Nat pushed open the Danger Room door for Wren.

               “So, you drive?” he said to Wren.

               “Very well,” she said.  “Yes.”

               “I never got much of a chance to . . .” Nat said.  “Just in school . . . but they have these tiny little cars . . . Spock . . . what you got in a car that's sleek and fast and fits me?”

               “What type road?”

               Nat looked at Wren.

               “You're driving . . .” He said to her.

               “Curves with a couple straights,” she responded.  “Pavement.”

               “Mountain, desert, or seashore?” Spock asked,

               “Mountain.”

               Nat looked a little worried but the mood shifted when Matt pushed through the door eating an apple.

“I suggest a 700 series BMW,” the computer suggested.

“Hi, Nat,” Matt said.  “Wren.”

The entire world shifted and they stood on a winding mountain road beside a black BMW convertible.

“What's wrong with a Shelby Cobra?” Matt suggested eyeing the black car with distaste.

“Hullo, Matt,” Nat said then added, “I don’t fit a Cobra.”

“A Shelby fits anyone,” Matt said.

“Not when you are 7’3”,” Nat replied.

Matt tossed the apple core off the side of the road and watched it bounce and disintegrate on the rocks.

“Looks like the best girl lost,” he said with a mock sigh.  “Wren got you. That sounds like a booby prize to me.”

Wren raised an eyebrow.  "Pardon?"

“I'm sorry, you defending Nat, or am I stepping on forbidden ground?” Matt looked at Wren.

“I am asking for an explanation is what I am doing,” she said hotly.

“If I felt I needed defending, Matt,” Nat said coldly, upset by the anger in Wren’s voice.  “I would have squashed you already . . . we ARE in the Danger Room.”

Matt turned his back and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“What was that?” Wren stood agape.

“It’s okay, Wren,” Nat said.  “He’s just calling me the ‘booby prize’.”  He shook his head.  “Spock . . . can we have a McLaren F1 GTR Long tail?”

The car shimmered and changed to the sleek road car.  Nat ran his hand down the waxed flank of the car then pulled open the driver’s door for Wren.  He stepped around to the other side and pull up the door.  Both stuck up and forward over the front fenders of the vehicle.  Two helmets appeared on the roof.

“You’re kidding, right?” Nat picked one up and looked at it.

“Well, that’s new,” Wren said, picking up the other.

Nat leaned down and looked inside.

“Umm . . . This thing’s got head restraints.”

Nat pulled the helmet down over his short blonde hair.

“I’m game,” he said.

Wren looked at his helmet, not amused.  “You doubt my driving skills.  How kind.”

Nat looked at her hopefully.

“These are the rules,” Spock said.  “If you have any questions, please refer them to Archer.”

“Of course,” Wren said then pulled the helmet on, tucking her curly hair back from her face.  Nat squatted at the passenger’s door and noted the centrally located driver’s seat.  Passenger seating was behind and to either side.

“I guess I sit in the back.”  He folded himself up and climbed into the left seat just behind the driver's seat.  “Whoa . . .”  He actually fit quite comfortably.

Wren settled into the driver’s seat and pulled the three point restraints into place.  Glancing back over her shoulder at Nat she nodded then started the car.  The deep rumble of the engine mellowed to a soft purr and Nat could see an evil grin touch Wren’s lip.

“Maybe this is a . . .” He began but Wren slapped the car into gear and hit the gas.  She met the first corner a little fast and was force to downshift but any unfamiliarity with the car passed in moments and soon they were whipping around the curves at breakneck speeds.  In the straights, Wren red-lined and they shot past 200 mph without ever straining the engine.  Nat never said a word, just sat behind her watching the intense joy the girl felt as she put the car through its paces.  When they coasted to a stop nearly half an hour later, Wren was flush with excitement.

“Wow,” she whispered, relaxing back into the seat.

Nat reached up and lifted the door then carefully extracted himself from the car.  Pulling off the helmet he squatted beside the vehicle, one hand on the roof, and looked back in.

“Have you worked up an appetite?”

Her hair seemed to explode from the helmet as she pulled it off and smiled.

“I could use a bite,” she agreed.

Nat set the helmet on the car and offered Wren a hand out.  She had pulled to a stop at an ‘overlook’ point in the Danger Rooms artificial mountains but even knowing it was all fake it still made for a beautiful view.  Without Nat’s asking, Spock had arranged the picnic on a classic red and white checkered blanket in a patch of grass near the edge.  Wren took the scene in.

“I promised a picnic,” Nat said.

Wren looked up at him and said softly, “Thank you.”