Hello All! So sorry it has taken me so long to write this next chapter. After this last month of just wanting to die from the amount of work I had to do for school, I have finally slowed down and have finished classes. Which means that I should be updating more often than what I have been doing. Yay! Oh my gosh, thank you SO much to all of you who have reviewed! It makes me extremely happy that this story is starting off successful, and I hope it continues on this way!

Fire Dolphin: I never can reply to your review, it won't let me send a personal message to you, so I just want to say THANK YOU for all of your reviews and for being so loyal to me! I really appreciate it :-)

Just a note, the title of the chapter means "The present is the crossroads of both." It is a Surak saying. Vulcan fact of the day: Surak was a Vulcan man who brought about the Time of Awakening on Vulcan. Essentially, he caused them to switch from such an emotionally driven race to one of logic and peace. The phrase itself is meant to connect the past and the future together. I thought it was quite appropriate for this chapter.

As the story turns….

Chapter 2: L'wak Mesukh-yut T'on

Spock shot up in his bed; sweat pouring from his body. It took his mind several moments to adjust to what was around him. He had been dreaming about her again. The same dream as always. A flash of their life together. The feeling of regret washing over him once more. Why didn't he tell her his feelings before it was too late?

He slowly made his way out of bed. His feet hit the familiar flooring of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and he knew, especially then, that it was just a dream. It just felt so real. Spock calculated the number of times he had had this particular dream. It was numerous to say the least, but it in fact had been happening more lately than it ever had before, and he couldn't explain why.

He had to extend his meditation to four hours every night before he went to sleep. It helped keep the dream at bay long enough to allow him to get a decent rest. Still though, his body grew weary of the constant tension of being revisited by his past.

His past. The night she disappeared…the thought of it sent shivers down his spine. It had ruined him, completely, and even though he never made a show of it to the outside world, inside he was breaking. He never went on a Starship as he had originally planned; without her, it didn't seem worth it. Instead, he chose to remain on Earth. He stayed in case she returned.

He looked everywhere for her, but to no avail. Everywhere he looked there was no trace that she even existed. Her room was completely empty; her files at Starfleet non-existent. He made a trip to Vulcan at one point to see if he could find anything, but still the road was a dead-end. He even visited her parents who still resided on Vulcan. It was quite an awkward visit, and that was putting it mildly.

Upon entering their familiar home, he automatically noticed that there were no pictures of her. The walls no longer held her face; her smile. He looked towards her father, and he seemed confused as to why the son of Sarek was at his home. "How can I help you?" He questioned lightly.

While Spock kept his stoic manner, this reaction definitely caught him off guard. This man knew him, yet here he stood gazing at him as if he had never laid eyes on him before. As if he had not always been by her side; making her laugh; making her smile. They were best friends. Surely he must remember. He allowed his gaze to wander the room once more. Her face use to cover these walls, but now the images were gone. It couldn't be…

"I came to inquire as to the whereabouts of your daughter, Serena." Spock stated evenly, his eyes now focused on the aging man before him. If it were at all possible, the man's face became even more confused. "Daughter? I'm sorry, but my wife and I never had children." He answered. As he continued to look at the Vulcan, Spock became even more stiff than before. He quickly excused himself and apologized for the confusion before he left.

He enquired to his own parents, and, sure enough, they had no idea what he was talking about.

As Spock walked across the desert of Vulcan, he couldn't help but think he was going crazy. This was illogical. How could he have created her in his mind? She was real. Wasn't she? Or was she simply a dream? A dream of love, and of acceptance that he created in order to deal with the pain of living as an outcast on Vulcan.

He continued to walk across the sand, his feet taking him to their place. It was his last resort. A test to see if she was real. He finally reached the caves. He climbed around and behind up to a hill that was hidden from plain sight. He looked out over his planet. She loved it here. It was the best view on Vulcan, in her opinion. He found it adequate, but what added to its beauty was seeing her so happy.

He walked over to the boulders which riddled the hill side. There, his eyes fell on the proof that he was looking for. He reached out his hand and slowly traced over the markings. The images of space; of the stars; of Earth's Moon. They were there. She did exist. This served only to confuse him even more. Why had everyone forgotten her? Everyone, except for him?

