The BLTS Archive - Happy Easter, Tom
by Diane Klepper (DIANEKLEPPER@aol.com)

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Tom and B'Elanna celebrate their first Easter on Earth.

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Tom Paris sat on the couch in his living room with the
remote control in his hand. He was flipping through the
channels. When they left Voyager he had insisted the
television set B'Elanna made for him go with them. Even
though their apartment had the latest vid equipment
available he had to admit that the old fashioned television
was special to him. The fact that B'Elanna built it herself
while he was on an away mission brought a smile to his face.
This gift made him realize that B'Elanna missed him as much
as he missed  her when they were apart. Even though he knew
eventually their careers would force them to occasionally
take missions apart from each other. Tom was confident that
their love was strong enough to help them get through their
separations.

Tom peeked at the old fashioned grandfather clock next to
the wall and called out, "B'Elanna are you almost ready. . . 
It's getting late. . . My parents are expecting us in
fifteen minutes."

Tom heard a growl come from Miral's room. "If your daughter
would stop wriggling long enough for me to dress her I would
have been done already."

Tom laughed. "How come whenever she doesn't stay still, she
always my daughter."

B'Elanna walked into the living room carrying their eleven
month old daughter. "Because whenever she doesn't stay still
she reminds me of her Daddy." Tom smirked, "Well, as long as
she grows up as beautiful as her Mother I don't care if she
inherited a few of my bad qualities."

B'Elanna walked into the living room holding Miral and
smiled. "You sweet talker you. . . I just hope she doesn't
inherit your ability to get hurt so much."

Tom shut off the television and stood up. He smiled at his
wife and daughter. Miral was dressed in a white dress with
pink flowers and a matching hat. Tom took Miral into his
arms and smiled at her. "My warrior princess sure looks
beautiful all dressed up for Easter."

B'Elanna gave a littler growl reminding Tom that she wasn't
too happy with his nickname for their daughter. Ever since
they saw Xena: Warrior Princess, Tom insisted on calling
Miral his warrior princess. "I can't wait to show your
mother Miral's new dress. . . she picked it out."

Tom frowned. "I don't see why you and my Mom insists on
buying all of Miral's clothes in children's clothes stores
in downtown San Francisco. . . you can get anything you need
from the replicator. . . we don't have to use rations
anymore."

B'Elanna smirked. "You didn't seem to mind the dress I wore
last Saturday night. . . bought that downtown."

Tom smiled. "The black one."

B'Elanna nodded. "If I remember correctly. . . the minute
our babysitter left you had me out of that dress."

Tom laughed. "I remember Doc said something about both our
heartbeats were going a little fast and that we should both
report for physicals. . . next time let's find another
babysitter besides our daughter's godfather."

B'Elanna frowned. "No way. . . he's good with Miral and I
get the feeling that the Doctor is a little lonely lately."

"Doc lonely. . . he lectures every other weekend around the
Alpha Quadrant about Delta quadrant aliens and diseases."

"Tom, it's not the same. . . On Voyager, we were a family. .
. On  Earth, we have family. . . All the Doctor has is the
Voyager crew."

"I know that, B'Elanna. . . you know I consider Doc family.
. . but does he always have to have that holo-camera with
him. Last week he took a picture of me coming out of the
shower. . . I was naked!"

B'Elanna laughed. "Come on, Tom. . . the Doctor has examined
you plenty of times on Voyager. . . he has seen you naked
before."

Frowning, Tom said, "But he didn't have to say 'Mr. Paris. .
. I've seen your body before. . .  You have nothing special
to hide."

Covering her mouth to hide a giggle, B'Elanna said, "Tom,
you know the Doctor didn't mean anything by that. . . he is
just frank sometimes."

'That's from hanging around Seven too much. . . I'm more
afraid what he is going to do with all the embarrassing
pictures he has taken of me over the years."

B'Elanna smirked. "Oh, didn't he tell you. . . he having a
slide show next month. . . He's giving it at Starfleet
Academy. . . He's even asked your mother to borrow the bunny
picture."

Tom gulped. "Bunny picture?"

