Chapter 2

All night, foghorns sounded from the bay, and morning was as misty as ever. Jim knew that the longer the fog hung on, the better. Though it meant there would be more drinking water, Spock was stubbornly refusing his share. He was Vulcan, he said, and because of his injury he was not able to share fully in the workload. Never mind that he was one-handedly moving plenty of the smaller debris, or that he had spent all night monitoring transmissions in his parked skimmer and picked up valuable information about emergency response centers. Best of all, he had established contact and put them on a priority list for rescue services.

Jim was too weary to argue about water or anything else. For him, this was the second night of lost sleep, and he was not getting any younger. His thoughts kept turning to Antonia and their newborn daughter…and his clean, comfortable bed at the ranch.

He was working the debris pile with Simon when Pascal took the Airbike and went out to find a response center that Spock had pinpointed in the area. A short time later he swung around, ready to toss a hunk of two-by-four, and came face to face with T'Beth. It did not matter one bit that he was happily married and bone-tired; her nearness still managed to stir him in unacceptable ways.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" he said good-naturedly.

She maneuvered beside him and began to help. Down in the work pit, Simon wielded the laser saw and tossed the cuttings up where they could reach them.

"Hear that?" T'Beth asked. "Off in the distance. The people calling for help.'

Jim nodded, grabbed hold of some sheet rock, and sent it sailing. He had been hearing desperate cries ever since he arrived.

T'Beth said, "When I'm working, I don't notice it as much. I don't think as much, either."

He spared her a glance. "You look like you're ready to drop."

She tried to smile and failed miserably. "You should see yourself." For a moment they worked in silence. Then she said, "I never asked about the baby. Is everything okay?"

Jim experienced a rush of gratitude that his own little family was safe. "Yes, everything went fine. The baby's beautiful. But I heard about the quake and had to come. Spock is like a brother to me. It's what Antonia wanted, too."

T'Beth sank onto the rubble and pushed a strand of dark hair from her smudged face.

"We'll find them," he promised. "It won't be long now. Maybe Aaron will snag some rescue workers." He thought hard before saying anything more. Tired as he was, he had sensed the strain between T'Beth and her fiancé overnight. Finally he added, "If anyone can do it, he will. That Frenchman of yours is a formidable force."

She shot him a quizzical look. "What do you mean—formidable?"

Jim had to chuckle. As he worked, he described the previous day's adventure with Pascal—from the sneaky Vulcan nerve pinch to the white-knuckled Airbike flight. "I tell you, if it weren't for him, I'd probably still be out there somewhere, trying to thumb a ride." Sobering, he gathered an armload of debris. "I used to think that a career was everything. I was wrong. It's family. Family is the only thing that really matters."

Below them, Simon turned off the saw. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he hollered into the diminishing stack of rubble. "Mom! Jamie! Teresa! Do you hear me? Bethany! Make some noise!"

They all listened hard.

T'Beth called down to Simon. "Do you hear anything?"

"I don't know," came the reply. "I'm not sure."

Spock came over to the base of the pile and operated the tricorder. "The readings are strong," he announced.

Simon started the saw and resumed working.

Teresa awoke suddenly, from a dark dream in which she had been hearing voices. Nearby, James and Bethany were breathing with a slow deep rhythm, asleep.

Somewhere overhead a giant bee began buzzing. It sounded angry, like it was chewing at the house, trying to get at her.

"Jamie…" Her voice quavered. "Jamie!"

James and Bethany moved as if they were trying to stretch, but there was no room for it. Teresa had tried a lot of times. Her legs hurt from being cramped for so long.

"There's a bee!" she cried.

James yawned and went still. "That's not a bee."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know, Resa, but it's not a bee. I can tell; my ears are better."

It was a sore subject between them. Teresa started to get irritated. "Just because they're pointed like Daddy's?"

"No," James said impatiently, "because my hearing is like his—Vulcan hearing. You know that."

Teresa was not convinced. "It still sounds like a big bee to me."

Bethany must have thought so, too. Suddenly she began to shriek with fear.

"Stop!" T'Beth screamed, her heart pounding. "Simon, turn off the saw!"

The saw went quiet.

T'Beth leaned over, staring into the pit. A distant, muffled cry rose eerily from the rubble. "It's Bethany! I hear her—my baby!" A sob tore at her chest. Leaping down beside her brother, she began ripping at the debris.

