A/N: WHOA! I thought the reviews for chapters 17/18 were amazing—you guys were blowing me away with your thoughts on chapter 19! It was crazy and it totally made my week! Thank you all for your reviews!

And now, for your reading pleasure, I'm posting early since I'll be out of town.

P.S. To the guest reviewer who I couldn't PM: the whole family does share a special mental connection, but Selas was able to pick up on his brother's distress more because of their close relationship AND because his own senses are heightened as a result of his blindness. It also allowed me to include him in the story in a meaningful way since (as NotesfromaClassroom pointed out) it's difficult for Selas to "show" us anything. Ok now, enough of my rambling...enjoy!

Didn't See It Coming - Part Two

U.S.S. Enterprise, 2281.215, 1501 hours. Russell glanced at Sean Morrison out of the corner of his eye as the boy sat in the interrogation room alongside his father. He didn't like this, he didn't like it one bit. There'd been some taunting over the years and a few scuffles that he chalked up to a clash of personalities but until today it'd been mostly out of his purview; now, however, the boys had gone and taken things too far.

"Do you know why you're here, Sean?"

"No, Sir." It was remarkable how calm he was considering the shit storm that was about to rain down on him and his friends.

"Look, I think we've been pretty understanding up 'til now, Lieutenant, what with you dragging us from our business, so why don't you cut the small talk and tell us what we're doing here?" Commander Morrison demanded.

He looked to Sean once more, hoping he'd man up and come clean, but he remained tight-lipped. Russell bit back his disappointment and focused on staying neutral; he didn't want to entirely tip his hand yet. "Of course. Commander Spock and Commander Uhura's son, Se'tak, has gone missing. We have reason to believe he was taken against his will."

The Commander immediately cut in, "And so you think my son had something to do with it just because they've gotten into it a few times in the past? Boys will be boys, Deng; I see you haven't dragged Kevin or Cole down here either and they've tangled with Se'tak too, so why's Sean getting singled out?"

Russell took a deep breath; it wouldn't do to yell at a superior officer, even if that officer's son was a pompous ass. "I'll explain in just a minute but before I do, Commander, I want to know if you're aware that Vulcans share a special mental connection with their family."

The older man furrowed his brow, "I've heard about it, yes, but what does that have to do with—…?"

He cut him off. "We're trying to use it to locate Se'tak now, but whoever took him really did a number on him. The one thing we know for sure is that he's bound, gagged and handcuffed somewhere on this ship," he said, pointedly staring at Sean.

The youngster started to squirm while the Commander sat there with arms folded across his chest, his lips set in a hard, thin line. "And my cuffs went missing three weeks ago," he added quietly.

Russell nodded. "Yes—and given your son's and the other boys' history with Se'tak it was only logical to follow up with them." He turned his attention back to Sean. "You're all in a great deal of trouble—more than you can possibly comprehend—but right now you've got the most to lose. We can tie this to you directly by the theft of your father's cuffs and the evidence will only be stronger once we find Se'tak and dust them for prints. You can make it easier on yourself now by telling us where he is."

He had Sean right where he wanted him, his guilty conscience pricking away, only he was scared speechless until his father slammed a hand down hard on the table. "BOY, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER HIM…!"

"I don't know!" Sean blurted out. "I swear I don't know! He came to me a few weeks ago and asked if I could get my hands on them—he didn't tell me what he'd be using them for, honest! I swear I had no idea this was going to happen!"

"Who'd you get the cuffs for, Sean? I need you to give me a name."

"Cole, it was Cole!"

It was just as he suspected then. Russell turned away from the boy in disgust and glanced at the two-way mirror, knowing the worried parents were among those watching on the other side. He'd gotten what he wanted—a link tying that Granger boy to this whole G-d-awful mess—but that didn't make him feel any better. "Sit tight."

He left the room and was met by the family in the hall. "What do we do now?" Commander Uhura asked.

