Lineage (episode)
Torres discovers that she is pregnant, and faces a private fear that she has had to deal with since her childhood.

Summary

Teaser 
In 2377, B'Elanna Torres begins her morning on the  by acting uncharacteristically pleasant to everyone, including her engineering staff and her husband, Tom Paris. Making her way up to the second level of engineering, she finds Icheb and Seven of Nine working and becomes angry that Icheb is in engineering without her permission. While venting her anger she collapses in dizziness. Icheb grabs a medical tricorder and scans Torres, detecting a lifeform inside her which he believes to be a parasite. Seven takes a look at the readings, then activates her combadge to contact sickbay: Torres is pregnant.

Act One 
In sickbay, The Doctor confirms that Torres is indeed pregnant, and explains her fainting spell as the clash between the fetus' Human and Klingon metabolism which sometimes can converge violently. The Doctor later explains that the fetus is healthy, but tells Torres that she can expect mood swings. Paris and Torres decide that they don't want to know the baby's gender ahead of time.

Paris and Torres are both nervous and excited to be parents; both agree to keep Torres' pregnancy a secret for the time being. However, when Paris enters the mess hall, he is greeted by Voyager crewmen and Neelix applauding. Paris asks how they found out and Neelix replies that Icheb told them. Neelix then asks Paris if he can become his child's godfather, given that he has experience with Naomi Wildman. Paris promises to take Neelix under consideration. Torres goes back to work in engineering, where she is greeted by Chakotay. He notices that she has a certain "glow" to her this morning. Captain Janeway comes out from behind an engineering console and congratulates Torres on her pregnancy. She encourages Torres to take as much time off as possible, but Torres insists that she can still carry out her duties.

Paris later runs into Tuvok in a Jefferies tube and asks if he needs his help. Tuvok replies that this may be the first time that Paris has asked to help Tuvok in six years. Paris reveals his true reason for talking to Tuvok is to get advice from him, since Tuvok, who has four children, is the only father on the ship. Tuvok tells Paris that being a parent is an enormous responsibility, and he has found that offspring can be "disturbingly illogical, yet profoundly fulfilling." He advises Paris to anticipate paradox. Paris predicts that he is going to be volunteering to help Tuvok a lot in the future.

That evening, Paris sets a candlelight dinner for his wife and himself. However, when Torres arrives at their quarters, she is agitated, complaining that Captain Janeway practically relieved her of duty and of Voyagers crewmen offering their advice unasked. Paris unwisely brings up the fact that Torres will become a Klingon mother, which angers her more for some unknown reason, before she begins to calm down as she recognizes that she is in a mood swing. Both receive a comm from The Doctor requesting them in Sickbay.

The Doctor explains to the expectant parents that the child has a deviated spine. Torres remarks that both she and her mother had surgery for it. The Doctor goes on to reassure them that the child won't need surgery; genetic modification will correct it. During his pedantic recitation, he accidentally reveals that the Paris' child will be a girl; he tries to cover by claiming that he wasn't directly referring to the baby's actual gender, but they tell him that he might as well confirm it now anyway. At Paris' request, The Doctor projects a holographic image of their daughter. Paris thinks that she is beautiful, but Torres wonders why she has Klingon ridges. The Doctor says that Klingon traits are dominant in a few generations. Torres suddenly remembers when she went on a camping trip with her father, John Torres, her uncle Carl Torres, and her cousins Dean, Elizabeth, and Michael. She also remembers when her father told her that she looked so much like her mother.

Act Two 
Torres and Paris later go to bed in their quarters, and Torres remembers more of the camping trip. She was to go hiking with her cousins, but did not want to since she believed that they did not like her. Her father assured her that this was not the case. 

The next morning, Torres arrives in sickbay to have the genetic treatment to correct the spine deviation. She has another flashback to the camping trip. She remembered the one time when her cousin, Dean, put a worm in her sandwich when she wasn't looking. When Torres saw the worm, she screamed. Dean replied that he thought that Klingons liked their food live, in reference to gagh. Elizabeth tried to defuse the situation by calming young Torres down, which was unsuccessful, since Torres ran away from her cousins. After this memory flashback, Torres wakes up from the treatment. Soon after, Torres makes her way to Voyagers holodeck, where she projects what her daughter will look like at twelve years of age. Torres sees her child's cranial ridges, then begins to delete certain genetic sequences, one which turns her hair from brown to blonde. Torres deletes more sequences, and the cranial ridges are gone. The child now looks completely Human. With that, Torres saves the holo-image and restricts access to the file to herself only.

