The Admiral's Boy By Diane Klepper (Author's note: This is the first part of a new series called "The Admiral's Family." These stories will be about Admiral Owen Paris and his family with special emphasis on Tom. The names of Tom's sisters are taken from Jeri Taylor's novel Pathways. This story is set 18 months after Voyager is declared lost and the crew is declared dead. The characters belong to Paramount. I'm just borrowing them.) Owen Paris tossed and turned in his bed. He looked over at his sleeping wife and smiled. It's a good thing Maggie is a heavy sleeper, he thought. I'm sure over the last 42 years of marriage my restlessness would of kept her up most nights. Owen dropped his legs onto the thickly carpeted floor and put on his slippers. He walked over to the closet and took out the blue bathrobe that his daughter Moira got him for his last birthday. As he put the robe on he suddenly realized that the blue in the bathrobe was the same shade of blue as Tom's eyes. Damn it, he thought, Tom is gone. I have to accept that. Owen walked out of the master bedroom and into the hallway. The walls were covered with pictures of him and Maggie and their children. One picture quickly caught his attention. It was a picture Maggie took of him Kathleen, Moira, and Tom the day they took Tom home from the hospital. Owen was holding two day old Tom while Kathleen was sitting on his left side, and Moira was sitting on his other side. They were all smiling. Suddenly Owen mind flashed back to old memory. Newly appointed Admiral Owen Paris walked briskly through the maternity ward of Starfleet Medical. In one hand he held a bouquet of roses and in the other he held a small blue teddy bear. He entered the hospital room and saw Maggie sitting up in the bed humming to a small bundle in her arms. Maggie looked tired but to him she still looked beautiful in her white hospital gown. "Owen…come in. I have someone who would like to meet you." Owen walked to the bed and looked down at the bundle in Maggie's arms and for the first time he saw the baby in her arms. The baby was sleeping put from his viewpoint he saw a tiny head full of blonde curls. Maggie smiled, "Owen would you like to hold your boy?" Owen smiled, "It's a boy?" Maggie smirked. She wasn't born a Paris but after being married to one for twelve years she had learned to perform the Paris smirk down to perfection. "I told you this one was going to be a boy." Owen laughed, "Yes you did…but you're the one who didn't want to find out the sex." Maggie frowned, "I didn't want you to be disappointed if it was another girl." "Maggie I love my girls…If this one was a girl I would of loved her too." Maggie smiled, "I know that Owen…but I also know how much you wanted a son. Someone to carry on the family name and go into Starfleet. We both know neither Kathleen and Moira have any interest in a Starfleet career." "Maggie I just want my children to be happy." "I know that Owen…but sometimes I wish you would tell the girls that." Maggie heard a soft cry and looked down at her baby. Both of his eyes were open and for the first time Owen saw how blue his son's eyes were. Maggie smiled at the two most important men in her life. "Owen would you like to hold him " Owen nodded and she gently placed her son in his father's arms. The baby started crying a little louder and Owen smiled at him and said, "Hello Thomas Eugene Paris." Owen started rocking the baby and he quieted down. Owen looked at his wife and frowned, "Darling I'm sorry I couldn't be here when you went into labor. I really wanted to be here." Maggie smiled at him, "Honey…I know that…you were on an away mission and the baby was early." She smirked at him and said, "I think little Tommy is going to be impatient just like his Daddy." Owen frowned, "I hope he inherits some of my better qualities too." Maggie yawned and said, "He will Owen…I know he will." Owen shook his head and sighed. "I can't think about him…not today," he whispered to himself." He decided to go downstairs to his study to get some of his paperwork down. He was about to go down the stairs when he noticed the door by the staircase was slightly opened. He walked over to the door and slowly opened it the rest of the way. He looked into the room and frowned. Even though no one has actually lived in the room for many years the room looked like it was already for its former occupant to come home. Owen knew that Maggie kept the room in order as a shrine to their lost son. For the first six months Maggie couldn't accept the fact that Tom was dead and Owen didn't have the heart to pack away Tom's old