Delta Vega

Kirk winced as he slowly came to, blinking blearily as he tried to move…only to realize three things. The first was that it was a little dark where he was, making it hard to see. The second was that he was in a small sort of escape pod which explained why he couldn't really move. And the third…was that Victoria was cramped right in front of him, literally pressed against him. Apparently, whoever had sent them both off the Enterprise hadn't exactly thought to put them in two separate pods.

"Victoria?" he shifted trying to shake her awake without touching anything inappropriate, "Victoria?" he shifted, managing to get his arm, which was stuck behind his back for some reason, free and bring it up to her, touching her shoulder, actually shaking her, "Victoria," he sighed when she didn't wake still and took a moment to just look at her.

She was knocked out, as far as he could see, he could kind of make out a small puncture mark in her neck and let out a long breath, knowing that Bones or someone else had probably given her a sedative. Her right arm was curled up to her chest, her face relaxed in sleep. For a brief moment…he didn't want to wake her. She looked so…peaceful and just, well, beautiful. She did that a lot at times, fall asleep on him, on his shoulder, on his lap, on his chest, depending on the position. He always hated to wake her up mostly because of how she looked when she was sleeping...partially because, depending how he did it, she might punch him as she jerked awake.

Before he even realized he was doing it, he'd reached up and gently touched her cheek, softly stroking her cheek with a thumb, smiling as he saw her starting to wake up. He turned his hand over, letting his knuckles graze across her cheek lightly, "Victoria."

Her face scrunched a moment before she blinked awake, "James?"

"Hey," he murmured, his voice hushed.

She frowned, and moved to touch his cheek like he was her, only to wince and pull her arm in closer to her chest, "Ow…"

"What happened?" he pulled his hand from her cheek and reached out for her hand, touching it as lightly as he could, already able to see the bruises in the darkness.

"I um…punched Spock," she muttered.

"What?" he nearly laughed at that, probably would have too if not for the shock he was feeling.

"Yeah," he could see the blush on her cheeks as well, "Um, sort of had to."

"Why'd you have to punch him?"

"Besides the subcontext of 'punch me, punch me' every time he opens his mouth?" she gave him a look, making him chuckle, "It was um…"

He waited but she didn't finish, "What?"

She took a breath, "They wouldn't have listened to me to go get Pike either," she said quickly, "And they would have just detained me and made me feel useless or they'd expel me from the ship too hours after you so I had to punch him so that he'd send me out WITH you."

He blinked, "And you're not useless here?"

She shrugged as much as she could in the cramped space, neither of them seeming to have noticed it after waking just how close they were, "Seems to be my life's goal to keep you alive," she murmured, "Makes me useful to you."

He smiled, "You're more than just useful Tory."

She returned his smile with a small one of her own, "And you're more than just a pain in my ass Jim."

He laughed at that, not having expected anything less from her, "You were really THAT desperate to be with me that you punched Spock?"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh yes, I just need you SO much James that I broke my hand over it."

"Good," he reached out, putting his now free arm around her, tugging her even closer, "I need you too. You know."

She blinked, "You do?"

"Oh yeah," he nodded, "Body heat from two people will be much more bearable when we get out there," he jerked his head to the side.

She shook her head at him and glanced to the windows to see them covered with what could only be snow, "That's Delta Vega," she told him, "Where they sent us, "It's a class-M planet…"

"Which means it's full of wild, dangerous animals," Kirk remarked.

"There should be a Starfleet outpost out there somewhere."

"Computer?" he called out, "Where's the nearest Starfleet outpost?"

"Fourteen kilometers to the northwest," the computer announced, "Remain in your pod until…"

"Yeah, not gonna happen," he cut in, looking at Victoria, "You gonna be ok?" he glanced at her hand.

"Should be," she nodded, "Just let me stick my hand in the snow for a minute or two to numb it and I'll be shiny."

"Good," he swallowed, before taking a breath and hitting the button on the controls, opening the pod, the two of them jumping up and grabbing the two, rather thin, jackets that had been provided them, and pulling them on. Kirk looked over, taking Victoria's hand as they began their trek across the planet, the snow falling heavily around them in a blizzard.

