A/N: Warning for inaccurate medical science, just go with it. Also, descriptions of injuries. Not super graphic, but still.

"No, they didn't sign up to hang out with me, they signed up for you," Dr. Crusher was saying when Elle passed by the open door of her office. "You'll be fine. Love you, too." She looked up at Elle. "Here for my patient?"

"Yup." Elle followed her out to the Main Sickbay, where an eight-month pregnant Keiko was just sliding off a biobed. "Afternoon, "she said. "How are you?"

"Ready for this to be over," Keiko said wryly.

"One more month," Elle said bracingly.

"And then Miles will be even more over-protective," she said.

"Yes, but he'll also be the cutest girl dad to ever dad," Elle pointed out.

"True," Keiko said. "Thank you, though, for hanging out with me."

"My pleasure," Elle said and put her hand over her heart with a bow and a flourish. "I am your sworn minion this week."

"You two have fun," Dr. Crusher said, shaking her head. "I've got to go audition a modern major general."

"C'mon, minion," Keiko said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "My parasite and I need a snack."

A Bolian crewmember coming into the sickbay gave Keiko a wide-eyed stare. He caught sight of the belly and sighed in relief.

Elle smothered a laugh. "Parasite, affectionate," she said.

They made their way to Ten-Forward. The bartender, not Guinan, must also have been telepathic today; he had Keiko's order of rice, kimchi, and ice cream on a tray already.

"Here, let me get that for you." Elle picked up the tray and followed Keiko to her preferred seat, the one that was more of a couch.

"Thanks." Keiko sank down with a sigh of relief. "Could you get me a glass of water?"

"Yup." Elle put the tray down within Keiko's reach and hurried up to the bar. "Glass of water, room temperature, pink straw," she told the replicator. "If you give me the green straw again, Keiko's gonna cry."

"She's going to pop any day now," the bartender, David, said, amused.

"Yeah, and if I leave her alone while Miles is working, he'll have my head," Elle replied. She picked up the water glass and went back to her charge. "Do not touch the belly," she told the ensign who was passing by.

The ensign hurried along, chastised.

Elle got herself a sandwich and a cup of tea and kept an ear out but focused on reading the reports coming in from the Cardassian border. Things were going to start getting really heated, and Elle wanted to stay ahead of it.

"Afternoon," Riker said as he and Data stopped by their table. "How is our favorite botanist?"

"I've swallowed a planet," Keiko deadpanned.

"I can see that," Riker said. "And how is the little planet?"

"Kicking," Keiko said. "Wanna see?" She took Riker's hand and pressed it firmly to her stomach.

Riker's eyes widened. "Wow. That's crazy. Data, have you felt this?"

Data grimaced. "I do not care for it."

"I don't blame you," Keiko said, wincing as the baby kicked up under her ribs. "Neither do I."

"You decided on a name yet?" Riker asked. "Cuz I can tell you right now, William is a great name for a boy."

Keiko just grinned.

Elle stood up. "While you decide on names, I'm going to get a matcha latte."

"One of these days, you're going to drop dead of caffeine overload," Riker said.

"Says the guy who pops raktajino's like tic-tacs," Elle retorted.

This prompted swift and immediate repercussions, namely, being grabbed in a half-Nelson and getting knuckle-sandwiched like a misbehaving sibling. "Hey!" Elle screeched, managing to poke him in the ribs, where he was extremely ticklish.

He grunted. "Stop that."

"No!" She dug her fingers in his side.

"Settle down, children," Keiko admonished, laughing.

"See, you've got the mom tone down already," Elle said cheerfully, trying to extract herself. "Commander, I am going to stomp on your toes if you tickle me. Fair warning."

"Noted," he said, redirecting back to ruffling her hair.

Before she could retaliate, there was an almighty jolt, the power flickered, and everyone went flying. Riker managed to land first and roll, taking Elle with him and shielding her head from debris. They crashed into a table, and Elle winced as her shoulder hit the bolted-down table leg. There was another terrifying shudder, and then everything was still. The lights flickered back on a moment later.

"You all right?" Riker asked, slowly sitting up.

Elle rotated her shoulder gingerly. "Yeah. I'm good. Thanks." She gasped. "Keiko!"

