(Molly runs in and jumps on her parents bed.)
MOLLY: Wake up, it's time to go.
KEIKO: Hi, honey.
MOLLY: It's almost seven. Time to get ready.
O'BRIEN: Time to get ready for what?
MOLLY: The picnic!
O'BRIEN: What picnic? Is that today?
MOLLY: Yes. Don't you remember?
O'BRIEN: Oh, well, we'd better get going then.
MOLLY: I'm going to wear my blue jumper.
KEIKO: Oh, good idea, sweetie.
(Molly runs out again.)
O'BRIEN: I can't believe how much she's grown since I saw her last.
(Keiko pats Miles' stomach.)
KEIKO: Look who's talking.
O'BRIEN: What?
KEIKO: What have you been eating since we've been gone?
O'BRIEN: The usual.
KEIKO: Well, say goodbye to the usual. I'm back and you're going to start eating right.
O'BRIEN: Can't it wait until after the picnic?
KEIKO: No.

[O'Brien's quarters]

MOLLY: Mommy, can you help me put this on?
(It's a bracelet.)
KEIKO: Of course, sweetie.
O'BRIEN [OC]: Where's the sunscreen?
KEIKO: I've already packed it.
MOLLY: This is where we're going, Yoshi. See?
(A group photograph in front of a tree.)
MOLLY: Last time we went to Golana, you were inside Mommy's tummy.
O'BRIEN: Better get down to the airlock. The shuttle leaves in twenty minutes.
MOLLY: Can we bring Chester?
KEIKO: I don't think that would a good idea, sweetie.
O'BRIEN: He might get lost.
KEIKO: On second thought. All right, let's go.
MOLLY: Come on, Lupi. (a doll)
O'BRIEN: (checks the hamper) No sausages?

[Meadow]

(On the picnic blanket, Keiko is brushing Molly's hair.) 
MOLLY: I know what I'm going to be when I grow up.
O'BRIEN: You do?
MOLLY: Mm hm. I'm going to be an exobologist.
O'BRIEN: An exobologist? What's that?
MOLLY: Someone who studies animals from other planets.
KEIKO: Like Chester.
MOLLY: Daddy, if you send us away again, can we take Chester?
O'BRIEN: Honey, I'm not going to send you away again.
MOLLY: You're not?
O'BRIEN: No, I'm not. I only did it because it wasn't safe for you to be on the station.
MOLLY: I know.
O'BRIEN: We're never going to be apart again.
MOLLY: Promise?
O'BRIEN: I promise.
MOLLY: You want to see me do some cartwheels?
O'BRIEN: You bet.
(And she does.)
O'BRIEN: Wow.
KEIKO: Yay, good one.
(And off Molly runs to play.)
O'BRIEN: And what about you, little fellow? What do you say?
(Contented gurgle.)
O'BRIEN: I couldn't have said it better myself. Real sunshine, fresh air, you and the kids. Life doesn't get any better than this.
KEIKO: That was a pretty big promise you made, Miles, just a second ago.
O'BRIEN: I meant it.
KEIKO: What if the war heats up again and the station isn't safe anymore?
O'BRIEN: I'll put in for a transfer. I never want us to be apart again.
(They kiss, and there's a big scream.)
KEIKO: Molly?
O'BRIEN: Molly? Molly!
(O'Brien runs towards the screams. Keiko picks up Yoshi and follows.)
O'BRIEN: Molly! Molly!
KEIKO: Molly?
MOLLY [OC]: Daddy, help!
KEIKO: Molly!
(O'Brien goes into an outcrop of rocks.)

[Cave]

MOLLY [OC]: Daddy, help!
O'BRIEN: Molly, I'm coming.
MOLLY: Daddy!
O'BRIEN: Hold on, Molly. Hold on. Daddy's coming. Come on.
(O'Brien reaches down over the lip of an artificial hole in the ground. Molly is hanging on by her fingertips above a swirly purple thing.)
MOLLY: Daddy, help.
O'BRIEN: Take my hand. Come on, just take my hand.
(Their fingers touch, then Molly falls into the purple, which then vanishes to reveal the empty floor beneath.)

