The week passed in a haze of ration packs and tea provided by Guinan, who took it upon herself to provide Elle with the news and general history of the last eighty years. Frankly, Elle didn't remember much of it. She did meet Counselor Troi, who urged her to look up counseling when she got to Earth, and she met Commander Data and Commander La Forge, who stared at her curiously when she mentioned she'd known Scotty. And she met Lt. Tasha Yar, whom she'd never imagined she'd meet in person.

Everyone else was a buzz of names, of faces, of troops. Nothing at all like Elle had thought of when she imagined the 24th century.

They arrived at Starbase 104, and the Enterprise offloaded injured troops, and Elle. "If anything happens," Elle told Picard and Guinan, who'd come to see her off, "you can comm me. Anything weird. If it's something from an episode, I can help."

Picard nodded stiffly. "Thank you," was all he said.

And that was it. Elle followed Lt. Brisbane, who was also headed to Earth, onto the troop transport, and the Enterprise was gone.

The journey to Earth passed in a daze, and then they were landing in a shuttle bay somewhere in California. Elle followed Lt. Brisbane off the ship, through security, and into the fresh air. It was bright.

"Elle!"

She whipped around. "Bones!" She ran to meet the aged doctor waiting for her and stopped in front of him, suddenly awkward. "You got old," she said.

He smiled at her. "And you didn't. Come here." He wrapped her in a strong hug and Elle burst into tears, clinging to him desperately. "I know, darlin', I know," he murmured, patting her back.

She sniffed and pulled away from him slightly, wiping her eyes. "It's really good to see you," she whispered.

"You too." His eyes were red, but smiled at her. He looked over at Lt. Brisbane. "I think I can take it from here, Lt, thank you. Dismissed."

"Sir." Brisbane gave Elle a smile, saluted, and walked away.

Now that Elle noticed... "You're an Admiral? Still?"

"Died with his boots on Bones, that's gonna be me," he grumbled, looping an arm through hers. "With the war, there's no such thing as retirement. You're talking to the Head of the Academy Medical Corps. I'm a teacher now, if you can believe it."

Elle could believe it. "Will I, be staying with you?"

"Of course." He patted her hand. "I live in Georgia, but we can commute." He faced her, his blue eyes somber. "I wish I could whisk you away and let you take it all in, but Command wants to debrief you immediately and in full."

"About what?"

"Anything and everything you know about this century," McCoy said. "Especially regarding the Klingons."

Elle nodded. "I want to help."

The next three days were grueling. McCoy was allowed to stay with her as Intelligence officers asked her questions regarding everything she knew from the time she'd left the original Enterprise to now. Elle figured, by the stardates and by the descriptions of the Enterprise-D battles they'd let slip, that they were somewhere in The Next Generation's third season. Which meant she'd been right, the Enterprise-C was going to pop up within the next few months.

They took her explanation of a creation paradox bubble timeline with skepticism, but they moved past it.

"What do you know of Klingon movements?"

"What do you know of Klingon hierarchies?"

"Do you know of any allies against the Klingons?"

"Do you know of any technology we can find to use against the Klingons?"

At the end of the third day, they were satisfied. "We'd like to offer you a position as a civilian consultant," the Admiral in charge of her case said. Admiral Haden. He looked vaguely familiar. From an episode?

Elle forced her attention back to the offer. "I accept."

-/\-

On the walk home from the transporter terminal, McCoy held her hand. "You could've said no," he chided gently. "You could've waited. If it's as you say, a year before this mess all clears up into the ether, you could've waited."

"They gave me two weeks to rest and read reports before I even have to go in," Elle replied.

"You just jumped eighty years into the future," McCoy said. "You need to take time to come to terms with that."

She closed her eyes against a hot burst of tears. "I have two weeks."

"That's not enough time, Elle, and you know it."

"You've been at war with the Klingons for twenty years," Elle said. "If I can give the Federation any help at all, then I want to do it."

"And what if you're wrong?" he asked quietly. "What if the Enterprise-C never reappears?"

Elle gave him a wobbly smile. "Then we'll just have to wait for the Borg and point them at the Klingons with all their superior cloaking technology."

