A/N: Second last chapter. Enjoy. This is also the chapter I wanted to know if it was viable for them to return to our solar system. If not, I can have it set at Yorktown. Please let me know.


It was several weeks later at the fastest warp they could sustain that saw Jim standing on the bridge with Spock on one side and Winchester and Bones on the other. New Vulcan was coming into view in the screen, and he had just sent a request to meet with the High Council. He hadn't told them why, only that he had found something they needed to see.

He noticed his navigator fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, "You look nervous. You thinking this is a bad idea?" He asked her.

"I'm thinking I've got a few scenarios running through my head."

"What do you believe will happen, Lt?" Spock asked.

"Once they find out who I am, that's when things will get interesting. They'll not care, and want nothing to do with me. They'll welcome me, but not approve of my friendship with Leon." She sighed and ran a hand over her hair. "Truth is, I've got a lot of ways this will go down planned out."

Bones spoke then, "And not very many of them good. I thought I was the pessimist." He wrapped an arm around her in a quick hug before dropping it. Jim watched as she leant against him. He noticed that her hair was an intricate weave that covered her ears again, but with the aid of the clip in her hair, it could be lifted and held up on top of her head.

"'Hope for the best, plan for the worst.' is how I was raised. You all reacted to my being half-Vulcan in a way that I thought only had less than a 5% chance of happening. Me tossed into the brig for lying to you all and deceiving Starfleet was a bigger concern." She said, before turning abruptly and heading for the turbolift. "You coming or what? Lets get this over with."

The golden beams of the transport faded, leaving them on the surface of New Vulcan. Jim could swear he could taste the red soil that surrounded them. The conditions reminded him of his home state, only more extreme. The winds felt like they were taking bites from his skin.

Before them stood, Sarek, Spock's father, Dlece, Winchester's grandfather and several others that Jim recognised as the men that had been beamed aboard before Vulcan had been destroyed. Spock and Winchester had showed them photos of Dlece before landing, so they would know who to look for.

"Captain Kirk," Sarek said, "Welcome to New Vulcan."

"Sarek, thank you for agreeing to meet with us. This is my Chief Medical Officer, Dr McCoy, and my navigation officer, Lt Winchester." He watched the face of Dlece, and it was only because of that, he caught the tiniest hints of shock in his eyes.

"When we received your request, and you did not tell us the reason for it, we contacted StarFleet. They denied knowing of your decision in coming here, the reason, nor had they approved of it." Dlece said taking a step forward.

"May we move this discussion inside?" Spock asked. "As you are aware, the conditions are trying even for me, let alone a human."

Sarek nodded and led the way, with Kirk bringing up the rear. Once inside the council chambers, they were seated and served with drinks. While Bones poured from a pitcher of water given to them; Spock was served Vulcan tea, which he quickly shared with Jim and Winchester.

Seeing the raised eyebrows of his father, he simply said, "Jim asked to sample it one day. He finds the blend …tasty."

"And the female?" Dlece asked. He hadn't taken his eyes off her since he had said her name. He could hear the distain in his voice.

"The 'female' is sitting right here, I can hear you, and my name, is Samanthea Winchester, named after my Uncle, Samuel, and my mother, T'Hea." With that, she took a drink, then tied her hair up, revealing her pointed ears.

Jim quietly sipped his tea, watching the many things happening at Winchester's words. Dlece's face visibly showed his shock, the others within the chamber murmured to one another, while Sarek simply raised his eyebrows. Spock had contacted his father to make sure that Dlece would be here, so Jim guessed that he had at least surmised the reason.

"You survived?" Asked Dlece

"Duh. I have Vulcan and Winchester blood running through me, of course I was going to survive." She set the cup down, which Spock filled again.

"Your name has no bearing on your ability to survive."

If Jim hadn't been sitting so close, he would have missed the whispered, "Depends on the ancestry." from her.

"How?" This from one of the others. "Your father told us you hadn't survived the birth."

"And humans lie. He knew that none of you approved of them being together, and once he lost Mum,…" Winchester closed her eyes and held back a sob. He could hear her voice breaking. "He knew you would never let him stay, so saying that I had died, guaranteed that he could leave." Her eyes hardened as she looked at her grandfather. "Turned out to be a good idea, as you didn't even want to see me before he left. Dad said I look just like her, and the photos I have of them together proved him right."

