Several hours passed before Beverly heard the young woman speak. "Who's there?" her voice rasped in the dark. Beverly flicked on a light to see her lifting herself onto her elbows with effort.

She approached the bed with a warm, tired smile. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"Safe?" She struggled to sit up all the way, but Beverly placed her hands on her shoulders to ease her back down.

"Shhh, you need your rest," she insisted.

The young woman grabbed hold of Beverly's wrists with startling swiftness and strength. "Who are you? What am I doing here?" she demanded. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her eyes of the sedative's lingering effects. Her gaze roamed the room in search of something to focus on, eventually finding Beverly's face. Again, the captain felt a tugging on her memory. Something trying to come to the surface. Something lost that had been found.

"Dr. Crusher?" the young woman gasped. "Dr. Crusher!" She flung back the covers and leapt up, crashing into the captain with a fervent embrace. "You're alive!"

"Oof!" Arms trapped at her sides, Beverly endured the hug without complaint. "Why did you call me that?" she asked, trying to pull away to get another look at those hauntingly familiar eyes. "It's been years since I was a doctor. I'm a captain now."

The young woman laughed, delirious with relief. "Come on, Dr. Crusher. I haven't been gone that long. How did you guys find us?"

Once her arms were free, Beverly picked up the lump of gold from the bedside stand. "Here-you had this on you. It's a beacon, isn't it?"

"Didn't Kyle explain anything?" she retorted. "Or is my dad still refusing to speak with him?"

"You...have a dad?"

"Of course I have a…Dr. Crusher?" The young woman glanced around at her surroundings for the first time. A deeply troubled expression settled over her features. "Where are we?"

"We're aboard the USS Ranger," Beverly answered, taking hold of her arm. "Take a seat, nice and easy. I don't want you to pass out. Can you tell me your name?"

She complied, sitting in a daze on the edge of the bed. Her eyes drifted back to the captain's face. "You don't know my name?"

Beverly shook her head. "I'm sorry, no."

"We made it through, then," she whispered, no longer speaking to the captain. "That's what must have happened. They're still...they're still dead…"

She slumped forward as though a weight far too heavy to carry had been placed upon her shoulders. A shadow darkened her face. Beverly felt an ache in her heart for the young woman, for she had seen that shadow before. The shadow of war.

"There's uh, there's a cup of water on the tray over there," she said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Try and sip it slowly. I'll be back in half an hour-"

"Please don't go, Dr. Crusher," she pleaded. "I don't-I don't want to be alone right now. Will you stay? Just for a little while?"

With a gentle hand, Beverly parted the raven-dark hair that had fallen in front of her face. "I suppose I could stay," she said, her smile turning wry. "Even though you should be resting. Would you like something to eat?"

"Uh…" She hesitated for a moment, then gave a short, shaky laugh. "How about chocolate milk? And a peanut-butter-banana sandwich. I haven't had one of those in a long time."

Beverly stiffened. That elusive sense of familiarity latched onto something deep and buried, trying to pull it out into the light. As she looked into those blue eyes again, a memory came bursting into view.

She saw Ten Forward. Stars blinking outside the window. A dark-haired little girl sunk low in her seat...

"Come on, Carmen. You've barely touched your sandwich. I asked Guinan to put bananas in it, just the way you like."

"My dad is going to be furious when he finds out I've been expelled from class again. And you're the one who likes bananas."

"Okay, you're right about both of those things. But look…" Beverly sighed, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "Your father is just frustrated. He wants better for you, Carmen. He's not always going to be there to teach you right and wrong. He doesn't want you to grow up with this total disregard for authority-"

"And who says I will?"

"What?"

"Grow up! Who says I will grow up?" Carmen straightened her back and huffed out a breath before continuing. "I know what's going on. I know all about the war. Reynold Clancy said that if your parents die, they take you away and you never come back. And he has two parents! I only have one."

"No one is going to take you away, Carmen. I wouldn't let them."

"And I don't have a problem with authority, I have a problem with Mrs. Gleaves! She said my dad is too soft on me. But you know he grounded me from baseball for two whole weeks last time I got expelled? Two whole weeks! I-"

"Listen to me," Beverly interjected. "Just listen. Your father is…he's doing the best he can. He's lost more than you can know. And he'd do anything not to lose you, too."

