Elle woke up with an intense craving for bacon. "Vegetarian planet," she scolded herself. "Bad Elle." She got dressed and went out to the dining room.
Everyone else was already up. Amanda was conferring with Storel about something household-ish, confirming Elle's suspicion that Storel was their Alfred. She served herself some oatmeal and juice and dug in.
"After you tour the VSA this morning, T'Pau wishes to see you about putting Elle on the clan registry," Sarek informed Spock.
Spock's hand froze halfway to the teacup. "The clan registry?" he echoed.
"Are you not her primary guardian?"
"The Enterprise command crew has primary guardianship," Spock replied.
"I have six fathers, one mom, and over four hundred siblings," Elle said, mock-complaining. "I could be locked in a 'go-ask-your-father' loop for days."
Amanda snorted into her teacup. "The point still stands, T'Pau wishes to meet her newest great-grandchild."
Spock looked like he was trying very hard not to choke.
"She referred to you as her adoptive father," Sarek added, looking smug.
Elle stuffed oatmeal in her mouth instead of trying to say something. This didn't seem like it was actually about her.
"We will go see her after the midday meal," Spock finally said. He nodded to Elle.
Elle half-raised her hand. "So, what does that mean?" she asked.
"That that's your permanent room, now," Amanda said. "And that incidentally we've adopted Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy as well." She smiled.
"I thought we had already adopted them," Sarek said.
"True."
Spock very wisely put more food in his mouth instead of saying something.
-/\-
The VSA was so cool. It was a scientists' paradise. It was... "Spock, do you realize that almost every person you pass looks like they have a crush on you?" Elle asked, resisting the urge to tug on his sleeve.
Spock's eyebrows went all the way up. "That would be illogical."
"That Vulcan back there literally had heart-eyes."
"Your heart cannot be in your eyes."
"Uh-huh. Tell that to Jim Kirk."
Spock rolled his eyes. "The captain's ability to project human emotions onto his own face is not an ability shared by full-blooded Vulcans."
"And yet, that girl asked you for comm number."
Spock sighed. "Do you want to see the historical observatory or do you want to debate the odds of my popularity?" he asked.
Elle folded her hands primly. "The historical observatory, please."
"Very well."
-/\-
"Spock."
"Yes?"
"Your grandma lives in a castle."
"A fortress," Spock corrected.
"You're not helping your case for not being a prince."
"Be that as it may." He gave her a look as they walked up to the front doors of the 'house'. "T'Pau is the matriarch of the clan and you will give her all due respect."
"Yes sir. She gets all the respect. She's scary."
Spock almost smirked. "Yes, she is."
They were admitted, all the retainers or servants or whatever they were pointedly not-staring at Elle. She shifted closer to Spock. This whole house/fortress felt, heavy. Heavy with history and the weight of, something.
She stood up straight and tried not to fidget.
"T'Pau will see you now," the young Vulcan woman said, ushering Spock and Elle forward.
T'Pau was a tiny, wrinkled woman that looked kind of like Elle's abuela in Mexico, but with pointed ears and an inimitable aura of power and gravitas. Elle resisted the urge to hide behind Spock. T'Pau looked them up and down and came from behind her equally-imposing desk. "Spock," she said in Vulcan, so technically 'Spohk', with a long 'o'.
"Grandmother," Spock said, bowing his head respectfully.
T'pau turned her attention to Elle. "Eleanor," she said.
Elle bowed her head. "T'Sai T'Pau."
"You are very young," T'Pau said, her tone almost, fond? She reached out and cupped Elle's cheek with her cool, dry palm.
Elle felt the brush of a powerful, wise mind against her mental shields and held very still, letting the matriarch find what she was looking for.
T'Pau stepped back, seemingly satisfied. "You will be a great influence on the galaxy," she declared, the same way grandmothers would always proclaim, "Oh, she's gonna be a heartbreaker."
Elle didn't know what to say so she just stayed quiet and bit her lip.
T'Pau glanced between Spock and Elle and nodded. "Your captain knows we will be giving her Vulcan citizenship?" she asked.
Spock nodded. "I discussed it with Captain Kirk this morning. He is amenable, and the senior officers, we, are grateful that our clan will support Elle in this time and place."
"You will always have a place on Vulcan with the Clan of Surak," T'Pau said to Elle, meeting her gaze, and it sounded like a vow.
Elle bowed her head again. "I am honored," she murmured in Vulcan, the words in Standard not formal enough.
T'Pau rested a hand on Elle's head for a moment and then went back behind her desk. "I am sure your father would not be averse to showing Eleanor the embassy," she said, a clear dismissal.
Spock nodded and ushered Elle towards the door. "Live long and prosper, grandmother."
"Peace and long life, Spock, Eleanor."
They exited the office and were escorted to the front lobby. Elle didn't say anything until they were in the car, headed back to the city.
"That was kind of weird, right?" Elle asked. "That felt kinda weird. Like she was telling my future."
"I have never known T'Pau to be xenophobic in the least," Spock replied. "And clan matriarchs are very good at knowing where their children are."
"I'm confused."