Data had managed to grab her and land first. "She didn't hit the ground," he assured them as they hurried over.

"How do you feel?" Elle asked, checking her over for bruises.

"I'm okay," Keiko said, "a little foggy. What happened?"

"No clue," Riker said grimly, turning to survey the chaos. "Just lie still for a while. We'll get you to Sickbay as soon as we can. I'll start triage, Elle, Data, scope it out."

Data went to the doors. Elle checked the computers. They were down. "Alexa?" she asked. "You there?" No answer. But there was still power, so Alexa was still awake somewhere on the ship. She looked over at Data. "No engines," she said grimly.

"No," he agreed. He gestured aft. "Go to the end of the section, check the Jefferies tubes, see if the bulkheads are down."

"Yes, sir." Elle hurried to the end of the hall and opened the access tube. She crawled in. Computers were up in here, at least the little maps. Everything was red. She crawled forward. The next junction over was sealed. She couldn't go up a deck, but one junction three over was still open. "Everything going up is sealed," she reported, meeting Data in the hallway.

He put a bracing hand on her shoulder as they reentered Ten-Forward.

"Report," Riker ordered.

"We have surveyed all the turbolifts and service crawlways on this deck. Access to the Bridge has been completely severed by emergency bulkheads."

"Sickbay?" Riker asked.

"Heavy damage to section 23A has cut off access to Sickbay. I have ordered a security team to bring casualties here until further notice."

Sometimes, Elle wished she had the android's processing abilities. No, never mind. Been there, done that, got the brain swelling.

Riker frowned. "I think we should assume the worst, that everyone on the Bridge is dead. There's no one in control of the ship."

Elle blanched. "They're not dead."

"You know what happened?" Riker asked sharply.

"I, this wasn't supposed to happen yet," Elle said, rubbing her forehead. "Not going to Romulus for Spock really threw off the schedule, but it all lines up. Um. A... not a cosmic string. A, the other thing."

"A quantum filament?" Data supplied.

"Yes. That." Elle pointed at him.

"The damage is consistent with hitting a quantum filament," Data said slowly. "It would be as if the ship had come into contact with a live electrical wire. Everything but the most secure spots would have been overloaded."

"Trust me, it's been overloaded." Elle scrunched up her face, trying to force down the worry and think. "Miles and Deanna are on the bridge. The captain's in a turbolift with the kids. Um, Beverly and Geordi are in a cargo bay or something."

Data and Riker exchanged a glance. "In that case, re-establishing control should be our top priority."

"Agreed. Can we get to Engineering?"

"Yes, sir. The most direct route is blocked, but I believe we can use a starboard service crawlway."

Elle pointed. "That one I was in, go right, three junctions on, go down. That one's open."

"Okay, Data, you and I will try to get there. Elle, this room is going to fill with wounded in a few minutes, and they're going to need help. I want you to stay in charge here."

"Me?"

"We're in the middle of a shift. Everyone was most likely either at their posts or in their quarters." Riker gestured around to the chaos of Ten-Forward. "Everyone in here is either a civilian or they're going to be injured. Or security, who are going to be securing the different areas. You're the only one here trained in triage and all emergency protocols." He gripped her shoulders. "You're in charge. You've got this."

She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. "Yes, sir."

He grinned at her. "You got this." He went behind the bar and opened the panel. "Two emergency kits," he said. "You can always count on Guinan." He pulled out the short-range handheld transceivers. "Elle, we'll be on channel 2. We'll check in every thirty minutes. Channel 1 is command. Check it periodically and see if you can get through to the bridge. Channel 5 is security. If they can get to one of the kits, someone will be on it eventually. If you need help, you call on 5, okay?"

"Okay." She took the other kit from him and hooked the transceiver onto her belt, along with the medical tricorder.

Riker looked at Data. "Let's go." They left.

"Great," Elle said, surveying the emergency kit. She pulled out the medical supplies and lifted a bag of gauze. "It's you, me, and this walkie-talkie."

A security ensign entered, carrying a woman.

Elle straightened up. "Over here," she ordered.

"Yes, sir."

"Hi," Elle said, kneeling down in front of the woman. "Ship's air filter specialist, right?"