~8~

Kirk and Victoria struggled across the stark white land of Delta Vega, an arm up before their faces, their hoods up and tight around their heads, to block the snow rushing at them.

"Stardate 2258.42…4 uh…4 whatever," Kirk called into a small recorder, shouting above the roaring of the storm, "Acting Captain Spock has marooned me and Victoria on Delta Vega, what I believe to be a violation of security protocol…um…"

"49.09," Victoria shouted to him.

He nodded to himself, "Covering the treatment of prisoners aboard as starship…"

"James…" Victoria stopped suddenly, "What's growling behind us?"

Kirk winced at that, having not heard that till now, that low growling, before he turned to see some sort of creature he couldn't quite make out in the snow rushing towards them, "Run!" he grabbed her good hand and they ran off, him keeping a firm hold of Victoria's hand to keep her from tripping as she ran with her other hand clutched to her chest.

They gasped, tripping when they felt the ice behind them break up, sending them toppling to the ground, Victoria crying out in pain as she landed on her arm. They looked back to see another, much larger creature, with FAR more arms than the first had burst out through the ice and attacked the other creature…before turning its gaze on THEM.

"Run," Victoria gasped, reaching out for his hand and pulling him up, the two of them racing off as they were chased by that creature as well.

They screamed they fell over the side of a large ledge, down a hill. Kirk reached out and grabbed Victoria close to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly, wincing as he felt her tense, he was crushing her arm between her chest and his, but…it would keep it from moving, from hitting the snow repeatedly as they toppled down it. If he got extra bruises…that was fine with him as long as she didn't get more hurt than she already was.

They groaned as they hit the base of the hill, hearing a crashing noise beside them to see the creature had fallen down after them, rolling towards them at an alarming speed. Kirk jumped to his feet, yanking Victoria up and pulling her on, spotting a cave in the distance and heading for it.

"Go, go, go!" he pushed her on towards the cave, needed to get her farther away from the creature. They'd just entered the cave when he tripped.

"James!" she screamed, turning around to see the creature had already caught him. She started patting down her coat, hoping there might be a blaster in there somewhere...but there was nothing, "James!"

"Victoria run!" he struggled in the hold of the beast as it dragged him nearer…but she ran over to him, grabbing his hand in her one good arm and trying to pull him back from it, "I said run!"

"When do I ever listen to you!?" she snapped, pulling more…

Only for the beast to let go of him suddenly, him scrambling away from it as an old man in a white snow suit raced at it, waving a torch at the creature, forcing it away. It scampered back, rushing out of the cave as the man let out a breath of relief. He turned slowly to see Kirk on the ground, panting, his back pressed to Victoria's front as she held him there, kneeling behind him, her one arm around him and resting on his chest, both of them staring up at him.

"Victoria and James T. Kirk," the man greeted with a smile.

"Excuse me?" Kirk blinked, seeing the older man was a Vulcan.

"How did you find me?"

"You know us?" Victoria eyed him, she'd never met any Vulcans besides Spock and the few that had been saved onboard the Enterprise and he didn't look like them. Well…he looked like an older Spock but…no, no Spock was on the Enterprise.

"Of course I do," the man frowned, looking between them, "I have been, and always shall be, your friend."

"Wha..." Kirk shook his head, scrambling to get up, Victoria helping him, him standing a little before her in defense of this strange man neither of them knew, making Victoria roll his eyes at him, the man smiling at the sight, "Oh, look...uh, we don't know you."

"I am Spock."

"No way," Victoria shook her head, moving to stand beside Kirk, the same time that he said, "Bullshit."

Spock frowned as he spotted Victoria's clutched hand, "What happened to your hand, Victoria?" he took a step towards her, but Kirk moved in front of her again, "Please, Jim," he pulled out a small bit of cloth from his pocket, what he'd been using to help protect his mouth from the snow, a small scarf.

Kirk glanced at it and then Victoria, before staring at 'Spock' for a moment longer, and moving to the side, but watching the man like a hawk as he reached out to gingerly wrap the scarf around her hand, binding it for the moment.

"I um…punched…you?" she hesitated speaking, her words coming out as more of a question than anything, still not sure she believed this was Spock standing before them. For one he wasn't acting like an emotionless robot willing to throw them off a ship for the slightest bit of sass.

"Why would you do that?" he wondered.

