"Captain, we're getting an incoming message from Starfleet command." Bella reported, fingers hovering over the controls.
"Put it through." Said Kirk, sitting up in the command chair. She obliged, clicking switches on her console.
An older man appeared on the screen. "Captain Kirk." He said. "We need you to investigate a new black hole near Alpha Centuri. It's been causing a lot of problems."
Kirk nodded. "Can do. Kirk out." The screen went blank. "Mr. Sulu, lay in a course for Alpha Centuri." He said.
"Yes, captain." Sulu replied.
Kirk turned around in his chair. "Bella, you're off duty now." He said.
She stood up and stretched. "Right-o." she said.
"Oh and if you see Spock, tell him he's back on duty in ten minutes." He added.
"I will." She said. She walked through the double doors of the bridge and into the hall. She paused, thinking about where she would go. Quarters? No. Gym? Nah. Rec room? Yeaaaahhhh, rec room. She walked down the hall and into the rec room. The door slid open to reveal a few off duty ensigns, chattering happily amongst themselves. And Spock, sitting off by himself. She walked across the room and sat down beside him. "Hello." She said, smiling.
He looked up. His lips did not move, but he smiled at her with his eyes. "Hello." He answered.
"I trust you know what's going on." She said.
"Alpha Centuri?" he asked.
She grinned. "Bingo." She said. He raised an eyebrow, but did not comment. "I've been thinking." She said, her eyebrows drawing slightly closer together. "About my family." She added. Her eyebrows drew closer together still and her lips turned down at the corners. "I miss them." She whispered. She cocked her head slightly like something had just occurred to her. "I've never shown you a picture of my family, have I?" she asked him. He shook his head. She pulled a crumpled photo from her pocket and unfolded it. She smiled sadly at the rush of memories. Her parents stood in the center of the picture, her mother composed but with an unmistakable spark of happiness in her eyes, her father beside her, a big happy grin on his face. And in front of them, a seven year old Bella and Aria stood with arms around each other's shoulders, identical down to the last detail. A five year old Lyssa smiled happily beside them, hair ash blonde, but still unmistakably Vulcan. Bella had an arm around Lyssa's shoulders, linking the three of them together, showing that they were a team.
And while the three of them were visibly different; Lyssa's smile was the toothy grin of a five year old, Aria's wild and carefree, Bella's loving and happy; there was something the same about them too. The eyes. Their father's brown eyes copied exactly into each of their faces. It was a nice picture, Spock reflected, but there was something unmistakably sad about it too. They smiled out of this picture forever, not knowing that they were dying. T'Sari had died in a fire a year after this was taken; the other three had followed her not long after. Until only one was left; the girl sitting in front of him. He swallowed and handed the picture back to her. She took it with a thoughtful expression. There was one thing he wanted to ask her, but wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to ask her right now. In the end, curiosity won out.
"Bella?" he asked.
"Mmmm?" she hummed.
"What was it like…" he wondered how best to put it. "To have a twin?" he finished.
She smiled. "It was like having a best friend only better." She tilted her head as though she was deciding how to phrase something. "Sometimes we could tell what the other was thinking. One of us would say something and the other would say 'I was just about to say that!' We finished each other's sentences all the time and often times we would start to hum the same song at the same time."
Spock tilted his head, considering. "ESP?" he asked.
She smiled and shook her head. "No." she said. "It only ever worked with the two of us." He nodded. "If one of us was having a bad dream, the other would wake up and feel afraid without ever knowing why." She continued. "I could always tell when she was worried and vice versa." She smiled sadly. "We were linked in a way that even we didn't understand. And when she died…" Bella hesitated, her eyebrows drawing together in pain. "I knew the moment it happened. I felt our connection… break." She finished. Spock opened his mouth to offer comfort but was interrupted by the intercom.
"Spock!" Kirk raged. "You are over fifteen minutes late for duty! If you're not on this bridge in five minutes, I'm going to find you and embarrass the hell out of you!" Spock shifted uncomfortably as the group of ensigns turned to stare accusingly at him.
"Go." Bella urged him. He stood up. "I'll see you later." She said. He stroked her cheek and nodded. He turned and walked out the door, leaving her with only her thoughts for company.