Act Three 
Torres returns to sickbay and asks The Doctor to make more genetic alterations. The Doctor stresses that there is no valid medical reason to do so. He also warns her that if he attempts to make more alterations, it will affect her appearance and personality and possibly even cause problems in her unborn daughter's health. He asks her to discuss the matter with her husband. In the , Paris says absolutely no to the changes. He then realizes that the real reason Torres wants to make the changes is because she is part Klingon. She wants to spare their child from being bullied like she was when she was young. Paris assures her that she will not be treated as an outcast, because the Voyager has a diverse crew of Bajorans, Bolians, and others. However, Paris and Torres cannot come to an agreement and come to Captain Janeway. Torres asks for Janeway to do the same thing that she did for Seven of Nine to do for her child, in that when she freed her from the Borg Collective and made alterations to her, when she removed her implants and other physiological changes. Paris and Torres openly argue in front of the captain, until Janeway stops their bickering. She comes to the conclusion that the problem is not ethical, it is marital. She also stresses that while she is willing to give advice as a friend, she will not overrule The Doctor on his warnings as it would be highly inappropriate as captain to do so. This sends Paris and Torres into an argument on the way back to their quarters, where the upset Torres locks him out. Paris ends up spending the night on the couch in Harry Kim's quarters.

Sleeping alone, Torres again recalls the camping trip, when she finally returned after running away from her cousins. Her father was extremely worried about her and sat her down to talk to her. Torres stated that she wished that she wasn't Klingon, since her schoolmates and everyone else made fun of her. Young Torres asked to be left alone to read. John Torres left his daughter alone and ended up talking around the campfire with his brother's family about their fishing stories instead.

Act Four
Later, Torres remembers when she was in her camping tent and overheard her father talking to his brother about how moody and angry B'Elanna had become, like his wife, Miral. Carl was somewhat surprised; he thought John truly loved Miral. John agreed that he did, but remembered when their mother warned him to not marry her; she liked Miral, but was not sure if her son could handle the relationship, but he did not listen and now he had to live with two Klingons. Then, Torres is in the present, when Chakotay comes up and makes a request that Torres name her child the feminine version of Chakotay and asks to be godfather to the child. Torres promises to take him under consideration. He asks her to come with him to the mess hall and have a drink. She agrees and while walking down the corridor, they run into Paris. Chakotay suddenly "remembers" that he forgot something, and leaves the two alone to talk. They both reconcile, when they are summoned to sickbay again.

The Doctor explains that he has reviewed the data on their child and has come to the conclusion that the genetic alterations that Torres proposed may, in fact, be necessary, given the fact that Human and Klingon metabolism clash and that the child may undergo metabolic failure. The Doctor schedules a procedure for the next morning. Paris is a little disturbed by The Doctor's recommendation and takes the data to Icheb and Seven, asking Icheb to use his genetics background to review it. Icheb finds the alterations to be very sloppy, which is unlike The Doctor's usual work. They also discover that The Doctor's program has been tampered with. Paris tries to contact Torres, but she does not answer. He asks the computer where she is and it states that she is in sickbay.

Act Five 
Paris asks Tuvok to come down to sickbay, with a security team. Tuvok arrives with a security officer and Lieutenant Ayala. They cannot open the doors to sickbay, so Tuvok opens the doors manually, and they enter sickbay. There is a force field erected around the surgical bay. Tuvok contacts the bridge and asks Kim to cut power to the surgical bay. He is successful in doing so. The Doctor asks what is going on, and Paris replies that his program has been tampered with. Torres asks him to ignore Paris. Tuvok asks The Doctor to deactivate himself until they can determine the extent of the tampering to his program. The Doctor agrees and deactivates himself.

Paris asks Tuvok and his security force to step outside sickbay so he can talk to his wife. Torres explains that she and her father were inseparable, until she began to grow older. Later, during the camping trip, she was going to run away again, after she heard her father and her uncle Carl talking about her and her mother. She told him that if he couldn't stand living with them, then he should just leave. Twelve days later, he did just that. Paris realizes that Torres has blamed herself for her father leaving and is afraid that Paris will do the same someday. Tom assures her that he will never leave her or their unborn child and hopes to have more Klingon children with her. 

A few days later, Torres reverses the changes she made to The Doctor and comes to sickbay and apologizes in person for changing his program. The Doctor accepts her apology, and Torres feels the baby kick. The Doctor asks if he may feel the baby kick too. Torres places his hand on her abdomen, just as the baby kicks again. Then, Torres asks The Doctor to become her child's godfather, given that Neelix has Naomi Wildman and that Chakotay knows less about kids than Harry Kim. The Doctor accepts elatedly. Torres asks to see her daughter again in the holographic projection. The Doctor activates the projection and Torres sees her daughter with her Klingon ridges and admits that she looks kind of cute.

Log entries 
 "Medical Officer's Log, Stardate 54452.6. Lieutenant Torres has deleted the alterations she made to my program. It's a relief to be back to my old self again."

