AN: This final chapter is told from Jane Prime's POV. There's also a theory in here about how living in other worlds affects one's soul; this theory was taken from the His Dark Materials trilogy.

"So how did you meet your Spock?"

The elder Jane smiled at her younger counterpart, and briefly wondered why the young Captain hadn't asked her before; she had been alive in the alternate reality for ten years, and had seen her counterpart many times since then. But when she thought about it, the topic had never really come up. They had always discussed what was going on in their lives, and the elder Jane had also spent her time resolving the more life-threatening issues which would crop up in the future.

The Endangered Species program specifically had been time long-spent, for it had taken the elder Jane and the elder Spock a while to convince Starfleet that a large probe which spoke to Humpback Whales was coming to destroy them all. The Federation had eventually taken action, and along with the whales, a lot of species which were now extinct had been reintroduced via time travel.

Now the elder Jane sat with her younger counterpart on New Vulcan. The younger counterparts had always wanted their own daughter to spend time with the people who were both her parents and not at the same time.

The elder Jane watched the two-year-old Amanda Georgiana Kirk as she played with Spock's old 3D puzzles, while being assisted by a nine-year-old David McCoy. The boy had been born a year after the Pon Farr incident, after his parents had gotten together, and standing over the two children was the boy's elder half-sister, Joanna. McCoy had gained custody over her during Carol's pregnancy.

It's nice that things are working out happier here, the elder Jane thought. Despite Saavik's non-existence. Vulcan had been destroyed before the Romulans had been able to kidnap some of its inhabitants for the Hellguard experiment.

When the elder Jane realized that her younger counterpart was still waiting for an answer, she replied, "It was after the Kelvin had been destroyed and our…parents had died. I was still only fifteen, and he was a cadet at the Academy. I had been getting fed up with people coming over to me and saying things like 'sorry for your loss'. I mean, I know they were only trying to be polite, but I was still trying to cope."

"And judging by Spock's behaviour – at least before – he didn't do this?" asked the young Jane.

The elder Jane nodded. "He wasn't the first Vulcan I'd seen in my life, but he was the first Vulcan to join Starfleet; I'd heard of him. When he approached, part of me feared he was going to attempt some form of apology like everyone else. But he didn't – at least, not at first."

"What did he say?"

"He congratulated me for my actions," said the elder Jane. "It took me off guard at first; no one at that point had commended me for what I had done on the Kelvin. The Admirals did later, but it was soaked with apologies and sympathy. But here was Spock, recognizing what I had done; that I had not let my emotions get the better of me, especially for one my age. He said that he would be honoured to serve under my command any day. Then afterwards he tried to apologize for the loss I'd experienced, but since he outright said that he wasn't used to saying such 'human' things, I didn't mind; it made me laugh."

"And thus, a friendship was born." The younger Jane smiled.

"Actually, like you, I didn't see him much during my time at the Academy," the elder Jane admitted. "I never saw him at all during the junior classes; the first time I saw him again was when he walked into my first Interspecies Protocol lecture. It was on that day when I discovered he was half-human; I would never have guessed if he hadn't said it outright. He only taught a few of my classes after that, and I only saw him a handful of times in between. Our first full conversation was before third year graduation, when he came to inform me that I had been assigned to the Enterprise."

"So when did the fabled chess game take place?"

The elder Jane smiled as she brought out the necklace chess piece from under her dress. "After Pike had made me his new First Officer; it had been a stressful mission, and Spock offered me a game to help relieve some of that stress. I don't think he expected me to beat him, for it was the first time I had seen him show any form of emotion. Like you, I thought I had unintentionally insulted him somehow, so I made a plan to apologize to him later. That is, until I found this on my bedside table."

The younger counterpart took out her own piece, still attached to the necklace. "You never gave it back to him?"

"I tried, but he wouldn't take it; he said it belonged to me." The elder Jane smiled. "It was only later when he told me that it represented his heart."

"For someone who's usually so unemotional, he sure is a hopeless romantic when his human shows," said the younger with a smile.

The elder's smile widened. "And that's why we love him."

The younger counterparts stayed for a few more days before they had to leave for another mission, and both the elder counterparts were partly relieved – because they were exhausted, and not because having the children around had worn them out. They looked it and felt it, and had both looked and felt this way for the past two years.

Ten years could seem like forever, but when it was all they had, ten years was far too short.

It had been described to the elder Spock when he had visited the Guardian of Forever; living in another reality affected one's soul, and after roughly a decade, it would eventually cause that person to die. And since the elder Spock and the elder Jane could not return to their own reality (for some bizarre reason which the Guardian couldn't explain) they opted to live out the short time they had left together.

The elder Jane had to hand it to her husband. This was his twelfth year, and he had been holding on just for her so she wouldn't feel alone.

They had decided not to inform their younger counterparts, for knowing themselves, they knew the younger pair would attempt to do everything they could to save them. But there was nothing they could do; the elder pair did not want the youngers to try and experience the pain of failure.

"Did you transfer the katras?"

"I did." The elder Spock nodded; he had secretly placed both katras – his and hers, joined together – into the younger Spock, so both could be released into the new Katric Ark. "The letter details everything."

The elder Jane nodded in return before she allowed herself to collapse onto their bed. Her husband joined her at her side, and the two pulled each other close. They could feel their very beings weakening, preparing for their inevitable passing…

As if the universe itself sensed their close to passing, it began to rain – a rare occurrence on New Vulcan.

"We should have picked a more pleasant day to die," the elder Spock commented.

His wife laughed – even though it hurt. "A little fall of rain can hardly hurt us now."

The elder Spock smiled, recalling the only musical he had ever liked – because it was the only one his Jane had taken him to. "I am here."

"That's all I need to know. And you will keep me safe… And you will keep me close…" She smiled too as she pressed her cheek against his chest.

"A mind-meld," the elder Spock then suggested.

"But…our energy is fading…"

"Then we shall die with our minds one and together."

She didn't need to nod or say anything in agreement; he knew she wanted the same. So they pressed their foreheads together, and the elder Spock placed his hand upon the side of her face before both their eyes closed.

They found themselves lying in a meadow, and the pair recognized it as the one on Omicron Ceti III; the planet which grew the flowers that allowed people to feel completely at peace with themselves. And with the pain out of reach, that was what the couple felt; at peace.

"To think we could have lived like this had we stayed…" the elder Jane wondered aloud. Looking down, she realized that she was young again, and dressed in her old uniform.

Her husband was the same. "Now we shall. I do not know what death is like – I cannot remember – but I hope this is it."

"So do I."

They stayed together, curled up to each other, as a growing light consumed them. And while it felt like the end for them, they knew it was not for their younger counterparts – or for the countless other versions of themselves across the realities.

For if there was one thing they had learnt, it was no matter what happened to them or who they became, their souls would always be connected.