Carmen played with her straw, pushing it around the bottom of her glass to slurp up the last of the chocolate syrup. "Mrs. Gleaves also said that my dad lets me run wild around the ship because he feels guilty."

"Guilty about what?"

"That I don't have a mom. But she doesn't know what she's talking about. I have...well, I have you. You don't let me run wild." Glumly, Carmen folded her arms on top the table. She did not see the gentle smile that spread slowly across Beverly's face. "I don't mean to be bad. I just...I get so angry sometimes. And then I forget all the stuff you told me."

Beverly reached across the table, giving the plate of sandwiches a nudge. "Just eat, will you? You'll need energy to make it through another one of your father's lectures. And don't worry about Mrs. Gleaves-I'll have a talk with her."

Carmen looked up, a smile of her own taking shape. Then, with a new appetite, she picked up a sandwich and took a bite.

"Dr. Crusher?"

"Eat, Carmen."

"I like the bananas, too."

"Good."

"And also…"

"Carmen!"

She smiled penitently through a mouthful of peanut butter. "Sorry. It's just...Mrs. Gleaves was wrong, wasn't she? About my dad?"

A furious voice boomed across Ten Forward, making the girl jump. "A month this time, you hear me? No baseball for a MONTH!"

The girl dropped her sandwich in terror. "I have to go now," she said, dashing off to join her father. He kept an eye on her the whole time, glowering from just inside the doorway. As Carmen slinked past him, he found Beverly in the crowd and gave her an exasperated sort of nod. Then he turned to follow his daughter, the door closing behind them.

Beverly stared at the empty seat across from her, at the glass of chocolate milk and the peanut butter fingerprints. Carmen's question seemed to linger in the air. "I know you wanted better for her, too, Deanna," she whispered, leaning back against her seat with a sigh. "We're trying the best we can. I just hope it's enough."

The memory faded away. But there, in front of her, was the same face. Only it was no longer the face of a little girl. Beverly's hands shook as she touched the side of the young woman's cheek. "Carmen?" she breathed.

Tears sprang to her eyes, those eyes that looked just like her father's. "You do remember!"

"Yes, I remember! Carmen!" She clasped her to her chest, holding tightly, running a hand through her hair again and again. Shock and relief churned in her heart, a turbulent ocean that overflowed in a stream of tears. "I can't believe-they said there was nothing left-" She tilted the young woman's chin back, studying every inch of her face. "Oh, Carmen. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Dr. Crusher," she said, pulling away to wipe a sleeve across her nose. "I'm okay."

Beverly sank onto the bed beside her. "Jean Luc, he fought with the council for years. It nearly destroyed him when they came for you and the other children. When I found out, I...I nearly went mad. I kept thinking about the night you were born, and how happy your parents were. It was never supposed to be like this."

"But how did you find out?" Carmen asked. "I thought you went to Haven One."

"Jean Luc and I kept in touch for years." Beverly dabbed her eyes with the corner of her tunic. "Until the council discovered us, of course."

The door swished open and a small shadow fell across the floor. When only silence followed, Carmen looked up expectantly. A little girl poked her head around the corner. She had dark eyes and long, brown hair that fell down her back in ringlets.

"Come in, Namida," the captain called. "It's alright."

The little girl tiptoed into the room, watching Carmen cautiously, curiously. Behind her, three more faces inched into view. They were all different ages, but had the same somber eyes, the same chilling absence of anything playful or child-like.

"All of you get in here," Beverly ordered. "It's impolite to stare."

To Carmen's surprise, more and more children filed furtively into the room. "Where did all these kids come from?" she asked as the little girl with brown hair climbed into Beverly's lap.

"Oh, just about everywhere," she replied. "We've been rounding them up and bringing them back to Haven One. It's where we're headed now."

It dawned on Carmen suddenly, why they did not act like children. "Soldiers," she said. "They're soldiers, aren't they?"

"Not anymore." Beverly stuck her tongue out at the girl, whose face lit up with a giggle. The faint trace of a smile appeared on a few more faces. "When we overthrew the council, we overthrew the draft. We're still a long way from peace, but I believe that humanity has a better chance-and a better future-when kids are allowed to be kids."

