By:AW

Published in Unicorn Press. Editor: Nancy Border & Pat
Hayden.

You can buy it from Unicorn Press @
http://members.aol.com/UnicrnPrs/press.htm

Disclaimer: You know it, I know it, I don’t own idea
of Star Trek: Voyager. I just own the story.

Date With Destiny I

5. Building Blocks

Tom made his way to B’Elanna’s quarters. In all honesty he didn’t really want to see her or anyone. After he had heard that his father had sent him a
letter, he had held onto the belief that perhaps…just maybe he had forgiven his son. That maybe he had finally earned his respect in working for Captain
Janeway, in becoming part of her senior staff. Now that he had met him again, six years later, he knew it wasn’t true. He knew the man held no respect for him, and that as far as Admiral Owen Paris was concerned he no longer had a son. Tom regretted many things in his life, but the thing he regretted most was being a screw up. Sure, he put on a brave face, he made everyone think it didn’t matter, but it did. This had been tearing him up since that day all those years ago when he had admitted his crime, when he had been discharged from Starfleet, when he had lost any shred of dignity and self-respect he had ever owned.

He now headed towards B’Elanna’s quarters. He didn’t deserve her. She was so good to him, he would be nothing but a disgrace to her and her family and he wondered sometimes if he should just let her go. Just let her be free of his dishonor and his mess-ups. Maybe he would tell her so tonight. After all, when you love someone you have to set them free. He felt tears stinging his eyes, and knew that this would hurt him more than she would ever know, but he also knew it was the right thing to do.

/\/\

Kathryn stayed in San Francisco for three hours. She walked among the flowers in the part; she at lunch under a shady tree. She had changed into civilian clothing so no one who didn’t ‘know her’ would recognize who she was, ‘the great Captain Janeway’ and if then did realize her plight they didn’t let her know it. She ate alone, and realized that all her dreams of a future, forever bonded with her soul mate, Chakotay, had been just that: dreams. Hopes and dreams never to be fulfilled. It was at that point that she stood up and made her way to the transporter site. She tapped the commands and transported to Indiana. Her mother deserved to know she was okay, it was the least she could do, and maybe there, in her home down someone would accept her. And maybe someone would then love her for who she was not for what she’d done over the years.

/\/\

In her quarters, B’Elanna waited patiently for Tom. She had to tell him the news before she lost her nerve; before she left and would never see him again; before she lost her chance at happiness, for she needed him more than anything. Then her door chime rang, and all of a sudden she was frozen, she couldn’t move. Somehow, she found her voice and managed to call the command to let him enter. This is it, now or never.

Tom entered and saw B’Elanna sitting in the corner of the room. It was dark, and he wondered why she sat with the shadows engulfing her. He called out to her, half expecting her to tell him to get out and never come back. “B’Elanna, we need to talk.”

“Yes. Yes we do.” She got up and approached him. Tom decided he was going to start. “B’Elanna, I think we should break it off. I think that you deserve more than this. You have always been so good to me, and you
deserve more than a screw up who could never make the right decision. Who could never…”

“Stop it Tom. We’ve all made mistakes in our lives. God knows I’ve made more than my share of them. We can’t let this go Tom…I love you too much. I…”

He cut her off. He didn’t need to hear this. “B’Elanna, it would be for the best…” He stopped short. He saw the tears streaming down her face. He
hadn’t seen her this upset since she had gotten the letter telling her that her Maquis friends had been slaughtered. He slowly approached her a made a move to hug her, but she backed away. She looked frightened. “B’Elanna?”

She finally looked up at him, all the pain and anguish showing in her deep brown eyes. “Tom you can’t leave me. I need you and so does your son…” She waited for a reaction. Finally the news sank in and she saw the play of emotions across his face.

“You’re pregnant? I’m going to be a dad?”

She saw the pure joy on his face. “B’Elanna, do you realize you’ve just made me the happiest man in the world? I don’t deserve you.” He paused a defeated look entering his clear blue eyes.

B’Elanna drew in a deep cleansing breath before continuing. “Yes, Tom. Yes you do. I screwed up too. I never told you that the letter from your father did
come through. It was awful; some of the things he’d said about you and, to you, were horrible. I didn’t want to see you hurt, so I deleted it. Then I lied to
you; I told you the letter hadn’t come through. I betrayed your trust and your faith in me.”

For a fleeting moment he was angry with her. He wanted to strange her, but he couldn’t. “B’Elanna do you know how much pain the truth could have saved me in this case?” He saw her crushed look and realized she probably thought he was going to leave her. He looked her in the eyes, and let a simple phrase ring in her ears. “I forgive you, I guess we both have a few skeletons in our closets we would like to have disappear forever, huh?”

She gave a silent nod, and they sat down on the couch. They just sat, wrapped in each other’s arms, content in the knowledge that everything would be okay, and that neither would ever be alone again.

/\/\

Kathryn arrived at her home. She had walked nearly an hour from the transport site to her home. She had needed the time alone to think, to mull over the ideas in her head. What now? She had lost her career in Starfleet, her life’s work. She had left San Francisco and all the people she had grown to love over the past years. Was Earth home anymore? She walked through the
door to her mother’s house unannounced. She saw her mother, Phoebe and a man sitting at the table talking and eating. Well what do you expect Kathryn? You weren’t supposed to be home, you didn’t’ announce your entrance. She turned to leave, but decided she had done enough running. It was time to face the music. She approached the table where the only family she had left sat and ate amicably. She felt like an outsider intruding on a private moment. She touched her mom’s shoulder and her mom spun around with a surprised look.

“Kathryn?”

Kathryn almost broke into tears, and all of a sudden everything came flooding back to her. The emotions and the hardships of the past six years. The realization that she didn’t really fit in anywhere anymore. The discovery that the only person who could heal her wounded heart and soul was Kathryn herself. “It’s been a long strange trip, and I’m just glad to be home.”

TBC in Chapter 6. Section 31

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