A/N: Hi! One day late - been building a pergola for our climbing roses.

Elle watched the Vulcan embassy insignia spin on the screen. It rotated at the perfect tempo to induce a calm mental state the longer you stared at it (sneaky much, customer service?).

Spock appeared on the screen. "Elle," he said, his expression waffling between pleasure and concern. "Are you well?"

"I'm good," Elle assured him. "Just called to talk, if you have time."

"I have time," Spock said, pushing some PADDS onto the side of his desk. "How have you been?"

Elle smiled. "Actually really good. I've got friends in each of my classes, I've memorized most of the layout of the ship, and, I'm making friends with all of the senior officers. I've got full permission to be on the bridge."

Spock's eyes crinkled in a smile. "I'm glad you are finding your place on the Enterprise."

"Oh," Elle said, "and I met regular Vulcans."

He blinked. "Regular Vulcans? Clarify."

"Regular, non-Old-Clan, not-traditional Vulcans," Elle said. "How come you didn't tell me I had posh Vulcan accent? They figured out who I was on my first day of school!"

Spock's eyebrows went up. He pressed his lips together, and his shoulders started to shake.

"Don't laugh!" Elle accused. "I knew it! I knew it when I saw the butler and you didn't say anything! They think I'm weird and formal!"

"As befits a member of the Clan of Surak," Spock intoned, still smirking through his eyebrows.

"Spooooooock," Elle complained.

He shook his head, openly amused. "And have you sworn them to secrecy?"

"I couldn't," Elle said, leaning on her elbows, "I had to tell my teacher why I didn't want to take Vulcan II."

"How did that go?" he asked.

"Well after I recited all of Surak's teachings in original dialect I got the credits as audit," Elle replied. "So I'm working on Pre-Reformation literature with Selek, who's my color theory seatmate, once we finish Homer. We're reading poetry together."

"Fascinating," Spock said. "Are there any emotions involved?"

"Emotions?" Elle asked, and then turned scarlet at the implication of it. "Ew! Spock! No! I don't have a crush on him, that's so weeeeird, don't make it weird."

"Do you have a crush on anyone else?" Spock asked.

Elle glared at him. "When did you become a grandma?" she asked. "You have spent way too much time in Georgia with Bones' family."

"That is possibly true," Spock said placidly, "nevertheless, you did not answer the question."

Elle rolled her eyes. "No, I don't have a crush on anybody. Can we change the subject now?"

Thanks to the Great Bird, Spock mercifully changed the subject. "What are you covering in your classes?"

She told him.

"You were worried about connecting to these senior officers," Spock said, "how is your rapport with Captain Picard progressing?"

Elle blinked. "Did you, are you and Bones sharing notes about me?"

"You are our only shared protege," Spock said dryly, "of course we are."

She snorted. "So I don't need to call him after you?"

"If you would like to receive a scolding over video message, then go ahead," Spock said.

Elle shuddered theatrically. "No thank you." She smiled and rested her chin on her hand. "Captain Picard and I talk about books, and command decisions, oh, and piloting, and today we talked a little about archaeology. He's awesome. And, Dr. Crusher makes him read in all her Shakespeare things, so that's always good. He's way less uptight than on the show."

Spock nodded. "Good."

She regarded him through the screen. "So how are you doing? What are you doing nowadays anyways?"

"Diplomacy," Spock said, deadpan.

"Fascinating," Elle said, in the same tone. "Oh! I forgot I was gonna tell you, okay, so I know you're not talking about it, but I don't know what's changed in that respect, but anyway, if you're gonna take off in the next couple of years to the other side of the Neutral Zone, you should probably let people know you're not rogue, or a traitor, or something. You know. So the Enterprise doesn't have to come after you. And so on."

Spock stared at her. "You are speaking of the unification of Vulcans and Romulans?"

"Yeah. It was an episode, highly dramatic, but I know nothing's going to stop you, so, leave a sticky note or something."

Spock regarded her steadily. "Elle, don't you know who the Romulan emperor is?"

She blinked. "No. Why would I know that? I don't know any Romulans that aren't ship captains."

He started to smile. "I shall give you a hint. You predicted her rise to power when she was a mere 'ship's captain.'"

Elle's jaw dropped. "No. For real?!"

"For real," Spock assured her.

"Commander Ael is really the empress?" Elle shrieked, maxing out the microphone and making him wince. "That's so cool! Did you really sneak McCoy onto the planet? And help her take power from the senate? She got to take the Sword of S'task?"

"All that," Spock confirmed. "She has not been deposed as yet, and I highly doubt she will be, unless she allows herself to retire. There are rumors, however, that the Praetorate and the Tal Shiar are once again dividing into polarized factions, which has led to a rise in tensions between the Federation and the Romulans."

"I know the emperor of the Romulan empire, personally," Elle marveled. "She's so cool." Possibilities spiraled in front of her eyes. Peace with Romulans? Treaties? Unification smoother than ever? Maybe with Ael as the ruler the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek universe won't even hap-" She blanched. "Spock! The supernova." She gripped at her hair in panic. "The supernova- I completely forgot about- you- I- the Romulans need to have more colonies outside of the Rihan star system or they'll be decimated!"

Spock squinted at her, concerned. "Elle, deep breath," he said firmly. "From the beginning."

Elle inhaled, filled her cheeks with air like a chipmunk, and exhaled slowly, her thoughts settling like scattered leaves instead of fireworks. "About fifty, eighty years from now, the Romulan homestar goes supernova. Everybody in that star sytem ... they die."

