A/N – Thank you to all of you who reviewed and the many who put this in their favourite story list and story alerts. I really, really appreciate it!
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The three identified bodies were lying in the three available medbay beds. Bones had determined that there were no serious injuries except for a few minor scratches and bruising. The only problem that occurred was that the smoke had slightly suffocated them, causing all three members to pass-out. The good doctor was sure to say that if they hadn't found them when they did, all three would have been dead.
Jim looked on from the distance. He was ridged, unsure, and nervous. Beside him stood his newly become friend, Spock. Both wore expressions of worry and doubt, though Spock's was less noticeable. Jim was certain he knew who he was staring at. There was no other way these three were not who he thought they were.
Their badges even said so, for Christ's sake!
He was looking at CMO Leonard McCoy, Lt. Cmd Spock, and Captain James T. Kirk. He knew he was. He absolutely knew it. The only difference was that these men were older by at least ten years or maybe more. He knew he'd probably be making masturbation jokes right about now if the whole scene hadn't fallen so seriously. What was really on Jim's mind was when the much older Spock (the old fogie he met on Delta Vega) had told him that meeting his younger self would cause a disruption in the fabric of space-time(okay, he implied it, but still). When these three woke, what kind of problems would they be in for?
He thought for a long moment.
Maybe the older Spock didn't know what he was talking about. The three had obviously witnessed their older selves now, and if something time-wise was going to be disrupted, wouldn't it have happened already? His feelings lifted for a brief instant.
"Mr. Spock," Jim said after some time. Spock looked to him immediately, as if all his attention was focused on his Captain. "If meeting our future selves, as we are aware that these men are by their badges of course, were to cause some sort of disruption in the space-time fabric, would we be aware of it right now? Or would it only affect us when they woke?" Spock seemed to think about this for a second and then returned his gaze to Jim.
"Considering that the probably of alternate realities is a known fact by now, I can see that by observing these men, no such problems would occur. Upon seeing the craft, if that theory were to happen, we would have experienced an error then, so these gentlemen must be from an alternate universe. We can not possibly be interfering with the structure of their or our time line. We are 'in the clear' as you would say." Jim let out a huge sigh and sagged a little. This was delightfully good news.
"Oh, that is great to hear! I was so worried we were gonna split in half or something!" he motioned an example by pulling on his cheeks and letting them go just as quickly. "Fucking paradoxes…" An abnormally warm hand brushed his shoulder.
"Indeed there is no need to worry, Captain. All is as it should be." Jim gave the Vulcan a smile, it was returned with a twinkling eye.
They really were friends.
This…this was good.
Turning away from the warm friend, Jim gave a huge perverted smile and sighed. "Well, from what I can see, if that's really me, I grow up to be quite a sexy man-beast, if I do say so myself!" He chuckled lightly. It was a nice turn of events suddenly, though Spock gave a strange gaze at him for the 180 personality change, Jim didn't mind. It was just a relief that he and his crew weren't going to suffer any space-time ripping. Which, you know, it like, good. "And look at you, Spock, you grow up to look more like a white board!" It was true. When Jim looked at the older Spock, the man did appear much more defined than his newly become friend. He looked more solemn, content even while unconscious.
"Jim," Bones' voice was heard as he came around the corner, "don't patronize us or our future selves. We have a problem on our hands."
"Lighten up, Bones. Lt. Vulcan-Mc-Stoic-Pants already informed me we're not in any paradoxal danger. Oh, and look on the Brightside, you grow up to be pretty handsome too. You must be like, what, going into your late forties over there?" Bones eyed him but the tension lessened as Spock gave the nod that Jim was correct. They weren't in any danger—at least none that they could spot right now. Now the question was, how did this happen? How did they get here? What time period were they from?
A slight stir from the older Jim Kirk caught everyone's attention. They rushed to the bedside where the older Captain began to move as though he had a searing headache. When his eyes finally opened, the younger Jim couldn't stop himself from saying something absolutely stupid. Which, as Spock would note, was typical of Jim in any given situation.
"Holy shit, I have brown eyes?" the older Jim appeared puzzled as his gaze went back and forth between the three of them.
