Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Remember reviews make the writer happy and a happy writer is more likely to wake up at 5 AM to work on stories before work.

I would like to apologize for the lack of updates recently. I was working on my stories for KS Advent 2013 and I got distracted. (If you're looking for fluffy K/S check out my two stories I Think There Are Rules about This Sort of Thing and Operation Cheer Jim up). This is why I'm trying really hard to stick to my four stories or less rule. Unfortunately, I always have 99 story ideas bouncing around my mind at the same time. Expect more updates now.

Warnings: sexual content, because this story does contain a married Jim and Spock. Of course they're going to have sex. They've just been busy. Also, allusions to past child abuse.

Song for this chapter:

Hurt the version by Johnny Cash. I think that song is the unofficial theme song of Spock Prime. I can't hear it without automatically thinking about him.

"What have I become/My sweetest friend/Everyone I know goes away/In the end"

"You are someone else/I am still right here"

"If I could start again/A million miles away/I would keep myself/I would find a way"

Chapter 13: You are Someone Else

There are so many things that remind Spock of what he lost in this new timeline or more accurately, wanted in the first place, but could never have. Most days it was difficult to exist in a world that was reminiscent of things left behind. He serves on the Vulcan Council with a woman, who in his mind, has been dead for decades and knows he has an affinity for double stuff Oreo cookies and Southern style sweet tea. Whenever he participates in one of these meetings, he can't help but think that Sarek should be the one sitting across from him. This is a different Amanda and the events that made her different happened long before burying a husband, a stepson, and losing her whole way of life. Because so many people initially blamed the Kelvin attack on the Vulcan people, she needed to become the face of Vulcan in many respects to dissuade people of their erroneous assumptions. She could not just be the ambassador's wife, but rather a diplomat in her own right. She spent years working on various humanitarian and antislavery projects before becoming a major part of the Vulcan Council.

He plays online chess with a man who looks like his bond mate, but was born in January and would never have to deal with being forced to choose between having a husband/family and his career. His James could tell him anything; this Jim has not even tried to speak to Spock since their initial confrontation the day before. Spock is uncertain if it is because he was ordered to by Dr. McCoy for the sake of Spock's health after losing consciousness the day before or if this Jim does not trust him enough to tell him the truth.

Jim has been avoiding him or maybe Spock has been avoiding Jim since returning to consciousness, 22.4 hours ago. The latter is most likely true because there is something painful about watching the casual touches and kisses between Jim and his counterpart. It is yet another reminder of something that is lost to him.

He woke up in a room that was simultaneously familiar and completely foreign. The room and equipment are different, Doctor McCoy hovering over him is still the same, but he did not look at Spock with the same affection and it was more than just the fact that he kept Carol's confidence. Spock does not wake up with Jim waiting by his side, but rather his assistant, Janice. In this dimension due to the militarization of Starfleet, Janice Rand chose a life in public diplomacy and through a series of coincidences was assigned to work at the Vulcan embassy in the immediate aftermath of Vulcan's destruction. He convinced her to become his personal assistant and she has served that position faithfully for the last three years, completely unaware that he knew a version of her in another lifetime.

Even Christine does not look at him with the same type of reverence as before nor does she see his counterpart this way for that matter. She is not a doctor yet, but she will be in this reality years before she was in his timeline. Physically, she is the same, but personality wise Christine Chapel is a very different person. She is darker and her eyes are filled with pain. He knows from Carol's memories that the woman in front of him is mourning the loss of a very close friend.

Now that Dr. McCoy has released him, Spock walks around a ship that 90% of the time seems familiar, yet the walls are different colors and he gets lost far too often. He sees Nyota wearing command yellow, doing a job that was his and a part of him wonders why she never went down this path during the original timeline. She keeps the ship running as efficiently as ever. She is the only one who talks to him, the only one who explains why she is angry. (There is a good chance that she is defying doctor's orders solely due to the fight that she is having with Dr. McCoy.) Nyota is furious that he never told her Spock that Carol was pregnant with his child. Nyota believed that he did not trust her enough to tell her this information.

However, the hardest thing to deal with in this reality was David Marcus because he represented so many lost things. He reminded Spock of his bond mate's lost child. The name was the same, even if the child did not look exactly as he did in the few images that his James would look at twice a year while he drained an entire bottle of scotch. Of course, he would not look the same, because genetically this David Marcus is not the same child. He had Spock's ears and Carol's coloring.

