2.17 - The Final Frontier

~~*~~

Although the Enterprise returned to Starfleet Academy on Earth at around midday, the rest of the day was spent dealing with the injured and was given to the crew to relax and process what they had just gone through.

Jim had taken Cali by the hand and dragged him away from all the medics and officers, needing to just get away with him. He ended up settling down at a large oak tree in the middle of campus, leaning his back against the bark. Despite his aching body, Jim still managed to easily pull Cali down with him, not that the Polyvore put up a fight, so that his boyfriend was laying on the grass, his head resting on Jim's lap. And that was how they stayed, Jim playing with Cali's hair silently while they both watched the clouds float across the blue sky and individually processed what they just went through in the comforting presence of the other.

They were completely content to just be in each other's company all the way until sunset.

As Cali opened his eyes, having dozed off slightly to the feeling of Jim's hand running through his hair and the gentle wind around him, to see the sky filled with oranges and pinks and purples. He looked in awe for a moment, always loving Earth sunsets, before his gaze moved to his lover.

Jim was already smiling down at him, content to just watch him peacefully nap on him. It gave him time to process everything that had happened. He had almost died so many times and each and every time his possibly final thoughts went straight to Cali. The angel was all he could think about. He knew he loved him. He loved him so much it hurt. Looking into those gentle blue eyes, Jim was overwhelmed again with love. Jim slowly leant down to kiss Cali but winced and had to sit back up after he felt his rib scream out.

Cali slowly sat up, placing his hand on over Jim's legs for support as he looked Jim over with gentle amusement. "You really need to see Bones." He scolded softly.

But Jim ignored him, looking over his boyfriend's beautiful features, the light of the setting sun making his hair glow like a halo. "Don't ruin the mood." He joked softly in a whisper, leaning in once again, ignoring his own wince as he connected his lips with Cali's.

The kiss was soft and expressed all of their overwhelming love for each other as Jim lifted one hand to lace in Cali's hair gently.

As they slowly pulled away, they just opened their eyes and stared at each other. No words were needed to express what they felt. They both just knew.

Eventually, as the sun finally set fully and the lights around campus all turned on, Cali and Jim made their way to Cali's apartment, connected hands swaying gently in the breeze together as they walked.

Cali had to help Jim with his clothes and made him promise to go see Bones first thing in the morning after seeing the dark purple and green bruises that covered Jim's back, ribs, and neck as well as the scrapes and lighter bruised that covered his hands, arms, and legs. But he let him put it off as they just stayed in each other's company for the night, not needed to say a word as they finally fell asleep together under Cali's fur blanket, letting the day's nightmare fade away to sleep.

~~*~~

The next morning, after Jim had a much-needed shower, with Cali's assistance, he made his way to Bones. The older man immediately scolded Jim for not coming sooner, even telling Cali off for not dragging him down to see him. Jim had to spend pretty much the whole morning getting a check-up and having all of his many injuries seen too. The only reason he was let out so early was because there was another academy assembly they all had to get to.

Cali watched proudly from the crowd as Jim stood at the front.

"This assembly calls Captain James Tiberius Kirk." Admiral Bennet announced with a proud smile, looking at the man that he was holding a disciplinary for not two days ago, "Your inspirational valour and supreme dedication to your comrades is in keeping with the highest traditions of service, and to reflect utmost credit to yourself, your crew, and the Federation, it is my honour to award you with this commendation." Jim smirked, both smugly at the irony of this ceremony and proudly of himself as the Admiral pinned the medal onto his red academy uniform. "By Starfleet Order two-eight-four-five-five, you are hereby directed to report to Admiral Pike, USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief." Jim and the Admiral shook hands before Jim turned to the right to see Pike sat in a wheelchair not too far away.

Jim stood tall as he stopped in front of the newly appointed Admiral. "I relieve you, sir."

"I am relieved." Pike replied, looking up at Jim with a fatherly smile, so proud that the unruly bar fighter that he had picked up three years ago had gotten this far.

"Thank you, sir."

"Congratulations, Captain. Your father would be proud."

~~*~~

After leaving Kirk's commendation ceremony, Spock wandered around Hanger One, trying to sort through his thoughts. He had so many of them though, and he once again found them quite hard to sort through. He was thankful when he spotted Sarek next to a shuttlecraft at the edge of the hanger, hoping speaking with him would help as it often did.

