Well, it has been eleven years and about 67,000 words later since I first saw this amazing story. Although I usually avoid stories with intimate or sex inundated scenes (in this case the story was so riveting that I could just sort of scroll through those bits without looking too hard and just cope), because the story and the personal relationships are just so involved and so interesting, it was well worth reading (ie. totally compelling), waiting for more chapters, then reading again and again.

So I apologise for not leaving a comment in the past for this wonderful story, but now I have had the time and leisure to do so.

Thank you for a wonderful story, which I have enjoyed reading and returning to many times during the last eleven years. Even when avoiding the parts too racy for my taste, the story sings and is a great pleasure to read. I expect to return many times in the future as well, to enjoy the journey again.

Your use of poetical quotes was inspiring, particularly the title you chose. Original Jim Kirk was a man of literature, so it is so nice to see your new!Kirk (and McCoy) also being a reader and consumer of myth and prose, as any well rounded modern person would like to be. Thank you for writing and sharing a very thoughtful tale.

Holy love this was amazing! Thank you!

A journey full of angish, heartbreak and courage, and you just know the 'happy ever after' will come with its own pain. A great read!

I love how everyone in this fic is a total dick and yet I still love them all.
Your characterization is freaking excellent :)
I've lost track of how many times I've read this and I'll be back again I'm sure.

So glad that I found this fic again. I totally love it. :)

I have to say, I was not expecting this to be so deep when I started reading it between twelve and fourteen hours ago. I was hoping for some smexy Kirk/McCoy action, grudgingly getting past the Kirk/Pike, and I'm sitting here trying to keep up mentally with all their shit. Granted, reading it while going on 36 hours of no sleep probably didn't help matters, but still! And then the end was satisfying, so my only "problem" - if it can be called that, though it's really not- is the fact that I find it awkward when Bones bottoms. Jim is so uke it throws me for a loop when he tops. But I understand where Bones was coming from. Topping is a form of dominance and ownership, and that is not what he was going for. It's still weird.

Loved it immensely. Probably one of my favorites.

Such a poetically written, intense, angsty story. I really enjoyed it. I loved your character profiles of Jim and Bones. I was impressed with your interpretation of Spock not calling for a beam out when he was hurtling towards Nero's ship. Excellent writing!

This was certainly one of the most intense stories I read. I'm impressed by the atmosphere you managed to display. Never read something with so many cussing that is still that deep!

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I spent several days reading this whenever possible, and it's one of those stories where I'm actually kind of depressed it's over - I'm so sad to leave this world and these characters. This was incredible. It was real - JIm and Bones would of course be so, SO complicated and you really managed to capture how complicated they are. I know you said it was angsty, and it was (wonderfully, poignantly so) but it was also hilarious. I laughed so much at your genius ways of phrasing things, and particularly basically everything Bones said. This is without a doubt the very best characterization of Bones I have ever read. And then the end: you managed to write something beautiful, moving, emotional, hilarious, and then oh-so-hot all at once.

I wish I was a more gifted writer and could convey to you how much I loved this. I will probably read it again at some point. So few people manage to nail the characters in such a way, AND create their own unique, fascinating plots (everything with Pike - so good!) I also generally don't totally enjoy the way authors weave their own plotlines in and around the events from ST:XI but you did it in such an amazing way that it felt completely REAL - without a doubt the best version I've ever read.

Thank you for sharing this. The end made me cry. THANK YOU!

I loved this story so much.

I really loved this story! Bones and Jim are really raw in this and thats how I see them! Loved it.
Thanks for sharing xx

After two weeks, I finally made it to the end - and it was so beautiful.

my heart collapsed in tears.

(end of reading)

"Holy shit"

Fuck. them all fucked up

What were you thinking?

i Tell you what - exactly what your secretary thought:)