Chapter 37

A/N: Six chapters in seven days, God this story is killing me. Hope you enjoy.

The next few days pass without any further incidents, giving the crew time to deal with the after affects of the battle. All reports have been written and sent as well as the letters of condolences, it had taken Jim hours to write the letters as he never thought that they could contain right balance of grief that their loved ones had caused with their deaths and of the sorrow for their loss, eventually Spock had to help him finish them as Jim had little experience of dealing with the death of a loved one.

Jim arrived on the bridge early for once (Spock had woken him up for a round of sex, not that Jim was complaining, it was actually very sweet and gentle compared to their usual antics in bed) and he smiled at Spock who had beaten him to the bridge as usual and was currently sitting in the captains chair. Jim arrived unnoticed by anyone other than Spock and he watched as the shift ended, he noticed that the gamma shift were less respectful to Spock than the alpha shift was, they spoke to him like he was dirt, they never said 'sir' when they were supposed to and half his orders and requests were ignored, Jim couldn't understand it until he heard the helmsman speak to the navigator.

"I walked past the captains quarters last night, I could hear him screaming and crying and I heard Spock in there as well, I think that it's happening again."

Jim looked at the helmsman shocked, the captains and first officers quarters were soundproofed there was no way that anyone would have heard him screaming last night, until he remembers that the helmsman is a Hathica and that their hearing is three times better than Vulcan's hearing and if Spock could hear him then it stands to reason that this guy could as well, he was going to have to look into getting better soundproofing for their quarters. Jim looked at Spock, he knew that he could hear what the guy was saying even better than Jim could, he could feel Spock's sadness through their bond although Spock was trying to hide it.

Yes Jim had ended up screaming and crying last night but it was because of memories of Tarsus IV, Spock had woken him from the nightmare and stayed the night after letting sob into his arms, Spock hadn't hurt him. Jim decides to make his presence known so he walks up to Spock and asks quite loudly if Spock would like to join him for chess in his quarters after their shift, when Spock says yes Jim beams at him and then takes his seat once Spock moves over to the science station. Jim watches as the shock flits across the helmsman's face and feels better.

A few minutes later and it is shift change, Jim walks over to Spock's station, he gently places his hand on Spock's arm.

"Do they always treat you like that when I'm not here?"

Spock nods.

"Indeed, they do not believe that I should still be the first officer. Many rumours are also going around that I am using my telepathy to control your actions, they think that is why you have forgiven me."

"Spock why didn't you tell me?"

Spock can feel Jim getting angrier and so tries to calm his mate.

"You were dealing with bigger problems Jim. I do not care what they think, it is only your opinions that will ever matter to me."

"You still should have said something, next time send them to me. You deserve respect and you should get it even if they only respect your position rather than you. I cant force someone to like you as much as I would love to but they can be made to obey your orders."

Spock inclines his head in agreement and Jim goes back to his seat, there is hopefully not a lot to do today as Jim knows that this mission is dangerous enough as it is and he really doesn't want to go up against more Romulan's any time soon, perhaps when they get their next refit they could get better weaponry and defence capabilities after all they are the flagship. The morning passes in blissful silence (there's something that Jim didn't expect he would be happy with when he first became captain) until Jim starts to feel movement in his stomach and gasps out loud when he feels his daughter kick for the first time. In the silence of the bridge everyone heard Jim's gasp including Spock who rushes to his mate.

"Is everything al-right Jim?"

Spock watches as Jim's face lights up with pleasure, Jim looks at Spock with a huge smile on his face and he forgets for a minute that he is on the bridge of his ship and they are travelling through Klingon space as he pulls Spock's hand onto his stomach.

"She kicked Spock, I felt her kick."

Everyone looks over at them before all coming over to feel their captain's daughters kicks, Spock growls when everyone tries to touch Jim and it snaps Jim out of his revelry.

"Al-right everyone back to work, interruptions over."

Everyone goes back to their stations immediately realising that maybe going over to feel the baby kick wasn't the best idea in the universe.

The ship is estimated to arrive at Kronos in the next hour and it is making Jim slightly nervous, Spock leaves the bridge to tend to the ambassadors and to ready a security team to go with them. Finally they arrive at Kronos, the green planet looms in front of them on the view-screen, there are at least twenty war-birds surrounding them, if something went wrong now, if this was a trap, they would never survive.