To Spock, this David looks like what he always imagined his and James' child would have look like if he and his T'hy'la had left Starfleet behind to start a family together. He represented the path not taken and the biggest regret Spock will ever have after not saving Romulus and the fight he had with James before— he lost his love. (Even then he is not entirely certain that this would not be a deeper regret.) Seeing the Jim of this world wrap his arms around this David hurt in him a way that Spock is unable to articulate. Worse still is hearing the little boy call the Spock of this world his father. It was not until that moment that he realized what he really lost.

The David of this world was also a constant reminder of his mother, but not the Dr. Marcus of Spock's original timeline. Spock did not know that woman beyond her relationship with his James. Spock hated her for reasons that he will never understand.

Spock is not entirely certain he would consider the Carol of this world of friend, but that word applies more to the situation in this lifetime than the last. She sent him letters during her pregnancy that he saved for his other self. She sent him pictures of her growing stomach, images of her unborn child, as well as dozens of paragraphs outlining her concerns regarding her father's special project with "John Harrison". If only Carol told him the man's real name, Spock would have been able to protect her from him.

He has been inside her mind and is aware of secrets that no one else knew, not even Carol's lover. He knew what Carol's father and another version of his own father did to her where everybody else just knows little pieces of the truth. Carol's relationship with her father made the relationship between he and Sarek almost seem healthy by comparison. Alexander Marcus was an abusive, exacting man. He expected too much and gave too little in return. He rarely touched his daughter other than to occasionally strike her but his mental games were worse. Spock could understand how his other self could bond with somebody who on the surface seemed to have a similar childhood. Compared to Alexander Marcus, Sarek was 'warm and fuzzy' to use the human vernacular. Also, the Carol of this dimension did not have the benefit of an Amanda to help negate some of Sarek's gruffness.

As a person who has lived more than one life, Spock could see that the Sarek of this dimension was only looking out for the best interest of his son, even if he was misguided in his attempts. After viewing the scene where her father provides Carol with the ultimatum of terminating her pregnancy or having her lover incarcerated, Spock is still uncertain of Alexander Marcus' true motivations. He knew that the man was motivated by his desire to control everything but beyond that Spock did not understand why. Now that Carol was gone, Spock is uncertain he ever will.

Spock understood that she was scared and 16 and felt she had no other options but to go with the plan of Jonathan Jackson. Spock wished that Alexander Marcus would have contacted Amanda, instead of Sarek. He knows that the Amanda of this dimension would have helped her. He knows that the Amanda of this dimension would have told Alexander Marcus to "go fuck himself" in the most diplomatic way possible and would have fought with every inch of her being to protect her family. Spock knew Amanda would have protected Carol from her father because she was carrying her grandchild.

No, it would have been more than that, because he knew that the Amanda of this world has helped thousands of complete strangers get out of abusive situations. She would have helped simply because Carol was a person who needed it.

Amanda would not have believed Alexander Marcus's accusations that Carol was lying about the paternity of her child for the sole sake of extortion. Also unlike Sarek, Amanda would have questioned any DNA tests that he provided. Because of her humanity, Amanda would have questioned everything, instead of easily accepting whatever Alexander Marcus told her. Humans understand raw data and absolute truth are two very different things. Amanda would have got her out without being indebted to Jonathan Jackson and therefore she would be alive today.

But Carol did not have Amanda, she only had Jonathan Jackson. He provided her with the only means to keep her child alive, but the cost was high. Only in hindsight is it possible to see how untrustworthy the man truly was. He had ulterior motives of which Spock is not entirely certain. He lied to Spock; he lied to Carol. In the end, Jackson made sure that he had been Carol's only option.

Eventually, she had him as well, but he had been unable to save her. At the time, Spock blamed himself for not protecting her and her unborn child from Khan. Now, he blames himself for not questioning the story of Admiral Jonathan Jackson. He wonders if he made the right choice by not telling other Spock of David's existence. If he had known, would Carol have been on NCX17 when the planet was attacked?

Discovering that Carol was dead and her child was alive in and of itself would have probably resulted in Spock losing consciousness. It was a shock to his system. However, it was the familiar bond snapping into place that caused him to lose consciousness. The fact that the bond young David formed with him is similar to the type formed between an uncle and nephew is something that he is afraid to examine too closely.