"Where am I? Who are you?" His words broke like thunder. It was an air of authority that the younger Jim had never heard before, but hearing the voice made it clear. This man was undoubtedly the older version of himself. Spock was first to answer the older man.
"This is the year 2258, Stardate—"
"I'm, I'm sorry," the older Captain interrupted, "did you say '2258'?"
"Correct." Spock told him. "You are on board the USS Enterprise. I am First Officer Spock," he nodded towards Bones, "that is our Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy," he then finally turned to Jim, "and this is our Captain, James T. Kirk." Jim couldn't stop himself from smiling. The older Jim was obviously wearing a face of "bullshit", but contained himself enough that he didn't speak it aloud. With a snicker, Jim stepped forward.
"I know this awkward, but, yeah, you're not seeing things. I'm you. You're me. Welcome to the, uh, past?" The older Jim appeared to still be studying them, but then stopped and laid his head back. He obviously had a lot to compute.
"Please refrain form straining yourself but if you could answer one question for me, what year are you and your men from?" The older Kirk answered promptly.
"Year 2266."
Whoa. They were almost ten years older.
So that's how I'm going to look in my thirties. Sweet deal.
"When you feel you can answer, would you mind sharing with us exactly how you managed to be transported into our time line?" It was an innocent question that was in need of an answer. When the older Kirk went to answer, everyone was shushed by an aggravated younger Bones.
"Okay, okay" Bones waved his hands dramatically trying to usher the two younger ones out, "ask questions later, I have serious medical business to attend to for these three. You can play twenty questions when they're back on their feet." Bones pushed them out the door. "Get out." He was sure to shut the door behind them. Spock and Jim switched glances momentarily. A huge grin crossed Jim's lips.
"I'm sexy when I'm thirt—"
"Captain, I do not find that information relevant to our current situation." Jim gave a laugh anyway. Soon, Spock seemed to be amused as well, a small laughter showing behind his eyes. "I will say that I find it fascinating that you and your future self have different eye colours."
"I know, right? I guess in an alternate universe I really was full of shit." Another laugh. Spock appeared confused by the choice words. "Okay, for real now. I tell you, I feel a lot better knowing that there aren't any dead men and I think this is going to be fun since there won't be any paradoxes to get in the way. I'm kinda excited, you know?"
"You plan to ask ridiculous questions about the future, do you not?" Jim slapped his shoulder.
"Damn straight." Wow, was Jim just that obvious to figure out? Oh, but come on, the other two had to be just as curious!
"You're taking this situation in a lesser tone than I expected."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't if they were dead or something, but it seems all right now. We just need to figure out how they got here, and figure out a way to send them back." He snickered for a few seconds. "I don't think this universe will be able to handle two Jim Kirks." Spock raised an interested brow.
"I agree." Amusement in his eyes, he walked away. Jim bit his lip from saying anything dim and just took it as a Vulcan's playful push. Spock then stopped before entering the turbolift.
"I will see if I can scan the anomaly and figure out what had happened."
"Okay. That's cool. I'm going to go do Captain stuff." He really was. No joking, but Spock gave the Vulcan equivalent of an eye-roll as the turbolift's doors closed around him. While Spock researched and Bones tended to the future-crew, he went to his quarters to do some research on his own. In particular, he was going to call an elderly Vulcan whom had said something along the lines of 'paradox' and had apparently been lying. Nah, in all serious, he just wanted to know if the older Vulcan knew anything that could be helpful to the situation. An old man like him has got to know something about time travel, right?
And maybe he was interested in discussing that little lie.
Just maybe.
To his disappointment, when he tried calling the New Vulcan Colony, he received no response so instead he left a quick typed message for the Elder to get back with him. When he was about to send it, he stopped for a second to consider who the message was to be sent to. Going out on a limb, he put "Spock" in the receiver blank thinking that if anyone was curious they'd think that he had simply sent it to the wrong place. After the message was sent, he gave a laugh.
This universe had now experienced three different Spocks. Just how many more was he destined to encounter?