"Captain, we are receiving a hail from the planet."

"On screen lieutenant."

The view of the planet is replaced with what appears to be a council chamber filled with Klingon's. Jim stands up when they come on screen and does not allow any fear to be seen on his face, the Klingon's are a proud warrior race, fear is something they think of as a weakness.

"Greetings Captain Kirk. I am Keren of the house of Duras the supreme chancellor of the Klingon High council. We are prepared to receive your ambassadors."

"They are prepared to beam down once we have been given coordinates."

Keren motions with one hand to someone off screen and Uhura confirms that they have received coordinates for the beam down site, Jim asks her to send them to the transporter room. His orders are followed straight away and the ambassadors and their security teams are beamed down, the screen goes blank and Jim orders the transport chief to keep a lock on the ambassadors and for Uhura to maintain her vigil on the communications.

It takes two weeks for the treaty to be agreed on all conditions, two weeks of debating and compromise, two weeks of the enterprise being stuck in orbit and two weeks for Jim to be unable to hide the fact that he is pregnant as he has grown significantly around the waist in that time and finally, finally it is time for the great feast to celebrate with the signing of the treaty at the end of it. The high councillor Gorkon requests Jim to beam down for the feast so that they can thank him for avenging the Klingon's murdered by Nero. Spock is with him on the bridge and asks if he could accompany the captain, Gorkon agrees and both men beam down to the chambers together.

The chamber they are beamed down to is huge, you could almost fit the enterprise inside (almost) it was that big, weapons adorned every wall along with tapestries of great battles, the images were violent and blood thirsty exactly how Jim had predicted it to look like. Spock kept very close to Jim and made sure that he was not accosted by any of the many Klingon's who saw Jim as attractive and tried to separate Jim and Spock. Eventually they made their way to the table where the ambassadors were seated, Jim was sat in between Spock and Sarek, who both kept a close eye on the foods and drink being given to Jim, in order to prevent Jim having an allergic reaction or imbibing something that could be harmful to the baby, this of course left Jim being unable to eat much and to only drink water. Spock also kept an eye out for any threats he perceived to be against his mate, not even the Klingon's would be unable to see that Jim and Spock were together and that Vulcan's were extremely territorial, this actually helped their case as the Klingon's respected Vulcan's and knew of their history and how it was only covered by a pacifist façade.

The meal progressed slowly before it was finally time for the treaty to be signed, this treaty was a real piece of history as it indoctrinated the Klingon's into the federation as a member, there was great cheering as this important document was signed for all to see as the signing had taken place in front of a camera and was currently being beamed onto every federation planet.

Once signed the ambassadors were shown back to their sleeping chambers where they had stayed for the last two weeks, Jim and Spock were also expected to stay on the planet over night as a show of trust, fortunately they were allowed to share quarters with one another, Jim was surprised when he saw their bed chamber, it was massive, bigger than his quarters on the enterprise and the bed was big enough for ten people to sleep comfortably, one thing was for sure, the Klingon's didn't do things by half. Jim got changed and clambored into the bed, he watched as Spock got changed and then assumed the position for meditating.

"Will you be coming to bed?"

"Negative Jim, I will stay awake and meditate so that I may keep an eye out for danger and wake you if you have another nightmare."

"OK, will you get enough rest from meditating though?"

"Yes Jim, some times the meditation works better than sleep. You should rest now T'hy'la, I will wake you if you are needed."

Jim yawned, and curls up in the bed.

"Good night Spock."

"Night Jim."

Jim falls asleep quite quickly knowing that Spock will keep him safe, Spock slips into his meditation leaving enough of his mind alert for danger whilst letting the majority to rest and relax. It is in the early hours of the morning when Spock pulls out of his mediation, he has no need to stay in there any longer, he is fully rested. He is then fully awake when a scream echoes through the room, keeping one eye on Jim Spock goes to the door, he opens it to find a Klingon running from Ambassador Kirk's room, he hesitates slightly before he exits the bedroom and locks the door, Spock quietly slips into ambassador kirk's room. He is horrified by what he sees, there is blood everywhere and lying on the bed with her throat cut and her eyes still wide open is Winona Kirk-Castran; she is dead.