"Yeah," the woman said, grimacing as Elle prodded at her leg.

"You're gonna be okay," Elle said. "I promise."

"It's not like I need my leg to take particulate readings," the civilian specialist joked.

"Oh ye of little faith," Elle joked. "I'm gonna clean up this nasty scrape and glue it closed, and you're gonna be fine."

"Yes, ma'am."

Elle eyed the supplies. Plenty of bandages, liquid stitches, analgesics, and quick-braces. Two dermal regenerators, which she was going to preserve, and two temporary life-support units.

Another security officer came in, carrying a man with a wicked broken leg. "Oh, chicken nuggets," Elle whispered. "That's gonna hurt."

Keiko shuffled over. "Hey, you go do that. I'll get this."

"You sure?" Elle asked.

"Yeah. Go."

Elle moved over to the man. "Over here, on this couch."

"Where's the medic?" the man gasped.

"Present," Elle replied, pointing to herself. "You're Kieran, right? Ecology?"

"Oh, no," Kieran said, "Anderson, you do it."

Anderson, poor security ensign, turned green at the sight of bone peeking through the leg when Elle cut the trouser leg off. "Nope," he said.

"Well, too bad," Elle said sharply. "I'm gonna need help to hold his femur."

Anderson held back a gag. "As long as I don't have to look."

"Dude, you're in the wrong department," Elle said. "You realize security gets seconded to medical in emergencies, right?"

"I am realizing this, yes," he said, staring at the ceiling. "I should've stayed in computers."

"I'm gonna die," Kieran said, groaning as Elle palpated the tissue around the break.

"You are not," Elle retorted. "It's a clean break, no bone fragments, and only a little oozing."

Anderson made a gross sound.

"Hey," Elle snapped. "Keep it together, man."

"Yes, ma'am."

Elle held up a hypospray. "I'm gonna numb the area, but it's gonna feel like a lot of pressure and heckin' weird."

"Just do it," Kieran said, resigned to his fate. He was pale. The oozing was a little worse.

"Anderson, hold his leg. I'm gonna set it. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Okay. One, two-" Elle yanked the bone back into place and held back a shudder as she felt the ends of the bone grind neatly together. "Oh, ew, ew, ew, I felt that. Ugh. Okay. You good?"

"You didn't say three," Kieran said, more pale by the second.

"It's called the element of surprise," Elle said. "Dr. McCoy has never counted to three in his life." She checked his pulse and wrapped him in one of the silver blankets. She sterilized the wound and used the dermal regenerator to seal the deepest part of the injury. She wrapped him up the rest of the way, used one of the quick braces on his leg, and had Anderson fetch pillows to prop his leg up. "You're gonna be fine," she said. "Don't go anywhere."

"Wasn't planning on it," Kieran said hoarsely. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Elle got up and surveyed the rest of the lounge. There were six other people in various stages of ow. She wiped the blood off her hands with an alcohol wipe and tossed it down the trash chute. She went over to where Keiko was wrapping up a sprained ankle. "How's it going?"

"She'll be fine," Keiko said and gasped.

"What?" Elle asked.

Keiko pressed a hand to her belly. "I'm okay. I think."

"Keiko?" Elle said nervously as Keiko breathed out really slowly. "Maybe you should lie down."

Keiko took another deep breath. "Oh, oh. I'm having contractions."

Elle froze. "It's just Braxton-Hicks, right? Right?"

Keiko winced. "No, it's not. I've been having those for two weeks. This feels different."

"It was funny when it was Worf," Elle whispered, closing her eyes to gather strength. She asked anyway. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. This is different."

Elle scanned her. "Oh man, you're right."

"It's too early, though," Keiko said. "I'm barely eight months."

"It's gonna be okay," Elle said firmly. She helped Keiko stand up and led her over to the nearest sofa. "You're only two centimeters, so you've got some time. I'm gonna get you some water, and I want you to finish your snack. You're going to need the energy."

Keiko grabbed her hand. "Elle, you took the midwifery course, right?"

"Twice," Elle said. "In two centuries. The process hasn't changed much."

"Good to know," Keiko said. "Because we've only taken the first three weeks of labor and delivery readiness."

