McCoy was not having a good day. Jim had been thrown out of the Enterprise and Lydia was nowhere to be found. He was scared that he knew exactly where she was. Now Spock had called him to the bridge for whatever reason. Like he didn't have enough to do already.

"You wanted to see me?" he asked moving towards Spock.

"Yes, Doctor," he started with a discreet voice. "I'm aware that James Kirk is a friend of yours. Supporting me, as you did, must have been difficult."

"... are you thanking me?"

"I'm simply acknowledging your difficulties."

For a moment, McCoy didn't know how to respond. "Permission to speak freely, Sir."

"I welcome it."

"Do you," here it was coming. "Okay then: are you out of your Vulcan mind? Were you doing the logical thing? Maybe. The right one? Debatable. But one thing's for damn sure - that kid doesn't know how to lose. Just isn't in his DNA. Back home we have a saying: "If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky Derby, don't leave your prize stallion in the stable."

"... a curious metaphor, Doctor. As a stallion must first be broken before it can reach its potential."

"Yeah but a stallion isn't broken in by just anyone. It takes a good hand to make a stallion bend. A hand that the stallion would never turn away from and you are definitely not the one who has it. My God, Man... you could at least act like it was a hard decision."

"I intended to assist in the effort to re-establish communication with Starfleet. However, if crew morale would be better served by my roaming the halls weeping, I'll gladly defer to your medical expertise."

"Captain we have something you may like to see," said someone to the side. "The pod's cameras were tampered with."

On screen, they saw Lydia running towards the pod and jumping into it.

With a smile, McCoy turned toward Spock. "It seems that your only way to control the stallion went with him. There are some teams you should want to be a part of, not actually work against them, because, no matter how hard you try you will always loose. Those two, yeah those two, they can't loose no matter how much the world tries. You should really think about not fighting them anymore," with that McCoy walked away. The medical bay needed him.

A blizzard, a fucking blizzard that was what they were walking through at that very moment. What was it with this planet? Had it never heard of giving someone a break? Sure, a giant monster was not following them but now they would die from frostbite.

Lydia was also worried about Jim. She had thought that a few minutes would be enough for him to assimilate the mind meld and would be able to work through the feelings. Yet ever since the had left the cave he hadn't let go of her, not even for a second. Every few moments he would actually squeeze her hand almost like he was making sure that she was really there. She had to admit it felt good. Didn't mean it wasn't freaking her out.

"I AM SO PISSED OFF AT THE OTHER YOU RIGHT NOW!" Lydia heard Jim yelled at Spock Prime through the wind. She had to wonder how strange this was for Spock. Jim was his best friend and right now Jim didn't even like him in this reality.

Finally, they had made it to the outpost. It would only take about half a mile to actually get there. Lydia could only hope they didn't freeze in that time.

The outpost was nothing out of the ordinary. It had a long tile corridor at the entrance. Walking in they got rid of as much snow as possible waiting to see if anyone would appeared to help them.

"... hello?!" Jim called out.

Yet his only response was an echo, nothing. So they headed down the corridor. As the started walking, a small, dark alien creature stepped out to eye them curiously.

"Can I help you?"

"Are you the station chief?" Spock prime asked the alien.

For a moment, he did nothing but look at them making Lydia and Jim look at each other. Only for Lydia to realize that, the moment that they had gotten themselves together Jim had taken her hand in his once more.

"... no. This way."

Therefore, they followed the little alien. Right into a room were an officer was waiting for them.

"You realize how unacceptable this is," he said in an agitated voice.

"Excuse me?" Jim asked the man trying to understand what was going on.

"... Fascinating." Lydia could hear Spock Prime say. Did he forget that Jim and herself were not from the future and actually needed some explanation?

"What?" she asked turning toward Spock.

The man though wasn't going to let them forget he was here.

"I'm sure it's no' your fault, and I know youse lads are just doing your jobs, but could you no' have come a wee bit sooner?! Six months I've been living on nothing but Starfleet Protein Nibs and the promise of a real food delivery! Six months, boys! It's pretty clear what's going on here, isn't it? Punishment! Ongoing! For something that was clearly an accident!"

"You're Montgomery Scott."

"You know him?" Though the name may have mean nothing to Jim to Lydia she knew exactly who he was. She was an engineer after all.

"You are Montgomery Scott?" she asked amazed and it took Jim a moment to realize he didn't like that. When had he started to not like this kind of reaction from Lydia to anyone but himself?

"Yes, that's me - Scotty- you're in the right place- are there any other hard- working and equally-starving Starfleet officers around?"

"Me," said the little alien next to him.

"You eat nothing. A bean and you're done for a week, I need food. And now you're here - so. Thank you. Where is it?"

"You are in fact the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of trans-warp beaming."

"Yeah! That's exactly what I'm talking about! How d'ya think I ended up here? I got into a debate with my instructor on the issue of Relativistic Physics as they pertain to subspace travel... He seemed to think that the range of transporting say, a roast turkey, was limited to a few hundred miles - so I told my instructor I could not only beam a bird from one planet to an adjacent planet in the same system - which is no big deal anyway - but if I were so inclined I could actually do it with a lifeform! So I tested it on Admiral Archer's prize beagle. Which... was a mistake."

"So it is you," Lydia said with a laugh. "We still talk about that in the engineering department."

