A/N: Remember Operation: Annihilate!? Remember how Kirk was all like, ah, my brother's dead, whatevs. And then how they totally didn't address the fact that Kirk's nephew was still alive? Yeah, I try not to remember those parts, too. I want to apologize in advance for the way this is written. I didn't really want to go through the whole episode but I needed to include specific parts for future plot, so there's these weird paragraphs about "then this huge thing happened." Finally, I have no idea why but I kept jumping tenses. I think I fixed it all, but if it sounds weird, that's probably why.

.o0o.

Kirk crossed his legs to stop himself from wiggling his foot. He was anxious, but he knew it was his duty to put on a brave face and not let his crew see his uneasiness. Bones' eyes were staring a hole in the back of his head, but he refused to acknowledge him. The doctor had been watching him since Spock had made his hypothesis regarding the encroaching insanity onto Deneva. Bones had undoubtedly made the connection between Kirk and Deneva, being the only member of the crew to have actually met his brother before and knowing from whatever way he always managed to keep tabs on his captain's personal life that Sam had been residing at the research station on Deneva. Spock would know it, too, mostly from reading personnel files than anything else, but Spock seemed to be training his own concern on McCoy for whatever reason.

So Spock watched Bones and Bones watched Kirk and Kirk watched the viewscreen, demanding it give him some answers. He and his brother had never really gotten on well but he was still family and he still cared about him. His only brother could be dead and the last conversation they'd have ever held would be an argument. Of course, most of their conversations had been arguments so that wasn't all that surprising. Still, it gave him an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. He flipped his legs and shifted in his chair. Maybe he should order Bones down to Sickbay so he'd stop staring at him.

As if sensing that he was about to lose his patience, Bones meandered to Spock's station and leaned back against the railing to watch the Vulcan work. Kirk glanced over. He wondered if they were talking using the link. The way Bones had described it, they could carry on a conversation in their minds without even touching one another. And Kirk had a pretty good idea what they were talking about.

Agitated, he got up from his chair and stalked around the bridge. "Anything, Lieutenant?"

Uhura had the grace not to comment on his biting tone. "No, sir. I've tried every major transmitting station on Deneva. None of them have acknowledged my contact signal."

Kirk made his way to her station and licked his lips. That was not a good sign. "Try GSK-783, subspace frequency 3."

Uhura frowned as if trying to piece together the clues he'd given her. She wouldn't know about his brother. She didn't need to know about his brother. "But sir, that's a call sign for a private transmitter."

"I'm well aware of that, Lieutenant. Try it."

"Yes, sir."

Unable to wait for the silence he knew was coming, he addressed Spock, asking for his evaluation of the situation. Spock prattled on about the mass insanity that had been destroying civilizations across the galaxy. Kirk paid attention with half an ear. He was too preoccupied with Sam. He supposed he'd always blamed him for what happened on Tarsus IV; he'd spent most of his life keeping his brother at arm's length. But he certainly didn't want him dead. After all this was over, he'd sit down with his brother and his family and be there like the brother he should have been, like he hadn't been when Sam had lost two of his sons.

"The last was Ingraham V, two years ago." Spock concluded.

"And next in line, Deneva." He turned and asked Bones what his thoughts were on the cause even though they both knew that the doctor didn't have enough information to even guess. Mostly he just wanted Bones to see that he could and would function effectively despite his personal ties to the situation. Bones gave a noncommittal and entirely useless answer.

Sulu interrupted, "Captain, we're picking up a ship on our sensors, heading directly into the Denevan sun. He'll burn up."

Kirk dove into action, simultaneously pleased by the distraction and disturbed by the implications. They couldn't catch up in time, the tractor beams were out of range and the hails went unanswered. The other ship was a lost cause. "I did it. It's finally gone. I'm free. I'm-"

"He burned up, Captain." Sulu stated unnecessarily.

Kirk let the bridge crew discuss what they knew about the planet while he swallowed hard. Insanity had definitely hit Deneva.

"Captain. I've made contact with your private transmitter, sir."

"Put it on audio."

"Please hurry. Help us. I don't have much time. They'll know. Please! Please help us."

Kirk recognized the voice immediately as Aurelan, his brother's wife. He quickly tried to get more information but they'd already lost the connection. He snapped at Uhura when she couldn't get them back and had to take a moment to regain his composure. He knew he had to hurry.

Pulling together a team, he found himself jogging toward the transporter room, expecting the others to keep up with him. As soon as he got there, he ordered the phasers set to stun. This mass insanity could manifest itself in a number of ways and he didn't want to be unprepared.

What he hadn't expected was that the city would be so empty and quiet just as soon as they beamed down. He signaled for them to move towards his brother's lab. On the way, several men appeared, behaving violently yet speaking out of concern. They were easily stunned and Bones knelt beside the nearest one, running a tricorder over his form.

"There's something wrong, Jim. Their nervous systems. Unconscious like this, there should be just routine autonomic activity, but I'm getting a very high reading, as though even in their unconscious state, they're being violently stimulated." It was very strange indeed and it gave Kirk an uneasy deja vu. Hadn't the readings of the Romulan plants been something similar?

