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She was usually very good at noticing things, in fact, that scientist’s eye was something that Kathryn Janeway had always been proud of. In hindsight of course, she saw it: the afternoons Beverly fell asleep waiting for Kathryn to return for dinner.
Kathryn would come home and find Three playing with her toys while Beverly was asleep on the sofa, and that should have led her to a logical conclusion, but the path to that point defied logic.
And physics.
Three's family of plush set'leths (a gift from Admiral Toreth) had a favorite home between the sofa and viewport. She could usually be found there, behind the sofa, on the base of the viewport, where she had already started painting the transparisteel. (Thank you, Aunties Phoebe and Yianim for the washable paint).
"Mama sleep," Three announced in an exaggerated whisper that in no way resembled a whisper.
"That's all right, we'll let her."
Three beamed and continued muttering to her set'leths in those syllables that were something like words but weren't quite yet. Beverly said that was developmentally appropriate, and Kathryn had to agree. Of course their daughter was a perfect two-year-old, what else could she be?
That afternoon Beverly slept until Kathryn came to wake her for dinner, then she sat up, stretching and yawning.
"Too much work?"
"I've been writing this paper." Beverly left it at that, scooping Three up for dinner.
Kathryn collected tiny pieces of information about the paper over the next few days, usually over breakfast or dinner while they tried to remind Three that food needed to be eaten and not thrown across the room if she wasn't hungry.
Beverly's mystery paper was on xenobiology, something about kleptogenesis and gamete hybridization in Ambystoma Decaitinerantur, and Kathryn had been listening - she had - however; there were also trade routes for an entire sector she needed to plan, and yesterday Three had marinara sauce in her hair.
She was not a bad wife.
Fortunately, Beverly wasn't upset about Kathryn's inattention. She had been in a wonderful mood for the last few weeks, humming while she watered the plants, laughing with Three. Though Beverly had been obviously exhausted, she hadn't resented it.
Kathryn thought perhaps Beverly was sneaking out of bed to work on research, or getting up too early, but Beverly had gone to bed before her every night, and Kathryn had been the one, for once, coaxing Beverly out of bed with coffee so they could get to their shifts on time.
Not that anyone could say anything at all if the CMO of an entire space station was a little late. When you're an admiral, your shift started when you said it started.
So Kathryn took over being the one to drop off Three at nursery in the morning and Beverly picked her up in the afternoon, but so many of those moments ended up in napping (though the time they fell asleep together was adorable) that Kathryn had to ask Tuvok what she should do.
Tuvok, her most blunt, oldest friend, had suggested she needed to ask her wife why she was so tired, not change her own schedule or keep her toddler in nursery longer so Beverly could sleep after her shift. She needed to be direct and not avoid the conversation.
Three and Beverly seemed entirely happy at home together, even when Beverly was asleep. Somehow, Beverly knew when to wake up before the couch cushions were painted purple or the set'leths had started living in broken pieces of Kathryn's favorite gliders. This skill was not one Kathryn had personally honed.
Kathryn wasn't sure how she was doing it, but Beverly's work was done, Three was fine, and Beverly spent every spare moment either asleep, or falling asleep. Even while they talked to Tom and B'Elanna, or let the girls yell at each other over the comm. (Miral had a gift for amusing Three).
Since Beverly's exhaustion was not for a lack of coffee, lack of sleep at night, or overwork, finally Kathryn had to ask Tuvok and T'Pel to watch Three so she and Beverly could talk without cleaning that night’s dinnertime rice from the bulkhead.
Three was thrilled about the idea; she found the two of them and their beautifully decorated quarters fascinating. They were so accomplished at parenting - and grandparenting - that Three could have grown up years in their care and would likely have been a superb child.
Kathryn and Beverly finally had a night with only the two of them, a date night, which they had promised to make happen regularly after Three had been born, but hadn't happened since, well, Kathryn would actually have to check her personal logs.
They'd had at least one, certainly. Maybe two?
