This story is part of a series of short stories my friend Niamh Crilly and I are writing. The first one can be found here . The premise for the stories is that Tom and B’Elanna have a child. She gets into all sorts of ‘problems’ because of her naturally curiosity. Feedback of all sorts is appreciated. Much thanks to Niamh who is my muse. Thank you Cheile for beta reading this for me. Engineer’s Daughter Laura Hale Brown hair curtained the view of her face from her silent watcher. The six-year-old was surrounded by small parts of a disassembled clarinet. Two gel-packs, some wiring, a little rope and other various parts and trinkets 'borrowed' from wherever she had found them. She picked up a gel-pack and set it in the set-up she had made. She had been given the 24-century equivalent of an erector set. She loved that toy. It helped her understand how things worked. It also provided ideas for creations. The problem was it didn't have enough parts or power. That was why she liked to hunt for parts on the ship. Her creation now had power. The blue eyed girl giggled. She had the power now. This was great fun. She couldn't wait to show her mom what she had done. The six-year-old loved and wanted to be just like her mother. She was an engineer. She was really pretty. She was also married to the most important man in her life: her dad. Six-year-old fingers picked up clarinet parts. They keys which had been removed made their way next to the wind up gizmo. The connection was closed. The power wasn't on but waiting for the connection to open. When it was open, the legs made from clarinet keys would, if all went according to plan, make the unit walk. The unit would have 10 legs. The parts were carefully placed and fastened. The fit was secure and snug. The quarter Klingon child kneeled down and placed the 'bug' in front of her. She then carefully closed the circuit. The object moved. It wobbled slowly forward. Hands clapped with glee. "Good job, my little engineer." Blue eyes shot up. Little hands made a grab for invention and then hid it behind her back. The mother sent the daughter a look. "Uh oh." B'Elanna walked over to her daughter. She then held out her hand. The sheepish six-year-old placed her creation in her mother's hands. Pleading blue eyes met older wiser brown ones. The daughter didn't like getting busted by her idol. "You know, your father and I must really think of a more productive way to keep you busy. Look what you did to Harry's clarinet." The 'erector set' creation was set down on the nearest table. The mother reached for the child. The child wiggled out of reach, brown hair flying in all directions. Both went down in a heap. B'Elanna tickled her daughter. Sometime later, two tired bodies lay on the floor. "You know munchkin," B'Elanna said. "You're going to have to make it up to Harry for destroying his clarinet." The six-year-old nodded from her spot on the floor next to her mom. Her eyelids fluttered shut. B'Elanna looked at her daughter. She slowly stood up, and then reached won and picked up her daughter. Some one had a long day and now needed a nap. B'Elanna headed with her child towards her bedroom. Nap time for the Engineer's daughter. The End