Dr. McCoy protected him from immediate interrogation after he regained consciousness. It does not surprise him at all that Nyota is the one that completely defies that order. (Although he wonders if this defiance was related to the argument the two were having regarding Lieutenant Gaila)

Since his release, no one has tried to speak to him about the Carol situation. All discussions so far have been extremely cordial and filtered through his counterpart's therapist or Jim's assistant. He knew it was only a temporary reprieve. As an acquaintance of Carol who at the very least knew of her position on the planet, he would have to be interviewed for the sake of the investigation, if nothing else. He would tell them everything he could because he wanted those responsible for Carol's murder to face the consequences of their actions.

On their second day aboard Enterprise, he ate dinner with the rest of the delegation, even though he did not want to. They were worried about him or rather Janice was. He knew he needed to put in an appearance as some say, but he could not stay. Watching Jim cut up peanut butter sandwiches into farm animal shapes for his David was more than he could handle. He needed to meditate.

He was almost back to his temporary quarters when someone stopped him by grabbing his hand. He was expecting Janice because she was the only one that would have behave so brazenly by Vulcan social norms merely for the fact that she knows that this does not bother him. Yet he was not expecting Gaila to be behind him. Considering their history together, he should not be surprised. They have done things far beyond hand-to-hand contact in the past.

"You cannot keep hiding away like this," Galia said from behind.

She was another individual Spock could not place in a normal category. They were definitely friends, but it was more complicated than that. Spock first met her three years ago when she served as Amanda's personal assistant during those first few months after Vulcan was destroyed. Gaila was one of the few people in this life that he did not consider a ghost of his old one, because he only knows her in this life.

She was unbelievably blunt, even by Vulcan standards, but a good person. She was a loyal friend to everyone and now that included him. She kept Amanda grounded during those first few weeks after Sarek's death. She was also wonderful with the displaced children. She gave them hope that they could survive this.

He would also say that she was the first true friend that he made in this dimension that was not in some way a means to hold on to the past. At the same time, she has never seen him as just another version of this world's Spock, but as a completely different person. He found that comforting.

"I am not hiding," he tells her.

"How long have we known each other? Do you have any idea how fast you ran out of that cafeteria?" She asked him, but Spock chooses not to answer.

"I assume that is a rhetorical question." Spock says simply.

"Thankfully, unlike your nephew, you get that." She said as she stopped outside one of the many conference rooms.

"Trust me; I understand why you're avoiding people. I'm avoiding people, so if you want you can hide in here with me." She said as she placed her hand against the reader.

"Commander Uhura?" He asked. It felt strange to refer to her by that rank, even though he always knew that she deserved it.

"Yes, I kind of accidentally let it slip that I slept with Leonard after Jim and Spock's wedding. She is not happy with me because she's kind of in love with him, but too scared to actually admit it. Between daddy and a couple of asshole ex-boyfriend's, she is relationship phobic." This does not surprise him. The reasons may be different, but his Nyota was very cautious of those who she trusted with her heart.

"How does something like that 'slip out'? What else 'slipped out'?" He asked following her inside.

"It happens when I'm working on a highly stressful investigation with very little sleep and lots of files to recover from a system that is completely trashed. If I can get permission from Jim, there something I want you to look at." She said pulling out of PADD.

"Of course, I will help in any way I can." he offered easily.

"And don't worry, they still don't know about us," she said referring to his earlier question.

"I prefer that they not." He said as he sat next to her at one of the conference room tables.

"It was a medical thing, so it's really like none of their business." She said without looking up from her PADD. "You shouldn't be avoiding people. I know they're mad that you kept certain things from them, but I know you had your reasons."

"That is not why I left." Judging by her expression, she knows that he is not being entirely truthful with her.

"Okay, maybe that's not the only reason why you're hiding in a conference room with me."

"I enjoy your company,"

"That's because you're sweet." She said with a smile. "But I don't believe you. I think your other reason for running away or maybe you're only reason is you don't want to watch somebody else live the life that you wish you had. I understand. I hated parents' weekend at the Academy because it felt like I was the only one who didn't have parents. I hated seeing everybody with their happy families."

"I am sorry." He told her sincerely.

"Don't apologize. I have a good family now, but sometimes they can be complete assholes. I thought I would come out here and we could catch up." She told him with a predatory grin.

"You want to know why I did not tell my other self about David." He stated cautiously.

"You need to talk to somebody. We both know Jim, Spock and Nyota are backing off for the moment because they are equally terrified of Dr. Margarita. However, you have answers related to the current investigation and you're going to have to speak to someone about this eventually. I think it will be easier if you talk to me." She said, touching his hands again.

