Title: The Apparent Trap
Rated: PG
Author: Megan Faye
Summery: Tom comes across some legal documents his sister sent at his request saying that he was adopted by Admiral Paris when he was 3, and his mother was Kathryn Janeway, and father Unknown.

Note: This is in Season 7, after the episode Author, Author, but the episode Threshold DID NOT happen. And Tom and B'Elanna are not together.

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The Doctor worked quietly on the blood samples. Another day in the Delta Quadrant harbored another day of problems to face. Tom looked on, watching intently, as if he were a ten year old boy.

"Mr. Paris, would you mind not staring, I'm trying to concentrate."

"Its interesting, Doc. What is it?" Tom looked closer. "That's my blood, right?"

"Yes, and that is Captain Janeway's. Something has interesting me in the genetic coding. It would seem as though the two of you not only have the same blood type, but, a very similar genetic coding. A strange match up. I've only seen these matching between parent and child." Tom's face lost all color. "Its very interesting. If I didn't know any better, it would seem as the Captain is your mother, Lt."


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Tom read over the document again and again. He knew he and Captain Janeway were close, and he never understood why she looked out for him as she did. It was all explained. She was his mother. At the age of 15, she had Tom, and when he was 3, she falsified record, gave him up, and didn't look back.

"Lt. Paris," Kathryn said, sitting across from him in the mess hall. She had on a magical smile. Tom looked at her angrily, tossed the PADD down and left without a word. Kathryn looked at it. The color drained as she read it. She always knew who he was, and now he knew who she was.




Kathryn hurried off to his quarters. She owed him as much. When she rang the door chime, no one answered. "Tom, its me. May I come in?" Again, no answer. "Tom, please."

"Come in, I don't give a damn anymore." Tom sounded like he'd been crying. "Hello," he looked up from the couch. His tear stained cheeks shone in the light.

"Tom, would you like to talk about this?"

"No. I knew I wasn't wanted by Owen and his wife, and now I know my own mother didn't want me. I guess I am really the screw up."

"I was 15. Oh, Tom, I didn't want to give you up. Owen adopted you because he loved you, and I wanted to be able to be there while you grew up, even if you'd never officially met me. I have loved you your whole life, Tommy. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." Kathryn let him hug her as he sobbed. "Tom, its going to be all right."

"They never wanted me. It was just a favor for you because you could keep me. I'm supposed to be fine with that? A mother who wanted me but wanted a 'better life' for me and a family that I didn't belong with." Tom allowed her to lay him down with his head on her lap.

"Tommy, I know it was hard meeting up to Owen's standards, but I never heard that he was disappointed in you, just how proud of you, and even jealous of how smart you are. He loved you, Tom," she whispered. "And so do I."

"I know," he croaked. Kathryn stroked his hair in a soft, soothing motion. For the first time in 25 years, her son was in her arms.


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The chime to Tom's quarters caused Kathryn to stir slightly, but she quickly faded back to sleep, Tom's head on her lap. Chakotay called the security override. Kathryn and Tom hadn't responded on their Comm badges and were 30 minutes late for duty. Chakotay saw red when he caught how they were sitting.

"Tom, Kathryn!" He called. Tom sat up quickly. "You are late for duty, Mr. Paris. Consider yourself on report."

"Commander, its all right. He's going to need this morning off to sort through some things." Kathryn held his hand and smiled at him.

"Just because you're sleeping with him doesn't mean he is getting away with being late on my shift, Kathryn." Kathryn slapped him across the face as hard as she could before storming out.

"Wait," Tom called. He turned back to Chakotay. "Later, I'll tell you how big of an ass you are being. Right now, you've really upset her." Chakotay pulled him back and slammed him against the bulkhead.

"I should kill you right now." Tom pointed to the PADD.

"That'll explain everything. Right now, I've got to find her." Tom squirmed out of Chakotay's grip and ran down the corridor.


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Chakotay made a feeble attempt at a smile, as did Tom, who was standing next to him. Kathryn placed the PADD on her desk and walked over to her couch. The window in her quarters wasn't half as big as the one in her ready room, where she spent most of her time anyway.

"Kathryn, I can't say I'm sorry enough."

"Course you can, Chakotay, just try. She'll listen," Tom mused. "I explained everything to him." Kathryn's head jerked up. "You were going to anyway, and he'd have found out sooner or later. You know it." Tom headed for the door. "Besides, he was about to kill me. Saved my life telling him." He flashed a grin. "Well, Captain, Harry is waiting for me on Holodeck 1. May I?"

"Dismissed. And I have a feeling you've already spoken to Harry about this?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Do you plan on it?"

