Nothing Will Be the Same

Geoff spoke to Healer Shath about Spock and Nyota's healing process. Shath assured him that they would recover together, and the continued physical contact would be unnecessary for Nyota. Geoff felt glad relieved about that, he didn't know how Spock would respond to the intimacy being observed. Now he just had to wait for them to wake up.

Lola struggled with depression and nightmares of orange blood, she would wake up screaming 'blood everywhere'. Dr. Chen saw the distress on Lola and had Running Deer continue to partner with her. He let Lola know the nightmares will take some time to lessen, depending on how her mind recovered from the incident. He documented concerns about her appetite and exhaustion, giving instructions to Running Deer that she encourage Lola to eat and attempt to sleep.

Mr. Scott made his way into engineering and listened to the purring of the Enterprise, their familiarity and comfort expedited his recovery. He was already tinkering with the antimatter pods, forgetting he was ever kidnapped as he buried himself in his engines. He successfully engaged with the technicians about the galactic barrier, discussing where the engines strained during its course through the barrier. He ended up giving lectures on how to maneuver in a space void, Chen kept him on observation until they reached the starbase to give them his report.

Dr. Leonard McCoy was a different story. He faced death on a daily basis, so the prospect wasn't new to him. But this time it was different, he had Christine. She had expanded his world, making him see the consequences in a new light. Her previous loss had been catastrophic and didn't want to be the cause of her having to go through that again. His daughter came to mind, how his loss would affect her. He had plans, he wanted to fulfill them with Christine, they made a formidable team. It was his training during his medical school years that made him capable of handling what happened to him in that arena. Blood of any color was normal for him, he had worked with death all his career. So his conversation with LaToya was almost normal, almost-there were times he could walk away from it, step back and look at life instead. He had that opportunity now with Christine. But he hated talking to LaToya, she saw right through him, yet they were friends and she wanted to help him. She had to break through the glass wall of his hurt and shame. For the first time, Leonard started coming out of the shadows of his pain. The drinking became almost non-existent, while he was facing the reality of his personal life. Christine, his Christine, could always see through his crusted exterior and she melted with him.

LaToya knew that men and women in the medical profession carried a facade to protect themselves emotionally. But this time all Lennie's personal friends were on the verge of dying all at once, this was different for him. With Christine's help, Lennie was able to confront his emotions instead of hiding behind his title.

It was the same with James Kirk. His position as captain also made him misplace his true feelings about death. Kirk was very good at hiding behind his job and the Enterprise, which he constantly asked about. Kirk had a lot of fronts, he reverted to them to hide from what really happened down on that planet. His wound would take time to recover. He was like Scotty, in that keeping busy would divert his attention from the situation, but the healing needed time. Kirk wasn't hiding, he was facing the scene every night when he slept. He finally told LaToya that he was worried about Spock and Nyota, they were like family to him. He had lost his brother, Peter, while he was living with a distant cousin and him out in space. Kirk had come to terms with that, but this incident where his crew family was almost lost too... that hit him differently. How would he survive if he was the only one left? LaToya was able to talk with Kirk and process the incident and rest at the starbase would help with the rest.

Dr. Helen Noel had interviewed Charlene Masters-Sulu and her husband separately. Knowing they would support each other and not reveal their own internal struggles. They both felt fear in and out of the arena, not knowing what they would do if either of them had passed and the other survived. Noel often found that trauma was harder on young couples. While the Spocks' were going on 2 years, the Sulus' were still testing the waters of their marriage at 6 months. She would hate to see the stress affect their marriage; it would either break them or make them.

Karu and Char would wake up sweating, squeezing each other's hands, thinking it was their last time. They would hold one another, both crying thinking that they would lose each other, until the storm would pass, and they would talk about it. Karu couldn't look at his favorite hobby, he would stare at his beloved sword collections and walk away sweating, thinking about the arena. Charlene kept rubbing her hands on her clothes as if wiping off blood, imagining the uniforms seemed like they had blood on them.

They thought about Spock and Nyota who were still in their comas, Charlene took it the hardest being her best friend. She was helpless on what to do for her, Nyota was connected to Mr. Spock, at first it seems romantic that they have their marriage bond. But now, she didn't know how it would affect them both. At night they would look into each other's eyes, holding one another, grateful to be alive. They could hardly wait to report back to full duty, Noel had given them a 3 hour shift, just to see how they managed.

