Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate!

Three weeks passed. Leonard was at the 35th week mark. Most days he laid in bed at the hotel unwilling to do more than shower and eat unless he had to see his patients. The sheild Scotty put up around his house protected it well enough but the forestry that lead to the conservation behind his house was destroyed. Nothing but scorched earth and vegetation could be seen from Leonard's back porch. It was a sign that they didn't have to get to him. They could just get everything around him keeping him prisoner.

Starfleet was either incompetent or unwilling to do anything. Back in their reality things like this would never have been allowed to get so far. At the first threat security forces would have swooped down on xenophobic groups and sent them to penal colonies in the farthest reaches of the federation. This reality's Starfleet was complacent and negligent in their duties. Kirk had pleaded and appealed to his contacts in the upper echelon to no avail. Many felt the displaced Enterprise crew wasn't their problem and after Jim put many of them in place, few were reluctant to anything other than barely required.

However, they did find allies in the vulcans. They could not intervene with legal matters on Earth but they could gather intelligence and provide security. They discovered the old woman outside the mall was actually a member of the xenophobic group X who had her look altered. She had been seen at several other fertility facilities right before someone was attacked or the building was destroyed. They deduced that she worked as the decoy for a team that did all the dirty work. Because they couldn't tie her to the acts themselves, she was let go. The perpetrator that pushed Leonard down the stairs had gotten away as well.

So here he was, holed up in a hotel, until they were caught. Leonard's depression came back with a vengenace. Things were finally settling down with him and his lovers. Jim hadn't committed fully but he was around more. The experiment was a raging success and there were talks of expanding it to the colony. He was finally settling in and accepting his fate and preparing for the birth of his little miracles.

Only to have that Enterprise luck strike him once more.

The crew decided to take matters into their own hands. They contacted the other Enterprise crew for help. After hearing what happened, they were happy to lend a hand. They, too had been trying to locate this X group but they were like whisps of smoke. As soon as they drew close, they disappeared.

It took only a few days of near round the clock work but when they were finished, they contacted Jim and Spock and told them to get Leonard on a shuttle and bring him to the old Enterprise. It took the captain and first officer twenty minutes to wrestle Leonard out of his bedclothes, into the shower, and redressed in a light blue robe. Spock brushed his hair into a ponytail while Jim avoided kicks as he tried to put on Bones' shoes. Wiping sweat from his brow, Jim called to be beamed aboard to help them get ready while Spock ushered Leonard out of the house to catch a shuttle that would take them.

Leonard crocheted the entire ride to keep his nerves in check. He didn't want to think about floating in space with only so many inches of metal between him and the cold blackness of death outside. Besides, he could do something useful with his time besides annoy the pants off Spock whose job it was to fly them safely to the old Enterprise. When they landed, Jim was awaiting them in the shuttle bay.

"Can't believe I let you talk me into getting back on this thing," Leonard stalled in the doorway and looked around the shuttle bay. No change there. Grey on grey on black with some white or yellow here and there.

Jim walked up to the shuttle and took both of Leonard's hands in his to help him down. "You'll love it, Bones."

"We couldn't do this on earth? You know I hate space."

"Figured you could use the break."

"You think so, huh? How's this safer?" He waved around. "One teeny tiny puncture to the hull and we'll all be sucked out into that soundless vacuum."

Jim smiled patiently and kissed the top of head. "Always a ray of sunshine." He took Leonard's overnight bag from Spock and they started walking out of the shuttlebay.

The gleam in his eyes contradicted his words. "Never thought I'd be on this rusted bucket of bolts again."

"Don't let Scotty hear you say that."

Leonard smiled. "He knows I don't mean it." He trailed his fingers along the bulkhead as they walked. "This ol girl has gotten us out of more scrapes than I dunno what."

"The Scottys and the Spocks have been working on the replicators so we'll have more food choices for the newer species in this reality."

"Did they ever get the soup to come out hot instead of lukewarm?"

Jim shrugged. "You gotta ask Scotty on that one."

"Prolly not."

They walked in silence the rest of the way to the turbolift. Jim held tightly to his hand. "Since she's going to be a diplomatic ship, she's going to have room for families."

Leonard's eyes widened. "Now why they wanna do a thing like that?"

"Well, diplomats are gone for long stretches and tend to miss their families. The Enterprise will be out on tours of 5 months or less." Jim placed a kiss on the back of his hand. "I'll be home more often or you and the children can come along."

Leonard ignored the bit about him and the children coming along. Jim had just said something profound. A huge smile lit up his face. "You called it home."

"Did I?" Jim looked at Spock for something Leonard couldn't place.

"Does this mean - ?"

Jim just squeezed his hand. "No guarantees yet, Bones."

He stuffed down his disappointment and put on a smile. "Oh."

The lift doors opened to the deck with sick bay and the labs. Leonard noticed the color of the walls had changed and the decking. They passed by one of the labs and he noticed that what had once been a solid wall was now transparent aluminum. New science stations were being installed and he saw the scanners and scopes sitting in the corner.

"Fancy," he mused.

They rounded the corner and stopped in front of the sick bay doors. They, too, had once been grey and solid and were replaced with the same aluminum and white trimming. The doors were blacked out for privacy so he couldn't see inside.

"Here we are," Jim announced.

Nodding in agreement, Leonard smirked. "We are here."

"Shall we?"

Leonard bounced on his toes and smiled. "After you, captain."