things. Then Maggie became involved with support groups for the families of the lost Voyager crew and it helped her to deal with her grief. She often asked Owen to attend the meetings with her but Owen just told her that he was fine and he didn't need to talk about his feelings about his lost son. Owen entered the room and looked around. He couldn't remember the last time he actually stepped into the room. He walked over to a bookcase and noticed that the bookcase was full of both old- fashioned books and padds. He picked up one book and read the title Ten Thousands League Under The Sea. He mind suddenly flashed back to the past: Owen Paris was reading a padd in his favorite chair in the living-room when he heard a small voice say, "Daddy." Owen looked down at his five- year old son who was wearing pajamas that was covered with spaceships. He was clutching his small blue teddy bear in one arm and a story padd in his other hand. Owen looked at his son and frowned, "Thomas…what are you still doing up. It's way past your bedtime." "I can't sleep. When will Mommy be home?" "Son… Mommy is at a committee meeting. She'll be home soon. Why don't you go back to bed." Tom looked at the padd in his hand and said, "Daddy will you please read me a story." "Tommy it's late." "Please Daddy. I'll go right to bed after the story. Please." Owen smiled at his young son and picked him up and put him on his lap. "One story young man…that's it." Tom smiled at him, "Yes ,sir." Tom handed his father the padd. Owen looked at the padd which said, Ten Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and smiled, "Son…don't you have this book memorized by now." "I like it, Daddy." Forty-five minutes later Maggie Paris came home to find Tommy asleep in his father's lap Maggie frowned at her husband and said, "Owen Paris…what is Tommy doing out of bed." Owen smirked. "He couldn't sleep. I read him Jules Verne again." Maggie kissed Owen on the cheek. "That boy has a whole bookshelf full of story books and padds and all he ever wants to hear is Jules Verne." Owen smirked, "I guess that's what I get for reading him Jules Verne when he was a year old.". Owen stood up and still cradling Tom he placed his son's head on his shoulder. Tom stirred for a minute but he didn't wake up. "I'll put him to bed." Owen found himself in the present starring at the Jules Verne novel. He placed the novel back down on the shelf and headed for the door. He was about to leave the room when something on the dresser caught his eye. He picked up a trophy that was shaped as a shuttle. The inscription on the trophy read: Thomas Eugene Paris First Place Shuttle Race 12 to 14 Year old division His mind flashed back to Tom standing in front of his desk holding a trophy: Smiling Tom said, "Dad I won the race." Owen looked up from the padd he was reading and said, "Good job son." Tom licked his dry lips and said, "Mom is taking me, Moira and Kathleen out to dinner to celebrate. Can you come?" Owen who was too engrossed in the reading the padd to see the eagerness in his son's face said, "I'm sorry son…I have a lot of reports to get through tonight." "Can you come to the races next week? Mr.Harrison says I have the best time in the simulators and I have a good chance of winning next week too when we go through the obstacle courses." Owen frowned, "I'm sorry Tom…I'll have to go to Vulcan next week to meet with Ambassador Sarek." "But Dad you never come to my races. All my friends have their Dad's there but you never show up." "Thomas I have an important job to do. Sometimes my work has to come first." "Your work always comes first." "Thomas…that's not true…You will understand better when you enter Starfleet." Tom looked defiantly at his father. "But Dad I don't want to got Starfleet…I want to join the Naval Patrol." Angrily Owen Paris looked at his son, "Thomas…you are twelve years old. You have to stop with this childish fantasy. No son of mine is entering the Naval Patrol. You will go to Starfleet." "But Dad." "Thomas I'm really busy right now. We will talk about this tonight. You go out with your mother and sisters and have fun." Knowing that when his father made up his mind about something he would never change Tom replied in defeat, "Yes, sir." Owen put the trophy down and frowned. "Oh Tom….if only" A soft feminine voice asked, "If only what?" Owen turned to see his wife standing there. Her long blonde hair, which she usually kept up in a bun was falling down her back. She was wearing an old yellow bathrobe and she walked up to her husband and said, "I woke up and noticed you were gone?" "I couldn't