"Elle!" he admonished, halfway between scandalized and amused.

She grinned at him. "Don't worry, Bones. It'll all be like none of this ever happened."

-/\-

Eight months later:

The fleet briefing was tedious, as they always were, and disheartening, more than they'd ever been. The fleet was hanging on through sheer grit and determination, but the Klingon area of influence was getting larger every week, and Federation casualties were growing larger ever day.

Elle went back to her office and threw her datapad on the desk. She flopped into her desk chair and contemplated the ceiling. "I've never had hard liquor but I feel like I could use some," she told the cactus. "Maybe some of Scotty's illegal gin we all pretended we never knew about."

It drooped in forlorn response.

"Aren't you a little too young to drink?"

Elle sat up and gave the newcomer a wry grin. "Admiral Paris. No sir, I've had synthehol wine with formal dinners since I was fifteen."

Admiral Paris grinned at her. "And what do you know about illegal gin on the Enterprise?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Elle replied blandly. "I certainly never saw any stills in the depths of the Jefferies Tubes or helped hide them from any starbase-appointed inspectors, at all."

He laughed. "Very noble of you," he drawled. His expression changed. "I don't know if you've heard. The Exeter..."

Elle bit her lip, looked away. "I haven't looked up any of the Enterprise's family relatives for a reason, Admiral," she said firmly. "I can't, I can't afford to grieve every grandson or great-nephew or, or whatever, of everyone that I knew before." But she did know, because it was Peter Kirk's eldest, his eldest who wasn't half-Klingon because here he'd never met a Klingon attache who didn't want to kill him, but he'd met a nice girl nonetheless and they'd had four kids, four kids who'd gone on to serve in Star Fleet, and his eldest had died on the Exeter-

"Of course," he said. "I'm sorry."

They chatted for a moment about Bones' new lecture designed to make cadets cry in three minutes or less, and then he moved on to another meeting.

Elle wondered if in this universe Tom Paris would die in the Alpha Quadrant instead of surviving in the Delta. She shook her head. He was still an underclassman, he had time-

"Incoming priority signal from the Enterprise. Incoming priority signal from the Enterprise."

Elle slammed the accept button, her heart rising in her throat as she leaned forward.

The Enterprise conference room resolved onto her monitor. Captain Picard stood there, next to a woman with tired resolve in her eyes, wearing an out of date uniform. Picard gave a small smile. "Elle. May I introduce Captain Rachel Garrett of the Enterprise-C?"

"Captain," Elle breathed. "It's an honor to meet you."

Captain Garrett inclined her head, looking vaguely confused. "I understand you know the situation? You have a mission for us?"

Elle nodded, sobering. "Yes ma'am. We need you to save the Klingon outpost on Narendra III."

-/\-

Their conversation lasted all of seven minutes, too unstable a line to maintain for long. Both captains of both Enterprises knew what was at stake, knew what they needed to do.

"We'll keep you updated."

"Thank you, sir."

"Enterprise out."

Elle allowed herself one minute to breathe, to center herself, to panic- what if something goes wrong what if- cast out fear, cast out fear, trust in the timeline, come on Elle- to center herself, and then called McCoy.

"I have two minutes between classes, what's up?" he asked, looking frazzled.

She beamed at him. "The C. It's here. They've arrived. We're almost done, Bones."

There was a long pause as he stared at her. "How long, do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know. Hours. A day, maybe. I'm going to stay here to stay on top of any updates."

"All right." He gave her a soft smile. "I don't expect you'd have left the Enterprise during peacetime, but I'm glad you spent this last year with me, even if we won't remember it."

She quirked a soft smile. "Me too, Bones."

After Bones she let the fleet admirals know, all the ones who'd been briefed on her foreknowledge. After that, it was just a matter of waiting.

She paced, and she drank coffee, and she paced, and she drank more coffee.

Seven hours after the first conversation, Elle got another priority message from the Enterprise. Text only this time. Captain Garrett is dead, result of Klingon skirmish. Lt. Castillo has assumed command and will take the Ent-C back through the rift. ETA approx 4 hours.