Kathryn ordered dinner from one of their favorite restaurants on the station, set the table, lit candles, even changed out of her uniform because getting to do that was a rare gift. Kathryn opened real wine for the occasion, as Jean-Luc was always kind enough to send a case or two whenever he bottled a crop.
Beverly arrived home late, still in her lab coat, working on her paper as she walked through the door. To be fair, she wasn't late, late, just a mere five minutes early for dinner, which was late, really and--
Stop, Kathryn. Just ask.
"Last paragraph." Beverly promised, holding up her hand to stop Kathryn's questions as she disappeared into the bedroom. She emerged a few moments later, changed out of uniform into a sweater, her beautiful hair down, and with her PADD still in hand.
Kathryn poured wine and sat, smiling over her salad because they hadn't even made eye contact yet. What a date.
They knew they were both busy when they married. She'd done this herself at least four, five-- it wasn't a good idea to count.
"Beverly, darling."
"Oh dear."
Kathryn chuckled. "Oh dear?"
" Darling is never good." Beverly looked up, finally , setting down the PADD and smiling over the table. The way she was so radiant in candlelight, like one of Da Vinci's paintings, was a gift. Kathryn really had to ask the Maestro to teach her to paint, just to try to capture it, some day. Seven would probably do it first, she had a much better eye.
To be fair, Three's plush set'leths were more artistic.
Once she'd often told herself she was not a romantic, and she was not, except she utterly was, absolutely lovesick for her wife. Her infuriating, genius, puzzling, treasure of a wife.
"Are you all right, honey?"
"Physically, mentally, or emotionally?" Beverly toyed with her wine glass without taking a sip. "Professionally? Which one do you want first?"
"What is this paper? Is it worth being so tired?"
Tucking her hair behind her ear, Beverly passed over the PADD. "I wrote the paper because I was tired, not the other way around."
Kathryn's puzzled expression must have been as funny to see as it felt on her face.
"Just read it, and eat. We can talk when you're done."
"I don't see--"
"Do you love me?"
Kathryn reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "A maddening amount."
"Then read the damn paper, Katie."
So she did. Genetics had been one of the subjects she found interesting, though not nearly as interesting as the rest of the sciences. While she understood it well enough, the paper was incredibly dense, and no, she didn't actually understand the minutiae of kleptogenesis and why it could be useful or what it had to do with the three subjects mentioned. Subject B was pregnant because Subject A had been exposed to a mutagenic event by Subject C and that was about all she got out of it.
Beverly stood up, moved her chair and her plate, and sat beside Kathryn instead of across the table. "It's very technical."
"It might as well be written in Talaxian."
"It's a case study." Beverly tore the bread and took a bite, then passed a piece to Kathryn in trade for the PADD. Beverly pointed out the relevant parts while she ate. "A human subject exposed to extreme spatial-temporal stress was hyperevolved into the new species, Ambystoma Decaitinerantur, and had offspring with the other human subject who experienced the same stressors."
Spatial-temporal-- That finally clicked. "This is about me and Tom Paris?" That was an old incident, worth a few drinks and a shake of the head, not a paper. Surely Voyager's EMH had mined all the scientific curiosity available from the incident.
"It's about you, partially." Beverly grabbed her napkin and patted her mouth. Her eyes twinkled.
"Tom and I had offspring, but they're in the Delta Quadrant, and I definitely don't remember being pregnant with them." Kathryn set her bread down on her plate, perplexed.
"No, you don't, you wouldn't."
"Beverly--"
Beverly touched Kathryn's knee, gentle and smiling then looked into Kathryn’s eyes in that soft way that touched her heart. "You're not Subject B, the paper isn't about you and Tom, it's about you and me."
That didn't make sense at all. "But subject B is pregnant."
"Yes, I am."
"I don't--" The entire universe could have skidded to a halt, stopping all motion, forgetting about entropy all together, and Kathryn would have been the most still thing in existence. Her heart thudded; her throat went dry. "Oh."
"You retained some traits of the Ambystoma Decaitinerantur, even after your devolving. It's really fascinating." Beverly handed her glass of wine to Kathryn, wrapping her wife’s hand around it. "Drink."
