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Naomi Wildman stood on the sandy surface, allowing a wave of blue-green water to rush up around her feet. The white foamy bubbles lapped at her ankles, as the submerged sand coiled around her toes. The funny sensation made her laugh. The air was fresh and cool, and a breeze blew gently in her face. A flock of flying animals that Naomi had learned were called sea gulls flew overhead squawking. Naomi had never been to a beach before, but she was having a blast. As the wave departed the shore Naomi squealed in delight as its strength nearly toppled her over. Only Neelix's grip on her arm prevented her from going out to sea with the wave.

"This is fun! We should bring Mom here!" Naomi announced excitedly.

"I'm glad you like it," Neelix said as he smiled at her.

Naomi daringly ventured further out into the tide, and laughed when a wave sent her crashing to her knees.

"Careful!" Neelix warned as he helped her up only to get splashed.

"Got you!" Naomi squealed, as she started wildly splashing her godfather.

The two began splashing water at one another until Neelix suddenly tripped on an inshore hole and completely drenched himself.

"Um...Neelix, are you ok?" Naomi asked. Sputtering water, Neelix tried to composed his rather embarrassed self. Suddenly, Naomi burst out laughing.

Neelix realized the cause of her laughter when he felt his whiskers harden. They were sticking straight out on his face.

"Oh my!" he exclaimed, as he tried to fix them, but to no avail.

Just then, Samantha's voice came over the comm system. "Ensign Wildman to Naomi Wildman. Time for bed, honey."

Naomi sighed. Who wanted to go to bed when there was this much fun to be had?

"Come on, Naomi. Let's go," Neelix told her. Obediently Naomi left with him to return to her quarters.

"Mom, you'll never guess what we did today!" Naomi crowed as she skipped into her quarters and enveloped her mother in wet, soggy hug. Given the fact that Naomi was dressed in a bathing suit, and was dripping wet, Samantha came to a pretty quick conclusion as to what adventure Neelix had taken Naomi on today, but to humor her daughter she pretended not to know.

"What did you do today?" Samantha asked.

"Neelix took me to a place called a beach. There's a big ocean there, and I went swimming, and there were big waves, and the water tasted like salt, and I even saw a huge fish!" Naomi said all in one breath.

Ensign Wildman smiled at her daughter's exuberance. "Really?" she asked. "Sounds like you had a big day. Go on and get ready for bed now, and I'll be there to tuck you in in a minute."

Naomi skipped off to her room leaving a soppy puddle on the carpet where she had stood.

The next afternoon, Naomi came into the Mess Hall to find Neelix slaving over a boiling pot. She couldn't tell what was cooking because of the steam that settled just on the rim, but whatever it was, it smelled absolutely wonderful.

"Hi Neelix!" she greeted him.

He smiled at her as he tossed a handful of chopped vegetables into the pot momentarily disrupting the still layer of steam.

"Good afternoon Miss Wildman!" he said cheerfully.

Naomi giggled like she always did whenever Neelix called her Miss Wildman.

"Can we visit the beach again later?" she asked.

Neelix gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Naomi, but the captain has asked me to go with Tom and B'Elanna on a scouting mission. We'll probably be gone a day or two."

Naomi frowned. "Oh."

Neelix momentarily stopped stirring his pot, and reached into a cannister.

"Maybe your Mom can take you after her duty shift," he suggested as he produced a scrumptious looking confection bar for her.

Smiling she took the bar and headed out the door.

"Computer, locate Ensign Wildman," Naomi requested.

"Ensign Wildman is in science lab one," the computer responded.

Getting into a nearby turbolift, Naomi directed it to take her there. When she entered the lab, she saw a half dozen crewmembers busily at work, and over heard her mother telling someone to scan for something. Just then, her mother rounded the corner and nearly bumped right into her.

"Naomi," Samantha said. "Is anything wrong?" Naomi shook her head. "No. I just wanted to see you."

