"Father!" he called. The man who turned around, however, was most definitely not who he was looking for.

"I," he paused, "am not our father." It was only after he turned to fully face him that Spock was able to see exactly who he was. There were no words needed to confirm his thoughts. There was much between them that was alike…yet somehow, vastly different.

Fascinating.

They both stood with the same posture, their hands clasped crisply behind their ramrod straight back. Both of their heads sported the traditional Vulcan haircut for males, yet while his own was an ebony color, his counterpart's was streaked with perfect lines of white and gray. Their ears were both pointed in the signature Vulcan way. And when Spock made eye contact, he noticed that they shared the same eyes: their mother's. They both stepped forward at the same time, meeting together in the middle.

"There are so few Vulcans left," he said as they drew closer. "We cannot afford to ignore each other." Spock felt confusion as he said this, but made no effort to suppress it. It would have been illogical to hide this between them.

"Then why did you send Kirk aboard when you alone could have explained the truth?" he asked.

"Because you needed each other," came the reply. The other Spock made no effort to hide emotion from him either. "I could not deprive you of the revelation of all you could accomplish together. Of a friendship that would define you both, in ways that you cannot yet realize." If they weren't the same person, Spock would have had problems seeing the look of contentment on his counterpart's face. But they are the same.

Or were they? When he had revealed the possibility of an alternate timeline to the rest of the Enterprise crew, he wasn't entirely confident in his hypothesis. As they continued with the mission, however, the clues seemed to point more and more to the conclusion that he was right: that whatever their lives were meant to be before have now become irrevocably transformed. The more Spock thought about it, the more questions he had about the alternate timeline.

Is this universe, the one that he knows to be his home, considered an offshoot of the other one, or is it now considered a universe entirely on its own? How different was this other Spock's Jim from the one in this universe? Did he and Nyota have a romantic relationship there? What were Mother and Father like in the other timeline? He had many things to ask his counterpart. But those would have to wait for another time.

"How did you persuade him to keep your secret?" Spock asked instead.

"He inferred that universe-ending paradoxes would ensue, should he break his promise," the other Spock answered, with a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

"You lied," he deadpanned.

"Ohh…I…I implied, " The other Spock responded.

"A gamble?" Spock asked disbelievingly.

"An act of faith," returned his counterpart, with that same glimmer of humor in his eye. "One that I hope you will repeat in the future at Starfleet." Spock felt disappointment at the reminder the older he gave him of his duties.

"In the face of extinction it is only logical I resign my Starfleet commission and help rebuild our race," he recited, in the very same way that he had spoken to the now Admiral Pike.

"Yet, you can be two places at once," replied Spock Prime. The answer was so simple and ready, that Spock theorized that he already knew what he was planning to do. It didn't surprise him to think this. They are, after all, what in a manner of speaking could be considered "like minds".

"I urge you to remain in Starfleet," his counterpart continued. "I have already located a suitable planet on which to establish a Vulcan colony." Spock understood this as the other Spock's way of telling him that everything was being taken care of. Logical.

"Spock," he continued. Spock felt something strange when his counterpart spoke his name; like a moment of resonance in the universe. "In this case, do yourself a favor: put aside logic. Do what feels right."

His counterpart made an about face and began to walk back to the shuttle he was about to board. After exactly 2.31 steps however, the other Spock turned around to face him once more.

"Since my customary farewell would seem oddly self-serving, I shall simply say 'good luck.'" He raised his hand in the traditional Vulcan Salute. Spock raised his hand in return, but did not relay the traditional farewell. Spock Prime was correct: with so few Vulcans left, they could not afford to ignore each other. They would see each other again.

As he watched the shuttle leave the docking station, Spock thought to himself that despite the hardships that have happened because of Nero and his arrival into this universe, the events that transpired have oddly found a way to right themselves. Almost coming, as a human might describe, "full circle". He looked back at the shuttle one last time before boarding his own shuttle, this one headed to the Starfleet base in the Earth's outer orbit.

It was time to take destiny into his own hands.