A/N: Yes, this is the last chapter. No, there will not be an explination for the butterfly race, nor any dramatic, exciting actions scenes. This was meant to be short and sweet and I feel it's ended at a good place.

Thanks for sticking with me, all ya'll- you're awsome and I love ya. ^^

It's another hour before Bones and I head out. It's another hour before I calm down enough, before Bones is steady enough, for us to go back to the brig. We move together, shoulder to shoulder, and though I try, I can't….feel her. At our backs, at our sides, I don't sense her. I miss it, the constant feeling of her, and that sort of surprises me. At the same time…..I don't suppose it does. But there is Bones, at my side, and Spock, just a few steps away and suddenly closing the gap, and when he inclines his head with something that might have been his not smile, the sharp pain of loss eases.

"Get anything from him?"

"He has revealed his true form to us. I suppose he realized there was no sense in further continuing the charade." Spock says calmly, but I see the anger in his very-human eyes, in the tense set of his slender frame. "I do not know-nor can I even begin to pressume-what race they both might be."

"A beautiful one, that's for sure." McCoy, from my left. He's staring at the prisoner, unable to pull his eyes away. I realize I'm the only one who's seen her as she is- or was- and both McCoy and Spock had no idea what she really looked like. Bones is studying the butterfly wings, the pale skin and cat-slit eyes and long, hair as fine as spider silk. Even he is, as Bones says, just stunningly beautiful. But there is a coldness in his eyes she didn't share, something cruel and calculating. Something insane.

"Captian." He greets softly, in a low, purring growl. His voice sends chills up and down my spine. "I see you finally realize I wasn't lying."

"She's gone." I agree softly, crouching just outside the brig's invisible sheild. "She no longer had any reason to remain."

"Oh yes. You showed her love, and affection. Like a fairy tale prince." He laughs, the sound bitter. "Too bad her prince wasn't in time to save her from death."

I refuse to let him see how that crawls under my skin and makes me itch. There was a murder on my ship, a sadistic love triangle I wasn't even aware I was apart of- or maybe more like 'love octogon' in this case- and a murder. And until this moment I didn't know a thing about it.

Some leader I am. I snarl internally, fighting off the thoughts that plauge me- I can deal with them later- and rise again. "What are you? What was she?"

The smile turns cold. "Better,"He snarls, "then you."

Well. Apperantly we have not, in fact, meant all the races in the galexy that look down on humans. "Maybe." I reply. "But still, apparently, not above falling in lust with one of us. Or murder."

His head jerks up, and he lunges forward, hitting the force field of the brig and rebounding. I jump, startled at the vicious attack. "You humans," He spits, "you contaminated her! Made her fall in love with you! All she wanted, all she ever talked about, was James Kirk this and Jim Kirk that!"

"I'm hardly surprised." Bones says archedly from my side. "Considering you didn't want anything but the human you made her look like yourself!"

A snarl, and he lunges again. When he field sparks and snaps dangerously, I grab McCoy's arm, pulling him back.

"Bones, enough." I growl. He's going to get through there. He's going to break through and if he does-if he does, we'll have a real problem on our hands.

"He does have a point, though, Captian." Spock says, as mildly as if disussing a point of intrest over a game of chess with me. "Our prisoner did have a desire for a human female."

"You humans are soft and weak, but you are interesting." The man in the brig purrs out. "So delicate and deeply passonate. In the last, you are very like my own people. I had never seen a human, before her. I had to take her."

"But you couldn't. So you seduced a woman of your own race. And you talked her into pretending to be Lilisa for you. And because she loved you-" I break off, not trusting myself not to raise my voice. I feel sick, and my hands are fisted.

For the first time, I understand why Spock's unflappable calm bothers Bones. Right now, I want someone else to be as angry as I am. But he simply watches, and listens, and when he catches me leveling him with a hard stare-

-he looks away, and my irrational anger is gone. That isn't fair of me. Spock is Spock, and he's just as disgusted by this as Bones and I am. Just because he's not yelling or cursing or showing it physically doesn't mean anything and I should know him well enough to know that. I need to step back and calm down. I rein myself in hard and turn away from the prisoner.

"Make sure he stays put." I snarl at the security gaurds. "We'll take him to the nearest starbase and leave them to be their problem." I have no proof he killed anyone, but I do have the word of a few witnesses that he at least had assumed the form of a human ensign to sneak on board a federation starship and had attacked both doctor McCoy and Lilisa. It would be a headache, but I could get him arrested on those charges alone. Spock catches up to me as I turn to leave, my stride fast and angry but his legs longer.

"Jim-" He begins, but I hold up a hand and he stops, because he is Spock, not would have shoved my hand down and snarled something.

"Not now, Spock." I warn, hoping he can pick up on the danger in my voice. Knowing he can. But his hand reaches out anyway- and how often does Spock voluntarily reach out to anyone?- and catches my arm, careful to avoid my skin but holding me in a tight grip anyway. He could break my arm one-handed, if he wanted, simply twist and snap it almost off. But he's not even going to leave a bruise; it doesn't even hurt. It's just firm, firm enough that I couldn't yank away easily. But I could yank away if I wanted, because that's how Spock is. It's why he's beta, not alpha, and he has no desire to be. It's the difference between him and I- well, one of a few.

"Captian," He picks up, and it feels odd that he uses the formal title while still holding me back. "It would do well for us to know more about this man and his race. People like this have never before been seen-"

"Spock," I remind, and now I do pull away. Funny, that it's me pulling back from his touch instead of the other way around. "the man is an insane murderer. And all of the races we end up meeting out here, save perhaps the Klingons, were usually 'never before seen'. Starfleet will handle it." I can't. Well, I could, but I doubt very much you'd approve.

"And what of the girl?"

I stop, halfway to walking away again. "The girl is gone." I say softly, closing my eyes. I know it's completely irrational to think that I've let Edith die again, as that never was and never had been Edith Keeler, but the thought is there, fighting at the bit for control. Right behind it is the guilt of letting anyone on my ship die without so much as me knowing. Of letting someone alien and evil creep onto her and never even knowing…..

Never even knowing a thing was wrong until I had it shoved in my face.

"Gone."

"Yes, Mr. Spock, just like that. She-" I stop. He doesn't need a detailed account. "We've got her kilelr in custody and we are currently in no danger. She's at rest. Or….I hope she is."

He looks at me consideringly for a moment. "Yes, sir." Is all his says, but his eyes, as always, say more then he ever will, and suddenly, as I feel Bones' hand on my shoulder and Spock simply brushes past gently, with his not smile, I feel…..much better. Not okay, but better. I take a breath, and as I move back to the bridge, something gently, playfully, flirtatiously, brushes over my cheek .

I smile and keep walking.