A/N: Continued spoiler warning for Into Darkness!
They were alive.
As the systems came back online, Spock allowed himself to sigh in relief.
Somehow, they'd managed to reboot the ship to full power, just barely able to keep the Enterprise from crashing into the Earth.
"It's a miracle," one of the lieutenants stated incredulously.
"There are no such things," Spock replied as his restraints retreated into the Captain's chair.
Suddenly, his communicator beeped.
"Engineering to bridge. Mr. Spock!"
"Mr. Scott."
"Sir, you'd... you'd better get down here. Better hurry."
Spock's heart dropped, and he bolted out of the chair, rushing out of the bridge without even thinking to give anyone the conn. He passed Uhura, but didn't say anything to her.
All he could think about was Jim.
What had Jim done?
He arrived at the Warp Core shortly, breathing heavily, his heart pounding in his chest.
Scotty said nothing at first, simply stared at him sadly for a moment before shaking his head and looking down. Spock looked over to his left, walking briskly over to the entrance to the core.
His heart seemed to stop when he saw Jim lying there, barely alive.
He turned to Scotty. "Open it."
"The decontamination process is not complete," Scotty informed him, his voice filled with sorrow. "You'd flood the whole compartment. The door's locked, sir."
He turned back to Jim, staring for a moment before kneeling down to where Jim was struggling to sit up.
"How's our ship?" Jim managed to whisper once the door on the other side of the glass was closed.
"Out of danger." Spock struggled for a moment, trying to find something to say to him that was appropriate for the moment. "You saved the crew."
"You used what he wanted against him." Jim half-mumbled in response. Spock could see that he was trying to smile. "That's... a nice move..."
"... It is what you would have done." Spock replied, trying to hold back tears that were threatening to spill from his eyes.
"And this..." Jim mumbled, not looking at him. "This is what you would have done... was only logical..."
Jim started to shake, his blue eyes clouding with tears. "I'm... I'm scared, Spock. Help me not be."
Spock couldn't bear to look in his eyes anymore.
"How do you choose... not to feel?"
"I..." The words felt odd on his tongue, felt wrong. "I do not know." Tears finally started to slip out of his eyes. "Right now, I am failing."
Jim looked at him, clearly trying to to smile again. "I want you to know... why I couldn't let you die... why I went back for you."
"Because of Alice. You told me this already-" Spock tried.
"No, Spock, there's... there's something else, I..." He trailed off, in too much pain to continue.
"Because... because you are my friend." Spock said, realizing for the first time the weight of that statement.
Jim stared at him, looking like he wanted to say something else, but he seemed unable to. He pressed his hand up against the glass, his arm trembling. Gently, Spock mirrored the gesture, watching as Jim's finger's parted in a manner similar to the Vulcan salute.
The other man smiled up at him for just a brief moment more, before turning his eyes away and allowing his hand to slip away.
James Tiberius Kirk was no more.
Spock's eyes moved to stare at the ground, his mind attempting uselessly to comprehend everything, to make sense of it all.
Grief overwhelmed him.
Losing his planet, his mother, even the pain he felt when melding with Pike upon his passing?
That sorrow was nothing compared to the despair he was drowning in right at that moment.
James Tiberius Kirk was dead.
His Captain, his friend, the other parent of his daughter, the man he inexplicably loved so frustratingly dearly, was no more.
He heard Uhura gasp, but he didn't look.
Without warning, his sorrow turned to rage; it became anger that made his blood run hot, his hands shake, his teeth clench.
"KHAN!"
It was warm.
Like, weirdly warm. The sort of warm he remembered experiencing only once, when his mother took Sammy and him to Hawaii for an impromptu vacation.
Slowly, Jim opened his eyes, blinking at the harsh sunlight.
"Ah, good, you're awake." A man's voice said. It was deep, a little gravelly, and utterly familiar, though Jim couldn't tell where he had heard it before.
"We've been wondering when you'd get up." Another man said, his voice a little lighter.
Jim groaned, rubbing his forehead gingerly as he sat up. "The fuck did I do last night...?" He muttered before looking up.
When he saw his company, he jumped.
"Holy shit!"
