"You never had an unkind word to say about your mother that I know of, Jim."

Spock folds his hands in front of himself on the table, concern etched in his aged face while he looks across at his oldest friend. He still looks so young. Too young to have been made to suffer through as much as he has had to. Though Spock does not know all of this Jim's past, he knows enough. And even what he does know is too much for a single man, let alone one so young.

"I...wonder if my previous reassurance might have been misplaced. You should not feel obligated to compare yourself to the James Kirk I worked with. He was you, yes. But his life and yours are two very different paths."