His fingers lingered on the carving of the Moon. She was always so obsessed by it. She would spend much of her time reading stories on its history, and on the legends behind it. For some reason it fascinated her. In fact, many times he could remember laying here on top of this hill looking up at the sky, listening to the legends she found the most interesting.

He couldn't explain her obsession with it, especially growing up on Vulcan, but her eyes always lit up when she discussed it. She seemed to believe that a kingdom once existed on the Moon, and that there was, in fact, a Moon Princess. He, of course, thought it illogical to believe in such things, and even more so to dwell on these legends. He relayed this to her time and time again, telling her to focus more on her studies; they were real.

His mouth gave an involuntary twitch at the memory of her response.

"Not everything is about school Spock." She said in a light hearted voice. They were both stretched out on a blanket as they stared up at the sky. In Spock's opinion, it was almost a waste of their time, but he reasoned that even Vulcan's needed to rest, and he always felt at ease around her.

He looked at her as if he couldn't quite understand what she was saying. "I'm sorry, but I do not understand your line of argument. I am aware that not everything is about school. It is quite illogical to assume that any aspect of life is everything. The word itself is too boundless, much like forever and never. It has no limits, so there for its use in your argument makes no sense, especially considering I am fully aware that your statement is true, I just fail to understand your meaning."

As predicted, she just laughed at him. When they first met, she tended to do this all the time when he would make statements such as this, however, he soon realized that it was her way of telling him he was taking things too literal. At first, her laughter use to make him feel uncomfortable, but, with time, he grew to enjoy it, even if he never fully understood it.

"What I mean is, it's alright to dwell on fairytales. You don't have to concentrate all of your time and effort on things that are necessary. It is alright to indulge in something that is completely unnecessary, but fun nonetheless."

Spock opened his mouth, but Serena held up her hand. "I know what you're going to say." She cleared her voice and sat up straight. She had a serious look in her eye before she stated, "It is quite illogical to spend your time on something that is not beneficial or efficient." She raised her eyebrow slightly at the end of the sentence, and Spock's mouth twitched. Her face broke out into a smile at the sight of the slight movement of his mouth.

"You want to smile." She said teasingly.

"I have no comment on the matter." He stated quickly, wiping away any trace of emotion on his face. In Serena's opinion, he looked all too innocent. She merely giggled at his response and chose not to press the matter any further.

She laid down next to him once again and continued to stare up at the sky. "I think fairytales are beautiful. It is an escape to a world unknown."

He never could understand her thought process, but he would indulge her from time to time, and even he found some of the stories to be quite interesting. They each had some kind of historical connection to Earth's past. This, he found, quite fascinating. He remembered, even then, how he loved to see her eyes sparkle.

When did he realize he loved her?

As he tried to pinpoint the moment, one memory came flooding back to him.

It was his first time on Earth, and they had been spending an enormous time in the library in order to get top marks in their classes. One particular night, they had stayed quite late. It was fall, and the weather had grown quite chilly much to Spock's dismay; he was so use to the warm weather of Vulcan, not to mention the difference in his biological temperature that made the cold quite difficult for him. As they finally made their way out of the library, he stopped at the entrance to notice that, on top of the chilly weather, it was also raining.

Serena made to open her umbrella as she began to walk outside. She looked back at him when she noticed he wasn't following her. She had to bite back the giggle that wanted to escape her lips. There he stood, stiff, reluctant to step out into the cold, wet weather. It was then that she realized he had never experienced rain on Earth before. It rained very rarely on Vulcan, and even then he hated it, and it was always warm. She could see it on his face that he was quite uncomfortable.

"Did you forget your umbrella?" She questioned.

"I do not have one." He responded. This, in all honesty, was probably true. Vulcans never owned umbrellas.

She looked at the umbrella in her hand and realized it wasn't big enough for the both of them. She held it out for him, and he took it a bit confused. "Take mine." She clarified as his hand grasped on the handle, allowing her to release it to him.

"That is illogical." He argued. "You will get wet."

