Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter. Sorry it took a bit longer to get up, I got sidetracked by a Kyle/Scotty idea...that I should start posting sometime soon.

Canto Six: Devil’s Success

I

Leonard sat up with a start, gasping for air. The dream was not frightening in itself, but Leonard felt as though his entire world was being ripped away from him. He looked over at Jocelyn, sleeping peacefully beside him, and took a deep breath, reminding himself it was all a dream. He reached out a hand to place it on Jocelyn’s shoulder, but his fingers went right through her, and as he watched she faded away entirely.

And as she faded, he began to remember.

He pushed the blankets from his bed and stood up, running from the room and down the hall to Joanna’s room, just in time to see her disappear as well. He clenched his fists at his side, and sank to his knees, not even noticing that Spock had emerged from his room, not caring.

“No!” he shouted, over and over, beating his fists against the wall. “No, no, no! Damn it, Jim! I’m not going to lose them again!” He leaned his head against the wall, his breath coming shakily as he fought back sobs. “Not again.”

The house began to fade, and heavy footfalls walked towards Leonard. He didn’t have to look up to know that Spock was standing beside him, didn’t want to look up. He closed his eyes as tears welled up behind them, turning his face away from Spock.

“Why?” he asked through gritted teeth. “Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone?”

Spock knelt down beside Leonard, placing a tentative hand on the other man’s shoulder, but Leonard wrenched his arm away, standing and pressing himself back against the fading wall, glaring at Spock, his fists clenched at his side. “Get away from me you green blooded bastard,” he growled.

Spock said nothing.

“You’re infuriating, you know that?” Leonard asked as the wall behind him disappeared completely and he took a step back. “You come in here, into my life, and you rip me away from my family? Is this some sort of logic puzzle? Am I supposed to answer some trick question so I can get my life back?”

“This was not your life, Doctor.”

“It was,” Leonard spat, stepping towards Spock. “It was, but it’s gone now.” He gestured helplessly around him at the imposing darkness that now surrounded them. “All gone, because you,” he pointed at Spock, “you had to go and meddle where you and your Vulcan mind don’t belong.”

“It was not real.”

“I don’t give a damn if it was real or not, Spock, it was real to me! I finally had everything I’d ever wanted, why would you take that from me.”

Spock draped his hands behind his back and began to pace, walking slowly before Leonard. The doctor watched his companion’s movement, trying to quell the annoyance rising in him at the calmness in Spock’s step.

Spock halted abruptly and turned to face Leonard. “Why did she leave?”

“She didn’t leave, Spock, she was never here.”

“I mean in reality,” Spock elaborated. “Why did she leave?”

Leonard stared at him. He wanted to snap at him, tell him it wasn’t any of his business, but he had a feeling he knew what Spock was getting at, and the more he thought about it the worse he felt for blaming Jim. “I was never there,” he said, his voice quiet. “I was so busy with work and being a Doctor I…I forgot about being a husband. A father.”

“Would this,” Spock gestured around them, “have lasted?”

“I don’t know,” Leonard conceded. “Probably not. I was the same here as I was back home, rushing off to heal the sick, not bothering to see if Jocelyn needed me.”

“So you would have handled your second chance the same as you handled the first?”

“Seems that way.”

Spock stepped forward and placed a hand on Leonard’s shoulder. “Do you wish to remain here or would you rather return to your duties?”

“You’re giving me a choice?” Leonard asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Yes, Doctor,” Spock replied. “It is a choice the Quillarans should have granted you in the first place. It was unfair of them to assume you would choose the dream over the reality, and it would be unfair of me to assume you would choose the Enterprise.” As Spock spoke, the house slowly began to fade back in, walls and floors solidifying around them, but Leonard hardly noticed. His eyes were on Spock’s as he fought with the decision, not sure how to proceed.

The doorway beside him returned, the door ajar and Joanna visible, curled up in a ball on her bed, sleeping. “May I say goodbye?” he asked. Spock stepped aside.

II

Captain’s Log: Supplemental; Doctor McCoy and Spock have awoken. Nurse Chapel is keeping them in Sick Bay for a few more days for observation, but initial tests indicate that they are both fine.

As far as explanations go, we currently have none. The Qillarans have not contacted us in any way except to release helm control, and they are not answering our hails. As far as understanding what has transpired goes, we are going to have to rely on Spock and McCoy and whatever observations they made.

Finally, we can leave this planet behind.

III

“Come in,” Doctor Leonard McCoy called out at the familiar tone indicating there was someone at the door. He set aside the files he’d been looking over and leaned back in his chair, watching the door as it slid back and Lieutenant Commander Spock stepped inside. “What can I do for you, Mr. Spock?” he asked.

“I came to inquire if there was anything which I could do for you, Doctor,” Spock replied, giving the Doctor a pointed look. It had been a week since they’d left Qillar, and neither Spock nor McCoy had discussed what had happened beyond giving the Captain their reports.

McCoy wasn’t about to change that.

“I’m quite all right, Spock,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Nice of you to ask.”

Spock inclined his head in that irritating half-nod of his, but he did not move otherwise. “I am certain, Doctor, that you are not ‘quite all right’,” he said. “But I will not press the matter, as I am aware you humans deal with your grief in most illogical ways.”

“Thank you, Spock, that’s very kind of you,” McCoy said, waiting for the Vulcan to just leave.

Spock turned, but stopped just before the door and spoke, not looking back. “I will, however, offer to be available should the need to discuss the occurrence ever arise.” With that, the door slid open and Spock left. McCoy sighed, shook his head, and returned his attention to the slides and files he’d been working on before.