Thank you! Thank you so much for your reviews. I truly do appreciate them. Before we get down to the next chapter, there are three things I want to let everyone know.

The MaelrokxFemKirk one shot is up.

For all the Dr. McCoy fans, a BonesxKirk has been started. No, seriously. It's called 'What Is It With You?'

I own nothing, rated M. Please enjoy

OoOoO

Jim brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face, trying valiantly to calm her frazzled nerves. The council continued to drone on and anytime words were stated out of Standard, the universal translator blipped out the meanings so that others were kept appraised of the situations.

To be honest, Jim couldn't focus. She understood there was something about a challenge, and a bond. She could vaguely recall T'Pau mentioning it earlier. In fact, even Amanda had prattled on about a similar subject for a few moments. Though, logically, Kirk understood that this was keeping the Federation out of intergalactic war; she still felt rather lost.

How did one deal with knowing that the life they had lived up until this point was for all intents and purposes over? The young engineer did not know. And, she doubted very much that anyone else did either. Then there was the communications she had been avoiding from her family. All 115 of them remained unopened, or unaccepted.

She wasn't avoiding her parents, mainly her father, exactly. She was simply hoping this would all blow over and then give them … oh say, three years or so to calm down. Yes, three Vulcan years because they were longer than Terran ones. If one took into consideration that one Vulcan year was equivalent to 2.8 Earth years, she could miss quite a few awkward holiday dinners.

So, really, even out of the worst possible situation there was a bright side.

It was not long before the council dismissed them. The course of her life, which would be forever altered, boiled down to little more than 33 minutes of arguing over what constituted a victory, where to hold their challenge, and what the victor would win.

Oh, that's right… it was her.

33 fucking minutes to make her little more than some trade good to be won in a freaking contest of alien strength. Jim didn't care how many times they put words like 'honorable' or 'time-honored' or 'worth' in front of it with a bunch of other garbage words to make it seem better than it was. She was being fought over like a toy given to a pack of overly possessive dogs.

And, her head really had begun to throb over all of this. That something was back to prowling at the edge of her thoughts, almost as if gauging her reactions to all of this. She was struck all at once, that it felt almost like something was in her head with her. Jim shook it off as best as she could. Her heart was hammering in her chest as her fate was up for grabs, so to speak.

When the council excused themselves, they waited until the males seeking Kirk for their mate were escorted out. She gave a wry smile that they had at least the foresight to understand leaving them alone in a room with Kirk might just be a bad idea.

She relaxed slightly, when they were gone.

"What is… is," T'Pau told her stoically, as she breezed out through the pressurized doors. She was the essence of Vulcan composure, and Jim felt less than reassured by –what she was hoping- was words of consolation.

Jim sat heavily in a nearby chair, her mind still slightly in a daze. The worst was mostly over. Nothing she had done had resulted in a direct declaration of war… so far. For her, that was actually a huge bonus really.

Amanda sat next to her, causing Jim to turn toward her. Her eyes met the concerned ones of her 'Mother-in-law'. The engineer shuddered mentally at the words.

A warm hand, the simple touch of a mother, rested on top of Kirks for a few moments.

"It's not all bad, you know," Amanda stated softly. "I won't lie to you; it is a very hard adjustment at first. Living on Vulcan," she explained, and gave a slight nod of her head. "However, it does get better."

Jim swallowed hard. Her eyes felt hot and moist. Damn it! She was not going to cry. With a resolve she certainly didn't feel, Jim gazed back at Amanda steadily.

"Ma'am," she replied lightly, "I mean no offense to you, but I don't particularly want to live on Vulcan."

The older woman had the grace to smile. "I find that I do not doubt that in the slightest, Engineer Kirk."

Jim clenched her teeth in frustration and though she understood the other woman was not to blame, it did not stop her from being furious with Amanda Grayson. The mother of her husband.

"I hate this!" She shouts, her voice reverberating off the walls. "I hate this happened. I hate that I can't even get my warp core from the Vulcan Science Core. I hate it."

Amanda stares at her pensively. "You hate a lot of things right now," her tone was nearly indulgent, "but it speaks volumes to me that you don't hate the people involved."

Jim says nothing, choosing instead to settle for glaring petulantly at the floor.

"You don't hate Spock," Amanda presses softly. Jim glances at her watching the dawning look of understanding and hope that paints the other woman's face.

Her shoulder slump. "No," Jim confirms equally as soft, "I don't hate Spock."

Amanda nods her head and looks pensive.

"Vulcans, by nature, are much more complex than they seem. They would have you believe that they do not have emotions."

The engineer snorts in dismissal at the thought. She would call Spock's fury and passion aboard the T'Maiti being unemotional.

Far from it, actually.

"However," Amanda continued, "they feel things much stronger than we do. I know it might mean very little to you now, but someday I hope you appreciate the fact. My son must love you James."

Jim snapped her head up in shock.

"He must love you very much to have broken his bond with T'Pring, to have risked war with the Romulans, and to have stood his ground with T'Pau to have you." Amanda gave an amused smile at a memory Jim was not privy to. "Don't get me wrong. I cannot stand T'Pau, but for all her many, many, faults… she does defend her clan fiercely. That now includes you."

"Then why does it feel for all the Earth that I have lost?"

Jim faced her without guile, but stark curiosity.

Amanda looked down at her hands, then back up at Jim slowly. "Because our species, as wonderful as it is, is still very young. And, unfortunately, that means we sometimes are too focused on the now and not what could be."

They sat in stony silence for a few minutes. Jim focused on the beat of her own heart.

