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Stardate 55055 was a very happy day for the crew of Voyager. Even though the wedding of the Federation Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant and his Dexa had to fit into an eleven minute, seven second Project Watson communication window, the majority of Voyager's crew could attend. Neelix and his bride couldn't be physically present at their own wedding reception dinner, of course, any more than their friends could congratulate them in person; but they were delighted to share their big day with their friends in the Alpha Quadrant in any way they could, considering the distances involved.

Once the ceremony was over, the audience showered the bride and groom with good wishes until the window closed. The festivities continued for several hours, however. Everyone agreed the ceremony, though brief, was beautiful. The reception afterwards was appreciated by Voyager's crew for another reason. As Tom noted, "No long welcoming speeches! No politicians or admirals offering platitudes! It's just a great party with our friends, honoring another friend on one of the best days of his life!" From the way Tom gazed at B'Elanna while he proclaimed this, Icheb suspected Tom was also referring to another wedding held not quite a year ago. When Icheb thought of that ceremony, he felt a little pang. Mezoti was still with them that day. Icheb was sad Mezoti was unlikely ever to know about Neelix's new home or family.

Lieutenant Barclay had arranged for other Pathfinder staffers to record the reception held in the happy couple's honor. The visual message would be sent to Neelix and Dexa over the next day's datastream. Icheb and Naomi asked to make a special recording for Brax, welcoming him into the Voyager Family. "I'm so happy for you, Brax. Neelix is my godfather and an honorary uncle to me, and he was just the best, so I know he'll be a great father to you." As Naomi said this she was smiling as brightly as she could. Once the staff person recording the message had moved on, however, she broke down in tears. Icheb held her and comforted her as best he could. "I miss him so much," she sobbed, "but he looks so happy. I'm glad for him, too."

"I'm glad for all of them," Icheb replied gently. "They deserve all the happiness they can get."

Icheb noted that Tom's prediction about the "Equinox Five" turned out to be true. They had been invited to attend this social function, and all of them were there. Icheb didn't care if it was to disguise the true nature of their resignations from Starfleet. He was glad to see them. Marla didn't stay too long, since Aimee needed to get to bed, but, as she said to Icheb after the ceremony, "I couldn't miss this chance for Neelix to see how much she's grown!" Baby Miral was in attendance during the ceremony, too, but after the hors d'oeuvre part of the reception was over, and once the staff filming the party had time to capture her likeness with her parents and grandparents, Tom's mother and father brought her to their home for the night. Tom and B'Elanna were going have a "night off" from child care. Icheb didn't need to be told the pair would have their own private celebration once they reached their quarters on Voyager at the end of the celebration. Since there still hadn't been a decision announced regarding the fate of the Maquis, all of them had to return to the ship at the end of the reception.

Icheb had an early class in the morning and couldn't stay too late, either. Before he left the hall where the dinner was held, however, he saw Tom standing alone in a hallway outside of the main room. Icheb was surprised to see Tom had a thoughtful, almost sad look on his face. When Icheb approached him and asked him if anything was the matter, Tom shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said off-handedly, "Oh, nothing much."

Icheb knew that answer should be translated as 'yes.' "Are you sure, Tom?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders again, but the smile faded from his face as he admitted, "Dad said you were with him when he showed Neelix's message about the Borg to Seven and Harry."

"Yes, I was. Is that why you seem so . . . pensive?"

That made Tom chuckle more like he usually did. "Pensive? I don't always joke around you know, Cadet Hansen." He sighed. "I have been thinking a lot lately about the Borg and what seems to have happened to them. I already accepted we were responsible for the death of a lot of enslaved people, from the way all of those cubes blew up in the conduit. Now it looks like it wasn't only there. And whenever I think about this, all those temporal shenanigans we were involved with seem tied into this somehow. It's not just the Admiral Janeway connection I'm talking about. I can't shake the thought that our excursion to 20th century Southern California is part of it. I've asked myself over and over if we had to return to the Delta Quadrant once it was over because the Federal Temporal Police meant for this to happen."

"You mean because you went back to where you were when the whole temporal thing began?"

"Exactly. From all we know about temporal anomalies, people don't know anything about what really happened once it's over, but our memories are all intact to this day. The Doc was permitted to keep his 29th century mobile emitter. That's definitely not supposed to happen. Instead of just being returned to our own century in orbit around Earth - which would have been easy for Captain Braxton to do - we were sent back to the place where we'd been in the Delta Quadrant when the rift first drew us in."

"It's lucky for me you did come back. If you'd been sent directly to Earth in this time frame, you wouldn't have met Seven. You wouldn't have known anything about Species 8472. And if you weren't around to rescue us, the 'Borglet' Collective, including me, would have died along with First when our cube exploded."

Tom glanced up at the stationary image on the screen in the room where the reception was being held, showing the happy bridal couple with their son. He sighed and nodded his head. "And Neelix would have come all the way with us to the Alpha Quadrant, the lone Talaxian, trying to find a way to fit in. Kes would have been with him then, but for just a little while - not much more than a year. He was still a bit of a con man back in those days. But we went back to the Delta Quadrant, and Neelix learned a lot of lessons after that which he's putting into practice now. He's making a difference by helping his own people on Talax II, and he finally has a chance for a happy family life with his Dexa and young Brax. You're right, Icheb. If our journey had been cut short, lots of things wouldn't have happened. Some of our crew who didn't make it home because of those extra four and a half years would still be alive. But to balance things out, others would have died instead, like little Aimee, Mezoti and the twins, and you."

"I've heard people say 'some things are just meant to be.' Maybe this is one of them," Icheb responded.

Tom answered, "Maybe so. Well, I guess I've pondered this question enough for one night. I'd better get back to B'Elanna. Don't want to miss our 'date,' now that my parents have taken Miral for the night. My mother has been itching to get her hands on Miral for weeks. She wants to spoil her granddaughter rotten!" The words were jaunty, but Tom was quieter than usual as they approached the table where B'Elanna was sitting and chatting with Chakotay, while Seven sat listening to what they were saying without contributing anything to the conversation.

After a very brief conversation with the others, Icheb bent down to give Seven a quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't imbibe too much of that synthehol, now, Mom," he said jokingly.

"Thank you for that advice, Icheb. It's a little late. If I'd indulged, everyone in this room would be very aware of it." She smiled warmly at him and patted him on the cheek, but Icheb could tell something was bothering her, and it wasn't the fact that she was sticking to seltzer or that he was leaving the party to get to his dorm.

Archer Hall wasn't far away, but Icheb took his time. He had a lot to think over: about temporal displacements and anomalies; split second decisions that could lead to life or death; chance meetings that took on enormous importance later on, although no one realized it when it happened; and, especially, why his adoptive mother seemed sad at such a happy occasion as a wedding. He wasn't sure how to bring up what he'd sensed, or even if he should. He decided it would be better if he let her come to him. Really, maybe it was nothing. He could be imagining something was wrong when nothing was. Unfortunately, he had trouble believing that.

When Icheb arrived home, one of his suitemates was waiting for him. She was sitting on the couch in front of the exterior windows, gazing into the distance. The fog had rolled in from the sea, but the San Francisco skyline hadn't been completely erased. The mist transformed the lights of the city, including those of the Starfleet Communications Center just outside the campus grounds, into a many-hued abstract work of art. It was beautiful - and illusory.

The future might be something like this, Icheb decided. It was shrouded in obscurity. You had to traverse it, and you might think you knew the lay of the land, but did you really? You might not even know when you'd arrive at your ultimate destination because you didn't recognize it when you got up close. Too many variables.

But all he said when Verit asked him if he'd had a nice time was, "It was great."

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