"No!" Simon and Jim shouted together.

She scarcely heard the protests. Simon grabbed hold of her arms, and they were wrestling. Reaching down from above, Jim caught her in a headlock.

"Knock it off!" Jim snapped. "We have to go slow! Do you want to bring everything crashing down on them?"

T'Beth swallowed the worst of her fury and stopped struggling. On a rational level, she knew that Jim and Simon were right, but she did not like being manhandled or yelled at.

"Let go of me!" she snapped, hating them both.

They freed her. Scrambling out of the hole, she turned all her anger on Jim. "I was out walking when the quake hit! Bethany would have been with me, but no—she wanted to help bake cookies—for you! If it wasn't for you, she'd be safe now!"

Simon watched from the rim of the hole. "That's crazy, T'Beth! It isn't anyone's fault. Go away and leave us alone."

Climbing down off the wreckage, she brushed past her father, who had stood silently observing the scene. Behind her, she heard him say, "Jim, she did not mean it. She is overwrought."

How the hell did he know what she meant? Seething, she stalked down the driveway and waited in the fog. Several minutes passed before she began to consider what it was—who it was—that she was actually waiting for. On the ground and in the air, from all around came the sounds of rescue attempts and human despair. She strained to pick out the hum of the Starfleet Airbike. Where was Aaron? Had he been arrested for defying the ban on air travel? Had he gotten into an accident? What if someone had attacked him and stolen the bike? What if the fog was too thick for him to find his way back? What if he chose never to come back? With each successive thought, she grew more panicky. Standing there alone, she realized how much she had been taking Aaron's love for granted and how little love she had shown him.

Out in the fog, a single light appeared and steadily moved closer. As it approached, she heard a humming sound. The bike broke out of the mist and landed near her in the driveway. Aaron removed his helmet. Stepping off the bike, he lowered a bulging sack from his shoulder.

T'Beth closed the distance between them and caught him in her arms. "I was so worried. I was afraid that you'd never make it back."

Aaron kissed her and searched her eyes and seemed pleased by what he found. Smiling tiredly, he said, "I located the relief center. They said a rescue team might be here today. Look what they gave us." He reached into the sack and pulled out another laser saw. "There are meal packs and some water here, too."

T'Beth seized him by the shoulders. "Aaron, I heard Bethany crying! I heard her, but they sent me away!"

His smile returned. "We're getting close, then. We must be very careful. Wait here, amoureux. I'm taking the saw up to the men, and when I come back down, Bethany will be in my arms."

oooo

"I told you it wasn't a bee," James said.

Teresa wanted to jump with excitement, but there was still no way to move. Now, two buzzing machines were tearing at the rubble overhead. Best of all, they could hear voices. By shouting back and forth to the workers, she found out that Daddy and T'Beth and Simon were all alive.

Impatient to get free, Teresa kept yelling to them, "Hurry up!"

"Hang on!" came Simon's reply. "We're getting close!"

"Mommy!" Bethany shouted. "Mommy, where are you?"

Teresa held her tight. "Your mommy's there, too. T'Beth is alright. Simon said."

None of the children mentioned Teresa and Jamie's mother. They all knew that she was still somewhere down here, trapped, as silent as death.

Teresa was wiping away tears when a soft, dim light dispelled the darkness. Suddenly the buzzing seemed louder. Then more daylight spilled in all around them and she could see James and Bethany clearly. Big hopeful eyes shone in their dirty faces.

The noise stopped.

James reached up and banged hard with his fist on the underside of the butcher block. "We're down here! Under this table! Right here!"

"Oh my God," a voice said directly above them. It was Simon. He rapped on the block with something hard. "Do you hear that?" he called out. "Is this where you are? Right underneath?"

"Yes!" all three of them yelled.

"Hurry!" Teresa cried.

The voices consulted and then came more buzzing. There was the sound of chunks wrenching loose, things being hurled. Little by little a space began to open behind James, and hands reached into the void, grasping at debris.

Then everything went silent again. Overhead there was a scuffling. A large pair of athletic shoes appeared in the hole by Jamie's back, then two denim-clad legs. Simon bent down, peeked under the table, and counted noses.