"We bring him in. I want Kevin Sweeney picked up too; he's probably part of this as well."

"And what if Cole won't tell us where Se'tak is?"

Russell was prepared to handle Granger should he resist; what he wasn't prepared for was the dark, sinister expression that briefly flickered on Commander Spock's normally placid face. "I can assure you that Cole Granger will be dealt with one way or another, k'diwa."

?. G-d was he hot; hot and sticky and about to go mental from the constant whirring of that damn machine. This was sheer torture. His shoulders hurt, his head ached and his throat was parched. The rag in his mouth made screaming pretty useless but that hadn't stopped him from trying to get someone's attention earlier. It felt like he'd been at it for hours but Se'tak knew it couldn't have been that long...

…could it?

1517 hours. Spock watched as Lieutenant Deng personally escorted Cole Granger onto the premises, with Kevin Sweeney and his escort following close behind. The latter young man was shaking while the former looked his way with only a hateful sneer on his lips.

What had transpired between the two boys to bring about such an elaborate and hateful scheme?

He tried once more to hone in on Se'tak's location but could not sense more than his son's growing irritation and discomfort. There was a 73.8% chance that he was concussed; in addition to that if he were not discovered soon there was an 81.4% chance he would begin to suffer the ill effects of dehydration by ship's evening.

Quietly Spock clenched and unclenched his fists at his side as the boys were led into two different interrogation rooms.

Se'tak's situation with Cole was a common topic of discussion for him and Nyota, only recently they had been working under the impression that the matter had, in fact, resolved itself. There had been no verbal or physical altercations between the pair since last March and therefore no indication that Cole would take his aggression this far.

It frustrated him to no end that his child was in such danger and that he was rendered so helpless. He had both known of the ill-will between Se'tak and Cole and, other then speaking with his son about continuing to show restraint, had done nothing to end the bitterness between them. Spock knew from past personal experience that parental involvement in such matters only served to escalate the abuse and yet as he waited for news now he tried to determine what other measures he could have taken on his child's behalf.

At that moment T'Alora came up beside him and interrupted his dark musings. "Sa-mekh, while I do not have conclusive evidence supporting my theory, given what little we know about Se'tak's immediate surroundings I believe he may be located somewhere in Engineering. Perhaps if we concentrate our efforts there while Lieutenant Deng and Lieutenant Meislen handle matters here we may be able to find him."

He looked his daughter square in the eye. "While I do not doubt your supposition, you and I both know that Engineering is vast. A search of the area would require more persons than we have available at this time."

"Agreed." She then pulled her personal comm. out of her pocket. "That is why I have already contacted Uncle Scotty and asked for his assistance. He said that he and his staff are at our disposal. Mama will remain here with Selas to help coordinate the search and will alert us to any updates as they become available."

Though their expressions never faltered he sent a burst of pride her way and could tell she was relieved to be of help. "Let us depart then."

1535 hours. "Alright," Uncle Scotty declared as he stepped away from the board. "You all have yer partners and yer assignments. We've got a 15 year old boy stuck down here and I dinnae need to reiterate how important it'is that we find him fast. I want progress reports every half hour from all of ye; sooner, if'n ye see anythin'. Dismissed." The large group of officers began to disperse in all directions, with Sa-mekh and Uncle Scotty heading down hallway C. She watched them converse in quiet voices as they went while her friend and partner, the newly-promoted Lieutenant Junior Grade Paolo Acosta, began heading toward the left aft nacelle wing.

He stopped mid-way, suddenly noticing her absent. "T, you comin'?" Wordlessly she turned and strode toward him, soon matching his step as they moved down the hall. They reached the turbolift before he chose to speak again. "Are you worried?"

She kept her eyes straight ahead. "Se'tak's condition is not critical and I merely wish to expedite his safe return by any means at my disposal."

Paolo, too, looked straight ahead. "You are worried."

"I am…concerned."