"How?" Kathryn took a sip, letting the wine shock her back. "Wouldn't we need medical intervention? We had the insemination scheduled for next month."
Beverly picked up her fork, contemplating her food. "I know, and I went off my inhibitor three months ago."
Kathryn's wine warmed her chest. "And so I...?"
"You carry enough Ambystoma Decaitinerantur , hyper-evolved human DNA, that it was apparently possible for you to impregnate me."
"That's not--"
"See, it is , and that's incredibly fascinating, both from a medical perspective, of course, and personally. We don't even have to go through the egg fusion process and wait for a pregnancy to take, you managed to make it a surprise."
"I--" She looked away, trying to make it snap together in her head. Kathryn had nearly forgotten her warp 10 ordeal, and she certainly didn't think there were lingering side effects.
Beverly turned Kathryn's chin towards face, then kissed her, slow and gentle. "I love you, even if you're part salamander."
"Are you... are you both all right?"
Scrolling through the article, Beverly pointed at her professional conclusions. "The embryo and mother are both stable and healthy. A further update can be published in eight months, after the birth."
Kathryn read the last paragraph until it was seared into her mind. Then she looked up, and touched Beverly's cheek. "I'm so sorry."
"You had no control over it, and no way of knowing, and it's not like we weren't intending to try. I don't think I wouldn't have gotten pregnant at all if I hadn't gone off my inhibitor for the procedure. It's just early, and a surprise."
Kathryn’s words were too clumsy, too awkward, but she couldn't stop herself from talking. "How did you-- why didn't you tell me?"
Holding up her fork so she could finish chewing, Beverly glowed with glee. "I wanted the right moment. When am I ever going to be able to surprise you like this again?"
"You'd better not; I don't think my heart can take it." Kathryn finished her glass and reached for the bottle of wine.
"You have a very good doctor."
"I do, and I'm very fond of her, but I'd prefer not to test her professional limits." Kathryn looked at the PADD again and set it down. "Tom's going to either laugh until he cries, or apologize, or both."
"It's a nice surprise."
Kathryn stared at the food she'd been ignoring on her plate. "You're going to win that award now, aren't you?"
Beverly took another bite of dinner and smiled around her fork. "The Phlox Xenobiology award? Absolutely."
"My wife is a genius."
Beverly winked. "My wife is an amphibian."
Kathryn laughed until her eyes stung, trying not to inhale her wine. "I'm--" No. She was not actually sorry. "Can we do it again?"
"I'm running some tests. I already sent a message to Tom and B'Elanna to warn them to take extra precautions. I'll need to run a complete DNA scan on you and try some experiments in the lab. It's possible your warp 10 trip could lead to several advances in reproductive techniques."
"Are you going to name them after me?"
"The Janeway kleptogenesis somatic cell insemination?"
"How could I say no to that?" Kathryn took a breath and leaned over to rest her head on Beverly's shoulder. "When we talked about having a Four, I didn't think it would be this easy."
Beverly smirked, grabbing her fork to start on dinner. "We love surprises."
"Even when--"
"They come with prestigious awards and professional accolades." Beverly smirked, hid a yawn behind her hand, and then kissed Kathryn again, warm and wonderful. "I couldn't wait to tell you."
"It seems like you waited quite a long time." Kathryn put her hands on her hips out of habit, then crossed her arms. How long had it been? Why hadn't she noticed immediately?
Beverly lifted her hand and kissed it over her plate. "I enjoy being dramatic."
"I'll say." She couldn't be annoyed, or even fake it very well. Another child was wonderful, and Beverly's joy was as intoxicating as the wine. "I guess I owe Tom a bottle or something."
"See if you can convince him to visit in about eight months to ease his guilt in person."
"Oh, there's an idea." Kathryn slid her hand over, resting it on Beverly's belly. "Well little amphibian, you'll be Four, and we're--" she stopped, her voice catching.
"We're thrilled." Beverly finished, her voice even and sure. "We will be delighted to meet you."