Christine was enjoying getting to know Michael. She had known Spock for some time and understood a little of what it was like to grow up on Vulcan but he was also half human and half Vulcan, Michael’s perception was different as a human raised on Vulcan. All this had to seem really strange to her but Christine was doing her best to help her adjust to the insanity of life in Atlantis.
They had agreed to meet for coffee and as soon as Christine finished work for the day, she met Michael at Coffee Me Better. Chris was picking up the girls so she had a little time before she had to head home. When she had gotten her order, she went over and sat down with her friend who was already there. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “Someone came in at the last minute and we’re a little short handed right now. How are you doing?” Michael had been appreciating Christine’s aid in navigating Atlantis and the odd circumstances she found herself in. Of course Tilly and Paul were here and very helpful, but Christine had been here longer. And it was nice to branch out, most likely. Even if she was also Starfleet.
She had been waiting patiently at the coffee place, nursing a cup of plain black coffee. When Christine arrived, Michael greeted the nurse with a wide smile. “It’s alright, completely understandable. I’m okay, yeah. How are you?” “Doing okay. Busy but that’s not unusual, something’s always going on in Medical,” she took a sip of her coffee. With people leaving, Medical had been in a state of flux for a while now but they were managing. “What about you? Adjusting? This place can be a little overwhelming.” Michael sighed, looking down at her coffee cup. “I think I am adjusting. It’s confusing, being somewhere completely different, with people you know but don’t, at a completely different time. I was stranded centuries in the future, alone and lost. This is much better,” Michael admitted. “But it has felt unreal, as if I’m in a very vivid dream. It feels impossible, I’m sure you understand.” “I do understand,” Christine said. “When Lauren and I got here, we’d been on an assignment on an outer rim outpost for three years. I was pregnant with her when we got there and that’s where she was born. Coming here and finding Chris alive? It was a huge shock because he had died before I ever had the chance to tell him about Lauren, so being able to be a family, for him to get to know here and to have another child, has been a blessing,” she couldn’t help the soft smile that lit her face when she spoke of her family. “Lauren is an old hand at this place, she can tell you so many stories about when people get turned into birds and bears and buttons. I don’t think she’d know how to live in a normal world.” Michael blinked. It was shocking enough to find out that Captain Pike had died, let alone that he’d had a whole family, some of which he’d never gotten to meet. Michael’s eyes widened with sadness. She didn’t want to express condolences where they weren’t needed, but she still couldn’t help wondering just how hard that had been on Christine. “Birds and bears and… buttons. This is so much to wrap my head around. This place feels unreal, there is no science under my belt that I can explain this away with. And it is a blessing. I hesitate to use that word, normally, but it is. You found Capt- Admiral Pike alive here. You were able to have a second chance at a longer happy life with him. That means everything.” Christine nodded. “Yes, I’m very happy. It’s a lot to think about. The hardest part for me was finding out that there is more than one timeline in our world, some of the other people that are here have that too. The whole concept of a multiverse is mind blowing to say the least,” she took a sip of her drink, wondering if Michael might possibly be from another timeline. She knew Chris’ service record very well but she’d never come across any mentions of the Discovery but if time travel had been involved, that might explain that. “It’s always been a well supported theory, not that unbelievable but it’s always different to see proof beyond doubt all around you. It’s a tough concept to wrap one’s head around.” Michael agreed. “We found out a while ago, due to certain experiments with alternative drive cores on our ship. We were transported to one of the alternate universes. One of many, it turns out.”
Michael smiled. “You, Admiral Pike and James Kirk are not from the same one as Paul, Tilly and I, from what I have gathered.” “I didn’t think so,” she said. “Chris told me that much. In our universe, Jm never got to know his father, he died the day Jim was born while trying to save his ship. Chris can tell you all about it, he’s done a lot of research about Starfleet’s history. It’s fascinating and I’m not just saying that because he did it.” Christine loved history she always had and that was how she had become interested in medical archaeology. Michael smiled. It was sweet to see Christine so supportive of her husband’s work and it made her miss Ash, who would undoubtedly be as supportive of hers. He had never been anything but, even despite everything. When he could, anyway. Michael had always felt this unwavering confidence in her exuding from him even when she had needed to keep him at a distance, treat him with disdain. She sighed, downing the coffee as to allow her mind to clear from those thoughts. “I’d like to hear what he uncovered. It’s fascinating to compare, to see what little changes in events might have lead to larger changes of all kinds.” “He’d be happy to tell you. He loves to talk about it. The only person who really doesn’t appreciate it is Lauren,” she laughed. “But she’s six and she’d rather hear fairy tales and Dr. Suess anyway. When she grows up she wants to be a princess who flies a starship. At least that’s this week. By next week she might be on to something else.” It was clear that Christine adored her daughter. Lauren seemed to have inherited a mix of the best of both her parents’ personalities. Definitely the stubborn part.
“She can’t wait for Emily to grow up enough so that she can really play with her. I almost dread what she’ll get her little sister into. She’s only seven months old now but she’s starting to crawl so who knows where her big sister might lead her.” It would be a while before Emily could crawl that far and Lauren knew she was only allowed into the backyard so hopefully there would be no escaping. Michael smiled fondly at Christine’s telling of Lauren’s childlike wishes. “It’s the best part of being a child. The possibilities are endless.”