He finally looked at her. "Yeah, well, you should be; we all are. I mean, I had to deal with my fair share of jerks back in the day but this is beyond awful. Nobody deserves to be treated like this, not to mention that we all live and work here and should to be safe on our own ship." They stepped out of the lift together then he held her back. "Do they know who did this?"

"We believe we have the perpetrators in custody."

"Good." Her friend marched with great urgency. "Better than me getting my hands on them."

1537 hours. Gunther was good—one of the best on his team—but as he stood behind the glass watching him interrogate Kevin Sweeney he knew there wasn't anything new that Meislen would uncover. Russell was pretty sure that just like with Sean, Cole had left his buddy out of the planning, only using him and his skills to create a hacking program to the secure feed and wipe out all trace of his evil deed.

Arms folded across his chest he turned around and looked into the room where Cole sat waiting. The kid was slouched back, legs splayed out before him, like he owned the room and hadn't a care in the world; and while time was of the essence Russell had met men like Cole before and knew he wouldn't give up his trump card easily. It was better to let him stew rather than waste his breath.

He knocked on the opposite window to pull Meislen out; he wasn't doing any good in there and they needed to work together to come up with a new game plan.

?. He didn't know what else to do, so he resorted to knocking the metal cuffs against the ladder when the machine was at it's quietest. I'm :::CLANG!::: Going ::::CLANG!::: Cra- ::::CLANG!::: -zy! ::::CLANG!::: I'm ::::CLANG!::: Going ::::CLANG!::: Cra- ::::CLANG!::: zy! ::::CLANG!::: I'm ::::CLANG!::: Going ::::CLANG!::: Cra- ::::CLANG!::: zy! ::::CLANG!::: I'm ::::CLANG!::: Going ::::CLANG!::: Cra- ::::CLANG!::: zy! ::::CLANG!:::

1542 hours. Nyota watched closely as Deng and Meislen entered the room; if there was anything she could pick up on, a subtle shift in body language or change in tone that might give them a clue, then she wasn't going to miss it.

It hurt her heart and made her see red, however, when Cole had the audacity to smile in the face of his interrogators.

That little shit… She never wanted to think ill of anyone but to know that this boy had hurt her Se'tak…Nyota seethed.

"Mama?"

She put a hand on her son's shoulder. "I'm alright, Selas." She tuned back in to the interrogation already taking place. Lt. Meislen sat across the table while Lt. Deng paced behind Cole.

"We know you're behind his disappearance, Cole."

The boy grinned and placed his hands behind your head. "You're lying, Lieutenant. You've got nothing."

"That's where you're wrong," Deng replied, whipping around behind him and leaning in close beside his ear. "Your friends weren't as loyal to you as you thought. Sean gave you up pretty quickly and Kevin—well, Kevin isn't as good a hacker as you think."

"You're full of it," Cole retorted; still, Nyota didn't miss the fact that he lacked some of the confidence he had moments ago.

Just then Russell bent over and yanked one of the boy's legs up. "Am I? Am I really? Because I'm pretty sure I have footage of you pushing a crate down on level 4 while wearing these same sneakers." He unceremoniously dropped the leg and Cole scrambled to remain sitting upright.

Her jaw dropped slightly and she leaned forward, waiting to see what would happen. Either she missed that little fact or Deng was bluffing…but did Cole know that too? His expression wavered momentarily but then his eyes shown bright. "So what? I brought a storage crate downstairs for my Mom, big deal, I'm telling you I got nothing to do with freaky Tick going missing."

She grimaced; she wasn't buying his story for one second but their evidence against him was as circumstantial as he implied. Without hard proof it'd just be his word against theirs.

"You know we're not buying it," Gunther said as if in response to her very thoughts. Locking eyes with his charge he added, "Our guys got permission from your mothers to search your quarters so it's only a matter of time before we find something; you tell us where Se'tak is now and it'll go better for you in the end."

The boy threw up his hands. "I'm not saying another word!"

