She walked over to where he was standing. Placing a hand over his heart, she reached up to kiss him.
"You won't," she told him. "Of one heart, remember? Not even the gods...."
"Can stop the beat of a Klingon Heart," he whispered back. "I remember."
"Not even across time and space. You belong to me and I belong to you...for all eternity. You -can't- lose me, Lucas."
Leaning down, he pressed his forehead to hers.
"Then why am I so scared?"
In a lithe move, he picked up her petite form, and carried her to their bed.
He made love to her slowly, sweetly, until their minds and bodies joined so completely he wasn't sure where he ended and she began. It still had the power to take his breath away, this bond they shared, even after seven years of marriage.
He didn't think it would ever change. He hoped not, anyway. He didn't know what he would do without her. She was everything to him.
He lay awake long after she fell asleep, stroking her hair as she lay sprawled across him, praying to any gods that would listen for her safety.
*****
Now the end begins....
"Hey, guys. I think I know how to get us out of here." Tom poked he head through the doorway, interrupting Harry and Isobel. He was grinning ear to ear.
*****
"No, it won't work. The Flyer will be severely damaged when we break free. If you lose helm control the ship will be drawn in by the gravimetric eddies." Isobel was adamant, they had been arguing about this for fifteen minutes.
"I can handle it. You're not the only pilot around here," Tom was just as stubborn.
"I know you can," *but you will die doing it* and she knew she couldn't let that happen.
"If we don't do it this way you'll never get back to your own time," Tom told her.
She knew that as well. That was the whole crux of the matter. Her time. It wasn't the timeline that was supposed to be. Her selfishness had altered history. She was at fault. It was she who needed to repair the damage that was done.
"Maybe I'm not supposed to."
The others stopped what they were doing to look at her. She faced Harry with a determined expression.
"Harry, how did this paradox occur?" I
It was almost a rhetorical question, but he answered anyway.
"An event in time was caused by the actions of a future event to prevent it from happening."
"When will it cease to exist?" she asked him.
"When it completes the cycle of time," understanding was dawning.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Tom never did have a good grasp of temporal mechanics. Chakotay and Neelix didn't look like they understood the conversation any more than he did.
Isobel and Harry stayed locked in the gaze, it was so clear now. This is what he had been trying to tell her, when he came to visit last night. He had known what was to come. He had been trying to warn her. She turned to face her father. A sad smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.
"Computer. Recognize Authorization...K'Leena Paris-Riker: epsilon-alpha-0-1-0."
Tom's head snapped back in shock. Two pair of identical blue eyes met and held. Before he was able to get a word out she continued.
--Confirmed--
"Initiate Auto-destruct sequence, ten minute silent countdown. Engage."
--Confirmed Auto-destruct engaged--
"What are you doing?" Tom stared at her in horror.
"What needs to be done. Go, you don't have much time."
Nobody moved. It was an almost comical tableau. Neelix and Chakotay exchanged shocked looks. Harry watched his friend as he tried to take in what had just happened.
Tom was reeling. K'Leena. His daughter. Looking at her with new eyes he wondered how he had missed it. She was B'Elanna and him from head to toe.
"You're doing this for me, aren't you? You said your father died before you were born. I must have died today," he realized.
Squaring his shoulder he faced K'Leena, "I won't let you do this. You are not going to sacrifice your life for mine. I'm already dead."
"You don't have a choice." Tom knew that look. He'd seen it in the mirror a million times.
"Don't do this, K'Leena! I couldn't live with myself, knowing I was the cause of your death." he pleaded.
"Neither can I. You don't get it. I have to do this. I'm the one who created the paradox. I have to return the timeline to its proper destiny. It can only be this way. I know you don't understand it. I wish I had time to explain, but I don't. Go, please, all of you." She smiled at Chakotay and Neelix, gesturing to the open airlock.
They returned the sad grin and silently left. Harry paused before leaving. His heart constricted painfully for his best friend.
"Tom..." Harry said softly.
"I'm not leaving, Harry," he ground out between gritted teeth. Harry nodded and ducked through the airlock, then, leaving the pair.
"Shut off the auto-destruct." Tom demanded.
"No."
"I'm not moving. If the ship goes, you'll end up killing me." Tom dug his heels in.
"I don't have time to argue with you about Temporal Mechanics! You don't understand what's at stake here! This has to happen! I'm giving you a direct order, Ensign. Get off my ship! NOW!" the command tone of her voice startled him slightly.
Their eyes locked and battled as the computer silently ticked down. Tom knew he was losing the fight.
"You do a pretty good Janeway, you know," he said with a wry grin.
