Unsettling Reunions
Chapter 7

"Thank you, Gentlemen," Spock told the helmsman and pilot. The one kept shooting him murderous glares and he really wondered if that boy intended him harm. He'd threatened him already but he was not sure how deep their relationship went.

"You wanted to see me?" a voice asked, angrily. Spock turned to see the Chief Medical Officer standing there.

"Yes, Doctor," Spock said, moving to stand up. Then he walked down to the side. "I am aware that Jamie Kirk is a friend of yours. I recognize that supporting me as you did must have been difficult."

"Is that a thank you," Doctor McCoy asked.

"I am simply acknowledging your difficulties," Spock told the man. He did not see the need to thank the man.

"Permission to speak freely, sir," the Doctor asked.

"I welcome it," Spock told the Doctor, wondering what he had to say.

"Do you? Okay, then." The man went from calm and collected to obviously irate at him which was quite confusing. Spock began to wonder if he should be jealous again. "Are you out of your Vulcan mind? Are you making a logical choice sending cadet Kirk away? Maybe. But I happen to agree with what she said. Sending cadet Kirk away may have been the logical choice. But sending your wife away? Do you realize she will never stay in the pod? You left her defenseless on a hostile planet alone, and she is trouble as it is. She's always hurt in some way." Spock hid his sudden fear well as he understood what the man was telling him. He'd sent her to be protected but… he was wondering if he'd been too hasty and not thought things through. "You will be lucky if you did not just send your wife to her death. And trust me… if your plan fails, which I'm sure it will, she will be better off dead than surviving what is to come."

Spock saw his father enter the Bridge and he went past the medical officer, aware that he'd made a huge mistake. If his wife died he doubted he would survive her death. He did not understand the last part but was sure the Doctor knew something he didn't.

He was walking to his father, and his mother who had been brought in with a wheel chair, when he heard the Doctor mutter.

'Green Blooded Hobgoblin.'

His mother chuckled at that and the Doctor left the bridge but Spock was feeling very raw right then. His emotions were barely contained beneath the surface. Spock tried to open his bond with his wife back up but he could barely sense it. What he did sense was a wall between them. Even when time and distance had been their separator, weakening the bond, he'd never felt anything like this.

For the first time time he wondered if he'd pushed her too far. He wondered, even if they got her back alive, would his T'hy'la return to him.

~Unsettling Reunions~

Jim stepped into the hallway, freezing cold and shivering from her temperature. Spock had attempted, numerous times, to get her to take his coat rather than her thin black under uniform which went under whatever over-shirt went with your position. The shirt wasn't meant to keep her warm in arctic temperatures.

She adamantly refused Spock's offer.

So what if she got frostbite or killed over. Right now she was pissed enough she might do it just to Spite the younger Spock. Though she hesitated at the fact it would be the older one who would suffer worse than his younger half. He'd survived his wife dying and to see her die only when she was younger than he'd ever know her… that would be cruel to him.

Still, she was in a warmer area now and felt it. She sighed and leaned against the wall as Spock closed the door. Then a little guy came and led them down the hall.

She didn't focus on who they were. She was finding it difficult to focus at all.

"We'll get you something warm," Spock whispered when she stumbled and he had to catch her to keep her from falling. The pair entered a room and turned a corner. Jim instantly recognized the man. Where Sulu had taken longer for her to remember this man was familiar.

He'd helped her save the mom and kid from the burning vehicle. Then it also clicked. The image next to Uhura in Spock's memories had been of this man, older. He'd been the engineer of the Enterprise!

"What?" the man asked as the smaller man tapped him. He began ranting about food.

"You are Montgomery Scott," Spock said.

"Wait… how do you know him?" she asked only for the man to go off talking about food… again.

Jim zoned out, trying to focus but the concussion was making that kind of difficult. All she heard was 'transwarp beaming' and 'archer's prize beagle'.

"I know that dog. What happened to it?" she asked.

"I'll tell you when it reappears. I don't know. I do feel guilty about that," Montgomery Scott said only to stop. "You're the lass from the accident – just days before I wound up here."