[Portal chamber]

(After the opening titles, Starfleet CSI has arrived with all their tech to try and solve the case. The portal is an irregular stone hexagon set at about forty five degrees to the floor. There are other pieces of carved stone around. Kira hugs Keiko and Yoshi.)
KIRA: Keiko.
(Kira goes over to Dax inside the hexagon.)
KIRA: Have you figured out what this thing is yet?
DAX: It's some sort of time portal. From the chroniton signature, we think it sent Molly about three hundred years into the past.
KIRA: I wonder what this place was like three centuries ago.
DAX: Odo contacted the Bajoran Archaeological Institute to see what he could find out.
KIRA: How do we get Molly back?
DAX: Well, first we have to find a way to reactivate the portal. It's been abandoned a long time and it was destabilised when Molly fell through. The problem is, we're not sure how this technology works.
KIRA: Well, something tells me the Chief isn't going to stop until he figures it out.
DAX: Something tells me you're right.
KIRA: Assuming you can get this back online, what then?
DAX: We punch a transport scanning beam through the portal and then we try to lock on to Molly's DNA signature.
KIRA: And pull her back into the present.
DAX: That's the idea.
(O'Brien gets one thing working, then a second which promptly goes bang!)
O'BRIEN: Oh, bollocks!
(Yoshi cries.)
KEIKO: It's all right, sweetie. Shh, it's all right.
O'BRIEN: Maybe you should take him up to the Defiant. It might be too cold in here for him.
KEIKO: I'm not going anywhere.
KIRA: I'll take him. Come on.
O'BRIEN: It's going to be all right, Yoshi. It's going to be all right.
KEIKO: You're okay, sweetie.
KIRA: Come on.
O'BRIEN: Give me a hand here. Okay.
(Three men try to push the hexagon upright.)

[Ready room]

KIRA: Yes, yes I know.
ODO: You're very good with him.
KIRA: He knows me. I had him inside of me for five months. Oh, I know. I think I might want to have one of my own someday.
ODO: According to the archaeologists I talked to, the portal was built by a civilization that vanished two thousand years ago. Which means if Molly survived the fall, she would have found herself all alone.
KIRA: You're saying that the planet was uninhabited three hundred years ago?
ODO: The first Bajoran colonists didn't arrive till the turn of the century.
KIRA: An eight year old girl stranded alone on a deserted planet. Poor Molly.
ODO: With any luck, the Chief will be able to beam her out a few minutes after she fell. She'll hardly know she was gone.

[Meadow]

KEIKO: Miles, I'm getting scared. You've been at it all day. Just tell me you're getting closer.
O'BRIEN: I think I've found a way to modulate the temporal field generators. If it works, Molly'll be home in a few hours.
KEIKO: She's just been looking forward to coming out here ever since I told her we were coming back to the station. Where's our baby?
O'BRIEN: Shh. Dear, come on, come on. We're going to get her back. Everything's going to be all right
DAX [OC]: Dax to O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Go ahead.
DAX [OC]: The power convertor you asked me to reconfigure? It's ready to go online.
KEIKO: What? What does that mean?
O'BRIEN: It means Molly's coming home. Come on.

[Portal chamber]

(Machinery is thrumming.)
O'BRIEN: Transporter interface link.
DAX: Synchronised.
O'BRIEN: DNA acquisition sensors.
BASHIR: Locked in.
DAX: We're as ready as we're ever going to be, Chief.
O'BRIEN: Okay, let's do it.
(The purple swirly appears in the now-upright portal.)
DAX: The field's destabilising.
O'BRIEN: We're losing power.
DAX: Temporal field established.
BASHIR: We've got a DNA lock. It's her.
(They beam in a ragged young woman wearing Molly's bracelet.)
KEIKO: Molly?
(The young woman panics and tries to run.)
O'BRIEN: It's all right. There's no need to be afraid.
(O'Brien tries to catch her but she bites him, then Bashir hypo's her)

[Medical bay]

