The break passed by in a rush of meeting Leo's siblings and his daughter, and enjoying McCoy family holiday traditions. Christmas had lost all religious connotations in this time period and Sabine found that to be a welcome relief. She embraced the 23rd century lack of religious zealotry in general, having seen for herself how much religious convictions had complicated and aggravated relations between people in her own time. Sabine's parents had never been particularly religious – her father had grown up in Côte d'Ivoire, a predominantly Muslim country with a fair amount of Christians and those who also embraced the older, traditional African religions, and her mother was French, so that meant she was a lapsed Catholic. The apartment building they'd lived in was located in Le Marais and Sabine had grown up with friends from all kinds of religions. In her building alone, there were several Jewish families, another Muslim family, and a couple of female American missionaries who always traveled in pairs. Her parents had encouraged her to interact with everyone, even allowing her to take the ESL classes offered by the American missionaries. Sabine had loved learning about everyone else's beliefs and in her own home, her parents celebrated both Christian and Muslim holidays. Some years, the family would go from completing Ramadan to decorating the Christmas tree a few weeks later. The neighbors would invite her to Passover Seders and her family would return the favor by inviting all their friends and neighbors to Eid Mubarak or Christmas dinners. Sabine learned to respect everyone's views but not to get too committed to any one set of beliefs. She had been relieved to see that this was the same view many beings in the 23rd century adopted. She'd found it fascinating that Earth had gone from a place of deep convictions to a world where religion was treated almost as an afterthought.

Of all the major holidays from her time, Christmas was the only one that remained and she found it comforting that so many traditions surrounding the holiday had been retained – the tree, giving gifts, caroling, egg nog – all of the positives as far as she was concerned. There was just one thing she felt was lacking. As the family gathered in the living room after a delicious Christmas dinner, they began to play their favorite Christmas songs by connecting their PADDs to the antique stereo system; a system so old it had been dated even in Sabine's time. However, it delighted her because her father had owned a similar one, complete with turntable and receiver. If there was one thing she had to pick above all others that she loved about the McCoy house, it was the preponderance of antiques. But that wasn't as important to her in this moment as introducing the McCoys to her favorite Christmas song – the one thing missing from the festivities.

"Okay, okay," Eleanora called out, quieting down the lively singing and laughter. "Who hasn't played their favorite song yet?" She looked around the room and something about Sabine's smile and the light in her eyes made Eleanora stop.

"Sabine, honey, do you have a favorite to share?"

"I do," Sabine replied enthusiastically. She stood to move over towards the stereo and hooked her PADD up to it. "I do not know if you will know this one – it is very old. But I cannot imagine Christmas without it." She scrolled through her music screen and tapped the song when it appeared.

At the sound of the sparkling percussion that reminded her of an antique music box or maybe even a snow globe, Sabine's grin grew even wider. She loved this stupid song so much. Then the lyrics kicked in.

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

I don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

"Hey, I've heard this one," Jim said excitedly, jumping off the couch and grabbing Joanna's hand. "Come on, princess, let's dance." Joanna jumped up with him, laughing as he twirled her around the floor. Other family members looked at one another in bemused confusion. They'd never heard the song before but why not. Slowly, others joined Jim and Joanna in the center of the room, dancing with one another to the fizzy, silly song. Leo grabbed Sabine and they joined the fun.

"So you like the oldies, huh?" Leo murmured in her ear. She leaned in closer to hear him over the laughter, music, and din of conversation.

"Mmm, not all the time but I love this one," she replied. And it was true. She loved current music – loved the variety that came from being a part of a galactic community. She couldn't imagine going back to just Earth tunes now that she'd come to appreciate and collect songs from all over the Federation. But there were still some Earth classics, from her time and earlier, that she loved dearly.

"Also, this is not so old. If you want real oldies, I have some truly ancient Christmas music on my PADD." She thought about the various pieces of Handel's Messiah on her PADD – pieces she had listened to long before she learned English, while helping her mother decorate the Christmas tree.

"Older than this? I'd like to hear that," he replied, dipping her down.

"Later, I will play some for you. You can tell me what you think," she responded as he brought her back up and they danced cheek to cheek.