Serena only smiled at him. "No choice." She began to walk away from him, out into the rain. "Race you!" She called out to him before she took off running. She knew he would force her to take the umbrella back, but he couldn't make her if he couldn't catch her.

She ran across campus without a care in the world. No inhibitions. All the while laughing as the rain continued to soak her. Spock managed to keep up with her, and he continued to watch in amazement at her carefree demeanor. It was refreshing.

When they finally made it to the student dorms, she stopped, throwing her arms out to embrace the night. She spun around as she continued to stare up at the sky, the drops of rain cascading down her face. Spock continued to observe her, and he felt his heart flutter at the sight of her. He chose to ignore the feeling as he held the umbrella over her head. It was then that she decided to face him.

As her eyes met his, she gave him the widest smile he had ever seen adorn on her face. Once again, the flutter began just below his ribs where his heart was located. His eyes searched hers before taking in her appearance.

She was soaking wet, her cheeks were flushed from the physical exertion, and her eyes, they held that familiar twinkle that he had grown so accustomed to. He stared for several moments before blinking rapidly and swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat.

"You will catch cold." He said in a strained voice.

She laughed, and it sounded like music to his ears. When did it ever become that?

"You're so Vulcan sometimes." She chuckled. "Can you not just enjoy the beauty of the night?"

"Not with it wet and cold, I cannot." He stated matter-of-factly.

She giggled before her face turned up towards the sky once again. "Look." She said softly as she pointed upwards. His eyes drifted away from her face to see the clouds parting and the rain subsiding. The Moon began to shine brightly through.

His eyes found her face once again, and his breath was taken away. In that moment, she was the vision of perfection in his Vulcan eyes. The light of the Moon shining on her face gave her such a glow that he was sure it wasn't of this world.

She sighed, breaking his thought process. "Better get inside." She said in a defeated voice. She didn't want to let go of the night. It was too beautiful, but the small amount of logic began to rear its ugly head. "Early day tomorrow."

Spock made the move to give back her umbrella, but she stopped him. "You keep it." She stood up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek swiftly before running inside her building. Spock lifted his hand to the spot her lips were just at. A green blush stained his cheeks. She had never been so intimate with him, but he couldn't say the gesture felt out of place. If anything, it felt so natural to him, and he didn't know exactly why.

Once again, Spock mouth twitched at the memory. She did in fact get a cold the next day. He remembered distinctly looking at her as if to say 'I told you so'. She only glared at him before muttering something along the lines of "bloody Vulcans."

His meditation that particular night was very intense, and quite long. He tried for hours to get her off his mind. To stop all the emotions whirling around inside him, but he simply couldn't think of anything else but her face.

At that time, he didn't relate it to love, but he knew he felt much more than friendship for her. He felt such closeness to her. A constant awareness of her presence. She caused him to feel things he only ever read about. It was a shock to him as a Vulcan, but he couldn't exactly say it was an unpleasant shock. Looking back, he knew there was no other word to describe his attachment to her.

As time passed, his admiration grew. A majority of his thoughts revolved around her. Of course, he never revealed this to her or to anyone. He risked exposing too much of himself.

The night she disappeared…his soul had been torn in two. His heart became numb and weary, and yet he had no one to discuss this information with. Aside from the fact that no one remembered her, he was too embarrassed by the fact that he didn't tell her everything he felt for her. At that point in his life, he had never held one regret; at least until that night. His second regret came some years after.

In order to shield his heart from the pain, he closed it off to everyone. He became a professor at Starfleet, hoping that he could bury himself in research and study long enough to let his heart forget. He spent two years after her disappearance looking for her, but soon he gave up. Everywhere he looked he found nothing. The only thing he had left was his memory of her, and those markings by the caves on Vulcan.

He thought he was doing well, his heart became more numb as each day passed. He felt nothing. In fact, he became even more Vulcan than what he was before. His mother noticed the difference in him, and she was quite worried about it, but he never discussed the matter with her. What was the point? She wouldn't even know who he was talking about.