This wasn't the first time Naomi had been to the science lab. She distinctly remembered coming here when she was much younger. What she remembered most were all the bright displays on the console, and a lot of people oogling over her. Not that people oogling over her wasn't unexpected. After all, she was the only child on board, and many of the crew had left behind children of their own. She took a seat on a nearby chair while watching her mother work a console beside her. Samantha was grateful that Naomi sat still, remembering how when Naomi was younger she used to amuse herself by twirling around in circles in the chair to the point of nearly falling off.

"What are you working on?" Naomi asked her mother curiously, trying to peer at the console readings.

"We're analyzing bioreading scans from a G-type star system in this sector," Wildman explained as she worked.

"Is that planet where Neelix and Tom and B'Elanna are going on the away mission?" Naomi asked as she pointed to a round, white blip on the screen.

"Mm-hmm," her mother said as she was handed a padd from one of her staff. She studied it briefly. "Okay. This looks good. Take it to Commander Chakotay for his approval," she told the crewman.

At that, Naomi piped up. "Can I take it to him, Mom?" she asked.

Smiling and laughing a bit, Samantha finally nodded. "I suppose so, but stay out of the way up there."

Naomi smiled as she took the padd. "I will," she promised as she left.

The next day, the Wildmans were in their quarters having breakfast when Naomi asked, "Mom, can we go to the holodeck today?"

Looking up from the padd she was working on, Samantha smiled. "We'll see...I have an important project that I need to finish for Lieutenant Torres, but if we have some time this afternoon I'll take you."

Naomi finished her eggs, cleared her plate away, and then plopped down onto the couch in the next room, playing with her game padd. "Can we do the beach program?" Naomi asked. Samantha, who was standing in front of a mirror, and putting her hair up, smiled. "Sure, honey."

Tom Paris, B'Elanna Torres and Neelix were seated in the Delta Flyer, scanning their destination.

"I'm reading several heavily populated areas on the northern continent," Neelix reported.

Just then an alarm blared as the Flyer shuddered a bit.

"Hold on...It looks like we have some kind of spatial distortion directly ahead. It's moving towards us fast!" Paris said.

Everyone suddenly became tense.

"Can we outmaneuver it?" Torres asked.

"I'll try," Paris told her. "Hang on. This ride may get a little rough!"

No sooner had he said that was the Flyer hit by another jolt. Paris spent the next few minutes fighting against the helm, before announcing, "I've lost helm control!" A bone shattering jolt slammed into the Delta Flyer sending them all flying. And then everything went black...

Tom Paris opened his heavy eyes, and looked around. His blurred vision cleared eventually, and he was able to just make out a slumped form on the floor behind him. He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious. Feeling moisture on his brow, he dabbed at it. His fingers felt blood. Groaning, he felt across to the other seat for Torres. "B'Elanna..." he groaned. He felt her arm. He noted that she was still breathing.

By now his vision was cleared enough for him to see that Neelix was in very bad shape. "Neelix!" Tom yelled. "Neelix!"

Paris grabbed a nearby tricorder and scanned the Talaxian. His life signs were barely registering, and he had serious internal injuries. "Computer," Paris ordered. "Send a distress signal back to Voyager!" The computer chirped in compliance. Just then, Torres regained consciousness.

"Tom..." she groaned weakly. "What...happened?" B'Elanna tried to sit up, but she gasped in pain.

Paris was at her side in an instant, and he scanned her. "Some kind of distortion wave hit us. It's knocked out propulsion," he explained. B'Elanna winced in pain. "You've got several broken ribs and a lacerated kidney," he explained to her.

Torres looked down at Neelix who seemed to be in worse shape than they did. "How's Neelix?" she asked cautiously. Tom lowered his voice. "He's hurt pretty badly. His console exploded. Got him right in the face," Paris responded. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Torres sat upright and began working a console. The Flyer was adrift, but at least they were still in one piece...more or less.

Paris returned to Neelix's side. "We have to get him back to Voyager," he told Torres. "He's going into shock."

Torres studied a flickering console in front of her. "All of our engines are down. I'm not sure if I can repair them, but I'll give it a try."

With that, she set off to work, ignoring the stabbing pain in her sides.