"Sounds like a plan," he whispered in her ear. They swayed together for a few moments, enjoying the song and the couples around them, all dancing and laughing. Jim swooped past them, lifting Joanna up and spinning her around while the young girl giggled with glee.

"It's funny – I would've thought you'd choose a traditional holiday song from the Ivory Coast," McCoy mused, spinning her out away from him and then pulling her back in.

"Oh, I like plenty of songs from my country," she hedged, not entirely lying. "But this one – it is my favorite Christmas song even if it is American." That was a complete truth. She'd loved the frothy pop song from her earliest recollections of Christmas music.

"It's American?" McCoy asked in surprise.

"Yes," Sabine replied. "A musician from the 1990s."

"Well, I'll be," he responded. "Sometimes, I think you might know more about American history than even Jim."

"I do not know about that," she demurred. "Jim really loves his history." And it was true. For someone who made such an effort to cause trouble and act like he didn't have a care in the world, Jim Kirk was amazingly well-versed on a diverse number of subjects, but none more so than Earth history, and especially American history. Sabine sometimes felt like Jim would have fit right in with her own time.

Earlier in the week, the two of them had spent half a day in the McCoy garage, getting the 1983 Land Rover Defender that Leo's father had used to make rounds back up and running. When Leo had shown them the car, covered by a tarp in the back, behind the hover vehicles, Sabine had rubbed her hands together in glee. She knew a thing or two about actual cars – the kind with wheels that touched the ground. She and Jim had circled the vehicle like lions, ready to attack their prey. Upon opening the hood, they'd quickly determined what needed to be done.

"Spark plugs," Sabine called out, having removed the top of the housing compartment for the emission coils.

"New battery," Jim replied from his side of the engine compartment.

"Some belts down here will need to be replaced," she called back, her head in the compartment as she shined a pin light around it, looking for anything else. Sabine straightened out and brushed her hand across her cheek, leaving a trail of grease.

"We can make this run again," she said to Leo, an eager smile on her face.

"Yeah, this baby's in great shape. You don't happen to have some dirt roads around here, do you?" Jim asked McCoy, his eyes shining as bright as Sabine's. They shared a look with one another as they contemplated how much fun it would be to take the vehicle for an off-road spin once they had it running.

"You two are trouble," McCoy had replied, but he'd left them the keys and gone off to ride horses with Joanna.

As Jim and Sabine had worked on the car together through the morning and into the afternoon, they'd talked to each other about their shared love of old, pre-hover vehicles.

"So how'd you get into old cars?" Jim asked, appreciating the view as Sabine bent over the engine, fishing for the defective spark plugs so they could swap them out.

"In Africa, a lot of people still drive these," she replied, grabbing the faulty plugs and pulling them out. She righted herself and handed them to Jim who then handed her the new ones to install. "They work on them to keep them running and I got to help out when I was younger."

"You lived in Africa?" he asked her, interested in learning more. His roommate had told him she was reticent to share details about her past and Jim had decided to see if he had more success getting her to talk.

"Yes. My dad was from…Ivory Coast. We did not live there long but I would go back to visit his parents frequently." Well, it was partially true. She had visited her grandparents in Abidjan on numerous occasions – she'd just never lived there. Her parents had settled in Paris before she was born.

"What's it like there?" In addition to his seemingly random pockets of deep knowledge, Jim loved asking questions. He and Leo had that in common. But this was a question she didn't mind, even if she couldn't answer it with complete accuracy.

"Mmm, Africa is a huge continent. It is different everywhere you go. Every country has a great diversity of tribes and languages. I loved it there. Very lush in certain places – I have never seen so many mangos and bananas on the tree as I did in Kenya. Then there is the desert – climbing a sand dune in Morocco was one of the hardest things I ever did. North Africa is much different from Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa feels a lot like Europe. Oh, there are the big parks too – one of my favorite vacations was rafting on the Nile and then visiting the gorilla sanctuary in Uganda." She stopped there, not wanting to say too much for fear that she'd slip up and give him information that had been accurate in her time but not now.

Jim seldom saw Sabine this animated. It was clear she had a deep affection for her home. He wondered if McCoy had seen this side of her and if not, why. He also wondered when he would see her reluctance in answering questions.