She let loose a sigh and pulled out her comm., prepared to update Spock with Cole's lack of cooperation, when the device chimed with an incoming call from her adun.

1543 hours. She and Paolo had been walking alone down the dank, little used corridor when she first heard it. T'Alora threw up her hand. "Silence."

Paolo froze beside her. "What?"

She held a finger to her lips. "Listen." All was quiet save for the hiss of exhaust and the whir of a fan. She thought she imagined the sound when…

Clang.

It was faint but it was there. Her head swiveled to the right and locked eyes with her partner. He heard it as well. "Could just be a loose chain…"

"The sound repeats consistently every 3.1 seconds and has not varied in intensity."

She took off like a shot down the hall, certain that she was on the right track while leaving Paolo scrambling to catch up. "Hey, T!" T'Alora ignored him, only pausing as the gangway ended leaving her to choose whether to turn left or right. She waited for Se'tak to make more noise.

Clang!

She sprinted to her right, deep into the bowels of the ship. The humidity was thicker here, reminiscent of high summer on New Vulcan.

Clang! Pause. Clang! Pause. CLANG!

T'Alora stopped short and threw her weight hard into the door on her left. The room she now entered was nearly 44 degrees Celsius and she felt her skin grow moist with sweat. The consistent whump of machinery suddenly filled her ears, making her re-think what she had heard. "Se'tak?"

She held her breath waiting for the familiar clang. One second, two seconds, then suddenly the room burst with the furious sounds of metal on metal. As she rounded the corner of a large tank T'Alora discovered her brother bound on the floor, banging his chains furiously against the ladder. She dropped to her knees and pulled the gag out of his mouth before teasing the sweaty knot holding the rag around his eyes.

"T?" he croaked.

"Yes, pi'sa-kai, it is I."

His grin warmed her heart and at last she yanked the rag away. "It's good to see you. Thought I was imagining things."

"You were not imagining things and it is good to see you as well."

"T'Alora!"

She turned at the sound of Paolo's voice. "I am in here!" Heavy bootfalls raced toward them and her friend soon appeared, his face lighting up as soon as he spotted Se'tak.

"Hey buddy!" he cried, rushing to her brother's back. Once there he dropped down to a crouch and pulled out his laser cutter, making quick work of the handcuffs. "What brings you down here?"

Se'tak's laugh quickly turned to a dry cough but he managed to spit out, "Oh, you know, it's where all the cool kids are." As he rose to his feet he swayed and T'Alora swiftly caught him and draped his arm over her shoulders. Paolo moved to hold him up on the other side while she pulled out her comm.

"Sa-mekh, we have found him."

1608 hours. Se'tak lay back against the bio-bed, eyes closed, enjoying the cold air against his skin. Nearby he listened as Dr. M'benga moved and completed all his tests. His family was hovering on the periphery only so the doctor could have some space to work but he felt their presence nearby. He'd been a little light-headed when he came in but three hypos later he was pretty much back to normal.

"Alright," the doc said, filling in the last information on his chart. "I'm going to keep you here awhile for observation but you should be out by dinnertime. Let me know if you start feeling dizzy again or if anything changes." Dr. M'benga drew the curtain back; Se'tak watched as his family swooped in before the poor man could get away.

Mama's eyes met his before darting down to the gauze bandages wrapped around his wrists. Her expression was pained and her lower lip was trembling; and even though it wasn't his fault Se'tak still felt bad for making her worry. She stood beside the head of the bed and brushed the damp, sweaty hair out of his eyes.

"I'm fine, Mama," he said before she had a chance to ask.

Her eyes were moist as she leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Of course you are, Baby."

Beside him he felt someone take hold of his wrist and looked over to see Selas. "Are you much hurt, sa-kai?" he asked, fingering the bandages.

He resisted the urge to wince. His skin was raw from the cuffs but the doc had put some ointment on to help treat it. It hurt like a mother but he wasn't about to admit that to his worried little brother. "Nah, I'm good." For good measure he affectionately mussed up Selas' hair.

