After breakfast it was decided that both Picard and Riker should be taken on a tour of the Enterprise NX-01. Flying up to the space dock, the initial attitude of their guests aboard the shuttle was laid-back and maybe even a touch disenchanted. Going into space was hardly a new experience for any of them. Yet as the NX-01 came into view both Riker and Picard seemed to become kids looking at a ship that had once inspired a million games of make-believe and whose legend had inspired them to reach for the stars. It was the same excitement they had felt when they had passed through time to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth and gazed upon Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix sitting in its missile silo waiting for its first launch and the new era it would usher in.
Archer was seated at the controls of the shuttle bringing it into the launch bay and landing it with absolute precision. When the doors opened both Riker and Picard tried to seem calm, but both were eager to get out and explore what to them was living history. Both T'Pol and Cmdr. Tucker were there to greet them as they emerged. Trip extended his hand to shake theirs, but the two were so much in awe of who they were meeting that they hesitated to take it at first. Picard quickly snapped himself out of it and quickly shook Trip's hand.
"It is an honor to meet you," he said, but still in awe of who he was speaking to, he momentarily forgot himself and the Prime Directive he lived by. "I remember spending one summer before attending the academy reading everything I could about you and your work on the Warp-5 engine along with Henry Archer's research." A look of confusion filled Trip's face as he tried to understand how this man who was probably at least fifty years older than him could be reading anything about him at all, let alone before going to the academy.
"Uhh, not the academy," Danaë quickly corrected. "Before coming here to visit." She was very much aware that no one on the Enterprise, except Archer, Dr. Phlox and sometimes T'Pol actually believed she was from the future. If they didn't believe her, then they certainly weren't going to believe her father or his friend were. This correction seemed to make sense to the commander and instead he turned his attention to the bundle sleeping all wrapped up in the baby sling around the lieutenant commander.
"I see you brought our next captain with you," he smiled, pulling back a bit of the fabric to see the tiny face and cloudy blue eyes looking back at him. "Just wait until you are a bit older, Bobby, then you are going to have so many adventures with your uncle Trip."
"Bobby?" Picard asked. His grandson's name was Jean-Robert, named for him and his older brother. It was the only name he had heard used for the child until now.
"Trip feels Jean-Robert is too formal," she smirked. "He's been calling him Bobby since the moment he was born. Now Jon does too." Together father and daughter exited the launch bay with T'Pol, leaving Archer, Riker and Trip to talk reports and the progress on the ships refit.
Walking through the corridor, the lieutenant commander pointed out the decontamination chamber and explained how when she had first arrived they had regularly used it for all away missions, but now they almost exclusively used the transporter. T'Pol periodically injected her own observations into the conversation and the logical need for such a change. Leaning close to her father's ear Danaë whispered to him that while the Sub-commander did admit to time travel being possible, she was not ready to believe that she was from the future.
Walking down the corridor together they both felt the strangest sense of deja vu. They had walked these paths before, but back then she had been a small child with her hand in his. At the time Picard had been looking for a way to satisfy her curiosity without endangering her or his ship. The answer had been to bring up the NX-01 on the holodeck and let her learn and explore to her heart's content with the safety on. Oh how she had run up and down the walkways and pressed every button. It was as if she had found her home. At the time he had not given it much thought, but now he wondered if indeed she hadn't.
Despite his advanced age, in some ways Picard was still that young eager explorer with a mind wanting to know everything. As such he continuously asked a million questions about the ship's inner workings, about the various missions and daily life. His daughter naturally answered everything, realizing that to someone from two-hundred years in the future this had to be the equivalent of traveling in a covered wagon across a continent. It had seemed like that to her once too. What she wasn't ready for was her father's off-hand and sly commentary regarding a Starfleet captain picking and choosing which regulations he should or should not follow. He never said exactly which of Archer's choices he was questioning, but Danaë knew all the same.
It was the one regarding relationships between officers. In Picard's time this rule was non-existent since ships carried whole families and would spend untold decades out in space. In this era it was strictly enforced. The old man was hardly surprised that his child would break the rules. He was well acquainted with her rebellious nature, but it seemed strange to him that Archer would, considering everything he had read about the man. He was supposed to be a straight-laced, by-the-book leader and the idea of him breaking such protocol for personal gratification just didn't fit the image, not that he minded having such a man as a son-in-law. Dani was not about to confront him about his comments, at least not in front of T'Pol or the others. Sometimes it was best to speak in generalities until a better time presented itself.
"Jon tries very hard to always do the right thing, but no man is perfect. He doesn't have the work of countless captains to look back on and see how they handled a situation. He's made plenty of mistakes and it tears away a piece of his heart and soul every time. It's the cost of laying a road down for future captains like you." She smiled to herself then added "As far as our shipboard affair is considered, we never planned anything and tried very hard not to get involved."
This seemed to satisfy Picard as they continued towards sickbay so he could meet Dr. Phlox. Still thinking of her fathers comments regarding their ship board romance, she found herself glad that the walls of the Enterprise NX-01 could not talk or her face would have had permanent blush to it. How many secret touches and kisses did she and Archer share on this ship? How many times did they long just to gaze at one another, yet dared not even look in each other's direction?
Strange to think that there had ever been a time when they had believed that whatever attraction they had felt when they met would ever disappear into a platonic professional one. A month after joining the crew, before there was ever a thought of war or conflict with another species, life on board the ship had been peaceful and about exploration. Archer and Danaë rarely saw each other and never gave it a thought. After every shift she would go to the main aft observation room and look out at the stars. Crewmen rarely came to this spot so for her it was a wonderful place to sit and dream. In fact she had never seen anyone there making her feel as though it was her own private hideaway.
One night after her shift she went there, a cup of Earl Grey tea in hand, hoping to enjoy the stars while raising her cup in honor of her father's birthday. She had never been disturbed before so there was no reason to think she would be now. She was wearing a white tank top and cargo shorts (her civilian clothes) and had her feet kicked up on the table while looking at her father's picture on her PADD. She had become so engrossed in her thoughts that she never heard the door open. It wasn't until Porthos landed in her lap causing her to spill her tea that she realized she wasn't alone.