His voice choking up, he asked, "You kids want out?"

"Yeah," Teresa said with a sniffle.

He asked, "Where's Mom?"

Teresa began to cry.

"We don't know," James said, just above a whisper. Teresa knew he was trying to keep from crying, too.

Simon reached under the table. "Come on, you guys."

James went up first. Teresa moved Bethany into place and watched her little niece disappear up the hole. Finally there was room enough to stretch her legs, but they still felt stiff and wobbly when her turn came.

Simon's strong arms lifted her. Uncle Jim reached from above and pulled her out into the fog. The air smelled damp and clean. She hugged Jim hard, then they started climbing off the wreckage together. Below them, she could see Aaron reach the ground and carry Bethany over to T'Beth. She saw James holding onto their father, and she made herself speed up. Then she was off the debris pile and she was hugging Daddy, too. Her arms were still around him when Simon walked up and looked into their father's eyes.

"Mom wasn't with them," he reported. "The children said…she hasn't made a sound and they don't know where she is."

Spock's face went very grim, and it seemed to Teresa that he held her a little tighter. Then very gently he turned her and James over to Uncle Jim, who found them water and food and warm blankets. While Teresa ate, Daddy and Simon stood at a distance, speaking in low voices.

oooo

The sun was breaking through the fog when a rescue team landed at the foot of the driveway. Experts immediately took stock of the situation and began setting up their remote beaming apparatus. Simon, Jim, and Aaron came down from the work site and drank deeply of the bottled water provided by the team. Then they each chose a resting place and sank to the ground, too exhausted to be disturbed by the continuing aftershocks. At each tremor, the children froze and stared at the wreckage where Lauren was still trapped. When the earth grew still, they moved about dispiritedly, for the first joy of their release had passed and they were deeply worried.

Only Spock remained at the base of the debris, as if his proximity to Lauren might somehow strengthen her. T'Beth took water to him and for the first time since the earthquake, he drank. Handing back the empty bottle, he thanked her and switched on the tricorder. After capturing Lauren's readings, he showed the screen to T'Beth and she understood that it would a secret between them. Lauren's life signs were fading.

A terrible chill crept over her. Why was the extraction taking so long? She could see that the team was having trouble with their equipment. She could see Bethany and the other children bending over some flowers, touching them carefully, as if it mattered now whether the planting was ruined. She thought of their gardener, old Mr. Sakata, and his wrinkled little wife. Had they survived this? In her heart she whispered a fervent prayer.

Leaving her father, she walked over to the children. "Go ahead," she said, "pick all the flowers you want. We won't be living here for a long time." Maybe never again, she thought sadly.

The children just looked at her.

"Where are we going to live?" Teresa asked.

T'Beth forced her lips to smile. "At the beach house." By all reports, it might well be habitable. "Won't that be fun?"

Bethany clapped her hands in excitement. "Goodie! Goodie! We get to live at the ocean!"

Teresa and James exchanged a somber glance, then slowly began picking flowers. "For Mom," Teresa said.

T'Beth went looking for Jim. She found him on a sunny patch of lawn near Spock's skimmer, stretched out on his back, hands under his head. As she gazed down at him, his eyes opened. For a moment she just stood there, ashamed.

Then she gathered enough courage to speak. "It was a rotten thing I said to you, up there. Jim, I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault. None of this was your fault. You sacrificed a lot to come here and help, and I really do appreciate it. We all do."

Some of the weariness seemed to leave his face. His eyes twinkled with the legendary Kirk humor. "An apology?" he quipped. "What I really want is those cookies. Why else do you think I came?"

There was an old, familiar tug at her heart, but she smiled her way through it. Would she ever get over this man completely? A little part of her still loved him with all the intensity of a teenage crush. He would probably never be an "Uncle" Jim, but the teen years belonged to the past. Now there was someone else waiting to take her by the hand and walk with her into the future.

Thinking of Aaron, she turned.

At that instant a cry went up from the work site. "Here she comes!"

oooo

There were three of them crowded on the bench seat of the air ambulance, but Spock scarcely took notice of Jim, or of Simon, who sat holding the bouquet of wilting flowers pressed upon him by Teresa. His attention was fully focused on the pale figure strapped to the nearby gurney and the limp fingers held in his hand. Onsite, Lauren had received emergency treatment to reduce the swelling in her brain, but blood still seeped through a bandage on her head. Beneath her blanket, her right leg was swollen and gory from a serious crush injury.

