Spock had stuff to do, as befits the XO of the flagship, so he stayed behind at HQ. Kirk and Elle got a long-range transporter beam to Riverside, Iowa.

"Welcome to the Kirk farmhouse," the captain said, gesturing to the comfortably old ranch home.

Elle spotted the security field emitter under a defunct tractor and the comm. array under the eaves of the house. "Oh, okay, I was worried for a second," she said. "I thought your family, was like, crazy old-school. Like Captain Picard."

Kirk stifled a laugh. "Good eye. We gotta have a line of defense against intruders and reporters. Don't draw attention to them."

"I won't." Elle dragged her feet, trying to peer into the barn. "Is that a working barn? Do you have horses? Do you have cows?"

"We have horses, and a couple of alpacas," Kirk replied.

A quiet 'moo' drifted from the open barn door.

"And I guess we replaced the cow," Kirk said, shrugging. He led Elle up to the front door and knocked.

"Hun, Cale's here," a woman's voice hollered as she pulled open the door. She stopped halfway and gaped at them. "Jimmy!"

Kirk took the bear hug like a pro and squeezed his mother tight. "Mom. Hi."

She kissed his cheek and leaned back to look at him. "Welcome back, Jim."

Elle's breath caught in her throat at the warm reunion between mother and son. I miss my mom. She didn't have time to mope, because Mrs. Kirk had noticed her and started glancing between Kirk and Elle.

"And who's this?" she asked, giving her son a sharp look.

"Mom, this is Elle Wilcott. She's a civilian currently living on the Enterprise with us."

"Your parent's serving on the Enterprise?" Mrs. Kirk asked.

Elle opened her mouth, closed it, and glared at Kirk.

He grimaced. "I may have forgotten to inform them since you were staying on the Enterprise anyways?" he said sheepishly.

Mrs. Kirk folded her arms, and yup, that Look came from his mom's side of the family. "What's going on?"

Kirk put an arm around Elle's shoulders. "Elle is a ward of Star Fleet. My senior officers and I are her guardians."

Mrs. Kirk's eyes softened. "Oh. Why didn't you say so?" She reached out and pulled Elle into a hug. "Welcome to Iowa, sweetheart."

Elle closed her eyes tightly and soaked up as much warmth as she could. "Thank you, ma'am," she said, upon being released.

"Where are you from originally, honey?" Mrs. Kirk asked, ushering both of them into the living room.

"Uh, Oregon?" Elle said, startled by the question.

Kirk laughed. "It's all right, Elle, my parents have clearance. You can tell them the truth."

Elle sagged in relief. "Okay, good, because I'm really bad at cover stories."

"Yes, I've noticed," Kirk drawled.

Elle faced his mom. "I'm from 21st century Oregon, in a different universe. Different Earth."

Mrs. Kirk's jaw dropped. "Well that's different," was all she said. "How long have you been here?"

"Like, eight months?" Elle said. "I don't really get the whole stardate thing still."

"Eight months," Kirk confirmed.

Mrs. Kirk turned to her son. "And you've gone eight months without informing your parents that you have a kid, now?"

"Who has a what-now?" another voice asked, and the older, broader, version of James Kirk walked in the room. "Jim!"

Kirk smiled. "Dad."

Elle watched them hug. She hadn't known that Kirk's dad lasted this long. Okay, no, that sounds bad. Uhhhh... She was still stuck on when George Kirk, Sr. was supposed to have disappeared/died when both men turned to her.

"Dad, this is the Enterprise's newest member, Elle Wilcott. Elle, my dad."

Elle shook his hand. "Sir."

He smiled at her. "So you're the mission consultant everybody's so fired up about?"

Elle blinked. "I guess?"

"Who's everybody?" Kirk asked sharply.

Mr. (Commander?) Kirk patted his son on the back. "Just a few admirals, son, and the Vulcan ambassador. I didn't know she was so young... I assumed that my own son would tell me when he'd adopted a kid."

Kirk rubbed the back of his neck. "Eh-heh."

Seeing the infamous Captain Kirk being scolded by his parents... Elle bit her lip but she couldn't help her shoulders shaking.

"Coffee's ready," Mrs. Kirk announced, breaking the moment. A faint beeping from the kitchen seconded her words.

"Mm, coffee," Kirk said, and disappeared into the kitchen, his mom on his heels.

Elle looked up at Commander Kirk. He smiled down at her. She bounced once on her heels and grinned up uncertainly.

"So...besides spearheading the initiative to put civilians on starships, are you really a civilian mission consultant?"

Elle nodded. "It's really exciting, when stuff is going on. And it's, educational, when it's not exciting. Sometimes its educational and exciting. Mostly in Engineering, when things are blowing up and Scotty's bellowing at redshirts."

