Young Ensign Graham Martel had pulled the night shift on the rotation. He was doubling his duties, sitting at the helm with tactical piped into his console – not that it was making his shift that more interesting.

Again, as it had been since he had been on board, nothing of significance was happening. As he performed the latest scheduled checks he could not stop himself from thinking that perhaps the Enterprise must have been a more exciting ship before the Captain got married. While at the academy, like many of his peers, he had desperately wanted to be posted on the flagship - a ship which seemed to go from one exciting adventure to the next. He'd worked hard, and had been ecstatic when he found out he got the Enterprise.

That had been the last exciting thing to happen. All the legendary adventures the ship had the reputation of having, well, he didn't know what that was all about, because he sure had not seen any of them. The most noteworthy event since his arrival had been the Captain and CMO's wedding; not the stuff adventurous young officers dream of. As though that was not mundane enough, the ship was now ablaze with the news that the Captain's wife was pregnant. There was even a baby shower planned! Baby showers Martel thought disdainfully. He bet Captain Picard never had to attend one the whole time he'd captained the Stargazer. [Young Martel would be surprised to learn that not only Picard had attended one, he had, perish the thought, even organized one when he's found out his friend Jack Crusher was going to be a father.]

The doors to the turbolift opened and in walked Picard. Martel immediately sat up straighter in his chair. Mundane or not, the man was still the captain. Then a thought came to him: The captain on the bridge, in the middle of a night shift. Maybe something was finally going to happen! Picard headed straight towards his ready room, but stopped to look at the young helmsman.

"You're new here Ensign?" he asked

Martel – if possible, came even more to attention - : "No Sir. I've been on the ship for six months, but only rotated to bridge duty a few weeks ago."

"Ah.. I see. Martel correct?"

Proud at having been recognized by the captain, Martel smiled: "Yes. Sir."

Picard looked at the young man thoughtfully: "Mmmmm…. Martel… I'm sure I had a great grandmother who was a Martel." He paused, his mind occupied. "Oh well, I'm sure I have that written down somewhere."

Picard then became more business like: "The shuttle Algonquin is coming our way Lieutenant. The moment she's in communication range, I want you to hail her and patch the call to my ready room. Understood?"

"Yes Sir!" The first time the captain came on the bridge when he was on duty and already he was tasked personally with something obviously important - the highlight of his career so far for sure.

Martel immediately started doing a long range scan to see if he could pick up the shuttle.

A Lieutenant Commander, sitting beside him at the other help position, started snickering: "That's quite the responsibility you've got there Graham my boy."

The ensign turned to him: "What do you mean? It has to be someone important in that shuttle for him to get up in the middle of the night just to talk to them."

His neighbor smile got even wider: "It sure is – it's his wife! Dr. Crusher is returning from the medical conference she's been at."

Graham, despite his best efforts, could not hide his disappointment. The first time he's given something to do by the captain and it's just to place a call to his wife! Not the illustrious start to his career he had dreamt of. Nevertheless, the captain had given him a task, he was not about to mess it up. He went back to his scans and within minutes he'd picked it up.

Graham hailed it immediately: "Enterprise to shuttle Algonquin. Please respond."

Within seconds a soft female voice answered: "Algonquin here Enterprise. Go ahead."

Martel had seen the doctor before of course. She had made a point of coming over to talk to him when he reported for his initial medical exam after coming on board. Her son Wesley had been in one of his classes and she'd asked after him. He'd not had the heart to tell her Wesley was not especially having a great time at the Academy, but then, she had found that out herself a few months later when her son quit Starfleet.

"Sir. Captain Picard asked me to hail you the moment you came in range. I'll patch you over to his ready room?"

The doctor smiled: "Yes. Thank you Ensign." I guess she was kind of beautiful for someone her age thought the young man – if one ignored she was pregnant!

In his ready room Jean-Luc was patiently waiting, re-reading La Fontaine. He wanted to make sure he knew some of the fables before his daughter was born.

He looked up when his comm unit beeped. The image of his wife came on: "Hello Sailor."

