"Elle Wilcott to the bridge."

Elle grimaced down at the mess of clay on her hands. "Er, on my way. Two minutes, captain."

"You may have one," he said crisply.

Yikes, what happened? She washed her hands and told the Rec Chief, "I'll be back in a bit, sorry, I have to get to the bridge."

"No problem, Elle." He went over to drape a damp cloth over her half-built statue.

"Thanks!" She was halfway to the turbo lift when she realized she was still wearing her messy apron. Whoops. She took off her apron and handed it to a passing off-duty yeoman. "Could you hold onto that for a sec? I have to get to the bridge."

"Wipe the smudge off your face!" the yeoman called after her.

In the turbolift, Elle wiped the clay smear off her cheek and wiped it on her shirt instead. Oh well.

She entered the bridge and encountered a wall of tension. "Reporting as ordered, sir," she said, coming over to the captain.

"Commander Riker has gone missing," Picard said bluntly.

Elle looked at the main viewscreen. They were in the Onias Sector near the Neutral Zone, orbiting Alpha Onias III, a fairly standard planet from what Elle could see. "Anybody live there?" she asked.

"There was a civilization at one point," Picard said, "and there's no sign of Romulan activity. We attempted to beam back the landing party and Commander Riker disappeared mid-transport."

Elle grimaced. "Uhhh. Well, it isn't Romulans, I don't think."

Picard gave her a flat look.

"Anything else happen today?" Elle asked. "Not mission-related?"

"Will got a trombone as a present," Troi said.

"A trombone... oh." Elle winced. "Ohhh, this is that episode."

"What? What episode?" Picard asked.

"I think this is the one where Riker thinks he's ten years in the future and then he thinks its a Romulan simulation but it's actually a small child looking for a friend who's trying to convince him to stay."

Picard blinked at her. "Pardon?" he asked, very French-ified.

"It's definitely this one," Elle said. "The civilization before us got destroyed, kid got saved by his mom, he's been alone all this time with these holographic projectors that give you whatever you want."

"Except for real people," Troi said.

"Except that. So when he saw Riker got left behind..."

"He's trying to convince him to stay," Picard murmured.

"Yeah. The commander will figure it out eventually."

Worf pointed out an interference signal. "Will he be able to drop this shield?" he asked.

Elle shrugged. "Probably?"

Picard rested a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Elle."

"Sir."

He grinned down at her. "You may resume your pottery session."

She blushed. "How'd you know?"

He tapped her forehead. "You missed a spot."

She scrubbed at her forehead. "Oops."

-/\-

Elle went back to her pottery, finished up her craft, actually cleaned up, and went to have dinner. From her memories of the episode, it looked like Riker would be spending the night on the planet, but there was a sense of anticipation in the back of her mind nonetheless.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," Beverly said, coming up to her. "Wanna talk about it?"

"What do you do with the orphans you usually find?" Elle asked. "I mean if I wasn't all weird and classified. Like, shipped off to foster care? Or what?"

Beverly smothered a grin. "Well, it's a little more complicated than that." She went to get her order from the replicator and sat down across from Elle. "There's a Bureau of Interplanetary Affairs, and under them is the DPA, the Displaced Persons Agency. If you have family in the galaxy, the DPA will find them. If you don't, they'll send you to the right place."

Elle nodded slowly. "That's that place in Paris, right?"

"Yes, it is."

Elle nodded. "Okay, then I know what place you're talking about. I had some dealings with them in the alternate timeline."

Beverly raised an eyebrow.

Elle stuffed a piece of grilled salmon in her mouth. "Lots of colony planets got blasted in the war," she mumbled. She swallowed the rest of her fish. "Had to figure out the best places to send them that wouldn't get destroyed also. I didn't realize they were responsible for single individuals also."

"I hope Will's all right."

"he's fine," Elle reassured her.

Beverly grinned. "Now he's got a trombone, you better watch out, Elle. You might wake up to your very own life soundtrack."

Elle blanched. "Oh no."

-/\-

By sheer coincidence (read as, sticking around and irritating Worf into letting her man the aux ops board), Elle caught the very moment the interference signal stopped. "Board is clear, we're reading Commander Riker's signal," she announced.