Memorable quotes 
"You're in a good mood."
"It's another beautiful day in the Delta Quadrant."
"What did you have for breakfast?"
 - Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres

"Nothing's ever rattled her. Not even the Cardassians."
"This is scarier."
 - Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres, to Kathryn Janeway

"I'm detecting another lifesign!"
"Where?"
"Inside Lieutenant Torres. It could be a parasite."
 - Icheb and Seven of Nine, discovering Torres' pregnancy

"Have you checked the warp core for radiation leaks today?"
"No. Why?"
"You have a certain… glow about you."
 - Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres, after Chakotay discovers Torres' pregnancy

"It's all over now. No more late nights on the holodeck, no more racing the Delta Flyer."
"Don't you think you're exaggerating just a little?"
"I've seen it happen. The new dad gets tied down with family, old friends drop away."
"It's fatherhood, Harry, not exile."
 - Harry Kim and Tom Paris

"Maybe that's what pregnancy's for, time to let reality sink in… before your life spins out of control."
 - Harry Kim, to Tom Paris

"Offspring can be disturbingly illogical, yet profoundly fulfilling. You should anticipate paradox."
 - Tuvok, to Tom Paris

"As they say on Talax, 'Omara S'alas', 'Good news has no clothes'."
- Neelix, congratulating Lieutenant Paris

"Mom warned me not to marry Miral."
"Mom loved Miral."
"Sure she did, but she never thought I had the constitution to live with a Klingon and now I'm living with two of them."
 - B'Elanna's father John and uncle Carl about B'Elanna's mother

"I heard what you said to Uncle Carl."
"You shouldn't be listening to private conversations."
"And you shouldn't have said what you did about Mommy!"
 - Young B'Elanna and her father, John after she overhears his conversation with Uncle Carl. 

"If you can't stand living with us, then why don't you just leave?"
 - Young B'Elanna to her father

"Look, whatever the reason was, I'm sure it was a horrible thing for you to live with. Wait a minute, you don't think... B'Elanna, I am never going to leave you."
"You say that now but think about how hard it is to live with one Klingon. Pretty soon it'll be two."
"Someday I hope it's three or four. I mean it, and I hope that every one of them is just like you. B'Elanna, I am not your father and you are not your mother, and our daughter is going to be perfect just the way she is."
 - Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres 

"She is cute, isn't she?"
 - B'Elanna Torres upon seeing the holographic projection of her baby one more time.

Background information

Production 
 This episode's working title was "Inner Child".
 In the documentary 50 Years of Star Trek, Roxann Dawson referred to this episode as "the moment that I felt was so haunting to me." She went on to say, "I wept when I read the episode [...] It was a difficult and wonderful episode."
 A script from this episode was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay.

Continuity 
 Paris asks Kim, jokingly, if he had heard the news of Torres' pregnancy from the "datastream from Earth," referring to the monthly transmission from Starfleet that began in the sixth season episode .
 The Doctor calls Lieutenant Paris "Tom". This is a rare example of The Doctor calling a crewmember by their first name.
 When Paris starts listing the species aboard Voyager, Torres interrupts to say "and hundred and forty humans." Voyagers crew complement was most recently mentioned as being 146 in the fifth-season episode , though this is likely to have changed a few episodes later during the events of  where three crew are seen to be killed and five crew are integrated from the USS Equinox. Assuming the crew complement stood consistently at 148 since, and that Torres was being exact, this would mean there are 8 non-human crew.
 Tom Paris goes to Tuvok to ask for advice about what he can expect from fatherhood, and he tells that Tuvok is the only father he knows. Tuvok is probably the only senior officer who is a father, but other Voyager crewmembers are also fathers: in , Janeway mentions Ayala's children, and in , Joe Carey notes that he has two children.

Video and DVD releases 
 UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 7.6, 
 As part of the VOY Season 7 DVD collection

Links and references

Guest Star 
 Manu Intiraymi as Icheb

Co-Stars
 Juan Garcia as John Torres
 Jessica Gaona as Young B'Elanna
 Javier Grajeda as Carl
 Paul Robert Langdon as Dean
 Nicole Sarah Fellows as Elizabeth
 Gilbert R. Leal as Michael
 Majel Barrett as the Computer Voice

Uncredited Co-Stars
 Richard Bishop as operations division officer
 Tarik Ergin as Ayala
 Bernie Escarcega as command officer
 Erin Price as Renlay Sharr
 Unknown performers as
 Operations division officer
 Asian crewman Maquis operations
 Miral Paris, age 12

Stand-ins 
 Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan

References
; antique; appendectomy; athlete; athletics; babysitter; Bajorans; battlefield; biological system; birthing technique; Bolian; brak'lul; Cardassian; Chell; ; couch; crib; Dean Torres's teacher; John Torres' mother; ; Delta Quadrant; deviated spine; diatonal amplifier; disposition; dizziness; DNA analysis; DNA sequence; eagle; Earth; elk; exile; fainting; fatherhood; "Flotter and the Perfect Day"; Floxia; folk wisdom; generation; genetic engineering; geneticist; genome; gourmet; Grand Canyon; Half Dome; hero worship; holographic projection; hormone; Human; hyper spanner; Jefferies tube; Klingon; Klingon food; list; logic; mathematics; mathematical ability; medical ethics; Miral; mixed species; mood swing; Monument Valley; name; obstetrics; paradox; parenting; parenting class; ; peanut butter toast; pediatrics; prenatal enrichment program; spinal column; stamina; Starfleet manual; statistical analysis; sunset; Talax; Talaxian; Taya (name); toaster; trans-abdominal vocalization; ; Vulcans; warp core; warp mechanics; ; Yellowstone National Park; Yosemite National Park

External links 
 
 
 

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VOY episodes