Different Paths
By: Julia and Lauren

Part 9
By: Julia and Lauren

        Tom panicked for a moment. The woman he loved, pregnant with another
man's
child, lay there, unmoving. 

  "Paris to Voyager. Voyager, respond." There was only static. 

He looked back at B'Elanna. What if the baby was dead? Gently, he put his
hands to her stomach and felt a slight shudder under his hand.
        
It was like a butterfly was trapped inside. Tom allowed himself a small
smile and carefully pulled B'Elanna out from under the co-pilot chair. She
blinked once, and moaned softly.

  "B'Elanna, shh... Don't move, I need to get you out of here." Tom gently
lay her in the middle of the shuttle and kicked open the door of the shuttle.

        The moon was breathable, a bit cold to Tom's liking. He reached under the
seat and pulled out a med-kit, the few blankets, and sleeping pad, and
rations. 

        ~Where the hell am I supposed to go?~ He asked himself. He scanned the
horizon and knelt down beside B'Elanna. "'Lanna, can you walk?"
        
        She blinked. "I... think—" She bit back a gasp and Tom could see the
first
signs of an contraction. "Oh my god, what was that?" B'Elanna looked
panicked as she rubbed her stomach. "Tom... no... I can't... I can't give
birth here, no, Scott... he..." She blinked to focus and tried to stand.
She leaned heavily on Tom.

        "Let's get there." Tom nodded and packed the safety kit into the backpack
he found in the shuttle. He slung it over his back and turned back to
B'Elanna who was leaning against the back of the shuttle. "I'm going to try
and carry you. Your in no condition to walk."

        She shook her head. "I can walk fine." She looked certain enough but
there
was a small flicker of doubt in her eyes. 

  "All right, come on. I can see a few caves over there." B'Elanna took one
step and then another. She dug her fingers into his neck, stumbling over
little pieces of rock.

        They reached the caves fifteen minutes later. They had been slowed by
contractions and Tom could clearly see B'Elanna was in no condition to
walk. She sat down on a small boulder and sighed. 

        Tom hurriedly spread out a blanket, and eased B'Elanna down onto it.
"Lean
back. Relax." He bunched up the other blanket and put it behind her as a
make-shift pillow.

        He took out his tricorder and ran it over her stomach. B'Elanna hit it
away. "Stop it!"

        Tom looked up in surprised. "B'Elanna, your water just broke."

      "Well yeah, its either that or I had an accident! I think I'd know!"

        Tom nodded and looked away. ~This isn't going to be easy.~ He told
himself. B'Elanna was already getting grouchy. He turned back to her. 

        She was leaning against the rocks, her eyes closed momentarily. One hand
massaged her stomach and the other gripped the blanket firmly.

  "I can't do this..." She said softly.

  "You have too. It'll be about an hour. I'm going to start counting how
much time passes between each contraction."

        The next hour and a half was filled with screams, curses, and sobs.
B'Elanna was sweating more then she ever had before, and Tom could clearly
see something wasn't right. 

  "That was two minutes. It's not long now." He put down his tricorder and
extended his hand. "It'd be better if you were lying down."

  "I'll lay down when I'm damn good and ready." She snapped at him. "I
can't believe this. I'm on an abandoned moon, my fiancee isn't here, and
I'm supposed to give birth three months early!"

        Tom paused and looked at her. She didn't meet his gaze but she could feel
his eyes on her. "Stop looking at me like that, I hate when you do that!"

        Tom sighed and took her arm. "As much as I'd like for you to be on
Voyager, in Sickbay and with Scott holding your hand, its not happening.
Lie down."

        This time, B'Elanna didn't argue. He bunched the blanket better behind
her. She gasped in pain and let out a blood curdling scream. 

        Tom could feel tears come to his eyes. Something was wrong. It was too
soon. He took out a hypo and administered it to her neck. She became silent. 