Meanwhile in sickbay,

The monitor beeped loudly on Nyota's bed as her closed eyes started to flutter. Christine quickly paged Geoff and he was there in a flash.

"Her monitor started beeping Doctor, I think Nyota is trying to regain consciousness."

Geoff studied the monitors and saw increased activity, he gently opened one of her eyes and saw the pupil moving around.

"She is definitely trying to come around, but she's not out of the woods yet. Make sure someone is always here."

"I'll be here Geoff."

"Good Christine, how's Lennie?"

"Reluctant at first, he's at his hypocratical oath phase where he doesn't think he's a patient."

Geoff raised his brow and acknowledged it was like the stubborn, senior doctor.

"Oh."

"But he's getting better, you can't keep a good man down."

Kirk and McCoy walked into sickbay in casual clothes.

"Good afternoon Dr. M'Benga, is it okay if we check on Spock and Nyota?" asked Kirk.

"Sure, things are the same with them."

McCoy stationed himself next to Nyota while Kirk was at Spock's biobed.

McCoy asked, "Any change?"

"Just some elevated brain activity with Uhura, I think she is trying to come around."

Kirk ran his hand through hair as he looked at his long time friend before looking back at M'Benga.

"Why isn't he waking up? I mean I know he's a Vulcan, it just seems so long."

"I understand Captain. As you and McCoy recall, the healing trance is different depending on the severity of the injury."

McCoy turned to Geoff, "But his wounds are all healed Geoff, according to your last entry."

"I know Lennie, but you forget that his mind is injured too, as well as Nyota's."

McCoy went and stood next to Christine and asked, "That's another thing Geoff, is Uhura connected?"

"I'm not sure, I did ask Healer Shath about the marriage bond, and he did explained that it shouldn't be a problem."

McCoy arched his brow, "But you have some doubts?"

"I'm beginning to think so."

Charlene and Karu came in holding hands; both looking at the rest of the crew, all of them nodding in a silent greeting.

"Any changes Dr. M'Benga?"

Geoff now notices the large audience, all checking on their friends. He didn't have the heart to tell them to leave. They were all worried.

"No change Mrs. Sulu."

Charlene went to Nyota's biobed and touched her hand, "Oh Ny, I hope you come back, we miss you."

At that moment her vitals jumped again, making Charlene gasp and let go of her hand.

"What's happening?"

Geoff rushed over with a penlight and opened her eyes again, the beeping continued.

"I think she is waking up!"

Nyota's arms started to flare, her head tossing as she was moaning. Geoff was confused, she was acting differently, her body started to convulse. He didn't know what to do.

"Nyota wake up! Wake up!"

Her body still shaking, Christine secured the side of the biobed with her body and ushered everyone back before asking.

"What shall we do Geoff?"

It hit him instantly, he looked at Christine and said, "Slap her!"

"What? Are you crazy!?"

"Yes, Nyota is married to a Vulcan, their minds are linked. HIT HER! NOW!"

Christine leaned back and swatted Nyota's face, and started crying.

"Again, Chris, hurry! And harder!"

Christine did it again, Charlene was getting upset, Kirk was mad, McCoy was shocked and Karu was confused.

The monitors went flat, Nyota opened her eyes and said "OUCH, what the f ck!" realization hit Nyota and she tried to sit up."SPOCK!"

Charlene screamed, "NY!"

Christine wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, so sorry it was the only way!" then grabbed her into a hug. "I'm so sorry about that!"

Geoff gave a somber smile. "Welcome back Mrs. Spock."

Kirk asked, "What happened, why did you slap her?"

McCoy got it. "Jim, Nyota is connected to Spock even in a healing trance."

Kirk looked at Spock, "So he should be waking up too then?"

Geoff looked at the crew. " I wasn't sure at first. You're correct Lennie, they are mentally connected, even during a healing trance."

Nyota started to focus and rubbed her cheeks, wincing in pain. "Is Spock okay? Is he awake? He told me he was coming."

They all looked at Nyota and Sulu said, "Coming?"

Charlene and Christine supported Nyota on each side. McCoy went and gave her water to sip while she got her voice back.

"Yes, we talked in our shared consciousness, he's coming."

