Life With a Paris: Enough is Enough.. Isn't It?   B'Elanna laid the baby down for her nap, and moved out into the living quarters, collapsing onto the sofa. She loved the baby to death, but, God, what she wouldn't give for a rest. Just a little rest. Six hours would do... eight would be amazing. She just needed a rest. Her eyes began to close slowly, snapping open again as Delta's warm head rested upon her tummy, and his loving brown eyes met hers. B'Elanna melted under the adoring gaze and moved her hand to stroke his large head. "You know I didn't want you at first, don't you, big guy?" Delta panted softly, telling her in his own way that all was forgiven. He loved her more than life, so past transgressions meant nothing to him. "I changed my mind quickly. You're such a sweetie, Delta, nobody could help themselves when it comes to loving you." He smiled his happy dog grin, and nosed her until she made room on the sofa for Delta to climb up, snuggling in along side her, one of his hind legs finding no room and having to dangle towards the floor. B'Elanna laughed as she tried to rearrange herself for him, but he was getting so big it was hard to fit him anywhere these days with another person around. "Your dumb daddy knew that I'd love you, but we'll keep that between you and me. It's been fun torturing him these past few months." Delta snorted his approval, snuggling his head down against her breast. "But you know we have to stop this at some time or another. You can't always be a puppy, Delta. You're going to have to grow up and accept the responsibility of being a well behaved dog." His expression was one of disappointment, his happy grin fading into a thoughtful look. He whined softly through his nose, his tail thumping slowly against B'Elanna's legs. "Oh, Delta, Mommy's not saying she doesn't love you anymore, but Daddy told me about the comm badge incident. You can't go around doing stuff like that, especially after Captain Janeway has put a lot on the line to acknowledge you as part of the crew. It's not like you're Seven or the Doctor, Delta, we can't prove your intelligence level is equal to that of a humanoid, which makes it difficult to back up the Captain's decisions regarding you. You're a good dog, but if you're going to represent Starfleet, even with just an honorary rank, you've got to be a good dog all the time." His whine grew louder, and his tail ceased it's thumping. His ears lowered sadly, and he settled his head against her, his eyes following hers as she looked about. B'Elanna sighed. "It's just time now, Delta. Enough is enough. If we were planetside it would be an entirely different story, but we've all had to grow up fast here, and you're no exception. You're just going to have to try and behave from now on.  No more coffee bean raids, no more peeing on Chakotay, no more terrorizing Harry." She paused. "We get enough of that out of your daddy." Delta's happy grin returned and he panted harder. Thoughts of all the fun things he'd been through on Voyager made him wiggle with pleasure. "Delta? You just have to start being a good dog, do you understand? You have no more excuses." The door to their quarters opened then, and B'Elanna glanced up curiously as Tom peeked his head inside. Delta beat his tail against B'Elanna happily, but he never moved. "B'Elanna, I have a surprise for you." Images of the last time Tom had said this floated through B'Elanna's mind, and she shook her head. "No way, no, no, no." "She won't be as much trouble as you think, I promise." "No. You-got-one-get-out-of-the-brig-free card, Tom, no more! Enough is enough!" "But, B'Elanna, just look at her, please?" Tom moved his hands from behind his back, and held a tiny little kitten clutched to his chest. Her sweet little grey face peeked out at B'Elanna, but rather than feeling the pangs of adoration by which Tom was obviously overwhelmed, dread clutched at her heart. "Tom, no!" "Just hold her, please? You'll love her, and she won't be near as hard to train as Delta." "I let you have Delta and half the crew nearly blew us out an airlock, I refuse to let you have a cat, too!" Tom inched closer, and B'Elanna's sensitive hearing picked up the tiny creature's soft rumble of a purr. Her resolve wavered as Delta's tail began beating harder and harder against her. "This isn't going to work, Tom." "Sure it will. I promise I'll take care of her. You'll hardly even know she's here, but you'll love her too, I know you will!" B'Elanna closed her eyes and this time refused to smother the groan that snuck from her throat. She had married a child. "Oh, for God's sake, I don't care." Tom's face broke into his boyish smile, and he put the kitten on the floor. "If she's any trouble at all, she's going back to... uh, where did you get her?" "The Wildmans' cat got pregnant by Siegar's cat. I guess leash laws don't apply to the feline race." "Uh huh. If she's any trouble she's going back to Sam's then." "Sure, B'Elanna, but she's just a kitten, I mean, how much damage could a kitten cause?" Tom's face grew bright red and his blue eyes shifted quickly as a growl and bark erupted from Delta. In an instant, the dog was flying across the quarters, chasing the little grey ball of fur that had invaded his territory. A yowl caused both Tom and B'Elanna to wince in pain, followed by Tom's wince of fear when three vases simultaneously hit the floor. "TOM!" "Now, B'Elanna, she's just a kitten..." End.