"So a fellow engineer I see."

"Yeah Lydia Talbot," she said giving Scot a hand shake. "Anyway what happened to the dog we never found out?"

"I'll tell ya when it reappears. Dunno. I do feel guilty."

Jim and Lydia laugh for a moment. They both remembered when they had heard of the story. It was one great afternoon laughing at random moments every time they remembered the story.

"What if I told you," Spock said taking back the conversation. "Your trans-warp theory was correct? That it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is travelling at warp speed. And that you only required the correct field equation to recrystallize dilithium?"

"I haven't been stationed here that long. If such an equation had been discovered, I'da heard."

"The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott... is because you haven't discovered it yet."

For a moment, Jim, Lydia and Scotty react almost identical. Then it's almost like Scot decided it was most likely a joke or something.

"Y'from the future, are ya? Brilliant. D'they still have sandwiches where you're from? Piece and jam? Mince 'n tatties? Cockaleekie soup?"

"What is he talking about?" Jim aske Lydia in a whisper.

"Food," she said with a smile towards him.

"Allow us access to your shuttle... and I will show you what a genius you actually are."

This worked.

"She's a wee bit dodgy," Scotty said taking them to the shuttle and pulling the tarp from it. "Shield emitters are totally banjaxed, along wi' a few other things."

Looking over the shuttle Lydia had to admit he she had seen better, but she had also done much with worst so that wasn't her main concern at the moment. She watched a Spock typed something so fast that she wasn't really sure he even knew what he was tying himself.

"Rapid. That's impressive," said Scotty watching Spock as well.

Stepping aside Spock said, "Your equation for achieving trans-warp beaming."

"Imagine that," Scotty said looking a mixture between awed and delighted. "Never occurred to me to think of space as the part that's moving."

Coming over Lydia looked at the equation. It was exquisite if nothing else.

"Point of fact: it did occur to you. Extrapolating Enterprise's course –"

That was something that Lydia admired of Spock. Scotty hadn't yet invented the equation. Spock had come from the future so the time line was already ruined. Yet it never occurred to him to take credit for something that wasn't his. In Spock mind Scotty had invented the equation and that was how it was going to be here even if in reality in this time line it hadn't.

"Enterprise?" Scotty asked not responding to the other thing Spock had said. "Had its maiden voyage already, has it? Well, you must've done something right to be assigned to that ship, Kiddo. She's a well endowed lady - love to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance."

"You should hear the core when it's in perfect shape," Lydia told Scotty. "I swear it's almost like it purrs."

"Like a kitten?"

"Now's your chance, Mr. Scott," Spock said looking over the last minute details.

"Look, even if I believed you – where you're from, what I've done- which I don't - we're still talkin' bout slingshotting aboard while she's going faster than light. Without a proper receiving pad, that's like tryin'a hit a bullet with a smaller bullet, wearing a blindfold. On a horse."

"I calculate no more than a four meter margin of error," if there was ever a doubt that he was Spock.

"That's all well and good unless you rematerialize four meters outside the ship."

"The aft engineering bay would be our best option then. A large space and no unpredictable airlock. It's our best bet," Lydia said bringing the Enterprise schematics up for Spock to view.

"Yes I believe you are correct Ms. Talbot," Spock said. Then he turned to Jim who having no clue about engineering had been staying out of the way.

"You're coming with us, right?"

"No, Jim. My destiny lies along a different path."

"Your destiny can wait…he won't believe me, only you can explain w…"

"Under no circumstances can he be made aware of my existence. You must promise me this."

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

"Trust me. Above all. Jim, this is the one rule you cannot break. To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How, over your dead body?"

"Preferably not. There is, however, Starfleet Regulation 619."

Turning towards Lydia with a look Jim seemed to ask her what he meant. It brought a small smile to Spock face.

"619 states," she started to explain to Jim. "That any commanding officer who is emotionally compromised by the mission at hand... must resign said command. How you are going to emotionally compromise Spock, I have no idea. Until I met Spock Prime here," she said pointing at Spock who gave the name a smile. "I wasn't even sure he had emotions to feel let alone to compromise."

"Jim. I just lost my planet. I can tell you. I am emotionally compromised. What you must do... is get me to show it."

"Hm," Jim wondered if Spock Prime, as Lydia called him, even knew that his mother had died.

"Aye, then. Live or die, Laddies, let's get this over with. he Enterprise has a decent cafeteria I'm guessing."

"One of the best I can promise you that Mr. Scott."

"Oh lassie non of tha. You can call me Scotty."

Scotty moved to the pad leaving the other three behind. They moved to follow, but at the last second, Jim moved back to Spock.

"You know... coming back in time... changing history... that's cheating."

Spock can't help it. For a moment, it's like he is talking to his Jim. The one from his time. The one that had done everything in his power to be a good captain. The one he would have died for and who would have died for him. It almost felt like being back home.

"A trick I learned from an old friend. Now remember what I said, Live."

Something strikes Jim at that moment, a revelation. No matter the past, that he may have had in Spock's time this was a different time. He needed to live in this one. Spock knew what he was going to do to get the ship, his ship back. Moreover, Spock was all right with it.

"Live Long And Prosper."

As they vanished Spock had to wonder what this new time would bring to this new Kirk and Spock.