Alright guys... I hate to do this, but I'm starting to run out of ideas, and I am starting up college again, and so I'm going to have to close this story. I might open it again some day, but for now I think it's best that I close it so you guys aren't left waiting for a long time. My mind is mostly focused on schooling and work right now, and I'm trying to learn another language at this time, so even more of my attention is called away.

A few things before we get done here; I am so grateful to you guys for all your kind words, encouragement, and critiques. It made my summer so much brighter to write this and to hear from all of you while it went on. I am sorry to end it, but it's in the interests of both myself and you guys.

I hope you enjoy these final two, and thank you, once again, for all the wonderful words you've given me in return for these chapters.

These final two are both in the Sovik!Universe, and that's really all I have for these.

76

Shifting

to move from one place, position, direction, etc., to another

Spock sighed slightly, opening his eyes in the dim light of the bedroom he shared with Jim. He didn't need the sleep anyway, he supposed, he could go for much longer without rest.

Turning onto his side, he looked with fondness upon the reason for his difficulty sleeping, curled up beside him in the bed.

Jim was on his side with his head resting on one bent arm. His lips were parted slightly, breath passing through in soft, breathy snores, dark lashes brushing his cheeks. He was curled towards the tiny form that rested between he and Spock, one arm protectively looped over the child's slumbering form.

Spock lifted a hand, reaching out and passing a hand over the cloud of soft burnished, dark bronze colored hair, his touch gentle and loving. A soft sound answered him, and Spock couldn't help the smile that passed across his lips. Amanda was still for the moment, but it wouldn't be long before she started moving once more.

Amanda was much like Jim, so much sometimes that it was startling. While she had the Vulcan telepathy, rather powerful telepathy, she had the emotional range of a human. Vulcans had much more powerful emotions, and as such had the necessity to control them, but Amanda didn't need that, although she did need meditation in order to control her telepathy.

She was bright and cheerful, so much of a light in their lives that Spock found it hard sometimes to remember what life was like before she had been born. He had never imagined that he would have a family, but Jim, Amanda, and Sovik... they had become the center of his universe.

The tiny girl shifted again where she lay between her parents, rolling over to face Jim before snuggling close to his chest and settling back down with a sigh. Jim snuffled faintly and tightened his arm around his daughter, heaving a huge, contented sigh and then going still. Spock shook his head slightly, mentally chuckling at his family.

Yes, Amanda was so like her father. She sometimes crawled in with the two of them if she had a nightmare, and it was nights like those where Spock would find himself getting less sleep than normal. It didn't bother him more often than not, he looked upon those moments with fondness in his thoughts. Jim was enough of a mover in his sleep, and that Spock had learned to deal with, but when Amanda was in the bed she tended to kick him, though she didn't do it on purpose. Her constant shifting was a reminder of her parentage, as well as an adorable sort of quirk that Spock found endearing.

Amanda made a noise and shifted again, rolling out of Jim's grasp and over towards Spock, her hand just touching his arm before she stopped, content for the moment. Spock reached out once more to touch her hair, and then lay back down, settling himself in for a long night of watching two of his family sleep.

There was nowhere else he would rather be.

77

End

termination; conclusion: the concluding part

This was their last journey together.

Jim sighed, stroking his fingers across the arm of the Captain's chair, his touch gentle and loving against the metal that was slightly warm from his body heat. The Enterprise hummed around him, her engines running smoothly and bringing them towards her resting point.

A part of him felt sad about what was going to happen, but he knew in some corner of his mind that this wasn't really the end for her. She would be refitted, perhaps re-commissioned, it was certainly possible that she would go on after this moment. Her crew however, her Captain and First Officer, this was their final trip with her.

Sadness bloomed in Jim's chest, and he pushed it down. It was time for his journey to be over, he knew that. He had different responsibilities now, different things that he needed to do other than being in space. He would miss the Enterprise and the things that he did aboard her terribly, but there were more important things.

There was a shift behind him, and then a slim form moved forward, and he allowed a smile to bloom across his features, one of his reasons for returning to Earth standing at his side. Spock looked down at him, corner of his lips twitching slightly in a smile before affection poured across their bond.

