time. The man works his Staff like exactly how Chapman warned us you should be worked freshman year."

"So you got used of Janeway, we all got used to Janeway. We were out there for too long not too get accustomed.I mean I'm going through it with the training program. I know when I finish, I'm not going to be chief for a long time." She paused. "Julia is trying to get me to take a test team position; I think it's all about her quest to be an active grandmotherAnd unless you knock Erika up soon, I'm going to be stuck with her abusing power to keep Miral close."

"Is it that obvious? We've been trying to keep it quiet." He glared at her. "It's not one ofthe infamous what are youthinking Harry flings, but still with my track record."

"Mel gave me the third degree about you at lunch. Otherwise, it's obvious that someone is making you very happy, but not who that someone is."She smiled widely. "Apparently Maura was the first one to pick up on it, she in turn reported it to Admiral Rosen, who then used Mel to squeeze it out of Erika. The Counselor and the Admiral have restrained themselves from combing through every aspect of your personalrecords. Which for them is major, I know that much with Anna. So instead of giving me grief about divorcing Tom, because they both believe I'm totally right to do it, they probed me for whatever information possible on you. I was told that since the whole thing started when you took my place as Tom's date I owed it to them."

San Francisco, September 2381

"You're going to owe me big time." Seven took the squirmy toddler from her mother. "For someone who's not dealing with her own husband, you certainly seem to be around his family a lot."

"You don't count. First of all we were friends before you knew you were related. Secondly, I have no issues with most of Tom's family, I have issues with Tom." B'Elanna looked at her. "Thirdly, you said you need practice, so consider having Miral for the day practice. Finally you volunteered to child sit whenever necessary. Do you need any more clarification Margaret?"

"You only got me because Chakotay is sitting in some conference. Trust me if it wasn't matinee day, I would be delivering Miral to her Aunt Erika." She chuckled. "So what placement are you going for exactly today? I thought you wanted a station or a test facility. I wouldn't consider a ship placement an ideal environment for child rearing?"

"It's a larger ship with full family privileges. The ship's undergoing a retrofit to the gel packs, and they want someone with extensive gel pack experience aboard as the number two in engineering. The fact that it has the full school and child care programs is just a major plus." The engineer muttered. "Plus it's the Columbia, so she would actually see her father."

"And you would be reporting to a chief engineer, who is reporting to a first officer, who is reporting to your future ex-husband who you are not talking too. It might not be the best idea at the moment." The former drone raised an eyebrow. "But that's just my two cents; I mean it would be easier to work out custody issues if you two were on the same ship. I would just never want to be the Captain's ex-wife."

Jupiter Station

"So you'rewith me discussing quarter options." Kim smiled at B'Elanna. "Are you sure this is what you want? It is Tom's ship."

"I can't avoid him the rest of my life, plus my daughter needs to know her father." The engineer smiled. "Plus that engine room—it's gorgeous. I would pay to work in that one Harry. So did Tomknow that Commander Leflerwas even interviewing me?"

"I gave him the heads up this morning.I'm turning you over to him for lunch." He accepted the glare. "He wanted to speak to you,you need to eat. Plus, we're not talking Neelix's cooking here either."

"I'll do it if it'll shut you up about it." B'Elanna rolled her eyes. "So is he still being Captain Asshole? I really just can't picture that being the same man I married."

"Hewas gone on some sort of cross-training deal with Captain Jackson most of last week, I kid you not he actually came back to workour Tom. I think he wants nothing more than to be civil with you." Kim dropped her at the door of the Captain's quarters. "Give him that courtesy.Plus, I have a bet I need to beat old Margaret on.She thinks you won't last more than a week under his command."

"She was a lot less cynical when she still had some Borg in her.Ironicisn'tit?" She looked as herestranged husband opened the door. "Were we that loud Tom?"

"No, I traced Harryabout 30 seconds ago, it's one of those things I can do discreetly. I figured it would be better if I greeted you at the door."The Captain put on a genuine smile. "Come on in,Robin told meyou took the position. It was theright choice. We can discuss all the fun details over lunch. We'll be fine Harry, it's not like I've never been alone with my wife." He shooed his ops chief away.

"So where am I exactly?" B'Elanna allowed herself to smile. "This ship, it makes Voyager look like a runabout. I mean myspecialtygroup in engineering is double the size of my old staff. The child care facilities? Harry didn't go into detail about them that all."

"Probably the best in the fleet. The school can service up through secondary. In the event we're both called to duty, there is around the clock availability of an emergency sitter." He paused and led her inside the Captain's quarters. "This monstrosity is otherwise known as the Captain's quarters. Miral's room has been done for weeks;I figured you would at least me take her a fewweeks a year. It's only fair she's not in some sort of shabby alcove."

"Can I see it?" She looked at him. "You really had your quarters done with a little girl's room in the hopes you would have her a week or two a year? And is this more than one level?"

"I have the room for 3 bedrooms in here, it just made sense. I figured it would be empty space not to make her a bedroom." The Captain opened the door and saw his wife's face beam. "It came out rather well I thought. I know it's a littleon the pink side, but as long as any of those junior officers that are afraid of me don't see it, all is well."

"Tom, it's absolutely precious." She reached up to hug him. "It's so not what I expected out of you at all. I mean it's what I expected out of my Tom, but it's not like he exists anymore.I take it you wouldn't mind if she moved into this room when we come aboard. I mean the options Harrywasdiscussing wouldn't give her this type of an option."

Paris looked at her witha wide grin. "You're more than welcome to move into the other bedroom. We wouldn't have to be on top of each other at all. It's only fair you reap the benefits of having me in command of this ship.I want to be totally active in my daughter's life."

"Me movingin herewon't work at all." B'Elanna stared at him. "However, I have no problem letting you move Miral into this room.I want you to be as active as possible in herlife;it's just that I still can't fully trust you."

"Listen I know I was an ass. B'Elanna believe me I know I was. I never imagined in 100 years I would even have my career back on the command track. There was no point in acknowledging the life I had lost. I never imagined I would be coming back to my ship, at most I thought I would be reactivated to a desk job." He sighed andsubconsciously reached for his collar. "It didn't matter after I hadyou;it was not the life I wanted. All that matters is I have a daughter who needs to know her father loves her in ways he didn't know possible."