Something strange was happening in Carmen's chest. She had expected to find nothing left. To learn that the war had killed every last good thing in this place. But hope had survived. It had been planted as a seed, small and resilient, in each of the children's hearts.

Moving slow and stealthy, Namida crawled from Beverly's lap and into Carmen's. Surprised, Carmen stared into the girl's big, dark eyes. Something safe and warm drifted towards her mind.

"You're a Betazoid!" she exclaimed.

The girl smiled shyly. One of her tiny hands reached up towards Carmen's face. Blue eyes?

Carmen laughed. It felt strangely soothing to hear someone in her mind again. "My mother was only half," she explained. "And my father was human."

What is this?

Now the girl's fingers were running over the lump of gold in Carmen's hand. She looked down, smiling sadly.

"This is a piece of home," she said, and opened her hand all the way so the girl could pick it up. A few of the children leaned closer, trying to get a better look. "It came from the mountains of Alaska. My dad gave it to me in place of a special rock that I found on Betazed."

Beverly frowned."Carmen...you've never been to Betazed. It was destroyed a long time ago."

"No, it wasn't. I mean, it was. But also it wasn't." She grimaced as Beverly's face clouded with concern.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, Dr. Crusher. I just…" Carmen felt Namida's worried nudge in her mind. "I don't know how to say this, but for the last three years, I've been somewhere else."

"What do you mean, somewhere else?"

"On the Enterprise. And they were all there-my mom, my dad, Captain Picard. They had never even heard of the Borg."

"I think you should lie down," Beverly pressed the back of her hand to Carmen's forehead. "You were unconscious for a long time-"

"I'm telling the truth! You were there, too! But you didn't recognize me-no one did. See, I was never born in that universe. A long time ago, my mom and dad went their separate ways. I can't explain it, but it was real. And it was...it was wonderful." She bit her lip against a wistful smile. "My mom and dad, they got married after all. And they had two weddings-one on Betazed and one on Earth. I even have a baby brother!" She froze. A tremendous sorrow took the place of her wistful smile. "Had a baby brother..."

Namida curled herself into a ball, nestling against the young woman, burrowing into her mind. A small, gentle light radiated from her presence. You can feel sad. I will feel sad with you.

The door opened again. A man strode into their midst that Carmen did not recognize. He carried himself with the aloofness of authority, but something softened the rugged features of his face as one of the boys leaned against his leg.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, casting an apologetic smile at the women. "I just came to inform you that the Romulans are awake and ready to talk."

"You mean-they're okay?" Carmen shot to her feet. "Come on, Dr. Crusher! You have to talk with them!"

Hale exchanged a glance with his captain. Carmen's eagerness seemed to trouble him. "If I may have a word with you first…"

"I'll be right there," she said, and gave him a look that deterred the commander from pressing the issue any further. As he turned to leave, the children flocked behind him. Even Namida climbed down from Carmen's lap, racing to keep up with the others. "Stay here and get some rest. I'll come by with dinner as soon as I can-"

"I want to come with you! Please, Dr. Crusher. What they have to say is very important."

"No, Carmen." She cupped a hand over the young woman's arm. "Please rest. You've been through enough."

Carmen's heart sank as she watched the captain follow the trail of children. "But...you believe me, don't you?"

Beverly paused in the doorway, turning to the young woman with a forced smile. "We'll talk about it later."

Hale lingered in the hall outside, waiting for the captain to appear. She nearly walked right by him, too deep in thought to notice.

"Beverly?"

"Oh! Sorry, Trevor. What was it you wanted to tell me?"

He waited until the last of the children had scampered out of sight, then drew in a deep breath. "I have to admit, I've never heard anything like it."

"Like what?"

"Well, I asked them what they were doing out here. They said...they told me that...that they came from a different place. A different universe."

Beverly froze midstep. Her shoulders rose sharply. "That's what Carmen said."

"Carmen?"

Her should sank back down as she realized that she had forgotten to introduce them to each other. "Yes, the one we saved. Remember how I said she looked familiar?"

