Title: A Mother's Pride
Author: Pecosa
E-Mail Address: ejp34@email.byu.edu
Rating: G
Summary: In a late-night, peaceful time, Kathryn cherishes the wonder of her children.
Author's Homepage: http://home.swbell.net/provance/fanfic.html

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager and all of the properties thereof belong to United Paramount Pictures. It is illegal to profit from this story in any way - I write for enjoyment, and not for money. (Somewhere, some Ferengi in the divine treasury is cringing.)

Thanks, Mom, for the French translation.

Kathryn shifted her weight nervously on the bench. Chakotay gave an understanding smile and reached over young Sarah to wrap his arm around his wife. Two-year-old Michael mumbled a garbled, sleepy protest at the movement of his mother's lap. On Kathryn's left was the rest of her family; nearly all of her kin had traveled to Betazed for this all-important occasion. Nine-year-old Charlotte (or Charlie, as she was often called) leaned against her grandmother's side. Phoebe sat at the end of the bench, trying desperately to quiet the youngest of Kathryn's three nephews.

A deep voice echoed throughout the cavernous gym. The words, as was tradition, were in French: "Voici le septième et dernière concurrent, une athlète que posède un talent merveilleux - Shelby Janeway!" Cheers rang out at the name, and not just from the family bench. At only ten years old, Shelby was four years the junior of the next youngest competitor, and had quickly become the crowd favorite.

The little girl wore the colors of Earth, having won the champion title only a month ago. Her competition was difficult: six other competitors from Betazed, Bajor, Vulcan, Alpha Centauri, Romulus, and - for the first time - Ferenginar. After rotations on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam, cross, and grid, all that was left was the floor. It was Shelby's best event, but also the best of the Bajoran competitor, currently the only gymnast to be considered a true rival. Kala Mori had received a 9.86, a score than put her in the lead.

Young Shelby took a deep breath before the performance began. To her mother, she looked smaller than she had at birth; before she had a chance to worry farther, the music began. The first cross was easy for her; four front flips was nearly enough to bring her across the mats, and she used her momentum to fly backwards into a handspring, switch direction a second time, and use a round-off to finish the series. After a few jazz steps, she did a similar series to cross to yet another corner of the mat. A quick balance move led into a move more daring than any of the other gymnasts had attempted. Putting her amazing strength to good use, she began a cart-wheel one limb at a time. For nearly a full second, two beats, she leaned on each limb - left foot, left arm, right arm, and right foot, before beginning a second cart-wheel, this one at normal speed. The third and fourth were fast, the fifth one-handed, and the sixth an aerial. The entire cross passed perfectly.

Both the music and the gymnast began to move faster now. Shelby filled the final few dance requirements and began her fourth and final cross. She flipped all the way across the mats and pushed backwards without pausing. Halfway back across the mats, she made a final push and performed a perfect aerial somersault, throwing her arms up for the final pose. The crowd began to shriek wildly. Kathryn, Chakotay, and all the relatives stood up and shouted as loudly as they possibly could. Shelby gave her family an enormous grin before descending to the warm-up area with her coach.

It was only moments before the final scores were tallied and the winners announced; third place, Tl'nar of Vulcan - second place, Kala Mori of Bajor - with a perfect ten in two events, first place and Alpha Quadrant champion, Shelby Janeway of Earth.

The entire family was allowed to descend to the mats and congratulate the little girl. At the sight of her father and mother, Shelby leapt from the platform and into the arms of her kin. Thanks to the reporters and the absurd traffic jam of hovercars, it was four hours before the entire family returned to The Mountain House, where all the athletes and their families were staying.

When all the children - including Shelby - were at long last asleep, their mother took the opportunity to look over each of them.

Shelby had refused to remove her medal while she slept. Dressed in her warm-up shirt and shorts, she looked very small and fragile - a deceiving image. Since birth, Shelby had shown amazing coordination, walking at the age of seven months. When she was two, Shelby had seen gymnastics for the first time in the form of a small group of Voyager's children performing on Talent Night. When Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant six months later, three-year-old Shelby begged her parents to allow her to take classes. In four years she competed at the Earth championships for the first time, and in seven she had taken the championship, almost immediately followed by tonight's success. She had few interests outside of gymnastics, although she did miss her dog when she competed off-world. Kathryn smoothed the blankets and straightened the medal so the girl wouldn't choke.