"When you're ready for me to. Is it all right now?" Kathryn nodded, and Tom left. Chakotay sighed deeply, before flashing a dimpled smile Kathryn's way.

"You have a helluva right hook, Captain."

"You understand why I was angry?"

"Of course I do. I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions." Chakotay sat next to her on the couch. "Forgiven?" Kathryn smiled. She couldn't stay angry with him. Silently, she wondered how Tom would feel about her and Chakotay dating. Tom, being the main reason she resisted Chakotay, now knew and could give her advice as her son, not her helmsman.

"Forgive, just don't assume I'm with someone based on here say." Kathryn smiled up at him, making him feel light headed.



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"Tom, that message from your sister, tell me!" Harry pleaded the second Tom rounded the corner into his friend's eye sight. Tom rolled his eyes as he followed Harry into the holodeck.

"Computer, Paris Hockey Omega 9."

"Look, I know its upset you, I can see you're still uneasy about it, and The Captain looked like she was going to launch someone out of a torpedo bay. I've never seen her so....livid." Harry grinned and sighed. "She was beautiful. I'd liked to have-" Before he could finish, Tom had him by his neck against the side of the rink.

"Liked to have what, Harry? Thrown her into bed?" Tom saw the fear of Gods in Harry's eyes, so he dropped him. "I....I'm sorry."

"Tom, what the hell is wrong with you? What was in the message?" Harry was nose to nose with Tom, daring him to lay a hand on him again.

"Adoption papers. I was adopted when I was 3."

"What does that have to do with the Captain?" Tom looked into Harry's eyes.

"Well, Har, she's my birth mother." Tom turned away for a minute, when he turned back, Harry had fainted. "Uh, Harry? Harry, c'mon...wake up." Tom slapped his friend's face lightly. "Beautiful......" he muttered as he pulled Harry from the ice.


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Kathryn sipped her coffee while staring at the data PADD. There were so many pictures of her and Tom when he was a baby, up until he was two. When Tommy had turned three, Kathryn was almost 19, and her parents wouldn't let her live at home. She'd asked her friend, Lt. Owen Paris to help her, but being married for the last 5 years and in Star fleet, there wasn't much he could do, so he adopted Tommy, and helped Kathryn get into Star Fleet.
Kathryn didn't see him again until he was almost 12, when his adopted mother took him and his sisters back to Earth. Tommy, who had been called Tom now, didn't remotely recognize her. And so Kathryn backed off. Kathryn was stationed with Captain Paris on his own ship for a few years before he made Admiral and Kathryn was his assistant. Even living a block away from the boy, she only saw the pictures Owen had on his desk. He always spoke of how proud of Tom he was, and when he entered the Academy at 15, No one was prouder than Kathryn and Owen, but Tom messed up. She wanted to tell him it was all right, and hold him, like a mother should, but he had Owen's wife to turn her back on him.
Kathryn turned the PADD off when the door chime sounded.

"Come," she said, horsily. Tom poked his head in. He'd done that when she'd forgotten to go tuck him in when he was first out of the crib. "Tom, Come in."

"Uh, Captain," he stammered as he sat. "I'd like to speak to you about something."

"Is everything all right, Tom?" Tom smiled up at her softly.

"I, uh, I looked at the pictures you gave me, and I remember some of it. I had always thought it was me and a baby-sitter, until I was told I was adopted when I was 3. I thought back to some things, and I can remember things, like the swing on the back porch. Every day after lunch, sitting in it until I was asleep, and waking up in Mommy's bed. Did that happen, or am I just thinking it up on my own?" Kathryn picked up a PADD. She made sure not to show him the back porch, because she knew if he would remember something, it would be the porch swing.

"There we are when you were a few days old, on the swing. Your first day home. It was too nice to keep you inside, and you loved it out there, so that's where I let you nap." She showed him the next pictures. The last one was when he was 3, the day he was leaving to go with Owen Paris. He'd just fallen asleep in Kathryn's lap, and she was crying. "This was....the last one. Owen took the picture. He didn't know I was crying until after he was done taking it. I wanted to keep it though. You looked so peaceful. He took you when you were asleep."

"I remember waking up in a different room. It wasn't Owen's wife's room; it was a nursery. I remember staying there for a long time after I woke up because I was scared. I remember Owen's wife looking in on me, and smiling, asking if I was hungry. When I was about 10, they told me I was adopted and my mother had died in a shuttle accident. I didn't believe it, and then a year or so later, I met you. I pretended not to remember you because I thought you were dead. I didn't know what my mother's name was." Tom looked back at the pictures. "You really loved me, didn't you? The Paris's never looked at me that way, never held me like that, and I don't think I ever smiled like that growing up."