"You're an ass?" she suggested.

Spock just let out a laugh at that.

~8~

A short while later they were sitting before a small ring of stones, Spock kneeling beside it, working on building a fire, "It is remarkably pleasing to see you again, old friends," he smiled at the duo, "Especially after the events of today."

"Uh, sir we appreciate what you did for us today," Kirk said hesitantly, "But…but if you were Spock you would know we're not friends at all. You hate me, you hate Victoria by association, you marooned me here for mutiny and her for assault."

"Mutiny?" Spock looked at him questioningly, only to hear a crackling and looked down to see the fire starting. He glanced up at Victoria a moment, and back at his work, "I apologize for the fire Kirk," he murmured.

Kirk frowned, "I'M not the one afraid of fire," he said, nodding at Victoria as she flinched when the fire caught. She could usually handle small ones, but…with everything happening…she just wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with it at the moment. Kirk moved closer to her, putting his arm around her, having claimed it was for body heat like before but really…he could tell this was all getting to her.

"Yes I know," Spock nodded, moving to sit on the other side of the fire.

"Then why apologize to ME?"

"I was not."

"You said Kirk," he pointed out.

"I was, in fact, referring to your wife," Spock nodded at Victoria.

"WIFE!?" they both shouted, looking at each other and half-jumping apart, before Victoria turned back to Spock, "What do you mean, wife?!"

Spock blinked and frowned, "You are…not married yet?"

"We're not even together!" Kirk cried.

"You're not?" Spock actually seemed shocked and disheartened by that, "I do not understand…I was your, as the humans would say, 'Best Man' at the wedding. I was there…you were…not much older than you are now," he blinked, he honestly would have thought that they were at the same age as they'd been wed before, "I suppose I should have known…you do not act like you normally do."

"And how's that?"

"I believe the human term is…affectionate," Spock supplied, "Loving. I have heard Dr. McCoy call it sickeningly sweet as well."

"US?" Victoria blinked, that was…NOT like them at all.

"Are you not the captain of the Enterprise either?" he needed to know just how much else had changed.

"Captain?" Kirk shook his head, "You're the Captain. Pike was taken hostage by Nero…"

"Hold on," Victoria cut in, still stuck on something, "We're married? Me and James? The two of US?" she looked at Spock, incredulous, "Do Vulcans go senile in old age?"

Spock though just looked solemn, "Then it is as I feared…Nero has influenced more in his efforts than I originally thought."

"What do you know about Nero?" Kirk frowned at him.

Spock sighed, "He is a particularly troubled Romulan," he nodded to himself, getting up to move closer to them, reaching out to touch Kirk's face, "Please, allow me. It will be easier."

"Whoa, whoa," Kirk leaned back, "What are you doin'?"

"I think it's called a Vulcan Mind Meld," Victoria whispered to him.

"Yes," Spock nodded, "Our minds. One and together," before he reached out to touch Kirk's temple, closing his eyes and focusing on the memories he wished to share, "129 years from now, a star will explode, and threaten to destroy the galaxy…" he frowned, allowing Kirk to see just that, vague images of it all, "That is where I'm from, Jim. The future. The star went supernova..." the star exploded in his mind, "Consuming everything in its path. I promised the Romulans that I would save their planet," flashes of images of different Romulans flew across their minds, "We outfitted our fastest ship. Using red matter, I would create a black hole, which would absorb the exploding star. I was en route, when the unthinkable happened. The supernova destroyed Romulus," he winced, remembering the planet being consumed by it, "I had little time. I had to extract the red matter, and shoot it into the supernova," there was a large syringe being stabbed into a red, liquid ball suspended in a container before it was placed into a torpedo-like object and fired at the star, "As I began my return trip, I was intercepted. He called himself Nero. Last of the Romulan Empire," Kirk winced, seeing the Narada appear, "In my attempt to escape, both of us were pulled into the black hole. Nero went through first. He was the first to arrive," Victoria swallowed as she listened to the story, knowing that their arrival in THIS universe had to be the attack on the Kelvin, "Nero spent the next 25 years awaiting my arrival. But what was years for Nero, was only seconds for me. I went through the black hole. Nero was waiting for me. He held me responsible for the loss of his world…" Spock let out a shaky breath, recalling how he'd been captured and led before Nero, "He captured my vessel, and spared my life for one reason. So that I would know his pain. He beamed me here, so that I could observe his vengeance. As he was helpless to save his planet, I would be helpless to save mine," they could both see his perspective from the planet's surface, watching as Vulcan was destroyed in the sky, "Billions of lives lost, because of me, Jim. Because, I failed."