A short while later on Voyager's bridge, Tuvok picked up a distress call.

"Captain, I'm receiving a distress call from the Flyer," the Vulcan tactical officer reported.

Janeway's face adopted a concerned look. "Let's hear it," she ordered.

Tuvok put the message on speakers.

From the science station on the bridge, Samantha immediately looked worried.

"Can you get a fix on their location?" Janeway asked Kim.

Samantha was already doing that. Seconds later, she found them.

"I found them, Captain," Wildman announced. Janeway came over to her. "They're adrift bearing 169 mark 42," the ensign reported. Putting a hand on Wildman's shoulder, Janeway responded, "Good work...Helm, lay in a course. Full impulse!"

Less than five minutes later, Voyager's viewscreen showed the battered Flyer drifting like a ghost ship. "Hail them!" Janeway oredered. "Their comm system is down, Captain," Kim reported. "Beam them directly to sickbay!" Chakotay ordered.

Seconds later, Paris, Torres and Neelix were in sickbay. The Doctor was urgently scanning both Torres and Neelix after determining that Paris had only suffered a minor skull laceration. "B'Elanna can wait. She's not seriously hurt, but Neelix is going into coronary arrest! Mr. Paris, I require your assistance."

Having dressed his wound hurriedly, Paris came over to assist The Doctor. Suddenly, alarms began screaming from a console. At that very moment, Naomi arrived in sick bay for her lesson with The Doctor. She was greeted by the chaotic scene of Paris and The Doctor trying to revive Neelix. For a moment all Naomi could do was just stand there shocked. No one had noticed her come in until she screamed "Neelix!"

Torres tried to hold Naomi back, but the child refused to be restrained and kep yelling Neelix's name. "Lieutenant, please take her outside," The Doctor ordered. "No, I'm not leaving!" Naomi shouted as she struggled to break free of Torres's hold. "Neelix, please wake up. I love you!"

The Doctor pressed a hypospray against the Talaxian's neck. The next few minutes were a blur to Naomi, and then she suddenly found her mother by her side, and Torres was gone. Samantha held her daughter back, and tried to usher her out of the room.

"No! I want to save Neelix!" Naomi cried.

"Naomi..." her mother called her name several times, and tried to keep her back.

Samantha finally was able to carry her out of sickbay.

"Let me be with Neelix!" Naomi sobbed.

Samantha literally had to hold Naomi in her arms to keep her from going back into sickbay.

"Naomi, come on...Let's go home," her mother pleaded.

"No!" Naomi screamed at the top of her lungs. "I want to stay with Neelix!"

She collapsed in tears in her mother's arms right there in the corridor outside sickbay.

A few tense moments later, The Doctor managed to stabilize Neelix. Just then, Janeway entered. "Doctor, report," she ordered.

"Paris and Torres are going to be fine, but I'm afraid that Mr. Neelix's condition is extremely critical," he explained. "There's been extensive damage to his nervous system, and he has a serious spinal cord injury. At this point, I can't give you any guarantees that he'll survive, and even if he does, he'll most likely never regain the use of his arms or legs ever again."

Janeway was clearly taken aback by the news. "Do what you can, Doctor," she told him.

In the Wildmans' quarters, Naomi fled into her room, collapsed on her bed and began howling. Try as she might there was nothing Samantha could do to calm her. Some hours later, when Naomi was asleep, Samantha went to sickbay to check on Neelix. The sight of him laying there narcotized on the bio bed with medical gear everywhere was almost too much for her to take in all at once. The Doctor emerged from his office at her arrival.

"Ensign?" he asked.

"I...just came to see how Neelix was doing," she told him.

"I've managed to stabilize him, but there's been extensive damage to his nervous system and spinal cord," The Doctor explained.

When Samantha heard the words spinal cord, she became increasingly concerned. "Will he be able to walk again?" she asked.

The discouraged look on The Doctor's face answered that question even before he did. "I'm not certain."

