"I think you're more excited about this than they are, darlin'."

She rolled her eyes, "It's the first wedding on this ship... ever, Bonesy. I have every right to be happy about this. Even more so because it's our friends and I love them and I'm happy for them. I'm happy in general." She stepped closer to him, "Who knows what I might do with all this happy energy."

Bones took a deep breath, "I have a few ideas."

"I know you do. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time for any of them."

He smiled, "Maybe one of them." Before she could say anything, he pulled her against him and kissed her like she was the air he needed to breathe. Bones rested his forehead against hers, "We gotta go, Captain." Jim opened her mouth to say something, then she closed it. "Cat got your tongue?"

She gave him a quick kiss, "Just you wait."

He chuckled, "Bring it on, darlin'."

He was lucky that they had somewhere to be. Jim took a calming breath before they left their quarters. When they got to the chapel, everyone who was needed was already there. Rand looked at Jim, "Everyone's ready when you are, ma'am."

Jim smiled, "And our happy couple?"

The yeoman gave a wistful sigh, "They've decided that they're gonna walk in with each other."

"Sounds like them," Jim chuckled as she took her place at the front of the room and looked at the assembled officers as the ceremony began. When the couple of the hour were standing in front of her, smiling like loons, she began.

"Since the days of the first wooden vessels, all ship commanders have had one happy privilege: that of uniting two people in the bonds of matrimony. So, we are gathered here today to unite Hikaru and Thomas, according to our laws and customs." She paused and smiled at her friends, "Do you, Hikaru Sulu take Thomas to be your partner for life? To walk by his side forever, to love, help, and encourage him in all he does? Will you share his laughter and his tears, as his partner, lover, and best friend? Do you take him as your lawfully wedded husband for now and forevermore?"

"I do," the smile on his face lit up the room.

Jim looked at Tommy, "Do you, Thomas Leighton take Hikaru to be your partner for life? To walk by his side forever, to love, help, and encourage him in all he does? Will you share his laughter and his tears, as his partner, lover, and best friend? Do you take him as your lawfully wedded husband for now and forevermore?"

He smiled, "Yes ma'am, I do."

"By the power invested in me as the commanding officer of this vessel, I now pronounce you married. You may now kiss each other." The pair of officers shared a sweet kiss as the other officers in the room cheered.

Hikaru chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him, "Hey, since you and Tommy are practically siblings, does this mean you're like my sister-in-law?"

She smiled, "Of course it does."

Uhura touched her shoulder, "Captain, Commander Spock just commed, says you're needed on the bridge."

Jim sighed as Tom looked at her, "Your husband has the best timing."

She nodded, "Yea. If I'm needed on the bridge, than there's a good chance that your husband is needed as well. Sorry."

"It's okay," Tom smiled. "I knew what I was getting into marrying the third officer. You two go be awesome… like always." Tom gave Sulu another quick kiss and the pair of command officers and the chief communications officer headed to the turbolift, Bones was already there.

"Maybe we should've gotten married on Earth," Sulu muttered.

Jim smiled, "I'll get you guys some time to yourselves, Sulu… after we figure out what's got Spock's knickers in a twist."

He looked at her for a long moment. "Is that weird, having someone in your head all the time?" Sulu asked them.

Bones shrugged, "Not really."

Jim agreed, "It's oddly comforting knowing that they're with me all the time."

Uhura nodded, "My bond with Spock wasn't nearly as strong as the one he has with these two, but it was nice. I'm sure if I focused really hard, I could find it. Not that I would. I should probably talk to him about that."

Jim and Bones both looked at her, "Don't."

There was a look of surprise on her face and Jim smiled, "Having a light bond with a close friend isn't uncommon. Besides, you never know when a mental link to him will come in handy. It might save all our asses one day."

"Captain, we are receiving a distress signal. Earth-type, ground based from the third planet in this system."

She looked at him, "There aren't any ships or colonies out here. What are we lookin' at?" Spock began an analysis of the planet. As he looked over the information on his screen, Spock took an unneeded breath. He was rarely surprised but the readings he received were… astonishing.

"Captain, it is a spheroid-shaped terrestrial planet with a circumference of twenty-four thousand eight hundred and seventy-four miles. It has a mass of five point nine-eight times ten to the twenty-fourth power kilograms, with a mean density of five point five-one-seven. Its atmosphere has an average temperature of twenty-four degrees Celsius and consists of seventy-eight percent nitrogen, twenty-one percent oxygen, and smaller percentages of krypton, neon, and argon."

"I know I'm not the smartest person on this bridge but, correct me if I'm wrong, he just described Earth," Leonard said to Jim.

