Thank you to everybody that read or reviewed the last chapter. You are so wonderful.
I'm sorry this chapter is coming even later than I said it would. After visiting with family, I ended up with another blood clot. Don't worry this was in a superficial vein, so not as dangerous. However, it does mean less time to write because I can't sit at my desk as much as I want to. I am working on the next batch of chapters, but I can use your encouragement to get as many done as possible.
Day 324: How are you really doing?
From: mental_health_help_desk_Suarez
To: Spock' s_cuddlebunny
Time arrived: 1/11/2260 00:00:01
Subject: It was lovely to see you
I just wanted to check in to see how you're doing. It was great having you and the kids here for a few weeks. I'm sorry the visit didn't go how you thought it would. In the long run, it's best that these things come out now.
Thank you for my surprise. I absolutely adore getting to spend time with my niece. I meant to tell you that at dinner, but we had other things to discuss. I do miss all my nieces and the rest of the family I'm still on speaking terms with. Letters and video calls aren't the same.
I can't believe she kept it a secret from me that she was not only coming for a visit but also taking a new job. I really hope she does well at Yorktown. She will be working in the same building as Ben but in different sections. He is in pediatrics, and she's in psychology. It's a small medical center, so they'll probably see each other.
How are you adjusting to life back on the ship? I'm sure you have a lot of stuff to deal with, considering the situation discovered while you were down here. That's all been settled, right? How are the kids handling the fact that one of their classmates was involved? I'm sure that had to be hard to process.
Just so you know, I'm going to try to have tea once a week with the Elder. I want to keep an eye on the old Vulcan. I also want him to realize that he has friends and doesn't have to go through this alone. It's why I forced him to have drinks with me today on his birthday. I wasn't going to let him spend his birthday alone.
That was a fascinating chat over the good tea. Did you know that the Elder wasn't planning to tell anybody he was sick? From our conversation, I don't think he would've told you if you didn't show up to the colony. He didn't want to burden you with something like that over email. So, we should all be thankful that Adm. Chen and the ambassador conspired to get everybody together for the holidays. Yay grandchildren.
I think the grandkids are also why the Elder is willing to try something different with his medical team. We can all be grateful for that. They're all very engaging and I'm sure he wants to get to know them better.
How did your birthday go today? Did you get my present? It was a copy of Paul's Boutique. It was my late wife's. She was always planning to give it to you once she was sure you were old enough not to break it. Unfortunately, it got stuck in a box for a while. Thankfully, Kevin managed to find it when I had him go through my storage. Your brother is remarkable when it comes to finding things.
Anyway, I hope all is going well with work and the kids. I miss you and hope to see you again soon.
XXXX
From: Spock' s_cuddlebunny
To: mental_health_help_desk_Suarez
Time sent: 1/11/2261 07:02:01
Subject: Re: It was lovely to see you
You were the one who gave me Paul's Boutique? There was an accident, and all the cards got lost. So, I had no idea who got what. Thank you so much. It was my favorite gift; I absolutely loved it. We got it framed. Actually, I'm going to get a bunch of my albums framed. Since I have everything digital, I don't need to keep playing the vinyls. I want to keep them intact. Especially the ones mom brought that belonged to Sam. They're all antiques.
I'm adjusting to being back at work. We are ridiculously busy with phase 2 of our system exploration project. We are now onto the boots-on-the-ground portion of our exploration of the New Vulcan system. I'm grateful that Nyota was in charge of the more boring scanning and sensoring part of the mission. OK, it wasn't that boring because she had to deal with a baby coup d'état. Better her than us.
We just wrapped up two days of soil samples on a nearby moon. We move on to the planet that it is orbiting. Spock is a happy Vulcan today because he will spend three whole days with the team collecting plant and soil samples. I personally do not feel the captain needs to be down on the planet for this. However, my husband needs to decompress after family time, and crewmembers trying to kill him just because he's only partially human. Thankfully, the new head of science agrees that we need to let Spock do science missions and not just diplomatic missions for everybody's sanity. I just went along with it because I'm that husband.
I'm hoping Peter does well with this overnight visit. Let's also hope Spock doesn't end up in med bay this time. I think Peter's time on New Vulcan without us was good for him. He's still my baby but not quite as clingy koala bear as before. So that's good. After telling him that someone was trying to kill us, I expected it to be worse. Although I'm still about 90% sure he will sleep in my bed tonight.