He pulled back, Kirk letting out a breath, panting, tears in his eyes. Spock looked at him, solemn, "Forgive me. Emotional transference is an effect of the mind meld."

"Show me," Victoria called, "If you're up to it," she added, knowing that it would be difficult for the man to have to recall all that a second time.

Spock though, nodded, and reached out, touching Victoria's temple, showing her the same memories, allowing Kirk a moment to gather himself.

"So you do feel?" Kirk murmured as Spock pulled back from replaying the memories to Victoria, the girl turning and resting her forehead on Kirk's shoulder, taking a deep breath to try and calm down.

"Yes," Spock nodded.

"All that time travel…it changed everything," Victoria whispered, swallowing hard.

Spock gave her a solemn nod in agreement, "Tory, Jim, we must go. There is a Starfleet outpost not far from here."

"Wait," Kirk called as Spock stood, "Where you came from…did I know my father?"

"Yes. You often spoke of him as being your inspiration for joining Starfleet. He proudly lived to see you become Captain of the Enterprise."

"Captain?" Kirk whispered.

"A ship we must return you both to as soon as possible," Spock turned to gather his things.

Victoria looked down a moment, thinking, "What?" Kirk asked, seeing her expression.

"What, what?" she glanced at him.

"I know that face," he nudged her, "You're thinking."

"It's just…" she let out a breath, "That's why…isn't it?"

"Why…what?" he frowned, not following.

"Why we aren't married," she glanced at him before looking away, a faint pink tint to her cheeks.

"What is?"

"Your father," she swallowed, "In that other universe…he was there, he raised you, he influenced you, kept you under control and…" she shook her head, "You had a life, grew up different, had a different personality for having him there for your entire life," she looked at him, "You were a different man in that universe, than you are in this one."

"Yeah," he nodded, looking away this time, it…hurt…it actually HURT to think that the other him was married to her while this him could barely have a decent conversation that didn't involve bickering.

"I'm glad your different," she added quietly, making him look at her sharply, "Because I'M different too," she reasoned, "My dad…the Kelvin affected the entire Fleet," she explained, "He…became obsessed with the Fleet, he spent…years researching it, trying to work out what happened, so that he could help devise a way to protect the other ships from it happening to them. My mom started to get annoyed with it, felt like he was pulling himself away from her and to the Fleet even more. To him the Fleet was family and the Kelvin was the epitome of what it should be, a captain willing to give his life for his crew," she swallowed hard, "His focus on that was what started to drive my mother away," she shrugged, "I'm a different girl than I would have been if he'd focused on his family more, if my mother had stayed. So…I'm glad you're different, that we're both different now because of the Kelvin…WE fit," she nodded to herself, "In a way the other versions of us wouldn't."

"We fit?" Kirk started to smile at that.

She glanced at him and looked away.

"Don't do that," he shook his head, reaching out to turn her head back to him, "Don't be embarrassed…"

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Prove it."

"Your expression says it all," he smirked, "That's your 'I've said something I didn't mean to let on about' face."

"Why do you know that?" she had to ask him, "Why do you know all my different expressions?"

He looked at her a long moment, staring into her eyes, "Because you're right," he nodded, "We DO fit," and leaned in to press his lips to hers before she could react or pull away or slap him…letting out the smallest breath of relief when she didn't do either of those things but just…kissed him back.

He felt himself smiling into the kiss, what do you know…their lips fit perfectly together too.

~8~

Spock led the way through the blizzard of Delta Vega, a small smile on his face…the Kirks were back on track as far as he could tell. It might not be the same relationship he'd seen his 'Jim and Tory' have, but…they were the same people at heart, and they had the same person in their heart. They might bicker and fight, but…these tow had lived different lives than the other thems, they were more passionate and more fiery, they fought but they were even more fiercely connected than even his version of them were. And they'd need that. He didn't know what their future would hold now, but…he could tell that it would be full of trials and challenges they'd need each other to face down.

