Not Either/Or 1/1; Spock/Uhura, Kirk, Ambassador Spock; PG

[scarfman]

Title: Not Either/Or 1/1
Author/Artist: scarfman
Characters/Pairing(s): Spock/Uhura, Kirk, Ambassador Spock
Rating: PG
Setting/Spoilers: ST09, allusions to Yesteryear
Summary: Uhura doesn't understand why Spock volunteered to be Kirk's XO. When he tells her, it opens a new can of worms.
Notes/Warnings:
crossposted scarfman trek_fanfiction trekfics st_reboot

---

"You two did nothing but get each other's backs up. Before you even met."

"With the exception of the time we were on mission aboard Narada."

"Still. Why did you come back?"

"For the same reason, I suspect, as Kirk accepted me back, despite the abrasive interactions you cite." He told her what he and Kirk had encountered on the Vulcan ship they'd discovered on Narada, what he had deduced from that data which Kirk had declined to deny, and whom he had met at San Francisco spaceport during the time Kirk's commendation ceremony had occurred. "Ambassador Spock was quite insistent with me that, in his native timeline, our service together will be something of great benefit to Starfleet, the Federation, the quadrant and ourselves. His emphasis was strongest on the latter. Where self-interest was unconvinced, conscience intervened."

As she listened, he could see, a question formed in her mind. With the empathy that was one foundation of her communication skills, she maintained control of herself - though he, who knew her so well, could see her doing it - until he'd finished what he had to say, as she would have done were she Vulcan. Only then did she voice the question, even though it was one quite urgent to her: "Did you ask about me in the other timeline?"

"I did. He said that you were one of his oldest and dearest friends, and a dedicated and accomplished officer."

"Only a ... friend? Nothing more?"

"So I asked as well. He discerned my meaning, and responded in the negative."

With admirable control for a human, she asked, "Do you think that you might ever come to resent me, because you couldn't have me and your mother in the same timeline?"

He shook his head. "Ambassador Spock assisted me in proving logically that there is no need. While I shall and must continue to grieve for being separated from my mother in this timeline, in the present time of the other timeline my mother still lives and shall live for the normal span of a human's alloted lifetime."

"But - do we know that?" she asked, her voice quivering. "How can we know that our new timeline branched off from the other one, instead of overwriting it, when either way we have no way of accessing it?"

"As I said, Ambassador Spock was able to show logically that my mother survives, if inaccessibly. Fortunately, this is not Ambassador Spock's first temporal paradox. Once previously, during his Starfleet career, he crossed his own history, saving his own life when he was seven years old."

"And that proves the other timeline still exists?"

"It presents data which proves the other timeline still exists.

"I remember the same events as he from the point of view of the age of seven. The paradox was discovered when the use of a temporal portal caused the quantum wave to collapse and my seven-year-old self to have been killed, causing Ambassador Spock to become an anomaly whose existence only Captain Kirk recalled. Ambassador Spock was required to travel back thirty years to play out his role in the predestination paradox. I have not lived through those events from the elder Spock's point of view. Since the quantum wave did not collapse when I was made aware of the paradox, yet the events remain part of history previous to the history diversion Nero caused, it must have indeed been a branch and not an overwrite. That is to say, it must have been Ambassador Spock who performed those actions. And he cannot have traveled into our combined past timeline from a future timeline that no longer exists. Ergo, the other timeline still exists, not overwritten by ours but ours branched from it. Ergo, my mother still lives. Q.E.D."

She spent nine seconds on nonverbal communicaton, of the same type as in the lift at the time of the tragedy. "That's all well and good. That's persuaded you in your mind. What about your heart?"

He allowed the ghost of a smile, confident she knew him too well to miss it. "In my heart I know, were I to pose the question to my mother herself, she would only say, 'Don't be silly.'"

fin

Comments

[omizu.livejournal.com]

I really like the last sentence, you nailed that on the head I think.

[saavikam77.livejournal.com]

Aww!! This was excellent! :) I love Spock using logic to conclude that his mother still lives. Even if he will still grieve in this timeline, at least he has some small measure of comfort.

[lilyoftheval5.livejournal.com]

Loved it.
Thanks for sharing.

[picturegames.livejournal.com]

this was beautiful - the last line was perfect. Thanks for sharing!!

[billfl.livejournal.com]

I like this. It sounds very much like the people I saw on the screen this weekend.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

Nice work! I wondered when someone else was going to bring up that episode...

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

She spent nine seconds on nonverbal communication,

That line made me smile.

Nice exploration of the logic of the alternate/parallel timelines in this fic, as well as the emotional undercurrents inherent in its discovery.

[mizuno-caitlin.livejournal.com]

A nice after-film treat! Might I interest you in posting it to kirkspockuhura?

[scarfman]

Thanks, I will.

[bitchygrrl.livejournal.com]

I like that last line. Very well written and sweet overall.

[theanswer42.livejournal.com]

This story was very nice, first of all, but I also want to be obnoxious and say that your icon is AMAZING! Star Trek + Doctor Who + Spinal Tap = The Greatest Day! I can't stop smiling!

[scarfman]

Thanks, I made that icon myself. I confess I haven't seen This Is Spinal Tap myself; I only know the catchphrases.

[theanswer42.livejournal.com]

You should watch it if you get the chance. It's really funny.

[scarfman]

I definitely have been entertained by clips I've seen.