  "B'Elanna, you need to breathe." She let out the breath she had been
holding and began to breath deeply. "Good, come on, now on the count of
three, I need you to push. One. Two." He looked up at her. "Three."

  "Damnit!" She screamed and pushed. Tears squeezed out of her shut eyes.
Tense moments passed. Tom released one breath after another. An hour later,
B'Elanna was near her breaking point. 

  "One more push, 'Lanna, that's all!" B'Elanna pushed and screamed one
last time and Tom heard the most welcoming sound. The sound of a crying baby.

He took the little girl in his arms, and, since B'Elanna was using all of the
blankets, he wrapped her up in his jacket. His arms were getting goosebumps
all over them due to the coldness of the moon, but he didn't mind. 

"B'Elanna, she's gorgeous." Tom whispered. She didn't respond. He turned to
her, and saw her laying down with her eyes closed. He reached out his arm and
nudged her on the shoulder. She opened her eyes, and gazed around. She then
pushed all of the blankets off of her, and wiped her forehead.

"Why is it so hot?" she moaned. 

"I don't know." Tom said, sadly. She was getting feverish. "B'Elanna, you've
got a daughter." he told her as he held the baby out to her. She smiled, and
took her in her arms carefully, Tom giving her some assistance. She looked
down at the baby, who was in good health, considering the circumstances, and
then looked up at Tom. Their eyes met, and, for a moment, it seemed as though
it was Tom who had just become a father, due to the smile on his face and the
sincerity in his eyes.

"Are you feeling all right?" Tom asked her after a few minutes of silence. She
softly nodded, then handed the baby to him. 

"I need to get some sleep." she whispered as her eyes closed. 

Tom grabbed her arm tightly. "I can't let you do that, Lanna. You have to stay
awake. Voyager will be coming for us soon, just stay awake." he pleaded with
her. She nodded, and smiled. 

"What?" Tom asked, confused by her grin.

"You." she replied, "It's been awhile since we've talked." 

"You're right about that." he agreed as he wrapped his jacket better around
the baby. 

"Her name's Lindsay, Tom." B'Elanna told him, "After Scott's sister." 

"You and Scott are getting married?" Tom asked after a pause.

"I guess so. I don't want Lindsay to grow up with her parents not married."
B'Elanna answered.

"Is that the only reason you two are getting married?" he questioned as he
pulled out his tricorder. She didn't answer, instead, she watched Tom as he
scanned over her. He closed the tricorder silently without saying anything. 

"What? What is it?" she asked, frightened.

"Unless Voyager gets here within about an hour..." Tom started, and then
choked back a sob, "There's not much I can do for you." 

She didn't reply, just took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. Tom laid
Lindsay down, surrounded by blankets so that she could sleep without being in
danger, and then he took B'Elanna's hand. Their eyes met, and they were both
seeing tears glistening in one another's eyes. 

"I love you, Tom" B'Elanna whispered so quietly that Tom wasn't positive he'd
heard her right. 

"What?" he asked.

"I love you." she said again, "If I get back to Voyager, I'm ending it with
Scott." she told him.

He shook his head, and turned back to Lindsay. B'Elanna was obviously slipping
away, her mind was going.

"Tom, I mean it." she said. He crawled back to her, and took her hand. She
pulled him down to her, and kissed him. 

About an hour and a half later, Tom knew that B'Elanna would die. She was
sitting up now, propped up against one of the rocks, with Lindsay laying in
her lap. Tom had his arm around her, and his fingers laced through hers. 

"Don't forget to give Lindsay the message." B'Elanna faintly whispered.
Earlier, she had recorded an audio message that she instructed Tom to give to
Lindsay when Voyager made it home.

"I won't." he whispered back. Her head slumped down onto his shoulder, and he
held her closer. 

"Thank you for all you've done, Tom." she told him weakly. He didn't answer,
he was too busy trying to fight back tears. She moved Lindsay so that she was
facing her, and just tearfully smiled at her daughter. 

"Mommy loves you." she quietly whispered with her last breath. 

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