The following morning's breakfast on the veranda featured sausage, eggs, and something Laris called "hash browns." Elnor was seriously beginning to wonder how he was going to think of anything new at all for a meal the next weekend. He didn't have long to think about it though as the cat once again sashayed her way to the table. She did her usual levitation trick taking the chair next to Elnor. Elnor glared at her as she looked back at him with innocent eyes, acting for all the world as if nothing had happened the night before. "What?" he said to her, "You attack me in my sleep and now want to take part of my breakfast? No way! Not going to happen!" He did notice Picard slipping a piece of sausage to a grateful Number One. "No!" he told the cat again when she looked pointedly at his sausage.

Laris smiled at the interaction, wondering who would win. Apparently, this time Elnor would as he stabbed his sausage with his fork and proceeded to consume it himself. Undeterred, the cat reached a tentative paw towards his eggs. He batted her paw away.

"Look," he addressed the cat directly, "if we're going to get along, you're going to need to learn some manners. It is not okay to take food from my plate. It is not okay to attack my feet while I'm sleeping. Or while I'm awake, for that matter."

Realizing that she might not get her way, at least not this time from this person, the cat stood up indignantly, her rear end pointed towards Elnor. She paused and looked over her shoulder to be sure he noticed. Waving her tail, she dropped gracefully from her chair and sauntered under the table to see if perhaps Number One had left any food on the floor. Having no luck there either, she curled up between the large dog's front paws, resting her head on his leg, and closed her eyes. Number One closed his eyes, too, and was soon snoring, a louder counterpoint to the cat's purrs.

Picard blinked in surprise. "Now that's a new one. Dogs and cats don't usually get along. While it's not unheard of, it is a bit unusual."

"Why would they not get along?" asked Elnor.

"I'm not really sure. I'm not sure if anyone knows, but historically the two species have usually been enemies. I think I'll just count my blessings that these two seem to get along."

After helping Laris clean up after breakfast, Picard and Elnor began their usual meander through the vineyards, Number One again padding companionably between them.

"Elnor," began Picard, "I've been meaning to talk with you about something."

Elnor gave his full attention to Picard, sensing that something serious was about to come up.

"You said before that you remembered nothing after being on La Sirena in the alternate timeline of the Confederation."

"That's right," Elnor agreed, wondering where this conversation was going.

"Do you remember getting shot?"

"Yes," he admitted, "it was quite painful."

"Do you remember anything else at all?"

"I remember being moved to the biobed. Raffi was with me, crying." Elnor paused at the memory of the pain, both physical and emotional. "I tried to comfort her," he said. "I had her get my medallion out of my pocket, the one that says Now is the only moment."

"Do you remember dying?"

Elnor blinked. "No, I don't. Raffi was reading the inscription on the medallion, and then, nothing."

After a long pause, he added, "The next thing I knew, I was on the Excelsior trying to get the shields adjusted to the right harmonic frequency with the shields of all the other ships. And Raffi was somehow on the Stargazer. That all felt very confusing to me. Like I knew I missed something, but didn't know what."

"Has Raffi said anything to you at all? Anything about the things that happened when the Borg Queen took us back to the past to fix the timeline? Anything about your death?"

"No," Elnor replied, "I've asked her several times, but each time I ask she does that thing where she shakes her head no and tells me to hush. I don't think she wants to talk about it. She seems to feel extremely distressed every time I bring it up, so I stopped asking." Elnor stopped walking and looked directly at Picard. "Are you going to tell me what happened? Is that why you're asking me these questions?"

Picard steered them towards a concrete bench that curved around the contours of an ancient oak tree at the end of a long row of grapevines. Taking a seat on the cool bench, he leaned back against the trunk of the tree. "If you want to know, then yes, I will tell you what happened. I think it might be beneficial for you to know at least some of what occurred."

Elnor sat on the edge of the bench watching Picard intently. "I would like to know, if you're willing to tell me. It might help me understand Raffi better."

"Yes," Picard answered, "that would be one reason for you to know. So very many things happened. I won't go into all of them as some aren't relevant to you, but you should know that in addition to grieving deeply over your death, Raffi also blamed herself."

Picard held up his hand to forestall Elnor's questions. "She blamed herself because she knew that if it weren't for her manipulating you into joining Starfleet immediately instead of returning to Vashti to help Zani, you wouldn't have been on La Sirena at all."

"But she didn't manipulate me," objected Elnor. "She only attempted to do so."

"Ah, well, our dear Raffi has a blind spot there. She doesn't like to acknowledge that we all know when she's trying to manipulate us. That would undermine her sense of control over situations. Anyway, I have it on good authority that she had a discussion about this with your Emergency Combat Hologram."