Commander Kirk laughed. "That sounds great." He leaned forward, a conspiratorial look on his face. "So. If the senior officers are your guardians... what book are you and Jim reading?"

Elle smiled. "Right now we're reading 1984."

The senior Kirk's eyebrows went up. "Heavy reading material for a kid," he said, noncommital.

Elle scoffed. "You should see the books where I come from. They don't even have the Divergent or the Hunger Games series, or Lord of the Flies in this universe."

Commander Kirk stared at her. "What... what is the Hunger Games about?"

"Where they choose one person from each district to fight to the death in the arena, and how the totalitarian government, and then the rebellion, manipulate the latest winner of the games for their own purposes," Elle replied.

He gaped at her. "Your universe is very, uh..."

"It's the worst," Elle agreed.

"...Is the Lord of the Flies a religious tome?" he asked.

Elle cracked up. "Nope. Really, really, nope."

Kirk walked back into the living room, two cups of coffee in hand. "Here, Elle."

She accepted the sturdy mug and sipped it. She squinted at him suspiciously. "Is there even any coffee in this milk?"

"Stunts your growth," Kirk replied serenely. "This is how me and Sam used to drink it."

"Oh."

The doorbell rang. "That should be Cale," Commander Kirk said, glancing around for his shoes. "Hun, where-"

"Upstairs, I'll get 'em. Don't leave him standing outside, George."

Kirk Sr. opened the door. "Come in, come in." He and the the sturdy, older man bro-hugged in greeting. "You remember my son, James Kirk?"

"James," the man said, shaking the captain's hand with a brief smile.

"And this is Elle Wilcott, the Enterprise's cilivian mission consultant. Elle, this is Cale Sanderson, a diplomatic advisor to the Federation and the man I'm in charge of babysitting."

Cale Sanderson rolled his eyes at Kirk Sr. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Wilcott," he said.

Elle put a closed fist over her chest and bowed. "Sir. It's an honor."

Both men froze. Captain Kirk, standing off to the side, looked absolutely delighted at their struck expressions.

"An interesting greeting," Cale said, his voice slightly strangled.

Elle raised an eyebrow. "I figured you had to be homesick by now."

"Who is this?" Cale asked, looking at Captain Kirk.

Kirk grinned. "She's a nerd from another universe whose favorite subject was the adventures of the Enterprise, even before the Enterprise was named." He grinned as both men paled. "I can't believe you didn't tell me you served on the Enterprise, dad."

"It's still classified," George Kirk said sternly.

"But since we know, anyway, you should tell Captain Kirk what an honorable Rihannsu looks like so he knows for future reference," Elle said, gesturing between the two of them.

Kirk raised an eyebrow. "Are we encountering Romulans any time soon?" he asked mildly.

"I don't know. Things don't translate to once a week," Elle said, shrugging. "But it's better to be prepared, right?"

"True. If you wouldn't mind, Cale?"

"Of course not, James."

The two of them retreated to the two armchairs to discuss Romulan culture. George Kirk put his hands on his hips and frowned down at Elle. "So that's why you're on the Enterprise," he said.

She nodded. "I'm a walking spoiler."

"I'm surprised you're not at HQ."

Elle smiled innocently. "I convinced them it was more secure to keep me on a moving target."

"And closer to the action?" he asked knowingly.

Elle shrugged. "Closer to the people that I know and love." She hunched her shoulders, feeling weird to talk to the captain's dad about this. "I mean, you know. I don't know anyone in this whole universe."

"You know us," George Kirk said kindly. "You'll have a home here, if you need it."

"Thank you," Elle said, blushing.

They moved over to the sofas to listen to Cale's leture on The Decline of the Honor System in Rihanssu Culture... it was, dare Elle say it, fascinating.

The old-fashioned grandfather clock chimed. "Okay, we need to go or you'll be late," George Kirk said, standing up.

Captain Kirk and Cale shook hands. "Thank you for your insights," Kirk said.

"You are welcome." Cale turned to Elle. "Miss Wilcott."

She smiled. "Elle. You can call me Elle."

"Thank you, Elle."

The two older men left. "I'll be back for dinner, Jimmy, tell your ma," George Kirk added, before leaving.

Elle and the captain looked at each other. "Now what?" Elle asked.

"Would you like to meet the alpacas?"

Elle beamed. "Totally."

-/\-

"Captain, I respectfully request to trade in Simba for an alpaca."

Kirk snorted. "No."

Elle hugged Shark the Alpaca tightly. "I love you," she told the animal solemnly.

Shark burped at her.

Elle laughed.

The other alpaca, Minion, nudged her arm for attention.

