December 31, 2231

Grateful for the darkness of night to hide her battered shuttle, a young-looking woman hobbled down the boarding ramp and into Golden Gate Park. The child hidden under her shawl let out a fierce cry.

"Shush, Arianne," the woman cooed, as she hurried into the nearest grove of trees. "It's all right."

The poison in her body would soon kill her and leave Arianne an orphan, the woman knew, as she sat on the grass with her child, quickly scribbling a note on a scrap paper. There was no way to avoid it, however, and it was better to die with the child raised on Earth than be in space, forever fleeing from the Borg.

Once she knew that El-Auria was no longer a safe place, the woman had quickly stolen one of the last remaining shuttles and taken her only child into space. Her husband, a high-ranking government official, had quickly been captured and assimilated, so there was no hope for him anymore.

About half a day from Earth, the woman had injected herself with a slow poison so that, while Arianne lived, grew, and flourished on the Earth, she herself would die, along with all the haunting memories.

Gasping, the woman placed her daughter on the grass and lay down. It would soon be over.

"Mommy loves you very much, Arianne," the woman cried, as she felt her insides slowly seizing up.

As the child continued to cry, the woman took her last breath and died, full of horrific memories.

January 1, 2232

Moaning, Christopher Pike lifted himself off the couch to find that most of the other officers had gone home and only his best friend, George Kirk, remained passed out on the floor, along with Pierre Robau.

It had been a wild New Year's party the night before with Starfleet personnel from all over the world gathering in San Francisco to celebrate. Per the usual Starfleet party, everyone had gotten sloshed.

No doubt David McCoy, who was one of the highest qualified doctors in Starfleet, would have his hands full administering lectures and hangover remedies to hundreds of officers and cadets that day along with Dr. Puri, who had a lot of skill, but little patience for officers suffering massive hangovers.

To deal with the massive load, they would probably have to call Dr. Boyce off of his holiday skiing adventure in Switzerland, which would upset him, as he didn't often take time to relax.

Letting out a guffaw, Christopher got to his feet and, looking around, he was immensely relieved to see that his apartment hadn't been irreparably trashed like last year. It had cost him thousands of dollars to get last year's damages repaired and he didn't intend on going broke hosting wild parties anymore.

"Chris, is George still passed out on the floor?" Winona Kirk asked, as the front door slid open and she entered the room, with a young toddler in her arms. "Little George and I are here to pick him up."

Nodding, Christopher pointed to where George lay, "He's over there, Winona," he replied.

Muttering to herself about drinking irresponsibly, even if it WAS New Year's Eve, Winona stepped over Pierre and moved to George's side.

As he listened to Winona force George to wake up, Chris kicked Pierre in the side hard, hoping it would motivate him to get up and go get a hangover treatment.

"Aw, Chris, don't DO that!" Pierre, who was feeling sick, moaned, as he opened his eyes and realized that Christopher had kicked him. "I've got a headache and I feel like I'm gonna puke!"

Christopher scoffed, "Not on my floor, you're not," he hissed, forcefully getting Pierre to his feet. "You puke all over my floor, you will scrub my entire house from top to bottom and I MEAN it."

Muttering swear words in French under his breath, Pierre staggered out of the house.

Letting out a sigh, Christopher watched as Winona hoisted little George, whom she referred to as Sam to avoid confusion, on her shoulder and led her hungover husband out of the house.

After closing the door and quickly checking to ensure that the house was completely free of hungover Starfleet officers and cadets, Christopher grabbed a jacket off the wall.

Of course, feeling the way he did, he would normally need a hangover treatment.

However, as both Dr. Puri and David were going to be swamped all day, Christopher thought that he had better take a walk to feel better. Even though it was nippy, the cold air would certainly cure his headache.

Despite the cold weather, Christopher quickly found that he was not the only one out exercising in the unusually frigid weather. He immediately spotted Admiral Archer out walking Porthos, his beloved beagle.

"Hey, Chris," Jonathan said, spotting his friend. "I heard that you had a wild party last night."

Christopher nodded, "It's a shame I didn't see you at my place last night," he commented, knowing full well that Puri had ordered Admiral Archer to refrain from partying until he was fully healed from his recent health-preservation surgery. "I see you actually went through with that de-aging thing after all."