Elle forwarded the message, and resumed pacing. Four hours. She pulled up the live map of the sector the Enterprise was in and stared at those little transponder dots. There were two of them, both keyed to the silvery-blue which meant Enterprise. She couldn't do anything to help, couldn't assure any success of the mission. She couldn't even prepare to announce that the war would be ending, because in four hours there would be nothing to end. None of this would have ever happened. Elle wouldn't even remember, not if it was like Spock's brief disappearance from the timeline.

Bones appeared in her office an hour later, bearing takeout from a Chinese restaurant on the Bay. "Can't go switchin' timelines on an empty stomach," he told her. "Doctor's orders."

They sat on her desk and ate, nerves keyed higher than ever before.

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, Elle received another transmission. A piece of the Enterprise's official log. A black box recording.

"Military log, supplemental. Lieutenant Tasha Yar has transferred to the Enterprise-C, where she has taken over tactical duties. Meanwhile, our long-range scanners have picked up Klingon battle cruisers on an intercept course." There was a pause, a beep. A switching of audio tracks from captain's log to all-call. "Attention all hands. As you know, we could outrun the Klingon vessels. But we must protect the Enterprise-C until she enters the temporal rift. And we must succeed! Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise. Picard out."

Elle and Bones looked at each other. Then looked at the live schematic of the sector. A cluster of red dots.

"They die," Elle blurted. "They die in the last minute, protecting the Enterprise-C."

"Just wait," McCoy murmured, reaching out for her hand. "Just wait, darlin'."

One minute tracked by. Another minute. One of the red dots blinked out. Just one. The others converged on the two Enterprise's.

Elle couldn't blink as she tracked those dots. They were all on top of each other, close enough to touch in the holo-display.

One of the blue dots disappeared. The Enterprise-C. "Bones," Elle breathed, "Bones, they did it..." She watched in horror as the remaining blue dots winked out in a flash of red-

-/\-

"-and it was the most awkward breakfast I've ever had in my life, Elle, please come next Thursday I don't think I can stand it if I have to sit there and watch them make eyes at each other and have Captain Picard ask me about my homework-"

Elle cackled in hysterical laughter, practically crying into her strawberry lemonade. "I'll come," she wheezed, "just to see your face-"

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it is-" She broke off laughing as Guinan bolted past them to press her hands to the transparent aluminum window. "Guinan?" Elle stood up and approached the El-Aurian. "Is everything okay?"

Guinan just kept staring.

Elle faced the window, and saw what looked like a ghostly nebula appear, just for a split second, before fading. If she hadn't been looking, she wouldn't have noticed anything at all. "What was that?" she asked.

"A sign," Guinan murmured, shaking her head. "Elle can you do me a favor?"

"Of course."

"Go up to the bridge, see if anything's wrong."

"Sure." Elle gestured to Wesley to keep an eye on Guinan and went up to the bridge.

"Ah, Elle, perfect timing," Picard said, waving her over to stand with him near Data's station. "We've just encountered a sort of spatio-temporal anomaly."

"We just saw it, in Ten-Forward," Elle replied. "What kind is it?"

"We don't know."

Worf frowned. "Sir, I- Readings fluctuated momentarily. It appeared to be a ship, but then it vanished."

"The phenomenon is closing in on itself, Captain," Data reported.

Picard shrugged. "Very well. Prepare a class one sensor probe. We'll leave it behind to monitor the final closure. Mr. Lyell, lay in a course for Archer Four."

Elle watched them launch the probe and stared at the fading phenomenon. For some reason, it made her skin crawl.

Picard smiled at her. "Seems like we won't be having an adventure today," he remarked lightly.

"No, we won't," Elle replied, giving him an absent smile.

"Elle, you feel very unsettled," Deanna said, dark eyes concerned. "Are you all right? Were you expecting something to happen?"

"No... Guinan asked me to come up, make sure everything was all right..." Elle frowned and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "That time rift gave me the heebie jeebies. I'll have to tell Bones about it tonight when I go home."

They stared at her. "Go, home?" Data asked, turning around to look at her.

"To Georgia," Elle said absently, "I'm not sleeping over in my office anymore, that couch is evil," and then blinked as her own words registered in her brain. "Georgia?"