Elle, trying to pet both of them at the same time, didn't notice Kirk taking pictures of her until the 'snick' of the holocamera caught her hearing. "Hey!"

He held up the camera, grinning. "These are going up on the wall," he said. "My mom's gonna love this picture."

"Uncle Jim?"

"Peter!"

Elle watched a boy a couple of years younger than her fling himself at the captain. Kirk grabbed him in a hug, picked him up, and swung him around, both of them asking questions and rambling about "school-gramma didn't say-" "so good to see you-how was" "space, did you bring Dr. Bones-"

Elle scuffed one toe in the dirt and patted Shark on the neck as uncle and nephew reconnected.

"Who's that?" Peter gaped at Elle.

"Hi," Elle said, giving him a half-awkward wave.

"Petey, this is Elle. She's living on board the Enterprise with us," Jim said. "She's kind of, uh, a your pseudo-cousin, since the senior officers have guardianship."

Peter turned a knowing look on Elle. "Your parents gone too?" he asked.

Elle nodded. "Yup."

"Oof," he said, with all the deadpan compassion of a Gen-Z, thus displaying cultural sensitivity found only among those who have seen the complete degeneration of their entire world and found comfort in neo-dadaism and the understatement of tragedy. Apparently it was common in pre-WWIII culture. She and McCoy had a whole discussion about it. There was only one possible reply.

"Yup." She held up a fist, he bumped it with his own fist, and they grinned at each other.

Kirk glanced from one to the other, nonplussed by the interaction. "Oookay." He glanced from one to the other. "So, ma said there's blackberry cobbler."

"Ooh." Peter detached Elle from the alpaca. "C'mon, gramma's blackberry cobbler is the best, we pick them ourselves, they're so good."

"I'm always down for cobbler," Elle said.

"There's ice cream too, I saw it," Peter said, still tugging Elle and Kirk towards the house.

"Nice."

Kirk smiled. "Just don't get sick to your stomach, please," he said. "McCoy would kill me."

"Yes, sir," Elle replied.

They feasted on cobbler, ice cream, and lemonade, and then Peter showed Elle the hay loft and the barn kittens, and then it was time for dinner, which meant more cobbler. After that, Elle and Peter played video games while the Kirks chatted in the living room.

"So how's your crew taking to babysitting?" Kirk's dad asked, after the mission tales had concluded.

Elle figured the adults had forgotten she and Peter were only ten feet away. She decided to not enlighten them. What if the captain was tired of her?

The captain sounded fond as he answered. "She's very mature for her age, and when she's not, she's adorable. Don't tell her that, she'll turn up the sass and make Spock weep from the illogic of it all. She's the best thing to happen to the Enterprise," he said, and took a sip of beer. "Not only for her knowledge of mission events, though. It's made us closer as a crew, I think. And she certainly knows us better than we know ourselves, which is kind of awkward when a thirteen-year-old tells you you're being an idiot to your face and then kindly proceeds to tell you why."

"Rude?" Mrs. Kirk asked.

Kirk smiled. "Nope. Well, sometimes, but never out of malice." He smirked. "You should've seen Admiral Nogura's face when she sassed him, oh, I wish we'd recorded that. And Commodore Wesley."

Peter glanced at Elle. "You sassed an admiral?" he whispered.

"He was being condescending," Elle whispered back. "Captain Kirk didn't deserve that." She pointed out an incoming challenge and they turned back to the game.

A few minutes later Mrs. Kirk interrupted with, "Peter, bedtime."

Peter saved the game. "Okay, gramma." He looked over at Elle. "Are you sleeping over?"

Elle looked at the captain.

He nodded. "We'll stay here tonight and then go meet up with Bones in Georgia tomorrow, sound good?"

Elle smiled. "Sounds awesome." She stifled a yawn. "I think I'll go to bed, too."

"Goodnight, Elle," George Kirk said.

Elle smiled at him. "Night, sir."

"Don't sir me," he said, scandalized. "I'm retired, now, I'm not a sir. You can call me George."

Elle shook her head solemnly. "I cannot. My mother will reach through from my home universe and smack me for disrespecting an elder. I'm serious."

His smile softened. "How about Grandpa?"

Elle hesitated. She looked over at the captain. Was that too presumptous? Nope, Jim Kirk was beaming like the sunrise. "Okay. Cool." She paused. "If you count as grandparents from my legal guardians, does that mean I have seven sets of grandparents?"

The captain laughed. "Absolutely."

Peter's head popped down from the stairs. "Hey, Uncle Jim, could you tell me a story for bed?"

Kirk smiled. "Sure thing, kiddo."

Mrs. Kirk "call me grandma, or Grandma Win" replicated Elle a set of pj's and a toothbrush.