"Yeah, now I look so young that maybe I'll feel up to dating again in a few years," Jonathan chortled, watching as Porthos stopped and began sniffing a light pole. "Then again, I'm supposed to have this done again in 10 to 20 years, so I am just weighing my options carefully right now."

"Still thinking of retirement?" Christopher asked. "It'll be a shame to lose you at Starfleet."

Jonathan sighed, "At least until I'm fully healed," he replied sadly. "Thank goodness Phlox is off planet and Boyce is skiing. They would kill me if they knew I was out walking around instead of resting at home."

Christopher chuckled, "You know, Jon, you really need a wife to keep you in line so Phlox and Boyce don't have to baby-sit you," he gently chided.

"Not after what Hoshi did to me, I don't," Jonathan snapped. "We were all set to be married and then she left me so suddenly, telling me that she met someone younger and more capable in the bedroom to be with."

Feeling awkward, Chris quickly changed the subject, "I heard the Yorktown failed inspection and is being sent back to the drawing board," he commented, having heard about the ship's disastrous test flight.

"Yeah, that ship is basically a pile of junk," Jonathan replied, as they walked the paths. "Last I heard, they're gonna scrap the plans and work on a new ship. They're gonna call it the Kelvin, apparently."

Chris nodded, but before he could reply, a loud, high-pitched crying came from a clump of nearby trees.

"Jon, get over here right NOW," Chris hollered, as he hurried through the trees and saw a little baby, swaddled in sheets, laying on the frozen ground, next to a woman who was dead and nearly frozen. "You will not believe what I just found…a dead woman and a screeching baby."

"Chris, have you been drinking this early or are you still out of it from last night?" Jonathan replied, thinking that his friend was lying, as he walked over. "That's impossible."

Unfortunately, Jonathan's smile faded as he reached the spot where Christopher stood and saw that it wasn't a lie: A crying baby was laying on the grass, swaddled in sheets, and the mother was dead beside it.

"Shh, child, it's all right," Chris said, as he carefully picked up the crying child and suddenly noticed a note tucked into the blankets. "Jon, there's a note in the blanket. Take it out and read it aloud to me."

Swearing under his breath, Jonathan carefully pulled the note off the blanket and opened it.

"My home planet has been assimilated by powerful aliens and I have fled to Earth for refuge," Jonathan read, repeating what the woman had written. "There is nothing left for me and I only have horrific memories to my name, so I partook of a slow acting poison that should kill me before this note is read. My daughter, Arianne, however, has such potential and I beg that someone raise her and help her to achieve greatness."

Refolding the note, Jonathan shuddered, "Chris, I suddenly am feeling very ill," he stated, placing the note back in the blanket. "I think I am going to take Porthos and go home to bed. I wish you luck in dealing with the situation, as I know you'll deal with it as honorably as possible."

Ignoring the feelings of lightheadedness and absolute horror about the situation, Jonathan turned and quickly walked further down the path, back towards his home, with Porthos running behind.

Gazing down at the baby, Chris knew that he would certainly have a lot of explaining to do.

"Pike, it's about time you showed up in Sickbay for your hangover remedies," Dr. Puri snapped, as Christopher entered the patient bay of Starfleet Medical. "I've spent the greater part of the day giving all your party buddies lectures and remedies. I guess now's the best time for yours, huh?"

Christopher shook his head, "No, Puri, there's something important I need taken care of," he replied softly, as he unzipped his jacket to reveal a sleeping Arianne. "I found this on the grounds, near the trees."

"Chris, what IS that?" Puri yelled in shock, utterly horrified at seeing a swaddled baby in Christopher Pike's jacket. "You say it was out on the frozen ground next to a dead woman?"

"Puri, why are you making so much noise out here?" Dr. Boyce, who had been sitting in his office, making reports on all of the previous night's partiers, which he had to be recalled from Switzerland for, when he heard Puri screaming like there was a war going on, asked, as he strolled up to his colleague.

"Doctor Boyce, I need to talk to you in PRIVATE," Christopher hissed, as Boyce stared down at the sleeping baby in his arms. "I was out for a walk and I found her in the trees, beside her dead mother."

