Not a TNG fan, but it seemed conducive to make this segment from Picard's POV. Hope I did him justice.

"Ah, Captain Picard. We meet again."

Picard inclined his head slightly. "Ambassador Spock," he acknowledged.

They were at a formal party for high-ranking Federation officials. Picard felt slightly out of place amongst the crowd of well-known ambassadors, ministers of important boards, representatives, and admirals. He had never even met most of them. Then Picard had spotted Spock in the corner. He didn't normally attribute things to fate, but in that moment he said to himself I knew there was a reason I wound up here, of all places, tonight. Picard had hoped to run into the ambassador again. He had something important to tell him.

"I thought you were still on Romulus," said Picard.

"Until quite recently, you would have been correct," said Spock, "I was visiting my home planet, and I was asked if I wanted to attend a Federation function. It seemed like more of an order than a request, and I thought it was time I showed some good will towards authority again." He paused. "What's more, I found upon my arrival on Vulcan that there wasn't much left there that bore visiting. I had extra time." Picard thought he caught a hint of bitterness in Spock's voice, but he dismissed the thought. Spock was unlikely to betray even that much emotion to someone he barely knew.

"So," said Spock, "how is the Enterprise these days?"

Picard smiled. "Wonderful, Ambassador."

"It pleases me to hear it, although I doubt I would recognize her anymore."

"There have been several Enterprises since your time, it's true."

"Indeed. And you destroyed at least one of them, if what I hear is correct."

Picard nodded. "How much of that story have you heard?" he asked.

Spock looked at him piercingly. "That is all."

"I believe the rest of it would interest you as well," said Picard. He began to relate to Spock everything that had happened before and during his time in the Nexus. When he got to the part about Kirk, he thought he saw Spock's jaw tighten.

"Let's go outside," Spock said, "where we won't be interrupted."

It was freezing on the balcony. The day, which had been unseasonably warm, had turned into a chilly night. Sure enough, they were the only two people out there.

"He…Kirk…is still alive?" asked Spock intently. His eyes glimmered faintly in the semidarkness.

"Not exactly," said Picard, "You see, I convinced him to wish his way out of the Nexus with me and help me stop Soran. He did, but he was killed in the process."

Silence fell. Spock was looking off into the distance. "Why did you tell me this?" he asked after a moment.

"When he realized he was going to die, Kirk asked me if I knew you and would pass on a message. I said I would. He told me to tell you to 'come find him.'"

Spock was puzzled. "You just said he knew he was dying."

"I did."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "They what do you suppose he could have meant by 'come find me?'"

"I've been thinking about that," said Picard, "and I believe he may have thought that he would wind up back in the Nexus. He wished his way out of it, but perhaps he thought that he was still under its influence and that his death would put him back under its control." He paused. "And if I know how the Nexus works, all you would have to do is go in and wish he was there for him to be there."

One of the Federation hotshots poked his hear out of the door. "Greetings Ambassador, Captain. My god, it's freezing out here! Jean-Luc, come here, there's someone I want you to meet."

Picard excused himself, leaving Spock to look pensively into the night.

***

Arriving back at the rooms he was staying in, Spock was, once again, unsure of what to do.

Tracking down the Nexus would not be a problem for someone with his skills. Acquiring a ship would be even easier, considering his status. Avoiding questions would be difficult, but not impossible. No, what Spock was concerned about was the nature of the Nexus itself.

He had learned from his very first days at Starfleet not to trust anything that seemed to grant ultimate happiness. Picard's account of the man who went mad trying to get back to the Nexus once he had left seemed only to confirm his mistrust. And even if he did decide to go, would Spock even find the same Jim, or would it be an image of him conjured up by the cloud? Spock had no doubt that the Nexus would make a Jim that looked, talked, and acted exactly as Spock remembered. It could give him all the right memories and mannerisms so that no one would be able to tell it was not him. Spock did not want to face such an apparition. He would rather have lived with the cold tombstone and empty grave than have to face a Jim Kirk puppet. Spock wasn't interested in meeting any version of Jim that did not contain Jim's soul.

On the other hand, Jim had specifically told Spock to meet him. Jim could not have had any scientific knowledge of the Nexus, so his instructions must have been based purely on intuition. Spock knew that, however inexplicably, Jim's intuition was usually correct. Spock would not let him down if there was even a chance he was still out there.

Spock sat down and began to formulate a plan.