Epilogue.

"You are certain that Doctor McCoy has cleared me for this?" Spock asked, head slightly tilted and eyebrows knitted together ever so slightly. It was an expression that Jim had come to understand showed confusion. He wasn't sure anyone else on the ship had even noticed it.

The captain placed one hand on the taller man's shoulder. "Something you'll learn about Bones eventually, Spock, is that he's a paranoid type. He thinks that if it can go wrong, it will."

"You still have not answered my question, Captain."

Jim shook his head as they paused at the entrance to the transporter room and glanced at his friend. The Vulcan looked much better than he had even an hour ago. He held himself straight, as always, and the pain no longer showed on his face. Every once and a while it might make it to his eyes, but it was not a constant state as it had been. He was still pale with anemia and his breathing was not quite right, but considering that he had been on death's door step not twenty four hours prior, it seemed a miracle that he was accompanying Kirk to the surface of New Vulcan.

"Technically, regardless of what Doctor McCoy believes, I outrank him on this ship. If you want to see where your people have made a new home and accompany your mother to the surface of it, I have no qualm."

Spock drew a deep breath, seeming to find difficulty in doing so. "Thank you, Jim."

The young Starfleet captain grinned widely. "Now, I explained the situation to your father when I accompanied several of our passengers to the surface earlier. I told him that if you were up to it, I would bring you back with me, but if not, he was more than welcome to come up here. We have several more people we're beaming down and your mother is supposed to be among them."

"Have you told my father of-"

"No," Kirk cut him off. He looked at the toes of his boots and reached to open the door to the transporter room. "I didn't think it was my place."

Spock nodded his understanding and the two entered the room to be greeted by Scotty. The young engineer grinned widely. "Good t' see ye walkin' 'round so quick, Mr. Spock."

"Thank you, Mr. Scott," the Vulcan replied and moved towards the transporter.

Suvok stood waiting for his turn to beam down and he shot a long look at his childhood nemesis. "I had heard that you were greatly wounded, Spock."

"I was."

Kirk stood back to watch the two for a moment. Suvok was, surprisingly enough, the taller of the two Vulcans. He stood tall and proud – though it would never be called that – wearing his Vulcan Science Academy robes that showed he was of the most elite of the Vulcan race. From what Jim had heard from his crew, the man had a sharp mind and even sharper tongue.

"And yet you stand here to beam to the planet's surface. Most illogical."

"If I am able to stand, I am able to perform my duties aboard this ship," Spock answered, face unreadable.

"Boys," Amanda Grayson's voice cut in. "That is enough. Suvok, you're still sore over a black eye that you received when you were fourteen?"

"I am not 'sore' as you put it. I am Vulcan and that is a Human-"

"I am Human, Suvok, not blind. Do not think that your ambassador married a dull witted woman."

"Are you beaming down with us, Mother?" Spock asked, turning his attention from the other who looked on the brink of losing his perfect composure.

"I think I'll take the next one down," she answered. "It will give you time to speak to your father. This is not something that I think he will have foreseen as a logical possibility."

"Then we should go," Kirk called from the pad.

Spock nodded and moved to stand with him, swaying only slightly at the abrupt movement. He turned to look at his mother as he felt his molecules being pulled apart. It was strange, to see her standing and smiling as he was being pulled away. On one level it reminded him of their last moments on Vulcan, but he hastily reminded himself that she would be following shortly, and any worry that he felt was utterly illogical and should be dismissed immediately.

They rematerialized on a planet that Spock had never seen before, though it had a strangely familiar landscape. His elder self had done a fine job of selecting a place for the colony to be set up, he thought. His eyes scanned the half build structures and temporary homes that had been set up. Finally, they came to rest on an approaching Vulcan. "Father," he greeted, lifting his hand in a traditional Vulcan salute. "I do hope to find you well."

"I had not expected you down here, my son," Serek answered as he returned the gesture.

"I am well enough to see the planet that our people now call home, and I thought it would be best if I told you-"

Serek's eyes widened and Spock turned to see that the next party had come down much faster than he had expected. Amanda Grayson stood with her hair scarf blowing in the dusty winds, her hand reached up to block her face from the dust, or to hide the tears that stung her eyes. Serek moved past his son, eyes never leaving Amanda's. "I have had the strangest of dreams," he said slowly as he approached.

Amanda reached her hand forward and touched his face. "Have you, my husband? May I ask what they were pertaining to?"

"They were dreams of you, my wife. That you and I watched Vulcan being restored."

"I believe those dreams might just come true, Serek," Amanda whispered and stood on her toes to kiss her husband. He did not pull away or scold her for her emotional act in front of his people. Instead he touched her face gently and those his motions said little to anyone around him, Amanda knew every movement for what it truly meant. "I love you, my wife," his movements said.

"They've done well for themselves."

Spock turned, not having heard Kirk's approach. "Yes."

"We're not going to lose you to this place, are we?"