Hale nodded.

"I was good friends with her parents. I even delivered her, the night she was born. She…" A strange smile touched the edges of her mouth. "She was like the daughter I never had."

"How did she get all the way out here?"

Beverly glanced behind them, as though to make sure Carmen had not followed them out. "Her mother was taken when she was just a baby. And her father...he was a good man, but I don't think he ever got over the loss of his wife. She was a very lonely child. A very troubled child. And after her father was killed…"

"They shipped her off to war," Hale finished for her, a deep and righteous rage underscoring his voice.

"It's been fourteen years since I last saw her. When we started all of this, I tried to find out what happened to her. I learned that she had made it back to the Enterprise just before it was destroyed." She hugged her arms to her chest as a shiver came over her body. "I thought she was gone. I thought they were all gone."

"Then how do you explain it? Do you suppose she's telling the truth?"

Beverly shook her head, a display of frustration more than an answer. "The mind of a child soldier is delicate. Unformed. They can't comprehend the horrors they are forced to witness on a daily basis, and so they create these fantasies to protect themselves from the awful truth. It's nothing more than an escape, a coping mechanism."

"But what about the Romulans?"

"They must have an ulterior motive. You know how quickly a Romulan will turn to deceit if it furthers his agenda. They may not have told the lie in this case, but they are certainly promoting it." Her lips pressed into a thin, angry line. "How dare they feed her delusions. It will only hurt her in the end. We must set them straight."

"And the girl?"

"She's been out there a long time." Beverly sighed, and her shoulders sank even lower. "If this is what she's done in order to hold on, in order to survive, then who can hold it against her? We just have to be patient. I'm sure she'll come around."

Beverly was surprised to hear of Alidar's plans to share Romulan technology with the Federation. She allowed her engineers to work with him, but kept him closely guarded and away from Carmen. Toleel, the Romulan's son, was allowed to join the other children while his father worked. They were wary of him at first, but Namida took charge of welcoming him into their games, and soon there was no difference between human or Betazoid or Romulan.

In the meantime, Carmen offered her help around the ship. She seemed grateful for any opportunity to keep herself busy. She would often work until Hale forced her to stop and take a break, and then she would wander the ship in desperate need of another distraction.

Every once in awhile she would disappear, withdrawing from everyone for a day or so. Only the children seemed able to reach her. They would climb into her lap, or lean against her back, or play quietly nearby until the storm passed and her smile came out again. Beverly couldn't keep them away even if she wanted to. They'd sneak into Carmen's room at night, dragging their tattered blankets with them, and fall asleep in snoring piles around her bed. Carmen never complained, for it seemed to keep her nightmares at bay just as much as theirs.

Sometimes Namida would crawl up onto the bed with her and ask to see Betazed. Carmen would show her the beaches, the jungles, her grandmother's lakehouse. She'd take her to the city of Nalara and its colorful market stalls. In the space of their minds, that space just before one falls asleep, they'd walk to Janaran Falls together and watch the three moons rise.

In the evenings, after Beverly finished her bridge duty, it became a tradition for Carmen to appear at her door. "Mind if I come in?" she'd say. And Beverly never asked why. She'd just leave the door open and resume whatever she was doing. Sometimes they'd talk. Sometimes she'd let Beverly braid her hair. But mostly, they'd just sit and remember what it was like to have someone around who felt like family.

Then one morning, at the start of Carmen's third week aboard the Ranger, Beverly was recalibrating some of Dr. Boyd's medical instruments when a yellow alert blared across the monitors. Her chest tightened. They were close to Haven One by now. If an enemy ship had discovered them…

"Crusher to Hale. What's going on?"

"Her signal! It's Carmen's signal! Another ship followed it straight to us."

"I'll be right there."

Beverly's feet felt like lead as she made her way to the bridge. They had met resistance before in their search for child soldiers. Not everyone saw them as children, and there were those who believed in continuing the fight. Ever since they found Carmen, she had feared that someone would come for their soldier. Whoever it is, they can't have her, Beverly swore, bracing herself as she stepped onto the helm. But her jaw fell open in shock as soon as she saw the face staring back at her from the viewscreen.

It was the face of Commander William Riker.