SUMMARY: B'Elanna's pregnant, but can the crew survive....

Set around season seven, Tom and B'Elanna have been married for over a year.

DISCLAIMER: I know, I know I'm playing with Paramount's toys. I will return them when I've finished and promise not to make any profit from them, I am not a Ferengi. This is all for fun. I own the sequence in which the words are arranged. The story is mine. Mine, MINE, MINE! Got it?! :o)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first fanfic that I am making public so please let me know what you think, if you don't tell me what I'm doing right and where I'm going wrong I can never improve. Glorifying praise is very welcome, but if you are going to criticise please be constructive and don't be mean, you might put me off, I have other stories nearly finished and you never know there might be someone else out there who'd like to read them! Send all comments to kath282@hotmail.com

(HINT: This is a lot easier to read with a small window.)

I'M WHAT?!

By K'Elanna (22/1/99)

PART 1

B'Elanna Torres crawled back into bed, she was down right fed up with being sick, this had been going on for the last month and Tom was starting to notice something was up. He had already suggested several times that she go and see the Doctor but she kept telling him she was fine and he knew better than to push her, he valued his life too much. She knew she couldn't put off going much longer though. People had started to notice how tired she was and her temper was even ! shorter than usual, and she'd almost embarrassed herself in the corridor earlier today. A wave of nausea had suddenly struck at the end of her night shift, she had gone racing out of Engineering and was almost at her quarters when she ran into Captain Janeway coming round the corner. Kathryn was about to tell her to slow down for once and look where she was going when she saw the urgent and green look on her engineer's face and quickly stepped aside. B'Elanna was very grateful, she had only just made to her quarters before throwing up. Had the Captain stopped her and asked her anything she would have thrown up on her, and if that happened she would have found it almost impossible to face Kathryn Janeway again. Though she knew the incident would not be forgotten, she had already received one message telling her to go to sickbay and if she didn't get down there soon it would become an order. *Oh well* B'Elanna thought to herself *I might as well get it over with*.

* * * * * * *

B'Elanna entered sickbay and walked straight into the Doctor (literally!) She hadn't been looking where she was going and just didn't see him.

"Well good morning to you too Lieutenant" the Doctor said, after stepping back and picking up the instruments that had gone flying.

"What's so good about it" B'Elanna groaned.

"Oh, seeing you always brightens my day" he replied sarcastically "You don't look well, what's wrong?"

"I thought you were supposed to tell me that!" B'Elanna shot back irritably.

"My we are touchy today. Whatever happened to that wonderful sense of humour?" he said more to himself.

*Down the sink with the rest of yesterdays leola root delight* she thought finally hopping up onto a biobed. She had hoped to get this over without the usual sarcastic exchanges, she just wasn't in the mood. She did manage to tune out while the doctor was examin! ing her. When he had finished he looked at B'Elanna and said "Congratulations Lieutenant. You're pregnant".

It was not what she had expected to hear, she'd put her symptoms down to overwork, too much stress, too little sleep and way too much leola root. "I'm what?!" she almost yelled.

"I said you're two months pregnant. Why didn't you come sooner? Don't tell me, you hadn't noticed."

"I heard what you said" she sat there in silence as the news sank in "How...How did this happen?...No, wait a minute, don't answer that! I mean, I know HOW it happens." Then reality finally kicked in. "What about the morning sickness, can you stop it?"

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that, you'll just have to put up with it. Although with your Klingon genes I can't say how long it will last. You will also start hiccuping very soon, and you will experience more and more severe mood swings as your pregnancy progresses."

"Oh wonderful, this sounds like torture!"

"Yes, it probably will be...for all of us!" the doctor muttered, earning himself a glare from B'Elanna that would have most of her engineers afraid for their lives. "Would you like me to warn the Captain?"

"No. I don't trust what you'd tell her. Oh, by the way, what is it?"

"It's a baby"

"Doctor, I know it's a baby! Is it a boy or a girl. Is that simple enough for you?"

"It's a girl." When B'Elanna just sat there, still in shock, he added "Don't you think you should go and inform Mr Paris. I assume he was involved in this."

"Oh! Tom! Yes! I forgot about him!" With that she jumped off the bed and headed for the door.

"I'm sure he'll be very flattered, you forgot about him while discussing his child!"