"Picard to Commander Riker. Do you read me?" Picard asked.

"Riker to Picard. I'm here."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, sir, I'm all right. What about the rest of the away team?"

"We beamed them up hours ago. What happened?"

"I'm not sure yet. Stand by."

There was a long pause. Then, "two to beam up."

"Acknowledged. Standby." Picard closed the channel and looked at Elle. "With me."

"Yes sir." She joined him in the turbo lift. "Told ya he'd be okay."

Picard wrinkled his nose at her but his shoulders gradually dropped their tension. In Transporter Room 2, they got there just in time to see Riker beam aboard with a small alien being who looked exactly like the Area 51 Roswell aliens but actually realistic and not cutesy. Although the kid was cute, no question about it.

"Hello," Picard said, giving the child a small smile and a nod. "Welcome to the Enterprise."

"Hello," the kid replied quietly, hiding partly behind Riker.

Riker placed a hand on the kid's head. "It's all right," he said. "This is my captain, Jean-Luc Picard, and this is Elle Wilcott, my friend." He looked up at Picard. "This is Barash."

Elle smiled at the kid. "Hello, Barash. It's nice to meet you."

Riker pushed Barash forward gently. "Do you want to go with Elle, see the ship in real life? I have to speak to the captain, but I'll come to find you in a bit, okay?"

"Okay."

Elle accepted Barash's skinny, three-fingered hand in her own, and led him out of the transporter room. "Well, this is the Enterprise," she said.

"I saw some of it in Commander Riker's memories," Barash said quietly.

"I figured," Elle said. "But I bet he didn't show you the good bits of the ship. Come on." She showed him the mall, the whales, the observation decks, and they ended up in the main rec deck. "This is mostly where we hang out if we're looking for other people," Elle said.

"Wow." He clung to her hand tightly, watching the Water Polo teams splash each other in the pool. His gaze traveled over the music semi-circles, the basketball courts, the bowling lane, the mini food court, and the general hangout area. It was late evening, a prime time for hustle and bustle. "So many people," he said.

"Oh, is it too much?" Elle asked, realizing he was probably overstimulated. "We can go somewhere quieter."

"No," he said hastily. "No, it's good."

"Okay," Elle said, "Just let me know if we need to go somewhere else."

He nodded.

She gestured to the music area, where a few crew members were setting up a couple of guitars and drums. "You wanna go listen to them? They're pretty good."

Riker came to find them an hour later. Barash was half-asleep, leaning into Elle as they sat on one of the beanbags. "You tired him out," Riker said, grinning.

Elle grinned up at him. "The music put him right to sleep."

"M not asleep," Barash grumbled, lifting his head.

Riker knelt down in front of them. "We set up some quarters for you," he said. "You wanna go to bed?"

Barash nodded.

Elle pulled him out of the beanbag. "Come on, kiddo." She gave him a high-five. "See you tomorrow? I'll introduce you to some kids, okay?"

"Okay."

"Night, Elle," Riker said, leading Barash away.

"Night, sir."

Lt. Suarez held out his guitar. "Take a turn?" he asked.

Elle wrinkled her nose. "Only if you want your ears to die," she said. She stretched. "I think I'll go see what's playing in the movie theater."

"Night."

-/\-

The next morning, the Enterprise had finished surveying the Onias sector and was heading towards Starbase 718, where they would drop Barash off. In the meantime, the young Onian was attached to Commander Riker, trailing him everywhere. It was adorable, and Elle caught Counselor Troi looking at Riker thoughtfully as Riker patiently showed Barash how to eat a lactose-free banana split sundae. Elle sidled over to Counselor Troi and sat down across from her.

"Not a word," Troi said.

Elle took a sip of tea. "I think he'd make a good dad," she said, unable to resist.

Troi blushed.

Elle gasped, delighted. "You think so too."

"Shhh," Troi said, flapping a hand.

Riker glanced over, gave them a little smile, and went back to paying attention to Barash.

"No pressure, but you're perfect for each other," Elle said.

"I know," Troi said placidly.