He watched the technician adjust Lauren's I.V. cuff and scan a small medical monitor. Occasionally the tech spoke to her in a reassuring tone, as if she was fully alert.

"Oh yeah, you're doing fine now…I bet you were glad to get out of there…bouncy ride, isn't it…never mind, we'll be at the hospital in a minute…"

They were halfway to Sacramento when Lauren opened her eyes.

"Mom," Simon said.

Spock squeezed her hand more tightly. Was it a little warmer? Slowly she turned her head and gave him a groggy look. Her blue eyes went to Simon, to Jim, to the tech, and back again to Spock.

"Aisha," he said, unashamed of the endearment. "You are on your way to a hospital. There was an earthquake. Do you remember?"

For a long moment she seemed to be thinking. Then weakly she said, "The children…?"

Relieved to hear her speaking, Spock replied, "They are safe. T'Beth and Aaron have received clearance to fly them to the beach house in our skimmer. You saved them. You got them under the table in time."

She smiled and her eyelids drooped. But then she summoned the strength to look again, and her eyes settled back on Jim. "The baby…?"

"She's healthy and strong," Jim said, leaning forward, "and so is Antonia. As a matter of fact…" Now that they were clear of San Francisco, he drew out his phone and this time the call to his wife went through. Antonia was awaiting discharge at the hospital in Boise. Jim told her that he would beam out of Sacramento and take them home.

When the call was over, Jim said with a yawn, "And when I get back to the ranch, I'm going to pull the covers over my head and sleep for a week."

Spock turned to him, one eyebrow raised. "Clearly you have no experience with newborns."

They arrived at Sacramento's Mercy Hospital, where Lauren was whisked away for further evaluation of her injuries. Spock attempted to accompany her, only to be stopped by a triage nurse who said, "We'll take care of her, Mr. Vulcan. Let's see about that wrist of yours."

With Jim and Simon following along, he was firmly escorted to an emergency room cubicle and ordered to lie down.

Satisfied, the nurse said, "Someone will be in to take your information." And then she strode off, leaving the curtain swaying in her wake.

Stifling a smile, Jim said, "Looks like they run a tight ship around here. That's my cue to go. Spock, keep me posted on that wife of yours, okay?"

Spock felt a tightening in his throat as he rose up to take leave of his friend. "Jim…there are not sufficient words to thank you."

He held out his left arm, and for a moment they embraced one another.

Then with an emotional smile Jim stepped back, clapped Simon on the shoulder, and left.

oooo

T'Beth thought that she had never seen anything so beautiful. Aaron was dozing beside her when she arced in and landed her father's skimmer beside the beach house. Though the earthquake had been felt even here, its destructive power was greatly reduced. Thank God there had been no tsumani. The old house showed no obvious signs of damage. Its white clapboards shone in the late afternoon sun. Roses and honeysuckle rambled over the picket fence Spock had built after the whale-probe storm, before his wedding.

"We're here," she said unnecessarily.

The children were already clamoring to get out. Aaron awakened and went over to check the structure's integrity before T'Beth unlocked the front door. Then they were inside.

Aaron made a quick safety tour. "A couple of minor cracks in a wall," he announced. "They seem inconsequential."

T'Beth relaxed a bit. "Okay, hot showers or baths for everyone. And we even have extra toothbrushes here."

Bethany clung to her and stared fearfully at the ceiling. "Mommy, will this one start shaking and fall down?"

It was important for T'Beth to control her own fears around her daughter. Bethany was more than half Sy and growing increasingly sensitive to emotions. Dropping to one knee, she put her arms around the child. "I thought you were excited about living here. Don't worry. It's safe. There might be a little tremor or two, but nothing bad will happen. Let's get cleaned up, and I'll fix something to eat."

Bethany seemed to accept the reassurance.

T'Beth turned to Aaron. He looked filthy and exhausted. "You can shower in my parents' bathroom," she told him. "Turn right at the top of the stairs. Get whatever you need out of Spock's clothes. I'll check the phone."