BASHIR: Well, there's no doubt about it. The DNA sequences match. This is definitely Molly. My readings suggest that she's eighteen years old.
O'BRIEN: We pulled her out ten years too late.
BASHIR: It's a miracle you managed to get her back at all, Miles.
KEIKO: Maybe if you tried again you could pull her out when she was still a little girl.
BASHIR: If you do that, there'll be no one to grow up and become this Molly. You'd be erasing her existence.
O'BRIEN: Yes, but we'll have our Molly back.
KEIKO: Miles, this is our Molly. Just because we missed the last ten years of her life doesn't give us the right to take those ten years away from her.
BASHIR: She's been deprived of human contact for a long time. It's not going to be easy for her to reassimilate. Her language skills are rusty. In fact, you two are the best hope we have of helping her recover them.
KEIKO: She doesn't remember us.
O'BRIEN: She was so scared I doubt she even got a good look at us.
BASHIR: It's possible that she's blocked out all memories of her earlier life in order to cope with her isolation.
KEIKO: So what do we do?
BASHIR: I'm going to keep her under sedation until we get back to Deep Space Nine. I've asked Captain Sisko to create a safe environment for her. He's having one of the cargo bays converted. I want you two to be there with her when she wakes up.
KEIKO: What happens then?
BASHIR: A case like this, there are no rules. We'll just have to feel our way through the process.

[Worf + Dax's quarters]

(Dax is babysitting Yoshi when Worf enters.)
DAX: Hi. We have a little visitor. Come here.
WORF: And what exactly is this infant doing in my home?
DAX: Well, I offered to watch him so that the O'Briens could spend time with Molly.
WORF: I thought you said you were going to be working tonight.
DAX: I was going to run a spectral scan of that comet that's passing through the Denorias belt. But if I did that, who'd watch you?
WORF: Me.
DAX: That's all right. I want to stay with him.
WORF: Jadzia, you have been waiting for this comet to come into sensor range for weeks.
DAX: There'll be other comets.
WORF: Go. I will take care of Yoshi.
DAX: Worf, that's very sweet, but let's face it. You're not very good with babies.
WORF: I raised Alexander.
DAX: That's different. He was four years old when he moved in with you. You didn't have to change diapers. Babies are a handful. I should know, I've had nine of them.
WORF: I know. Five as a mother, four as a father. I can handle a fourteen month old child.
DAX: I didn't say you can't.
WORF: Fine. Go run your sensor scans.
(Worf picks up Yoshi and sits on the couch. Yoshi cries.)
DAX: You're holding him wrong.
WORF: Leave us.
DAX: All right, all right. I'm leaving.
WORF: AbomBhay mish! AbomBhay mish!

[Cargo bay]

(A clean and tidy Molly wakes up on a blanket next to a rock. She sits up and looks round the rock to see)
KEIKO: Hello, Molly.
(Molly gets into the tree.)
O'BRIEN: It's all right, Molly. We're not going to hurt you.
(O'Brien picks up a plate of fruit.)
O'BRIEN: Would you like something to eat? I bet you're hungry. Golana melon. Mmm, it's delicious. It's for you.
(O'Brien puts the plate on the ground and backs away. Molly comes down and tries the fruit)
O'BRIEN: It's good, isn't it?
KEIKO: Hi, Molly. Remember me? Mommy.
(Molly crouches down to look up at them.)
KEIKO: What is she doing?
O'BRIEN: I think she's trying to figure out who we are. Maybe she remembers looking up at us when she was little.
MOLLY 2: Ma. Ma.
O'BRIEN: That's right. Mommy and Daddy.
MOLLY 2: Ma. Ma.
O'BRIEN: Show it to her.
KEIKO: I brought you something. It's Lupi. She used to sleep right next to you on your pillow every night. She's missed you. Go on, take her.
(Molly grabs the doll from Keiko.)
KEIKO: You remember Lupi, don't you?
(Later, O'Brien and Keiko sitting cross-legged and throwing a football between them.)
O'BRIEN: This is a ball, Molly.
KEIKO: May I have the ball?
(O'Brien throws it to her.)
KEIKO: Would you like the ball, Molly?
(Keiko throws Molly the ball.)
O'BRIEN: Molly, give me the ball.
(But Molly puts it with other balls and Lupi, behind the rock.)
KEIKO: Julian said it would take a while.
(O'Brien gets another ball out of a bag)
O'BRIEN: Yeah, well I hope she catches on soon. We're running out.
KEIKO: This is a ball, Molly.
O'BRIEN: Would you like the ball? I'll give you the ball, then you give me the ball, huh?
(O'Brien tosses the ball to Molly.)
O'BRIEN: Give me the ball, Molly. Molly, give me the ball. Please?
(Molly rolls the ball back to him.)
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's it!
KEIKO: Good girl!
(Smiles all round.)
O'BRIEN: That's it. That's my girl. That's my Molly.