Samantha was heartbroken. Here was a man who had come to mean so much to her and to Naomi, and now he was faced with the prospect of never being able to walk again. "Can I see him?" she finally asked. The Doctor nodded. "Five minutes."

Drawing slowly near to the bed, Samantha could hear his rythmic breathing. She touched his shoulder gently.

"I'm...so sorry this happened to you," she apologized.

She didn't know what else to say. She just sat there for a long time, not saying anything...just crying. Neelix had become such an important part of her life on this long journey home. She had come to care about him deeply.

The next few days seemed like a million years to the crew. Neelix was in a coma, and his prognosis still looked grim, but even more grim was the state of morale the crew was in. Spirits had sunk lower than they had been in months. There was no laughter, no spirited banter between crewmembers about Neelix's less than desirable cooking, and the Mess Hall had taken on an eerie emptiness without him there. Meanwhile, Ensign Wildman had taken it upon herself to try and find some way to help Neelix. She had gathered every iota of information about Talaxian physiology that she could get her hands on. There had to be some way to help Neelix walk again, and she would be damned if she couldn't find a way.

One morning, Naomi came out of her room only to find her mother asleep at the computer monitor. Padds were scattered across the desk. Naomi shook her mother's arm to wake her up. Samantha shot awake, and then realized that she'd fallen asleep right at her desk.

"Mom, what's all this stuff for?" Naomi asked.

"I...was just doing some research, honey," her mother explained.

Naomi looked at one of the padds. "Talaxian physiology?" she asked curiously. "Are you trying to help Neelix walk again?"

Samantha took the padd from her daughter. "I've been working on something. It might work, but it might not, but..."

"Does Neelix know?" Naomi interrupted, suddenly excited at the prospect of Neelix walking again.

"Not yet...I still don't know if this is going to work. That's why I haven't said anything to anyone. Honey, I need you to keep this a secret okay? We don't want to get Neelix's hopes up if this doesn't work."

Naomi nodded "Okay...but how will you know if it works?"

Samantha straighted her desk up. "I have to run some simulations on the holodeck," she explained. "Once I know that it will work, I'll talk to The Doctor and to Neelix about it, but you have to promise me you won't talk with him about it."

"I promise," Naomi said.

Later that day, Samantha was in the holodeck, entering specifications for her program.

"Computer, run program Neelix One."

Instantly the hologrid was replaced by the interior of Voyager's sick bay.

"Are we ready to begin?" The Doctor asked.

"I think so," Wildman answered.

At the same moment on the bridge, a panel at the helm bleeped. Paris studied the the console in front of him.

"Captain, I'm reading a distortion wave coming out of subspace!" Paris warned.

"Shields up!" Chakotay ordered.

"Distance?" Janeway asked.

"Two hundred kilometers ahead," Paris responded.

Janeway rose from her chair and went to the helm. "Can we go around it, Mr. Paris?" she asked.

Paris worked a console briefly. "I don't think so, Captain. It's huge!"

Suddenly Voyager jolted, and lights and consoles flickered. "The leading edge has approached us," Tuvok reported. "Shields at eighty-five percent." After two more jolts, Voyager was no better off.

"Options?" Janeway asked.

Paris thought for a second. "An inverse warp field might disperse the wave's impact a bit," he suggested.

Janeway nodded, and tapped her commbadge. "Bridge to Engineering..."

"Torres here, Captain." She sounded tense.

"B'Elanna, can we create a stable inverse warp field around the ship to cushion the impact of these distortion waves?" Janeway asked.

A brief silence ensued.

"I think so, Captain. It'll take a few minutes to set up though," Torres answered.

"Do your best, Lieutenant."

Meanwhile on the holodeck Samantha was just starting to make some headway in her experimental procedure when the program flickered, and then the holographic Neelix suddenly disappeared. Samantha was perplexed. "Computer," she requested. "Please restore holodeck program Neelix One."

The computer worked for a second or two, and then replied, "Unable to comply. The holodeck grid has been damaged."

