Part 17
Tom sat on the couch, deep in thought. It had been six weeks
since Tarra had arrived, and he and Chakotay had volunteered to
take care of her. They had moved to one of the VIP cabins, so
now they had four rooms, thus giving Tarra her own room. They
hadn't decided what to use the third bedroom for yet.
Thinking back, Tom was slightly amazed at how quickly Tarra
had gotten used to everything. She had accepted him and Chakotay
as her new parents without questions, and never asked about
her real parents. Tom didn't even know if she still remembered
them. She had also grown used to Voyager rather quickly,
charming the whole crew within a week of her arrival, something
that still astonished Tom.
Tarra had also accepted the 'sibling-bond' without a problem,
but that had been expected. Acceptance was instinctive in Darrbakhians.
What *was* surprising was Naomi's reception of the
bond. While Tarra would welcome the 'sibling-bond' on instinct,
Naomi wasn't Darrbakhian, and Tom had expected... if
not problems, then at least some questions. But there hadn't
been any.
Tom puzzled over Naomi's easy acceptance of the bond for a
moment before it hit him. Tarra would unconsciously have
helped Naomi. Tom tended to forget that siblings subcosciously
helped and reassured each other whenever it was
needed. He and Rhiannon had been bonded for so long that
when one was afraid, or unhappy, the other would instinctively
send a wave of comfort.
The computer informing him that he had an appointment with
the doctor in ten minutes interrupted Tom's thoughts. He got up
from the couch and left for sickbay.
* * *
An hour later, Tom returned to his quarters, his lips curled in a
slightly mysterious smile. He looked around to see if Chakotay
had returned from his meeting with Captain Janeway. Seeing
that he hadn't, Tom turned and left their quarters again, heading
for Samantha and Naomi Wildman's quarters to pick up Tarra.
When Tom reached the Wildmans' quarters, he heard the unmistakable
sound of children's laughter through the door. He rang
the chime, smiling and wondering what the two girls were up to.
When the door wasn't answered, Tom rang again, suspecting
that no one had heard the chime the first time. This time,
Samantha answered. "Enter," she called over Tarra and Naomi's
giggles.
Tom walked into the Wildmans' quarters and looked around. It
was a *mess*. Toys and picture books lay scattered all over the
place, leaving no doubt that the two little girls had had fun.
Samantha was picking up after them, while Tarra and Naomi
were sitting on the floor, watching old cartoons.
{Well, that explains the giggling,} Tom thought as he went over
to help Samantha clean up the children's mess. "Looks like they
had fun," he remarked. Then, after a glance at Samantha's face,
he added, "You look tired, though."
Samantha sighed without looking up. "I am. Your Tarra is a
lively one. She has to do something constantly. How in the
world do you manage?" she asked, finally looking at Tom.
The pilot lifted an eyebrow. "Well, there's two of us and there's
only one of you. That helps," he told her. Then he snorted softly.
"Of course, that doesn't mean that we're not tired in the evenings."
Tom chuckled, then, becoming slightly annoyed, sighed
heavily. "We're even too exhausted to do anything. Romantically,
I mean," he told Samantha in a rare moment of openness.
Both he and Chakotay usually kept their private life just that.
Private.
"Your sex life went the way of the dodo?" Samantha was
amused, but tried to conceal it.
Tom sighed deeply. "Yeah, it did. I told Chakotay that this
would happen. Did he believe me? Nooo!"
Samantha laughed at that. After she'd gotten her amusement
under control, she looked around the room and noticed that the
two of them had gotten everything picked up. Turning back to
Tom, she asked, "Are you in a hurry?" When Tom shook his
head, she continued, "Have a seat and I'll get you something to
drink. Oh, and thanks for the help."
Tom smiled and sat on the couch. "I'll have a cup of coffee. I
think I'm going to need it." As Samantha moved to the replicator
and placed an order for two cups of coffee, he added, "It was
the least I could do. I have a hunch that Tarra made most of that
mess."
"You're right," Samantha admitted as she came over to the coffee
table with the beverages. She put the cups down and sat in a
chair across from Tom. Once she was sitting, Ensign Wildman
glanced at the two girls, making sure they were still watching
cartoons. They were. Looking back at Tom, who'd picked up his
coffee, Samantha smiled. "Tarra can sleep over one night, if you
and the Commander would like an evening to yourselves," she
offered.