[Worf + Dax's bedroom]

(Worf enters, exhausted. Yoshi is crying in the other room.)
DAX: Is he all right?
WORF: He is fine. He just will not go to sleep.
DAX: Did you change him?
WORF: I changed him.
DAX: Did you feed him?
WORF: I fed him.
DAX: Did you read him a story?
WORF: I read him a story.
DAX: Did you sing to him?
WORF: Until my throat was raw.
DAX: Sounds like you tried everything. I'll take over from here.
WORF: That is not necessary.
DAX: Worf, you're exhausted. Get some sleep.
WORF: No. I am a Klingon warrior and a Starfleet officer. I have piloted starships through Dominion minefields. I have stood in battle against Kelvans twice my size. I courted and won the heart of the magnificent Jadzia Dax. If I can do these things, I can make this child go to sleep.
DAX: Talk about losing perspective. Listen to yourself. Why is this baby-sitting thing so important all of a sudden?
WORF: It is not important to me. It is important to you.
DAX: What are you talking about?
WORF: You are judging me on my fitness to be a parent. Don't deny it, Jadzia. I can see it in your eyes. I have proven myself to be a worthy husband to you, but you are not convinced I would be a good parent to your children.
DAX: Who said anything about having children?
WORF: Go to sleep. I have work to do.

[Cargo bay]

(Molly is sleeping in the tree and Miles is sleeping on a couch when Keiko comes in.)
KEIKO: Sorry I'm late.
O'BRIEN: Oh, hi. She went to sleep a couple of hours ago.
KEIKO: How does she keep from falling?
O'BRIEN: You got me.
KEIKO: Dax said she'll look after Yoshi until your shift's over.
O'BRIEN: Good. I've fallen behind on my repair schedule the last couple of days.
(Keiko brushes her hair. Molly walks over to them.)
KEIKO: Miles.
(Molly holds out her hand.)
KEIKO: Do you want the brush, Molly? You can have it.
(Molly takes Keiko's hand and sits down to have her hair brushed.)

[Corridor]

O'BRIEN: More and more when I look at her, I can see the little girl she used to be.
BASHIR: Has she spoken yet?
O'BRIEN: No, but I can tell she understands what we're saying.
BASHIR: Has she responded to her name?
O'BRIEN: Oh, absolutely. Look at this.
(O'Brien unrolls a piece of paper.)
BASHIR: Interesting.
O'BRIEN: She drew it. Not bad, eh?
(The trees have faces and there are two suns or moons.)
BASHIR: She's anthropomorphised the landscape.
O'BRIEN: Yeah, she loves to draw. Oh, did I tell you? She began eating with a spoon. At this rate, she'll be reading and writing in a few weeks.
BASHIR: Well, just be careful not to push her too hard. If she gets frustrated, she might withdraw and relapse into her old behaviour patterns.
O'BRIEN: Ah, don't worry. I'm not going to push her. I don't have to. She's doing fine on her own.

[O'Brien's quarters]

(Worf is waving a rattle for Yoshi.)
WORF: Waq Kor do goH Ya. Gung gung gung.
BASHIR: Gung gung gung?
WORF: I was instructing your son in hehh DUHPP.
BASHIR: Hehh DUHPP?
WORF: It's a Klingon exercise designed to teach children hand eye coordination, so they will grow to become warriors.
BASHIR: Oh, I get it. The rattle is like the baby's first bat'leth kind of thing.
O'BRIEN: How'd he do?
WORF: He acquitted himself well.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for watching him.
BASHIR: Oh, Worf, you might want to leave the rattle just in case Yoshi wants to practice his hehh DUHPPing.