There were dozens of messages. Relatives, friends, colleagues—everyone had phoned here hoping against hope for word that they were alive. For now she composed a brief, all-purpose reply—"All is well. More later." And with a voice command, she sent it off.

After showering, she felt much better. She came downstairs in a pair of clean, comfortable jeans and an old sweater. Aaron had gathered the children at the kitchen table and was amusing them with a series of mathematical tricks. He looked handsome and relaxed in her father's clothes. Coming up from behind, she slipped her arms around him and kissed his neck.

Softly she said, "I'm so glad you're here. You can stay, can't you—at least for the night? If I bunk with Bethany and Teresa, it will free up a bed for you."

He tipped his head and smiled up at her, dark eyes tender with love. "I'd like nothing better. The ban on inbound travel is still in effect. There's nothing I can do until I receive word from Starfleet."

So far they had been unable to contact Headquarters. The Airbike was loaded in the skimmer, along with Simon's violin and a few other items. Once the restrictions were lifted, Aaron could ride the bike back to base, if need be. Meanwhile, they rummaged in the cupboards and found enough ingredients to throw together a warm meal. Canned chili, biscuits, and jam. They were scraping the bottoms of their bowls when the phone chimed. T'Beth had set the filter to signal only calls from close family.

Teresa and James jumped out of their chairs and beat her to the phone. When T'Beth got there, the screen was already engaged.

"Well, I see you guys got there okay," Simon was saying. "I gather the house is still in one piece?" Looking tired but happy, he did not wait for a reply. "Mom's doing great. She came to on the ambulance. Now her head is a lot better and she's talking up a storm. They've got more work to do on her leg, though."

"Where's Father?" James asked.

"Under the endoscope for his wrist. He'll need a few more treatments. Don't expect us back for a while. It's really crowded here, but they found us a couple of cots. When Mom's ready, we'll all come home together."

oooo

The children spent the evening in a happy mood, but when bedtime came, they grew nervous.

"What if it starts shaking again?" Bethany worried as T'Beth tucked her into bed with Teresa.

"It won't shake hard," T'Beth promised. "We flew away from the scary place. It's nowhere near us now. Just cuddle up with Teresa and listen to the ocean. Isn't it nice? I'll be coming to bed in a little while, right here with you."

She kissed their warm foreheads, then went down the hallway to check on James. She knew her little brother would not want a kiss. He had reached the age where he was already trying to be a man, even if he did not quite understand what that meant.

Standing over his bed, she asked, "Jamie, are you going to be alright in here by yourself?"

"Of course," he insisted, but his voice did not sound very firm.

"Well, if you get lonely or scared or anything, Aaron said you could go in with him. Goodnight."

"G'night." James turned on his side and pulled the blanket over his pointed ear.

T'Beth went downstairs. It had grown dark outside. Aaron stood gazing out a window at the moonlit ocean.

"Don't be surprised," she warned, "if you have a visitor tonight. The kids are all scared. They'll probably have nightmares."

Turning, Aaron took her hand and drew her close to him. Looking into her eyes, he said, "And you. Are you still frightened?"

She knew that he was not referring to the quake, and her heart began to pound. "For a while, I was confused," she admitted, "but now I'm seeing things clearly. No situation is ever perfect, is it? When we're together I feel cherished and safe. I love you. I want to be with you, even if that means turning my life in a whole new direction. The work on Sydok will go on, whether I'm there or not. God will use me wherever I am. I'm putting in for a marriage transfer."

Aaron studied her face. "And what of James Kirk?"

She had not expected him to be so direct, but she had her answer ready. "Jim is part of my past; I can't deny that and I can't change it. But now only the present matters—and the future. And Aaron, they belong to us."

His hand tightened on hers. "You're so beautiful, T'Beth. You're making it very difficult for me to remain a gentleman."

"Must you always be a gentleman?" She touched a hand to the back of his neck playfully, and Sy energy began to spill from her.

He crushed her close. Their mouth met in a searing kiss that seemed to go on and on.

T'Beth came away as breathless as him. "I'm tired of waiting," she said. "We'll get married as soon as Lauren gets out of the hospital."

"Mrs. Cristabeth Pascal," he said, and kissed her thoroughly again.

oooo

T'Beth sat at the dressing table and watched in its mirror as Lauren put the finishing touches on her hair.

"There," Lauren said, "how's that? We'll add the flowers later, so they don't wilt."

