The Last Day

Nyota arose early enough to do some relaxation stretches, have a light breakfast, and linger in the tub. She was going to shower, but when she went into the lavatory, realized that Spock had removed the luxury system, she figured so that he could install it on the Enterprise, as she had only slightly jokingly commanded him to. She smiled about it, and the words "whipped beyond repair" entered her mind. After washing up, she dressed herself in a pair of worn blue jeans with artwork painted on them and a green sleeveless turtleneck. She slipped into a pair of green and silver sneakers, her favorite pair and went into Sytar's nursery.

Sytar was awake and playing with some type of learning cube that Toimu had given him for his birthday. When he saw her, he put it down and said, "Up." She got him out of his crib and started him on his day. Members of the High Vulcan Guard were present all around the property and she decided that she was glad that she would not have to have them guarding her anymore, and according to Vulrak, within approximately two Earth years (Vulcans usually spoke to her in Earth sense of time for her understanding) that the guards would no longer be necessary, as New Hope flourished, the passionate Vulcans should behave more civilized. No women nor children should be taken by anyone. Vulrak expressed his interest in being done with this part of his existence.

Nyota placed Sytar in his motorized stroller and allowed it to roll beside her as she went down the hall to Styik's room, where he was already dressed and the things which he intended to take with him were already being piled on top of the electronic cart which he would be taking to the Embassy with him to be beamed upon the Enterprise. There were certain things which he placed into the bag which he kept on his person. Among those items was his Brain of Brains, which he simply called "Brain". Nyota noticed that he was wearing his bag, with Brain inside, on his shoulder as he packed. He glanced at her and nodded his head once in acknowledgment of her. She looked around and asked, "Is there anything that you need me to grab for you?"

"Mother, I am quite capable of taking care of my own matters." He said, plainly. She nodded her head at him, with a hint of a smile. He looked at her and said, "Please do not make another comment about how much I have grown since you have taken me in."

"I wasn't going to. I was just wondering how long it is going to take you on the Enterprise with Pavel and Scotty before you revert back to your boyish ways." She laughed at this, but he only mildly smirked.

"Mother, I should hope that the antics of Mr. Scott and Mr. Chekov do not interfere in the Vulcan that I have become, but if it must be so..." He smiled brightly, now.

Nyota and Styik walked down the hall with Sytar's stroller and the electronic cart rolling on their sides. They had a conversation about how often they planned on communicating with New Vulcan. Nyota had plans to try to communicate with Ambassador Spock within a week, or so, to check on Tazar's birth, and she even admitted that she would be bold enough to ask him if Tazar was biologically his daughter. Styik responded quickly, "She is his daughter."

"I mean, by blood, Styik." She said.

At her discernment of the difference, he flinched and shared his thoughts, "Although one does not have to be born to a parent to be that individual's child, by blood is exactly what I meant when I said that she is his daughter. Tirza scanned her womb and Tazar had human genetics present in her DNA. Tirza did not tell anyone, because she was embarrassed for being curious on the matter..."

"But you stole the information from her mind, anyway." Nyota said, accusingly and not pleased, in the least bit.

"It is one of my many talents, Mother." Styik said, somewhat arrogantly.

His tone of voice reminded her greatly of Spock. She loved when he reminded her of Spock. Then, he grabbed her hand and held it as they walked. That was nothing like Spock, and she loved Styik in that fashion, as well. She kissed him on the forehead and he said, "I am so glad to be going back to the ship, Mother!" He smiled and added, "And it will not break my heart if I never see New Vulcan again."

"Of course, you will see New Vulcan again. You'll have to come back when it's time to marry your bond mate, and we'll try to come back to see your Grandmother Ashaki and Uncle Toimu."

"Uncle Toimu is not staying here." He said flatly.

"Why do you say that?" Nyota wondered.

"I heard him thinking about it. He decided that he was going to go back to Earth and try to have a relationship with Dr. Mara. They had a discussion about it."

Nyota frowned and asked, "Did you spend the entire party reading people's minds?"

"It was more interesting than the moonwalk." He said, casually.

"It was a violation of their rights." Nyota corrected.

"I missed that in my extensive study of human rights." Styik commented.

"Do more studies." She said.

Styik sighed and decided to change the subject, "I am going to miss Arev. I am really going to miss his warnings." He stared off into the distance.

"He gave you some kind of warning about me, didn't he?" She asked.

"Yes."

"What is going to happen?"

"It does not work that way, Mother. He shows me a portion of the event, not an entire scene. I can show you what he has shown me, but it is rather disturbing. I do not have a how, a what, or a why. All I have is one image that can be speculated in many different ways."

"I want to see it." She said. She closed her eyes.

Styik was holding Nyota, and she was crying and shivering, at his feet. She was latching on to him like her world had fallen apart, and he had his hand lifted towards someone in preparation to attack someone. He said, "I think that it would be best for everyone tonight, if you left. I will take care of her." Nyota gasped and stared at him. He said, "I am inclined to believe that I am speaking to Father in this image."

"Your words sounded like it. What do you think happened?" Nyota wondered, with fear in her heart."I do not know, but I believe that it was safe to assume that he hurt you, or you believed that he did." Styik said.

Nyota shook her head and insisted, "Spock would never hurt me, not in the way that I was in that image. What if you were talking to someone else?"

Styik posed the question, "Who would I be telling that I will take care of you, besides him?"

"Anyone on the ship, if Spock was gone..." She froze and stared off into space, sadly, "Any one of them would try to see to me if something bad happened to him, and I would be in a pitiful condition."