* * * * * * *

B'Elanna spent the rest of the da! y in their quarters reading all the information she could find on pregnancy in the computer. It was now 17:00 and Tom would be back soon. She had started pacing after getting bored with all the reading and she still didn't know how she going to tell him, he'd be even more surprised than she was. She kept running possibilities through her mind *Tom, I'm pregnant...I've got something important to tell you Tom. I'm pregnant...Tom, we're going to have a baby.* None of them sounded right. *Oh this is ridiculous* she thought *I don't usually have any trouble saying things...but then again I'm not usually pregnant am I!* She decided it might be better to sit down, she had been pacing for quite a while and was exhausted. She fell into one of the comfy chairs and put her feet up on the table. She was lent right back on the chair so that only two of it's legs were one the floor. It was an unconscious habit, something she had started doing as a child. It was comforting and that had been a time when she needed comforting since very little ever came from her mother. She had been so happy with her new life and husband on Voyager she hadn't swung on chairs for a very long time.

A little while later B'Elanna was deep in thought, still trying to find the right way to tell him when Tom walked in and she didn't even notice. Knowing she hated people creeping up on her, a lesson Tom had learned the hard (and very painful) way, and how far she was leaning back on the chair he just said "Hi B'Elanna". She went to leap off the chair to see who had walked in on her, but forgot how far she was leaning back. She lost her balance and tipped the chair right over knocking herself out cold as she landed with an almighty thud on the hard floor. Tom immediately hit his combadge. "Paris to transporter room two. Beam me and Lieutenant Torres directly to sickbay."

Ten minutes later B'Elanna was coming round in sickbay. She tried to sit up but the room began to spin and fell back down again. "Wha.! ..What happened?" she asked groggily.

"You where leaning back on a chair and fell over hitting your head rather badly" the Doctor answered "You really need to be more careful in your condition Lieutenant. That's the sort of injury I would expect to happen to a child not a fully grown woman who's carrying one."

"Oh" said B'Elanna feeling her cheeks getting hot and wishing she hadn't asked. Swinging on chairs was something her mother had always been telling her not to do, that was probably why she used to do it so much.

"B'Elanna. B'Elanna!" She suddenly realised Tom was talking to her.

"Huh, what? I wasn't listening."

"Well that much was obvious. What was he talking about B'Elanna? What's going on, are you alright?" He looked really concerned. It was nice to have somebody who cared about her so much, it wasn't something she was used to, not since her father had left anyway.

"B'Elanna, are you listening to me or should I have the Doc check your hearing as well."

"Mmm, I'm listening" she said thoughtfully.

"Then answer the question. What's wrong?"

Since she still hadn't figured out how to tell him and he wouldn't leave her alone now until she did she just blurted it out. "I'm pregnant Tom."

Now it was his turn to look faint, he was totally speechless. "Well, say something." B'Elanna prompted.

He couldn't, he just threw his arms around her. They stayed like that holding each other until the Doctor threw them out of sickbay because they were "making the place look untidy".

* * * * * * *

Tom and B'Elanna spent the rest of the afternoon celebrating in their quarters. After dinner he looked at B'Elanna and suddenly said "I know what we should call her."

"It's a bit early for that isn't it, there's! a long way to go as yet.

"I suppose so, but..."

"Go on, what do you think should we call her?"

"Well we'll have to clear it with the Captain first, but I think we should call her Kathryn."

"Oh Tom that's a lovely idea, she'll be delighted!"

"Well lets go now, if you're up to it of course."

"I'm fine now, my head's finally stopped spinning, I'm sure he wouldn't give me anymore painkiller just to make the point. Mind you, it was a pretty stupid thing to do."

* * * * * * *

Tom and B'Elanna stood nervously in front of the Captain in her ready room, neither knew what to say.

"Well, come on, spit it out one of you." Kathryn Janeway urged.

"Um...Captain...I'm pregnant." B'Elanna finally said. To their surprise Kathryn stepped forward and hugged B'Elanna. "That's wonderful news B'Elanna! Congratulations, both of you."

"Would you like me to make a make the announcement?" she offered.

"No." Tom replied "We thought we'd just tell Harry and Neelix and it'll be all over the ship in no time!"

They eventually left the ready room hugging each other and grinning from ear to ear when half way across the bridge B'Elanna suddenly stopped and spun round. Tom was still floating from the news that he was going to be a father and was caught completely off guard. He was flung across the bridge landing, to his embarrassment, at Chakotay's feet. When the laughter finally died down he looked up at B'Elanna "What the hell did you do that for?"

B'Elanna, who was still holding her sides and laughing at her husband laying in an undignified heap in the middle of the bridge clutching his ankle took a deep breath in an effort to control herself and just said "The name Tom, we forgot the name."

