Chapter 24- Spock
The children finally settled for the night after all the commotion around their return to the ship caused. Jim had to be the happiest person on the ship. He told me of the scientist Carol Marcus who he had a relationship with a she had a child for him while he studied at the academy. She asked him to stay away from her and their son.
I can not imagine the pain that must have caused. I was aware of the comfort he found in my children and his happiness to see Gray and Mandy again was genuine. Since he could not be with his own son I shared mine with him. He did not falter. He treated my children as if they were his own. It was a great comfort to know that if anything should happen to me they would have him.
I slipped into bed next to my wife and she wrapped her body around me. Her fingers drew circles on my chest.
"We owe Spock Prime our lives." She said softly.
I looked down at her questioningly.
"If he and Nero had not come through the time rift we may have never reached this point in our lives and we could have ended up like Spock Prime and Nyota Prime. In listening to him I got really sad. They were lonely." She said with sadness in her voice.
"A lot of good and bad came from his temporal disturbance." I answered and the arm I had wrapped around her drew her closer into me.
"I am so excited about tomorrow." She said happily and I could feel her lips curling into a smile on my chest.
"I have a question I wish to ask." I said kissing her forehead.
"Ok."
"In our first wedding I opted not to have the use of my last name, however now I wish for us to be married under my last name." I said waiting for her response.
She propped herself up on her elbow and looked into my eyes.
"I suppose we'll have to use the version Jim and others can say. Shi'Kahr will have to do. I often forget that you're as close to royalty as Vulcan has because they treat us so badly. Shi'Kahr was your birth place right?"
"Yes."
"Well then Nyota Uhura Shi'Kahr it is. Although I should probably stay Uhura in Starfleet."
"Whatever you wish." I answered with another kiss to her forehead.
Her lips connected with mine softly and intensified quickly. I hoped that the same hunger we have for each other never ends. I tightened my grip on her and then the com outside our door went off and she smiled against my lips. She rolled her eyes slightly and pulled away from my grasp knowing what was coming next.
"Come in." I ordered.
The door slid open and there they were the four of them with their best innocent faces on. Amanda held Skylar's hand and Grayson held Soren's hand.
"We wish to sleep with you." Grayson said in his best 'Spock like manner' as Nyota would call it.
I looked to Nyota and she smiled. We wanted alone time but we have not had all of our children with us in so long that we welcomed the crowd. They all ran to the bed and we took our spots on either side of the bed. Amanda took her place on my chest. She would not be able to sleep this way much longer her body length wouldn't allow it much longer so I took advantage of having the princess laying the way she has since she was a baby.
Skylar tucked himself into my side. Grayson tucked himself into Nyota as he often did and Soren lay facing Skylar. She kissed the back of Grayson's head and smiled. I watched as my family drifted to sleep. I was unwilling to admit before that I have been missing these moments.
I will hold onto these moments forever. When I think of the life that Spock Prime has lived for all his accomplishments he had. He didn't have this. I am surrounded by unconditional love and acceptance. I thought that I needed acceptance from Vulcans or humans and I now know I need neither. My whole universe lay right here in the bed with me.