Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek.

This is a short interlude, that begins setting up the end of this fic. My first one to be completed! I have debated, and finally decided not to do a rewrite of Into Darkness. It's very overdone, if often very well, and I feel like it itself is just a mockery of the Wrath of Khan. So there will be no Into Darkness in this story. Sorry this chapter is so short.

Interlude Two

Dread-Giving News

"Rose and Mini-Bones are dating," Roslyn announced to her husbands, as she sauntered into the room after ending her comm. She went straight to the couch and laid down, her head resting in Bones' lap.

"Quicker than us," Bones commented, stroking her hair absently as he set aside his medical journal. "What happened then?"

"Not really," Roslyn argued. "She and Mini-Bones have known each other for four years now. And she's known they were imzadis for a few weeks now too. As for what happened, I have four words for you: Nancy the Salt-Monster."

"Ah, poor Nancy," Bones sighed, a hint of regret crossing his features. He still regretted how she had died. Nancy had been too good to deserve her grim fate.

"Being imzadi doesn't necessarily require a romantic relationship," Spock pointed out, shifting Saavik, who was dozing in his arms. "Just as being t'hy'la does not."

"Makes it more likely though," Roslyn mused. "It's about time, but I feel sorry for mini-you. I hope they hurry up and add him to their group soon enough. I hate the thought of him being lonely."

"You're the kindest person I've ever met, darlin'," Bones told her affectionately.

She hummed and the conversation turned to discussing their day for a while. As per Roslyn's demands, they had finally hashed out years of buried issues, and it had done them all the world of good. They had almost gone back to the relationship they'd had at the start, before pride and hurt and grief had damaged it so badly.

"I got a request to come before a medical convention to discuss my 'new' cure for xenopolycythemia," Bones told his spouses. "It's in April, so I wouldn't miss your birthday, Rose. What d'you think?"

"An excellent chance," Spock said. "And you will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to submit patents for the other cures you plan to release."

Bones frowned slightly and Rose sighed softly. She reached up to cup his cheek. "Bones, you're better off patenting them. We don't need to keep the money we get, but think of the problems it would cause if they weren't secure. You know what a disaster it would be."

He grimaced and nodded. "I know, but that doesn't mean I like taking advantage. People who worked for years in our world, who are still working in this universe, to discover those cures will lose a lot because of me doing this."

"But so many more will survive illnesses that would otherwise have been fatal to them," Spock pointed out. "And those researchers will be able to look at the other illnesses that don't have cures. This is for the best Leonard. It would practically be murder to keep these cures from the public, solely for our peace of mind."

The doctor, nodded again, but any reply he planned to make was cut off by Roslyn's comm. The Admiral sat up, a surprised look on her face as she lifted the comm to her ear. Thankfully, as she was too casually dressed for the part-Betazoid to feel comfortable with anyone save her family seeing her, it was a voice only comm unit.

"Admiral Samuels. Is there a problem?" She asked briskly, rising in preparation to rush around getting changed.

"Admiral, this is Stacey Giles," the woman answered. "You hired me to look for someone for you a few months ago."

Roslyn tensed and her husbands did so as well, sensing her mixture of hope, vengeance, anger and determination.

"Yes, I remember," Roslyn replied tightly. She dug her clenched fist into her leg as she listened. "Have you found him?"

"I have," Stacey confirmed. "It's as you predicted, ma'am. He's going by the name of Anton Karidian. He leads a Shakespearean acting group, and has one daughter, twelve-year-old Lenore. I have a file of information on them that I am preparing to send to you."

"Excellent, that's truly excellent, Miss Giles," Roslyn told the woman, her voice slightly ragged. "I'll send you a bonus. Where are they right now?"

"They're currently preforming at Alpha Five, a small colony in the outskirts of the Alpha Quadrant. I don't need a onus ma'am, but thank you very much anyway. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Not at the moment, save for sending that file," Roslyn replied. "But I'll certainly keep you in mind for any other investigating that I require. Thank you, Miss Giles. You have no idea how much this means to me."

They said their goodbyes, Stacey promising to send the file straight away, and she turned to her husbands. They both had solemn looks on their faces. Even now, so many years after Tarsus IV, Rose was still badly affected by the tragedy, physically, not just emotionally. But Kodos' death in their own universe had never given her peace. It was too late in Rose's opinion, with her fellow Nine dead, and the fact that he spent decades living in relative comfort and prosperity had kept her from making peace with it. Neither of them knew what she would do now.

She smiled at them, but there was a look in her that worried them both.

"Excuse me, loves," she said calmly. "I've some things to arrange." As their wife left the room, the two husbands exchanged grim looks.

"This isn't gonna be good, Spock," Bones predicted grimly. "Not for her, or for her younger version. Mentions of Tarsus always wrecks her to pieces."

"Then we shall have to ensure that we glue the remains back together again," was Spock's quiet reply. His heart was heavy in his side as he worried over what was about to happen. As if sensing her parents' distress, Saavik woke and started to wail her displeasure to the world and nothing they did could calm her distress.