"Why do you think it will be easier for me to talk to you?"

"Because I'm not a ghost of your past and I got to know you before I got clued on who you really were. You don't know another version of me. In the original dimension, I probably never escaped the sex trade." Gaila said darkly.

"There are some advantages to this dimension."

"Yes, like the cute little kid, forcing Jim to cut his peanut butter sandwich into dinosaur shapes." She laughed.

"Yes he is. I'm sure you want to know why I kept my knowledge of Carol's pregnancy a secret from my counterpart." He told her with a sigh.

"Actually, I'm much more interested in how you kept this secret from Amanda. Now she is going to be really angry in the way only a mother can," she told him and Spock knew that she was right. Jim and Spock would be angry, but they would understand the delicate nature of the situation, but Amanda will not be easily placated.

"She will be less than pleased. However, I did it for her protection."

"I know. You're such a martyr sometimes. I mean, if I didn't know what symptoms to look for from my time in the business, you probably would've died three years ago." She said slightly annoyed. "You know too many secrets and you're trying to protect everyone by keeping the truth to yourself because you think it is safer that way." She gives him a sad look.

"But see, the thing is, there are people here who love you and not because you're another version of our Spock, but because you're you. We care about you. Jim would not have been so mad at you, otherwise. Because you have people that love you, Spock, you don't need to keep everything inside."

"Carol asked me not to tell Spock until after David was born." He tells Gaila without making eye contact.

"Why did she ask that of you?" Spock was thankful that she did not ask "Why did you do what she requested?" Despite the years that have passed, Spock is still uncertain why he honored Carol's wishes.

"She told me it was because she was worried about what her father would do to her if he discovered that she defied him as a teenager. He wanted her to terminate her pregnancy and she chose the best alternative available to keep David alive. I can understand her fear because he was not a very warm man." Maybe if he was talking to his other self, he would be willing to give more details, even though Carol was dead. His other self was the only one who had a right to know what happened. He's not even certain he would tell these things to Jim.

"Well, if half the things I heard were true, she had reason to be worried. Supposedly, he was really kicked out of Starfleet for misappropriating enough funds to build a warship around five times Enterprises size." Actually, he was kicked out of Starfleet for nearly getting his daughter killed and using a mass murderer from the 20th century to create new weapons to perpetrate mass murder in the 23rd century under the flimsy pretense of self-defense. She did not need to know that, Spock only knew that because he was called in to testify.

"It is possible that is an exaggeration."

"Probably, but not by much," she scoffed. "I know you well enough to know you think that was just some easy excuse. What's the real reason?"

There were two real reasons. The first was Carol did not want to disrupt this Spock's life with Jim. She wasn't mentally ready for joint custody arrangements, maybe a part of that was because despite younger Spock's assertions otherwise, she still believed that young Spock was only with her to satisfy his curiosity regarding human sexuality. The second reason was connected to the first and the fact that Carol did not want to speak with young Spock about anything, because she was afraid that she would find out that her Spock never cared about her at all.

"It is only a hypothesis. It is best that I do not share." He told her, because it just did not feel right to share those reasons with her.

"Okay." Gaila replied simply.

"You are not going to push for more?" He asked disbelievingly.

"I don't need to know, but you do need to talk to him." She said opening the door to allow his counterpart inside.

"I may have forgotten to mention that I was streaming our conversation to his PADD." She said kissing him on the cheek.

"All of it?" he asked raising one eyebrow in concern.

"Well, not all of it. I didn't press the button until after that part. We can finish our conversation tonight." His counterpart looks at him strangely as she walks out the door.

"I do not wish to discuss that," he said in response to his younger self's unasked question.

"There are a large number of things that you prefer not to discuss." Other Spock said slightly annoyed.

"There are many things I cannot discuss, there is a difference," he retorted.

"I am not certain there is," his younger self mumbled under breath. His words made Spock think of what Gaila said earlier.

"James said that you assumed David died during the London incident." It was not a question in the traditional sense, but he knew that he needed to tell his other self everything.

He looked down at the ground as he explained the entire Carol situation from the beginning, starting with the wedding to the London incident and watching doctors do everything possible to stop Carol from delivering prematurely. He told younger Spock of arriving to the hospital the next day, only to be told that Carol was moved from the facility after delivering a stillborn child by Admiral Jackson.