Wildman then discovered that the approaching wave was disrupting every system on the ship, but she had to get her program back! Neelix's life depended on it. She pried the hatch away from the holodeck's power circuitry, and began rewiring half of the connections. A couple minutes later, she was sure she had enough power.

"Computer, reroute all available power to holodeck two," she ordered.

Seconds later, the program was restored, and she went back to work. Just then, the deck stopped shaking. Some minutes passed, and then to Wildman's relief, a console showed that Neelix's spinal cord was regenerating. Her procedure had worked! Just to be on the safe side, she ran the simulation twice more with the exact same results! It worked! Excitedly, she took her findings the The Doctor.

"Impressive!" The Doctor exclaimed as he read over her lengthy report and studied her research. "This looks very promising indeed!"

Samantha was relieved. Janeway also regarded Ensign Wildman's proposal with equal enthusiasm. The next day, Wildman and The Doctor explained it to Neelix.

"We think this will work, Neelix," she told him encouragingly.

"It's no use," he said. "I'm a cripple. I'll just have to live with that!"

She looked at him sadly.

"I'm not needed here anymore!" Neelix shouted. "Look at me! I can't even move!"

She tried to be encouraging. "Neelix, you can't just give up! Naomi needs you...She loves you!" There was a short silence before Samantha spoke again. "I need you," she said softly. "I...love you, Neelix...Please, let me help you," Samantha pleaded. A tear rolled down Neelix's cheek, and he nodded.

Four hours later...

Opening his eyes just a crack, Neelix thought he heard a voice calling his name. He slowly turned his head to his right, following the sound of the soft, soothing voice. Struggling to open his eyes wider, he saw who the voice belonged to. She was standing at his bedside.

"Neelix," Samantha said softly.

"I...I still can't move," he said just as softly.

"Give yourself some time, Neelix. It won't happen right away. Your system needs time to adapt."

He relaxed a bit.

"You have a visitor," Samantha told him as she indicated for her daughter to come over. Naomi inched towards the bed.

"Hi Neelix," Naomi said softly. "Are you feeling better?"

He gave her a smile, trying to look brave for her. "I sure am! I don't think it'll be long before I'm up and about!"

She smiled back at him. They talked for a few minutes more, and then Wildman came back into the room.

"Neelix needs to rest now, honey. You can come back later," her mother said.

Naomi frowned a bit, but kissed Neelix gently on the cheek, and then left. Samantha studied a console briefly, and then sat down by the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, touching his arm gently.

Neelix thought he felt something on his arm, but didn't know if he was imagining it or not.

"I...can feel you touching my arm," Neelix told her.

"That's good," she smiled, and then scanned him with a tricorder. "Your system seems to be adapting to the motor-neuron implants."

Just then, the captain entered. "How are you feeling, Neelix?"

"A little tired, but better," he said. Janeway smiled. "Glad to hear it."

"The procedure was a complete success, Captain. We have Ensign Wildman to thank for developing this remarkable procedure!" The Doctor told her. Samantha blushed a little and lowered her head. "Thanks to her, Mr. Neelix will make a complete recovery."

The next day Samantha came to see Neelix again. "Naomi wanted me to give you this," Samantha said as she handed Neelix a card with a rather interesting picture colored on the front of it. It resembled a picture of Neelix, Samantha and Naomi all holding hands. Neelix looked deeply touched.

"I guess that I was wrong about not being needed here anymore," Neelix realized. Wildman put a gentle hand on Neelix's shoulder. "Do you feel up to walking a bit today?" she asked him. He looked at her surprised. "Do you think I can?" he asked. "Wouldn't hurt to give it a try," she responded. He nodded.

A few minutes later, Neelix was propped up between The Doctor and Samantha. He took a shaky step forward, but collapsed to his knees. The Doctor and Samantha caught him and helped him stand again, this time holding him more securely.

"It's useless. I can't do this!" Neelix sighed on the verge of tears.

Samantha tightened her grip around him. "It's okay...I'll help you," she reassured him. "Lets just take it slow, okay?"

Slowly Samantha helped Neelix to a standing position again, and ...tentatively Neelix took a careful step forward, and then another, and another...