Both men smiled at him. The man on his right was younger by far, dressed in an old Starfleet uniform.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Jim." The younger of the two men said, offering Jim his hand.
"... D... Dad?" Jim managed to whisper.
"You know, when someone offers you a hand, the polite thing to do is accept their help." The older man commented.
Jim turned to him. "And just who are you? My grandpa or something?"
The man's hazel eyes twinkled as he laughed. "Afraid not. He's around here somewhere, though."
Jim's eyes narrowed. "Then just who the hell are you?"
"I suppose that the simplest way to put is... I'm you."
Jim's mouth dropped open, his eyes wide as a million questions raced through his mind. After a moment, he said the thing he thought was best.
"Bullshit."
It was silent in the waiting room.
Winona sat quietly in her chair, staring off into space. Spock couldn't bring himself to look at her, and instead tended to Alice, who was fast asleep in his arms.
Dr. McCoy had warned that the process of bringing Jim back from the dead would take a long time, even with Khan's blood running through his veins.
Still, it had been three hours. Spock was starting to get anxious, and on any other day, he would've denied it, but today...
Today, it was too true to deny.
The doors to the waiting room burst open, and a man came running inside.
"I got here as fast as I could. How is he, have you heard anything?" He inquired breathlessly as he made his way over to Winona.
"We haven't heard anything since they got started, and... aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon? In another solar system?"
"Yeah, well, warp capabilities, and Aurelan is on her way up now, she's probably apologizing to that janitor I ran into on the way up."
"I apologize for interrupting, but who exactly are you?" Spock queried, turning in his seat.
The man looked up at him, his expression morphing into one of utter confusion. "I could ask you the same question."
Winona sighed. "Oh, where are my manners? Sammy, this is Mr. Spock, Jim's First Officer. Spock, this is my older son, Sam."
"Hey."
"Hello." Alice stirred in his arms, crying out softly.
"Why does he have a baby?" Sam asked as Spock turned to the tiny girl.
"Oh, that's Alice. She's Jim's daughter."
"Of course she is." Sam said with a sigh, seeming completely unsurprised at this. "Wait, why is he holding her?"
"Because she's his daughter too, duh."
"... You mean biologically, don't you?"
"Again, duh."
"I don't wanna know, do I?"
"Getting tired of saying duh, honey."
Sam sighed, sitting down in the chair next to Winona's heavily. "It's concerning how not surprised I am about that."
"So... you're the me from the older Spock's timeline?"
The other man smiled. "Yes. How is he, by the way?"
"Uh, fine. Last I heard, he was helping in the rebuilding efforts on New Vulcan."
Something in the old man's hazel eyes seemed to soften when he heard that. "Good, good." He turned away, walking towards a lake that Jim could've sworn wasn't there before. Jim's father looked over at his son, smiling as he followed the older man. As Jim started to follow them, though, a horrifying realization dawned on him.
"Wait... if you two are here, then... fuck, am I dead?"
He heard the older Jim laugh. "Not exactly. It's more like you're in a coma."
"You were dead for a little while, though," His father added, "If it wasn't for that pointy-eared friend of yours, you'd be stuck here with us."
"You're lucky that they got that madman's blood to you in time." Another voice added. Jim looked over to see a younger man, younger than him, smiling at him.
"Ah, David. I was wondering where you went."
The blonde boy smiled at him. "I was just helping Bones out. You know how he is about those frogs in his garden."
"Bones? Gardening?" Jim asked incredulously.
"He took it up when he got here." His father answered. "Jim and I fish. David... what do you do, David?"
"I study the growth of certain plants in specific conditions."
"Right, you garden."
David frowned. "It's a little more complicated than that. I'm currently working on a-"
"David, I'm sure it's fascinating, but please. Jim just woke up, give him a moment to gather his thoughts."
Jim, meanwhile, was trying to comprehend all of this. "So, let me get this straight. I'm in some kind of afterlife type deal, and you're all dead, but I'm not?"
"Yes."
"And Spock somehow saved my life by giving me a transfusion from Khan?"
"Technically Bones did the transfusing, but yes."
"... Well, damn. If this isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me, then I don't know what is."