T'Beth turned her head this way and that. Her dark hair was mostly swept up, except for a cascade of curls at the back and a few ringlets framing her face. She said, "Looks good to me. Do you think Aaron will like it?"

"I think Aaron will like every inch of you."

T'Beth laughed and let Lauren help her into the lacy, cream-colored gown that Lauren had worn for her own wedding, and later stored here at the beach house. It had needed very little alteration. Though slender, T'Beth was no longer reed thin. And now with the ceremony so near, she was getting more than a little nervous.

Taking a deep breath, she wondered, "Is Aaron here yet?"

Lauren fastened the zipper. "Yes, he's here. You already asked."

"Did I? What about the chaplain?"

"I don't know." Lauren pulled at the dress until she was satisfied.

Casting a frantic glance out the window, T'Beth cried, "It's still foggy! Where's the sun? It has to be sunny, it just has to!"

"It will be," Lauren promised. Limping over to the bed, she sat down to wait. The light brace she wore would not be coming off anytime soon. She had come close to losing the leg altogether.

"You and Father had such a big wedding." T'Beth vividly remembered that summer day at the Vulcan Embassy, and how dreadfully she had behaved.

"Are you wishing that yours was bigger?"

"No, really," T'Beth insisted. "I wanted it small and simple—just the immediate family. We've been through so much. If you start inviting one person, you have to invite them all. As for Jim—well, it's always been kind of sticky with him, you know that. I'm sure he and Antonia understand."

Lauren nodded. "They do. And I give you my word, I've kept my mouth shut. I haven't invited anyone else. But I can't vouch for your father."

T'Beth heard a groundcar and rushed over to the window, but it was impossible to see anything in the fog. "Now who's that? It can't be the chaplain. He said he was beaming in from the base."

There was a knock at the bedroom door. Lauren went over, cracked it open, and peeked through the opening. Spock stood in the hallway, appropriately clothed in a suit. It was not his very best one, but like so many other things, his best clothes were back in the earthquake zone.

"Good, it's you," Lauren said, and stepped out of the bedroom. "What are the children doing? I can hear them all the way up here."

"They are, as you say, 'burning off excess energy'."

She felt a surge of irritation. "Well, can't you do something with them? And what about the chaplain? Is he here yet?"

His eyebrow rose perceptibly. "Do calm yourself, Lauren. That is what I came to tell you. The chaplain has arrived."

She sighed. "That fog had better burn off soon. Keep Aaron occupied, will you? I don't want him sneaking up here. He shouldn't see T'Beth before the ceremony."

The Vulcan eyebrow climbed higher. "My dear wife, have you become superstitious? We saw one another before our wedding ceremony. No harm came of it."

"Oh? Maybe that's why our reception went to pot. Maybe that's why the first year of our marriage was a disaster. Please don't argue, just keep Aaron downstairs. Can't you do that much for me?"

"Yes, darling," he said dryly, "it shall be as you wish."

She gave him a sharp look. "Darling!" she huffed. "Don't get sarcastic with me. If I had my wish…" Suddenly her voice choked off and she was struggling to hold back tears.

"Lauren," he said very patiently, "we all wish that events had occurred differently, but wishing serves no useful purpose. Let us be thankful just to have one another. Many families were not so fortunate."

She sighed again, but the anger had left her. "I know. Just watch out for Aaron, okay? And at least keep the children clean."

This time Spock thought it better to say nothing at all. He simply gave Lauren a nod, then headed downstairs. Patients recovering from serious head injuries often experienced changeable moods; eventually she would become more even-tempered. For now, he was very grateful just to have her alive.

Spock reached the living room where the younger children were chasing each other with noisy abandon.

"Father!" Simon called over the din. "Look who's here!"

"One moment," Spock said. And assuming a stern manner, he snapped, "James! Teresa! Bethany!"

The youngsters recognized the tone and came to a halt.

Spock pointed to the sofa. "Sit down and be silent. Do not move from there until I give you leave."

Each and every one of them dutifully obeyed.

Across the room, someone clapped appreciatively, and Spock knew that his secret guest had arrived.

Doctor Leonard McCoy grinned at him and drawled, "Y'know, Spock, a hickory stick works just about as well."