Elle stifled a nervous giggle. "Uh, did it cover breathing?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Good. Uh. Good. You do that. I have to check on everybody else and check in with the walkie-talkie, okay? Uh, holler if you need anything." Elle gave her a weak grin and a double thumbs-up and hurried away to the farthest corner of Ten-Forward. "Not funny, not funny, not funny," she muttered furiously. "Okay. okay. Don't panic. You've had training. You've just put a leg back together. All you have to do is follow Bones's instructions. You've got this. Remember, it was Sarah April who put this course together originally, and she was the real pioneer of space midwifery. You've got this. You've got this."

The doors to Ten-Forward opened again, and someone came in, supporting someone else with a gushing head wound. "Medic!" they hollered.

Elle pulled on her Vulcan compartmentalization and hurried forward. "Here!" she called. "Oh, hey, Martinez. What'd you do to yourself?"

"Bathroom cabinet," Martinez groaned. "Where is everyone?"

"Uh, saving the ship," Elle said. "We hope." She scanned him. "You gonna throw up?"

"No," he said and started to tilt forward.

Elle angled his body away, and he threw up. "Called it," she said, grimacing. "Anderson! Come phaser this."

"Sorry," Martinez said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Ugh."

"Mid-level concussion," Elle said. "Shallow wound, you're not gonna die. You're just gonna have to throw this shirt away." She wiped his head and used the dermal regenerator. "Stay here."

"I can help," he said.

"Stay," she ordered, holding him down. "You're gonna be spacesick everywhere and ruin my sterile fields."

He gave a floppy salute.

Elle waved over the one with the broken ankle. "Hi, come put your ankle on this chair and keep him talking," she said. "If he passes out or starts getting confused, holler."

"Got it."

Elle went through the rest of the triage. Nothing else major, for now. She moved back to the corner and switched the radio to channel 2. "Commander Riker, come in?"

"Yeah, we're here," Riker said. "Getting down to Engineering now. How's it going?"

"Uh, great. No one's died, and, uh, Keiko's gone into labor, so that's fun."

Riker choked out a laugh. "Now?"

"Well, it's not like we can tell it to wait," Elle said. "Babies are on their own time. It's even in the instructions."

"Okay." There was a muttered oath. "Engineering doesn't have any power. Have you gotten anyone on the bridge yet?"

"No. If I get someone, I'll tell them to report back."

"Acknowledged. Riker out."

Elle switched to channel 1. "Elle Wilcott to anyone receiving. Hello?"

Static.

She switched to channel 5. "Elle Wilcott to security, anyone receiving?"

Static. Then, "Lt. Chandra, receiving. Where are you?"

"Ten-Forward. Commander Riker left me in charge of this forward section. Where are you?"

"Deck 12. We're cut off from the rest of the ship, but we've set up in sickbay. I think there's a hull breach on 15. Definite structural weakness on eight and nine. There's power venting. But there's about forty of us that we've rounded up."

"And I've got another forty-ish here," Elle said. "Can you take command of this channel? No one else has responded so far."

"Will do." There was a pause, then, "No one's answering on channel 1."

"Commander Riker and Data are in engineering," Elle said firmly. "And I know there are people on the bridge. They're just cut off like we are. You know that kit is in a tricky spot. If the aux engineering console caught on fire, they'd have to wait to retrieve it."

"True," Chandra muttered. "Okay. We'll sit tight. Do you have a security contingent?"

"Yeah."

"Tell them not to go up any Jefferies tubes."

"Copy that."

"Good. Check in if you need anything."

"Will do." Elle switched back to 1. "Elle Wilcott to anyone receiving. Anyone there?"

Static, then, "Elle? Where are you?"

"Worf," Elle breathed. "I'm in Ten-Forward. Where are you?"

"Trapped in my office," he grumbled. "The bulkheads nearly came down on my head." As Elle gave him a rundown of the situation, he almost audibly winced. "I cannot make it to the bridge."

"I know, sorry," Elle said. "But you can coordinate with Lt. Chandra. I'll keep trying on this channel."

"Agreed," Worf said. "Switching over to 5."

Elle left it on 1 and hurried back over to Keiko. "Hi, how are we doing?"

