The day the Counselor figured it out.

On the Enterprise D, some months after All Good Things.

Borrowed from CBS and Paramount.

The day the Counselor figured it out started like any other day. She met the Doctor for their morning workout at 07:00. The Doctor was on time. It always amused Deanna the selective lateness the Doctor practiced; on time for her shifts, appointments with patients, surgeries, dance recitals, plays and workouts, yet habitually late for staff meetings. She wondered if the Captain had ever noticed this flaw of character in his CMO.

The workout progressed as it normally did, yoga poses, stretches, body strengthening exercises. All chosen and directed by the Doctor of course. The Counselor did not care, without Beverly pushing her; she'd be eating chocolate croissants in bed. It also provided an avenue for counselling. The Doctor dealt with counselling sessions like a child did with vegetables: would only eat them if camouflaged in something better.

"Were you able to get pictures for Will's twenty year service awards ceremony this evening?"

Beverly smiled: "Yes. I asked Katherine to get Will's Dad to send me some embarrassing childhood holovids of him. Jean-Luc event got Admiral Brand….."

Deanna stopped listening as the feelings coming from the Doctor changed at the mention of the Captain's name. Trying to get a handle on them was like holding an ice-cube; the moment you thought you had a good handle, it would slip through your fingers.

Beverly noticed the Counselor had stopped listening and knew why. She used her best defense. "I received a letter from Wesley yesterday. You know, now that he's a Traveler, he writes more than he ever did when he was at the Academy."

The ice-cube slipped though Deanna's fingers as feelings of love and pride in her son overwhelmed anything else the Doctor may have been experiencing mere moments ago. The Counselor gave up. "Oh how nice for you. Where is he now?"

As Beverly answered and detailed at length the latest adventures of her son, the Counselor knew that the moment had passed.

Later on, if she had not been so disappointed at such a lost opportunity, she may have noticed that Beverly did not have to press the chime or key in a code to open the door to the Captain's cabin for their ritual breakfast together. Maybe it was the nonchalant way Beverly did it that fooled her, or maybe she had always expected that her emphatic sense would be first to alert her to a change in the two officers' relationship; something as human and banal as noticing that the Doctor's communicator was now keyed in to the Captain's cabin was probably too concrete an evidence for a Betazoid.

The daily senior staff meeting went on as these things normally did. All showed up on time except for the Doctor; an examination with patient that ran late again. After all these years, the Counselor had concluded that hers must be the only physicals that ended on time.

Discussion flowed about the team composition for the next away mission. The First Officer rolled out the names: "Data, Counselor, Worf, Doctor, you'll be part of the initial scouting group….."

For a brief moment, Deanna felt a spike of emotion, short-lived and intense like a lightning strike, and as difficult to locate. Was it Beverly? More than likely it was. The mission must remind her of how disastrous colonial endeavors can be when not planned properly. Arvada III was always present on the Doctor's mind when it came to scouting new planets for colonization. Had better care been taken all these years ago, perhaps the tragedy could have been averted. As Deanna concentrated more, she realized the emotions came from the Captain? Why?

Without looking up from her PADD, the Doctor interrupted: "I'm sorry Will, but I'll be busy dealing with those two new residents that week. If it's all right with you, I'll send Selar in my place."

Deanna was already in Ten Forward when the Captain, handsome in his dress uniform, and the Doctor, beautiful in a dress, arrived together. Nothing out of the ordinary there, they had acted as each others escort for years. They sat together and the Doctor took the Captain's old-fashioned reading glasses he insisted on using from her purse when he needed them for his speech. Really, where else was he supposed to put them? Those dress uniforms were not designed for storage. Beverly's purse was the only logical choice. The Betazoid shook her head. When did she start quoting logic? Maybe her mother was right and she needed to go home for a holiday.

Speeches were made. Awards were given. Old pictures were laughed at. The First Officer had come a long way from his childhood in Alaska. The senior staff migrated to the Captain's cabin for a final celebration. The Captain opened for the occasion two bottles of his best wine. After several toasts, Deanna could not help but notice, and tease.

"Beverly. You are normally not one to lag behind when it comes to the Captain's wines."

The Doctor looked at her Captain. Perhaps only Data was observant enough to notice her nod to him, so slim it was. The whole group did notice though when the Captain leaned forward to take his CMO's hand in his own. They noticed and looked.

The Captain spoke: "Beverly won't be drinking any wine for a while Counselor." Then he turned to his First Officer. "Nor will she be going on away missions Number One."

Their feelings were like snowdrops flowering through the Spring snow, full of hope and overjoyed at the idea at the coming season of their lives. Beverly? Jean-Luc? Together? How could she have missed it? How long had it been? Why did I not know? Then something else dawned on Deanna, no away missions, no alcohol: "You're pregnant!"

The Captain looked at his CMO as he answered: "We are Counselor."

Data was the first to recover from the shock. He stood up and offered his hand to the Doctor: "Doctor. Captain. I believe it is customary to congratulate parents when such news is announced."

Beverly ignored his hand and went for a hug. "It is even more customary to hug expectant mothers Data."

Beverly reserved her biggest and longest hug for Deanna.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you but we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while. I did give you some hints though. My communicator keyed in to Jean-Luc's cabin, no away missions…"

Seeing the hurt still in her friend's eyes, Beverly hugged her again. "We'll talk. I'll tell you everything. When it happened. The baby. After all, it is the job of godmothers and maids of honour isn't it? To listen to these confidences."

The day that the counselor figured it out was a happy day for Deanna Troi. She had always taken pride in her Betazoid heritage, but always sensing and knowing before everybody else was sometimes lonely. She had often envied her human friends the shared pleasure they experienced at receiving joyous news. Today, it was her human half she was thankful for. It had allowed her to fully share this moment with her friend and she was happy.

It nearly made up for how let down she felt at not having figured it out earlier. Nearly.

Then, Counselor Deanna Troi had her second epiphany that day: maid of honour!

There was going to be a wedding.

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