They're like roaches, I swear. We had young Spock, Elder Spock, and now…Middle-aged Spock? Nah, that seemed a strange term to coin, so Jim settled on calling him Older Spock just as he was calling the other Captain Older Jim or Older Kirk. Man, this was confusing. When they woke, he would have to think of a better naming system so no one would be as befuddled as him.
God forbid we meet any more alternate universe personas.
It wasn't long after until Jim heard Bones call him over the intercom. He walked to the wall where he pushed the button to talk.
"Kirk here." He said.
"Grab Spock and you guys can come to sickbay. All three have awakened and are doing better now that I've briefed them on their whereabouts. If you have questions, now would be a good time to ask them." That door was left wide open and Jim wasn't going to miss it.
"Do you think older me is sexier?" There was silence.
"I meant if you have any questions to ask them."
"I don't know, older me might be bias on the subject." A small laugh was heard.
"Just get down here, Jim." Jim smiled warmly.
"I'm on my way."
Half-way down the hall, Spock joined him. Apparently he had gotten the message prior to Jim. They went together and arrived at Sickbay in the same stride. When they entered, Older Kirk was standing and beside him stood Older Spock with his hands clasped behind him in typical fashion and Older Bones was sitting in a chair right next to Younger Bones. They all looked up when the two younger men entered.
Jim approached Older Kirk just as Spock approached Older Spock.
"Thank you for your rescue, Captain." Older Kirk said with a kind smile.
"Ah, you would have done the same." A wink. Older Kirk snickered slightly. "So, here's the big question," serious mode now, "how did you guys manage to land in our time line?" Older Spock was first to speak up.
"We were studying an anomaly that appeared over night in our section of space. Initially, the idea was to send three other crewmen aboard the vessel Orion, but Jim insisted that we go in their place. He was interested in its composition, I was interested in its strange density and gravitational pull, and Dr. McCoy came because of precautions." He sighed, "We had no intentions of the small mission lasting longer than an hour and then we would return to the ship. To our dismay, the vessel was suddenly pulled into the anomaly and everything goes blank from there. I surmise that when we were pulled through, it caused a rip in space-time and we were transported back eight years prior into an alternate reality—not just back in time. Had we gone back in time in our own reality, we may have caused paradox damage, but considering the circumstances and explanation from your Dr. McCoy, that would not be the case. We have every reason to believe that this is, in fact, an alternate reality."
"Wow." Jim said with a smirk. "Do explanations like that come standard with every Spock or just yours in particular?"
"Jim," Younger Bones said, "be serious."
"I am being serious!" he gave a mocking face to the younger doctor. "Well, that does explain how you guys got here and it explains the short magnetic burst we experienced prior to visual of your ship. That must have been when you were pulled through." He stood in thought for a moment. "Spock, any ideas on how to send them back?" Both Younger and Older Spock spoke at once.
"Not at this moment, Captain." They looked at each other and tilted their brows in unison.
"I do believe my Captain was speaking to me." Younger Spock said.
"My apologies." Older Spock said with a small nod. This was a problem. They needed to figure out a way to tell the difference between them all on a name basis. Thankfully, Older Kirk spoke up first.
"I have an idea, Captain. So we don't confused each other, you may refer to me as James and my Spock as Mr. Spock. We shall call you Captain or Jim and your Spock simply as Spock. We'll also call my Bones as Leonard and your doctor as Dr. McCoy. Will this suffice?"
"Well, I was kinda partial to calling my Spock 'Spocky'," a cold stare surrounded him from his First Officer's eyes, "but, I guess that will work too. It's too bad, I like 'Spocky'."
Mr. Spock leaned in towards James. "This is most fascinating; it appears in this time line that your younger self is more 'playful' with my younger self." Jim muffled a small chuckle as Spock was quick to retort.
"Do not confuse his 'playful' attitude with his regular behaviours." Spock interjected. "My Captain is always like this, when he's being 'playful' he is typically much more self-satisfied."
"Aw, Spock, that's a mean thing to say." Jim said in a sigh. Two brows raised in unison.
"Not mean—accurate." The two younger men stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Younger Bones broke the tension.