"Tom, you'll never know how much I still love you." Tom chuckled

"The lullaby. You are My Sunshine. I heard Seven hum it once or twice. You used to sing it to me, didn't you, You were singing it that last day."

"Do you know why I got you out of Auckland?"

"At the time, I thought it was because I was ex Maquis, then after yesterday, I thought it was because I was your son."

"While all of that played a role in it, I got you out because Owen and his wife had turned their backs on you for the last time. I wasn't going to let them hurt you ever again, Tom." Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I want to be Tommy again. I was happy being Tommy, and calling you Mom." Kathryn let her eyes empty on her cheek. "Can I call you Mom again?" Kathryn touched his face briefly before allowing him to crush her in a hug.

"Of course you can, Tommy," she said into his chest. "I'm making two rules. Don't call me Mom while you are on the bridge."

"Promise. What is the other rule?"

"You have to meet me for at least 2 meals in the mess hall every week. All right?" Tom smiled at his mother.

"So, I'm now unofficially Tommy Janeway when we're off duty?" he asked, smiling mischievously.


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3 weeks later


"Hey, Tom, I thought we were supposed to meet on the holodeck half an hour ago!" Harry said as he stopped at Tom and Kathryn's table in the mess hall. "Hi Captain."

"Morning Ensign. Playing Hockey again?" Tom nodded

"I told you I would be late this morning." Tom shoveled another spoonful of the breakfast Neelix made into his mouth. "I'll be there in another 20 minutes, I promise." Harry nodded and handed Tom his ice skates and helmet. "Okay, okay, 10." Kathryn laughed at them.

"Mind if I join you, boys? I'm not on shift until this afternoon."

"You play hockey?" Harry asked.

"Does it surprise you, Mr. Kim?" Kathryn mused

"Not at all, I guess I saw you as more of a horseback rider, not a hockey player." Kathryn shook her head. "Its 20th Century Hockey, the really violent, no safeties."

"Sounds like fun. Come on, Tommy. Let's go play hockey."


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Tom carried Kathryn from the holodeck to Sickbay as her ankle visibly swelled and turned deep purple. The blood from his nose was dripping on her Hockey uniform. Harry was carrying a couple of his own teeth.

"Mom, are you all right?"

"I told you I'd beat you, Tom," Kathryn said, still laughing through the pain of her broken ankle. "And someone needs to Launch Vorik out of a phaser bank for taking transporters off-line, and locking the doctor in sickbay." Harry tried to laugh, but the broken ribs and lack of front teeth made it very difficult.

"Here we are, Mom. Sickbay."

"Thank you driver, just park me on a biobed." The doctor turned toward the group. looking disappointed and fairly annoyed.

"Captain, please tell me that it isn't what it looks like."

"It isn't what it looks like. What does it look like?" Harry asked, with his new lisp from lack of front teeth.

"The three of you turned the safeties off on a hockey game against the Vulcans and the Romulans."

"Then it is what it looks like. How's my nose?" Tom asked. The doctor scanned all three, head to toe.

"Mr. Paris, you've cracked 3 ribs, broken your nose, and fractured your collar bone. You know how to use this," he said, handing him the dermal regenerator. "Captain, you've crushed your ankle, broken your arm in 2 places, and dislocated your shoulder." He started running the regenerator over her bruised and cut areas. After a moment, he was finished and scanning Harry. "Mr. Kim, you've crack 8 ribs, punctured your right lung, and broken two teeth. Trying to eat the hockey puck again?"

"We won. We won with only a few minor scrapes. It was the team tackling afterwards that did us in," Kathryn confessed. "You really should try it, Doctor. It was a lot of fun."

"Captain, if you call causing serious internal damage, and breaking bones fun, you are in need of psychiatric help." He scanned her ankle after he was finished with Harry. "The damage is more severe than it looks. There are loose bone fragments scattered everywhere. Even if I operate, you'll probably need a cane for several weeks." The doctor turned to the other two. "You may go. I'm keeping Captain Janeway here for a few days until her ankle is stable. I hope you're happy."

"Doc, you know what? You don't have to be such an ass about it. We were having fun, and someone fell on her. She's a big girl and knew what the hell she was getting in to. So back off," Tom said, nose to nose with the Doctor. Kathryn wasn't going to say anything.

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"...So they end up together?"

"Yeah. You know she's in-love with Chakotay. And you'd have to be blind to not know that he loves her."

"Where do I come into this? She's your mother."