Dr. Boyce sighed, "Bring the child and follow me, Chris" he ordered, in a surprisingly gentle tone. "Puri, go and make sure that Admiral Archer is at home, in bed, and is actually resting since David's gone home."

Puri nodded and uncomfortable, he quickly fled the patient bay as Dr. Boyce turned and walked into it.

"Place her on this bio-bed," Boyce ordered, as Chris followed, carefully carrying the sleeping child.

Being careful not to wake her, Chris did as he was told and looked expectantly at Boyce.

"Okay, let's see what we are dealing with," Boyce said, as he pulled out a tricorder and scanned the sleeping infant. "First of all, she her cells seemed to have been locked in some sort of regeneration mode that prolongs infancy," he said. "However, that is easy to correct with rapid treatment."

"Phil, I don't know how to deal with this," Chris admitted nervously. "Her mother is dead and I'm not really sure where she came from. How am I going to alert the authorities to this orphan?"

Boyce was silent for a moment and put his tricorder down, "Chris, do you honestly have to TELL civilian authorities?" he asked. "Did anyone from Starfleet Command witness you finding this infant?"

"Yeah, I had run into Admiral Archer and Porthos right before," Chris replied. "Why?"

Boyce replied by giving Chris an intense stare, "If Admiral Archer witnessed you finding this orphan baby, he can help you cover it up from civilian authorities," he quietly hissed, praying that nobody was around to overhear him. "Adopt her, give her your name, and Archer will keep the civilian authorities away."

"Phil, I don't know the first thing about raising a kid," Chris protested, trying not to wake the still sleeping child. "How can I raise a kid when I can barely manage to take care of myself most of the time?"

Boyce scoffed, "You'll manage, Chris," he snapped. "Either that, or she becomes a ward of the state and you know darn well that most wards of the state end up going through a lot of rough patches in life. At least with you as her father, she'll grow up in a stable environment where she can learn and practice morals."

Chris was silent for a moment. Despite his fear, it would be nice to have a child to teach and help grow.

"Fine, Phil, I'll adopt her right here and now," Chris suddenly said, silently praying that he wouldn't regret it. "Can you patch Archer through on the communications channel so we can make it official?"

Relieved that his friend had made a selfless decision, Boyce nodded and, turning to the communication console, he tapped in Archer's house number. Almost immediately, Puri appeared on screen.

"Doctor Puri, can you allow Admiral Archer to take a phone call from his bed?" Boyce asked, amused that Puri was already over there and taking command of Jon's recovery. "It's very important."

There was a scoff, muffled talking, then suddenly, a tired Jonathan appeared at the screen, "Doctor Boyce, what can I do for you?" he asked. "Doctor Puri said that you wanted to talk about something important?"

"Chris is looking to adopt this little baby he found on the grounds," Boyce explained, amused to see the shocked look on Jonathan's face. "Can you make it official and cover it up from civilian authorities?"

Trying to keep his blood pressure from rising, as Puri would no doubt end the call if he became stressed, Jonathan merely nodded, "I can do that right now," he replied. "May I ask why, though?"

"I want to give her a chance at growing and being successful with a set of morals, Jon," Chris replied. "If I take her to civilian authorities, she won't stand a chance as a ward of the state."

Jonathan nodded, "Christopher Pike, do you solemnly swear to see that this child gets everything that she needs in the course of growing, learning, and achieving success?" he asked, his facing taking on a solemn tone. "Do you swear that you will be responsible and seek help in raising this child?"

"I swear that I'll do my best on all of those things, Admiral," Christopher promised, as he raised his right hand, per Starfleet tradition. "There will be others to help me make sure I do this right."

Giving a nod, Jonathan smiled, "Then, I, Jonathan Archer, Admiral of the United Federation of Planets, hereby authorize you, Christopher Pike, former captain of the NX-02, to take this child into your legal custody and raise her as your own flesh and blood," he said. "I'll document it all while I'm resting."

With that, the screen went black and Boyce gazed over at Chris, whose face was solemn.

"Welcome to Earth, Arianne Christine Pike," Chris softly said, giving her the feminine version of his own name as her middle name, as he gazed down at his newly adopted daughter.