"We need to figure out a way to send them back. Until then, I suggest we set up our guests in their own rooms and try to keep them clear from the rest of the crew. No need to cause more problems." Lord knows what would happen if the crew knew we three were now doubled, was the unspoken continuation.
"I agree." Older bones said. "This situation is going to take all our brain power to figure out and the last thing we need is a panicked crew." Older Bones and Younger Bones looked at each other in a way that suggested they were in complete consent with one another. They smiled and it was strange because it almost looked like they were mirror images of one another. Creepy.
Jim ran his fingers through his hair lightly. "Okay, how about we each take our counterpart to an empty room for now?"
"That sounds great, but actually," Younger Bones said, "I'm going to keep Leonard here with me for a while. I need to discuss some things with him." Jim smiled, he knew Bones was just as interested in asking ridiculous questions as he was. As for Spock, he was certain that the tension between the two half-Vulcans was rising. They didn't appear to like each other, though that could have just been the Vulcan poker faces he was viewing. For all he knew, Spock was interested in questioning his counterpart too.
They left swiftly, each with their other persona, and parted upon exit of the turbolift. Jim took James to a private room located on his deck which was empty for the time being. It wasn't completely empty, but had a desk, a chair, and a small bed already made up. James walked in causally.
"It appears we're going to be here for a while."
"Yes. I'm sorry the accommodations are not up to par. The Enterprise is still fairly new and we haven't made the guest rooms any brighter yet." Jim watched as James turned to face him. It was spooky just looking at the older guy. He was everything Jim had wished he could be. Confident, a gallant stride, well-built and handsome. I bet he's got a whole bunch of decorations too.
"This is fine, Captain."
"Yeah, you know, since we're like, the same person 'n' stuff, feel free to call me Jim." A smile.
"Alright, Jim." The radiant grin that came from that tanned face made Jim think for a brief moment that this is what exactly his father would look like. It made him feel a little homesick. He stared a lot longer than he wanted to because suddenly James broke his thoughts.
"You want to ask me questions, don't you?" Jim gave a quick shrug. Well, duh. How many opportunities like this were going to happen in a lifetime? Not asking questions would be the dumbest thing ever. And believe me, Jim knew a lot about dumb things.
"No, I mean, I already asked what I needed to know."
"You're full of it." Came James' reply. "I know you. Curiosity gets the better of you most of the time." A slight smirk crossed both their faces.
"Yeah, I guess I can't hide it from my future self. I guess I do have some questions I'd like to ask." He looked up calmly at the older man. "Would that be a problem or would you rather rest?" James sat on the bed and motioned for Jim to join him. In an instant, Jim sat. It did feel like he was talking with his father.
"What kind of questions do you have? I'll do my best to answer without giving away too much information. If you ask something I can't or won't answer, I'll let you know."
"Okay, that's cool." He sighed, thinking hard about what questions he could ask and which were too forward and which were too stupid. Unfortunately, 'stupid' out ranked any 'reasonable' question he could have had. "How many space chicks have I banged?" James looked like he was about to fall to the floor in shock. Recovering, he wiped his face subconsciously and blinked a few times.
"You could ask about your future awards, maybe your future dilemmas that you should be wary of, and you choose to ask about how many interstellar relationship you've had?" Jim nodded. "You know, I don't remember being that much of a playboy or that crude when I was growing up." Jim gave another shrug.
"I guess that's what happens when you grow up without a father." That fact came out suddenly. Initially, he had had no intention of saying that, but it flew out of his mouth before he could reel it back in. The sentence seemed to affect James as he gave a puzzled look and then one of curiosity.
"You grew up without a father? Without our father?"
"Yup." Jim was used to it by now. He had accepted that his father died for him and could speak of it a little more freely now. Of course, he wouldn't just talk about it with anyone, but this was his older self. Surely the guy could handle it, right? "My—well, our father died the day I was born. He died in action, saving me and my mother and 400 other crew members. I've been without a father ever since." He was subconsciously twiddling his thumbs. "You grew up with our father, didn't you?" He looked up into those strange brown eyes. "What was he like?" This was a good question, Jim could tell by the raw emotion he felt emit from James' eyes. Whether it was one of interest in speaking on their father or it was pity, Jim would not know.
