"And then she collapsed. She regained consciousness quickly, but I had her checked out regardless. Doc says it was from the combination of the stress of the morning, the shock and the remaining issues of the concussion."
Mike leaned against the windowsill, glancing unseeingly over his friend's office.
"He couldn't keep her against her will, Tom. I couldn't order her to stay put."
The addressed turned fully toward him. "But you did send someone with her." It was more a statement than a question.
"Kara came back within twenty minutes to explain she had left Alviarin with Commander Garnett. Said they were heading for the James."
Tom reacted to the information with a slight frown. He nodded. "Thanks for the update."
"There's more, Tom." Mike's voice was heavy. "There's one question I haven't asked her, that she must have been expecting. That the professor and Mycroft must have been fearing."
Tom stood slowly, cracking his neck as if to gain time.
"What else does she know?"
The two men locked eyes.
"And who knows about it."
"Where is the Elf, Dad?"
"She hasn't been home, Tom." There was a careful question hiding in the old man's answer.
Tom glanced at the two girl's inquisitive faces and shrugged. "Guess she's still on the Nathan James, then."
"What's she doing there, dad?" Sam looked up from his whittling.
"They're finishing the cooling system, if my update is still valid." Tom managed a smile.
The other dark head lifted, too. "I'm hungry!"
"Yep, Zach, that's to be understood. I'm to send you and Mhari home, where you'll be fed."
"Is everything all right?" Mhari fixed him with one of Mike's hard looks.
"Why do you ask?"
She was not to be deterred. "I saw dad and that French gentleman, Alvi's professor, talking on the screen-" Tom must have made a move of surprise. –"we visited him in the morning. He was… upset." She pressed her lips together.
"I thought you guys have school in the morning!"
"Since the weather was so beautiful, we went for a walk. Educational and all." Ashley's lips curled a little.
Tom grinned, glad of the change of direction. "Poor Ashley had to go out into the cold."
In one of her increasingly frequent and increasingly successful attempts at humor, his daughter leaned into him and chuckled. "I know I'm made of sugar. Same as mum was."
Sam, not to be left out, jumped up from his seat and climbed into his father's other arm. "I like the outside – I like the elements!"
"Like dad!"
Now everyone was laughing, and Mhari stated affectionately: "And like Alviarin."
Ashley stiffened.
Tom exchanged a glance with his father over the children's heads. Where was the Elf?
….
A call came, sometime later. Andrea Garnett let him know that the Elf had just fallen asleep on a bunk bed on the James, and that she would stay with her. When Tom let his silence speak for his utter disbelieve – and anger -, his former CPO elaborated, a small smile in her voice: "Tom, I smuggled her a sleeping draught into a drink. She would have worked herself blind here, and I'd have been left to clean up after her."
"Your read on her?"
"Searching desperately for something. Manic almost. The ship was reassurance, a link to something she used to know."
"She tell you what went down before?"
"No. Kara only gave me a rough outline. I tried to ask the Elf, but she avoided any answer."
"So you're saying I should let her sleep and be patient."
"She- We're safe here. I'll watch over her, and send her home tomorrow."
"Let me know when she wakes. Thanks, Andrea."