"So what's up with you and my brother?"
Spock hesitated for a moment. "He is my Captain, as well as my friend."
"Dude, I don't know if you're aware of this, but 'friends' don't usually have kids together."
In the back of his mind, Spock fiercely hoped that he wasn't blushing. "I... The incident of Alice's conception is-"
The other man recoiled. "Man, I don't want to hear about you and my brother having sex!"
"The Captain and I have never engaged in intercourse!" Spock exclaimed hurriedly, fully aware of the fact that he was blushing furiously. "Our relationship is purely platonic; the manner in which we came to have a child who is both mine and Jim's biological daughter is entirely asexual. It was, for lack of a better word, an accident, a simple lapse in judgement on my part."
Sam studied him for a moment. "So... you two aren't together, then?"
"If by 'together' you are implying that the Captain and I are romantically linked, then no. We are not together."
"... Bullshit."
Spock blinked in bemusement. "Pardon?"
"I said bullshit. I've seen how you looked at him when we were in that hospital room; you're obviously crazy about Jimmy."
"You... You are mistaken," Spock replied shakily, attempting to swallow the lump in his throat. "I... I do not-"
Sam held up his hands, stopping him. "Look, Spock, I've known my brother for his entire life. I'd say I know the guy pretty well, and whenever he mentioned you, well... I've only seen him look like that a few times before, and each time he was in love."
Spock's heart stopped, then started to beat rapidly.
"So I think it's fair to say that he's crazy about you, too."
"I... He..." Spock stumbled over his words, swallowing yet again. "What?" He finally asked dumbly.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'm no good at this mushy stuff, so I'll just say it: My brother is in love with you."
"I'm sorry."
Jim looked over at his father, more than a little shocked. "For what?"
"For dying. For not seeing you grow up."
"Dad, you saved eight hundred lives, including mine."
"True. But I lost out on my chance to be your Dad, and I'd rather have done that than be a hero."
Jim smiled sadly. "I would've like to have you around, too."
Suddenly, Jim felt light-headed.
"Jimmy?" He felt his father put his hand on his shoulder.
"Looks like it's time." He heard the older Jim say distantly. His vision was blurred, and black was starting to creep in.
"What's going on?"
"You're waking up."
"What? No. No, I don't want..."
"Jimmy." His father said. "Jimmy, it's okay. I'll see you again, alright?"
"Dad..."
The voices were becoming more and more distant, and the shapes were barely there anymore.
"Next time you see him, tell Spock that Jim says hello..."
What is it?
It's a boy.
Let's call him Jim.
I love you so-
Your father was the Captain of a starship for twelve minutes.
He saved eight hundred lives.
I dare you to do better.
Jim woke with a gasp, his eyes darting around wildly.
He was in a hospital room.
How did he get there?
He looked around, trying to remember.
"Oh, don't be so melodramatic, you were barely dead." Bones said as he approached Jim, running a small scanner over his face. "It was the transfusion that really took its toll. You were out cold for two weeks."
Two weeks?
But... he'd only been in the afterlife place for barely an hour. "Transfusion?"
"Your cells were heavily irradiated, we had no choice."
Oh, no. "Khan?"
"Once we caught him, I synthesized a serum from his super blood. Tell me, are you feeling, uh, homicidal? Power mad? Despotic?"
"No more than usual."
Bones laughed a bit at that.
"How'd you catch him?"
"I didn't."
For the first time, Jim noticed Spock standing near the back of the room. He walked towards the bed, and Jim smiled weakly, somewhat glad that he was too weak to move because otherwise he might've just kissed the half-Vulcan right there.
"You saved my life."
"Uhura and I had something to do with it too, you know."
Jim rolled his eyes.
"You saved my life, Captain. And the lives of-"
"Spock, just..." Jim sighed, then smiled. "Thank you."
If he didn't know better, Jim would've sworn that Spock had smiled.
"You are welcome, Jim."
"There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that's not who we are."
Jim paused for a moment, looking out at the crowd. "We are here today to rechristen the U.S.S Enterprise, and to honor those who lost their lives nearly one year ago. When Christopher Pike first gave me his ship, he had me recite the Captain's Oath, words I didn't appreciate at the time. Now I see them as a call for us to remember who we once were, and who we must be again. And those words?"