"Father." Spock called over as he spotted the older Vulcan. However, when the Vulcan stopped and turned, Spock saw that it was not his father. But Spock recognised the Vulcan. How could he not? When it was the face he saw every time he looked in the mirror.

"I am not our father." The elder Spock replied with a slightly amused tone. Spock looked at himself in slight awe as they approached each other and the elder continued. "There are so few Vulcans left, we cannot afford to ignore each other."

"Then why did you send Kirk aboard, when you alone could have explained the truth?" Spock questioned in confusion. He had already assumed that a version of himself from the different future had been to his reality. It was obvious he had spoken to Kirk since Jim had avoided speaking on the matter and badly faked ignorance of the ship calling Spock an ambassador.

"Because you needed each other. I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together. Of a friendship, that would define you both, in ways you cannot yet realize." Elder Spock explained to his younger self, his tone slightly nostalgic as he thought back on his time on the Enterprise with Jim and Caliaire and the ships amazing crew.

"How did you persuade him to keep your secret?" Spock asked, tilting his head. He could tell Jim was not the sort to be able to keep something like this silent for long, and yet he had not let it slip.

"He inferred that universe-ending paradoxes would ensue should he break his promise." Elder Spock explained with clear amusement on his face.

"You lied."

"Oh, I... I implied."

"A gamble."

"An act of faith." Elder Spock corrected with a mischievous smile, "One I hope that you will repeat in the future at Starfleet." But before Spock could reply and explain his thoughts on leaving Starfleet, the two Spock's heard an all too familiar voice call their name.

"Spock." Cali called, approaching the two Vulcan's with his famous warm smile upon seeing his love. Then he turned to see the elder Vulcan that Spock was talking to and his smile turned slightly confused, not having been informed by Jim what had actually happened on the planet. "And Spock?"

Both of the Spock's looked at Cali and felt such a warmth. But it was only Elder Spock, with all of his years of experience and acceptance, that was able to truly express his joy at seeing the younger Polyvore. "It is very good to see you Caliaire."

"It's good to see you too." Cali replied, ignoring his confusion as he smiled at Elder Spock's open expression. "You look happy. It's nice." He admitted, making Elder Spock smile even brighter at the loving man. Cali then turned his gaze to his Spock, who was staring at the silverette in slight awe at his interaction with his older self. "We're celebrating the new ship, you coming?" Cali asked, smiling hopefully at Spock.

Spock's expression turned slightly sorrowful as he looked at the joyful smile and shook his head. "I'm afraid I will not be joining you."

"Oh..." Cali replied, unable to stop his smile from falling, breaking both men's hearts.

Elder Spock quickly spoke up to intervene. "You go on T'hy'la. He will be joining you shortly." Cali looked into Elder Spock's eyes to see the comfort and assurance before nodding slowly and walking away without another word. The two Spocks watched him walk away with hunched shoulders and it wasn't until he was out of sight did Elder Spock speak up again. "I did not meet Caliaire until I was much older than you." He explained, gaining Spock's attention back to himself. Elder Spock's expression turned slightly nostalgic and mournful as he remembered his time with Caliaire. "I did not get enough time with him. You should go to him and Jim."

"In the face of extinction, it is only logical I resign my Starfleet commission and help rebuild our race." Spock countered, knowing he should follow his logic and not his emotions, no matter how much he wanted to.

"And yet, you can be in two places at once." Elder Spock reminded him with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, "I urge you to remain in Starfleet. I have already located a suitable planet on which to establish a Vulcan colony. Spock, in this case, do yourself a favour. Put aside logic. Do what feels right."

Spock was silent for a long moment, his thoughts racing once more at the decision to choose the Enterprise... Choose Cali over his species. "You referred to Caliaire as T'hy'la?" He questioned his elder, his face neutral but eyes, as always, revealing his vulnerability.

Elder Spock smiled at his younger self. "They were both very dear to me as well as each other. I implore you not to miss out on that." He let his words sink in for a moment before nodding, satisfied. "Since my customary farewell would appear oddly self-serving, I shall simply say good luck." He said, holding up his hand to do the Vulcan salute before turning and walking away from his younger self.