He smiled – trying to hide his malaise at her use of the phrase- a phrase Jean-Luc had often heard her say when greeting her first husband. Even now with Jack dead fifteen years, and him married to her with a child coming soon, Picard still found it sometimes difficult to ignore the feeling he was only second best to his friend, and her first husband Jack Crusher.

He made a point of shaking off the feeling: "Hello to you to. How are you – both of you?" he asked softly.

Jean-Luc could see her put a hand on her belly - where it was barely evident she carried his child: "We are both fine Jean-Luc."

He was prevented from answering when the signal started to crack up and finally cut-off. At first Picard thought nothing of it as the shuttle had been at the limit of a good comm signal. After a minute, when the signal had not been re-established, he got curious and decided to walk out to the bridge to investigate. But it wasn't a quiet efficient bridge crew going about its normal nighttime business he found, but a crew on full alert, all frantically working. A feeling of dread descended in his stomach.

"Report Mr. Data." Asked the captain, trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice.

Data immediately vacated the captain's chair and went to his science station.

"The shuttle disappeared Sir."

For a moment, everybody on the bridge quit working and looked at the captain. Picard sat up straighter, looked at the bridge crew and simply responded: "Well gentlemen, your task is simple, find my wife."

Somewhere else in space – 2353

Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the Stargazer was sitting – a bit slumped, but not too slumped – on his captain's chair. The Stargazer was patrolling the outer rim – months away at maximum warp from sector 001. It was the kind of mission Picard liked. Totally on his own, too far from Earth for Command to second guess his decisions, and exploring sections of space the Federation had never been to before. He looked around at his bridge crew. An odd mixture of young and old, but when it came to it, he would serve with nobody else.

Saal, a young female Vulcan, sitting at the helm spoke up: Captain, our sensors just picked up a ship." She turned to her captain: "Sir, they are broadcasting a Federation signal, but not one we know."

Picard straightened, up bit perplexed. They had received their last communication packet from Earth only days ago. The mysterious ship's call signal should have been in their data bank, and thus recognized.

"What can you learn about the ship Lieutenant?"

"Very little Sir. She is broadcasting out as the Algonquin – attached to the Federation Starship…" The Vulcan turned to her Captain. It was rare for a Vulcan to show such hesitation, "…..Enterprise." she finished.

Jean-Luc did a turnabout: "The Enterprise? But she was lost six years ago at Narendra III. How can one of her shuttle be here?"

Saal turned to her captain: "Captain. It's not the Enteprise C Sir. The call sign shows the Enterprise D."

"The D!? Surely we've not been in the outer rim so long that Starfleet launched a new Enterprise without us finding out?" Picard went back to his chair and pressed a button: "Picard to Crusher."

The answer came immediately: "Crusher here Captain."

"Jack, I know you're off duty, but come to the bridge immediately. We have a bit of a situation on our hands here."

The captain then turned to the Vulcan: "Hail them Lieutenant."

"No answer other than their automated beacon Sir."

"Any life forms?"

"One Sir."

Picard turned as Jack came on the bridge: "What's up Captain?"

"Well Jack we have ourselves a mysterious shuttle from the Enterprise of all ships."

"The Enterprise?"

"Yes Jack. The D!"

At Jack startled expression Jean-Luc could only confirm what they have discovered so far.

"Take the bridge Jack. I'm going over. " As he quickly walked over to the transporter room Picard hailed the ship's doctor and explained the situation: one life sign, but no response to hails.

Jean-Luc met Haram in the transporter room. He liked the old doctor. He had been in Starfleet for forever, and nothing seemed to faze him.

Both men materialized in the port section of the shuttle. They immediately saw legs, covered in blue, sticking out from beside the pilot's chair. They quickly went over to find a woman in a strange blue uniform lying unconscious on the floor. Her red hair prevented the men from seeing her face, but Jean-Luc recognized her immediately.

"Beverly…."

Haram had been scanning her, making sure not to miss her subcutaneous ID: "Yes, and no, Captain. Her dogtag does identifies her as Beverly Crusher, but…" He paused to look up to his captain before continuing: "aged 47. CMO of the Federation Starship Enterprise D."

Picard could not stop himself from responding: "What?"

Haram continued: "That's not all Sir. She's four months pregnant and the father is listed as….." the old doctor again hesitated: "… Jean-Luc Picard."