"Thank you," Tom said with a grateful smile. "I have some
medical test that needs to be finished first, though. Doctor's orders."
"Medical tests?" Samantha asked, a worried expression forming
on her face. "Is something wrong?"
Tom shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong. I just told the Doctor
about my plan, and he insisted that he perform some tests.
*And* he told me to refrain from having sex while he runs
them. He did promise me, though, that he'll be done next week.
Maybe Tarra could stay over then," he suggested.
Samantha's expression changed from worried, to relieved, then
settled on curious. "Sure, just let me know the day before, so
I'm prepared to take care of those two little monsters." She
shared an amused smile with Tom before continuing. "Now, tell
me about this plan you have that has the doctor running tests on
you for a *week*."
Tom laughed. "Well, it's like this..." he started, then proceeded
to tell Samantha about his wish to have Chakotay's child, his
husband's consent, and his conversation with Rhiannon about
male pregnancies on Darrbakh.
When Tom stopped speaking about forty-five minutes later,
Samantha drew a deep breath, an amazed look on her face. All
she said was, "Wow."
Tom chuckled softly. "Yeah. That was pretty much my first reaction, too."
"And the Commander doesn't know about this?" Samantha
sounded slightly surprised. Having a Darrbakhian friend, she
knew how hard the 'marriage-bond' made it to keep things like
this a secret.
"Nope. I thought I'd surprise him in a couple of weeks," Tom
told her with a grin.
Samantha snorted. "Just do me favor?" When Tom arched an
eyebrow at her, she smiled wickedly. "Take a picture of the
Commander's face when you tell him."
Tom laughed out loud at that. After a moment, he brought his
merriment under control, and said seriously, "I'd better not.
Chakotay wouldn't appreciate that." He sighed softly, then got a
purely devilish expression in his eyes. "How about this? I invite
you and Naomi over to our cabin for, say, dinner one night.
Then while you're there, I tell Chakotay my little secret. That
way you get to see his expression for yourself," he suggested.
Samantha smiled at the mental image of the First Officer's reaction
when his husband told him that he was going to be a father
for the second time in less than a year. Then she frowned at
Tom. "You wouldn't *really* do that, would you?" she asked.
At Tom's questioning look, she clarified. "Invite me over when
you tell him."
Tom laughed wickedly, but before he could answer, Tarra came
over. "Hi, daddy," she smiled at him.
Tom smiled back and lifted her up to sit in his lap. "Hi, Munchkin."
Tarra turned around and hugged her daddy. Then she pulled
back and cocked her head slightly in a gesture so like Tom that
Samantha had to hide a smile. "Home?" the little girl asked,
sending Tom a simultaneous mental image of their quarters.
Tom smiled again. She had learned a lot of words in Standard in
the last six weeks, but Tarra preferred to communicate in single
words accompanied by mental images. "Yes, Munchkin, it's
time to go home. You can help me set the table for dinner," he
told her, knowing that his daughter loved to 'help' in any way he
and Chakotay let her.
Tarra beamed at her daddy. "Now!" she demanded.
Tom chuckled softly, put his arms around her and rose from the
couch. Looking at Samantha, who sat with a tired-looking
Naomi in her lap, he said, "Well, this young lady demands to go
home immediately, so we'd better go." Seeing Samantha was
about to get to her feet, Tom shook his head. "Don't. I'll get the
door myself." He paused to smile at the two females in the chair.
"Thanks for taking care of Tarra, and for the coffee."
Samantha returned Tom smile. "You're welcome, Tom. I'll see
you tomorrow."
Tom nodded, then turned and walked to the door. When he was
close enough to trigger the sensors, he stopped and turned back.
"Good night, Samantha. Bye-bye Naomi. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night, Tom. Bye-bye, Tarra," Samantha said.
"Bye-bye, Tarra. Bye-bye, Unca Tom," Naomi waved sleepily.
"Bye, Nami. Bye, Samta," Tarra waved back. Then her daddy
left, still carrying her. They were going home to fix dinner, and
daddy was going to let her help set the table. Tarra smiled,
pleased. Her other daddy was going to be *so* proud of her.