Meanwhile, Sabine was lost in her memories of Africa. As a continent, it had been relatively unscathed in WWIII. That had put it in an incredibly powerful position as the former first world nations sought resources to rebuild after the war. Suddenly, Africa was no longer the third-world, but instead a vibrant, resource-rich community of nations which put aside their differences and banded together to ensure that they would not be exploited in this new world order. Even land-locked countries like Uganda, who, despite having an abundance of natural resources, had struggled to make ends meet, found themselves drawing in profits they'd never expected. The African continent in the 23rd century was, perhaps, the most powerful group of nations on Earth, rivaling the new United States as a world power. Sabine was happy to see that Africa had achieved the greatness it had always deserved. Some of her happiest memories stemmed from her times there, be it visiting various places on the continent with her parents and grandparents, or the time she had visited Adjoa's family in Lomé and spent a blissful week walking along the sandy beaches, coming home in the afternoon to help with the family restaurant. She smiled as she thought about the nights they'd spent dancing to live music on the restaurant patio. Or the time they'd gone to Accra, Ghana and visited a little café on the outskirts of the city, dancing to a live band playing Highlife songs. She wondered if that café, or one like it, still existed and if you could still find live Highlife bands.

"Hey," Jim snapped his fingers in front of her face and she broke from her reverie. "Where'd you go?" he asked.

"Sorry. I just got lost remembering childhood vacations," she replied. She turned back to the Defender and bent over again to install the new plugs. Jim bent over with her this time, not because he didn't think she could do it, but because he enjoyed watching someone who loved old cars as much as he did.

"So what's the coolest car you've worked on?" Jim asked her once they resurfaced.

A flood of memories hit her as she thought about her answer. If only she could tell Jim about the adventures she'd had. Like the time they'd jumped to 1980s Communist East Germany and she'd had to hotwire a Trabi so that they could get past Checkpoint Charlie with one of them hiding in the tiny trunk. The rush of adrenaline, the fear of getting caught or stuck in the death strip, the relief at the successful completion, only to realize they were no safer on the other side – it was the kind of story a daredevil like Jim Kirk would love. Instead she looked at him sheepishly.

"Too many to choose just one," she replied. "What about you?" Deflection always worked well.

It hadn't been lost on Jim that even though her eyes had lit up at his question, she'd avoided answering it. But he answered anyway.

"Oh, that's easy. My dad had this great 1965 Corvette Sting Ray C2. After my mom remarried, the stepdad tried to treat it like his own. But that baby was mine," he recounted, his face going from smiles to stormy and then back to smiles.

"I loved that car…and then, when I was 12, I drove it off a cliff because Frank threatened to sell it. I wasn't gonna let him take it away," Jim's voice was steely again.

"Mmm, I am sorry it is not around anymore," Sabine said softly. "What a great car. And what an awful stepfather."

Her words seemed to pull Jim out of his funk. Jim Kirk was never upset for long.

"Yeah well, you win some, you lose some. This baby right here – we get this running and we can have some fun. You know there's got to be all sorts of off-roading around here."

He and Sabine shared devious grins. Oh, they were gonna have some fun alright. Later, when McCoy returned to the garage with Joanna, they had the Defender purring and good to their words, they took Leo and Joanna out on an adventure. As Sabine and Jim took turns driving the antique over the gentle hills and through the woods around the McCoy property, Joanna would clap gleefully while Leo looked like he might get sick. Sabine couldn't help it if she "accidentally" spun the vehicle into donuts, drawing a delighted squeal from Joanna and a slew of curses from her boyfriend. And how could Jim be held accountable for testing the Defender's ability to ford the rushing stream they came upon? As the water crept up to the headlights, Sabine whooped in enthusiasm, Joanna joining her, while McCoy regretted ever letting these animals into his life.

Yes, the holiday break had been fun. But it was the last night and as Joanna nodded off in her lap, Sabine sighed, half out of contentment and half from resignation that in the morning, they would transport back to the Academy.

"Did you have a good break?" Leo asked her as he picked his daughter up off her lap. They both stood and she followed him up the stairs, to the room where Joanna was staying.

"I had a wonderful time. Thank you so much," she whispered. They tucked Jo into bed and closed the door quietly. In the hallway, it was just the two of them, everyone else still downstairs. They could hear the laughter wafting up to them and as she looked in Leo's eyes, Sabine wanted to freeze time and stay in this moment forever.