Elle woke up slowly, one sense at a time, and wasn't that weird. First all she could do was hear and all she heard was beeps and chirps and the hum of voices. Then she could smell-it smelled clean and just a tiny bit like rubbing alcohol. And then she could feel, and her whole body was warm and she was laying on her side, and her other side ached with a dull throb. She dragged her eyes open, wondering why her mom hadn't woken her up yet for school. "Mom?" she asked, but her throat was dry and it came out "mrgh." She tried again. "Mom?"

A voice behind her, unknown. "Nurse Chapel, she's awake."

Elle tried to turn over but it hurt and tears sprang to her eyes. A moment later Nurse Chapel came around the side. "Elle?" She laid a gentle hand on her arm. "Welcome back. How do you feel?"

"Where's mom?" Elle asked, feeling all over fuzzy.

Nurse Chapel frowned briefly. "She's not here, sweetie. Do you remember where you are?"

"En'er'pris," Elle said, and then realized. "Oh yeah." She closed her eyes against hot tears. Oh no, she hated crying in public. She brought her hand up to her face to hide.

"You're all right, sweetheart," Chapel said calmly. "Coming out of anaesthesia can make you a little weepy. You're okay to cry if you want. Are you in any pain?"

Elle contemplated this for a moment. "Nope," she decided. "Just when I try to move."

"Do you want to sit up?"

"Nuh-uh."

"You want some ice chips?"

"Yesssss."

The first ice chip was bliss and Elle crunched at it with enthusiasm. Then she remembered why she was here and nearly choked on it. "Did we get him?" she asked, tugging at the nurse's sleeve. "The fake Andorian?"

"We got him," Chapel confirmed. "He's in the brig. You're safe."

Elle relaxed. "Kay. Good." She closed her eyes.

-/\-

When she opened her eyes again she was laying on her back. Sarek was across the ward from her, and Spock and Amanda were standing on either side of him. Spock came over to her. "Young one," he said gravely. "How do you feel?"

"Meh," was Elle's elegant reply. "Didya get him?"

"He is in the brig," Spock said. "You are referring to the Orion spy?"

"Yup. Didcha get his radio antenna?" She giggled. "Get it? Radio, in the antenna?"

"How did you know this?" he asked.

"It was in the episode." She glanced over at Amanda, who was watching them with an odd smile on her face. "Your mom's really pretty," Elle told Spock. "Like, super pretty. I like her, a lot. Has she slapped you yet?"

Both eyebrows went up. "My mother does not recur to acts of aggression," he said.

She blinked, trying to decipher his big words, and then nodded wisely. "Right. Duh. I got stabbified instead of the captain so he's in command and you don't have to donate blood so you're dad's life isn't in danger at the same time as Jim's so your mom doesn't slap you for choosing the ship over your dad."

He blinked. "I see," he said, in a tone that meant he clearly did not see.

"You should talk to your dad," she advised, snuggling under the blanket. "He's pretty cool after this point. Just, like, he doesn't know what to say to you cuz you're all famous and grownup and he doesn't know you as a person. Which is fine. Cuz when Vulcan tries to secede you'll all be working together."

His eyebrows went up again. "When-"

Then she thought of something. "Hey, hey, do you have a sister?"

He blinked. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite."

"Hah! I knew it!" She snickered into her pillow. "My friend's gonna be so mad that it's not canon. I knew it."

Spock's other eyebrow went up. "Perhaps you should rest," he said.

"I'm not sleepy. Can I have some juice?"

"I shall inquire." He left.

Elle closed her eyes for a minute and opened them again when she felt staring. Both Sarek and Amanda were looking at her. "Hi?" she asked.

"Are you a telepath?" Sarek asked.

"No."

"Empath?"

"Nope."

"What is your esper rating?"

Elle squinted at him. "I don't know what that is?"

"Then how do you know-" he broke off, looking stiff and uncomfortable.

"I read all the books," Elle said, "and I saw all the eps. Oh, hey, you should mind-meld with him at least once before you get super old. Am I not supposed to change the future? Oh well." She waved a lazy hand.

Spock came back with a cup of juice and Dr. McCoy. Bones helped her tilt the bed up and she sipped at her juice as he checked the dressings on her wounds. "You're healing well," Bones said. "Probably won't even scar."

"What, really?" Elle pouted into her cup. "That'd be a cool story though."

He stifled a laugh. "You'll have to take your chances kiddo. Now, I'm keeping you here for four more days to make sure you keep healing and to make sure you don't get an infection. After that if you behave you can go back to your quarters."

"Mmkay, cool. Do you have tv in the future?"

McCoy pulled the computer screen towards her. "Knock yourself out, kiddo. But I want you to sleep as much as possible, so remember there's a feature called 'pause' on these things, okay?" He showed her where the wireless earbuds were and left her to scroll through the database.

Elle fell asleep around the fourth episode of Star Trek's version of Kim Possible.

When she woke up there was a plate of food waiting for her. Nurse Chapel appeared as well. "Eat all of that and you can have your next dose of painkillers," the nurse said.