"We, are remembering, our breathing," Keiko panted.

"Good," Elle said, scanning her. "Seven cm, that's fast." She squeezed Keiko's hand. "It's all that adrenaline. Baby's gettin' with the program. Did you get as far as laboring positions in your course?"

"Uh, sort of?"

"Okay. Your body's going to guide you. Are you comfy there, or do you want to move?"

"I need to scoot forward," Keiko decided.

"Okay." Elle helped her sit forward on the edge of the couch and propped her up with a few pillows. "How's that?"

Keiko winced. "Ahhhh, better."

"Okay. Good. If you feel like rocking a little, do it. That's okay." Elle rubbed her back soothingly. "You want some water?"

"No."

"Okay." Elle consulted the tricorder. "Keiko, you're at every thirty seconds. She's on her way."

"She?" Keiko asked, gritting her teeth through another contraction.

Elle grinned nervously. "She? Did I say she? I was using the royal She. The royal We, you might say."

"Has the baby turned?" Keiko asked.

Elle paused. "What?"

"Doctor Crusher told me a few days ago that it hadn't. She wasn't worried because I still had a month to go." Keiko gripped Elle's hand. "Has she turned?"

Elle pushed down all her panic. "I'll check, but I need my hand for the scanner," she said patiently. She got the wand out and scanned slowly on ultrasound mode. She slumped in relief at seeing the readout. "Head's down. I bet it was all that kicking earlier." She rested her hand on Keiko's belly. "Good instincts, little one."

Keiko groaned in pain.

The walkie talkie crackled. "Bridge to any receiving party. Anyone copy?"

"Miles!" Elle almost dropped her radio. "Elle Wilcott in Ten-Forward, copy."

"Elle! How's Keiko? Is she with you?"

"Uh, she's fine," Elle said, as Keiko groaned again. "She's in labor."

"SHE WHAT."

"She's doing great," Elle said. "I've got about forty-ish people down here, and everyone else on the ship is in scattered pockets."

"Do you know where specifically anyone else is?" a new voice asked, when there was only the sound of hyperventilating on the other side. Deanna must've taken the radio.

"Yes," Elle answered. "Worf is stuck in his office, he's coordinating security on channel 5. Riker and Data are in engineering, they're on channel 2. You haven't gotten a hold of them?"

"No," Deanna said, frustrated. "No response."

Elle winced as she remembered... something about taking Data's head off? "Yeah, I think they're dealing with something right now. Heading it off at the pass, you might say."

"We have a problem," another voice said grimly. Ensign Ro. "Antimatter containment field is down twenty percent. We're going to have to separate the saucer section soon."

"Not unless we can get it contained."

"There's no guarantee it would even work," Miles said. "And we can't just abandon the back half of the ship."

"But Commander Riker's not even answering," Ro said. "We don't even know if they're alive down there."

"Elle says they are."

"She doesn't know for sure, she's just guessing." Ah, that's right. They hadn't told Ensign Ro about Elle yet. The ensign was still on probation.

The bickering died off. It was just Deanna on the other side, sounding wrecked. "Bridge to Commander Riker. Come in."

No answer.

"Commander Riker, come in."

Silence. Did they even have their radio anymore? Or had they taken it apart, like they'd had to take Data apart?

"Elle. What do I do?"

Elle grimaced and peeled her hand out of Keiko's. At this rate, Keiko was gonna break her hand. "Deanna, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Elle, please. I need to make the right choice."

She stepped away and lowered her voice. "Deanna. I don't remember."

"What."

Elle scrubbed at her forehead. "I don't remember what happens next. I was more focused on the funnier parts. But we survive. We survive this because you make the right decision."

"That's not helpful."

Keiko let out another gritted scream, and a set of alarms went off on the other side of the lounge as three more injured people came in. "Medic!"

Elle winced. She took a deep breath and pressed the radio to her forehead. "Deanna. You have the training. Use it, Lt. Commander. I promise, one day, you're going to look back at today, laugh, and then save ten thousand people without hesitation." She forced the emotion through the communicator, her sincerity, and her trust. "You have never needed me to tell you anything, Deanna, just like Captain Picard has never needed my advice. But it's there all the same. Trust yourself."

