"Uh huh."
Mike chuckled.
*****
"Mom, can I talk to you?"
B'Elanna turned around in surprise at her son's request. "Um, sure."
Robbie motioned to her office. "In private?"
In private? There was no one else in Engineering. She hid a smile and walked into her old office. With a casual flick of her wrist, she activated the upper level monitors when she rounded her desk to sit down. Robbie didn't notice. With the desktop computer screen turned toward her, he couldn't see that she had complete view of Engineering.
"I wanted to ask your advice...about Sherise."
It took all the self control she possessed to keep her features blank when she saw her son's mate creep stealthily to the part replicater on the upper level monitor as he spoke of her.
"Sherise, huh? You still having problems?"
"She divorced me, Mom!" Robbie looked at his mom incredulously. "Yeah, I think we might still be having problems."
Could he sound anymore like his father? "Uh huh," B'Elanna tweaked again, just because she could. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Hmmmm. Temporal Drive schematics being downloaded into the replicating unit. B'Elanna's lips twitched just slightly. So, that's how they were going to do it.
"I don't know how you can think this is funny," Robbie said in astonishment, completely amazed at his mother's apparent callousness. "My marriage is falling apart here, Mom."
B'Elanna's attention immediately focused on her son and the pain in his voice. Regardless of the fact that he was acting as a diversion, his problem was real. "Well, who's fault is that?"
He scowled fiercely. "By the tone of your voice, I'd say, "Mine?"
"Was it ever in question? No woman likes to be dominated like that, Robert Owen Paris. You didn't treat her with the respect or *honor* she deserves. Why would she want to remain your wife?"
"She loves me...and I love her. Isn't that enough?"
B'Elanna sighed. "Do you love her, or want to control her?"
"What kind of question is that?" Well, that was nice. His own mother doubted his motives.
"A valid one, all things considered."
"Kahless! I didn't marry her to control her! It just happened. I couldn't have stopped myself if I even wanted to. After we...," he trailed off uncomfortably. He might be a doctor and sex was a natural, healthy thing between consenting adults, but hell, this was his *mother.*
"Yes?" B'Elanna prodded with a rather wicked smirk.
Robbie glared at her. "She took me as her mate. She made the choice. All I did was accept that choice and make it official."
"Without telling her."
"I was planning on it!"
"When?"
"When she was ready to hear it. I didn't want to scare her off."
"Then she wasn't ready for the mating ritual, Robbie, and you know it. You deceived her. She's got every right to be angry with you."
He slumped back into his chair with a defeated sigh. "I know."
"So, what are you going to do about it?"
"Grovel?"
"It's a start."
*****
When Sherise finally made it down to the Shuttle Bay with the newly replicated parts, Lucas had everything waiting for their installation. It took them less time than they thought it would and the Delta Flyer was ready for the temporal jump well before K'Leena and Mike had finished their shift on the Bridge.
Unfortunately for Sherise, that meant another run in with Robbie. He arrived to see how they were progressing just as Lucas and she finished up.
"Can I walk you back to your quarters."
"No, I don't think...."
"Just to your quarters, Sherise. I won't ask to come in. We don't even have to talk if you don't want to."
"All right," she sighed. "But you're not coming in. I'm tired."
"I know."
They walked in silence, but it was a comfortable one. No expectations. He didn't speak until they reached her door.
"Get some sleep," he told her softly. "I'll see you in the morning."
Robbie dropped a gentle, chaste kiss on her forehead then left without another word, leaving her to wonder what he was up to now.
*****
The chronometer on her wrist read oh two hundred. It was time.
Tessa nervously ran her hands over the form fitting black Alpha Team uniform before heading to the Shuttle Bay with Mike striding along side of her. They'd decided the plain, insignia free uniforms were their best choice for clothing. All identical. All anonymous.
"I hope we're doing the right thing," she muttered under her breath.
Mike grasped her hand and held it tight. "We are. We have to be."
Hand in hand they entered the Shuttle Bay to find Lucas and K'Leena already aboard the Delta Flyer half way through the pre-flight.
*****
On the Bridge, Seven found what they had hoped they wouldn't
"Admiral," she said. "I've located a temporal trail near the outer edge of the Badlands. We're too late." Too late to stop Gellis, maybe too late to stop everything? Could Mike be right, could he save Tessa?
"Damn," Paris swore violently, sharing a grim look with Will. "Intercept course, Kyle. Paris to Torres. I need you on the Bridge, B'Elanna."
--On my way.--
A moment later, Deanna exited the turbo lift, much to Tom's surprise. It only took a second before he realized she would have felt the tension and known what was happening.
*****
"I'm picking up a temporal disturbance off the port nacelle," Tessa announced from the science station.
K'Leena nodded then turned to her husband. "Captain?"
"Launch when ready, Commander," he ordered.
"Opening Shuttle Bay doors." Mike overrode the security lock out with ease and encoded the doors so they couldn't be closed again.
K'Leena took a deep breath and engaged the thrusters.
*****
On the Bridge, an alarm sounded.
"The Shuttle Bay doors have been opened," Seven told Tom.
"Dammit! Close them! Now!"
"I can't, I'm locked out. The Flyer is being launched."
"Voyager to Delta Flyer," Tom bit out.
Silence.
"Voyager to Delta Flyer, you are ordered to stand down."
Again, nothing.
"Captain Riker," Admiral Paris commanded harshly, his heart turning to stone. "Stand down, or I will fire."
"They're responding."
"Onscreen."
"I can't, Tom," Lucas' voice was just as hard and his face just as determined as his father-in-law's. "You're wrong. We have to do this."
"Don't make me do this, Lucas," Tom warned again, stalking over to Tactical and targeting the weapons himself. The cold blue of his eyes was terrifying. Lucas knew in that moment Tom would kill them to keep them from going. "Stand down."
"No!" B'Elanna cried out, as she came on the Bridge, racing to pull Tom's hands away from the console. "You can't stop them," she implored. "You don't understand what's at stake."
"Dammit, B'Elanna!" Tom struggled with her, but she held tight to his hands. "I do understand. Too much. This has to end and it has to end now!"
"No!" She said again, holding tighter, she had to make him understand. It was so clear now. They should have seen it before. "Don't you see? They weren't warning us then. They were warning us now!"
Tom looked at her like she'd finally lost her mind completely. "What the hell are you talking about? Who was warning us? We don't have time for this. We have to...."
Deanna's eyes widened in shock. "When evil lurks and darkness reigns...," she whispered.
"...It will be the new generation that will save you," B'Elanna continued fiercely. He had to see. He had to. All depended on it. The warning had been for him and him alone. "Don't let your narrow minds blind you to what MUST be done!"
Tom looked into his wife's eyes. It wasn't just her fear for their childr
en he saw, but an understanding of something he hadn't been able to grasp until now.
"All will be lost if they cannot fulfill their destiny," he realized, slowly.
Taking a deep breath, he turned back to the view screen.
"God-speed."
Klingon Hearts 11 Controlled - Limitations of the Mind Page 10