Pancakes, eggs, and a bowl of blueberries later, "can I have coffee?" "No," Elle got to take the two tablets for pain. Her side was really starting to ache.

"I don't like being stabbed," Elle told the ceiling lazily, once Nurse Chapel had left. "Would not recommend, zero out of ten."

"I'll keep that in mind," said a new voice with a chuckle.

Elle yelped in surprise and jerked up, pulling painfully at her side. She winced and rolled over, trying to curl around her injury. "Ow, ow, ow," she whispered.

Gentle hands helped her get resettled. "I'm so sorry," Kirk said, giving her an apologetic frown. "I thought you'd heard me come in."

"I was talking to the ceiling," Elle informed him, reaching for a mug of tea Bones had left for her around episode three of Kim Possible. "Um, what can I do for you, captain?"

"I came to thank you," he said, eyes bright with sincerity. "You alerted us to the Orion and helped us locate their spy, and prevented a murder."

"And I got stabbed," Elle added.

"And that," he agreed, chagrined. "You have the thanks of my crew and myself, and that of the ambassadors."

Elle had never been formally thanked before. "You're welcome?" she said uncertainly.

"You're a brave young woman," he said. "Also, Cmdr. Spock asked me to inform you he's looking into your quantum signature theory."

"Nice." Elle took a sip of tea. It'd been in this mug for at least four hours but it was still the perfect temperature. "Supermug," she said. "I've gotta take one of these with me. My dad'll love it."

He quirked a smile. "Big coffee drinker?" he asked.

"Yup. He works from home, doing web development. He's like, ninety percent caffeine and code, and ten percent comics," she said, smiling fondly. "He's a total nerd, from before they were cool."

"And your mom?" Kirk asked.

She smiled wider. "My mom's awesome. She's a technical writer, so she works from home too. I homeschoool, by the way, so I'm weird like that, but the middle school in our town is... ugh." She made a face. "The worst. Very sketch. They're still running Windows Vista. And they have fat monitors! Fat. Monitors."

He stifled a laugh. "I see. Do you like reading, Elle?"

"I love reading. Everything except romances. I mean, I don't read 'em for that. I read for the adventures and the sci-fi and stuff. And the fanfictions for the fluff."

"The fan-fiction?"

Elle turned pink. "...never mind." She gestured to him. "What do you like to read?"

He raised a challenging eyebrow. "Since you know us so well, apparently, what do you think I like to read?"

Elle grinned. "Shakespeare. Milton. Nelson. Jellicoe. Smith. Sun Tzu. Uh, that one with the, Dante. And cowboys. You're from Iowa, you must read cowboy stuff. And all the classic scifi, Bradbury, Asimov. You've read Vulcan stuff, too, I'm sure. And you've definitely read Horatio Hornblower, you must have."

He stared at her, impressed. "Do you like mysteries?" he finally asked.

"Yup. I'm trying to get through all of Agatha Christie's stuff. It'll take me forever though. And I only have two days to finish the one I borrowed from the library, Death on the Nile? By the time I get back it's gonna be overdue." She pouted.

He smiled slightly and stood. "I have to get back to work, but, can I come back later? I'll smuggle you some cheesecake."

"Don't even try it!" McCoy hollered from the other room.

Kirk winked at her and escaped.

Elle smiled. "He's really nice," she told Bones, as he entered the room to investigate for threats of junk food.

He rolled his eyes and patted her arm with a paternal air. "That's why he's a starship captain," he said.

Elle passed the time sleeping and watching the black and white show called Captain Proton. It was weird not seeing Tom Paris playing the main character though.

When she woke up again after her fifth nap, Captain Kirk was sitting in the chair beside her, doing paperwork on his tablet, er, PADD. It wasn't as fat as she thought it'd be. More like an iPad. He smiled when he saw her. "Awake?" he asked.

She stifled a yawn and nodded.

He grinned. "Good. I brought you something." He glanced around and then lifted a small square of cheesecake from a plastic container. "Don't tell Bones," he whispered with a conspiratorial air.

"I won't," she whispered back, taking the treat.

He held up a book, an old paperback with folded ears. "I have it," he said.

Elle stared. Death on the Nile. "Wait, you really do collect old books?" she asked. "Isn't that really expensive?"

"They're rare," was all he said. He held it up. "Should I read to you?"

"I would love that."

He read with enthusiasm, giving Poirot and the others life, but Elle couldn't remember the plot he was telling, even though he started reading at the beginning. Maybe it was a different book completely, being a different universe and all. It was still interesting.

He stopped when she yawned. "I think we'll put a pause on the literary portion of today," he said gently.

"Thank you, captain," Elle said. "I know, you have a lot going on right now, with the diplomats and stuff."

He gave her a small smile. "Thank you, for giving me an excuse to get out of talking to them."

She laughed.

He patted her on the arm gently, and went out.

Bones wasn't even mad when he discovered the empty cheesecake plate. "Coulda brought one for me too," he grumbled, taking it away to a disposal chute.