He glanced back to see the two of them huddled close together as they fought against the storm, the three of them reaching the outpost just as the storm reached its peak. He pulled open a door and ushered them in, slamming it shut behind them. They pulled their hoods and scarves down, panting a moment before heading down the hall…only to see a small alien creature rushing towards them, gabbling in an alien language.

"Hello," Kirk nodded at him.

The alien just turned and gestured them on, leading them through the outpost to a control room where a man with red hair was sitting at a desk. The alien walked right over to him, getting his attention, "What?" the man snapped at the alien, a Scottish accent to him, before he turned to see the three of them standing there, "You realize how unacceptable this is?"

"Fascinating," Spock breathed.

"What is?" Victoria glanced at him.

But the Scotsman just continued, "Yeah, I'm sure you're just doing your job, but could you not come a wee bit sooner? Six months I've been here, living off Starfleet protein nibs and a promise of a good meal. And I know exactly what's going on here, ok. Punishment, isn't it? Ongoing, for something that was clearly an accident."

"You are Montgomery Scott," Spock stated.

"You know him?" Kirk frowned.

"Aye, that's me," the man spoke, "You're in the right place. Unless there's another hard-working, equally starved Starfleet officer around."

"Me!" the little alien held up his hand.

"Keenser, shut up!" he rolled his eyes, "You don't eat anything. You can eat like a bean, and you're done. I'm talking about food. Real food. But, you're here now, so thank you. Where is it?"

"You are, in fact, the Mr. Scott who postulated the theory of transwarp beaming?" Spock looked at the man.

"That's what I'm talking about," he sighed, "How'd you think I wound up here? I had a little debate with my instructor on the issue of relativistic physics and how it pertains to subspace travel. He seemed to think that the range of transporting something like a…like a grapefruit, was limited to about a hundred miles. I told him that I could not only beam a grapefruit from one planet to the adjacent planet in the same system, which is easy by the way, I could do it with a lifeform…"

"And then you tested it on Admiral Archer's prized beagle," Victoria smirked.

He looked at her, pleased at that, "You've heard of me Lassie?"

"Oh yeah," she laughed, "My dad didn't stop laughing for hours when he told me about that. VERY impressive work Mr. Scott."

"Scotty, please," he winked at her, "Call me Scotty."

"Call me Tory," she agreed.

"Short for Victoria?" he guessed.

"Yeah."

"Lovely name for a lovely lass."

"Yeah," Kirk cut in, his eyes narrowed at the man, "We get it, she's gorgeous, tell me something I don't already know."

"Boyfriend?" Scotty just looked at Victoria and pointed at Kirk.

"Apparently husband," she muttered, Kirk grinning widely as he saw her blushing for good measure…husband…it was WAY too early to think about that, but…one day, maybe, if the other thems could make it as long as Spock knew them, it had to be a good omen right?

"Well congrats to the newlyweds," Scotty shrugged, not at all disappointed the girl was taken, "Always the good ones, eh?"

"Always the BEST ones," Kirk countered.

Victoria nudged him to get him to stop, "The one thing dad didn't know…" she looked at Scotty, "What happened to the dog?"

"I'll tell you when it reappears," Scotty smirked, "I don't know. I do feel guilty about that."

Spock chuckled a bit, but…they really DID have to get back on task, "What if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct? That it is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is travelling at warp speed?"

"I think if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard about it," Scotty scoffed.

"The reason you haven't heard about it, Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet."

Scotty frowned at that, "I'm a…uh, what...are you from the future?"

"Yeah…he is," Kirk pointed at Spock, before gesturing between him and Victoria, "We're not."

"Well that's brilliant. Do they still have sandwiches there?"

"No," Victoria remarked sarcastically, "They have small capsules that you eat that taste and fill you like a sandwich."

"That's brilliant!"

"That's not true either," Spock added.

"Oh," he frowned.

"Mr. Scott," Spock looked at him, "If you would be so kind as to show us your transporter, I'd be more than happy to assist you in the discovery of your formula."