It was adorable to hear Christine talk about her family and, while nothing Michael had ever really imagined for herself, a lovely image. Family was ever so important. As a big sister herself Michael knew well the importance of Lauren’s role. “Hopefully only good things. But trouble is how we learn. And it’s good to know Lauren is keen on having her little sister join in her adventures.” “Oh she is which is both good and a little frightening at the same time,” she took a sip of her coffee and asked a question she’d been very curious about. “What was it like growing up on Vulcan? I’ve never been there, It was destroyed in my timeline which Chris has probably told you and I never had the chance to see it before then. Spock never said much, he lost his mother when that happened so he never said very much about his homeworld.” At first, Christine's question left Michael hesitant as if she didn't know what to reveal and what to conceal. It was a sore topic still, despite everything. But the revelation that Amanda had died during the destruction of Vulcan hit Michael like a punch to the chest. Even though this wasn't her Amanda, it felt no less distressing. She put a hand to her chest in reflex.
"Amanda was a mother to me. Always there, always ready to make me welcome in a place where everything else felt set up to repeal me." She paused, bowing her head as if to pay respects. "Growing up on Vulcan was hard. I was an outsider in every sense, grieving and trying to come to terms with something no one should go through. And the extremists made it so I thought I was putting my family in danger just by being near them. There was no shortage of repressed feelings, things unsaid… it was hard. But they took me in, much to their disadvantage." “I knew Sarek, not well, but I knew him. He was on the ship with us for a time and from what little I know of him, I can’t imagine him feeling that it was a disadvantage,” she smiled at Michael. “He’s a good man and I know that marrying a human probably made things hard on him but I had a lot of respect for him because he followed his heart. The Spock that I know is a lot like him I think even though he doesn’t like to acknowledge the human parts of himself.” She had seen him and McCoy get into some very interesting arguments over things or more precisely McCoy argued and Spock stood there but she had often wondered if Spock provoked him on purpose just to amuse himself. “Perhaps not all the time, and not as strongly as I did. But I thought that adopting a human child would only weaken his position in the eyes of the logic extremists.” Michael smiled at the kindness of Christine’s words. As for following his heart… “He would tell you marrying Amanda was the logical thing to do, in order to strengthen an alliance between our species. Show - acknowledgement - of emotion doesn’t come easy or naturally for a Vulcan and so for a human all the displays are much too underhanded, easily confused with calculated moves. Yet both can be true, they often are. But at the same time and by this token a Vulcan’s show of affection cannot be as easy as a hug or a kiss. It is a whole gesture. Risking the wrath of your people, your political standing, to have someone by your side… I can’t imagine a greater show of love for someone like Sarek.”
And yet he had often failed at showing his own son the same love. No grand gesture changed that or made any difference for a growing half-human. Spock had not been dealt a kind hand, and she was very sorry to have contributed. Michael smiled fondly as Christine described Spock. “Yes. He follows his heart, however quietly. Deliberately. Every single action counts.” “It took me some time to figure that out about him, but yes, I believe you’re right. He tried to save his mother when the planet was being destroyed. He risked his life to beam down to the surface in the middle of everything that was going on to try and save her. The others on the council had been beamed up already but she had somehow gotten left behind. He was going to save her no matter what but he couldn’t.” she shook her head. “That was one of the few times, you see his emotions but of course he didn’t let anyone else see them, probably not even Sarek who was on the ship.” No one had witnessed their reunion when Spock had returned, no doubt by design. They wouldn’t have wanted that.
“Well I suppose we should think of happier things,” Christine said and managed a smile. It had been a horrible time and even though it was what had eventually been what brought her and Chris together, it was still hard to think about.”I should head for home, Chris picked up the girls so I promised I would make dinner in return although he’s a better cook than I am. You’re welcome to join us if you like.” Michael’s eyes moistened at Christine’s retelling of Spock’s ordeal and Amanda’s eventual demise. She became congested for attempting to hold back tears, and ended up wiping them off the corners of her eyes. “He suffers in silence, but greatly all the same. I wish I could have been there for him.”
Thankful for the shift in subject, Michael returned Christine’s smile with a grateful, if sad, smile of her own. The knee-jerk reaction to Christine’s invitation was to say no and Michael started to, but stopped herself, sighed, and smiled. There was no gain in being isolationist, and she was curious about this alternate universe full of people she knew and loved - or alternate versions of them. “I would love to join you, thank you.” “Good. And you can meet the girls. Lauren will love showing you her room and we also have a dog named Luna. She’s friendly but I wanted to forewarn you so you wouldn’t be surprised.” She got up and gather her purse. “I’ll send Christ a quick text to let him know you’re coming and then we can be off.” She was glad that Michael had agreed to come home with her. She could sense that the other woman felt a little lost with the people not from her time and she wanted to help her adjust and besides you could never have too many friends or too much family. That was one important thing she’d learned both on the Enterprise and also here. “Okay,” she dropped her phone back in her purse. “Let’s go. I’ll figure out what to make when we get there.”