You know, I could go on and on about how wonderful this series is, and this story in particular, but I'd probably just end up re-stating, less eloquently, what others have said, so suffice to say, it moves me and bothers me and stays with and makes me think.

Out of of this whole amazing story, though, the line that just won't let me go is Jim, so briefly recounting the way he begged his mother not to send him to the academy, and how her starkly realistic answer seems to have colored his whole perspective on life. Why can't he understand Bones? Because he sees that this is "the way it is" and she sees that maybe it isn't the way things should be. They start from divergent points on the moral map and move farther away from then on.

And the fact that Kirk desribes his begging as "a very long time ago" as if the time when he begged was a different lifetime. I bet Jim Kirk hasn't begged anyone since. Except Leah. He begs her to say "yes".

There, I went and got all thinky. Must have been the rich inspiration.