She nodded, "Yea, to the kilometer."

Jim looked at Nyota, who relieved Hawkins of the communication's station, "Lieutenant, are we getting anything?"

Nyota shook her head, "No, Captain. No response to our hails at all."

"Have a security team meet me in the transporter room, Spock, Bones, you're both with me. Mister Leighton, you have the con."

Sulu stood from the helm to sit in the command chair and looked at her, "Very funny, Captain McCoy."

She chuckled, "Doesn't have the same ring to it."

Leonard looked at her as the three of them left the bridge, "Really, Jim?"

"What? It doesn't."

Spock looked at their husband, "She is correct. Her name carries a weight that you have not yet acquired."

Leonard rolled his eyes, "Meaning?"

"That all the crap I got for being a Kirk is finally paying off," she smiled. "As much as I like the sound of 'Captain McCoy', the way my dad died was brave and honorable and… badass. My name, his name, carries that."

"I'll give you that one but only because I like the fact that nobody calls you McCoy but family."

Jim smiled, "You're such a sap."

Leonard chuckled, "Not really."

Leo looked around this 'Not Earth' and couldn't believe his eyes. Spock determined that the place was similar to Earth in the 1960's, which was both astounding and creepy at the same time. They also realized that the signal they received was likely automated and a few decades, if not centuries, old. Walking though the town was so surreal and he couldn't help but to stop and look around when an old tricycle caught his eye.

Leonard took a knee and examined the old toy that, judging by it's size, belonged to child around the same age as Joanna. "MINE! MINE! MINE!" Out of nowhere, Leonard found himself slammed to the ground with a man on top of him, screaming. "MINE! MINE!" Leo managed to get himself free just as Spock and Jim got their hands around the horribly disfigured man. "MINE!" Jim ducked as the man swung at her and Spock took him down, hard.

"You alright, Doc," Hendorff asked and offered him a hand.

Leo nodded, "Yea, I'm good."

They all watched as the man touched the tricycle's frame, "Broke. Somebody broke it. Please fix it."

Jim looked at him to make sure he was okay before she looked at the man, "We'll fix it. I'm good with that kinda stuff." Leo grabbed his tricorder to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the man. Jim seemed to have a calming affect on the man as he stopped screaming and looked at her.

Spock glanced at their wife, "He is Humanoid, despite his disfigurement."

"But he has the brain of a child, Spock," Jim said, just above a whisper. A bunch of unknowns ran though his tricorder right up until the man went into a seizure. "Bones?"

He shook his head, "Whatever caused his disfigurement, the insanity… I can't do anything, Jim. He's metabolic rate is off the charts. It's like he's aging a century in a few minutes." She held the man's hand as he stopped moving. "He's dead, Jim."

A sound drew their attention away from the man, Jim looked around before she looked at the officers, "Come on." She took off with Leonard, Spock, Hendorff, Galloway and Rand following behind. They followed her into an abandoned house. "Spock, Rand, that way," Jim pointed to the left. "Bones, Hendorff, stairs." They both nodded as Jim and Galloway took the last option and went straight.

Leonard and Hendorff checked the rooms one by one. "There's nothing up here, Doc."

He nodded, "Jim found something." The big security officer led the way back downstairs to find the others looking at a dirty and disheveled little girl.

Jim was kneeling in front of her, "We won't hurt you, I promise." Rand was backing her up. Jim glanced at him before she looked at Spock, "Take Hendorff and Galloway, see what you can find."

"Aye, Captain." Jim turned her attention back to the girl as Spock and the security officers left the room.

Not wanting to scare the girl he reached out to Jim, "What happened here that has her so scared of us?" His wife was as lost as he was.

She looked at the girl, "Do you know what happened here? Where all the people are?"

The girl looked unsure but Rand smiled, "It's okay, you can tell us."

"I'm not sure what happened. I just remember that you grups were burning things, yelling… hurting people."

Jim looked at the girl, "We didn't do any of that. My friends and I, we just got here."

The little girl didn't look at her, "You're not gonna hurt…?"

"We're not here to hurt anyone," Jim smiled. "We just wanna help."

"Grups don't help," she told them.

Rand touched the girl's arm, "We will." The girl didn't say anything.

Jim sighed, "Where is everyone?"

The girl looked at his wife, "You know."

Jim shook her head, "We don't." The kid still wasn't biting, she thought they were trying to play a game with her. She explained that even grups know not to play games without rules.

"What's a grup?" he asked the girl.

"You are. You're what happens when onlies get old."

"Adults," Rand said, "What happened to the grups? You said they started doing bad things."