"My what?" sputtered Elnor.

"Oh! Oh dear, you wouldn't know about that either, would you? When Seven and Raffi thought the Borg Queen had complete control of Agnes, Seven programmed you into La Sirena as an Emergency Combat Hologram."

A range of emotions washed over Elnor's face-surprise, dismay, and yes, Picard was sure he saw it, just a touch of pride. "I would think that having an Emergency Combat Hologram of myself is very flattering," he said, "but that ship's been under Borg control for 400 years now and has obviously been highly modified." Elnor began to think of the horrifying ways in which the ECH might have been modified. "Surely it's been deleted long ago, wouldn't you think?"

"I don't know," Picard answered truthfully. "You'd have to ask Borg Queen Agnes about that. And I'm not at all sure that asking her would be wise. You might not like the answer."

"I am curious, but perhaps you're right that I might not want to know the fate of the ECH. What else happened while I was dead that I should know about?" Elnor shook his head at his own question and remarked, "This is a very strange conversation we're having."

Picard uttered a short laugh, "Yes, it is." He drew one leg up to rest his foot on the concrete bench and shifted his position, draping his arm over his knee. "Now where was I? What else should you know? Ah, I remember now. Raffi was also furious with me. If I recall correctly, I think she said something about 'disappointment in leadership', specifically meaning my leadership, before grabbing a phaser and rushing off to correct the timeline."

Elnor's eyebrows rose higher. "She took a phaser going out into 21st century Earth? Even I know that sort of thing is strictly forbidden, and I'm only a cadet."

"Oh, you should have seen her when she had her hands wrapped around Q's throat ready to throttle him to death." Picard chuckled at the memory.

"She tried to strangle Q?" Elnor was beyond being able to look any more shocked by this point.

"I think she really would have if Seven hadn't stopped her. My point is there's no way she was going to let anyone or anything get in the way of her doing whatever was necessary to make sure we ended up back in the right timeline-with you in it, alive and well. Even if that meant she had to kill a god."

"I know she has strong feelings for me," Elnor replied. "I mean, she loves me, as I love her, but I think maybe I didn't realize how distressing it was for her to watch me die. I think maybe I've only been looking at this from my own point of view, and from my point of view I didn't die. I feel very much alive."

"Your death was very real and very distressing to all of us, Elnor, but especially so for Raffi. We all felt like we would fail not only all the people of our own timeline, but also you, especially you, if we failed to correct what went wrong in 2024." Picard paused before continuing, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're very important to all of us. Our world wouldn't be complete without you in it."

Elnor looked intently at the man who was like a father to him before saying, "I'm very grateful to all of you for all you did to correct the timeline. I think next time I talk with Raffi I'll make it a special point to tell her so." Elnor suddenly grinned, "Or maybe I'll just ask her what it felt like to strangle Q."

Picard laughed and patted Elnor on the shoulder. "You do that," he said, "and be sure to tell me what she says!"

Elnor glanced up and realized the sun was far past the noon point. Suddenly worried about the time, he said, "We should head back. Laris will be worried about us."

Picard snorted, "I'm sure Laris knows full well where we are. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she already knows everything we've been discussing." Seeing Elnor's questioning look, Picard explained, "Laris was once Tal Shiar."

Elnor shook his head as if trying to get a buzzing insect out of it. Laris? Tal Shiar? Those competing images simply couldn't coexist in his mind. How could kind, gentle Laris who went out of her way to be warm and welcoming towards him have once been an agent of the brutal and feared Romulan secret police? Looking at Picard again, all he could manage to say was, "What?"

"It's true," said Picard. "You didn't think I married her only for love, did you? I also needed a bodyguard!" Belatedly realizing that maybe that bit of teasing went too far, Picard said, "Actually, I did marry her for love, which is not something I would have once been able to admit."

Regaining his wits, Elnor asked, "When did the love part come in?"

"Ah," sighed Picard, "not until fairly recently really. Once we both knew our true feelings, which I admit took me longer than it did her, we married rather quickly. No point in wasting time at my age."

Seeing how overwhelmed Elnor looked, Picard patted him on the shoulder again. "These things have a way of working out," he said reassuringly. "Now how about we do head back, not because Laris will be worrying about us, but because it's well past lunch time and I, for one, am hungry."

Getting to his feet first, Elnor gave Picard a hand getting up. On impulse, he wrapped his arms around Picard in a huge hug. Releasing him after a moment, Elnor looked into Picard's eyes. "I realize telling me about events related to my death was difficult for you," he said with a deep sincerity. "Thank you."