It was several days until McCoy finally released Scotty and Lexie from Sick Bay, he had originally wanted to keep them in for a little longer, but they were starting to get on his nerves by asking when they could leave, so basically he just gave in. Lexie was excited to get back to work, however Scotty stated that he had something to show her before that. Despite being slightly confused and nervous as to what he wanted to show her, Lexie simply agreed to follow him. But before they set off Scotty handed her a strip of cloth, "Cover your eyes lass, this is a surprise." Now Lexie was even more nervous, but she did as Scotty asked. Since she couldn't see, Scotty had a hold of one of her wrists, guiding her down the halls and even into a turbo lift at some point. After a while they were still walking through the halls, "Scotty, how far are we going? To the other side of the ship?" Lexie questioned; Scotty smiled even though she wouldn't be able to see it.

"We're almost there lass, promise." He said with a quiet chuckle, Lexie wasn't sure how true his statement was, but what other choice did she have but to believe him. Eventually they did come to a stop, Lexie heard a set of doors slide open before Scotty led her in. He then removed her blindfold so she could see where they were, but Lexie would never have expected to be greeted with the sight that stood before her. They were in the briefing room, but it looked completely different. There were streamers of blue, yellow, and red dangling from the ceiling, balloons were dotted around the room and a huge hand painted banner hung on the back wall, which said "HAPPY 'LATE' BIRTHDAY!" also the whole command crew were there along with Delta who was sitting on Chekov's shoulder, they all yelled surprise. Lexie didn't know what to say, she opened her mouth several times but no words came out. It didn't take long for Lexie to finally speak, "You guys didn't need to do all of this." Kirk stepped forward, drink in hand. "No, but we wanted to. We kinda guessed that you probably have never really celebrated it, so we wanted to change that." McCoy then noticed a single tear run down Lexie's face, "Well done Jim, ya made the kid cry." Kirk instantly felt bad, but before he could say anything Lexie spoke first. "It's alright McCoy, they're not sad tears. They're happy tears, promise." Kirk was more than a little relieved to hear that, after Lexie dried her eyes the party began.

Lexie had just finished talking to Sulu and Uhura when she noticed Chekov standing alone in the corner. Smiling faintly she wandered over to him, "You alright Pavel? Something on your mind?" She asked. "Yes, I'm alright." He replied quickly, Lexie chuckled. "Spoken just like someone with something on their mind." Chekov blushed slightly, "It's just that when we watched you and Mr Scott get taken I… I didn't know if I would see you again." Chekov turned his back on her before continuing, "I've never really had any friends which are close to my own age. All my friends before I met you were much older than me and since I have no siblings of my own, I guess I kinda saw you as a little sister." Lexie's mouth hung open; she had no idea that Chekov saw her that way. But what was clear was that he cared a lot about her. She placed a hand on his shoulder which made him turn around, to be greeted by Lexie's bright smile.

"Pavel, I'm sorry that I scared you, but believe me, I ain't going anywhere. You're stuck with me for the next five years. To be honest, you remind me of my older brother Noah." Chekov was trying to hold back his own tears, as Lexie spoke again. "And I have you to thank for finding me and Scotty. Delta told me what you did and the fact that you fixed his arm, which I'm grateful for, Pavel. I really am." Chekov smiled as he pulled her in for a hug. "You're welcome Lex, I'm just glad that you're back among friends." "Me too Pavel. Me too." Whispered Lexie before they let each other go, "Maybe some time soon you can teach me a thing or two about AI programming, I would love to learn how you build Delta." Chekov exclaimed excitedly; Lexie smiled. "Of course Pavel, just say when and I'll make sure to be free. Maybe in return you can teach me a thing or two about the Enterprise's computer systems, since I've been told that you wrote most of their coding." Chekov blushed with embarrassment, but agreed. Lexie couldn't stop smiling while she was around Chekov, he didn't just remind her of Noah, he sort of looked like him too. So, she knew he would be a great big brother, just like Noah was.

