Author's Note: Thank you again for all the affirmation. It is very much appreciated. I hope this chapter pleases you though it may not contain what many of you were looking for. It is an epilogue which, hopefully, wraps up some of the loose ends of the Kirk/Spock friendship. Again, this is unbetad. Be lenient if possible. Most of all, enjoy.

Epilogue: Years or Minutes

He hovered by the Captain's door, debating his options and trying to choose the most sensible course of action. It shouldn't have been a complicated decision. All he wished to do was knock and when the Captain answered, inquire into the Captain's health. Considering his last memories of Kirk involved the two of them tiny, half-delusional and using rags for clothing, it seemed logical to make certain he was well on the road to recovery. Doctor McCoy had reassured him when he'd awoken that this was the case, and he did trust the doctor's word, but a deeper part of him had urged him to check up on the situation himself and he'd followed that urge to his current situation.

Part of it, he reasoned, was the gap in his memories. He knew that he'd lost time between the box and coming to, normally-sized and feeling considerably better. Something had happened; he had the vague notion that it involved Kirk revealing something to him. That something, whatever it had been, had led to something else which in turn had led to something else. And yet, he could not recall what any of it was, leaving him confused and faintly annoyed. He had never had an issue with his memory before and now to have one without any explanation (admittedly, Doctor McCoy blamed it on a variety of physical maladies but Spock felt inclined to disagree with this) made him seriously uncomfortable. He wanted answers and he thought, perhaps, Kirk could provide them.

But Kirk had not been present upon his awakening, nor had he shown up during the time Spock dwelled in the sick bay. The only person there with any regularity had been Nyota who'd visited every spare moment she could; this excluded McCoy who irritably told him that he'd sent the Captain to his quarters for the rest of his leave to rest and relax. Everyday when Spock asked about the wayward Captain his answer had been the same, "He's fine, Spock, just in his room. Asleep. Hopefully."

He'd expected Kirk to drop by and see him, he could not pinpoint why, and he wondered if this had to do with his missing event. Part of him actually felt offended by the lack of the Captain though he'd dismissed that as an irrational reaction to whatever Doctor McCoy had him on in combination with trauma. But it had bothered him all the same, even as pleased as he was with Nyota's company, and it had driven him here as soon as McCoy had dismissed him from the sick bay to, "rest in your room until I say you are fit for duty."

The door slid open before him and a ruffled looking Kirk blinked at him in the owlish manner of someone who'd just woken from a heavy sleep. He'd never actually knocked but the Captain's sudden appearance forced him into action. His hand dropped to his side and he took in Kirk's mostly healed cuts and bruises. The sunburn he'd acquired had started peeling, tanning in some places and leaving pink, new skin in others.

"Hello, Captain," he greeted as Kirk continued to stare at him in confusion. "You look… well."

Kirk yawned and leaned against the door. "Look friggin' disgusting. Peeling like a snake." He didn't seem surprised to see Spock there but that could be explained away by his half-awake status. "You look pretty good though. Bones finally release you?"

"Doctor McCoy said I was fit to complete my recovery in my quarters," Spock informed him. His side barely bothered him at all now, and he'd argued against having to rest for another day. It was inefficient, a waste of his time, but McCoy had been insistent and he'd acquiesced merely because there was no winning when Doctor McCoy said no.

"Great," Kirk said. There was an awkward moment of silence. "Um, anything I can do for you?"

He suddenly had no interest in asking the questions that plagued him. Images of various women coming to a similar door and asking this same man the same question-- What did we do last night? I can't remember…-- struck him with vigor almost as though he'd personally experienced them. The idea that he would have to be like one of Kirk's conquests, or even similar, was unacceptable. He could not do it.

"As your second, it is my duty to make certain you are well on your way to recovery," he lied.

Kirk's face immediately went blank. "Well, as I'm sure Bones told you, I'm doing great, Commander. In fact, I'm even up to getting some food. So, if you'll excuse me." He shoved away from the doorframe, pushing by Spock to get to the hallway.

"So, it seems," Spock agreed. He knew he'd said something wrong here but did not know what it was or how to correct it. A sudden urge to tell Kirk that he, Spock, a person, wanted to know how his friend, Kirk, was doing consumed him but his lips said something completely different. "I am… glad to see it, Jim."

Kirk paused in his departure and turned, his expression both surprised and confused. "Huh?"

"I am glad to see you are well, Captain," he repeated, seeing that this response had wiped away the disappointment.

"No, no," Jim said, his eyebrows pressed together. "You called me Jim."

Looking back on it, he had. "Captain, I-"

But Kirk was grinning. "You called me Jim."

"We have confirmed this and I assure you-"

"I like it," Kirk assured him. "You should call me Jim."

He felt like he'd heard this before and wondered if it related to his memory gap. The shining smile on his companion's face laid these thoughts to rest, though, for the moment. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Kirk beamed at him and said, "How about you come get some food with me?"

He had many years to learn, his mother had told him in his dream. But he knew that lives could be ended in an instant, without warning, and possible years would mean nothing. It would be most logical to implement his learning now and leave uncertainties and memory quests until later.

"I would be honored."

Thanks for reading.