"Thank you, Elle." And the line closed.

Elle took a breath to steady herself and pushed the nagging guilt away. She turned back to work. "Report!" she called.

"Broken ribs, collapsed lung!" and "minor concussion, go sit on that couch over there, don't throw up," and then Elle was washing her hands for the fiftieth time, kneeling beside a panting Keiko.

"I would say it's time to celebrate, but honestly, it's just time to concentrate," Elle said, giving Keiko a grin. "You're at 10, and it's time to lean into your body's signals."

"Sounds, about, right," Keiko panted through a contraction. "You're, shaking."

"Me?" Elle gripped Keiko's hand. "Nah. Your eyeballs are wibbly because of the stress. Just breathe."

The next thirty minutes were a blur of breathing, stifled screams, and pushing, and then, before Elle could process it, she was holding a tiny, slimy, squalling baby in her hands. "Got some lungs," Elle said numbly, cradling the precious little life to her chest. "She's perfect, Keiko." She looked around for a clean blanket, but everything was in use. Elle snagged her sweater off the back of the couch. It was clean, thrown off hours earlier. "Here we are," she murmured, wrapping the baby up and handing her to her mother.

"Hi, baby," Keiko whispered, her smile trembling with exhaustion. "You're perfect..."

Elle focused on cutting the umbilical cord and monitoring the rest of the process. Everything was ticking along nicely, but the tricorder screen was blurry. Was it losing power?

Keiko reached over and wiped the tears from Elle's cheeks. "Thank you," she said earnestly.

Elle smiled at her. "You did all the work," she said, shaky with relief.

The lights flickered, then flickered again. Elle started to brace herself over Keiko and the baby, wary of another collision. The wall comm fluttered with static, then cleared. "Commander Riker reporting. Engineering has been stabilized, and power has been restored to all critical systems."

Elle dropped to the ground in relief and blew out a breath.

Worf buzzed in a moment later on the all-call. "All sections, report your casualties. Medical teams are being dispatched."

"Elle here," Elle said, tapping her commbadge. "Ten-Forward here, 37 wounded, 1 new crewmember. Does having given birth count as a casualty?"

Cheers and whoops broke out in Ten-Forward, and the radio on Elle's belt buzzed. "Are they all right?" Miles asked, naked worry in his voice.

Elle grinned. "Keiko is just fine. Your daughter is, too."

"Daughter," he whispered.

"Listen," Elle said, holding the radio close to the baby so that he could hear the muffled squeaking noises.

"Med team en route to Ten-Forward," Worf said when Miles didn't say anything.

"Copy that." Elle wiped her forehead with her sleeve and scrubbed the rest of the tears away. She watched the baby shuffle around Keiko's chest. "Hey, Keiko, did you get to the nursing bit of your class?"

"Uh, no. How hard could it be?"

"More difficult than you think," was the general conclusion, a harried ten minutes later. But Baby O'Brien was happy, so everything was fine.

Within another ten minutes, the med team was there, and Nurse Ogawa made a beeline for them in the corner. "Congrats," she said, clapping Elle on the shoulder. "Report."

"Baby," Elle said, pointing at her, giddy with relief that actual adults with medical degrees were on hand.

Ogawa laughed. "I can see that. Anything else?"

Elle focused. "Almost textbook delivery, no complications, just really fast. But baby has great readings and, uh, appetite."

"And a very stylish sweater," Ogawa said, touching the little bundle on Keiko's chest. "How are you, Keiko?"

Keiko laughed. "Tired. Happy. Elle was wonderful."

The next few hours passed in a haze of transferring patients to sickbay, helping Ops clear different sections of the ship, and running more triage in Ten-Forward for minor injuries.

"Elle."

She looked up from the busted replicator. "Commander!"

Riker helped her up and wrapped her in a hug. "You did good," he said, leaning back to smile at her. "You did so good."

"Thanks," she said and stifled a yawn.

He huffed a laugh. "I feel the same way. Come on. I'll walk you to your quarters."

"But-"

"No. It's someone else's turn to run repairs. Come on. Sleep, like the rest of us."

"The captain?"

"Been asleep for two hours already."

"Nice."

