At the time, Arkady was watching the news and Irina was lying on the sofa with her head in his lap while he stroked her hair. "Arkasha?"

"What is it, love?"

"I think I'm pregnant." She turned to look at him. His expression was indecipherable.

"Surely they would have tested you for that in the hospital."

"I don't know if I'm far enough along for it to have shown up in a test, but my period is several weeks late."

"That's happened to you before, darling." They'd been trying to get Irina pregnant for about a year now, but since her periods were irregular, it was hard to know when the best time of the month to try was. Needless to say, it had taken its toll on their sex life, and making love now seemed more a means to an end than an end unto itself.

Except for the passionate interlude upon their return from the hospital, which had been more reminiscent of old times.

"But this time it's different," Irina replied. "I know it is." Arkady was silent. She knew he was afraid to get his hopes up. She reached to embrace his cheek. "I love you, Arkasha." He kissed the back of her hand but didn't smile.

"Well, what would you like to see first?" asked Will.

"How about Gorky Park?" Deanna suggested.

"You've always had a fondness for twentieth century Earth amusement parks, haven't you?"

"You know how I love Ferris wheels, Will. Nothing simulated on a holodeck can compare to the wind blowing through your hair at the top."

Will laughed and swatted her behind. They got in line for the Ferris wheel and waited as it slowly inched forward. When they were finally at the front, Will held the bar for Deanna to climb in and then climbed in after her. The car rocked gently as it moved upward, and Deanna was glad they'd visited twentieth century Earth.

"Congratulations." The nurse smiled at Arkady and Irina. Irina laughed with joy, and Arkady joined in. "I'm glad the news makes you happy," the nurse continued.

"There is one concern," Irina told her. "I was recently hospitalized for an infection and was given erythromycin intravenously. Could that have harmed our baby?"

"There shouldn't be any problem."

Tears of joy were in Irina's eyes as she smiled at her husband. "After all this time, we're finally going to be parents!"

As he gazed into her shining eyes, Arkady knew that he'd never loved her more than he did at this moment. He held her close and kissed her lips.

They went out to lunch to celebrate at a cozy little diner that was upstairs from a department store. She ordered a baked potato with butter and sour cream. "I'm just not very hungry today," she told Arkady. "And it doesn't look like you are, either."

He shook his head as if to clear it of cobwebs. "I only hope that I can be a better father than my own father was."

"You never talk about him at all." To Irina, much of the man she loved remained a mystery. She suspected that a lot of his past was painful and difficult for him to discuss.

"He was a brute. A mass killer," Arkady told her.

She just stared at him, shocked.

"He was one of Stalin's highest ranking generals," Arkady continued. "He was responsible for the deportations and deaths of thousands of innocent people. My mother was young and naive, and she loved him. She didn't really know what kind of man he was, and when she finally realized it, it was too much for her to handle."

"So what happened?" Irina wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

"She wanted me to help her gather rocks along the beach that day," Arkady recalled. "I had no idea what she wanted them for. I was just happy to be spending time with her. I was only seven. Later that same day she went missing, and when they finally found her, she was lying in the water underneath the raft we'd been on earlier that day, her body weighted down with all the rocks so it wouldn't float to the surface. My father blamed me for her death from that day on."

"But you were only seven!" Irina exclaimed. "There's no way you could have known what she was planning to do with those rocks!"

"That didn't matter to him."

Shocked and saddened by her husband's story, she didn't know what to say to comfort him. "But Arkady, you're not like your father at all. You're a kind and compassionate person, and I know you're going to be a wonderful father."

"I was a major disappointment to him." It seemed that once Arkady had finally opened up about his father, he couldn't stop talking about him. "He used to call me a sissy, a Mama's boy. He was always telling me I needed to grow some balls. I think I reminded him of her. In fact, I'm sure I did."

"Well, you're not a disappointment to me at all. I love you just the way you are, and so will our child."

"How did I ever get lucky enough to find you?"

"My com badge doesn't seem to be working." Will tapped the instrument repeatedly but got no response.

Deanna tapped her own. "Neither does mine."

"Well, that's just great." Will sighed and rolled his eyes. "How are we ever going to find someone who knows how to repair com badges in the twentieth century?"

"I'm sure Geordi and Data will find a way to help us get back," Deanna replied. "All we have to do is wait."

"Easier said than done." Will imagined being stranded in the twentieth century for the rest of his life and began to panic.