"Good."

For a long minute no one spoke and so he asked the question that'd been burning in the back of his mind. "So how long was I gone for?"

"Approximately 4.38 hours." Se'tak looked down at the foot of his bed and saw Sa-mekh and T'Alora standing there like twin sentinels. "And I am pleased that you are unharmed, sa-fu."

"As am I," T was quick to add.

He smiled at them both. "Thanks."

Sa-mekh gave a nod then carried on. "Do you remember anything from the attack or how you came to be locked up in Actuator Room 3?"

"Spock! He just got free, what are you thinking asking him that now?"

"I am thinking that in order to gather the best evidence possible against his attacker or attackers this question must be asked now while his memory is still fresh."

In-between the sharp looks Mama was throwing at Sa-mekh and Sa-mekh's impassive gaze back the gears began turning in Se'tak's brain. Attacker or attackers… "It was Cole, wasn't it?"

Sa-mekh quirked his head at him. "Are you asking if he had any involvement or are you telling us that he was the one who attacked you?"

Se'tak folded his arms across his chest. "Why don't you tell me?"

Sa-mekh merely gazed at him with one eyebrow arched while the rest of the family's silence proved much more telling; they couldn't say because it'd compromise the case. Eventually Se'tak gave up and sighed. "Look, it was a blitz from behind—for all I know it could've been Uncle Jim."

"The Captain could not be the perpetrator as he was down on the planet's surface at the time of your abduction."

He grinned and rolled his eyes while Mama let out a chuckle. "I know, Sa-mekh. I was joking."

Just then Dr. M'benga stuck his head in. "Commander Spock, I believe I might have something for you."

2236 hours. He alone was awake in their quarters, the rest of his family having retired early or retreated to the solitude of their rooms; and although Se'tak did his best to hide his true emotions both he and Nyota knew his bravado was false. Shortly after their return home from Sickbay, Selas borrowed his brother's sight and the brief return to darkness made Se'tak momentarily tense up. Spock suspected it was one of many reactions that would linger long after the perpetrator was dealt with.

Suddenly the front door chimed and he hastened to answer it before anyone awoke. Jim stood in the hall, one hand on the door frame for support, with a tight smile on his face. "Spock."

He stepped back and gave his friend leave to enter. "Jim."

The two men walked into the living room together and took their seats. "I heard you've had one hell of a day."

"That is a gross understatement, Captain; however, I did not want it to compromise the mission."

Jim rubbed his hands on his knees and nodded but made no comment. Soon he got up and began to pace, feeling restless despite the late hour. "So how's he doing?"

"In so far as his physical well-being is concerned Se'tak's head wound is healing nicely, as are the sores around his wrists. His mental and emotional well-being, however…" Spock stopped himself uncharacteristically short, unable to put to words the full depth of his son's distress.

His friend stopped and stood before him, cutting an imposing figure. "Nothing like this will ever happen to him again, I promise you."

"Just as I cannot make such a promise to him, neither can you, Jim."

The Captain turned away. "Maybe, maybe not, but I'm going to do everything in my power to try." Jim swiveled back around. "Look, the real reason why I came here tonight was to tell you and Uhura that I've scheduled a meeting first thing tomorrow morning. You, Nyota, Jessie, Sara and Cole in my Ready Room, 0900. After everything he's been through I don't expect Se'tak will want to be there but I know I want to get to the bottom of this once and for all and I suspect you two do as well."

Spock stared at him intently, attempting to discern what purpose such a meeting would serve. Cole Granger had already proven himself to be unforthcoming on the subject of his animosity toward Se'tak.

The Captain appeared to have sensed his reservations about the meeting as he said, "I won't have members of my crew or their families attacked by others on this ship. We protect each other and I refuse to allow this situation to go unchecked any longer." Having delivered his message and made his point Jim said nothing more and moved toward the door. "Right; I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Spock."