FINAL CHAPTER...NO MCCOY OR UHURA, BUT I STILL LIKE IT. HOPE YOU DO TOO.

Sparks showered him like the rice on his wedding day. He raced down the hallway at a speed he had never thought himself capable of reaching. If he had run this fast in basic training he could have avoided a lot of push up punishments. He lurched as another hit rolled through the ship like an earthquake and pulled his communicator from his pocket as he slammed into railing of the narrow walkway he was traversing.

"Tell me something good Kirk. I don't want to hear anything else negative right now." The communicator fell silent for a moment before his best friend's voice answered back. Strained and clearly worried, but professional as always.

"Captain, it's not looking good. We're still engaged. We've attempted to evade several times, but it's not working. The shields can't take much more. The dilithium crystals could cause a chain reaction and leading to an explosion if we put them under any more strain." His icy blue eyes hardened as he glanced around at the obvious damage to his ship.

"Where's your sister? Is she on the bridge?" He tried to keep the worry out of his voice. He was the captain of the U.S.S. Neisson and he had to keep it together. Yes, first and foremost he was responsible to Uhura, but he was also responsible to every crew member aboard this vessel. They all had families: mothers, sisters, husbands, cousins, children. Families that entrusted him to keep them safe. He knew, as much as everyone says that being in the military is a dangerous occupation, most people still expected him to keep everyone safe.

"She's, well, don't go crazy, but she's down in engineering. Below decks. She's trying to keep the crystals from overheating the core." He forced himself to keep his voice steady.

"What?!? Who's with her?"

"No one. She sent everyone to the upper decks. She's alone, sir." Kirk inwardly cursed and slammed his communicator shut. He turned away from the direction of the bridge and started racing to the lower decks. He raced past a turbo lift. They didn't have any power anyway. All power was being directed to keep the ship from exploding.

Racing down passageway after passageway he was slowly making progress towards the engineering sector of the ship. Passing fewer and fewer crew personnel he hurried with no regard to whether they remembered to properly address or salute him while they were working. Their dedication to saving the Neisson was respect enough for him. After what seemed an eternity he reached the engineering deck. Ducking below a fallen gang plank he searched for her. He finally noticed her small feet and legs dangling from beneath some machinery.

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" She didn't seem surprised by his presence. He heard a groan, presumably from her, as she strained to tighten something. Sliding out from her work she barely glanced in his direction as she raced across to check the display monitors. There was a symphony of swelling swishes, a cacophony of complaining controls, and a wailing of warning warps. This was not the lullaby the ship usually sung to him. No comforting sounds here. Only panic and he was feeling his own begin to rise.

"Lieutenant, I asked you a question." She didn't pause to look at him as she began keying in commands and desperately turning knobs.

"I'm saving our asses, Captain." He finally grabbed her and impeded her progress to check on the chambers.

"What are you doing Uhura? You're risking your life. You're risking our child's life. If you aren't gonna think of yourself then at least think of Kirk and our son, August, and me." She glared at him so fiercely that when she raised her arm he was prepared for the sting of her striking him, but instead she grasped his face and leaned forward so that they were barely a breath apart.

"That is who I'm thinking about...and the crew." She was pressed so closely to him that he could feel the gentle swell of her stomach. She was just beginning to show that she was carrying their son.

"Okay. We'll do it together then." She didn't look at him but moved to work on the console behind him.

"Really, Hatfield Lee Kirk is going to help with an engineering emergency? I thought you said you were never going to touch a ship's engine again after you blew up my final two days before graduation and I had to fix it." Turning, he pulled himself up to his full height of nearly 6'4 and studied her over a foot shorter frame seriously.

"That wasn't my fault."

"Riiight." She giggled and he couldn't resist her. He never could. Moving to kiss her he felt her give in to his advances. In the back of his mind he knew that they were in the middle of a crisis and he was the captain, but he needed her. She always knew how to make things better.

She was exactly like her mother. Fiery, beautiful and intelligent. Unafraid to call him on anything, but she was also steady, sure, calming and content to let him lead the relationship. Which was exactly what he had needed when he met her. Running after her little sister and slamming into his life. Quite literally.

He had so many issues back then. Abandonment, daddy issues, that turned into I was the product of a one-night stand and Daddy didn't even know I existed issues, and I don't need you clouding up my life issues. Thank God for her brother. When your girlfriend is your best friend's kid sister it certainly makes you tow the line. Not that he wouldn't have anyway, but with Kirk constantly watching his every move his moral compass was more due north than the North Star.

Another hit rocked the ship and they were pulled apart. Moving to the controls Uhura began working quickly and efficiently. Hatfield wasn't as fast as she was but she spent most of her time down here while he was on the bridge.

"You know, I still wish you had chosen communications." She smirked to herself. Almost as soon as she had arrived at the academy she realized that languages were more of a hobby for her, but engines, transporters, and warps. That was her passion. Uncle Scotty couldn't have been prouder. She swore she saw a tear on graduation day. Kirk's communicator chirped and he opened it with one hand while he worked on the console simultaneously.

"Kirk here."

"Hat, reinforcements just arrived. The Klingons are now under heavy Federation fire. We've been ordered to fall back to a defensive position." Hatfield could practically see Kirk McCoy's huge, contagious smile.

"Then fall back! Kirk out." He turned to look at his wife. She smiled at him and he moved to her wrapping his arm around her small frame. He noticed for the first time the noise seemed to be quieting and the warning indicators were no longer flashing. He swore he could hear the ship's sigh of relief.

Standing in engineering Hatfield and Uhura looked around the heart of the ship. It didn't have the breathtaking bridge views, or the shiny new equipment of sickbay, but it was the Neisson's heart and it seemed appropriate. The belly of the beast, as it were.

And it was there where a new family was begun. A family that had really begun long ago on the U.S.S. Enterprise, but was coming to fruition now and there they stood. A father, strong and tall, in regal command gold, a mother, beautiful and calm, in striking engineering red, and a baby still too small to really understand, but starting to discover the overwhelming love his parents had for him and each other and the amusement his father felt at the smudge of dirt on his mother's nose.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------That's all she wrote. Thank you for sticking with the McCoy brood all this time and review on your way out if you have a minute. :) Thanks!