Before James could answer, a loud crash was heard outside the room. Both instinctively stood and rushed out the door. The scene on the other side was one neither were expecting. Mr. Spock was sitting on the floor from what looked like he had just been thrown. Above him and a few feet away stood Spock, slight tension around his eyes and a familiar rage Jim recognized. Spock was breathing a little hard, his fists tight at his sides. The scene was transparent. Spock had thrown Mr. Spock to the floor in a violent rage.
"Spock!" both Jims called at once. James rushed to Mr. Spock and Jim approached his Spock in a stern fashion. It was strange, but Jim was upset with him.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He demanded of his First Officer. The younger Spock calmed himself and stiffened his body. "These are our guests and you're already throwing one of them around! Are you out of your mind?" Spock didn't answer. He stood there, nostrils in a slight flare and eyes boring holes into his head. Jim shook his head and reconsidered his plans. It was apparent now that younger Spock and older Spock were not on good terms.
"Okay, fine. I'll deal with it. You get everything together for James and I'll handle Mr. Spock and his room."
"I do not agree with that plan, Captain." The answer was quick and fast. For some reason, Jim was seriously pissed about this. Why was Spock acting so harshly towards his older self? He had heard of people not being able to handle those who are similar to their own personalities, but this was outrageous!
"I don't care what you agree with right now." He told him sternly. "I'm not going to have you throwing around guests. Now, you see to James and I will see to Mr. Spock." There was silence and no reply. This was aggravating. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Captain." When Jim turned around, James had already helped Mr. Spock from the floor and they seemed to be whispering among themselves now. He approached them and they both turned to give him their attention.
"Uh, change of plans. James, Spock is going to make sure you have everything you need in your room and I will be handling Mr. Spock. Will that be a problem?"
"Not at all, Jim. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make this process easier for you." James told him. Jim smiled and nodded, he was rather enjoying his own company. A second later, Spock was leading James away. The last thing Jim saw was the most evil death gaze Spock was capable of giving and it was sent right at Mr. Spock. The only other time Jim had seen a stare like that was when Jim had brought up Spock's mother when he retuned from Delta Vega. Some serious shit was happening between the two, though Mr. Spock hardly seemed to take notice. Well, if he did notice, he wasn't showing it.
Jim led Mr. Spock down the hall and opened another guest room very similar to the one he had assigned James. Mr. Spock walked inside and thanked Jim for his time. That told Jim it was time for him to leave, but he didn't want to. He still had that scene on his mind and the fresh picture of Spock's anger on his eyelids. Before he left, he decided to try and figure out what had happened and if Mr. Spock didn't want to tell him, he'd leave it at that and go about his business.
"Uh, I don't want to pry or anything, but do you think you could tell me what happened between you and my First Officer? He typically doesn't act like that around guests."
"I am aware that that is a rarity. I have observed that my younger self seems to be more temperamental than how I was when I was younger. Though, I do think I can almost see why this is so. I feel a lack of the presence of my planet Vulcan. The ship may be to far from it for him to channel it through his young mind and body. This should be taken into consideration for his mood." Jim rolled his eyes.
Actually, that was probably the reason for Spock's entire mood. All of it. Completely. Jim wondered for a moment if he should relay the news of Vulcan's destruction. He wasn't entirely sure if that was a good idea at this point. He figured he would tell the man at a later time or hopefully not at all. There was no need for two pissy Vulcans strutting on his ship.
"I will consider it, thank you. Still, I must know, what caused his sudden violence towards you?" Spock fell silent and raised his dark eyes to Jim as if to tell him he wouldn't believe the answer even if it was plastered on his face. He stayed that way for a few more moments before he began again.
"I had simply asked how our mother was fairing."
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A/N – I think that's a good place to stop for now. Oh, this is so much fun to write. I'm trying really hard to keep their personalities in check but it's so difficult since the Kirks and Spocks are similar and different in their own way. Oh! It's so hard! I hope to add more Bones in the next chapter. I miss him. Thank you for reading!