Elle got ready for bed. She and Peter would be sharing what used to be Sam and the captain's room, Peter in the bed and Elle on an air mattress. The captain had the spare room.

The captain was sitting on the edge of Peter's bed, listening his nephew talk about the robotics club at school, a fond smile on his face.

Elle cocooned herself comfortably in the blankets on the air mattress and settled in to go to sleep.

"Okay, now tell me a story," Peter said. "A cool one, I'm too big for boring ones."

The captain was definitely smirking. "Well, how bout I tell you the one where we foiled a plot from the Klingons and stopped an infestation of dangerous animals?"

"Whoa," Peter said, suitably impressed.

Elle popped her head up. "The tribble story?"

"Quiet in the peanut gallery," Kirk commanded, smirking at her.

When James T. Kirk told a story, you could tell he was a student of the written word. He was very Shakespearian, one could almost say, Shatner-ian, in the way he wove the Tale of the Trouble With Tribbles. And, as unselfconscious as always, he even included the part where he got buried in tribbles, to Peter's shrieking delight.

Elle may or may not have recorded the retelling of Tribble-ocalypse with her holocamera for future reference. She put it away hastily as Kirk finished the story and tucked his nephew in.

"Good night, Petey," Kirk said, "sweet dreams."

"I like that story," Peter said. "Elle, were you there for that story?"

"I was there," Elle confirmed, "but he forgot the part about the time travelers who came back to stop a tribble from exploding."

Kirk, in the act of ruffling Peter's hair, froze. "What?"

Abort, abort, ohhhhh... "That's the subplot?" Elle tried weakly.

Kirk turned to stare at her, eyes narrowed. "Time travelers? Exploding tribbles?" he demanded.

"Did the station blow up?" Elle asked.

"No."

"Well it was taken care of then, no need to worry, I promise."

He mock-scowled at her. "I want that story from you once we get back on the ship, understood?"

"Yes, sir," Elle said. "But only off the record."

"Fine." He moved to the door. "Good night, you two."

"Night," the two kids chorused.

Elle closed her eyes. Now that she was all wrapped up and settled in, she wasn't sleepy. She focused on listening to Peter breathe. It didn't sound like he was asleep either.

He shifted around a couple times.

Elle stared up at the ceiling, looking for interesting shapes in the grey-dark light.

"Did Uncle Jim tell you how my parents and brothers died?" Peter asked suddenly, breaking the quiet.

Elle bit her lip and focused on the spot of light through the window. "Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Yeah." He shifted around again. "What happened to your parents?"

Elle turned on her side, away from Peter. "Nothing. They're fine. It's me. I died in my universe and came here. I can't go back. So they're lost, well, I'm lost."

"Oh." A moment of contemplative silence. "But Uncle Jim found you."

"Yeah."

"Good." Peter exhaled softly. "He's good at that."

"Yeah." Elle smiled, a tiny quirk of the lips. "Yeah he is."

Peter was quiet, and eventually his breaths deepened as he fell asleep.

Elle closed her eyes.

-/\-

"You've got my comm, we can play Minecraft when you're in range," Peter offered.

"That sounds great." Elle gave him a hug. "It was good to meet you."

"You too. Stay safe in space."

"Stay safe in school. Learn about Klingons."

Peter blinked. "Klingons? Why?"

"Because when we're grown up we're gonna be friends with them," Elle replied.

"Oh. Cool." He gave Kirk a hug. "Bye, Uncle Jim, take care of Elle, say hi to Spock, don't do anything dumb, love you!" And Peter was off running to catch the bus.

Elle got two great hugs goodbye from the Kirk family, and then she and the captain were off to Georgia on the shuttle.

"Apparently, his daughter is there, too," Kirk said, checking his communicator. "Huh. Bones said she was on a colony world on rotation, must've come home early, It'll be nice to meet her, he talks about her so much."

"You flirt with her in any way, shape, or form, Bones's gonna kill you," Elle warned him.

Kirk raised an eyebrow. "I'm well aware, thank you," he said dryly.

"Okay, just making sure," Elle said, nudging his shoulder with hers.

-/\-

There was no undue flirting. Kirk was polite, charming, and ended up talking mostly to Bones' mother about 'Dr. McCoy's marvelous medicines'.

"Jim will you cut it out? I'm not a miracle worker," Bones griped.

"Close enough," Kirk retorted fondly.

Bones rolled his eyes and then got distracted as Joanna asked him a question about 'adrenal something or other.'

Elle took another bite of cinammon bun and washed it down with sweet tea. They had to get more vacations on Earth, this was great.

She managed to eat two buns and peach preserves before Bones' junk-food meter went off.

"Okay, young lady, that's enough." Bones switched out her tea for water.

Elle and Joanna shared a glance in perfect sympathy.