You are feeling well, Jim?

Jim smiled, nodding very slightly. Just thinking about the fact that we have to leave her. It's... hard to imagine my life not in space, I didn't have much of one before that.

Spock sent another brief wave of love and reassurance. We will have a good life. I believe that we have spent more than enough time in space.

That's for sure. 10 years of exploration, that was certainly a long and wonderful stretch. Jim agreed, a smile on his face once more. I'll miss it, but there are other things that have taken priority now.

The turbolift doors whooshed open a moment later and Jim turned his chair to meet the brilliant blue eyes of his 6 year old daughter, bouncing onto the bridge with a bright smile on her face and her bronzed hair flowing behind her, loose for once. She practically floated to her father's side, putting her hands on Jim's arm and smiling up at him. "Are we almost back to Earth, Daddy?"

Jim smiled down at her, brushing a hand over her burnished hair. "Yup, we're not too far now. I'll bet Uncle Sulu knows just how long..."

She took the bait instantly. "How long Uncle Sulu, how long?.!" she chirped, flashing a smile at the soon-to-be Captain.

Sulu couldn't resist the bright voice and he answered with a laugh in his words. "We're 3 minutes from dropping out of warp and you'll be able to see Earth when we do that."

"Really?.!" Amanda gasped. "I've only seen Earth twice and I don't really remember those times that well!"

Jim snorted. "Don't be silly, princess, you've got a better memory than I do." She flashed a grin at him and he laughed softly. "Where's your brother?"

She rolled her eyes, though there was still a smile on her face as she spoke and a sort of fondness in her voice. "You know him, Daddy, he's meditating. I'm sure he'll be here before too long, he wants to see too, no matter how much he doesn't admit it."

Sometimes it surprised Jim the way that Amanda spoke. For the most part she spoke and behaved completely like the 6 year old girl that she was, but at certain times the Vulcan in her would peek through, in large words and glances with eyes too old for her. She was scarily good at reading her parents and her brother as well, but that came from watching them all the time.

"Yea, I know that he wouldn't say it, but we all know how much he loves that kind of stuff. He's gonna be a scientist, just like your sa-mekh, I know it." Jim responded, one corner of his lips turned up slightly in a fond smile.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, he sure is!" She turned slightly and tilted her head. "Here he comes!"

Once again, that scarily Vulcan part of her was revealed. Her powerful telepathy had only accelerated as she grew older; she wasn't just touch-telepathic, she could also read people from certain distances, and that ability was stronger when it came to her family, who she was bonded with anyway. She could tell if they were coming closer to her, and sometimes pick up limited emotions from a distance.

Sure enough, the turbolift doors came open a moment later and Sovik walked onto the bridge, his hands resting in the small of his back in a position that he had picked up from Spock not long after they adopted him. The 10 year old Vulcan nodded to his sa-mekh as their eyes met, did the same for his father, and then he smiled for his sister, and emotion that he only showed for her in public.

The boy moved to stand beside his sister, his eyes turning towards the star-filled viewscreen just in time to see the Earth come into view as the Enterprise slowed to impulse power. Although he didn't move, his eyebrows raised and awe filled his eyes, an expression that only his family could really see as the happiness that it was.

"Spacedock is communicating, they're ready to receive us, Captain." Uhura's lovely voice filled the bridge, breaking them all out of their moment of quiet.

Jim turned slightly, smiling at the beautiful Communications Officer. "Let them know we're ready to come back home." He turned back around, meeting Sulu's eyes. "Take us in, Mister Sulu."

Sulu swiveled back around, fitting his hands around the controls for what could possibly be the last time. "With pleasure, Captain."

As they moved towards Spacedock and the end of their journey, Jim glanced around to look at the people standing around him. They were the reasons for his wanting to remain on Earth from this moment on, to give his daughter a real home and his son a chance to pursue the career that he wanted.

Leaning back in his chair, Jim turned his attention to the image in front of him, warmed by the presence of his family near him.

This wasn't really an end.

It was a beginning of something wonderful.