He was doing well, that is, until he came along. James Kirk. Looking back on it, he was quite unfair to the man during his time at the Academy. He couldn't help the coldness and initial hatred towards him. He reminded him of her. Her life. He held the same light in his eyes that she had. That same look of hope; that same belief in no-win scenarios. Memories of her surfaced his mind every time Kirk was around; after he had tried so hard to forget.

He had not realized that that was the beginning of his problems. In Kirk's third year, an attack came on his home planet. A rogue Romulan named Nero had attacked his planet as an act of revenge on him for something that had happened in the future.

He could still picture his planet being devoured by the black hole; thinking that those markings were now only a memory. He could still remember the look his mother gave him just before she fell. It was in this moment that he realized he had yet another regret to live with. He had to live with the fact that he had never told his mother that he loved her.

He had lost everything, literally. His life amounting to nothing but two regrets that would haunt him till the day he died.

He remembered vividly Nyota following him into the turbo-lift after everything had happened. She embraced him, and he collapsed against her. His burdens being too heavy for him to bear. She kissed him, and he allowed it. The moment her lips touched his, he felt as if he was betraying her. It didn't feel right. It felt as if his lips had been scorched from the sin he just committed, but his emotions were getting the better of him, and he could not bring himself to deny that one display of affection. It had been years since she had gone. Why did he still feel the need to stay true to her? Why did he feel as if his soul was being beaten by the touch of another woman?

He couldn't understand, that is until he lost it. The moment Kirk screamed "You never loved her!" two faces crossed his mind. His mothers and hers. His loss of control brought his father to him to try and clear the air. It was in this moment that his father explained so much to him.

He revealed that he loved his mother, and that the moment she had fell, his heart stopped beating. He told him it felt as if a part of him had been ripped away. She was his soul mate.

The feeling of being torn caused a look of recognition to cross Spock's face. He couldn't help himself but ask his father how he knew she was his t'hy'la.*

"She was more than my t'hy'la, Spock; she was my k'hat'n'dlawa.*"

Spock's eyebrows raised. "K'hat'n'dlawa? I thought that was merely a legend."

His father shook his head. "It is not to those who are lucky enough to experience it."

"Luck?" Spock questioned. "There is no such thing as luck in our world, father."

Sarek shook his head at his son's blindness. "When you speak of matters as these, there are many things that are inconceivable that all of a sudden make sense."

Spock thought over his father's words carefully before asking. "How did you know?"

Sarek seemed to lose himself in his mind before responding, "It was shon-ha-lock.*" He paused before adding. "The moment I touched her hand for the first time, the moment our eyes met for the first time, I couldn't help myself from thinking…finally."

Finally. It was the same word that went through his mind all those years ago. That fateful day he met her. The pain, the hurt; it all made sense. He knew why Nyota's kiss bothered him so. He knew why he was the only one that never forgot her. He would never let go of her. If she was indeed his k'hat'n'dlawa, she did in fact possess half of him.

He looked around his room aboard the Enterprise. He finally allowed himself to join a Starship, fulltime. After the events of Nero, his relationship with Kirk began to grow. He became the only other human that he had a strong connection with. Perhaps it was because he reminded himself so much of her, but when he was in the Captain's presence, the ache in his heart was a bit less. Spock was certain that Kirk was unaware of the importance of his friendship, and, in all honesty, Spock wanted to keep it that way. The Captain would have too much fun taunting him for being 'human'.

He began his morning routine as he prepared for the days work ahead of him. While he had learned to find comfort without her, the little things were still hard for him to accomplish. No matter how hard he tried, he could never shake her from him, and it took him this long to realize he didn't want to. He never wanted to forget her.

She said she would find a way back to him, but after seven long years, he lost all hope of that ever happening. Little did he know that his life was about to be turned upside down completely…

And there's another chapter! Again, thank you SO much to all of those that have reviewed this story. I hope I continue to please you guys! As stated before, I should be able to update more often now that things have FINALLY slowed down at school. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to PLEASE REVIEW!

-Lizzy

*Translations

t'hy'la - friend/lover/lifelong companion, soul mate.

k'hat'n'dlawa - half of each other's heart and soul.

shon-ha-lock - love at first sight.