"Yes. . . the one your mother took of you when you were five
months old. . . Oh Tom, you looked so cute in that bunny
suit."

"I can't believe my mother showed you that picture." Tom
looked at his fidgeting daughter in his arms. "Miral, I
promise I won't take any embarrassing pictures of you."

B'Elanna laughed. "Tom, you did look really cute in that
bunny costume. . . and you did tell me you use to love the
Easter egg hunts at Starfleet command."

Tom put Miral down on the couch and said, "I did. . . and I
use to especially love when I found more eggs that Kathleen
and Moira. . . but that was easy. They spent half their time
flirting with the guys there."

"Oh, and you never flirted."

Tom laughed. "Not until puberty. . . by then I found out
there were more interesting things to do then find eggs."

"Kathleen and Moira always tell me you were a little terror.
. . always spying on them and their boyfriends."

"Hey. . . where do you think I learned to flirt. . . By the
time I was thirteen, I knew what girls liked and didn't like
so it made my dating life much easier. . . Until. . . I
met."

"Me. . . Helmboy."

"Come on, B'Elanna. You didn't actually play easy to get."

B'Elanna frowned. "You could have just given up."

Tom gave B'Elanna a long passionate kiss on the lips. "No
way. . . I knew you were worth the chase."

B'Elanna smiled. "Now that you have me are you going to lose
interest."

"Never. . . "

"Good." B'Elanna gave Tom a small kiss and said, "Helmboy. .
. if you're good. . . we will finish this later."

'Yes, ma'am."

Miral was squirming on the coach and started to cry. Tom
picked her up and said, "Come on Miral. . . we're
celebrating your first Easter with Grandma and Grandpa."

"Tom, what is your favorite Easter memory."

Tom smiled. "I think I was about four. . . my dad was on a
mission and he was supposed to come home Easter night so he
missed the Easter egg hunt. I was really sad because I
wanted him to see how many Easter eggs I found."


Maggie Paris was sitting on the couch reading a padd.
Kathleen and Moira had just gone upstairs to finish their
homework. Four- year old Tommy was sitting at the coffee
table coloring shuttles in his padd. His Easter basket was
next to him. Tommy couldn't wait to show his Daddy how many
eggs he found.

Maggie walked over to her son and said, "Tommy. . . it's bed
time."

Tommy frowned. "But Mommy. . . I want to show Daddy all the
eggs I found."

Maggie pushed the shaggy blonde hair away from Tommy eyes.
Tommy's hair was getting long, but she wasn't ready for Owen
to take her baby to the Starfleet barber for a buzz cut.
Maggie loved putting her fingers through Tommy's soft hair
when she was cuddling with him or reading him a story. She
smiled at her little boy and said, "Honey. . . Daddy is
going to be home really late tonight. You can show him your
eggs tomorrow."

"But Mommy. . .  tomorrow won't be Easter."

Maggie smirked. "Now. how to I compete with that logic. . .
Okay Tommy, I'll make you a deal. . . If you go upstairs
right now and brush your teeth and put on your pajamas you
can stay up for Daddy."

Tommy stood up, shouted, "Yeah" and hugged his Mother and
ran upstairs.

Maggie laughed and followed her son upstairs to make sure he
had put away his toys and that his clothes weren't thrown
all over the floor like last night. Tommy was usually good
about putting his things away, but when he got over excited
he sometimes forgot. Last week, she found Tommy's dirty
socks in his toy box and he sometimes forgot to brush his
teeth.

Maggie checked on Kathleen and Moira and told them not to
stay up too late and then she went to Tommy's room. Tommy
was already dressed in his favorite footed pajamas that were
covered with spaceships and he was looking at one of his
storybooks. Seeing his mother, Tommy asked, "Mommy will you
read to me until Daddy comes home?"

She ruffled his hair with her right hand and said, "Sure
Sweetie." She picked him up and placed him on his bed and
sat next to him.

Tommy handed her the story book and said, "This one Mommy."

Maggie smiled. "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. . .
Tommy, don't you ever get tired of this book."

Tommy shook his head no.

Maggie laughed, kissed Tommy on the check and started
reading him the story.