[Cargo bay]

(Molly is running like a caged feline when O'Brien enters.)
KEIKO: Molly, come on. Molly, Molly please.
O'BRIEN: What's going on?
KEIKO: She's been like this for over an hour.
O'BRIEN: I'll try to calm her down.
KEIKO: I have to go. I have to pick up Yoshi and take him home.
MOLLY 2: Ho muh.
O'BRIEN: Did you hear that?
MOLLY 2: Home.
KEIKO: Molly? What are you trying to say?
MOLLY 2: Home.
O'BRIEN: Home?
MOLLY 2: Home. Molly.
KEIKO: That's right. Molly.
MOLLY 2: Molly home.
O'BRIEN: You want us to take you home with us?
MOLLY 2: Daddy home Molly.
KEIKO: All right, we'll take you home.
MOLLY 2: Mommy home Molly.
O'BRIEN: Mommy and Daddy are going to take you home. Yes.

[O'Brien's quarters]

O'BRIEN: Home, Molly. This is home.
(She looks around the living room then out of the window.)
MOLLY 2: Starry stars.
KEIKO: They're pretty, aren't they?
MOLLY 2: Home?
O'BRIEN: That's right. Would you like to see your room?

[Molly's bedroom]

(Molly gets a dress from the wardrobe then she tears it and runs out.)

[O'Brien's quarters]

KEIKO: Molly, Molly.
MOLLY 2: Home!
(She picks up the picture of the picnic.)
MOLLY 2: Home.
O'BRIEN: No, this is your home.
MOLLY 2: Home.
KEIKO: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Look, I know. You lived there a long time, but this is home too.
MOLLY 2: Molly home.
KEIKO: I know, sweetie. We can't go there right now.
O'BRIEN: Maybe we can.

[Holosuite Meadow]

KEIKO: Look, Miles, she's so happy.
O'BRIEN: She has no idea it's a holosuite.
KEIKO: It must be confusing to her. One minute she's on a space station, the next minute she's running around outside.
O'BRIEN: Well there's no reason we can't take her here for an hour or two every day. I'll talk to Quark about scheduling some regular time.
(Molly hangs upside down from the tree.)
MOLLY 2: Mummy, Mummy, Daddy.
(Then runs back and turns a cartwheel.)
O'BRIEN: That's my girl!
(Doorbell.)
O'BRIEN: I'll be right back.
KEIKO: Okay. Ooo, look at this.
(O'Brien opens the holosuite door. Quark is there with two Klingons.)
QUARK: Sorry to interrupt, Chief, but your time is up. These gentlemen have a reservation.
O'BRIEN: I'll pay for their time if they can wait another half hour.
QUARK: They seem to have their hearts set on some afternoon carnage now.
O'BRIEN: All right. Give me a minute.
QUARK: Let me buy you gentlemen a drink.
KEIKO: Oh, pretty Molly.
O'BRIEN: Molly, honey, we've got to go. Molly.
O'BRIEN: Computer, end programme. We'll come back tomorrow.
MOLLY 2: (distraught) Home!
KEIKO: We have to go, honey.

[Quark's cafe]

(O'Brien almost has to drag Molly along.)
O'BRIEN: It's okay, it's okay.
KEIKO: Sweetie, we'll come back another day. I promise.
(Molly breaks away and heads back to the holosuite. Quark grabs her.)
QUARK: I'm sorry, little lady.
(Molly bites Quark's arm then gets blocked by the Klingons.)
O'BRIEN: Molly!
(Molly runs down the stairs, pushing people out of her way.)

[Quark's]

(Chaos ensues as the young woman sends customers flying over tables. Molly picks up a broken bottle and stabs an alien as Odo arrives with his deputies.)
O'BRIEN: Molly!
ODO: On stun.
KEIKO: Molly!
ODO: Odo to Doctor Bashir. We have a medical emergency in Quark's.

[Captain's office]

SISKO: The Tarkalean she attacked is recovering in the Infirmary. Doctor Bashir tells me he should be on his feet in a few days.
ODO: He's filed charges against her. Assault with a deadly weapon.
O'BRIEN: She wasn't trying to hurt him, she was just trying to get away.
ODO: I tried to tell him that but he wasn't interested in hearing excuses. As far as he's concerned, she's dangerous and should be incarcerated.
O'BRIEN: Incarcerated?
SISKO: I've talked to the Federation magistrate and explained the situation. She wants Molly taken to a special care centre on Dalvos Prime for evaluation.
O'BRIEN: They're going to keep her there, aren't they?
SISKO: We might be looking at a long term situation, yes. But it's the best facility of its kind.
O'BRIEN: Molly belongs with Keiko and me. If she's going to make a connection with anybody it's going to be us, not some therapist she doesn't even know.
SISKO: I'm sorry, Chief. I wish there were another way.
O'BRIEN: Captain, please. Don't let them take her away.