He did not mention the strange letters that he received from Carol asking him to keep her son safe if anything were to happen to her. At the time, he thought that she was delusional and unable to accept the loss of her child. Now he knew she was anything but that. Perhaps his greatest regret was not reaching out to her. No child should be without his mother and he feels like his actions contributed to that reality. This is another thought he keeps to himself.

"Why did you not tell me?" His other self asked only after his confession is completed.

"She asked me not to." He said repeating the excuse from earlier. He is now fully aware that it is truly an excuse. It is easier to see the flaws in your logic after the fact.

"Even if you believed that David had not survived, why did you not tell me at some point Carol and I created a child together?" Spock asked him in a tone that only he and Jim could identify as upset. He was not sure how to respond. However, if you cannot be completely honest with yourself, who can you be honest with?

"Because I did not want you to deal with the pain of losing a child, especially one with whom you would never have the chance to have a real relationship." His voice was low and filled with pain as he spoke with his eyes closed. He did not wish to see the expression on young Spock's face. "I once watched someone I love very dearly deal with that type of loss. I felt it was better if you did not know."

"You had no right to make that decision for me. Even if my child was gone, I had the right to mourn him." His younger counterpart said without any inflection at all.

"You are correct, I had no right to keep this from you." Spock said looking down at the ground.

"If you knew that David actually survived childbirth, would you have told me about his existence?" His other self asked simply.

"Yes," he said as his other self left the room.

"David, please come out of the closet." Jim said, wondering exactly how in the last week he went from post-argument grown-up fun time to disaster riddled bath time which ends up with an almost 3-year-old hiding in his closet. David did not like bath time. The soap was wrong, the towels were itchy, and the fact that no actual water was involved was causing all sorts of problems. Unfortunately, it was necessary because the toddler was currently covered in peanut butter and jelly due to the fact that nobody told him that baby Vulcans and anything with vast quantities of sugar such as jelly should not be mixed together. David had peanut butter in his hair. Actually, he managed to get peanut butter in Jim's hair too. Bath time was a very necessary evil.

He was a highly trained Starfleet Captain who has gone toe to toe with psycho Romulans and angry Klingons. You would think he could go through one bath time without Spock there to supervise. Except he barely had time to get his child out of his peanut butter covered clothes before said child was hiding in the closet.

His husband and Gaila were currently in conference room 12 interrogating other Spock against Dr. Margarita's orders. Okay, maybe interrogating was not exactly the right word. It was supposed to be a friendly conversation between whatever other Spock and Gaila were to each other. (Never play "I've never" with the woman, especially when the hard stuff is involved.)

This was their only option to get answers because Jim was banned from talking to other Spock, because Dr. Margarita pretty much blames him for causing the guy to pass out. (Yes, he is completely terrified of his ship's psychologist.) Spock said it was most likely the familial bond snapping into place because David touched 'Selek' abruptly, but Doctor Cruz was not buying that. He wasn't even that rough with the Vulcan.

As he pleaded with his child to get out of the closet, he began to wonder if Spock was getting the better deal. He wonders exactly how much teasing he would have to endure if he asked Nyota or someone on her team to patch him through to his mother-in-law because he cannot handle his kid.

Thankfully, before he gave up Spock walked into the room. Spock kisses make everything better.

"Why is there peanut butter in your hair?" Spock asked as he pulled away.

"David," he shot back. "Why did you forget to mention that you shouldn't give jelly to a three-year-old Vulcan? Other Spock's attaché was laughing at me."

"You said you were just giving him a peanut butter sandwich. I also doubt that anybody from the Vulcan delegation actually laughed at you." Spock actually raised an eyebrow at him.

"She's human," Jim said, shrugging. "Also, who makes a peanut butter sandwich without jelly?"

"My mother," Spock answered nonplussed.

"Of course, she did because she's perfect and actually knows what the fuck she is doing," Jim said as he placed his head in his hands. "I told you I was going to completely fuck this up. You leave me for half an hour so you can figure out why other Spock did not tell you about our impending parenthood and I have peanut butter in my hair and a toddler locked in the closet."

"Why did he lock himself in the closet?" Spock asked as he wrapped an arm around him.

"He doesn't like bath time and he prefers the baby wash that Doctor JJ got him." Jim explained. "Apparently, we forgot to bring his favorite bubble bath and bath time toys with us."

"We will just get more when we arrived to earth in two days." Spock said with a kiss to his temple.