An eyebrow arched upward. "What do you mean, Captain?"

"Are you staying?"

"Jim, I have agreed to stay with the Enterprise."

The Human nodded, his eyes scanning the improvements made to what had only been a wasted desert from the reports he had read. The Vulcans were resourceful people, for what he knew of them.

"Jim."

Kirk turned towards Spock and realized he had not spoken, but the voice had been his. No, it had been older. A voice filled with years of experience and understanding. His eyes widened as they came to rest on a face that he had seen only briefly since the outpost on Delta Vega. Warm brown eyes seemed to smile back at him without his mouth following suite. The young captain looked desperately back and forth between old and young Spock. What had happened to the universe altering happenings that had been promised?

"But you said-"

"I may have implied, but you gained from the words what you wished to," Ambassador Spock answered the younger version of his dear friend.

Kirk shook his head. "That's bullshit," he grumbled. "That could have been a hellava lot easier."

"But you would not have grown as you both have." The ambassador turned his attention to his younger self. "I hear that you were gravely wounded. It would seem that you found a focus point."

"I did," the young commander answered, nodding in affirmation.

"What the hell?" Jim growled, looking wildly between the two. "Then you've met too?"

"Of course," Spock answered, his eyes strangely mirroring the hidden smile that his elder self had down so well. "Who else would I play chess with?"

Kirk could feel his face heating up. How had he missed this? The elder Spock had had him fully convinced that something in the universe might implode if they had ever met, but apparently they had been meeting for chess games while grounded for the past two weeks? It was beyond anything that he could have imagined. He felt strangely betrayed and all he could think of to say was, "So who wins when you play yourself?"

"Quite typically he does," the younger Spock answered. "He has had more experience, of course."

"Of course," Jim managed, still feeling unnerved by the whole situation. He shook his head slowly, clearing his scattered thoughts. "You," he said pointedly at the elder Vulcan, "are tricky. And you," he turned his attention towards his science officer, "owe me a game of chess now that I know you play."

"I will warn you," the ambassador said, "that he plays most illogically."

"I do not doubt it, as most everything he does is illogical," Spock answered easily.

"Quit it." Both Spocks turned to give him a questioning lift of the eyebrow. "This is creeping me out. Just stop it now."

"If you will excuse me, I must speak momentarily with my parents before we leave, Captain," Spock said and when Jim nodded he turned to move out of sight.

Kirk's communicator beeped loudly in his pocket. "Kirk here."

"Where the hell is my patient?!"

"Heya, Bones," Jim responded, grinning widely. "I've got him down here. Don't worry, he's still standing."

"I swear, James Kirk, if he keels over because of this little trip you decided to take without me making sure he was up to it-"

Kirk glanced over to where Ambassador Spock had been standing moments before to find his place vacated. The grin waned into a smile, but remained nevertheless. "I think he'll be just fine, Bones." He looked off into the distance to see Amanda fussing over her son and Spock looking as if it were an old ritual. "We'll be up momentarily and you can gripe all you want." He cut the communication, knowing he'd hear about it later.

Spock moved away from his parents and stood next to his captain, hands clasped behind his back. He looked as if he wanted to say something, then stopped. Jim looked at him for a long moment before the half Vulcan finally cleared his throat to speak. "May I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"I was…. troubled before. I believe guilt is the emotion that I held so tightly to."

"Why's that, Spock?" Kirk asked, genuinely curious. He had suspected that his first officer held many emotions close to himself, but guilt would not have been the first he would have listed.

"I had never been able to tell my mother that I loved her." Dark eyes focused on dusty boots. "I have remedied this error in judgment." He took a deep breath before straightening his shoulders a little more. "What is our next course, Captain?"

Kirk grinned widely and reached to his comm. "Beam us up, Scotty." He turned back to his friend, the smile not fading. "I think I may have heard them say something about working towards a five year mission." Energy swirled around them and pulled them upwards toward the ship. Jim knew that if he had his crew with him that it was going to be a very good five years.

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A/N: I'm responding to LostSchizophrenic here because they are not logged in:

Yes, this was the last chapter, but I'm planning to write more. I hope to see you next time around!! Thank you for your lovely review!

A/N: Wow… End? Strange, since I've been working on this so much. I'm exhausted now… I plan to write more for this fandom. I MAY be working more on my TOS story, but I don't know… I may take a couple days off on writing, but that's not for sure yet either. Anyway, I do have a request. Since I love each and every one of you so dearly who have been reviewing, I was going to make the comment that I am off and on again working on an original novel. If anyone is interested in possibly looking over and I guess the term is beta reading my work (is that it?) I was going to see if I could find a couple volunteers. Just people that I when I actually get something of some worth down I can send it to and they can review on it. I still haven't found anywhere that I can post my original writings and get good reviews off of…. If you're interested, let me know please. Love to all and I will individually respond to reviews again because there are quite a few.

Live long and prosper.

TS