He had no time to spare for thought though, as a woman screamed and they took off running for the labs. When they entered, Aurelan was trying desperately to cover the air vents. Kirk went to her, grasping her arms firmly and she struggled against him. "Bones." He called. The doctor injected her with a sedative, hoping to calm her down. "Aurelan, you're safe now." He tried to comfort.

And then Bones was using that tone of voice which was painful to listen to because it always meant that someone had died. "Is this your brother, Jim?"

Kirk turned and looked to the body on the floor. He wanted to call Bones an idiot. He knew that was his brother. "Sam. It is my brother." Kirk turned his head. "Was my brother." Anguish poured through him at the loss. He thought of all the things he hadn't said. The things he'd never say now. It felt like someone had taken a metal pipe and started beating on his unprotected heart. And he felt irrationally furious at Bones for pointing it out, like if he hadn't mentioned it, somehow Sam would have been just fine.

Bones rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing briefly where the neck met his shoulder and Kirk had another irrational thought that maybe Bones was trying to use the Vulcan nerve pinch on him.

And then it was over. As if someone had dumped a bucket of water on him to wake him from a terrible nightmare, his mind was crystal clear. In the span of just a few seconds, he found himself completely ready to take charge again. He felt hyper-aware.

Bones seemed to be shaking himself alert. "The boy's unconscious, but he's still alive."

"Peter?"

"I'd better get the boy and his mother back to the ship. I can't do much for them down here." Bones continued as if he hadn't heard him. Kirk's eyes landed on him. He noticed for the first time that Bones looked tired, almost haggard. Had he been like that all day? Longer?

"Get ready to beam up."

Despite it being Kirk's orders to beam up, it was McCoy who decided that Kirk would return to the ship as well. Perhaps he was concerned about his personal reactions, though he stated that he just wanted him on board for when Aurelan woke up. Kirk acquiesced. Spock could search the planet, but he thought Aurelan probably had more answers.

Aurelan was awake again shortly thereafter in Sickbay, but she was hardly more help. She struggled through the pain being inflicted upon her to explain that the creatures had come on a trading vessel and that they had forced the other people to do their will. Then Bones explained how difficult it had been for Aurelan to discuss the topic at all and he felt guilty for forcing it. Aurelan continued to talk even as she cried out in pain and then she was gone. Kirk didn't need to be a doctor to know what those vital signs meant. Aurelan was dead. Sam was dead. Two of their sons were dead. Grief began to well up inside of him again.

"My brother's son?"

"I'll do everything I can, Jim, to save him." It wasn't the words that soothed Kirk, but the steady hand resting on his own. He didn't need to turn away to hide his tears because he didn't need to cry.

Kirk left with Bones eyes heavy on his back. Those eyes were even more heavy when he returned with an injured Spock not even an hour later. Bones swears, but Kirk's pretty sure it isn't directed at him but at Spock of all people. He feels useless when he's kicked out and sends himself to the bridge.

Kirk didn't have long to wait, which he knows to be a bad sign. McCoy entered the bridge still wearing his surgical outfit. "How is he?"

"To be frank, Jim, I don't know that I can do anything for Spock or your nephew." He sounded disgruntled. Kirk briefly wondered if Bones should have operated on Spock at all. Could the doctor feel his pain through the link? Spock would try everything to keep it from him, undoubtedly, but the kind of agony that he was in... Kirk decided he didn't really want to know the answer. "I removed one sample from Spock's spinal cord, the other from your sister-in-law. They're both the same. The boy is too weak to touch. Besides, removal of the tissue wouldn't stop the pain anyhow as far as I can tell."

"Did you operate on Spock in time?" Even as he asked it, he knew the answer was no. Spock's body was being overtaken by whatever the creature had left behind. And so was his nephew. "Recommendations?"

"I'm sorry, Jim. We're all stumped." Kirk found himself wanting to reach out to Bones and find out if he could get that clear-headed feeling again. But that didn't make any sense. He needed to focus.

Not five minutes later, Spock entered and tried to take over the ship. From there, things progressed quickly. Spock managed to overcome the pain of the creature using what Bones would undoubtedly call Vulcan mumbo-jumbo and retrieved a specimen from the planet's surface to study. (McCoy's mother-hen routine at Spock's behavior was rather entertaining.) Kirk pondered his own ability to pull the trigger on an entire planet of people to prevent the further spread of the creatures and save billions more that will eventually come in contact with them. Meanwhile, his best friends worked feverishly to find a solution to their problem. Despite knowing that the sun had managed to destroy the creature and figuring out that the creature was closer to minions sent from a hive mind than an actual self-sufficient organism, they still had no method by which to defeat it.

Finally, it was Kirk himself (and he secretly enjoys that he bested his scientific friends) that suggested light as the possible solution. First, the specimen is killed, then Spock is freed of the painful effects.