It's been rough for the kids. They're not surprised Chris three turned out to be not a good person. They say it's always the quiet ones. But maybe that's because they're more vulnerable to extremist ideas. He was a lonely kid that didn't fit in with the rest of the group. So, he was an easy target. Because he was a kid, Chris three wasn't being monitored the same way everyone else was so he could get away with more. Thankfully he said the wrong thing to Jay, and he told his girlfriend, who is my mentee. She knew to tell a responsible adult because I trained her well.
They're also worried about their great-grandfather. Yes, they know he's technically a variant, but he is still their great-grandfather to them. They would like for him to stay alive as much as possible.
No, I am not surprised that the Elder wasn't planning to tell anyone he was dying. The Spocks have a sharing things problem. This is peak Spock. For example, my husband didn't even tell me that he broke up with Nyota until I found out she was dating my BFF, and I accused her of cheating on him. He also covered up that he was kidnapped during our first trip to New Vulcan. This is also when he found that we were Vulcan married but didn't bother to tell me for several more months.
Let us not forget that he never bothered to tell me that he was actually reading my emails that I was never planning for him to read. We were married for two years before I learned about his first foster sister. I am aware I don't know everything about what happened with his half-brother. Most of what I do know came from my father-in-law. Spock is not a sharer by nature.
My husband is getting better at sharing because of therapy. It also helps that I can feel his emotions. So, it's a little harder to hide things from me. Unfortunately, this is a two-way street, and that's how he figured out I was upset about the Elder.
We also read each other's journals a lot. It's easier for us to communicate in writing sometimes. The last two weeks have focused a lot on Amanda and reflections on mortality. Spock doesn't want to die and leave us alone, but he doesn't want us to leave him alone either. That's a problem with our different lifespans, but I promised him I would stay as healthy as possible. I agreed to Leonard's no-fun diet. It must really be love if I'm giving up doughnuts.
I'm so glad that we could surprise you with your niece. I would love to take credit for that, but that was all the admiral. At least the bringing her here part. I think she chose to go to Yorktown on her own. I'm sure young Dr. Suarez will do well there, although I'm sad I couldn't get her on the ship.
I'm requesting a third therapist, but even with Chen around, I'm not sure if they're actually going to give us what we need. The budget bastards are cheap as fuck. Why does our ship need three therapists? Maybe because everybody on this ship watched most of their friends die during the Battle of Vulcan. There may even be a few people on my ship that blamed the Vulcans for their friend's death and decided to take it out on my husband.
Sorry, I'm a little annoyed at the bureaucracy of it all. I now get to deal with a lot more bureaucratic bullshit because I'm the first officer. The paperwork is so ridiculous. God, I hate fucking paperwork. Spock said he would do it, but that's my job, and I will do it. Since my husband will be away for three days, it will give me something to do at night.
I should probably kiss my husband goodbye before he leaves on the mission. Anyway, thank you for keeping an eye on the Elder. We need all the help we can get with him. Of course, he originally wanted to die alone and not burden anybody. We are not letting that happen.
XXXX
From: Spock' s_cuddlebunny
To: Jim's_cuddlebear
Time sent: 1/11/2261 22:32:01
Subject: It's lonely without you. I miss you.
Hey, sweetie bear. How's it going on the planet? Are all the redshirts still alive? You look very hot [mc1] in your exploration gear. Please don't touch anything that might kill you. Picture attached of the kids sleeping next to me. They decided that I shouldn't be alone tonight.
XXXX
From: Spock' s_cuddlebunny
To: Jim's_cuddlebear
Time sent: 1/11/2261 23:32:01
Subject: Re: It's lonely without you. I miss you.
Yes, all the security team members we brought along are still alive, along with the rest of the research team. I have also yet to have a will ny allergic reactions to the local floors and fauna. However, please stay away from botany when Lieut. Sulu brings the samples up.
It is good that we are on the ground because our scans were missing things. It looks like the planet has a very extensive tunnel system. It doesn't seem to be naturally occurring but digging out by something. We think the local wildlife might be responsible. However, we have not run into any animals yet.
Thank you for sending me the image of you and Peter together. I'm trying to find an adjective other than adorable to describe it. Despite my extensive vocabulary, I am unable to. I would ask you how the ship is going, but I'm sure you sent me a work message regarding that. Theoretically, this is still supposed to be a local message. You should get this message tonight.
To be continued