The various shots had definitely made Elle cranky. Cranky and nauseous. She ate five crackers to satisfy Nurse Chapel, promised to stay put during the Gamma shift, and curled up in bed, her side aching and her stomach rumbling. "I miss the internet," she told the ceiling sadly.

The Enterprise, beautiful ship that she was, did not reply.

Elle sighed.

A soft chime sounded.

"Come in?" she called hesitantly.

It was Lady Amanda who walked into Elle's bedroom. "Elle?" she asked, coming to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Lady Amanda!" Elle tried to sit up too fast, winced, and then slowly sat up. "Hi. Sorry. I thought you were Nurse Chapel."

"You're fine, dear," Amanda said, draping the top blanket around Elle's shoulders with a motherly gesture. "I remember when I had to get all my innoculations to move to Vulcan and I thought you could use some things." She pulled a PADD, several data disks, and a laptop computer out of a carrying case. Then she got up, moved to the replicator, and brought back two cups of hot cocoa. "I brought you some classic Earth films and loaded a few books on the PADD," she continued.

Elle cleared her throat. "Um, thank you, but, why, uh, not to be disrespectful, but, why are you bothering about me? Not that I don't appreciate it. I really, really do. Thanks."

Amanda smiled, her eyes twinkling. "There's only so much coddling a Vulcan can endure, so I came to make myself useful, away from prying diplomats."

"Thank you," Elle repeated. "Tell the ambassador, thanks, too, for rushing my paperwork."

"Thank you, dear," Amanda said, reaching out to hold Elle's hands. "You saved his life and the peace of the whole conference. I think he's happier about that than he is his heart condition."

Elle grinned a little bit.

Amanda squeezed her hands. "And, I'm indebted to you personally. Your words made Spock and Sarek actually start talking to each other."

Elle's grin grew wider. "Oh, good. I'm glad."

Amanda picked up the laptop. "You said you were from the past? Do you know how to operate this computer?"

Elle frowned at the menu screen. "...that English looks really weird."

"It's Federation Standard," Amanda explained. "It uses a mix of English and Esperanto with a strict grammar to facilitate learning and using it." She tapped a few buttons and it changed to Earth English. "There you are. At some point though, you will need to learn Standard."

Elle nodded slowly. "So, are you speaking English? You are, right? And so was everyone else?"

Amanda smiled. "Yes, we are. Most everyone speaks their native languages or the most common language of the area, and we only use Standard for large groups of people who don't speak the same language."

"Cool..." Elle made a mental note to ask the Doctor about a universal translator, and focused on the computer. It worked like any standard little laptop, and she easily navigated to the media player. "Where's the disks?" she asked, reaching for them.

"This one is classic, this one is adventure, this one is romcom, and this one is sci-fi," Amanda said.

"What's the adventure one about?" Elle asked.

Amanda raised an eyebrow at her in amusement. "It's not one movie. It's the entire genre of movies."

Elle gaped at the disk that looked like an old fashioned cassette tape. "Woww..." Impulsively, she hugged her. Two seconds later she drew back, embarrassed. "Sorry," she said, blushing. You didn't just go around hugging ambassadors.

Amanda just smiled and drew her into another hug. "I haven't had a good hug in ages," she told Elle, smoothing the girl's hair. "Vulcans don't really go in for hugs."

Elle, in the warm embrace of one of the best moms in the universe (see Cmdr. Spock for character reference), started to cry.

"Oh, my dear," Amanda said, rocking her gently. "Can't you tell me your troubles? How did you get here?"

Elle knew that the wife of an ambassador knew how to keep secrets. So she told her everything, from waking up in cargo bay two to her fear of leaving the Enterprise once it returned to Federation space. She finished with a miserable sniff. "So yeah."

Amanda kissed her forehead and quietly said, "I grieve with thee." She handed Elle a handkerchief and they both took a few sips of hot cocoa before she asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Convince the captain to take the risk and send me back?" Elle asked, already knowing the answer.

Amanda shook her head. "I will not endanger your life."

Elle sighed. "I didn't think so. You guys really moved past the spirit of the 21st century."

Amanda frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"We're all gonna die young on my Earth," Elle said cheerfully. "It's a fact. Our civilization is self-destructing. Everyone under the age of 30, totally aware our life span is around fifty years. You should see the eight-year-olds in my neighborhood, complete nihilists."

Amanda just stared at her. "That's horrible."

"You only live once," Elle said matter-of-factly. "Except for me, I guess. Maybe I'm part cat. That would be so cool."

Amanda took a sip from her mug. "Do you really know what's going to happen in the future?" she asked.

Elle nodded.

Amanda hugged her. "Everything will work out," she promised. "Now, what movie do you want to watch?"

Elle, thanks to the slight fever from all the innoculations, fell asleep halfway through Indiana Jones and the Ruins of Atlantis.