Styik squeezed her hand and said, "Whatever it is, and whenever it happens, I will be there for you, Mother. As long as both you and I exist, I will be present when you need me. Even if no one else in the universe is." She stooped down to hug him and they continued on their way.

Kirk, McCoy and Chekov beamed down to the Embassy to meet up with elders of New Vulcan for observations on the planet at the moment, and to welcome Spock and his family back on board the ship, afterwards. Nyota and Styik were in the courtyard of the Embassy when they arrived. Styik smiled brightly to see them and rushed over to them as they materialized. He said, "Welcome to our planet, members of the Enterprise crew." Kirk greeted him with a handshake, as did Dr. McCoy, but Chekov lifted him from the floor and hugged him tightly. Styik smiled and said, "Pavel, I do not believe that this is within protocol." When Chekov placed him down, Styik said, "I missed you," and added, "all of you."

Nyota smiled at them and gave all of them hugs. Kirk looked around and asked, "Where is the baby?" Nyota pointed across the courtyard and the three men turned to see Spock standing in front of several Vulcans, speaking, with a boy, no taller than his knee, his hair pulled back into a puff in the back, standing near him.

The entire group walked in that direction, and Chekov asked Styik, "Have you taken up an interest in girls yet?"

"I have been bonded to a mate." He answered. Chekov's lip dropped and Styik added, "Long story, and I will tell you all about it, later. Uncle Toimu gave me a copy of every movie that he made when he was making films, They are terrible; you'll love watching them."

When they reached Spock, Kirk, McCoy, and Chekov greeted him, as he would allow – politely and verbally, but not touching him. Styik collected Sytar from the floor and began to introduce the men. "This is Captain James Kirk, We call him Jim, or Uncle Jim. This is Dr. Leonard McCoy, we call him Dr. McCoy. This one is,"

"Pavel!" Sytar cheered and reached for him. Nyota smiled. Chekov looked quite confused, but reached out to accept the little boy.

Styik explained, "Sytar is closest in connection to me, therefore my closest associates are familiar to him." Chekov blushed at this news, then Sytar kissed him on the cheek.

"He's a friendly baby." Nyota said. "You'll love him. You'll all love him."

"We love him already." McCoy corrected and reached out for the baby to tickle him slightly. It provoked a loud, squealing laughter from Sytar. Nyota reached for him now and buried his face in her neck. She looked at Spock and saw him staring at Sytar with a lifted eyebrow.

She whispered to Dr. McCoy, "We try not to provoke him to outbursts of emotions in front of the elders. It comes across as abuse to Vulcan children, even partial Vulcan children for someone to attempt to get them to show emotions. What you just did is considered child abuse here."

Dr. McCoy looked at the elders in front of Spock and said, "I apologize. I did not know that was abuse… Cultural mistranslation."

Nyota took her children and left the area. She was not a part of this particular meeting, and in fact was set to beam aboard the ship. Now, she and the children went to the coordinates and she contacted the ship to beam them aboard.

Scotty greeted her with a hug, then stared at Styik. He said, "You look like you've become even more mischievous than you were before."

"I am." Styik said, "And surprisingly more mysterious, too."

After a while, Kirk, McCoy, Spock, and Chekov were back on the ship. One of the first things that Spock did was check on the boys. Sytar and Styik had a room right next to his and Nyota's. Kirk threw them a small welcome back party, which served as their own version of Sytar's first birthday party and a welcome back party. Styik and Sytar ducked out of the party fairly early, because Styik wanted to settle into their new living quarters and Sytar generally went where Styik went. The adults remained in the party for a while, many of the bridge officers returned to the bridge for duty. It did not take Nyota long after the party was dying down to retire, as well. Naturally, Spock left with her, as he had no intention of enjoying the party. She went into the room that she and Spock would be living in and Spock went into the boys' room, for an end of the night check.

When he entered, he saw that Styik had already had most of their items unpacked and arranged. Sytar was seated on his small bed while Styik was asking him about placing certain items in certain locations. Spock asked, "Are all needs met for the two of you?"

Styik answered, "Yes, Father."

Sytar cheered, "Hug!" Spock smirked, slightly, and entered the room to give his affectionate humanly son a hug. Sytar said, "Night, Father."

"Goodnight, my son." Spock said. He looked at Styik and asked, "Do you request a hug, as well?"

"No, I do not." Styik answered, with a chuckle of disbelief in his voice. "Good night, Father." He said.

Spock advised, "Both of you need to tell your mother good night before you go to sleep."

Nyota's voice said, "Tell your mother goodnight? They are spending the first night back on the ship in the room with us. It's going to be a tradition." Styik knew that Nyota was speaking of the fact that his first night on the ship was spent in the bed with his parents, but he was too old for that now, in his opinion. He opened his mouth to object to her idea, as sweet as it was, looked at Sytar and Sytar clapped his hands happily. Nyota finished, "So as soon as you two are cleaned up and fed, I expect everyone in our room." She headed back to the room next door and Spock tilted his head and followed her.

When they entered, Spock said, "I will install the shower system." She nodded. Nyota began to unpack she and Spock's possessions. She hung up the scroll that he gave her for her birthday the first year that they were together. It was her first most prized material possession. She placed a data slate into the dresser which Spock had created for her upon coming back to the Enterprise after she thought that he was going to be leaving her. It was her second most prized material possession. She smiled and looked around the room. The Enterprise, her third most valuable material possession. The ship did not belong to Nyota, but she was Nyota's home and her refuge. She touched one of the walls and whispered, "It is so nice to see you again, Girl."