"Oh" ! was all he managed to say for fear of embarrassing himself any further, if that was at all possible.

Captain Janeway had witnessed the whole thing from her doorway and now had her own laughter under control. "Mr Paris, you may be the best pilot on this ship, but even you have limits. If you want to fly yourself I suggest you try a low grav environment on the holodeck. It should be much less painful for stunts like that!" That set off another round of poorly stifled laughter and Tom's face deepened several more shades of red.

*Tom, you have the worst luck. This should be one of the happiest days of your life, and what are you going to remember it for? Being flung across the bridge by your wife in front of everyone. Gee, I'd forgotten just how strong that women is especially when she catches you off guard.*

* * * * * * *

Kathryn and B'Elanna eventually got Tom to sickbay between them.

"Ah Lt. Torres. What have you done now? Should I reserve a bed in here just for all the casualties of your pregnancy?"

B'Elanna choose to ignore that comment.

"Mr Paris had a little...accident" the Captain told him helpfully.

"Well I can see that. What reckless activity have you been engaging in this time?"

"Bridge flying" B'Elanna started laughing again the moment she said it as she remembered the way Tom had gone flying across the bridge, and the fact that he landed at Chakotay's feet only made matters worse.

"Bridge flying. Well that's certainly a new one on me" the Doc sighed "I thought the bridge was the place where the important work was done. Obviously someone forgot to inform me yet again" he stopped when he notice the look on the Captain's face, he was getting what the crew had termed The Janeway Look and it was enough to silence even the Doctor.

"Alright Lieutenant, please get up on! the bed and I'll inspect the damage. I'll have to ask you two to step aside otherwise I can't reach my patient".

While the Doctor treated Tom's sprained ankle Janeway turned to B'Elanna and smiled "So what did you forget?"

"Well Captain, you've done so much for both of us, you had faith in us, you gave us both a second chance and a life neither of us could have had before we met you and..." B'Elanna paused when she realised she was starting to ramble and embarrass both of them. "Well basically what I'm trying to say is how would you feel if we named our daughter Kathryn?"

She could see the tears welling up in Kathryn's eyes, something she had never seen before or ever even imagined she would.

"Oh B'Elanna...I...I don't know what to say."

B'Elanna couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" Kathryn demanded.

"Well it's just that it's been quite a day" she said "I've managed to render both you and Tom speechless. That's quite an achievement, isn't it?!"

"Yes I suppose it is." She couldn't imagine a situation where her cocky helmsman wouldn't know what to say. "I would be honoured to have the second baby on Voyager named after me." she managed to say once she had regained her composure.

* * * * * * *

PART 2

B'Elanna walked into the mess hall, it was late but she was starving. Now that her morning sickness had finally stopped she couldn't seem to stop eating and she was getting some really weird cravings. She actually liked Neelix's cooking.

"Hi Neelix." she called out when she couldn't see anyone.

Neelix came scurrying out of the kitchen. "Hello B'Elanna. How are we?" he asked patting her growing stomach.

"We're hungry. What have you got?"

"You're hungry? It's the middle of the night,! B'Elanna."

"I know, but that doesn't stop me being hungry."

"Okay, well what do you want? Dinner or breakfast?"

" Actually I was thinking more along the lines of a midnight feast."

"A midnight feast? I've never heard of one of those, what is it?"

"When you creep into the kitchen in the middle of the night and eat whatever you can get your hands on."

"Sounds fun, I'll see what I've got."

He disappeared back into the kitchen and B'Elanna sat down at one of the tables. A few minutes later he returned with a tray stacked full of all different foods.

"That looks great Neelix." she said.

She had gotten half way through the pile when Tom walked in and sat down.

"I thought I'd find you here. It's 03:00 B'Elanna you should be in bed."

She shrugged "I was hungry."

"You're always hungry. I'm beginning to wonder if you ever stop eating."

"I am eating for two you know."

"Are you sure it's only two? You seem to eat enough to feed an army. And I'm not sure you can even call that stuff food" he said pulling a face when he noticed exactly what she was eating. "I'm getting worried about you, you actually like Neelix's cooking."

"It's a symptom of pregnancy, it'll wear off."

"I hope so, watching you eat makes me feel sick. Leola root is bad enough with whatever it is Neelix puts with it, but with chocolate and cheese sauce, that's just disgusting."

"Did you come here for a reason or just to pester me?"

"As much as I like to pester you I did come here for a reason."

"Well what was it?"

"I was thinking..."

