"Ian and I are going to stay in Tasha's quarters until I decide what to do," Deanna said, her suitcase in one hand and three-year-old Ian's hand in her other. "I'm sorry, Will, but I just can't stay with a man I can't trust."

"Deanna, please listen to me..."

"I've already heard enough, Will."

"It's not like that time on Betazed with Wendy Roper...'

"No, it isn't. This time we're actually married to each other," Deanna snapped. "I'll return for the rest of our things later," she added as the door slid shut behind them, leaving Will staring helplessly after them.

"Of course! You can stay here as long as you like, but what happened?" Tasha's eyebrows were creased with concern.

Deanna was still shaking with rage, so much so that she could barely speak. "I...caught Will with Ro Laren."

"What?" Tasha was shocked.

Deanna forced herself to take several deep breaths to calm down, then began to tell Tasha her story.

The Previous Day

Deanna had just beat Data at a game of chess, winning from him a Samaritan Sunset. Basking in the pleasure of her victory, she sat at the bar and watched as he made it.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"I hope you enjoy it."

Deanna stared at the unfamiliar face across from her, wondering what in the world they were both doing there. She saw two people approaching, a tall bearded man and a dark-haired Bajoran woman.

"Who reported to the bridge from this group?" asked the man.

"I did," said Deanna.

"Have you found anything that might give us some insight into what happened?"

"No, but it seems unusual that the bartender is an artificial life form."

"Can I get you something?" asked the bartender, his yellow eyes expressionless.

Both the newcomers declined.

"Your memories are gone as well?" the man asked the bartender.

"The data banks that identify who I am are not functioning."

"There's another thing. I don't know if it means anything, but I seem to have an ability that the others don't. I have a very strong sense of what other people are feeling, and just for a moment, you seemed familiar," Deanna told the man.

"You remember me?" asked the man.

"Not exactly. I mean, I don't know who you are, but there's something about you."

"Bridge to survey team," boomed a deep voice.

"Survey team here. Go ahead," said the man.

"We have accessed the personnel files. Report to the bridge immediately."

After a search of the computer records, Deanna learned that her name was Deanna Troi and that she was the ship's counselor. The man and woman she had encountered earlier were William Riker and Ro Laren, and the artificial life form's name was Data. The ship she was on was called the Enterprise, it was part of the United Federation of Planets, and it was currently in a state of war with the Lysian Alliance. She didn't yet know whether she was married or had any children. A real nightmare situation existed inside the starship's child care center, with workers struggling to learn first their own identities and then those of the parents of each child.

Deanna learned the location of her quarters and went there. From the items she found in various places around her quarters, it was evident that she shared them with a man and a small child, so that must mean that she was a wife and mother. She longed to know who her husband and child were, but knew that she must be patient.

As she glanced around her bedroom, a book on the dresser caught her eye. Curious, she picked it up and looked at the title. It was 'Ode To Psyche' by John Keats. She opened it and found a handwritten note inside the the front cover. The note said, 'To Will, all my love, Deanna.'

Will? Will Riker, as in William Riker? It hit her like a bolt of lightning. Of course! No wonder he had seemed so familiar to her! With the book in hand, she left her quarters in a desperate search to find the man she now knew to be her husband.

After several inquiries, someone finally told her that they had seen him in the company of Ro Laren, and that they had been headed in the direction of Laren's quarters. With her heart in her throat, Deanna headed there herself. Testing the door, she found to her tremendous relief that they had forgotten to lock it. She opened the door, and what she saw made her feel as if someone had just dumped a bucket of cold water on her. Will and Laren were in Laren's bedroom, both in various stages of undress. Will's shirt was off, and so was Laren's, but she was still wearing her bra, thank goodness.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Deanna shrieked.

Will and Laren, too shocked to respond, just stood there staring at her. Enraged, she stalked over to Laren.

"You just couldn't wait to get your hands on my husband, could you!" she screamed, raising a hand to strike Laren. Laren blocked the blow, and a fight ensued. Will stepped between them and separated them, grabbing one woman's arm in each of his hands.

"Whoa! Stop it right now, both of you!" he shouted.

"Who the hell are you?" Laren demanded, her eyes blazing.

"I'm his wife, damn it!" Deanna retorted.

"Calm down now, both of you," Will said quietly. "We'll get to the bottom of this somehow."

Wordlessly, Deanna handed Will the book. He glanced at the cover, then opened it and read the message inside. His face paled, and he stared at Deanna in amazement. Deanna stared back at him, her misery evident in her expression. Laren looked sulky. No one said anything for a long time. Then Will silently put his shirt back on and left Laren's quarters with Deanna.

"We have a child, too," Deanna told him flatly.

"How do you know?"

"There's a toddler bed and toys in a room in our quarters."

They silently walked to the child care center, not looking at one another. The workers had finally found the files on each child and so knew who all the parents were. They brought a gorgeous little boy with wavy dark hair and enormous brown eyes to meet Will and Deanna. "This is your son. His name's Ian," said the child care worker.

"Hi, Mommy! Hi, Daddy!" Ian grinned at them. Happily, the children's memories had been unaffected. Feeling somewhat like a character in an episode of 'The Twilight Zone', Deanna grabbed her son's chubby hand and walked him back to their quarters. Will, his head hung in shame, walked a couple of steps behind them. When they reached their quarters, Deanna undressed and bathed Ian, then dressed him in his pajamas, read him a bedtime story, and tucked him in bed. Noticing that Will was already asleep in their bed, she lay down on the sofa and cried herself to sleep.

The issue was resolved the next day. The Enterprise crew had been invaded by a member of the Satarrans, a race that had long been at war with the Lysians. The Satarran, disguised as a Commander named Keiran MacDuff, had suppressed the crew's memories so that he could use the sophisticated weapons technology of the Enterprise to fight the Lysians. Will and Worf had uncovered the plot and disabled the Satarran invader, and Dr. Crusher was finally able to access the crew's medical records and restore their memories.

"You've wanted her all along, haven't you?" Deanna accused.

"Deanna, you're being ridiculous! I swear, if I had remembered who you were, who I was, and that we were married, I would never have dreamed of sleeping with Laren. I wasn't the one who approached her. She threw herself at me. Said she had a funny feeling that I spent a lot of my off time in her quarters."

"And you didn't exactly do anything to discourage her either."

"Deanna, it was a really crazy time. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know who she was. For all I knew, I could have been married to her."

"It's at times like that that we do the things we've secretly always wanted to do. I'm a psychologist, Will. I know these things."

"But we didn't actually do anything, Deanna."

"Only because I barged in on you when I did. If I hadn't, you would have spent the night with her. Tell me you wouldn't have."

Will stared at the ground and didn't say anything.

"You told me that kind of behavior was behind you, Will. I trusted you! As it turned out, that was a mistake, a big one. Men like you never really change."