A/N I want to thank Guest, EnlightenedSkye, noro, and Mojo01 for their reviews. I just hope you know how much they mean to me. These character still belong to Paramount.

The Tellarites arrived on time. After being met by the President and Admiral Duval, they were escorted to their living quarters by Archer and T'Pol.

Margot was gratified and surprised when Gernal's only complaints about his apartment were reasonable and Archer quickly agreed to have changes made.

When Margot and the others were shown their quarters, they said they would be acceptable.

As Archer and T'Pol were getting ready to leave, Margot stopped them, "Could I discuss something with you?"

Archer smiled, "Of course, what is it?"

"Do you think it would be possible for me to arrange a visit with Mrs. Gardner? I would like to pay my respects."

"I think that is a great idea. But could you wait until the Vulcans arrive, they expressed interest to show their respects as well." He hesitated, "And I think we should check with the Andorians as well."

Margot nodded, "I have no problem with that."

One area that was not optimal for the visitors was meals. The main eating room contained food dispensers obtained from the different planets. Fresh Earth foods were also available.

Each Apartment also did have a small kitchen.

The Vulcans had an advantage because of the length of time they had been on Earth as there were stores and restaurants that provided Vulcan food.

Margot and her son and daughter-in-law went down for supper; Gernal having gone down earlier and brought food back to his room.

She was gratified to see that Jhamel, Shran, and their daughter were there.

After obtaining their food, they sat down beside them.

Shran smiled, "Margot, it is good to see you again." He turned to her son, "Hatel, isn't it?"

Hatel answered, "Yes. This is my wife, Dara"

Jhamel smiled, "It is so good to see you again."

Margot smiled, "This must be Talla."

Jhamel smiled proudly, "Yes. This is our daughter."

Dara spoke up, "Can I hold her?"

Jhamel answered, "Of course."

Dara took her out of the basket she was in. She smiled as Talla gurgled happily. She smiled broader when she touched Talla's antennae and she seemed to giggle.

She finally returned her to the basket and everyone started to eat. After a few moments, Margot asked, "Is your other representative going to join us?"

Shran frowned, "No, Martok and his wife are eating in their room. His wife seems to be having problems adjusting to being on Earth."

Margot nodded, "I can understand, Gernal is having the same problem. Of course he is a creature of habit and we have removed him from his normal routine."

As they were finishing up, Margot turned to Jhamel, "I discussed with Admiral Archer the possibility of paying my respects to Mrs. Gardner. He suggested you might want to join me."

Jhamel smiled, "I have had similar thoughts. I would like that very much." She hesitated, "Would you mind if I asked Renda, she is Martok's wife. I am still trying to get her involved."

"Of course not." She paused, The Admiral also suggested that we should wait until the Vulcans arrive, to see if they want to join us."

Shran broke in, "I think that would be wise."

Hatel broke in, "When are they expected?"

Shran answered, "Archer said they would be here in a couple days."

Margot was a little surprised to hear Shran not use Archer's title, but realized she had known Gral to talk the same way and knew it was no sign of disrespect but rather an indication of how close they all were. She fought back the sadness that overcame her.

Jhamel sensed her emotions, "Are you all right, Margot?"

Margot was surprised but then smiled sadly, "I was thinking of Gral."

Shran surprised her by reaching out and touching her hand, "We all miss him."

When the Vulcans arrived, Archer was surprised and a little ashamed to find himself looking to see if there was any reaction between T'Pol and Koss. When he saw nothing, he felt more ashamed of having thought anything, but Hell, he was her ex-husband.

He would have been less ashamed and more surprised if he had known T'Pol was having similar concerns. She of course felt nothing for Koss but wondered if he would react in any way. She was gratified to see they could be completely professional around each other.

She wondered if she should ever discuss her situation with Koss with Jonathan. She doubted he would understand how she had been tied to him since birth. How having gone through the Vulcan wedding ceremony with him, even though it had been later dissolved and though they had not bonded, it still created a link between them. She was afraid he would think of it in human terms, that there were feelings involved. There really was no human equivalent. Perhaps it was better to just leave it as it was.

Koss smiled to himself. He had been careful to not show any reaction when he met T'Pol. The truth was, he had always been enamored of her. As they had grown up, he had been shocked when he realized he was intrigued by her emotions. It had taken all of his control not to lash out at Tucker when she had brought him to Vulcan.

He had been pleased when he was able to have T'Pol marry him but deeply disappointed when she refused to be bonded to him and spent time away from him after the wedding.

He remembered his feelings when she decided to stay on Enterprise and not get married earlier. He had been jealous when the rumors of her and Tucker being intimate had surfaced.