[Holding area]

(Molly is pacing in a cell.)
BASHIR: Her body's flooded with adrenalin. I'm not sure how long she can tolerate being confined like this. It might send her into shock. We have to find a way to calm her down.
O'BRIEN: Molly. Molly.
MOLLY 2: Daddy, home.
O'BRIEN: Molly, don't.
(Molly walks into the forcefield and is thrown back onto the bed. She tries again.)
O'BRIEN: No!
KEIKO: Miles!
O'BRIEN: Turn it off, damn it!
(The deputy does so just as Molly tries again.)
O'BRIEN: Molly, Molly.
MOLLY 2: Home.
(Bashir hypos her.)
KEIKO: What are we going to do?
BASHIR: It won't do any good to keep sedating her like this. The bottom line is, she needs open spaces and plenty of it.
O'BRIEN: She's not going to get that at a special care centre.
BASHIR: I'll talk to the Captain about putting her back in a holosuite for the time being.
O'BRIEN: But what happens when they put her on a transport? What happens then?

[Worf + Dax's quarters]

DAX: Oh, what a day. I can't wait to get out of my uniform. Where's Kirayoshi? I thought you were going to watch him this afternoon. Worf, what's wrong?
BASHIR: Kirayoshi took a little fall.
DAX: Is he all right?
BASHIR: Oh, yes. Just a small bump on the forehead. Happens all the time, children his age. A little sleep, he'll be as right as rain.
DAX: Thanks.
BASHIR: Well, I've got to get back to the Infirmary.
(Bashir leaves.)
DAX: You want to tell me what happened?
WORF: We were playing. I was pretending to be a grint hound and chased him. He was laughing so hard he did not look to see where he was going and fell against the edge of the table.
DAX: It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone.
WORF: I was too rough with him. I was careless. You were right to question my fitness as a father.
DAX: Worf, I never questioned your fitness as a father. Don't put words into my mouth.
WORF: I failed Alexander, I failed Kirayoshi, and I would have failed our children as well.
DAX: Where are you going?
WORF: I should not be here when he wakes up.
DAX: Worf.
WORF: Jadzia, I'm sorry I've failed to prove myself to you.

[O'Brien's quarters]

KEIKO: We've got to do something. We can't let them take her away.
O'BRIEN: We don't have any choice. We just have to hope Molly can adjust.
KEIKO: How can you say that? How can you just give up? You're planning something.
O'BRIEN: What are you talking about?
KEIKO: Miles, I've known you a long time. You are planning something and you want to keep me out if it.
O'BRIEN: The less you know, the better.
KEIKO: Why?
O'BRIEN: Because there's going to be consequences.
KEIKO: So we'll face them together. She's my daughter too.
O'BRIEN: Keiko, listen to me.
KEIKO: Don't argue with me. I am as stubborn as you. Now, what are we going to do?
O'BRIEN: We're going to steal a runabout and take Molly back to Golana.
KEIKO: But that's the first place they'll look for her. They'll find her, unless. Unless we send her back through the portal into the past.
O'BRIEN: Yeah. Once she's through we can destroy it. That way no one will ever find her.
KEIKO: But we'll never see her again.
O'BRIEN: I wish there were some other way. Golana's been her home for ten years. She knows how to survive there. She'll be all right.

[Holding area]

O'BRIEN: How is she?
PINAR: Doctor Bashir said she'd be unconscious for a few more hours. We'll transfer her to a holosuite before she wakes up.
O'BRIEN: There are no holosuites available. Odo said we should move her back to the cargo bay.
PINAR: He didn't mention it to me.
O'BRIEN: Well, check the log. He said he made a note of it.
(The Deputy turns his back and O'Brien hypos him.)

