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Kirk swivelled his chair toward the Communications station, beaming a huge smile at his best comm officer. "That's the kind of news I like to hear." Command's unexpected change of orders was rare, good news indeed! Finally, someone was throwing them a bone after all their hard work.

"You're home," Kirk said in Vulcan, as he exited their kitchen to greet his bondmate. A few months back, as Spock had started his journey of self discovery and his pursuit of logic, he had also stopped talking Standard in private with Kirk, switching instead to Vulcan. This had prompted Kirk to do the same in a stubborn effort to show Spock that, though he was human, he could do anything a Vulcan bondmate could do for him, and do it better.

I'm telling you Spock, there's something out there in the woods watching us," Kirk insisted as he quickly turned his head and looked over his shoulder towards the dense, dark forest.

The first couple of days after the crisis with V'Ger were a mixture of relief and gratitude. Earth was safe, he was once again in command of the Enterprise and best of all, Spock was back at his side. After the misery and loneliness that had encompassed the past three years of his life, the joy and happiness of having everything he'd ever wanted back again at first eclipsed everything else.

Stars... jewels against black velvet... sparkling... burning... sometimes a shimmering blur when seen at warp speed... but always there...

Spock rotated his chair very slowly, careful to draw no attention from anyone on the silent bridge. The atmosphere was abnormally subdued for the usually exuberant first shift crew. They were reflecting the captain's quiet, somber mood a bit too accurately.

Art by "DA BOMBSHELL- Ms. I..M.Mueller