Stuffed to the gills with good food and marshmallows, most of the group retired to their tents for the night. Elle wasn't quite sleepy yet so she huddled closer to Spock on the log. He let her lean against him, probably because he was cold, too.

She watched the flickering campfire and let her eyes drift upwards, following the tendrils of smoke as they snaked upwards to the night sky. Even with the campfire you could see the stars shining like diamonds. And there, moving in a slow, lazy arc, were the station and the Enterprise, the largest dots of light in the sky.

Elle yawned. And then she yawned again. And then again.

McCoy chuckled. "I think it's time for bed, sweetheart."

"Yeah, I'guess," Elle mumbled, standing up. She kissed Kirk absently on the cheek in passing and did the same to McCoy. She went into the tent she was sharing with Lt. Campbell and fell into her sleeping bag.

Just before she fell asleep she heard, "Jim, are you crying?"

"No," was the hasty reply. "I just, she's come a long way."

Elle realized then what she'd just done. She blushed hotly and pulled the sleeping bag up to her nose. It didn't seem like they'd minded, though. She went to sleep.

-/\-

"Elle." Something poked her foot.

"Nngh."

"Breakfast."

"Nnnhhhh." She flopped an arm over her face.

"Well, she's dead, Jim," McCoy announced wryly. "You can eat her share of bacon."

Elle scrambled out of the sleeping bag, tripping over her boots. "Wait, no, I'm up, I'm up!"

"Aw, darn," Kirk deadpanned.

They ate breakfast and then Kirk cleared his throat. "I have a surprise," he said. "Who wants to go horseback riding?"

Elle threw both hands up, nearly knocking over her plate. "Me!"

Everybody else agreed, so they cleaned up and headed down the trail to the main campground center. The stables were a little ways after that.

"Miniature ponies," Elle cooed, grabbing onto McCoy's arm. "Booones, look at the tiny baby ponies oh my goodness I love them so much."

The park ranger leaning against the fence let them inside and Elle got to cuddle with the tiny horses. "I'm in love," she said dramatically to Sulu. "I want one. Do you think it would fit in a Cargo container?"

"No," he said, amused. "And you already have a pet."

"I know, I know."

Once Elle managed to tear herself away from the miniature ponies, they were introduced to their actual mounts for the day.

"This is Buttercup," the ranger said, leading Elle to a golden horse with a dark brown mane. "She loves kids and she's the most gentle horse I've ever met."

Elle offered Buttercup a carrot and smiled at the horse. "Hi, Buttercup."

The horse nuzzled her face.

Elle giggled. "Nice."

Buttercup was already saddled and ready to go, and after a couple of false starts Elle managed to get on the horse.

The park ranger made them all do a practice circle around the paddock and then they were off on the trail.

"This is so cool," Elle said, for the fiftieth time, as they wound through the trees.

Buttercup tossed her head in seeming agreement.

Kirk turned his horse and came back around to them. "How we doing?" he asked.

"Totally awesome," Elle told him.

He grinned. "Good, I'm glad."

"Say cheese," McCoy said, holding up a holocamera and snapping a pic before they could move.

They followed the trail to the top of hte ridge and looked out over the entire cmapgrounds, the river in the distance. "Oh, this is nice," Morelos murmred, smiling.

Elle took back her holocamera and snapped a couple more pictures.

They went back down the trail and back to the stables. Elle's legs were stiff and she half-jumped, half-fell out of the saddle.

Kirk caught her before she could fall. "Whoop, easy there."

"Thanks, captain."

"Come on, Spock, you don't need to mind-meld with the horse," McCoy said irritably.

Spock ceased his staring contest with the horse, gave it a final pat on the nose, and fell in line next to McCoy. "I was not mind-melding with the horse," Spock protested. "One cannot mind-meld with a horse."

They bickered agreeably back down to the campsite, providing amusement for the rest of the party.

Elle helped make dinner that night: roasted vegetables and fish. "Is it cheating if we didn't catch this ourselves?"

"You can't fish in this river."

"Oh. Never mind."

After dinner they sang a truly atrocious rendition of Camptown Races and then Morelos played his guitar.

"I know that one," Elle realized as he played a soft Spanish melody. "My mom used to sing this." The memory sent a soft ache through her chest, but it wasn't the sharp pain she would have gotten a month ago. For better or worse, she was adapting to this universe. It was, nice. She leaned against McCoy and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Because, you know, sometimes a family was four space dads, a space mom, and four hundred space older siblings. Okay, that was enough fluff. Elle stuck a marshmallow in her mouth. She grinned. "You guys ever played Chubby Bunny?" she asked.