The walk through the ship was sobering. Elle's section of the ship had not gone unscathed, just as fried as the rest of the ship, but inside her quarters, everything seemed mostly intact. "We're only on sonic settings till we can be sure the water pipes are intact," Riker said.

"Good to know." She hugged him. "Good night."

"Sleep tight," he said and headed for his own quarters.

Elle checked on Simba, who purred at her reassuringly. Elle patted the tribble for a moment and then shuffled into the bathroom. She stared at her own reflection for a long moment. Dark circles, smudges of ash, and lank, greasy hair stared back at her. "This has been the longest day of my life," she told her reflection. "Not including the time loop or the Scalosians."

She managed to stay awake through her sonic shower and collapsed into bed. She slept like a log and dreamed of nothing but bandages and babies.

-/\-

"Elle? Are you alive in there?"

She groaned in response.

"Elle? I come bearing croissants!"

She untangled herself from her pillows and called, "Come in." She flopped facedown back into the pillow.

"Attempting to suffocate yourself won't work," Picard said, coming in and dropping what sounded like full breakfast materials on her table. "I tried that this morning but Beverly said no."

"Beverly's not here," Elle muttered, reluctantly rolling to the side and sitting up, still swathed in blankets. She blinked at Picard blearily. "Why are we having breakfast here?"

He took a bite of pastry. "Because my wife has been in sickbay for the last two hours, and replicators are down in this whole section, and I didn't think you would be awake enough to get to a working coffee machine."

"You're so smart, captain," Elle yawned, shuffling over to sit at the desk, dragging the whole duvet with her.

"Thank you, I try," he deadpanned. "Croissant?"

"Cwa-sont," she mimicked in a high-pitched tone.

He smirked. "Oh, so you are waking up, after all."

Elle stuck her whole nose in the cup of coffee and breathed in deep. "Somewhat," she said and took a huge sip. "Mmm. Did you see the baby?"

"Yes, I did," Picard said. "She looks remarkably like Miles."

"I know, right? What'd they name her?"

"Molly," Picard said, watching her face. "And, of course, you knew that."

Elle grinned. "Yeah, I did."

"Molly Eleanor O'Brien," Picard mused. "A good name."

Elle choked on her pastry. "What?"

He smirked. "You didn't know that part?"

Elle coughed. "She didn't have a middle name," she rasped, taking a sip of coffee.

"She does now," Picard said, smiling at her.

"Molly Eleanor O'Brien," Elle echoed. "Nice."

"I heard you saved several lives yesterday," Picard said. "What all happened?"

Elle summarized the events for him over the rest of their breakfast. "And then Deanna and Will saved the day, and that was that," she said.

"How did you feel?" he asked.

"Terrified," Elle said, giving him a tiny grin. "And I kind of wanted to puke a couple of times. And I definitely cried all over baby Molly." She held out a hand. "I think I've finally stopped shaking."

He reached out to grip her hand. "I'm proud of you," he said and squeezed her hand gently. "You handled a terrifying situation with the experience and poise of a seasoned officer in spite of all the obstacles in your way. And I heard what you said to Deanna."

Elle blushed. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't remember the actual solution to the episode until it was all over."

He shook his head. "You did exactly what you needed to do, which was inspire the right person to do the right thing." He pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder. "I have good role models."

"Yes, you do," he said, letting her go and straightening his jacket. He poured her the last cup of coffee and split the remaining ham and cheese croissant sandwich with her. "In these last few months, you have shown us that you can do literally anything you set your mind to, and I could not be more proud."

Elle smiled at him. "Thank you, sir."

They both lapsed into silence, and Elle took a sip of her coffee, trying not to get emotional. "So, I heard someone has a new first officer," she said casually. "Got tired of Riker already?"

Picard laughed. "Well, I had to do something. They were all crying!"

"I'm sure it was horrible," Elle deadpanned.

"I'm used to teenagers, not small children," Picard said. "And I couldn't even get the radio we found to work. Do you know how hard it was to keep them all calm?"

Elle laughed. "You're going to have to give them a real tour to make up for it."

"I, for one, thought the turbolift and Jefferies tubes were incredibly thrilling," Picard muttered. "But I'm not doing it alone. You're coming with me."

"Yes, sir."