"Yeah," her voice softened with emotion, "I know. Aunt Kathryn taught me well. Go, daddy, we don't have time for this." She looked at him, her blue eyes pleading for understanding.
"Come with us then, destroy the ship but come with us." Tom was desperate.
"I can't. I'm already there. You have to believe me. I know what I'm doing. Please...trust me. It will all work out."
Tom looked at the woman who was his daughter. She had such strength and conviction in her voice, she sounded like B'Elanna. Folding her in arms he hugged her fiercely, tears gathering in his eyes.
"I hope so," was all he could manage. A second later he was heading through the airlock.
"Seal the hatch, Harry. Neelix, bring the engines online. Full power to the shields, we're going to need all the protection we can get." Chakotay commanded as Tom took his seat at the helm. He couldn't at any of them. He was too caught up in his own misery.
"Wasn't sure you would leave," Harry said quietly.
"She ordered me off her ship," he replied laughing softly to himself.
K'Leena sealed the airlock and disengaged the timeship from the Delta Flyer. She maneuvered the small ship toward the edge of the Innerfold layer. The Flyer was pulling away as far as the gravimetric fields would allow. Tom was putting as much distance between the two ships as possible. They would need the force of the explosion to set them free, but if they were too close it could destroy them as well.
"Today is a good day to die," she announced to the empty ship.
Watching the auto-destruct count down the last few seconds, she thought of her father, her mother, Lucas, the children she would never have.
Surprisingly it brought her peace.
Imzadi...forgive me.
She didn't know if was the explosion, the resulting temporal displacement, or if her mind was just playing tricks on her, but she thought she heard him reply.
Across time and space the last thing she heard was his voice.
I will find you.
*****
After it ends....
K'Leena Paris stepped off the Timeship Continuity and was surrounded by her colleagues.
The time jump had been a complete success. There was lots of cheering and yelling going on. Champagne was being sprayed and toasts were being made all around her.
She was the first person in history to use Temporal Propulsion Drive.
"You didn't cause any paradoxes did you, Paris?"
K'Leena turned to face the sourc
e of the gibe. The tall, Tactical Officer was leaning against -her- ship. Kahless, he was so annoying.
"What the hell are you doing here, Riker? I didn't invite you."
"Like I need your permission." Lucas snorted. "I just wanted to be around in case you managed to screw up the timeline, and we ended up married or something."
"In your dreams, Lucas. You wouldn't know what to do with me if you had me."
Laughing, she glanced over at her parents. Arm and arm they stood, watching her with pride. It always amazed her how young they still looked.
The Paris name was going down in history once again. Tom Paris had been the first man in Starfleet to break the warp barrier. It seemed fitting that his daughter should be the one to pioneer Temporal Drive.
Disengaging herself from the crowd, she walked over to her parents. There was a strange glittering in her father's eyes. Tears? Was he crying?
"Daddy?" What was it? Something wasn't right...or maybe something finally was? She couldn't quite grasp the feeling that skirted the edges of her mind. Questioningly she looked up at him.
"A paradox isn't a paradox...." Tom began, and then she knew.
The timeline that she used to know had almost completely left her, but for that instant, that span of a microsecond, she knew. With a gasp she looked into the blue eyes that were so familiar, so like her own, and said:
"Once the circle is complete."
*****
It begins once again....
"Come on, B'Elanna...you have to push. I know you're tired, but you can't stop now." Tom was worried. This had gone on far too long. She was exhausted.
After more than two days of laboring she wasn't going to have the strength to finish it. Holding her upright he laced his fingers with hers as he saw the fetal monitor rise in prelude to the next contraction.
"I think I want that pain medication now," she told the Doctor in a weak voice.
"It's too late for that, the baby is almost here. Just a few more pushes, B'Elanna. You can do it." The Doctor was concerned as well, he wasn't sure she had anything left to push with.
"I can't.... I can't do it anymore," she was too tired, there was too much pain.
The contraction tore through her with devastating force. She lost control of it rapidly. Her head fell back on Tom's shoulder, if he hadn't been sitting behind her, holding her up, she would have collapsed. An agonized moan escaped her lips. Tom felt tears prick the backs of his eyes. He couldn't watch her go through this anymore.
"Enough! She's too tired," he said to the Doctor in a tone that brooked no argument.
Nodding in agreement he replied, "Get the fetal transporter prepared."
Before he could leave his wife, Seven spoke.
"Weakling...what kind of a woman are you?" she demanded in her most cold-hearted Borg voice.
Tom looked at her incredulously. What the hell was she doing?
"You can't even give birth to your own child."
B'Elanna opened her eyes and looked at the other woman.
