Commander William T. Riker was furious. Why wasn't he here yet? Captain Picard always made it for his shift at 0800. It wasn't normal for him to be late.

"Maybe he is doing something elsewhere this morning." Councillor Deanna Troi suggested, staring at her partner with deep, concerning eyes. She could feel that he was anxious, worried, and just a little bit frightened.

"No. If that was the case he would have told me in advance." Will pointed out.

Deanna couldn't do anything for him. But she did know something that could. Rising from her chair, she padded over to the far console at the end of the bridge. She politely asked the ensign there to move aside and called Will over.

"Perhaps the computer will tell us the answer we seek." He nodded in agreement. Taking a step closer to the console, he stated his request.

"Computer, locate Captain Picard." The console buzzed, processing his words.

"Unable to comply. Captain Picard is not currently aboard the Enterprise." It responded. Will bashed his fist onto the console, cursing under his breath in an indescribable anger. Ignoring the comforting messages from Deanna, he stamped over to the captain's chair and fell into it with a huff.

"Dammit, where the hell is he?" Crewmembers working on the bridge turned their heads to look at him in alarm, including Lieutenant Worf who was working at the conn.

"Should I sound yellow alert, sir?" He asked, his demeanour strong and professional. Will shook his head.

"Not yet, Worf. There's that chance that it's a slight computer malfunction. I'll contact Geordi-" He was interrupted by a very worried and frantic Nurse Ogawa who had just burst out of the turbo lift and almost stumbled into a startled crewman.

"Commander Riker!" Her breath was shortened into exhausted puffs. "Doctor Crusher, she- she's gone! She didn't report for her shift this morning! The computer, it said she wasn't anywhere on the ship!"

Deanna went over to the woman and tried to calm her down. With all thoughts that it was only a malfunction aside, Will stood up and turned to the conn.

"Mr. Worf."

"Yes sir." Just as he went to input the command into his console, there was a flash of bright light and he was stopped in his tracks. Frozen in time, it seemed. A familiar man dressed in admiral's clothes walked out from the light and over to Worf.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You should know better than that." He scolded, wagging his finger in a sort of taunt. As he walked closer to Will, he snapped his fingers and Worf was returned to normal. Will crossed his arms and straightened his posture so he was as tall as the man in front of him.

"Long time no see, Q." Will greeted him coldly.

"I know!" Q replied. He stepped around him and sat down in the captain's chair. "Did you know that it's been almost 7 months since I saw you last? Much too long to go without a visit, don't you think?"

"I suggest you return Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher right now or I'll kick your sorry ass right off this bridge!"

"You know you can't do that. It's impossible. And why should I give your Doctor and Captain back? I'm only doing them a favour."

"And what favour is that?" Deanna questioned. Leaving Ogawa, she strode across the bridge to stand behind her partner.

"The favour of love, of course! I've been observing your dear little Jean-luc and Beverly for a while now. My, what a cute couple they make! I just had to take on the task of bringing them together, since they haven't done so already. I bet you they'll be all over each other by tomorrow!" He raised his arm, snapped his fingers, and was gone with another flash of light.

"Well, this is just great!" Will shouted angrily. He turned to the ensign working at the far console. "I want you to keep a constant surveillance on both Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher. Notify me if anything happens!"

"Yes, Sir." The ensign answered timidly.

He began to make his way to the turbo lift doors.

"Where are you going?" Deanna asked. She joined him at the doors and took hold of one of his hands. She felt the anger in him ease, and it was replaced by a calming warmth.

"To the Holodeck. I need time to think." He squeezed her hand. "Would you like to join me?"

"I would love to." They shared a long smile and disappeared behind the doors.

-+ c/\כ +-

The castle was well laid out in their opinion. Past the throne room was a rectangular dining room complete with an old but beautiful kitchen. They also came across a beautiful drawing room, a dance hall, a library, and a closed-off staircase. Up the stairs there was an extremely long hallway with about 20 rooms on either side, but only one was unlocked. The unlocked room was a huge bedroom, complete with a separate bathroom and a huge balcony that overlooked a lush meadow which seemed to span on forever. They didn't find any people though; the castle was completely empty, save for them. Since it was late, they decided to make dinner. Jean-luc made the best use of the old-fashioned stove and cooked them a nice turkey dinner. Beverly even pitched in and made desert, some sugar cookies made from scratch.

"I used to make Wesley these all the time when he was young. He loved them. We sometimes even iced them." She explained to him.

"Well, they're very good. Just enough sweet without making it candy-like." He replied, grabbing for his 5th cookie. He smiled at her. She smiled back, but he could tell something was wrong. It was the way she looked at her wine glass, staring intently at the reddish-purple liquid that swirled around in the curved cup.

"Beverly?" She looked up at him, her eyes clouding with sorrow. She shook her head and smiled, trying to hide it. It was the same look she gave him when she had tried to hide her worry about the possibility of him getting Irumodic Syndrome. He remembered.

"I... I was just thinking... about how much I miss him." She said sorrowfully. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it.

"Wherever he is, I'm sure he's safe and happy. You shouldn't worry about him."

They spent the rest of the night in the library, putting on a fire and searching the bookshelf for something to read. Jean-luc managed to find one of his favourite Shakespeare novels, while Beverly picked up what looked to be a fairly new Jane Austin book. Well, what else were they supposed to do in a place without escape?

But when they retired to bed, they came across a slight problem. When Jean-luc went to open one of the doors in the hallway, it wouldn't budge. He went to try another door, but it didn't open either.

"Oh right." He finally realized. "All the doors are locked. Looks like we'll have to sleep together." She flushed bright red at his statement.

"I... guess so."

She took off the purple dress and all its layers, leaving only the under dress. After the dress was off, she unpleasantly found out that bras weren't invented in this century. When she came out of the bathroom, hands crossed to shield her chest, Jean-luc was already in bed. He seemed to be waiting for her. His eyes followed her into the huge king-sized bed, but darted away once she crawled under the covers.

"Well, I guess this is goodnight." She said, breaking the awkward silence that had formed between them. She grinned nervously at him, and he smiled back.

"Yes. Goodnight, Beverly." He leaned over to blow out the candle that illuminated the room, giving her a glimpse of his naked torso. She was mesmerised by the sight. She had never seen him with his shirt off, and had never thought of him being that muscular. As the minutes ticked by, she found it impossible to fall asleep. She could feel the heat radiating off his body, and hear the steady chorus of his breathing. It made her float back to the days when Jack was still alive; the times where she had someone beside her every night. Someone who she could rely on for warmth, for comfort. Suddenly, she found it to be very cold. She shivered and wished that she could just snuggle up to him for once, just once...