"Uh-oh" B'Elanna interrupted.

 !

"That's not funny. This is serious. We still need a middle name for the baby and we still haven't decided what her last name will be."

"Did you have any ideas?"

"Maybe. Something like Elizabeth and both our surnames."

"No way! You cannot call our daughter Kathryn Elizabeth Torres-Paris. It'll take her forever to say let alone learn to spell. Lets just have Paris and a simple middle name."

"What's wrong with Torres-Paris?"

"We've been through this when we got married. It's too long."

"Okay, so what about a Klingon middle name since her first name is Human."

"No."

"Why not? It's part of her heritage and part of yours too."

"No, I'm not going to force anything Klingon on her like my mother did me. If she wants to explore her Klingon heritage when she's older that's her choice."

"So you don't like any of my ideas. Do you have any better ones?"

"Yes I do. I thought something like Rose or Emma would be nice."

"Hum, Kathryn Emma Paris or Kathryn Rose Paris, I like it."

"Which?"

"Both."

"Well we have to chose one, she can't have both."

"I chose with the first name, you can choose the second."

"Alright...Rose."

"Okay, Kathryn Rose Paris it is then." he said and patted her stomach. Why did people kept doing that? She was geting to get really fed up with it, and she was sure the baby was too. Whenever someone patted her stomach she kicked, hard.

* * * * * * *

"Carey to Janeway" he sounded desperate and nervous, his voice sounded funny too, like he was almost whispering.

"Go ahead Lieutenant"

"Um, Captain." The! re was a brief pause, as if he wasn't sure about what he was about to ask."Could you come down here we're having a few...uh...problems."

"I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with the ship."

"There isn't Captain, it's...it's just...well, we're all about to go mad down here" he sounded like he was moving quickly now.

"Whatever's going on in there?" There was no response and the footsteps were getting louder. "Joe speak to me." Still nothing happened.

Then B'Elanna's voice filled the bridge "Carey-hic-how dare you-hic-!" It suddenly became clear to everyone what was going on in Engineering and as they all imagined the glare Carey was getting laughter erupted around the bridge. Unfortunately it could be heard through the comm link and only served to fuel B'Elanna's anger. "And what the hell are you all lau-hic-ghing about!" she demanded.

"I see what you mean. Try to hold on Joe. I'm on my way."

* * * * * * *

When Janeway entered Engineering several exhausted engineers glanced hopefully in her direction, she couldn't help but smile, they weren't usually that pleased to see her. She was normally only down there when there was a major problem and they couldn't solve it fast enough. *From their point of view this probably is a major problem* she thought to herself.

Although she couldn't actually see B'Elanna it wasn't hard to locate her, there was an area behind the warp core that was completely deserted. The engineers were obviously giving their chief a very wide berth, they were all up on the second level or huddled near the door, some of them were almost out of it and Joe Carey was nowhere to be seen. This was not a good sign. Janeway headed for the empty area with a pretty good idea of what she would find.

B'Elanna was pacing up and down glaring at the warp core, she looked awful, like she hadn't slept ! for days. She didn't seem to notice Janeway standing there until she stepped in front of her and put her hands on her shoulders. The idea was to stop her and tell her to go back to her quarters. However it didn't quite work the way Kathryn expected, as soon as B'Elanna stopped that was it. It was like she just couldn't cope anymore, she collapsed in Kathryn's arms and started crying. Kathryn let her stay there for awhile but when she tried to move away B'Elanna wouldn't let go. She didn't try to fight her, it was hopeless, B'Elanna was much stronger than she was even in this state. She did manage to get her to sit down on the floor. Quite a tricky manoeuvre with B'Elanna still clinging to her.

After another half an hour of sobbing in Kathryn's arms B'Elanna finally relaxed and fell asleep on her. Once she was sure she was sound asleep Janeway tapped her comm badge, she didn't want to risk another outburst after what must have happened down here earlier. "Janeway to Paris" she said quietly.

"Yes Captain, what can I do for you?"

"Can you come down to Engineering. I could use your help."

"On my way." This was a request he had gotten used to over the last few months.

A few minutes later Tom walked through engineering and stopped dead when he saw his wife laying fast asleep in the Captain's arms like a little child. He bent down and scooped her up, she was definitely getting heaver. It was obvious she had been crying again, her face was red and streaky and Kathryn's uniform had wet patches over it.

He carried B'Elanna back to their quarters and between them Tom and Kathryn managed to get her to bed. Kathryn stood and looked at B'Elanna, she looked so peaceful, it was hard to believe that she was the same woman who, just an hour ago, had been screaming and shouting at engineers.