sleep." Maggie smiled at her husband, "Your thinking of him aren't you?" Owen smiled back at his wife of 42 years. "Am I that obvious?" Maggie hugged him. "Only too me my love… I have been thinking about him all day. Today would have been his birthday." Tears started falling down her cheeks. "Owen I miss my Tommy so much." Owen hugged her tightly, "Me too. I just wish he knew how much I loved him." Maggie hugged him back. "Owen he knew." "How could he? …Maggie I said some hurtful things to him after he was kicked out of Starfleet. …I told him that I no longer considered him to be my son and he was not welcomed in my home?" "Owen you were angry. You didn't mean those things. Tom knew that." Owen sat on Tom's old bed and frowned, "You weren't there. You didn't see the look in his eyes the day he left…I never saw him look so angry.' Maggie sat next to him. She took his right hand and held it tight. "Owen, Tom knew you loved him. The problem was your were both too much alike." "Maggie…Tom is nothing like me…If he takes after anyone it's you." Maggie smiled at him. "Tom may have my coloring but he is a lot like you…You are both stubborn. You both wanted your way all the time." "That's not true.' "Owen it is. When Tommy was little he wanted to be just like you. He couldn't wait until he was old enough to join Starfleet. The problems didn't start until Tom was about ten or eleven. That was when you started lecturing about the proper way to behave as a Starfleet officer…Owen he was still a child but you pushed him to get the best grades." Owen frowned. "I had Tom's best interest at heart. He had such an intuition for flying at such an early age but remember how reckless he was." Maggie smiled in memory. "I remember. We received two to three calls a week from his high school flight instructor complaining that Tom was either going too fast or flying recklessly. We were both afraid Tom would end up killing himself doing some crazy stunt." Owen smirked, "I remember I use to lecture him about following the rules and he would just stand there at perfect attention and say 'Yes, sir,' but I knew he wasn't listening. By the time he was fifteen he was able to tune out most of my lectures." Maggie smiled, "I remember he use to 'Yes, ma'am ' all the time because he knew I didn't like it". Maggie sat quietly for a minute and then said, "Owen I know Tom wasn't a saint and that he made a lot of mistakes but he never did any of it to hurt you. He wanted you to be proud of him." "I know that. I look back now and realize that I was too tough on him. I treated him more like a cadet then a son and the time he really needed a father I told him he wasn't my son anymore and threw him out of the house." Maggie squeezed her husband's hand and smiled, "Owen you both made mistakes. I like to think that if Tom was still alive he would of somehow gotten his life straightened out. I remember the one time I visited him in prison before he left for Voyager I made him promise me he wouldn't give up on his dream to fly again" Tears started to fall down her cheeks, "He promised me he wouldn't give up." Owen hugged his wife. "Maggie he didn't give up…he was always a fighter." Maggie gave a slight smile. "There is a Voyager family support group tomorrow. Owen will you go with me?" Owen smiled at his wife. "I would like that. Maybe the girls would like to come too. After the meeting we can all go out to dinner and talk about Tom." Maggie gave her husband a gentle kiss on the lips and smiled. "I would like that. I'm sure Kathleen and Moira would like to take about Tom too." "Good…I'll call them in the morning. Maggie, why don't you go back to bed. I'll be there in a minute." Maggie smiled at him. "Okay…I'll see you soon." Maggie got up and walked out of Tom's room and headed towards her bedroom. Owen got up and headed to the hallway and looked at the pictures on the wall. He took down a picture of Tom in his Academy uniform. Owen looked at the picture of a smiling Tom. And took into in to his and Maggie's bedroom. Maggie who was sitting on the bed and asked with a perplexed look on her face, "Owen…why did you take that picture down." Owen smiled at her. "I think I'll take this picture to work with me and put it on my desk." Maggie smiled at him, "That's a wonderful idea." Maggie got up and started rummaging through a drawer. "I have the perfect frame for it. It will look nice there." Owen smiled at her. "I know…No matter what happened Tom will always be my son…my boy." With tears of happiness Maggie walked over to her husband and she hugged him tightly "Yes Owen…I know….He will always be your boy."