"Yeah, Jim Kirk. I'm here because I pissed off my husband, the captain of our starship. He marooned me," she said.

"Nice husband," Montgomery Scott said.

"Well, he was. Might be again one day," Jim said, subtly glancing at the older Spock which would get very confusing real fast.

"What if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct, that it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is traveling at warp speed?" Spock asked and she looked at him, suddenly focused. If what he said was true then that could change Starfleet irrevocably.

"I think… if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard about it," the Scotsman argued. The sudden urge to call him Scotty hit her but she bit her tongue for now.

"The reason you haven't heard about it, Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet," Elder Spock told her.

"Are you from the future?" Scotty asked.

"Yeah, he is, I'm not. This is who my husband could become. So far, I'm liking this version better," she said and Spock's brow raised in only a way he could manage.

"Indeed," Spock said and she shrugged, hiding a wince as her left shoulder protested.

"Well, that's brilliant. Do they still have sandwiches there?" Scotty asked. That was definitely his new nickname.

After a bit he showed them were he did his experiments.

"Well, she's a wee bit dodgy. Shield emitters are totally banjaxed, as well as a few other things," Scotty told them. "On youse go. So, the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage has it?" he asked. "She is one well-endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance." She smiled. He was definitely an engineer.

"You know, some would take offense, but I think I could like you," she told Scotty.

"And your little lass… you had a daughter right?" he asked. Spock seemed to hesitate to listen. She nodded. "How is she? She seemed terrified after the accident. No permanent damage?"

"No, my girl is tough. After a month of nightmares she seemed to come to terms with what happened," she told Scotty. "Spock what are you doing?"

"I just put in the equation."

"You know, I don't fully," Scotty began before stopping as he saw the equation. "That's it?"

"That's it. Your transwarp beaming equation," Spock told Scotty.

"Imagine that. It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving," he said and she turned to Spock impressed. Then a thought occurred to her.

"You're coming with us, right?" she asked.

"No Jim. That is not my destiny," Spock said and she gaped at him.

"Your des… he, the other Spock is not gonna believe me. Only you can explain what the hell's happened," she told him. "As you are aware my husband is a stubborn ass when he wants to be."

"Under no circumstances can he be made aware of my existence," Spock said loudly, looking at both of them. Scotty nodded, understanding that was directed at him as well. He knew that she was married to a younger version of that man and he was the captain, ergo, he'd have to keep the secret as well. "You must promise me this." His voice was softer this time, focusing on her.

"You're telling me I can't tell you I'm following your own orders?" Jim asked in disbelief. "Why not? What happens?"

"Jim, this is one rule you cannot break," he said and she flinched. He was implying that the universe would be destroyed. Something told her that he was… lying but she wouldn't chance it. "To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How, over your dead body? Pretty sure that would kill me too," she stated.

"You are strong… it is unlikely you would die… but preferably not," he said and she understood that he was saying he preferred to remain alive but she was strong enough she could survive.

She wanted to argue that she wouldn't survive if he was dead… but she couldn't do that.

"Starfleet regulation 619 states that any command officer who's emotionally compromised by the mission at hand must resign said command," he told her.

"That won't work. I'm emotional and I keep thinking of my children. They'd call me compromised," she told him.

"But you have not lost them nor have you lost your world. You will fight to preserve and are not nearly as compromised as I promise my younger self is," Spock informed her and she nodded with a swallow.

"Aye then lass. Live or die, let's get this over with," Scotty called from the consoles. She looked at this older Spock; memorizing the look of awe on his face when he saw her, memorizing the love she'd seen in his face as well as the knowledge she wasn't his – that pain. She went to the transporters slowly. As she got there a thought struck her.

"You know, coming back in time, changing history… that's cheating," Kirk told the older Spock.

"A trick I learned from an old friend," he said and there was pride tinting his voice as he spoke of her. Then he pressed a few buttons and turned to her, giving her the Vulcan salute. "Live Long and Prosper." She gave him one back as she stood straight, then lowered her hand before she fully disappeared.