Owen Paris entered his house. He left his overnight bag by
the door and looked around the living room and kitchen.
Seeing no one there, he quietly walked up the stairs not
wanting to wake up Maggie or the children if they were
asleep.

Noticing that Tommy's door was half way open, he peeked in
and smiled at the sight that caught his eye. Maggie was
sitting on Tommy's bed with Tommy's head on her lap sound
asleep. Maggie was half asleep, but she looked up just in
time to see Owen walk into the room. She smiled at her
husband and whispered, "Hello Owen. . . how was the
conference?"

He smiled at her and walked over to the bed and knelt down
to give her a soft kiss on the lips. He quietly said, "Every
Federation member complains that they are second class
citizens to people on Earth and Vulcan and nobody trusts the
Romulans or the Cardassians."

Maggie smirked. "Same old thing."

Owen gave a little laugh. "Same old thing." Owen looked at
his sleeping son. "How was the egg hunt at Starfleet
Command?"

"Tommy wanted to stay up and show you all the eggs he
found." Maggie gently shook Tommy's shoulder and said,
"Tommy. . . Daddy is home?"

Tommy's blue eyes fluttered open and he smiled and said,
"Daddy."

Owen lifted Tommy's into his arms and grunted. "Tom you are
getting so big. . . the way you're growing, I won't be able
to lift you much longer."

Wiping sleep from his eyes, Tommy frowned. "Moira called me
a runt today."

Owen smiled. "Don't worry, son. . . in a few years you will
be towering over both your sisters. . . Your Mommy says you
wanted to show me how many eggs you found."

Tommy said, "Daddy, put me down. . . my basket is
downstairs."

Owen put Tommy on the floor and both of his parents watched
him run out of his room. Owen looked at his chronometer and
smirked. " It's 2345. . . he could have shown me the eggs
tomorrow."

Maggie hugged her husband and said, "Tomorrow is not
Easter."

"I swear sometimes I think that kid can out logic a Vulcan."

Tommy ran into the room and showed his basket to his father.
"Look Daddy. . . I got fifteen eggs. . . a lot more than
Kathleen and Moira. . . they spent half their time talking
to boys." Tommy yawned.

Maggie smiled. "Tommy, it's very late. . . it's time you got
to bed."

"But Mommy. . . I want to tell Daddy all about the Easter
egg hunt."

Maggie shook her head. "Bed young man. . . now."

"But Daddy."

Owen picked up his son and said, "You heard your mother. . .
you can tell me all about the egg hunt tomorrow." Owen
placed Tommy on his bed and covered him with a blanket.

Tommy frowned. "Where's Captain Bear" Maggie walked over to
Tommy's dresser and grabbed the bear off it and placed it in
Tommy's arms. She kissed him on the cheek and said,
"Goodnight Tommy. . . I love you."

Yawning, Tommy said, "Night Mommy. . . I love you too."

Maggie walked out of the room. Owen walked over to Tommy and
ruffled his hair. "Son. . . tomorrow your Mom is taking
Kathleen and Moira to their dance lessons. . . how would you
like to go out for ice cream and you can tell me all about
the Easter egg hunt."

"Yeah Daddy." Tommy eyes started closing.

Owen kissed hum on the forehead and said, "Goodnight, son."

As Owen walked out of the room he heard a muttered "Night,
Daddy," as he closed the door behind him.


B'Elanna smiled at her husband. "That's a nice Easter
memory. . . and hopefully we can give Miral a lot of nice
Easter memories" Tom kissed his wife on the forehead ridges
and said, "Let's get going. . . maybe I can sneak the bunny
picture out of the house and burn it."

B'Elanna laughed. "Forget it flyboy. . . both your sisters
have copies of it and they said they are keeping it just in
case they need something to blackmail you with."

"I guess I can't win."

"Not a chance, flyboy. . . we outnumber you . . . Let's go
before  we're late."

Miral squirmed in her father's arm. "Dada. . . go."

Tom smiled. "Your daughter is bossy too."

"Good. . . I'm raising her right. Let's go."

Tom smiled and kissed B'Elanna on the lips. "Yes ma'am."

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The End