She woke up in Sickbay. She felt like a piece of gum someone had scraped off their shoe.

Bones was sitting in a chair next to her bedside. "Did you have a nice nap?" he asked, his voice deceptively mild. "Considering you haven't slept more than four hours a night in the last two weeks, I'm surprised you didn't keel over sooner."

Elle closed her eyes. "Sorry."

He folded his arms. "All right, kiddo. Let's have it."

She tried to sit up, but his stern glare stopped her. She sighed and pulled the blanket over her chin. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"You don't know?" He leaned forward. "Have you always had insomnia?"

Elle shook her head. "No."

He frowned at her, his blue eyes genuinely concerned. "Work with me, kiddo. I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."

She shuffled further up the bed to sit up and picked at her blanket. "I don't, it's dumb."

"If it's affecting your health, it's not dumb," he said gently.

Elle's eyes started to sting. "I died in my sleep," she choked out. "I died, in my bed, at my house, with my parents two doors down. I can't, I don't want to do that again. What if something goes wrong and I die again? What if I end up somewhere horrible? Somewhere I don't know anyone, or anything, and what if I'm alone and there's no one I know and, and-" She started to hyperventilate as she sobbed in a blind panic, terror overwhelming her exhaustion.

Bones' eyes widened and he stood up quickly. "Nurse!" he called. He leaned forward to meet Elle's eyes. "Elle? Listen to me, sweetheart, it's going to be okay. Right at this moment, you're safe," he said gently. "Can you breathe for me? C'mon darlin', breathe in. Hold it, good. Breathe out. Slowly. There you go. Let's do it again. Shh, you're okay. Breathe in. Breathe out."

Elle could barely see through the haze of exhaustion and tears and panic. She knew at some point Chapel had arrived and given her a hypo of something that had eased her frantic breathing.

"There you go," McCoy encouraged, once Elle had stopped hyperventilating.

She couldn't stop crying, too tired to try and control herself.

"Elle?" Chapel asked gently, touching her knee lightly to get her attention. "Can I sit next to you?"

Elle jerked her head in a nod, and Christine sat next to her on the bed. Elle leaned into the nurse's shoulder and the gentle arm around her shoulders made her start crying harder.

"Hush, now," McCoy soothed gently, his blue eyes shining with empathy. "I'm so sorry, Elle. I should've noticed sooner."

She shook her head silently. It wasn't McCoy's fault.

At some point she fell into a mostly-sleep, and she was vaguely aware of Chapel tucking her into the bed under a warming blanket.

"Let's keep her for observation for twenty-four hours," McCoy said. "And get a nutrient drip in her, I don't like the look of her blood chemistry."

Elle didn't hear Chapel's reply.

When she woke up some time later from a dreamless sleep, Kirk and Spock were speaking to McCoy a few feet away. "-all my fault, Captain. I should've insisted on counseling straightaway instead of trusting she was fine," McCoy said, remorse on his face. "I checked her cabin monitors just now. She hasn't slept a full night since she arrived."

Spock had one eyebrow raised. "I should have insisted on the conversation," he added. "I knew she looked overly tired for one night of missed sleep."

Kirk shook his head. "We all should've realized that dumping a thirteen-year-old two centuries from home wasn't going to be as seamless as she was pretending."

"Not your fault, Jim," McCoy said, putting a hand on his arm. "I don't think anyone anticipated this situation in the Star Fleet handbook."

"What do we do now, Doctor?" Kirk asked.

"Counseling and therapy," McCoy said. "I'm not a child psychiatrist but we're too far out to get a specialist."

"You did wonders with Peter," Kirk said, voice low. That was his nephew, right? "I have the highest faith in you, Bones."

Spock noticed the change in Elle's breathing pattern and turned to face her.

She sat up in the biobed, still feeling a little woozy.

The three of them came over and McCoy helped her sit up.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

Elle nodded silently and drew her knees up to her chin. "I'm sorry."

Kirk squeezed her arm gently. "It was our oversight. I'm sorry, too."

She nodded.

McCoy shooed the other two out. "All right, no disturbing my patient. You can come back tomorrow." He pointed at Elle. "You're going to stay here overnight, so I can keep an eye on your neurochemistry, and we are going to have a talk. If you don't feel comfortable with me, you can talk to Nurse Chapel, but as your doctor, I have to insist you talk to somebody."

Elle didn't want to talk to Chapel.

The two of them had a good long talk and McCoy helped her understand that fear in response to an unpleasant experience was perfectly human and there was no shame in needing help.

Knowing something intellectually and knowing something in your actual heart were two different things. Elle still didn't want to go to sleep that evening.

"Listen, darlin', if you don't go to sleep I'll have to sedate you," McCoy said gently. "Please go to sleep."

She hid her face in the pillow. "I'm trying," she said, voice muffled.

He smoothed her hair and left her alone.

Elle fell asleep sometime later, but woke up in a panic four hours later when she didn't recognize the darkened sickbay.

"You have been sleeping for four hours and two minutes," Spock's voice informed her calmly. "You are still onboard the Enterprise, and have not left it in that time."

She turned to the other side of the bed and found him sitting in a chair, doing some work on a PADD, the tablet casting a blue glow on his green features. "Spock?" she asked blearily. "What're you doing here?"

"Dr. McCoy asked me to 'keep an eye on you', as I am the only one capable of forgoing sleep at this time," Spock replied calmly.

A wash of guilt hit her. "I'm sorry," she said, rubbing her face. "You don't have to stay."

He regarded her steadily for a few moments. "You know us, from your universe," he stated.

"Yeah."

He raised an eyebrow. "Then you know this crew will do anything we can to help you," he said, his dark eyes compassionate. He raised one eyebrow, perfectly deadpan. "Also, if I did not stay, Doctor McCoy would feel it was his right to escort me to the nearest airlock."

Elle laughed out loud and finally relaxed into her pillow with a final snicker. She pulled the blanket up to her nose. "You'll stay?" she asked, feeling awfully childish for asking.

"I will stay," he promised. "Shom-tor, ax'nav." Go to sleep, young one.

Vulcans did not break promises.

Elle went to sleep.