Jim paused for another moment, then smiled as he began.
"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go, where no one has gone before."
The doors opened to the bridge as Jim stepped inside.
"Captain on the bridge!" Chekhov stated happily, looking much more comfortable now that he was back in his gold shirt.
Jim sincerely hoped that the poor kid hadn't gotten some sort of stress-related ulcer after all the shit he went through in his brief stint as chief engineer.
He looked over at his chair, smiling mischievously when he saw Sulu still sitting in it.
"It's hard to get out once you've had a taste," He started as he walked towards the chair. "Isn't that right, Mr. Sulu?"
Sulu got up nearly immediately. "Captain does have a nice ring to it. Chair's all yours, sir."
Jim smiled at him, then pressed a button on the comm link. "Mr. Scott. How's our core?"
"Purring like a kitten, Captain! She's ready for a long journey."
"Excellent." Jim said as he hung up, walking over to Bones. "C'mon, Bones, it's gonna be fun!" He said as he clapped him on the shoulders.
"Five years in space... God help me." Bones mumbled.
"Dr. Marcus! Glad you could join us!"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Captain Kirk." She replied, smiling as she passed him.
He smiled back, then turned to his first officer.
"Spock."
"Captain."
"How's our littlest crew member?"
The door to the bridge slid open. "See for yourself, Captain." Uhura said as she brought Alice inside.
Jim grinned, taking his daughter from her. "I didn't know that they made mini-Starfleet uniforms. Or... that they came in green..."
Uhura simply winked at him and headed for her post.
"Dada! Sah-me!" Alice cooed happily, reaching for Spock from Jim's arms.
"It is 'sah-mek', little one."
"Spock, let it go, she's not even two yet."
"Proper pronunciation is important regardless of age, Captain. It can mean the difference between-"
"Spock," Jim interrupted, "That was a joke."
Alice giggled at her father's expression. "Silly!"
"Yes, Alice, your sah-mek is very silly."
Spock rolled his eyes.
"So, where should we go?" Jim asked as they looked out into space.
"As a mission of this duration had never been attempted before, I defer to your good judgement."
Jim smiled at him as he walked away, then sat down, Alice safely in his lap.
"Mr. Sulu? Take us out."
Meanwhile, on a planet far from them, a man was screaming. He struggled against the ropes binding his hands and feet, tried to gnaw away at the gag covering his mouth, but it was all for naught.
"I really am sorry for this, darling." A woman said as she hooked him up to a machine. "You know, I used to despise you for what you did to my family. Or rather, what you would do to my family if I were to allow you to live."
Slowly, the woman started to turn the crank on the machine, bringing the man up so that he was hanging by his feet.
"But as I got older, I realized that you were merely a pawn. A hitman, a hired gun." The man screamed, wiggling erratically. "Don't struggle, love, you'll just make it worse. Anyway, I can respect that you were just trying to make a living. Hell, I'm a paid assassin myself now!"
She laughed. He started to cry.
"But I'm afraid that I simply can't allow you to live." She pulled out a picture. "Because if I do, this man will die."
The man's eyes widened in realization.
"Yes, I know. Your newest assignment, right? Perhaps he rubbed the boss the wrong way? Oh, honey, I know that it's just a job to you, but I'm afraid that James T. Kirk is much more important to me than that. You see, where I come from, or rather, when I come from, you kill him. And, love, you should know..."
He screamed again, his cries muffled by the gag.
"Never get between a girl and her daddy, darling. And with that..." The woman grinned evilly, walking over to the nearby table and grabbing her cherished katana. "Off with your head!"
One swing, and the man's screams were forever silenced.
Alice smiled, more than a little melancholy. "Well. Seems I won't be getting back home, now, will I? Ah, well. There wasn't anything left there, anyway."
She turned on her heel, sheathing her katana as she walked away.
"I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it..." She sang softly. "That explains the trouble that I'm always in..."
A/N: WOO! FINISHED ADAPTING INTO DARKNESS!
(And yes, the Alice thing will be explained. Later)
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