Geoff went to Spock's biobed, just as the monitors started jumping, pulling the men towards his bed.

"Mr. Spock, if you can hear me, you need to open your eyes so we can start the next step."

Sulu curiously whispered, "What's the next step?"

"M'Benga gets to slap him awake,"responded Kirk.

"The devil you say?"

Kirk looked at Sulu, "It's different, but it's a Vulcan thing."

McCoy said under his breath, "Wish it was me bringing him back."

Kirk and Sulu gave McCoy a snarky look of disbelief.

Spock's eyes opened and he sat up, Geoff immediately started slapping him back to consciousness. Then something happened, instead of waking up, Spock's eyes rolled back and he collapsed back on the bed. Geoff went into action, the monitors beeped loudly,

"Christine give me a general stimulant- stat!" He looked into Spock's eyes and saw he had relapsed into his healing trance. Nyota started screaming, Christine ran off to get the hypo.

"SPOCK!

SPOCK!

DON'T YOU DARE!"

Christine handed over the hypo and Geoff injected it into Spock's arm, hoping to stabilize him. Nyota struggled to get out of bed, while Karu and Charlene tried to slow her down.

"Char, please let me go to him, he's confused and hurt. PLEASE!"

Karu and Charlene helped Nyota to Spock's bed.

While Kirk and McCoy stood in confusion, and asked questions, standing around Spock's bed.

"Geoff! What happened?" asked Kirk.

M'Benga ignored him, trying to find out why Spock had retreated back into his mind, using his scanner over his body. McCoy tried to assist him, while Christine ran to get the medical tray equipment for Vulcans.

"Lennie this is unusual, I have never seen a Vulcan return to the healing trance unless there is something internally wrong."

"Internal bleeding perhaps?"

"Scanner shows everything normal, I don't get it. I'll prepare for a full body scan in case I missed something. Nurse Chapel, prepare an examination, full body scan."

"But I don't understand, he had regular cuts and lacerations, am I correct Geoff?"

"Yeah Lennie, just like everyone else, his healing trance gave him full recovery."

"Please let me see him, I know what to do!" Nyota said, holding onto Karu and Charlene for support. They gently escorted her to Spock's bed, where she touched Spock's cheek.

"Baby, please wake- we talked about this. Surak's logic prevails by his laws. Remember?"

"Nothing but silence Uhura, what about your bond?" asked Geoff.

"It's closed, and he closed it," snapped Uhura.

She took a deep breath, and tears formed in her eyes. She leaned in closer his ear and spoke in Vulcan.

"Du ugau nash-veh." [1]

Everyone looked and waited for the monitor to change.

"Ta pa' etwel kan, tor aitlun tor ragel-tor ish-veh" [2]

Spock's monitors jumped and beeped and his eyes opened again. He sat up, and Geoff started hitting across his face several times until Spock stopped his arm. He looked around at his friends, stopping at his wife and staring at her. He looked at her with tender eyes, after what she had said he didn't care how much affection he displayed in front of his audience. Nyota had given him important news, news that changed his thoughts completely about his feelings and struggles resulting from the arena. Nyota gave him hope and life again. Geoff was the only one who understood what had been said, and he stared at Nyota in shock, while the others were oblivious to what had transpired. He ran the scanner over her and smiled when got his confirmation.

Spock tilted his head, reached for his wife and held her. She embraced her husband. Now they would face the future, and all it held, together as they promised. Reaching down, Spock touched her abdomen and said,

"Twins."

Nyota looked up at Spock in shock and smiled.

Everyone gasped when it registered.

"OH Sh t!" said McCoy.

Christine gasped again, then silence.

"I'm an Uncle!' shouted Kirk, clapping his hands together.

"We're Godparents." Karu and Charlene shouted with glee, jumping up and down.

"Well, so am I." McCoy growled, pointing his finger to himself.

Geoff looked around and started laughing, it was a joyous moment.

Charlene added, "Wait a minute, I'm an Aunt too!"

Kirk slapped Spock on his back and winked at him, Spock held Nyota closer looking in her eyes. Amid all the noise around him Spock only heard her heartbeat and gave the smallest smirk. Now he had a family to raise.

"Thank you Nyota, K'hat'n'dlawa."

Sniffling in the background, "I want a baby too!" was quietly spoken.

OH GOD?!

The End