"Great! Now we have to go shopping and possibly apartment hunting unless we decide to do Starfleet housing. Your mom definitely doesn't have space for all of us at the townhouse. Of course, that doesn't matter if we can't get our son out of our closet." Jim said just before walking back over there to plead with Dave it one more time. "Hey, your daddy Spock is back. Don't you want to say hi to him?"

"Did you try your override code?" Spock asked as the epitome of calmness.

"No, because I'm horrible at this." He replied and then uttered the magic words that actually got the stupid closet door to open.

"Would it make you feel better to know that my sister locked herself in the bathroom for nearly 2 hours last week?" Spock said as he grabbed David out of the closet and brought him back to the bathroom.

"A little."

Bath time part two went much better because it was two against one. After three bedtime stories about talking pigs, cars, and a mouse that you should never give cookies to, David finally fell asleep in their bed. He was sleeping in their bed because the toddler wasn't ready to sleep by himself yet. The only progress was the fact that David did fall asleep without Spock or Jim lying beside him.

Realizing that loud voices would wake David up, Jim decided that the bathroom would be the best place for a very grown-up conversation. Okay, Jim felt that the bathroom was the best place because they could have sex. The sink was twice as strong as before and Spock was always mellower after a blow job. Okay, Jim was mellower after a blow job (or hand job or anything else. He wasn't picky).

After dealing with diplomats and toddlers (who seem to have more in common than they should), Jim really, really needed a release. Jim doesn't understand how Spock can brief him on a situation with his hands around Jim's dick, but he was really good at it. He would be upset that Spock could carry on a conversation during the middle of sex if it wasn't for the fact that if they didn't multitask sometimes they would never get to do anything. Now that they had a ship to run and a toddler to raise, bathroom sex conversations were going to become the norm.

Today, it was going to be fun shower time because he was still covered in peanut butter (and Spock is 91.4% certain that the sound of the shower will prevent David from noticing sex sounds if he wakes up). They were using real water because as they discovered with David that works best on peanut butter and jelly. The fact that Spock was washing his hair kind of made up for the peanut butter thing.

So far, Jim has learned that Spock really did get his girlfriend pregnant when she was 16 and Alexander Marcus really was that big of a dick. They also couldn't be that mad at Spock's dad, because the man was provided with fake psych reports and DNA tests. Also, London really was a complete cluster fuck in ways that were completely left out of Carol's diary.

"Okay, during his big confession, did your other self ever explain why Carol did not want you to know about the baby?" Jim asked now that they were out of the shower.

"Carol was afraid of her father. Discovering that not only was her child biologically mine, but that she defied him as a teenager would have been problematic." Jim was pretty sure "problematic" was Spock speak for 'he would have found another way to feed us to the Klingons'. "He was not a very forgiving man." Spock said as he ran his fingers through Jim's wet hair.

"What would he have done?" Spock does not answer him out loud. Instead, he sees a memory of Carol as a scared teenager with bruises that she doesn't explain. This was the last time Spock saw her before the breakup. Jim understands without Spock elaborating although he can feel Spock's guilt through their bond just the same. He's mad at himself for not putting things together back then.

"She was afraid that he would do something to me if he found out. She was also afraid that he would try to take David away from her." Spock tells him, with worry in his voice.

"Is he really that horrible?" He asked, worried.

"Yes," Spock answered simply.

"Do you think that he will try to take David from us?" Jim asked worried because even though he had to deal with peanut butter in fun places tonight, he couldn't lose David. It would just be too much.

"We will not allow him to do so." Spock said in a way that told Jim that Spock would die before allowing Alexander Marcus to take his son.

I originally planned for this chapter to end differently and have a special guest, but it just didn't work in this section. Also, I needed some Jim and Spock fluffiness. I can't go too many chapters without my favorite couple making out. That part will be in the next chapter, and I already have a lot of it in draft.

Because this is my final update of 2013 (from my time zone anyway) I just want to take a few moments to say thank you to everybody who has offered reviews and encouragement this year. Thank you to everyone who have volunteered to proofread these stories, I know me and the voice recognition software are horrible sometimes. Also with this post, I have officially written 2 million words of fan fiction goodness (according to fan fiction . net at least). For someone who is technically functionally illiterate, that's pretty good. I could not have done that without your support. I look forward to starting on the next million in the new year.

I never say "happy new year" but rather, congratulations we have survived 2013.