Seven saw the anger building. She continued to taunt the half-Klingon. Knowing B'Elanna would never forgive herself for not being able to do this.
"So much for your superior Klingon strength." That did it, B'Elanna surged forward ready to tear the Borg apart.
"Why you Borg b...aaahhhh..." she threw back her head and cried out as the contraction came hard.
Tom guided her hands to the backs of her knees, covered them with his own and helped her draw her legs closer to her body.
"One thing at a time, love. You can kick Seven's ass -after- you've had the baby, okay?" Tom looked up at Seven with silent thanks.
"Okay, as...soon...as I...have...this.... baby..." with every bit of strength she possessed, she pushed.
"That's it...you're doing great...come on, you can do this..."
"aaaahhhh...it hurts...."
"I know, it will be over soon...."
"this is all your fault...."
"I know...."
"no you don't...."
"Hold on, B'Elanna, stop pushing," the Doctor warned.
"don't push, sweetheart...breathe through it...dammit, B'Elanna, stop pushing or you'll tear...breathe...."
"you breathe...I...have...to...push...."
"stubborn Klingon...."
"One more time, now...PUSH!" The Doctor instructed.
A keening wail came from B'Elanna as she gave birth to her daughter. She felt an incredible rush of release as the child slipped from her. Then all the tension left her body and she sagged back against Tom. He let go of her legs and caught her as she fell in his arms.
"You did it," he whispered in her ear. B'Elanna turned her head and looked up at him.
She just nodded in response, too exhausted to say to speak.
Tom kissed her gently on the lips and whispered, "I love you."
He held her tenderly as they both watched the Doctor's assistant clamp and cut the umbilical cord. B'Elanna felt heavy in his arms. He knew she was rapidly drifting. She stiffened and cried out softly as the placenta was delivered.
"Congratulations, Tom and B'Elanna. She's beautiful," the Doctor said as his assistant placed the child in her mother's arms.
"K'Leena Isobel Paris, welcome to Voyager." Tom said, looking down on his daughter.
B'Elanna stroked the baby's cheek, tears falling from her eyes. Red hair, who ever heard of a red headed Klingon? And there was no denying she was a Klingon, she had B'Elanna's cranial ridges, maybe a little fainter but still there.
Seven quietly brushed the tears from her eyes as she viewed the three of them. She wondered if she would ever know what becoming a mother was like. Feeling something of a voyeur, she moved away from the new family and headed out of Sickbay.
Harry was waiting outside in the corridor, with the Captain, Chakotay, Neelix, and to Seven's surprise, Tuvok. She was tempted to ask who was on the bridge, but decided against it.
"I thought it was the expectant father that stood outside the delivery room doors?" She said to them with eyebrow raised.
As the Captain asked her how everything went and how the new family was, Harry took in Seven's appearance. She was dead on her feet. He didn't think he had ever seen her so worn out, and he had seen her go a week without regeneration. This was different. She was drained emotionally as well as physically.
Ignoring the Captain's indignant look, he interrupted the interrogation and put his arm around Seven's waist.
"I think Seven needs to get some rest, Captain. Perhaps the questions can wait for the Doctor to answer them." He led her away as the rest of the senior staff stood in stunned silence.
Seven turned to him as they entered the turbolift. How did he known what she needed?
"Thank you, Ensign."
"No problem. Deck 6," he instructed the computer.
"Ensign, the cargo bay is on deck 8," she reminded him.
"Yes, I know. You don't need to regenerate. You need to sleep, and you're not going to be able to do that in the cargo bay. The children are all playing in there right now, Samantha Wildman is with them. I'm taking you to my quarters, you'll be able to rest and no one will disturb you."
Once again he thought how inappropriate it was for Seven to be raising a family in a cargo bay. Tomorrow that would change. He was Chief of Ships Operations, and would see to it himself. For now, however, she would sleep in his bed. So he would know she was resting.
A short time later, dressed in a pair of Harry's pajamas Seven of Nine crawled into a bed for the first time in 22 years. As the mattress and pillow came up and comforted her, she decided that it was a pleasant feeling, however irrelevant. Harry turned out the light and took one last look at her. She seemed a whole lot younger than him at this moment.
"Ensign Kim?" she called out sleepily.
"Seven, when you're in my bed, I think you can call me Harry."
"Harry?"
"What is it, Seven?"
"Don't forget to wake me. Lt. Torres still needs to
...kick my ass," she told him.
Chuckling he left her to her dreams, not knowing that he was playing a starring role in them tonight.
*****
Before, after, then and now....
Klingon Hearts 04 Beginnings - Birth, Death, and Everything in Between Page 3