"Besides," Amanda offered with open amusement, "it could always be worse."

Jim gave her a questioning look.

"You could have T'Pau for a mother-in-law."

Then, Amanda was gone leaving Jim to nothing but silence and her thoughts.

Jim sat there, mind and heart slightly numb. She had never really given much time to this ludicrous problem, because there had always been some light at the end of the tunnel. There had always been something that allowed her to escape. Now, it seemed there truly were no other options. This was not going to be a Kirk pulls her ass out of the fire moment.

This time, she was going to get burned.

She didn't even bother to turn when the doors opened once more. Though, she swore if it was one of her alien suitors she was going to murder slowly. Possibly with a rusty spoon, she thought glibly. A hand clapped her on the shoulder. She turned, instantly ready to snap at whatever foolish soul dared to interrupt the Kirk pity-party.

She ended up falling short at the concerned gaze of one Dr. Leonard McCoy.

"You know Jim," he stated not unkindly, "when I told you at your last quarterly physical to 'Work up a little sweat'. I meant exercise, not this."

A bubble of hysterical laughter wells within her. "Sweating right now is the just one of my many worries Dr. McCoy." Though she still could feel her legs twinge from having to lie flat on her back and basically do an inverse stair-step.

Sadistic bastard.

But, he was her favorite sadistic bastard.

He sat next to her, his blue uniform catching her eye, because she didn't feel much like looking at him. She felt, rather defeated.

"Your timing is lousy Jim," he deadpanned.

"Aren't you always the one that says a little suffering is good for the soul?"

"A little suffering Jim, not trying to be a damned martyr."

She snorts, unable to help herself.

"I'm so sorry Bones," she gave a ghost of a smile, "I'll get it right next time."

He spared her a scolding glance. "If there is a next time Jim, I'm just going to give you a case of Andorian shingles."

"That is just about the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she attempted to joke. Then the damn that has been holding her raging emotions in check breaks and she is crying. Sad, and so miserable she can hardly breathe.

Bones, to his credit, lets her.

She sobbed, unable to keep the tears at bay. "It's all gone now Bones. The career I was supposed to have, my friends, the Enterprise… do you know how hard I worked to get on that ship?"

Bones knew a rhetorical question when he heard one, and for that Jim was exceedingly grateful. He made a noise low in his throat, one that showed he understood her but also that he did not have the words just yet to make it all better.

"I spent years proving everyone one wrong about what can be done with warp technology. I've sacrificed relationships, blood, sweat, and tears for my dreams. Now all I see is one huge disaster looming ahead of me."

She drew a deep but shaky breath. "I don't believe in no-win situations. I don't believe there is ever a good reason for giving up… but I…"

She trailed off and trembled at his side. Bones waited patiently for her to finish.

"I'm… I'm frightened Bones," Jim confided quietly. She then turned her head and hiccupped into his shirt. Her tears staining the Starfleet regulation blue uniform.

His arms encircled her and tightened around her, offering her a sense of comfort in this uncertain time.

Her voice was soft, but waivered from time to time. "I cannot stop this from happening, and I cannot deny whoever wins because thousands of lives could be lost." In a moment she looks far older than she should. A haunted gaze etched into Bones' very soul. "I may be awesome," she half-heartedly jokes with a flat voice and dull eyes, "but I am not worth all those lives Bones."

"You have one thing right," he replies after a few tense moments of silence. Jim gazes at him blankly. "You are awesome. I've never seen anything like ya. You've taken the whole Federation by storm and who knows how many countless generations after us are going to be looking back at your picture someday. They are all going to be thinking 'I wanna be like Kirk'."

She shook her head in mild exasperation.

"Of course," he cast a sideways glance, "they'll all be able to speak something other than standard. And, they won't butcher Breen so badly the Breen Ambassador pleads with Starfleet to tell him what new language has been discovered."

Jim glared at him.

"And they won't be, God willing, causing nearly as much intergalactic turmoil as you-"

"I think I get the point Bones."

"And, they won't blow up nearly as many labs-"

"It was an accident! It was four times-"

"Five times."

"Four."

"And-"

"Okay! Thank you, Dr. McCoy," she snapped out harshly.

He just gave her a lazy grin, and then she burst into tears over how much she would miss these moments with him.

"Hush now," he whispered and placed a kiss on her hair. "Hush. It is going to be alright Jimmy girl. You'll see."

"I'm going to miss you and Uhura the most," she said in a small voice.

"You won't have to miss me Jim," Bones said placing a finger under her chin and tilting her head to look at him. He hushed her protests before she could voice them. "You won't have to miss me because I'm not going to leave you. By God if I have to open up a practice on Vulcan for the only two humans there, I will."

Jim grinned, in spite of the tears in her eyes.

Bones gave her a wry smile. "Of course my fees will be astronomical to cover my overhead for a clinic," he drawled out, "but I'm sure you and Lady Amanda won't mind any. I also won't work holidays and weekends."

She alternated between laughing and hiccupping at his words. Leave it to Leonard McCoy to make her feel even the tiniest bit better about the situation. Her blue eyes gained back just a hint of their old twinkle.

"What about Uhura?"

"Well…," Bones pondered thoughtfully, "I could always use a nurse with excellent verbal skills."

Jim snickered, leaning her head against his chest once more. And for the first time today, the future didn't look so grim.

And maybe, just maybe… it would even be alright.

"Thank you," she says at last when her tears are spent.

"Anytime Jim," Bones rumbles lowly, "anytime."