"So why are you here now?" Dlece asked, his voice slipping, showing his distaste for her, now that he knew who she was. Jim guessed it was because she did look just like her mother, right down to her eyes. And chances were, she sounded and acted just like her father.

A moment of silence, before Winchester stood abruptly, "Ask them." She said, pointing to both himself and Spock. "I need some air." With that she left, Bones following her a moment later.

Jim watched the pair leave, the doctors hand slipping into hers, only to be pulled away and tucked under her arms. The doors closed and Jim turned his attention back to the council members.

"We brought her here because she is Vulcan, no matter what her parentage." Spock said. "And you needed to know of another Vulcan. With as few of us as there are, I would have thought it logical that our race needs every one. She was denied the opportunity to learn of a part of herself, the Vulcan half. I myself was able to learn of both halves, with my human mother teaching me of human ways. She had no one to teach her of the things all Vulcans know. Her father had limited knowledge, and only knew what T'Hea had been able to teach him."

"It has only been in the past few months with my teaching her that she has been able to block feelings from inanimate objects. She had taught herself a way of feeling emotions and thoughts through the fingertips of others, as she didn't have anyone to teach her how to control a full meld through the Psi points."

"Everything I have given her to learn, she has mastered within a matter of days. Her fighting skills rival my own, simply because of how she was raised. She is smart, cunning and human."

Jim thought he had better take a hand in the conversation, as Spock was allowing a little too much emotion to show. "Yet she came here, hoping that there was a chance you would accept her as family and teach her that which she missed out on as a Vulcan. However, she also figured that this would be your reaction, and my understanding is that she had planned things to go more like this than anything else."

Silence reigned for a moment before Dlece leaned forward. "Do you know what her father did for a living?"

Jim was about to answer in the negative when a voice sounded from beside them, making him flinch. There was something in it that he couldn't place.

"No, they don't. You tell them," she nodded at him, Spock and Bones as he retook his seat, "I'll tell them," Winchester nodded at the Vulcan council, "what you tried to do." she said as she moved to stand behind him and Spock. Wondering what the hell she meant, he looked at her, only he didn't recognise the face he saw. It was dark, like it had seen the depths of hell and barely made it back to tell the tale.

"My father told me everything and showed me his memories."

He looked back to Dlece and saw that his normally pale and emotionless features had gotten even paler and a hint of fear was showing. Wondering just what the hell was going on, he realised that Dlece, at least wouldn't be wanting her to stay on New Vulcan.

"Samanthea, enough with the threats." Sarek said, standing and indicating they follow him.

Just as they were about to leave the room, "Your father took her from me." While said without emotions, Jim could hear the heartbreak, anger and grief within the words.

"He gave you another ten years with her. That's more than I ever got." She glared at Dlece a moment before following. Many of the other councillors were still muttering to themselves as they left the room.

"Not a threat, Sarek, a promise." She said as they caught up.

"When Spock asked that I make sure Dlece would be here today, I knew you had survived. Your father and I…" he stopped.

"Were as friendly as one could be with a Vulcan. He said you were the one to help him get home. He thought that you might have figured it out. When Vulcan, … , I kept an ear out for a comm from you to him." She said. "Not many people know that he's dead."

"I had considered it, however it would mean revealing to the council that I knew not only of your existence, but that I had also lied to them."

"Why did you never tell me, Father?" Spock asked them. Jim wondered the same thing, there could have only been a handful of years between the two.

(A/N: The reason Serak gives Spock, I've never been happy with. I've tried rewriting it several times, but it still doesn't sound any good. If after reading this, someone has a better idea, please PM me.)

"For the same reasons, Spock. It would have been difficult for you to keep such a thing secret as a child. And you would have no doubt wanted to meet with her. And once you reached adulthood, it was clear you were struggling as it was with your decisions of where you wanted to go. Knowing of her would have made it harder for you to decide." He turned to his son, and Jim felt he was intruding. "Spock, things as they stand now, the council will approve of you continuing to teach her of our history." He looked toward Winchester, and saw that Bones had joined her, their fingertips touching. "And I have no doubt that they will not do anything to separate the two of you." He continued, nodding in their direction.

"Thank you, Sarek.", returning the nod.

"May I speak with you a moment, alone, Lt Winchester?" He asked, holding out a hand away from the group. He then said something in another language, to which she responded.