The girl nodded, "That was in the 'before time' when they got sick. We hid and then they were gone. Am I doing alright?"

Jim smiled, "You're doin' fine."

Leo thought about what she said, "You said the grups got sick. Is that why there aren't any of them around."

"Yes, they died but that was after the awful things."

He looked at his wife, "A plague, Jim. That would explain what happened here."

She nodded and looked at the girl, "What about the children… the onlies?"

The girl looked up at her, "We're here, aren't we?"

Jim looked at the girl, "How many of you are there?"

"All there are."

Jim sighed, "What's your name?"

The girl finally looked at her, "Miri."

"That's a pretty name, Miri. I'm Jim. This is Janice and that's Leonard." Miri looked at them but didn't say anything. Leonard and Jim looked at each other as this weird feeling came over them. "Spock," Jim muttered.

Miri looked at him, "What does that mean?"

"He's one of our other friends." They both looked up when he walked into the room, "Him."

Miri looked at their husband, "What is he?"

Jim smiled, "A Vulcan. I'll explain what that is if you want me to. What did you find?"

Spock looked at her, "Children, Captain. They scattered before we could get close to them."

Jim looked at her hand, the hand she touched the man with, the purple blemish that wasn't there before was now taunting her. Miri freaked out when she first found it but Jim calmed the girl down as best as she could. She looked at her husband as he tried to figure out what they were dealing with using gear they had beamed down from the ship. Spock was the only one not showing an infection but Bones figured out that he was a carrier and couldn't go back to the ship.

Jim commed Uhura and ordered her to get the senior staff plus Carol, Tom, Kevin, Gaila, Kai, Chapel and Zahra into her ready room. "We're all here, Captain." Jim sighed, "I don't know what we're dealing with down here but I do know that we can't beam back until we figure it out. In the case that we don't; Scotty will take command, Sulu will advance to first officer. Leighton, Riley, Chapel and Zahra will advance to acting chiefs of their respective positions. Carol will assist with weapons, Gaila with computers and Kai will back up Zahra as she does Hendorff. We don't know the half-life on this disease yet, but we'll keep you updated. If the time comes and we can't fix it, do not come down here. You flag this system as code seven-ten and haul ass."

"Aye, Captain. I'm sure Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy will figure it out, lass," Scotty tried to assure her.

She smiled, "Me too but you guys know how this goes, my priority is the ship. Gaila?"

She could tell that the computer programmer was upset just by her voice, "Yes, Captain?"

Jim took a shaky breath, "There are two files on my personal console, they should be easy for you to find. If we don't make it, I need you to send them both to Pike."

"Understood, Captain," the Orion whispered.

The next voice she heard was Tom, "You know, this is a crappy wedding gift."

Jim chuckled, "Noted. I'll make it up to you."

Tom sighed, "We're all gonna hold you to that. You guys need anything else down there?"

Spock touched her shoulder, "I have found something, Captain."

She nodded, "We might need the ship's computer, so Gaila and Uhura should stand by. Spock found something. I'll get back to you as soon as I know what." She cut the comm and looked at him, "Yea?"

"I found progress reports for a 'life prolongation' project. According to their calculations, they were attempting to slow the rate of aging to one month per one hundred years."

Bones looked at them, "Which would mean that Miri and the others are what… the original children?"

Jim nodded, "It would make sense. If it affected all the adults then there is no way to procreate."

Bones nodded, "Jim, you said the man we encountered had the mind of a child. What if he was a teenager? For the last three hundred years or so, the kids were on their own. They wouldn't know anything they weren't taught…"

"So when they hit puberty, the plague surfaces. What do we do?" Jim asked.

Bones looked at her, "I'm close to figuring it out but I can use a hand."

Spock nodded, "I will assist you."

"You each have a week before the disease will kill you. Doctor, you will succumb to the systems slightly faster than the others will, as you are the oldest. The captain and Yeoman Rand will succumb slowest. Miri has approximately five weeks. As there were no Vulcans here during the time these notes were made, I do not know if or when I will succumb." Miri was watching them with curiosity.

Jim sighed, "And the rage?"

He looked at his wife, "You will go mad before it kills you, Captain. It is only a matter of time." Spock had something on his mind, he was not sure if he should voice it.

Jim looked at him, "Speak your mind."

"As the three of us are bonded, I do not know what affect that will have on each of us. I do not know if your connection to me will temper the madness or intensify it." He told them in Vulcan, aside from the few words that Rand spoke; Spock knew that his spouses were the only ones who understood him.

Jim nodded, "So a blessing or a curse depending on how it goes. That's peachy. Can you isolate the virus and find a vaccine?"