Charlotte slept in the next bed. She and Shelby were good friends, being just over nine months apart. Not a day went by when Kathryn didn't thank her lucky stars that the relationship was free of sibling rivalry. The nickname "Charlie" was extremely appropriate; Kathryn had never seen a more tomboyish child. Charlie kept her hair down to her shoulders and always bound in a ponytail. There was exactly one dress in her closet, and it had been worn exactly once, to a wedding. Academics were her strong suit, and she was determined to attend the academy and become the CMO of the Federation flagship. With a gentle kiss, Kathryn rubbed the child's back and whispered good-night.

The woman crossed the room to where her third daughter slumbered. Seven-year-old Sarah was the heaviest sleeper Kathryn had ever met; she was more difficult to wake than even her father. Sometimes it seemed as though Sarah did everything she could to defy her heritage. Athletics and academics were things the other children were concerned about; unlike her mother, Sarah was very easygoing, and unlike her father, she had no love for the spirit world. Though the child did enjoy singing, she lacked the discipline to go far with it. Puzzled as she was by her daughter's personality, there was a connection between the two. Sometimes, Kathryn knew, her third child felt like an underachiever among so many exceptional siblings - regardless, her spirit was happy and light. The woman turned her child over gently and dislodged the arm from beneath her; had she allowed it to stay, no doubt it would be completely cut from circulation.

Michael had arrived five years after the sister closest to his age - surprise! Kathryn still remembered her astonishment in hearing that at the age of fifty-three, she was going to give birth to a fourth child. He was their miracle child, having cheated death several times both before and after birth. At two years old, he spoke amazingly clearly. A year ago, Kathryn had taken him to the bridge of Voyager, and he had toddled immediately to the captain's chair and pulled himself up. He'd sat there for several minutes, his concentration remaining steady as he shifted his eyes from the viewscreen to the panel beside him. Of course, his mother had no idea how much he really understood, but it had been an adorable scene. The crew - especially his godfather, Neelix - delighted in asking him, "What are you going to do when you grow up?" The answer was invariably the same. "I'm going to be a Starfleet captain and drink lots of coffee." Kathryn adjusted his teddy bear to be within arm's reach and covered him with the blanket he'd kicked off.

She turned to leave the bedroom and enter the other, bumping squarely into her husband, who gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bed. She tried hard to keep from laughing, for fear of waking the children. "Chakotay, what on Earth are you doing?"

His eyes twinkled. "Mother of four children - I'd think you'd be able to figure that out."

She slapped him on the shoulder. "Dolt. We're in a hotel room! There isn't even a lock on the door between here and the children."

Chakotay sighed and made his way to the doorway, where he shoved a chair under the old-fashioned doorknob. "Better?"

"Well . . ."

He stretched out beside her on the bed. "You know, I was thinking . . . don't you think Michael's going to awfully lonely?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "Just what, exactly, are you suggesting?"

He chuckled, the sound rumbling in his throat. "Well, I thought it would be nice if he had a brother."

Kathryn bolted upright, horrified. "Chakotay, I'm fifty-five years old!"

"I know, Kathryn, but . . ." he sat up to face her and licked his lips. "It's just that we make such wonderful children together."

She was about to argue when her mind drifted to the children sleeping in the other room. Her mind's eye passed each of their faces, seeing the beauty and genius in each one: Shelby, with her proud stance and beautiful smile - Charlie, with her dark ponytail and perpetually bare feet, studying medical texts on her day off from school - Sarah, blonde curls tumbling around her face, singing as she straightened her room - Michael, seated in his mother's big chair, eyes focused on the viewscreen. Lastly she looked into her husband's eyes, watching the earnesty and remembering the proud look he'd worn all evening. She nodded slowly.

"Well," she whispered, "T'Pel did it when she was seventy - and we do make wonderful children."