But when her mother died and he found out from T'Pau how Archer apparently had risked the mission to try to rescue her, he had been surprised. When he had gone to her later and she said it would be some time before they would be together, he realized how he had forced her into the wedding. He realized he didn't want her on those terms.

When he heard she and Archer were married, he was surprised at his reaction. He was gratified he was genuinely happy for her. He realized he had sensed the bond between them on Vulcan and was another reason he had released her from her marriage.

After the Vulcans were settled in, Margot approached them about her plans to pay respects to Admiral Gardner's widow. They quickly agreed and decided T'Nara would represent Vulcan.

When Jhamel talked to Renda, she was pleased when she agreed to join her.

Elise Gardner sat nervously waiting for her guests to arrive. She had been surprised when she had been informed that some of the delegates had asked to pay their respects. She had never really had much to do with other species. She had always been in the background.

She had asked her daughter Maureen to be with her.

When the doorbell rang, she sent Maureen to answer it.

As they filed into the living room, she became more nervous. She was struck how beautiful the women were, with the exception of the Tellarite of course.

Margot spoke up, "Mrs. Gardner, on behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for allowing us to visit you."

Elise managed to answer, "It is my pleasure." She turned to Maureen, "This is my daughter, Maureen, I hope it is all right to have her join us."

Margot showed what Elise supposed was a smile, "Of course, it is good to meet you."

She turned to the others, "This is Jhamel, Renda, and T'Nara. My name is Margot."

Elise greeted them and with Maureen's help got everyone seated and fortified with a beverage.

There was a short awkward silence and then Jhamel spoke up, "We just all wanted to let you know how much we all admired your husband and to express our deep condolences on his passing."

Margot joined in, "My husband often spoke highly of him and said how much he contributed to the success of the Alliance."

T'Nara added, "In addition to my personal condolences, I wish to express those of the Vulcan people as expressed by Minister T'Pau."

Elise was shocked to realize how comforting and familiar this all felt. She found that their appearances were becoming less and less jarring to her and she found herself thinking of them as just fellow women.

She of course was amazed by Jhamel. You would never realize she was blind.

Suddenly, Maureen surprised them by saying, "Margot, you mentioned your husband. I and my mother wish to express our condolences to you. You must have been very proud of him."

Margot was set back for a moment, then managed to reply, "Thank you. I was proud but I would be more pleased to have him beside me."

Elise felt herself tearing up, "I know what you mean. I appreciate his accomplishments, but I sometimes would trade them to have him with me."

Renda sat transfixed. She of course had not wanted to come, but Martok had insisted. She was stunned at the emotions she was feeling. As they sat there, the difference between them seemed less daunting and what they shared became apparent.

Suddenly, Elise startled herself by starting to cry, saying "I miss him so much.". Maureen moved to comfort her by placing her hand on her shoulder.

But then Margot rose and crossing over, leaned down and embraced her, tears also flowing.

As she stepped back, each of the others took their turn. Renda surprised herself by joining in.

When everyone had returned to their seats, Elise managed to regain control.

"Thank you. I am so happy that you have all come today." She smiled at Maureen, "Do you remember the time when your father forgot to pick up your birthday cake? In all the stress that the war brought, I don't think I ever saw him as distraught."

Soon everyone joined in with their personal stories and before they knew it, more than three hours had passed.

Finally, Margot said they should probably get back. As they were saying their goodbyes, you could close your eyes and there would be no way you would know who was who by what they expressed.

While they were all affected by what had happened, Renda was the most. In spite of herself, she was beginning to question her assumptions and misgivings about dealing with other species.

The Admiral Gardner dropped out of warp. It was responding to a distress call from an Earth freighter.

While Enterprise had not been a match for Orion fighters, the fighters were no match for the new line of Earth starships. After they fled, Commander Reed and four MACOs took a shuttle to the damaged ship.

Upon boarding, they found the bridge was empty. Using his scanner Reed found multiple life readings. Making their way toward them they ended up outside the large cargo area in the rear of the ship. They found two dead bodies outside the door. The door itself showed damage indicating the Orions had been intent on breaking through.

Malcolm knocked on the locked cargo door. "This is Commander Reed of the Starship Admiral Gardner, the Orions are gone."

Reed could hear mumbling on the other side, than a voice said, "Who's the greatest baseball player of all time?"

Malcolm was stunned but then smiled broadly, "Most say Babe Ruth, but I also vote for Willie Mays."

The huge door opened and a man emerged followed by the rest of the crew. "I am Captain Taylor, it's good to see you, Commander."