Only, they left Spock blinded by the experiment. Bones blamed himself of course, but Kirk knew it was really his own fault. It was his rush. It was his order. He remembered Bones protesting, 'Do you know what one million candlelight per square inch can do to your optic nerves?' Worse, only a few minutes after it became clear through a test that Bones had already ordered that they only needed to use a form of light which would not have affected humanoids. Bones looked crushed, and each subsequent line seemed to crush him further.

"An equitable trade." Spock stated in a most honest appreciation. "Interesting. Just as dogs are sensitive to certain sounds which humans cannot hear, these creatures evidently are sensitive to light which we cannot see."

"Are you telling me that Spock need not have been blinded?" It was not an accusation but a question, and yet Bones looked like he'd been slapped.

"I didn't need to throw the blinding white light at all, Jim. Spock, I-"

"Doctor, it was my selection as well." Spock comforted. "It is done."

"Bones, take care of him." Then Kirk was gone because despite everything, he still had a job to do and people to save. Within the hour, they set up the satellites, projected the ultraviolet light and freed the people of Deneva. The ones that were still alive, anyway.

Kirk finally escaped the bridge and headed back to Sickbay. The interaction he caught immediately upon entering was almost enough to make everything seem normal.

Bones is leaning over Spock trying to get him to lay flat on the biobed. "Dammit, Spock, just let me run a few more scans. There might be a way to reverse this."

Spock takes McCoy's hand, finding it with ease. He strokes his thumb down the back of it. "Doctor, I am blind, not ill. You will not be able to find a cure."

Kirk left them to it because he didn't think he should be privy to that conversation. Instead, he went for his target, Peter. Ever efficient, Bones had already seen to Peter and the kid was sitting up in bed with a distraught look on his face. Kirk sucked in a breath. "Hey kiddo."

"Uncle Jim." Peter greeted seemingly relaxed by the familiar face. "My parents didn't make it, did they?"

Kirk swallowed the rock that appeared in his throat and had to shake his head because he couldn't get any words out. He could invite his nephew to live with him. Starfleet was changing. Already several ships did have children on board. Anyone onboard a non-combat ship could request to have minors live with them, provided they were their legal guardians. And despite finding battles unpleasantly frequently, the Enterprise was classified as a non-combat ship. It didn't happen much and no one had done it on the Enterprise before, but he could do it. He would do it, if that's what Peter wanted. He'd never seen himself as the fatherly type, but he'd try with Peter.

The captain pulled his nephew into a hug, which the boy returned eagerly. "Then I'd like to stay with my dad's lab partner. He was like another father to me."

Kirk nodded though the words held a punch for him. He should have been there for this kid more. He should be the one Peter wanted to stay with. "I'll make sure he's..." Kirk trailed off, realizing he was about to say 'still alive.' Maybe he shouldn't be caring for kids. "Up for visitors right now." He finished lamely.

After making the arrangements, finding that the lab partner was thankfully still alive, Kirk said his goodbyes, promising to keep in contact more and check in on him. Peter didn't seem to think of him as much more than an acquaintance and it kind of hurt as he watched the boy beam back down to the planet.

Kirk returned to the bridge and sat down heavily in the captain's chair. His thoughts were dark, twisted up in grief of loss and guilt of failure. He thought he might even turn the conn over to Scotty when Spock appeared in the doorway, Bones hot on his heels. Kirk's mood lifted.

"Spock. You can see."

"The blindness was temporary." Bones eagerly supplied. "There's something about his optical nerves which aren't the same as a human's."

"A hereditary trait, Captain." Spock clarified as he moved to his station. The sight of him back where he belonged made Kirk smile. "The brightness of the Vulcan sun has caused the development of an inner eyelid which acts as a shield against high-intensity light. Totally instinctive, Doctor. We tend to ignore it, as you ignore your own appendix."

Kirk smiled again, feeling a whole lot better and decided to do his own teasing since Bones seemed too pleased to engage. "Mr. Spock. Regaining eyesight would be an emotional experience for most. You, I presume, felt nothing?"

"Quite the contrary, Captain. I had a very strong reaction. My first sight was the face of Dr. McCoy bending over me." Kirk had no idea what to make of that.

All eyes seemed to find McCoy. What had the Vulcan just admitted to? And how would Bones take it? "Tis a pity your brief blindness did not increase your appreciation for beauty, Mr. Spock."

Kirk chuckled. "If you gentlemen are finished, would you mind laying in a course for Starbase Ten, Mr. Spock?"

"My pleasure, Captain." And wasn't that a strange response.

Bones came near to him, leaning on the Captain's chair while still watching Spock as he worked. "Don't tell Spock I said he was the best first officer in the fleet."

"Why thank you, Dr. McCoy." Spock responded promptly.

"You've been so concerned with his Vulcan eyes, Doctor, you forgot about his Vulcan ears." Kirk said it lightly because they both knew that it wasn't the case. Bones had wanted to compliment Spock in a way that he wouldn't get called on. Perhaps, in his own strange way, he was thanking Spock for admitting to an emotional reaction when he saw him. Bones gave him a look that clearly stated that they were going to have a Conversation soon before leaving. Kirk just nodded. "Ahead warp factor one, Mr. Sulu."

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