Jim saw Spock's eyebrows rise in surprise, and once she and the Vulcan elder had moved off a distance, he asked, "Spock, what did they say?"

"I am unsure, Captain. It is a very archaic language, and not one I studied in depth. My understanding is that T'Hea was greatly versed in the old languages. It would have made sense for her to teach the Lt's father."

"Who would have then taught Winchester." Jim said, running a hand over his head. "Bones, any thoughts on what they're talking about?"

"No. She's always kept something from me, but it hasn't impacted our relationship."

They all turned to watch, just in time to see Winchester gesture across the planet then shake her hands; like she did when she had touched something that had strong enough memories that they got past her walls. She nodded at something that the older man said, shook it then said something. Whatever was being discussed, seemed to be something that had been on the old man's mind for some time. It was another ten minutes before she re-joined them, Sarek moving back into the chambers.

"Can we go now? I want to go home." She sighed and lent her head against Bones' chin, her fingers re-joining his.

"What did Dlece try to do?" Bones asked as he held her.

"Another time. Home?"

"Sure." He pulled his comm out and asked for a beam up. "Energize."

They re-entered the bridge a short while later, to Sulu telling them that Starfleet Command was waiting for them. He said that he would take it in the conference room.

"Admiral Archer, what can I do for you?" Jim asked, a though nothing was wrong or unusual.

"Captain, what are you doing at New Vulcan? You are meant to be on the other side of Yorktown." The older man asked, anger and confusion. "I know I asked for Porthos to be returned to me in any way other than via warp, but this is a little extreme."

Jim looked toward Winchester, silently asking, to which she nodded. "I am aware, Admiral, however we discovered something that the Vulcan High Council needed to know, and it was something that we thought best done in person."

"Whatever is had better be pretty damn important."

"It is Sir." He nodded and Winchester came to stand next to him, ears uncovered. "Admiral, I'd like to reintroduce Lt Winchester, whose father was from Earth, and whose mother was the daughter of the Vulcan elder, Dlece." Silence descended upon the room. Jim could see the implications of such a statement, and was waiting for his superior to respond to such a statement.

"Are you telling me you have another half-Vulcan aboard your ship, and didn't tell anyone? How?" He was looking at the woman, especially her ears as though to make sure that Jim wasn't pranking him.

"Actually, Sir, until the incident on Littaner a few months ago, I had no idea. Commander Spock was badly wounded and the blood kept for him was used during the surgery. Lt Winchester was called by my CMO, Dr McCoy to the medbay and that is when I found out." Jim looked at his oldest friend, "Everything will be in the report that we will send as soon as we finish here, Sir. We will arrive at Earth in four days to reunite you with Porthos and to discuss things further."

Archer nodded and Jim was glad that they had another few days respite to digest everything. Shutting the comm down, he returned to the bridge before opening a ship-wide channel. "This is the Captain. We will be leaving the orbit of New Vulcan in 12 hours. We will be arriving at Earth three days after that. If you have anyone on Earth you would like to see, contact them now. We may be there for a few days. Kirk out."

He nodded to the bridge crew that they may leave if they wished to contact someone, and that he would stay. When he saw many hesitating, he went to say something, only to be beaten by Winchester.

"Go. The only family I have is aboard this ship, so I'll stay too."

"My family is back on Yorktown, go." Sulu joined in.

Nyota and several others left the bridge to make calls.

Several hours later, he was on the bridge as they left New Vulcan. The Alpha shift were resting, but he had responded to a message from Sarek. The man had wanted to know how Winchester was handling being essentially rejected from her last remaining family. He also confirmed that the remaining council were ok with Spock teaching her anything she wanted to know.

It was as Jim suspected with the Starfleet heads. They wanted to know just how the hell she had managed to keep the fact she was Vulcan from the medical personnel. Turned out it was rather simple; any doctor that asked if she had done a medical, she had simply mentioned that another staff member had already done it. And any tricorder readings captured were changed in seconds thanks to a program she had written. Jim thought it quite funny that a good ten years before he had done so, someone else had already cheated.

They were all annoyed, but knew that any repercussions landed on her would most likely result in things becoming strained with the Vulcans. They also couldn't do anything because the entire crew, the Alpha shift especially, had made it clear that they wouldn't be going anywhere without her. So after a written warning was placed in her file, that most likely would be ignored, they all had one last dinner on Earth before assembling back onboard the ship, a week after arriving.