Scotty gave him a look for a moment, before shrugging, "Why not?" and got up, leading them over to the small transporter area, looking rather crude and not at all as technologically advanced as on the Enterprise, "Well, she's a wee bit dodgy," he nodded, seeing their looks, "Shield emitters are totally bandjacked, as well as a few other things. In you go," he gestured for them to get on the pads, "So, the Enterprise has had its maiden voyage, has it? She is one well endowed lady. I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll pardon the engineering parlance."

"Not at all," Victoria laughed, "You wouldn't believe how many engineering jokes are lost on James."

"Ooh, you're in engineering too Lassie?" Scotty smirked at her, before laughing as he patted Kirk's shoulder, "Better keep a firm hold on this one Laddie, else I might be tempted to steal such a fine lady away from you."

"As though you could," Kirk muttered as Scotty moved to Spock as the man typed something into a control, "I'm not about to ever let her go," he glanced at Victoria and took her hand, making her smile.

"Who would have thought THAT would happen?" she remarked, "We couldn't stand to be near each other at first."

"That was only because I was terrified I'd throw you against a wall halfway through our fights," Kirk admitted.

"And do what?" she sent him a teasing smirk.

"I think you know what."

She shrugged, "Probably nothing like I imagined doing to you in the storage closets."

She laughed heartily as Kirk choked on the air he was breathing, before he gave her a dangerous grin, "Careful Victoria," he warned, "Don't start anything you can't finish."

Her smirk deepened, "Challenge accepted James."

Kirk started to smile at that as he looked at her, when he saw Spock walking towards them, and cleared his throat, "You're coming with us, right?"

"No, Jim," Spock shook his head, "That is not my destiny."

"Your dest..." he looked at Victoria, "He…" and back to Spock, "The other Spock is not going to believe either of us. Only you can explain what's gonna happen."

"Under no circumstances, can he be aware of my existence. You must promise me this," Spock looked at the two of them.

"You mean we can't tell you that we're back on the Enterprise because you ordered us back?" Victoria shook her head, "How does that make any sense?"

"Please," Spock sighed, "This is one rule you cannot break. Jim," he looked at the man, "To stop Nero, you alone must take command of your ship."

"How?" Kirk shook his head, "Over your dead body?"

"You are surprisingly HARD to kill," Victoria remarked, making all the men there look at her, "If I couldn't knock you out with a punch that's knocked out bigger men than you…I doubt we'd be able to kill you by normal human means as well."

"I would prefer you not attempt to end my life," Spock chuckled, "However, I believe Tory is aware of a Starfleet regulation that might help?" he looked at her, "619?"

"And what's that?" Kirk looked at her to see her blinking. She always knew the rules and regulations by heart, according to her it was to know the loopholes and be able to argue their cases. Half the time she'd list other rules and regulations that justified the things they did so quickly that others had no time to double check them. It made those trying them feel like she had to know the rules well enough that she couldn't have knowingly broken them…

"619 states that any command officer who's emotionally compromised by a mission has to resign their command."

"So…so you're saying that we have to emotionally compromise you guys?" Kirk looked at Spock.

"Jim," he swallowed, "I just lost my planet. I can tell you, I am emotionally compromised. What you must do is get me to show it."

"Aye then, Laddie," Scotty joined them, getting on a transporter pad with them, "Live or die, let's get this over with," he rolled his eyes as Keenser tried to join them, pushing the wee lad back a bit, "You cannae come with me," he glanced at Spock, "Go on."

"You're coming back in time, changing history," Kirk looked at Spock as well, "It's cheating."

Spock smiled, "A trick I learned from two very good friends," he held up his hand at them, his fingers spaced to make a V-sign, his pointer and middle finger to one side, ring and pinky to the other, a Vulcan salute, "Live long and prosper," he nodded at them before hitting the controls and transporting them out and back to the Enterprise.

A/N: They kissed! ^-^ :D Yay! :) But...it wasn't their first kiss ;) We'll see that one tomorrow }:)

Some notes on reviews...

Oh Prime let a few things slip ;)

Yup, fear of fire :( Poor Victoria getting caught there like that :(

We'll find out who her father is very, very soon ;)

Aww thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the stories so far :) I've got two 'sequels' to WWTW planned, one where the 11s meet, all in the same incarnatoin, and the second being where they meet with all their children, so we'd see both at one point or another :)