"Do not be." He rested a hand on her knee for a moment, solid and comforting. "You will have a home on Vulcan as long as you or your children live."
"I'm so not having kids."
"We shall see, ax'nav."
"If you want grandkids you're gonna have to make your own child."
Spock snorted. "Highly unlikely."
-/\-
Apparently, seeing Sarek with a human child at his elbow was not a strange enough sight-no one in the Vulcan embassy gave them a second glance. Either that or the Vulcans chosen to represent their planet just had poker faces better than anyone else in the galaxy. Elle frowned. "Are you sure you haven't adopted a child named Michael at some point in your life?" she asked.
Sarek frowned. "Michael? Michael Burnham?"
Elle's heart sank. "Yeah..."
"I had custody of her for three days before her parents were found," Sarek said, raising an eyebrow. "How would you know of this?"
"Uh... never mind."
He gave her a Look but dropped it.
What followed was a primer on 'how to use your newly-acquired diplomatic immunity no matter what planet you're on and not get thrown in jail for misuse of diplomatic privileges'. He also gave her the private comm numbers of five Highly Important People in case of Emergencies.
Elle blinked down at the piece of real-life paper in her hand. "You want me to memorize the Federation President's house number?"
"One should always be prepared," Sarek said serenely.
"He doesn't even know who I am!"
Sarek gave her an eyebrow. "You are from an alternate universe with extensive classified knowledge extending through the Federation and its enemies, Elle. He knows who you are."
Elle gulped. "Well that's terrifying."
"That may be, but you know that he knows."
Elle blinked a few times, considering this. "Leverage?" she asked.
"Of a sort."
"Cool." She focused on memorizing the comm code and once she could recite it perfectly, Sarek burned the paper in the little incense firepot. Elle rested her chin in her hand and watched the paper curl up and grey to ash, the lefover incense wafting to her nose. "Sarek?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you all so invested in this? In me?"
Sarek sat across from her, dignified and resplendent in his robes. "You have saved four hundred and fifty-nine Vulcans in the eight months you have been here, Elle. You assisted my family in healing a breach long overdue. You are my son's legal ward. How could Amanda and I not be invested?"
She blushed to her ears and ducked her head down. "Cool. Um, I'm pretty invested in you guys, too."
He catered to her human emotional needs and patted her arm. "Come along," he said, the moment broken. "I'm sure Spock has found the captain and Doctor McCoy by now."
Spock had indeed found Captain Kirk and Bones, and the four of them said goodbye to Sarek, grabbed lunch in the Human Quarter of Shi'Kahr, "that is NOT a burger, Jim", and went to a park on the outskirts of the city. Being Vulcan, the park was mainly composed of rocks and dune grass, but it was still beautiful.
Elle trailed home after Spock, her face red from mild sunburn. Amanda fussed over her and pulled out frozen chocolate-covered banana squares. Elle could get used to being the spoiled one pretty quickly, all right.
The last day of their leave was spent at the house with Amanda, Sarek, Spock, Kirk, and McCoy, just talking and eating various snacks that Storel kept bringing. It was hilarious to see Amanda boss all three of her "Star Fleet sons" around. "Seriously, though, it is good to know that there's a backup plan in case of, things," Kirk said, glancing at Elle and back to Sarek.
"T'Pau was quite taken with her," Sarek said. "She has always had a fondness for fearless young ones."
"That's why Spock's her favorite," Amanda chimed in.
"Elle is indeed quite fearless when expressing herself to various figures of authority," Spock said, slanting his eyes at her.
Elle blushed. "Hey! I've never back-talked you guys, that's not fair!"
"You literally just yelled at a commodore five days ago," Kirk pointed out. "You yelled at the ambassador when you met him."
Elle's blush turned violently red and she could swear her head was going to catch on fire. "That don't count! They were being dumb! I mean, you know what I mean." She waved a hand awkwardly. "Sorry."
"As I said," Sarek said smugly, without an ounce of embarrassment, "fearless."
Elle pouted into her iced tea. "Just wait till you guys try and make me do something dumb, you'll see fearless," she threatened half-heartedly.
Kirk laughed and reached over to kiss her forehead. "Whatever, kiddo."
She took another bite of her mini-quiche. "Hmph."
Leaving Vulcan later that day was hard. "Comm me whenever you want to practice your Vulcan," Amanda told her, giving her a good motherly hug. "And whenever you can come back to Vulcan for vacation, let me know and you'll have a place here."
"Thank you." Elle hugged her back tightly and then stepped back to bow at Sarek. "Thank you for your hospitality."
"You are welcome at any time," he said, giving her a barely-there smile. "Live long and prosper."
"Peace and long life." She left the house and waited with Kirk and Bones to wait for Spock to make his own goodbyes. She tilted her face up to the sky, absorbing the last of the real sunlight.
"You're gonna start peeling," Bones warned.
"Don't care."
Two hours later, she definitely cared. A little bit. On the plus side, she terrified the Rigelian ensign when her nose started to peel in the rec deck. "Humans molt? That's disgusting!"
Elle laughed so hard her nose hurt. It was totally worth it.