* * * * * * *

At eight months B'Elanna's mood swings! were getting more and more difficult to handle, even for Tom. There were times when he was surprised he was still alive, since he allowed her to take most of it out on him, but then he didn't usually have much choice in the matter as most of it happened in their quarters. He was getting better at spotting them coming and at finding ways of calming her down. He had found that a major trigger was lack of sleep, if she was exhausted she had much more difficulty controlling herself. At the moment he was really worried, B'Elanna had gotten hardly any sleep in the last week and she looked exhausted. It was a bad sign, a very bad sign. She could explode at any moment, and the way she was going there was nothing he could do to stop it, so was walking around on eggshells at the moment. One wrong move and that was it, she could just snap, he just had to be extremely careful until she got some sleep. Things had come close to erupting four times now, and the entire crew, not just the engineers, were giving her a wide berth. He was pretty certain it would all come out as anger this time, he was almost convinced he could actually see it bubbling just beneath the surface. The last four times had just been tears, no that was an understatement, she had cried for hours until she feel asleep on him from exhaustion, and they were going to the holodeck tonight for one of Neelix's moral boosting parties. It could be dangerous, but then again it could be what she needed to cheer her up and relax her a bit, or maybe that was just wishful thinking.

Tom walked into the bedroom, B'Elanna was standing in front of the mirror tugging at her dark blue dress. He walked up behind her and put his arms around her, they wouldn't quite go all the way round anymore. "You look gorgeous 'Lanna" he whispered in her ear.

"Huh, I look fat!" she replied pulling at the dress again, she couldn't cover up the fact that she was pregnant, the whole ship knew anyway, and the bump was too big to hide now.

"You do not look fat, you look pregnant."

"Yeah, fat!"

"You are not fat, B'Elanna. You're pregnant..."

"And don't I know it!"

"You are supposed to put on weight when you're pregnant, it's a fact of life. Anyway it'll all come off once you've had her."

"Oh look at me Tom, I'm huge. I'm surprised the turbolifts will still let me in and take me anywhere, and I can't do anything useful in engineering with this belly in the way" she moaned.

"And no one can get near you. It's for safety reasons B'Elanna! That belly isn't for the baby, it's for our safety!" She glared at him and Tom thought this was it, she was going to explode. He quickly removed his arms and backed away. To his shock and immense relief she started laughing.

"So that's what it's for. I hadn't realised all this was for your protection. You don't really think this stomach is going to keep me away from you, do you?"

Before he could respond B'Elanna pounced on him pinning down on the bed in seconds. Tom was so surprised he couldn't do anything as she sat on top of him.

"Argh! B'Elanna this isn't fair, you're heavy!"

"I thought you were trying to convince me that I'm not fat!"

"You're not, you're just heavy!"

"Huh! Pig! You're going to pay for that." She hit him playfully then started kissing him.

"B'Elanna, the party, we're going to be late." He managed to say breathlessly.

"Forget the party, I got other plans for you!" She said with a wicked, mischievous grin on her face.

It certainly wasn't the explosion he had been expecting, and he wasn't complaining either.

* * * * * * *

PART 3

From the string of Klingon curses drifting out of sickbay! everyone knew B'Elanna was about to give birth, there was no need to make an announcement.

Tom could feel his fingers being crushed by his wife's strong grip. Every time she had a contraction it felt like another bone in his hand was broken.

"ARRGGHH!" she yelled.

"Push!" the Doctor yelled back.

"Push off you moron. I'm fed up with pushing! You do it!"

"Come on B'Elanna." Tom was trying to be encouraging for all the good it was doing, she just started on him instead, but at least insulting him seemed to take her mind off the pain momentarily. He didn't even know what most of the things she had called him ment.

"Get stuffed!"

"Come on B'Elanna, if I could have this baby for you I would, but I..."

"YOU WOULD NOT YOU... AARRGGHH!!"

"Big push!"

"I am pushing!..This is all your FAULT! I'm never going to let you touch me again!"

"Congratulations Lieutenants."

"What? It's out?!" She was amazed, she'd been so busy screaming at Tom she hadn't realised it was all over.

"Yes, your baby has been born. She weighs 2kg 700g is 414mm long and was born at 07:52 hours on 16th January 2377." the Doctor stated proudly as he handed the little bundle over to her mother, who was now completely exhausted and crying with joy.

THE END

* * * * * * *

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kath282@hotmail.com