[Airlock]

(O'Brien is half-carrying Molly.)
O'BRIEN: Did you get everything?
KEIKO: It's all in here.
JONES: Chief. Jones to Security. I've found them.
(After the break, Odo has arrived.)
JONES: They were trying to steal a runabout.
ODO: Find out if Deputy Pinar has regained consciousness. I'm going to need his statement.
(Lieutenant Jones leaves.)
O'BRIEN: Odo, please let us go.
KEIKO: If you put her back in a holding cell, she'll die.
ODO: I'm disappointed in you, Chief. If anyone could break a prisoner out of a holding cell and get them off the station, I'd have thought it would have been you.
(Odo opens the airlock door for them.)
ODO: On your way.
KEIKO: Thank you.
(Keiko kisses Odo.)
KEIKO: Thank you. 
ODO: Go.

[Portal chamber]

(All the tech stuff is gone except for lights.)
KEIKO: There's a knife and a blanket.
MOLLY 2: Lupi.
KEIKO: Yes, that's right, sweetie.
(And a hairbrush. O'Brien gets the portal working.)
O'BRIEN: Everything's ready to go. I've recalibrated the temporal field generator. We should be able to put her back at the same point in time when we took her out. Molly, honey, Can I show you something?
(The purple swirly appears.)
O'BRIEN: You're going home now, Molly. Home is right through there.
MOLLY 2: Home?
KEIKO: Mommy loves you, sweetie.
O'BRIEN: I love you, too. Go on, honey. Home.
MOLLY 2: Stars. Your home.
O'BRIEN: That's right. When you look up at the stars, that's where we'll be, watching you. Go on, honey.
MOLLY 2: Molly loves you.
(Keiko cries and Molly steps through into the past, where the portal is still lying at an angle. She hears whimpering. There's a grubby little girl nearby who is wearing her bracelet.)
MOLLY 2: Molly?
MOLLY: I want my mommy and daddy.
MOLLY 2: There.
(Meanwhile, in their future, O'Brien powers up a phaser. Molly 2 is leading little Molly to the portal.)
MOLLY 2: Mommy, Daddy there.
(Molly 2 hands Lupi over and Molly steps into the vortex.)
MOLLY 2: Molly home.
(And she ceases to exist, because just as O'Brien raises the phaser, little Molly steps out and runs to her parents.)
KEIKO: Molly?
MOLLY: Mommy.
O'BRIEN: Oh, look at you. You okay?

[Worf + Dax's quarters]

DAX: Hi. You can come in, he's gone. I dropped him off at the O'Briens a few minutes ago. Oh, you should've seen his face when he saw his sister again.
WORF: Did you apologise to them for me?
DAX: Yes, and they said not to worry about it. It isn't the first time he's bumped his head. They invited us for dinner tonight to thank us for watching him.
WORF: What did you tell them?
DAX: Well, I told them that we had a holosuite reservation, and that I'd check you. By the way, what does gung gung gung mean?
WORF: Why do you ask?
DAX: Well, it was the strangest thing. I was taking Yoshi home and he kept shaking his rattle, saying gung gung gung.
WORF: He did?
DAX: He seemed to get a bit kick out of it. So what does it mean?
WORF: That is between Yoshi and me.
DAX: Oh, I see. Well, you made a big impression on him. Maybe you're not as bad with children as you thought.
WORF: Or as you thought.
DAX: All right, maybe I had my doubts. But I've never been happier to be proven wrong. Oh, we'd better get going if we're going to make that holosuite reservation.
WORF: Holosuite? And insult the O'Briens?
DAX: We wouldn't want to do that.
WORF: He really said gung gung gung?
DAX: Over and over again.

[O'Brien's quarters]

(Molly is colouring.)
O'BRIEN: The Captain's volunteered to represent me at the hearing.
KEIKO: If anyone can make Starfleet understand what you did, it's him.
MOLLY: Mommy?
KEIKO: Yes, sweetie?
MOLLY: The girl who found me, can I see her again?
KEIKO: Not for a while, honey.
MOLLY: She was so nice.
O'BRIEN: According to Dax, the recalibration didn't hold, so the portal sent her back to the same point in time it sent little Molly.
KEIKO: I wonder if she realised that the little girl she was looking at was herself.
O'BRIEN: I hope so. And I hope she realised that in a way she was going home too.
MOLLY: Look. It's where we had the picnic.
(In her picture, the trees and suns have faces, and so does the rock.)
MOLLY: Don't you like it?
O'BRIEN: It's beautiful.
KEIKO: Ah, sweetie, it's lovely, just lovely.