Live Long And Prosper Means Goodbye

by EmeraldGarmadon

One-shot set right after the destruction of Vulcan. A (rather illogically) grieving Spock gets a package from his father, with a message from his mother attached - a message that reads only "LLAP". He's Vulcan enough to know what that stands for. And human enough to know what it means. NO, I don't own anything.

"Live Long and Prosper" Means Goodbye

A Random Star Trek One-shot.

It had been a long and heartbreaking day. His mission had failed, his home had been destroyed, and on top of that he had spent all day yelling at that irritating hotshot of a James T. Kirk.

Vulcans didn't get heartache - or headaches. But Spock was beginning to think he was getting both. He was glad the door to his quarters was automatic, otherwise he would have slammed it shut.

He hated agitation, frustration, grief, annoyance, all of that. Human emotions. Weak and illogical all. So why could he not stop feeling them? That and fatigue. He was, as the humans put it, totally exhausted. He collapsed on the bed.

And there, on the bed, was a package of some sort. It had a piece of paper attached to it. Spock read what was on the paper. Only four letters - L. L. A. P.

"LLAP." Live Long And Prosper. Only a Vulcan, or someone who had lived on Vulcan for much of their lives, would use that expression. Only a Vulcan...

His communicator buzzed. "Hey, you coming back up, you pointy-eared elvish princeling?" *Groan.* It was Kirk, again. Spock shut his communicator off. That Kirk. (And, to be honest, Spock hadn't much idea what a pointy-eared elvish princeling was. But he didn't like being called one.)

Slowly, he took the brown-paper wrapping off the package. Inside was his old Vulcanian lyre. Battered, worn, out-of-tune, but still the same instrument he had played as a child. Another note was inside the package.

It read,

Son,

Your mother gave me this when the attack on Vulcan began, yesterday. If you have received it, it means she is dead. She wanted me to give it to you only in that event.

She loved you, Spock. And as illogical as it is, I loved her. And I love you.

Your father,

Sarek.

Fighting for control of himself, Spock began to play the old lyre. He remembered a human once asking him if there was any Earth equivalent to "Live long and prosper." There was. They called this sort of word a "farewell."

The most common one was "goodbye."

Spock shut his eyes tightly as the most un-Vulcan thing possible happened. He began to cry. She loved you. His mother truly loved him. And he loved her. He missed her.

He took a deep breath and went to find his father. His father loved him too. And perhaps that Nyota Uhura loved him too, or so humans would say. Somehow, they would make it through this, together.

And darn it, when he got his hands on James T. Kirk...