"And the Federation does nothing to assist them?" Spock asked.

"I don't know, the movies never said, we never got clarification. I wonder if they ever did explain after I left, but anyways, something happened, it was too sudden, and the only one that went to assist was you."

"And I failed," Spock guessed.

Elle dropped her gaze.

"I see," Spock said, steepling his fingers. "As of now, the Romulans have expanded their resources into better colonies, but most of them, approx 900 million, still live on the two home planets."

Elle grimaced. "We gotta warn them. Start getting them out of there."

"It may take that long to convince them to do anything," Spock warned her. "And it is highly unlikely they will believe anything Federation scientists say."

"But you'll try, right?" Elle asked.

"I would hardly be a proponent for unification if I instead condoned their inadvertent genocide," Spock said mildly, which meant 'yes, duh, of course.'

"Okay, okay, that's good. And if I meet any Romulans I can put a flea in their ear, too," Elle said. "Maybe all the factions will work together on this."

Spock smiled at her. "Your optimism is heartening," he said. "I am glad."

-/\-

Elle logged off with Spock after that, promises of, "yes, I will send you video messages, yes, I will call you if I need diplomatic immunity, yes, I will be careful, love you too."

She ate lunch, took Simba the Third for a stroll through the arboretum where Simba the Third almost ate a cluster of blueberries. "Listen to me," Elle said, lifting Simba the Third to eye-level. "You are not having babies. You are way too young, and nobody wants any tribbles right now. And if you fill this ship with tribbles the captain will ship us both back to the 23rd century so chill, okay?"

Simba the Third cooed.

"Good," Elle said, tucking Simba firmly into her hoodie pocket. "I'm glad we understand each other."

Bones answered on the second ring. "Elle!" he said, pleased as punch. "How are ya, darlin'? Everything okay?"

"Everything's good," Elle reassured him. "Just called to shoot the breeze, as you like to say."

He leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes as bright and piercing as ever as his gaze swept over her. "You talk to Spock recently?" he asked.

She frowned at him. "I just got off the comm with him before lunch. Are you sure you're not telepathic in your old age?"

He chortled. "Not telepathic, dear. Just familiar with one half-Vulcan. You two have a nice talk?"

"Yeah." She regarded him suspiciously. "That's your 'counselor' voice. Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," McCoy said. "He was just concerned that you hadn't called him personally yet. That you might-" he shifted uneasily. "That you might blame him."

"For what?" Elle asked.

"Don't make me say it."

"For not reaching me in time?" Elle asked.

Bones winced. "Or you could say it, that's fine."

"That's dumb," Elle protested. "I'm not allowed to blame myself, he's not allowed to blame himself."

"You try getting it through his thick Vulcan skull," Bones said, rolling his eyes. His gaze turned back towards her. "Are you sure that you're not angry at him?"

Elle slumped back in her chair and picked up Simba the Third for comfort. "I wanted to be," she admitted quietly. "I almost was. But I've been talking to Counselor Troi, and you, and I've decided it's nobody's fault. Just, a hungry mega-shark. I'm not mad. I'm just, sad. Sometimes. And a little homesick. But I've got friends here, and I've still got you and Spock, so I can't really be mad, can I?"

"If that's how you feel."

"It is." She squinted at him. "Do I need to call him again or will he get embarrassed?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Bones asked, amused.

"Not old Spock," Elle said. "He's more mysterious."

Bones snorted. "I'll send him another lecture. And if that doesn't work, we can pull out the big guns. I'll call Saavik."

"Saavik," Elle realized. "Where is she?"

"Captaining a science vessel near the edges of the galaxy, poking at quasars," Bones said. "Spock's very proud of his proteges. You're on the flagship, she's a captain, the other one's an ambassador to the Klingons... oh. That reminds me."

"Who's an ambassador to the Klingons?" Elle interrupted, flipping through her mental cast of characters.

"One of Peter Kirk's kids," McCoy said. "You remember him?"

Elle choked on a floating tribble hair as she gasped. "Peter Kirk? He has kids?"

"Grandkids. Great-grandkids, by now." McCoy fidgeted. "He heard you came back. He wants to know if he can call you, catch up."

"Yeah," Elle said, dazed, "yeah that'd be great."

"All right. I'll tell him." He fidgeted again. "And, uh, it's too soon maybe, to have one of Jim's great-grandkids call you?"

Elle froze. "Wh- oh. Oh yeah. David. He had kids? Uh-"

"Never mind, forget I mentioned it," Bones said hastily.

Elle picked at her sleeve. "Maybe you'd better send me some family photo albums, or something. I've been picking at news articles and official reports, but I totally forgot the captain had David. Did the Genesis planet happen?"

"The what?"

"Never mind." Elle chewed at her lip. Wrath of Khan really didn't happen then? "So there's a bunch of Kirks running around the galaxy?" she asked instead.

McCoy's frown went fond. "Yup. And space-nerds, all of 'em. A few took after Carol, more science-y, but none of them stayed on Earth."

Elle smiled. "Sounds terrifying."

"Tell me about it," McCoy said. "I'm the one who has to read the reports in medicine and bio."

"You're still working?" Elle asked.

"Lurking in Star Fleet Medical," McCoy said dryly, "like the ghost of Star Fleet past."

Elle snorted. "Okay, Scrooge."