"Good to see you as well. Do you have any injuries?"

"Just one, thanks to these two and the wounded one," sadly indicating the two bodies. We were able to all escape to the bay." Indicating one of the men, "Mark stayed behind to send the distress signal and he and Crewman Towers provided cover."

"We held the door open as long as we could but they were killed before they could make it. The wounded crewman tried to help them but was shot. We were able to pull him back inside."

He went on, "He is hurt pretty bad. Our doctor did what he could but he needs more help than we could provide."

As he led Malcolm back to where the wounded man was, he added, "I think you will recognize him."

When he saw him, Malcolm could not hide his shock when he recognized David Warren, He turned to the Captain, "What is the son of Lester Warren doing on a freighter?.

"He signed on like everyone else. This was meant to be a training cruise." He smiled, "He had a little trouble at first but he had become a good sailor."

After David was taken aboard the Admiral Gardner and entrusted to sick bay and the ship doctor, repairs were made to the Explorer. The two ships then headed for Earth.

On September 17, 2159, the first meeting of the representatives of four planets met to begin work on the creation of a federation of planets.

Archer opened the meeting, suggesting that the first step they should take would be to choose a chairman. He also stated his belief that they should rotate the chairmanship on a regular basis by planet.

Everyone agreed and decided they should determine the order by lot. So they had the computer randomly suggest an order. The result was that the rotation would be Tellarite, Vulcan, Earth, Andorian.

Thus Margot was the first chairman, They then decided, after much debate, that each chairman would serve for a month.

An indication of how difficult his task could become arose when they wanted to determine where everyone should sit. Although it was a round table, they decided they still need a specific place to sit. They again used the computer to select spots. It ended with the order around the table being Earth, Andorian, Vulcan, Tellarite.

Once again after much discussion, they determined they would meet for eleven hours a day, six days a week, from seven in the morning to six at night. There would be three one hour breaks, one in the morning, one for lunch and one in the afternoon. The length of the breaks was due to the need of the Tellarites to reach their practice of five meals a day. It was also necessary to accommodate the various practices of the Tellarite and the Andorians in dealing with bathroom functions. They both required returning to their rooms.

It was after the last break in the afternoon that a security officer entered and took Archer aside. Archer nodded and as the officer left, turned to the watching group. "I am afraid we will need to cut this session short. There is something that I need to attend to."

Gernal, obviously bothered, "What would cause you to interrupt this meeting? Can you not deal with it afterwards?"

Archer smiled, "I am not sure it will wait. I received word that Feezal, Doctor Phlox's wife, has gone into labor."

Martok spoke up, "That is why you are interrupting this meeting, because someone is having a baby?"

Before Archer could answer, Shran spoke up, "Doctor Phlox has long been a friend of the Admiral's. Besides, I and Jhamel will also be leaving. He saved her life and that of our baby."

Margot broke in, "I agree with the Admiral and General Shran. I declare this meeting adjourned."

When T'Pol, Shran, Archer, and Jhamel reached the hospital, they found Trip, Natalie, Travis, and Hoshi waiting for them.

It was apparent they had come none too soon. Doctor Phlox soon emerged and notified them it was a boy.

When they were informed they could see Feezal and the baby, they went two at a time.

Archer again was moved when T'Pol asked to hold the baby.

After they had all offered their congratulations, T'Pol and Archer returned home. Archer noticed that T'Pol seemed to be especially quiet.

When they reached home, T'Pol turned to him, "Jonathan, there is something I wish to discuss with you."

He sat down on the couch and gestured for him to sit next to him. As she did so, he asked, "What is it?"

She took his hands and looked into his eyes, "I want us to have a baby."

Archer was surprised; he returned her look, "Are you sure? We agreed we needed to wait because of the conference."

"Jonathan, we have always put others and events ahead of our wishes and needs. We missed so much time we could have been together. We risked never getting together at all. I think it is time we put ourselves first."

She squeezed his hands, "I want to have your child. I don't want to wait any longer."

Archer smiled happily and leaned forward, untangling his hands and hugging her, kissing her softly on the lips, "Nothing would make me happier."

T'Pol gave her Vulcan smile which more and more with Jonathan was equal to that of a human. "Thank you."

Then she got serious, "I am afraid we will still have to wait a few months before I will be able to conceive. The birth control medicines I have taken are meant to last a year. I estimate it will be at least four months."

Archer smiled, "Just in case you could be mistaken for the first time ever, I think we should keep at it."

She rose, pulling him up, "I agree. In fact I think we should start now"

Archer smiled and taking her hand, followed her toward their bedroom.