Elle surveyed her closely. "Deanna Troi, are you carrying on a secret relationship?" she hissed quietly.

"If nobody knows nobody can accidentally spill the beans to my mother," Deanna said, which was as good as yes.

Elle nearly had a coronary trying to keep her excitement under control in the middle of Ten-Forward. "I'm so excited for you," she squeed under her breath.

"I can tell," Troi said, laughing.

"Wait, when you tell your mom does that mean you're getting married?" Elle asked.

Troi rolled her eyes. "Let's get through Miles and Keiko's wedding first, before we start talking about anything else."

Elle grinned. "No problem."

"Good. So how's it going? You got your dress?"

"Yeah. I'm brushing up on my ballroom dancing."

"Nice." Troi grinned. "You should ask the captain if he could give you some pointers. Diplomatic endeavors and all that. He's quite a good dancer."

"Ooh, why didn't I think of that? Holographic instructors just don't feel like real people," Elle said. "How do I convince him to help me?"

"Elle, all you have to do is ask him. He won't say no to you."

Elle grinned smugly. "I shall now use those powers for chaos."

"No," Troi said, laughing.

-/\-

They reached Starbase 718 a few days later, and a kindly mother-type from the DPA was there to receive Barash. "Will I see you again?" Barash asked Commander Riker.

"Definitely," Riker said, giving him a grin. "We'll stay in touch, okay? And wherever you end up, I'll come visit you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Elle waved bye to Barash, and she and Riker watched them walk away. "Ice cream?" she asked, pointedly not watching Riker wipe at his eyes.

"Yeah," he said after a second. "That sounds good."

-/\-

"Pentarus Five. I've been requested to help mediate a dispute between the salenite miners, a contentious group of factions," Picard started, bringing it up on the conference room screens. "Mr. Dirgo here will ferry us on his shuttlecraft-"

Elle raised her hand.

"Yes, Elle?"

"The shuttlecraft engine is going to blow up," Elle said. "And you'll crash on Pentarus. And Wesley's not here, so I don't know how that'd go."

Picard sighed.

Dirgo shot her a dirty look. "I don't know who you think you are, bad-mouthing my shuttle," he said. "We've flown ten thousand hours together."

"And the ten thousand and first hour will be the last straw," Elle said dryly. "Trust me. I've seen this episode like four times."

"What? You some kind of fortune-teller?"

"Some kind of," Elle replied.

Dirgo folded his arms. "My shuttle's fine."

"I'll be the judge of that, actually," La Forge said, leaning forward. "Captain, recommend a full shuttle diagnostic and overhaul."

"We don't have that kind of time," Dirgo protested.

"Then we shall take the Enterprise yacht," Picard said. "Think of it this way, Captain Dirgo. If there is something amiss, Commander La Forge will be able to repair it by the time you come back."

Dirgo's pride warred with the idea of free labor and he finally deflated. "Fine." He pointed at Elle. "I don't want you touching it."

She held up her hands. "I wouldn't dare."

"Hmph."

Picard, Dirgo, and two security officers left a couple of hours later. An hour after that, the Enterprise was redirected to Pelagus to check out a hostile ship. An hour after that, La Forge found a critical engine failure in the diagnostics. "You were right," he told Elle. He pointed out the hairline fracture. "That would've blown the whole array to bits."

Elle sighed in relief.

"Why'd you watch that episode four times?" La Forge asked.

"Uh, my fondness for found family tropes," Elle replied.

He scowled at her skeptically. "Uh-huh. Hold this."

"I'm not supposed to touch it," Elle said.

"What Dirgo doesn't know won't hurt him, and you're the one who volunteered me for free labor."

"You have other people," Elle pointed out.

"None that'd want to get close to this hunk'o'junk."

Elle sighed. "I'm gonna get grease on my nice overalls."

"What a shame," La Forge said dryly.

"What a shame, the poor groom's bride is a-" Elle stopped herself just in time.

"Is a what?" La Forge asked.

"Car," Elle said.

He frowned at her.

"What?"

"Mr. Sandman, bring me a man," Elle sang to herself. "Make him the cutest man car hook door hand."

He sighed. "Why are you so weird."

"The internet."