"Did you pay attention to the movie? Its going to take the two of us to put them together."

"Um, Tom? We, *aren't* twins, and this *isn't* summer camp." Harry paced back and forth in front of Tom. "How are we going to pull this off?"

"I'll help."

"Naomi, you're supposed to be asleep," Tom said making room for her on the couch. Samantha was on duty, and Naomi was staying with Tom so she wouldn't be alone.

"I have an idea. We'll have to let the doctor in on it."

"Are you going to tell us or what?" Tom asked, handing her the bowl of grapes. Naomi grinned.


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Naomi pulled Chakotay along full force. He knew that Kathryn had trouble walking with the cane, and Naomi said she'd been hurt. Tom had insisted that she go to sickbay where the Doctor would be doing random scans of her ankle when Naomi would show up with Chakotay. The doctor would deactivate himself in his office after locking them in sickbay.

"I'm telling you, Tom was carrying her to sickbay!"

"Why didn't he transport her over?" Chakotay asked as they rounded a corner and dashed down the corridor. 'Damn this girl has a lot of energy,' he thought.

"They were only two levels up. Come on! She looked like it hurt bad!" Naomi started pulling harder. As they rounded the corner to sickbay, Tom and Harry stepped out, and took Naomi as Chakotay entered the sickbay

"Mr. Kim, Mr. Paris, what happened?"

"She tripped, Commander." Tom looked slightly upset. "Will you stay with her? I'm on duty in 10 minutes." Chakotay nodded and headed into sick bay.
Kathryn was sitting on a biobed with the doctor hovering over her foot. He was muttering something about carelessness and delicacy of the human body. "Captain, I swear on my subroutines, you want a permanantly assigned Biobed."

"Doctor, I told you, it was an accident. I'm just not used to a cane."

"Well, you'll be using one for a lot longer if you aren't more careful." Chakotay leaned against the bulkhead and watched the two in amusement. "Its going to take a week or two for the bone to heal properly. Get comfortable. You're not going anywhere." Before she could argue, he dissappeared into his office.

"Kathryn, you know the rules about annoying the doctor. You made them."

"That measn I can break them as well. What are you doing here, Chakotay?" Chakotay sat next to her biobed and looked her over.

"I think Tom, Harry, and Naomi are toying with us." Kathryn raised an eyebrow inquizitively. "I was dragged half way across the ship by a 5 year old, being told you were in an accident and badly injured. When I get here, Tom and Harry are waiting for me, both looking as if you were on death's door, and I come in to hear you arguing with a holographic doctor. I think they are toying with us."

"Oh, Commander, relax. Its probably Tom's idea to get me a date. You know how hard he tried before he knew I was his mother. I had a feeling he would try ten times harder to either keep every man away from me, or get me a date. One extreme or the other." Chakotay took her hand. She was worry and fear still leaving his face. "Chakotay? Are you all right?"

"When they told me something had happened, it scared the hell out of me. I thought I might loose you, Kathryn." She squeezed his hand gently. "Promise you'll never leave me."

"Chakotay," she started.

"Look, you know how much I love you, and I want you to promise you'll never leave me. Kathryn, I love you." Kathryn eased into his arms, being careful of her ankle. She let him hold her and whisper into her ear how worried he was and for her never to scare him again.

"I'll never leave you, Chakotay," she said just before she kissed him. The kiss held so much passion and love, Chakotay nearly cried. "How about you take me back to my quarters for lunch?"

"Captain, you're not leaving sickbay for a week," The Doctor chimed in from his office. "However, I'm headed off to assist B'Elanna and Tom with the Delta Flyer, and my replicator is your replicator......no pun intended, Captain." The Doctor left the two and walked out into the corridor, catching a glempse of Chakotay kissing his Captain.

"Well? C'mon Doc!" Tom asked eagerly. The Doctor smiled and gave a thumbs up.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Harry......are you coming?" Tom called int his friend's quarters. "You promised."

"Coming! Coming!" Harry scrambled out in his ice skates and hockey jersey. "Y'know, the Captain *does* know how to ice skate and can teach those two." Tom knelt in between his 5 year old brothers.

"But they wanted their big brother and his best friend to teach them. You can't blame them." Tom said, looking up at Harry with a pitiful glare. "Josh and Chris want us to teach them. Not their Mommy."

"You promised, Harry," Chris said as he was lifted to Harry's shoulders and Josh to Tom's back. "So don't be a damn bear about it."

"Christopher, *where* did you learn that?" Tom asked.

"Mommy." Harry chuckled.

"Thought so."

C'est Fini!!!!!!