~~*~~

Despite it being the early afternoon, the bridge crew of the Enterprise met at one of the academy bars to celebrate Jim's promotion, their permanent station on the Enterprise, and to try and wind down after all the excitement. Lots of people had split off into groups, chatting and celebrating.

Jim and Bones had met up on the way and had found a place to sit on stools at the bar while Cali went to find Spock. But when they spotted Cali coming back to the bar alone, looking slightly upset, they decided not to mention the Vulcan and just distract him as best they could.

After their new rounds of drink were slid over to them, Bones turned to Jim in amused disbelief. "I still can't believe they made you captain."

"How could they not? Have you seen me?" Jim bragged, sitting up straighter and gesturing to himself smugly.

"Oh god." Bones groaned, leaning on the bar to look past Jim to Cali, "Cali, your boyfriend is bragging again."

"When is he not?" Cali asked in amusement at their antics.

"Oi, you're meant to be on my side here." Jim turned and looked at his boyfriend in mock betrayal.

"Please, you can't deny it."

"No, but that's not the point." He wined playfully, pouting slightly at his angel.

Bones shook his head at his friend and took a sip of his drink. "You looking forward to getting back to the ship Cali?"

Cali smiled and hummed in acknowledgement, taking a sip of his drink. Although he seemed pleased, Bones and Jim could tell he obviously was saddened by Spock's apparent decision to not take up his place on the ship. As the two shared a look, however, they were proven wrong as Spock entered the bar and immediately made his way over to the trio.

Jim smiled at the Vulcan and nudged Cali, gaining his attention as Spock arrived at where they were sat. "Spock? I thought you weren't coming?" Cali questioned, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I was persuaded otherwise." Spock explained, missing Cali's face brighten up as he turned to face Jim, "As you have yet to select a first officer, respectfully, I would like to submit my candidacy. Should you desire, I can provide character references."

"It would be my honour, Commander. We make a good team." Jim replied with a smirk before spotting Cali looking at them both with the brightest smile and gestured to his boyfriend, "Plus, how could I deny that face?"

Spock turned to look at Cali, finally noting how happy he looked, and his stone expression softened slightly. "Indeed," He replied softly, a very small smile appearing on his lips, "I am aware that I find it hard to."

"Finally." Jim shouted, dramatically throwing his arms up in the air as he smirked at Cali and Spock.

"Shut up you." Cali playfully scolded, slapping Jim on the arm before turning and smiling and Spock again, unable to stop.

Bones looked at the three in amusement. Never had he seen such a mismatched trio. The sassy and stubborn drama queen. The giant ball of warmth and comfort. And the stone-faced rule follower. Taking another sip of his drink, he silently stood up and made his way over to the table with Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty, leaving the idiots to themselves.

~~*~~

By night-time, the trio had moved from the barstools over to a sofa in the back corner of the bar. Cali was sat in the middle, with Jim to his left and Spock to his right. They were all fairly tipsy, but the content buzzed sort of tipsy.

At some point, they all began to doze off together. Cali had lent his head on Spock's shoulder and, after dozing off, Spock's head had lulled to rest on top of Cali's. The two's held hands were resting on Cali's lap, fingers interlaced. Meanwhile, Jim had put his right arm around Cail's back and hand was now resting on his waist while the other had fallen on his hip. His head had also slipped from its place against the back of the sofa and was on Cali's shoulder.

As soon as the crew noticed them having fallen asleep, the bar became much more hushed, everyone whispering so not to disturb the throuple. Though, Bones had snuck some pictures to show them when they all woke up.

They were adorable. They were peaceful. And, most importantly, they were together.

~~*~~

Space, the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.

Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

~~*~~

And that is the end of Part 2. I really hope you guys like it!

This has taken me so long to write and I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially the relationship between Jim, Cali and Spock.

While I have got two other parts in the process of being planned out, I don't know if I'll be able to write them. I really hope I can since I really don't want Cali's story to end there, but having to write to the movie rather than my own plot was a lot harder than I thought and took a lot of motivation to finish. While there is a chance I'll be able to do some for Part 3, since it's a lot of own plot one-shot-y chapter's, there is a chance I won't be able to.

Since I have got a written, fairly detailed plan of what happens in each of the parts, would you be interested if I add the plan as an optional final chapter so that you can still see what happens with them even if I don't end up writing it? And then, if I write more, I can just delete it. Please, tell me if you want that and I can add it.