Spock greeted his old Starfleet friend. Together they joined Aaron and the chaplain at the computer, where Spock had been showing them his study of the tectonic strain sensors' failure. Since the quake, he had been monitoring the pressure in the tectonic plates all along the West Coast. Though it was not his area of expertise, the data both fascinated and troubled him.

When next he looked up, sun shone through the windows.

Lauren was carefully making her way down the stairs. "It's time," she said.

oooo

T'Beth stood at the top of the staircase awaiting Lauren's signal, her fingers tight on a spray of yellow roses and honeysuckle that matched the flowers in her hair. A dizzying life review rushed through her mind while her heart hammered crazily. From outside came the introductory notes of Simon's violin. It was the composition she had chosen—Simon's hymn of love, "Turn Not Your Eyes from Me".

She swallowed hard and forced away the tears.

Down below, Lauren beckoned to her. T'Beth's legs felt unsteady as she descended the steps. Upon reaching Lauren, she threw her arms around her and held tight.

"You've been a real mother to me," she choked out, "and a real friend."

She turned to her father and his calm presence steadied her. His lips curved into a warm but restrained smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. Then he offered her his arm.

Taking hold, she smiled back at him. What a strange joke it seemed, after all the early years of turmoil. The father she despised had become dear to her. And now she was marrying his friend and protégé.

Bethany crowded in with her basket of rose petals. "Mommy," she exclaimed, "you're so pretty!"

"So are you," T'Beth told her. "With that lovely dress and those golden curls, you look just like an angel."

Then Lauren gripped Bethany's little hand and led the way. They filed out the front door, down the porch steps, into the sunlit yard. The restless sound of the ocean provided a background to Simon's hauntingly beautiful music. A sharp scent of sea spray filled the air. T'Beth looked neither right nor left. Her eyes focused straight ahead, to the gate where Aaron awaited her in his dress uniform.

Lauren and Bethany reached the end of the walkway and moved somewhere out of sight. Father placed T'Beth before the Starfleet chaplain, then went to Aaron's side where he would double as best man.

The music finished.

There was an overpowering sense of Aaron's nearness. Feeling suddenly shy, T'Beth glanced over at him and his gentle eyes devoured her with love.

The voice of the chaplain drew her attention. She did her best to listen to his preamble on the sanctity of marriage and its duties. The moment came to exchange the time-honored vows, and then they placed rings upon one another's fingers.

The chaplain pronounced them husband and wife. Now they truly belonged to each other. Aaron drew her into his arms and as they kissed, applause rang out.

Simon took up his violin and began a traditional wedding theme. But within a few bars, it transformed into a rustic fiddling variation, no doubt of his own creation. T'Beth gaped at her brother in amazement. When had he started fiddling?

The family crowded in to congratulate them. Then, as if out of nowhere, a gray-haired Starfleet officer stepped in front of T'Beth.

"Well," Doctor McCoy said wryly, "do I get a hug or don't I?"

"Bones!" T'Beth threw her arms around him. "I thought you were off in Georgia."

Stepping back, he looked her over. "Damn, you look good. Who's this whippersnapper that stole my favorite girl?"

She laughed. "You know Aaron Pascal. He developed the Cell Transmigrator that got Jim up and walking."

The two men shook hands.

"If she gives you any trouble," McCoy told Aaron, "just you let me know. I've been tryin' to keep her in line since she was about this size." His hand estimated the height of an eleven-year-old. "Tryin'," he emphasized, "not necessarily succeeding."

T'Beth felt herself blushing and laughed again.

There was a luncheon, complete with champagne and wedding cake; an afternoon of sweet reminiscing while sea birds wheeled in the cloudless sky overhead. As the sun dropped toward the horizon, the newlyweds changed into traveling clothes and offered their farewells.

"We'll be back in a week," T'Beth promised her little daughter. "Next time, you can come with us."

Aaron lifted Bethany into his arms for a hug. She kissed his bearded face and in a timid voice said, "Bye, Daddy."

T'Beth held tight to Aaron's hand as they walked to his skimmer for a short flight to the nearest transporter hub. Their luggage was already stowed, and a cottage awaited them in the mountains of France where Aaron had spent most of his childhood.

"Enjoy the Alps!" Lauren shouted.

Then they were on their way.

oooOOooo