"No, no." Jim stepped to the side and held out his hand for Bones to go ahead of him. "I insist."

"Gentlemen, let us not spend all day in the hall. We have other matters to attend to."

Leonard turned and stuck his tongue out at Spock before walking forward. The doors swished open but the lights didn't come on immediately. "Looks like it still needs work."

"Surprise!" was shouted as the lights came on.

He jumped nearly a foot in the air. "Great god almighty! What's the matter with you!? Ya tryin' to gimme a heart attack!?" He asked, glaring at the doctors and nurses from both Enterprises. He was met with laughter and headshakes. If it was one thing they knew it was that their Dr. McCoys tended to be all bark and no bite.

McCoy walked up to him and took his hand. "I told them you wouldn't like it. But what do I know? No one around here listens to me anyway."

"Amen, brother."

McCoy took him on a tour of the new medbay and explained the new things they were putting in. With his credentials and some string pulling, McCoy and the other surgeons and physicians were able to get some of Leonard's requirements waived cutting his time down by four years. The rest he would learn in-field under the internship of McCoy but he'd be reinstated and certified as a doctor once he learned all the tools and equipment. He wasn't sure how he felt being trained by...himself but it was better than what he'd been up against.

After the tour of the med bay and labs, he was taken to the bridge. The memories came flooding back making him misty eyed. His fingertips trailed over the newly installed panels as he walked around . How many times had he leaned against these very stations talking to Uhura or provoke Spock over one point another? Or how many times had he stood behind or behind Jim's chair just shooting the breeze or facing danger with the crew?

Both Enterprise crews stopped their work and watched the three senior officers. Leonard quickly rubbed his eyes and smiled. He had to give it to them, even though many of them had other jobs on Earth and other ships, the crews pulled together to do a wonderful job in making sure the refit still kept their Enterprise looking and feeling like home away from home.

Assuming his rigid pose, Spock stood next to his counterpart at the science station. "Mr. Scott and Scotty Scott along with our engineers stayed onboard voluntarily to oversee the refit and upgrades. My counterpart and I overhauled the computer systems ourselves. Miss Uhura and Miss Nyota have been working together to upgrade the language banks for the universal translator."

Leonard rubbed his stomach and turned to Sulu and Chekhov. "And what about you two. What have you been up to?"

"'Ve've been assisting engineering."

Sulu looked at his counterpart then smiled. "Fencing."

The crews laughter was cut short as the forward viewscreen crackled to life. Several figures dressed in dark hooded robes with masks covering their faces peered out at them. Uhura and Nyota immediately turned to the console and began tracing the signal. Leonard had a bad feeling about this.

"Humans of the Enterpise. You are traitors to your race and deemed a danger to humanity."

Jim and Kirk looked at each other. Like they'd never heard that line of dribble before.

"We will not allow you to use your science to pervert the purity of the races."

Leonard felt that familiar tingle in his core. He stared in shock as he started to become transparent. His eyes widened as he looked around at his friends, his loves. They were still staring at the screen. "No!"

They turned to him in confusion. Vulcan synapses firing faster than humans, the two Spocks realized what was happening before the others and started forward.

Leonard's eyes locked onto Jim's as he reached out knowing it was futile.

There were gasps and yells as Leonard vanished before their eyes. For a minute no one moved. Spock dropped to his knees. That seemed to bring Jim out of it.

"Scan the area for ships. Scotty, trace that transporter signal. Uhura, find out where they were transmitting from." He turned to see younger Spock and Uhura trying to get Spock on his feet. Never before had they seen this emotion in Spock before. His eyes were vacantly staring at the spot Leonard last stood. His shoulders were slumped downward. .

Jim pushed the others back and knelt in front of him. "Spock. Spock!" He smacked him hard enough to color his pale cheek. Spock looked at him forlornly.

"They took Leonard."

"I know. We're gonna get him back. But I need you to pull yourself together."

Spock allowed Jim to pull him to his feet and he straightened out his shirt. When Jim was satisfied, Spock would be alright, he turned to face the crews.

"How the hell did they pull Bones off the ship?"

"This technology is ancient," Hikaru said looking around. "It wouldn't take much to disable shields and beam him out."

"Watch yer mouth there, laddie," Scotty warned shaking a wrench at him.

Hikaru held his hands up and lowered his head. "I meant no disrespect."

"Gentlemen, focus!" Spock shouted. They all looked at the first officer. He'd never raised his voice unless in an emergency to be heard.

"We must not fight amongst ourselves," younger Spock replied.

"Agreed," Jim nodded. "We must find out where they took Leonard and figure out how to get him back."

Kirk stepped forward. "Right. We're not doing it in this. We need to get aboard my Enterprise."

The Enterprise crew of 2267 glared at them.

He quickly put his hands up. "I meant no disrespect. You have more experience with these things but our ship is faster and has more fire power."

Jim looked at his crew. That meant he'd have to give up being the captain. He'd have to sit back and trust someone else to fight as hard for his crew as he would. He'd never trusted his crew to anyone before. They were his family. He felt a moment of panic.

Kirk put a hand on his shoulder. "We've only known each other a short time but Leonard is like family to us too. We won't stop until we get him back."

Jim looked at the determined looks on their faces then glanced at Spock who gave him a light nod. Jim nodded. "Very well, captain."

Kirk went into command mode. The crews were beamed aboard the Enterprise and everyone rushed to their stations.

*Someone is about to be in a whole heap of trouble.