Soon Lexie found herself standing with Scotty, both with drinks in hand. "I really can't thank you enough for everything you have done for me Scotty." Lexie stated as she watched the Scotsman take a sip of his drink, "No need to thank me Lex, I'm just glad that you can finally move on with your life without looking back." Scotty replied as he placed his drink down on the table, then turned and gave Lexie a hug which she wasn't expecting. But something else that surprised her was that she was sure that she could hear Scotty crying softly in her ear. "Scotty, why are you crying?" She asked sweetly, "I thought I was going to lose you. Which I can't bare to think about. I've lost people I cared about before and I was scared it was going to happen again." He muttered, Lexie pushed him up and wiped away the Scotsman's tears. "That was never going to happen Scotty, nor will it ever happen. I promise, I won't put you through that pain. I'm not going anywhere and you wanna know why?" Scotty nodded slowly, "Because the Enterprise is my home and you're my family, and I will never leave my family, no matter what." Scotty sniffled as he went to dry his eyes with his sleeve, but Lexie handed him something to use instead. "Your eyes will become sore if you use ya sleeve, use this." It turned out to be the same tartan handkerchief that he had given her, to wipe her eyes all those months ago. Laughing slightly, Scotty took the handkerchief and dabbed it on his eyes. He then went to hand it back, but Lexie refused to take it. "Keep it, I have no need for it anymore, since I have no reason to cry." Scotty smiled as he put it in his pocket, "Thanks lass."

Just then Kirk came over to join them, he had been watching their little heart to heart moment from a far and had waited for them to finish before wandering over. "It's good to see you smiling Lex." He said, Lexie turned to face him. "Thank you Captain and thank you for this party, but you really didn't need to." Kirk smiled at her as he place his drink down on the table next to Scotty's. "Like I said, we didn't need to but we wanted to. Besides, every member of the command crew has a little gathering on their birthday, even Spock." Lexie laughed at her Captain's remark, it was then she realised what he had just said. "But, I'm not a member of the Command crew." She stated quickly, Kirk chuckled along with Scotty. "Yes you are, Star Fleet may not agree with it, so I'm keeping it a secret from them. But the Command crew of the Enterprise isn't just a bunch of officers, we're a family. A tight knit family, which you are a part of, along with Delta of course. That is if you wanna be part of it?" As Kirk had been talking Lexie had noticed that the others had slowly gathered round. "Captain, since I came aboard the Enterprise each one of you has shown so much love and care towards me, something I hadn't felt for a long time. From that moment I saw all of you as family and I wouldn't change that for the world." As Lexie spoke she had started to cry again but she didn't care. A group hug soon followed and even Spock was involve, much to everyone surprise. When question why, he simply said "It was the most logical thing to do." which made everyone laugh. Finally Lexie felt like she belonged, finally felt like she had a family. Lexie knew she was exactly where she was meant to be.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lexie saw Delta sitting on a chair, but she could tell that something wasn't right. Even from across the room she could see that he looked upset. So, she walked over to him, crouching down next to the chair before speaking. "Delta, what's wrong?" She asked softly, her little robot turned to face her with a sad look on his face. "I guess since you've now found a group of people to call family, that you won't need me anymore." Lexie couldn't believe what Delta had just said, it broke her heart to think that he thought he was no longer needed. She quickly picked him up and held him up to her face. "Don't you dare even think that! You're not disposable Delta, you're my best friend and I wouldn't change that for the world. Of course, some people will never understand you like I do, but that's not going to change the way I feel about you." Delta didn't know what to say. "But I'm just a program." Lexie felt her heart break a little more.

"You're not just a program Delta, you're a living thing. In my eyes anyway. You've been there for me from the very start, you've helped me to follow my dream of joining Star Fleet. You're the reason I am here today because I can guarantee that without you, I would still be living with Kyle, dealing with his abuse or something much worse. So, please don't think that I'll ever leave you, or get rid of you, or even forget about you because I won't. I love you Delta and that will never, ever change." Delta sniffled, even though he couldn't technically secrete tears, that didn't mean that he couldn't cry. He suddenly lunged at her, wrapping his tiny arms around her neck. "Thank you Lexie, I'm glad you created me and I'm so honoured to be your best friend and I love you too." Lexie hugged him back gently, "No thank you Delta, for always being there. No matter what." Lexie truly didn't know where she would have ended up in her life if she never had created Delta, but what she did know was that the two of them could now live out their lives happily, onboard the Enterprise with their new family, all while exploring amazing new worlds filled with extraordinary new life forms and going where no human has gone before.

Sorry this chapter took a little longer to upload, the joys of bad internet. But there you have it, the last chapter but not necessarily the last story.

Hope you've enjoyed this and thank you for reading. It feels nice being able to share my stories with others, after years of doubting myself.