"Is that all, Jim. You know, when I dream about being stranded on a planet, there was no plague. And there weren't any children. I hope I can make it work with the five days we have left."

She smiled at him, "I doubt you'll need all five."

"Do you know any songs?"

Rand smiled, "I know a few. Do you guys know 'You are my Sunshine'?"

The children shook their heads and Jim looked around the room, "That's a classic. Do you want us to teach to you?"

The kids all nodded and one of the 'littles' tapped her arm, "Even me?"

Jim smiled, "Especially you." The girl had to be three or four before everything happened. Miri called her Alice and Jim thought it fit.

She smiled at the children that sat with her and Yeoman Rand. Their interactions with Miri and the others seemed to be the only thing keeping the two women calm. "Okay, it's fairly simple. It goes, 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey, you never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away'," Rand sang. The next time she did, Jim joined in with Alice sitting on her lap. They sang it again and Jim realized that Spock was singing along in his mind, it was one of Lady Amanda's favorites. The kids started to pick it up pretty quick and soon, they were all singing the centuries old song.

"Jim, Leonard has found something." Jim, Janice and the children followed Spock into the makeshift lab.

"Bones!" He was on the floor with Hendorff kneeling next to him. "What happened?" she asked as she handed Alice to Miri.

The security officer looked at her, "He injected himself with it, Captain." Jim and Spock knew he wasn't dead, just unconscious.

"Spock, look, the splotches are disappearing," she whispered as she touched Bones' face.

They all watched as the disease healed Bones right in front of them. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, "Jim."

She smiled, "You did it. Not that I'm surprised."

He chuckled as she helped him up, "Give me a few minutes and I'll have all of you healed up too. You might want to comm the ship."

Jim smiled, "Mister Efficient is already on it."

He nodded, "Of course he is."

"Now I know why you hate this so much."

Spock watched as Jim laughed, "I told you that de-con sucks but you never wanna listen. 'Quit your bitchin', Jim.' How's it feel?" Leonard rolled his eyes as the system told them all that they were free to leave.

Mister Scott was waiting for them, "The USS Nightingale just arrived with medical teams, teachers and the such to help the children, you are all off duty for the next two days on Chapel's orders and you might want to comm your daughter."

"What happened?" Leonard asked.

Mister Scott chuckled, "The lass is a wee bit more… perceptive than we thought and she knew something was wrong when we couldn't let her talk to any of you. Nyota held her own with the lass but…"

Jim laughed as she leaned against Spock's shoulder, "But she commed Pike when you wouldn't tell her anything." The engineer nodded and Jim laughed harder, "Oh, Bonesy, have fun with that one."

Scott looked at her, "I wouldn't be so quick to mess with him, lass. The admiral, both ambassadors and Mama McCoy want the three of you to comm them."

"We shall notify our families that we are unharmed when we get back to our quarters," Spock told him.

Jim nodded, "You're doing a good job, Scotty. We're gonna go take real showers, put on clean clothes, eat real food and catch up on some sleep. Carry on." She pulled the two men out of the room, "Who first?"

Leonard sighed, "Jo."

"That is the most logical option."

Jim looked up at him, "You want to talk to her too."

He nodded, "I do."

"I promise we're fine. We were sick but your dad fixed it." Joanna looked at Jim like she didn't believe her.

Leo leaned over her shoulder, "We're all okay, Jo."

He watched as his daughter sighed, "Okay. I was worried. One of you is always reachable. Even when you're busy, you usually comm me back but I kept getting Aunt Ny. That means I was rerouted on purpose."

"That was very observant."

"Really?" Leo asked his husband.

Spock looked at him, "Yes. Many would not have connected our absence and Nyota's interference. Most would assume that the two things were separate, however, Joanna knew that one was a direct reaction of the other."

Jim was trying to hold her giggles, "See what I gotta put up with?"

Jo nodded, "But you love 'em."

"Not as much as I love you, kiddo," Jim told her.

Joanna smiled, "Of course not, I'm awesome."

Leonard looked at his daughter, "Baby girl…"

Joanna sighed, "You gotta go because grandma, Grandpa Chris, Grandpa Sarek and Old Spock all want to talk to you too. And you're probably tired."

He looked at his daughter, "How old are you again?"

"Old enough," Joanna smiled. "I love you guys."

"We love you too," they replied in unison, causing Jo to giggle.

"Awe, my parents are so cute," she muttered as she cut the comm.

Leonard looked at his spouses, "Who's next?"

They all looked at each other for a beat before Jim sighed, "Your mother."

Leo groaned, "I'd rather go back down there."