"Are you sure you're all right?" Deanna asked, coming up to her and resting a hand on Elle's wrist, checking her pulse.

Elle shook her head. "I, I don't know why I said that, I haven't been to Earth in..." She frowned. "But I was just there..."

"You said it was a time rift," Riker stated. "What made you call it that?"

"The ship," Elle said, feeling strangely dizzy. "Lt. Yar, did you see what ship it was?"

Everyone on the bridge stilled. "Who?" Deanna asked, her manner rather too calm.

Elle blinked, trying to remember. "No, sorry. I mean Worf. Lt. Yar transferred to the Enterprise-C right before it went back."

"The Enterprise-C?" Picard echoed, surprised.

"This is an episode," Elle told them. "Yesterday's Enterprise. I think that was the rift. It had to be. The timing's right, and if nothing happened that means that the loop closed itself... But it's weird, I, I feel like I was there. But I wasn't there, because you shipped me to Earth right away."

"Let's get you to sickbay," Deanna suggested, wrapping an arm around Elle's shoulders. "Come on."

"You said Guinan sent you up here to check on things?" Picard asked.

"Yes, sir," Elle replied, shaking her head to try and shake out the buzzing in her head. "She's been sending me reports. She knew it wasn't right either."

"What wasn't right?" Deanna asked.

"The war," Elle said, closing her eyes against a wave of vertigo. "We were at war with the Klingons."

"Number One, ask Guinan to meet us in sickbay," Picard ordered. He took Elle's other elbow and helped her into the turbolift. "Come along, my dear."

She leaned against him as a migraine bloomed to life. "You were never this nice to me in the war," she told him, closing her eyes against the bright lights. "Too many other things going on."

"I see," Picard said. "And you said the Enterpise-C was there?"

"For a day," Elle replied. "I knew it was coming. Nobody really believed me. Except Guinan. She knew it wasn't right. Bones was happy though. I was on Earth, with Bones, this whole last year."

"You've been on the Enterprise with us, Elle," Deanna reminded her.

"Oh I know," Elle assured her, "but I was there, too. My head really hurts."

"I'm sure it does," Picard said, and urged her forward again.

Elle let them pull her into sickbay, and she collapsed on the bio-bed, hiding her face in the flat pillow. "Migraine," she grumbled, as Dr. Crusher's scanner beeped insistently. "Make it stop."

The beep was silenced.

Elle focused on not letting her brain come out her ears as the adults conferred above her head.

"She said she and Guinan both registered this temporal rift. Elle says that it was the Enterprise-C, returning to the past," Picard said. "Since then she's been..."

"Confused," Troi continued. "She said she was going home this evening to Dr. McCoy, to Georgia, realized her mistake, then asked for Lt. Yar to identify the ship in the anomaly."

"She never even met Tasha," Dr. Crusher said.

"I have too," Elle protested.

"Exactly. But she seems convinced that there was something happening, an alternate timeline perhaps, or-"

"You sent for me, captain?" Guinan interrupted, coming over to them. "What's wrong with Elle?"

Elle lifted her head up from the safety of the pillow. "Tell them," she demanded, squinting, "tell them about the rift. The alternate timeline. You feel it too, don't you Guinan?"

Guinan pressed Elle's head back into the pillow. "It's okay," she said gently. "Elle's right, captain." She explained the events, the feeling she got from the events, her suspicion that a version of Lt. Tasha Yar was somewhere in the past. "But I don't know why Elle would be remembering such vivid details," she said.

"Could it be her esper rating influencing her memory?" Dr. Crusher asked.

"It didn't do the same thing last time," Elle grumbled, voice muffled in the pillow. "I don't remember anything from the whole two years we supposedly had an Andorian first officer. I remember the episode, obviously, but not what actually happened."

"So why is this different?" Picard asked. His hand was on Elle's shoulder, warm and grounding.

"Well whatever it is, she's got a whopper migraine and her vitals are in distress," Dr. Crusher said. "Elle, I'm going to give you some painkillers and a sedative, okay? Just to get you over the headache."

There was a hiss, and Elle faded out with a sigh of relief.